Azar looked away from him, remaining silent for a little while. “The boy is no longer important.”
A look of confusion wrinkled the king’s face. “What? I fail to understand you! You spend all of your time and energy chasing after this demon and now it is no longer important?!”
Azar looked at the king suspiciously. “I can’t imagine why you’re so interested in my fairy tale adventures all of a sudden.”
“Ho! So you admit to your foolishness!”
“Just listen if you will, father!” Azar was getting annoyed again. “The spirit inside me had me know that Trium—”
“Trium?! You’re really convinced that foolishness is real?!”
“This is exactly why I can’t talk to you! Your mind is so closed! So… limited! Can you believe only in what you see and touch?! You best be disillusioned about yourself being the most powerful man in the world and everything revolving around you!”
“You best watch your mouth, foolish child! And I do know that there are other nations out there that are probably more powerful than mine!”
“Probably? In any event, none of that is important.”
“Then what is?!”
“Trium’s return! This demon is the most powerful entity in all of history and prophecy, and when he comes, he will seek the most worthy host to do his biddings. There are five that outrank me, and I need to get rid of them! Retrieving the other half of the demon from the boy does sound tempting, but I will instead use him and his friends to help me take out the competition. Then I will deal with him.”
King Aragan laughed mockingly. He seemed unable to contain his amusement. “Where do you get all this nonsense from?!” He seemed wrought now, and fed up with all this rubbish. “Those books your grandfather left you? If I knew they were so interesting, I would have my jesters study them and make me plays from them!” He laughed again. Anger and disgust rippled the prince’s face.
***
“Did you hear that?” Kyle asked in a cautious whisper. Everyone paused eating. Darkness flashed in Lex’s eyes in a moment too thin for anyone to notice.
“Varios the shape shifter is here,” Maximo told Lex. “His power is great.” Lex got up quickly.
“Show yourself, Varios!” Lex called, his fear disguised by his loudness. As Lex spoke, a man appeared in the midst of them. He was as tall as Blade and dressed like a simple man, seemingly unarmed. Frightened, Kyle, Clover and Blade stood abruptly.
“What the hell?! Lex, what’s going on?!” Kyle wanted to know.
“The demon told me he would be here.”
“What demon?” Varios asked with a suspicious face.
“Why are you here?” Kyle asked, reaching for his blade, but then remembering it was crushed like paper.
“Are you a magician?” Clover enquired.
“My apologies. I am a simple man who has been doing some readying,” the man answered, not sounding threatening at all. “You might not know of the prophecy, but a powerful creature will soon be here. My current mission is a simple but vast one: to wipe out every elementalist and sorcerer, and all others with threatening potential. This is crucial, do understand—”
“As you wish to host Trium when he returns,” Lex finished. The man looked at Lex with great intrigue.
“And what makes you think you can do all that?” Clover asked with one eyebrow slightly raised, “I mean, that’s a pretty big task you’re up to.”
“That’s right, young witch, and there are more of you to attend to than you might imagine, so I must hurry.”
Lex already had two well-grown iceballs in his palms.
The man stooped a bit and touched the ground. Suddenly, something quite unexpected happened. He quickly transformed into the hard soil that made the ground, maintaining his human figure. The thing charged at Clover.
“Abingush!” the girl commanded in fright, quickly summoning up mana and flinging it at the strange creature. In a huge bang, dirt flew in every direction. Varios landed, still in his earthly form, rolling away from the group. As he changed his posture to a crouch, he grabbed on to the ground with both palms, and his body of soil regenerated fully. “There’s more where that came from, you freak!” Clover blasted, her heart still beating fast.
“Nice shot, sis,” Kyle commended.
“Heh! With one mere attack from you, I have fully analyzed your level and type of magic, mana control, everything. I might have wasted my time coming here. Even the Icemaker might be stronger than you are. Trium would never think to use any of you, but since I’m already here…”
“Hmm… This guy sure knows a lot, but it seems he has no idea what kind of power I have at my disposal,” Lex quietly told Kyle, who was just beside him.
