Chapter 152

“I hear boss music,” Riley said as they neared the door to the throne room.

“Boss music?” Tobias prompted, his nerves eating through the fear.

“Every video game I’ve ever played... So many of them end in a castle, you take out a few guards, and then boss music. It’s time to take down the big bad,” She explained.

Tobias sighed.

“But there’s no convenient power-ups here or health items, so it’s not exactly right,” she rambled.

“Riley, you’re an unknowable, alien, and utterly strange beast, but I thank the Gods for you. I wouldn’t be who I am without you, and I love you,” Tobias said, the words spilling out from him like a waterfall.

Her ears went flat as her whiskers twitched, only for Riley to turn around and mule-kick him in the shins.

“What was that for?” Tobias asked, struggling to keep his voice above a whimper.

“That’s dying talk! No one is dying today save for our target,” she insisted.

Through their connection, he could feel her worry and concern.

Looking back, knowing they were short on time, he knelt and pet her ears back. “No dying today. Let’s go get Darius and Harold and be done with it,” As Tobias spoke, another explosive vial appeared in his hand.

“Super villain rule number one, know how to make an entrance,” Riley intoned as they both cleared a good ten feet back, ducking behind some debris.

“You know, I’ve looked upon this castle my whole life with awe. I never thought I’d be tearing it down,” Tobias grinned madly before letting the vial fly.

With a thunderous boom, the heavy banded door to the royal throne room exploded into splinters.

Tobias and Riley charged forth, calling for their magic. Paws and hands glowed as they breached in, and the dust cleared.

The room was massive, more like the main chamber of a cathedral, but even more grand, with three stories of stained-glass windows stacked one row above the other like a pyramid, showing scenes from the ages of the Kingdom of Ashes.

At the back, perched above the throne, was a rose window, showing the first sovereign and his final “victory” over the Fae.

Thereupon a golden throne, at the top of a carved stone staircase, sat Chadrick, with Mavora on his shoulder.

Darius and Harold both were chained to pillars near the throne holding up the ceiling.

“Tobias, run! That’s not Chadrick! Not anymore!” Darius cried, his face bloodied and anguished.

Chadrick’s face twisted into a sadistic grin, around his neck hung the pendant Riley had seen at Timbergarde. Far from inert, now it pulsed with iridescent light, undulating through the spectrum of colors, adding an eerie and ethereal beauty.

Tobias drew his sword and pointed it toward the throne, “In the name of the King of Ashes, I’m ordering you to surrender to the custody of the Rangers of the Realm. Release my family.”

“That oughta work, thank you, Ray...” Riley quipped.

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“Tobias, so good of you to come to your death,” came an unnatural voice from the mouth of Chadrick. The words crawled like a corrupting filth across the stony floor, dripping with corruption.

“His eyes are red and sparking. Kind of on the nose,” Riley snarked as the former viceroy stood up and moved like a strange puppet. Arms and feet jerked in cryptic and unnatural patterns.

Tobias took up a bracing position as the hawk turned her attention upon Riley with murderous intent.

Riley cast Celestial Insight.

Chadrick Astor, 1-0, Augmented, Deific Vessel, Chaotic Evil

Sold his soul and others for power.

You should probably run.

With a flash of blinding speed, Chadrick appeared in front of Darius’ column and slammed his hand around his neck.

Riley saw the energy bleed off of him as Darius gasped in shock, his skin growing pale and his eyes sunken.

Tobias screamed and charged while Darius sputtered.

“Run... boy... I’m an old man already. Get Harold and get...” The old man’s head went slack while Tobias was in mid-cast.

With an anguished cry, he slung a fire bolt.

Chadrick held up his hand as if in greeting and absorbed it before flicking his hand in Tobias’ direction, sending him flying back into the wall, skipping across the floor as he traveled, battering and abusing his body.

“You bastard!” Riley screamed as Mavora took off in flight, with a hawk’s cry she dived towards the hare, as every instinct within her told her to run.

But Riley was not helpless. She had more than just her legs for defense.

Righteous Flame/ Flame Wall

The flames leapt up not just racing across the floor, but dropping down from the ceiling as if both were slicked in oil. Mavora went to turn, having to stop her dive to prevent being immolated, only to pull up and find more flames closing around her like a maw. Throwing herself back, her wings beat in a blind panic to prevent being crunched between the blades of flame racing towards her.

Which is exactly what Riley was counting on.

Mana Vampire

Reaching out, she pulled with all her might, her power wrapping around the hawk as the beastly demon cried out in panicked anguish.

“All that power, all that work, and he never shared any of it with you, did he? You stupid bitch!” Riley screamed, worried and fearful for Darius. The thought of him dying, or having already died, pushed her towards rage.

Tobias, meanwhile, pulled himself up, his eyes first locked onto the lifeless body of Darius, hanging limply from the column, only for his eyes to flick towards the still squirming body of Harold, whose face was twisted into a mask of pure horror.

“Super hero rule number one, get the civvies out,” Tobias whispered to himself, scanning around for any sign of Sabine and the others, yet they were nowhere to be found.

“Hey, you miserable son of a Kraus!” Not waiting for his words to finish, Tobias threw an explosive vial towards Chadrick, arching the shot so that it sailed parabolically between the jaws of Riley’s flame wall.

Chadrick, stupidly, looked down as it impacted and exploded, denting and chipping the stone, sending pellets of debris shattering stained glass windows.

Unhurt and unaffected by the rain of glass sparkling in a thousand colors, he looked toward Tobias. He grinned before turning his attention to Riley and his struggling familiar Mavora, who was locked in the rictus of Riley’s mana draining spell.

The hare was pushing everything she had into the siphon, doing all she could to keep Mavora disabled, drawing from what felt like an infinite well of dark power.

The hawk fluttered on the ground as if its wings were broken, already looking sick and diseased, feathers were falling out as Chadrick watched with deatchd interest.

“Master, help me! Her grip is too strong! I did all this for you! I fell for you! Repay my loyalty!” Mavora screeched out, yet Riley felt no pity.

“You killed Zorna! You hurt my family! Now I’m going to take everything from you!” Riley seethed.

Tobias cast another firebolt. As if stepping out of the way of a slow pitched softball Chadrick blurred to the right.

“Did you really do it for me, fool? Did you ever truly betray him? You’ve served your purpose. Now receive your reward,” raising his hand before closing his middle and index finger towards his thumb and making a twisting motion Mavora’s head twitched left then right, before her body went slack and Riley felt what was left of her tortured soul flow past her in a hot yet icy burst of pure ethereal rage.

“What?” Riley blinked up in surprise as Tobias, with a black blade in hand, charged.

“Tiresome,” Chadrick held out his hand and with a gesture towards the floor slamming Tobias into the cobblestones as if gravity had a grudge against him.

Far across the room from behind the throne, a small door opened as Sabine and the others entered quietly.

“Let him go!” Riley seethed, casting chaos cracker towards the fiend.

Predictably, Chadrick absorbed the assault and took one step toward her.

“Mavora served her purpose, but her replacement is finally here.” He grinned as Riley felt a tug, and it felt suddenly as if the entire world slammed down upon her.