“When he had begun, he had fed it his Mana, his passions, his desires. When those weren’t enough, he fed it his obsession, his madness and finally, his life. He was broken, coming unmade as the crown was forged. He didn’t care, all that mattered was its completion.”

Chapter 54

With a final blow, the Elemental lay still at Archibald’s feet. It had not gone down easily. Allard was covered in blood from his injuries and Archibald was limping badly. He had broken his leg diving out of the way of a thrown boulder.

Allard stood over the stone monster, his axe buried deeply in its head. He was busy prying the emerald eyes from its stone skull, worried that they may be the source of its power.

“As I have said, Mayor, the Elemental was drawing its power from the mountain itself. I don’t believe we need to worry about it returning to life.” Archibald explained.

“Better safe than sorry. Besides, these gems will provide for the families of those we lost.” He said, ignoring Archibald’s attempts to reassure him. With a triumphant cry, Allard pried the first gemstone loose and held the goose egg size emerald in his fist.

Shaking his head, Archibald looked into the sky as the clouds above started to clear. He was now certain that with the Shaman’s ritual ending, the storm would stop.

He walked to a stone outcrop, using the height to stand above everyone present as he lifted his golden sword up high.

“Victory!” He shouted, as the sun finally broke through the clouds, the first time in weeks. The yellow sunlight filtered down, shining on his sword and golden armor with its bright light. As the wind billowed his cloak, he cut quite the figure in his own opinion.

The crowd cheered, more for the returning sun than the golden figure standing above them.

“Let be known, that I, Archibald Anwir, have returned the sun to the north!” He shouted, ignoring the looks the crowd were giving each other at his arrogant words.

He lifted his face to the sun, letting it shine on his golden hair and he gave the crowd below him a wide, toothy smile at the victory he had led them to.

It was at this moment, when Archibald was basking in his perceived glory, that the plateau they stood on shook violently. The crowd quickly turned to the body of the stone elemental, with Allard looking down in confusion at the two precious gemstones he was holding in his hands.

“It’s not the creature, there’s no Mana in these gems, or the body.” Allard said, looking around at the shaking ground. Large cracks were forming in the rock, and large sections of the plateau started coming loose, sliding down the cliffsides around them.

“Run!” Someone in the crowd shouted. Large groups of people started fleeing off the mountain top, down the path they had taken to get there.

Archibald was furious, whatever was happening was taking away from his moment, his glory. He gathered his mana around him as he leapt off the stone outcrop. With the protection of his magic barrier wrapped around him, he waited as the others fled.

In the center of the plateau, a small crack widened swiftly. It quickly spread, nearly splitting the entire flat ground of the mountain top in half. Archibald watched in horror as the crack became bigger, whatever creature was approaching, it was much bigger than the Elemental.

He focused, drawing deeply on the mana in his core as he prepared to face the monster.

The rumbling below his feet grew louder, and it took all his agility to keep his balance on the shaking mountain plateau. The noise grew deafening, and a red glow emanated from the large crack.

With a flash of intense heat that washed over his shield, Archibald saw a massive pillar of pure magma shoot into the sky. It exploded outwards, carrying stones and dust in every direction.

Seeing the volcano erupt, Archibald finally did the sensible thing, he turned and fled as fast as his mana enhanced legs could carry him. When he told the story of his victory later, he would omit this part from the tale.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As the pillar of lava and fire rose from the chasm behind the throne, Wil ran away as fast as he could. He was still clutching the shattered remains of the silvery metal crown. His fingers were cramped around it, and he couldn’t let go.

Thankfully, whatever remnants of magic the crown held had been destroyed when the diamond shattered on the rocks below.

He ran down the hall, the eruption behind him throwing stone chips and dust in his path as he swerved and tumbled forward. The intense shaking of the ground threw him off balance and he was force to leap the broken pieces of statues on the floor.

The frost had long since melted in the approaching intense heat, and the remaining statues were now falling from their pedestals, unable to remain upright in the shaking.

Wil ran, ducking under a spray of stones coming from a collapsing statue. It slammed onto the ground, sharp stones and metal pieces flying from it.

Wil formed a layer of mana around his body to protect himself from the projectiles as he dashed forward, heading towards the large stone doors he had seen when he arrived. There was no way he would be able to exit from above, even if he had the ability, the approaching wall of fire from the eruption behind him would reach him long before he could climb up it. His only hope lay in the magic of the stone doors fading, allowing him to make it through and slam them shut again.

“Not a great plan, Wil!” He shouted at himself as he scrambled forward, dodging and ducking rocks and falling statue pieces. His little orb of light followed dutifully in his wake.

After an eternity, he arrived at the stone doors. He slammed his body against them, trying to force them open with all his strength. To his despair, the ancient magic sealing them shut was still strong.

Wil lost all hope of opening the doors.

He spun back around, looking at the throne in the distance. It was lit by the raging inferno of fire and lava behind it. He watched as a solid wall of flames engulfed the wizened corpse of the old dwarf on his throne.

It was quickly closing in on Wil. Already he could feel the fire pulling the very air from his lungs to fuel the flames.

He desperately searched for another way out, but he was trapped. The hole above him, formed from the sun’s light, had resealed in a thick layer of ice from the crown’s magic.

Seeing no other options, Wil sank slowly to the ground, despairing at what awaited him. It would soon be over, the wall of flames only seconds away.

As he collapsed on the ground, he felt a hard object under his armor, next to his chest.

With a sudden realization, he ripped open his leather armor, tearing through the bindings in his desperation. It was the charm he had purchased when he was still at the academy. A lifesaving magical spell bound to a piece of stiff paper.

Wil pulled out the charm, looking at the wall of fire as it nearly reached him. He closed his eyes, picturing the frozen lake above him, and ripped the paper in half.

In a flash of light, the flames reached him before he was yanked away.

It was if a pair of hands had gripped him by the shoulders, spinning him around. In a moment, the heat was replaced by the feeling of falling and rushing wind.

Opening his eyes, Wil screamed as he saw himself falling from the sky. The water of the lake below him was glistening azure blue in the sunlight. He had miscalculated, he was dozens of feet above the lake, rather than standing firmly on its frozen surface.

He fell and the wind rushed past him. He closed his eyes again and threw his hands up in front of his face. Expecting to hit a lake of solid ice, instead, he slammed heavily into the water below.

He sank like a stone, nearly reaching the bottom of the crystal-clear lake before he processed that he was still alive, and that he was drowning.

Wil kicked his legs and flailed his arms, desperate to reach the sunlight shining down from above. He finally broke through the surface of the lake, breathing in the fresh mountain air in huge gulps.

The lake’s water was pleasantly warm from the heat generated by the mountain, the freezing magic of the crown was burned away by the intense fiery heart of the mountain deep below.

Laughing wildly at his miraculous escape, he slowly swam to the shore nearby.