Despair… anguish… sorrow… these very words echoed in the room as Arkayna looked on, all hope leaving her eyes. All she could do was stare at the broken bone statues of her parents helplessly. With her mouth agape, her saddened eyes seemingly staring into space, she slowly made her way to the center of the room, sinking to her knees upon reaching the pieces. She then picked up the severed head of her petrified mother, with that same expression the moment she got turned to bone.
"Mom…" Arkayna whimpered. As if on cue, a waterfall of tears flowed down her face. "Mooooooooooommmm!" She yelled, facing the ceiling. From there, the distraught princess wailed uncontrollably, pressing her forehead against her mother's.
Piper had tears of her own shedding, the event hitting very close to home. Yet another pair of innocent parents lost to that monster. She held onto Em, who also had tears to shed. Ever since working at the palace, the Queen had been good to the young Dwarf, almost treating her like a second daughter, to say nothing that she would never have met Arkayna, if the Queen didn't offer her to work at the Royal Palace, little more than a year ago.
And then there was Zarya. She still wore that shocked expression, hardly moving a muscle. Flashbacks began to rear their ugly head of that terrible raid on her village, leading to the murder of her adoptive parents. At that moment, her birth mother seemed to have shared a similar fate, before Zarya even had a chance to know her nonetheless. It was like losing her adoptive parents all over again. The young rebel once again formed her own tears. Unlike her sisters in arms, however, these were tears of rage.
"Why?!" Zarya snarled, her eyes narrowed and teeth bared. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Suddenly, a lurking shadow was moving about.
"Is it not obvious?" Creed's voice could be heard, catching the girls off guard. "Power, fear, wealth, the ability to rule with divine right. In truth, is that not what royalty is all about?" There Creed stood, just outside the room as he continued. "That was my endgame, all these years of toiling under the radar of the Royal Family, so that one day, I alone would become king. Now that the King and Queen are out of the way, it's now a matter of tying up the loose ends."
Just like that, Zarya went straight for Creed, only for a gate to drop right in front of her, just before she could even lay a hand on the vile serpent. "Get in here and fight, you two faced coward!" She roared.
"Ha! As much as I'd love to teach you a lesson, Moonwolf..." Creed then pulled out what appeared to be a remote control. "It's feeding time for my little pet."
Without further adieu, he pressed the button and a massive gate, just behind the girls, began to slowly open. The girls assumed their battle positions. All, except the still grieving Arlayna, oblivious to the world around her.
Once the gate fully opened, a loud roar could be heard, the breath which followed smelled like rotting corpses. Then, right out of the shadows, a fifty foot long basilisk slithered out, hissing and snarling.
"Y-yeah, that's not a little pet." Em sqeaked
"Dinner time, Dorog" Creed said. "Bon appetit!"
Assuming a striking position, the basilisk, apparently named Dorog, struck down with all fury. Piper and Zarya quickly jumped out of harm's way. Arkayna, however, still did not budge. "Oh my goblin!" Em yelled. She had to literally tackle Arkayna out of the way just so she wouldn't get eaten. Miraculously, the hungry basilisk missed the remains of the King and Queen.
Before the beast could strike again, Zarya shot a rope around its' jaws. She then ran up its back and stood atop its head, ready to deliver a fatal arrow. Dorog's thrashing, however, made it difficult to retain footing, and Zarya fell off. Piper then distracted him with a few of her hoop, to which the beast started to chase her down.
Having got up, Em brushed off some of the dust on her, and tried to help Arkayna on her feet. "Arkayna? Arkayna?!"
"Mom" Was all Arkayna could say, for she was all she could think about.
"Arkayna, snap out of it!" Em said forcefully, shaking Arkayna. "We need to fight together!"
"Why?!" Arkayna said, catching Em off Guard. "Don't you see, Em?! There's nothing left to fight for! I failed. I have no reason to go on… just let him eat me."
Without warning, Arkayna found herself slapped on her right cheek. When Arkayna turned, she was surprised to see a furious looking Em. The princess couldn't believe her eyes. Did Em, one of the sweetest people she knew, just slap her? "I can't believe what I'm hearing!" The angry dwarf said. "After all we've been through together, after what we had to go through just to get to here, you just give up?!"
"But...Em-" Arkayna tried to say, only to be cut off.
"No, you listen to me now!" Em grabbed Arkayna's shoulders, trying so hard to get through. "You're not just a dainty princess, you're not just the Mysticon Dragon Mage, you are Arkayna Goodfey! Your last name alone is legendary, the Royal Family were, and still are, brave warriors who defended the realm for generations! And if you don't stand for what your family fought for, who will?"
