| | | | |

| |

V

The light had been so bright that Vaeth’s vision was still blurry, but as he reached the third floor balcony, the scene quickly began to unfold for him. The Great Hall was a mess. There was blood everywhere. Corpses lay all over the floor. Brutus was rocking back in forth, holding Snowen in his arms, both we covered in blood. Sagara was on his hands and knees, swaying slightly, a sword sticking out of his back. Cerrinor was lying on the ground facing up, also covered in blood. He seemed to be preoccupied with his hands. Drogga was advancing on him.

Vaeth stepped up on the railing, ready to pounce on Drogga, when the monster started shrieking, “What have you done? What have you done?!”

“I… I don’t know,” stammered Cerrinor.

He clearly didn’t know, thought Vaeth. Drogga practically stood over Cerrinor now, completely furious. His clothes were smoking. Vaeth noticed that Cerrinor appeared a little paler than usual; he was almost bright white. Well, sure he’d look like that with Drogga standing over him; he’s probably scared to death right now.

***

In fact, Cerrinor was not scared. He was very perplexed. The Orb had been in his hands, and now it wasn’t. He looked about him, and patted his clothes, but it was nowhere to be found. Drogga did not appear to be enjoying the moment. He reached down to grab Cerrinor’s shirt, pulled Cerrinor up, and then immediately released him as if his hand was burned. Cerrinor grabbed his shirt to see if it was hot, but it wasn’t. He got up onto his feet and looked at Drogga, waiting to see what he was going to do now that they’d lost the Orb.

“You… you didn’t. You couldn’t have. That wasn’t supposed to happen… NO! Argh!” He stomped around angrily for a moment, and then he calmed himself. Feet set, back straight, and head held high, Zhen Drogga created a fireball with more hate than he had ever used before.

Cerrinor felt the sweat on his forehead turn into steam as he stared the fireball down. He didn’t know what to do. He glanced at Frilawyn who was collapsed on the floor. How do I stop a fireball? Why is this happening? How did I get myself into this? All I wanted to do was save people, now I’m standing in the middle of a massacre. Where’s Vaeth when I need him? Cerrinor thought as Drogga realized the fireball at him.

***

It was at this instant that Vaeth decided to act. He leapt off the balcony in a less than graceful flip and dove into the shadows. In an instant he was with Cerrinor, and in an instant they were both gone. The fireball blew through the wall and into the city, taking out several buildings. Vaeth was sure he hadn’t let the blast touch him, but he felt like he was on fire. It wasn’t fire he could absorb; it was very painful. He let go of Cerrinor and the fire began to die down. What was that? He thought. His body was numb from the shock of it.

Cerrinor noticed he was still alive. He turned around, and was surprised to see that Vaeth was his rescuer. He put his hand on Vaeth’s shoulder and said, “Vaeth! I thought you were dead!”

“Ah! Don’t touch me, it hurts!” Vaeth said, reeling back from Cerrinor’s hand.

Brutus heard Vaeth’s voice and stood up, after carefully laying Snowen’s bloodied body on the floor. He was shaking. “You’re mine, Drogga.”

Drogga growled, his anger increasing with every passing moment.

Vaeth turned. “What? No, Brutus! Get away from him!”

“She’s dead, Vaeth. Now one more person has to die.” Brutus drew his sword and charged Drogga one last time. “No!” Vaeth said, charging as well. Drogga wanted his kill, so he shot Vaeth hard with a bolt of lightning, throwing him backwards towards a wall like Frilawyn. Neriwin appeared out of nowhere and caught him before he hit the wall. The air was knocked out of her lungs, but they were both fine.

Drogga looked Brutus over and said, “Cadaliv has a hard time dying. But maybe you’ll die, won’t you?” He took one step forward and sliced his sword through Brutus. Brutus’ sword was cut in half, as was his body. He fell to the ground in a pile, dead. His artificial arm and leg faded into nothingness.

