Chapter 23: Mozar on the Hunt

In the history of our family when the Dark Dragon Lords of old only came from our bloodline, great feuds would erupt between the different branches of the Lurranna Clan over who would have the honor of speaking with the Emissary of Darkness and inheriting the power of Graymor, the Great Black Dragon of Shadows.

(One hour before the Mage’s ritual was completed, Humphrey’s assassination attempt of Ryan had just been foiled by the unexpected arrival of the Werewolf Bounty Hunter, Mozar).

“Who-who are you? What business do you have on Fire Ministry property?” asked Humphrey, trying to sound both confident and surprised. The surprised part was easy to fake. Truthfully, he’d thought that Mozar had lost his trail days ago. He should’ve known better. A Werewolf never gave up on the hunt, especially Mozar.

The Werewolf growled viciously, his dark gray fur undulating in the cold, night breeze on top of the battlements. With unparalleled speed, Mozar leapt for Humphrey on all fours, nearly biting his head off as his jaws opened wide. Humphrey barely managed to duck the Werewolf’s powerful jaws that took a good chunk out of the stone railings lining the battlements.

Having avoided the attack, Humphrey attempted to slice the Werewolf’s throat with his bayonet. Before Humphrey could succeed, Mozar spat the chunk of stone he just bit from the railing straight into Humphrey’s eye, impaling him with the sharp shard with considerable force. A Werewolf’s lung capacity should never be underestimated.

Humphrey screamed in pain and rage, but still followed through with his attack, albeit a little off his original mark due to losing an eye. He managed to cut off a few of the Werewolf’s fingers before Mozar swiped at him with his other paw. Humphrey jumped back to get some distance, and the two appraised one another. One missing an eye, the other missing most of his hand.

Mozar didn’t even flinch at losing most of the clawed fingers from his right hand. He simply hunched over, scooped his severed appendages from the ground, and reapplied them to his hand. Instantly, the fingers reattached themselves and he flexed his paw, stretching his fingers back and forth. Humphrey wasn’t surprised. Many Werewolves possessed advanced regeneration, one of the reasons that the old legends said they could only be killed by silver bullets. In the past, Werewolves occasionally traveled to Ancient Earth to do some recreational hunting, spawning many myths about them.

“What is the meaning of this unsanctioned attack?” said Humphrey indignantly as he cradled his injured eye.

In some ways, I’m grateful for what you did to me, my love, Humphrey thought to himself. You inflicted far worse pain on me than this. Thanks to that, I can still fight.

Continuing his charade, Humphrey said, “Do you have any idea the penalty for attacking an Elemental from the Ministry of Fire, let alone injuring him?”

Mozar growled, baring his fangs that could bite through steel. “Save your lies for the Lord Corrupter, Mystic! This one knows it’s you! You may have found a way to disguise your scent as well as your face, but not your psions. Not when you discharge them for an attack. Besides.”

The Werewolf then sniffed the air, tracing a finger along the stone railing where some blood drops had spilled, and bringing the bloodstained claw to his lips. He licked Humphrey’s blood from his claw, and gave a cold smile that was somehow more disturbing than his scowl.

“This one has tasted your blood before. A Werewolf never forgets the taste of his prey.”

I almost wonder why ‘this one’ never joined the Order of the Dark. He’d fit right in with Cynthia’s crowd.

Humphrey returned the Werewolf’s grin with his own and allowed his face to resume its original form. His hair went from black to light brown and his face lost the wrinkles and the beard of the man he’d been disguised as. The guise of the Elemental he had been using was too middle-aged for Humphrey’s liking anyway. With a grunt, he then pulled out the jagged piece of stone from his eye socket, and held a hand there to stop the bleeding.

“Can’t blame a man for trying, Mozar. Besides, I did manage to fool you once already on this hunt. You’re slipping, old dog. When you brought me in last time, I don’t remember you making this many mistakes.”

Mozar growled, his rare grin turning into a snarl. “This one should’ve taken you to the Saurians instead of Tarrus authorities when he first caught you. The humans are too soft. This one should’ve known they would delay your sentencing, giving you ample time to escape. True, the Saurians offered a lighter bounty, but at the very least, this one could’ve had the satisfaction of seeing you beheaded. Though those lizards are dumb and clumsy, their justice is blessedly decisive.”

