Chapter 31: The Beginning of the End?
The time? Just before midnight. The location? On a dormant volcano that was covered with ice cap snows, sprinkling all around the peak of it. An opening about a hundred meters or so from the peak could also be seen just a couple yards wide, with torches on either side of it. On each of the torches, a lion head was carved out in the base.
Two guards, wearing silver plated armor, stood still wielding giant battleaxes were on either side of the entrance. They were wearing cover helmets, and just beyond their visor's vision, they could only see the usual. Plain mountains. No one ever dared to intrude on this place, for it housed the most dangerous creature perhaps, ever, in realm.
But today was different. It would all change in an instant.
They stiffened their stance even harder when they heard the sound of a propeller thundering above them. They looked up, only to find a massive airship looming ahead of them. Before they could even move their battleaxes, two long ropes dropped down extremely quickly, with plated cuffs dangling near the end.
The two long ropes latched onto both of the guards' heads, and they both shouted and squirmed in pain and panic. They dropped their battleaxes, as they were carried up, with the cuffs suffocating air, as they were latched around their necks in place.
The last thing that they could ever see before they blacked out were more flying Airships arriving in the distance.
Inside the biggest of the airships, a familiar looking Prince and a familiar looking King dressed in a red cloak was standing near the front deck of the ship. The Prince however, instead of wearing regular battle armor, was wearing a black and red cloak, draped all around his body.
"Our massive attack has been well coordinated." The King said, as he had his hands at rest behind his back.
"There is no doubt about it." The Prince replied back, as he took out what looked like to be a gleaming semicircle.
The King then took out another gleaming semicircle from his front pocket, and shouted, "Let her out!"
There was a cabin made from darkened wood from behind the two. Its door opened, and what looked like to be a girl in her adolescence was shackled in chains in her hands behind her, followed by two burly looking guards wearing what looked like to be Attic Helmets. Once again, if you viewed it from an Earthling Perspective.
The girl had black, wavy hair, light, brownish, whitish skin, and blue eyes.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the King and the Prince, both holding both semicircles, but the iron grip of the guards didn't give her many options on what to do.
"Now you get the front row seat at seeing Paha rise again!" The Prince cackled, as he held his one half of the medallion high in the air.
"Conah was wrong from the very beginning!" The King exclaimed, as he held his other half of the medallion high in the air too.
"Just because you have Maien, doesn't mean you all will rise instantly." The girl growled, and winced as she tried to break free of the chains, but no luck.
"Really? Who do you think is there to stop us?" The Prince laughed.
"I suspect Troy is on his way now." The girl winced again.
"Him? Your brother? Yes… he is strong. But not strong enough." The King sneered. "Eroza has him dealt with already."
"You thought you could hide from us, forever?" It was now the Prince's turn to sneer. "My, my, you truly overestimated your potential Ashia."
"And now," The King exclaimed, as smaller airships filled with heavily armored soldiers wielding swords, bows, battleaxes, flails, and maces, started to dispense them down towards the entrance of the mountain. "Victory, is at our hands!"
He and the Prince laughed, before they all of a sudden collided the two parts of Maien together. At once, a bright flash for a second illuminated the entire ship as well as the landscape down below, and a yellow shockwave started spreading out from the initial impact of both the parts.
Kentar's Castle was many miles away, but even so, Troy could already feel an alarming tingle in his sleep.
Troy's eyes opened wide, as he sat up in his bed. Clearly he only slept for perhaps an hour or two, but he could definitely sense that something was wrong. He looked over towards the door, and then to the moon, which seemed to have darkened a little.
"It has shook the entire realm." He swallowed nervously.
The King and the Prince looked away as the Medallion halves merged together, and creating a brilliant sparkle around it, light emitting from it at the same time.
"It has been done!" The King yelled with glee. "We must now give the sacred beast Neiam the medallion."
"An order soon to be fulfilled Kaganix! I, Prince Potanax, will pave the road of power and glory for Paha!" The Prince bellowed.
"Then let it be so!" King Kaganix exclaimed. Prince Potanax nodded, before taking the fully merged Medallion and jumping downwards towards the entrance.
Many of their men were already locked in combat with the guards around Erathmus's Dungeon, and it seemed as if either side would win.
Potanax walked calmly through the wave of men clashing over, as he made his way inside the entrance. He could see what looked like to be a vast open pit down below, probably stretching across miles. Scattered on different elevations of the pit were stone bridges, each with guards running around, in battle.
