The Chaos Blade

The demon's body fell to the ground and lay there, then began to slowly dissipate into mist as it was banished to the Nine Hells from which it was spawned. Not content with that, Kelnozz slashed into its disappearing chest and reached into the monstrous cavity, ignoring the burning ichor that clung to his gloved hand.

"Luingirth!" Kelnozz cried out loudly as he wrenched his arm free of the demons chest, holding the immense heart in his hand. He lofted it high into the air, rivaling all but the best giant thrown boulder.

Luingirth ignored Garrick's cry of distress and swooped down from the titanic sky battle and spotted the heart as it neared the peak of its ascent. He inhaled deeply then spat out a stream of lightning that pierced the heart and made it explode it nothingness, completely destroying the demon. The great dragon then turned about in mid air to deal with his pursuers that were close on his heels. Garrick scowled at the elf for trying to show off, then looked for a new target to swat with his hammer.

Kelnozz held both his swords and looked at the refugees and the four, now five, companions standing there with mouths open in amazement. The demons also stood passively for a few moments, contemplating what it meant if the mightiest of their numbers could be slain by this solitary elf. Then they charged forth, content to overwhelm him with numbers.

They all saw the look in Kelnozz's eyes before he was overrun. Alesha screamed out to him in a wordless cry. She threw out her arms and sweeping lances of flames shot forth, crashing into the demons and sending them stumbling away from Kelnozz. Kelnozz looked at her in amazement, stunned by the display of power she had generated. He prepared to run and join them when a pair of dragons arced down from the sky towards him. Now that Kelnozz was on the field of battle, all eyes were upon him.

Flames from the mouth of a red dragon slammed into the ground behind him as he ran. He leapt to the side as they washed over where he would have been, narrowly missing him. The other dragon, a blue one, spat out a jagged bolt of lightning from its mouth that slammed into him and lifted him from the ground with the power of its energy, dashing him into a nearby building. He slumped to the ground, stunned momentarily.

Eric and Bill opened fire with their guns, taking out rushing orcs with amazing efficiency. Bill had been the squads backup sniper back in their glory days, so he was putting each bullet fired from his M-4 into a vital area of an orc. A few times they fired on the demons, but the bullets did not faze them at all, so they concentrated on what they could kill. All too quickly, as it always seemed to happen in a firefight, they ran low on ammo. Eric stuffed his pistol back in his holster while Bill dropped his now useless gun on the ground, they drew their melee weapons.

Alesha continued to send bolt after bolt of magic into the seething mass, slowing them down but unable to stop them. In a few minutes Kelnozz was surrounded. He had regained his feet and stood with the building to his back, facing the hoard that advanced on him. He was hurt badly but far from out of the fight. They rushed in at him and he met them with his swords singing.

*****

"No!" Alesha growled when the demons crashed into where Kelnozz stood. The defenders numbered less then a handful by that time, and they rushed towards the portal behind her. Eric, Yamara, and Bill stood still, watching in horror at what was surely happening to the elf through the thick crowd of bodies.

Bill snapped out of it first. "Dude, we've got to get the fuck out of here!" He said, slapping Eric on the shoulder. Eric started and realized Bill was right. He grabbed Yamara's hand and pulled her with them as they followed the last of the defenders towards the escape portal. Bill grabbed Alesha and tried to pull her with them. She refused to move, easily pulling her arm out of the larger man's grip.

"Alesha, there's nothing we can do for him now!" Bill screamed at her. "We've got to go!"

She shook her head. She looked at him and he recoiled, seeing a look that inspired terror in him. Alesha looked every bit as deadly as she had at the height of her power right then. With a look alone she could have melted Bill where he stood. "Go!" she said to him, her voice strangled. "I will stay to teach them a lesson! Nothing else remains for me."

They were buffeted by a blast of wind then. Luingirth landed heavily, bleeding from several wounds. Garrick leapt from the back of the dragon, falling over twenty feet but landing lightly with only a flexing of his knees. He ran over to them then.

"I saw from above," He said to her, blood running from a few open wounds on his chest and arms. As they watched the blood flow lessened and the wounds began to slowly close. Bill's mouth dropped open in amazement.

"You must flee, you can do nothing for him here. Go with the refugees to Helmsmasher Isle, I will meet you there. This is not over, only more complicated."

