XXXIII
After meeting up with the Army of Light and Purity, we marched through the passages until we arrived at the all-too-familiar dead end. Our two guilds had cleaned themselves up, repacked supplies, devoured a hearty breakfast, and changed into suitable clothing earlier this morning; we were now prepared for the upcoming wars. Arcanor stayed behind with Kadava again, hoping to join us as soon as possible once he saw fit.
We arrived at the blazing hot island, stepping foot on Overlord Pyrrhus’ domain. The terrain was similar to Geonyte’s faction, a desert plain with distant hills veiled by overlapping waves of heat. However, Geonyte’s island offered a chance of growth in the shady regions of the deep sand, while the dry, cracked clay floor of Pyrrhus’ desert drought threatened any plant that dared to sprout through. Only the courageously thorn-armoured cacti emerged victorious from the barren drought floor, fighting against the blazing hot winds and the scorching rays of the unrelenting sun.
Where Geonyte’s island was comprised of rock huts and clay shacks, the fire domain’s architecture consisted of short, wooden buildings with tiled roofs and clay shingles. As we stepped through the portal, a saloon greeted us to our left and a small town of similar buildings scattered to our right. Though the two domains had the same desert biome, the appearance in both the nature and the structures were completely different. Both domains had another noticeable similarity - the citizens were absent.
There was no one in the town. The windows were boarded and the doors were closed, and not a single voice greeted us as the royal army filled the desert floor from the flaming white portal. An unceasing wind whistled by, and two tumbleweeds carelessly brandished against the wooden pole of the saloon, but there was no other movement.
“I don’t get it,” Pyrrhon spoke. “It’s not the siesta right now. Where is everybody?”
“What do you mean?”
“The siesta’s the hottest time of the day. Every day at twelve noon, everyone would retreat into the closest building and take a rest until the sun’s not as hot, which might be up to two hours long. But after that, everyone comes out to continue whatever their duties were.”
“Well it’s certainly hot now.”
“But it’s not noon. I’ve lived here long enough to know.”
There was movement in the distance. Through the wavering hot winds, figures slowly approached us, the heat wave distorting their appearances. I noticed a curtain hastily close to my right, followed by similar actions in other houses in succession; citizens peeking through the blinds to catch a glimpse of the approaching figures, safely concealed behind their rugged estate.
The army stood in an organized-fashion, the hundreds of thousands of warriors assembled in a square formation behind the king. Tarsus and I stood to his left and right with our ten other members, waiting for the distant silhouettes to approach us.
Five figures emerged through the blazing hot wave, two haughty men and two well built women behind a tall, muscular figure. They were minimally dressed in orange and robed in a revealing red, and each individual had a golden necklace with a small pendant hanging, a perfect circle with a flame and small patterns behind. It was exactly as Arcanor had described it. The Ignis Ordo.
The group of five stopped as they approached the king two feet away. The figure in the middle of the group was taller than the rest, and his clothing revealed most of his black-corrupted tan skin. He wore a ten-gallon hat that concealed most of his face, and a maroon bandana shrouded his visage in a mysterious, dark shadow. He had a leather belt with two long, silver pistols strapped to each side, and there was also a lasso and a coiled whip on the backside of his belt.
“Overlord Pyrrhus, we meet at last. To what do I owe this pleasure?” King Fulcan began, directing his greeting to the figure in the center.
There was no reply. Instead, the figure quickly pulled out both guns and spun them around quickly while cocking the firearm, pointing the pistols towards the king’s head, the muzzles of the dual revolvers a centimetre from Fulcan’s temple.
Tarsus and I immediately sprung to action alongside most of the army. We were abruptly halted by a wall of fire summoned by another figure behind the overlord, a hidden sixth member of the group. He was robed in black and orange, and the elemental summoning could have come from none other but the overlord’s Pyromancer.
The other four members of the order raised guns to the sky and fired, the sudden deafening explosions sending some soldiers ducking and halting.
“I could kill ya right now,” the overlord spat in a deep voice. “I could kill ya and it would all be ovah. Tyrannust would succeed, and I’d be standing at his right hand. But I’ve got something more urgent to address.”
The overlord turned his head and slowly pointed one of his gun towards Pyrrhon.
“Come ovah here. Now!”
