FF: Two Worlds (Chapter 29

["cilia" <cilia@xxxxx>]

Okay,
For those who haven't been following the Royalty series from the start may
be confused when reading this and those who have may either love me for what
I'm about to do, or hate me. Now I'm working out a lot of things, that have
been growing with the story since it's beginning, but there is more to come,
so trust me?
Cilia

-Two Worlds-
Cilia

Chapter 29: By the Dying Light

Ziel watched as the ash swirled into the air like a miniature tornado. It
was gathering around a brilliant beam of light that streamed up from the
center. Al'x just stood by and smiled. His smiled faded, however, when a
movement caught his eye, and he saw Theris slam to the ground. It was like
thunder without sound as the massive charge of her life-energy was released
from her body.
Al'x turned to run to his fallen friend. He knew she was probably
dead. No one could survive that, could they? A voice from behind surprised
him.
"Al'x, it's good to see you again."
Ziel blinked as she looked over the large, ethereal wings that adorned the
nobly armored, pure white figure.
"I had a feeling you'd be looking down on us," He responded with
grim voice as he started to turn to face the familiar voice. His eyes
hovered sadly on the unmoving body of Theris.
"So, what's the situation?" the angel asked. He looked around at the
war torn city and then the black dragon. "I see."

With a roar of pure rage, Joyce rose to her feet and lunged at the
dragon, completely ignorant of her own safety. She was irrational. She was
angry. She was going to kill. Her friend had just sacrificed herself to give
them an advantage and she planned to use it. The dragon was tired and
loosing blood from several long gashes Theris had dealt to it. The Avatar
jumped impossibly high into the air, slashing at the dragon's wings, only to
be batted away by them. Landing hard on the ground, she pulled herself to
her feet and charged. Every time she went down, in a blink, she was up and
attacking again.

"A dragon? I take it we're in the Old Realm," the angel asked as he
saw Joyce hurl herself at the dragon.
"Yeah, we. " Al'x nodded, but the angel was already marching out
onto the battlefield.
"Watch our backs?" Al'x said to Ziel before following his newly
returned friend. Ziel just stared after the pair, shaking her head.
"Does it have a soft spot?" the angel asked as Joyce was slammed to
the ground yet again. Standing up this time, she wiped the blood from her
nose and looked over to them in grim recognition.
"Angel, how nice of you to join us," she grunted as she tightened
her wrist bindings.
"Wouldn't miss it, Joyce," Angel nodded.
"Uh, people, we have a dragon to kill," Al'x pointed out as the
dragon stood in front of them, seemingly waiting for their attack.
"He's an arrogant one, isn't he?" Angel stated as he drew a blade of
light out of thin air. He took a couple of steps towards the dragon, testing
it. Theris was still unmoving where she had landed.
"Al'x, what is he?" Joyce whispered.
"Well, Angel is an angel," Al'x said with out blinking.
"Oh, well good. Now can we kill this damned dragon?" she asked as
she walked up to Angel's side. Al'x smiled despite himself as he joined his
friends.
"Joyce, I need you to charge it from the front, distract it, while
Angel and I attack from the sides," she nodded, severely confident.
Al'x lowered head. "On my mark," The three newly reunited friends nodded to
each other.
"Charge!" he whispered and they were off.

Joyce ran straight for the dragon, dodging, first, a swipe of its
wing and then rolling with a slash from its front claws. She came out of the
roll right under the beast.

At the same time, Al'x and Angel charged from the sides. A strange
glow had surrounded Angel like an armor of light. Both heroes jumped and
maneuvered almost in sync, and as they landed, their swords embedded in the
dragon's sides. Unable to counter both attacks in time, and wounded beyond
what it thought possible, the dragon roared in pain and anger. And for the
first time in its long life, it knew fear.

Joyce ran underneath the mammoth creature, pulling the flaming sword
along its tender underside, the snapping maw chasing her. She only stopped
long enough to drive the flaming sword into the beast's heart and rip. "Time
to die," she muttered. There was another roar followed by a river of blood.
Drenched in the sickly warm goo, Joyce realized that the beast was about to
collapse onto her.
"And time for to me to go," she exclaimed as she rushed from
underneath the dragon. She had to dive for safety as the beast crumbled into
a heap of flesh and bone right behind her. She looked over in time to see
its head crash to the ground then watched with satisfaction as its red eyes
slowly lost their light and closed. Looking at the dead dragon, Joyce
silently sheathed her sword, but her eyes were never lost their fire. It
burned brightly.
"Oh, Theris." she mourned. Shoulders slumped; Joyce turned towards
the city and began walking. Marching.

