When Hope Fails

Chapter 18

The Final Effort

"I have opened Terrable's Lair!" Ethelbert laughed, "And with the Emblem, I will rule over all you puny mortals! Over you, Supreme Commander, over you, King of Norad, and everone! With the emblem, I s- What the?" he mumbled as he patted is chest, "Where's the Emblem!? Did one of you take it!?" he asked his men.

"Absolutely not!" The Dragoon leader said,

"Liars!" Ethelbert roared angrily, "You just want the glory!" he yelled and then fired concentrated beams at all of them, killing them instantly.

"Ethelbert!" the Supreme Commander yelled, "What is the meaning of t-"

"Silence, worm!" Ethelbert yelled, then prepared another beam,

"Ethelbert!" Raguna yelled, "Is this what you want!?" he said and held up the emblem,

"How'd yo- NO!" the Emperor screamed as Terrable awoke at the presence of the emblem, and then, spotting Raguna had it, flew over to him.

"You vermin!" Ethelbert yelled and ran over towards Raguna.

"Terrable.." Raguna mumbled to the great dragon, "Here is my wish... Take the people that are still alive on this summit and take them to Kardia.. Except that man and myself." he said, pointing at Ethelbert.

Terrable grunted and nodded its head, then turned to the Supreme Commander, who was frightened at the beast. The Dragon then flew over and snatched the official in its feet, then it turned to Zavier and too snatched him up- finally, it flew off.

"It's only you and me now, Ethelbert." Raguna turned to the Emperor,

"You swine, you abomination!" Ethelbert roared, "You took my wish for godhood! I will make you pay!" he said and started blasting magic at him, but Raguna easily deflected all his attacks, much to the Emperor's shock.

"You are the swine!" Raguna said as he continued glowing, "You are the murderer of thousands, maybe millions! From innocents, to allies, to my friends!" he yelled, looking at Camus and Lukas, "You may think you have escaped justice due to your position. But I tell you, great Emperor, what a man reaps, he sows... You have reaped death and destruction, and you will harvest it!"

"You cannot defeat me!" Ethelbert said, "You do not have the power!"

"Yes I do!" Raguna responded, then, once close enough, stopped in front of him, "I have one energy even you cannot stop! I have my entire life essence in me ready to go!"

"What?!" Ethelbert said in shock, "What are you talking about!?"

"I know I cannot defeat you in my condition..." Raguna told him, looking at his wounds, "But there is one way I can... HAH!" he said and powered up, "I have perfected a magic spell which replaces my entire life force with pure energy... With this, I will defeat you, but at the cost of my own life as well!"

"Are you mad!?" a voice called out, it was Zavier, who had begged Terrable for a few more moments with Raguna,

"Zavier? You're alive?!" Raguna said happily, "That's great! But... This is something I must do! Terrable! Take him away!"

"Raguna!" Zavier yelled, "Think about it..." his voice faded as Terrable flew off.

"You have gone completely insane!" Ethelbert said, "Would you really risk your own life for the puny creatures of this world!?"

"Yes.." Raguna responded, then glared at Ethelbert, "Now, Prepare for your end, Ethelbert!" he powered up once more.

Kardia, my home... My Friends... I do this for all of you... And for you... Lynette..., Raguna thought and shed a tear.

"Raguna!" Ethelbert yelled, then seeing no escape, gritted his teeth, "I lay curse on you and your bloodline that my descendants will always be your enemies! We will look to kill you! So that all the sons of men, dwarves, and elves will say that no son of Ethelbert will get along with a son of Raguna!" he cursed him.

"So be it!" Raguna yelled, "AAAAHHHHHHHH!" he yelled as his body was engulfed in a bright light,

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ethelbert yelled as he was consumed by the shine.

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"What the!?" Russel said as he saw the large explosion on Mt. Gigant's summit from the ground, causing the entire battle to pause. Then the shockwave of the blast knocked down all the fighting soldiers on the field.

"What do you think happened!?" Lynette asked Russel as the two stood up,

"I don't know!" Russel responded, "But we have to win!" he yelled, and his men took advantage of the moment to attack the undefended enemy.

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The battle was over as soon as the large explosion on Mt. Gigant ended, so Russel and I rode to the town after we had heard Terrable had landed there.

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"What's going on?!" Russel asked as he neared Terrable, who brought the Supreme Commander and a wounded Zavier,

"We won... Rus." Zavier said weakly, "Raguna killed Ethelbert..."

"It's true." the Commander said, "Such a valiant lad he was."

"So, where is he?" Lynette asked, only for the two to give a grim face,

"He gave his life... to save us all..." Zavier responded, "So did Camus and Lukas... and even... I.." he started to have labored breaths, then revealed his wound to the crowd, "I am glad to have been friends with such amazing... people.." he said and breathed his last...

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After Zavier's death, the Supreme Commander explained the rest to us... He said that the four were very brave and were the making of true heroes..

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"Oh my..." Russel said as he reached Mount Gigant's Summit, seeing it was all charred gray,

"What happened?" Lynette asked as they looked around,

"Hey, what's that?" the Supreme Commander said, pointing at two vertical gray figures.

When they neared them, they were completely shocked, for it was Raguna and Ethelbert, but not in flesh and blood, but as a sculpture, a shell of their former selves.

"Raguna!" Lynette yelled as she neared his statue, "What happened!?"

"It seems to be nothing but ash.." Russel observed after he wiped his finger on Ethelbert's cheek,

"Ashes to ashes... Dust to dust." the Commander said and took off his helmet in reverance,

"There's Camus!" Russel said as he ran to Camus' body, which was still in its original position after succumbing to the bullets.

"The Dragoon squad.." the Commader mumbled, "The Invincibles.."

"Raguna..." Lynette cried, "Why? Why?"

"He died with honour, Lynette." the Supreme Commander conforted her, "I wish I had the guts to do so.."

"What are we going to do with these?" Russel asked,

"We should just wait for nature to take them back to where they belong." the Commander responded,

"We should let the others see them... To give their last goodbyes." Lynette suggested, "To calm those who lost someone... Like Melody... or... me.."

"Yes..." Russel said, "We shall do just that.."

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The town held a service up on the mount, where the villagers got to say goodbye to their heroes...

"I tell you... Melody could not stop weeping... But neither could I..." Lynette spoke, "They were all brave men who sacrificed their lives for us... They didn't back down even when they faced an near invincible foe... It's the same for all soldiers, really... But there was something special about your father, Leona.." she mumbled to her enlarged belly, "He really had two choices planned out for him, but he decided to take the one that cost him the most- his life... His time with us... I hope one day you will be like that, maybe even better... But hey... fate has different plans in store for each an everyone of us."

she said with a smile and looked up to the sky. "I'm sure he's up there, Leona." she continued, "Watching both of us." she finished and went inside Raguna's home, which was now hers.

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Thus, the peaceful Kardia was once again safe... Though heroes maybe great and beyond reason... But legends are beyond that... Legends are just that, legends... Larger than anything the mind can think of... Yet the men that make them are as humble as a wooly...

I really hope you enjoyed this story! And oh... There is a sequel... But that's for another time! So.. This is SuperMastour signing out and wishing you all a blessed day guys! Please Review! And special thanks to ShinyEvee!