MA15_ _Millennial

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For the briefest of moments, it was as if someone else's life had
been overlaid on his. But he wasn't Ashley Chapel, he was the
Magnus Ashmael, Archimage of Abraxas, and soon, so very
soon, he would be Archimage of the Great no, Greater
Kingdom.
'It's over, Ashmael. Drop the dagger and step back from
Cassie.'
The Archimage span round to see the Doctor standing in
the recently created doorway, flanked by the Hierophant, her
general, Alane, the Technomancer and her Chancellor. Quite a
blasphemous little gathering, when all was said and done.
`I don't think so, Valeyard,' he spat, emphasizing the last
word. 'And your antagonism surprises me. I mean, all of us
have played our parts in this, this situation, haven't we?' He
pointed at the Technomancer.
`You, for example. As Melaphyre, you allowed your
elevated cybrids to breed, which brought the innocent
Cassandra into the world. But as Melanie Bush, you completed
the Codex for my alter-ego, Chapel. Without you, Majestrix,
the Great Kingdom would never have existed. Then again,' he
continued, 'more thanks must go to the dreary Anastasia's even
more dreary counterpart, Anne Travers.' He laughed cruelly.
'Don't look so surprised, Anastasia. Compared with Anne
Travers, you are the most fruitful and fulfilled woman in the
Kingdom! And if she hadn't summoned the Great Intelligence
to Earth, Saraquazel's paradise the paradise that I worked
towards for twenty years would have come into existence,
rather than this sword-and-sorcery fiasco.'
253�
`Ashley Chapel, I presume?' asked the Doctor, stepping
forward into the chamber. 'I wondered when you would regain
your senses. Can't you see that all of this has to stop. Now?'
`I am many things,' the Archimage replied. 'Ashley Chapel,
the Magnus Ashmael, and Haarklane.'
`Also known as David Harker?' The Doctor shook his head.
'And that gives you the tight to be ruthless, without
compassion?'
`Being me gives the right!' he shouted. 'And, very soon,
being me will be the most important position in the universe!'
`You don't know what you're dealing with here, Chapel! If
you try to take the powers of the Gods, they will consume you.'
He pointed at the blue box on her plinth.
`The entity you call the Goddess Tardis is a space-time
machine created by beings who were ancient when the human
race was counting its cells in single figures. It draws its
energies from the primal forces of a black hole think you can
handle that? And the other "Gods"? Yog-Sothoth, a malevolent
creature from an earlier universe that has tried to conquer the
Earth on at least three occasions. And Saraquazel; a throwback
from a time that hasn't even happened yet!' He stepped up to
the Archimage.
`A time machine and two time-lost energy creatures; those
are your gods, Chapel. And if you steal their powers, you will
very probably die; at the very least, you certainly won't be
human any more.'
`Maybe not, Valeyard, but I'll be a god in my own right. A
god with the power to control the entire universe '
`Listen to me, Chapel, or Harker, or whatever is currently
sitting up there ' he pointed at the Archimage's head. 'That
unravelling I told you about when I was, ah, unbalanced, is still
going on. You may be able to steal the Gods' powers, but you
haven't the ability to wield them properly. The unravelling will
spread out; across London, across the Earth, and finally to the
stars. Your universal empire will consist of nothing but random
cosmic strings and a lot of hard radiation. Is that the destiny of
the Great Kingdom, Archimage?'
`Ah, but you do have that ability, don't you, Valeyard?
With you at my side, nothing would be impossible.'
254�
`Me? At your side? You must be joking, Chapel.'
`You may wear the countenance of the Doctor, but your
attire suggests otherwise. Doesn't it?' Before the Doctor could
react, the Archimage hurled a mantric spear at his heart.
And the Doctor deflected it instinctively with a wave of his
hand. Which was exactly what the Archimage had wanted.
Mel gasped as the Doctor collapsed. The Archimage's
attack seemed to have been deflected, but the Doctor had
fallen, nonetheless. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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