The Fated Swords (Mystics of V'nairia #1)

by J. C. Ritchie

It was Vallus again; he enjoyed sneaking up on people a little too much. “Is this your idea of a joke?” Zander asked turning to look at him.

  Zander noticed he had taken down his ponytail, he was serious this time. “I will give you one last chance to join me.” Vallus said.

  “Vallus you know that I can’t, I came here to finish this and I know what I have to do.” Zander said.

  “Ah so you mean to sacrifice yourself for the others, how foolish of you.” Vallus said.

  Zander released his sword and pointed it at Vallus, “It isn't foolish, I’m ensuring my friends safety and the safety of the rest of the kingdom.” Zander explained.

  Vallus ran his fingers through his hair to keep it from getting in his face. “So you believe that they will immortalize you just like they did your father? Have you ever heard anyone utter a word about that bastard?” Vallus asked, “You’re no war hero, you’re just a child”.

  Zander was furious, he clenched Ivory’s handle hard and his breathing became heavy. “Say that again with my sword through your chest.” Zander said. Vallus could certainly feel a change in him from when they were together back at the capital; he was more mature and more powerful than ever. Zander was never seen as a threat to his plan before, but now he had to be more cautious than ever.

  Vallus drew his sword and held it at his side; Zander watched the blade carefully because he knew that with Vallus’ recent battles he had many tricks to work with. “I can see you watching my blade. Do you think I’m going to pull some sort of trick on you?” Vallus asked.

  “Maybe it had crossed my mind.” Zander replied. “I can feel that your magick is different from the last time I saw you, so you found the stone?” Vallus asked.

  Zander wasn’t surprised, Vallus was always five steps ahead of his enemies. “I’m just as powerful as you are, maybe even more powerful.” Zander said.

  Vallus chuckled a little, “Confidence is easily broken Zander.” Vallus said glaring at him.

  Vallus disappeared as quickly as Zander blinked, appearing behind him and holding a knife to his throat.

  “Don’t struggle, the blade might slip.” Vallus warned him.

  The silver blade kissed his pale white skin, with a slight movement the blade nicked the side of his neck. A small drop of blood ran from the cut down his shirt. Vallus released him and pushed him away, “I would never kill you in such a manor, we have known each other since we were babies I have more respect for you than that.” Vallus said.

  “It’s good to know you have some humanity left in you.” Zander said.

  Vallus licked the blood from the knife and placed in back in the holster on his leg. “Not for long I’m afraid, I may just become the next demon king.” He said.

  “Then I guess I couldn’t feel too bad about killing you.” Zander said.

  “So I guess it’s that time, isn't it?” Vallus asked.

  Zander got into stance, “I guess it is.” he said.

  Zander had made the first move, running up to his old friend and trying to strike him with a basic blow from Ivory’s blade. Vallus anticipated this and blocked the blade with his boot. He had taken his leg and swung it to the side knocking the blade away, and struck Zander in the face with his fist. Zander quickly regained composure and came back with his blade once more, which was again blocked by Ebony. Sparks flew from the blades as Vallus and Zander stared into each other’s eyes.

  “Brother do you remember the day I gave you that blade?” Vallus asked.

  “Of course I do.” Zander said.

  “Then I guess we will soon find out how the rivalry will end.” Vallus said using the force of his weight and pushed Zander backward.

  Zander quickly grabbed his arm and threw Vallus off the side of the cliff, “Flame Art: Fire Stream!” he shouted aiming the flames at Vallus.

  “Demonic Art: Shadow Claw.” Vallus said as he attached the spell to the side of the cliff.

  He had used the claw to swing himself back up onto the cliff, thus dodging the flames. “Quick thinking.” Zander said.

  “As always.” Vallus replied.

  The earth below Vallus began to shift and cover his legs, hardening. “I knew you would try something.” Zander said.

  Vallus struggled to break free but the increase in Zander’s magick further increased the spells hold. “Looks like I’m not the only quick one.” Vallus said.

  Vallus wouldn’t be taken out so easily, “Demonic Art: Hellhounds!” Vallus shouted.

