The tower loomed in the distance blocking the sun, and shrouding the pathway in darkness, “there it is.” said William. Shriveled grass crunched under the horse’s feet, which was the only noise, except for the wind. “what’s our plan?” Said David. “Kill Malizard, and collect his bounty.” Tharen, the dwarf replied, in a gruff voice. They held lanterns in one hand, with reins in the other. The horses grew tired and weak as the day went on, getting to rest occasionally, when the group stopped to eat, but then to start walking again shortly after. 

They arrived at the towers gate just at dusk, and left the horses there, tied to a stake in the ground. They opened the gate and headed inside into a large, humid, dimly lit room, which had a large staircase in the middle. They tied their lanterns to their belts with a strip of leather, and drew their swords, ready to fight any foes they might encounter on the way up the tower. Cobwebs covered the place, some strong as rope, and thick as wire. They climbed the staircase and eventually got to a wooden door, which was locked with a small steel padlock.

David inspected the lock for a few seconds, and noticed it was fairly weak. “stand back.” He said, and struck the lock with his sword, and breaking it. David twisted the handle, and the door opened. “Bravo!” said Tharen, who was quite impressed. They walked through the door, and continued up the tower. The stairs grew longer, and time went by. The path upwards was simple to follow, but it seemed like it was taking an eternity to arrive at the top. “I was expecting some sort of threat…” said William, “yes, I haven’t even seen a single spider!” said David. “Yes, it is quite odd.” Replied William.  They continued up the stairs, that seemed to go on for eternity until they heard a noise from above. A choir of low voices could be heard faintly above them.

“do you hear that? It sounds like voices…” said David, “yes, I hear them.” Said Tharen. They followed the voices upwards, and the song grew louder, and louder. “that must be at least 40 men singing…” Said William, curious to where the voices were coming from, and why they are singing. They continued up the stairs, and came to a door. The stairs were dark, as there were fewer torches than below, but their eyes had adjusted to the low light. The voices sounded like they were coming from the other side of the door, singing a deep voiced song.

William slowly opened the door, and a hallway was before them, full of statues of people. William looked around, and nobody was in the hallway, so William told David and Tharen “come on, no one’s here!” they stepped in the hallway, and then, a gust of wind came, and put all of the torches out, engulfing the room in darkness. The song stopped, and faint whispering was heard shortly afterward. “Who is there?” yelled an older sounding man. Tharen hushed David and William, and about 30 seconds went by, when the old man yelled again “Who is there?!?” the only light was from there lanterns, which was low on oil, so the light was very dim. Footsteps came towards them, and got louder. “Come out! We know you’re here, intruder!” said the old man.

a light grew from the corner of the room,” Quickly! get behind one of the statues!” whispered William, panicked. They scuttled behind the statues, and covered their lanterns in a small cloth. The light grew, and soon they saw an old man, with a dark purple and black cloak holding a lantern, walking down the hall, Tharen held his breath… a few moments passed, then a shuffle was heard, and the room was dead silent. The old man slowly walked to one of the statues… he looked behind one of the statues, and the old man yelled “Aha! There’s the intruder!” Williams heart skipped a beat, but he saw in the light of the lantern, a scrawny young boy, who looked about 14 or 15 years old. “LET ME GO!” he shouted, and tried to kick the old man, “Silence.” Said the old man, he cast a spell and the boy fell unconscious. They waited until they couldn’t see the light of the lantern anymore. The torches lit back up, like they were never out… “was that malizard? And who was that boy?” David said quietly, peeking out from behind the statue. “I don’t know… but I think we should find out.” Said Tharen, walking out from behind the statue. They started to walk to the other end of the hall, being quiet as a mouse. “Sorry for the interruptions, but this has been a blessing from our lord, Malizard the Almighty, for he has given us a sacrifice!” the old man’s voice echoed through the hall.

“Praise Malizard, Master of all dimensions. Kings bow before him in fear, and shows no mercy, bringing this world to its knees. Praise Malizard!” voices said, in complete synchronization. On the wall was a rack with a few dark red cloaks hanging there. “put these on, this will disguise us.” Said William. They silently stepped into the room, the room had no chairs, and about 60 to 70 people in it, all in dark red cloaks.

The old man spoke loudly; “We give thanks to Malizard, the master of dimensions!” the crowd spoke loudly, “Hail Malizard!” “Our King we shall follow, till the end of time!” said the old man. The crowd spoke louder than before, “Hail Malizard!!!” David looked through the cloaks to the front of the crowd, and saw the boy, who looked knocked out, sprawled out on a table, with candles surrounding him. “the boy! I think he’s the sacrifice! We have to help him!” said David. “we can’t, they don’t know we’re here.” Said Tharen. “All other gods will fall!” said the old man. “Hail Malizard!” shouted the crowd.

