Page 68 of Resurrection
“You have no idea how close to reality that is.” Seiran was out the second it stopped and Gabe rushed to follow. There was a pit of rage built up inside of Seiran, he could feel it rising, bits added to the top with each event making everything tinted with an edge of red. It was almost like a red out. Gabe knew the vampire berserker rage well, though he couldn’t recall experiencing it himself in centuries. The revenant completely lost to bloodlust; it was a boogeyman of vampire lore.
But Seiran wasn’t a vampire. Would being tied to one be enough? Could the revenant gain access to the witch? And how much trouble would they all be in if that happened to the Pillar of Earth?
Gabe found it strange, how instead of it being something that suddenly appeared, that anger seemed to have been pooling for a long time. Walled off behind wards and shields, buried as though that would stop it from someday spilling over. How many injustices had it taken to reach the breaking point? The wards around it felt like a dam about to burst, the pressure on the other side far beyond what Gabe could imagine anyone holding. But he recognized it, as though part of it belonged to him. How was that possible? He’d been in the ground over a decade.
“Seiran?” Gabe started to ask, but Seiran was laser-focused on the group in the clearing. They were staring at him too, hands going to weapons, and witches with a spell on their lips. There was no sign of them taking Page alive. This was orchestrated murder in the making.
“Stay close to me,” Seiran instructed as he stalked toward the witches. “What are you doing here?” He demanded of them.
“Taking down a rogue witch,” Director Han said. “His family told us of his deviance. No wonder you kept him locked away in your department. Hiding him. Your position will be under review, Mr. Rou.”
“That’s Director Rou,” Seiran corrected. “And he’s not rogue. He was coerced into creating the golem.”
“Doesn’t matter,” the woman next to Han said. “All of your kind are evil. We will wipe their blight from the earth.”
“Not on my watch,” Seiran said. “Not anymore.”
Gabe felt the shield form around him first, an invisible barrier that pulsed with so much energy it almost hurt, like standing too close to a flame. Seiran’s form changed, becoming that Green Man persona again, his hair longer, woven with ivy and flowers, things blooming around his feet as he walked unfettered toward the group who now backed up as though terrified. Had none of them seen this side of him before? Or was it the molten rage that seemed to send a shimmering flicker of light along the edge of the magic?
The ground welled up, heating and cooling instantly, forming almost volcanic rock formations as he stalked forward. Sprouts of green and pops of color forming in the rocks soon after. It was breathtaking, beautiful, and terrifying all at once. Gabe kept his shields up, the bond weak between them the only thing keeping him from rolling in the power like a cat immersed in catnip.
Seiran held out his hands, and there were guns pointed their way, as well has a handful of spells that Gabe could feel hit the walls of the barrier, spattering harmlessly like bugs on a windshield. The magic around them built, a living thing of wild energy and such naked intensity so filled with earth, that Gabe longed to bask in it. Like dirt fresh from his grave it was renewing, and clarifying all at once.
The spells and bullets hit the shield, deflecting or being completely absorbed. Each wave of magic adding to the barrier and the power like Seiran ate it all. Or at least transformed it into something he could use. And unlike the rest of the witches, he didn’t need spells. He put out his hands, made a shoving motion, and the crowd was walloped with a surge of air so strong it threw them all backward and even tipped some of the cars on their sides like he was a superhero rather than a witch.
There were curses hurled, screaming, more bullets and spells. Everyone backed away, huddling together and fixated on Seiran for the threat he was. Gabe hoped that meant Page was safe for the moment.
Their withered bond blazed with electricity and Gabe could almost touch Seiran’s power like it was his. If they renewed the bond, he could become a conduit much like Seiran was. Would he be another link to earth? Or more an anchor for Seiran’s power?
Seiran slowly backed them away from the group and into the line of trees like he could sense where Page was, and he probably could. His eyes glowed with that eerie spinning gaze of magic, not unlike seeing the actual earth turn from space, a thing of life, color, and power. Was he seeing everything? Or was this part of the spell? Gabe worked really hard not to distract Seiran as he hoped they would both somehow survive today.
The trees wove together beyond the circle of those gathered, growing and twisting together in a natural wall. Like old legends of castles surrounded by forests of thorns and impassable brambles, the barrier formed in seconds. A dome of earth magic as Gabe had never seen in his life.
Gabe stayed close to Seiran. The power burning hot, making Gabe sweat. He clung to their bond like it was the only thing keeping him from burning up in the wake of this incredible power. He understood at that moment, what Seiran had meant about not being afraid of Gabe. This was godlike power, not only one single spell, but the strength in one being, unleashed.
“You’ll burn for this Rou,” Han was shouting.
Bullets hit their shield and turned to flowers and butterflies. Gabe had to work not to pause and admire the beauty of it. They approached the wall. Would they scale it? Gabe didn’t like the look of those thorns, more like swords or stakes than regular thorns. Many a foot long or more. As they approached the wall, the trees opened a pathway, narrow, but clear of barbs.
Gabe grabbed a handful of the back of Seiran’s shirt to keep from being left on the wrong side of the barrier. It was disorienting as they walked through, the power a roll of color and billows of energy that had Gabe hunched and clinging to Seiran like a lifeboat.
When they emerged on the other side of what had to be at least ten feet of natural barrier, and several dozen yards distance into the thickest part of the woods, they found Page and another man. As soon as they passed through the barrier, it closed behind them, and the rolling shield of magic around them vanished, leaving them in the clearing with the men, separated from the world by a dome of woven oaks so dense Gabe was certain it would take a massive number of explosions to tear through them.
From the inside, the dome seemed huge, towering into the sky, and encasing a distance of at least a half a mile in all directions. Far in the distance away from Seiran and Gabe, behind Page, was a cabin, appearing well maintained from the outside, but lines of dark woven magic were etched into the core of it. Gabe yanked his gaze away from the engraved spells, and to the men on the ground.
Page’s face was streaked with tears, and holding a gun. The other man was slumped over several feet away. Page seemed unfazed by the barrier or Seiran’s power on display. The man on the ground lay still as death, and when Gabe listened hard for a heartbeat, he couldn’t hear one. Was the man dead? Had Page killed him?
“I’m sorry,” Page said again, raising the gun, not to point at them, but to his own head.
“Don’t…” Seiran said reaching for him.
Gabe was already moving when the gun fired, and Gabe’s heart sank as he was certain he wouldn’t be fast enough. The shot rang through the echo chamber of woven magic in a booming thunder of destruction.
Chapter 23
Seiran gasped in horror when Page raised the gun to end his own life. All in the space of less than a breath, Gabe was there, taking the gun from Page, and control of the situation, though not fast enough to stop a bullet from being fired.
The shot ricocheted off the wards of trees and magic, pinging around a few milliseconds, spitting shards of wood and rippling the barrier. The sound hurt, loud and booming. Pain flared white hot, burning into Seiran’s side. Had he been hit? His hearing echoed for a minute, pain in his head, as well as blossoming in his chest.