THE DRAGON AND THE PHOENIX: BOOK THREE OF THE REALM OF ZERROS SAGA

by Shoraz

  Then as they looked down at the sentinels and royal guards below who were awestruck at the sight of the Blue Dragon and his army, they flew down towards the sentinels and royal guards and Mikaelos shouted, “People of Zerros, the time has come where the forces of evil stand at our doorstep,” and as he said those words everyone looked up towards him, Astaria and the Phoenix.

  Mikaelos then looked towards the Phoenix and waited for her to speak, and as everyone waited, a loud roar was heard in the distance, and it was none other than the powerful Blue Dragon, and as the Phoenix looked at her people she saw the fear in their eyes and felt the distress deep within their souls.

  “My people, do not fear, our destinies have already been written, and nothing will happen to you that was not meant to be. I feel your fear, and I will do everything in my power to protect you from the forces of evil,” the Phoenix said in hopes of instilling a sense of belief and trust to her people below.

  Meanwhile, down below, among the royal guards and sentinels, Alkazar peered into the distance and deep within himself he knew that this was his chance at redemption and he ran towards the Phoenix and screamed, “Give me a chance at redemption my majesty, and give me a chance to fight for good and give me another opportunity to be the leader of the army of Zerros.”

  Then as the Phoenix heard the passion in Alkazar’s voice, and she sensed his innate desire to redeem himself, she nodded her head of fire and said, “I feel your sincerity Alkazar, and you are hereby redeclared as the leader of the army of Zerros,” and with that Alkazar called upon his fellow royal guards and sentinels and one by one they began to line up for their battle against the army of the Blue Dragon.

  As the royal guards and sentinels began to line up for battle, Alkazar made his way to the front of them and said to them, “Royal guards and sentinels of Zerros, your true ruler – the Phoenix – has returned to reclaim her throne, and she stands before me, ready to die in the fight against the army of the Blue Dragon. I ask you my fellow Zerrosians, are you ready to die as well fighting for what you believe in and destroy the forces of evil before they spread their wrath upon our creations and everything in existence.”

  Then, upon hearing those words, the large battalion of royal guards and sentinels cheered at Alkazar’s words and began preparing for what would undoubtedly be the greatest battle in the history of Zerros and a battle in which the fate of everything in existence – which spanned across droves upon droves of universes – ultimately depended on.

  Meanwhile, back in the Grand Castle, Sarah, Stryker, and Max looked on in utter confusion at the scene unable to truly understand and comprehend the scope and significance of what was happening right before their very eyes.

  “Can you believe this Stryker? How is this possible? I must be dreaming,” Sarah said trying to convince herself that this was a dream of some sort.

  “No Sarah, we are witnessing something beyond anything that we could have ever imagined,” Stryker replied.

  “Why us Stryker? Why were we chosen to be here? Look around Stryker, this is something beyond human comprehension,” Sarah said as she looked at everything taking place in front of her and as her eyes caught a glimpse of the Ocean of Eternity that majestically flowed in the distance she realized that she was one of the chosen ones who was destined to be fighting alongside her friend – the Phoenix – in a battle whose ramifications would be felt throughout the universes for all of eternity.

  “We were meant to be here Sarah because we can make a difference; and we are here for a reason beyond what we see. I really believe that,” Stryker said.

  “I believe that too Stryker, but most of all I’m glad that I’m doing this with you by my side,” Sarah said, “Who would have ever guessed that being captured by your gang of outlaws back on earth would have led us here Stryker,” Sarah continued saying.

  “Life has a funny way of playing out Sarah, I’m just glad that you’re here with me and if I die in this battle, I want you to know that my life is complete because I got a chance to meet you. I love you more than anything,” Stryker said.

  “And I love you too Stryker,” Sarah replied.

