“That storm is created by Korhil. Surprised, eh?” Zaac answered.
“What? Who is Korhil?” Jael asked.
“One of the Titans. Now I am sure all of you will spill blood today. All three Titans are here! Behold!” Zaac exclaimed as Korhil emerged from behind him. The two of them stood confident in mighty strength. But it was only two Titans, and Orevlatef was unimpressed.
“Hmph! So where is that puny fire Titan?” Orevlatef shouted.
“Right behind you,” Adriel whispered as he smacked Orevlatef’s head and jumped toward Zaac.
The Second and Third Regiment regiments were shaken to see all three Titans in force, having heard tales of the power they wielded. Zaac the Terra, Adriel the Efreet and Korhil the Quetzalcoatl, the three remaining Titans of Malevolentiam, readied to destroy the Regiments. If it was to be death today, the Regiments were not going to make it easy. They prepared for the clash to come.
“Let us begin,” Zaac said and the Terra mages raged towards Jael and the others.
“I want those Master Knights. Leave them to me,” Korhil stated.
With an intense speed, he emerged in front of the two Master Knights and drove them away to a nearby mountain. His quick battering strikes quickly separated them from the rest of the group and Adriel waved goodbye. “All right, I’ll take the fire mage,” Adriel said, and he jumped toward Jael, landing between Jael and Vaan. “You’re mine,” Adriel whispered to Jael, and he threw a powerful punch. Jael was thrown away, rolling and tumbling downhill toward the other side of Zebu. Adriel rushed toward Jael and Vaan pursued.
“Why am I left with the weak ones? Come on!” Zaac exclaimed with fury and he rushed toward Draken, Alexa and Cassandra. Draken was certain it was his lucky day; he saw Zaac running towards him and readied for the fight he’d been aching for.
Meanwhile, the Dark Mage Dio was on his way to obliterate one of the largest cities in Bristal, Malina. Malina was the centre of trade for the whole kingdom. All sorts of goods were traded here, from the magickal, mystos and enchanted items and so forth, to the luxurious items–fashionable clothing, accessories, and such. Perfumes to toys, watches and other mechanical wonders. Basically, everything that could be purchased in Bristal could be seen represented somewhere in Malina. Striking here would stop the circulation of trade within the whole kingdom, choking up the transport of beneficial magickal goods such as healing mystos.
The Dark Mage came alone, and strode up to the city gate, waiting politely for the city guards to arrive. One guard came up, another one trailing exhaustedly behind, and asked, “Hello, sir, are you here for trade?”
“No. You look tired–a long day’s work, eh?”
“Hah! You could say that. With everything that’s been going on, we’re all exhausted,” the guard replied.
“I guess it’s perfect timing to arrive here,” Dio said. “Why is that?” the guard asked.
“Because I am here to put you all to rest!”
“Oh, that sounds great–” the guard started. He hadn’t noticed the eerie aura emanating from Dio. The Dark Mage raised his arms.
One of the other guards shouted from a distance: “Get away from him! He is the Dark Mage of Malevolentiam!”
“Living Flames!” Dio shouted and bursting fire balls began falling from the sky. They streaked, burning furious angry lines through the sky. Then they struck. Foliage lit, blazing and crackling around the site of decimation. But it was not to stop there. As soon as the fire balls hit the ground, they cracked like eggs and enormous flaming rock golems emerged. They started to devastate the city, burning everything and everyone without leaving anything behind. Civilians ran and screamed, and soon the air was thick with the sounds of incineration, the city’s atmosphere wavering like a furnace. “Now, feel my wrath, mighty Bristal,” Dio shouted, and he enjoyed the view of the city as it crumbled and burned to its foundations.
Krimmirr was in panic when they heard the news about the attack on the city. “Malina has been destroyed!” Diurus exclaimed.
“They will destroy the whole kingdom! We must make haste!” Ace said.
“Diurus and Ace, please rush to Zebu and help the others. We must ensure our victory there. Slay everyone from Malevolentiam and ensure our army survives,” Queen Jeannah commanded and at once the Fourth Regiment and Fifth Regiment departed to aid Jael and the others.
