"I, URO, MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF SORCERERS, TO WHOM ALL EMERGENCY AUTHORITY HAS BEEN GRANTED, FREE (a name that sounded like thunder roaring), THAT HE MAY FULFILL HIS END OF OUR DEAL!" Roared Uro.
The djinn's face rose higher. Melody could now see flowing red robes, two enormous hands, shackled by chains that trailed far, far downwards, into the darkness. He roared, and it was the loudest sound Melody had ever heard. The chains shattered.
And the djinn vanished. No explosion. No poof. No all-powerful djinn destroying Earth.
Just silence.
•~•
Silent. That was the first word that Ana would have used to describe this camp. Completely silent. It was eery.
Ana, Aunty Nani and Dawn had teleported just beyond the clearing that the camp had been set up in. The canvas of the tents were blood red, and there was an enormous tent in the middle of the camp. Suddenly, a man stepped out of a tent. He was clean shaven, with spiky hair and electric blue eyes. He wore ripped jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He saw Aunty Nani and Dawn immediately, probably due to the fact that they were wearing shiny armor.
"INTRUDERS!" Shouted a mental voice that rippled over the camp.
"Trawl!" Snarled Aunty Nani, charging. Dawn followed swiftly. Trawl turned and ran as a horde of nightmares swarmed past him. An enormous toad like beast covered in warts and spikes leaped at Aunty Nani, who slid beneath it, opening up its belly from below. Green blood and organs poured from the wound. A doll tottered up to Dawn, who kicked it straight up into the air, then cut it out of the air with her fiery sword. Dozens of small dragons, puppets, beasts and toys lunged at the two. Ana left them to it. She had another job.
She saw, on the other side of the horde, a girl. Wan Sin/Exitium. In one small hand, she held a long, gleaming silver sword. Ana visualized where she needed to be, on the other side of the hand that held the sword. The air rippled, and she stepped out of nowhere next to Exitium/Wan Sin, who whirled. Ana lurched forward, grabbing Exitium/Wan Sin's arm in a firm grip. The air warped.
Intense heat rolled over them. The air warped again-
They flew, weightless, through space so cold that Ana could feel herself dying with every second-
The air warped again. The final warp, through space, to the destination where the world would either be saved- or destroyed.
•~•
Ana staggered away from Wan Sin/Exitium, but she wasn't fast enough. The sword flashed. Ana fell to the ground, gasping in pain. She collapsed, scarlet red blood pouring out onto the white snow. Her heart pumped weakly, barely a flutter. She knew what wound she had been inflicted. The wound she had suffered had been delivered with surgical precision- of just a dose of luck. It depended on the heart to push blood out of the wound, steadily. The blood was warm on the icy ground. Exitium/Wan Sin ignored Ana. She looked around.
"The North Pole?" She laughed, "You brought me to the North Pole?"
Ana didn't hear her.
They were beside a pile of dust; the remains of the ancient portal that had kept their world connected to the Betwixt.
"Can you feel it?" asked a voice.
Wan Sin/Exitium whirled. Uro was standing not far from her.
"What?" Inquired Wan Sin/Exitium, "Victory?"
"Your realm, Nelheim, is crumbling. The djinn will tear it apart," said Uro.
"You released a djinn?" Asked Wan Sin/Exitium, her face contorting into a snarl, "Are you mad? The djinn will destroy Nelheim, and the rest of the dimensions will fall!"
"But they might not," responded Uro, "Your plan was based on speed. It always has. An army of nightmares to quickly destroy all of us, before nature reasserts itself and recreates the portal. If Nelheim is destroyed, you and the other nightmares go too. The nightmares that form, we might be able to hold out against until the portals and Nelheim are recreated."
"Shut up!" Shouted Wan Sin/Exitium.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"What is that CURSED noise?!" Demanded Wan Sin/Exitium.
"That's my alarm. My bad. Congrats! You're fully First now," said Uro.
Wan Sin/Exitium pointed the sword at him. There was a flash of light, and Uro was blasted backwards. He fell to the ground, unmoving. Wan Sin/Exitium looked around for Ana, but she had teleported. Wan Sin/Exitium walked to the remains of the portal. The sword flashed, and the portal reformed. Wan Sin/Exitium stepped through.
•~•
Uro had been worried that Exitium's soul would be attracted to his body, even with the special knapsack, which was actually a "pocket dimension".
Fortunately, Wan Sin/Exitium had not sensed his body. Once she was gone, the three children and Aida hurried back to Earth. They saw Uro, who insisted that he was fine, just paralyzed, and to carry on with the plan.
And so they waited.
Soon, a figure stepped out of the portal. Exitium/Wan Sin looked surprised to see them. Before she could do or say anything, Cassandra turned the knapsack upside down.
•~•
Wan Sin could feel Exitium leaving her mind, this time not in a stream of light and shadow, but invisibly. Exitium's body twitched. He rose, a smile on his wicked face. Wan Sin lopped his head off.
Exitium's head fell to the ground. His body toppled over. Suddenly, the body flickered. Once, twice. Then-
Exitium vanished, replaced by a goblin similar to the one that Melody and Cassandra had described from their visit to the Nightmare Dimension. Aida gasped in shock.
Trawl's psychic illusions had struck again.
And Exitium had one last trick to play. Earlier on, he had bound the Sword's power to the goblin's life force. Now, the goblin was dead, and the sword was going too.
A crack ran down the blade of the sword. Then, light filled the world. Nobody could see anything. When the light receded, the sword had been destroyed.
