by Matt Taylor
Uthren looked worriedly at Sylas, “What do you mean he isn’t coming?”
Sylas quickly explained their situation and what Torren had told them. He also added that they were going to ask Geode to stay with him and that he had Ahri and Jhort watching out for him as well.
“That’s a mighty stupid decision to make on your own,” Uthren responded angrily. “But I agree that it could be to our advantage to do it this way. Very well, you two get your things, I’ll find Geode and let him know, then meet me at the place we first teleported into the city, it isn’t far from the west gate where we can make our escape.”
Uthren ran towards the heat of the battle as Sylas and Samara ran towards where they had begun the fight to find their packs. The sun was now mostly in the sky, shedding its light upon the city. Buildings were vacant and broken, many of them ablaze with fire from arrows the skeletons had shot, and others ablaze with a dark flame conjured by the now dead bone dragon. Bodies lay strewn across the ground, some of them ordinary townsfolk trying to escape the madness, others those who were brave enough to try and defend their homes. Bones from countless slain skeletons covered the ground in stinking heaps.
Before reaching his pack, Sylas used his ring to call out to Sky, “Sky, are you still safe? Are you still where I left you?”
A moment of silence proceeded until the tension was broken by a timid, “Yes, I’m still safe. I’m scared.”
“I’m coming. Are you still near my bag where I left you?”
“Yes.” She responded.
“Hold on, I’ll be there soon!”
They arrived at their packs just as a loud crash sounded in the distance. Sylas picked up his bag told Sky to make herself visible.
“It’s crazy out here right now, no one is going to notice you with us, it will be easier for me to keep track of you if I can see you.”
Sky faded into view as Sylas spoke, shaking with fear as she walked towards him. He spoke with her again to try and comfort her, then looked towards the sound of the crash. A giant pillar of ice had slammed into one of the vacant buildings in the distance. Geode stood atop the roof of a different building just behind the pillar of ice, his eyes and hands emitting a bluish-green glow. Sylas assumed from the colors and from the giant icicle embedded with rocks that Geode must be in a state of using Nature Magick, combined with Water.
“How many elements does he know?” Sylas said out loud. He remembered that Geode had said that he was proficient with all of the elements, Darkness being the one he was the worst at, but he didn’t think that meant that he would be comfortable enough with all of them to actually use so many of them in a life or death battle against a maniac dark mage.
Sylas watched as Geode changed elements once again and started glowing bright red. He jumped from the top of the roof where he was standing and slid down the icicle towards the dark mage.
“They are still fighting?” Sylas said, louder this time. He couldn’t believe how long the battle between these two masters had gone on. He thought for sure that Geode would have overtaken him by now, especially with the dragon no longer being in the fight.
The dark mage was still holding his massive black sword, glowing white runes now visible, running down the wide part of the blade. He raised his hands up and conjured a shadow clone just off to Geode’s right. Sylas had seen him do this many times throughout the beginning parts of their battle and assumed that shortly after, he would see the dark mage teleport to the new position to try and get off a quick sneak attack.
Geode must have anticipated it as well, as he turned his body towards the shadowy clone, predicting the teleport that the mage would do moments before it happened.
“He’s got him!” Sylas yelled out to Samara.
Timing his attack so that it would hit just as the dark mage made his teleport, Geode raised a fiery fist and threw it at the face of the shadow clone, which it passed through harmlessly…
Behind him, another shadow appeared, which was quickly replaced by the dark mage himself. Geode was slightly off-balance from throwing his fist through the shadowy image and stumbled slightly to retain his footing. He was slow to turn and defend against the dark mage as his black blade shot through the air with blinding speed and struck Geode in the chest, exiting his back with a spray of blood.
“NO!” Sylas screamed in horror. He watched as the dark mage twisted the blade and with a vicious hatred, yanked the sword out of Geode’s chest. He then raised his leg and kicked Geode in the stomach, sending him to the ground.
“Geode!” Sylas screamed again, trying to run towards his mentor.
Samara quickly grappled him and held him at bay. “Sylas, no, we can’t help him. He’s gone.” She said in a choked voice. “There’s nothing we can do, we have to just leave!”
Sylas struggled for a moment longer against Samara but eventually stopped as he watched the scene continue to unfold in agony.
The dark mage retreated a short distance to where his fallen dragon lay and swung his sword at the chain connecting the lantern to its saddle. Hoisting the lantern into the air, he sauntered back towards Geode’s fallen body. Tears ripped themselves from Sylas’s eyes as he watched Geode struggle to raise his head up off the ground. Upon approaching him, the dark mage ruthlessly placed his foot upon the gaping hole in Geode’s chest, then lifting his sword into the air, he stabbed it down into Geodes stomach and removed his foot from his chest. A dark sphere formed in his now free hand as Geode’s body gave up and slumped to the ground. A white wispy object floated slowly up out of Geodes corpse and at a wave of the dark mages hand, was violently pulled into the lantern that he held. The lantern glowed in delight as another soul was added to its evil collection.
Sylas fell to his knees, tears continuing to stream down his face. Samara knelt down and tried to comfort him and watched as the dark mage pulled his sword out of Geode’s lifeless body and walked further into the city.