Humphrey removed his hand, blinking his newly regrown eye. Werewolves weren’t the only ones who could regenerate. “And that was yet another mistake on your part, mutt.”

The Werewolf reached into his robes and brought out a small rod that instantly transformed into a long, golden spear with a blue-glowing blade. Mozar raised his sacred staff, his lean and muscular body coiling like a cobra ready to strike.

Humphrey leveled his lightning rifle at Mozar. “Before we begin, I am curious, Mozar. Why did you leave in the middle of the hunt with those two young Elementals? You were thrown into a blood frenzy thanks to my drugs. You should’ve ripped those two youngsters apart regardless of the fact that one of them was born from your mongrel race. You’ve never had much affinity with your own kind to begin with. So why didn’t you kill them? How did you resist your primal instincts? It’s not like you suddenly grew a conscience. You’ve delighted in eating your targets for years now. It’s only if the bounty stipulates they be brought in alive do you bother to do so.”

Mozar remained strangely quiet. Humphrey was certain the Werewolf would growl or attack in a fit of rage, but Mozar went completely still, his dark, brown cloak softly blowing in the wind. His deep brown eyes seemed to glow brighter in the darkness as he stared right through Humphrey. There were few things besides the Fallen that could frighten Cornelius Humphrey, but this Werewolf was beginning to constitute as one of those things.

Then the Werewolf spoke softly without his usual growling menace, but somehow managed to sound infinitely more threatening. “Thank you for reminding this one of why you won’t be spared this time, regardless of the bounty. Your rotting carcass won’t even be fit to eat when it’s all over. The maggots will enjoy what’s left of your wretched hide far better than this one.”

“What?” taunted Humphrey, trying to contain the string of panic that crawled down his spine. “Is it that frustrating that I almost tricked you into killing the half-breed?”

“That’s not the reason you will die today.”

Before Humphrey could understand the Werewolf’s meaning, Mozar sprang at him. Humphrey opened fire, sending bolts of electricity sizzling through the air. Mozar didn’t slow down in the slightest as he caught every bolt on his golden staff, the energy dissipating when it made contact with his weapon.

When he was close enough, the Werewolf lunged for Humphrey. Cornelius caught the spearpoint on the golden staff with his bayonet, using his rifle like a shield. His Lightning Rifle was a Psionic Weapon with no weak points, allowing him to deflect attacks from other Psionic Weapons using any part of the rifle.

They exchanged a flurry of close-ranged melee blows as Humphrey tried to angle his barrel towards Mozar while they fought. Almost too late, Humphrey remembered that Mozar’s own weapon possessed a plasma discharge. Both Humphrey and Mozar barely managed to sidestep as a bolt of yellow lightning and a beam of blue energy shot from the tips of their weapons.

Both combatants suffered grave burns to their shoulders, and both regenerated the wounds almost instantly. However, Humphrey was also wearing Psionic Armor, so his injury wasn’t quite as bad and healed much faster beneath the suit. Mozar, on the other hand, was bare-chested with only his fur and brown cloak as covering.

Humphrey grinned. When last they fought, Humphrey didn’t have access to high-grade Psionic Armor because he had long left the Ministry. Mozar only barely managed to defeat him last time. It might not have been much, but Psionic Armor was part of the reason that Elementals had an edge in most of their military dealings. Humphrey knew that they were roughly equal in skill, which meant that even the smallest advantage would be the tipping point between victory and defeat.

Feeling Mozar’s right shoulder slack, still not completely healed from the electrical discharge, Humphrey focused pressure there, and the Werewolf began to steadily lose ground.

“You really should come more prepared, Mozar! Psionic Armor is much stronger than it used to be ... not that an old dog like you would know given how behind the times you always are!” taunted Humphrey as he sent sparks of lightning from his gun and from his hand, forcing the Werewolf to retreat. “This time, your unwillingness to adapt will be your downfall!”

Ryan was thrown to the ground yet again, denting the sandy earth with his body. He heard, or rather felt, Kevla grunt within him as she once again sent the pain to his subconscious so he could keep fighting. The trade-off was that she couldn’t keep up with the positions of the enemies as well through telepathy, and he could no longer implement her telekinesis.

