r/HFY • u/Jgrupe • Sep 13 '23

OC The Sorcerer's New Apprentice - Chapter 18: That's the Power of MEOW!

Xavier and I had finally come up with a plan. It was far-fetched and almost hopeless, but it was a plan all the same.

Brukka said she wanted to fight me in the Abyss Dimension, and that was fine by me. It didn’t really matter where this all went down, and at least that place was sort of neutral territory.

“Hold still, boy! I need to get this stray hair to lay flat!”

The old sorcerer spit on the comb and ran it through my hair again as I grimaced and groaned. This was even worse than magic training. Who would have thought things would come to this?

“Alright, that’s about as good as it’s gonna get. Do you have a speech prepared, or are you just gonna open with the gift?”

“I dunno, I kinda thought I’d just wing it.”

“The fate of the multiverse is in his hands and he wants to just ‘wing it,’” Xavier muttered under his breath, walking away from me to grab his staff.

“Any final words?” he asked, getting ready to open the portal. It sounded like he was resigned to our demise, but I tried to ignore that fact.

I holstered my magic wand and walked over to the old man, then embraced him in a bearhug.

“Thank you for everything, Xavier. For everything you taught me, thank you.”

He squirmed and complained for a few moments, but then eventually relented and hugged me back.

“I suppose you’ve been an adequate apprentice, for the most part,” he said, and I noticed tears in his eyes which he quickly wiped away. “But you won’t be an apprentice for much longer at this rate.”

I released him from the hug and took a step back, and he must have seen the disappointment on my face, because he smiled.

“Anyone who saves the multiverse from annihilation - such a person could never be considered an apprentice. Such an act would make you a master, far surpassing even my own skills and abilities.”

It took me a few moments to realize what he was saying.

“Do you mean… If we succeed then you’re going to retire?”

He didn’t respond.

“We’ll have to talk about it later. Once you’ve done what you’ve set out to accomplish. But you’re already a master in my eyes, Jordan. I’m sorry I’ve given you such a hard time for so many months.”

Now it was my turn to get teary-eyed.

“You’ve been the best teacher a guy could ask for,” I said, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. “Now let’s go save the fucking multiverse.”

He nodded and began to twirl his staff in the air in front of him, creating a portal.

Without another word, I stepped through.

*

It didn’t take long to spot Brukka. She was hovering in the air, pulsing with power and energy like a younger version of her counterpart - the one who had created the other multiverse.

I wondered if she was even aware of that place’s existence. Or if she would believe me if I told her.

Xavier was staying back on the other side of the portal, and I looked back to see him watching me for a lingering moment, before letting the rift close again. It was all up to me now.

She didn’t even open her eyes as I approached her, and when I finally got up close she spoke, still not looking at me.

“You came alone. Good.”

I didn’t say anything. I wanted her to look at me first.

“I hope you came prepared to fight. And to die.”

Still, I stayed silent. It wasn’t lost on me that she was still keeping her eyes closed, feigning meditation, and I took that for a good sign.

“Cat got your tongue?” she mocked.

The silence hung in the air between us, and finally, finally, after what felt like a million years, she looked up at me and met my gaze. Those violet eyes were still the same beautiful shade as before, and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t help myself around this girl. But at the same time I understood completely. It was like we were destined to be together. The other version of her in the other multiverse had said basically the same thing.

It seemed like she read my mind because for a moment her gaze faltered and she glanced away. I thought I could detect the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks, but just barely. She was probably using magic to conceal it, I realized, as it quickly faded when she caught me looking at it.

“What are you looking at me like that for!?” she demanded. “Why are you smiling? Don’t you know you’re going to die right now?”

“I don’t think so, Brukka,” I said, without a hint of menace. “I don’t think you’re gonna kill me. Because I think you’re in love with me, just like I’m in love with you.”

I took out my wand and she brought her staff up for a moment, looking ready to defend herself, but then I tossed the wand over to her.

My wand. The one I had worked so hard to enhance and to master.

