Chapter 30

As Niku was fighting off the darkness and Keiara was battling the Basilisk, Rone was close to being overrun with spiders. They were everywhere and more of them just kept coming. Terras were being taken and controlled by the spiders. Rone could see a score of the savages rounding on their own people and attacking. There was a frantic moment of panic as Rone realized how screwed everyone was. No matter what they tried, there seemed to be no way to win this battle. Blak was too strong. His army may have been knocked out but he came right back by summoning millions of his little mutated croatoans. He could feel the futility of their actions, of all their actions, like a weight that hung from his neck.

Stop it, he thought furiously to himself. Keep it together. For the sake of yourself and everyone else.

He forced his depressing thoughts aside and continued to kill thousands of the spiders, but there were too many of them. His monstrous mech-snake chewed through them but a literal tide of croatoans was right behind those. He fought them off for as long as he could but eventually, they broke through his defenses.

And were met by a massive cloud of nanos that came out of nowhere. There were millions upon millions of the tiny machines, way more than he'd ever been able to control before. He watched in complete fascination as the cloud moved through the spiders and dissolved them to the point where nothing was left.

Rone turned around and saw his mother standing there with a look of unreserved confidence on her face. One of her hands was in the air and the other was clenched into a fist at her side. Her eyes blazed with hatred as the nanos she controlled turned the tide of the battle in their favor.

"Don't look so surprised, son." Gwen smiled. There was sweat beading up on her brow and a thin trickle of blood flowed out of one nostril. "Where do you think you get your affinity with nanos from?" She smiled and Rone felt a surge of love and pride overwhelm him. It didn't erase the anger he still felt toward her, but it did help ease it. "Go get that bastard, Rone. Make him pay for the death he's caused and the blood he's spilled."

There was a sudden and thunderous cracking sound. Rone and his mother turned toward the source. It came from where the Terra camp was.

Standing by themselves were Heari and the other Callers.

"What are they doing?" Gwen asked.

"What they have to." Rone said, remembering Heari's words. There was a great sadness that overwhelmed him. He knew what she was going to do.

The cracking sound grew louder and louder until it grew to alarming levels. Then thorny spikes erupted out of the ground. Millions of them. Each one speared into a Croatoans and nothing else.

Rone saw the amazing amount of destruction and had feelings of relief mixed with sadness. He looked back at the Callers in time to see several turn to dust, and the others (including Heari) collapse.

"You don't have time to worry about Heari. You have to go!" Gwen yelled.

"She saved my life," Rone replied.

"I know, but your job is to help Keiara now. Heari knows that," Gwen explained.

Rone nodded and looked to where Blak was still standing, his arms stretched to the sky. He turned back toward his mother, a look of worry on his face.

"I don't want to leave you here to die or worse," he told her.

"Don't worry about me, just go. You have to," she said. She swung her outstretched hand off to the right and the cloud of nanos immediately responded to her call. They flowed in the same direction, heading toward a particularly massive clump of spiders that escaped the thorns and dissolved them into nothingness. "This is your fate. It's what you were born to do."

Rone hesitated but he knew she was right. He had to fight Blak. He had to face him now, or their plan to get Niku back (and all the people that had died or been taken as a result) would be for nothing.

He gave his mother a nod, called his nanos back, and then shifted into his Roc form. He jumped and flapped his wings at the same time.

He climbed into the sky rapidly. Each flap of his wings carried him forty or fifty feet higher and within minutes he was viewing the war from a height of a couple thousand feet. He circled once to orient on his target, and then he dived. He felt a pure rush of adrenaline hit him as the wind flew past his face. He angled his wings to keep himself targeted on Blak.

He shot down from the sky like a lightning bolt and closed the gap between himself and his target within seconds. He hit the ground with an enormous puff of sand and immediately attacked with a barrage of wind and lighting. The lightning crackled and sizzled across the gap between himself and Blak. There were a few minutes of confusion because he couldn't see but when the sand cloud settled, Blak was still standing. There were holes in his cloak and curls of smoke coming off him but he was frustratingly unharmed.

"What do you think coming here to face me alone will accomplish?" Blak sneered. He strode forward with an air of confidence. "I am beyond ancient, boy, with power your mind cannot begin to comprehend."

Rone stood there and watched what used to be Wilhelm for a second. His old combat mentor was gone. Rone could see that now. There was nothing left of the man he once knew as a friend and teacher. He could see that in the slightly dead, flat look to the Wilhelm's eyes.

Rone remembered his time in the world between. He remembered facing Blak there and seeing something in the ancient chaos god that had both shocked and thrilled him. Blak was afraid. He was afraid of Keiara, himself, and Niku. That’s why he took his half-brother. He knew of the prophecy and he knew the kind of danger that the three of them posed.

Rone saw that same fear in Blak's eyes right now.

"All powerful and yet you are terrified of a couple of boys and a girl. Don't bother with more lies. I see your fear," Rone said. He watched Blak's anger with enjoyment and then he dashed forward, borrowing more speed from the winds around him. "And you were right to be afraid!"

He attacked with a barrage of furious punches and kicks. He used magic. He used his nanos. He used everything he had. He gave it his all.

But it wasn't enough.

Blak deflected, dodged, and brushed off each attack Rone threw at him.

