by Pedro Urvi
On the other side of the chamber Albana came out of the shadows at amazing speed, zigzagging towards Erre. The Lord of Fire barely glimpsed a shadow slipping towards him. He attacked with two arrows of fire, which never touched her.
The Shadow launched five daggers of power as she completed her approach. Erre saw them and raised a defensive barrier of fire before him. But the Daggers, instead of flying in a straight line, curved to cross the defensive barrier and strike his defense. The Lord felt the five impacts on his sphere of lava, which by now was considerably weakened. He cursed.
The brunette dodged his fiery missile. With a shadowy leap she vanished in front of the wall of fire and reappeared behind him. She used her Power once more and struck the same spot on his sphere. He activated his sphere of fire and the flames spread around him, forming a ring of fire. She had expected this, and avoided it with a leap. But she did not manage to clear the fire completely, and it singed her legs. She fell to the floor and rolled over, groaning with pain.
You will never be able to break my defenses, Erre said. My source of Power is immense. He sent more power to strengthen his weakened sphere.
Albana was left lying on the floor. She bit her lip, holding back the intense pain, and did her best to recover from her injuries. The pain prevented her from using her power. Erre widened the ring of fire so that it advanced to devour her. The flames were about to bite into her flesh. In a final moment of desperation she attempted to use her power. The flames were no more than a finger’s breadth from her face, so that she could feel their scorching heat. She grasped the disc from the shadows and used its Power instead of her own, which would not answer her. She called upon the Skill of Flight. At the contact of fire against her skin the shadowy skill activated itself. She was thrown away from the fire. Erre watched her with rabid anger.
Stop sneaking away like that! he demanded. Fight and die!
But she had already recovered from the pain. With her mind clearer now, she used her Power and vanished into the shadows.
Asu went on battering Kyra and Adamis without giving them a moment’s respite. Adamis counter-attacked by creating a mist of death around Asu. The mist began to corrode his defense, but he created a sphere of fire and with it produced flames which burnt away the mist and destroyed it. He laughed and hurled a fiery javelin at Adamis.
“We’re going to finish you off!” Kyra cried. She was hoping to deflect his attention from Adamis, who was getting the worst of the punishment. Asu stared at her with eyes that gleamed with hatred.
You are about to find out what true Power is!
He created an Elemental Flame. Six feet tall, the fiery creature was a voracious flame in the service of its master.
He pointed to Kyra. Kill her! he ordered. I want her to burn!
The Flame plunged forward to devour her. She took a step back and the creature of fire attacked her sphere, damaging it with every blow. She began to feel the heat of the flames through the sphere. She was suddenly afraid, but did not cower. She would not be beaten; she would fight. She armed herself with determination and attacked the flame.
While she was fighting the elemental creature of fire, Asu intensified his attack on Adamis. With words of Power, he created a flare in the shape of a Fiery Whirlwind which started spinning fast as it attacked Adamis, striking his sphere with intense flames. Adamis spread his arms wide and sent more Power to his protection. The fiery whirlwind spun around him, striking unpredictably at various points on the sphere.
You will beg for your lives on your knees! Asu roared. And there will be no mercy! I will tear your hearts out of your burnt bodies!
He moved his hands. A dozen apparently metallic spheres no bigger than an apple appeared and hovered before him, awaiting his orders. They shone with a strange mingling of black and orange. Suddenly he hurled them at great speed against Adamis. Each ball struck the sphere in the same spot, imploding on contact. Adamis felt a powerful shock, followed by another and yet another. With every impact his sphere weakened, and the shocks hurt his fragile body.
He took a couple of steps back. The power of the attacks, the fierceness of the flames and the scorching heat were beginning to take their toll on him. A terrible pain lashed his side and spread up his back. He was forced to crouch and breathe in deeply in an attempt to bear the pain.