Another stone soldier jumped for Ryan while he lay on the ground, trying to crush his windpipe with its rocky foot. Ryan rose and sliced the soldier in three separate pieces with his sword and clawed gauntlet. Once again, the pieces of the stone soldier attempted to repair it, but Ryan had learned his lesson from the last time he destroyed one of these things. With a snap of his fingers, he exploded the pieces of the earth-based humanoid from the psions that he left through his weapons. Burning bits of rock and clay zipped in all directions in a blaze of light and smoke. Ryan was starting to learn that he could use his explosion ability on things that he cut with his Psionic Weapons. It came in handy against the stone soldiers that constantly repaired themselves from his attacks.

However, he didn’t have time to celebrate his victory as a masked man wielding some kind of black spear came charging at him through the smoke field.

“Abomination!” screamed the masked man, wearing a mask of despair as it stabbed at him.

Ryan parried every blow and forced the man back with a jet of flame from his hand. For some reason, he got the odd sensation that the masked men should be much stronger than they actually were. They were obviously skilled fighters, able to keep up with even Physical Type Elementals who excelled at strength and speed enhancement. But their movements still seemed almost sluggish to him somehow. White whisps of some kind of smoke seeped from their masks, and each one seemed to be wheezing. Though they gave indications of being tired, they never let up the fight. If Ryan had to face more than one at a time, he knew he’d probably be dead by now.

Ryan didn’t know who these masked guys were, only that they were attacking the Fire Minister alongside the Berserkers when he and the others arrived to assist. Strangely enough, the four masked men seemed hellbent on killing him while the larger Berserkers tried to get at the Fire Minister. Luckily, they had the numbers on their side as more stone warriors fell and more Elemental guards came to join the fight, peppering the enemy with hit-and-run guerilla attacks. And a good thing too considering that these things didn’t seem to die no matter what was thrown at them.

The masked man retreated as Hannah Lioness came to Ryan’s side, attacking with the Corruck of a Light Monk which changed periodically from a double-bladed sword staff to a whip made of light. Ryan had to admit, most of them would’ve probably been dead by now if not for Hannah Lioness. She used Light Elemency in a way that put all the other Light Monks to shame, jumping from white, transparent platforms made of energy as she rained havoc down on the ranks of the attackers. The four masked men seemed particularly fearful of her attacks, always keeping their distance from the waves of white light she sent down while easily countering any other Elemental attack that was thrown at them.

With Hannah and the Light Monks attacking the four winded masked men, that left Ryan and the others to deal with the undead Berserkers and their hordes of stone soldiers. The stone warriors weren’t as strong as the Berserkers, but each one still had access to basic earth attacks, and more than a few Elementals had already fallen to their onslaught. Fortunately, the numbers of the stone soldiers were dwindling, and everyone kept a constant bombardment on the Berserkers to keep them from replenishing their numbers again. Ryan had explained to the others that the Berserkers could create more stone soldiers, so a constant stream of attacks was necessary to keep them from focusing on the greater battle as the Berserkers would attack anyone that struck at them first.

Grafael continued to battle the largest of the three Berserkers with help from a couple of other masked Elementals. Rachel and Tork took on another with the help of Thisimius and a guy who was apparently Rachel’s dad. Ryan didn’t know if the guy could use Elemency or not, but he directed a small army of buzzing droids with his hands that shot tiny beams of energy which seemed to enrage the Berserkers.

That left the telepath Kormal fighting alongside Ryan as they fought the last Berserker with the long tail. Though Ryan didn’t know the guy personally, he felt like he did after witnessing a lifetime of memories from Kevla’s perspective. The Sage grimaced angrily at Ryan, but wouldn’t leave his side as he fought tooth and nail to keep the Berserker from getting near, using his forcefields and those weird flying knives of his. A strange feeling of warmth bubbled up from inside Ryan, and he knew it came from Kevla. She was happy. Happy to be fighting alongside her father.

“When this is over, you will return my daughter to me,” grunted the Sage as he pushed back the Berserker with a telekinetic blast.

Ryan followed up with the Sage’s attack by jumping in the air and striking the monster in the face with his sword. When he did so, he allowed his explosion ability to take effect right as his sword made contact with the creature’s head, causing the massive, moving corpse to topple over from the blast.

