Chapter 6

The Bleak Truth

This has to be some sort of nightmare…

That was all Elizabeth could think as she watched the black and white monsters circling each other high above Bowerstone Castle. She could hardly believe that any of this was really happening! It just seemed too unreal… She cast a nervous glance back to her brother's current position and was relieved to see he was all right... At least for now anyway. But there was no way in hell all this stress was doing him any good. And just what was Kaya talking about? Something that had scared her mother to her death… she looked over at the older girl only to see she was not paying any attention whatsoever to the two dueling Titans… Her eyes were completely transfixed on Logan. Her emotions were visibly at war with themselves…

Elizabeth had a sudden crippling feeling that this day was going to end in disaster…

A sudden thunderous roar drew everyone's attention back to the most pressing matter at hand. The black dragon that was Skorm had stopped circling his albino opponent and had now loosed a fiery breath of black flames at Avo who appeared to dodge effortlessly. With his first attack avoided, Skorm then proceeded to chase after Avo, the two began weaving in and out of the air, occasionally one of them would launch off an attack at the other. Either Skorm's black fire, or Avo's blue lightning would illuminate through the sky; but neither of them seemed to be succeeding in actually hitting the other.

Only after what felt like hours of neither Dragon nor Wyvern gaining the upper hand; Avo suddenly began to nosedive straight down at the ground. Naturally Skorm immediately followed after him, opening his massive jaws and preparing to clamp down on his opponent's bladed tail… But just then something completely unexpected occurred… Mere seconds before he would've crashed headlong into the ground, Avo flared his wings out and pulled out of his dive and head straight back at Skorm. Narrowly missing his opponents gaping maw, he got above his opponent and sank his claws deep into the black dragons back… his white bladed tail suddenly whipped out and slashed the membrane of Skorms wings causing the mighty black dragon to roar in both fury and pain. Avo then used all of his weight and might to force his opponent down… and Skorm found that he could not pull himself out of this dive as his torn wings could not possibly accommodate the additional force of Avo bearing down on him. And with a final mighty roar of rage, Skorm slammed face first into the ground….

His bones could be heard shattering upon contact.

The great dragon lay motionless in the courtyard; ivory white pieces of bone could be seen protruding all over its body. Standing atop his fallen adversary Avo stood looking just as terrifying as ever. Only once he was sure that Skorm wasn't going to be getting up; did his body emit a haunting white glow and he shrank down to his usual height and hop off, resuming his position behind Kaya. His wings now wrapped tightly around his body… Elizabeth took a cautious step towards the fallen Skorm.

"Is… is he dead?" She questioned warily. At this Kaya just shook her head no.

"No… no he's not dead… he's not even hurt too badly, he's just unconscious. In about an hour he'll regenerate back to full power." Kaya said simply, her frown deepening as the look of pure horror only flooded into Elizabeth's face.

"Might I suggest that we continue this inside?" Avo commented whilst Kaya said nothing… she just walked past the startled young Queen and went back into the castle. As she passed Logan their eyes met for a moment, but Kaya looked away… almost in shame. She entered the throne room; Avo who had been directly behind her suddenly flared out his wings and flew up to the ceiling and dug his talons into it and he hung upside down… the ideal spot for him to observe everything that was going to be happening. Kaya waited for Elizabeth and Logan to both get into… well… what was left of the throne room before she even so much as spoke.

"I'm truly sorry for Skorm's actions your majesty." Kaya muttered softly to the pair of royals. "Ember is the only one who can really control him…"

"Speaking of which." Avo said just as Ember walked into the demolished throne room, she still had Reaver's cane with her and she was actually twirling it around merrily. An entertained grin was visible on her face as she approached her sister, Elizabeth, and Logan.

"Wow, Skorm really tore through here didn't he?" Ember mused in a voice that sounded as though she was purring like an overly contented Cheshire cat… Kaya glared wrathfully at her easygoing older sibling.

