Chapter 28: Demonprime
Kendra, Seth, Bright, Clover, Raxtus, Geminus and the Fairy Queen were all staring directly at Warren. The Egyptian headdress known as Khaarupt was perched atop his head, and had seemingly already consumed his mind, soul, and body.
"What's going to happen to him?" asked Clover. "There must be something we can do to help."
"I've never heard of this Khaarupt thing before," said the Fairy Queen. "I don't know anything about it, but if it's as powerful as I think it is, we may already be too late."
"What do you mean?" asked Geminus.
"Khaarupt has already consumed Warren, overwhelming his body with darkness."
"Can't you get rid of it?" asked Seth.
"I don't know," said the Fairy Queen. "It's like his soul has been tainted. I don't know if I have the power to save him."
"Can't you just remove the darkness within him somehow?" asked Kendra.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Pretend that Warren is white, and the darkness that consumed him is black. Mixed together, the two of them make grey."
"What's the problem?" asked Seth. "Just separate them!"
The Fairy Queen sighed. "It doesn't work that way."
"I think I get it," said Kendra. "Seth, you know what the Fairy Queen said about mixing black and white to get grey, right?"
"This is not the time for an art lesson, Kendra,"
"Well, pretend you just combined black paint with white, leaving you with grey. That's it, the first two colors have been mixed together. There's no way to get them back. They're stuck as one."
"You mean?"
"Kendra is correct," said the Fairy Queen. "I do not know of a way to separate Warren from the darkness. If I were to destroy the Khaarupt, Warren would be lost along with him."
"What if we could physically remove Khaarupt from his head first?" asked Seth.
"I'm afraid that the damage is already done."
"Guys," said Kendra, "what's Warren doing?"
Everyone watched as Matthew and Hespera, who had already been transformed into frogs by the Fairy Queen, were floating towards Warren, seemingly under his own control.
"Whoa," exclaimed Seth, as he took in a deep breath and exhaled a wave of fire at the frogs. It did nothing, as the fire suddenly was nullified by some sort of invisible barrier before it could hit the frogs.
The frogs then floated around Warren, and Khaarupt started to glow, until the headdress had turned completely black. This in turn caused the two frogs to each suddenly transform into a glowing ball of darkness.
"What's he doing?" asked Kendra.
"No!" gasped Bright, as she blasted a rainbow in Warren's direction, only for it to refract off of the barrier and hit Seth, knocking the dragon onto his backside.
"Watch it!" snapped Seth, getting to his feet.
"I think we have a bigger problem," said Kendra, just as Khaarupt absorbed the two glowing balls of darkness.
"It's like he's going... Demonprime!" gasped the Fairy Queen.
"Fairyprime time!" exclaimed Bright. "Now!"
At that very moment, the fairies and fairy dragons used their power to transform themselves and Seth into colored balls of light almost instantaneously. Kendra then absorbed the powers again, along with the Fairy Queen's.
As Kendra transformed into her Fairyprime form, she watched as Warren simultaneously underwent a transformation himself. Khaarupt appeared to vanish into Warren's body, which then turned into a solid black figure, clothes and all. Warren's eyes were glowing yellow, and long canines had grown out of his mouth. Massive, sickle-like claws had grown out of his fingers and toes. Bat-like wings had come out of his shoulder blades, and a long, devilish tail had sprouted from his backside. Lastly, ram-like horns had grown out of his head. The Warren that everyone had known, was no more.
"I have to do this", Kendra told herself. "I don't want to do this, but I don't have any other choice".
Kendra held out her hands and unleashed a rainbow at Warren, or Khaarupt, or whatever the entity that stood before her truly was at this point. The figure was then knocked down onto his backside.
"I was afraid that this might happen" boomed the Fairy Queen's voice from within Kendra's head.
"Fairy Queen?" asked Kendra. "How... where are you?"
"I am within your soul," replied the Fairy Queen. "I am a part of you in your Fairyprime state. Our power will not save Warren. As he has been consumed by darkness, he will be destroyed if you try to aid him with magic."
