Chapter 20 The Beginning of the End
Church Cathedral
The cathedral stands just outside the gates of Bounty Reach—a place Magnus personally had constructed for all his meetings and schemes. It is quite large, consisting of many rooms for different tasks: experiments, planning, even holding hostages.
A meeting once more.
"What is the meaning of this, Magnus?" one of them asked.
"We have completed her mana pool. Now we enter the final stage. Don't you see? We are so close," he responded.
"We tire of your constant ways of going against the Church, Magnus."
"Already the boy runs rampant in Veloria, doing as he pleases, and you sit here and say we are on schedule?" another reprimanded.
"Yes! I have worked on this for years now, and I see its end! The boy is in Veloria as we planned, strong enough to complete the ritual. What more do you want?!" Magnus shouted back.
"We do things with order and without bias," another scolded.
"No! No! No! You sit on your ass out there, sipping wine and fattening your stomachs, while I do all the dirty work—and you have the balls to reprimand me!" Magnus said, visibly annoyed.
"Do you know what?" he said, his demeanor shifting. "You've all about used up your usefulness to me. I'm tired of needing to justify myself. This is my plan—and I will see it through. Stay there... and watch."
"Magnus, how dare—"
The meeting was cut short as the men vanished.
"Now, how far off are they?" Magnus asked.
"They should be here soon," a man replied.
"Ah, Stone... so you are still alive."
"Well, yes," Stone said. "Something so mediocre could not kill me." He smiled.
"Well, brother... Stone's soul was taken by the boy. So only Stone remains,"Stone said, mimicking a sad expression.
"How unfortunate," Magnus replied dryly. "But we must move forward. Prepare everything. It must be perfect."
"I have waited way too long for things to not go exactly how I planned," Magnus said, looking out a window, rubbing absentmindedly against a chain around his neck—a gold-crested necklace with a black flower at its center.
"Now all my life's work... will be shown to this world. Today."
"Indeed," Stone said "Indeed."
The Carriage
"I must say, Madoxx, I'm unsure why the king has made such a big deal over you. A special order to send you, of all people, to Bountyreach? I've never heard of such a thing."
I looked at the man. He was large and broad-shouldered, with a round face , a thick orange beard that almost completely hid his features. His nose was big, and his orange hair matched his beard perfectly. His light orange eyes studied me carefully.
"Listen, kid, I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, but I have my orders," he said, his voice rough.
Melody sat across from him, shooting him a distasteful glare do all guards talk as much as you do
The guard laughed. I like your spunk kid as he continued laughing .
We rode in silence for what felt like thirty minutes until the landscape opened up. The area was barren, with nothing in sight but sand and scattered scrubs. It was almost desert-like. Further ahead, broken statues and chipped walls came into view. If you looked hard enough, you could see a large gate in the distance.
We turned to see a long line of people marching behind us. Leading them were two old men in tattered clothing, each carrying a massive cross on their backs.
The people who followed moved like the undead, their bloodshot eyes fixed straight ahead, their lips repeating, "We are of worth." Their hands were shackled, bound by a glowing, magical rope connected to the crosses the old men carried.
It was a haunting sight—a mix of royal men and women from New Molina. Their movements were sluggish, but their pace was unified as they marched through the desert. They seemed to be in some sort of trance. From what I could tell, it was scary. The life seemed drained from them. Just mindless people following... a bunch of sheep. Or... zombies—that was a better word for what I was looking at.
"That's so eerie," Melody said, joining me to see what was happening.
"It really is," I replied. "I wonder what Magnus is up to."
The guard riding in the carriage with us leaned out, his face full of confusion. "What is going on today?" he muttered, scratching his head as he watched the scene unfold.
Ahead of us was a city. It had to be Bountyreach.
The city was unlike anything I'd seen before—it stood in the middle of a desert but was filled with greenery. The further you looked, you could see mountains of wheat and other plants, fields of rice, farmers working, mines farther out, farms of animals. Gold-created buildings and all sorts of other stations surrounded it. Near the gate was a huge church-like building that looked out of place if you really thought about it. The church had a pyramid-like center with a massive beam shooting into the sky. Then there was the gate—a huge one—with "Bountyreach" carved into it.
The carriage rolled to a stop just outside the gates.
I looked at Melody. She looked back, and immediately we knew what needed to be done.
"Are you sure?" she asked, a smile forming on her face.
"Yeah," I said back.
"There's no going back after this, Madoxx."
"What the hell are you talking about?" the guard in the carriage asked, confused.
"The chance to go back passed us by a long time ago," I said dryly.
"All right then. Let's go!!."
"Hold on—go where? You kids think I'll just—"
In that moment, Melody sprung to her feet and, with a dangerously fast kick to the face, sent the man into dreamland.
Freezing and melting, we broke free of our bounds.
"Go. End this," she said. "I'll watch your back—make sure no one disturbs you."
"Thanks," I said.
Melody burst through the top of the carriage roof, everyone watching in shock and confusion—the priests, the guards—dumbfounded.
"Okay," I said to myself. "Here I come, Magnus."
