Published: 8 Feb 2021

What Comes Around, Goes Around

Bram Thorne

As Bram ran from his pursuers, his heart beat like the drums of the wild Orcs of the savage north. Sweat ran down into his eyes and burned with pain. As he looked to his left, he saw the trees of the dark forest. To his right was the city, he wasn’t sure what city it was, but it didn’t really matter. He couldn’t find any sanctuary there, his face was too well known by the people. They would never help or hide him. His revenge had gone too far and he had hurt way too many for him to hope for any help. His only hope would be in the dark forest where he could use the shadows to hide in.

With a quick left turn, Bram ducked into the forest. He could hear wild things out hunting for their evening meal. There were roars and barks, challenges they made to each other to come out and fight. Bram looked back just as a power bolt streaked down out of the night sky to strike right at his feet. Bram raised his hand and fired blindly hoping he would hit his target. As he dashed through the forest, he ran into the shadows and pulled the darkness closed all around him.

[You can run if you want Bram Thorne,] A dragon voice called out. [But you can not hide for long. Your time will soon be up and then it will be too late.]

Though he could hear the laughing in his head, Bram kept quiet, scared that he would expose his position if he made a sound.

[Come out and fight.] He heard. [You have nothing to fear but death. Surely you’re not afraid to die, are you?]

Holding the darkness close, Bram ran out, moving from tree to tree as he scanned the night for whoever was out hunting him. He had no idea who was up there, it could be the Vampires. He had killed Tomz Acros and took his ring from him. Valkar had the power for a move like this, but then so did the Dragons. Power bolts from the night sky would be right in Jandar’s range. Who else but the Dragons would dare to come after him?

As Bram gazed up into the night, he watched as a dark shadow flew around over the forest launching power bolts down at the ground. The shadow was big enough to be a Dragon, but it wasn’t shaped like one. It looked more like a dark storm cloud than anything he had ever seen before. Bram took a step out from behind his hidden safe place. The shadow had moved off away from where he was hiding. It looked to be about to move off to search somewhere else. He let go of the breath he was holding and turned to run.

“There you are!!”

Power bolts crashed down all around him as he ran. He looked back to see snapping jaws as they closed on him. Bram spun around and thrust out his hands, launching a stream of fire at his attacker. As the fire struck the thing in the sky, laughter rang out from all around him. Switching abilities, lightning struck out from his fingertips. It flashed out and into the dark cloud. In just a few seconds the cloud started to boil and erupt like an angry volcano. Lightning and power bolts shot out in all directions hitting trees and any bare spots on the ground. With a confident grin, Bram formed a shield over his head for protection. As the shield formed, Bram heard thunder rumbling through the night. Lightning flashed as the cloud opened. A great red eye formed in the center of the hole. It searched the ground looking for Bram, hidden under his dark shield. With the eye searching the forest for Bram, he watched as it’s search beam moved away from him, then he added a shadow to his shield and dashed off for his next hiding place. The moment he ran, his movement attracted the senses of the eye. Thunder erupted as a power bolt flashed out of the cloud and hit Bram throwing him forward into a pile of boulders. Bram screamed as his head hit the boulders and cracked open. As he screamed he woke up, bolting up off his throne. He heard hysterical laughter ringing out of his head as he fell to the floor of the throne room. The laughter chilled him as he realized it wasn’t the sound of any of the voices in his head. It wasn’t one of his old masters, but it was familiar. He had heard that voice before and somehow, he knew he would hear it again.

His head burned with pain as he crawled up onto his feet. He looked up to the castle ceiling window and felt the presence of the Dragons out beyond Sorrowdown’s gates. It was time, they were coming in to put an end to his rampage. But it wouldn’t be his life that would end, it would be theirs.

As he stormed to the throne room doors, he threw them open and called for Caius and his New Elemental force.

As Caius and his six elemental warriors came running into the throne room, Bram stood up and with blood-red eyes, he stared at his fighters.

