Disclaimer is on chapter one
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The Tower
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It was an anxious guard who greeted Sabre and Fleurette when they returned to Avalonia.
"Prince Anlace and your father just rushed past on their way to the castle. Has something happened?" He inquired looking from Sabre to Fleurette.
Unsure if it they should explain what was happening in case a panic spread through the kingdom, the two youths merely nodded in response confirming the guard's suspicions. Deciding he had kept them detained long enough, the guard urged them to head over to the castle where Claymore and Prince Anlace were undoubtedly seeking out the Queen while they dawdled about.
Upon reaching the throne room, both swordsman and healer were surprised to find the Prince and Claymore gathered around Minister Misericorde with the Queen nowhere in sight.
"Welcome back" The minister greeted them as they approached. "I expect you've heard the news, as it is on everyone's lips. Her Majesty, Queen Curtana, has gone missing!"
This was news to them. Having rushed straight to the castle, none of them had bothered to listen to the gossip flitting through the townsfolk and catch up on what had been happening since before their last outing.
"Or, er…rather more accurately…um…ventured into the Tower of Mirrors" The minister corrected causing all heads to incline towards the ceiling where the great tower rose above them.
"But Mother always forbade me from going anywhere near it!" The prince argued.
"Indeed she did, Your Highness. As did I. For it is said the tower has sealed within it many monsters"
"May I ask something?" Fleurette spoke up. "Why do you have such a tower? When was it constructed?"
"Well, the tower was, in fact- contrary to popular belief- er…in layman's terms…I haven't the foggiest!" Misericorde eventually admitted. "Only the royal family is privy to such information"
"But I know nothing about it!" Anlace claimed panicking as fearsome thoughts took over his mind: Was he adopted, unworthy or, Goddess have mercy on him, Illegitimate?
"Oh, give over it, lad! It's just because you're too young. I'm sure your mam's planning on telling you when you take the throne" Claymore assured the grieving prince before he did something foolish before bringing everyone back to the matter at hand. "Enough talk. It's time for action! We need to get inside that tower sharpish"
The prince, swordsman and healer nodded their heads in mutual agreement. They had wasted enough time talking about things that have happened. Now was the time to act before the Queen, no doubt under the Deathbringer's influence, did something that could spell their doom.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Minister Misericorde seemed quite pleased with their determination.
"Splendid! I was beginning to think I'd have to bow and scrape and compose a persuasive speech and…well…ask you!" Misericorde chortled jovially as he moved over to the throne and examined the back of it.
Confused and unable to fathom what the minister was doing, the others merely watched on as Minister Misericorde examined, probed and prodded at the throne until a satisfactory click could be heard followed closely by the sounds of gears moaning into motion.
"When her Majesty went to open the tower some time ago, I, er …had a little peak!" The minister shamefully admitted as the back wall slid away to reveal a set of double oak doors that undoubtedly granted passage into the Tower of Mirrors.
Without hesitation, Claymore, Sabre, Prince Anlace and Fleurette strode passed the minister, through the doors and into the tower.
"We are all depending on you to save Her Majesty!" Misericorde called after them. "Goddesspeed!"
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Despite being called the Tower of Mirrors, there were not as many of said item inside as people assumed there to be. In short, the tower was more like a large scale version of tower staircases with more impressive décor and architecture than its greatly smaller brethren. However, only one member of the group seemed to be interested in its design while another was fixated on a person who had entered not so long before them.
"Hurry! We mustn't tarry!" Anlace urged snapping Fleurette out of her musings as he made to dash up the stairs until Claymore's prosthetic hand came down on his shoulder and damn well nearly dislocating it.
"Hold yer horses there, lad, this ain't exactly Galantyne yer gallivanting into here!" He warned the prince.
"But Mama-!"
"Ain't going nowhere but to the roof of this place which is where we'll likely find her if we don't catch up beforehand" Claymore cut over knowing just what the Prince would say. "For now, we're sticking together: Lad, you're up front; Anlace, you 'n the lass stay close behind an' I'll take the back"
"Um…How do you know zis tower has a roof?" Fleurette asked uncertainly.
"Cause I doubt this place only stops at the Goddess' front door" Was the reply as he ushered her and the Prince forward whereas Sabre was already halfway up the first of many set of stairs they were to be venturing up before finding the Queen.
