Chapter 14-Victory?
AN: At a certain point in this fic, go to youtube and after the slash paste the following link: watch?v=b8qDz7K1nbU. Then listen to it while reading.
Gondar, Lyralei, Yumero, Slithice and Ish'Kafel crashed through the Dire jungle, the barks and howls of wolves growing louder with every step.
A snake flew past Gondar as he clutched the warm, precious Phoenix egg to him. White light lit the ground; a spotlight centered right on Gondar.
He wished they could turn around and fight, but if they did that they'd turn to stone before they accomplished anything.
Gondar felt a breath ruffle his ankle-fur. Wolf spittle splashed his leg as the beast snapped at him. Here he was, running for his life, but the wolves ran faster! He didn't know how much faster, but they were faster than him. He knew they were close, close enough to snap at him, but he couldn't look back; what if Medusa was there? A snake-arrow planted itself in another stump next to him: what would he do when (not if) one of her just-out-of-range potshots hit him? He was running breakneck through a jungle full of cover, but he was completely helpless. A sitting duck.
He heard a whoosh, a twang, a yelp, and a crash. Then Lyralei glided over him and landed in front, her quiver a little more empty than before. Then they broke through the thicket and reached the river. Lyralei thrust her hand out, Gondar threw the egg. Catching it, Lyralei leapt across to the other side.
Gondar saw Yumero hopping on rocks jutting above the water, and did the same.
Wet dog filled his nose as he heard a voice yell "Yes, my brothers! Tear them apart!"
Then he realized the white light had disappeared for a moment, and dared to look down. He stared into the eyes of the Slithereen who had once spared him, just surfacing the water, his trident thrusting up towards Gondar's heart. Gondar threw himself back, plunging into the water. The trident missed him, just barely, and then he was swept up by the current, racing past Slardar, bumping into a wolf and tumbling downstream.
His back exploded in pain as the current dragged him across the bottom, tearing out a gobbet of fur and flesh on the sharp-edged rocks. Through a haze of his own blood, Gondar saw Slardar's light, blindingly bright, racing towards him. Slardar himself was just a shadow, an outline of dark against the brilliant lure. Then, swept up by the current again, Gondar lost track of him.
Before he knew what was happening, he felt arms grab him and throw him out of the water. Sailing through the air, he saw Slithices standing there, five of them, ready to face down Slardar. Then he slammed into the ground and rolled along, bruises popping onto his skin as he went. Gondar lay there for a moment, stunned, but quickly recovered his bearings and scrambled up.
He looked over to Slithice, saw that two of them had disappeared already. The others had maneuvered Slardar so they didn't need to see Medusa, and now unleashed a storm of swords. "Move, Gondar!" he heard Yumero call, "You must escape so she can sing!" Gondar turned and sprinted away.
Sure enough he soon heard, just on the periphery of his hearing, the Siren's song. It's melodious tones tugged at his mind, softly whispering to his legs to turn around, follow the sound, then sleep. But as he slowed down, his mind screaming at him to keep going, the sound grew distant. The call became less insistent, the pull less urgent. Then it grew faint and it was just a song, no more hypnotic than a mockingbird.
Soon, he caught up with Lyralei, and saw the battleground before them. A tall, grotesque figure with a third of his body missing crawled out of a huge, smoking crater. His robes lay ragged on his body and tattered on the ground, as he writhed and clawed his misshapen corpse-body from the pit. His one arm steadied himself on a rock as he crested the lip of the crater, and his head, his grotesque, pulped, one-ear-missing head looked up at the band with fury more red and blind than the mush where his right eye had been.
Three red orbs sprung into existence around his head and he pointed his hand at Yumero, his toothless mouth spread into a snarl of rage. From this crevice came a rasping noise which grated out "Exort, Exort-" and was then cut off as a whirling shuriken detached the grotesque head from it's monstrous body. The Invoker's mangled body -still alive but unable to direct itself- tumbled back into the crater. "Let's get a move on," said Gondar, taking the chest back from Lyralei and skirting around the craters, to the Radiant base. The earth shook as a clear voice rang out "Radiant's top outpost has fallen."
Gondar picked up the pace. At the fountain, he could see Keeper of the Light, standing resplendent, glorious, his staff raised into the air. As Gondar reached the fountain and it's healing magic took effect, the Keeper said "I knew you'd come."
"Shut up."
AN: Go to the link, play the song.
The sun emerged from the parting the clouds as Keeper took the egg in his hands. Growing briefly translucent, Keeper focused a single, radiant ray of light down on the egg. A cry of triumph pierced through the air as the egg exploded outwards, and the mighty, resplendent burning bird ascended. The Keeper laughed long and loud as the Phoenix took flight, his impossible radiance eclipsing the sun above.
