Chapter 9: The Second Ritual

Divarus flew out of the shadows and found himself in a large temple. The temple was made of white brick and was embellished with pottery and large piles of gold. The Scalon wondered if this was the right place.

“A young one wanders into my domain.” spoke a voice from the center of the room. From the floor a bluish spirit arose that resembled a humanoid form. However, it was blurry and had no distinctive features and as such it did not resemble any Terran race.

“Are you the God of Time?” Divarus asked.

“I am, Divarus. Now I suppose you are here by the request of the Darkness.”

“Yes. He and I want the war to be unfrozen, and the Dimensional Mages to be stopped.”

“Unfortunately, you do not understand what you ask. This is no simple matter, for under the current laws of this world...all this can easily happen again once I fix it.”

“So there is no way to stop them?” Divarus asked surprised.

“There is. Soon the Gods will gather and perform a ritual. This will be the Second Ritual of Final Law. We will re-write the rules for this world and everyone’s power will be highly restricted.”

“How long will it be until this happens?”

“Not long. However, once these laws are made...you will not be safe from the Darkness. You will be bound to him. He will be your Master.” Time warned.

“That isn’t what we agreed to...”

“Under the laws of this world. As I said, laws will be re-written. And there is only one way to save yourself and everyone else.”

“And that would be?” Divarus asked warily. The first thought that came to his mind was death.

“To remove you from the equation. If you are not here when the rules are written you will have...bypassed them. They will not be avoided, but the laws will treat you as if you were just born.”

“How can you know all this?”

“Because I am Time. Therefore it is not linear for me. I already know all that will happen, all that has, and all that is happening. However due to that I rarely interfere. But in this case, while I still have power, I must assure you are saved.”

“So what will you do?”

Time moved closer to Divarus and reached out with a hand and touched the Scalon’s forehead. “To the future you go. Not terribly far, but far enough.”

***

Divarus opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room. In front of him was a large metal door. He stepped forward and tried to open it, but it would not budge. He turned around to find no other exit. He was sealed away somewhere.

The Scalon panicked at first, until he heard noises outside of the door. Suddenly there was a loud screeching as the door was forced open.

“What’s inside?” asked a familiar voice.

“Who is there?” Divarus called out as his eyes began to adjust to the flood of light.

“Divarus?” asked another voice. He stared out and saw it was Kaedra and next to her, was Thevor. “How did you wind up in here? Is there anything else with you?”

“I don’t know. That is my answer to both your questions.” he responded. Kaedra and Thevor stepped inside and searched, but could not find anything.

“What are you looking for?” Divarus asked.

“We are looking for a Keystone of Light.” Kaedra responded. “We were instructed by the Avatar of Light to find it.”

“What about Thevor’s training?” Divarus asked.

“It was put on hold when you had reality rewritten...in fact I can’t train him anymore. I have been stripped of my powers.”

“Wait, it wasn’t my idea! And how did you know about that?” Divarus questioned.

“Because I was a Dimensional Mage...I felt the change. Normally everyone would forget, but people like me...Heldum Warriors like Thevor...we were able to remember.” she explained.

“And now thanks to you, the history of Terra has completely changed too. It’s an entirely new world. The Keystones of Light? They didn’t exist before the change.” Kaedra explained.

“What are these Keystones you keep mentioning?”

Thevor jumped in at this point. “They are three magical gems that when gathered will point the way to the Sword of Light. The relic of the God of Light, Apollus. In this world the gods are no longer able to interfere and each has been allowed to create one relic as their contact with this world in addition to having an Avatar.”

“So why do you need this Sword of Light? What about the Heldum Blades?”

Thevor shook his head. “They don’t exist. They are simply Elderium Blades now. Powerful yes, but no longer weapons of destruction by light.”

Kaedra smiled. “You don’t even realize that the Great Fire War never occurred do you?”

“If the war isn’t occurring..” Divarus began. “Then why do you need this Sword? Who is our enemy?”

Kaedra smiled again. “Our? Going to join us now that I am not insanely powerful?”

Divarus chuckled at this. “Yes. I shall. So please explain the situation. This is all new to me.”

