FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The tunnel they found themselves in was actually a stairwell, these stairs far more intact than the ones in the underground lake as they slowly made their way up them. While they walked it soon became clear that this was no leftover architecture of a dragon-ravaged cavern, several of the group placed their hands on the smooth stone that had been maliciously worked. No one wanted to say who caused it, as though uttering those words would cause some calamity to befall them or make it untrue. However, after a rather long climb they popped out into a much larger hallway, this one caused them all to gasp in awe as magical light illuminated the intricate architecture and statues that lined the large entryway.

"Now this..." Alkali said as he raised his hands in the air. "This is Ka'Le. We finally made it..."

The sound of slow clapping filled the air that caused the entire group to freeze in their place, then slowly turn around to see King Pandez approach them from the darkness. "Congratulations Alkali," the panda said as his knights appeared behind him while he continued to approach. "Same to the both of you as well, Xander the Blue and Draggor. You almost managed to destroy the power of Ka'Le."

"But... but how?" Xander exclaimed. "How did you beat us here? And how did you get past the dragon?"

The knights and King Pandez looked at each other in confusion, then back at them. "What dragon?" King Pandez asked. "We just opened the door and came inside. What way did you go that you encountered a dragon?"

Alkali and the others slowly turned around and looked at Draggor, who threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Don't look at me!" he shouted. "I told you that there was something missing, plus I wanted to go through the infernal planes, there you would have only had a small chance of something eating your soul!"

"I wouldn't blame him too much, guys," Serina said as she stepped forward next to Pandez. "After all you had run out of the capital so fast you wouldn't have known that the edges of the map contained the secret for how to get into the city itself."

"Serina?" Draggor said in confusion. "What are you doing here? And what are you talking about, the map doesn't have anything written in the edges."

"That's because there was an arcane lock on the text," Serina replied. "One that likely wouldn't have transferred over to the copy you made."

This time everyone looked at Serathin, who just shrugged. "Well how was I supposed to know that?" the hybrid said.

"Now is not the time for this," King Pandez exclaimed as he drew his sword and held it at them. "You'll have plenty of time to tell your story when we haul you all back to the capital in chains. Now surrender, I don't want to have to fight you because I can't guarantee that you'll all live at the end of it."

The rest of the soldiers took an attack stance as Alkali and the rest of the group looked at one another, then towards the other end of the tunnel where Ka'Le laid. Their destination was only a stone's throw away, but with Serina's magic, King Pandez's fighting prowess, and nearly a dozen knights behind them they'd never make it in time before they were overrun. The soldiers grew anxious as Alkali looked at his group, then at the King before he slowly put up his hands. The other four slowly followed suit, and King Pandez seemed to grow relaxed as he put his sword away and motioned for his knights to go and take them.

"Just one second there!" Alkali said suddenly, causing them all to stop and get into defensive positions once again, King Pandez eyeing the ferret wearily. "Now I know you may think you've got us in a corner, but we've known that you'd be coming after us and I've been bringing a secret weapon along just in case you happened to confront us." The ferret slowly began walking towards the sabrewolf with his hands in the air until one of them clasped around Serathin's shoulder. "That secret weapon... is right here."

"Yeah!" Serathin replied before his muzzle curled in a look of confusion and he looked up at the ferret. "Wait, what?"

"Sorry buddy," Alkali said before he unlatched the magical clasp of the necklace around the sabrewolf's neck, the enchanted amulet falling into his other hand. The second the magical item fell away from the hybrid's neck his pupils dilated and his breathing turned to short gasps. Alkali and the others backed away as the sabrewolf grew larger, its muzzle twisted as his teeth grew into fangs while it let out a loud roar.

"Lycanthrope!" One of the soldiers shouted as they turned their focus to the transforming hybrid, which by now had completely changed into his werewolf form as they aimed their weapons at them. "Fire!" They unleashed a volley of crossbow bolts at the lycanthope, but before they could hit the werewolf Serathin lunged forward into the shadow of one of the statues and jumped out of another one behind a soldier. As the beast smashed into the one closest to him everyone drew their weapons while the ferret motioned for the others to follow him as he broke out into a run.

"That was cold dude," Draggor commented as they heard the sounds of battle escalate behind them.

