CHAPTER 2
Agram grinned evilly. The other magi had already scampered for cover, leaving the Great Magus Kyros and Agram facing each other, ready to duel. The core hyren, hovering a few meters above Agram, was sort of smirking malevolently at Tony. With no intention of stalling time, he dreamed up his first creature, a furok. It was a fearsome beast with gleaming green fur, a pair of gigantic shielded horns, and sharp claws that glittered in the darkness of the dueling grounds. However, its size was no bigger than the hyren's.
"Is that your best? Hahahah!" Agram said. He expected a larger, and more ferocious creature from his eminent opponent.
"Size doesn't matter! This is the creature that defeated you, Agram!" replied Tony.
"Hahahaha!! Let us see if it can now! Eradicate him, my beast!!" And so, the duel started.
Agram's core hyren screeched at an ear-drum exploding pitch, and thus, charged at the furok. The furok then leapt aside, evading the hyren's attack. The core hyren immediately swung its enormous wings towards the furok, sending the second attack. That too, was dodged by the furok. It was now right under the hyren's wings, in front of its vulnerable torso bones.
"Now, furok!!" Tony ordered.
The furok's horns sparkled with energy. It aimed straight for the hyren's exposed torso...
"KRRRAAAAAAWWWWKK!!!"
A blinding light flashed. The furok, Tony, and all of the other magi were silent, motionless, and petrified.
The furok's horns...cracked, and shattered.
The core hyren's eyes narrowed with total brutality. It stood in front of the furok, which writhed violently on the ground, moaning and roaring for the pain caused by its broken horns. Tony Jones...was frozen.
"Th...this...can't be happening..."
Agram, who was floating about in the darkness, smiled venomously upon the moans and groans of the feeble and brittle furok. "Finish it."
The core hyren soared high into the dark sky of the Core. With a crack of thunder, it dived straight towards the suffering furok on the ground; its sharp beak aimed right for it. The hyren's body was covered in the Core's darkness, but suddenly, it started glowing.
"What?!" Agram was startled with the mysterious glow on his hyren. "What spell are you trying, Kyros?!" He had never seen his creatures glow so brightly before, moreover in the darkness that swirled mightily throughout the Core. "Whatever you're doing, it will never work!!" Agram pointed his ring to Tony and a blast of Crushing Darkness flew out.
"Aaarrgh!!" It hit Tony and sent him flying towards the other magi who were hiding behind a pile of oversized bones and skeletons. Fortunately, a soft, bushy hand-shaped hunk of grass was created by Zaya, the Weave elder to catch Tony.
"Hahahah!! You're so easy to..." Agram started, but instantly stopped when he realized his hyren glowing even more vibrant than ever. And it continued to brighten even more, and more, and more...until...
"ZZZZZIIIIIIWWW!!!"
The charging core hyren had disappeared. There was no explosion at all, it just...disappeared. Therefore, the furok was saved...but by who?
Tony Jones came running back into the battlefield, called back his injured furok and it vanished into his ring. "Please rest, furok."
Agram, who was still standing in the middle of the field, gawked skeptically at the sky his core hyren was once where. "What...the..." He couldn't believe that his mighty core hyren just disappeared into thin air like that.
"Must be those stupid magi back there..." he thought. But no, if even the Great Magus Kyros' furok couldn't stand a chance against it, certainly no other magi could just...vanish his hyren.
"Grr...I will not let anyone have powers exceeding mine...YOU SHALL ALL DIE!!!"
Agram ascended slowly into the air, his body was enveloped by darkness. The Core started to rumble. A cataclysm was coming...
"What?! He can't cast Cataclysm!! Its an Arderial spell!!" said all of the Arderians that were hiding there.
"Maybe its not a Cataclysm," Gia said.
"But whatever it is, it's going to be destructive and devastating as a Cataclysm is..." replied M'lady Iyori, looking at Agram who seemed to be draining and consuming the Core's darkness. He was completely in the middle of a thunderstorm, a clash of dark energy that swirled and gathered around him. He was going to borrow all of the Core's powers...
