“To?”
The end. But I fear that it won’t be as simple as you think. Your heart is conflicted. Your soul is fractured.
I swallowed thickly. “I did what I had to. I know you didn’t like the plan, but it still—”
What’s done is done. And I can’t fault you for that. But this is as close as you’ll ever be to losing yourself to the Dark. You have tasted the power. You must let it go.
“I’m not going to—”
He’s here, Leslie said. We brought him here too.
“Who?”
Myrin, Pat said. He is in the dream.
“What about Ryan?” I demanded. “He’s—”
He’s safe, Kevin whispered. For now. But it won’t last long. Myrin is strong, Sam. Stronger than we expected.
So you need to kick his ass, Zero said. Because I’m getting really sick and tired of all you old people fighting over stupid stuff.
“Did you make this?” I asked him quietly. “The forest? It’s… familiar.”
Yeah, Zero said, sounding strangely proud. Pat and Leslie made the dream. I made the forest. Kevin will be your conduit, and the Great White is holding us all together.
We get one shot at this, Kevin said. So, no pressure or anything.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
Dragons, GW snapped. You know what to do. It’s time to fulfill your destinies. The Dark wizard will awaken soon, and we must—
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Kevin said. We know what to do. We’re not idiots.
I wouldn’t go that far, GW muttered.
You’ve got this, Leslie said. I know you do, Sam.
Just don’t mess it up, Pat grumbled. I will kill you myself if you do.
I can’t wait to go to sleep so I can ignore you all for a hundred years, Zero said with a sniff.
Hey, little bro, don’t you worry about that, Kevin said. I’ll be right there when you wake up again.
The lights flitted up around me, spinning in a circle that sped up until they blended together. It was almost like a halo swirling above me, until it shot toward the sky, rising toward the stars. It reached its apex and then fell back toward me. I closed my eyes as they slammed into me and I—
so much energy so much power I could I could I could this could all be mine
—breathed in and breathed out and in again as my scars burned, as my heart raced, as I—
easy it’d be easy keep them here trap them here make them obey
—struggled to find control again. It was more than I expected. We’d never done this in the Dark Woods. Never once had they given me their dragon magic, though we’d talked about it. GW had thought it’d be too much too soon, and I’d agreed.
It was almost too much now.
Because these thoughts I had, these dark thoughts, were spinning through me. How I could take the dragons and keep them here. In me. That their magic would always be mine. That nothing could stand in my way. No villain could ever hurt my family again. The people who had turned against me would bow at my feet.
Myrin had gone about it all wrong. Like all the villains who had come before him, he’d thought too small. He didn’t have the scope that I did. The vision. No one would ever think of crossing me again, because I was Sam of Dragons, and I had five different dragon souls within me. I could trap them here, and they wouldn’t—
A groan from the other side of the clearing.
I looked up.
Myrin sat up, clutching his head as if he was in pain. The rage I’d felt at the sight of my cornerstone crumpled on the dirty ground of an alleyway in the slums returned full force. I stalked toward him.
He looked up at me as I approached, a dazed expression on his face. “What is this?” he demanded. “Where are we?”
I didn’t answer. I lashed out, kicking him upside the head. He shouted as he fell back, rolling in the grass toward the edge of the clearing. I grasped on to Zero’s magic as Myrin came to a stop, and imagined a tree taking root just underneath the Dark wizard. I wanted it, so it came to be. The ground shook and split apart and an actual tree burst through the dirt and grass underneath Myrin. He cried out as the tree sprouted, throwing him sideways. He landed with a crash back on the ground, hugging his sides, curling up into a ball.
I ignored him for the moment and looked around the clearing. Trees sprouted along the edges, growing far higher than what should have been possible. It only took seconds before we were completely surrounded and caged in. Myrin wouldn’t be able to escape.
I turned back toward him even as the dragons called out in my head. I ignored them. I had what I needed. This was what the gods had made me into. This was what my destiny had called upon me for. Nothing could stop me now.