Potanax walked past the first stone bridge, which was directly in the entrance, and looked around casually, admiring everything he saw.
Two of King Kaganix's soldiers rushed forward towards three guards which were just a few meters away from Potanax himself.
The soldiers engaged in combat with the guards, exchanging sword blows to each other, allowing Potanax to walk past them.
He breathed in the air slowly and chuckled inside of him.
"Coordinated? I'd say so." He said, as he looked ahead of him, and about fifty meters away was a rope pulley with a wooden platform suspended below the rope.
Potanax headed over to the platform, and was just about to step on it, when all of a sudden; a guard was climbing up a nearby ladder that was right next to the platform.
"Hey!" He shouted, and swung what looked liked to be a club with a spike ball on top of it. Potanax ducked the swung to the head, and then took out his lance. The guard and Potanax exchanged blows to either of their weapon, but it was only mere seconds before Potanax maneuvered the guard off the ladder.
Potanax cleared his throat, and then boarded the wooden platform, and tugged on the rope. Slowly, the wooden platform slowly started to ascend.
Potanax waited for a few seconds, before he then cracked his neck in amusement, and threw off his cloak, revealing his golden battle armor and his lance. He leaped downwards onto a nearby bridge, and charged straight at an army of armored guards.
Most of King Kaganix's men weren't down by this point, but they were getting close.
Potanax blocked a sword to the face with his lance, and then shoved his lance sideways forward, smashing three guards down. He ducked two flail jabs to the face, and then dropped his lance, and used his two gloves to smack the two guards who attacked in the side of their faces, sending one guard to the left and the other to the right.
Potanax then bonked another approaching guard in the head with his lance, and then lifted the end of his lance upwards to smash the guard in the chest. He did that a couple more times, before jumping around in a one eighty to slam his lance in a guard who was coming from behind. Potanax then grabbed the guard by the wrists he repeatedly hit his lance with, and then spun him around in a three sixty, and threw him down towards the end of the bridge, colliding into six more guards.
Potanax picked up his lance and then thundered across. The end of the bridge had a wooden door that was separating it, and another room, and two guards from the other side of it tried to hold it down, only to get pushed downwards by Potanax's lance.
The room wasn't fairly big, only about three hundred square feet, but it housed a variety of small spaces for where more of the rope pulleys with the wooden platforms were being stationed. Potanax sneered his teeth and cut five of the six rope pulleys, the platforms crashing down on the bridge below.
Potanax then got into the sixth platform and was sent down.
Even deeper than he was, there was a guard equipped with iron armor, two swords strapped to his back, a spiked club strapped to his breastplate, and a steel helmet.
"Commander Oglethorpe, our forces are falling." The heavily armed guard said.
There was a more burly man behind him, wearing a warlord helmet, a massive lance strapped to his back, a rope strapped across his platinum breastplate, filled with many knives.
He was also carrying two maces on either of his hand, and he looked furious.
"No doubt they have planned their attack at such a critical stage." The burly man said.
"Commander, we are all that lies in front of The Beast." The guard stifled a swallow.
The burly man glared at his guard.
"I am Commander Oglethorpe, descendant of the great guard Erathmus!" he bellowed. "You think we do not stand such a chance against these invaders?"
The guard said nothing in return.
Prince Potanax collided his lance against the side of another guard, sending him twisting around sideways and onto the ground in pain. Potanax then glanced over the bridge he just landed on, and could see down below red and orange vapors.
"We are closer than ever before." He said, before looking around him quickly. There was another wooden platform that was leading downwards towards there, and it was at the end of this very bridge.
The only problem was that there was a huge wave of guards coming towards him. Some had crossbows. Others had longswords. Some had battleaxes. And in the back of the wave, there were a couple guards riding on ponies with lances.
"There's too many of them!" Potanax growled. He then looked towards the sides of the bridges. They were all in the classic tower turret kind of fashion, with blocks built on top of one another every few feet.
Potanax slammed his lance on the ground, propelling himself upwards, and then started running across the bridge guardrails, leaping from one block poking out of the top of the stone guardrail to the other.
Potanax gritted his teeth as he blocked a couple arrows to the face with his lance, and then ran, but was patient for when the wave of swordsmen was about to make their attack.