And Tony Jones couldn't just let him do that. "Don't think you've won, Agram!" As he said that, a leaf hyren, a cliff hyren, a thunder hyren, and an ash hyren appeared. "Attack him!!"
Tony's hyrens blasted their strongest powers. Flaring fireballs, bolts of electricity, razor sharp leaves, and a mountain of rocks and boulders flew towards Agram.
"You cannot stop me!!" Agram bellowed. A black energy shield materialized around him, impeding the attacks of Tony's hyrens.
"Damn!! What has made him so powerful?!", thought Tony, strengthening the clench of his fists that were now crackling with white energy.
Back in the chaos of the panicking crowd of magi, the Avatar of D'resh noticed Tony standing helplessly in front of the darkness-devouring Agram. He couldn't let the Moonlands fall to the hands of the Core so easily. He called out for the elders of every region. "Hear me wise elders of the Moonlands!" They gathered around him.
"The Great Magus Kyros is falling. It is up to us elders to stop Agram now," Avatar said.
"But it's just a matter of time before he throws a Cataclysm at us!" said Nimbulo.
"And he's got that...shield around him!" continued Orwin.
Avatar replied, "Yes, I see. However, we..."
"KAAAZZZIIIWWWW!!!"
An illuminating light shook the Core. The shield that surrounded Agram was gone, however he still continued consuming and devouring the darkness that slowly immersed into his palms and body. Tony's hands were stretched forward, aimed at Agram. A rapidly fading light was seen in his palms. He cast a Cleansing.
"Hahaha! Your shield's gone, Agram!!" Tony said.
Agram didn't look very happy. "You..."
"Hyrens!! Attack him now!!" Tony ordered his hyrens to attack Agram while he was still vulnerable.
The hyrens charged at Agram with extraordinary speed. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of Agram. Its hands reached forward...
"BOOOOOOOOM!!!"
Small pieces of animite scattered throughout the place. The hyrens were no where to be seen. Tony looked at the figure in front of Agram. It was Morag.
"Morag?!" cried Nimbulo, Mobis and Orwin simultaneously (Mobis and Orwin helped Nimbulo fight Morag). "I thought we..."
"Ignorant fools. Do not interrupt my master," Morag said gravely. His red hood was slightly torn and his bone armor was damaged; some of the bones were missing and the others were cracked and fractured. Only his left eye could be seen glowing under his hood and it was very narrowed. "Particularly you, Kyros! You..." Morag stopped his words when he noticed a very big structure looming closer and closer in front of him. It was...a coiled finger.
"TOING!!"
Morag flew past Agram with a speed of Mach 5. The stretched finger, now released from the coil, belonged to a gigantic...machine, a robot. It was Rayje's Construct.
It stood tall, towering over all the magi in the area, including Agram, who had paused the charging process. He slowly lifted his head, to see the face of a giant colossus. "Th...this is..."
The construct wore a gold helmet with a "Y" shaped hole in the front. Inside the helmet was black except for two yellow, round eyes that lit even brighter when confronting the enemy. The front of Rayje's Construct, the chest, was shaped like a ship's front. Behind the helmet, attached to the back of the construct, was a ship's sail. Now it is obvious that the construct could transform into a ship that Rayje uses to travel. With four arms and two feet, its whole body was made out of an unknown metal. The body parts were mostly covered with gold-bordered plates. It was run by some sort of mechanism (it's a robot), a word that most magi in the Moonlands rarely hear. Now, the 100 foot high Rayje's Construct stands in front of Agram; its eyes lit up fiercely for he was the master of the Core.
Rapid footsteps followed by clanks and clatters were heard by everyone. Tony and all the other magi hiding in the pile of the oversized bones looked back. A magi with short hair in the front but really long at the back came running into the scene. It was Rayje. "Yo! Construct! Wait for m...*clank*...OOF!!" He tripped, mouth first. "Augh...what is this?! Filthy Core sand..." He got up. "Yo, construct! I said wai..."