Myrin pushed himself off the ground. He stood on shaky legs, one arm wrapped around his side. He was panting lightly, hair hanging down around his face. “The dragons,” he said, spitting out a thick wad of blood. “This is the power of the dragons.”
I shrugged. “Sure looks that way.”
He chuckled. It sounded pained. “I should have known. You—you surprise me, Sam. I don’t know why. You just… do.”
“Because you weren’t expecting someone like me.”
“No. I don’t suppose I was. But then, you weren’t expecting me.” And he quickly clapped his hands together out in front of him. Large columns of rock shot out of the ground at steep angles, racing toward me. I jumped to the right, rolled on the ground, and ended up crouched on my feet. “Because, Sam, if this is a dream, it means I’m dreaming too. So I have control and—”
“Oh my gods, dude, shut up, for fuck’s sake!” I ran toward him, zigzagging back and forth, avoiding the columns of stone that shot up, dirt and grass raining around me. There came a quick warning, bright as a meteor in my head—underneath, underneath, SAM UNDERNEATH—but I wasn’t quick enough and rock hit my left leg, knocking me off course. I skidded along the ground as the dragons roared. Myrin was laughing again, a savage mockery that sounded so much like Morgan.
I picked myself up as I latched on to Kevin, focusing my magic with pinpoint accuracy. My heart burst and lightning arced from my hands, striking Myrin in the chest. He seized, the cords in his neck standing out as his head rocked back, jaw dropped, lightning shooting from his mouth and cracking in the air above him. I rode the electrical current that came from me, one moment halfway across the clearing from him and the next right in front of him. My fist was electrified as I brought it back before slamming it into his chest. There was an explosion of bright blue energy as he flew back and landed with a devastating crash. The lightning skittered away from him through the grass, leaving burn marks that scarred the earth like the marks on my chest.
“Clever,” he managed to say, body still trembling. “Very… clever.”
I was already exhausted but determined not to let it show. I moved slowly until I stood above him. His eyes were bright as he looked up at me. “You’ve lost,” I told him. “After everything, after all you’ve done, you’ve lost.”
He smiled weakly. “So it appears. And will you kill me now? Like you killed your cornerstone?”
I stared down at him.
“The look on his face, Sam. Oh, it was planned. I can see that now. But did you see the look on the knight’s face? He tried to hide it. He really did. But there was such betrayal there. Like he couldn’t believe it was actually happening. You killed your beloved. The bond with your cornerstone broke. Even if it was for a small amount of time, it broke. And you caused that. We’re not so different after all, Sam. Because you did what you had to in order to gain the upper hand. Just as I did.”
“I am nothing like you,” I growled.
“Aren’t you? Or are you more? Sam, the loss of life since I took over has been minimal. I imprisoned the people of Verania. I didn’t slaughter them. Not like you wanted to do to the Darks. I felt it. How close it was. How you wanted to snuff the life out of all of them. You almost killed more people than I ever have. What does that make you? And
don’t even get me started on Ruv and Caleb.”
“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re—”
He coughed as he rose slowly. “You didn’t see what I did. You didn’t hear them die like I did, Sam. In those last seconds, they knew what was coming. They felt it. Sam, they screamed when your lightning rolled over them. When their bodies began to burn to nothing but ash. I watched as they died. And you did it. No one else. You did this, Sam. They took a different path than you, and you made them suffer for it. You killed Caleb’s mother, and then you killed him. And Ruv. Oh, poor, sweet little Ruv, a lost boy until I found him and gave him what he wished for more than anything in the world. To matter. Doesn’t that sound familiar? After all, you wished for the same. And my brother came for you, much like I did for Ruv.”
“No, no, no, you don’t get to say that, you don’t get to—”
“Truth hurts, doesn’t it?” he said. “To know that you’re capable of as much darkness as I am, that you—”
Sam.
No, Sam.
Don’t listen to him!
It’s not true.
