Direct Clash

Half a day had passed since the De Vonders joined the battle. After so many hours of continuous attack on the enemy, their magical reserves began to diminish; they needed a rest.

"They're not humans!" Master Emeral had not only been humiliated; she had also been found lacking. "No title magician could fight that way; no one has that much magic energy, impossible."

'All day! They've been fighting all day. I still can't believe it. Now, those are titled magicians.'

The comments of the soldiers and other magicians made Emeral and the other titled masters and magicians feel ashamed. The de Vonders returned to the rear to take a well-deserved rest. They rejected any attempt by the members of the army to approach them. Which was not very well received by the soldiers, but nobody dared to complain.

Meanwhile, inside the miasma, Delfin and Xavier advanced.

'At least one of your boys will die in this fight; you know that, don't you?' asked Delfin.

'I was not born yesterday, Dolphin; it is possible that none of us will come out alive from this fight. We are all aware of that; the boys are no exception.'

'I don't ask for much, just to live enough to see the masters of the tower fall.'

'As far as I am concerned, you are also one of them, so go ahead. I hope that you all kill one another,' Xavier reminded him.

They continued to travel in an uncomfortable silence.

Outside the myasma, things were getting complicated; now that they had invaded the enemy territory, they met with the real inhabitants of the miasma.

'Beware, Ents!' yelled a magician before the branches of the Ent dragged him into the densest areas of miasma.

The other magicians launched their attacks against the ent, which was bombarded by ice spears. Now all the magicians of all elements had entered the battle.

'By the heavens!' said Gaelion in sight of what was standing before his eyes.

Just where the miasma became less dense, the resurrected body of a huge dragon became visible. His scales looked dry and brown, and his eyes had dried up, turning into two deformed balls of a gray color. The creature emitted a roar; its breath was concentrated miasma that covered the army troops. Gaelion used his magic to create an ice dome that protected him and most of the soldiers and magicians around him. Amelia did her part; she used her earth magic to build a stone dome. Their actions saved most of the men and women in the range of myasma breath. Nevertheless, the army's troops suffered several casualties. In the distance, several knights carried huge crossbows loaded with steel arrows tied to very thick ropes.

'Steady, Shoot!' ordered one of the generals of the dynasty.

The giant arrows flew toward the dragon, clawing into his body. The design of the tips kept the arrows anchored in the flesh of the resurrected dragon.

'Now, Pull!'

Hundreds of knights activated their enchanted armor; their combined strength plus the effect of the armor allowed them to pull the dragon, which was trying to retreat into the miasma. Half the body of the resurrected dragon was already out of the miasma; the monster opened his mouth to use his miasma breath.

'Forgive me, Floo.' Temma recognized the dragon who hunted to feed the larvae in the past. He used to be the fastest, cheerfulest, and most playful of the dragons. Now he was nothing more than a bunch of dead flesh without a mind of its own. With tears in his eyes, Temma threw one of the steel arrows with his own hands.

The arrow flew through the air at high speed and clawed into the throat of the resurrected dragon. The attack stopped the formation of his miasma breath.

'Now!'

Taking advantage of the situation, with one last pull, the knights used all their strength, bringing the dragon's whole body out of the miasma. Like a puppet whose ropes are cut off, the giant zombie fell to the ground. The knights celebrated their victory. Temma approached the body.

'Goodbye, rest in peace.'

Temma placed his hand on the dragon's scales, and his fire magic passed directly onto the corpse, making it burn to ashes, while the knights applauded. Temma suppressed his hatred of humans, walked toward his dragon in silence, and climbed on his shoulders. They lifted up in the air and attacked the miasma again.

The battle continued; golems, zombie dragons, entes, skeletons of dragons, and giants were now facing the human forces.

'According to our generals, apparently our attack in the last war was effective. The number of soldiers in the chaos world is much less numerous than during the previous war. We believe that most were eliminated by the All Father explosion; Clinton may only count with the residue that survived that disaster,' Heigdal announced.

'Is there any news from the shadow magicians that we have sent into the miasma?' asked Astrid.

'Not yet. They haven't found Van Ferra yet. But it seems that the placement of the diagrams is progressing at a good pace. It is a matter of time until we find something,' replied Lydia.

Astrid looked toward the miasma that ceded under the attacks of thousands of magicians and the De vonders and their dragons.

'I have a bad feeling,' said Astrid. 'I know Clinton; he must be up to something.'

A few minutes later, people and animals near the battlefield suddenly stopped. The sensation produced by the alteration of the elemental energy was unpleasant for everyone.

'Clinton has begun to move,' said Lydia.

At the same time, Xavier and the salamanders had a strange feeling. The earth trembled and rose up, creating a huge humanoid creature.

'What is that, Pelana?' asked Emeral.

'That's a golem,' replied a petite woman, barely a meter fifty, with blue eyes and a face that, despite belonging to a woman over forty years old, had a certain childish appearance. Her body was covered with armor-shaped rocks that only allowed her face to be seen.

