OoO( 26 )OoO
There was the wind again. She had felt it before the dreams, now she felt it once more. Slowly, her eyes began to open, letting in light and sound that emenated around her. She blinked a few more times before her vision cleared. She noticed that the scenery around her was blurring as she flew by at high speed.
Noticing a pair of arms holding her up, she looked up to see a man in black with a mask rushing towards the distance. Suddenly, realization gripped her. "Y-You saved me..." she said.
The man looked down at the woman, his mouth covered by a cloth mask. His black hair was long, shoulder length and flew behind him like a battle cloak. "I see you are awake." he said. "Sorry about knocking you out, but it makes things easier when you don't have to argue with the one you intend to save." he said.
She looked around and noticed several other people running with him, wearing the same black garb he did. "Who are you?" she asked.
"No time for that now miss. We've got other problems." he said.
She was about to question him, but felt the ground rumble beneath her and knew what he meant. "What is that?"
"Not sure, but whatever it is is behind us. And I plan to keep it that way." he said.
Suddenly, her dream came back to her. "Because of what you did, Lyle died inside. He is now a monster, stronger than anything this world has ever seen, or ever will see." Her eyes widened in horror as the sentence ran through her mind over and over. Immediately, she jumped out of the mans arms and fell to the ground.
He stopped and walked over to her, ready to grab her again. "What do you think you are doing? If we don't get out of here, we'll all be killed!" he said.
She pushed him away and looked back towards the battle field where the quake had come from. "Lyle...I'll be there soon!" she said over the wind as she began to run towards the massive column of light now shooting from the ground in the distance.
The man watched her start running and sighed. One of his companions, a female wearing the same black mask he did walked up and questioned him. "What do we do now master?" she asked.
"We were charged with protecting them, which means all of them. We have no choice but to go after her." he said irritatedly.
"And if she refuses to be saved?" she asked.
"Then we will be there with her when she dies." he said. The woman nodded, not a single lingering thought of doubt in her mind. Together, they ran, flashing like shadows across the land as they followed the hero back to the scene of the battle.
OoOoO
Ark covered his eyes as high speed winds smashed into him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He watched as Lyle, the warrior he had come to look to as a brother unleashed hell upon the earth itself.
The white haired warrior now stood hovering in the air, his eyes pure white as glowing runes etched themselves all over his body, covering him head to toe in shining glyphs. Energy lashed out from his body as his arms were spread open, accepting this new truth. The energy whipped out at buildings, destroying them immediately and sending debris and rubble scattering across the island.
"This is insane!" shouted the dark warrior as he dodged a whipping tendril of energy that left a rift in the ground next to him.
The dragon stared at the warrior incredulously. He took a step back as the cloud of energy began to expand, eating the buildings away like a salt cube in a lake. "H-How is this possible?" he asked himself, backing up further as the energy continuously expanded. Jumping backwards, the dragon took flight to escape the increasing radius of the magic. "What madness is this!" he shouted before attacking.
Flying closer, the dragon shot a blast of fire at the center, aiming directly for the hero. But the fire immediately discentigrated as it entered the energy sphere, leaving the hero in the middle compeletely unharmed.
Ark watched as the dragons attacks proved useless. He turned and began to run, knowing he stood no chance against the massive wave that was heading towards him. Suddenly, he stopped when he saw a woman approaching. He stared at her, dumbfounded. "You?"
She saw him and stopped. "What is it?" she asked.
"But...weren't you..." he said pointing to where Lyle was floating off the ground.
"No time to explain!" she shouted, and began running towards the hero.
"Wait! You can't go in there! You'll be killed!" he shouted. But she ignored him and continued running. "Dammit! Why me!" he shouted, then ran after her. Holding his arms in front of him, he shaped them like he was holding an orb of some kind.
Alex noticed as a shining spherical wall surrounded her. She smiled as she continued running. "Thanks for the help..." she said quietly as both her and the barrier around her smashed through the wall of magic energy.
Ark fell to his knees when she entered the wave of magic. The attack was crushing his shield at an incredible pace and wearing on him. "I don't...know how long...I can hold this for..." he said as he squinted against the brightness. "Please...hurry...!" he said, using every ounce of energy to keep the woman from getting swallowed by the magic.
OoOoO
Both armies had stopped in their tracks when the ground shook. Now, they both stared in horror as a pillar of light shot from the ground into the dark skies, parting the storm clouds and causing the wind to shift, making said clouds spiral darkly around the magic.
Scarlett and Theresa stared in amazement at the sight, knowing what the cause was. Van and the other heroes couldn't believe their eyes. "What is that?" asked Thunder, his voice shaking.
"Lyle, his last thread has been broken." said Theresa as the energy made her body tremble.
"What!" asked Thunder.
"If somebody does not stop him soon, we will all be consumed by the force. And soon after, the entire world may be in danger of it." said the specter like form of Scythe. Everyone looked at him.
"How do we stop something like that?" asked Van.
The old mage lowered his head and closed his eyes. "I...don't know." he said. Everyone immediately felt their stomachs sink.
