The Element: A Common One

The Element: A Common One

Ellim was a master thief. If an item could be stolen he could steal it. He was probably the best on the entire planet, and if not the best in the world the best in all, then definitely the best in the whole country of Serca. One day, in the center market of the city of Marag, Ellim was walking through when his eyes descended on a ripe, juicy watermelon. His face had one of the happiest expressions on his face, when his stomach made a loud, grumbling sound. His face dropped from a sign of delight to a sign of despair.
He thought to himself, “I really need to eat something that doesn’t move. All I’ve had to eat in the past few days between the last city and Marag is a few bugs and some nuts and berries I found in the woods. That watermelon looks so delicious.”
Drool started to drip from Ellim’s mouth.
“I’ve been searching for anyone who knows this circle on the back of my hand but that doesn’t mean I should forget to eat. Oh well! It’s time to steal me some fruit.”
Ellim walked around the market stand, passed it, and came back to it trying not to be suspicious. His hands reached out to grab a watermelon when the tip of a sword landed next to his right hand. Ellim looked up to see the face of an angry swordsman. The man wore an old robe with the symbol of the ruler of Marag and some worn out sandals.
The man stared Ellim in the face and said, “You do intend to pay for that right? I wouldn’t want to hand you over to my boss as a thief now would I?”
Ellim replied, “Of course not. Why would I want to steal something? Do I look that desperate?”
The man picked up his sword out of the table and put it back into its holder.
The merchant that was selling the fruit popped up out of nowhere and said, “A watermelon such as this deserves a high price for a high quality. I believe that six pieces of gold and two silver pieces would just about cover it.”
Ellim replied, “Would you mind giving me a discount, I am really short of money and I don’t get paid until next week. Could you give me even a little discount?”
The merchant replied, “Sorry. I don’t give discounts to anybody.”
The swordsman pulled out his sword.
The merchant stuttered saying, “Anybody except our good friends who protect our city from thieves and crooks.”
He laughed quietly trying not to anger the swordsman. Ellim, with the speed of lightning, grabbed the melon.
He started to run away as he yelled, “Too bad. I got the five finger discount.”
Not watching where he was going, Ellim ran into the swordsman.
The swordsman said, “Well. I guess you really are a thief just trying to get a quick meal. So tell me, do you have the money to pay back the merchant or would you like to spend a few days in jail.”
Ellim, being a thief, pick pocketed the man’s wallet. He handed over all the gold and silver in the wallet and took off running as fast as he could. Then the swordsman quickly realized that it was his wallet that the money came from.
The man then shouted, “Stop! Thief!”
The man started to run after Ellim. Ellim looked behind him to see the man running behind him and catching up to him quickly. Both Ellim and the swordsman ran through streets and alleyways. The swordsman was always three steps behind Ellim. Then Ellim tripped in a rock in the street. You could see the fear of being caught in Ellim’s eyes. The man was now standing right in front of Ellim with his sword grasped firmly with both hands. Ellim closed his eyes and wished for a way out of there. Suddenly, a green light came out of Ellim’s scar. Ellim felt like he was being lifted into the air and a pillar of wind appeared beneath him. Then the wind surrounded him and he flew into the sky. The swordsman stared into the sky in a state of awe.
The swordsman thought to himself, “How the heck did he do that? No one has ever been able to do that except the king. I have to find that kid but he won’t let me be near him. I’ll just have to show him the side of me that wants to be free from this life of perfect good. I am Durmas. ” Instantly, he ran to the headquarters of the police.
As he walked in the door the chief of the police of Marag said, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be out doing your job?”
Durmas replied, “I picked a new job, so I quit.”
“The only job I see that you’re getting is picking up litter with your sword. You haven’t caught a single criminal since we hired you.” said the chief.
“I’m tired of how you treat your workers.”
Durmas quickly pulled out his sword and sliced the chief’s head off. He wrote in the blood on the table in the center of the room, “I Quit.” Durmas ran out the door and headed in the direction of where Ellim flew.
The sun was going down when Durmas got to the house where Ellim was. Ellim was sleeping in a rundown house on the outskirts of Marag. The house was old, brown, and completely abandoned. The house was covered in overgrown ivy. The smell of rotten wood filled the air. The bushes were overgrown and the windows were boarded up.
“Who did this kid have to steal this dump from?” Durmas thought as he stared at the house. Durmas walked into the house to find Ellim sleeping on the floor, snoring. Durmas yelled, “Wake up, you lousy thief!”
Ellim was startled and woke up. Ellim quickly realized who was there.
He stood up and said, “I don’t want to fight you but I will if I have to fight.” Durmas responded, “Easy, easy! I don’t want to fight. In fact, I wanted to help you with something.”
“What could you possibly help me with, getting arrested?”
“I quit my job. I wanted to help you because I think I know someone with the same scar on his right hand too.”
“I’ve this scar for as long as I can remember, which isn’t very far back. I’m the only person I know with this scar.”
“Would one of your parents have the same scar?”
“NO! A few years ago, both of my parents died in a large fire. The fire started and quickly burnt down half of the city. An army of some sort destroyed the other half of the city six months later. Anyway, my sister, Sera, came to help me out, here in Marag, until she had to move away about two years ago. I couldn’t get a job so I became a thief to steal my food instead of earn it.”
“Interesting, anyway we need to get out of this city. I have some connections that might be able to help us with that. I have one question. Did you know that you have some weird light coming out of your right hand, out of that weird scar?”
“I already know about that light. Whatever color the light shines is the power I use.”
“So, uhh, what colors are there?”
“I don’t know exactly but they come in handy. I’ve used them to sneak past guards and steal from all kinds of people. The fruit from Karan is the best but the noodle shops here are so much better but they can be expensive. One time I ate over forty bowls of noodles and beef. It was so good.”
“It’s like listening to some old guy rant on and on about his war days. I wish he would just shut up!” Durmas thought in his head.
“I feel like I’m rambling on and on. By the way, my name’s Ellim, the master thief.”
“Nice to finally know your name. My name is Durmas Kamata. I was a swordsman for the police here in Marag but now I am also a fugitive on the run.”
“How? Why? When? What did you do, murder someone?”
“Well yeah kind of. He was just my boss, the chief of police here in Marag. Nothing much. How did you get your reputation?”
“Killing police officers.”
That statement created a period of dead silence for a few seconds.
“Anyway if we are to go to Eran, we will need passports, money, food, and transportation, since we’ll walk.”
“Can’t you just fly us there using your wind power?”
“No, I am not very good at lifting myself let alone another person! As I said we also need someway to protect ourselves while we pass through the forests and the Zinger mountains.”
“I’ve got a sword and you have your powers we will be fine.”
“Remember to watch out for the Razi beasts in the forests and on the mountains.”
“I’ve never left the city before. Who or what are the Razi?”
“The Razi are a ruthless group of creatures born from a cross between humans and animals. Some of them can be nice while others will take your body and shred it into tiny pieces and feed the pieces to their children. They enjoy watching other people suffer.”
