“Am I growing taller, or is the room shrinking?” Guo Gan asked the party as they finished loading the treasure hoard in the pocket dimension of the gloom dragon Qazyldrath.
Kildo looked to the monk. He found two things curious. The first, he now had the outline of a goatee. Second, the hair was coming in with a green hue. He heard water lapping and saw the acidic water from the swamp encroach into the room.
“Scomatch, get us out of here!” Kia ordered as the area began shaking and rumbling.
“Cave quake!” Scomatch began casting, Teleport.
Kildo felt an immense pressure building. The very air felt restrictive. It stretched and squeezed the dwarven cleric’s body tightly, then the lair of Qazyldrath winked out of existence.
***
Blinking back to the spelljammer, Space Dragon, the ship returned to Xaryxispace. The sun burned brighter than before and less diminished, as if absorbing energy, without the Dark One draining it. The vessel approached a moth-shaped citadel. As they grew closer, there were numerous buildings, too many to count. The end of the wingtips had places where ships could dock. Their destination, the Temple of Light, was at the moth-like construction’s head. They could see thousands of people on the streets. Crowds were everywhere around the citadel. A celebratory festival was underway as the ship maneuvered into one of the last empty ports. Most, if not all, of the vessels, both astral elves and rebel fleet of the willing, had some remnants of battle damage being repaired.
As the command crew, Kai, Guo Gan, Scomatch, and Kildo exited and began walking down the pier. Several golden-armored astral elves with long spears and shields approached.
Their leader, with a bright blue sash, stepped ahead and said, “Welcome back. My orders are to deliver you to the Temple of Light and Emperess Xedalli.”
Traveling, the guard escorted them through the jovial astral elves. They saw Empress Xedalli standing on the platform overlooking the arena. A number of guards and a priest in fine, multicolored garb stood nearby. It had eight giant-sized golden statues encircling the area. They each had various poses or held different objects. It seemed these were prior Emperor and Empresses, and understanding that elves could live for a thousand years or more, it represented a governance of possibly a myriad of ten thousand years. In the center was a pool of azure water; within that center, a light beam shot up and out, extending to the sphere’s sun. A new statue of pure marble, the outline female, was in the process of being carved.
“Xaryxis and my people will continue for another thousand years. Thanks to you and the Space Dragon,” Empress Xedalli said, giving the slightest of nods. Dressed in pure white with a tiara, she radiated pure regal splendor. She glided across the room and motioned to refreshments. A servant poured her a glass of wine, and she took a sip before continuing.
“I must say everyone, myself included, was amazed you returned.”
“Why be that?” Kildo inquired.
“Because no one has ever returned. As the prophecy foretold, no followers of light would be able to vanquish the Dark One,” Empress Xedalli explained.
“It be a good thing we ain’t be followers of light. I be a follower of Rigga, the Earthmother,” Kildo stated as he motioned to the servant for a glass of wine. Taking and downing it quickly, it had a sweet, fruity flavor. He motioned for another. “Now, princess-”
“Empress.”
“Now, Empress, how about ye be removing the crystal vines on me planet,” Kildo said.
“No, I can not.”
“Here we be going again. Ye can’t or ye won’t.”
“Our sun, Xaryxis, was consumed ten thousand years ago. It became a dead star. Our ancestors build the Temple of Light to save our race. The energy accumulated throughout the sphere has been sent here via the crystalline vines to regenerate that power so my people can live,” Empress Xedalli clarified.
Kai asked, “How do you know that your sun can’t power itself now since the Dark One has been slain?”
“I do not know another way to power a sun. If you do, I would be glad to hear you out,” Empress Xedalli said.
“I be wondering that myself,” Kildo mumbled under his breath.
Kildo noticed Kai’s knuckles go white from clutching Wave tightly. The paladin began a series of deep, calming breathing. “So, are you going to stop this maniac behavior of killing other suns and worlds to feed your own?”
Guo Gan suggested, “Wait and see if the sun reunites, and if not, evacuate your people.”
“It would not be a popular decision with my subjects. I will be vilified.”
“Maybe, but maybe not, but yer history, as well as countless others, will remember yer decision fondly. As yer people’s leader, hard decisions must always be made and not always popular, but at the end of things, the right ones,” Kildo said.
Sighing deeply, Empress Xedalli said, “You are correct. This had to happen at some point. My forefathers, as well as my brother, would certainly be willing to condemn others, but I can not.”
“My Empress! You can’t!” the astral elf priest shouted.
