SPECIAL NOTE: If you have already read a chapter by this name, you may want to read the special note at the beginning of the last chapter. I added to the chapter, then split it in two because of how long it was. The new material is the second half of this chapter…start reading from the first chapter break line.

Chapter Thirteen:

The Folly of Mortals

The next day, sharp at the fifth hour of light Gades called to them from atop of the Tower, beckoning them to climb Fordon's steps to meet him. So they found themselves able to approach the tower entrance. (Dekar was not shy about trying its defenses out of his eagerness for battle, despite their harbored mistrust of Gades and his previous attempts to enter the tower). They began to climb its numerous winding stairs, passing empty rooms as they moved through dusty hallways.

And ever on the spiral stairwells went up. Lead by instinct alone, Maxim guided them up until they reached the top of the tower. Perhaps a trap awaited them, or Gades held an advantage where the fight was to take place, but all three men were ready to engage him in battle whatever awaited them.

Atop the crown of the tower Gades patiently awaited them. As the three companions guardedly climbed out of the stairwell, wind rushed about them almost knocking Dekar off of his feet before he realized it. Their hair whipped about their faces. Maxim's usually slicked hair had been dirtied by their travels (they had not been near water for some days now) and blew every which way, that which stuck out from under his helm.

Amidst the slight stench that seemed to rise from the tower beneath stood four armored combatants, with one towering a full foot above the others. Gades' dark blue-green armor shone brightly within the clouded day. His winding sword, which Maxim remembered quite well as he envisioned it slicing through the arm of one of Selan's soldiers, was still sheathed at Gades' side.

Sir Guy's armor looked the newest of the three as his golden flower was emblazoned upon his chest. Maxim still wore the Parcelytian armor handed to him by Lady Selan. Beside them, with his dark armor well beaten and older looking than any present, stood the eldest and tallest human, Sir Dekar of Bound.

Maxim, Guy, and Dekar caught their breaths as they lined up silently before Gades, perhaps unable to speak for the doubts that tempted their courage as they stood before this Sinistral.

The silence then broke as Gades belted, "So good of you all to join me. You will be new to me in battle, Sir Dekar, but I doubt you will prove too difficult. You three, even the Commoner, are skilled in warfare such as this, that I have seen, but you are mere mortal humans. I've asked myself why you have sought me out again after I defeated you the first time, Sir Guy. Perhaps you think Sir Dekar will make all the difference, but I assure you he won't. But while you have no real chance, I admire your courage to test my strength. Any true warrior will honor such a man and so I honor you Sir Guy and Sir Dekar."

Once again Gades would not speak out to Maxim, which Maxim would not allow to get under his skin. He banished any doubts that those comments would arise within him, for this fight was not about his social status. This battlefield would be a leveling field where only men and their abilities would decide the outcome. As far as Maxim was concerned, Gades was but a man as well, whatever his imposing size.

"The outcome remains to be seen," Dekar called out in confidence.

"Why do you humans not cease your senseless resistance? You are the most stubborn creatures I have come into contact with besides the elf-race perhaps. You need only to bow down before me and the Sinistral race and your lives will now be spared. No pointless battle to waste your lives upon. The rule of humans is coming to a close; will you bow down before the superior race, the Sinistral race?"

The three knew little of this Sinistral race; they barely knew much about Gades, himself, but the human race was quite stubborn and no man present felt a desire to kneel before such a creature as Gades.

"Whether there is more of your kind, we do not know," Maxim boldly spoke out, knowing it may break the concentration of Gades a bit that a Commoner addressed him as an equal, "yet whether you are alone or there are more foul creatures of your kind you are asking the impossible. You destroy for no reason and to that I will not bow."

"I will bow to no one," Dekar added.

"You defeated us once, Gades, but don't let that victory go to your head. We will never join you in anything nor will you have the ability to do anything further once this clash ends," Guy predicted.

"Stubborn clinging to a false hope is surely the folly of mortals. Gordovan reacted the same way, throwing my requests away. They suffered for their choice…agonizing suffer. I had hoped for something slightly different from you, but alas it is not there. Prepare for your end and those you sought to save!" Gades bellowed out, causing the three men to cringe with holy anger at his mention of Gordovan's inhabitants.

The struggle that followed was long; however the passage of time was lost on those who fought atop Fordon Tower. Steel clashed down upon steel and wood. Shields were splintered and armor was dented. The strength of Gades' blows lifted the men from their feet, but human perseverance and hope raised them upon their legs again and again.