Kaedra nodded. “After the world was changed, so was history as I said. We were thrust into a new war against a dark being whose name was Norius. He discovered the evil device called the Dark Pendant. Using it, he infused himself with a great amount of dark energy and transformed. He was twisted into a dark being. This was all thanks to the God of Darkness, Noctorus. The Dark Pendant was his evil artifact.”

“After we learned of this we were visited by Apollus’ Avatar. He told us that we needed to come here into this forgotten temple to find the first Keystone of Light. Which brings us to right now.”

Divarus took in the information. He did not fully understand yet, but he accepted it. “This vault...it seemed to have been sealed for a long time. I don’t think anyone stole the Keystone.”

“Time put you in this vault, yes?” Thevor asked.

“He did. But he didn’t give me anything if that is what you wanted to know...”

Thevor looked at Kaedra. She then put her hand over her eyes in embarrassment. “How could we have forgotten?” she said and then smiled. “The Keystones are made of a weak material that can be absorbed. I think you have absorbed the Keystone, Divarus.”

“If I did....then how do we extract it from my body?”

“There are mages in this world who deal with the art of Souls. Perhaps we can see a Soul Binder.”

“Soul Binder?”

“They literally create souls and bestow them upon objects and beings for a variety of purposes...but that is the hardest work they do. They also manipulate souls and thus extracting a Keystone should be a simple task.”

Thevor then had an alarmed look upon his face. “Kaedra, do you sense that?”

“What? I....wait. They are here. Norius’ forces are entering the temple. We have to leave now!” she yelled.

Chapter 8: Division

“I refuse.” Divarus said after a few minutes of walking. They hadn’t made much progress at all.

“Excuse me?” Kaedra said turning towards him.

“I refuse to go on this pointless journey. And if you don’t think I deserve this blade...then take it.” the Scalon said triumphantly as he threw the Heldum Blade to the ground.

“Divarus! Don’t do this.” Thevor warned. “You see how powerful these Dimensional mages are, don’t you?”

“That’s exactly why I refuse. Didn’t you even listen to me before? I won’t be controlled like this. As long as I have free will...I won’t obey beings that hold this much power.

“This is not control.” Kaedra said. “I am trying to train you so that you can stop this conflict...all conflict.”

“War is a part of life. And no matter how powerful you are, you cannot change that. Maybe on other worlds out there...maybe there isn’t war. But this is Terra. And although our history is vague, we know that this has always been a world of war.”

“Look at X. He had the power to stop time. To stop that battle completely. And you tell me, that even with our power, we cannot stop war?”

“No.” Divarus said. “It is foolish. And it seems to me that is the only reason you have this power. Tell me, what will you do if you can somehow accomplish your goal? You are too powerful to live a normal life. You cannot give up your magic. There will be nothing for you to live for.”

Kaedra turned away. “Be gone. I will take Thevor with me then.”

Divarus left without another word. He ran off into the distance, towards the battlefield. Kaedra turned to Thevor with a sadness in her eyes. She then continued walking and the young human soldier followed her. He did not know what to do in a situation like this, but he had a similar goal to Kaedra. Ending conflict...how could that be a bad thing?

The Scalon was running using the rage he had gathered from his conversation with Kaedra. Angrily, he turned towards the battlefield and observed the dome of bright yellow energy that sealed it off from the rest of the world. “No one should have that power.”

Suddenly he felt a cold chill. This was odd due to the fact he could see the sun was shining brightly in the sky. However the cold just continued to grow. Divarus began to shiver as he ran. Something was following him, and he knew it.

However he could also sense whatever it was, it was invisible. It had already surrounded him and turning backwards to look, he would discover nothing. Then from the ground came a wisp of dark energy.

The energy surrounded Divarus’ neck and strangled him. He yelled out for help, but none could hear him. More wisps of dark energy floated from the ground and they began to drag Divarus into darkness.

***

When Divarus awoke, he found himself surrounded by darkness. He could not see anything, but as he felt around, he could still feel himself. “At least I am not dead.” he assured himself. This place was not cold like before. It had no temperature.

“Young Scalon...” said a deep voice that echoed around him. “Tell me what has transpired.”

“Who are you?” Divarus yelled out. He did not expect an answer.

