by Aaron Thomas
“You do not hear voices,” The darkness answered. “I am stuck here just like you, for the time being.”
Alexander licked his lips even though they weren’t particularly dry, “Are you bound like me?”
“No,” the voice said. “You are only bound until you realize there are no bindings on you.”
Alexander shook his head in confusion and looked down at the smoke that held his arms in place. He pulled, and they did not give.
“Well, I’m certainly unable to move,” He said laughing, still contemplating if he was talking to himself.
From his opposite ear, he heard the voice sigh as if in disappointment, “I thought you were going to be the one to help me, Alexander.”
He gave one good laugh, “At least my voices know my name.”
A man’s voice laughed back as it finally showed itself. The figure of a man walked out of the darkness and knelt before him. He had seen him once before, and it was only moments before his last memory. Alexander was fighting in a battle against a spirit wizard by the name of Dylan Everheart. In the darkness, the evil face of his enemy looked almost kind.
Dylan’s face smiled before looking down at the smoke shackles. With one finger extended, he wafted it through the fog without restriction. Alexander’s hands released of their bindings, fell to his side.
“The restraints are not real. You imagined yourself restrained and so you were,” Dylan said as if it was not strange at all.
Alexander cleared his throat as if there was something blocking it, “None of this makes sense. Where are we?”
“I would tell you, but if you come to a conclusion on your own it will make the transition a lot easier,” Dylan said, standing up.
“I don’t understand.” Alexander got to his feet.
Dylan looked at him, “If you can figure out where you are on your own, you will be better at maneuvering. I had to learn this on my own, so be happy I am here.”
“Happy? The last thing I remember is being in battle with you and your elementals before blacking out,” Alexander said, beginning to get angry.
Suddenly the darkness changed to the inside of a crumbling castle. Dylan stood amongst the rubble with his arms folded behind his back. Alexander saw the castle just as it had been the moment he blacked out. The other bodies of soldiers and wizards lay at his feet and some, although looking alive, remained motionless standing before him.
“They are not real,” Dylan said. “I spent far too long trying to make them real before I realized I missed my chance at redemption.”
Alexander itched a spot on his head as he did when he was confused but found no answers.
Dylan, looking frustrated, walked to stand in front of him, “In your last memory before coming here you said you were battling me. The man you were battling was my body but not me. Think hard about who I am and perhaps you will discover where you are now.”
Alexander stood amongst the rubble and unmoving people. He walked, looking at them from every side until he came to Dylan. Taking laps around the man that was his enemy, he made his thoughts out loud.
“Dylan, the father of Kilen Everheart. Both men presumed to be spirit wizards and able to control elementals by capturing the spirits of their slain enemies,” Alexander said as his words trailed away.
“No, not just enemies. Friends, loved ones, and anyone that our spirit connected with. Do you see Alexander?” Dylan asked as if urging him to understand.
“I am a spirit captured by you,” Alexander whispered.
Dylan took a deep breath, “In a way, yes. Although, captured is not the word I would use.”
“What word would you use?” Alexander asked still trying to comprehend his situation.
Dylan was walking slow circles around Alexander as he spoke, “I feel as if you are a blessing. Each and every spirit my body collects can help the world grow and become a better place. Unfortunately, one of the spirits I collected decided that his life was not finished. He took control of my body in a moment of weakness, leaving me here.”
“Where are we?” Alexander asked as the world shifted and they once again stood together in the darkness.
“We are in my mind, or in my body’s mind. Specifically, we are in the places that a conscious mind cannot reach. I saw the fire in your eyes moments before your death, and I brought you here,” Dylan said as if it was the most important thing in the universe.
“Why?”
Dylan stopped in front of him and placed his hands on his shoulders, “So you can help me kill my body.”
Chapter 28 - The Battle of Legends
Ria carefully made her way down the palace steps finding large cracks and divots where the hammer landed. She needed to be swift but careful. After all, she wouldn’t do him any good laying on the stairs with a broken a leg trying to get to the boy. Opening the palace doors, she could see Gortus slowly walking after the commander towards the cities wall.
She knew she would be able to move faster outside so she took a leap, making sure to hold her skirt so it would not fly over her head. Landing only a few paces away from the commander, she called out to Gortus.
“The boy was instructed wrong, we must stop him before he kills himself and gives the enemy that weapon,” She said before taking another leap, landing near the palace gates.
The two men must have sensed the urgency in her voice because they both raced to mount their horses. She surprised soldiers as she ran past in the streets at unnatural speeds. She wondered if they were staring in wonderment of the man with a giant hammer passing by only moments ago or from the fires that raged near the battle.
Although the soldiers stared on in wonder and jumped in surprise as she ran by, she could not see the stablemaster anywhere. The sound of horse's hooves caught her ear with shouts by the commander as he raced in front of Gortus.
“Wielders, get out of the way! Kapal coming through!” He yelled in warning as he attempted to cut a path in the soldiers.
