The Heroes II The Eternal Night

Chapter I-The Man Behind the Mask

It was ironically very beautiful. How could it be that something that would be destroying the planet be so beautiful, the black glowing tower, that has always made some people worry. The winds were a little strong at the top of the Lighthouse, blowing the glimmering black light around and whipping the hair around the Heroes' faces. The man in front of them was twirl his hand around to blow the away the cloud of rainbow smoke that surrounded him. Garen just stood there, disbelief and pain in his eyes, Becky also had a shocked look on her face at the sight of him, but Ax didn't really knew who it was all that well.


"It can't be you," he choked out. "All this time, how can it be you?"


"It was you after all," Cody whisper and looked away from him.


"You were suppose to be my friend!" Garen shouted at him, and he ran foward at the man, his chest beginning to eminate a greenish glow.


He just moved his hand to the side to send Garen flying away from him. "I told you, you wouldn't know who I was," he said, his light green eyes following Garen.


"Garen, Cody," Becky choked, "it can't really be him, can it?"


"So I guess it's like old times after I was the Dark Lord, but this time you seem to be on the wrong side," Cody said, looking him deep in his joyful eyes, "but I never did expect this kind of betrayal from you Kyle, I at least kinda had an excuse."


"Things do change, Cody," said Kyle with a voice quite different from the masks. He actually didn't look as bad as the mask made him out. His light green eyes had a joyful look in them, but still had the glimmer of evil and his teeth were all pure white, not one was rotted or black. "And Garen, don't look so shocked, he saved my life, according to him I had some potential to help these guys out, and he was right."


Kyle was pointing his thumb back at Kye as he said this.


"But if that doesn't insure the safety of these two," Nerag said, pulling Mr. Killimore and Shelby out from behind a pillar that looked just like the Black Fire Dragon that shot out of the Lighthouse just a few moments before, "we do have another who may help out. Bring her out Kyle."


Kyle went behind another pillar that was in the shape of a green dragon and pushed a girl out from behind it. She had long brown hair that was out of place and clumped together, her once perfect face was cut up and swollen with some bruises on it inluding one under one of her deep brown eyes one of her teeth were chipped and her bottom lip had a fresh cut that was still bleeding and was swollen.


"Marry!" Garen screamed. "What happened to her! How could you do something like that, Kyle?"


"It wasn't me," Kyle said in a shocked voice. "That was all Nerag, you know how he gets."


"You just watched it go on, though!"


"No, I'm usually not around when the beatings go down," Kyle said casually. "It's not really my thing."


Garen started running at Kyle again and as he rose up his fist, he felt a force attach itself around his wrist and threw him against one of the dragon pillars. He reached over to his wrist, but the other one was thrown into the pillar also, then he saw Becky and Ax fly toward the same pillar and were stuck to it right above him. Cody was the last one standing. He began running at Kyle, but before he could even draw his sword, he was slammed up against a pillar right next to the other three.


"Kyle, let us go," Garen said angerily. "And let them go too; Marry, Shelby and Mr. Killimore."


"Nah," said Kyle, his eyes changing to a dark yellow. "I think I like everyone exactly where they are."


"Do it NOW!" shouted Garen and with his last word the pillar that they were all on and Cody's vanished in a green dust.


He floated down slowly until his feet touched the ground while the others around him fell to it and his body was surrounded in different shades of Green Fire, his chest eminating the green glow again. He started to walk toward Kyle slowly, a muderous look in his eyes.


"Garen, don't try to fight him," said Cody starting to stand up. "You can't win, he's got powers that you couldn't even dream of."


"I've so many different kinds of Fire of Color on this journey, what could possibly make his any different. The bastard's gonna die!"


Garen spat Green Fire out from his mouth straight at Kyle then it turned to a fine green dust barely an inch from him and blew past him then turned back into the Fire and kept on going out of sight. Kyle looked behind his shoulder, watching the Green Fire until it was out of sight then turned back to Garen with a mocking smile coming across his lips.


"You can't even come close to killing me if you plan on using average Fire of Color like that," he said calmly. "It will do nothing but turn to dust."