"Damn you Ember! What were you thinking letting Skorm do what he wants? You know what he's capable of better than anyone!" Kaya snapped, although Ember didn't seem to pay her younger sister much mind… she looked from Elizabeth to Logan... but her smile faded once her firelight eyes landed on Logan.

"Hello Ember, how have you-" Logan never got to finish his sentence as Ember suddenly punched the former king right in the face; knocking him right to the floor like a ton of bricks.

"Don't you dare talk to me bastard! I was rooting for Skorm to kill your sorry ass!" Ember hissed lethally. Her eyes suddenly seemed to come alive with a blazing ferocity.

"Ember!" Kaya roared as she immediately knelt down to help Logan up.

"That was uncalled for!" Elizabeth growled unsheathing her sword… just in case Ember should decide to demonstrate her near-legendary talent for bloodshed. But Ember just twirled the cane and looked at Elizabeth with a dark smirk.

"Oh yeah… before I forget… Lizzie you weren't too attached to that overweight servant with the 'better-than-you-are-attitude' were you?" Ember said in a somewhat careless tone.

"Why?" Elizabeth questioned… although truth be told she was dreading the answer.

"Because he's feeling… like he's lost his head." Ember chuckled. "Also, some of the gold in the royal treasury may need a little cleaning."

"Damn you Ember!" Elizabeth snarled. "Why?"

"Because the bastard was stealing gold from your treasury; rest assured that justice was swift and… mostly painless." She chuckled before planting the cane onto the floor and leaning heavily on it.

"Really Ember, must you be so violent?" Avo commented from his place on the ceiling… Ember looked up at him and frowned.

"It's just who I am… sorry Avo… hey…wait a minute." Ember said looking from Avo, to Kaya, to Logan and Elizabeth and then back to Kaya. "They know yet?"

"Not everything Ember. I'm telling them now." Kaya said solemnly. Ember suddenly let loose a very dark, unnerving laugh.

"Oh good, I didn't want to miss their reaction!" She said malevolently; successfully managing to unnerve both Logan and Elizabeth all the more.

"What is really going on Kaya?" Elizabeth demanded… Kaya just closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled very slowly.

"You have the right to know everything your majesty…" Kaya began, and her voice was completely devoid of all emotion. "But I need to start at the beginning-"

"Feel free to chime in anytime here Avo." Ember interrupted looking back up at the bat like creature… whose entire attention was currently focused on the party below.

"Oh I will… if I need too. But in the mean time I do love to hear stories. Even one's that I've heard a million times before." Avo said with a distinctive purring sound in his voice. Kaya then began her story…

"Well… several thousand years ago, our Great Grandfather Alexander Rubyglade was a hero of Skill, but ultimately decided he'd rather live the life of a wandering trader-"

"Wait- several thousand years ago?" Elizabeth interrupted not completely believing what her ears had just heard.

"Don't interrupt Lizard… just let my sister tell the story!" Ember hissed evilly, thus silencing the young Queen… after a minute of awkward silence, Kaya continued.

"One day, while he was traveling he came across something…strange… the way he described it, it was some sort of portal within Darkwood Forest… what we know today as Wraithmarsh."

"It was more of a tear Kaya… not a portal." Avo corrected… "It was a tear between the dimensions… and they only occur very rarely." of course at this Kaya growled and looked upward at Avo, a peeved look clearly on her face.

"Do you want to tell the story?" Kaya snapped getting a little tired of people constantly interrupting her. Avo's ears visibly twitched but he remained silent… thus enabling Kaya to continue with her tale.

"Well when he came across this… tear… naturally he was a little confused and alarmed; but those feelings only increased when what looked like a pair of young children came through this hole just as it closed… those children were Skorm and Avo." Kaya stopped and once again looked up at Avo once more. "How old were you two back then?"

"I think Skorm said he was four months old, I know I was about two months…" Avo commented. But figured he had better elaborate when he sensed confusion coming from both Logan and Elizabeth. "Our species age much more rapidly than humans. Mere hours after our birth we are capable of surviving on our own… a four month old from the Void is roughly the size of a four year old human, although at two months I was quite a bit smaller than Skorm was."

