“Aakuta,” echoed the beast as it rolled the name around as if tasting it. “I am Dobuk, and you shall serve me for eternity.”
Aakuta’s shields continued to shrink. His feet now protruded outside of the shields, and he could feel them burning. The pain was incredible, but Aakuta tried his best to ignore it. He knew that he only had a short time left before he succumbed to the evil.
“Serve you?” echoed Aakuta. “What can I do that you cannot?”
“Do not try to outwit me human,” laughed the demon. “Better men than you have failed. The question has nothing to do with my powers. It has to do with my amusement. You are already feeling the pain. I can tell. I smell your nerves screaming for release, but death is my whim, not yours.”
“Suppose I refuse to provide your enjoyment?” asked Aakuta.
“Try,” sneered the demon. “Many others have tried. It is quite amusing.”
Aakuta’s mind whirled with possibilities, but he could not think of a way out of his predicament. His shields no longer covered his legs, and the nerves carried his pain to his mind where it exploded in massive sensations that made Aakuta scream.
“Ah, delightful,” smiled Dobuk. “I do love those who think they can defy me. Scream on little man.”
Aakuta’s mind raced to find a way to end the pain. He fell to the ground and it seared his body. He screamed in agony. He remembered the stories that Lady Mystic had told him about the others who had been subjected to this chamber. He remembered the tales of endless pain, agony, and insanity. The pain and agony was already upon him as he felt his shields disintegrating. Rather than reinforce the shields, Aakuta narrowed them. He brought the shields inward until they only encircled his mind.
“You win, Dobuk,” Aakuta cried out. “Do with me what you will. I will fight you no more.”
Every nerve in Aakuta’s body screamed with pain. He closed his eyes and put every ounce of his strength into holding the shields around his brain. At first he thought he had at least succeeded at preserving his sanity, but then everything went black. As his body screamed for death, he heard the final words of Dobuk.
“You disappoint me human,” the Fallen One said. “You were devious when you were alive, but now you are nothing.”
* * *
The door to the chamber was opened, and Aakuta charged through it screaming. He ran straight across the corridor and slammed his head into the wall. His body collapsed to the floor and writhed in pain, but he rose again and staggered about. His crazed eyes rolled from person to person, but he saw no one. Lady Mystic started crying. Aakuta turned and raced for the roof.
“Ah, the great Aakuta,” sneered Vand. “He thought he was mage enough to take my place. Now he is just another crazy man wishing to die. Even jumping off the roof will not ease his pain.”
“What have I done?” cried Lady Mystic. “Can’t you help him?” she pleaded to Vand. “Please. For me?”
“For you?” balked Vand. “You are as guilty as he is. You are the one who accepted him on this island. You are the one who taught him about us. You are the one who turned a blind eye to his obvious spying. No, Lady Mystic, I will do nothing for him. In fact, I will allow him to live for a long time, much longer than any of the others. Do you know why?”
“No,” Lady Mystic shook her head. “How can it possibly please you to torture him so?”
“Him?” laughed Vand. “No, my dear daughter, it is you who is being punished. I have warned you about emotions, but you fell in love with a spy. Well, look at your lover now. Watch him everyday as he pleads for you to kill him. But you can’t, you know. You do not have the power to kill him.”
“But I am your daughter,” Lady Mystic protested through her tears. “I am your flesh and blood. How can you do this to me? I even betrayed him for you.”
“Yes,” smirked Vand, “and that part was delicious, watching you betray your lover. Of course, I already knew he was guilty, but that would hardly teach you a lesson now, would it?”
“Is that what this is all about?” snapped Lady Mystic. “You are tearing my heart apart to teach me a lesson? How will that make me serve you better?”
“Serve me?” balked Vand. “You will no longer be allowed to serve me. Your only task in life from this moment forward is to enjoy the suffering of your lover.”
Lady Mystic’s tears flowed down her face and dripped onto the floor. Vand glared at her and waved the guards over.
“Escort this person out of the temple,” instructed the Emperor with a dismissive wave of his hand.
* * *
Tens of thousands of Jiadin surrounded the temple at Vandegar. Fakaran wagons dotted the encampment, and more of them constantly moved in and out of the campsite. Some warriors stood around in groups talking about the olden days of tribal warfare, but the most prevalent topic was the Prophecy of the Dragons. A feeling of isolation reigned over the men as much as it would in a city under siege. While no army was attacking them, there were dragons in every direction. No sane man attempted to leave the safe area of the Vandegar Temple.
“We might as well be dead,” complained one warrior. “What are we going to do? Stay here for the rest of our lives and hope the Fakarans don’t stop sending us food?”
“Why don’t you go find the head dragon and defeat it,” taunted another warrior.
“Don’t talk nonsense to me,” snapped the first warrior. “There is no man alive that can take on one of those dragons and live to tell about it. We are all doomed.”
“I would do anything to get out of here,” sighed a third warrior. “Life has not been very good since Grulak rose to power. I wish he had never been born. We would still be tribesmen riding the plains and looking for spoils. Those were the days.”
“I heard there is war coming again,” interjected a fourth warrior. “I wouldn’t mind wielding a sword for something other than practice. I don’t even care who the enemy is.”
“That is just a tale,” scowled the first warrior. “That is supposed to happen after the dragons go away. You will never live to see it.”
Suddenly, a bunch of shouting erupted, and the four warriors turned to see what the excitement was. Thousands of men were pointing to the east. They turned to see what everyone was so excited about and saw a dragon flying towards them.
“They ain’t suppose to bother us here,” worried the first warrior. “Where do we go now?”
“Look,” shouted the second warrior, “there is a man astride it.”
“Someone has defeated the King of the Dragons?” gasped the third warrior. “Can it be?”
Everyone watched as the giant dragon banked and flew around the Vandegar Temple. A man was clearly visible riding on the back of the huge dragon. He held some kind of long staff high in the air and pointed to the front of the temple. The dragon swooped down, and warriors scrambled for whatever cover they could find.
The dragon hovered in front of the temple and rested its claws gently on the railing of a balcony. The man slid off the back of the dragon onto the balcony and the dragon flapped its powerful wings and lifted off the balcony and soared high into the sky. The dragon continued to circle the temple, but the warriors’ attention was now on the man with the staff. Thousands of Jiadin warriors crowded as close as they could to the front of the temple to see who the man was. Suddenly, he held up both of arms for quiet.
“Greetings Jiadin warriors,” shouted the man. “Your time of exile is now over. I am King Rejji of Fakara, ruler of all lands east of the Fortung Mountains. I come to you to welcome you into the fold of Fakara and ask you to prepare for war.”
Rejji gazed at the mass of men below the balcony and wondered how they were receiving his message. It was heartening that no one had tried to attack him yet.
“Our land will soon be invaded from across the sea,” Rejji continued. “The Fakarans are determined to repel the evil invaders. I want my Jiadin brothers to stand by my side. Will you fight?”