Golden Sun: The Sands of Time
Chapter 21: The Queen of Air and Darkness
"SKKRREEEEEE!!" The central head shrieked, and released a plume of flame at the adepts. Quickly, Picard took a short leap to another nearby platform, and crouched low. Turning, he noted that most of the others had opted for the same, and they were now more widely spread out around the area. Only Garet, figuring that the fire wouldn't hurt him too severely, stood his ground.
As the flames licked around him, a reddish wall appeared, blocking the fiery attack from hurting Garet. Flash, hm? Picard noted. Standing, he swiveled to face the Chaos Wyrm, and focused, Mercury psynergy surging through his veins. "Diamond Dust!"
From the air, crystalline boulders formed, flash-frozen in an instant as he concentrated, sending them towards the central head. However, the left head suddenly twitched, and swinging round to glare at Picard, it opened it's mouth and released it's own Diamond Dust spell.
The two spells collided in mid-air, chunks of ice smashing into each other and shattering, the crashing sounds echoed through out the room. Picard gazed dejectedly at the wasted effort, and leaped onto another platform, trying to get close enough to the creature for a sword attack.
Thus, he was wholly unprepared for the platform to suddenly tilt, shifting until it was completely vertical. With a cry of surprise, Picard managed to snag on to the very top of the platform with one arm, while he tried desperately to sheathe Masamune with the other.
"Oh, dear." Nara laughed. "I completely forgot to tell you! Guess who's in control of the platforms all around this room? That would be me, if you couldn't figure out. And I promise you it won't be as… compliant to you as you wish."
"That isn't exactly fair, Nara." Isaac said softly as he unleashed Granite, the golden barrier preventing the Chaos Wyrm's right head from electrocuting him and Mia.
"Fair?" Nara raised an eyebrow, acting bewildered. "What are you going on about, boy? There's seven of you to two of us, or four if you count each head as a separate entity, and as such, I believe we are quite justified in having some advantages on our side."
Suddenly, just as Picard was able to grip the edge of the platform with both hands, the entire platform began spinning, so fast that Picard lost his grip and was hurled through the air, to slam into another vertical platform. Bouncing off the second circular platform, he fell… directly onto a horizontal platform waiting for him.
As he lay there, winded and gasping for breath, he heard Nara's slow, insidious voice again, no more of their unholy glee in the word. "Besides, boy." She said. " You're on our turf now. You want your friend back? Fine. You play by our rules." Raising his head, Picard managed to catch a glimpse of Nara snapping her fingers.
A slamming sound made everyone's head jerk back, and they saw the huge double doors at the entrance of the room swing open. A second later, Picard's eyes widened in consternation as he saw just what was coming through the door.
"Oh, no…" He said softly.
The Rock Monsters. All four of them, fully rejuvenated and walking slowly towards the edge. As they neared, a platform rose to meet, them, and they stumbled clumsily onto it.
"I do hope you didn't think your clumsy assaults succeeded in destroying my dear little pets, did you?" Nara grinned. "Oh, no. They are made of much tougher stuff than that. I merely got bored with watching you just outside my chamber, and commanded them to crumble long enough for you to walk off. And now…" Her grin grew wider. "Say hello to the Rock Devil!"
The four Rock Monsters halted, as if unsure of what to do. Then slowly, but faster and faster, their fragmenting parts began to come apart, whirling through the air in a tornado of stone. And bit by bit, the stone fragments began to fly back, first forming two feet. Then higher up, two legs, bent slightly. And two arms, seemingly floating in mid-air. Last, and most terrible of all, a giant spherical body, connecting all it's limbs to one huge chest. The thing had no discernable head still, but as Picard watched, a hole formed in the "chest" of the creature, and it began to glow red. A blood-red eye, glaring down at the seven puny ants who had dared come to challenge it's master.
The adepts and Davion stared, first at the hovering, lizard-like creature known as the Chaos Wyrm, and then at the hulking behemoth that was the Rock Devil. Picard gritted his teeth as he scrambled back to his feet. This would be a tough fight indeed…
Sheba dodged, lightning-fast, to the side. An instant, the arrow fired by the statue impaled the wall where she had been standing. And in the darkness, she heard mocking laughter.
"Very good, girl." The low, taunting voice of a man said, unseen in the dark. "Then again, after all you've been through, I wouldn't expect you to succumb to a simple arrow, would we?"
Sheba's eyes flashed angrily, and she whirled, straining to see in the dark gloom. "Stop hiding like a coward!" She snapped.
