Meridias

by Ryan Hodgson

  Elunduil opened his eyes and the air twisted and turned around him but never came close to harming him. He commanded it and weaved it about until it concentrated into a small ball in front of him. He brushed the hair by his forehead and smiled. “Be gentle, my storm,” he said. The air rushed by his face and he swore he felt as if it patted him on the cheek. Then it was gone and Elunduil looked around. The feeling that something inside of him had ‘opened’ further was there but…

  There was only a void whichever way he looked. He dismissed it with a frown. He would wake up soon enough. “Why do you seek strength?” The presence suddenly asked jarring Elunduil. He hadn’t expected the presence to still be here. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. Why did he want to get stronger? Why was he bothering to train in magic almost every day other than self-satisfaction? Why did he ever try at anything other than to get better at something he enjoyed? There was something though. A conviction inside of him that had always been there. “I want to save everyone,” He replied. He chest tightened. What was this sudden feeling of sadness, of guilt?

  The presence didn’t respond but suddenly his view changed. He was standing on the corrupted land again with Maria and Daniel. Like the last time he saw this vision Maria tried to freeze the Cerebus as it charged them and as it slowed down a black aura rose up around it and it broke free of the ice that had been slowing it. Before he could do anything it leaped on Maria and bore down on her neck. This time the vision didn’t end. Elunduil held up a hand and a gold light appeared in his palm. He shot it at the Cerebus and it whimpered and let go of Maria. It retreated and growled at them from a distance while Daniel called out Maria’s name. The other Cerebus arrived and as they advanced Tim and Dave and the knight appeared and formed a circle. Like before it seemed they would be overwhelmed but the strange black creature appeared and suddenly attacked the Cerebus, and Elunduil took out the black creature with a beam of light as it took the Cerebus down.

  He turned back to Maria, and Daniel and Dave were standing over her calling her name. To his surprise her eyes were open and she gasped weakly for air. He could still save her! He walked up to her to try and heal her but he faltered and fell to the ground. He was out of magic? How could that be? He should still have enough energy left to purge the corruption! He tried again but his energy was almost completely spent. He looked at Maria and felt a chill as he gazed at her neck. The Cerebus had bitten off a large chunk. He couldn’t heal this kind of wound. He wasn’t strong enough! Why was he so much weaker than when he’d actually saved her? His hand shook. He reached forward and put everything he had into healing Maria’s wound. Some of the tissue grew back and the wound shrunk a bit but Elunduil was out of juice. His magic stopped and he fell forward from exhaustion. He managed to lift up his head and heard Maria say, “It’s not your faul…” Her eyes closed and her head fell to the side. Elunduil was speechless. He hadn’t been able to save her.

  Before he had time to process what had happened the scene shifted. He was standing on top of a small worn building. He could see a dry land stretching out before him and felt the desert heat on his skin. Flashes of crimson fire lanced through the air at something below him. He hurried forward and a ball of light with pink orbs circling it appeared in his hand. He shot the orb towards one of the nearby buildings where some of the fire lances were coming from and it exploded in a brilliant flash of white. He heard muffled shouts and some of fire lances were directed towards him. Elunduil ducked down behind the lip of the building and heard it crack and crackle as it was torn apart. He fired another orb at his attackers and looked around. He had a feeling he was here chasing someone but couldn’t recall who.

  He heard a cry from below and chanced a look over the edge. For some reason she was blurred, hazy and all he could make out was her black hair. He felt like he recognized her though. This was the person he’d been searching for! Elunduil proceeded to systematically take out the robed men who were attacking them. He shot bolts of light through the ones he had a clear shot on and blasted the rest hiding in cover with his orb of light. Soon enough their attacks ceased all together and Elunduil breathed a sigh of relief. He stepped up to call out to the girl but suddenly sensed an overwhelming gathering of magical energy in the distance.

