The Guardians' Pendants (The Zor Chronicles Part I) (24 page)

“What do you mean by
that?” Ikani spat.

At that, Demias
extended an enormous hand towards Ikani below. “Join me,” he
offered. “Forget about the others. For once they have fallen – if
they have not already met their demise, we can rebuild this city,
brave warrior. We can strive beyond what my feeble brothers have
left here, and create our own empire!” exclaimed Demias,
gesticulating towards his surroundings, as if he were envisioning
the towers that could someday rise beyond the rubble that lay
around them. “Together, we could create and rule an empire so
powerful that even the mighty forces of
time
itself
could not stand in our way!” Demias cried.

“Could I really… could
I really rise to such power?” Ikani asked, suddenly faced with a
compelling inner struggle.

“
Yes
,” Demias responded
reassuringly. “And beyond, as any bold heart should. Trust in me,
and all of your struggles – both inside and out – shall be laid to
rest.”

“I…” Ikani shut his
eyes, tensing up as he felt a sudden outside force surrounding him.
His eyes shot open, glowing bright red as he was engulfed by a
shadowy aura. He could feel a burning sensation along the side of
his neck, but at this point in time it felt like a negligible side
effect amongst a surge of newfound energy. “I tru
-”

“Don’t do it, Ikani!”
cried a familiar voice, coming from behind.

Ikani turned his head
towards the source of the voice. Deep down, the figure standing
before him was familiar, although any further details appeared
cloudy to him now, and any attempt to grasp those thoughts and
memories only seemed to increase the pain in his
neck.

The figure wore armor
of aqua blue and green, partially covered by a garb of brown and
white. Her eyes glowed the same bright blue as those from the
northern island of Af’Lanu.
Yes,
Ikani
thought,
I know that place… I was
there once before.

“You can’t forget about
who you are!” the figured cried, tears forming in her
eyes.

“Who… who I am?” Ikani
struggled.

“Yes!” the voice replied frantically. “You’ve always fought
bravely; far nobler and far more selflessly than I could ever fight
myself!” she replied. “And we’re all here, ready to end this once
and for all!” she cried. “But to do that, we
need
you!”

“Kaho’s got a point,
miner!” another voice exclaimed. “And I’d hate to think that I
saved you back in the Vaults for nothing!” the male voice urged. “I
mean, I know we fight and all, but I honestly think that we only
ever bickered so much because it pushed both of us further! Thanks
to you, I’ve become twice the Zor I ever could have become without
your help, and I’m not going to let my brother succumb to this
lunatic’s lies if I have any say whatsoever in
this!”

Demias growled, not
breaking his focus on Ikani.

“You were the brains
for all of us down in the Vaults,” came a deep third voice. “You
found the key to the Shrine’s secrets. Hell, what am I saying? You
were the one who uncovered the reality of Remula’s evil plan in the
first place!” he insisted. “And you vowed to put an end to
it!”

“I vowed…” Ikani
repeated.

“No! Demias barked.
“Enough!”

“
Enough
indeed,
” came yet another voice,
this one seeming to originate from within a distant stretch of
Ikani’s mind. “
Brave Ikani, you
have come so far… now it is time to dispel the final shadows… let
the eternal light of your fire expand and conquer the darkness
within! I am proud of you, and all that you have become in my
absence… noble Veha.
”

Suddenly, there was a
great burst of flames from around Ikani. They fought back the
shadows that had surrounded him, guarding himself and the other
Veha from danger.

“The Veha serve only
the Zor of Paradius!” Ikani declared proudly. “And together, our
fire shall conquer the darkness everywhere!”

Chapter XXI – United
And Unrelenting

Demias snarled. Before
him, all four Veha stood tall, basking in the light of Ikani’s
flaming aura.

“If
it is your choice to fight, then, and meet your end while failing
to save your homeland, then so
be
it!” Demias sneered. “But
first,” he added. “I thought I would ensure that we have no
more…
interruptions
.”

Once again, Demias
became shrouded by a familiar dark aura, a teeming cloud of dark
energy hovering around his massive body. Suddenly, the ground began
to shake anew, this time more violently than ever
before.

“Oh, not this again,”
Enoke groaned, struggling to stay on his feet.

“What’s going on?” Kaho
begged.

“I don’t know,” Ikani
replied through gritted teeth. “But I don’t like
it.”

A great wind had
abruptly picked up around them, forcing the Veha backwards. Mixed
with the brutal howling of the wind was the renewed groaning and
crashing of crumbling buildings coming from all around. The dark
aura was suddenly expelled from around Demias’ body at full force,
filling the night with an earth-shattering cracking noise as the
ground began to give way all around them. The Veha, struggling to
see through the debris that had mixed with the whirling winds,
watched on in horror as the very foundation of the city began to
split apart, giving way in the face of the tremors and crashing
waves from all directions. Portions of the Central Island around
them were now sinking into the roaring waters that quickly engulfed
all that stood in their path.

Demias emitted a
devilish laugh. “Now that that’s been taken care of,” he began,
“you’re
next
.”

There was not a moment
to think before Demias began to charge. Ikani readied his sword,
tensing up as he stared down Doomscythe once again. He quickly
focused what he could of his energy into his Fireblade and sent a
wave of searing flames hurtling towards Demias.

“I’ve got your back,
brother!” Lanaru exclaimed, readying his Fan Blades. With a single
sweep of his arms, he sent a whirlwind whirring towards the wall of
fire. It collided with Ikani’s attack, creating a flaming twister
that was now heading straight towards Demias. He quickly leapt out
of the way, though it was a narrow miss.