“I am the one responsible for the war. A war that has been frozen in time. Tell me how that happened.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because I would like to know what being is so powerful, that my power could be defied. I know of no force that can override me except for the Light and the World itself. And I sense no Light. And I sense the World has not acted here. I can not sense anything...” the voice said, beginning to sound annoyed.

“Tell me...why can I of all beings, not know what did this?!”

Divarus began to formulate a theory about this being. He mentioned Light opposing him which could mean that he was Darkness. Was he really talking to the God of Darkness right now? And then he smirked. If this was a God, then he could stop the Dimensional Mages. He could bring about balance once more.

“A being who called himself a Dimensional Mage. X was his name.” Divarus spoke carefully.

“A Dimensional Mage...” said the voice without emotion. “How to fight a Dimensional Mage is quite the question.”

“You can not defeat him? Surely a being as powerful as yourself...to drag me to a lightless world, could defeat that.” Divarus said.

“The Dimensional Mage cannot defeat me, what I am, however I also cannot defeat it. So in a way we are both more powerful than the other. This is similar to a stalemate but not quite.”

“Please, tell me what you are.”

“I am Darkness. Everything in this world that is dark: spiritually, physically, mentally. That is me. Every shadow you see. Every devious thought. That is who I am.” the voice said in a sinister voice.

“You seem awfully patient for a being like that.”

There was a laugh through the darkness. “I have plenty of time. Resorting to violence...that is only something I do when there is no time, and when I please. You have within you a fire. You hate the Dimensional Mages. However, you are too ignorant to fight them. That makes you a possible asset.”

“You want me to help you?”

There was another laugh. “You are already helping me. However, you can be of further assistance. I want you to restore the flow of Time in the war. The fires must continue to spread.”

“Why would I allow that?” Divarus asked. “I may not believe in ending conflict forever, but that does not mean I want to exacerbate it.”

“Yes however if you help me, you will have gained a powerful ally indeed. You have not been forced to make an oath to me, to give me your soul. Therefore your free will is still intact. However I warn you, I can accomplish this goal whether you help me or not. But if you do choose to help me...there will be rewards.”

“Offering to corrupt me with power?” Divarus guessed.

There was a final laugh, and the sinister tone returned. “Why would I give you power? What makes you think you could handle it? There are many more rewards besides power. As my agent you will only increase your strength by your own will. So what do you say? Will you help me restore balance to this world before the Dimensional Mages rip it apart with a single thought?”

Divarus absorbed what had just been said. Somehow he felt a warm feeling inside of him. While he was talking to Darkness itself, it was offering him free will. And thus he made his decision.

“Yes. I will help you.”

“Excellent. Now you must find Time and ask him for his aid.”

“How will I find Time?”

“You cannot see the hidden world of the Gods and therefore cannot travel to it by yourself, however there are still shadows even in my world. You are in the middle of all Darkness. From here you can go anywhere you need to go.”

“Legends say the Realm of the Divines is incomprehensible to humans.”

“It is not simply a legend...you will not see the true realm. However there will be a world that you can physically walk through. You will be able to find Time there.”

“If you don’t mind me asking...why can’t you go?”

“My consciousness is spread too thin. I am trying to shield Terra from the Dimensional Mages currently. I do not wish to lose my grip on that world. I fear it will be destroyed if I do.”

Chapter 7: Teacher

“Where do we go from here?” Divarus asked. “The war has stopped for now...but that man told us we needed to train. I am wary of following his instructions...”

“You don’t want to become stronger? Better able to protect this world?” Thevor asked confused.

“It is not that. But he has the power to freeze an entire battlefield. His name was...X. Which means he doesn’t want to tell us his true identity. Whatever he or it is, is an extremely powerful being. I can’t just trust him blindly.”

Thevor nodded. “I understand, but you pointed out why we need to listen to him. We don’t have a choice in the matter. If we don’t comply, he may be able to destroy us. Although his power may be limited to time and space in that manner, we can’t take that risk.”

“You are right about that.” Divarus admitted. “But still, where do we go from here?”

“You follow me.” said a voice from behind them. The human and Scalon turned around and looked at the speaker.

