Arethe leapt into action, somersaulting past a spray of corrosive liquid belched by the mouth-with-legs and kicking it in the side, her foot surrounded in her speciality – erasing magic that had been taught to her by master Shintan. The pure White mana burned the demon, and it roared in pain, its small eyes on each of its four legs filling with blood.
She struck again with her palms, the Eye of the Dragon tattooed there flaring up with mana as her skin touched the horror's moist flesh. Arethe dodged a lumbering kick by rolling to the side and suspending the bloated limb up with glittering crystals of soulfire that held it in mid-air. She was far too quick for the behemoth, which staggered around, clumsily trying to attack her as the Jeskai released a jet of water which slammed into the thing.
One of its eyes charged up mana for a second, and then a beam of dark energy shot out, almost clipping Arethe on the shoulder and freeing its leg from the suspension field as the student blasted the demon with another cascade of Blue mana.
Arethe then charged up Red magic and fire burst out of her and into the horror, evaporating the water she had drenched on it in an explosion of steam that scorched the flesh from its bones. She looked to see how the twins were faring – Kaldros seemed to be on the brink of victory, having annihilated the demon's resistance in a devastating aerial battle. However, Jakhan was in desperate need of help, Khemet and his living demon-whip wounding him deeply even with his new and increased strength. The rakshasa was clearly toying with him, waiting for the older twin to get back to his feet before knocking him over again.
Arethe could see her enemy writhing in pain, and jumped high into the air, keen to administer the finishing blow and to aid Jakhan. She landed on it and dodged its serrated tongue that swiped at her desperately, and conjured up a banishing ritual, attempting to send the creature back from whence it came. As the White mana coalesced around the girl, the horror suddenly exploded, drenching her in foul-smelling liquid. A mass of maggots erupted from the demon, swarming around her and interrupting her channelling.
She fell onto the ground, desperately trying to complete the spell as the vile mass started to crush Arethe into the floor. And then, it was gone. Kaldros smiled down at her, the purifying light fading from his hands and the last remnants of the creature were destroyed.
"Thanks!" Arethe exclaimed as the albino helped her up, "Now lets help Jakhan,"
"Finally, I'll be able to fight Kaldros, dear Jakhan here is incredibly boring," the rakshasa jeered and launched a series of lightning-fast strikes with his living whip against the older twin's guard, who grunted in pain and fell back to the relative safety of his comrades.
Khemet purred in delight as Kaldros fired several bolts of crackling electricity at the demon, who conjured up a mirror-like wall of Blue mana and deflected them back at Jakhan, who was protected by Arethe. Kaldros jumped at Khemet, slicing the air with twin blades of light and darkness. He brought them together when the demon blocked, creating a huge explosion of the opposite mana types of White and Black.
Khemet screamed in pain and was removed from existence, Kaldros suddenly snapped around as he realised with a shock that he had been tricked. The demon teleported behind Jakhan and Arethe, tracing burning sigils in the air with his whip.
The albino shouted a warning to his friends, as a wave of screaming darkness washed over them, swallowing the shrieking Arethe and Jakhan in an abyss of Black and Blue mana. Kaldros cried out, grief consuming his mind and threatening to burst past the barriers of control in his mind. He fought to keep it down, to save himself from a repeat of the battle with the Temur, but it was a losing battle.
"Yes, that's it!" Khemet hissed, "Lose control. Strike me down now!" he bellowed, stretching his arms out wide and filling the cavern with Jakhan's screams of terror. Mana swirled around the despairing Kaldros, and the rakshasa giggled maniacally, filling the boy's fracturing mind with thousands of images – some showed the past: Cerelis's pained howls as she gave birth to the albino, Carrok Warblade being cut down by a group of Temur warriors, Atasha shrieking desperately for help as she was devoured, and now Jakhan and Arethe being overwhelmed by the darkness.
"Drink deep of your despair, and use it to fuel your vengeance!" Khemet roared exultantly, feeling the titanic amounts of raw energy flowing out of Kaldros. The ground began to crack, fissures of burning blood wrenching the trembling cavern apart as the albino got to his feet, his face filled with pure hatred. Shining White mana flowed around his feet, as coruscating arcs of Red wrapped themselves round his arms. His eyes, once red and playful, were now orbs of the deepest midnight that reflected only thoughts of revenge, and tears of blood ran down his face.
"Now release your power!" Khemet shouted. Kaldros had far exceeded his expectations; the amount of power the boy had was astounding. The mage screamed, the sound a mixture of sorrow and rage, and leapt at the rakshasa. The demon grinned in triumph as the boy flew towards him. A flash of light erupted in between the two, and Arethe appeared in front of the stunned Khemet, the eyes on her palms flaring with White mana as she replicated a technique she had seen master Shintan use against a horde of Mardu raiders.
