The Gates of Cardel

Encounter

The cold breeze of the night is the only thing felt within the silence that encapsulates the camp.
Zodiac turns around and stares and says,
"Why on Panarea would you mention that name?"
"I asked him," I said, butting in before things get out of hand. She looks at me with disbelief and concern.
"Why do you want to know?" She questioned. Sin is even looking at me with the same question written on his face.
"He was the only one I couldn't find information on, no matter how hard I tried. He really left no trace of home behind. So I thought you guys would have the enlightenment I need." I replied.
"Well, all you need to know is that he left us, with a grudge and resentment."
"Well, there's more to it than that."
"Well there is but I'm not sharing it. And if you're going to, you can isolate yourselves."
"Ok," Sin replied. He waved his hand and air around us shifted. "There we go, now we can talk."
"What is this?"
"It's a wind barrier, the air around us has solidified in layers like a wall, making this area we're in soundproof to everyone else"
"Ok. So what was it that he did?"
"We were assigned to a task from a court official. There was a murderer on the loose. There wasn't much of a description of him as he was never really seen. But we took the job anyway. A few weeks in we were close to catching him and he was starting to get desperate to get away. Emilis over there walked in to the lodging we were staying at and saw Martela dead on the floor. Serpith was standing over her with a dagger covered in blood. When he saw her he fled and Emilis was left with her best friends corpse in her room."
"Oh no."
"Turns out that the murderer was a shapeshifter and that he was the one that killed Martela. However, we already convicted Sepith for the murder. The people that should have stood by him and supported him, threw him away. By the time we learned the truth and sorted things out, it was too late. He was too far gone. He mustered a newfound hatred for us and he became that 'evil' or 'darkness' in that prophecy about us."
"That must have been hard on everyone, I'm sorry."
"It was most hardest on Emilis. So, before things could get out of hand, we banished him from this world and by doing that we became those statues. Frozen in time."
"That would explain it."
"That is our story."

