PRL Serials

I wasn’t doing much. There wasn’t much for me to do. All of my training and preparation for the moment and I found myself just a glorified spectator as Jo and the Luminaries plotted against an enemy that could adapt and grow stronger in the face of any power, and as Gleti and her Orbitals seemingly destroyed the black wall of death that Une had used to rip the Talj Junction universe in two. Gleti, the moon goddess, was able to create a wall of vibrating hard lights that annihilated the black wall as it entered the aether around Aido Hwedo. Gleti had summoned the Luminary Aziza Obea to contribute to the lights that were hardened in the standing waves she generated from her body. Obea brought a swarm of keli, a kin of glowing beetle from the forests of the Disc of Agê where they had settled long ago after migrating from the Disc of Jo. The keli glowed in coordinated rhythms and they synced perfectly with Gleti’s standing wave, creating a vision of immense beauty to repel a wall of death. Une’s black wall would advance across existence corrupting anything that it touched, but Gleti, Obea and the keli created a wall of light that was bright enough to illuminate and incinerate the forces of Une that formed the wall.  

I was wowed by the clash of arcane energies all around me and even the form of the enemy that had entered the aether outside of Aido Hwedo, Unea, trapped in glass that Jo had created in her star form, was a sight to behold. Unea has a shapely female form and she is beautiful to look at if you can divorce her countenance from her disposition. Trapped inside of the pristine glass, she was a work of art, even when the glass began to crack. 

“Where is Anansi?” Jo asked. 

“Obatala is bringing him…” as Nyame was responding, a black portal exploded in their vicinity, causing a poof of black smoke that dissipated quickly.

“Lêgba?!” Jo shouted with a mix of aggravation and surprise. “Why are you here, and what is different about you? Who is that with you?”

Lêgba, the unpredictable Vodun living up to his name, was accompanied by Lorv of the Supreme Mmoatia of the Disc of Agê and even I was curious what was happening. They both exhibited a strange black magic that was infused with Violet magic almost like a static that sparked in the black smoke. Another wonder to behold, but it was also strange and seemed ill advised because of the black magic vulnerability to Une and her mind control. 

“I am Lorv of the Rocky Forests, tamer of the Death Flame and herald of Lêgba, bearer of the awesome power of the Mysticisms of Rycoia.” 

I hadn’t seen a member of the Supreme Mmoatia coursing with so much power since Pultine raged through Une’s forces in the Talj Junction. 

“You do have a new power,” Jo said to him and he nodded with a knowing smile. “We need to convert the magic that is contained in Unea,” she indicated toward their enemy in glass. “If we can kill Unea after converting her magic, it should deprive Une of the energy she has pumped into Unea. If we just kill her, then Unea can respawn more powerful than ever.”

“That is happening with the wall of death,” Lêgba said and stared at Gleti’s breathtaking wall of Orbitals. “As Gleti and her team destroy it, more things are arriving to reinforce it. That is why Gleti called Obea and the keli, she needs more power to sustain her wall of light.”

“I should add my light,” Nyame said and turned toward the position that I held with Damballa who was still in his serpent form, and the planet Mosu that was glowing with white light. “You and Mosu should help too while we figure out how to beat it all for good.”

Damballa agreed and he wrapped Mosu as the three of them traveled in Gleti’s direction. I joined the Vodun and Lorv.

“We sent for Anansi because of his strength with the Black,” Jo explained to Lêgba. “But you are probably much better suited now to try out our theory. Can you change her magic? Make it so it doesn’t instantly go back to Une or any of her forces?”

Lêgba looked to Lorv who answered for him. “The power of the Mysticisms can transform Une.” She led us all to float closer to the cracking glass that encased Unea. “But we have to give it to something else. No matter the type of magic we change it into, if he does it here, it will force the pattern to compensate which would send shock waves through it that can be devastating even if temporary.”

“We can’t risk a partial transformation either,” Lêgba said. “Nothing in the aether of the Fonlands can absorb this power because of the risk that she can mutate back into what she was.”

“Change it to force outside of everything,” I offered. “It will just be energy dissipating to nothing.”

“That would be perfect if not for the arcana involved,” Jo explained. “It would be force that can dissipate, but it is arcane force, which is unpredictable. I wonder if turning it to passive magic would work, I sense that the Mysticisms, the source of your new powers, utilized gray magic effectively to conceal an awful power. You reek of the Ajogun, brother. Tell me they have not returned to the Fonlands.”