“Impressive,” Demias stated, smirking.

“You haven’t seen
anything yet!” Enoke growled, pounding his fists together and
jamming them into the ground, dashing towards the giant
reincarnation and sending a wall of rocks hurtling in his
direction. Demias countered with an attack of his own, sending a
blast of dark energy towards Enoke, who was caught off guard after
having been focusing on his offensive. With but a split second to
brace for impact, the Veha was frozen in anticipation when – out of
nowhere – a towering spiral of water suddenly came between him and
the darkness, cutting off the attack.

Enoke’s attack missed,
striking one of the support beams that connected to the Tavar
Tower, breaking it loose.

Demias frowned.
“Meddlesome fools!” he barked. “How is it that you continue to
oppose me?”

“Because unlike you, we
do not fight alone!” Kaho exclaimed in retort. “We stand
united!”

At that, Demias
chuckled. “How very foolish of you to believe I would arrive
without an army of my own,” he replied teasingly.

“What’s that supposed
to mean?” Ikani snapped.

“Precisely what it sounds like,” replied Demias. On cue with
his words, the silhouettes of four shrouded figures seemed to rise
up from the very ground below them, their identities concealed in
shadow.

“I highly doubt that
there will be any need for introductions,” figured Demias with an
evil grin.

Slowly, the shadows
around the figures began to fade, revealing the four most familiar
faces the Veha had ever known. The first clearly hailed from
Af’One, complete with a miner’s uniform and all. The second was
from Af’Lanu, bearing the traditional headscarf and garb of an
educator. The third and fourth were from the southern and eastern
islands respectively, unmistakably a record keeper and
engineer.

“It’s…
us,
” Ikani breathed in
disbelief, taking several steps back. “It’s… our former
selves.”

Demias chuckled
condescendingly. “I believe the
former
aspect is up for
debate. Behold the embodiments of your spirits!” he
declared.

Kaho gasped. “Our
spirits?”

“Indeed,” Demias
sneered. “It is all the proof ever needed to know that deep down,
you are all still the same naïve and powerless Zor that you so
foolishly believed you had left behind!”

“No!’ Ikani exclaimed.
“That’s a lie!”

“Then prove it!” Demias beckoned. “By all means – defeat the
Avatars of your spirits! And if you do, you shall all come one step
closer to rescuing your
pitiful
people.”

“What should we do?”
Ikani asked, turning to the others. “It must be some sort of trick.
Think! If we defeat out spirits… what will become of
us?”

Lanaru clenched his
fists. “I suppose we’re going to have to find out!” he exclaimed,
charging towards himself. Fan Blades at the ready, Lanaru went to
strike, but was quickly stopped when – as if out of nowhere – his
Avatar raised a sword in a split second in defense. He warded off
his Veha counterpart effortlessly, sending him falling to the
ground.

“Lanaru!” Kaho exclaimed.

“That’s it!” the Mara
snapped. With a wave of his arm, he sent gale force winds towards
his Avatar. He quickly leapt out of the way, and the gusts struck
the Tower behind him instead, mangling another of its support
beams.

“Careful, Lanaru!” the
female Veha cried.

“Your feeble attempts to defeat my spirit minions shall be
futile,” Demias exclaimed, approaching the Avatars. “Their
attempts, however – backed by my supreme strength – shall not be so
unlucky!”

Suddenly, Demias
lurched forward, swinging with his scythe. Enoke was ready, just
barely, acting boldly as he leapt in front of his teammates,
grabbing hold of the staff of his weapon, holding Demias off. Even
his supreme strength – backed by the powers of his Gauntlets –
quickly began to falter beneath the might of the reincarnated God,
who was both multiple times larger than him and a great deal
stronger by nature as well. Enoke felt his grip beginning to
weaken.

“Persistence can be
one’s greatest strength,” Demias remarked, straining as he leaned
forward. “Or it can be one’s greatest weakness. It looks like it is
certainly yours!”

With one final push
forward, Enoke was knocked off his feet and shrouded in
shadows.

“Enoke!” Ikani and Kaho cried simultaneously, rushing towards
him, though they were both cut off quickly by their Avatars, swords
at the ready to ward them off. Enoke was writhing on the ground
now, falling deeper into the cloud of darkness that now surrounded
him.

“It’s no use, Kaho,”
Lanaru remarked, rising from where he had fallen before. “The only
way to defeat our Avatars is to take down Demias.”

“And
how do you suppose we do that?” Ikani snapped. “He’s hiding behind
them for that very reason – so that we
can’t
take him down!”

“I have a plan,” Kaho
began. “And it just might be crazier than Lanaru’s last
one.”

“At
this point, I’m open to anything,” Lanaru decided, tensing up as he
stared down the five menacing figures before him.

“Follow me!” Kaho
cried, rushing towards the Tavar Tower.

Demias was quickly on
their trail. With one swing of Doomscythe, he sent a wave of dark
energy hurtling towards them. By some miracle, it was avoided by
all three Veha, but just barely. Seconds later, yet another blast
was fired at them, this one striking yet another of the Tower’s
beams. It immediately melted into nothingness under the power of
the shadows. The Veha hid behind the waning structure in
desperation.

“Lanaru, find the
guards inside the tower!” Ikani commanded. “There are three of them
waiting in there… I saw them. We have to rescue them
before…”