Chapter 30: Doom Deception
Troy breathed in the cool morning air as he stood on the basket of a balloon that was manned by a skeleton. Ah, of course, piles of bones put together correctly can do great things. Flying a balloon was one of them.
Troy had just got a brief lecture of the Jekazoom itself from Kalit shortly before it left.
The Jekazoom was an ancient piece of machinery that long, long ago, was used for launching fireworks onto the next sky.
Eventually, it fell into the hands of someone with a dark heart, and with magical powers, enchanted it with a seemingly endless source of gunpowder in its interior. Troy feared he knew who that person could be.
Later on, it was brought out in War, but King Jekazar's ancestors managed to retrieve and take it. Wizards from every far land tried their best to cleanse it of its destructive nature.
But all they could ever do was manage to empower the weapon with complete control. To this day, Jekazar uses the weapon when needed, only for the right reasons.
It only took a little while, but soon, they were back at Kentar's Castle, with their huge turret arches looking up in the distance. Clearly, no one seemed to be outside at this moment.
The Balloon slowly lowered itself down towards the drawbridge, where it was unusually unmanned and stretched across. An invasion against this Castle would definitely be easier with these conditions.
Troy thanked his undead captain, and climbed out of the basket, and headed past the drawbridge and straight into the castle.
"Um...A...Hello?" He asked.
No answer. There wasn't a single person in sight, and the grand staircase looked ever so bare.
"Anybody home?" He asked again.
He climbed up the grand staircase and walked around the circular railings.
"I must be in the wrong castle." Troy said out loud.
But he knew he wasn't wrong. Clearly his Captain was one of those who flew to this place many times before. It was something that would be hard to miss.
He looked around some more, and just when he was about to leave, he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello Troy."
Troy was about to walk down the staircase when he turned around. Azore Zakat was resting an elbow against a railing, casually twirling his sword.
"Azore?" Troy was almost too relieved, but fairly surprised as well. "Yes, Hi. Where is everyone?"
"You'll find out in good time." Azore nodded.
"What?" Troy was now surprised, to confused. "What do you mean?"
"I am mildly amused you haven't found it out yet." He replied.
"What the heck are you talking about?" Troy asked again.
"That Prince who stole your One-Half Medallion? I know something. Many things Troy. Many things."
Troy glared at Azore. "Wait… hold on."
Troy racked his mind to think. What did the Prince say before he grabbed Maien?
"The Beast." He said.
Azore raised his chin. "Very good."
Troy then looked around. "Wait a minute…
He shot a glare at Azore. "You know where everyone is. What have you done to them?" He demanded.
Azore twirled his sword some more and chuckled. "Oh my. I suppose I will tell you, or perhaps, show you."
He twirled his sword quickly for a second and then he pointed the tip towards the drawbridge. All of a sudden, a golden flame appeared in front, sparkling mystically.
"Your friends are out for an Arena Battle Duel. But when they come back, they'll sure be in for a sizzling surprise!"
Troy scowled at Azore. "What are you doing?"
Azore laughed a rich laughter that boomed throughout the room.
"What does it look like I am doing? If I could perfectly fool you with ease, how much easier is it for me to allow them to fall into their Doom?"
"Wait..." Troy clutched his head. He could start to see puzzle pieces starting to form inside together in his mind.
"I had a feeling the psychic wizards I visited just recently didn't help me at all."
Troy put some emphasis in that "all" last word in his sentence.
Azore's sword gleamed as he raised it briefly.
"What were you asking them about?"
"About you. You Azore-" Troy's eyes widened. "But they said that he was having a tough time with changing and all that, and to excuse anything foolish."
"Ah. Now you know these mortals couldn't help themselves. And what about you? Does Azore Zakat jingle a bell in you?
Troy hadn't even realized he was already down the stairs. He knelt down slowly and swallowed.
What did he mean by that?
He decided to focus in on the name of "Azore Zakat itself. Was it some kind of hidden riddle?"
"Eroza. Eroza. Eroza." He muttered all of a sudden, as if he had gotten it from prior knowledge he didn't remember learning.
"They couldn't help themselves." Troy stood up.
