The sound of the explosion rattled the lodge's walls knocking dust and debris into the air. Cherry faltered momentarily, and Demalyn stood motionless. A purple flame pulsed like a bullet out from Demalyn, piercing the roof. Her vines vanished, and she collapsed on the floor. The creatures that were advancing towards them had fallen silent. Cherry looked around nervously before asking, “Dem, what happened?”
Demalyn glanced about in panic. “Oh Cherry. Something drew it out from me. It isn’t here with me. Cherry, I can’t feel it at all. I’m all empty.” Her vision went blank as she slumped forward. As Cherry moved towards her, the colors of the world surrounding her became muted and time halted.
At the docks, Desdin had been sitting on top of his van waiting to hear or sense a significant call to action. He was wearing his ebony and red armor that was held together at the chest by black hard leather. Sitting next to him was his helm, still missing a horn and with the jaw plate of steel teeth restored. Two short swords sat at his sides and the repaired long sword sat before him in its black scabbard.
Heat from the detonation in the woods washed over him. A blue plume of smoke spread out and a white shock wave rang through the sky. The trees waved and bowed. They rained down pine needles and loose branches as the dust blew out from the woods into Leoris. Desdin stood up immediately and holstered his swords and grabbed his helm in hand. His mind muddled for an instant. "Damn, that was a lot of chrism," Desdin exclaimed, as he noticed an illusionary ocean rising from the ground and engulfing everything visible.
It was then that the blue mushroom of fire was motionless at the location of the observatory. The giant spectral woman from his visions took form from the white of the blast. Her usual blue ethereal brilliance was now a cascade of blue ascending from the earth to the heavens. The stillness of time made the shockwave visible. She drew back that wave of force toward her and formed a white glowing sword in her hand. She then swung it down in the direction of Desdin. The edge of her blade parted the sky, sending a flowing white radiance in a straight line at him. He had no time to react and found himself altogether engulfed in the static water.
The giantess soared effortlessly with the brilliance of her strike until her presence was before Desdin. She placed a finger below his head. “Lost one. Ouren warned you not to challenge me. Not to speak to me. It was sage advice that you discarded. I seek to grant mercy to you. Because I love all of this world’s children. Even the lost ones. Look around you at all the good you’ve accomplished by struggling. From the west, the faithful will soon descend upon this town armed with enough power to level this town. And then to the east an abomination festers that you aren’t even sure you can stop. Its desire is to devour the people here is a terror you let back into the world.”
She then looked in the lodge’s direction. A deep violet flame unfroze itself and zoomed up to the woman. She smiled and laughed deeply before a calm fury quaked in her voice. “And then you would also invite this ancient calamity back to the world, lost one. Do you realize the gravity of the domain you continue trespassing in?” The eye of the purple flame disapprovingly glared at her and it took up space between her and Desdin.
The giant stopped down to meet the diminutive flame. “My sweet petite candle. How brave of you to come to me. Yet do not feel the need to be extinguished here flickering spark. I am not here today to take action myself. I have no desire to reduce them to ash to balance my broken heart. These children reap their own doom. How I miss our talks my passionate flower. Oh, if only the vessel of Demalyn could recollect and also warn them. But the passage of time has dwindled your once regal essence. I don’t know if Dragsil and Ouren thought they hid you from me. But I’ve been aware. I allowed you to survive because Dragsil quartered your soul. We have confined you, your kind, and your lord within the tomes of the past.”
Turning towards Desdin she crossed her arms and leaned down with her eyes directly before him. Her eyes gleaning like two brilliant blue suns. “To answer the questions you so boldly asked last night, Jonah found me. I also loved him. I warned him. Same as you. I do this as an act of compassion. If you learn the real story or not, it will matter little to me. But the truth comes at a cost as you are learning. The truth has consequences and repercussions that you face this very day. A piece of me wants you to succeed. A part of me sympathizes with the lives you are bound to trample and damage if you continue.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I did not ask for Jonah’s life as he discovered our history. I offered him peace with me, as I do you and all the world’s children. Ivalic is a protective keeper of this realm, though. Jonah provoked him all of his own. Ivalic is not the Oldest of reasoning, or compassion, or knowledge. He is the Oldest of wrath. Maybe you too will find that out one day. If you survive these events today and still insist on finding the Roots of Dragsil. Only sorrow and heartache await you. Time must move forward. In all things. Which is why I must leave you now, my dear lost puppet, with his strings cut and dangling.” She wrapped him in a gentle, otherworldly embrace, and her figure faded with the returning flow of time.
