by Luke DeSalvo
“Kaeltrys!” Codiac yelled again.
The archmagician appeared and an electric spark came from his aura.
“Aye, master. I expected this,” he replied.
Chapter 18
“It is foretold that the Vael carries a secret. A deep and dark secret that locks the unholy power of both dream and nightmare. I wonder what that secret holds?”
Suzette Monroe
Guardian of Thyne
Xerrast hid among the shadows, deep within the temple in the Vael Forest, clinging to every rock and stone that he could find. He hugged the walls tightly, amid the hunt, a ranger’s call. The bounty hunter was worried he had come too late for the precious one known as Aurora had been captured by enemies, he did not know what to do with. A halfling, a normal noble race of nature and troll, the ugliest of creatures. The ranger was close on their trail as Aurora was currently unconscious and being hauled deeper in the chambers. He followed the pair, a troll and halfling, of all things closely, carefully avoiding contact, but danger was coming.
The curse of the forest was at stake now for the foolish hobbit and troll entered the crypts seeking the fabled crown.
If the crown was removed there would be eternal war here in these lands and Xerrast knew it. The Vael was already bad enough between day and night, good and evil, but all of this would soon become a warfront, but with the upcoming disaster that stretched out the entire fate of the planet, this was a small price to pay for the hinge of balance even greater is at hand. Systralas must be saved, even if she must grow a bit dimmer. First, however, to save Systralas, Xerrast must save this woman at all costs and get the rest of the party out of this accursed forest.
It was his only mission. Xerrast was good at following orders, always have been, but when his sister called he felt his own destiny spark up. It was time. Time for redemption from all the follies of the past. He must save this girl.
But how?
Already, as the elf snuck deeper in the chambers, he could hear Aurora’s cries as she returned to consciousness.
“Let me down!”
“Shut up!” The troll grunted and shifted her weight among his shoulder.
“I’m warning you!” Aurora screamed.
The troll shifted her weight forward and smacked her a few times then the cries turned into pleas of desperation. Not a good sign.
The ranger knew he was no match for the pair. He had witnessed trolls from the kingdom of the Altina in the east. They truly were hard to kill, and Xerrast simply did not have enough bullets or the right kind of bullets to take one down.
So, for now, he bid his time, creeping slowly behind in the shadows. The crypt was vast, dark and moist with a hot stench that stung the nostrils. Little sunshine came in through the crevasses of the walls, it was getting dark, but Xerrast avoided the clefts at all costs. Keeping behind both pillar and ancient statues in front of him. He hung low between an ornament of a false god with her tongue sticking out.
This place is utter evil, Xerrast thought to himself as he continued to nimbly stalk his opponents.
Finally, the group reached the center of the temple, with the elf ranger close on their tracks. He hid behind a pillar as the troll, girl and halfling reached a room, shining with light from candle with a stone sarcophagus centered in the middle. Above laid a throne ripped to shreds with a crown sitting upon it. The crown was black with spiked edges and seemed easily enough to pick up, but Xerrast heard of the stories. Without the proper sacrifice there was no leaving the temple with the crown alive.
“Put her in, Yogar!” The halfling barked.
“Aye, Sur!” The troll exclaimed lifting the lid to the tomb while holding the girl in a strong fist.
“No, wait you can’t do this!” Aurora wailed.
Xerrast felt the agony of her cries and cringed. He could do nothing yet, but soon.
The troll grabbed the enchantress by the hair, she screamed out loud in a roaring pain with sobs to follow. Yogar then hefted her up and tossed her in the tomb then closed the lid where the cries continued. There was a hushed whisper of magic that flickered the candles
Good.
Everyone paused, including Xerrast, who held his breath. This was not good. If the pair would leave the forest without the rightful ruler of this land then the horde of undead would be in an uproar, killing everything.
Everything.