Azore raised his eyebrows. "King Kaganix and his son Prince Potanax are already on their way to Erathmus's Dungeon. They will take care of their unfinished business. And I already have mine to finish as well."
Of course. Troy had already heard enough of the legends that he grew up in, as he needed to learn them to understand his position with Maien. King Conah's ancestors managed to cage Neiam and bind him away at Commander Erathmus's dungeon. Commander Erathmus was the most feared jailor in the realm, and he taught his descendants the ways of a formidable prison system till the time he took his final breath.
Troy now had his mind come to solid conclusion.
"Eroza Takaz!" He exclaimed. He spun around and pointed his right index finger at him. "Xahartox's greatest minion!"
Azore's eyes flashed with Glee. "Eh heh heh! You knew I was also known as-"
Troy sneered. "Doom Skull."
Azore all of a sudden exploded in a shade of black and dark purple smoke, and standing in his place was a skeleton with red eyes, wearing black and red battle armor. He was carrying a wand that looked like an arm or leg bone possibly.
Troy then clutched his head. Many puzzle pieces started to come together.
"The Legend...the Volcano of Aptitude… the Potion of Mightiness."
The skeleton breathed out heavily in return.
Then it exploded into a shade of yellow, and Azore Zakat was standing there again.
"That legend was very easy to create. In fact, I am pleased to inform you that it was crafted with precise trickery."
Azore took a glance at his sword, his face showing pleasure.
"In advance, just a few weeks before you arrived at Kentar's Castle, or even start your worthless journey, I had some of my minions morphed into these… Psychic Wizards."
More puzzle pieces clicked together.
"But they-"
Azore raised a hand.
"Yes, they were quite realistic enough. But their main purpose was to convince Kentar and his family that the legend of Azore Zakat was real. Oh yes… mentally they were forced. They couldn't help themselves."
Troy breathed our heavily in disbelief.
"You are one cruel being."
Azore cocked his head in a mockingly manner. "I feel regretful and ashamed, the sort of way that Azore Zakat would feel like."
Azore Zakat, or truly, Eroza Takaz in this body of the make belief Azore Zakat continued on.
"This was your first time to ever journey away from home. As a youth, your parents wanted to protect you from outside influences."
Troy clenched his fists in sheer disgust.
"So because of the fact that this would be your first quest, you wouldn't know how the Deception of the mind and what other peoples' nature would be."
"You must have known something about my Sister." He growled.
Eroza nodded. "You wanted to know why she never communicated with you ever since?"
Troy's heart leaped a beat, and he swallowed.
Eroza gleefully widened his eyes. "It was because she never loved you. She gave up the Medallion, in total defeat months ago. There is your answer."
Troy's mouth slightly gaped in exasperation as a result.
"She… she would never...would she?" Were the only words that he could produce in his mouth.
"She would, Troy." Eroza rasped.
"No!" Troy's knees buckled, and he could feel himself kneeling down on the ground in mental pain.
His sister, who had been his best companion for years now, who had been right there since the Beginning, and held the key to the other half of the Medallion, and to somehow lose it in defeat?
In defeat. Because she never loved him.
"That is not her nature!" Troy exclaimed in anguish.
Eroza just narrowed his eyes gently. "You do not have to take my word for it. Our forces now are regrouping. Soon, the Medallion will be the complete set, and The Beast will awaken and rise.
"Never!" Troy clenched his fists even harder and stood up. He had already heard enough of who the Beast was.
Neiam, but commonly referred to by, as "The Beast" was the Ancient Wizard Maien's close companion. It symbolized the Beast form of man. It used to serve Maien with pleasure, but when Maien ascended, Neiam was left behind. He was to carry on the Medallion, which had an engraving on his forehead where the Medallion settled, to take up the task of the Ancient Wizard.
Neiam's birthplace was inside an Ancient Grotto. That was where he settled the Medallion there, and stood guard at it, only waiting for the one, chosen to guard it for the time being.
But a fierce clan, known as "Paha" was very sneaky. They tried every sort of way to lure the strong beast away, but to no avail. But finally, an evil immortal being, Lord Xahartox, finally came up with a way to obtain Maien.
The superweapon he made was supposedly bathed in the blood of Xahar and his ancestors. That was what kept it mystically together. If just a touch of darkness were to ever get on the Medallion it balanced, then it would make sense for Neiam to heed Paha.