“we shall now give this boy as sacrifice to Malizard!” said the old man. “Malizard will make all who oppose him fall!” shouted the crowd. “we should leave now.” Tharen said, and then started walking toward the door, and stepped in the hall. William followed soon after. “are you coming? Or are you staying here?” said William. “yes, I’m coming…” said David. They walked down the hall. A feeling of dread washed over David, wishing he could had done something for the boy, and the dread turned to guilt, and guilt to anger. He couldn’t help that boy, because it would lower their chances of collecting malizards bounty… the thought sickened him.

“I have to go back!” said David. “we can’t!” said William. “it would make all the work up to this point worthless! Besides, how would you get him to the bottom of the tower? Then what?” David looked at William in surprise, usually William was calm, but this was a different side of him. William collected himself and calmly said, “We can’t go back. It would put the mission in jeopardy, I wish we could help, but there’s too much at stake here...” “come on. We need to get to the top.” Said Tharen, who didn’t seem shaken at all by the situation.

There was a door at the other end of the hallway, and they walked to it, Tharen opened the door, and they all stepped through. David faintly heard the old man say, “We present this soul we have released to you, o’ great one.” The crowd said “The souls of many belong to you!” a shiver went down David’s spine. They continued up the stairs for about an hour, and then came to a door. A dim light was shining through the bottom of the door, not the light of a torch, but a cloudy sky, with light shining through them. Tharen twisted the handle, and opened the door. The wind roared loudly, the sky was a light grey and the air was thin. They had reached the top of the tower.

Malizard stood in the center of the tower, facing the sky. “I now have enough souls to bring the world to chaos, thanks to that intruder.” He said. He turned around to face them. “Those fools really think I am a god…” he said. “I am much more…” Tharen drew his sword, and charged, putting all his force into defeating malizard, desperate to claim his bounty. He thrust his sword at Malizard, but a small glimpse of light was seen, then Malizard was gone.

“Ha! You mortals cannot touch me!” said Malizard, standing on the other side of the tower.  Tharen swung his sword with full force at malizard, but malizard disappeared again, and was now directly behind Tharen. “Behind you!” William shouted, and Tharen swung his sword with all his might and CRACK! The sword hit Malizard, but the sword broke into a million pieces. Malizard stood there, without a scratch. “Can’t you see? I’m merely toying with you! This isn’t even my full strength! ” Said malizard, with a wicked grin. You could see the fear in Tharens eyes, as if he had seen death itself. “I am growing tired of you.” Said Malizard. He put his hand in Tharens forehead. “You’re going to the dark realm, where you’ll rot for all eternity” dark particles flew down from the sky and surrounded Tharen, like moths to a flame, “Get off!” Tharen yelled, swatting them away, but to no avail. David ran toward tharen, but it was too late, tharens shape was gone, the particles blew off and scattered into the air.

“Feeling left out, now are we?” Malizard said to David, and the particles came back in a shapeless mass. David drew his sword, and sliced through them, and the mass split in two. He saw a few fall to the ground, but there were still plenty more of the particles, David kept slicing, and slicing, fighting for his life. William stood on the other side of the tower, waiting. He didn’t know why he was waiting, or what he was waiting for, but he just felt like he should wait. A few got on David, and a sharp pain, like knives shot through his side. David screamed, and dropped his sword, and then the particles engulfed him.

William saw all of this happen. He could have helped, but something in his gut was so strong he couldn’t refuse listening to it, like he was in a trance. Soon the mass of particles spread into the wind, leaving no trace of David. “And last we have William…” William snapped out of the trance. A silence fell over the land; the only sounds were of crows, circling around the tower. “I have decided to spare you, I am a man of games, and you seem like the hero type.” Malizard said.

He pulled out a black ruby out of his pocket. “There’s a while until this soul-crystal activates, so your job is to find all Three of the soul crystal fragments, and assemble them, then return them to me, and you will get your friends back from the dark realm. And to make things more interesting, I have a small present for you, the sword of Darkchild…”

A loud hum surrounded the tower, and down from the sky came a bright shining light, tearing through the clouds, and landing before William. A gust of wind hit him, almost knocking him off his feet. Then slowly, the light faded, revealing a sword unlike any other, the blade looked old, but strong, like it had claimed the souls of many, you could feel its power emanating off of it.

“Why are you giving me this?” said William.  “Wouldn’t this lead to your own demise?” “I have guarded each of the crystal fragments with an ancient beast, without the sword of Darkchild, you won’t stand a chance.” said malizard. William picked up the sword, and a power surged through him, a dark power. “Off with you, mortal.” Malizard said, and a gust of wind came and surrounded William, carrying him away to the gate below, and dropping him there. The horses were tied to a stake, near the gate, so William untied one, and rode away from the tower. A rumble shook the ground, and the sky slowly turned grey, William looked around, and large spires grew out of the ground.

