by M A Bernier
“JYN-TAA COMPLETE THE CEREMONY OR YOU DIE NOW!!” Shadow screamed. He raised the dagger once more and plunged it into Kelidor’s chest and pulled it free. He quickly walked to the center of the chamber and plunged the dagger into the center of the stone floor. When the dagger pierced the stone floor the chamber rocked as if an earthquake had suddenly struck. Both Wind and Jyn-Taa turned to Eryyn.
“You will not live to see my brothers come forth.” Wind raised his hand to unleash more demonic energy. Jyn-Taa followed the command of Wind and raised his hands as well. Black sparks like lightning began to form around their hands when a white spark of light flashed from Eryyn’s right. A blinding white rip in the fabric of space opened with a loud crackling noise, following the rip the hottest column of fire burst forth upon Wind and Jyn-Taa forcing them to protect themselves. Following the column of flame the head of a dragon he knew all too well plunged into the room and continued to release the unearthly dragon fire. Eryyn saw vines creep in below her jaws stretching to Alys, Jaymee and Kelidor. Another figure, dressed in the black combat gear Eryyn had seen the lost colonist wear, kneeling on one knee appeared the edge of the rip with a large metal object aimed at the Demon Shadow. A pointed beam of energy proceeded by a sharp whining noise impacted with Shadow forcing him to remove his hand from Eryyn’s cage and raise a mist like wall to protect himself. The beam of energy itself could not have harmed him seriously but combined with Eryyn’s power as he dissolved the cage and attacked, was too much for Shadow.
“Eryyn! Let’s Go!” Ardant’s voice emerged from the helmeted figure firing the weapon at Shadow. He continued attack as he walked backwards to the escape that Syl and the others had opened. Alys and the others had already been taken out of the chamber by EverGreen’s vines. As he stepped through the rift it closed the moment he and Syl backed away from it. He found himself in the middle of a desert staring at the outer edge of the mountain and Temple of Katanz less than a mile away. Just above the tip of the mountain Eryyn could see a gateway opening, “Open Fire.” Eryyn turned to Ardant who stood next to him. Ardant was speaking into a communication device on his arm. Ardant turned to Eryyn after he lowered his arm. “We have to destroy that gateway Eryyn, if we don’t you know what will be unleashed.” Eryyn knew the pain his friend was going through. Geva was still trapped with the others within the base of the mountain. The sky above grew dark, black clouds summoned by EverGreen moved swiftly and began raining lightning upon the forms of the Demons beginning to emerge from the portal opened by the ceremony. Pulses of white and sporadic beams of energy impacted upon the portal but had not effect. Eryyn reached deep within himself and to the core roots of the magical energy that had given birth to his power and he unleashed it onto the temple. The onslaught of energies turned the mountain top white, then it exploded with such force that even a mile away everyone was thrown backward. Eryyn found himself wrapped within the wings of Syl seconds after seeing the approaching wave of debris and dust. Alys’s and Jaymee’s still forms lay silently beside him. Syl turned her head to Eryyn.
“You must heal her quickly. The poison meant for Kelidor is coursing through her veins and I cannot stop it even with the power of my kind.” Eryyn placed his hands on Alys while hearing two more explosions outside the protection of Syl’s wings. He could only imagine the massive dust cloud and the debris that must be raining from the sky. He took Alys’s hands in his and closed his eyes. She was barely breathing and had lost a great deal of blood. He could barely feel the spark of life that held someone to this world. Eryyn summoned all his strength and power to pull the demonic laced poison from her body. It only took a few moments before her body started to respond to his efforts and Alys slowly opened her eyes.
“Eryyn,” she said softly.
“Don’t speak.” He said opening his eyes.
“You must take back what Lysithia stole. You must do it now while he is distracted.”
“I can’t.” Replied Erin. “Not while your life hangs in the balance.” Alys removed one of her hands from Eryyn’s and reached into her robe and pulled forth the wooden dagger made by Katanz from the Tree of Death.
“You must Eryyn.” Alys said weakly.
