“W-what happened, everybody’s… dead…” Rei was dumbfounded, a short trip away and the town has been swiftly destroyed and its inhabitants killed. “T-this isn’t good, not good at all!” Keo yelled. Avi was horrified at the sight of the destruction. Mutilated corpses littered the now deserted town, buildings could still be heard collapsing, and Black and purple smoke could be seen rising through the air. Not a single scream could be heard. Avi kneeled on the ground and covered her face. “Avi, no time, get up, we need to find that artifact…” Rei said to Avi, Trying to get her to stand up. Avi looked up at Rei, but before she could say anything, a mysterious voice could be heard. “Find the artifact? I can’t allow you to do that.”

  A plume of purple smoke appeared and Ardonous emerged from it. “Fools! Do you really think that searching for these worthless artifacts will do you any good!? All they are doing is wasting your time! The best thing you can do is the relax and accept your fate, like everyone else!” The entire group was shocked. “Y-you act like were going to go peacefully, yet you’ve murdered thousands!” Avi yelled, stepping forward, readying her blade. Rei stepped in front of her, “I’d watch your back.” He said. Keo drew his weapon. “Thousands? A pitiful number, soon it will be in MILLIONS!! DO YOU SEE THE BLOOD STAINED ON THIS BLADE!? … These are the happy tears of the people who chose to die under my jurisdiction! They WILLINGLY gave up their lives for my cause!” Ardonous yelled, not showing any will to fight. “N-No! They W-Wouldn’t!” Avi said, tearing up. “He’s toying with us.” Rei said. SILENCE!! Avindor will soon fall, and your pitiful lives will be erased with it! Best of luck finding the artifacts in time! Ahahahaha AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA. Ardonous disappeared.

  “No time to waste, we have to keep moving, the hole in the sky will only grow. Luckily, its still relatively small… we still have some time.” Keo said, concerned. “Avi… what’s wrong?” Rei said to Avi. She was sitting in a corner on her knees quivering in shock. “W-were T-T-Too late…” Avi muttered. Rei moved Avi’s arm from under her face. “We’re not too late, we wouldn’t be here right now, would we?” Rei said. Avi looked towards Rei, tears slipping from her eyes. “Just because the world didn’t end doesn’t mean the casualties don’t matter!? There are innocent p-people out there being killed!” Avi fell to the floor screaming in panic. “Cmon, we need to keep moving, we can work through this.” Keo, trying to help Avi up. Keo and Rei got Avi stood up, but she refused to move. They had to drag her around until her anxiety resided. “Save us, Aviounari…” Avi said under her breath. Her words weren’t heard.

  …

  Some time had passed. The group assessed the town for any survivors. No one was left standing. Avi, no longer in a panic, was sniffing, trying to hide her tears. “Avi… I… was wrong… I… no, WE should be taking this more seriously. I know that you told me Ardonous was enacting a plan to destroy the world. I also knew he was killing many innocent people. I forgot about the second part. I am too blindsided by all the stories I’ve seen over the years. Ardonous is a serious threat, not just to humanity, but to this entire plane of existence. We Will put a stop to Ardonous’s genocide, and we will find away to avenge the lost. This world will live on.” Rei made a fist and forcefully kicked some sand. The sand hit some rubble beside him.

  Avi’s tears stopped. “You didn’t think I wasn’t aware…? I’ve just been cheery… because its fun being around you guys… When I was first spawned, my earliest memories, I had no friends. It was so quiet. I wandered, and wandered, and wandered. I eventually found Keo, and he led me to you Rei. You are our last hope. I hope that we can stay cheerful and giddy along the way, as positivity never hurts. But as you said, we must never lose track of our goal.” Avi responded to Rei, in a serious tone. She wiped off a singular tear.

  “Hey, you two… look at this. Its… a bunker… and its open…?” Keo said. Rei walked over to Keo. “It seems that some people tried to flee into here. “Hello!! Anyone in there!!” Rei yelled into the bunker. No response. His voice echoed into the corridor. “Say, doesn’t this seem like the building that we were meant to unlock before…? How did Ardonous destroy it? His power… must be getting stronger… the seal on this building was supposedly very strong.” Keo said, inspecting the surrounding rubble.

  The group entered the bunker, looking for the map they were previously told about. The room at the bottom of the bunker was empty. A lone pedestal lay in the middle of the room. It seemed that the map that was there was taken recently. “Always two steps ahead…” Avi said, frustrated. “Well we cant give up now; the longer we wait, the more powerful Ardonous will become, and the artifact will be harder to acquire. Theres no saying what he has stationed at the artifacts location. Keo…? What are you reading…?” Rei looked over at Keo, reading another scroll.

  “I should have read this sooner… no matter. We need to go to the larger group of volcanoes, the artifact should be there.” Keo said. “How do you know that?” Rei asked. “This scroll here, it shows a town, as well as group of mountains. A sparkling crystal is seen in the middle. I didn’t know I had this scroll. Where did it come from? No time to think, lets just get there and grab the artifact, we can save more lives if we hurry…”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The group exited the bunker, and sprinted towards the larger group of volcanoes. A large tremor could be felt, and the group fell. The Storm of the End had gotten bigger. The hole in the center was now quite large, and the storms around it became more intense. “Don’t pay attention to it Avi, we still have time.” Rei said to Avi. Avi got up and kept running. “W-wait up!” Keo said. Rei and Keo chased after Avi and caught up to her. They eventually made it to their destination.

