[fic] [Tales of Arcadia] Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet 156/?
Your Future Hasn’t Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
released 6th October, 2023
The little ivory box was once again vibrating so hard it was going to fall off Merlin's table and damage itself on the floor. Nari picked it up before that could happen. Did it do so often? This was the second time since Merlin had awoken that the device had been so insistent.
Curious, she opened the lid. Blue images sprang into being before her eyes, captured in a globe ringed by the time stream itself. She gently swung that backward and forward, examining what had been, what was, and what was about to be.
"Time unfolds differently, like a flower," she said softly, her eyes wide at the images. "Perhaps this time...." A small smile crossed her face, then vanished.
Quietly, Nari shut the time map. And following the instructions scribed on the surface of the box, shut it off.
She set it back on the table and left the room, to search for Merlin.
They would soon need to leave this castle, and go confront her siblings.
It was time.
The horde came crowding into Vendel's workshop, far too many people for the space. There were both Trollhunters, of course, and at least three wizards, the eldest with his companion dragon. Blinkous and Aaarrrgghh followed, as did Draal. Three of the merely human hangers-on. The Akiridion prince and princess, and two bodyguards. Not to mention Vendel himself.
"I suppose," he said acidly, "that I should be grateful that the changelings currently cannot enter Trollmarket."
"Aaahh...." Jim looked around, at the crowd. "Sorry?" he offered sheepishly.
"But this is a momentous occasion!" one of the humans - Eee-lye, Vendel thought he was called - pleaded. He held some sort of device. "Plus we need footage for the movie."
A snort. "At this point, might as well call it a documentary," one of the wizards muttered, tapping at her fo-en.
"Ooh!" Toby's eyes lit up. "Now that has possibilities--oof!" He jostled.
"Sorry," Draal apologized.
"It's a little bit crowded in here," Toby admitted.
"Come here," Vendel told the Trollhunter, beckoning.
Toby squirmed through the crowd to his side. "Yeah, Vendel?" he asked.
Vendel rolled his eyes at the informality. "I will show you your target." His fingers traced the Akiridion core once more, easily finding the spot he had marked earlier. "Do you see the flaw?"
"The crack? Yeah."
The other Trollhunter stood behind Toby, watching with interest. Douxie had moved closer to see, as had Blinkous, both clearly interested in the technical side of things.
"Here at the end. Right here." Vendel tapped the spot. "There is weakness here. A sufficient blow should shatter the crystal, releasing its energy."
Toby nodded, his eyes fast on the end of the crack. Marking the spot in his memory. "Are we sure this will do it?" he asked, looking up at Douxie.
Who shrugged, splaying his hands. "From what I understand of the theory, it's a bit like a Prince Rupert's drop."
"A what?" asked Jim.
On his wizard's shoulder, the dragon adjusted his glasses and his wings. "A drop of molten glass rapidly cooled in water," he explained, his tone taking on an academic cadence very similar to the one Blinkous often used. "Upon having their tail broken, the drops explode into powder."
Toby made a face. "Exploding glass powder sounds dangerous."
The wizard shrugged again. "Fascinating physics, and the drops do have some sorcerous applications."
"But do we know that is what happens to Akiridion cores?" inquired Blinkous.
"We do." Princess Aja pushed through the crowd to the fore. She looked at the core on the table, then hastily looked away, at the faces of the others. "I used to immerse myself in battle records."
"The gorier parts!" her brother called from across the room.
She ignored him. "A cracked core is difficult to heal, even for Akiridion regeneration chambers." Her lips pressed to a line. "I read many, many records of Akiridion soldiers being offered mercy."
A hand rested on her shoulder. "An Akiridion warrior," Lieutenant Zadra said, "knows, and accepts, the risks."
Aja nodded. "I know. But." Her eyes sought the core on the table then flinched away. "I could still wish it was otherwise."
"The core will crumble to dust," Zadra assured them.
"Agreed." Varvatos pushed past Draal. "Varvatos has, sadly, seen it happen too many times."
"So. Dissolution, and the release of the energy within," Douxie summarized. "I can't guarantee that the energy will return to humanity, but... all things want to go home." There was a queer expression on his face, a bit like yearning and a bit like he was seeing something no one else did.
"Uh, as long as killing what's left of a god doesn't, like, wipe Arcadia off the map, right?" asked Toby.
Douxie's fingers brushed across the surface of the core. "Gaylen's already dead," he said. "This is just the funeral rites."
Zadra looked like she wanted to argue, but restrained herself.
