by N. Saraven
But his fingers never reached their destination—Neila frantically pulled her sword free from his body, leaving him without any support whatsoever.
Veilon fell down to the depths.
Neila turned back to the remaining enemies with her bloody sword in hand. Only two shadows stayed because Nightfang dived after the paragon immediately.
“May the Gods help us,” the unwanted whisper burst from Halgor as he stared at Neila.
She slowly turned to them again, not even taking her seat again. She stood between the Overlord’s flapping wings as if she were standing on a meadow.
“Yes, that would be nice.” Elnor swallowed heavily, just as pale as the elven.
“What shall we do?” asked Nighthunter, but before anybody could say anything, the Overlord charged at them.
The shadow dragons were too distracted and stunned by the happenings, so they could not move quickly enough to escape. The Immortal dipped his talons deep into Nighthunter’s side and back, then drew him even closer, as if it wanted to embrace him in a deadly hug. In that moment, Neila held out dangerously to grab Halgor’s cloak.
The elven gave a surprised cry when he felt the jerk on his neck. Neila obviously tried to drag him over to the Overlord’s back, which made the dark mage flood with fear. He almost lost his mind, starting to panic. He too was aware of the fact that using magic in that situation could be just as deadly as Neila herself.
He had never, ever felt so useless and small in his entire life before. He never believed that there could be a situation when he could do absolutely nothing …
Yet this was that case—when Halgor felt the steady pull on his neck, he almost lost his head. He desperately tried to break free, grabbing the collar of the cloak, which made him choke. He coughed and struggled without any reason or thought in his motions. He just wanted to live.
In the end, Elnor’s interfering saved him—he threw a few of his blades just at the right angle to cut the elven’s cloak. It was a tricky throw because he did not want to hurt the mage or Nighthunter. The blades then landed in the Overlord’s neck, which melted the excellent steel, letting the handles fall. Albeit it did not seem to notice at all.
But despite the paragon’s best efforts and aim, he did not manage to actually save the elven.
Nighthunter struggled hard in the grasp of the Overlord, so when nothing held the dark mage on him, his frantic moves threw him off too.
However, before Elnor could comprehend what happened, the giant fire dragon abruptly let go its prey, diving after Halgor. Neither it nor Neila paid any further attention to the companions.
The Overlord managed to reach the falling elven, grabbing his leg. Then, without any further ado, it simply threw him to its back.
Halgor’s heart almost stopped when he felt the intense heat under him after landing on the dragon’s back. He immediately tried to scramble to his feet before he lost his mind completely or started to panic. However, a point of a sword made him halt in the middle of his motion. He stared at the sword as he slowly took a kneeling position. He gulped, then raised his eyes to the other’s shining golden gaze.
The elven felt his throbbing heart, the cold sweat streaming on his back. He forgot about the tornadoes of powers around them, or the burning heat from under. He forgot about everything in that moment. He hardly drew a breath, yet he panted heavily. His attention was completely caught by that golden pair of eyes.
No recognition shone in that gaze.
Time stood still as Halgor stared at her, completely unable to move, albeit not just because of the sword pointing at him. He knew that he would die. There was no way out, not this time. The sword could strike at any moment, which made his body stiffen, even though he knew he was powerless. It would take only a sharper breath to make her charge.
Halgor held his breath. The blade slowly started to move away as Neila turned her whole chest. This way when she struck, she could use her whole upper body, creating the strongest blow possible.
The elven’s eyed widened even more, seeing this. She could make the final blow when she wanted.
But as the moments passed, nothing happened. The tip of the sword started to shake, its bright shining faded a little. Neila herself did not move, yet something changed. As if something from deep inside her moved …
Halgor stared into her eyes, panting. The golden gaze got a hold of his blue eyes, not letting it go.
Still nothing happened; only the Overlord seemed to slow down, as if its flight became unsure. The dark mage glanced either at Neila or at the sword, which still hung in the air, ready to strike. However, its gleam somehow pulsed, or changed.
The air became tense beyond imagination; the World’s Power still howled around them.
The opponents only stared at each other, seemingly not moving as if they turned to stone. Halgor watched Neila, almost begging.
“Neila …” The unwanted whisper burst out from him, which made her body stiffen.
She drew back her striking arm even more, her chest turning with it, as she was ready to strike.
The sword started forwards.
In that exact moment, the Overlord changed direction so frantically that Neila lost her balance, falling onto her knees. Seeing this, Halgor immediately threw himself off, into the depths below.
Even when he was falling, with no idea how he would survive without magic, he only felt his throbbing heart and wildly streaming blood. He could not think about anything at the moment. Even though he was actually falling, he had never felt so alive …
He hardly realised when a strong paw grabbed him, then carefully handed him to somewhere. Hands grabbed him, pulling him to safety, yet he did not feel any of it. He only stared at the blue skies with widened eyes as his whole body trembled like a leaf in the wind.
He faced Death. And survived.
“Helloooo, are you okay?” Elnor slapped the elven’s cheek carefully, but he just panted something as a reply.
The paragon turned away with a faint smile.