Is this all that is left of the proud Prince of Ether? A cripple with a broken body, unable to defend himself? Asu’s laughter was charged with malice and hatred. I am going to enjoy every instant of crushing you! He laughed again at the sight of Adamis bent over with pain.
He spread out his hands and intoned a long spell of power. A blackness appeared over Adamis, which gradually became a huge claw of fire. Adamis lifted his eyes and raised his arm, creating a shield to protect his head. The Claw of Fire closed over the sphere, seeking to crush it, and with it his head. At Asu’s order the claw began to tighten, compressing his defensive sphere, exerting unbearable pressure, preventing him from moving, He was trapped, and the pressure was so strong that it broke through the barrier and his body writhed in pain.
Asu used an enormous amount of his power and gave more to the Claw of Fire. Finally the claw managed to tighten completely over the sphere and break it, upon which the claw was consumed in an explosion. Adamis was left lying on the floor writhing in pain, with part of his sides burning.
Asu saw his victory. Yes!
“Nooooo!” cried Kyra and thrust her body between the two to protect her beloved.
Nothing will save you, nor him either, Asu said. Kill her! he ordered his Elemental Flame.
His eyes on Ikai, Iradu passed judgment: It is time to put an end to this duel. You have fought well, and I will give you a worthy death.
Ikai used the disc and covered his sword with essence of death. Then he created a shield like Iradu’s, but of ether. If he must die, he would do so fighting.
Iradu gave a slight bow of recognition, and Ikai did the same. And they both attacked. They exchanged cuts and thrusts, defending themselves with their shields. Iradu’s strength was equaled by Ikai’s agility. But the skill of Iradu, the finest Warrior among the Golden, began to show. He attacked Ikai’s head with his fiery spear, and his opponent hid behind his shield. Then he launched a fireball, which unbalanced Ikai. But then something strange happened: green veins, swollen and putrid, began to appear along the mighty warrior’s arms and legs. He stopped and stared at them.
What is this? What is happening to me?
Ikai attacked, but Iradu defended himself with a sweep of his shield, heightened by his Power. Ikai was thrown down and left lying on his back, having lost both sword and disc.
Iradu took a step forward. And bent over in pain.
What is happening to me? What is happening to my body?
The veins were climbing up his neck and reaching his face. With a grunt he raised his spear and was about to transfix Ikai, who stretched his hand toward his sword but could not reach it; it was three hand-spans away. He tried to seize the disc, but it too was too far away. The tip of the burning spear came down toward his chest. In despair, seeing death falling suddenly on him, he closed his eyes and visualized the sword in his mind. There was a white flash in his chest, and suddenly he felt the pommel of his sword in his hand. He opened his eyes. The tip of the spear was about to pierce his flesh, but he deflected it with the sword. He was unable to do so completely, and it buried itself in his side.
He doubled up with pain. In the midst of his agony he glimpsed Iradu’s aura, which was giving out an intense amber light. He concentrated on it and trapped it. Iradu realized what he was trying to do and tried to protect his aura, but a spasm prevented him. The strange veins had spread throughout his body. Ikai fixed the aura firmly. Using his own Power he pulled down Iradu’s head with his left hand, and as he bent it closer to him, with his right hand he buried his sword up to the hilt in the thick neck.
The giant dropped his spear and raised his hands to his sword. He staggered tw
o steps back, his eyes staring wide. He fell to his knees and stared at Ikai.
You found… your Power… well fought…
He fell forward, dead.
Erre cursed. The Lord of Fire was surrounded by two rings of fire which he used his power to hold while at the same time he solidified his sphere of lava to defend himself. He had lost his patience.
He searched around vainly for Albana. Show yourself! he yelled.
She knew that the longer she kept the Lord of Fire on the defensive, the more Power he would consume. And no matter how great his source of Power might be, sooner or later it would run dry. The problem was to keep alive until that moment and keep him using up his Power. If she did not attack, he would stop using it up to reinforce his rings, and the sphere would hold. So she would have to act strategically. She was badly injured, with her arms and legs seriously burned. She was bearing the pain, but her strength was beginning to fail. I’m not giving up. I’m going to get him. Whatever way I can.
