User:Some Color Mage/Rebuild of Echoes of Strife/Chapter 2

An hour had passed. Darren, Telluri and Yuan were about to leave the base.

"Now that I think on it," Telluri said, coldly, "the Empire's plan was quite intelligent. Deprive us of everything, then wait for us to suicide on their blades."

"Honestly," replied Darren, "it's the ease of how it happened that's worrying me. Ready to die?"

Telluri let out a sad laugh. "Yes, let's go. Nelo's already left, and Hexed told me he'd be leaving last, so no point waiting for him."

"Why last?" Yuan enquired. "He's one of our strongest fighters, why wait?"

"I don't know. Probably wants to talk to Drazure about something."

The three stepped outside, and motioned to the small force of soldiers left in the base to follow.

Magnus sat, slumped, on his chair. His thumb was hovering over a small button on his desk. We've already lost, he thought. ''Was it me? Was my leadership really so inept, that less than a week after taking charge, we have to admit defeat?'' All that could escape his throat now were pathetic whimpers. ''Everyone else should be gone. Except maybe Drazure's research team, he locked that blasted door again and I couldn't confirm their safety. Coul, Telluri, Yuan. Those three don't need me. They'll be better off on their own. With the Order gone, they can just quit. Their lives will be better.''

Magnus' thumb edged closer to the button, which was rigged to a series of Wraith's Tear Bombs built into the walls of the base itself. If the button were to be pressed, all that would remain of the Order would be a crater in the middle of Kolona.

''If I blow myself up, the order will be gone. The war will be over. The whole continent under Tesendar rule. But Kolona will still exist. If I can't save Amevitai, I may as well save my hometown.''

His thumb was now touching the button. ''Goodbye... Friends...''

"Don't you dare."

A few pieces of furniture caught fire, as Nelo appeared, and pointed his sword straight at the commander's neck.

"Ne-Nelo? Why the hell are you back here?"

"I never left. I wanted to see what you were up to."

"How did you know?"

"You made it too easy. The Order is the weakest it's ever been, and you order a full assault on the best troops Tesendar has to offer? With not even a single soldier on base? That may be the stupidest plan I've ever heard!"

Magnus suddenly looked more serious. "Okay. So now what? You stop me?"

"Of course I do. You can't seriously end it like this! You'll destroy much more than just the base. Innocents will die. I'm the reckless one. Don't make the same mistakes I do!"

"Mistakes!? This is the only way the war could end! Every moment we continue to struggle, we risk everyone on this continent. They'll destroy everyone and everything if we keep giving them a reason!"

"And blowing yourself up changes that? Magnus, you're such a fool."

"A fool!? How dare you-" Magnus' outburst was cut off by Nelo whacking his head with the hilt of his sword, knocking him unconscious. He then proceeded to drag Magnus out of the base, but not before switching the detonator with a timed one, set to one hour.

Darren, Telluri and Yuan reached the Central Plaza. As expected, the Blackguard had mostly left this area, just leaving the typical Tesendar rank and file.

"So... how do we start this?" Darren asked.

"Thunder!"

A bolt hit one of the Tesendarians square in the chest, knocking him down. As Telluri and Yuan used the distraction to lead the troops into battle, Darren looked for the caster and saw Saldo, emerging from the inn.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Saldo Mailao, member of the Order and getting sick of not getting a good night of sleep. And I'm pretty sure I outrank you, so shut up and stab some guys already, kid."

"Oh, great, another person to boss me around!"

"Coul, focus!" Yuan yelled, as she applied a variety of shields and healing spells to the troops.

Towering over the battlefield was an old, abandoned clock tower. Here, 8 had a full view of the battle, watching Order and Tesendar foot soldiers pick each other off, one by one. Even so, Tesendar was clearly winning the battle. He chuckled.

"None of the Order knows where their loyalties are any more. Each soldier killed will break their bonds, little by little."

8 took another look down, and saw the four leaders of the Order's troops being forced back towards the church, near where they entered the plaza. Without the Commander to direct them, it seemed they were confused and hopeless.

"It seems sowing the seeds of doubt worked," another voice said.

8 turned around to see Adam behind him. "Well hello, Adam. Haven't seen you the last few days. How are you, friend?"

"I was recovering from a case of serious embarrassment by hunting down and executing the stupidest general in the army."

"Oh, this should be good for a laugh. What happened?"

"Dumb sod broke the anti-magic field, and caused me to get overwhelmed by an Order mage we had captured. Both black and white magic."