  He looked up and saw roughly 30 robed people gathered in a circle. Was it a ritual of some kind? With that kind of energy he estimated they could obliterate a small building or… He looked up. The sky above him was turning crimson and it started to look like the gates of Hell would open up. He clenched his teeth and shot a bolt of light at one of the robed men, but his magic was stopped by a barrier of crimson fire that gobbled up his spell. He felt panic setting in and looked over the edge. “Run!” he shouted to the girl. He saw her get up and she almost fell back down. He could make out a deep puncture in one of her legs. Despite that she still managed to get up and started to hobble away, but Elunduil knew she wouldn’t get out from under the ritual in time. He held up both hands and fired a beam of light the size of a half his body. It was stopped by the flame barrier and Elunduil gritted his teeth and poured more energy into the magic. The beam slowly pushed its way through the barrier until at last it broke through and took out several of the robed people.

  It wasn’t enough though. Elunduil looked up as the enemy’s magic completed. He looked back over the edge just in time to see a huge blast of crimson flame fall down upon the earth and swallow up the girl. The flame hit the earth and there was an explosion that sent Elunduil sprawling through the air. He panted heavily for several moments before slowly getting up. He hadn’t been strong enough. He tried so hard and yet it wasn’t enough. He’d let someone else die…

  The vision shifted again. He was kneeling on the ground and an intense light filled his vision. He held up his hand and noticed a searing heat around him. What was this? In the distance he could make out a figure at the source of the light. Tanis! He got up and saw a holy light in front Tanis. He started running towards him. As he got closer he saw scorch marks through Tanis’ body. He couldn’t hold out against this wave of heat and light! Elunduil held up a hand and gathered his magical energy. If he could get a little bit closer he could save himself and Tanis! A hole appeared in Tanis holy barrier. Then another and another. Elunduil realized he wasn’t going to make it in time. “Tanis!” he called out and Tanis turned his head and Elunduil saw a peaceful smile on his face. Elunduil raised a barrier barely in the nick of time as Tanis’ barrier fell and he was enveloped.

  Suddenly Elunduil found himself standing on a war-torn field. He heard people shouting and whipped about. He saw clouds of black smoke tinged with red dots surging towards him and reflexively shot a blast of holy magic at it. The cloud vanished but he was surrounded by them. There were others with him fighting with futuristic guns that shot holy light as bullets. Elunduil fought with them the best he could but he couldn’t always take out the clouds of black and red in one attack. He felt exhaustion kicking in and knew that he couldn’t keep on fighting like this. As he was wondering what to do he sensed something coming from above and spared a glance up.

  A shining, clear light filled his vision as it came down from the sky like rain. He didn’t feel like it was an attack and when the light touched his body he felt his strength returning. The others around him gave a rallying cry and redoubled their efforts to drive back the black clouds. However there was a huge surge that broke through their ranks and charged. Elunduil followed their war path and felt a chill when he saw their target. Alicia was standing with a staff raised high in the air that was shooting out the same light as earlier. He gritted his teeth. Nothing seemed to be able to stop the clouds as they descended toward Alicia.

  Elunduil tried to break away from the frontline but the enemy didn’t give him a chance and he was forced to defend himself. “We need to save Alicia!” he shouted over the din to someone. The sound was muted but he knew someone had responded to him. A wave of gold crackled and cut through the clouds that were attacking t
hem causing white lightning where the gold energy touched. Elunduil fired off magic towards where Alicia was. She stood with a group of people who tried to fend off the black and red clouds. They were quickly being overwhelmed. Elunduil raced forward and sensed someone at his side. Whoever it was cut a path as best they could but it seemed as if their power had a limit. Elunduil felt himself panicking and fired holy magic at the clouds that had almost swallowed Alicia’s group. His magic drove back the cloud a bit but it instantly surged and pressed forward. The last thing he saw was Alicia cry out as she was completely enveloped by the clouds. Elunduil fell to his knees in disbelief. Not again!

