Six Warriors

Necromancer's Cave - (Fenrir)

"Are you alright, boy?" Alexia asked as Fenrir woke up.

"Merlina!" The boy said, "What happened?"

"We found you unconscious and bleeding at the beginning of the woods" Alexia said, "you had a poisoned dagger in your back, but Adger and I took you to Magnar's temple and the priest Tewdric used some enchanted healing balms on you."

"Evagore...she came up and...said you and Othala attacked her and Adger, I was going to help Adger and then...she stabbed me in the back."

"Yes, Alexia did appear to us" Adger said, "but it wasn't the real Alexia, she made Evagore and I split up, Evagore went with her clone, I took Alexia's clone and then he attacked me."

"Clones?"

"Yes, Fenrir, everything leads us to believe that we are dealing with doppelgangers here, shifters that can take the form of anyone." Alexia explained.

"Those doppelgangers took Merlina?" Adger asked worriedly and Fenrir nodded. The butler looked crestfallen, Fenrir apologized, but Alexia said he had risked his life and that he had done all he could, it was not his fault. Alexia also said that Othala and Bard were on the trail of that strange wart guy and that they would soon discover his role in all of this, as well as that of the criminal sorcerer Handrox. She asked what had happened and Fenrir told her about the garden gnomes and the strange Evagore, apparently those garden gnomes were the beings called 'lutin' a species of fairy folk. Adger said that Merlina had left behind the medal she and Fenrir had won in the Angelical Polka competition, Fenrir noticed that the girl's scent was infused there. He said that maybe, through that scent, they could find the girl, in which Adger looked hopeful. Fenrir asked the two if there was any way they could identify the real ones in case the doppelgangers showed up again, but Adger said it was useless as doppelgangers often captured their victims and read their minds to know about their feelings and thoughts and that if a if they created some code, the doppelganger would also be able to know. Adger said they should trust instincts and fate. With these troubling thoughts, Fenrir and the others followed the scent trail left by Merlina.

...

In the woods, called the Grizzly Bear Wood, there were some trees carved in the shape of bears and Adger said that no one ever knew how these things were created or who had carved them, it felt so natural and unnatural at the same time, it was curious. In the distance they saw a strange light that sometimes glowed bluish, sometimes greenish. They made their way there, and the light grew stronger and stronger, and musical sounds could be heard, until they reached the source of light. It was a clearing and in it there were small wooden houses, others built under mushrooms, and still there were stone ones. Small creatures sang and cheered happily, as well as a few human children.

"They didn't notice us." Adger whispered.

"Ok, what exactly is this? Neverland?" Fenrir asked seeing that scene so different from what he was used to.

"So these creatures are really real." Alexia whispered.

"What are we waiting for? They got the Merlina, let's get her back!" Fenrir said.

"Don't be so hasty, everything isn't as it seems."

One of the gnomes, or lutins as they were called, the oldest and apparently the wisest, looked suspicious.

"I feel an evil presence surrounding us," he said as if he smelled a scent that he didn't like "something dangerous and powerful."

"And where does that come from, master?" Asked a pixie fairy who flapped her wings frantically, like a hummingbird. The old man then pointed to the tree where Fenrir was.

"Excellent!" He exclaimed "Papa Smurf found me out."

"There's no way anymore" Alexia replied, coming out of her hiding place. Fenrir did the same, and the little ones looked impressed.

"What do humans want here?" Snapped one of the lutins, brandishing his small fist.

"Calm down, we just want to ask a few questions," Adger replied, trying to sound friendly, "we want to know Merlina Fallfrsky's whereabouts, that's all.

"They came to get our friend!" The same goblin growled "they'll have to get past us first!" The other little fairy beings agreed.

"Big Brother Fenrir, you're alive!" Merlina exclaimed joyfully upon seeing him there, "Adger, you too! Big Sister Alexia!" Merlina wanted to run to them, but the little ones stopped her.

"Free those kids!" Alexia ordered, "Merlina has to get back to her grandfather."

