“You really spy on people a lot, don’t you?” Merewen smirked.
“I am a dreamwalker, Merewen; I am too good at finding information.”
“Too good for your own sake.”
“Yeah.”
“Why would you tell me all this?” Merewen asked softly.
“Because you know what it’s like.”
“Why not Nash?”
“Nash is a human who has lived for longer than he should have, is wiser than he should be and is my best friend. He would tell me some sagely advice to make me feel better. He would also say it’s not my fault and add some classic story of enduring hardship.”
“You don’t want to feel better. You feel like you deserve to suffer. This isn’t about Neh and Miranda, is it?”
“This is why I talk to you and not others,” Lucas smirked.
“It’s about Collward. You don’t want to kill him.”
“Yea… I really don’t. “
“Neh doesn’t really like your plan, does she?”
“I would hate it too if I were in her position. Step 1 – kill her friends and relatives, step 2 – work in progress,” Lucas summarized.
“With a history of a dozen failed plans… I would hate it too,” Merewen evaluated, “we are totally doing it, aren’t we?”
“Of course, we are.”
“Look… I am not Nash; I can’t give you a resolution or make you feel better. But I can make you forget for a while.”
“I really, really don’t want Miranda, Nash or anyone else to catch us.”
“Miranda will be busy for the next two days and I have my stuff set up by an outpost.”
“Your stuff? Last time I checked you carry it with you all the time.”
“I got some stuff to heal burns and increase your resistance to it in the first place… plus some fun new toys.”
“Toys?”
“Want me to occupy you for a night or until we leave?” Merewen pried.
“The longer, the better.”
“Though so. I will set things up in a couple of hours, bring me some good booze.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I like what you did to the room,” Lucas tossed up in a greeting. Merewen was set up in an isolated circular cave in one of the local mountains. She was sitting on a comfortable chair in the middle of the room. The room featured a bed, table, a few chairs and eight massive pillars of flame. The heat in the room was strong enough to fry a turkey in minutes. Merewen sat in an armchair in the middle of the room with legs crossed. She wore vicious black heels and was otherwise naked.
“Put the booze on the table before it boils,” Merewen ordered Lucas and motioned her hand.
Lucas obeyed.
“Undress.”
“Didn’t know you were into this… aren’t there usually some rules?” Lucas asked awkwardly.
“Rules are simple. We are going to play a little game. You use no magic, at all. You do what I tell you to and it won’t hurt too much. If you don’t, it will hurt a lot more. Piss me off…” Merewen revealed and put a large dildo on a table next to her.
“Piss me off and I will have a party with your ass.”
“Nothing enters my ass,” Lucas stated coldly.
“That’s not for you to decide,” Merewen countered and a massive pillar of flame appeared in the tunnel through which Lucas entered.
“This room design, it’s from a fragment of memory, isn’t it?” Lucas asked softly.
“Yeah… but I feel it. It’s like I’ve been there. I never did, but I miss it more than any place I have been to… does this room design mean anything?”
“Nine dreams to forge nine pillars. Nine pillars to seat nine generals. Nine generals to lead nine legions. You are sitting in my spot.”
“Do you miss it?” Merewen asked gently.
“Of course, I do.”
“Ever thought of coming back?”
“I am not coming back. No matter what… I burned that bridge ages ago,” Lucas stated resolutely.
“I will kill you if try.”
“I hope so,” Lucas smiled.
“Enough talking…. undress!” Merewen commanded.
“Who do you think you’re bossing around?” Lucas smirked and stepped toward her.
Merewen rose and peered down on him, “you really don’t want me to go easy on you, do you?”
Lucas weaved to dodge her arm and tripped her down on the table. He leaped up and pinned her under him, “strong words, general, can you back them up?” He kissed her strongly, pushing her head down on the table, straight next to the large dildo. “I hope you brought some lube because your ass doesn’t look like it can take it in dry,” Lucas mused as he motioned toward it.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Merewen sneered. She tried to wrestle out of his grip, but Lucas didn’t budge, “just wait till your strength runs out, you may have a potion to protect you from my flames, but I will eventually outpower you.”
“Dry it is.”
95
Salazar
Salazar woke up first. He softly stroked Katherine’s face as she lay on top him, still sleeping.
“I am sorry,” he whispered, then he took out a seed and made a plant grow. It wrapped around Katherine and its blossom popped open straight before her mouth.
“I don’t want you to be a part of this,” he said as he got up from under her and softly put her on the bed. He covered her with the feather bed and went to check on Yvonne. She seemed to have been healing well. Salazar verified that both the sleeping and healing plants are doing their jobs. He traced his finger to her face, moving by the edge of her skull.
Salazar proceeded to wrap his body with his toughest wine, dressed in his fighting robes. He had the whole room sealed with his plants before he alone headed to the arena.
96
Raven
Raven got up early. He took a light breakfast and made sure to feed Nibbles a glorious piece of the best cheese he could find.
“I will be back later,” he pets him and Nibbles squeaked in response.
He left off for the preparation room.
“Is Luna coming?” Finubar asked nervously as he and the rest of the Rapacious Reavers were already ready for the match.
