seymoure

Chapter 67
“Mages Ex Machina”

The Emissary of all that is Evil held out his huge hand. His face erupted in a smile as his hand began to tremble.

All of those who had stood before him began to rise into the air.

Claus, Sanchez, Vaskania, Muntz, Dante and Wetfoot hovered, suspended before him for a moment. Then the six of them began to mold like Play-doh in the hands of a four year old.

In a moment they were a ball of flesh, and that ball came to Kane.

He turned his hand so he could look down into the merged faces of his defeated victims.

“Now we shall see how you do without atmosphere or gravity,” He told them, as though telling a wonderful joke, “You can be my little satellites!”

The pop was barely discernable.

The arrival was something of legend.

Hundreds of Wizards, all sizes and all kinds, appeared on the plane before Kane.

At their lead was Tezla, their seeming General.

“By the Golden Shadow of Teamon!” He shouted in what amounted to a battlecry.

From the army of magic users came something akin to the bombing of Dresden, but all pointed at one thing.

Damien Kane didn’t even have time to know what hit him.

Hundreds of blasts, accompanied by a like number of sounds and colors, swept the thing that had been victorious a moment ago, from the face of the world he hoped to ravage.

The entities that had been merged now stood, healed, upon the ground.

Any sign of battle was gone. They stood before the Threadneedles Hotel in the middle of a busy evening street in an unburning London.

“For those who were not directly involved, nothing has changed. The world is as it was before the beast entered your world,” Tezla explained as he floated down in front of them.

“What you have learned, what you have become, that remains yours,” He told them, with a special eye to Ethel.

“Who are all of you?” Claus quizzed.

“When you were in my world I told you that this was a gateway for Kane,” He pointed up to all of the others in his force, “Gateway to all of their worlds. The only time to stop him was here.”

Vaskania came forward and asked, “What is topping him from returning?”

“He cannot get to us without going through your world,” Tezla smiled in a re-assured tone, “And he cannot return to your world without his original key.”

“Key?” Ethel Muntz queried.

“Let me present,” Tezla stepped back and pointed at a small bespectacled man looking on them with total bewilderment, “Damien Kane.”

“Why do you say he is no longer a threat to bring Kane . . . the other one, back?” Harriett said.

“He will join us. We are joining together in an association of self defense. He will be your representative,” Tezla said, “He is so charged with the energy the beast left within him that, with the proper training, he could become a great force for good.”

It was at that point all the members of the team shook hands with a somewhat puzzled Damien Kane.

It would be some time before he understood why they were laughing.