Myrus, Elven Empire

Kaedra wiped the tears from her face. She stared down at the body of her husband as the storm’s rain pounded the earth. This was the result of the war between the Scalons and the elves.

“Kaedra.” said a voice from behind her. “You have my empathy.” It was her good friend Deyla.

“Deyla...you haven’t lost...” she began crying.

“My husband? No. But my son has been killed.” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.

“This is all my fault.” Kaedra said. “All this death and suffering.” she continued on looking at the others grieving for the loss of their loved ones. “This is all my fault...”

“Kaedra, you can’t say that. You didn’t cause this war.”

“But I did nothing to help. I didn’t fight to stop it...I didn’t fight at all.”

“No one expected you to.” Deyla said trying to comfort her friend. “This wasn’t your fight.”

“My husband, your son, countless other family members...gone. How is this not my fight? I am suffering because of it. That makes it my fight.” Kaedra said angry. She couldn’t bear to stand here any longer and so she ran off into the woods.

She heard Deyla scream for her to come back, but she refused. Kaedra ran through the forest as fast as she could. She needed to leave these lands, or else she would never be able to live with herself.

“Do you truly want to prevent this from happening again?” said a male voice.

Kaedra screamed as she looked up and saw a man in a dark cloak floating above, completely unaffected by the rain. “Who...who are you?”

“Answer my question. Do you truly want to prevent this type of suffering?”

“Yes!” she screamed. “No one should have to endure this torture.”

“I feel how passionate you are about this.” said the man as he lowered himself to the ground. “Come with me. I will show you how to stop this. All of this.”

He extended his hand. Kaedra reluctantly took it. If he was dangerous, then she would be killed and be relieved of this suffering. But if he was truly a friend, then she would be able to save the lives of many.

“How will you do that? How will you teach me to stop war?”

“By making you into what I am. And having you teach a future generation.” And with a flash the two were gone.

Outside of Battlefield, Present Day

“My name is Kaedra. And I am a dimensional mage, here to guide you.” she said. Are these two truly going to stop this war? Why would X pick this time? These questions popped into her mind.

“So you are like him, then?” Divarus asked. “Like the one who stopped this battle?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me. Why are you doing this?”

“I am doing this to prevent history from repeating itself. To change the nature of Terra. To stop the wars. X’s goal may be different than mine...but I assure you this is what I am here to do.”

“Kaedra, you will be the one to teach us the power of the Heldum Blades?”

“Indirectly yes. Those Blades...the power has a mind of its own. I can not teach you to control it, but I can teach you to be what it desires. The Heldum Blades desire those of strong will and mind. I will show you the powers you already possess. The Blades will grant you their power once you have found yours.”

“That seems like a waste of time.” Divarus said. “If you can freeze an entire battle, why not just end it? Why do this to us?”

“The minds of human and Scalon alike are the greatest strengths you have. I can tell you that those Heldum Blades can only help you for so long. Eventually you will have to rely on your own strengths. So if my helping your personal health is an issue, then we have a lot of work to do.” Kaedra said angrily. This Scalon was not being cooperative. She could already tell he would slow down the training.

“So shall we begin?” she asked.

“Yes.” Thevor said. Divarus hesitated for a few seconds before nodding.

“Where do we go now?” Thevor asked.

“As far away from civilization as possible. But still within favorable climates. We are going to head into a grove hidden within the mountains to the south.”

“Draconic land?” Divarus asked nervously.

“Not quite. And even if it were, a dragon would never be able to spot that grove. Neither would a demon. However I will guide you there. And that is where you will be healed. And once that is done, we can continue on with the actual training.”

“Healing?” Divarus asked.

“You are both broken from your personal experiences. Divarus, you are an orphan. And Thevor you saw the death of your parents. These events have plagued you and corrupted your decisions. They have changed you for the better and worse. My job is to change you completely for the better. Think of it this way: You can polish both a vase, broken or unbroken, but it is more useful to polish the unbroken.”

“So we are broken?” Divarus said irritated. He did not like the idea of being controlled like this.

“Yes. And you Divarus...you are more broken than Thevor. And unless you start wanting to help yourself, there is nothing I can do for you. Now let us go. We have a long journey ahead of us.”