by C S Harrop
“I think it could be feeding time,” shouted a larger orc at the front with red blood splatter decorating his rusty breastplate.
“It’s been an honour fighting by your side Commander, but I think this could the end of the road for us,” Elder Nyran said looking down at the gaping chasm behind her feet stopping their escape to regroup.
“The pleasure has been mine,” replied Commander Bolmer with a respectful nod and getting into a defensive posture.
Lore however was located on his own section of cracked earth alone with a handful of Dark Bloods to keep him company. They did not stay alive for too long but he caught sight of Asha and Onyxia to the east of him with the ground crumbling around them. To the west, he could see Elder Nyran severely outnumbered, his choice was of whom to help was a hard decision. His metallic mask flicked from side to side torn between the prophecy and his allies. He knew the prophecy was centred on Asha and the prophecy will unfold if he was beside her or not, his presence would not affect the outcome. Therefore, his thoughts edged towards his allies. That was until he saw Onyxia from the corner of his eye using the same dust as the Guardians suddenly appear behind Kailan holding a curved dagger to his throat.
Once again, Lore was torn between the two choices. He knew Asha would never consciously let Onyxia kill her father no matter what would happen to the world. It took Lore only moments to realise Asha was at Onyxia’s mercy, watching Asha motioning her hands forward shouting not to kill him. At that very moment, the timing could not have been more perfect for Lore. Elder Fallon looked over at him from his position trying to make his way around the back of Onyxia as he heard the same loud roaring rumble through the valley. If Elder Fallon could see Lore’s face beneath his mask, he would be positive a smile would be stretched across his face.
To the rear of the approaching Dark Bloods that faced Elder Nyran and Commander Bolmer, a second roar louder than the first echoed through their ranks getting their full attention.
“Now it’s an even fight,” smiled Elder Nyran at the Commander.
“What do you mean,” replied Commander Bolmer watching a glowing arrow suddenly stick into a large orc’s head, then another three arrows embedding themselves into the accompanying goblins.
“You will see this is what happens when two halves are once again whole.” From the rear of the large group of Dark Bloods bodies and weapons rose into the air with the noise of crushing metal and groans. Then a quietness suddenly filled the air with nervousness spreading throughout their ranks. A single luminescent arrow shot up high into the sky then slowly dropped down under its own weight landing in the centre of a group closest to the allies, a second passed then an almighty explosion ripped their front line apart. Commander Bolmer had a direct line of sight through the Dark Bloods now panicking party, it was Riven rampaging through the horde like a wild beast and stood a top of him a woman from the woodland realm wielding a bow flipping from his back to the ground taking down multiple orcs in the process.
“Who is that?” Asked Commander Bolmer.
“Her name is Willow a Guardian and lifelong friend of Riven,” stated Nyran shielding her eyes from the multiple explosions Willow has now created causing the Dark Bloods to retreat in panic. Unfortunately for them the surrounding earth was cracked they were trapped and their situation reversed. The allies came from both front and rear attacking the orcs and goblins that did not decide to throw themselves over the edge into the never-ending depths below.
Asha stood at Onyxia’s mercy. She was all out of options looking at the blade at her father throat. If she acts it was a high possibility Onyxia will kill her father or worse Asha could hit him herself. The sudden thought of Willow crept into her mind with her perfect aim and quick reflexes this would not be an issue for her looking at Onyxia’s head peering from behind her father’s left shoulder.
The ground around them still trembled with the aftermath of Onyxia’s actions with large chunks of earth continuing to extrude outwards. The large roots of the Breacher slowly disappeared amongst the crumbling ground falling like an anchor into the bottomless Chasm pulling the Breacher tree over with a strained groaning sound. Their patch of stable ground slowly began to disintegrate around the edge. Luckily, Asha’s piece of earth still joined barely to a larger platform but even the joint looked too fragile to last much longer.
“Forget about me Asha and kill this witch. Remember what she did to your mother, you have the power,” insisted Kailan cranking is head to one side trying to avoid the point of Onyxia’s dagger.
