Chapter Seven – The Isle of Avalon
Both Sukko and Arthur were none the wiser and shrugged. Regardless, the Sorcerer didn't like the sound of it, especially with the Order of Elden now being completely corrupted. Everglade roared in frustration, at Sukko's lack of knowledge but having spend his entire life on the run, Everglade realised that Sukko was entirely self-taught, which made his skills even more impressive. He signed.
"Back when the Sorcerers first arrived in the Sol Empire from Mobius, thousands of years ago, they settled on the Isle of Avalon, which is why they are buried there." He heaved, looking at Sukko. A natural born Sorcerer from Mobius, the last of his kind, and he and his brother, Sonic were the last surviving decedents of those original Sorcerers. The ones who didn't leave. But the Sorcerers in Sol Empire didn't fare much better here then those left did on Mobius, succumbing to corruption and suffering persecution just like the Mobians. To be a Sorcerer, was to be cursed and no one understood that better then Sukko, but Everglade got the impression that Sorcerer's ability to withstand corruption wasn't entirely down to him.
He shared his DNA with a real Hero, in his identical twin, and the pure heart of gold that came with it. Sonic, the Blue Blur, of whom he'd heard of, was the reason why Sukko stayed strong, and now Everglade no longer feared him, proud to be by his side. He sighed.
"Back then, the ancient knowledge wasn't stored in a Library in books. It just was too dangerous, as the knowledge could have fallen into the wrong hands. It was stored in a fountain. A Fountain of Knowledge was created by the Sorcerers to allow for the gathering and acquisition of knowledge. On Avalon, there is a small stone basin where the fountain would have sat, it represented as a large ball of pure white light, dripping pure energy into the basin below. When touched, the ball of light of the fountain would endow the user with power and knowledge beyond their wildest dreams. In the right hands, it could be effectively used to generate brand new casts and enhance existing ones. Most of the casts the Order of Elden knows were born from a Fountain of Knowledge.
When the Sorcerers were purged from the Sol Empire, the Fountain of Knowledge went with them. With it dying, it scattered the knowledge everywhere. The Order of Elden had to start from scratch from the ashes, finding what it could and learning all it could. But some in the Order have desperately been trying to have the Fountain live again. To expand Elden far beyond the natural order of things. I, like many others, objected. Fountains are incredibly corrupting, having that much knowledge and power at your fingertips. Only those absolutely pure of heart could wield them and not succumb." He stammered, looking directly at Sukko. The Sorcerer gulped. Everglade cried. He continued. "But to create a Fountain of Knowledge has a heavy price tag, even back for the ancient Sorcerers. The sacrifice of a life. A life willing to give anything for the greater good for all Magic kind. But.." He heaved. "Riverton must have finally found a way to create a Fountain of Knowledge without having the incredible power of a Sorcerer. The fact that he's resorted to Black Magic doesn't surprise me, given the sacrifice required, and who knows how many more will die during the multiple Wizard group cast. I suspect everyone. In order to create a fountain, you have to surrender it knowledge, hence the emptying of the Library. If he succeeds, he have access to more knowledge and more power then anyone in the entire history of the Sol Empire, able to create new Magic and nothing we will have will be able to stop him. The Fountain will be created already corrupted and will take over everything using Riverton as a nothing more then a slave to it's will. The Sol Empire will fall." He cried, tears running down his face, completely numb.
Sukko processed the information, it made perfect sense. Ultimate corruption chasing the ultimate power, whatever the cost. But his growled, his eyes glowing blue slightly. He grabbed the Skunk by the shoulders. He gritted his teeth.
"How do we stop it?" He hissed. But Everglade just shook with terror.
"Once the cast had finished, like all Black Magic casts, then no, you can't. Unless your powerful enough to reverse it, Sorcerer." He grilled back at Sukko. The Hedgehog just stared. He had no idea, and didn't fancy it either. Everglade heaved. "No. The cast must be stopped before it's completion." He sighed. "So we have to intervene and soon." He panicked, but Arthur frowned.
"But how? How do we fight an island full of corrupted Wizards without Magic. I'm not yet trained and you don't have a staff. Master Sukko can't go alone, he'll be killed or worse. I doubt he's strong enough to fight off an entire group cast of the Order of Elden." He sniffed, terrified, but Everglade rounded on him.
