Chapter CCCLXIV: A Child Crying in the Shadows ~Lich/Naaro

The Dark Lich sat in a meditative pose – “sat” in that he was in a restful position, given that he floated and had no legs. Midnight was coming, and there was no sign of Ark.

His plans were always messed up, somehow. He had not counted on Dyluck giving his life at the last moment to save Purim; he had not counted on him being found in Tullabanariga; he had not counted on Ark to fail.

That was not true. The last of these three was half-expected. Ark was a poor pupil. He had only been training the Yoshi up for Havering to receive him, but a pupil was a pupil, a slave was a slave. It was part of the bargain Havering had stuck with him those many years ago now after reviving him from the sleep of banishment: he found a way to kill him, and Havering granted him immunity from the powers of light. A very simple deal in words, but it was proving quite difficult in action.

He had not counted on the two brothers becoming close again. He had indoctrinated Ark that he abandoned him, and he played with Ark’s love of machinery in teaching him that he was not a person, thus immune to the Laws of Robotics. He had planned to let him suffer at the hands of someone he had been madly searching for, reunite only to have a spear sticking out of his chest, without him even knowing he was the driving force behind it. It was an excellent and dastardly plan. But, it was not to be. Ark was just too fickle. He was easily swayed in his direction, but to Dark’s horror, when he was so close, he discovered he could be easily swayed the other way.

He could feel the battle going on in the village then. Ark was not present, thanks to that machine the previous night. He had searched the Mana Field for him, but failed. This was happening with more and more regularity, and he knew exactly what it meant. The Dark Lich’s powers were fading because he had spent so long out of a body. He was hungering for one more and more. His slumber had replenished part of that energy, but after these years without a success in his plan, it was dissipating. He could not search the Field as far as he used to. There was no point going into battle against such a large foe as that demon.

A second demon came along and knocked the first out, even though he did not have as much power. Darkness against darkness was not a viable battle option, even though he would be on the favourable side with his command of the other six Elements, save light. It was better to wait until he was alone.

He knew he would pull through this battle. The powers of Lumina were a great offensive tactic against those aligned with Shade, like himself. But, as he probed his presence on the Field, he could feel that his accursed weapon had many of its powers neutered. If there was any time to strike, that time would be just after he returned from battle, exhausted and weak.

Dark decided to entertain himself while he waited for his poor student to show up again. He probed the battle, and listened…

“...It's him!” Kuza shouted as he caught the glimmer of something off in the distance. He had sensed Dimentia in that direction, and he subsequently took off.

Naaro also caught the glimmer, and headed in the same direction with a shout of, “Hey, my tonfers!”

The two disappeared into the forest which was the origin of the glimmer, and ran all the way through it to the other side. Kuza erupted from the tree line first, followed by Naaro. Both were immediately thrown as energy blasts impacted behind them. As Kuza flew, he spread his wings and gained control. He removed more kunai from his pocket, whipped around, and threw them in the direction of the blast. They were parried by a familiar-looking hockey stick.

“Good to see you both made it,” the owner of the hockey stick remarked, grinning.

Naaro recognized him immediately…it was Rody. “Rody?” he questioned, confused as to why he had been shot at by the same person who had given him his tonfers.

Rody held the tonfers in his free hand. “Not quite. You see, I’ve been using this as a disguise. I foresaw that you would run into Kuza, and decided to lie low, gain your trust, and wait for the right chance to kill you both. That chance has presented itself.”

Naaro looked at Rody incredulously. He had been tricked! “What about my tonfers?!” Naaro cried.

Rody crushed them in his hand. “They were fakes, fabricated superweapons with a homing device planted in them. Now you’re both mine.”

Kuza growled. “Dimentia…” He knew it was time to get payback for all the hassle he’d been put through.

“But…didn’t you bring Rynn here? And Kai? Why did you do that?” Naaro inquired.

Dimentia smirked. “All part of the plan, my friend. I can potentially go after them instead of you. Therefore, you are forced to fight me to protect your family. Devious, isn’t it?”

Naaro steeled himself for a fight. He had no weapon, but he did have some Karmali martial arts and his Kamar powers. Unfortunately, without a weapon he wouldn’t be as effective in this fight.

