PART XIX
"They will not breech the city walls!"
"CHARGE! REPEL THE INVADERS!"
"What's going on?"
"Dammit! Get him out of here!"
"They just took out the front lines!"
"Don't let them through!"
"I don't understand."
"Get him out of here!"
"Look out- ARGH!"
That was twenty years ago. As a teenager Bootus had watched beastmen attack the city. He had watched Bastok repel the attacks. He had watched people die while he was helpless to intervene. He had promised that would never happen again. Yet here he was, floating in the air, completely helpless, as his friends fought a deadly opponent.
Yes. His friends. Vivli and Zinkata. He didn't treat them like friends, but he trusted them, and would, in truth, do anything for them. And now he was watching them die.
The demonic skeletal Signot forced Zinkata back with a couple of well timed blocks, and sliced him in the arm, across the face, and then in the leg. Zinkata fell down. A white light covered his body and the wounds closed.
"Nice try!" Vivli cried. "But it's not over yet!" Zinkata flung himself back up, kicking Signot back. He ran at him, attacking. Signot blocked them, and parried the attacking human's sword to the ground. He struck upwards, hitting the ex-thief through the air with inhuman force. Zinkata crashed down.
"As you can see, I am more powerful now than I ever was!" Signot cried. "You cannot stand against me!" Vivli cast something and a blue shield covered Zinkata. "Ah, protect. Very well. I shall resort to new attacks." He blasted Zinkata with a lightning bolt. Zinkata screamed in pain.
"Fine then. Shell!" Vivli cast something else and a green light came up around him.
"You are beginning to irritate me, mage." Scowled Signot, walking towards Vivli.
"S-s-stay back!" She stammered.
"Or what? You'll heal me?" Signot asked sarcastically.
"That's it! Vivli! Heal him!" Zinkata cried from the floor. Vivli shrugged in confusion, but did so. Signot yelped in pain, dropping to a knee.
Zinkata charged, tackling the skeleton. The two rolled along the ground. Signot thrust Zinkata off with an extremely powerful blow. The warrior crashed down, but was mostly unhurt.
"Banish!" Vivli cried, feeling the need to narrate her own spells. Signot yelped again.
"Time for you to die, little girl!" Spat the demonic creature, charging the mithra. Vivli screamed in terror. Zinkata hurled his sword, and it hit Signot in his bony leg. Signot dropped..
The creature rose again, facing Zinkata.
"You still want to fight?" Signot asked.
"Of course!" Spat Zinkata.
"You cannot take me as I am now." Signot taunted. "You cannot defeat me alone."
"It was selfish of me to desire revenge alone." Zinkata replied. "I draw upon my friends to help."
"Your friends are beyond your help." Signot spat.
"Shellra!" Vivli cried, and a green shell enveloped all four of the party members. As it grew over Voldos and Bootus, it drove the blue energy from them, causing them to drop.
"Very well!" Screamed Signot, trying to hide his rage. "I will destroy you all at once!" Signot charged them, and Voldos drew his bow, firing an arrow. Signot swung to the side, and engaged Zinkata in combat. Voldos swung down with his sword, but Signot kicked him away. Bootus came up behind, driving his fists into the creature's ribs. Signot shot a fireball, blasting Bootus back. He turned to Zinkata. He drove the ex-thief back, just before Voldos ran in, slicing off the demon's skeletal arm.
"Argh!" He yelped for a moment. "Impressive." The arm reformed from the pieces that had been removed. "But you cannot kill that which is already dead."
"Generally speaking, you don't have to." Voldos quipped.
"And what made you think there was anything general about your lives?" Signot asked, attacking again. He knocked Voldos's sword aside, but Zinkata managed to knock away Signot's weapon in the same attack. Signot's weapon disappeared as it hit the ground in a puff of black smoke. Bootus took this opportunity to attack.
He pummelled Signot back, landing strike after strike to his face. Signot stumbled back, his red eyes blazing. Bootus then drove a fist up into the skeleton's chest, and finished with a powerful kick to his chest. The skeleton was hurled onto the floor.
Signot burst into the air, bony wings forming from his back, almost like the wings of a dead dragon.
"You fools!" He spat. "You cannot kill me! Not now!"
"We'll see about that!" Bootus cried, running at him. A bolt of lightning struck the galka down. Bootus managed to stumble up, just to see the demonic image flying over him.
"That's impossible!" Zinkata cried. "You can't have obtained that power alone!"
"The power Chaos granted me lives on even in death." Signot warned.
"Of course!" Vivli cried. "Signot, you moron! Chaos is still manipulating you!"
"NEVER!" Spat Signot. "I am in control! I choose to destroy you!"
"Chaos would have planned for this. It's part of his plot to destroy us." Zinkata told Signot, taking Vivli's lead.
"No! No! I destroy of my own will!" Signot cried.
"FIRE!" Zinkata signalled Voldos. Arrows hurtled at Signot.