As she washed through him, he stared down at her form for a blip of a second. His thoughts became words assaulting her as she was being whisked into the ether. She stared at him, and her kind visage was now twisted. She was convinced she could perceive his mind yelling at her. “If finding out the truth didn’t matter, then you wouldn’t be here. Everlith.”
Her form raged into a wraith as he tried to claw her way back, but she was being drawn away by the wind. “DESTITUE LOST ONE! YOU WILL NOT SAY MY NAME!” Her words howled into oblivion.
Desdin didn’t waver a single moment when he regained control of his body. Without a hint of hesitation or reflection, he darted through the woods toward where the observatory was. He muttered to himself, “Oldest be damned.”
Time began moving once at the lodge. Cherry, unaware that time had even stopped, cursed under her breath, watching Demalyn slump to the ground. “This is bad.” Cherry reached for the syringe from the leather strap. The sounds of the coming beasts had stirred once more as her body tensed up in anticipation.
The clamor of a battle beyond her vision reached her ears. Grunts, hissing, and stone breaking. She paused as a great sword crashed through a wall, sending a fallen tumbling through the sand. The seven foot man that emerged was someone she immediately recognized him from her past. Tukrit was cleaving through the monsters with ease, making its way towards her. He walked up to the her with his sword resting on his shoulder. “Haven’t I done this kind of thing before,” he asked eyeballing Cherry.
Cherry grinned and said, “You were at Ouren’s prison, weren't you? It is hard for me to forget being saved by a Fallen. What are you doing in Leoris?”
Tukrit rubbed his chin. “It is difficult for me to place you. I’ve saved many lives, only for them to go screaming in the wrong direction. Perhaps it’s destiny that we’ve reunited here. As for why I’m here, well, I can tell you I’m here to put these feral creatures to rest. I saw the rest of this town head out to face the matriarch. I’m assuming you believed you were capable enough on your own here. You’ve earned a reward for your bravery, so I am ready to assist.”
As he said that, several of the foul dead ones pushed into the room along chaperoned by four feral Fallen. Cherry smacked him on the shoulder. “Good timing!”
It was about that time that a purple wisp of flame shot through the courtyard and into Demalyn. She stared up blankly for a moment before saying, “We remember something. Why can’t we see it clearly? Our blood is boiling. Our dormant soul is stirring.” A black shadow with purple bolts enveloped her. The vines stirred and expanded rapidly across the floor, taking shape around Demalyn’s body. They erupted through the roof of the lodge in the shape of a living, breathing tree.
Cherry and Tukrit looked over with shock. “Never mind, bad timing!” Cherry said while pulling Tukrit from the courtyard. Darkness filled in the white parts of Demalyn’s eyes that now glowed a rich purple. An unnatural smile spread ear to ear over her face. Tukrit’s eyes flashed bright gold as they widened in amazement. One monster leapt out at Demalyn and the surrounding air became a twisting storm of lightning and flame, tearing it apart. “Those that are not alive have no hope of approaching this one,” Demalyn said.
She then glanced over at Cherry. “I am beset with an insane madness right now. I can’t remember it for certain, but I know something has pissed this one off. Frustrated and furious, this one is going to break a great many things. I heard you say you had your own score to settle in this place. I suggest you do so now and run as far as your fragile legs can carry you.”
Cherry swallowed her words hard without saying anything. She turned to Tukrit and motioned for him to follow her through the lodge. He didn’t move from his spot at the boundary of the courtyard. “Did this woman come with you from Ouren’s?”
Cherry raised her eyebrow questionably. “Yes, she was Ouren’s prisoner. I remember the person I was with telling me your story. You were looking for someone or thing while we bother there?”
Tukrit watched with eyes stuck on Demalyn. Her regal purple aura danced wildly with her hair and clothes, mesmerizing Tukrit. “I can’t speak on it with authority yet. Hey, don’t go dying, lady. I suspect that would only infuriate her further. If that is possible. Proceed ahead of me. I need to confirm something here.”
Cherry didn’t question him and took off running through the corridors. She could see Vilsin standing at the end of one hallway. It looked like he was waiting there. “Hey, I’m going to make you regret what you did to Tarrich. I know it wasn’t really you, but I need to do something with these feelings. And burning out whatever is left of your heart seems only fair,” she said as she readied her sword and pistol.