The Enemy of an Enemy

journeymanand apprentice sorcerers. I watched as Kellyn and Jerran joined thefirst group. Kellyn got right to work healing the wounded, whileJerran took a moment to evaluate the battle. Soon he stood up andcreated a wall of fire between the two forces. Then with a pushfrom his hand the wall went traveling towards the sorcerers withgreat speed. They tried to turn and run but were too late and thefire consumed them.

Luke and Gafar were with the second group andI looked over just in time to see something I had not expected tosee on a space station. A dark cloud had formed over the sorcerers’heads, and then suddenly lightening rained down from the clouds andcompletely wiped out the enemy position.

When I looked over to Andreya and Darnath’sgroup I saw that Darnath had summoned creatures made of pure stonethat were mercilessly pounding the sorcerers.

Outside the station, the third fleet arrived.It was the Crusader and her support fleet. She was an older shipwith a smaller fleet, but it still gave the Navy forces a boost innumber of about twenty-five per cent.

Back on the station, Kellyn and Jerran’sgroup met up with an elite sorcerer, much more powerful than whatthey had fought before. He chanted a command and slashed his handthrough the air, leaving a blade-like arc of energy behind, whichflew at Jerran. Jerran was undaunted and blocked it with his staff,then fired a blast from his staff in return. The blast hit theelite sorcerer square in the chest, but had no effect.

“Fools, you are mere children to me, nowdie!” he shouted at them and began to weave a deadly spell.

Then Kellyn jumped to Jerran’s side and said,“I do not think so!” and placed her hand on Jerran’s shoulder.Jerran grinned, and with their powers combined he blasted thesorcerer again, this time ripping through his shields and killinghim.

Then across the station Andreya and Darnath’sgroup came across a group of three elite sorcerers. I became veryworried, as I knew they would be no match for three, but before Icould go to them, I appeared in the corridor. This sent the enemysorcerers into full retreat. I laughed as I realized that Andreyahad tricked them.

I judged the time had come for me to join thebattle. Soon the enemy would begin assembling their elite sorcerersto bring against my wizards, and that would turn the tide of battleback in their favor. I scanned the station and found what I waslooking for: a group of elite sorcerers completely focused on thewar outside the station. They were in a shielded room in a remotearm of the station.

Before leaving I sent Rannor instructions onwhere to find the box of training materials, just in case he wasthe only survivor. I stressed to him the importance of carrying onno matter what happened. Then I wrapped myself in power andteleported directly to the elite sorcerers that I had found, easilypassing through their defenses.

When I appeared they were sitting at a tablewith crystal balls in front of each so that they could see thebattlefield. They gasped as they looked towards me, but it was toolate for them. I chanted a spell and traced an arc through the air.Behind my finger leapt out a bright arc of energy that pounded intotheir group, sending them all flying into the wall. Before theycould recover I spread out my fingers and sent a wave of energybolts into their group, killing them all. Outside the station Iknew another large chunk of the enemy had just been wiped out.

I walked out into the hall from that room anda group of sorcerers was waiting for me. They opened fire withtheir wands and staves as soon as they saw me. Undaunted, I turnedto face them, their bolts having no effect as they were completelyabsorbed by the energy I had around me. The scene reminded me ofthe battle back on Arken IV between my first squad of Dark Knightsand the sorcerers, but there was a distinct difference. Unlike theDark Knights, who stood their ground when facing the overwhelmingpower of the grandmaster sorcerer, these pathetic excuses for Magiwere pale with fear at the sight of a grandmaster wizard, and as Ilooked them over they were turning to run.

I lowered my staff and fired a single boltinto their group that ripped right through them and put a largehole in the side of the station, sucking any possible survivorsout.

Air rushed by me, leaving through the hole Ihad made, but my shielding held and I was unaffected. I reached outwith my power and crushed the passageway, sealing the holecompletely. “Someone please remind me not to cheat at chess withhim any more,” said Luke via our connection.

