“Are we ready?” Xêvioso asks. They are in the Shifting Planes of the Disc of Lêgba and Xêvioso is with Alia, the Hyperion.
“It’s just us,” Alia says. “Unless we find Pultine, it’s just us with the light power. Or me, do you have light power?”
Xêvioso raises a hand, palm up and fingers flexed as golden yellow energy rages up from his palm.
“That’s not my power. Or the power that Pultine had,” Alia says, eyeing the magic at Xêvioso’s hand.
“It isn’t?” Xêvioso says skeptically. “Show me.”
Alia’s eyes begin to illuminate and become yellow-white balls in the sockets. Xêvioso is kneeling already, but dips his head low for a closer look at the Earther’s eyes.
“Pultine is a mmoatia,” he says as he observes closely, “so her magic is allied green, but she and her sisters have the spark of the Luminary Aziza inside of them. Her magic isn’t just green, which is why Pultine shoots golden light, like this. The Halfyn Heir, he wields elemental magic and could possibly learn to focus his powers to cure the taint of the dark enemy. I would assume that there is another mmoatia with the light ability as well, but Ahdis and Tracia are helping out in other ways. The Ram Warrior, Djallon, she seems to be imbued with Pultine’s energy. I’m not sure how long it will last if she has to expend it to cure someone, but we may be able to refuel her in the same way that Pultine gifted her powers. And if Djallon is capable of absorbing and using this magic, maybe there are other Fonlanders here who can do the same.”
“Great, so I didn’t do a good job,” Alia says sarcastically.
“I was just thinking about the issue differently than you, and I imagine with more information, I didn’t ask you to shame you,” Xêvioso says, afraid that he had insulted her.
“That’s not how I meant it, but thanks, your Vodunness, I appreciate you thinking of my feelings. The more time I spend with you the less I feel compelled to bow and cower away from your awesomeness. Not to mention that you are the most handsome man that I have ever laid eyes on…”
“We should get back to the task at hand, though I too appreciate our candor and hope that it serves us in the endeavor at hand.”
“A little too comfortable,” Alia says with a laugh, “got it. So we find others with this golden yellow magic and what’s the plan? We just do it all over again?”
“The battle was closely monitored and even though our force was sizable, we were tracking everyone of you in the Meta Chamber. We know who has been infected and we know where to find them. Our team will cure everyone still alive and immediately exfiltrate them back here to the Shifting Planes. While we work to make sure everyone is recovered, we will also deploy three additional Vodun and their factions armed to tackle that wall. These factions will wield enough power to seriously impact it and hopefully eradicate it completely. I will lead our faction against the wall once we have done our work.”
“That all sounds like strategy,” Alia says, wanting to feel hopeful, but she had witnessed the wall up close and it seemed impossible to destroy. “Are you confident this will work? That no more of us will be lost to that thing?”
Xêvioso nods thoughtfully. “I am certain. You will witness the power of the Vodun unleashed and it will be amplified considerably by the factions that join us. Four of us in person and empowered by beings aligned with us should be more than enough to do what needs to be done.”
Alia smiles at him. He is reassuring and she decides not to hug him to maintain their professional distance.
“Obviously, Agê should be the one going in, but we can’t pull her away from Talj,” Gu says. He is with the other Vodun minus Agê and Xêvioso as they decide who will lead factions into Talj for a second round. “But I will go, I know something of Death Magic. Who else?”
“I can channel the golden yellow magic of Xêvioso,” Jo says confidently, “I will go as well.”
“Lêgba can’t go,” Sakpata says, “it’s obvious his magic is susceptible to the infection and we can’t risk the Pito obtaining the powers of the Vodun. We should really ask ourselves if this is worth the effort. We have intel that will help us at the source of all of this and maybe we can save them all if we just ready ourselves to go at the source as soon as you all receive word from Paradise.”
