5. Malorg #2
“I’m honored.” Sarilian tapped a finger against his chin, his eyes eventually lighting up. Malorg bit back an answering grin at the Celestial’s infectious enthusiasm. “I got it! Duskflame works well for illusions, right?”
Guessing what Sarilian intended, Malorg let out a grunt. “That might work. Here.”
Conjuring more of his duskflame, Malorg leaned in and pressed both palms to Sarilian’s chest. No armor, he realized as his fingers encountered solid muscle beneath Sarilian’s thin tunic. He considered chiding Sarilian on his lack of caution, but who was he to judge anyone else’s reckless behavior?
As with the darkvision, he let his duskflame flow into Sarilian and course over the Celestial’s flesh. This time, however, the enchantment had a tough time taking hold.
Malorg frowned. “It’s not working. I think your magic is stopping the illusion from stabilizing.”
“I could try adding dawnflame to the spell. It’s not particularly great for crafting illusions, but it still concerns the manipulation of light. Besides, it amplified your magic before. Maybe it’ll do something similar now.”
“As I recall, last time we combined our magics, it blew up a voidspawn.”
“Only because that was our intent!” A slight crease appeared in Sarilian’s brow.
“Though, I suppose it pays to be cautious. Here.” He conjured a small ball of dawnflame that hovered in the air between them.
Although the Dusklands left its light dim and flickering, the orb managed to sustain its form. “Try imbuing this with duskflame.”
Malorg considered the floating orb for a moment.
Then, he shrugged and did as requested, shaping his magic so that it aligned with the weaves of Sarilian’s spell.
The light’s golden hue instantly darkened to a deeper shade as black duskflame infused it.
At the same time, its glow intensified until its previous dim light shone bright enough to illuminate the nearby trees.
“It worked!” Sarilian said, sounding delighted. A wave of his hand sent the orb circling them.
Narrowing his eyes, Malorg kept his gaze riveted on the orb. “The conflicting magics appear stable.” He shook his head. “Even though they shouldn’t.”
Sarilian halted the orb with a twitch of his fingers, returning it to hover in front of them. “According to whom?”
“According to everyone! You know the Immortal Realm’s origins as well as I do.
The Progenitors might have intended to create a unified bastion against the Void, but when tensions arose over how best to combat the threat, even they recognized the need to divide the realm between the Dawnlands and Dusklands.
” Memories of jagged screams floating across a silver field echoed in Malorg’s ears, and he clenched his jaw. “Such a separation is for the best.”
Appearing unperturbed by Malorg’s pronouncement, Sarilian dismissed the ball of light with a shrug.
“No amount of ancient history can change what I saw when you aided me against those voidspawn. Maybe dawnflame and duskflame have always had the potential to empower one another, but no one ever bothered to try before.” His golden eyes twinkled as he grinned.
“Or perhaps it’s simply us that fit so well together. ”
A scowl split Malorg’s face. He turned to stare at the gnarled trees surrounding them, trying to ignore the sudden, uncomfortable jittering in his belly. “One successful experiment doesn’t guarantee nothing will go wrong if we attempt to replicate the results on you.”
“You’re right,” Sarilian agreed cheerfully. “But that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Malorg hesitated. Neither of them fully comprehended the unusual fusion of their magic. As he’d warned, it could be dangerous. However, one look into Sarilian’s bright, eager eyes had him ready to agree to anything. “Very well. But the instant you feel anything amiss, tell me.”
“Aw,” Sarilian teased as Malorg approached and rested a hand flickering with duskflame on his chest. “Are you worried about me? I’d think concern for a Celestial would violate some sort of Infernal code of conduct.”
Malorg didn’t reply, his left eyelid twitching. The Dark-cursed Celestial certainly knew how to get under his skin. When he’d finished applying the illusion, he stepped back. Just like before, the duskflame continued to roil instead of settling. “Your turn. Be careful.”
Sarilian grinned as the faint glow of dawnflame rose around him. The Celestial’s magic mixed with Malorg’s own, golden threads twining throughout the enchantment. All at once, the stubborn illusion snapped into place.
Malorg released the spell, his eyebrows raising as he studied his handiwork. Huh.
“What?” Sarilian asked, shifting from foot to foot. “Did something go wrong? Am I horribly disfigured?”
Malorg slowly shook his head, unable to tear his eyes away. “You look like an Infernal.”
If anything, the effect was better than Malorg could have anticipated.
Illusion wasn’t his forte, so he’d hoped to obscure Sarilian’s features beneath a shadowy cloak, maybe darken his glowing skin to pass a cursory examination from afar.
But the finished product standing there appeared indistinguishable from a true Infernal.
“Are you certain dawnflame isn’t meant for illusions?” he asked as they resumed walking toward Twilight.
“Definitely.” Sarilian hesitated, his brow furrowing.
It was odd to see the Celestial’s familiar expressions on a stranger’s face. Malorg found himself missing Sarilian’s squared jaw and noble brow—not that he’d ever tell him that.
“Though now that you mention it,” Sarilian continued, “I got a good sense of your enchantment when I infused my magic. It was almost like you’d given me a template to follow.
All I had to do was slip my dawnflame into the cracks.
I might even be able to replicate something similar on my own, though I doubt it would turn out as well.
” His eyes—charcoal now instead of gold—danced.
“It’s almost like I was right, and our magics were made to mix. ”
Muttering under his breath, Malorg quickened his pace, forcing the Celestial to lengthen his own strides to keep up. Soon enough, the last of the straggling trees broke around them, revealing the city proper nestled within.
“I’ve got to say, I’m a little disappointed,” Sarilian murmured as they approached Twilight’s gates. “I expected something a bit grander.”
Malorg understood the Celestial’s reaction.
From the outside, Twilight resembled little more than a dark dome—a great blemish in the middle of the forest that enveloped it.
Its outer walls lacked even the shifting patterns that decorated the rest of the Dusklands.
But such external austerity only served to heighten the effect within.
Not wanting to ruin the surprise, all Malorg said was, “Follow me.”
Infernal guards stationed at the gate gave them cursory looks as they approached, appearing more bored than vigilant.
Though Twilight had been built as an impenetrable fortress, its defenses had never been tested.
For that to happen, the Infernal forces would need to have failed drastically enough that voidspawn passed all the way here to where the Dusklands most closely abutted the Shroud that separated them from the Mortal Realm.
Still, it never hurt to be prepared. As he’d told Sarilian, it was a matter of when, not if.
You don’t really believe that, Mal. Uryqh’s voice echoed in his head—or at least, how he remembered Uryqh’s voice.
It had been so long since he’d last heard it, he had no idea how close his recreation was to the truth.
His back trembled as he willed the errant thoughts away, so tense that he almost lashed out when a gentle hand landed on his shoulder.
“You okay?” Sarilian asked, his voice filled with concern.
Malorg glanced over to find Sarilian’s kind eyes studying him, recognizable even behind his disguise. “I’m fine.” He breathed deep and focused on the present. Sarilian’s presence helped. It shouldn’t—he barely knew the Celestial. Yet somehow, having him there put Malorg more at ease.
Striding forward, he passed the bored guards and walked beneath the gates into the city proper. Sarilian followed close at his heels. Satisfaction curled through Malorg when the Celestial’s eyes widened, his shocked mouth hanging open as he took in the vista before him.
Suppressing a smirk, Malorg swept his arms wide. “Welcome to the city of Twilight.”