Chapter 16: The Fire Minister Enters the Fray

It happened when you were young. Apparently, they came into our home in the dark of night without even tripping the alarms. I didn’t even know it happened. But I do remember the nightmares you suffered afterwards.

First of the Fallen led the charge in pursuit of the children of Light and Shadow. If all went according to plan, the Undying had already dealt with the abomination in their stead. That only left the two Children of Destiny before them. When they delivered these prizes to their master, surely he would finally see fit to grant the wish of the Fallen. They would finally be free of this curse at long last. All they needed were the children. Perhaps he wouldn’t be too displeased to lose the third child. They had warned their master of the danger that the third child posed not just to them, but to the very Shadow Realm that they served. Surely he would see reason.

The two foolish adolescents thought to lose their pursuers using their youthful speed and acrobatics. They carved a way to the roof of the complex and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, zigzagging this way and that through the labyrinth of metal towers, hoping that the Fallen would lose sight of them. Fools! If they were being pursued by normal hunters, their superhuman agility might’ve been enough to escape, but they thought to run from the Fallen. Each member of the Fallen Four was a skilled hunter in his own right, having spent millennia pursuing and capturing beings of special interest for the Dark Dragon Lords.

Besides, both had already been marked by the Fallen, and could not escape their notice no matter where they went. They had marked the Daughter of Light a year ago when she was within their grasp before the infuriating interference of the accursed Light Wielder.

As for the Prince of Shadows, they had marked him even longer before that. They did so when he was younger - naught but a child according to the standards of the fleshlings. The only reason they didn’t collect him then was that they weren’t sure he was truly one of the Three Children of Destiny. There was another child that fit the description from the Grave Tome. But that child had since vanished, meaning that Leon Lurranna must’ve been the one they sought after all. A Child of Destiny must be proven before they can be brought in for training. Otherwise, the training could interfere with their natural development, and they might not grow into their destiny properly. But Leon Lurranna had since proven his heritage according to prophecy. He was indeed the Prince of Darkness. His father had been correct after all.

The two children left behind the metal structures of the Fire Ministry Base as they jumped to a large, stone structure nearby. It was Diagora Stadium where the fleshlings undertook their ‘training’. It was still unfathomable how the Ministries had managed to oppose the will of the Shadow Realm for so long given their limited knowledge of the power. They could only tap into a single aspect of the power, what they called Elemency. They were so very limited. They bore no true knowledge of that which they meddled in. They had no understanding of that which they used only for military gain. That power once called forth all of existence into being, even the Realms of Light and Shadow which proceeded the Physical Realms.

The Lurranna and Hamashe children soon descended the stone battlements of Diagora Stadium, racing across the large expanse of white sand in the middle. Now that the Fallen had more room to operate in, they could use their power without risk of harming the two children by threatening the integrity of nearby structures. While the children made their way to the center of the large, sand-covered field, the Four Fallen raised their hands in unison. First hardly needed to command his comrades. This hunt was just one of many. They knew their craft well. With a mighty shriek, they released a bit of the Shadow Realm that they had absorbed from earlier. They would have to be careful not to release too much. It was the only thing that sustained them on this moon that had known little but the fervent adulation and worship of those simpering Light Monks. To think that the Fallen once bathed in their admiration. Now the Monks only followed the will of the Light Wielder. A mortal fleshling had ascended to greater heights than the Fallen themselves could ever hope to achieve. Their humiliation knew no bounds. But soon, they would be free. Yes, soon. Very soon.

As the Fallen released the power of destruction, a wall of black, writhing shadows shot from their hands, flying past the two children. They could’ve destroyed the children with this attack, sent their souls spiraling down to the oblivion of the Shadow Realm. But the Desolate One needed these children alive. Instead of striking the children themselves, the shadows struck the ground ahead of them, and then rose from the earth in a tempest of black flames. The children stopped dead in their tracks as a wall of blackness rose up to block their path, stretching for at least a mile across and rising higher than they could hope to circumvent even with their enhanced agility. The darkness even extended beneath the earth in case the children retained any ideas of an imaginative escape.

The Prince of Darkness took a step back from the wall and prevented the Daughter of Light from attacking it as she raised her bow. He wisely understood the true nature of this barrier. The dark wall was now a concrete plane of existence. A small piece of the Shadow Realm made manifest in the Physical Realm meant to accomplish one purpose, to prevent them from going forward. To defy it meant death or worse. Slowly, the young Lurranna turned to face the Fallen, at last understanding the futility of escape.

“So I was right,” the Prince said slowly. “You four can use Shadow Elemency.”

“Shadow Elemency?” repeated the Daughter in horror.

There was a time when the Fallen might’ve shared her horror. The tormented souls trapped in the Shadow Realm fueled Shadow Elemency, after all. It was not like the benevolent power of Light Elemency which was freely given by the Caretaker and his Light Wraiths. Shadow Elemency could only be extracted from a soul after it suffered centuries of pain and torture. Fortunately, the Shadow Realm was never short on souls to punish.

The Prince kept a protective hand in front of the Daughter. The Fallen had been made aware that a certain infatuation had developed between the Prince and the Daughter ... as per design. “Normally, I’d assume you to be some of those wraith-worshipping idiots called Mages, but there’s something more about you four. Something far more sinister. You’re more likely creatures of the Shadow Realm itself, aren’t you? Perhaps a new type of Cthulhu the Mages have developed.”

Second hissed in displeasure. He was always too responsive to the questions of fleshlings. “Cthulhu are but infants to us. Fleshlings who bathed in Dark Water. We drown in it.”