  Three large, black hounds appeared from the ground in front of Vallus. They were the same type of hounds that appeared back in the capital. Vallus whistled and they began to run after Zander. Zander threw Ivory and pierced one of the hounds and watched as it turned to dust. The remaining hounds continued the chase; they were almost on his heels. He quickly turned and kicked one aside and punched the other in its face, this was merely a diversion. He ran over and Grabbed Ivory from the ground,

  “Wind Art: Slicing Gale.” he said as the wind blade came from Ivory and sliced through another hound.

  The third hound used this moment to run up and latch onto Zander’s arm, biting down hard and piercing his skin. The blood dripped from his arm as he tried to shake the beast off, he had finally taken his sword and stabbed it through its skull. It had turned to dust and Zander had use of his arm once more.

  “Well you have grown, haven't you?” Vallus asked.

  “Enough! I’m going to end this.” Zander shouted.

  He raised Ivory’s blade so that the tip of the steel had hovered just about his heart. “What are you waiting for? Go on, kill me” Vallus said.

  Zander hesitated; his hands began to shake along with the blade. “Kill me dammit!” Vallus screamed.

  The blade pierced Vallus; Zander couldn’t believe how easily it the blade had sunk into his skin. The blood began to flow from the wound as Zander pulled Ivory out of him. “So you couldn’t do it?” Vallus said staring at Zander with disappointment.

  Zander had only pierced his shoulder; he lowered his weapon and looked down at the ground. “Look at you, a helpless child. You’re no soldier at all.” Vallus said.

  “What the hell happened to you!?” Zander shouted, so loud that it echoed throughout the area.

  “What do you mean?” Vallus asked smiling.

  “I loved you like a brother; you were the kindest person I had known.” Zander said.

  “Kind on the outside, filled with hatred on the inside.” Vallus said.

  Zander had known the pain that Vallus had to deal with growing up, he often tried to hide his feelings and for the most part he had. He had always disagreed with his father’s views; Vallus had never seen the mystics as threats. Deep down Vallus was jealous of the power they had, and wanted the same power for himself. Zander knew looking into his friend’s eyes that there was no kindness left in him, the hate had completely consumed him. The only way to rid the world of this evil would be to kill his best friend, and it was the hardest thing he had ever had to do.

  “I knew you didn’t have it in you.” Vallus said looking down at Zander.

  Ivory fell from Zander’s hand and hit the ground. The blood from Vallus’s wounds dripped on the ground in front of Zander. Zander’s earth spell had ended, thus freeing Vallus from restraint. Vallus grabbed him by his hair and pulled him up off the ground. Zander struggled to break free of his grip; it felt as though he was ripping Zander’s hair off his head. Vallus made a fist and punched him across the face. Blood flew from Zander’s mouth and hit the ground nearby.

  “I'm going to make your suffering unbelievable.” Vallus said.

  Vallus threw him to the ground and began to kick him repeatedly. Zander was helpless, his will was fading; he needed to think of something fast or else Vallus would kill him. He slowly rose to his feet; wounded and bleeding. “You still think you have a shot?” Vallus asked.

  Zander wiped the blood from his face and picked up his sword. “I'm not going to give up, there are too many people
betting on me.” Zander said as he looked up at Vallus and smiled.

  “I’ll cut that smile right off of you!” Vallus shouted as he ran at Zander.

  Suddenly a burst of magick came from Zander and had sent Vallus flying backward. “So this must be the power of the stone.” Zander thought.

  He gathered as much energy as he could and released it. The wave of magick had distorted the illusionary dimension they were in, destroying it. Zander lowered his hands from his face and looked around, he had noticed that they were back in the cave.

  “Enough games Vallus, we’re ending this now.” Zander said

  Chapter XXIV

  The Original Technique

  Vallus stood up and put his sword away, “So you managed to break out of my alternate dimension, impressive.” Vallus said.

  “I don’t need your praise.” Zander replied.

  “Well I guess it would seem so.” Vallus said.

  Zander had also put away his blade; he was trying to stall him until the others had found them.

