Deke Brolin Rhol (12 page)

Solharn cowardly watch
ed from the shadows. When he had seen enough, he soared to the top of the castle followed by Phanthus. Elissa was waiting for him there, protected only by a small orb of light which surrounded her. She said nothing and simply stared at Solharn in disgust.

Solharn spoke to her in his drawl bleating voice
, “It is fitting that you sit before me defeated, Elissa. Perhaps I overestimated you.” Elissa continued to stare at Solharn; she remained silent. The contempt on her face said it all.

“Shall we end this quickly? Your armies have abandoned you, as I am sure the Creator has as well, after observing your pathetic plight. You know what I am here for,
so hand over the amulet and bow to my rule. Perhaps I will let you suffer less than you have to.”

Gazing at Elissa, Phanthus observed her smile and listened to her speak for the first time. She had such an alluring voice, so soft and enchanting. He was instantly drawn to her. “No one has abandoned me Solharn; they
have simply retreated on my behest. You will find no fight here, no armies, only me.”

Solharn’s long black wings flared as he angrily
glared at Elissa. “You are as pathetic as they are Elissa. You would sit here and lose everything for this world, a world infested with ignorance, one which is unworthy of the Seraphim. You, the next eldest to me, should know that the Balance of Five would have been lost long ago if not for us. They do not pay us the respect we deserve.” 

Phanthus looked toward Elissa. He yearned to hear her voice again
. “Unworthy of the Seraphim, Solharn? It is only you who is unworthy. Your obsession with power has driven you mad. You have become an angel with no soul, and darkness fills that empty void. You are indeed tormented, fixated on leaving a trail of destruction and despair in your path instead of instilling principles and beliefs. You should be healing lost souls, not destroying them. These are the very foundations of what the Seraphim, stand for.”

“Principles? Beliefs?” Solharn scoffed
. “You are indeed a devoted pawn to the Order Elissa and for all your efforts you will be destroyed along with the rest of them. You are the beginning of the end of the Seraphim and the end of the Balance of Five.” 

Although Phanthus could see a single tear flowing down Elissa’s cheek as she spoke
, her voice never wavered. “Your words illustrate your ignorance Solharn. All that you speak of are things that you don’t understand; or refuse to understand. There is no single solution to the way things work, or will work. It must be done as a whole. Only then will the balance become one.”

Phanthus would hear her soothing voice only one more time before the orb of light surrounding her finally vanished
. “You have only deceived yourself if you think this to be the end Solharn. It is only the beginning.”

“Not for you Elissa,
” Solharn screeched, watching as the last of her powers dissipated.

A dark cloud streamed from his mouth and surrounded Elissa. Phanthus heard the screams from her angelic voice as the evil within the cloud consumed her. The cloud lifted her high in the air for several agonizing minutes before releasing her to fall to the ground writhing in pain and gasping for air.

Solharn approached her and wrenched the amulet from her neck. He leaned in close to her as if making sure she could hear, “That was but a taste of what is to come, Elissa; an eternity of darkness, an eternity of pain.”

Elissa could say nothing as her body stretched and quivered in obvious agony. Phanthus never saw her again after
Solharn
carried her away that day in a cloud of darkness.

Solharn
’s pleasure at obtaining the amulet was short-lived. Try as he might, he could not use the amulet to his advantage because he had taken it. In his hands it became a mere rock devoid of any powers. In frustration he tried to destroy it but could not, so he threw it in the Blackpool sending it to another world, so that it would never be used against him.

Following this Solharn turned his mind to
the Lealians and the Pegapires, but found that Elissa had used all of her remaining powers to create protective fields around their villages. Fields that could not be broken or undone by any powers he possessed.

Solharn was infuriated and took his frustrations out on the remaining inhabitants of Rhol
, though many of them had already found refuge in Solace. Solharn knew now that Elissa had sacrificed herself by drawing his armies to the castle, and stalling him while as many of her people as possible could find refuge.

