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Song of the Unborn
34. Maelstrom

34. Maelstrom

The velzen standing before Kalos trembled as it gazed upon Kalosýni’s mighty form.

Kalos looked around before jumping toward a nearby building, leaving the knights and the velzen in the rubble.

The knights shook in their armour as Kalos abandoned them.

[Why do you flee, great one?]

The velzen asked in the old tongue.

[Those will be your opponents. I will act only as observer.]

Kalos said as he pointed one of his Reu’s at the knights.

The velzen bowed gracefully.

[I am grateful.]

The velzen said before dashing towards the knights.

Five knights tried attacking at once, but the velzen clawed away at one of the knight's heads before ripping through the others with grotesque efficiency.

Kalos watched as the velzen tore through metal and flesh alike in its seemingly relentless quest for blood.

More knights joined the fight, but the velzen bathed in their innards as it spread its arms.

[Are you pleased?]

The velzen asked with a smile, exposing its needle-like teeth.

Kalos shook his head as he pointed at a frightened, but rather powerful knight.

The velzen narrowed its dark eyes before dashing towards the scared knight.

Yes, there were other surviving knights, but the velzen decided to make it his sole purpose to kill the scared knight.

The velzen extended its razor-sharp claws towards the knight, but the knight dashed away at the right time, narrowly escaping decapitation.

The velzen was about to swing its claws downwards, but the knights behind it all stabbed it simultaneously with their fosblades.

The velzen cried out in pain as it desperately tried ripping the scared knight to pieces, but that frightened knight from before got up and stabbed the velzen’s forehead with their fosblade.

The velzen’s body shook for a moment before becoming still.

The knights continued to slash and stab at the velzen, even though it was long dead.

Kalos then saw that the scared knight was looking right at him.

Kalos gently flew into the air above them.

“Go to Marf after this. It's relatively safe there.” Kalos said loudly enough for the bloodthirsty knights to hear.

He then flew to the sky. He searched for any signs of Kraeven, but upon finding none, he returned to the camp where Eevana and the others were.

Kalos landed and sunk into the barrier before touching the ground, only to see a clean Raymond and Peeta.

Kalos tilted his head in confusion before looking at his own, blood-soaked body.

“What took you so long?” Peeta asked.

“I was observing the survivors,” Kalos said slowly as he made his way toward the bath.

“Oh? Good, cause I was beginning to think you were slacking off.” Peeta said nervously, but then Kalos stopped walking.

“Wait a minute! Did you kill all of the elafriá and dark beings?” Kalos asked.

Raymond and Peeta looked at each other with widened eyes.

“I killed some… most of them,” Peeta admitted.

“Same,” Raymond admitted.

Kalos sighed before entering the bath.

Eevana then walked past Raymond and Peeta before joining Kalos.

“Were we not supposed to?” Peeta asked.

“I- no,” Raymond said.

Meanwhile, Kalos quickly bathed himself before sinking into the bath.

He then heard small footsteps behind him.

“How did it go?” Eevana asked.

“About as well as you might expect. People died. A lot. But I can feel it. The strong are slowly rising. Struggling. Surviving.” Kalos said.

“You’re right,” Eevana said as she ran her hands through Kalosýni’s wet hair.

Kalos made sure not to splash around too much as Eevana sat closely beside the bath.

“I just want-" Kalos was about to say but a massive surge in dark magic interrupted him.

Kalos hopped out of the bath, got dressed as he dried himself before he and Eevana joined Raymond by the campfire.

Raymond and Peeta were already in full battle gear as they looked up.

Kalos looked up to see a massive tornado of darkness. He quickly reinforced the barrier around them before running to the carriage where Estella was.

Kalos held Estella’s hand as the world shook.

Estella then leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.

Kalos nodded before walking toward Crimwal, who was being accompanied to the carriage by Raymond.

“My goodness, that’s a lot of darkness,” Peeta commented as he summoned his Eexel.

“An army would have been great about now.” He added before dashing out of the barrier. Raymond walked out after him.

Kalos dashed out last, exposing himself to the true power of the darkness before him.

