The Final War

Chapter 5: Clueless and Cruelty

The sleek and tall dark figure turned his or her back and faced a pond. It was a girl, with long dark hair. She sat down. Artix began running and tackled her. The girl screamed.

"What are you doing?" the dark figure screeched. There was a pause. Artix did not answer. Finally he said something.

"I am looking for a ninja named Elizabeth."

"Sorry, no can do. The only person here you can ask is Maxwell."

"Maxwell?"

"He's our Prince. You know, this is Stonerule."

"Can you show me where he is?"

"Um, sure. Do you want something to eat first? You look kind of like you were in hell."

"Ah, no I'm ok. How did you get so big?"

"That's one thing I don't want to talk about. My name is Liz."

"Artix,"

"Hmmmm…….I think I heard that name somewhere. Oh yeah! The library! Want to go visit there first?"

"Sure, as soon as I get something to eat."

"There are great food services out here. What would you like to eat?"

"Anything that's non-exotic or wild things like berries."

"Like a hamburger?"

"Uh sure. But I can't eat the meat from cows. How about some sandwiches?"

"Yeah, I think that would be better."

"Where do we get them?" Artix asked nervously.

"Damn. I forgot. The pure vegetable sandwich stand closed due to heavy storms."

"Heavy weather? In Battleon that never happens."

"Well, that's a different story. This place is not powered like Battleon is. We use wind, sun, water and other forces to help get our stuff finished. You see, this is the future."

Azfire stared blankly. He picked mindlessly at the berries, one by one. Robina was grabbing handfuls. Azfire thought some more.

" I shouldn't kill Artix. Robina would hate me forever!"

"If you told Artix died from a giant, she wouldn't know." The chilling voice said.

"But she's always near him," Azfire said, trying to avoid killing Artix.

"You're a necromancer. That's your job. Killing paladins. Obesida would give great pleasure to those who kill him."

"Are you ok Azfire? You look a little pale. Have a berry." Robina said, offering a big ripe thing. It looked nothing like something from a bush.

"Nah, I'm fine. I think I need some rest." Azfire replied, gently pushing her hand back.

"Fine. Go over to those bushes where there's a leaf pile. I'll watch the portal." Azfire didn't seem to hear what she had said, but portal sparked him mind.

"If you close the portal, Artix will NEVER get out again! This is your perfect chance…" the chilling voice was there, again.

"Well…That does make sense."

"See? Now get Robina to go to a mindless sleep, and kill the portal."

"No, I cannot. If the portal closes-"

"-tell her it went away." The voice finished the sentence for Azfire.

"I will think about it."

"NOW, YOU FOOL!" the voice bellowed in Azfire's head. "This is the perfect chance!"

"No, there will be other good chances. Now, I shall rest and think about what I shall do."

"Damn fool."

Azfire woke up to hear a sizzle and a clear night sky. The stars were light up ahead, if you could call them stars. They were weirdly shaped dots.

"Finally woke up eh?" a voice called. Azfire looked at the little campfire.

"Where did you get the wood?" he asked, looking at the burning ashes.

"Well, I had to use your battleaxe to chop down a tree. A very small one, mind you, and it supplied plenty of wood."

"Well I'm starving, so I'm going to go hunt for days' worth. You stay here and watch the portal and try to make us some beds."

"Fine by me. Be back by dawn." Robina yelled as Azfire walked north.

There were several growls in the night. Some howls, and yips. Azfire had his plain battleaxe with him, and a little torch he got from the campfire.

Hiiiiiisssssssssssss…

Azfire cursed. The hiss was somewhere in the small forest, a place he dreaded going to.

"Remember, you are a necromancer. Use you skills to adapt to your surroundings." The voice said, all the words oozing from his head to hit feet. Azfire listened to the hissing. It was northeast of him, and coming in from behind him slowly. Azfire crept into the forest and went west, stalking like a prowling tiger. He kept the sharp blade of his battleaxe down and light reflected to the east. Azfire stood as the hissing sound drew closer. Something moved among the trees, snapping twigs and crunching leaves. It drew closer, than Azfire could feel the breath among his knees. The creature jumped on him, only to be repelled by Azfire's hard part of the battleaxe. The moon's light was strong, and shined light through the dead trees. The creature was a demon cat, big and dangerous. The demon cat stalked lightly, trying to blend in with the trees. Azfire stood his ground, looking like a piece of dropped wood. The demon cat had night eyes, and at the moment Azfire thought he was gone, the night cat pounced on him.

"Idiot," the voice in his head called.

Azfire swung his battle axe and hit the demon cat hard on it's head, knocking it out.

"Jackel, what happened?" Twilly the moglin came up to him with his healing stick.