For a moment, Vaeth couldn’t say anything. His throat constricted and kept him from speaking. Then at last he uttered a “no,” as he struggled to his feet. Then a louder, “No!” He pulled out his sword and faced Drogga down. The anger dripped heavily off his face. “You… you… I hate you so much! You’ve destroyed everything! My father… my brother… my life! DIE!”

“Vaeth, don’t.” Neriwin said, as she tried to hold him back, but he wasn’t there anymore. He was different again. Not himself. He couldn’t even hear her. His eyes glowed red and fire encased his body and his sword.

Drogga stared at him curiously. “What is this new development? Is this some sort of magic I haven’t learned?” He paced around, waiting for the attack.

In a darker, deeper voice, Vaeth said, “Shut up. Die.”

When Vaeth charged he was a flash of light, too fast to be seen. He was so fast that Drogga was almost unable to block his strike. Drogga was caught completely of guard by his speed. “This is very interesting, indeed.” Drogga said. Then Drogga coated his own sword with lightning so that every strike would injure Vaeth. Vaeth attacked mercilessly. With each strike, lightning ripped through his body, but he only attacked harder. Blow after blow, it was all Drogga could do to keep up. Fire and lightning exploded everywhere, blowing chunks out of the floor and walls.

It was a battle of gods, and Neriwin and Cerrinor did not want to get wrapped up in it. They pulled the sword out of Sagara’s back and helped him to a corner. They also picked up Frilawyn, and Cerrinor checked her over to make sure she would be all right. After mending her just a bit, he stopped, just incase Vaeth would need him or something, but it didn’t seem likely.

The battle was almost impossible to follow with their eyes. Vaeth was almost as fast as light, practically teleporting everywhere. Drogga was fast too, but he was more guarded, rather than offensive. Vaeth would explode out of nowhere, doing flips in the air and railing down with intense power on Drogga’s sword, but Drogga would never give an inch.

Then Vaeth appeared again and spun into the air. Then he suddenly stopped in midair. It was as if time had stopped, or Vaeth had learned to fly. He stood in the air above Drogga, his sword pointing down towards his knee. Then he slowly brought it up, and as he did, the ground ripped apart and followed the path of his sword into the air. Finally, he held it over his head, cocked and ready to come down hard. Flying in the air behind it were pieces of the floor and bits from the walls. The intensity of his energy was so strong that it defied reality.

Neriwin realized Vaeth had looked exactly the same way when he had fought her earlier. He had been backed into a corner, and needed more speed. With speed came strength, or intense strength in Vaeth’s case. So whatever’s going to happen to Drogga, is what was going to happen to me if Cerrinor hadn’t somehow stopped Vaeth from going through with it, she thought, and as she did so, she came up with a new idea.

Drogga backed up a step, unsure of what to expect. I’ve never experienced this before. This boy is flying in the air, not moving, and has such powerful force.

Then Vaeth brought his sword around fast and it came down on Drogga’s with more force than Drogga had expected. Fire and debris fell like rain around Drogga. He brought his left hand up to hold the other end of his claymore because Vaeth was pushing it down. Lightning flew in all directions, shredding the walls to pieces. The Great Hall was now barely standing, rain poured openly on the scene unnoticed by all.

Then all of a sudden, the lightning stopped. Drogga’s sword had cracked. Amazed, Drogga disappeared under Vaeth and reappeared somewhere safer to examine his sword. As he did so, it fell apart, in two pieces. He looked at Vaeth, who was now walking towards him. “You think I’m done? I haven’t begun to fight, Cadaliv.” He teleported and picked up his staff. Then he began pelting Vaeth with blasts of fire, ice, and lightning. Vaeth deflected every one of them with a quick slash of his sword, as he continued to advance on Drogga. Drogga summoned wind and shot Vaeth with strong gusts that have sent trees flying, but Vaeth continued unhindered with cuts and scrapes developing on his body.

Then Drogga held out his hands and summoned the black energy all around him. He made the strands of black energy reach out and grip Vaeth’s feet. Then he made them snake their way up Vaeth’s arms and to his neck. He tightened the strands and Vaeth stopped moving. Vaeth struggled, but couldn’t free himself from the strands of black energy that surrounded him. Then Drogga began to tighten his hold on Vaeth’s neck and the fire from Vaeth’s eyes began to fade out.

