Memories of the Forgotten

Been some time, hasn't it? No I haven't forgotten... life tends to get in the way with things like story updates. But here's a bit of action for you to digest. Working on the next chapter soon too!

Chapter 24


It had taken a full 4 days. 3 days of traveling and training, and a sole day of waiting. It had been grueling work, and John admittingly had a rough time training with Jessica. He knew she had some abilities, but he had never truely seen the them to their fullest extent. And even in this training, he had a feeling she was still holding back something. But it was worth all this traveling, all this training, to see Aivon again.

"John! Jessica! It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Aivon greeted them both with glee as they met in the town entrance. His cloak had been shreded a bit around the edges and his gloves seemed worn, but otherwise he was indeed the same as he had always been. In fact, his attire was now more closely resembling to the first time they had met.

"Aivon, I'm glad your here at last. We have to talk, it's serious," Jessica said in a rather hushed voice.

"I know. I need to tell you, something happened with Midas, he-"

"We know Aivon," John said, as they made their way to a nearby inn. "We got some much more terrible news though. Come on, we'll tell you once we get some privacy." Aivon looked a bit confused, but nodded in agreement as his friends led the way.

It had taken no less then two hours ot explain all the important details of what Jessica had heard, and yet Aivon nodded calmly throughout. When the story had ended, Aivon picked up a cup filled with tea and drank some. "I see... I had heard rumors of Mammon, mostly underground stuff... but I didn't think he was the one we had to seal away. But there is more to it then that. Midas told me about some artifacts that once belonged to Mammon."

"Artifacts? Like what?" John asked surprised.

"His pendant. Midas' pendant reacts to the dark power that resides in him. But more importantly, it also works to heal his wounds at an accelerated rate. We were attacked by Hieas, and after the battle-"

"Wait, Hieas is alive? But that's impoosible, we saw him die!" Jessica explained.

"Yeah, he's back alright. But he's not the one running the show anymore. Someone else is pulling the strings. I... I witnessed some of his power too... He's a Destined, like you John."

"Damn it. And by the sounds of it... he seems to be stronger then me..."

"But not us! You're not doing this alone you know!"

"That's right. We'll stick through this till the end, just like last time." Aivon brought up his gloved hand, tightening it into a fist. "Except this time, he's going down for good!"

"Yeah... you're right! We'll stop Hieas, save Midas and end this once and for all!"

Jessica smiled seeing them both fired up, ready to take on any challenge. I guess he's feeling like his old self again. Still, I hope we have enough time... It's only three days left... But she pushed that thought to the back of her mind, intent on finding what they needed to know first.

A shout brought them all out of their moment, causing them to leave the inn. A wave of people were running off to the northern part of town. Moving toward them was a creature of 'living' darkness. It's skin looked alive, as it moved erratically to them.

"Wait a minute... isn't that a thing from beyond the Gate? One of those things that killed Hieas?"

"It looks like it... but what's it doing here?" Aivon asked.

The creature raised it's arm before it shifted into a blade. "Don't know but I don't think it's here to be friends..." Jessica raised her staff, while Aivon removed his gloves. The creature looked to them, as John raised his blade, before falling to the ground. From it's back, two orbs of Darkness emerged, before shaping themselves into two more of the creatures.

"How nice, one for each of us." John said, rushing in to charge the one on the ground. It raised it's own blade-like arm to block John's blade. John pulled back just as the other blade-like arm reached around, ready to slice him open. "Fire!" John raised his hand, casting the spell, but the creature merely sliced it in half. It resumed it's charge, forcing John to pull away from his companions and block the oncoming blows.

Aivon also charged ahead, taking the creature on the right. He caught the two blades as the creature slashed, forcing them into a stand-off. "Spire!" Aivon raised his foot before slamming it back down. The force caused a pillar of earth to rise, knocking back the creature. "Rock Shower!" Aivon punched the ground, causing the earth to shatter into pieces, before directing them to the creature. However, it merely used it's blades to stike away the bits of rock before resuming it's assault.

