Umbra kept smiling at the party, a mad laugh escaping from his lips, as if what he had just said was normal, or somehow funny. They all raised their weapons a little, not sure whether they should attack before Umbra made a move. It was obvious by his statement that he wasn’t looking to have a conversation. To Faro’s surprise, Lena decided to try and talk to him anyway.
“Yes, we’re all still alive, father,” she said with acid in her tone. “Thanks for sending your minions to kill us.”
The elf king just kept smiling, but instead of walking over to Lena to get close and comfort his daughter like he’d tried in the past, Faro noticed he didn’t give up his high position on the dais. “I knew you would survive. You’re my daughter! As for these others… I was really hoping we’d be alone right now so I could try one last time to convince you.”
Lena scoffed at him. “We’re beyond done talking about this. You’ve made your dark bed. Now you have to lie in it.”
The smile fell from Umbra’s face. Without his smile, he looked all of the thousands of years old that he was. “Then I will have to kill your friends, and take your Light,” he said, extending his right arm out. From the side of the room flew a black scepter right into Umbra’s outstretched hands. The staff looked as though it had been charred and burnt. The top was a twist of decorative metal encasing a glowing white gem.
A wicked laugh left the elf king’s mouth, echoing through the chamber, and Faro’s heart skipped a beat. Such a sound had not come from Umbra since their arrival, and hearing it was chilling. His eyes narrowed at them and his mouth curled into a smirk. Not his usual, friendly smile, but an evil smirk that showed he’d been waiting for this moment since they’d arrived.
“I’ve been waiting too long to right my wrongs. Kill the others,” said Umbra, “and bring my daughter to me!”
At his command the rows of elves flanking either side of him raised their staffs and began muttering incantations. Their staffs began to ignite in magical purple light.
“We’ve got to move!” Lena yelled to the others, looking around for cover. They saw support pillars that stretched up to the ceiling, and they all made a dive for the nearest one. Taking cover put Faro, Tobi, and Mathias on one side of the room, and Lena and Thora on the other. The magical blasts flew around them and struck the other side of the pillars, blasting large chunks out of them. They all knew their cover wouldn’t protect them for long.
Lena looked around the room in desperation. They were outnumbered, and with her being the only magic user in the group, they were largely outmatched. She chanced a peek around the column and saw the elves with their staffs lowered, taking turns casting their spells at them so there was no reprieve between volleys.
“They can't all be real!” Thora called to Lena over the noise of the blasting.
“What?” she called back, confused.
“Everything is an illusion, right?” said Thora, clinging tighter to the column. “That means that if we break the orb’s spell, we'll have better odds. At least some of them have to disappear. If we’re lucky, all!”
Lena thought about this logic, and then nodded. “You're right. Faro was fake and still attacked. The orb is powerful. That gives me an idea.”
Over at the other column Faro, Mathias, and Tobi were all hunkered down against the crumbling structure, with no plan of action in sight. Faro was getting nervous because their cover was falling apart quickly, and his large frame wouldn't stay hidden behind it much longer. Not only that, but their cover was a support pillar, and they would either get blasted by magic or buried by rock as the ceiling collapsed soon. He was about to tell the other two that he'd cover for them while they made a run for it, when he saw Thora bolt out from behind the other column and around the side of the room.
Faro watched her in awe and horror as the magic blasts shifted from the column to target her. Even Umbra himself turned towards her, taking several steps away from his throne, and sent out a blast of magic. She did a rolling jump and dodged. Umbra cackled and struck again, impossibly fast, and this blast struck Thora down. She went sprawling down to the ground and Faro gasped in horror.
Just then, another Thora ran out from behind the pillar, and Faro’s jaw dropped. There were two of them, but the elves were focusing their attention on the first. It could only mean that Lena had copied her as a distraction. The decoy was now at the back of the room lying on the ground, and the elves’ attention was now starting to turn back towards the rest of the party.