William rode across the hills, toward the nearest spire, which was located in the middle of a large town, located south of the tower. When William arrived in the town, the streets were empty, with objects littering the ground. William tied the horse to a nearby tree, and walked toward the spire. William opened the gate, and walked in. a sense of Deja-vu hit him, remembering when he went into malizards tower for the first time, but that soon changed. The gate shut behind him, and crawling out of the darkness was an ancient beast, a giant creature with long arms, no legs or eyes, and a fat, semi-human body, but covered its skin was a dark red, and scarred, and it had claws sharp as razors. It lunged toward William, as if he were to devour him in one bite. William jumped out of the way, and drew his sword quickly, and charged toward the beast.

William climbed on to it and, “SLASH!” One of the beast’s arms dropped to the ground with a thud, making the beast let out an unearthly screech; the arm violently squirmed and twitched on the floor below, its hand shaking, like trying to land one last blow before it lost its strength. The sword started to get very cold, William looked at it, and saw the blood on it was being absorbed by the sword, and then, it started to glow a dark purple.

A power surged through him, and he lost control of his arm, like the sword was the one in control. The beast grabbed its severed arm, as smacked William across the room with it, like a club. William hit the wall with tremendous force, and fell to the ground; the sword fell a few feet from William.

The beast dragged itself over to William, and started to reach for him. William franticly searched for his sword, just as the beast grabbed him; William found the sword and grabbed it. The beast was about to crush William, but he cut its wrist, making the beast drop William, and fall to the ground. William fell to the ground, the room was quiet.

Had he won? Where’s the crystal shard? These questions raced through his mind, but just then, he noticed something, the beast was crumbling away to dust, leaving only a skeleton. As the last of the body turned to dust, a flash of light appeared in the skeleton of the beast, and a crystal shard appeared.

William walked to the shard, and stuck it in his pocket, when from the sky came a voice; “William… I am the god of the land; I have come down from the heavenly plains to thank you… and give you this.” Something fell from the ceiling, and landed in front of William. “This is the soul of the earth; it will help you in your final fight with malizard… use it wisely…” “I understand.” Said William, and he walked out of the tower. “Farewell… the spirits of the land will always be with you…” and William was off to the next spire, located on the top of a mountain called Mt. Arinan, home of the ancient dwarven mines.

It took about a day to arrive at the top. The wind blew hard, and cold, like it was trying to keep him away from the mountain, green, lush leaves and tall trees surrounded him, but a feeling of dread was ever-present, as if the life of the mountain itself was drained, leaving nothing but a shell in its place. As William arrived at the top, his horse collapsed on the cold, hard rock

William fell off, and bruised his arm, but quickly got up and tried to get the horse up, when he noticed something sticking out of the horse’s side, William pulled it out, and saw it was a sort of dart, with a sticky substance on the tip, nonetheless, it was fatal. William carried on toward the tower, ready to slay the next beast. It started to snow, and soon the ground was completely white, and cold, and as it snowed, snow got into Williams boots.

William came to an old gate, on the side of a hill, no guards were there, and the door wasn’t locked, so William stepped inside. A tunnel stretched before him, going on for what seemed like forever, but all through the tunnel was a mine cart track, and an old rusted mine cart was at the beginning of the track, so William got inside, and the mine cart started rolling, the mine cart swerved left, and then right, and left, and then another left, when the mine cart flipped, sending William tumbling out, and crashing into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

“HEY! GET UP!” a voice shouted, and William jolted to his feet. Before him was a dark mass of shadow, sitting on a throne. His arms were held by two dwarves, who had a firm grip, not allowing him to move very much. “Ahh! I thought you would never get up!” said the shadowy figures voice. Something about the voice was familiar…

William said nothing. “What? Aren’t you happy to see an old friend?” just then, it hit him! that was Tharens voice! “Tharen?!?” he said with glee, “I thought you were trapped in the dark world! Where’s David?” said William. “Me and malizard, we struck a little deal! I could get out of that wicked place IF I… well here’s where things get awkward… I have to kill you.” Said Tharen.

“Release him!” said tharen, and the guards shoved him toward Tharen, Tharen passed William his sword. “Let’s begin, shall we?” Tharen drew his sword, and charged toward William, thrusting his sword forward, but William blocked the attack. “This is ridiculous!” said William, blocking another attack. “I need to keep up my end of the deal with malizard, or I’ll be sent back to that void!” said Tharen, slashing at William with his sword.

“Sorry about this!” said William, as he slashed his sword with all his might, but Tharen blocked it. All of the sudden, energy came through his sword, and up through his arm, a rush of adrenaline hit him, coursing through his veins. William thrust his sword with tremendous force, stabbing Tharen directly in the gut.

