Chapter 5: Birth of a God
And from Void came Iblis, mighty and powerful. In His radiant might, Void was afraid.
The Burmens had all gathered in the hospital. Cerina was in Sam’s room, crying uncontrollably. Joseph and Helen were busy talking to the doctor, finding out what had happened. How had everything gone so wrong? What had changed since he told them his plans? Joseph knew there was a piece missing to this puzzle, but what was it? He looked into the room and saw Sam all covered in bandages. There was nothing these doctors could do for him. The best they could hope for was to get Sam into a stable condition so they could try and ask him what happened.
The most they knew was that Sam had been taken into a small clinic somewhere near the center of the western quarter by some kind of local vigilante for the area. From there, he was transferred to West General Hospital because the clinic could barely help him, but West General apparently had him transferred to Southeast Main Hospital after he was identified. This is where he was now, but Joseph was about to try and get him transferred out again. Southeast Main may have been the best hospital in Capital City, but even the worst mage hospital could do better for Sam. Joseph shot a quick glance at Helen, who happened to meet her husband’s gaze. She smiled and nodded sagely.
“Thank you very much, doctor. My husband and I will need to talk with our daughter now.” She bowed slightly and the two of them walked into the hospital room. Cerina had stopped crying, but she was now staring longingly into her hands. Joseph and Helen looked at each other one more time and nodded. He walked out of the room and she approached their daughter.
“This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. Where did we go wrong?”
“Oh, sweetie, there was nothing we could have done about this.” Helen sat down beside her and hugged her daughter. “All we can do now is leave him in the doctors’ capable hands here.”
“They can’t do anything for him,” Cerina muttered. “They’re only going to let him die. They need to bring in a mage doctor.”
“We know. Your father is on the phone with the Council right now to try and get Sam transferred out to the nearest mage hospital.”
Outside, Joseph was fuming. “What do you mean you won’t help him?!”
“I’m sorry, Joseph,” a voice on the other line responded, “But we can’t just transfer a non-mage into one of our hospitals. We don’t have the clout to try and move people like that around. Besides, this kid has some pretty premium insurance. Like, ‘given to government agents’ good. You’re absolutely certain his stepfather wasn’t some kind of politician?”
“I’m positive.” He rubbed his temples and then ran his fingers through his sandy brown hair. “Listen to me: Half of you are only on the Council because I helped put you there. I have pulled more weight and more strings for any single one of you than all of you have combined for me. We have a deal, remember?”
“I know, Joseph. I know what you have done for us. Hell, we all know what you’ve done for us, but you have to understand that what you’re asking will take far too long for us to accomplish. By the time we even get the clearance to move him out of that hospital we still have to jump through more hoops to get him into another one. And then there’s the matter of how much it costs. We can get the city and his insurance to cover his hospital costs while he’s there at Southeast Main because the Consulate will think we’re being charitable for once. Once we move him into one of our own, they’ll expect us—or even you by yourself—to cover him.”
He slammed his fist into a wall. “Damn it all.”
“Look, I’m sorry that you feel responsible for this kid. I’m sorry that your daughter somehow got caught up involved with a non-mage, but you have to accept that there’s nothing more we can do for him.” Neither Joseph nor his contact talked for a moment, as the former breathed heavily and quietly. “Joseph? Are you still there?”
He sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and then quickly ran his fingers across his mustache. “Yes, I am.”
“I’ll file for the city to cover what remains of his bills and see if we can dig up any dirt on the Consulate to let us transfer him out. I’ll keep in touch and let you know what happens.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll talk to you later.” Joseph walked back into the room. Helen quickly looked at him, hoping for good news, but he only shook his head. She bit her lip and sighed, and hugged Cerina again.
“Hey, it’s time for us to go. C’mon, we’ll be back tomorrow.” Cerina didn’t budge and stared a little longer at Sam, but then finally stood up. She rubbed her eyes as the three of them walked out, and looked back one more time at the hospital as they drove away.
