From the Fires of Lugara

Smoke and fire was what Jake and Alex first saw as they left the woods and entered Elysia’s home village of Lugara. They followed her through the cracked and broken streets of brick, seeing buildings which looked like fantasy cottages spliced with some bizarre technology straining to hold together, holes punched into them from monstrous fists, walking past strange vehicles which looked like steampunk cars flipped over. Alex thought how bizarre and wonderful this would have been if not for the destruction and the crying people surrounding him.

“Useless…so useless…damn it!” Her fists clenched at her sides. Jake put his hand on her shoulder. As they wandered through the wrecked village, Elysia spotted several people using magic to save what little they could, a woman commanding the fire to stay in one place with red glowing hands, a man with a white glow creating a whirlwind of sand and dirt to dump onto the flames, and a tall man in a blue robe with a trim white beard with hands were glowing green like Elysia’s. He was commanding large vines to lift rubble and help people.

“Augarium! Master Augarium!” Elysia sprinted toward the man. He looked to her, immediately stopping what he was doing, and embraced her in a tight hug.

“Elysia! I didn’t see you! I thought the Twisted…” Augarium gasped as he held her tightly.

“No! I went into the Hall of Learning and…” Elysia looked down, realizing she had to admit to screwing up her ill thought out plan.

“By the First, Elysia, you didn’t do anything colossally stupid again, did you?” Augarium sighed.

“A little bit. Kinda. See, I knew we needed help, but I also needed to escape, so I used the dimensional tuner which was recovered at the old dig site to find some heroes…”

“You stole something forbidden and used it again?!” Augarium said, eyes growing wide.

“What choice did I have?!” Elysia yelled back.

“Not! You could NOT, Elysia!” Master Augarium didn’t know whether to scream at her or laugh or stand proud at her sheer audacity. Instead he simply sighed. “And did it work? Did you find any heroes?”

“Well…” Elysia said awkwardly. She stepped aside, letting him see Jake, Alex and the whiptail perched on Alex’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Jake said.

“What’s up?” Alex asked, waving.

“So…” Augarium said slowly, rubbing his temples. “You stole a piece of ancient technology, breached a dimensional barrier, and only managed to abduct two young boys?”

“Master, I…” Elysia said, regret seeping into her voice.

“Elysia, of all the egregious actions you have ever partaken in, this has to be the most…how could you so stupidly break our laws and drag two innocents into your incompetent quest to be a hero!” Augarium yelled.

‘Hey, hang on!” Jake stepped forward, as if blocking Elysia from the older man. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here…”

“Absolutely correct, yes,” Augarium said.

“But!” Jake continued, undeterred. “Elysia DID something! She jumped into action and risked her life! Two of those Twisted freaks were hot on her heels, and all she thought of was saving you people!”

“Of course she did…” Augarium said, sighing deeply. “Elysia, I will deal with your colossal lack of respect for the rules later. For now, so many of our people were taken. You can help with the rescue and recovery. We need the barrier towers repaired quickly. It looks like they were sabotaged by...”

“Wait, taken? The Twisted didn’t kill everyone?” Elysia asked, hope in her voice.

“Relatively few were killed. Most were taken for slave labor, I assume. Or food…” Aurgarium looked down. “Many of the children and warriors. They were taken towards the old fort on the cliff by the ocean.”

“We have to go after them then!” Elysia begged. “They can still be saved!”

“Elysia, for once in your life, think!” Augarium scolded her. “Our village is broken! Our warriors were killed and taken! Everyone who could fight back has been…”

“Wait, everyone?! Kraelin? Please, tell me he…” Elysia cried out. Augarium sighed sadly.

“Taken,” Augarium lamented.

Elysia immediately began making her way down the road again. “I can’t leave Kraelin to die out there! I…I have to do…I can’t…”  A large vine wrapped around Elysia. She struggled against it, screaming. “Augarium! Please! I can’t let him die!”

“Elysia…you have to accept reality. Some things are, some are not. Some things can change…some never will,” Augarium said.

Her head slumped down. The tears began to flow. She was defeated. She knew it. Augarium wouldn’t budge. She couldn’t do anything. She…

“Which way is the fort? This way?” Jake asked as he walked by.

“And it’s by the ocean! At least we’ll have a pretty view when we get killed!” Alex said, joining his friend.

“Where are you two going?” Augarium asked sternly.

“Oh, see, Elysia needs help. So we’re helping,” Jake said simply.

“Yeah, she said she needed heroes and all, so…guess she got us,” Alex said with a shrug.

“You’ll die. You’ve seen what the Twisted are like. There is no possible way for you to accomplish this,” Augarium said.

“Damn, you’re right. Wish we had some help. Maybe a magical girl. Oh well.” Jake turned and started walking again.

