The Aftermath of Mount Woe: Kash's World

Chapter 2: Schala Transformed

By Nanaki

12,002 B.C.

As Queen Zeal made no immediate move, merely regarding Schala with a curious expression, the Princess hurried over to Greven and knelt beside him. She quickly cast the most powerful healing spell she knew, pouring all the energy into it that she could muster. Greven's labored breathing quickly calmed, and his frantic eyes were able to focus on her, but his arm did not magically reattach, or regenerate. Scanning around quickly, Schala couldn't see his arm anywhere. Oh well, they would have to worry about that later. Schala also noticed that just about everything in her room that hadn't been vaporised was smashed and charred, including the doll that Grandpa Maro had made for her when she was two. Although that stood to reason. If her mother was willing to destroy what was most important to her, her lesser possessions probably hadn't even crossed the Queen's mind.

Even as she was aware that she wasn't really focusing on the main issue, Schala couldn't keep a sigh from escaping through her nose as she gently reached down and ran a hand along Greven's jawline. "Stay still, my love. You're hurt pretty bad." She said gently.

"No..." To her surprise, Greven immediately tried to sit up, awkwardly clutching at the floor with his left hand. "Believe me, it's going to take both of us. If not more." He managed to get to a sitting position, his left arm keeping him mostly upright. "Just help me get this armor off..."

Queen Zeal's eyes narrowed a bit as she watched Schala undo the buckles that still existed on Greven's ruined armor with infinite care. Far more care than was needed, really, since just about all of Greven's wounds had been healed. Near the base of the chest plate, some of the lava that had fused onto Greven's stomach had also bonded with the armor, and Schala carefully hammered at it with the hilt of her dagger until it came loose. "Hey, looks like you got some built-in armor, for the moment." She said softly, forcing a smile onto her face that she definitely didn't feel.

"Heh. Guess so." Greven smiled back. Zeal's eyes narrowed further. How could he joke around after he'd just been so close to death?

"Schala, just what do you think you're doing?" Zeal finally asked, in an eerily calm tone of voice.

"Taking care of my man." Schala answered simply, knowing that phrasing it like that would infuriate her mother.

"Your man?!" Zeal's face clouded with rage. "Your MAN is a wanted criminal, sentenced to death! And that is a sentence I will now carry out myself!"

Schala gave Greven's left shoulder a reassuring pat, before she stood and turned to face her mother, her false smile disappearing. "No, you WILL NOT!!" She roared at the top of her lungs, letting her own anger show. Zeal took a step back in surprise. "I really hoped that you wouldn't force me to make a choice between the two of you." Schala shook her head. "But since you've decided to force the issue, I choose him!!"

The Queen's eyes narrowed again. "Schala, you don't know what you're saying. You would choose loyalty to a silly crush over your own family?"

Schala just glared at Zeal for a moment, before replying. "Both of my parents died a long time ago." Before Zeal could argue, she continued. "You've let Lavos destroy the good person you were, and let fear govern how you live your life! You are completely unfit to rule this kingdom!"

The Queen tilted her head to the side in a curious fashion. "Schala, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to turn this little debate into a coup attempt."

"No mere 'attempt', mother." Schala grinned dangerously, holding her dagger forward. "If you surrender right now, I promise you'll be treated well."

Out of the corner of her eye, Schala saw Dalton shuffling up to stand beside the Queen, looking like he was having trouble staying on his feet. "If you go through with this, you'll be facing me as well." He did his best to sound confident.

"Is that supposed to worry me, you no-talent hack?" Schala asked calmly. "If YOU surrender right now, Dalton, I'll let you live. And believe you me, that's a hell of a good deal. Sure, you'll be on latrine duty for the rest of your life, but even so, a good deal."

Zeal sighed as she stretched her arms out. "So, you force me to teach you a lesson. Very well." Lightning flowed from her fingertips, converging into one large bolt that raced straight at Schala.

Schala merely held her dagger forward, and its glow steadily brightened as it absorbed the electrical energy. "For your sake, I really hope that's not the best you can do." Schala grinned.

Zeal's face remained expressionless. "No, it isn't." She said calmly. Instantly, dozens of icicles burst into being around her, quickly forming up into two diagonally oriented rings that began to rotate around the Queen at a high speed. Schala and Greven both backed up into defensive postures, while even Dalton looked surprised. Schala was getting ready to cast her father's signature "Thunderflame" spell to stop the icicles, when she had a burst of intuition and realized she didn't really need to. As the razor sharp shards of ice began to shoot out of their rings, incredibly fast, Schala merely turned sideways, and the vast majority of them shot right past her. She used her dagger to bat a few of them out of the way, but it was clear that most had been aimed at her arms and legs, not vital areas. Greven, meanwhile, had dropped to the floor and pulled his legs up to his chest, relying on the armor plating that was still there to protect him. However, it seemed that none of the icicles had really been aimed at him.