The light breaks across the horizon, signalling the beginning of another day.
Codias is stirring the fire with a stick he found. Keeping it alive and keeping watch over the grassland that surrounds us.
Within seconds his expression went from peaceful and calm, to fierce and agitated. He looks up into the distance, just past me, and starts growling.
Everyone woke up, grabbed their weapons and gathered around me aiming in the direction Codias is growling at.
"What's going on?!" I asked.
"Codias has sensed an imminent threat," Medola said, "What is it?" Directing the question to him.
"I don't know, but it seems familiar somehow."
"How can he sense danger?" I asked, hoping someone will answer.
"His earth magic allows him to a tune himself with nature and with his canine-like form his senses are heightened much higher than any human, allowing him to sense such things," Alixane explains.
"Shhh," Sin said "we don't know what this treat is. We have to be ready for anything and if Codi has reacted to it, it's serious."
A silence falls over us, I hear the strain of Alixane's bow and the fire being summoned at the tip of Lillith's staff.
An apparition appears a couple of tri-units ahead of us. A purple-ish firey mist releases across the sky.
A dark humanoid misted figure appears from out of nowhere, walking towards us.
"And here I thought I wouldn't have to see your annoying faces ever again." It says.
"That voice!" Jel says.
"Why are you here!?" Sin yelled.
"You know, that's funny I was thinking the exact same thing. I wake from my banishment to find all of you infesting my domain."
"This land does not belong to you Serpith, it belongs to the people of Panarea" Sin claimed.
"That is not my name and you know that!!" It screamed
"Oh right how could we forget, Lord Verge." Sin replies sarcastically.
Verge! A flood of memories come flooding to my head, ones of the prophecy. The Verge, him, the darkness. It's all him. He brings upon the world it's darkest hour.
"You are going to die for that commentary."
It raises its hand, and just before it can do anything Alixane and Lillith both fire.
The arrow glows green and multiplies then decapitating its head with his consecutive shots.
The fire swirls around the arrows and hits it in the chest creating a large hole when it cleared.
The impact itself creates a large enough explosion to flatten my entire village. I'm just glad I'm behind all of them.
It starts laughing and says,
"That was adorable, your little candlelight flames and machine gun arrows. Time hasn't given the mighty Gates any justice."
Gun? Sin's face went blank as if he saw a ghost, whispering,
"Machine gun..." At this moment Codias charges the thing, madalay following behind, hidden by his size.
"Die you Shadow!" He screams.
Shadow? There's gonna be a lot of questions later.
The Shadow barely moves, waving his finger and Codias gets thrown back by an immense focused wind.
Without having time to react, Madalay gets hit by Codias and tossed across the fields with him.
Waving his hand again, it flings everyone but Sin and I passed the fire that's behind us.
"I see you have a new pet Adoasin."
"She, is not, my pet!" Sin refused, directing his arm in a motion towards the shadow.
Earth pillars come rushing out of the ground from all directions curving around and heading straight for the shadow. They change colour as they fly towards it, almost a metal look.
Just as the pillars hit it, they are stopped by this proactive shield.
"Better, but not quite good enough."
The pillars break into little shards and begin firing at us. Sin creates a wall that takes most of the shards, but a few get through.
"Nia," Sin chocked, turning his head with blood dripping from his mouth. "Run, Run!"
I turn to go but freeze. The sound of the wall crumbling and blood splatting across the ground catch me in my tracks.
Turning back I see Sin outstretched on the ground and the Shadow walking this way. His blood slowly staining the ground beneath him.
"No!!" I scream rushing over to him.
"I told you to run" Sin manages to say.
"Yes, it would have been a wise choice. But it seems you want the same fate as everyone else." The shadow said with amusement in its voice.
An arrow suddenly lands in the side of its head and explodes. Its head takes shape again.
"You really are annoying." It says. Alix convulses, I can clearly see the pain he's in from here.
I have to do something, anything. I can't let them die, I can't let him die. I stand up, looking death straight in the face.
"Oh? Looks as though the puppy wants to play." It says mockingly.
I just let go. The magic I learned to get into that academy, the magic of the gates. Now was a good of a time as any to use it.
"Chaotic Disruption!!" I yell. Hands outstretched and open towards the shadow as they now start to glow.
The blinding golden light shines far over the fields.
"What is this?" It says
A beam shoots out and pierces the shadow. The intensity can be felt through the rattling of the ground. It's a lot more strong than I remember. Probably because I haven't used it since the entrance exams.
The power subsides and the shadow looks up, and says to me,
"That is no way to treat your new Dark Lord."
He stumbles a step forward and falls to his knees.
"Oh, it seems that my time is up. We will see each other again. Our fate has been set."
And with that, he dissipates into the air and the sky cleared up, revealing a shining beautiful new day.
Catching my breath from the events that just happened, I realised that Sin was still bleeding out. I rush over to him and fall to my knees.
I roll him over onto his back and cry out,
"Sin, Sin!! stay with me."
"Ouch"
"Sin!"
"Where is Emilis?" He whispers "Get Emilis."
"Emilis!!!"
She comes running over and immediately starts healing him. I can see the wounds close up and the blood disappear.
He jolts up with a panicked expression,
"Where did he go?!" He said.
"He disappeared, he left."
"Why on Panarea would he just leave?"
"He said he ran out of time or something along those lines," Fillorish adds in saying,
"He ran out of magic to control his doll."
"Doll?" I questioned
"That was a shadow puppet, a mimic of the caster, however, it only has half the amount of power."
"That was only half?!"
"Sepith seems to have gotten stronger from his banishment." Sin said.
"If it weren't for you we wouldn't be here right now. You drained the magic that was being used to control it with that spell you used." Fill thanked.
"What was that spell you used?" Sin asked as Emilis goes off to check on the others.
"It was one of yours, 'Chaotic Disruption'? One I learnt from the scrolls documented about you guys" I said.
"That isn't any of our spells." Sin said, "I can cast 'Chaotic Destruction' but it's nothing like what you just did."
"Oh, it mustn't have been documented properly. Heh heh," I mused, feeling like I didn't something wrong.
"Well, I'm glad that we were able to survive that, but we won't be able to again if we don't get stronger."
Alixane comes limping over resting on Amadaia's shoulder and says,
"Our skills, our weapons, our magic. None of it was effective against him. And that was only his shadow."
I want to help but I don't know how, it's not like I can give them extra power. More power!! The Gates treasures!!!
"The Treasures!!!" I blurted subconsciously.
"The what?" Lillith asked
"Sorry, the Gates Treasures."
"What are they dear?"
"They are weapons or magical items the Kingdom of Umalka created as gifts for all of you."
"That seems nice of them." Sin said with a smile beaming across his face.
"Oh shut up for once in your life and let the poor girl speak." Zodiac expressed as she hit him across the back of his head.
"Umm, thanks. You were planned to get them after your last battle, but since you didn't return we all assumed you dead. After a while they were placed in the king's secret vault."
"Why not just give them to someone else to use" Jelira questioned.
"Well they were designed with you guys in mind, so they were adapted so that only you can use them or give authority for someone else to use, but since you couldn't, they are now wall ornaments and the country's greatest treasure."
"Well, I'd say that our next heading is to retrieve our treasures from the king." Sin suggested.
"That won't be as easy as you'd think."
"Why?"
"The throne has been left empty for decades now, and only the royal bloodline can gain access to it."