Kuza was tired of words. He lunged at Dimentia and slashed. Dimentia blocked he slash with his stick’s blade and two jet engines on his back propelled his outstretched foot into Kuza’s chest, throwing the Anjel into the dirt. Dimentia thrust his hand at Kuza, and then ripped it back. A vortex of air suddenly formed in front of Kuza and sucked the air from his lungs, making him gag for breath. Naaro fired a Kamar blast at Dimentia as he was distracted, striking him in the arm. The blast was only a distraction to Dimentia, however, and he threw the butt of his hockey stick into Naaro’s chest. Naaro stumbled backward, holding his chest; it hurt immensely.

Kuza was back up by now, and deactivated his liquid heat sword. He put it into its place at his side and reached behind him. He grabbed one of his many grappling hooks and flung it at Dimentia. He smirked as he saw that this was the dagger grappling hook. It sunk into Dimentia, causing him to shout in pain. Kuza then removed his positron pistol from its holster and fired three shots into the impostor. The blasts knocked Dimentia off the grappling hook and threw him into the forest.

“You’re losing your touch, Dimentia,” he said as he put the grappling hook away, fresh with Dimentia’s blood. He then put both hands on the positron pistol and waited for Dimentia to come out of the forest. “C’mon, I know you’re in there…” he whispered as he kept his focus on the forest before him.

Unfortunately, he neglected to notice the distortion beside him until Naaro pointed it out. “Hey, beside you!” Naaro shouted as he saw the distortion.
Kuza turned, but didn’t react in time. Dimentia sheared one of Kuza’s wings clean off.

“AUUUUUUGH!!” Kuza screamed as the bloody wing hit the ground. He dropped to his knees, tears running from his eyes from the horrible pain.

Dimentia smirked and looked to Naaro. “The most sensitive area on an Anjel’s body is the junction between the wing and the back. Hurt him there, and it’s even more painful then hitting him in the crotch.”

Kuza’s face twisted in pain as he held the wound.

Naaro gave Dimentia a glare. “Only a bastard would hit a guy in the most sensitive part of his body,” he snapped.

“Well, I guess I’m a bastard then,” Dimentia remarked with a grin. “Oh, and while I’m being a bastard, I’ll think I’ll change into my true bastard form and deal with you before Kuza recovers from the pain.”

With that, Dimentia snapped the hockey stick in half. From it, a bluish, spiritual essence escaped. It let out an otherworldly roar, and flew into Dimentia. His body turned into a blue silhouette of itself, and transformed. The end result of the transformation was a blue-skinned, humanoid being with boar tusks, one big yellow eye in the middle of his face, and a sharp, bony tail. His clothing changed from Rody’s to a white breastplate paired with long, loose white pants. At either of his sides was a katana. He gripped the hilts and slid his hand from the ebony boar-head pommel to the silver guard, pulling the blades from their scabbards and moving them back and forth on each other, as if he were a cook preparing to slice vegetables.

“Hope you’re ready for some chop-chop,” he said, his smile showing his jagged fangs.

Dark was delighted by this favourable arrival. Two of his companions had been taken care of for now, leaving him with only another companion of seemingly weaker stature.

Midnight was moments away, now, and there was still no sign of Ark. Frustrated, Dark turned to a tree, wrapped his hand fully around it and squeezed until its trunk shattered into thousands of splinters.

He clenched his fist. Ark had failed him for the last time. If he wanted anything done, he would have to do it himself.

It was time to forget about this stupid plan, now, and go about with the second plan, one he should have gone with from the start. He had been merciful; too merciful. It was not necessarily a good idea to rely on minions, he had known from the start, but minions provided comfort in that he could pull the strings and never let his victims know he wanted them dead, or even undead, until he raised them. With this plan, he would have to start to forego that, though he knew that his prized minion would be thankful for what he would do.

Trained, taught, and grown into an adult in darkness, with his powers always there from the start, Ark was a very suitable candidate as a host.

If he failed in killing him right now, he could fool him very easily with Ark’s appearance – with the increased power, he could start to modulate his presence on the Field to disguise himself there. And once he was gone, he could kidnap Ark and take him to a place with high amounts of raw Mana energy to complete the transfer. Then, he could go to Yamauchi, or even stay here if those tribal lizards did not know that he had killed him. At either place, Ark’s good looks and sex appeal would easily attract another lizard, and then he would have a family to control, to guide in the shadowy paths, to do his bidding and build up a great army, so that he could finally restore his place on Fa’Diel. The power of Mana would finally be his and his alone.

