The Dark Elf War

Chapter Five

Crystals

Rydia woke slowly, that was when she realized the back of her head hurt like hell. She fought off a case of nausea and for a second she wished she had stayed asleep. She slowly pealed her eyes open and looked around. “Well I’m in a prison cell, that much is for sure,” she thought “But why.” Then she slowly began to remember going to Eblan and then…nothing. “Wait…I remember talking to two guards…and then…did they knock me out,” she thought. As if to answer the bruise on the back of her head started throbbing again. 

“Damn,” she said, cursing uncharacteristically as she slowly stood, “If this is your idea of a joke Edge I’m gonna adjust your sense of humor with a club.” The only answer she got was the echo off the dungeon walls.

Cecil and the red wings had arrived at Fabul only to find a burned out shell. The devastation was enormous. Hardly a building inside the wall was left standing. Bodies were every where and the stench of burned and rotting flesh filled the air. Cecil slowly walked into the remains of the castle followed by Lorien and a few dozen troops. As Cecil surveyed the scene he felt himself begin to cry. The tears flowed down his face freely

“ROSA!” he shouted, as he ran inside the burned out castle.

Lorain was beside him suddenly, tears in her eyes as well, “My liege, we should look for survivors, perhaps…” she trailed off.

Cecil understood her unspoken thought; perhaps Rosa and Cid had survived this…this massacre, in his mind he knew such a thing was unlikely but he knew they had to look.

Cecil called one of the guard captains over, “we need to spread out to look for survivors and to look for information about the attackers, have them search in groups of two in case there is any of the enemy still about, also assign some men to bury the people here.”

Yes sir, “the captain said.

By the morning the people had been buried, and the search was complete.

Lorain found Cecil searching through the remains of the enterprise for survivors, “Cecil the guards have finished burying all the bodies they found.”

“Did they find…?” Cecil trailed off.

“No and I don’t suspect they will either.”

“What do you mean?” Cecil asked his attention now completely on her.

Lorain looked at him, “Don’t you get it, they buried all the bodies, this castle holds an entire town inside the walls if everyone was killed then they should be burying people for days. And another thing one of the guards found the entrance into and underground passageway.”

Suddenly Cecil remembered. Yang had told him of his plans to have the dwarves dig a tunnel under the mountain to for escape incase they had another siege. Cecil had been quick to dismiss the idea because he thought there would never be another war, but Yang must have gone ahead and built it anyway. 

“They are alive,” he said suddenly, “They escaped to the west.”

He was off in a flash, giving orders to prepare the airships for launch immediately, he knew that while they might still be alive for now the army that had held the castle under siege was still out there, and if it wasn’t here anymore it was most likely chasing the refugee’s

Yang, Rosa, and Ayan sat in the shadows of the forests trees. Rosa sat quietly in meditation with her eyes closed. Ayan slept on Yang’s shoulder peacefully. Yang shifted and pulled open his cloak and looked at the wind crystal. He had taken it with him when they left the castle. He was fairly certain by now that the dark elves were looking for the crystal though he was no sure why. Rosa had been tracking their movements by using a spell of magic sight and they were single minded in their pursuit of Yang. Of the few thousand who had fled the castle many had stopped to warn other small villages of the invaders only to find that the dark elves marched past without even looking sideways at the villages. There were about a thousand still running and almost all of them were soldiers, it was all of the remaining monks from Fabul, Once again Fabul’s army had been decimated by an invading army. The troops left weren’t organized but small groups had been making attempts harrying the enemy’s marching lines too allow Yang more time to escape. Rosa finally opened here eyes.

Yang slipped the crystal back into his cloak, “What have you found out,” he asked?

“I think the dark elves are wary of the forest for some reason, but they are still searching for us. Several more units are out to the east a few miles away. They keep locating us somehow.” Rosa stretched slowly working out the tightness in her muscles from sitting still so long.

“Magic,” Yang asked?

“Yes,” said Rosa, “most likely, but it’s not any form of spell I’ve ever seen.”

“What do you mean,” Yang asked?

“I’ve spent a lot of my free time studying history from the elder in Mysidia the last couple of years, and well…even the histories in Mysidia are vague.

Yang sounded uncharacteristically annoyed, “Can you give me the short version…we are short on time,”

“I suppose your right,” said Rosa, “you see the magic wielded in ancient times was quite a bit different than the magic we use now. For one thing there was no clear difference between black and white magic, but magic was a much stronger force than it was as well.

