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Chapter 21-B: Light's End (Part 2)

"Alright, otterboy," Anna sighed as she looked down on Crawford. "We are on the surface world, somewhere in nowhere. So, yeah. We got plenty of time to make up an explanation to why we look so different from other beastmen."

The otter crossed his arm and tilted his head to the side. "Maybe, just say you are wolves from a different place of the continent?"

"I am not sure how long that may work," the leonberger replied and took a deep breath before she turned her head towards most of her dog folk, who were already building up tents, while the sky was still clear. "But for now, we need to try and build a settlement, and ensure everyone has shelter and food."

Crawford nodded. "I do suggest building a few bathhouses maybe, and if we are lucky a personal shower and restroom like in your old building could also work," he suggested.

"All in due time," Anna replied and crossed her arms. "We need to gather the resources first, and that could take some time for the number of people."

With a deep breath Crawford sat down against a tree and took in some air into his lungs, only to cough as the cold air began to hurt.

"Anna?" Seraph now approached the leonberger and otter with a shy smile on his face. "Um, I do hope it is okay, if,"

The leonberger just turned her head the other way. "Save your breath, Seraph. I already made it quite clear, I do not wish to have you anywhere close to me."

With a frown, the husky got carefully closer, and flinched as Anna snapped at him with her teeth. "I just, I wanted to know, if, well,"

"I have no use for you," Anna gave back coldly and pushed Seraph away from her. "Not now, not ever."

Hurt, the husky put his tail between his legs and then turned around, whimpering pathetically.

It made Crawford sigh, as he whistled to the husky. "Go help the folks that are collecting woods and rocks for the buildings or help out to recycle the leftover metals."

"Huh?" Seraph turned around in surprise yet gave the otter a joyful nod as he headed off to the forest.

Anna, not sure what to think of that, just shook her head and sat down next to Crawford. "You are doing my job there, you know, kid? I mean, you kind of forced yourself into our group."

Crawford laughed. "Well, you did not want to command him, so I thought I may as well give him a nudge somewhere."

"Off a cliff next time please," she spoke and sighed. "He and his pretentious talk about God and all can go to Hell for all I care. As far as I am concerned, I have no need for a God of Hatred."

The otter tilted his head. "Well, I did not interact so much with him as my siblings did, so I may have to admit that I know nothing about that." He then crossed his arms and got up. "If he used his faith to justify being an arse, then of course I can understand your anger."

"You could say that, yes," Anna replied as she got up as well. "He has driven someone to suicide with his preaching. The very fact that he is still alive is all the mercy I am willing to grant him."

With a frown Crawford looked down to his feet. "My brother almost killed himself for the same reason pretty much. In his case thankfully a man named Gaius prevented the worst." He wiped over his eye for a moment and then looked at Anna. "While half a year back my brother killed his tormentor, maybe Seraph changed for the better."

Anna shrugged. "Even if he did, I don't care. I want to never see his face again, and as soon as we got the settlement up, I will make sure of that."

"Not my problem, I suppose?" Crawford moved his tail around as he looked towards the husky. "Alas, I may help with the electronics. See you around."

The leonberger smiled as she waved off the otter, before looking around the place she found herself in. "I do not need any God to help. My very own hands are all I require."

After several hours, a few beginnings for a settlement could already been seen. Piles of stone, metal scraps, and wood laid out and were being used to build up huts. It was a slow process, but it was beginning to take shape thanks to the immense amount of hands working together at once.

Anna was grinning widely as she looked at the first, admittedly very simplistic, buildings that her men were able to make. With a gleeful yawn she patted one of them on the shoulder. "Great work, men, great work."

The dogs were all cheering at her words and began to move in the furniture that was either freshly made or taken from Adamas. Soon the noises died down, as everyone was getting ready for their new lives.

For Anna however, it was not yet time to take some rest. She instead took her shotgun and took a deep breath as she walked into the woods. "Time to get some dinner for everyone. I do hope that the edible animals here are large enough." Tired from the long day, she was only slouching through the snow while she kept her weapon up. Long after she headed out, the night claimed the lands, and thusly she was focusing more on her other senses. And her ears were taking in something peculiar in the distance.

"Yes, it was your fault, but," it was Crawford, who was apparently talking to someone. "You are not the same man you were back then. And well, you were shocked by my brother and old gigulo, but you thought about things."

