War Of The Four Worlds Read online

  “I don’t understand. You don’t intend to lie about the Heretic Child, then?”

  The First nodded. “My duty is always to the Vax people, and our survival.”

  The bewilderment deepened on the servitor’s face. “I’m still confused.”

  “Meaning we must do everything we can to avoid bringing the Heretic Child to us, and that includes sending more bonded to be destroyed.” The First gestured toward the mountains. “The wind and rain will consume the mountains with enough time. No, we will deviate from the Culling Path and save the Vax people.”

  The servitor glared at him. “Your words disappoint me, First. The Path comes before everything.”

  The First sighed. “Yes, and you’ve been a loyal man throughout your years of service to me. I appreciate your faith and loyalty.”

  “Then don’t make me do this. I beg you.” The servitor shook his head. “Don’t make me become a heretic.”

  “I won’t,” the First replied, stepping away from the other man. “That’s the last thing I would ever ask of you.”

  The servitor let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, First.”

  “Thank you for your service.” The First shoved the man over the railing, his cool gaze following the screaming man as he fell to his death. “Conflict comes from impurity, but strength can’t always save the Vax. We shall forever avoid the Heretic Child and his world.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  James yawned and stretched as he leaned back in his recliner. It was good to be back in his own home, and even better that Shay was there with him. They’d had a good, if exhausting, time celebrating the night before, and he planned to dash over to the School of Necessary Magic some weekend soon to spend some time with Alison.

  Thomas was slumbering beside James’ chair. A man with a wonderful wife, a daughter, and a dog didn’t need much else. He was still working on the first part, but it would only be a few months before the statement applied to him.

  Shay sat on the couch, her attention focused on the guest James had welcomed: Senator Johnston.

  The politician smiled and headed to the other end of the couch to take a seat. “I know I already thanked you, but I wanted to key you in on a few things since it’s been several days since the incident.

  “The evacuation order is being rescinded tomorrow, and people will start coming back to town. There are going to be some questions, so we should get our stories straight on that, unless…” His smile faltered. “No one would blame you, son, if you wanted to be known as the man who saved the world.”

  James snorted. “Fuck that noise.”

  The senator raised an amused eyebrow. “Oh?”

  “It’s bad enough now with all the fangirls and autographs and fucking news reporters always wanting to interview me.” James shook his head. “If the truth got out, I’d have to go move to some fucking cabin in the mountains if I ever wanted peace and quiet.”

  Senator Johnston laughed. “Well, now, that’s good to hear. It makes things a lot simpler for everyone.”

  Shay scoffed. “Does it? Look, I’m not saying I’m crying about USC getting half blown up. If anything, my department head will be happy since he keeps worrying they’re gonna poach me, but it’s very obvious a battle took place there and in the surrounding area.”

  “People see what you tell them to see,” Senator Johnston explained. “It’s how magic was concealed for such a long time, and we’ve already conditioned the public to see what we want them to see.”

  James frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “We’re not going to claim nothing happened,” Senator Johnston replied. “We’re going to claim partial release of the artifact’s energy. Yes, billions of dollars of damage have been done, along with the disruption that evacuating one of the major cities in the US caused, but we’ll throw some money at it and form blue-ribbon committees—that kind of thing. We’ve already got a few people who have agreed to retire from certain government and military positions as sacrificial lambs over the fake artifact that was allegedly lost. Don’t worry, though. We’ve got them set up for life, and we’re going to be managing the media to make sure their names are mostly kept out of it.”

  Shay crossed her arms. “So, wait, your official story is that Broken Wand did go off?”

  “Partially.” Senator Johnston grinned. “Our story is that it started releasing energy, which damaged the city, but the government teams, in conjunction with the Oricerans, neutralized it.”

  “And the Oricerans are on board with this lie?”

  Senator Johnston laughed. “Miss Carson, they were just as happy to spend thousands of years lying about magic. It’s not like the Oricerans have any particular obsession with public truth. Besides, the best lies are always based on an element of truth. We thought about trying to bring in a bunch of mages to do repair spells, that sort of thing, but if we did, there would always be something off, and some clue left to follow. Leaving a trail of destruction doesn’t do that.”

  James grunted. “A bunch of blown-up buildings doesn’t leave clues to follow?”

  “You use clues to solve a mystery, but we already gave them the answer. Simple as that. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, there was no alien invasion. There are no such things as powerful aliens with technology that can humble even magic. This was just an unfortunate magical artifact incident that caused a lot of damage, but didn’t cost lives.” Senator Johnston shrugged.

  Shay laughed. “You sons of bitches are going to pull it off, aren’t you?”

  “We are pretty good at hiding what we need. Very few people have stumbled onto the truth about aliens despite intense interest. You’re an unusual woman, Miss Carson. You care about the truth. Most people only care about life being easy.”

  James cleared his throat. “There’s one thing I still don’t get, and I don’t like not knowing the answer.”

  “What’s that, son?” the senator asked.