“Yeah, about that. There’s something that Kevla’s been meaning to tell you,” Ryan said, relaying a message he just got from Kevla.

The Sage jerked and spun on Ryan, his big black eyes somehow growing bigger. “What did you just say?!”

“LOOK OUT, DADDY!” Kevla screamed from within Ryan as she took control and tackled the both of them to the ground just as a car-sized boulder flew right over their heads.

As Ryan panted while laying on top of the Sage, Kormal put a hand to Ryan’s cheek. Under normal circumstances, such a thing might be awkward, but Ryan allowed Kevla complete control for the moment, letting her experience the touch of her father as if it were her own body.

“Kevla?” he said in a desperate yet hopeful voice as he stroked Ryan’s cheek with shaking fingers. “You ... you can hear me? You remember who you are? Are you ... are you healed?”

Tears trailed down the Sage’s face, and Ryan found tears in his own eyes as well, but more from Kevla’s influence rather than his own.

“Daddy,” she said quietly by using Ryan’s voice.

Suddenly, Kormal pushed the Kevla-possessed-Ryan aside, raised a gray hand, and created a forcefield of green energy. Dozens of smaller boulders smashed into the shield as a small force of ten earthen warriors sent spikes of rocks from the ground towards them. Kormal’s shield cracked from the earth attack, but remained firm.

“NO ONE TAKES MY DAUGHTER FROM ME! NOT AGAIN!” he screamed with the passion of a father who just found a reason to live.

Ryan rose to help, but Kevla started screaming so loud that Ryan almost blacked out.

Ryan instinctively put hands to his ears even though the noise came from inside his own mind. “Kevla! What’s wrong?”

Those ... those Berserkers, she answered telepathically. I thought they were mindless beasts, but they’re not! There are souls trapped inside them! Miserable, fractured souls compelled to fight against their wills! They ... they remind me of the fragile state of my own mind before you helped me!

That gave Ryan an idea. “That’s great, Kevla! Is there any way you can influence them? Help them the way I helped you?”

She continued to whimper within his psyche as she struggled to explain what she was feeling. N-no! You don’t understand! They’ve been trapped there in the dark for so long! So long in pain and agony! All of who they were stripped from them! No more honor! No more hope for a glorious death!

When Kormal’s shield collapsed, Ryan stepped forward, fending off the earth shower with his sword and with flames. Fortunately, Hannah appeared behind the stone sentinels and destroyed them with a wave of light from her Corruck.

Ryan saw a group of Light Monks and Elementals pushing back the masked men and surrounding them. The Berserkers were trying to push past a wave of Elemental defenders to get to the Fire Minister, but were confronted with a massive hundred-foot wall of fire, lightning, and lava created by a dozen different Elemental guards.

Saria simply continued to sit and kneel with her helmet off like she had started doing when their fight first began. Ryan didn’t know what she was doing, but her eyes were closed and her brow furrowed in deep concentration. Most of the stone soldiers were gone, so it’s not like they needed her. He didn’t understand why she stopped fighting the way she had earlier. Although, since the masked men appeared to be on their last legs, it looked like they didn’t need the Fire Minister’s help after all.

Ryan! said Kevla in an alarmed tone. Something is about to happen! Something is breaking inside the three Berserkers! We ... Oh, no! We’ve got to get out of here! Get my father and get out of here!

Before Ryan could react, all three Berserkers gave a unified roar and raised their large, bony hands. Then, simultaneously, they all slammed the ground with both arms. A clap of sound burst Ryan’s eardrums. The army of stone soldiers that gathered behind the Berserkers were destroyed in an instant. Elementals from all over the battlefield were blown off their feet and thrown to the ground, including Grafael and his other friends from Squad 99. Ryan and Kormal were tossed back like ragdolls, flying away from the blast wave. In the haze of images that followed, Ryan saw Kormal reaching a hand towards him, screaming Kevla’s name. Then all went black.

Ryan didn’t know how long he lost consciousness. It might’ve been no more than a few seconds, but when he came to, nearly all the defenders were down. Even the masked men had been blown away from the blast, lying unconscious or dead in a heap beside Light Monks and Elementals. Kormal was beside him, his arm on his shoulder. Buildings all across the facility had toppled. He doubted that there was a structure left standing for miles. No one stood. Many stirred as most had survived the blast thanks to their Psionic Armor, but no one remained standing.

