Meridias

  Blue fire streaks through the air towards the vehicle garage building at some kind of large, opaque, cylindrical creature. He sees a gleam of silver and gold on the roof of the building and for a moment he gets a glimpse of a familiar person. “Ark!” he exclaims. How long has it been since he’s last seen him? He watches Ark leap back and out of sight as the creature bears down on him. The lasers also stop as the knights lose sight of their target and a tense silence falls over the area. Moments later they hear swooshing noises and the creature rises up into the air. Elunduil watches as Ark leaps after it and slashes it with his energy sabers before dropping back onto the roof.

  There is shouting from one of the nearby knights and they open fire on the creature again. He notices shards of ice and small missiles of magical energy flying up at the creature as well and looks around. Several people around the ring have their hands up in the air and are trying to help using what spells they can. Across the way he sees Maria furiously shooting ice shards into the air. Elunduil steps forward and raises a hand to join his fellow mages when someone calls out to him “Hey, you stand down!” Elunduil looks over at the voice and sees a large muscular man with short black hair, dark skin and a large metal gauntlet on his arm looking at him. “Let us handle this. You civilians will only get in the way!” Elunduil reluctantly lets his arm fall. The man shouts to the knights through a headset to stop the mages from attacking the creature. There is something commanding about the man’s presence.

  Elunduil sighs and decides to go to where Maria is. As he circles around he sees Ark jump from the top of the vehicle bay and slash at the creature. Ark falls to the ground and lands in the middle of the battleground. The creature dives at him but Ark jumps over it at the last second and lands on the creatures back. He impales it with his sabers and then is thrown off as the creature flails wildly and returns to the sky. Elunduil picks up his pace and hurries to where Maria is. He’s close now. He can see the back of her blonde hair through the crowd.

  Suddenly there is a flash of light and a loud boom reminiscent of thunder. Elunduil turns to see the creature diving towards the ground as if afraid of the noise. Across the way he sees the man from earlier and his gauntlet crackles with electricity. A moment later a large white bolt sears through the sky from the gauntlet and strikes the creature in the side and a boom precedes it. The creature turns away from the sound and comes straight towards them.

  The crowd of people pushes and shoves each other in an attempt to get out of the way. Elunduil is briefly jostled around but manages to stay standing. He sees Maria on the ground and looks to the creature. Maria is right in its path! He realizes Maria won’t be able to get out of the way in time. He dashes forward while a ball of golden light grows in the palm of his right hand. He stands between Maria and the strange rock-like creature and raises his arm. Four teeth and a gaping maw fill his vision as the creature bears down on them. He grits his teeth and fires a searing beam of light at the creature. A loud noise like rocks breaking apart and the screech of his magic fill his ears. Elunduil leaps back as opaque pieces tumble towards him.

  He pants as he stares at the body of the creature. The top of it has been torn apart and broken into several large chunks while the rest of the body was mostly intact. Elunduil sighs. He’d meant to fire the beam straight through the creature but in his panic his aim had been a little high. Not to mention it was so tough that it had absorbed most of the beam which had kept it from blowing a hole into the tower. Oh well it was dead. “Elunduil!” someone calls out and suddenly Ark appears from the sky. Their eyes meet and for a moment they stare at each other. Neither one of them is sure of what to say. A dragging noise catches their attention and they look to see a piece of the creature’s body moving past them. Ark turns around and takes a step back, sabers at the ready.

  The creatures body reforms and it takes off into the sky. “How did that not kill it?” Elunduil asks. “World Eaters are notorious for their tenacity, master,” Ark replies. Elunduil’s brow raised. “You don’t have to call me that,” he says with a sigh.

  “You’re my creator though,” Ark replies. Elunduil realizes that Ark’s voice sounds completely normal compared to when they’d first met. “We have more pressing matters so-” Elunduil shrugs and raises his hand. Ark nods and dashes after the creature with inhuman speed. “Stay back,” Elunduil says over his shoulder to Maria and then he follows Ark into the middle of the area.

