//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: Retaking The Land art 3 // Story: The Mystic Fox // by Mysticfox //------------------------------// Chapter 20: Retaking The Land part 3 "Alright so here's the plan." I said as I pulled up a map on my display. We stopped a mile out of the Halfinger capital to go over a simple plan to get in and out of the castle. "We'll use the shadows to sneak past the guards at this south gate. From there we'll take it a bit slowly through this residential area here." I said as I pointed out the place on the map. "Why cut through the residential area?" Blake asked as he poked my display. "I want to see how the population is taking the coup. This whole thing had me worried from the start. From what I understand is that there was absolutely no cause for this coup." I said as I pulled up my note. "What do you mean?" Blake asked with a tilted head. "Well from what I was told. This country was in prosperity thanks to this forest and the people were happy. The king here was also a kind and caring leader loved by his people. So I want to make sure his people are alright. There's also rumors that the leader of the coup started acting strangely and was seen talking to a figure in the shadows the smelled of death and rot." I said with worry until Blake tensed up. "Did you say a shadow with the smell of rot?" He said through clenched teeth. "Yeah, you know something?" I asked with interest. "Yeah. A man in a black cloak appeared from the shadow and killed my grandpa. The last things I remember before I woke up here was my grandpa's smile and the smell of rotten meat." He said with fury in his eyes. "Hmmm I'm starting to get the feeling that there's something more goin on here. Let go check things out." I said before closing the map and walked into the shadows. "When I find that guy I'm gonna scratch his eyes out." Black said as we made our way through the forest. "Hey um if you don't mind me asking, how was your life before you came here." I said out of curiosity. "What do you mean?" He asked with a raised brow. "Like what was life like for you? Where you lived and what you did?" I asked with a smile. "Well it was a pretty normal life. My parents passed away when I was younger and my grandpa took me in. We lived in a small farming town in Oklahoma but we didn't grow anything. Haha grampa couldn't even grow a flower. It was pretty nice there and school was pretty cool too but I wasn't very popular." He said with a chuckle. "You got to go to a normal school with lockers, classrooms, and other kids?" I asked with wide sparkling eyes. "Yeah. Didn't you?" He asked with a raised brow. "No, I was home schooled by my mom." I said with a bit of sadness. "Lucky. School can get pretty rough and I'm not talking about studies. Some of the other kids can be pretty mean at times but not to me. I can't stand to see bullies mess with people." He said with annoyance making me smile. "That's good. Protect those who can't protect themselves. When mom trained me she always told me to not fight for myself but for those I care about and I have plenty to protect." I sain with a warm smile before coming out of the shadows and hide behind a tree just outside the towns walls. "We're here." I said quietly as I looked up the twelve foot wall of large bamboo stalks. "I hope King Kong isn't a thing here." I said with a chuckle. "Don't jinx it." Blake said with a flat look. "Hey, you notice anything weird?" I asked as I looked to an open gate. "Not really." He said as we stepped closer to the wall. "Normally places like this would have guards and patrols especially if this country was on a lock down but I haven't seen a single one. Even here there's no guards stationed by the gate." I said as we crossed through the unguarded gate. "Yeah. I've been here once before and they always had some gorilla guards out here." He said as we ducked behind a house. "Hey take a look at this." I said as I looked through the window of the house and saw a small family of chimpanzees just sitting, staring blankly at the wall. "That's not creepy at all." Blake said before we moved to the house next door and found the same thing. "Fox I don't like this. This city was a pretty lively one even at night." Blake said as we went to the next house, same thing. "Come on let's get to Halfinger castle." I said with furrowed brows before I ran down the street until I spotted a small group of Three earth ponies with what looked like makeshift armor and a spear standing at the end of the street. "Looks like we may have found some guard." I said before quickly ducking between two houses. "But their ponies." Blake said as we watched from the shadows. "I know. They may be part of the missing trade crews from Equestria and those crews were also used as soldiers for the coup." I said as I watched them stare blankly down the street. "But