"What about your parents… from the Void?" Logan inquired in a low voice… trying to hide the fact he was suddenly feeling really quite dizzy and weak.

"People from the Void are very different from you humans. Females don't care for their offspring; immediately after you are born you're on your own… although understand, the Void is also nothing like this world. There is no sun, no light… It is a world of infinite darkness… and it goes on forever. And scattered throughout it, are millions of large floating islands; usually each island is home to only about one individual… depending on how big the said island is… You see our kind are… vicious… at best. We don't need to eat or drink in order to survive. In fact we are immortal; unless of course we are actually slain in combat… and we're also very territorial; although when we're young we sometimes join into small groups or pairs. As it increases your chance for survival; at least for a little while anyway. Once you get older, you almost always will fight till the death with your… former companions. Skorm and I are not related, we just simply became allies when we were young."

"Anyway…" Kaya continued on. "Alexander found those two… and he took them both in and proceeded to raise them as his own children."

"We were… hehe, quite a handful at first…" Avo muttered softly, but he then became quiet once more and allowed Kaya to continue.

"Yes… Great Grandfather Alexander always said you two were a pair of troublemakers. But over time, both Skorm and Avo became tame towards Alexander, eventually they even began viewing him as their father… and in about four years they both were the size of teenagers. And even in spite of their 'humanized' attitudes; they began to become increasingly more violent with each other… Since as Avo has mentioned, their kind are territorial and with those two living in such close proximity to each other; Avo and Skorm would try to kill each other on a daily basis. Pretty soon it got so bad that Alexander had no other choice left than to separate them. At great expense to himself, he had two grand buildings constructed at two locations far away from each other… two buildings that ultimately became the Chapel of Skorm and the Temple of Avo. "

"Ah now those were the days!" Avo exclaimed spreading his wings as wide as he could, exposing his shimmering pale armor to the humans just below him. "Being worshiped and deified as a god…" At this Avo emitted a bizarre purring sound.

"Yes… It wasn't long after that that people began to worship the two. As they aren't human and their strength truly is godlike and their powers can have either positive or negative effects people... Shortly after that the tribute started rolling in too… the worshipers of Avo would offer TONS of gold and priceless jewels to him… and Skorm's err… victims… possessions were often offered to him as well. Neither of them had any real use for the money or goods; so they just gave it to Alexander… which ultimately made him rich beyond his wildest dreams."

"That's how your family came by your nobility isn't it?" Elizabeth questioned, Kaya nodded.

"Even way back when, money always seemed to make the world go round eh?" Ember joked darkly, swinging that cane around haphazardly.

"It also gave Skorm and Avo outlets for the aggressive side of their natures as well. As Alexander may have forbid them from killing each other, they could now pit their followers against each other to see whose side was stronger… a bit of a sick game they began to enjoy; along with the occasional duel between them... And for a time, everything was working out. Alexander was even able to settle down with his true love during this time… which led to a rather unexpected discovery; while Avo and Skorm were obedient and loving towards Alexander, that love DID NOT extend to his wife. She was more-"

"Tolerated." Avo interrupted. "We tolerated her because she made Alexander so very happy and his happiness was one of the most important things to Skorm and I… perhaps even… the most important."

"Anyway…" Kaya resumed once more. "A few… other interesting things began to be revealed around that time; raising Skorm and Avo had actually had an effect on Alexander, while their powers were maturing they actually rubbed off a bit on him, increasing his heroic powers and causing his eyes to change colors… he said that he used to have brown eyes, but after the years of caring for those two his eyes somehow became as red as fire and blood. And when his son, our Grandfather was born his eyes were a mix of electric blue and lightning gold."

"Yes… Grandpa Alfred." Ember commented. "He was a Hero of Strength if I'm not mistaken… but neither Kaya nor I actually met him. He was killed long before our time."

"And on that note, things eventually started to crumble… when the Hero's Guild fell, so did the Temple of Avo and the Chapel of Skorm. This successfully pissed both of them off; but before either of them could retaliate on the people, Alexander stopped them. He told them that what was done was done and that killing in anger would not necessarily restore their former status as gods… and he also pointed out that if they were to cause mass carnage it would make him very unhappy."