“The kind of powers I have are beyond your realms of understanding,” the man boasted. He motioned his hands, and a large rock of hard soil emerged before him.
Lex’s eyes widened. An Earthshifter?! With another motion, the massive boulder was heading toward them at killing speed.
“Abingush!” Clover commanded again, and in an explosion coloured green and brown, the bulk of tough earth was shattered to bits. They shielded their faces as tiny particles of rock scattered everywhere. With quick hand movements, Varios commanded a rapid succession of small rocks toward the group. Blade stepped before the group quickly and adeptly used his sword to fend off the rapid projectiles. The stones came faster and faster, until Clover gave out a cry and her body made a thud. Lex hurled the spheres of ice at the enemy, no longer trying to figure anything out. The man of soil held his hands out toward the approaching spheres of dense ice energy. In a jiffy, Varios was covered in a block of ice. “Spaceshifting?!” Clover wondered aloud as they saw the man slowly disappear from the prison of transparent ice.
Lex rushed back to the fallen Clover. She was holding her belly and groaning in pain.
“Damn it, Lex, I think this guy’s turned himself into ice!” Kyle gave out.
“It seems he can become whatever he touches,” Blade said. “If I fight him, I will have to kill him before he can touch my sword, or he will be more impenetrable than an Ionide.” A manlike figure made of ice walked forth from the block that should have imprisoned Varios. He held his hands out toward Kyle and Blade. A quick, bluish, chilly flash dazzled them, and before they could think, they were frozen solid. Varios laughed a little.
“What I am is greater than magic or element can conquer. I am everything.”
Lex stood to continue fighting. “I’ll show you!--” Something distracted both Lex and Varios. A red cloud had appeared in both their sights. The redness cleared quickly, revealing the finely dressed heir to the Magmalian throne.
“Varios!” Azar greeted, his fists folded and a confident smirk on his handsome face.
“How interesting! I encounter three targets in one battle! I am honoured that even the prince of this great nation knows my name. Heh!”
“Varios the shapeshifter… Like me, you have descended from both Kizer and Oga, and have been born with the powers of magic and elementalism.”
“Like you? Heh! I don’t know which is more interesting, your knowing this much about me or you being as rarely potent as I am.”
“Heh! Only days ago, I wouldn’t think to fool myself that I could stand against one like you, but with a new might that I have come upon, not even you, the great and feared shapeshifter can defeat me.”
“Hm. I wonder what new might you speak of!” Varios seemed quite interested.
Azar turned to Lex and Clover. I’m glad I made it in time. The demon hasn’t changed hands. He turned his attention back to Varios. “I know everything about you, Varios, and that is the first reason why you cannot win. Mastering sixth grade magic and multiple elements, you have somehow managed to fuse both power natures and transcend both magic and elementalism, reinventing, in our era, the ancient and rare art of shapeshifting. I must say, you are a man I must respect.” Azar’s hands lit up with fire. “And, fortunately or unfortunately, a
man I must kill. Lex! Get up!”
Azar stretched his hands out toward the shape shifter. Two streams of fire rushed out toward Varios, who made his signature move, extending his hands to meet the attack. “Attack! Ice! Now!” Azar commanded. As the beams of fire touched Varios, he became fire, as both he and Azar had planned. In obedience, Lex sent his spheres of chilly ice energy at the fiery man. In a steamy impact, both fire and ice disappeared, as the ice tried to spread about and freeze what it could not. A shapeless blob of water remained, that quickly hit the ground with a splash.
Lex looked over at Azar. “Is he—”
“No,” Azar answered quickly, knowing full well that defeating a shapeshifter was far more difficult than that. “He’ll soon revive. You need to access the demon’s power. You’ll have to hit him with at least a shadowball.”
“But--”
“Just do it!”
“Why can’t you--”
“Just do as I say, you foolish child!” the prince blasted in annoyance. “Call upon your demon!” Lex and Azar looked at the puddle as it rose and took the shape of a man.
