chapter 19: the final confrontation

once inside the fog our heroes slow down and move closer together to avoid losing each other. utum makes his way to the front holding shield at his side fully prepared to block any blow that comes his way.moving through the fog blindly, the fog would be so thick they struggle to see each other leaving them without a clue as to where their foe may be"everyone one stick together and be on your guard we probably wont see the Aklha Fon until were almost on top of him."

Rex's squad all nod at their captains word not daring to wander far from each other. all their surroundings have vanished from their sight. the entire battlefield seems consumed by the white void. the screams of those still fighting getting quieter and quieter the further they go in as if the fog was consuming it all.

Though suddenly they all come to a stop as a new sound begins to dwell. as if a beast was ravenously devouring their prey the air begins to fill with the sounds of gnawing, slurping, grunts and the periodic snapping and crunching of what sounds like bones. it echos through the air making it impossible for our heroes to know where its coming from.

Suddenly though the sound stops as a loud thump could be heard seconds after. Out of nowhere a strong gust of air disperses the cold fog to reveal the Aklha Fon standing in front of his dead dragon. With Blood plastered around his mouth. he stands soaked in the blood of his beast as behind him there lies a gaping hole in his former mounts side. All the while his wicked gaze focuses in on gora as a deep rage dwell in his eyes. Placing a hand on his departed dragon he begins to speak in a calm voice that is choked by rage"this creature before me was the last of its kind my ancestors-"

Though not one to sit around gawking gora runs in front of utum and plants her feet on the ground. With all the fury she can muster she blasts the Aklha Fon mid sentence. One again getting blasted off her feet but with utum to catch her this time. The Aklha Fon is blown off his feat into the whole he ate of his beast."you killed my grandpa i dont give a shit about your dam flying lizard or any of your dam traditions im here to kill you!"

Shouting from Utums arms with an unbridled rage gora clearly has no intention to talk and quickly jumps out of her friends arms. Pointing her borrowed weapon towards the Aklha Fon who'd still be lying in the hole he ate out of his former mount. "Now stand up and fight me you bastard!"

The aklha fon holds the spot on his chest where goras attack struck this time without his ice armor her geia seems to have actually done a considerable amount of damage leaving a deep scorch mark on his chest along with smaller streaks of burnt flesh pushing out ward from the point of contact where the lightning spread.though he doesn't wince in pain instead he chills the wound freezing it over.

Once his wounds are patched up he pulls himself to his feet using the dragons corps as a brace. Upright again he looks to gora gritting his teeth. The temperature suddenly drops drastically getting colder by the second as frost begins spreading out from under the luutons feat. With eyes filled with rage he raises an empty palm to gora"fine then."

A blizzard of geia comes forth from his hand,utum thinking quickly throws gora behind him and plants his shield in the ground taking the blast head on. The icey blast pushes out to the side of utums shield causing ice to begin forming on his shield spreading out around it and pressing in threatening to simply go around the shield. forcing Utum and his friends to move closer together to avoid being buried in ice.

Though with it pushing them closer and closer as the ice leaks around Utum's shield rex, cofus, and the high king all take a side and start blasting the ice wall thats trying to close in on them. Though this only stops it from freezing over them instead the ice thickens on the outside encasing utum and every one behind his shield in a hallow block of ice.

Barely able to see the outside world gora looks around impatiently waiting for the Aklha Fon to stop pouring his geia onto them. Though soon the ice becomes too thick to even tell if hes still blasting them."what should we do captain?"

Secomi getting impatient looks around frantically trying to figure a way out but before rex can think of an answer the Aklha fons hand rips through the ice and lifts the entire block with a single hand above his head. lifting poor utum with it before throwing him and the ice block almost fifty feet away. With the barrier gone our heros are able to see the winter wonder land the Aklha Fon had created as for almost a hundred yards in all directions the ground is covered in a thick layer of frost.