“I don’t know,” Raven conceded.
“Finubar, I need to go into that arena alone. I need to ask you and your men to stay out of this one,” Raven announced sadly.
“Come on Raven; we aren’t little babies. We can handle ourselves,” Finubar reaffirmed him.
“Not against him. Salazar will kill you and use you as shields against me,” Raven returned.
“Don’t worry Raven; we are prepared,” Finubar contested.
“I knew you would say that,” Raven smiled sadly.
BOOM!
Echoed through the air as Raven's first hit Finubar in the face, sending him to the floor.
“What the hell are you doi…?” Luvon shouted before Raven’s fist found his face and sent him to the floor as well.
“Raven, don’t!” Nym shouted. Raven didn’t listen. In a matter of seconds, all Rapacious Reavers were lying on the ground, unconscious.
Raven went on to prepare his gear. He did not take any weights or eye patch this time around.
“Phew! Almost missed… what the hell happened here?” Luna exclaimed as she burst into the room.
“Some people are very resistant to having their lives saved,” Raven smiled sadly.
“What happened to you?” Raven asked Luna as he studied her with a look.
“Long story. I need to talk to Salazar!” Luna exhaled.
“There is no way you can enter the arena like this. Your lips are still blue from the backlash. You will die there without your strength,” Raven evaluated.
“It doesn’t matter! I have to talk to Salazar!” Luna contested.
“About?” Raven pried.
“His team. They were ambushed by demons last night… I tried to help them but had to go full werewolf and
only managed to save Yvonne. I need to explain it to him and apologize,” Luna breathed.
“He will kill you the second he sees you,” Raven announced.
“He has the right to. I just need to tell him what happened and how sorry I am about it… I really tried,” Luna whispered as tears shot into her eyes.
Raven grabbed her by the shoulder and rammed her into metal doors. Luna shrieked in pain as it took the breath out of her. Raven quickly bent the door around to wrap Luna with the thick metal.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING RAVEN?” Luna screamed once she caught her breath.
“I will tell him myself,” Raven replied coldly as he picked up a throwing spear.
“I HAVE TO GO THERE RAVEN! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO STOP ME FROM DOING IT!” Luna shrieked while trying to get out of the metal trap. She couldn’t move. This would have been hard to escape even in her full strength. She had no idea how Raven moved this thick metal so easily, but she didn’t care.
“I know I have no right to do this,” Raven smiled sadly and headed out into the arena.
“RAVEN! I WILL TEAR YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF! RAVEEEEN!” Luna kept screaming as Raven closed the gate behind him and walked up to the arena.
Salazar was already waiting at the edge of the arena. Rage and hatred were burning in his eyes. The crowd was going wild with cheering. A mixture of RAVEN! and SALAZAR! echoed through the air in deafening loudness. The arena was a top of a massive column covered by sand. Two bridges were leading to the column over the circular abyss around. There was
“From both teams came only one man, it shall be a duel then!” the announcer started after he managed to silence down the crowd a bit.
“The rules for the match are simple. Two men enter, one man wins! Victory is marked by either death, unconsciousness or a man getting out of the bounds of the arena. The bounds are the edges of the arena ground itself. Now, without further ado, please allow me to introduce the combatants themselves.
The man in the green corner needs no introduction. BEHOLD the ruler of Xona and all her holdings, the most powerful ruler on the continent, the descendant of the gods of nature, last credible count of the kingdom past… ladies and gentlemen, I give the lord of life,
SALAZAR D’IELLE!
In the white corner stands the champion above all others. From the arena of Illysaeas with a standing record of 3847 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses, all backed up by over twenty thousand confirmed kills. The God of Death incarnate, the greatest warrior to bless the sands of our arena, the deadliest swordsman in the world… ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Child of God, RAVEN!
Both combatants, please come to the center of the ring to touch blades!”
Raven and Salazar both went to the center of the arena and started at each other.
“Where is Luna?” Salazar asked.
“None of your business,” Raven replied.
With that, they both turned and returned to their designated corners.
3!
2!
1!
With the end of the countdown, Raven stepped in and threw his spear. The air boomed as it left his hand. The spear dug under Salazar’s left collarbone. In a split second, Raven crossed the arena and cut Salazar across the chest.
97
Salazar
Absurd!
That’s the only word I can use to describe his speed.
I would accept no less!
Salazar let the plant under his feet burst and shoot him up in the air. Split second later Raven finished his spin and hit where Salazar stood with his shield. The plant flew apart, but Salazar caught himself in mid-air with two more plants.
My shoulder is badly wounded and the cut in the chest went through my ivy like it was butter. But it’s too shallow to stop me!
Salazar shot his plants at Raven and observed how he was dodging while making his way to the trunks of the plants that held him mid-air. Salazar used a plant to fill in the wound in his shoulder and chest to bleed slower. They would still keep bleeding and thus slowly diminish his power, but it bought him time.
More than enough time to end this!
The plants slowly surrounded Raven. Salazar had two waves of them spreading across the arena circle. One was viciously attacking Raven, forcing him to move. The second one was slowly circling the arena, laying the trap. The trap sprung a few seconds later. Raven suddenly dashed forward and cut through the attacking wave of plants to dodge the thorn wines trying to catch him from behind.
