Emperor of Legendia

Far away, from where the valley begins, Yulisa was spotted riding the giant wolf, charging through the enemies. She was followed by an enormous pack of wolves. The rescuers tore past the foe stampeding over their crushed bodies. Some tried shooting arrows at the wolves, which Yulisa effortlessly defended by a green envelope encompassing her and the pack. Zimon quickly turned looking at the Dark Lord and smiled, “Now, it’s a fair game! Don’t you know the precepts of a battle? Never take on an army which is too small and defenceless. However... things have turned around.”

Yulisa soon emerged from behind Zimon. Frightened, the Dark Lord was taken aback by Yulisa’s presence. “I’ve been really looking forward to meet you, Mighthorn.”, Yulisa said.

She was nothing like Marco had seen her before. A calm steadiness in her posture and a determined look in her eyes implied that she was more than serious. Before anything else could happen, the Dark Lord mumbled something and bought the staff’s dragon head close to his mouth. He blew air in its open mouth and the red eyes on the staff lit up.

“Please... meet my ultimate creation.”, the Dark Lord pointed towards his palace with his staff. The ground rumbled and the rocks shook off the mountains. Marco was sure that he saw the land in front of the palace tear apart producing a vast hole; the two separated lands moved in the opposite directions. A huge figure ascended from within the earth. Two large monstrous heads rose up from the underground. More astonishingly, they were not two different monsters. The two heads were mounted on a single body. It was a huge snake like figure, its length unending. It slowly slithered out of captivity, inhaling the fresh air with amusement.

Zimon’s eye widened as he said, “The ancient Serpent of Prussia. I thought it was dead.”

Amidst all this, the enemies were still struggling with Yulisa’s beasts. Soon the sky was filled with a large number of birds. As the birds neared them, Marco felt a great triumph closing in. They were a mix of huge hawks and eagles Yulisa had talked about. Dodging the arrows, the giant birds dipped lower, picking up the warriors by the head and dropping them into the deadly valley. This assured the warriors on the top were busy saving their own lives. Meanwhile, Zimon and Yulisa were glaring at the deadly serpent that rose from its sleep.

The Dark Lord laughed, “It was never dead. I was already in quest of its capture since my early times. I mastered its control and won its loyalty through what you may call a very evil way.”

“How do you control the serpent?”, Yulisa flared.

The Dark Lord took pleasure in replying, “There are around thousand live people held captive under the castle.”

Yulisa gasped, “You... feed the serpent with humans?”

“In a way... More precisely, I offer human blood to the serpent with a spell cast in the blood. In return it obeys my command. All it takes is to offer one man per day and the serpent is mine.”

“You filthy demon.”, Zimon said through gritted teeth.

“William Zimon... the serpent should not reach your army... for its power is beyond your imagination. I’ll take care of the sepent. I’ll leave Mighthorn to you.”, Yulisa quickly said.

Zimon nodded. Yulisa jumped on Grozzald’s back with unimaginable strength of a youth and strode past the Dark Lord, while her pack of wolves ambushed the enemy behind them. The tribe of the scar faced man behind the Dark Lord whimpered and bent low as Yulisa charged past them for the serpent. Zimon did not waste another moment. With a quick reflex he flung his arm carrying the staff towards the Dark Lord. With a lightning speed as if hit by a raging wave, the Dark Lord swept of the ground, landing hard a hundred yards away. Marco sprung into life, “ATTACK!!!”. Raising the swords, they for the tribe in front of them. With hardly thirty yards before the clash, Marco ordered his formation, “Target one is to two... Attack in pairs!”

The Legendians charged for the foe from either sides with Zimon and Marco in the middle. The next moment, there was clashing sounds, raging strokes, metal blowing all around the valley. Few of the Dark Lord’s men slipped in charging towards Marco. Marco worked his sword on them skilfully. Slashing all their throats, he made sure nobody touches Zimon. “I’ll cover you my Lord. You make your advances at Elezabor. I have your back.”

And Zimon found his way out of the crowd straight to the Dark Lord. But he was even more ready for Zimon. With his dragon head staff, spinning it around, he picked Zimon up midair and knocking him off the ground. Zimon performed a spell to cushion a soft landing on the ground in which he succeeded. Zimon managed to defend the next attack. But the Dark Lord was gaining in. He held his staff high and shove it in the air at the mountains. A huge rock cracked out of the edges of the plateau falling straight over Zimon. With no time in hand, Zimon screamed at the top of his voice as he pulled his staff in a complete body rotation shoving the huge rock boulder above him changing its course towards the Dark Lord.

Wondering if he got the Dark Lord off the guard, Zimon waited for the dust to settle down but alas, the Dark Lord had used the same technique that Zimon used to protect himself from the arrows. “Now, I am loving your skills even more...”, Marco heard the Dark Lord scream.

The moonlight was creeping in...

As Yulisa neared the serpent, it got more restless and the two heads did not move its glance from the old lady on the beast. Suddenly, a dozen of hawks zoomed in towards the serpent from its left. One head turned rapidly and a released a speeding hot flame from its mouth burning down the hawk in the lead. Terrified by the attack, Yulisa bellowed, “NO! Return back to the plateaus.”, she ordered, “Take down only humans.”

The hawks quickly scattered across the sky to prevent another blazing fire attack and returned towards the plateaus. The serpent’s speed was astonishingly fast. In no time, the two heads picked up the burned hawk from either sides and tore it apart in to two.

“You sickening monster.”, she yelled.