Though gora and secomi have no time for wonder at the moment for the second they see the Aklha Fon they charge at him. Their attempt however is short lived as the luuton traps secomi in block of ice before he can even reach him. gora getting a bit closer goes to stab him with her javelin only for the luuton to simply grab it by the shaft and toss it away. Now without her weapon gora raises her hands to blast him once more though before she can even get her arms up the Aklha Fon's foot slams against her face knocking her away and onto the ground.

Rex and the high king having just watched gora and secomi fail to attack take different approaches. instead of running head on the two high nobles of of astra run to opposite sides of the luuton and with him between them they summon a wave of flames from the palm of their hands that collide against each other on the their foe. with the flames swallowing him whole they attack in small burst as to not lose sight of their enemy. Arvus having found more arrows loads her bow from a far not trying to get close to her brothers killer simply firing her arrows from a distance. Though once again the Aklha Fon simply takes her arrows head on not paying them any mind

With the aklha fon preoccupied cofus stands to secomis side and begins trying to melt the block of ice with his geia"come on you dolt hang in there ill get you out in a second."

Utum having been thrown a pretty good ways is slow to pick himself up. having landed with his sheild still attached to his arm the impact of the landing seems to have snapped it. Wincing at the pain as he removes his arm from the shield once out utum rips a part of his shirt off to create a sling for his broken arm. having tied it as tight as he can the friendly giant utum takes his right arm and with his teeth pulls the straps to tighten it onto his arm .as grunt of pain escapes his lips before looking back towards his allies and begins running back to them with his shield equipped on his other arm"dont worry Sicus i wont rest untill your killer is dead."

Gora having picked herself up several moments ago goes over to cofus trying to get secomi out of his icy prison and decides to help by pushing the block over smashing it to pieces and freeing secomi who immediately takes a deep breath"by the ancestors i thought i was done there for a moment "

Putting his palms together secomi releases some of his geia to warm himself. Having been in the ice for a few minutes secomi's skin would be a little blue. Gora and cofus look between each other then to their foe. then to the sitting secomi trying to warm himself up then back to each other. Sharing a looking of mutual understanding they nod before turning to their foe and begin running to the aide of their allies"well catch up when you're done being a human icicle secomi!"

Agitated by cofus teasing secomi quickly throws himself to his feet. With a fire in his eyes he begin running to catch up with the other two"hey don't count me out just yet!"

Riddled with arrows the Aklha Fon stands between captain rex and the high king. Countering their attacks with his geia though only able to block one at time various burns lay across his body. Cofus, gora, and secomi observe the three carefully trying to see where they can jump in without getting in the way.

Rex and the high king run circles around the Aklha fon trying to avoid physical contact with ice warrior instead letting it become a battle of geia. Their flames smashing against the the luuton's like waves against a cliff. Though with Aklha Fon Standing like a mountain their flames seem to have no effect. With most of the red already gone from rexes hair he takes a step back causing the high king to do the same."without Sicus i cant keep senselessly throwing my geia at him uncle!"

With the Aklha Fon between them simply standing their eyes focus in on him instead of each other. The high king pulls his sword from his sheath a beautiful red sword entirely from drakkite immbuded with the geia an ancient fire dragon from the lands of astra and points it towards the aklha fon" well then rex i believe if we wish to kill this invader we'll have to put our own lives on the line"

The aklha fon roll his eyes at the statments seeming bored and tired of fighting with his body barring significant damage he crouches down and place his hand on the ground. Causing all around him to look at him confusedly"are you giving up luuton?!?"

The aklha fon scoffs at the high king question and begins pouring his geia into the ground. A layer of ice begins to grow out of the frost covered dirt and quickly begins to shoot up becoming a pillar of ice that the Aklha fon stands on top of"enough! I grow tired of you people of the valley. I will not deny your strength but your strongest warrior has already fallen i see no reason to continue fighting you all one on seven. I came to conquer these lands and thats what i shall do "

Standing above everyone else the Aklha Fon raises a hand to the sky and begins spewing a blizzard from his palm straight up into the sky. Our heroes look at the display quite confused until the roaring of what sounds like a thousand luutons heading their way comes from the battlefield. The Aklha Fon laughs from on top of his pillar" soon my men will be here and soon you will all be-!"

