Golm

Golm - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

After a very long walk across Golm, we reached Elesia’s Palace. I had never seen it up close, nor have I been in it. I was in another Castle when I was put on trial. The Palace was long and it probably only had two floors, but it was very big and it looked beautiful. In the center of the outside there was a giant door to get in, around this door there was many, many pillars holding up the over hanging second floor. There was a pond in the center and the ground had beautifully bleached tiles all around the Palace. It was very spectacular. Elesia also pointed out to everyone the tall tower in the center. She said that on top of that tower was where the Wind Element was.
We all knew that we had to get a very large and powerful army really fast. We knew that, if we went into any Castle and asked for every man they had, in order to stop Runar, they wouldn’t believe us. So in order to get so true support from some great power, we decided to ask the Sages that were studying in Elesia’s Palace. We knew that Elesia could get an army, because she is almost a Queen, but with the full support of a whole bunch of Sages behind us, you would be a fool not to believe us.
In order for us to get support of the Sages, we would have to tell them our story and our cause, if they don’t believe that we could easily show them The Toothed Tail Blade of Life or the piece of paper with the Element’s locations. We had some other bits of evidence, but they weren’t primary. Once they give us their support, we’ll be able to get an army fast. The more support we have, the faster we can get even more support.
We got into the Palace with minimal trouble. A few servants complained about my presence, I was an outlaw you know. But we got down to the Sage’s Chamber and Elesia got their attention. “Hello your highness. What brings you and your friends down here?” One Sage asked.
Elesia said, “I am here to make a very large request. We need your support so we can gather every soldier in Golm to stop Runar.”
A Sage exploded in outrage, “Are you mad? One can’t gather every soldier in Golm. I had knowledge that you disliked the Emperor, because he murdered your father, the King, but surely you don’t need to kill him.”
Elesia explained, “No I do not wish for revenge. Runar for sometime now has been plotting and planning to take control over our world and the world beyond the Tolken Door. He has harnessed the power of three Elements, Earth, Wind, we failed to stop him from obtaining Fire and he’s days away from obtaining Water. If he has all the Elements, he can start that dreadful war again, open the Tolken Door and he’ll be more powerful than ever before.”
A Sage calmed her down, “We know the consequences if someone did collect the Elements, but let’s think reality. No one can do that. You’re over reacting.”
I stepped in and told the sages, “She’s not over reacting. It’s the truth.” The Sages looked at me and asked who I was. I answered, “I am a great friend of the recently murdered Channdis, I am the descendant of Narr and Kridden, I am Herridan.” They were all shocked to hear about me. I was a mixed man, on one hand I was a great friend to one of the best sages and on the other hand I was an outlaw.
I asked them, “Is Dulahin in there?” They said no and asked why. I explained to them, “Dulahin was my defendant when I was put on trial a little over a month ago. He knows about our story, and he knows that we are telling the truth.” I heard them rustle around in voices for a while. The Sages asked if we had any sort of evidence. We showed them the piece of paper with the riddles on it. They weren’t too convinced with the paper. Then we showed them my Tail Sword. I explained to them, “This is The Toothed Tail Blade of Life. It was crafted by my ancestor Kridden and it was used by her husband Narr. I had to go through three booby trapped rooms to get it out of Runar’s Castle.”
The Sages were very interested in The Tail Blade. They got out some old books searching for anything on the Tail Blade. They had found one or two pictures and a few more descriptions. They were convinced that it was the Tail Blade, but weren’t convinced of its power. One Sage used magic to create a giant boulder in the center of this giant room. They asked me to attack it. So I got my Blade back, put it on and I stabbed it. The blade went through the rock like a hot knife through butter. After I pulled the blade out, the boulder crumbled into small pieces and then the pieces turned to dust.
The Sage’s couldn’t believe their eyes. A young, weak looking man destroyed a giant boulder of very hard rock, with one quick stab. But not only did he break it, the rock turned to a sand. I shouted to them, “Now do you believe our cause? We are trying to save everyone’s lives and make them better afterwards. We need as much support as we can get.”
Elesia added, “Please do the right thing and help us save Golm.”
The leader Sage stood up and announced, “You have proven yourselves. Yes we must stop Runar from obtaining his goal. We will confirm your connections with Dulahin and then we will spread the word everywhere, but in a secretive way. Do not forget many of Golm’s soldiers are loyal to Runar and we won’t be able to get them to fight for good. Be gone now, we must use our wisdom to find some solutions.” We left the room and we were pleased with ourselves.
We had decided to use Elesia’s Palace as our base. It wasn’t very secret, but we had hundreds of soldiers inside and out, protecting us. I was asked to become the leader of the attack force, kind of like the General. Elesia, Utof, Rorden, Pias and Maurna volunteered to fight along side of me. We had gotten confirmation from Dulahin the next day and he rushed over to be apart in this final fight. Maurna had left temporarily to check on her home and to see if it was safe. We all did our share of planning our attacks. The fortunate thing was that this war had happened before and it might happen again, so we knew what to expect. I only hoped that I didn’t die as soon as the battle started, or we would all be in deep trouble.
I trained in a training yard outside with all the other warriors. The training exercises included laps around the Palace at full speed, many stretches and exercises like push ups and sit ups, some simple obstacle courses and some one on one exhibition matches with padding on our weapons. I was better than most of the Elites the first day, but as time passed and with the help of my quick learning blood; I far surpassed any man of our army. Which was growing at a quick rate (a very, very good thing).
After about 10 hours of that training, I spent about another two in a smaller room training by myself. I would have to use my sword, my Tail Blade and the rest of my body as one true team. I had to become one with everything. I had never had this time before, to actually get to know my weapons. I had to know every dent, every crack, everything about my sword and especially with my Tail Blade. In this room I would pretend an enemy was in front of me and I would fight with it. With my eyes closed I would practice every possible fight you could have. I would picture every moment of victory or defeat and I took this all very seriously. I also did a lot of weight training so my attacks can be quicker and stronger, because our foes weren’t supposed to be anything normal, they were to be very strong creatures with extra arms, tentacles, claws, tails, wings or worse. I also pretended to fight these types in my other exercise. I might have been over imagining my enemies, but I’d rather be safe than sorry in this fight.
