CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 26

“I said…PERISH!”

Julia stared up at the hurtling blaze that was Johnny Victoris, the Champion of the Radiant One she and many others across the universe worshipped.

He struck the Rift Eater dead in its head, pumped it full of the golden flames of the Radiant One manifested through him as he plummeted. Julia gulped at the sight. All through this battle she worried about him, panicked and feared for his safety even more than the civilians he rescued.

Johnny was not the first Champion she’d seen, in fact, he was not even the second or third. But he was the first Champion this planet had been given. With the Radiant One’s waning powers it was a blessing to have the attention of anyone of the other Champions she’d gifted to her planets across the universe. That’s how Nsukka had survived so long, even with nearly seventy percent of its inhabitants sent away to other planets and pocket dimensions and refuges and the rest…dead.

The dead continued to pile up with each passing day because the Champions Nsukka borrowed inevitably had to return to the planets they were sworn to protect and thus…Nsukka was left to those like her, Orion and the other Wardens. But they alone would never be enough to beat back the Devouring Darkness’s thirstful expansion. She’d never say this aloud much less let Johnny know but they’d failed to protect this planet and they sorely needed a Champion to redeem them.

Boom!

The ground thundered as he landed. “Johnny!” Margaret screamed for him. Her wings spread and with a flap she took off after him.

Julia freed her sword from the back of the dead Rift Eater she’d fought, the Radiance waning as she tucked her powers away. With a flick of her wrists the swords disappeared and replacing them was her trusty staff, she’d need it to take care of him— Champion or no, that encounter would have hurt like hell.

But more importantly— Julia looked up at the whirring, vibrating Void Portal. There were no more shamans around to empower it or coax out Rift Eaters from whatever hellscape was on the other end but that didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous. The very energy that radiated off of it was enough to corrupt less beings into Rift Eaters and left unattended, one might just walk through on one’s own.

We need to close it soon.

There was a tickle on his cheek and nose. It made him want to sneeze but there was hardly any breath left in him— he found that fact odd and alarming. It meant he wasn’t breathing after all. There was a throbbing ache at the back of his head, it ran down his spine all the way to his butt.

Johnny recalled what happened last. He’d fallen and from a height humans like him typically wouldn’t survive. It became clear to him that the ache was the buzzing numbness, the sensation his brother Jamie and his old competitor Charles had described as the tingling loss of movement, the last embers of mobility.

I’m paralyzed… Johnny thought to himself. Hardly in shock at the revelation he’d come to but surprised all the same. Another, errant thought passed through his mind. Maybe mom will finally forgive me. If I’m stuck in a wheelchair like Jamie then….I’ve gotten what I deserve now…haven’t I?

He felt a tear roll down his cheek at the thought of her acceptance. He wasn’t sure if it would be pathetic if that’s how he finally earned his place back home or justified.

A gentle finger wiped that tear away. His eyes fluttered and above him was an angel…a horned angel. Confusion beset him but not for long as another angel came into his blurry field of vision. Her hair hung off the side of her shoulders like a waterfall and her lips, plump and so certainly soft whispered something beyond his ringing ears.

Both angels spoke in garbled, far flung words and just as Johnny began to remember their names, they pressed their pair of glowing hands against his chest.

“Here, drink this.” Margaret said, handing him a water bottle.

“Thank you.” His throat was parched, a veritable desert and the first drop of water against it hurt as much as it relieved. He hadn’t thought of the effects of wielding such bright burning Radiance until now, this was the first time he’d gotten to wake up right after acting as the Radiant One’s Avatar, as her Champion.

I could do without the side effects. Johnny groaned as he twisted, his back cracked, his arms popped, and his neck felt like it was lopsided. “Why don’t I heal my own wounds? I thought that power was…I don’t know…power?”

Julia, whose face had been a statue of worry, lightened up with a smile. She walked up to him and ran her fingers through his hair. “The Radiant One’s power is all encompassing, but it isn’t infinite…not anymore, not with the Loathing One acting against her.”

Margaret nodded. “That’s why our powers and specialties can be the same or different. It’s become rare that one person, even the Champion, wields all the powers and abilities the Radiant One has to offer. But you heal fast enough, just not…broken back and skull fast.”

Johnny couldn’t help but chuckle. He stared at his legs where he sat atop a rock, he was yet to fully test them, but it was obvious— These two angels performed a miracle on me.

“Hey…if…is it possible to heal someone that’s already been…as injured as I was for a long time?” Johnny asked. Julia stepped away, her grip on her staff tightening as she shook her head. “Yeah…I figured it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“I’m sorry Johnny.” She said, “The only people capable of that are certain other Champions in the universe and the Radiant One herself. So don’t give up hope, you might get to petition them one day, on behalf of the one you wish to heal.”

“Thanks…I’ll…I’ll look forward to it.” Johnny said meekly, trying to hold onto that sliver of hope she offered.

A soft silence blanketed them for a moment as Johnny stewed in his thoughts. He felt their eyes on him, the worry behind it. It was unnecessary, they’d already healed him after all. And though his back still hurt a bit and his head felt like he’d been dropped as a child, the superficial cuts, burns and other wounds on his body had vanished.

He let out a deep breath and stood, steadying himself against the wave of vertigo that threatened to send him toppling and then pointed at their last duty— the Void Portal.