“Anyway we should probably get ready to go to Eran in the morning. It won’t do us any good if we are too tired to fight anything that threatens us.”
“Find a good spot on the floor and enjoy yourself.”
They slept through the night or at least Ellim slept all night. Durmas kept waking up from Ellim’s loud snoring. During one of his times awake, Durmas stepped out of the building to stare at the moon, the white moon dancing above the sky. The stars twinkled, shooting stars flashed, shooting across the sky into the horizon.
The next morning Ellim woke up with the sun. He yawned loudly but Durmas was still asleep after not being able to sleep all night. Ellim got up and looked outside.
“Durmas, wake up!” Ellim shouted. Durmas woke up but hit his head on the one of the walls.
“Ouch! Ellim, do you have to be so loud this early? I finally fell asleep. Your snoring kept me up most of the night.” Durmas said with an apathetic tone of voice.
Ellim stood at the door in a state of awe as Durmas got up from the ground. Durmas walked to the doorway only to see a large group of the city’s Militia of Angry Men with Swords.
“Durmas Kamata and Ellim… What’s Ellim’s last name?” asked the chief soldier. All the other soldiers murmured for a few minutes, all of them wondering and thinking about Ellim’s last name.
After a few minutes, the chief soldier said, “Durmas and Ellim come out with your hands up or we’ll have some archers kill both of you.”
“We’ll have to move out of here quickly but how?” thought Durmas. Ellim looked around to see that the floor wasn’t made up of the same material. Some of the floor was wood while the rest of the floor was just dirt. Ellim walked over the to the wooden spot on the floor and noticed a handle.
“I think I know how we can get out of this mess!” Ellim shouted. Durmas looked over to Ellim as Ellim grabbed the handle. Ellim pulled up on the handle to find that the wooden spot was actually a trap door. Ellim looked under the door. He saw some stairs, leading into a dark hallway.
“Durmas, hurry up! Get into the hole!” Ellim shouted. Durmas jumped into the dark stairway with Ellim following right after. Ellim shut the door after himself, ran down the stairs and turned around. Ellim’s right hand turned a turquoise color. Ice shot out of Ellim’s hand right onto the stairs. The ice formed on the door as well, sealing it shut. Ellim turned around to try to find Durmas but he was nowhere in sight. Nothing was in sight because it was pure black down there.
“Durmas, where are you?” Ellim said. Ellim’s voice echoed through the hallways but nothing came back. Ellim wandered through the dark hallway, franticly running his hands against the walls to make sure he was traveling in the right direction. Ellim eventually came to a door. Ellim reached for the handle but Durmas opened the door slamming the door into Ellim’s face.
“OWWW!” Ellim shouted, grabbing his bright, red, painful nose. “Why did you have to do that? That hurt so much!” Durmas stared at Ellim, holding a lit torch in his hand.
“Come on. We don’t have all day to hear your complaining.” Durmas said. Ellim walked through the door to see a room filled with things of every sort. Swords were hanging from the walls and many targets were hanging from the ceiling. Clothes were draped over the furniture and all over the floor. It looked like a bomb had hit a closet. Ellim’s jaw dropped as he saw all the stuff. He looked around again to notice that a pile of gold sat over at the table.
“Where did you get all this stuff? I haven’t seen this much stuff since I was in a shop in the last city.” Ellim exclaimed.
“I wasn’t that good of a cop. I always made deals with some of the scum of the world to get this underground place. The tunnels lead all around the city. That’s why I couldn’t arrest you even if I caught you. There was someone who was trying to find you. His name is Tunno. He’s the leader of the group, the group called Red Lightning.” Durmas said. “Here, put this on. I have to keep my end of the deal.”
Durmas tossed Ellim a change of clothes. Ellim changed into the outfit. The pants were pure black. The shirt was black with a single, red vertical strip across the heart. Durmas put on a similar outfit except that the shirt had a huge red outline of a lightning bolt on the back of it.
“Why do we have to wear this ridiculous outfit? It looks like something out of a bad movie. Plus, these pants are starting to ride up on me.” complained Ellim.
“Just get used to it. We need a little help to get out of this city so I figured I might be able to ask for a little favor.” said Durmas. Durmas put on a black hat as well. It covered everything but the tiniest bit of his forehead. “Follow me, I know where they are.”
Durmas opened another door. Behind the door was a hallway, lit by torches spread every twenty feet. They walked through the barely lit hallway. After a mile of walking, they arrived at another door. This door had the symbol of Red Lightning on it. Durmas opened the door. They both walked through the door. Ellim looked around and saw hundreds of people. All of them were wearing the same uniform as Durmas. About half of the people were battling against each other with swords.
“What are all these people doing?” asked Ellim.
“They’re sparring against each other. It’s a way for them to better prepare for battle. Look, I need you to be quiet and let me do all the talking.” Durmas responded.
“Follow me.”
Durmas walked through the center of the room towards the back. Ellim followed but kept looking around to watch all the people fighting. Ellim looked straight ahead to see another door with two strong men standing beside it. Durmas walked up to the door and showed a card to the two doormen. The stepped aside and one of them opened the door. Durmas walked into the room. Ellim followed but had a bad feeling about this.
Ellim saw an old man sitting in a red chair behind a desk.
“Ah, Durmas. It’s so nice to see you. I see you brought a friend. Is he? Is he who I think he is?” asked the old man.
“Yes, he is. This is Ellim, the boy I spoke of. He might be able to help you with your business but I ask a small favor in return. We need to get out of this city quickly and without anyone noticing,” replied Durmas.
“I may be able to help you but first Ellim needs to help me,” said the leader of Red Lightning.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Ellim.
“I want you to take care of someone for me. He used to be important to me but recently he has become a nuisance,” the leader, Mr. Lohd, said, tossing a picture across the room. Ellim grabbed the picture out of the air and was shocked to see whom he needed to kill.
“I can’t do this,” Ellim said, tossing the picture on the ground. The picture landed face up, showing a picture of Durmas. “I am not going to kill my friend. Sure I haven’t known him long but I can’t kill him.” Durmas stood in shock with his eyes wide open and his heart racing.
“Mr. Ellim, you probably don’t know the way we do business. If someone doesn’t get the job done then we have to finish it for you. You’re also not a member, at least not yet. You could be, if you just carry out this simple plan. I’m giving you a chance to join us. Join my organization and you might be someone,” Mr. Lohd said.
“I’ll never join you! All you want to do is lie, steal, and kill to get what you want.” Ellim shouted.
“Fine. If you won’t join me then you leave me no choice. Red Lightning, strike!” shouted Mr. Lohd. His voice echoed through the door and into the nearby room. Every man dressed in a uniform except Durmas unsheathed his sword. The guards behind Mr. Lohd pulled out some chains and knives. The first guard ran at Durmas, slashing his chains through the air. Durmas jumped back to barely avoid the chains. Durmas unsheathed his sword to try and hit the guard but the second guard lunged forward to try and stab Durmas. Ellim’s hand turned a grey color and flashed. A sword materialized into his hands. The sword gleamed in the light but was quickly red as he hit the first guard. Durmas avoided the second guy and managed to cut his throat. Both looked back to the chair but Mr. Lohd was gone. Durmas and Ellim ran outside the small room into the large chamber. Hundreds of soldiers, with their swords out, attacked Ellim and Durmas. Soldiers attacked from all sides but Ellim and Durmas held their own. The two tried not to kill them but sometimes they couldn’t help it. After the fight was over Ellim and Durmas stood over the bodies, gasping for breath. Durmas put his sword away and Ellim just tossed his away.