  “I have to hand it to you; I never would have imagined we would be on the same playing field.” Vallus remarked.

  Zander kept his hand on Ivory’s handle, preparing himself for a surprise attack. “The game is about to get even more interesting.” Zander said.

  “Zander!” a voice shouted from across the cave.

  It was Kerra and the others coming to join him. “Good to see you’re still alive.” Heiro said.

  “Yeah everything is just fine.” Zander said not even taking his eyes off of Vallus.

  “Those guardians were easier than we thought.” Ashe said.

  “Speak for yourselves.” Heiro said looking over at her.

  “It looks like your all here for the main event.” Vallus said looking each of them in the eyes, he knew the odds and didn’t care. He knew the extent of his power and theirs, the only one that had even a chance of defeating him was Zander.

  “You guys stay out of this, I can handle him myself.” Zander said.

  “It looks like you have done a great job so far.” Heiro said looking down at his wounds. Kerra walked up beside him and grabbed his hand,

  “You forget that were all in this together, we will fight too.” she said.

  He could tell how strong she had gotten just by the tone of her voice, her pulse was racing but she was ready to risk it all for him. She loved him and it had been that very thought had kept him going.

  “Kerra.” Zander said uttering her name under his breath.

  “We will buy you some time while you gather the energy needed for the seal.” Ashe said as the three of them stood in front of Zander to guard him.

  “Ashe once all of this is over I’m buying you dinner.” Heiro said winking at her.

  Even in the battle for the fate of V’nairia Heiro still had his devilish charm. “If you don’t die, I’ll think about it.” Ashe said returning a smile. Vallus stood and watched them without even making a move.

  Heiro moved in to attack first; he had always been the most impulsive of the four. “Flame Art: Great Fire Stream!” he shouted as he spat the flames in Vallus’ direction.

  Vallus however, in his quick thinking had rolled to the right thus dodging the attack. Heiro anticipated his next move and jumped above him. In mid-air he cast the spell again, the four of them watched as the flames had connected with their target this time around. The flames burned the flesh right off of Vallus’ bones and disintegrated those as well. Of course they should have known it was an illusionary tactic to distract them. Zander knew that a mere flame spell of that caliber could not even harm Vallus.

  Suddenly Vallus had appeared behind Heiro, “Demonic Art: Shadow Claw.” He said as the claw from his shadow had extended out and grabbed Heiro by the back of the neck.

  Heiro struggled to break free but the more he struggled the tighter the claws grip had become. Vallus finally commanded the claw to throw Heiro into the cave wall.

  “Heiro!” Ashe shouted, but he could not hear her he was unconscious from the force of the impact.

  Zander slowly began to gather magickal energy in the back of the cave as he had watched the others battle Vallus. He couldn’t believe how easily Heiro had been taken out, but he knew that Vallus wasn’t playing around. Kerra and Ashe were up next, they started off with a fire and lightning combination spell. This spell was more advanced and more powerful than Heiro’s normal fire spells. The two spells had collided in the air and immediately the force and speed of the blast had increased dramatically. Vallus had not flinched; he simply waited for the right moment before the blast had hit him and unsheathed his sword. With one swing of Ebony’s blade he had sliced right through the spell and cancelled it. That had been the very moment when they knew that he wasn’t human any longer.

  Kerra had quickly ran up to Vallus to deliver a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The stone had also increased Kerra’s agility and speed as well as her magick. Before the kick had hit him, he grabbed a hold of her leg and pushed it away. Ashe came down from above them with her sword to strike; Vallus had jumped out of the way and kicked her in the stomach. Ashe slowly got to her feet and pulled her bow from her back, she had loaded it with three arrows. She pulled the string back tightly,

  “Flame Art: Triple Fire Shot!” she shouted as she released the string.

  Vallus had swiftly dodged the first two arrows and caught the other in his hand. He crushed the arrow in his palm and the remains to the ground. Ashe’s attack had been a diversion tactic; Kerra came flying through the air above Ashe.

  “Lightning Art: Flying Thunder Kick.” She said as the kick struck Vallus across the face and had slung him into the side of the cave.