“Eryyn,” Syl moved her head closer to him. “I think I can support her body and Jaymee’s. This could be the only time Jyn-Taa is not protected by the demons, the explosion should have them disoriented. He is part of you, you can sense where he is and if he survived.” Eryyn closed his eyes then opened them.
“I can feel him.” Eryyn said. “He is looking for me.” Eryyn took the dagger.
“Do what you have to do Eryyn, I and my kind will keep Jaymee safe.” Eryyn stood within the confines of Syl’s wings. At his feet she opened her wings just enough to expose the desert sand beneath them. Eryyn knelt and place his hands within the sand and concentrated. His hands began to change and then the rest of his body followed becoming like the sand itself. Jaymee was just opening his eyes as he saw his father’s form change into sand in merge into the desert ground.
“Mother.” He said weakly as he crawled to her. He placed a hand on hers and then frowned. “Your dying, I can’t let you die.” Alys did not have the strength to stop him and Syl did not interfere for she knew if Jaymee could not live knowing he could have saved her. The loss of his natural parents years before left a dark scar upon his heart, the death of another would break it.
Jyn-Taa watched as his prey escaped through the rip in space before him. He turned to the Demons Wind and Shadow. “I know my life will end at your hands, I know you have decided this from the moment you took me from the void. I only ask I be allowed to take his before you take mine.” Both demons looked to one another and nodded. From the center of the chamber where the dagger pierced the stone black lines spread forth and cracked open everything they touched. Where the cracks formed black smoke began to flow, the gateway was opening all around them. Wind and Shadow watched as their brothers flowed from the billowing black smoke and formed into the bodies within the chamber. The chamber walls started to crumble exposing the naked air of the mortal world to them for the first time in countless millennia. The sky burst upon their eyes as they beheld it. They looked down upon the mountain and the temple within and saw the former followers of Katanz running desperately in fear of their lives. In the distance, hundreds of dragons stood with their wings unfurled on the desert sands. Eryyn and the others who defied them stood within their midst. Suddenly burst of light from the sky crashed down upon them but had little effect. Dark clouds gathered and bolts of lightning rained down causing them to flinch, the demons realized the other were trying to destroy the gateway. The five demons and Jyn-Taa smiled as the attacks made a futile attempt to close their gate to the mortal world. They stopped smiling as a wave of white-hot burst of fire coming from Eryyn burst upon the mountain and temple below. They felt the gateway begin to waver, then the mountain exploding. The force sent even the demons and Jyn-Taa outward from the gateway. Even as they flew helplessly through the sky, blinded by dust and debris, they knew the ritual was successful and they were free. The others had failed and they would have their final revenge upon the evergreen protector.
Jyn-Taa summoned the winds to shield his body from the exploding rock. He used the winds to soften his landing after flying aimlessly through the air. He kept the invisible shield of wind around him as chucks of the mountain rock rained down from the sky. It was not until he was sure the heavy debris had stopped that he lowered the shield. The sand still obscured his vision and made it hard to breathe so he kept his hood wrapped tightly around his face. There was no doubt Eryyn and his friends were responsible. Jyn-Taa would have his revenge by taking Eryyn’s power for his own. He reached out with his mind for his other half, the half he had once belonged to. He frowned. He could sense Eryyn's presence but it was indistinct as if surrounding him.
“Looking for me soul-brother?” Jyn-Taa whipped around but saw nothing although he sensed a familiar presence very close. He dropped his hands
to his side and summoned the dark powers within from Vuuaan’s essence, his own soul and that given to him by the demons. “Not this time!” The voice said. Jyn-Taa spun around to the voice behind him and raised his hands. He felt a tap on his shoulder and spun to attack. He felt a sudden stab of intense pain radiating from his chest. He looked down to see a hand shaped from sand holding the same wooden dagger that had been embedded in Vuuaan’s heart now pierced his own. The hand holding the dagger became human. Jyn-Taa looked up to see the rest of Eryyn forming from the sand. Eryyn pulled the dagger out and stepped back placing the dagger within his robes.