"Well, we have to. We've got to do something. To train you and for myself to learn a new staff, it would take months." He heaved. But Sukko was still growling. Both of his comrades were right, for him to go alone would be suicide, but he was stunned that them were absolutely willing to risk their lives to go with him. He smirked and looked down at his hands. Yes, they had earned what he was about to next. He grinned.
"Months?" He sniggered, then he grabbed both Everglade and Arthur by the wrists. He growled, concentrating hard. "We don't have time for that." He added, and suddenly Sukko's eyes glowed bright blue and enormous streams of bright blue luminescent vaporous-like hue exploded from his hands and up the arms of his now somewhat frightened friends. From their wrists, elbow, then shoulders and finally their heads and minds, both the Skunk's and Wolf's eyes also glowing blue and both getting completely overwhelmed by the sheer power involved. They gasped and staggered, but Sukko held them firm, knowing exactly what he was doing. He giggled inside their minds.
{Welcome to my world.} He smiled and set to work. For Arthur, Sukko's magic activated his own Chaos Sorcery and suddenly his body exploded in it's own bright emerald green vapour-like luminescent hue.
But he had no means of controlling it. It was just too wild, but then suddenly, the knowledge came, as finally the Wolf pup understood. His now beloved Master was knowledge dumping him, giving him the information he desperately needed to wield his incredible gift. But being so young, his mind was just absorbing it like a sponge, exactly as Sukko was hoping and as he felt no resistance from the Wolf. Sukko didn't teach him everything. He was just too small for some of higher level casts, but he did teach the basics of Telekinesis, Illusions, Force-field generation, and Telepathy, giving him the physic means to defend himself. Sukko grinned at his apprentice, delighted at him following him diligently.
Then his mind then turned to Everglade. The Skunk had been casting Magic his entire adult life, but he'd never felt anything like this before. For the very first time, he felt Chaos Sorcery in his veins, and it was at it's absolutely rawest. It was completely wild, untamed, very unpredictable and extremely unstable. Everglade suspected that controlling it was an absolute nightmare, that it could be far more versatile to the ruthlessly powerful. You could do more with Chaos Sorcery then any other Chaos Power, if you truly Mastered the control. The Skunk's jaw dropped, as he felt Sukko manipulate the Magic with both incredible ease and delicacy. A true Master.
When he casted using his staff, the power was linear, easy to manipulate, the Magic responding to his every will, but here, he'd got nothing, and really showed just how heavily reliant Wizards were on the relics those original Sorcerers left behind. He hung his head in shame. But Sukko smiled, speaking inside the Skunk's mind.
{Don't be disheartened.} He grinned to very surprised Everglade, who snapped his head up to look at the Hedgehog. He tried to speak back but couldn't. That skill was the realm of a true Sorcerer only. He was heaving, but then Sukko raised an eyebrow, and his smirked, looking at Everglade's free hand. {Sound's like you need a new relic.} He added, to the now dumbfounded Wizard. Suddenly around the middle of Everglade's free hand he felt being conjured up out of thin air, a ring of power, as the thin streams of blue luminescent hue, wrapped around his finger. Some of the original relics were rings, but they were not favoured by the Order of Elden due their lack of power. Staffs were much stronger, but not this ring. Everglade could feel it being far more powerful then any staff. As it formed, Everglade saw it had simple design, in silver, and a large leaf shaped crystal in the centre, which slowly began to glow yellow, and now to Everglade, his more prized procession. He couldn't thank Sukko enough, but he did begin to feel the Sorcerer waning. But then he just smirked, as strong as always, wanting to get the job done. He could feel the Wizard's gratitude. He sniggered.
{Care to share something in return?} He asked. Creating the ring had hugely drained him and wasn't hugely keen on gifting something like that for free. Everglade immediately understood, but was very nervous. He knew what the Sorcerer was getting out. His knowledge of the Order of Elden. But despite the huge power the Hedgehog processed, Everglade now trusted him, and nodding, opened his mind to the mighty Sorcerer. Sukko dived for it, as Everglade felt him rifling through his memories, absorbing the knowledge with ruthless speed and efficiency. The information was extensive and to Sukko's delight, going to be extremely useful. Unfortunately, Everglade didn't know everything, so Sukko took what he could, as he believed now the Skunk wouldn't leave. Everglade shuddered. It felt uncomfortable, but not painful. He sighed and glanced over at Arthur, who as still in a deep trance.