“I could use my plants to stop you, you know,” Augarium called out.

“So do it, bro!” Jake shouted back, not turning around.

Augarium couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Heroes, huh? Damn it all, Elysia…”

The plants around Elysia loosened. She dropped to the ground.

“You are not my daughter. But I love you as one. Remember my words as you do this.” Augarium said, looking intensely at Elysia. “And by the First, use some of the luck you’re abusing today.”

“Thank you, Augarium.” She hugged him tightly. “Please understand, I need to do this.”

“And please understand what it will do to me if I allow this and you do not come back.” Elysia looked into his eyes. The old man was crying.

“Everyone will come home safe. I know it.” Elysia said, turning and running to join the two boys.

“Glad you could make it, Elysia,” Jake said.

“Did you know your plan would work?” Elysia asked. “Would you have gone to the fort without me?”

“I dunno. I’m making this up as I go,” Jake admitted.

“Yes, we are definitely going to die,” Alex said to the whiptail clinging to his shoulder.

*

The 20 foot tall snake man was massive, comprised of glistening green scales which shone in the firelight and rippling muscles of steel. His serpentine head weaved through the air as he addressed the other Twisted, monstrous creatures of many horrible forms, taunting the chained villagers, the two large snake heads which took the place of his hands snapped at the air.

“Another successful raid! Our friend was correct about the Lugara barrier towers being down! What a lucky day to harvest so much meat!” Hydas crowed to thunderous cheers from the Twisted.

“If you think we’re beaten, think again,” one boy of around sixteen said, standing with the chains tightly binding him to a central lock. The great green Twisted sneered, lowering his face to the boy’s level.

“And you are?” Hydas snapped.

“Kraelin,” he said, doing his best to stand tall. “I’m a warrior.”

“Ah, and a fine job of warrioring you did.” The monster’s snake hand hissed in front of a little girl tied near Kraelin. She screamed and cried as Kraelin struggled against his bonds. “Tell me, warrior, what would you do if I tore her head off?”

“Hydas! Calm yourself! We need the meat! Even the whelps!” one of the Twisted called out.

“I believe I made my point,” Hydas said, standing. The little girl cried, but Kraelin stood tall, not moving an inch.

“Kraelin…” Elysia moaned. The group stood in the shadows, watching through a crack in the fort. “I’ve got to save him. He’s my closest friend. He helped me steal the tuner. If he got distracted by me and captured, I could never…we have to…” She trailed off.

“We will,” Jake said confidently. Then he turned to Alex. “How do we do it?”

“Actually, getting them out shouldn’t be hard. The cracks in this place lead right outside, and those central locks hold a bunch of prisoners at once. If we can distract the big bastards, and free the prisoners…”

“Two big ifs,” Jake said.

“Yeah. Hence the problem,” Alex sighed.

“So, what we need is someone to get their attention elsewhere, like a fake attack or something, while someone else busts the locks and gets everyone out all quiet like,” Jake theorized.

Elysia’s face suddenly lit up. “Those dummies might have given us exactly what we need!”

*

The room the Twisted were using to store their stolen loot lit up green with Elysia’s magical glow. “Gotta be here somewhere! Please let them have stolen those too…” she muttered while looking through the pile.

“Why did we spend time finding their treasure hoard?” Alex asked, looking at the strange artifacts and devices piled up with gold and food.

“What are you looking for?” Jake asked.

“A sword and a cloak tied together!” Elysia said quietly.

Alex looked to the whiptail on his shoulder. “Hey, can you go fetch? You know what a sword is? Big metal stick, pointy at the end?” The creature chittered momentarily before leaping off his shoulder and jumping into the treasure pile. A moment later it emerged pulling a sword with a cloak wrapped around it.

“Holy crap, it worked!” Jake said.

“Good boy!” Alex said, rubbing the whiptail’s head. “Or girl. I…I kinda don’t know.”

“Yes! Those are what I was looking for! Our village has many magical artifacts stored in the Hall of Learning, ancient and powerful ones! These are the sword of Malitan and the cloak of Astaven!” Elysia said. “The legends said the hidden powers of these two great heroes would only awaken when two true heroes held them again! The sword would grant immense strength and power, while the cloak and daggers would grant stealth, speed and the ability to open any lock!”

“True heroes? You think she means us, Jake?” Alex asked skeptically.

“You’re damn right she does,” Jake said, holding the sword. It felt right, like he was always supposed to hold it. “We can do this.”

“We will do this,” Elysia said. “We will save everyone!”

Jake smiled and stuck his fist out. “Hell yeah!”

Alex smashed his fist into Jake’s. “Hell yeah!”

Elysia joined in. “Hell yeah! Did…did I do it right?”

“You did great, Elysia,” Jake said. “Now let’s go kick some Twisted ass!”