Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Hero Returns

The Re-Awakening of the Raynian Prince


               Sly, and Roux find themselves back on planet Rayne, the green light of the moon shown that before them stood just a sliver, of Thorum’s undead army. A sliver, in which was one hundred thousand strong. The two felt weak at the sight of the fallen. As though their soul had been ripped from their bodies at the mere sight of what was Thorum’s true strength, his undead slaves. All of these poor people forced to walk among the living, long after they had passed on, by Thorum’s armies before, now they are nothing but his slaves. Above the undead was Thorum himself, floating atop, perched on a rock, still his face was hidden. They could feel his satisfaction without being able to see his face, they knew he was smiling.
               “Ha…ha-ha-ha!” Sly belched a laugh at the full view of what stood in front of him. Roux looked at him with disgust; he knew they could never compete against an army of this magnitude.
               “Your laughing!? Don’t you get it…this is the end you fool! The powers you were given are near gone, and I am almost completely drained. How can you laugh at a time like this!?” Snapped Roux as Sly continued to laugh.
               “Oh…you know, because it’s the end.” Sly said, as he caught his breath. He glanced over at Roux and realized that Roux had aged at least three times more as he tried to heal himself. “Those powers of his sure do take a toll.” He thought as he stood up straight. He glanced into the distance, hoping to find a way to survive this battle…but the numbers lie heavy against them, and he knew it, he never was one to deny when the chips were against him. “Stop trying to heal yourself Roux, it’s not going to make a difference. Save your strength and hope we make it out of here alive…but in truth I think only one of us will. Laraniss…I’m sorry I couldn’t resurrect you and help you reclaim your people…I’m afraid that they are all gone anyway. They are standing in front of me.”
               Roux finally realized that the shimmering green light, wasn’t the moon at all…it was the aura’s of all of the Raynian people…Thorum truly was made of pure evil. He turned the Prince’s people into an undead army and he now forces them to fight against their once beloved Prince…he was supposed to be their savior. He shot a cold glance at Thorum as he hovered above the battle field, safe and sound. Roux began to flood with anger, he had no allegiances to these people, but still he knew that this was wrong. Thorum sits back as these poor people are forced to do his bidding, never feeling eternal rest even though they are long gone.
               “Why don’t you fight us yourself Thorum!? You’re a coward sitting all cozy up there with no one to challenge you!” Roux yelled. He couldn’t help himself, his rage had taken him over, and Thorum had to be stopped. Sly looked over at Roux with wide eyes. He had never seen Roux act this way, usually he was cool and collected…maybe it was because his powers were nearly gone, usually he can make a problem go away, just by thinking of it being gone. That is what makes his power special after all. Sly smiled again; perhaps they had finally become friends.
               “Yeah, you’re nothing but a…” Sly couldn’t finish his sentence; he suddenly realized that Thorum was coming over to them. He was swept with fear again.
               “Sly, I’m going to try and take him out with the last bit of power that I have, you try to get out of here, you need to bring the Prince back, and it’s the only chance of taking this guy down once and for all.” Whispered Roux as he snapped his fingers and two giant fists formed around him. This must have taken a lot of strength, because Roux quickly aged ahead at least another ten years. Seeing how he was only a few years older than Sly, and now he looked to be near sixty rather than his usual mid twenties.  It was then, that Sly figured it out, right then as he watched Roux age before his very eyes. He knew what the key to reviving the Prince was. That is why they needed the Dragon, and the Life blade. The swords of life and death forged by the first gods themselves.
               “Roux…I’ve got an idea, but you’re not gonna like it.” Sly said as he lifted the two swords.
               “Well you had better say it quick, because he’s coming over here.” Replied Roux, as Thorum floated towards them…they could finally catch a glimpse of his eyes. They were black…as if in a story, the eyes of true evil, black…nothingness. His eyes alone struck fear in them, their stomachs’ in knots. Thorum was hovering directly above them, his cloak fluttering in the wind. He leapt from his stone and slowly fell to the ground, landing with a subtle “tick” and there he stood. Thorum himself; the Demon ruler of Planet Rega. He removed his hood to reveal his face. It was then they had finally laid eyes on him. He was short in stature but his presence alone made him seem like a giant before them. He had mid length gray hair and a round face with a short chin, but a nose that had a large scar on it. His face had almost no color, yet it was gray, with dark cracks that seemed like wrinkles at first glance. There was almost no shred of human features left in him. He was the demon now…at least in his looks.