At the last second, Potanax leaped over the right side of the bridge which he already started off with, successfully dodging about fifteen total sword slashes towards his ankles and knees.
Potanax continued his way, with a wave of swordsmen rushing after him. Great. Now only the tough battleaxes and the Calvary to go.
Potanax ran towards the wave of guards, and then at the last second, crouched downwards, avoiding large swings to the face, He slammed his lance on the back of the guards' legs, and then jumped upwards and rolled, tripping some more.
"Charge!" He could hear some of the guards on the ponies shout, as they thundered towards him with their lances.
Potanax smirked, before bending his knees once he was up, and then had his lance sideways, before jumping. He could hear the sound of lances smashing into pieces, and in just a few seconds was put through. He looked down at his battered lance, and then looked backwards.
A bunch of the dungeon Calvary was down, with their ponies scattered about, which tripped more of the guards that were following him.
Potanax ran towards the wooden platform and boarded it, quickly side-stepping the hopelessly arrows from the crossbows that roared above.
He jumped down once he got close to the door, with the fiery colors steaming out of it, and barged it down with his lance.
Commander Oglethorpe, the burly man, along with his guard, was standing about one hundred and fifty meters away from where Prince Potanax was. There was a stone bridge that was in between them, with only the start and the end with posts that were attached to the walls. Other than that, they had no support what so ever, along the bridge. Only at each end.
Prince Potanax looked up, and could see a large half-dome above, and down below, he could see a spiral in the walls downwards. In the middle, the Beast was chained down there, with shackles that seemed to sparkle with tough wrecking balls attached to them. Neiam was so far away, that he couldn't even see the two horns on its head.
"Prince Potanax." Oglethorpe sneered.
Prince Potanax rested his lance against the left side of the turret shaped guardrail of the bridge and chuckled casually.
"Well well well. If it isn't Commander Oglethorpe, and Chief Guard, Cale."
The man with the iron helmet swallowed. "What do you want, Prince?"
Potanax clenched his teeth. "What is rightfully the Paha clan. Vengeance!"
"As you can see here, The Beast is bound with enchanted chains, and is wearing a formidable back brace." Commander Oglethorpe said calmly to Potanax. "So we indeed, have every right to defend right is rightfully ours,"
And Oglethorpe slammed his two maces together, creating a sharp, sickly sound. "Even, from the Paha clan."
Prince Potanax chuckled coldly. "A bit too cocky there, I see. A few minutes by now, you two will be in pieces, you know…" he pointed over to the half dome. "Staining the roof, under the moonlight."
"You dare threaten us?" Cale growled. "You shall deserve no mercy, you insolence fool!"
And with that, Cale jumped up high in the air, performing a series of front flips, before landing in front of Potanax and dealing the first attack.
Potanax ducked a jab to the face, and then rolled forward, before leaning backwards to trade an attack with Cale, who attacked from behind him.
Potanax and Cale were now jumping from different parts of the bridge guardrail, trading blows to each other.
Commander Oglethorpe looked downwards towards The Beast, where the red and orange vapors started. He growled, and raised his hand.
"Lower the fountains!"
All around the circular pit, which was the shape of the room all three of them were in themselves, all of a sudden, there were parts of the wall just above the bridge that shifted into circular tubes, and it started to spill out magma.
The magma fountains slowly ascended down to where The Beast was, and formed a magma ring around the rocky platform where it was standing. Commander Oglethorpe could vaguely hear The Beast roar in an outrage.
Potanax and Cale were still jumping from one side of the bridge's guardrail to the other, exchanging even more blows, when finally, Potanax faked an attack upwards. Cale attempted to block the faked attack, and then Potanax pummeled his lance into his chest.
Cale shouted out in pain, and slammed onto the right guardrail, which was the opposite of where Potanax and Cale were battling. The two swords which he used clattered away, and he slumped downwards.
Potanax sneered in amusement, and then pointed his lance towards Commander Oglethorpe. The circular room rumbled a bit, and then Potanax walked towards Commander Oglethorpe. All of a sudden, Cale slowly opened his eyes, and then snatched his spiked club.
"Yargh!" Cale shouted, and stumbled towards Potanax, holding his club above his head, ready to pound down Potanax's head off.
Potanax only smirked and merely looked behind him, before using his battered lance to lock onto the handle of the spiked club, and then managed to twist it around.
