The cave, which had been so previously full of blood, gore, violence, and destruction, remained quiet. It was peaceful, even, a sort of last bit of pleasure before one died. The blow was intended for a quick death, and the silence of the room relaxed Kidria as the sword was swung. The moment's serenity made for a peaceful passing, and, for a moment, Kidria felt no pain and knew only comfort. Indeed, Kidria would die.
Just not today.
Kidria opened her bloodied eyes to see that although the blow had been meant for her, she was not the one who was killed in it. Taelos had risen from the ground and taken the blow for her, with Taea's sword visible through Taelos' chest, and blood all over his body. Although even as an echo his form was not fully opaque, it was fading, and his final act before death was to hold Taea in place, and to knock the shield from her arm. The former now stood with her sword stuck in his body, her eyes filled with rage at another failed attempt at killing Kidria, and struggling to release the blade from its bonds.
Although Taelos did not have the strength left to speak, and Kidria could not see his eyes, she knew what she was meant to do at that moment. She reached over to her right and picked up the Echo's dark sword, and as she reached, it began to glow with anticipation. Standing up, sword in hand, she looked sorrowfully toward Taelos for a moment before realizing who he really was. Why the voice was so familiar. How she had recognized his features. Why his name was Taelos.
This newfound realization only made it harder for Kidria to finish the job. Now that Taea's black shield lay upon the floor and her focus lay upon the release of her blade, a tear fell from Kidria's eye.
"Altana forgive me." And with that thought in her mind, she drove the sword through Taelos and into Taea's heart, enveloping the cave in an explosion of light, which soon after turned to darkness as Kidria fell to the ground lifelessly.
Celos stared at the pile of rocks in front of her. "Apparently, my part in this adventure has a lot to do with walls of boulders blocking my way."
Daleth laughed. "Well, Celos, every dog has his day." He grinned at her.
Celos turned around and gave him a hating look. "Are you calling me a bitch?" Daleth just laughed harder. Celos, however, continued to pout. "My sister is in there kicking butt and I'm stuck out here worrying about her. It isn't fun."
Daleth nodded, and looked thoughtfully at Celos. "We're both worried for her, and Taea too. Personally, I'm glad this wall of rocks is here to block my vision of those two fighting. I don't know what I would do were I in there. I care so much for Taea, and yet Kidria..." he frowned. "We can only hope that neither of them ends up hurt."
Celos snorted. "Well, I certainly hope no one gets injured, but if Taea loses to Kidria, at least I get to brag in her face about it." Daleth laughed once more.
The two of them sat watching at wall of rocks, which blocked the walkway. Since there was no humanly way for either of them to get in, they were stuck wondering at the various noises and shaking of the cave from time to time. Although the two of them did try to remain humorous, it was empty, soulless laughter that was only meant to fill the quiet air with something other than regret or nervousness.
The ground shook once more; a tremor much bigger than the previous ones, but the two of them remained unfazed, and Celos continued. "Tell me, Daleth. You mentioned back in Jueno that I was in the greatest danger and that Taea and I are somehow special? Explain to me, I don't like riddles, and I despise being left out."
Daleth bit his lower lip, and seemed to start saying no when he gave a light twitch and spasmed. He gave a deep gasp as if he had just been struck in the abdomen, but then calmed himself, and his manner changed. He grew deathly serious, and his voice was slightly lower.
"Many, many years ago, there was a castle constructed by the beastmen meant to house something, known as Castle Zvhal. Although the castle's purpose remained mostly unknown, people knew that it held something evil that the beastmen worshipped. From time to time, the Federation of Windurst, the Republic of Bastok, and the Kingdom of Sandoria sent their best men, claiming their country alone could find out what this menace was, and would bring its head back as a trophy. However, each time someone was sent, they were never seen again, or came back insane."
Celos nodded. "Just like in the story of the five?"