               “You…you’re so…short! Hahaha!” Roux couldn’t help himself; the demon king that stood in front of him was nothing like what he had imagined. “Where are your horns?” Roux grabbed his stomach as he laughed and lowered his head, trying to catch his breath, he raised his head again, to find Thorum standing less than an inch away, and he looked into those cold dark eyes and instantly returned to feeling nothing but fear. Thorum quickly, in an instant, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off of the ground.
               “Do I still seem short now?” Thorum finally spoke, his voice was odd. It seemed as if there were three voices fighting to speak together, but a deep cracking one came out. Sly stood wide eyed as he watched his companion being lifted off of the ground as if he were nothing. He decided that it was now or never to act. He leapt forward towards Thorum, as Roux kicked his legs trying to get free. Sly threw the Dragon blade towards him in hopes of catching him off guard; the sword pierced him in the chest. Thorum now stood with a sword in his chest, un-phased and still holding Roux above him. It was as if he didn’t even notice, as Sly made his way towards them Thorum shot a cold stare, and rose his hand, a large wall of stone rose from the ground directly in front of Sly. He didn’t have time to avoid it instead he went through it with a “CRUNCH” the wall came down, and Sly fell to the ground and rolled. Sly found himself at Thorum’s feet. He wasn’t sure if he had rolled there, or if Thorum came to him. He was still holding Roux by his throat, but he was dragging him across the ground now, his nails digging into Roux’s throat.
               “So, you want to play too?” Thorum said as he lunged over Sly, the sword still in his chest. This time a different voice came out, this one was higher and more mischievous.  Suddenly, Roux manifested a shark around him and the shark bit Thorum’s shoulder, releasing him from his grasp. “OWW! It bit us!” Thorum screamed in pain. What was going on? Just a moment ago, he took the most powerful sword, a sword forged by gods directly to the chest, and didn’t even notice. But that hurt him? Roux didn’t stop to think about what was happening; as usual he chose to act directly. Roux charged straight for Thorum, again creating two giant fists around his hands, he swung his arms towards Thorum, and the fists leapt forward directly toward him, Thorum was much too fast though, using his powers to control elements, the ground below him lifted up and flung him into the air, and in mid air, he rose his arms above his head and formed a large ball of fire; he flung the ball directly at Roux. Roux acted as quickly as he could, but it wasn’t fast enough. He formed a shield in front of him, but when the ball made contact, the shield shattered, jettisoning Roux onto his back.
Sly rose himself up, he had no feeling in his left arm, but his determination made him able to refuse to stay down. He called upon every bit of energy that the Prince had given him and his Aura slowly began to engulf him, his eyes changing from their usual soulfully beautiful light green, to a dark and powerful red. Roux tried to roll over, but he was drained, he had used nearly all of his years(his power) and was now nothing but skin and bone, an old man, near death, he was done. All he could do was turn his head, and to his surprise he witnessed as Sly began to change. His body began to transform, his muscles bulged, and his short red hair began to grow to mid length and turned to black in color.
               “It’s not possible…how could he be transforming?” Roux thought. Raynians were known for being a warrior race not only for their thirst for battle, but where their true strength lay was their ability to transform their bodies and become stronger, much stronger. As the ground began to shake and the sky darkened, in a bright red flash of light, Sly came back into view. He had somehow transformed into an “Elite”, the ultimate form of a Raynian Warrior. “Could the Prince still be feeding him some of his power? Yes! That is the only explanation for his being able to transform like that, even though he has no true Raynian blood flowing through his veins…I’ve only heard stories of the Elite Raynians…it’s incredible.” Roux said.