"Well Twilly, I have no freaking clue. We should go visit Yulgar to supply everyone with weapons." Jackel Sano replied, looking out into the distance.

"No, Jackel, we do not have enough coins. Yulgar only demands money, and our town's stock is not high enough." A voice behind them said.

"Warlic! You're back!" Twilly cried out.

"And so it seems. We have to protect Battleon and seal those portals before more…"

Warlic was cut off with a shriek and carnzards came through, swarming houses. The took a bite out of wood, and attacked everyone.

"Cardinal, attack the carnzards." A voice yelled out. It was Aria, who had a bright red bird perched on her shoulder. "Someone go get Valencia!"

"I'm here, rogue at your service. What do you need?" Valencia said scaring Aria.

"Get the frogzard hunter. Hurry!"

"Can't Aria. Frogzard hunter isn't there."

"What? That can't be!"

"His sister said he was captured, but you know her. She could be lying." Valencia muttered.

"Then get her!" Aria shouted, then cursed. Valencia ran through the houses, and into the pet shop.

"She's…not…there…" Valencia puffed.

"She really wasn't lying…" Aria muttered. "Twilly! Use your healing powers on Valencia! She's going to need it!"

"Sorry Aria, I can't! I'm healing some very young adventurers. They have some skill with a sword. Go refill your health potions from the guardian chest." Aria nodded, and went towards the guardian tower. Then the door burst open and horses charged out, with guardians in their armour and sharp blades. There was a supply horse that Aria jumped onto. The horse hadn't realized she would do that and stood up on two feet, neighing.

"Go, now!" Aria ushered the horse. However, the steed did not move. It just stood there. Aria jumped off and took a few health potions from the chest. She ran along the guardian tower road and then something tackled her. She fell, and the potions she was carrying smashed. Aria looked behind her and saw a carnzard, teeth bared and ready to strike. The pet shop owner reacted quickly, took out her whip and hit the carnzard with a massive force.

"Aria! Your cardinal!" a voice called out from the town. There lay, in the middle of all the destruction, lay a small cardinal, covered in red. Aria ran from the carnzard and into the town, picking up the bird slowly. Aria turned around just to see a glow of a carnborg's fuel cannon directed at her. It fired. Aria looked around helplessly, as she was sent to her death.

Robina woke up. Her head was splitting and she heard a voice going, "Help, Help, HELP!" The ranger groaned in exhaustion. It was a bright afternoon, and no sign of Azfire being at camp.

"Hello there." Robina whipped around. A large black figure stood there, with a sword in each hand.

"Blackhawke!" the archer exclaimed. "How did you get here? We saw you miles back!"

"I was growing mental. Damn berries mess with your mind, yeh?"

"They do? I ate a ton and I don't really feel anything. Azfire didn't either."

"Azfire?"

"Young necromancer…He's off hunting right now."

"Well hope he dies because you can never trust necromancers. Get rid of him. Burn him. Desert him. I don't care what you need to do! This meeting should never have taken place."

"He's been acting pretty fine lately. Blackhawke, how does the berries mess with your mind?" Robina asked, nervous she had been poisoned.

Blackhawke looked at Robina, eyes serious, his face grim, and said, "The voices in your head. They mess with you. They take control if you listen to them. They will rule you."

"I have heard several voices in my head. Only cries of 'help' or 'save me' but nothing that serious."

"I'm back… Who wants a slice of meat, eh?" a loud voice called out.

"Azfire! Meet Blackhawke, fighter."

The necromancer stared at Blackhawke with disgust. Then without saying anything, he hurled the demon cat on the fire.

"Isn't that cat still alive?"

"No, it's been wasted by you fools!" Azfire yelled, and looked at the sky. It was light, almost night, and a small star tinkled.

"Err…Let's eat!" Robina said.

"I've eaten my share today. I'll go hunt for some more food." Azfire said calmly.

"You sure? We can save a section for you." Robina called after him. Azfire took no notice of her generosity.

"See? Now you must get rid of Blackhawke. Then Artix." The voice called, echoing in Azfire's head.

"No, that man has two longswords, which would be signing my death wish."

"Kill him at night."

"Why?"

"Well first, how come that ranger likes a slob like him? Don't you like her?"

"Well yes, I would do anything. But not murder. Obesida would never allow it if I killed a fighter. We are trying to get allies; spies."

"Fine by me. Go eat a berry."

Azfire looked around at his surroundings. Everything was calm and quiet, and several "Hoot!" s made the necromancer more alert.

Arrrrooooooooooooooooooooo!

A wolf. Probably a lone one.. Azfire snuck around a small hill, where he saw some dead baby wolves. On top of it was a small figure that had no comparison to the small beasts. Azfire realized it was a werewolf.