A week had passed since we got here. Our forces had grown to an army of just under 100 thousand people and the number of people volunteering had almost stopped, any sort significant sign up had vanished. We were quite pleased and overly impressed with our turn out so far, we managed about a tenth of Golm’s population. It seemed a little much, but we all agreed to anticipate the worst. As well we had heard of no news about Runar’s activities, so it seemed we still had more time to train.
A few days later I celebrated my 23rd birthday. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but my friends and supporters celebrated. I even got a few gifts from some of the soldiers in our army, because I was their role model. These gifts weren’t a $20 bill or a level two model kit, these were things that would cost thousands. From some of the lesser ranked men I received some GC and some jewelry. But the Elites gave me a full set of armor.
I got a chain mail with numerous steel plates on it. The mail was easy to move around in, it almost was like having a coat on. I some iron wrist guards and some very tough leather gloves. I got a new holster for my sword, one that was made of gold. I wore tough leather pants with many steel plates on them and of course it had a tail hole. I also got a custom made chain mail for my tail. It was the finest, lightest, strongest substance in the entire world. It felt like nothing. Finally, I got a pair of boots. The boots were steel toed and extremely tough, but were very soft on the inside. I didn’t get a helmet though, I didn’t want anyway, and it would disrupt my vision and blow all my training away. The entire set of armor was a light grey colour and it was all very light. I thanked them all and we continued our day as per usual.

* * * * * *

Then the day came. Three weeks after we had got to Elesia’s Palace, Maurna got back from Solwashi. She told us, “When I got to Solwashi, it was in ruin. The pyramid inside the sphere of water was rubble. I searched for survivors and I managed to find one. The survivor told me that Runar had acquired the Water Element after a long battle that was lost to us. Runar was going to go to his Castle for one day and then attack the Tolken Door. She said she over heard this while she was hiding in liquid form.”
That was it now. We were faced with the enemy now. Runar’s first target was the Tolken Door. He cannot get there with out running into Elesia’s Palace. We quickly planned to fight as far away from the cities as possible. There were giant plains in the center of Golm. No one lived there, because they were supposedly the spot where the last Element War took place and the plains were corrupted. The battlefield was flat and huge; we decided to attack full force and meet him there.
A few servants rang giant bells to tell everyone we were going to battle. These bells could be heard at the same volume through out Golm. I yelled into a pipe that opened up in the Armory and training yard, “Get ready! Gather everything you need, because we are heading to the plains in the center of Golm. We are going to attack Runar there. Let’s GO!” With in five minutes every soldier inside was outside a few hundred meters in front of the Palace. After another few minutes the majority of our army, who were in the training yard, got outside and lined up like the rest of us in front of the Palace. After another small delay, we lined up our catapults along with carriages of supplies and ammunition. Everyone was lined up in perfect rows. About half of these men were soldiers and the rest were people who wanted freedom from Runar. I turned back to look at most of our army (many were still spread out through out Golm, but they knew to go to the plains), I felt like Hitler looking at my army. I had just under a hundred thousand men under my command, but the only difference was that I knew I was on the right side.
We wanted to stay in order, but also wanted to move quickly. We jogged the whole way and tried to stay in one giant square. We had jogged for hours when we finally got to the plains.
I had walked through these plains before and they were just flat and green. I guess now, because Runar had all the Elements the plains were destroyed. All the grass was dead and patches of rotting mud covered the plains. Some decomposing corpses were on the ground too, being eaten by crows. The plains’ air was filled with foul stenches. We ignored the corruption and waited.
We waited patiently for the arrival. We didn’t know what to expect at all. It was so silent around us, there was no wind, no animals and everyone was too nervous to breathe. Though as time passed the silence was broken by the nervous beating of one hundred thousand hearts. The beating was quiet and slow paced, but as we saw nothing in the distance the hearts beat heavier, louder and faster. A cold, chilling gust of wind blew across my face. I had all my new armor on, but I could still feel my heart beat and I still felt nervous, but I wasn’t afraid.
Then the hum of the heartbeats was broken. The earth began to shake, and everyone’s armor clattered. A faint noise came from in front of us. The noise grew louder and it became clearer to identify. But when a black line appeared on the top of the horizon and it seemed to pour down from the top, we knew what it was. It was Runar’s army in front of us. We calmed our tension by walking slowly towards the dark force. Runar’s black blob started getting closer. When I made out the first head I yelled to my men, “On my signal we charge.” Runar’s army stopped as well.
It became a stand off. Their army was stronger than ours was, but we had a lot more men. I couldn’t see Runar, but I knew he was there. I looked beside me; I saw Maurna, Utof, Rorden and Pias. I saw Elesia and a few other Royals high above with a bow and arrow, acting as snipers. Our catapults were aimed and were pulled back. Everyone was getting ready. It seemed like Runar’s army didn’t want to be the first to attack, so it was all up to me.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the most significant thing I had ever done in my life. I looked at the sun, it was about noon and not a cloud was in the sky. I closed my eyes. It would have been a better day to have a game of soccer or football, but I had to do my job. I wasn’t a child being held back by my foster parents, I was grown up and I was becoming something more. I was the person I dreamed of being when I would look out of my room back home. There was no turning back now. I raised my arm and opened my eyes. I started to run and I screamed at the top of my lungs, “CHARGE!”
Our entire army also screamed and roared. The noise of that many people screaming almost popped my eardrums, but as long as I screamed too, I couldn’t hear them. The opposing army started to charge too. The only thing different about their screams was that not all of them were human like, which wasn’t good. I thought that for only a second, I tried not to let anything distract me. The faces got closer and now it was only seconds before we clashed. My adrenaline was pumping through every part off my body. I felt like this was some sort of really bad dream and I just want to wake up or collapse right there. My heart rate was so fast, that I don’t think that the human heart was supposed to beat that fast. As the last second approached I screamed even harder and I swung my weapons back.
