Chapter 20

20.
         Standing there in the room was turning out to be an utterly boring task. Everyone kept telling him to have patience but just because he was immortal why did everyone think that he was infinitely patient or something? He wanted to sit his ass down as well and stop glowing like a overexcited lamp, but unfortunately doing that any time soon meant the entire castle would hit the ground like the proverbial lead balloon. Only make a larger noise. Somewhat. And of course he couldn't put together anything permanent because that would take time and of course his brother decided to skip off and talk to fairies when if he had wasted a few hours they could have both gone. No doubt they were caught in some fairy trap now, and it served him right. Served him right for not staying those few hours.
         The only problem with that logic, Agent Two realized a bit sadly, was that they really didn't have a few hours. Already he could sense the Shadow's armies enveloping the land, every second meant another person dead, every moment meant another village a little farther down the road to annilihation, with the rest of the world following merrily behind. The Shadow was really serious this time, Agent Two had found that out firsthand. He really wanted this place, before the immortals had always played these things like a sort of game. But what he had gone through with the Shadow, that had been no game, the old bastard had hurt him before but nothing like that. That had just been cruel, that had been the act of someone who felt that no one could stop him anyway so he was just going to do whatever he damn well felt like doing. But then he was evil, Agent Two had to admit, trying to be fair. And evil beings did stuff like that. But that was good because it meant that he wouldn't have to hold back when they beat his rear later. Which would come. It always did, even if you ignored the short term.
         So he stood there and glowed. He couldn't even teleport to somewhere more scenic and do this. He was tempted to let go for a second and go somewhere else, after all the castle would only fall for like, what, a second? How far could it fall in that amount of time? But then everyone would come running over here to see what had happened and they'd find him eventually and he'd have to sit there and listen to people scream at him about the fright he had given them. He really didn't need to listen to that.
         Agent Two listened to magic instead. It hummed and droned around him, making sounds not unlike the waves of an ocean crashing along the shore. He heard it better than most people because he was mostly made of the stuff. Magic was energy, just reconfigured and repackaged and redesigned. Only here people could tap into it and shape it into whatever they desired. Most of them could only hear small echoes of the waves of magic that roared around them. Agent Two could hear the entire drama. Though it was still different from sensation back home. Back home, he had an entire Universe to be in tune with. Here, the world was much smaller. It was like having your senses cut off and not really noticing until you start to think about it.
         He had always liked this place. Everything was smaller and that made it all seem so much simpler, strangely enough. Even though the problems often turned out to be just as big. But they were easily solved, he and his brother (or sister depending on what guise they were in when they came, it all depended on the host) would just show up in the red robe outfits and wave their arms around and thus the problem was solved. Making random visits meant that the populace would never come to rely on them and life was peachy. Now the Shadow had to go and mess things up by getting too greedy and wanting the entire pie. Probably should have had the LORDS issue a handsoff order to everyone. But the Shadow probably would have figured a way around it, evil can be tricky sometimes. So can good, but you just never expect that. Anyhow, the LORDS really didn't have much jurisdiction here, not being their Universe. If this place even had the equivalent of LORDS. It seemed to get along just fine on its own.
         Agent Two was deep in his musings when the Dark Rider walked in. He had sensed them as soon as they came in but he figured he'd wait a second and see what they did. Actually, it wasn't the Dark Riders that came in first, but one of those beast things. It stepped in, shielded its eye from the crimson glow that was Agent Two and grunted something in that hideous language that it insisted on talking in. Agent Two could have translated and probably could have insulted it as well but figured it really made no difference. He had been expecting this.
         But it grunted something and Agent Two could see other shadows in the hallway now. The king hadn't bothered to post guards obviously, if there were any left. Probably figured the mighty Magent could defend himself without any problem. Not if can't move though, bud. Not unless you want to know what freefall in a twenty ton rock feels like.
         Another one of the great ugly beast things came in, all black and leather and nastiness. One of the small goblin type creatures scrambled in right after, and its bile yellow eyes regarded Agent Two has it tittered in that high pitched nervous laugh they have and rubbed its hands together.
         "Have you now," it said and Agent Two just starred at it. "Can't move and have you now."
         "And just what are you going to do?" Agent Two asked. "If you kill me then this entire rock is going to drop and you'll all die anyway. And no offense but you guys don't look the type to sacrifice your lives for a higher cause, if you want to call it that."