"But, I don't want to harm him, whatever he's become," said Kendra.
"The being that you see before you is Khaarupt. I'm afraid that he has become your polar opposite; Demonprime. The only reason you still stand is that your Fairyprime power gives you a fighting chance against him."
Khaarupt rose from the pyramid and waved his claws around. Suddenly, a blanket of silver clouds formed across the sky, which had been seemingly clear only moments ago.
"What's going on?" asked Kendra.
"I'm afraid I don't know," replied the Fairy Queen. "But it can't not be bad."
At that point, a bolt of what best resembled black lightning shot down from the clouds and hit Kendra. Although it was not electricity, Kendra could feel a powerful sting surging through her body, prompting her to fall down onto the pyramid. The bolt of black lightning left her feeling weakened.
"What was that?" asked Kendra, feeling all weary.
"It's some sort of dark energy bolt,"
"What's it doing?"
"I don't know. I've never experienced something like this..."
At that moment, Kendra was struck by another darkness bolt, its intensity more powerful than the previous one.
"Fairy Queen!" exclaimed Kendra. "Your majesty, what happened? Are you all right?"
There was no response. Instead, a third darkness bolt shot down from the sky and hit Kendra.
"Stop it!" gasped Kendra, struggling to get up.
Khaarupt ignored Kendra, and instead opted to summon a fourth darkness bolt to crash down from above and hit her.
Kendra felt incredibly weak. She could barely move. Each darkness bolt that made contact made her feel weaker and weaker.
Using the last of her strength, Kendra unleashed a multicolored wave of energy from her body, expanding outwards like some sort of bomb. She watched as the wave hit Khaarupt, causing him to shudder in despair as it touched him.
"It's working," said Kendra.
"Of course its working," said the Fairy. "But that is the problem. If we destroy Khaarupt, Warren will be lost along with it."
"Is there no hope of saving Warren, then?"
"Not that I am aware of," replied the Fairy Queen. "Warren is as good as gone."
Kendra felt her heart skip a beat, and suddenly felt as though somebody has just punched her in the stomach. The Fairy Queen's words, assuming they were true, had stung Kendra's soul with turmoil and sadness.
"No," said Kendra, trying not to cry. "Surely we could use the Omega Star?"
"The Omega Star does not work that way," stated the Fairy Queen. "If it were to magically make Warren normal again, it would likely destroy him, thus aborting the power of the wish. That is precisely why demons like Navarog and Tritanoss had to be imprisoned, since their natures cannot be altered by magic."
"Well, maybe there's some sort of loophole in all of this? Unlike those other demons, Khaarupt has Warren's loving heart and soul inside of him."
"We've already been over this," said the Fairy Queen. "Warren's soul has been soiled with darkness. This is different from the sort of thing that happened with Seth and Navarog."
Kendra looked over at Khaarupt, who was standing at the other end of the pyramid, glaring at her with rage. From what both she and Khaarupt could tell, the two of them had reached some sort of stalemate in terms of power.
"Warren's still in there," said Kendra. "I may not be able to sense his presence, but I just have that feeling. And if I can't save him with magic, maybe I can save him the old fashioned way."
"Warren!" exclaimed Kendra, as she walked across the pyramid to where Khaarupt was standing. "Warren, I know you're in there!"
Khaarupt held out his hands and unleashed a blast of dark energy towards Kendra, but she managed to avoid getting hit.
"Warren! I know that Khaarupt is in control of you! But it doesn't have to be this way! Fight him! Don't let him win! Please, Warren!"
Ignoring her plea, Khaarupt fired off another blast of dark energy at Kendra, but it too missed.
"Please, Warren! This isn't even about stopping Khaarupt! You're family! You're like a big brother to me! You've done so much to help us! And we've done so much for you! We saved you when you were a catatonic albino! When you were cursed by the shadow plague! When you were trapped in the knapsack! Don't you remember?"
"It's no use, Kendra," said the Fairy Queen. "I'm... sorry."
"Warren, we love you."