"I will not leave him!" Alesha said fiercely. Garrick slapped her across the face, sending her stumbling with his action. He had put very little of his titanic strength into the blow.

"For once in your life listen to me, petulant child!" He yelled at her. Bill wanted to step forward and protect her but a hard glance from Garrick kept him in his place. "Do the right thing for once! Get out of here with your people and live to fight again! If you die here you only weaken our cause. Think beyond yourself!"

Alesha looked at him in shock. That he had touched her violently had amazed her. Not that he had tried to do it so much as that he had moved so quickly and powerfully that she had been unable to stop him. She knew then that Garrick still possessed most of his former might. She nodded, letting Bill pull her back towards the portal, which was now free of any stragglers.

Garrick turned and ran towards the demonic host, yelling loudly to draw their attention. His hammer was held above his head, brandished in a war cry. Luingirth leapt to the air and followed after him, offering air support.

Elvanshalee was waiting at the gate for them. She stood beside Akynson, who was maintaining the portal through his concentration and nearly depleted endurance. He nodded to them and motioned for them to hurry through. When the rest arrived, Elvanshalee slipped through first. Eric and Yamara followed, then Alesha. She cast one last longing glance towards the battle that was still going on centered around Kelnozz, then stepped through. Bill hurried after her.

Chapter 23

Kelnozz awoke chained to a wall in a rather dank and dismal dungeon. He looked about and realized that he was alone in his cell. He pondered for a moment before he remembered what had taken place.

He slumped against the wall, defeated, for several hours. He cursed himself for his foolishness time and again. Alesha had returned to Viconia and without him there, she would be able to do as she pleased. Garrick alone could stop her now when she resumed her evil ways, but whether he would or not was unknown. At long last the door to his cell opened up and his captor and tormentor stepped in.

"It seems as though the roles have been reversed," Kelnozz muttered bitterly.

"Ah, not true, my friend, not true at all," Darakor said with a warm smile. "You are chained merely to keep you from thrashing about and further injuring yourself. You were near death for well nigh a week, and it took everything our priests and healers had to keep you from slipping away from us. It was a good fight though, from all accounts. You slew dozens of demons before they overwhelmed you."

Kelnozz fixed him with an evil stare. "Why did you not let me die, then you could claim victory and your betrayal would be complete! Like father, like son... for both of us."

"So you know then," Darakor said flatly. "I did not know myself until you told me who it was that slew your father. Then I was too frightened to tell you. I needed you then, more then you know. How did you find out?"

"From your sister, the one you followed to Sanctuary!"

Darakor's eyes widened. He turned around to think and pace. "Elvanshalee lives? That wench, she must have staged her death to escape. Bah, she always was to much like our mother."

"You once spoke of a beautiful light that you said that I reminded you of in some ways, and that she was not like my race. What was her name?" Darakor asked, craving an answer to the one question that had bugged him since Kelnozz had first mentioned her to him.

Kelnozz glared at him, knowing what Darakor was realizing and hating him all the more for it. "Her name was Jethallin."

Darakor spun away from the prisoner, needing a moment of privacy as he debated what that meant to him. He shook his head, disbelieving it. Finally he turned back and looked at Kelnozz.

"I know, she is your mother," Kelnozz's tone was acid with defeat.

"Yes, she is," Darakor admitted, somehow not surprised that Kelnozz knew of her. "But do you know who my father is?"

Kelnozz snorted. "Of course I know! The one man I have killed thousands upon thousands of times in my dreams for what he has done."

"You're too late, I already did that," Darakor confided. "I am the Master of light elves and ruler of the Lost Lands."

"Congratulations," Kelnozz said, dully. That Narellin was slain caused a weight inside of him to lift. He had not done it, but he was dead and that was enough.

"But he was not my father," Darakor continued, ignoring Kelnozz. "My father was a dark elf that Jethallin nursed back to health only days before my father overran her lands and captured her."

Kelnozz stared at him, refusing to believe him. Part of his spirit he had considered lost and defeated forever came back within him then. He stared at him and ground his teeth. "Never!" he vowed.

"It is true, not only my one time friend and mentor, you are also my father." Darakor smiled weakly, faintly remembering all the times he had wished for that very thing when they had journeyed together. "It may be some consolation to you then that Narellin died by the hand of someone in your family. Our family."