The second Thora ran straight for the dais, mace drawn back over her head. She lunged up the three curved steps of the dais and brought her mace crashing down hard on the glowing orb next to Umbra’s throne. Umbra turned just in time to see Thora strike, and his face changed to one that Faro had not seen him wear yet: panic and horror. His eyes were wide, his mouth agape in a silent scream.
The ball shattered, and the energy inside exploded, blowing Thora backwards back down the stairs to hit hard on the stone floor below.
The elegant chamber and its elvin inhabitants flickered. “No!” yelled Umbra as he braced himself against the exploding energy. Once the ball’s light flickered out, the chamber stood much darker. It was now gray, decaying rock instead of the elegant sheen it had before. The golden throne was now also gray and dilapidated. The valiant white horse that towered above the throne was now black, with piercing dark eyes.
But it wasn’t the change in the room that made them all stare in amazement. Faro’s eyes grew wide. Half the elves were now gone, flickered out of existence. Those remaining, including Umbra, were shown for what they really were. There stood the mighty elf king in his flowing, golden robe, but where his face had been was now just a skull with thin, gray skin stretched over it. The skin was present enough to still show his elf ears, but the rest of his body was a decaying mass. His eyes glowed purple as he stared down at the party in horror that they were seeing him for what he truly was.
The party made their way out from their hiding places behind the pillar, and Thora quickly scrambled to her feet to fall in line with the others. They all stared in wonder at their undead host. Lena came out from behind the pillar in a slow trudge, arms down by her sides, eyes wide in shock. “Father,” Lena said, “what have you done?”
The skeletal figure of Umbra looked almost ashamed that she was seeing him this way. When he spoke, his voice was more raspy than before as it echoed hauntingly through the bleak chamber. “The Scourge couldn’t be controlled. We held out as long as we could. We dumped those who died early in the lake, but before long, it was just too much. The Scourge overtook us all. My patron brought some of us back with necromancy, but many remained lost.”
“The illusion was to hide your failure? The veil that you show the world?” asked Lena.
Umbra nodded sadly. “My life has been a failure since I abandoned The Light. I’ve been digging myself out of a hole I couldn’t stop digging,” he said. Then he lowered his head and narrowed his eyes at his daughter. “A legacy I cannot let be my last! I was once the most respected king and Dungeon Lord in Evania!” he yelled as he swiftly lifted the Charred Scepter.
Before Lena could move, a blinding white light shot forth from the sceptre and hit her square in the chest. She shrieked as the light consumed her entire body, lifting her slightly off the ground. Yellow threads of light made their way up the light beam and back to the sceptre. At the same time a light shot back at Umbra, and consumed him as well, drawing out purple light from him and into the gem atop the sceptre. The tiny gem changed slowly from white to a deep goldish brown as their energy combined within it.
Faro and Tobi both moved forward to strike Umbra down, but the remaining elves that accompanied him all lowered their staffs and threw up a shield around themselves, Umbra and Lena, blocking the party out so Umbra could finish what he started. Faro roared and Tobi cursed as they smashed sword and axe against the magic shield to no avail.
Within a minute Lena had gone pale, and she collapsed to the ground as the white light withdrew. Umbra on the other hand pulsed with the golden magic aura that the staff was now emitting. It was running through the burnt shaft and down through his entire body as he was absorbing its energy, appearing to bask in the glow of some new strength it was giving him. His skin appeared to get it’s color back as he began to regenerate himself.
Not even considering the danger, Thora rushed over to Lena who was crumpled on the ground. “Lena! Oh, Solana! Lena!” She threw herself over her friend and embraced her. Faro looked from the fallen Lena to Umbra and snarled. The smile never left Umbra’s face.
“Lena made her choice,” said Umbra. Though there was a smile on his face, Faro thought he could see sadness in the old elf’s eyes. “And you’ve made yours as well, lion,” he continued, raising a hand and waving it. In an instant Veronica appeared from behind the dark throne. As Faro watched her walk, wearing the same white dress she had several days earlier when she had created the Shadruul with her magic. Her eyes seemed dead, hollow, like there was no life there. It sent a chill down Faro’s spine.
