Chapter 16

Yeah so the plot was very confusing for a bunch of people but that was how it was supposed to be. I got three PM's this morning and found that nobody understood it. The reason was that the last time I was writing this story I realised that there was no sense of foreshadowing or suspense in terms of the plot. Because of that I decided to expand the variety of the plot a little.

Also, anyone who has played Call of Duty Black Ops Campaign will have a slight clue of what goes on in this chapter. It sort of links to Mason's situation in the chair and with Reznov, but the purpose isn't for it to be understood…

A thudding noise came from somewhere to the left of him as well as the sound of a thousand flapping birds and then another crash as if they had all fallen to the ground. He looked to his right and saw Saphira slowly walking towards the two of tried to reach out to her with his mind but found a strong wall blocking him out. He tried to open his mouth to call her but only released a fountain of red liquid. Eragon's mind became blanked out for a few seconds out of the hurt and anger he felt towards her. She wasn't coming to help him.

What is she doing? Why doesn't she help me?

'Kverk-' a punch to his face. He was stunned. Both physically and mentally. This man reacted faster than anyone he had ever fought. Even faster than Galbatorix had been. Eragon's blood loss was making him faint.

He had nothing to do but stare death straight into the eye. He looked at the man with the sword held above his head, ready to strike down. Eragon continued to stare and could make out the colour of his executors eyes - a sapphire blue and compared it to that of Oathbreaker. The man above him seemed to be hesitating. Never faltering in his gaze the stubborn rider continued to stare straight into the man's eyes and found a strange familiarity emanating from it until the man raised his sword ready to kill him. He braced himself ready to face death even though he had more regrets than he could count. Just as the blade was being brought down the rider closed his eyes and heard the clash of metal on metal. He heard a fight going on and decided to open his eyes.

Looking around, he saw another blue armoured man sparring with his newfound enemy. Eragon lay aside his confusion and drew energy from Oromis' gem. Revitalising himself, he healed the gashes in his body and restored his heart before it lost too much blood. He got up and limped towards the treeline. Once he was inside the dense forest he laid back against a tree. He summoned water using the power from his boots and drank from a cloth he ripped from underneath his armour… his armour… hadn't proved to be useful against his foe. The way Du Ebrithil made it out to be the quality of the pieces seemed flawless. Brisingr was still beside the wall where he had fought but Eragon had no will to go back. He had all the energy he needed embedded in his chest. Eragon reminded himself of the battle with Oromis' help. He tried to go over every detail of it, from the flash up to the moment he had been saved. The first and most obvious thing was that Saphira wasn't herself. Why hadn't she helped him? Was she being controlled?

The second thing he realised about her was that she was much larger than the last time he saw her. It had only been a day and yet she looked around twice the size of how large she was currently. The third thing about her that was surprising was how she had blocked him like he was never there.

Putting Saphira aside for a short while Eragon concentrated on the attacker. His footing, his sword, his face, his eyes, his armour, his style of fighting… everything seemed so familiar. It almost seemed as though Brom had come back from the dead to kill him. Whether it was Brom or someone else who's sparring was like that was a strange topic. The sword was what seemed the strangest. The one in the left hand was a replica of Brisingr.

Suddenly Oromis started to speak through thoughts so as to not induce him to speak loudly in the case that he was found.

Are you all right? he asked.

No. Nothing adds up. Why do I feel like I know him? And who was he?

I felt that way too. His presence rang a bell, and so did duelling him. Almost as though I've fought him before one way or another.

I need to get to the migrants, if they're still alive. I don't know what's going on but nothing feels safe.

Are you sure you can carry on? You should rest.

No. I should've been there by now and I don't know whether it's safe out here or not. I need the Eldunarí. The damage he wrought on me was more than your gem contained. There was a powerful feel about his sword and I hate to think about what would have happened if I had more magic at my disposal. I tried to summon thunder but it didn't work. I need more power.

Oromis shuddered but kept quiet. He didn't care to ask his master what made him shudder and slowly stood up. Eragon crept through the forest at a rate so slow it made him worried whether he would be able to get there without bumping into any trouble. He eventually sped up slightly until he saw bodies on the floor in the distance. Keeping low he skulked closer to the bodies until he saw Rya, laying on the floor with a few others around her. As he came closer he saw that they were Arya, Du Ebrithil, Du Dröttningu and Blodhgarm.

Giving in to his instincts he ran to Arya and held his fingers next to her neck to check for a pulse. The faint beat of his elf's heart relieved him of most of his worries. He checked the rest of them and found that they were fine as well.

What?

Why were they knocked out? Even Du Dröttningu.

