The next morning I woke dreading what we were going to do. I knew it was necessary, and I was determined to do it, but I didn't want to. The mood of most of the others was similar. We were all ready to do what we had to do, but only Marina really wanted to kill him. If I could have let her do it, I would have.
After breakfast Marina took me to her workroom again. The invisibility spell was a simple one, but it required a little bit of preparation that had to be done in the temple. After that, all I needed to do was say a single word, and the spell would activate. So, after a half hour of Marina chanting and dancing around a magic circle, we were ready to go.
I took us back to my world. Akito didn't do anything to help, since I had more power than he did, and he needed all the power he could get for holding Dryyen still. All I had to do once it was started was kill Dryyen. I had one bit of magic that I was going to try, using my staff, but I didn't really think it would work. Instead, I had a knife that Marina had given me. She told me it was the same knife that gave him his scare, and that it was thirsty for more of his blood. I hoped that would help me.
I tried to make us arrive in the common room of Jer's hideout. I didn't want to get the monks involved, and I was fairly sure the kids wouldn't follow us, especially if Jer told them not to. Fortunately, it worked. We cared a few of Jer's little brothers and sisters, but we managed to arrive there instead of at the orphanage.
At that point it was time to start the trickery. Once we had the children cleared out of the room, Kyle worked his magic. I watched as his body changed, becoming a perfect duplicate of my own. It felt odd, starting at myself like that. It must have shown on my face, because Kyle then stepped toward me and leaned forward to whisper in my ear.
"Don't worry," he said in my voice, though it sounded higher, more feminine, than I was used to hearing when I talked. "I'm still me, no matter what I look like." That made me feel better, though it was still odd.
After Kyle's change the only thing left was my own preparation. I took Kyle's hand and nervously spoke the word that would trigger the invisibility spell. As it activated I saw my hands, and the rest of my body, fade from view. Even my staff disappeared, and the only thing left to assure me that I was still really there was the feel of Kyle's warm hand in my own.
"Are we all ready?" Marina asked. Everyone nodded, except me. I said, "Yes." "Let's go then," she concluded, and we set out from the hideout to where Dryyen was staying.
"Stay close to me," Kyle told me as we walked.
I did so, mostly because I didn't want to let go of him. My inability to see myself was bothering me, and I was halfway afraid that I would really disappear if I let go of him. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I felt better holding his hand. I would have to let go eventually, but until then I wanted my reassurance.
And even if that hadn't been the case, I stayed near him because we hoped it would be a camouflage for me from Dryyen's sensitivity. I had noticed several times that Kyle's aura felt much like my own. Tevald and Marina, the other two sensitives in the group, said the same thing. We were hoping that Dryyen, who was also quite sensitive to magic, according to Marina, wouldn't notice me if I stayed close to Kyle until he was busy with other things.
We reached the outside of the building where Dryyen was staying and found it quite heavily shielded with magic. It wasn't surprising, but it forced us to stand outside the building and shout at him instead of going in. Kyle did the shouting, since he was the one who was going to be giving himself up.
"Hey!" he yelled, still in my voice. "You still want my ability, don't you? Well here I am! Come get me if you want it, but let Linn go!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Dryyen's voice called from just inside the door. It swung open to show him, standing there smirking. "Ah, you're all here. I'm so glad you felt you all needed to come to witness my glorious rise to power, but I'm afraid I only need the girl." He pointed at me.
"Why won't you give Linn back?" Jer asked. He sounded angry.
"I'm afraid she is no longer in my hands," Dryyen responded. "I gave her to my apprentice after I found that she didn't even have enough magical talent to be worth sacrificing. I told him that she doesn't have any abilities he can steal, but he didn't believe me. You'll have to convince him to let her go if you want her back."
"Where?" Jer growled through his teeth. While he was glaring at Dryyen, Marina looked surprised.
"Just down the hall," Dryyen said. "Feel free to try convincing him, but I doubt you'll be successful. He's been quite stubborn lately, and I doubt he'll listen to anyone, even you, Marina." He looked at Marina with the same smug, twisted smile on his face. She glared at him, but started running down the hall without saying a word. Jer and Tevald followed behind her.