"That was what really prevented us from wreaking a hell on Albion." Avo muttered dryly.

"But… if you two are as territorial as you say, how come you're not-?" Elizabeth questioned, but found herself unable to form the words she needed to phrase the rest of her question… luckily Avo could easily determine what the girl was trying to ask.

"How come we're not trying to kill each other now?" Avo finished her question. "After about two or threemillennia of being rivals, and living here in Albion being worshipped as gods; it appears that we seem to have been… influenced… by this world. We've gained emotions and intelligence we would not normally have if we had remained in the Void. And most importantly; we're a part of Alexander's family. Without that we'd have been just like the Jack of Blades… out to claim territory, and destroy anything that gets in our way…"

"…Alexander built a great mansion for himself and his family in the small town where he was born, and for many years both Avo and Skorm resided with him and his family in that home. Revealing also that while Skorm and Avo wouldn't respect or love Alexander's wife… they would in fact grow to love his bloodline descendants. Alfred in fact formed a bond with Skorm and could control him up to a point… much like I can control Avo and Ember can control Skorm."

"That's why Skorm reacted so strangely when you tried to command him. Like he almost would obey you but ultimately chose not to…" Logan muttered as he began to lean against a nearby wall… trying to steady himself as his dizzy spell finally began to fade a bit. Kaya nodded.

"Alexander was the only one of our bloodline who could control both Avo and Skorm completely. Maybe if either Ember or myself live long enough, we might be able to control them both. But back to the story… well, after about 100 or so years another tragedy struck. The village locals became fearful of Alexander, they feared he consorted with demons and they proceeded to try and lynch him and his family… in the midst of the struggle… our Great Grandmother, Victoria, was slain… Alexander and Alfred escaped on the backs of Skorm and Avo, forever exiled from their former home… Alexander was devastated at the loss of his wife, and Skorm swore revenge on that village for the sorrow it brought on Alexander… he did eventually get that revenge, but I don't really need to get into that now… so instead he just had the home that Ember and I currently live in built… and our family has lived there in recluse ever since."

"That's a pretty interesting story Kaya… but… you said something about something that scared our Mother -"

A gunshot suddenly resounded throughout the room…

Faster than the eye could blink, it appeared that Ember had bent over backwards; a bullet was lodged in the wall right where her head had just been. And standing in the rooms demolished entranceway was none other than Reaver, who in fact appeared to be soaking wet… and very irritated.

"Reaver!" Elizabeth snapped. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Reavers cold, icy, glare never left Ember. Who not only took notice of his presence, she also seemed to hold out his cane in a taunting manner; almost daring him to try and take it from her.

"I'll be with you in a minute your Majesty, I just have to deal with this annoying little gnat first." Reaver stated darkly before quickly taking aim at Ember and firing off another shot at her… amazingly Reaver actually missed! Ember immediately dodged the bullet; her mane of unrestrained black hair trailed behind her like a cape made purely of shadows. She charged at Reaver and it looked like her hands were glowing with what looked like a menacing black and purple aura… and before Reaver could fire off another round at her; Ember suddenly created what looked like a dozen black, oily, spears seemingly made from shadows… a power eerily similar to the Crawler and Skorms darkness-based powers.

But just before the blood was really about to fly, Elizabeth managed to get in between the two. She drew her sword and used it to divert the angle of Reavers gun; while her other hand armed with a lightning gauntlet created a wall of dazzling electricity which both Ember herself and her Shadow Spears collided heavily with… and after a moment Ember was completely blown back about 20 feet in which she proceeded to land heavily on her head, but was quick to get back onto her feet and glare angrily at Elizabeth.

"Enough!" Elizabeth roared. "Reaver cool it! If you're pissed at her get in line! And Ember give Reaver back his cane!" Ember growled darkly at Elizabeth at this… as she disliked being told what to do. But she sighed in defeat and offered Reaver back his cane. Of course when he went to take it back Ember quickly pulled it back and used it to knock Reaver's hat off his head… she then just casually tossed the cane onto the ground at Reavers' feet successfully getting a hateful glare from the irritated businessman. Kaya just put her face in her hand and shook her head.