I began looking for another group of elites,and soon I found them. This time they were ready for me when Iarrived. They greeted me with a large number of summoned creaturesthat instantly leaped to attack as I appeared. I quickly spun mystaff to an upright orientation and slammed the butt of it into thefloor. A crack appeared where I had hit the floor and spread inboth directions. Soon the room broke in half, and the rush of airout into space pushed the sections apart and sucked out all myenemies to their death. The sorcerers did not yet understand thedangers of fighting in a space station and this group never would.Across the entire station the enemy was in full retreat.

With half the room gone I could look out overthe battle that was raging outside the station. The captain hadmoved the fleets so that they completely surrounded the enemy in asphere of death. All weapons on all vessels were firing at once.The bolts came so thickly and fast that they looked like solidsheets of destruction.

As I watched the battle rage on, a lessonfrom the Academy came back to my mind. The professor was trying toget across how big the universe was and he said, “Even if all theships in the fleet were to join in battle and fire all theirweapons at once, the amount of power they generated would be sominuscule on the universe’s scale that it would not even benoticed.” Now that I could see such an example first-hand, I was inawe of the majesty of the universe.

I noticed that the Dragon Claw was introuble. She was beset by a very large number of enemies determinedto destroy her. I reached out with my power and slammed the groupof demons with a fist of pure power. With that single blow I wipedout the entire force attacking the Dragon Claw. It was then I beganto truly understand the power that I wielded. To think that notmuch more than a year ago I was worried about looking good enoughto keep my job, and now I stood in the hard, cold vacuum of spacewielding a level of power that made the Dragon Claw look like atoy. That must be the most terrifying thought of my life.

The Imperial Navy continued to push hardtowards the station, its shield glowing from all the hits it wastaking. Inside, the Dark Knights and wizards continued to keep theenemy on the run. On every front it seemed the battle was ours.

Then I felt a shift in the balance of power,and not in a good direction. The shields on the station suddenlygot stronger. The sorcerers rallied in defense and the fleet beganto be pushed back.

“Finally they come,” I said, moving toa larger room on the station. I reached out to the commander of theDark Knights and said, “Pull your men out, and do all you can todestroy the station from the outside. Should we fall, guard Rannorwith your lives, as he will be our last hope.”

I waited in the large room, gathering all thepower I could from the battle around me. Then he appeared. He wasan old man with a sunken, almost skeletal-looking face; there wasmore bone about him than skin. By the power he commanded I knew hecould only be the grandmaster sorcerer. The room literally crackledwith his energy and the walls seemed to retreat in fear. Therewould be no simple defeat of him like I had used against others ofhis army. His shielding was far greater than mine.

“So we meet at last, foul one,” I said. Istood proud and strong with the full authority of my position andsaid, “Leave this realm now if you wish to survive this day, andnever return.”

That failed to shake his confidence at all;he had utterly no fear of me. He smiled and said, “This day shallmark the end of the era of wizards and a return to the time ofsorcery.”

Then one by one each of the six wizardsstepped forward out of a concealing shield I had put up, andcollectively said, “Not today, and not ever.”

“Good, I will kill you all with one fellswoop.” And he attacked with all his might.

Had I stood alone I would have beencompletely and utterly overwhelmed by his opening attack, but withthe unified power behind me I was able not only to resist, but tosend a counter-attack. We struggled back and forth with magicalattacks and defenses flying all around us, neither making headwayfor a long time.

Anyone watching the fight from outside wouldhave seen some amazing things. The station itself twisted and bentand stretched as if a great monster was inside it trying to escape.Then, in a brilliant flash of light, the station ruptured, spewingdebris in all directions. The destruction of the station wiped outthe remaining sorcerers and their summoned armies at once, but thebattle between light and dark carried on without them.

When the flash finally cleared, two greatbeings in a death match could be seen. One was pure black; so blackthat the mind had a hard time registering him, and if not for thecontrast with the other he could not have been seen. The otherbeing was pure light, so bright that it should have been blindingto look at, but there was an odd quality about the light that madeit almost comforting to see.

Looking closely at the being of light, heonly had one face, but in some strange and odd way seven