By the time the rest of the group had caught up to Sabre, the swordsman had already cut his way through a swarm of lost souls and several phantom fencers, invisible swordsmen where only there cloak and sword can be seen. He would have continued on further by himself had both Fleurette and his father not advised him to stick close to them so as they could fight also and give him a chance to rest something that was almost foreign to him since he had woken up this morning.
Despite the adrenaline coursing through him like a fast flowing river, Sabre decided to humour their request which turned out to be a very wise decision several flights of stairs later when a bone baron came charging down the stairs before them leaving a broken and unusable staircase in its wake before being cut down as well forcing the group to take an alternate path that lead them to outside of the tower.
"Bleedin heck!" Claymore swore as he cautiously peered over the brink to the kingdom far below them. "That's one fall I don't want to make"
"One wrong step passed here and we just might" Anlace remarked noting the narrow pathway that lead away along the tower wall barely wide enough for a person to use.
It still did not prevent him from soldiering on although it did mean that any monster encounters had to be dealt with via magic making Sabre, whose sole skill was in swordplay, feel useless unless one if the monsters got close enough for him to cut down which, unfortunately, did not happen on this such occasion.
Fortunately, both for Sabre and the others, the small ledge around the tower's perimeter lead to an opening that lead back inside the tower allowing them all to breathe easy again as they continued onwards and upwards to the top of the abysmally tall tower. Cutting through the monsters that attacked them en route, the group eventually came upon a pair of solid stone doors that stopped them in their tracks more efficiently than the monsters.
"Open, blast it!" Anlace commanded unleashing a powerful fireball at the door when it looked like the combined strength of the three men could not make it budge an inch.
"It's no good, lads! This thing's more stubborn than me wife- An 'at's saying something" Claymore sighed in frustration. After coming all this way…
"But Mama could be right behind this door!" Anlace proclaimed ignoring Fleurette as she squeezed by the two men to squint at the scribbles on one of the shields adorned on the door.
"…'hold courage'…'hearts'…'step in'...'void'…" She muttered out loud the parts she could read.
"Say again, lass?" Claymore inquired overhearing the Lolita.
"Zis writing here, it says something about being brave and stepping into something but, I cannot make out ze rest of ze babble" Fleurette explained waving her hand at the scribbles. "C'est agacant!"
"Cursing ain't gonna help us here, 'at's for sure" Claymore muttered scratching his beard as he went over what she just told them. He was beginning to think that Her Highness would have been found right here where they were had it not been for Xiphos controlling her.
He was suddenly pulled from his frustrations when Sabre patted his shoulder wanting his attention for something. Turning to face his son, Claymore was surprised to see that he was not looking at him but down the corridor where the passage ended at a gaping hole leading outside and the rather large drop beyond. Other than that, there was nothing else around, living or otherwise
"Have you gone daft, lad? There's nothing there but open sky" Claymore pointed out.
Keeping his silence, Sabre walked the length of the passage towards the opening and peered down either oblivious or ignoring the looks he was now getting from the rest of them. The question Fleurette was about to ask became a shriek as Sabre, before anyone could react or realise it, stepped over the edge and disappear from view.
Scrapping her knees as she skidded to a halt at the edge, Fleurette leaned precariously over to even catch a glimpse of the swordsman's shrinking figure only to gasp when she saw him wave up to her and the others from the platform not so far below them.
"By heck!" Claymore swore when he spotted his son alive and well. There was no doubt in his mind Sabre had gotten his courage from his mother as he himself needed all of his and then some just to propose to her all those years back.
Whether due to anger or relief at seeing him alive and well, Fleurette quickly followed his lead and dropped down not caring if she gave the silent swordsman an unobstructed view as she dropped down beside him and all but swore and cursed to castrate him in a foreign tongue if he tried something like that to her again.
"How in the Goddess' name did you know there was this ledge here?" Anlace inquired of Sabre as he stared from the swordsman to the doorway behind him that, Goddess willing, would lead them further upwards.
Sabre merely shrugged once, indicating he did not, before walking on ahead of them followed closely by Fleurette who clearly did not want him to leave her sight for one moment longer while they were here. Shocked at his answer, Anlace almost did not follow after them as he took in the fact that, not only did Sabre take a blind leap of faith, but had no knowing of whether or not his action would lead him to answers or to the Goddess' open arms as she welcomed him to the Next Life.
