They all relaxed.
“If I were to think like him,” I amended, for my sanity and theirs, “I would want to finally take full control of this world and end what remained of my enemy as efficiently as possible. Specially after two hundred years working towards that goal. Enter Azazel. If I finally took hold of such a beast, I wouldn’t kill half my enemy’s army and then spend twenty years in a back-and-forth dance battle. I wouldn’t let them best me by retaking lands I had already destroyed and claimed as mine, while I remained comfortable in my fortress, breeding slaves and sentries. And only coming out occasionally to remind my enemy of the horrors I could inflict on them with my four-headed monster.”
The confused faces that surrounded me turned thoughtful.
“Maybe his plan never was to take full control of Caelisium, only to terrorize it,” Kingston mused.
“I mean, he certainly acts like he wants full control,” I countered. “He demonstrated how much it pisses him off that our parents, and Evie after that, have thwarted his attempts at every turn. He showed us that when she threw it in his face during our standoff. It was the reason he attacked her.”
“Maybe it’s a game of time,” Evanna added. “His submission of Caelisium did not occur over night. He’s extended his life two centuries so far, and he spent most of that time fighting all the other kingdoms and nobles until he made them all his slaves. He has spent so many years destroying empires that we are all he has left. If he ends us, there’ll be no one else to fight. Perhaps he doesn’t have any interest in killing us yet.”
“I’m confused,” Imogen admitted.
“About?” I stepped closer, wanting to bring her up to speed.
“Are the movie screens made of wood or fabric? And how do the actors get in the small ones? Are they tiny people?”
“Well, actually—”
“Mom! Can we focus?!”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, gesturing to Imogen that she would explain later.
“As I was saying… You might be right, Evie. But it still feels like there is something more than him keeping us around because he doesn’t want to be bored after he kills us.”
“The Warlock King is not the one who extended his life,” Kingston added, thoughtful.
Taken aback by his statement, my steps halted. “If not him, then, who?”
“The Dragons.” Mom was the one to answer, and I glanced at her, perplexed. “They do it for all Devenish Rulers. It is a gift originally bestowed by the Celestials. They extend the life of each king until the prince is ready to succeed him. They will do it for you too, Braxton. Once you claim the Dragon Throne.”
Her words gave me pause, not only because of what that meant for me, but…
“If the Dragons were the ones to extend his life, I’m sure that was only the case at the beginning,” Evie expressed, pulling the thought right out of my mind.
“After they abandoned his side and cut off whatever connection he might have gained during the Renascentiae Principis, that favor should have disappeared too. Why is he still alive? Who is extending his life now?”
“He is…” Mom’s voice became grave with the admission, and dread found its way back into me.
“He can’t be that powerful…” I whispered, but the truth was that I just didn’t want him to be. If he had such might to make himself basically immortal, control Azazel, freeze Dragons and people, and attack us all at the same time, there was no way in hell I would ever defeat him.
“He isn’t,” Mom added, giving me back some hope. “A few years after the Uprising, our Sky Legion rescued several slaves from the Hollow, and we learned from them that my father was no longer breeding slaves as workers. He began to breed them to fuel his magic.”
“To fuel his magic?” Evie echoed, the horror of that truth not fully hitting her.
“To drain them of life and keep himself alive,” I clarified, seeing the revulsion and shock mar her features.
“Just like he did with my family and the Elders,” my mom continued, pulling everyone’s attention to her fallen face. “He didn’t only steal their power…”
“We have to stop him,” Evie nearly roared, hands fisting as she stood, the words barely slipping through her clenched teeth.
“We will,” I vowed. “He is going to pay for everything he has done to us…” My eyes connected with Kingston’s, finding the same rage awakening in Evie and me reflected in his expression. “What he has done to all of us.”
Until something else crossed my mind, and I whirled around, the scenes from my confrontation with him in front of our Hidden Kingdom returning. “It is a game of time, but not in the way we are thinking,” I murmured, the scenes that played in my mind clashing with my spiraling thoughts.
“What do you mean?” Evie walked to my side, pulling my attention to her when she grabbed my arm.
“If he needs to fuel his magic to continue extending his life, then he might also—”
“Need to fuel his magic for everything else,” Imogen finished, standing from the start of our revelation.
“Perhaps he is not as powerful as he is making us all believe,” Kingston added with renewed drive, stepping closer and bringing my mom with him.
Glancing back at the lake as more scenes played before me, I remembered our fight in the mindscape, when Tharion and I broke through his control. “When I escaped his mindscape after I found out about my father, I did so by stoking the fury in him. He was so enraged by my taunting that he became distracted from his control, and Tharion was able to break free. We both attacked him.”
“No magic is absolute,” Mom blurted. “My granddaddy used to tell me that during our secret meetings. “Never forget, little darling. No magic is all-powerful. None.’”
“No magic is all-powerful,” I repeated, focusing on the memories of our recent confrontation—seeing it more clearly.
Those standing before me were replaced by the scenes we lived that day, and I lifted one hand towards the bed where Azazel now hovered in my mind’s eye.
“The Warlock King disappeared from atop Azazel to appear next to me. And the beast’s eyes glowed a brighter green when he threatened to raze our kingdom with his fire breath,” I recalled out loud, doing a play by play. “I’m Raithian,” I announced, stepping back to see everything from his perspective. “Imogen, you are me.”
She walked to my side, and Evie immediately walked across from us in the room, retaking her place from that day. Kingston joined her.
“Tharion rushed the four-headed beast, slamming into him and injuring him,” I continued, “but I no longer have to control Azazel because he will fight Tharion on his own.” My left hand lifted toward Evanna. “With my power free from my biggest weapon, I attack you to force Braxton to leave with me.” I waved Imogen closer. “He tries to stop me, but I freeze him on site because it is much easier for me to do that when I don’t have my magic tied to Azazel.”
I faced the doorway where my mother now stood.
“The Elevated Warriors attack, but I can still use my ability to turn their weapons on them. Their Dragons lunge forwards to best me.” Lowering my arms, I pointed them towards my mother. “I let go of Braxton, Evie, and the spears to knock more than thirty Dragons unconscious at once, which I can do because, although I can’t handle everything at once, I’m still incredibly powerful.”