“I’m so sorry, Sylas, but we need to go. We need to get out of here before we are all killed.”
She helped him to his feet and took him by the hand. “This battle may have been lost, but the war is not over.”
Standing up and wiping the tears from his eyes, he allowed her to lead him again as they ran towards their meeting point by the west gates. They didn’t have to wait long until Uthren showed up to meet them.
“Where were you?” Sylas exclaimed angrily. “You were supposed to find Geode, you could have helped him! We watched him die, and you weren’t even there!”
Uthren spoke in a soft tone, trying to calm Sylas. “I was headed that way when I saw Torren charging towards the battle. I stopped him and gave him further instructions for staying in the city and told him that this battle had already been lost and that he needed to hide until the mayhem was over. I didn’t reach Geode until it was already too late.”
A single tear fell from the old man’s eye as he looked at Sylas. “I let my friend down tonight, and I let the darkness win. I won’t let anything happen to you though, we’ll mourn our losses later, but now we have to move.”
Sylas tried calming his anger and nodded as he wiped his eyes, and the three of them took off together through the western gates of the city, across the grassy valley, and into the surrounding forest.
chapter 13
Sindmyr
Sylas breathed heavily as he continued to run away from Gelendor and deeper into the trees. The sounds of war slowly faded away with the distance that he put between him and the city as they ran.
Tears continued to wet his eyes as the image of the black blade of the dark mage’s sword pierced his friend and mentor Geode over, and over, and over again in his mind. He just couldn’t believe it, how could Geode actually be gone? Chills ran up his back as he recalled the dark mage pulling what seemed to be Geode’s soul from his body and trapping it inside of that awful lantern. Thoughts of Torren crossed his mind as well, now coming to terms with the fact that his best friend was trapped inside of a falling city, wi
th no Geode to protect him. Uthren had assured him that he had given Torren ample instructions for staying safe until the city finally surrendered. He said that he told him what to do after that to move forward and be sure to not be killed until they were to return for him and the Stone of Nature. Still, he worried about the possibility of the evil attackers not taking prisoners and just killing everyone in the city, despite what Uthren had told him.
They turned towards the south and continued to run through the trees for the better part of the morning, slowing to a walking speed to catch their breath, then picking the pace back up to a jog.
Finally, Uthren signaled that they had put a good amount of distance between them and Gelendor and that they could stop and rest.
Sylas placed his bag on the ground and sitting down on a rock, beckoned Sky to sit with him. She sat on his lap, curling herself into a ball as he stroked her head and back for comfort. He saw a faint glow emanate from his ring as she spoke to him.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Geode seemed like a good man.” She said in a sincere tone.
“He was a good man, he was a great man.” He responded in a choked voice. “He didn’t deserve to die, especially not like that. And Torren… He’s still stuck in Gelendor, who knows what his fate will be...”
She stood up in his lap and placed her front paws on his chest, putting her face right next to his just like the time they first met. Sylas stared into her bright shining eyes and felt a wave of comfort rush over him as she spoke.”
“Losing friends is sad. I’m sorry that you are forced to go through this right now. I want to help you in any way that I can, just as you helped me. Will you be alright?”
Sylas breathed in sharply at the question. He knew that eventually, he would be okay, but right now, he didn’t see how that day would come. Geode was more than just a mentor and a friend. The time that they had spent together almost made him feel like family. He was like an uncle to him or something of the sort. It made it even worse that he had to witness the horrible way that he died, and that he didn’t even know what the implications were for Geode’s afterlife journey seeing what the dark mage did to his soul with the lantern.
“I’ll be okay eventually, thanks Sky. At least we still have each other, right?”
Sky licked his face with her dark black tongue. “Right, and we still have Uthren and Samara. Torren is a smart boy, I have no doubt that you will still have him too, and that you will be reunited someday.”
Sylas smiled, truly appreciative of the bond that Magick had helped him create with Sky. Looking over at Uthren, Sylas asked, “Uthren, did you see what that dark mage was doing with that lantern?”
Uthren sat on the ground several yards off to his right, his head bent forward and his face in the palms of his hands. He looked up and over at Sylas, wiping the tears from his face as he spoke.
“I did. Although I don’t know exactly what he was doing, it didn’t look good.”
Sylas stood up and walked over towards Uthren, carrying Sky in his arms. He sat down on the ground next to him and placed Sky gently on the grass.
“I’m sorry for getting angry at you this morning,” Sylas said, picking at the grass in front of him. “It hurt me a lot to see Geode die, and I wished that I could have helped him somehow. I know that you would have done anything you could to save him if you knew that was going to happen. I shouldn’t have blamed you. It probably hurts you even more than me… I know how close you and Geode were. I’m sorry.”
Uthren took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before responding. “Thank you Sylas, I’m just sorry that I couldn’t get there in time, also that we had to leave Torren in the city without Geode there to help protect him. But I think he made the right choice, and if he follows the instructions that I gave him, I think he will be alright.
Samara walked over and joined them on the ground, she put a hand on Uthern’s shoulder as she sat down, “So what’s the plan now? Where do we go from here?”