"Oh, no, girl. I'm not hiding. In fact, I'm sitting right here in my personal chambers, watching you, and laughing at your blind movements in the dark. It's right down the hall, if you must know. But watch out. I believe parts of my… collection are down the hallway. If you survive, we'll meet where I am now, girl. Don't let me down." The voice faded out, and Sheba was alone once more.
Shaking her head, Sheba cast Reveal and her eyes narrowed when she saw tiny studded orbs floating lazily in the hallway. Picking up a loose pebble from the ground, she tossed in an arc towards the closest one.
A blinding explosion was her immediate reward. Releasing Haze, she winced as she felt the heat of the blast on her face, but there was no real damage. As the effects of the djinni's powers dissipated, Sheba closed her eyes, mentally willing herself to focus.
"Ivan gave me his all in Anthis… I can't turn back now." Casting Reveal again, she set off down the hallway, dodging the tiny floating landmines along the path.
Jenna ducked, feeling the rain of icicles narrowly pass her by. Raising her Salamander Rod, she fired off a Searing Beam straight at the Chaos Wyrm's scaly hide. The draconian creature barely even noticed it.
Snarling in frustration, she was about to hop onto another platform when it began wobbling like an off-centre top. Pulling back, Jenna uttered a stream of invectives, before unleashing Cannon on the Chaos Wyrm. The djinni, enveloped in a fireball, flew forward and smashed into the belly of the Wyrm, throwing it slightly off- balance.
Smiling grimly, Jenna was about to continue the assault when she heard Isaac's warning shout. Turning, she saw that the Rock Devil was beginning to shake, and it's component parts began to detach themselves, zooming through the air in wide, random arcs, headed straight for her. Eyes wide, Jenna threw herself to the ground, doing her best to avoid the rock particles. Even then, a fair number of them slammed into her back, making her cry out involuntarily in pain. And as she tried to stand, an iceberg smashed into her head, sending her crashing to the floor.
Struggling back to her feet, Jenna cast Aura on herself, feeling several minor wounds on her back close. The large cut behind her head still remained, though, and she could feel hot blood falling down her neck. Looking around, her eyes alighted on the Rock Devil, it's pieces once again forming itself into the giant entity.
"Ah, hell." She muttered under her breath.
Isaac dived under a sheet of flames, and rolled to avoid a blast of thunder. As he climbed back to his feet, he wiped his brow. At the rate this was going, he wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer. And half of his spells were useless anyway. They were in midair.
Raising his head, he was just in time to see the Chaos Wyrm alight, wings spread wide. It lashed forward with a clawed hand, so like and yet unlike that of a human's. Isaac was barely able to dodge to the side, also he received a stripe across his shoulder for it.
The Chaos Wyrm screeched again and beat it's wings, flying forward until it was just in front of Isaac. And then it slammed it's arms down, trying to smash the persistent Venus Adept under it's paws. Isaac noted that the majority of the others were tied down with trying to avoid the whirling stones of the Rock Devil. Not good, he thought dismally. As he sidestepped another wild slam from the creature's arm, the Chaos Wyrm's central head emitted another blast of flame straight at him, singing the Venus Adept's skin. Crouching, Isaac battled the fierce heat, trying not to succumb to the intense pain ravaging his body.
"Sleet!" A torrent of slush rained on the central head, causing it to jerk back in surprise. Temporarily relieved of the searing heat in his body, Isaac stumbled back, clumsily casting Potent Cure on himself.
Turning to the side, he saw Mia on another platform, not too far away, glaring at the Chaos Wyrm. And as he watched, she lifted her hand again, and another blue glow surrounded it. The left head hissed in annoyance, and twisted over to face her, as it prepared to send a hail of ice raining down on her.
"Hail!" A wall of water rose from the ground, smacking the Chaos Wyrm's left head in the face. As it screamed in surprise, Mia once again unleashed another djinni.
"Mist!" A third hit, and the Chaos Wyrm flinched under the assaults, screaming in anger as the last blow opened a wound on it's shoulder. Then, it's central head whipped around, a shot off a storm of fireballs at Mia, forcing her to go on the defensive. Isaac narrowed his eyes, and raising his sword, he summoned another djinni to the battlefield.
"Bane!" Golden light flashed from the Sol Blade, and the djinni in question rocketed forward into the Wyrm's chest, poison entering the wound. Another howl of annoyance, and an arm swept down, knocking Isaac to the floor.
"Serac!" Mia struck yet again, a glacial sphere stabbing out from the ground, encasing the Wyrm in ice. Leaping forward, her Nebula Wand swung in a clean arc, shattering the iceberg.