“It’s about time we close that, isn’t it?” Julia and Margaret nodded, following his finger to stare at the Void Portal. “How do we do it?”

Here Julia and Margaret shared a smile. “Usually, we’d channel our Radiance to dilute its Void, it takes a lot but it gets the job done.” Margaret said.

“This time though, we’ll be channeling our Radiance through you. We promised a learning opportunity on Void Portals didn’t we? This is it, come.”

Johnny groaned. He was once eager to wield Radiance in all its might but now, after feeling its immediate side effects, he was less than enthused. Still he walked right behind the two grinning wardens until they arrived at the Void Portal.

The dead, broken and sliced bodies of the shamans, Ogres and Rift Eaters soaked the floor with blood. He tried not to step in it but it was useless.

An unsteady wind billowed from within the Void Portal, sending hives across Johnny’s skin. He shivered. “What now?”

Julia handed him her staff, it was a white-gold weapon of power tipped by an innocent looking lotus flower. Johnny handled the staff in his hand, finding that even with his new strength it still managed to be heavy— By the way she swings it around, I’d have thought it was as light as it looked.

The body seemed to be wooded, at least the slim percentage of it that closed in on the protruding lotus and its petals. The rest seemed to be some kind of smoothened metal. Julia leaned around him, propping his elbow higher and higher until his arms levied the lotus tipped staff at the Void Portal.

“Don’t let go now. Margaret and I are going to invest our Radiance through you.” She said as bluntly as her grasp around his waist turned.

“Wait what—” Johnny looked back, finding Margaret’s hands pressed against Julia’s squared shoulders, an excited but serious look on her face blossomed the moment the two Warden’s arms began to glow.

Johnny felt the surge of Radiance in him instantaneously. It radiated from where Julia fed it— her arm around his waist was warming up to a blistering heat yet it didn’t harm him, instead he felt the power swell as it rushed to his centre, his core.

“Johnny, don’t hold it in.” Julia said and pointed at the Void Portal.

“Oh, just…like that then.” He muttered dumbly. “Alright, here goes— whoa!”

At Julia’s request he channeled the power into the lotus tipped staff and found that it hungered for Radiance and power. It took all Johnny had to give and demanded more as its lotus bloomed right that instant, releasing a blast of unfiltered yet concentrated Radiance from its bud.

The blast drowned against the Void Portal, at first it seemed like nothing was happening, that they’d merely shot a rainbow of pure energy into the unfazed Void but that wasn’t true. After a second of continued Radiance absorption, the Void Portal began to sizzle and groan.

A sound like nothing Johnny had ever heard, like the crackle of a potato chip and the moaning of a downed buffalo, the Void Portal twisted onto itself, its edges folding layer after layer. “It’s…eating itself.” Johnny marvelled at the physic defying sight.

It took less than a minute before its edges were right upon each other and Johnny couldn’t help but think about it. It looks like a red, pulsing arsehole.

Julia and Margaret stopped fueling him with Radiance, leaving him to stand alone against the sore supernatural thing. Julia nodded at him. “Good, don’t let up for one second until its—!”

POP!

Its self destruction was near deafening. The implosion sent a final wave of eerie energy bathing the cavern before a distinct silence took reign. Johnny turned to his Wardens and found proud faces, even on Margaret.

“Well done, Champion! I’d say you’re halfway competent.”

“Hey! I fought a Rift Eater for you, I’m a bit more than that.”

Julia smirked at him. “Perhaps, Nsukka is bracing to find out, let's go now. We can’t spend all day here.”

Johnny shuddered at the errant thought of being there any longer. “Yeah, those people must be waiting for us.”

Margaret shrugged. “Maybe some of them will.”

“Huh? You sound like you don’t think they’re there.” Johnny was getting really good at picking up the undertone meanings behind his Warden’s words. They behaved a certain way when they were trying to encourage his naivety, Margaret especially did this for her entertainment.

She chuckled but didn’t say anything as they walked out the path they’d come in. The mine tunnels had been damaged, a few supports collapsed but nothing Margaret's explosive punches couldn’t send flying away. He was just grateful none of it fell before the people escaped.

The sun was still up and its harsh rays greeted them at the exit of the mine. The bullet-ridden bodies of the Goblins that first greeted them lay on the ground and the Voyager stood where Johnny left it with nothing else living or dead to be seen.

“Where…did everyone go?” Johnny muttered. “Even the kids are gone. Did they go back to their village?”

Julia shook her head. “No, Johnny. They’re gone, maybe together, individually. I don’t know but they’re gone.”

She said it like it was a common occurrence. “Is this something that always happens?”

“It’s rarer there’s someone waiting, especially when they aren’t told to.” She said numbly flashing her staff and strapped bow into whatever temporal space they resided in when not in use.

Margaret patted his shoulders. “I know how you feel. You’re expecting some big heroes thanks or a chorus of gratitude—”

“What? No, I’m not—”

“—but such things are trivial when you’ve lived a life in bondage and fear for Radiant knows how long. They’re free now and they’re gone to use their freedom, that’s all that matters.”

“What about…” Johnny let his arguments die as it dawned on him that even if they did linger around to see who triumphs. He couldn’t help every one of them, it was beyond him and worse, a distraction from the true purpose of their journey.

“I guess you’re right. Let’s get going then, to HQ.”