“Yes. Be careful, I heard from Mikhal that Korhil is the most powerful among the Four Titans,” Helena said. She looked grim as she readied for the assault to come.
“I got your back,” Orevlatef replied.
“Spirits of Huruoan, I call upon you. Vanquish my opponents!” Korhil uttered. “Now let’s see how you can handle my sylphids. I will just sit back and watch how you fare with my minions.” Seven of the sylphids raged towards Helena and Orevlatef while three of the remaining sylphids stayed beside Korhil, defending him in case of a possible attack.
“Helena, brace yourself,” Orevlatef said and Helena replied, “Just do it!” Helena replied.
Orevlatef then pierced his sword to the ground, and he uttered the spell “Skaldi’s Field!” Ice blanketed one side of the mountain. Sheer coldness covered the surroundings and sent shivers up and down Helena’s spine.
“Forgive me,” Korhil mocked, “but this does not affect me at all.”
“This is just the beginning,” Orevlatef replied.
“Very well! Let’s see what you can do!”
“Thunder Blitz!” Helena bellowed and a lightning bolt aimed at Korhil struck one of the defending sylphids. She swore in frustration. “I missed.”
“No, you didn’t miss. In fact, your aim was flawless. It’s just, my sylphids are quicker than your lightning attack,” Korhil replied. “Now, Spirits of Huruoan, attack with your swiftness! Tacheia!” The speed of all the sylphids accelerated until they were no longer visible. The whirling mass of sylphids attacked Orevlatef and Helena. Tiny minor attacks, like magickal paper cuts, struck over and over again, slowly deteriorating the Master Knights’ stamina, trapping them in a whirlwind that sucked their strength away.
Neither could easily shrug them off. Helena launched herself up out of the cloud with her wings, shaking off of the sylphids. Orevlatef cast Icicle Blast, freezing the sylphids for a few seconds. Seeing the sylphids freeze, Helena rushed toward Korhil and cast Anemosh. Sharp cutting wind swooshed through her sword and through the air, slicing furiously toward Korhil, who sensed and prudently leapt away.
“How can you sense such attacks? It’s not even visible!” Helena demanded.
“Have I not told you? I am the Titan of wind! I am the mighty Quetzalcoatl! Wind magick is useless against me!” The sylphids’ frozen state thawed immediately after Helena’s attack and Korhil grinned. “My turn.” He raised both his hands and summoned a massive tornado. “Raging tempest!” The tornado tore across the frozen field, aimed directly at Helena, still aloft.
“Helena! To the ground!” Orevlatef called and Helena instantaneously returned to the ground. “Hold onto me!” The massive tornado overtook them. Orevlatef pierced his sword into the ground and held on for dear life. Then wind, furious wind was whipping them from all angles, and the very action seemed laughable. Orevlatef seemed to say something a second before he lost his grip on the blade. Then the tornado devoured them; she lost sight of him, then it was trees, crashing trees, not frozen anymore and her body scraped down the rocky mountainside. She cast Valkyrian Wings, catching herself aloft a moment before she would have slammed into a massive tree. But Orevlatef was not so fortunate, and he crashed onto a massive rock. His spine fractured, the intense collision snapping his body like a toy. He lay motionless at the foot of the rock, unable to move.
Helena rushed toward Orevlatef. “Are you okay?”
“No. I cannot move my body. I think my spine is severely fractured. Hand me my blade?” Orevlatef said, catching Helena’s arm with a weak hand. He added, “Helena, you should escape. We are no match for him. That wasn’t his maximum potential. He was toying with us. Let me distract him for a bit so you may escape.”
“No, I will not leave you behind,” Helena replied, and she seized Orevlatef’s sword and returned to him.
“Hey, pitiful soldiers, what’s the matter? Come and face me,” Korhil shouted from above. He stalked towards them, crashing through the edge of the freeze.
“Heal up. I’ll try to buy time.” Helena stood and flew towards Korhil.
Orevlatef made ready to brace his own spine, using the ice summoned from his sword. “Skaldi, lend me your power,” he whispered and immediately his sword shone, producing a rod of ice that infused itself with Orevlatef’s spine. He screamed in pain, the ice braced itself, winding itself into his nervous system, supporting his broken back. Each augmentation was agony, the cold deeper than any wind could muster.
