Cyrus braced himself to be consumed by liquefied evil, but as his eyes squinted shut, he remained dry. He opened one eye to realize Oga was holding the blood back with her hand. “ Go, big elf prince,” she said, straining her whole body. “I’ll s-s-save you…”

“Oga…” Cyrus said softly.

“Go!” she screamed as her body convulsed.

Cyrus looked at Van who had helped Antonio to his feet. She continued to hold her sword in the direction of the masked Everblood.

“Everyone GO!!!” Oga screamed. “I can’t hold it much longer.”

Antonio grabbed Van away from the Everblood, swinging her in his arms by her collar bone.

“I swore I’d kill you,” Van screamed at the Everblood. “I won’t ever quit you’ve been vanquished.

“Relax Van,” the Everblood said with his deep resounding voice. “I will never leave your thoughts. I will be the maddening drive that consumes you. Just like it consumed me.”

Van let out roar and swung her sword in the Everblood’s direction but he vanished into his robe. “Please, chica,” Antonio said, surprisingly serious. “There is no time for this!”

As the two ran towards Cyrus, his mind was rushing. He looked at the wall of blood and Oga’s tiny frame that held it up. Without thinking he quickly grabbed Oga’s body in his arms and sprinted away with his friends as the wave broke free behind them. The three escaped the sanctuary, leaving Queen Ayne and the tainted and corrupted sanctuary water to follow behind them.

“What are we going to do?” Antonio asked, as they huffed and puffed in the throne room. “How can we stop her?”

“Archibald…” Cyrus said, holding an unconscious and groaning Oga in his hands. “He’ll know what to do. I just hope Oga will be ok!”

The beautiful waterfall in the throne room turned a putrid shade of red and disembodied eyes began to fall through them. “Looks like we can’t stick around to find out!” Antonio shouted.

The three dashed through the throne room into a hallway where the large tanks of water were quickly overtaken by bright red blood and grotesque white eyeballs. As Cyrus looked to the left and the right; he thought the blood looked a lot like the tomato sauce his chef would prepare for him, only instead of spaghetti and meatballs, there were eyeballs and eye stems. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to have that particular dish again after this.

“Where is the spa?” Cyrus asked.

“I’ll lead you,” Antonio shouted.

As they ran, Van remained silent but her face was seething with anger. “Are you ok?” Antonio asked her.

“I vowed I would destroy that scum who killed my master,” Vanessa said. “But he still walks this mortal realm.”

”I’m sure another chance will prevent itself, chica,” Antonio added. “I want the same justice for that foul muchacho, Bunting.”

“Then we at least have that in common,” Van said, her expression unyielding.

Cyrus could see a small smile on Antonio’s face as he turned around. Bonding over vengeance was something the young prince had never seen before.

The trio arrived in the masseuse chamber. Several elven women stood over the bare back of Archibald, who lay on a dark red mattress. Much to their relief, the waters around them were still an aquamarine hue. Archibald sighed as an elf with gentle eyes moved her hands slowly over him and his bed. A blue aura surrounded her hands and as she moved them, Cyrus could see small ripples in Archibald’s back. The Majester let out a sigh but it was interrupted by Cyrus’ panicked voice.

“Archibald, Archibald! We discovered that Severa was actually plotting to overthrow the kingdom and raise an empire all her own! She locked us up and tortured us until Oga saved us! Then we confronted Severa in the water sanctuary. Oga and Severa battled and Oga was winningl Severa was given an evil staff and she was about to kill Oga but then her mom appeared out of nowhere and saved her life. Then Severa became possessed by the spirit of an evil ancient elven queen! She used her new-found power to turn the sanctuary’s water into cursed blood and now it’s consuming everything!”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

As Cyrus’ found himself out of breath from speaking so fast, Archibald slightly turned his head to face him. “You kids can never give old Archibald a break huh? Here I thought I was going to have a lazy day!”

Archibald remained motionless as Cyrus began to jump up and down frantically. “Come on Archibald! The blood is consuming everything! And Oga needs help too!”

Archibald turned his head away. “Just once this massage is over…These lovely ladies healed my broken arm too.”

Cyrus looked at his friends nervously as the water around them grew dark red and murky. Cyrus swallowed hard as he saw the kind eyes of the elf masseuse grew red and bloodshot and a fanged snarl spread over her face. She drew a sharpened nail file from her belt and prepared to plunge it into the Majester’s back.