Jakhan teleported in with Arethe, and grabbed his brother, immediately stopping his charge as the magic around Kaldros faded away.
"Shhh, Kaldros, everything's fine – we're still here. Me and Arethe are fine. You don't have to do this alone," Jakhan soothed, hugging his smaller brother close – Kaldros was wracked with painful sobs, normally-coloured tears running down his face as Arethe blasted waves of light at the shocked Khemet.
"J-Jakhan?" Kaldros sobbed, and his brother nodded and put the boy down, steadying him as he almost fell over – the release of that much magic had taken a toll on Kaldros, although not as heavy a payment as two days ago. The younger twin shuddered for a few seconds and looked back up at Jakhan, the sadness in his red eyes now replaced with a fierce determination, although the tears were still falling down his face.
"Let's end this together," he spoke quietly, his voice was filled with a steely resolve, and Jakhan nodded again, hefting his glowing axe.
"How did you escape?" Khemet shrieked, anger and frustration turning his speech into a demonic snarl as his form blurred. None of the humans answered him, and they charged at him. Kaldros could still call upon some of the magical power he had felt earlier, but could control it, and flung luminescent bolts of light at the rakshasa that pierced through his void-guard. Hissing in pain, Khemet blocked a blast of elemental force coming from the Jeskai but was powerless to defend against a swipe from Jakhan's empowered axe. The enchanted metal bit into his skin and he screamed in anger, blasting the boy back with a mass of gibbering minor demons.
Arethe summoned chains of White and Blue mana and wrapped them around the rakshasa, who snarled and smashed them apart. A blade of white-hot mana stabbed into his left arm, holding him down as Jakhan swung again with his axe. The demons blocked one attack but couldn't defend against another sword strike, this one into his chest.
"Now you die, monster," Kaldros growled, twisting his conjured blade of tricolour Mardu magic deeper. Khemet laughed, a wet gurgling sound that made black liquid erupt from his mouth. Kaldros shouted in rage, letting go of his control for a split second; he released a gigantic amount of mana into his sword, exploding the rakshasa from the inside out. Khemet pushed him away and staggered backwards, screaming in pain as the burning mana coursed through him, blinding shafts of light erupting from his body and melting the golden armour into a puddle at his feet.
A voice spoke into his mind as the demon finally detonated in a sphere of incandescent light:
"My offer still stands. You will know where to find me."
Kaldros stood still for a few seconds, shaking and breathing heavily as the adrenaline of the battle wore off, and Jakhan clapped a large hand to his brother's shoulder.
"It's over," he sighed contentedly, and although Kaldros thought that it was only just beginning, he didn't want to ruin the exuberant mood. He must have been the only recipient of the demon's final mind-speak. Arethe and Jakhan both laughed, and the albino pushed the thoughts of Khemet's last words to the back of his mind – he would ruminate upon them further later, but right now he deserved to be happy, a small smile breaking out on his face.
"I hate to echo Khemet, but how did you get out of his spell?" Kaldros inquired, turning around to face his celebrating friends. His brother shrugged and pointed at Arethe, who playfully punched him in the shoulder and explained:
"Your brother's axe contained Bloodfire magic, which is the Jeskai term for Red mana. I remembered a technique that master Shintan used when working with efreet warriors – he combined their rage with his calm control to punch through reality. That let us get out of the void, although it took me a few tries to get it right."
"Wow," Kaldros replied, his thoughts interrupted as he heard a voice shout their names.
.*.*.*.
Iniedra and her soldiers had emerged into the cavern with the ziggurat, chasing down the wounded Vasjai. The naga was at the end of his tether, and when he felt Khemet's presence fade from Sarashak, he knew that the Sultai had lost.
"Stop, monster!" the Abzan mage cried, and the serpent shrugged, knowing that the takeover of Sarashak had failed. He slithered around to face his pursuers, smiling grimly, and let his weapons slowly clatter to the floor.
"I surrender," he declared, knowing that this was the only possible way to survive.
"You will be put on trial, Sultai dog, with the rest of your clan in this city and the councillors who let your decadence spread too far," Iniedra replied, and a few of her soldiers gave out weary cheers as a detachment was ordered by the mage to take Vasjai to the dungeons, instructing them to kill the naga if he tried anything remotely suspicious. Although he found it degrading to be subjected to the lesser creatures' sense of justice, Vasjai complied, thinking that at least he would have enough time to plot his vengeance.
Iniedra watched him leave, thinking of the changes the neutral city would have to undergo to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. Reports were flooding in from other detachments of Abzan soldiers, the remaining Sultai still living had surrendered after the reanimating force driving the undead had mysteriously ended. She thought of the Mardu twins the spirit had spoken to her of, the enigmatic woman refusing to share any information other than that they were in danger.