Eragon slowly came to realise that this may be a trap which he had fallen right into. He leaped back into the treeline and waited for something to happen. Dread overcame him as he came to understand that there wasn't a sound to be heard across the whole forest. Usually in the night there were many magical birds that used to sing throughout the hours of darkness yet there wasn't a single one at that moment. What should he do? He stayed put for a few moments and just as he was about to move a large shadow blurred the clear light of the moon followed by another both of which started to become smaller. Two dragons landed in the clearing where his friends lay. One of them was Saphira. Eragon blended into the background casting a spell to refract all light off him and to cover his shadow. He was now invisible. He saw Rya suddenly shake and throw a hand up to her neck like she had felt where he had touched her. He waited for a few moments. A sudden wetness covered him but he didn't know where from. A large shadow tore at the light the moon was casting down on them and Eragon saw Saphira land throwing up clouds of what seemed to be water.

Where did water come from?

The moment he saw Saphira he shuddered both out of anger and sadness.

Moonstone then landed beside Rya and gave a wing for her to take shelter under. Saphira took flight after a few seconds and so did Moonstone with Rya on his back.

What?

His head full of questions he continued to move. The moon had almost reached its peak signalling midnight. After a few more minutes of almost silent movement he saw a fire from within the treeline. He looked up at the sky and saw the glow of the sun over the horizon.

WHAT? It was just approaching midnight.

He picked up the pace until he had finally arrived at the camp. The first thing he did was look around. Everything seemed fine. The migrants were everywhere and there was a significant lack of them in number. He could only see two of his elven bodyguards and counted fifteen riders among whom was one of the twins. Eragon searched for Saphira and saw her laying down beside Moonstone. How was she so calm?

Eragon sprinted towards the broken palace staying out of Saphira's sight to see what damage was done on his beloved home. The entire palace was gone. Shattered. Destroyed. Almost unrepairable. Tears started to fall from his eyes which confused him even more. There was a slight haze in his vision which was obscuring the edge of his field of view. Why was he crying over a building when all that was happening around him was making him go mad.

'Eragon?'

Arya's voice called him from behind and Eragon immediately span on his heel to turn around and to find nobody but the migrants.

'Arya?'

The haze in his vision slowly started to increase until only a small portion of his eyesight was clearly visible. He turned around again to look back into the palace and was suddenly taken aback by what he saw – the whole palace was perfectly back to what it looked like before the chaos. He shot a glance at Oromis who was just as amazed as he was. While he waited for his old master to say something he turned around and saw an eye. Saphira's eye staring straight at him. His mind blurred and a frenzy of voices passed through his mind.

A random spasm of exhaustion phased over him causing him to drop to his knees clutching his head. He wanted to stay awake… but couldn't.

Rya

Rya woke up from a feeling that someone was watching her. She looked around the clearing and threw her hand up to her neck were she could feel her pulse. A tingling sensation had passed over that area as though someone had touched it. She looked into the woods and saw a shadow of someone but didn't have the energy to stand up or do anything. She slowly let her hand fall back down to her sides and played dead with her eyes slightly open. The shadow didn't move. A few seconds later a torrent of water layered the forest in thick blankets of dankness. A larger shadow tore at the light the moon was giving off and Saphira landed with a great thump, throwing up a large shower from a deep puddle. Moonstone landed gracefully by her side and covered her with a wing. Rya continued to stare at the shadow and saw it shudder slightly. Saphira rubbed everyone with her muzzle and used her mouth to put them in a more comfortable position before taking flight again. Moonstone moved over to a position where he could over all of them with his wings and fell into a calm sleep. Rya could feel her dragon's tiredness and Saphira's restlessness but most of all, could feel her hair rising slightly from fear because the shadow had started to move in her direction. Rya tried to hide her fear but the moment the shadow came out from the canopy all that could be seen was a slight bit of hazy clear material in the shape of what seemed like a human. It walked past them and into the treeline behind her and continued to walk until it was inaudible among the dense rain. Through her fear she felt a small sense of pride. She was finally developing a clarity of hearing similar to that of an elf.

Eragon

The waves enveloped him in saltwater as he coughed and spluttered trying to get the acidic taste out of his mouth. Looking round he saw that he was on the beach and the sun had just set allowing the moon to become partitioned by the mountain. Oromis was looking at the ground with his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

A flash followed by a beam of light came from further into the mainland as a thick wall of fog lowered down from the sky. Oromis was also looking in that direction trying to make four from five and six.

A/N: four from five and six means that nothing makes sense for those that don't understand it.

;)

Eragon started to sprint in that direction. A breathtakingly beautiful event took place before him. Thousands of birds and creatures of millions of different colours emerged from the trees making Eragon stop in his tracks. Around ten seconds after the birds had taken flight they all dropped back down to the ground again, as if they had died mid-air. All the land animals and creatures also became suddenly lifeless.

The confused rider stared in horror at the massacre that had just taken place in front of him. Once again ridiculous pain took over him and he fell asleep.

Rya woke up and saw the shadow standing over her. A clear image of a dark and faceless person looking down at her with a sword in his hand…

I wanted to carry on but I need to go somewhere and am already late by around twenty minutes. Sorry for the confusion but it will all unravel at the end. If you want you can all make attempts at understanding the situation but I doubt anyone will guess correctly.

;)