"Hmm, sounds like my kind of prey. Would love to fight them once."

"I bet you would."

"What of Ser Aeon?"

"Still no trace, but when I find him-"

"Yeah, I know. He's all yours. How about we leave this dreadful town and get a round of drinks while we wait for the Order to be routed? I'm buying."

Below the city, Drazure and the research team had not evacuated the Order's base. He had promised Magnus he would not leave until he was finished, and aside from that one break earlier today, he intended to keep to it. His eyes looked through an endless torrent of old tomes and research files. Finally, one researcher spoke up. "High commander? I've got a match."

Drazure took the file from the researcher and started to read.

''Nelo. Project Code 024''

Pages went by, as the whole group read. One by one, their faces were overcome with shock.

"Wh-what does this even mean?" Drazure stammered.

"It is what it says it is," one of the researchers responded. "We don't have any reason to believe this data is wrong."

"I suppose all we can do now is hope for the best."

The Blackguard had started to return to the plaza. The elite of the Tesendar military, wielding strange weapons that could be used as both longsword and gun, no matter how hard the Order could hit them, it didn't seem to bother them at all.

"We need help!" Telluri cried, as she threw nearly her whole supply of bombs at the advancing dark soldiers, maybe slowing them down for half a second. "Where's Hexed and Nelo when you need them?"

As if on queue, the Order could see one of the two running up to them, the other of the two slumped in his arms.

"Nelo! What's happened to Hexed?" Yuan asked.

"I 'convinced' him my plan was better than his. Unfortunately, we've lost. The Order is not strong enough to topple Blackguards. Not yet. We need to get out of Kolona." Nelo placed Magnus on the ground. "Take the Commander and head south to Frux. You should be safe there, the nobility is strongly opposed to Tesendar and their treaty, so you won't be sold out. They also have a strong naval presence, so you'll be able to go nearly wherever you want from there."

"And you?" Yuan asked, as she and Saldo propped up the Commander with Float spells.

"I'm gonna get the Blackguard's attention and take them to the base. I have a little surprise for them. But we need to get you away from here first. Telluri, a distraction, please."

"Will do." Telluri pulled out some items and started mixing something together.

Nelo rushed into the fray, destroying soldiers with trails of flame emerging from his sword. Within time, most of the Blackguard had made him a priority.

"Telluri, you ready yet?" Coul yelled, having spent the past minute parrying the blows of one of the few Blackguard that were not chasing Nelo.

"Almost... Done! Stand back!" Telluri threw a bomb in between the rest of the Order and Nelo, releasing a thick, ominous gas.

"What is that?"

"A potent poison. Run!"

"Trust you to make something that could kill us too!" Saldo yelled, as the four, with Magnus in tow, started running for the South Gate.

At the same time, Nelo started to lure the Blackguard to the base. Nelo arrived well ahead of the Blackguard, and ran to the Commander's office. Three minutes to detonation. Nelo rummaged through the desk, before finally procuring a small sack. The Blackguard finally caught up to Nelo, banging down the door to the office. When they entered, all they saw was a smashed window, and a detonator set to five seconds.

Bodies and other debris were scattered throughout Central Plaza. The Tesendar troops had gathered around Commander Netherith, who had just arrived on scene. He switched on his armour's speakers, an odd device that only he had, and refused to discuss its origins.

"Search for live bodies." His voice echoed far enough for large amounts of Kolona to hear. "If they're Tesendar, bring them to the alchemists to the north. If they're Order, gather them in the middle of the plaza. And to the residents of Kolona that may be listening in, your city is now the property of the Tesendarian Empire. Do not worry, we will treat you well."

A device in Netherith's ear beeped. His comm unit was also a rare device, most of which were only in the hands of his direct subordinates. He pressed the device. "Report."

"The Order has been defeated. No more resistance can be found in the city. Many prisoners taken."

"And the VIPs?"

"One dead. Others MIA."

Netherith grumbled. With most of the Order's leaders in neither chains or coffins, their mission was technically a failure.

"Also, Commander? The Order's base has exploded. That's where we found the VIP, one High Commander Drazure. A large amount of the Blackguard have been killed, and all of the Order's documents are lost."

"In the end, the important thing is that Kolona is ours."

"Understood. What shall we do with the prisoners?"

Netherith noticed what was left of the Order's troops. He relayed the next message to both his speaker and comm. "Kill the men. Woman and children may go free."