how?" He asked before I took him off my shoulder. "I don't know, but lets ask." I said before I jumped into the shadow and made my way behind the guards. I slowly emerged from his shadow before I quickly and quietly grabbed him in a choke hold then sank back into the shadow before the other two knew what happened. I popped back out next to Blake with a struggling guard in tow. "Dude that was awesome." Blake said with a wide smile. "Shhh go to sleep." I said as the guard slowly stopped struggling and passed out. "Is it bad that I've always wanted to do that." I said with a chuckle as I set the pony down. "Now what?" He asked while poking the pony. "Now we tie him up and then wake him up." I said as I pulled a rope from my bag and hogtied him. "Hey. Hey bud time to wake up." I said as I set him against the wall and lightly slapped him. "Ugh my head….AAAH-." He said before I covered his mouth. "Calm down. I'm not goin to hurt you." I said before I lowered my hand. "AAH-." He tried to say before I covered his mouth again. "Let me put this another way. You scream again and I'll let my friend here use you for his personal scratching post." I said with a smile as I pointed over to Blake who held up his paw and flexed his claw with a sinister smile. "So goin to scream again?" I asked before getting a vigorous head shake. "Good." I said as I lowered my hand. "Who are you?" He asked with a curious look. "Hi I'm Fox Lilly, knight to Equestria and I need to ask you a question." I said with a smile. "Wait, you're that thing who stopped the changeling invasion, right?" He asked with a hopeful smile. "I'm just goin to forget the fact you just called me a thing but if you say that again I'll send you back to Canterlot in a body cast." I said darkly, making him gulp. "Sorry sir!" He said quickly with a vigorous head nod. "Good. Now why are you here?" I asked as I sat down in front of him and sent a small unnoticeable magic into him to get a better read on him. "I would if I knew where I was." He said as he looked around but he was telling the truth. "What was the last thing you remember." I asked as I pulled out my display. "Whoa how did you do that?" He asked as he poked my display with his hoof making Blake snicker. "Magic, now please answer the question Mr…. I'm sorry I never got your name." I said with a smile. "Its Hi Tide. Hmmm the last thing I remember was we had just finished loading the cargo onto our ship when the sun began to set so we decided to ship out at first light the next morning. We all ate dinner then headed to bed and now I'm talking to you." He said while I gave him a quick look over. He was a dark ocean green earth pointed with a seafoam mane and tail that had a few strips of baby blue running through it. I could tell he was telling the truth with my magic but when I was pushing it a bit deep I was pushed back by a black hase keeping me from his mind and making my head hurt a little bit. "And you don't remember being part of a coup d'etat in this country?" I asked as I rubbed the side of my head. "Do what now?" He asked with wide eyes. "Then I was right to assume someone is controlling them." I said as I pulled a piece of paper and pin from my bag and wrote a short report for Tia. "So what's the plan Fox." Blake said as he jumped to my shoulder. "Did your pet just talk?" Tide asked with wide eyes. "I'M NOT A PET!!" Blake shouted with an angry scowl, making Hi Tide jump a bit. "Please don't shout next to my ear. Hey Alya sweetheart I'm sorry to wake you up but I need you to send a letter please." I said as I gently scratched my hair until she poked her tiny head out and yawned before sliding onto my other shoulder and happily nuzzled my cheek. "Whoa a feathered serpent and she's very pretty." Tide said with a smile making Alya coo and fly over to give him a nuzzle. "That she is. Here you go darlin I'll give you a nice snack after ok." I said before she lit the letter in blue flames sending it to Canterlot. "Oh my sister will never believe this. She's a herpetologist in Manehattan." He said with wide eyes. "Thanks sweetheart. One crispy fried fish treat for you." I said happily as I pulled out her treat and she quickly snatched it up. "Aw I want one too." Blake said as he looked at me with sad big kitty eyes. "Oh thats not fair." I said as I pulled another fish from my bag. Kittens, my only weakness. "Hi Tide I'm going to send you back to Equestria. I sent word to Princess Celestia to send a cart to pick you up from my home." I said as I scratched Alya. "Ok but how?" He asked with a raised brow as I opened a portal next to us. "This portal will take you to my cart. The cart has two doors so take the one on the right and you will be at my house in the Everfree Forest just outside of ponyville. My daughter and friend will be there just tell them I sent you and you'll be fine. Oh and here, for your