"So you guys work for that bastard!" A fairy cried "we can't let them take the human child!" Fenrir already losing his patience.

"Hey Tinker Bell!" He called him "the 'bastard' you're talking about is the girl's grandfather."

"He's not a good person," the old lutin said, swallowing a pipe, "you'd better go."

"We're not going without the girl!" The chosen one of dark took two steps forward, before the stressed-out lutin released a bright bolt, which hit him in the middle of the chest and knocked him down. Fenrir's chest now glowed as if he'd been hit by glitter and the boy wiped it off, then stood up "what the hell is this?!"

"You have an evil energy!" growled the little lutin, still with his hands pointed at Fenrir, glowing with magic "Am I right, Grand Master?"

"Yes." the old man replied calmly as he swallowed his pipe.

"You are fouling our holy ground! Leave immediately!"

"I didn't want to have to beat some little fairies," Fenrir said, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword, "but I don't seem to have a choice."

"Big brother, no!" Merlina asked, "they are my friends!" The girl then looked at the old man, "Grand Master, please, they are my friends too, this must all be a misunderstanding, can they at least talk?"

"They can," the Grand Master said, puffing on some smoke, "but the boy will have to get out of our holy ground."

"What?" Fenrir could not believe it. Was he too ugly to stand there?

"Fenrir, wait for us outside the clearing." Alexia asked.

"Don't you want to throw me a bone too?" Fenrir joked.

"No, that's only after you obey" Alexia teased, Fenrir frowned and turned to walk away, "yeah good boy" Alexia laughed more teasingly.

"Don't exaggerate, right?!" Fenrir growled in response, but Alexia laughed and joked more with Fenrir by imitating a barking dog. So Fenrir left there, and went where the light barely reached. He leaned against a tree, and waited there. “Crap garden gnomes,” he thought. He looked up at the sky, that sky so different from what he had in his world, but still very beautiful. It was dotted with thousands of stars, of many different colors, and there were two moons, one semi-yellowish silver similar to the Earth's moon, and the other a slightly lavender luminosity. He wished he could be admiring that sky over there, but something appeared among the plants, growling. Fenrir removed his sword from its scabbard and prepared for whatever might come from it. A six-foot creature emerged from the undergrowth. He was humanoid in shape, but walked so hunched over that his long arms almost touched the ground. His skin was gray, and he was rather gaunt, with a protruding jaw, and opaque eyes. In her arms, she had a foot long bony spines, two in each arm, and also along her spine. The creature lurched forward with its huge claws, and Fenrir dodged, jumping back, launching an attack with his sword shortly thereafter, hitting its arm, which hissed violently in pain. The monster attempted one more claw attack on Fenrir, who again dodged, this time crouching, and then stabbed the weapon into the belly of the creature, which spasmed before dying.

"You weren't that strong, huh you ugly?" Fenrir spoke indifferently as he wiped away the fetid gray blood the creature had left on his sword. More growls were heard, and Fenrir could see more eyes in the darkness, before creatures identical to the other erupted from the vegetation. "Wonderful, I had to provoke! Look, it was your brother who attacked me, okay? I has putting the sword through him was an accident!" Fenrir complained getting ready for the fight. The boy was surrounded, three creatures were in front of him, five more on his left side, and four on his right. The boy started to fight with several of them at the same time and other more of those creatures appeared, until some people appeared there and helped the boy to get rid of those things. In fact, the backup was one person, one person and one imp.

"Wow, thanks for the help!" Fenrir said to Othala, breathing a little. He had only taken a few glancing blows. Before he could finish thanking him, however, Othala suddenly attacked him as Bard said.

"You almost kill Evagore! You crazy, we're going to end up with you!" While Othala attacked and Fenrir blocked or dodged the attacks.

"Othala, calm down!" Asked Alexia suddenly appearing and blocking one of the girl's attacks with her sword, "let's explain what's going on, but you have to stay calm."