Meanwhile, Helena attacked Korhil over and over with her Anemosh spell. “Do you not understand? You cannot hit me with your wind magick! Use your thunder magick and you might have a chance at hitting me,” Korhil stated.
He was practically giving it to her. “Thunderstruck!” Helena shouted. An immense lightning bolt struck Helena, powered her up and her Retribution. With a powerful swing of the Retribution, Helena shouted “Anemosh!”
Korhil called back his sylphids with a flick of his wrist. “Vadeja!” A whipping wind of gale encased his arms and fists and he blocked Helena’s Anemosh attack. “That is interesting, Helena. I was surprised you let me use my Vadeja spell. Now you have made me use it, I have no other choice but use it against you,” Korhil said, pityingly.
“To me!” Helena replied in fury. At her surprise, Korhil instantly emerged in front of her and kicked her, throwing her away. Helena spread her wings and launched herself back up into the sky. She panted for breath, hovering over the icy arena.
“There will be no more mercy. I shall destroy both of you,” Korhil uttered, and he raged toward Helena. He tore her from the ground with one sweeping attack, and when she collided, stunned, he pounded her. She shielded her face with her arms, trying to make herself small. Again and again, she was pounded. Then a chunk of large ice hurled toward Korhil, slamming into the Titan and sending him reeling.
“Orevlatef?” Helena wondered, pushing herself from her prone position. From the tree line, as she saw Orevlatef coming towards them in a whole new armour. He was covered in ice; his shoulder pads had large icicles on it and his helmet was now crystalline and frigid.
He hurried to her and helped her to her feet. “Helena, are you all right? Let me handle this. I want you to get back to the others. Wait for Ace and Diurus then go back to Krimmirr. Warn the Queen and Reighild about Korhil. He is a monster,” Orevlatef stated.
“What happened to you?”
“My blade has infused itself to my body. The spirit of Skaldi is now one with me. The ice from the blade has braced my spine.
Now I want you to go.”
“But this is suicide! You know it yourself! You can’t defeat him alone, you have no chance against this guy!” Helena replied in fear.
“I am the second Master Knight! I am in charge here! This is a direct order! Now go!” Orevlatef shouted. Helena paled, but nodded, and at once flew back to Zebu.
Korhil stalked towards the remaining Master Knight, clad in his element but so very small. He gave a mocking smile, waiting with the sort of contempt that comes of knowing how little chance ones opponents have. “I do not understand. Why would you sacrifice yourself for her sake?” he asked, sarcastically.
“Let’s end this,” Orevlatef replied.
“I will give you five seconds to escape. If you fail to escape, then I will have to kill you,” Korhil said. A malevolent aura emitted from his body. He held it there in amused condensation, pausing, watching, waiting. “You’re not going to budge, eh? Very well, you shall perish!”
Orevlatef dashed toward Korhil, attacked him head on.
Korhil and Orevlatef exchanged punches and blows. Orevlatef smashed his right fist through the face of Korhil and so did Korhil to Orevlatef. Orevlatef took down Korhil with a powerful leg thrust to Korhil’s left leg, staggering the Titan. “Skaldi, now!” Orevlatef shouted, then a large beam of light came from the eyes and mouth of Orevlatef and his ice armour slowly melted.
Then a female ice apparition appeared before them and it spoke. “I am Skaldi,
the one who controls the ice.”
A massive hail storm from the heavens rained down upon Korhil. Tiny balls of ice struck the Titan repeatedly, pounding him into the ground. Finally the hail storm ended, and Orevlatef thanked Skaldi. The apparition disappeared and his ice armour emerged once again.
Korhil was lying on the ground, but then he pushed himself back to his feet. He laughed. “That was amusing. But let me show you what Fate magick tastes like,” he said. He called upon his agents, ordering them to protect him while he cast the Fate magick of wind.
I can’t let him cast the Fate magick or else, I will die, Orevlatef thought. So he rushed towards Korhil, trying everything he could to distract his focus. But the sylphids were too many for him, and he was unable to even touch the Titan of Wind, struggling to get through the menacing whirl of tiny spirits.