Inside, Iblis could feel all the pain his body was in. The beating he had received from the Iblanites was significantly worse than the last time, but hopefully, that would hasten the rate at which his Spirit would return. If his theory was right, then the Spirit of Iblis would return to its host when it was in the greatest peril. Right now he was about four or five hours away from dying. So, hopefully, the Spirit would be here in one or two. Of course, he was hoping that it would appear even sooner than that because the pain was excruciating at the moment.
When he wasn’t in unbelievable pain, he found that being trapped inside of his body was quite boring. Nobody really paid much attention to him, and when they did it was only to check on his fluids and IVs. They were always quiet. Always sad. He knew that none of them believed he deserved this. At the very least though, couldn’t one of them acknowledge his existence? He wasn’t quite dead yet and could still very much hear everything they were saying.
He remembered the Burmens. Had Joseph tried to move him into a mage hospital the last time this happened as well? Did they even know what had happened? He could only remember blacking out from the pain every time he woke up. He was very certain that he had died the first time.
What time was it, anyway? How long had it been since the fight? What were the Burmens going to do when they got home? Was Helen going to cook a meal for them that they would all eat in silence? Was she going to tend to her garden? What would Joseph do? Was he going to go back over some of his financial statements to try and get his mind off of what happened? Was he going to read or work on the daily crossword in the newspaper? And Cerina? He already knew she wasn’t going to do much more than cry, but how quickly would her sadness become something much worse?
He heard the low rumble of thunder in the distance. Would it rain again? It wouldn’t be a surprise; everything had moved along at about the same pace as it did before. He still hoped it would; it would be easier to hide while it stormed outside. The door to his room opened. One of the doctors was walking in with a nurse, talking about what they could do for him. He tried to listen in on their conversation and focus, but something was distracting him. There was another presence coming in and quickly trapping him within his own mind.
“Well it’s about time,” he told it, feeling the Spirit approach him, “I was wondering if you were ever going to make it.”
Most people would not be so casual about this experience. Do you not know who I am?
“I know exactly who you are, and what I am. You are the Spirit of Iblis, come to join together with the Mortal Host, myself. You’re going to attempt to assimilate my consciousness into your own, and if you can’t then I shall reign as Iblis of Light, God and Savior of these people.”
How do you know all of this?
“It’s a long story, but we don’t have time for that. By my watch, I have only a few hours left before my body decides to kick the bucket, or a few minutes left if these doctors decide to help me along. I already know what I’m in for this time. I’ve beaten you once, and I can certainly beat you again.”
The Spirit didn’t immediately respond. Very well. We shall see just how resilient you truly are.
Outside of his mind, things began to happen quickly. All of the sensors attached to his body began to respond to his sudden increased heartbeat and mental activity. The doctor and nurse quickly called for help and monitored his vitals, wondering what had happened. They looked at their patient and saw that he had started to shake violently and immediately tried to restrain him. It was no use though; a white-hot jolt of electricity rippled through the air around him, burning the nurse and causing him to fall back screaming. The doctor quickly jumped back as he saw the patient’s eyes open and glow with a bright white light. He slammed his fists onto the hospital bed and knocked off all the sensors with a sudden shockwave of magic.
Iblis quickly came to his senses. The pain had subsided for now, but it was about to come back quickly and with a vengeance. He used what strength he had to roll off of the bed and onto the floor, hitting it hard. He could feel the magic tearing him apart somewhere in his core and slowly managed to lift himself off of the ground. He didn’t get up very far though and quickly vomited blood as soon as he was able to hold himself up. Iblis then looked up and saw all the terrified hospital staff staring at him. He screamed and clutched at his ribs, falling into his blood. He managed to pick himself back up and stand up. Nobody could see him like this.