Garen could hear someone running behind him, the heavy feet slamming down with each step and Ax came into his view and past him as he charged a Kyle, drawing an axe from his back. Kyle gave his hand a slight wave to send Ax flying over the edge of the Lighthouse, as if a large gust of wind had taken him off. He heard a large crash as Ax landed on a ledge that was standing out of the side of the Lighthouse to let everyone know he may still be alive. Garen charged at him, his sword drawn, but Kyle did the same thing and Garen flew back doing a half flip in the air and sliding the last few feet on one hand and held on to the edge of the Lighthouse as his body slammed against the side of it. He could feel his fingers slipping with no ledge below to stop his fall and he couldn't pull himself back up because of the force of him hitting the side of the Lighthouse had knocked the air out of his lungs for what seemed like hours to him.


"Garen!" screamed Becky. "How could you do this to your friend?"


"Well, you see, Becky," Kyle said with a smile, "He's not really my friend anymore, all I can say now is that I don't give much of a damn about him...argh!"


A white hot force had cut the side of Kyle's cheek, causing him to bleed out and as he looked up he saw Cody standing beside Becky with his forefinger pointing at Kyle's throat. He whipped the blood from his cheek to the ground as he stared at Cody with rage in his eyes.


"Now why, Cody, would you want to ruin such a perfect thing as this," he said moving his hand over his face. He waved his hand once again to throw Cody off the Lighthouse, but all that happened to him was that he was lifted a few inches into the air and pushed to his right a about a foot.


"C'mon, Kyle," said Cody, "don't look too surprised, I'm not as weak as those two, I've had so many more years of training."


"Yes, that is true," Kyle said is eyes turning back to their light green. "It looks like we may have to go all out to at least hurt one another."


"Oh, trust me, I will not have to go all out to hurt you," Cody said with a slight smile.


He jumped high into the air before Kyle had much time to react drawing his sword and brought his blade down on Kyle's head, but not before Kyle could draw his sword and block of Cody's attack. They smiled at each other, their swords shaking under the pressure of their attack, not moving an eye away. Cody lifted his sword and swung at Kyle's side, who brought his sword down to parry the attack, their eyes still locked together. Kyle slithered his sword away from Cody's and stabbed at his shoulder, which he blocked and then attacked back at Kyle in a wild but trained fashion that seemed to go on for an endless amount of time. Then Kyle would take a few steps forward while he answered Cody's attack with his own. The attacks were exchanged back and forth for awhile, in which time Becky had attempted to help Garen up and failed until he told her to look after Ax to see if he was alright. Cody screamed out in pain as Kyle caught his shoulder and he instanly held onto it, the blood soaking through his hand and through his fingers, still trying to swing his sword, which Kyle would lazily parry away with a cruel laugh.


"You're shoulder can't bare the weight, Cody, might as well give up now," said Kyle


"You...can't win, Kyle...I won't let...you," Cody panted in pain.


Kyle lifted his swordless hand up to Cody's face and blew him back five or so feet causing him to almost slide off the edge of the Lighthouse. Cody could't get up now with the pain in his shoulder and Becky was right there at his side. "I never thought you could do something like this to your friends," she said. "I mean, Garen used to talk to you as if you were his brother!"


She knocked an arrow and shot it between Kyle's eyes and it went through him as if it were made of a thin smoke to keep on going out of sight. Kyle lifted his arm and Becky followed his movement, he then threw her over the edge of the Lighthouse just as he did with Ax, but Becky could have sworn she saw a sadness in his eyes.


Before she could react to the fall, she felt herself in the arms of Ax, who was looking down at her, "Ax got you, you fine now, but no more human fit on ledge or ledge break."


"It's all right, Ax," she said with a smile, "as long as you're alive, it's all right."


"Are you done toying with therse kids yet, Kyle?" barked out Elyk.


"No," Kyle said with a slight grin, "I still have Garen to deal with."