Once again the Aklha Fon is interrupted though this time by a charging utum plowing through his tower of ice knocking the luuton to the ground. Gora ,cofus, and secomi seeing their chance all dash towards the Aklha Fon with weapons in hand as the luutons horde rush towards them.

Hitting the ground with a solid thump the Aklha Fon doesn't even get the chance to pick himself before gora lunges at him thrusting her spear right into his side. Now standing over her foe gora takes this opportunity to fire a bolt of lightning onto his back using the knock back of the blast to unlodge her spear out of the aklha fon. This time sticking her landing she looks onto her foe with a cocky grin as he pulls himself up" you think you're hordes are gonna make a difference?"

Utum looks at the approaching flock of mounted airborne warriors with discontent before looking back to his allies"captain can i get some help over here?"

Rex seeing the approaching horde sighs and looks to the high king with a look of weariness"uncle i dont have the geia reserves like you and cofus ill stay here and fight this bastard take cofus and go help utum"

The high king nods and rushes to go get cofus leaving just himself gora and secomi to face the Aklha Fon who had just picked himself up. With nothing to be said the warriors dash towards their foe. gora with the most enthusiasm reaches him first ducking under the giants slow punch to once again lodge her spear into his side this time letting it get stuck as she makes it behind him to blast bolt into his backside sending gora back abit though once again managing to land on her feat.

Secomi and rex blades meet the Aklha fons flesh at the same time as both slice at his torso. Charging right past the tired and battered warrior as the Aklha Fon simply takes the attacks without as much as flinching. Though with the three having made their attack he turns to face gora, pulling her spear out of his side and tossing it to gora much to her surprise. With the aklha fon staring at her she quickly picks it back up though confused as to why he gave it back.

Gora observes the Aklha Fon intensely By now most of the blood that had been plastered all over his face had dryed and chipped off leaving a rather repulsive texture across his face of dried bits of blood and mud adorn his face but what catches goras eyes the most is the fresh blood dripping from his hair where her grandfather had striked. The luutons eyes look heavy as they stare at gora no longer filled with the violent rage that had consumed them earlier. Though none of their attacks seem to ever get too deep the akhla fons body is littered with them.

Upon taking this info sense of confidence starts to grow in gora gripping the borrowed javelin from utum she stands up straight looking into the Aklha Fon eyes."it looks like your journey ends here luuton my grandfathers attack has down more than you care to admit."

The ahkla fon grits his teeth at goras cocky statement with his eyes regain much of their lost vigor. Still without a weapon he decides to make his own. Opening his palms he holds his hands and arms out straight as ice quickly forms on top of them. Banging his arms together he chips and shapes the ice into dull blades that he quickly begins sharpening against each other, wiping the smug look right off of goras face."me and my big mouth"

The Aklha fon with his new geia made weapons charges right for gora. gora not being one to run from a fight charges at him with Secomi and rex running to catch up from behind the luuton. Gora knowing the Aklha Fon strength far surpasses her own doesn't make the first attack instead she holds her weapon to her watching her opponent closely waiting for him to strike first.

With the two blades extending from his forearms the aklha fon raises them above his head and brings them down with such tremendous speed that gora barely manages to jump back in time with the very edge of one of the blades cutting her from above her left eyebrow down to her cheek. The rough ice being dull acting like a seraded edge giving her a nasty nonuniform cut. Though the aklha fon had swung his arms with so much force his blades and there for his arms as well got plunged into the ground. With her enemy bent over so far gora pushes past her pain and thrust her spear right into the Aklha fons left eye.