"Less talking, more running!" Alkali shouted. The remaining four members of the party rushed to the end of the hallway and turned the corner. At this point the map was fairly useless, but all of them could feel the tingle of magical power that they hoped was the source they were looking for. Once in a while they would hit a dead end and have to backtrack, other times they reached a large cavern that took some navigation to get across before they found the other side. Eventually they reached a stone door that they wasted no time trying to get open, Draggor using a powerful bolt of magic to shatter it and allow them access.

The four moved through the debris of the entryway and through the tunnel into the central chamber, where all sorts of plant growth covered the walls as the air was practically saturated with primal magic. Most of the room was occupied with a huge column that took up most of the cylindrical room that rose a hundred feet above them. As they looked up to the top of the room they saw a bright green light that created scintillating patterns on the roof and the ferret could practically feel his mouth water at being so close to his goal.

"Looks like we're climbing from here," Zen said as he leapt forward and grabbed onto the stone, the fox finding footholds in the rotting stone to push himself up.

"You think that this being their most sacred chamber they'd build stairs or something," Alkali sighed as he watched the barbarian move up the huge column. "Man, he really does go where he wants."

"The druids of this place probably used the vines or something to get up there," Xander explained as he reached forward and managed to grab one that hung down. "Probably a way to test that someone was truly worthy of being in the presence of the power they revered. While they used magic and probably teleported through the plants, I think they're still strong enough to support our weight to do it the old fashioned way."

"I hope so," Alkali replied as he took one and gave it a pull. "We may have bought ourselves some time, but even a shadow jumping lycanthrope probably wouldn't have taken too long for Pandez and the rest of them to take down."

Due to his heavier armor Alkali let the other two go up first before following behind him, the ferret could feel the plant strain under him but still managed to hold. By this point the fox was almost halfway up the column to the top dais, climbing far faster than the others as he used the rocks instead of the plants to freeclimb. By the time the barbarian reached the top the others were still nearly two thirds of the way down, and as he told them to hurry up his jaw dropped slightly before he pointed down at King Pandez that had just walked into the room.

"I believe that I have something that belongs to you!" Pandez shouted before he stepped to the side and allowed the stripe-furred lycanthrope to step in next to him. "I think he has something that he wants to talk to you about!"

Alkali just stared down at the green-eyed creature that glared up at him and shook his head. "How does he do that every time..." the ferret muttered to himself as he watched the panda scratch the sabertoothed werewolf behind the ears that caused him to pant happily and wag its tail. The necromancer redoubled his efforts and shouted for the others to do the same, the stone crumbling against their feet as King Pandez looked over at Serathin.

"Go get them," King Pandez ordered, the werewolf letting out a snarl before leaping up and climbing after them. Like Zen he used his claws in order to propel himself up the stone, quickly closing the distance between him and the other three as they scrambled to beat the werewolf up. Zen reached down with both arms and with a mighty lift brought them both up and over the side onto the platform. That left Alkali, who could feel the werewolf huffing down his neck as he tried to toss rocks down at the werewolf while continuing to climb up himself.

Zen got down on his stomach and reached down as far as he could in order to try and reach Alkali before the werewolf did, ignoring the arrows that whizzed by his face from the soldiers that shot at him from below. With a burst of strength the ferret jumped upwards as best he could and grabbed onto the fox's outstretched hand, but before he could be pulled up he felt something clamp around his leg like a vice and dig into his flesh. Draggor looked over the edge and shot a bolt of fire down on the werewolf clamped around the necromancer's leg, which caused the lycanthrope to get dislodged long enough for the barbarian to pull him up and over the side.

"He bit me!" Alkali shouted as he staggered forward, trailing blood as Xander immediately ran to his side to try and bandage the wound. "By every plane that exists, that really hurts!"

As Xander was about to mention that at least he didn't have to worry about turning into one, himself, the werewolf leapt up and over the side himself and made a sprint straight for the ferret. Before he could get close though Zen stepped between them and let out a growl of his own, teeth slipping past his lips as he let his own feral nature express itself. Unlike the sabrewolf, though, he had enough control to stay between the realm of beast and man, and as he locked eyes with the creature he continued to snarl and bare down on him with his gaze.

"Toss me the amulet," Zen said as he held out his hand, still maintaining eye contact with the werewolf as he felt the cool metal of the magical item hit his palm. Once he had found the clasp he brought the chain to the lycanthrope's neck, who gave him a momentary snarl before Zen brought him back in line with another growl. Once he had re-established his dominance Zen slipped the necklace around Serathin's neck, and the second the magic reactivated he quickly began to revert back to his normal self.

