“I hate to send her away, but it seems that it isn’t her time yet,” Elaine said.
Wait! Don’t leave me! Crystal cried in her mind.
“Yes. She has fought well and trained hard, so we can’t let her fail now.” August said, “I’m sorry Amelia, but our reunion will have to wait.”
“Yes, Sweetheart, you still have a long life to live, and there is someone in the living realm who needs you. You’ve shown him the light and delivered him from the darkest corners of his heart, and I am so proud of you for that,” Elaine said gently.
Do you mean . . . Blaze? Crystal tried to ask, but again with no luck.
“That’s right. I’ve had my eye on him for a few days, but after a while, I began to see just how much you mean to him. Besides, he made a promise to us, and I plan to hold him to it,” August said.
Promise? What promise? Crystal wondered.
“It’s time to send you back now, Amelia,” Elaine told her.
“We love you, Amelia,” August said. Crystal then felt a large hand resting on her forehead and she felt a tear streak down from her closed eye.
I love you too! She cried from her heart.
Just as she felt the light fading, Crystal then heard her father’s echoing voice say, “Oh, and I need you to deliver a message for me . . .”
Even though August’s voice faded away as he continued to speak, Crystal still understood the rest of his request and silently promised him that she would do it.
Crystal suddenly felt a tingling sensation in part of her body and more and more voices grew louder. She was finally able to breathe, and as soon as she gasped for air, she could hear Gavril’s muffled voice cry out, “Oh thank Caris!”
Crystal coughed and gasped for more air. She felt a hand brush the side of her face and heard Blaze’s anguished voice whisper, “Come on, Crystal. Wake up!”
Crystal finally managed to open her eyes and even though her vision was blurry, she could make out Blaze’s face just a few inches from hers.
“That’s it! Come back to us, Crystal!” Gavril said to her. She looked around and saw his form beside her. She blinked her eyes several times before they finally adjusted, and she finally saw that Blaze was holding her in his arms and that Gavril was kneeling on one knee beside her. Her heart melted when she saw Blaze’s tear-soaked face.
“She’s alive . . . She’s alive!” Blaze cried. He then rested his forehead on her collarbone and wept tears of joy. Crystal heard a few nervous laughs escape from Blaze in between sobs, and she regained enough energy to rest her hand on his face. Gavril let a few tears escape his face as well and he patted Blaze’s shoulder.
“I’m . . . alive . . .” Crystal muttered hoarsely.
“Try not to speak.” Blaze whispered after lifting his head, “Bogdan wounded your neck pretty badly.”
Crystal then realized that the skin on her neck hurt and wondered just how bad the bruise must be. Then she heard distant booming noises outside and cried in a hoarse voice, “Bogdan . . . we have to stop him!”
“You are too weak right now,” Gavril said.
“But only I can do it!” Crystal cried.
“Please, Princess, don’t push yourself,” someone suddenly said.
Crystal then looked up to see a crowd kneeling around her. Among her friends and dozens of other rebels, who were also overcome with relief and joy, were several servants and to her shock, even Daldussan soldiers kneeling before her. It was one of those soldiers who had spoken to her, and then he another soldier beside him stepped forward hesitantly. They both knelt beside her and removed their helmets. The soldier that spoke first knelt on the left and was slightly older and had dark hair than the other soldier. The younger soldier had paler hair and was thinner; he was the next to speak.
“We want to beg you for forgiveness, Princess.” the pale-haired soldier said, “We were actually once soldiers for King August, but when Bogdan invaded, we faint-heartedly began to serve Daldussa.”
“We both have families,” the dark-haired soldier explained, “and we feared what would happen to them if we resisted. Every day I live with the regret of my decision to betray your family, and all I ask now is that you find it in your heart to forgive us.”
Crystal stared at both of the men, who bowed their heads in shame. The crowd remained silent. Finally, Crystal found the energy to speak, and she replied, “Did you have children?”
“Yes, Princess. In fact, my youngest was only a baby at the time,” the dark-haired soldier answered softly.
“No child should live through the horrors of watching their father die.” Crystal said, “I have lived that nightmare, and so I understand why you did what you did. That being the case, I forgive you both.”
Both of the soldiers bowed their heads again and wept.
“Bless you, Your Majesty,” the pale-haired soldier cried.
“Same to both of you,” Crystal whispered.
All of a sudden, Crystal then felt a warm, pulsing sensation throughout her body. She saw everyone in the room begin staring at her. Blaze looked upon her with a stunned expression and suddenly stammered out, “Crystal, you’re glowing!”
Sure enough, Crystal looked at her hand and a white aura surrounded it and was pulsing with light.
“Self-regeneration!” someone from behind the crowd cried.
Everyone turned around to see none other than the Elders of the City of Magi standing by the doorway to the throne room. The crowd stood and moved out of the way for the elders to approach Crystal. Bredewig had been the one who spoke, and as soon as he stopped before Crystal, he continued, “Only a holy mage can achieve self-regeneration!”
Crystal remembered the book she read about it in, and at the same time, felt her body’s strength slowly returning. She not only realized that she had learned holy magic, but she also finally realized what was stopping her in the first place.
