Humanity's Hero Of Despair

The air thickens with power, almost suffocating, as my sister stands over the Keeper King, ready to unleash her magic.

Her aura is a spectrum of color and elements nobody has seen before in all of Terrathis. It flickers in harmony with both light and dark magic. It radiates the soul of the heart of Glozaria.

The moment before she launches her magic at the Keeper King makes her look like a goddess.

The hair on my arms rises as fire, water, wind, and stone all surround my sister, ready to be unleashed. The elements aren't simply a tool; they are alive. As my sister says the chant while waving her wand, several enormous elemental circles appear around the Keeper King, allowing for no escape.

Streams of lightning crack through the air from above the Keeper King. The lightning bolt electrocutes him alive. Her earth magic immobilizes the Keeper King by trapping his ankles in the ground. My sister's ice magic freezes the Keeper King's hands to the walls.

It is like what I did to the Keeper Principal, but a lot more powerful.

The Keeper King is a powerful being, but he is already exhausted and running low on mana. My sister is also a lot stronger than me. Why has she been hiding these powers from me? Do I really have to discover how to use them completely by myself?

"AHHHH!" the Keeper King screams out loud as another wave of lightning hits him. He can't defend himself because he is immobilized. All of his guards have already been taken out. You can call me evil, but seeing him wither in pain gives me a certain satisfaction after all the things he did to my friends.

He deserves every ounce of pain for killing many humans, people I knew, taking children away from parents, etc. The list is too much to go over.

Out of nowhere, more stone rises from the earth. This time, the stones form into one gigantic hand. Maura uses this giant stone's hand to grab the Keeper King and lift him up into the air. The magic circles still surround the Keeper King, who doesn't have the energy to fight back against this ancient magic.

My sister summons several hundred swords of ice and levitates them into the air, pointing at him. She snarls at the Keeper King.

"Any last words?"

The Keeper King's laugh rings throughout the throne room. His laughter sounds like a psychopath going insane. His body glows brightly. It is his last attempt to take us all out, even if it means his own death. We all have to shield ourselves from the shockwaves of light coming out of his body.

Is he planning to explode with us in the room?

Maura, in her own right, has an intense aura of all the elements combined. She combats the shockwaves with her own. The ground shakes beneath us in fear, with cracks appearing in random places. We have to get out of here fast. My sister turns toward the Shadow Squadron and me, her magic becoming more powerful and amplified by the second.

"Everybody get out of here now! That's an order!" she shouts with despair in her voice. She looks at me. Her eyes look like they are full of pain.

"I can't leave you!" I shout above the sounds of magic clashing together. My hand attempts to grab my sister's, but the Shadow Squadron whisks me away from the throne room. I try to pull away and return to the throne room, but they won't let me.

The Shadow Squadron takes me just beyond the gates of the Tarondar Palace. The shaking of the ground is less intense here, but it is still very much present. We notice the Tarondar Palace lit up with constant flashes of light, dark, water, earth, fire, and wind magic. The entire palace looks like a death zone.

The Shadow Squadron members finally release me from their hold.

As I attempt to run back into the palace, a shockwave so loud it sounds like a sonic bomb makes me fall straight into the ground. My head hits the ground hard and for a moment, I can't think. It is throbbing so much that I can't tell the Shadow Squadron members are trying to take care of the bleeding.

People can hear screaming from within the palace. One part of the palace completely crumbles and falls to the ground. It is ablaze with fire and ice. There is nothing we can do to help. Even if we could, she told us not to. My hand tightens around my wand as I realize I am not strong enough to fight the Eradicator leader yet.

My sister has a rare gift nobody else has. Not even me.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The entire left side of the palace crumbles into dust.

Then we hear silence.

We all run back into the ruins of the palace, afraid of what we may see. I am in the lead of the others and the first one to reach the throne room. People follow closely behind me, calling out Maura's name. As we all gather inside the throne room, we become silent. The remnants of the Keeper King scatter in the faint breeze of battle.

My sister is still standing with her shoulders slumping as the last of her energy fades away. Her wand drops to the floor, clattering on the ground. I run forward, reaching her just as she collapses, catching her before she hits the ground. Everyone gathers around her.

"Sister," I whisper in a shaken voice. "It's over now. You did it. You can rest."

She looks up at me with her haunted eyes.

"It's not over yet, brother. The Keeper King, the Eradicator King, is only one part of their overall species. Tarondar still needs to be freed. We're not done yet, but we freed the capital…" she whispers to me as her voice trails off.

She faints because of the overuse of magic. The Shadow Squadron members gently take her to the side, and they bring healers over to make sure she will be okay. As the last of the Eradicators in the area are defeated, the sounds of fighting fade away. The remaining ones who survive retreat into Thornspire and Rivenhold.

All my friends gather in the throne room, which is torn to shreds.

The second-in-command of the HLH orders everyone to meet in the throne room to discuss what we are going to do. This is important since we do not know when the Eradicators will return. Good news though, someone tells me my sister is alright and just needs time to rest.

We are finally on a high note until one of the Shadow Squadron members returns to the throne room, coming back with some news. This messenger speaks to another HLH member, who then whispers something into Zephyr's ear.

Zephyr's face becomes a shade of anger I have never seen before.

He walks over to one wall and slams his fist in it enhanced with his wind magic, causing it to bend before his will, making a huge dent.

We rush over to him to see what happened. He sees us and turns to face us while shaking his head in disbelief. His voice is so quiet we barely hear him.

"My father…. is dead."

Zephyr's father, Abel Uracain, was the most powerful wind mage in all of Tarondar. He was the general of the Tarondar army, who was biding his time to turn against the Keeper King. For his betrayal, he found his inevitable death.

Who killed him, though? Is there somebody more powerful than the Keeper King out there?

I don't want to find out. Images of dead students flash into my mind.

I don't want to find out anyone else I knew has died.