sister." I said with a smile as I helped him to his feet and pulled one of Alya's feather from my hair "Really thank you sir she'll love it. Um do you know what happened to the rest of my crew?" He asked with hope in his eyes. "I'm not sure but I promise to get everypony I can home safe." I said as I looked him dead in the eye with determination. "Thank you." He said before jumping through the portal. "Alright so I was right. It looks like they were being controlled and it would be safe to assume that it's the same for the people here." I said as I type up some notes. "How is that possible?" Blake asked as Alya happily wrapped around my neck. "I don't think spells have that kind of power but I'm not sure. Hmmm maybe some kind of artifact." I said as I connected Twink to the display. "(Crunch) mmmm." She said as she took a large bite of my fried tofu I put in storage. "You know I was going to give you some right." I said with a raid brow. "Hehe sorry they just smelled so good." She said with a smile and light blush. "Anyway I need some info on any possible spells or artifacts that can do wide spread mind control. "How wide is the range?" Twink asked before quickly finishing her snack. "I'm goin to say a radius from the castle to the ruins and I don't know how long its been active but I'm goin with a week before the coup." I said as I pulled me out a snack of nacho Doritos I've been saving and leaned against the wall of the house we were behind. "That will definitely narrow this down. Give me a second." She said as she looked for the data. "Oh you better share. I miss Doritos." He said before I held up the bag for him. "Hmm it would take an ungodly amount of magic to cast a spell like that and the only being who could parished eons ago. There is an artifact he created called the Grandmasters Word but it was destroyed with him." She said with a bit of worry. "Hmm can you send me what you found. I want to look at it later but for now I need the castle layout." I said as I put away my Doritos before the layout popped up on my screen. "There you go Fox and I'll do some more digging." She said with a smile before the connection was closed. "Lets see, it looks like it's pretty much a straight shot to the throne room." I said as I pointed out the route. "Ok but what about all the guards?" Blake said before we looked around the corner at the two remaining guards at the castle gate. "Those two won't be a problem if we sneak through the shadows and If we get in a tight spot I got a pretty good Idea how to get out of it. It looks like by knocking them out we can break the mind control." I said as I pulled up a schematic on my display and smiled. "Alright let's get a move on." I said after I put away my display and gave Alys on more scratch before jumping into the shadows. "This is so handy." Blake said as we passed the two guards unnoticed and slipped into the castle. "Yeah but it won't last for too much longer the sun will be up soon and the armor will change along with its enchantments." I said as I found us a nice dark corner to pop out into. "Ok the throne room is just down the next corridor. The bad thing is that there is nothing in this corridor to make a big enough shadow to jump into so will have to sneak past the guards." I said as we peaked around the corner and saw two pegasi standing in front of a large wooden double door. "And how are we goin to do that?" He asked in a whisper. "Easy we make them come to us." I said as I pulled out an old tin can and tossed it down the hall and sure enough it got their attention. As they ran down the hall we jumped back into the shadows and waited until they turned the corner. As soon as they got in my range I quickly grabbed them by their back hooves before pulling them into the shadows and knocked them out. Once they were out I pulled them from the shadows and gently laid them against the wall. "Now lets go." I whispered before sneaking down the hall and slowly cracked the double doors to peek inside for any guards. "It's too dark to see anything." Blake said as I tried to see any kind of movement in the darkness. "Hmmm I don't like this. Once we get inside keep close to the walls and stay low." I said as I slowly opened the door wider to let us squeeze in but as soon as we cleared the doors they slammed shut. "Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly." Said a voice that sounds like it came from all around us. "Well that's not creepy at all.(Poof)." Blake said before he jumped off my shoulder and turned into a large blue and white split tail panther.  "Looks like we fell into a trap." I said as the lights lit up and revealed a whole army of ponies, Abyssians, and primates all with swords and spears pointing at us from all sides. "Surrender or die." Said a black gorilla standing in front of the throne. "What now, Fox? They got us cornered." Blake said as he readied himself for a fight while I stood straight with a smile. "Don't worry I planned for this." I said as I held up my hand and focused my magic into them. I clapped my hand together and slowly pulled them apart. I played around with my magic ever since I found out I can make things out of nothing If I knew how it works and how it's made. In just a few seconds I had made four black cylinders with a pull pin release. "How the hell?" Blake asked with wide eyes. "Magic." I said before I pulled the pins and launched the canisters into the army before putting a bubble around me and Blake. A second later a smoke cloud engulfed everybody in the room. (Thump….thump, thump….thump, thump, thumpthumpthumpthumpthump.) I could hear bodies hitting the ground after a few seconds in the smoke cloud. "What was that?" Blake asked me with surprise. "Knock out gas grenades." I said with a smile. "Well that was disappointing and here I was hoping for an all out brawl, oh well." The same voice from earlier said. I quickly expanded the bubble and cleared out all the gas. When the smoke cleared I could see a cloaked man sitting on the throne with his feet propped up on the back of the black gorilla. "Fox you smell that?" Blake said as he crouched down and growled. "Yeah." I said as I got ready for a fight. This man smelled of death and rot. "Let me guess you're the one controlling from the shadows." I said as I glared at him. "Oh no I have been found out whatever shall I do." He said sarcastically with a large shark tooth smile. "Why? Why would you control and destroy this country?" I asked as my ander started to rise. "For entertainment while I looked for something." He said as he slowly stood up and walked into the center of the room. "Entertainment! You ruined innocent lives for entertainment! What are you looking for?" I asked with anger as I clenched my fists. "Do you think I'm some evil villain that would monologue my master plan Fox Lilly?" He said with a smile. "How do you know my name?" I asked as I slowly gripped the handle of my sword. "I've been watching you and your kitty friend since before you came to this world." He said happily as Blake crouched down and snarled. "You're the one that attacked me and my gramps aren't you?" Blake asked through clenched teeth. "Yes you see he had something I wanted but before I could take it he gave it to you and sent you to this world before I ran him through." He said with a proud sinister smile. "YOU BASTARD!!!" Blake yelled before charging at him. "BLAKE WAIT!!!" I yelled as I tried to grab him but he was too fast. Blake quickly closed the distance between us and tried to pounce on him but was stopped by the man who quickly grabbed Blake by the neck before holding him up with one arm. "So eager to join your grandfather. I'll be more than happy to help you with that." He said with a chuckle as squeezed Blake's throat. I acted without thinking and in a second I was right beside them and quickly drew my sword before slashing his arm and cutting it off at the shoulder making him drop Blake. He quickly jumped back before I could get another slash in. "AHHHHHH!!! He screamed as his severed arm lit on fire with black and purple flames that turned it to ash. "You will pay for that boy." He said as he gripped his surprisingly dry shoulder before quickly retreating to the shadows. "Running away?" I asked as I scanned the shadows. "For now but we will meet again boy. Oh and I would hurry back to that little island if you don't want to see it burnt to the ground." He said before his voice faded and the smell of rot disappeared. "Blake are you ok?" I asked as I helped him back onto his paws. "Yeah (cough) just a bit sore (cough cough) what did he mean by burnt to the--." He said until he was cut off by a loud roar that shook the castle. "Oh that can't be good.(poof)" Blake said before turning back into a cat and jumped on my shoulder as we rushed to a large open window. "You've got to be shitting me." I said as I looked to the setting moon and saw a large black dragon heading our way. "Fox is that what I think it is?" Blake asked with wide eyes. "Worse. That's Thorn, an incredibly powerful dragon. We need to get back to the island and evaluate it." I said as I quickly made a portal back to my cart and jumped through it. "We'll need Quakes help, he's also the mayor and the people trust him." Blake said before pointing to where we need to go and I took off flying that direction. In a short time I made it to his home and banged on the door. "What in the name of catnip is going on." Quake said as he threw open the door and glared at us. "There's no time to explain but I need you to evacuate the island." I said as I scanned the skyline. "Evacuate? Why, what's goin on?" He asked with some worry. "RRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRR." was heard as Throne