The entity focused its will and Kazyr cried out beneath the pressure of its mind. "Steady!" Jia called, raising her wings to either side as though to protect him from tangible harm.
Sadoul raised his hands before him, chanting the words to a spell. Lightning crackled around him for the briefest of moments before he let it surge from him in a massive rush. The magic struck the cleansing light of the Maker and roiled off like surf against the rocks. Sadoul fumed. "How do we hurt this thing?"
Ghaleon's voice came tightly through the magical contact Lucia's wristlets formed as he completed a spell of warding. "Perhaps another type of magic would work better?"
The Maker's light glowed a bright blue for an instant and shuddered.
"Fire does not live without air," said Sadoul. His voice rose in volume as if that would help carry his message through space. "We have no wind, no earth, and if what we see is the Maker's own body, then the cold of space does not harm him either."
Kazyr shook his head, struggling against the oppression in his mind. "We cannot leave the safety of the dragons, otherwise I'd try physically fighting it."
The light flared blue again. This time the body reacted violently, sucking in upon itself and whirling its glowing extremities in a maddening dance. Waves of anger frothed from the core, washing over the dragons and wizards in an emotional storm. They felt the fury of being denied, but they felt also the intense desire for a universe without war, a time when everyone could share without mistrusting one's neighbor; a return to innocence. Images flashed into their minds, and they couldn't tell if they were dreams, memories, or visions of the future, but they came in a torrent--pictures of people laughing and living together. Human or not, they did not care, but took each other for friends based on the impossibility that anything could be otherwise.
The six of them felt the joy woven into those rushing thoughts, swift and strong though they were. Ghaleon's eyes had closed so that he could better sense them. Now he opened his eyes, catlike and wary. He could not utterly shake the feelings of warmth the thoughts aroused, but neither could he lose his feelings of mistrust.
"The Maker now understands the threat we pose," he said softly. "Through Solon, Lucia's magic has begun its work, and for the first time the Maker is surprised. His shock will not last long though."
Sadoul uttered another spell, aiming a beam of concentrated energy at the light. The mass shifted, swirling to open a hole through which the ray could pass harmlessly. "This is getting us nowhere," growled Sadoul.
"We would help if we could," said Jeal, "but this is not our place. Lucia chose you, and we dragons can do nothing but bear you on our backs."
The light flashed, sending the dragons tumbling away from it. Ghaleon screamed as the jolts wracked through his body. Even after the impact passed the spasms continued and he knew they did so under the Maker's volition. He could hardly believe how something could be so powerful. It lunged through all his magic barriers as though they were dampened paper and shocked his bones to the marrow. Not even Althena could have broken through his defenses so easily. Beneath him, Onyx roared.
In his mind, Ghaleon heard the telepathic echoes of Sadoul and Kazyr's pain. Through his ears the dragons and his own cries drowned out all else. He hardly paused to wonder over the voices that sounded in his mind when the Maker's frustration roiled out again in a powerful rush of emotion. The Maker wanted them dead--swiftly. The wizards had already withstood more pain than any mortal had the right to survive.
Sadoul shouted. Ghaleon turned to look, but his attention was soon drawn to the gold chain around his own neck. The ivory charm flared--burning, melting. Ghaleon focused his magic to hold the enchantment, but the energies slipped through his fingers like water through a sieve.
"Kazyr!" he shouted.
The light whirled even as the name left his mouth. A bolt of energy exploded from it, catching Jia in the shoulder and sending her and Kazyr spinning away.
Kazyr heard Ghaleon though. He raised his arms to steady himself so that he could strengthen his magic, slow the Maker's progress. The light would have none of it though. Blast after blast it hurled towards the white-haired mage and the blue dragon. Jia tumbled and rolled in her efforts to dodge. Sometimes she made it, sometimes she and Kazyr were hurled still farther away from the others.
Sadoul glanced down at the charm around his neck with growing horror. Though the melting was slow, even heatless, it progressed, and would not be stopped. He shook his head in anger. "Jeal, catch them!"
The light danced. As the red dragon began to move a bolt of lightning tore into his chest. Jeal bellowed, rotating head over tail as he rocked back from the blow. Sadoul shouted wordlessly and clung tightly to Jeal's neck.
"That thing's reacting too fast!" cried Kazyr. "He knows everything as we say it. We just get a few words out and-"
Ghaleon mentally agreed. "And we'll be dead in a few more sentences if we don't do something fast." He doubted Kazyr's charms needed to be completely melted before loosing their power.
A blue tinge came back to the light as it pulsated, waited.
"I just know whatever Lucia's doing she's got to do more of!" said Sadoul. He fumed as Jeal brought his fall under control. Sadoul tossed his head back to glance at Lunar. "Solon, can you hear us? Get more of that-"
The light recoiled, releasing a massive burst of energy. The fiery missile soared past the three dragons towards Lunar. It distanced itself from them so swiftly that in the next second it exploded in a sparkling shower just outside Lunar's orbit. The blue color left the light.