  As Max saw the love that Sarah and Stryker had for each other his mind pondered upon the love of his life – Ava – and he wished that he could have a life of love, peace, and happiness with her. And then as he raised his head and looked towards the mighty Phoenix he realized that Ava had a much more important role to play in life, and he looked to Sarah and Stryker and said, “I still can’t believe that Ava is the Phoenix and the ruler of Zerros,” as his eyes filled with tears.

  “And she would have never made it back to Zerros if it were not for you Max,” Sarah said to him and as Sarah said those words Max’s memories flashed back to the Pacific Ocean, and he remembered Ava and himself fighting for their lives upon the makeshift raft, and he remembered giving his life to save the girl he truly loved, and the girl whose mother – Luanne – believed that her beloved and cherished daughter Ava was the savior and protector of everything in existence.

  Then suddenly the memory of Ava being dragged and pulled into the Pacific Ocean was at the forefront of his thoughts, and it was now all clear to Max that he and Ava were meant to find each other and he would be the one to save her from the fury of the mighty Blue Dragon – Zarax.

  CHAPTER TWENTY–FOUR

  As the Phoenix rose high above in the skies of Zerros, she saw the Blue Dragon hovering in the skies, and as Zarax the Blue Dragon saw Ava the golden Phoenix he roared at her, and as he did so, their eyes locked upon each other and every memory that Ava had of Jonah went through her otherworldly mind.

  She remembered their childhood, and she remembered their life together back on earth, she remembered her father, Dean, and she remembered the stories of her mother, Luanne. She remembered how Jonah protected her and most of all she remembered how he gave his life to save her life deep in the depths of the mighty Pacific Ocean back on earth.

  As the memories of her past life and her memories of Jonah flooded her mind, she tried blocking them out, and she tried to convince herself that the soul of the Blue Dragon was not the soul of her brother Jonah. But as the mighty Zarax stood before her, she knew that Jonah’s soul was somewhere within the Blue Dragon and was consumed and overwhelmed by the forces of power, evil and greed that was at the very core of Zarax.

  She then quickly realized that it was not the soul of her brother that stood before her but it was the Blue Dragon himself who would stop at nothing in order to kill her and rule Zerros and the plethora of universes under its control.

  Then suddenly the Dragon shouted, “I feel the weakness in you O Phoenix of Zerros, you cannot defeat me and my army. Give me your powers to control the universes and everything in existence, and I will spare your life as well as the lives of those who fight alongside you.”

  As the Phoenix heard the words of Zarax, she looked around herself at the army of Zerros which included sentinels, royal guards, sorcerers and even a handful of humans and knights. And as she felt their energy she knew that there was fear amongst them and she asked them, “Are you all ready to give your lives for the universes, planets and billions upon billions of life forms in existence? Are you ready to fight the evil that stands before you? For if he succeeds and wins this war, the existence of everything we created and the existence of everything which we hold dear and love will be destroyed as we know it and the evil of the Blue Dragon will spread like a plague throughout the universes.”

  Then as the last words exited the mouth of the Phoenix, the four dragons began flying forward and the Phoenix shouted, “For Zerros and everything in existence,” and with those words the Phoenix shrieked as loud as she could and began flying towards the army of the Blue Dragon ready to fight for and protect the side of good.

  Meanwhile behind her, the royal guards, sentinels, sorcerers and the rest of the army of Zerros bravely followed her and began running and flying towards the army of the Blue Dragon ready to give their lives for wha
t they believed in and in the hopes of defeating evil – in its purest form – once and for all.

  Then as the diamond army saw the army of Zerros advancing forward, they drew their weapons and began to run and fly towards them, while in the sky above the four dragons and the mighty Blue Dragon also began their charge towards the army of Zerros and the majestic Phoenix.

  Meanwhile, from afar, Razen the evil sorcerer stood behind his army and waited for what he knew was certain victory. And with that, so began the final and last Armageddon in the battle which would ultimately decide the fate of everything in existence.

  CHAPTER TWENTY–FIVE

  As the armies of good and evil charged towards each other, Razen looked on from the relative safety of the portals ready to escape at the first sign of trouble.