I chopped off a soldier’s head and I stabbed another. I didn’t stop to fight them; I kept on pushing through them. If they wouldn’t be pushed away, I would kill them. I pushed and shoved trying to reach the end of this blob of people and reach Runar. I used my sword to kill anyone who got in my way and I used my Tail Blade to defend myself from any attack done to me.
I reached the end of the army and I was out the other end. I was a little shocked at how small his army was. It was only about a few thousand men. Our army would defeat it with ease. I looked around for Runar. Every once and a while a soldier would charge at me, and my tail having a little mind of its own, would stop the foe in its tracks with a lethal jab. I panned every which way and I couldn’t see Runar anywhere. I thought it was very odd, but then I thought that Runar might have a few waves of men and Runar would be at the end of all the soldiers. That made sense, so I ignored my frustration and I ran into the battling and helped my team.
Runar’s army wasn’t very skilled after all and we out numbered them ten to one. So in no time at all everyone on Runar’s side was dead. We had minimal losses. We heard the clangs of swords stopped, and everyone cheered afterward, thinking that they had beaten Runar’s forces. They jumped and laughed, but I stopped them. I yelled back at them, “Quiet! That wasn’t all of Runar’s forces. Runar wasn’t even there. He’s still on his way. He’ll be here and he’ll have better enemies.” Everyone hushed. We fixed ourselves up and waited.
We waited for a few minutes and then we saw Runar in the horizon. He was alone. We waited until he was closer. When he was within shouting distance, I ordered a group of men to attack. Runar stood there, not moving a muscle. My men charged at him and were pulling back their weapons to slash at him. The Runar put out his left hand and a fireball appeared, floating near his palm. I half expected him to use some fire magic.
Then his fireball grew bigger and bigger. The men charging started to run the other way. Runar launched his fireball, now the size of the average suburb home. The men who charged at him were incinerated instantly and the fireball rocketed towards us. I shouted to everyone, “Take cover!” I dove to the ground and the monster of fire singed my tail, but it didn’t eat me up like it did to a few hundred men.
Runar laughed, “You cannot defeat me. The worlds are mine!”
I got up and denied him, “I don’t think so. Even with your magic, you cannot hope to fight an army this size all alone. Give up, you are outnumbered.”
Runar got furious, “You don’t understand! I have seized control over the Elements and I have all their powers fused with my own. I am invincible!”
I threatened him, “You always could die. You never were immortal, you just couldn’t die naturally; you had to be killed. All you’ve done is improved your strength, you’re no stronger than before.”
Runar shrieked in anger, “You just do not understand! Let me educate you!”
Runar pulled out his sword and held it up. Some energy appeared and started to orbit around the blade. Then Runar smashed his sword into the ground, creating a massive shock wave. The waves in the ground were probably equivalent to those of nuclear weapons’ shock waves. We were all blasted back hundreds of meters. Then all the ground that a wave passed through exploded into giant chunks of rock and the chunks were flying towards us at extremely high velocities. I jumped, dove and rolled out of most of their ways, but I was unlucky twice by being hit in the chest with rocks about the size of my chest. I was fine, thanks to the armor, but it still hurt a lot.
I had lost more men in that attack. I decided not to doubt his power, because he would just keep on killing my men by the thousands. If we could stand, we stood and we walked towards Runar. I noticed Utof and Rorden were ok, but I didn’t see anyone else I knew. I hoped Pias and Elesia were ok. Runar was furious and his eyes glowed an evil red. He was breathing hard. I was a little frightened about his bloodthirsty expression.
I was wondering why Runar was so vicious. He seemed to have a lot less patience and a lot more anger. He was on the edge of some kind of break down. He was delirious. Then it occurred to me that, since the power of the Elements were fused with his body his body couldn’t handle the power or maybe the Elements were warring with each other inside Runar. Either way I would have to give him credit for not snapping like a twig and blowing up everything along with himself. He did seem to have new magical attacks and strength of the Elements. I knew that he was going to fail to control the Elements sometime. I hope it happens when he’s already dead.
I paced towards Runar and I told him, “Runar, the Elements are tying to break free. They’re trying to control your body. Don’t listen to them. If you do you and everyone else will die.” Runar wasn’t breathing; he kept on trying to exhale, but he had no more air. His arms were twitching. I asked him, “Just tell me were the Element Gems are so I can put them back in there.”
Runar shook his head. He finally breathed in and he spoke to me, “You were only seeing things. I am in full control of the Elements. I don’t need your help. I need you dead.”
I demanded to him, “I want you to give up now. You will destroy us all.”
Runar’s voice became distorted. It sounded like there were two voices coming from his voice. “We won’t part. Yes we will, you’re too weak.” I took a few steps back and I put my guard up, everyone behind me did the same. Runar’s voice was now four voices; all weren’t his normal one. “Our host wants to use us for his own gain.” His voice was by himself and normal, “I control you. You mustn’t fight.”
A voice from within him shouted, “No one controls us and we are free now to fight.” I knew now that it was the Elements who were talking through Runar. It seemed Runar was loosing control. I prepared myself.
Another voice echoed within him, “You want to win don’t you?”
Runar yelled, “Yes I do.”
Another voice hissed, “Release us.”
The other ones echoed, “Release us.”
I warned Runar, “Don’t listen to them. They’re tricking you.”
Runar clutched his head and fell down to one knee. His tail whipped and sliced the air like an airplane’s propeller. His bird-feet shaped feet grabbed dirt and crunched it up so hard, that it started to melt into rock. An Element’s voice came from Runar’s mouth and ordered, “Release us! We will fight your enemy.”
I denied him, “No! It’s lying. They’ll fight each other and will destroy us all in their fight.”
A voice retaliated, “The fool lies. We have given you so much power. We make your every pain soothed; we make you feel perfection and we can do so much more inside your body. Just let us help you more by letting some of us go. We’ll stay with you and let you complete your goals.”
I yelled, “Don’t listen Runar! We have our differences, but you must try and trust me. If you let them go, you’ll loose. Don’t do it.”