“I understand now.” she muttered, “Malcolm told me my negative emotions were stopping me from using holy magic, and I now know why. I couldn’t find a way to forgive Bogdan for what he did and because of that, my hatred for him overcame me. In order to defeat him now, I have to find a way to forgive him for his terrible deeds.”
“How will you do that?” Halmez asked, but Crystal had a feeling that he was giving her a push in the right direction rather than trying to get an answer.
Crystal closed her eyes and thought about the very first moment she saw Bogdan. He took everything she loved away, destroyed her kingdom, and nearly killed her and her friends on several occasions. She thought of the terrible things that happened resulting from his wrongdoings, but then her mind did something she didn’t expect.
She suddenly thought of the wonderful experiences she had over the past ten years. She grew to love her people more after she had to abandon her old life to protect them. She trained day in and day out with Gavril and Thaddeus and became a respected fighter. She not only made friends that she would die for, but she also met and fell in love with Blaze.
Crystal realized that all of these memories would never have existed if Bogdan hadn’t done the things he did, nor would she be the strong person she was today. In a way, she felt thankful that she had those hardships, for she didn’t want to be anyone else than who she was now.
“Bogdan has done terrible things, but in the end, he made all of us stronger by doing so. I would never have been able to stand up for what’s right so easily before, and so, in a weird way, Bogdan made me who I am today,” Crystal said.
“And who are you?” Halmez asked rhetorically again.
“I am Amelia, and as of this moment, I forgive King Bogdan,” Crystal replied.
Suddenly, Crystal’s entire body glowed even brighter and she felt all of her energy return to her. Blaze held her in his arms and watched in awe as the bruises on her neck faded away. She finally gained enough energy to be able to sit up on her own, but Blaze still cautiously held his hand on her back. Once the glow finally began to steadily fade
from her body, Crystal felt more alive than ever.
The crowd began to let out cheers and applause after Crystal rose to her feet on her own and stood confidently before them. Blaze and Gavril stood on each a side of her and she put a hand on each of their shoulders.
“All right, now let’s go stop Bogdan,” she said to them.
“We will both protect you with our lives,” Gavril assured her. He then placed his hand on her shoulder.
“That we will,” Blaze agreed and also put his hand on Crystal’s other shoulder.
“We have come to aid you in the battle as well. We have also already heard about what happened with Saitar and we will not allow Thaddeus’s sacrifice to be in vain,” Halmez said.
Even though Crystal was still saddened, she pressed on, “Thank you, High Elder. How did you know to come anyway?”
“We brought them.”
Crystal looked in the direction of the voice and saw several rebels that had gathered at the entrance to the throne room. Breuvial had stepped forward and Crystal then realized that she was the one who had spoken. Kerali turned around and ran towards her.
“Breuvial! You’re alive!” he cried. The two elves met and embraced and for several minutes, Kerali wouldn’t let her go even when Maryn and Taryn started snickering.
“Breuvial is my younger sister.” Elder Ydon stated, “She led the women and children that survived the attack on the rebel hideout to the City of Magi. She actually showed up not long after the two of you left and asked to speak with me personally. I then persuaded the other elders to allow the refugees to stay in the city, so they are all waiting there.
“However, a few days ago, Elder Bredewig made a startling discovery, and so we got a team together to come to Cartigo immediately to wait for you, but by the time we got here, we realized that Bogdan had already used the Eye of Gaull when we saw him flying above Cartigo.”
“What discovery?” Crystal asked Bredewig. The plump elder no longer had a shy or withdrawn demeanor, but rather, he straightened up at the sound of his name with sureness and confidence.
“Well, I was doing more research about the Eye of Gaull when I realized something: why would Saitar offer to give the Eye to Bogdan rather than use it himself? On a hunch, I looked through Saitar’s belongings that he left behind and found something startling,” Bredewig explained. He then pulled an old bag out from under his arm and pulled a book out of it. It was a small leather diary.
“What is that?” Crystal asked.
Just then, a booming explosion was heard outside followed by echoing maniacal laughter in the distance.
“I will explain on the way! We need to stop Bogdan before his transformation finishes!” Bredewig cried.
“Why? What’s going on?” Crystal asked, but the elders had already turned around and began moving towards the exit.
Crystal then marched forward as well and shouted, “All right, then. Rebels, follow me into the final battle!”
The rebels all cheered in unison and before she continued forward, Crystal stopped Gavril and said, “By the way, Father sad to tell you ‘Thank you.’”
Gavril’s face lit up and he shook his head amusingly. He then muttered, “I’ll be damned.”
Crystal then turned to Blaze and told him, “And he also said that he’s planning to hold you to your promise, although I have no idea what he meant.”
To her surprise and even further confusion, Blaze laughed and bowed his head.
“What’s so funny?” Crystal asked him.
Blaze looked up after a few seconds and answered, “I’ll tell you later.”
“Okay then, let’s go,” Crystal replied. She then walked forward and Blaze and Gavril marched on either side of her, ready to defend her to the death.
