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The Runic Heart |
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By Richard LeBlanc |
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| Act ten: final conflict... |
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| Moments had passed since Tamina returned to her thrown room. She had heard no news from any of her soldiers - or Hunter. She hoped that she could discover some news in her magic mirror - and unfortunately - she found them. |
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| She watched Hunter fighting Harmen - and watched as he died - and watched Harmen and Angela together again. A black aura pulsated around her as rage began to seethe from her being. |
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| "My Hunter - gone," she strained. She screamed out as she drove her fist through the mirror. "It is my fault you are gone Hunter - but know that you will be avenged!" she hissed as she stormed through her thrown room. Two guards approached her and burst into flames. "They think that they have escaped me - they will soon find out just how mistaken they are!" she strained as she vanished into a black mist. |
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* * * |
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| In a dark dank place - Tamina appeared. |
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| "I know you are here - show yourself," she called out. A loud deafening roar echoed from the dank cavern walls. The ground shook with tremendous force as a monstrous beast drew closer. It was that that a large black dragon rounded a corner and glared at her. |
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| What do you want of me? The dragon asked telepathically. |
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| "I have need of your special talents," she began. |
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| Ha! Last time you needed my aid - I ended up trapped in this hole of a prison. I can only imagine what I would be rewarded with if I aided you again. The dragon retorted. |
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| "Aid me this one - last time - and I will shatter the bond - that binds you to me," she stated seriously. |
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| Bold words. The dragon began. With a wave of her hand - a flash of light filled the room. The dragon looked around and could tell that something was different. He quickly looked down at the woman that had been crying not so long ago. The bond - is broken - you gamble much. It continued. |
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| "I have lost much - my Hunter - has been taken from me. When - we first met - so long ago. I promised you power. Aid me - and it will be yours," she replied seriously. The dragon lowered its head and studied the Witch Queen. |
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| I believed you once Death Sage. I ended up being bonded to you for my efforts. The dragon stated coldly. Tamina sighed and lowered her eyes. She tried to keep the emotions at bay - but her efforts weren't working. |
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| "He hates me - he always has," she began. |
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| The boy prince you were chasing after? A little young for one such as yourself - but that is just my opinion. The dragon commented. Tamina looked over at the dragon and placed her hand on the dragon's horn. |
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| "Please - help me punish this boy," she began as black power began to flow from her into the dragon. The dragon hissed as power began to pulsate from his being. Tamina fell to her knees. "Do not let him get away with doing this to me," she begged weakly. |
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| This foolish child - shall rue the day he crossed your path. I will aid you in taking him and those with him down. After that - my debt to you - is null. The dragon said as a deafening roar echoed throughout the cavern. |
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* * * |
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| On the outskirts of the Dark Queen's kingdom - the three travelers stopped when they heard the roar. It was not like any beast any of them had ever heard. It was something that they hoped to never hear again. |
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| "What - was that?" Samson asked. |
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| "I - I don't think I want to know," Angela muttered. |
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| "I heard stories - heard that she had dragons in her service," Harmen began. Just then his unicorn and Samson's horse began to act up. They tried to get control of their mounts - but it was too late! The ground began to violently shake. The unicorn threw Angela and Harmen free - just as a giant black dragon erupted from the ground. Samson was thrown from his mount - and his terrified mount raced away. The three hesitantly looked up and saw Tamina atop the legendary dragon - Black Fang! |
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| "I am hurt Harmen - after everything we have been to each other - leaving without saying goodbye? I'm crushed - oh wait - I'm not - you will be!" she hissed as the dragon lifted its massive foot up and attempted to squish them - luckily they all managed to get out from harm's way. "You are only delaying the inevitable," she added seriously. |
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| "Samson - protect her - I will deal with Tamina," Harmen replied. Samson looked at the prince as though he had mutated into another form of life. He looked over at the Witch Queen and the dragon she rode upon and then at the human prince that was hoping to topple both. |
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| "You - have lost your ever loving mind," Samson retorted. |
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| "Just - just do it," he replied seriously. |
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| "I will try," Samson reluctantly agreed. Harmen slowly walked out and stood before the Witch Queen and Dragon. Angela began to shake as she watched him go out. There had to be something she could do. There had to be! She quickly got down on her knees and began to pray. Samson looked over and sighed. |
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| "Good idea. About now we could use all the help we can get," he muttered. |
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| "Coming to surrender? A little late for that," she began. |
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| "Your quarrel is with me - let them go," he replied. |
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| "Let them go? One seduced you away from me - the other killed my precious Hunter. No - you will all share the same fate. And after you are dealt with - I will ravage your homeland without mercy," she retorted emotionally. |
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| "I can not let that happen," he replied calmly. Tamina madly laughed. |