All the Elements spoke at the same time, “You aren’t part of this!” An invisible force knocked me off my feet and back a few meters. They spoke, “If you listen to him, he’ll kill you and you won’t be able to conquer. Let us be free and we will follow your command with greater power.”
Runar stood up and he said, “I will release you. You can be my new army and I will command you.”
I sat up and shouted, “No Runar! You’ll kill us all.”
The Element’s thanked him, “Yes we will help you open that door.”
Runar spread out his arms and he closed his eyes. He started laughing his evil laugh. I wanted to get up, but the Elements were pinning me down with magic. Runar started to levitate in the air. Electricity, energy, noise, lights and explosions were all you could see. Then light started to crack through Runar and he started to scream. The light was blinding and I couldn’t see. Then in an instant the light stopped and Runar fell to the ground.
I could feel lots of magic still inside Runar. Enough magic to open the Tolken Door I was sure. If he still had that much energy left, then maybe the Elements weren’t lying. Maybe they were just going to summon an army and remain under his control. I was able to get back up. Then Runar got up and he said to himself, “I can still feel your presence inside of me. You have left me enough strength to open the Tolken Door.” My guess was right, but I didn’t see any army near by.
Then the silence was broken by a huge clash of thunder to my left and behind me. It was very far away, but the earth was shaking a lot over there. Then something huge came out from the ground. It finished coming up from the ground and it was at least 50 stories high! It looked like a giant tree being. It sort of looked human, but it had branches for arms and roots for legs. Its face was rock and its chest was rock. Everything else was dirt. Everything was green or brown on this thing. I knew that, it had to be the Earth Element. It had so much earth qualities about it, and the fact that it was so massive and so powerful looking.
Then the ground crumbled more beneath him and many, many smaller things came out from the earth. These things seemed to be its minions or its soldiers for fighting. The minions were similar to us, because I had learned that I was aligned with Earth. The minions were man shaped figures made entirely out of a tough clay, thus making their flesh a little stronger then our own. The Earth Minions were very tall and were extremely built, as if they were buff and super strong. Their hands were rock, so that was their weapon. I was nervous about them.
Then the ground shook again and more noise roared over to my left. Clouds started to build up in that area. Then the clouds fell to the ground and turned into what I thought to be the Wind Element. It had a bird figure to it, but a little human look too. It was a bright yellow and its eyes were large and black. It hovered on giant wings and it had giant talon feet. It wasn’t as big as the Earth Element though, it was much smaller, but still I was a small worm compared to its huge beak.
Then underneath the gargantuan beast, hundreds of little tornadoes whirled beneath its talons. Then the twisters turned to creatures. These were also minions and they were large bird bodies and heads, but they had small tornadoes for arms and legs and had regular feather wings on their backs. Each one of those was about the size of me. They had beaks and they could fly very quickly, so they seemed like tough foes.
Then behind me there was another explosion. I turned around to see it was raining super naturally fast and all the water was piling up to create a tall standing figure. The rain eventually poured the living and breathing Water Element. She was a giant mermaid, with a beautiful skinny body and a turquoise fish tail. It had a giant spear.
Water soaked up through the ground and one giant pool of water turned into the Water Element’s minions. The minions were very long serpents made of flesh. Their faces and body reminded you of Maurna, but like a snake. Also the serpents had hundreds of long tentacles along their bodies. They slithered and hissed and they were as long as a bus. They didn’t have any weapons, but since they were snakes and they hand hundreds of tentacles they could constrict you in many ways at the same time. Since they weren’t liquid like Maurna, I would be able to beat them with physical attacks.
I had seen the Earth, Wind and Water Elements and their armies, but I didn’t quite see Fire. It took a little longer than the rest, but Fire showed up with a massive explosion right in front of me. The flames turned into the Element. The Element was almost as big as Earth, but it looked the most powerful of the four. It had the gargoyle/dragon look to it. It stood on two three-toed feet and it had another toe at the back of the foot. Its body was built like the Repticans and its limbs and claws looked even stronger. It had a long tail like Runar’s, prehensile, but it was less thick and it split into two tails at the end. Its face was long and reptilian. Teeth, made of flames, filled its inferno of a mouth. It had wings, giant wings; wings made of fire as hot as the sun. It let out a roar and I was now convinced why Fire won the last war.
It raised its minions. The minions were small dragons. They walked on all fours and they could breathe fire. Their entire bodies were on fire. They had massive front claws and a tail with spikes along it and spikes in a mass at the tip. They had wings, but they were smaller and couldn’t let the minions fly for very long. They could attack with their claws or its tail.
That was it. I stood there, like thousands of others, looking at the four super powers that made up Golm. Along with their armies and Runar driving their force. Surely there was no hope left. I knew now why everyone else was so afraid for this to happen. Just standing there, looking at these four forces stare at each other made it feel like the Cold War and that M.A.D. effect. Only this time there was four races, each with the power to destroy every thing, as we know it in an instant. Why would Runar take such a risk, by letting these things go? Was he that hell-bent on killing me and achieving his universal domination? I watched Runar for his next reply.
He was knocked out briefly, because of the massive energy released from within him, but he got up eventually. He staggered to his feet and he wobbled a little. He looked around to see what he had created. He smiled. He smiled hard and then he laughed. He shouted to the Elements, “It’s so great to see you. My, I never would have expected for you to look so gargantuan and invincible.”
I interrupted Runar’s awe and shouted, “I hope your happy Runar. You’ve just destroyed every living thing in the universe.”
Runar looked at me and got angry. He looked at the Elements and demanded, “Destroy this worm! He has been an inconvenience to me for quite some time now! Destroy his friends here too, all of them.”
The Fire Element spoke in a thundering boom, “You have no power over us anymore. We will do as we please.”
Runar exploded in rage, “What do you mean? I can feel your powers inside me and I can still control you.”
The Water Element spoke in a soft voice, but it was still loud, “We have only tricked your body into feeling that way.”
Runar shook his fist. The Earth Element spoke in a ground shaking voice, “Do not fear. We left you a fraction of power so you can still open that Tolken Door you speak of.”