“You’ve come all this way to save her,” Umbra said in his deep voice, “and now, she’s going to kill you all!” At this, Veronica raised hand, palm up, and ignited a yellow ball of magic within it, the same creepy smile as Umbra crossing her face.
“Shit!” said Tobi. “We can’t kill her! What do we do?”
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Faro’s mind was reeling. They were still surrounded by Umbra, twelve of his undead elves, and now a possessed Veronica. Lena was down, possibly dying. They had no magic among them to fight back. They somehow needed to kill Umbra, and then the other elves would either disappear, or at least hopefully flee if their master was dead. As for Veronica, killing Umbra should break the spell on her too if he had to make a guess at how the magic worked.
“Thora, get Lena into that side chamber over there,” said Faro, pointing to an entryway to another room not far from them as the twelve elves and Umbra all lowered their staffs to point at them. “Boys,” he said, quickly turning to Tobi and Mathias, “we’ve got to move fast. Same plan as when we fought Rork.”
They both nodded at him, and Faro could see Tobi’s hands wringing around his axe handle, relishing the chance to jump back into a fight instead of cowering behind a pillar.
“Now!” yelled Mathias, and Tobi and Faro lunged forward before the magic started shooting at them. Mathias himself ran back behind the pillar to take cover from the initial blast of spells. Peeking around he saw Faro and Tobi dodging and rolling between blasts. A few of them were close, but they made it. He could see Thora had moved Lena safely into the side room as all fire was drawn to the two fighters. Mathias took that as his cue and bolted around the side of the room, hugging the wall. Instead of pulling a lever like he had with Rork, he planned to wait at the back of the dais, his sword at the ready.
All the elves were recharging for their next attack, and Faro and Tobi pressed their advantage. “Going low!” yelled Tobi, and Faro had just enough time to see the humor in this. Taking the three steps up to Umbra, Tobi swung his axe low at the Charred Sceptre, trying to smash the weapon in half and rid Umbra of his new power.
The elf king stepped back and dodged the swing, cackling. Just then Faro came in high with an overhead swing with his sword. Umbra stepped backwards again, but brought his staff up to parry the blow. Faro was hoping that they would be able to overpower the spindly old magic user, but he was apparently drawing strength from the Charred Scepter. Faro was hoping his swing would have broken the staff in two, but the king held fast as the staff did its job to block the blow. His elf underlings and Veronica just watched the battle with their hollow eyes, too afraid to fire magic at the fighting trio for fear of hitting their king.
Faro could see Mathias waiting behind the dais, sword at the ready to impale Umbra once he fell backward off the dais. Bolstered by this, he broke into his furious rage fighting mode and kept delivering blow after blow, pushing Umbra back further. Just one more step and he’d fall backwards. Faro held his breath. Tobi came in low again and tried to take out one of Umbra’s legs, hoping to unbalance him and make him fall.
Umbra cackled as he slammed down his staff and the light ignited. Faro and Tobi froze midswing, unable to move. “I know your strategy, gentlemen. I am no dumb bog troll,” he said as he thrust the staff backwards. Without touching him physically, the magic from the staff sent Mathias flying backwards, smashing against the back wall. He fell unconscious to the floor. “And now, Veronica, please come finish these two.”
Faro and Tobi starred in horror as the little girl they had come all this way to save walked in front of them, her magic flaming in both hands, ready to take them down. Everyone in the room was staring at them, waiting to watch their master dispatch his enemies in gruesome form. “Too bad you didn’t count on me knowing how you fight!” laughed Umbra.