'How did she do that?' Schala found herself wondering. It was virtually unthinkable that such a precise attack pattern could be a pre-existing feature of the spell, which meant that her mother had to have telekinetically manipulated the ice after it formed. But to manipulate so many objects in such a precise pattern was almost as unthinkable. Schala was a little worried now. "Well mother, I'm afraid I'm going to skip the warm-up." She forced a grin back onto her face, then drew in magical waves to cast another spell she had seen her father use, though only once, in this case. "Haaah... Shadow Flare!!"

"Damn!" Dalton quickly dove to the side, but despite the huge, incredibly dark explosion that caused the floor to rumble and cracks to run along the ceiling, he was relieved to see that this was a spell with one target only. He was even more relieved to see Queen Zeal looking none the worse for wear as the smoke cleared, a humming magical shield surrounding her.

A lopsided grin appeared on Zeal's face now. "For your sake Schala, I really hope that's not the best YOU can do."

Schala was not going to put her mother's cockiness to waste, and her hands instantly started making magical signs again, even as she drew in more power from the winds of magic. "Of course not. I'm sure the human somewhere deep inside you knows, Shadow is by far the magic type I'm worst with. Orbital Bolts!" Schala thrust her right arm out, and four blinding balls of crackling lightning flew toward Zeal. Each began circling the Queen in an apparently random orbit, shooting bolts of lighting at Zeal's magical shield in equally random intervals.

However, that shield didn't seem to be in any danger of giving out. "So, you have a fair amount of both raw power and skill..." She observed calmly. "But, it seems that you are unable to use both at once." A wicked grin returned to her face, then she whispered a single word, "Hallation." A rainbow colored wave of energy burst out from the walls of the magical shield, quickly engulfing the room.

Schala threw up magical shields of her own in front of both herself and Greven, but the rainbow passed through them as if they didn't exist. Schala felt as if all the energy was draining out of her body, and there was suddenly a stabbing pain in her abdomen. As blood began to ooze through her royal robes, she realized there were now fresh burns on various points of her body as well. It seemed as though virtually every wound she had received in her life had reappeared, all at once.

With a gasp, Schala realized that she was not the one in the most danger from that spell. She whirled around to find Greven writhing on the floor, blood pouring from his empty right shoulder socket once more, his torso covered with severe burns. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zeal launch another icicle straight at Greven. Not having enough time to cast another spell in response, Schala dove forward. She knew it was going to hurt, but even so, she couldn't help letting out a gasp as the leading point of the icicle burst through her right shoulder, just before she landed on top of Greven. He let out a low groan at the impact, but that seemed to be all he was capable of doing.

Schala knew that, with his burns, this must be hurting him like hell, but for the moment, she was too incapacitated with pain to move. "Well, ready to surrender now Schala?" She could hear Queen Zeal's infuriatingly calm voice through ringing ears.

"Graah!" Schala cried out, a brilliant healing light surrounding both her and Greven in time with the outburst. The icicle in Schala's shoulder literally shot out, loudly bouncing off the ceiling. She could feel Greven's breathing slow beneath her, and as she put her weight on her arms, she was relieved to feel no pain coming from her right shoulder. "Well..." Schala groaned as she stood back up, "That was by far the least pleasant time I've been on top of you." Schala couldn't help a grin from appearing on her face in response to the horrified gasp that came from Zeal.

'So far, the psychological warfare seems to be working a lot better than the magical.' Greven thought as he got back to his feet as well.

'Well, let's change that.' Schala thought in response. 'Time for a double dose of Holy, in three, two, one...' They both turned back to the Queen in the same intant, three arms outstretched, rippling bursts of white, green, and blue energy erupting from their chests. Schala saw Zeal raise her arms in a defensive gesture, before her form vanished in the gigantic white explosion. Large chunks of stone fell out of the ceiling now, revealing the tile top of the tower up above. Cracks were radiating all along the tower wall as well. Clearly, they didn't have much time until the whole thing collapsed.

As the smoke from this latest explosion drifted away, the glowing shield around Zeal flickered, then dissolved into the air. Schala instantly launched the Thunderflame spell at her mother. "Don't let her re-form it!" She cried out over the roaring of the fire and lightning.