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| "You don't have a choice," she retorted. The dragon arched its massive head back. Samson looked at the prince and saw that the sword in his hand - was beginning to glow. He was going to comment when the dragon belched a pillar of flames at the prince. Samson looked over at Angela - her eyes were closed - she was still praying - and she was glowing! |
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| Tamina atop her dragon was laughing. She eagerly looked over to where she was sure a crying hysterical Angela would be - but instead saw her glowing. It was then that she knew why - that girl looked familiar. "No - it can not be," she began. Her mind flashed back to the time she had laid siege to the royal family - the ones that were imbued with the power of the magic runes. They were all dead - yet one somehow lived? "I killed all of them years ago!" she shouted. The dragon stopped belching flames and looked over at the holy glow that seemed to be coming from the girl. |
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| The Keeper of the Runic Heart. The dragon began. Tamina hesitantly looked down and saw that prince Harmen was unaffected by the dragon's fury. She watched as magical energy began to spiral around the sword. The heart shaped rune on the blade emanating a golden glow. You said the Runic Heart was no more! The dragon exclaimed. All watched as other runes began to magically burn into the blade. |
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| "Kill him," she stuttered. The dragon belched out flames at the prince. Harmen merely raised his hand. The flames stopped as though they had been blocked by a magical wall. |
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| "Your time of darkness - is over," Harmen began. Golden armor began to spread out from the magical blade. Angelic wings grew out from the back of the armor. Both the queen and the dragon tried to over power the magic that was growing in the prince with each passing second. Again with a wave of his hand the powers were stopped. Samson watched as Harmen flew up at the dragon. |
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| An explosion unlike anything he had ever encountered rocked the land. Samson did what he could to shield Angela from the blast but the force was so strong that it carried the two high up and flung them hundreds of meters back. |
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| Silence followed. |
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| Samson strained to get up. He limped over to the source of the blast. The entire area was scorched. He looked through the smoke and saw the charred remains of the legendary black dragon - and saw a badly wounded Tamina forcing herself up to her knees. |
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| "No," he muttered. The Dark Queen lived - it could only mean that Harmen was no more. In was then that he saw the silhouette of an angel standing before the crawling queen. The smoke seemed to part away from Harmen as he stepped towards the weakened queen. |
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| "Your darkness - shall end with you," he said as he drove his blade into her back. Tamina spasmed for a few seconds - but then went limp. Harmen staggered a bit. The wind blew smoke across the charred flaming area. When the wind died down a bit - Harmen didn't look like an angel - he looked like himself again. His sword fell from his hand and he fell unconscious to the ground. |
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| "Sire!" Samson muttered as he hurried down. When he got there - he saw all of the other Runic weapons and artifacts. "Harmen - speak to me," he ordered. No response. He began to shake the prince by the shoulders. Harmen's face winced. |
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| "Ah - easy - I hurt all over," he strained. |
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| "I thought you were lost to us hero," he said as he sighed with relief. |
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| "Help me up," Harmen replied. Samson got up and helped the prince up. It was then that the prince noticed all of the Runic Weapons around him. |
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| "Any idea what happened?" Samson asked. Harmen reached down and picked up his sword. On it was the Runic Heart. |
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| "The Runic Heart? How?" he began. |
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| "The girl - I think it was her doing," Samson replied. It was then that Harmen felt a wave of nausea overcome him. He frantically looked around the charred surroundings - Angela was no where to be seen! |
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| "Where is she?" he asked in a panic. |
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| "Easy hero - the blast carried us away - she is over that way," Samson began. Harmen hurried away with surprising ease. It was as though his heart was blocking out whatever pain his body was feeling. When he saw where Angela was lying - all color drained from his face. |
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| She was unmoving on the ground. Her head had hit a rock when they landed. He slowly made his way over to where she was and fell to his knees. It couldn't end like this - not like this! |
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| "No - no," he muttered as he carefully lifted her up and held her in his arms. "You can't be gone," he began as a tear rolled down his cheek. |
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| "I - would never leave you," a weak voice began. His heart almost stopped. He looked down and saw her smiling. "Did you win?" she asked weakly. He quietly laughed and shook his head. |
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| "No - I didn't win. We did," he replied as he gave her a kiss. |
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Epilogue... |
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| Ten years had passed since that epic battle. Without the leadership and dark power of Tamina guiding them - the war efforts against Eversky fell apart. The king's forces were able to chase the remaining legions and purge all others from their lands. |
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| The lady Angela and Prince Harmen were wed shortly after the war had ended and had found Angela's sister - who had been trapped under a spell by Tamina when their family had first been attacked. |
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| In that time - the happy couple were blessed with two children, a son of three years and a daughter of six - and all that was wrong in the land was finally - at long last set right. |
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| Or was it? |
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| Back where the epic battle had taken place between Harmen and the Witch Queen - the forest had grown over - leaving no trace of the historic battle that had taken place. But on the exact spot where Tamina had fallen - the ground began to stir. A woman's fist punched up through the dirt - wearing a ring - with a Runic Eye on it! |
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The End. |
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