"That was amazing, Zen," Draggor said as Serathin collapsed against the stone, breathing heavily as the last of his lycanthropic nature disappeared.

"Well luckily I had my own keepsake from that encounter to help me out," Zen said as he motioned to his alpha's charm. "Though I am pretty amazing, yes."

"I think I'm about finished here," Xander said as he bandaged the last of the bite wound on Alkali's ankle. "Now speaking of such things, you need to do the same and get what you need to get done before Pandez and the others make their way up here."

Alkali nodded and as he slowly got to his feet, he noticed his surroundings for the first time. The platform they were on was larger than most grand halls, the walls that were around them surrounded by glowing stain-glass windows and in the middle of it surrounded by a number of statues in the form of trees was a glittering green diamond that floated a few inches off the ground. The ferret didn't need any of his extensive years of knowledge to know that was the heart of Ka'Le, the source of the magic that he despised so much. Once he got his hands on it he would destroy it completely, gathering up his magical energy to cast the spell he had learned specifically for this occasion.

Xander helped him move towards the middle as Zen kept tabs on the awakening Serathin while Draggor looked over the edge and shot magic down at those that continued to try and shoot at them, as well as distract Serina as she tried to climb up. As Alkali limped forward with Xander at his side they suddenly heard a shout from Draggor that Pandez wasn't with the rest of the group anymore. The two slowly looked forward to see a black-and-white furred head push its way up over the edge of the platform, which only caused them to try and move faster. Both sides rushed themselves towards the goal, but as Xander and Alkali got close to the grove of marble trees that separated them from the power of Ka'Le, they heard a click and saw Pandez with a crossbow aimed straight at them.

"You brought the Fadepiercer," Alkali said as the two stopped, Pandez continuing to aim the crossbow covered in magical glowing sigils at them. "I thought that got destroyed when you used it to save the kingdom before you were its king."

"It's got enough for one last shot," King Pandez replied. "I don't want it to be you two, but I had to bring it along to show you how serious I am. That power will help the kingdom flourish and make a lot of people's lives better, I'm not going to let you destroy it because of a long-seated grudge between you and those who wield this power."

"You know what happens when one side gets too much power, Pandez," Alkali replied. "You saw it when you prevented that apocalypse along with Serina and the others. Do you honestly think something like this will not go uncorrupted for long? It's too much power to be in the hands of one person, even yours, and I'm going to make sure that it stays that way."

The two took another step forwards and Pandez responded by raising the weapon even higher, "Do you honestly think you can outdraw me?" Pandez scoffed. "Even if you do manage to get there you still have the magical shielding that's around that power, a protection I know you're more than aware of considering your study into the subject. Last warning necromancer, stand down and live, or push forward and die."

The two remained in their deadlocked state, Xander looking between the two of them as he continued to support Alkali's injured side. As they stared each other down, though, something else began to happen around them that was big enough to cause them to pause. At first it was subtle enough that they didn't even see it, but soon it quickly became apparent that the room had begun to darken. It caused everyone to stop fighting as they looked around at the stained glass as it continued to darken until only the light from the power of Ka'Le illuminated the room.

For a brief second all was quiet before every one of the windows exploded inwards, showering them all with glass as they ducked down to cover their heads. A loud, cruel laughter filled the air as black smoke began to pour in, bringing with it the smell of fire and brimstone as it coalesced in the dome of the building. Both Pandez and Alkali looked up as a face began to form in the smoke, one with eyes and a mouth lit by red flame as it looked down at all of them. "I... don't suppose he's with you," Alkali asked, the panda shaking his head.

"Well if it isn't King Pandez," a deep, booming voice called out from the cloud itself. "It is so good to meet you for the first time."

A look of recognition swept over the king's face and he slowly turned his aim from Alkali to the entity that floated above them. "Dardinil," Pandez replied as he stared at it through the sights of his weapon. "You're the one that's been hounding me all these years for my kingdom. Now that I see what you truly are without your envoys to speak for you, I can definitely say now that you will never get this kingdom. Well that was a great talk, now if you'll just be on your way I have other business to attend to."

The glowing face smirked for a brief second before it took on the visage of rage as it bellowed downward, throwing the three closest to the power of Ka'Le off their feet and almost over the edge of the platform as the others braced themselves to avoid the same fate. At the same time several of the soldiers that had managed to climb up to the top of the dais looked up in awe as well, including Serina who slowly made her way over to Draggor and the others.

