-The Eighth Year-
The Dragon Emperor stood tall on a dais overlooking a charred and gutted cavern that had once been home to a strong clan of dragons, the strongest of the strong, his own kin, the emperors of all dragons. These dragons had once been feared and adored, respected and reviled, the very utterance of their names had been enough to wrench on the mortal souls of all the races in this world and the next.
With a reputation for blood and terror as great as theirs had been, it was perhaps inevitable that those seeking to overturn and surpass that legacy would appear. And indeed they did come, men clad in gold, with ferocious strength and overwhelming numbers. Specialized dragon killers had invaded every crevice, every nook and cranny of the Dragon's hole, until every last wyrm in their path had been obliterated.
Now there was only one left, and the last dragon emperor had turned the world on its side and had vanquished all the powers that stood in his way. Everything had been done in anticipation of this moment, so that he may become a god and return the world to its rightful place under the rule of his ancient kin folk.
The sword of mana felt light in the Dragon Emperor's slim, claw-like hands, the antiquated object's unremarkable appearance belied the terrifying power which had been imbued into it. The streamlined blade was now all that stood between the last of the dragons and the essence and power of the eight most powerful demons to ever stalk the mortal realm.
The princess of Altena could only watch helplessly as the the Dragon Emperor ran a skeletal finger down the blade's edge, staining its pristine surface with a deep, dark streak of red. Angela wanted to run to the sword, to tear it from the Dragon Emperor's grasp, but she was unable to advance on her goal. Between Angela and the Dragon Emperor, stood the man she had once yearned to see day after day, and now she wished he could be anywhere... Anywhere but here with her.
"Stop!" Angela cried out, her eyes imploring the man in the red wizard's robe to reconsider his alliance with the growing calamity behind him.
"You..." Guren spoke nonchalantly, the eyes he fixed on Angela were empty and cold.
"Let them be, Guren." The Dragon Emperor laughed haughtily. "Let them witness the moment I am reborn."
"Please stop!" A tiny voice called out from a ball of light that hung over the shoulder of one of Angela's companions, a knight and swordsman whose eyes bored into the red wizard with seething hatred.
"In this sword lies the power of the eight god beasts." The Dragon Emperor raised his chin with pride, the blood with which he had stained the holy sword had already begun to eat into the metal, releasing a black miasma composed of each of the eight demons imprisoned within. The misty flow banked and coiled into the Dragon's emperor's body, like a serpent slithering into a bottomless dark hole.
"The sword is no more!" The Dragon Emperor proclaimed, as the last of the mana sword dissolved into nothingness. "All the power of a god now within me-…!" The Dragon Emperor's words trailed off suddenly as if something had grasped his throat, forcing him to be silent.
"... My lord?" Guren turned to observe the Dragon Emperor.
"The light... Such intense light that I cannot see..." The Dragon Emperor droned quietly. "...YOU!"
The Dragon Emperor's eyes flared a violent, bloody red, his booming voice distorting into a low draconic roar which seemed to blow away the very will of everyone that could hear it.
"Goddess, you never know when to give up! This foolish attempt to stop me will fail! I shall cut down the Mana Tree, and that will be the end of it!"
"Go ahead... I'll stay here and eliminate these... things." Guren waved his hand dismissively at the trio of heroes behind him, then turned to eye Angela and her companions, the swordsman and child cleric.
"Do it quickly." The Dragon Emperor said absently, his mind already far from concerned with the trifling struggles of lesser beings. And just as abruptly, his body faded into the blackness, and he was gone.
Angela's hands trembled as she watched the wizard, whom now stood alone before her. His golden blonde hair hung in familiar ragged clumps all around his face, it was looking worse for wear after a year of travel, warfare and neglect.
"My sweet Princess..." Guren smiled warmly at Angela for the briefest of moments once the Dragon Emperor's presence had vanished, before twisting his face once again into a leer that yearned for blood. "I'll be sure to make it quick for you!"
Before Angela had a chance to formulate a response, the swordsman at her side had already taken up his blade and charged toward the Red Wizard. "For everyone in Forcena that died because YOU!" He screamed as he rushed in, the point of his sword set for the wizard's heart.
Guren grinned maniacally and spread both his arms out wide, sending his cape billowing in the air behind him. With the tools of his trade now exposed to the elements, Guren began chanting and cutting symbols into the air with tremendous speed, creating a blur of light and sound that only served to spur the swordsman on with greater determination.
A thousand tiny water droplets formed in the air around, Guren and were quickly drawn into his hands as if they were magnetic. The droplets converged into shimmering orbs of water that boiled and swirled around his balling fists.
The swordsman lost sight of his target suddenly as a lancing torrent of water struck him in the chest, sending him hurtling backwards into the wall of the Dragon Emperor's underground palace, knocking the wind right out of him.
"Duran!" Angela cried in unison with the cleric as the swordsman fell from the wall, bringing several chunks of ebony stone down with him. "Charlotte, take care of him." Angela nodded to the little girl that was doing her best not to let her fear overwhelm her.
"Hahahahaha!" Guren mocked Duran as the little girl used her powers to ease the fatigue and injury caused by both impacts. "I humbled you before with my magic, and I'll do it again!" Guren chided as he hurled the second sphere of water out before him, watching it dart toward his diminutive target.