  As he looked on, he couldn’t believe that his plan was almost complete, and as he pondered upon the ages of torture and pain which he endured at the hands of Venetia while patiently waiting for the Phoenix to return to Zerros, he knew that it was well worth the wait. A wait which he hoped would result in him being a ruler of Zerros and the universes along with his creation – Zarax the Blue Dragon.

  As he looked at Zarax and saw the diamond army and the four dragons he couldn’t believe the sheer power he had in his war against the Phoenix and the army of Zerros, and he felt quite confident that victory was theirs for the taking.

  As his mind flashed back to the distant memories of eons past, he remembered the fond memories of Zerros in earlier times and he remembered the times of joy that he spent with his fellow sorcerers and the Phoenix herself, which were now all distant and faded memories of a glorious and immaculate past that was needlessly destroyed from sheer greed, arrogance, and evil.

  As the memories went through Razen’s mind, he remembered the Phoenix giving her energy and power to the inhabitants of the universes, and the resentment which he felt towards her for doing this.

  Then as his resentment towards the Phoenix and those that lived within the universes grew, and the evil and greed began to consume his every thought, that was when he began to put his master plan into motion and sat and waited; hidden in plain sight, as his plan slowly but surely began to come to fruition.

  Razen’s master plan

  Many eons ago, in the mystical Realm of Zerros, the Phoenix gave Razen the task of traveling to Dezzanor to help a planet called Epidis from falling into chaos and eventual extinction.

  As Razen arrived, unknown to the Phoenix and the other sorcerers, he already felt a certain sense of animosity towards the inhabitants within the universes, and also unknown to them, from the very moment that he agreed to the task of bringing back Epidis from the depths of greed, hate, and insatiability, he already had a plan in mind in which the end goal was for him to one day rule the Realm of Zerros and the universes under its control within the almost endless Realm of Creation.

  As Razen arrived in the universe of Dezzanor and traveled to Epidis and saw the greed and power that had overtaken its inhabitants he granted a few people of the almost fallen planet abundant mystical powers far beyond where their imagination could ever take them, and as those few people rose to power they destroyed anyone and anything that was in their path until the planet of Epidis was under their rule.

  But prior to reaching Epidis, Razen had a far more important matter to take care of, one that would have far reaching implications in Zerros and one that would give him the best chance to rise to power and overtake Zerros and be its supreme ruler.

  Far away in the outer reaches of the great universe of Dezzanor, Razen’s plan began to take shape and as he used his imperial sorcery and wizardry, from deep within the furthest reaches of his mind a thought was created and as he brought this thought into creation, it melded with a planet in Dezzanor that was made of pure diamond and the name of the planet was Zarax, the name which Razen then gave to the Blue Dragon as it was brought to Zerros under the watchful eyes of the Phoenix.

  As Razen’s thought and the planet of Zarax became one, the magnificent planet imploded within itself killing every single one of its inhabitants and as the fragments of diamonds floated aimlessly in the vast space of Dezzanor, Razen continued chanting his spell of greed and hate and one by one and piece by piece the tiny fragments of diamonds began to come together to form Zarax – the Blue Dragon.

  As the millennia passed and Zarax adapted and morphed into the Blue Dragon the hatred of the spell that Razen chanted which created the Blue Dragon was hidden deep within Zarax, and as he floated in space the Phoenix found him and brought him back to Zerros in order to nurture and foster the strange and outlandish creature.

  As the Phoenix found the Blue Dragon and brought him back to Zerros; Razen, knowing fully well who the creature was, took the Dragon under his wings and as the Dragon grew, he taught it magic and wizardry and the Blue Dragon caught on very well to the surprise of the sorcerers as well as the Phoenix.

  As the Dragon grew and longed to traverse the universes, the Phoenix gave it permission, and that was when Razen’s enchantment of evil began to course through the Blue Dragon and its true nature of evil took hold of its demented soul and as it did so the Phoenix tried to stop the Blue Dragons wrath of evil.