Anna's ears were perked as she walked towards the otter and the other person, soon exposing her teeth once she caught a second scent. Angrily she was keeping her firearm close to her chest and snuck up.

"I thought about things, and I am not even sure about myself anymore," Seraph spoke as he was looking up at the star-filled sky. "Have I given myself over into a false religion, just so that the live in Adamas would not drive me insane? And even if it was true, my sister is dead because of me."

Crawford shook his head. "In this shame and guilt, you already prove yourself wrong. A truly bad person would not see the error of their ways, just believing to be always in the right no matter how much wrong they do."

"Easy to say for someone so innocent such as yourself," the husky sighed and put a hand on his forehead. "Maybe I should just end it all already and face my judgement."

The otter rested his head onto his arms and mumbled into himself before getting up and giving the dog a punch in the side. "You are not doing that, Seraph. That way you only give into your own despair, instead of overcoming it. Taking your own life is not an answer."

"And they called me preachy," Seraph looked ahead of himself and then let his shoulders sink lower. "I guess, I am just an idiot in the end. But one who already burnt away all bridges back. Or would you ever forgive me, Anna?"

The leonberger snarled as she came closer to the two men. "No, I am sorry Crawford, but forgiveness is not an option."

"I get it that his acts caused another person's death, yet," Crawford now jumped up in anger and kicked up some snow. "What value does redemption even have to you?"

"None that comes close to the life he erased," she gave back and then grabbed her shotgun to hold it at Seraph's head. "The only acceptable price for it would be his own life. Eye for an eye, isn't it that how it goes?"

The husky nodded and closed his eyes. "And paid back sevenfold. Press the trigger then, and even the score."

"Stop this, you idiots!" Crawford now exclaimed as he tackled Anna, only to be pushed back by her mass alone. "You are not doing this for real, Anna, are you?"

Anna just glared coldly at the male dog and moved her index finger onto the trigger. "Some prices have to be paid," she spoke and was about to finally pull.

"He is right, Anna," a gruff, old voice now intervened. A few meters away from the scene, Patrick was approaching them and gestured her to lower her weapon. "We have lived in so much despair and surrounded by death for so long, it is not a time to spill more blood."

She hesitated but did not remove her finger from the trigger nor did she lower her weapon. "I waited too long for this, old man."

"For the love of all the gods, just stop this already," Crawford groaned as he got up from the snow. "I can only reason with you here, since I got neither muscles, nor magic, nor do I want to use a weapon."

Anna got distracted for a moment by the otter's banter, but then felt how Patrick grabbed her shotgun and hit her on the hands to make her lose her grip on it. Angrily she tried to take it back, just to find the old dog being rather nimble.

"Let her end me, Patrick," Seraph spoke calmly as he knelt down to the ground and lowered his head. "I deserve this punishment, deserve it so much."

"Now shut up, you stupid moron," Patrick gave back as he took out the ammunition from the firearm of Anna and threw it into the woods. "It is enough, are you two really this obsessed with death that you want to continue the errors of Adamas?"

The leonberger looked with rage at the bernese, though only moments later she took a deep breath and turned around. "You are allowed to live in our new settlement, Seraph. But I do wish that you stay as far from me as possible."

"Why, Patrick?" the husky glanced up with teary eyes. "Why don't you allow me to face punishment?"

"Because this is not the answer," Crawford spoke angrily. "I cannot take it anymore. Patrick is right, you are just drowning yourself with death, ignoring how much life has for you."

Patrick nodded. "I have lost count of how many years passed since I was born a slave. Over all those years, I have seen many lose their will to live, and I was often close enough myself. Yet," he glanced at his hands. "I could not give up. I had to be strong for myself and everyone."

"This matter is done for as far as I am concerned," Anna spoke and made a few steps towards the new settlement. Only to feel a powerful shockwave pierce through the ground. "What the."

Crawford began shivering. "It is here. Aleftav, it is here." He turned his eyes towards the sky and collapsed in fear. "Thuban failed. We are, we are going to,"

"No, we are not," Anna snarled a sshe turned around and took her shotgun from Patrick. "I will fuck this thing up!"

The otter began to shed tears as he glanced towards an approaching light at the horizon. "We have no tools to fight it! I got no more magic, your weapons cannot hurt it."

