Demon of Destruction Read online

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  In the days that followed, Karthick Gruel was named the new gothican Battle Lord, and his first order was for his father's gothicans to be divided into three groups. One group was ordered to help the humans of Camberly, and the dwarves Prince Gruval asked to stay, clean up the remains of the fallen statue, crumbled walls, and pieces of the palace Pharark had destroyed. They were also ordered to dig proper graves for all of the dead.

  The second group was sent to do the same in Antole. They were ordered to work through winter so that when spring came, the thaw would not reveal the thousands of corpses that were literally piled in the streets. Antole was overrun with kobls and other scavengers, and after the streets were safe again, the gothicans there were also ordered to dig graves for the dead.

  The third group was sent to Nepram. Several hundred refugees had shown up reporting that their kingdom was overrun with swamp creatures and that King Rayden had been taken away and not seen for weeks. Those gothicans were to rid Neprama of the denizens and drive them back to their swamp and also dig proper graves for all of the dead.

  Trenka Shawl and a little over half of her mercenaries had been spared from the brunt of the demon's tornadic wrath. They were battered and bruised and had been thrown so far away from where they started that it took more than a day for them to return to Camberly.

  Underground, a massive effort to dig out Big H and the other missing dwarves was underway. Prince Gruval had sworn the search would not stop until all of the dwarves were found, dead or alive, no matter how long it took.

  As swiftly as possible, a council was established. Three humans, three gothicans, three dwarves, and three elves would work together to restore order to the realm. Among those on the council were Dowgen Stonecrusher, Prince Gruval Rockheart, Trenka Shawl, and Master Scholar Beatrice, otherwise known as Master B.

  Thaelos and Xuniper were two of the elves chosen, and Lord Karthick along with the elder, Skalab, and to everyone's surprise, Dendle, the half-breed, were the chosen gothican representatives.

  The moment Suclair died, her sleep spell on Nixy was broken. The little orphan boy Suclair left in her father’s study had been far too scared to leave the safety of the Sorcerious and had kept Nixy nourished by making juice from the magically replenished bowl of fruit on Debain's table. When she woke, Nixy was confused. It was clear by the weather, and the growing mound of her belly, that a lot of time had passed This was confirmed by the boy who’d been attending her. The boy she’d saved from Reaton-Stav in Antole.

  The first thing she did was travel to the coast and find a boat that would take them to Jolin.

  While in Halden, searching for passage, a group of men who had been in Camberly informed her of the events that had unfolded, including the presence of Prince Gruval Rockheart of the dwarven kingdom. Immediately, Nixy changed her mind and set out for Camberly. Somewhere near Antole, she came across Savon. The elf was riding Prism. He had been scouring Antole for weeks, fighting kobls and helping the survivors. She learned that Father Veristy and the orphans who had survived were safe on the Isle of Jolin, and that Thaelos and Xuniper were now in Camberly on some sort of council.

  She asked of Braxton's fate, but Savon had no answers for her. He did, however, offer to ride with her and the boy to help her seek those answers. They arrived in Camberly a few days later to find a magnificent celebration taking place. They were informed a certain dwarf had been found in a cavern with several of his fellows and that all were alive.

  Big H was just being presented with a beautiful golden hammer by Prince Gruval in a jam-packed ceremony in Camberly when Nixy rode in. On the stage of the grand meeting hall with the dwarves was Davvy Flamus, Trenka Shawl, Dendle, and several others who had been key in planning and carrying out the demise of Pharark. She didn’t know who they were, but she knew the dwarf. When Prince Gruval saw her, all of the elation of the moment drained from him. His color drained away, and all eyes slowly turned to look at the girl he was staring at, the girl everyone thought the demon had killed.

  Big H didn't hesitate, he charged off the stage at her and, just as quickly, she dismounted and ran down the aisle of parting attendees toward him.

  "Oh, Nixy, you're alive!" Big H exclaimed. She knelt down to hug him and meet him eye-to-eye. "But how?"

  "I don't know," she said through tear-filled eyes. "Where is Braxton, Chureal, and Suclair?"