Kelnozz stood up slowly and turned away, chains clanking dully. "You are no son of mine, blood be damned!"

Darakor was silent for many minutes, watching Kelnozz's back. Both were shocked at the realization of their relationship. "Many times in our journeys I wished that we were father and son, Kelnozz. I looked up to you. I learned from you. I wanted to be like you!"

"But I never could. We are too different." Darakor waited for Kelnozz to turn around, continuing only when it became apparent that he would not. I remember it as though I had seen it myself. Your mother, Kalista Risingmoon, had just given birth to a promising boy. She named him Kelnozz and sent away her nurses and her advisor. I saw no more of her until later, after Myragordamar, your father, returned early and found her conducting the rituals that would later be perfected to turn dark elves into light elves upon you."

Kelnozz spun around and stared at him, shocked. He staggered back against the wall and shook his head. "No," he whispered. Then gaining strength he said it again. "No more lies, damn you! My mother was no traitor! She was... she..."

"She died mere moments after you were born to a forsaken elven assassin?" Darakor prompted. Kelnozz nodded. Darakor shook his head. "No, father, she did not. Narellin planted that idea in your father's head so that he could justify banishing her and not obey the King's writ that she be executed. He found her performing very similar rituals over you, freshly born. He interrupted them, your father did, but some of it took affect. The rest Narellin put into you when your father took your mother secretly away and banished her. Look at the strength, speed, and skill we possess, our blood is strong, father! There is strength unrivaled in us! Much of it skipped you, however. It skipped you and manifested itself in me."

Kelnozz stared at him, refusing to accept Darakor's words even as they insinuated themselves into his memories and mind, explaining away a great many incongruities he only now remembered of his childhood. He shook his head and clenched his fists.

"Where is she?" he growled, glaring at Darakor with every ounce of willpower in him demanding that the light elf tell him.

"I know not," Darakor replied. "Only Myragordamar and his personal guard are privy to that information, and they are long since slain on the fields in front of Thoragloorin. Do you even remember where Thoragloorin is, Kelnozz?"

Kelnozz glared at him. Of course he remembered. The long lost elven capitol was in Southern Belurian. The once mighty and beautiful city sat around, on, and in a cool lake surrounded by mountains. All trails into it had been broken and sundered with the banishing of the elves, and mighty wards prevented the light elves from pillaging it. The few dark elves that had sought to return to it since the banishment had ended had never returned, however. In spite of the glory of what had been, the elves were very happy with Innowendyn and Loralost. Those that remembered Thoragloorin were so few and far between that no official expedition had ever been launched.

Seeing recognition in Kelnozz's eyes, Darakor decided to to win him over. The time for causing hurt between them could be over, he surmised. Now was the time to heal the hurt and show Kelnozz the proper path to victory and power.

"Come with me, father. Come with me and witness the strength we have at our fingertips! Even now the impossible becomes possible. Ancaruin is to be risen!"

"You can not control Ancaruin," Kelnozz said darkly, "you were not even born when I helped in his slaying the first time, and the elven race as a whole had not even been conceived in the eyes of the gods when Ancaruin came into existence. Nay, if you think that you can wield some manner of power over him you are more foolish than I thought, give this up and come with me away from this accursed place!"

Darakor turned away from Kelnozz again and said through clenched teeth, "I knew you would come here, Kelnozz. I knew that you would try to stop me. I know you better then you know yourself sometimes. I cannot leave, for even did I not covet the more vain and material things in life, it is to late for me, for I have held Cirithallion and the sword acknowledges me as its rightful wielder. Cirithallion was made for me, don't you understand? Soon Ancaruin's essence will be pulled from it but the sword will remain mine, proving who and what I am."

"Then my oath falls unto you. If Narellin is beyond my grasp, then the person who possesses his position, title, and apparently memories will fulfill it."

Darakor sighed silently and reached into a pouch at his side to pulled out a set of keys. He turned back to Kelnozz and said, "Come Kelnozz, come with me and let me show you why I am unable to leave. You do not know the power."

"You are wrong!" Kelnozz spat at him. "I know all about power! I know that the greed for it has caused thousands of elves to lose their lives, both light and dark. It has bled this world red with the lust for it. Every damned person I have ever cared for has been lost to the lure of this thing you call power."