Xedalli shot him an angered look. He quickly took a step back and lowered his head. She then motioned the party to follow her. They descended to the center of the Temple of Light to the pool of azure water, and within that center, light rose and extended out to the sphere’s sun. Closing her eyes, she extended her hand with an elaborate, black ring with a small beam of light, similar to the one shooting out from the Temple of Light. An immense amount of magical energy accumulated around Empress Xedalli, and the beam ceased. The last remnants continued for another eight minutes until they were absorbed into the sun.
“What about them crystalline vines?” Kildo asked.
“With the energy no longer feeding our sun, Xaryxis, the vines will stop and die.” Empress Xedalli turned to the priest and said, “Make preparations to evacuate the Temple of Light and the planet Xaryndar. We are returning to the Star Empire.”
“To move the whole world? That will take years!” the priest exclaimed.
“No, it will not, but decades,” Empress Xedalli illuminated, sighing in sadness.
***
Over the next few weeks, the sun, Xaryxis, begins to dim. Its energy already dissipating. The astral elves had started to evacuate the Temple of Light, and their star-moth ships recalled to evacuate their planet, Xaryndar. The Space Dragon and the undead pirate ship, the Last Breath, were some of the last remaining vessels docked at the Temple of Light. The remaining coalition of the willing to fight the astral elves had disbursed a few days ago.
“Captain Kai, it is time we take our leave,” Captain Gargenhale announced. The undead captain of the Last Breath entered the bridge with Topolah. A blue jay perched on her shoulder.
Nodding at the vampire captain, Kai said, “I take it both of you are going together?”
The two grabbed each other's hands and squeezed, and they smiled at each other. Topolah said, “Yes, we’ve been apart far too long, and it is time to rekindle what we once had and find our own adventures out in the stars.”
“Thank you for your aid, and we wish you the best on your voyage,” Kai replied.
Nodding in thanks. As the pair left, the two hippo-like giffs entered, Silas and Commodore Krux entered the bridge of the Space Dragon.
“Don’t say you are taking off too?” Kai asked.
“No, we wanted to stay and be part of the crew of the Space Dragon,” Silas stated as he looked toward Commodore Krux, who was in a morose state.
“What’s wrong with him?” Guo Gan quietly asked Silas.
“He’s still mourning the loss of Major Warwick Blastimoff against the astral elves,” Silas explained.
“Who’s that?” Scomatch asked.
“Really?” Guo Gan scolded the halfling. The monk then turned to Silas. “I know they shared a cabin and heard them loudly moving around in it a lot…ohhh.”
“Ah, they were hungry, hungry hippos for each other,” Kai expounded.
“Yes, when you are on a ship for a long period of time, relationships tend to spark,” Silas explained.
“Wait, you be meaning there be others who be hooking-around too?” Kildo asked as he could feel the heat rising to his face.
“Well, Dexy and Connie were a couple, but I think that had been occurring prior to being rescued from the Feathergale Society air cultist,” Silas said.
Commodore Krux wiped the moisture from his eyes as he asked, “Captain Kai, Flapjack would like to say too.”
“Now, who’s that?” Scomatch questioned.
The giff put his fingers to his mouth and issued a piercing whistle.
Several moments passed before a floating jellyfish flew into the room. Its body was flat, with a pair of six-inch-long eyestalks, numerous tentacles, and small spikes that grew from the underside. It floated and traveled using air jets as propulsion, producing a whistling sound. It had a white translucent color with its tentacles ending in a darker shade. Its body’s color changed and deepened in delight at seeing Krux. Its most distinguishing feature was that it wore a black tricorn hat with three brims turned up that were buttoned in place to keep them up to form a triangle around its head with an orange feather.
“What in the nine hells is that!” Scomatch cried out.
“I’m a flumph. Do you like my hat?” Flapjack gargled.
“No,” Scomatch snapped. The flump, distraught, floated off.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Kai announced. “We have to keep Flapjack. We should put him in charge of something.” The paladin’s eyes turned up in thought, and then he said, “I know you can be in charge of hiring crew personnel.”
“I’m in charge of crew personnel! I’ve got a hat!” the flump said in excitement. “I’m Flapjack!”
***
A few months passed before the party entered back into their own sphere. The solar system’s center remained as dark as when they left it, a burned-out husk due to a combination of Kildo banishing the chaotic demon siege engine powering it and the astral elves feeding on the sun’s energy and transferring it back to Xaryxispace. Moving into a stationary orbit, everyone was relieved not to see the massive crystalline vine entangling the planet.
“Scones anyone?” Odium asked as he entered the situation room aboard the Space Dragon.