"If you don't know...then nobody does..." said the hero.
Toran stumbled up to them, using his greatsword as a walking stick with blood dripping down his forehead. "Then what does that mean for us?" he asked.
"It means that this may be the end for all of us. And that my prophecy might not have been talking about Jack at all." said Theresa. She suddenly reacted as the opposing army began to run full speed towards the scene. "What are they doing?" she asked.
"Jack is calling them to try and stop Lyle." said Scythe grimly.
Turning to the older man, Van questioned him. "Shouldn't we try to stop them?" he asked.
But the mage shook his head. "I'm afraid that the battle has turned. We must stay and hope that they manage to stop his attack. For if they fail, then everyone everywhere will die." he said.
OoOoO
The dragon flapped its wings rapidly, keeping it in the air as its dark army raced headlong into the massive energy attack. However, he began to growl as the bodies of his minions were dissolved to nothing before they even reached the center.
Diving from his position, he roared loudly. "Damn you!" he shouted. He suddenly felt unnerved as the hero in the center glared directly at him. Suddenly, one of the vine like waves lashed out just as he attacked, smashing into him and sending him bowling through three buildings, electricity flowing through his scaled hide. He yelled loudly as the paralysis wore off, getting to his feet and looking through his good eye at the shining warrior in the center.
It was then that he spotted the figure racing through the warzone unharmed. Alex ran for everything she was worth, dodging the waves that crashed into the ground around her, tearing into the earth like the fangs of a wolf. She could finally see his sillhouette in the middle of the ocean of magic. She had also felt the shield around her weakening considerably. She pushed herself as hard as she could and when she was only a few feet away, she jumped.
Ark fell to his knees, gasping for air as his consciousness faded. The shadows from before had gathered around the warrior, helping him to his feet as they watched the edge of the magic force move closer and closer. "I...hope you...made it." said Ark as he gasped in air. One of the women dressed in black walked up to him and began to heal the dark warrior as they all watched.
Alex saw the home stretch and hurled herself into the air just as she felt the shield around her collapse. Time seemed to slow down as she reached out in front of her, the hero moving closer and closer with each second as the magic ate away at her clothing as well as beginning to burn her flesh.
Finally, she wrapped her arms around his neck and did the only thing she could think of. She kissed him, deeply and passionately. The effect was immediate, the hero dropping flat to the ground on his feet, the magic all shooting straight up into the air and dissipating. The ground stopped shaking, buildings stopped collapsing, and the clouds stopped where they were, leaving what seemed to be a rift in the sky where the attack split the clouds.
Slowly, his arms wrapped around her, the glowing runes all over his body vanishing and his closed eyes fading back to normal. He held her close to him, their kiss seemingly never ending as the rage he felt inside quelled. Finally, she pulled away and looked at him. His face was soaked as tears continuously poured from his eyes, which now looked at her.
"A-Alex..." he said, his voice wavering. "I...I thought..."
"I'm alive and well Lyle." she said and kissed him again. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
Thinking about it, the hero smirked. "Kinda...tired." he said, then fell backwards, landing on his rear. She giggled as Ark and the others dressed in black approached.
"Welcome back." said Ark, mimicking Lyle's smirk almost perfectly. "Had a little nap did you?" he asked.
"Something like that..." said the warrior as he stood. The magic user in black again began to heal the fallen hero. "Who are..." said Lyle as he looked at the leader in black. Suddenly, a wall of recognition hit him as he looked them all up and down.
"My name is Raven." he said holding out his hand.
Lyle shook it, staring deeply into the mans eyes. "Maria's clan..." said the warrior.
The man nodded. "We've had someone following with you. I made a promise to her that we would help you at all costs should anything happen to her." he said.
"But...who are you?" asked Ark.
Looking at the dark hero, he looked at the ground. "I...was to be her husband." he said, causing shock to mask Lyle's face.
"I'm sorry..." said the warrior.
"Uh...guys! We've got bigger problems!" shouted Ark as he pointed into the distance. Glaring through its one amber eye, the scaled creature flew at them at high speed. Immediately, the hero turned to Ark and nodded.
"Are you ready?" he asked. Ark nodded. "You, take her and leave." he said to the clan. The leader nodded, then grabbed Alex and vanished like smoke into the shadows. She no longer put up a fight as she watched her hero turn and face the demon. Lyle glared at the incoming beast, clenching the handle in his hand.
"Uhhh...Lyle...?" said Ark as he stared at the oddity. The warrior looked at his partner, then noticed light shining out of the corner of his eye. Looking down at his hand, he watched in awe as the handle formed into the hilt of a large sword, a blade growing out of the light. After a few seconds, the rusted old weapon handle formed into a long shining sword with runes and lightning bolts etched into the blade. The cross hilt was large, but the weapon was as light as air.
"What is that!" yelled the beast as it stopped, not wanting to charge head first into anymore unknown magic attacks.
Looking at the demon, both warriors smiled as they aimed their blades at him. "It's your downfall, Jack of Blades." said Lyle. Almost instantly, both heroes charged at the scaled beast...