Rage Alone II: Solitary Retribution - Part Three

      Even though he was still slightly tired from having just woken up, he pressed on through the sky. It took several more hours, but the trip was nearing its end when he noticed craters in the ground. The pillars of fire from before had left their mark along the rocky region, but it also served as a landmark. Since he had to dodge them when they erupted, he was able to retrace his maneuvers to the exact spot he needed to be.

      A pile of boulders, both big and small, spread out over the side of the mountain. He remembered it being smooth mountains, but he never did know how large of an explosion Fethva made. He was surprised he survived it if it did all of this.

      The whispers silenced themselves once he landed on the rocks. He looked around the area, but saw nothing but stone in every direction. Randomly scattered boulders had become the side of the mountain. He decided to start walking around them to try and find whatever he was suppose to. For once, he wanted the whispers to return and guide him.

      When he reached the area that he believe to be the old entrance to the chamber under the mountains, there was a pile of small rocks on top of a big one. On top of the piles rested a shard of blue crystal, which could have been nothing other than a piece of Fethva. Jyrados narrowed his eyes at it and quietly said to himself, "A grave?"

      A familiar, scratchy voice came from behind Jyrados. Upon hearing it, he spun around as it said, "He was still my friend, so I decided even he should be buried properly with dignity."

      Jyrados looked upon an elderly green Nimmo wearing a wool cloak. He felt relieved and said, "It's good to see you, Trum. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like things are over yet. Strange things have been happening."

      Trum continued as if Jyrados hadn't said a word, "You, on the other hand, aren't so deserving. You went further than you were meant to. Years of effort wasted; stolen from my life."

      Jyrados became both confused and disgusted. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, nor did he understand. He yelled, "So it was you who did all this? Why? You were the one who brought me to where Fethva's legacy was. It's because of you I stopped the world from being destroyed."

      Trum shook his head slowly, "You were guided by rage. You were much too simple, but apparently not as simple as I wanted. You were led to get Fagrata out of my way. After that, the legacy would have been mine."

      Jyrados narrowed his eyes and clapped his hand together twice, "Well done, Trum. You sure played me for a fool. But the legacy is gone, and nothing will change that. Since it's just worthless pieces of what it was, there's no need for anything else to be done."

      Trum laughed at him, "It may be destroyed, but there's much to do. Since you're the one who shattered it, all that's left for me to do is bring my vengeance upon you. Once again, you were set up to be led to me. All I had to do was target your friends. You're a slave to your feelings. You have a rage boiling inside of you."

      "Where are they," asked Jyrados as he rose a fist up.

      Trum replied, "Somewhere safe, as if it mattered. Now that you've suffered losing them, perhaps now you know how I felt about losing Fethva. Now all that's left to take is your life."

      Jyrados flapped his wings as he jumped at Trum. Just a few feet from contact, he felt something grab his throat and jerk him back. Jyrados was held in the air by nothing as Trum simply stared at him. He tried to struggle against it, but was powerless to free himself.

      As they stared at one another, Trum said, "A shame people forgot about Fethva, or even know it no longer exists. While I could have used its power in so many ways, I was a little stronger when it was destroyed. Now it won't limit me in its attempt to keep balance. If the rest of the world only knew what it could do."

      Jyrados listened while forming a ball of lightning in his right hand. He threw it at Trum, who was hit in the chest. Trum's concentration broke and Jyrados fell to the ground and coughed violently from the throat damage. Trum's cloak was burnt on the front, so he pulled off, revealing steel bracers on his forearms and steel plate armor over his chest and shoulders.

      The two stood a few feet from each other, waiting for one another to make a move. While they waited, Jyrados said, "It's no wonder you didn't even get along with your friend. You're insane."

      Trum replied, "He was far too depressed and selfish when we found the legacy. He wanted to destroy the world, I wanted to conquer it. He wanted to end people's suffering by releasing them, and I wanted to release it by ruling the world the way is should be. He was just faster than me and manipulated it to ward me away from that chamber. That's why I needed to find another to clear the way for me. He was weak; I could have taken him myself if I could get close enough."

      Jyrados jumped at Trum and extended his fist for a punch. Swiftly, Trum reacted by throwing an arm up, which caused Jyrados' fist to hit the bracer. With his other arm, Trum, swung at Jyrados' face. Jyrados ducked under, avoiding the punch, and tripped Trum with his tail.

      Trum fell on his back, but didn't let that stop him. With a thought, Jyrados felt something hit him in the gut and send him nearly ten feet away. As they both got to their feet, Trum said, "I'm getting too old for this. I expected you to not be able to take so much."

      "Glad I could disappoint," responded Jyrados. "You're tough for an old man."

      The air became thin in the region as Trum lifted off the ground. Ribbons of dark purple energy formed and coiled around him, and sped up as they flew around. His breathing quickened as power was drained from him. Jyrados focused on collecting the power of shadow and lightning around his arms. Every moment that passed rose their power to where both were having trouble containing it.

      At once, the two of them threw their attacks at one another with immense force. Each thick ribbon coiled together while the dark lightning was sent off in two large bolts from Jyrados' arms. The attacks passed one another by and slammed into their targets, all of them hitting their chests. A scream was heard from both as they were knocked to the ground while smoking.

      Jyrados woke up on the broken rocks he landed on. He was in a lot of pain, and as he laid there, he softly muttered to himself, "I sleep too much."

      Slowly, he stood up to see what the aftermath of the battle was. Jyrados had a burn mark on his chest, but it wasn't noticeable on his shadowed body. It didn't keep it from hurting, though.

      Trum's body wasn't on the ground, just the cracked rock he landed on. He slowly turned around to see Draicus, Gorrem, and Simpha looking at him. He got a bad feeling and said, "Oh no, not another dream."

      Simpha smiled and said, "No, no dreams this time. We weren't kept that far from here. It's over, you won."

      Jyrados was helped up by Gorrem, but as he was helped up, he asked, "Where's Trum? How long was I out?"

      Draicus spoke up to answer, "We buried him next to the other grave. Seemed like the most honorable thing to do. And we don't know how long you were out since we don't know when you were knocked out, but we found you here nearly an hour ago."

      Jyrados just asked, "Why didn't you take me home?"

      Gorrem, having Jyrados' arm slung over his shoulders, said, "We didn't want to move you. Didn't know how bad you were hurt. Now let's get back to where you can get treatment."

      Jyrados gave a tired sigh, "Seems I'm going to have to extend my vacation for a while. It's hard for me to get some rest around here.

      They all walked towards the north, not expecting a short trip. Jyrados told them of everything that happened, but didn't expect that to be the last story he would tell his friends of someone's rage, for he had his own boiling inside, as Trum had said.

The End