FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE

by S. K. Ng

  “Accusation _ in support of mine of this, I offer the proof that in his last dying breath, Clanmaster Collart had said that Baron Chessmaster litters his lair with Crimsonut shells; and that I have confirmed that Master Shay is the only person in the whole of Free Falls who consumes them,” said Ray.

  The High Council started laughing. Half of the crowd did as well.

  “Crimsonut shells!? Accuse _ you do of this of our leader of a heinous crime and the only evidence you offer is red peanut shells!?” ridiculed Master Calnen.

  The gathering hall burst into laughter once again. Some were even beginning to get angry at the fact that they were summoned here for the sake of peanut shells! One by one, they began standing up and shouting for Ray’s removal.

  Master Calnen called for order yet again. The loud chaotic voices died down in the gathering hall. Ray, Clover and Lance still eyed Master Shay with extreme hostility. Master Shay himself was still calm and composed, as though nothing had happened. Master Calnen did not even know what to feel. On one hand, he was happy that the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan had been destroyed. On the other, he was disappointed that Ray would not rebuild his order in the folds of the Grand Order. And to top it all off, Master Calnen, who was once Ray’s mentor, was embarrassed that Ray accused the Grand Elementhar himself of being Baron Chessmaster with nothing more than Crimsonut shells as evidence.

  Master Calnen decided that he would tolerate Ray’s insolence no further. With a heavy heart, he summoned up the strength to do what he felt he must.

  “Leave _ Ray Iddell, you and your associates are required to do of this from this gathering hall today. Return _ you and your associates shall never do of this forever!” he decreed.

  Ray showed no emotional change. He had expected this reaction. But this had left him only one viable option. Actually, it always was this one viable option. There never was any other option.

  “Invoke _ I do of this of the right to duel, as stated in the Law of Elementhar Administration. Accuse _ I do of this to Grand Elementhar Rapier Shay of hiring the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan to massacre the Order of Fire Elementhars in the Year 1185 of the Known Era. Duel _ Grand Elementhar Rapier Shay, I hereby challenge you to do of this to prove your innocence!” said Ray.

  Once again the gathering hall went abuzz. Immediately there were Elementhars who stood up and shouted that the challenge was illegitimate since Ray was no longer part of the Grand Order. There were, however, a few who stood up in support of Ray, saying that guilt and innocence should not be decided upon by membership issues. The chaos was getting out of control again. Master Calnen was about to call for order yet again when suddenly…

  “Accept _ I do of this of your challenge, Ray Iddell!” announced Master Shay above the chaos of the crowd.

  The gathering hall immediately went silent. It became as quiet as a graveyard. For the first time, the crowd did not know how to react. Master Calnen stood with his mouth wide open in shock.

  “Field _ shall we proceed to the open of it!?” invited Ray.

  “Field _ you may lead the way to the open of it,” replied Master Shay calmly.

  Everyone rose and followed Ray and Master Shay outside the gathering hall. Behind the main building and beyond the vegetable patch lay an open field, just like how it was at Monune Ruby. Ray and Master Shay stood in the middle of the field, surrounded at a distance by their brother and sister Elementhars. Master Calnen stood between the two duellers.

  “Sure _ are the both of you of this!?” he asked.

  Ray nodded his head with a stern look. Master Shay nodded his head casually.

  “Stadium _ Earth Elementhars, build of this now!” commanded Master Calnen.

  The Earth Elementhars begin closing their eyes and drawing in their breaths. As they, Master Calnen included, reach the meditative state, they kneel down and press their palms onto the ground. The ground begins to rumble. It feels like an earthquake. Clover, Lance and the others begin to look around in panic. Slowly, they begin to rise. The earth beneath them slowly elevates them. The elevated ground begins expanding upwards and outwards as it rises, separating the Elementhars into three distinct rings; namely an inner ring, a middle ring and an outer ring. Ray and Master Shay ignore their surroundings. They stand firm and focused in the middle of the field, where the ground had not risen.

  Slowly, seats begin to form in the three rings, out of the earth itself. The inner ring stops rising to form the lower terrace. It stands at the height of one storey above the original ground level. The middle ring stops rising about two paces higher than the inner one, thus forming the middle terrace. Then, the outer ring stops rising two paces higher than the middle one, forming the higher terrace. The Elementhars look around in amazement to find themselves standing on the terraces of an earthen stadium. And down below, in the arena, stands Master Elementhar Ray Iddell facing Grand Elementhar Rapier Shay, with High Elementhar Calnen standing between them.

