VIII
“Kadava! Ulterium! You’re safe!” Glo shouted, overwhelmed. Heads turned as we stumbled inside.
“Couldn’t be happier to be back,” Kadava panted.
“Agreed,” I said, tumbling onto the couch.
“Ulterium!” King Fulcan bellowed, walking towards me from out of nowhere. Exhausted from the adventure within the Chamber of Mancers as well as the escape from the tainted legion, I had not realized his presence amongst the guild members. I quickly dropped to one knee and bowed down, noticing Roslyn at the back of the hideout. I diverted my eyes as she stole a glance at me.
“My lord and His Majesty Fulcan,” I quickly started, as Kadava hastily followed my actions beside me.
“Oh, get up! There’s no need for formalities now.”
I stood up and sat back onto the couch in a much more respectful manner, aware of the presence of the king, ignoring Fulcan’s statement regarding formality.
“What happened?” I asked the guild.
“Did you visit the king’s palace?” Roslyn inquired. She approached us from the back of the hideout, eyes fixed on mine.
“Actually, we did. I’ll tell you everything we saw,” Kadava spoke. After everyone gathered around, he described our entire journey, the exhilarating events that had occurred in the chamber and in the palace.
“We barely made it out of there!” Foku exclaimed as Kadava finished our tale.
“All of it was Tyrannust’s doings,” Fulcan added, with a tone of resentment. “He and his Almega Legion invaded my palace. They were...they were just too strong. He placed Almega Casters to morph the entire legion into our appearances!”
The heads of the guild members nodded in agreement.
“After Tyrannust had heard of the Mancer’s intervention in the chamber, he sought to desperately end you,” Fulcan added.
“Why did you let him in?” Kadava quickly spoke before I could.
“It wasn’t simply a matter of ‘letting in’. Besides, I couldn’t care less if he sat on my throne. The Grozorgian civilians would remain loyal to me. He came in purely to destroy me. My Army of Light and Purity sought refuge all around Tenebris, and I fled with Roslyn and your guild by my sides. We quickly realized our strength was no match against their dark magic, and it was best to not lose any lives in such a small encounter.”
“Whoa, hold on... ‘Almega’?” I asked, still pondering King Fulcan’s first statement.
“Yes, Almega, at least that’s what Tyrannust calls it. Almega is his representative element.”
“I thought the high lords never controlled an element.”
“Traditionally,” the king replied.
“It’s the first and last of all elements,” Arcanor suddenly recalled from his previous vision.
“It’s the first and last...” I repeated. “‘First’ is ‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega’ means ‘Last’...So together it makes -”
“Almega,” Fulcan finished.
“So...the high lord has an element now?”
“Yes. For the first time in the history of Grozorg.”
“Could there be a chance of an ‘Almegamancer’ then?” I asked out of curiosity.
“I hope not, but fate shall determine,” Fulcan responded.
“Hold on...that means it wasn’t simply darkness that engulfed the lords,” Kadava suggested.
“It wasn’t darkness at all. It was Almega from the beginning,” Glo replied. “No wonder some lords failed to resist Tyrannust’s power. I’d assume King Fulcan is the only untainted king on Grozorg,”
“There’s one more lord excluding me who still reigns uncorrupted,” Fulcan corrected. “But the fallen are Nythar of Necromancy, Erakin of Electromancy, Geonyte of Geomancy, Pyrrhus of Pyromancy, Crothus of Chronomancy, Naterra of Terramancy, Ferrius of Ferromancy, Helterium of Hydromancy, Ceiros of Caelomancy, Askar of Aeromancy, and Illya of Illusiomancy.”
“You didn’t mention Cryann of Cryomancy,” I noticed after processing the shopping list of the names of the eleven lords and their respective elemental domains.
“Lord Cryann of Cryomancy is the only other pure lord left on Grozorg,” Fulcan spoke, “Cri Oluun has been withstanding and persisting Tyrannust’s element. It’s the only other island where there is still hope.”
“Not anymore,” Arcanor interrupted suddenly. He raised his hands while his eyes burnt a fiery orange. A portal instantaneously snapped open, bordered with orange flames.