Before anyone could move, a spiked mace came whirling through the air and sunk deep into the elf king’s head. His skull caved in and a silent scream hung on his wide open mouth. Trails of purple goo ran down his face from the wounds the spikes had created in his skull. “Too bad you didn’t count on me being here!” said Thora as she pulled her mace free from Umbra’s head. Umbra collapsed to the ground in a heap, as did the other undead elves around them. Faro and Tobi were able to move again now that the magic was broken.
Veronica’s magic faded in her hands and she shook her head wildly. When she opened her eyes and looked at Faro, the light of a little girl had returned to them, and Faro smiled. Veronica burst out into tears and she lunged forward to hug Faro. “You came for me!” she said, waking from a deep stupor she had been in since she got here. “You saved me!”
Faro didn’t have time to answer as a clapping sound rang through the air. They all turned to look at who was applauding this moment, and a ghastly site greeted them. Walking out of the room where Thora had taken Lena for shelter was a seven-foot-tall demon with the elongated face of a black horse. His robe was black, and appeared to be on fire at the fringes.
“Oh, brova!” the horse-demon whispered, and yet his voice somehow carried throughout the entire room in a demonic hiss. “You defeated the elderly and saved a talentless sorceress child by hiding. You all should be proud.” His voice was dripping in sarcasm.
The horseman approached the dais and looked at them in contempt. “Such worthless, insignificant beings were able to defeat my champion.” Now he looked down at Umbra, who was writhing on the ground, grasping to his last moments of life and breathing out loud, raspy breaths. “I can’t believe I wasted so much time on such a lost cause. Hundreds of years!” The demon smiled. “Although not all is lost.”
The horse-demon held out his human hand and made a motion through the air. The fallen Charred Scepter started to shake on the ground as the demon tried to summon it, but as it lifted and started to move through the air Umbra used his waning strength to reach up and grab it before it moved out of reach.
“No!” Umbra croaked, his voice very weak. Veronica screamed as Umbra’s other bony hand latched onto her ankle. Faro felt like her body shocked him and he jumped back as the hands that were still on her shoulders felt the jolt, and he watched as Umbra, barely alive, latched onto the poor little girl and began siphoning the life from her.
Veronica didn’t stop screaming as the life left her body and went into Umbra. Faro could see it was some sort of reverse of what Lena had done for him by giving her life force earlier. Instead of giving, Umbra was rejuvenating himself by using his captive.
Tobi swung his axe at Umbra’s arm, but was blasted back by the same electric jolt that had sent Faro reeling. Whatever the connection was, it was not meant to be broken until it was complete. The demon below the dais laughed menacingly, not attempting to break the bond either. He looked as though he was enjoying this turn of events.
Veronica dropped to the ground, too weak to stand now, and Faro raised his sword, ready to strike Umbra down the second the connection was broken. The dent in Umbra’s skull didn’t seem to be reforming, but Faro could see that the elf king was still regaining his strength and ability to move. He wasn’t sure how much the undead needed an intact skull, but the life he was draining from Veronica seemed to be what he needed to regain functionality.
Faro watched in awe as Umbra seemed to grow taller and with more muscles than he had in the entire two weeks they had known him. When the magic finally broke, he was much wider than Faro, and taller by several feet. He was more of a beast than an elf now, and a hatred raged in his eyes as he stared down at the demon. The demon broke out into another cackle that sounded like a snake hissing as it slithered through the grass towards its unsuspecting prey.
“There he is!” the demon said, almost dancing a little jig at how much this amused him. “There’s my champion. Too bad you’re broken now.”
Umbra’s good eye narrowed in on the demon. The other seemed to have been damaged by the mace. “You are breaking your laws by being here, Sydon,” he said, looking down on the demon. “Virtrodan have no place here on this plane.”
Sydon shrugged. I’ve wasted hundreds of years at the bottom of the pecking order placing my bets on a powerful elf king. I thought that my bet would have paid off, but instead I just got failure after failure as your hubris drove you to ruin,” the demon said as he started to pace down below the steps, eyeing his prey at the top. “I’m taking the Charred Scepter with me so I can deliver it to someone more… capable,” Sydon finished.