“We need to get moving. Now we have the police and Red Lightning after us,” Durmas said. They went back out into the system of tunnels and arrived back at the underground room. Durmas and Ellim changed into some new clothes. Ellim put on a pair of dark blue, blue jeans and a navy jacket with a black t-shirt underneath. Durmas put on a pair of brown pants and a white shirt.
“Durmas, how did you ever get involved with those people?” asked Durmas.
“Well, when I became a cop, the only thing I wanted to do was to catch the crooks. My first case was against a guy named Nyro Remor. He was supposedly a thief that took his job a little too far and killed a merchant. I was supposed to track him down and either catch him or kill him. Anyway I figured out where he was. I quietly followed him around the city until he came to here. He came to this room to change. I broke down the door and tried to arrest him but I couldn’t.
‘Hey kid, are you supposed to be a cop? I could kill you in just a quick blow,’ Nyro said. I lunged at him with my sword but I kept missing. Finally, I was able to hit him. Sure it was just a little cut on his arm but he took it seriously.
‘You got some talent. No one has ever put their blade against mine and dealt a blow. I, I mean we, could use someone like you with us, if you’re willing to try it.’ He led me down to the training center. There, Nyro and I trained for days and years but I could never get better than him. Meanwhile, the chief kept getting mad at me. I couldn’t catch any crooks. Most of them were either my friends or friends of the Red Lightning. I did many jobs that would have gotten me in trouble with the police but the Red Lightning would always make everything better. Eventually, I depended on them to cover for everything I do.”
“That sounds like your career in a nutshell,” said Ellim.
“Yeah, that pretty much is.”
“We need to get out of the city. Any ideas?”
“We could try to jump the gate.”
“What gate?”
“There’s a gate on the eastern side of the city. It’s the easiest way to get somewhere the Red Lightning can’t get us. There’s a forest nearby and a town supposedly hidden there but that’s just a legend.”
“Sounds like we could get out. For now let’s get some sleep.” Ellim jumped onto a pile of clothes. He rolled over and fell asleep, snoring loudly immediately after. Durmas got up and walked through the tunnels a bit.
“What am I going to do with this kid? I used to be so different. Who knows maybe she was right. Maybe I should teach this kid how to fight. Oh well. I need to get him out of here. I was hired to protect him and protect him I will.” Durmas wandered back into the room and tried to fall asleep on a different pile of clothes but Ellim’s snoring kept him up most of the night.
The next morning, Durmas woke up after barely any sleep. He tossed and turned but he couldn’t fall back asleep. He looked around to see that Ellim wasn’t where he fell asleep last night. Durmas got up and instantly the door behind him started to open. Durmas grabbed a sword from the wall and prepared to fight. The door opened as Durmas slashed through the air.
“Ow! What are you trying to kill me?” exclaimed Ellim.
“Sorry, I thought you might be someone else,” Durmas said. “So why were you out?”
“I went out to steal some things. I got some eggs, and some cheese, and some chicken, and some beef, which was hard to get, and some money. We could always use some extra money,” said Ellim.
“Do you plan on cooking that stuff or just collecting?” asked Durmas, sarcastically.
“You got something to cook this stuff in?”
Durmas got up and ran over to the desk. He fished through a pile of stuff and found a small frying pan buried in the clothes. He tossed the frying pan at Ellim and the frying pan hit Ellim’s face.
“Ow! Do you have to hit me with everything? Come on, I’m trying to make breakfast here and all you’re doing is hitting me,” shouted Ellim.
“Sorry, it’s not my fault you can’t catch.”
Ellim cracked the eggs and put them in the frying pan. Ellim’s hand turned a bright red color. Flames spouted from his fingertips, heating the pan. The eggs sizzled on the pan. Durmas tossed some more ingredients into the pan. After some more time, they looked like two, delicious omelets. Ellim stopped the flames. Both of their mouths watered as they looked at the food. Ellim tossed the omelets into the air, just as someone knocked on the door. Ellim and Durmas looked at the door, wondering who was there. The omelets fell to the ground, making Durmas angry.
“Ellim, you idiot! You always screw up everything!” Durmas shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I got startled. I didn’t see you trying to catch them.” Ellim retaliated.
The stranger opened the door, flooding light into the room. The stranger was a man, wearing a red lightning bolt around his neck, a red headband circling his black, spiked hair. He wore a red shirt and black pants. On his back was a long sword, wide as a book but only one inch thick. On the side of the blade were the words, “The End”. Durmas’ face squinted as he rage built. His expression grew to a site of anger. Ellim looked confused, not knowing who this man is.
“Ah, Durmas. Fancy meeting you here. I heard that you had a little argument with a friend of mine. You know it’s not nice to go against your allies. You become like an enemy then. We wouldn’t want you to become our enemy, would we?” the man said jokingly. “Basically, I am giving you one last chance. Come back to Red Lightning with me or die right here.”
Durmas reached behind himself to find a sword. “No, I shall never do that again!” Durmas grabbed a sword off the wall and swung the sword at the stranger. The man jumped into the air and landed on the blade of Durmas’ sword.
“Come now, Durmas. That’s no way to treat your friend,” said the man. The man flipped backwards off the sword and landed perfectly on the dusty ground. “You should have more respect for your teachers, Durmas. Sometimes they might have learned a few tricks.”
Ellim thought to himself, “teacher. When did Durmas ever have a teacher?” Ellim focused on his thought as Durmas lunged at the man again, with the man jumping over Durmas this time and landed directly behind Durmas.
“I could use a little help over here,” whispered Durmas. Ellim snapped out of his thought and rushed at the stranger. The stranger turned around to see Ellim coming. Ellim’s hand turned to a greenish glow. Wind started to circulate around his palm and with one mighty blast of wind Ellim pushed the stranger out of the room. The man flew through the air and disappeared over a group of buildings.
“We need to get out of the city now!” shouted Durmas. Ellim agreed. Both raced out of the underground room, through the tunnels to reach the surface. Durmas and Ellim ran as fast as they could through the streets, leaping over stands, people, and animals. After running for quite some time they eventually came to street with a gate to outside the city walls but the gate was closed.
When they arrived at the gate, Durmas searched around for a way to make it open and saw nothing of the sort. Meanwhile Ellim jumped onto the gate and started climbing. Ellim got about halfway up and shouted to Durmas for him to climb up the gate too. Now, both Durmas and Ellim are climbing the gate as a group of soldiers walked below. One of them looked up and saw them climbing the gate. He shouted to the other soldiers to quickly strike before they could get over. Spears and knives flew all around them as they scurried up the gate. Ellim barely avoided one knife by jumping down the gate a little while Durmas jumped over the top, landing safely on the other side.