“The time has come,” he said in a thundering voice. “The Dragons are at my gates. I want them dead. Do you hear me? Not one of them is to survive this day.”

Caius was sick of all of Bram’s rumbling. He had heard it all before and he was tired of it. He didn’t care if they killed the crazy old fool. All he wanted was a chance to pay Niro back for what he had done to him.

“I want all of you waiting in the arena for the Dragons,” Bram stood up and the warriors started to file out of the room. “One more thing. The one called Quyyn and his mate are mine. Don’t any of you touch them or you will face me. Now go and kill my enemies. Caius, stay here for a moment.”

Caius looked at the others as they left the room. He knew something was wrong, but it didn’t matter. He was going to be facing Niro soon and he would end all the confusion.

“Is there something you forgot to tell me?” Bram looked down at him. His eyes were burning with rage. He looked as if he would strike out at him at any moment. “I sense something different about you. Tell me the truth,”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Caius said. “You will get your revenge and this will all be over soon.”

Bram sat up and stared down at him like he was looking right through him. He tried to penetrate his mental barrier, but somehow it seemed much stronger than it was when they met. There was something different about the boy.

“I gave you the power to defeat any enemy that faced you,” Bram said calmly. “If you betray me, I promise you I will take you down and smash your soul into the mud.”

“I know how powerful you are,” Caius said. “But have no doubt, I’m not afraid of you. You’re nothing but a weak, soulless monster that wants to control everyone’s life. You killed your wife and baby girl. You forced the people to rise up and overthrow your evil rule. You have no one to blame for where you are but yourself and when this is over, it will be me and you to the death.”

Caius turned and walked out of the throne room slamming the door closed behind him. Bram screamed out his rage and kicked his throne over smashing it to pieces.

“Yes, my young friend,” Bram said. “When this is over. I will have to kill you.”

Ranjer

The moon shines bright as Ranjer, in the form of a blackbird, flies into the city of Sorrowdown. The city was dark. There didn’t seem to be anyone here. But Ranjer knew there were people here. Bram Thorne was here somewhere and it was Ranjer’s job to find him.

As he dropped down out of the night, Ranjer found a perch on a branch of a long-dead Nema tree. He gazed around using his sharp avian eyes looking for a clue as to where he could find the mad elemental warlock.

All the buildings were dark. There were no torches lit anywhere in the city. Most of the buildings were run down or half-demolished from the slave revolt. The warlock was here somewhere. Ranjer could feel his power emanating out, all through the city. But where was he? He couldn’t locate the source or where he was.

Magic to magic, Ranjer thought there was something else he could try. Being a warlock himself, Ranjer knew every warlock had a different frequency to his magic. Some were weak and only able to do low-level spells. But his brother Jandar, who was a master, taught him how to distinguish magic of the highest level. But there was a problem with using that spell. He would have to be in his Vampire form and that would make him exposed to attack.

With a wave of his wing, Ranjer shifted from blackbird to his normal dark-haired handsome form. He sat down, crossed his legs and started to chant. It started with a melodic tune. He took music from his heart and formed it into the base of his spell. There were no words, his heart led him to the exact effects he wanted. His tune moved to a higher pitch as the magic collected and formed a bright little star over his head. Then he sang his last note and spoke Bram’s name.

“Bramble Thorne.”

As the star exploded, sparks dropped down and danced their way to the ground. With his spell cast, Ranjer watched as his probe took off north. The spell had worked. The probe was going to find it’s mark.

Ranjer spread his arms and made the shift back to his blackbird form. Ready to fly he launched himself up into the sky. As he took off, something came flying out of the ruins and knocked him out of the air. Covered with mud, he shifted and sat up wiping mud off of his face. Confused, Ranjer looked out to see what had attacked him. Off in the distance, he watched as the ground started to shake and mud and debris gathered into a mound, then formed a face and howled. As he jumped to his feet, a mud elemental formed. It was tall and made of mud, dirt, rocks, and grass. It lumbered out of the ruins and advanced on Ranjer.