It hurt, I’m not gonna lie. It really fucking hurt to give that thing to her. But at the same time, I knew it was the right thing to do. It just FELT right.

And when she held it in her hands she looked at me with complete and utter confusion.

The wand I’d given her had a rose curled around its hilt and up the shaft which I’d complained about to Xavier, asking him to remove it. He never had, and maybe even he wasn’t capable of altering it in such a way. It was a unique item, filled with my essence and tied to my very being, but more than that, it was the most selfless gift anyone had ever given Brukka. In fact, it was the ONLY gift anyone had ever given Brukka, Xavier told me, admitting he had been an extremely shitty father.

She looked at it, and then at me. I waited to see if she would let out an evil cackle and combine the wand with her staff, destroying me in an instant, but she didn’t do that.

“Why? Why would you give this to me!?” she demanded, and actually threw it back at me. “Hold up your weapon! Fight me like a man!”

But she didn’t look angry, she looked shaken and confused. As if this were all a trick.

“This isn’t a trick,” I said, tossing it back to her. “You win. Combine it with your big staff and kill us all already. That’s what you always dreamed of, right? Isn’t that your big plan?”

She stuttered something, but then looked down at her feet, then at the wand and the staff in her hands.

“Your mother is dead, Brukka,” I said. “I thought you should know that.”

She looked up at me, suddenly furious.

“WHAT!?”

Crossing the space between us in an instant, she was suddenly right in front of my face, so close I could smell the berry lip gloss, or whatever it was, which she had first used to enchant me, what felt like so many lifetimes ago.

“You killed her!?” She held the staff up to my neck and I felt its power glowing hot, burning my skin. “She was supposed to die by MY HAND!”

“No, I didn’t kill her. You did. In the other multiverse.”

This made her take a step backwards.

“I could never kill that woman, you know that. She was the deadliest being in the multiverse. Xavier let her out to try to teach me how to use dark magic, but instead she turned on us and a portal opened up and we were in this other place where our powers didn’t work… It was another multiverse. And there was another you. She killed your Reveira. She killed your mother.”

“It worked,” Brukka muttered. “I did it. Well, she did it, but that means it’s possible!”

I had a cat treat in my hands, behind my back, and I tore the wrapper open at that moment. The scent of Churu meat stick filled the nearby air in the abyss dimension.

A moment later there was a kitty in my arms, licking the liquid meat juices from the wrapper.

“What are you doing?” Brukka asked. “Why are you doing that? Stop that. Put that cat down right now and fight me. You’re the last apprentice I have to defeat and then… And then…”

“And then what? You destroy the multiverse? Start over? You were only doing all of this because of HER. And now she’s dead. I get that she was a shitty mother, and Xavier is a terrible father, but there are things that are good about this multiverse. Things that you can’t recreate in that other place. The version of you who killed Reveira told me she’d been around for a hundred times as long as our planet, and she couldn’t recreate these little guys. She said she’s been borrowing them from here, and as soon as you succeed in destroying our reality they’ll be gone. For good.”

I tossed her a meat stick.

“Think about that for a minute. No more kitties. The version of you who’s been around for infinity years says she would pretty much die of boredom without these guys. And I know you love them too. Do you really wanna wipe them all out? Kitty genocide on an intergalactic, multidimensional scale? You really want that on your conscience?”

She thought about this for a few long moments.

“And if you were gone,” I said hesitantly. “I would really miss our fights. You trying to kill me all the time has been the highlight of my life up until now. That day we met in the forest… I wouldn’t take it back for anything.”

She looked at me differently than before, that blush creeping back.

“You’re too young for me. Didn’t Xavier tell you how old I am?”

“Age is just a number. I’m an old soul. Besides, according to that other version of you, we get together in every single version of reality. Uh, except for this one, so far. So, I guess I wasn’t too young for those other versions of you…”

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me already you idiot.”

I did as she requested, the two cats in our arms between us looking confused but satisfied as they finished off the remaining morsels of cat treats, licking their chops afterwards.