Daleth started fidgeting with his hands, and continued. "Yes. But this was even before their time. Hundreds of great warriors were lost. Every time a country found someone better, they sacrificed it to this evil, not knowing they were actually feeding it. Eventually, it was deemed that the evil was not defeatable by a single country, and so one warrior from each race was sent to meet at Sandoria, where they would bond in a party and kill the menace as a pact of nations. That was Xenif and his friends. However, they disappeared, and the habit continued. It wasn't until the beastman wars, twenty years ago; that people finally gave up and decided that whatever was in that castle was best left alone. They did not know its true intentions. It was biding its time, seeking perfection."
Daleth got up and watched the wall of rocks for a moment, then started to pace. "The great power inside that castle was Evil. I don't mean it was a bad thing, I mean that it was the actual, physical form of Evil out of an ethereal state. It was Darkness, Loathing, Hatred, Deception, Wrath, Lust, and Gluttony, everything that can be construed as immoral or wrong, wrapped up into an actual shape. That shape was a flowing, silver liquid, an amorphous, moving, glowing, and living metal. It was Evil itself."
"Evil, true to its nature, did not do its own dirty work. Originally, it controlled beastmen. That was how they became evil. It was split into several forms, one for each race of the highest authority. It controlled the warchiefs and shamans of Yagudo, Gigas, Orcs, Quadavs, and other beastman races, and led them all in a fevered religion that devoted itself to worshipping Evil in its shapes and forms. And since it controlled the strongest and most respected members of each of the beastman races, any creatures that attempted to make peace with any other race was immediately eliminated. And so, for many years, the beastmen were led to follow dark ways. Then we arrived."
"Humes, Galkas, Mithras, Tarus, and Elvaans came into being, and formed their own nations. Originally, they were at war with each other, and Evil saw that these respective races had their own power as well. So, with the beastmen still in its grasp, it led a war against the entire world, in an attempt to control these new races as well. In doing so, Evil unwittingly united these five races against the Beastman menace, and soon its plan was foiled against their power. But Evil was so close to winning the war, that its lust for these five races only grew, and seeing their power, it only made Evil hungrier."
"While the wars continued to wage from time to time, Evil decided to build a castle as its new home, which was the castle mentioned in the story. It soon attempted to spread rumors around the world that this castle was dangerous, and a challenge for the greatest warriors to take on, known as the Shadow Lord. Evil created the Shadow lord as a front, a way to test the mettle of warriors who came to the castle, for if they could not defeat this simple creation; they were not worthy of its adoration. The first person sent was a Taru, a great mage, who defeated the Shadow lord in a single spell. Evil was so amazed at this power that it immediately took ahold of him, netting him as the first of the five races to be possessed. Evil was pleased, but it soon sought more power."
"The evil held the Taru there for many years, and in fact, soon possessed one of every race, a Mithra, an Elvaan, a Galka, a Hume, and a Taru. Whenever more warriors were sent, Evil judged their power by fighting its own member against theirs. For example, if Bastok sent a Galka, which defeated the Shadow lord, Evil revealed its own Galka, and they fought in a one on one match to see who was stronger. If the challenger was defeated, Evil left his body to rot. If he proved stronger than Evil's current champion, Evil possessed him too, and in this way, it only grew stronger and stronger with the most powerful warriors in history. So, as you can see, the Evil itself was never actually defeated, just the body holding it."
"There were two things that the evil feared, and nothing else. Just as Evil itself had taken a physical form, so had other things. One was Truth, a mirror that showed the souls and actual happenings of anyone or anything that looked into it. Truth could see behind the bodies holding Evil, behind its tricks and illusions, and it also produced the souls of those who had fallen, which looked like bluish, slightly fading forms. These forms, which were the true idea of the person and his or her soul, could not be possessed nor totally killed by evil. They had incredible endurance, and they had the ability to trap Evil in its own tricks. They are called Echos by mortals."
Celos stared. "Then Truth is..."
