She groans in pain, and then stares at Zack in anger.
`Do it, bitch! Now!' screams Zack, but she raises her hand and clenches her fist towards him, with the middle finger pointing upwards.
`Don't screw with me, Flora!' he says, and the unseen force throws her against the wall again.
`Hey Zack...' I tell him. `Don't be so damn rude with her...'
`You shut up, Danny Boy! Without outside help, this is our only hope to escape these cages! Just let me handle this!'
`Brute force doesn't solve everything, Zack! Let me talk to her, I'm sure she'll listen to reason!'
`Shut up! I'm trying to focus here!' he says, and the unseen force throws Beautiful against the wall of her cage again, even more violently than before.
`Stop it, Zack! Stop it! I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't!'
`Come here, kick my ass!' he says, and he tosses her face first into the wall of her magical cage once more. She groans in pain.
`That's it! I'm going to kill you!' I scream, and I unsheathe my sword. I chop at the cage wall with it as forcefully as I can, but nothing happens.
`Yeah, yeah... That's what you always say...' says Zack, and he tosses Beautiful against the cage wall again. I strike at my magical cage again, but it seems to be useless... Zack flings Beautiful against the wall of her cage once more, but before she could hit the wall, she changes into mist form. Zack lowers his hand and smiles.
`See, Danny Boy?' he says, turning to me. `Brute force always works, you just gotta employ enough of it!'
`Fuck you, Zack!' I tell him, as I slowly sheathe my sword.
He turns back towards Beautiful.
`Alright, Flora! Now that you're in mist shape, try to get out! There may be enough space between the ground and the wall. Or perhaps there are pores in the earth through which you can escape.'
For a while, she doesn't do anything. Then she starts to move towards the ground. The mist she had become accumulates at the border of her cage, right where it touches the ground. The mist whirls there for a minute or so, but nothing happens. Slowly, she takes her normal shape again.
`Happy now, asshole?' she asks Zack.
`Fuck!' replies Zack. `If you can't get out, we are totally fucking fucked!'
`What now, Zack?' I ask.
`Well... Nothing. We can't get out. Only Mel' can get us out. But she can't return through the Teleport Gate. Our only hope is that she finds another way back, and before Arghard vanishes between the teeth of the Afterlife. If she doesn't... Well, then we're all fucking dead...'
I sigh deeply and sit down on the ground. I shudder to think that our fate lies in her hands...
Through the Teleport Gate
Somewhere in Arghard, present day (17 hours after Twilightfall)
I brace myself for what is to come and step through the Teleport Gate. A moment later, I arrive in a different place. I glance around. I am in a forest area, somewhere. It could very well be anywhere in Arghard. I wonder where exactly...
Suddenly I hear a sizzling sound behind me. I turn around, and behold that the Teleport Gate has closed behind me.
`Now isn't that just great...'
Why the Hell did I let them talk me into this for a useless piece of rock? Now I have to find another way back. Curses!
Before I return, there's something I need to find here...
Zack wants that stone pretty bad. I don't believe a word he said about the barriers between here and the Afterlife, but he clearly wants that stone. If I get my hands on it, it may prove a powerful bargaining chip...
Alright, I'm here. Now where the Hell is Zack's stone?!
The ground is filled with fallen leaves, but I should be able to spot that transparent, cube-shaped stone. I can't see it anywhere. Looking around more, I notice a man a bit further away, standing by a tree in the company of a horse. Perhaps he found the stone.
Alright, let's see.
`Hey, you there!' I exclaim in his direction, and walk towards him. `Have you seen a transparent, cube-shaped stone around here? I lost it and need it back.'
`Lost it?' he asks, with his back towards me. He is facing the horse, and patting the horse's neck slowly.
`Yes. You probably saw that Teleport Gate. I was on the other side and I dropped the stone. It fell through, so I came after it, but I can't find it on the ground. Have you seen it?'
`Why do you want it, Dragon Queen?'
What?! He knows who I am?! How can that be?!
`Do I know you?' I ask him.
`Yes. You do.'
`I do not remember you. I never forget a voice.'
`I sounded different when we met. When we met, you never saw my face. But I know you've seen my face elsewhere in the time since passed.'
`Who are you?' I ask with suspicion. He turns around and faces me.
But it's impossible! It cannot be him! It is... It is a face I have come to know well...
It is Jason Vogan...
Cast of characters
Key Players:
Jason Vogan: half-demon, child of the Demon Lord Th'Mesh
Flora E'Lyn: elf hunter, former elite member of the most renowned elven hunter guild of Endarryn, the first elven vampire
Zack Sands: black humored black magician and professional asshole, boss of Coldrock, Daniel Keehmor's best friend
Daniel Keehmor: warrior turned semi-insane fighter-mage, Zack Sands' best friend
Ghaubel: night elf scryer, ruler of Sil Velies
Drabangar: ancient powerful magician, guardian of the Amulet of Darkness
Meliorath: Queen of dragon-kind, leader of the Dragon Hordes
Sergeant Steubing: Sergeant of the Fighter's Guild of Ashkel
Mandy: florist
Lea: tavern maid
Joe: knife thrower, born loser
Harvey Matuak: Magister of the Mage Guild of Ashkel
Irea: pyromaniac magician
Kurt Aurach: the most powerful black magician Arghard has ever known, hero of the Great War
Errak: orc warrior, second in command of Coldrock
Aaron Chraem: dwarven merchant, renowned smuggler
Coming Soon:
Rider of the Black Horse
Part V: Destiny
This is what the lesser races of Ess'yer have done to us. This is what their kind is like. They are a disease, a taint... That's what they were seven thousand years ago when they enslaved us, that's what they were one thousand years ago when they tried to exterminate us, and that's what they are today. Their kind will never change, and our people have suffered too much that I could just let it slide. They must pay. They must pay... And I, Meliorath, Queen of dragon-kind, leader of the Dragon Hordes have sworn that I would make them pay... I will never forget what they've done. And never forgive. Mark my words... No matter what the cost, no matter what it takes, no matter what the price... I will make them pay! - Meliorath, 1 day and 10 hours after Twilightfall
Volume Five of the Rider of the Black Horse pentalogy, Destiny continues the story of Brothers and concludes the pentalogy. Twilightfall has come and pushed the world of Arghard to the edge of complete annihilation. Urged by Zack Sands and Daniel Keehmor, Meliorath stepped through a Teleport Gate in order to find a magical artifact which can supposedly be used to prevent the coming end. Beyond the Teleport Gate she encounters a man whom she met only once, long ago, before he died. Now the unlikely duo must find their way back to Ighttur-wor through a path that leads them across a land crawling with monsters, the sinful capital of Delamar, a house filled with unspeakable horrors, and a city full of undead. They must do so knowing that even if they somehow make it back in time, they may not be able to prevent the inevitable cataclysm. Twilightfall had come and changed the world of Arghard forever, and now it threatens to destroy it for once and for all...
Footnotes
... Painside1
From the Liquid Monster album (2005) by Brainstorm (2005 line-up: Andy B. Franck, Thorsten Ihlenfeld, Milan Loncaric, Dieter Bernert, Andreas M
ailänder).
Brothers Page 27