“What does this have to do with anything,” Yang asked sounded more like his old reserved self.

“Well I can’t be sure but I think they are using ancient magic…or at least some form of it…it’s the only explanation I can think off. I can counter any known scrying method and for some reason I can’t figure out how they are locating us.

“Well, all we can do is keep moving,” Yang said. 

Cecil stood on the bow of Baron’s flag ship, the Kaze. He was watching for any signs of the army that had destroyed the castle or the refugees. The ship had been flying at top speeds for several hours over Fabul’s lands. It hadn’t taken long to find the mountain that the escape passage went too, or what was left of it. Every one was in shock from seeing the mountain. It had been totally destroyed. They had almost believed that everyone was killed when the mountain collapsed but the signs of escape, and the pursuing soldiers were obvious

Lorien approached Cecil, “Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes…no…ah I don’t know,” Cecil looked towards her, “There is something weird about what happened back at that mountain.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Lorien said.

“If the invaders had caught up to them they could not have escaped but the invaders seemed to be behind them so the question is who where they fighting,” Cecil finished.

Before Lorien could respond, one of the crew members shouted, “I’ve spotted two armies fighting in the distance.”

Cecil moved into action immediately, “give signals to the other airships, all troops to the ready, if that is Fabul fighting out there we will have to give aid to them.”

Waiting seemed like eternity as the airships raced towards the battle. Finally the lookout shouted.

“Its Fabul your majesty, I can see their colors flying, it’s a small group and they appear to be surrounded by a rather large group of soldiers.”

“Alright give the other airships orders to deploy troops and attack” Cecil shouted.

Within seconds the battle was engaged. The airships flew over the attackers dropping explosives. Half of Baron’s airships pulled to a halt and dropped near the ground as unloading planks were dropped and troops began to march out. The rest of the ships used there bombs to keep the Dark elves at a distance and disorganize their troops. The Fabulian army seeing Barons airships redoubled their efforts to hold their lines against the enemy. The dark elves captain started barking orders to get the lines turned to face the new attackers as Baron’s Dragoons marched into the line and began to cut through their lines. The dragoons created disarray in the enemy lines by jumping into the middle of them as the other half of the air ships began unloading airships behind the enemies. The surprise of the attack made it hard for the dark elves to defend their position and they began to be forced back, when the other dragoons hit them from behind. The dark elves had not expected this though their leader was obviously a good tactician Baron’s forces moved to quickly with the aid of the airships for him to react fast enough. Despite the greater numbers of soldiers the dark elves had they could not hold off the attacks with the disorganized forces. Baronian forces finally fought their way to Fabul’s troops and they joined their ranks. Suddenly a bright flash emanated from the middle of the dark elf soldiers and someone rose out of the middle surrounded by a ball of light.

His voice boomed over the whole battle field, “HUMANS…BETRAYERS, YET AGAIN YOU FIGHT AGAINST YOUR MASTERS. YOU CAN NOT DEFEAT THE DRAGON LORDS.”

He began chanting and the energy began to grow around him stronger. Cecil began hearing screams around him he turned to see all of the crew on the airship on the deck screaming in pain. He ran to the side of the deck to see all of Baron’s army in the same state as those on the deck of the ship. Cecil only had a moment to wonder why he was not being affected as the others were; he only knew that he had to stop the mage casting the spell. Cecil grabbed the airships controls and steered straight for the mage. Locking the steering controls he ran to the highest part of the deck and pulled his sword and aimed it at the glowing orb surrounding the dark mage. 

The mage opened his eyes to suddenly see the Cecil and the airship bearing down on him. “Wha…!! How can you move?”

Cecil’s sword ran strait into the barrier a second later and cracked though it as the mage fell onto the deck of the airship.

“H…How did you do that…your sword is made from crystal.” The mage gasped.

The mage suddenly jumped to his feet and attacked Cecil, moving swiftly and wielding his staff like a club he attempted to smash Cecil over the head. Cecil blocked the staff with his shield and struck back with his sword. They fought over the deck of the airship. Cecil deftly parried the mages attacks. 

The looked at Cecil with contempt “You fight well for a human, but how about this?”

The mage spoke some words in a language that Cecil had never heard and the mages staff flared with darkness. Cecil had never seen anything like it before; the staff almost seemed to pull light into it. 