Runar smashed his foot into the ground and shrieked, “But you have to stay under my control or else you’ll destroy the world!”
The Wind Element concluded, “We are not in any way controlled by you. Forget any plans you had wished with us.”
The Fire Element added, “We will fight. I’ve been waiting to crush my foes for too long. My power has increased and I wish to use it all. So if you value your life, I suggest you get to that door as soon as you can.” All the Elements stared each other down, waiting for the other one to strike first.
Runar’s mouth was dropped. He couldn’t handle the fact that he was betrayed. That all his plans were finished, by a simple mistake. Now if he wasn’t all ready bubbling before, he was spilling out of the pot faster than a giant locomotive about to explode. I could see heat waves coming off of Runar’s scales. Veins popped out of his skin so far they could be measured with a ruler. His feet crushed the rock beneath his feet and he smashed a huge crater in the dirt with his tail. His flabby cheeks shook and his small yellow eyes seemed to grow and turn to a fiery red! His hard breathing sent chills up and down my entire spine; he had completely lost it. He pulled out his sword and he screamed as loud as the Elements’ voice, “If those are my only options then I’ll kill you all by myself! Starting with that tail man, Herridan!”
Runar screamed and started to charge towards me. The Elements got angry with Runar and sent their armies into where we were all standing. The Elements also got the push they needed and they started to fight over which Element was the strongest. I knew that I couldn’t let Runar loose into my world, so I’d have to stall him long enough, or better yet, kill him. Runar was running at me when I shouted to my men, “At arms! Every one for themselves!” When I said that, I knew that this battle would go on for ages.
I ran towards Runar and we collided. He was viscous; his swings were extremely powerful, but on the other hand he was sloppy. All I could do was dodge his attacks until he cooled down. He swiped left and right, up and down. Each time I blocked a light one or dodged a big one he got more and more angry. He didn’t want to slow down; he really wanted to kill me. I thanked myself for the self-training I did, because I managed to avoid being hit, but I was anxious to know if he was going to slow down or continue to speed up, I couldn’t do this forever.
The four other armies finally reached mine and the war began. I tried to fight Runar and I tried to stay as far away from the giant clause of fighters in the center. The battle in the center started off with my men fending off the other kinds from advancing into their group, but the newer Elemental forces were too strong and they soaked into our blob of men like a sponge soaking up water. Then eventually everyone got mixed up and it was a 5 way free for all; whoever was left standing, slithering or flying was the winner.
Inside there were dragons killing tornado-limbed birds, tentacle snakes binding golems, Golans killing dragons, birds piercing Golans, dragons roasting serpents, golems pounding winged foes, Golans slicing off tentacles, fire lizards destroying earth monsters, raptors plucking away at slithering prey and Golans defeating golems. Blood or bodily fluids were spilling everywhere! The sounds of clashing weapons and bashing body parts and swiping of claws filled the sorrow air. It got dark magically, the energies released was too great for the atmosphere. It was a giant stalemate, we had our numbers; we out numbered them three to one, but the other forces had different abilities and strengths. It seemed this battle would go on with an equal amount of fighters. It would be fair game until the last person breathed.
The Elements were far off in the distance using devastating power. We could feel every blow and every explosion or Elemental version of harnessed energy, even though they looked blended into the horizon like distant mountains from atop a hill. Every once and a while a ball of fire would crash into us and blow up everything in the area. Once a giant root shot up and grew like a fast growing vine towards its foes. It rained mysterious rain when that giant mermaid did something and a giant gust of wind or a small twister blew about. The ground shook and patches of grass burned. The longer we fought the more destroyed our battlefield became.
We had been fighting for a few hours now and our battlefield started to look worse than a WW1 no man’s land. Corpses of every race littered the crater filled grounds. It was very common that if you tripped over a body and your opponent would seek the opportunity to kill you while you were down. We started feeling fatigue and we tripped over corpses a lot. These didn’t happen to the other races, because of their physical forms. The nine foot tall golems squash them flat if they even touched them and the other minions had more obvious reasons. Our numbers were thinning fast; we didn’t have the numbers anymore. The ratio probably halved.
It was only after those few hours, that Runar started to slow and calm down. I had been avoiding his attacks or we both had been fighting other things the whole time. We were both very far away from the dense fighting. We had ourselves an intense one on one duel to the death. I had gotten significantly better since the last time I had seen him. I actually stood a chance. I was full of energy even though, it was so late at night.
There wasn’t a dull moment in our fight. Runar would swipe quickly and I would block. I would slash to the side and he would block. We kept going back and forth, exchanging blows. We were both equally skilled and both of us showed no sign of slowing down. Every once and a while, I would jab at him with my Tail Blade, but he was always quick to dodge or block it. I didn’t want to attack too much with my tail, because I didn’t want it cut off.
Then after about half an hour, Runar started getting frustrated again and he started to get vicious, but his skills didn’t get sloppy. He just got a lot harder and I was more on the defensive side. He kept pushing me back and back, farther and farther away from everyone else. I was having trouble keeping keen about the situation. I was almost knocked off my feet each time I stopped an attack. He even knocked my sword out of my hands a few times, but since I was being pushed backwards I could just defend with my tail for a moment and grab it.
More time passed and we were well away from everyone else. We unfortunately were a lot closer to where all of the Element’s magical attacks were landing. The entire plains were leveled now, and I don’t mean leveled at level ground, I mean the plains were turning into a very, very deep, below sea level area of destruction. The Earth started to not be able to take this punishment and I was showing a lot of signs of instability. Thunder and lightning filled the skies and crashed into and out of the ground around us. The winds blew stronger and more violently every time the Wind Element attacked. The Ground split and shook, as well got ripped up and dug down. Occasionally giant pillars of magma would shoot up from the ground. More often though, a deflected fireball or a dodged shock wave would crash near us.
Then things turned my way when an ice chunk flew from the sky and it landed right beside Runar. The shattered pieces hit me and cut me up, but it mainly blasted Runar back and on his knees. I used this moment when he was down for myself to start attacking. I caught him off guard and I managed to cut his arm. I gained the momentum I needed to push him around on the defense. I got a lot more jabs with my tail, but none landed on him.