  He feels a strange sense of elation and excitement. Not even in his wildest dreams did he imagined he’d be fighting with Ark. He grins and fires a smaller beam into the air at the World Eater. A chunk of the creature’s body breaks off but it quickly flies back into the spot it had fallen from. The creature flies up and out of reach and Ark joins Elunduil. “So how do we beat it?” he asks the silver clad warrior.

  “I don’t know. From what little information I have there wasn’t any mention of it being defeated.”

  “Fabulous,” Elunduil says dryly. He thought back to when he’d blasted it apart. Wait a minute! Now that he had a moment to think about it the creature had intentionally jerked down at the last second. Almost as if it had been protecting something. He relays his thoughts to Ark. “Hmm, so if it had sensed your magic as you fired it then there may be something deep in its body that acts as a heart,” Ark says in response. He nods and then ran off to intercept the World Eater. Elunduil isn’t sure why he felt as if he can understand the other man’s intent without words. It is as if they think and fight with the exact same approach.

  Ark drives his sabers into the nearby community center and uses them to scale the building. Each time he throws himself up he shuts off the beams of light and then activates them again when he reaches the apex of each ‘jump’ until he makes it to the top of the building. The World Eater pays him no mind as he leaps above it. Arks sabers crackle unstably and he throws them at the creature. Just before they impact the creature the sabers explode and a loud boom reverberate through the air. The World Eater reacts to this by diving towards the ground and as it does a golden beam shrills through the air and cuts across the creature’s side as it descends. Elunduil has both hands raised and the creatures body crumbles apart from the magic and falls to the earth.

  The wind howls around Ark as he jumps after the body. Elunduil’s beam has slowed the creature’s descent just enough so that Ark can catch up with it and… “There!” Ark shouts as he spots a large crystalline structure. It glows with a red light and is roughly in the center of the World Eater’s body pieces. With two new sabers in hand Ark slashes at the crystal with all his might, and each slash that he makes trails a golden arc as he attempts to cut the crystal into as many pieces as he can before he passes out of range. Ark goes out of range in only a few seconds and a short moment later he lands on the ground. The opaque chunks of the World Eaters body crash down around him a moment later and all was silent.

  Elunduil runs to Ark and stares down at the crystal he’s been attacking. “That should’ve done it, right?” he asks as he looks at the crystal. Though Ark had attacked it with all his might the crystalline structure only bore a large crack in the middle of it and several smaller fractures throughout the rest of the structure. They stare at it for several more moments as the light inside of it dulls until it appears to disappear. Elunduil looks to Ark and they stare at each for several moments. Elunduil grins wearily and they start to walk away. A few steps later however they hear the people on the sidelines shouting in alarm. The duo turns back towards the World Eater’s body and saw the pieces reforming. Ark would’ve charged back at the body had Elunduil not raised a hand to stop him.

  He lifts his hands and gathers energy into his palms. He is going to try and blow it apart before it reforms! He suddenly feels faint and falters. His magical energy is almost spent! Elunduil looks up with fear rising inside of him as the World Eater reforms its body for a second time. Ark notices Elunduil’s condition and his sabers come to life. The World Eater comes back together and starts to
fly around again. They watch as it rose higher and higher into the air and then when it is near the top of the tower of Kel’kedar it comes to a stop and hovers in the air. Elunduil isn’t sure what it is doing but when it turns its maw back down he has the odd sensation that it is looking at him and Ark. After several moments it turns back towards the sky and continues its journey upwards until it disappears from sight.

  “It… flew into space?” Elunduil was confused.

  “World Eaters aren’t organic creatures. The vacuum of space won’t affect it.” Elunduil looked to Ark. “It was looking at us though.” Ark stared blankly into the sky.

  “They don’t have eyes but… it did appear to be looking at you and I.” Elunduil sighed and let himself sink to the ground. He was exhausted.

  He then remembered Maria and looked to where she had been. He didn’t see her over there and looked around. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen and he got up. He should probably make sure she was ok.