Daleth stopped pacing and nodded. "The mirror that Kidria now has. And the Echo who fought with Dal-.... who fought with me was not a reflection of Katmir, it was his soul...it was Katmir himself." Celos noticed Daleth's eyes were beginning to shine lightly, and they seemed to be slightly glazed, but she took no notice as he continued.
"The second thing it fears is Light, the opposite of Evil. Much like Evil, righteousness had taken a form as well. It is unknown to all but Evil what this form is, and to this day people do not know what it looks like. Some say it is a set of weapons that are only produced in the direst need. Some say it is an actual person, a young girl who walks this earth, and doesn't even know her own power. Some say it is both."
"Evil stayed in its castle for two reasons: It was afraid of truth, which lay in a cave just a little outside its own door. Explorers took the mirror, which was explained in the diary you read, which left Evil with freedom. The second reason is that it still sought more power. In its free time it developed its abilities, and soon each race that evil controlled had strength ten times that in their uncontrolled forms, and each had its own special ability or power." Daleth ticked off each power on his fingers as he continued. "The Galka had the power of illusions, to change reality as people saw it as Evil saw fit. The Elvaan had a shield, which granted it total invulnerability unless the shield was lost. The Mithra had incredible speed, a power so fast that it is a blur to mortal sight. The Hume can manipulate weather however he wants, and the Taru can corrupt sanity."
Celos sneered and raised an eyebrow. "Fxeni? Driving people insane? How is that new?"
Daleth paid no heed. "All the while, Evil was biding its time. It had originally thought that the five races acted like Beastmen and followed the strongest. When it learned we were not so simple as that, it came up with another tactic: Perfection. When Xenif and his friends were sent, they were the definition of perfection. There was none better. When they all defeated Evil's current possessions, it controlled them, and learned that as a team of the best, they had power a hundred times what Evil had ever seen before. Evil marveled at its new swiftness, strength, dexterity, and abilities of these five newfound warriors. It had done what it had sought to do; it had found the best of the best. If evil had attacked back then with its five warriors, the world would no exist as it does today. We too would be like the beastmen. However, irony did not favor Evil."
"Time wore on. More warriors came and went, but none stood up to Evil's new toys. It eventually grew bored, and people stopped coming to challenge it. From time to time, some pompous ruler, such as the Duke, would send someone in the hopes of ending the menace or to achieve glory, but none stood up, as the world had none better as Xenif and co."
Celos soaked the information in for a moment. "If the Pale warriors were perfect, how did the others, like Taea, defeat them?"
Daleth smiled. "Because they are perfect as well. Like I said, there never was, is, or ever will be someone better than Xenif and his friends. That is why Truth specifically summoned them to fight the new menace."
Celos' voice grew hysterical. "How can that be?! How can my friends be just as good?"
Daleth smiled. "Think about it."
For a moment, while Celos pondered, the cave was quiet. She knew that Taea, for example, never really seemed normal. None of them really were. But if Taelos, who was supposedly in there fighting with Kidria, was an equal match for Taea, then there must be something else that is equal about them, something that was the same...but what? They can't be the same person, and its not like Taea is somehow the twin of Taelos...but maybe they were the same in one thing...blood?
Celos nodded slowly. "Are you saying they, Taea and the others, are all ancestors of Xenif and his friends?"
Daleth nodded. "Exactly. Only the best can beat the best. The five of them, although taken by evil, left family behind. Daughters and sons. They carried the same blood, strength and potential as their fathers or mothers, all the way until now. Katmir knowingly fought his great-great grandson on the streets of Jueno, and the others will too. However, 500 years is a long time, and much can happen. Taelos was the only one to leave behind two daughters, which descended into two families, which grew distant and superficial. These two families have no idea of their heritage, they do not know of their relation to each other, and yet, Evil cannot be perfect without each member from both families. It did not realize this until it was too late, and so now Evil fights prematurely without its perfection. That is why it is losing. However, if it should somehow manage to either kill off or get a hold of these people it needs, it will be perfect once more. Should it achieve that, Truth will be useless. Echos, strong as they are, stand no chance against a complete Evil." Daleth shut his mouth and was quiet for a moment, then turned slowly towards Celos.