Khaarupt snapped his fingers, prompting a darkness bolt, larger than all of the previous ones, to come crashing down from the sky and hit Kendra. The surge of the impact was immense. Not only did it stun Kendra, but it broke through the base of the upside-down pyramid that she and Khaarupt were atop of.
Unable to control her body, Kendra plummeted through the exposed hole that the darkness bolt had created, and proceeded to fall into the pyramid. As she fell downwards towards the top of the inverted pyramid, she could see that the walls inside were getting narrower and narrower with each level.
Before long, Kendra crashed into the lowest point of the upside-down pyramid, which was where the giant crocodile had been anticipating the Knights' arrival when they had reached the same large room when they were exploring inside of it.
The impact of the fall was excruciatingly painful; Kendra could hear and feel bones cracking inside of her body upon impact. She tried to move her arms and legs, but couldn't. Something inside of her was broken. She tried to move her neck around, but it too was broken. She was completely paralyzed.
Kendra squinted her eyes. She had taken a rough fall, but there had to be a way to remedy herself using her magic. She concentrated tremendously, until suddenly, the pain that was inside her body had magically vanished.
Kendra was now able to move again. However, just as she stood up, she could see Khaarupt floating above and looking down at her.
"Warren..." said Kendra. "Why?"
"Enough, Kendra," said the Fairy Queen. "You've tried reasoning with Khaarupt, but that has failed. "I'm afraid that the only answer now is to destroy him."
"But, Fairy Queen..."
"Please, Kendra. That's an order."
"I'm sorry, Warren. Goodbye."
Kendra held up her hands at Khaarupt, and conjured up a three-dimensional heart that was glowing with a rainbow-like shimmer. The heart approached Khaarupt, who appeared to be intimidated by it.
The heart soon made contact with Khaarupt's skin, causing him to open his mouth in pain. Although Khaarupt was mute, Kendra could picture him screaming at this point if he actually had a voice.
Khaarupt zipped away from the heart, then shot at it with a blast of dark energy, destroying it on impact.
"It didn't work," said Kendra.
"Don't give in," said the Fairy Queen. "Don't think of him as Warren. Just avenge Warren. It's what he would want."
"But, your highness..."
"Please, Kendra."
Kendra created a second rainbow heart and sent it spiraling at Khaarupt, engulfing him. As the heart was partially transparent, Kendra could see the demon screaming silently in pain, before he used his power of darkness to shatter it.
"It didn't work..." muttered Kendra.
"Try harder," replied the Fairy Queen.
Kendra then produced a third rainbow heart, this one twice the size of the previous two, and directed it at Khaarupt. The demon scowled silently upon contact. It tried to burst the heart with darkness, but failed.
"It's working!" Kendra said to herself. Khaarupt continued to struggle, even as the heart had consumed his entire body.
Still scowling, Khaarupt held his arms up in the air. Seconds later, a darkness bolt came crashing down through the hole in the pyramid, shattering the rainbow heart he had been encased in. Khaarupt shook his arms violently, as more bolts of darkness shot down through the base of the upside-down pyramid. Kendra looked up and could see that the bolts were crashing through the floor above, some of which were hitting Khaarupt, who was absorbing their power.
"What can I do?" asked Kendra, as a bolt of darkness shot down and hit her. The sensation overwhelmed her body with pain, as more and more bolts shot down, along with bricks and pieces of stone blocks.
Nearly petrified from the shock, Kendra struggled to look up, and saw a mound of stone chunks falling down from above. Kendra concentrated, using her power to summon a force field around her body. Several stone chunks that would've otherwise crushed her were deflected off of the force field.
More and more blocks fell down, until the entire force field was completely surrounded by fallen debris.
Kendra listened until the falling stones finally came to a stop. Was the pyramid even still standing at this point? She couldn't even tell.
Just then, Kendra was stung by yet another darkness bolt. Looking up, she could see that it had penetrated not only the debris that was above her, but the force field as well.
As some of the debris had now vanished, Kendra could see that she was now outside. The pyramid had completely collapsed. All that was left of it were piles of debris and rubble. Floating above a pile of rubble near Kendra was Khaarupt, who was not only still summoning more darkness bolts, but had now grown to the size of a giant.