“Archibald look out!” Cyrus shouted.

Van quickly swung her sword and lopped off the masseuses’ hand, causing her to fall backwards. “Hail Queen Ayne!” She screamed as she hit the ground and her blood spurted on the floor.

Archibald quickly flipped backwards onto the ground. “Well, looks like my day at the spa is over. Thanks to you, knighty. I escaped a hasty acupuncture treatment!”

The other women at the spa drew their staffs,nail files and one of them clutched acupuncture needles between her fingers. They all snarled with zombiefied looks on their faces. Outnumbering the heroes fifteen for five, they all circled around Cyrus and his friends, ready to do them harm.

The masked Everblood appeared beside the circle of brainwashed elves and gave a deepening laugh. “I warned you,” the fiend said. “Unlike Rosemary and Bunting, I have a reputation to uphold and now the Aquarian Kingdom is under my control. But not only that…”

The Everblood spread his sleeved hands apart. “As this cursed blood flows throughout the land, it will consume the minds of everyone in the kindom. When that happens, the Everbloods will have our Red Moon Ceremony in peace, under the watchful eyes of a thousand mortal zombie slaves.”

“Y-y-ou scum!” Van screamed. “ I won’t let you do that!”

Van screamed and threw her sword directly at the Everblood. It flew through his body, causing his silhouette to disapate into thin air. The sword continued its trajectory straight into the glass tank, causing it to explode in an eruption of glass, blood, fish and eyeballs.

The water sweeped through the spa, sweeping up tables, chairs, beds and masseuses.

“Into my magical hat everyone!” Archibald shouted as he threw a small magician hat on the floor.

Cyrus quickly picked up Oga’s limp body and everyone leaped for the hat. They felt themselves tumbling through a magic void which quickly spat them out by the giant waterfall near Hynest Ridge. Much to Cyrus’ relief, the water was still pure. The cursed blood had not yet reached it.

“It looks like our time in magical elf-y land is over,” Archibald said with his avuncular smile.

“If you could have done that,” Van shouted. “Why didn’t you do that right away?”

Archibald spread his hands apart and bowed with a clever smile. “Don’t you know knighty. It’s always best to save everyone at the most dramatic moment! It’s just my thespian flair that makes me do it.”

Van placed her face on her hand and shook her head. Archibald continued to lecture the four, “You four have done well holding your own against that wicked vessel of evil, but you could have given ol’ Archie a break at the spa!”

”What’s going to happen to the Silver Water village?” Cyrus asked with great concern.

“Unfortunately,” Archibald remarked. “I feel it, like the rest of the land, are going to experience a slight influx of pure evil, poisoning the water supply and corrupting innocent minds everywhere.”

“That’s terrible,” Van said. “How can we stop it?

Archibald gave a cheerful smile. “By stopping the Everbloods all together, knighty! And fortunately for us, we’ve got a very powerful elf who can help us ride up the waterfall in a giant bubble.”

Everyone looked to Oga who sat silently. Her eyes were downcast and she sat with her knees up to her chest and her arms at her side. “Oga?” Cyrus asked. “Are you ok?”

Oga shook her head. “Everyone I love is in trouble or dead and its all my fault…”

Cyrus understood Oga was being dead serious for once. Her voice was not raspy or gruff in the way she usually made it, but high and vulnerable.

“My mom’s dead…” Oga said, turning her head fully away from everyone else.

Cyrus moved over to comfort his new friend. He sat right by her. “She died so you could live. Like my mom, she’d do anything for you.”

Oga sniffed but tears didn’t run from her face. “You’re right , Big Orc Prince, but I still feel really sad.”

Archibald walked over to the young elf. “My Princey poo is right. She did it to not only for you, but to save her whole kingdom! You, my smelly orc, are the last hope for the Aquarian Kingdom! Your mom had faith in you!”

Oga looked up with her crystalline blue eyes at both Cyrus and Archibald. The sorrow stained her face, but she was still listening. “And,” Cyrus said “For once you’re saving your kingdom on your own terms not anyone else’s. You can still save your dad, Severa and all your friends.”

“That’s true…” Oga said. She gave a fragile smile with her tiny fang. “Thank you both of you.”

The young elf stood up and for the first time looked to Cyrus like she was ready to face the duties that came with being the daughter of the elven king.

“Ok!” Archibald shouted. “First things first, let’s finally get up this stinking waterfall!”