Korhil gathered all of his magickal spells and blurted them out all at once. “Tacheia, Raging tempest, Vadeja, Kuroth, Garuda, I offer all of these spells in exchange for your Fury, mighty Fuujin!” Perseverance drove Orevlatef to still desperately try distract Korhil. Yet still the Titan uttered his spells, then a moment later called out his mightiest spell of all, the Fate magick of Wind. “Fuujin’s Fury!” A mighty tornado appeared, summoned from nothing, making the tornado before look puny in comparison. This enormous whirlwind dwarfed the mountain, so large and fast it could scatter its pieces to the four winds. Yet it was also so gentle and honed, it could slice and pierce anything, even slicing a strand of hair in half from the centre. “Now run!” Korhil spoke, and he commanded the tornado toward Orevlatef.
Without hesitation, Orevlatef ran toward the mountain, in a frantic search of any protection or shelter from this titanic demonstration of power. He swept his hands out, freezing and shattering a part of the mountain away. A tiny cave. He dove into it, uttering his own protection spell, “Boreas’Shell.”
As the massive tornado collided with the mountain, rocks from the mountain came thundering down, trees were torn from their roots, gobbled up by the furious winds. The entire mountainside trembled. Large cracks sustained, then suddenly tore open, exposing the depths. Bit by bit, the mountain was swallowed by the Fuujin’s Fury. Constantly shaking, the mountain was no refuge; Orevlatef’s ice cover too began to rattle and shake and soon it tore apart. The wind devoured each crystal, each icicle, and he was whipped helplessly to and fro in its wake. His armour too began to deteriorate. Deadly wind slashes, immense speed, the whirl battering him to his utmost. In just a few moments his last defence cracked.
Then it was only him and the wind.
The skin on his arms and legs sustained wind cuts. Boundless cuts became boundless slashes. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run. The wind ripped him apart.
Orevlatef had nowhere to go; he could not defend himself anymore. The apparition of Skaldi appeared before him again and said, “Orevlatef, I am sorry I could not protect you anymore. Please forgive me.”
“Do not frown, my love. We will soon be together in eternity. My time here is done. I have served the Queen well. I accept my death wholeheartedly. Life here is incomplete without you,” he replied. The apparition of Skaldi smiled, and a tear dropped from her eyes. Just before the tear was about to hit the ground, it turned into ice and Orevlatef breathed his last.
Korhil immediately cancelled his Fate magick. He sensed that Zaac was in great danger. With nothing left from the destructive force of Fuujin’s Fury, only the Blade of Skaldi could be seen on the ground, broken into two pieces. Korhil left it where it lay. With intense speed, he rushed toward Zebu, and his heart pounded at the sight of his comrade.
At last, I will avenge my family, Draken thought. All around the battle for Zebu took place, the whole of Terra’s army clashing with the Knights of Krimmirr. “Zaac!”
“Who the hell are you?” Zaac said.
“Remember Eirinea? The village where you slaughtered everyone including my family? You made a huge mistake by letting me escape,” Draken stated.
“Awwwww… Eirinea? You mean that pathetic village full of weak healers and light mages? It was so easy to destroy. But you don’t follow in their footsteps, do you? I sense a dark magick inside of you,” Zaac replied. “Maybe that’s why you survived. You were worthy.”
“Enough talk. It is a good thing your friends abandoned you here. I shall pour my wrath and justice upon you alone!” Draken shouted, in a state of blind fury.
“Hah! You couldn’t save your family from me before– nothing can save you now, wretch,” Zaac said, mocking Draken.
Two of the women from the royal knights broke away from the fray, hurrying towards him. “Draken, we are here to help you defeat Zaac,” Alexa said.
“Yeah, we all are,” Cassandra added.
“Thank you,” Draken replied, and immediately his eyes turned black and he yelled “Corruption!” A black smoke emitted from him. Instantly, Draken dashed toward Zaac with ferocious intent and an eerie aura.
Zaac immediately cast a wide earthen wall in front of him, “Uplift!” he uttered. A large mass of land raised and covered him, forming a thick shield from Draken’s dark strike and he shot straight through the landmass. Zaac said, “Encage!” and the landmass hardened into a massive rock, encasing Draken. “Tch. Such a menace. Now stay there.”
Cassandra looked on in dread. “We have to save Draken!” At once, Cassandra conjured her poisonous sword while Alexa called upon her Aegith shield.
“You destroy the boulder, I’ll cover you,” Alexa called. Together the two women sprinted toward the large rock.