Gondar averted his eyes as the Phoenix angled towards the Dire army while they closed in around the Radiant base. Radiant heroes, all ready to make their final stand, watched in awe as the Phoenix let fly three of it's feathers. The feathers combusted and consumed themselves, growing into blazing balls of fire which left charred, blackened craters where they landed. Warning shots they were, but warning shots so deadly they reduced Venomancer to a burning funeral pyre.
Terror gripped both sides: the Dire army, so close to victory, now faced a foe unlike any they'd seen. Meanwhile, the Phoenix' incandescent brilliance continued to grow brighter, and the Radiant heroes felt it's heat licking on them like invisible tongues of flame. With a shrill cry, the Phoenix flew nearer and nearer.
Out from the wavering Dire army came Faceless Void and Chaos Knight, staring through the Phoenix's glare. The Phoenix's wings extended, growing larger and larger until they were fully spread out, some thirty meters to a wing. It's shrill cry burned the air and the ears of all who listened. The very oxygen in Gondar's lungs seemed to scorch him, and his eyes watered from the sheer heat and light of the Phoenix: a bird both on fire, of fire and so much more.
None thought it possible, but the Phoenix's radiance grew. It's material form melted away, becoming a roiling, plasmoid wave of utter fiery ruin as it flew lower to the ground, carbonizing all in it's path. Chaos Knight launched a bolt of pure chaos at the onrushing wave, but it was too late. Undeterred, the wave passed over the two Dire heroes and in an instant they were gone. Keeper's triumphant laugh was drowned out by the blazing chorus of obliteration emitted from the once-more-corporeal Phoenix.
The jungle was ablaze; the Phoenix's power indiscriminate in it's devastation. The Radiant Heroes crowded to the Fountain; none wanted to be anywhere near the awesome power of the Phoenix. Then, the Phoenix stopped, suspended in a black sphere of nullified time. Faceless void had escaped the wave with his time-walking, and now had the Phoenix at his mercy. Swinging time and again, he crashed his mace into the Phoenix's paralyzed frame. Just as the Chronosphere dissipated, Enigma created a black ball of pure gravity, crushing the Phoenix even as it forced Faceless Void into blazing, burning contact with the Phoenix. As Faceless Void's flesh seared off layer by layer, Phoenix's impossible glory was compressed into a small, crushed ball. Enigma advanced, signaling the rest of the Dire Army to follow. The light went dim.
And then increased tenfold. The crumpled ball exploded into a massive sphere of solar glory, reducing Faceless Void, Enigma and Meepo (who had just started to turn back) to atoms. The sphere expanded, the shockwave of it's release flooring Gondar. As he got up, he saw it break and release the Phoenix, just as bright as before. The Dire Army (what was left of it) routed before him. The Radiant Army let out a cheer: they had won!
Then a flash of black feathers, a green glowing man seven feet tall. Bearing a blade far too small for his size, the strange new hero locked gazes with Gondar for just an instant, then turned his blade upon the Phoenix. It never connected. A beam of solar power struck the new hero, blasting him to oblivion before being turned on the retreating Dire Army. Gondar knew not how many had fallen, but he did not envy their condition.
Then he realized something: he'd recognized the strange hero's clothing. His posture reminded him of someone, and though he couldn't pinpoint it, he felt it was important. And the way he'd looked at Gondar... It was Ostarion. Ostarion had returned. But how...
"Watch your back!" Gondar shouted to the Phoenix, but he was inaudible next to the Radiant Army's cheering and the Phoenix's beam. Wisps of green energy gathered together, coalescing back into Ostarion's form, standing behind the hapless Phoenix. He jumped up, not having to go far due to the Phoenix's low altitude, then stabbed up. The Divine Rapier impaled the Phoenix from below, and this time his shriek was one of agony.
The Phoenix fell, it's spectacular brilliance impacting the ground as Ostarion stabbed it again, and again, and again. The Dire Army looked back, saw the Phoenix slain beneath Ostarion's feet. "Rally, my army. Your king has arrived."
Clinkz leading the way, Doom not far behind, the Dire army surged back, rallying behind Ostarion's raised sword. He pointed forward, towards the last Radiant outpost which guarded the entrance to the main base, nearly destroyed by the Phoenix's rampage.
Ostarion's voice boomed out
"In the name of the Wraith King, end this war."
The Dire Army surged forth.
AN: Wow, that was a doozy. Sorry it took so long, this was partly because it was just so hard to adequately capture Phoenix's awesome (in the classical sense) power, partly because of miscellaneous writer's block, but mostly because I was writing a big damn novella (currently in the editing phase) which put all my fics on hiatus. Either way, I apologize for taking so long to update. Anyways, I hope you liked this, and stay tuned for the grand finale in Chapter 15: By Wits and Skill.