Bard explained that he and Othala found Evagore badly injured somewhere near the town of Childangelvill, Evagore was so weak that she could only mumble that Fenrir had done it. Alexia explained everything about the doppalgangers to her and Bard, they still looked a little suspicious, but they accepted. Bard, speaking for Othala, said that those creatures were conjured by Handrox, the criminal sorcerer, and that he was the man with the wart's sidekick, they were after the scroll and had plans also to summon an ancient and powerful demon. According to her, they were members of an association called the Dungeon Society or something, which had evil plans. It was then that a troop of soldiers bearing the Fallfrsky blazon appeared, leading them was Lord Hosten and on his side Percival, beside them was a short, slightly humped man hooded in a brown cloak and also a tall man of muscular build, platinum hair slicked back and goatee in the same color, with them were also some demonic-looking mercenaries who according to Bard, the imp of Othala, were dangerous and wanted criminals.

"Percival, Lord Fallfrsky, these are the man with the mole and Handrox!" Alexia said, pointing at them both.

"Don't worry, they are our allies against these miserable forest beings!" Hosten said.

It was then that another small troop of soldiers appeared from the opposite side of the woods and they were led by... Percival?!

"That's not the real Lord Fallfrsky and that's definitely not the real me." He said pointing to... well, to himself.

"Nonsense, they are imposters!" Lord Hosten yelled back, but Alexia and the others sided with this Percival who had no allies for the criminal sorcerer Handrox or the man with the mole.

"You are outnumbered Percival, give up!" The sorcerer named Handrox laughed, "you are no match for us."

"They will have our help!" The Great Master lutin declared, "We won't let you desecrate our holy glade, monsters!"

"What cute little fairies!" Handrox scoffed, "We will crush them!"

Alexia warned the Fallfrsky soldiers that this was not their true lord, but Handrox said it was useless, they were under a spell. The false lord then ordered the attack and a battle ensued. Fenrir ran with sword in hand towards the doppelganger, who noticed it too late, but he managed to dodge the boy's sword edge, but not without wounds. The old lord's features twisted into those of a doppelganger in its true form. Fenrir tried to attack him, but he was slender and fast, and the boy ended up getting kicked in the face.

"Foolish boy, can't beat me!" The doppelganger attacked with its arm, which turned into a strange tentacle, and stole the sword of the chosen one of darkness. Once again the monster lashed out with its tentacle-shaped arm, and brandished it like a whip. Fenrir took two leaps back and prepared the magic in his hand.

"ECLIPSE HARPOON!!" He fired, but the creature barely dodged, getting hit in the shoulder and screaming in pain, the creature cursed aggressively. Fenrir came forward again, his hands still covered by dark magic. Getting close enough, he attacked the creature with his right hand, "NIGHT WOLF CLAWS!!" The attack easily sliced through the creature's grayish flesh, ripping its chest. The doppelganger fell against a tree and got his hand on the wound. Fenrir picked up his sword and pointed it at him. "Any last words?" He asked. The creature then squirmed disgustingly until it took on the shape of someone else.

"Please do not kill me!" He asked, with Alexia's features "I... love you, I want to spend my days with you."

Horrified, the chosen one of dark took two steps back.

"Help me, Fenrir!" She begged. The boy then chuckled "what… what's going on?"

"You look just like her" said the boy "your interpretation, however, is horrible, I think in this situation you didn't have time to read her mind, did you, you monster?" That said, he made a quick cut on the creature's neck, which with a surprised face died and returned to its original form.

"Don't you have a heart?" Alexia asked moving closer, seeing what Fenrir had done.

"That interpretation was horrible, come on." Fenrir replied indifferently "unless you really love me and you want to spend your days with me" the boy smirked.

"Boy, love is a too complex feeling for a little kid like you to understand," she shrugged, smiling wryly.

"F-Fenrir!" Someone called the struggling boy. It was Adger and he was hurt, "that man with the mole...he...was powerful...he took the kids...and he took Merlina!"

When Fenrir thought of answering something and going immediately after Merlina, a powerful voice called out in a tone of victory.