“Would you really risk striking your father by mistake,” lowering Kailan back down to his knees by digging the dagger deeper into his neck and drawing blood.
“No wait don’t hurt him,” shouted Asha watching the rage in his eyes take hold but not in a position to unleash it.
“The only way you can save you father now child is to fall. Step backwards and let the earth take you. You have taken this world away from me I shall take it away from you one way or another,” Onyxia insisted grabbing Kailan’s hair and yanking it backwards and placing the knife-edge over his throat.
A look of disbelief came over Asha, as she looked at Onyxia’s twisted and evil face. Asha took sharp glances in all direction as if searching for an answer or something specific in which Onyxia found rather odd. After a short period of standing with a blank stare, Asha suddenly came back to reality with rapid blinking of her eyes. With a smile at her father, she took a few strides backwards until her heels were touching the edge of the crumbling dirt with the endless chasm below.
“This is the only way.” With a loving smile to her father, she raised out her arms to the side and let her weight take hold as she lent backwards tipping over the edge and falling deep into the endless depth of the earth.
“No!” shouted Kailan in horror watching his daughter vanish over the edge. With tears filling his eyes, his rage slowly diminished with the sudden loss of his child. Losing two members of his family was too much to bare. Relaxing his arms and his body, he gave into his fate that was in now in Onyxia’s hands.
“Stupidity must run in the family,” Onyxia whispered softly into Kailan’s ear tensing the grip around her knife readying to end his life. Then a gasp of breath filled Kailan’s ear the knife that she held to his throat suddenly relaxed. He quickly turned to see Onyxia standing in shock holding her chest. Looking closer Kailan was quick to notice the point of a dagger had penetrated Onyxia’s chest. As she stumbled, the dark engraved metallic mask of Lore came into view close behind her. Onyxia stood in shock as the pain and realisation took hold. Her body jolted as Lore pulled his dagger out from her back and made his way around Kailan standing with his palms in full glow.
Uneasy on her feet Onyxia stared into the teary eyes of Kailan, a look of both pure rage and hatred burned into her. Then to Lore who for the first time slowly began to remove his mask from his face. The blurry eyes of Onyxia widen as Lore revealed his face to see Asha standing in front of her, after a few deliberate blinks the image of the young man became clearer with a near likeness to Asha.
“How is this possible… are they twins?” Answering her own question through struggling breath her eyes widening with the sudden realisation of the hidden truth that has just revealed itself to her.
“You have been hunting my sister all her life thinking she was the one spoken of in the prophecy, how wrong you were,” explained Lore in a deepening voice much like his father Kailan.
“The prophecy has always been about them both. The problem with you witch is that your short-sighted and you just failed to see it,” stated Kailan grabbing Onyxia by the throat with one hand and squeezing whilst clasping his free hand around the jewel that hung around her neck. “Now it time for you to deal with the consequences of your actions specifically my wife and my daughter.”
“Maybe someday Kailan Bourn but not this one,” replied Onyxia quickly igniting her glowing palms and creating a huge blast sending Kailan and then Lore towards Elder Fallon�
�s position both hitting the ground hard. Elder Fallon ran to their aid creating a shield with his staff giving cover from projectiles of rock and chunks of earth that Onyxia launched at them followed up with balls of fizzling electrical energy.
“My father is right you are short-sighted,” shouted a voice coming from the portal within the near horizontal Breacher.
A shadowy figure climbed from portal into the evening light. Asha stood there with a slight breeze blowing her short dark hair with a look of an unforgiving determination in her face.
“Won’t you just die,” cried Onyxia through shortness of breath whilst clutching her chest. In frustration and anger, Onyxia sent another bolt of energy directly at her. Asha walked towards her with the Book of Shariel in hand. The bolt of energy dissipated around an invisible shield Asha had created, then with a thought and a slight wave of her hand the pages turned and stopped with lightning speed. A moment in time stopped for Asha as she looked at this beaten woman in clothing of unloosened wrapping who had been hunting Asha her entire life.