The flames of Efreet engulfed Adriel’s body. He called out “Infierno!” Immediately around him the air began to quaver like the heart of a forge. Nearby plants withered due to the intense heat. Jael prepared to face a familiar foe: fire. He could not remember a point in his life where flame had not come naturally to him, and no natural flame could burn him. Vaan, however.
“Vaan, let me handle this and go help the others,” Jael murmured.
But his friend stood firmly at his side. “No, Jael. You cannot handle this alone. He is a Titan! He must not be underestimated,” Vaan replied.
“All right then. Just don’t get burned.”
“Heh. Don’t you worry about me, I can handle myself,” Vaan replied, a smirk on his face.
Adriel stalked towards them. “Enough of your nonsensical chatter! I am Adriel, the Fire Titan of Malevolentiam! Now you shall taste the undying flames of Efreet! My magick is called Pyrezio, I can command my flames to take any form I wish. Your friends cannot help you anymore, they are on the other side of Zebu and will never notice your distress.” The Fire Titan laughed maniacally.
Whose nonsensical chatter? Vaan thought.
Adriel hurled a huge fire ball toward Jael. He quickly cast Kappe Flam and blocked it with his right shoulder. Vaan immediately cast Upheaval upon Adriel, but immediately before the massive rocks hit, the Titan easily dodged. “Do not mistake me for a normal mage. I am a Titan!” Adriel shouted, and he cast a spell to create a fiery shackle around his opponent. “Algemas Flamejante!” Adriel uttered and fiery chains wrapped tightly around Vaan, tightening the more he battled. Flame ropes lashed around his wrists, ankles, his neck, and finally securing firmly around his waist. He struggled to escape nonetheless, and the bonds seared into his limbs, dragging him to submission on the ground.
“Vaan!” Jael shouted and rushed to him, but Adriel blocked, giving him a kick to the gut. He fell to his knees.
Vaan screamed in excruciating pain. His skin darkened, smoke rising as the fire consumed him. He cast Golem Heart in hopes it would cut down the fiery chains restraining, or at least lift them off his bare, exposed flesh. The anguish continued.
“My flames cannot be extinguished. My flames cannot be defeated! Your friend here will need to defeat me if you want to live. Your life is in his hands now. You only have a few minutes to live… depending on how much heat you can handle!” Adriel rubbed his own hands together in grim delight, laughing madly, manically, eyes crazed and bright.
“Vaan! Your rage! Activate it!” Jael shouted.
“I don’t… know… how… to… activate it!” Vaan cried in agony, frustration, sobbing, “Jael, please, defeat that guy!”
“Adriel, let him live. You can have me!” Jael begged. “Can’t you see! He cannot endure it anymore! If he dies, you will have no more fun!”
“Let’s have a deal. If you can make me move from this spot where I am standing, I will release your friend,” Adriel replied.
Jael took a deep shaky breath. Vaan stoically tried not to scream. He’d always imagined that eventually his body would give up in the face of pain but still his nerves raged on. If anything the pain had become worse, waves upon waves of searing agony that left his brain empty but for the wail. “Very well,” Jael answered, and he cast Blazia, rushed toward Adriel.
This will be fun… Adriel thought and smirked.
Vaan had seen Jael bring down mighty enemies, but this was the Fire Titan.
As soon as Jael was within range, an arms length from Adriel, he cast Pillar Flare capturing Adriel inside of it. The flames rose high around the Titan, who only laughed within the pillar
of blazing pyrotechnics. “Aaaahhhh… ha… haha… hahahahaha,” Adriel mocked Jael. “Is that what you call a flame attack?” He reached forward, seizing Jael’s shoulders and shouted, “From the belly of Efreet comes the mighty flame Fallafir!” A fiery remnant of the python, a shredded remain of the idea of a creature, summoned from the depths. It clamped its fiery fangs onto his shoulder, burrowing deeper. “This should slow you down.”
Its body wound around him, wrapping and wrapping. Though Jael could not feel the heat, he struggled, scuffling in the dirt and trying to get free. He stared at Vaan, Vaan’s eyes wide but breath barely, focus gone. He tried to make eye contact but Vaan only stared, sagging further and further in defeat. His body was blackened, consumed by the slow flame. “Awwww. Your friend is almost unconscious. You better act fast. Hahaha,” Adriel uttered in laughter.
“Blazierga!” Jael shouted atop his lungs, hoping to burn off the flames of Adriel.