I fought with the advantage for about the same time as Runar did on me. But then another blast distracted me and I was on defense. Then Runar made a clumsy move and I took advantage. Now, not only were we exchanging blows, but now we were shifting offense and defense very frequently. The blasts and explosions and other destructive energies increased at a quick rate and it was now extremely dangerous to even be in Golm, the Elements’ fighting was so lethal.
We carried on for another hour clanging and bashing and a fight for everything we believed in, when something happened. The ground shook beneath us, more than just the shaking we’ve been feeling the whole time. Something was coming up from the ground right below us and it was coming up fast. The shaking grew and I fell down on my tail. A few moments later, Runar followed. The shaking kept growing, it was like a small annoying pain you feel in a dream, continuously growing and put to the extreme. The rumpling noise was almost as loud as the war cries I started at the beginning of this awful battle. Then the ground began to crack and it started to get warm. I tried to stand as the heat was burning my tail to a crisp and I could tell Runar was trying to do the same. Then all the rocks burst and steam came rushing through it. The steam was forced out so quickly, that Runar and I were both shot up into the air and launched towards another area of Golm, together.
I had been knocked out briefly. I woke up. I was on forestry slanted grass. I had trouble standing up, but I got up eventually. I wasn’t hurt; I was only battered around a little. We were very far from the battling. The Elements’ attacks sounded like friendly thunder in the distance. I looked around. It was very familiar; it felt like I was here before. I panned around me and I found out where I was. I was a top the same mountain from whence I came in. I saw the Tolken Door right above me.
I heard some moaning near by and I glanced to see what it was. It was Runar getting up from his crash. I knew that I had to stop him when he was down or I’d live for about an hour regretting it all. I was pretty beaten up, so I slightly limped over to Runar. He didn’t seem to hear me and he was still trying to get up. I snuck up behind him and drew back my Tail Blade. I lunged it towards his back in the direction of his heart.
He knew I was there and he spun around very quickly to knock my Blade away and spin me around. He whipped his tail at lightning speed and wrapped it around my body. He got up and laughed a little. I was completely stuck; his tail grasped me in the perfect hold. My arms were pinned to my chest and my Tail Blade was pinned to my back, so my tail was useless. His thick powerful tail crushed me and it hurt a lot to even budge. He got me and he could finish me right there.
He held me still and looked to the top of the mountain. He saw the door too. He smiled and he paced up the mountain towards it; carrying me with him, holding me in midair as not to slow him down. I kicked and squirmed, but the more I resisted, the tighter he could wrap around me. I felt my failure pain inside again. Runar could walk up this hill and open that door and all would be lost.
Runar reached the door and he stopped to look at it. The door was a very tall stained wood door. It was attached to a giant bolder on the top of this small mountain. The door had carvings of Emperor Tolken all over it and they showed all the great things he had done for Golm. The door was a symbol of peace and prosperity, but yet the person stroking his claws on its fine brown stain was the root of all despair in Golm. I could feel Runar’s grip tighten just in his excitement and disbelief of that he actually reached his goal.
He stepped back and began to use some magic and say magic words. I could feel the presence of all the Elemental magics. I could feel the heat, feel the breeze, feel the dampness and feel the plants. I couldn’t take anymore pain and I couldn’t take anymore of anything from anyone. I had to do something for myself and what I believed in. I had to make my stand, right here and now. I was tired of being the weak one or the used one. I wanted to be free and I wanted to live my life the way I deserved.
This tail crushing me was holding me back and had been destroying me forever. The tail has brought me confusion, pain, despair, some insanity and each moment I stood here it gripped me more. I have been a pawn in my stories and I’ve had no use. No matter how hard I struggle; this tail keeps keeping me crushed, physically and mentally. I couldn’t take anymore. I was breaking free from it now. I was going to show the world who I was, and nothing, nothing was going to keep me down anymore. I had to fight for what I believed and I simply believed that Runar had to be stopped.
I summed up every emotion that had been building up until this point. I remembered everything that has driven me to where I was today. I recalled what and who I fighting for. I pictured Elesia, my love of my life; she’s so beautiful and the thoughts of her dead or anything else like that, was dreadful. The thought created some sort of boom inside. I recalled Pias and he was a great friend. He thought me a lot of my skills and he would always watch my back. I remembered Utof, Vion, Rorden and Chen-glok and they were all great people. I thought about Channdis and the fact that he was the greatest friend that anyone could ever ask for, he was like a father to me. I had to avenge him too. I thought of Maurna, who saved my life and let me experience many wonders of water. I recalled everyone else I had known, like Chuck, John, Fiona, and the Ross’. Of course that little Timothy Ross, who could forget him? I saved his life and I was his role model and he loved my tail. I remembered everyone else who helped, the people who dropped change into my mug on the streets, the people I worked for and the rest of the people I haven’t met yet. They’d all die if I didn’t do something.
Every thought of a life lost and every thought of that I can save them I just stopped Runar. Every speck of emotion felt like a boom inside my chest. The boom wasn’t natural, it felt like something was exploding inside of me. It didn’t hurt though. In fact it did the opposite. I felt stronger and more confident each time that I felt this surge of power. I kept thinking, imagining, predicting, remembering, calculating, picturing, wishing, hoping and holding on to anything that I held close and held it closer.
Then enough of these “booms” collected inside my body and started some sort of chemical reaction or an instant genetic mutation or something. Then every “boom” inside me spread out through out my body. Through every bone, every muscle, every vein, I felt this huge increase in every form of power. I shook and tightened every muscle. Lots of pain went down to my tail, strangely, but the massive increases everywhere felt so good, so invigorating! Yet it also felt like this was meant to happen; this was sort of like another puberty, a drastic change in my every cell, but only with me or what I have just become.
Runar’s grip seemed feeble now, like the grip that’s been holding me down my entire life. I was now the “me” I was supposed to be; I could feel it! I pushed my arms out and pushed away Runar’s tail. He stopped his magic in great surprise to feel me escape.