Pyrrhon meekly stepped towards the corrupted ruler and bowed down on one knee, the overlord firmly pointing his pistols at both the king and Pyrrhon.
“Why’d you leave us? You would have been stronga. Why did you leave the order?”
“I...It...”
“Answa me! Why?”
“I-”
“Do you know what happened? Did you follow the code when we were slaughtered? Where were you when we were killed, one by one? Your brothas were killed, one by one!”
“I...I didn’t know! I don’t know what you’re talkin-”
“Shut up! Come here!”
Pyrrhon shuffled closer to the overlord until his feet was next to the ruler’s.
“Grab this. Now!”
Pyrrhus forced his pistol into Pyrrhon’s hand and grabbed his arm until Pyrrhon replaced the overlord’s position, threatening the king’s skull with a pistol.
“If you’re still part of the order, if you still want to prove your worth and redeem yourself, pull the trigga. Pull it!”
“I can’t! I...What happened?”
“You’re gonna pull that trigger right now, or your head’s gonna get blown off!” The overlord ordered, raising his second pistol back against Pyrrhon’s head.
“Tell me what happened! I...I wasn’t part of the order for a long time!”
“You want to know what happened? You really want to know?” The overlord shouted, spittle showering the parched clay floor.
The overlord slammed his fist down, knocking Pyrrhon out with the hilt of the silver revolver.
“Ordo! Take them to my castle. Now!”
In a quick shift of movement, a tall ring of fire suddenly encircled the entire army, leaving only the king and our two guilds with the group of five. The overlord placed Pyrrhon in handcuffs and grabbed him by his collar, dragging him across the cracked floor.
“Pyromancer, stay here,” Pyrrhus commanded.
The overlord brushed past the Mancer, whispering a few more words before proceeding.
The remaining four members of the order stepped behind the twelve of us and the king and pressed their guns against us, shoving us forward to keep up the pace behind the overlord of fire.
We moved through the hot breeze under the glaring sun, stepping through the abandoned town until we reached a significantly grander and fortified building on a hill.
We followed Pyrrhus through the doors until we entered a private chamber. His guards were clad in orange and wore minimal armour, reflecting the Ignis Ordo’s style of clothing; ideal for the temperature but impractical for fighting. The two fire guards closed the door as we stepped into the small, tall room.
The overlord proceeded to climb up three steps to sit on a throne, and the four members of the order followed up the stairs, two standing to his right and two on his left. Our two guilds faced the five Ignis Ordo members with Fulcan in between us.
“Fulcan, I hope you can forgive everything out there,” Pyrrhus suddenly began. “I’m...I’m truly sorry for what just happened.”
“What?” The king answered in confusion.
“Take a seat,” the overlord began. The woman to his right waved her arms around, and seats suddenly flew in from another room, thirteen seats for each of us. I glanced at Foku and he carried an impressed face at the sight of another illusionist.
As we sat near the overlord, he descended the stairs and sat on the bottom step informally until he was at the same level with us, sighing heavily.
“When Lord Tyrannust attacked, the order tried to fight back,” Overlord Pyrrhus began with a grave tone. “The forty-eight of us, well, forty-seven,” Pyrrhus continued, glancing at Pyrrhon, “all banded together to protect our domain when we were notified that Tyrannust had arrived on my island.”
“Why wasn’t I notified?” Pyrrhon interrupted.
“Brother, I sent for you, but the messenger never made it back. He crossed paths with the high lord and he never made it back. If I tried to send for you again, it would have been too late by the time you arrived. Sorry, brother Pyrrhon. On the other hand, it would have been better to not have sent for you at all. Tyrannust confronted the forty-seven of us and, to keep things short, well, this is what’s left of the order.”
The overlord glanced backwards and the four faces behind him were darkened at the thought of the painful memory. Silence filled Pyrrhus’ hall, and Pyrrhon dropped to his knees in anguish.
“I’m sorry...overlord,” the king spoke, still in a tone of confusion.
“I am not an overlord,” Pyrrhus responded, looking up. “When he destroyed the order, he threatened to kill me if I didn’t submit to his will. I agreed, I had to agree, and he infused me with his darkness. I gained powers, and it was tempting to do his bidding, but once he left, I fought against the darkness. His evil was very tempting, and I understood why so many lords craved his power. But I fought against his will, and here I am. Lord Pyrrhus, not Overlord Pyrrhus. I don’t ever wish to become one of Tyrannust’s pawns, in life and in death.”
