Chapter 5-Alone
Luareth woke from her dream, disoriented from Nessi's spell that landed them here, in front of a golden plain and a marble city. Tingit, Elah, and Luareth stepped forward, into the grain and onward to the city. Nessi sat down in the grain; "You go ahead. It will be better if I stay here, much better."
Tingit laughed, "So, Nessi is afraid to go here. I like it already."
Nessi swept her hand across her body, sending Tingit sprawling in the grain, "I will come when the time is right. You need to learn that too, that's why you're with me in the first place."
Elah laughed slightly as she continued walking. Luareth caught up with her, glad to get away from Nessi but also glad to get a chance to ask Elah some questions, "Elah, why are you and Tingit with Nessi anyway?"
Elah stopped, looked over her shoulder at Luareth, looked pointedly at Nessi, and continued walking. Luareth understood and followed. Tingit lagged behind the two of them. Once they were almost inside the city limits, Elah stopped Luareth, "Nessi is a very powerful mage and she's older than any one can remember. We were chosen by her to learn what we could. I don't understand that entirely, because I specialize in healing, Tingit in flame, but Nessi specializes in everything unseen." Elah paused to let Tingit catch up with them.
Elah continued, "The cloaks we wear represent our order; Tingit has the red cloak of Firestarters, I have the white cloak of all Healers, Nessi has the blue one of Psychics, and you have the green cloak of Lifebearers. The head of each order is given a title. The head of the Firestarters is called the Embermage; he was the guy you beat and so now you're it, I guess. And you must be the Archmage too, the head of the Lifebearers since you inherited her powers, which gave you the magic to beat the Embermage in the first place. Does that make sense?"
"No," Luareth shook her head, "no it doesn't."
"Live with it," Tingit interjected, "it won't make that much more sense if you understood it anyway, so at least pretend you do." Luareth looked at Tingit over her should, more confused than before.
A huge shadow swooped over them and the wind picked up. The shadow slowly shrank and the winds increased. Luareth was forced to hide her face. When the wind had stopped and Luareth looked again, Demn jumped off the back of a large metallic bird. The bird began to fold up again, collapse in on itself and shrink. Soon the bird had turned into a shapeless chunk of metal. It was the same as when Luareth first met Demn.
"There goes our subtlety," Tingit huffed as he feigned disappointment, "Nice one, Demn." Demn shrugged apologetically and pointed. Thousands of soldiers were pouring out of the castle.
Elah was the first to see it and she gasped, "It's a army." Tingit stepped forward, hands blazing and a murderous grin on his face. Elah put a hand on his shoulder, "I don't think they want to harm us. Let's wait to see what they want."
Demn's hand spun and his chunk of metal expanded around the four of them. Soon the metal shielded all of them all around. Luareth felt metal under her feet suddenly and the ground around them seem to fall away. The four of them were now on a tower, created by Demn, enriched by Elah, and defended by Tingit.
Movement caught Tingit's eyes and he spun and threw energy. The target was an angel with white cloak, again in the same style as Nessi's but white instead of blue, and the energy took the form of a fireball. The angel waved it off with her scepter.
A piece of the tower broke off and Demn's magic worked it into a tube. Pulling it quickly to rest on his shoulder, the front and back exploded with energy, the back with a plume and the front with a beam that engulfed and blasted the angel out of the sky. With a furious cry, the angel fell to the ground.
Tingit closed his eyes to concentrated as Elah shouted to the grounded angel, "What do you want with us?"
"You bring evil and you must be stopped," the angel grunted. Elah saw her wounds, the effort of negating Tingit's attack and the damage of being hit by Demn's blasting cannon had taken its toll. Elah threw her arms out front and shimmering wings began to grow from her back. Tingit's concentration was broken as he and Demn shuffled to avoid being knocked off the tower by the expanding wings.
Elah took a deep breath and leapt off the tower. She cut an elegant arc, swooping down to help the wounded angel. As she landed gently by the angel, Tingit and Demn both clapped lightly. Elah's return look was mixed joy and annoyance but she tried to help the angel.
The angel spun away from her and suddenly Elah realized that the angel was the Evernmage, the greatest magic user of life and Elah's childhood idol. Elah gasped, but the Evernmage just looked condescendingly at her, "You're not like them, why are you with them?"
"Because she's my student," Nessi said, having just appeared behind the angel. The Evernmage spun and the ground at her feat pounced at Nessi. Bits of ground fell away until the ground spout took the shape of a pouncing lion. The lion hit a shield around Nessi and shattered into dirt.