Both of them ran until they got about a half-mile outside the city’s walls. Both collapsed on the ground, panting and gasping for breath. “That was a close one back there, huh and who was that guy back there?” asked Ellim. Durmas gave him a look that destroyed his joy. “He’s a highly ranked member of Red Lightning. That’s all.” Ellim seemed disappointed in this answer but figured if Durmas wouldn’t tell him then it probably wasn’t important.
“So where are we gonna go now? We can’t exactly go back to Marag. I don’t know we could try to hide out with my sister. She lives about three or four days away.” Ellim stated. “You mean that you knew of somewhere else to be and you let us walk into that trap!” Durmas shouted.
“Trap? You’re the one who worked for them for a long time. Besides I don’t really know how to get there. I don’t know which direction.”
“I have a decent map of the country. It’s recent enough to get us through most of the country. Where did you say she lived again?”
“She lives in Poblar, the desert city.” “Three to four days! That’s more like three to four weeks! Look at this we would have to travel to a city every two or three days to get some supplies and the only city from here to there is Lawalk, a city on the treetops in the Still Leaf Forest about a day from here. I don’t think we’ll be able to do anything once we get out of that city.”
“We’ll figure something else out. Thinking on our feet has gotten past everything so far.”
“I guess you’re right. Let’s get going.” Durmas says while pointing to his right.
After a day of walking they decide to stop for the night and eat what little food they have with them. Ellim starts a fire while Durmas stares up into the stars.
“Ellim, ever wondered what made the stars? I mean they float so high like they judge us. Maybe they’re other worlds that think the same about us. Who knows? Maybe they just watch, enjoying every moment.” Durmas questioned. Ellim thought about this for quite some time.
“Hey, you see those three red ones over there?” asked Durmas.
“Yeah, but what’s important about them?” responded Ellim.
“I don’t know. They just seem strange to me, just the way they’re arranged. They’re all the same distance from each other.” Ellim looked up to see the three red stars all in a triangle with one star in the middle.
“What’s the middle star about?” asked Ellim.
“I don’t know. I just like watching them.” Durmas lay down on the ground and faced the stars.
Darkness poured over the land as the night quickly absorbed what little light there was. All that could be seen through the dark night was the fire in their camp, a single source of light in the darkness.
Ellim fell asleep but Durmas wanted to make sure Ellim didn’t snore so he used a piece of cloth to tie Ellim’s jaw to his head so it stayed shut. Durmas stayed awake, gazing up at the sky, wondering about the three red stars. “Why are those stars so red? Are they angry? What could someone do to make a star angry? Why is there a yellow star in the middle of those red ones?”
The next morning they arrived at the Still Leaf Forest. The forest was filled with ancient trees. The roots of the trees spread throughout every nook and cranny of the forest, finding every piece of nourishment it could find. The trunks of the trees were so thick that no man made blade could cut it. The branches of the trees were spread out and ever so leafy. The massive tangling of branches and leaves from the trees made it so that very little light could reach the forest floor.
Ellim stood cautiously as he waited to enter the forest. “Durmas are you sure this is the way?” asked Ellim, nervously.
“Of course I’m sure,” replied Durmas. Durmas and Ellim entered the forest and with each step they took the light slowly vanished behind them until darkness surrounded them. “Just keep going. Eventually we’ll get either to the village or to the other side of the forest,” Durmas said, confidently.
And so they walked for hours on end. Ellim grew tiresome of this blind trek and said, “Durmas where are we? I don’t see anything around here.”
“Well, I’ve been lost for about an hour now,” Durmas replied. “What! How could you get lost! You said you had a map!” Ellim shouted, as his voice rang throughout the forest.
Just then they spotted something in the distance, a hole through the tangled mass of branches. “Wow, it looks like the branches grew old and snapped,” stated Ellim.
“No, look at the ends of the branches. This forest has remained untouched for more than a century. If they were broken they would have shards on the end not the clear cut they have. Someone was just here,” Durmas said, warily.
Two hands clap slowing not too far away. “Wow, Durmas, it took you a lot less than I would have expected from a person of your attitude.”
Durmas turned to find the face of that strange man again.
“Who are you?” asked Ellim.
“Isn’t it obvious? I am Durmas’ former teacher from Red Lightning. The name’s Nyro Remor, also know as the Red Blade. I am the chief fighter with Red Lightning and also one of the best swordsmen in history. Only two people have ever gotten a scratch on me, that little runt over there and the real leader of Red Lightning.”
“Real leader? Does that mean Mr. Lohd is not the leader of Red Lightning?” asked Durmas.
“This goes way higher up than you know kid. Actually Mr. Lohd was just a regional manager in charge of this area. And I was the second in command but now that he let you two slip out of his fingers, I don’t think he’ll be doing anything, anymore. Now are we just going to stand here talking or are we going to fight?”
Nyro grabbed his monstrous blade from upon his back and leaped towards Durmas. Durmas pulled his sword out to block the attack. The two blades clashed with a loud scrape.
Durmas had a plan this time. “I have a second sword on me this time. I’ll be able to beat him,” thought Durmas. Durmas reached around and pulled out a second sword. He slashed around Nyro’s monstrous blade but Nyro jumped up into the air to avoid Durmas’ sword.
Nyro landed a few feet back and said, “nice try. You almost had me there for a second. Too bad for you I’m more powerful than you think. Ever heard of Reynex, the god of the underworld?”
“He’s just a myth,” replied Durmas. “What myth? I never heard of the myth. How come I’m left out of everything?” screamed Ellim.
“Legend has it that Reynex used to live in this world, feeding off the souls of the dead but when people wouldn’t die, he made his own sword to kill people. That sword is rumored to have been sealed away like he was long ago but some people say his blade of death still lies somewhere, hidden.”
“That’s for the history lesson, kid. Now are we gonna fight?” asked Nyro.
Nyro then ran for Durmas with his blade drawn. Just as Nyro’s blade was about to stab through Durmas’ heart a ball of white energy shot Nyro in the back. Nyro fell to the ground, leaving Durmas with a long cut down his left leg. Durmas collapsed and shouted in pain, as Nyro didn’t move at all. “Where did that thing come from? Better yet, what was it?” thought Ellim. “Durmas, the village isn’t too far from here. I can probably carry you.” Ellim picked Durmas off the ground and gathered wind in his right hand. Using the wind he shot off the ground and into the tangled mass of tree branches. He emerged from the branches to see only treetops but in the distance was smoke. Ellim flew over towards the smoke, hoping it would be someone who could help him. As he got closer, he could hear people shouting, music playing, and laughter. “That’s it. The village must be there. Hold on Durmas I’m hurrying!” Ellim shouted. As Ellim grew closer still, walkways and buildings started to appear on the tops of the trees but with each moment of flight Ellim grew more tired. By the time he got to the village, he was exhausted. He landed in the middle of the treetop platform. “Help, somebody, my friend needs some help,” Ellim said gasping for breath. Ellim collapsed and blacked out leaving them for the villagers’ judgment.