Cale couldn't only gasp in disbelief before he got smacked in the right side of his face by Potanax's lance. He slowly twisted around, and then at just the right time, when Cale was facing Potanax during his slow twirl, he was sent down by the spiked club that Potanax managed to twist away.
Cale's eyes rolled around in his head, and he fell down towards the ground.
Potanax then snatched up his lance, as well as the spiked club, duel-wielding both weapons. Commander Oglethorpe snorted disapprovingly, before walking forward towards Potanax from where he was standing, which were some stairs on a platform.
Potanax cracked his neck and sniveled with a smirk on his face, before rushing towards Commander Oglethorpe.
Commander Oglethorpe needed only just a few seconds, before he managed to dislodge the spiked club from Potanax, and it was sent tumbling over the bridge and into one of the magma fountains.
Potanax jabbed upwards and downwards, to which, Commander Oglethorpe blocked the first jab with his first mace, and then when Potanax had his lance came crashing down, he blocked it with his second mace.
Potanax landed another flurry of attacks towards Commander Oglethorpe, but Oglethorpe still had a straight face, as he was blocking many of Potanax's attacks.
Finally, after a few more seconds of fighting it out, Commander Oglethorpe stepped back swiftly, and threw two knives at Potanax. Potanax's eyes widened, as he quickly shifted his body sideways to avoid both of them, the knives going on either side of him, missing him just barely.
But then just like Commander Oglethorpe expected, he quickly slammed both of his maces right on Potanax's breastplate, and then finished off his combo with a front kick to the legs.
Potanax was sent in the air for a split second, before rolling back, resting his left knee on the ground, and his right hand with the lance. He looked up, only to see a massive lance pointed at his neck.
"I should've known." Commander Oglethorpe rasped. "The Paha Clan should have never held grudges. All in all, you are no match for Erathmus's might."
Potanax's mouth curved into a sneer. "Oh, yes, indeed. I agree. "But Neiam is." He said, as he quickly rolled away, and blocked Commander Oglethorpe's massive lance with his own battered lance. He winced as he heard the splintering sound, and in an instant, his lance was in pieces.
But Potanax was still sneering, as he took out the freshly merged Medallion out and held it out in the air. It glistened for a split second in the dark room that was illuminated by the half-dome above, and Commander Oglethorpe stared at it in horror.
"You would not dare!" He bellowed.
"Oh yes, I would dare! Rise, The Great Beast Neiam!" Prince Potanax roared, as he ran over to the side of the bridge and chucked it downwards at what seemed to be empty blackness with red and orange vapors rising out of it slowly.
Deep down in the pit below from where Prince Potanax and Commander Oglethorpe were battling it out again, a creature just a little smaller than a dragon but much more bigly than a massive hippopotamus snorted out from its nostrils, when something sparkling caught its eye.
The creature had two horns, had yellowish, bluish scales, two oversized paws near the back, and two oversized hands that were a good fit for him in the front, and blue eyes. A circular imprint was on its middle forehead, and its mouth smiled briefly, before the Medallion bounced off one of its horns.
The creature grunted with all of its might, trying to move its body forward, hoping its forehead could catch the medallion. It did just that. In fact, the Medallion was flipping in mid-air, and seemed to exactly fit into the imprint when it landed.
At once, a golden shockwave spread across the creature's body, and began look brighter. A powerful radiance spread throughout its body, and its fists balled up.
The Creature grunted, before the shackles bounding his hands and wrists snapped apart with ease.
"Ah…good have these back again." The Creature sighed happily, while wriggling its fingers. Its voice sounded very raucous.
"Do you have any idea what you've just done?!" Commander Oglethorpe roared, pressing both of his maces up to Prince Potanax's throat. The Prince only chuckled.
"I have never been in my right mind in so long." The Prince smirked.
"Neiam, has indeed, returned once again." The creature said in a low, deep voice, before clenching its fists and the chains behind him attached to his legs, which were attached to thick wrecking balls, all of a sudden broke with tremendous force. The wrecking balls were much too heavy, and were sent down towards the magma pit down below.
Neiam then clawed its hands at the air, and then breathed out one more time, a thick air rising out of its nose.
It then jumped upwards, and slammed its clawed hands at a portion of the circular wall where there wasn't any magma running downwards.
"Now, you are going to pay." Oglethorpe sneered, as he forced the maces even closer to Prince Potanax's throat.
"How about, save that, for if you are still in one piece?" Prince Potanax sneered back.
