Half Soul Chronicles

    "There is nothing more noble, more honorable, more glorious than a death blessed by the gods.."     Mother's words rang in my head, her courage, her mother's strength, and her mother's wisdom passed down from blood to blood, reforming and refining my will. Today will be a good day. The air is vibrating with magic, a silent hum that shakes the cave walls around me, the stone under Gemini's claws shook with a knowing that once the cave wall is dropped, chaos will ensue quickly. I couldn't be more excited.      The Three Thousand stood before me, I paced back and forth gazing out at the warriors who all answered the call a moon ago, the bravest humans, syraphites, ogres, faeries, and anyone else brave enough to join me in battle all idly chatted, their voices reaching up bouncing all around the cave walls. Their anxiety to get out on the hills and end this Necro could almost be tasted, it was delicious how close we were to infamy!     "Three Thousand, stand!" I roared out silencing the warriors in waves until the only noise came from the outside. "Traveling from every corner of Yeral, I thank all of you warriors for answering my call! Some of you I have met before, some are new, but it matters not! We are all warriors bound together by the steel in our blades! The magic in our veins! And the promise that every single dark and vile thing we face on this field today will be severed from this dimension!" A deafening cheer erupted igniting my soul blood, my fingers twitched, just as anxious to leave this makeshift safe haven. "Together we will ignite the darkness here! Together we will cement ourselves in the Great Books! Who are we!?"      "Three Thousand!" They yelled back.      Shaking my head, I pulled on Gemini's reigns, slamming my fist on my chest. "I said: WHO ARE WE!?" I roared even louder, shaking the walls around me.      "THREE THOUSAND!!!!" We all yelled together.      Today will be a good day.      "Drop the wall Maga!" I commanded turning to the cave wall.      Maga, floating above the heads and bodies until she was in front of us all, slammed her hands on the wall, a bright green magic circle bloomed in front of her, the wall groaned to life, sliding down into the stone below. Great winds blew my hair away from my face, nearly shaking Gemini off balance, I smiled at the sheets of rain pouring in, coating my face and armor. The sky above a torn jade, struck with bolts of red lighting yesterday's pink clouds a ominous and sickly yellow, the tall grass of the field ran wild with daemon and other manner of dark spirit, it stunk of darkness and decay. All of this darkness coming straight for us, the hidden spell Ryhdeora and I cast last night finally broken.  "Will we fight!?"I yelled over the roaring wind and screaming rain.  "We Will!" the Three Thousand echoed.  "Will we die!?"  "BE REBORN!" We screamed as I ripped Deathbrine from its sheath holding it high over my head. "BE REBORN!!!"  The Three Thousand charging ahead, tearing apart daemon and dark thing that crossed their path, a tear burned my eye: I'm so proud of these lunatics.  "You do realize most of these fools will die right?" Ryhdeora grumbled coming to our side, scratching at Gemini's side.  Nodding, I wiped my eye. "They know the risks my ever sunshine filled love," I smiled. Rolling her eyes, she pointed to the distant cyclone of swirling magic up by the hilltop, watching as it tore up dirt and stone from the ground. "And how do you plan on dealing with that?"  Shrugging, I waved my sword in a circle. "Stab at it a bunch, maybe?"  "You have no plan, do you?"  "A master doesn't need a-whoa!" Gemini nearly taking off under me, I gripped and pulled her reigns back. "Whoa whoa! Relax! You'll get your share of blood!" Pawing and clawing at the ground, she snorted her blue flame. Sighing, I rubbed her scales. "Patience is a wise sword Gemini," offering Ryh my hand. "Care for a ride? I know that carrying that tree of a blade slows you," I teased.  A wave of annoyance flooded her face, but she still grabbed up my hand, I hoisted her up. Looking to the trembling Maga, she hid behind the cave wall. "Sure you don't want to join?"  "Elves are resistant to being stabbed! I'm not!" She cried.  Shrugging, I snapped Gemini's reigns,a crack of lightning, she was off.   The chaos outside of the cave's protection was ravenous, hundreds upon hundreds of undead, minor daemon, and dark spirit scoured the fields, attacking from both land and sky, trying to slaughter us without care or thought; completely enthralled by this Necro. The jade sky above darkening as more dark spirit plunged down on her, reanimated corpses rambled around slashing and attacking- I met them with twice the fury.  Hacking and decapitating every foul un-dead and daemon we raced by, a thought crossed my mind: surely not just one Necro is capable of controlling so many un-dead and a massive concentration of magic like the cyclone at the peak of the hill? Sure, great Necro (not all of them evil) have amassed great power, the sister Merlara the Exiled come to mind, but even she had at least a dozen followers to even amass half of the forces that I'm seeing here-and she was Elvin.  