THE ELDERIEN CHRONICLES: Aftermath Of Darkness

Dragon lost

The rapid freezing of the floor and the walls, even the trees and pieces of furniture told Elderien that something terrible had come back barely hours after it left. People watched as the ice spread, and darkness covered the sky.

They still did not think it was so dangerous until a man standing close to a piece of creeping ice crunched to touch it. Immediately he did, the man froze on the spot and the people around gasped.

"Run!"

A woman screamed as another man froze in the spot and that was when they saw the large icy dragon flying and roaring in the sky.

The dragon roared again and flew down, and as it did, it opened its mouth and shot a stream of ice at the residents who tried to escape from the beast. They froze on the spot and immediately, the beast roared again, shooting another stream at more people.

Cries and screams filled the air as the residents of the capital tried to escape the dragon, but it was hopeless. They hid as best as they could but the dragon didn't relent. 

As another attack stirred, northerners began to appear out of thin air and attacked the people. But while the butchering was in progress, Reynold led a group of Elderien mages and Joined the fight. Soldiers came with them as well.

"Protect the people. Send these Intruders back to their holes!" He yelled and suddenly produced copies of himself, kicking the first northerner he encountered while his clones took the tall man down.

Meanwhile, Lord Kevin was unaware of the terror happening outside the palace. He had sobered up as commanded by his sister. He did not want to hurt her Actually, but the longer he stayed without alcohol, the more he was beginning to lose his mind. 

He started to hear Lila's voice again. The voices grew louder and louder and when he was certain that he would run mad very soon, he decided to quickly get some wine.

Kevin noticed the unusual chill in the air but his mind was too clouded to think straight. He saw the walls gradually freezing, and he noticed that the corridor was totally empty. Kevin began to pay attention to the details. Something was wrong.

He heard an explosion from the distance and dashed forward. They haven't had an attack in years. Was it the Mintovals again? He quickly turned into another corridor, but what he saw made him shiver for a moment.

It was Obaro. He stood there, hands and spear dripping with the blood of the servant he had just killed. Obaro slowly turned around and looked at Kevin. He growled softly and chuckled when he saw that Kevin did not run.

"You are not supposed to be here," Kevin said to him and Obaro chuckled.

"This will be fun." He said and suddenly dashed towards Kevin.

Kevin was surprised by his speed and the lightness of his large body. He barely unsheathed his sword to block the attack which sent him crashing to the wall. Kevin gazed at the man again. His strength was monstrous!

Obaro chuckled and attacked Kevin again with a charge. Kevin dodged the attack and tried to hit but Obaro predicted the move, grabbed Kevin, and slammed him on the ground. As he tried to stab Kevin with his spear, Kevin dodged it and the spear shattered.

"Ah!" Obaro grunted in frustration as he formed a new spear. 

Meanwhile, Kevin who was already bleeding out twisted the hilt of his sword In a sequence. The hilt rotated and so did the sword itself which slowly elongated and formed a double-edged spear. He had asked Alastair for an upgrade.

Kevin blocked Obaro's attack with the spear and continued to do so until Obaro's Spear nearly broke Kevin's. Kevin quickly separated the spear into two separate components and held them like swords with long hilts. He attacked Obaro but the latter was just too superior.

He disarmed Kevin, smacked his head on the wall, and kicked him so hard he flew in the air before crashing to the ground.

Kevin coughed as he tried to stand, but he was too beaten up. He could barely even breathe.

"You are nothing compared to me. You did put up a good fight, Elderien. Now, it's time to die." 

Obaro said and threw his spear at Kevin. Kevin quickly dodged the spear whose impact on the ground created a crack on the ground. Immediately, Kevin touched the wall beside him, and a secret passage opened. He quickly went through and the passage locked. 

He could hear Obaro trying to break through as he hurried and took another route. There were so many dead bodies on the ground. He walked towards a window and took a look at the palace courtyard. It was a full-blown war!

