“What makes you sure you can kill me?” Kiyan circled warily.
“Such ignorance. I am Corsav. I was chosen by the dark one and given the power to bend dark energy.” Corsav shot a lance of shadows from his free hand towards Kiyan. Kiyan met the attack with his blade and deflected it but saw the pitted surface of the sword after the attack. The dark energy appeared to simply destroy matter when it made contact. Kiyan's ice flames absorbed energy but this was the opposite of energy so they had no effect. Kiyan shot a blast of ice fire back at the drakken. With speed that surprised Kiyan, Corsav managed to block the attack with a wall or shadows.
“All your bending is useless. Dark energy is invincible. No bending school can stand against me.” Kiyan tested the truth of Corsav's words with a virtual storm of bending attacks. All of the elements simply seemed to melt when they contacted the shadowy wall. Kiyan lastly released a blast of fire on the wall. Sensing a draw on his energy and the wall giving way slightly, Kiyan doubled the intensity of the flames. There was a surge of energy as the wall failed and the energy blasted through the flames. A wave of darkness flooded over Kiyan an instant later. Kiyan felt the energy being ripped from his shields until he blasted a pulse of fire at the darkness. The shadows disappeared under the flood of energy and Kiyan saw Corsav smoldering in front of him. Only a blackened red mark on a cheek and Corsav's blackened clothes told of the fire he had been engulfed in.
“When my new fleet gets here with its mechanical crew, I'm going to destroy your planet.” Corsav unleashed blast after blast of shadowy energy. Kiyan dodged what he could and neutralized the rest with his own blasts of fire. The shadows began coming at Kiyan from all sides requiring every skill he had to keep from being overwhelmed. Suddenly the strikes stopped leaving Kiyan panting for breath. Looking to see what had bought him relief Kiyan saw Kendra blasting the dark lord with waves of brilliant white light. It looked like Kendra was just using blasts of light but Kiyan could sense the energy being channeled through her attacks. It only took a second for Kiyan to catch his breath and he burnt his way to Kendra's side.
“He is using dark energy. It cancels the energy in matter making it extremely dangerous.” Kendra released a beam of light at the figure that was wreathed in shadows when he moved too close. It has to be neutralized with equal amounts of energy. Kiyan realized that his fire attacks had been most effective because they required the most amount of energy to bend. The strangely eroded landscape attested to the canceling effect that the dark energy had on matter.
“Why isn't it destroying him?” Kiyan reacted to a wave of black that erupted towards them. He channeled as much energy as he could into a fire blast. He felt the energy heat the air to its plasma state and become a superconductor. A bright flash of light dispelled the dark wave ahead of them and the air shivered from the thunderclap.
“Its only being channeled through him. It’s not coming from our universe.” Kendra watched the seething shadows wash past them and sink into the corroded sand.
“Two of the betrayers fight me.” The voice was more emotion and energy than it was spoken. It was not the same voice that the drakken had been using heretofore. “Your sacrifice will not save your universe or even this pathetic world. The drakken couldn't be seen through the billowing shadows as the powerful presence took complete control.
“You were banished from all light universes.” Kendra was practically glowing with rage. In response to her words a dense shadowy hand reached towards the fighters. Kendra channeled a pulse of light that dimmed the sun and ravaged the approaching arm. Kiyan made another test of his newfound ability to manipulate lightning and joined his energy with Kendra's attack. Their combined strength shredded the attack leaving only a few wisps that seemed to die under the sunlight when they lost contact with their source.
Kiyan had felt a strange mind when he struck at the shadows. It was warped beyond comprehension. Keenly intelligent but primarily driven by the basest of instincts. A deep hunger and burning hatred raged in the mind he felt for an instant. The fragment of the memory made Kiyan shudder as he thought about it. He had felt for an instant the mind of the dark one and it terrified him. He sensed vast stores of dark energy beyond anything he could comprehend being marshaled at the dark one's will. A feeling of hopelessness washed over him making his knees week until he sensed Kendra's thoughts. Having a reference made Kiyan realize that his sudden fear wasn't his at all but was being projected by the dark one.