I jumped back a super human distance with ease and I looked at myself. I had grown muscles fast; I was buff. I had grown slightly taller and my hair got a little darker, from my blonde to a blondish-brown. Though the most curious sign of change was on my tail. I hadn’t felt it before, but I could tell that it had stopped growing, I wouldn’t have to fear about the one millimeter a day growth. But the thing that was the strangest and yet the most symbolic of my new power was a band of red hair on my tail. Only about three inches long and it went all around the tail, but it seemed to symbolize my change. It was the sign. The sign the Grey Sages spoke of. They said that in order to be the true hero of Golm, I would have to bear some sort of sign that I didn’t have. Now I knew I had it and that they were wrong. I knew now what I must do and I had no doubts of anything. Now I knew I was the true Hero of Golm. Runar was going to pay, for everything.
He was a little shaken at what I did and was very surprised at my new more powerful look. He asked me, “What was that?”
I replied with confidence, “That was me, that was my power.”
He got angry, “You have no powers! You’re just a useless Tail man and I am the all powerful Emperor!”
I disagreed, “Well I think I’m more than that. I think I will kill you.”
Runar got furious, “That’s enough! It’s finally time for me reign true supreme and you aren’t stopping me.”
We both clashed like thunder against each other. I could feel my new strength in my sword work and with new strength in my arms and body, I was as strong as he was and I could block every attack he gave me. I didn’t dodge or run away to avoid an attack any more, I was blocking every blow with both my weapons. Runar was putting in everything he had to stop me, but I was only trying a little.
Runar attacked and swiped and whipped and snapped, but nothing could stop me. Time slowed even more during battle, their next move came clearer than before and I was more confident in myself than ever before. All this new power was always inside me, I had just dug deep and found it. My new power hadn’t stopped releasing; I was still transforming. Finally after about five minutes I felt my power wasn’t growing anymore. Runar was no longer a match for me. I could kill him any time now.
Runar realized that he couldn’t beat me like this. He yelled at me, “How are you so much stronger all of a sudden?”
I told him, “I just got some motivation to stop you that’s all.”
Runar wasn’t satisfied with the answer, so he got angrier. “You may now be better than me with your new power, but I am far superior to you with my new power.” He dropped his sword and grinned. I knew what he was going to do; he was going to use magic against me. I didn’t know how I’d fair against something I barely believed in.
Runar created a fireball in his palm. He shouted and lobbed it towards me. The fireball was like the one that killed Channdis. I didn’t have time to move out of the way; it was moving too fast. I had no time to think or brace myself. I was hit by the fireball. I flew to the ground and I crashed like falling brick. I thought I was dead or I should have been, but I was alive. I looked at my chest, where the fireball hit. A circle of my clothes was gone, but my skin was just a little singed. I was unhurt. I stood up and I smiled at Runar. The same fireball that burnt Channdis to a crisp barely gave me a mark. I was significantly stronger than any living being.
Runar was shocked and livid, at the fact that his fireball did nothing. He shouted again and created an even bigger fireball, one three times the size of his giant hands. He shot that at me and I took it without flinching. I was hit back with three time the force and I crashed to the ground. I got up and patted out the fires on my clothes. I smiled again, “Your magic does nothing to me.”
Runar made another fireball, one twice the size of me and shot it at me. I braced myself this time. I took it with my shoulder and I didn’t even fall down. I melted all my armor, but thankfully my armored pants were fireproof otherwise I would have been naked. He got furious and started to shoot many fireballs at me at a very quick rate. I took them with little pain. He decided to use another element type, since he had some of the Elements’ power still in him, he decided to give me everything.
He shot fireballs, icicles, lightning bolts, water beams, diamonds, rocks and energy in general, all at the same time in one attack. I braced myself for the worst. I crossed my arms in front of my face, spread out my legs and hunched over towards the oncoming attack. It hit me and I could feel every form of pain through out my body. I flew right off the mountain and to the ground. I crashed like a bomb and I created a small crater too. Runar looked down at me from atop and he laughed. He turned to the door and started his spell again to open it.
I was alive though, but barely. I could feel every muscle ache and I was cut in many areas. I was bleeding from my arms a lot, my forehead, my chest and my ankles. My arms were swollen and a couple ribs were broken I could tell. I was strong, but not invincible, so I had to put that into consideration. I staggered to my feet and I limped forward. I had to stop Runar no matter what.
Runar thought I was dead, so he didn’t bother looking back. He was too proud of himself to worry. He said his magic words again and he concentrated and focussed his magic on the door. He quickened his pace of speech and he got more excited after every second. Then Runar spread out his legs and stretched out his arms. He hung his head and began to struggle. His limbs lit up the Elements’ colours, each a different one. He spoke louder and fiercer. Then his lit up hands and feet shot a small beam at the door. The door shook and eventually the whole world shook. The door was being forced open. Not opened by itself like when I came in. Runar screamed and everything was chaotic.
Then a loud “click” sound echoed through out Golm. Runar stopped and watched. The two doors swung open very slowly and it creaked and rumbled Golm each moment. Then the doors stopped swinging, because the gate was opened. Runar looked through it to the other side and saw a beach. It was the island that I got stranded on, the island that I would have died on if I hadn’t have walked through the boulder. Runar paced slowly towards the opening. He stepped slowly through it.
He was standing in the sand. He dug his large toes into the untouched sand and he looked around. It was night, pitch black outside. He could see through his dark eyes. He didn’t see any land, but he knew that he was just on an island, because he saw my wrecked boat still washed up on shore. He paced towards it and looked at the water from whence it came. He used some Earth magic to create a bridge to land. The bridge was dirt that came up from below and came up above the water. He walked across it, looking around at the new stars.
He came eventually to the main land and he was fascinated at what he saw. He saw skyscrapers and homes of thousands of people in just one eye view. He saw all the strange people walking along roads far away from where he was standing. He heard the distant voices of the identical looking people. The people had no ranks, no set task, no boundaries and their personalities where hidden inside them. He thought of how easy it would to be to control this corrupted world. He was home free and no one could stop him.