"Smoothe Ember… real smoothe." Kaya mumbled.

"Well aren't you a… spirited… creature." Reaver said equally irritated and seductive. Although Ember didn't pay him any mind. But she did give a quick glance to the ceiling… which Reaver also did; while he could have sworn he saw something… in the end he just thought he was just seeing things.

"What do you want Reaver?" Elizabeth questioned darkly.

"Why I came to personally invite you to my little party tonight… oh, and is that Logan I see?" Reaver said his ice blue eyes landing on the sickly former King. "I certainly hope to see you later this evening along with your dear sister."

"Thank you Reaver but please… go away, I'm in a meeting… although one quick question, why are you all wet?" Elizabeth couldn't help but ask. Reaver's smile immediately faded and he once again sent a glare in Embers direction.

"Hehehe…. That was me; I pushed him into the river back in Industrial." Ember chuckled innocently, although it was obvious she was extremely pleased with herself. She then placed her hands behind her head and seemed to get a somewhat bored look on her face. "Well, since it appears that you guys really have no use for my presence… I'm gonna get going. Although Kaya, I probably won't be seeing you for a few days. I'm going to go adventuring for a bit."

"Whatever Ember, just try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum." Kaya said not even looking at her sister. Ember just smiled mischievously and walked past Reaver who also began to take his leave rather than hang around and continue to try and seduce Elizabeth… Ember gave him an extremely smug smirk as she passed him; but rather than follow Reaver out through the front door, Ember made her way out to the garden… where the great black dragon Skorm still lay unconscious. Although it appeared that his broken bones and wounds that he had sustained earlier from his fight with Avo were now completely healed. Ember walked up to the colossal dragon and opened up its large red eye.

"Wake up Skormy… I need a ride." Ember said as the dragons eye suddenly focused and Skorm proceeded to wake up.

"Ember? Grrr… where is that Logan?" Skorm's snarling voice hissed as he began scanning the area for his intended prey and he stood up onto all fours and he flared out his massive black wings in an intimidating manner. Ember just rolled her eyes.

"You lost Skorm, just leave it at that. Let Logan be… for now." Ember said flatly touching the black dragons massive, curling, ram-like horns… immediately the horns seemed to become softer… more pliable. Ember proceed to hop up onto the mighty beasts back and she sat down comfortably in between his shoulder blades, his now pliable horns twisted behind his head and Ember held onto them wrapping them around her arms; using them as a pair of reigns. "Besides I've got to make a quick stop back at home."

"What for?" Skorm grunted… more than a little unhappy about having to give up on his plans to off Logan. But he obeyed Ember nonetheless.

"I need to pick up my favorite dress." Ember said with an evil giggle as she pulled back on Skorm's horns, causing him to rear up onto his back legs and with a mighty flap of his wings the great dragon took to the air, carefully circling around the castles tower as he gained altitude. "After all…" Ember continued…

"I'm going to a party later tonight…"

(Meanwhile back inside the castle)

"Now… for the last thing you need to know." Kaya said ominously. "…First know, that one day… after my Grandparents were killed, Great-Grandfather Alexander was raising my Mother when a thought occurred to him… and he asked Skorm and Avo what they would do if ever he and his bloodline died out… and this is what he had no choice but to warn your mother about."

"What?" Elizabeth asked… although a knot of pure dread had long formed in her chest… she was dreading this, almost more than she dreaded the Crawlers arrival.

"Should Alexander's bloodline ever be eclipsed, Skorm and I will attack Albion… and we will loose a hell down upon it the likes that it has never seen." Avo said emotionlessly.

…A pin could be heard dropping from a mile away…

"W-What?" Elizabeth said looking up at Avo both confused and horrified. "Why would you attack Albion?"