"By the gods," Serina said as she looked at Draggor. "It's an Aegis, one of the first creatures that this world has ever known. I thought... I thought they had all gone extinct..."

Dardinil looked down at the vixen and a small chuckle rumbled through the room. "This one has knowledge..." it said. "As such you should know that fighting against me is a futile effort, even with that fancy crossbow you wield it will be less than a pinprick to my eternal form. Instead I will give you the chance to run while I take this power for my own and use it to rule your kingdom."

"Smoky cloud things care about ruling kingdoms?" Draggor whispered out of the side of his mouth to Serina.

"They care about power," Serina whispered back. "Millennia of time spent in this world has weakened it considerably and with the utilization of primal magic likely moreso, no doubt he's been waiting for something like this to happen so he can corrupt the power of Ka'Le and use it to consume the kingdom before spreading."

Pandez just looked over at Alkali as he gestured that his point about the corruption of power had been made, which just caused the panda to roll his eyes and aim once more at the creature. "I'm sorry, but this power falls under the protection of this kingdom and its ruler, me." King Pandez stated. "If you leave now and go back to whatever pit you came from then we won't have to destroy you."

"You know as much as I do that will not happen," the Aegis said. "You were about to shoot your friend to stop him from taking it and he is merely motivated by a cause, while mine will usher in a new age of fire and darkness across this land. Now you can either join me, or burn with your kingdom right here and now."

As the rest of the soldiers looked at each other and then at their leader, King Pandez still aiming his crossbow at the entity as he glanced over at Alkali. "Listen ferret," King Pandez said as he got Alkali's attention while he dropped the crossbow and pulled out a sword. "Can we agree not to kill each other while we take care of this problem, then resume our discussion once we do so?"

"Yeah, I think I can live with that," Alkali replied with a grin as he took out his sword, Dardinil's flames growing brighter as its scowl deepened. "How about you, Serina?"

"Yeah..." Serina replied as she took out her sword as well. "This will be just like old times."

The Aegis let out a howl of rage and let out another fiery burst straight at them, but this time with a hand gesture and a lot of magic Draggor deflected it and allowed the three to attack. Alkali's sword glowed with magical energy before it shot out in a beam straight at the smoke creature. It howled and a black tentacle of smoke lunged towards the necromancer, only to have it slashed in half by the shining golden sword of King Pandez. At the same time Serina took her rapier and pointed it at the creature as well, and the second that Alkali let up with his magic she shot a beam of her own that sliced straight through the creature's nose.

The creature appeared to arch backwards and howl in pain as the group grinned at one another, but their confidence quickly drained away when it began to mockingly laugh at them and arch back down. "Did you really think you could harm me that easily?" It boomed as an arm and hand stretched out from the creature and black smoke dripped from it. "Perhaps you'd like to fight something a little more on par with your level instead."

Everyone began to back away as the liquid smoke formed into amorphous humanoid creatures that only vaguely resembled the soldiers whose design they mocked. Weapons forged of their own shadow and fire appeared and they let out a grotesque roar that sank to the core of everyone there. The King's knights looked at one another with their crossbows still drawn while Pandez himself and the others looked at the new army that occupied the platform.

"I don't think I need to stress how important it is for us to hold this position," King Pandez said to his squad as he braced himself for battle, the Aegis army continuing to snarl and roar at them. "You are no longer fighting for the kingdom, you are fighting for the survival of every man, woman, and child in it. There is no greater honor, and should any survive this day that honor will be carried in the history of this kingdom forever!"

The knights all cheered at the rallying cry, and for a few more seconds the two sides continued to stare one another down and wait for the other side to make the first move. That move was made by Serina who cast a spell, her hands glowing blue before a similar light appeared among their rankings. The spell ball glowed brightly before it collapsed in on itself, then detonated and caused several of the creatures to go flying. This prompted the Aegis spawn to charge, and as they did the knights let loose their barrage of bolts. Several more creatures went down but the rest of them were too quick to reload, instead they dropped the weapons and pulled out their swords and shields to ready themselves.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Zen said with a laugh as he pulled two axes from his back. "Let's slaughter them all!"