Suddenly, someone was tickling him, as if running their fingers down his spine. He twitched. Then Arthur giggled. Soon they were back, going for his armpits and neck, seriously making Everglade smiled. Whomever it was, went after Arthur so badly, that he was howling with laugher. Grinning, Everglade looked around, there was no one to be seen, other then the Palace staff clearing up. Whomever was tickling them, they was entirely physic. Everglade, deeply frowning, looked up at Sukko, whose smirk quickly broadened. He grinned.
{Now who do think that is?} He sniggered, to Everglade's jaw hit the floor. Arthur giggling like mad, twitching all over the place, answered down the Telepathic link. He laughed.
{It's Master Sonic, isn't it.} He smiled, of which Sukko nodding then took both Everglade and Arthur, after he'd finished with them, deep down into the bowels of his mind. They immediately felt a second presence there, who was giggling like mad, extremely keen to meet his brother's new friends. Bouncy, very hyperactive, and somewhat child-like, it was definitely the Blue Blur. Sukko smiled, psychically stroking his twin, making him purr. He sighed.
{Sonikku and I were born with a Physic Link, the ability to feel and hear each other, inside each others mind, and normally we would. But we are currently stuck in different dimensions. I'm here in the Sol Empire and Sonikku is trapped back on Mobius. Even with all my Magic, I can't teleport between dimensions, and Sonikku needs all seven Chaos Emeralds, which just after defeating Eggman, the evil tyrant of Mobius, they've gone missing.} He shrugged. He only suspected that, he didn't know for sure, but the fact that Sonic hadn't come for him yet, and the information he knew before Eggman's final fight, he believed it to be so. He sighed. {We can no longer speak to each other, and it's crucifying me.} He admitted, very disheartened, and Arthur quickly noticed that he wasn't the only one. Sonic also seemed to have suddenly lost his bounce. He frowned.
{Something's wrong.} He asked. Sukko nodded, almost in tears.
{Yes, but I don't know what. Sonikku can't tell me because he can't speak, but also he won't tell me either, though his emotions. He's keeping it to himself. Whatever it is, it's not life threatening, so I don't need to come running but he also not very happy about it.} He deeply sighed, as he pulled Everglade and Arthur from his mind, Sonic waving them off. Sukko sighed. {When all this is over, I will find him again.} He smiled, utterly gut determined to do just that. There was yet more sadness.
Everglade sighed. He felt for Sukko, he really did. He naively believed that with Sukko being so powerful that he didn't have any problems, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. He heard that identical twins were special in some way, but what Sukko and Sonic shared was amazing. They were so incredibly close, and being separated this much was hurting them of both. He did know of way to get them together. Blaze and the Sol Emeralds could send Sukko home, back to Mobius, but right now, that was completely the wrong place for the mighty Sorcerer to be. With the highly illegal status of Chaos Sorcery there, he definitely wasn't welcome and now he was beginning to carve out himself as a Hero in his own right here, and desperately needed he was to.
Sonic could be brought here, to the Sol Empire, but did they even have the right to do that. He was extremely well known, galaxy and dimension wide, as the true Hero of Mobius. He deserved to be home, and the people there deserved to keep him. Everglade gulped. That was going to tough, whichever way the twins choose to solve it. He could feel the same incredible power on Sonic through the Physic Link as Sukko had, and now fully understood why he was so famously well known as the Hero. They had the power.
Almost done, Sukko remembered one last thing. He smirked. {As for the task in hand.} He leered. {Sorry.} He added, to the confusion of both Arthur and Everglade, when suddenly they both screamed in enormous pain, as a huge amount of Chaos Sorcery concentrated on each of their wrists, building up an intense heat, and burning them very badly, as though branding them. They both tried to pull away, but Sukko held them firm, gritting his teeth. He heaved. {Look, I'm really sorry.} He cried. {But please, don't fight me. You will need the Princess to trust you.} He added, panicking. Both his comrades stopped battling him, but Arthur was left in tears when he finally let them go.