He walked over to the edge that he threw Garen over to find him trying to pull himself up. He walked straight to the edge and stomped the heel of his boot on Garen's fingers, listening to crunching of the bones beneath his foot and tilting his head with each crack, a smile growing more and more across his face. Garen screamed out as he heard the same thing, the pain of his crushing bones shooting through his arm. He tried to pull his hand out but all he did was rip some of the skin off his fingers from the rough sole of the boot. There was no getting out of this one, he would finally die and not by some random creature he only heard about in stories, no, he'll be killed by his best friend who would listen to those same stories. What a death this is gonna be, he thought to himself.


"You are going to die Garen, I can see the conceding forming in your eyes," Kyle said. "So there is no use in resisting any longer."


"Well, if he shouldn't be resisting, maybe I can for him," came the voice of Cody from next to Kyle's ear.


Kyle spun around and found himself face to face with Cody, with no wound on his shoulder, the next thing he knew, Kyle was flying toward where the prisoners were kept. Cody reached down and helped Garen up, who was confused and weak from hanging from the side of the Lighthouse for almost a half hour.


"I thought he sliced you shoulder," Garen said, rubbing out his numbed arms and trying to assess the damage on his fingers.


"He did," Cody said casually.


"Then how did you-"


"Ax uses Black Fire, also known as the Healing Fire, remember?"


"Oh yeah, I forgot," confessed Garen. "Wait, Ax and Becky are-"


"Are safe at the base of the Lighthouse where I put them," Cody finished his sentence with a slight smile. "Now let's fix this mess?"


Cody stood up and turned to face where he threw Kyle to find himself staring deep into his eyes, that were now yellow. Kyle reached out and grabbed Cody by his jaw, lifting him off the ground a couple of feet and then threw him over the side of the Lighthouse. Cody never landed on a ledge of the Lighthouse, he just fell straight down until he made contact with the ground below, causing a slight indent in the earth beneath his slightly moving body. He let out a little groan of pain and then went silent and finally quit moving completely.








Garen watch helplessly as Cody was thrown over the edge. He looked at Kyle with intensity and charged at him, his heart eminating a green glow again and finally his whole body. He swung his sword down just as Kyle was picking his up off the ground and their swords met in a shower of green and rainbow sparks. Garen yelled in anger and started to swing his sword in a wild and random fashion, Kyle deflecting the attacks with ease. Kyle's face became more consintrated however as Garen's attacks grew more fierce and focused with the green glow growing brighter.


"Didn't think you would be able to have the power of the Green Fire Gem," Kyle growled now trying to attack Garen, but was quickly on the defense again. "I guess this may be a little difficult with that power."


Some smoke gathered around Kyle's face then there was a quick flash of that ugly mask of Hero-X and in that instant, Kyle threw Garen's sword away from him and threw him over the Lighthouse with his arm to join the others. When Garen looked back at Kyle, the mask was gone and all there was, was Kyle's eyes glaring at him, then he saw nothing but the side of the Lighthouse as gravity was dragging him down as fast as it would take him until he felt some kind of force catch him before he hit the ground, the force let him go and he landed on his feet looking around to see Cody looking at him.


Cody's hair had grown quite a bit since the journey with them began, it was now reaching past his ears and the facial hair on him was growing into a soft stubble around his cheeks and chin. His gray eyes still showed the slight cheerful look in them that always counteracted his hard, warlike expression that he always wore. Cody pointed back at Ax with his thumb, "Get your hands healed, he's quite good with that Black Fire, healing my fall and everything."


Garen asked no questions, just walked over to Ax and let him do his work wincing in intense paing as his bones cracked backed into placed and built themselves back up from their collapsed state. Garen bent down to his knee as the pain got to its worse, then it was done.


"Garen big baby for someone who fight big battle," Ax grumbled.


Cody and Becky looked at each other and let their laughs out, Garen smiling with them, it was quite amusing to him actually. Then the cold voice above them reminded them all that they were far away from being able to laugh at any time.


"I can not find any reason at all at why you three would be laughing right now," Kyle said. "Yes, the giant is quite stupid, but it's not nice to laugh at the dumb like that." He looked hard at Ax then a smile crossed his face. "It's better to just..kill them."