Kildo looked up, along with the rest of the command staff. He held a platter of blueberry scones. Their freshness filled the room. As he reached for one, the tiefling pulled it back and handed it to Guo Gan. He noted the one he gave the monk was slightly larger and had more blueberry fillings. He scoffed as he took another somewhat smaller one. The group had been discussing different ways to re-ignite the sun. He prayed to Rigga every night for guidance, but she didn’t respond. However, Scomatch had decided to try the most powerful of spells. A wish.
“Right, so you know what you are going to say?” Kai asked.
“Of course I do. What are you, my lawyer? We’ve been going over it for the past few days,” Scomatch scoffed. “Let me do my thing. My job is to save everyone, which I’ve been doing since joining the crew. Might as well save the entire planet too.”
“Give him room,” Guo Gan said.
Clearing his throat, Scomatch began as magical energy accumulated around the halfling. “I wish the sun would re-ignite in our system, using the normal conventional means of nuclear fusion while not being powered by any demon or other creature, with the sun to be forever known by all as Scomatch Thunderfire.”
The magical aura around the halfling wizard then fizzled with a horn sound of ‘womp-womp’.
“I don’t think it worked?” Kai said, sighing.
The group moved to the port hole and peered out. The center of the sphere remained dark.
“The nine hells,” Kildo cursed. “I can be going back to praying to Rigga.”
“I can start praying to Belial,” Odium chirped.
“Shut it Odium!”
“Both of you shut it!” Scomatch bellowed. “Thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it.” The halfling began to dig in his backpack. He pulled out his hefty tome. It had a dark blue cover with an intricate design around the edges. The images of two crescent moons surrounded an ornate blue gem embedded in the middle. The pages it held were yellow and brittle, a testament to the age of the tome, which might have seen hundreds, if not thousands of years. Opening a bronze latch that held the cover shut, it magically and rapidly began to flip pages and suddenly stopped.
Steam rose from the sheets. An image of a fire elemental currently engulfing a person appeared.
“Imix, the evil archomental of fire?” Guo Gan questions.
“Yup, he's older than the world itself. Has an endless supply of energy. He’d be perfect,” Scomatch pointed to the center of Prince of Elemental Evil’s picture.
“Normally, I’d say no, but maybe he might be the solution to our problem,” Kai said.
“Want me to summon him or not?” Scomatch asked.
“Do it.”
Scomatch turned the page and began to read out loud in an ancient tongue.
Like a roaring inferno, a voice demanded, “What creature hast dare summon me?”
“It is I, Scomatch Thunderfile, who commands you!”
“Thee maketh me chuckle, little ember. Speaketh what thee wanteth before I turneth thee into ash,” Imix replied.
“I want you to ignite the sun,” Scomatch explained.
“Thou art inviting me in?” Imix’s voice questioned, chuckling as a roaring inferno.
“The sun and just the sun. Nowhere else,” Scomatch explained.
“I shall doth so immediately,” Imix replied. His image faded from Scomatch’s book.
The party watched out the port hole in the situation room. Eight and a half minutes later, a spark was seen in the far distance in the center of the sphere.
The entire room erupted in cheers as light began to show.
This continued on for several minutes. Kildo silently prayed his thanks to Rigga when he noticed the sun in the sphere was growing. “Does that be looking right?”
“What?” Kai asked in mid-celebratory praise. He looked out the port hole, and his smile faded.
“Scomatch, it’s getting bigger,” Guo Gan said.
“What are you talking about?” The halfling climbed onto the table, and the happy expression on his face dropped.
“Eep!” Scomatch chirped in alarm. He moved over to his tome and opened the book. The pages flipped rapidly.
“Who are you looking for?” Guo Gan asked.
“No…no…no…no!” Scomatch replied in haste and with grave concern in his voice. Pictures of various entities flashed before he closed, and then opened the tome again.
Pounding his hand on the table, Guo Gan asked, “Scomatch, who are you looking for?”
“Malovox, the Bitter King,” Scomatch answered, not looking up, as he continued to open and close the book. Each time, the tome magically flipped to a random page. “There!”
Kildo peered over the halfling. On the parchment was the image of a colossal, towering golem-like form, wrought from living, sentient ice, which stood towering over a massive mountain range.
“What are you going to do with him?” Kai asked.
“Summon him to counteract Imix from growing too large and consuming the entire sphere,” Scomatch explained.
“Won’t he just be melting?” Kildo asked.
“No, he never melts. Anything he even gets near freezes solid. His breath causes blizzards. Rivers, lakes, oceans. They will never thaw,” Scomatch replied.
“How do ye be knowing it be working?” Kildo asked.
“You got anything better dwarf?” Scomatch snapped.