"Never say never, kid," Anna spoke calmly as she loaded her gun and prepared for battle. "God is dead, he will remain dead, we killed him. We gotta believe we can."

"Mere belief will do nothing!" Crawford mumbled as he cowered on the ground. "We are as good as dead."

The leonberger shook his head and simply waited for Aleftav to arrive. "If you think you cannot do anything, run. I got no use for dead weight."

"I will take him to the village," Patrick told her as he picked up Crawford and rushed with him in the arms to the settlement. "No worries, she got this, she got this."

Seraph meanwhile got up as well and looked at his own hands. He then felt something hit him on his head and saw that Anna threw him a gun.

"I gotta need an extra eye here, and I got enough of those for a week. Just don't think this means anything," she spoke.

The husky took the gun from the ground and then held it ready in his right hand. "I thank you regardless. Anyway, here she comes!"

Only moments later, another image of Aleftav in the color blue appeared and glared at Anna and Seraph. "You two are not the one I seek."

"Does not matter, you are the one I will smash into pieces," Anna spoke as she aimed her shotgun at the massive entity and fired her shots, shattering off several shards from its body.

Aleftav however remained calm. It simply swung its arms around to push Anna and Seraph away from itself, before it headed towards the direction of Patrick and Crawford. "I seek his death!"

"Look out!" Seraph shouted as grabbed his gun and shot at the core of Aleftav, damaging the crystalline armor a little further, but without any effect. "Patrick!"

The old bernese glance behind himself and increased the pace of his steps as Aleftav was coming closer. "Grab on tight, this will be quite the ride, young otter boy."

Anna now lifted herself up and in pain glanced at Aleftav as it was swiping down its arms at the bernese and the otter. As fast as she could she grabbed her gun again and fired at the entity.

This time Aleftav was losing focus as the impact brought it to fall, yet it soon swiped out its arms at Patrick and Crawford.

"Alright, last station for me," Patrick spoke as he threw Crawford to the side as both hands of the entity snatched him from the ground and squeezed the air out of his lungs.

"Patrick!" Seraph now got up as well and rushed to the scene with his gun ready. Once close enough he fired several more bullets at Aleftav, but to no avail. "Let him go, you piece of shit!"

Aleftav remained silent as it held onto the bernese in its hands. But then, it formed several sharp spikes on its fingers and tightened its grip, piercing Patrick's body completely, before dropping it to the ground. "Worthless. You mortals are too defiant of our will. We will need to fix that once the new world comes around."

"New world? Gods, what type of drugs do you swallow?" Anna snarled as she reloaded her shotgun and aimed at the beast. "I will make you pay for his death!"

"It is useless. Imperfect creations, abominations," Aleftav now glanced at Crawford and held out its arms. "You are an insult to us, as you wield the divine spark but are not gods."

Crawford's breathing got faster. He looked at Patrick, whose body was lying lifeless and bloody on the ground. As the arm of Aleftav came closer to him, he did not even crawl away anymore, he just sat there and awaited his final moments to pass in horror.

"Don't just sit there, you moron!" Anna now fired at the arm of Aleftav and much to her shock, the crystal shattered, and the limb vanished in thin air. With a grin, the leonberger now rushed towards Crawford and grabbed the otter before looking to Seraph.

The husky gave her a nod, and then checked his pockets for some extra ammunition to reload his gun. A moment later, he shot at the other arm's thinnest area and severed it as well. "It is working!"

Crawford looked in shock at Aleftav, not believing that the two dogs were able to damage it so severely. "This is impossible."

A moment later, Aleftav rose again, and reformed to its full state before turning towards Seraph now with its arms now growing thicker. "Yes, it is impossible. You cannot defeat me, for I am beyond you mere mortals."

"We already damaged you before," Seraph spoke as he aimed his gun at the monster and fired another shot. This time however, it did not even cause a small fragment to splitter off. "We can do so again and again, if needed!"

Anna snarled and loaded her shotgun once more before letting off Crawford. "He is right, Crawford. We will damage this piece of crystal meth to the point that there is not even dust!"

"Don't you understand," the otter shivered. "It is, impossible to defeat it without any magic. We got only metal and stone, and it will always regenerate from those."

The leonberger sighed and then fired at Aleftav once again, but again, the bullets had not the same effect as before. "Why isn't this working anymore?"