“I will still win.” Jyn-Taa replied as he fell to his knees. “My soul survived the void once before and with the power I have now it will do so again.” As he spoke Eryyn saw the essence of Jyn-Taa’s soul slowly departing like a smoky mist from all over his body.
“Not this time.” Replied Eryyn as he stepped closer and placed one hand in the smoky trail of the black soul. “You were part of me once, and will be so again. I will not allow you to roam freely to devastate this world again. I will take back all that I am. You will be forever imprisoned within that which you fear.” Jyn-Taa opened his mouth to scream but nothing came forth. As his body fell to the desert Eryyn pulled the essence of the piece of his soul ripped from him back into his body. The blackness of Jyn-Taa’s twisted thoughts burned his heart and mind, but Eryyn realized they were really his thoughts, they had always been his. He struggled to contain that part of him that he could be were it not for what he knew was right and good in the world.
Ardant stayed within the protective wings of Gydin until the dragon finally opened them. As Ardant emerged he saw others emerging from the protective wings of the dragons. He looked at the former mountain that had housed the temple of Katanz. Three quarters of the mountain had been destroyed. Ardant walked forward but his body felt numb as it was moving. His wife, his first born was gone but was their loss worth the cost. Though it pained his soul he answered to himself "Yes". He knew if these creatures had been unleashed upon the world countless lives would be lost. He had not walked far and as the dust began to settle he could see Eryyn on his knees, his arms wrapped around his stomach as if in pain. He ran to him and could see the dried out body of Jyn-Taa, even as he looked at it the body it turned to ash and was swept away by the soft desert winds.
“Eryyn.” Ardant tried to see if he was bleeding. “Where are you hurt?” Eryyn opened his eyes, for a moment they were all black but then resumed their natural color.
“Not my body, my soul.” Eryyn winced in pain. “I had to take Jyn-Taa back, he was part of me, is me.” He paused and took a deep and labored breath. “Ardant, it’s not over. I can feel the elemental demons nearby. You still have a choice to make but I don’t know what it is.” Ardant helped Eryyn to stand.
“Eryyn, I don’t know what I am supposed do. I don’t have your power or your knowledge.” The two of them looked at each other than toward the devastated mountain where the dust was still settling. “Everything I was died in that mountain, Geva was everything to me.” Eryyn could see his friend getting angrier by the moment. Ardant knuckles grew white as he gripped the large beam weapon in his hand. “Somehow I will make them pay for everyone’s loss.” As the dust closer to the mountain settled five shapes shot upward and out from the debris. The four elemental demons and Shadow unfurled their wings as they began to drop out of the sky and directly toward Eryyn and Ardant. In moments the demons stood facing the two of them. “Stay out of this.” Ardant did not even look at Eryyn as he walked to where the demons stood less than one hundred feet away. Each one stood apart from the other so that their massive wings could remain fully open. It made them seem even larger and more threatening to all who looked upon them. Eryyn hardly noticed at first that two other mages Carolin and Jaan reached him where he stood.
“We have to help him.” Carolin said desperately. “They will tear him apart!”
“No!” Eryyn looked at both of them intently. He looked at the hundreds of mages and dragons behind him coming closer. “None of you must interfere!” He grasped the arms of the two mages with him and guided them back to where Syl stood.
“Buy why Eryyn?” Jaan was ready to walk to where Ardant now stood facing the five demons.
“The destiny of this world is in his hands. Ardant must make a choice, that choice will decide our fate and the fate of our world.” Eryyn looked at Syl.
“My sons have taken Alys and Jaymee away from this place. EverGreen and my people will see to them.” Her large dragon eyes grew soft as she looked at him. “Eryyn, Alys will recover in time but Jaymee may not. Jyn-Taa’s torture pushed him close to death and when he tried to help his mother it took nearly everything what was left.”
“I need to go them.” She could hear the agony in his voice, he wanted to go but he could not. Whatever choice Ardant was to make he and the others had to be here except Ardant would stand alone watched by all the others.
Ardant walked until the demons stood within twenty-five feet from where he stood. He looked at the weapon in his hand and dropped it in the sand.