"Still throwing dirt clods, are we?" Nessi muttered as she looked at the tower and up to Demn, Tingit, and Luareth. She looked up and down the tower for a second, "Demn, this one is a lot better than the last one. Well done, but come down." Demn smiled with unvoiced elation and the tower began to unwind itself. The platform they stood on sank. Soon the tower was gone and Demn still held the molding hunk of metal in his hands.
The Evernmage stood up and Luareth felt eyes drilling into her soul. The Evernmage spoke sharply at Nessi, "You got the One. How?"
Nessi shrugged, "it wasn't that hard. The Archmage had grown weak with age."
The Evernmage shifted slightly, "Why?"
Nessi smiled a deep, inward, and malicious smile, "You'll just have to wait and find out, now won't you? Four of the five parts are assembled, we just need the Nightwere. I'll bring him." Nessi raised her arms and closed her eyes
The Evernmage caught her shoulder and spoke in panic, "But where is the Embermage? Doesn't he have to be here too. Summon him first."
Nessi ignored her and continued concentrating.
Elah soothingly pried the Evernmage's hands off of Nessi's sleeve. "We tried to bring him but he attacked us," Elah answered, "Luareth beat him." The Evernmage shrunk down hopelessly. Luareth saw the wrath of an apocalypse in the Evernmage's eyes, a look that betrayed her prophecy of the end of the world, and felt responsible. A though came to her and she turned to Demn, "What happened to the Elves?"
The hunk of metal in Demn's hands drifted out of his hands and hovered as the tablet again. 'They are dead, all dead. They wouldn't listen and I didn't get there in time to force them.' Luareth choked slightly. Elah hugged Luareth consolingly.
Tingit stepped closer to the tablet, "How did they die?" 'Fate.' "Who killed them?" 'Fate.' Luareth broke into fresh sobs with each answer and Elah silenced Tingit questions.
"Luareth." Luareth recognized the voice and tried to remember where she had heard it before as she scanned the ramparts of the castle. Through the ring of guards, Luareth noticed two elves running out of the castle. As they shouldered through the guards, Luareth could see that they were Christen and Angela. She stared at the approaching ghosts, what must be shadows of the dead. She was silent as the two apparitions hesitated in front of her.
Angela spoke, "Luareth, what's wrong? My family was called here, remember? Why are you looking at us like that?"
"Because you're dead. The Haven was destroyed and all the elves within it . . ." Luareth broke under the weight of the realization, she fell to her knees and sobbed. Angela and Christen were by her side immediately, neither sure what Luareth was talking about but they could see she was upset. Luareth felt their solid hands and immediately returned their embrace, too happy and relieved to question the truth.
The air split, releasing and redoubling the tension with a ground-shaking boom. The Nightwere was there in his gruesome glory and Nessi smiled. The rotting cloth wavered in the winds of time, last remnants of all that rotted away.
Christen and Angela crumpled to the ground, writhing in painless agony. Elah fell to her knees and gasped for breath. Luareth stopped her sobs, stood up and looked at Elah. Something about the Nightwere affected Elah and Elfin kind, and even the Evernmage, with all her power, reacted to his presence. With the realization, a nagging pain tugged at herown consciousness but she ignored it.
Nessi addressed the soldiers surrounding them, "Go back into the city, everything is fine here." The soldiers loaded the ballista and strung their arrows but none left. Nessi tried again, "Go back inside the castle." Infinitely loyal to the Evernmage, whom they believed was in danger, the soldiers and launched the bolt.
Nessi again threw her hands up and the soldiers, all of them and their gear, vanished in puffs of smoke. Transported into the castle, the soldiers hurriedly began opening the gates to help the Evernmage. Nessi spun around, her eyes flashed, and the gates slammed shut. The sealing spell trapped the soldiers within the castle walls.
The ground rumbled and the air shook. In the distance, a strange shadow spilled over the ground, definitely moving toward the castle. Nessi turned slowly to Luareth, "Its time to embrace your destiny, Luareth, to make your choice." Tingit stepped hurriedly away from Luareth.
Time stopped as the tension mounted and Luareth braced herself for the worst until a new sound brought the air to life again. It was the coarse sound of the timed steps of thousands of feet, but not the sharp sound that echoes when soldiers marched but a dull series of thuds that lilted heavily. Luareth looked to see a slow moving form ooze out of the forest and toward the city.