“We can't defeat him unless.....” Kiyan recalled the immense energy he had sensed. “We have to close the connection. The drakken must die.”
“Easier said than done.” Kendra charged up another attack and held the glowing orb of energy for a second. “You are right, there is only so much energy that can be channeled through the dark lord at any one time. If we destroy the drakken the conduit will be closed.” Kendra released the orb of light. It streaked forward and penetrated into the building shadows before exploding in a blinding flash of light. Kiyan felt the drakken at the center of the dark maelstrom more than he saw it. The dark lord was standing in the middle radiating massive amounts of dark energy. Kendra didn't waste time telling Kiyan that they needed to act soon or there would be too much dark energy here for either of them to fight. Kendra sent the thought as she began sending orb after orb into the expanding clouds. Each blast made them collapse a little but it only slowed the advance.
Kiyan sucked energy out of the air and used it to supplement his attacks. Flashes from Kendra's orbs and the thunderclaps from Kiyan's lightning bolts were enough to make blind and deaf anyone as close as the drakken but he seemed to only be getting stronger. The black shadows towered above them as the dark one poured dark energy through his connection to the dark lord. They only had a moment of warning before the clouds collapsed on themselves and flooded towards the two ascended. Kiyan closed his eyes and braced for the racing blast but opened them an instant later when he felt Kendra's energy boil around him. He saw Kendra standing next to him in a circle of light. Pure energy poured out of her outstretched hands feeding a shield that held the darkness at bay. The pained look on her face told Kiyan that she couldn't hold out for long against the forces that assailed her. Kiyan drew deeply on his energy reserves and threw out his arms as the energy flowed. A wave of white hot energy blasted away from him and bolts of lightning shredded the darkness that was crushing Kendra's shield. Kiyan struggled to breathe when he finished the attack. It had taken more than he had anticipated to drive the shadows back. His stomach sank when he noticed that for all the effort he had only managed to clear a narrow margin around themselves.
“If only there were more of us.” Kiyan forced the words between gasps for breath.
“If we are meant to die this day then do not wish you had more allies to accompany you.” Kiyan looked at Kendra when he heard the words. She was hardly able to maintain her human form and looked about to come apart at the seams. In that look he saw and felt her unguarded emotions and memories. Intense grief for him was the strongest emotion. She felt their death in the shadows that choked the light around them. She mourned that he had not lived enough. She felt powerless having failed to protect him. For not having been there when he had needed her when he grew up. Under it all was cutting sense of failure tore at her heart. Pride mixed with guilt and love for her son streaked the raw emotions. In that instant Kiyan understood volumes more about the woman he knew as his mother but hardly knew as a person.
Deep inside him energy reserves Kiyan didn't know he had burst and he blurred into action. The earth shook with the force of the thunder bolts he hurled at the encroaching darkness. Hope flickered in his heart as he earned ground inch by inch. But oh at what a price. Kendra was battling alongside Kiyan but he felt her wavering like an inferno about to consume the last of its fuel. On all sides the dark retreated as if burnt by the power being unleashed. Above a dark dome refused even a glimmer of the sun but stretched thin.
“Stop or she dies!” Kiyan instantly kn
ew who was mean even before he saw Sapphire crashing through the shadows and land on the cracked earth. Black cords bound her and squeezed the life out of the elf. The shock was enough to cause Kiyan to falter for a split second but that was all the dark one needed.
“NOOOOO!” Kiyan heard Sapphire scream as the dome collapsed on them claiming every inch that they had won. Kendra tried to throw up another shield but she was too far gone and the force was too strong. She flickered for a moment before dissolving in a flash as bright as a sun. The pocket left only took a moment to reclaim as Kiyan tried to understand what had happened. Kendra was gone. The void left made Kiyan realize how close she had been to his mind. Rage replaced confusion and protected him for a moment with its sudden influx of energy. The moment was short as his shields collapsed and Kiyan felt the dark energy dissolving his body like some nightmarish acid. Kiyan didn't fear death but his mind flashed scenes before his inner eye as the agony consumed him. He saw Terra weeping. He saw Riftor dead. Sapphire's skeleton was all that remained of her now. He could see that like he stood beside her bones. Nothing remained of Kendra. He saw every world in his universe consumed with the hunger that was feeding on him now. He saw the portal open and a fleet of new drakken ships enter the universe. There was no one to meet them but they turned and slipped into a warp frame of their own accord. The thought presented itself to his mind. The mechanical crew survived the portal. They can build a crew like they built their fleets.