               As the smoke cleared, Sly appeared into view; one arm dead, but the rest of him much more powerful. He stared at Thorum. Thorum seemed surprised, but he managed to smirk, and at that moment Sly vanished. Roux tried to search but his body forbade it, he looked at Thorum, and there he was. Sly stood inches from Thorum, looking down at the Demon; still smirking, as if this were a part of his plan.  Sly reached for his sword that was still imbedded in Thorum’s chest, and slowly pulled it from him. Thorum allowed this; it was an odd sort of interaction between the two with no words. As he pulled his blade from the Demon, Thorum looked up at Sly, and finally looked into his eyes. His new red eyes of the Elite were piercing, and then, Thorum stuck his tongue out at him as if he were a child trying to be playful. Sly was taken aback; he took his sword and threw it into the air behind him. The sword flew through the air then fell and pierced the ground, directly next to Roux’s hand. Surprised, Roux used the sword to pull himself up to his feet. When he looked at them again, Sly was gone! Even Thorum had lost sight of him, he looked in all directions, then used the ground at his feet to cover his body like armor.
               “I just had an interesting conversation with the Prince.” Roux’s heart jumped to find that Sly was standing next to him.
               “Don’t do that! Can’t you see I’m an old man now?” He said with a laugh. But Sly didn’t laugh back. “What’s the matter? Look at you, you’ve transformed into an Elite without being Raynian…does this mean I can do that!?” He replied with excitement.
               “No…I’m not fully transformed. This is Laraniss’ power. He gave it to me so that we could survive this. I figured out how to revive him…but he won’t let me, that is why he gave me this power.” Sly said.
               “What the hell? Isn’t that why we’re here? What, is he scared?” Asked Roux.
               “No, he doesn’t want me to die for him.” A tear shed down his cheek as he answered.
               “Die? I thought he gave you that power to survive!?” Replied Roux with dismay.
               “He did; WATCH OUT HERE HE COMES!!” Thorum had grown tired of this conversation, after seeing Sly’s new powers come to light, he wanted to test them, and was charging at them with a full head of steam. Not only was his body covered in stone armor, but his hands were now engulfed in flames, but with a red flash he was met by Sly’s foot to the right side of his face. He took the blow as if a bug had bit him. Annoyed, he grabbed Sly by the ankle and slammed him into the ground, which had formed a hole under him, and covered him like a coffin. Thorum then formed a new ball of fire with both hands and was aiming at were Sly was covered by the ground. With a loud explosion Sly flew from stone ground into the air. The explosion sent Thorum flying backwards landing at the feet of his undead army. His loyal minions made their way to help their master up. Sly hovered above them, and before they had the chance to help Thorum, they were blown away by a large red ball of energy. He turned and flew back to Roux.  
               “Listen, before he has a chance to get up. You have to take my life.” Said Sly as he helped Roux up by placing his arm around his neck.
               “You really need to explain this, I’m not going to take your life force to save myself, and we’re in this together!!” Snapped Roux.
               “There isn’t time, you’re just going to have to trust me, I don’t like it either, but it’s the only way.” Sly snapped back. Roux looked up at his friend, and could see in his eyes, he had a plan, and there was no other way…he realized that this whole time, he had been crying…mid battle.
               “Fine…what do I have to do then?” Roux agreed with hesitation.
               “Use the Dragon Blade to take my life force for yourself.” He said as he reached behind him and manifested the Life Blade. “Then plunge the Life Blade into my chest. Alongside the Dragon Blade, it’s imperative that they are both in my chest, otherwise it won’t work. Thorum had finally risen back to his feet, and had them both in his sights now.
               “Exactly what are you two planning?” They hadn’t been paying attention to Thorum, he made his way to them and was now standing in front of them. He was different again; this new voice, seemed…human. “You’re not planning on reviving that ignorant Prince are you? Now that would just ruin my day, and I was having a very good day!!” As he spoke a wall of flames surrounded them. The heat from the fire stung as they stood in awe of this new part of Thorum. He reached for the Dragon Blade, but it shocked him, as if it were rejecting him.
               “That sword chooses who wields it. No matter how hard you try, you can’t pick it up.” Said Sly as Roux picked up the Dragon Blade. “Now Roux, DO IT!!”
               “I’ll finish this Sly!!” Yelled Roux as he plunged into Sly’s chest with the Dragon Blade. Using his powers to pull Sly’s life force into him, as Roux aged backwards, becoming younger, Sly aged forward, becoming older, slowly dying. Roux was now able to stand on his own two feet, by taking Sly’s life force he had now become many times more powerful than he had ever been. He picked up the Life Blade from Sly’s clenched hand, and raised it into the air, but before he had the chance to finish the ritual Thorum had grabbed him by the wrist. He had to hover on a stone to reach high enough.