  “Now… where do we look? The artifact wouldn’t just be lying around here… would it? Hey… what’s that?” Rei noticed a pedestal up ahead. What seemed to be the third Artifact of Time-Space was on it. Rei tried to grab it. For some reason, his hand phased right through it. A shadow came out from under the pedestal, and consumed the artifact. A shade arose from the pedestal. “Greetings, Rei… I am Avshordus, Right-Hand of Ardonous. I have been sent here to dispatch you three… There is no time to waste. I will make this quick.” Avshordus said. It used the newly consumed artifact to power up. “You? How about WE make this quick!!” Avi and Rei said in sync. “Huh, in tune…?” Keo said to them. “Ah!” A bolt of darkness hit Keo. He was caught off guard. He was already injured.

  Avshordus focused its attacks on Keo. Keo, who was injured, had trouble doding, and took several hits. He hid behind some rocks and fell to his knees. Rei went over to him, while Avi began fighting Avshordus. “I-I’m ok, just give me a… ouch… minute…” Keo said. “We don’t have a minute! We need to beat this gu-“ Avi was blast into the rock that Keo was leaning on, and destroyed it. Avshordus approached Avi, and channeled its energy from the artifact to smash the ground. Its appendage lit up in rainbow colors. Avi rolled to dodge the attack, but was still injured by the shockwave. Avi got up, and her and Rei continued fighting Avshordus. Keo fired arrows from behind some more cover he found.

  Avshordus launched several dark, and rainbowy bolts (due to the artifacts power) at the group. Rei and Avi’s attacks weren’t working. “Even my sword isn’t working!! What are we supposed to do!?” Rei yelled. “The Honors Guard isn’t affecting Avshordus… strange…” Keo yelled back. “Honor’s Guard?” Rei asked. “That sword you pulled a while back, that’s its name. It was made to banish the blight of evil, I was meaning to tell you but I forgot.” Keo was cut off by Avshordus. “All this talking is boring me… Ardonous has collected a substantial amount of life energy, and has gifted me with newfound powers. I am invincible, even against your strongest attacks!” Avsordus began charging an extremely powerful attack. “Take cover!” Rei yelled. “I-Don’t see any!” Avi responded, looking around. Keo’s cover was already destroyed once again.

  Before Avshordus could launch its attack, it was hit by a light blue beam, that exploded on impact. Avshordus shrieked. “C-Cyber Magic…? How??” Avshordus tried to flee. Another bolt of magic hit it, and the artifact was released from its body. Avshordus escaped without the artifact. “Huh…?” Rei said. A girl with blonde hair approached Rei, you might be needing this… here… I just save your butts back there…” The girl said. “T-Thank you… and your name…?” Rei asked. “Eri, It’s Eri.” The girl said.

  “Ah, I feel as if you were meant to find us. One of my scrolls does show an alternate story about facing Ardonous, where four heroes, instead of one, stand up to him. I thought this prophecy was fictitious, due the other evidence, but after seeing that you, a mage with a strange type of magic, that Ardonous Shades’ seem to be extremely vulnerable to… You must be the fourth hero, and me and Avi must be the other two, and of course, you, Rei.” Keo said, to his own surprise. “I had a feeling you would say that. I came to find you three. I don’t know why, but I feel like something led me here at the perfect time. Me and my parents fled my village, which was recently destroyed by Ardonous. We… were separated. I don’t know if they are alive.” Eri said.

  Eri held up her staff and showed it to the group. “Luckily, like you said Keo, Ardonous’s shades’ are weak to Cyber magic, which I possess.” Eri continued. “Cyber… Magic…?” Avi was confused. “That’s… uh, actually quite famili- nevermind… you save our lives, you must be here to join us, correct?” Rei asked. “Yes, and as my first helping hand, I want you to have this, Rei, here is your next Artifact.” Eri said, handing the artifact to Rei. “(How does she know all this????)” Rei thought to himself. He tossed the artifact in the air, and it levitated and glowed. He jumped for joy, as Avi waved and smiled, while Keo was still reading one of his scrolls. Eri stood firmly, happy at the sight of her new friends.

  “Phew…! That was a close one! If it weren’t for you… we wouldn’t be here right now!” Avi said. It seemed the group had already fallen into their gleeful moods again. Luckily, they were now even more aware of the plans of the vile Ardonous, and had a new party member to boot! But time was running short! With the looming hole in the sky, our heroes made their long journey back to Avindor’s Wake.

  “Marlon… where are you going…?” “Amani, I must leave you. My father… he wants to hurt you. I don’t know what that entails, I don’t know how much harm he wants to inflict on you. All because of me.” Marlon… I’m sure we can find another way out of this…” “There’s not… I’ve already tried… I’m sorry Amani… This is… goodbye.” “W-Wait…!” …