Cassandra leaped high and slashed the rock, hoping to maim it. It didn’t even leave a mark. “Ugh. I couldn’t even scratch it!” Cassandra said in frustration.
“Just go after it, Cassandra!” Alexa said.
“What are you two trying to do? Huh? Trying to set your friend free? Well, in that case, Animate Earth!” Zaac said, and he transformed the massive rock into an earth golem with Draken still trapped within.
Alexa and Cassandra were both shocked to see the large rock storming towards them, now in the shape of a hideous monster. Its eyes did not gleam so much as slurp the light into their eerie holes, and they could only wonder if Draken could even draw breath. He could already be dead. “Exosteelia!” Alexa spoke. The magick fled from her word through her sinewy limbs, shifting her structure to pure, unadulterated steel. She raised her metal fists and prepared for this metal to meet the road. “Cassandra, let me handle this thing.”
“All right, leave Zaac to me,” Cassandra replied.
The golem pounded Alexa but its attacks had little effect on her because of the massive defence of her Exosteelia. It did not matter how viciously it struck. Her bones were metal, and almost nothing physically lay damage to her. She was thrown to the left, to the right, and staggered back, then doubled back in to attack the golem. It too saw little damage, this battle of endurance and durability would inevitably go on for hours.
“Hmmmm. I wonder how Adriel and Korhil are doing. I take wager they are having fun torturing those puny knights,” Zaac murmured and daydreamed about the calamity. Cassandra slashed her sword through the air in an ‘X’ manner. It left greenish streaks and spewed forth a tacky greenish liquid that splattered across Zaac’s left arm. He tried to raise it to block and attack, only to realise a moment later he couldn’t. His limb felt heavy and weak now, and he could not even wiggle his fingers thanks to Schatnil’s venom.
“Do you think paralysing my arm will stop me from destroying you? You clearly do not know who you are facing,” Zaac said and shouted, “Tremor!” a quake spell that vibrated the land quickly, causing everyone to stumble and flail about for balance. A Krimmirr soldier cried out and fell, and the moment he hit the ground the earth punched back. Everyone in Zebu tumbled from the quake, but the attack was targeted and only those Zaac deemed to be enemies were smashed and pounded by the earthen strikes. He coordinated each thump with a gesture and focused on assaulting Cassandra. She now was the great
est concern with her poisonous equipment. Alexa tried to move in, but was thrown back again and again by the earthen tremors, struggling against its beat.
“Asterion! Protect Cassandra at all costs!” Alexa shouted, and she threw her shield toward Cassandra, summoning the bearer of Aegith. While in the air, a large Minotaur with the head and hoofs of an ox appeared. This astral protector seemed to be holding the Aegith.
Asterion rammed the Aegith on the ground and shielded Cassandra with his shield from one side and his body from the other. “Thank you, Asterion, you are so kind,” Cassandra said. Being unable to speak, Asterion grunted with a meek smile on its face.
“Haven’t realised it’s earth that attacks?” Zaac taunted.
A large earth pillar emerged from below Cassandra and threw her into the air. This fall damaged her far worse than before. She screamed in pain. Asterion jumped, grabbed her, and embraced her. He landed on his back. This time, Asterion laid the Aegith against the ground. He put Cassandra directly above and covered every opening there was to attack Cassandra.
Good work, Asterion, Alexa thought.
Zaac halted the Tremor spell. He grabbed a handful of earth and rubbed it on his left arm. After a few moments, the mobility of his left arm came back, and he held it up with a triumphant fist. “Impossible!” Cassandra said.
“I am sorry, but my Earth magick can heal anything in my body using earth!” Zaac laughed and smirked. “Mighty Terra, destroy all of them!” He cast his Tremor spell once again. “This time, my Tremor will be much more powerful.” He laughed silently. “Tremor!” he shouted, and the ground began shaking once again. The shaking and pounding became stronger than the previous attack. While in the state of Tremor, Zaac rushed towards Cassandra. Asterion quickly blocked Zaac and entered full defence mode to protect Cassandra. However, with just one blow, Asterion was smashed away, leaving Cassandra exposed. “Now I have you. It is such a shame that your beauty will fade this day. I am sorry,” Zaac said, and he grabbed the Schatnil and pierced it through Cassandra’s heart.
Teliko Mageia: Curse of the Frozen Flame Page 25