The Judge

CHAPTER 30

  End of the World

  “Darek,” exclaimed Azura, “snap out of it!”

  Darek shuddered. Just a moment before, he had been preoccupied about the past; what seemed to be the reliving of an unforgettable night, only took place in a matter of minutes. But now he was back inside the castle, once again observing the fight between Azura and Sorren.

  However, the situation was not the same as before. Somehow, over the course of a few minutes, the stalemate that once existed between the two warriors had withered away into nothing. Azura’s back was against the wall and she had suffered a number of painful injuries.

  “Darek!” shouted Azura. “Why didn’t you run?”

  Sorren sheathed his sword and thrust his palm forward. A dark gooey liquid shot out of the floor and pinned Azura to the wall. She writhed about, attempting to break free from his grasp. The dark mass engulfed Azura and tightened around her, making it hard for her to breathe. She passed out. Then Sorren released his hold and her body sunk to the floor.

  Darek stumbled as he retreated back. There was no place for him to hide or run. His only choice was to fight back. But if Azura couldn’t win against Sorren, what chance did he have?

  “Darek,” said Sorren, “if you want to live, you know what to do.”

  Darek refused to speak to Sorren. Instead, he huddled in the corner of room, his face buried in his arms. After recalling his past, now he was afraid of Sorren for another reason: Sorren reminded him of his father. The resemblance had nothing to do with appearance, but rather his stubbornness and cruel betrayal.

  “Sorren!” The door flung open. Windzer rushed into the room. “Are you in here—” A gasp came from his lips. He saw Azura stained in blood, lying unconscious on the ground. Then he noticed Darek in the far corner, frightened and in despair.

  Windzer turned his eyes scornfully at Sorren. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “None of your business,” said Sorren.

  “If you kill him,” said Windzer, scowling, “you ruin everything!”

  Sorren ignored Windzer’s words and started to reach for the cowering Darek. But Windzer promptly slashed at Sorren.

  “You wish to get in my way as well?” said Sorren.

  “Get in your way? If I don’t stop you, you’ll regret it. I’m doing you a favor.” Windzer stood in a defensive position, waiting for Sorren’s next move.

  Sorren smiled. “If you haven’t noticed, it’s dark out.”

  “I know,” said Windzer.

  “And you still wish to fight?”

  “You know me. I never really cared about the odds.”

  Sorren raised his hands. The blackness of the extremely dark afternoon sky seemed to crawl into the room from the window. The mass of dark energies swirled upon his hands and was sucked into his palms, as if it were being drained; Sorren bared his teeth as the energy flooded into his bloodstream.

  “Come forth now!” Windzer slammed the bottom of his scythe against the floor, sending a blue shockwave rippling across the floor. The walls of the chamber cracked and crumbled away, revealing the remains of the city below them.

  Ear-piercing shrieks came from the outside. Clusters of Zortzels circled the castle and, upon Windzer’s call, they dove into the chamber, thrusting their sharp beaks at Sorren.

  As the flock of flying lizards came rushing towards him, Sorren flicked his hand up, prompting a wall of darkness to rise up and shield him. The lizards pounded against the dark mass. The weaker ones were repelled and sent back out of the castle. The stronger ones dropped to the ground like dead flies.

  Windzer took the opportunity, now that Sorren was distracted, to sneak up behind him. Windzer slashed through the unsuspecting Sorren with his giant scythe—only to find that his body dissipated into the air. “A shadow…”

  Sorren then reappeared next to Windzer and began his assault against him. His blade honed in on the weak points of the body and continued slashing, without any sign of losing momentum. Windzer defended himself well, making sure he would not even get cut. But he had been severely weakened by the heavy use of his powers beforehand and knew it would not be long before he would succumb to Sorren’s blade. Every time their weapons clashed, Windzer thought his joints would snap apart like twigs. After being pushed back several times, Windzer felt a cold breeze. He glanced over his shoulder and was staring right outside, where the wall was gone. He was at the very edge of the floor. The gusts of wind started to make him waver and wane.

  “Surrender,” Sorren said. “You have nothing to do with this.”