Al'x watched as his student and friend turned away from the dragon
and headed towards the city. Then she began running, running towards the
sound of the battle coming from the other side of the city. This was the
turning point, the one he had foreseen during their sparring on the
battlements.
"Angel, help Theris if you can," Al'x said as he got up. "I've got
to stop Joyce before she destroys us all."
"Go. Do what you must." Angel said as he walked over to the fallen
High Elf.
Al'x raced after Joyce deeper and deeper into the city. She was easy
to follow he had to admit; her path of destruction was rather evident. In
her anger, rather than running around the buildings, Joyce was running
through them.

Meanwhile back near the fallen dragon, Angel knelt by Theris' side.
"Theris Forestwalker, it is not your time to go," he said as placed his
hands on the High Elf's body, one on her forehead, and the other on her
heart. A peaceful, soft glow began to surround them.

-

Stjar'a stood on the barricades. All around her, the battle raged. She had
just declared her heritage to people she did not know. She had just
announced herself as their leader. General Tark walked up onto the
barricades beside her. In an almost royal stance, he raised his swords.
"All hail Princess Stjar'a of Necris," he exclaimed in his calm
voice.
"All hail Princess Stjar'a of Necris," Buffy exclaimed loudly as she
raised her sword in salute.
"All 'ail Princess Stjar'a o'Necris," King Einar exclaimed and
raised his axe.
The hail was past down ranks of the drow soldiers and soon there was
a new warcry among all the drow. "In the Name of the Princess! And On The
Queen's Honor!"
Stjar'a smiled as she saw the mass of raised swords. She crossed her
grandmother's swords in front of her chest and offered a quick, heartfelt
bow.
"For Necris!" she shouted at the top of lungs as she charged down
the barricades, the mass of drow soldiers followed her, spurred on by a
thirst for revenge.

"Ya 'erd th' Princess!" King Einar shouted to his dwarves "Charge!"

Buffy looked over her soldiers eagerly awaiting her command. "Ya wanna live
forever!" she shouted and they were off.

-

Willow watched as Stjar'a led her drow army into the city, repelling the
attacking dark ones, and securing their territory once more. Vitor and Amy
were leading the charge into the city's easternmost regions. She smiled to
herself as she sensed the dragons' defeat. Now all that remained was to go
out and find the source of this whole thing. That task was up her and her
alone. She had sent Amy off to assist King Vitor; there was no need for her
apprentice to get into this.
"You are going to need help, you know." came a low voice. Willow
remembered that voice, she had sounded very much like that when she received
her gifts full force.
"Couldn't fool you, could I?" Willow asked as she turned around to
face Cordelia. Blood covered and battered, her golden eyes were glowing from
underneath the hood of her cloak.
"I can sense it now. There is something here." Cordelia said in a
firm voice as she pulled off her hood. "Something that should not be there."
"Cordy, I can't allow you to come with me if you're just going to
slaughter every being of chaos we encounter," Willow stated firmly. "This is
a low profile mission."
"I won't kill everything," Cordelia said. "I promise," she added
with a hint of an old smile. "I'm getting control. Really I am."
"Okay," Willow said after having looked her over. "Get ready," she
said and they were gone.
"Ready f-" Cordelia asked, as she looked around, a bit startled, to
find herself standing in the courtyard of the imperial palace.
"Teleportation. You've seen it before, but I think you might have been too
busy worrying about Stjar'a at the time to notice," Willow explained, as her
eyes swept the area to make sure it was clear. It was, but just in case, she
kept a hand raised, ready to strike down anything that came too close.
"Speaking of the Princess."
"Don't go there, Red. She's... doing what she must. The last thing
she needs is for Ranger Cordelia Moondancer to be following her," she over
pronounced her title a bit, "And calm down. There isn't anything here," she
added with a wave of her hand.
"Oh. If you say so." Willow said. They started forward carefully; they had
to make their way over what was left of the grand wooden doors that had
served as the entrance to the outer throne room. "Moondancer? Where did
that come from?" she asked.
"Don't. laugh." She threw an eye at her friend, "Theris once called me
that, and. Stjar'a may have used it once or twice," she explained as her
mind drifted back to the memories of her first days in the realm.