The Blackguard in the plaza nodded, as they switched their gunblades into gun mode and opened fire. Netherith spoke again into his comm, "Assign some people to track those you set free. We may find more pockets of resistance elsewhere."

"Yes, Commander." The comm switched off.

"Troops!" Netherith was barking into his speakers again. "Our mission has technically failed. However, we have conquered new land for Emperor Diablo. Treat this land like you would the rest of the Empire, and he will not elect to punish your failure."

"Yes, Commander!" the troops yelled in unison.

Twelve hours had passed. The remnants of the Order had never stopped running since they left Kolona, always looking back to make sure the Tesendar forces were not pursuing them. They finally believed themselves to be somewhat safe, and settled in a nearby abandoned mill house. It was at this time that Magnus, having received constant aid from Yuan, finally regained consciousness.

"L... Let me guess, Nelo took matters into his own hands?"

"Yes," Yuan replied. "He told us to escape for Frux, and then went to deal with the Blackguard himself. As we fled, we saw a giant explosion... I hope he's okay."

A crackling sound could be heard outside, followed by a voice. "Don't worry, I believe I'm alive."

Magnus immediately got to his feet, and charged outside, sword drawn. "Why would you try to stop me, you bastard, if it weren't for you, the entire army would have-"

Nelo dodged Magnus' first swing, then pushed him to the ground. "Your plan was nonsense. The rank and file would have died with or without you. And the explosion happened anyway."

"What?"

"I carried out your plan. Except you survived, and several hundred Blackguard died instead."

"And the rest of the Order?"

"No time, and once you sent them into battle they were doomed anyway. Drazure, along with most likely every member of the Order you can't see standing here, is dead."

"Well that's just great." Magnus was becoming more irate and sarcastic. "So you killed everyone anyway, after pleading to me not to?"

"But you survived. And I'm more concerned with something else right now. The traitor. The Empire were able to move the Blackguard back into the plaza too fast. Unless someone had been telling them our plans in advance. Would also explain why they didn't ambush us before entering the plaza, as well. They knew where we were going and planned for that."

"Prove it."

"I don't have to, the results of last night speak for themselves."

Magnus' anger faded, replaced with deep thought. "When 8 said we had a traitor in our midst, I immediately dismissed it as a lie, the Empire using it to try and make us destroy ourselves. We can't afford any doubt between members."

"But Hexed," Telluri spoke up. "We don't have any leads on who the traitor could be. They would have to know our plans in full, which would mean someone with a high rank."

"So nobody is above suspicion then. Except Coul," Magnus replied, ignoring Darren trying to tell the rest of the group about how important he is. "We must be as careful as possible. But Nelo, why did you-"

"It's not that important. All you need to know right now is that you can trust me."

"You!?" Saldo pushed Darren away from him. "I've been on missions with you, I know you're a raging lunatic!"

Nelo chuckled. "In all my years, I've been called a lot of things, but that's a new one."

"Argue when we get to Frux," Magnus ordered. "I can walk fine by myself now, so there's no more time to waste. Everyone, gather your belongings and continue south."

"Ah, not me," Nelo replied. "I still have more things to take care of. Alone. I'll make sure to rendezvous later." And before anyone could object, he was gone.

As the Order started to leave, Darren could hear a sad chuckle from Magnus, who was trying to stay away from the rest of the group. "I was a fool to think we could win this war with six thousand men, what hope do I have with six?"

Adam and 8 had returned to Kolona that morning, and were now leading the troops in destroying Order property. 8 in particular was enthusiastic about the whole mission, burning down houses left and right. He shows so little mercy... Adam thought to himself.

Despite being the best of friends, Adam did have to admit that 8 seemed extremely strange and secretive to him. He didn't know the man's name, but then again, 8 didn't know Adam's last name either. 8 also always obscured his face, covered in the same fabric of his coat, which he never seemed to take off either. Adam had assumed that he'd see part of 8's face last night when they went for drinks, but no, 8 made an opening in the wrappings, smaller than his mouth, then drank his beer through a straw! Aside from the robe, all Adam ever saw of 8 was the glowing gold eye, brown boots, and a gaudy green pair of trousers. The latter always made him chuckle. Not that he had much of a fashion sense either.

Adam's thoughts were interrupted by Netherith approaching him. "We've finished another pass. Area still secure. No trace of any other VIPs as well, so we are sure of their escape." Netherith turned to the burning house. "We could find something useful in there, assuming it weren't on fire." Even without changing the inflection in his voice, the tone of disapproval was obvious.

