Sweeping down from the still desert air, came thirty magic carpets, their turbaned pilots holding bottles of flaming naphtha which they dropped on Jara's rear forces.
Thunderchild leapt for joy, almost falling off Shamara as they passed overhead.
"Whooo! Go carpet bombers!" he yelled, before looking down at the overawed infantry in front of him.
"Well, don't just stand there," he yelled "There's our opportunity, let's use it!"
Thunderchild leapt off the side of Shamara and drew Draconus, holding it high in the air he ran forward with the infantry and smashed his way into and through the Black Mages who by now were beginning to give up.
"We surrender! We surrender!" they began to chant.
"Ignore the Mages, move onto the monsters!" yelled Thunderchild, a call which was past down the ranks to the rest of the army.
Domino took a moment to stay behind with a Black Mage who had surrendered. It looked at her with its glowing yellow eyes.
"What happened? Why were we mislead again?" it asked
Domino give it a small cuddle out of reassurance, she knew how easy it was to be mislead.
"Because you dared to hope, hope for a better future, and Jara took advantage of that hope and betrayed you…But in life there is greater hope…I know you understand."
The Black Mage nodded
"We made the wrong choice then…but now we've made the right one." It softly said
Domino nodded and ran forward again, smashing her way into an Amdusias and somersaulting over its equine back to run forward towards Thunderchild who was helping a group of foot soldiers take down a Draken, the Draken cast Bio on Thunderchild and sent him flying into a pile of Mage corpses behind Domino, immediately he was back up, wiping the bio off him and charging forward again, ignoring the blood trickling down the side of his face.
He's really pushing himself to the limits now she thought, before joining him with her Katana, finally with the combined might of Domino and Thunderchild, the Draken fell.
The Magic Carpets made another pass overhead, shortly afterwards flame erupted from all around them as the naphtha bombs detonated. A Garuda which had been flying to intercept the carpets suddenly burst into flame and collapsed to the ground next to them.
When Thunderchild looked up again, it looked like he had been transported to somebody's version of hell, flames leapt up into the sky all around him and people ran around and screamed.
Thankfully he knew that was the Carpets last pass, this time they had come dangerously close to flaming their own men.
His troubles weren't over yet though, through the flames in front of him a Ralvuimago slithered forward, its serpent like body writhing as the flames burnt at it, but the snake creature was strong enough for the flames not to seriously affect it.
It struck out and devoured a foot soldier on his right, as Thunderchild moved forward to attack it, it also struck out at him catching him with one of its tusks and flipping him onto his back. As he fell heavily, he lay there briefly winded, the Ralvuimago reared up and lunged down at him, its mouth wide open. Suddenly it stopped, a surprised look on its face, as Thunderchild sat up he saw Dominos katana sitting in the side of the snake creatures head. Turning to his right he saw Domino standing there with a smile on her face, Thunderchild rolled out of the way of the Ralvuimago as it crashed to the ground next to him, Domino retrieved her katana and bowed to him.
Thunderchild smiled graciously back at her and jumped back up onto his feet. He ran forward and skidded to a halt in front of a battered but defiant mounted knight.
"NAGY!" he yelled
The knight stopped fighting briefly to turn and open his visor.
"Thu…you're ok!" he yelled with a smile, Thunderchild could see a trickle or two of blood running down his face.
"I'm fine, but what about you!" he asked
Nagy shrugged and indicated the soldiers on front of him.
"We're making slow but steady progress, that airstrike helped tremendously."
Thunderchild nodded as Domino ran up alongside him, he turned and looked at her, she was weary but still defiant, he didn't know what she was about to do against the might of Jara's army when he had arrived but he got the feeling that he had arrived just in time.
"The infantry are almost here." She announced.
"Excellent, Domino if you could lead them in…I believe you know how. Nagy, it's time we put an end to this war." Declared Thunderchild, as he placed Draconus in its scabbard and whistled to Shamara who had been waiting on the edges of the battle. As Shamara galloped forward, through the battle towards him, Thunderchild took a moment to look around and judge things.