As Sukko let Everglade go, he fully activated the ring, leaving the Wizard's eyes glowing bright yellow. The Magic flowing beautifully from the new relic into his mind, ready to be wielded. It was incredible but the pain sliced straight through it. He was shocked as he turned over his wrist, which was bright red, and to now see that it had a small jet black brand mark on it, similar to a tattoo, but it was of the very last image the Wizard was expecting to see. He immediately recognised it, and his jaw dropped, hitting the floor, instantly forgiving the Sorcerer. He grinned.
"Oh, you clever Hedgehog." He praised, agreeing with the Sorcerer that the Princess would now trust him, in spite of everything that had happened. Sukko smirked, but Arthur was still crying, completely unbelieving that his Master would do this to him. But it was Everglade who comforted him. He smiled, grabbing his sore wrist and turning it over, the same black brand mark was now there. He sighed.
"Please forgive the Sorcerer. He gave you that for a reason." He smiled, pointing to the mark, to Sukko raised an eyebrow, folding his arms. He was having a breather from the intense high-level casting. Everglade smiled, as Arthur nodded but unfortunately looked none the wiser. He heaved.
"You don't know what it means, do you?" He asked, Arthur shook his head. But Everglade grabbed by the shoulders, making sure the get the Wolf cub's complete attention. He growled. "You must keep it to yourself, don't let anyone know you have it, and only ever show it to the Princess. She will know what it means and will help you." he ordered, Arthur nodded, but then he frowned.
"But how do we get the Princess? Night is really falling now." He asked, but he and Everglade just looked at Sukko. Arthur was right, they didn't have long now. With his comrades now armed, Sukko was deep in thought, trying to work that out and it really showed. It was weighing up every option from what he knew and what he'd just learned from Everglade. He growled.
"The House of Elden is significantly more powerful then I can given then credit, and we need to be careful not the underestimate them." He huffed. Everglade nodded. Sukko growled, the tiredness now creeping in. "And we can't fight the corrupted Order on somewhere as powerful as Avalon, where I suspect, like Elden Fortress, it's heavily impregnated with Magic and we would just be killed." He heaved. Everglade nodded again, still clueless as to what to do. Sukko sighed and looked back at the Palace and then at Arthur. Then he had an idea. He grinned, looking excited. "We need to remove the Order of Elden from Avalon to more neutral ground, where we can fight them and take them out one-on-one." He smirked, indicating the Palace with his head. "And us going to Avalon, running in, grabbing the Princess, and high tailing it out, straight back here, would do it." He sniggered. But Everglade gasped, not agreeing at all.
"But the Palace is a labyrinth. Not even I know it, and I doubt you do, and will we need to, to do what your asking." He gulped, but Sukko pointed at the Wolf pup. He smiled.
"Arthur, that's were you come in. Me and Everglade will go to Avalon and get the Princess. You stay here. Use the skills I have just taught you to help the staff repair the Palace. Make it look as though nothing happened here, and learn it. Every room, every corridor. We will need a highly detailed map of the place when we get back in order to beat the Order, and quickly. We don't have long." He ordered to a very broad smile across Everglade's face. He was well aware of how just good the Wolf pup's memory was, as they both watch him disappear inside the Palace. With that level of information they had a significant chance of beating the Order of Elden here. If they got them back here. Everglade smiled.
"Your good." He praised. But Sukko just shrugged.
"It runs in the family." He giggled. "My brother didn't win against Eggman by chance." He added. Everglade nodded, now somewhat proud to be part of it, but he was suddenly disheartened. He sighed.
"This won't be easy, and it won't go according to plan. We are about to descend into hell." He gulped, but Sukko comforted him. He heaved.
"All we can do, is the best we can with what we have." He nodded, and then he held his hand out. Everglade looked at, knowing what it meant. He frowned.
"You'll never be able to teleport directing onto Avalon. There's too much Magic there." He heaved, but Sukko cut across him, well aware of this. He had the same problem at Elden Fortress. Orbing may not have been Chaos Sorcery but the power could still be interfered with using Magic. The process of Orbing and Chaos Sorcery was very similar even though their origins were different. Very irritating. He growled.