grew closer. "That was a dragon on his way to destroy this place and if we don't act now a lot of people will die." I said as I glared at him. "Alright but where can we go?" He asked with concern as he put on his jacket. "I've got that covered just get everyone to my cart in the market." I said before Note popped up behind Quake. (Yawn) what's goin on?" She asked tiredly. "I'll explain on the way but we need to get moving. Fox I'll use the alarm for hurricanes and tell the people where to go." Quake said before he scooped up Note and took off down the street as I flew back to my cart. "Who are we supposed to get everyone off the island?" Blake asked as we landed next to my cart and Quake set off the alarm with a warning announcement. "Like this." I said as I placed my hand on the cart and expanded it with my magic, making the door ten times larger. "That will work." Blake said as Quake ran up with Note and the first group of evaluaties as well as a group of law enforcement. "Good your here. This door will take you to my home in Equestria. Note when you get there room straight to ponyville and get help from Twilight sparkle and our friends to help on that side. Quake I need you to help in this side." I said as I opened the door and let the first group through. "But what about you?" Note asked with worry. "I'll keep him busy as long as I can. Now go there's no time to lose. Blake, can you help Quake here?" I said before Blake jumped off my shoulder and turned into his Abyssian form. "Yes sir!" He said with a salute. "Thank you now let's get moving." I said before I gently took Alya off my neck much to her protest. "I'm sorry girl but I want you to go back with Note." I said sweetly as I scratched her head before sadly fluttering onto Note head. "Thank you sweetheart. I promise I'll give you a great treat when I get back home ok." I said as more people started to pure in. (RRRAAAAAAWWWWWW) "Get going. I'll hold him back until everyone is out." I said as I looked up as I saw Thorn in the distance coming ever closer. "Fox be careful." Note said before she ran through the door. Once she was gone I floated above the town as the moon drifted below the horizon and the first rays of the sun started to light up the day. "Good it's almost morning." I said as Thorn grew closer until he noticed me and with a thunderous roar he unleashed a large jet of red flames straight at me. "Let's do this." I said as I put up a barrier just as the flame reach me. As soon as the flames stop I pulled out my staffs and shot straight toward him. I closed the distance fast and struck his wing hoping to slow him down but my hit rang out like metal on metal and I was pushed back with my hands stinging from the vibrations. "The hell is his scales made of iron?" I asked myself as I shook my hands. "That is correct. His scales are composed of iron like minerals making them literal steel armor but that is not what concerns me." Twink said through my earpiece that I forgot I had on. "Then you heard it too. He's hollow." I said before he swung his claw and knocked me to the ground with enough force to leave a body imprint when I landed. "Fox are you alright?" Twink asked with worry as I pulled myself out of the ground. "I will be...once the sun raises." I said before I quickly put up a shield as Thorn blasted me with his fire. The blast was strong enough to push me back a few feet but I was able to push the flames back so I could roll out of the way. "Fox the sun is coming over the horizon." Twink said as I looked up at the sun as it rose above the horizon and I smiled. "Awesome." I said as I jumped out of the way of a fireball and flew up above the town. "Mood shift: Daybreak." I said as my armor turned white and I could feel the warmth of the sun on my back as well as the boost it gave me. "Hey Twink is dragon fire magical." I said as I looked at Thorn building up his fire. "Yes. Dragons use their natural magic to produce their flame." Twink said as I held up my right hand. "Perfect." I said as Thorn sent another fireball my way but instead of blocking it I grabbed it and sucked it into my right gauntlet before sending it right back at him with the left. The fireball hit him in the chest blowing him back. "RRRRAAAAWWWWRRR!!!" He roared as he shook off the blast and flew straight at me. "Lets see how hard you are." I said as I gripped my staffs and flew to meet him. As soon as he was close enough to me he tried to bite me with his massive teeth but before he could I drifted to the side before turning and slammed my staff into the side of his head knocking it to the side. He quickly turned back to me and tried to swipe his claws at me but I barely was able to dodge as his claw scraped my chest plate leaving a trail of spark along its path. "That was close." I said before I was blindsided by his wing sending me flying back towards the ground but I was able to stop myself right above the town. When I looked back up at Thorn he was forming multiple smaller fireballs around him. "MOMMY WHERE DID YOU GO….