It was suffocating. Never-ending. All consuming.

“Kraeven!” Raymond yelled into the sky.

“This is a really shitty way of saving the world, don’t you think?” Raymond asked as the darkness swirled across the sky.

Raymond, Kalos and Peeta walked towards the source of the darkness and found a bottomless pit that was several hundreds of meters wide.

[I will eliminate humanity and save this world. Then I will reign as its sole protector. even if my throne must be built from the skulls of my subjects!]

Kraeven yelled from within the darkness.

“He’s getting all that from Nar' Agrun?” Kalos asked as he looked for the source of Kraeven’s magic.

“Yes,” Raymond said as he charged his body up to its limits. He then assumed the form of the giant bird-like creature he’d once used against his son.

Peeta giggled before a storm of jet black darkness erupted from behind him. It swirled around his limbs and coiled in and out of his body as he smiled.

“Let’s go!” He said as his face morphed into a beastly muzzle with countless large sharp teeth.

His blue eyes glowed even brighter as his hind legs bent in impossible ways. His armour then seemingly became one with him as his body was covered in pitch-black fur.

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His right hand was replaced with a paw that had five blade-like claws that were nearly as sharp as Reu.

Kalosýni’s extra arms popped out from his back and each of them held a Reu.

[Hey, Ray!]

Peeta yelled in the old tongue, prompting the large bird-like creature to look back.

[This time I’m on your side. Don’t forget that and cut off my other arm, ya big idiot!]

Peeta yelled, even though his mouth didn’t move.

Kalos could’ve sworn that the Raymond bird smiled before a large orb of pure light appeared up above its head.

The giant bird then shot into the air, scorching the air it touched.

If they were going to kill Kraeven, they’d need to do it quickly. Kalos realized as the amount of darkness around them increased exponentially as the seconds passed.

Peeta dove straight into the abyss, leaving a trail of darkness that drew more darkness into it.

It was as though Peeta had a never-ending tail and it followed him into the pit.

Kalos flexed all four of his arms before charging his Reu’s to their maximum capacity.

He then swung all of them violently, cracking the skies above him open and splitting the tornado of darkness in two.

Kalos then saw more darkness spew out from the abyss.

A loud explosion then came from beside him. He looked and found a beastly Peeta, only he was coated in black blood.

[We have a problem.]

Peeta said as he pointed his paw downward.

Kalos saw an endless number of creatures of darkness rising from the abyss, but that wasn’t what worried him.

Slowly making their way up from the abyss were two Colossal creatures that had almost as much darkness as Raymond.

Kalos looked at Peeta.

“Think you can take them?” Kalos asked, prompting the beastly Peeta to bare his teeth.

[If Raymond can kill the contentum, I can kill the Haevrul.]

He said cockily before jumping back into the abyss.

Kalos then looked up to see his father blasting several white-hot death beams at the dark tornado, but no matter how much darkness he erased, more kept coming.

The tornado then stopped swirling before all of the darkness within it gathered at the centre. That darkness compressed several times over, revealing Kraeven.

His body sizzled as it struggled to contain all of the power Nar' Agrun had given it.

Kraeven was also covered in an armour-like exoskeleton, but before Kalos could inspect it any further, Raymond shot a beam at Kraeven, hurling him to the ground.

Kalos didn’t hesitate as he zapped to where Kraeven was.

Kraeven tried getting up, only to have Kalos cleanly cut off his limbs.

Kalos stopped himself mid-air, creating a massive shockwave. He then slashed away at Kraeven, reducing him to a paste.

Kalos was about to charge up his Reu’s when something from behind tried cutting his head off.

Kalos turned around to see a beautiful saepenar. He looked behind it to several more saepenar rising from the abyss.

Kalosýni’s heart ached as he continued charging his swords. He then swung them in the direction of the abyss, vaporizing all of the saepenar.

Kalos looked at the puddle of goo that was Kraeven only to see that it was regenerating.

Kalos flew up to his father and looked down into the abyss.

“This isn’t going to end until Nar' Agrun stops feeding him power,” Kalos said as Raymond flapped his mighty wings.

