Prologue

Time is but a spiral

Repeating over and over endlessly in the endless void

Darkness and light entwined with many shades of grey

When all is truly lost is when things truly begin

You can smell the stale scent of rotten air, as we move through the dark tunnels of the underground mine which is lit with red veins of light from the precious stone. But this stone now glows in the darkness bringing the mine to life, these long forgotten Minotaur ruins probably from the early times. Probably from the early wars that took place thousands of seasons before the races started to work together.

This stone was once used to create bombs and arrows that could destroy though today they are used for the good of all races. Red Coralight stone is precious and difficult to mine just like its blue counterpart Yetasine, its why the Minotaur’s, rat people and Dwarfs work together these days to mine it. Other races have to wear special protection when mining it, while the werewolf race transports it as there healing means they can’t be harmed by its raw effects along with two other races.

The other types of gem stone can be mined by all races but those two are the most volatile, which unnerves me as all this red stone is active, something has activated it. We are only safe because of our shields which are imbued with the counter element Yetasine, along with parts of our armour. That’s why we were sent here, the Mages want us to find out what is going on with the stone which it’s active, as it shouldn’t be, as this is a closed mine currently.

Keira eyed her companions, a lizard man Titus and the half elf woman Liliana. We are the Paladin scouts, the trainees from this year who passed our training. This will be our second mission together as lower ranking Paladins. We just have to find out what’s causing it and report back as this mine is near two villages, if it’s gem stones blows up it will destroy them killing everyone plus destroying everything in a three mile radius.

She eased her sword higher watching as Titus moved closer, as he was the most experienced of them all and the leader, as they got to a tunnel that was glowing even brighter than the others, which meant they were getting closer to the source. He breathed in his frill coming up on his head and tail as he signalled for them to form up ready for whatever was in that open space.

She breathed in, taking up her position as they entered the large open space where a large demon was working, though he didn’t look up as he carried on working with the red and blue gem stone on the table. His huge nostrils flaring as his razor sharp teeth grinded together as he spoke coldly. “Ah guests….you should leave.” Titus raised his blade. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it now!”

The demon shook his dark black mane breathing in deeply, letting the glowing red light come out of his fingers as he used his clawed hand to pull up the red gem stone over so it was floated in the air. “Could you ever fathom what my intentions are, belly crawler?” His yellow eyes narrowed as he stood up slightly, looking at all the glowing gem stone all over the room. “Sacrifice, of all kinds, is necessary to see the eyes of the gods.”

He moved his other hand, causing the blue gem stone to move upwards and float, as he used his tail to grab a curved blade, as his huge wings opened. “We can be slaves to fate or command our fate within this world.” His huge horns rose as he started to push the gem stones together, which caused blue and red light to fly out all around them, as his huge clawed feet dug into the ground as he tried to take the magical force forcing the stones further together.

The demon watched as the Lizard man ran forward, as he raised his huge sword, only to be thrown by the power surges as he came crashing down on opposite side of the room hard. “Foolish belly crawler…” He turned, seeing the elf coming at him from behind, only to smash his tail weapon into her shield, sending her flying back due to the power surge. “You’re not much better ether…”

He eyed the last one under the helmet who wasn’t moving, but he could smell from here that it was a human, and was very afraid. Her two companions were held down the forces coming off the stone. “You’re the overdressed one who is a coward am I right?” He pushed the gems further together. “I would not expect any of you to understand the nature of my work and how important it is, but understand this, you won’t leave alive!”

He pushed the gems even closer. He had to join them as he’d worked so hard for this. “Everything is lies; we are sold mistruths, we deserve to be free!” Keira snapped out of her fear and her haze as she ran at him, only to feel the pain as his large clawed foot came up smashing in to her, sending her flying, only to hit the floor hard as the light wave came down hitting her, dragging her across floor only for the magic energy surge to suddenly cut out.

The demon raised the almost combined gem stone, his ears going back as he looked up curiously, not thinking, as he ignored her screaming companions who were now being thrown around by his magic powers as there weapons were flung from their hands. “Curious…” He didn’t think as he flew over slamming his clawed foot down hard on her armours front before she could get up. “Let’s have a better look at you.”

He raised his clawed hand, grabbing her sword before it could strike, throwing it not caring as it hit the Lizard man in the leg, imbedding itself, causing him to scream in agony. He used his other on the helmet, pulling it free, watching as it landed close by as she tried to get him off, desperately trying to hit his leg with her shield. He ignored the pain as he brought down his clawed fingers, hard-slashing it across her face hard enough to make her cry out in agony as the blood ran down her face. “Behave!”

His hand came out wrapping around throat slowly, raising her into the air ignoring her struggling. “You shouldn’t be able to resist the two stone merging, your armour shouldn’t allow it Paladin!” He turned her bloody face. “So why can you resist it?” He didn’t think as he slashed his other clawed hand right into her armour, digging his claws in deep, ignoring her screaming as he pulled them out smelling the blood on the tips, looking even more confused. “You just smell like any normal boring human…fascinating.”