"Roger that!" A smile appeared on Greven's face for the first time in a while, and he began to hurl purple holy blasts at Zeal as fast as his single arm would let him. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dalton charging at him, sword raised. He turned to blast Dalton with a holy beam as well, but he could already tell it would be too late-

"No you don't!!" Something smashed into Dalton's left side, lifting him up off the floor before sending him flying into the wall. "You son of a bitch!!" Greven now recognized that it was Ertai whose fists were mercilessly pounding Dalton's face. "Just leave him to me!" Ertai shouted.

"Good work Ertai!" Greven shouted back. He launched another holy blast at Zeal just as Schala did the same. The Queen took a step back, then found her heel running up against the broken remains of the outer wall.

During the brief moment when Zeal looked over her shoulder, Schala saw her chance. She thrust her glowing dagger forward, focusing the magical waves inside. "Golem Breaker!!" A blinding, pulsating beam of holy and lightning energy raced right into Zeal's torso, nearly blowing the Queen apart.

"I... don't..." Blood flowed freely from Zeal's mouth, and she collapsed to the ground. "Believe it..." She finished with a wheeze. Blood was rapidly flowing out from under her still form. "So it's true," She coughed weakly. "Your powers do exceed my own." Suddenly, Zeal's form began to rise back into the air in a very disturbing way, almost as if it was suspended from marionette strings. "But they can never compare to the power of Lavos!" A red glow filled the room, and Zeal's massive injury disappeared in less than a second.

"Noooooooo!!!" Schala howled. She reversed her grip on the dagger even as she charged forward, burying it up to the hilt in Zeal's chest a moment later. Zeal merely tilted her head back and laughed, while a bright glow emanated from within the wound. Then, a burst of red light flashed through the room, and Schala was thrown back. Zeal yanked the dagger out of her chest and tossed it aside, looking none the worse for wear. "We're in trouble." Schala said quietly.

Now though, Ertai walked over to stand by Greven and Schala. It hadn't taken him long to realize that bashing Dalton's injured eye repeatedly was the quickest way to knock the mage out. "Sorry I'm late, guys." He said quickly. "Mr. Sneaky there cast some kind of sleep spell on the entire palace. So, what the hell is going on here?"

"Schala, this would seem an appropriate time for your surrender." Zeal said, sounding as calm as ever. "You've seen for yourself that you can't defeat me."

"We've got an avatar of Lavos to deal with, that's what's going on." Greven answered Ertai's question, then he turned back to Schala. "Well, I think it's now or never." Schala nodded, and began to stretch her arms out. "Wait, what about the catch phrase?"

"I never liked the catch phrase!" Schala responded. "You say it, if it's so important to you!"

"Fine!" Greven fixed his gaze on Zeal, who was waiting patiently, with a raised eyebrow. "Call us old fashioned if you want, but we've always believed in the 'big bang' theory."

"Oh? Just what is that supposed to...?" Zeal trailed off as a bright yellow ball of energy about four feet in diameter burst into being in front of Schala. Then, it slowly shrank, until it was little more than a pinpoint of light. "Hmm... A failed experiment?" Zeal wondered aloud.

"Not quite." Schala gritted her teeth. With the state the tower was in, this would likely be quite rough on the good guys, as well as her mother. She stretched out her hands to encompass the spark, then spread her arms outward quickly. "Hyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!'

The spark exploded outwards, enveloping her, Greven, and Ertai, enveloping Zeal, then filling the entire room before blasting outside. The enormous explosion of light was visible from Enhasa, and every resident of Zeal who was outside at the time saw the weakened top of the tower crumble into the explosion, where it was vaporised. The gigantic sphere of light energy finally dissipated with a huge concussion, creating a sonic boom that rocked the air all the way to Kajar.

Back amid the flaming rubble and clouds of dust, Schala wiped the soot from her face with a sleeve that was itself spattered with blood. She was relieved to hear both Greven and Ertai coughing close by. Even though she had done her best to make the explosion go upwards, they had still fallen about ten feet when the floor beneath them was vaporised. Schala felt a slight pang of regret when she realized that the room she had lived in for the last seven years of her life was now gone, but it was replaced by a sense of relief as she saw Dalton's still form in the distance, small flames dancing on his cape. As the dust began to clear out, she saw Zeal standing about twenty feet away. The Queen had a very unhappy look on her face. She looked like she wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, only a ragged cough came out. Schala allowed a smile to creep back onto her face. Then, Zeal's angry eyes met Schala's. "You little bitch, that HURT. What WAS that, anyway?"

