Kalos looked at his father as the particles of darkness that were once a part of Kraeven disappeared.
“We're going to have to fight him,” Raymond said.
“Yes,” Kalos said as he walked toward Kalosýni’s barrier.
“This has dramatically changed things. I originally wanted to find the strong. But with both the forces of Nesrafaar and Nar' Agrun against it, humanity will surely perish.” Kalos said as he leaned against a tree.
“You and I could take all of them out, you know,” Raymond said.
“I know, but I wonder. Why did Kraeven want to rid us of our powers? He seems genuinely concerned with keeping this world in one piece. Maybe he wanted to rule over it absolutely and maybe our existence jeopardized that.” Kalos wondered.
“Mmm… I just realized something.” Raymond said as Eevana walked towards them.
“If Nar' Agrun created Kraeven as its champion, then maybe our realm created the singing children as candidates for our champion,” Raymond said.
“Then maybe the dreaded are Nar' Agrun's way of retaliation,” Raymond added.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“Oh, Kraeven wants to destroy everything and everyone. He was really upset that dad and I didn’t give up our powers, so he decided to send his armies to our realm to teach us a lesson, I guess.” Kalos said.
“Mmm… does this prove that he is the being in your vision?” Eevana asked.
“Well… not everything matches up yet. But the being in my vision did seem a bit regretful about everything and Kraeven does want to keep this world in one piece, but he also wants to wipe out humanity. Mmm… I briefly spoke to an elafriá named Arcturus and he said that the giant contentum protected their realm from something beyond our world. He said that there are beings out there as strong as me. Maybe Kraeven wants to be this worlds sole protector against those beings.” Kalos said.
“Oh? Then why in the world is he trying to kill us? Wouldn’t it be better if we all fought together against those otherworldly threats?” Raymond asked.
“Hey, that’s just my assumption. For all we know, Kraeven is just a crazed man who wants to rule the world because Nar' Agrun tells him to do so.” Kalos said as he paced around.
“Anyway, we’ll have to figure that out later. Right now, thousands of dark beings and elafriá are laying waste to our realm. Dad and I are going to reduce their numbers, but my trial still stands. I want the strong to rise. Eevana, you stay here and defend Estella at all costs. This barrier will protect you, should Kraeven try and attack you, but that might not matter since I’ll just fly back if he does.” Kalos said as he turned to leave.
“What about me?” Peeta asked from behind a tree.
“Can I help?” He asked.
“Yes, but make sure to leave some for our fellow humans to fight. I will head north. Dad, you go from east to west. Peeta, you can handle the south.” Kalos instructed before hopping out of the barrier and flying away.
“When exactly did he become the boss around here?” Peeta asked as his body was covered in dark black armour.
“I don't know, but you won’t catch me complaining,” Raymond said as he dashed out of the bubble.
Peeta looked at Eevana, who gave him a slight nod.
He smiled before dashing out of the bubble.
Eevana sighed as she returned to the campfire, where Crimwal sat.
She sat next to him and silence followed as the flames before them flickered.
This was the first time they were alone together.
Eevana made sure to absorb all of her darkness.
Crimwal then stretched his small hands before yawning.
“Feeling sleepy?” Eevana asked.
“No, not really. Just a bit tired.” Crimwal said before silence returned to the camp.
Estella was feeding Keema in the carriage in silence as time passed.
“It’s times like these when you notice just how impactful Kalos and Raymond are,” Crimwal said.
“Indeed,” Eevana said.
“Even the littlest things turn into life-altering events when they are around. A chance encounter. A simple journey. A battle. They always blow things way out of proportion.” Crimwal said.
“Indeed,” Eevana said before noticing a certain presence beyond the walls of Kalosýni’s barrier.
She stood up and turned to leave.
“Going somewhere?” Crimwal asked.
“My sister is just outside the barrier. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.” Eevana said making Crimwal look at himself.
“Ok,” Crimwal said with a smile before Eevana hopped out of the barrier to see a legless, armless torso on the ground.
A trail of black blood led into the woods, but Eevana paid it no mind.
“Your master... is overpowered.” Taeana wheezed.
Eevana sat beside her sister and gently ran her hands through her hair. She gently plucked out the numerous twigs and little stones that had ended up in her hair.
“Yeah. Do you want me to heal you?” Eevana asked.
“No. It's also probably too late. What use is a saepenar who cannot protect its master?” Taeana asked as she continued to bleed.
The two sat in silence for some time as snow continued to fall.
Eevana then realized that Kalosýni’s barrier completely protected her from the outside world as she couldn’t sense any of what happened beyond the barriers walls.
