Chapter Fifteen: The Enemy

I followed the plan.

The others had been right on where we needed to go. Once I arrived in Dragonspyre, I remembered exactly how to get to the Crown of Fire from their map.

Once I arrived, I was standing directly before two huge doors decorated with the flames of Dragonspyre. I figured knocking would be stupid, so I took a breath and pushed through the doors.

The room was immense – if you could even call it a room. The floor was cracked all over, there were dragons and spirits patrolling the entire floor and only a single path led down to the main floor.

Out of the back, I could see the giant stone dragon's eye, for the world's namesake.

"My boy!" I heard echo.

I swallowed hard.

I looked down, past the dragon from the platform I was standing on as all of the eyes of every creature in the room turned their attention to me. Malistare… my father… was standing directly behind them all, arms raised in greeting.

"Come, come! We have much to discuss!"

Gritting my teeth, I started to descend down the curved pathway to where my father stood. I was immediately met with growling and hissing from the various monsters surrounding me.

"Hush now!" he called out. "He is no longer our enemy," he explained slyly. I narrowed my eyes but continued toward him anyway, through the glares from the monsters. They all stood very close to me as I walked with my head still held high, as if attempting to figure out my deception in order to protect their master.

Sadly – this time – they couldn't be more wrong.

I knew in my mind that there was only one way to end this peacefully. There was only one way that would allow Nicole and the rest of the Spiral win and be at peace.

I was the only one that could end this. Though knowing my fate was sealed the moment I stepped into the room, I knew what I had to do.

"Malorn…." he said in a welcoming tone.

I stiffened. I replied bluntly, "Malistare."

"I assume you've come here, alone, correct? You wouldn't want me to hurt your friends in anyway…?"

"I came alone."

Malistare started to walk in a circle around me, staring me down but never looking me in the eye. He was like a shark sizing me up for a meal… or maybe just for the love of the hunt. "Of course you wouldn't…. Now… let's get down to business," he said, coming to face me and finally looking me in the eye, "shall we? You've come to me out of desperation, have you not?" He slammed down his staff on the marble floor, making me jump slightly. "You're here so that we can cut a deal."

"Yeah."

"You will hear my demands first and then I will here yours. And since it is you that has come to me, I believe this is fair, is it not?"

"What do you want?"

He sneered a crack of a smile at me. "First and foremost, I want a change in your attitude, Mr. Ashthorn. That is what your students call you, isn't it? Creative name, by the way, where did you get it?"

I glared back at him, remembering Dworgyn. He was the one that picked out a last name for me. I had told him I didn't want to be a Falmea because I didn't want to shame her, even when I was so full of angst back then. So he observed me cast spells and had said how flawless of a caster I was and how he hoped that I would someday take over the Death School. He decided on the type of wand I had because he described it as an extension of myself to use magic.

I spit on the floor. "You killed him. That's where I got it from."

"Ah! My wonderful student, Dworgyn…. Yes, I remember him fondly. Good fellow he was…. Too bad he was more like Ambrose than myself, isn't it?" He waved his hand dismissively as I clenched my fists. "Anyway, that attitude… the spitting… the anger…. Those things need to stop. Immediately. At least… toward myself," he said, laying a hand over his chest. "I have a plan for that beautifully fiery anger of yours."

I closed my eyes and sighed at that to try to calm myself. Of course he would talk about Nicole next.

"And speaking of fiery, that lover of yours… Nicole." He hissed her name as if disgusted with the taste of the word in his mouth. He made a face to go with it. "You will never see her again of your own free will."

I resisted the urge to start shaking with anger. But there was more emotion in my soul than that. The sadness from missing her, the guilt from betraying her, and the love I would never feel again when I saw her face welled up in my chest all at once.

I took a shaky breath. "Yes, Father."

"Ah! Wonderful!" he exclaimed with a clap. "He called me 'father'!" He gestured to the monsters carefully observing the scene as if to cue them to mock me by laughing along with him.

"Now, that name…. Spiritflame…. Do you know the history behind it, boy?" he asked. I nodded. "Yes, yes, of course you do," he said as he waved his hand dismissively again. "So you are aware that her father is dead by my hand and that she has his so-called gift then?" I nodded. "So you realize then why she must die?"

"No!" I yelled.

Slap!

I gritted my teeth and held my cheek in my hand. "Don't you ever talk back to me! That attitude of yours may need some adjusting…." He paced back and forth then, scratching his chin.

"What about my request? Keeping Nicole safe was part of that!"

"Oh, don't you worry, that is indeed still a part of our deal," he said. "I will not touch her, I can assure you."

I narrowed my eyes at him but said nothing. I knew that if I kept trying to argue with him, her fate would be sealed with mine. "Alright."

"That's better," he said simply. "Finally, my last demand is that you help me win the war."

