015 - Fire and Stone - Part 3 -

The blood seeped down below, the earth drinking its wetness adding its colour to deepen its dye.

Thud!!!

"I thought that I told you to leave the Eldrin holder's family!" the shout of Lambert rocked across the land.

Thud!!!

"Sorry it was an accident," Harald laughed seemingly uncaring as the goliath of a man, Zek Brown, started to heck at him with his hatchet in wild rage-filled motions.

A loud sound rattled the earth, turning the very land into a drum, and then the shaking began again everything started to shudder under the influence of the power of Eldrin.

Thud!!!

The drumbeat was like the rhythmic beating of the heart for those who understood, each time the drum was stuck a greater tremor coursed through the earth, causing cracks and fissures to open up and spread in all directions.

Lambert's eyes narrowed, he truly was envious of the power the boy held it was more than he had ever felt coming from anyone even her majesty.

Though unfocused and untrained it was still deadly even to him, if he made a wrong move now he knew that it could very well be the end of him.

Lambert focused and quickly came up with a plan as he saw Harald knock Zek flat on the ground, he looked at the blond-haired girl crying over the corpse of the woman along with the Eldrin holder.

Lambert passed through the few survivors with a quick step he landed right beside Cassandra and levelled his sword at her while shouting an order to Harald.

"Boy seize your hold of the power, or I'll have this girl's head fly and the head of your father," he said pointing at Zek who was on his knees, two soldiers held him on either side as blood spilt from his face, and on his neck the tip of a drawn arrow rested.

Thud!!!

But the words of the knight fell upon deaf ears, the blood rushed through Uriel like a raging tide it was impossible for him to hear anything beyond that raging sound.

His hands were red with the blood of his mother, and his face was soaked from the cascading tears of loss and hate, the cracks spread from all around his body, yet they didn't venture near the body of his mother, nor did they disturb Cassandra or any of the other villagers.

Uriel had only two thoughts in his mind.

Destroy the soldiers!!!

Protect the villagers!!!

His ears were deaf to all other things, as he looked up from his mother to find the burning sword of Lambert hanging an inch from Cassandra's neck.

"I'll kill you!!!" Uriel roared and the earth responded, a crack raced through the earth splitting it in half as it got between Lambert and Cassandra.

Then the earth climbed up on either side, the side with Cassandra remained fixed high in the air, while on the other side where Lambert stood the earth folded over like a book being shut.

Booom!!!

The ground rattled with a cacophonous explosion.

Uriel turned around to look at whatever it was that the Knight had been pointing to, and his body turned cold when he saw the beaten figure of his dad.

The world seemed to operate in slow motion as he saw the archer behind his dad smiling at him as his fingers slipped from the shaft of the arrow.

"No!!!" Uriel roared and stamped on the earth, in response the earth liquified and darted forward like a tidal wave.

Harald's eyes turned wide in surprise but his surprise lasted only a fraction of a second, choosing not to loose the arrow he jumped forward with a grin.

A translucent mist gathered around the archer's legs as he stomped into the earth and suddenly another tidal wave of earth erupted from beneath him this one moved with great control and finesse and surged over the wave Uriel had sent swallowing it whole.

Before Uriel could do anything the archer turned back and levelled his bow at Zek, then he fired.

Uriel's eyes turned wide in terror, "Stop!" he cried in despair, pleading to the world, and as if in response a projectile burst from the earth, a spear of sorts heading for the arrow.

But there was a sudden flash and a blinding flame that appeared in the path of the stone projectile.

The brilliance of the flame forced Uriel to shut his eyes, and when he opened them again his entire chest and throat clenched up, and weakness extended to his legs.

Uriel fell to his knees weeping harder than ever before, for in his sight he could see Lambert covered in dirt but seemingly unharmed, while behind the knight blood gushed out of his dad's throat.

The soldiers holding his arms let go and he buckled forward and his blood joined his wife's upon the earth along with the blood of so many villagers who were being pressed and slaughtered by the soldiers that arrived.

His hearing returned only for him to hear the desperate cries of those dying all around him, and the harrowed shrills of those forced to watch their loved ones die right before their eyes.

On the pillar he created, he could see Cass fallen over, the edge of her dress rippled in the cold breeze and he knew not if she was dead.

"DIE!!!!!!!" Uriel didn't know how exactly it was that he was controlling the earth, but that didn't matter, all that he wanted now was to die, and for the soldiers to die with him, he could see no point in living now that his entire family was gone.

Despair took him and once again the earth answered with a turbulent rumble.

"Seize or I'll kill you, and her," said Lambert pointing at Cassandra, he had had enough, he wanted Uriel's power for his queen but now it was almost certain that Uriel would never give in.

If he chose not to join her majesty Celestia then he was an enemy and would have to be dealt with as such, this was his final warning and offer.

"Die!!! Die!!! Die!!!" cried Uriel in response he had nothing to live for anymore, he couldn't repay the villagers now that they were all dead, he couldn't repay his mom and dad who adopted him, and he couldn't repay Cassandra for loving him.

If he accepted their terms then he would be helping the murderers of his parents, that was about as disgraceful a thing as he could ever imagine.

His curses signalled the end.

The earth shuddered, it was a hundred or perhaps a thousand or maybe more, that was the number of projectiles that burst from the earth it shredded through soldiers as it went up a dozen feet into the air, then came crashing back down impaling them in a continuous rain.

Lambert focused and charged forward at Uriel aptly avoiding the rising and descending stone spears, his eyes were clouded with rage when he saw how many of his soldiers were being torn apart, it was going to be troublesome to explain this to the queen.

As he grew closer to Uriel he had to be more careful the closer he got the more focused the projectiles became.

He closed the distance and bared his flaming sword aiming to cut down Uriel in one decisive blow, but as he reached the young Eldrin holder their gaze locked and he saw the shadow of hatred burning in those eyes.

It made him all the more certain that the boy before him was a threat that needed to be exterminated no matter what if he learnt how to harness his Eldrin there was simply no telling how dangerous he would become.

But as if the boy had seen through his movements he stepped back, and as Lambert pursued him the earth that he stepped on sunk in pulling both his feet down.

Lambert's eyes sharpened as he flooded his feet with the translucent mist intending to stop his fall, but before he could even give a command the earth hardened around his feet locking him in place.

Then the world rapidly started to accelerate, and the pressure of the air pressed him against the enormous pillar that hurtled high into the sky.

"Damn!" Lambert cursed as he fought to break free.

As the knight disappeared into the night sky Harald looked up with surprise though he wasn't worried he'd seen his leader get out of worse situations.

But that did leave one thing, he turned to look at Uriel as he jumped between the pesky stone spears, one thing was certain the boy had to go.

He dared not approach, if Lambert suffered up close then he would likely share a similar fate.

He looked down at his trusty bow, thinking that it was a good thing he chose to become an archer, he reached back and pulled out a strange blunted arrow with a black feather fletching.

He wasn't going to hold back with someone who held such power, as he pulled the arrow back translucent mist gathered along the shaft and tip and gave the arrow a tip so sharp it seemed to cut the air apart.

He pulled back slowly and aimed for his chest, these arrows were hard to aim precisely because of their power but at this distance, he was sure he could make it work.

Whoosh!!!

Putchiii!!!

Uriel shuddered as he felt pain overtake his body, he looked down and touched his stomach, and to his surprise he felt a great deal of warmth on the tip of his finger and it extended to his legs.

He looked down and found a gapping hole in his body with blood gushing out.

Only a second passed and the world went black as his head hit the ground with a thud.

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