With a hateful glare, the Chaos Wyrm stretched out it's right head, and a jagged bolt of lightning lanced forward. Mia jumped the deadly ray, but the Chaos Wyrm fired a second bolt, which caught Mia in the back. With a cry, Mia crumpled to the floor.
"Mia!" Isaac yelled. Bracing himself, he leaped to the platform that Mia was laying on, and helped her to her feet. "You okay?" He asked wearily.
Mia winced slightly at the raw pain burning in her back. With a weak smile, she stood on her own, facing the Chaos Wyrm. "I'll be fine." She grinned.
Still not convinced, Isaac silently released Crystal, feeling the healing energy seep into both their bodies. Then, turning to Mia, he spoke softly.
"Mia, are you strong enough to do a summon?" Mia's eyes hardened, and she nodded once. Isaac grinned, and stepped away. Turning to the more-or-less enraged Chaos Wyrm, he cast Ragnarok, then dodged an iceberg hurled in his direction. Before he could continue, he heard Mia's soft, gentle voice behind him, now flowing with authority and power.
"I call upon the ancient dragon of the deeps! Lord of the azure ocean, commander of Mercury's might! The all-encompassing flow, into the dark depths! Azul! Awaken!"
Instantly, the entire world to Mia's vision was plunged into sapphire. A huge serpentine dragon, coiling and flexing it's long body, turned lazily to face the Chaos Wyrm. A bubble seemed to grow from Azul's mouth, and it was fired straight into the Wyrm. Then, Azul charged forward, shattering the bubble and slamming it's long body into the Wyrm, breaking the spell, and returning the two combatants back into the chamber room.
Isaac stared at the Chaos Wyrm in triumph. Blood poured from multiple wounds in it's body, and it seemed to be severely weakened. A few more strong psynergies, and it would fall…
Suddenly, the Chaos Wyrm's central and left head flexed, and both began to glow, red and blue respectively. Merging into a deep indigo hue, the glow spread throughout the entire body of the Chaos Wyrm. As Isaac watched in consternation, wounds closed, cuts rejoined together, and bruises vanished.
Now fully cured, the Chaos Wyrm stretched it's wings lazily and swooped in lower to the two exhausted adepts, all three heads snarling with malice. And Nara chose that moment to laugh.
"We seem to be in a bit of a jam, don't we?" She chuckled. "Well, now. Since you've been such good exercise for my little pet, I'll let you in on one of it's specialty attacks! Won't that be fun!" Grinning, she turned to the Chaos Wyrm and uttered two words, which Isaac had to strain to hear. "Frozen Flame."
The central head's eyes glowed, and a long, coiling rope of fire exploded from it's maw, shooting straight towards the adepts. The left head arched over, and exhaled a freezing gas, turning the flame bluish white. And from the right head, a tornado swept forth, whipping the hellish conglomeration of flames into a wide circle that drifted lazily over the two stunned adepts.
Isaac shook his head as he desperately tried to keep away from the raging blaze. "You are a bitch." He said softly to Nara. Nara, for her part, merely laughed.
"And you are in way over your head, boy." She said. "Just try not to die too quickly, alright? This is the best entertainment I've had in months!"
Garet dived under a stone arm rocketing down. As he rolled, the platform shook from the impact, and Garet thought for a minute that he might fall off. Then, he halted himself, and climbed to his feet. Glaring angrily at the Stone Devil, he cast Inferno.
Dozens of fireballs flew through the air, finally searing into the stone hide of the Rock Devil, and wounding it about as much as hitting it with a matchstick might have. The gargantuan beast merely gave an odd groaning sound, and it's huge arm, wider than a pillar, lashed out again.
This time, it found a target in Davion, and the elvish prince was thrown from the platform he had been on. Flailing wildly, he latched on desperately to another platform, and began hauling himself up.
Garet stutter-stepped the Rock Devil's fists again, and mentally, unleashed a djinni. "Corona!" He cried. A reddish wall surrounded him, preventing the Rock Devil from punching him clear off the platform. Behind him, Jenna was desperately hurling spell after spell, Searing Beams, Flare Storms, and Dragon Fumes flew through the air in a vast, chaotic storm of flames. Following his fellow Mars Adept's lead, he cast Pyroclasm, watching as vertical columns of flame blasted out of the ground, striking the Rock Devil.
This wasn't working. Garet realized. They had to find some way to win over this thing, and fast. Raising his sword, he tried to find an opening with which he could attack physically. Then his eyes widened. Wha-?