So one day, he only took a drop of blood from the heart of the Paha Clan's kingdom, and the place was Xahar's very own home, a castle literally built around an erupting Volcano. The superweapon rested here while it would be in construction.
He gathered only himself and his loyal minion Eroza, whom was named after the name relationship between Maien and Neiam, to march towards Neiam's grotto, and things got incredibly ugly after that.
"The Beast couldn't just awaken like that!"
Eroza sneered. "The Beast's mind is only set on destroying you Troy. When I and Xahartox fought against The Beast, The Beast not only obliterated me, but destroyed nearly all of my essence. Right down to the bone."
"This shouldn't be possible!"
Eroza raised his sword again, admiring the reflection of light.
"Xahartox took great pity of me. He couldn't turn me back to human, but he still used my remaining essence to keep me alive. When the drop touched the Medallion, The Beast didn't take very long to comprehend whose side he would be on."
Troy eyed Eroza with caution.
"What are you planning to do now with me?"
"Ah, I might as well have the pleasure of telling you. Isn't that right Psy?"
With that, the same Psychic Wizard that Troy just saw earlier magically appeared in pink and purple dust next to Eroza.
"Oh, yes indeed. Hic, Shic, Mick, and Tick would love contributing the honors."
Troy's eyes went wide. In the next few minutes, this Castle might be a little messy.
Eroza stepped back as four other Psychic Wizards wearing white cloaks and purple stripes down their sleeves materialized next to Psy.
"Troy, do not fear. I will personally tell your friends of royalty your tragic demise." Eroza smiled. The five Psychic Wizards all of a sudden jumped forward towards Troy in arrow formation, with Psy in the center middle and landed just a few feet away.
Troy took a shaky deep breath, before raising his fists.
Tick, the Psychic Wizard who landed all the way on the right of the classic arrow formation, held out his palm, and a pink orb glowed, hovering above it. He charged straight towards Troy.
Troy ducked a swift hook punch to the face, but just when he attacked, Tick twisted around, and used his left fist, the opposite of the right fist which he used to try to hook punch, and smashed his left fist into Troy's stomach.
Troy clenched his teeth in a slight pain, when Tick jabbed towards Troy's head.
Troy ducked, but then, Tick kicked him with his right foot.
Troy didn't stumble back, but then Tick continued off from his first kick to another kick, connecting moves.
Now Troy was in the air and his butt skidded across the floor.
Tick took one step back, and then Hic, the Psychic Wizard all the way to the left, produced another pink orb, and then jumped towards Troy with a thrust punch.
Troy's eyes widened, as he quickly rolled away. But Hic punched the floor with the pink orb, sending pink and purple dust exploding from the impact. He connected his move with a follow up of lunging forward and punching Troy clean in the face with his left fist.
Troy stumbled backwards and fell on the ground, for the second time.
Hic then took a step backwards, while at the same time, Shic and Mick walked quickly towards Troy.
"Argh. My underestimation has gotten the best of me once again!" Troy muttered to himself, as he charged forward towards the Psychic Wizards.
Shic, who was on the left from Mick from Troy's point of view, quickly ducked a jab to the face, and Mick grabbed Troy's flying fist towards Shic.
Troy then used his other fist to punch Shic in the face, only to have it grabbed by Shic.
Shic and Mick then kicked Troy rapidly in the stomach several times, before Shic uppercut Troy in the neck, sending Troy in the air, and nearly giving him a back flip wipeout. But he did flip backwards and land on his stomach.
Troy scrambled back up, but astonishingly, when he was about to thrust his fist backward, Shic jumped forward, and when he landed, slammed his well-polished boot into Troy.
"OOF!" Troy shouted in pain as he rolled backwards.
When Troy finished rolling, he forced himself to lay still. A new thought appeared in him, and he was now up for the bitter test.
"He is testing us." He could barely hear one of the Psychic Wizards mutter.
"Of course! Even though they morphed into Psychic Wizards, they could always just read my mind! They'd know the counter to every move I deal even if I try my hardest!"
Troy said to himself. And with that, the Psychic Wizards rushed towards him.
