Chapter 33: The Power of Light

The one the Lord Corrupter fears ... is his own herald. The Desolate One. The one called the Dark Dragon Lord of Shadows. He has grown beyond the Lord Corrupter’s control. He doesn’t intend to conquer the Physical Realms for the Lord Corrupter as the other heralds of the past tried to do. Instead, he plans to destroy existence itself. That also means ... destroying the idea of evil itself. That is why he is the only one the Lord Corrupter fears.

“Hold the line!” ordered Saria into the intercom as she prepared for another wave of Shadow Wraiths.

These beings were unlike any adversaries Saria had ever faced. Individually, perhaps not as dangerous as one of those Fallen or Undead Berserkers. Unfortunately, there were a lot more of them, and they did not retreat. She knew that even at full strength, she and Tava would be overwhelmed by these creatures in no time. If not for Hannah’s inspired plan to combine Light Elemency with the Elementals’ attacks, she had no doubt that every ship evacuating the deteriorating Galsin Moon would’ve been destroyed by now. Worst still, as numerous as the Shadow Wraiths seemed, Saria counted only a few hundred at most. A few hundred ghosts able to hold their own against a force of thousands of Elementals and Light Monks, the best that the Tarrus Empire had to offer.

Another frigate exploded with who knew how many hundreds of innocent souls aboard. They managed to save most of the transports as the Fire Fleet operated as escorts during the evacuation, but the Shadow Wraiths still occasionally broke their ranks to get at the civilian targets. The monsters seemed to know instinctively that the Elementals wished to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. So they concentrated their efforts into causing just that, ignoring the fighters and going straight for the less armed transports still teleporting trapped citizens from the moon’s surface. The creatures didn’t seem to care that their reckless tactics made them easy targets. Each time one was wiped out of existence, it left the world with that unwholesome laugh as if it had no regrets whatsoever. Saria didn’t know what aggravated her more; the fact that she couldn’t kill the creatures faster than they could replenish their numbers, or the fact that they seemed happy when they were destroyed.

While hovering over the aerial battlefield, overviewing the various ships and flying Elementals defending against the shadowy entities, Saria raised up her intercom to check the status of her units. “The northern flanks are buckling! Shore up the gaps with more Lightning Specialists! Electricity seems to be a most effective combination with Light Elemency against these monsters!”

Even while relaying orders, Saria dove for a weak point in the defense line that a group of Shadow Wraiths just broke through. She’d been waiting for this particular break in the defenses, hoping to lure a larger group of the Shadow Wraiths towards her. Though the monsters demonstrated little sense of self-preservation, they had figured out early on to avoid direct confrontation with Saria when they could, preferring to cause as much collateral damage as possible by going for weaker targets. If she broke the line and attempted to hunt them down one by one, they broke their own formations and ganged up on her. More than once, she’d almost lost her life by being too reckless. So she and Hannah had worked out a different method to rack up the kills.

The leading Shadow Wraith exploded in a flower of orange flames, fading to nothingness with that vile, screeching laugh. The others, perhaps half a dozen or so, advanced on her, each one as large as a Flame Fighter Craft as they zigzagged through the open air, trailing black smoke behind their shadowy forms. Their twisted faces grinned evilly at her as green flames burned on the tops of their heads and from their wings.

Just as wraiths surrounded Saria, a small unit of twenty Light Monks teleported around the creatures via Gateway. The Monks peppered the Wraiths with beams of light from their weapons. In the confusion caused by the Monk’s appearance, Saria shot out pinpoint strikes from her fists. One fireball for each wraith so as to conserve her energy. She and Hannah had found that her own flames combined most effectively with Light Elemency, allowing her to kill the creatures more easily provided enough Light Monks were present.

The last of this latest group of Shadow Wraiths blinked out of existence with a screech and a laugh. The Monks all visibly slumped on their platforms of white light which allowed them to fly almost as well as the Elemental flying specialists. Hannah herself, who was leading this unit of Monks, broke from the larger group to float next to Saria while atop her own circular platform of white energy.

Hannah wiped beads of sweat from her brow, breathing heavily. “We must’ve killed hundreds on our own already, and still they show no drastic decrease in their number.”

Saria nodded, adjusting her ascent to hover at Hannah’s side. “Their numbers aren’t vastly increasing either, but remaining at a steady stream of a few hundred or so. Why do you think that is?”

