This part is very short. I promise that Part 8 will be longer. Now, don't you all rush me because of this very suspenseful cliffhanger. It was 100% necessary to do this major cliffhanger. Email me @ SkySorceress5000@yahoo.com
Selene’s eyes slanted. “This was not suppose to happen!” she snapped.
“No, of course it wasn’t supposed to!” snapped Neo, the Black God. “None of this was suppose to happen. With the Silver Realms restoring themselves and Daemos bringing back the dead to gather his armies, the Guardians back. Our realms are no longer ours!”
“Quiet!” Mithros bellowed.
Everyone shut up quickly.
“We need to retaliate,” Mithros said quietly.
“How?” Weiryn asked. “How can we possibly find allies in the Divine? The dragons, and various other immortals will be siding with the Elements!”
Gainel stayed to the back, for his siblings would not listen to him. Nor should they. He was an Element, like Sapphire and Lael. So long as there was imagination, he would exist.
“We rebel!” Mithros yelled. Gainel looked at him in shock. “We’ll join with Daemos! He knows how to bring the Silver Realms to a close! Rebel!”
“Rebel!” the gods yelled at once, thrusting fists into the air. Lesser and Greater, both wanted rid of the Silver Realms and the Elemental gods.
Alanna and George burst into the King’s study, fright on their faces.
“What the hell is this?” George asked, shock warring with fear.
Alanna went forward, and suddenly, magic started to appear throughout the sky, appearing next to Daemos and his allies. It was both the Lesser and Greater gods, clearly taking Daemos’ side.
“It’s the gods,” said Alanna in awe. “They’re taking sides, and they just chose Daemos over the Silver Realms.”
“Why?” Jonathan demanded. “We’ll kill Daemos!”
“How do you kill a god?” Alanna asked quietly.
“You can’t. They cannot be killed,” Numair said, just as quietly.
“Wrong. The blood of a dragon, if I remember my lore correctly. It was either dragon, griffin, or horrok. I don’t recall.”
“What?” they all asked, turning to her.
Alanna shrugged. “Only one problem. Daemos out numbers the Silver Realms almost two to one.”
Suddenly angels with white wings in gold and silver armor and angels with black wings and black and silver armor descended from the sky. Fire arrows came in sheets, hitting gods, and trapping them in chains of iron, fire, and dragon blood.
“Bright Lord, save us,” Alanna breathed.
“What?” Jon asked, looking at her, then back outside.
“They… The Elementals are arresting the demi-gods. I just cannot believe Akbar would allow this!”
“Why?”
“It’s always been forbidden to ever war against siblings.”
“But the demi-gods aren’t siblings,” Lael said, appearing behind them. Everyone turned to him and Sapphire and Loki. They were the three most powerful elemental gods—but there was a new one there.
“Jesek!” Alanna breathed, relief in her voice. “You survived. I thought Mithros would have killed you long before.”
Jesek laughed. “Alanna, dear, that brings everything to Lael.”
“We cannot kill them, as they cannot kill us. We are parents to them, and therefore are too weak to do anything to us. Not anymore,” Lael said softly. “But, I believe you may need all the help you can get.”
He took out a pouch full of quartz crystals. He pulled out nine of them, and handed them to Sapphire. They flew out of her hands to hang in the air. Lael, before looking at the crystals, whispered three words, and a white wind blew from behind him, and sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath, was Thom—Alanna’s twin.
“Thom!” Alanna cried, running to him.
Lael nodded. “Your mortal sorcery is poor. You have only Arram to control minor magics. Alanna and Thom was born for this, their bodies can handle more complex magics that mere mortals cannot.
“Such magics will once again be born. Wild, yes. Powerful, greatly. The Guardians will have to once more be placed throughout the Realms to control the power flow. But, so be the price of magic.”
“What do you mean, minor magics?” Numair asked. “And my name is Numair.”
Lael laughed. “Oh ho! A man who hates the name of his birth! Eh, Draper?”
Numair couldn’t help but bristle, until Daine laid a hand on her lover’s arm. “My name is not Arram Draper anymore. It hasn’t been for a while.”
