Shadow's end

Chapter 9: The Fall of the Council

"We cannot just stand by and let them die!" exclaimed T'aarsh "They face an unbeatable force! Surely there must be something we can do?!". The others all expressed their agreement with T'aarsh, looking to Drash'aa. She sighed, hating the situation she was in and said "I'm afraid not. The best way to ensure our safety is to stay put within the Hall. It cannot breach the barrier and we cannot defeat it. There is nothing we can do but wait it out". Still protesting, T'aarsh said "But surely with our combined strength we could-" "ENOUGH!!" commanded Drash'aa "It is decided. I have said it, and since this is an emergency war situation, you have no choice but to accept it". They all fell silent for a moment before Drash'aa continued, sounding tired and defeated "I dislike it as much as the rest of you, but there is no other choice. Either we sit here and wait it out, or we go out there and die with the rest of them" "If I may, Drash'aa" said Sh'aard quietly "I agree that we cannot defeat it as we are now but if we had the full Council, we may yet have a chance". "That is ridiculous" exclaimed Nacr'aash "Where would we possibly find a Sixth Council member? If I recall, there is no one left alive to be suitable for the Sixth seat!". "Rasocren" said Drash'aa calmly. Everyone besides Sh'aard looked at her, shock visible on their faces. She ignored them, looked to Sh'aard and said "Are you sure that this is wise? You could be releasing a second enemy within our very walls and make matters much worse". Sh'aard simply looked at her and said "What other choice do we have besides sitting here and watching our people die?". Drash'aa considered this and said "Very well. Bring Rasocren here".

Sh'aard, along with Ash'aad went down to the prison complex and found it empty. He was not surprised since all of the guards had left for the meeting once the dome had been cast. He simply navigated the complex without as much as a second glance to the splatters of blood covering the walls here and there. He was too preoccupied with getting his hands on that troublesome Rasocren and ending that pest once and for all. Ash'aad was only there to be a witness to Rasocren's "suicide". Ash'aad, was also preoccupied with her own thoughts and so, she also missed the blood. She kept thinking about the absurdity of freeing Rasocren. Yes, she had certainly liked the boy but the creature that had been dragged out flailing and screaming to the dungeons had not been him. Rasocren had been a thoughtful, intelligent boy who certainly had great ambitions but what he had become was a vile, savage beast that had nothing but vengeance on its mind. Maybe... maybe the beast wreaking havoc on the city was Rasocren! No that's impossible, she reasoned, He never could have escaped the cell he was in! Yet once they had arrived upon the grisly scene of Rasocren's escape, her fears were confirmed. Looking at the horrifying remains of the guards standing outside, Rasocren's cell, Sh'aard looked at his companion and said "How is this possible?". Ash'aad simply shook her head in horror, not knowing the answer herself. That was when the earth started to rumble and a loud crash was heard reverberating throughout the entire Council Hall. Both of them looked at each other in fear and Sh'aard said "That cannot have been good".

With all of those souls consumed, the beast had gained a tremendous boost of power, enough to break through the barrier. As it shattered, the beast dashed inside the Council Hall, knowing not to waste time for the Council would surely put it back up at any moment (although it will never know that they did not, in fact, put it back up). All the energy used to break that barrier had used up its power boost but the beast knew that it was still more than powerful enough to kill the Council, at least if they were not all together. To its luck, two members were running as fast as they could up the stairs to the Council Chambers. Quickly, it cast a wall of dark magic and stopped their progression up to their destination. One of the Council Members, to the beast's pleasure, was Sh'aard, the one who had always been an obstacle for it back before it walked down the Path of Perfection. It would enjoy killing him slowly. The other one would be quick like the others. She had never posed much of an obstacle to him and he had no desire to kill her the way he would the others. The woman, scared yet foolishly trying to hide it from the beast's all seeing eyes, summoned her magic axe, stood in front of Sh'aard and said "Rasocren, stand down now in the name of-" she never finished her sentence as the beast that was once Rasocren dashed and cleanly sliced her head into four horizontal disks. She fell to her knees and and collapsed, her head splitting and splashing blood all over the floor and walls. Four left. However easy Ash'aad had been to get rid of, Sh'aard proved more of a challenge because he was much more attentive and ready than his former colleague had been. He still did not last long as he tried his best to parry the beast's quick claw strikes but ended up with long, painful gashes all over his body. By the end, he was hardly able to turn around to keep up with his opponent and yet it still kept on gashing him instead of killing him. That was when he knew that it was simply toying with him; to make him exhausted and make him suffer. He decided to use the last of his energy to use a spell that would kill him as well as the beast. But as he was about to unleash it, he felt incredible pain flair in both of his shoulders as the beast was now in front of him, both sets of claws planted deeply in his shoulders. Then the torture began. Sh'aard screamed as the beast started to pull his shoulders and arms apart, horribly riping them off. Sh'aard knew it had the strength to quickly and cleanly do this but it chose to do it slowly and painfully. It kept ripping off limbs off in the same manner. Feet, legs, nose, ears, tongue and eyes. When there was nothing left and that, unbelievably, Sh'aard was still alive, the beast finished him by simply crushing his skull with one hand, splattering blood and brain matter everywhere. Three left.