Ax's eyes flashed at this, his pupils growing to slits as he charged at Kyle, his fist raised.


"Ax, no!" they all screamed together.


"You fool," said Kyle, drawing his sword in time for Ax to run into it. " You just don't know when to quit, do you?"


He pushed the sword deeper into Ax's stomach, then he twisted it slowly and pulled it out along with a stream of blood. Ax put his large hand over the wound as he fell forward and dyed the ground with his blood that was spilling out of his stomach like a waterfall. Kyle wiped the blood off his sword as Becky, Garen and Cody ran over to him. He jumped back a few yards to let them take in what he had done to their friend.


"You monster!" screamed Becky, knocking an arrow to her bow. She let it go aiming, again, between Kyle's eyes. The golden arrow froze in mid-flight and turned around to face Becky's chest.


"You stupid little elf filth," said Kyle with a smile on his face and his right hand even with his face.


He was holding his hand there as if he was ready to shoot his own bow at Becky, then he closed an eye and began to aim at her. Then he let his first two fingers go from his thumb, the arrow was go and then Cody and Garen heard a noise behind them as the arrow made contact with its target. They turned around to see Becky holding on to her shoulder where her arrow was sticking out half way. They never saw the arrow go by them, but they did hear the sound of its contact with its owner.


"Becky!" yelled Cody as he ran over to her to listen to her heart. "Garen, you look after Ax. Garen!?"


Garen was running at Kyle, his sword aiming at his heart, when he should have made contact, should have made a kill, the sword went through a cloud of smoke and the next thing he felt was a sharp pain starting at his neck and shooting up and down his spine, causing him to fall to the ground with no control of his body at all. He felt helpless, not being able to move, not being able to even attempt to defend his friends now.


Then Cody was running at Kyle, raising an arm to hit him and as he did the same, their fists met each other in a shower of rainbow streams of lightening. They kept attempting to hit each other but the same thing happened time and time again. Then they both felt a force that threw them back and were both stuck in the air, hanging there, both struggling to get free.


"Enough of this nonsense fighting," said Kye gently, but with a voice of absolute authority that trembled the ground. "Let's go Kyle, you have beaten Garen."


"Whatever, I suppose," Kyle said floating to the ground as Cody fell. "We'll meet at the next Lighthouse, but let me promise you all this; there will be a death there."


With that he vanished in a wisp of smoke, leaving them helpless and wounded and letting the threat hang over them. The wind on the ground wasn't as rough as it had been at the top of the Lighthouse, but now there was an ominous hiss to it and it brought a slight chill down Cody's spine.


"There's something out there," he said, "and we best be damn ready for whatever it is because I can assure you, it won't be pleasant."


Garen looked at him with a worried expression on his face, then he turned to others and said, "We need to treat Becky. It looks like Ax is healing himself."


Garen and Cody hurried over to Becky and Ax and the sight they saw was shocking. Ax was now holding Becky up with one large hand and had the other over a blood soaked arrow. There was blood dripping down her shoulder, arm and chest. As Ax twisted the arrow out she would scream in pain and blood would shoot out of the wound at him, telling him to leave it there. When he finally pulled the arrow completely out, he put his hand over the wound and blood started to seep through his fingers as his hand lit up in a black light, starting to heal her wound. She began screaming as the muscle and tendons started to stitch back together. After about two minutes of healing, Ax let go of his power and examined Becky's should, breathing hard. Her shoulder was black and the area where the arrow was ugly and scabed, barely cured. Becky was panting heavily as she dimmed in and out of conciousness and Ax drained his power on her.


"What happened, Ax?" asked Cody, examining her unhealed shoulder.


"Ax no know," he growled in frustration, "but Ax guess unnatural wound."


"We need to get her out of here," said Garen. "I think it will be best to get her to a proper healer."


"We need to get her to the Great Elven City," said a familiar voice from in a tree. "The elves are the only ones who can cure her now." They all turned to face the voice as Neotasha dropped gracefully down from an oak tree that was near them, peering at them with his cat like yellow eyes.