Xerrast, an elite soldier, pulled out his trusty pistol Black Eye and waited for the two to make a move. He aimed, clicked the barrel and held his breath. The halfling made an easy target but, the raging troll would not, so the ranger exhaled and put the pistol back in the hoister.
This was not his fight. He had not been sent here to save the forest, but to save the girl. Story of his life, he supposed.
A blinding light flashed out of the room and Aurora’s cries fell silent.
“Now, Yogar, take the crown!”
Yogar nodded hesitantly and went to the throne. Xerrast held his breath, then the troll lifted the dark crown in both of his hands, surprised as he was unscathed from the curse. After a solidity of moments, the halfling began laughing his maniacal laughter.
“You did it!” Littlemon exclaimed. “You actually did it!”
“Waz you mean?” The troll gargled.
The halfling snatched the crown for himself from the hands of the behemoth and grinned madly.
“This is worth a fortune, my good and faithful servant. We’ll have all the mead in Systralas with servants and troll women that you so love, I might add. With this, we bought our way to the very top! No one can stop us now!” He stopped and patted the crown gently. “We must get out of here before it gets too dark though. Wouldn’t want any specters to come out to play, now would we?”
“Nuh uh,” The troll responded.
They left, the crypt and took no notice of the elf, hidden behind the statue.
So, they managed to heist the crown, Xerrast thought out loud.
Fuck it.
When the coast was clear, Xerrast entered the crypt and lifted the tomb to find a sleeping Aurora. She looked beautiful, for a human, even if starting to bruise, her hair was a dark long and, in a mess, covering her face partly. Her breaths were shallow, marking an enchanted sleep. Luckily Xerrast was prepared. He searched through his knapsack for a vile and found it. The liquid inside was orange, known as the Phoenix Blood, its power could awaken anything. Xerrast smiled and pulled on the cork, tilted the woman’s chin and placed the liquid down her mouth. It was hard to get her to swallow, but when she did everything changed.
Color returned to her face immediately and she gasped out loud, staggering to a sit up position.
She glanced around the room and to her saver, a handsome elf male, clad in dark black armor.
“Who…who are you?” She asked, gaze wide.
“I come from the one that sent for you. We must hurry back to others. This place is not safe for anyone anymore.”
Chapter 19
“I’m torn. Split in two by certain realities no man should ever have to witness. What am I any longer? Am I man? God? Demon? Savior? I aim to find out with the best of methods of precaution.”
Jason Ildarachi
High Summoner of Silver Aura
Codiac grumbled a curse as he lifted some brush from his path. Where was Aurora anyhow? They had been searching for many hours with the sun already sinking but to no avail. It was a long search and they found themselves deeper and deeper into the Vael where the once enchanted creatures seemed to disappear from sight vanishing for another day.
Ildarachi seemed the most concerned, breaking out in feverish sweats and talking to himself in a foreign tongue to sooth his worries. Suzette too seemed to be in dismay and she struggled now behind Codiac with the many bushes leading miles away from camp.
“She couldn’t have gone this far,” Codiac groaned as he swiped away another branch, keeping it still for Suzette to pass.
“Maybe she’s already back at camp,” He con
tinued.
Suzette smoothed back her hair and passed Codiac saying nothing.
“No,” She said quietly. “See there?” She pointed at the mud path just below them. “There’s tracks here.” They paused to see spread out footprints on the ground.
“She was running from something, or someone.”
Codiac looked at the filthy ground to notice footprints spread apart in a full sprinting motion. Wide eyed, he turned to Suzette speechless. They had found a clue.
“Kaeltrys!” He shouted. “Il! She’s this way!”
The two remaining party members froze and gathered up their instincts to follow. They too immediately found the tracks and the party followed them with aching determination. Ildarachi hurried his pace, moving beyond the others, somehow dodging the forest better than them, as if he knew the place.
“Aurora!” He shouted in despair.