-
The constant hum of the feast, now in full swing, not far away, drifted to
them. But this was their time; they were alone, lying on the grass, among
the trees with the moons bathing them in their golden glow.
"My Moondancer?" Stjar'a asked as she played with her lover's ears.
"What, who?" She asked as she made herself ready spring to her feet.
"You, silly," Stjar'a said with a smile.
"Oh!" she answered as she calmed down and relaxed into Stjar'a's
arms again. "How did you think of that one, Star?" She snuck a few fingers
over to a tickle spot.
"Oh... hm, lets just say I saw your body dance under the moons,"
Stjar'a said with a nasty grin.
"Actually, I think that was all your doing," she said as she rolled
onto her lover.
-

"Cordelia... hello? Wake up, we have to keep moving," Willow said snapping
the Ranger out of a trip down memory lane.
"Sorry, I was just reflecting... on..." Cordelia stopped talking as
her seventh, or was it her eighth, sense flared. She couldn't tell which
one, the gifts didn't come with instructions. She looked to her friend.
"I feel it, too," Willow nodded as she made their way to a half open
door. A stream of eerie light poured out into the hall.
"Okay, on three, you blast anything I can't reach," Cordelia said as
she made herself ready to pounce through the doors.
"No. No need for that. Why don't we just go in, and you keep me
covered, okay?" Willow suggested.
"But-"
"No buts. Now, come on," Willow responded as she calmly opened the
door. She sensed no magical traps, just. something dark. And, like a mage,
she would have to face it head on. They stepped through.
"Oh my goddess!" she exclaimed under her breath as they entered what
used to be the throne room. There was blood on every wall. In some places it
was dripping, in others, it looked to be dried and caked, as if it had been
there for days. Other parts of the walls had writing on them, in what also
looked to be blood. A large red robed figure sat in the center of the room
on the throne. His size was not what caught the pair's attention, it was his
eyes, red, glowing orbs that shone from underneath his hood.
"Willow?" Cordelia asked pointing her sword towards the man on the
throne.
"The Warlock," Willow whispered. Cordelia looked between Willow and
the figure on the throne. Her mind making the connection; The Warlock had
almost defeated her friends and nearly killed Buffy eighteen months ago in
San Francisco when Buffy had gone after Willow, but found trouble instead.
"I banished you." Willow said in a cold voice, "I trapped you in the
crystal," she challenged as she began gathering her aura around like a
blanket.
"You destroyed but a shadow, little mage," the Warlock said in a
low, monotone voice that sent shivers down Willow's spine. The sight of
Buffy with a garnish wound on her stomach came unbidden into her mind. Anger
flared in the Red Mage at the thoughts of her wife hurting by the hands of
this creature.
Sword still pointed, Cordelia stalked up to the Warlock, only to be blasted
into a wall. Hard. Her aura crackled as it absorbed the power of the blow.
"The red suited man, the one Angel killed and then got killed by,
that was you, too, wasn't it?" Willow asked as they sized each other up.
Cordelia groaned as she got to her feet.
"Correct, little mage," the Warlock said. "Actually, that was only
an avatar," he added.
"Who are you," Willow asked as she motioned Cordelia to stay back,
"What is your name, Warlock?"
"My name." the Warlock repeated reverently as he removed his hood.
He chuckled from a demonic face, "I have had... many names, little mage. But
here... you may can call me Darken. Lord Darken R-"
A gray dwarf crashed through the doors and stumbled wildly into the
throne room. After he had taken his final breath and finally fallen, they
could see a large knife protruding from in his back. Buffy and Grimm, both
looking extremely angry, followed him in and watched him die. They were
covered in blood and scars and looking for somebody else to kill.
"You're dead, pal. That's all I need to know," Buffy stated and
pointed one sword at the downed dwarf and another, a large two-handed one
obviously a taken from a fallen ogre, at the Warlock. Grimm pulled the knife
from the dwarf's back and cleaned the blade on his cape. Buffy clapped her
swords together and the remaining soldiers under her command burst through
the doors. They were notably fewer than the last time Willow had seen them
and Xare was not with them.

