| Armageddon | |
|---|---|
 Wild Predator Tamed for a Purpose | |
| Series | Diary of Falcon Lionheart by Garry Damrau |
| Chapter | 8 |
| Writer | Garry Damrau(talk) |
| Editor(s) | Restricted |
| Chapter Chronology | |
| Previous | Tools of the Trade |
| Next | Aftermath |
| ← Tools of the Trade | Chapter Chronology | Aftermath → |
All Hell Breaks Loose[]
The time had arrived for Sparrow to prove that he was worthy of the task before him. The King of Blades would show no mercy, no quarter, so my father could not either. The first place that the King of Blades attacked was Oakfield. The gold that had been amassed at the Temple of Light was too tempting a target for him to resist. By the time my father arrived, Oakfield was already a blazing inferno. Nothing was left standing and all that remained of the temple was an enormous hole in the ground. The gold was gone, but one monk was spared to relay a message to my dad. His next target was Bloodstone.
The King of Blades had destroyed all the ships docked in Oakfield save for the one he commandeered for his own use. My father was fortunate to find a horse that had survived the onslaught, near the old carriage house. So off he rode in hopes of catching up to his foe in time to save that miserable town on the other side of his kingdom. But Bloodstone was too far and his enemy had too much of a head start. Bloodstone was razed even more easily than Oakfield and the few survivors that remained were forced to flee into Wraithmarsh where the Hollow Men and Banshees must have been overjoyed to finish them off.
By the time my father had reached the Bandit Coast the road was blocked by the hoards of villagers fleeing Westcliff. So he was forced to dismount and proceed on foot. The villagers did their best to get out of his way as most if not all of them had seen him battle in the Crucible and they knew better than to get in his way. The horse that he had ridden he left with a fleeing villager and would one day sire the bloodline resulting in the valiant steed which would be named Seren.
Upon arriving in Westcliff it was not difficult for my father to locate his foe. The trail of charred corpses leading from the docks into the Crucible was horridly apparent. Once inside he could smell the burnt flesh of those who had been trapped inside and slaughtered like lambs. Even the potential combatants were able to mount little resistance to the onslaught. At long last they would meet. The battle was on.
"So, His Majesty has chosen to face me. I had thought you would run and hide," said the King of Blades. "You leave me little choice," replied Sparrow. Sensing danger, Dog growled and Lie snarled back in kind. Words were no longer needed as the two engaged in battle, attacking each other with Will spells, ranged and melee attacks. The walls of the Crucible shuddered from the force of their attacks. In an effort to end the battle quickly, my father used a level 4 Slow Time spell in order to give him a chance to charge up what he had hoped would be the finishing move. Taking all of the brutal punishment that he could endure, he charged up a level 9 Nuclear spell and directed it toward his foe. Wounded and weakened, but not dead, the King of Blades was hurled all the way to Bower Lake. The stone walls of the Crucible were also projected so far that they blocked all paths leading from Bower Lake to Brightwood. The closest that people could get to or want to get to Brightwood Tower was an area to be known as Silverpines.
Recovering from the blast, my father got to his feet and pursued his foe. The King of Blades was approaching the capital city of Bowerstone with the castle in his sights when my father caught up to him. Their attacks wreaked havoc on the buildings in the market but my father was able to draw his foe into the Old Town area where fewer villagers would be in danger.
So the battle continued. Blow after blow, attack after attack, it seemed that neither combatant could gain an advantage. Although many of his loyal subjects were still hiding in their homes, my father had to try something. Again he used a Time Control spell in order to charge up a mighty blow. He flung the King of Blades into Bowerstone Warehouse and began to charge up a level 10 Nuclear spell. The power released when his spell was cast flung the entire area of Old Town into the air and propelled it all the way to the other side of Bowerstone Market, leaving an enormous hole in the ground which soon filled with water from the ocean and would later become the busy port area called Bowerstone Industrial. Because the bricks, stones, and timbers used to rebuild the homes on the other side of town were from Old Town, that area became known as the Old Quarter, as a fourth of the city of Bowerstone had been transported there.
The King of Blades was stunned. Never before had he witnessed such power that now confronted him. My father drew his awesome sword and was about to end the battle when he became distracted by Dog. The King of Blades' jackal, Lie, and his cobra had cornered Dog in a side alley. Lie lunged at Dog and sunk his teeth deep into his neck. As Dog was distracted by this assault the cobra snuck up from behind him and gave him a venomous bite on his hindquarters. "Leave.. my dog.. alone," said my father, as he ended their attack with two quick shots from his crossbow. Both Lie and the cobra were struck dead but the time that it took to kill them had given the King of Blades just enough time to flee.
"This has got to end," said Sparrow. The King of Blades had escaped and fled to the Heroes Guild beneath Bower Lake. There he waited, nursing his wounds, for my father to find him. It did not take long before he did. The two heroes picked up their battle right where they had left off in Old Town. By now both combatants were weakened and looking for a way to end this. Just then my father came up with the answer. Because the King of Blades' power came from his evil energy my father would need to counteract his energy. Remembering that energy and matter were interchangeable he devised the plan to sacrifice his own physical being to nullify the energy of his foe. Grasping the King of Blades by the throat, he drew on some unknown power to impel his own being directly into his enemy. When the two forces combined they released a Will explosion that rocked the entire Guild to its foundation.
The battle was finished. The King of Blades was defeated. His energy was consumed, however my father had lost a part of himself that would never return. His body and mind were never the same afterwards, but his wit and whimsy remained. Many of his subjects felt that he had given up too much but they were still thankful to be alive.