  "Nobody has seen Suclair since she left the Wilderkind with you on the big green dragon," Big H responded with tears streaming down his face. "We, all of us, Braxton, thought Pharark killed you. The moment the demon and Lord Ulrich died, everybody around them said that Braxton, Chureal, and Cryelos just vanished."

  All Nixy wanted to do was hold Braxton and feel the comfort of his arms around her. "Why did he think Pharark killed me?" she asked through tear-filled sobs. By then, Prince Gruval had joined them and urged the crowd back to give them room.

  Gently, he put his arm around her and asked, "Who was wearing your gear?"

  Nixy hadn't thought about it, but it all came back to her then, and an anguished wail escaped her. "Oh, Suclair!" She sobbed.

  Big H and Prince Gruval dropped their heads in silence. Trenka Shawl and Davvy, followed by Dendle approached the group.

  The celebration, at least for them, was over. Bravely, they finished the ceremony so that the people of Camberly could find some joy amid the wreckage.

  Later, in a large ornate room behind the stage, after meeting Davvy Flamus and her one-time hero Trenka Shawl, Nixy broke down into a heart-wrenching fit of sorrow for no one could tell her the only thing she wanted to know. No one could tell her where Braxton, Chureal, and Cryelos had gone, and none of them had seen them for weeks.

  THE END OF DEMON OF DESTRUCTION

  Warrior of the Void - Preview

  Fantastica Book Four

  (Unedited)

  by M. R. Mathias

  © Copyright 2017 by Michael Robb Mathias Jr.

  All Rights Reserved

  Part I

  Prince Venom

  Chapter One

  The high-pitched shrieking sound that filled Braxton's ears was as piercing as it was chilling. The startled young dragon's roar added to the sudden shock of appearing in a warm spring meadow, after unexpectedly vanishing from an icy winter battlefield, was enough to cause Braxton Bray to scream himself.

  He shed his warm winter cloak and started to stalk away through the knee-high carpet of lush green growth, but only managed a few steps before he fell to his knees, put his head in his hands, and began to sob. He did let out a yell of his own, but it wasn't nearly as loud as the dragon's. His was filled with anguish, for he had just seen his lover torn to pieces before his eyes. Her name was Nixy, and now she was dead, and with her died the unborn child she had been carrying, Braxton's child.

  Chureal, a ten-year-old orphan girl with a tangle of golden hair, climbed awkwardly down the back of the yearling dragon she had been sitting on. She was wearing dwarven armor, and to her it felt like she was wearing a metal barrel keg on her body. She felt that she looked like a battle-ready dwarf with a shrunken head. She gave Cobalt, the young blue dragon a reassuring pat on the side. Fighting back her own tears, she ran to Braxton's side and threw her little arms around him, and together they cried like that for some time.

  Cryelos, a silver-haired, yellow-eyed elf walked up to the dragon's side and waited, giving the other two a moment.

  They had just defeated the demon called Pharak, but the victory came with a high cost. Thousands of soldiers on both sides had died. Many of them were dear friends, and even family. Chureal's family had been killed right before her eyes not so long ago, but in a different place. Cryelos didn't know the details, but he knew that Lord Braxton and Nixy were close to the young girl. Her and Braxton's grief must have been immense, for Braxton had lost his father and both of his brothers as well as Nixy and his unborn child, all in the past few weeks.

  Cryelos felt grief and pai
n too, but after living for one hundred eighteen years, he had hardened himself to loss. Especially the loss of short-lived humans who he had watched, and would have to watch die over and over during his long life. Braxton and Chureal though, were not normal humans, and Cryelos had pledged his loyalty to them until the end. They each possessed a medallion of great power and were both filled with and surrounded by some form of righteous magic. If they could keep from getting killed, they could possibly live longer than he did.

  Only three of these medallions existed. Those that wore them were chosen to do so by the magic itself. Braxton found the one he wore a little less than a year ago, and each and every day he surprised himself and those around him with the things he was learning to do with the power.