[We could go to Nar' Agrun and investigate what’s going on down there, but I’m not leaving Crimwal and Estella.] Raymond said.

Kalos nodded in agreement as Kraeven’s body started resembling its old self.

“And I don’t think we can keep this up forever,” Kalos said as he heard a massive explosion in the abyss.

Kalos didn’t need to see to know that Peeta was dealing an incredible amount of damage to one of the haevrul, even as thousands of dark beings clawed at him.

Kalos then charged up his swords as Kraeven’s body returned to normal.

Kalos and Raymond then let out their most powerful attacks, vaporizing Kraeven, but not a minute passed before his particles started gathering again.

[I noticed something as we fought.]

Kraeven said.

[If you two are lakes, then Nar' Agrun is an ocean. An endless ocean of power that only I have access to. Haha!]

Kraeven yelled as his body regenerated.

Kalos descended into the abyss and cast his blue light into the darkness, revealing an infinite amount of dark beings.

Their growls, screams and barks were deafening, but Kalos maintained his focus as he searched for Peeta, only to find him battling two Haevrul.

Kalos dashed towards one of the titans before attempting to chop off its head. His initial cut across the titan's neck didn’t do much damage, aside from splitting the skin. However, Kalos had fully charged his Reu’s before falling into the abyss, so a massive arc of magical energy tore through the haevrul's flesh, cut through its bones and separated its head from the rest of its body. The giant beast slowly fell into the darkness.

“Peeta!” Kalos yelled as a black familiar beast clawed its way to him using the walls of the abyss.

[What?]

Peeta barked.

“Kraeven isn’t gonna die, even if dad and I kill him a bunch of times. Can I ask that you go to Nar' Agrun?” Kalos asked as he swung away at the dark beings that were trying to make their way upwards.

Peeta tore apart any who approached him, coating his teeth red.

[I could. But It could be ages before I find anything. For you, at least.]

Peeta growled.

“It’s worth a try, no?” Kalos asked as he killed serval more dark beings. He had long since erected a barrier over the surrounding area, stopping the dark beings from leaving, but Kalos couldn’t do anything about the dark beings Kraeven had already unleashed onto the world.

Peeta looked down into the abyss.

[Fine. Wait for me- oh and Kalos… If I don’t come back. Tell Raymond I loved him ok?]

Peeta asked, but Kalos raised his right eyebrow.

“Tell him yourself, drama queen,” Kalos scoffed as he flew out of the abyss.

Peeta laughed at himself before letting go and charging himself with as much darkness as he could.

A red portal opened up below him and he disappeared into the dark realm.

Meanwhile, Kalos rose to see that Raymond hadn’t stopped blasting Kraeven to smithereens.

He then noticed Kraeven’s particles weren’t gathering this time, they were separating and forming clusters.

Kalos rushed in to destroy them, but they were taking shape faster than he could destroy them.

He backed away to see six fully grown Kraeven’s in front of him.

All of them possessed equal amounts of darkness and each of them glared at Kalos and Raymond with hatred.

[Why must I be doomed to suffer this fate?] One of the Kraeven’s cried.

[Why won’t you just die! Or disappear! Or something!] Another yelled.

They each held large swords and slowly moved toward Kalos who had already charged his Reu’s.

“We don’t have to fight, you know,” Kalos said as the swarm of dark beings continued to pour out of the abyss.

[No! I’ll show you. I’ll show you and Nar' Agrun that I’m worthy of the throne! I am more than this world needs and I alone will be its saviour!]

Kraeven yelled before silence befell the world around them.

Kalos looked around and saw that all of the dark beings had stopped moving.

Kraeven looked around and then touched his body. All of the Kraeven’s did this at the same time.

[Wait! No. This isn’t enough.]

One of the Kraeven’s yelled as he crawled toward the edge of the abyss.

[I need more- oh…]

Kraeven said as something flew into sight.

Kalos saw a silver being shoot up into the sky before dramatically landing beside him.

The dust settled, revealing a glorious silver beast with glorious blue eyes, silver fur and silver daggers for teeth.

