Running as fast as he could, Temin dashed down the mountainside. Flashes of familiar light and another eerie light seemed to be constantly moving away from him. Every time that it seemed he’d finally caught up to them, they would quickly move away again, farther down the mountainside. He had almost tripped on a beautiful woman lying unconscious on the rocky slope, but he saw that she was breathing and continued on, pressing hard to catch up to Orlon Rin.
That had held true until he reached a broad, flat landing that stuck out from the sloping mountainside. As he stepped onto the flat surface of the landing, he saw the silhouettes of two warriors locked in battle in the murky darkness. One was undoubtedly his master, wielding a chain of light in one hand and a long blade of light in the other. It appeared that his enemy was finished as a spear had been stabbed straight through him, but before Orlon could finish him off, the enemy grabbed Orlon and swiftly overpowered him.
Temin froze as he watched his master fall to the ground. His feet seemed anchored in place by the swift, apparent defeat of Orlon Rin at the hands of the enemy.
How did Master Rin lose? No one should be strong enough to beat him and the demon has a spear sticking straight through him; what am I supposed to do against that?
Fear seized him as, a few moments later, a flash of purple lit up the sky to almost daylight levels. The strange, flickering purple light seemed to be streaming from the hand of a man dressed in rags; not a demon as he had believed. Orlon Rin was thrown against the stones like a helpless child and the man began laughing in a way that sent chills through Temin.
Who is he; is that the demon? What is that coming out of his hand; lightning? What’s going on?
Suddenly, the lightning from the man’s hand drastically changed. It grew bigger and more frightening and spread out across the mountainside causing the black stone to melt on contact. Temin shrunk away in terror as a massive portion of the mountain became molten and rolled down over his master. Orlon was still pinned against the rock by the man’s purple lightning and unable to escape the deadly molten stone that flowed toward him.
Oh no, not even Master Rin could survive that; I’ve got to do something, but my body won’t move.
Temin watched helplessly as the molten rock slid down over Orlon, and he was sealed beneath a layer of glowing lava. The man threw back his head and laughed in his chillingly, cold voice. Once his lightning disappeared, the man vanished from sight along with it becoming nothing more than a chilling laugh emanating from the darkness.
Temin fell to the ground in disbelief, staring at the spot of glowing, molten rock where Orlon had last been. Tears formed in his eyes and fell silently down his cheeks as he stared blankly at the lava. The molten stone was rapidly cooling and its light was fading just as fast.
I, I didn’t even try to save him. I just stood here and watched him die. I should’ve done something but my body... wouldn’t... listen.
Anger and sadness mingled in Temin as he glanced over in the direction of the man’s laughter. Even though he could no longer make out the man’s body, he knew that he was still there; laughing at the death of Orlon Rin. All around, the shadows seemed to press in on Temin filled with the man’s cold, icy laughter.
Temin pressed his hands to his ears in an attempt to shut out the laughter, but he could still here it even as the darkness pressed ever closer to him. His hands began shaking uncontrollably as fear washed over him like an icy blanket.
He’s going to kill me, too.
The tears he’d cried for his master clung frozen to his face in the chilly air as the last of the light faded from the molten stone. Temin gasped as he was plunged into the twilight darkness of The Nightlands. With Orlon Rin beside him, The Nightlands had seemed interesting, but now that he was alone, the murky darkness was truly terrifying.
He was about to cry out in terror when he noticed a thin ray of light up ahead of him. The man’s laughter had stopped, and as two more rays of light appeared next to the first, it was replaced by a deep, throaty growl. More and more rays appeared and Temin saw that they were coming from the ground where Orlon Rin had been trapped beneath the molten stone.
Relief and surprise flooded through him as he watched the ground explode in a furious blast sending glowing chunks of partially-cooled rock flying off into the twilight sky. Emerging from within the rock like a rising sun, was a figure clad entirely in shining, white light. The light was so bright that Temin had to shield his eyes. Only then did he notice the man standing a dozen feet from the glowing figure.
“You should just accept your death, lightwielder!” the man shouted at the glowing figure of Orlon Rin.
Purple lightning shot out from the man’s hand like a spear aimed straight at Orlon’s glowing body, but like a wave breaking on the beach, it rolled over him with little effect. More lightning surged from the man’s hands, but instead of flying at Orlon, it raced up the man’s body covering him completely in a glowing, purple skin of energy.