  The vision shifted and he stood in a concrete hallway. He saw prison cells along the walls as well as his brother, Felras. He noticed Felras was a bit older, and chill gripped his heart as he noticed Felras’ wounds. He started to hurry towards Felras but the wall next to him cracked and splintered as something tore it apart from the outside and knocked Elunduil to the ground. He saw a large seething mass of black in the center of the prison grounds. Small red dots speckled the mass’s body. A black tendril shot at Elunduil who didn’t have a chance to dodge and he thought it would grab him, but suddenly he was pushed to the side. He looked up just in time to see Felras being pulled away towards the black mass that was causing the earth to collapse and held out a hand. “Felras!!!” he called out. Before Felras was enveloped by the black mass a light shined from where he was and a brilliant explosion of light enveloped him and a large part of the black mass. The vision shifted again.

  Elunduil was standing in a cracked and torn landscape. Blackened earth with red miasma rose up around him and he stared at the thing above him in the sky with trepidation. There was Joel, laughing manically at him as some kind of crimson symbol appeared on his hand. Joel’s eyes gleamed red and the left side of his body was partially covered with black and red miasma. Elunduil clenched his fists. What could he do? His magic couldn’t even phase Joel, yet if he didn’t stop this now not only would he take out everyone here but this corrupted Joel would raze the rest of the world. He was answered by a crackling gold light that shot up from beside him and pierced through Joel’s chest. It crackled with white lightning that filled Joel’s body. Elunduil was at a loss for words as the symbol faded and Joel’s body started to fall towards the ground. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and put his hands to his head. Why can’t I save anyone?!

  A dull red light fills his vision. He saw the sun of another world and was standing on a cliff overlooking a strange city that jutted up from the land below. He saw large, futuristic structures and wondered what they are made of. A blast of heat flew past him and his gaze followed. His heart froze when he saw Tim with a huge hole in his chest. Tim looked surprised for a moment before he fell to the ground. “Tim?” said a voice next to Elunduil. He turned towards the voice and saw another Elunduil. He looked a little older than Elunduil was and his other self stared at Tim’s body for a long moment as comprehension set in. “Why?” he asked and fell to his knees clutching his head. Elunduil heard distorted laughter and turned to see a blurred person with red hair. He couldn’t hear what the person said but they seemed to be taunting the other Elunduil.

  The other Elunduil didn’t respond. He clutched his forehead and a slow, anguished cry rose up from him. Elunduil was so jarred by hearing such pain from himself that he stepped back from his other self. Gold lines started to appear on the other Elunduil’s body and formed weaving patterns all over him. Elunduil had the feeling that they were some kind of seal, and that the other him was going to release said seal. “Ahhhhhh!” The other Elunduil cried out. Something had snapped inside of him, and all the suffering and pain he had endured was spilling out in that cry. The pattern on the other Elunduil cracked and broke apart, and in an instant the seal vaporized and the other Elunduil’s cry ceased.

  Elunduil had a sense of foreboding as the other Elunduil’s hands fell to his side. The area around his body appeared to break apart and it almost looked as if the other Elunduil had a black aura around him. Cracks appeared in the air from the other Elunduil and slowly grew longer and wider. Was this dark element magic? The longer he stared at the cracks as they grew the more he doubted it was magic. The cracks were spreading more and more and seemed to be swallowing whatever they touched. The other Elunduil slowly stood. His eyes scared Elunduil. There was a light in the middle of the eyes and surrounding it were an uncountable number of galaxies that were like mere specks of dust. What scared Elunduil about those eyes was that there were black lines appearing in them. Like cracked glass that was slowly growing and swallowing up those galaxies. There were tears streaming down his other self’s face. The voice that had taunted him called out to him as suddenly the city in the distance was split in half by a black line that began to grow and swallow the rest of the city. Elunduil heard the voice from the red haired person call out in alarm, he looked back to his other self just in time to see a black line disintegrating the world as it came at him and he held up his hands to defend himself.