-

Grimm had placed Piratess carefully on the healer's cot while Xare and the
Imperial Phalanx had stood guard. The battle was moving away from the
healers' tents but the guards where still on edge after the breaching of the
line.
"Are you alright?" he asked. Try as he might, he could not hide the
concern in his voice.
"I am fine. my friend," Piratess said as she winced.
"We..." he started to shout.
"I'll be... fine," she stated firmly, "Let the healers... treat
those who need it the most."
"Then. I should go." Grimm said as he stood.
"Grimm... there is something I wish to tell you," Piratess said and
placed hand on his arm to stop him.
"What is it?"
The queen looked to the soldiers in the tent, "Leave us," and they did.
"Come closer," Piratess said after they had left. The thief, nervous, knelt
and leaned in closer.
"Good luck, my thief" she smiled and kissed him on the lips. It was not a
quick kiss.
As they parted, he looked down, dumbfounded, at her. Blood loss, has to be,
his mind told him.
"My guards will take care of me," she said. "Go fight!"
After a moment more, he snapped to attention "Yes, my Queen,"
Stepping slowly out of the healer's tent, he hooked a thumb to the guards
for them to reenter. Please do your job, boys. As he stepped by Xare, he
could not help but see her expression, it was definitely of the
questioning-look sort.
"She, ah, just wanted to. wish me good luck," he explained under her
glare. Xare looked to be partially sated at best. She nodded and they made
their way back to their General.
They reached the battlefield in the middle of a fierce battle
between the drow and the ogres. The dwarves had taken it upon themselves to
hunting down the gray dwarves but the elves were pretty much just taking
care of anything that came their way. In the distance, they could see fires
dotting the horizon.

"General," Xare called out to Buffy Her leader was standing over a
mangled pile of dead attackers. Buffy turned and smiled; glad to see her
friends alive.
"Number One! I've been waiting for-" the General stopped and jumped
forward as an ogre charged and impaled Xare on his spear, lifted her from
the ground and threw her behind him.
"NO!" Buffy shouted as she helplessly watched her second in command
fly through the air. Tark turned away from his fighting in time to see Xare
hit the ground. His red eyes flared and emotion surged. The ogre never saw
the blows coming. First the Slayer's sword hit his right side, then a leg,
then his backside, before Tark's scimitars neatly removed his head. It was
over all too quickly. This ogre should have suffered more. Grimm moved
silently over the body of his friend, his hands shaking.
"Xare," Buffy screamed as she came to her knees next to her friend.
"I'm... alright..." Xare said. She paused to cough out some blood,
"...General."
"Lady Xare," Tark said softly as he knelt beside her.
"General... Tark," she said with a bloodied smile.
"I am sorry." Tark said as tear trickled down his cheek. He ripped
off a part of his shirttail and gently wiped her face.
"There was... nothing you could have... done," Xare said, as her
strength seemed to drain away.
"I... may love you," he said gently, as he stroked her cheek, his
voice ever calm.
"And I may... have loved... you," she responded as she weakly raised
her hand to his cheek. Her voice grew fainter but the smile never faded.
Then her eyes simply closed and the hand on Tark's face went limp and fell.
"Number One... Xare?" Buffy pleaded, putting a finger to Xare's neck,
"Please... don't die," she whispered, but there was no reply, and no pulse.
She was gone.
A moment passed before the screams of a dying drow tore them all back to
reality.
"Oh gods, that was Zerak," Buffy said, remembering a young drow she
had sparred with once. She stood up and removed her cloak. "He was a good
man," she explained and covered Xare's body. "And she... she was a good
woman."
Under heavy brows, she caught Grimm's eye "You're my second in
command. You're it until you die or I find some one better. Got it?" she
said in a firm voice. He nodded somberly. "Tark, you okay?" she asked.
"I am... fine, General," Tark said and stood. There was another
scream as anothers' life was ended.
"Gentlemen, lets end this," Buffy growled and charged into the fray.
They left the body on the battlefield. They would be back for it later.
Right now, there was fighting to be done and revenge to be sought.

-

Al'x chased after Joyce. She was leaving a path of flames in her wake. She
was angry and it showed.
"This can't be happening, this can't be happening..." he muttered
over and over again, as he cleaved a door in half and passed through.
"Joyce! Wait! I can't allow you to go into battle like this," he
shouted after her. To his surprise, this caused the avatar to stop and
partially turn to glare at him.
"Would you mind repeating that... Xander?" she asked turning around
fully.
He blinked at her choice of names, "I had a... a vision of you
destroying the city," he explained. "I've been trying to avert it ever
since-"
"That time on the battlements," Joyce finished, remembering the
night he had backed away from her. "And if I won't be stopped?" she asked,
"What if I think you're just full of it?"
They were each side stepping, circling each other.
"Then..." he said and turned his sword. "You'll have to go through
me," he finished and stepped towards her.
"If that's the way you want it?" Joyce said and walked towards him,
raising her sword.
"I so do not want to do this, but, Joyce, I will kill you to prevent
it from happening." Al'x said as he raised his sword and dropped his shield
on the ground. "I will not allow you to destroy a... single... life!"
"And I... will not... hold back," Joyce screamed as she charged him.
He could do nothing but run at her, silently, sadly, but with purpose in his
heart.
It had truly begun.


More to come... soon probably by Tuesday... trust me!