It was time to let the games begin.

Naaro dodged to the side as Dimentia made a lunge. He spun out of the way of a series of slashes, and jumped over an attempt to cut off his legs with a sword foot-sweep.

“Stand still!” Dimentia roared as he charged after Naaro.

He made an attempt at a sword uppercut, but Naaro expertly dodged to the side and slid under Dimentia, delivering a punch to his crotch. Dimentia’s eyes watered. Naaro emerged from the slide behind Dimentia, and jumped to his feet. He delivered a roundhouse kick to the back of Dimentia’s head, and sent a Kamar blast after him as he was thrown forward. The blast knocked him into the dirt, one of the katanas flying from his hand. Naaro watched it like a beggar watching a coin thrown to him.

“Got it!” he cried as he leapt and grabbed the katana firmly around the handle.

Unfortunately, in his focus on the katana, he neglected to notice that as he descended toward Dimentia, his remaining katana was pointed so it would make a nice Karmali-kabob. Things changed quickly, however, as Kuza rammed into Dimentia.
Naaro landed and looked at Kuza. He must’ve stopped Dimentia from doing whatever he was going to do, he thought as he saw the two rolling in a heap of limbs.

It was then that Naaro heard a very inhuman-sounding yell. He looked in its direction, and realized that it had come from the village. Crap, something’s wrong, he thought. A much more troubling thought then came into his mind: Kai’s in trouble…

With that thought, he looked to Kuza. “Look, I’m sorry,” he began, “but I have to–”

“I know, I know!” Kuza shouted as he struggled with Dimentia. “Go back to the village and help out!”

Naaro nodded, and rushed back through the forest, heading for the village. Kuza had a feeling he would be left alone against Dimentia. He had been alone against him always, before. This time wasn’t going to be much different. Steeling his will, Kuza threw Dimentia off with a two-footed push to the fiend’s chest and jumped to his feet. He ignited his liquid heat sword and got ready.

The sorcerer pushed himself out of the earth, leaving no trace of a hole, and watched the tribal Yoshies run, gleefully. Once they were no more but distant yells, he turned to see Lich take a few steps backwards until his back hit the wall of his hut.
“Did you even dare think that I had forgotten about you, you vile lizard?” he sneered. He gave a snort of laughter as the Yoshi remained silent. “Of course, after our little encounter that resulted in you being captured by the Tullabanarigans, I did take a back seat, but that was due to Havering's orders. But, there's no Havering now, keeping me back from achieving my goal. You're the only person standing in the way.” He looked around at the village, with disdain. “Did you think you could hide in a place like this, filled with squalor?”

Lich stared, fearfully, into those horrible red eyes. Zolott had left him with a number of dreams, some decipherable, others not: the memory of Tob’s death was one he could remember, but its circumstance was not as fearful as seeing those red eyes, and being at the brunt of the mad wizard’s anger. He had woken up many times in a cold sweat, and when Ark was present and asked him what happened, he would often lie and say it was the dream about Tob, because those eyes were too frightening to recall again. Now, they were before him, and he quaked. The memory of the hardship of Tullabanariga’s slavery was still there; his shoulder began to ache where they had tattooed him. And now, to think that the owner of those eyes was behind it all!

“Be gone,” Lich whispered, weakly.

Dark bellowed with laughter. “Mere words have no affect on me. Perhaps it is you who should ‘be gone’.”

The sorcerer held his hand low and flexed his fingers towards him, his ever-grinning skull seeming to show even more happiness. A gust of air propelled Lich high into the night air, the Yoshi yelling until he could no longer be heard or seen.

Satisfied, Dark turned to the Yoshi’s companions, a female lizard and what obviously its child, given that it stood close to her, watching with both fear and fascination. They were similar to him, but of seemingly different build. “And what have we here?” he asked, cheekily.

Rynn growled.

“Ho, a feisty one!” he replied, his fixed grin filling with mischief.

“My name is Rynn, and don’t you forget it!” she snarled back.

The grin seemed to become a smirk as Dark nodded. “Rynn. I shall remember that, after I make you one of my own.”

“I think not,” Rynn growled.

“Neither do I,” a new voice came.