"Give this up boy and I will make your death quick," Blak told him. He threw out a hand and a sudden wave of concussive energy wrapped Rone up and threw him a good ten feet through the air.

Rone hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him and he rolled limply across the sand. He let out a pained grunt and got to his knees. He laughed a little and wiped his hand across his mouth.

"Looks like I struck a nerve," Rone said, laughing out loud now. "What's the matter, Blak? Hate the truth? You prefer to hide from it?"

"I'm glad you came here alone. I'll take immense pleasure in ripping your head from your body." Blak raised his hand and another wave of energy was unleashed.

Right underneath Rone's feet.

He was launched straight up into the air and as Blak swung his other arm down, another wave of energy blasted him in the back and slammed him with incredible speed and force right into the ground. Rone's entire body filled with pain. He felt blood dribbling out of his mouth and several broken bones that felt like they were on fire. He opened his vents and the nanos surged out. They swirled through the air and then flowed into Rone through his open mouth, ears, and nose. It was uncomfortable. Slightly painful. But they did their job. They mended his broken bones in less than five minutes and Rone got back to his feet.

"Millenniums upon millenniums I have lived and I have to admit, Rook technology still impresses me. It has been extremely useful in taking over this pitiful little rock." Blak watched Rone. "And your proficiency with the little robots has been quite entertaining to see."

"Thank you. I try," Rone shot back. He grabbed onto his sides and stretched a bit. "Where were we?"

"Right about here," Blak told him. He threw out a hand and several lances of invisible energy flew through the air, heading right at Rone.

Rone was ready, however. He figured Blak would try the same move. He couldn't see the waves of energy but he could feel them.

Rone planted his feet and reached inside for his magic. He felt the air and pulled it toward himself. He shaped it into a bubble of force. Blak's energy hit it and flowed around him. He could feel the magic drawing on his energy but he couldn't let himself pass out. He couldn't get exhausted. He had to stay alert.

His stamina was a lot stronger than when he first became the Sentinel of Air. He could use his magic and it didn't immediately knock him out now. That was a good thing, really, considering the incredible amount of power he was currently up against. The magic or energy Blak used was so powerful that Rone could barely stand against it. He kept up his wind shield but the pulsing waves of energy from Blak were pushing him back regardless. There were two long furrows in the sand from where his feet were dragging across the ground. Sweat popped out on his forehead as he strained to keep his shield up.

"Useless fool. You're nothing but a spoiled, bored prince," Blak yelled suddenly. There was nothing but hatred in his voice now. He started walking toward Rone, both hands raised, and the pressure became nearly unbearable.

Rone fell to his knees when Blak increased the strength of his energy waves. Both his hands were at his sides and clenched into fists. He gritted his teeth so hard that he could feel them grinding against each other. He knew if he didn't do something, he was going to be crushed flat.

Something suddenly occurred to him in the moment when he was on his knees before Blak and fighting as hard as he could to stay alive. It was something Heari had mentioned before and his exhausted brain was just now kicking back up. Blak had been banished and trapped inside the Reaches. But it took the combined efforts of both magic and technology to accomplish it. He wondered now if Blak was still weak against an assault from both aspects of himself. The Rook part. And the Sentinel part.

Gotta try something, Rone thought to himself.

He opened the mechpaks on both of his forearms. He released the nanos inside and they swarmed out like angry hornets. All of them. All at once. Rone had half of them break off, charged them with magic, and sent them at Blak. The effect was immediate. The nanos flew at speeds he'd never seen before. They were practically invisible as they zipped around Blak and then clung to him. The chaos god went completely crazy as he fought to free himself of the nanos.

The invisible forces Blak was using to crush Rone abruptly disappeared and he was finally free. His eyes flashed with blue light for a second and he sped toward Blak. As Rone drew closer, both his fists glowed with bright blue light. He punched Blak in the stomach multiple times and each time he did, there was a detonation of blue light and thunderous sound.

Blak tried to fight back but the nanos clinging to him made his efforts practically useless. He couldn't see and there was immense pain as the magic enhanced nanos were able to slip past his own defensive wards and take microscopic chunks out of his skin. He could feel each piercing "bite." Individually, they were merely a nuisance but after thousands of them kept doing it at once, the pain was excruciating.

He staggered back from another magic infused blow from Rone.

Rone didn't let up. He formed the other half of his nanos into drones that fired arcs of lightning into Blak. Rone landed another punch with his left hand and pushed forward with his right hand. A huge current of wind suddenly screamed out of nowhere. It caught Blak up and tossed him back several feet. Rone zipped forward, jumped into the air, and came down with an aura of blue light around his fist.

With a hate-filled shout, he smashed his fist right into Blak's face.

**

At the same time as Rone's fist connected with Blak, Keiara bit off the spider from the Basilisk's neck.

**

At the same time that Rone's fist connected, Niku stood up in the darkness. The phantom voices and swirling faces screeched painfully, but he was no longer bothered by them.

There was a deep well of power filling him. It was fueled by his determination and will. It finally gave him the strength to overcome and truly accept the truth of who he was and to banish his own self-loathing.

It gave him the strength to fight back.

The effort to stand was huge but he did it. And when he did he released every bit of power he had.

Bright green light, the color of new spring grass, exploded out of him and shattered the darkness. It broke apart like a mirror breaking into hundreds of pieces.

...Niku was finally free.