How did he do that? Those wines are too tough to be cut by an axe and he just cut them like grass.
This is so not strengthening or weakening…
Salazar spent the next couple of minutes chasing Raven with the wines, repeating the same scene three more times. His plants would catch him and Raven would cut through them at the last second.
This is not working and I am slowly losing blood and therefore strength. I would have been dead without the potion… I really owe Miranda for the advice. Anyway, he seems to be making no offensive moves, so he is clearly waiting for me to bleed out my power.
Magnificent!
He knows precisely how magical power spreads through the body, figured I would have my bones strengthened to the point of being impossible to cut and expect an attack at the throat or belly. Therefore, he hit me under collarbone to make use of magic more difficult and cut me wide across the chest so I cannot stop the bleeding easily. There is nothing random in what he does… and unless I find a way to take him out, it will work exactly as he had planned. I have no words of praise strong enough to express how well he has prepared to defeat me. Now, let’s test him out a bit.
Salazar sprouted a large red tree, the tree blossomed spikes and they shot at Raven. He deflected them with his shield. The next tree sprung up like a sharp blade from under Raven. Raven dodged sideways. Salazar sprout a huge purple blossom, it decayed in an instant and released a large pink bubble. Raven leaped aside from the bubble flying at him, then cut and kicked the thorn wine to burst it. Raven avoided the spraying acid with ease. Finally, Salazar sprouted a bright orange flower under Raven, which promptly exploded into flames. Raven dodged it again.
Interesting.
Over the next minutes, Salazar repeated the sequence of attacks in all combinations of their Order.
He avoids all attacks aside from the flower which shoots spikes. No matter the angle or the order, that one he has to block rather than dodge. He really is using the magic from the environment around him. That’s the only explanation that makes sense. All the other attacks carry the magic I put into the flower with themselves, only the shot of thorns doesn’t as the magic stays in the flower and the thorns are completely devoid of it.
Now let’s verify it.
Salazar changed his attack pattern and started using his plants to throw themselves at Raven while he would withdraw his magic the second the throw is made. Raven kept dodging, but once upon a time, something hit him.
He predicts the attacks, meaning he can likely sense magic in his environment. What an incredible stack of skills he has built. Nevertheless, I keep hitting so it will wear him down long before I bleed out. Do you have a move to play, Child of God?
Raven kept dodging and blocking the sprouting plants, but one finally hit him in the side. Raven grunted and spat blood.
Game over.
Salazar pressed his attack and Raven dodged to the middle of the arena. Raven stabbed his sword into the trunk of the plant supporting Salazar. Salazar’s world spun.
What? I pushed my magic out of these trees forever ago. Did he inject his magic into them to move them himself?
The plant moved as if in a spasm and slammed Salazar into the ground. As Salazar looked up, Raven was above him swinging down his sword. Salazar made a flower throw him backward, but the sword still grazed him. Raven stepped forward and cut upwards. Salazar reinforced his left hand and used it to block. Blood sprayed into the air as Salazar watched his arm fly off.
How? My b
ones are reinforced by a plant that is ten times tougher than steel. No matter how strong he is, his blade should have exploded from this. Except that it is unharmed and my arm bone is cut clean in two.
Salazar used a quick sprouting plant to throw himself into the air. Raven severed the plant, caught it with his shield and slammed it into the ground. Salazar was dazed from the impact. He watched Raven charge at him in lightning speed.
The ultimate limit of magic is to create life. Only five beings in the history of this world are known to have achieved that. Gorash of the Inferno, Luciande the Shaper, Strauss of the Maw, Khalia the Queen of Souls...
Raven reached Salazar and severed off his head with a single swing.
…and I! Sprout, tree of life!
From Salazar’s body sprouted a tree that consumed him. Raven leaped back to avoid it but was still hit in the chest by the sudden outburst. It threw him backward. The tree sprouted up into the air, then clenched into itself like a ball of yarn. In an instant it withered in and in the midst of it stood Salazar. His clothes were torn where he was wounded, but he was otherwise unharmed. He looked twenty years younger. Raven charged at him, but a tree sprout from under Salazar and five other places in the arena. Raven cut the tree where Salazar stood, but it was just that, a tree. The five remaining trees twisted and coiled, almost filling the whole space in the arena barrier.
Blossom, Tree of End!
Red blossoms covered the tree. They all exploded, consuming the arena in an inferno. Salazar waited for the flames to subside over the next minute before he stepped out of the protective tree he placed himself into.
Where is Raven?
Salazar looked around. Blinding pain shot through his chest as the trunk of the ashen tree next to him split open. Salazar conjured a plant shield. His world went black before he managed. The impact made his right hand explode in pain. It sent him flying backward. Salazar stabilized himself midair with a quick sprouting plant. He watched Raven wobble on his feet after he finished the spinning shield slam and fall to his knees. Raven started vomiting blood as he let go of his sword to support himself on all fours.
Legacy of Dreams: Freedom Page 47