I formed a massive spike of ice and hurled it toward the front of the carriage. It burst through the wood and continued flying, smashing through the wall of guards stationed ahead.
I lunged out of the new opening and sprinted toward the church. Something in me knew—that's where I'd find Magnus.
I looked back to see men flying through the air as Melody struck, fist after fist, punch after punch. She was... Melody was a force to be reckoned with. Scary, even.
As I ran, a flood of guards rushed in, forming a wall and pointing their wands at me.
"You will not pass! Halt!" they shouted.
I summoned two giant shadow fists, swatting them out of the way, sending them flying—slamming them into the ground.
A shield formed to block the flurry of fireballs they fired at me. I was like a bull charging forward. I would not be stopped. Not now.
Then—from the back—he appeared.
"Madoxx... Madoxx!" he said, glee dripping from his voice.
"How happy I am to see you again," he shouted as his body materialized from dust.
It was Stone.
Before I could react, an explosion shook the desert wasteland. Melody came flying in, a kick landing squarely into Stone's chest, sending him soaring.
"Mind your own business, Stone!" she shouted. "He's got places to be!"
"Gooo!!, Madoxx!" she yelled after me.
Melody was a force of nature—and I was glad to call her a friend, gorilla-strength tendencies and all.
With one last breath, I burst through the cathedral doors.
I was taken aback by what I saw. I didn't expect it—in a church, of all places.
A field of flowers.
It looked like we were outside, but we were... inside. That's the best explanation I could muster. A blue sky. An artificial sun. Fields of flowers of every kind. And in the center, Magnus sat in a chair, facing the scenery.
Was this the kind of magic he possessed? The ability to create artificial landscapes inside rooms?
This strength was frightening.
It reminded me of Lilith's artificial sky back at the Barrow—but this? This was a hundred times more impressive.
Butterflies fluttered. Bees buzzed. Wind blew softly.
And yet, I could swear we were still inside.
"Boy... it seems we meet again," he finally said, his gaze fixed on the horizon, his head resting in his palm while his other hand stroked either his beard—or maybe it was a chain hanging from his neck. It was hard to tell.
"Magnus," I started— But he cut me off.
"You must hate me. Despise the sound of my voice," he said, amusement in his tone.
"But—"
A gust of cold wind burst through the air as I sent a spiked shard of ice hurtling at him.
It struck the back of the oak chair he sat on, piercing through his back, sending him tumbling across the field before slamming into the wall behind him.
The illusion shattered.
The horizon cracked.
The room was simply a mirage.
It looked bigger than it actually was—an illusion now breaking. The concrete wall glitched for a second before reforming.
Magnus laid impaled against the stone.
He laughed.
"How interesting," he said, his body heating red-hot, melting the ice, releasing him from the wall.
He landed on his feet and turned to face me.
"I do deserve that—"
Another shard. And another. I hurled ice at him in a flurry—shards that pierced him one after the next.
Still, he brushed them off. Dusting his robe like nothing had happened.
"We're not going to get anywhere at this rate, boy," he laughed.
What was this? I knew my attacks were landing—yet nothing. The holes I made in him vanished like they were never there.
"You…" I growled, rage swelling in my chest.
"Magnus!" I shouted, pain cracking in my voice. "Why? Why? You took them from me—you bastard!"
"Ola, Ren, Bethany, Isaac—all of them! And for what? Something that happened in the woods so long ago?"
"Ah... so you remember that?" he said. "After all those years, I watched you, boy. Molded you. All in preparation for today. And here we are—the two of us, finally able to end this."
"My dream—the one I've sacrificed everything for. My aspirations, my goals... The countless who have given their lives—"
"Shut your mouth. Shut your pathetic mouth!" I roared. "They didn't give their lives. You killed them. You murdered them. You monster!"
"Tedious labels, boy. All I can say is—it was a necessary evil to get here, Madoxx."
"But now—"
It was like he vanished.
Out of nowhere, he appeared right in front of me, whispering in my ear—
"But now… we will break free at last."
Lightning shot through my body. I screamed.
Chains—lashing bands of purple energy—wrapped around my legs, my arms, my neck, my chest. They yanked tight, suspending me in the air.
"Today," Magnus whispered, eyes glowing, "we bring the skies themselves crashing down."
In that moment, from the roof of the cathedral, something came crashing down.
A human—no... it was him again.
Like a stone meteorite, he slammed into the ground, shattering the ceiling above.
"Marvelous," he said, grinning through bloodied teeth. "This is the death I was looking for. This is far from mediocrity. I will be praised in the afterlife for—"
His words choked off as his body writhed and cracked, breaking to pieces.
Then— Melody came hurtling through the hole left in the ceiling, landing hard beside me.
Magnus stepped back.
"Ah... and she arrives at last. The—"
He rubbed his fingers along a chain now clearly visible—a gold-crested necklace, delicate, ornate… and hanging from it, a single black rose.
Melody saw it.
Her entire body froze.
"No. No. No no no no no..."
She dropped to her knees.
"It can't be... it can't be you," she whispered, tears flooding her eyes.
"It can't be you."
"Father?"