“NO!” The single word was all that Kiyan was able to say before things began to shift. The shadows leaped back as energy began to surge through Kiyan's body. The cringing shadows turned red and faded. Kiyan felt the time displacement energy surge through his body repairing all damage and filling his empty reserves. The energy burned but Kiyan didn't care. He could become colder than the abyss so why fear fire. Instead of trying to put out the fire Kiyan let it burn through him. He felt Luke trying to control the time slip and find a time when Sapphire lived. His eyes were closed when he felt space return. He didn't need to open them to see the drakken staggering back like someone had thrown scalding water on his face. Kiyan could sense all the energy around him for miles in every direction. There was a disturbance in the flow of energy and he saw Kendra's energy form appear behind the drakken. The memory of her death flickered to the surface for an instant until Kiyan knew he was back at the start of the fight. He opened his eyes and saw a slowly moving splash of darkness flying at his face.
Kiyan effortlessly brushed the simple attack aside feeling only the faintest tug against the star that burned inside of him. Kiyan raised an arm and let the energy flood from him in a torrent. Brilliant flashes slammed into the retreating drakken sending him flying into a sand dune. Dark shadows leaked from a dozen injuries. He must not reach full power. Kiyan sensed the thought and recognized it as his. The drakken began radiating darkness like a black sun. It must not happen again, kill the vessel. Kiyan again sensed his own thoughts but also those of every one of his ancestors. Without asking he knew that they had seen the vision of the lost future and commanded him to stop it. His momentary existence suspended in pure temporal energy connected him with his ancestors strongly. Their will was his as he raised his arm again for another attack. A wave of darkness rolled towards Kiyan as he blasted the pure light at the drakken. Kiyan didn't even bother trying to defend himself. The wave parted and fell back from him like a gnat that has touched a hot light bulb.
Kiyan unleashed everything he had into the drakken when he saw black clouds forming as the dark one took control. The air burned white hot with the energy arcing through it. Kendra saw the cloud and began to attack from the other side. Together they dispelled the darkness and hammered on the shadow cloaked form of the drakken. A lesser being would have been turned to ash a thousand times over but the dark one preserved his vessel against the assaults. Suddenly Kiyan reached the end of the energy surge. The sudden lack made him fall to his knees for a second as he realized the amount of energy he had been using. He still had more energy than when he had entered the fight but it paled in comparison to the star that had burned inside him a moment before. Rallying himself he blasted the drakken with thunderbolts in an attempt to quell the darkness that flowed through it. Black tendrils reached out at them and clawed their energy. Kiyan still felt some of the fire lurking inside of him. It was felt by the shadows more than him because they shrank back at his touch. Still he felt himself growing weaker with the continued output.
Kendra had lost as much energy as Kiyan and had not had the bonus that he had been granted at the beginning. Kiyan felt her wavering and shifting to a defensive. The black tendrils faded into nothing but grew back after every attack against her. Things began to move faster for Kiyan as he began to slow down. He noticed that the dark energy was only tricking thought the drakken unlike the torrents from before. They had damaged the vessel but they might still lose the fight. Was the dark one still able to force enough dark energy through to win? Kiyan saw the next attack darting at him faster than he could react. The black fingers squeezed Kiyan cruelly for a second as he summoned the energy to strike back.