"Fools!" Signot yelled, taking the hits like it was nothing. "You can't harm me!" The earth quaked, knocking the adventures down. He hurled more fire balls at them, hitting Voldos and Zinkata. Bootus dodged, and ran at Signot. He jumped, and tackled the demon. The two tumbled to the floor, but Bootus was quickly flung off. A white light from Vivli's banish spell caused the demon to falter.
"I have an idea!" Announced Zinkata. "Bootus, throw me at him!"
"This should be fun!" Bootus picked up Zinkata, holding him high above his head, and hurled the human at Signot. Zinkata sliced off one of the skeletal wings in the air, causing Signot to tumble to the ground.
"Pathetic." Signot taunted.
"Your wing, it hasn't reformed. You're weakening!" Vivli cried.
"Oh, I have had enough of you!" Signot hurled a lightning bolt, striking Vivli and knocking her to the ground. She screamed in agony. He ran in towards her, lifted her up and held the struggling mithra out like a shield. "Come and get me!" He cried.
It was a fearful sight. A one winged skeleton clutching a feebly struggling girl in its undead hand. Vivli let out an angry cry.
"I am fed up with this!" She spat. "Banish!" She tried to cast the spell, but Signot slammed her into the ground before it could be cast. He summoned his weapon again.
"This is far from over." He muttered, driving the blade down towards Vivli. Vivli managed to roll aside and it splashed down in the marsh. She tried to crawl away, but Signot pulled her back by her tail. She yelped. Arrows flew in before he could do anything and he was tackled by a charging galka.
Bootus pounded the villain on the floor, but was flung off again.
"I will not die!" Signot screamed. Zinkata ran at him, and the two duelled. Signot cut Zinkata cross the hand and stabbed him. He went down. Vivli ran over, beginning to cast cure spells. Voldos ran in, taking his place.
Zinkata found himself in a strange black void. Oh great, I hate these near death experiences he thought. He saw something blue, glowing. A crystal shard. Of course! The shard! He suddenly figured it out. Hurry up and cure me!
Signot threw Voldos back, into Bootus. The two tumbled backwards. Zinkata sat up, healed by Vivli's spells.
"It's the shard!" Zinkata cried. "That's why we can't harm him! The shard is too powerful. We have to get it off him!"
"How?" Vivli cried.
"Hold him down with a spell, we'll attack!" Zinkata advised. Vivli tried to cast, but nothing happened. She fell to her knees from the effort.
"I'm out. I need to focus!" She cried, praying in an attempt to regain her casting power.
"Okay, I'll improvise." Zinkata ran at Signot, swinging upwards. He managed to parry Signot's weapon aside, and powered himself in against the skeleton, ripping the crystal shard from around Signot's neck. Signot pulled his sword back and struck down the warrior. Zinkata fell, tossing the crystal shard away. Voldos caught it.
"Sorry, old friend." Signot laughed at Zinkata's body, bleeding on the muddy floor.
"You will be!" Spat Voldos. "We have the shard!"
"Oh, please!" Signot muttered wearily. "That was just helping me regenerate. You still have to defeat me. I don't believe you can." Bootus launched himself at Signot, but the skeleton just stabbed the galka, driving him back. Voldos ran at him, and the two duelled more successfully.
A white light embraced Zinkata.
"I'm back!" Vivli cried. Zinkata got up slowly.
"Let's finish this guy off!" Zinkata called, running at the skeleton. He hurled his sword and it lodged in Signot's head.
"NO! NO!" Bellowed Signot. "NOOOOOO!"
The skeleton exploded in a flash of bright white light. The heroes were thrown back into the marsh. Mud splattered everywhere.
There was a moment of silence.
"Ew!" Cried Vivli, getting up, soaked in mud.
"That was interesting." Zinkata muttered.
"What do you think that was all about, then?" Voldos asked.
"My theory is Chaos made sure that when Signot died he would be able to return." Vivli guessed.
"Sounds like Chaos killed him himself in the end, though." Bootus pointed out.
"Even if he did, Chaos knew he'd come after us first." Vivli said with a shrug. "Just another challenge we had to face."
"Dammit!" Bootus cried sarcastically. "Why is saving the world so difficult?"
"At least we have the shard. Let's head back to Bastok, and see what we can do next." Zinkata sighed.
"You know, finding the shard wasn't that difficult." Voldos remarked. "If the next one is this easy, we'll be laughing."
"If you call this easy, I don't want to know what difficult is!" Vivli exclaimed.
The four soon arrived back in Bastok. Vivli disappeared instantly to her moghouse where she collapsed from exhaustion. This left the other three adventurers to ponder what to do next. Voldos had taken the third crystal shard, leaving only Bootus without one.
"Where do we go now?" The elvaan asked with a shrug.
"I don't know." Zinkata replied. "Vivli is our resident Light Warrior expert."
"Yeah, but she's got the stamina of a six year old." Bootus interjected. "Hence why she's not here."