“So you’re...good?”
“Good, bad, they’re all the same - they’re all subjective to your perspective. If fighting against Tyrannust is good, then I guess I’m, as you say, good, with an element of bad in me.”
“Why did you choose to fight against the power? Why didn’t you embrace it like the others?”
“If I did, you’d find yourself in another war right now. And wouldn’t it be ironic if the leader of the order, a supposedly strong order of honour, fell to the temptations of darkness?”
“You’re a strong man, Lord Pyrrhus,” Fulcan smiled, patting him on the shoulder and joining him on the bottom step of the throne. “And we thought Cryann was the last of the lords to fall.”
“I knew you wouldn’t fall for it, brother,” Pyrrhon spoke, smiling at Pyrrhus. “But all my life, growing up with the order, and now...”
Pyrrhon lowered his head again, a sullen face with tear-filled eyes.
“It took me a week to mourn for our fallen brothers and sisters, brother Pyrrhon. But I had a thought that kept me strong, a thought that helped me resist the almega. I would vindicate our fallen order; the only way to defeat this power was with the power itself.”
“Yes. Fight fire with fire. You must defeat Tyrannust,” Pyrrhon spoke with fury through gritted teeth. “We will rise from the ashes, and we will show him the power of the order.”
He pulled out a pendant from his pocket, the same necklace around the other member’s necks, and the insignia started to glow a blazing ember in his clenched fist. In response, the necklaces around the other five members’ necks burned the same colour.
“The order will rise from the ashes,” Pyrrhus replied, sharing the same rage. “With the order’s power and Tyrannust’s personal touch, I will end the high lord myself.”
The other members of the order shared the same emotion, brows furrowed and fists clenched in fury.
“King Fulcan, you need to understand that I’m being monitored,” the lord said. “Tyrannust found out that I had somehow resisted, so he placed his men everywhere on my island as spies to report back to him. That’s why I had to put on that show out there. Nowhere else is safe but this room.”
“What about the Pyromancer?”
“He’s part of the order,” Pyrrhon spoke.
“But he fell to Tyrannust’s power,” Lord Pyrrhus added. “Though he’s fallen to the dark side, he still listens to my voice. I told him to protect the army if anything unexpected happened before we left for my palace.”
“So what’s the plan now?”
“The only army on this island was the order. Without it now, it would take weeks until I recruited a full army. All I can do now is to tell you what I know. Brother Pyrrhonius, brother Pyrrhak, sister Pyra, sister Pyrina, bring out the map and the historical scrolls. Please be careful.”
“At once, my lord.”
The four members left the room swiftly, quickly closing the door behind them.
“There’s something I know that no other overlord will tell you. I’m not certain about this, but Tyrannust is powered by a source.”
“What?” The room gasped in shock.
“You’re saying that Tyrannust isn’t using raw strength and sorcery to harness his element?” Tarsus asked.
“When I agreed to become an overlord, Tyrannust took off his crown and placed it on my head. That’s what made it so hard to resist - the almega was directly infusing into my skull. I kept my thoughts straight and acted as if I had been corrupted - and I had been as you can see from my seared-black skin, but I resisted it in the end.”
“What crown?” I asked. “Tyrannust doesn’t wear a crown.”
“So it seems. That black ghost-like flaming head he has isn’t his corrupted face. It’s just a visage. Underneath that is still the young Tyrannust VI we knew of before he slaughtered his father. When he took off the crown, the visage disappeared and I caught a glimpse of his face. It was weary, scarred, cold, but it was still the same face. And the crown was the ancestral crown, the original crown passed down to his father from Tyrannust I. And that crown is the source of the almega’s power. The Ancient Crown.”
“So you’re suggesting...Tyrannust VI didn’t create almega?”
“Precisely, though I’m not certain. But it all makes sense; the puzzle connects.”
At that moment, the four Ignis Ordo members returned, carrying two ancient books and a large scroll.
“Thank you. Sister Pyrina, please bring us a table.”
“At once.”
The woman raised her arms, and a table floated in from the same room our chairs came from. Foku gave another impressed smile, straightening his leather overcoat and repositioning his seat.