Commander Oglethorpe's eyes widened in a rage, and was just about to raise his maces in the air, the roaring got much more louder, echoing throughout the room.
Commander Oglethorpe looked from where the sound came from, and Neiam the Beast was in the air, and landed straight on the stairs from where Commander Oglethorpe once stood a few minutes ago, crumbling underneath the massive creature.
"This can't be!" he roared in anguish. He then turned towards Prince Potanax, and raised his maces in the air once more.
"Shoush!"
A fireball the size of a soccer ball and the color of pure gold slammed onto the Commander's back.
The Commander was sent, flying backwards, dropping both of his maces, and tumbled and rolled all the way to the wooden platform.
Prince Potanax snickered. "Ah, I our efforts have been a success, does it not?"
Neiam snorted in a reply. "Where is Troy and Ashia, the two chosen ones?"
Prince Potanax blinked. "But, wouldn't you like to celebrate your freedom first? We can take you over to King Kaganix's castle, from there; you can spend the night over there. Get a well-deserved rest, and then early in the morning, we will be fit to transport you back to Xahartox's castle."
Neiam raised its hands in the air, and slammed them down on part of the bridge next to Prince Potanax, making him jump with surprise, forming giant webbed cracks.
"I have no intention to celebrate and become drunk over my freedom." Neiam deeply growled. "I want to see Troy and Ashia. And I want to make them both feel the true power and anger of Neiam."
Prince Potanax gulped. "Well you see here…. There is a problem. Our forces only managed to capture Ashia. But not Troy."
Meanwhile, Commander Oglethorpe stifled a groan and rubbed his back. "I-I…must alert the others… and fast." He stealthily walked past the fallen door and He managed to hobble back up and board the wooden platform that Prince Potanax had used to enter.
"You mean you've only caught one of them?" Neiam roared.
"Yes… but we know where Troy's whereabouts are at this moment." He said. "And Eroza Takaz has him taken care of. There is no need to panic and worry."
"I never panic and worry!" Neiam bellowed. "I am the great beast!"
Prince Potanax relaxed. "Yes, indeed. It will only be a matter of time before we will have caught Troy as well. But in the meantime, let us get out of this wretched place at once."
Neiam's face turned from one of anger, to one of glee. "First things first then."
Commander Oglethorpe had boarded wooden platform to wooden platform, wasting no time trying his best to maneuver himself upwards. All around him, he could see many fallen ones, soldiers and guards alike.
"Guards! Seal it up!" Commander Oglethorpe yelled once he got to the first bridge, which ironically, had the least amount of causalities. There were still plenty of guards around the place, all either fighting remnants of King Kaganix's army, or tending to the wounded.
Many of the guards understood what he said, and started climbing another bridge that was on top of the first bridge. The first bridge was the bridge that housed the entrance hole. And that was to change in a few seconds.
All of a sudden, the entrance hole that King Kaganix's army and Prince Potanax took from the start of their attack started to move upwards, until it was at least about forty meters from the ground.
Of course. The entrance way was built into some kind of mechanism that could move upwards. The entrance way was attached to the moving plate like mechanism, which allowed the entrance to move upwards. It was a brilliant defense.
About thirty guards were already up on the bridge above the first bridge, and they all were commanding many others to pull what looked like to be wooden levers in them.
All of a sudden, the bridge started to extend out and widen, and in just a few seconds, it was literally another floor built into the dungeon.
"I feared this would happen." Commander Oglethorpe muttered while he was now at the massive circular platform that stretched all the way to the walls.
Commander Oglethorpe then looked upwards even more, where he could see another half-dome ceiling about one hundred and forty meters from where he was now.
A few meters down below the half-dome ceiling, there were ledges built into the dormant volcano, where more guards were stationed as well.
"Get the Mega Crossbows ready!" Commander Oglethorpe yelled to the guards up in the ledges, which were scattered around the circular walls. "The Great Beast has escaped!"
When Commander Oglethorpe looked around again, he could only see about sixty to seventy guards remaining. They were all along the edges of the wall, in battle formation, pointing their drawn weapons towards the center of the floor, swallowing and gulping when they could start to hear rumbling from underneath.
Neiam and Prince Potanax were already up on the first bridge just a few seconds later, and when Neiam looked around the place, it could only chuckle solemnly.
"I can see this place has never changed." It growled.