"To be fair to her, we did just battle a murderous skeleton and then walk all the way back to Bastok." Zinkata pointed out.
"Well, I'm not tired." Bootus said proudly.
"What can we do then?" Voldos asked.
"Go to the tavern?" Zinkata suggested.
"Great idea!" Voldos cried.
Bootus sat with a large mug of beer in his hand. He was watching as Voldos was trying to chat up some young mithran girl. It was highly entertaining.
"Come on! Can I play with your tail?" He asked.
"No. Go away." The mithran cried.
"But their cool!" He told her passionately.
"That doesn't give you the rrrrrright to go nearrrrrrr it." She reminded him. Voldos had forgotten the funny way normal mithra talk having hung around Vivli for so long, and so this caught him slightly off guard. This caused him to pause.
"Pleeeeeease?" He begged. Bootus turned away, just listening for it. SLAP! It came soon enough. Voldos came over, rubbing his cheek.
"I'm telling you, girls around here are completely unreasonable." He muttered.
"Well, how would you like it if somebody asked you if they could play with a random body appendage?" Bootus asked.
"Depends on their gender and the appendage." Voldos replied with a smile.
"Now I'm tempted to slap you." The galka grumbled.
"Besides, it isn't like an arm or a leg. It's a tail." Voldos stated.
"But to the mithra a tail is like an arm or a leg, you moron." Bootus explained.
"So why do you always pull Vivli about by hers?" Voldos asked.
"Because it's convenient and I don't care if I hurt her. Somebody's got to toughen her up." Bootus pointed out.
"What makes you an expert on tails, anyway?" Voldos shot suspiciously. Bootus groaned, banging his head against the bar.
"I'm a galka. It means I have one, you idiot!" He banged his head again.
What Bootus was unaware of was that a mithran tail wasn't exactly like a galkan tail. Galka's had thick and muscling tails. Mithra did not. Their tails were much more sensitive. That helped explain why Vivli was sprawled on her bed in pain, her tail once again hurting her an excessive amount. She grumbled, and rolled onto her side. She was tired, but couldn't sleep. The day had exhausted her past the point where she needed sleep. She could barely believe they had just battled a demonic winged skeleton. It seemed almost dream like. Everything seemed dreamlike. She couldn't believe they were doing what they were doing. Four insignificant specks in the world battling an ancient evil. When she reflected on it it seemed stupid. Maybe she was imagining it all. Maybe she had gone crazy. After all, she thought she was a Light Warrior. She had never heard anything so ridiculous. Luckily, these doubts distracted her from the fact she couldn't sleep enough for her to fall to sleep.
"Hey baby, did you know I have to save the world?" Voldos was trying a new approach. He got slapped. "Dammit! Does nothing work!" He cried to Bootus.
"Voldos, you can't just chat up girls with a few snappy lines. You need to be kind and appreciative to them." The galka explained.
"Bah, what would you know. You reproduce through reincarnation!" Voldos pointed out.
"Not to mention you could ruin a potentially endless source of entertainment." Zinkata laughed, walking over to the bar.
"I am not a source of entertainment!" Voldos protested, getting up off the bar stool. The sword on his back caught the stool, pulling it down with him. He spun to grab it, lost his balance and fell. The other two burst into laughter.
"What's the line?" Bootus asked. "I respectfully disagree?"
"Curse you irony!" Voldos cried from the floor.
The following morning the four had met around the fountain in the middle of Bastok. Bootus had been enjoying taking the old view he had missed so badly for the past couple of days. He turned around to face the others. Vivli was stubbornly stood some distance from the others.
"What are you doing?" The galka asked.
"I can tell you what I'm not doing." She replied. "I'm not buying another staff. I'm on a protest."
"What?" Bootus muttered, confused.
"Every time I buy a weapon , I lose it. I'm protesting. From now on, I'm fighting hand to hand." She stated proudly.
"Vivli, you couldn't outfight a baby tarutaru hand to hand." Bootus pointed out.
"Fine. So I just won't fight. I'll just cast spells." She explained.
"Don't you do that anyway?" Voldos asked.
"You're not helping!" She cried.
"Helping what?" The elvaan seemed confused. Vivli just let out an angry cry.
"You always ruin my fun!" She cried.
"On less petty levels of existence," Zinkata began. "What are we doing about the final crystal shard?"
"I don't know." Vivli muttered. "But I'll get researching right away!" She hung about for a moment. "Unless any of you want to help?" The others looked at each other nervously. Bootus managed to come up with a way out of them having to help.
"Urm, we'd love to help, but you're so good at researching on your own we'd hate to interfere." Bootus told Vivli. Vivli took this compliment with a bright smile.
"I'll get right on it then!" She ran off.
"Thank god for that. So what now?" Zinkata asked.
"To the tavern?" Voldos suggested.
"It's ten in the morning!" Cried Zinkata.
"Damn." Cursed Voldos.