"CLUNK!! OOF!!"
Rayje had brought all his legendary relics with him; Rayje's Sword, Rayje's Band, Rayje's Belt, Rayje's Shield, and Rayje's Boots. His relics were all made out of some sort of material like gold, which was heavy. They clanked and clattered on his legendary armor as he ran struggling.
The other magi stared at the was-legendary Rayje with despondency.
"......"
"Don't you get it? You can't beat me!!" Agram shouted with confidence. "Legendary Rayjeeee..."
"Can you just stop bragging already?" Tony shouted back. "This is supposed to be a fight not a debate!" Tony was feeling very angry because of the defeat of his furok and his other hyrens. He only had one last creature in his disposal, that much was clear. The question was, what was Tony's last creature?
"If this works, I'm going to kiss Ulk when this is over," Tony whispered as he drew out his final ring.
"Go, athik!!" Tony shouted. His ring started to glow. A snail-like dream creature materialized in front of Agram. It looked...
Puny.
Agram started to laugh. What was Tony trying to pull off? Only the Underneath magi present knew why Tony had dreamed up a puny little athik to face the all powerful Master of the Core.
"This is your last creature? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Agram laughed.
Rayje walked up to Tony. "Kyros, this is your chance to retreat. Tryn will heal your creatures for you. The athik and I will hold Agram off for the time being," he said.
"Retreat?" Tony repeated. "Who do you think I am? A chicken? I run from no one!"
"I thought you said that no bragging is allowed," Agram cut in.
"SHUT UP!" Tony snapped. "I get to brag because I'm the hero!"
"Uh...right," Rayje shrugged. Tony was too stubborn for his own good. "I'm sorry, Kyros but I have to save you from your own big head."
"CLANG!"
Tony slumped unconscious to the ground. Rayje sheathed his sword. He had used the hilt of his sword to knock Tony out. Rayje turned to Tryn and Barak.
"Someone take him back to Naroom and heal him," Rayje said. He took out his Colossus ring. " In the meantime..."
Just then, an ash hyren appeared in front of Rayje. It was followed by a reef hyren, a blade hyren, a jungle hyren, a forest hyren, a rock hyren and tons of other hyrens. Rayje turned around. All of the elders stepped forward. Kyg'n was fighting in Targ'n's place.
"Come on, you didn't expect us to let you hog all the fun, did you?" Kyg'n grinned.
"This isn't just your fight, Rayje. This is our fight as well," Orwin said.
"FOOLS!!! IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY OF YOU THERE ARE!!! NOTHING CAN DEFEAT THE POWER OF THE—
"WHAM!!"
"Shut up!" a brash young voice shouted. Someone had thrown the Kybar's Hammer into Agram's face. Agram, who was too busy crowing didn't have time to block. His pride had cost him dearly, for now he had a lump on his cheek. A very big lump.
Rayje smiled. The hammer must've come from Ullig, a female Kybar's Teeth magi who was known for her impatience.
Meanwhile, Tryn and Barak were moving away from the battlefield with Tony lying unconscious in Barak's arms.
"Tony is too impatient and stubborn," Barak said.
"And you are?" Tryn smiled cheekily.
"Hey, I'm not..." then Barak thought of all the times when Tryn had to restrain him from going all out berserk. "Never mind."
"I CAN TAKE ON ALL OF YOU IF I WANTED TO!!! YOU'RE
ALL PUNY MAGGOTS AND NOTHING MORE!!!" Agram bellowed. "But I think I won't take on all of you, I'll
let my shadow magi do it for me," he added in a slower voice.
Just then, Ashgar, Orwin,
Mobis, Nimbulo and Motash were blown away by a blast of dark energy. Five
figures ran out from behind Agram towards the fallen elders.