Hannah shrugged. “I’ve never seen nor heard of a Shadow Realm incursion of this scale. But if I had to guess, given how far gone most of the moon is already, there should be more Shadow Wraiths than this. Much more. My guess is, Zanderius is keeping their numbers down enough so as not to leave us overwhelmed. He’s also probably keeping the moon and everyone within range from being swallowed up completely by the Shadow Realm.”

Saria scoffed. “If he can do all that, then why can’t he close the breach entirely? They’ll all disappear if there’s nothing anchoring them to the Shadow Realm. And they can’t exist too far from the singularity, or they would’ve attacked Tarrus itself by now.”

Hannah looked at Saria reproachfully. Funny, Saria could remember giving much the same look during their tenure as teacher and student. “Obviously because he can’t. This is no normal breach. It’s being powered by the Fallen. The power source they’re supplying to the breach must be destroyed before it can be closed. That’s why we had to send Squad 99. Zand knew that only those he chose would have the best chance in succeeding in such a mission.”

Saria groaned, scanning the field of burning flames below her. Then she scanned the skies above her filled with thousands of flying figures. Some of the flying figures were fighters and frigates. Others were Elementals and Light Monks battling without the aid of technology against the forces of the Shadow Wraiths. The Elementals and the Light Monks operated in specialized units. The Light Monks would attack first, then a wave of Flamer or Charger Elementals would lay down a line of fire and lightning to finish off the Wraiths. The Ministry and Monastery vessels operated much the same way, employing Fire and Light Elemency fed directly into the weapon systems by the Elemental and Monk pilots.

Since learning of how Light Elemency enhanced the destructive capabilities of normal Elemency, the defenders had a much easier time fending off the Shadow Wraiths. Although, it still took a combined force of at least ten Fire Elementals and ten Light Monks to effectively combat just one single Shadow Wraith. Any lower resulted in too many casualties to be effective.

As she studied the carnage before her, Saria said slowly, “Well, if those kids don’t make it back soon, there’s not going to be much left of Galsin to save.”

Hannah drew in a sharp breath as her home burned all around her. Saria cursed herself once again for her lack of tact. She was just about to make amends when a Shadow Wraith materialized out of thin air right behind Hannah. Before she could react, the monster swiped the air with its huge, wispy arm, killing at least half of their unit of Light Monks as they plunged to the burning ground below, already dead from the unholy thing’s touch.

Saria grabbed Hannah, holding the Monk to her breastplate as the creature reached out towards her with its long, curved fingers. She engulfed the Shadow Wraith with her full power, destroying the creature in a jet of orange flames sent from her palm, but at great cost to the reserves of her psions.

Before Saria could even draw a breath, more Shadow Wraiths appeared out of thin air. It seemed as if they’d learned a few tricks from Saria’s ambush tactics. She didn’t know the ghostly entities had the ability to teleport, but in hindsight, she should’ve seen it coming.

The monsters attacked, but not before being assailed by a combined onslaught of water, ice, and lava. The unexpected aid gave Saria the time she needed to recuperate and add her own flames to the maelstrom of energy. The Shadow Wraiths, probably three or so, all fizzled out of existence, each leaving with that haunting laughter still ringing in the air as they vanished.

Saria turned to face her rescuers who were already flying about the battlefield, shoring up defenses where they could. There were three newcomers. Judging by the way they flew using their elements alone and the power they demonstrated, they were all Wielders. Funny enough, two wore the blue and green armor of the Water Ministry while only one wore the standards of the Fire Ministry.

They all wore their faceplates, so she couldn’t see their faces, but she thought she recognized the particular fighting style of the Fire Wielder who used a long, Psionic Spear. When the Fire Wielder noticed Saria staring at him, he immediately disengaged from the front lines to hover in front of Saria as he gave a salute.

The Fire Wielder’s helmet disappeared to reveal the tattooed face of Victor Harock as she had expected. “Wielder Harock reporting for duty, My Lady!”

Saria, though relieved to see her old friend, had to suppress a very Tava-like growl as she grimaced at Victor. Hannah broke off from under Saria’s arm as she reconstructed another platform of white energy beneath her. She had good instincts to distance herself from Saria at that moment.

“Where the hell have you been? And Where’s Eramar?!” demanded Saria.

Victor sighed sheepishly. “I wish I could say. I have another angry woman asking me the same thing. As soon as we got here, he disappeared. I don’t have to tell you how difficult it is to track a Spiritual-Type of his caliber.”

“And ... are those Water Elementals you’ve brought with you?” asked Saria, squinting to get a look at the two blue-armored individuals as they buzzed around ships, wielding a scythe and a Psionic Whip.