“NOW YOU DIE.”

The mage swung his staff at Cecil and he parried it. The mages staff flared with darkness and the Ragnarok flared with light in response and the mages staff shattered in an explosion of light.

“What?!!…” The mage fell back on the deck with a look of surprise on his face, “That sword…how?”

Cecil walked towards the mage and lowered his sword to his neck, “Why are you attacking Fabul?”

The mage ignored the question and looked back at Cecil with contempt, “That sword is Ragnarok.” His eyes narrowed, “…I suppose you’re the one who killed Zeromus…but your part in this has already been completed. We have no more need of you.”

“What do you mean?” Cecil demanded.

“Who do you think you are? Do you think you can stand against the rising storm? The dragon lords will return and destroy the human traitors.”

The mage suddenly rolled away from Cecil’s sword and jumped to his feet. A black globe leapt from the mages hand and flew at Cecil. He had no time to dodge the spell so he blocked it with his shield. The spell hit Cecil’s shield and he felt his left arm go numb and he staggered from the force of the magic.

“Damn, I can’t move my arm…I won’t be able to block another one,” Cecil thought to himself.

The mage smiled when he saw that the spell had hurt Cecil and began to ready another blast. Cecil gathered his strength, rushed forward and drove his sword forward in to the mages neck. Blood spurted from the wound as the mage fell to the ground. 

Cecil fell to the ground felling the numbness take more of his body. He began chanting a healing spell and it lessened the numbness somewhat. 

Slowly all the crew member regained consciousness. Below you could hear the sounds of fighting as Baron’s troops were finishing the battle. The dark elves, instead of retreating, just fought on until ever last one was dead.

The airships landed and Cecil gave orders to begin loading the wounded and to start healing them. He’s left arm still felt a little numb but he ignored it and went to find out who was in charge of the detachment of Fabul’s troops. 

Cecil grabbed one of Fabul’s soldiers and asked him who was in charge.

“You should speak to Captain Li you majesty, I believe he is loading wounded onto that ship,” he said as he motioned in the direction of the ship the captain was near

He found the captain loading his soldiers on one of the airships.

 “Captain, may I have a word with you,” Cecil said, “its time I found out what’s going on around here.”

“Y…Yes king Baron,” the captain said.

Yang and the others moved along silently continuing to evade the dark elves. Yang signaled for everyone to stop. 

“I am sensing someone watching us,” Yang whispered.

A figure emerged from the forest and spoke in a quite but forceful voice, “King of Fabul allows me to introduce myself, I am Zanith high priest to the temple of Xelotath.”

Yang studied Zanith a moment before responding, “Who is Xelotath, I have never heard of this god you speak of.”

“We of the Mordihel worship our Xelotath because he is our creator. However, you humans deny your gods and worship the crystals with out knowing why,” Zanith sneered at Yang, “and on top of that you call yourself a king.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Yang responded.

Zanith sighed “You humans have such a short memory; I witnessed the creation of the crystals, and I was not impressed by their creators.”

“Why are you after the wind crystal,” Yang asked?

The “So you figured out we are after the crystals. However, you still have no idea why. You humans are a constant source of amusement to me.” Zanith smiled again, “Well I’m in a good mood so I’ll give you a hint…the crystals original purpose was something quite different than being a power source for the giant of Bab-il. Now, give the crystal to me, your majesty.” 

Yang’s eyes narrowed and he took a defensive stance, “I think not.”

The man sighed and shrugged his shoulders, “I knew you would make this difficult…” 

He suddenly spoke in a louder voice, “alright take the crystal from him by force.”

Quickly more than a dozen soldiers dressed in black emerged from the trees.

Yang, Rosa and Ayan crouched and readied for an attack. 

“Rosa, get my wife out of here,” Yang shouted.

“I’m not leaving you, beside we are surrounded there is no where for me to go.”

The enemy jumped almost before they could react. Yang was already trying to hold off three of them at once as Rosa tried to hold them back with her bow. Yang killed one opponent only to have it replaced by another. Rosa could see more of them coming out of the woods and silently wondered how so many had surrounded them without any of them noticing it. She looked to her left and noticed that Ayan was lying on the ground unconscious; Rosa could not tell if she was breathing. Yang was surrounded by at least seven or eight dark elves and was bleeding badly in several places. Rosa started to cast a healing spell on him, but before she had completed the incantation she felt a blow strike the back of her head, she staggered and collapsed to the ground, her consciousness ebbed from her. She could see Yang trying unsuccessfully to fight back against the dozens of soldiers that had entered the clearing and the rest faded into blackness.