“I know you’re exhausted and all, but maybe you should come around … just about now,” the kobold mused out loud, which made the dark mage scramble to sit behind him.
“Where’s Neila going?” he asked in a quivery voice when he looked around.
“Indrek would be my bet,” replied Elnor.
Their dragon tried to keep up with the Overlord, but with two men on his back, the shadow was slowed down drastically.
Meanwhile, the paragon told what he could about the battle between Enargit and Cameron.
The elven looked in the right direction just in time to see the Immortal turning to a deadly dive. It looked like a gigantic fireball, heading for the ground, where a moment later Cameron and Enargit landed. It crashed into the earth with a terrible explosion—the aftershock made their dragon unbalanced as well. After the companions could see something through the thick dust-cloud, they could make out an enormous clearance, made by the Overlord.
Neila slid down from its back seemingly unharmed, looking for their prey. Her shining eyes measured the surroundings carefully, but even she could not see clearly in the dust. It had to be settled down a little.
Before it did, Elnor and Halgor ordered their dragon to land at the rim of the clearance. They hurriedly joined up with Enargit, who caught their landing, so he headed for them.
“What is happening?” asked the shadow Leader, although the companions only shrugged.
Nobody knew for sure, nor had an idea. Everything became just as chaotic as the energies around them.
They had a hunch that Neila was actually launching at Indrek, who fell down not long ago. But nobody knew where he was, so the companions now eyed the settling dust piercingly. They managed to find Neila, who just stood tall as if she turned into a statue, staring at a pitch-black, smoky thing near her.
The companions’ mouths dropped when they discovered that black thickness that disappeared a few moments later, revealing Indrek. He now glanced around unsure. Ob
viously stunned, but safe and sound.
And he was not alone.
Before him stood Lexénia, the Goddess of Death herself.
Her presence drew the shining golden gaze also, making it brighter as it seemingly recognised her. Whatever Power worked in Neila, it became even more furious seeing the Creator. The tornado of forces started to whirl around her once more.
It was obvious that she now wanted to challenge the Creators themselves …
The remaining, tilted trees at the side of the clearing screeched and creaked as they bent over to the powers. Rocks, trunks, and everything movable started to fly around like surprise weapons as the energies picked them up one by one. The rampaging forces shook the ground again, making it wave, or crack, or throw huge chunks of earth at the skies.
It was only a matter of time until Neila would actually attack the Goddess. As she stared at the Creator, her anger gave more and more power to the howling chaos all around.
The companions crouched on the trembling ground as the powers pressed them to it. They tried to keep themselves from falling apart; however, the energies made their way into their bones and minds, making them ache. Not to mention the flying rocks, branches, or bigger things which sometimes whooshed by them only missing them by a hair.
Enargit tried to create a protecting shield around them, but it was shattered in a fragment of a moment. Even he could not concentrate enough to gather the energies and form the magical barrier. The dragon and the others screamed in pain, thinking that they would be finished soon.
Then the storm fell silent around them—so suddenly that the companions could not tell what happened. Their senses still were overwhelmed by the earlier noises, not to mention the raging forces. The shadow Leader got hold of himself first, so he looked up.
His eyes rounded and his jaw dropped when he finally realised what happened.
Before them stood Arisha, Yverion, and Setal, creating a protective shield, which kept out the chaos. But the most astonishing fact was that the Gods actually appeared in their flesh and blood, not just as a reflection of themselves, or as some kind of an avatar.
They appeared in their utter greatness, in the middle of the raging Chaos.
“Lexénia! Enough!” snapped Setal, which made the Goddess glance at him.
“Why? I am having a great time.” The Ruler of Death smiled.
“If you let this continue, everything will be destroyed!” Setal cried out, although it still did not make an impression on the other.
Lexénia was obviously having a great time.
She might have saved Indrek, her loyal subject, but she did not seem to be wanting to do that with the rest of the world. She just smiled at the chaos around. The howling energy-storm slowly came alive, as it seemed. It grew stronger and stronger, as if the presence of the Gods would only make it worse.
It concentrated around Neila, who seemingly was ready to face anything. She still stood in her place, as if the Power in her did not really know with what she should start.
“We must do something,” rumbled Yverion, glancing around worriedly.
Setal nodded, so the other two Guardians disappeared. Apparently they tried to force the streaming and bubbling Powers under control again by giving another direction for them to go.
Although normally the World’s Power contained all four of their energies, then and there they became something else. Neila somehow managed to change them drastically, giving even the Gods a difficult time as they faced them.
As the two of them tried to contain the howling Powers, Setal turned to the Goddess again.
“Lexénia, stop this! The whole world will be destroyed! Don’t you see?” shouted Setal desperately.
Something in his voice made the Guardian of Death look at him and listen. He continued.
“Whatever you intended with all this, the world will suffer. You created a chain reaction. Neila somehow changed the foundation of the Powers when she joined up with the Overlord. This now spreads like cancer, which will break the balance in the World’s Power. That is this Chaos! If you don’t help us contain this, everything that we created will be destroyed! Look around! Just LOOK!”