Darakor spun on him, speaking wrathfully for the first time ever to him. "And what of yourself, white knight? You possess no small amount yourself! You would chastise me for wanting to be greater then I am, yet none alive in this world are as great as you are! How easy it is to condescend those who are lesser then you!"

Kelnozz felt slapped by his rebuke. He snapped his mouth shut after a silent moment of preparing to retort. Darakor gave him a triumphant look and raised his key. Kelnozz remained silent as Darakor unlocked his chains and led him out of the cell. They ascended several sets of stairs and went down many long, twisting and curving passages until they came to a landing overlooking one of the most unholy sights Kelnozz had ever seen.

Kelnozz dimly recognized the place as the main chamber of Ancaruin's lair so many thousands of years ago. Now it had changed, however, for instead of massive piles and gold, gems, and jewels laying about randomly, a massive alter of sorts had been constructed. Upon this alter lay several objects of all makes and sizes, including the sword called Cirithallion. All of the objects glowed with an unearthly reddish hue while nearly a score of priests surrounded the alter and were praying reverently.

Kelnozz studied the landing he was on and saw a weapons rack against the rock wall. He knew immediately that the two long swords upon it and the box beneath it contained his equipment.

"Ah yes, I also wanted to thank you for the final piece of Ancaruin's puzzle," Darakor said, gesturing toward the altar. Kelnozz's eyes fixed almost immediately on the centerpiece, the amulet he had worn for hundreds of years, unsuspecting of it's true nature all the while.

Darakor smiled without humor and said, "Your pendant. You must forgive me for forgetting to tell you about that. It seems that Cirithallion was not the largest remaining part of Ancaruin's essence, though none of us knew it until we had recovered it and studied it. No, all those many years you and I fought over a simple sword that was not really that important. All that time the true object of power lay under our very noses. Well, actually, it laid under your very nose.

Kelnozz's eyes widened in horror as he began to understand what Darakor was saying.

"Yes, Kelnozz, apparently Ancaruin had made provisions in case something were to attempt to destroy him. Upon the death of his body, his consciousness and spirit fled into a special amulet he had enchanted long ago. That very same amulet he gave to Alesha. The one that you took from her when you defeated her and that you wore and used without question up until recently. Rather ironic, isn't it?"

Kelnozz shut his eyes as if that would keep him from hearing the chanting going on below and the truth from sinking into his brain. "All those years..." Kelnozz said in a daze. "I was a pawn in a greater game yet again..."

Darakor was silent for a moment before he said, "Excuse me, father, I am needed for a very important part of this ceremony."

Kelnozz remained where he was with one of Darakor's elite light elven guardsmen on either side of him. He tested the manacles he still wore and felt little give in the wrought iron.

Kelnozz looked down into the lair with eyes drained of emotion. He looked down and saw a priest of Bavorish come walking up to the alter with the pendant held reverently in his hands. Instead of the seemingly pure white glow it had possessed earlier, it now had a malevolent reddish gleam.

Darakor had descended down a spiral staircase from the ledge they were on to the main floor. He crossed the room easily, slowing only to life Cirithallion from the altar. A figure came out from a deeper tunnel, led by two light elven soldiers. Kelnozz gasped audibly when he saw who it was. Jethallin walked between them, seemingly oblivious to the world. Kelnozz began working at his manacles again, using his great strength to try and force them apart. The elven guardsmen near him exchanged smirks at his movements. No matter what the legends said of Kelnozz, no elf was stronger then iron.

Jethallin was led before the altar and gently positioned so that she was kneeling, facing it on the opposite side of Kelnozz. The priest moved closer to her and raised the pendant above her head. Darakor moved closer as well, the sword held reverently in his hands. Jethallin's eyes raised up, her gaze still vacant, but without hesitation it shifted until she stared directly at Kelnozz.

Kelnozz felt himself stunned as he stared at her. Her empty gaze rocked him to the core. He shuddered as he remembered her all to well back in her grove, centuries past, like it had only just happened. Kelnozz growled and flexed his arms again against the chains that bound him. Jethallin's eyes seemed to clear then, and she focused on him. She smiled sadly as the pendant was lowered over her head and rested upon her neck. She gasped and arched her back.