Elban’s chamberlain sat in his room. The only place he was allowed to go seeing as Edge ordered him confined to his room after he had suggested to the king that the king’s fiancé Adrelea might be trying to usurp Edge’s power. He was certain more than ever that Adrelea was using some form of mind control on the king, but she had complete control of the soldiers in the castle so it would be hard get help. First he decided that he would need more proof. Then he could perhaps get help from Baron or one of the other kingdoms. The chamberlain, having reached a decision, quietly opened a secret passageway behind his bookshelf and quickly made his way to the room Adrelea stayed in. He wasn’t particularly worried about being discovered since almost no one knew about these passages and besides he hadn’t worked for a clan of ninjas for the last forty years without picking up a few tricks. Finally he found what he was looking for; he climbed to a position above her room and settled in to see what she was up to. He looked in but saw no one, he would wait. Despite his age he could wait without moving for hours, even days if necessary. 

The chamberlain was still in the same position when Adrelea entered the room two hours later.

“Finally I can quit putting on airs for that ridiculous prince,” Adrelea collapsed on her bed. “I wish he would just give up the swords so I could get out of here.”

“So she is after the kings swords,” the chamberlain thought, “What does she want with those swords.”

Adrelea sat up suddenly as if surprised. A man cloaked in black appeared in middle of the room and Adrelea quickly got out of bed and bowed before the man.

“Have you retrieved the swords yet,” The man in black asked.

“High lord, I have not yet completed my mission, the king is more resistant than we first thought; He carries the swords with at all times now and…”

The man in black interrupts, “I do not need to hear your excuses, I need results, those swords are a threat to us and you need to get them from this king before he realizes their power.” 

“Yes, high lord I promise I will…” Adrelea began.

The man in black interrupted her, “Don’t grovel; you were never good at it, just carry out your part in the plan. What about the summoner?”

“The summoner Rydia was captured and placed in the dungeon as you ordered.” Adrelea responded. 

“Good at least you did one thing right; now hurry up and get those swords from the king,” then as suddenly as he had appeared he was gone.

“Hmm…Rydia has been captured,” the chamberlain thought, “perhaps she can help me free the king.” 

He quietly left his position and made his way to a secret passage to the dungeon.

Edge sat quietly staring at his twin swords Masamune and Murasame. Adrelea was beautiful, but she was doing something to him, he couldn’t think clearly when she was around. He had even locked the chamberlain in his room. He meant to rescind that order, but every time he tried to do it Adrelea convinced him otherwise. She had also asked to look at his swords, but strangely, unlike her other requests; he had refused this one. With his mind clear at the moment he could see that she seemed be desperate to get his swords, but somehow unable to take them, she needed him to give them to her freely. It seemed strange to him.

Edge had the feeling that the swords were trying to talk to him. He knew it was silly but somehow he couldn’t shake the feeling. In any case the only time he seemed to be able to think clearly was when he was looking at these swords. However, it was more than that now; he was beginning to see visions when he looked at the swords. In the visions he saw a magnificent city with white spire shaped towers that stretched higher than the tower of Bab-il. Everything about the world was beautiful, but somehow it felt sinister, like something evil was beneath the surface just waiting for something.

 “Remember…”

Edge stood and looked around but saw no one, “That’s strange I could’ve swore I just heard a voice.” He sat down and looked at his swords again. It almost seemed as if they were glowing faintly.

“…our failure…”

Edge stood up and raised his swords into a defensive stance, but still saw no one.

“You must remember our…failure,” the raspy voice intoned. 

Edge suddenly felt a presence behind him and turned to see a man dressed in a white robe. The man had long white hair and there was something inhuman about him, in fact Edge thought the man looked Lunarian in origin but something about him seemed off somehow.

“How did you get in here?” Edge demanded.

The man in white just smiled at him, “I have something to show you.”

“Show me…what must you show me?” Edge asked.

The man looked sad for a moment, “The truth, about this world…and about the failure of my people.” 

The man reached out and touched the king’s face and suddenly he was assaulted with visions. He could see the great towers of the white city. Edge floated over the city seeing it come closer and closer. He could see great ships coming down from and going up into the sky.

The man in white was suddenly beside Edge, “This was my city, it is lovely is it not.”