Codiac continued to follow after Ildarachi, with the remainder of the party gasping behind. Finally, after the party cleared half the forest, they stopped and listened, there was the sound of a shrill cry. It was sad, tear moving sobs that came from a high-pitched woman’s voice. They all stuttered and kept quiet, wondering if it were Aurora, but still uncertain for the forest was treacherous with many surprises. When they reached a clearing, it was then when they saw a fairy, tiny and white, sprawled on the ground sobbing.
“They took it!” She cried.
Never seeing a fairy before, but finding the sight marvelous yet saddening, Suzette came close to comfort the mysterious being.
“Little one?” She raised an eyebrow.
The fairy glanced up to the Guardian and her companions and then leaped up into the air in a spiraling circle.
“Guests!?” The fairy cried.
Suzette nodded and shot an alarming glance to Ildarachi.
“We’re here to find a friend of ours,” Suzette began. “She’s very beautiful with dark brown hair, full lips. A summoner? You must have seen her, nothing would tear her apart from that man,” She motioned towards Ildarachi. “Other than a beautiful creature like yourself.”
The fairy nodded than got close and put her hand to her face in a whispering notion.
“She went to stop them!” She hissed and pointed past the grove to a hidden temple in the background.
The party stood transfixed with the sight of the structure and all gulped in unison. In the distance stood a troll gathering up supplies with a jumping short man beside the hideous thing. He seemed to have something in his hand, and he howled with joy with it.
“We did it, Yogar!” He exclaimed.
The party gathered close and listened carefully. A troll was no small matter, somehow the halfling had it under his control.
“We’re rich!” the halfling continued. “But now, listen here, Yogar. It’s getting dark. All these items need to be stored away on the ship before it’s too late. Don’t drop anything now!”
“Yess, Littemon,” The troll replied.
The party watched as they gathered up their supplies and began to take their leave.
“We have to stop them,” Codiac stated.
“But, you can’t!” The fairy exclaimed.
Codiac bit his lip and gazed upon the spectacle one last time before looking at Suzette.
“We have to try.”
With that Codiac leapt out of the brush and went charging to the two looters. Suzette followed along with the others and this time the two thieves were on guard as they saw their approach coming fast.
“So, you want some?” The halfling cried noticing the party immediately. “Yogar, fetch!”
The troll shrieked loudly and pulled out his deadly battle ax and went into action going straight for an attack on Codiac who was ill prepared but was immediately parried by Suzette who was matching the creature in strength.
Surprised, Codiac called forth Alexandra and charged the troll, only for his swings to miss as Yogar danced away from the blows. Suzette was up in arms and sent a crushing attack unto the side of the face of the troll with her first, alarming the beast and sending him fast on his heels.
The troll recovered quickly enough to dodge the next flurry of slashes that came in his direction.
On the side line, Ildarachi waited in the shadows, trembling.
“No more!” He cried. “No more transformations!” He gripped at his head as if he were about to pull it off. The thought of the nightmare taking control of him was astonishing to him. Deep down he knew he could control it no more. Malifer would claim his soul if he transformed now.
The halfling called Littlemon, whispered in effect and leaves flew in the air, attacking the party with razor sharp precision that cut both Codiac and Suzette deep as if they were knives. Hovering around them, before beginning their deadly attacks again.
“A druid!” Codiac shouted in a long breath.
“Aye, master!” Kaeltrys stood in, whispered something intelligible in the darkness and shot a surge of lightning from his arm and hit the halfling at full force, sending him many feet away twitching in a crisp.
Suzette attacked ferociously combining tact and rage into an assault, but each one of her blows were to no avail, the troll would simply heal the wounds quickly and she would have killed this creature five times if it simply but knew how to die, but it was tiring, that much was for certain.
“His regeneration is slowing!” Codiac called. “He must have been tired before he met us.”
Their attacks continued, as the troll would be shocked by the archmagician only to scream in rage as it continued its deadly assault on Codiac and Suzette.
When Yogar was slouched over, Codiac came screaming away and sliced the troll’s sword arm off, where the creature yelled in agony.
“They beat us, Littemon!” it shrieked in pain.