The shriek split the air and Kiyan saw a flash of red light dash onto the heart of the shadows. The cords that bound Kiyan dissolved as the energy was directed elsewhere. Kiyan saw the light again burning through the swirling and convulsing darkness. It looked like a raging inferno. Kiyan had to look away as it became too bright to look at with his eyes or his mind. The energy being released was close to the levels Kiyan had released when he slipped back in time. Who can it be? Kiyan saw Kendra shuddering with relief to one side. Luke was in Kiyan's head but there was two more. Turning Kiyan saw an elf standing on the rim of the small valley they had carved into the desert. Kiyan squinted to recognize the elf before his eyes went wide with shock. Stout Oak stood watching them with an astonished and awed look on his face. That only left Sapphire.
Kiyan cast out his weakened mind in an attempt to find her but turned in surprise back to the raging inferno before him. It couldn't be. He sensed Sapphire clearly from the center of the fire. The last of the shadows retracted into the fire where they were dispelled. Slowly the fire began to calm until they could see Sapphire's flaming figure. The last flames died out and Sapphire fell to her knees. Her cloths were scorched but somehow they hadn't been affected much by the roaring inferno. A few feet in front of her was a small pile of white ashes on the blackened ground. Tears were streaming down her face when she looked up at everyone.
“I'm so sorry. I had to do something. I couldn't let you all die.” Sapphire's words were barely louder than a whisper. “I had to do something.”
Kiyan was still stunned when he heard Stout Oak. “All these years it was you.” There was shock in the tone but under that was something else. Kiyan looked and saw Stout Oak descending the valley. Sapphire scrambled to her feet when she heard her father's voice. A look of horror came over her face.
“You are the prophesied destroyer. The woman who tasted the forbidden power of destruction. You are banished.” Stout Oak got over his shock and Kiyan saw the look of contempt with perhaps a flicker of pain behind the mask.
“Please no. I only wanted to save them. I won't ever do it again. Please have mercy. Not banishment.” Sapphire begged at her father's feet. Kiyan watched the flicker of pain disappear. It was replaced with loathing.
“You are no longer my daughter. You are the destroyer. I have seen that moment for years. I saw the burning woman, the one who sold her soul to fire. I didn't know it was you all these years.” Almost all expression was gone from Stout Oak's face but for a little disgust. “If I had known, if only I had known it was you. I would have ended this long ago. You will leave never to return. No elf will ever offer you hospitality. You will leave the forest. This...” Stout Oak looked around him and shuddered. “This dessert will be your home but you must never cross the mountains or I will kill you before you harm my trees.” With the last threat, Stout Oak turned and walked away.
&
nbsp; “She just saved your planet and you just did that to her?” Kiyan couldn't control himself. Luke would have said it if his bracelet hadn't been destroyed in the fight so Kiyan confronted the retreating elf instead. Stout Oak acted as if he had not heard Kiyan. Kiyan's fist clenched and a wall of blue flames sprang up around the elf.
“Answer me! You owe your planet to her.” Kiyan glared at the caged elf.
“You...” Venom dripped from the words. “You are no better. I would banish you also but our laws and customs do not bind you. You do not belong on this planet anyhow. Leave our world. The prophecy is fulfilled, the agent of darkness is defeated. You have no need to remain.”
“You didn't answer my question. The blue flames leaped higher.” Kiyan felt the energy he was drawing off the ice fire. It was invigoratingly refreshing.
“You are no elf and have no power to demand an answer of me.” Stout Oak growled at Kiyan. Kiyan saw the movement at the elf's wrist as a vine shot out of it towards him. Kiyan rolled to the side and froze the vine with a blast of icy flames. He was in his draconic form an instant later and lunged for the writhing elf. Clutching the terror stricken elf with his claws Kiyan held him to the ground.
“Answer me!” Frost played across Stout Oak's mask from Kiyan's breath.
“Every elf knows that fire is cursed.” A choked whisper betrayed volumes of rage. “Banishment is the punishment imposed on all firebenders. Now leave my planet.” Rage seethed just below the surface. Kiyan could not understand one who feared fire so much. Kiyan stepped back and transformed into his human form. He turned and walked back towards Sapphire. The icy flames dropped and disappeared.
“Leave my world.” Stout Oak glared at Kiyan. “You have the soul of a beast in you. An abomination like you is not welcome here.”