“You honestly think fire can burn fire? You’re a lunatic.”
There was not much left. Jael swore. Vaan was on the verge of death from the flames. Damn this! I need to find a way! But Vaan’s eyes drooped shut, and Jael feared the worst.
Then his eyes snapped open, white. His hair rose, an intense magickal aura reverberating around him. Adriel seemed interested by this turn of events. “So you acquired the Earth’s Fate magick, huh? This must be the Fate magick Vaan is looking for! Now this is getting interesting… you know there can never be two mages that possess the same Fate magick, yes? It is said when the Fate bearer dies, it passes to a nearby mage who has the same element. In this case, if Vaan dies, Gaea’s Rage will be passed to Zaac,” Adriel added.
“I cannot let you kill him!” Jael shouted, forcing his legs free, and he rushed toward Adriel. But because of the Fallafir restraining him, he could not land a single blow on Adriel, unable to move his arms. He slammed his head into Adriel, ramming him with his skull–but Jael was a mage, not a warrior. He gasped in pain, seeing stars. “Vaan! What are you waiting for? Your rage has activated!” Jael screamed. Vaan moved not a single muscle. Gravely mistaken, Jael did not understand–Vaan’s rage was not activating. The Fate magick, aware its bearer was dying, was alert, awake, scanning for a next possible bearer.
“Time is almost up, Jael, Vaan is unconscious! I’m sorry…” Adriel laughed evilly. “Thank me later, Zaac.”
Adriel’s fiery shackles vanished and Vaan’s burnt body was laid unconscious on the ground. “Vaan!” Jael shouted as he saw his helpless dying friend on the ground. He surged, lunging uselessly towards Vaan.
“Awwww. I am very sorry for your loss,” Adriel said, and he sarcastically sobbed.
“I don’t understand! His rage… it triggered… what happened?” Jael gasped in grieving confusion. With the fiery snake still constricting him, Jael struggled slowly to Vaan. “First Frekkis, and now Vaan?” Jael said to himself and a single tear fell from his eye. With fierce, anger and shock, Jael’s adrenaline burst. “BLAZIERGA!” Jael shouted his loudest and a burst of flame engulfed Jael. The Fallafir, enraged, clamping ever tighter around Jael’s shoulders and its fiery fangs dug deep into Jael’s flesh. This time they cut through his defences and something burned within him.
“Oooohhhh. Now I’m scared,” Adriel said in sarcasm and he smirked.
Jael couldn’t take it anymore. Loss after loss had driven him somewhere deep within, consumed by fury, hatred. Something burned within him, and suddenly he realised it wasn’t just his livid emotions, but actually localised to his lower right, running from his gluteus into his hamstrings. It took shape, a strange marking appearing in the form of a fiery creature. He wondered what it was; it felt as though something was waking within him. The flame increased, and he fell to his knees, large amounts of flame discharging from his body. Before their eyes his power grew exponentially, growing to a whole new level. And with it came pain, excruciating pain, as flame baptised him, taking control over his body, his mind and anything he could feel at all. Eventually Jael could bear it no more and he fell unconscious.
“What?… Where am I…?” Jael wondered, and he opened his eyes, blinking steadily. He stood up, only to see fog and haze. Then he, again, felt the mark on his back heating up. He immediately took his vest off and in mere seconds the intense flames emitted from his body once again. “What is happening to me?!”
After a while the flames concentrated into the mark on Jael’s back. Flames spewed out from the mark and gathered in front of him, slowly becoming a gigantic creature. Ceasing to burn, it took the form of a fire remnant–anthropomorphised.
The fire being spoke and said, “Child, my name is Cherufe. I am the mark on your back. Your ancestor, Agnus, the father of flame magick, created me to become his protector. I stayed with him long, until his death. Before he died, he transformed me into a mark to be passed down to his descendants. I am the reminder you are a descendant of Agnus. Awakening me means only one thing. Your potential flame magick had been released and intensified. You need to discover your hidden talent which is the gift bestowed by your father upon you–the Frozen Flame.”
“I have a lot to ask you, is that all right?” Jael replied.
“I will answer your questions with everything in my knowledge,” Cherufe answered.
“First of all, where am I? And what happened to my battle with Adriel?” Jael asked.
