They continued up to the Queen’s throne room, where they found a surprise waiting for them. As expected, Ilirra was there with her two red giants, and Jade, Berkeni, and Azek all awaited their arrival. But even though they had never seen him up close, the monster leaning against the far wall was unmistakable. It seems Jade had not only freed the man from the games, but had also convinced him to come along! Eric couldn’t help but think, He might have preferred the games!
Azek leaned hard against the back wall looking rather bored with his heavy eyelids and eyes constantly rolling. The grizzled man didn’t care much for this sort of superstitious nonsense, but for some reason he kept fingering his sword hilt just as a precaution. Jade and Ilirra spoke to each other privately behind the throne, no doubt saying their goodbyes. Packed bags lay at the feet of Berkeni as made the final preparations to open this so-called gate.
Suddenly the walls in the room began to pulse with a faint green light. Everyone jerked their heads around at the sudden change of lighting before looking to Berkeni. They had naturally assumed he had begun working his sorcery. The problem was, he looked as confused as everyone else. He held his hands out wide to indicate this was not his doing. In a flash, weapons graced the palms of everyone at once. Even Berkeni had a small dagger in hand all of a sudden.
A small, gray ring seemed to form from nothing in the center of the room. It cascaded a mild green light from its center, although the border remained gray and solid. Everyone backed away from it, weapons drawn and ready. The green light seemed to gain in strength as it pulsed from dim to bright and back again. A faint light green mist ascended from its center as everyone watched and waited, not knowing what to do.
As the mist ascended toward the ceiling, it began to take shape. Within seconds a grotesque figure levitated in the air before them. It gave a striking resemblance to a genie released from its bottle as the image hovered, seemingly becoming more shapeless mist than creature the closer down it got to the gray ring. The thing had large yellow catlike eyes and the tusks and nose of a boar.
The thing smiled as its yellow eyes swept the room, pausing on each face a moment to prove it could also see everyone here. The red giants exploded into action when that horrifying gaze fell upon Ilirra. They closed the short distance in a heartbeat as whirling sickles shredded right through the repulsive image. The bodyguards slashed with inhuman speed as their sickles, moving in complete unison of one another, seemed to cut nothing but air. They displayed dazzling team work as one slashed low while the other slashed high, then reversed their attacks with the same freakish speed. The slightly transparent image laughed at their futile efforts as its eyes fell on the Queen once more.
With that subtle glance toward their master, the giants rolled across the floor and back in front of Ilirra. Crossed sickles now formed an X in front of Her Majesty as they tried to shield her. Azek also sprinted across the room to take position in front of Ilirra. He dropped to one knee with his sword held out defensively. Dying meant nothing in defense of the Queen! The others knew exactly what this thing was. Berkeni’s dark, magical journey had revealed the demon and his full intentions to them.
“Fools!” said Dragot as he continued laughing at their feeble efforts. “You can’t hurt me as I stand now!” His eyes continued to scroll around the room. When they fell upon Eric, his yellow eyes narrowed with disgust. “I see you have the man-child who dares to fantasize of saving mankind from its promised fate—a fate that is written in the stars; a fate that cannot be altered by any mortal!” His booming, wicked laugh shook the walls. “When the stars are aligned, Krytoes will enter your pathetic world and show you the real meaning of power. The human world will tremble before him!”
Eric glared at Dragot as uncontrollable, roaring hatred flooded through him. He felt no fear or intimidation. All he could feel was black, searing rage. Just at that moment, something changed deep inside him. It was as if he was no longer inside his body, but instead was watching himself from a distance.