She could now see the serpent clear and close. They seemed to be more of a wingless dragon. Their skins hard as armour that no arrow can penetrate, the scales of which shone bright red; each scale sized a human. They bore brown spots on the heads, resembling like a diadem. Their eyes were bright green and a slit of black in the middle. The eyes perched just beneath two black horns protruding from its head; the size of an elephant’s tusks. Under the eyes their nostrils flared. It advanced not in a succession of folds but moves erect upon the middle. The two heads placed on wide bodies each merged into one after many feet. Its length was long enough to embrace and crush a whole castle. Both the heads now furious, inhaled huge amount of air, expanding their body underneath, then with a stunning speed struck another blazing flame. The defence confused the serpent. She was changing the course of the fire by no means. Even her staff rested on the wolf’s back and not in her hand. Actually, Yulisa was just pushing the fire away from her with the help of the wind. Her palms remained wide open as if pushing some transparent glass. She was controlling huge amount of wind which kept blowing away the fire.

Meanwhile, the wolves were scaring the wits out of the Dark Dume’s men. No one dared to close them. The archers were disarmed by the rhinos. They were running for their lives now. This sight wasn’t amusing the Dark Lord. Zimon gaining hope, charged for the Dark Lord for a physical blow, when the Dark Lord’s eyes showed a salient expression. He whispered like a cold breeze, “Zylosoch...” and clapped his both hands together. Zimon knew what was coming but it was too late. He had looked into the Dark Lord’s eye which was a huge mistake. Zimon froze and dropped his staff. Marco gazed upon Zimon’s lips which opened to a terrible shrill; Marco never heard Zimon shrill in such a manner. The pain was deep. Zimon felt his inner body burning. His chest seethed as if thin sharp air needles pierced through it. His mind was fogged and nothing could be heard except his own scream. Marco was about to rush towards Zimon but his path was blocked by half a dozen warriors. ‘Please make it, old man’, Marco prayed.

Zimon was losing strength. His body was heavy as if he was burdened by a huge rock on the head. Zimon forcefully bit his lips to retain from the screaming and thought of his men. He had this only one chance.

“Azou Reboulle!”, Zimon choked out.

The wind and dust around Zimon blew off outwards. Dark Lord almost lost the grip of his staff. It seemed Dark Lord was panting hard, “You... repelled it? How?”

Zimon was kneeling on the ground, breathing hard, clutching at his chest. The Dark Lord could not believe his own creation was repelled by the wizard.

The serpent swayed back and forth. He analysed the old lady before her. Never had he experienced such an opponent. His skin was hard as rock; nothing could pass through. ‘But this was magic’, he thought, ‘Pure magic that his highness fights.’ Yulisa spelled the serpent into a trance. The four eyes stared into Yulisa’s eyes. Her face was white as moon with shades of dirt and her eyes, firm and strong. Neither of them moved. She was on her feet; Grozzald away from them as she asked him to do so. ‘He won’t let his highness savaged by her.’, the serpent thought, ‘He is the king of snakes. Nobody orders him. Release him you witch.’

The heads shook slightly. Then there was a blazing flame from both the mouths that burned down Yulisa’s body. Grozzald roared in anger, jumping on its spot, but calmed down when her hand raised. She was thrilled with the speed it came and burned down the skin off her body. Her clothes were burnt in several places. Her skin was red and blood peeped out from within the flesh. This pain was never witnessed for years. All these years, she had almost forgotten what it is to be in pain. Hot pink skin peeled off loosely. The serpent was amused in victory.

But then she went into a strange formation. She was suddenly covered by a fire. Not that the serpent attacked again. But the fire was produced from within her. Bellowing like a real demon, she raised her arms up to the sky and huge demolishing fire erupted from her body.

“Have you heard of the demon Khaaz?”, Yulisa’s voice echoed the battle field up to a large stretch. Her voice was captivating, not charming, but fearful and terrifying. Even Marco could hear her echo. She spoke in a demon’s voice, a monstrous fashion.

The serpent feared Yulisa’s transformation. He certainly heard of Khaaz; a demon that roamed Jahm Paths since the times before he came into existence.

“I possess Khaaz. He exists in me. I am Khaaz!”, the demonic voice screamed.

The fire from her body shot across and engulfed the serpent in it. Half of the men stopped fighting including Zimon and the Dark Lord. As if in a dream, they saw vast dancing fires, dressed over the serpent’s body. The serpent’s scales started to melt. The two heads screeched in pain and dismay. The heads were blinded by the fire’s intensity. They backed off to from where they came and fell off into hole with a huge thud. The giant serpent was burnt down by the witch and everyone knew it was dead the moment it stopped crying.

Panic struck in the Dark Lord’s eyes. If Yulisa returned, it would be difficult for him to handle the wizard and the witch together. Marco could feel the fear rising in him. Not a single Legendian had died and the foe had already surrendered.

“You wouldn’t even try to kill me, Elezabor!”, Zimon spoke in a shaky voice still breathing hard, “Infact you can’t! How will you defeat me?”

The Dark Lord roared, “I will capture you... suck your strength and will make you defenceless. I will keep your live body in my palace... shackles and chains around you.”

“No, no ... Elezabor.”, Zimon limped his way to the Dark Lord, “You can’t ... you’ve already lost. You see, evil doesn’t strive for long...it struggles and then gradually fades away. I had other plans before but now I am determined to kill you. I am not going back empty handed.”

Marco could force a smile at a closing victory. But four things happened in that very moment. Suddenly, the Dark Lord’s staff fell on the ground and he clutched the cloak near his heart. Next, Zimon’s face frightened up and he ran towards the Dark Lord. Third, Marco’s sight was blocked by appearance of Peter crossing his vision. Fourth, Marco stepped aside to see a long hand knife stuck in Zimon’s blood stained chest.