“Yet why? You changed it to hide from Ozorne. True, he is back as the dead on Daemos’ side, but what is there for you to hide from? Your past? A name cannot change who you are. It never can,” said Lael kindly.
Numair flinched and looked aside.
“And as to your other question,” Lael said, thinking. “Minor magics are those you black robed mages can handle. The moment the flows of magic are blasted to their full extent, no one who can’t handle it will be able to survive. Simple skill is all that is needed to handle the magics that will begin to flow.”
Thom stood, Alanna supporting him, mostly. “The powers I tried to access while alive will be open to those without having to tap others’ Gifts. Hedgewitches and minor wizards will have their Gifts blasted to their complete potential. Pain is something that will wreck most of the Gifted in the Mortal Realms. Nothing can stop it.”
Sapphire toyed with her dress. “We could stop it,” she said softly. All the gods looked at her. “I’m serious. Unite all the mortals against Daemos! He has their dead, and he’s using those dead against everyone here! He’ll swarm every realm, killing defenseless innocents, and add them to his army of the Living Dead!”
Alanna blinked, then smiled. “See, you don’t need me after all,” she teased.
Sapphire colored.
“The day of Power is at hand!” Daemos shouted. Fires began to break out all over the palace. The surrounded the palace as men began to shout, waving weapons. “We will smite those who oppose us!”\
“DEATH!” they cried.
It was three months later from the day they had first appeared at Tortall. The demi-gods had over-run the moon, and trashed the Silver Realms. Those gods who were not captured and imprisoned, that is. Mithros, Selene, and the other ringleaders were cooling their heels in the jail cells in the Royal Palace.
The Old Ones had been resurrected, those who had been warriors and protectors and Guardians back in their day and age. Their manor of dress was even more outrageous to the Tortallans than the nine main Guardians’ had been.
Those crystals Lael had taken out had turned out to be the keys to the power-lines of magic that slept peacefully. When he, Sapphire, Jesek, and Loki had reawakened them, all the mages near the power-lines had screamed in pain. Healers, mages, hedgewitches, wizards, anyone with a twinge of magic—Immortal, Wild, or the Gift—screamed and twitched in pain. Five days later, the pain was gone. Only two in Tortall were spared from the pain—Alanna and Thom.
When Daemos had realized that Lael had reopened the channels sealed for so long, he had fled in fear. Now, he was back. He was back, and he had brought with him a forces of millions. He was not one to be toyed with, as he had started to show.
Sapphire and the rest were starting to wonder if he would ever stop.
“DEATH!” the scream was loud above the screaming of the people in Corus’ lower city. They were slowly being burned to death by the flames of Daemos’ Hell. Warriors poured out of the Royal Gates that lead to the palace. They started to attack the warriors of death the Daemos had. After a few hundred tries, someone got the hang to kill Daemos’ warriors of death—behead them.
“THEIR HEADS!” Hazeka cried loudly. “BEHEAD THEM AND THEY DIE!”
Before any of Daemos’ followers knew what was happening, the armies of death began to shrink. The Elements appeared, and started hurling fireballs and arrows of ice and flame. Sapphire began to cast darkness upon the enemies, making it almost impossible for the enemy to see.
Loki and his brother Jesek began slaying their way through the dead to get to Daemos and his live followers. Guardians started throwing magic and wielding weapons, trying to kill the Ysandir. The Immortals went after the Ysandir as well.
“Don’t use water!” Talisa screamed as immortals began slaying the Ysandir. However, the demons kept coming back, in bigger forces. It was as if they were hydras. Not only able to restore themselves, but able to redouble, and come back as well.
Trista began blowing the dead away. She floated in the air, Staff held high as she flung blots of violet light at them all, sending the demons to be blown apart. But while the gods and the Guardians fought, the Tortallans had another problem. But then, so did the demi-gods in the Divine Realms….
Chaos was free, the Three Sorrows with her. She laughed, her body—for once—taking on an actual form of a human. She laughed; she was laughing at her siblings.
“Go get them, my pets!” Chaos commanded of the Three Sorrows. They grinned eagerly and flew as quick as lightning after the fleeing gods.
Akbar, Bernfrek, and most of the other Elementals laughed.
