Chapter 23 - Journey's End

Authors Note === Little bit of honor to Robert Jordan in this chapter. Rest in peace, one of favorite my authors.

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The air throbbed as wave after wave of time energy create a massive wall of frozen time between Instructor Lem and Wrath. The Time Wall looked like a clear block, stretching hundreds of meters in every direction, digging into the ground and upwards towards the sky. Everything inside of it, small flying bugs, tumbling rocks, heaving earth, was frozen completely still.

The Ruby dragon above Wrath engaged the Space Dragon, launching several fiery attacks at it. The Space Dragon responded by warping the air, and causing several of the fiery strikes to return back upon the Ruby Dragon, crashing into its side. The great Ruby Drake heaved, flying upwards to dodge, and pounced down upon the Space Drake.

Wrath stared at the Time Wall hatefully, throwing a few burning balls of fire energy at it. The Fire energy bounced off, ineffective. One must understand, a Time Wall is not like other Wall techniques. A Time Wall is literally a wall of frozen time. It is one of the most difficult techniques to perform, and unless an attack can transcend time, it will have no effect.

Just as Wrath was beginning to look for a way to circle around, however, a small, extremely pure beam of fire shot towards Instructor Lem from behind. Instructor Lem tried to dodge, but because of the vast amount of concentration he was pouring into maintaining such a huge Time Wall, he didn’t have the chance.

“FFFFFVVVVNNNNN!”

The smell of burning flesh arose as Dale watched in horror, a large beam of fiery light piercing Instructor Lem’s chest. The energy swirling near him shook as his concentration wavered. Instructor Lem fell to his knees, near Dale, his eyes in a state of shock. Blood spattered from his lips, his heart having been pierced partially. He looked sadly at Dale for a moment, touching a finger to his forehead. Then, with a determined look, he released the Time Wall, yelling,

“EMBRACE DEATH!”

Instantly, a bluish glow shot out from him towards the red robed man. Wrath, as well as the air around him, came to an abrupt halt, unmoving. Instructor Lem’s strength rapidly began to fade, falling to the side. He turned his bloodstained eyes towards Dale, whispering

“Get away. I can hold him for maybe 20 more seconds. The Fire Dragon back there pierced my heart, I can’t hold out any longer. If only the soldiers had managed to hold the wall…” he muttered quietly, his life force disappearing.

Dale got to his feet unsteadily, grabbing Feng. With the massive amount of fatigue covering his bones, it was a small miracle he could move at all. He stumbled, carrying Feng down the stair well. They reached the street level, and fled to the north. The Fire Drake that had pierced Instructor Lem’s heart took note, seeing Feng in Dales arms. It glanced at Wrath, who was presently frozen in time, doing nothing.

The massive Ruby Dragon , deciding to prevent the escape and wait for Wrath to awaken, slammed down in front of them, blocking the way. The nearby buildings collapsed slightly, several stores being completely blown down by the force of the Drakes landing. The Dragon stood there, looking at them silently, as if it was waiting. A dark fire glimmered in its eyes.

A ripple moved through the air, and, with a powerful roar, Wrath broke free of his Frozen Time binding. Instructor Lem coughed up blood, and fell to his knees, his life force rapidly draining to nothing. Wrath, at this point completely enraged, instantly appeared next to Instructor Lem, a hellish aura completely surrounding his body, as he swiped his arm to the side, decapitating Lem. The instructor’s body fell to the floor and moved no more.

Wrath turned around, and kicked off the ground, destroying what remained of the guardhouse, and smashing into the ground just behind Dale and Feng. Small cracks appeared where he landed, caused by the powerful force he leapt with. Dale looked back and forth, all hope leaving his eyes. Before him was a massive, majestic Ruby Dragon, and behind him was the red robed man that killed Instructor Lem. He had already run out of strength, and could not tap into anything.

“I’ll deal with youuu in a momentt, Titan childdd.” Wrath said, suddenly appearing mere inches from him, lashing out at his chest. Dale was block back several meters, crashing into the ground, where he lay, groaning in pain. Wraths blow had cracked several of his ribs, and damaged his internal organs.

Dale watched as Wrath brought out a small tablet, covered in mysterious symbols, and shattered it on Fengs head. Feng’s body wavered for a moment, little motes of light appearing. These motes of light slowly flashed off of his body, dissolving into the air, as piece by piece, Feng disappeared from this world.

Dale watched, despair filling his eyes, as his best friend was taken from him. The last lights of Feng slowly disappeared, fled into the sky and away. His mind was slowly warping, pain and loss overtaking everything. No matter what Dale did, everything seemed to go wrong. He couldn’t protect his friends, his family, he could do nothing. He felt useless, guilt writing in his stomach, as he softly cried. What is the point of living, if I can do nothing to protect those I love?! He thought, his eyes a dead void.