Dark looked up again as Lich’s frightened bellow became heard again as gravity started to take a compounding grip on him. His eyes fixed into a glare at the lizard. Hoops spun around him and, as he reached the level of Dark’s face, he stopped mid-air, and as much as Lich struggled to move, he made no ground. He was suspended in the Mana technique of Ballooning. Dark looked back down to see the new arrival, a deep red-purple, brandishing a katana. “More toys? How nice.”

“Rynn, where’s Kai, and who’s this?” Naaro spoke urgently to his wife.

As Rynn pointed wide-eyed and scared to Kai beside her, Lich heard him and yelled, “This is the Dark Lich, Naaro! My accursed namesake!”

The sorcerer turned to Lich and sneered. “Yes. Indeed.” His eyes began to draw red lights towards them.

Naaro looked up at the Yoshi, unfazed by his warning. “Ah…Lich?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What?” Lich answered, still struggling to free himself from the Balloon, seeing the impending attack coming. It had to wear off soon, surely!

“What’s wrong with you?” Naaro continued.

“I think he did it,” Rynn suggested.

His energy amassed, Dark released the attack: a beam of concentrated energy, tuned into the powers of the Fire Elemental. It struck Lich, causing flames to erupt around him mid-air. His skin was caught in the fire, and he screamed.

“No!” Rynn cried.

“Lich!” Naaro followed likewise.

Happily, Dark turned to the couple. “Now that he’s out of the way, what shall I do with you?” he asked.

Naaro superheated his katana, his teeth clenched, holding it in a guard stance.

Dark saw this and nodded. “I know.” He fired a beam of ice from his eyes.

With a roar, Rynn let loose a fire blast of her own, causing Dark to stagger backwards slightly as the ice beam cancelled out Naaro’s superheat.

The sorcerer stood erect again. “I see,” he said, thoughtfully.

With that, he began to fade away, the air still being rendered by Lich’s painful screaming.

Confused, Naaro turned to Rynn. “Do you have anything to coo–”

One of Dark’s bony hands re-appeared behind Rynn.

“What…?” Naaro asked, as Rynn blinked.

“Naaro, go get Kai, I’ll help Lich,” Rynn offered, slightly confused also.

Naaro thought of moving, but it was too late: the hand clenched tightly, spraying knockout dust everywhere, except Rynn. Unfortunately, Naaro did not see the hand behind him that did the same, spraying him. He fell to his knees, trying to fight the urge to fall unconscious.

Dark re-appeared where he was before, dissatisfied with missing Rynn. He blamed his fading powers – that fire beam had taken a bit out of him – and fired another ice beam at his quarry.

Rynn quickly sidestepped the beam and shot a fireball at Dark. The wizard quickly raised his hand and blocked the ball. He glared at her, and a different sort of hoop attack spun around her, slowing her movement down considerably.

“Stand still so I can hit you!” he yelled.

With a growl, Rynn reared back and shot a jet of lightning at Dark. “Never!”

The sorcerer reeled back from the hit as Lich let out another long scream. He snarled and fired the ice beam again. He was determined to have Rynn freeze over.

Rynn yelped as it hit her, but did nothing. Dark knew that his powers were weakening, now, as Rynn replied with a growl and a roar.

Dark’s eye was caught by Naaro struggling to his feet. “Gotta put him out…” the Karmali said, as he looked up at Lich.

The sorcerer sent a flying punch his way – Naaro managed to catch it in time and raise his katana, however, he was sent flying backwards, hitting the ground with a thud and a moan on his back. Dark brought his hand around and pressed it on Naaro. “Little insect,” he snarled.

“Ngh!” Naaro groaned as he glared at Dark.

Dark shot the knockout dust again, putting Naaro’s lights out. He was interrupted from making the dose worse by a roar from Rynn, followed by a fireball exploding a shower of lightning that crawled all over his bones. He clenched his fists and roared himself as the attack passed. He glared at the Drakoni, and breathed out a plume of black smoke.

Seeing it coming, Rynn took a deep breath and let it pass her, but it did not cancel out the whole of its effects; her orange eyes seemed to glow red with anger as her attacks were neutered.

“Mamy…Dady?” Kai asked, looking around.

With a wave of Dark’s hand, Lich dropped to the ground with a groan, the flames gone. His hair had burnt away in some places, and his skin had melted in others. Blood seeped from where his vessels had ruptured. He tried to struggle to his feet, but was swept off the ground by Dark’s hand. It wrapped tightly around him as it drew him back up to face level, a finger pressing itself against his neck, squeezing the life out of him.