The sounds of chaos and battle erupted as everyone unleashed their fury on the primal creatures before them. Swords of steel clashed with blades of darkness as they pushed forward to try and break the charge. Draggor and Serina continued to fire magic off at the highest concentration of enemies, a red lance of magical fire erupted from the demonspawn's fingers, burning through them as Serina used her magic to protect those who were fighting in the front lines. At the same time Xander and Alkali remained close together as they fought while Serathin and Zen paired up with the hybrid flanking while the barbarian sliced through them.

As the fight continued to rage their side seemed to have the upper hand for a few seconds, but as soon as the Aegis spawn dwindled down Dardinil held out his hands and spawned even more for them to fight. "This isn't going to work!" Draggor shouted as he sent a wave of fire through another batch of the spawn. "He makes them faster than we can kill them!"

"Why isn't he just killing us himself?" Xander asked as he ran his sword through one he had caught between him and the ferret, his eyes lighting up in realization when he turned to look at the still-glowing power of Ka'Le. "It's the protective sphere... he doesn't want to destroy the magic that's holding in the power of Ka'Le! It took years for Alkali to figure out how to get rid of it without accidently releasing the magic within... that's probably why he just didn't appear on top of this place and destroy it."

"That's great..." Serathin replied as he shadow jumped next to Xander to stab one of the spawn that almost cut the dragon down. "So then he gets to send wave after wave of guys to kill us slowly instead?"

"Sounds good to me!" Zen shouted as he cleaved two more in their skulls, their bodies disappearing to black vapor.

At this point the battle had become one of attrition, though the spawn were being sliced apart by the magical weapons they just reformed back up into the Aegis himself and were respawned. It was unclear if they were even hurting Dardirin by cutting apart his spawn, but as the fight wore on their own bodies started to show the signs of battle. A poorly blocked blade or a slash of their claws would get through and cut their flesh, though the magical protections that Serina weaved through the group helped protect them and bolstered their fortitude. But the vixen's magic wasn't limitless and she began to show fatigue, as well, while she continued to concentrate.

With every second they began to lose ground as the relentless onslaught of creatures continued to attempt to overwhelm their defenses, and as Alkali cleaved through several of the creatures with a swipe of his glowing green sword he pointed back to the warlock. "Draggor, the rift stone!" he shouted. "It's his! Xander said it couldn't appear right here, he used that to rift in the first place!"

"Of course!" Draggor said as he pulled the magical artifact from his cloak pocket with one hand while the other blasted an oncoming enemy away from him. "It's gotta be charged though... I don't think Dardinil is going to do it, and I'm starting to run low on the magic reserves."

"I'll do it," Serina said as she held out her hand.

Draggor looked from her hand to the soldiers that continued to fight, their bodies imbued with the protective magic the vixen had cast on them. "But Serina, your spells..." he said. "If you focus on this, you'll lose them."

"If I don't focus on this we'll lose everything," Serina replied as she held out her hand with more insistence. "They know what they signed up for and they're capable fighters, now hurry and give me the stone before I make you teach beginner's pyrotechnics at the university!"

The demonspawn didn't have to be told again as he quickly placed the stone in her hand, which quickly glowed with a blue light underneath it as she transferred her power to it. Draggor quickly turned his own magic in order to help supplement the knights, but without the protective magics of the powerful mages their line began to falter, and more than one of the Aegis spawn managed to filter their way towards the defenseless mage. Before they could get there, though, the demon unleashed the one defensive spell he did know, a circle of fire surrounding the two and immolated those that had charged them.

Pandez gritted his teeth as he fought as hard as he could, his magical blade slicing through the spawn as quickly as he could. The wave of creatures never seemed to stop, though, and when he saw his knights begin to fall he realized that the magic that had protected them had faltered. At first he was worried that Serina had fallen but when he turned back he saw that her eyes were closed in concentration and they were surrounded by protective demon fire. He tried to shout to them, but over the sounds of battle and whatever they were into, it fell on deaf ears.

As the battle raged around them Serina and Draggor looked down at the rift stone, which now glowed with an ethereal light. "I hope this works, that was most of my magic..." The vixen said with a sigh. "Even if it's charged, though, we still need to align it with Dardirin, and since he's a creature of fire and darkness, it means you need to give it a bit of your flame."

"Align it?" Draggor asked. "I thought we just had to charge it!"

"We're going to have a serious lesson on planar alignment later," Serina scolded. "Right now this stone is neutral, if we want to reverse the rift magic it has to have the same elemental affinity as him! So charge it with your fire and get us out of this mess!"