The Black Mages had huddled in a group on the Morporkian side of the battle, they seemed lost, bewildered, Thunderchild couldn't blame them, he knew how it felt to be misled. Around him the Morporkian infantry were pushing their way through the monsters in Jara's second rank, in front of them lay a rank of heavier monsters and occasional genomes…and Jara herself. Thunderchild could see her giving orders from her war horse, her jewellery glinting in the fading sun. He focused on her for a moment, and she must have felt his gaze for, just one moment, she turned and looked straight at him, Thunderchild saw her lips move but didn't know what the words were that she said, then she looked away as Shamara arrived.
Leaping onto his faithful steeds back, he shouted to all of the cavalry around him.
"Take note, no genomes are to be harmed unless ABSOLUTELY necessary…they're on our side really, remember that," he turned and looked at Nagy "Ok Nagy? We don't stop until we reach Jara."
Nagy nodded and put his visor back now, Thunderchild turned around in his saddle and looked at Domino, she was at the front of a large group of infantry, she had borrowed some battle armour and a helmet and had her katana ready to do battle.
They locked eyes and nodded, their expressions saying more than the words they both felt for each other.
Stay Safe.
"Forward!" commanded Thunderchild
The Morporkian army began its second main thrust into Jara's army.
Jara sat on the back of her war horse, Nihilath. She surveyed the losing battle in front of her, it wasn't looking good…at first the Morporkian forces had been unorganised, unable to face her in direct strength…but HE had changed that…him and that blasted genome. Jara cursed for letting her slip through her fingers again.
Cut off the snakes head and the body withers away she thought.
Turning to the blue haired genome sitting on another horse next to her she issued an order.
"Funaho, put a new order out to the troops…Kill Yissan Gojenta at all costs…I want that mans corpse brought before me now!" she yelled
"Yes mother, I will see that it is done." Replied Funaho, bowing gently to Jara before riding off to give the orders.
We'll see how you fare now…my love thought Jara, a sly smile playing across her scarlet lips.
Fighting his way through the heavy monsters Thunderchild suddenly felt something land behind him, turning he saw a female genome standing on the back of Shamara, as he turned the genome smashed its sword into the side of his head, the helmet deflected most of the blow but it was still enough to knock him sideways off his steed.
As he landed heavily he saw the genome leap off the horse and somersault towards him, he quickly stood up and blocked the incoming blow, he had to act quickly after that to blow further blows from the genome, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get an attack in through her defences, the genome was too fast for him and she was out to kill him. Something had changed, beforehand it was almost as though the genomes hadn't really been trying before, but now they were out to get him.
Suddenly another genome joined the fight, and another until Thunderchild found himself surrounded by seven genomes.
"Oh come on," he muttered "Seven against one…this just isn't fair."
"Allow me to even out the odds!" came a familiar voice from his right.
Domino teleported into the middle of the ring, joining Thunderchild by his side with her sword already drawn.
"We're gonna have to kill them Dom." Warned Thunderchild, as the genomes circled warily.
"It might not come to that…look." Said Domino as the genomes broke off their attack and disappeared into the battle from where they had come.
"What the hell?…Of course! They didn't want to fight their own kind." Gasped Thunderchild as he realised what had made the genomes retreat.
Domino nodded and smiled at him before giving him a very quick kiss on the cheek.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to protect you now!" she said
Thunderchild laughed but quickly stopped as a giant Iron Man came rumbling through the massed army to attack them, Draconus's blade met the first attack, stopping the giant sword before it could strike them, Thunderchild didn't know how the blade of Draconus stood the attack but pressed home on the advantage moving forward and ducking under the giants second attack to cast a Thundaga spell on the creature, this caused the Iron Man some damage but wasn't enough to kill it off. So he tried another spell, jumping backwards from the Iron Man he held Draconus directly upright in front of his face and then jumped in the air, swinging the sword 180 degrees and landing with it point down.