For some reason Gades did not call upon any magic to waylay his opponents, relying solely on his abilities with the sword. Perhaps the magic of the Tower kept him from doing so, but I gather that his pride and even his honor, perhaps, were have been a deterrent anyway.

Each side traded blow for blow and grew tired from their brawl, but no warrior was about to give up until their last breath was spent.

Following four devastating blows only softly deflected from piercing his armor Gades stumbled back from the mass, while the three heroes paused to recover their breathing and what little strength remained with them. "How…how could this be?" the Sinistral wondered. You are but mere mortals and yet with such power." Disbelief shone fiercely in Gades' eyes as his mind was straining to grasp what was happening.

And then they all were surprised as Gades began to retreat towards and into a back chamber. Maxim was the first to follow, while Dekar and Guy were quickly following. In the room Gades and Maxim were on a bridge that spanned a deep chasm when the tower began to shake, breaking off pieces of the stone bridge. This wasn't apparently by the design of Gades' for shock tore across his face as well, but it seemed to work in his favor. The deep magic of his tower seemed to be aiding him when he needed it most.

Guy and Dekar were caught on one side, while Maxim was gaining his balance amidst the stone bridge and Gades was moving to the other end of the bridge with few obstructions in his way. A grim smile crossed Gades' face at that moment as he seemed to gain control over himself. He had panicked at the appearance of possible defeat, but now he regained his composure.

A laugh emanated from deep within his chest. "Now, Seim Island will sink, for the hour is come for my deadline to pass. Victory, I have grasped from the cliff of defeat. The deep magic smiles in my favor today, my valiant foes, which will also require of you your life, as well as those of many you know." It was then that the behemoth that they had come so close to defeating escaped, vanishing before their eyes into the next room, leaving them to their fate.

"You must get out," Maxim called to his companions, "the tower isn't stable. I'm going to have to find another way out."

"We can't leave you behind, Maxim, there must be some way we can help?" Guy screamed back to him.

"I don't know that we have the time to find out what that is…"

"But…" Guy interrupted and then was interrupted himself by Maxim again.

Maxim's eyes were roaming the room as his mind seemed to be trying to fix upon some thought. "I don't know what has happened to Gades, but if I am to die here and he is still roaming this earth you two must follow him and finish what we've started here. Whatever we have failed to do now will need to be finished…you must go now."

More contesting followed, but Maxim quickly cut that off as well as. "There is a reason this has happened. I have this strange feeling growing within me that there is some magic within the Tower that I still have to confront. I don't know where this thought comes from, but there is something where this path is leading that has to do with the destruction of Parcelyte. Something is urging me to go on. If I'm wrong, one dead warrior is better than three…now, go!" Maxim was yelling as he was watching the crumbling around him. And quickly he darted from crumbling pieces of the bridge still intact, until he made it safely (relatively safe, of course) to the other end of the bridge just in time as the second half of the bridge completed its fall.

Without another word he was gone from their sight. Dekar and Guy resigned themselves to the impossibility of reaching him now and so they turned back and ran out of the tower whence they had come, holding on hope.

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Maxim's surroundings blurred past him as he rushed through room after room, following nothing but instinct, while not even pondering the choices he made and the directions he went. It was a surreal moment for Maxim. He had no idea where he was headed, nor what he was looking for, but he felt compelled by something to continue on. A haunting thought perhaps, yet even something deeper than that which drove him ever on. He wasn't even aware if he had ran through hundreds of rooms in his search, or if he had only stepped foot within a few. Still, he went ever downwards.

As the time (however long it was Maxim could not tell) passed by, both Maxim's heart and mind began to race. What magic flourished within the walls of this tower, he thought? He knew, at least, that he did not care for it.

Was the tower an ally for Gades? Maxim thought back to how Gades had escaped after being stunned in defeat at their hands. Fordon certainly had worked poison into the attitudes of Guy, Dekar, and himself, discouraging them in their fight.

Then again, what was with Gades not using his magic against them? He had done it in their first meeting and, while he seemed to act as gentlemanly as possible for a creature bent on destruction and ruin, it did not make sense that Gades would have conceded defeat without using his power to the fullest.

Perhaps, the thought occurred, this tower was somehow holding Gades back. That its magic made it so Gades was unable to use his own powers. A trade off that, possibly, Gades felt would not result in his defeat. Yet that was the exact outcome of their struggle.

And then Gades slinked away in cowardly defeat. Or had he? Was Maxim really sure that Gades was not still lurking, perhaps even luring him into a deeper trap? A reasonable possibility, he quickly thought. But it was something else, he felt, which was guiding him in this dreamlike search for some unknown.