Draggor grabbed the stone back and tried to focus on it but all that happened was the protective fire died down considerably. "It's not working," the demonspawn grimaced as he looked at the bright red fire that surrounded them. "This fire is infernal, Dardirin is an Aegis so his fire is natural."

"You two going to stop chatting and start fighting?!" Alkali shouted as he sliced through another two.

The two magic users looked down at the stone, then at the others. "We need to get this charged now," Serina hissed as she glanced at the others. "Even if I wasn't tapped out my magic won't work, Alkali's death magic isn't compatible... what the hell are we going to do?"

"Fire... fire and darkness..." The demonspawn looked over at the draconic sabrewolf who continued their tear through the enemies with the fox barbarian. "Hey thief!" Draggor shouted, getting Serathin's attention. "How many times can you do that shadow jumping thing?"

Serathin eviscerated another of the Aegis spawn before he looked back at the two mages. "A lot," the hybrid said. "Why?"

"Jump as many times as you can with this!" Draggor shouted as he tossed the rift stone to him.

The sabrewolf looked at the glowing stone, then told the two that he would need a little extra light on the subject to have the shadows necessary to perform so many jumps. "Clever boy," Serina said with a smirk. "You're going to use the shadow dancer to charge the stone. I think I have enough juice left to perform a daylight spell, you just keep toasting the spawn."

A few seconds later those who fought were momentarily distracted by a bright light, even Dardirin stopped his assault momentarily with the ball of golden energy hovering in the air. When it cut through the darkness it gave the sabrewolf the opportunity he needed to start jumping through the shadows they created. The fact the rogue continued to flash between the different enemies also served the added benefit of confusing the spawn that continued to fight with King Pandez and the others. When he had sufficiently exhausted himself Serathin reappeared with the stone now a deep black color.

Dardirin suddenly let out a roar and all spawn turned towards the rogue and his wares. "It appears he's on to us," Draggor said as the sabrewolf looked at him. "Toss it up in the air!" The demon shouted before he looked at King Pandez. "Shoot it with Fadepiercer!"

King Pandez let out a burst of energy from his sword and the pulse pushed away all the Aegis spawn before he grabbed the magical crossbow that hung from his side. Serathin nodded to the panda and began to toss the stone up in the air. Before he could, though, own of the closest spawn took a shot at the hybrid and caught him in the side mid-throw. The stone fell way short and skidded across the ground, which prompted a mad dash for it by both spawn and party alike.

The first to get there; however, was the barbarian. Zen grabbed the stone and then used it to uppercut one of the Aegis spawn that had tried to go for it, then hoisted two more and smashed them together. Before the others could pounce on the fox he flexed every muscle in his body before throwing it as high up in the air as he could. The entire battle screeched to a halt as they watched the charged rift stone sail up towards Dardirin. The Aegis let out a loud howl and the hand that had been producing the spawn to try and grab it out of the air.

Before he could King Pandez had already taken Fadepiercer and had the stone in his sights. The crossbow splintered apart as the magic discharged into the bolt that sailed straight towards the target. Thanks to the aim of the shooter and the arcane energies that guided it, the tip of the bolt struck the stone. It discharged all the magic in both objects and the backlash caused all the windows in the dome to shatter.

Everyone that was still standing was knocked back onto their feet as the explosion ripped through the air. Serina was blown completely off the platform and began to fall, only to have Draggor reach down and grab her feet. The Aegis spawn began to stand up and tried to charge the prone party members, but they were only able to get a few steps further before they were lifted off the ground. They began to drift upwards towards the black tear in the very fabric of reality, one led to the plane aligned with the plane of shadow. The only one that had started to drift towards the rift was the shadow dancer that charged it, but by that point Zen had gotten to the injured hybrid and held him down.

At the same time everyone watched as Dardirin himself clawed at the stone, his ethereal form being absorbed into the rift that he had originally created. He darted down towards the grove of stone trees in a desperate grab for the power of Ka'Le only for an explosion of protective magic to burst out from it. The damage caused by it was the last hold that the Aegis had in the realm and he was pulled completely into the rift. His eyes and mouth burned brightly as he let out one last howl of pure rage before it disappeared into the planer tear before it finally closed behind him.