“Do you ever wish you hadn’t left Nar' Agrun and stayed with me?” Taeana asked.
“No. For as lonely as I was at the beginning of my time here, I ended up finding something beyond precious.” Eevana said as a cold wind blew by.
“How about you, sister? Do you ever wish you could have followed me if you could have?” Eevana asked as Taeana’s life force slowly faded.
“Yes, in a way. My time in Nar’ Agrun was filled with endless darkness, battles and death. Sure, master Kraeven’s existence provided me with some sort of fulfilment, but that was just the saepenar in me rejoicing at having a master to serve. Other than that...” Taeana’s voice faded as she wheezed.
“What was Kraeven like?” Eevana asked as snow-covered both her and Taeana.
“Kraeven was born in the darkest part of Nar' Agrun. He is the strongest of all the dark beings, but once he reached the throne room at the top of the spire of sin. He doubted himself. After nearly a lifetime of fighting his way through Nar' Agrun, he sensed two life forces that were infinitely brighter than his. He knew that the existence of those two beings would ultimately hinder him from fulfilling his destiny and so he tried getting them to eliminate themselves. But now that he failed, he is going to try to forcefully take his place on the throne of the lords. He’ll become this world’s saviour and protect it from those from beyond.” Taeana said.
“You sound very confident in your master,” Eevana said.
“Isn’t that the way we are designed? Don’t tell me that at any point during your time here, that you’ve ever doubted the one you serve. It’s just the way we were created.” Taeana whispered before her life force completely disappeared.
Eevana sighed before getting up and shaking the snow off her body.
She then returned to the barrier where she mean Crimwal waiting for her by a tree.
"Are you alright?” He asked.
“Yes,” Eevana said as they both returned to the campfire.
Estella slowly exited the carriage before walking around the campfire as she shushed Keema to sleep.
.
Stolen story; please report.
..
Kalos swung all four of his Reu’s sideways, sending the blood on their edges flying onto the snow.
Below him, lay a mountain of various corpses. The smell of blood and other fluids filled the air, but that’s not what concerned Kalos.
No matter how far he looked, he couldn’t find any competent human fighters.
Kalos was in Iannton. A small town on the western side of the Iann river and from what he could see, it was a pretty terrible place to live, but after the elafriá attacked and Kraeven unleashed his army, it had become uninhabitable.
Kalos then saw a woman and child hiding in the basement of a collapsed house. They weren’t going to survive long, even though Kalos placed a barrier above the small town keeping it relatively warm.
Kalos thought about saving them. They were pretty weak, so Kalos wondered what good postponing their deaths would do, but he couldn’t deny the possibility that the woman’s child could be a potential warrior in the future.
Kalos walked over to the collapsed house and slashed away at the rubble with Reu. He then made his way to the basement where he saw a frightened woman clutching her son.
The woman trembled in fear, but she quickly realized that Kalos was neither elafriá nor dark being.
Kalos approached the two before sitting next to them as he analyzed the boy's essence. He could see normal amounts of light and normal amounts of darkness.
Kalos sighed disappointedly.
The woman wept as Kalos eyed her and her son's magical essence.
Kalos then let out a grunt before getting up to leave. He looked back and saw that the woman had closed her eyes, but the boy looked at Kalos almost fearlessly.
“Oh?” Kalos sounded with an amused expression.
Kalos then created a barrier around the house and knelt near the two.
Kalos then created a small dagger and a large sword. He placed them in front of the woman.
“Protect her at all costs, ok?” Kalos asked as his hair gently glowed.
The boy frowned before nodding ever so slightly.
Kalos got up and left the basement before taking a deep breath. He regretted this as the air was filled with the smell of death and rot.
He then heard something approaching from the south. He turned to find a gigantic creature with an elongated neck that was covered in nasty teeth.
Kalos remembered reading about a creature with a similar description in the red book he’d read a while back. It was called a palegen.
Kalos dashed towards it and one of his four Reu wielding arms attacked, cleaving off a large chunk of the palegen’s flesh.
Kalos then repeated this, but with all of his arms, dicing the creature in the process.
He then found himself completely coated in blood, but he didn’t mind as long as he gave mankind a fighting chance.
Kalos then remembered that he left Kalnae in Tolman. He wondered how she was doing and so he flew towards the Tsav mountains.
He slowly descended into the mountain town, to find the streets covered with the corpses of humans, elafriá and dark beings.
A wounded knight walked up to Kalos with his sword drawn.