“Give me the Ruby of Erisot!” Dark bellowed, pressing his finger tighter against Lich’s neck.

“Ne…never,” Lich choked.

“You can either give it to me while you still live, or I shall it take it from you dead!”

Lich coughed as he struggled for air. This is it, he thought as he stared once more into those horrible eyes, I’ve had my go in the prophecies, had my share of good and bad, now it’s all come to an end, so soon. Can’t be like this…Elementals, please, not like this…

Dimentia spat, his white clothing and blue skin given a dusty tone by the scrum. He was in a crouching position, an arm resting on each knee. “Alright Kuza,” he remarked, with a tone of hatred in his voice, “we’ll settle things for good.” Dimentia rose and steadied his remaining katana. Kuza steadied his own sword and waited. “Once we meet, neither of us pulls away. Got it?”

Kuza nodded to Dimentia’s rules, but secretly maintained a plan if Dimentia should cheat. “Let’s do it!” Kuza shouted.

He charged first, holding his sword over his shoulder. Dimentia took off like a sprinter in the hundred-metre dash, sending a knee for Kuza’s stomach. Kuza blocked it with his own knee; both combatants felt their kneecaps crack, but continued on. Kuza brought down his sword, and Dimentia blocked. Though his katana appeared normal, it held up spectacularly to the intense heat given off by the sword. He shoved Kuza’s attack backward and launched one of his own, slashing horizontally. Kuza was off-guard from the parried attack and could not counter with his sword, so he rapidly removed a kunai from his pocket and blocked. Dimentia cursed and cursed louder when the kunai sunk into his shoulder. Kuza brought the liquid-heat sword around and swung for Dimentia’s head. Dimentia ducked just in time, and sunk his tusks into Kuza’s stomach. Kuza cried aloud, and saw Dimentia’s sword coming around. He also saw Dimentia’s completely unprotected back. He made a quick decision, brought the liquid-heat sword up, and rammed it through Dimentia’s back.

“What…the…hell…” Dimentia muttered.

With his head lowered, he could look down and see the sword sticking out of his stomach. No blood flowed from the wound, as it had cauterized the second it had been made. Dimentia could not feel the intense heat within him, his katana slash stopping as it was three inches inside Kuza’s hip. His body dropped, and his sword slid from Kuza’s hip, clattering to the ground.

Kuza looked pleased; previous battles with Dimentia had left him much more wounded than this, and this one had ended wonderfully. Kuza’s pleased look disappeared from his face as Dimentia turned into fire and engulfed him.

“What the–AAAUGH!” Kuza cried as the fire rushed over him. He fell to the ground and rolled, patting himself desperately.

Once the fire was put out, he looked himself over. His clothes were now burnt so that they appeared as if they had been shredded, and his skin was singed in a few areas. It may not have looked bad, but it felt that way.

With the score, settled in his eyes, Kuza rose. He put away his liquid-heat sword and picked up the remaining katana; Naaro had taken the other one, so perhaps he would want this one too. Kuza also picked up his detached wing. He wouldn’t be able to regrow it, but maybe he could find someone to put it back on.

As he started to walk, the pain of his cracked kneecap, which he had ignored, made itself known. He yelped and looked ahead. It was going to be a long and painful walk.

Sixtyfourhundred, Sapphire and Kuroihoshi jumped between the Shadow Dimension and the multiverse constantly as they went from Star Road, losing track of time. Finally, after what seemed like aeons, Kuroi finally stopped, at a place in the Shadow Dimension. “This…this is the point corresponding with Lich’s location,” she said.

The warrior god unsheathed the Illumina Edge. “Better be prepared…let’s go,” he replied. He turned to Sapphire. “You ready?”

Sapphire nodded slowly.

After a nod from Sixtyfourhundred to Kuroi, she began to twirl her staff, opening the portal. “It’s now or never,” she spoke.

Naaro clambered back to his feet and looked over at the struggling and roaring Rynn. His movement caught the sorcerer’s eye once more. Still clutching his prey tightly in his hand, he turned to him.

“I think it’s time we take this to the next level,” Naaro nodded, throwing his katana off to one side.

“Why can't you just stay still like a good little...whatever you are!” Dark fumed.

The Mana shifted as a portal opened in the air behind the sorcerer; it shifted even further as Sixtyfourhundred fell through it, landing on his feet. Ignoring Naaro for now, the wizard turned and looked at the new arrival: it was another of those blasted reptiles, except this one was bedecked in a lot of armour and held a big sword.