Wrath clapped his hands, “Ah, perfecccct!” Wrath exclaimed happily, adjusting his robes. He successfully acquired the target, and enacted a mass slaughter on humanity, overall a perfect result in his opinion. Wrath had long hated humans, and in general any race that wasn’t a Drake. To slaughter millions like he had over the past journey was a dream come true. He smiled evilly to himself, relishing in the deaths and misery of others. He turned around, facing Dale, his eyes filled with a dark glee.

At that moment, however, a dying screech sounded out, as the Space Dragon fell from the sky, crashing towards Wrath. The Space Dragon had been engaged with the Ruby Drake before it, and losing badly. Its wounds were simply too much, and it could not defend itself. The Ruby Drake had finally succeeded, tearing off one of the Space Dragons wings, grounding it. The Space Dragon, in its mad haze as it crashed downwards, spotted Wrath. The overwhelming hatred it had for Wrath fueled its strength as it crashed towards him.

A blue gleam appeared in the Space dragon’s eyes, and it suddenly cried out, with a roar that seemed to make no sound at all. Odd fluctuations of energy appeared in the surroundings, and suddenly, things began to disappear. First, a huge globe of matter disappeared, centered on the ground. Suddenly, all around, several globes of space simply were gone, teleported away randomly. Huge, massive holes appeared in reality, tears filled with a great power, and then disappeared instantly. The very fabric of existence was tearing apart, and the Space Dragon was using the last dredges of its life force to fuel its powerful attack.

Wrath screamed in rage, and leapt sideways, desperately dodging. However, in the split second that he turned to move, a huge spatial tear sliced into him, and he disappeared.

Dale stared up at the great dying creature, as the world began to shift around him. Dale’s eyes gave off an eager glow, as he embraced death, and prepared to die, happy to be rid of the world around him, of all the pain and hopelessness, the loss and despair, to leave it all behind and disappear.

Space ripped apart next to him, causing him and the ground he was sitting on to fall into it.

Dale disappeared.

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The Soran army, or what was left of it, continued its attack, after killing the last of the cities defenders. Then, with rage and glee filling the air, they began to slaughter the citizens, millions of people dying. Thanks to the warning of the students that had been manning the walls, a large number of disciples from the Morn Main School escaped, fleeing to the north, headed towards the Allied Duchies. Accompanying them was the DeMonge family, also managing to successfully escape as well. The DeMonge family had notified several other important noble families, telling them to flee, and was praised for their foresight and wisdom as these nobles joined them.

On the battlefield, Jerome had managed to find Kyle, after recovering from his injuries slightly, and teleport away desperately, to a hidden forest safe house they had built years ago. They rested and recuperated, trying to decide what to do.

The rest of the Kingdom of Morn fell apart, as monsters from the neighboring Dead Lands flooded into it, being taken over by the beasts. Millions of humans died, and several of the neighboring nations declared a day of mourning.

On the battlefield, the body of a young girl twitched, blood oozing out of a large hole in her chest. Despite nearly dying moments ago, the girl refused to collapse, recovering from falling unconscious, holding on to her life desperately, clutching at any energy source she could find.

A powerful figured, cloaked in darkness rose from the earth next to her. Its eyes gave off a golden aura, riven with darkness, as the Shade Commander rose up next to her. He stared at her for a moment, contemplating, and then reached out, a dark energy inherent in his palm.

Myra clutched desperately at the energy, feeling her death rapidly approaching. The dark energy was completely absorbed, transforming her body, dyeing her skin a dark black, as the hole in her chest rapidly healed. She fell unconscious, her body going into a hibernating state as she regenerated. The Shade Commander picked her up, and sank into the darkness of the earth.

All was silent in the city, now that the monsters had moved on. The Ruby and Emerald Drakes had returned to their underground home, leaving the Soran army to do as it pleased. The shades leading the beast warriors had left as well, returning back to Sora. The attributed beasts and remaining beast warriors had spread out, inhabiting the rest of the city and the countryside.

A cold wind blew past the empty field, not a sound to be heard. The echoes of a wolf cried out, as the night overtook the day.

Time has no beginning. Time is everlasting, always continuing forward, as Era’s come and go, leaving behind memories that become legends, and legends that fade to myth.

Time can pause or stumble, but Time will never turn back, only marching onwards, to a new day, to a new Age. Whether that Age brings hope or despair, only Time can tell.

Book 2, End.

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