Shades of Grey

KESTASLA— JUNE 1844

Several tense, loud minutes passed as the roots inside Truceris joined with the Hands of Fate and began to stretch out, demolishing the castle in its wake. I stood strongly in the remnants of Anesthia’s room as Malehvarei destroyed the castle around me, waiting patiently as the outer walls crumbled and more of Kestasla itself was revealed, waiting as the mad wizard of the Golden Age took over the castle of his former master.

After the flailing metal appendages had all awoken and tested the limits of their reach, there remained very little of the once grand castle of King Roman. There were still numerous intact bits of the many staircases that snaked pathetically to the varying floors, each of which had remained less ruined than the previous floor with virtually nothing left at the top of the structure. The towers and turrets had collapsed inward, leaving nothing but an enormous smoldering pile of rubble down where the cavernous Truceris had sat. The entire castle now belonged to him.

There were several moments of dark silence and my thoughts instantly flew to Commencement night. Was this similar to the scene that the others had beheld when they emerged from the saferooms?

“You dare to stand against me?”

“Someone must stand against tyranny,” I said, reaching into the compartment on my hips for my grenades. I felt my fingers curl around one and I stepped off of the bit of floor that had once been Anesthia’s chamber. I dropped past what was left of three floors until I landed solidly on the top of the pile of rubble at the very base of the castle; all that remained of the original structure.

“Tyranny? Is that the moniker you give to one who only desires peace for the nations?”

Malehvarei’s voice seemed to come from no discernable source and echoed off of every single stone, brick and metal surface in the ruins.

“A perfect world under control of a single dictator? Yes, I believe that would be construed by the masses as tyranny,” I said boldly.

I felt a sudden shifting of the rubble beneath my feet followed by an ugly rumbling as something made its way up through the debris, heading straight for me…

I leapt to my right just as one of the many Hands of Fate broke through the rubble and slammed itself into a bit of ruined ceiling, dislodging several more tiles and bits of flooring from the wrecked castle.

“I am not a tyrant.”

The sinister sneer was followed by another very long and foreboding rumble from somewhere beneath my feet.

I waited and, just as the Hand had done, more mechanical roots began to burst forth from the debris. They sprang up like the terrible heads of a Hydra, waving wildly about the room as they searched for me, knocking down more bits of the castle and adding to the growing pile of rubble.

Then the face I had seen in the twisting metal cavern of Truceris, Malehvarei himself, emerged in the far twisted root wall and locked his metal eyes on me.

“I will not allow that phrase to taint the noble name of Malehvarei!”

Several of the huge roots then began to come down towards me. I leapt upwards, my momentum flipping me backwards as I flew up to the next floor, landing with stout strength. However, Malehvarei had seen my manouevre and he prepared his many flailing root limbs to crush me. I began running across the remains of the third level just as several of the roots crashed through the sparse floor that began to crumble and fall into the ever-growing pile of debris below.

“Give in, Hunter. How could you possibly defeat me?” rumbled Malehvarei.

In wordless response, I withdrew my Flamesword and jumped off the third level, flying through the air and grasping one of the many roots, as I had done when I had released the Dragons. I began to slice at them as best I could, pulling out more of my bombs as well, but Malehvarei was too quick. Within seconds, two of the smaller roots shot around my arms, pulling them taught and forcing them behind my back. I saw the other two reaching for my legs, but I moved too fast for them to catch me. I wrapped my left ankle around one of them and snapped it in half with a swift kick of my right foot.

My victory was short lived, however. Two more roots rose in quick succession and promptly gripped my ankles. I struggled against the iron roots as they pulled my limbs taught, but even my enhanced Hunter strength was no match for the mechanical power of a wizard.

“Hmm…” Malehvarei ruminated. “Perhaps you do not have to die…”

A large, carmine root then rose out of the flailing mass, spreading its head out into several smaller appendages like a vicious Venus Fly trap. I began to panic as I realised what was coming.

“MALEHVAREI!”

I flinched, noting a similar twitch of annoyance flicker across Malehvarei’s enormous face. Natara had flown out of one of the few in tact hallways in a cloud of black smoke on which rested a motionless, perfectly preserved King Roman and a bubbling cauldron.

“Malehvarei, it is ready! It is time!” she exclaimed with a revoltingly lovestruck undertone.

Malehvarei’s eyes rolled.

“I’ve got a much better specimen in mind!”

His red eyes moved to me. Natara’s fierce gray eyes widened in realisation.

“But…what about…?”

“SILENCE YOU FILTHY WITCH!”

One of the roots suddenly flicked towards Natara faster than she could comprehend and with a single cry of alarm, the magical strength of Malehvarei’s root broke through Natara’s magical powers, turning her into nothing more than a blackened wisp of gliterring smoke.

I exhaled curtly in shock.

“Worthless wench…she has been going mad for the last century,” he muttered to himself. “She couldn’t possibly see the value of such a prize!”

I froze once more as an evil grin spread across his rootish face and the great red root rose, moving with such speed that I hardly had time to blink. Within a second, I felt the root puncture my chest and clasp its small vein-like fingers around my heart. I then felt my body struggle to fight the foreign substance that the root was pumping into my bloodstream, a substance that blackened my veins with each waning beat of my fighting heart and stole my breath with each passing minute. My gestures of protest weakened in strength as I felt myself passing into a nauseating unconsciousness…

“Yes, the body of a Hunter shall make a fine substitute to the pitiable Roman…especially the prophesied Hunter…”

I tried to be confused, but I could no longer register any of my thoughts or emotions. The roots around my limbs had released their hold, leaving me perched on the edge of the penetrated root like a piece of meat on a skewer. I gasped as I felt blood dripping down my lifeless extremities when my eyes began to darken. Malehvarei would soon have me under his control…

“NO!”

