chapter 7

There had been many attacks in the past that Elowen and the rest of the guardians faced without fear, but none of them were like Bahdar. They had not only fought Bahdar in different dimensions but at different timelines, too.

There was a time when Bahdar nearly killed Melanie, which forced her to tap into greater magic. This magic makes Melanie duplicate herself, but the opposite turns out to be evil, wielding twice the power of Bahdar and Melanie. It took the intervention of the supreme guardian and the gods before they erased the timeline from existence but with consequence. Part of the consequences are what leads to Melanie's death.

This timeline was created. Not the Aethoria kingdom, but this actual timeline.

In short, this timeline was not supposed to exist. Melanie shouldn't die yet because her time is yet to come. Aerolia shouldn't exist; neither does King Saul, at least not in this timeline. But that's the consequence Melanie had to face for creating an evil copy of her, which leads to the erasing of a timeline from existence.

"Who is Melanie?" Aeloria asked naively, oblivious of the demon in front of her and what he could do. "Declare yourself or face the wrath—"

Elowen held her back, wriggling her head at Aeloria's ignorance. Well, she couldn't blame her. The Aethoria kingdom had never been attacked before, nor had the barrier been breached, and it shouldn't, not even with demons like Bahdar. For this to happen, that means there's a loophole or something greater than Bahdar is approaching.

"Aeloria," Elowen called, her voice barely above a whisper. "Run to the Leader now for help."

The demon frowned and then looked at Aeloria closely. "You're not her?" It was a confusing question. "But you…"

The demon completed his speech by summoning lava from the earth and slamming it at Aeloria. "You will be a harbinger of death!" He roared.

Aeloria stood in shock, unable to do anything but watch as the lava approached with a speed she had never seen.

"Behind me!" Elowen yelled, stepping forward with a barrier. The sound of heavy collision filled the air as the lava and barrier collided, leading to the shaking of the earth. "Run, now!" Elowen yelled, and this time, Aeloria didn't argue. She summoned a portal, jumping inside and leaving Elowen to face Bahdar.

"Elowen," Bahdar called with his deep, hellish voice. "You're a lone guardian that can't deal any damage."

Elowen smiles, filling her hand with electricity and then directing it at Bahdar.

The demon absorbed it easily.

Elowen brought her powers to bear on this individual, but it remained unaffected. She summoned swarms of deadly insects, but they were swallowed by the demon. She tried 'A Murder of Ravens in Fugue,' bringing forth a dozen undead ravens from the Gates of the guardian's dimension. Heralds of Death that could inspire fear in those they attacked, but their calls seemed to echo and fade as if Bahdar was simply much too far away for their song to carry.

"Well then," Elowen shrugged, knowing that nothing she did would affect Bahdar. "Maybe a duel will do."

She summoned her weapon from the pocket dimension. Letting out a great battle cry that echoes throughout the fountain, Elowen launched at Bahdar with her great Warhammer made of hardened, unbreakable petrified wood, which would imprison those it struck in the same material. The demon was fast, faster than the previous Bahdar that Elowen knew—almost as fast as a demon assassin, but the centuries of training with Melanie paid off, and she finally hit her target.

For a moment, the demon was cocooned, and it seemed the battle was won, but a moment later, the wood began to vibrate and quake until it shook itself apart, throwing Elowen clear.

Elowen regained her stances almost immediately and rushed at the Bahdar with her golden Sword of Marda, imbued with the power of the gods, but the demon opened a pocket dimension of his own, from which he produced a great fireball with a purple color and aimed it at Elowen.

Time slowed as Elowen looked on in horror: From her readings, it seemed like a version of what Melanie and her evil clones used years ago, only even more powerful.

The idea of a more powerful fireball was plausible enough in itself since a fireball drew power entirely from the being who channeled it. The summoner of a weapon was the real weapon—any weapon summoned merely aided focus.

A more purple fireball like this meant Bahdar had help from someone to help boost his existence and only one being could do that, a demon hunter. Just one problem: There were no more demon hunters. Maybe not anywhere, but certainly in the previous timeline, there were but three: Lora, Khali, and Lydia.

Since Lydia didn't exist in this timeline, and the remaining two were dead, Elowen couldn't help but wonder who helped Bahdar boost his power.

But if this attack was indeed what it appeared to be, Elowen was certain she would not survive. She could always sense when she was fated to die, and this was not one of those occasions. The gods had created her with the knowledge that if ever she died when it wasn't time, she could never be resurrected. She would die, permanently. Forever.

All guardians have that knowledge, and being the last one, she couldn't allow that, not yet. Not when the rest laid down their lives for her after the death of Melanie so she could harbor their power in case of a time like this.

In a last desperate attempt to make her existence count for something, she channeled every last drop of power from her source through her sword to strike at the demon. As she did so, she hit something invisible, the pain rippling around Elowen's body instead.

In the blink of an eye, three more figures, like void creatures, appeared between her and Bahdar.

For some seconds, Elowen's vision was blurry.

The void creatures seemed to be shrouded by magic. All she could make out through her haze of pain was that they seemed to have a more male silhouette, and each seemed to radiate a particular color: one purple, one black, and one red. They had woven some kind of magical net between them, which had a lensing effect on both energy beams, magnifying Elowen's and diffracting the attack.

The result of this intervention was threefold: First, Elowen was thrown to the ground in agony, but still alive—barely. Second, Bahdar himself was stunned as if he wasn't expecting help, long enough for the three newcomers to go on the offensive with what appeared to be a combination of all three flavors of mortal magic: wizard, cleric, and druid.

Amidst the pain and the ringing sound in her head, Elowen wants nothing more than to know about the three newcomers through the nature magic that's flowing through her as a guardian, but she finds nothing about them. They were shrouded in darkness.

The third effect of this intervention, however, was that the portion of the diffracted blast that had missed Elowen slammed into the village around them.

A loud collision rang out, followed by the screaming of mortals as they ran for their dear lives. The three creatures joined the collision, starting a massacre.

"Meet my friends," Bahdar chuckled, a deep guttural one. "Now, it's the end for you, guardian."

Bahdar raised his war hammer, swinging at the weakened and helpless Elowen with unimaginable speed.

"Not under my watch," Aeloria came forward, her body radiating bright golden light, just like her mother when she was fighting Augur Storm.

She drew power from the same portal that brought Bahdar, turning it into blood magic and sending the thought into Bahdar's head like a spear.

It caught him unaware for two reasons. One, he wasn't expecting to meet a divine guardian who could draw magic from darkness, and two, Bahdar never thought his mind could be penetrated, not by a guardian. Guardians were always fearful of the repercussions of infiltrating a demon's mind because it would corrupt their souls.

Only a demon hunter could do that, and none of them exist anymore; at least, that's what people believe.

Bahdar yelled in real pain for the first time in his existence. It's a loud, painful, and dark tone rippled through the fiber of the Aethoria kingdom, shredding the barrier that protects the kingdom from outer threat, breaking down the swirling vortex that's rotating in the sky, and the fire started raining down as the vortex shattered.

"You should die," Bahdar managed to say as he started disintegrating. "If not, you will bring more blood. Nothing but death."