A Tale of Many an Adventurer- Joe's story
Chapter 16
Joebushy- If anyone knows a good publishing company and how to contact them, tell me at that, I am beginning to heed my reviews- look forward to the next couple chapters!
Sometimes, even in the worst predicaments thinkable, a light of hope comes. Sometimes, something neither you nor anyone ever thought possible occurs. Sometimes things happen so unthinkable that even the insufferable imminent can be devoured. Even when all seems lost and is forsaken you find that one light of hope in one object. And so it happened here.
With the columns of mist and darkness surrounding Naraf none of the team could see the transformation. Would Kealato end now? It seemed as though it already had. Their leader in the ceiling (which was no longer projecting anything), Naraf engulfed in darkness, and the secret of the purple mist revealed. Nothing could save them. It seemed the world was ending right before the team's eyes. They were frozen in fear. They were about to die in a world almost alien to them.
The mist cleared to reveal a purple figure with flaming red eyes. The outline was that of Naraf. It had human features- arms, legs, all and everything. But the mist surrounded it. It- or he- was darkness. It was power. It was evil. " Where was I..." mocked Naraf's voice. " Ah... yes. Sprits of darkness. Now, as you might... snap out of it!... as you might know, these spirits are the darkness of everything. They are but clones of evil. Of the infinite abyss. Now, all of you. With my new- found power I..."
"You what?" Rauel stepped forward. " Kill us- destroy Kealato? What's the point Naraf? Do you believe innocent lives are to be destroyed for fun!" He stopped there, having proved his point.
"... I will do the mortal's unthinkable..."
Axel laughed out loud. " Ha ha, dark one. How should I say this, um... you are speaking in such a way I can not understand nor anyone else but whoith you described it to! Code! Mortal's unthinkable, Ha!"
" ...Kealato will fall..."
" Wow," Chris mocked, "Like that's never been attempted before!"
"... All will perish..."
Joseph almost fell to the ground. " WHOO! Never saw that coming!"
" ... Including you. Kealato will become a desolate wasteland under the control of evil. All will bow before me!"
The creature that was Naraf started growing. It was unstoppable. Little by little the ancient city of Mythinea gathered to watch their demise- the beginning of the end. It was as though darkness was in control, had the upper hand. The team had failed just like that. Darkness overwhelmed. It wasn't like movies at all. No, this was real. It was part of a much larger picture. In front of them a world not their own was crumbling. Now the question came up of what to do.
Naraf's voice was merciless as he spoke once again. " You, earthlings and all, became to cocky. Unaware of your surroundings! A day of reckoning has befallen you. It is now good agenst evil. Weak agenst strong. Demonstrate how strong the power of good is, as now, I show you the awesome power that is evil!"
" Guy's, what do we do?" Chris asked. Not a trace of cockiness was in his voice. Nobody said a word. " Do we escape," He suggested out loud, " Or do we fight? Either way, we cannot prevail. Our tale of adventure comes down to this. We came here, not knowing what we wanted more; escape or save. Now my friends, what do we do?"
"Fight," Taylor voted.
"Fight," Chet said.
The rest of the team echoed the word " Fight ". It was settled. For now, the team stayed. They would fight until the bitter end. The stage was set. Naraf stood fifteen-feet tall, red eyes staring down. The team stood ready. It all came down to this. Would it be the end- or a happy ending?
" Fight? Me?" Naraf was dumbstruck. That was good. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. All that mattered was to catch the winged beast creature off-guard. But maybe the elements of magic could help...
"Gather!" yelled Chris. The team gathered so they could talk. " I have a plan. First trap with magic then attack. Got it?" In came a flurry of questions. " Just do it!" Chris yelled. The team broke up. It was time. So far, all had gone wrong. Mythinea was a place of never-ending tragedy. From the element caves to the darkness consuming everything. It seemed they had already lost. But with Chris' plan came some hope- but not much. It seemed idiotic to pull that attack. But all would soon come into place.
The first strike belonged to Naraf. The team was back in line formation waiting when it came. " Garamaness!" He yelled. Dark spheres flew out of Naraf chest. They where the same shade as him- an evil purple. The team scrambled away from the menacing comet. What it left was a crater; inside of it purple mist. The mist started slowly spreading.
" What do we do?" Taylor commanded.
" The plan," said Chris. " But do not, under any circumstance, collide with the mist. Axel, Rauel, if you didn't figure this out yet, the mist is darkness. Touch it- and you will fall. Now, attack!"
The team charged once again. It would soon be weapon on weapon. Jake stayed back with Zach. They would be needed to trap Naraf so he could not attack.
"Zach," Jake said, " Concoct a potion to repel magic. It will help my wall." Zach started searching through his bag for his potion book. He only found it after plowing through his phoenix feathers and lynx essence. Then he looked through it's contents until he found what he was looking for- Magic Repelling potion.
He grabbed the ingredients- pixie dust, crren plant, and the bottled light attack of Creight and mixed them into a bottle. "Jake," Zach asked quickly, " use fireaim on this potion. Hurry!" Jake scrambled for his wand. " Jake, just use it!" But Jake thought. He had just realized something so gut-wrenching that he couldn't watch. He thought back to when they had seen Naraf in the past. This archfiend had a sword. The team could be doomed.
There was no wind on their way down. But there was wind here. It gave this area an immense feeling of being haunted. It was an underground city, number one. How much creepier could it get? Throw in pure darkness and you would almost pee your pants. But not if you were there, and fighting for revenge. But why fight for what you don't know? Why would they need revenge for something that didn't happen?