The room fell dead silent, no screams, and the guards didn’t try to capture him, then William noticed that there was a hole around the sword, a black tentacle came from inside of the hole and wrapped itself around the sword, and growing, like a vine, William tried to let go of the sword, but he couldn’t, the black tentacle grew, and grew, and covered his arm, then William remembered about the soul of the earth, he pulled it out, and it lit up, shining a golden-brown light. A rock shot up from the floor, sending Tharen flying backwards towards the throne.

“Who are you really?” William said. “Hmph… You’re no fun…” Tharens voice changed, now it was much deeper, and smoother, Tharens skin started to bubble, and melt off, and revealed a dark mass, it lacked shape, it was just a pile of darkness. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am not your dear friend Tharen, My name is Dalshelm, the shape-shifter demon, and second ancient beast.”

“What?” Said one of the guards, they pulled out their swords and pointed them at Dalshelm, “Surrender and we will have mercy on you!” the dwarves said, synchronized. “You fools! It would take an army of dwarves to kill me!” Said Dalshelm, “Or this!” William said, holding up the soul of the Earth. Rocks came from the walls and pelted Dalshelm, but holes appeared in his body before the rocks could hit him.

Dalshelm reached for the dwarves, and one of Dalshelms arms grew four times its own size, and three times as long, crushing the two dwarves into a wall, killing them instantly. Dalshelm was growing more and more, and soon he filled up half the room. William took this chance to attack him while he was distracted, so he jabbed his sword at Dalshelm, but it did nothing, a hole appeared in the body, and the sword was caught inside, black goo grew onto the sword, when all of the sudden, the goo started to melt off, revealing the sword, which was glowing, and burning the goo off.

Dalshelm felt this, and swatted at William, knocking him over. “Get off of me, mortal!” Dalshelm said. William ran to Dalshelm and sliced, and the goo melted off, seeping into the floor. “GET OFF!” Dalshelm said. He picked up William, ready to crush him, when William climbed up his arm, up to his shoulder, and cut Dalshelms neck, killing him.

A Crystal fragment appeared in Williams hand, William took both out and put them together, when they fused; one more fragment was needed to save the world… so William was off to the next tower, when he got out of the mountain, the sky was a bit brighter, and the trees felt alive again, everything felt normal, except for one thing, the final spire. A feeling of dread emitted off of it, but William carried on towards the final spire.

The Final spire was far, far away, and on foot, it would take a month just to get there, he needed a way to get to the spire, when he remembered that the soul of the earth might help. He pulled out the stone, and it glowed. A stone chair popped out of the ground, so William sat down, and the chair took off, launching itself forward, making a mile seem like a few feet, the spire grew ever nearer, an soon he arrived. The chair stopped in an instant, and sank into the ground.

William stepped into the final spire, ready to face whatever foe comes next… a masked man stepped out from the shadows, wearing a cloak, and holding a thin sword. “Who are you?” asked William. “My name is Detranan, protector, and first servant to Malizard. And you must be William, I presume.” said Detranan. “Yes, I am…” William said. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I must carry out my duties, as the third Ancient beast.” Said Detranan.

They drew their swords, and then fought, William struck first, but Detranan blocked the attack, and cut Williams side, then William pulled out the soul of the earth, and rocks came from the walls and crushed Detranan, a power surged through his veins, William dug through the rocks, and looked for Detranan, but he was gone. There was no trace of him, but lying at the bottom was the final crystal shard, and William attached it onto the others, and it fused, it started to glow, brighter and brighter, until, there was no light to be seen, it was pitch black, except for a faint light in the distance.

William walked to the light, which looked like a door, and walked into it. The sky was darker than ever, and thunder roared in the distance. William found himself on the top of Malizards tower, “Congratulations! You won!” said Malizard. “Where are my friends?” said William, “Impatient, are we?” said Malizard. Malizard snapped his fingers, and David and Tharen were there in an instant. “William!” David said excitedly, “Wait.” Said William. William walked to Malizard. “What? I gave you yo-” William drew his sword, and lopped off Malizards head in one swift swipe.

The air was still… The same power within William from before strengthened, and grew more powerful. “William?” David said. “William is gone…” said William. Tharen drew his sword, “I am much more than a mere mortal, like you…” “What are you talking about?” said David. “As long as I have this sword, I am invincible!” William shouted. “Prepare to die!!!” he shouted, and charged toward Tharen, but Tharen stabbed William in the gut before he could attack him, “Y-You see? I’m I-Invinc…abl…e….” William said trembling, and then, he died.

“This sword must have an evil power inside of it…” said Tharen. “We must seal it away forever.” They dug a hole and placed the sword inside, and then buried it. Ages went by and the sword rusted away, but the evil still lurks there. Waiting.