Luareth woke from her dream, disoriented from Nessi's spell that landed them here, in front of a golden plain and a marble city. Tingit, Elah, and Luareth stepped forward, into the grain and onward to the city. Nessi sat down in the grain; "You go ahead. It will be better if I stay here, much better."
Tingit laughed, "So, Nessi is afraid to go here. I like it already."
Nessi swept her hand across her body, sending Tingit sprawling in the grain, "I will come when the time is right. You need to learn that too, that's why you're with me in the first place."
Elah laughed slightly as she continued walking. Luareth caught up with her, glad to get away from Nessi but also glad to get a chance to ask Elah some questions, "Elah, why are you and Tingit with Nessi anyway?"
Elah stopped, looked over her shoulder at Luareth, looked pointedly at Nessi, and continued walking. Luareth understood and followed. Tingit lagged behind the two of them. Once they were almost inside the city limits, Elah stopped Luareth, "Nessi is a very powerful mage and she's older than any one can remember. We were chosen by her to learn what we could. I don't understand that entirely, because I specialize in healing, Tingit in flame, but Nessi specializes in everything unseen." Elah paused to let Tingit catch up with them.
Elah continued, "The cloaks we wear represent our order; Tingit has the red cloak of Firestarters, I have the white cloak of all Healers, Nessi has the blue one of Psychics, and you have the green cloak of Lifebearers. The head of each order is given a title. The head of the Firestarters is called the Embermage; he was the guy you beat and so now you're it, I guess. And you must be the Archmage too, the head of the Lifebearers since you inherited her powers, which gave you the magic to beat the Embermage in the first place. Does that make sense?"
"No," Luareth shook her head, "no it doesn't."
"Live with it," Tingit interjected, "it won't make that much more sense if you understood it anyway, so at least pretend you do." Luareth looked at Tingit over her should, more confused than before.
A huge shadow swooped over them and the wind picked up. The shadow slowly shrank and the winds increased. Luareth was forced to hide her face. When the wind had stopped and Luareth looked again, Demn jumped off the back of a large metallic bird. The bird began to fold up again, collapse in on itself and shrink. Soon the bird had turned into a shapeless chunk of metal. It was the same as when Luareth first met Demn.
"There goes our subtlety," Tingit huffed as he feigned disappointment, "Nice one, Demn." Demn shrugged apologetically and pointed. Thousands of soldiers were pouring out of the castle.
Elah was the first to see it and she gasped, "It's a army." Tingit stepped forward, hands blazing and a murderous grin on his face. Elah put a hand on his shoulder, "I don't think they want to harm us. Let's wait to see what they want."
Demn's hand spun and his chunk of metal expanded around the four of them. Soon the metal shielded all of them all around. Luareth felt metal under her feet suddenly and the ground around them seem to fall away. The four of them were now on a tower, created by Demn, enriched by Elah, and defended by Tingit.
Movement caught Tingit's eyes and he spun and threw energy. The target was an angel with white cloak, again in the same style as Nessi's but white instead of blue, and the energy took the form of a fireball. The angel waved it off with her scepter.
A piece of the tower broke off and Demn's magic worked it into a tube. Pulling it quickly to rest on his shoulder, the front and back exploded with energy, the back with a plume and the front with a beam that engulfed and blasted the angel out of the sky. With a furious cry, the angel fell to the ground.
Tingit closed his eyes to concentrated as Elah shouted to the grounded angel, "What do you want with us?"
"You bring evil and you must be stopped," the angel grunted. Elah saw her wounds, the effort of negating Tingit's attack and the damage of being hit by Demn's blasting cannon had taken its toll. Elah threw her arms out front and shimmering wings began to grow from her back. Tingit's concentration was broken as he and Demn shuffled to avoid being knocked off the tower by the expanding wings.
Elah took a deep breath and leapt off the tower. She cut an elegant arc, swooping down to help the wounded angel. As she landed gently by the angel, Tingit and Demn both clapped lightly. Elah's return look was mixed joy and annoyance but she tried to help the angel.
The angel spun away from her and suddenly Elah realized that the angel was the Evernmage, the greatest magic user of life and Elah's childhood idol. Elah gasped, but the Evernmage just looked condescendingly at her, "You're not like them, why are you with them?"
"Because she's my student," Nessi said, having just appeared behind the angel. The Evernmage spun and the ground at her feat pounced at Nessi. Bits of ground fell away until the ground spout took the shape of a pouncing lion. The lion hit a shield around Nessi and shattered into dirt.