In the portal, a blurry image was displayed, which came to focus after several seconds. The picture made out the peaceful land of Cri Oluun. The glorious ice palace rose tall on the right side of the cold island, towering over the capital city of Cri Oluun, made up of small buildings and shelters. Each shelter was built so that a little gap was left in between each tightly knit row, resembling narrow walkways. No vehicle would be able to pass through; only citizens of Cri Oluun. This definitely created a problem; chariots, or even mounted knights, would have a hard time through.
A crystal cave, similar to Crystallia's, stood on the opposite side of Cryann’s palace. Circulating the island slowly and lazily was a dragon, an offspring of the Gravity Dragon, but now a fully grown dragon that possessed the power of ice. Perhaps the dragon was still untainted from Tyrannust’s dark magic. The whole empire looked peaceful, if not serene. It was as if nothing was going to happen.
Suddenly, the Cryodragon tumbled down unconscious as a black figure slammed into it. The city remained silent, as if no one seemed to have noticed what had just happened to their elemental dragon.
Arcanor stood patiently, not twitching a muscle, though it was evident he was under a great amount of stress upholding the portal. His eyes continued to glow, brighter than before. I figured we were watching real time, not the past nor the future. It was happening right there and then.
The image zoomed in onto the black figure, and it became clear to be Tyrannust. Even though it was predictable, the king gave a sharp intake of breath when it revealed the dark muscular figure plated in golden armour. The figure stepped over the fallen blue dragon and started towards the palace of Cryann. As he approached the doors, the two royal guards set at the patrol point quickly raised their spears, one sounding the horn to alarm the military. With a wave of his hands, Tyrannust created a black wind that sent the two guards flying in opposite directions, revealing the palace doors ajar.
We couldn’t do anything but watch the helpless nation through the portal. The journey to Cri Oluun from our hideout would take days, even on the fastest horse, and portalling was not an option; Arcanor would not have enough strength to get the whole guild through.
Arcanor transitioned the image to Lord Cryann, who had stood up at the sound of the horn. With a quick hand signal, he ordered more guards of ice to investigate what was happening outside his palace. Before the guards had time to assemble, the throne room doors flung open, and Tyrannust stepped through swiftly.
The Almega high lord towered over the ice lord, a formidable mountain over a fortified hill. Lord Cryann took a small step back instinctively. Tyrannust proceeded towards him, suddenly placing his palm on Cryann’s chest. In fear, Cryann stumbled down onto his ice throne, and a slight hue of black diffused into the cerulean ice.
Tears were forming in Cryann’s eyes, restrained by a desperate force. They weren’t tears of fear, but tears of resistance. He knew full well why Tyrannust was there, and he declared a bold and courageous response, the pure ice king’s final word.
“Never,” he proclaimed inaudibly. Before he could even finish speaking, Tyrannust had swiftly burrowed his hand into the Lord of Light and Ice’s chest, ripping out his heart in one smooth movement. The lord lay dead on his throne, slumped down, eyes closed, motionless. The last of the elemental pure lords had gone. A shadow quickly shifted in the back of the room, fleeing the royal palace upon witnessing the lord’s death. It was likely to be Cryann’s adopted son, Prince Jovan Worant, though I couldn’t make out the fast silhouette.
Being the ruthless creature Tyrannust was, he toyed with the lord’s body. Grabbing Cryann’s own reaper, he sliced the head off in one hack, spouting a stream of crimson, bathing the king’s body in maroon and tainting the blue throne red. After the decapitation came numerous slashes, hacking Cryann’s body into many pieces. His arms fell off the armrest and his legs rolled off the throne. Blood bathed the throne room, drenching the blue ice in gore.
“That’s enough! Close the portal now!” King Fulcan commanded.
Without hesitation, Arcanor snapped the portal closed, flames licking the air as the image disappeared in an instant. Arcanor tumbled down in exhaustion, falling into a deep slumber.
We stared at each other, some with fright, others in shock. King Fulcan held a pale face. The hideout was completely silent.
“Cri Oluun has fallen. What is Tyrannust planning to do next?”