A giant made of stone and clay had risen from the ground, its joints were formed by several Ents that produced a dense miasma that covered most of its structure. Meanwhile, at the foot of the stone giant, an army of zombies marched out of the miasma. A small cloud of miasma covered their bodies, keeping them active.

'These are our shadow magicians,' said Emeral. "Clinton used the magicians we sent into the miasma to track him as a sacrifice for his arcane magic."

'Initiate a counterattack,' ordered Emeral.

The magicians were preparing to attack the zombies and other creatures coming out of the miasma, but their faces turned in frustration.

'What's going on?'

'Why doesn't my magic work?'

Even the titled masters had difficulty using their magic.

"The imbalance of elemental energy is too intense for normal magicians." 'Retreat, retreat,' Emeral commanded the magicians.

'We can't do anything; the knights will have to take care of the zombies,' said Gaelion as he tried to cover the retreat.

The knights went to battle against zombies and other creatures.

A loud voice caught everyone's attention. The stone giant was laughing.

'More, I want more!' it repeated while swinging its huge arms around.

The arms of the stone golem fell on the battlefield, crushing both the monsters and the knights and soldiers. Roots and branches spread from the Ents and captured the living; a few seconds later, their bodies were drained of all life and fell to the ground like gray and dry bodies, only to rise again like zombies a few moments later. Between the rear and the battle front, at a safe distance, the generals of the kingdoms argued. Among them was Bulcho, who had recently been promoted to general of the dynasty.

'Bulcho, go to the rear; inform Lydia that we need reinforcements from the dark court. We have sent messengers, but we received a refusal; go there and explain the severity of our situation,' ordered one of the most experienced generals. The generals had agreed and decided to send Bulcho to face the wrath of an irritated and dangerous Lidia.

Bulcho rode a horse to the rear.

'Excellency Lydia. We need reinforcements; the arcane magic is impossible to face for the knights. They're being captured and used as sacrifices by the stone giant.'

'We can't help you yet; we need to save the warlocks to confront Clinton directly.' Lydia refused to help the knights.

'That is Clinton,' pointed Astrid to the giant. 'He must be in there, somewhere.'

As they argued, the giant continued to attack the army, consuming their lives. The De Vonders came closer to each other; the dragons were flapping their wings in the sky.

'What is going on?' asked Uruk.

'I don't know, but that thing, that giant, feels like the All Fathe,' replied Temma.

'That guy Clinton must have done something to the All Father, or maybe the miasma consumed him, and now he is... this thing,' Moger added.

'We have to do something. The All Father is suffering. I can feel it; we have to save him.' Uruk's voice had a mixture of anger and despair.

There was only one thing left to do. They knew that they could not save the All Father. The salamanders looked at each other and nodded. They guided the dragons using the reins and launched their attacks on the stone giant. The fire of the de Vonders did not have much effect on the stone and soil that formed the giant, but it did some damage to the ents that made the joints. Their small size relative to the giant and their speed gave them a mobility advantage. The stone golem was slow; his swinging arms failed to hit the flying dragons.

'Retreat,' the generals ordered.

The actions of the Vonder gave the army the opportunity to retreat and regroup. Meanwhile, inside the miasma, Xavier stopped the dragon.

'What's the matter? Has this arcanal magic changed something?' asked Delfin.

'Yeah. Now the grandfather sits in another direction,' replied Xavier.

'So, what do we do now?'

'I don't know; the grandfather seems to have moved over there, but the dissaray of the elemental energy is also in that direction,' Xavier pointed to his left. The visibility in the miasma was almost zero. Xavier had a bad feeling; that area was dangerous, and so far they had not found any monsters because of the height to which they traveled.

Xavier made a decision and continued to fly in a straight line in the same direction he was traveling before.

Meanwhile, in the rear, a group of warlocks members of the dark court, dual magicians with affinity for wind and shadow, wearing enchanted clothes that covered them from head to toe, approached Lydia. The speed of these warlocks was astonishing; they ran around the battlefield in seconds and entered and left the miasma as if they were shadows.

'Did you find anything?' asked Lydia.

'Nothing,' replied one of the sorcerers, showing an enchanted cristal. 'There's nothing alive in there; Clinton isn't near that giant; we explored the whole area around it and got nothing.'

Lydia looked at Astrid, who looked at the giant. "He is in there, I'm sure, my instinct tells me," Astrid called for a messenger.

'Bring master Pelana; I need her help.'

A few minutes later, the earth-titled master arrived at the rear.

'I know you can invoke a giant golem too; I need you to do it,' said Astrid.

The master showed a face of worry. 'It takes a lot of energy to form a giant golem; it will be smaller than that giant, and I can only sustain it for about five minutes. After that, I will be close to the magical depletion, and I will not be able to fight again for at least one day. Besides, I need help from other earth magicians; our defenses will be reduced dratically.'

'I understand. Do it,' replied Astrid after a few minutes of consideration. 'I will make sure that the De Vonders collaborate.'