“That’s not happening,” said Umbra, raising the staff and pointing the golden gem at the demon. “No one else will use it to set things right. Everything I’ve done has been for the heir…”
“Everything you’ve done has been undone by a lowly girl with a mace,” laughed Sydon. Even as you persevered after your death and killed off most of Evania with the Scourge, you continued to fail with increasing magnitude. This charade of a kingdom you made… was all to hide your massive piles of failure. You are nothing, Umbra. I have no more use of you.”
As this exchange went on, Faro picked Veronica up off the ground and into his arms, slowly backing down the stairs and away from the mad elf king. She was ghost white, but still breathing. Sydon and Umbra were still locking eyes, both too concerned with each other to worry about the others that were still conscious in the room. Faro moved quickly away from them and hid behind the shattered column with Tobi, Thora, and Veronica.
Up on the dais Umbra looked hurt for a moment at Sydon’s comments, and then his one good eye blazed with rage. “I have done much that has hurt my family and Evania in my efforts to save it, but I’ll be damned to Baladan myself if I let you take this staff and walk this plane.”
Sydon chuckled. “Fine. Use it on me,” he said, shrugging. “Virmorphia cannot hurt the Virtrodan, and that staff is now infused with it.” The demon threw his arms out wide, conveying his general uncaring for anything that Umbra had to throw at him. “And now I’m going to take it,” he finished, raising his hand to try and summon the staff.
Umbra slammed the staff into the ground and it lit up. Only it wasn’t the gem that lit up, but a forcefield around the staff. Sydon grunted in the effort to try and summon the staff, but whatever Umbra had cast around it made it so he couldn’t pull it towards himself. The demon screamed in rage, a high-pitched shrill shriek, almost like a youngling who didn’t get his way.
Umbra tossed the staff to the side and it landed by the pillar. It was still covered in the shield, so Faro didn’t dare pick it up, but he watched in awe as Umbra faced off against his master without the mighty weapon he’d just forged by sacrificing his daughter. Clapping his hands together and clasping them, Umbra began to mutter in the tongues that Faro had quickly become accustomed to hearing lately. The beast of an elf king's whole body began to glow pure white.
Sydon began to laugh as he waved his arms, summoning a purple light magic to his hands. “You haven't used Solana's Light in a hundred years! You think you have it in you now, here at your end?”
Umbra ignored him and kept muttering the strange language of Solana’s magic, taking steps down from the dais to approach his master. The light coursing through him was growing brighter and brighter until Faro had to squint just to see what was happening. Veronica gave a soft whimper in his arms and he tried to calm her.
“Shh…shh…shhh… it's okay,” he told her, but as the white and purple magic surrounding the two adversaries met, he wasn't so sure they would be okay.
Umbra was so close to Sydon that their light clashed together, and the resulting noise was deafening. Neither stopped staring at each other the entire time, Umbra muttering in his tongues, and Sydon willing his magic to be stronger with some kind of nonverbal cues.
The light from the elf king reached pure white, and Umbra was gone within it, totally engulfed in his own spell. For the first time a look of terror crossed the horse-demon’s face and he took a step back, but it was too late. Umbra threw himself into the demon, whose light extinguished.
Sydon whinnied in pain and agony as he was entangled in The Light, unable to free himself. The white light shrank in an instant, imploding upon itself, and for a brief second, as time stood still, Faro could see Umbra had his arms fully wrapped around Sydon, the demon trying desperately to free himself. This vision only lasted a moment, then the light that had withdrawn came bursting out of Umbra in full power.
Faro ducked back behind the column, throwing his body over Veronica, Thora, and Tobi. He said a quick prayer to Solana that Mathias and Lena were far enough away from the explosion not to get hurt as light rushed past the column and lit up the entire space so bright they all had to slam their eyes shut, though they could still see bright light through their eyelids.
The light lasted a few seconds before it blinked out, and then the room went pitch dark.