“You are in my reality. My awakening caused you to overload with magickal flames and fall into unconsciousness I may introduce myself to you,” Cherufe replied. “I know nothing that happened to you prior this meeting. As I awaken, I am to reveal you the Frozen Flame. That is all I can say.”
“Who is my father?” Jael asked.
“I do not know your father. I am but a memory created by Agnus,” Cherufe replied.
“Is my mark the same as his?” Jael asked.
“Yes, the marks made by Agnus are all the same for all of his descendants,” Cherufe answered.
“Does this mark appear at the same location on every descendant of Agnus?” Jael asked.
“No, the mark decides where it will appear and therefore you cannot tell where the mark is until it awakens.”
“Who is Agnus?”
“Agnus is the father of flame magick. When Maggus created Mageia, he had six apprentices who focused on each of the six Elements of Mageia, thus, making them the six Fathers of Mageia. Agnus is one of them and mastered the element of fire,” Cherufe replied.
“Who are the six Fathers of Mageia?”.
“Your ancestor, Agnus is the father of flame magick. His brother, Varun, is the father of water magick. Taranir is the father of air magick. Enkas is the father of earth magick. Nyxe, the one who created Falakh, is the father of dark magick. And Excalla, the father of light magick,” Cherufe explained.
“So the only person you know is Agnus and I?”
“Yes, exactly, because it is Agnus’ memory that is stored in every mark and his magick that intensifies his descendant’s magickal powers,” Cherufe replied.
“What is the gift bestowed to me by my father?” Jael asked. “It is called the Frozen Flame,” Cherufe said.
“What is this Frozen Flame?”
“The Frozen Flame is imbued inside the body of the fire mage, waiting to be thawed. Triggering the Frozen Flame means only one thing–your flames shall be as potent as Agnus’ flames,” Cherufe explained. “My time is up, child. I need to return to you as a mark. But I will leave you with this; always follow your heart to whichever decisions you might come across. May the flames of Cherufe remind you that you are a fire prodigy and that you are a descendant of Agnus,” Cherufe said and transformed into flames once again and returned to Jael’s body as a mark. With the flames restored to Jael’s body, he again fell unconscious. As he regained his consciousness, he heard the sound of the castle’s melodies and the loud outcry of the royal guards in training.
Korhil was the Titan of Wind of Malevolentiam, called the Quetzalcoatl. Unlike the other Titans, he d
id not have mages for his army. Instead, his whole army was composed of ten wind spirits called Sylphids. Every sylphid had its own role, some for offence and others for defence. They were not controlled by Korhil, but autonomous beings who had pledged allegiance to Korhil of their own accord. They came from the Mountains of Huruoan where he had saved them from certain death. To become a powerful wind mage, Korhil had to pass the final test given by his village elders. If Korhil passed this test, he would be given the Fate magick of the wind element, Fuujin’s Fury. During this final phase of his test, he needed to cross the Mountains of Huruoan, home of the wind spirits.
As a wind mage, Korhil too sensed danger nearby. Making his way up, he witnessed the sylphids in total panic. As he analysed the situation, the answer presented itself: a monstrous fiend feasting on the sylphids. Korhil decided to help the wind spirits, but he was already late. The fiend gobbled up the sylphids. After Korhil fought off the fiend, only ten sylphids were left alive, the rest had been eaten up. The remaining sylphids thanked Korhil for his act and pledged themselves to him, to serve as his protectors. The sylphids aided him in finishing the final test and in turn he received Fuujin’s Fury, making him the strongest out of the Four Titans. As soon as Korhil obtained the Fate magick, he left the village, following his sister.
He was an intimidating show, but Orevlatef was not impressed. “Let me introduce myself. I am Korhil Valitheris, the Titan of wind and sky. Please, equip your strongest spells and warm yourselves up. No one can best me. I would like to know if the Queen’s regiments do have a match against me, but I suppose even if you face me all at once you cannot defeat me,” Korhil said.
“What arrogance. Hmph,” Orevlatef said.
Helena cast her Valkyrian Wings along with her sword, Retribution. Orevlatef conjured his sword, the Blade of Skaldi. “Helena, are you all set?” Orevlatef asked.
Teliko Mageia: Curse of the Frozen Flame Page 24
