At the End of the River, a Fantasy fanfic

Chapter Nine: The Final Battle

Blaze, Rose, and Ethen stood in the middle of a room, exhausted from previous battles, while heading up the fortress.

“How much more of this?” Ethen complained.

“If I remember correctly, two floors.” Rose replied.

"Then what are we waiting for?” he asked.

The three walked up another flight of stairs, brining them to a similar looking room to one they came from. A man holding a spear stood in the middle of the room.

Ethen recognized him immediately. “Paireth.” He muttered. The man turned around. “Ethen, so you survived.” He said. “Bendez is waiting, relic holders.”

“I’ll take care of Paireth. You two go ahead.” Ethen said. Blaze nodded and walked towards the next staircase, Rose following.

Ethen unsheathed his sword. “So you’re with Bendez now.”

“When I appeared in Spectara, I was captured. Bendez offered me power, and I gladly accepted, and now, I will kill. The tournament can’t save you this time.” Paireth said and pointed his spear at Ethen. “Bring it on.” Ethen muttered.

Blaze and Rose entered the throne room to see Bendez standing in the center. “I applaud you for making it this far, but it will all be in vain. Once I kill you two and obtain your relics, I shall not only rule Spectara, but the world as well.”

“Seriously, what is with people wanting to rule the world?” Blaze muttered.

“Enough!” Bendez raised his hand and a blast of energy flew at Blaze and Rose. The two stepped to the side to avoid the blast. The battle had begun.

Ethen dodged Paireth’s spear and swung his sword at him. Paireth dodged the slash and jabbed his spear at Ethen again. That was his mistake.

Ethen dodged the attack and grabbed the spear, forcing it out of Paireth’s hand. He threw the spear across the room and swung his sword at Paireth’s head.

Paireth ducked to avoid the slash and kicked Ethen in the gut. With him distracted, Paireth unsheathed his sword and charged at Ethen.

Bendez unsheathed a sword and fired a blast of energy from his hand at Blaze. He dodged the blast and charged at Bendez, with the Sword of Darkness in hand.

The Sword of Darkness collided with Bendez’s sword. Their swords clashed, neither gaining the upper hand. Rose stood from afar and fired a blast of energy at Bendez. He kicked the Sword of Darkness out of Blaze’s hand and into the air. He raised his hand at Blaze and fired a blast of darkness, sending him flying into a wall.

Bendez caught the Sword of Darkness just before the blast hit him, causing the blast to disappear due to the connection. He threw the sword aside and charged at Rose. She blocked a slash with her staff, but that was what Bendez wanted her to do.

The slash was not meant to hit her, but to knock her staff out of her hand, leaving her defenseless. The Staff of Shadows landed by the Sword of Darkness, and the two started to glow. Bendez grabbed her by the neck and slowly squeezed.

Ethen swung his sword at Paireth who blocked and sent a kick at Ethen’s hand. His foot hit the hand, but Ethen did not drop the sword like Paireth had hoped. Their swords continued to clash until Paireth gained the upper hand.

He sent a slash with enough force to knock the sword out of Ethen’s hand. Paireth slashed at Ethen, but his attack was stopped when Ethen took out a knife to block the slash, just in time.

He took out another knife and started to strike with great speed. Ethen was at a disadvantage at range, but with weapons far smaller than Paireth’s sword, it enabled him to speed.

Blaze slowly got up and saw what was happening. He headed over to the sword and staff and picked up both of them. He pointed the staff at Bendez and fired a blast of energy, causing him to drop her. “Get the hell away from her.” He said.

Bendez charged at Blaze and swung his sword downward. He crossed the sword and staff into an X to block the attack. The Sword of Darkness and Staff of Shadows started to glow, and an unknown forced pushed them away from each other.

No longer were a sword in staff in Blaze’s hands, but in his right hand was a black sword, with white symbols glowing on the blade. Blaze charged at Bendez, ready to use his new sword.

Ethen managed to dodged the slashes sent by Paireth, and swiped his knife at Paireth’s hand. Ethen had not managed to hit him until now. The knife came in contact with Paireth’s wrist, causing him to drop his sword.

Ethen slashed with his other knife, and it hit exactly where he was aiming: the neck. Paireth fell to the floor, blood pouring out of his neck. Ethen put away the two knives and retrieved his sword. His battle was over, but there was still another going on.

