Heretical Edge

The fact that Invidia didn't immediately turn tail and run when faced with an angry king Arthur and his knights meant she was either very stupid, or she had prepared for this. And I knew she wasn't stupid. If anything could have helped prepare her for a threat like this, it was an entire sapient evil universe. Or whatever Tartarus actually was. I still felt like I didn't have a completely firm grasp on that whole thing. But either way, she was working for or with that place, and I had a pretty fair idea of just how dangerous it was. It was, after all, where all the Olympians had gained their own incredible powers. And that was just a minor example. A bigger one was the fact that it had turned Sariel’s spell ball thing into an actual sapient creature and given it the ability to create an entire universe on its own! Hell, it was the source of Grandfather and Maestro too.

Hell, that felt like the right term for it. Tartarus was a sapient, evil hell, and it was giving power and guidance to this Whisper in front of us. Enough power and guidance that she had been able to absorb one version of me and take my powers. She had every power I had on top of what she had as a Whisper and from possessing Charmeine. If Tartarus had given her more power on top of that… well, no wonder she felt confident enough not to retreat the second Arthur showed up.

I just hoped she was about to be shown what a terrible mistake she had made with that choice.

“Get out of your city?” Her voice cracked slightly with her retort, but it wasn’t from fear. It was more like she was trying not to laugh, tilting Charmeine’s head sideways with a somewhat manic smile, a smile that made a chill run through me. “Your city? You believe this place belongs to you? You believe this hole, this shallow, empty place of filth and death is yours to claim? You are rats wallowing in the rotted remains of a broken ship that is already sinking beneath the waves, trumpeting your ownership of a fallen vessel. Those who truly owned this world, those you call Primals, have forsaken it, abandoning it to its destruction. It sinks, it falls, it dies. And you shall die with it, you rats, as the ocean rises. This world falls beneath the waves, and its final resting place shall be your tomb. They stood upon this planet in its prime. You? You wallow in its filth as it rots."

There was a dark cloud of energy swirling around her. Energy that instinctively made me want to back up. This wasn’t her. It wasn’t anything she was doing personally. This was Tartarus. This was a slight glimpse of that place, peeking through into our world thanks to its connection to Invidia. She was so thoroughly linked to that dark universe that it was capable of reaching through her. Only a little bit, but enough for us to see the shadows it cast around her. Shadows that seeped with dark, foreboding power as they stretched out in every direction. Not only over all of us, but across all of Camelot as a whole. The city was cast in complete darkness.

Far, far in the future from this time, after the total disaster of Chernobyl, a mass of melted concrete, sand, steel, uranium and zirconium had formed. Dubbed the Elephant’s Foot thanks to, well, the way it looked, the 'foot' had been radioactive enough when it was discovered to kill a person within just a few minutes of exposure. That was what I thought of when I realized just how much power was leaking off of Invidia as Tartarus peeked at us through her. It wasn’t actually here, not truly. It hadn’t physically transitioned to this universe. But even this echo, even this hint of an echo, this shadow of its power, was enough to make my blood run cold. Arthur was a dragon Heretic, possibly--probably the strongest possible Heretic we could have. And yet, in this particular moment, the light of his power seemed but a flickering candle against the overwhelming, smothering, inevitable tide of darkness coming from Tartarus. He was strong, but only a single man. A single man standing against a universe. When a fight amounted to an ant against an ocean, it didn’t matter how strong that ant was. It would fail. It would inevitably fall.

No. No, that wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. Tartarus wasn’t here. No matter how strong it was, no matter how dangerous, powerful, and unending something like a sapient universe could be, it wasn't here. It couldn’t reach us. It was trying to convince us that we shouldn’t even try, trying to stretch enough of its influence through its connection to the Whisper-possessed Olympian to stop us from even attempting to stand against it. But we weren’t dealing with it, not directly. Invidia wasn’t Tartarus. She was its emissary, an emissary using my own power to do its bidding. And we had to stop her.

All around me, Arthur and the rest of his people were reeling as the shadows from Invidia seemed to stretch over them, enveloping them, leaving them shivering and faltering. Asenath and Shiori too, even Aylen, they were all being affected. In front of me, the shadows had retreated just a bit, leaving me standing in very dim light there on that rooftop. Some part of me realized what had happened then. It was the Flique. The darkness from Tartarus would have overwhelmed me, just as it had Arthur and the others. But I wasn’t alone. I had every other member of the Flique, every other me, all of them held inside me and helping to push back that darkness. I couldn’t be overwhelmed by despair because I wasn’t alone. I would never be alone.

One chance. We had one chance to get through this. Only a single man right now was strong enough to stop Invidia, drive back the shadows of Tartarus, and bring light back to his city.