Edge, at a loss for words simply nodded.

The man in white continued, “My people were known as the Lotar. They were highly knowledgeable in both magic and science and had mastered the ability of traveling between planets with ease. We colonized many worlds and expanded our power. We were gods…or so we thought. I, along with my mate, ruled the kingdom of Loth, one of the many kingdoms that existed within our vast empire.”

Edge could see the city closely now, the large towers were ornately built and he could see people walking along the streets below. The people had pale skin and white hair, almost as if they were albinos.

The man in white began talking again, “My people were quite different than you, we had no emotion, or at least none as you would understand it. We lived only for ourselves, the universe was our plaything. We felt invincible; no one else could match our powers. However, we would cause our own undoing.” 

Light flashed around them and suddenly Edge found himself standing inside a large room filled with all sorts of machinery that Edge had never seen before. Large vats were filled with some sort of blue liquid. He could see three of the strange looking people standing in front of one of the largest machines. Edge could see them talking but couldn’t hear any sound.

The man in white spoke, “We grew tired of our constant fighting with other lesser beings…and also with each other. Our people were a haughty race and we were constantly fighting over power. I and my mate decided to use our powers to create beings to do our fighting for us. We created beings of fearsome power and cunning.”

Edge looked back at the scene in front of him and saw something climbing out of the liquid. Edge gasped, “It’s a…dragon.”

Edge was suddenly snapped back to reality. Adrelea stood next to him.

“Edge dear, are you all right,” Adrelea said.

“Yes, I…,” The memory of the dragon climbing out of the vat of liquid invaded his mind and made him shutter. “I am fine,” he finished finally.

Adrelea saw Edge’s swords laying in his lap, “Are you looking at your swords, may I see them,” She asked almost too politely.

“NO,” Edge roared suddenly, surprised at his own ability to resist Adrelea’s suggestions. Edge stood and slipped his swords back into their sheaths.

Adrelea began crying, “I just wanted to look at them…you didn’t have to yet at me.”

Edge’s resolve weakened and he kneeled down beside her, “I…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m just tired. I think I’ll go lay down for a bit.” 

Adrelea smiled as she regained her control of Edge, “yes you should go rest.” Edge slowly walked out.

“Damn,” Adrelea swore, “My control of him is getting worse everyday, how am I supposed to get him to hand over those swords.”

It hadn’t taken Rydia long to figure out that she was unable to cast magic or summon within the cell she was in, what she didn’t understand was how someone had constructed a cell capable of blocking summoning powers. Most people didn’t know much about summoning magic. Actually even summoners didn’t know much about summoning, its origins had been lost in history. No one knew who had been the first to make a pact with a monster or why it had happened, so it seemed odd to her that anyone would know how to block the bond with her monsters. 

“Miss Rydia, are you there?” Rydia suddenly heard a voice outside her cell.

“Who’s there?” Rydia asked.

An old mans face peered through the bars into her cell, “It is I, the chamberlain.”

Rydia’s anger flared when she saw him, “Why the hell did Edge lock me up in here, I demand to be released immediately.”

“Shhhh,” the chamberlain motioned her to quietness; “You don’t know what’s been going on around here. Edge is no longer in control of his own kingdom.”

“What do you mean, if he isn’t in control who is?” Rydia asked.

“First let me get you out of here.”

The chamberlain produced a key from his robes and unlocked the door. Rydia stepped out of the cell and could immediately feel the presence of the summoned monsters in her mind again. She had never realized how disconcerting being disconnected from them would be until now. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come,” the chamberlain motioned for Rydia to follow. He quickly led her to the end of one of the cell blocks and pressed a hidden switch which opened a door into the wall. “Come on we need to get out of sight.” He led her into the small hidden passage.

As they walked Rydia finally spoke up, “So are you going to tell me what’s going on here?”

 “Yes but not here,” the chamberlain whispered, “these passages echo and someone might here us through the walls.”

He led down passages turning this way and that for what seemed like hours to Rydia, but it was more like ten minutes. Finally he took her down on passage way that dead ended. Rydia watched as he pulled a level in the wall. She realized that there was a door there in the wall that was almost invisible unless you knew what you were looking for. He led her through the small door and shut it tightly. Rydia found herself in a small room with a desk, bed and a small chair.