The troll now unarmed retreated many steps to pick up the unconscious halfling.
“You keep!” It cried looking towards the crown, before running off into the woods.
Gasping the party, looked at each other in glee. They had stopped the looters, but where was Aurora? They had no clue if she was even alive.
The party gasped for breath, exhausted from the battle, Codiac bent over onto his knees, only to look up to an answered prayer.
An elf emerged out of the ruins, with the enchantress following swiftly behind.
“Aurora!” Ildarachi shouted as he ran close to embrace her where they kissed for several moments.
Ignoring the spectacle, Codiac turned to the elf menacingly, untrusting them since his latest encounter with Faelynx.
“Who are you?” Codiac asked.
Aurora stood up in front of the elf with her arms spread before him.
“He saved me!” She cried.
There was a long silence where the elf came up to both Suzette and Codiac.
“Where’s the crown!?” Xerrast asked.
The party looked around clueless at what the stranger meant, but with several moments passing, where the halfling body once laid, lay the dark crown covered in blood.
Chapter 20
“The fall has taken place for the Vael Forest. Another disaster. When would anything succeed?”
Xerrast Aya
A Bounty Hunter
The party stood entranced at the dark spiked crown sitting silently on the grass. It seemed to talk, as if it had a calling, a deep dark whisper of dread for whoever behold it. Xerrast was hesitant but slowly moved towards the object, muttered a curse under his breath, and picked up the item swiftly and held it out in his arms in display.
“Hold it!” Codiac exclaimed. “How do we know you won’t bring us any ill will with this thing!”
“Fool!” Xerrast hissed. “I’m only trying to help you!”
“He’s right,” Ildarachi wheezed. “We must return it before nightfall…” He let the words drip out of his mouth in anguish.
It was already twilight in the woods and the forest only made the scenery look even more intimidating. The once bright woods glea
ming with hope already had a melancholy sense of desperation that hung in their nostrils. It was sickening.
A loud whisper penetrated their ears.
“Too late,” Ildarachi muttered.
With that, the sky grew dimmer and out of the clearing a horde of skeletons arose from the trees, their bones crackling at their approach by the hundreds. They surrounded the temple’s clearing entirely. It was a dark and gruesome sight that brought sweats to everyone, trapped within the terrifying orange glow of the undead eyes. It was petrifying to see such a score of menacing faces that locked stares at the object in the elf’s hand. Out of the shadows of the horde, arose one lone figure that stood out from the rest. It was the cloaked one, in black robes and a scythe in his hands, the specter. He swiftly darted into the party’s range within moments, too quick to sense with their eyes. The group was too stunned to react at the inhumane sight and before they knew it, the specter was upon them.
“Syshas el emon!” It screamed, bright green eyes shimmered momentarily beneath the hood.
“I’m no traitor!” Ildarachi protested, but to no avail. The specter was upon them and it reached out with the tip of his finger and sent Xerrast dropping the crown as he flew yards away, sprawling on the ground, helpless.
“Emperor of the Vael!” Ildarachi began. “Don’t make me show you my true form! The crown was an accident! Thieves came, we stopped them, and they surrendered the prize. It’s yours now. Take it and leave us be!”
The specter cocked its head to his head and emitted a massive black scythe.
“It’s not their fault!” A tiny voiced cried.
A bright orb of light floated in their direction halting the specter from his barrage. The object stopped just feet before them and stopped glowing, revealing Mara, the fairy queen.
She looked at the companions one by one stopping at Aurora.
“Too bad, you’re not dead!” The fairy cried.
Xerrast sat up panting and got back on his feet and limped several paces.
“What!?” Aurora choked.
“The crown was my idea, fool!” Mara spat to the ground as her voice contorted. A powerful light came from the fairy that blinded the party, forcing them to shield their eyes. When the spell was over, the party was amazed to see the fairy transformed into full height a solid five feet and off the ground levitating with her wings gently flowing.