Erre sent more Power to keep up his defenses. Albana saw him curse, and as she watched him she noticed something strange. The Lord was doubling up with pain. Swollen green veins were running through his body and up towards his face.
It was time to act. Erre recovered and hurled insults at her again.
Come out and show your face! You coward!
But that was not Albana’s style. Her power and her skills had been developed to live in the shadows, attack with lethal precision and then vanish. She had been trained that way when she was a Shadow, and that was how she would fight. While Erre stared at his swollen and infected veins, baffled by what was happening to him, cursing, she was coming down from the ceiling on top of him. She moved silently, very slowly, using her Power, as though she were a gigantic and deadly spider.
Erre did not see her. He was turning green and having difficulty breathing. She was hanging upside-down above his head. She had avoided both rings of fire which defended him. Now only the solid lava sphere was left. She launched her attack, using her Power to deliver a savage blow. Erre felt the use of Power and looked up. When he saw Albana, his eyes widened. Her blow was directed to the exact spot where she had been weakening the sphere. Erre sent more Power to it. It held, but he doubled up in pain. Albana launched a new attack with her two daggers: the sting of the black spider. And this time Erre did not have enough Power to repel it. The defensive sphere shattered into a thousand pieces.
He raised his hands to launch a flare of fire at her, but she was faster. Both daggers gave a black flash and buried themselves in his eyes. He opened his mouth and gave a muffled cry. His arms dropped, his knees failed and he fell dead on the floor. She smiled in triumph, but her injuries overwhelmed her. She fell on top of Erre’s body and lost consciousness.
Asu was ready to put an end to Adamis. Kyra, between the two of them, was fighting the Elemental Flame. She was losing. She would not be able to withstand the battering much longer. Through the translucent surface and the flames of that creature of maleficent fire she saw Adamis’s body lying on the floor, badly injured and helpless. Inside her sphere the heat was so suffocating that she had to use more and more of her reserve of Power to prevent it penetrating her sphere and asphyxiating her. She was sweating profusely and beginning to feel she was slowly cooking inside her protection.
Asu moved his arms in a circle, creating a huge rock of fire on the floor. Suddenly he stopped. On his right arm swollen green veins had started to appear.
What is this? Nothing will stop me!
He turned to Adamis with a broad smile of pure satisfaction. The burning rock began to roll slowly, like a huge boulder on its way to crush them. The closer it came to them, the wider the smile on the Lord of Fire’s face.
Kill that cowardly dandy!
The rock reached Kyra, who raised her hands in front of her to defend herself. But the rock, as it struck her sphere, pushed it aside with her inside it, leaving the way toward Adamis clear.
She realized that it was going to reach her beloved. “Noooooo!” she yelled.
The rock reached him, but it passed through him as his body turned to mist. This faded, while the rock continued on its way to die against the barrier the three Priests had created at the entrance of the chamber.
You cowardly swine! Stop fleeing! Fight and die like a Royal Golden!
Kyra sighed in relief. Adamis had become one with the mist and hidden himself. The flame reached her. She fended it off, but nothing seemed to affect that fiery creature. All her skills could not inflict enough damage on that infernal being.
Use… the Power of Water… Adamis’s mental message reached her from somewhere behind her.
“Water?” she repeated blankly. The disc allowed her to use the Power of the element of Ether, because it was Adamis’. And her own Power, with the skills she had acquired, were based on that power, because she had learnt them with the disc. She had no idea how to use the Power of Water.
It is the only thing… that can defeat fire.
“But I can’t…”
Yes you can… your mother… Solma…
“My mother?”
She was… the daughter of the High King of Water…
“What? What are you saying?
The Power of Water… is in your veins… use it…
“Mother? How?” She was deeply confused, did not understand. But she loved Adamis with all her being and trusted him as she did no-one else. She would follow his instructions.