Setal motioned around widely, which made Lexénia follow with her eyes.
And what she saw made her realise—whatever rampaged in that place was not good. It brought Destruction all right, which she always loved, yet something felt different about it. This was not the Chaos that she created and controlled, or what she knew perfectly, thus she could tell how it all would turn out.
This howling behaved differently, strangely even. After this, Life would not emerge again, or at least, not in the way the Gods intended.
Lexénia mused as she glanced at the Powers again.
She truly was the Goddess of Ruin, but she never intended to actually destroy their world. She did not want to see the realm on which she too worked very hard cease to exist. They all put their powers, their souls in it, not to mention precious time. As a result, no matter how they fought against it, they began to feel a serious attachment to their little world.
So seeing it hurting like this made the Goddess ache.
She had never felt like this before. She took pleasure seeing anybody in pain, or in ruin before. But only when she created and controlled the destruction. In which she existed.
Lexénia dropped her head and nodded.
Setal gave a relieved sigh at this.
The God of Good stepped beside his companion to face the happenings together. They presented the two ends of Existence, but now they worked on the same side. Together, they could form Balance and Wholeness, which gave them even greater power than fighting alone. Now they could stop this madness from spreading even further.
Starting with Neila.
The Guardians started for Neila, shielding themselves from the howling forces. She, however, did not seem to acknowledge their enclosing. She stumbled at the brick of utter chaos, when she would let her remaining control go.
Behind her the Overlord crouched to the ground and bowed when its Creator approached.
“Neila!” Setal called her with such a demanding voice that no mortal could stand.
In that moment both of the Gods seemed truly as they were—such powerful creatures, who could be true Gods in every way. They even let their forces stream freely around them, which they never did when dealing with their subjects. However, this situation was unique, and they needed to do everything in their power to stop it.
The commanding voice of the God reached even Neila’s mind, dragging her sanity out from that dark corner where it curled up. The glowing golden gaze disappeared as she closed her eyes. When she glanced up, her usual eyes looked around, surprised, startled even, as if she had no idea what was happening around her.
“Wha—? Where am I …? What’s happening?” she asked in a quivery voice, but then the howling chaos charged at her, making her fall on her knees.
Even though she created those powers, she lost control of them, so now she had to suffer under their attack just like anybody else. She grabbed her head, crying out in pain, almost curling up in a little ball on the ground. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she moaned desperately.
Setal and Lexénia knelt beside her. Neila glanced up at them with terrible pain in her eyes.
“All right now, everything is all right,” the God whispered soothingly as he put his arms around her. But even his intense peace failed to calm her down. She continued to sob and whimper.
“No!” Neila moaned, seemingly in some kind of trance. “No! I cannot bear it anymore! I cannot … I don’t want to …” she muttered while crying further.
“What don’t you want?” asked Setal tenderly, caressing her head.
But she did not answer anything. She obviously forgot about the Gods beside her. Setal glanced at Lexénia for help, who just rolled her eyes. Regardless, she put her hand on Neila’s head, who still was rocking as she sobbed and moaned. Yet nothing happened, which made the Goddess narrow
her eyes. It seemed that she underestimated Neila and her burning sorrow. She needed to use stronger methods if she wanted to gain control of her.
However, before she could think of anything, Neila freed herself from Setal’s embrace, scrambling to her feet. She obviously tried to go somewhere, although her steps were stumbling. She staggered around purposelessly, still crying and muttering to herself.
The Creators glanced at her questioningly and unsure. Lexénia then tried to approach the mage, who leaned desperately against a tree trunk.
But something made the Goddess halt.
“I don’t want it … I cannot! I cannot … NOOOOOO!!!!” shrieked Neila suddenly, letting out a strange energy-pulse. It was so powerful that it tossed back even the gasping Gods.
Neila now lost control completely.
Raw Force swirled around her, making the air sparkle with little lightnings all around. The wind howled strongly again, striking down like a tornado. Everything became even more wild, yet it seemed that all the strange energies now changed direction, streaming at Neila instead of scattering farther. They flew swiftly at her from everywhere, merging with each other, forming a whirling ball of pure Force around her. Neila somehow drew all what she released back now, increasing the howling tornado to its peak.
Suddenly, crystals began to form around Neila, spreading like wildfire.
It all happened so fast that not even the Creators could intervene. Before they could think about anything, a huge explosion, accompanied by a terribly bright flash, ended all, tossing everybody far away.
Halgor could thank his smooth landing only to Enargit’s fast reflexes, who drew up a shield around them just in time. He still lost his breath when he fell on his back with a loud cracking sound. At first, he just moaned in pain. He felt miserable. Yet he tried to scramble to his feet as soon as he was able to, glancing around to see what had happened.
When he looked in the direction where Neila stood with the Gods before, he dropped his mouth in surprise. In that exact place, a gigantic crystal appeared, with incredible spikes piercing in every direction. The huge darts all had their unique thickness and lengths, sparkling in the sunshine, mesmerising. It was impossible to tell of what they were made.