"Aren't you going to go help your friends rescue the girl, boy?" he asked Akito. "I hope you don't want to watch the ritual. I only need the girl."
"I remember you," Akito said. "You were with Kyou when he disappeared. You disappeared at the same time, but no one really cared, because no one really knew you."
"Oh, you're the boy who was always following him around," Dryyen said. "What do you want?"
"Where is Kyou?" Akito asked.
"I have no idea," Dryyen replied. "And I don't particularly care where that fool is now."
"Kyou is not a fool!" Akito exclaimed.
"Yes he was," Dryyen said. "But he was a fool with the ability to travel between worlds. Unfortunately, he had the talent locked in him, so the ritual failed. At least that incident taught me something, so he wasn't completely useless."
"So you were responsible for his disappearance?" Akito asked.
"Of course I was!" Dryyen snapped. "What did you think, that that damned machine did it? Everybody said that Kyou was a genius, but he was really an idiot, thinking that a machine could make a person travel between worlds. The only way a person can do that is through magic, and he was a fool not to realize that. Now why don't you leave me alone so I can get the talent that I deserve?"
"I'm not leaving," Akito said. "Not until you tell me where Kyou is. Anyway, do you really want me to go? I have that ability that you want so much as well."
Dryyen became interested in Akito after he said that. He had looked vaguely bored with Akito before that. When Akito mentioned that he had the traveling ability Dryyen stepped forward, out of the building, and looked into Akito's eyes. He stood there for a few moments, glowing with his own black aura, before stepping back, and pleased smile on his face.
"So you do," he said. "Very well then, I can use both of you. Perhaps having two sacrifices will make the ritual more likely to succeed this time."
He gestured with his staff, and the same black light that I had seen too many times for my liking came out to wrap around both Akito and Kyle. I was forced to let go of Kyle's hand when it started pulling them forward. I hurried forward as well, to make sure that I didn't get left behind. Luckily, Dryyen didn't notice me, as he was too busy pulling Kyle and Akito along behind him and through the building.
He deposited Kyle on the altar once he had reached the room he wanted and then moved Akito over to the corner. He tied Akito and then Kyle up with ropes, saying something about how he didn't want to have to divide his concentration between performing the ritual and keeping the two of them bound. Once he was done, I realized that the scene, once Dryyen stepped back from the altar a bit, was exactly the same as what I had seen in my first dream.
Akito must not have really believed that Dryyen was responsible for Kyou's disappearance before he said it. He was mumbling about Kyou and didn't seem to notice what was going on around him. I wanted to scream at him to snap out of it, but I couldn't. I was standing just inside the door, and Dryyen hadn't noticed me yet. Yelling at Akito would give me away.
Marina had described the ritual to us in detail. She had been through it, and had researched it on her own just to know the specifics. She had told us that the best possible time to interrupt it and kill him would be during the second phase, which was part of what I had seen in my dream, when he placed the staff on me. During the first phase, which was the chant, interrupting the ritual would most likely be lethal to Kyle.
She said that because of the way that Dryyen had modified the ritual to deal with his mixture of wizardry and sorcery, it didn't quite work the way he thought it did. He thought that his staff would be absorbing the traveling ability during the second phase of the ritual, when in reality it was just creating a link that he could use to access it when he absorbed it himself in the final phase. Interrupting it then wouldn't hurt the victim in the end and wouldn't end up transporting anyone anywhere.
It was as soon as that phase ended that it became irreversible. It was also at the end of that phase that Kyle would be sent to another world, since he didn't have the proper gift. If we didn't stop the ritual before then we would have to search the universe for Kyle, as well as Kyou.
Dryyen started to chant as soon as he had stepped back from the altar. It was the same chant I had heard in my dream, and I knew that the ritual was starting its first phase. I bit my lip, knowing that if I did anything to interfere at that moment Kyle would most likely be killed by the magic. It was hard to keep myself still, knowing that I was letting Dryyen start the ritual, but I managed it somehow.