“From the other realm,” Lêgba said with a nod and he put a hand on Jo’s shoulder when she scoffed and crossed her arms. “But the Mysticisms are the Fonlanders tasked with containing them, and they have lent me the collective powers of the Ajogun, and of the Mysticisms themselves. What about life magic outside of everything? Far away from anything it could latch onto, it can’t last long.”

“Until it is death magic outside of everything with the foundation of Une’s consciousness in its memory floating around, that is a recipe for disaster.” Jo was frustrated and it was obvious that she wished she could just blast Unea to nothing. “Une can’t corrupt the pattern,” she said and the expression on her face changed to one of sudden delight. “No matter what, turning her to pure pattern magic that is incorporated into the ubiquitous pattern will only purge her from existence.”

“But how do I know if I’m making her into the precise magic that will be incorporated into the pure pattern and not just making her into something more powerful than she already is?” Lêgba was very concerned. “I don’t doubt that I can change her in her current state, but we need to act quickly to avoid the possibility of her being strong enough to rebuff even my magic. I do doubt that I comprehend the pattern well enough to make it all into the proper magic that is invisible and contributes to existence. I am not adept enough in the pattern to do this.”

“I think Xêvioso would be able, and Sakpata, and then I would be the most capable after those two. And we have the Arcane Wizard here with us,” Jo said and she grabbed my wrist, and lifted my arm like I was her champion. “Maybe with our knowledge combined, we can simulate Xêvioso’s understanding and just siphon her right into the pure pattern. It is worth a shot.”

Lêgba nodded and turned all of his attention on Unea in glass and Lorv floated to be opposite him when beams of prismatic violet energy with a dark black core shot off from each of them and into the glass, instantly shattering it, sending shards to dust. The violet energy slammed into Unea from two sides and she hardly reacted, it was clear that she hadn’t had enough time to regain her bearing before Lêgba and Lorv filled her with black magic that filled her frame. She seemed to swell, the features of her face obscured and she no longer appeared to be a sentient being, but a spongey cover over writing energy tinted purple, yellow and green. Eventually, the flow of energy into Unea stopped and her form was a chaos of changing forms that eventually split, spilling a brilliant golden light. Both Jo and I had a hand on each of Lêgba’s shoulders and we all watched as the brilliant gold began to adjust to just the right frequency that it disappeared, and the pattern in the area where we were located in the aether became apparent and shimmered yellow gold as all of the energy of Unea was changed and absorbed.   

We had done it. We stopped Unea for good, and Une had lost considerable power that was now part of the pattern. It was clear that Lêgba was taxed from the whole endeavor, he had done the transmogrify and the rest of us had only aided him in the task to be precise with the conversion of Une’s power into the pure pattern. Lêgba had over powered Unea and he needed time to recuperate. 

“We need to do the same to the wall, but I’m not comfortable letting any other black magic user do what you just did,” Jo says. “We will have to reinforce the light wall until you are strong enough to take Gleti’s place.”

Lorv helped Lêgba fly back to the Fonlands to recoup his strength and I followed Jo as she went to join the Fonlanders making the wall of light.

“I have to show them what we did,” I said to Jo. “I have to go to the Une-verse.”

“There are no black magic users as powerful as Lêgba in the une-verse,” Jo said. 

“Lorv could do what Lêgba did to Unea to the wall of death,” I said. “You felt the power she wielded. The new power they both have has amplified their abilities considerably.”

“And Lorv is not a black magic wielder,” Jo protested. “Green tinted black at best and they need more than that. They would need to free the Ajogun that have been stewing in that particular brand of black magic for a very long time now.”

“They sound like the Death Witches,” I said, “the mmoatia freed them to help with this fight and they are in the Une-verse now. I will take the Ajogun to the Une-verse. The Needy that Zaccaheus brought to the Fonlands is still in the Smiting Chamber. It is extremely powerful now and I can wrap myself in it for protection. What we did just now is big, it is what we needed to sway this in our favor. The work that Sakpata is doing to rid Une of the multiverse is necessary and important, but we know that it is also sending power back to Une. We have to show them all what we did to start chipping away at Une’s power for good. You are here with Lêgba and Lorv to keep the Fonlands safe, but we need to make sure that our forces in the Une-verse can end her.”

“Go to the Disc of Lêgba and find Gu. We will all make this decision together.” Jo flew to the wall of light to reinforce and I went back to the Fonlands, flying as fast as I could.  

