A war cry is what brings me out of my thoughts as I see my best friend and king, Exalt Chrom, running towards the man standing in the middle of the inner sanctum of the temple we are in.
Chrom has short navy hair that comes to a stop at the back of his neck and dark blue eyes. He is wearing a blue colored tunic that only has one sleeve, bearing the Brand of the Exalt for all to see on his right shoulder, and a pair of dark blue trousers that are tucked inside of a pair of light blue boots. On his left shoulder is a silver pauldron with intricate designs all over it, with a white cloak underneath it, held closed by a silver chain that clips onto his tunic.
The man that he is charging towards is a tall, dark skinned man with long black hair. He is bone thin, probably a product of not exercising his body enough, and he has a long neck that makes almost a foot taller then Chrom. Has a long goatee that flows down into a thin line, with a streak of white going down the middle of his "beard".
Chrom has his sword raised high, a silver sword that could cut through bone easily, as he continues running towards the tall snake of a man. I start to run after him, making sure that I don't get left out.
In the snake's hands is a purple tome with a silver logo of a dragon on the cover, which he runs his hands over before opening the old book up, releasing a large amount of dust from within the book. His dark red eyes narrow as he starts chanting the words out of the tome, causing dark purple sparks to run up and down his arms.
Within striking distance, Chrom brings down his heavy sword in a blow meant to cut the thin man in half. The man, Validar, raises his arm in a defensive position as dark lightning surges from the palm of his hand, blocking the blow before it can cut him down.
They then start trading blows back and forth, neither one managing to get a hit in, while I look down at the tome in my hands. It is a dark yellow book with a tan arrow shooting towards the top of the cover, it's inscription in an accent text. It translates into the name of one of the most dangerous spells in the book, Thoron.
I ran my hand over the cover like Validar did with his, and open the book to the spell I want. I begin muttering the incantation, all the while raising my hand right next to my face.
Dark orange lightning begins to crackle in my hand, swirling around in circles before it begins to turn into a small ball of lightning. I can literally feel the power in my hand sucking all of the energy in the air, absorbing it and making the small ball of death even more / I watch as Chrom swings his blade up and Validar vanishes into thin air, leaving behind small purple embers. I look around wildly, trying to find the now missing sorcerer, before Chrom points his sword up.
"Up there!" He shouts as we both look up in time to see Validar launch a giant purple ball of flame down towards us. Chrom turns around and dives behind the nearest pillar, taking cover, while I roll out of the way. I thrust my hand skyward and the Thoron spell leaps from my hand, climbing up at an alarming rate at the snake floating above, becoming a large bolt of lightning instead of the small ball.
As I expected, he disappeared once again right before the spell would have annihilated him. The bolt reaches the ceiling, exploding into a dazzling array of orange and red, as I look back down in time to see Chrom emerge.
Emerge just in time to thrown back against the wall by a ball of fire, leaving a large plume of smoke to gather around. As the smoke clears, Chrom gets up shakily while using his sword as leverage.
I look over to see Validar creating a large ball of flames, bigger than the others he's launched at us, while letting out a loud and demonic laugh, which sends shivers down my spine.
I start rapidly chanting while sloppily gathering energy once again in my hand, in a hurry to launch it at the crazy sorcerer. The lightning starts swirling around, forming another ball of death, and the lightning this time is a dark red.
I'm too late, though, as Validar lets the gigantic ball of flames fly towards Chrom who's just now getting back on his feet. I lead the purple flames a little bit before I let my halfway charged Thoron fly to meet with the snakes spell. The resulting explosion knocks all three of us off of our feet, Chrom and Validar taking more damage because they were closer to the explosion, as bright white light fills the sanctum.
Once my vision clears, I see Validar getting up from a kneeling position, dusting off his robes a bit before he looks at me with those piercing red eyes. He lets a small "hmm" before his eyes widen in surprise, a blade protruding from his chest.
The blade is then torn free from his chest, causing a warm crimson liquid to fly from his chest. Validar then starts falling to his knees as he looks down at his chest, than to the ripped tome in his hands, which Chrom had also managed to hit.
Dark fire and lightning burst from the tome and starts to wrap around his body, covering him in the dark magic that had once been used against us. He then falls forward, his arms reaching out towards me before his body hits the ground with a thump.
Chrom, who had made his way over to me while keeping his eyes on the sorcerers body, looks at me with a smile. He opens his mouth to say something, before I widen my eyes and all color drains from my face.
"This isn't over…" He says weakly, using one arm to push himself up, while the other one begins charging one final ball of fire, this one bigger than the others. His eyes than flash a malevolent crimson before he throws his hand forward. "Damn you BOTH!"
Before I even know what I'm doing, I lunge forward and push Chrom out of the way, turning my back to the flames as they start to burn at my coat. I feel a scream rip itself from my throat, but I can't hear it over the overwhelming sounds of the inferno branding itself into my back.
As everything starts to clear up and the flames go away, I drop down to my knees and fall sideways, my hooded head hitting the ground. I see a blurry Chrom rushing towards me, a worried look on his face as he drops to his knees and slides over to me.
He gently grabs my arms and helps me into a sitting position, his rough and callused hands dulling the screaming pain in my back a little. "Are you alright? That's the last of him."
He gestures over to the burning remains of what once was Validar, now just a burning pile of flesh. I have to resist the urge to throw up, and look back at his face as he continues talking.
"Thanks to you, we carried the day. We can rest easy now." He says as he puts my arm around his shoulders, helping me into a standing position, but I ignore that as a dull throbbing appears in the back of my mind.
Everything starts to sound distant as my vision starts turning red, everything becoming slightly farther away, my heartbeat pounding deep inside my head. I can faintly feel something start to buzz to life in my hand, and it feels familiar, but I can't quite place it.
Chrom turns his head to look at me, and a worried look replaces the smile on his face. "Hey… Are you alright?" Even that sounds as if I'm listening to him from inside someone else's head, which makes little sense to me.
"Hey—hang on!" He puts his other hand on my shoulder while I place my hand on his chest. I hear a loud rip and a gasp come from his body, which is followed by a pained look coming onto my best friends face. His hands fall away from my shoulders and he stumbles back a few steps, revealing a rather large lightning bolt protruding from his chest.
My vision and hearing go back to normal and I quickly look down to my hand as a horrified expression comes to my face as I see small sparks of lightning race across my gloved hand. One thought races across my mind like an arrow from a bow. I just killed my best friend. He looks down at the crackling bolt of energy sticking out of his chest before he look up at me with a pained smile on his face. He cups a hand around the bolt as if he could rip it out and everything would be fine, but I know better than that.
"This is not your— your fault." He says as he shakes his head as I reach out my hand to him, my mouth falling open in shock and tears start rolling down my cheeks.
"Promise me. Promise me you'll escape from this place." That could have been the worst thing he could have said as sobs start ripping themselves free from my weak and burned body, my mind having broken from the thought of what I have just done. I start to back away from him as he falls to his knees, a smile still planted on his pained face, his eyes full of hope and burning full of hatred.
Not hatred at me, but at whatever force had just forced me to drive a bolt of lightning through his chest. The last words to escape his lips make me break down into even more sobs and tears. "Please… Go…"
With that, the light leaves his eyes and he falls forward to meet the cold stone floor. With his smile still on his face, he looks almost peaceful. I'm still backing away from him, staring down at my hands in a mixture of sadness and rage.
A demonic laugh, one almost similar to the one Validar had used, rings in my head as everything starts going black. I hear one last thing being whispered into my mind before I completely lose it. "Sleep forever, my pet."