Chapter 29: Exacore

Eli and Alice ran from a monstrosity. Draven had merged all the creatures into one, creating a being of titanic size and horror. It seemed to have no physical form. Instead it sloshed around obstacles forming arms and some semblance of a head when ever necessary. it closed in quickly on Alice and Eli, who in comparison seemed like ants. He threw his hand down shattering the ground beneath. Alice and Eli dove out of the way in opposite directions. Alice ran barehanded but Eli held the Exacore. Draven didn’t hesitate in chasing Eli, and it didn’t take him long to figure out why Eli took the core.

He was fast, at least faster than expected, though this would do little to save him. Eli made a sharp turn around a large jutting rock. Draven slammed behind him, only inches away. Eli ran forward with all his ability. He spared only split second glances to see how far ahead he was and always regretted looking. Draven was never more than a few feet behind, in fact, the only reason Eli hadn’t been caught was because of his constant cutting of directions, which only seemed to annoy Draven.

Eli had been lucky, but that luck would run out. Draven clipped his leg making him fall the ground. in am instant Draven pinned him to the ground. Eli tried to move, but he couldn’t so much as move a finger. “You put up a good fight kid but it’s over now.” Eli looked him dead-on, his eye’s glinted with defiance.

“You really think so,” He said. Draven paused with confusion. Then his eye’s narrowed. He released Eli and saw what he had thought was the Exacore, vanish. His eyes widened in realization, he cranked his head in the direction that Alice had run off in, but she was nowhere to be seen, he looked back at the ground and saw that Eli was also gone.

“ARRRRRRGH!” His wail was had a weight. Eli’s tail burned as his body screamed at him to lie down and stay down. But he pushed on, and found shelter in a rut. this was the plan. All he and Alice could do now was hide. “I know you kid,” Draven began to speak, the sound of paws hitting the ground and growls rumbled. “I know the type of person you are, I saw it in your eyes,” he paused, “I knew someone like you once. He wanted nothing more than to be noticed, to be loved, day after day he would tell me stories about how great he would become, and he would speak about becoming the best maestro until my ears fell off, annoying as he was, he was good, kind, and always tried his best.”

Eli listened intently because he heard cracks in Draven’s voice, slight, almost unnoticeable but there nonetheless, the type of cracks a voice makes when it’s trying its best to hide grief. “You know what they did to him . . . The killed him, they devoured him, the people you trust, the people you look up to. You want to be a maestro, kid! let me educate you, They hate us! They loathe us! They’re disgusted by us! We’re nothing more than tools to be used in wars they started! We’re not wanted, we’re needed! And when that need is fulfilled we’re discarded! To be Maestro is to be hated, and to hate in return. But I can change that, I will change that, I will shake this world, even if I die in the process. I will make them see. I will make understand. I will make them fear.”

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“Noo!” Alice’s voice rung in Eli’s ears. He peaked his head and Alice being held by one Draven’s creatures. Draven, he was still in that monstrous formed approached Alice. Eli jumped out from the crack and followed behind. He had to do something, he had to save her. The creature that held Alice vanished, but she didn’t couldn’t run. Draven grabbed her. She held the satchel that Eli usually carried tightly, her aim was to protect it’s contents but she accomplished the opposite. Her protection of it told Draven what he wanted to know. he held Alice tightly in one hand and with his other pulled the satchel, and a blue-green glow emerged. He froze at the sight of it, and Alice used the opportunity. She tugged at the satchel causing it’s contents to fall, her sketch book included.. From that she pulled a spear and Drove it into Draven’s eye.

He howled in pain dropping her to the ground. She grabbed the Exacore and began running towards the approaching Eli.

Eli ran as fast as he could, he tried to warn her but he couldn’t say the words. Draven swung at her and black mass – ashen sickle -, a sliced through the air slamming into Alice’s back. Eli saw as her eye’s widened in shock, as blood left her mouth, and as she fell to the ground tossing the core out in front of her. A pit formed in Eli’s stomach, a ball in his throat. His body moved on autopilot, he wasn’t thinking that he had to get to her, he simply was.

Eli fell to his knees as he reached her body. He turned it over, hoping for something hoping for a sign of life. there was none. Her eye’s looked like glass, and her lips were stained red. Eli looked up and saw Draven approaching. The ground cracked and shattered as he approached Eli with rage. But his rage was nothing compared Eli’s.

The Exacore unleashes pure magic from the wielder.

Draven’s rage was explosive, and destroyed everything that it touched. But Eli, who wrapped his tail around the core, became frigid. With no hesitation he held the core out in front of him. It began to glow and tug at something deep within him. Eli knew he didn’t have much to offer, and he knew it wouldn’t end well for him but he didn’t care, he had to do it. He stopped relaxed himself and let the core rip the magic from his body.

leaving nothing behind, it drains them, ending their life.

Time seemed to freeze as a light emerged. The ground shattered as the energy blast forward. The light blinded Eli. And when all cleared, when he could see clearly again, there was nothing. No Draven, the island, the only land was the exposed ocean floor. Eli stared in disbelief, then he collapsed. He didn’t feel himself hit the ground, he just did. He stared upwards, his body was motionless, and his vision darkened. He glanced at Alice reached for her hand. She didn’t react. A pain bloomed between his eyes.

Then, a figure appeared above him, “Eli!” it called, “Eli!” but he didn’t answer. He couldn’t as all faded to black.