No More

The little girl's lips trembled once more, and an answer fell out. "They're all dead," she said. "Everyone." And then she began to laugh. As Astra shook her harder, her face contorted in rage, the little girl's laugh grew deeper and darker, until it became a terrible roar from all around them, like the desolate roar of the wind. The "little girl's" skin became burning hot, "her" eyes becoming glowing red embers of hatred. The creature's body began to warp and grew into a creature of hellish red stone, with hideous features, clad in golden finery. Astra's grip weakened as the thing which had seemed like a little girl changed and she realized just what she was facing. She tried to run away from the creature, but found she could not move, riveted to its gaze.

"My gods, what is that thing?" whispered Velus. He wished he could do something to aid Astra, but he had never seen or even heard of such a thing before in his life. Full of fear and confusion, the former farm-boy could not bring himself to move.

Fred and Exotica had no such problems. Fred had no inkling of what the creature was (though he probably would have realized, had he space to think), but he knew that it was threatening Astra, and for that reason it had to be stopped. He drew his sword and charged into battle. Exotica was more hesitant, for she knew just what she was facing. As the heir to Allaria's throne, she had briefly been to Aqualaria before. She had seen seen statues of Elementals there, hideous but with a weird kind of dignity. She remembered the four statues that guarded the royal palace, portraying the lords of the Elementals. She knew instantly that the creature facing her was Leiluxoc, Lord of Fire. But although she was afraid, she knew that she had to help Astra, even if the odds of winning were almost impossible. Drawing the sword that Charles Ranier had given her along with her clothing, screaming the battlecry of the royal house, Exotica charged forward into battle. But Fred and Exotica were hit by a wave of heat that felt almost like a stone wall. They found themselves frozen in midair.

Astra continued to stare into Leiluxoc's eyes. His likeness was exactly like the statue that she had seen looming over the palace all her life. She remembered what the palace was like when she had lived there, how perfectly beautiful in spite of all the ugliness that went on wherever there was politicians. She remembered her mother, stern and just but loving, and her father, wise and noble, and her sisters, bright and courageous and full of life. She remembered how glorious the city was when it thronged with people. It had its problems, like all cities do, but it was far more peaceful than most. She remembered the glorious statues that filled the palace and the temples. She tried to imagine what life must have been like for the thousands of common people who had just been reduced to nothing. Even her family was dead. And she was powerless and weaponless, about to be killed by one of her own gods when she had followed their laws faithfully and lived virtuously all her life to the best of her ability. "Why?" she whispered.

"Your time is over," roared Leiluxoc. "We thought we could lead your people to live in peace and virtue and to keep our laws, but you oppressed and made war on each other, biting like vipers. If we had not come to sweep the world clean of you and your kind, you would have torn each other to pieces, and even those worthy to survive and start the human race again would have died. And do not think yourself blameless, little fool. You let your heart be seduced into admiration and desire for the Allarian knight. He comes from a barbarous people ruled by men, who know only how to make war. We shall do what your people did not have the strength to do, to sweep the world clean of their nation and all their corruption."

"No," whispered Astra, not believing that she was truly saying this. "No. This isn't right..."

"Fool! Who are you to say what is and is not right?" His gaze turned toward the three Allarians. "Before I slay you, I shall slay before your eyes those who you chose over us." Fred, Exotica, and Velus began to scream as the Elemental's power burned their skin. Astra, letting Leiluxoc go, slumped to the ground. She watched dully as Fred, Exotica, and Velus writhed in agony. Their skins were masses of burns. Velus fell to the ground as his eyes rolled up.

At that moment, Astra's fear and despair vanished. She was filled only with white-hot anger and resolution, knowing now what her duty was. She picked up the sword which Exotica had dropped. "No more!" she screamed. "No more!" With that, she lunged at Leiluxoc. She felt waves of heat smash into her, but didn't care anymore. Her sword plunged into the Elemental's chest. She knew in her heart that this was a futile gesture, but could not back down now...

Then, Leiluxoc screamed. Ichor burst from his veins, or whatever he had, drops of it touching Exotica, Fred, Astra, Velus, and the ground around them. His terrible roar lowered into a pained moan, and he faded like a fire going out.

Astra barely had the strength to look at the others, knowing that they were dead because she had not acted quickly enough. But when she finally found the strength to turn her head, she found that each of the three whose bodies were scattered across the ground seemed to be slowly but perceptably healing. They seemed to be the most healed at the places where the ichor had touched them.

Astra took in the sights around her, the ruin of her home, the healing but severely injured bodies of her comrades, the places on the barren ground where small flowers had grown where drops of ichor had fallen. She simply stared into nothing. "What have I done?" she sobbed. "What have I done?" And with that, she fell to the ground and wept.

Through all of this, Charles Ranier watched. The Tower was withdrawing from reality, but he wanted to get a sense of how the plan he had set up was going before he, like the Tower, fully fell into sleep. In his vast, dark study, he had watched the battle through the Tower's eyes with his palantiri seeing-stone. Though he had felt joy before in his time as Guardian, his heart had always been troubled. His meeting with Exotica and the vile Leiluxoc screaming in pain were the first true occasions he had had to smile. It was a shame that he had not been able to give those who had visited him the power to truly kill it--the Tower was a moderating force, not a destructive one. But enchantments he'd placed on the three and on the sword he'd given Exotica had allowed him to level the playing field a bit. For the first time in millennia, the Elementals would be facing beings that had the power to injure them. And the tryant had not been able to harm Exotica. For that reason, he was at peace for the first time in far too long.

His happiness left him when he felt a presence enter the room. He turned heavily around to see a perfectly beautiful woman with skin and robes as white as the ice outside, and hair and eyes as dark as the Tower's exterior. This was the form in which the soul of the Tower came to him on a physical plane. He instinctively bowed before her, still moved by her beauty, even though his heart now belonged to another. Exotica's imperfect but human beauty moved him far more than the Tower's perfect, alien beauty.

"Your heart is troubled, my love," said the Tower to him, with a voice like a starry night sky in the wilderness.

"Yes, it is," said Charles Ranier. "I am sorry. My battle with the Elementals is about to come to a close, and I fear that I shall fail at that which I have fought for all my life. I also fear that Kharven shall overcome you when the time of your rebirth comes."

"There is something else," said the Tower, sternly and sadly. "You have never lied to me before, my love."

"You are right," said Charles Ranier, angry at her for finding him out and at himself for lying to her. "I am sad because Exotica must leave for this battle and put her life at risk. I have never seen another mortal for thousands of years. I am beginning to feel what I have lost when I became your Guardian."

"What about what you have gained?" said the Tower angrily. "Am I no longer enough for you? Do you so quickly forget the joy you felt when you saw the wonders in my heart, and the perfect ectsacy when we make love? Our time together will be over soon enough, when you blow the Great Horn to signal my death and the egg of the new Tower, which the Aqualarians call the Stone of Destiny, shall hatch, and I shall be reborn. On that day, you shall weep for me and for what you have lost. Let us enjoy what we have together while we still can."

"I am sorry, my love," said Charles Ranier. He fumbled for something more to say, but the Tower simply smiled.

"Do not fear," she said. "Because of the nature of our bond, I can no more hate or abandon you than you can hate or abandon me." She beckoned to him. "I fear too for what Kharven may do, but let us make love before I go to sleep, perhaps for the last time." Ranier walked over to her and let her take him into her arms, feeling her exhilerating touch. She led him to the Tower's Heart, and they made love, but Charles Ranier could not keep his mind from sometimes wandering to Exotica.

1. Meanwhile, Astra...

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