"Yes, but I can get us close enough to fly in. The knowledge you gave me had helped me work out a route in." He smiled. But Everglade stared.
"Fly?" He breathed. But Sukko just winked and waggled his hand for the Wizard to take it, with a look on his face that clearly said 'trust me'. Everglade sighed, smiling back, he nodded, and finally took the hand. Suddenly, the explosion of bright white Orbs appeared all around them, and they both ascended upwards, and away. The process both smooth and fascinating to Everglade. But suddenly, they landed just above the ocean, in pitch darkness, Everglade screaming expecting to hit the water but they didn't. Sukko, had grabbed him, a hand over the mouth to silence him, as the light of the moon showed them the way, and the fact that Sukko was above and behind the Skunk, holding him strong, hovering beautifully in absolute thin air. Everglade frowned, now somewhat frightened, and Sukko felt him, so the Sorcerer dived for his mind in order to talk to him, the Wizard not stopping him. He giggled.
{Quiet.} He whispered, {Avalon was just in sight on the horizon.} He added. Everglade looked and nodded, but Sukko just sniggered. {Yes, I can fly, but, no, it's not Magic. } He smiled, only to have the Wizard pull his hand off of him, turn around and stare at him. But the Sorcerer just grinned. {Flight is nothing like Chaos Sorcery, in fact, and can't be interfered by it in anyway, unlike the Orbing. I have two Chaos Powers, not just one, like my brother. He had Super-Speed, and Chaos Wield. I have Chaos Sorcery and Super-Flight. I inherited it from my father, as you and I both know, true flight using Magic is impossible, even as a Sorcerer, as Super-Flight itself is exceptional rare. It was believed that my father was the only person in the whole of Mobius that had it. Now I do, but I rarely use it, to be honest, since I acquired the Orbing. My method of Teleporting isn't Chaos Sorcery either, it's White-lighter. Teleport can be done via Magic but I don't have that Chaos Sorcery technique, Sonikku does.} He sighed.
Everglade gasped. He heard of the White-lighters and had always believed that the guardian angels to be nothing more then a fairytale. He gulping realising that if White-lighter blood was in the veins of the twins, then it explained the intensely white pure hearts they shared. Sukko sighed, looking up at the island. {Because my flight is entirely separate from my Magic, I should be able to fly us straight in, right under the radar. They shouldn't be able to detect us, unless we cast, which I would suggest you leave that until the absolute last resort. This is a sneak in, grab her and get out. Job done.} He ordered, of which Everglade immediately agreed. He didn't want an all-out fight on the island either. He nodded, and slowly, several feet above the ocean, they flew in towards Avalon.
Blaze was having better days. She never been on Avalon before and quite frankly, there was nothing here. Avalon was a small island that was covered in trees and foliage. Right in the centre, there was a ring of large grey boulders, which had lit touches upon them and the centre of which was this small stone basin sat upon a burial ground, where she had been thrown to her knees in front of. She was bound and had been gaged, but she had just used her flames to burn that off, but the bindings were so strong that she couldn't use her Pyrokenetic powers to break free.
Sol Energy and Chaos Energy can't fight each other, they energies were so different that they would just slice through one other, so the corrupted Wizards had used physics against her. Her bindings were metal and they had used their Magic to set the melting point so high, that Blaze would tire long before burned her way through them. She seriously doubted that using the Sol Emeralds which she still processed would help her here. Burning Blaze was her ultimate weapon but it heavily drained her, and right now, crashing was not a good idea.
She had screamed blue murder at the Order of Elden for kidnapping her, but she had been completely ignored. She was now surrounded by the Wizards on all sides, as they slowly began to gather around her, all now in jet black robes and hats, and sporting deep, blood red eyes. Now she was frightened. What had happened to them? She knew most of them, and were good people. But now, no, as she saw Riverton take his position opposite her, his eyes glowing red raw. He raised his hands and began to chant in a language that she didn't know, his fellow Wizards following along with him, all of them bobbing their head up and down.
It had begun.