You are better than this. Than him.
You are more.
The dragons. Sounding so far away.
“—and I know, Sam, I really do, that you could be so much worse than I ever was. All that magic in you. All that power. Don’t you see? It’s just easier to… let go. The darkness won’t judge you. It won’t restrict you. It won’t—”
“Shut up,” I screamed at him. “You don’t get to—”
His eyes flashed. “The gods got it wrong. You were never meant to be the hero of this story. Sam, can’t you see?” He reached for me, fingers shaking. “You were always going to be the villain.”
He looked surprised when I closed my hand around his throat, like he hadn’t expected me to move so quickly. The dragons were roaring in my head—please sam please sam stop this don’t do this you are better you are more you are good and and and—but I ignored them. Wind started to whip around us, and the stars above dimmed.
His hands came to my forearms, wrapping around them tightly. “Do you… know my… wizarding name?”
“Myrin the Bright Star,” I snapped at him, feeling the green and gold mounting furiously within me.
“Yes,” he gasped. “Do you know why?”
“It doesn’t matter. You’ve—”
“Because I flash brightly… like the stars.”
I brought his face close to mine. “Even stars burn out.”
He grimaced as his infected yellow magic pushed against mine, but it wasn’t enough. I was mired in the green and gold. It was everything. I was everything.
The dragons were barely there, buried underneath the storm.
“I told you I read your Grimoire.”
“Yes.”
“That I saw who you were. Who you became.”
“Yes.”
“I even read the end pages.”
His eyes widened.
“I saw how you did it. How you figured out how to consume magic.”
He started to thrash.
And it was easy, wasn’t it? Giving in. Because here, here, here I was a god. I was the most powerful being who ever existed. I had the dragons. I had Myrin the Bright Star, and he had Morgan of Shadows buried within him. But it mattered not. Because it would all be mine.
“You wouldn’t,” he whispered.
I grinned at him. “Oh, Myrin. That’s where you’re wrong. Because I would. And I will.”
Some fleeting part of me knew that what I was doing was wrong. This wasn’t who I was. But it was gone by way of the wind. It didn’t matter who I used to be. The gods had made me this way. They’d wanted someone to pin the fate of the world on, and they’d chosen me. But they’d never expected what I could become. Vadoma hadn’t seen it. David’s Dragon certainly hadn’t seen it. None of them had. They forced me here, filled me with enough magic for a thousand wizards to have, and they expected what. That I would just give it all up? That I would let this all go? That I would stand here with Myrin in my grasp, this man who had taken so much from me, and not make him suffer? That I wouldn’t take everything from him, leaving him nothing but a shell, skin cooling and eyes blank like he’d done to Morgan?
And the people of Verania. They hadn’t trusted me. They hadn’t believed in me. They’d turned their backs on me, telling me I wasn’t good enough, that the color of my skin wasn’t right, that I’d come from the slums and I was worth nothing. And only when they didn’t have any other choice, they begged me to save them.
I would show them. I would show them all. I would consume Myrin’s magic, and then I would return to Verania and show her people exactly what I was capable of.
There would be a new world order.
My world order.
Deep within me, two blue pulses rose, entwined as they spun together. They were trying to defy me and—
No, Sam.
Not defy. Save.
We’re trying to save you.
And I—
“Sam?”
I turned my head.
Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart stood in the clearing, just out of arm’s reach. His eyes were wide and fearful as he watched me.
“It’s a trick,” I snapped. “You’re not here. You’re not real.” I turned back to Myrin. “Is this you? Are you doing this? Because if you think that’ll stop me, you’re wrong. I won’t fall for your games, Myrin. Not now. Not again. You won’t stop me this time.”
“Isn’t me,” Myrin wheezed.
I squeezed his neck tighter.
“Sam, please, listen to me!” Ryan shouted as the wind picked up, whipping around Myrin and me. “This isn’t you! This isn’t who you are.”