"I am trying to figure out," the husky spoke as he jumped away from Aleftav's arms and get a clear visual on the core. "After it regenerated, it suddenly became invincible."

Anna groaned and then noticed something. "Crawford, I need you to put your faith in me and Seraph, you hear me."

"Didn't you listen?" the otter now looked at her with tears of fear in his eyes as he slowly got up from the ground. "Aleftav is impossible to defeat with our means."

"Only, because you believe it so religiously," the leonberger spoke as she gave Crawford a thumbs-up and rushed towards the crystal entity. "Believe in us for a change!"

Crawford looked in disbelief at her, but then his mind made click. He quickly pulled out his book and opened it, awaiting the pages to form an answer to their situation.

For Seraph meanwhile it got harder to evade the attacks from Aleftav, as he was finding himself with his back to a wall and unable to escape the next move. With a short prayer he held his gun outward and gave off a shot at the very core of Aleftav.

And suddenly the beast was pushed backwards, as several pieces of its body were beginning to crumble. Moments later, the arms completely shattered and Aleftav began to cry out in agony.

"The heck?" Seraph now lifted himself up and began to step forward to aim once more at the crystalline entity. The next moment he fired another shot, piercing through the crystal and shattering it even further from the inside.

"As I thought," Anna now took a deep breath and grabbed a nearby rock to throw it at Aleftav, which again shattered parts of the body off as if they were mere glass. "Funny, to think to kill a god or some shit requires you to just think that it is possible."

Crawford, who was currently holding his book, began to smile as he looked up at Aleftav and stepped forward. "I guess, you taught me a lesson there, Anna." He then put his hands into his pocket. Moments later he pulled out the device he built in Adamas and began changing the setting.

"Foolish mortals, I shall deliver you to the void!" Aleftav began to cry out, as it tried to move, yet its body remained shattered and did not recover again.

To the otter, those words rang hollow. Once he was finished with the gadget, he threw it towards Aleftav and closed his eyes before it activated.

Strong waves emitted from the sensory device, and once Aleftav got into contact with them, it left its own body disrupting, causing the crystals to shatter more and more, until it finally collapsed, and its core was completely exposed.

Anna took the moment and rushed towards it, grabbing it in her right arm, before throwing it violently into the ground, causing the essence of Aleftav to shatter into tiny pieces, before it disappeared completely.

"It is over now," Crawford spoke weakly as he dropped to the ground and began whimpering. "We survived, we destroyed it."

"That piece of trash stood no chance anyway," Anna boasted as she let out a sigh of relief before turning her attention to Patrick. Slowly she approached the body, kneeling next to him, and checking for a pulse.

Seraph, who now was shivering himself, remained in place, not even looking at the leonberger. "If it was not for his concerns for me, he would still be alive. I am sorry."

"Just shut the fuck up," Anna snarled at him as she turned her head around, fangs exposed and eyes starting to tear up. "Just shut up already, shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Crawford now crawled closer to her, his face showing absolutely no happiness and relief. "He tried to protect me. Aleftav was attacking me, and, he saved me."

"Always looking out for others," the leonberger spoke as she put her hands on the eyes of the bernese and closed the lids. "As a leader, it is my duty to do my best to ensure the wellbeing and survival of my people." She then looked at Seraph and closed her eyes. "Move your ass closer."

The husky obeyed without hesitation, yet still averted his eyes as he approached Anna. "What shall I do?"

"Come back with me to the settlement," she said as she lifted up Patrick's body and then nudged her head towards Crawford. "And, help our little otter friend. After all of this, he deserves some rest."

Slightly taken aback, Seraph helped Crawford up and began on his way back to the village with Anna.

"Also," the leonberger took a deep breath and then looked at the husky with a tired expression. "Let us bury the past. There is a brighter future ahead of us at last."

With a nod Seraph looked at her and then Crawford before smiling weakly and placing a hand on his heart. "Yes. It is time for a new beginning, as part of this new world."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Völundr sighed as he dipped his head into a basin of water. The heat of the land he found himself was rather overwhelming, making him suffer as he wandered the street. "Okay, I should ask around. In a place, where I have absolutely knowledge about the language, and without some rune or other magic trinket to compensate for that." He hit himself with the palm of his hand and shook his head. "Brilliant, Völundr. You are officially the most stupid boar in the whole of the world."