No one except for the three Berserkers who stood at the center of the blast radius. The creatures then raised their hands again, and a huge wave of sand and earth sprang from the ground reaching up for hundreds of feet high. The wave of white sand spread out in all directions like a flood intent on burying the surviving Elementals and Light Monks before they could recover.

And then, Ryan saw light. It wasn’t like the soft white light from Hannah and the Monks. This light was orange, and it felt angry. But somehow, the angry feeling that this light gave off brought Ryan comfort, not fear. Then he realized that the light wasn’t light at all, but flames ... huge orange flames of such heat and intensity to rival that of a thousand suns. The white sands were dispelled instantly by the orange flame, and the Fire Minister stood.

The orange flames that had destroyed the tsunami of white sand, they had come from her as they spun around her like a tornado of orange energy. She opened her eyes. Four blazing orange eyes stared down at the three monsters where her pupils should’ve been.

Ryan gasped. Four eyes! Four glowing eyes! It’s just like...

The three Berserkers, unintimidated by Saria’s newfound power, roared in defiance and charged her with blinding speed from nearly a mile away. They moved so fast that they decimated the earth where their feet touched the ground, throwing up dust clouds and large stones in their wake.

The Fire Minister, her four glowing eyes blazing, raised a gauntleted hand. Behind her, the orange flames coalesced and swirled, churning together in dizzying patterns of undulating energy spirals. Then something rose out of the flames behind the Minister. Or rather, the orange flames rose behind her and formed into something. It was a lion. A massive male lion that made each Berserker look like a mouse in comparison. The lion had black, charcoal skin and an orange mane of flames. Lightning crackled from the end of its tail and magma seeped from its fangs in place of drool.

In astonishment, Ryan realized that it looked like the same flame lion that had told him that he was destined to serve on Squad 99 when he first came to the Ministry. Only that lion had been normal sized while this one was as big as a mountain.

Trails of orange energy leaked from the huge lion’s body, flowing into Saria like a rope made of flame, binding the two. The lion also had four glowing orange eyes. As Saria took a step forward, so did the beast. As Saria raised a hand, the beast raised a house-sized paw.

The Berserkers were a breath away from Saria when a blast of orange energy from the lion’s paw pushed the creatures back a few yards. Somehow, the monsters regained their footing as they continued to claw their way towards Saria, reaching out for her as their armor disintegrated in the everlasting blast of orange fire, leaving nothing but bones and charred flesh that refused to burn away. As the creatures slowly pushed their way through the rush of orange flames emanating from Saria and the lion, she regarded the three Berserkers casually.

“We are the Minister of Fire,” Saria said in a voice that was hers, but not hers. The lion spoke at the same time she did, its deep, resonating voice making Saria sound more like a man than a woman. “We are Tava, bearer of the first flame. Hunter of souls. We render judgement now!”

The lion slowly lowered its paw. Then Saria roared. The lion roared. Tava roared. From the mouth of both Saria and the lion, even denser orange flames sprang forth, coming together and forming one gigantic ball of shimmering energy. The ball of flame, as big as a small mountain and almost like a miniature sun, crashed forward with a deafening roar without sound. Time stood still. The Berserkers vanished in an explosion that shook the whole moon, yet Ryan couldn’t hear a thing throughout the ordeal. He didn’t know if it was because he lost his hearing, or if the ball of fire was so powerful that it resonated on a higher frequency. An explosion without sound.

In the place where the Berserker stood was a large crevice in the ground as if the earth had been split in two. The crevice continued as far as the eye could see, going all the way to the end of the facility, halving two lines of buildings where the sand field ended, and going on and on for miles in the opposite direction. Ryan wouldn’t have been surprised if the swath of disintegrated earth went on like that almost across the entire moon. Luckily, no one had been standing behind the Berserkers at the time of their demise, or they would’ve surely shared the same fate.

