Chapter 5: The Oracle
Liam and Rienne gazed at the note held in the former's hands. The note, which Cinder had probably seen.
"Damn! That Darkon sure has some nerve to fake our kidnapping!" Liam swore loudly.
"But, how do we find Cinder now? Darkon has probably captured him! Even if we follow the directions on this note, we wouldn't know where he would be kept!" Rienne whispered fearfully.
"I'll try to trace Cinder's magical power. Him being an FP, it shouldn't be too difficult," Liam said. He then detected a faint trace of Cinder's powers somewhere in the heart of Victoria Island. The Dungeon. The treacherous and harsh land where few travelers have entered bravely and lived to tell the tale.
"He's somewhere near Sleepywood. Let's go!" Liam said. Crawling through the grimy sewers, they followed the path to the dungeon, and fended off the few low-leveled monsters that came barging into them. Then, entering the Ant Tunnel, they rested for a few moments to regain their stamina. They fought back to back, cutting a line through the ranks of the Zombie Mushrooms. Soon after, they reached the lair of Balrog. And it was just their luck to have stumbled upon the lair when the Balrog had just reincarnated.
Liam swore. They circled the fearsome monster from opposite ends, and struck a few blows. However, the Balrog seemed to be able to deflect them, as their arrows, imbued with both holy powers and the blessings of Amazon simply rebounded off an invisible shield at a 1-meter radius from the Balrog.
"We need to get inside that!" Rienne whispered, and the Balrog turned around to face her. She took a deep breath, and charged towards the Balrog.
Liam saw it all happen. A furry arm was stretched out and it grabbed hold of Rienne. A sadistic grin formed on the Balrog's face, as it watched the squirming, pathetic human it held in its closed fist. Time and time again, humans had teamed up to kill him. Now, it was time for some revenge on these unwitting travelers.
Rienne had no breathing space at all. She knew that death had arrived for her. She could hardly move an inch and Liam's constant barrage of Holy Arrows was deflected by the shield. Then, Liam suddenly felt a surge of adrenalin inside him. He closed his eyes, muttered a Holy spell, and a Mystic Door appeared, right below the Balrog. He dashed for it, and hit the Balrog with a Holy Arrow when he came through the shield. He entered the Mystic Door, and only heard a scream an irate roar as the Balrog opened its fist, and Rienne was dropped from it. Liam, lost in the black nothingness as he travelled through space in a matter of seconds, shook his head wretchedly in failure. No one could survive that drop. Rienne was gone.
I I I
Liam picked himself up from the floor.
"Wait a second, this isn't Sleepywood! This is some… dungeon-jail!" he exclaimed to himself.
"Cinder has to be here…" Liam muttered, as he walked around, hollering Cinder's name. One of the underground jails had to contain him…
Cinder and his companions in the dungeon heard the sounds of footsteps advancing towards them. Grendel peered out of the grilles, and saw a pair of feet, and heard a bellow.
"Liam!" Arkion whispered disbelievingly. He yelled out loud.
"Arkion! Where is Cinder? Why are you here?" Liam asked. Arkion quickly recounted the story of them being captured.
"Hold on a sec. I'll try to open that door behind you," Liam said. Then, he cast a Holy Arrow at the aforementioned door, and it burst into smithereens. Kraken and Grendel ran out, and Arkion dragged Cinder over to the door, and caught up with Grendel and Kraken.
"How do we navigate our way through this labyrinth?" Kraken questioned, as they stopped in front of a fork.
"I'll try," Grendel offered, and he closed his eyes for a moment. Shortly after, a continuous, shining, ray of light appeared and lit up a path.
The foursome, apart from Cinder, wasted no time in following the light until an opening, where they met Liam. Cinder merely trudged slowly and reluctantly.
Cinder crouched down low in a corner, and turned away from the others when he arrived at the designated meeting point. Grendel was quick to whisper everything that happened in the dungeon just now.
Liam went over to Cinder and comforted him, or at least, he tried to. Cinder shook him off aggressively, and stood up, facing Grendel.
"Get away from me," Cinder said, in the same expressionless voice.
"Okay, I shall," Grendel said, and walked away, "but take this piece of paper. It will do you good. I'm going to snatch my throne back from that bastard." He placed it on Liam's palm, turned around a corner, recovered enough Mana Points from the obsidian weakening, and teleported hastily.
"We don't need it," Cinder said coldly, as he stood up, "I'm not going to accept anything of his. Cinder snatched the piece of paper ruthlessly from Liam, and crushed it with his palm. He threw it on the ground, and walked away.
"What has come over Cinder?" Liam whispered to himself, as he slowly picked up the crushed parchment, and swiftly followed Cinder.
I I I
Upon reaching Ellinia's city, Grendel sat down and rested for a few moments. Teleporting to Henesys was quite a mana-burner. Taking the taxi to Ellinia allowed him to recover only some of his mana. Then, he walked over to his ex-treehouse and barged open the door.
"Ah, I've been expecting you," Darkon swiveled around in Grendel's armchair, "Don't you realize I have eyes everywhere?" Darkon pointed to some of the servants in the room. Their eyes glowed with a crimson red light, and their gazes were fixed on this intruder.
"I don't care. We shall have a duel. To the death," Grendel said. He held up his Dragon Staff, and Darkon held up his custom-made elemental staff: Black Spider Staff. They were enveloped in a blue light, and their world shrank, containing only the two of them.
Grendel cast Thunder Spear, and dodged Darkon's Necromantic Spear. Darkon lazily used his staff to turn aside the Thunder Spear. But, in that moment, Grendel teleported behind Darkon and cast Genesis.
Darkon's staff seemed to act of its own will and moved extremely quickly to block Genesis. However, the dark staff stood no chance against a tremendous Holy attack like that. It shattered into many pieces.