Astrid rode on a horse and approached the battle front. Even with the alteration of the elemental energy, she managed to use her ice spears to attack the giant in the same places where Temma was attacking, which drew his attention and caused him to approach Astrid, who explained his plan.

'Can we count on you to attack alongside Master Pelana's golem?"

'Okay, we will help,' said Temma. The truth was that the de Vonders attacks on the golem were not very effective.

Astrid returned to the rear to inform Pelana.

'We will also lead a hand,' said Lydia, calling one of the magicians of the dark court. She said something to his ear. The hooded man nodded.

A few minutes later, several carriages traveled to the front line. They were actually cages; they were covered with thick cloth, so you couldn't see the inside. But Astrid and a few others knew perfectly well what they were carrying.

"Sacrifices"

A few hours later, the army was ready to counter-attack the giant golem. Master Pelana, Amelia, and other elite earth magicians joined forces to form a giant golem of their own. The new giant was controlled by Master Pelana, and the other magicians contributed their earth magic energy to keep its integrity. It took only a few minutes to form the new Golem.

'Let's see how you fight someone your size,' said the master, using her golem's right arm to hit Clinton's giant. The attack caused the giant to fall to the ground. The De Vonder bombarded the fallen golem with their fire magic. Pelana continued to attack the giant, and each strike tore apart some of the rock that formed Clinton's giant golem.

Meanwhile, the dragon carrying Xavier and Delfin began to descend.

'Why are we going down?' asked Dolphin.

'It's not me; the dragon is doing it on its own, and he doesn't obey me, it seems like... '

'What's going on?'

Xavier smiled. 'I am listening to a song,' he replied, recalling the stories of how the salamanders received their living flames. His words only confused Delfin.

The dragon went down to the ground.

'Damn it!' cried Xavier. In front of them were two Ents. The branches and roots of the monsters traveled at high speed towards them.

'Don't do anything!' warned Dolphin.

Branches and roots surrounded the dragons, Delfin and Xavier, and the thorns began to clow into their bodies.

—Nelman Atum el Domel Phir—.

The elemental energy of the surroundings was distorted. Delfin's hands touched the branches and roots, and his fire energy, empowered by arcane magic, traveled to the bodies of the Ents, causing them to burn to ashes.

'I just hope that this journey is worth it. I have just wasted about five or six years of my life.' complained Delfin while panting, covered in sweat.

'We'll find out soon.'

The dragon continued to walk towards a small cave, and the song that Xavier was listening to became clearer. Two Zombi dragons guarded the entrance to the cave due to the poor visibility caused by the miasma. Xavier and Delfin didn't notice the presence of the dragons until they were too close.

'Come on!' said Xavier in a defeated tone.

'We're fucked. I can't beat those even with arcane magic.'

Both had already given up on their lives; however, the dragons did not attack. Xavier opened his eyes in surprise and came down from the dragon. "He's holding them."

'Run!' he yelled.

Both ran into the cave. Behind them, the dragon in which they were traveling hurried away from the cave. Once they had entered the cave, the two zombie dragons at the entrance issued a roar but did not try to enter after them.

'What happened?' asked Delfin. 'Why didn't they attack us?'

'The All Father always gives us what we need,' replied Xavier, causing even more confusion in Delfin.

The cave was not very deep, it was obvious that it had been excavated by someone. At the end of the cave, an oval, semi-transparent crystal, the size of a human head, emitted a light glow. Flames of the colors of each of the elements circulated around it; inside, what looked like a human heart was pounding. Myasma entered and exited the arteries and veins of the heart and circulated around the inner wall of the oval crystal.

'This is arcane magic,' said the Delfin, looking in all directions around the cave. Hundreds of diagrams, runes, and other carvings that he didn't even know covered the walls of the cave.

Xavier could not listen to Delfin's words; the melody he was hearing flooded his ears and blocked any other sounds. Before Delfin could stop him, Xavier had taken the crystal into his hands. The old burn scars on his body reacted to the crystal and began to burn. His eyes turned bright yellow, as if they were two pieces of burning metal.

'Xavier!' Yelled Delfin.

'Calm down; I'm fine,' replied Xavier, still holding the crystal. His tone of voice was strange, as if he were a different person.

'What is going on?' asked Delfin.

'I'm looking at the past. This place is what remained after the All Father's explosion; its core, so to speak, it was too pure to be contaminated immediately by the miasma. It held out for a long time, until Clinton came to this world. There is no life in this world, so there is no way to use arcane magic. Clinton used his own life as a sacrifice to link his existence to the great father. This is Clinton's heart,' said Xavier, pointing to the heart inside the crystal he held.

Delfin pulled out a dagger with the intention of stabbing the crystal in Xavier's hands.

'Don't even try. The flames of this thing would melt the dagger; if you try to destroy it, it will defend itself. The whole cave and all the diagrams will attack you. The only reason I can touch this is because there are fragments of a flame of life and dragon blood inside me. What's left of the All Father is protecting me, just as he protected us from the dragons at the entrance.' Xavier began to cough and spit blood.

'You're dying, aren't you?'

Xavier smiled. 'Everything has a price.'