Any moment now, Invidia and Tartarus were going to realize that I wasn’t affected by that aura, that I had come back to myself. Despite my doubts, despite my uncertainty about what I was about to do, I couldn’t hesitate. Not right now. Not with something like this. A portal appeared in front of my hand, as I pushed it through and out the other side to a spot directly behind Arthur Pendragon. Then I touched him, and possessed possibly the most powerful human in existence.

I didn’t try to take over. God no. I wasn’t that stupid. I didn’t even try to read his thoughts. I wasn’t barging into his house and calling it my own. I was a guest. I was standing in the entryway, flipping on the lights. The moment I possessed the man, I took everything I was feeling thanks to the Flique, all the reassurance, hope, and sense of unity coming from my other selves, and pushed it through that entryway. I pushed the optimism and absolute certainty that we would never be alone, the knowledge that no matter how terrible and dangerous the world around us became, we would always have one another into Arthur. I shared our sense of family with him.

If Arthur’s… for lack of a better word, soul had been a building that I was standing in the entryway of, the lights had almost all been out, as the wave of darkness from Tartarus had engulfed him. Almost all. There was still a single candle within him. If it hadn’t been there, if his will hadn’t been as strong as it was, the man’s entire being would have been smothered and snuffed out already.

They all would have. That was what I realized in that moment. Arthur wasn’t only keeping himself together. It wasn’t only his own soul that his light was protecting. Somehow, he was drawing more of that darkness away from his people, away from Shiori and Asenath, away from everyone. Not just his soldiers, but the entire city. Sure, he wasn’t taking all of it, that darkness was still engulfing Camelot. But he was taking enough to keep them alive. The power of Tartarus, even this pale echo of a shadow peeking through its connection to Invidia, would have left the city and all its people empty husks. Arthur Pendragon prevented that. He stood against that darkness, pulling it into himself. It took everything he had, everything he was, just to keep that single candle lit. A single candle standing against the ocean of Tartarus, keeping itself, and thus the entirety of Camelot, alive. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t fight, but he could shield his people. He could stand there and take the force of a tidal wave that would have destroyed his entire city and everyone in it. A tidal wave of darkness and despair sent by an entire sapient universe. Even if he barely withstood it, he still withstood it.

Now, with the reassurance that I pushed into that man, that single candle burned just a bit brighter. The almost-doused flame was joined by another. Then another, and another. More candles appeared, spreading from room to room. Soon, the house of Arthur’s soul was blazing as brightly as it ever had. His determination rekindled even stronger than it had ever been, and that light was pushed into the others around us and throughout the rest of this glorious city.

At one point, I’d asked what powers a Dragon Heretic actually had, beyond being incredibly strong both physically and in magic, and their ability to boost themselves and others. That boost itself was impressive enough, of course. It allowed them to, once per day, invest a bit of power either into their own body or someone else and permanently make them stronger. Their own abilities, their physical strength, their magical energy, all of it. The Dragon Heretic could make their allies better in every respect. That was what the crystal from Ehn had contained, a piece of his boost. And it was why Gwen was as strong as she was. Well, not just that. She was pretty damn powerful all on her own, being a Griffin-Heretic. But with Arthur’s boost, she was even stronger. Strong enough to stand up against a Committee member like Ruthers after only being a Boscher Heretic for less than a year.

So yeah, the boost was useful. But as far as other powers went, what I had been told was that Dragon-Heretics possessed the powers of the classic elements. Fire, water, earth, and air. Which, to be honest, had almost seemed unimpressive when compared to the much more esoteric powers I had witnessed over these past couple years. Sure, someone who could control the four elements was strong, but when put against those other gifts, were they really that big of a deal? To learn that the primary, outward powers used by Dragon-Heretics were that… simple had seemed to be almost a disappointment.

Well, I was about to learn just how wrong I was about that.

With a single thought, Arthur ignited Excalibur with fire. But this wasn't just a simple flame. Because what I had misunderstood was the sheer scope of what was meant when they said that a dragon Heretic could control the four elements. The entire concept of four classic elements had always been a bit esoteric, to be honest. When it was said that Arthur could manipulate fire, that included light. Now, when he used that gift on his sword, the weapon ignited with a flash akin to the brightness of the sun itself. Such light would have blinded everyone present, but his control extended as far as protecting everyone in the city from the side effects of his own illumination. The light did not blind them because he chose not to let it.

What the light did do, however, was banish that darkness. It breached through every crack and corner of the entire city, illuminating the whole place. Every inch of Camelot was suddenly made to be as bright as if it was under a spotlight. Those shadows that had enveloped the city were chased away, destroyed by the light from his sword.

