Confrontation/Chapter 18

“Do it NOW!” the Traveler shouted, standing there in front of the far cavern entrance. “The marching army approaches even now. Make your decision. Die here or make your stand and fight the darkness that has claimed you even as it claimed Xilar before you. Only through you can both be redeemed. What will it be? Will you stay the same Galrick son of Glenn or will you seek the truth?!”

“Fine! Fine!” I cried. “But what hope have I? What chance of salvation exists for me?”

“None,” the Traveler responded. “I never offered you salvation, I offered redemption. Will you fight or not?”

To answer, I thrust my hand there into the glowing pool that was the fount of primordial creation. I felt it fill me thoroughly and felt the power. Even as it touched me, I felt reassured and I felt the truly tremendous danger the power represented.

“Open your channel, Traveler, before this energy destroys me utterly.”

“Galrick....” a voice called, standing there, and I turned and saw a man in the robes of the temple of Darkness. “You have succeeded.”

The figure turned toward the Traveler. “Am I no longer needed, then? Am I free from this charade? I had to watch them kill my friends, I had to threaten my friends myself. Yet you lead another here to do my job anyway.”

“I had to, Myr.” The Traveler responded. “Not because I thought you would fail, but because of what you are. The danger was far too great. It was already a triple subterfuge. Plus, we needed to be certain The'Galin’s army came here to the darkness.”

“What is this?” a new voice cried, even as I felt the energy burning into my mind and heard the pricking of my lord calling for me to give the energy to him as I owed him.

“Justice, Diviara.” The one called Myr smirked. “I have betrayed you.... as I intended from the beginning.”

“That is IMPOSSIBLE!” the Brilhado roared in denial. “I am a communicant of The’Galin; I made you one too. We used the Cold, and you were given a Faceless; between the two, you cannot possibly have resisted....”

“And YET,” Myr shouted, “I apparently HAVE!”

“You threatened your friends! You DID his WORK!”

“But I NEVER ACCEPTED HIS SERVICE. YOU SOUGHT TO USE ME, TO STEAL ME FROM MY GOD, MY FRIENDS, MY FAMILY!” Myr raged. “There was NOTHING I would not do to resist The’Galin, so when the Traveler came to me and suggested I pretend you had succeeded in your original attempt and it was just slow to take, I agreed. I knew I would have to betray my friends in order to SAVE them... So yes, I watched you kill them, I marched alongside you silently. I spoke to your wicked god and nodded as he spoke his lies... and when that creature came into me to transform me and augment me, I was quite unique in the fact that I KNEW it was happening due to the Traveler's intervention. Yet the creature did not wish to serve your dark lord either so he HELPED me with my deception. We are one being now and I am honored to be that creature. Both of my RACES will defy you... We will DESTROY you. You will regret ever betraying your original lord. But you... Diviara, I will kill you myself for what you have done..... What you did to Jano in K’eld Ner, what you did to Draynor in Stone Deep, and what you have done to countless others.”

Before Myr could advance, Diviara launched himself into the air, turning and flying toward the Traveler. “You MEDDLESOME mongrel! I will destroy you!”

The Brilhado struck out with a sword, cleaving the face of the Traveler nearly in two. He who was busy directing the energy away from me and preventing my destruction did not resist Diviara's vicious attack nor any of his next three, but the damage was immense and I could tell by his holding and demeanor he was in pain. Myr meanwhile was engaging a smaller contingent of Brilhado, trying to get toward both Diviara and the Traveler.

I continued to pull the energy, fighting the pull of The’Galin in my head. Ultimately, the aid the Traveller gave broke off the connection and I felt the last of the field of energy drawn out of that place into a world beyond The’Galin's reach.

“You are too late, Diviara.” The Traveler spit blood on the angel's face, its crimson staining his wings. “I shall die here by your hand, but you will not live long enough to do anything with me. Worse, you could not anyway.”

Diviara thrust his sword into the Traveller's abdomen then and there was a flash of black light as the Traveler collapsed to the ground, his life force completely extinguished. I felt the guide and protection around me fall away, but even though it did so, The’Galin did not return.

“MYR!” Diviara yelled then. “You were to be the Master's finest communicant. You were to be favored. One of his manifesta. And you betrayed him. Your LORD. You too will die here.”

“No, Diviara,” a new voice spoke at the opposite end of the cavern even as I saw a small army enter the cavern and became aware of the sound of vicious fighting in the corridor beyond.

I collapsed then to my knees, burned by the power, confused and afraid.

“Giliara! You treacherous swine, your very life is owed to The’Galin!”

“No…. My life belongs to the Lord of Light. Your kind are the traitors. You killed your families and enslaved them as undead. You continue to enslave bodies, minds, and souls to this day. I am sorry, servant of the Darkness Lord. I know you have waited long and wish to end the life of Diviara... but I get first claim. My debt to him is millennia old.”

“Be my guest....” Myr responded with a sound suspiciously like glee, still fighting with the Brilhado and undead near him. “I am a bit occupied as it is....”

I saw Giliara strike Diviara hard and then the damage that the energy had done to me won out and I slipped into oblivion.