Prince Potanax looked upwards. "That can't be possible." He raised an eyebrow and scrunched his lips to the right side. "The ceiling shouldn't have been this close, compared to where it was when we arrived."
"Oh…ah… clever. They are using an old trick that has been invented by the Ancient Builder Matawin." Neiam said.
Prince Potanax looked towards Neiam.
"With some simple machinery, you have the door built onto an artificial piece of building material suspending upon moving towards the sky." Neiam explained.
Prince Potanax rubbed his chin. "That is clever."
Neiam snorted. "But it's always never enough."
Neiam then after that jumped upwards, with its fists stretched out, with Prince Potanax clinging onto its back leg.
Neiam landed down on the makeshift floor above, along with Prince Potanax, and they could hear some guards gasp in anguish.
Commander Oglethorpe was standing with four other guards, blocking the exit hole, which used to be the entrance hole, and it was already barred up with some iron spears along with that.
"Neiam!" Commander Oglethorpe bellowed. "You have escaped your bounds and are attempting to escape my ancestor's dungeon!"
Neiam just narrowed its eyes at the Commander.
"I've got other plans Commander Oglethorpe." It bellowed back. "And I don't intend for you to interfere in them!"
With that, it roared, spreading his hands, before forming more soccer ball sized golden fireballs in its hands, and throwing them all around him at the guards around the walls. They all scattered, and Commander Oglethorpe pointed his lance towards The Beast.
"Fire!" he commanded.
Neiam looked back, and could see what looked like to be a massive golden crossbow, or perhaps even an X-Bow, loaded with a giant bronze spear, and attached to it were some shackles.
It took two guards to operate it, and it only took them two seconds to fire it towards Neiam's head. Neiam jumped away and landed on all fours again, before snorting furiously again, and hurling another golden fireball at the two guards and the Mega Crossbow. They all cried out in fear, but managed to leap away as the Mega Crossbow exploded in flames.
While Potanax was off fighting the remaining guards scattered about, Neiam was busy throwing more golden fireballs, ledge after ledge.
Commander Oglethorpe took out one knife and threw it towards Neiam with great precision. Neiam's eyes widened, as it quickly leaped away, right into the range of one of the few Mega Crossbows still remaining on an intact ledge.
Only this time it shot a huge chain with two wrecking balls attached to it. The chain wrapped around Neiam's chest and sent it across the ground, cracking more of the makeshift floor.
"Quickly! Fire them all!" Commander Oglethorpe shouted. The two other Mega Crossbows were loaded with wrecking balls as well as chains. Neiam's eyes flared angrily so hard, that its whole body seemed to glow orange and red, before finally, the wrecking ball and chains were just melted puddles all around it.
Prince Potanax sniveled just as he punched a guard down with his left fist, and then finished it off with a right elbow to the face.
"The Medallion is much more powerful than it seems." He could only say. "It's been enhanced by the blood of Xahartox's ancestors!"
The Beast roared in an outrage, as it spun around and breathed out a yellow flame all around it, completely incinerating the chains and wrecking balls coming towards it easily, as if they were made out of thin paper.
The rest of the guards around the circular edges of the room all charged towards The Beast, with their spears and swords out, ready to strike, but Neiam stretched out its hands and spread and spun them around.
All of the guards who rushed towards it were sent flying backwards, each slamming onto a part of the wall where they once stood, and slumping downwards.
"Fire now!" Commander Oglethorpe shouted, and pointed his massive lance towards Neiam.
All four of the guards, two on either side of him, fired their smaller crossbows, with arrows tipped in fire was sent towards Neiam.
Of course, higher ranked guards could only achieve such precise accuracy as this, and they all hit Neiam in the back of the forehead.
Neiam growled in pain, and used its hand to yank the arrows out, but where there was supposed to be at least a wound only showed healed scales.
Neiam sneered, and then clenched its left hand, and flung it forward at the air, forming what looked like to be a hand sparkling in mid-air with flames rising out this projection.
The guards dived for cover when another of the Mega Crossbows got demolished by the fireball shaped like a hand projection.
"No!" Commander Oglethorpe shouted, when Neiam grabbed with its both hands two chains with two more wrecking balls on them, shot by the only two remaining Mega Crossbows.
Neiam once again snorted in a rage, thick air being exhaled out of its nose, as it spun around, waving the two chains with two wrecking balls on them widely, before throwing them towards the remaining Mega Crossbows, obliterating them completely.