For a while the room was completely silent as the sunlight filtered in through the broken windows once again now that the source of the darkness was gone. Everyone began to look at one another as though the ancient creature would somehow pop back in and renew its assault once again, but when it didn't happen people began to pick themselves up. Those knights still standing quickly went to their fallen companions in order to try and see if they could still be saved, distributing potions where they could in order to help heal the more grievous wounds. With the threat apparently past them, the rest of the group began to do the same as well.

Alkali panted heavily as he slowly got to his feet, along with the others as they looked around the destroyed shrine. Pandez did the same, tossing the completely ruined crossbow to the ground as Draggor dragged Serina back up onto the platform. "Everyone still alive?" The ferret asked.

Slowly everyone made it known that they were alive, Draggor making sure the mage was alright while Zen helped Serathin take care of his bloody side. A pat on the ferret's shoulder let him know that Xander also came out with minor wounds and Pandez was busy with his knights to see what losses they sustained. The king lowered his head when he heard that he had lost seven men to the attack, with several others badly wounded. When everyone had gotten back up and had taken stock of their situation, Pandez walked over to Alkali as Xander looked over the ankle injury he had reopened in the fight.

"Sorry about your losses," Alkali said when he saw King Pandez stand over him.

"They sacrificed themselves to protect the kingdom," King Pandez replied. "No one could ask any more of them. At least they weren't fighting you, otherwise I think that I would be very cross at you."

"So now what are we going to do?" Alkali asked as he looked at the power of Ka'Le. "Dardirin is gone but he is not dead, just back where he came from. Once he recovers he'll come after the source again, whether it's here or in the capital. Next time though we're going to have a lot more casualties than a few knights."

King Pandez sighed and rubbed his head fur. "I've been thinking about that," he said as he sat down next to the necromancer. "I believe you are correct; the power of Ka'Le is a danger, and if Dardirin doesn't go after it someone else will. But I don't think that much primal energy should be destroyed, either, so my compromise is that we make sure that no one can have it. What would happen if you broke the protections on the vessel, but don't enact the second part of the ritual?"

"Well if I didn't destroy the energy after I removed the protection..." he paused for a second as he realized where the panda was going, "...the energy would just be released into the world."

"Diffused among the plane so that no one could have it anymore," King Pandez replied. "It won't benefit the kingdom as much as if we had it in the capital, but it may cause the area to flourish nonetheless. Then we won't have to kill each other over it and it will hopefully cause Dardirin to lose interest in this area. If you do so, perhaps we can discuss lessening all of your crimes against the kingdom."

The five looked at one another, then all eyes were focused on Alkali to see what he was going to do. The King had essentially given him the choice to either follow through on his path of destruction or to take him up on his offer, with Fadepiercer destroyed the only means to get through the barrier on the power of Ka'Le was his and his alone. The ferret looked at the glowing green ball with energy and with Xander's help began to limp towards it. With the magic he had used to fortify his werewolf bite gone, he was reduced to a limp as he leaned on the dragon.

As the two made their way through the grove of marble they could feel the power hum in their bodies, both of the energy itself and the protections around it as Xander helped Alkali get to where he needed to be. "You could still do it," the bard mentioned once they were clear of King Pandez's sight. "There's no way that he could stop you from destroying the power once you got rid of the shield."

"Just send all of us to the dungeons for the rest of our natural lives," Alkali stated as his eyes narrowed when he got to the ancient sigils that surrounded the light.

"I'm sure he'd let the others off easy," Xander replied. "This was what you always wanted, and if we have to be locked away just for you to do it, then so be it. Maybe they'd even let us have a cell next to one another."

Alkali laughed, then grimaced as it caused pain to shoot through his entire body. With his guidance Xander helped place him where he needed to be and the ferret mustered up all the power he had left in him into his sword. The blade practically vibrated as he pressed the tip against one of the runes, the one Alkali knew needed to be deactivated in order to shut the whole thing down. The wind began to whip around them as the barrier slowly dissolved away, the ritual cast nullifying the magic itself in order to get to the power located within. It would be that same nullifying effect that, if Alkali pushed further in with, would cause the power of Ka'Le to destroy itself once and for all.

Though it was hard to see with the stone trees the two knew that all eyes were on them, waiting to see what was about to happen. The flow of magic increased as the barrier finally collapsed completely, exposing the pure primal energy within. Alkali's grip on his sword tightened as his time to decide was up; either he pushed his sword forward and destroyed it or pulled it back and unleashed it with all its potential unknowns. The ferret closed his eyes and could hear the sound of metal scraping against stone as he made his choice...