"Oh, I have seen worse," a bypassing panther replied with a look of curiosity in her face. "You are from the continental axis. What brings you to this place, stranger?"

"Oh, well, first of, the gods must be merciful for me to run into someone who knows what I am saying," Völundr replied with a chuckled before clearing his throat. "Anyhow, I plan to throw my sword aside for the art of healing. And I need someone to teach me with that."

The feline smiled and tilted her head a little to the side. "There is a teacher for such further down that street, at the end where the city wall is located. He has many students from all over, and thus also a few objects with enchantments to help him out understanding all of them."

"Glad that the gods have so much favor to spend then," the boar remarked before he bowed to the panther and headed down the streets to where he was directed at. "Alright sister, wish me luck. Wherever you may be right now."

A few moments later, Völundr reached the house of the healer, which was adorned with several words, which he did not have any idea about, yet were aligned in circular manners around the face of a red oriental dragon.

"Well, this one looks curious," he spoke and observed the strange forms of the reptilian being. "Hair, deer antlers, ears, whiskers. They got quite interesting mythical beasts here. I kind of wish I had smartstripes with me to tell me what this might be."

"This is Leilong Bai, the Queen of the Southern Seas," a voice spoke from being Völundr, which caused him to turn around to face a rather tall and massive figure, an elephant wearing a wide colorful robe. "These images are mantras I wrote to ensure her wellbeing."

Völundr blinked and then looked over the face of the elephant. "Excuse me, if I ask this so suddenly, but are you the healer that I was being told about?"

With a chuckle the elephant knelt down, which only was enough for him to be on face height with the boat. "Mamun is my name, and it is a pleasure to meet you. It has been ages since I had a visitor from the far reaches of the west." He then opened the doors of the house and led Völundr inside. "In my younger years, I went to many places on the continent, be it Lianhua or the far away shores of Scathsolas. Widening my own horizon, and hopefully the horizons of many others."

"In that regard, I may have to ask about that," the boar spoke as he scratched the back of his head. "I want to become a healer and to throw my sword away. A personal tragedy occurred, and I realize how pointless a weapon really is to me."

Mamun crossed his arms and nodded before he sat down on a sizable pile of pillows and looked over the boar with his deep, amber eyes. "I can see the journey you took has left some marks on you. It proves of a determined spirit. Your face reveals an exhaustion of battle, something that eases the transition to the mindset of a healer."

Völundr nodded and then knelt down before the elephant and lowered his head before he began to tell Mamun his own thoughts, "I have long wanted to become a warrior. To be someone of honor. But, the only things I want to vanquish now are the suffering and pain of the people."

"That is one way to say you want me to teach you to become a healer," Mamun laughed and then moved his trunk towards the boar. "A good thing is, you have no competition, due to the rarity of people possessing this particular type of magic. And nourishing the knowledge around it is what I wish to do. So, welcome to your new home, if you do not mind taking one of the empty bed rooms."

Völundr tilted his head. "Um, you are offering me a room to stay in? I mean, I am not unthankful, but this is quite kind of you."

The massive man shrugged as he pointed towards the window. "It is not really easy without a spell for translations to get around here, unless you know the language. Plus, the rooms would remain unused otherwise."

"I thank you for your kindness, master," Völundr replied as he bowed his head towards Mamun.

The elephant then got up from the pillows and walked towards a shelf of books before giving the boar a glance. "Regardless of what form of magic you are practicing, the strength of your mind makes it stronger. In that regard, it will be probably wise to strengthen your mind most of all."

"So, what would you be suggesting?" Völundr questioned with an arched eyebrow before took a deep breath. "Although, I can guess it. Focusing on my inner forces and such."

Mamun nodded and removed his hand from a book he was about to grab from the shelf. "In a sense. Can you show me an example of your current arcane skillset?"

With a nod, the boar folded his hands and channeled his magic within his palms, before opening them and showcasing a sphere of aether to the elephant. "To be frank, a friend of mine, real smartstripes, told me a few things. So I am not going to bore you through the beginning lessons."

"Which I am glad for," Mamun gave back. "I may be patient, but the first part of this is usually the most boring. Well then, techniques to apply magic more widely, and also to remove toxins from one's system should be our first," he stopped for a moment and then turned his gaze out of the window. "Odd, I am sensing a lot of pressure all of the sudden."