Saria looked up at the flame lion as it bent down, lowering its massive head until its huge maw was right before her face. The creature blew out a loud breath from its nostrils, causing Saria’s long brown hair to blow back. She smiled, still possessing four glowing eyes like the beast she was strangely connected to. She lifted a hand, petting the lion’s underjaw, her armored hand seeming tiny and delicate in comparison. A deep purr of contentment emanated from the flame lion. As it purred, Ryan felt the very earth vibrate beneath him. The lion gave the slightest dip of its mane, almost reminiscent of a bow of respect. And then, the flame lion disappeared in a shower of diaphanous sparkles and orange filaments of tiny flames that slowly twinkled out of existence. Some of the orange flames didn’t twinkle out exactly as a few remnants of orange energy ribbons circled Saria’s body; she breathed in deeply as if absorbing them. Four massive, black paw prints of burnt sand had been seared into the earth where the flame lion had stood. The paw prints were still smoking, the only indication that what Ryan had just seen was not a dream.

Slowly, very slowly, Ryan came to his feet, as did the other survivors of the battle. Some did not get up after the Berserker’s shockwave attack, but most did. Everyone seemed just as confused and shocked as Ryan felt. With a lethargic sort of reverence, the Elementals surrounded Saria and knelt solemnly. Ryan did the same. To think that he once had the temerity to joke at this woman’s expense. How stupid was he? How stupid did she think he was?

Saria clapped her hands loudly, bringing everyone out of their stupor. Though she still possessed those four orange-glowing eyes, there was a softness to her features that somehow put Ryan at ease despite what he knew she could do now. “None of that, now. We haven’t the time.”

Saria then turned her four-eyed gaze to Hannah, who appeared very uncomfortable as she started to bow, but then seemed to catch herself as if she didn’t know whether it was appropriate or not.

“Saria. I have not heard of the Fire Minister doing a direct summoning in ... in centuries, actually. Such a thing is usually forbidden unless under the most dire of circumstances, as you well know. I should reprimand you, but ... I-I can’t seem to bring myself to do so.” Hannah’s face turned to a look of deference. Ryan didn’t think Hannah admired Saria that much given how they were fighting earlier. “I ... that was ... that was amazing. I had no idea-”

Saria raised a hand suddenly, “Lioness. Bind those creatures with Light Elemency, and use psionic suppressant ropes as well, just to be sure. I wish to question them further before I send them into oblivion with their comrades.” She pointed with a thumb to the four masked men who stirred slightly, but seemed spent as they lay in a heap on the ground.

Hannah immediately straightened and snapped, bringing at least a dozen Light Monks to attention behind her. “Do as the Fire Minister commands.”

As the Light Monks rushed to complete the task, Hannah went to join them, but not before Saria suddenly took her by the hand and said solemnly, “And Hannah. Thank you.”

Hannah gave a bashful grin as she dipped her head in a bow of respect. “I think we’ve both learned a little something about each other today. It was an honor to fight alongside you once more ... master.”

The Light Monks were already wrapping up the four masked men in tight bands of white energy. Elementals also surrounded the masked men, binding their hands and feet with blue glowing ropes that suppressed psionic powers. They even brought out silver glowing ropes. Ryan had never seen silver glowing suppressant ropes, though he figured it must’ve been because the masked men had unique powers or something. The masked men offered no resistance as they lowered their heads in silent submission.

After directing the Light Monks, Hannah finally noticed Ryan for the first time. She glared at him, putting her hands to her hips. “Ryan Uruks!”

Oh, boy! What did I do now?

Hannah stalked over to him, and then without warning, buried him in a hug. “You little moron! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

As Ryan gladly returned the hug, Hannah shivered in his grasp, and suddenly started coughing like the way she would in the past when she spat up blood.

Panic-stricken, Ryan cried out, “Auntie! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hug you so hard!”

She waved a hand dismissively, but still coughed hard in his grasp, a slight trickle of blood running down her lips. “It’s okay. Really, I’m fine. I ... I’m just at my limit, that’s all. When I expend too much Light Elemency and put myself under strain, my old ailments start to act up. It’s nothing. Really, it’s...”

She cut off as another bout of violent coughing brought her to her knees.

Saria knelt down with Ryan and Hannah, rubbing the Priestess’ shoulders lovingly. “I am no Healer, but I have dozens under my command who would be more than happy to treat you.”

They sure are acting a lot nicer to each other than they used to. I guess fighting for your life against a common enemy has a bonding effect.