Chapter Forty-four: The Storm
The early morning sky was a cloudy, gray mess and the air smelled of impending rain. Before the first roll of thunder was heard, Callum, Wendell and Zephyr could all sense it as they stood in the village square. The sheer invigoration of a storm that awoke something in each of them, and that was all without mentioning the significant of this particular storm.
"It's time." Somehow, Rayla's sudden appearance behind Callum didn't faze him, though the siblings took surprised note of her. She looked at him. "Should I get everyone together?"
"Yeah, but don't send them up just yet." Callum told her, his eyes staying on the top of the spire, hidden by the clouds. "I need them to take something up for me." Without waiting for an answer, he ran back toward the house the two shared with what remained of his family as Rayla turned to Zephyr and Wendell.
In minutes, Zephyr, Tiadrin, Mira, Zym, Kimaare and Ezran, along with many other villagers, were gathered at the eastern border of the village, with Pyrrha standing before them, allowing Amaya, Janai and their guards to board, a lineup that included Soren and Lain. Callum came running with a large staff in hand, at which Lain and Tiadrin's eyes widened with amazement; at the top was a moon primal stone partially incased in an elegant crescent design. It couldn't be, could it? Callum handed it to Rayla, who took it carefully. Even if she herself wasn't one for magic, she still held the thing with a certain reverence.
"Is that?" Lain asked, stunned.
"The Scepter of Shadows, we know." Callum said quickly. "There's no time to explain, but I can't carry it up to the pinnacle with my wings; someone's going to need to bring it to me."
"You can count on me." Rayla promised, giving him a determined look. Callum smiled.
"I know." He said and the pair parted after a kiss. Rayla was the last to board the dragon.
Stepping back a foot or two, Callum and Wendell each summoned their mage wings – Wendell's wings were the same dark gray as his father's – and shot up so quickly that they left twin ripples of dust and dirt in their wake. The dragon was a bit slower getting off of the ground, but it was still much faster than walking.
As they ascended, Wendell was a bit higher up than Callum, and thus was the first to feel a raindrop on his face. The two broke apart at the top, with Wendell entering the inside of the Storm Spire and Callum going on to the pinnacle, as was the plan they had gone over a month ago; Wendell would meet up with the Dragon Queen and her guard on standby before anyone could get hurt, while Callum would go to confront Aaravos. Pyrrha would also come to the pinnacle with the others as reinforcements.
Callum thought he would be waiting at the pinnacle for the elf to show, but his eyes widened in horror to see that he was already there, holding the Scepter of Darkness to the sky, which was glowing white. By now strong wind was blowing, rain was falling, thunder rolled and lightening flashed. Being above the clouds, none of this could be seen, apart from the flashes of light in the clouds of course, but it was plain to hear and feel. The only sparks here were from the horribly over-powered primal stone. Callum watched, paralyzed, as a lightning bolt seemed to jump up from the clouds, and Callum could have sworn the bolt itself was absorbed by the staff. At the same moment, a curious thing happened. There was no rune drawn, but an incantation was spoken; "Da Imperium!"
Some sort of wispy, gray seepage that was neither quite gas nor liquid spilled from the stone, flowing into Aaravos. Aaravos laughed, the power running through him with visible force so that his clothes and hair billowed in a gust around him, free from the rest of the storm. A high, crazed laugh that sounded so unlike the calm, quietly sinister foe Callum was familiar with. He knew he should have bolted forward or done something, but he was rooted to the spot, heart pounding in his ears, staring in shock. For the first time in years, he felt completely helpless.
Callum's expression of helplessness and terror, plus the roaring in his ears, were mirrored almost eerily by Wendell who had just come to the royal family's lair. It was a bloodbath. The walls and floor were splattered with blood, with bodies littered around. Queen Zubeia herself loomed over them, herself laying on the ground, desperately hurt. Hauntingly, no one moved or made a sound save for the queen, who's flanks heaved in deep breaths. Already feeling ill, he slowly approached Amical.
In all his years, decades really, of healing, Wendell had never seen anything like this. Amical, even worse than the rest, had been brutalized. The stab wounds were many and sloppy, far more than was necessary to take a life. This…this spoke of the attacker's anger and desire to inflict suffering. It was disgusting; even Moonshadow elves, known to be the most deadly even among their fellow elves, simply did what was absolutely necessary to complete their task, ideally without making their victims suffer. To his knowledge, only the very worst of the humans could be so cruel. Wendell had to look away, which is when his eyes rested on…
"Father!" Wendel ran, fear bubbling in his stomach as he approached Ibis. His heartbeat rose in a panic. No, this…this couldn't be happening again. He couldn't lose him. Ibis's eyes, thankfully, peered open, causing a grateful smile to appear on his son's face as he made it to him. This mysterious attacker clearly had it out for him as well because the stab marks were again far more then necessary. Wendell was careful, but he couldn't resist the urge to hold his father for what they both knew could be a final time. Ibis weakly returned the embrace, the simply moving of his arms seeming to take a lot of energy. "Father, what happened?"