The eyeball in the Rock Devil's head disappeared, and the entire stone mass collapsed. Then, moving in a wave, like a vast, rocky sea, the rocks mowed forward, knocking over Garet and burying him under the sea of rocks that swept over him. And of course, Garet wasn't too happy about it.
Struggling to his feet, amidst the rock waves that threatened to sweep him under, he closed his eyes and began to chant, almost inaudibly.
"I summon the queen of all dragons… The wife of Bahamut, mother of the vast broods, bearer of the undying flame." His eyes opened, and he said, louder this time. "I summon Tiamat!"
Fireballs blazed through the air, landing through the scattered mass of rocks. Instantly, the Rock Devil reformed itself, to face this new threat. And flying lazily down, the Queen of all Dragons, Tiamat, glared at her new foe.
The Rock Devil gave an incoherent scream, challenging it's foe, and Tiamat responded in kind. From her mouth blazed a plume of fire, blasting into the Rock Devil. As the ore monster staggered backwards, trying to escape the flames, Tiamat vanished, her job done.
But the others had not been idle. Stepping into the fray, Felix lifted his own sword and shouted to the air. "I call upon the spirits of the woods! The great vastness of nature, and it's strength! Mother of Earth, I ask you, lend us your aid! Cybele!"
A frog-like creature hopped down from the heavens, and spat several seeds onto the ground. Suddenly, the entire area began to rumble, and vines shot out from the earth, twisting and wrapping themselves around the Rock Devil, entangling it in a choking maze of roots. Lifting the hapless behemoth into the air, they disappeared suddenly, letting the Rock Devil to freefall.
As the monstrosity crashed to the ground, Garet leaped forward, trying to deal the rocky beast another blow. As he jumped however, a horizontal column of rock shot out from the Rock Devil, knocking Garet to the floor, directly under the beast's legs.
"Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shitshitshitshit-" Garet moaned to himself as he ducked back and forth under the torso of the Rock Devil, as pillars stabbed down from the body of the boulder beast, trying to squash the irritating Mars Adept under it.
Suddenly, there was a flash blue light, and a multitude of boulders crafted of ice slammed into the Rock Devil, staggering it momentarily. Garet took this opportunity to duck out from under the stone giant, and hop onto another nearby platform. The Rock Devil turned to face Picard, the cause of the spell, and slowly began to advance on him.
Until an arrow from Davion struck the red orb that was the creature's eyeball. The Rock Devil howled in rage, and then turned once more. Stretching out it's arm, it pointed it straight at Davion, and it exploded into a hail of rock. As the elf prince tried desperately to avoid as many of the missiles as possible, Garet backed up wearily to Picard, who still, for whatever reason, looked fresh and bright.
"How are we supposed to stop that thing?" He asked, frustrated. "It doesn't even seem to be wounded in the slightest!"
Picard shrugged. "Well, he seems to be easily distracted."
Garet rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes. That thought just fills me with confidence."
Picard was about to nod, when his eyes widened. "Get down!" Stretching out both hands, he flung Garet to the ground. And not a moment to soon. A red orb of energy flew past him, leaving a faint trail in the air. As he struggled to his feet, he saw the Rock Devil had turned to face him. As the red ball that was it's eye flared, another orb of energy flew past.
More pressing to Garet and Picard, however, was the fact that the Rock Devil held Davion in one of it's three fingered hands. And it was slowly advancing on the two of them.
"Odyssey!" Three swords, shimmering golden, flew through the air, converging on the Rock Devil's arm. A flash of light, and the severed stone limb fell off and crumbled, allowing Davion to escape. Felix allowed himself a tiny smile as he watched the stone arm crumble.
The smile quickly changed to a frown as the rock pieces flew back to the Rock Devil, reforming into it's arm once again.
Garet shook his head, and was about to raise the Fire Brand, when the Rock Devil crumbled once again. As the adepts watched in consternation, the rock mass separated into two, reforming into two smaller, but identical Rock Devils. Garet shook his head as he saw the red glow of their eyes emerge.
"There goes the "distract him" strategy, huh?" He said to Picard. Picard didn't bother to reply.
Both Rock Devils leapt towards their foe, and the battle began anew.
Sheba stood in front of the massive stone, door, trying to gather her courage. "One last throw…" She said softly. She couldn't fail now.
"Come on, come on. Are you just going to wait all day?" The taunting voice of her foe filled the hallway again. "You already showed excellent form by dodging my mines. Don't tell me you've got cold feet now."
Sheba's eyes flashed angrily, and lifting her head, she strode to the door. With one push, the doors opened, and Sheba walked on.
To destiny.
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