Angela placed herself between her companions and the red wizard's malicious gloating, striking the lancing torrent with her staff. The blow dispelled the magic that kept the dagger like flow consistent, and it shattered back into it's component parts, sending a thousand tiny droplets glinting like diamonds flying in all directions.
The staff in Angela's hands caught Guren's attention, and his eyes narrowed on the weapon and in turn back on her. It was the same gnarled wand that he had left with her a year ago, just as this long war had been put into motion. It was showing obvious signs of wear and abuse, Angela had clearly taken to the habit of using it as a club rather than the magical weapon Guren had intended it to be. A quiet voice in the back of Guren's mind thought; 'That's just like her to be so straightforward and honest even in the most inappropriate of ways.'
Before the spectre of that thought had registered with his conscious mind, Guren's fingers were already hard at work carving out the symbols for his next spell, the most pressing matter on his mind was the swordsman called Duran once again being on his feet, his intense feelings of hatred toward Guren flooding the chamber.
The seemingly endless battle drew out the best of both sides. Angela, Duran, and Charlotte proved the merits of coordinated team work. Charlotte providing support, Angela doing her best to nullify the effects of Guren's magical onslaughts with her new found power, and Duran's sword chasing the red wizard through the cavernous chamber, seeking nothing short of a killing blow.
Guren, despite being outnumbered, danced his away around his opponents, one step too quick for the sword, one hand gesture too fast for Angela's spells, as if every move they made had been nothing but a choreographed routine on the wizard's stage.
The single undeniable fact however, was that Guren was alone, and while he was surely powerful, he was surely just as mortal as the hundreds of Forcenites he had slaughtered in the war. With the Darkshine Knight gone, the Dragon Emperor had surely left Guren to die alone against a superior force, and all too soon the undeniable truth of his mortality was sure to catch up with him.
Guren's fingers slipped off the glowing rune he was carving in mid air, ruining the spell and leaving him prone to to the jagged diamond missile that had sprouted from the cavern ceiling and was hurtling toward him courtesy of Angela's incantation.
Angela's eyes widened with horror at the realization at what was taking place before her eyes, the crystalline spear streaking out toward the helpless wizard. Angela felt the urge to stop it, to call the spell back before it met its mark, but she was helpless to stop the event already set forward. She watched the scene as if it were slow motion, the tip of the diamond spear penetrated Guren's right shoulder knocking him off balance and leaving him open to Duran's waiting sword which cut a deep gash across his chest sending him sprawling in the dirty, ash laden, cavern floor.
The swordsman intended his triumphant face to be the last thing the red wizard would ever see, preparing to plunge his blade into Guren's still beating heart.
"Stop!" Angela called out, causing Duran to hesitate. "Don't kill him!"
"We can't let him live! Not after everything he's done!" Duran protested angrily, holding the tip of his sword to Guren's chest.
"I said stop!" Angela insisted, with all the authority one would expect from a Princess. "It's not his fault!"
"How-how could I lose?! This power... This power is absolute!" Guren gurgled and crawled backwards away from the point of Duran's waiting sword. "I... can still...!"
"Guren, you can't win! Not as long as you're a servant of that thing!" Angela dropped to her knees and held out her hand to him, wanting to pull him out of the dirt and have Charlotte heal him. "It's not too late, if you come back with us now, we can help you." It was the last thing she wanted to see, but from the look in Guren's eyes, it now seemed impossible for him to disobey his master.
"I just wanted to use magic... that's all. I only wanted... to be someone worthy of..." Guren cried out, his voice strained and disjointed from the pain cutting into his upper body. "That old man... the other students... how could they understand my pain... The Dragon Emperor told me... that I'd be the most powerful wizard that ever lived! All he wanted was a piece of my soul! Just a piece! ... But look at me now... I'm a failure... I don't deserve you... and I don't deserve to live!" Guren used his remaining good arm to haul himself to his feet, propping himself up against the lower wall of the Dragon Emperor's palace.
Guren's hand sprang into motion, still as energetic as it had been throughout the battle and carved a series of glowing runes into the air before him, which suddenly turned dark as if they were sucking in all the light around them.
"NO!" Angela protested once she recognized the spell those runes were used to incant, throwing herself forward to tackle Guren out of the spell's area of effect.
"Angela!" Duran shouted grasping her by the waist and hauling her back away from the wizard.
"Let me go! Let me GO!" Angela sobbed, putting all her energy into struggling futilely against Duran's muscular arms.
The area around Guren warped and a circle of darkness spread out from beneath his feet, threatening to envelop the trio if they came too close.
"In the end... I'm glad at least it was you that stopped me. Goodbye... Thank you... Angela." Guren spoke softly and gave her one last look at the warm smile she had known for so many years, but perhaps for the first time that look was filled with sadness.
The ring of darkness around Guren sprang into the air and solidified into a black sphere, before finally contracting in on him, the dark energy within the bubble coming to a screeching crescendo as it was forced closer and closer together, before finally exploding in a ball of white flame.
It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but the awful pain of watching him trapped within that spell was something Angela would never forget. Angela screamed out hysterically as blackened pieces of stone and searing hot air were hurled out of the blast.
In the end, there was nothing left for Angela to mourn but a few scraps of red cloth and the charred outline of Guren's body, permanently etched onto the palace wall.