Sukko had safely landed himself and Everglade onto the island undetected and had quietly creeped up to the circle. Peering over the boulders, Everglade was delighted to see the Princess was alright but immediately swore under his breath, gulping hard, ducking out of sight. He grabbed Sukko.
"The cast has already started and the Chaos Sorcery is beginning to build. We only have a matter of minutes to get her out, before the Black Magic becomes irreversible." He breathed, now panicking. As the Wizards chanted, Riverton concentrated his now bright red crystal of his staff at the centre of the basin, about three feet above, and recited an incredibly powerful incantation. Suddenly, all of the knowledge stolen from the Order Of Elden's Library suddenly began to emerge as a highly concentrated ball of bright white light. Slowly, with the chanting the ball began to grow. Suddenly, a Wizard grabbed Blaze from behind and put a knife to her throat. Her sacrifice was required to complete the cast. But the Princess just gritted her teeth and exploded her Pyrokinesis, badly burning her capture, forcing him to drop the knife. Growled, the Wizard scrambled to his feet, and thrusted his staff sharply into her back, while performing a cast under his breath.
She growled back in anger, but her flames were rebelled by the Magic. She could have punched through the Chaos Sorcery with her Sol Energy Powers but as the ball of bright white light of the Fountain of Knowledge began to turn red, oozing deep darkness everywhere, she cried in absolutely terror. Now she was frightened. Sukko grabbed Everglade, his face emotionless and his mind still inside his head. He seen enough. He growled.
{Go in, grab the Princess and get out.} He ordered but Everglade frowned, as Sukko was about to leave. He growled.
"Where are you going?" He whispered. But Sukko just smirked.
{To cause a distraction.} He sniggered. {I'm destroying that thing.} He growled, but Everglade squealed in desperation, clinging onto the Sorcerer, not convinced that as even possible.
"Please, you can't. Destroying the Fountain at this point, will permanently erase all of the knowledge within it. That's everything. The entire history of the Order of Elden." He sniffed, but Sukko was having none of it. He hissed.
{There is no Order of Elden.} He spat, in Everglade's mind. That was brutal, but the Wizard stared, and then finally nodded, hanging his head, but he wasn't happy about it. The Sorcerer was right. With this level of corruption, there was nothing left. Time to wipe everything and start over, hopefully for a better future. But it wasn't going to be easy, but as Everglade realised, he wasn't alone. Finally, he let Sukko go and with that he left, before Everglade could say another word. Now he really shaking, alone, watching a Black Magic cast of which if he dared intervene in alone, would immediately get him killed. But he frowned. What kind of distraction? Would could the Sorcerer do to panic these now heavily corrupted Wizards. They were now the most powerful then they had ever been. Regardless, time was seriously pressing. Everglade gulped.
'Come on, Sukko.' He thought. 'Quickly'. He added. He was heaving with every second. The Sorcerer had snuck around to the opposite end of the circle, the side of which that had trees, and thus greater shading from the moonlight, and therefore more darkness to easily to hide. He suspected he'd need them for cover, doing what he was about to do, especially when dived for Everglade and got an idea of the layout of Avalon. He sighed. Again, it has been years since he'd done this cast. It used to be a regular back when he was fighting Eggman, in the background for Sonic, before he became a Doctor. But that was then, this was now, and he had grown hugely into a fully fledged, extremely powerful Sorcerer in the last two days, and yes, he had been loving it, once he got his confidence back. It felt so right, like he was meant to do this. Like he was meant to be here. But how? He still didn't know but it didn't stop from messing with Everglade but not telling him absolutely everything. He giggled. Where was the fun in that?
That increase in confidence, made, what was about to do, relatively straightforward. He took to the sky in the very stale air, hovering in the deep shadows of the trees. No one noticed and all was still. Sukko smirked. Not for much longer. He could feel the Black Magic build beneath him. He growled. Time to stop it.