Stepping back in reaction to the pain the top half of of the icey blades snap stil lodged into the ground. Though he doesn't get to revel in his pain for long as secomi cones charging up from behind and pounces on him driving his sword down the Aklha Fon's backside, with rex following not far behind slicing at the giants legs. Pushing his geia through his sword rex slashes the luutons legs until he can no longer stand with them.

Falling to the ground and onto his belly gora grabs the mighty warrior by the hair pulling his his head up so that he is looking upon his incoming horde pointing to utum in the distance who would be waiting for the flock to get within range before summoning the pillar fire that would send them to their doom "look now aklha fon you are beaten and your reinforcements are being burnt like moths to a flame. Your invasion has failed and i soon will have my revenge"

The Aklha fons remaining eye looms into the distance saying nothing his lack of a reaction puts gora off.in his calmness gora anger begins to dwell causing her to once again pulls at the mighty warriors hair in hope of getting a reaction."what nothing to say has the realization of your defeat broken you?"

gora tugs and pulls on the grand chiefs hair her rage begins to consume her as the aklha fon remains silent simply staring off into the distance watching as his men are eviscerated "dam you say something!"

Though the luuton cheif says nothing only As the last of men fall from the sky to a firey death the aklha fon sighs"even the most ferocious winters end and bloom into spring, my only regret now is that i wont get to see the flowers that bloom from your corpses "

Suddenly temperature begins to rapidly drop as the aklha fons skin begins to frost over. startled gora lets go of the luutons hair right before it freezes over. Rex seeing this wastes time and bolts over to gora grabing her by Armour and tossing her as far he can towards utum "get to utum now!"

Secomi not bothering to question his captain quickly turns to around and run help gora. though before he even reaches her the Aklha Fons geia explodes from his body. the very air hardens into thick ice encasing both rex and the Aklha Fon himself. secomi looks back in horror as he watches his captain become trapped in the ice but with the expanding shock wave of the luutons geia secomi has no time to stop. gora seeing the shockwave wastes no time picking herself and rushing to utum in full panic mode" shit shit shit shit shit!"

the friendly giant himself though has yet to notice the expandning wave of geia heading right for him as hes still preoccupied with sending the aklha fons reinforcement down to the ground in in flames."utum turn your ass around!"

startled by goras shouting the friendly giant turns around quickly without even waiting for cofus or the high king to stop pouring their geia into his shield. so as he goes to turn his pillar of fire swings around with him. seeing this goras forced to drop to the ground in order to aviod becoming a charred corpse. luckily the flame quickly dies out and gora is able to get back to running for her life with a new sense of agitation to push her further. "utum you buffoon i already have that dammed luuton trying to kill me i don't need you helping him!"

running as fast she can gora makes it to utum with little time to spare. the sokaran warrior has to bend over to catch her breath with a exuasted secomi jumping behind just as the wave of ice freezes over. the high king and cofus push their geia to the sides in order stop the ice progressing into their space leaving the six heros of astra in a pocket of air under a mountain of ice.

though having just avioded death they relax for the moment. with their icey prison holding up his shield utum lets go of it to turn around and face the others"im glad we survived but how are we gonna get out of here"

"we'll catch our breath for a moment then me and the high king will just put more geia into your shield and melt our way out"

cofus quite confident with his plan begins to look around the small pocket of air causing a new look of dread to overcome him he looks to gora and secomi"wheres captain rex?"

bearing a look of guilt neither warrior looks cofus in the eye telling him all he needs to know. out of frustration he grabs secomi by the shirt and pulls him towards him frantically"Secomi wheres captain rex!"