" Fireaim!" yelled Jake. Immediately the potion became bubbly. " Now put that potion on the tip of my wand," He commanded. Zach did so. " We can only hope," Jake said. " Earthan!" As it happened before, towering pillars of earth formed out of the ground around Naraf. With them, a repelling shield.
" Nice combo," Zach praised.
" Yeah," agreed Jake.
" Now, attack!" yelled Chris. The team quickly destroyed one pillar and charged in. They were right under Naraf. Only his purple glow gave off light in this high tower of earth. But that didn't stop them. No, they attacked hard. But Naraf wasn't phased. Not at all. He knelt down and punched the ground to show power. This giant was acting cocky. Chris liked that. What it meant was that if the team gave it all they had, the Archfiend would fall.
" Ho ha ha! Mortals! What is this you're doing? An attempt, correct? Well, than I'll just have to test your skills! Beam Chaos!"
A black beam, big as a spotlight, commenced flowing from Naraf's right hand. " Now; let's see how fast you can run," he said calmly.
" Jake," Zach said with a hint of anticipation, " what does that do?" He stared at the black beam Naraf was shooting. He could only see a portion of them since they were not in the pillars. Jake stared, thinking hard. But then it came to him only moments later. How could he not of know being an Elementist. His previous teacher had showed him all types of magic. He needed to remember it, and had done so. He was looking at the most powerful dark attack there was.
Jake waited a second before answering. " Zach," he said finally, " Beam Chaos had destroyed city after city in ancient times. It was the most feared thing of it all, the dark plague they called it. Zach, lets hope your potion works." Zach looked at him. He didn't know what the heck Jake was saying. But one thing he knew- Naraf still had his sword. Even if this attack didn't work, Naraf would have no trouble escaping his entrapment- no trouble at all. Only if he did not use his weapon would they win.
No such luck. Naraf was struggling, and although beam chaos was still homing, the team was dodging. Their leader- Chris- was good. But would he come back like Naraf knew Joe would have if- no, he wouldn't. Never. This made him think. Back, when he was spared death. The promise he made. Perfect Kealato, at all costs. Purify it; destroy all imperfect of the land. All who were not worthy. And then he remembered what else he had promised. He had promised to protect the perfect Kealato- in both magic- and sword! He was confined, as he had found in a magical force field that would let no magic in or out. But, he thought, that may only be magic. Seconds later, he found out.
"Chris," said Rauel, " he's withdrawing his sword. I think- I think we better retreat, Chris. I don't want to lose anyone."
"Yes, I agree," said Chris. " Back off, guys, retreat!" The team ran out through the open hole. They ran until they were about thirty yards away, next to Zach and Jake. There they stood, not daring to look behind them. " Ready?" Chris asked with valor. " Then lets shed some blood." One by one the team turned around, preparing to fight until the end. " If anyone has second thoughts about saving Kealato leave now. Otherwise, don't attack until you see him facing us. Then full power. If anyone... suffers, no helping. Just fight." What they saw next was both amazing and gut wrenching at once. With one spiral cut the pillars broke; Naraf was on offense.
The destruction of Mythinea had begun. The first move was made by Jude. "Neverfathom!" he yelled. He ran mach one to behind Naraf, who didn't have time to react. From there, Jude ran to right under Naraf, careful not to be off at all. "Gromagraplin!" He flew up to the bottom of Naraf's back, then ran up to the head. "Itio!" he yelled. He now punched the top of Naraf's head, and between the speed and power, Naraf collapsed. Jude fell off as Naraf tumbled.
"Nice move," said Amit as Jude and Naraf came crashing down. " My turn- Lifalin!" Naraf levitated into the air from his spot on the ground. " How do you like this!" Amit mocked. He then let go of Naraf who fell with a crash. " How fun!"
" Team," Chris said, " I don't know if he's out or not. After all our attacks how does he give up after only two? He was showing no sign of weakness, so why would he fall now?" The answer came soon enough. In those few seconds, Naraf had gone from a purple creature to an Archfiend. He was back.
He picked himself up, but there was, in fact, something terribly wrong. Naraf's eyes had dark circles below them, his eyes looked maniacal. His hands were clenching his hair as though he was in enormous agony. But could he be? Chris looked closer and saw Naraf's mouth moving, but no words were coming out. There was definitely something wrong.
Naraf looked into the rocky ceiling. Almost simultaneously, an earthquake that shook the whole team off their feet arrived. " What the heck's going on!" yelled Joseph.
"I... I don't know," Rauel answered. Then came a scream. They looked toward Naraf to see the most horrifying sight they had yet seen in Kealato- Naraf's body was decaying. At first he only looked to be gaining age, but everyone had guessed correctly in knowing an Archfiend will only die with force. Then Naraf's body became a sickly gray, what one might call the color of death. They couldn't stand looking any more, so the team turned away.
" Is he really...?" asked Zach.
" Yeah," answered Ben. Everyone stood in silence for a few moments, not out of respect for the dead, but because of awe. Had their Arch nemesis just fallen for good? Then it happened again- bigger and more powerful than before.
"Did you hear that?" asked Chet. The team listened. Could this be happening again? Then the ground commenced shaking- calm and then more and more violent. No one needed to say anything. They knew what was happening. Mythinea, the lost city of Kealato, was collapsing.
Joebushy- Still remember the sub-title of the story. This is Joe's Story. I still hope your tuning in (yes you, Zach) and please review! Please, don't copy this story. When and if I do publish it, this site will check to see if I was first to make it. Thanks.