  Windzer screamed at Sorren’s face, “Hey, Vile, can you hear me?”

  Darek wondered what was going on. It looked like Windzer was talking to someone else. But there was no one else in the room with them.

  Windzer was cornered by Sorren’s steady advance and could not see a way to escape. “Why won’t you respond? Vile! Come here!”

  Sorren stopped his attack, revealed a cruel smile, and then said in a dark tone, “It isn’t my time to awaken. Why must you call me out?”

  “Finally!” said Windzer with a sigh of relief. “Listen, Sorren is going to kill me if you don’t do something. Take full control right now!”

  Sorren shook his head. “He doesn’t want me to and you know I don’t want to disobey. Why should I care if he kills you anyway? You’re already dead.”

  “He’ll kill us all, even Darek! Regardless of what Darek might do in the future, you can’t kill him for crimes he has yet to commit! Now, come on, I know you aren’t heartless, and both you and I know that Sorren doesn’t want to do this. Do as I say and take control. We have to get Darek out of here.”

  Sorren laughed wickedly. “You know nothing. I’ll help you this once, but never again. In fact, if I ever see you again, I’ll kill you. But since I owe you one, I guess one time won’t hurt. But man, Sorren’s going to be pretty mad when he wakes up.” After Sorren said those words, the darkness encircled him.

  Sorren cried intensely as a throbbing pain came over his mind. He held his head with his hands and threw himself to the ground, convulsing. It almost seemed like he was about to tear his hair out. His screams grew louder as he thrashed about, pounding his fist against the stone floor.

  “What’s going on?” Darek asked Windzer, concerned. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He’s…coming back to his senses,” replied Windzer. “He’ll be fine in a few seconds.”

  A wave of dead silence surfaced in the chamber. The screaming stopped and Sorren slowly rose again. He cracked a twitching smile that seemed nothing like his usual self. He was usually serious if not a bit dull, but now, he had changed into something else. To Darek, it looked as if Sorren was a different person.

  “So,” Windzer said to Sorren, “you have control?”

  “Yeah,” he replied once again in a deep voice. “Now what do you want me to do, master?” He said it sarcastically and laughed it off.

  Windzer thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  “Wait,” interrupted Darek. “Before we do anything, I’d really like an explanation. One moment, Sorren is on our side, and then he turns on me without any hesitation. And now, after he had a painful seizure, he looks somewhat different. What’s going on here?”

  A loud rumbling overtook the castle. The rafters came tumbling down. The floors were splitting. The room was falling apart piece by piece. It almost seemed as if the whole building was swaying back and forth.

  Windzer grunted, “No time to explain. Just leave it to your imagination.”

  The thick clouds began to fade away and the sun continued its trek across the sky; the pitch-black sky became smeared in a blend of orange, red and violet. The suffocating dust across the battlefield settled down. The stagnant stench of sweat and blood was blown away by a cleansing wind. Every sword and element was silenced. The battle was over.

  A loud trumpet blast sounded the signal for retreat. Hundreds of Guardians
used up the last of their energy to transform into orbs of light, taking to the skies in haste, leaving the desolate world.

  The Guardians were gone and the immortals had won, but from the immortals came no cheer or dance of victory. The survivors looked wearily upon their once glorious domain and saw nothing but ashes. Even the castle, which had been constructed with the most ingenious plan of architecture that the greatest minds on the planet could conceive, was irreparable. The number of deceased totaled more than four thousand. The remaining immortals wasted no time to bury their dead.

  “They sure left in a hurry,” said Windzer, staring at the vanishing lights in the sky.

  Sorren said enviously, “I don’t blame them. The world won’t last. If I could fly well, I’d be long gone too.” His legs gave way. He knelt on the ground on his shaky knees trying to maintain his balance.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Windzer.

  “This is your fault,” growled Sorren. “Sorren is struggling to awaken. It’s exhausting to keep him restrained against his will. I…” Without finishing another sentence, Sorren collapsed. After a period of inhaling and exhaling heavily, he lost consciousness.

  “Don’t blame me. Sorren started it.” Windzer dragged Sorren under a tree where he could rest.