"All right. But if we're gonna do this, I'm gonna need some elbow room." Toby looked around the crowded workroom. "So who stays and who goes?"
"Uh." Jim glanced around.
Douxie smirked and cupped his hands before his mouth. "Everyone who doesn't have a species-specific interest in this, out!" he yelled, his voice surprisingly loud for such a skinny individual.
"But--" Blinky protested as he was hauled out the door.
Draal smirked. "You heard the wizard."
"But Archibald gets to stay and watch!" Blinky wailed.
Aaarrrgghh patted him consolingly on the head.
The dragon rolled his eyes. "Oh, very well," he said, and took to the air, circling his wizard once, then coming in to land on Aaarrrgghh's back. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" he called to Douxie.
"Don't do anything you would do, got it!" the wizard called cheekily back.
Vendel actually smirked at him. "Really, Blinkous? Upset at having to wait outside the door? At your age?"
"And I thought I was the youngest here," agreed Draal.
Blinky crossed all four arms and fumed.
"Okay, that's better." Toby backed up a few steps and swung his arms wide. Now that the largest members of their group had vacated the room, there was suddenly a lot more space. Well, not a ton, but sufficient! He did a few stretches, warming up the limbs, twisting at the waist, reaching one way then the other, arms over his head. "Okay, are we ready for this?"
"Camera one, at the go!" reported Eli.
"Camera two, ready," said Mary from the other side of the room, holding her phone up before herself.
Darci rolled her eyes. "I don't think the boom mike would be a good idea, not if you're gonna hit that the way I think you're gonna hit that."
Toby considered her words. "Yeah, probably not," he admitted.
"It's not that big a space," Jim offered. "The sound will probably be fine," he said, proving he knew nothing about film production values. Toby gave him a withering glance.
"There is always after-dubbing," said Krel.
"There is always after-dubbing," Toby grumbled, but conceded the point with a nod. "All right," he said, pulling his amulet out of his pocket. "Let's do this."
"There's a lot more driving in all these checkups than I was expecting," Barbara murmured.
In the backseat of Zelda's car, buckled into the center and wearing what looked like nothing so much as a miniature bright purple burka, NotEnrique snorted. "I brought through thirty-four kids, doc. They ain't all gonna fit under one roof."
"We were able to place two or three in each home," Zelda agreed. Her eyes briefly met NotEnrique's in the rear view mirror. "Though if they're all hellspawns like you, I anticipate needing to juggle the placements some."
"Aw, you say the sweetest things," he cooed.
Barbara's mouth tightened. "I'd have offered for you to place a couple with me, but--"
Zelda snorted, a surprisingly inelegant sound. A smile teased at her mouth. "Barbara, I know your work schedule. Plus you've got two teenage sons already. You don't have the time, and you don't have the space."
"Douxie's not really a teenager," Barbara demurred.
Another snort, this one from NotEnrique. "Where it counts?" The changeling tapped over what would be his heart, if he were human. "He totally is, doc. Afraid that one ain't never gonna grow up."
She sighed and looked out the window, at the blur of the passing scenery. "There's worse things," she said softly. Then she forced herself into a less maudlin frame of mind. "I did like," she said to Zelda, "when you told Crystal that your clothing was warning coloration." She gestured at Zelda's outfit, modest in cut but not in color. It matched the magenta hue of her troll form.
Zelda's smirk widened. "All trolls have warning coloration, to you humans," she said. "Unlike Stricklander, I choose to keep mine even when I'm human."
The mention of Walt dampened Barbara's mood again.
She resolutely forced herself back to cheer. "I think NotEnrique's following in your wake."
"Nah," the drawled opinion came from the back seat. "I just like colors."
"After a lifetime in the Darklands?" asked Zelda. "Who could blame you."
Toby breathed. Once. Twice. Settling himself for a swing that was probably the most important one he would ever make. Definitely more important than diving from the ceiling to bury Daylight in Bular's skull. Probably even more important than teaming up with Jim and Merlin and skewering Gunmar like a shish kebab.
Use the proper tool for the job.
Cleaving a stone required the sharp edge of a chisel. So while his warhammer was Toby's first instinct, for this he needed a blade. He summoned Eclipse to his hand.
Okay, he thought. Eyes on the target.
He could do this.
Body to the side, settled into a balanced stance. Winding up like a pitcher for maximum force; overhand strike.
Landing right on target.
Zadra's face was a rictus in his peripheral vision.
Eclipse bounced off the core like it was in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
"What the--" Toby demanded even as the rebound pushed him away and he tried to control the blade. Luckily there'd been no one behind him. "Ow." He shook out his hand.