         The little creature just blinked at him.
         "They can't understand you," came an oily smooth voice, with just enough rough grainy edges to cause fright in those who weren't well educated in evil. But Agent Two knew the voice of a Dark Rider. They all tended to sound the same, probably all had to practice talking alike.
         It walked in right after, moving in that grim gracefulness that they all seemed to possess. It paused for a second in the doorway, as if surprised to have made it this far without having been turned to ash. Agent Two had killed a lot of Dark Riders in his time, seems they don't stand up too well to being disintegrated. Funny, that.
         The Dark Rider walked over to Agent Two, all arrogance and poise. The cape swished gently against the floor, brushing against the fragments of the crystal that had been so recently shattered.
         "Hello there, Agent," the Dark Rider almost purred.
         "Hey there yourself, bright eyes," Agent Two responded cheerfully, staring right at the Dark Rider. "I imagine you have some fancy idea about hurting me the way your master tried to."
         "The way my master did hurt you," the Dark Rider needlessly corrected. Agent Two hated being corrected. "I know that for a fact. He damaged you, Agent and yet you stand here as the only hope for the castle and the village that lies below."
         "Quite right, I am the only thing keeping this castle in the air," Agent Two said. "And yet you and your pals are the only things here trying to stop me. Honestly, what the hell are you folks going to do that your master couldn't do?"
         "Anything we want," the Dark Rider replied with a slight chuckle. It was obviously enjoying this to a great extent. "After all, you have indeed helpless, and you will not leave these people to die if you can avoid it. We know you, Agent. Intimately."
         "That so?" Agent Two asked. He figured the beatings were going to come soon enough, so he might as well rush this along. "Though you do have a point, I wouldn't leave these poor people to die. I'm just a nice guy." The Agent gave a shrug as best he could. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say that you know me intimately. I mean, really, when you think about it there's a lot of stuff we really don't know about each other."
         Suddenly, his body blazed crimson and seemed to blur. The Dark Rider took a step back, hand going to the sword at his belt. The beasts both roared and snapped, while the little creature tittered again and scampered into the corner, glowing green all the while. Meanwhile, Agent Two appeared to be budding, as a sliver of energy bulged out, shaping itself into a vaguely human form.
         Seconds later, a clone of Agent Two was standing there, hands on hips, while the first one still remained in the same position as before. "For example," both Agent Twos said, their voices a split second off from each other, giving a slight disconcerting echo effect, "I'm sure you didn't know I could this, did you now?"
         "What . . . how . . ." the Dark Rider stammered, clearly thrown off guard. Its hand was going for the sword at its belt.
         "Ah ah ah," Agent Two cautioned, grabbing the Dark Rider's arm and flinging him into the air. As he came down he grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the near wall. The other three beasts came forward, attempting to stop the Agent.
         "Oh come on guys, if you had run I wouldn't have gone after you . . ." Agent Two sighed, flinging his free hand out, creating a wall of energy that raced across the room and laced into the creatures. They writhed and screamed horribly before dropping to the floor quite dead.
         "But now that they're out of the way," Agent Two smiled, his voice no longer echoing, "we can discuss you and all the lovely plans I have in store for you. And they are lovely, let me assure you."
         "I may only be one," the Dark Rider gasped, attempting to talk with Agent Two's glowing hand closed around its throat, "but our combined might will eventually overcome you, Agent."
         "Yeah yeah yeah," Agent Two jeered, "I've heard the union speech before and I found it boring the first time through." He paused for a second, thinking. "But you know what?" he finally said, "I think I'll be able to hear you quite fine . . ." and in one effortless motion he flung the Dark Rider with a flick of his wrist, "from over there" as the Dark Rider tumbled through the air, not even shouting, silently resigned to his fate.
         He hit the wall and it crumbled, buckling and part of it collapsing. The Agent got one glimpse of a flapping cape before the Dark Rider went outside, to plummet whatever distance remained between here and the ground.
         "Oh my," Agent Two said in mock surprise, his hand comically placed on his cheek. "I must not know my own strength. I shall have to apologize to him when we meet again." Laughing quietly, he stepped back over to his other form, staring at it straight in the face.
         "What are you staring at?" he said to himself.
         "Red really isn't my color," Agent Two told himself, looking himself up and down. "I've come to realize that."
         He laughed again and stepped back into himself.