“And so it begins,” Ranjer flexed his arms and formed two blazing scimitars. “Come and get it you Mudthing!”

Quyyn and Sky

As Quyyn and Sky came flying over the city, balls of fire shot up from the ground, Quyyn banked to his left as Sky moved right to avoid being hit. Sky looked down just as a huge flaming mass came streaking up towards them. Quyyn did a flip and launched himself at the burning mass. As he roared out his challenge, flames shot out at the mass. It flew straight into Quyyn’s flames absorbing his heat as fast as it could. With Quyyn’s extra heat, he shot out a bolt of white-hot power. Quyyn ducked and came around for another pass. This time he would try and get something hotter.

[Love,] Sky sent. [Heat isn’t working on this thing. Let me battle it. My cold may have a different effect. You go on, I’ll catch up when I’m done.]

[Be careful.] Quyyn shot on, heading for the city.

[Ok, Hothead,] Sky sent. [It’s you and me now and I don’t have any flames for you to feed on.]

[Then use whatever you have,] It sent. [I am Furious and Bram Thorne sent me to kill you.]

[Kill me if you can.] Sky spread his wings and gave his cold a boost. He dived down under Furious, turned, and shot a blast of sub-zero up at his chest. Furious screamed and rolled away from Sky as it tried to regenerate heat to continue the fight. Sky turned and shot himself after Furious. He shot a short blast of cold at him as he gave chase. Spinning around, Furious shot up and did a quick turn to get behind Sky. As Sky’s tail came into sight, Furious let loose with a string of hot bolts. Sky weaved side to side and sent back a stream of sub-zero cold in the trail that always flowed behind him. Furious hit the cold like a brick wall. The sub-zero trail hit him like a hammer. Furious fell as his heat dimmed to where it couldn’t support him in the air. As he fell, he closed his eyes and concentrated on that spark that Bram put into him. With the strength of his will, he forced his flame to blow out to a higher level. He opened his eyes to see his flames explode into a raging fire. Reaching out he leveled out then shot out away from Sky heading back to Sorrowdown.

As he watched the Elemental fly off, Sky knew this wasn’t over. He would face Furious again, and then, he would finish the fight for once and for all.

Myor

As storm clouds parted, Myor Arynn came streaming out of the west heading into Sorrowdown territory. Ranjer had made his call. He was in Sorrowdown facing another of Bram’s Mud Elementals. They had planned for Ranjer to go in first to see if he could find Bram and end this quickly, but obviously that wouldn’t be the case. They hoped Bram would come out to reveal himself, then Quyyn, Sky, and Cutter would join the battle. With their powers and magic, they hoped it would be enough to send Bram back to the Underworld. But instead, Ranjer was facing a Mud Elemental that he might or might not be equipped to handle, so Myor was heading into Sorrowdown to call out Bram Thorne.

With his body encased in brilliant, flaming plumage, Myor soared over the cold empty city. He looked through the marketplace and found nothing but carnage and ruin. When the slaves revolted, they wanted to make sure no one would ever be a slave in this city again. They tore apart the ornate bathhouse the Emperor had built. They decimated the marketplace, all that was left were the ruined stalls and some damaged products scattered all through the yard. Just as Myor turned his head, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Angling his wings to come around, Myor turned and dropped down to street level where he came in to shift as his feet touched down. Unsure of what he had seen, Myor slowly walked through the ruins. Shadows flickered in and out in the morning sun as rodents darted for the cover of the ruins. With his senses set to detect any movement, Myor started his search. Large rodents scurried all through the ruins, looking for a spot from where they could attack. Myor lit his hand into a torch and raised his temperature to keep them back. As he moved through the ruins, he could see red eyes gazing out from all around him. Suddenly, he heard something calling out in his head.

[ATTACK.]