"We wouldn't have to ask such questions if someone hadn't failed so spectacularly at getting those 'VIPs' or whatever you call them," 8 shot back.

"The soldiers that were responsible for the failure have been dealt with. Next time, please share your information in advance, so we might be able to plan better."

8 turned around and pointed towards Netherith, fire still spewing from his fingertips. "Are you questioning me?" He took a step forward. "I am one of your commanding officers." Another step. "Adam and I are the left and right hands of the Emperor." 8 was now close enough that the fires were lapping at Netherith's armour. "You will not question us. Remember that you serve-"

"I serve the Empire. And the Emperor who commands it. Nothing about any hands."

The Emperor was readying the next step of his plan to end the Order. He figured that the leaders may escape, and had prepared a backup. "Bring the maggot to me."

The man that the soldiers dragged into the chamber was naked, aside from some heavy chains, and smelled of death. His eyes were crossed and his head tilted. Anyone looking couldn't be sure if the man had any awareness of what was going on around him.

Diala smiled. "Faina, my dear, could you please enter?"

A young girl, 10 years old, entered the room, carrying a doll. She quickly noticed the strange man, and rushed to hide behind Diala's throne. "Daddy, please keep him away!"

"Of course, my dear. All Daddy needs right now is your doll. Will that be okay?"

Faina nodded, and stretched her arm out so that her father could grab the doll.

"Well, maggot, you know what this is, right?"

The man started thrashing about. "HOLY! Give her to me! Give me back my Holy!"

"Silence. Or would you rather go back to your pit?"

The man stopped, a look of defeat on his face. At the same time Adam entered the room.

"Your Highness, our informant has told us the location of the remnants. They are headed south, towards Frux. They will likely be in Gorona by the end of the day. Assuming we have your permission, my battalions shall begin chase momentarily." Diala nodded. Adam turned to look at Faina. "Well, hello, Faina! Are you well?"

The girl didn't respond at all. Despite the fact that she was hiding from the crazed man standing before them, she did not appear to have any look of fear on her. Adam left the room, slightly unnerved.

"Well, maggot," Diala said, "if you want your Holy back, I have a mission for you. I have some people I need dead. The same people that the armour-clad man is about to begin chasing. Help him, and maybe, just maybe, I will give you back Holy. Do we have a deal?"

The man eagerly nodded at the doll. "Yes! YES! Anything for Holy!"

"Well then, this will be amusing. Release him, and give him some pants. I only wish to terrify the Order, not Adam's soldiers."

The guards handed the man some clothes, and released his chains. The second they did so, he ran out the room, trying to follow Adam. Faina emerged from her hiding spot, as Diala gave her back her doll.

"Daddy, are you really going to give my dolly to such a creepy man?"

Diala smiled. For the first time in a long while, he felt it was genuine. "I may have to. Faina, sometimes, to get what we truly want, we have to sacrifice something dear to us. We don't want to do it, but if Daddy wants to bring peace to this world, I may have to give the dolly away. You understand, don't you?"

Faina smiled back. It was as if something had awakened within her. "Okay, Daddy. I promise not to cry if it happens."

"That's my girl." Faina left the room, and Diala's smile faded. ''Oh, Faina. I'm so sorry.''

Gorona was the midway point between Kolona and Frux. This was the only thing anyone ever knew about the small town, but it didn't prevent an oddly relaxed Hevorhend to feel exited when in came into view.

I'm nearly there, he thought to himself, ''From here, I can easily get to Frux. A warm climate, ships heading nearly everywhere in the world. I can finally have some time to myself before choosing a proper hideout from where I can start planning my new life. And revenge, I guess, I'm going to have to do that someday whether I want to or not.'' He ascended the next hill, and saw a group of five entering the village. Huh, they look familiar... He started to follow them.

The five entered a nearby house. Hevorhend looked inside. Now closer to the group, he could see that among the group were Telluri, Yuan, and that brat that was with them in the prison raid, along with two other men. ''The Order? What has happened in the past few days...''

Inside, Yuan was haggling with a wealthy rancher. She managed to convince him to let the Order use his second house for a night or two, for cheap. Hevorhend continued to follow the group to their accommodations, then after noting where it was, went to find his own lodgings for the night.

He was awoken just before dawn to the sounds of screaming and the smell of smoke. Hevorhend looked outside to find several buildings on fire and Tesendar troops pursuing fleeing villagers, trying to make them reveal where the Order was staying. He rushed to the Order's temporary base and knocked on the door.