“Is he awake? Ma, come over here! Here’s awake!” shouted the boy. Ellim’s eyes opened, starting out from a blurred sense into a precise image. Ellim saw a boy about ten years old, hovering over him, staring at him. On Ellim’s other side stood an older lady. She had a unique atmosphere around her that gave off a healing presence.
“Rolu, if he’s awake come and tell me. Don’t shout and wake him up even more!” exclaimed the lady. “He’s awake now. That’s good I guess. He probably should’ve gotten a little more time to heal but I guess this is enough time to recover slightly.”
Her attention shifted from Rolu to Ellim, with Ellim still confused about what was going on. “How are you feeling? Probably still tired from the fight. Hold on, let me heal you a little more.”
Ellim just stared out from his bed, as if he was watching the world from beyond his own body. The old lady stood up and walked over to a pot nearby. She grabbed some pieces of cloth from the pot and put them on her arms. She, then, walked over to Ellim and placed her hands over his chest. All of a sudden a bright light came out of her fingertips and slowly spread towards her palms. The light bounced away from her and went straight into Ellim’s chest. Ellim felt as if nothing had touched him but his heart felt stronger, his muscles less weak, and his lungs less void of air. He felt as if he was fully physically fit. He eyes grew wide open with renewed energy.
“There that should do him for now.” The lady said.
“Where am I?” Ellim said faintly. “How did I get here?” Then Ellim shouted, “Where’s Durmas? Is he ok? Oh I knew I shouldn’t have let him fight that guy by himself.”
“Don’t worry. Your friend is fine. He’s over there, sleeping still. That’s a nasty cut your friend got there. I’m just glad you’re ok now but what is it that injured him?”
“We got in a fight with this master swordsman and Durmas was losing but this ball of light shot at him and killed him.”
“Actually it didn’t kill him.” Rolu whispered. “Light can’t kill unless we are fighting pure darkness.”
“What are you talking about, Rolu? You were supposed to stay in the village. What were you doing down there in the forest?” The woman shouted.
“I went into the forest to practice some of my warping.”
“Practice! If anyone from the outside watched you long enough they could see the secret of our village. That’s why you are never allowed into the forest. What exactly were you doing?”
“I was working on a blast warp. I was focusing the light but then I saw these guys fighting some tall guy. I figured they could use some help.”
“Well, that was a helpful thing you did. I’ll allow it this time. Now, let’s talk about you, Ellim. That marking on your right hand, it looks very familiar. Where have I seen it before?” The lady paused for a moment but couldn’t remember anything. “Anyway, you should get some rest and tomorrow Rolu will show you around. You’re welcome to stay here until you and your friend feel well enough to leave.” Rolu and the old lady stood up and walked outside the nearby doorway. Ellim fell almost instantly to sleep but this time he did dream.
Faceless beings, hundreds if not thousands of them surrounded him. Each one carried a weapon of some sort but the weapons were all different. They all were blades, sharp and shiny blades. Ellim felt as if he couldn’t do anything against them, that they had all the power over him. They all attacked him at once. Just as one stabbed him in the chest, he woke up. Ellim’s eyes opened abruptly to the dark night. A small light caught his eye. He saw Durmas awake and sitting up on his bed over in the corner. He could hear a little of what Durmas was saying. “This time I’ll get him. I need to train a little more to master this technique but after that I should be able to beat him. He’ll never see it coming.” Ellim thought to himself, “Train to do what? Nyro is dead. Wait a minute! No, he isn’t. Light can’t kill unless it attacks pure darkness. I wonder what sword technique he wants to master this time?” Durmas blew out his light and fell back asleep. Ellim contemplated what this technique could be before he fell back asleep.
The next morning Ellim woke up to a large crash. Rolu was on the ground with a couple of smashed plates that had food on them. Rolu tripped over a small hole in the floor. “You ok?” Ellim asked. “Yeah I’m fine. I wanted to bring you guys breakfast but I didn’t see the hole on the floor.” Rolu stood up and looked around a couple times but he couldn’t see Durmas. “Hey, where’s Durmas? I thought he wasn’t healed yet.” “Neither did I” said Ellim. “Let’s go find him.”
Ellim got up out of the bed slowly but was able to stand on his feet after a few seconds. He walked slowly towards Rolu and together they went outside the hut to find Durmas.
Light flew into Ellim’s eyes, temporarily blinding him. After his eyes cleared he saw the village. It was a quiet community in which there was no crime. Children were playing in the streets, tossing little balls of light into the air. He could see people happily talking about the weather and other such things. One particular happening caught his eye. A little boy was off in a section of the village plaza by himself. The little boy just sat there, staring into the distance. Then, all of a sudden, the little boy got up and gathered a ball of light into his fist and shot it at another kid, who fell down and started crying. Ellim couldn’t help wondering why this kid was so furious. What could’ve motivated this kid to another member of his village?
Rolu started to walk away and Ellim followed. They walked all around the village. The last house they came to had a pleasant aroma about it. Ellim couldn’t help walking into the house. He saw another old lady, sitting around a makeshift table in the center of the room. This seemed different from the one that was with Rolu. Her clothes were dirty and tattered. Her hair was pure white but greasy and uncontrolled. She just sat at the table, sipping her hot tea from her cup while something boiled in a pot nearby. The old lady noticed Ellim standing in the doorway. She said, “Come in young man. Please sit down and have a cup of tea with me.” Ellim accepted the offer and sat down across the table from the lady. The lady poured a cup of hot tea for Ellim and handed him the cup. Ellim thanked her for the tea and took a small sip.
Instantly, he felt as if his troubles melted away. He felt relaxed yet still responsive. “There, you looked tense and I thought you might need some of my famous relaxing tea.” The lady smiled as Ellim took another sip. “You might as well call me the head healer in this village. I can do things with herbs and light that most people could never see.”
“Wow. How long have you been in this village?” asked Ellim.
“Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve stopped to think about it. Well, I’ve been here my whole life. All two hundred years of it.”
“Two hundred years!”
“Yes, I know this seems to be a long time for people of this age. When I was younger, people lived longer, happier. My best friend, Marlie, was probably the happiest person I knew. She could do more with the powers of this village than all the rest of the people combined. She was even able to bring people back from the dead. People used to come to our village just to see her heal someone. One day, she received a message that the king was sick and needed for her to come to the castle immediately. She packed up her things and left, and never returned. I still miss her to this day.”
Ellim just stared at the lady, with tears built up in his eyes.
“Many terrible things happened once she left. Armies came and attack our defenseless village to aid in their rebellious movement. The soldiers then used us to heal them before they went to fight again. They even took a whole generation of healers to war with them. Only three of them ever came back.”
“What happened to them? Are they still here? Maybe they could help us out.” “They all left the village within a year. They claimed they were suffering from a disease that no one had seen. They wouldn’t even tell this old healer what the problems were. I heard one of them went to Poblar, to seek the help of a wise man there. You could start there.”
“I’m going there anyway. My sister lives there and my friend and I need to find her. While I’m in the city I’ll try to find him.”