My eyes widened. This was the part of the deal that I didn't see coming. I thought that if anything, he would torture me by watching what happened to Nicole and the others or something to make me want to help him. I never would have guessed that he would straight up ask for my help.

"Why would you need my help? Can't you do what I can?"

"Yes, of course, boy. But the problem is that my reach simply isn't far enough. And you are young… undefeated… strong… powerful." he said putting extra emphasis on the last word. "You can accomplish what I can one hundred-fold."

At that, I looked down. "I wish I couldn't," I mumbled.

"Ah, but that is your saving grace, my boy! If not, I would have killed you ages ago!"

I looked back up at him, staring in astonishment. Was that really all I had to offer the world? My powers and nothing more? I wasn't useful for anything else?

"I know that must be hard for you to hear, but you must understand," he said, walking toward me, "I couldn't have you trying to redeem me…. And for good reason, you never did."

I thought about my Uncle Cyrus and wondered if he had known that I was so much more powerful than his brother. And maybe that was the reason he never had children himself because he didn't want to take the risk that his child may have been useful to Malistare someday.

"Now… for your demands…." At that, I picked my head up and narrowed my eyes at him. "You want everyone to be safe, isn't that right?"

"Yes."

"There is only one way to spare everyone… and to free you."

I narrowed my eyes further. "Free me?"

"A bonus, yes, I know. But the only way to do so is complete – and total – surrender from the Spiral."

"They'll never agree to that!" I shouted.

Slap!

"What did I just tell you?!"

I grimaced at his tone, but I continued. "Father…." He seemed to smile at that. "Father, I know that the rest of the Spiral worlds will never surrender so easily. The students of Ravenwood have become powerful enough to nearly clean up all the worlds you previously lay ruin to. How would that be possible?"

"That, my dear boy, is where you come in." Malistare clapped his hands twice and two dragons came to either side of me and grasped my arms tightly in their grip. "Take him to his new chambers. Tomrrow we will begin the first phase of the plan for total surrender."

Before the dragons left though, Malistare walked right up to me and took my chin in his hand. "So here is my final deal for you. I can kill you now and spare no one… or you can assist my conquest of the Spiral and agree to the terms we discussed. The choice is yours."

I clenched my eyes shut. I could feel the emotions I had felt earlier crush my chest. I knew that I had to make this choice. I knew then that I had to let go of who I was or ever could be in order to save the Spiral… and most of all, Nicole.

"Yes, Father. I will serve you."

My fate was sealed.

He nodded to me and then the dragons. They flew me up to my chambers where they threw me into the room and locked the wooden door behind me. I slowly pushed myself back up to my feet and felt the door: a magical barrier.

Sighing, I turned to face the room.

Around me was what looked like a stone castle's chambers in Dragonspyre style. The walls were stone and the floor was marble. The bed was shades of red and deep blues and there were carved statues of dragons mounted on the wall. The wardrobe matched the Dragonspyre theme, and there was a desk to go with it. It was so eerily normal that I quickly realized that I wasn't going to be treated as a prisoner.

I was going to be treated like his son.

*The following morning*

When I woke up, my head was pounding. I hadn't realized how little of sleep I would have gotten from coming in the middle of the night, but I knew it didn't really matter. I wasn't going to be allowed to feel anything anymore.

There was an obnoxious rapping on my door before it was thrown open. A dragon-humanoid person walked in and shouted at me, still in bed, "Get up. Lord Malistare wishes to see you in his office. Also, put these on," he said gruffly, throwing a pile of clothes onto the bed, and he slammed the door behind him. I noticed the magical barrier on the door faded.

I pushed myself to sit up and leaned over, picking up the clothes. They were black and red robes – as I suspected – but looked much more official than the ones I usually wore. I hadn't worn my jester hat in a long time, but this made me looked like I was serving in an army of some kind. And not just serving, but leading. It looked too official for it to just be a solider or minion's clothing.

I quickly threw on the robes and set my old clothing aside. As I got changed, I allowed myself for a brief moment to wonder what Nicole and the others were doing and thinking as they got up and realized I wasn't there. My stomach dropped when I thought of Nicole panicking when she woke up without me next to her, so I pushed the thoughts back down.

I opened the door and looked down the hallway from which I came last night. I looked the other direction and saw that the red and blue Dragonspyre runner led to a set of double doors.

Subtle, I thought to myself.

I strode down the hallway, keeping my head up and trying to keep up a strong persona. If I broke the early on, I'd never be able to do what I knew was coming.

When I arrived at the door, I knocked twice.

"Please… enter."

The large, white, ornate doors slowly started to swing open inwards, and I walked in, seeing Malistare at the end of the room at a large desk and sitting in a large red, cushioned chair.

I walked up to the desk and stood with my hands together behind me. "You summoned me?"

Malistare smirked at me and stood. "Well, those robes do suit you. How do they feel?"

