Chapter CCCLXV: A Father’s Rage ~Naaro

"HOW COULD I LET THEM BE TAKEN AGAIN?!" Naaro roared as he rampaged away from the village. As he went, he rendered trees in half and sent Kamar blasts in every direction. He was enraged beyond being able to control himself at this point, the loss of his son and wife to the swirling rift the source of his rage. Behind him was Lich, trying to stop Naaro. Lich knew Naaro's pain...the disappearance of a family member was a very trying ordeal.

"Naaro!" he cried, trying to get the Karmali's attention. Naaro was still in his beast form, and his rage deafened him to Lich's cry.

He ripped a claw into the ground and threw the dust high into the air. There, the dust particles turned into Kamar particles and exploded with a loud bang. Lich, alarmed by the bang, hit the dirt. When he noticed that there was no danger to him, he rose and started after Naaro once more. Naaro let forth an angry roar, and a point of brownish light flashed within his throat. A few seconds afterward, the light flourished into a large Kamar beam, plowing through the forest ahead and throwing embers onto the nearby trees. Naaro rushed past as the trees began to catch fire.

Lich came by almost immediately after. He could see Naaro ahead of him, but the fire was blocking the way. To counteract this, he summoned the powers of Undine and made a bowling motion with his hand. From the earth, a wave of water arose, and extinguished the flames. Lich passed through the singed trees to see Naaro panting, exhausted from his energy exertion. He lifted his head to the sky once more, and let out not an angry roar, but a sorrowful moan.

Naaro sunk his claws into the ground and recovered his breath. As he did, Lich came near him. "They are gone, and I have no way to follow," Naaro said to himself, a defeated tone on his voice. "That bastard Dark Lich...I should've held on tighter. I should have blown his head clean off." Naaro hung his head in shame and despair.

It was then that he heard the breaking of grass behind him. His demeanor turned from defeatist to defensive, and he snapped, "Run away very quickly if you do not want to be impaled on your own spine, hunter."

Lich, not wanting to be accidentally killed by a very unhappy Karmali, quickly spoke up. "It's me, Naar...Lich."

Naaro turned to Lich; his eyes glowed with an intimidating ferocity. "I thought you were smarter than to follow an enraged Karmali." Lich shrugged, and Naaro continued. "Kamar is a powerful enough force when it is controlled...your chances of escaping serious harm would have been slim had you been hit by uncontrolled Kamar energy."

"I accept that risk," Lich replied.

Naaro peered at Lich. "You have not seen me like this before, have you?" Lich shook his head. "This is what the Karmali looked like before the Yoshi interbreeding," he explained. "Beasts like me wiped out entire Yoshi tribes. It was our way of life...we fed upon the Yoshies."

Lich nodded in understanding. "I'm willing to risk it for a friend," he replied, cracking a slight smile.

Naaro scoffed. "Your friend...he is a failure. While he lives the life of a warrior superbly, when it comes to being a father...a protector...he fails miserably."

Lich folded his arms. "He also doesn't seem to have much hope right now," Lich answered frankly.

"You cannot begin to understand the futility of hope, Lich," Naaro snapped. "I have failed my family. I lost them once to that strange anomaly that tossed you and I here, and now I have lost them again to much more dire circumstances."

"Look," Lich began, "as a father, you have faith in your wife, right?"

Naaro looked at Lich. "Yes," he answered.

Lich nodded and continued. "Well then, shouldn't you have faith in her victory?"

Naaro gave Lich a glare. "Faith does not apply to a situation like this!" he snapped.

Lich returned Naaro's glare with a firm stare. "And why doesn't it?"

"My child is in that devil's custody. Even if Rynn had the strength to defeat him, he could simply use Kai as a bargaining chip to kill her."

Lich shook his head. "The Dark Lich isn't going to take Kai's life."

Naaro looked firmly at Lich. "And why not?" he inquired.

"Come back to the village and I'll explain," Lich replied. Naaro gave a reluctant nod, and reverted to his original form. He lifted his fingers from the dirt, and began the walk back to the village with Lich.

As they got on their way, Lich began his explanation. "Now, while I'm not terribly familiar with Dark, I'm beginning to recognize some of his language. When he picked up Kai, he said, 'this one is strong.'"

Naaro nodded. "What does that mean?"

"It's mean's he's hunting."

"Hunting for what? Sacrifices?"

Lich paused, biting his lip. "...yeah."

Naaro growled. "How is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Lich held out his hands, urging, "Ok, don't get hasty. He's only looking for sacrifices in a sense. You see, Dark's powers, while they are strong, need a body, a 'host' if you will, to be channelled over a long period of time. He can channel his powers without one, but it is taxing on him, and it's starting to wear him down."

"So he wants my son's body," Naaro remarked, to check if he was understanding properly what Lich was telling him. Lich affirmed with a nod. "Bastard..."

Naaro clenched a fist, and his arm shook. Kamar power glowed within the hand and made Lich a little uneasy, but the power dispelled when Naaro unclenched the fist.

"However, there are some complications involving taking that body. He needs to be in an area of significant raw Mana energy concentration in order to possess Kai's body. The area he's going to go for is the Mana Tree, on my homeworld of Fa'Diel. This is what we have to our advantage."

"How is that to our advantage?"

"Well, the Mana Tree is protecting itself. As he is right now, Dark can't get close enough to complete the possession. He's going to need to find a place to recharge...that's where he went after our fight with him. I have no idea what place he picked, but with Rynn on his tail he won't be able to recharge for awhile."

Naaro nodded grimly at this. Even though Dark's need to recharge made things look slightly better for Kai, Rynn didn't have any help. She was going to have to defeat the Dark Lich on her own. He had faith in her, but she usually had him there to back her up if things got dicey. This time she was alone against a tough enemy. As thoughts of despair began to cloud Naaro's head, he shook it. He would have to ward off those thoughts if he was going to keep his hope alive.

"So basically," Naaro stated, "there's no way for us to help Rynn, but Kai is safe as long as Dark isn't allowed to recharge." Lich nodded, and Naaro nodded in understanding of the affirmation.

"So, does that give you enough reason to stop being so glum?" Lich asked.

Naaro shook his head, and Lich frowned. Naaro then said, "However, I think that I can simply remain glum instead of so glum. I just can't rid myself of my glum until Rynn and Kai are safely back here."

Lich smirked. "Alright then," he replied.

Naaro saw the village up ahead. Before the two of them got any further, however, Lich stopped and turned to Naaro. He placed a hand on Naaro's chest, where his heart was, and said, "Iolotate...believe."

Naaro simply nodded. Lich smiled, and the two continued on their way. They could not help Rynn in body, but they could send their hopes to her, and give her the strength she would need in her battle.