"Huh." Krel leaned in close to Gaylen's core, examining. "You hit right on target, but there is not even a chip."
Toby exchanged looks with Jim, with Claire.
"Maybe it needs a harder hit?" Claire suggested, half shrugging.
She had a point. With a thought, Toby switched out Eclipse for his warhammer. "If I use the gravity spell on this...."
Krel shook his head. "The force will be spread out over too great an area," he disagreed.
Toby shrugged. "So we need a chisel."
Jim coughed a laugh. "Yeah, and who's going to hold it?" he asked. He wiggled his digits, looking pointedly at the warhammer. "Finger pate, Tobes."
"Eww." Eli had a horrified look on his face.
"I'll do it." Douxie raised a hand, blue magic ghosting momentarily around his fingers. "Unless you'd rather, Claire? Mary?" he asked the other two mages.
"Busy," said Mary from behind her phone.
Claire just gave a chuckle. "I think you're the steadiest of the three of us on levitation, Teach."
"Marvelous." A chisel floated from a heap of them on one of Vendel's other work spaces. Krel pushed it into position. It clicked very finely against the core. "Ready when you are, Toby."
"Okay. Back up and clear out," Toby instructed his friends, a grim expression on his face. "It's hammer time."
He leaped and struck, bringing all his weight and all the gravity spell to bear.
Toby's second attempt flattened the chisel into a pretzel.
"Holy frijoles..." Claire whispered, eyes wide.
The only one who seemed to relax at that sight was Lieutenant Zadra, who had tensed at the blow, her hands uncurling from the fists they'd become.
"Uhh." Toby was staring too. "Okay, I'm out of ideas," he confessed.
"Hmm." Douxie leaned over the core, picking up the pretzel, which he juggled from hand to hand. "Hot hot hot!" he said even as Krel leaned in, examining the core.
"Still untouched," Krel pronounced, even as Douxie hastily set the ruined chisel down on one of Vendel's other workbenches.
"Kleb," said Aja. Which really seemed to speak for all their group as they exchanged glances.
"Morando integrated with the core, right?" asked Toby. "Maybe we should try that instead."
"The only ones," said Varvatos, "who would have the ability and right to do so would be the royals."
"Oh no no no." Aja backed away, waving her hands. "I am not integrating with Gaylen. I like being me."
"And I like not being fifty feet tall!" Krel agreed. "That is simply too big to hug anyone."
A delighted grin broke out on his sister's face and she launched herself at Krel. "I knew you liked it!" he crowed, arms wrapped around him.
"Get off of me!" He fought, unsuccessfully, to escape her mercurial grasp.
"So, uh, like, what are we gonna do?" asked Steve, approaching the core. He touched it gingerly with one finger, like he was afraid it might bite him.
"I don't know." Jim was staring at the core too. "Doux?" he asked, eyes turning to their resident wizard.
Who looked thoughtful, his gaze rising to the golden orange glow of the heartstone all around them. "Gods can be killed," he said, sounding like he was chasing an idea down, lining up fact against fact to build a bridge of speculation. "That being said, there's not much written down about how. Given that this planet is still livable, it's obviously not a common practice."
"We were able to use Seklos' cannon to kill Morando after he had fused with Gaylen's core," Krel pointed out, still enmeshed in his sister's embrace.
"Yeah, but we kind of don't want the two of you or your parents to die in order to win this time," Jim pointed out.
"Other than that, the only thing I know of for sure that could destroy the remnants of a god is--" Douxie stopped short. His gaze went to Jim. "Jim. Your sword."
"My sword?" Jim blinked. "Oh," he said, illumination sweeping across his face. His right hand grasped around nothing, then Excalibur appeared in it. "Because I was able to kill Bellroc with it."
"Just so." Douxie nodded, his eyes on the divine blade.
"So if you could use it to kill Bellroc," Claire reasoned out, finishing Douxie's chain of logic, "Excalibur should be able to destroy Gaylen's core."
At last, the temple of Aysa-Thoon was in sight. Waltolomew landed, listening for the faint sound of crashing coming from the jungle behind himself, and shifted back to human form. He tugged his sleeve cuffs by habit, ran a finger under the collar of his shirt, adjusting. The Inferna Copula glinted on his finger.
Overhead, the moon gleamed too, high and round behind a veil of clouds.
He had come here to secure an ally, and safety for Barbara. He would not command Angor Rot to slay the assassin who had been on his tail for so long. The man had thoroughly disrupted Waltolomew's life, severely injured his lady, and proved his ineptitude.