though no words come from the young swordsman instead he simply embraces his comrade as all four of rex remains subordintes begin to sob. gora looks away in shame not able to look any of them in the eyes instead turning to face the ice wall which reflects her guilt ridden face back onto her causing her to begin to cry too. even the high king sheds a few tears for his fallen nephew letting them all express their greif for a moment before speaking up"enough of that for now we still have to get out of here alive or Rex's sacrifice will be in vane"

wiping their tears away they all gather themselves. utum once again grabs his shield ready for his comrades to pour their geia into it so that they may make their escape. with a somber heart cofus places his hand onto Utums shield giving it his geia. the collum of flames once again roars from utums sheild cracking and melting through the ice like it wasn't even there. eventually our heros make their way out from what the akhla Fon intended to be their tomb, once outside they're able to get some scale of the attack as they as they now find themselves at the edge of a mountain of ice. though our heros barely pay it any mind for more than a passing moment tired and burden with grief they simply make their way back to the remainder of their forces. the luuton hordes are no where to be seen as they walk back to their comrades they're met with the sound of a thousand cheers.Gora, the high king, Secomi, Arvus, Utum and Cofus approach the remaining soldiers a simple chant roars through the air" long live the heroes of astra!"

the high king smiles looking out to his army cheering for him. boldly stepping in front of the others with his chest held high he begins to yell" the Aklha Fon is dead, the war is over!"

the crowd erupts into a uproar somehow even louder than when they had been approaching them. the high king looks back to the five young warriors with a smile on his face"do you hear that my young friends this glory is for all of you defenders of the kingdom of astra. it seems when we return home you're all owed a lavish feast thrown in your honor."

our young warriors worn faces light up. utum so ridden with joy the giant hides behind his shield, cofus looking back onto the mountain of ice as it begins to break apart and collapse"my lord the only reward i need is that captain rex receives a hero's funeral "

the high king nods patting cofus on the back"of course cofus, but do no let his death sadden your heart he is with our ancestors now dinning in the great halls with astra"

cofus nods and looks back to the crowd of people cheering for him and his comrades moving towards them. arvus gazes upon those celebrating with somber eyes as tears gently glide down her face"if only sicus was here he would play something fitting for this moment"

Secomi who had been reveling in the praise looks towards Arvus and embraces her looking into her eyes as he does" would you still want to marry a fool like me Arvus?"

a look of suprise takes her face but only for moment as its quickly replaced with a genlte smile as she embraces him back"yes i would"

the two kiss pushing the crowd into another uproar. gora standing to the side of her comrades looks upon them with a weak smile before turning to an approaching kompsos on horse back with goras horse tethered to his."opli!"

seeing her horse gora quickly runs up to it and hugs its neck running her hands across its mane. kompsos smiles looking down at gora from ontop of his horse"once that mountain of ice formed the luutons retreated and i figured you'd want to rest on your horse after a long battle"

gora smiles looking up to kompsos while leaning agianst her horse"thank you kompsos that was very thoughtful''

a deep smile comes across kompsos face. feeling abit flustered he changes the subject as he looks around"so where is lord dyues did the old man already call it a day?"

and just like that the smile from goras face vanishes as she looks to the ground her arms falling to her side telling kompsos all he needs to know. hopping off his horse he hugs gora in an attempt to soothe her but as he does gora starts to burst out in tears."there will be time to cry later gora for now let us celebrate our victory"

gora nods wiping away her tears before hoping onto her horse"you're right thank you kompsos"

looking over to he comrades gora rides over to them with kompsos not far behind"this my friends is where we part ways"

a collective look of disbelief pushes itself onto their faces. cofus who had barely been in ear shot runs up to gora looking almost offended"youre leaving now? we just won a grand celebration is in order!"

gora looks onto her friends with a weak smile and shakes her head"im sorry but with my grandfather dead the lands of Sokara are left without a ruler i must now go take my place as lord of Sokara. i hope we meet again"

the high king steps forward with a big smile on her face"i think you meen their queen as promised all these lands are yours gora along the northern side of the potami river and once youre crowned i offer you a seat at my council of kings"

gora raises an eyebrow at that offer, but for now says nothing more. instead she just nods her head and waves goodbye as she turns to leave, off on her way back to Sokara.