"Because… it's our nature, your majesty." Avo said adjusting his position on the ceiling. "We always heeded Alexander's wishes because he was our father, and his family is our family and we do deeply love our family… and Albion is our home… but... both Skorm and I were once revered as Gods, something that is still extremely appealing to us. It was something we also loved… so if our family is gone; we'd reign a terror down on your world and blow it back to the dark ages, back to when we ruled… we'd make the people worship us once again, or die. Simple as that." Avo commented so casually that it was unnerving. But suddenly he flared out his wings in an intimidating manner. "Also your highness… if you thought the Crawler was bad… Skorm and I are much worse…"

"That… is the same warning that our Great-Grandfather Alexander gave your mother." Kaya said; her amethyst eyes suddenly seeming to come alive all the more. "Whether or not it had something to do with her death… All I know is that a week after she had this meeting with Alexander she was dead… I'm… I'm sorry Elizabeth, but you needed to know this. In case something should ever happen to me and Ember."

Elizabeth was silent… trying to process everything that Kaya had just told her. Quite frankly she thought that the Crawler was the worst thing she ever imagined fighting… she couldn't even begin to Fathom how bad going up against either Skorm or Avo would be… Logan was also silent, but for a very different reason… something Kaya had mentioned was dancing around in his mind…

"Kaya… are you immortal?" he asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper. Another flash illuminated through Kayas gem like eyes… but this was different than their last energetic flash… this one seemed to be filled with sorrow.

"Yes… I'm immortal, but… only up to a point." Kaya said softly. "It is part of the gift Skorm and Avo gave our family. Neither Ember, nor myself will age past our late twenties. Alexander just stopped aging when he took in the pair… anyone who marries into our family gets immortality; until their spouse passes… then they are mortal again. But our family is not entirely immortal; we can die if we sustain wounds grievous enough to kill us. Alexander died… in a fire that started in our home."

"Then of course… there is that one way." Avo mumbled… this earned him a sharp, angry look from Kaya.

"We don't need to go into that Avo!" she hissed angrily. But Avo seemed to focus all of his attention on Logan at this… his large creamy colored eyes suddenly became quite menacing. It sent a chill down Logan's spine

"I think we might… considering that you almost died that way Kaya. Just like your mother…" Avo said darkly… his voice was little more than a lethal hiss.

"Kaya?" Logan asked as Kaya put her face in her hands… unable to stop the silent tears from running down her face.

"Broken hearts… we can die from broken hearts." Kaya said through gritted teeth. Trying desperately to quell her tears but to no avail. "We can only fall in love once… with one person… forever… and unless we have something else to fill that emptiness should our heart break, we die. I… I don't know how my Great-Grandfather did it for so many hundred years."

That struck Logan deeper than any sword…

"I admit it… I loved you Logan. I loved you more than you can imagine! But… I can't do that again! I have only just picked up the pieces of my life from the last time! And now what? Even a blind man can see that you're sick." Kaya growled angrily at Logan who looked at her surprised.

"…Is it that obvious?" He questioned with a dry laugh… but clearly Kaya found nothing funny about it. But a light bulb just suddenly seemed to click on in Elizabeth's head.

"Can Avo heal my brother?" She asked hopefully… Avo's ears went backwards, like an angry dog.

"Yes…normally I can, but in your brothers case… I'm afraid I cannot." Avo said darkly.

"Why not?" Elizabeth demanded angrily. Although at this Avo released his grip on the ceiling, flared open his wings and descended on Elizabeth like a demonic bat. He got right in her face and he was emitting a low, menacing growl.

"Do not talk to me in that tone Your Majesty…" Avo threatened icily… "The reason I cannot heal your brother is because he has been touched by an element different than the one that I control… darkness… my magic cannot touch him; only one who has lordship over darkness can."

"You mean…" Elizabeth began.

"Only Skorm has the power to heal Logan… and he won't… no matter how much I beg him." Kaya finished having finally gotten a grip on her crying fit. She now stood before Logan…

Kaya's heart was now raw and bleeding before him…

Logan's own heart was crying with the knowledge of just how badly he had hurt the woman he loved…

Nothing good could come of this…