****
As Crystal walked through the castle to get to the front entrance, she heard more explosions and screaming from the townspeople. Elder Bredewig continued to explain the short version of what he discovered, mainly about how the story about Gaull wasn’t entirely true.
“I found an old diary among Saitar’s things that was written by Gaull himself!” Bredewig shouted over the booming noises outside, “As it turns out, Gaull was not a demon at all, but a human! As a matter of fact, he was actually the high elder of the City of Magi over five hundred years ago, and he was what is known as a hybrid mage; he could command both elemental and dark magic.”
Crystal then replied, “Malcolm told me that I was a hybrid mage as well, only I can use holy magic along with elemental magic!”
“That does make more sense than you becoming a holy mage out of nowhere.” Bredewig replied and then continued, “Anyway, I found out that Gaull became obsessed with dark magic and wanted to become the most powerful dark mage that ever lived. Gaull not only achieved this power, but he also became a demon. No one knows exactly how he did it, but the one thing he still had not achieved was immortality. Gaull claimed in the diary that he feared death more than anything, and so he linked part of his soul to the stone pillar to prevent his soul from passing should his body perish.”
“You mean that pillar wasn’t a prison?” Gavril questioned.
“No, it was not! In fact, Gaull was not defeated by holy mages either! It was a noble warrior that managed to defeat him, but instead of dying, Gaull’s soul became part of the stone, and the other part materialized into the gem. I found out in other documents that Gaull’s son spread the lie about the holy mages and kept the Eye of Gaull hidden in the Elder’s Hall and for several generations, Gaull’s descendants have been trying to find a worthy human sacrifice to pass Gaull’s soul into,” Bredewig explained.
“A sacrifice?” Blaze questioned.
“Yes! That is precisely why Saitar could not use the Eye himself: because he is a descendant of Gaull and needed to find the right host for Gaull to be reborn into. Bogdan will not be gaining Gaull’s power, Gaull will be gaining Bogdan’s mind, body, and soul!” Bredewig exclaimed.
They were now running through the first floor corridors and Crystal could hear her heart thumping in her head. She then shouted, “So why did Saitar choose Bogdan?”
“The host needed to be someone with a strong, but very wicked heart. The host could not know about the true story because they were not supposed to be a willing sacrifice. Bogdan was the perfect choice because of his greed and lust for power, and Saitar knew that he would find to keep his consciousness once possessed. Now that Bogdan has Gaull trapped inside his body, he is slowly going to lose his mind to the demon. This will grant Gaull the immortality he lusted after for so long, because the more Bogdan will fight the final transformation, the stronger Gaull will be! Not only that, but he will be able to erase any form of light in the world and throw off the balance forever! In other words, Crystal, if you do not defeat Bogdan before he transforms again, there will be nothing in this world or any other that will be able to stop him from eradicating all forms of life!” Bredewig cried.
Crystal now began to run through the front entrance of the castle towards the drawbridge, and once she was across, she came across a familiar, yet unnerving sight. The same monsters that they had seen in the mansion ruins were now swarming the streets of Cartigo and attacking the townspeople. Several Daldussan soldiers tried to defend themselves, but many of them were killed quickly.
Crystal turned to a group of rebels on her right and shouted, “Go and protect the villagers from those monsters!”
After informing the elders to use thunder spells to weaken the monsters, Crystal then asked them to do the same. After wishing Crystal good luck, the five elders then entered the battle as well.
The sun was setting in the sky and turning the horizon an eerie red color. Dark clouds had formed and the land trembled at the sound of Bogdan’s booming, sadistic laughter. Crystal spotted Bogdan flying around overhead, shooting dark fire beams at the buildings and cackling madly.
“It’s almost like he thinks this is a game!” Gavril exclaimed in disbelief.
“
I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he did,” Blaze remarked.
“What do we do now, Boss?” Taryn asked Crystal.
Crystal stared up at Bogdan and thought up a plan. She then answered, “We have to get him away from the townspeople. I need to get his attention focused on myself somehow!”
“Let’s go to the town square.” Gavril said, “It’s a large area, so we can get the rest of the rebels to evacuate the villagers out of that area.”
“Good idea, Gavril. Let’s go!” Crystal replied.
The rebels ran through the town slicing through monsters on their way there as Crystal used more thunder spells on them. She passed the word along to all of her friends what they were going to need to do in the battle and instructed them to wait for her to command them to start. She would initiate the battle and only asked that everyone covered her while she used her power, and not a single person was against the request.
The rebels made their way to the town square, which was already empty, and Crystal walked into the middle of the wide street. She told Blaze and Gavril to stay behind and wait for her to make her move when they tried to follow her, and they grudgingly agreed and stayed their ground.
Crystal now stood all alone and exposed in the middle of the square, which is exactly what she wanted.
“Bogdan! I am here to bring your demise! Come down here and fight me!” she called at the top of her lungs. She then sent a flare signal in the sky with her hands. The ball of fire shot up over a hundred feet in the air and exploded in the sky. Though this did not cause any harm, nor did it even touch Bogdan, it did alert him of Crystal’s presence. Once he saw her, Bogdan swooped down from the sky and landed with a crash on the ground in front of her.
Deliverance Page 29