  Then as the Dragon and the Phoenix fought, the Dragon thought that he had killed her and left the body of the lifeless Phoenix in Dezzanor and as he returned to Zerros he knew that Razen was ready to destroy the rest of the sorcerers, and then he and his master – the evil and malevolent sorcerer – would rule Zerros and the plethora of universes under its control, which included everything in existence, for all of eternity.

  But deep inside his soul Razen somehow felt that the Phoenix was not truly dead and in order for his master plan to be fully complete he needed her to die in Zerros at the hands of the mighty Blue Dragon which is why he tried to keep her in Zerros initially, and for now his master plan was on hold as Razen knew that anything that died within the universes would somehow find its way back to another universe if it so wished, as these were the laws and physics that dictated the lives of everything in existence.

  Then, as Razen knew that the death of the Phoenix in Dezzanor was not part of his plan he quickly had to alter his plan and it was then that he decided to put a spell upon his majestic creation – Zarax the Blue Dragon – and keep him safe in Zerros until the Phoenix made her majestic return, and for now Razen had to wait for the Phoenix to return to Zerros in order for the Blue Dragon to kill her once and for all.

  Then, as Razen made his way to the portals to pretend to kill the Dragon and his diamond army, in order to show his fellow sorcerers that he was on the side of good so that he could keep his evil agenda a secret that only he and the Blue Dragon knew of. He made a deal with the mighty beast and promised to wake it from the spell once the Phoenix had returned to Zerros, and as Razen did so, he knew that the day would come where he would have to wake his fiendish creation in order to finally kill the majestic Phoenix.

  Then as time passed and the clans battled each other for the right to rule Zerros, Venetia spun her evil web of deceit and tricked the sorcerers into siding with her and then as they did so, she and her clan waged war upon the sorcerers and in the process killed them all, or so they thought.

  It was then that Razen saw his opportunity and he covertly let Venetia imprison him thinking that she had the upper hand knowing fully well that she would never kill him as both she and he thought that he was the last sorcerer left alive in Zerros and the only one who could control the Blue Dragon.

  Then, as time passed, Razen knew that he needed someone on the outside to help him in his malevolent quest, and in a locked and shackled state, Razen befriended one of the clan leaders and promised him a universe to call his own in which he would have powers beyond imagination. And for this great and unique gift all this clan leader had to do was keep Razen informed of anything to do with the Phoenix, and as the Phoenix arrived in Zerros, after what seemed like eons, it was the deceitful clan leader with the h
elp of one of the sentinels who looked after Razen that informed him that the Phoenix had returned to Zerros.

  Upon hearing that news, Razen used his sorcery to lead the mad sentinel to Venetia and tell her that the Phoenix had returned to Zerros knowing fully well that she would call upon Razen to release the mighty Blue Dragon.

  And now, the clan leader who befriended Razen stood among those in the army of Zerros under the command of Alkazar ready to do battle against his fellow comrade – the evil sorcerer – and the army of the Blue Dragon and patiently waited for his chance to again help his maniacal and heinous friend – Razen.

  For all this time, Venetia was fooled by Razen, and she believed that he cared dearly for the universes and their inhabitants. Little did Venetia know the true and treacherous nature of Razen only until right before her death when Razen showed her the truth of what he truly was. And in addition to that, prior to her death, Venetia knew nothing about his master plan which Razen had so far masterfully conducted and was now on the cusp of seeing it come to fruition as his army, led by the Blue Dragon was about to begin their war against the golden Phoenix and her army.

  Since the beginning, Razen only wanted one thing, and that thing was ultimate control and power of Zerros and the universes; and to reach his lofty and wicked goal, he endured endless pain and suffering and patiently waited for the Phoenix to return home so that he may unleash the fury of Zarax upon her.

  And now, as Razen stood on the edge of the portals and looked at the army of the Blue Dragon carefully advancing towards their enemy, he smirked an evil smile knowing that he had outwitted everyone, including the Phoenix herself, and his master plan for control of everything in existence was almost complete.