  “It’s not wise to leave him,” said a deep voice from behind. “Best take him with us.”

  Windzer turned around and saw his friend. “Hortmel, you made it! I guess the Guardians couldn’t keep you down, could they?”

  “Of course not.” Hortmel hummed, pleased with himself. “What about you? I didn’t see you. Thought you were a goner.”

  “I thought so too,” said Windzer as he recalled the event. “I came face to face with Beld. I was sure he was going to kill me.”

  “Then?”

  “Some guys ambushed him from the back. Before I knew it, all the immortals were retaliating against the Guardians. Boy, was I in luck. I was totally exhausted. Wouldn’t have been able to hold up the fort much longer.”

  “What do you think we should do now?”

  Windzer considered their options. “Did you find our ship?”

  “Everything in the basement was crushed,” said Hortmel. “There’s nothing left.”

  Windzer said, “Nothing at all?”

  Doleful, Hortmel shook his head.

  Windzer slammed his fist against the tree. “So we’re really stuck here? Well, this is a fine way to die! Maybe I should have just let Sorren kill me. It would’ve been less stressful. Now we can count the seconds till we pass away. And Dionus gets his wish. We’ll all perish here—including Darek.”

  Hortmel’s eyes widened. “Dionus? Did you see him?”

  “Sort of,” said Windzer. “I saw him leave with some Heroes. It seems he has gained control of the Legion. I’m not entirely sure what he’s planning, but he must be the reason why Sorren decided to attack Darek.”

  “Maybe he wants revenge.”

  “Maybe.” Windzer nodded.

  “So Dionus is alive and well,” uttered Hortmel. Then Hortmel said jokingly, “It is a good time to die then. Wouldn’t want to stay around for what happens next.”

  “Is that hysteria or joy?” said Windzer. “I haven’t seen you laugh in a long time.”

  Darek came crawling out of the castle window with Azura sleeping comfortably on his back. He groaned and grunted every step of the way. His red face looked ready to burst. She was heavy and he was dreadfully tired. He never imagined she would be this heavy. After he settled her on the ground gently, he brushed off the sweat from his face.

  Darek panted. “I can’t believe you guys just left us back there.” He glanced at Windzer. “It wasn’t like you had anyone to carry. You could have at least waited or even helped me out.”

  “Sorry, sorry,” apologized Windzer. “I forgot you guys were still in there.”

  “Forgot? You were talking to me!” Darek glared at Windzer with piercing eyes, but his eyes quickly softened as he caught sight of Sorren under the tree. “It doesn’t make any sense…Why did Sorren—”

  Windzer pursed his lips. “It’s because you—”

  “Wait,” Hortmel interrupted him. “Should you really tell him?”

  Windzer ignored Hortmel. “Darek, you are a Judge—you know that right?”

  Darek shook his head. “I’m not really a Judge. I had the training but I never became—”

  “You are a Judge,” said Windzer strongly. “No human decides it. It is governed by destiny. The moment your powers awakened is the moment you have been elected. A Judge has been removed from his position.”

  “How do you know about my powers?” Darek was surprised by Windzer’s knowledge.

  Windzer pointed at Darek’s hands. The gloves had formed again. “The gloves on your hand. I have high spiritual sensitivity and can tell that those gloves aren’t real. Judges have the power to manifest their spirit into the physical realm.”

  Darek shrugged indifferently. “Okay, what does that have to do with anything? Even if I am a Judge, why does that matter?”

  Windzer explained, “Sorren was born into an ancient assassination group known as the Black Raven Rogues, who were very dangerous. But the Judges exterminated the Black Raven Rogues long ago. He is the last survivor. Though his kind is now extinct, he would be considered a hunter of Judges—an avenger of sorts. Do you understand now? You are natural enemies, destined to fight each other.”

  “What?” Darek was stunned and could barely contain his bewilderment. “Can’t he let it go? It was a long time ago, right? I guess he has a reason to be mad, but revenge is meaningless.”

  “He is a stubborn one,” said Windzer.