"Fairy Queen?" asked Kendra, feeling extremely weak. There was no response. Instead, Kendra found herself getting hit by another darkness bolt.
Enduring the shock, Kendra started to hyperventilate. "I can't communicate with her. Our power must be too weak. That does it, Khaarupt. This ends now!"
Kendra clenched her fists together and proceeded to grind her teeth. She pictured a rainbow. The hearts that she tried on Khaarupt had some effect, but just weren't strong enough. She concentrated, even as another darkness bolt struck her. But Kendra didn't give up. She needed light energy, and she needed it now. Kendra began to focus.
Without warning, a massive rainbow pierced through the barrier of silver clouds in the sky, and began arcing its way down to Earth at a very high speed. Kendra watched as the rainbow came crashing down through the air. The rainbow, which spanned the length of the destroyed pyramid, soon collided into the ground, capturing both Kendra and Khaarupt.
Now inside of the rainbow, Kendra could feel its power surging through her body. She looked over at Khaarupt, and watched as he suffered through being shocked by the rainbow.
"Is he all right?" asked Kendra.
"I don't think so," replied the Fairy Queen. "But there's no turning back now. What's done is done."
Kendra watched in horror as the rainbow began to burn away at Khaarupt's body. Khaarupt was shrinking back down to his original size, unable to overcome the power of the rainbow. Khaarupt writhed in agony, until he was no longer able to move.
Soon, the massive rainbow itself vanished, although Khaarupt's motionless body was still glowing in all sorts of bright colors. Kendra looked up, and could see the silver clouds in the sky dissipating.
Khaarupt then fell to the ground and stopped glowing. In his place, there appeared to be a solid black object.
"Is... is he gone?" asked Kendra.
"I don't know," replied the Fairy Queen, as Kendra looked over at the fallen object.
"What is that?"
"Careful, Kendra," said the Fairy Queen. "There's no telling what that thing is."
Kendra flew over to where the black object fell, and looked down at it. It appeared to be a human who had fallen on its back. A life-size human being carved perfectly out of onyx.
Upon closer examination, Kendra was what it really was. Or rather, who. Warren. Her cousin was now a completely motionless body made entirely of onyx.
"Warren?" asked Kendra, looking down at her cousin. She noticed that he was no longer wearing Khaarupt. Was he all right?
Kendra conjured a rainbow in her hands and unleashed its energy upon Warren. But nothing happened.
"Warren?" she asked. Answer me!"
"Kendra," said the Fairy Queen. "I don't know what's happened to Warren."
Ignoring the Fairy Queen, Kendra attempted to use her power to summon another enormous rainbow from the sky.
"Stop," said the Fairy Queen. "Rainbows won't help. They've already done what they can for Warren."
Kendra felt as her Fairyprime powers suddenly faded, as the Fairy Queen, Bright, Clover, Raxtus, Geminus and Seth all exited her body and returned to their normal selves.
"Warren," said Seth, walking over to the onyx figure. "Is he... dead?"
"I don't know," replied the Fairy Queen.
"Why is he now a crystal?" asked Clover.
"Because the darkness of Khaarupt has consumed his life force."
"Where is Khaarupt?" asked Geminus. "And for that matter, where are Matthew and Hespera?"
"I am unable to detect any signs of Khaarupt," replied the Fairy Queen. "I have reason to believe that Kendra was successful in vanquishing him. As for Matthew and Hespera, I would assume that their bodies and souls, due to their evil natures, were destroyed when Khaarupt was stopped.
"Is that why Warren still exists, even though he's just onyx?"
"Presumably," answered the Fairy Queen. "But this is a very unusual predicament. We've saved Warren. Sort of. Unfortunately, as this is a situation I am unfamiliar with, I am uncertain as to if there is anything we can do to save him or not."
Kendra looked down at Warren, still in the same terrified pose he had been in just as when Khaarupt had made contact with his head. There had to be a way to save him. But, what if there wasn't? Would Warren ever be the same again?