“Time to get to work!” Jesek said, black and yellow lightning magic appearing in his hands. He let out a savage war cry and started hurling it at the demi-gods. Instead of killing the gods, it caged them. The dragons were having loads of fun torching the gods and chasing them around. The Stormwings were killing and re-killing every god they could. The thing was, kill a god enough times, they are left too weak to be rebirth themselves into new bodies, so they lay there, bleeding and suffering. Easy to be captured. Soon, all the gods lay either in cages of lightning, or on the floor, trying desperately to gather enough energy to rebirth themselves.
“Good work,” Jesek said to Chaos.
She bowed. “Thank you, Jesek. I am mostly a demi-god, but Chaos is everywhere.”
“If you mean to ask to be a full Chaos goddess and Guardian, you might have to wait until we’re at full power and strength.”
Chaos nodded. “What ever it takes, Akbar.”
Alanna and Thom were being backed into a corner. Daemos was advancing on them while Roger held George; Alex held Thom—Alanna’s son—and Delia and Josiane held Alan and Alianne.
“GET AWAY FROM MY MA, YOU BASTARD!” Thom screamed at Daemos.
Daemos laughed. “Alex, silence him. By any means possible.”
“You can’t kill him,” Roger said dryly, twisting George’s arm back further as he tried to get away to save his son—or his wife. “I’ve had my experiences with the lad. No way can you kill him.”
Daemos rolled his eyes. “Please, Roger. You can’t expect me to believe that a fourteen year old boy has more power than you.”
Roger shrugged. “Just kill Alanna. We need her on our side.”
Daemos turned on Roger. “Just who is giving the orders around here?” he demanded.
“You are, my lord,” Roger said, tightening his grip on George.
“Good. Remember that.” Daemos reached for Thom, and froze as blood red magic started to glow around him. His Gift, when he had died, had been corrupted. Tied to Roger’s orange Gift, Thom’s had turned to a sickening blood color. Thom’s eyes took on an unholy violet light, and the magic blasted through his body headed for—not only Daemos—but for Roger as well. Alanna yelled a word and George was shielded as Roger was consumed by the blood red of Thom’s deathly magic.
Daemos looked at Alanna and Thom and glared. “You won’t get away with that!” he screamed out. He reached a hand out and grabbed Alanna’s throat, raising her off her feet.
“ALANNA!” George cried out.
“MA!” Thom, Alan, and Alianne cried out at the same time.
Daemos hurled magic at George to stop him from coming to Alanna’s rescue. George was thrown into a wall, and slumped to the bottom, unconscious. Alanna tried to cry out, but Daemos squeezed tighter.
Thom, unseen by Daemos and his followers, freed his niece and nephews and motioned for them to go to their father. Alex, Delia, and Josiane ended up tied and gagged with Thom’s blood red magic.
Daemos threw Alanna at a wall, where she landed, slumped. What made everyone cry out was that when she connected with the wall, there was a sickening crack like the sound of smashed pottery that was still wet, and the distinct snap of something cracking.
“NO!” Thom screamed, running to his sister’s side. George, who was still slumped against the wall, groaned. Thom, Alan, and Alianne were torn.
“Go to yer ma,” George groaned, trying to stand. The children wasted no time. They ran to their mother as her brother stood, eyes glowing an intense violet as red turned slowly to violet and began to glow as a red-violet haze in the room. The power was enough to make George, Thom, Alan, and Alianne scream. Alanna didn’t stir.
“You bastard!” Thom hissed, advancing on Daemos.
He laughed. “Poor Thom! Loose someone you care about? All’s fair in love and war, sorcerer!” Daemos laughed, and disappeared as Thom screamed and directed a blast at where Daemos had stood, knocking the stonewall out and reducing it to sand and dust.
“No,” he moaned, slumping to his knees, crying. “I just got her back! I cannot loose her! Not again!” He looked up and screamed out a word that left his throat raw. “WHY?!” he screamed, head falling into his hands. “Why…?”
George watched his brother-in-law while he cradled Alanna’s head in his lap. He tried to ignore the blood that was pouring from some wound on her skull, but couldn’t.
She was dead....