She concentrated while she bore the attack and searched inside herself for her own Power. She found it. She could see it in her chest, and she used it. But she focused on creating water. She needed water and with it she could defeat Fire. But she was unable to. She tried again, more urgently, more furiously. Her defense was about to fall. Asu’s laughter and insults reached her as if he were spitting in her face. She closed her eyes, clenched her fists and focused on visualizing the element of water in her mind. The heat inside the sphere was suffocating, it was penetrating through, she could not keep it out. She was being roasted alive.
And she did it. A coolness, as if she were diving into the sea, enveloped her from head to foot. Water, to fight fire, she wished. At her order an Elemental of Water formed beside her. It was like the Elemental of Fire in shape and size, but made of water. It was as if a wave of the ocean had come to life. And at once it launched itself against the flame. Adamis had not been wrong; the Elemental of Water defeated the Flame of Fire.
Asu was beside himself with fury, seeing that Kyra was defeating his creation. No! he yelled. You will pay for this! With a movement of both arms he surrounded the water elemental with a ring of intense fire. But as he did so, his left arm began to fill with green veins.
What is this outrage? he cried. But this time his cry was not only of rage, it had an edge of worry.
Kyra wanted to free her elemental, but it took her too long to find how to do it. The intense heat of the ring turned the water to steam and destroyed her creation.
You are an amateur with a pathetic level of power! You will never defeat me, not in a thousand years!
She took a deep breath. She concentrated on Water, the Power she had inherited from her mother. She left Adamis’s disc on the floor and drew her throwing dagger. Her eyes fixed on Asu’s, she said: “I’m going to put an end to you.”
Using the Claw, he injected himself with the essence of life stored in the disc.
You can do nothing against me. I am more powerful and more intelligent, and I possess the most advanced technology.
At the sight of the Claw, she thought of the slaves in the pods.
“You can inject yourself with all the essence of life you want. It’s not going to save you. I’m going to make you pay for your crimes, for all those you’ve enslaved, exploited and murdered.”
You? A filthy slave? He burst into uproarious laughter.
“You killed my friends. Get ready to die.”
Asu laughed again, and his laughter echoed in th
e chamber. She attacked his sphere with a dozen stakes of ice. The stakes buried themselves in the protective lava sphere, passing through the sphere of fire which covered it. Asu gaped in amazement. She sent an ice javelin which struck violently and weakened his sphere. Blazing with rage, he counter-attacked with all his power, enveloping her in terrible flames. But as he did so, the putrid veins climbed through his body and reached his face. He doubled up in pain.
Noooooo! he yelled helplessly.
Kyra’s protective sphere collapsed. She found herself surrounded by flames which were licking her skin. Fear took possession of her in the midst of the pain. She saw herself lost. Asu was too strong for her. Her mother’s face came to her mind. She remembered her goodness, her strength, the sacrifices she had made to raise them, working from sunrise to sunset, sick, vomiting blood at the end of the day. And courage returned to her. “I won’t give up! I’ll get justice for her, for Yosane, Idana, Liriana, for all of them!”
Amid the inferno which surrounded her and the pain she was feeling, she managed to surprise herself by raising a sphere of ice around her body. This one was far stronger than the one of Ether. And she attacked, creating a storm of ice above Asu. The temperature plunged in a matter of moments until it froze both the walls and his sphere. She saw fear in his eyes, something unheard-of. Her attack was working. She had to press on to gain the advantage. She concentrated and surrounded him with water. At its touch the storm froze, with Asu inside it. The temperature went on dropping, and soon Asu was no more than a heap of ice and frost.
For a moment nothing happened. He was buried in ice. She could not believe it. Then suddenly the pile of ice exploded in a thousand pieces. Under it appeared an erupting volcano. Asu took a step forward out of the center of the volcano and approached Kyra, who was gaping at him in disbelief. He came forward until their two spheres touched.