"Too late, Percival Will Guttlin, you lost!" Shouted Handrox "I got what I wanted!" Handrox held up a gem, beautiful but still raw, which glowed relentlessly in different colors, purple, blue, red, green, among others.

"It's our power font! It's the Wild Fantasy Gem!" the Grand Master squeaked in regret "oh no!"

"The power of the Demon Emperor will rise again!" Handrox fired a bolt of magic upward "and I will rule with it!" Handrox laughed like a madman.

"How are you going to dominate with him? Do you want to be the demon queen or something?" Fenrir mumbled under his breath, but he had no idea Handrox would hear.

"Who are you, you cheeky brat?" Handrox roared furious at the insolence,"may you be an example, you insolent little worm!" A powerful ray of magic that flickered between colors like the gem was fired, and it was going towards Fenrir, however, someone pushed it to the side, being hit full on by the ray of power. It was Adger, for a moment his body was just glowing with a successive change of colors, for a moment it looked beautiful, but Adger seemed to be in great despair, even without expressing through sounds or actions, just the look in his eyes. With a class and calm almost sthoic, characteristic of that butler, he just looked at Fenrir and said:

"Save Merlina."

And then his entire body instantly disintegrated in a small burst of colors.

For a split second Fenrir did not understand what had happened, or rather, he did not want to understand. Adger was...

Fenrir couldn't help but feel guilty, for some stupid joke that guy had made him a target and then... and then... Adger, bravely saved his life! Why?!

The boy growled and, still from the ground, glared at Handrox, who still looked ecstatic at the power and hadn't even cared about Adger's death.

Handrox and the others started a battle, the criminal sorcerer was now very powerful, Alexia called for Fenrir, who didn't pay much attention, the boy just got up and walked with hard steps towards the sorcerer, not worrying about his rays of power insane.

After taking down Percival, Alexia and Othala at once with a swing of his hands, Handrox seems to have noticed Fenrir.

"There it is, the boy saved by the freak raven!" He laughed.

"I won't let you... I won't let you talk like that about such an honorable person!" Fenrir screamed, one of the rare times he had let his hatred show.

"And what are you going to do? Pee on my bed?" Handrox chuckled, "Take the chance that freak gave you boy, I don't have time to play anymore, I just need to destroy you all."

"Kill me?" Fenrir then grinned at the corner of his mouth "in this dark and gloomy forest? On this night when the clouds cover the moonlight? No you oaf, I am in darkness."

"And?"

"Darkness is my territory."

Fenrir then, as he had once done, hid in the darkness, much more than that, let the darkness shelter him...

"I should be impressed, you i***t punk? Die!" Handrox desperately fired bolts of magic. Fenrir opened his arms, and fell backwards, as if he were going to fall into a lake of cold water, and then plunged into darkness, not yet knowing exactly how. When he raised up from the shadows again, he was behind Handrox, who was firing into nothingness in an attempt to hit him. The crystal glowed changing colors in Handrox's left hand. Fenrir took it, so subtly that the man could not perceive it, and then he felt a very strong shock, an incalculable power invading his body, similar to the time he had awakened the power of darkness, but it was a wilder, more brutal force and less familiar. Fenrir will not bear it for long, at least not without losing his sanity. Handrox turned back, his eyes wide with terror. Fenrir created magic in his hand, and it was much faster and more potent. It was as if he had taken a powerful tonic, and jumped, and the jumping capacity was a thousand times the normal capacity. He fired at the man, who screamed before being buried in darkness. The chosen one of darkness was careful to hit him alone. After he had defeated the sorcerer, the temptation to remain with that immense power seized him, so he dropped the crystal immediately, before he forgot his purpose, so he fell to the ground.

"Boy, are you alright?" Asked the Grand Master approaching him, "holding such power with your bare hands and still being awake...no, alive after that requires a very powerful spirit. Who are you?"

"Of course I have to stay awake!" Fenrir growled still on the ground, "I have to honor Adger's last request, I have to save Merlina!"

...