First of the Fallen extended a hand. Such a move from the Fallen would normally be an aggressive gesture as their very touch meant death for mortals, but they could partially control this power. After all, most of their targets had to be brought in alive.

“Prince of Darkness. Daughter of Light. You will come with us. Our master would be most pleased to meet you.”

“And who might that be?” the Prince asked as he drew his hands behind his back.

First could tell that the Princeling meant to fight somehow. He decided to allow it. The Prince of Shadows must be encouraged in his wrathful tendencies. It was the only way he could attain his true calling as the Desolate One wished.

“If and when our master decides to make his name known to you, he shall do so. Until then, be grateful for his generosity. It is rare that he treats so ... gently ... with potential candidates. So, I ask again as he instructed me to do so this time before resorting to force, will you come with us?”

“He sounds like a swell guy. But I have other plans.”

No sooner did the Prince say the words did he release his Air Elemency into the ground from his hands held behind his back. The gust of wind blew out in all directions, creating a dust storm that obscured both him and the Daughter of Light. Then First of the Fallen heard it. The sound came like a sharp whispering in his ear. Indiscernible, but also unmistakable. As beings not of the Physical Realm, the Fallen were privy to certain ... secrets. Secrets unknown to the fleshlings, especially regarding the Third Plane, the Plane of the Mind. Though the Fallen possessed no skill in the art known as telepathy themselves, they were for the most part immune to its influence. But they could also detect when it was being used by others. First could tell that just as the cloud of dust went up, the Prince spoke something to the Daughter using telepathy. Though First couldn’t tell what the message was, he felt confident he could guess.

Each of the Fallen looked to one another, having come to the same conclusion. Then they pounced. Two went for the Princeling, the other two went for the Daughter. Both had gone in opposite directions in an attempt to confuse the Fallen. Neither one of them knew that the Fallen could still perceive them through the cloud of dust. Even if the Fallen hadn’t already marked the two, the dust cloud would’ve done the children little good. The Fallen perceived souls better than physical objects anyway. The rest of the Physical Realm was a hazy blur to them, but the souls within fleshlings shined out like beacons to their eyes. Souls were the only things that seemed real to the Fallen in this world of crass objects and sounds.

The Daughter let out a soft squeal of surprise when Third and Fourth grabbed her by the hair and pinned her arms behind her back. As First and Second approached the Prince, he was lying in wait preparing another attack. With impressive skill and speed, he delivered four pinpoint strikes of Air Elemency from his blades. Four thin slices of condensed air curved through the dust cloud towards the two Fallen. The Prince had obviously been expecting all four, hoping that the Daughter might gain some distance and launch an ice attack at the Fallen’s rear flank while they tried to capture him. First and Second both summoned their shadow weapons to block the wind attacks. The Prince’s Air Elemency was so thick and powerful that the currents of air were visible to the naked eye. If a mortal had been hit by such an attack, it would’ve reduced them to tiny pieces. Though Elemency posed little danger to the Fallen, it would be annoying to reconstitute themselves. In so doing, they might give the Prince an opportunity to escape, so they blocked the wind attacks with their weapons.

As they landed to the ground, the Prince jumped a dozen meters away in a single bound, no doubt expecting the attack of ice arrows to hit the Fallen as he left. But when no ice barrage came, he turned around in puzzlement. First of the Fallen swiped the air with his sword, sending a tiny amount of Shadow Elemency into the wind which disintegrated the dust particles. With no dust cloud blocking his view, the Prince could now see clearly as Third and Fourth held the Daughter. Third had his hand on her mouth and the back of her silver hair while Fourth held her arms behind her back. With the two of them in direct contact, she could not summon any Ice Elemency to escape. It was a technique similar to how Monks suppressed the psions of others, only it relied on Shadow Elemency instead. She was completely at their mercy.

“Normally,” First said as he leaned to the ground and touched the white sand with his finger. “Our touch kills mortals. But like our master, we can be gentle. Though it is difficult for us.”

To get his point across, he released the power he held at bay. A large circle of burnt, black sand spread from the point where he pressed his finger to the ground. The sand then turned to ash as smoke rose from the blackened mound of scorched earth.

The Prince gasped in a most satisfying manner at the display.

“While my brothers touch her, she cannot use her power, and she will die in agony should their concentration slip. Think on that if you intend to resist us again.”

Though it was a bluff, it got the Princeling considering the possibilities. The master had been right about that too. The Prince did indeed have feelings for the Daughter. Such an occurrence could prove either problematic or useful if utilized properly. With the Prince’s mind in turmoil, First of the Fallen lunged forward, curled his hand into a fist, and delivered a devastating blow to the boy’s abdomen. The Prince grunted, collapsing to the ground and losing consciousness.

The girl let out a muffled squeal before Third unceremoniously knocked her out with a quick chop to the back of her neck. The Daughter went limp in Third’s grasp while the Prince lay at First’s feet. First of the Fallen then pulled out the retrieval gems. Each one was a silver gem of similar shape and size to a Sun Gem. It was the same basic concept used to contain the bodies of the Undying, but instead of three undead Raptor Warriors, these gems would hold something far more precious.

It took a few moments, but after a while, the Prince was absorbed into the silver gem as his body transformed into purple light, the essence of his soul. The gem captured the purple light and held it in the center where he would be safe until they brought him to the Desolate One. Well, perhaps that was the wrong phrasing. Though the boy would live, the Fallen couldn’t call being in the Desolate One’s presence safe. When the work was done, First put the gem away in his robes. The girl was also slowly absorbed into a retrieval gem held by Fourth, her body disintegrating into blue light and transferring to the center of the silver gem.