The Four Guards notched up another volley of fiery arrows and shot them towards Neiam. But now this time, Neiam was ready for it unfortunately.
Neiam noticed that all the arrows were thundering towards it's face, so it jumped backwards, and then raised it right hand, before flicking it forward at the air.
Somehow it managed to flick all four of the flaming arrows into the air with just one finger, and they all were sent straight up into the air, and thundered towards it.
"Prowf!" Neiam inhaled and took a deep breath, before blowing away the arrows at just the right time. All the arrows thundered forwards and each of them found a way in a chink in all four of the guards' armor. They all gasped in pain and toppled down.
Commander Oglethorpe gripped his massive lance tightly.
"No one…messes with the legacy of my ancestor." He said deeply, before rushing forward with the massive lance.
Commander Oglethorpe managed to stay upright for about eleven seconds, before Neiam grabbed him by the throat, and started to squeeze him with its right fist, sneering and breathing out more thick air.
"You will never su…succeed. Never…" Commander Oglethorpe choked. "N…N-never…"
Neiam let out a loud snort, before throwing the Commander at the barred entranceway or now, exitway, with a hint of orange and yellow air coming from the Commander's dented armor.
"Oohaugh!" The Commander let out a shout of pain, something he had never experience in many years, as he was sent flying out, and tumbling down the steep slopes that awaited him down below.
"Well done Neiam." The prince said, as he walked out. Neiam clucked disapprovingly.
"At this moment, I shall treat myself by seeing Ashia." Neiam sneered. "I will indeed also spend this time, a more restful and not restless night at King Kaganix's place. And then, I will find Troy. Once, and for all of eternity."
"Yes, yes, I am certainly sure you will find him." Prince Potanax chuckled nervously. "But I assure you that Eroza has taken care of him."
"I will see him for myself." Neiam replied back, as it looked at the flying warships that started to fly towards them in the distance.
There were just a couple of men from Kaganix's army that still survived, as they waited alongside with Prince Potanax and Neiam. But they were unaware, that Cale, still inside, and breathing heavily, was using all of his strength to just get to something sparkly. He hoped he still had enough energy just to reach the Dungeon's Emblem Pedestal.
"Over here!" Potanax shouted, waving his hand. A rope was sent down to him and the other men who made it out safely and alive, but Neiam was different. But King Kaganix knew what to do, and ordered the airship to fly just a little bit lower. With that, Neiam used that to jump upwards, right onto the airship deck.
The airship creaked and started to float downwards rapidly because of the extra weight, and nearly everyone was caught by surprise that were on board, but Kaganix ordered the ship to start its journey back.
Most of the men on board ran forward towards Neiam and fell on their knees to bow down, and that was when Prince Potanax felt embarrassed himself, and knelt down as well to bow. He'd been the first person to ever set Neiam free and had spent a few minutes with it, and didn't even remember to pay respects.
"Where is Ashia?" Neiam grumbled.
All of a sudden, the cabin door opened, and the same two burly guards walked out, following Ashia in chains, the same girl that feared the worst many minutes ago.
Neiam's mouth turned into a snivel and it walked over to Ashia.
"Well now. Greetings. You look just like I remember you, when you were born fourteen years ago."
Ashia's eyes went wide.
"That was when Lord Xahartox showed me from afar." Neiam said. "From an Emblem Pedestal, we knew from the very beginning that you and your brother were the so-called, chosen ones."
Ashia said nothing, and just shut her eyes really tight instead.
Neiam's mouth was still curled into a sneer of amusement as it reached out to feel Ashia's wavy hair. "I want to keep you alive for now." It said as it felt the smoothness of it.
After a few more seconds, it walked away to look onward at the end of the boat deck, still leaving Ashia with a shock.
Inside Erathmus's Dungeon, Cale fumbled with the sparkling golden gem that he was always prepared with ever since he was ranked up here, and was past the crumbled staircase and into a wooden door that Neiam hadn't managed to smash when it landed on the staircase.
Inside, there were a couple of things strewn about, from old helmets, to pictures of Commander Oglethorpe. In the middle, sat an Emblem Pedestal that had a few spots of mold around the stone edges. Cale took a deep breath, before inserting it in.
Inside a castle far away, there could be laughter heard from the inside. Some people were treating themselves to wine on a huge rectangular table draped with white cloth. Some were near the center of the floor dancing. Others were near the corner playing orchestral instruments. Those were just a sample of the many things that was going on in there.