Now down on to one knee with blood coming from Onyxia’s mouth Lore’s dagger had done her serious damage with her energy draining away with each struggling breath, now it was Asha’s turn to finish her off. With a forward motion of her glowing palm, the opened page of the Book of Shariel illuminated and sprang from the page to reveal the spectral form of a dragon hovering high above them flapping its massive wings. Then with a directional thought from Asha, the dragon sent a fizzling ball of brilliant blue energy at Onyxia’s defeated face destroying the large portion of stable earth beneath her feet sending her falling with a high-pitched scream down into the endless depths within the earth.
Navigating the deep wounded terrain Asha made her way over to Elder Fallon and her father Kailan who were busy helping lore to his feet who was now nursed an injured arm. Elder Fallon ripped a long piece of cloth from his robe and wrapped it around Lore’s shoulder creating a sling. Kailan looked at both his children with a proud face only a father could give and brought them both in for a family hug. He held out his clenched hand for all to see, he opened it to reveal a dark coloured jewelled necklace that hung around Onyxia’s next.
“I had hold of this when I had my hand around her throat, when she blasted me and Lore the force snapped the chain from her neck without her even realising,” explained Kailan.
“How do we get her out?” Asha and Lore both said in union giving each other humorous looks between themselves.
“I have been studying this jewel for many years trying to work out what its origin. The information I gathered as you can imagine was little but pieces came to me in the way of myths and ancient texts,” explained Elder Fallon taking the jewel in his hand. “This jewel is not of Mordrath as I first thought but of the jungle lands of Nissyn. Apparently, an age ago the emperors of Nissyn used this jewel to capture the souls of their ancestors upon death. They believed they stood alongside the gods and therefore should not share the same afterlife as their commoner people in Darkshore, so they created their own afterlife - this jewel.” “How Onyxia came to be in possession is another question altogether.”
“They sound delusional to me,” Asha said disapprovingly.
“I agree,” Lore acknowledged. “This thing should be destroyed once we have released our mother.”
“What’s your thought Fallon, how do we release her soul from this prison?” Asked Kailan.
“This jewel was created to keep a families lineage contained by whom I don’t know. I believe or more an educated guess is that it would take a powerful family to unmake it,” looking at the three Bourn’s.
Taking a glance around Elder Fallon showed a sign of relief as cheers filled the surrounded area from the allied soldiers as last of the Dark Bloods were defeated or running away back over the hills towards the west chased by the remaining Angarian dragons. A smile crept onto Asha’s face noticing familiar faces in the distance. Ally soldiers of all race gathering and shouting in victory around her friends Riven and Willow who she had not seen in such a long time and missed them dearly.
Placing the jewelled necklace on a small protruding rock that stuck out of the dry dirt the three Bourn’s encircled the object and held out their glowing palms. With the guidance of Elder Fallon and a watchful eye from Elder Nyran and Elder Warrick who steadily strolled over weary from battle.
“What you don’t want to do is destroy the jewel hence destroying the soul inside. We need to extract Ashantia by forcing the jewel under pressure to crack and draw her soul out by using her family as a focal point,” advised Elder Fallon. “That’s the idea anyway.”
“Then let’s put it to the test,” stated Kailan. “Lore, Asha - let’s bring your mother home.”
The three Bourn’s concentrated not to use too much power as the jewel began to glow a blue hue that vibrated against the stone it rested on. The three Elders each chose a Bourn giving them indication if they were using too much power or too little. Kailan found it the most difficult he had always used his gift with the means to destroy his enemy with force and destruction to not perform intricate operations. Elder Nyran was the voice in his ear giving a calming effect on his power, as was Elder Fallon to Asha and Elder Warrick to Lore.