“Good for you young one. When you see him, tell him ‘La luce è qui.’ He’ll know what it means. Well, off with you child. It seems to me that you have some work to do.”
“No, I wanna hear some more about this man” Ellim refused. The lady gathered a ball of light in her hands and shot it at Ellim. Ellim flew backwards out of the hut and onto the floor again. When Ellim opened his eyes, the hut was no longer there. All that was in front of him was an empty spot, where the house was. This caused great confusion for Ellim, just as Rolu ran towards him. “Hey, Ellim. I found Durmas. Come on” shouted Rolu. Ellim stood up and ran towards the direction Rolu just ran off in.
Ellim ran through the village coming to the edge of the platform. He looked down to see Rolu waiting for him. Ellim jumped down and landed on his feet. He looked around to see Rolu just sitting there, on a broken tree branch. “Durmas said that you are to find him yourself. He ran off into the forest in that direction.” Rolu said while pointing east.
Ellim looked around wondering where Durmas could be. He ran east as fast as he could, seeing only what lied in front of him. He ran past trees, and over rocks but still couldn’t find Durmas until he found a small clearing. Barely any light could filter in from the dense branches above the ground. Durmas stood directly in front of him with his sword drawn in one hand.
“Ellim, in case you haven’t realized, I’m hurt and my leg is going to take a while to heal. I’ve seen you fight and while I admit you have some raw talent but if we ever get attacked again, which is very likely, so you need to learn how to fight. Catch!” Durmas said, which as soon after he tossed a sword that was hidden behind his back at Ellim.
The sword flew through the air and landed within 3 inches of Ellim’s right foot. Ellim picked the sword off of the ground but not very far. This sword, only 5 feet long and with barely any width, weighed about sixty pounds. Ellim’s muscles strained to lift this sword into any type of fighting position.
“Durmas, this thing is so heavy. How can you be carrying this all the time?” Ellim complained.
“I just got used to it. This is your training sword from now on. If you can master some of my techniques on that sword then you can go multitudes faster on a regular sword.”
“It hurts to lift my arms!”
“You’ll get used to it. The first technique is just a standard strike. You swing your sword like this.” Durmas grasped his sword with both hands and swung his sword in three different ways, vertically, diagonally, and horizontally. Ellim struggled to swing the sword in all the different ways. After doing each strike once, Ellim lowered his sword, breathing heavily.
“Good” said Durmas. “Now repeat that about 100 times and try to go a little bit faster then the set before.” Ellim groaned again and struggled to lift his sword again. This type of training occurred for three months before Ellim finally mastered the techniques Durmas wanted to teach Ellim. Meanwhile, Rolu sat in the plaza of the village, warping small objects in and out of little light warps. He once managed to warp himself a few feet away from where he was sitting. The only reason he could tell was because he accidentally warped himself off the platform and had to climb back up onto it. Durmas’ leg still hasn’t fully healed yet but that isn’t stopping him from yelling, and instructing Ellim in swordsmanship.
After the final day of training, all three returned back to Rolu’s hut where a fresh cooked dinner awaited them. The dinner was almost a feast. The people of the village all gathered together to give Ellim and Durmas a great meal before they left to go back into the forest and then go to Poblar. Aromas danced through the air, those delicious smells. The table was magnificently decorated with a bright, golden tablecloth and little balls of light floating like a candelabra floating in midair. The table shined so bright that Ellim and Durmas had to shield their eyes from the intensity of the light. Ellim squinted at the table. On the left side he saw his most favorite food, chicken flavored ramen. His mouth watered and his eyes grew big. Meanwhile, Durmas looked to the right side of the table and saw roasted beasts of all sorts, birds, bovine, and beautiful fish. Even though Durmas didn’t show it on the outside, he was just like Ellim, drooling and slobbering over the food.
“Go ahead. You two deserve it after all you’ve been through,” Rolu said with a smile on his face. Ellim and Durmas rushed to the table and started to cram food into their mouths, respectively of course. After a good hour of eating, and the villagers getting more than their fair share, Ellim leaned back with a full stomach and belched extremely loudly. Durmas just glared at him, like something was seriously wrong.
They heard a loud crack coming from outside. “What was that!” Ellim shouted. “Its probably just an old tree branch. They do fall on their own sometimes,” replied Rolu.
“No,” said Durmas. “That wasn’t a tree branch. I just hope it’s not what I think it is.” Durmas shot up from the table and ran out the door. Ellim ran after him, and Rolu wanted to follow too.
“No, Rolu! Don’t go,” said his mother.
“But I have to. I’ve been training too and I want to help them,” replied Rolu, who then darted out the door into the dark night.
Durmas ran through the fountain and past the edge of the village. He jumped to the ground, landing with his right foot on the ground. Ellim landed shortly after, on his left foot. Together, they ran into the dark forest with Rolu chasing after them. Suddenly a small knife shot out from the darkness. Ellim let out a scream of pain as he felt the blade stab into the center of his right hand. Durmas stopped and ran back towards Ellim, with his sword drawn.
“He shoots, he scores. I figured it out, kid. I know your secrets. Your powers are connected with your right hand,” said a voice rustling through the trees. Ellim thought, “how does he know that?”
“I’ve been training and waiting for you two to wander out here but you didn’t. I had to make you come out here and more work on my part means the less likely you are to survive,” said the mysterious voice again.
“Fine, if you want to kill us then come out here and fight us in a fair fight,” said Durmas, hoping to locate the source of the voice.
“Agreed, let me show you what I’ve learned.” A burning fire shot down at them from above, but thankfully Ellim and jumped away before it hit the ground. The blaze shot light throughout the whole forest, as Durmas and Ellim hit the ground. After the light had dimmed Durmas looked back at the smoking ground left by the fire. As the smoke cleared his eyes grew wider. In the middle of the hole that was burned into the ground stood a man wearing a black tank top with a red lightning bolt on it and black pants with a single red stripe down the right leg. Durmas looked on shock to see that the man was really Nyro, back for his vengeance. Nyro held his sword in one hand and a ball of fire in the other. Ellim finally opened his eyes and was instantly in shock.
“How did you get that power? I thought only I could do that.” Ellim said, with a jealous tone of voice.
“I’ve known how to manipulate fire for about three years now. All good members of Red Lightning know at least one element and mine is fire. The only reason I didn’t use it before is that I didn’t think I would need it to win. Guess now, I can’t lose,” said Nyro, confidently.
“We can still try to win then,” Durmas said pulling out a sword, in its sheath, and tossing it to Ellim.
“Ellim, you know how to use this. Take care of it. It’s actually a good sword.” Ellim pulled the steel sword out form its sheath. The steel gleamed in the light of the fire. Ellim held up his sword, as did Durmas. Both of them ran to Nyro and attacked him, with Ellim on the left and Durmas on the right. Ellim aimed high and Durmas aimed low. Nyro jumped perfectly, diving in between both of the blades and landing perfectly with both feet at the same time. Ellim and Durmas turned around to make sure he couldn’t hit from behind. Nyro just stared at them laughing. Meanwhile Ellim was getting dizzier by the second. He had lost too much blood from the knife in his hand. “Ellim, you can’t beat him if you’re hurt. I’ll handle him,” Durmas whispered to Ellim. Ellim nodded in agreement. Both leaped up into the trees, with Durmas coming around from the right and Ellim going to the left to hide and rest. Durmas jumped down from the trees six feet in front of Nyro.