He watched as guards tried their best to keep the northerners at Bay, but they were not doing so well. How did it get so bad? What went wrong? At that moment, Kevin realized that he had failed his kingdom. He did not even know what the northerners were exactly and he had never fought an enemy like Obaro before.

Amidst the crowd, Kevin could see Alastair doing his duty. Miranda was nowhere to be found and Kevin knew he needed to find her quickly.

***

Alastair held off many as many of the northerners as he could but they were too many. The mages tried to fight, Cara did her best but because of the unstable nature of the Phoenix, she could not fully unleash her powers. 

Jaghryx roared in the sky and shot flames at the northerners. As the dragon descended, Alastair ran, jumped and twisted in the air, supporting himself with magic as he gracefully landed on jaghryx.

But suddenly, what he saw next was a large dragon's mouth with icy, sharp teeth. Before he could do anything, the ice dragon bit jaghryx in the neck and tore it out!

"No!"

Alastair yelled as jaghryx fell from the sky. The massive amount of blood that sprayed from the wound made the fight in the courtyard come to a stop. Alastair fell with a thud and immediately dislocated his shoulder. 

Next came the massive weight of Jaghryx as he fell into the courtyard, causing great cracks in the ground. Cara gasped as she watched the horror. Her heart sank and her breath was heavy.

"No!" Alastair cried out again and crawled toward jaghryx. A soft final growl escaped the beast's mouth before it turned into Sparks. Alastair watched as the Sparks filled the air, and the next thing he saw was the ice dragon.

Alastair slowly stood up, angry, and stretched his hand towards a sword. The sword flew towards him and Alastair made it flaming. 

"You should not fight a war you cannot win, Alastair. Surrender and perhaps you will be spared to work as a servant in my empire." Corvius said as he materialized from thin air.

Alastair clenched his sword tightly and charged at Corvius. Corvius froze the ground beneath Alastair and held him in place. Then he gained full control over his body as the ice spread and the next moment, Alastair was flying in mid-air, half frozen. 

His magic formed a shield for him as he fell to the ground.

"Your emotions get the best of you, mage." Corvius mocked.

Alastair quickly warmed himself and stood up. He yelled as he shot a continuous stream of fire at Corvius who blocked it with an icy wall.

He controlled the snow around and shot it at Alastair while blocking his fire. Alastair also conjured a wind and blocked Corvius' attack. 

He yelled again as he pushed further, but then his fire froze and the Ice quickly spread to his hand. Alastair cried out as his hand froze and a powerful blast from Corvius sent him flying again.

Corvius walked closer to Alastair, raising his hand to strike him dead. But then, he sensed something coming at him from behind.

Corvius created a massive ice shield to block the flames from the Phoenix about to hit him. He charged as the energy pushed him back and Cara applied more force. 

But then, Corvius shot a powerful ice blast at Cara which hit her, got absorbed into her body, and exploded from within her. She gasped as her eyes turned normal, and her skin turned pale. She shivered, took a step back, and collapsed.

Alastair watched in horror! How could he... defeat the Phoenix?

"You rely on inconsequential things to keep you safe. You have no idea what horror awaits you. You will submit to me and this Kingdom will fall. Any last words?"

The last statement was directed to Alastair who could barely even move. His skin had turned pale as well, but Cara was almost ice.

"Hey!" 

Drax called out from a distance and threw the sun sphere. As Alastair saw the sphere, he said the spell and the sphere exploded, forming a dome around the palace that kept expanding. 

Corvius and the rest of the northerners screeched in pain as the heat from the sun sphere burned them. They quickly disappeared and the ice that had formed around the palace started to melt.

Alastair gasped as his body temperature started returning to normal and he quickly dashed towards Cara who was still frozen. Drax hurried to him and shuddered when he saw Cara.

"The sun sphere won't hold him for long," Drax said to Alastair.

"I know." He managed to reply.

That moment confirmed his fears. Elderien and the rest of the world were doomed!