Like rabid dogs, the rodents came out of the shadows and attacked. Snapping small jaws jumped at him trying to rip into his legs. Myor sent out a burst of heat to try and drive the rodents away. As the rats screamed in pain, a few dropped away only to be replaced by bigger creatures. The replacing rats were over three feet long, with long, sharp teeth and claws. When Myor saw them crawling out of the ruins, he started blasting away at them. One by one they died, but closer and closer they advanced on him. These weren’t normal rats. Though they were much bigger than your average rat, they didn’t seem to feel any fear of Myor’s flames. Tired of dealing with giant rats, Myor shifted forms and lashed out, sending intense flames shooting out in all directions. Spinning around, Myor sent bolts of fire at the giant rats. As they attacked, he burned them to huge piles of ash. Leaping up into the sky, Myor laid a blanket of fire down on the marketplace.

With the rats all dead, he turned toward the Emperor’s palace and shot on.

[My rats couldn’t kill you,] Bram sent. [But I have many things you will have to face. Come now so I can have my revenge.]

Niro, Hoddie, Yarden, and Bly

As Niro, Hoddie, Yarden, and Bly entered Sorrowdown, Niro unlatched his hammer to be ready for Bram’s attack. They moved through the deserted city, heading for the palace. Hoddie looked around at the ruined city. Right now, it looked dead but he could tell it was once a magnificent place. Ruined marble lay all around them. Some of the buildings had been trimmed with gold and platinum. Once there were beautiful gardens spread all through the city. They were all gone now, ravaged, and torn apart in the revolt.

“Are there people still here?” Hoddie asked.

“Probably,” Niro said. “With the empire gone, some of the slaves probably stayed behind, thinking it was safe. No one would expect Bram Thorne to take over the city.”

“But he did,” Bly said from Hoddie’s shoulder. “And now we have to fix this mess.”

“Where do we start?” Yarden asked.

“There’s only one place here that Bram would be,” Niro looked each of them in their eyes. “The Emperor’s Palace.”

“Lead the way.” Hoddie grabbed his pack and checked his supplies. He took out his ring of shadow and slid it on his finger. Armed and ready he dropped the pack down where they had tied the horses and they were off.

High up on the top of one of the ruined buildings, a lone crow sat and watched their departure. The enemy was here and its master would want to know. It leaped off the building, heading back to the palace to give the master the warning.

Caius

As Caius left the palace, his mind was boiling with confusion. Niro was coming and he would have to face him. But right now he wasn’t sure whether it was to fight or to confess his love. Yes, Caius had to admit to himself how he really felt about the dark-haired boy. He was in love with him and there was no doubt about that and that meant he couldn’t allow Bram to kill him. Somehow, he had to save him. But would Niro even talk to him after all that he had done?

When Caius stepped out of the palace, two men were standing there waiting for him. One had wild hair that blew like the wind was always in his face. He wore baggy clothing with strips of material that waved like a flag. The other stood like a statue with a grey complexion. He wore the color of the stone. Caius knew they were Elementals sent there to make sure he did as he’d been ordered. Kill the Dragons and anyone that stands with them.

Slowly Caius walked out to where the two were standing.

“Stop,” Stone put up his hand. “You are Caius, son of Regulas Pius. The Master has ordered the empire to be put in your hands. Kill his enemies and we will all hail you as our new emperor.”

Caius looked at the two elementals with an intense stare. Of course, he knew he would never agree to Bram’s terms. He had gone through a lot of emotions over Niro. Anger, hate, sympathy, love. But he knew how he felt deep down in his heart. He loved Niro and he would never allow Bram to hurt him.

As he stared at the two elementals, he knew he had to think fast. If he challenged them now, he would have to fight them and he did know the extent of the power Bram had given them. It would be safer to play along until he found Niro and his friends and joined them.

“I will do as he asked,” Caius gave them a devious smile. “I will be the new Emperor.”

“Then you know what we have to do,” Stone said. “We must kill the Dragons.”

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