A flurry of strange symbols appeared before the Iron Man before it convulsed and fell over backwards.
Thunderchild stood up again, a little unsteady at first but quickly regaining his strength.
"Whew," he said "That one took it out of me."
Domino stood beside him, a little confused.
"Was that…Solution Nine?" she asked
Thunderchild shrugged, he didn't know, he had just summoned forth the power and it had appeared in the form of the spell.
"Perhaps…perhaps not, I do not know."
Domino was silently impressed, Solution Nine was one of Zidanes trance attacks and it was unusual for it to be used out of trance, she suspected Thunderchilds strange background. Something she knew she had to talk to him about.
Meanwhile Thunderchild had spotted a gap in Jara's defences, grabbing Dominos arm he ran forward, dodging claws, swords and teeth until he emerged on the other side of the battle with one thing clear in his mind.
Jara cursed again, the stupid genomes had refused her order…she made a mental note to have them all killed later, it was easier to rely on monsters, you told them what to do and they did it…they didn't have a crisis of faith at the most important moment in battle.
Funaho sighed next to her.
"The battle does not appear to be ending in our favour mother." She said, with a slight hint of satisfaction in her voice. Jara turned and looked at her suddenly, perhaps the venom was wearing off?
It was after all only an experimental poison but it had been the only thing nearby which could have saved Jara from having to explain to Funaho the deception she had created. When Funaho had returned from her failed mission to capture Yissan, she had started to ask awkward questions, like why she had sent Bahamut to kill both Yissan and her, Jara had had to act quickly, grabbing the poison she had mixed it with a nearby wine and offered it to Funaho to drink, telling her she would explain all.
After drinking it Funaho had fallen into a deep sleep which lasted for one hour, when she awoke she was once again loyal to Jara, to the point where she had killed her own brothers step-parents.
Jara still couldn't believe the little blue genome crossbreed sitting next to her was her lovers sister.
Hmph, imagine, if the Borg had never had attack she could well have been your sister-in-law thought Jara, the thought itself making her laugh.
But, at the end of the day, it didn't matter…Yissan couldn't stop her, not even by defeating this army…she would find her power, and then Gaia would become Terra…it was inevitable…it was after all the only reason Gaia had been created, the only reason Gaia existed, to become Terra.
Terra was the master planet, Terra was the stronger planet, Terra was the ONLY planet.
"JARA!" the shout brought her out of her daydream and back to reality.
Standing directly in front of her was Yissan, he looked very upset and the most important matter of the equation was that he had just launched at fireball at her.
Jara…teleported…one minute she was sitting on top of the black stallion staring at the fiery doom Thunderchild had just sent her way, the next she was standing on the desert sand in front of Domino, her staff raised and ready to strike.
"What the hell..?" thought Domino, she raised her sword ready to defend but it was too late, Jara's staff glowed bright white, a white which obscured everything in Dominos view…quickly the white was replaced with black as the whole world went dark.
As Domino stiffened and fell to the ground Thunderchild yelled and sent an energy blast at Jara, which she easily blocked.
"So…Yissan…We meet once again." She whispered, her voice quiet and yet very audible to Thunderchild, despite the clamour of the battle raging near them.
"This has to end Jara." He growled
"I couldn't agree more Yissan…so…do you prefer burial or cremation?" she asked before sending a fireball at him, Thunderchild ducked under the fireball and threw one back at her.
"You know how this ends Jara, as well as I do."
Jara shook her head and laughed
"Yissan you idiot, this will never end…I will rule for eternity over the rebuilt lands of Terra…while you rot in hell." She snarled, bringing her staff up in an attack aimed at Thunderchilds head.
Thunderchild blocked the attack with Draconus but wasn't able to prevent Jara kicking him in the stomach, even with his armour her strength knocked him backwards, in time to receive the second blow from her staff which made something in the direction of his rib cage crunch.