Schala's smile didn't waver. She stretched her hand out, and a second later, the Dreamstone dagger flew back into her open palm, shining brightly with the energy it had just absorbed. "THAT, mother, was Star magic." 'And it still wasn't enough.' She sighed to herself. 'There has to be a way!' She scolded herself. 'Father would pick apart those magical waves she's drawing on, and find some incredible new spell that would win this thing!' Of course, her father probably wouldn't have been able to bring himself to fight Zeal. But then, if her father was still alive, none of this would have happened... On that thought, Schala sensed Zeal drawing in the winds of magic being emanated by Lavos for another spell. "Heads up!" She cried, even as she threw up magical shields around all three of them.

"Merton." Zeal growled, and the room was instantly filled with an intense fire, driven by hurricane force winds. It took all of Schala's concentration to keep the shields going, never mind trying to find some sort of counterattack. "Impressive, Schala." Zeal admitted as the spell dissipated, seeing all three of her opponents still standing. "But I'm sure you've used up most of the winds those eyes of yours can see. I guarantee, I can do this longer than you."

'All the winds I can see...' Schala's eyes suddenly widened. "Guys, keep her pinned down as long as you can!" She cried.

"Yes ma'am!" Ertai cried, lightning instantly flowing from both of his outstretched hands.

"What are you doing?" Greven called even as he resumed hurling holy blasts at the Queen.

"I won't stop... until I can see everything!" Schala yelled, partly to Greven, partly to herself. Her eyes seemed to lose focus, but she was actually concentrating hard on the winds of magic in the room. As Zeal had correctly guessed, there were only a few left that Schala could see, but the clear implication was that there were more that she couldn't see... She reached out with her mind, searching for more.

Greven's eyes widened as he noticed a dull red glow begin to emanate from Schala's direction. Schala seemed completely unaware, but that dull red quickly grew to a bright red, then began to turn orange...

"Fools!" Zeal laughed. "You think a pathetic assault like this will stop me?!" The dual rings of rotating icicles appeared around her again. Greven dove for cover as Zeal launched the shards of ice at all three of them, while Ertai managed to divert those heading for him with another well timed bolt of lightning. The icicles aimed at Schala though, simply melted away to nothing as they came in contact with her orange glow, that was beginning to turn yellow. "What is THIS?" Zeal wondered aloud.

Schala barely noticed. She could see more waves of magic than she had before, but it still wasn't enough. 'More... There has to be more!' Schala's bright yellow glow began to take on a greenish tinge.

"Enough of this nonsense." Zeal snorted. "Shadow Lance!!" A midnight black beam of energy launched from Zeal's outstretched fingers, a low vibrating sound accompanying it. But as it came into contanct with Schala's brilliant green glow, it simply splashed off to the sides, not even coming close to touching the Princess. "What the hell is this?!" Zeal cried.

'I'm starting to understand, I think...' Schala barely noticed that the glow around her was now a blinding blue.

"Pour it on, Ertai!" Greven shouted, launching the true Holy from his chest yet again. He had definitely used up all the wavelengths he could see now, but he wasn't too worried. Not as long as Schala kept this up.

As the white explosion dissipated to reveal a still unharmed Zeal, the glow around Schala got even brighter, despite the fact that it was now purple. 'I can see it...' Schala realized. 'I can see everything!' Calling the energy she drew on "waves" or "winds" of magic was misleading, she realized. Though they certainly behaved in a wavelike way, they were actually composed of individual particles of energy. Millions of particles, possibly billions, just in this room, and the only reason she'd never noticed was because she hadn't bothered to look. 'Well, no more!' Schala promised herself. With that, the glow around her became a pure, blinding white, and Schala couldn't help yelling out in joy as she felt power surging through her body. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

"What?!!" Queen Zeal, Greven, and Ertai all cried at the same time. The white glow faded to reveal that Schala was now encased in roaring flames that alternated between blue and green in color. Her hands, neck, and face were covered with jagged, glowing blue lines, that almost looked like runes in places, or lightning bolts in others. One of the bolt-like patterns split on two on her forehead, curling down to surround her eyes.

Schala bent her knees, dropping down into a fighting crouch, while holding forward a dagger that was now virtually overflowing with energy. The look of desperation in her eyes had been replaced by a calm determination. "Mother, for the good person you used to be, for all the people you used to care for... And especially for the kingdom you fought to protect!" Schala growled. "I won't... let you destroy them!"

.

"Don't worry about me now! I know I'm where I need to be!" - Son Goku, Dragon Ball Z

(Nanaki's note: Did anyone else have Goku's Super Saiyan 3 theme thundering in their head at the end of this chapter? I sure did.)