He looked to the sky, and built up his own Magic, but far quicker. He concentrated hard and he raised both his hands, clawing his fingers. A bright ball of blue light appeared inside each hand, him growling very loudly. Filled with raw anger, he threw his hands skyward, the ball of Magic thrown upwards, he touched his two middle fingers under his thumb but keeping the other two straightened, on each hand and immediately an extremely fast, bright blue lighting strike came out of nowhere and struck the Fountain of Knowledge, right in the centre of the circle, missing Blaze by inches and throwing Riverton backwards off his feet. He screamed, as the chanting immediately stopped. Sukko pushing the Magic further, send down another lightning strike, followed by another, and another. Each one expertly hit their mark, right at the bright red ball of light that was the fountain. Riverton screamed, desperate to void the lightning. But Sukko bore down on the Black Magic, sending down further strikes. It was the 'Rain of Fire', but a highly concentrated form of the cast. It pushed Sukko to his limit, as the lightning strikes just kept coming, until hundreds where raining down on Avalon, extremely fast. Finally, unable to take anymore, the bright red ball of light what was the newborn Fountain of Knowledge exploded, with a high pitched shriek, shattering into millions of shards, before vanishing forever. The knowledge within gone, never to return.
There was outright panic. The Wizards just ran is all directions, screaming at the failure of their cast and fearing the sky itself was out to get them, running for their lives. Everglade, still at edge, screamed. Gasping like mad, he peered over the boulders again, to see in the sky above him, the Sorcerer's tell tale glow of his bright blue eyes. He gulped.
"Lightning!" He stammered to himself. "He can wield lightning." He heaved, and he was only having the Sorcerer himself scream his name, inside his head, did Everglade finally move.
Blaze was scrambling across the floor, desperately trying to get away, but with both her hands and feet tied, she was struggling. She screamed, absolutely terrified. The lightning fell all around, know that if struck she'd be killed. Unbeknown to her, Sukko was doing everything he could to avoid her, but he was waning again. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. Blaze had no idea how this was happening. Was it the weather, or considering where they were, Magic? She screamed again, as more lightning fell, but then jumped a mile when someone grabbed her from behind, desperately trying to move her away. The person spoke, also somewhat panicked himself.
"Princess, please, come with me." He begged but as expected, Blaze dug in her heels, going nowhere. She growled.
"Everglade!" She spat, throwing him off of her, and then rounding on him. She was a very surprised to see him without the Wizard's rode and hat, but she didn't really care. She scowled. "I knew you were in on this." She hissed, indicating the Black Magic. But Everglade put up both his hands and rapidly shook his head. He gulped.
"I swear, Princess, I'm not. I haven't been corrupted, probably the only Wizard out of the Order of Elden who hasn't. Please." He begged, shaking, still terrified of the lightning himself. "Come with me." He added, but Blaze just stared at him. But not at him, but his wrist, and at his black brand mark, surrounded by pink skin, slightly hidden by his glove. She grabbed it, revealing the mark, of which, with the Rain of Fire, Everglade had completely forgotten about. Her royal family Seal. The exactly same mark that Blaze had had tattoo on her guards. She stared and noticed that it had a very light royal blue tint to it, as well as the brand new ring he now bore on the same hand. A now very familiar colour. She looked up at Everglade.
"Sukko?" She breathed. But Everglade just pointed upwards, still shaking, but now smirking, as he now realised that their lives were not in danger from the Rain of Fire.
"Sukko!" He agreed, to Blaze's total astonishment, her jaw hitting the floor. The show of pure Magical power here was mind blowing. But then Everglade grabbed her again. He panted. "We have to go." He heaved, as he noticed lightning strikes were begin to die down. This time Blaze didn't object and allow herself to be carried from the circle. But they didn't go far, before Everglade set her down and then mumbled under his breath, his new ring and eyes glowing brightly, he successfully reversed on cast on Blaze's metal bindings and she was able to melt through them and break free. But they got caught, as Everglade's cast was detected, as they were immediately surrounded but Wizards in black robes with red eyes, forcing Everglade to grab Blaze and run for it.
They managed to break through, but within minutes, they hit the edge of the island and the ocean. Trapped, they were forced to turn around and face their pursuers. Everglade was terrified, but Blaze stood her ground, surrounding herself in flames. She could have easily flown off the island, as she had the ability to fly, but she wasn't strong enough to carry a passenger, and leaving Everglade behind wasn't an option. Soon, they were surrounded, the corrupted Wizards closing in. But then Blaze growled, suddenly realising that they were completely alone and that someone was very inconspicuous by his absence. She panicked.
Where was Sukko?