“So Nyro want to take this fight to the next level?” Durmas said as he grinned subtly.
“Fine, I’ll step it up,” Nyro replied. Nyro put his free hand over his sword. The sword lit on fire. Nyro then grabbed the handle and wielded the flaming sword with both his hands. Durmas put his hand over his sword, putting a layer of hardened rock on his blade.
“You may go first, kid,” Nyro said. Durmas chuckled a little. Durmas gripped his sword tighter and swung his sword into the ground. A shockwave shot through the ground in front of Durmas causing the ground to crack beneath Nyro. Nyro leaped into the air and swung his sword at Durmas, shooting a flame with each swing. Nyro landed behind Durmas but Durmas turned quickly to face him as the ground was singed near his feet. Durmas lunged towards Nyro leaving little time for Nyro to respond. Nyro lifted his blade to block Durmas’ attack. Their swords clashed and threw them both back into the air. Both pushed off of tree trunks and clashed again and again.
Meanwhile, Ellim is moving back to the village through the treetops until he saw Rolu running on the path underneath him. Ellim jumped down from the trees and ran after him.
“Rolu, back here,” shouted Ellim. His voice echoed through the trees, like a bell chime. Rolu turned around and ran back to Ellim.
Back at the fight, Durmas and Nyro’s blades clashed again and both pushed back. Durmas landed, first with his right foot then his left. Ellim’s voice reached the ears of the two swordsmen. Nyro landed, put his sword down, and put out the flames.
“I must be off. I wasn’t sent here to kill you. I was sent here to kill your friend, the one who hid in the trees. He’s my real target,” said Nyro. Nyro jumped into the treetops and started to head in Ellim’s direction. Durmas, keeping his sword out, jumped into the trees and headed after him, thinking, “why didn’t I see this before? He wasn’t after me at all. He was hoping to beat me so Ellim would come and help me.”
Ellim pulled out his sword, anticipating Nyro’s eventual attack. Nyro came leaping down from the trees with his sword on fire. Ellim raised his sword in defense but fell backwards from the force of the attack. Nyro stood six feet away from Ellim as Ellim tried to get up.
“Come on. I expected you to be better than that. I gave you a long time to train,” said Nyro as Ellim was getting up off of the ground.
“How about this? I’ll turn around and give you one free attack to make things more fair,” Nyro said arrogantly and cocky. Nyro turned around as Ellim gripped his sword. Suddenly, Nyro heard a little spark. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Ellim had fused his sword with electricity and was rushing towards him. Nyro jumped into the air to avoid the attack. Ellim turned to face Nyro as Nyro landed from his jump. “How? I thought I cut your hand so that you couldn’t use your powers” Nyro questioned.
“Easy, I had a little help healing. Now taste my lightning blade!” Ellim shouted. Lightning coursed through his palms into the sword. Ellim swung his sword in Nyro’s direction, releasing a wave of electricity shooting towards Nyro. Nyro jumped up into the tree branches, into the darkness. The wave cut into the trunks of some of the trees before dissipating in the air.
“Ha! You can’t find me so easily up here. Haven’t you learned anything? It’s dark up here. You’ll never be able to find me.” Nyro said arrogantly. Ellim thought for a minute.
“If he’s up there in the dark, I can’t find him. Wait! He’s in the dark.” Ellim turned to Rolu. “Rolu shoot a ball of light up there. See if you can get it bright enough to blind him for a while,” Ellim said. Rolu agreed with Ellim’s plan. Little sparkles of light gathered in both of Rolu’s hands.
“Ellim, cover your eyes. I see a bright future for us and here it comes!” shouted Rolu. Rolu put his hands together and shot a small sparkle in the air. As the little ball of light went into the trees an outline of Nyro about twenty feet from where the ball is. Rolu saw where Nyro was and instantly made that little ball of light grow into what seemed like looking a sun. Nyro was blinded by the sheer intensity of the light. He fell from the treetop and landed on his back on the ground. His sword fell out of his hand during the fall and landed out of his reach.
Meanwhile, Ellim had covered his eyes but the light was still bright enough to reach through his eyelids. Ellim opened his eyes. As he looked around his eyes slowly focused on Nyro. Nyro was still lying there with his eyesight still gone but slowly recovering.
Ellim walked over to Nyro and said to Nyro, “Well, look’s like I win.” Nyro grinned subtly as Ellim was talking. Ellim put his blade away and turned around. Nyro got up suddenly and ran over to get his sword.
“Ellim, we’re not done here!” shouted Nyro. Nyro grabbed his sword and got back into a fighting stance. “Now, let’s finish this like a fair fight. I won’t use my power of fire if you don’t use any of your powers,” Nyro pleaded.
“Fine, I want the pleasure of beating you in a fair fight,” responded Ellim. Just as Ellim finished his sentence, Durmas finally arrived at where Ellim and Nyro were fighting. Durmas thought, “Ellim’s not dead. He’s doing better than I thought he would have done. I’ll just sit back and enjoy the view. If he gets into trouble, I’ll head down there and save him.”
Ellim and Nyro readied their swords, waiting for the other to make the first move. Ellim, being as impatient as he is, charged at Nyro. Nyro jumped above Ellim, thinking “now’s my chance!” Nyro shot a big flame straight down onto Ellim, covering Ellim in a bright orange flame. Ellim let out a scream of pain as his skin slowly turned black. His sword fell to the ground as so did Ellim. Durmas looked on this in shock and awe. “Finally, my job is done. Now how to get out of here” said Nyro. Durmas quickly jumped from his spot in the trees and leapt at Nyro who had landed from his jump.
Durmas shouted at Nyro as Durmas slashed at Nyro, “You’re going to die! I don’t care how but you will!” Their blades clashed, forcing Nyro to flip backwards to avoid the attack. Durmas kept attacking with one slash right after another. The steel in their blades was slowly getting weaker with each hit. The intensity of Durmas’ attacks was an intensity not even Nyro could master. Nyro could barely defend against Durmas’ quick strikes until one of Durmas’ strikes hit Nyro. Durmas decided to swing his sword low and he put a large gash into Nyro’s leg.
Durmas stopped attacking as he felt a rumble on the ground. At first he thought that his rage made his power over earth accidentally activate but this was different. Both Nyro and Durmas looked around to try to find the source of this quake. Durmas looked about 20 yards back to see Ellim, only it wasn’t exactly Ellim. Sure it looked like Ellim but his body became a grayish almost black color with bright red eyes. A dark aura surrounded his body. Ellim walked over to where Nyro and Durmas were fighting but as Ellim walked closer both Nyro and Durmas back away from Ellim. Nyro suddenly stopped moving. Nyro’s eyes slowly faded to white. Nyro now saw Ellim walking towards him still but the forest around him melted away into darkness.