We pulled our seats around the large oval table as Pyrrhus spread out the scroll in the centre to reveal a large map of Grozorg.
“Anyways, I studied the scrolls during my period of mourning to comfort myself. It was late one night when I connected it. Do you happen to know the scrolls?”
I glanced at Tarsus with a grin and he rolled his eyes.
“I know the history fairly well, but the Blood Guild here has brought it upon themselves to memorize the legends,” Fulcan replied on behalf of us.
“Excellent. Well, here’s where I started, page sixty-eight. Basically, Grozorg was populated and the people could not distinguish the ruler from the residents. A man by the name of Mavork Kakx offered to forge a crown for the king, and in this other book, it described the material of the crown, which was not stated in this first book. It was made of amalegaphonium-”
“The indestructible metal,” Tarsus interrupted.
“Yes. Have you read the scrolls?”
“I grew up in the metal domain.”
“Indestructible?” Fulcan asked.
“It was an alloy of many metals forged into one,” Tarsus replied. “At the core was the rare but natural Zornium, harvested deep within Grozorg’s heart. Other simple metals like gold and copper, and a myriad of others formed amalegaphonium, creating a metal that could not be destroyed. Since Zornium was basically impossible to harvest, however, the creation of amalegaphonium was both extremely expensive and dangerous.”
“In fact,” Pyrrhus added, “the only object on Grozorg made with the most amalegaphonium was the crown belonging to the first high lord. Anyways, reading back to page six of this second book, Zornium was described as a reactive metal with a strange ability infused within. It was with Zornium the high lords used to shape and expand the land, and Zornium gave the power for Tyrannust I to create the original population of the nation. But in the first book I was reading, it kept stating how the high lords possessed a dark magic and understood the dark arts in order to create and expand the lands. It took me a while since it didn’t add up, but soon I figured out that the dark magic was all possible due to Zornium.”
“So Zornium is the source of the dark arts,” I summarized.
“You could say it that way. Linking the pieces, amalegaphonium was not only indestructible, but also capable of immense powers, to the extent of forming and destroying land. Page two-hundred and eight of the first book explains how Tyrannust I was able to do so much after unlocking the secrets of the dark arts, and the date specified in this book of when he started using the dark arts to shape the land matches the exact date specified in the second book of when he gained possession of the crown.”
“Has there been any other recordings of the use of amalegaphonium in the lore?” Fulcan asked.
“Small cases here and there, but so small the power of the metal was virtually non-existent. One strange case documents the disappearance of the metal from the nation’s mine, but the amount of metal gone was so little it was considered insignificant. Why?”
“Just wondering if it would lead anywhere. Never mind that,” the king responded.
“Tyrannust II divided the metal’s power by granting it to his twelve sons afterwards,” Lord Pyrrhus continued, “granting them a fragment of the metal’s capability, what you now know today as Grozorg’s ‘elements’.”
“The beginning of all elements...” I whispered to myself.
“So the crown has been passed down from high lord to high lord?” Tarsus asked.
“Yes, every high lord before Tyrannust VI has had the ancient crown in possession. But in this second book, it specified that the crown was replaced with a simple golden crown after high lord Tyrannust II suffered from intense migraines later in his reign. Many chapters afterwards, it mentioned how Tyrannust V found the Ancient Crown after the War of Zxyx, which had been locked away, and placed it on his head in symbolizing the victory of the nation, returning to its former glory. So though every high lord has had it in possession, the only high lords who has actually touched the Ancient Crown was the first, second, fifth, and currently, the sixth.”
“We’ve read the scrolls, but I’ve never seen that book before,” I spoke, pointing to Pyrrhus’ second book. “We’ve only studied that first book, the edition where it proclaimed the sole use of dark magic to form the lands. I’ve never heard of...almaphononium-”
“Amalegaphonium,” Pyrrhus corrected.
“Yeah, that metal. Never heard of it before.”
“The first book has been published all across Grozorg, and it’s accessible by the general public. As for this second book, there’s only a single copy of it. It comes from Lord Ferrius’ island, and it documents the evolution of the usage of metal on Grozorg. During a certain occasion, Ferrius and the Ignis Ordo’s paths crossed, and when we defeated Fer Oluun, we raided the city and looted this book. If I had never grieved over the loss of the order, if I had never started reading the scrolls, I would have never found out Tyrannust’s source.”