"Still throwing dirt clods, are we?" Nessi muttered as she looked at the tower and up to Demn, Tingit, and Luareth. She looked up and down the tower for a second, "Demn, this one is a lot better than the last one. Well done, but come down." Demn smiled with unvoiced elation and the tower began to unwind itself. The platform they stood on sank. Soon the tower was gone and Demn still held the molding hunk of metal in his hands.
The Evernmage stood up and Luareth felt eyes drilling into her soul. The Evernmage spoke sharply at Nessi, "You got the One. How?"
Nessi shrugged, "it wasn't that hard. The Archmage had grown weak with age."
The Evernmage shifted slightly, "Why?"
Nessi smiled a deep, inward, and malicious smile, "You'll just have to wait and find out, now won't you? Four of the five parts are assembled, we just need the Nightwere. I'll bring him." Nessi raised her arms and closed her eyes
The Evernmage caught her shoulder and spoke in panic, "But where is the Embermage? Doesn't he have to be here too. Summon him first."
Nessi ignored her and continued concentrating.
Elah soothingly pried the Evernmage's hands off of Nessi's sleeve. "We tried to bring him but he attacked us," Elah answered, "Luareth beat him." The Evernmage shrunk down hopelessly. Luareth saw the wrath of an apocalypse in the Evernmage's eyes, a look that betrayed her prophecy of the end of the world, and felt responsible. A though came to her and she turned to Demn, "What happened to the Elves?"
The hunk of metal in Demn's hands drifted out of his hands and hovered as the tablet again. 'They are dead, all dead. They wouldn't listen and I didn't get there in time to force them.' Luareth choked slightly. Elah hugged Luareth consolingly.
Tingit stepped closer to the tablet, "How did they die?" 'Fate.' "Who killed them?" 'Fate.' Luareth broke into fresh sobs with each answer and Elah silenced Tingit questions.
"Luareth." Luareth recognized the voice and tried to remember where she had heard it before as she scanned the ramparts of the castle. Through the ring of guards, Luareth noticed two elves running out of the castle. As they shouldered through the guards, Luareth could see that they were Christen and Angela. She stared at the approaching ghosts, what must be shadows of the dead. She was silent as the two apparitions hesitated in front of her.
Angela spoke, "Luareth, what's wrong? My family was called here, remember? Why are you looking at us like that?"
"Because you're dead. The Haven was destroyed and all the elves within it . . ." Luareth broke under the weight of the realization, she fell to her knees and sobbed. Angela and Christen were by her side immediately, neither sure what Luareth was talking about but they could see she was upset. Luareth felt their solid hands and immediately returned their embrace, too happy and relieved to question the truth.
The air split, releasing and redoubling the tension with a ground-shaking boom. The Nightwere was there in his gruesome glory and Nessi smiled. The rotting cloth wavered in the winds of time, last remnants of all that rotted away.
Christen and Angela crumpled to the ground, writhing in painless agony. Elah fell to her knees and gasped for breath. Luareth stopped her sobs, stood up and looked at Elah. Something about the Nightwere affected Elah and Elfin kind, and even the Evernmage, with all her power, reacted to his presence. With the realization, a nagging pain tugged at herown consciousness but she ignored it.
Nessi addressed the soldiers surrounding them, "Go back into the city, everything is fine here." The soldiers loaded the ballista and strung their arrows but none left. Nessi tried again, "Go back inside the castle." Infinitely loyal to the Evernmage, whom they believed was in danger, the soldiers and launched the bolt.
Nessi again threw her hands up and the soldiers, all of them and their gear, vanished in puffs of smoke. Transported into the castle, the soldiers hurriedly began opening the gates to help the Evernmage. Nessi spun around, her eyes flashed, and the gates slammed shut. The sealing spell trapped the soldiers within the castle walls.
The ground rumbled and the air shook. In the distance, a strange shadow spilled over the ground, definitely moving toward the castle. Nessi turned slowly to Luareth, "Its time to embrace your destiny, Luareth, to make your choice." Tingit stepped hurriedly away from Luareth.
Time stopped as the tension mounted and Luareth braced herself for the worst until a new sound brought the air to life again. It was the coarse sound of the timed steps of thousands of feet, but not the sharp sound that echoes when soldiers marched but a dull series of thuds that lilted heavily. Luareth looked to see a slow moving form ooze out of the forest and toward the city.