"Taea is one of the two families, Celos. You and Kidria are the other."
Just not today.
Kidria opened her bloodied eyes to see that although the blow had been meant for her, she was not the one who was killed in it. Taelos had risen from the ground and taken the blow for her, with Taea's sword visible through Taelos' chest, and blood all over his body. Although even as an echo his form was not fully opaque, it was fading, and his final act before death was to hold Taea in place, and to knock the shield from her arm. The former now stood with her sword stuck in his body, her eyes filled with rage at another failed attempt at killing Kidria, and struggling to release the blade from its bonds.
Although Taelos did not have the strength left to speak, and Kidria could not see his eyes, she knew what she was meant to do at that moment. She reached over to her right and picked up the Echo's dark sword, and as she reached, it began to glow with anticipation. Standing up, sword in hand, she looked sorrowfully toward Taelos for a moment before realizing who he really was. Why the voice was so familiar. How she had recognized his features. Why his name was Taelos.
This newfound realization only made it harder for Kidria to finish the job. Now that Taea's black shield lay upon the floor and her focus lay upon the release of her blade, a tear fell from Kidria's eye.
"Altana forgive me." And with that thought in her mind, she drove the sword through Taelos and into Taea's heart, enveloping the cave in an explosion of light, which soon after turned to darkness as Kidria fell to the ground lifelessly.
Celos stared at the pile of rocks in front of her. "Apparently, my part in this adventure has a lot to do with walls of boulders blocking my way."
Daleth laughed. "Well, Celos, every dog has his day." He grinned at her.
Celos turned around and gave him a hating look. "Are you calling me a bitch?" Daleth just laughed harder. Celos, however, continued to pout. "My sister is in there kicking butt and I'm stuck out here worrying about her. It isn't fun."
Daleth nodded, and looked thoughtfully at Celos. "We're both worried for her, and Taea too. Personally, I'm glad this wall of rocks is here to block my vision of those two fighting. I don't know what I would do were I in there. I care so much for Taea, and yet Kidria..." he frowned. "We can only hope that neither of them ends up hurt."
Celos snorted. "Well, I certainly hope no one gets injured, but if Taea loses to Kidria, at least I get to brag in her face about it." Daleth laughed once more.
The two of them sat watching at wall of rocks, which blocked the walkway. Since there was no humanly way for either of them to get in, they were stuck wondering at the various noises and shaking of the cave from time to time. Although the two of them did try to remain humorous, it was empty, soulless laughter that was only meant to fill the quiet air with something other than regret or nervousness.
The ground shook once more; a tremor much bigger than the previous ones, but the two of them remained unfazed, and Celos continued. "Tell me, Daleth. You mentioned back in Jueno that I was in the greatest danger and that Taea and I are somehow special? Explain to me, I don't like riddles, and I despise being left out."
Daleth bit his lower lip, and seemed to start saying no when he gave a light twitch and spasmed. He gave a deep gasp as if he had just been struck in the abdomen, but then calmed himself, and his manner changed. He grew deathly serious, and his voice was slightly lower.
"Many, many years ago, there was a castle constructed by the beastmen meant to house something, known as Castle Zvhal. Although the castle's purpose remained mostly unknown, people knew that it held something evil that the beastmen worshipped. From time to time, the Federation of Windurst, the Republic of Bastok, and the Kingdom of Sandoria sent their best men, claiming their country alone could find out what this menace was, and would bring its head back as a trophy. However, each time someone was sent, they were never seen again, or came back insane."
Celos nodded. "Just like in the story of the five?"