Jessica stood her ground, as the third creature bounded toward her. "Ice Knife!" Instantly, several ice needles appeared, raining down on the creature. The dark creature weaved around the ice spell to aviod being hit. Jessica focused her magic as the staff became an ice spear, which she used to block the creature's attacks. As the creature attempted another strike, Jessica got behind it and firmly placed her hands over it's back.

"Ice Prison!" Immediately, ice formed on the creature's back, speading rapidly. By the time it had turned around, it was too late. The creature became frozen in ice. Taking her staff, she struck the ice, causing it, and the creature inside, to shatter. "One down," Jessica announced.

Aivon continuously used his hand-to-hand combat to avoid the attacks sent his way. "Earth Wall!" Aivon erected a barrair, hoping to gain some distance with his foe, but the creature sliced through the wall of earth quickly before persuing it's prey. Aivon brought his hand down, charging his magic before the earth enveloped his claw like a glove. Aivon struck hard, knocking the creature back a bit, as well as dazing it long enough for Aivon to make his move. "Earth Eater!"

The ground around the creature turned into a vortex of sand, dragging it down. As the creature struggled against the shifting sands, it only increased the speed at which the earth swallowed it. As soon as the creature completely disappeared beneath the ground, the sand stopped shifting and quickly hardened, encasing it's doomed captive under the surface. "One to go!" Aivon said excitingly.

John by now had already infused his blade with fire, the flames around the tip of his sword now dancing about. The creature now stood to dodge the blade rather then counter-attack, which led the blade's owner to push on with the offensive. "Burning Cannon!" John focused fire magic into his left hand, while his right continued to keep the creature at bay with his sword. When the ball of flames had grown to nearly twice the size of his hand, He let loose, thrusting foward so that the burning magic would shoot out.

The creature, seeing the blast coming, again tried to cut the magic in two. But this blast was far stronger then the first one, and instead of slicing the magic, the creature's arm began to burn away. Stood it's entire body was amassed in fire, as it's being dissolved into nothing. "And that's three," John finished, a smirk on his face.

"Excellent, looks like someone's been practicing his magic. And Jessica, I never knew you were this strong," Aivon commented, impressed with his companions' growth in magic.

"Heh, well, I was just as surprised when I started training with her too," John commented on the side. "And it looks like you've been no slouch either with your training. Your earth magic is as strong as ever."

"But why did those creatures appear all of a sudden? I thought only Mammon could control them... And the seal shouldn't be weakening this quickly, right?"

The three stood in thought for a moment. True, the Dark Gate was closed very recently, as least compared to how long it took for the seal to weaken the first time. There was no way the creatures could have escaped.

"They were created. Someone knows we are here, so they created these creatures to come and attack us," John said calmly. Aivon nodded in agreement, thinking the same thing. "And I have a very good idea who did do it too. A person that is a part of Mammon could create and command these things..."

"Very good, John Aaron. I see you have grown a bit wiser in your travels."

The voice came out of nowhere apparently, for the three were quite alone, considering that the rest of the people had fled upon seeing the creatures of living darkness. John raised his sword, the fire long since extinquished, as Jessica and Aivon steadied themselves for an attack from anywhere. "Come on out! I know your voice anywhere, Midas!"

And a mere ten feet away, the ground blackened and out rose up Midas, wearing the same clothing as when Aivon last saw him, his pendant out and glowing fiercely. "Hehe... I see you dispatched of them well. Your magic has indeed grown stronger. I expected nothing less from the Destined who almost stopped Mammon," Midas responded, stressing the word 'almost'. "But it's pointless to continue. You'll never stop us."

"I have four elemental magic spells and a sword that says otherwise," John countered, raising his blade. "I won't stop, not until I bring back my daughter."

"Touching. Well, since you so intend on stopping us, then how about this? Since we know you stand no chance of defeating us..." Midas raised his hand and a door appeared. "This door will take you to Kalos Ruins, our headquarters. It will open in two days, on the dawn of the new moon. Prepare all you wish, but you won't get far." With that, Midas sank back into the ground, darkness surrounding him as the portal took him away.