The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 65

Part 12

“He knew that there is a rock almost five times as big as Hiliani approaching Kellaran.” Karzog continued, “And that night he realized that it is full of millions, or billions, of demons.”

As they watched Zarkog suddenly jumped up and began raging about the mountaintop, roaring in anger as he tore clawfuls of rock from the mountain and blasting all about with his fire and destructive spells. He crushed the Sylvan who attended him to a paste against the rock with a single strike, and generally destroyed his observatory and everything near it except the Psionic Distant Listener.

“This led Zarkog to decide that Kellaran needed to prepare to defend itself against the demons, and to decide that he was destined to lead our defense. That’s why a reclusive astronomer became Dragon Lord of Serminak, and tried to take over the world. And that’s why your god brought your people here all those years ago.

“After taking over Serminak, he attempted to extend his influence to the other continents, and that’s where he ran into problems…”

The Revealing showed Zarkog fighting and speaking to crowds of Sylvan and dragons as Dragon Lord; he was now almost impossibly huge, and was black with gold and silver accents. Then, as Karzog verbally summarized them, he showed events from The War of The Founding of The Just Alliance, Zarkog’s downfall, the revealing of the Triax, the ending of the Withdrawal of The Gods, the organization of The Game of Status among the other Sylvan, and the establishment of the Hiliani colony.

“Your god made sure he was outside the time-bubble when it went up, and I’m sure that by now he knows all that I’ve revealed to you.” Karzog continued as the Revealing ended and faded away. “But he’s not here, he’s trapped outside the time-bubble, and so he can’t prepare you to face the demons. Therefore we will do so.

“We have only two objectives with you; we’ll stop you from killing or disabling each other, since we may need every fighter we can get to defeat the demons. And we’ll train you to fight the demons effectively, as a disciplined, co-operative force, equipped with many spells and techniques that you don’t have yet. In order to fulfill these objectives, we’ll build a community for you, and you’ll gain the benefits, safety, and pleasures of life that your elders presently enjoy, but you do not.

“When we’ve accomplished our two objectives, we’ll leave the Sylvan of Hiliani in peace to run their own affairs, though you will be required to join our continuing battle training, so that our two peoples can co-operate and coordinate in the defense of our home islands.

“We four are not the most powerful or influential members of our community. Some of you will consider it to be extremely bad luck that much of the elite of The Just Alliance have chosen these islands for our temporary withdrawal from the world. But we four have chosen to fulfill this responsibility, and we’ve been authorized to do so by Prince Mark and Princess Talia, who are the rightful sovereign rulers of these islands. We will not shirk or falter in our duty in the slightest, and we think we’re more than up to the job.

“Now some of you have very primitive thinking. Because of this, you’re thinking to yourselves; ‘If we could get free of this spell right now, we’d obliterate you, because there are eight hundred and forty-one of us and only four of you.’ You think you’ve been tricked and trapped and that we’ve used cowardly methods, and you’re quite sure you’re going to kill us slowly at the first opportunity, which you think will happen quite soon. You consider me to be the only real threat you face, and you think that if you kill me first, these other three will fall easily.

“We know that we’ll have to prove how wrong you are about these things in a way you’ll understand, before you’ll obey us. And let there be no doubt; we do require your obedience during the first stages of your training. Therefore you’ll be allowed to challenge us to combat.

“But before we get to that, I’ll answer your questions. I’ll allow you to raise one arm to indicate that you have a question, and I’ll allow you to speak it so long as you remain civil.

“You, yes?” he asked as he used a quick flash of yellow light to indicate one of the many Sylvan who had raised an arm.

“How long will we be your captives?” she asked.