Ria could finally see the wall emerging into her vision as she continued to leap forward. Just beside the wall, a large parting of the crowd revealed Daniel trying to spin with the hammer as if he were about to lob it over the wall. With the weight of the hammer far away from his body, he skidded into the side of one of the buildings. The crystalline bricks collapsed under the weight of his impact.
Like an explosion, Daniel threw the bricks that laid on top of him and pulled the exposed hammer shaft from the rubble. Daniel slid a foot under the brick to use as leverage for launching the hammer end over end above his head. The chain made circles as it tried to follow the weapon’s arc through the air.
When the chain was pulled taut, it lifted Daniel from his feet and towards the battlements. The hammer at his apex landed between battlements and slipped over the side of the wall. Ria struggled to catch up and grabbed Daniels foot as they were both hurled over the wall as the hammer slid down the other side.
Dangling off the boy’s foot, she watched as a terror filled the commander’s face looking as though he was helpless. Just before she felt her body free-falling over the wall, she saw a white horse carrying two women, rushing to catch up. She thought to herself, “That fool girl better not come after us.”
Letting go of Daniel's leg, she heard a splash before she found herself submerged in the dark lake water. Fiery arrows and burning oil pots streaked overhead giving her light to see underneath the water. Daniel was trying to swim his way to the surface of the lake, but the hammer was resting on the bottom allowing him the ability to only make it half way. He pulled the weapon attached to his arm, fighting to get air.
She swam for the surface and drew a deep breath of air. Ria looked up at the wall and saw a blonde head leaning over looking down at her.
“He is stuck with the hammer,” She screamed hoping the message was clear enough.
The last thing she wanted to happed was for Twilix to get involved but that’s just what happened when the young pregnant queen leaped from the battlements. S
he joined Ria and Daniel amongst enemy soldiers just outside their own defenses. Twilix dove into the water as if it would cushion her fall, which it seemed to do. In a mere moment the water split into two huge walls leaving Daniel resting on the water-soaked mud at the bottom of the lake.
The boy coughed and sputtered all while attempting to drag his chain and hammer to the shore. His feet found no purchase as the mud sloshed out of his way. Twilix was at his side in a moment and began drawing the water from the ground, giving footholds to Daniels attempt to move. His feet were sunk into the ground when the water left, anchoring his body to the ground. The chain he was pulling went taut, and he yanked the hammer overhead and slammed it into the shoreline. The impact sent sand and dirt in all directions and possibly drawing the enemy's attention.
Looking at the hammer lying on shore and his feet stuck into the ground, Daniel turned to Twilix.
“Can you keep doing this?” He asked, holding his hand to his feet.
Twilix shook her head and then turned to Ria.
“Well, we’re already in the battle. We might as well work together to wield that hammer. C’mon, I'll keep your feet anchored, but try not to crush us with that lump of metal,” Ria said as she stormed past both of them, dragging her dress in the mud.
Daniel pulled his feet free of the dried mud and walked past the hammer. Ria stood beside Twilix and Daniel and stared at an army lead by the strongest man in the realm. She turned to the once-bashful stablemaster and watched his face turn to a grin of a blood-lusting warrior.
Ria hardly had any notice as Daniel started pulling on the chain. She turned the earth beneath his feet to resemble liquid so that he sank into the ground, then solidified it back before his ankles were totally submerged in dirt. When Daniel yanked the hammer forward the ground cracked and freed his feet. Ria was too slow to regain her earthen grip, and Daniel went sailing towards the enemy.
Ria and Twilix struggled to keep up. As they ran after him Twilix yelled to her, “I will protect us from the archers! You help Daniel!”
She knew from past battles that archers were not afraid of earth or water wielders. Somehow since being with Twilix, she knew she could trust the girl to put the fear of a water wielder into their hearts. Which was good because they were now running directly towards a line of swords and shields painted with the Earth Realm’s emblem.
Doing the job she came to do, Ria caught up with Daniel as he began to tighten the chain on the hammer again. Ria sank his feet into the ground and made it as much like a stone as she could. She closed her eyes and found the tiniest seeds amongst the ground and forced them to grow unnaturally like vines that wrapped around Daniel’s waist, holding him like a tent string and stake.
Daniel twisted the chain, and instead of throwing forward he swung it to the side in a wide arc. The hammer's head gained speed as it bounced off the ground and then skimmed only a few inches off the ground. She watched the hammer and chain cut through the first few lines of soldiers like a scythe through wheat.
Daniel leaned back and rotated the chain around his position letting it out to its greatest length. The head of the hammer nicked the ground and spun end over end, sending chunks of dirt and grass into the air along with the bodies of the soldiers it collided with. Daniel leaned in unnatural angles as his body was tethered to the ground by vines and dirt.
Ria struggled to grow the roots from the short distance as they snapped and broke away under the combined weight of the hammer and Daniels body. Just as she finished getting enough vines attached, she noticed the stablemaster was staring at her.
“I have to be able to move!” He shouted as if desperate to get to next line of soldiers.
Ria took a deep breath just as she heard the combined release of hundreds, maybe thousands of bows. She instantly looked to Twilix, who was holding her hands out into the night air. She waited for the pain of a hundred unseen arrows falling from the sky. Instead, she heard the cries from soldiers just behind the front lines of the Earth Realm’s army.