“Ellim what? What are you doing to me? Where are we?” Nyro screamed in panic.
“Don’t worry about this place. It is only your mind. I’d be more worried about what’s going to happen to you.” The dark Ellim responded. “You may have killed my light but now the darkness in me will kill you!” The area suddenly had become like an open volcano with both of them standing on rocks above lava. Nyro, still in a panic, kept searching around for a way out.
Meanwhile, Ellim lifted his left hand towards Nyro. Dark claws sprang out of each fingertip and grabbed Nyro. Nyro screamed again and again. Meanwhile, back in reality Nyro’s body was slowly squeezed. Durmas looked on in shock at the horror that was going on. “What’s happening? I knew Ellim’s powers were dangerous but I didn’t know this could happen. She didn’t mention anything about this” thought Durmas. Durmas heard a noise in the forest behind him. He looked around frantically. His head turned to the right and looked towards the ground. The forest was still dark but eventually his eyes caught a glimpse of two figures running towards where Ellim and Nyro are but each was from an opposite directions. He could make out one of the figures, the one from the right. That figure was Rolu. The other, though, looked older, more around his age. Durmas thought, “Who is that? I can’t see the guy from here. I need to make sure no one interrupts this fight.” Durmas jumped from branch to branch trying to reach this man.
Meanwhile, back in Nyro’s head, Ellim’s dark claws still clutched Nyro’s body and kept squeezing his body to the point where Nyro was gasping for air. Meanwhile Ellim just kept laughing this evil, maniacal laugh. His voice echoed throughout Nyro’s mind. Nyro could feel his sanity slowly slipping from his control. Just as the last bit of sanity was about to escape Nyro’s control, Ellim tightened his dark grip and crushed Nyro’s lungs.
Back in the forest, Nyro collapsed and fell to the ground, causing the dark aura around Ellim to grow larger. Now Ellim was grinning wider and wider. He looked up to the treetops, quickly seeing Durmas move through the treetops.
Without lifting his hands a dark claw grew out of the dark aura and grabbed Durmas. Durmas let out a scream of shock and surprise. “Ellim, please! Let go of me! Ellim, stop!” pleaded Durmas as he was pulled towards Ellim. Ellim started laughing again with the same maniacal laughter that surfaced right before Nyro was killed.
A giant face appeared out of the dark aura. It had bright red eyes and when it opened its mouth you could hear the souls of those devoured screaming louder and louder as the mouth opened wider. Durmas flailed frantically. He kept thinking his life was going to end soon.
Just as Durmas was being pulled into the mouth of the demonic aura, a beam of light shot out from a nearby bush. The beam hit the dark hand, causing it to lose its grip on Durmas. Durmas fell to the ground as the aura face let out a cry. As he was falling he looked to see where the beam came from. He looked to see that the unidentified man earlier was the one who shot the beam. Rolu still hadn’t arrived at the fight yet. Durmas hit the ground, still staring at this strange man. He saw that the man had brown hair that was wavier as it neared his shoulders. This man was wearing normal clothes except for one article of clothing, a silver headband. He didn’t recognize the symbol on it though but it seemed oddly familiar. It was a circle shaped symbol with lines in it. All of a sudden it hit Durmas. It is the same symbol as on Ellim’s right hand.
Meanwhile, as Durmas was staring at this man, the symbol on the man’s headband lit up. All of a sudden Durmas saw a different symbol drawn on the ground all around Ellim. Durmas wondered how it had gotten there. The man shouted to Durmas, “stab your blade into the ground on the circle. Trust me. Just do it.” Durmas immediately grabbed his sword and put it into the ground at the circle. The man whispered a chant and the circle glowed between light, and dark.
A bright light completely enveloped Ellim. Ellim let out a loud cry of pain. Ellim collapsed but something happened when he was falling. It looked as if two people were falling. Ellim hit the ground, unconscious, but someone stood up. He was around the same height as Ellim but looked entirely different. His hair was a pure jet black and his eyes were glowing, phosphorus yellow. He wore a dark jean jacket over a black undershirt and black jeans. He had the same mystical scar as Ellim only his was in the palm of his hand instead of on the back of his hand. He had a small, evil grin on his face as he looked around to survey his surroundings.
“Finally, I’m free!” shouted this dark person. “Now to finish what I started” he said, turning towards Durmas. A metal blade appeared in the dark person’s hand. “Any last requests before you leave this world?” asked the dark person.
“Only one. Who are you?” replied Durmas.
“That’s all. I thought you would ask me to spare your miserable life. Fine, I’m Eden, the perfect warrior of darkness. Now, leave this world!” shouted Eden whose blade now had a dark aura surrounding it.
Eden raised his blade and ran towards Durmas. Durmas grabbed the handle of his sword and pushed it deeper into the ground, causing a massive shockwave to move through the ground towards Eden. Eden quickly leapt into the air to avoid the shockwave. Eden landed on the ground and eased his grip on his sword. Suddenly the wind picked up in the forest.
“Now for a technique Ellim wouldn’t dare to use. Dark vortex!” shouted Eden. Wind circled around Eden’s feet and slowly the wind moved up to circle his entire body. The dark aura from around his blade slowly merged with the wind. Durmas looked upon this in shock. Eden flew towards Durmas with his blade out and the vortex slowly sucking him in.
Durmas grabbed his sword out of the ground and jumped back about ten feet. Durmas landed and used his earth power to have rocks come up out of the ground and become a form of armor. Durmas ran towards Eden thinking “its all or nothing now. I can’t let Ellim die.”
Their blades clashed again and again with sparks flying with every clash. The dark vortex slowly eroded the armor Durmas had made for himself. After one clash they both pushed off and landed about six feet apart from each other. Eden made the dark vortex die down.
“Not bad. Perhaps that technique isn’t as powerful as I thought it would be,” said Eden. “You are a worthy adversary. Hopefully we’ll meet in combat again someday. I’m off to meet someone. Make sure Ellim doesn’t die. Can you do that for me?” asked Eden. Eden jumped into the trees and left the forest eventually.
Durmas, shocked by Eden’s request, put his blade away, thinking, “Who is that guy?”
“Hey Durmas!” shouted someone behind Durmas. Durmas turned around to find Rolu, running towards him.
“Rolu! Boy, I’m glad to see you got here. Go help Ellim quickly. He’s hurt bad!” responded Durmas.
Rolu turned around and ran towards Ellim. Rolu kneeled over Ellim and placed his hands over him. Light came out of his fingertips and started to heal him. Durmas walked over to Ellim to see that Ellim was slowly regaining consciousness.
“Ellim you all right?” asked Durmas.
“Yeah. What happened back there? My head hurts so much,” responded Ellim. “Don’t worry about that.” Rolu said. “I’ll take care of that. You just rest. Durmas, can you carry him back to the village?” asked Rolu.
“Yeah, I got him,” Durmas said as he picked Ellim up off the ground. “I just hope he’ll be able to deal with what lies ahead.”