One of the Blood doing all of this mindless chaos? Impossible! Still, I need to worry about maybe the possibility  that a sibling may have been seduced by daemons, it's happened before and the results are always disastrous. All manner of life destroyed, the balance tipped on the side of chaos. It cannot be allowed to stand, whoever this person or people are-I will end them.     Chopping off a attacking un-dead, threatening to rip the skin from one of my warriors, I propped myself up on Gemini. "Wh-what are you doing!?" Rhy complained as I passed her the reigns. "We should be going to the source, not fooling around!"  "And miss all these trophies? You're funny love!" Activating the Elluin and Garrik runes, I lept from Gemini diving sword first through a daemon.  Shrieking as I rolled and sliced through it again, I cackled firing beam after beam of mirror flame into the dark creatures, dispersing them, cutting a line through, I lost count of the bodies I chopped through only to find myself surrounded by six daemons. Hungry, dark things, all of them taking the forms of ghouls, cloaked in shadow, dragging chains with heads spiked through-such things frighten the weak willed and weak veined.  I am no such creature.  The daemons circling around, I aimed my blade at them, never losing sight of any of them. This is going to be fun. Smirking, I sheathed my blade and held up my hands, the daemons unaware that their fates were already sealed. Three of the dark things, attacking at my blind spots, lunged for me, dodging the one behind, I lept behind it blasting a hole through its back and chest, dispersing it to ash, landing as the five flew towards me, I gathered the magic necessary letting a arc of four beams dispersing the daemons leaving one left. Staring me down as if it had a leg in this, i smiled bolting forward for its head.  "DIE FOUL THING!" I roared channeling magic through my fists.  Propelling myself up, I latched my legs around its neck, crashing my fists through its skull, a sweet scream erupted as I pounded the daemon into dust. My hands, armor, and face covered in dark plasam, I held my fists in the air, letting out a roar.  "i***t!" a voice called, my fist yanked up onto Gemini as Ryh raced through the crowds, she covered in plasam, her hilariously large blade cutting a path as the two tore through. "Why are you wasting time fighting lowly daemon when we have an actual enemy?" She barked at me.  Rolling my eyes, I fired a scatter bolt at a cluster of daemon. "Because it's fun! Live love-"  "Get serious! Surely you feel the darkness, its seeped into the very soil, this Necro isn't a minor magic caster-"  "Could be a group? No one mage could cause and control all of this!"  "Well, my sense is telling me otherwise!" She shouted back at me. "Go ahead! End this battle at the source!"  "Sure you don't want to switch blades? Yours is-"  Frowning back at me, she tossed me the reigns. "Your jokes stopped being funny six years ago,"  "Yet you stay for them anyway," I smiled. Rolling her eyes, she lept onto the field. Flames exploding from her blade, she slammed it into the soil, waves of purple thrashing out in every direction eradicating all darkness around. "Don't die fool!" She yelled at me.  "Wouldn't give you the satisfaction!!"  Taking my place, I snapped the reigns, Gemini blew lighting from her nostrils tearing fresh claw marks as we rode for the hilltop. The winds growing more violent, the daemon and warriors thinner the closer we rode, a subtle incline made this a little more real, it's been quite some time since I've faced an adversary close to my level, my last great battle was more than seventy years ago, yet I can still taste the Elvsbane blade, and the lack of the tip of my left ear is always a harrowing reminder.  The winds ripping and pulling at my hair and face, I focused a dome around us to make it more manageable to ride through, slowing our sprint to a trot, I stopped completely sensing something-wrong.  Gemini snorting, I rubbed her scales. "You sense it too.."  Leaping free, the soil here, this close to the source of this chaos, was brittle under my boots, kneeling down I scooped some free. Dead, black,rotted. Now it makes sense, this band of Necros aren't using their own body (or someone else's unlucky body) to enthrall, they're pulling the life force from the very stone. This is concerning; a chill vipered up my spine.  Sensing something in front of us, I ripped my blade free but flinched at the sight. A empty eyed, grey skinned sibling moaned and growled clawing at the two of us. Staring wide eyed at the sight that I've never seen before, I gripped my blade. In a quick, single swipe, I removed my sibling's head from their body, it landing with a dull thud, the rest of him falling like leaves suddenly blown from a tree.  