AEONS: THE GODS ARE DAMNED

Chapter 29

Their feet crunched the snow as they walked, then they stopped as other feet came towards them from the trees.
Chase stops as he saw the brothers standing in front of them and Allania stops as well.
Ralnor was clearly not happy but his exact emotion was concealed; Haemir was clearly relieved and Eldrin looked at Allania with suspicion.
“What exactly was that?” Ralnor asked raising his voice
“I was surviving” Chase answered
“You were out of your mind, how did you get out of the bond?” Ralnor shouted
“I helped him” Allania quickly said before Chase could answer
“No you didn’t, no one knows the spell to break that boundary, and even if you do, the energy expended would have killed you, except…” Eldrin says
“She channeled someone” Haemir piped in
“I found a way to bypass that” they all faced him, “by channeling the realm”
“You haven’t even gotten that good at it…” Eldrin said surprised
“I practiced and got better” Chase defended
“Liar!” Ralnor shouted, “Someone has been training you, your skills are mixed, your spells advance faster than normal even for an aeon”
“Yes, I am being trained, happy?”
“By whom? Haemir asks
“Alinar”
“Who is Alinar?” Eldrin quizzed
“Seriously?” Chase was surprised
“I have lived for thousands of years and never came across the word Alinar” Ralnor said, he clearly wasn’t taking this well.
“Well, thousands of years is a long time, maybe your memory got dulled”
“Drengrins have perfect memories, we never forget as thing” Eldrin shot in
“I have to say the word sounds familiar, it is an Aeonic word” Haemir said, “which begs the question, how do you that word?”
“He has been to me in my dreams even before I came to this realm at all”
“So this Alinar has been teaching you?” Haemir asked
“Yes, he said we have lesser time than anticipated”
“We will discuss this later, right now you need to get back to warmth” Haemir said and turned to leave.
*
“Well, today went well”
“You think?”
“Well..."
"I was supposed to accomplish the mission alone, I didn’t”
“You were holding up quite well before I arrived”
“I can’t believe they have no idea who Alinar is”
“It surprised me; they are like the oldest in the lands”
“Not anymore, I found a very, very old dragon some days ago, Haemir showed me, about 150, 000 years old”
Allania chuckled lightly, “That is impossible; all the ancient dragons are all dead, the last ones were destroyed during the purge”
“What if I prove you wrong?”
“Why do I have a feeling you are right?”
“Maybe because I am, come with me” He dragged her along
*
They stopped at the gates and the statues moved their trident; the gate creaks open; they walked in and stopped at the spacious ledge.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the son of Korvac Drengriel”
“Grimuth” Allania said with wide eyes
“You know him?”
“Everyone knows him, the scars on his body is a testament of his power, he was feared during the dark days”
“Grimuth! You seem to have lots of fans” Chase shouted
Grimuth chuckled, “You speak like your father, why don’t you come near so that I may check if you taste like him”
“Very funny” Chase laughed
“We shouldn’t be here” Allania lamented
“I know, I just want to have time with this old monster; have I ever shown you the best torturing spell I have”
“No”
“Watch this” he raised his right hands and the rune on the chains glowed; Grimuth roared in pain and Chase laughed before stopping;
“I seriously think we should leave”
Chase spent more time torturing the old beast before Grimuth eventually tire.
“Don’t tell me you are weak now, Grimuth the cruel” Chase taunts
With a roar Grimuth released a fury of flames at them, even before either of them could register what was going on. Fortunately there was a magic shield encircling the beast, holding him back in case the chains didn’t.
“Whoa, that was close”
Suddenly darkness filled the volcano, thunder rumbled and the runes on the chains glowed.
“I hear you my lords” Grimuth shouted to the sky, a blast of lightning came from the sky and hit the chains; the chains snapped.
Grimuth charged for them; Chase was too shocked to even move. Grimuth released a blast of fire; Chase covered Allania with himself but something stopped the fire.
Chase opened his eyes to see Eldrin standing between them and Grimuth; Eldrin looked back at him and shouted, “Leave”
They both ran out of the volcano and Eldrin battled the beast alongside Ralnor, Haemir and Aranor.
*
Minutes later, with the combined force of Eldrin, Aranor, Ralnor and Haemir, they were able to reactivate the spell in the volcano and Grimuth was trapped again.
*
“You think you will be in trouble?”
“I don’t know but they don’t look like they liked what happened” Chase replied sitting on his bed
She sat beside him, “you didn’t do anything wrong”
“They are so going to kill me”
“You did it for me, it was not your fault, the dark gods wanted you dead and they tried”
“We got lucky”
“Yes, and they are more grateful that you survived than they are mad”
*
“…doesn’t mean it still has to be a bad thing” Eldrin said as the inner circle sat round the table
“Do you remember the meaning of the word yet, Haemir?” Aranor asked
“It is an Aeonic word, it means Legion” Haemir answered
“Legion?” Ralnor asked
“I think I know what it is” Eldrin said with a distant look
“What?” Aranor asked
“Korvac spoke of a certain Aeonic practice, it was called Legion, it is a way to join the essence of several Aeons”
“To keep it?” Itham asked
“In a way, it is more of a way to keep a dead Aeon alive, or still around” Eldrin explained
“You think Korvac kept himself alive in some way” Haemir asked
“He was very powerful, and Aeons…they are very complex beings, we never really got full understanding of their powers, or limits but still, it was only theoretical he said the practice was never gotten right” Eldrin said facing Haemir
“So Korvac found a way and he is training his own child” Itham said
“We can’t be so sure about that” Ralnor said
“There is only one way to be truly sure of that” Aranor said and they all faced him
“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Eldrin asked
“I sure hope I am” Aranor said
“If I understand what you are both thinking of, then it might be impossible, Aeons are immune to mind manipulative attacks or intrusions” Aelene said
“He is untrained and young” Aranor said
“His mind is weak” Ralnor added
“And tired from the stress you let him through today” Haemir piped in
“There is always an advantage even to bad things” Ralnor defended
“Let’s just get it over with” Itham finalized