Finally, he ended the chant and placed the staff on Kyle's back. I saw Kyle wince as the cold, evil aura started to seep into him. I knew what he was feeling from the dream, and I wished that I could run over to him and tear the staff away. I didn't dare do that though, so I looked over at Akito, who was still babbling about Kyou. He didn't even seem to be aware of his surroundings.
"Well now, 'Katherine,'" Dryyen said, his voice mocking. "I don't think Betral will be back to save you this time, now will he?"
"Shut up," Kyle said through clenched teeth. He winced again, and Dryyen pushed the staff down a little. I saw Kyle twitch, and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from running over to him.
"But you and I are going to be so close," Dryyen said, trying to make his voice sound hurt. He failed miserably, as his voice continued to be simply cruel and mocking. "Surely you don't hate me? I don't hate you, you know. I could never hate you, since you're the one who will give me the ultimate power."
"No I won't," Kyle shot back. I could tell that he was clinging to the knowledge that Dryyen wouldn't be able to get what he wanted from him. "I won't give you anything."
"You don't have a choice," Dryyen said. "In fact, you're already giving me the power. As we speak, my staff is absorbing your wonderful gift, and it won't come off until you've given me each and every last bit of your power. Isn't that wonderful?"
"Go to hell," Kyle said.
He pushed the staff down more firmly onto Kyle's back. It pressed into him, and I could almost feel the cold seeping farther into his body. I saw Kyle wince again as the staff pressed him down against the altar, and I heard Dryyen laugh again.
"Yes, that's it," he said. "I can feel it starting to come to me."
I looked over at Akito again. He was still babbling and still seemed oblivious to everything in the room. The second phase of the ritual was starting to wrap up, and I needed him to act soon. I was about to do something myself to get him back to reality, but just before I could, Kyle acted.
"Dammit all, would you shut up about Kyou and help?" Kyle screamed at him. It was enough to shock him out of his repetition and look around instead of stare at Dryyen the whole time. His eyes widened in surprise, and he finally seemed to see Kyle for the first time.
About a second later he acted. I saw the cerulean aura spring up around him just a moment before Dryyen froze in place. I saw Dryyen's black aura start to form, and I knew that he was going to try to fight Akito's power. I couldn't let that happen, and I knew that it was time for me to act.
"Now!" Akito yelled, just a moment before I started my part.
I clasped my staff to my chest and started concentrating on the one attack spell that I learned before Father Betral was called away on his business. It was a fireball, and I had tried to modify it to use in this. Instead of thinking of throwing a ball of fire at Dryyen, I tried to picture him being engulfed by flames. I poured all of the power I could into the staff, praying that the spell would work, and then I released the power.
Lavender flames surrounded Dryyen, and he screamed. The flames grew, and finally completely engulfed him. I willed them to become hotter and hotter as his screams went up in pitch and volume. I kept the flames burning until the screams finally died, and even then I only made them go down a little. I kept pouring power into the fire until I could no longer see Dryyen's body in the flames.
It wasn't until then that I let the flames go out. They had burned hot and long, and there was nothing left of him except for a tiny pile of ash. The scent of burned flesh filled the room, and it was all I could do to keep from gagging as I dropped my staff and stumbled over to the altar.
I ripped the staff out of the magic that was holding it on Kyle's back and threw it to the side. As I worked to untie the ropes binding Kyle I started to feel weak and dizzy, and I knew that I had used up my energy burning Dryyen. I forced myself to stay conscious long enough to finish untying the ropes.
"It's over," I said once I was done.
"Yes, it is," Kyle said. I started to fall over, and he caught me as he was sitting up. He then helped me sit down on the altar next to him.
I found myself staring at him. He was still in my form, so it was more like I was staring at myself. It wasn't quite like staring at a mirror, but it was close enough that it was odd, seeing my own, odd lavender eyes with thoughts behind them that weren't my own. As I stared, he reached forward to move a piece of hair out of my eyes.
"Good job," he said, and he leaned forward to kiss me.
The first thing that went through my mind was that my lips were very soft. It felt nice, even though I realized that it must have looked very odd with two copies of me kissing. I didn't care though, because I knew that the other "me" was Kyle. Then, just as he pulled back, smiling, I lost my grip on consciousness and the world went black.