  Master Calnen shakes his head in disbelief. He feels that this entire affair is just ridiculous. But both parties involved insist on it, so who is he to deny them?

  “Rules _ of these of the duel, what shall they be?” he asks, acting in the capacity of a referee.

  “Death _ to this shall we fight!” answers Ray, causing the crowd to go wild with shock and disbelief.

  High Elementhar Calnen closes his eyes in disappointment upon hearing Ray’s answer, although he is not surprised.

  “Death _ to this shall it end,” responds Master Shay calmly, causing most of the crowd to break into applause; for they feel that Ray is being too rude or possibly he has lost his mind and should be put down.

  “Pledge _ of this, I shall make; that is I shall use only the fire element to avenge my order!” adds Ray.

  “Pledge _ of this, I make none except to put your rudeness to an end as swiftly as possible!” declares Master Shay, causing the crowd to break into a thunderous applause again.

  Ray and Master Shay bow to each other, thus sealing their fates. Stepping back towards the nearest terrace, Master Calnen kneels down and touches the ground with his finger. Immediately the ground beneath his feet rises and carries him up to the lower terrace. Stepping backwards onto the lower terrace, he takes his seat next to Master Waycress on one side and Clover on the other.

  “Begin!” he declares with a heavy heart.

  Yelling at the top of his lungs, Ray shoots off a Heat Burst the size of a coconut at Master Shay. At the speed of lightning, Master Shay draws out his rapier and slices at the Heat Burst, absorbing its energy. The resultant impact knocks him backwards three steps. Although visibly shaken, he affords a smile; and this infuriates Ray. Ray charges in with his silver staff and does a Vertical Downwards Strike ending with his right leg in front. Master Shay pulls out a dagger with his left hand and together with the rapier in his right, cross-steps in and blocks the strike. He then follows up with a left Front Alligator Kick to Ray’s right knee, which sends Ray toppling to the ground. Thrusting out his left hand and stretching out his four fingers while his thumb holds on to the dagger, Grand Elementhar Shay executes a Horizontal Tornado Spell. A conical jet of swirling wind shoots out of his fingers. Ray rolls out of the way, just barely, before the Horizontal Tornado hits the spot where he had fallen and explodes, creating a small crater and creating a small cloud of dirt and loose soil. Ray gets to his feet. Master Shay recovers his poise.

  Clearly Master Shay is not as feeble as he seems to Ray. And clearly Ray is not as bull-headed as he seems to Master Shay. Both opponents realise that this will be a drawn-out fight.

  Suddenly, Ray sends a series of Heat Spears at Master Shay while charging-in. Master Shay absorbs the attacks with his sorcerised rapier and dagger, but becomes distracted by them. Using his silver staff, Ray executes a Right Horizontal Strike at the rib level, but Master Shay slides back just in time to avoid it. Following through with the momentum of the strike, Ray executes a Left Diagonal Downwards Strike, to which Master Shay manages to slide b
ack yet again. Ray follows up with a straight-in thrust. Grand Elementhar Shay steps diagonally forward to his right, simultaneously parries off Ray’s staff with his dagger and cuts Ray’s left ‘back of the wrist’ with his rapier. Ray’s left hand lets go of the staff from the surprise and the pain; and he drops it for good when Master Shay follows through with a quick upward stroke to cut his right wrist.

  Clover gasps in horror. Lance leans forward in fear and concern. Master Calnen looks away in sadness. Spirit growls in anger. The Wind Elementhars in the crowd cheer and clap their hands in celebration. Realising the precarious situation that he is in at the moment, Ray hastily conjures flames at Master Shay’s face to distract him while he slides backwards out of range of his rapier and dagger. Master Shay turns his face sideways while simultaneously stepping back a few steps to avoid the flames, and finds the tip of his rapier too far away from Ray to do any harm. Ray curses himself for getting cut at both wrists. Master Shay congratulates himself for disarming Ray. The cocky smile on the Grand Elementhar’s face is a total contrast to Ray’s worrisome frown.