She sighed wearily and sat down on the stone floor, not looking forward to the inevitable trials of the Sultai and corrupt noble families – Iniedra was happy that justice could be served to the Black-aligned clan members, but rooting out the guilty from the innocent in the council would be a tiresome task, full of court intrigue and lies. She had no patience for politics, finding the deceit and backstabbing extremely petty.
Iniedra got to her feet as the scouts she had sent into the tunnel returned, the two soldiers and Meja, who insisted that he go with them despite his condition, bringing another three battered teenagers with them – the Abzan recognised Kaldros and Jakhan from the spirit's descriptions. She sensed her soldiers' shock and moved towards them, shouting: "What happened?"
"Ma'am, I don't really know," one replied, while the other said, "I can't really describe it."
"Arethe, Jakhan and Kaldros here have saved our city from a Sultai rakshasa," Meja explained, a hint of jealously in his voice that he swiftly quashed, "But we need to seal that tunnel. Now."
"So I suppose we can thank you for saving Sarashak. But Meja, why would we seal the tunnel?" Iniedra asked, surprised at the boy's directness but slightly irritated at his lack of an explanation.
"Khemet, the demon that led the Sultai, wanted to use me as a sacrifice so they could reanimate a dragon corpse," the smaller albino boy stated coolly, neglecting to mention the true reason Khemet had been there, "Meja is suggesting that we close the tunnels, permanently this time, to prevent anyone from attempting that or something similar again."
The Abzan mage swallowed, agreeing with Meja's assessment – a dragon's power could easily tip the fragile balance of power in the direction of the Sultai.
"You must be Kaldros," Iniedra said, the younger twin looking confused as she turned towards the brawny teen that stood protectively next to him, "And that means you are Jakhan,"
"Oh! So you're Iniedra" Jakhan exclaimed, suddenly remembering the reason why he and Arethe had entered the tunnels in the first place, before becoming swept up in the Sultai scheme and being used as bait for his brother. His expression became downcast and he murmured: "Dragin didn't make it. He died trying to protect us when we were going to meet you and got ambushed,"
"I had assumed that had happened when I saw you. Dragin was brave, he would rather die than have his mission fail. At least he died an honourable death," Iniedra took the news of her adopted brother's death as calmly as all the others, refusing to be overwhelmed by the sense of loss she felt. She would mourn later, right now she had a duty to do.
"Is there something that I haven't been informed about?" Kaldros demanded in the brief moment of silence, as Meja began chatting with Arethe.
"My name is Iniedra, I am also a mage," the Abzan said, holding out her hand for Kaldros to shake. The boy took it, and she flinched as she felt the thrumming magical power inside of his small frame. "And I sent for you and your brother before this madness started. I have something important to show you."
Kaldros sensed a build up in the mana of the desert clan as Iniedra turned around and began performing a series of slow, ritual actions – he was eager to see what Abzan magic was like, having never experienced it first hand. Light was pulled in from the surroundings and onto the ground in front of the mage, who began chanting words from an ancient language. The twins shielded their eyes as the build-up of luminescence became too bright; it reached its peak in a flash of energy and slowly dispersed.
Kaldros opened his eyes first, and made to speak, but his words died as he saw the figure in front of him. Jakhan looked a split-second later, and joined his brother in open-mouthed shock as he regarded the apparition stood next to Iniedra.
The woman had a thin, seemingly fragile build, and wore a plain red-kimono that contrasted sharply with the golden hair spilling down her shoulders. Her pale skin was lit up by the light of Iniedra's magic, which gave the woman an insubstantial quality – which was perfectly logical, as she was a spirit, although the life in her amber eyes seemed to suggest otherwise. A tattoo of the Dragon's eye was on her right cheek, above a wide smile that shone with warmth. Even though the brother's had only met her once before, the woman's identity was achingly obvious.
"Hello, my sons," Cerelis smiled.
Jakhan reacted first, his eyes open wide in surprise. "M-Mum?" he stuttered, unable to comprehend the existence of his mother stood in front of him.
"Jakhan? My, you've grown, haven't you? Well, you both have," she exclaimed, her soft voice very similar to her youngest son's – she looked past at Kaldros, who stared blankly back. Tears started to well up in his eyes, and he was about to speak when Cerelis placed a finger to his lips – she couldn't actually touch him, but the gesture was all that mattered.
"Shhh, Kaldros, there is no need to apologise for anything," she soothed, sensing her son's intent before he started.
"But-"
"No buts," Cerelis declared, her voice becoming strict, "Stop blaming yourself for my death right now, young man." Kaldros fell to his knees, wracked with violent sobs, tears once again streaming freely down his pale cheeks. Jakhan squeezed his shoulders comfortingly, and their mother grinned at him.