“I think that our next course of action is to head towards Sindmyr, the capital of Light.” Uthren responded, his voice still quivering. “Not only is it the next closest major city that has not been taken over by Maelos, but it’s also where I believe the Stone of Light is located according to Sylas’s latest vision. You said that there was a glowing source inside of the Great Maul in the statue you saw, correct?”
Sylas nodded. “Yeah, it was inside of the head of the maul.”
“It seems like a good place to hide the stone for sure.” Uthren continued. “The statue is of the original Light mage, Freyr. I’m sure that the high ranking officials in the Council of Light long ago decided that it would be a safe place for the stone, and would not easily be found there. It will be a long journey to the capital of Light, but we have experience in long journeys now, don’t we? I would refrain from training in Magick for a while, Sylas. We don’t want any mishaps while we are traveling that would let Maelos know the direction that we are going. The longer it takes for them to realize that the Darkness stone is not in Gelendor, the better chance we have of making it to Sindmyr without incident.”
“Before we go…” Sylas said, standing up, “I would like to have a service for Geode. I don’t want to go on without first acknowledging his death and paying his respects.”
Uthren rose to his feet and placed a hand on Sylas’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll construct a small shrine in his remembrance, and we can do the service before we continue onward. You two can go searching for flowers or other items that you would like to place on the shrine. Take some time to contemplate the words you will say, I don’t think we need to be worried about being in too much of a hurry right now. Take your time, do some meditation if you need, and try to find peace. Meet back here in an hour, we will then do the service, say our goodbyes, and continue our journey.”
Sylas retreated from where they had stopped and headed towards a large hill as he searched for a quiet place to be alone and think. Memories of the many hilltops that he had climbed with Geode by his side ran through his head as he started up a nearby hill.
After reaching the top of the hill, Sylas looked back towards the city of Gelendor. He could see smoke rising up from the city, and could still barely make out the spot in the outer wall that the enemies had broken as their point of entry. “Stay safe, Torren.” He said out loud. “I couldn’t bear to lose you too.”
He put a fist on his chest with determination in his voice continued, “I swear I’ll do all that I can to avenge your death Geode. Maelos will pay for the countless lives he has taken, for the families he has ripped apart, the dreams and hopes that he has torn from the innocent. I’ll continue my training until I am a master like you were. I won’t stop until I’ve mastered all of the elements, and we have collected all of the stones. I’ll open the Vault of Kings and use whatever is inside to stop Maelos once and for all.”
Sylas sat down on the grass next to a small bush as he let himself release his emotions. He let his tears carry the sadness and despair from his eyes, screamed out his anger and hatred for Maelos and his henchmen, and heavily breathed out his fear and anxiety. Physically and emotionally drained, he laid down on the grass and closed his eyes. Sleep quickly overtook his exhausted body, and his mind entered the world of dreams.
He found himself standing on a beach, the sky was darkened with thick gray and black clouds that covered the entire sky. A vast ocean stretched out before him, waves gently swaying back and forth at his feet. The sun was low in the sky, just above the horizon, yet its light was considerably dimmed by the clouds that covered the sky. The sun shone a dim white behind the dark clouds, casting a silvery light across the land that he was in, giving everything in sight a silvery hue. Massive black pillars of rocks protruded from the ocean in front of him as they arched towards each other creating otherworldly formations.
Sylas looked around him and noted that it wasn’t just the sun that appeared silver; everything around him appeared to
be set on a grayscale as if the entire world had lost all color except for gray, white, silver, and black.
Extremely disoriented, Sylas tried to remember what had happened just before seeing this scene in front of him. How did I get here? Where was I before this? What was I doing previously? All of these questions went unanswered in his mind, but their importance seemed completely irrelevant. The only thing that seemed to matter was that he was here, and it seemed as if it was where he was meant to be.
He shrugged his shoulders and walked along the beach, exploring his new surroundings. The silvery glow from the sun along the waters was beautiful to behold. Even though everything was dark, somewhat eerie, and extremely quiet, this world had a very strange beauty to it. The gentle lapping of the water against the sandy shore reached his ears, and he realized how quiet everything was. Besides the water and the soft sounds of his feet hitting the sand, there was no sound at all. Typically, a scene like this would have probably been terrifying, but this was different… this was calm, peaceful, and beautiful in its own way.
Sylas continued walking along the beach, admiring the jagged black rock formations that spewed forth from the water and surrounding shoreline until he saw a man off in the distance. He was lying face down on the sand, not moving at all. Slowly approaching the man, he could see that he wore rags for clothing and that they were torn and dirty. The man had long gray unkempt hair that flowed down to his shoulders. He was skinny and frail and appeared to not have eaten anything for days.
Sylas knelt down and turned the man over onto his back. Wrinkles covered his face and around his eyes, showing his old age.
The man opened his eyes and looked up at Sylas. He lifted one hand towards Sylas and in a raspy tone, pleaded, “Please, help me.”
Sylas looked around for anyone nearby that could help, but there was no one. “What happened? Are you alright?”
As if the man hadn’t heard his question, he again responded, “Please, help.” Sylas was about to try and use Light Magick to see if he could heal the man when suddenly he heard a voice behind him.
