Memories of the Forgotten

3/3 chapter update

Chapter 31


"Whoa... you feel that?" Aivon had stopped pounding away on the door, both from the fact that his arms were getting tired and that he felt the sudden surge o energy on the opposite side of the door.

"Yeah... what could it be though? Some sort of spell?"

"No spell I know that's that powerful..." Aivon said, wondering what was happening beyond the range of their sight and knowledge. "Problem is I can't tell who's discharging that much. I don't know how strong Midas really is, even with all that dark power he has now, and even John would have trouble maintaining all this power at once." Even still, Aivon hoped that, with Midas currently the way he was, it wasn't him that was managing all this power. Otherwise, it would be impossible for John to win, and a challenge to fight, even if Aivon and Jessica had teamed up.

"John... I really hope your ok there..."

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"This magic... it can't be!" Midas could only watch, seemingly rooted to the spot as the flames surrounding John grew higher. "But how... where!? Where could this power have come from?"

The flames continued to flicker, sending sparks into the air. They seemed to be gathering on a single spot, as though waiting for something. Then like hatching from an egg, the fire took shape into a winged beast. It spread it's fiery wings and gave a loud shriek, which echoed off the walls. Midas gripped his ears down tight, the loud sound nearly deafening him. He watched John, continuing to discharge his magic power as the tail feathers of fire wrapped themselves around his body to protect him.

"I know this ability... It's an extremely advanced fire spell... I've got to stop it!" He took his aim, before the wind magic within him came forth once more. "Wind Arrow!" He launched the arrow, which sped onward and struck the bird, creating a hole in it's chest. However, the hole merely fixed itself before the bird became whole and gave another screech.

"Now... Feel the burn! Phoenix Fire!" The bird opened it's mouth to reveal the flames inside before a blast of fire shot out.

"Air Shield!" Midas reached his hands out to protect himself, just as his pendant glowed feircely. The scorching heat struck the barrair, and broke through, sending Midas flying backwards, his pendant snapping off and flying in a different direction. As the attack ended, the fire phoenix dispersed and John collapsed onto the floor. Just then, the doorway opened and Aivon and Jessica entered the room.

"John!" Jessica shouted out and rushed to his side, gathering his body into her arms. He was out cold, having used up most of his energy in the fight against Midas. Aivon too rushed over and tried to assest the situation, but not before a voice called out.

"It's... it's not over..." Midas' ody began to twitch and shake. "I... I cannot fail him..."

"Enough Midas! It's over and you know it. There is nothing left for you now."

"Never..." With that he began to drag his body seemingly toward them. "I will... never surrender..."

"Midas..." Jessica looked to John, who had spoken weakly, yet his eyes were still closed. "You weren't always this way... remember? Remember what it was like?" But whether he did or didn't Midas chose to not answer, only to keep moving. "You told me once... I was free to choose my own path. And so are you... you chose too, remember?" Suddenly Midas began to shout and yell, as though remembering a painful memory. "You..."

"Shut up!"

"You said... you never wanted to go back to that darkness again... how much you hated it... Please Midas... remember..."

Midas twisted an convulsed on the ground, as though in great pain. In his mind, flashes of images were speeding by. The day he first appeared, born to serve. The deal he made the Pact of Seven. Telling John to give up his mad idea that he could stop Beras. John's thoughts on why he didn't return to the darkness. And above it all was Elsa. The one person who somehow made him feel that strange feeling in his heart, the one he could not seem to grasp at.

It was painful to recall her image, but as the picture came into focus, his darkness clouded. Elsa... what you say if you saw me like this? Midas could feel it the darkness surrounding his very being, as Elsa looked on from far away. Would... would you still ---- me? Somehow, his body could not force himself to say that word, for it still seemed so foriegn to him. Like it didn't belong to him but it was the only thing he could say that could ever quell the feeling.

I will... always... love... you. Suddenly his body stopped moving, as the door to the next room opened up. John too seemed to have excerted all that he could from just talking to Midas as Aivon and Jessica took him out of the room and decided that now they would have to rest. As they left, Midas reached out his hand and gripped the pendant that had fallen from his body.

Slowly, it started to glow.

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Nearly three hours later, John awoke and opened his eyes. He looked around the much larger hallway. It was bigger then he remembered it being and was suddenly passed some food. It took him a moment to realize that Aivon was holding it out for him. "Awake at last I see. Good, now eat up. You need to recover your strength for later."

John took the food wordlessly, and took a bite of some bread, noticing that it had gotten a bit stale in the time that passed. He shook it off, not wanting to complain about the food now, when their very existance was at stake. "So... the ritual..."

"Not yet. Although I have no idea when it will take place, it hasn't happened yet so we still have time," Aivon said, trying to smooth over his doubts. John noticed Jessica was eating as well, very quietly. She constantly kept glncing down the hallway as far as she could see before the darkness claimed the sight impossible to behold. And John knew, just as she felt it too, that their daughter was close at hand.

Once they had all finished, they took themselves down the path made out for them. It was as if they were walking into what could be called the 'Belly of the beast' as one final door appeared before them, no different then the others.

Upon opening it, the room inside was much different.

It was large and circular, more then 50 feet wide with no other exit then the door they had come through. Candles were floating all around the room, lighting it up. And here in the middle of this room was the spell seal. A large circle within it was three winged beasts. One John instantly recognized as a pheonix, much like the spell he had used. Another was of some giant bird that he had never seen before, and the third was a dragon. From the design, it appeared they were all flying about in a circle.

Within this was another cirlce, this time with even smaller circles inside. And inside those circles were words, written in a language that John could not understand. And finally came the third circle, inside of which a small body lay unmoving.

"Monica!" John rushed foward untill reaching the edge of the outmost circle. He pressed his hand foward, only to hit a barriar. He pounded his fist against it, but it was completely useless. She had not yet moved at the sound of his voice, and seemed to be paying no attention to any of her surroundings. "Damn... we have to save her!"

"I would not think of doing that." The voice came from everywhere, and John pulled back, drawing his sword. Suddenly the ground erupted into a pool of darkness as a robed figure stepped out. He pulled down his hood, revealing himself to the group. "I have worked so very hard in getting this far. I would hate to see it all for naught."

"You... Your..."

"Yes. I am, and am not. The body you see isn't mine, but that won't matter anyway. All you need to know is that I am truely Mammon. And at last we finally meet... Aivon, Jessica and John." All three of them tensed up, readying for whatever might happen. "I have been looking foward to seeing you for some time now... ever since you sealed away my true body to the viod of nothingness.

"Now I too, can return the favor."