"Amer." Ibis's voice was weakening, the light in his eyes growing dim. "There's a letter…in my chambers. For Callum."
"I'll get it to him." Wendell promised, starting to cry for the first time in years. Ibis nodded, and his gaze went to Queen Zubeia. She was bleeding from several places, most aggressively from a long, thick, red gash lining the side of her face and muzzle; the same side on which she bore the old scar from Sol Regem. Several of her horns were busted, a front paw was twisted in an unnatural way and both wings had been ripped. Despite his fear, the Skywing elf gently laid his father back down, picked himself up and met the dragon's miserable gaze. "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I'll be quick."
Queen Zubeia wanted to tell him to not worry about her, to get someone up to the pinnacle to help Callum, but she didn't have the energy to say anything before he took off, no doubt heading toward the infirmary for herbs. She could only watch his retreating form, thanking her lucky stars that she'd had the foresight to get her children out of here before this happened.
Amer was hidden in the shadows and closely watched Ibis's son as he went scampering off to the infirmary. Even though Aaravos had made quick work of the Dragonguard, he had strangely insisted on leaving Queen Zubeia alive, to later question her about the whereabouts of her son. So long as the Dragon Prince lived, there would be a mark on their heads.
He clutched the knife, the blade dripping with a mixture of Ibis's and that Sunfire elf's blood. Having been his replacement on the guard, Amical symbolized the injustice done to him by that tyrant dragoness, and Ibis was the leader of the Dragonguard and had scolded him like a child many times. It felt great to have them helpless beneath him, as was their place, every stab of the knife being a thrill to Amer.
"Wendell?" A familiar voice made him jump. Callum's allies, his sister included for some reason, had arrived and were slowly creeping through the carnage. Amer could hear footsteps running up the stairs to the pinnacle, which he put out of his mind when his eyes found the son of Viren. He could feel himself slipping into his heat-being mode, the feeling of his blood boiling becoming indistinguishable from the rage-induced heat. If not for that man's father, none of this would be happening now, and for that, he and his sister would pay.
Amer clutched the knife in his hand, now wishing it was a sunforge blade that would cut right through that armor. A wide, sharp grin, alarmingly similar to Aaravos himself, grew on Amer's face as the group broke apart to check on the fallen guards or the injured queen. Amer's prey took Wendell's former place beside Ibis, checking in vain for a pulse or a heartbeat.
Callum shook himself awake at the shouting of his name. Rayla ran up to him, the Scepter of Shadows in hand. Callum took it, looking from it to the Scepter of Darkness, which was now sparking with spurts of power that was clearly too much for the glass ball.
"At last." Aaravos said in a husky whisper. His once sleek hair had become a luminous mane and his eyes were glowing with power. Callum could practically feel his hair standing on end as the elf turned to him. "And this time, my boy, you will not interfere."
"This time?" Callum asked, wondering what he meant in the half-second before Aaravos drew a rune and a blast of wind, blowing Callum and Rayla right off the edge of the pinnacle.
Between the storm giving Callum a boost to his powers and his mastery of the magic for years now, it was now child's play to summon his mage wings and swoop Rayla to safety. The real trouble was coming back, when Callum and Rayla beheld Aaravos propped up on a small, tight tower of swirling wind, only made visible by the occasional piece of debris sucked into the vortex. Before either could question why he'd go through such trouble rather then just summoning mage wings, they received the answer when he looked at them. He slowly held out the Scepter of Darkness, flipping it so that the stone faced downward, toward the Storm Spire. He let the staff go.
As the scepter dropped, time seemed to stop. Callum dove for it, flying as fast as he could, Rayla adjusting her grip on Callum's neck to free one of her hands. They both remembered what happened when a primal stone was shattered, and that was just from a simple sky primal stone. Neither could imagine what damage an overloaded stone could do with all six sources, including its original sun magic. They couldn't be sure that such power wouldn't wipe out everything on the continent.
Callum and Rayla sighed in relief when she caught the staff with her free hand, and Callum gently lowered them to the floor of the summit. They held one another for a few seconds before they looked around. Aaravos had disappeared, and thankfully the Scepter of Shadows had found the relative shelter of one of the upright stones that lined the edge of the pinnacle. Rayla handed the corrupted staff off to Callum before she went to retrieve the Scepter of Shadows.
As Rayla came back with the scepter in hand, Callum held the staff away from and watched the flashes and small bursts of power with worry. "It's overwhelmed. It might burst if we don't do something."