“I told you that your trickery wouldn’t work this time, lightwielder. I know how your powers work and they pale in comparison to my own. Come, let me show you!”
Instantly, the two glowing figures collided in a clash of power that threw Temin backwards. The air seemed to howl and scream in response to every move that the two made and the terrain of the mountainside swiftly changed. As the two glowing warriors exchanged blows, cracks formed along the landing and pieces of it began to slide away down the mountain. The sky seemed black against the light that streamed off of the two warriors as they rapidly formed weapons of various shapes and sizes and collided in rapid succession.
Orlon, wielding a spear of light stabbed at the man, but he countered with a whip of lightning and cracked it across Orlon’s face before the spear could connect. Orlon fell backward but quickly recovered forming a bow of light as he fell. In a flash a dozen arrows were imbedded within the lightning-skin of the man, but just as quickly the arrows were swallowed by the lightning and the man rushed at Orlon again.
The two met again in a thundering clash of power. Orlon kicked the charging man in the knee dropping him down into a crouch. Before his opponent could recover from his first attack, Orlon backhanded the lightning-clad figure across the face with a resounding crack. The force sent the man sprawling across the stone; his lightning-skin turning the rock red-hot as he slid across it.
Blasting the ground beneath him, the man propelled himself to his feet and glared at Orlon with a face formed of rapidly-shifting, purple energy. Holding out his arm toward Orlon, the man swiftly amassed a large ball of purple energy in the palm of his hand. In seconds, the flickering orb was larger than his entire body and it hummed like an army of giant, hungry insects.
Temin watched in awe as the exchange became even more fearsome. With a shout, the man sent his giant ball of lightning racing toward Orlon’s shining form. Instead of moving, the lightwielder simply stood in the orb’s path as if daring it to strike him. Just before the lightning orb hit him, Orlon turned his body sideways and held out his right arm turning his body into a blade of light.
With a screeching sound, the two energies collided. The lightning orb seemed to push Orlon backwards across the stone landing even as it began folding around him. For a moment it seemed that Orlon was going to be consumed within the massive ball of lightning but then it suddenly passed over Orlon; careening wildly toward the rocky slope of the mountainside.
What happened; it looked like he passed right through it?
Temin watched in awe as the unstable ball of lightning split in half just before it struck the rocky surface of the mountain. A blinding explosion of broken rock, rushing wind, and purple energy erupted from the point of impact blasting the entire section of mountain away. Most of the landing that Temin and the two glowing warriors had been on broke free of the mountain and began cascading down the slope in a massive rockslide.
Buffeted by soaring winds, Temin was pushed to the ground on the small remaining section of the landing and he momentarily l
ost sight of the warriors as they fell away with the rest of the broken landing. Moving as quickly as he dared, Temin moved to the edge of the landing and looked down. Not far below him, he could make out the two glowing figures once again engaged in vicious combat.
Orlon Rin swept aside a lightning-fast punch aimed at his head, but received another punch to the stomach almost immediately. Bending under the force of the blow, he was unable to avoid the brutal kick to the side of the face that followed. Orlon was sent flying by the vicious kick, but before he could touch the ground his opponent was suddenly in front of him and caught him in mid-flight.
How did he move like that? I didn’t know anyone could move that fast; not even Master Rin moves like that. That... thing... moves like lightning.
Holding Orlon by the throat, the lightning-clad warrior shoved him down into the rocky slope like a hammer driving a nail. The lightwielder’s head was embedded deep into the stone leaving his body lying prone on the rocky slope. Taking a slight step back, the man mercilessly blasted Orlon with a massive bolt of violet lightning straight to the chest.
The stone under Orlon cracked and imploded as he was pushed deeper into mountainside. He groaned in obvious pain and tried to rise but a foot stomped down on his chest and held him in place. Temin gasped as the man raised his arm over his head and formed a wicked-looking sword of lightning with a wide blade that streamed purple energy with its every move.
As the blade made its descent toward Orlon’s head, the lightwielder grabbed the foot that held him down and twisted. The man fell to the side and his sword stabbed down into black stone inches from Orlon’s face, but the narrow miss was all the distraction that Orlon needed to escape. Launching himself up from the stone crater, Orlon formed a spear of light and landed just beyond his opponent.