The chamberlain spoke at last “I found this place when I was a child,” he paused for a second and looked embarrassed, “Actually I had a habit of hiding here when I was supposed to do chores,”

Rydia suppressed a laugh.

“The chamberlain raised an eyebrow, “You find that funny.”

“It’s just hard to imagine you as a child,” Rydia said.

“Hmm…yes…well I suppose I should explain the situation to you. I had suggested that he chose a bride, and after an extensive search…he refused to pick anyone. However a woman named Adrelea came to the castle one day and Edge became quite taken with her very quickly, too quickly I though, but I was so happy that he was taking his kingly duties seriously that I didn’t notice that he was no longer ruling the country anymore. Once I realized what was going on Adrelea had me sealed in my quarters. Likely she had you imprisoned because she thought you would create problems in her plans.”

Rydia looked thoughtful for a moment, “Do you know what she is after?”

“That’s the strange thing,” the chamberlain said, “she is apparently after Edges swords.”

“His swords, why would those be so important?” Rydia asked.

“I don’t know, but I heard her talking to this strange person in her quarters and it seems that she cannot just take the swords, Edge must give them freely. I don’t really understand it myself.”

“Well I supposed you broke me out of prison for some reason. I mean, when I was last here two years ago you made in clear I was not welcome; I actually thought it might have been you who locked me up.” Rydia asked.

“Rydia I try to understand, I did not ask you to leave because I dislike you, but…well…you may not have noticed this but the king was, and still is I suppose, very smitten with you.”

“You don’t say,” Rydia responded sarcastically.

The chamberlain smiled a bit, “At the time I was trying to convince him to choose a bride and well…”

“I’m not exactly queen material,” Rydia smiled a bit sarcastically, “is that what you’re saying?”

“Well something like that...”

“Well you don’t have to worry,” Rydia quipped, “I have no interest in marrying him.”

“Really…” the chamberlain began, “I had the feeling…”

Rydia raised an eyebrow gave him a look cold look as if daring him to continue his sentence.

“Well never mind that now,” The chamberlain quickly changed the subject, “Let me explain the situation. The mind control she is using is very powerful, so powerful it took me two months to realize what was happening. I knew the king was acting a bit strangely but…well…I honestly thought it was because he couldn’t chase women around anymore.”

Rydia chuckled a bit “I probably would have though the same.”

“However as he spent more time with Adrelea he began to act more and more strangely, the first thing I noticed was that he began to carry his swords with him at all times. Adrelea began separating him from the public more and more, and I began to believe that she meant harm to the king, when I confronted her she became angry, had dismissed from my duties and locked in my room. Of course I broke out and listened in to her conversation with the man in black and found out about you. I know it may be a lot to ask of you Lady Rydia, but I would like you to confront Adrelea and stop her.”

Rydia smirked, “So when you need my help I’m a lady. Of course I’ll help, Edge may be a bit of a pervert, but we stood together against Zeromus and I’m not going to abandon him. He’s my friend.”

“Thank you Lady Rydia…” The chamberlain began.

Rydia interrupted, “Stop with the lady stuff, it sounds weird. Why don’t you show me where Adrelea is instead?”

“Yes this way.”

Edge walked slowly down a corridor of his castle, the castle guards he passed recognized that something was odd with him. Edge ignored them and walked on.

“Why should you just obey her every command,” a small voice echoed in his head.

Edge wondered where the voice came from but could not deny the logic of its question. It was if she had some control on him, he began to remember the past few months and wondered that so many things he had done were completely unlike him.

“Confront her, make her give you an explanation.” The voice quietly said.

Edge wondered for a moment at trading one form of mind control for another, but something told him to trust this voice. His mind was still foggy, but something told him this voice was there to help. It seemed familiar somehow, like he had known the owner of the voice for along time. He made a decision to go see Adrelea.

Adrelea sat in the throne room trying to convince an envoy from Agart to leave, they had already been arguing for some time when Rydia quietly slipped from one of the secret corridors.

“We came to see King Edward Geraldine, not you…who are you anyway?” the ambassador said.

“Oh, you silly…I’m Edge’s fiancé, Edge is feeling unwell and isn’t seeing anyone today,” Adrelea voice sounded saccharine sweet.

“I don’t care if he is feeling unwell!!” the man boomed “Unless he’s dying he bloody well better see me. The Dwarven Empire is under attack and they’ve asked us to go get help. Now take me to the king right now you little trollop.”