A groggy Telluri opened the door, took one look at the fire outside, and the Tesendarian staring her in the face, then promptly perked up, threw a smoke bomb at Hevorhend, then slammed the door. A minute later, the door reopened, with all the Order present.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Magnus asked, sword pointed at Hevorhend.

"Well, you see," Hevorhend started, "I'm sort of considered a traitor now. And I have to assume that while the soldiers out there are searching for you five, that if they see me, they'll try to kill me too." Darren quickly mouthed Sort of? to the rest of the group, as Hevorhend continued, "And, well, what was that saying again? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? So I've decided that I'm going to stop trying to murder Telluri and Nelo, and help you end this senseless war! What do you think?"

Everyone in the Order just glared. Yuan finally broke the silence. "Hexed, we do really need all the help we can get. But we're already trying to root out one traitor, I'm not sure if we can stretch our trust far enough to accept him."

"I agree," Magnus replied, "If you're going to join us, Ser Aeon, you understand that we will need to keep you under constant surveillance?"

"Hey, I'm not joining, just providing temporary assistance! But, if that is what you need to prove my loyalty, then I'll accept."

Magnus sighed. "Whatever. You managed to find us without either us or the Empire finding out, so you must be good at spying right? Go hide and figure out anything you can. Everyone else, with me. We'll try to gather all the enemy in one place, then massively slow us down as we flee south. Aeon, if you're serious about being with us, try to meet up again before we get to Frux. Move out!"

Hevorhend slipped into the shadows as the Order charged the nearest soldiers and started a chase throughout the city. "All right everyone," Magnus yelled, "slow them down!"

"Argh, I just found these Dewberries," Telluri complained, as she mixed the fruits into a bomb and threw it at the crowd of soldiers. The bomb exploded into a bunch of orange goo, and the soldiers started having difficulties moving, as Yuan and Saldo started preparing a spell.

"Slowga!" They both yelled. Two images of slowing clocks appeared above the crowd. The two enchantments and the bomb slowed down the soldiers to such a degree, you couldn't see them move at all unless you paid close attention. The Order used this opportunity to run for the south exit.

That night, the maggot reached Gorona. He wandered the streets, looking at the fire and corpses surrounding him and cracked a smile. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Or would be if it weren't for this rumbling stomach. Hadn't eaten since he was last in the pit. Looking around, he saw a headless woman. Well, it's not like she needs her flesh any more...

Hmm. It's all right, but it needs something more. Maybe there's a library here with cooking tips. Hopefully that's not on fire. But, what's this? There's a man, a LIVING man, hiding in some nearby rubble!

"I seeeeeeee yooooooooou."

Hevorhend emerged from the rubble. "Well, it's not like I was that good at hiding anyway. But what are you doing here, maggot, free from the pit?" Hevorhend was having trouble not looking at the maggot with anything but disgust, especially as there was fresh blood trickling from his smile.

"Yes, yes, YES! The soldiers, they talk of you! If I kill you, the dark man will give me back Holy for sure! Now please, DIE FOR HOLY AND ME!"

The maggot tried to lunge at Hevorhend, but all the Tesendarian higher-ups knew how he fought. Dodging him was simple. "Hmm, well, let's try to make this fight fair," he muttered, as he put down his swords and assumed an unarmed stance. The maggot lunged again, only to be kicked in the face and thrown into nearby wreckage. "But not too fair. I have many awards for my unarmed fighting."

Suddenly, the maggot vanished from view. ''Hmm. Never seen him do that before. Has he been holding out on us all these years?'' The maggot charged him again, this time finally landing a blow on his prey. Hevorhend barely felt a thing and tossed him away. "You'll have to do better than that!"

"Better? OKAY!" Maggot vanished again, and re-emerged behind Hevorhend. Slowly and silently, while Hevorhend was searching for him, he picked up one of his prey's swords, then ran it through their chest. "Your death approaches. By your own weapons!" Maggot broke down laughing.

"The powers of darkness don't let me die that easily!" Hevorhend pulled the sword out of his chest, then swung it with all his might, slamming the maggot with the side of it, rendering him unconscious.

Well, he thought, ''I'm a spy now. That means I take prisoners, right?'' He picked up the maggot and started to head after the Order.

The Order had successfully escaped and were back on the route to Frux. As they walked down, they encountered a man, covered in a long cloak. He stood in the middle of the path, and pointed a crystal shard at the group.