“Well, hello,” the warrior god greeted him.

Lich’s eyes widened. His cousin had arrived!

Without a word, Dark raised his free hand to the sky, his digits becoming surrounded by a yellow light. With a click and the slice of his hand, a lightning bolt fell from the heavens at Sixtyfourhundred as Sapphire and Kuroi jumped through, the portal closing behind them. He rolled to one side as he threw the Illumina Edge at Dark, the lightning missing him by inches.

Dark staggered backwards as he was hit, dropping Lich. He bent over and winced – the sword was infused with the powers of Lumina!

“Not fast enough,” Sixtyfourhundred taunted cheekily as he waved his hand, the sword returning to him. “You need more than that to hit me, especially when you use energy summons I’m familiar with.”

Lich looked up, happy to see the goddess of Healing arrive. There was no way he could heal the amount of damage done to him by his strength alone. He weakly held his hand out to her.

Naaro snarled, and his eyes took a more saurian appearance as his pupils grew, a yellow streak falling down the middle. His body shape began to change: his tail became scorpion-like, his pose leant forwards as he grew more like a velociraptor, and his face grew a snout, a maw filled with fangs occupying it. His transformation complete, he roared. Likewise, his wife broke free of her spell and began to grow, changing into her dragon form. Their united roar echoed from hill to hill across the valley.

Dark stood erect once more. “I see,” he said, assessing the situation again, before he faded away once more.

“Well, I don’t know who this bad guy is, but I’m sure he has a lot of power I can take,” Kuroi smirked.

Sapphire rushed over to Lich, her attention finally gained.

“Th-thank…th-thank the Elem-entals,” he whispered.

“Need a hand, Lich?” Sapphire asked, cheerfully.

Lich slipped out of consciousness momentarily, before returning with a weak “yes”.

Sapphire quickly took Lich’s hand in his, closed her eyes, and began to whisper a spell.

Rynn roared again as she looked around for Dark. Her son looked at the three new Yoshies and felt safe. He began to toddle towards his father. Knowing what to expect, Naaro kept moving around, beginning to circle Kai protectively.

Sixtyfourhundred let go of his sword; it hovered mid-air. “Lead me to him,” he whispered to it.

The Illumina Edge responded by driving its point into the ground.

“Sixtyfourhundred, beware,” Naaro warned, “if you get caught in the Dark Lich's hands, you'll be knocked out.”

One of those hands appeared half a second later and backhanded the warrior god, knocking him back slightly, while the other wrapped itself around Kuroi, starting to drain her strength. “The dark powers in this one are strong!” his voice echoed.

“Time to counter that,” Kuroi replied, and began to feed light energies into Dark’s hands as she stole some of his own powers.

The hand quivered in a spasm and dropped Kuroi, before disappearing.

Lich flashed blue as the spell finished its work, his hair regrown and his skin back in its rightful place, the blood gone. He got to his feet and smiled at Sapphire as she let him go. “Thanks ever so much,” he said.

“No problem, Lich-kun,” she replied, returning the smile.

With the cry of “Heaven’s Force!” Sixtyfourhundred began to collect energy in his hands.

Dark re-appeared, looking weakened, his eyes flashing with fury. Kuroi took her chance and dashed towards him, stabbing him with the pointy end of her staff. Dark recoiled from the hit, right into the path of Naaro’s charge, his Kamar-laced claws slashing Dark powerfully. Sixtyfourhundred released his attack, firing a white beam of energy at the sorcerer as Naaro whipped him with his scorpion’s tail. Dark roared in pain as he was pushed back.

Sapphire slipped in beside Naaro. “You and Kai okay?” she asked.

“Kai is fine, as am I,” Naaro answered.

“I could stay with him…as I’m not good for battling.”

“That would be nice of you.”

Sapphire retreated back to Kai.

Rynn reared her head back, smoke escaping from her mouth. Lich closed his eyes and called upon Lumina’s powers. With an intricate movement of his hands that involved a lot of swirling and circles, he clenched his fists, and watched as a matrix of holy energy balls encircled Dark, before flying into him. He roared with pain and disappeared again as Kuroihoshi leapt into the air.

Sixtyfourhundred recalled his sword and rolled his eyes. “For heaven’s sake, that teleporting thing is becoming annoying.”