Troy concentrated very hard. He needed to throw them off with something to make them lose their concentration!
His first thought was one of those purple big creatures that roll boulders at people. They wore funny looking short pants, didn't they?
So he thought of one of those, running on a boulder as if it were a log. At the same time, he imagined a Goblin Barrel sprouting at his head, and Goblins throwing confetti and cereal all over him.
Even though the Psychic Wizards knew that Troy would be throwing them off, it was too distracting for them. Hic and Tick clutched their heads, trying to shake it out, and while that was happening, Mick went up first towards Troy.
Troy ducked a punch to the face, and thought about Raul, a king from a battle many days ago, dousing out his flaming King Tower, while doing a shimmy with a pink Ballerina Tu-Tu on.
"Gah!" Mick didn't seize his chance to counter Troy's move, and was met with a jumping spin kick to the face.
Mick stumbled backwards, but then Shic headed past him and tried to haymaker Troy down.
Troy imagined himself and a mix of Konah's, Kentar's, and Jekazar's troops all playing Royal Forest Flags together. Only everyone was stripped all the way down to their underwear, and each flag carried a pair of pants on them. Well… only the men were stripped down to their underwear. The women had some chest protection.
When Troy looked back on it, he had to admit, that he was naughty when he thought of Priscilla as well.
"Yew!" Shic exclaimed, and that was right before Troy punched him in the face with his right fist, and twisted around, and planted his left foot with a spin kick on his stomach.
Shic tumbled backwards, and Troy quickly twisted around violently, before landing a Tornado Kick to Mick, who got up. Mick was sent down on the ground, and howled in pain.
Psy's eyes widened in disbelief as a result.
Troy jumped and twisted around, and was instantly between Hic and Tick once he landed.
He pummeled his elbow into Hic's stomach, and then punched Tick's chest following up that move, and then spun around in a full three sixty, and lashed out with a swift spin kick to Hic's face.
Hic twisted around in the air in the direction that Troy's foot was moving, and lay completely still.
Tick lashed forward with a front punch to the face, to which, Troy quickly jerked his head backwards, before swiftly hitting him with the front of his left fist, and then quickly landing a front side kick to his chest.
Tick staggered backwards, and gasped for breath.
Shic scrambled back up, and jumped in the air, thrust punching towards Troy. Troy quickly blocked it with his hands, although he did get pushed back in the process, and then ducked another fast punch to the face by Mick.
Troy punched Shic in the stomach, and then connected the move with a punch to the face.
"HAI-YET!" Troy shouted, feeling a ton of his energy release from himself, as he quickly jumped towards Mick, and then used his right foot to leap up from Mick's side of his right thigh.
While in the air, he wasted no time, twisting around, stretching out his legs, and latched both of his hands and arms around Shic, and wrapping his feet and ankles around Mick. He went down crashing, with both of them latched onto his four limbs, and both of Shic and Mick were slammed onto the ground.
After a few seconds of just holding them there, Troy let go of both of them. They all lay there, coughing slowly and weakly.
Psy stared, wide-eyed, at Troy, before raising his left hand, in a claw-shape.
All four of his fellow Psychic Wizards all of a sudden exploded into purple and pink dust.
"Your strategy is known now. Eroza, would you prefer me to have this done in less than a minute?"
Eroza chuckled. "So be it."
Troy narrowed his eyes, before rushing towards Psy. He jumped, twisted around, and landed a trio of spin kicks, while he was in the air, but all that Psy did was cross his arms, and all of a sudden, a transparent wall with pink edges blocked him, absorbing the hits.
Troy punched towards his face, but he grabbed the fist, and then punched Troy back in the face, and then punched him in the stomach.
"Oaugh!" Troy exclaimed in more pain.
Troy forced himself to concentrate more on thoughts that could possibly throw Psy off his intense concentration.
"I'm going to squash you down like a pancake!" He remembered The Pummel saying that to him out of anger. He thought of that, and imagined The Pummel carrying an Iron Skillet over with his fists.
But Psy just pushed it straight aside. Troy landed a front instep kick to his stomach, but then, when he tried to jump up, and connect with a jumping hook kick, Psy leaned backwards, and then shot his open hands towards Troy.