“Do it,” Kai ordered.
Scomatch turned the page and began to recite in a foreign language.
Like a blowing blizzard, a voice demanded, “What creature hast dare summon me?”
“It is I, Scomatch Thunderfile, who commands you! Imix-”
Interrupting the halfling, Malovox said, “Mine own ancient foe. Where is that yonder light cantrip?”
The entire command staff pointed toward the sun.
The image of Malovox faded from the page.
The party looked out the port hole. The sun continued to grow ever so slightly. Then a flash in the heavens. A titanic, blue-ice sun formed in the far distance. Imix’s flames from the sun reflected off an ice ball orbiting it. Both were equal in size. Their sphere had evolved into a binary star system. Like a ring, trails of vapor traveled from Malovox as it kept Imix’s growth in check, with neither entity gaining an advantage. An inferno trying to push out, while a blizzard pushed in to constrict and smother the flames, like someone trying to blow out a candle. The titanic battle would rage for millions if not billions of years.
“You did it!” everyone cheered in unison. “You restored balance in the sphere!”
“Of course I did,” Scomatch stated as he put his book away. As they all looked on at the newly birthed binary star system, the halfling wizard continued, “Therefore, it is appropriate for me to name them. The sun shall now be called Scomatch, and the ice-sun shall be called Thunderfire.”
***
Watching to ensure the two suns remained stable, the Space Dragon entered the atmosphere and proceeded toward the Atheos Archipelago and the island of Scarlet Peeks. Landing a ways out, they sailed the rest of the way in. The command crew was topside as they entered the bay. They docked in the only location available.
“It be looking pretty rough,” Kildo said eyeing the damage. Trees were knocked over, and buildings were partially or entirely destroyed. The shriveled remnants of the crystalline vines crisscrossed everywhere. However, they could see movement on the beach.
Deboarding, they saw a familiar face approach with a group of seven dwarves. It was Copperlocks! She wore thick leather clothing with pouches and tools strapped all along her legs, waist, and back. She had braided, copper-colored hair but didn’t have a beard. She held a wooden board with a piece of paper tacked on the top with two nails.
“Kildo Hammerhand! Ye stubborn ol’dwarf. I be glad you be surviving the apocalypse. What have ye been doing this past year and a half?” Copperlocks said and gave the cleric a huge hug.
“Well, we be sailing the stars and stopping the apocalypse,” Kildo replied.
“I restored the sun,” Scomatch boasted. “There are two now. Once of fire and another of ice. I call them Scomatch and Thunderfire.”
“Sailing the stars? Restoring the sun? It surely be an epic tale,” Copperlocks replied. She then turned to another older dwarf with a grey beard and a black fisherman’s hat and shouted, “George! We will be needed a song of Fire and Ice!”
“Who all still be alive?” Kildo asked.
“We dwarves and the town folk who be reaching us managed better than most locked under the mountain. There be plenty of fungi and mushrooms to eat. However, once them vines be dying off, we exited and didn’t find much. Most people be dead, but we be finding ol’ Lex Luthor, but few others. There have been a few ships, but they be reporting the same. Most everyone be dead on the planet. Since then, we be gathering what supplies we can and be repairing a ship for travels.
“Our crew can help restore Scarlet Peeks and help with ship repairs,” Kai said.
“I thank ye kindly. In time, the trees and plants will be growing back, and they’ll be youngins before we know it,” Copperlocks said, winking at Kildo and taking his hand.
***
“I don’t understand why we ‘need’ to go see the lich Renwick,” Kai said.
“Scarlet Peeks is beginning to recover, and we promised him we’d help him find his brother,” Guo Gan replied.
“I not be promising that, abomination anything,” Kildo snapped, folding his arms across his chest.
“I’m game to go. He can help spread the word of the binary stars, Scomatch and Thunderfire,” Scomatch said.
“That ain’t be a thing,” Kildo said.
“Oh, you wait. It will be.”
Kildo scoffed as he looked around the port of Scarlet Peeks. Over the past few months, the debris had been cleared, the docks repaired, and even a trading ship had arrived. While it would take a hundred or so years to recuperate at a manageable level, and things would be hard, they were at least now at the end of the beginning of recovery.
“Besides, if Renwick didn’t survive, imagine all of the abandoned magic he would have stored there. Items that the world would need to rebuild,” Guo Gan prodded.
Scomatch’s eyes lit up at the words ‘abandoned magic.’
Kai’s eyes turned up in thought, and he weighed the options. “All right, things seem pretty stable here. Copperlock’s dwarves had things under control. We’ll take a skeletal crew with us. Let’s go pay that lich a visit.”