Adrelea narrowed her eyes and smiled wickedly, “I don’t think is proper for you to address a future queen in such a fashion…” she her expression changed to one of boredom, “You are no longer entertaining, if you will not leave I will just have to remove you by force.”

She lifted her hand and a blast of light erupted from her hand and speed towards the emissary. Suddenly another blast came from the side of the room, Instead of hitting the emissary Adrelea’s blast took out a section of the wall next to him.

Rydia stepped out of the shadows and looked towards the man from Agart, “I would suggest you leave for now.”

“Y…yes,” The man took her advice and fled immediately.

Adrelea looked at her and narrowed her eyes, “Do you intend to interfere with my plans?”

Rydia crossed her arms and gave Adrelea a sarcastic look, “Well you’re a bright one aren’t you?”

“Don’t insult me little girl, I could destroy you with a word.”

Rydia smiled, “I don’t think so; if you could have you would have to begin with instead of locking me in that cell. Actually, if I were to guess I would say you are afraid of me.”

Adrelea sputtered, “Fool!! Do you realize who I am?”

“No, and I honestly don’t care, I’ve been told you’ve been abusing my friend Edge, for that I cannot forgive you.”

“Hmm, well let’s see you deal with this, GUARDS!!!”

“What are you playing at?” Rydia asked.

“Castle guards will fill this room any second, will you kill the innocent to get to me.”

A dozen guards burst into the throne room.

Adrelea pointed at Rydia, “This woman has broken out of the dungeon; she seeks to kill the King. Kill her now!!”

One of the guards seemed to recognize Rydia, “But isn’t this woman a friend of the king?”

“Don’t question me just kill her.”

Rydia backed up, it would be hard to stop these men without killing them, she was a powerful mage but a sword could fell her as soon as any other person.

“D…delay that order,”

All heads turned to see Edge as he walked through the door.

“Edge dear,” Adrelea began in her saccharine voice, “You aren’t well you should be in bed, you should not be worrying about this.”

I…It’s…your fault.” Edge spat the words out.

“What do you mean dear,” Adrelea asked innocently.

“I…don’t know what you did, but I won’t stand for it anymore,” Edge’s words were coming more easily now.

“You don’t know what your saying my love,” Adrelea began.

Edge drew his swords and felt a surge of strength flow into him from the swords, “SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU BITCH!!!” With more control he continued,” I am not your love and I will not stand for you lies anymore. Tell me, WHO ARE YOU?”

Adrelea smiled, “It is a shame you will not live to find out. I shouldn’t have bothered with the charade in the first place…I was never one for…subtly.” Adrelea waved her arms in the air and light gathered at the tip of her finger forming an arcane symbol in the air, “Many people have died on this land; let’s see how your swords fair against an army of undead.”

Light flared around her and it felt as if the ground was shaking.

Guards burst into the room a moment later, “Your majesty, we are being attacked by a large group of…undead.”

“Well muster a defense,” Edge shouted back.

“Your majesty they appeared inside the castle,” the soldier looked desperate.

“AAAAAHHH!!” Rydia screamed suddenly as the wall beside her was broken through and the skeleton of a large ogre broke through.

“AAAAUUUURRRRRGGGG,” a strange sound emanated from the undead giant, the sound was especially unsettling since it had no lungs or vocal chords with which to make the sound. It waved its huge club towards Edge; he expertly flipped backwards out of its way. Before he had a chance to attack Rydia threw out a fire spell and incinerated the undead monster. More were pouring threw the hole and the sounds of fighting could be heard throughout the castles halls.

Edge turned to Adrelea, “You…what have you done. You controlled my mind…and now…this. Why?”

Adrelea smiled, “It was the task I was given. I would have taken the swords from you peacefully, but you were too stubborn. The swords are awakening so I will have to kill you now.”

Edge pulled his swords from his back, “You want my swords huh, well come and get them.”

Adrelea raised her hand and shot a bolt of energy at Edge, his quick reflexes allowed him to easily avoid it. He dashed forward and brought his twin swords downward to strike Adrelea, but she pulled a long dagger from her robe and blocked his attack. Adrelea levitated flying away from Edge she threw more spells at him. Edge dodged them all and responded by throwing a ninjitsu at her, “Flame!” Flames leapt from the floor and engulfed Adrelea. She fell to the floor in a heap.