“That was close, lightwielder,” the man taunted as he turned to face Orlon. “How many more narrow misses do you suppose that you’re going to get before you taste the end of this blade?”
“As many as I need to, demon. Your blade is powerless before the light of Anedae, as you should well remember.”
“Don’t try it, lightwielder, I told you it won’t work; not this time.”
“The light of Anedae cleanses all evil; including you.”
Orlon jumped backwards and quickly threw the spear of light at the lightning-clad warrior, but it was easily swept aside by the massive, lightning blade. Immediately, Orlon formed a barrage of weapons with his right hand and sent them flying at his opponent, while he held his left hand up and a brilliant light began to grow within his palm.
“Trying to stall for time, lightwielder? You forget, I’ve seen this trick before and I know precisely how to stop it!”
Dodging and swinging at the weapons wildly, the man advanced on Orlon relentlessly. Several weapons, including two daggers and a hand axe, connected with the man, but he hardly seemed to notice and the weapons were quickly swallowed by the purple lightning that enshrouded him. As he closed on Orlon, the light in Orlon’s hand grew until it was brighter than the sun.
Squinting with tear-filled eyes, Temin tried to keep watching, but it was quickly becoming too painful. As he raised his hand to shield his eyes from the glaring light, he saw that the man had nearly reached Orlon.
“It ends now, slave of Anedae!” the man shouted as he swept the last of Orlon’s weapons aside.
“As you wish, demon, I shall end it!”
The light suddenly seemed to grow several times brighter and even with his eyes closed and covered by his hands, Temin felt as if his eyes were going to melt. Worried only about the pain in his eyes, Temin fell to the ground and rolled on the ground desperately trying to protect himself from the all-consuming light that was boring into him.
As he rolled, the small piece of rock landing beneath him finally gave out and he felt himself plummeting down toward the ever growing light. He struck the rocky slope at a roll and the light seemed to engulf him. Just as he thought that the light would kill him it ceased.
“Temin?” Orlon Rin said in a confused voice.
“Not again, lightwielder,” the lightning-clad warrior’s voice shouted out. “Never again!”
A pained cry rang out across the mountainside and Temin opened his eyes to find Orlon Rin reeling back in pain with his left hand missing; cleaved off just below the wrist. Orlon barely had time to cry out from the loss of his hand before a fearsome kick shattered his right knee with a sickening crunch. He quickly fell to the ground clutching at his shattered knee with both his right hand and the stump where his left hand used to be. The light that had encased him during the battle had all but faded revealing the battered, bloody form of Orlon Rin illuminated by the purple glow of demonic lightning. The lightning-clad warrior stood over him and raised his sword high overhead to deliver the final, fatal stroke.
Temin stared in horror at the sword that stood poised, ready to drop and claim the life of Orlon Rin. Orlon quickly formed a blade of light in his right hand, but before he could even move, his arm was pinned down by a lightning-clad foot. Chilling laughter once again filled the air and it was obvious that Orlon Rin had been defeated.
“I told you that your master stood no chance against this demon,” whispered the mysterious, faceless voice in Temin’s ear. “Look how pathetic he is; broken and helpless before the might of The Nightlands. You will join him, boy, unless you run. Turn, abandon your master and save yourself; it is your only chance.”
Temin rose to his feet and felt a warm familiar feeling in his hand. He glanced down and saw that he had instinctively manifested the first light weapon that he’d ever made: a dagger. Its small glowing form instantly reminded him of all the long, arduous lessons that he’d endured with Orlon Rin. He remembered all that Orlon Rin had taught him about being a lightwielder.
I can’t; I won’t leave him to die. The goddess gave me this power, a power far beyond my understanding, for this very moment. I will save Orlon Rin even if it costs me everything; that is what it means to be a lightwielder.
Gripping the dagger of light so tightly that it hurt, he poured every ounce of power he had into it. All the fear, pain, and hatred he felt toward his enemy as well as the love and admiration he had for his master went into its tiny shining form. With a final glance at his fallen friend and mentor, he threw the dagger and it flew of its own volition directly at the lightning-clad warrior.
Devouring Darkness Page 49