Veins stood firm in Azar’s forehead as he clenched in his palms great energies. He struggled not only to generate immense power, but to concentrate; what he was doing took a level of aptitude only a handful of men could dream of possessing. In his right hand developed a red ball of dense fire, and in his left was a nicely developing orb of mana. The bright sphere changed colour form green to blue to red, until it somewhat resembled the sphere on the other hand, except it was far more difficult to look at. “Lex! Hurry!” Though Lex had no idea what the prince’s plan was, he knew it was well thought out and worthy to be given a chance. Still, he couldn’t just switch on the black-eyed state. Varios’ watery being rushed through the air toward Lex. Before he could manage to react, he was trapped in a body of water, and couldn’t move. The sphere of water flew up a few meters from the ground. Azar, grasping tightly the mana and fire in his hands, waited still for Lex to fulfil his command.
He watched with high hopes and clenched teeth as Lex’s face seem to redden. He tried to struggle with his hands and feet, but he was in a state of paralysis, like the water was far denser than normal. Hands vibrating rapidly, Azar struggled to keep the energies contained. Come on, kid. Finally, as Lex was at the brink, the very edge of death, his body stopped moving and his eyes closed. “Finally,” Azar said to himself with a smirk. The boy opened his eyes, and as Azar had expected, they were purely black. Two shadowballs suddenly appeared in his hands, and that very instant, the sphere of water became as black as the boy’s eyes. Lex fell from the blob of black water, landing hard on his back. Water spewed from his mouth and he wheezed, struggling to breathe. His eyes were open wide, but they were in their normal state, and that was nothing for Azar to be happy about.
Azar hissed, turning his attention to the morphing puddle of black water. As pure water fell to the ground, what remained was what seemed to be a standing shadow, a man of darkness. “Ha! Pure darkness! This is my strongest form yet!” His voice was distorted by the dark power, and he sounded somewhat like Maximo.
Azar laughed, a cunning smile on his face. “Though famed the death element, there is one thing darkness cannot stand against.” Suddenly, Azar slammed the orbs of fire and bright mana together. “Witness the greatness of elemental synthesis!” Azar widened his stance as he combined fifth grade magic and red hot fire. Streaks of brilliant light escaped in defined rays from his fingers as the orbs together formed a single sphere of pure white light. “Light Shell!” Azar hurled the sphere at the man of darkness.
As a tiny strand of the incredible and beautiful elemental light entered Lex’s eyes, he slammed them shut. Suddenly, he glimpsed into his soul. Before him was a being he was certain to be Maximo. The spirit bellowed in agony and the whole place shook.
Lex looked up as he saw white beams of powerful light come down from the dark skies. Like bolts of living lightning, the streaks headed for Maximo with great speed. Some of them bound him tight, while others blasted him, even piercing through him. The place quaked greatly as the spirit wailed. When the assault of the white rays was ended, Lex saw the man of darkness fall to the ground, a dark mist rising from him. His human shape became less definite, like he was struggling to keep his form. He heard Maximo pant. “It appears I survived…” the spirit breathed. Then, with all suddenness, the trance ended, and Lex’s eyes were opened. The brightness had just cleared. Lex stared in confusion and fright at Azar was just lowering his still vaguely glowing hand.
A simper of absolute pride shot across the prince’s face. “He is destroyed.” Lex’s face told Azar that he was still too confused to speak. “Hm. Only yesterday I mastered the creation of elemental light… I had planned to use it against you as a last resort if your demon became too troublesome. Still, that would kill the demon, so I do hope things will not come to that.”
Lex stood with wide eyes for a few moments more, then he spun and rushed over to Clover, just getting his head together, at least somewhat. Azar walked up to them. Clover was still groaning in pain. “Allow me,” Azar said upon reaching them. Lex stepped aside quickly. Azar struggled to control the heavy vibrations of his hands as he knelt by her. Her body was enveloped in bright mana. Clover shut her eyes tight, but her groaning stopped. The light soon disappeared and Azar stood from her. Azar laughed a little, seeing the look of amazement on the young witch’s face. She quickly stood.