And then he saw it as he entered a cavernous room. His eyes immediately darted towards a flawless, pitch-black orb that stood atop of an ornate marble stand. In the next second he seemed halfway to it already, racing with no other thought than to smash that instrument, whatever it was, to pieces.

Then he was knocked off of his feet by a flying boulder, which struck him across his left shoulder. Maxim grimaced in pain, clutching his shoulder, as he frantically looked around him for his assailant, fearing it to be Gades.

But Gades' visage was not to be seen, as more pieces of Fordon's stone came hurtling towards him. It was almost as if the tower itself was defending the orb from Maxim, its attacker. Aware now of the danger, Maxim weaved in and out of the path of the rocks, and completed a massive blow against the surface of the dark sphere, which knocked him slightly off balance.

Yet nothing happened as Maxim's blade glanced off of its surface. Then another large stone caught Maxim upon his right leg, sweeping his leg from under him and throwing him onto the ground. Full of anger, Maxim regained his footing and with all of his might he smashed the orb once again, to no avail.

Another rock glanced off his armor, distracting him as a larger piece of the tower slammed into his left side, both knocking him to the ground and taking his air from him. As Maxim lay there struggling to regain his breath a chaotic stream of thought entered his mind. It began simply and then enlarged into full doubt; he did not have the strength to destroy this piece of sorcery. What would this mean for those he sought to save?

He was sure, now, that this perfect sphere gave the tower its dark strength and was resigned that he would be unable to destroy it. All hope was lost. It was lost for all of those he had set out to save, as well as himself. Parcelyte would be lost and with Gades still alive all of its inhabitants would be hunted down; Gades had made sure to tell Maxim that. Maxim's thoughts turned to Selan. How could he have failed her? Because of his own powerlessness, her life would be taken from her. They had failed. He spotted a trail of blood off the right side of his body.

But then a rebel thought, both still and small, entered his mind; something that spoke to him of the opposite. He quickly doubted it, but the idea would not leave him. Some unexplainable hope was kindled inside of him and he knew there was something he could do. Yes, his strength could not dent the orb, but something else could. Not knowing what or whom he was calling out to, he cried out for the strength to destroy this dark power, knowing he could not do this on his own.

So, as sure of the outcome as he had been of anything in his life, he smashed his sword down upon the orb once again, not in fury or anger, but in confidence and hope. The black ball shattered beneath this newfound strength. Pieces of it flew out, striking Maxim as satisfaction also coursed through his body.

He was knocked to the floor once again, but as he was falling he heard a laugh emanate from behind him. It sounded dark and evil to his ears, and doubt filled his mind. Gades was there to finish him and then finish his aims of destruction on the whole continent. He had failed and trusted in false hopes. These were the final thoughts that entered Maxim's mind as he faded into unconsciousness.

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Selan darted straight up in a tent, awoken from some bad dream she could not recall, yet its fear was still deeply felt. As she gained accustomed to the dark around her she saw Tia coming into their tent and wondered where she had been.

"Selan, what's the matter," Tia asked her. "I heard you awaken and it startled me."

"Just a bad dream, I think," Selan responded. "Although some unknown apprehension still holds me. I'm sure it's just leftover from the dream." Selan did not feel like this was so, however. "Where have you been, Tia?"

"I haven't been able to sleep, I'm just so worried about Maxim and the others. I just wish I knew that they were okay," Tia answered.

"I'm sure that they are all right. They can take care of themselves, even against Gades. Have faith, I believe we will see them again," Selan tried to comfort her, despite the doubts entering her own mind and this foreboding feeling within her.

"Try to get some rest, Tia," she added as she tried to settle back down into her own sleeping arrangement. Tia said she would try, but she could not get back to sleep and returned to her worries under the midnight moonlight sky, while Selan eventually fell back to sleep.

Author's Notes

All right, tell me what you think? Did the fight scene work or do y'all like choreographed fights better? I was originally going to put the second half of this chapter in the next one, but the flow would have been all messed up. Just an expansion of having to destroy that orb in the game. If you didn't know the storyline, it might be a rather good cliffhanger, huh?

I'm really excited about the next two chapters (as it looks like now) that I have planned. There will be more focus on the love story and developing that more. I guess we will see how that actually works for me and how long it takes. I do have an 8-day old daughter now, so I'm not promising anything with time. Man, that statement makes me feel old to be writing a story on a video game…oh well, it's fun. Until next time…