“You cannot kill me! You can destroy this body but not my soul! If you think that by killing me that you will stop this war then you are sadly mistaken. Kana is more powerful than you know!” The water demon turned slightly to the waters behind him and shouted, “Minions, attack!” The barrier had fallen during the brief battle in the air.
“We will deal with your friends…unfortunately you will not be around to see the battle. By the way, you have no idea how powerful I am or what I am willing to do to stop you and Kana. The time for banishment or imprisonment is past. I have learned from my past…in this war there are no prisoners!” With that ominous declaration the guardian slammed his hands together. The ball encircling the water demon collapsed until there was nothing left. There was an ear splitting cracking noise as Lord Nicor was simply crushed out of existence. A black horizontal shock wave emanated out from where the water demon had been.
The guardian had always erred on the side of caution when it came to dealing with enemies. He understood that there was good in everyone, no matter how buried that goodness may be. During this latest war he had learned a new truth and that is in order to save thousands, millions even, he would have to obliterate some creatures entirely. That is what he had done here to the water demon Nicor. He had not only killed the vile beast and sent him back to the underworld, but he had also cursed his soul. He made it impossible to again gain a physical body. So, in a way he had reached a compromise with himself. He did not destroy the demonic soul; he simply banished it in a way that would keep him out of the world of the living as long as the keeper stayed in the underworld.
The guardian appeared right next to Lord Neb with an unheard pop. A fine silvery mist clung to the head guardian as though it was trying to calm his master. Lord Adair had a grim look of determination as he stood next to his friend. “I will leave the rest of this mess for you to clean up. I really need to make some others visits if we want to truly be prepared for the dark fiends making their way to central Tuwa.” He sounded very distracted as he spoke and did not stick around for a reply from the water elemental. Neb wanted to ask more about this dark threat, but he knew that his master would explain when the time was right.
“Good luck old friend.” Lord Neb said this to the vacant spot where Lord Adair had just been. He turned his attention to the renewed assault from the pestilential water demons. The difference now was in his approach to dealing with the demons. Now that the accursed Nicor was gone he could be more aggressive in dealing with these vile beasts. He liked it when he was able to use unrestrained creativity.
The water elemental spread his feet apart slightly as he squared to face the hordes making their way to the shallows. With his arms he made an exaggerated scooping gesture. As he did this, a gigantic water orb rose from the surface of Lachlan dripping menacingly. As the object climbed into the darkened sky above, flashes of light appeared to be hitting the surface of the watery ball. In fact, the water demons were being sucked into Neb’s creation against their will. After a few moments of this most unusual display, the demons were all trapped within the liquefied cage. As if on cue, Lady Necia appeared next to Neb with loud booms.
“So, is it time to do away with our unwanted guests?” queried the fire elemental dryly. Her dry sense of humor was thick and was a good sign that she was getting on board with what must be done. Neb gave her wise companion a sideways glance with an arched eyebrow. She smiled wryly as she waited for Neb’s reply. She was trying to bridge the natural gap between them.
“Ever the patient one…you are right though. It is high time we rid Tuwa of these fiends. I will let you do the honors then.” He in turned looked sideways at his fiery companion, though he did not smile. It took a great deal to make him smile these days though this new version of Necia almost cracked his stoic face. He was becoming grimmer with each passing day of this violent conflict and felt that at some level he would never be quite the same.
“Stand back…I do not want you to evaporate or anything.” Necia burst into flames and rose into the air high above her fellow guardian. She continued ascended into the air slowly as she prepared to attack. He transformed into the fiery element and began to swirl with increasing speed.
The moisture in the air evaporated around Necia as she continued to build up energy to maximize the initial attack. Lord Neb timed his release of his watery hold on the demons so that the fire would be most efficacious. There was the briefest moment that the intruding forces thought that they had been successful in throwing off the hold the water lord had over them. Just as they gathered themselves for a much more focused attack, the fire elemental let them have it.
Necia shot straight at the horde with lethal purpose. As the fiery orb, whose core was the fire elemental, struck the collective demon force the air exploded with the shrieks of absolute terror. Hilzarie appeared in the air and immediately recaptured the demons in a vortex of wind. Lord Keb appeared at the shore’s edge which was directly below the assault taking place in the air above. His face darkened as a grim smile crept slowly across his face. Anyone who knew the kind and gentle earth lord would have known that his demeanor spelled doom for someone. The shallows of Lachlan began to shake violently as a massive earthen hand reach up into the sky. The massive hand shot up quickly and closed tightly around the swirling wind cage.
“You are no longer welcome in the world of the living you filthy demonic slime! Give my regards to the keeper!” Lord Keb’s hand clenched into a fist and the earthen hand followed suit. The demons were smashed out of existence by the force of all the combined elements.
A gentle hand rested reassuringly on Keb’s shoulder as the earthen hand slammed back into the shallows. Neb gave his dear friend a squeeze with his hand to let him know that all was well. The fog that had covered the lake dissipated before them. The storm clouds above appeared to be yearning to unleash its pay load. Before the rain fell, the remaining hordes of Kana’s army making its way around the edge of the lake stopped in their tracks at the sudden change of events. As they stood there, the promised deluge erupted. The ground had standing water within seconds of the storm breaking.
“Are you alright my friend?” queried Lord Neb. He was looking directly at his fellow guardian with great concern.
“I would have to say that I do feel better. I now feel like a contributor in the fight against Kana and her minions. I just hope what we have done makes a difference.” As Keb looked at Neb he seemed to relax a bit. The energy surrounded the earthen lord seemed to lessen. His dark visage lightened and he almost smiled.
“I know we have made a difference. For now, there are no more underworld foes that we have to deal with. Aside from Kana, everyone that is left for us to fight is fleshy” said the water lord reassuringly. This time he slapped Keb hardily on the back.
“We really need to thank the guardian and his handling of that fiend Nicor. That really opened the door for us. I think his open involvement has made the biggest difference” injected Hilzarie as she appeared on the other side of Keb. Wind seemed to continue to swirl around her as she stood there.
“We always knew that it would be up to him to change the tide of this war. He has certainly helped me overcome my misplaced loyalty to the fallen guardian” intoned Necia bashfully. She had appeared next to Neb and had placed her slender arms on the broad shoulders of her wise friend.
“Welcome to reality…glad you could join us.” Keb smiled openly at Necia and they all laughed appreciatively. Necia rushed to Keb and threw her arms around him. The four lesser elementals felt a unity that they had not had in several centuries. It was sad that such trying times would be the reason for unification. They had a feeling again of family.