(SNIFF) I SCARED!! MOMMY!" I heard from behind me and when I looked down I saw the same white kitten I gave candy to early. "SHIT!" I yelled before I shot down toward the ground just as Thorn fired his attack. I swooped down and scooped up the kitten right before the fireballs hit. I picked up speed as they hit right behind me with the kitten hugging my chest plate. "Don't worry little kitten I'll get you to your mommy." I said as I flew down the empty streets as fire rained closed behind me until a large fireball shot over the rooftops and exploded on impact with Thorns head. "Go I'll cover you." Said a blue and red dragon pony at my side. "Merrin you're awesome, you know that." I said with a smile making her scalie cheeks blush. "Yep!" She said with a proud smile before she pulled up and headed towards Thorn who was just coming out of a daze. I looked back down the street and spotted my cart with a small group of evacuees with Quake  directing and a worried mother beside him. "Look I can see your mom right there." I said to the kitten before quickly closing the distance and landing beside the mother. "MOMMY!!!" The kitten screamed before jumping out of my arms right into her waiting mother. "OH MY KITTEN!! I'm so glad you're safe. Thank you, thank you, thank you." The mother said before she and her kitten hugged my neck. "It's alright now please get to safety." I said as I returned the hug before gently pushing them towards the cart. "Fox these are the last of the evaluees and everyone else made it through unharmed." Quake said with a thumbs up and smile. "Good now go. With everyone now safe I can finally let loose….I'm sorry for any damages done to your town." I said with a bow. "We can alway rebuild or replace our homes but not our people. Don't hold back." He said as he held out his paw. "Wasn't planning to." I said as I gripped his forearm before he stepped through the door as Merrin impacted the ground behind me. "Merrin! Are you ok?!" I yelled as I ran to her. "Oh that hurt. I'm glad I'm part dragon. His scales are as hard as iron. I could barely put a dent in him." She said as she pulled herself up and shook off the rubble before I blocked a large fireball with my right hand and sucked it up into the chest plate. (Play ) "Steel actually. I have a plan but it's goin to take a lot of magic, lucky for us I can use his magic with mine. But first we need to dent him up a bit." I said with a smile as I sucked up another fireball into my armor before taking off with Merrin at my side. We both flew straight at him before breaking apart as a jet of flames shot between us. I dived down while Merrin launched another fireball into his side before dodge his claw while I shot back up and slammed my staffs into his other side making a dent. He quickly recovered and tried to swipe his claw at me but was slammed in the back of his head with a heavy double fist pound. I took this chance to deliver a solid slam to his chin, sending his head back before building up my magic into my staffs and bashed them into his chest sending him back with a large dent in his chest. "RRRAAAAWWWWWEEENNNOOUUGGGHHH!!!" He yelled as he curled into a ball and heat started to build around him until the air around him turned red and in an instant it expanded with a massive shock wave of heat sending us barreling down towards the ground leaving us in a small crater. Before we could even get up a massive fireball slammed down on top of us and exploded taking out a small portion of the town, leaving us in a smoking crater. "Ugh Merrin are you ok?" I asked as I pushed myself out of the rubble but got no reply. "Merrin?" I called out as the smoke cleared and I saw her. "MERRIN!!" I yelled as I rushed to her and pushed away a large piece of stone wall off her. "Merrin? Merrin? Please be ok." I said as I quickly checked for a pulse and sighed when I felt it beat strong. I did a quick scan and she was only unconscious with two cracked ribs that I quickly mended before opening a portal back to my cart and setting her down next to it. "You didn't great Merrin now rest up. I got it from here." I said with a smile as I put up a barrier around her and the cart before floating up to his leave with a rock in my hand. He had his back to me while scanning the rubble from above. I chunked the rock straight at the back of his head and with a small "dong" it bounced right off. "You missed!" I said as I began to feel the warmth of the sun on my back as I began to build up my magic. "Damn tiny insect!" He said as a ball of bright blue flames before launching a jet of plasma at me but it was too fast to dodge so I put my arms to block and absorb as much as I could. After a few seconds the