LIGHTS OF THE OTHER WORLD

Chapter 29 : Shocked

"You're alive?" I ask in surprise. I see Rhiannon standing with a cape around her. I run towards her and hug her tightly. "Well, I couldn't leave you to fight this battle alone, could I?" Rhiannon says, confidently.

"But how? How did you survive? We all saw you die..."

"You all saw me injured. After I told you all to run away from the battle field, Alaric captured me and bought me to his castle.
He locked me up here. He tried to snatch my powers away but he couldn't as I have mastered in self protection skills. He tried all his tricks to learn about the two of you and to find you , but fortunately he failed miserably.

Soon, he found Evanthia and thankfully forgot about me and left me here. I tried various ways to find a way for all of us to escape but when he got Evanthia here, he began extracting her powers and with that, he made these invisible walls so that no one could ever find us even if they came to help us out and he could extract all her powers and destroy every other dimension."

"But You saved us. Thanks Cal." Eva tells me.

"I couldn't have done it without Luke, Violet and Fleur. That reminds me, they might be in trouble. Let's go and help them."

I guide them out of the dungeon and the masters and learners zoom past Luke and he looks as surprised as ever. He turns around and sees me. "What took you so long? Do have any idea how difficult it was to stop..." His words are interrupted by the sight of Rhiannon, who's smiling at him.

"Wait, what in the world...Rhiannon? I don't understand..."

"Well, we surely don't have time to make you understand, Luke. Come on." I say and pull him along with me.

"This is crazy! Absolutely crazy! What in the bloody world is going on?" Luke exclaims to himself.

As our big troop passes through every part if the castle in search of Alaric, we encounter a lot of soldiers who attack us.

We fight with them and kill whoever comes in our way. After hardcore running and fighting, I meet Fleur.

"Violet's here with our soldiers. They have attacked the front side. Alaric has no way of escaping now."

"That's good news!" Eva exclaims.
Fleur sees and instantly hugs Eva. "It's good to have you back."

"Thanks!" Eva replies.

I see our soldiers fighting with Alaric's soldiers outside the wall protecting the castle. They defeat them in seconds. Our plan of getting stronger weapons actually worked, I think to myself.

"We have to let our soldiers into the castle!" I say and start reciting the spell. Valgadrium Castro spiti...Valgadrium Castro spiti....come on work!!

And the wall opens and let's all our soldiers ride into the castle.

Meanwhile I go in search of Alaric. I'm furious enough to give him a terrifying death. I don't find the need of waiting for the rest.

I race past the long corridors, yelling our Alaric's name and ordering him to come out from wherever he's hiding. I spot a balcony in a large room, and realise that in a few hours, daylight will strike Bellendis. I then see the golden throne right in front of my eyes. It looks very beautiful.

I recognize the throne at once. It's the same throne in which my mother and father used to sit and address the crowd of Bellendians who used to gather to ask help to solve their problems.

"Looking at your dead father's ghost?" I hear a grave voice behind me.
I turn around at once and see him standing there, confidently.

"How dare you kill my parents. I won't spare you this time, Alaric. You are going to face the punishment of all your deeds today." I say.

"How lucky your parents were to have a brave daughter like you. But darling, you are stupid to think that you will be able to kill the mighty Alaric, the most powerful king in all the dimensions!" He exclaims and laughs evilly.

"That's what you think. Let me clear your misconception." I say as I raise my sword and attack him.

He raises his sword too and defends himself. "Look at you, such a fool! You have a wand but you still use a stupid sword. Bellendis would never want a queen like you."

"If I use a sword or a wand, that's none of your business. Anyways, I'm just saving the power of my wand for the end. I can kill you with or without the sword." I say, and realize that I'm all alone with him in this room.

"I assure you that I'll kill you and your dear sister just like I killed your useless parents!" He exclaims as we continue fighting with the swords and defending ourselves.

"Why did you kill my parents? You had no rights to kill them. What wrong did they do to you?" I ask in a firm tone.

"They did a lot of wrong things, kid which they shouldn't have done." Alaric says.

I draw my sword back after listening to his sentence. "Like what?"

"I came to them to ask for help. Right here, in this very room." He draws his sword back too and points at the throne. "He sat there. I was from a very poor background. I asked him to lend me some money so that I could learn magic. My dream was just to become a well respected apprentice. But he denied. He refused to give me even a penny. He said that he had to attend to more important problems that the other Bellendians had. I went home empty handed that day. After a few days, I came once again, seeking for help. My mother was sick. She had caught a rare flu that needed immediate treatment. I pleaded the king to lend me some money for her treatment. I also said that I would return the money with interest. But he refused to believe me. He called me a liar and accused me to be a thief. I was one, I won't deny, but I had left thievery before I began dreaming of becoming an apprentice." He says and pauses for a while.

"What happened then?" I urged him to continue.

"What else could happen? My mother died in three days. It was all because of that stupid king and also his wife who supported his decision all throughout. After that I took a vow that I wouldn't only become an apprentice, but I would also kill the king. I snuck in and started a fire in the castle, when everyone was asleep. That diverted the attention of all the soldiers and I went to the king's room and killed him. The queen came in the way of my mission, so I had to kill her too. I thought I had killed everyone in the royal family but your old grandmother...she reminded me of my mother. I just couldn't kill her. Instead, I banished her from Bellendis. Little did I know, she ran away with both her grandchildren. Now I'll finish my unfinished business and extract all your powers, kill you and become the most power ruler anyone has ever seen!" He exclaims.

" I agree my father did a wrong thing by not believing you but it wasn't entirely his fault! You took his life away. You killed him for a mistake he didn't even know he was making. You killed a good king and became an evil king yourself. But it doesn't have to be that way. Things can change for the better. If you become a good king and serve the Bellendians instead of killing them one by one, then I'll leave Bellendis. I promise. I just want Bellendis to have a good and deserving king and want them to be happy."
"All I want is power and destruction now. I don't believe in goodness anymore. I'll make sure that no one ever has the courage to put me down or to deny my wishes. I want every Bellendian to be scared of me." He says, proudly.

He waves his wand and the red light from it, hits my pendent.

Immense pain overcomes me and I clench my glowing pendent tightly. Suddenly I'm unable to breathe. I feel my body being lifted up in the air. My wand drops from my hand.
"You...don't...have...to...do...this!" I scream out of pain.

I hear Violet's voice from somewhere. She zooms in her bird form. She goes behind Alaric, and becomes a normal Bellendian and tries to strike the back of his neck with her sword. But just in a split of a second, Alaric takes his other hand and strikes it behind him without even turning back, his one hand with the wand, still pulling the powers from me.

I see red blood dripping from Violet's stomach. She falls on the ground, lying motionless.

"Violeeeeet!" I scream. "Noooooo!"