"Might be the weather. Maybe a storm is," he shook his head. "What am I talking about, I have been here for like ten minutes, and there were no clouds outside. We may better check."

The elephant nodded and headed outside with Völundr, only to be pushed to his knees by a tremendous force. "This, what is this?"

"Kind of asking this myself," Völundr replied as he pushed himself to his feet and stepped towards the market place. "It is, no, this is the feeling those gems emitted." He took a deep breath and grabbed a nearby barrel to throw it up in the air, where it connected with something.

Another instance of Aleftav now became visible, itself of the color yellow. It glanced down at the boar, and while it was not outwardly visible, the gaze was full of contempt. "At last, I have found you. You and your friends will pay for working against our plans."

"Wanna finish your monologue, before we fight?" Völundr replied as he drew his sword and kept his free hand read to channel his magic. "Because, you know, I could go and have lunch, if you do."

"Your demeanor will not safe," Aleftav was quickly interrupted as Völundr used an earth spell to catapult himself up to it.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it already!" he exclaimed as he rushed his sword down and let it connect to the body of Aleftav. While it left only a fracture in the crystal, the impact was enough to send the entity to the ground, where it hit a few market stalls, which got crushed under its weight. "You want to kill me. No need to have a five-act drama about it."

Aleftav however just swiped Völundr away and reformed its body in an instant. "You overestimate how much confidence you can afford, pig."

The boar had to laugh as he pulled himself up from the ground and took his sword, before grabbing his axe. "Ain't you one to talk?"

Wordlessly, Aleftav got closer to Völundr, spreading its arms to strike, though only moments later a spear of fire shot from the sky and hit its core, pushing it backwards.

"All hindrances shall be overcome," Mamun now approached the scene, bearing a staff in his hands, which he held up towards the sky. "We shall not succumb to forces, such as yours. Begone, Asura of false light!"

Völundr arched an eyebrow and then laughed at the elephant. "You remind me of my friend Aldric. But your fire spell was pretty great."

Mamun gave him a wink. "I wished it could have pierced that creature, but I fear that it is not going to be enough," he spoke as he swung his staff around to summon forth several lances of fire again.

Nodding at his new teacher's stance, Völundr now rushed forward at Aleftav, threw his axe against its core, while holding out his sword hand to channel his magic through the earth.

Aleftav remained intact at the impact of the axe, though the ground below it moved around, and an arm of dirt and rock grabbed after it, fixing it in place.

"I will throw it out of the city," Völundr told Mamun as he slowly moved his hand downwards and quickly upwards, pushing forward, sending it flying above the city walls.

"We should hurry and shatter this thing to pieces, before it can come back," Mamun spoke as he folded his hands and shot forward a spell towards the city wall, causing a hole to form at its bottom.

Völundr nodded as he and the elephant rushed through it, into the fields outside the city, where Aleftav was lying on the ground. "Okay then, let's finish this!" With a war cry he then rushed at Aleftav, bringing his sword up as he jumped at the crystalline entity.

This time however, Aleftav's body began to glow as several spikes formed around its core. "Your prowess, it is fruitless against our power."

As he saw himself rushing to his own demise, Völundr tried to turn his body around, though all he could manage was to hit Aleftav's form with his feet, having their flesh by ripped apart as the needles went through, and he fell to the ground.

"Völundr!" Mamun now swung his staff around and formed a barrier between the boar and Aleftav before rushing to the aid of Völundr. "Are you alright"

The boar had to laugh as he sat up straight and looked at his feet. "Hurts like getting one's balls ripped off. I will live, if we can kill this thing. Any ideas about that?"

The elephant nodded but then moved his trunk to a pocket in his robe to pull out a gem. "I do notice that this thing is formed from the light of a foul spirit, a deity perhaps even. We ourselves, we may cannot do this however."

"Thought you may say that," Völundr spoke as he was looking at the wall of dirt, which was constantly attacked by Aleftav. "But, I disagree. This thing has a form, made of not of blood and flesh, but," he perked his ears. "Light, you said? I may not be a scholar, but, I heard of the use of black colors to protect one's eyes from sunlight."