Lanyx ran after Ashgar. Qwade ran after Mobis. Harror ran after Nimbulo. Warrada ran after Orwin with her dorky brother, Hrada by her side. But who was the shadow magi that blasted Motash? Ogar was definitely out of the question. She was on the other side of the battlefield, healing some injured magi.
"Bronk?" Motash murmured as he stood up slowly, using his staff for support.
"As you can see, I have a replacement for Ogar," Agram said.
"But...the shadow magi are supposed to be dead! I killed Harror about half an hour ago!" Kyg'n exclaimed. (how did he know about hours and minutes?)
"With me," T'lok finished Kyg'n's sentence. Kyg'n was the one who had fought Harror, yes, but it was a gigantic boulder from T'lok that had ended the duel.
"You don't have to remind us about that," Harror said dryly, clenching her fists with rage. She still looked a bit bruised from the previous attack, but she was supposed to be lying on the ground with all her bones shattered. How could she still be standing?
"That rock wasn't enough to kill me," Harror told T'lok. She turned back to Nimbulo. "None of your attacks can destroy us. We are too powerful for you to beat."
"Oh boy...why is everyone bragging for crying out loud?" Rayje exclaimed.
Harror ignored Rayje and continued to mutter more things about the greatness of the Core, Agram, the good things about being evil, etc... What she didn't realize was that while she was busy talking...
Harror noticed a large shadow hovering on top of her. With lightning-fast reflexes, she turned around and shot out a bolt of lightning. T'lok's boulder shattered in mid-air.
"HAHA! Stupid boulders! Told you!!" Harror laughed.
But there was another one coming her way. She stopped talking and destroyed the second boulder the same way that she destroyed the first. But more boulders were coming her way. At the rate T'lok was moving, it was as if he had twelve arms or something.
Another boulder came towards Harror. She was starting to get annoyed. What she didn't notice was that everyone else, including Agram was watching the display of flying rocks.
She dodged aside. Then she saw what was happening. T'lok wasn't the only one hurling boulders at her. Sorreah, the Arderial magi was using the wind to move the boulders towards her. A group of baldars were joining in. Well, that explained the countless boulders.
"Why me?!" Harror shouted, sounding very irritated. "There's Warrada and her dorky brother Hrada and Qwade and Lanyx and..." she stopped. The boulders had stopped coming towards her.
"Why are you all looking at me?" Hrada asked nervously. Everyone was looking at him. T'lok had a wicked sneer on his face that made Hrada think that he was up to something.
"Uhh...Hrada? If I were you, I would run," Warrada said as she moved as far away from Hrada as possible, not wanting to be hit by the storm of rocks coming their way.
"Why isn't ANYONE acting seriously? This is a fight to determine the fate of the Moonlands for crying out loud! We're not supposed to be playing catch like kids!" Rayje shouted, now looking as if his head was going to explode.
No one listened. Everyone (except the Core magi, who were just watching their comrade getting squished) was focusing their attention on Hrada.
"Oh, what the heck?" Rayje whispered. He turned towards his construct. "Pick up a boulder and join in!!"
* * *
"I wonder what we're missing?" Tryn said as they laid the unconsious Tony on Tryn's bed.
"Probably a very big battle where everyone is screaming and fighting," Barak replied. "Damn it, I wish I was there!"
"Uh, Barak. Our bed is still wet," Tryn pointed out.
"Wet? How come?" Barak asked.
"From last nights...escapade," Tryn answered.
"Let's put him on the couch, then," Barak said.
* * *
By now, no one was paying any more attention to the big pile of rocks that was on top of the last place that Hrada was standing. Everyone had an opponent. The elders were fighting the shadow magi. Rayje was facing Agram. The athik...was just standing aside, not knowing what to do since its master was nowhere to be seen.
Rayje had dreamed up a colossus to support his construct. Agram had dreamed up a core hyren and a gorath to defend against Rayje's towering mechanical creatures. The time for talking was over. Everyone was serious now. For the time had come when the fate of the Moonlands would be determined by this legendary and colossal battle.
"C'mon," Rayje said as he drew his sword. "Let's end this."