Kalos looked at the knight to find that his arm was completely gone and he had a hole in his stomach, but that didn’t prevent him from trying to fight.
Kalos would have applauded the knight's bravery if his actions weren’t so stupid.
“Go get some help, or you’ll die soon,” Kalos said as he walked towards where he sensed Neelae was.
He found her in one of Tolman’s many buildings where she was being treated for an injury to her right leg.
The three knights in the room all stood and pointed their bloody swords at Kalos.
“Calm down. It’s only Kalos.” Neelae wheezed.
“Hello.” Kalos greeted.
“What happened? I thought we were only supposed to be fighting the elafriá.” Neelae asked as she bit her teeth.
“That was the plan until Kraeven decided to destroy us all,” Kalos said before explaining everything that had happened between him and Kraeven.
“I see…” Neelae said with a sorrowful expression.
“So if the you in your vision saw this much death and the current you is also living in a dark timeline, then what difference did keeping your powers make?” Neelae asked.
“Not sure. Anyway, I’m off to check on Eslaf.” Kalos said as he turned to leave.
“Wait!” Neelae yelled desperately.
Kalos looked back with a raised brow.
“Could you not heal my soldiers before you leave?” Neelae asked.
Kalos closed his eyes as he felt the life forces of all the remaining people in Tolman. He could feel some decently strong life forces and a small group of weak ones.
Kalos sighed before looking at Neelae.
“Like I said, I don’t want to interfere in the culling. Trust me. The strong will rise, but until then, they must endure.” Kalos said before taking a step towards the door.
“Endure what?” Neelae yelled, stopping Kalos.
“I should’ve asked this before, but what gives you the right to make such cruel decisions?” She yelled, even as her leg slowly healed.
“How many will have to die before you see just how crazy what you’re doing is?” She asked.
“Or will it take the loss of one of yours?” Neelae asked.
Kalos turned to face her. Neelae didn’t flinch even though Kalosýni looked down at her with his bright blue eyes.
“If anyone I care about dies under my watch, then that means I was either careless or unworthy. However, as far as I can tell, I can and will protect those I love. I suggest that you and the others find the same resolve.” Kalos said as he walked out of the building.
He raised his hand and felt that the temperature was perfect.
This would keep the citizens of Tolman from freezing. But what about their food and other needs? Kalos wondered as he flew into the sky.
He then made his way to Marf and placed a barrier around the whole area of the vast farmland.
Although he could barely feel any life forces within Marf, Kalos knew it would be best if the kingdom's food supplies didn’t disappear.
Kalos then fell to the ground before spotting a few elafriá and dark beings fighting in the distance.
He wondered how much better it would be if the people in Eslaf moved to Marf, where there was enough space and food for everyone.
Kalos smacked his fist into his open palm before dashing toward the fighting elafriá and dark beings. There were two hundred elafriá in the area and about a hundred dark beings.
Kalos summoned his four Reu’s before accelerating at an incredible speed, dicing up any enemies he came across.
He mowed through dozens of his enemies as his charged up Reu’s cleaved apart anything unfortunate enough to be in their way.
Kalos landed between the elafriá and the dark beings.
“That one’s dangerous! Kill him quickly!” One of the elafriá yelled as the elafriá charged towards Kalos.
Kalos then heard a blood-curdling roar from one of the dark beings before the stampeded down towards Kalos.
Kalos took a deep breath before zapping towards the elafriá. He kicked one of them in the face with so much force he blew apart its skull and landed on several other unsuspecting elafriá.
The elafriá temporarily forgot their dark adversaries as they poured down on Kalos, but his four arms and Reu’s had more than enough power to deal with all of his foes.
The dark beings eventually joined in the fight and the ground on which Kalos stood quickly became a blood pit.
Kalos then slowly began turning as he charged up his Reu’s and even though doing this made him extremely dizzy, Kalos continued shredding his foes.
Kalos then noticed that a few of his enemies had managed to escape. He decided to leave then be as he made his way out of the meat mound he found himself at the centre of.
He then found the last elafriá hiding inside one of the houses in the almost deserted Marf.
He found it trembling on the floor. Its sword was placed on the ground beside it and it looked like it was crying.
“Umm… are you ok?” Kalos asked.
“Ah!” The elafriá screamed before it grabbed its sword and nervously pointed it at Kalos.
Kalos noticed that the sword's edge was clean, meaning it hadn’t killed anyone… yet.
“Can’t you just fly back to Nesrafaar? It doesn’t look like you want to fight, so why are you still here?” Kalos asked as he wiped the blood away from his face.