  He knew only darkness. Despair, anguish, suffering, pain. The world had ended. There was nothing left. Nothing for him to care about. Everyone had died. If there wasn’t anything left for him then he should just disappear along with the rest of the world. There was so much pain, but he couldn’t cry out anymore. Who was he? What was he doing? None of it seemed to matter anymore. Might as well just fade away. “…” He stared into the abyss. Unmoving. Not even a thought remained. “…” A sound? He didn’t care but… it sounded like it was calling him. “…!” It sounded desperate. He didn’t want to put in the effort to hear it but… he felt as if there was something important he had forgotten. What was it? “…ndu…!” He focused on the voice. They were calling to him. Calling his name. What was his name?! The voice grew louder and louder until at last he heard it cry out, “Elunduiiil!!!” Elunduil. That was his name. He couldn’t clearly hear the voice’s tone but it sounded feminine. There was still someone left. Someone that knew him. Someone that had stood with him when Alicia had died. Someone who had fought with him against Joel. He felt himself slipping away. He was vanishing like dust before the wind. There was still something he had to do though. He rallied himself with all his might and focused it into one singular thought:

  I will save her!

  Chapter 21

  The Stained Glass Shatters

  Elunduil woke with a start. His body was sweating and he found himself clenching his sheets until his knuckles turned white. He relaxed his grip. He felt a chill in his chest and his stomach was knotted so tightly that he felt sick. There was also a tightness in his chest and an overwhelming sense of sadness. What was that dream? Why had it been different from the other two dreams he’d had when he’d learned about fire and water elements? He sat up in his bed and mulled things over for a long time. He’d seen the same vision as when Maria had died except he saw what happened after the Cerebus had tackled her to the ground. He saw what he had done in response. He had been weaker in the vision. His current self would’ve been able to stop the blood flow had the same thing happened when he’d fought the Cerebus weeks ago.

  Everything else that had followed had disturbed him. The mysterious black-haired girl who had been blurred to him, Tanis’ death, Alicia’s death and the black clouds with red dots that reminded him of the tainted land he’d visited, and the mysterious person at his side that had been trying to help him, as well as Joel’s death by this same person. He wondered about the mystery person’s power as it had seemed to cut through the black and red miasma with ease. It seemed somehow familiar yet he couldn’t place where he’d seen something like it before. Then there was Felras’ death. Why had they been in a prison and what had wounded his brother? Not only that but he seemed a bit older. If Maria’s death had been the first one then that meant everything that had preceded had been something that had yet to transpire, or did it?

  The feeling he when he had first seen Maria’s death… He realized that he felt like i
t was something that had happened before. The worst part of the vision had to have been the final scene. Tim’s sudden death that happened out of nowhere. Then there was the fact that instead of being in the driver’s seat he was on an outside perspective watching an older Elunduil’s reaction. He’d snapped. No it was worse than that. Something broke inside of the other Elunduil. If everyone close to him had died than he might fall into despair too. He felt as if the presence wanted him to see the consequences of what would happen should he break rather than experience it. If he wanted to avoid that future then he had to save everyone.

  He put a hand to his cheek and realized they were wet. Where these… tears? He wiped a hand across his face and stared at his hand. He hadn’t cried over anything since he was a kid. He felt like some wound had been torn open inside of him. He shook his head and wondered about the seal on the other Elunduil. It seemed to have some connection with whatever power his other self had unleashed, the one that had seemed to break away the world. He then thought about what it had been like in that darkness. It seemed as if he’d forgotten who he was. Not just his name but everything about himself. Had that power been something he hadn’t been able to control? That would explain the seal. The voice that had called out to him at the end had managed to snap Elunduil back just enough to remember himself for a fleeting moment. A moment that had set something in motion.

  As to what had happened afterwards he was uncertain since he’d woken up, but he had the feeling it was incredibly important. Had what he seen been an alternate time-line? He wasn’t certain but he did know one thing for sure: His desire to save everyone wasn’t an ideal born of those visions, but something that he had within him from the beginning. Tanis’ message when he’d communed with the light had said that the visions were the key to realizing his ideal. He felt certain that the ideal of ‘saving everyone’ was what the message had meant.