The Last Hope- Magicians Contest Entry

The Last Hope

"Are you ready?" Quentin Coldwater faced the only person he believed who could help him save the world. He stood at the edge of a meadow, morning light piercing the trees that shadowed his friends and him. All around them ancient magic clung to the trees, to the blades of grass, whispering of old spells and kings of Fillory long dead.

"I don't think I'll ever be ready. But we have to do this, don't we?" Kady met his gaze, her warm brown eyes were wide and full of sorrow.

"We do." Quentin met the gazes of the few brave enough to stand with him. Just a few months ago he and his friends had been studying magic at the secret graduate level university Brakebills. The Quentin he'd once been had hungered for a future in which he would feel special, feel at one with the world. When he'd passed through the enchanted barrier that protected Brakebills, he'd learned that he was special. He was destined to learn and use magic, but he wasn't the savior of this story.

I've died thirty eight times before, died trying to save my world and the magical land of Fillory from the Beast.

A time loop created by the mysterious Jane Chatwin, the Watcherwoman of Fillory and Quentin's occasional mentor, had saved his life.

"Quentin, you'll make it the farthest trying to stop him. I keep trying to change things, hoping it help you. Maybe this time..." He would never forget the pain in Jane's eyes. Pain because she was sending him to kill the Beast, a horrible man who had once been her beloved brother.

But it wouldn't be Quentin who would save everyone. It would be Kady, because he had figured out what the Beast had never wanted him or anyone else to know.

Kady was the Beast's daughter.

Kady shifted nervously, her long dark hair in tight curls bounced over her shoulders. She alone had come to Brakebills already trained in battle magic. Her mother, a hedge magician who lived on the fringes of magical society was a washed up woman hungry for spells and weak in many ways except the love she had for her daughter. Kady was strong like her father...Quentin prayed that she would be stronger, because her heart was pure, not corrupted like the Beast's was. It was their only chance.

"Everyone ready?" Quentin asked. The group facing him included his childhood friend Julia, the class genius Alice, the party queen Margo, the moody Eliot and the outsider Penny. Each one of them had a skill, had a talent, but none of them were able to stop the Beast without Kady's help because magic came from pain, and Kady had lived through hell as the daughter of a monster and a magic addict.

"You're not the best at eloquent motivational speeches." Eliot leaned against a tree, shrugging one shoulder negligently like an ancient prince who was thoroughly unamused at the lack of entertainment. But Eliot was never satisfied and his comments usually went ignored.

"I don't know what else to say," Quentin retorted with frustration. "We're all probably going to die," he added more softly.

The weight of that truth settled on him more heavily than it did anyone else, because he cared the most about stopping the Beast, and he was the only one who seemed ready again and again to go down fighting. It was why Jane had chosen him and why she fought to set things right in every new time loop to give him a fighting chance. He was the only one who could figure out how to stop the Beast.

They would find the Beast at the castle just beyond the meadow. Quentin and his friends began to walk toward the castle. Alice used her talent of bending light around them to make them appear invisible to anyone looking their direction. They moved in a single file reaching the small cobblestoned path that led to the massive wooden door. Julie stepped forward, lifting her palm to the old rusted keyhole. She murmured an ancient Greek incantation and a blue light began to twist out of her palm and formed itself into a shining blue key that tucked into the lock. Julia turned her palm and the lock twisted open. The door gave away when she pushed on it and Quentin took the lead as they entered the Beast's domain.

No one said a word as they entered the dimly lit medieval castle. Torch light danced in eerie patterns on the wall. They walked through a great hall that led to a massive stone staircase. A figure in a finely tailored suit stood at the top of the stairs, a cloud of large brown moths swarming around his face, making it impossible to see him clearly.

"So you've come at last, Quentin, or should I say...again?" The Beast chuckled, the sound temporarily disturbing the moths. Quentin saw the face of Martin Chatwin for a fleeting moment. The face of the monster who ruled the magical realm of Fillory with terror and bloodshed.

"We will keep coming. We won't stop until you're dead," Quentin said as he reached the bottom of the stairs. His hand shook as he mentally ran through the hand motions required to produce the battle magic spells he was going to throw at the Beast. Kady hid in his shadow, waiting until the time was right. The others flanked him in a V shape like a flock of geese flying north. The air around him crackled with energy as the magicians behind him readied themselves for the battle.

"Let's fight, as I have other things to do today. Killing you must be done quickly if I'm to make my other appointments."

Quentin gritted his teeth and whispered. "Now Kady."

Kady stepped out from behind him and lifted her chin defiantly as she stared up the pitted gray stoned steps at the Beast.

"Surely you have time to catch up with your only daughter?" Kady's sarcastic tone had always been a mask to hide her emotions. She was doing it perfectly now, so perfectly even Quentin might have believed she wasn't afraid of the Beast.

"Kady?" The name escaped the Beast's lips a little roughly.

"I didn't think you'd remember me since you left my mother when I was only a child." Kady's cold tone was almost as powerful as the Beast's.

Eliot and Penny slowly lifted their hands, fingers twitching as they prepared to cast spells of protection.

The Beast seemed to recover and he laughed, harshly this time. "Quentin, Quentin, how you shock me! Find my only daughter and bring her to battle? Did you think she would stop me?" The Beast threw up his hands, his extra fingers on each hand giving him advantage in magic that Quentin knew would cost him and his friends dearly.

A cascade of magical spells rippled down the stone steps, hitting Quentin and the others like a physical blow but Eliot and Penny were ready. Their magical shields blocked the fatal part of the Beast's spells from reaching them.

Alice, Margo and Julia spread out around the shield's edges and began to link and bend their fingers in intricate patterns, shooting pulse after pulse of magic back at the Beast.

Kady and Quentin stood shoulder to shoulder at the center of the shield that was beginning to crumble.

"Eliot, take Margo and Alice. Penny, protect Julia!" Quentin shouted just as the shields disintegrated into glittering dust. Eliot and Penny moved toward the girls.

A red blast of magic shot through the air, burning the skin on Quentin's face as he dodged at just the right moment.

"Stop now and I will allow you painless deaths!" The Beast didn't need to shout, his voice echoed around them.

"We'll never stop, never." Quentin raised his hands, shouting a Japanese spell that magician samurais had used for decades. It slashed through the air at the Beast and he stumbled back. The Beast roared and the entire castle shook on its foundations. The fabric of time shook and the air around Quentin and the others seemed to warp...stretch...until he felt his head was going to explode.

Eliot, Penny and Margo fell to their knees, clutching their heads. Alice and Julia didn't last much longer. The ice shield Alice had created around them was melting beneath whatever spell the Beast was using. The Beast laughed coldly as the air continued to crush them from all sides. Kady fell to one knee, her hands still up, battle magic pouring from her palms.

"Stop father, stop!" she screamed.

Quentin saw a flash of light pierce Martin's dark soulless eyes, the briefest hesitation before he shook his head.

"I have no weaknesses." He flung his arms wide as though he was ready to embrace the young magicians facing him.

Everything exploded around them in a flash of light.