Malehvarei’s voice was distant, muddled. I barely had time to process his tone before I felt Forma fly straight into me and snap the thick root with one massive strike of her tail.

“F…fo…”I tried.

“Shut it,” she commanded, flying into a darkened corner of the castle where she quickly cut the dead root out of my chest. I groaned and covered my mouth at the sudden pain and made an effort to remain quiet as she removed all of the smaller roots that had locked themselves into my veins. She proceeded to douse the wound with analgesic with the speed and precision of a trained surgeon.

“Breathe,” she ordered gently. I tried, but the burning from the analgesic was too much and all I could produce were thick wheezing gasps. Forma sat me up against the wall, where I remained until the analgesic had done its duty, sealing the great crater the root had left in my chest and healing all of my severed organs. I took a clear breath as the hole closed, staring at Forma with appreciation I could not articulate. She smiled as she read my face.

“You stay here for a moment. You need to rest. And don’t even think about fighting me on this. You just had a giant root stuck in your chest: you can stop for a moment or two.”

Before I could speak, orally or telepathically, Forma had transformed into an enormous Darklight Dragon and leapt into fight, successfully melting a good majority of the roots before turning into an Ice Dragon and freezing them. She then, with a swift strike of her massive tail, sent the roots to the ruined wreckage below.

I then had an idea.

“Forma! Come here!”

Forma appeared near my ledge instantly. I immediately leapt on her back just as more of the roots broke through the bit of floor where I had been standing.

“Fly that way!” I called, pointing to the centre of the flailing collection of mechanical roots.

“You want me to fly into the mass of intertwining mechanical roots that could crush us without even an effort? How about you leap off, change and fly into the Roots of Destruction yourself!”

“Because I need my weapons, now do it!”

She gave a curt, reluctant sigh of disapproval.

“Alright, but if we die, it’s your fault.”

I laughed as she tucked in her massive wings and skilfully flew through the monstrous, flailing roots. In his attempt to keep up with us, Malehvarei had carelessly managed to dislodge the foundations of the eastern wall, which crumbled over several of his rootish limbs and lessened the emminent threat. My plan was working.

Forma flew towards them once more and continued to exhale streams of ice over the roots, freezing them in place before giving them a great smack with her powerful tail. The steel roots shattered on impact, educing a cacophonic shriek of pain from Malehvarei’s giant metal face.

“Do not think I can be so easily defeated!” he sneered, proceeding to move his remaining roots with even greater speed, successfully smacking into Forma and knocking her into the far wall. We fell onto the growing pile of wreckage along with at least two tons of debris.

“Stupid Hunter,” laughed Malehvarei. “I can see what you are planning and it will not work!”

Forma and I both fought our way out of the stones and took cover in a dark corner of the ruins, away from Malehvarei’s eyes.

“Are you alright?” I asked, taking a quick drink of my analgesic for the broken bones I had sustained.

“Yes, I’ll be fine,” Forma replied as she took a gulp for her own internal injuries.

“Good. Then let’s beat this prison.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she replied with equal vigour as she shifted back into an Ice Dragon.

I leapt atop her back and we immediately went to work. She continued to shatter as many flailing roots as she possibly could while I pulled the cords of five of my bombs and threw them all towards the base of the large roots.

“Fly up!” I called. She quickly obeyed and every root stretched up in an attempt to reach us, just as the bombs went off.

The explosion was massive, sending a shower of shrapnel through the air into the mountains around the city and leaving a crater in the rubble deep enough to actually see the dirt of the prison floor. I coughed several times, expelling from my lungs the massive amounts of soil and debris from the blast.

“You managed to help the citizens escape, right?” I asked, suddenly worried about the close proximity of the civilian homes. Forma nodded quickly.

“They are currently in the nearby city of Salvo. I tried to brief their king on what was happening, but Anesthia had come to by then and she insisted I return here to assist you.”

I smiled as Forma flew back down towards what was left of Malehvarei and the castle, continuing to shatter the remaining roots.

“Of course,” I replied knowingly. Forma sniggered to herself as she destroyed a particularly large root.

“BREAKING MY ROOTS SHALL NOT STOP ME!”

Malehvarei’s powerful voice had come suddenly, causing Forma and I to both start at once, which left us vulnerable to Malehvarei’s next move. Three roots suddenly moved upwards and knocked Forma towards the other waiting roots that immediately wrapped around both of us and held us in place. We were trapped.

“No one will stop me!” Malehvarei shouted.

In one smooth motion I snapped the roots around me, pulled out the largest bomb I carried in my arsenal and leapt from Forma’s back.

Everything then slowed to a crawl. I threw the bomb with every ounce of strength I had in me towards the rubble beneath us, watching as it shot through the thick layer of debris towards the bottom of the wreckage and then went off.

The explosion was bigger than anything I had ever witnessed, so big that the force of the blast propelled me backwards through the air in a shower of shrapnel so thick it looked as if the castle was moving as one entity, several bits of which knocked me about with earth shattering strength. I could feel my bones breaking with each impact until something collided with my head and I lost consciousness.