Rayla looked at the Scepter of Shadows and looked over to the Scepter of Darkness. If the former Scepter of Radiance was able to accumulate all that power… "What if the magic can be split? It might not purify the staff, but it would take the pressure off." Callum nodded and gestured for her to hand him the Scepter of Shadows. She looked wary. "Are you sure you can do it?"
"No, but it's all we have to go on right now." Callum told her, and she reluctantly handed him the staff in his free hand. Rayla stood back as Callum straightened out his arms, holding the scepters parallel to each other. Worst case scenario, nothing would happen, but he had to try; he was connected to all six primal sources, he had better chance than anyone of doing this. He breathed in and spoke what he hoped was the transfer spell; "Da Imperium."
Rayla watched, heart pounding as something happened. Callum gave a yelp as his veins were set on fire, a thorny pricking sensation crawling along his arms. Reality seemed to fall away as he was consumed in power and agony. He had to somehow force himself to stay steady but could only manage it for seconds before he collapsed. The two staffs fell to the ground.
"Callum!" Rayla cried and caught him before he fell. She gently lowered him, her own terrified heartbeat almost drowning out his shallow breaths. She spared a moment to look at the scepters; the Scepter of Darkness was still black with corruption, but it was at last calm. The aura around the sphere had been reduced to yellow, green and light blue, while the Scepter of Shadows had gained an aura of white, dark blue and purple. Rayla smiled, running her hand through Callum's hair. That beautiful idiot did it.
"SOREN!" More than one voice echoed in the large cavern. Amer saw Soren drop, blood flowing from the soft spot in the back of his head. Amaya immediately came charging at him, shield at the ready and seeing red. Behind Amer, Wendell also ran up to them, zipping passed them to Soren.
An enraged roar stopped everything. Even limping, Queen Zubeia was a formidable being and with her twisted paw sent Amer flying into a wall. Still in his heat-being mode, Amer was able to angle himself so that he could soften the blow and get to his feet. This turned out to be a useless stunt because the angry dragoness stood up and grabbed the elf in her jaws. When Amer sneered and brought out his dagger as if he'd outsmarted the queen, she shook him like a stubborn piece of pray that wouldn't die. The sharp jerks forced Amer to drop the bloodied weapon. She growled as she limped to the opening of the Storm Spire, unmindful of his struggling, and launched the elf from the cliff. Amer screamed, which quickly faded into nothing as he was lost to the wind of the storm.
The rain vapor from the clouds felt good on Queen Zubeia's cuts, and it washed some of the blood away and the strikes of lightening seemed to restore her energy so that she was feeling better then she had in the shelter of her chambers. After taking a moment to look at Novus and Thunderfall in turn and take in the comfort of the storm as it died, the queen turned around to return to her dwelling.
Rayla knew something was happening, with a roar that seemed to come from the floor, growls and screams coming from the entrance to the chambers in the spire. Still, she stayed close to Callum, who's heart was still beating, he just needed to wake up. Thankfully, it wasn't a long wait after the growling had seized. The storm was beginning to die.
"What happened?" Callum asked, moving to free himself as though he'd been sleeping for hours.
"We did it." Rayla told him, gesturing toward the staffs that lay near them, neither crackling with power. "The transfer worked; the Scepter of Radiance is stable now." Callum smiled for the moment before Rayla carried on. "Something has happened with the queen; we need to get down there."
Callum nodded, taking the Scepter of Darkness in hand, and he stood up, energized by the remnants of the storm. The pair descended the stairs without another word, neither prepared for what awaited them.
The next few minutes were a painful blur. Amer was in league with Aaravos and had hurt Queen Zubeia and…it was like a bad dream. Now they were back in the house, huddled together. Amaya and Gren were explaining what happened to Ezran and Zephyr. Callum couldn't believe he'd never see Ibis or Soren again. Wendell had stayed behind at the spire to heal Queen Zubeia, and to Callum he had given…not another letter. Callum left it alone, not having the energy for it right now.
"Callum?" Rayla's voice was soft and sad. Her eyes looked red, though had hadn't seen or heard her crying. She didn't have the history with either Soren or Ibis that he did, but she had still loved them as he had. Her words were staggered as though speaking was painful. "Someone…someone needs to tell her."
Author's Notes: I know, I'm so unbelievably cruel. Soren was so excited to be a father and I had to rip it away! I always knew more than one person we love was going to die in this chapter. I also knew from the start one would be Ibis, and for a while, I toyed with the other being Queen Zubeia, but after the Dragon King's death and everything that's already happened to Kimaare, I didn't have the heart to take away their mother. She's only out of commission for a while, but she'll be okay. I will say this, however: Soren's death is not without its consequences, as it will finally solidify a new ally for Team Zym, and about time, too. Sorry, too, if this feels rushed, especially the start. Da Imperium is Latin for 'give power'. Review.