  Before he could leave the man with the metal gauntlet came up to him and Ark. “I have to thank both of you for driving that thing off. The name’s Thunder Fist,” he said. When Elunduil saw the gauntlet he recalled that its lightning had caused Maria and the other bystanders lives to be in danger. Irritation rose up inside of him. “Someone almost died because of you,” he said with ice in his voice. The man looked downcast. “Yes, the blame falls on me for endangering those people’s lives, I regret that our might was not enough,” he replied. “Our old leader would not have been as rash as I.” Elunduil looked to the side at the mention of the Leader. “Your leader fell into darkness and lost his way. Only at the end did he return to his senses,” Elunduil’s voice was harsh and he turned to walk away.

  “Hold on! You’re-” Elunduil didn’t listen to the rest of Thunder Fist’s sentence and walked away. Ark nodded towards the dumbstruck man then turned away from the tower of Tel’kedar and ran towards Ellicia.

  Elunduil walked towards the shopping area near the community center and looked around. Maria probably hadn’t gone far. As he came up to Elrik’s Emporium he saw someone standing just on the other side of the building near the back. He walked to the back and as he rounded the corner he saw Maria standing by herself clinging to one of her arms. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. Her voice was slightly shaky. Elunduil wasn’t sure how to handle the situation so he just asked, “Are you okay?” she nodded slowly and seemed like she didn’t want to talk. Elunduil sighed inwardly. “Well I guess I won’t bother you then.” He turned to walk away when he heard her meekly say, “Wait.” He looked back to her. Her eyes were looking at the ground and she seemed to be having an internal struggle.

  “That’s the second time you’ve saved me,” she said. She thought back to that moment where the worm creature had been coming straight for her, and in the chaos she’d been knocked to the ground. She’d thought for sure that she had been about to die but someone had jumped in front of her with a light glowing in their hand. Even without his robe on she’d recognized Elunduil. She’d been staring at the back of the person she was trying to beat for so long that it’d been engraved into her mind. More and more she was becoming certain that he was the Firewall Flower in the legend that she was trying to reach. The mage that had saved the elves. That ideal was probably right in front of her. “People usually don’t bother with me, so why did you look for me?” she asked. It didn’t make sense to her why he was here. “You probably just wanted to make fun of me…”

  Elunduil felt like he was starting to piece together what made Maria tick. “I dunno. I guess I was concerned. Besides if Thunder Fist hadn’t scared the World Eater you wouldn’t have been in danger,” he pointed out. They stood there for a few moments before he decided to prod her for information. “Why do you try so hard?” he asked. Maria seemed like she was about to say something but hesitated. Elunduil frowned. Should he really bring up the obvious? He glanced at Maria who looked like she was thinking hard. “Why do you want to be the best, no… why do you try and stand out? Ever since we met you’ve been challenging me in front of everyone else…” Elunduil trailed off.

  Maria felt like her heart stopped. He’d said what she had been dreading, yet a part of her wanted him to ask her those questions. “I…” she hesitated. She couldn’t take back what she said from here on out. “If I’m not the best then no one will care about me so…” A surge of emotion welled up inside her. “My parents. They don’t even care. Well, I mean unless they want something like money so they can get drunk or gamble it all away.” Maria’s voice rose as her anger boiled over and she spoke quickly. “I’m really good at running and hiding. All the other kids in school wanted to play with me, you know at least until they found out about my parents. No one wants their kids to hang around a girl with deadbeat parents.” Elunduil patiently listened as Maria rambled on. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to make any friends if they knew about my parents… but at least the teachers would praise me when I did the best in the class on my tests, and then everyone would always ask for advice or help because they knew that I knew all the answers so… so if I’m the best then they’ll want to be around me.” Maria took several deep breaths.