"But.. but.."
"Arkayna." Em spoke tearfully. "I can't begin to imagine what it's like to lose family. But I know that family is ever growing." Both turned to look at Zarya and Piper, struggling to dodge Dorog's strikes. "And right now, we need to help the family we know can still save."
Em's words sank in very quickly for Arkayna. She knew her best friend was right, no more sitting around feeling sorry for herself. Wiping the remaining tears from her eyes, Arkayna wore an expression that spelled determination. That at least put a smile on Em's face. With no time to lose, they both jumped right into the fray, joining their fellow Mysticons.
"Let's do this girls, It's Magic Hour!" Arkayna said, strong and sure.
"Well, this should be fun." Creed said with a smug grin.
Dorog dove down at the girls, only for them all to disperse, and hitting him with projectiles from their weapons. Dorog was taking damage, hissing in pain, much to Creed's dismay. In a fit of rage, Dorog then attempted another strike, which again met with failure, only getting a mouth full of concrete. Piper's hoops bounced off the walls, hitting the beast from all sides each time they bounced. The creature attempted a tail whip, which was resulted in Em cutting off it's tail, causing it to screech in pain.
Creed began to panic once again. This was his trump card, his final chance to axe the Mysticons off. If Dorog was defeated, and the Mysticons broke free, the evil crime lord wouldn't have a prayer. There was only one logical choice, he had to get out of there and bury the evidence. With that, he ran off yet again.
Finally seeing a chance to end this, The Mysticons summoned their bracers and fired their spirit animals right at Dorog, pushing him right at the small gate, his head busting said gate down. Having got up, shaking his head a little, Dorog made one last strike, just only for Zarya to shoot him in the eye with a mystic arrow. Screeching in pain, the beast opened his mouth very wide. Wide enough for Arkayna to use her staff to blast right inside the his mouth, burning his insides. With his dying breath, Dorog dropped fast and hard.
Arkayna, Piper, and Em panted pretty heavily. All three began to look at each other, and slowly started laughing in their triumph. Though this wasn't as impressive as defeating the spectral dragon, it was still exhilarating. "Wow, what a rush huh girls?" Arkayna chuckled.
"You bet!" Piper exclaimed, "first we were like, "whoa!" Then he was like, "grrr!" I mean, "Wowie!""
Arkayna then looked at Em, smiling. "Hey, Em?"
"Hm?" Em replied.
"Thanks for what you said. I really needed to hear that. Honestly, I have no idea what I'd do without you. Or all of you for that matter." she then turned to Piper, walking toward her with a sympathetic expression. "I'm so sorry Piper. I really had no idea about your parents. I did something very stupid." She said, looking down.
Arkayna was expecting the young elf to yell at her like she did at the roof tops. Yet, to her surprise, she found herself wrapped within Piper's arms, hugging her tightly. Arkayna could not help but hug her back.
"So, does this mean we're good?"
"Yeah but… what about your parents?" Piper asked, her tone ever so disheartened. The girls then took another moment to inspect the crumbled statues. Though they didn't shed tears, the sight wasn't any less heart breaking.
"I think we can still save them." Em spoke out in a hopeful tone. "Maybe Zorlon and Malveron know a spell that can put them back together. Don't you think?" Em raised a point. The statues maybe crumbled, but at least they haven't been reduced to dust. If there was a spell to restore them, the remains were salvageable.
"At this point, anything is worth a try." Arkayna said, having new hope in her eyes. "All we need to do is…" Arkayna trailed off, her eyes suddenly laced with worry. "Wh-where's Zarya?"
That was when it occurred to both Piper and Em that Zarya went missing. Apparently she snuck away after their victory . They looked around the room, then at the broken down gate.
"You don't she went after Creed do you?" Em asked.
"Oh, Zarya" Arkayna whispered. She and the others knew all to well of Zarya's tendency to hold serious grudges, past experiences considered. Not to mention, she mentioned that Creed was at the top of her list. After an event like this, Arkayna knew her twin was out for blood. "Guys, call Zorlon and the others, help them with my parents. I'll find Zarya."
Both Em and Piper nodded their heads yes, to which Arkayna raced off, hoping to find Zarya before she did something really, really bad.
The next chapter should be the last, or if not then certainly second to last. Just have to workout a few kinks to know for sure, the last thing I want to do is overload each chapter.
As always, feel free to leave a review. Hope you enjoyed.