The Exiled King

Chapter 35 - She Who Fights

Lirya's magic fell over everyone with a slow rumble. To the gods and guardians, it felt like a warm, if slightly suffocating embrace. To Garyth, it was like the stabbing of a thousand needles. He grimaced as thin cuts appeared everywhere the dark fog touched, slim lines of crimson that wept blood that trickled down his face and arms and whole body.

"Sister! Don't hurt him!" Eryian cried, pushing his way forward to her side and grabbing her arm.

Lirya turned to her brother and said with slightly wild eyes, "Eryian! He's a liar and a cruel man! You can't trust him! Join me... help me take him down and-"

Eryian's face fell and he released her hand, stepping away from her.

"No. I thought you were going to help us! I will not betray my master. He's the only family I have left now."

Lirya gazed at him with pleading eyes, willing him to change his mind, "But you have me! I'm your sister."

Eryian simply shook his head, a steely determination in his gaze.

"You're telling me to betray the man who saved me and raised me like his own, sister. I won't do it. I'll fight by his side until the end, even if it is you I have to fight!" Eryian replied coldly, stepping towards Garyth.

Lirya shook her head in despair and cried, "Don't make me fight you, Eryian! Step aside. I don't want to hurt an innocent person!"

Eryian walked over to Garyth and stood protectively in front of him, summoning a sword in his right hand.

"No, Eryian," Garyth said quietly, a tremor in his voice, "You will not fight for me. You will not join the battle! That is an order, you understand?!"

Eryian hesitated, a conflicted look on his face. Then his expression morphed into one of confusion and pain as similar cuts appeared on his body. Lirya's magic had turned against him.

Garyth's eyes widened and he quickly whispered a few words under his breath to the boy, then waved a shaky arm and teleported Eryian outside the domed barrier.

"Leave him out of this. This is only a fight between me and all of you," Garyth said through gritted teeth As he wiped blood from his face and began another magical attack.

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Eryian was suddenly thrown out of the dome and into the terrifyingly quiet hallway of the ivory palace. He scrambled to his feet and tried to get back through the barrier, though it repelled all of his advances. He even tried to summon a portal inside the barrier in an attempt to warp in, but was unable to. Garyth had stranded him outside in such a way that he could do nothing but watch as the events unfolded in the dome.

At first, he didn't worry very much, since he knew better than anyone else just how strong Garyth Herus was.

But through the dark fog that battered against the barrier and obscured Eryian's vision, he saw that the tides began to turn. Lirya was pushing back Garyth. Little by little, the wizard's magic faltered and his body sustained more injuries.

Eryian pounded on the barrier, his heart hammering, as he cried, "No! Master! Let me in!"

He slammed the barrier with his fists until they were bruised and bloody, but it held strong against him.

Why?! Just why did he send me away?! Eryian thought in despair.

I could have fought by his side! I would die for him!

As he watched, Garyth took a crippling blow to his side as his personal magical barrier dissolved into nothingness. The wizard staggered, then fell to his knees as he held his side and a crimson stain spread over his tunic.

Eryian felt like the floor was swallowing him up with such a dreadful feeling of terror. Garyth Herus was everything to Eryian—father, mentor and friend.

He'd dared to dream of a future where he and Lirya and Garyth lived a happy life together... at the top of the world. Now, that dream shattered to pieces before his very eyes. His sister fought against him and she harmed Garyth. There was no way they could reconcile.

Garyth struggled to his feet again, looking smaller than Eryian had ever seen him. He'd always been a larger than life figure to the boy. He'd always been the strongest and excelled in everything he'd set out to do. Even the demons fell under his control. Garyth had even killed a god! Yet, this infallible man was beaten back by his sister... this man whom even the gods feared. Eryian leaned heavily on the barrier, weakly hitting the barrier as if it'd do something. He couldn't even feel much of the pain from his torn up fists, nor the slickness of his blood that ran down the barrier.

All of a sudden, his fist flew through the air and he fell face first to the ground. Pain flared up as he collided with the hard marble, and a metallic scent wafted through his senses. But the sense of trepidation that welled up in him suppressed all the pain as he realised the implications of what had just happened.

Garyth's barrier broke—for he had made it clear that as long as he lived, he would keep Eryian away from the battle. And a barrier usually broke if the caster ran out of mana... or if they died.

No! No no no... NO! Eryian thought, frantically scrambling to his feet.

Please... let him be alive!

His foot slipped on the blood covered marble and he fell to his knees, but he wasted no time in struggling back up to his feet and dashing through the fog-covered battlefield. It was like he was all alone there. He couldn't see the gods or the guardians or Garyth. Lirya's dark fog cut at his skin like knives, but Eryian persisted.

Eryian's heart dropped as he stumbled forward and found Garyth crumpled on the floor. His breath was all he heard, rough and grating in his ears, as he scrambled over to his fallen mentor and grabbed him, shaking him... willing him to open his eyes.

"No no no no no... wake up! Master!" He sobbed, his frame heaving with every sob.

Garyth's forehead crinkled and his eyes opened. He grimaced, but his eyes were strangely bright and lucid.

Eryian heaved a shaky sigh of relief and gathered his mana, intending to staunch Garyth's bleeding wounds.

"Y-You're alive, Master! Don't worry... I'll protect you... you'll live... you have to!"

Garyth put a gentle, but firm hand on Eryian's arm, stilling his movements.

"It's too... late," Garyth rasped, and his grip tightened ever so slightly, "You know that! Don't... waste your magic... on a dead man..."

"No! Don't say that, Master!" Eryian cried.

Garyth sighed, then struggled to sit up. Eryian quickly helped him upright and watched as Garyth used a tiny spark of magic to amplify his voice.

"Listen closely... or you'll-regret it until... the day you die," Garyth's hoarse voice boomed out across the room.

He shuddered and spat out blood from his mouth, then continued speaking quickly, "You will know the truth of what you're really fighting for!"