  Warm crimson liquid drips steadily from the tips of Ray’s fingers. Ray backs away slowly. Master Shay advances confidently. Perhaps the fight will not be as drawn out as he had thought earlier. Placing a finger over the wound on the back of his left wrist, Ray exerts his soul energy to produce heat to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding. Then he does the same for his right wrist. With a flick of his wrist, Master Shay sends out a gust of strong wind that lifts Ray’s staff into the air and sends it flying out of the stadium itself. This action consumes a significant amount of soul energy, but Master Shay feels that he can afford it, seeing that Ray has only the gemstones on his headband and his very own soul left to use as an energy source; as opposed to himself who has the gemstones in his rapier, dagger, headband and forearm guards as his energy source, in addition to his own soul as well. Ray’s heart sinks. There is now no way for him to regain his staff. He pulls out his knife, but unfortunately, it is just a common knife. He had not sorcerised it. He curses himself again. Why had he not thought of sorcerising his knife?

  Focussing his thoughts and drawing upon his soul energy, Master Shay crosses his arms, thereby executing a Shearing Gale Spell. Immediately a strong gust of wind blows at Ray from his right to left at the lower legs and another equally powerful gust blows from his left to right at the shoulders, flipping him to the ground. Master Shay charges in and tries to stab the fallen Ray with his rapier. Ray rolls backwards to avoid the attack. Master Shay tries to stab Ray again. Again he fails as Ray manages to roll away. Ray, realising that he is in an extremely precarious situation, touches a palm to the ground and executes a Flaming Wall Spell. Immediately, a thick wall of condense flames erupts between him and Master Shay. The intense heat knocks Master Shay back a few steps, thus buying time for Ray to get back on his feet. Seizing the opportunity to harness his opponent’s temporary loss of mental balance, Ray follows up with a series of Heat Bursts, sending them through the Flaming Wall straight at the Grand Elementhar. Master Shay slices at the Heat Bursts as he steps backward in retreat. Ray jumps through the weakening Flaming Wall and throws a Heat Spear at the Grand Elementhar. As Master Shay slices the Heat Spear with his rapier, Ray manages to move in, close the gap between them and slices the Grand Elementhar’s wrist with his knife. Master Shay screams out in pain and drops his rapier. He retreats back a few steps to avoid giving Ray the opportunity to follow up.

  Clover and Lance simultaneously shout out in joy. The crowd gasp in astonishment. Spirit lets out a howl of excitement. Master Calnen can only shake his head in sadness.

  The Grand Elementhar uses his element manipulation skills to stop his bleeding, since he was also trained in the water element, and blood is of this element. Meanwhile, Ray bends down to pick up the rapier with his left hand. Immediately, his hand begins to freeze. The pain is excruciating. He yells out in agony and has no choice but to drop the sword.

  “Ha! Ha! Ha! Safeguards _ I have cast of these upon my rapier, Ray; so enjoy the stinging chill of the wind element!” says the Grand Elementhar sarcastically.

  Ray tries to move his left fingers, but to not avail. They feel numb. The pain is still consuming his mind. Finally, he decides to momentarily engulf his left hand with fire generated by his right fingers, thus using up more of his stored soul energy. The pain dies down as his left hand warms up. He looks at Master Shay with renewed anger. He kicks away the rapier, ensuring that the Grand Elementhar cannot regain his sword.

  “Betray _ tell me, why did you do of this to us?” asks Ray.

  “Betray _ I did not do of this to you, Ray; so do not be delusional,” responds Master Shay.

  “Liar!” yells Ray as he sends a Heat Spear towards the Grand Elementhar.

  The Grand Elementhar absorbs the attack with his sorcerised dagger and immediately counter-attacks with a Horizontal Tornado, to which Ray is forced to dive sideways to avoid.

  “Massacred _ you had done of this to my order so that you can become Grand Elementhar!” accuses Ray.

  “Massacred _ I have not done of this to your order and I did not need to do so to become Grand Elementhar; for Master Santlyn was ill and dying anyway and I would have achieved this title upon his death,” refutes Master Shay.

  “Reason _ what is it of this then did you massacre them!?” questions Ray.

  “Reason _ there is none of this at all!” denies the Grand Elementhar.

  “Liar!” accuses Ray again as he charges in.

  Ray steps his right leg forward and stabs at Grand Elementhar Shay, who steps sideway to his left to try to cut Ray’s wrist. But Ray stops his charge half way as he was only feinting and pulls his right hand backwards to avoid the cut. He then executes a Reverse Alligator Kick with his left leg, and slams his left heel into the Grand Elementhar’s jaw which sends him spiralling to the ground. Ray touches a palm to the ground and executes a Volcano Strike. The resulting eruption flings Master Shay through the air. The Grand Elementhar engulfs his entire body in a protective gust of wind to prevent the hot, molten lava from killing him. But the heat and the force of the eruption are so intense that some of his flesh gets singed and the extremities of his robes get burnt.