  Chureal had possessed her medallion only months, but could do nearly anything she wanted to with the power. Cryelos figured that this was the jewel's way of protecting her since she was so young. Things Braxton had to struggle with and practice repeatedly to do, Chureal did with only a thought.

  But Braxton had planned and followed through with the killing of an ancient demon, something that had once been considered an impossible task. Cryelos admired the young man, both for his intellect, and his never-ending sense of wonder. Cryelos only hoped that the loss of Nixy and the others didn't cause some dark abscess of regret to fester within him, but only time would tell.

  Taking in their surroundings, Cryelos noted they were surrounded by a sea of green that extended as far as the eye could see in all directions. It was broken here and there by clumps of yellow and blue flowers, and a myriad of tiny insects along with a few vividly colored birds and butterflies that danced and frolicked through the air doing whatever it was they did. The angle of the sun told him it was evening, and unlike the wintery battlefield they had just left, here the air was warm, only offset by a light cooling breeze.

  They were a long way from home. Moments ago, when they'd vanished, it had been mid-morning in the dead of winter. Here, it was late in the afternoon and either late spring or early summer.

  Ever on duty, Cryelos took inventory of what they had with them, which wasn't much. They hadn't been traveling, so none of them had as much as a water skin or any dried rations to eat. They had no cooking utensils, no bed rolls, and no idea where they were. At least they could sleep on their heavy winter cloaks.

  Cryelos had his bow, six arrows, and his short sword. Braxton was weaponless, for his sword had been buried in the demon's chest, and who knew what had happened to his bow, not that Braxton needed weapons anymore. After his display of magical power, which he used against the demon, Cryelos figured that he could defend them against just about anything.

  "Smokes," Cobalt hissed quietly beside the elf. "I sssmell smokes." The young dragon lifted his head, stretched his blue-scaled neck as high up as he could, and sniffed up at the air. He was small as far as dragons go, at only twenty-five paces from head to tail, but he was only a yearling and would eventually grow ten times that size.

  "Wood smoke?" asked Cryelos. "Cook fires? What?"

  "Flesh," Cobalt snorted. "Wood and peoples."

  Cryelos was about to ask something else, but Cobalt leapt into the sky before the words could form on the elf's tongue. He looked to Braxton and saw that Chureal was asleep in his arms. It was clear Braxton wanted to ask what was going on with the dragon, but didn't want to wake her.

  Cryelos made a pallet from his woolen winter cloak and helped Braxton lay Chureal on it, which was no easy task since she was wearing a full set of dwarven battle armor.

  "She told me Big H was still in the pit when the demon fell into it," Braxton said softly. Big H was a dwarf who had been with them from the start of their great quest to kill the demon. He had been a good friend to both Cryelos and Braxton. "She thinks it is her fault," Braxton continued. "Because she couldn't open the pit after she saw Nixy get killed. He took it upon himself to do it."

  "A hero until the end, he was," Cryelos shook his head. "Cobalt said he smelled smoke."

  "Cook fires? Wood smoke? What?" Braxton asked, causing Cryelos to smile to himself.

  "He went to go look," Cryelos said. "We have no food, no skins, and no water."

  "Well if we can make it until she wakes up," Braxton said, wiping a stray tear from his cheek. "Maybe Chureal can make us some apples.

  Chureal had taken to making apples out of pebbles with her magic and had once done so for the queen of the dwarves. Throughout the dwarven kingdoms her ability to do so was legendary, but never had Braxton or Cryelos imagined that it might someday be her apples they ate to stay alive. With nothing but green, treeless plains in all directions, and not so much as a hill or stream in sight, the truth of it was apples might be all they had to eat for some time.

  "Do you have any idea where we are?" Cryelos asked, hoping that either Braxton or Chureal's magic would allow them some clue to what happened and why.

  Cryelos already knew by the looks on their faces when they appeared here that they were as surprised as he was. None of them intended to disappear from the battlefield.

  "No, I, uhm—" He had dreamed of a massive plain of green grass, but the dream never revealed where he was. Braxton looked panicked as he felt for his pack, which wasn't with him. "Oh no."

  "What is it?" Cryelos asked trying not to be alarmed.

