Well, here we are.

Almost at the finale (of part one, at least!).

Wander VS Malus is coming soon--all you have to do is keep reading.

I own nothing.

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Dormin's Speech

Sound Effects

Thoughts

Chapter 17

The Unknown

Whispers entered his mind, and then left abruptly. A sweet voice was singing in the background, but the harder he tried to listen, the more it seemed to fade, until it disappeared completely. He growled and started towards where the voice had been coming from, and a giant arm swung next to him and knocked him to the ground. He looked up and saw blazing yellow eyes piercing through his body. "Dooooooooooorrrrrr...mnnnnnnnnnnnnn..." the howl sounded wild, like a demon, and yet calm like time. But this chant seemed to echo forever. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. Days turned to weeks. On and on the howl continued, until Wander clapped his hands over his ears, eyes brimming with tears of pain from the volume of the howl, and he shouted with all his power, "STOP!!"

He suddenly felt as though a fog had been lifted, and he woke up to see one, two...no wait, maybe it was five...well over eight shadowy figures with blue eyes stood over him. Time will tell... they seemed to whisper, though no part of them moved to indicate so. One by one they faded, until Wander began to wonder if he had imagined them. Cursing himself, he decided he should have tried to touch one to see if he was hallucinating or not. He slowly staggered to his feet and burning pain shot through him. He gasped and blood flew from his mouth as he dropped onto one knee. The sun on his back felt like it was right behind him, and he yelled with the agony of the fire that only he could feel. With tremendous effort, he crawled over to where the Ancient's Sword lay stuck between two blocks and slowly pushed himself up. As soon as he grabbed the sword's handle, the pain vanished as if it had been called elsewhere. He looked at the sword which had slain fifteen Colossi now, and shuddered to think of the blood he had spilled.

A distant rumble, resonating with the whispers of the figures he had seen, and Dormin's voice filled his thoughts.

We believe that thou hath banished the pain of the Colossi by holding the Ancient's Sword.

Wander's heart skipped a beat, as if he had just heard something he shouldn't have. Dormin seemed alarmed that They had let this slip, as the rumbling continued but no words came from the god. "Lord Dormin--" he said with a cringe, "I have slain fifteen Colossi. Fifteen idols now lay in rubble, with only one remaining!" he shouted, pointing the Ancient's Sword at the last idol. The sword shot from his hands to the side and clattered next to Agro, who reared with a whinny of protest. Wander once again felt searing pain shoot through him, and he was sure he had felt an extremely evil presence push the sword from his hands when he looked at the idol. Come to think of it, the last idol was the only one Wander could not look directly at.

Until now, that is.

"Where must I seek the last Colossus, Lord Dormin?" Wander grunted, staggering over to the Ancient's Sword and grabbing it before putting it in its sheathe.

Aye, thou hath done well. Sixteen there are in all, and fifteen thou hath defeated. But one remains, and his power is the strongest of all other Colossi. But hurry: Someone now stands to get in thine way.

Wander almost had a heart attack as he realized the god was talking about Emon. "What?! He's here?!" he screamed, forgetting the pain that came when he let go of the sword. His panic turned to outrage. "That cocky bastard! He's probably here to take the sword back!" he growled, slamming a fist against the floor in his anger. "Does he not realize how important this is to me?!" he bellowed to the sky.

Hurry, young Wanderer, for time is short...

Dormin's voice faded then. Wander nodded, mounted Agro, and set off. Little did he know that he would have cherished the God's final words and probably listened...if only he knew what lay ahead of him.

Emon's horse whinnied as he came close to falling off the edge of a bridge. He had just made it through the Gate of Wind and came to a giant bridge. One of his men did not stop in time; he and his horse plummeted, and Emon looked away before the very faint crack made contact with his ears, followed by a dull thump. One of his men looked down, and Emon pulled from his pocket a knife before twirling it and hurling it straight down at the corpses. The horse had fallen onto the warrior, but unlike the horse the warrior was still alive. "Lord Emon, help m--" he cried, and then the knife pierced his forehead and his eyes went blank. His head fell to the side and Emon sighed with his hands together in prayer. "May you rest in peace." he murmured, his white horse galloping along the bridge. Far, far in the distance he could see the Shrine of Worship. "What foolishness has that wretch brought upon us?" Emon whispered as he felt an evil aura unlike any other pulsing from the shrine in great waves. "Oh yes, it seems he has indeed acted rashly. Please, keep us safe from the devilry this foolish man has unleashed."

Wander followed the sword's light and found himself in front of a giant gate. He tried to ride Agro closer but the horse refused to go within ten yards of the gate. Wander sighed and dismounted, then patted his companion on the back before walking to a circle directly in front of the gate and sat down. Eyes closed, he tried to think of anything that Dormin had said, hoping to find some sort of clue or message.

He winced as bright light shone into his face, and he shielded himself before realizing that he was in a patch of shade. How could the sun shine so bright here? Unless...he opened his eyes and looked to the Ancient's Sword. It was glowing with the purest light he had ever seen. Standing with the sword in hand, he gazed at the gate with confidence. "It is almost over, Mono..." he whispered. A screech from above alerted him, and he held his sword at the ready only to see Loki descend with five other hawks. "Kreeeeeee!!" Loki screeched, flapping his wings and motioning with his claws. Wander turned and saw a hole in the gate, and he raised his sword to the light before aiming it at the hole in the gate.

Yes, I'm sorry but the chapter ends there. The next will be Wander's showdown with Malus. We're getting close to where you all get to make your own Colossi and have them put in the fanfiction! Hope you're enjoying yourselves so far! Oh, and don't hate me for this little cliffhanger, I couldn't resist.