"Oh gods, what now?" Magnus asked, extremely exasperated.

"Who the hell is this?" Darren asked.

The man smirked. "Me? I..." The man spun around, throwing off his cloak revealing a long cape, and flowing, golden hair, "am the famed mercenary, Terry Aero!"

"Never heard of you," Telluri said, turning to the others. "What about you?"

"No." "Nope." "He looks like a prat!"

"My apologies, Mister Aero," Yuan said, "but you don't seem to be very famous at all. In any case, could you please put down the crystal shard?"

"I cannot. You see, it is my sworn duty to destroy you all, and this crystal is the key to doing so!"

"How?" Saldo asked impatiently, "It's a goddamn crystal. The only way you could hurt someone with that thing is by channelling magic through it, but you're trying to wield it as a sword! Really, what's your plan here, give us mild irritation?"

"Well, he's certainly pulled that off," Darren added.

"I will use the power granted to me by this crystal to strike you with the holy power of -"

"OH, ENOUGH OF THIS!" Magnus yelled, flooring Aero with a single punch. "Order, follow me! Airhead, go back to your employer and tell them that you're a failure and that he's an idiot for hiring you!"

And with that, the Order continued on to Frux.

Hevorhend was catching up with the Order, the unconscious and bloodied maggot in tow. As he walked, his eyes wandered, noticing Nelo in the distance, talking with someone just out of view.

"Could it not be that someone else knows his secret?" Nelo asked the other person.

"Aye, and it would appear that he knows it all, too."

"This could be troublesome."

Nelo started to leave. He did not notice Hevorhend, who was already leaving, contemplating what he had just heard.

Terry had reached Gorona. It must have been, what, six hours since Magnus had punched him out and this place was still on fire. ''What are my employers thinking, leaving the place like this? Oh well, not my place to question my employers. Speaking of...''

He was approached by Netherith. "I had to leave Kolona for this, your report had better be good. Did you find the VIPs?"

"Y-yes, boss."

Netherith took a look at his employee's black eye. "And what happened when you found them?"

"Well, their leader, he called me a failure and you an idiot."

"...Are you sure he didn't call you both a failure and an idiot? When I saved you from your own wounds in Kolona, you guaranteed me that you were the finest independent swordsman in Amevitai!"

"As far as you know, that may still be true."

"Shut up and get your wounds treated before I replace your pay with a second back eye! We'll discuss plans later."

Hevorhend finally caught up with the Order in the forest just outside Frux.

"Hi, I'm back," he started, dropping the maggot's body in front of the group. "As you can see, there were some minor difficulties."

"Who is this?" Darren asked. "Seems... odd."

"We called him the maggot. Some insane man that the Empire has had chained up in a pit for years. I don't know what in the world could have compelled the Emperor to let him free."

"Have you seen Nelo?" Magnus asked. "We are expecting him to show up soon. Unlike the rest of us, he actually has a plan."

"Actually, that's the other thing I needed to tell you about. Nelo is hiding something from you. While I was catching up with you, I spied him telling a mysterious being about uncovered secrets."

"Well, I think I might know what this is about." Magnus brought out a scroll. "I took this scroll out of the library long before the explosion, and Nelo somehow didn't take it from me when he knocked me out."

"Well then, what is it?" Yuan asked.

"Well, a long time ago, there was a large war on this planet. There was massive destruction. Countries vanished, continents sank, the destruction was so widespread that the only surviving records are on this scroll."

"That's impossible!" Saldo exclaimed. "Not even the strongest known spells could flood an entire continent."

"The strongest known spells today," Yuan replied. "Various ancient records depict spells that no mage could even hope to cast. But still, Hexed, why bring this up now?"

Hexed silently opened the scroll. Depicted on the part he was showing was Nelo, burning an entire city to the ground.

"Oh gods, that's him!" Telluri yelled, "But what can this mean?"

"I don't know," Magnus said, "but it's very likely that Nelo is not of this world. The full description of what Nelo is was on a part of the scroll I couldn't get out of the library. It'll have burnt to a crisp by now. However, that scroll was a copy, and I know who has the original."

Telluri examined the underside of the scroll. "This is an Imperial insignia..."

From Kolona to Gorona, Nelo quickly warped back and forth, seeing the fires consume each town as the Empire tried to remove every last trace of the order.

"So ends the Twilight Order. And so shall end this age of Darkness, to be replaced with one where Light and Dark cannot hold any power over the chaos of Balance! After so long, my mission shall finally be done."