This was it.
We had fought our way to this point, shed blood and tears, taking every inch we could when we lost so much in return, the man was a monster.
Nothing could stop us from our goals, I sharpened my blade, polished my armor. We knew that he had to be taken down. Three years of trying to stop his plan of building his machine and we had reached the final confrontation. His Army of soulless ice constructs had gotten to the kingdom of Liron’s borders and we were outnumbered. He was ready to collect the last piece he needed, so he could finally use his machine, and the people of our home was the fuel.
We had to stop him ,we were not going to let him take any more innocent life, my companions and I had set out to stop him once and for all. We rushed the gates of his fortress made of ice, stuck in the center of the frozen lands just north of our home. He had send most of his forces to Liron, so we had to take advantage of this and try to take him down before his army reached the Silver walls of Liron.
Despite it’s lowered defences, this fortress was merciless. Truly a testament of how mad this man must had been. The passages were ever changing, so when we had to stop to rest our surroundings had completely changed. Around every corner was a frozen creature of legend, and as we had learned quickly, not necessarily dead creatures, and some rooms triggered to release them upon entering, we had lost our rouge Keisa along the way to a lich who was frozen in the floor and tore out her throat. We almost abandoned the quest all together after that but then after two days of searching in this damn place we had finally found it, the final room, the final door. We steeled our resolve and prepared ourselves for the final confrontation, for the sake of our fallen comrades, for the sake of our friends and families, FOR LIRON!
The battle was hell, he gave us no quarter. We had entered the room and without even so much as giving us a chance, he killed Jared the spell master impaling him on a spike of ice. Before we could even register what was going on a dragon made of ice had risen out of the ground and comming after us. Peiter was quick to act and smashed the constructs skull ,taking its attention. The striking of his mace on ice rang loud, waking Eise and myself from our state of shock. We knew our plan was that one of us took care of the constructs while the others took care of him.
The real monster.
We charged behind the construct to face our foe for the final time, and instead of shock, or surprise, we were greeted by his broken smile, the same smile he always wore the last three times we had met him.
I knew something was wrong, but as my mind was quick, my words were not. Eise was already on him. Shield raised deflecting the icicles he had launched at her, and her sword mid swing going for his neck. If it were not for the shield she loved so dear that she had our god’s crest imbued into it, she would have probably died from the explosion. As her blade impacted him, he burst into a thousand shards of ice, throwing her ten feet to the floor, and leaving her a bloody mess. I rushed to her side healing her with what little magic I had left, I was able to stabilize her, but as I was about to heal her more I heard the cry of pain from Peiter. I knew that I had to leave her there. We had all made a promise to end this once and for all no matter what the cause, and I knew that this could only end, if we killed him.
I quickly returned to my feet and looks around, the room, I knew he was close he had to be for the ice dragon construct. It taxed his body too much to control something complex from a distance, I saw movement behind the throne made of black ice, never ran so fast in my life. I charged with everything I had, and did not hesitate, dagger in hand i quickly thrusted into him before even registering what I had seen. This was our mission, our goal. With this single trust I had saved my home, avenged my fallen comrades, saved Eise.
And yet, he smiled.
He slowly slid to the floor as his construct turned into water almost in sync with when he hit the ground. He Chuckled and then spoke slowly, and clearly, looking me dead in the eyes with a large grin on his face, as if he was telling me a joke.
I can finally rest in peace. Knowing Hero’s like you exist.
These words haunt me to this moment, and it has been three years since that day.
Pieter and I had to carry Eise out as the building was collapsing around us, we barely made it out as it came crashing down sinking into the cold ocean it stood on. Bright lights flew into the sky and where the castle once stood was the bodies of our fallen comrades were there, encased in a silver like ice. As we approached to gather them to our shock, they broke out on their own alive and well, it was like nothing I had even heard of before, I know they had been dead, yet here they were once again alive.
So once Eise was awake we had headed home. And what I learned his why his words haunt me.
His armies had reached the walls, but did not attack. The city was his for the taking and yet he left it alone. Jared chalked it up to him being unable to siege the city while engaged in combat with us.
But to me something still feels...off.
Like this was part of his plan, like he was preparing for something more.And we the reason we even started adventuring together in the first place was because of him.
What worries me is, if this was just the set up.
What is next.