• -Begin Chapter 7-


    Loki crouched down behind the shrub he had been conversing with. Another guard platoon was coming by. They were wearing the shimmering gold and white armor of the Bright army. One of the guards passed within a few feet of his hiding spot. Loki’s wilder nature urged him to pounce out and strike them down for breakfast. But he couldn’t, he had promised his friend that he would keep his human form hidden.

    The guards finally moved on, marching through the forest with disciplined steps. Loki waited until he could no longer hear them before emerging. He placed his hand on the shrub’s leaves, creating a link once more with his magic.

    “Sorry about the interruption,” he told the plant through his magical link. “Humans would not be very accepting of my appearance.”

    “It’s perfectly fine. I have never understood humans. Always moving around for no reason, wasting energy on fighting.” replied the shrub. “Perhaps if they didn’t waste all their strength fighting, they wouldn’t have to eat other things to sustain themselves.”

    “It doesn’t quite work like that,” Loki said. He was trying to think of a way to explain digestion to a shrub when he caught sight of his long awaited friend. His bark-brown haired friend was running full-speed towards him with a worried look on his face. Loki quickly noticed the reason behind the his friend's anxiety and haste. A dozen soldiers garbed in the gaudy armor of the Army of Light were hot on his heels.

    “I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you here,” Loki said to the small plant. “My friend appears to have gotten himself in trouble yet again.”

    “Bye”

    Loki broke the connection with the shrub and launched himself forward. He quickly intercepted his apprentice's path and started jogging at a leisurely pace in order to allow the youth time to catch up. As his wide-built friend pulled up next to him, Loki looked over at him, a mischeivious grin on his face.

    "It took all day for you to fail your mission?" he asked, teasing. "Did you at least mannage to kill a few of their soldiers?"

    "I'm afraid i failed to smack some sense into my old friend Garen," replied the his apprentice. "Though i did mannage to smack him literally. That almost made it worth the trip."

    A smile flashed across the yound man's face, but Loki saw no real happiness in his ward's eyes. It was obvious that the failure had hurt him. His entire country had been tainted by the insidious bright religion.

    Loki gripped his apprentice's shoulder. "This isn't exactly the best time to talk about what happened," he said. "Get us out of here and then we'll talk about what to do next."

    "Sure"

    Loki gripped the teen's shoulder tighter. The young man snapped his fingers and with a resounding boom the the air around them formed a bubble shaped sheild. with another snap, the two of them were launched up and ahead. within seconds they were flying through the sky. Covering more distance than the quickest horse in Ornalris.

    *******

    The duo landed near a bright blue pond. Loki stepped clumsily onto the grass. He was grateful to be back on solid ground. Fkying had never been somethinghe was comfortable with, but necesity demanded he do it mofe and more often these days.

    "Do you think we should try to speak with the Dark army, Hurin?" asked Loki. "They won't object to me coming with you like the Lights did."

    Hurin shook his head. "They would never agree to a truce. The only reason Garen allowed a non-beleiver to like me to enter is because we were friends once. I don't have any deep connections with the leaders of the Dark wizards."

    Hurin looked down with a dejected look on his face. He had known trying to reason with the religious radicals that called themselves The Church of Light.

    "There is only way for us to keep the two factions from destoying this world," Announced Hurin. He struck the tree to his right, hating what he was about to say. " For the good of the earth, we will have to slay every last member of the armies."

    A single tear fell from his eye. He trembled at the fact that he would soon forsake his humanity.

    ******

    Loki slashed at the Dark soldier. The sliver blade of his hunting knife had long since been painted the color of blood from this battle. He had ended nearly 1,200 men and women. With the casualties Hurin had caused, and the soldiers killed when the armies attacked, the losses must surpass 10,000. Before he could comment on the sheer torture this death toll would have on Hurin, another attacker was on him. His knife struck her between the eyes, killing her instantly.

    An earsplitting scream erupted behind him and Loki spun around. Hurin was hunched over on the ground. Loki couldn't see what had harmed him. He ran over to the man to try and see what was wrong. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the cracked quartz spear that lay on top of the corpse at Hurin's feet.

    Hurin's spirit stone had been broken.

    Loki crouched down next to Hurin. "What happened?"

    His voice straining in pain, Hurin tried to explain. "It was Garen. He came at me with a bespelled sword. i couldn't cut it with my dagger. He cut at my left leg and hit the stone through my armor."

    "Stay still, i'll try to mend it."

    "No!" shouted Hurin "I have to stop them now, or we'll never get another chance. One army will win today, and i need to stop both of them from growing any stronger."

    "You don't have the power in this state to do that," reasoned Loki. "You can't fight the with your spirit fractured."

    "There is one way."

    Hurin put his left hand in Loki's. "Keep it safe, my friend." He pulled his hand away, leaving a complex patterned iron ring in Loki's hand.

    "You can't!" shouted Loki. "If you fight without the limiter, you will end up using your own life force to fuel your attacks."

    "I know, and I will be able to do things that were impossible before. i will be able to sink this whole damn battleground away, and burn every last soldier here."

    "I won't let you!"

    "Goodbye, my friend."

    Hurin placed his hands into the mud at his feet. He closed hsi eyes, concentrating. IN a split second his entire aura erupted in a blaze of green. The ground gave a single jolt before it went crashing down. It was as if a huge boulder crashed into the ground, creating a gigantic crater.

    Hurin raised his hands to the sky. There was a bright orange flash and the next thing Loki knew, every living thing within his sight, had erupted into flames so hot, i felt as if he were in the cnter of the son.

    Within seconds, everything in the crater was reduced to ash. The scene was both terrifying and incredible. nothing for as far as he could see.

    Nothing but a young man, a boy really, lying at his feet with two peices of quartz next to his dead, lifeless body. Loki changed shape. He assumed the from of a large black cat. In this form, Loki layed down next to the body. He was not ready to leave the only creature he had ever loved.

    And thus, Hurin Mephestis, the 38th Elemental, exited the living realm and travelled to the dimensions of the beyond, where Loki could never follow him.

    -End Chapter 7-