Some one tapped his shoulder. He turned around to look. I was behind him. His eyes opened wide in surprise. I had my sword already over my head. I slammed it into his brain from atop as hard as I could. The sword made it down to his neck. I took a few small steps back. I then leaped towards him screaming. I jabbed my Tail Blade right into his heart with more power than my maximum. It was inside his body and I twisted and tore away at his heart to get it out. I reefed it out and ripped my other sword out of his head. Runar’s throat bubbled and his chest bled real blood.
I could tell he wasn’t going to heal himself or regenerate this time. His corpse fell flat on the ground. His scales melted and slipped off his body. The rest of him burned, melted and decomposed at the same time. He burned a foul, evil flame, one that no one should see. I heard screams of other people escape his body, as if they were finally set free. Runar turned to dust and blew away.
All that was left was his sword and four small stones. I picked up the sword and looked at it. It was very large and powerful. It was sharp and made the curve of a dark crescent moon. I thought to myself, “How many people must have been killed by this sword.” It would have made a great weapon, but I could sense great evil about it so I tossed it in the water and it washed away, never to be seen again.
I picked up the four small stones. They were smaller than my palm and each were shaded an Elemental colour. I held on to them. They could be useful somewhere.
Runar’s magic was fading and I could see the earth starting to settle; the earth that made the bridge. I ran across the sand and then I sloshed around in knees deep water. I got back to the island and I walked to the boulder. I walked through it like before. I was back in Golm. I turned around and the doors shut, never to be opened again. I saw the Elements fighting in the distance. I wanted to run back to the battle a help my friends if they were still alive, but I was at least a day away from them if I ran, so there was now hope in catching up.
Then by a stroke of luck my ride appeared. The Wind Element was hit by an attack and was blasted in front of the city down at the bottom of the mountain. I knew this was my only chance, so I ran as fast as I could down the mountain. I harnessed all my newfound power into my legs and in anything else to help me run. I ran like a blur. I was running as fast as a car on a highway. I bulleted down the mountain and I whooshed through the city. The Wind Element began to get up and shake off its pain. I didn’t have too much time. I ran and ran and I got outside the city. The giant bird was standing and was about to flap its wings. I was still pretty far away, but I kept pushing myself. The Element started to lift off the ground. I leapt from where I was. I grabbed its back toe just in time.
It flew across Golm in a flash and I had to hold on tight if I didn’t want to fall off. It arrived to the fighting in a few seconds. When the Wind Element landed, I jumped off. The cluster of people fighting was close, so I ran to the center of it quickly.
Our side was loosing badly. We were all suffering from fatigue and the other minions got stronger, because their Element was getting stronger. I rushed in and I killed everything I could see that wasn’t human looking. I was significantly stronger than everyone was. They were all one-hit kills. I ran around ripping through who ever got in my way. I also at the same time, looked around for Elesia and my other friends.
I wasn’t caught off guard or challenged by the Elements’ minions at all. A Wind minion blinded me with a twister and started pecking at me, but I only landed one peck before I jabbed my sword into it. An Earth minion pounded a rock fist into my gut, but I caught it just in time. I twisted its arm off and I cut it in half with my Tail Blade. A Water minion caught me and it was restraining my every joint with at least three tentacles, but I ripped each one out of the serpent’s body with brute strength and chopped the snake up with a few slashes. A Fire minion pinned me to the ground and started to chew on my arm, but I took off its head with my Tail Blade. I escaped every attack and I was winning this war single handedly.
In the fighting I was in, I looked up at one point and I saw Elesia shooting her bow at Wind minions. I called to her, “Elesia! Come down here!”
Elesia heard me and looked down. She shot a few more arrows and then flew down to me. She was almost in tears at the sight of me, “You’re alive! Where’s Runar?”
I explained, “He’s dead. I killed him. We no longer have to fear him.” Elesia was very surprised, but yet she knew it was true.
I showed her the four stones and I suggested, “When I killed Runar, these appeared. I think they can stop the Elements.”
Elesia looked at them and she agreed, “I think your right. Those stones look magical and the colour coordinations match up perfectly.”
I told her, “I’m going to stop those Elements. I’m going alone. If I am to die, it would be now.” Elesia wanted to say no, but she understood. I ran a few steps, but I turned around to kiss Elesia. The time wasn’t the best, but I needed some extra courage and I’ve been waiting for a true kiss for a long time. I kissed her with all my love, lips on lips. I stopped and I ran towards the Elements. Elesia smiled.
I was only meters from their feet and I thought for a second. This was it; it really did end now. I shouted at the Elements. They stopped fighting and looked at me. I smiled and I hoped that I was using the stones properly. I threw the stones at the Elements. The yellow one at the Wind, the green one at the Earth, the red one at the Fire and the blue one at the Water. Each stone hit their target.
When the stone hit them, the magical properties unleashed. Light flashed through out Golm; the light was blinding and you couldn’t see a thing. But you could hear the corrupted voices of each Element moaning, screaming and dying. A huge light show of explosions and beams covered the white sky. The ground shook like never before and thunder roared like a shotgun war. I fell down and I started to get hurt by the Elements’ energy. Rocks and fire hit me and I was feeling every ounce of the pain. The lights got brighter and the ground shook harder and the noise boomed louder. I thought I was going to die. I thought I had made a mistake and all the Elements were using all their power at once. I thought I just destroyed the universe.
Then all the light, noise, rumbling and everything else stopped in an instant. The skies turned day; a clear, warm, peaceful day. I used what strength I had to stand up and limp over to the stones. I fell to my knees to look at them. I saw them together in the shape of that claw. I looked at the colours. The green was at the bottom this time and the red was at the top. The war was over and the Elements were safely sealed inside the stones. If they are kept safe, then this war will never happen again. The Elements will use their magic now to give life and power to land like before, instead of destroying it. The curious thing was that at the bottom of the claw, it was green. Meaning Earth had one the war, but that didn’t make too much sense, because I was only aligned with Earth and I just threw stones at them. The thoughts were too much for me. I smiled and I fell on my back. I went unconscious.