Hearing the entire slaughter transpire below, Drash'aa and the others prepared themselves in a defensive formation. They had their weapons ready and had enhanced themselves so they could keep up with the beast. She didn't know if the two others had found and released Rasocren but she knew they didn't have to when she saw the beast walk in. Standing before her very eyes was not only the beast, but her son. Sorrow filled her heart as she saw her only son turned into a demon who had killed all but three of his kind. You must bring him back to the right path, she thought to herself, It is still not too late! T'aarsh abruptly roused her from her thoughts by screaming "Stay back monster! We will not hesitate to slay you where you stand if you take another step closer!". For a second, the beast did stop but only for a few seconds to openly and rudely laugh in their faces. Then it charged, disrupting their defensive formation completely as it tackled them all with incredible force that sent them all flying backwards. They were quickly back on their feet, however, to block the next attack and push the beast backwards. Their combined strength stunned it and they took their chance to strike. One after the other, while the other two kept a defensive formation, they took turns striking at the monster, dealing heavy blow after blow. Luckily for them, their blows seemed to have quite damaging effects on the beast and they were able seriously hurt their opponent. But as Nacr'aash rotated with Drash'aa and went to strike the beast, everything went wrong.

The beast saw Nacr'aash trip and took the opportunity to strike, despite the immense pain it was in. It found that, though injured as it was, it still had enough strength to catch the Councilwoman of Structure and tear her in half, sending her blood and guts all over the place. Two left. Foolishly, T'aarsh cried "Damn you, Darkspawn!!!" and lunged towards the beast preparing to finish it off. Unprepared for what was about to happen, T'aarsh never saw the beast's ugly claws fly towards his face to intercept him. They plunged into the Councilman's face and stopped him short. Holding him there the beast took the time to hold him steady with its other hand and ripped his entire face off, leaving him still alive and suffering immense pain with blood gushing everywhere. That was not what it had intended to do. It had wanted to take his head off but clearly it would have to heal to regain that sort of strength. Much quicker than it had done before (it was starting to get used to this, noted the beast to itself), the beast consumed T'aarsh's soul. One left. The beast turned to Drash'aa, its wounds now completely healed and its energy fully restored, and started to advance. Then, to the beast's surprise, Drash'aa cried in ourage, her voice indicating that she had decided to walk the Path of Perfection. But it was too late for it to save her. She would die, like the rest of the sorry excuses for Shad'raa. "YOU INSOLENT WRETCH, I SHALL TEAR YOU APART!!!!". Surprisingly quick, Drash'aa dropped her weapons and dashed towards the beast, slashing at it with her own set of claws. Scrambling to parry, the beast just barely managed to stop her from cleaving his skull in two. He struck back, yet she was just as quick on the reflexes and they fought like this for almost an hour, trying to overpower, outmanoeuvre or outsmart the other with no success. Strike after strike, blow after blow they kept fighting skillfully. But eventually, Drash'aa started to slow down and get sloppy. The beast, having been restored to full power and then some right before the fight had more left in it than Drash'aa did. So that was how it had managed to slash her across the face and send her flying into the far wall behind her. Even before she could land, the beast grabbed her by the throat and squeezed with unrelenting strength. "I just wanted you to know, Drash'aa, that no matter how angry I may have been with you or the others, I will never come to regret this moment. In fact, I shall look back upon this time with joy and longing as I decimate you and your foolish little "Shad'raa" to oblivion, time. After. TIME!" taunted the beast wickedly. Tears streaming down her face, Drash'aa could only stare at the monster that had taken over her son's body rip out her throat with its bare hands. What a fool I was, thought Drash'aa dimly as the life slowly drained out of her, To think I could save my son. How could I have done such a thing when he is the first one that this beast has killed?

The beast had left the Council Hall and stood in the middle of the plaza amidst the millions of corpses that it had produced. It felt somehow... calmed. It had completed its mission; exacted its revenge and now did not know what to do. It stood there, thinking and thinking yet it could not find what task it would undertake next. After a long time of searching and pondering, the beast finally knew what it had to do. It realized that it was not the only one left. There was another one. The one who had opened the beast's eyes to the truth behind the Path of Perfection. Smiling to itself for having found a purpose once more, the beast walked again after three days. Subconsciously, it dispelled the barrier and left the dead capital of the Shad'raa in search for R'odash, the exile and supposed betrayer of his people.