“I would like to depend on that as well,” Lêgba says gravely, “but we can’t. Even if Ogi finds the source of this thing right now, we don’t currently have the forces necessary to attack it, and we aren’t even sure what level of power that would take. Saving Talj will give us a better idea and when that is done, we can continue our search if we haven’t found it already. Besides, Talj won’t survive further infection and everything there is as good as lost if we don’t go back. Are we ok to just leave those we sent into that fight?”
“I am not,” Sakpata says. “I will go to Talj and our forces will be restored. We are wise to debate these issues aloud, it is important that we share in this effort and talk things through.”
“Then I guess I am also going,” Agbe says. “I know the green quite well, I have a copy of the grimoire on my island.”
“Very well,” Gu says. “Recruit among the assembled, and remember, we need to channel as much power as we can so think very big.”
“This is not a good plan,” the Vodun hear, and the voice that says it is loud enough to be heard throughout the Shifting Planes. Everyone turns to look at the source, at Maxx the Superguardian. He looks at the Vodun and Gu glares at him from a distance.
“You think that the Blight Maker gives you great insights? You are mistaken. The longer you wield the weapon, the more likely you are to lose yourself completely.”
“With all due respect, I beg to differ. I find myself with the Blight Maker and I have never known clarity like this.”
“I believe him,” Owuo says and all eyes shift to him. “That weapon was made to steal my power over Death, the Death Witches hoped to use it to become more powerful than the Vodun. But that weapon doesn’t need my Death Magic. Somehow, it was completed in Kutmome and this being is more powerful than me. He is the Vodun of Death if the Fonlands has one.”
“Let’s get something straight,” Gu says, “no one but the Mother-Father decides who is and isn’t a Vodun.”
“You have to feel his power,” Jo says. “Even if he is not a Vodun, Owuo is right, this being, the Superguardian, wields awesome power.”
“There is no need for the Vodun to risk themselves in Talj,” Maxx continues. “Pultine is there, and Alia and I can do what needs to be done. We only need extraction for those we heal and for ourselves.”
“The more healers the better,” Xêvioso says.
“I disagree, you will only put them at risk. I have the Violet magic of Owo, Pultine wields the Green of Agê, and Alia the Gold of Xêvioso. We can heal and destroy as needed.”
“On a universal scale?” Xêvioso asks.
“If you wash Alia, it will greatly improve her ability…”
“Wash me?” Alia says skeptically.
“It’s a process by which you will be inundated with my magic,” Xêvioso explained. “Why would we have you three risk everything?”
“Because if I am wrong, the Fonlands will not fall as a result. If you are wrong, everyone here is as good as dead. I don’t doubt the awesome power of the Vodun, but I know the awesome power of our enemy and we cannot risk losing any of you. I will return to Talj to find Pultine, and once Alia has been bathed in Golden magic, send her in as well. We will cure and save everyone lost, including Zacchaeus, and you will bring them back here. Once they are here, we will unleash the Violet, Green and Gold to save Talj once and for all.”
The Vodun are speechless, but they all look to Xêvioso who nods solemnly then looks to Alia.
“It’s Essence Washing, it’s a magic process…”
“Let’s go somewhere private,” Alia grumbles.
Issac Washington, the Arcana Master, sends Maxx back to Talj and every being of the Shifting Planes is glued to the screen Issac creates that shows Maxx arriving at the battlefront they had fled. He is swarmed by black figures, there are gasps from the gathered, but the Blight Maker explodes with violet magic and the figures caught therein are immobilized as the energy moves through them, leaving them less black.
“Is that Ali?” the Halfyn Heir yells and sure enough, Ali has been freed of the taint by the violet energy. “There’s others, too, I recognize them.”
Issac moves his hands and transports the newly freed beings to the quarantine where they are carefully inspected by the Vodun who clear them.
“This is remarkable,” Agbe says to Jo and Gu.
“This is only the beginning,” Jo says.
PRL Serials 