"If you mean that they fit, yes, they do."

He chuckled to himself. "No, no, no…. I mean do you feel official? Do you feel powerful?"

I raised an eyebrow but calmly responded, "I suppose so."

"Very well, very well," he replied. "Now then, have a seat so that I may go over today's plans with you."

"Yes sir," I said, sitting down as he did.

"I prefer the other response." he said with another smirk.

"Yes, Father," I corrected myself. My response wasn't snide or rude. It was simply a perfect correction of myself.

"Ah… much better. Now then." He leaned over the desk and pointed to the map. I recognized it immediately as Krokotopia and thought back to when Nicole first went missing there. I had to shake my head slightly to get rid of the thought. It didn't go unnoticed though, because Malistare cleared his throat. Of course he knew everything that had happened to us. He then pointed to The Oasis. "This is the area of the main resistance force in Krokotopia. As you are likely aware, the majority of the citizens have already proven their loyalties to us. I need you to finish the job."

I looked at the map ad realized what he wanted me to.

I took a breath and replied, "Yes, Father."

"Wonderful…" he mused. "I have prepared a small troop for you to protect you on your mission. You shall leave immediately."

"Yes, Father," I replied, turning away.

"And one more thing, Malorn." I turned back to him. "You are not to speak with anyone. You must complete your mission and return immediately."

I nodded. "Understood."

The doors to the office opened magically once again, and I walked through the doors and down the long hallway to where I was met by two dragons again. They escorted me to a large room with a world gate with many of the monsters that were with me when I spoke to Malistare last night.

Two at a time, they started to file through the gate, cackling and screaming as they went. My stomach dropped when I imagined what I would find on the other side of the world gate when I finally passed through.

When everyone else had filed through, the two dragons escorting me pushed me through the world gate. When I arrived at the Krokotopia gate, there was silence inside. But as I walked up to the doors, blood curdling screams made me nearly turn around. But the dragons knew better and pushed me through the doors.

I was met with my worst fears.

Salamanders and Kroks were screaming, running, or otherwise dead on the ground across The Oasis. There were so many bodies floating in the water that the small pond was turned red. The Wizards that had been there fighting back the forces were pushed to their limit by the time I had gotten through the gate.

There were enough that were fighting back if only barely. Some of the students saw me as I stepped forward toward the pond.

"It's Professor Ashtorn!" one of my former Death students cried out.

"Please! Help us!" the Myth student next to him pleaded.

I swallowed hard and turned my head away from them.

As I stepped toward the pond of blood, I had to block out the screaming and crying of everyone around me. The two dragons that had lead me through the gate pushed me forward. One of them whispered to me, "You know what to do."

I slowly nodded.

As I had done once before, I concentrated as hard as I could, clenching my eyes shut until I felt them burning on my face. When I opened my eyes, the world seemed to be painted in blood.

I started to slowly rise up, hovering over The Oasis and waved my staff over the scene before me. For a moment, the bloodshed and the screams stopped.

Then, the horror began.

I rose skeletons of the deceased from the ground and drew them out from the tombs surrounding The Oasis. The ghosts of the fallen royalty came to my aid and the silence quickly ceased.

I watched the scene through the blood-stained lenses of my vision. The Wizards were dropping quickly. The remaining people of the resistance, including Marleybonians and Krokotopians were being slaughtered around me.

A quick glance to my left forced me to watch as one of the skeletons stab the Death wizard in the heart with his sword. As he was stabbed, he made eye contact with me. And as he fell, I knew that his final stare of shock and betrayal would haunt me forever.

When I finally lost the remainder of my energy, I fell to the ground in a heap. I felt my arms being grasped by clawed hands and allowed myself to be lifted up.

Silence burned through my thoughts. There was nothing left. No one.

The two dragons dragged me back through the world gate. I looked around to see the blood on the claws and mouths of the monsters. We had apparently recruited the skeletons other deceased that I had controlled.

I was dragged all the way back down the long hallway through the office doors and into Malistare's sight. The dragons dropped me on my feet, and I stood there numb as the doors shut behind them on their way out.

Malistare clapped. "Bravo!" he cheered at me. "That was record time, Malorn!"

I just stood there, staring at my feet. I couldn't process what had just happened, so I just stood there. "Thank you, Father." I replied, monotone.

I heard a pause before he continued. "You will have another mission tomorrow which I will assign you in the morning. You may go back to your chambers to wait for your meal."

"Yes, Father." I said, turning toward the doors.

"I'm so proud of you," he said as I walked away.

"Of course, Father. I have learned from the best."

[Author's Note 3/29/16]: This is one of the final chapters. I decided to do one more final chapter and then an epilogue. I know this chapter was really dark, but it's about to get really bad for Malorn. Thank you all for following the story all this time! Stay tuned for the finale!