Standing up again and ignoring the burning pain in his lungs Thunderchild hissed at Jara and jumped backwards out of the way of her next physical attack. He felt the rage within growing but knew that using Dragon trance now was way too risky, knew that even Ultima trance would create more harm than it would save but there was one more power he could call upon.
Flashing a bright white Thunderchild entered Trance and immediately blasted Jara with a purple energy wave, she blocked most of it but still staggered under the power of the attack. While she was distracted Thunderchild began to utter words out of his control, words he didn't know the meaning of but words that awoke a power which lay dormant in his body.
The skies overhead went dark, overcast by sudden low lying clouds, deep from within there was a crash of thunder.
Jara looked up, her eyes open in fear as a giant machine like being surged through the clouds and hovered above her, a large sword whirred forward and clunked into place next to its head. The tip of the sword began to glow red.
"Ark…" whispered Jara, her mouth agape in horror.
A laser beam shot out from the arm and traced a complex pattern in the sand around her, two more mechanical attachments emerged and as Ark rose back up into the sky, threads of light emerged and shot towards Jara, she tried to run but was rooted to the spot with fear, the ground exploded around her as the beams landed.
Thunderchild grunted with satisfaction as he dropped to one knee, overcome with exhaustion, whatever he had just summoned, seemed to have defeated Jara, the smoke and sand arising from in front of him proved testament to her demise…nothing could have survived that. He looked up into the sky as the clouds disappeared and made a note never to call upon that kind of destructive force unless he absolutely had to.
A bright light from within the smoke caught his eye…now what?
Laughter…joyous laughter…familiar joyous laughter, mocking him, laced with contempt and power.
Walking forward out of the dust cloud was Jara, not as her usual self but glowing a deep red.
"I must say Yissan…you had me worried for a moment there, but I appear to be stronger than we all think. Perhaps this simple form will suffice…that useless oaf Kuja seems to have been onto something with this 'trance'…perhaps I will succeed where he failed?"
Thunderchild sighed and nearly collapsed with sadness, his near strongest attack…failed, defeated…he didn't see the point of proceeding with Ultima trance, because right now Jara was way too powerful, but still…in trance, he had something he could use.
"Enough Jara!" he called, summoning forth the spell he knew subconsciously as Ultima.
The purple waves of energy surrounded both of them for a moment before crashing into Jara, she groaned and collapsed to her knees, wounded but still alive.
"Yissan…As much as we hate each other…can't you feel our love, can't you hear our song…it's still being sung Yissan." She gasped, her face close to his.
"We are over Jara…you are not the woman I fell in love with."
Jara looked at him, slightly hurt but unrepentant.
"That is as maybe, but you are still the man I fell in love with…Yissan, you know where I will be…the place where we both grew up, the place where we fell in love…Remember your home Yissan? It's not as far away as you would think…and neither is my love."
She stood up, clicking her fingers to bring forward Funaho who had remained on the sidelines of the battle up until then. She then used Funaho to lean on before casting a powerful portal spell, once finished Thunderchild could see the landscape of an alien and yet familiar planet. Jara walked through, looking at him as she left the Discworld.
Funaho stopped, and looking deep into Thunderchilds eyes, her light blue eyes matching her hair.
"Help me brother." She whispered before walking into the portal, drawn forward as though not of her own accord.
Thunderchild stood up, pushed himself forward towards the portal, he couldn't let her escape, he wouldn't let her escape not now he was close to defeating her. He leapt forward into the portal as the energy supporting it collapsed and it winked out of existence, falling forward Thunderchild crashed into the sand his ears ringing with the sound of the portals collapse. Turning around again he cursed as he saw the Klatchian desert still in view.
"Thu?….Thu are you alright?" asked a distant voice, Thunderchild surrendered to the pain within his body and fell back onto the desert sand, letting it take him and his blood.
Jara was still alive….
He had failed.