The Changes

Part 22: Finale

I was so glad that Kaleiron had made it, I almost forgot that the fate of the world was in our hands.

"Kaleiron!" Marissa gasped. "You made it!"

"Oh my gosh, we thought you were dead!" cried Ashton.

"Uh, who's this guy?" questioned Noah, he looked like he felt awkward.

Amber cursed in surprise.

"Kaleiron, I'm so glad you're here! Now you can help us with this guy," I said. I felt so happy. I had lost him right after we had met him again, and he came back.

Fortunately, Vladmir had dropped Sadie in shock. Sadie quickly scrambled away, hiding under another table.

Even Vladmir was surprised about Kaleiron's presence. "Nephew- how? You're supposed to be dead."

"Uncle, right before I hit the ground, I opened a portal to my safe place. That's why you didn't see my body," Kaleiron's face was contorted with rage, his voice trembling with anger.

Vladmir seemed delighted to see Kaleiron so mad. "Ah, I had assumed that you had disintegrated like other Mages. You are very clever. I have taught you well."

Kaleiron obviously did not like that. "You-you scathing scumbag-"

"Watch your language, now," said Vladmir waving a finger. "Join me, nephew, and we will rule in chaos."

"That doesn't make any sense," Leyna pointed out. "How do you rule in chaos? There would be no authorities."

Just then the blonde man appeared. "You kids need a little help?" he grumbled. Then he regarded Kaleiron. "Kaleiron, you have grown."

"Halius." Kaleiron seemed to recognize the man as well.

"This will be fun," said Vladmir, rubbing his hands together, though I thought I saw a hint of doubt. Though Vladmir was clever and quick, his people were done with, and all he had was himself.

Noah had gotten up, but was still rubbing his head where the ceramic had hit him. My friends advanced on him, and as he backed up, Kaleiron opened up a portal. He vanished. The portal still swirled.

"That was a bit too easy." Ethan said. He looked puzzled.

"We aren't done yet," Kaleiron hastily responded. "We have to finish him."

Kaleiron pulled my arm and dragged me through. My friends and Halius followed.

---

We ended up on a snowy mountain side. It was isolated besides Vladmir crouching in the snow. He carefully stood up.

"This is where we will battle?" He gestured towards the setting. "How exciting! It is wild, and there are no rules here!"

Marissa looked around in wonder. She was glad that we ended up in a place full of ice and snow- her specialty.

"It's cold," complained Barry, hugging himself.

Halius tossed Barry his sweat jacket. "Thanks," Barry said, wrapping it around himself.

Halius summoned a pack of wild arctic dogs- or so it seemed. As they charged at Vladmir, he stood completely still. They passed right through him.

"Nice illusion, but you'll have to do better than that." Vladmir gave us his signature evil grin.

   Kaleiron raised his arms to freeze time, by Vladmir was too quick. Though you could visibly see that he had slowed down, he was still walking. I shifted into a wolf and charged around me, my friends were firing at him, though no one was stupid enough to charge at him- unlike me. I tried to bite his leg, but my fangs barely touched his skin before he kicked me away. In doing so, my teeth had sunken a bit deeper into his leg. He howled he pain, then came at Kaleiron and knocked him over when he was deep in concentration. Time went back to normal.

   Halius turned the setting to a black room. He must've been tired, because if you concentrate really hard, you could still see through the illusion and the snowy mountains. The illusion was effective. For a while, Vladmir believed he was confined, racing around while we tried to hit him. Every time I noticed a blur go by I would try to hit him with my staff, but I was too slow.

  To my right, I heard a cry of pain. Apparently, Ethan had hit him on his right arm with a knife.

  In that moment, Kaleiron got back up, and punched Vladmir square in the face. He groaned, but got over the illusion. He went straight through the wall of the black room. The illusion disappeared. Marissa summoned a large chunk of ice, and waved her arm, throwing the block as if an invisible hand had hurled it. It did not hit Kaleiron, but it cornered him in front of a rock.

   Halius seemed to be floating. His illusion was really believable, because Vladmir cowered, and even my friends and I stared in awe. Amber was a step ahead of us. She summoned a rain cloud above Vladmir, and drenched him, then thunder upon him. He was angry all right. Despite being freezing cold, Vladmir got up, and started to run inhumanly fast inside the ice barricade. It melted a bit, and he sprinted out. Ashton was now a dragon. He swiped his long scaly tail on the snow, causing a mini blizzard, making it hard for Vladmir to see. Snapping out of shock, Noah held up his hands, and a bright light appeared. We knew enough to turn away, but Vladmir was unprepared. He covered his eyes. Barry striked him with a bolt of lighting.  Leyna burnt the ice beneath his feet, making him sink deeper.

   I took this time to charge at Vladmir, my staff at the ready, but despite being hit so many times, he was quick. He pushed my staff back at me, and for a while, we gripped the bar of staff and I pushed with all my might. He suddenly knew he couldn't win, and rushed away, leaving kneeling, puzzled in the freezing snow. I got up, my hands shivering from the cold metal.

   I looked behind me, and saw Halius and Kaleiron fighting with Vladmir. Halius appeared to be hovering, but he was actually still on the ground, and when Vladmir looked up, he got kicked in the nuts. I actually almost legitimately started to laugh. Barry was already there. He snorted. Vladmir crumpled over, keeling in pain. Before he could do anything, we all blasted him at the same time, Amber with her wind, Marissa sent a flurry of snowballs at him, Ethan hit him with another knife to the back, Leyna somehow set his hair on fire, Noah sent glowing yellow orbs at him,and I charged at him as a wolf. At that moment, Ashton whacked Vladmir with his tail, sending him over the mountainside. He disappeared a puff of smoke.

---

   So, I'm about to go to school now. After we had killed Vladmir- (I don't prefer to use the term 'kill'; let's say 'un-alive') so after we un-alived Vladmir, we were reasonably exhausted. Kaleiron used his last smidgen of strength to open a portal for us. We returned the stone, and helped Sadie get to her parents. Since Kaleiron didn't have enough strength to open another portal, we caught a taxi to the local airport, and Amber paid for our tickets (naturally). Halius actually turned out to be the man in the wooden shack that saved Marissa. (His illusion magic is just amazing.)

   He thanked us for saving mankind (you're welcome) and disappeared. Barry had assumed that he had died and started panicking.

   When I came home, it was just like me getting home from school. My mom was at work, and Lacey had after-school classes. My grandma was at home, but she was upstairs, resting. I sneaked upstairs, and cleaned up, though I wasn't sure how to explain my cuts and bruises to my family. That night, I pretty much wore my hoodie at dinner, and throughout the night. My hair covered a lot of my face, anyway, so it wasn't too much to hide. Then I went to bed. I was so happy to be with my family again, and I had the best sleep I had had in a week- or it had seemed so.

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*I hope you enjoyed! I had a lot of fun writing this. Let me know in the comments if I should write a sequel. :D
Thanks for all your support!