  “After I took down the Purifier, there was a big spike of magic in the area. That magic let me become stronger near the end.” James looked down at his hands, remembering the sensation. “Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time working with Whispy, and he’s done his thing, but it wasn’t like normal background magic. I tried again the other day, and I couldn’t pull it off.”

  Senator Johnston glanced at Shay. “You didn’t tell him yet?”

  James frowned. “Tell me what?”

  Shay grinned and whistled not-so-innocently. “I wanted to give him a few days to let it all sink in.”

  “What did you do?”

  Senator Johnston leaned forward, amusement on his face. “Ah, well, I’ll explain then. Although we had confidence in you, we also worried that, depending on the strength of the Vax, you might not be able to win. We also had intelligence from the Shepherd that additional forces might appear, which made us even more worried, so we decided we needed to help you out.”

  James nodded slowly. “But how?”

  “Miss Carson made it clear to us that you could take advantage of magical power. We already had several large units of magicals on standby in case you lost, along with a few other choice…toys, but instead of using the magicals to attack, we asked them to flood the area with as much pure magical power as they could.”

  Senator Johnston scratched his chin. “I’m not all that clear on the magic used, but my understanding is, their ritual allowed them to temporarily raise the level of magic in your general area so your little chest friend could take advantage of it.”

  Shay smiled. “I couldn’t be there to fight, but I could still help you, and I figured this wasn’t the time to not go all in.”

  “Huh,” James replied. “It’ll be hard for me to pull that off again then without some huge-ass group of magicals helping me.”

  “Yes, about that.” Senator Johnston sighed. “We’re considering that a useful lesson of this particular incident. Everyone’s grateful, son, but that doesn’t change the fact that a lot of them are al
so scared, and given that the Purifier was able to stop an attempt to send him to the World in Between, many of those same people feel we have no real defense against you if you go rogue.”

  James put up his footrest. “Everyone’s always fucking with me for something I might do. I don’t go looking for trouble. The Harriken would still be around if they had figured that shit out sooner rather than later.”

  “I’m not saying I agree with any of those thoughts. I’ve bet on you from the beginning, and I’ve been right the entire time, but it helps others if they feel like they’ve got things under control.”

  Shay rolled her eyes. “What would it take for the government to feel like they have things under control?”

  “We’ve got this document for him to sign,” explained Senator Johnston. “A kind of contract. Of course, he can read it and whatnot, but the summary version is that he agrees to limit the full use of his power without the explicit permission of the US government.”

  James frowned. “What do you mean, ‘my full power?’”

  “Keep it to what you were capable of before this latest incident, and things will be fine. We understand you’ve got to make a living, but the problem is…” Senator Johnston took a deep breath. “It’s not just the Alliance we’ve got to worry about. We’ve tried to keep things relatively under wraps, but the Chinese and the Russians are at least somewhat aware of the truth.”

  “So what?” Shay asked. “They’re pissed that James stopped an alien invasion?”

  “No, I think they’re pleased about that, but it’s also occurred to them that if we dropped him into the middle of Beijing or Moscow and told him to do his thing, they might not be able to stop him. Arguably, he might be considered a violation of certain strategic-level magic control treaties we’ve signed.”

  James groaned. “I’m not even a soldier. I shouldn’t have to worry about complicated shit like that.”

  Senator Johnston gave him an apologetic smile. “It’s the world we live in, son. Like I said, it should be easy to obey the restrictions. It’s not like you can even hit your full power without a lot of people helping you, so if you stick to your more basic, uh, modes when you do jobs, it will do a lot to keep the geopolitical situation stable. The interplanetary situation too, for that matter.”

  “The Alliance?” James snorted. “Those assholes better back the fuck off.”

  “Them and the Oricerans, but as for the Alliance, they are backing off.” Senator Johnston pulled out his buzzing phone. “The fleet has withdrawn from our solar system. Are they close? Hell, it’s not like we can tell with our current technology. Even the Shepherd has temporarily withdrawn while they decide how they want to deal with Earth. Neither their government nor our own are exactly eager for public knowledge of aliens to come out. We’ll need a few years yet to get the public ready for the idea that advanced aliens are out there. For one thing, we need to be ready to demonstrate to them that we can defend them, and not just against four ships.”

  Shay’s face scrunched in disgust. “James shouldn’t have to agree to shit just because a bunch of other people are afraid.”

  James grunted. “Whatever. I’ll sign.”

  Shay looked at him with surprise. “You will?”

  “It’s like he said.” James nodded at the senator. “I have a single magical working for me right now, and one other sort of working for me. I’m never gonna have an army of magicals who can pump me full of magic, so it doesn’t even matter. I’ll probably only need Modified Forerunner mode if another Vax shows up. Extended Advanced will be enough for everyone else.”

  James saw no reason to admit to the politician that Whispy’s absorption of the Purifier had increased their combined baseline power, endurance, and regeneration even without the Modified Forerunner transformation. The Forerunner was exponentially more powerful in that form than when he first took on the Harriken, although maybe not strong enough to take out an entire city by himself.

  No fucking reason for that kind of thing anyway.