Rising, I turned to my sibling, their skin ashen white, their empty blue eyes staring vacantly out at the battle before us. Bowing, I opened a purification circle around him. Beginning my prayer to Arun, the light surrounding, cradling the stolen sibling, a sharp darkness bled into my circle forcing my eyes open. Before my very eyes the body that was there just seconds before, reduced to ash-like a common mortal.  A strange sense of dread fell over me, a darker cloud in this dark day. My knees hit the dirt, cupping the ash, it slipped from my palm into a tiny pile, none of the memories from them transferring into me, leaving a giant black stain in their life. Forgotten, some animal trapped and slaughtered for something that was probably human.  A tear stabbed at my eye, I cupped a handful of ash, blowing it to the air. "May you know rest. Arun heal you, Galeath protect you, Ygannea make you new again..." My hands cupping into fists, I turned to the summit of the hill, the dark thicker with each passing step. "Come, let's make whoever did this their final day." I hissed.  Gemini snorting, she followed me in step. The ground rumbling under me, I looked around for the source, whipping my head around just as vines-thick and black as oblivion ink, erupted between us, lashing out in all directions, a vine slammed into my stomach, stabbing at my armor rising me from the ground into the air. Crashing down, hard, my head knocked the stone. My head pounding, I coughed, groaning I snapped up to see the vines high into the clouds separating me from the world beyond, specifically Gemini, who was trapped on the other side. Gemini blowing lighting at the vines, with no affect beyond the vines angrily lashing out snapping at her, I tried my own blade and mirror flame, but had no affect.  Refraining from acknowledging the pit growing in my stomach at all the strange occurrences, I waved my sword at my friend. "Go! Find and fight with Rhy! She'll need your help with that mountain she calls a blade!" Snorting, she clawed at the ground. Rolling my eyes, I sheathed my blade. "Yes, I know! But you need to protect our warriors," Another snort, another claw. "I protect me! Go and I promise you'll have all the rodents you can stomach by night's rise!"  A reluctant string of curses followed Gemini but she trotted off without more of a show. Still, in this one particular instance, maybe I should have found a way to get her through the vines, the pit won't go away. Still, my mother raised no weakling nor did she raise me to shrink at the face of an enemy potentially more powerful than I. That's my specialty.  Each step brought me closer to the summit, to these monsters of darkness who dare enthrall a sibling and force them to do their bidding-and also wreaking havoc in random parts of Yeral leading me to trail them in the first place.The top of the summit welcomed me, green sky so close I could practically  touch the clouds, fog surrounding the summit, making seeing below impossible,a thick opaque dark, the cyclone of dark magic swirled but never swayed beyond the edge of the hill- a singular cloaked figure stood at that edge, their back to me like some kind of master of the universe.  The one who caused all of this. Swiping my hand over the Lexisis and Myrdin runes, the few spirits I could hear warning me that I would need all four runes for this foe.   "FACE ME!" I roared over at the hidden figure.  Gripping my blade, nearing them, they turned their head, a shimmering pearl mask dotted with glittering black gems, this foe at least has taste. "A'kei..we meet at last-"  "What?" I yelled, the roar of wind drowning out any sound above my own. "Come kill you now? DON"T MIND IF I DO!!"  roared collapsing my body to close the space.  Closing the space between us, I slashed down at the figure, cutting right through them, landing the cloak and the Necro were several steps away from me, completely unharmed. "You couldn't have thought it was that easy A'kei," they chuckled, a cold laugh that sent a unpleasant chill through me. How does this Necro know of me?  Wait, now that I think about it, I'm surprised more villains don't go to these extremes just to weed me out into the open. I'm quite popular..in often not so good ways.   "Actually, I was hoping it wouldn't be. I love a fight."  "Fight?" they cackled. "Think yourself so mighty I'd waste my time and magics in a fist fight? Don't make me laugh." They said flatly.  Bolting at them again, I slashed with the strength and precision of three of me, but they were faster, dodging and weaving with a speed of someone Elvin-but I can sense one of my own, this is some kind of mortal, and all mortals die. Opening my palm,  exploded a sphere of mirror light, the screeching Necro stumbling back, I lunged ready to end this.  Vines, erupting from around them, they crashed into my armor plunging me into the ground, pinning me down with a force of a great tree. Their shadow over me, they shook their head.  "The great daemon hunter, are you sure?" They asked.  