blast ended, leaving me steaming and breathing heavily. "That….should be….enough." I said as I looked at the gem on my chest plate as it glowed brightly. "My turn." I said as I held up my left hand and sent his attack right back at him but before it hit I made the blast curve around him trapping him in a vortex of hot plasma. As he was trapped I flew high above him and right as I got high he broke free and was glowing a bright yellow. Before he had a chance to collect himself I dived down while building up magic around me and my staffs. "STELLAR SMASH!!!" I yelled as I slammed into his glowing chest making the previous dent big and made a large crack in the center before sending him splashing down in the sea making a large explosion of steam. For a split second I got a glimpse of something inside him. It looked like a white ball of fire with a black snake curled around it with its fang latched onto. "Twink?" I said as I flew away from Thorn. "Yes Fox?" I said as I picked up speed. "I know how to beat him but I have to pull all the magic I have and I don't know if my body can handle it and if this goes wrong I might not make it so if I ever die I give all ownership of the library to Rosy. Please look after her." I said as I stopped and took off the earpiece before turning back to the island just to see a tiny spec on the horizon and a loud roar as Thorn slowly flew out of the water. "Time to end this." I said as I took off like a jet speeding straight at Thorn. "Faster, faster." I said to myself as I felt the air try to push me back but I pushed my magic harder and with a loud boom and flash of white light I broke through the sound barrier. "Not enough!" I said as searing heat started to form around me as I pushed even harder. I could see Thorn rising above the island forming another plasma blast in his maw but it was too late. With a second flash and boom I broke mach two and the heat turned to white hot flames. "INFERNAL SLASH!!!" I yelled as I broke through his chest and swung my sword down through his core cutting through the snake and turned it to ash before I smashed through his back. "RRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed before his body started to crumble leaving only his undamaged core. Everything hurt my body was screaming at me as everything started to go black but then everything stopped. I slowly looked around at everything stuck in place except for the core that slowly drifted to me. "Thank you for freeing me from my torment. I give you one of my scales as proof of your victory but I must make a final request. I've done many things I regret while held prisoner in my own body but there is one thing that weighs heavier than the others. Please take that mare I unwillingly cursed to my home land, there she will find help. Farwell young Mystic." Thorn said before the core dissolved into particles of light that faded away before everything started up again including the pain but got worse when a bright light and searing pain tore through my left arm before numbness as I blacked out from the pain. . . . . (Merrin pov) I couldn't move, I was too tired but I forced myself to stay awake as I watched Fox bust through Thorns back and his body started to crumble. I felt relieved that it was over but was overcome by fear and worry as I watched a blast hit Fox's left arm completely destroying it before he hit the ground a few yards away from me. I wanted to get up and run to him but I couldn't move as tears filled my eyes. "An arm for an arm." A cloaked figure said with a shark tooth smile as he stood over Fox. "Now to take what's mine." He said as he slowly couched down and reached for his neck. I wanted so desperately to stop this but I couldn't do anything but reach out in hope that something would stop this and save him. I watch as his hand got ever closer to his neck but before he could grasp it he stopped and looked up at a man that resembled Fox but was taller and more muscular with a long crimson mane, ears and tail holding a large silver sword "So you're still alive I see. Good to know." He said before he quickly escaped into the shadows just as the man swiped his sword. "Rotten corps." He said as he kneeled down next to Fox's shoulder and formed a small orb of red flames but the more I look at it the calmer felt. Something about the way it felt made me think everything will be alright. He lowered the flame to where his arm should me and let it sink into his shoulder before gently picking him up and slowly walked over to me. "He'll live so don't worry. Now rest." He said softly as he set Fox down next to me. I slowly reached out and placed my hand on his chest. I smiled as more tears filled my eyes again. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was the man's eyes. They were dark red but had a gentleness to them that just made me feel warm and safe. It was over.