"Damn!" Darkon snarled, but he drew his Dragon Carabella, and his Gellerhead Shield. But in those precious seconds, Grendel had cast Blizzard on Darkon. The latter took the full blow of the attack and was blasted back a few metres like a ragdoll. He slowly picked himself up from the ground and grinned.
"He's a maniac!" Grendel thought, "He's dying but he's smiling!"
Darkon suddenly used Monster Magnet. Grendel zoomed towards the Necromancer and cast Magic Guard on himself, bracing himself for an attack. Darkon used Brandish once Grendel was in range, and Grendel felt his mana resources deplete like crazy. He used his knee to jab Darkon's stomach in a mad attempt to wind him. Strangely, it worked. Darkon wheezed as Grendel kicked away his weapon and shield. Grendel brought his staff down on Darkon's neck like an executioner, but the blow never struck. He lost his balance and toppled onto the ground.
Darkon laughed as he teleported just before the staff touched his neck. He drew his Dragon Purple Sleve and threw his Hwabis at the Archmage on the floor in front of him. Grendel rolled away, and stood up, while casting Meteo. Darkon stretched his arms out wide, and cast Mana Reflection. Maxed.
Grendel swore as his attack hit Darkon. Darkon fell onto the ground, winded, but he sneered as the Meteo, with double the power, came rushing towards Grendel. Grendel realized he still could live, as his Magic Guard was still intact. But, Darkon cast Dispel on Grendel, at the last moment. Grendel was impaled by the shower of flaming rocks that hit him. Grendel, the almighty Archmage, ex-leader of the Ellinians, gasped, breathed his last breath, and left the mortal world.
Darkon simply laughed.
I I I
"Deep within Orbis Tower the frozen Oracle lies
Watching travelers pass by with her frozen eyes
As brave explorers kill monsters, she merely stands by
Greeting the death of an adventurer with a tiny, sad sigh
The frozen Oracle, she holds the answer to all
She knows even secrets to cause nations to rise or fall
This brilliant girl, the Four Wise Leaders she just had to gall
They cast her in to frozen marble, a statue, standing proud and tall"
Liam recited the words written on the parchment.
"Wow, is that like, so cool?" Liam exclaimed. He caught up with Cinder read out the poem on the paper once again.
"Isn't this that damned piece of rotten parchment Grendel gave us?" Cinder asked. Liam nodded, and Cinder tore it up into pieces.
"What the…" Liam stuttered.
"I don't need his bloody help," Cinder said frostily. Liam picked up the pieces and stowed it inside his pocket.
"I don't get it. Cinder has become so… detached… so emotional," Liam whispered, when Cinder was out of earshot, to Arkion.
"I feel the same way too," Arkion sighed.
"Should we actually go to this Oracle thingy?" Liam asked. Arkion nodded.
"I'll try to persuade him," Arkion replied, and she ran up to Cinder.
"You know, I feel that we should go to that Oracle. She might know how to defeat Darkon, or whoever Grendel said that guy was," Arkion said.
"No. I won't accept that damned murderer's help!" Cinder yelled.
"But, please… just try it… I beg you…" Arkion said.
"Fine," Cinder said, "We could, but I ask you, how are we going to get there? Ellinia's station? Impossible! That's where everyone tried to kill me."
"Well… I could cast Dark Sight on myself… but for the rest of you, I don't know how," Arkion faltered.
"Dark Sight! Right! I'll use my mana to make it a party skill temporarily!" Liam overheard their conversation and exclaimed loudly.
Liam meditated for a moment. Then, a magical symbol appeared underneath Arkion's feet. He casted Dark Sight, and the party was invisible to everyone now, apart from their own party members.
"Nice one," Arkion exclaimed, as the quartet made their way to Henesys, to take a taxi to Ellinia, not unlike what Grendel did.
I I I
Around roughly an hour later, they arrived at Ellinia station.
"Kraken, you cancel out the effects of Dark Side. No one knows that you are a traitor to Darkon, so you can go to Orbis. Buy a ticket," Liam whispered. Kraken did so, and the ship arrived just as they entered the waiting platform. Kraken got in, and as the NPC opened the gates, the other three of them rushed in, leaving Kraken to slowly amble into the ship. Luckily, only the four of them were present, and they had a quiet chat in the cabin.
When the ship finally alighted, all of them removed the protection of Dark Sight. After all, no one was looking for them in Orbis. They slowly made their way down the Orbis Tower, and stopped at Level 8.
"This is where the statue is allegedly situated…" Liam said, and the five people split up.
"I found her!" Arkion shouted out loud, and the other four of them went over to look at the statue.
"I seek your audience, O Mighty Oracle," Cinder said, head bowed. The Oracle's eyes unfroze, and they stared at the teenager before them.
"Dark times have come; trouble is here
Even the mightiest quiver in fear
He of Darkness, Necromancer, is feared by all
All those who stand before him shall fall
One amongst the oppressed shall rise
Destined to deliver the Necromancer's demise
Young Firegaze, holding powers of all four arts
Fated to destroy him of darkest heart
The Necromancer is vanquished; he is gone
The battle against him is now won…"
"Ow!" Kraken hollered as several Ice Sentinels barged into him. The Oracle continued to speak, as if there were no disturbances, while the party was trying to slay the Ice Sentinels.
"... strife."
"Hey, restart!" Arkion exclaimed. The Oracle did nothing.
"Damn!" Liam swore, "Now we don't know the last part of Cinder's prophecy!"
"Well, I know something," Cinder said, in the same deadpan voice as before.
"I must slay Darkon…"
Author's Note: Finally! This story is updated _ lol. Worst chapter ever, IMO. Shortest chapter ever, by 100++ words. Well, R&R plz.