The name seemed fitting so the Catalyst assumed it. Magic pounded through him in a chaotic maelstrom that burned with an undeniable need to be released.
A man whose name no longer mattered, faced him, one hand raised and burning with power. The Catalyst snarled and his eyes blazed with fire as he roared a wordless howl of animal rage. There would be no challenge to his power.
He attacked with shapeless waves of pure energy. The challenger staggered under the onslaught, completely on the defensive as he battled to protect himself.
Magic deflected in every direction, ricocheting from the challenger as crimson bolts of power. Some ripped deep gouges in the stone floor. Others blasted through the gaping hole in the ceiling and exploded in the next room above. Many more burst out through the yawning opening where windows once stood and through which the wind now whistled. Others rebounded to the Catalyst, who absorbed them and cast them out again.
The onslaught soon overwhelmed the enemy and sent him tumbling across the room in a tangle of robes and black cloak. The Catalyst laughed again and dismissed the insignificant opponent. He turned slowly and searched for other outlets for the magic boiling through him. It must be released. The world must burn with it.
Remnants of a wall of ice across the room caught his attention. He shattered it, and burned away the chunks of ice before they could strike the floor.
The Catalyst smiled. This was good, but it wasn't enough.
He ignored the insignificant group of people crouched against the inner wall of the room who were shouting useless babble. Driven by the vortex of power in his mind, the Catalyst rose through the hole in the roof to the next level. Windows in every wall offered spectacular views of palaces, turrets, and long buildings.
The Catalyst frowned. He must stand atop the world. So many things to destroy. He ripped off the ceiling with a wave of his hand and rose through two more levels before smashing the roof. He rose to the highest level and surveyed the city from the uninterrupted view.
Embracing the pure joy of destruction, he pointed a finger that glowed like ten thousand stars at the peak of the nearest tower. It stood directly across from him and rivaled the Catalyst's height. From the depths of his mind, a name floated to the surface.
The Emperor's Tower.
He disintegrated it.
The Catalyst grinned as first the roof, and then the highest levels of the Emperor's Tower collapsed under the storm of magic. When it fell below the roof of the nearest palace, he shattered the entire top floor of that palace.
The lower levels of that palace began to glow with red-hot intensity, and the outer stones melted from the supernatural heat. Screams faintly reached his ears, encouraging him to do more to prove his dominance.
Pure blackness rose around him, an evil cloud attempting to suck out his life. He shattered it and new magic poured into him. He looked down through the tower's broken levels. The foolish challenger that he had forgotten about stood down there. The man now backed away, although he still looked prepared to fight.
The Catalyst snarled in rage and threw his hands wide. The room below filled with roaring fire.
No one died.
He could feel lives pulsing with steady life despite the fire that licked at the walls and consumed the furniture. He intensified the heat until the very stones began to melt.
Still no one died.
The Catalyst growled and prepared to redouble his efforts. He would to kill everyone in that room.
# # #
Harafin paused at an intersection of wide hallways on the back side of the Great Dome, not far from the border of the Emperor's Palace. Leander and a pair of Stalwarts slowed to a halt behind him, but said nothing. Farther back, Emperor Tegnazian and the ambassadors struggled to keep up.
Harafin ignored them all and placed a hand on a carved wooden post where the two hallways met. He bent over it, eyes closed in concentration, searching for the source of the surge of energy he'd felt through the floor even while running full speed.
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"What is it?" Emperor Tegnazian asked through labored breaths as he drew close.
"Something . . ."
Harafin slipped his senses into the stone beyond the post and connected to the intricate web of magic embedded in every wall of the inner-city complex. There. It took only a few seconds to find. The magnitude of raw power in the keisara's apartments chilled him.
Despite a ripple of chilling fear, he cautiously reached farther with his thoughts.
Kevlin.
At the center of the storm, and only barely recognizable, stood Kevlin. That could only mean one thing. Not good.
He had to stop it. Reaching through the chaos, Harafin touched Kevlin's mind.
The reaction came instantly and burst against Harafin's carefully placed shields with awesome power. The blow rocked him to the core, and very nearly shattered his defenses. No one had come so close in almost two centuries.