Sadoul sat numbly on Jeal's back as his mind dimly concluded what happened. Solon! I... He could figure out that much from my words alone?
It would seem so , thought Ghaleon, his words projecting into Sadoul's mind. The red gem on his circlet shimmered slightly. He said nothing of Sadoul's look towards Lunar.
Sadoul turned his head in bewilderment to his silver-haired companion as Kazyr shouted something to the blue dragon beneath him.
I heard your call , Ghaleon offered by way of explanation. I wasn't sure the first time I heard you, and I can't read your deeper thoughts. But your mind screamed, and I heard.
Can you hear me now? asked Sadoul.
Jia uttered a keening cry and released a stream of lightning from her open jaws. It splintered harmlessly against the bulk of the greater light.
Yes , said Ghaleon. Perhaps you need to concentrate a bit more; your voice is faint, but I hear you. Let me see if I can reach out to Kazyr as well.
Onyx ducked a ring of sunfire the Maker hurled and rolled to one side. He did his best to adjust his field of gravity to his movements, keeping Ghaleon steady on his back.
I have him! Ghaleon told Sadoul.
The Magician of Fire nodded. Good, do you think the Maker can hear us like-
Sadoul choked. His charm snapped upward, pulling the golden chain against his throat. He clawed at it, grabbing it down long enough to clear the blackness from his eyes. His mental warning to Ghaleon came no louder than a croak, but carried with it the force his lungs could not give. Sadoul felt a back breaking power seize him about his waist and he knew the limit of the Maker's patience had been tested and found wanting. There would be no more waiting.
Ghaleon and Kazyr heard Sadoul's telepathic voice as invisible hands closed around them as well. Spells of warding and protection flowed meaninglessly from their lips as the Maker ripped the three of them from the backs of their dragons. Their cries went unheeded. The dragons were flung from beneath them by that same indomitable force. The three wizards felt their bodies pass through the edges of their dragons' self-contained atmospheres. Each mage felt his own head fall back and every cell of his body poise ready to explode. For a split second they drifted, limp, eyes closed in preparation for death.
Failure. Pain, cold, darkness, there should be all of that beyond the safety of the dragons' backs. But the three wizards felt none of them. Warmth cycled through each of them as their minds continued their joining in an intimate contact the Maker could not breach.
Ghaleon. My circlet--glowing, forming a conduit between us.
Sadoul. My armor--glowing, protecting us from the vacuum without life.
Kazyr. My bracers--glowing, giving us insight into our enemy. We know now what we must do.
Light flared from within each of them. They drifted, but now in an easy circle formed around the greater light. Six eyes opened, three thoughts reached out to each other.
Ghaleon's mental voice came hesitantly. The Maker, he is there? Can he hurt us now, as this?
Sadoul shook his head. We need no air. We need no mortal magic to sustain us. He cannot touch us.
We are not dead. Are we alive? He has dominion over life and death, but now we are free souls, not bound to either side of the coin. Kazyr's eyes flashed knowingly in the starlight. Lucia knew only mages as strong as us could breach such a barrier and survive.
Sadoul raised his head, staring without fear at the light between the three. Though he could not see his companions he knew where each of them hovered, equidistant from the other two. His blue eyes regarded the light with pity. More powerful than a god, he can see all as it happens, but not a moment before. He can see our moves, he can hear the spoken word, but for all his power he cannot read our souls. At last we have the advantage.
Ghaleon lifted a hand, receiving without flinching the empathy of the Maker. "You see your dreams unraveling at our touch, and you can't understand why such mortal creatures should have such wills to fight. We are not gods, yet we possess strengths that they lack. Your lessons taught us to form the very danger you fear.
"We have answered the summons. We are the ones who shall contain you!"
The light seethed.
Sadoul raised his arms, heightening the brilliance around him. "Love. You seek a built a world full of it. But how can you when you possess none yourself?"
Kazyr gestured, bringing up an arm and brightening his glow. The three mages revolved faster around the light. "Mortality. Nothing lasts forever, not even the gods. Yet how can you will a civilization to die when death has never touched you yourself?"
The light hurled emotions and visions to each of them.
Ghaleon shook his head. "True, perhaps we can't kill you," --the light around him intensified-- "but we can render you inconsequential!"
Beams of light lanced out from each of the mages, joining each other to form a triangle of power. The shape flashed, cutting through and outshining even the greater light within. Thoughts of Torene, Fireclaw, and Mythril; Lucia, Solon and Crystan, Elynthia and Mira--they all faded in and out of the minds of the three men who would change their universe.