Seeing that Vaeth was in trouble, Neriwin pleaded with Cerrinor to do something.

“I can’t do anything. What do you want me to do?” He replied.

“Remember when Vaeth was attacking me and you stopped him? Do that, except to Drogga.”

“But I don’t even know how I did it.”

“Just do it. Or Vaeth is going to die. Isn’t it your job to keep people alive?” She tried.

He thought that she made a good point, but he still didn’t know what to do. He stood up and slowly approached Drogga. Vaeth’s power seems to unleash itself when he puts himself in danger… maybe mine will be like that? Cerrinor thought to himself.

-No-

What? Who said that?

-We are the essence of the White Orb you now have within you-

I see… or don’t… All right, I don’t have much time to consider all of this right now because my friend’s about to die. Do you know how I can release my… power?

-Yes. Just ask-

Ask? I don’t need a life-risking situation?

-No. Your friend does that because he is different. That’s his inner strength coming out, he’s not asking anything of the energies around him. But you need to ask-

Well then, can I please have the power to stop this guy from hurting my friend?

-Don’t ask us, ask the white energy surrounding you-

Drogga, who was now glaring at him, brought Cerrinor back to reality. “Try to get in my way right now, and I will give you a slow painful death. He needs to die, once and for all.”

Cerrinor looked at Vaeth, who was pale and white under the lack of oxygen. Drogga was choking the breath out of him and Vaeth couldn’t move. Cerrinor held both his hands forward and focused on asking the spiritual energy around him and inside him to come forth a do some damage.

Without warning, a blast of white light shot straight out of his hands and hit Drogga full on in the side. Drogga shrieked in agony. His entire side felt as if it were burning. This is proving to be too annoying to go on, he thought. He summoned his wyvern, and it came down and he hopped on it.

“This doesn’t mean you’ve won, mind you. This just means I am sick and tired of this game we’re playing. I’m going to have to do some thinking, and then I am going to come after you and remove that White Orb from your body even if it kills you. And hopefully, it will.” He flew into the air and as he did so, the three hundred mages surrounding Pethalus shot fire at it until it burned to the ground.

Mean while, Vaeth was helped out by Neriwin because Cerrinor couldn’t touch him without hurting him. Cerrinor carried Frilawyn in his arms, and Captain Sagara was well enough to walk on his own, Cerrinor had closed his wounds. They made their way to an underground passage and threaded through the sewers out of the city. Every building was completely burned down by the time they reached the outside.

There were still people milling about the river, unsure of what to do with themselves, watching their city burn. The rain had stopped and the sun was coming up as they watched the five blood stained companions walking towards them.

Vaeth suddenly regained his mentality and remembered everything that had happened. “NO! Brutus! Dammit!”

“Vaeth…” Neriwin said trying to support him.

“Get off of me, woman.” He pulled away from her.

Some people from the crowd heard her say his name and began whispering.

“Did she say Vaeth?”

“She did! She did!”

“What? Vaeth is here? Where?”

“Oh no, we’re doomed!”

“I knew it! He’s the one who set fire to our city!”

“Vaeth Cadaliv wrecks the lives of hundreds of people once again!”

This last comment was a little too loud and Vaeth picked up on it. He spun around to face them, and then he said, “Oh, so you think it was I that burned your city to the ground? Your rank, putrid smelling, ignorant, selfish city? Huh? Well, you know what? I don’t care! I really don’t! I’m sick of trying to help and getting crazy stares and rumors in return. You know what? I think I’ll burn you to the ground!”

He raised his hand and started creating a very large fireball, the crowd screamed and ran off.

“Vaeth!” Cerrinor said.

Vaeth looked at him as if he didn’t know who he was. Then he looked at the fireball in his hand and remembered what he was doing. “Oh. Lousy ingrates…” he let the fire die out.