A woman’s voice on the intercom spoke out from Saria’s wrist communicator. “Erica and Robert Konamay here to lend our assistance,” explained the voice that Saria could only assume came from the two Water Wielders

“Konamay?” repeated Saria in surprise as she raised the wrist communicator to her mouth.

“Good to see you again, my Lady Minister,” spoke a decidedly male voice on the intercom. The larger of the two Water Elementals gave a brief wave before returning to the fight. “Wish we could meet when the world is not on the brink of ending sometime, but tis the life of an Elemental I suppose.”

“Both your Ministry and mine have been informed of the situation, Lady Fire Minister. We can expect aid shortly,” explained the female Elemental. Saria thought she named herself as Erica, a Wielder with almost as much repute as Eramar himself. “In the meantime, we should take what ships we can and leave the atmosphere to escape the moon’s destruction.”

Hannah suddenly gasped and pointed ahead in front of Saria’s face. “That’s going to be easier said than done.”

Saria followed where Hannah was pointing and nearly lost control of her psions that held her aloft in the sky. The Shadow Wraiths were gathering in much greater numbers than before. Where once there were hundreds, there were now thousands. Hundreds of thousands. They all held position just beyond the line of defenders, staying out of range of the fleet’s weapons.

“So that’s what they were doing,” Saria whispered to herself hoarsely. “They were gathering in numbers to prevent our escape. They want as many bodies claimed by the Shadow Realm as possible.”

As all gathered stared up in awe at the doom that awaited them, Victor said slowly into his wrist communicator, “Erica. How soon until our reinforcements arrive?”

It took a while, but she finally answered in a voice full of dread, “Not soon enough.”

Zanderius could feel it. His strength was waning. Not even Balvor’s light was sufficient to hold back the whole of the Shadow Realm. But even if it would only cost the Moon of Galsin and not the whole solar system, Zanderius refused to relent. He couldn’t allow his enemy to have even this partial victory. Not now. Not before the true war even began. Zorron knew as well as Zand that the loss of Galsin would be devastating, even if most of the Light Monks survived its destruction. And though Zanderius had begun his life as an Elemental, not a Monk, he had since become accustomed to their ways. In many ways, the Light Monks under the stewardship of Hannah Lioness had become just as precious to him as his own family at the Fire Ministry, now long dead save for a few surviving companions like Saria Kaves.

The Shadow Wraiths screeched against Zand’s barrier of light. More and more were slipping through the cracks of his defenses, causing untold horrors to the denizens of the evacuation fleet. Soon there would be too many for even the Monastery to deal with. This was by far the most powerful singularity Zanderius had ever encountered. This was the culmination of nearly five years of planning and work on the Mages’ part. Defeating their machinations would be no simple task, even for the Sacred Vessel of Purity.

If only Green-Eyes had returned from the Light Realm sooner. If only Ryan and the others had succeeded in destroying the Fallen’s ship which supplied a continuous energy source for the breach into the Shadow Realm. If only...

“If only you’d stop complaining to yourself and tell me how you really feel,” said a familiar voice.

Zanderius dared to open his eyes as he found the Spirit Wolf floating in a cloud of white mist beside him. “Green-Eyes,” he said in a strained tone. “I trust you were successful.”

“She was,” said another voice.

The voice belonged to a being of pure white light. Shining white robes that seemed part of his body, but at the same time weren’t, flowed peacefully around the light creature’s large frame as he stood as tall as a giraffe. Two flames burned from the being’s back in the shapes of white, angelic wings. It had been a long time since a Light Wraith had materialized fully into the Physical Realm, an occasion most warranted given the situation.

“You’ll be happy to know that the Children of Destiny have succeeded in their mission as well, and each have taken a necessary step in understanding their powers as we planned.”

“Then the trial is over?” asked Zanderius hopefully.

Though the head of the Light Wraith was shrouded in light so bright that it obscured his face, Zanderius thought he could detect a smile on those angelic features. “Yes. This trial anyway.”

Something had changed in the ranks of the Shadow Wraiths. As Saria still held the line along with the fleets of flying Elementals and Monks on their platforms of light, as well as the various defensive ships and fighters, the Shadow Wraiths suddenly halted their advance. Then, in one great voice, all the Shadow Wraiths wrenched back their monstrous faces and let loose a wail. This did not sound like a battle cry, but more a sound of despair, or perhaps outrage.