The queen yelled out as she slumped forward, “I won’t be able to handle many more of those. Daniel, you must work quickly.”
Instead of responding, he picked up the hammer and began attempting to break himself free of his earthen bindings. Ria stomped forward while putting loose hairs back into her bun.
“How do I get myself into these things?” Ria said as she once again caught up to Daniel.
Twilix jogged up beside them and stood only a few feet behind Daniel, “You expected to be in a city under siege and not have to participate?”
Ria took a deep breath, for once the girl had a point and rational thought. By staying in the city, she had to have some inkling that she would be required to put herself in battle once again. Pulling up her sleeves she stepped forward, releasing the vines that attached Daniel to the ground.
The dirt popped and snapped as Daniel pulled his legs free. He trudged forward as if his feet were sinking in mud. The weight of the hammer made his progression difficult and deliberate. The next line of soldiers took a step back as they watched the stablemaster shoulder the massive hammer and attached chain. If any of them had ever heard of Tilrick the Warlord they would probably see Daniel as the legend reincarnate. If they hadn’t, a man wielding a giant sledge was walking towards them with murder in his eyes.
When he stopped Ria re-grew the vines and Daniel began swinging the hammer once again, slowly letting the chain out as it rotated around his body. Soldiers were being ushered by their superiors only to be decimated by the weight of Daniel’s weapon. Ria knew it would only be a matter of time before Atmos would come to fight Daniel.
**********
Watching the queen leap over the wall, Gortus stared out into the blackness over the battlefield trying to see what was happening. Soldiers rushed around but were met with the stablemaster’s mighty blow. The commander standing only five feet away watched with the same concerned intent.
“Why are they not using magic?” Gortus asked, trying to understand if he could be of help.
The commander looked at Gortus and stood a bit straighter. In almost a whisper he spoke, “They don’t have wielders on the field.”
Gortus, confused, reached a finger into his helmet to scratch an itch, “If the wielders aren’t on the field, then where are they?”
Ray was already halfway down the stairs shouting for Gortus to follow, “Their wielders are all at the gates!”
Gortus gave a toothy smile and found his way back to his black horse. The commander mounted his own and began shouting again for wielders to move out of his way. He was happy; he finally had a battle master that knew his strengths and how to use him.
Together they raced along the cities wall slowing only for wielders to get out of Gortus’ way lest they fall to exhaustion when he passed. Most men must have been warned because the sight of him sent even the most tired running for their lives. Gortus was sure the walls wouldn’t last long, but now they had an opening. The commander and Gortus might have been the only two to see the weakness in Atmos’ attack.
Arriving at the city's center gate, the commander dismounted as Gortus kneeled in the center of the street. He began his prayer ritual as he had not done since morning. He neglected to pray because he thought there was no way he would enter into battle before morning. He was glad to be wrong and excited to be needed.
Holding his great sword across his knees, he listened to the commander give orders.
“All the wielders to the east gate. Archers and gate operators, prepare for your assault. We won’t have long, and you’ll need to be swift as you can. Soon we’ll open this gate and let the soldiers in. This one Kapal is what stands between you and death’s gaze. Find your courage, find your strength, and follow this man into battle!” The former king screamed.
Gortus rose just as quickly as the cheers from the top of the wall. The commander approached but stayed a safe distance away.
“I leave this gate to you. I will go to the next an
d secure it with Wizard Parker. If you finish with the assault here I task you to find Atmos and destroy him,” Ray said before remounting his horse.
For the first time since Gortus met the man, he gave an honorable salute. What was more surprising, he received one in return.
Gortus took a couple swings with his sword before standing only two paces in front of the large crystalline gates. Waving his free hand he gave the signal to open. The sound of the latches being lifted gave way to silence on the other side of the door. Archers and swordsmen came to stand at Gortus’ back as he raised his black blade.
It seemed a moment of chaos was stretched into an hour as the small crack began to enlarge and give way to wielders on the other side. Gortus didn’t give them a chance. He ran directly at the battering ram and jumped on top. Wielders on either side gave way to a deadly exhaustion and dropped the metal-tipped tree trunk.
Once they collapsed, the log rolled to the side, crushing all those in its wake. The Water Realm’s archers freed their arrows as their enemies showed their weakness. Men fell by the dozens and Gortus simply walked through the chaos. Some recognized who and what he was but only a moment before they fell. Others attacked and collapsed within a few feet of reaching him. He pushed their bodies to the side as their momentum threatened to crash into him. Those that didn’t die instantly where dispatched by his group of soldiers that ran out of the cities gates behind him.
He was disappointed that only a few managed to remain upright near him. A couple swings of his sword sent them to join the others that laid motionless on the bridge. With the quick death of over a hundred wielders, Gortus walked the length of the bridge watching the Earth Realm soldiers too afraid to meet him at its apex.
The troops held their position, so Gortus backed up to the gate and gave the signal to close the doors. The Water Realm swordsmen on the outside gave him a precarious look as they were locked outside the city walls.