Troy got impacted with a purple and pinkish shockwave that sent him flying across the room. He slammed up against a wall next to where the drawbridge was, and went limp.
Troy was getting tired. His vision was starting to get blurry.
"Defeat. Defeat. Defeat." Psy said to Troy as he walked over towards him. Troy shut his eyes tight and clenched his teeth from mental agony.
"I…" he said back.
Psy stopped in front of Troy. He then grabbed his hair from his head and yanked him back up.
He formed a pink ball with his other free hand, and a sneer curved on his face.
"Counter, now!" Troy thought to himself. He wished he could do just that, but he was just too tired.
Psy forced it towards Troy, which would've landed a hit if Troy did what he wished he would do, but instead, Troy pushed his fist away weakly in return, countering Psy, who thought he would counter by making the first move. But he made the second move instead.
"Aough!" Psy exclaimed in surprise.
Troy's heart leaped another beat, realizing what he had just done. All of a sudden, he felt the need to focus his eyesight more.
He strained and felt pain, but he could slowly start to see his vision regaining, and to find a fist flying towards his fast quickly. Troy couldn't have been fast enough to at least move a muscle, but at least his head didn't crash up against the wall.
His face ached with agony, but he somehow found the strength to pull a right fist forward. Of course, he was faking it, he thought he was going to fake it. So Psy attacked with a jab to the chest, but Troy managed to grab his fist, kick him in the shin, and then raise his right elbow, and slam it into Psy's face.
"Aow!" Psy growled in pain as he stumbled backwards.
Troy ran towards the staircase, but Psy was in quick hot pursuit of him.
Troy then climbed up the first step, and then, with his instincts helping him out, he jumped, successfully dodging a hand trying to pull him down. Troy made it up a couple more steps, before turning around, and leaning backwards to a swift hook punch to the face.
Troy crab-walked backwards up the staircase as quick as he could, and thought to himself that he was going to try to make it up as quickly as he could.
It was getting difficult for him to think clearly that he was going to do one thing, but then do another, so he had to force himself to do random things.
After a few more steps, Psy sneered, with his teeth showing over his goatee, and slammed a purple fist down towards Troy's lower-torso.
Troy scooted himself a forceful push, even though it only got him up a stair or two, and then kicked Psy as fast as he could. Psy was fast enough to grab onto his ankle, but then Troy kicked towards him with his other foot, but actually the air between.
Before Psy could react, Troy swung his other foot at his chest.
And with a sharp burst of energy, Troy jerked back up, and forced his left elbow around Psy. Troy then twisted around with Psy, but Psy managed to elbow Troy behind.
"Ugh!" Troy gasped in pain as he tumbled backwards onto the staircase. But he let go of Psy, and Psy still had Troy's twist momentum affecting him.
Psy exclaimed in surprise, as he went tumbling down the staircase, and exploded into purple and pink dust when he landed on the ground. Eroza's eyes widened as he flipped forwards and landed on the floor behind Troy, who was still on the staircase.
"Well, well." He said.
Troy just swallowed as a reply.
"I needed to hurt you to truly be realistic at that time I was 'Azore Zakat'." Eroza sneered. "But not anymore."
"Your moves…" Troy started.
"Just my own magic." Eroza's mouth curled into a grin. "Now, shall I give you a quick death? It is the least I can do to such an unfortunate mortal who has to bear with treacherous news."
Troy wiped sweat from his forehead. "That is not news! It can't be real!"
"Troy, ah… you just never seem to get the hang of reality do you?" Eroza countered back.
"I'd say the same to your footing!" Troy shouted in anger and leaped towards Eroza, charging up a thrust punch.
Eroza jumped backwards and took out his sword. 'Azore's', for correction.
Eroza ducked a hook punch to the left of his face, and Troy twisted around and kicked upwards, aiming for Eroza's face. Eroza jumped backwards, but still got hit in the chest. Eroza skidded backwards on his feet, but simply used his free hand to casually dust the surface of his chest off, showing an emotion on of amusement and enjoyment.
Eroza swung the sword, left, to right, to left, to right, and Troy was completely terrified inside. If it were to ever make contact his skin, unlike last time, where he only got grazed, but this time, it would be far much worse.