"Sorry to interrupt, but why are you here?" Iniedra cut in, and Cerelis turned to face her.
"Several years ago, before Jakhan and Kaldros had even been born, I had a vision of these events. I had wanted to warn my sons before the rakshasa got a hold of them, and to that end I stored some of my magic here before I died. However, the demon got to them first, but it seems that they didn't even need my help - Jakhan managed to activate the enchantments on his father's axe. I thought it would be nice to see them at one point during their lives though," the Abzan mage nodded, satisfied with the explanation and walked away to discuss other matters with her soldiers, leaving the magic active.
"So, how is your father doing?" Cerelis asked cheerily, trying to lighten the mood. Both twins' eyes glazed over, and their mother sighed, instantly regretting the choice of words.
"Ah," she uttered, "So how did he die?" although she ideally wanted to avoid the topic of death and prevent the twins from getting even more sad, Cerelis wanted to know the fate of her love.
"He sacrificed himself to keep us alive after the battle that was our Blooding," Jakhan explained, "Although we haven't been Named yet, because we fled straight here. We would have all died if it weren't for my little brother. He halted the entire Temur army and let the surviving clan members flee."
"You mean after I slaughtered them? And stop calling me that," Kaldros snapped.
"You saved us, and I'll call you what I want," Jakhan shot back.
Cerelis began to laugh, the light, happy noise silencing the bickering brother.
"Do you always argue like this?" she chuckled, and the twins glared at each other.
"No," Jakhan replied, and Kaldros cut in.
"Yes. Jakhan seems to forget that I could fry him in a second," Kaldros stated, conjuring up a small flame for effect. Jakhan snorted and put his smaller brother in a head-lock, his muscular arm under Kaldros's neck.
"I'd crush you first, little brother," he said, roughly ruffling his twin's white hair as Kaldros tried to pull him off, his efforts useless against his stronger sibling. Jakhan let go when he started to cough, patting his younger brother on the back as once again he failed to remember their substantial strength difference. Kaldros gasped for breath and shot a murderous glare back at Jakhan, who raised his hands in apology.
Cerelis smirked, and spoke: "Let me guess – I bet you forgot your own strength?" she grinned wide as Jakhan nodded, slightly embarrassed as his mother continued, "Carrok used to say that all the time when we used to fight."
"You used to fight?" Jakhan asked, quite stunned at the thought.
"Obviously, you oaf," Kaldros scowled, and his brother shook his head.
"I apologise, we aren't all gifted with your powers of perception – would you like to explain?"
"Very good, a satirical response. You're learning!" Kaldros sniggered, and started to explain when he heard Jakhan's frustrated grunt, "As you can see, Mum is...was...is a Jeskai. That means that to meet our father, they must have fought at one point,"
"Don't antagonise your brother, Kaldros," Cerelis admonished. Kaldros stuck out his lower lip petulantly, and muttered, "So I get an: "Don't antagonise your brother" when I use light sarcasm, but Jakhan choking me doesn't warrant a response. I am quite done with this family," he joked, his tone full off fake indignation, and Cerelis laughed again.
"But yes, you are right – we met a few days after me and my father, who were patrolling the towns on the border together, found a destroyed village – after saving the orphans there, me and him split up. I went to face the army, but he didn't want to risk the orphans and took them on as students. When I pursued the army, your father stayed to confront me alone. We fought for a whole day straight, and fell in love. I abandoned the Jeskai Way to be with him. We were meant for each other, and to that end I joined the Mardu clan. Wow, that's really embarrassing when you think about it. Huh,"
"That's where I remember your magic from!" a voice exclaimed. The twins and their mother turned around as Arethe ran towards them, followed by a confused-looking Meja, "You were with master Shintan when he saved adopted us from our village!"
"And that means-" Kaldros gulped.
"Yes, Taleth Shintan is your grandfather – is he here?" Cerelis replied.
"He's attending clan business," Meja calmly told her, and Arethe turned to look at him.
"You don't seem very surprised,"
"I'm not. I worked it out the day we met them. That's kind of the reason I acted the way I did when he took them in, because I was jealous of the fact that they were master Shintan's real family, and I rashly thought he was going to leave us for them" Meja admitted.
"You're in good hands then," Cerelis beamed, and looked upwards, as if she saw something lurking in the shadows there.
"It seems my time is up," she stated, her exuberant demeanour immediately changing to one of regret, "I really wish that I could have spent more time with you, and raised you. And no Kaldros, it is not your fault, before you say anything and ruin this touching goodbye speech," Cerelis smirked.
"You are beautiful sons, and it makes me extremely happy to see you. I can finally leave now, and go join Carrok. I expect not to see you for many, many years," with that, she abruptly disappeared, the light giving her form fading away as her sons stood, watching her go.