Daleth started fidgeting with his hands, and continued. "Yes. But this was even before their time. Hundreds of great warriors were lost. Every time a country found someone better, they sacrificed it to this evil, not knowing they were actually feeding it. Eventually, it was deemed that the evil was not defeatable by a single country, and so one warrior from each race was sent to meet at Sandoria, where they would bond in a party and kill the menace as a pact of nations. That was Xenif and his friends. However, they disappeared, and the habit continued. It wasn't until the beastman wars, twenty years ago; that people finally gave up and decided that whatever was in that castle was best left alone. They did not know its true intentions. It was biding its time, seeking perfection."
Daleth got up and watched the wall of rocks for a moment, then started to pace. "The great power inside that castle was Evil. I don't mean it was a bad thing, I mean that it was the actual, physical form of Evil out of an ethereal state. It was Darkness, Loathing, Hatred, Deception, Wrath, Lust, and Gluttony, everything that can be construed as immoral or wrong, wrapped up into an actual shape. That shape was a flowing, silver liquid, an amorphous, moving, glowing, and living metal. It was Evil itself."
"Evil, true to its nature, did not do its own dirty work. Originally, it controlled beastmen. That was how they became evil. It was split into several forms, one for each race of the highest authority. It controlled the warchiefs and shamans of Yagudo, Gigas, Orcs, Quadavs, and other beastman races, and led them all in a fevered religion that devoted itself to worshipping Evil in its shapes and forms. And since it controlled the strongest and most respected members of each of the beastman races, any creatures that attempted to make peace with any other race was immediately eliminated. And so, for many years, the beastmen were led to follow dark ways. Then we arrived."
"Humes, Galkas, Mithras, Tarus, and Elvaans came into being, and formed their own nations. Originally, they were at war with each other, and Evil saw that these respective races had their own power as well. So, with the beastmen still in its grasp, it led a war against the entire world, in an attempt to control these new races as well. In doing so, Evil unwittingly united these five races against the Beastman menace, and soon its plan was foiled against their power. But Evil was so close to winning the war, that its lust for these five races only grew, and seeing their power, it only made Evil hungrier."
"While the wars continued to wage from time to time, Evil decided to build a castle as its new home, which was the castle mentioned in the story. It soon attempted to spread rumors around the world that this castle was dangerous, and a challenge for the greatest warriors to take on, known as the Shadow Lord. Evil created the Shadow lord as a front, a way to test the mettle of warriors who came to the castle, for if they could not defeat this simple creation; they were not worthy of its adoration. The first person sent was a Taru, a great mage, who defeated the Shadow lord in a single spell. Evil was so amazed at this power that it immediately took ahold of him, netting him as the first of the five races to be possessed. Evil was pleased, but it soon sought more power."
"The evil held the Taru there for many years, and in fact, soon possessed one of every race, a Mithra, an Elvaan, a Galka, a Hume, and a Taru. Whenever more warriors were sent, Evil judged their power by fighting its own member against theirs. For example, if Bastok sent a Galka, which defeated the Shadow lord, Evil revealed its own Galka, and they fought in a one on one match to see who was stronger. If the challenger was defeated, Evil left his body to rot. If he proved stronger than Evil's current champion, Evil possessed him too, and in this way, it only grew stronger and stronger with the most powerful warriors in history. So, as you can see, the Evil itself was never actually defeated, just the body holding it."
"There were two things that the evil feared, and nothing else. Just as Evil itself had taken a physical form, so had other things. One was Truth, a mirror that showed the souls and actual happenings of anyone or anything that looked into it. Truth could see behind the bodies holding Evil, behind its tricks and illusions, and it also produced the souls of those who had fallen, which looked like bluish, slightly fading forms. These forms, which were the true idea of the person and his or her soul, could not be possessed nor totally killed by evil. They had incredible endurance, and they had the ability to trap Evil in its own tricks. They are called Echos by mortals."
Celos stared. "Then Truth is..."
Daleth stopped pacing and nodded. "The mirror that Kidria now has. And the Echo who fought with Dal-.... who fought with me was not a reflection of Katmir, it was his soul...it was Katmir himself." Celos noticed Daleth's eyes were beginning to shine lightly, and they seemed to be slightly glazed, but she took no notice as he continued.