  Darek sighed. “I guess there’s no helping it. That’s a shame too. After all we’ve been through, I thought we could be friends. I probably shouldn’t be here when he wakes up.” Darek then turned his attention to the ruined city and pointed to it. “Is this the work of the Guardians? It looks like they meant business.”

  “Yeah,” Windzer mumbled under his breath. “It wasn’t pretty. I never expected it to be easy, but I never thought they’d go this far. Guardians are usually cautious beings. Because they no longer give birth and cannot repopulate, they keep their distance and retreat at the first sign of danger. But this time, they risked their lives completely, willing to die for the cause. It’s almost as if they knew…” Windzer’s voice trailed off, but Darek didn’t seem to notice because he was preoccupied by many questions and thoughts.

  Feelings of remorse swelled up inside Darek. He had never seen a real war, never saw the gloomy field of lifeless skin and bones, the testament of brutality on a large scale. He had always heard about them, but experiencing it firsthand was eye opening and even nauseating. Now that he caught a glimpse of it, it made him one step closer to understanding the atrocity of war.

  “Have you seen Merdon around?” said Darek. Seeing the piles of corpses made him worried that someone he knew could’ve been buried under.

  Windzer said, “I haven’t. I left the battle early.”

  “I want to see for myself. Can you watch over Azura?” asked Darek.

  “Sure,” replied Windzer. “Do what you have to.”

  When Darek was gone, Hortmel said, “I don’t mean to pry, but is there any reason you lied to him?”

  Windzer chortled, “Because it’s fun to see what happens next! If we make it out alive, things will be very interesting…”

  Groaning, Sorren stirred in the grass. Windzer’s annoying laughter woke him up. Recovering from a headache, Sorren said disdainfully, “What’s so funny?”

  “You’ve awakened,” said Windzer. “Didn’t think you’d be awake this early. Are you feeling all right?”

  “As all right as I can be.” He closed his eyes for a moment and groaned again. “What’s the situation?”

  Scratching his cheek, Windzer said, “World’s going to end in an hour or two. No way to escape.” He then noticed Sorren was walking away. “Where are y
ou going?”

  “There’s something I must get,” said Sorren.

  “At a time like this?”

  “There’s no better time.”

  Darek wandered away from the castle ruins into the charred debris of the battlegrounds. Every step he took was carefully placed in order to avoid desecrating the bodies with the sole of his foot. Because he forced himself to look where he was walking, he couldn’t help but see the faces of the dead looking back at him. Some of them had suffered severe burns that rendered them unrecognizable, while others had faces of anguish. It was ironic to him: they would die in fear, pain and agony; yet while their faces would be molded into that expression, their spirits may actually be at peace.

  The whole planet began experiencing with violent tremors. The waves of the oceans popped and fizzled with hundreds of bursting bubbles that vaporized into steam. The grand trees of the forest were uprooted, toppling over. Swarms of animals and monsters took to the hills and open fields, scurrying in different directions, looking for a place to hide.

  The planet split in half, as if it had been cut clean with a knife straight down the middle. The two hemispheres were lightly torn apart, but the gap was steadily widening.

  “Wait! What? Is this it?” said Windzer. “It hasn’t even been fifteen minutes!”

  “Time’s up,” said Hortmel. “It’s all over.”

  “There has to be some way!” Windzer grimaced at the thought of death.

  Hortmel said, “All the optimism in the world doesn’t change the fact that we’ve got, at most, a few minutes left.”

  “Give me some of your spirit,” said Windzer suddenly.

  “What?” Hortmel raised a brow.

  “Just do it!” shouted Windzer. “There’s no time!”

  Hortmel’s hand glowed green and with his hand, he smacked Windzer in the back. Windzer felt the slight boost of energy seep into his body. He slammed his scythe into the ground. “Get over here!”

  The giant earthworm was resting its head upon a pillow comprised of tree branches, soft dirt and grass when it heard Windzer’s call. It wriggled immediately across the landscape to find its master; as they met, it stood tall at attention and would have saluted too—if it had arms.

  Windzer commanded it, “Swallow us up.”

  The worm nodded happily in reply.

  “Will this really work?” said Hortmel, understanding what Windzer was trying to do.

