Chapter 16: Darkness

And so, the final battle began. The group charged right into the center of the Dragon's Gate to confront Nergal, where he surrounded himself in the morphs of previous leaders. Each set of leaders and their strongest henchmen were locked behind different rooms that opened up as time went by. The morphs had a striking resemblance to the people they had fought before: Lloyd, Linus, Ursula, Darin, Brendan, Kenneth, Jerme, Uhai, each had been reformed into a morph, many times more powerful than their previous selves. As the battle started, the group created a defensive shell of the strongest defense, keeping archers and magic users right behind them to back them up. Staying in the middle of the room, they battled away the powerful morphs, claiming their powerful weapons after each one fell. Chamber after chamber, opened, bringing back the harsh memories of having to kill the past members of the Black Fang again, knowing that all along, they weren't the true bad guys, and that they were merely tools used by Nergal in his quest to bring dragons back to the world. And as each fell, the desire to see Nergal killed was increasing.

Finally, the last of the morphs fell, and a large door at the end of the dark hall, revealing Nergal at the other side, standing completely still. A set of armored morphs appeared from behind the group, forcing a few to stay behind to do battle with them. Whilst others went to attack the sages and druid that surrounded Nergal, Lucius saw his opportunity and ran up towards Nergal, clutching the Aureola tome as tightly as he could. This was it, he thought. Taking a quick look back, watching as Florina was dealing with the armored knights, he took in a deep sharp breath and turned around to confront Nergal.

Neither said anything as they looked at each other. Lucius prepared his battling staff, watching Nergal as he raised a single hand.

"Prepare yourself" he said in his sinister voice. "You are about to witness a power that overwhelms all!"

Opening his hand out, Lucius could feel the terrifying dark waves of energy coursing right through him. He remembered Canas telling him about dark magic and as Nergal's powers tore through him, his words started to replay loudly in his head…

"Well Lucius…dark energy is the most powerful form of magic there is. It's also the hardest to master; much like yourself with light energy, in order to harness dark energy you have to be able to allow it to change the structure of your body to be able to create it from chanting the tomes. But unlike light, which has a far smaller repercussion when it comes to assimilation, darkness can have a very serious effect if one does not fully concentrate on controlling the dark magic. The very nature of the dark arts as an offense is to destroy the soul of the opponent, rendering them practically dead inside, and therefore, an absolute nothing on the outside. I'm sure I've told you of my brothers, who attempted to learn the ancient arts…their assimilations were disasters. They still live, but all they do is sit…they do not eat, they do not sleep. They hardly breathe, just enough to remain physically alive. Apart from that, they are soulless, corrupted. That is the devastating power of the ancient arts, the incantations and the tomes are designed to tear one's soul apart. If a shaman ever approaches you, then you must be strong to resist the dark power they will possess, or otherwise you will certainly not make it…"

This information rolled through Lucius's head like thunder. The power of Nergal's attack was already tearing at him inside. Lucius could feel himself falling short of breath as he tried to resist the power of the attack, his eyesight falling dim. He knew if he stood and allowed the assault on his soul to continue, he wouldn't be able to continue fighting. And that wasn't going to happen.

As the dark wave slowly came to an end, Lucius started to pant, having felt the damage dealt by the attack. He knew he couldn't falter now. He had to counterattack.

Lifting his attack staff, he took a deep breath and opened the Aureola, looking at the inscriptions inside. He could already feel the pulsing power of the time inside of him. Starting his incantation, he turned and looked to Nergal, whose face was one of a battle prepared combatant. He closed his eyes, remembering the concentration technique he was taught; he could sense the inscriptions of the Aureola inside his mind, every word and every letter clear as the morning skies of Etruria. The more he spoke, the more power that was building inside of him. He could sense light building up around him and as he opened his eyes, he saw that Nergal was surrounded in a spotlight as well, shading his eyes from the dark, trying to shield himself from the light.

His power was fast approaching its crux. The exhilaration felt by Lucius was immense; he could swear that he could feel the very essence of St Elimine inside of him. The power felt somewhat godly as his chant came to and end. Yelling out, he pointed his staff towards Nergal, which suddenly focused all the light that surrounded him into one small beam.

Releasing the energy that he had built up inside, a large shard of condensed light crashed on top of Nergal before shattering brilliantly. A blinding light filled the room as Nergal's scream shot through the hall, feeling the full effect of the Aureola. Even Lucius felt a little pain in his eyes from the radiance of the light; so powerful that everybody in hall around Nergal had to stop and shield their eyes from the luminosity.

As Lucius uncovered his eyes, he saw Nergal on his knees, his robes tattered, his face bruised and bleeding, completely defeated. He coughed blood out onto the floor, holding his chest. Forcing himself back to his feet, ne struggled, knowing that the damage he had suffered was too great. He couldn't believe it. Such power in one blast! Even Lucius was in awe; surely his shot couldn't be that powerful? He felt the same tingling sensation when he landed an extreme blow on any other enemy. His staff would flash rapidly as he raised it into the air, sometimes his robes would flap like they did as he used the Aureola. Perhaps it was one of those odd moments where his attack would be extremely powered, the rare moment when his concentration would unexpectedly pass its crux and extend even further and cause critical damage, thrice as powerful as he would usually.

"Why?" Nergal sputtered, a mixture of blood and saliva dripping from his mouth. "Why must I lose? More power…" He clenched his fist, looking at it. "I must be….stronger…I…." His face suddenly twisted into an anguished expression. "Why? Why did I…want power? Aenir? No…don't understand…" He suddenly looked up at Lucius, snarling and laughing weakly. "Gaa…Not like this…I will not die…like this. With my last breath…tremble…and…despair. Hwah ha ha…Ha…ha ha ha…"

As his eyes rolled to the bad of his head, Nergal released a final breath and collapsed limply to the floor, dead. There was quietude in the room that portrayed everybody's shock and disbelief. Was the final battle really over?

It dawned on Lucius that his energy was suddenly starting to fade. Taking a quick gasp of breath, he almost dropped the Aureola, noticing that its power was leaving his body. What he didn't realize was during the attack, he had lost a lot of his own internal energy as well. With the fading energy went his own consciousness as he dropped to his knees, placing the Aureola to the ground safely and planting his staff to the ground; his breathing became deeper and more exhausted. The energy continued to leave his body; Lucius feared the worst. Had he used up all of his internal energy to kill Nergal?

Was he going to die?

Falling with his back to the floor, he could hear the cry of a particular voice as his eyesight went hazy. Funny, he thought. It was only a few days ago he was in the arms of an angel, and now here he was again, limp and broken of all senses, staring through the blur towards the same angel, whose face he could only just recognize. He believed that it was St Elimine, coming to take him personally to the after life, but an occurred focus of his eye confirmed a different identity. Attempting to utter the name, listening to the almost velvety sound of his angel's voice, he closed his eyes and breathed his last conscious breath, feeling the strongest peace inside of him.

I'm not trying to big up Lucius or anything, this genuinely happened to me in my game. I OMGWTFBBQ'd.