Troy landed a couple of punches and kicks towards Eroza, and Eroza swung his sword as well.
Finally, Eroza managed to trip Troy, near the base of the staircase, and Troy went down. Eroza laughed evilly as he blew away imaginary dust on his golden sword.
"This is unfortunate. I was expecting such a challenge. After all, you were one of the 'Chosen Ones', right?" He mockingly asked.
Troy desperately looked around him, as Eroza had his right foot planted down on his chest. He did notice from behind his head, some kind of bronze pedestal that had a flowerpot over it.
"I hope Kentar doesn't mind." Troy shamefully thought, as he reached out as fast as he could, forcing his energy to move his muscles as quick as he could, before grabbing the trunk of the pedestal.
The flowerpot went crashing down, dirt spreading all over the floor. Eroza's eyes went wide, as he quickly swung his sword down towards Troy.
Troy braced himself, and used the pedestal to block the sword. If he was right, then he should be able to stay alive for at least a few more seconds. If he was wrong, then he would be cut into Two-Halves.
CLANG!
Troy could feel the sword dent the bronze pedestal, but he breathed out with relief when he found out that he wasn't halved up.
Troy blocked a couple more sword swipes with the pedestal, and successfully managed to get back up. Eroza stared at Troy wide-eyed, before twirling his sword quickly.
"X-SLASH!" He shouted. Within a few seconds, a golden, sparkling X thundered towards Troy. Troy had to let go of the Pedestal to duck, before quickly grabbing the Pedestal again to continue.
Troy jerked to the left with a sword slash downward on him, and then ducked again to a hook slash to the face. He landed two punches on Eroza, but then when he tried to finish it off with a flying side kick to the face, Eroza ducked, and then leaped forward.
He in quick succession, landed two kicks to Troy's stomach, sending him backwards, and Troy tripped on the first stair from behind.
"Slash Rush!" Eroza shouted, as he zoomed towards Troy. If Troy was already pained and tired right now, he would definitely be trying to motivate himself to at least live.
He really didn't want to believe Eroza's news about his sister, but at the same time, he could be right all along. Or it could be a plan to try to discourage him on his quest.
Troy widened his eyes again as he forced himself to roll away. If the grand staircase were to be ruined by Eroza… no. Troy didn't want to think about such a thought at a time like this.
Troy quickly used up the remainder of his energy to race up the staircase, with Eroza high on his tail.
Troy clenched his teeth in agony as he felt more sharp excruciating pains from behind his back, probably some more yellow stinging balls from the tip of Eroza's sword.
At the very end, timing had to be everything.
Troy made it up, and faked himself running towards an upstairs hallway. Doing so made the railing behind him.
"Blade Wave!" Eroza shouted, as he swung his sword at the air towards Troy. A yellowish, whitish shockwave appeared, and zeroed in on Troy.
Troy was once again, too slow, and the shockwave ran across his arms. He cried out in pain, as he got winded back.
Eroza caught up with Troy at the top of the stairs, and smirked evilly, when he could see red running down Troy's arms.
"What are your last words? I can be sure that they will be said to your sister. After all, she is, indeed still alive.
So Troy's sister was still alive. That's good news. But what about giving up the One-Half Medallion?
"My…my last words…" Troy's voice was ragged, with pain overwhelming himself. How long would it take for him to bleed to death? Less than five minutes?
But then, just when he thought that would be it, he heard his father and grandfather chanting inside of his head.
"Never surrender. Live. Never surrender. Live."
Troy thought about his sister, and to his surprise, he had to blink back tears.
"My last words are…" he started again, his eyebrows furrowing, with a determined look on his face.
Eroza brought the sword up to Troy's throat. He raised an eyebrow.
"Defeat and surrendering is never an option for Troy and Ashia!" Troy yelled with all of his might, as he jerked his head backwards, and at the same time, raised both of his legs.
In a surprise, Eroza had to step back with the sword, but then could only take the impact of a Jumping Spinning Crescent Kick, and staggered and stumbled backwards, and tumbled over the railing. He managed a backflip in the air, before landing on the ground with a massive THUMP. He landed on the ground on his stomach, and he lay completely still.