“Hmm, that was it,” Edge almost laughed to himself. He walked forward to examine the body. Adrelea’s dress was partially burned off and her skin was burned in a few places. “That’s odd; she should have been burned worse than…” Edge began.

Before he could finish his sentence Adrelea leapt from the floor, she stuck forward with her dagger and caught Edge on the left cheek. Blood began to flow from his face. He stumbled backwards and tripped on a stone that had been part of the wall. Edge fell to the floor and Adrelea was on top of him in a seconded. “I don’t know why he was so scared of you,” She said with rancor, she smiled wickedly; “I doubt you can dodge my attack at this range.”

“Firega!” Rydia shouted. Adrelea’s look turned to one of shock as the spell hit her with full force; she was thrown back against the wall as the fire exploded around her.

Rydia helped Edge to his feet, “Are you alright?”

“It’s just a cut, I’ll be fine,” He assured her.

Adrelea’s power was waning, and the undead attacking the castle were collapsing.

“We should get out of here,” Rydia said.

“Did you think I would die so easily,” Adrelea slowly stood to her feet. Her clothes were a bit singed but other wise she was fine. She shot a blast at Edge sending him crashing into a wall and knocking him unconscious. “I never thought one little summoner could cause me so much trouble, but I will have those swords if I have to kill you to get them.”

Adrelea began weaving her hands through the air; a globe of darkness appeared in her hand and flew towards Rydia. She tried to dodge it but was too slow, it hit her in the left arm and she it went numb. “Flare!” Rydia shouted, sending the black magic spell hurling towards Adrelea. The spell crashed directly into her. The power crashed into Adrelea, she was thrown against a wall as the spell pounded her mercilessly. As the spells power evaporated Adrelea’s body hit the floor with a thud, but before Rydia could move Adrelea was up. Her body was covered with third degree burns.

“H…how are you still alive?” Rydia stammered.

“This body is not mine. It is just a tool. As long as I finish my mission I don’t care what happens to it, I can find another.” Adrelea smiled wickedly, “Enough playing around, now you die,” she began attacking Rydia full force, waves of the dark magic that she wielded flew in towards Rydia. It hit her full force and flung her against ground. The pain was almost unbearable she began to black out, “No…must stay awake…one chance,” she pulled herself to her knees. “What? Still wants some more,” Adrelea laughed, “Your stronger than I expected.”

Rydia fought back the urge to cry from the pain, “I call upon the ultimate black magic, METEO!!!!”

Adrelea turned white, “WHAT!! You cannot know that spell, how can a human know that spell?”

Despite Adrelea’s protests Magic power poured from Rydia’s hand and a black cloud formed above Adrelea. She gasped as the cloud swirled and the ultimate magic poured forth. Adrelea formed a barrier around herself but it was battered away by the magic. “AAAAAGGG,” Adrelea screamed, and then silence.

Rydia fought to stay conscious, pain still seared through her body.

“Damn you bitch,” she heard Adrelea intone weakly, “How did you…” and Adrelea’s breathing finally stopped.

Rydia breathed a sigh of relief and then passed out.

In an instant Adrelea or more correctly Naeya found herself returned to the void she had been sealed in

“So you failed to get the swords.” A voice spoke next to her. “Do you know how much power I had to expend to get your consciousness out of here, even with the barrier weakened?”

“I am sorry lord, the mage escaped…there was nothing I could do; she used Meteo on me!! Naeya said, sounding a little nervous.

“I warned you not to underestimate the humans!!”

“I’m sorry,” Adrelea began to apologize again.

“Shut up!!”

Naeya thought it best to just do what she was told.

Authors notes:

Whew!!! Sorry to anyone who has been waiting for another installment. I know it has been a while. This was the hardest chapter to write so far. I kept running into sections I couldn’t get to look right and then I would get busy with other projects and forget about it for a while. Even as is there are a couple of parts I’m not totally satisfied with, but I finally just had to give up on making it look perfect. This is by far the longest chapter I’ve written so far so I hope you like it, I feel like it’s the best one I’ve writing so far. Anyway, I promise the next chapter won’t take so long. I welcome feed back on this; in fact I would like it. I am seriously thinking of becoming a writer and so I would appreciate any advice people have to give, but please make it intelligent. Sending me emails telling me I suck isn’t really advice, but you guys already know that. If any writers out there have advice on how I can improve my writing style let me know.

Next chapter:

Kain makes an interesting discovery about his past, and Cecil is still trying to find Rosa.