Collapsing above them, I dove slashing cutting through their cloak just as they dodged. "I can sense your fear," I taunted.  "My fear? You don't even know what you're fighting." They laughed.  The air suddenly growing still, the clouds above stopped moving, the sky going pitch-a glowing blood moon shone illuminating over the cyclone and the Necro, darkness crept up through the very soil surrounding the Necro, flooding them, a black shadow stood before me, their eyes a burning crimson. The air frost, cutting my lungs to breathe, the world under my feet shifted, shaking, rumbling, violently quaking throwing me nearly off my feet.  Not wanting to this to go any farther than it already has, I focused the non dark magic around me, blasting a beam of mirror light at them to at least disrupt whatever it is they're doing. The beam colliding, a terrible explosion of screams bloomed shattering my beam throwing me off my feet. Slamming hard on my stomach, the ground under me rumbled, a shadow as wide and looming like a planet enveloped everything.  Lifting my eyes, a daemon mountains high stood high over everything in every direction. Jade eyes lined its arms and chest, both made of smooth mountain stone, jagged in places, sticks and trees jutted out on its monstrous shoulders, its eyes and face cut from a pale gold stone, two empty pits stood for eyes, no mouth could be seen, but that's only because its stomach was a rounded pit of spiraling teeth swirling razor teeth like a whirlpool.  So tall and so fierce was its magic, it coated the land, the very bare dirt under my feet in red spikey flowers-the Land of Dead, the seventh dimension. A daemon so powerful, so tall what have I got myself into?  Smiling, I rose my fists high. "YESS!"  "Y-you're happy about this?" the Necro asked incredulous.  "YES!! BOROLITH!!! THE SOUL REAPER!!!!" I cheered.  "Well..um..then have your wish. Die Elvin." they said simply.  Two beams of pink light ignited from the eye pits of the daemon painting the sky in its color, rising its fist high, I smiled-finally a battle. Like thunder, the joints of this powerful creature snapped as it slammed its fist into the ground, barely dodging me, I collapsed above the fist, landing flat on top of his palm. Racing up, collapsing myself ahead steps at a time, avoiding the eyes as its eyelashes grew trying to ensare me, I looked over to see its other hand, clearing cloud and sky to get to me, I collapsed to its other hand as it slapped itself knocking itself off balance. No time to stop, no time, I whispered a spell of speed picking up the pace even more, I collapsed again re appearing above the daemon, I jammed my blade between the eyes of the monster.  A shudder rippled through the dark creature, with it a profound sense that I did the wrong thing weighed on my shoulders. Purple light streamed out of the strike, coating my skin, hands by the millions hurried out, grabbing and pulling at my blade and legs, trying to drag me into the daemon. Ripping my blade free, the hands reached out, spilling like an open wound, I lept free just as its head exploded-dark magic sharp as blades sliced through my armor cutting into my skin, I crashed spine first rolling into myself. Dropping my blade, I groaned, my vision blurred, the headless-mighty daemon-my muscles weak, drained of their natural strength, I struggled to my feet. A crash as thunderous as a planet exploding ripped through the field, clouding the summit in dust and dirt. Guarding my face, I stumbled around blindly, grabbing the hilt of my blade. I pointed it at the Necro.  Descending over them, the millions of hands swirled, absorbing into the Necro-all those dark and lost souls now flooding a mortal frame-I've never seen someone so insane.  "You don't know what you're doing!" I warned jogging, my feet catching, nearly tripping, my spine trembling under my skin, ignoring the pain I forced my feet to go faster as this psychopath continued to drink eons of dark energy. If they don't die, I'll be fighting something way worse than just an ancient daemon without a soul-I'll be battling one with a soul.  "And you still have no idea." They said in a voice splintered with a million more, making my stomach turn.  A sharp pain bloomed through my stomach halting my feet and my thoughts. Glancing down, my world started to dim, a blade enchanted and inscribed with black-unintelligible symbols-my breath left me, my soul blood cold in my veins. The blade ripped free, leaving me, the wound not healing, my blood coating my palms and fingers,  I stumbled coughing, my legs growing weak, my spine and back weaved a pain so deep in my bones my thoughts splintered.  "Y-y-you-" coughing, the daemon chuckled again.  "Lost, A'kei." A thick black aura surrounded them, a black beam ripped through me, taking my feet off the ground, I flew for the first time in my life.  The air blowing through me, so fast any mortal...would...die...my eyes...fluttered...the sky...a pale...grey...I knew the ground was...nearing...I-