I landed on the Disc of Sakpata and used a spell to move quickly through the passages in the mountains, deep into the caverns and caves where the Needy had taken up residence when we first arrived here. Zacchaeus still wielded considerable power, the Needy is Zacchaeus’s eternal protector as gratitude for Zacchaeus bringing him to the Fonlands, but the Needy’s physical form is an oily, slick mass of black that creeps around the extensive caverns of the Disc of Sakpata like a sentient web. I discovered that it had spread a vast stretch of the caverns, and I decided to find a space comfortable for me to sit so I could summon it to gather its form enough that we could talk. My previous encounters with the Needy in our home universe were scarce, but I knew it to be an entity that consumed living beings to fuel its existence. In the caves of Sakpata, the Needy was more gray than black and it didn’t feel threatening like I remembered. 

“You look different,” the Needy said in the humanoid form it held on a rock opposite me in the cavern. “The Fonlands have changed us all.”

“I like what the Divine Essence has made you. You seem to like it yourself.”

“I have never been better,” the oily form said in its wet voice that was unpleasant to hear. It was a strange phenomenon and made me think of slimy things. “I am lucky to have found this place. I have found my purpose, I am part of the caves, soaking up everything that may have been lost in the dark crevices. The Fonlands has rewarded my presence by welcoming me and I will never leave.”

“Then it is good that I have come. You must know what threatens us, the battle has been raging for months now. Lêgba and Jo managed to end the enemy for good by changing it into Pattern magic that was consumed by the pure pattern which is only visible to those who can see it. It took the power of two Vodun, the Mysticisms, me, and an aboatia to do it and Lêgba was exhausted by it. The Fonlands should be safe, though I want to go to the home of the enemy and join our forces there to show them how to do what Lêgba managed.”

“Lêgba should go,”  the Needy said, now on the edge of his seat and eager to find a solution. “I have heard about the weakness of black magic against the enemy, so if he has overcome it, who better to face it?”

“You,” I said. “I can sense that you have used your time here to grow more powerful, and you entered the Fonlands as a being of immense power that impressed the Vodun. Together, we can do what Lêgba did, but I think that we should take some of the power of the Mysticisms, it accelerates the transformation of black magic.”

“I don’t know about entering a battle,” the Needy said with apprehension. “Since I’ve been here, it’s been all peace and cooperation. I don’t have a warrior’s instincts anymore.”

“You need to find it, Jit,” I said, using the name he had before his transformation into the Needy so long ago. “Zacchaues is in the Une-verse. I know how to stop the enemy and I know we can do it together. Your presence will be very unexpected and put us at an advantage. Come with me so that we can all fight together one last time.”

The Needy agreed, though he had apprehensions. I continued to the Disc of Lêgba, wrapped in the power of the Needy, and Lêgba, Lorv, Owuo and Jo were waiting for me in the changing desert close to the exterior of the Celestial Library. Aku, the giant Golden Orb Weaver, was there in her large web. 

“It has been decided that Owuo will travel with you,” Lêgba said. “Lorv and I will remain here until the threat is done, and then we will find the home of the one known as Alia that is also under assault by Une. The Smiting Chamber identified an attack larger than the one we face in her home universe and we will go there to help them. Jo will accompany me.”

“So the threat of Une to the Fonlands is over?” I asked with disbelief. 

Jo nodded. “We will remain here until we know for sure that there is no new threat to the Fonlands, but Gleti’s Orbitals have been infused with the magic of the Mysticisms and even that threat should be done soon.”

“Those flowers are impressive,” I said. “Will we have their power when we go to the Une-verse?”

“We will have the Ajogun themselves,” Owuo smirked. “The Mysticisms convinced Lêgba and Lorv to let the Ajogun out, but only in the Une-verse. We will have all of them to fight Une.”

“Releasing them doesn’t extinguish their power or the flowers?” I asked.

“No,” Lêgba said. “You two…”

“Three,” I interjected at the behest of the Needy that I could hear in my mind and who could apparently speak through my mouth when I was wrapped in him. 

“You three will take the vase of eight Mysticisms to the Une-verse along with eight powerful wielders of black magic. The Mysticisms will release each of the Ajogun’s essences and bestow them to the black magic wielders; the flowers should be given to eight Green magic wielders and you will follow whatever plan the Vodun there are enacting. You will rendezvous with the one known as Tenebrous when you arrive in the Une-verse. There was an attack on our forces there, but Tenebrous and others are waiting to take you to Xêvioso.”

“Shall we get going?” Owuo asked and I was ready to finally see the home of the enemy.