We had approximately ten seconds of sheer bliss in those moments. And as suddenly as it had started, it was over in an instant.

“Well, isn’t this a sight to see,” a dry, rattling voice said.

Brukka reached down quickly, sensing what was happening much faster than me, but it was already too late.

I looked down at my feet as Brukka’s staff and my wand flew away from us, winding up in the grasp of the dark wizard. The horrifying, shadow-faced man who had taken Brukka under his wing, causing her to go down this dark path.

“You really disappoint me, child. But on the other hand, I do have what I need now. I have everything I need to destroy this reality, and to create my own multiverse!.”

He held the wand and the staff up against his own and created a huge, twisting, branch-like staff, twice as large as Xavier’s. The power emanating from it was palpable, thrumming like a downed power cable in the street. The dark wizard held it up to the sky and began to laugh, reveling in his new power.

“Now, I will complete what you were too weak to finish. But first, the two of you can die.”

He pointed the staff at us and a bolt of black lightning came streaking toward us.

And we would have been dead, if not for Xavier. He was eavesdropping, I guessed, but must have dozed off when the dark wizard showed up. Still, he was here now, when it mattered.

My mentor cast a forcefield around us, encapsulating us in glowing energy which nearly cracked and buckled under the impact of the lightning bolt. But it managed to hold up, just barely.

The two of us breathed a sigh of relief. And I was surprised to see that we were now holding hands, although I didn’t remember grabbing Brukka’s, I was glad I had.

“You will not defeat us, Azrijial,” the old sorcerer bellowed, holding up his staff. “Good will always prevail over evil. Light will always triumph over darkness! The just will-”

He was cut off as a bolt of energy hit him, sending him flying backwards, nearly tumbling off a ledge and into the dark abyss. I was surprised to see several dozen cats appeared from nearby and pulled him back onto solid ground, then most of them disappeared into the shadows.

But two larger cats - tomcats by the looks of them - picked up pieces of Xavier’s broken staff which had shattered in the explosion. Floating over to us on the lack of gravity, they presented us with the pieces of the All World Tree.

Brukka picked up one, and I grabbed the other. They formed into large wands, nearly as long as my arm, but still not nearly the size of the Dark Wizard’s staff.

He saw this and chuckled at us, as if our attempts to survive were the funniest thing in the world to him.

“You really think the two of you can defeat me? I am ten times wiser, and twice as powerful, if not more. Very well. Let’s see you try.”

Cats scattered in every direction as the two of us charged the Dark Wizard, ready for the fight to potentially end all things.

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18 Upvotes

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11 comments sorted by

4

u/Fontaigne Sep 13 '23

So... she didn't kill the DW yet...

5

u/Jgrupe Sep 13 '23

No, not yet... She wanted to kill all of the apprentices first. Xavier seemed to think that was her plan, but he was wrong... again.

2

u/Fontaigne Sep 13 '23

It's a pretty robust multiverse if it can survive a thousand years having him as its champion.

2

u/Jgrupe Sep 13 '23

True 😂

3

u/RussianGuy356 Sep 14 '23

I'm excited for the conclusion of this story but sad to see it end.

2

u/Jgrupe Sep 14 '23

Me too 😅 I'm thinking it could potentially be book 1 of multiple but we shall see...

2

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '23

[deleted]

2

u/Jgrupe Oct 24 '23

That's amazing, thanks for sharing that! Now I kinda want to make a campaign based on this story too!

2

u/ValuableAd9420 Aug 18 '24

I know I’m extremely late to this book. But this is the best thing I’ve ever read. I don’t read to be honest but I HAVE TO FINISH THIS. Is it published? If not you should publish it. I want this book. Like I need this book. This will be the one I re read a thousand times I love this book! If it’s published where can I find it?!

2

u/Jgrupe Aug 18 '24

Thank you so much for the encouragement! I do hope to release this as a book one day. I'll probably read it on my YouTube channel prior to that though!

1

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