Alexia and Percival were badly injured from the Handrox fight and although Othala was not in better shape either, she could help. Fenrir followed the Grand Master and he led them to a place called the Necromancer's Cave. There, that strange man with the wart was still alive with one of the dopppelgangers and he had taken the captured children there. Grand Master said that he and the other lutins had captured some children to protect them from this mysterious man, who according to him was a wizard and who planned a macabre rite. Othala and Fenrir arrived silently at the cave. All the missing children, including those who had previously been saved by the lutin, were tied to stone pillars in a circle, thirteen children in all, in the middle of the stone circle was carved in the ground a magic circle full of runes and inscriptions spells that looked evil. Merlina was in the one at the end, which was the largest stone with about three meters tall, she was chained there and her garments were torn. Grand Master was horrified, by the sacrifice that this strange warlock would make and also by what he wanted to evoke, according to the lutin, that was an unholy ritual to conjure up a powerful demonic entity that the little one even dared to say the name. The warlock was a cachectic fellow with a long, hooked nose with a wart at the tip. His heavy-lidded eyes had dark spots around them, and on his face, in addition to several wrinkles, he had a toothless smile (he had only five or six teeth in his mouth, the upper and lower incisors, and the upper canines). He was bald at the front of his head, and at the back, he had long black hairs, thin and greasy. The children were crying and begging for mercy, desperate, the doppelganger was in his normal form and just watched everything stand still, the strange warlock, who to Fenrir seemed like a very bizarre version of Gargamel, was uttering some magic words in a very low voice, when from one part of the pulpit a stone tablet stood out.

"We got Mendiznos, we got the scroll, a part of the Metaphysical Configuration!" Laughed the warlock, in a husky, morose voice, as if his throat was defective.

"Celebrate when we deliver it to our master, you fool." The doppelganger replied with some disgust from the warlock, "now, proceed with the ritual."

The warlock complained with snorts, but he did as he was told. Fenrir looked for some stone with a shape more or less similar to the scroll and when he found told Othala and Grand Master to release the children, he would see to it that he would stop the warlock's ritual and take the scroll. The warlock raised his hands, on one of his long and badly manicured fingers he had a ring of silver and onyx, he began to speak words in a grotesque and hideous language, which for some reason was familiar to Fenrir...

Anyway the boy was hidden in the shadows, everything was going as planned, but one of the children who was being released by the Grand Master, realized that she was going to be saved and laughed with relief... that was strange for Mendiznos, the doppelganger.

"Gigor, you stupid warlock, they found us!" He yelled the monster and then advanced on the Grand Master, Othala stepped forward and a fight ensued.

"DARK IMP'S ONSLAUGHT!" Bard raged himself as he lashed out at Mendiznos, Othala controlled him as if he were her... her Pokémon or something.

Nearby, Gigor the sorcerer looked at Fenrir and smiled evilly. Fenrir didn't like him, the boy felt a disgusting energy coming from that man and his bad smell... that old man didn't even seem to try to disguise his bad smell, it was like rotten old cheese or old socks.

"So it's you, huh?" Said the man to Fenrir, "You must be the big brother Fenrir that the girl was talking about!" Gigor laughed.

"You bastard, I won't forgive you!" Growled Fenrir.

"What darker energy! I liked it!" Gigor growled and then attacked with magic whose focal point was the ring.

Fenrir dodged the attack, but that had only been a distraction to another blow that had come from behind the boy's back. The chosen one was knocked to the ground. The boy rose quickly and hid in the shadows, diving into them and appearing on the wizard's back, the boy thought he could hit him, but it had only been a trap by Gigor that cast a spell in the form of a blade of darkness, which would cut Fenrir in half had it not been for Grand Master to have saved him with his own magic.

"Gigor, our priority is the scroll!" Yelled the doppelganger on the ground, before Othala finished defeating him. Finding himself surrounded by three enemies, Gigor gave up on the ritual, he grabbed the stone tablet and fled through a secret passage in the cave.

"He's running away with the scroll, we can't let him!" Bard yelled at Fenrir, who just smiled confidently, "hey, what's up? What's so funny?"

