Book 2 Ch 40: Once more

Michael was right behind Lys, then ahead of her as they charged toward the angry red tear in front of them. His dread crescendoed and turned into the sense of righteousness it always became when he was sealing rifts.

As it had been the last time, the transition was nearly seamless with only the sensation of breaking glass as he leapt between worlds. The world he landed on was the same one he’d been in before, and he could see the dull red sun that bathed everything in a reddish hue as he exited the rift. He landed and immediately struck with his fiery mace, demolishing a surprised lizardman before he started to look for the source of the rift’s durability. He immediately noticed five of the lizardmen’s sorcerers in a circle nearly ten yards away, but between him and them were more than a half-dozen of the horned men who were already moving to intercept him, along with more further back that were headed toward him. He wasn’t certain how, but he knew that whatever the lizards were doing was what was fighting against his ability to seal the rift.

He raised his mace and shield, and the nearest horned man nearly screeched to a halt before he could reach him, his eyes on the golden fire of the mace.

“Aur-Ma!” He yelled, waiting for the others to approach before getting any closer.

Unfortunately for him, Michael had no intention of waiting. He moved toward him, ducking under a high slash, and smashing in the creature’s chestplate, causing him to burst into holy flame. He then shoved the body toward the others that were charging with his shield, and it landed on the nearest of them who screamed as the divine flames licked at him.

Before Michael could push forward more, the others reached him, and a spear slammed into his shoulder, embedding itself in him before the horned man ripped it out, its jagged head ripping away sinew and muscle as it was torn from him.

Michael gritted his teeth and sent the pain back at him, but while it disabled that one momentarily, the others moved to gang up on him.

A bolt of lightning hit one of them, and Michael could hear a voice behind him.

“Take that you horned cunt!” yelled Ollie, even as he began to channel another spell.

Another one dropped shortly after that as a bullet traveled through one of its eyes and out the back of its skull. Marcus was there too.

Michael took the brief window they’d granted him to run straight toward the gathered lizardmen, opting to dodge around the monsters that went to cut him off, which seemed to surprise them. When he reached the nearest of the lizards, he could feel immense power coming off of them in waves as they worked to weave whatever spell was keeping the rift from closing.

One of them broke its chanting to look at him, its eyes widening as he went to bring his mace down on his head.

“Aur-ma,” it said, as Michael caved in its skull. He felt the spell break, but took the time to take down two others before the rest of them started to flee.

He went to run back toward the rift, and as he did so a waist high wall of flame rose on either side of him, giving him a straight path to run away courtesy of Ollie.

Michael ran the path, focusing all his energy on getting out as Marcus and Ollie did what they could to keep any of the rift beasts off of him. Just before he got there, they leapt backward through the portal, and Michael leapt after them.

There was the feeling of shattered glass again, and then suddenly he was in the midst of another battlefield. Lys was wounded, her hand facing toward the rift, and there was a circle of others blocking incoming spells and a few remaining horned men that were trying to reach the rift again.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Michael raised a golden hand and started to heal all of the injuries around him, even as he killed another horned man that emerged from the portal looking for him. Once everyone was healed and renewed, he began to focus on the rift along with Lys.

He could feel her grip, it was much firmer than Trina’s had been, and he wrapped his will back around the edges of the rip along with hers. After only a few moments, and a final push from the rift itself that seemed natural rather than concrete as the lizardman’s magic had, it sealed shut. The ugly red wound was gone leaving only behind the corpses of entities not of this world.

The remaining foes fought for a bit longer, but their hearts weren’t in it any longer and they were able to finish them off after just a few moments. Michael thought he may have seen a few lizardmen manage to get away, but he couldn’t be certain, and with the number of wounded he had other priorities.

His initial healing burst had prevented any fatalities after he’d arrived, but there were a number of severe injuries incurred after that he began to focus on before he saw something a few yards away.