“The pain is gone!” she rejoiced, and jumped up to Azar, hugging him tightly. Lex hissed, not realizing it was audible, glaring at them.
“Alright! That’s enough!” Azar said, pushing her off. Lex couldn’t have agreed more.
“You alright, Lex?” She finally noticed the state of her brother and his mentor. Azar was already by them, though, and she was sure he would undo what was done to them. She sighed heavily in relief and assurance. He placed his palms against the icy prisons. They glowed red as great heat flowed from them, but carefully projected so as not to further harm the prisoners. In a moment, water washed down Blade and Kyle. They fell in the puddle, shivering and panting. “So you’re on our side now, prince Azar?” Clover spouted in excitement.
“Hm. We’ll see how things play out,” he said with a friendly smile that answered her enough. He turned to Lex. “I hope you didn’t let any of that light into your eyes,” he said in a low tone of what sounded like concern. “It doesn’t take much elemental light to destroy a being of pure darkness.”
Lex nodded quickly. “Maximo survived,” the boy said.
“Good… We must preserve our demon. It is our only chance of standing against Trium. Trium is of such greatness that not even my elemental light will be able to destroy him.”
“Hmm… You seem to have changed quite a lot since we first met, Azar,” Lex pointed out.
“Gather your strengths. We will meet again at dusk. There is a mission we must accomplish before Trium returns, and we know not the hour of his coming.”
“What are you talking about?” the confused and very much interested Lex asked.
“You will know before long. By the way… just a hint; never look directly at the sun’s core. In the sun lies the birthplace of elemental fire and light. Staring at it will surely weaken the demon.”
Lex nodded.
“Farewell.” With that, Azar disappeared in a red cloud.
Chapter 24: The Sunrise Battle
The little faction gathered round the fire. Its warmth was welcomed as the air was chilly.
“Come on, Blade. You were there! The man rescued us from our enemy and saved you and Kyle! I can’t see why you can’t accept that he’s an ally now!”
“You are too naïve, Lex,” Blade calmly objected. “All of you. You said you got a vision or whatnot, and the spirit told you of six men that you need to kill. It’s quite likely that the prince’s half of the spirit sensed the same thing, and gave him the same vision, except—”
“Except what?”
<
br /> “He only has five men to kill. He will use you to help him wipe them out. Whether or not he kills you tonight is irrelevant, as Trium will automatically be his.”
“Damn it, Blade! Why must you think the worst of him?! And any way you look at it, we need his help to kill those powerful men!”
“Yes, but what happens when those on his list are killed? Will you be able to kill the prince before Trium returns?”
“…”
“A more relevant question to consider; do you plan to kill him?”
“… I dunno…”
“Just how do you plan on finding those men on the list?” Kyle asked.
“Well, Maximo told me I wouldn’t have any trouble finding them.”
“That thing can see into the future?” Kyle asked in a tone Lex wasn’t sure he identified.
“Are we gonna talk about this all night?!” Clover blasted, annoyed with the subject. They all looked at her with wide eyes, frightened at her sudden outburst. She sighed. “Tell me, Blade, what’s Zakashi Village like? You never speak of it or your family.” He looked down in obvious reflection. His face tensed. There was silence for quite some time. “Blade?” Clover called.
“Right!” Blade recovered, looking back up from his past. “Hmm… Zakashi Village was very peaceful... Still, in the midst of our peace, we never let our guard down. There is always training going on. They call us the People of the Sword.”
“Funny name for a peaceful place,” Clover said.
Blade laughed a little, his mind journeying back. Quickly, his face returned to deep soberness. “I had a brother… Robin… We were the only twins in the village.”
“Cool! So y’all looked alike, right?”
“No, not really… but our minds were identical… so was our skill. No one dared mess with us. We were easily the best. By age seven, we were duelling sword masters.”
“Incredible!” Kyle sparked.
“Heh! We were an undefeatable team. We lived with our mother and father. Ha… Strangely, they were no good with blades.”
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