I laughed. “And what would you know about who I am? I killed people, Ryan. And I enjoyed it. I wanted them gone from this world. I almost took out all the Darks, but I was weak. I see that now. I’m weak no longer. I will finish them after I deal with—”
He shook his head angrily. “You did it to save Verania. You did it for the King. For Justin. Your parents and Gary and Tiggy and Kevin. For me. We’re the reason you’re who you are. Not what you’ve done. Not Myrin. Not your magic. You are Sam. That’s who you are. Not this. Never this. You can’t give in to it. You can’t. I won’t let you. And do you know why?”
And there was something to his words, wasn’t there?
A little spark in all that darkness.
Even as I pulled Myrin closer to me and opened my mouth, thinking those black words I’d seen in the back of his Grimoire, the darkest of all magics, there was a spark, and it sputtered, wanting to burn—
Myrin’s mouth dropped open as his eyes rolled back in his head, and I could take it. Right here. Right now. His magic, Morgan’s magic, would be mine, and I could—
Ryan slipped, the wind almost too strong for him. He barely held himself upright, his armor reflecting the lightning flashing above.
Myrin’s magic began to leak from him, and I could feel it, that infection spreading down my arms and hands, and I would consume it all—
A hand on my shoulder.
A mouth near my ear.
Ryan Foxheart said, “Because it’s always been you, Sam. I promise. I promise. I promise, because when I look upon these stars, there is nothing I wish for more than you.”
The spark burst brightly, and I…
I let it all go.
The dragons roared forward, swirling red and blue and black and white, so much white that I shook with it.
Myrin gasped as he was flung across the clearing, landing on his back with a jarring crash, dirt and grass piling up around him.
The winds died.
You idiot! Kevin snarled from within me. I am going to kick your fucking ass when we get home, and then I’m going to tell Gary. Oh, are you in for a world of hurt when he finds out what you—
Please, Leslie sniffed. As if there will be enough for Gary to hurt by the time I’m done with him. And you’re
welcome for pulling Ryan here, even though you tried to stop us.
You’re in for it now, Pat said. She is scary when she wants to be.
And I thought I was all dark and emo, Zero said, sounding awed. Sam. Sam! You need to paint your fingernails black and dye your hair black and walk around in the shadows, saying things like no one understands me and I could have totally destroyed the world if I wanted to, but it was lame so I changed my mind because of love. Or whatever. This is so romantic! I mean, this is stupid and I hate it and I wish you’d all leave me alone.
Sam, GW said. It’s time to finish this. You must kill Myrin the Bright Star.
“Oh my gods,” I muttered. “Would you guys shut up? You’re ruining a moment here.”
They weren’t too happy about that if their mutterings meant anything.
Ryan was still clutching at me, his forehead resting against my shoulder, his hair tickling my ear. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as tightly as I could.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah. You?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Ryan, I….” But my words died in my throat as the forest began to light up around us.
It wasn’t like the dragon lights. It wasn’t like the fairies. The thousands of small glowing orbs that began to rise from the clearing around us didn’t feel like magic. But they weren’t threatening. Instead, they felt… peaceful. Calm and soothing. I didn’t know if this was another trick. The dragons weren’t talking, so I didn’t think we were in any immediate danger.
“You’re not,” a voice said from behind us.
Ryan and I whirled around.
There, at the opposite end of the clearing, was David’s Dragon.
The constellation was as bright as he’d ever been. His enormous wings stretched out wide, stars twinkling at the tips. His head tipped in my direction as he studied me curiously. He had pinned Myrin below him, his claws digging into the ground around the Dark wizard. Myrin looked dazed, eyes reflecting the dragon starlight above him.
“Great,” I muttered. “Exactly who I wanted to see this very second right after I was about to turn evil. Wonderful.”
“Uh,” Ryan said, dumbfounded. “Is that who I think it is?”
“If you’re thinking it’s David’s Dragon, the god who pretty much started this whole mess and is a stupid fuck-face, then yes. It is who you think it is.”