The elafriá continued to tremble as Kalos walked closer to it.
“I can’t exactly leave you here, since I have plans for this land, so come on.” Kalos said as he knelt.
The elafriá tried stabbing Kalos in the neck, but its light-based weapon slowly disappeared as soon as it touched Kalos.
Kalos gave up on trying to reason with the elafriá and so he got up and grabbed the creature by its chest, raising it in the process.
One of his Reu’s hovered in front of the elafriá’s neck as it trembled.
“Please-" Kalos stabbed the wall behind the elafriá with his third, Reu wielding, arm.
“Please?” Kalosýni’s eyes narrowed as the words left his mouth, making it seem as though his eyes were entirely blue.
“I want to live! Please let me live." The elafriá squealed before Kalos lowered his swords.
“And why should I do that? How do I know you’re not going to kill humans after this?” Kalos asked as the elafriá shook.
“I won’t kill anyone, I swear!” The elafriá said, but Kalos wasn’t satisfied.
“Ok, I’ll let you live, but you have to go back to Nesrafaar and convince your friends to stop coming down here,” Kalos instructed.
“Ok, I’ll try.” The elafriá said.
“No. Don’t try. You must do this unless you want more of your kind's blood to be spilt.” Kalos said as he walked towards the door, leaving the terrified elafriá to digest his words.
Kalos then walked out of the house and found that there were no more non-human threats in the area. Satisfied with this, Kalos flew towards Eslaf and saw it's beyond tragic state.
Kalos descended into Eslaf and landed without a sound. His ears were assaulted by screams of pain in the distance. The ground was drenched in the blood of the dead and the air was heavy with the smell of rot.
Kalos sighed as he looked around for any dark beings or elafriá who were too powerful for mankind to defeat.
He then noticed three peculiar life forces.
Kalos dashed towards them to find Alis, Trevenor and Reeca fighting a giant dark being.
Behind them stood an injured man who Kalos sensed was suffering from internal injuries.
Kalos sat on the roof of a mostly destroyed building and watched as they swiftly killed the dark being.
Its large body fell and its innards spewed out as a plume of dust flew into the air.
“Phew! That one was strong.” Trevenor quipped before running to the injured man’s side.
Alis then looked up and noticed a sitting Kalos.
“Are you going to sit there all day?” Alis asked. He was in his full velzen form, so Kalos could clearly see his dark grey skin as the sun came up.
Kalos jumped to where they were and gracefully landed.
“You handled that quite skillfully.” Kalos applauded, before noticing that Reeca was in a glorious white suit of armour.
“Tsk, sure. You would have killed it in what, a second?” Alis asked as the injured man stood with a groan.
“It doesn’t matter how fast I would have done it. What matters is that you emerged victorious.” Kalos said with a smile, but Alis turned his back on him.
“Anyway, I’m here to report that Marf is safe. You can go there if you like.” Kalos said.
“Oh? And what, pray tell, brought about this kindness?” Alis asked.
“Well… I just wanted to ensure that at least some of mankind survives this. I believe the soil in Marf is good. That means that growing food there will be more than possible.” Kalos said.
“You’re sick, you know that?” Alis said.
“What do you mean?” Kalos asked.
“Thousands of people just died and all you can say is: ooh, look at this, Marf has good fucking dirt!” Alis yelled, his eyes wide.
Kalos sighed before turning to leave.
“Not gonna say anything? Are you gonna leave us to our deaths?” Alis asked. His voice hoarse.
Kalos continued walking.
He made his way toward a group of knights where were gathered in a group.
Kalos counted about seventeen knights who noticed Kalosýni’s presence and drew their weapons immediately.
“Halt! Who goes there?” A tired voice asked.
Kalos felt a dark being approaching them at a high speed, but he ignored it.
“Isn’t that Kalosýni the Blue?” One knight asked.
“It could be him, but how do we know it’s not one of the dark beings, or maybe even a saepenar?” Another knight asked as Kalos slowly raised his hands.
“Don’t worry. I’m the real me.” Kalos said with a gentle smile as the dark presence got closer.
The knights felt it as well and readied themselves for battle.
“Oh? Prove it.” One knight asked and Kalos quickly summoned four Reu’s.
All of the knights gasped, but their awe was interrupted as a loud crashing noise came from behind Kalos.
Kalos turned around to find a creature that closely resembled Divon and the Aventor brothers.
It was slightly taller than a normal human, had large claws, large compound eyes and dark markings all over its body.
Kalos then deduced that only intelligent dark beings had the markings of the prophecy.