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None of them knew how long they had been climbing. Even with the few times they had to risk the outer pathways of the tower, all they could see was the endless blue sky above the sea of clouds sometimes with the sun in view others on the opposite side, they could not properly tell how long they had been traversing the levels. As fatigue began to rear its ugly head upon them, adrenaline quickly flushed it away as the familiar voice of Her Majesty could be heard at the top of the staircase they were currently climbing.
Surging forward ahead of the rest of them, despite Claymore's warning, Anlace appeared at the top of the staircase just in time to see his mother complete some sort of chant in front of what was probably the largest mirror in the tower. Unlike all the other mirrors in the tower however, the one before Her Majesty appeared to have magical properties the exact qualities unknown but likely to contain akin to a doorway that bridged their world to the fabled Mirror World, an unknown realm from which the monsters first spawned according to lore of old.
Why Her Majesty, or rather his possessed mother, wished to go to such a world, he did not know. What Anlace did know was that action had to be taken now to prevent her from leaving him and their Kingdom fearfully forever. Sadly, his pleas to her fell on deaf ears and he dared not risk a spell in case he harmed her.
A rush of wind and a flash of silver lining an arc clean down the centre of the mask adorning Her Majesty's face were the only indications Anlace was aware of the Sabre had made his attempt of returning his mother to them until noticing the swordsman land before him while sheathing his blade soon followed by the mask landing in two pieces by Sabre's clean cut then Her Majesty who dropped lightly to the floor before collapsing in front of them all.
Even though he got to her first, Anlace was abruptly shoved aside by Fleurette who was, by far, the professional healer of the group compared to the rest of them.
"She is merely asleep" She quickly told the fretting prince to appease and calm him down some gaining a sigh of relief from Claymore at the remarkable news.
Even more remarkable than the fact that she was alive were that no mark blemished her face from when the cut was made.
"Rash…So very rash…"
The deep voice humouring them from everywhere and nowhere put the group on edge as they peered every which way trying to pin the source.
"But thank you, I've waited an age for the mask to be compromised" The voice continued a dark silhouette formed in front of the mirror. "I am Xiphos. Your kind know me as the Bringer of Death- but let us not forget terror misery and despair"
"But…we defeated him! We put our lives on the line to destroy that fiend!" Claymore said after overcoming the shock of this…ghost claiming to be the Deathbringer.
"Destroyed me? I was merely resting, safely hidden inside your human companions" Xiphos chuckled darkly the two red slits for eyes crinkling in what could be assumed as a dark grin at the look of shock then anger on Claymore's face as he put together what he meant. "Angry Claymore? Perchance you are unhappy with my choice of vessel- slighted even?"
His answer came in the reply of fireballs and explosive spells from both Claymore and Anlace both clearly provoked by his words to them. Yet, as the dust settled, his incorporeal form remained untouched.
"I confess, I too was less than pleased when this one confined me inside her body with the Rorrim Mask. It was not something I had foreseen…" Xiphos admitted grudgingly gazing at the prone form of the Queen. "But five years was enough for me to recover. And now I am free! Witness the beginning of a new reign of terror!"
Leaving his laughter as a farewell gift, the apparition swiftly vanished to parts unknown. As if by magic, his departure heralded the stirrings of Queen Curtana promptly bringing Anlace back to her side as she arose once more and swiftly brought her hands to her face upon noticing something was missing.
"What has become of the Rorrim Mask!?" She whispered hoarsely her voice unused properly for many a day.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. You're safe now. That's the most important thing" Claymore assured her. "There any chance of telling us what's been going on here?"
"The spirit of Xiphos was inside of me. Perhaps since the very moment we defeated him in battle five years ago. When I realised this, I began searching for a way to free myself from his influence" Curtana explained curtly pointing to the two pieces of what was once the mask adorning her face now residing in the hands of Fleurette. "What I discovered was this mask. The Rorrim mask, created for the sole purpose of subduing the Deathbringer"
At her words, Sabre and Fleurette shared a glance. Having ventured up Arondight Heights and seen the carving of Xiphos wearing the mask, they had assumed it was his thus being the reason why the Queen had been so distant and secretive. Instead, if what Her Majesty said was true, it actually depicted the brave souls on the carving forcing the mask onto the Deathbringer. Having believed the former, Sabre had rent it in two assuming it were possessing the Queen not the reverse.
Even Sabre had to grimace at this blunder he had unwittingly made and no one could blame him for it.