It was difficult on the mind for Asha, concentrating not to give too much or too little power but eventually to her relief the jewel cracked. Everyone suddenly stopped like statues and a quietness filled the air. A thick silvery mist erupted with a screeching sound causing everyone to cover their ears from the unbearable noise. The mist erratically moved in all directions above their heads and around their bodies eventually settling on the ground by the necklace. The mist slowly rose and dispersed as it took shape to reveal the form of an elegant woman with long wavy dark hair wearing in a long dark blue and gold trim dress and fur lined hooded cloak.
The colour of the woman was somehow lacking as if an invisible vail surrounded her. Asha was well aware from the souls in Darkshore that the woman that stood before her was deceased. Some part of her was hoping her mother would be brought back alive so she could be part of a complete family. Asha knew it was only a childish thought but a thought she wished would come true.
“Where am I? Who are you? Asked Ashantia stepping back trying to work out where she was and who these strange people are surrounding her.
“Calm yourself Ashantia, it’s me Kailan. We released you from Onyxia’s prison,” responding in a calm voice his eyes filling up with tears from the sight of her.
Taking a moment to gather her thoughts her eyes focused on a familiar face, her beloved husband. “Kailan!” she cried. Then ran into his arms giving the tightest of hugs. Moments passed her eyes drifted towards the other members of Kailan’s group that were hovering around her. Recognising the Elders almost immediately which instantly brought a recognised warmth to her heart but stopping on the two young adults looking very much alike wearing the same type of dragon scaled armour as Kailan. Then it suddenly dawned on her, all her emotion flooded out like a river sending her quivering to her knees holding her arms out for her children who without hesitation nestled into her motherly embrace.
“I can’t believe it’s been so long, just look at you two and how much you have both grown,” said Ashantia placing a hand on their faces. “And Guardians I see, I can’t be prouder.”
“You don’t have to worry about that witch Onyxia anymore, she’s dead,” Asha said pointing to one of many deep cracks in the earth.
“Then the prophecy has been fulfilled, you both were destined to rid Onyxia of this world the moment the seers wrote those words down,” Ashantia said rising to her feet noticing the carnage around her for the first time. Uncountable dead bodies scattered around from the aftermath of the bloody battle. The ground fractured and cracked with a gigantic tree slowly been swallowed by the earth itself. “It seems like I have been released from a prison and stepped out into hell.”
“You don’t know the half of it there is a lot to explain,” Kailan sa
id taking his wife’s hand in his and leading her and his children closely followed by the Elders towards their battle weary allies.
Chapter 26
The Departed
The dust had finally settled around Heres Valley. The irregular tremors from the collapsing surface had eventually come to a rest with exception of the Breacher that was slowly being pulled down beneath the earth under the weight of its own heavy roots. The clouds had opened up to reveal the late evening moon visible against a dark sky. The last glimpse of the setting sun disappeared over the hilltops to the horizon along with the red and orange warming hue turning the landscape into moonlit shadows.
Riven and Willow made their way through the scattering of resting soldiers to come face to face with a friend they had not seen in a long time. Asha with a beaming smile could not help herself leaping towards them giving both a warm embrace. It has been a long time since they had seen each other Willow noticed instantly Asha was not this scared teenager anymore but a woman much like herself. Riven on the other hand just saw her as the same girl he had always know and smothered his huge furry cat face into hers.
“I have got so much to tell you guys,” Asha said looking into Willows brown eyes and seeing her suddenly in a different light with emotions she had never felt before. She shock the feeling away and gave her copper tinted haired woodland friend another hug.
“Same here, Riven and I even sailed all the way Angar to get your father,” replied Willow returning her stare warmly.
“Many stories to keep us entertained for years to come,” Riven said light-heartedly.
“That it will master Riven, we will be telling stories of this day for generation to come,” stated Commander Bolmer sat on a large rock amongst a group of tired Angarian soldiers.
“The battle has been won for the greater good of our world but let’s not forget the lives that were lost here today,” Elder Fallen mournfully said looking around. “Rest now but we must cremate the dead at first light out of respect and disease. The Dark Bloods bodies can throw into the depths.”