When that flash dampened just a bit, the city was still illuminated by the sword, but somewhat dimmer. Everything was still lit up, it was just more like a soft lamp than a spotlight. The shadows had been chased back to their source, back into Invidia.

Of course, she wasn't here alone. Even discounting her link to Tartarus, she had brought a literal army of undead creatures with her. And the city was still covered with all those spells she had prepared over all those years. Spells that were making those creatures even stronger.

That was when the storm came. Because controlling water and air meant Arthur could manipulate the weather on a grand scale. The clouds appeared and rain began to pour. Yet this wasn't any ordinary rain. Somehow, the water sought out all those scrawled and etched runes, every single bit of Invidia's spellwork, and washed them away, erasing them.

Nor was it only the rain doing that. It took more than water. The parts that were drawn could be erased, but some of the spells were carved into stone and metal. They didn't last any longer than the parts that were washed by the rain. Because Arthur could control earth. Which, in reality, meant he could manipulate metal, stone, anything like that. Everywhere throughout the entire city, any spot that had been etched on for these spells first quivered a bit, then the etchings were wiped away as the metal and stone bits pushed themselves out and stretched to undo them.

Just like that, through his control over water and earth, the sources of the spells were being erased. Thousands of spell etchings were completely erased and undone throughout all of Camelot. Arthur controlled the storm to wash away what was written, and manipulated every building, street, and other bit of architecture to erase the etchings.

Of course, that left the ghosts and undead monsters that had already been summoned and were spread through the city. But Arthur wasn't done. Beneath every zombie or similar monster, the ground opened up. Great holes appeared under those creatures and swallowed them. If they were standing on the rooftops, powerful winds knocked them down to those holes. The Earth took them in and then returned to its normal state, pushing them down into itself before the holes were covered up once more.

That left the ghosts, the ones that weren't under my own control. Fortunately, I had realized the danger and sent them away in time. That only left the ones controlled by Invidia. Thousands of ghosts all together, spread everywhere in the city to do as much damage as possible.

Or they would have, but Arthur’s control over fire apparently included magical fire. Like ghost-fire. Those familiar flames appeared all over the city. Thousands of ghosts were enveloped in the fires and burned away.

All of that happened in the span of only a few seconds as Arthur ignited his sword and summoned his power. The darkness from Tartarus was banished, the spells were washed away or physically broken, the monsters were swallowed by the Earth, and the ghosts were burned. Just like that, what had taken Invidia years to prepare was simply wiped away in a handful of moments. Everything she had made, everything she had prepared, was gone.

And boy was the Whisper not happy about that. Or maybe it was Tartarus that wasn't happy. Possibly both of them. Either way, Invidia made a horrific animal screeching noise that seemed to cut right through me. She was physically staring at Arthur, but I was pretty sure I was the one she was actually looking at inside of him. The hate and rage in her gaze was enough to make me freeze up. She said nothing, but her silence communicated more than words could have. She loathed me. Was part of that because she had absorbed that other me and her feelings were some sort of corruption from that? Did she have versions of the rest of the Flique in her head talking to her all the time? Did that get passed on to her as well?

It wasn't clear. But what was clear was that she wanted me to suffer and die as painfully as possible. What was also clear was that it wouldn't happen today. Not with Arthur here. Her army was gone, and all of the spells she had prepared were wiped away. She still had her connection to Tartarus, but it was a tenuous one. Maybe if it was stronger, Arthur's light wouldn't have been able to so easily chase it away, but it wasn't. She had a very faint link to that evil place, and it was made even weaker by the blazing sword held in the king’s hand.

All of which meant she had no choice but to flee. And that was precisely what she did. With that last hateful look, she used my own teleportation power once more and vanished. Just like that, she was gone. I knew we would see her again. Hell, maybe other versions of me already had. Other versions she hadn't immediately absorbed, that was. They wouldn't have Arthur with them, so…

So now really wasn't the time to think about that. Instead, I did the only sane thing I could and immediately ejected myself out of Arthur. I had refused to even try to read his thoughts or in any way influence him aside from letting the man feel what I did from my connection to all my other selves. I had done what was necessary to give him the added boost he had needed to fully break free from the smothering influence of Tartarus. Now, I was going to leave him alone.

As soon as I appeared, Shiori, Asenath, and Aylen, all in their disguised forms, joined me. Which left us standing in front of Arthur and all of his knights, who had formed up behind the man.

“Well,” the Once And Future King began while staring at me intently, “perhaps it might be possible… to get a few answers about what exactly is happening in our land. And about who you people are.”

My mouth opened and shut before I found myself straightening to my full disguised height. “Your majesty,” I began while giving the best, most dramatic bow I could, “my name is Jacob.

“And I have to say, you absolutely live up to the hype.”