  Senator Johnston smiled warmly. “Excellent, son. We’re all on the same page.” He held up his phone. “I’ve got to go. I’ll contact you again in a few days about signing our little agreement. I can cough up a government stipend if you want.”

  “Nah. I’ve got plenty of money.”

  “Then let’s say I owe you a few favors.” Senator Johnston stood and offered a polite nod to both Shay and James before heading to the front door. He opened it, stepped outside, and closed the door.

  Shay gazed at James. “Are you really okay with that?”

  “Yeah. I’m semi-retiring anyway after the wedding, so it’s not like I’m gonna need to be able to beat down Vax Destroyers. Whispy is adapted to so much shit now it’s rare that a level five is much of a problem.” James leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling. “And from what Whispy said, the Vax probably aren’t gonna come back. All this shit that’s been hanging over me my entire life is done. I know everything I need to know now about my past, so I can go on and have a future with you and Alison.”

  Shay smiled. “It’s not too late to uninvite Senator Johnston to the wedding.”

  James shook his head. “Nah, that’s fine.”

  Shay laughed. “I just thought of something.”

  “What?”

  “You’re inviting all the top criminals anyway. Might as well invite politicians.”

  James snorted. “Yeah, might as well. It’s weird, though.”

  “What?”

  “Having only good things to look forward to: the wedding, Alison growing up.” James glanced down at his sleeping dog. “I used to be a man with no life whose only real friend was a dog. Now I have a life. It’s strange and shit.” He shrugged.

  “I know the feeling,” Shay replied. “Well, I didn’t even have a dog. I just ran around killing people and pretending I had a life.”

  James grinned. “I was the same way.”

  “One thing, though.” Shay shook her finger. “No matter what happens, I don’t want you beating up or killing anyone at the wedding. If necessary, you can just write down who pisses you off and kill them after the honeymoon.”

  “Okay. I promise not to beat up or kill anyone on our wedding day.”

  Shay stood and stretched. “I’m tired from last night, but I could be persuaded to have a little more fun.”

  James laughed. “Shouldn’t we save some of it for the honeymoon?”

  “That’s boring. Come on, James.” Shay winked. “You just saved the world. Let’s spend the next few weeks in bed.”

  James considered the plan and nodded. “Just put a tray of ribs on the nightstand, and that sounds like heaven.”

  Epilogue

  Several months later

  The months passed in relative quiet following the fight with the Vax. James didn’t even bother taking on the few level fours who came into LA, instead letting his agency handle it. May Wu joining to shore up their magical strength helped with that.

  James had spent those months scouting locations for his new barbeque restaurant, but he was having trouble finding a place that fit all his demanding criteria and also didn’t threaten to disrupt business for any other close local barbeque venue. He still had another half-dozen promising locations to check out after he returned from his honeymoon.

  Just as Senator Johnston predicted, everyone had accepted the government’s story at face value. A few people here and there questioned it, but everyone still in the city at the time of the battle hadn’t been anywhere near the fight, so all they could claim is that they saw explosions and flashes of light. The government even produced a doctored video showing the alleged artifact, a golden trident, randomly emitting dangerous energy blasts, and the PDA and Oricerans performing a ritual that caused the trident to fire off a final ring of destruction before it disintegrated.

  The destruction of Alazi on Oriceran had been successfully attributed to a magical terrorist who had already been sent to the World in Between. Despite
what Senator Johnston had told James, the bounty hunter didn’t completely understand why the Oricerans had agreed to the cover-up. However, interplanetary politics were too complicated for him to worry about. He suspected there was more quid pro quo in the background, the politician wasn’t admitting anything.

  In the end, it turned out that with enough magic, the government could pull off a near-perfect coverup, even in a city that still held thousands of people. Federal disaster funds had been routed to Los Angeles to help, and additional alumni donations had flooded in to help repair USC.

  James wasn’t bothered that most people didn’t know the truth. He believed everything he had told Senator Johnston about the trouble with his already cumbersome fame. The important thing was that he had done what was needed when the time came, and his future was secure.

  Now James stood in a huge bedroom in a mansion on the small island off the coast of California they had rented for the wedding. The damned bedroom was almost the size of his entire first floor. Even though he could afford a home like this, he didn’t understand the appeal. Too busy. Too complicated to maintain.

  Glad Shay didn’t decide to buy the island.

  James adjusted his silver cufflinks. He frowned at his dark tuxedo in the full-wall mirror and shook his head. “I can’t believe people wear this shit on purpose. I should have just walked out there with Whispy, all armored up and shit. I’m wearing a damned bowtie. Can you believe this?”

  Trey laughed. They had discussed the truth about James and his amulet a few weeks after the Battle of LA, as the younger man had taken to calling the incident.

  To James’ complete lack of surprise, Trey’s only response had been to say, “I always knew you were a special motherfucker, but I didn’t know you were Moses and Superman rolled up into one.”

  Among James’ groomsmen, Tyler and Mack didn’t know the truth. Both were currently out of the room.