"That's really interesting." Said the boy, still smiling, "that attack from before, my intention wasn't quite hitting the old man."

"What you mean?"

"At the Kim Itor Festival fair, I bought an item that the seller called a box of illusions, I partially knew how it worked so I used the item on any boulder and it looked the same as the scroll board, at that moment of the fake attack, I just switched the two."

For a moment they were silent, but just until Bard began to laugh, Grand Master joined in with more subdued laughter and even Othala smiled. They then released the children, Merlina cried and hugged Fenrir thanking him for being there, the boy didn't have the courage to say yet that Adger was dead. Despite that, things seemed to have worked out, but then why? Why was Fenrir in that strange sense of danger? They were going, but that feeling made Fenrir tell them to follow that he was right behind, Othala and Grandmaster thought it was a little strange, but didn't object. Fenrir was alone there in that cave, which grew darker as he became more alone. Then he heard laughter from a chilling voice, a voice that wasn't human.

"That was a really good trick, it worked against an amateur like Gigor, but with me? You'll have to do a lot more than that, kid."

Wait, whose voice was that? Since when was he there? Why did his legs start to shake? Fenrir tought if was he… was he scared?

Then from the shadows a being emerged, for a moment Fenrir had the feeling that those shadows in the cave had taken the shape of the head of a dragon with a shadowy, almost skeletal, horned face, which accompanied that humanoid silhouette almost symbiotically, but despite of all that was just an impression... and then when that being came out of the shadows, Fenrir smelled a very strong acidic smell, so strong that it made him hold his nose and feel sick.

"If you hadn't been alone in this cave, I would have killed you and all your friends just to get the scroll... but you were brave enough to stay here." He was a very tall man, his skin was dark and he had a thin face, although his body was quite muscular. That acid smell, that presence… Fenrir felt he was about to faint from just that. "Deliver the scroll now and do it on your knees, or everything you've fought for so far will perish to ashes." The boy realized that he was threatening not only him and his friends, but also Merlina, the children and all of Childangelvill. Fenrir would deliver the scroll, that's what he said, but he would never do it on his knees, "You have pride, as your bloodline dictates... I respect that... I just don't like it one bit." And with amazing speed that mysterious man approached Fenrir, that presence, that acidic smell... Fenrir couldn't resist and just fell to his knees, not being strong enough to resist it. The man smiled as he took the scroll from Fenrir, "remember this presence, boy, and fear the day you will feel it again, the presence that before you had no power to resist."

Then Fenrir blacked out.

...

When they meet Evagore again, who was still recovering, Alexia and Percival explained to her about the entire situation with the clones so that she wouldn't think badly of Fenrir. Even though the boy wasn't at all to blame, he still felt that all the progress he'd made with her so far had gone down the drain because of the attack from that doppelganger that had taken over his appearance.

Old Lord Fallfrsky, the real one, was found alive and tied up in the crypts beneath the mansion. Merlina was relieved that he was alive, but he was also saddened by Fenrir's departure and above all by the death of his longtime friend Adger. The lord erected a monument to Adger's act of bravery and also thanked Fenrir and his friends. The ceremony where they honored Adger served as a farewell, as there was no longer a body, just the memory of that brave and kind butler. Merlina cried a lot. In addition, Grand Master and the others lutin apologized for their treatment of Fenrir and gave him a gift, a crystallized leaf that the Grandmaster said had only one use and that the boy was wise to use. Fenrir and the others spent another day there, sorting things out and then preparing to leave.

"Goodbye, big brother Fenrir" Merlina said with sadness in her voice, "I'll miss you, okay?"

"Yeah..." Fenrir replied awkwardly and gave a brief smile to cheer the little girl up, "look, I left most of my games and toys here, ok? So when you miss me just play with them." And then the boy smiled a little more kindly and Merlina thanked him and gave him one last big hug.

Alexia gave a genuine smile when she saw that, and then said.

"Yeah boy, you surprised me with your attitude, even got rid of the toys. Could I tell you're getting a little... mature?" She giggled and Fenrir just smiled back at her.

.