Magic ripped through the distance between them a second time. It slammed into the old Sentinel, a physical blow that hurled him backward. He crashed to the floor and slid a dozen paces down the corridor. Leander reached his side an instant later and poured healing magic into him that removed the pain and restored his strength.
Harafin took a shuddering breath and looked up at his old friend, communicating everything in that one grave look.
"Are you all right," the emperor asked. When he nodded, the emperor asked, "Can you run? We need to get to my wife's chambers."
"I'm afraid not." Harafin allowed Leander to pull him to his feet as he mentally prepared for the coming trial.
"Then we'll send word to you," the emperor said and turned to leave.
Harafin grabbed the emperor's shoulder. "You misunderstand. I meant that we cannot go to her majesty's apartments. If we do, she will die."
"What's going on?" Emperor Tegnazian demanded.
Harafin didn't respond. He was already sprinting in a new direction. Toward the Great Dome.
"Basak," Leander called, and gestured after Harafin's retreating form.
Within seconds, Pallian Stalwarts pounded past Harafin despite his fast pace. They charged down the hall and again bodily removed everyone out of the way.
"What's going on?" the emperor called again as he gave chase.
"Your wife's life is now tied to a wider battle," Leander replied.
Harafin spoke softly to himself as he ran. "As are all of our lives."
# # #
The Catalyst laughed maniacally with the thrill of victory. The mind that had briefly touched his had been very strong, but no one could challenge him. He dismissed the vanquished enemy and turned his attention once more to the lower room and the frustrating tenacity of its inhabitants.
Time to kill them all. He formed his power into a long, spiraling column extending into the heavens. Through it he grasped the ponderous weight of the air and drew it downward. He'd seen this spell once, and he would make it even more destructive.
He twisted the air and drew it down faster, tighter. Out of the clear sky appeared a roaring tornado that descended past him into the tower below.
The wind screamed through the tower, and the gaping hole in the floor ripped wider. The wind tore at the structure and threatening to rip the entire top of the building apart and carry the fragments to the heavens. Floating in chaos, the Catalyst laughed, his arms wide, and magic pouring from him in staggering quantities to fuel the mighty whirlwind.
No one died.
The wind scoured the walls and shattered the floors between the various levels until the tower stood little more than an empty shell. It filled the room below with the overwhelming power of the elements unleashed, but it failed to move even a single person. Around each individual, a tiny eddy of calm held against the wind.
The Catalyst shook with rage and sparks of magic dripped from each strand of hair. He would not allow his power to be challenged. At his unspoken command, the whirlwind ceased.
The resulting calm lasted only a second before a blinding flash of lightning arced down from the clear sky to strike at one prone form. The accompanying crack of thunder shattered windows in nearby buildings, but the unconscious human form lay still, sleeping unconcerned and untouched by the deadly lightning.
Another bolt of lightning fell, followed a heartbeat later by a hundred more, all raining from the sky and striking at everyone in the room in a blinding tangle of searing power. Remnants of wood not carried off by the whirlwind caught fire, and every hair on the Catalyst's head stood on end as the air became dangerously charged.
No one died.
The Catalyst shrieked in fury, and flames billowed from his open mouth. Then he paused and stepped to the edge of the precipice and looked down on the form of one of the women who stood unharmed in the midst of the lightning storm.
She stood apart from the others, as if trying to position herself between them and danger. She looked up at him with tears streaming down her face. Somehow it was her power protecting these people.
She dared to defy him, shouting ridiculous, meaningless words of restraint and control.
She must die.
The Catalyst hurled his magic at her in a devastating wave of death that ripped the fabric of the air between them. It darkened the entire tower for a double heartbeat and sucked every bit of breathable air away. The resulting vacuum should destroy all life.
It did not.
His power dissipated and the cursed woman stood against him still. She looked surprised, but stood unharmed, as if he'd merely shouted curses at her. She called a name that no longer applied to him and beckoned him down.
He focused on the floor beneath her feet and released another wave of power. Cracks appeared and zig-zagged across the floor. Large sections fell with resounding booms to the level below. In seconds, holes gaped everywhere, but the floor remained solidly intact beneath everyone, connecting them in a twisted jigsaw of stone and wood.
The Catalyst howled with fury.
This hated witch-woman must die.