Yet Jim's voice lingered in Walt's ear, murmuring about the values of mercy.
But some people were stubborn, and too stupid to live.
He thought, given the incurred crossfire, that Jim would forgive him this once.
He was therefore waiting just inside the door frame of the building, leaning against it, one foot braced on the wall, when "Gary from Ohio" came into sight. In the moonlight, his stocky red frame was rendered silver; the shock of black hair that stood up between his curling horns was mussed, with vines and leaves all over.
"I was expecting you five minutes ago," Walt said calmly to his heaving, glaring pursuit. "Did you fail to find the shortcut?"
He got, in response, an incoherent bellow of rage.
He straightened. "I don't care what your problem is with me," he said. "But it stops tonight."
"Traitor," Gary growled, and drew twin blades from their sheaths on either side of his hips. "For Gunmar!"
Walt raised a blowpipe to his lips, and huffed.
By the time the moon cleared the clouds, there was only a statue left, screaming in rage at the world.
Waltolomew viewed it dispassionately. He'd seen far worse deaths in his time.
Still, some small part of him wished that this one had not come to pass.
After a long minute of viewing the dead, he turned and strode into the temple.
Angor Rot had once been a hero, and Waltolomew fully intended to give him the chance to become that again.
Jim being the one to destroy Gaylen's core meant people shifted around a bit, Toby moving to the side to give him room, Mary and Eli changing the focus of their lenses from one Trollhunter to the other.
But Jim just stood there, his eyes on Excalibur.
Claire exchanged a look with Douxie, then touched Jim on the shoulder. "Penny for your thoughts?" she offered.
"I just...." Jim sighed. "Is killing gods all I'm good for, with this sword?"
"Uhh." Her eyes went wide.
Douxie stepped in. "Jim," he said, his hand resting on his brother's other shoulder. "No."
Blue eyes met his. "But--"
"Nimue forged this sword to be wielded by a divine king, yes," Douxie told him. "But in the end it's a hunk of metal with a few shiny stones attached. What matters is not the blade, but the one who wields it. Hand," he said, a quick touch on Jim's, "head, and heart." Touches to each vital organ.
"A sword is meant to kill." It was clear Jim was identifying with his weapon.
Over identifying, Douxie thought. But he was far from being someone able to criticize a sudden attack of nerves and self-doubt. Stones and glass houses and all that. Also, empathy and understanding.
How odd, to think that he was the person who perhaps understood this part of Jim the best, when he'd known him for less time than any of the others had.
"A sword is meant, yes," Douxie agreed aloud. "But wielded? No. The blade you raise is in defense of others. Have you ever attacked first, Jim?"
Jim sucked in a shaky breath. "What if I'm doing the wrong thing with it? What if this ends in disaster, Doux?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "What if there is no winning endgame scenario?"
The others were all very still, watching and listening.
"If we go through this whole thing time and again," Douxie told Jim softly, "and we all come to that conclusion.... Well," he said, raising his eyes and looking around the room at all their friends. At Blinky and Aaarrrgghh and Draal and Vendel and Archie peeking in the doorway together. "If we realize there's no way for us to win," he said, returning his attention to Jim, "then that will suck. But we will all join hands and go down together, fighting. Because gods may be able to remake this planet at their convenience, but they cannot break us."
"Jimbo." Toby touched Jim's other arm, standing beside Claire, smiling up at Jim. "Even if this goes all to hell, it's still our best chance to make things right."
"He's right." Eli's voice cracked in the middle. "If destroying the core works, we could win it all, Jim."
"And even if it doesn't," Darci added, hand on her hip, "what're we going to lose by doing it?"
"This will work," Claire murmured, shining up at Jim. "I have faith in you."
Individually, none of their arguments shifted him. But collectively....
The light, and confidence, began to return to Jim's face. "Team," he murmured.
"Team Trollhunters!" Toby cheered, pumping his fist.
"Indeed!" called Blinky from the doorway, pumping his own fist. "Together, we shall triumph!"
"All right," said Jim with a smile. "Let's do this."
Zadra felt like she couldn't watch. But she had forced herself to, stoically watching two attempts to destroy the god who had created her planet and her people.
And the Royals countenanced this! Prince Krel had gone so far as to... well, she couldn't call it defile... Gaylen's core with his touch, examining it to see if any damage had been incurred.
But he was certainly a party to the planned destruction of Gaylen. She would almost label him a traitor to his house and his ancestors.
Princess Aja was little better.
