By Richard LeBlanc
Chapter Seven
In the valley - three armies stood across from Toymaker.
"Wizard! There is much you have to answer for!" the Icatian hero shouted out.
"I'm sure that would make alot of your magistrates happy - but it isn't going to go down like that. Allow me to show you to a construct i learned of in my recent travels." Toymaker retorted. Strands of power swirled around him. Then - one by one - several oddly shaped - horse sized creations appeared. By the time the spell had finished - there were eighty constructs before him. Four different breeds - twenty of each.
"They are called - chimeras. Allow me to show you why - they are special. Attack!" Toymaker ordered. Up above - Thortan thought that the wizard had lost his ever loving mind. whatever their powers or abilities - there was still only twenty of them.
He watched as the legions of soldiers slowly began to advance. The chimeras and soldiers grew closer and closer. The two sides were about to collide when the chimeras in front stopped. The slightly different chimera that was a few paces behind began to alter their shape. Thortan watched as the two chimeras merged into one. The transformation didn't stop there. The next row of chimeras rushed at the transformed chimeras. in mid air - their shape changed as well. they too merged into the monstrous looking robots. Then the last wave of leaped up and attached itself to the monstrous chimeras' backs. In the place of the eighty horse sized constructs - now stood twenty giant sized mechanical horrors.
"Oh - my - god." Thortan muttered. He watched as flowing veils of blue energy appeared on many of them - but not all. Before the rest could be protected - they were destroyed by the Icatian avatar known as the Hand of Justice. Thortan now realized exactly why he was wearing the veil.
"Attack the metal monsters!" a hero at the front shouted. Toymaker watched as his giants kept the soldiers occupied. But he also noticed that his creatures were actually taking damage from these forces.
"I was hoping to avoid using this device again..." he began. he extended one arm straight out to the left - another arm out straight to the right. A golden jewel the size of a human skull appeared in the air above the wizard. He realized that the banding of the soldiers might overcome the multiple abilities of his chimeras. Drastic times - called for drastic actions.
"I call upon the power of the Golden heart - Empower!" he shouted out. All of the remaining chimeras began to glow. Just then - they all doubled in size. The soldiers still attacked the beasts - but it took more soldiers to do it. The jewel began to spin faster. Toymaker groaned as the power of the Golden jewel began to hurt him. The chimeras once again doubled in size. Thortan now had to look up to see the top of these monumental creatures.
"That must have been what he used on the Armegeddon Clock." Thortan muttered. Seconds later - all of the giants violently exploded. Thortan was going to run - but all of the debris disintigrated almost instantly. Thortan hesitantly lowered his eyes. on the battlefield down below - all of the soldiers were dead - and Toymaker was on the ground barely moving.
"Oh - not good." he muttered as he rushed down the hill. Within moments he was by the barely breathing wizard.
"You okay?" he asked hesitantly. The wizard's eyes opened. Toymaker slowly sat up.
"It - is over - ow." he strained.
"How - how did those things get so huge?" he asked.
"Power of the Golden Heart of Growth. It doubles the power of certain types of creatures or machines. The downside of the equation is that as it doubles everything else - it halves my health each time it does." he explained as he waved a hand over the shattered remains of the artifact he was talking about.
"That was how you destroyed that continent?" he asked.
"I waited too long. The clock was beating too fast. when i activated the Heart - i couldn't control it. The castle of my enemy - fell in seconds - then the cities around it minutes later - the country side - then the whole continent. Millions died because of my mistake." he replied. The heart was now in one piec again. He waved a hand over it - the heart vanished.
"I can believe it." he muttered. he was going to ask the wizard something else when he saw one of the supposedly dead soldiers twitching.
"Uh, Toymaker - all of these guys aren't quite dead." he stated. Toymaker looked over at Thortan who promptly pointed at the barely living soldier. Toymaker hurried as quickly as he was able. he reached down and lifted the moaning soldier up with one hand.
"Tell me - tell me who sent you and i will let you die quick. Be loyal and silent and i promise you that the sun will set for many years before you know the sweet release of death - now talk!" Toymaker ordered. the weak soldier looked up at the angry wizard.
"He - T-Tmelan..." he moaned. He then went limp. Toymaker threw the now dead soldier aside. he now had a name - that was the first step. Now all he had to do was find him and deal with him.
"Tmelan. I never heard of you. I know that i have never met you. But i do know that you will regret making an enemy of me. Come Thortan - there is much that must be done before my cowardly nemisis sends more cannon fodder at me." he stated. the two made their way through the shallow sea of corpses and headed towards the nearest town.
To be continued...