“Oh, you’re back,” Kalos said.

[Yes, don’t cry your heart out. Anyway, I found the throne Kraeven kept talking about. It seems as though the realms are at war with each other. I think that after humanity started producing too much darkness, Nar' Agrun sent some dark beings to kill us off, but we were too powerful and so it began preparing for Kraeven’s birth, hence the prophecy. Our realm, however, wasn’t going to sit by while we died and so I think it created the singing children to defend itself. The dreaded are Nar' Agrun’s retaliation of sorts.]

Peeta said as Kraeven groaned.

[Nar' Agrun sent him up here to restore balance to the world and sit upon the throne of the lords as the worlds saviour.]

Peeta said.

“Ok, what about the whole end of the world thing?” Kalos asked.

[You’re not going to believe this, but Eevana was right. There’s an entire city beneath the spire of sin. I don’t know how, but the ocean of darkness has somehow been drained. I’m serious, it’s far lower than it used to be.]

Peeta said as he scratched his giant ear.

Kalos walked up to one of the Kraeven’s and stabbed him in the head.

“Mmm… maybe that’s because of all the dark beings Kraeven forced the dark realm to create. Maybe the dark realm abandoned him after seeing that he wasn’t worthy. Also, wouldn’t that mean that the world is no longer out of balance? If Kraeven used up all that darkness to get up here with his army and ultimately failed, doesn’t that mean that the world is in a slightly better place?" Kalos asked as Raymond crushed one of the Kraeven’s upon landing.

One of the Kraeven’s tried jumping into the darkness, but Peeta caught him with his giant paw and bit his head off, leaving only three Kraeven’s.

One of which, was crying like a child.

[I was almost there!]

The weeping Kraeven cried before getting stabbed in the head. His regenerative abilities were gone and he had lost his link to his source of power.

[I almost did it!]

The second last Kraeven looked to the sky and raise its arms.

[Go ahead! Rob this world of its true saviour!]

The second last Kraeven yelled before Raymond stomped on him, squishing him in the process.

Raymond then slowly shrunk back into his normal form, along with Peeta. Kalos remained as he was.

“You know, I really wished that we could have worked together in all this. Anyway, I have one question? Why didn’t you at least try to find an alternative to all this?” Kalos asked as the sun slowly set.

[I don’t know.]

Kraeven said with a sigh.

[I was supposed to ascend from Nar' Agrun with two saepenar by my side and a dark army behind me. Then I was supposed to prove to all the three realms that I was the one destined to be this worlds guardian. But alas, you just had to exist.]

Kraeven said with a despondent expression.

Kalos charged up Rue before pointing it at Kraeven.

“Goodbye, Kraeven,” Kalos said before stabbing him in the face, separating the top part of his head from the bottom.

The swarm of darkness then awoke before returning into the abyss.

Kalos, Raymond and Peeta watched as their battlefield emptied, leaving only them and Kraeven’s bodies.

Kalos then flew off the ground. Raymond followed closely behind while carrying a pouting Peeta.

“Just in case,” Kalos said as he charged all four of his Reu’s.

Kalos swung them downwards, sending a nightmarish amount of magical energy towards Kraeven’s body which was instantly vaporized.

This also, unfortunately, carved a deep hole into the ground.

“Overkill?” Kalos asked.

“No. That was smart. We don’t want him to make a surprise appearance later, right?” Kalos asked as they descended.

.

..

Crimwal sighed. He noticed that he had been sighing an awful lot lately.

Keema began moving awkwardly in his arms. He gently shushed her as Estella slept in the carriage.

Eevana then turned her head toward the edge of the barrier.

Crimwal turned his head as well, to find a worn out Peeta, Raymond and a relatively ok Kalos.

Crimwal smiled as he got up.

Peeta walked towards Crimwal and Keema while making a goofy face, but Crimwal walked around him and spoke to Raymond.

Peeta collapsed dramatically before crawling to the campfire.

Crimwal adjusted his hold on Keema as she tugged on his scarf.

“Is it over?” Crimwal asked, but it was Kalos who answered.

“Unlikely.”