Blaze’s sword hit Bendez’s with a large amount of force, almost knocking the sword out of his hand. Bendez swung his sword at Blaze but was blocked, which surprised him.

Blaze blocking his slash was not what surprised him though. As Bendez’s sword hit Blaze’s the metal blade shattered. “What!?” Bendez yelled.

Rose had lost consciousness when Bendez started to crush her neck, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. The sword Blaze was using was the Sword of Darkness and Staff of Shadows, combined.

The connection between the two was strong enough to prevent to the wielder from fighting each other, but it was also strong enough to allow them to combine.

Bendez fired a blast of darkness from his hand. Blaze raised his sword, blocking the blast. Bendez had one relic, and Blaze had two.

Bendez raised his hand, and energy started to gather in the palm of his hand. Before Blaze, could react, a huge blast of energy was fired from Bendez’s hand. All Blaze was able to do was raise his sword halfway, so that the blade was pointing at Bendez.

A screen of energy appear, shielding him from the blast. Bendez fell to the ground, supporting himself with his knee. “No.” he said. “I cannot have lost!”

“Too little too late.” Blaze said and swung his sword, sending a wave of darkness at Bendez. He was not able to react, and the wave cut him in half.

As half of the body fell to the floor, the hand with the Shard of Corruption opened. The symbol on the hand faded, and the shard floated into the air.

Blaze’s sword separated into the Sword of Darkness and the Staff of Shadows, and the two floated to the Shard of Corruption. The three disappear, and a man appeared. “Who are you?” Blaze asked.

“I am the spirit of the founder of Spectara. My name is Daren.” He replied. “What do you mean by spirit?” Blaze asked.

“When I found Spectara, I took the three relics into my possession. Back then, the Shard of Corruption was merely a metal shard. When I died, the three relics were separated from each other.” He said.

Blaze nodded for him to continue. “The three relics are not meant to be separated from each other. The shard remained in Spectara, while the staff and sword disappeared, only to appear in one who is chosen by the relic when they are in time of need. The reason the shard became corrupted is because the man who inherited it was driven by his lust for power. When I died, my spirit was split into three and was sealed within each relic. My spirit could only reform into one when the three came into contact with each other.” Daren said.

“Then why didn’t they join together when I first arrived in Spectara?” Blaze asked.

“The shard must be released from one body before it can come into contact with the sword and staff, and the only way the shard can be released is when the wielder is killed.” He replied.

“So now you can finally rest in peace?”

Daren nodded. “I thank you for what you have done. The relics shall not cause anymore harm now that my spirit is whole. Do you remember when you asked if the river was endless?”

Blaze nodded. “Head to the roof of the fortress, and you will find out. Also, so you don’t have to go through the fortress again, there is a way down from the roof, to the back side of the fortress.” Blaze nodded again. “Goodbye, and thank you again.” Daren said before disappearing.”

Blaze walked over to Rose and gently shook her. “Rose.” He whispered. She slowly opened her eyes. “Blaze, is he gone?” she asked. He nodded.

Just then Ethen walked in. “Hey, so I’m guessing you won.” Blaze nodded again. “I’m guessing you did too.”

“Yep. So how do we get out of this place?” Ethen asked. “There’s a way down from the roof.” Blaze replied. “How do you-” Blaze cut him off. “I’ll explain later.”

“Fair enough.” Ethen replied. The three of them walked up the last flight of stairs until they reach a door. Blaze opened it and walked through. The three of them stood on top of the roof.

Blaze and Rose looked off into the distance. “So it really does end.” He whispered. He put his arm around her shoulder and looked towards the end of the river.

A single, simple question: was the river endless? For so long he never knew, but now the answer stood in front of him, but Blaze didn’t care. His journey started with a simple trip to the river, but it ended as so much more.

Author's Note: I know I said there would be an epilogue, but I felt it wasn't necessary. In my final author's note in Maybe It was Meant to be, I talked about my next story on fanfiction(.dot)net. The first chapter should be up sometime this week, possibly later. Once again, the link to my Fanfiction profile is in my profile.

Dark Essence of Blood: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Thanks to my reviewers: ShadeOfNyx, Sara Frisch, and Dark Essence of Blood.

And thanks to all of you for reading!