He knew that even though he had defeated Elissa
, and was now in control there were still unanswered questions. He kept his promise to Phanthus and left him in command, but he warned him that any changes to be acted upon were to be reported to him immediately.  Phanthus was instructed by Solharn that he would contact him when required, and with that he left. 

Solharn
communicated with Phanthus regularly in his dreams, or nightmares as he now thought of them. Solharn had done just that the night before last. He had informed Phanthus that a boy would appear near the Valley of Solace, a boy who was in possession of the Sacred Amulet of Rhol. This boy’s appearance would cause the protective fields surrounding Leal and Tamon to be dispelled. Solharn had instructed Phanthus to send a Kaltaures army to Leal, as it would be the perfect opportunity to attack the Lealians. Solharn believed they would be oblivious to the fact that their protection was no longer in place and would be taken by surprise. Phanthus was to go to the Valley of Solace, destroy the boy at all costs and retrieve the amulet. He was then to report back to Solharn the following night at the Blackpool.  

This was what
Phanthus was doing as he reached Mount Sibileo, and slowly glided over Charn landing at the base of what was once Shimmer Lake. Phanthus had come to this lake more times than he could remember over the past centuries to gorge on the abundance of fresh fish, or at times on the animals lingering around the water’s edge quenching their thirst.

Those were distant memories now. The lake had
been transformed by Solharn into the Blackpool. Anything that lived in the lake was now forced to filter pure evil through their system. The water, if you could call it that, was more like diluted oil festering and bubbling. The smell of it would keep any normal creature away; it smelt of death and decomposition.

Over a short period of time the creatures that once relied on the lake to survive were consumed with hate as evil coursed through their blood streams. They all became unwilling participants in Solharn’s bid to destroy the planet. They were devoid of any life worth living and would savagely tear apart and devo
ur anything that dared enter the dark black waters. The creatures had insatiable appetites and nothing they ate could satisfy their hunger. They became insane in their desperate search to find anything that would satisfy their appetite.

Phanthus was not fond of coming here
and stayed well back from the water’s edge. This was because of the Balane. They too had succumbed to the evil within the water, and were particularly dangerous as they had the ability to fly. Their sheer size and strength coupled with their constant desire to feed would be a match even for him.

As if thinking about them had jinxed him
, Phanthus saw what he had been hoping he wouldn’t. Directly in front of him was the telltale head of a Balane emerging from the water. The creature was swimming steadily toward him. Its crazed blue eyes were as big as saucers and circled in a crimson red. The Balane screeched and bawled as it stared at him, obviously crazed with hunger. 

Phanthus let a burst of fire out over the lake in the hopes of discouraging the Balane
, but the animal in his state continued swimming right through it. He was about to try a second time when he saw the one for whom he had been waiting. Solharn emerged from the Blackpool riding the back of the beast. As they approached Phanthus switched his focus to Solharn. He could see that the evil inside Solharn had grown. His body was much larger, and his face was now black and scarred. He was almost unrecognizable.

When the Balane
neared the shore, Solharn jumped from its back high into the dark sky. His wings expanded in midair as he ascended toward Phanthus. As he closed in on the dragon he arched his wings to slow his speed and landed with a thud in front of him.

“I trust everything went as planned, Phanthus?”

“It was as you foretold, Solharn. The boy appeared and the protective fields dispelled. The Kaltaures did as they were instructed and attacked while the Lealians were in the temple. However, it was only moderately successful. The Kaltaures, being as stupid and greedy as they are, began to collect baubles before discovering that several hundred Lealians had escaped through an underground tunnel.”

“Idiots!” Solharn screamed
. “What of the boy? I trust you retrieved the amulet Phanthus.”

“
There were unexpected obstacles,” Phanthus started to say before he was cut off.

Solharn became enraged
, “Obstacles! What obstacles you fool? You were entrusted with these simple tasks, and I can see it in your eyes. You have failed me!”