Kuroi landed and twirled her staff, shooting stun powder out of it at empty air. Naaro released a powerful blast of Kamar from his stinger nearby. Rynn, unable to hold her attack any longer, let out a large fireball with lightning crackling around it.
Naaro dodged out of the way. “A little close, hon!” he called back to her, seeing her sheepish grin.

Dark faded in again, next to Kai. Although he looked weak, his ever-present grin seemed devilish and wicked as he scooped up the young Karukylis in it.

“The power in this one is strong!” he laughed. “Attack me, and you will attack him!”

Why go to all the trouble of finding Ark, when he had exactly what he wanted right here? This young boy had an incredible amount of power, just waiting to be unlocked. With him taken over, the Dark Lich would be unstoppable!

“NO!” Sapphire screamed and let loose a rain of fire arrows from her bow.

Kai’s parents turned to her yell, seeing him afraid and crying. Naaro snarled loudly, “You…you dare…”

The warrior god teleported before Dark and cleaved his sword down onto Dark’s arm. “One problem,” he taunted, “my sword can't hurt those I don't want to hurt.”

Dark dropped Kai as his arm jittered, before he sent a powerful punch at Sixtyfourhundred, sending him flying. He winced as the Boomerang struck at him, before he snatched up the young boy again. “I’ll be back, for the Ruby, and once I have it, I will have the Emerald too–ARGH!”

Naaro leapt and latched onto Dark’s bony head, biting down onto it and releasing small beams of Kamar from his teeth. “GIVE ME BACK MY CHILD!” he screamed.

Rynn roared, her teeth bared and her wings out, fitting the part of an enraged dragon exactly. She began to charge towards Dark.

The sorcerer shook his head madly, trying to dislodge Naaro as Kai continued to cry, the Karmali forming a blast of Kamar in his throat.

Kuroi sank into her own shadow and reappeared in Dark’s, before she stuck her hand into his energy plume and began to drain him once more. “You can’t kill when you have no power to,” she taunted.

Rynn roared once more as she stood fully, readying the attack once more, charging in, ready to give it point-blank.

“Infinite Factor!” Sixtyfourhundred cried as he raised the Illumina Edge, beginning to transform into his Seraph form, his blade turning into energy.

Dark’s free hand flailed around, knocking Naaro free and Kuroi into the ground.

Naaro looked around, disoriented. “Where…where is he…?”

With a yell, Dark opened a portal and slid back through it, taking the still-crying Kai with him.

Rynn roared and took to the air, flying into the portal after him. “YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY S–”

The portal closed behind her, vanishing.

“R-Rynn?!” Naaro yelled.

Kuroihoshi climbed back to her feet, growling. “Darn that teleportation.”

“I know,” Sixtyfourhundred agreed as he powered down again.

Sapphire looked towards where the portal had been, Naaro likewise. The Karmali’s fists shook in rage and his breaths heaved in and out. “Both of them…gone again…”

Kuroi began to try to re-open the portal. “Come on…Dark Magic shouldn’t be that hard to figure out, especially after draining and copying a bunch of his abilities…”
“I am so going to dragon the Dark Lich when he re-appears,” Sixtyfourhundred spoke resolutely.

Lich sighed, heaving out a breath. He had nearly died in this battle; he wondered how many times that had happened. He looked to where the portal had been and Kuroi flinching as she tried to re-open it.

It was not long before she gave up with a sigh. “I can’t trace it,” she said, driving her staff into the ground.

“We’ll get him next time, Kuroi,” the warrior god nodded.

Seeing this, Naaro growled and clenched his teeth, before he ripped his claws into the soil and dug it up with a shrill roar. Everyone turned to him, as he began to run out of the village.

“Naar!” Lich cried, taking up the chase after him, out into the night.

“If I had just been more watchful,” Sapphire said, shaking her head sadly.

Lich did not see Kuza’s arrival into the village, him looking rather battered and torn, but it did not matter to the Yoshi. A tree up ahead fell with two thuds as it was cleaved in two, rocks and stones rained before him, seen by the blasts of Kamar lighting up the landscape better than the two moons ever could.

He knew Naaro’s pain exactly. A great loss had happened here; a loss he was all too familiar with. If there was anyone who needed his support right now, it was him.

And thus, a child doth cry in the shadows, Lich thought bitterly.