Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 57 of 86

Zach drew the sword and cut the air. White light split open like a seam. He led his crew through it, and they stepped onto black stone at the tower's base. The lake and the forest were gone. The tower rose above them, cold and endless. Zach felt the enemy above through Geneva's gift, one slow heart beating at the very top. "Straight up," Zach said. "No stops." The first door opened and the demons came. Claws and red eyes, dozens of them, pouring down the stairs. Zach raised the blade and the others gripped his arms. Their power flowed into the steel. Lyra pushed cold through it. Raven fired bolts between the light. Talon carved a path with both katanas, moving faster than the demons could turn. Garrok swung his axe and broke their line. Ayla kept her staff up, mending each cut before it slowed them. They climbed. Floor after floor, the tower threw its horrors at them. A shadow beast lunged from the dark and wrapped Talon's leg. Raven screamed his name. Lyra froze the thing solid, and Garrok shattered it with one blow. Ayla knelt and healed Talon where he fell. "Up," Talon said, teeth clenched. "Keep going." He rose and drew his blades again. Zach's arms burned. He held the light steady the way Geneva taught him. Small pulses. Precise strikes. He did not drain himself dry. The bond between the six of them held firm. No demon could break their circle apart. The last stair ended at a black door. Zach pushed it open. Malachar waited inside. But he was not the man they had chased. He stood taller now, wrapped in dark fire. Two horns rose from a crown of gold. His eyes glowed white and red. One old scar still marked his face. In his hand he held the same skull staff, and violet flame crawled up its length. Darkness poured off him and stained the walls. He was Malachar and Maximus both, one soul in one body. Power leaked from every inch of him. He looked at Zach's crew, bloody and gasping in the doorway. Then he grinned. "You came all this way," he said. His voice was two voices. "The wielder and his little friends. Rowan's blood." He turned the staff in his hand. "I hoped you would." Zach lifted the sword. His crew closed around him, hands finding his arms again. The light in the blade answered, bright and hungry. "This is it," Zach said. "He's flesh now. He can die." Malachar's grin widened. The dark fire around him swelled and filled the chamber. "Then try," he said. Zach set his feet. The path was over. The chase was done. Only the two of them remained, sorcerer and chosen, standing at the top of the world. The fight for everything would begin here.