"Why in the world didn't you tell me any of this before, Curtana?" Claymore asked only to be shocked when Anlace stepped in front of his mother as if to protect her.
"Did you not tell me Mother would have her reasons, Claymore? I will not allow you to apportion of blame upon Mama" He warned the Hero heatedly.
Despite the seriousness of the moment, Curtana, for the first time in days, chuckled at her child's antics.
"My dear boy…" She fondly sighed.
"'I vill not allow you a portion of blame on Mama!' 'Oh my dear boy!' All zis emotions makes me vant to vomit!" Declared a disgusted voice from above putting them all on edge.
Dropping down from above, the fiendish creature swatted the group away with the large trident like weapon while a flock bat-like gremlins swooped down.
"I am Großmesser!" The purple wolf-bat hybrid declared with a large belch. "I know vot you're sinking: Vy do I haf a big fork, not a big Knife!? Vell…I just do, ja?"
Ignoring the four warriors and mages who were being entertained by his minions, Großmesser turned his attention to Curtana who was defenceless against him.
"Xiphos has ordered zat you must be brought to him, so…" He drawled as he reached out to grab Curtana only to pull away as the point of Anlace's rapier stabbed at his hand forcing him to back away unless he wished to be stung.
"I will not allow you to take Mama!" The Prince snarled menacingly darting forward his rapier aimed at Großmesser's heart.
"Vell, I am very sorry, Your Highness, but orders are orders. Zere is nothing you can do about it, Fraulein!" Großmesser retorted batting away the needle and making to skewer the Prince with his fork.
Skilfully dancing away from his large opponent, Anlace continued to harass the fiend keeping its attention as Fleurette helped Curtana up and towards the stairs and away from the combat area.
Noticing how their target was getting away, several of Großmesser's minions peeled away from their assault on the others to intercept the escaping maidens only for their attempt to fail as Claymore sent them to meet their maker with a lightning spell. All bar one that barely managed to survive long enough to launch a spell at the retreating maidens before Claymore could rectify his mistake.
Catching the incoming attack out of the corner of her eye, Fleurette quickly pushed Curtana out of harm's way and casting a barrier spell over herself to deflect the blow. The pause however, allowed another group of minions the chance to swoop down ahead of them and cut the two off. Too focused on their target, the minions failed to avoid the band of silver that cut through their ranks as Sabre came to their aid with Claymore and Anlace finishing off those lucky enough to have been out of the swordsman's range at the time.
With a current lull in the minion swarm, the three men turned their attention to Großmesser who had decided to take a brief respite while his forces engaged them. Seeing as their attention was now on him, the huge demon creature took up his weapon again while unleashing a barrage of fireballs at the humans forcing them to dodge, shield or, in Sabre's case, cut through as they pressed forward.
With a snarl, Großmesser made a vicious stab at Sabre piercing the ground with enough force to skewer a boar while the swordsman ran up the weapon and jumped over its wielder cutting into the demon's shoulder as he went. In a rage, Großmesser about faced while swinging his fork in a wide arc at Sabre narrowly missing him and leaving himself wide open for Anlace to pierce his hide in the small of his back.
Turning round proved to be a mistake for Großmesser as he was met with a face full of lightning that blinded him rendering him unable to see and defend against Sabre as his namesake came down at him from above and removing him from this world.
With the current menace now dealt with, Anlace quickly turned and all but ran back to his mother's side who waited patiently for him and the others beside Fleurette near the top of the staircase.
"Are you injured, Mama?" He quickly asked despite sounding a touch out of breath after the confrontation.
"I am quite alright, thank you" She assured him with a proud smile which would have elated her son were the situation not so dark.
With Xiphos apparently returned from the dead, a new reign of terror and bloodshed was approaching over the horizon. Even with their victory here today, there was much that needed doing if they were to live to see another dawn…
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On the most north-eastern part of the island, the mountain trembled before exploding belching out large plumes of lava. Amidst the fiery fountain, a menacing castle rose from the scorched land's depths signalling the return of its owner and the end of a short lived peace.
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I have finally returned & got back to finishing what I had started. While not exactly to plan, I'll hopefully finish a few of my ongoing stuff this year- another eleven months so no pressure…yet.
Review if possible & until next time…
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Watch this space & peace out!
PS: Might wanna read from the beginning again. Did a little editing on a couple chapters.