“
There was a creature with him,” Phanthus explained. “It was different than anything I had ever seen. It morphed into some kind of bird, and flew the boy to the Sacred Realm. I gave chase, but was unable to catch him. If I had known about this creature, I would have been better prepared to deal with the situation. Is there a reason you didn’t tell me of this most unfortunate surprise, Solharn? Could it be that you did not know?” Phanthus angrily smirked.

Solharn raised his wings and torrential winds came out of nowhere. The Blackpool formed a giant wave behi
nd him that towered over both him and Phanthus. It did not come crashing down but stopped in midair as if standing there waiting for a command.

“Do not tempt me dragon
; you are here to do my bidding. You may think you are too valuable for me to destroy, but you would be wrong,” Solharn slowly spoke.

Phanthus forgetting in his anger who he was speaking to
, aggressively moved toward him. “I have done your bidding and done it well. It is not my fault that you were unprepared for Elissa’s plan. I told you at the time that it was too easy.”

Phanthus did not have time to react before he was struck by the wave. He tried to fly up but his wings were pinned below the
putrid water now swirling around his body dragging him back toward its evil depths. Phanthus clamped his mouth shut so as not to swallow the water, and dug his claws into the rock and dirt in a feeble attempt to withstand the wave that was sucking him to his demise. He could feel the black liquid enveloping his body as he sank deeper and deeper into the pool. Phanthus stuck his neck out in a final effort to keep his head above water. He could see Solharn hovering above him waiting for the inevitable to happen.

“Solharn, you can’t
do this! I will do what you ask!” Phanthus pleaded.

Solharn laughed
. “Yes, you will, Phanthus. Yes, you will.”

In his panicked state Phanthus opened his mouth to spew a torrent of fire toward Solharn. He was surprised when nothing came out except the black water
that had already filled his lungs. Phanthus felt numb as his memories and thoughts slowly faded away. Whatever good he once had was replaced by evil.

Only after Phanthus was completely submerged
within the Blackpool did Solharn use his powers to raise him from its murky depths. Phanthus had turned completely black in color, unable to think or speak for himself.

Solharn ordered him to
bow to him and laughed when the dragon complied. Phanthus was no longer what he had been. He was now just a pawn to the evil that coursed through his veins. He belonged completely to Solharn now.

“Come dragon. We will go to Solace and finish what was started decades ago.”   

Deke stared in disbelief at Kiran and Deo. “Maybe there’s been a mistake of some sort, Kiran. Maybe someone else was meant to find the amulet! I am sure Queen Elissa didn’t mean for the fate of Rhol to lie in my hands.”

“You are the person that was meant to find the amulet Dietrich
, of that I am sure. The Queen was very specific when she entrusted me with when to avenge Rhol. She told me that a boy from the world Earth would come, and that he would have the Sacred Amulet of Rhol with him. She said that the boy who possessed it would have a special power, a gift that nobody else possessed, not even her. She said the arrival of this boy would cause the protective fields around Leal and Tamon to dispel and the last fight for Rhol would begin.

We thought that time
had come about three years ago, when a girl came to us from your world carrying the amulet. I thought that I was mistaken in the fact that Queen Elissa had foretold of a boy arriving. I was aware that the protective fields surrounding Leal and Tamon had not dispelled at her arrival, but I foolishly didn’t take heed of it, thinking that they would in time. I should have been more cautious, but with Solharn and his armies destroying Rhol, I was not thinking as I should have. The girl left here in search of Queen Elissa. She was strong and determined. She and her paladin, Delca, proved to be very worthy and soon found themselves near Mount Sibileo. That was as far as they would go. The fields had not dispelled and without the help of the Lealians and the Pegapires she was doomed to fail. Solharn learned of her plight and was moving in on her quickly. Realizing this, I sent my protector Lorca to find them and bring them back, but it was too late. Solharn sensed they were near and sent a Balane down from the Blackpool. Not the ones I described to you earlier, but one possessed with evil. Seeing the Balane the girl ran to the base of the mountain and changed her paladin into a Kruntulla, which she and Delca had seen on her journey, and narrowly escaped.”