  “Combination Art: Thundering Firestorm!” the girls shouted as they cast their spell once more. The blast had hit the side of the cave where Vallus was, the shockwave had broken up the wall and rubble came tumbling down.

  It had been too quiet, and there had been no sign of movement from Vallus. It was hard for Zander to believe that Ashe and Kerra had taken him out themselves although their teamwork was quite impressive. Suddenly, two shadow claw spells came from the wreckage. They had extended themselves up Ashe and Kerra’s bodies and grabbed them by their necks. Vallus slowly pulled himself out of the rubble and walked toward them,

  “You ladies are quick, I’ll give you that. It’s too bad you hadn’t joined me.” Vallus said lifting them up off of the ground. They could barely breathe the claws were strangling them so hard.

  “Which one of you should I kill first?” Vallus asked looking to each of the girls.

  Zander had felt useless; he still needed more energy for the seal. He couldn’t save them, if he had broken concentration now all the collected magick would be lost.

  “Blood Sword: Giant Axe!” Heiro shouted from behind Vallus. Heiro used the blood sword axe to cut right through Vallus. The shadows had disappeared and released the girls, as they fell to the ground they noticed that it was another one of Vallus’ illusions.

  “What the hell took you so long Heiro?” Ashe asked angrily.

  “Hey give me a break, I was knocked unconscious.” He said.

  “Thank you Heiro.” Kerra said smiling. Heiro walked over to them and caught his breath,

  “How much longer you need back there buddy?” He asked yelling over at Zander.

  “I just about have it; you’ll need to restrain him.” Zander said.

  Vallus appeared out of nowhere and made his way towards Zander. The others quickly ran after him and grabbed ahold of his limbs. They had used their magick energy to add weight to their body to restrain him. They held their ground and gripped him tightly; Zander had been preparing the seal. The seal had to work; it was the only thing to bring him back without killing him. Zander unsheathed Ivory and pulled out the scroll that Lycos had given them. Suddenly Vallus released a black burst of energy from his body that had sent out a shockwave, knocking back Heiro and the others. Their plan had seemed to fall through
except that Zander had a plan B that no one else had been aware of.

  He gathered all of his magick down his arm and into Ivory. The Blade had been encased in a blinding light; Vallus couldn’t see anything around him. Ivory’s blade had enlarged itself at least ten times its normal size. Despite the blades size it was light as a feather in Zander’s hand, he held out the sword and ran towards Vallus.

  “Sacred Art: Devil Slayer!” he shouted as he swung the blade of light through Vallus’ body multiple times. While Vallus was stunned he quickly unrolled the scroll onto the ground. The incantation moved from the scroll and wrapped itself around Vallus. The binding part of the spell was complete, now all Zander had to do was seal the evil energy with his blade. The thrusted Ivory into Vallus’ chest as a powerful, warming light covered him. The sealing spell had captured him and began to purify him.

  Chapter XXV

  Sacrifice

  Heiro and the others picked themselves up off of the ground and walked over to join Zander. Zander stood in awe as he observed his best friend encased in a golden aura, slowly being purified back to his old self. “What kind of attack was that?” Heiro asked as he looked over at Zander.

  “I believe that was his original technique.” Ashe said.

  “It was just as Master Lycos said, everyone needs an original technique.” Zander said.

  Kerra came up behind him and hugged him, “You completed the seal, I was so worried about you.” She said.

  He turned and pulled her to him and she laid her head against his chest. “I’m alright, everything is alright now Kerra.” He reassured her.

  The golden aura faded from the body, they looked to find Vallus purified but it wasn’t. It was Raphael; they had wasted the sealing spell on him. As he lay on the ground out of energy he looked up at them and began to laugh. “You idiots were so easy to fool, I took the form of Master Vallus and you believed it.” He said.

  “How the hell did this happen? It was him I was sure of it.” Zander said as he fell to his knees.

  Kerra leaned down and held him, he was in shock. “When you had broken the barrier and brought you and Master Vallus back to this plane, I had quickly traded placed with him and took on his appearance.” Raphael explained.