A King wearing a Blue cloak was clinking his glass to another man, wearing a monocle and a mustache, with black hair.
"My, my, well I have to say you're Majesty; I certainly wasn't expecting any of your usual parties to be on such a grand scale of such fine quality." The man said.
The King chuckled heartily. "Thank you Constable Jaron. I have indeed owned up to these standards for a while now." He said. "And I assure you that my parties are planned to fit the needs of many. Truly, there is nothing we are to ever worry about."
The King's ears perked though when he could hear a strange sound coming from upstairs. But he knew exactly what it was, but stifled a frown.
"Will you excuse me Constable, but I need to address something with someone in private." The King said, before setting his wine glass down on another white table.
"Of course." the constable nodded.
The King looked to his left and then to his right swiftly, before walking upstairs and entering a door that was in a hallway that was connected right near the circular path of the grand staircase.
Inside was an Emblem Pedestal, along with a couple other things around, but the King was surprised to see Cale's face, full of worry and pain.
"You're royal highness!" Cale exclaimed exasperatedly.
"Chief Guard Cale of Erathmus's Dungeon?" The King looked confused. "Is there something wrong of the matter?"
Cale swallowed hard, before taking a breath.
"The Beast Neiam escaped."
The King just closed his eyes, and stood still for a few seconds.
"Do you know where its whereabouts are now at this point?" he asked.
"No, King Geron. But I am warning you to spread the word. It will only be a matter of time before it reaches the Royale Realm, and gets to the two chosen ones."
But he didn't mention their names, because it was much too dangerous to ever do so. In fact, that was why many of the Kings and Queens of the land never knew about Troy and Ashia, all they knew was the chosen ones.
King Geron nodded solemnly. "It is my duty, and it shall be fulfilled." He said.
Cale nodded. "Make haste." He said, before the Emblem Pedestal shuts off.
King Geron hurries down the steps, where the constable was waiting for him.
"Your majesty-" he began, but was cut off shortly.
"The party is over." King Geron said, walking on.
"But sire-"
King Geron gave him a fierce look. "The party is over. This instant."
He then looked around the crowd. "It's over everyone! The party is over. You will have ten minutes to leave the castle. Something urgent has arisen and you must all be dismissed."
The Constable was one of the last people to leave. He then looked towards King Geron with a disapproving look on his face.
"King Geron, you have truly disappointed me." And that was the only thing that he could say before he left.
King Geron then walked over to one of his messengers.
"I want you to round up all of the royal secretaries in this castle. I must send to every clan far and wide of the tragic news."
The messenger with hesitation took a few seconds, before finally; King Geron and his thirty secretaries were in the throne room. There was a table in front of the throne where he was sitting, and there were thirty wooden chairs behind the table, opposite of where the throne was.
And seated in each of them were exactly thirty men with white hair, but that could possibly just be wigs. In the table, there were also bird feathers and small jars of ink that were strewn about.
King Geron took a deep breath.
"Tonight, I will say what the realm far and wide should hear." King Geron said. "And tonight, I must have thirty royal proclamations completed before daybreak tomorrow. That is an order." He said. The secretaries murmured amongst each other. Whatever King Geron's reason was for this must be really important, indeed.
King Geron took another deep breath.
"Scribe down what I say." He said.
The Secretaries picked up their bird feathers and dipped it in ink, before pointing it straight at the paper.
"This is a royal degree by the royal highness of King Geron himself. I am deeply troubled to bear tragic and devastating news from Erathmus's Dungeon." He started.
And the secretaries let out a few gasps, looking at each other briefly before starting to write.
Just over 7000 words here! I like to give a quick shoutout to Fuamer here for giving some constructive criticism to my story. And this is an announcement for many reasons. Every once in a while, I may just update a page or two in my Clash Royale FanFiction, so if something sounds out of place or wrong, rest assured that eventually it will get fixed. And about that new Clash Royale FanFiction? Well… you could say some major events had appeared over the past few days, and I am working on a new FanFiction for a new category… and as a bonus, could be the first story for something extra. I like to thank you for reading this chapter, and I will work on the first three chapters of the new story, before working on the new Clash Royale Fanfiction. From there I will continue more of this Clash Royale Fanfiction, and it will take off from there, 2019 in the making!