The demon raised his bloody clawed finger, watching as the almost locked gems moved closer to them. “Clearly I’m going to have to slice you open for magical science.” He paused. “Nothing personal you understand, my employer likes to learn about things like you, mostly dead, never alive.” He raised his clawed hand, grabbing her front plate and forcing it free, half ripping the protective padding underneath so he could see her neck and shoulders. “Sorry you get to die today, but know it’s for the greatest good.”

He moved his clawed finger, jamming it into her chest, ignoring her screams and the red blood as it dripped on the floor as his yellow eyes narrowed, waves of purple light shot though it for a second before pulling it out. “My…my…” He felt a smile form only for it to fade, as he turned hearing a rattling, as he eyed his floating gem stones which had turned in the air pointing towards the Paladin. “You shouldn’t be doing that!”

The next moment caused him utter horror and panic as the gem stones above suddenly locked together, cracking as they more crystal like merging in to one before he could stop them, sending out a huge shock wave as the other two Paladins were dropped as its huge magic waves moved on their own ignoring his command. He breathed in deeply. “No, that is not possible!”

The merged gem stone suddenly shot forward like an arrow. Keira opened her eyes only to watch the crystal merged shard go right through the demon's neck, spraying blood all over her face, only for the pain to hit her chest as he fell sideways dropping her.

She hit the floor hard on her back, as the demon's horns shattered as they hit the floor, only for the room to go silent and black as all the light went out. But the red gem stone carried on glowing all around her, relighting it. She sat up, her ears ringing from the pain and her wounds burning as she got on to her knees, trying to take the spinning in her head as she breathed out slowly as her blood dripped onto the floor.

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She looked down in to the darkness seeing a red and blue object glowing in her chest. She moved her hands towards it, only to feel the pain as pulses of red and blue light shot out. Everything really started to hurt but not in a way she could describe or even fathom, it felt like something was touching every bone in her body. Like her insides were turning to liquid and her brain was about to explode.

She could see Titus and Liliana getting up, though Titus was trying to pull her sword out of his leg as he staggered towards her speaking, not that she could understand anything, as his claws moved to her chest casting a healing spell as he tried to pull on the imbedded crystal stone out violently, only for blue light to strike his hand. He looked annoyed as he tried again as Liliana started to cast a slow spell to heal his leg.

Keira breathed in, only to start screaming, as from the centre of her chest patterns and light waves started to burn in to skin, everything started to spin as the pain got worse. She opened her eyes seeing that Titus and Liliana were backing off, only for her hands to grab the rocks, as the light steam came out she had no control over them whatsoever, only for it to turn to fire as her friends ran away from her, leaving her to her fate.

All the red light in the stones started to be absorbed by the blue light coming off her body, as her eyes closed only for the pain to end. A huge shockwave blasted out from her body, turning to blue and red fire, smashing through all the mine's tunnels all at once, lighting everything for an instant purple before it exploded. It was the last thing she saw, as she closed her eyes blacking out.

8

Pain, incredible pain as well as the feeling and sensation off floating, a mix of strange euphoria and dream like state, and yet it is now ending. I feel the pain again though this time it’s enough to snap me out of my dreams. I open my eyes, slowly realizing that I’m on the stone floor of the Mage’s huge study rooms. My hands have huge chains on them, which, I know already, are there to suppress magic.

The pain comes again, and I realize there is a Mage looking over me, prodding me in the stomach. “Rise and shine you traitorous abomination!” “Traitor”... that confuses me, but then I can hardly remember what happened in the mine… I just know we killed the demon… I take in a deep breath as everything floods back and I sit up, slowly seeing a Cleric on my other side clearly trying to cast a spell on me, but she looks frustrated as she speaks. “Her wounds, I can’t heal them…plus they're healing on their own without me, but scaring up.”

The old beast man Mage eyed the forma Paladin trainee in disgust on his floor, who had been stripped down to her padding as her broken armour had been hung nearby on a stand, while her shield and sword had been destroyed and were hanging close by, but unless now the battered armour was still fine though strangely its Yetasine gem stone was gone. “Not surprising she gave herself to a demon Mage, one of her companions is dead, the other lost his tail and leg, and he does not want to see her.”

He narrowed his eyes. “He said she caused the blast and acted like a coward, not attacking when needed.” He paused. “He can carry on and be fitted with a dwarf metal mechanical prosthetic, the elf… well they only found her bones… and that’s not including the villages that were destroyed by the blast, and all the injury and death.” He watched as the human Cleric stepped away, so he could now get on with his work as she assisted him.

Romulus eyed the twenty year old woman, with dark red hair in front of him, who had piercing green eyes, though the left eye had a long clawed jagged scar running through it. “Ah Keira, you could have been someone great and heroic, now you're just another pathetic failed Paladin.” Keira eyed him, only to feel the pain as a huge collar came up bolting to her neck, as the older beast man spoke again, scraping his hoof on the floor. “But know it’s not in vain, the Paladins want me to run tests on you till you die, as they want that merged crystal out of your chest.”