“So we just steal the crown and destroy it to defeat Tyrannust?”
“Easier said than done. And remember, amalegaphonium is ‘The Indestructible Metal’, so destroying it would be a bit hard to do.”
“Well now we have a solid plan, a method of destroying Tyrannust.”
“Like I said, I’m not entirely sure if the crown is his source of power. Besides, the only way you can get that crown is if you get through the layer of almega coating and protecting him, and that in itself is not likely going to happen.”
“The crown is his armour,” I said. “Interesting. The crown produces the almega armour, and the armour protects the crown.”
“Wait a minute...Zornium’s at the heart of Grozorg?” Foku asked randomly. “If Zornium’s the heart of ‘evil’, doesn’t that mean that...Grozorg was essentially ‘evil’ from birth?”
The room fell silent. The people within glanced at each other, pondering on Foku’s simple words. It was inevitable, and Foku was right. There was no such thing as a utopia, no such thing as a former glory. Grozorg was already corrupted the moment it was created.
“Well there are bigger things to focus on right now, and there’s no changing of Grozorg’s history either. The only choice we can make now is how to save the nation from falling deeper into the chaos it already is in.”
“What else do you know about the high lord?” The king continued to ask.
“He’s currently forming his own army - that’s why all the lords are declaring war. It’s all part of his plan, to stall your army long enough for him to create his own.”
“And once his army is created?”
“I’m not sure what his intentions are, but I have a clear guess. With such a powerful element, it wouldn’t be right to just slave Grozorg under his command.”
“He’s targeting...the universe?”
“The multiverse. Once he gets this universe under his belt, it won’t be hard for him to get the other millions of universes out there. And once he commands the multiverse, he’d be crowned the highest title in all existence. That’s a reason why he corrupted every lord but you, Fulcan. He saw how every element would be vital in helping him conquer the multiverse, but yours. With Crothus, he could command time. With Ceiros, he’d easily seize planets. With Illya, he’d move from dimension to dimension effortlessly. Every overlord plays an essential role, and it seems he’s already completed this first step. But your element of light and purity? He won’t be needing that in a long time.”
“Then why not just end me, if he’s that powerful, and if I’m but a hindrance to him?”
“Another wild guess, but he’d probably want to test his forces against yours. You have the strongest and largest military strength in all of Grozorg. If the legion he’s preparing right now crushes yours at ease, he’d crush any other extraterrestrial military force out there in the multiverse. You’re a guinea pig, a test subject to him. But that’s just my guess.”
“An entirely appropriate guess,” Fulcan spoke through gritted teeth.
“I...I became so knowledgeable about the high lord ever since Tyrannust corrupted me,” the lord of fire confessed. “It’s as if I knew his plans, ever since I became one with his element. It’s as if...the overlords knew what he was thinking...and he knew what the overlords were thinking.”
“Makes sense,” Fulcan agreed, pondering on Lord Pyrrhus’ words. “That’s how Tyrannust figured out when an overlord was defeated, or how he found out you had resisted his power. What do you reckon we do now?”
Before the ruler could answer, the amulets around each of the Ignis Ordo member’s necks glowed a bright, fiery red, and the six faces stared at each other wide-eyed.
“Code red, the Pyromancer’s in danger. Let’s go!”
“Wait!” I shouted.
Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned towards me. A wave of embarrassment swept across me, but something inside me felt determined.
“What if...what if it’s a trap?” I spoke, collecting my thoughts. “You said...you said Tyrannust knows your every thought. So then he would know that you told us everything, and he could be luring you to the Pyromancer to kill you!”
The lord of the fire domain looked conflicted, his eyes wandering around, thinking about my words.
“And you said the Pyromancer was corrupted! The only person Tyrannust needs to dispose is you!”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Pyrrhus began. “Perhaps it’s a trap...but I can’t see another member of the order die. If this is the end, so be it.”
“No! Wait! This is all part of his pla-”
Before I could stop him, the lord and his order swiftly left the palace and headed towards the Army of Light and Purity.
The two guilds looked at me blankly as Fulcan chased after the lord, and I picked up my feet to pursue Pyrrhus as well.