Iblis ran back to the window and rammed his shoulder into it, hearing both his bones and the glass shatter. He cried out and looked back, watching as some of the security staff was trying to approach him. Instead, he held up his hand and watched as a bolt of lightning cracked right in front of them, scaring them back and keeping them away. He screamed one more time, feeling his ribs break once again due to the immense magical power coursing through his veins and slammed his fist onto the window, shattering it with another shockwave of power. It hadn’t started to rain yet, but the thunder boomed loudly through the room, shaking everything inside.
Once again he screamed and fell to his knees, coughing and vomiting up more blood. He needed to be somewhere else—anywhere else. They couldn’t see any more of this. The magic had now moved into his arms and legs and was starting to break and rebuild those. He slammed his fists on the floor, cracking the tiles beneath him. He needed to leave. Once more he cried out and slammed his hands onto the floor, sending out one more shockwave. He couldn’t be here anymore.
And in a sudden flash of light, the patient was gone. Everyone began to panic. Where did he go? What just happened? He could be anywhere now, but he certainly wouldn’t be safe. Several people ran out to check security footage and make emergency calls, but it quickly dawned upon them that there was no way to properly explain what had just happened. A massive security breach was declared and the entire hospital was placed on lockdown until further notice. The attending simply sat in terror and watched as the nurse who was burned earlier was treated for severe second-degree burns. He even thought he heard something about minor third-degree burns near the center of the scar. How would he even explain this to the family?
Emergency units and police quickly arrived and quarantined the immediate area. He even saw hazmat units coming in to collect samples of the blood and signed off on all the forms relieving him of anything that happened with the patient from this point onward. Still, this would not stop haunting him. How had they missed something like this? They were doctors—they weren’t supposed to lose someone like that. He asked to see the boy’s records, just to make sure that all of their counts were correct. C-count was normal and M-rate was regular. This shouldn’t have happened.
“Doctor?” The doctor looked up and saw Mr. Burmen standing in front of him. “I came as soon as I could. What happened here?”
“I don’t—I don’t know.” The doctor rubbed his eyes, “One second he’s comatose, the next his vitals are skyrocketing. We tried to sedate or restrain him somehow, but then these bolts of lightning began to crack around him. One of my nurses got severe burns from him.”
“Lightning? Why would lightning be—”
“Joseph Burmen?” One of the hazmat doctors approached the two, “I have some questions for you.”
“And if I don’t want to answer your questions?”
“Mr. Burmen, I assure you that you want to answer my questions. It’s just easier for all of us that way.”
Joseph stared silently for a moment, “Fine. What do you want to know?”
“The boy’s carrier cell count was in the low hundreds—high for a non-mage, but low for a regular mage.”
“I am aware of the classifications of Magi via carrier cell count. What’s your point?”
“Those were his counts when he was admitted to this hospital. Do you know what those numbers are now?”
“I’d say still in the low hundreds. His cell count can’t be multiplying that quickly, even at this age.”
“That’s what you would like to think. Come with me.” The three of them walked into a quarantined lab room and the hazmat doctor directed Joseph to some images clipped to a lightbox. “The first few are pictures of the boy’s blood samples when he was admitted.” They were mostly deep red with a few small blue spots splotched here and there. Nothing unusual about that.
“This is from what we could get earlier.” The image was nothing but a deep red.
“His carrier cells are gone?”
“On the contrary,” the next image was completely bright blue, “He has nothing but carrier cells.”
“What? How—how is that even possible? I know that carrier cells can replace certain functions of other cells, but to replace all of another type of cell?”
“There’s more.” The hazmat doctor picked up a test tube with some glowing red blood in it. “Here’s all we have left of his blood.” He picked up a different tube full of regular blood. “Here’s some other blood that we had. I’m sure that you know why blood can’t just be transfused from one person to another.”
“It’s generally deadly, yes.”
The doctor let the glowing blood drip into the other vial. He immediately closed both and held them up for Joseph to see as the second vial began to glow as well.
“So the cells cannibalize the ones in the other vial. Your point?”
“The second vial was filtered; there were no carrier cells in it. This goes beyond simple cell cannibalization. The old cells are actively assimilating and transforming the new cells to be just like them. But that’s not all.” He dropped the tube on the ground, surprising the other doctor and Joseph.