Cerrinor finished tending to Captain Sagara and turned to Frilawyn. Sagara said, “Thank you, my boy. What was your name?”

“Cerrinor Miref.”

“Miref, huh? Are you sure?”

“Yes… Yes, I’m pretty sure.”

“Did you know your parents?”

“No, I was orphaned. Did you know my parents?” Cerrinor asked, interested.

“I'm not sure. You have the White Orb within you, Miref. You need to take care of it.”

“I’ll try.”

“Gah.” Sagara uttered and he got up to walk around.

Vaeth looked at them all and said, “I’m out of here.” Then he disappeared, before anyone could say anything.

Then he reappeared a couple meters forward because he didn’t have the energy left in him to keep himself in shadow. “Ah, damn it all.” He said as he continued to walk away from them.

“Cadaliv, wait!” Captain Sagara strode over to him, his wounds now a memory thanks to Cerrinor.

“Get away from me, old man. I’m not in a good mood.”

“Oh, and you think I am? My city has just been burned down, my people are scattered, my daughter has been slaughtered before my very eyes, and the White Orb, which was under my care since my father died, is not under my care anymore. I... I've lost everything that was ever dear to me.”

Vaeth hadn’t stopped walking. “What makes you think I care?”

“I don’t care if you care, but actually, I think you do. Brutus... He spoke highly of you. Said the rumors were false. I don't care what your story is, honestly. But you need to go to Dulduras, Cadaliv.”

Vaeth stopped. His annoyance was peaked so high he didn’t know what he was going to do next. He spoke slowly. “Why should I go to Dulduras, Sagara?”

“Because there’s someone there whom you need to speak to. He can tell you about how to harvest the power of the White Orb.”

“What in the name of all in Rhenne makes you think I want to ‘harvest’ the power of the White Orb? Can’t you see I’d rather walk away from you, than listen to another word you say? Well?”

“Ah…”

“Can’t you?” Then Vaeth turned around and continued walking.

“Don’t you want to destroy Drogga? You can’t do it without the White Orb!” Sagara tried.

Vaeth stopped again. “Why is that?”

“The man you will meet will tell you. He’s in Dulduras.”

Vaeth thought about it for a moment. He looked at Cerrinor. Then he looked to the southwest, in the direction of Agrisol. “I guess I’m not in too much of hurry to head home then.” He walked back towards everyone. Frilawyn was sitting up. “We’re going to Dulduras. I have someone I need to talk to. Apparently…” he looked at Sagara. “What’s his name?”

“Er… I can’t say. Just go there and talk to the owner of the Stunted Dragon. Tell him I sent you. And that you want to speak to someone who is the 'keeper of important things.' He will direct you from there.”

“Wait, you’re not coming with us?” Cerrinor asked.

“No. I have... pressing matters to attend to in Agrisol. Especially if that’s where most of my people are headed.”

“Well, don’t let us keep you,” Vaeth said, none too kind.

Sagara looked at Vaeth, and then at everyone else. “Don’t let this fellow get you down. Take care of yourselves. Thank you for what you’ve done. If Drogga had gotten the Orb there’d be no hope for anyone. I can’t believe I am still alive! Pethalus can rebuild. Maybe I can still make myself useful. Maybe I’ll see you again.” He waved them goodbye, and started off.

The four that were left decided to rest for a day before heading out. Too much had gone on in the past day for anyone to handle well and nobody wanted to think about it. Vaeth went down to the river and washed himself off. He reminisced about old times and thought some more about how much he wanted to kill Drogga. He had just completely dried himself when Cerrinor came up to him, still practically glowing white from earlier. He said, “Well, we’re off on another adventure!” He smacked Vaeth on the back, and Vaeth leapt into the water.

“OW! You fool! Your hand still burns. What are you trying to do? Kill me? Gah, and I just dried up. This is the worst.”

After quiet dinner of fish supplied by Frilawyn, they went to bed beneath the stars. Everyone slept well, except Vaeth. He didn’t dream, but when he awoke, he was in a worse mood than he had started in.