* * * * *
         When the giant came into the clearing, Tristian could feel the ground shifting with every step. The giant towered over the tallest of trees, but Tristian could still clearly see his face. It was craggy and worn, the eyebrows having gone grey long before his grandparents were even born, the other hair straggly and thin. The thing was lanky, but the muscles rippled like nothing he had seen before. It was dressed in a simple loincloth, but carried nothing else.
         It stepped into the clearing and stopped when it saw them. The Agent was merely staring at it with a slightly amused expression on his face. Johan and Michelle were obviously seeing none of this, but Tristian didn't know if they were better off in whatever situation the fairies were making them think they were experiencing, or in the real world.
         "Oh, I get the irony," Agent One said dryly, not seeming to talk to anyone in particular. "I want the fairies, so they send me the exact opposite. How amusing."
         "Does that mean we're not in for a fight?" Tristian asked, all his senses ready, his muscles tensed to move if need be.
         "We'll see," was all Agent One said. Stepping forward, he called out, "I imagine you have a message for me!"
         The giant looked down on Agent One. At his feet, the Agent was little more than a rodent, chittering away in its fashion. It blinked and finally said, in a voice as slow as the mountains, "The fairies have no wish to see you."
         "I gathered that," Agent One replied calmly. "But this really isn't about them, is it now? If you don't have anything more substantial to add to the conversation, then we're just going to be on our way . . ." and he stepped to the side and then forward, moving past the giant.
         "No," was the word it said, planting its foot right into the Agent's path. The ground rumbled again and Tristian glanced at his two friends, still oblivious to the world around them. He wondered if the things that were happening outside were somehow being incorporated into whatever they were experiencing, like waking up from a dream about falling to find yourself on the floor next to your bed. Things like that. Tristian had little else to think about, being that he was extremely out of his depth here. He had fought a lot of nasty things and gotten out of many bad situations in his lifetime but giants were not something he was ready to handle. Not today.
         "No?" was what Agent One asked the giant. "And why, praytell, not?" His voice was calm, measured, but Tristian could see that he was getting irritated.
         "There are rules," the giant said simply.
         "Aren't there always," Agent One muttered. Tristian moved up next to him. The giant didn't even seem to notice him.
         "What could they want now?" Tristian asked him.
         "They want nothing," Agent One replied, still staring up at the giant. "And that's what's annoying me." Louder, he called up, "Very well, what are the rules here? Something overcomplicated no doubt."
         "Nothing difficult," the giant droned in its too deep voice. "Merely a riddle."
         "A riddle?" both Tristian and the Agent said at the same time. Agent One's eyes seemed to be glowing now.
         "We can solve that," Tristian said, probably more eagerly than he had planned. "How hard can it be?"
         "A riddle," the giant said again.
         "No," Agent One said softly.
         The giant continued as if Agent One hadn't spoken. "By morning you see it, by midday it is gone, by night it is born again-"
         "Enough!" Agent One suddenly shouted, the violence of his words sending Tristian backpedaling a few steps back. "I'm sick of these games!" and his hand lashed out, becoming a blur of crimson light, intersecting with the thickened leg of the giant. There was a splash and splatter of blood and the dry wood cracking of bone and suddenly the giant was toppling, screaming the entire way down. He hit the ground with a thud, and Tristian imagined that he made quite the impression. Tristian was already back with Johan and Michelle, ready to protect them from any flying debris. But the air was only filled with screaming.
         But the bellows of the Agent were even louder. The giant spasmed on the earth, clutching uselessly at its leg even as the stump sprayed the trees red. "No riddles! No rules! No games! You people don't seem to understand how much power I have and what I'll actually do to protect this place and if I have to level this entire forest to get you to listen then so help me I'll go and do it! Do you understand?"
         His words were caught by the woods, by the air, and were thrown around shamelessly, carelessly. The giant stared at him with eyes full of pity, tears almost forming there. Then it looked to the sky and roared, "Mother!" the last syllable of which was lost in a scream of pure agony. The giant glowed and then became dull and suddenly all that was left there was the dead and rotting wood of a fallen tree.
         The forest was utterly silent. Even the birds had stopped singing.
         "No more," Agent One whispered. Then, seconds later he added quietly, "Maybe you understand now," his voice only shaking a little. Then, turning back to Tristian, he ordered tersely, "Let's go," before stalking off deeper into the forest himself.
         Tristian paused for a second and then gathered Michelle and Johan before following. He knew better than to argue.