“Why would you do that?!” the doctor yelled. “Who knows what kind of deadly pathogens you could have released into—” The blood then started to spark and crack as the boy had done earlier. Instead of violently disappearing, however, it began to dissolve into the air until not a drop was left. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Joseph Burmen, my questions are simple. Who is this boy, and what kind of magic can make this possible?”
Joseph took off his glasses and stared at the glowing vial silently and in complete and utter terror. “I don’t know who this boy is anymore, but I can tell you that this magic does not exist.” The crimson glow in the vial was unnerving. “It cannot exist.”
Iblis reappeared in the ashes of his old home. What happened? He hadn’t teleported the last time. Was it because he was more aware of his powers? Iblis slammed his fist into some kind of wood that hadn’t turned into ashes yet, but the shockwave from his hit quickly rectified that. He cried out as his hand broke and quickly healed itself. The pain was far more intense this time than it was the last. He fell to the ground, his legs deconstructing and reconstructing themselves once again. He tried picking himself up, but now the magic rushing through his body decided to break and rebuild his arms as well.
Have you had enough yet?
"You asked me that the last time,” Iblis whispered through pained gasps. And my answer is still the same. You cannot beat me.
And what makes you so sure about that?
Because the last time you did this, you tried killing Sam, and you failed. He cried out as his spine suddenly shattered and he faceplanted into the ashes. “This time you’re trying to kill something far more powerful than Sam ever was and again you will fail.”
You keep saying that I can’t kill you and that I’ll fail, but what makes you so sure about that? What makes you so special that you think you can overcome the very power and will of God?
“Because I am not just some boy whose body you can simply take away.” He could feel the magic stop tearing him apart and his body start to maintain its form. He was winning. I am not merely Sam. He put one hand to the ground and felt a jolt of magic tear through his arm, but it did nothing to him anymore. I am Iblis of Light! He slammed his fist on the ground and a large wave of magic radiated from his position. He could feel it roll through the earth beneath him and he grinned. And I will not be defeated so easily.
Within his mind, the Spirit of Iblis began to shrink and hide from his true form. It had lost once more and now prepared to bond with the mortal host. What are you?
A great being of pure energy spread its eight wings and radiated light in all directions. It had no beginning and no end: its mere presence encompassed all around it. A great pressure exuded from it, bringing the Spirit to its proverbial knees. I am the Fifth Incarnate. I am the Defender of Magic and the bearer of Light. The world shall bend itself to my will, and I shall act in its best interests. The Spirit could feel itself merging with this great presence, And I am once again complete.
Back in the world around him, Iblis awoke, staring up into the sky. It was still cloudy, and he could feel the occasional drop of rain hit his face. He lifted himself up, creating clothes around himself as he stood. Iblis closed his eyes and let the rain fall down on him, washing away the ash from his face and body. He spread his arms wide open and took a deep breath. A low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance, but it wasn’t headed in his direction.
He could see lights flashing—red, blue, and white—and he opened his eyes and looked towards them, seeing several police cars drive up. Iblis put his arms down and turned to face the officers, some of whom had their guns drawn and ready to fire. One of them addressed him over a speaker.
“Put your hands up! Do it right now!” He complied with them, albeit slowly. It’s not like they could actually hurt him, after all. “Okay, now tell us who you are and what you want?”
I am Iblis of Light, he replied confidently, And I am here to save your world, or die trying. Quickly he launched himself into the air, disappearing with a loud boom. Iblis of Light made his grand exit and vowed never to return to that place again. For now, he felt it would be best if he laid low and tried to stay under the radar, but there was something he had to take care of first…
Elsewhere in a morgue, located somewhere deep within the heart of Capital City was a body, locked away in cold storage, ready to be disposed of. There was nothing left of it but charred, brittle bones. And yet, even locked away in that dark corner of the City, a small spark of magic began to crack around what remained of its hands.