Lomis stared at his empty hands.
“No,” he whispered. Looking up at the void, he shook his head. “This isn't real. This can’t be real.”
The void tilted his head, then crouched down to put his face at the same level as Lomis.
“I shouldn't exist,” the void said. “You created me. I’m here because of you. I’m here because you tried to control something far beyond you.”
“Please,” Lomis begged. “All I wanted was power.”
“Yes, I know,” the void said. “And you almost ripped a hole in this planet and destroyed everything here. Sapient beings are rare in this universe, and you nearly unmade the ones on this planet. That’s inexcusable.”
The void stood back up, his expression gentle but unrelenting. He made me think of Mom when she was disappointed by our behavior but not surprised.
“You wanted power, so I will make you into pure magic,” the void said.
With a sweep of his hand he sent Lomis into the void. We could hear his pained screams until the man moved his hand again and the opening disappeared.
We all watched this in quiet shock. Even with Lomis gone and the opening to the void closed, none of us moved or spoke.
It was Mason who broke the silence. “Um, didn’t you want to go home?”
The void gave Mason a gentle smile. “Are you worried about me? That’s kind of you, but I can’t go back. I’m self-aware. That means I’m unable to reconnect to the void. My life is here now.”
I felt another pulse of magic tugging on my brain. As much as I wanted to tell the void to stop doing that, I kept my mouth shut and my brain as blank as possible.
The void frowned and met my eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that wasn’t acceptable. I won’t gather knowledge like that again.”
I shifted to my human shape so I could answer. “It’s a little uncomfortable when you do that, so thank you.”
“I wanted a name,” he explained, sweeping his eyes over us again. “All of you are full of names, but I like Victor the best. All of you can call me that instead of void, void-man, or scary-void person.”
Bec snorted. “Thanks for saving us, Victor.”
Her words were slow and a little stilted. Victor frowned at her and worry flashed through me.
“You’re the only human here,” he murmured. “And you were hurt the most by Lomis. You were all hurt by Lomis. I can fix that.”
He swept out his arm and this time when the magic swept over me, I felt my aura strengthen and rebuild. A glance at Marduk showed a perfectly healthy aura on my brother also. Bec sucked in a breath, then straightened up.
“Oh fuck, that’s a lot better,” she exclaimed. “Thanks, Victor.”
Victor gave a single, graceful nod of his head. “If you ever need that again, seek me out. You’re easy to heal.”
That was the first time I’d ever heard that. Most times it was impossible to heal humans with magic.
“That's a nice offer, thanks Victor.” She looked around at all of us. “We're done here, right? All the bad guys are gone. We all survived.”
I nodded, unsure about this new, revitalized Bec.
“Great,” she said. “We should go out for a beer and nachos. I’m suddenly starving.”
Bec looked a lot better, but she wasn’t completely steady on her feet. I was quick to wrap my arms around her. Marduk shifted to human form and moved to Bec's other side.
Victor looked intrigued. “Since I can’t gather knowledge any longer, I don’t know how to find out what beer and nachos are.”
“Then all you have to do is ask,” Mason said. “Beer is a beverage and nachos are a food.”
“I don’t know if I need to eat or drink, but I’d like to try these things.”