               “I will not allow you to ruin everything that I have built on this day, I am the strongest, and I deserve to rule over everything and everyone!!” Bellowed Thorum. Before he had a chance to finally kill Roux, suddenly the Prophet appeared! Grabbing Thorum and pulling him to the ground.
               “Your breaking the rules Thorum! And I cannot allow that!” “The Prophet” yelled as he pulled Thorum to the ground. Thorum engulfed himself in flames in an attempt to break free, but “the Prophet” held on, he refused to let go. Roux stared as this happened, almost forgetting what had to be done. Sly slowly began to fade away, nothing but skin and bone, with a sword in his chest; he began to cough up blood. Thorum refused to give up; he manipulated the ground at Roux’s feet to grab his hands and feet and pull him to the ground.
               “I’ll kill you all!” yelled the first voice of Thorum.
               “Stop him! Stop him! Now! Now!” yelled the second voice. Just then, someone appeared, as he came to the battlefield floating on a rock just as Thorum had before, the third voice spoke again.
               “Ryoone, help me son.” Said the third voice. Ryoone, Thorum’s eldest son was the one floating on the rock. The same Ryoone who had enslaved Laraniss inside of Sly all those years ago. He looked at Sly, Roux, Thorum and “the Prophet”.
               “No father, I am not your puppet any longer.” Said Ryoone as he rose his hand, and the stone that had trapped Roux released him. Roux didn’t ask questions this time, he didn’t have any time left, and he quickly picked up the Life Blade and plunged it into Sly. As the sword burrowed into his a chest, a white light erupted from Sly’s lifeless body, blinding everyone in the area, they struggled to keep their eyes open. Thorum in stubborn fashion refused to give up. He finally got the prophet off of him and jumped to his feet. He slammed his hands into the ground and a large stone, the size of a small island, leapt from the ground, and fell directly on top of where the light was coming from, Roux barely made it out of the way.
               The white light was pure energy, it cut through the stone like butter. In another flash it was gone. They looked on in astonishment to see nothing. Then suddenly there was an explosion of energy, they were all flung backwards, they looked again to see a white ball of energy this time, floating over Sly’s body. Slowly it began to take the shape of a person. Starting with the feet, then the legs, torso, arms, neck and finally a head. The light was still too bright to see who was there. Finally, with a gust of wind the smoke cleared, and there he was. There stood a young man with green eyes, and long brown spiky hair that flowed down to his shoulders, he was tall, and his presence was awe inspiring. The one true prince, the last of the Raynians; Prince Laraniss had returned.
               He looked down at Sly, then to Roux, then Ryoone, “the Prophet” and finally Thorum. Before anyone could blink, he vanished with a puff of smoke coming from the ground that he stood. A loud “BOOM” erupted from the sky, and they saw him again, he made his way to Ryoone. He had grabbed him by the head and was now plunging to the ground at incredible speed. With another loud “BOOM” he slammed Ryoone into the ground; they felt the impact in their feet as they crashed into the earth. Ryoone was knocked unconscious immediately. Thorum jumped to his feet, formed another floating stone then tried to escape. But he was immediately met by Laraniss floating in front of him. He acted quickly though using his power over all four elements created a vortex of air, water, stone, and fire, to send the newly awakened Prince to the ground hard. When he stood up again, Thorum was gone. Roux was so stunned by this new development, he couldn’t move. He wasn’t sure whether to be amazed, scared, or happy. Instead he just stood there in awe of this awesome being who struck fear into a Demon like Thorum. Laraniss made his way over to sly, and removed the blades from his chest.
               “Did you know that this is actually one sword?” Asked Laraniss as he looked over at Roux. Roux was stunned…the Prince was so calm, He just displayed in incredible amount of power, but Thorum got away, and yet…he was calm.
               “N…No, I didn’t…Sir?” Answered a stunned Roux.
               “Well…it is.” Said Laraniss. He then sheathed both swords behind his back, and turned to Thorum’s undead army. He took a deep breath, smiled, and said. “Now it’s my turn to have a little fun.”

               The Raynian Prince stands in front of an undead army one hundred thousand strong. Does he plan to take them all on, on his own?


                                                            The End

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