***
Sailing the Space Dragon spelljammer, the isle of Hileigsteen was soon on the horizon. Landing, it had also been devastated by the astral elves’ crystalline vines. After a few hours of walking, a trail led to an ever-narrowing defined trail with bluffs and windblown sandstone. The walls drew in so close a person could reach out and touch either side. The narrow space opened to a dank canyon in the heart of the hills. A sprawling monastery with dark, narrow windows and red-tiled rooftops stood in the middle of this natural amphitheater with sandstone cliffs all around. While the large stone structure had solid, thick walls, it was not immune to the gargantuan vines that plagued the world. Ahead, a weathered flight of stone steps was little more than rocks leading up to the monastery doors, which were made of heavy timber with iron studs. Broken, they leaned against each other like brothers for support. Much of the interior was destroyed. Moving through the ruins by memory, they found the once lush grove, now little more than black mulch with a few plants starting to sprout from the ground. There were seven carved statues destroyed and little more than marble fragments. However, on the other end of the garden was a door. Curved and made of heavy wood, it appeared as a normal thick entrance, but someone had deliberately painted a red ‘X’ across its front. It and the structure it connected to were untouched.
Guo Gan was giddy with excitement as he reached for the handle. The door ‘creaked’ in loud objection. It entered into a landing with stairs going down into the depths of the monastery. Descending, it led to a large room. There were three great tables covered with all manner of objects. Broken stone and refuse were in the corners and along the wall. It was hard to tell, but it seemed bones were mixed in. Whether it was humanoid or animal, it was difficult to tell. Crossing the threshold, a thick, malevolent presence held in the air with an almost physical manifestation.
A figure in regal finery and bright red robes was hunched over a table in the study. By the frame, it seemed male. His bone-thin shoulders rose slightly as he sensed the party’s presence and stopped reading from the ancient tome. A haunting, hollow voice spoke, “I have already told you no. Now BEGONE!”
“Renwick! We’re back!” Guo Gan shouted in excitement.
The robed figure straightened and turned. It was not a human but an undead creature of the nether world, a lich. It was gaunt and skeletal, with withered flesh stretched paper-thin across horribly visible bones, with its entire skull and front of its face heavily etched in tattoos. Eyes, the color of hard-boiled eggs, filled its eye sockets. As it moved, it seemed to glide as if floating on water.
“Why are you bothering me, AGAIN!” Renwick replied, emphasizing certain words.
“We haven’t forgotten about you and helping you find your brother,” Guo Gan explained.
“My brother? Oh, YES!”
“We were distracted but are no longer. Are you ready to hire us?” Guo Gan asked.
“Have you ever built a sun?” Scomatch questioned.
“So many QUESTIONS!” Renwick bellowed. The lich then eyed the party closer. “I see you’ve been involved in a number of exciting adventures and put your mortal soul in extreme peril many times. I’m sure there will be no negative repercussions. However, my brother is just FINE!”
“Weren’t we supposed to get his body for you?” Guo Gan asked.
“You were taking too long, so I hired someone else and brought him back to LIFE!” Renwick expounded. “It was wonderful seeing him again, as I was able to extract what I needed from him.”
Guo Gan asked, “What did you need from him?”
“HIS STILL BEATING HEART! It was WONDERFUL!”
“Where is he now?” Guo Gan inquired.
“Oh, it was TRAGIC! Before I could watch him die, his life force was sucked dry by a crystalline vine. I’m unsure where they came from, but I WILL FIND OUT!” Renwick stated.
“We already took care of the vines,” Scomatch said.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“WONDERFUL!”
“The world has been restored, and now there are two suns in the sky. One made of fire and the other ice. They are called Scomatch and Thunderfire,” Scomatch explained.
“Very unusual name,” Renwick said, rubbing his thin-skinned chin. “However, this means the PROPHCEY IS COMING TRUE!” Renwick shouted.
“What prophecy is that?” Guo Gan asked.
Renwick glared hard at the group as he floated closer. “It is of no matter. You will not see the prophecy come to fruition, as you will not SURVIVE!”
“Wait, what? Why is that?” Guo Gan questioned with a hint of concern in his voice.
“Because it will happen in the FUTURE! In ten thousand revolutions of the binary stars, Scomatch and Thunderfire,” Renwick explained.
“It’s catching on!” Scomatch exclaimed in excitement.
“Ah, I see. Well, it’s been great seeing you again,” Guo Gan said.
“YES, IT IS! I look forward to seeing your corpse AT YOUR FUNERAL!”
~ The End ~
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