Mamun tilted his head, and shortly after his eyes widened. "Yes, I am aware of that. You suggest, we use black color to fight this beast. Are you sure this is enough?"

"May as well try," Völundr told him as he glanced at the now cracking shield of dirt around them. "Get some archer and let him dip an arrow into tar or something other of the color black. The darker the better, I suppose. Let me hold off Aleftav in the meantime."

The elephant waited for a few seconds, but then nodded as he rushed back towards the town, his staff raised.

The boar meanwhile just sat up straight and held out his arms. "Hurry, Fellowtusk, this will at best last for a few minutes," he muttered and then channeled his magic to reform the wall of dirt into a hand, which grabbed Aleftav and pushed it to the ground, pinning it into place.

Aleftav's body however split apart and reassembled in a shape where its flowery body reshaped into a massive crystal blade, while the core was left exposed. "This has gone for way too long."

"Not quite," Völundr remarked as he crawled forward to Aleftav and pulled himself forward with his own sword. "But thanks to your constant babbling, you make it easier for me."

The entity did not speak further. Only the blade went into position and came down directly towards Völundr.

Barely capable to jump to the side, Völundr was not fast enough to avoid the blade entirely, having the sharp edge of the crystal cut through his arm, leaving a deep cut. Pain overcame him, and in agony he screamed while he channeled his magic to move the rock hand he summoned around to grab the blade and rushed down into the ground, having it be buried by the earth.

"You lie bleeding on the ground, and all you do, is to move part of my body into the ground?" Aleftav's core now descended and stopped a few meters away from Völundr. "I shall end your desperate struggle. Perish, and soon you will be at peace."

Völundr looked at it, his body bleeding severely from the many wounds he received. But no fear was to be seen on his face, instead he just grinned. "Funny, I wanted to say something similar. Well, I want to say; go to Hela!"

Aleftav stopped acting for a moment, confused about the boar's words. It took only a second later for it to find out what they meant. Several arrows were shot from the watch towers of the town directly at it, all with tips dipped into black materials, which pierced right through the crystal, as if it was nothing.

"Overestimating my ass," Völundr spoke as he dropped into the dirt and took deep breaths as his body was feeling battered and torn. He was not able to see much more, he closed his eyes and simply drifted into sleep.

"Brother," a voice reached Völundr in his unconscious state, as he could not even tell if he was either fallen asleep or dying. "Do you remember the day, when you were showing me this spell? You picked up this bird and saved its life."

Völundr opened his eyes, though he saw nothing but darkness. "I remember that day. I remember. You and I, we were still children, and I discovered my magic potential. And I could not help myself but to use it."

"Yet, you were so kind back then," the voice of Unnr spoke as the noises of winds followed. "But, when you were fifteen, you were rejected for your kindness and tendency for magic. Ever since, I felt as if I was missing my brother."

"But I was there," the boar replied but then he closed his eyes and listened to the winds. "No, I see what you mean. I wanted to be someone that I never was. And never wanted to be. What became of Völundr?" He took a deep breath and shed a tear. "I couldn't safe you, because I took the path of war. If I had followed my heart, you would still be with us."

Unnr's voice laughed kindly, as the winds were accompanied by the waves of the ocean. "Do not mourn my passing. Instead, live, Völundr. Live, my brother."

Feeling as if all weight was taken from his body and heart, Völundr began to whisper, "Unnr, farewell, wherever you may go." His eyes then opened, and he found himself back in the home of Mamun, lying in a soft bed, while his body was completely fixed up.

"Ah, you are awake," Mamun spoke as he sat down besides the boar and helped him to sit straight up. "We were worried that you may were losing too much blood. Thankfully, you will recover after a few weeks of strict rest.

"I take it, Aleftav was destroyed?" Völundr asked as he looked down at his body and then at Mamun. "So, it worked. Darkness, I guess for once it is unwise to fear it."

Mamun chuckled before taking a cup of water to give Völundr to drink, waiting for a moment before then saying, "It was recovering several times, but eventually, it vanished."

Völundr sighed in relief as he drank from the water and then laid back down on the bed. "Thank you for the aid. I could never have defeated it with my sword alone."

"The world is better off, if we can join our hands together to overcome such evils," the elephant spoke as he pulled a blanket over the boar's body and then looked out of the window. "Now rest, for soon a new dawn is upon us."