Troy in pain, forced himself to hobble over to look over at the edge of the railing.
Eroza slowly raised his right arm and hand in the air, and pushed himself back up with help of it, and his other left arm and hand as well.
Eroza knelt with his right knee on the ground, and breathed out heavily. Troy blinked in astonishment. He could start to see Eroza flicker from his 'Azore Zakat' body to his true Doom Skull form.
"You fool!" He rasped weakly. "You only have a few days to live, before The Beast will start to come for you."
Troy glared at Eroza. "You can tell me all you want, but tell Xahartox that I said, between us, one of us will go down." Now it even pained him physically to even talk.
Eroza sneered at that, and nodded. Troy grimaced as the body of the make belief Azore Zakat exploded, and replaced by it was Eroza's true form.
The armored, magical skeleton breathed out heavily, sounding like crystals or gems just cutting through the air, before standing back up.
He took his bone wand and with his other bony hand, broke them in two. Or more of, separated them in two. It was a two piece wand.
Before Troy could react, he touched both wands on the floor, and drew around him a purple and red circle that glowed. A purple wave washed over him, and ended off with a…
WHOOSH!
And then he was gone. Troy trembled as he with more pain walked towards the floor where the circle once had been drawn a few seconds ago. But the floor below it was looking fine.
Troy looked down at both of his arms. The wound was much more deeper than last time, but it didn't appear to be extremely fatal. But he was definitely going to have to head over to the Healing Center before it would turn too severe.
He took an agonizing deep breath and headed over in the direction of the Healing Center, and on the way, he thought he saw something different about one of the rooms.
The more agonizing the pain was, the more soothing and relaxing reclining in a glowing bed with healing beams shooting at you is. That was what Troy found out with this visit to the Healing Center.
The strange thing though, was that Haley had said that she didn't hear any racket going on. Eroza must've prepared before and silenced his presence to others.
He looked towards the drawbridge and walked towards it. The golden fire was gone now, but he could see a couple ponies riding towards him over a couple hundred meters away, once the drawbridge slowly lifted downwards.
By the time they got there, Troy gulped. He decided to take it slow.
"Uh… hey King Kentar. Phoebe. Peroy. All of you. How did it go?"
King Kentar shook his head with a smile.
"Battles have their ups and downs on us all day." He warmly chuckled. "But that is what clashing is all about."
"That's great. However…" Troy put his hands behind him nervously. "Your Psychic Wizards had their downs… literally."
"Psychic Wizards?" Peroy raised an eyebrow. "Sister, do you remember?"
"Remember if we had any?" Phoebe shrugged in confusion. "I never could recall."
"Wait...what?" Now Troy was confused himself. "But you had Psychic Wizards next to the Healing Center!"
"That's our brewery Troy." Peroy replied back.
"But Psy, Hic, Shic, Mic, Tic-"
"Troy?" King Kentar looked concerned. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Well...sure." Troy replied.
"I'm afraid you must be mistaken. My castle in all my years of reigning has had any of these 'Psychic Wizards'." King Kentar frowned.
"Huh…" Troy tried to think. Then he all of a sudden thought of it.
"What about Azore Zakat?" He asked.
"Azore Zakat? Troy, have you been trying to curb your appetite too hard and too much?" Phoebe asked.
"What? No!" Troy shook his head, but nodded after that.
"I reckon I never heard of him either." Peroy delicately rubbed his chin over his helmet. "Any of you?"
A few chatters from Kentar's troops behind, but they could only shrug and, or shook their heads.
"Troy, what is this about?" Kentar frowned again. This time, his face was more serious.
Troy took a deep breath, and exhaled out with relief.
"Many things happened over the course of many days. Come on, let's talk about it inside."
Okay! So now I know what is driving me forward. Writing Clash Royale FanFictions itself! So sorry for the major delay, ah man, I just can't seem to find time to write chapters and rack up words! But Winter Break is coming up. I think it will be a great opportunity to make a huge spurt in writing at that time. So here is what I will do currently. I will write one more chapter for this story, but then I will start a new Clash Royale FanFiction. I have planned this for a long time like Recreation Vacation, only this time, I think this will be more successful. More status reports on this story can be viewed down on the upcoming story, and I hope you enjoy it!