And Commander Vex had eroded what little respect Zadra had regained for him by being not only approving but enthusiastic!
Still, as she clenched her fists and her jaw, vowing to bear solemn witness to the unthinkable, twice now a miracle had occurred. She had cheered inwardly each time. Gaylen's core was unbreakable by these pathetic humans!
That was, of course, until the god-killing blade had been drawn. She watched, agape, as the boy-king of this planet donned his armor and shifted shape until he was taller. Stronger. Properly blue.
The crystal on his crown gleamed as he positioned himself and breathed, centering for the blow to come.
The blow that would destroy a god.
Torn between her oath to the royal family, and filial devotion to the god who had created her people, Zadra felt herself rip slowly down the center.
Time seemed to dilate. She didn't know which way to go.
Until the breath of a thought occurred to her.
The king and queen would never.
"No!" she cried, shattering frozen time and moving.
Her hand barely touched the young king's shoulder as he swung. His eyes flew wide, momentum unstoppable.
And his blade.
Hit.
A bare inch to the left.
Gaylen's core exploded.
A blast of golden light shot out, ringing the world like a bell.
Trollmarket shook, dust raining down from the distant ceiling as trolls braced themselves, grabbing onto the nearest object for support.
Deep within the heartstone, a gold-orange crystal cracked. Then broke. The woman trapped within fell to her hands and knees, gasping as her chest inflated. She breathed air for the first time in nine centuries. She looked up, her eyes glowing gold.
Above ground, a car swerved, jerking to the side as the changeling driving the vehicle felt the pulse. She swore. "What the frag was that?" one of her passengers demanded. The other brushed fingers along her own arms, where every fine red hair had raised up with goosebumps.
In a bookstore, a libriomancer held onto the counter as the building rattled, eyes wide as various arcane devices around the room went off. In a tech repair store, employees ducked and covered beneath their work tables as the building trembled. At the front desk, Zoe ignored the sudden cursing of customers. Her fingers curled around the necklace she'd been given that morning.
On the playground of a daycare center, a cryomancer tripped and had to grab onto the support pole of a swing set to keep his balance. In the trees around him, birds took to the air. "Mister Jack, was that an earthquake?" one of his charges asked.
"I have no idea," he answered, eyes wide.
Outside of town, a rancher on his favorite horse was suddenly dumped onto his ass. "What the hell?" asked Henry, levering himself up onto one elbow. Tannlaus, eyes wide and frantic, lost shape, shadows darting in and out of one form to another. "Whoa there. Whoa," Henry soothed, standing, his hands out. The kelpie let him make contact, resumed the shape of a horse. Stood there trembling. Henry stroked the warm black hide, his primary attention on the panicked beast. After a moment, he felt secure enough to look in the direction of Arcadia Oaks. "What the hell is going on?"
The golden light continued on its path, sweeping across the globe. As it had in the Trollmarket, here and there its wake snapped the bonds of magical prisons. For the first time in centuries old creatures, believed by man to be myths, stretched their arms, their wings, their legs. Shrieking freedom to the skies.
In Rathambore, India, a changeling stared as the chains holding a famous assassin crumbled to dust. For the first time in centuries, the prisoner rose, grinning. It was not a nice grin, as he took one step toward the man wearing the ring that held his soul.
"Break off approach!" the commander of an alien spaceship barked, the ship's instruments going wild as the wave of light encircled the blue globe. Morando's eyes narrowed. "What was that?" he demanded of his crew.
"Unknown, sir," one reported. "It doesn't match anything we have on record."
"Is it a defense?" he barked.
"...Unknown," the crewman said, trembling.
Somewhere on the planet in question, two figures grabbed for the rails of their airship as their conveyance was nearly knocked out of the sky. "What the blazes--" demanded Merlin. His face drained of color. "No," he breathed hoarsely.
Nari merely sighed happily, her shoulders dropping as if in relief. "It is done," she said.
Elsewhere, two other figures' heads snapped up. "Bellroc..." said one.
"I felt it, Skrael," said the other. Bellroc's eyes narrowed. "Let us... investigate."
And back in Arcadia, under the streets and in the shelter of the great heartstone that sheltered the hidden Trollmarket... a crystal shard flew through the air. It tumbled end over end, physics guiding its path regardless of the magic it held.
It pierced the mechanical incantation of a magic amulet. Its point drove deep through the mechanisms. It almost went through them and into the chest of the amulet's bearer.
All that stopped its momentum was the green stone held in the back of the amulet.
The shard of Gaylen's core hit the Time Stone.