Keira felt the pain as she was suddenly raised in the air with violent force by the magical chain. “Tenos I want to speak to him!” Romulus rolled his eyes. “The Paladin commander and hero approved your being here. As far as he is concerned, you died in the mine and your family have already been informed, but they still have two other children. I'm sure your brother and sister will go on to be great, so it’s not a huge loss.”

He raised a clawed finger, his yellow eyes gleaming. “You instead get to die here, and we get to learn how this happened, as this shouldn’t have happened.” He stepped closer to her, as the Cleric passed him the tool for clamping on to the magic gem stone, since his race couldn’t touch it. “I do have a question though, before we start.” Keira eyed him. “What…that…” Romulus eyed her. “Why did you freeze up and be such a coward? As in training you always proved yourself to have courage.”

Keira breathed in painfully. “Titus gave us no commands and we weren’t ready for that. He was playing with both Coralight and Yetasine! We were not qualified to take him down, we should have had a Mage with us. I froze because nothing in my training said anything about this and I had no idea what to do.” Romulus laughed. “Even now you lie… Titus said he commanded you and that he struck the demon and you gave in to its will.”

Keira eyed him in disgust. “The demon died because the two gem stones merged in to some kind of crystal and ripped through his neck and went into me.” Romulus shook his head as he moved the device forward slowly. “I pity your lies….you are clearly not worthy of your Paladin oath.” He moved closer. “Let me release you from your pain and lies.” Keira felt the sharp pain as the clamps came down, their hooks going through her skin locking on to the merged crystal, causing red blood to run free.

Romulus eyed her. “It will all be over in a moment, traitorous abomination.” He moved a clawed hand, pulling only to feel intense resistance, as he tried to use his other hand to force it out only for the crystal to pulse harder with red and blue light. “Come out…come to me now!” He moved his other clawed hand feeling the crystal start to move, coming loose he smirked. “I was expecting this to be harder.”

Keira's head, which had been down due to the pain, slowly rose. As the anger started to show, she started to fight her chains. “Don’t do this…” Romulus laughed coldly. “Oh please…save it for someone else who cares…” His laugh was suddenly cut off, as the crystal shot out of the devices grip, going back in as her body lit up with veins of light that pulsed with red and blue, only for them to slowly change colour as she started to snarl like some crazy feral animal, which didn’t sound human.

The next moments caused pain, as she roared which caused a massive boom of energy to come out throwing him and the Cleric to the floor hard, as the light turned fully purple as her body hit the floor hard on her knees, her hands clutching the floor as the purple light became more intense. Only for a stream to fly out, smashing into his back and his Clerics as he watched her eyes burst into purple light as she stood up slowly.

The chains bound to her wrists and neck flew open, smashing against the wall hard as her armour in its stand started to rattle, only to fly off as every plate reconnected with its owner, one after the other. Though it slowly started to change colour, all the silver fading on every plate, as it turned to a black with a purple hue. Purple veins of light lit up the chest area as her eyes changed from glowing purple to pure glowing green, it was clear her scars had now fully healed but it had scared up badly.

He got up grabbing his Mage staff, as his Cleric ran for the door pounding it, trying to alert the elite Paladin guards. He sneered at her in disgust. “Die you shitty being!” The light blasted from his purple gem stoned staff, hitting her with ice and rain, causing her to pull back stumbling painfully. If he froze her fast enough this would all be over. She raised her hand not able to stop it as the ice covered creating a prison.

He breathed in, only to see the ice start to melt, and steam, as it lit up with purple light inside, only for it to blast apart as purple fire filled the room, engulfing the Paladin, only for a huge clawed hand to smash down out of the flames, covered in black fur with patterns of glowing purple as a wolf life face broke the flames, only to have demon horns that rose skywards. The huge lycanthrope body followed which had a huge mane of fur and spikes running all the way down its back, to a tail that was less werewolf and more demon with a bone tip end.

Huge bat wings opened on its body. As the flames faded away he didn’t think as he fired the ice again, more in panic, only for it to its narrow its glowing purple eyes, as its whole body leaped at him, grabbing him smashing him into the wall as its huge mouth opened, filling with a flames of red and blue, only for its head to turn as the doors smashed open as the Paladins ran inside. It eyed him, narrowing its gaze only to turn its head, as the huge glowing red and blue ball fired out only to hit one of the walls blasting a hole in its sending bricks flying.

It let go off him, running for a moment on two legs, only to go down on all fours as it leapt out in to the opening, into the night, screaming hit the air as it left the tower, flying over the city swerving and moving. The arrows flew up along with other spells only for it to fire again from its mouth causing the whole city to be blinded by purple light. When it faded it was impossible to see where it had flown as it had vanished from all sight, not a single glow could be seen.

He eyed the guards. “Get after that thing we cannot let that escape!” He watched as they all sped into action leaving the room, watching as the Cleric got closer, he didn’t think as he grabbed her robes. “Let me be very clear….we do not tell anyone we couldn’t hold that thing…unless you want your head on the chopping board!” He watched as she nodded clearly scared by the threat, he let go of her hard causing her to stumble back. “Tell them the magic chains were faulty…let the magic blacksmiths take the blame!”

End of part 1

Silvermoonlight