  Windzer snapped, “Right now, we don’t have much of a choice, do we?”

  Hortmel said, “But what about Sorren? Did you not want him to live for now?”

  “It’s his fault for running away at this time! There’s nothing we can do about it.”

  They held onto Azura and waited patiently as the massive mouth of the worm came diving down on top of them, devouring them and the surrounding environment with one gulp.

  Darek held firmly onto a nearby tree because it was hard for him to stay standing.

  “Merdon, where are you?” he yelled with his hands around his mouth. “Is there anyone out there?”

  The vibrations of the earth did not stop or pause, it had gone on for several minutes with no signs of slowing down and even started to increase in magnitude.

  The land beneath his feet broke apart and he ran from the crumbling dirt that sank into the ground. A faint red glow seeped out of the cracks on the surface of the planet. This was not an isolated case, however, for all of the continents were breaking apart into millions of tiny islands that were now suspended over the expanding core.

  Darek was now trapped and alone, kneeling on the floor. The fragmented pieces of land were actually being expelled a distance away from the core, such that it was practically floating high above and Darek was able to look down and see the core from a distance. The core had lost its luster and had changed so much that it was unrecognizable. It was now a giant unstable glob, covered by a dense, semi-transparent cloud.

  A stray drop of magma was launched out of the core and splattered to the ground, just a few feet from where Darek was positioned. The tiny blob of lava squirmed around for a bit and then it shook about like a wet dog casting off excess water. Once the lava was whittled down, Darek saw that there was actually a little person inside.

  Darek said, almost in tears, “Ios, you’re alive! What a surprise!” While he was happy to see Ios, he was much more relieved to not be alone in his final hour.

  “Ah, Darek,” said Ios. “What luck! I’ve been sent to look for you!”

  “Me?” said Darek, surprised. “Why are you looking for me?”

  “My master told me to give you these instructions: touch the core.”

  Darek sputtered, “Touch the core? You’re telling me I should just die?”

  Ios shook her head. “No, I just want you to touch to core. I didn’t tell you to die.”

  Darek scratched his head. “Let me get this straight. You want me to jump down several miles and touch the core.”

  Ios nodded.

  Darek continued, “So in other words, I should die from either radiation poisoning, impact with the core, or getting completely burned up by the core. Now tell me, in what way will I even have the slightest chance of survival?”

  “Stop fussing and get down there!” Ios opened her mouth and spewed balls of flames.

  Darek was startled by the flames and stumbled off the floating rock, falling deep through the cloud of strange particles. Ios jumped in after him and clung to his back.

  Ios said confidently, “I’ll shield you from everything else. All you need to do is touch the core.” As they descended, Ios exploded into a brilliant light that glittered and wrapped around Darek.

  “So is this the last experience I’ll ever have in my life, huh?” Darek spread out his arms like wings and embraced the warm air that caused him to float like a feather over the flames. “It’s not a bad feeling. I might as well enjoy it!” Caught up in the moment, Darek screamed over the prevailing winds, “If anyone out there can hear me, this is goodbye!” His strong voice echoed through the floating islands.

  As soon as they reached surface of the core, Darek quickly stuck out his hands and touched it, as instructed. His hands were still shielded by the gloves and when he touched the core, it didn’t feel hot at all, only a little warm. Then, all of a sudden, Darek felt a rushing sensation flowing into the palm of his hands. The feeling stunned him at first, causing him to cry out in terror as he wondered what was happening. It was as if he was draining out the core, sucking it dry.

  The color of the core faded away; the core became a dark gray matter, solid and crusty like charcoal. The scattered plots of land started to drop in altitude, falling towards the core with ever increasing acceleration. Darek could feel himself getting sucked in by a powerful vacuum.

  “Ios! What’s happening?” said Darek, sounding terribly frightened.

  “I’m not quite sure myself,” said Ios. “I just came to deliver instructions.”

  Soon, in the blink of an eye, the sum of the planet was sucked into a hole, a tear through the fabric of their dimension. All the land, people, trees and moving creatures were sucked in. Everything had vanished without a trace.