"The second thing it fears is Light, the opposite of Evil. Much like Evil, righteousness had taken a form as well. It is unknown to all but Evil what this form is, and to this day people do not know what it looks like. Some say it is a set of weapons that are only produced in the direst need. Some say it is an actual person, a young girl who walks this earth, and doesn't even know her own power. Some say it is both."
"Evil stayed in its castle for two reasons: It was afraid of truth, which lay in a cave just a little outside its own door. Explorers took the mirror, which was explained in the diary you read, which left Evil with freedom. The second reason is that it still sought more power. In its free time it developed its abilities, and soon each race that evil controlled had strength ten times that in their uncontrolled forms, and each had its own special ability or power." Daleth ticked off each power on his fingers as he continued. "The Galka had the power of illusions, to change reality as people saw it as Evil saw fit. The Elvaan had a shield, which granted it total invulnerability unless the shield was lost. The Mithra had incredible speed, a power so fast that it is a blur to mortal sight. The Hume can manipulate weather however he wants, and the Taru can corrupt sanity."
Celos sneered and raised an eyebrow. "Fxeni? Driving people insane? How is that new?"
Daleth paid no heed. "All the while, Evil was biding its time. It had originally thought that the five races acted like Beastmen and followed the strongest. When it learned we were not so simple as that, it came up with another tactic: Perfection. When Xenif and his friends were sent, they were the definition of perfection. There was none better. When they all defeated Evil's current possessions, it controlled them, and learned that as a team of the best, they had power a hundred times what Evil had ever seen before. Evil marveled at its new swiftness, strength, dexterity, and abilities of these five newfound warriors. It had done what it had sought to do; it had found the best of the best. If evil had attacked back then with its five warriors, the world would no exist as it does today. We too would be like the beastmen. However, irony did not favor Evil."
"Time wore on. More warriors came and went, but none stood up to Evil's new toys. It eventually grew bored, and people stopped coming to challenge it. From time to time, some pompous ruler, such as the Duke, would send someone in the hopes of ending the menace or to achieve glory, but none stood up, as the world had none better as Xenif and co."
Celos soaked the information in for a moment. "If the Pale warriors were perfect, how did the others, like Taea, defeat them?"
Daleth smiled. "Because they are perfect as well. Like I said, there never was, is, or ever will be someone better than Xenif and his friends. That is why Truth specifically summoned them to fight the new menace."
Celos' voice grew hysterical. "How can that be?! How can my friends be just as good?"
Daleth smiled. "Think about it."
For a moment, while Celos pondered, the cave was quiet. She knew that Taea, for example, never really seemed normal. None of them really were. But if Taelos, who was supposedly in there fighting with Kidria, was an equal match for Taea, then there must be something else that is equal about them, something that was the same...but what? They can't be the same person, and its not like Taea is somehow the twin of Taelos...but maybe they were the same in one thing...blood?
Celos nodded slowly. "Are you saying they, Taea and the others, are all ancestors of Xenif and his friends?"
Daleth nodded. "Exactly. Only the best can beat the best. The five of them, although taken by evil, left family behind. Daughters and sons. They carried the same blood, strength and potential as their fathers or mothers, all the way until now. Katmir knowingly fought his great-great grandson on the streets of Jueno, and the others will too. However, 500 years is a long time, and much can happen. Taelos was the only one to leave behind two daughters, which descended into two families, which grew distant and superficial. These two families have no idea of their heritage, they do not know of their relation to each other, and yet, Evil cannot be perfect without each member from both families. It did not realize this until it was too late, and so now Evil fights prematurely without its perfection. That is why it is losing. However, if it should somehow manage to either kill off or get a hold of these people it needs, it will be perfect once more. Should it achieve that, Truth will be useless. Echos, strong as they are, stand no chance against a complete Evil." Daleth shut his mouth and was quiet for a moment, then turned slowly towards Celos.
"Taea is one of the two families, Celos. You and Kidria are the other."