  “Are your parents the ones that left the marks on your neck that one day?” Elunduil asked. Maria looked him in the eye. “Yes,” she replied. She looked away and said, “So… there you have it. I’m just a girl with deadbeat parents that no one wants to be around.” Her voice quivered as she spoke those last words. “Soo?” Elunduil wasn’t quite sure the point she was trying to make. “So don’t worry about me! You know about my parents now so you probably want to avoid me like everyone else.” Maria’s eyes were full of despair. Elunduil sighed. “Why would I care about that?” he asked as he stared into the distance. Maria was dumbstruck and she looked up. “You are not your parents, you’re... a stubborn somewhat annoying pain in my side that sometimes winds up in trouble, and I’m not going to not help you just because your parents are trash.”

  Maria was speechless. Daniel, Dave, their parents, and Officer Jack were the only people that she’d confided in. She’d always thought Elunduil had been looking down her. That his distant act was him pretending like he was better than everyone else. It amazed her to realize that he of all people accepted her despite her background. Despite her best efforts tears began to fall from her eyes. She hadn’t realized how relieved she would feel.

  Elunduil was taken aback and uncertain about what he should do. “Are you okay?” he asked. Maria buried her head into Elunduil’s shoulder, much to his bewilderment. He panicked a little bit as he wondered what was happening. Thankfully it didn’t last very long and Maria seemed to regain her senses as she quickly pulled away. “D-don’t get any weird ideas. I was just surprised. That’s all,” she said. Elunduil shrugged then remembered something important. “Ah, right I need to go to the tower,” he said as he recalled agreeing to meet with Alicia. “You are okay though, right?” he asked cautiously glancing over to her. Maria nodded. “Of course I’m okay! Just get out of here!” she said in annoyance. Elunduil nodded. That was more like how Maria acted. He turned away without a second thought and rushed off to meet Alicia.

  Chapter 13

  Aura

  When Alicia had arrived at the tower the battle with the World Eater had just finished. She’d gone outside and had seen a bunch of people standing around outside with looks of awe and relief on their faces. She checked the time on her APL device. Elunduil should’ve been here by now. A group of knights with large bulky guns stood nearby. A large imposing man with a metal gauntlet approached them. She looked away but then heard the man mention Elunduil’s name and looked back to the man. Even though the man with the gauntlet was scary she didn’t have any other leads so she gathered her courage and stepped forward. “Excuse me!” she said meekly. The man turned to look at her. “Uhm, was Elunduil here by chance?” she asked. He nodded.

  “Yeah, he took off in a hurry off that way,” he r
eplied and pointed towards the shopping area. Alicia thanked the man and hurried off to find Elunduil. She noticed that there were hardly any people about and wondered if there had been some kind of event back in front of the tower. As she came up to Elrik’s emporium she heard a voice from the backside of the store. “So don’t worry about me!” The voice sounded like Maria. Alicia turned towards it and saw Elunduil with his back towards her. His head was turned and it looked like he was talking with someone. Alicia wasn’t sure why but she hid off to the side of the building and peeked around the edge. She saw Elunduil lean against wall. He turned his head towards the other person and she heard him when he said, “Why would I care about that?” She couldn’t quite make out the rest of what followed but Elunduil had a serious look on his face.

  After he finished speaking there was silence for several seconds and then suddenly Maria’s head came into view and landed on Elunduil’s shoulder. Alicia felt a sharp jolt that shot through her chest and she pulled back around the corner. Her mind raced frantically and a sense of panic started to rise up inside her. What was going on? Why was Elunduil meeting with Maria? She started walking quickly with no destination in mind. The way Elunduil’s face had looked and what she’d heard made it seem like… No! It couldn’t be, but what else could it be? What should she do? She’d never considered Elunduil would take an interest in someone else. She didn’t like the thought of him being taken away from her. But if Maria… “Hey!” Alicia was startled out of her panicked thoughts. Elunduil was staring at her with a frown on his face.

  Alicia looked around and realized that she was back at Tel’kedar. “You’re late,” he said. Alicia was flustered and stumbled her next words. “Oh, um yeah,” she replied. She took a deep breath to regain her composure. “I saw you over by Elrik’s… It looked like you were having a talk with Maria,” she said.