“You will pay for what you have done!” Wind looked at him and began to laugh. The bellowing sound of the demon’s laughter seemed to chase the clouds away. Fire looked at Ardant.
“Mortal, you will be scorched on the very ground where you stand!” Fire opened his mouth wider, a column of flame burst forth and completely enveloped Ardant.
Carolin was stunned when Eryyn did nothing as the column of flame incinerated Ardant. “Eryyn!” She cried out.
“Wait.” Eryyn replied softly and gently restrained her.
Fire ceased his attack on Ardant, as the flames that burned even the sand died away a figure stepped forth completely unharmed.
“What power is this?” Fire bellowed as he waived his massive hand throwing a sphere of flame as large as a house at him. Ardant raised his hand and the sphere disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Fire was going to unleash another attack when Wind restrained him and spoke to him and the others.
“He can destroy us at this very moment.”
“He is nothing!” Earth stepped closer, raised his rocky arm and slammed it down on Ardant then bellowed in agony as his hand smashed against some invisible force. As he stepped back in anger and fear a familiar white stone appeared between and above the demons and Ardant. “It’s that accursed stone!” Earth cried out.
“It is your death.” Replied Ardant as he raised a hand and pointed it to the demons. Energy appearing like clouds and lightning began to swirl around him.
“Kill us and you will never see those whom we have trapped, including your wife and unborn child.” Shadow stepped too within arm's reach of Ardant.
“You lie!” Ardant replied with anger in his raised voice. “The mountain is nearly destroyed and everyone within it dead. All of you will pay for that loss with your own lives.”
“No mortal. They are still alive in the half realm, we only needed to borrow their soul, I will prove it.” Shadow turned to the Demon Earth. “Show them.”
“I will not!” He replied. “If we free them he has the power to send us back through the gateway. I will not be trapped for another age of this world.”
“Trapped is better than facing the death of the void.” Shadow, who never challenged his brethren walked and stood face to face with Fire. “I will not face void.”
“What is to stop him from taking our lives once we free the mortals?” Water had not spoken until now. Shadow turned to Ardant.
“Do we have your word you will not take our lives once we free the others.”
“You have my word.” Replied Ardant. “So long as all are alive.” Shadow turned back to Earth. The demon closed his eyes and slight inhaled making his body seem even larger. A deep rumbling shook the ground then hundreds of large, jagged rocks broke the surface of the sand. Ardant watched as the face of the rock closest to him chipped itself away to reveal the face of his wife. All other rock
formations were also breaking apart to reveal their captives. “You have kept your word and I will keep mine, you will return to that place from whence you came.” Ardant subconsciously raised his hand again and pointed at the demons.
Eryyn, Syl and the others watched and heard the exchange of words between Ardant the demons before him. The DragonStone once again appeared as Eryyn expected to watch and wait for whatever decision Ardant must make. Hundreds of tomb sized rocks emerged from the ground. Each one broke apart revealing the missing people from every continent, but the DragonStone still remained, a choice was still yet to be made. The demons stood ready to return to the realm they had been imprisoned in. From the swirling mass of power around Ardant several tendrils naked out along the desert ground and enveloped the demons but nothing seemed to happen. Syl, as well as several others, turned to Eryyn after almost a full minute had passed. Syl’s father, the lord of dragons, shook his head from side to side, even he did not understand what was occurring before them.
The demons braced for the wrenching feeling that would force them back to the realm that would cut them off from this mortal world. The power from Ardant stretched forth to them as a slow moving hand and then wrapped itself around them. Instead of seeing this world fade from their sight they felt a sudden shift. In the blink of an eye they found themselves standing with Ardant on the highest mountain at the far edge of the desert. All around them the world appeared to be burned or burning, nothing appeared alive. “This is some kind of trick!” The Demon Fire had intended on again trying to turn Ardant into a charred mass of smoldering flesh, but nothing happened. “What has happened to my fire?” He looked at Ardant and the others. Each demon tried to summon the elemental powers and each one failed to bring them forth.