  “Mistake _ you have made of this in assuming that I would charge, for I was just feinting!” says Ray.

  Master Shay gets back on his feet. He is lightly injured, but his pride is mortally wounded. He is angry. He is furious. He decides that ‘play time’ is over. The time has come for him to teach Ray a lesson in humility. He executes a Vacuum Choke Spell, which is an Advanced Wind Element Spell. Suddenly, all the air around Ray is sucked away. He cannot draw in his breath. He feels like his chest is being squeezed by a large and powerful python. Ray begins to suffocate. He begins to feel dizzy and disorientated. He drops his knife and falls to his knees. His chest is extremely heavy and his head spins like a tornado. He is dying. He utters silent curses in his mind. This is not how things are supposed to turn out.

  Master Shay walks casually over to Ray, kicks away Ray’s knife and pulls off Ray’s headband. Examining the jewel encrusted headpiece with mock interest, he then throws it far away out of the stadium.

  “Feinting _ you were of this, but I am not!” says the Grand Elementhar.

  Ray writhes on the ground like an over-active worm. Bright spots begin to clutter his vision. Ray tries to execute a Heat Burst at Master Shay, but without success. He just cannot focus his mind enough to draw out a sufficient amount of soul energy to make it work. The flames keep fading out before they can be condensed into a flaming sphere. In an act of frustration, Ray slams his fist to the ground along with whatever residual soul energy that he has left. A small Volcano Strike occurs, barely the strength and loudness of a firecracker. The resultant dust gets thrown in all directions and into Master Shay’s eyes. The sudden irritation breaks his concentration and also breaks the Vacuum Choke Spell that he is casting. The rush of cooling, refreshing, life-sustaining
air into Ray’s lungs is relief beyond any description. He cannot help but to cough as he greedily draws in the many breaths of air. And before the Grand Elementhar can recover his composure, Ray hastily executes a Heat Burst at him, grabs his knife and rolls away. Master Shay absorbs the spell easily enough with his sorcerised dagger, but gets pushed backwards a step from the impact.

  Ray gets back on his feet. Master Shay exhales a breath of frustration.

  “Mistake _ you have made another of this, Shay, for when you caught me in your spell, you have failed to build a shield as a precaution against my reaction and now a simple, power-deprived and incomplete Volcano Strike has defeated your powerful Vacuum Choke,” comments Ray.

  “Powerful _ of this, I am more than you, so I can afford these mistakes but you cannot, Ray!” retorts an arrogant Master Shay.

  “Betray _ of this, why did you do to my order, Shay!? Why!?” asks Ray again.

  “Enough!” shouts Master Shay as he sends out a hail of Frozen Darts at Ray.

  Ray raises a Flaming Wall, the most intense one that he can conjure. The Frozen Darts melt and evaporate as they pass through the wall. Another barrage of Frozen Darts hit the wall, and these too melt. But Ray’s wall starts to weaken. With a final burst of energy, Master Shay sends a Horizontal Tornado at Ray, and as it hits the wall, it punches through and blasts Ray with a burst of his own flames. Ray gets knocked off his feet from the blast and loses his knife.

  Ray’s head spins. His body feels numb. He feels around for his knife, but cannot seem to find it. Master Shay steps towards Ray. An evil grin is painted on his face. Ray tries to execute a Heat Burst. The flaming sphere travels but a few paces before fading out. He shakes his head hard, trying his best to clear it. He executes another Heat Burst. This time the fireball shoots towards the Grand Elementhar, who cuts it down with his sorcerised dagger, the evil grin no longer reflected on his face. In its place is worn a stern, angry look instead. Ray gets to his feet. He is desperate now. He is without a weapon and he has only a limited amount of soul energy left. With no other choice left to him, he decides to make an all out attack. He shoots off a series of Heat Bursts at the Grand Elementhar while running at him. As the Grand Elementhar gets busy blocking the Heat Bursts, Ray side-steps at the last moment and then charges in with a fully formed Heat Spear in his hand. With all his might, Ray stabs the Grand Elementhar in his right shoulder with the Heat Spear. The resultant explosion knocks Ray back slightly but sends Master Shay flying backwards.