  "Taerak's journal is still in the dwarven cavern," Braxton said. He then started fumbling at his belt pouch. A look of relief came over him when he found the leather tube he used to keep his strange maps in. "At least I have his maps."

  Taerak was the one who'd worn Braxton's medallion for centuries before Braxton found it. Taerak's service to the void had been rewarded somehow, and Cryelos knew that he visited Braxton sometimes in his dreams. Braxton had been learning from the journal, and without it, it was clear to the elf that Braxton wasn't nearly as confident.

  Braxton fumbled through the scroll case and pulled out the maps. He sat down with Cryelos to see if anything on them made sense. As in the journal, the text on the maps was foreign and unreadable by either of them, so Braxton took his medallion and slid it across each map so that through the clear jewel mounted in its center the text could be seen. It was proving to be a pointless endeavor until finally the words on the last map were clear to him.

  The right side, or east side of the map was dominated by what appeared to be a large cryptic cross sitting on what looked like an island in the middle of a large lake. The island was labeled The Island of Skorch, but nothing else was written about it or the strange cross.

  The main part of the map was labeled The Green Sea. A quick look around reinforced the assumption that somewhere in the middle of this green sea was where they were. Far to the west the map showed a mountain range with one large peak singled out and labeled as Mount Preal. A notation said that the Temple of Drar was located at its peak.

  Braxton remembered the peak from his dream. He also knew the old green dragon, Emerald, who was once ridden by Skyla-Veltin whose medallion Chureal now wore, told them about an evil race of humanoids called darkons. "Before Chureal came to me, the woman who wore her medallion was fighting an evil, possibly rooted in this temple." He pointed to the mountain top on the map. He wished that he could ask Emerald what he knew about this evil race and what Skyla had been doing to battle them.

  He studied the map further, which showed no towns or cities, and only one river that skirted the mountains at the western edge of the plains. At the bottom of the parchment a notation said that on the Island of Skorch, the Staff of Aevilin was guarded by the Rokan. It meant nothing to Braxton, but after he told Cryelos what the markings said, the elf let out a big breath as if it might mean something to him.

  Cryelos was about to tell Braxton what he remembered about the legend of Aevilin when Cobalt came thumping down into the group. His maw bloody, and his eyes glazed as if he had been feeding.

  He told them that he'd found a village about a day's walk to the north. The village had been ransacked and to
rched. The area around the smoldering thatch-roofed huts were littered with dead. Several men armed and on horses were pulling a wagon north down a cart trail, and the dragon figured they were the attackers. He saw no survivors, he did however find a herd of fat cattle in a pin and had indulged himself by eating one before returning. Now lazy and sated, he added details of what he had seen, then curled his tail protectively around Chureal and went to sleep.

  "I guess we go to the village then," Braxton said to Cryelos.

  "Yes," the elf nodded absently. He was lost in thought now about the ancient elven queen, Aevilin. He'd only heard Xuniper's tales, but they had captivated him, for Aevilin was a great hero among the elves and her staff was said to be very powerful.

  "Maybe in the village we can pilfer for some supplies," Braxton suggested a little later. "We need water skins, blankets, and a meal of roasted cattle sounds pretty good too."

  "Yes, a hot meal of fresh meat," Cryelos said, remember the long month the three of them, along with Big H, spent in the Wilderkind Forest eating roots and berries.

  "I suppose we should leave in the morning then," Braxton suggested. It was clear that he valued Cryelos's input and was suggesting, not deciding the plan for them.

  "Yes," Cryelos nodded in a soft comforting tone. "Go on Brax. Get some sleep. I'll take the first watch."

  Soon after, the little red moon started climbing. It was a night sky Cryelos had never seen before. The larger yellow moon wasn't far behind, but it was the smaller moon, its surface swirling an angry crimson color, as if storms of blood constantly raged on its surface, that captivated him. From the Isle of Jolin, where he'd been born and raised, the red moon was barely visible as it arced across the southern horizon, but here it made its way high into the sky. Cryelos spent the entire night watching it rise and fall while Braxton lay close by sleeping fitfully.