***
Outside the school, another battle raged. From the shadows outlining the edges of the bridge, Elba stepped out on a horse. She had escaped the destruction of the palace and was en route to finding Luca, but she was overwhelmed by the sight of the school under siege. Her mission now became more urgent than ever; she needed to find a way inside the school so she could grab Luca and take him to safety. This was his father’s last wish.
But when Elba came upon the great doors of the school, all she could see was turmoil in a cloud of dirt and fire. She saw the multitude of visreh running around with frenzied dispositions, looking for something to sink their teeth into. The creatures had scaled the whole of the school, wreaking havoc against its foundation. Walls were coming down in large sections, and windows were being blown out into the night air. Statues were being desecrated, and the multitude of gems were being picked off and thrown into the vastness of the sky.
Some of the creatures spotted the elder woman atop her horse in the distance, and without worry they went after her with claws out and eyes full of appetite, but when they got to a certain distance from her, they all screeched to a halt, and their eyes closed and squinted, as if taking in some grand light; they were terrified beyond all senses. Fearful, they turned around, retreating back to the school.
Elba approached the chaos near the great doors with caution, for there was an important battle occurring in front of her eyes. The Gohrgos of the golden doors had been fighting for a while now, and judging by the carnage that was left on the floor, they had defeated close to a hundred visreh.
Now, the Gohrgos were in a battle for their lives with the other two guards that were kin to the white-haired man who had been recently defeated by Jeskun. The black-haired and red-haired men crossed swords with the guardians of the school, and they were putting up an unbelievable fight.
Elba heard a howl amongst the wind, and it was something vicious. She saw a dark rider sporting a horse-haired mane coming on a horse. In his hand, he held a curved Rasplendur, and he twirled it in the air as if he were commanding the visreh to destroy the school. Mirel had survived the cut to his mouth, which had healed horrendously, similar to the previous scar adorning his lips.
The two guards capitalized on the weakness of the Gohrgos, who had drained most of their energy during their battle with the hundred visreh. But the Gohrgos were so mighty that even in their weakened state, they succeeded in landing heavy blows against their enemy. Little did the Gohrgos know that their two challengers were being animated by pure shadow, for if they knew this, they would have probably abandoned their fight, but it was a good thing that they were ignorant of this fact, for though their stamina was depleting, their courage was increasing every second they landed a blow on their two opponents.
And as an act of infinite valor, the two Gohrgos searched deep inside themselves in order to seek out every ounce of energy they could muster up, and they harvested all the energy they found into one great blow against their enemies. They both swung their lances at the two guards, making contact with their bodies, slashing them in two and launching them into the sky. The two guards’ demise lay in the underestimation of the Gohrgos’ hatred for evil, and the school’s guardians saw visions of black shadow seep out of the slain bodies laying on the floor, jetting above and merging with the reigning darkness. And the Gohrgos stood in shock of the evil they had just witnessed.
But the increased effort on their part left the Gohrgos depleted of energy, and as soon as they were aware of their enemies’ demise, they too fell to their knees. Elba worried; she knew that there was still one enemy lingering about. Mirel, first taken aback by the defeat of the guards, rode up to the Gohrgos to take advantage of their hampered state. He dismounted his horse and strutted up to the two fallen warriors. “I was hoping for some good battle,” said Mirel, “but I guess I will just have to be satisfied with the knowledge that I was the one who ended you two ancient relics.”
Reacting with contempt, one of the Gohrgos reached out his arm and tripped Mirel on his back as one last hoorah against the despicable Davinian.
Once Mirel managed to get up, he kicked the Gohrgo in the face as a retaliatory gesture.
“Arrogant fool,” the Gohrgos in unison said.
“Stop with your chanting and let us end this,” said Mirel, raising his Rasplendur.
“Excuse me,” Elba said, coming out of the shadows and making herself known to Mirel. “I hope you weren’t really going to strike down those valiant warriors, were you?”
Clueless, Mirel stepped back and just marveled at the old woman. He was flabbergasted by the woman’s gravitas. “You have no wisdom for your age, woman. Who are you, old maid?”
“Like you say, I’m just an old woman,” Elba said, “an old woman—with a friend.”
“What friend?” said Mirel, stepping up to her.
“ME!” said a voice, like thunder breaking against the wind.
Mirel turned to see where the voice came from but could find nothing, and before he could let out another sound, a presence appeared in front of him. It towered over Mirel with intimidation, and it was lean and strong, covered in a formidable armor from head to toe. Its eyes shone like the sun, and it reached its arm out and took Mirel by the neck.
“I am Umbrador!” the guardian-star said.
Before Mirel could let out any indication of a sound or whimper, the Umbrador grabbed him with the other hand, and, with Mirel now in his embrace, jumped up in the air so far up, that they both disappeared from sight. A few seconds passed, when out of the open sky, the Umbrador came back down, landing on the ground with force.
The star-being walked up to Elba. “He is now hundreds of miles from here,” the Umbrador said with a low and godly voice. “He will pester you no more for the time being.”
Elba was both terrified and calm, for she did not know how to react to the being in front of her, but knew that she was in the presence of something benevolent. “Wait, you are not my guardian. You are the one Luca spoke of. You are his guardian star, the Umbrador with the mighty armor.”
“I guard Luca and those who love him—and I am more than just star,” the illuminated form said. “Go and help these beings in front of me. I will take the boy.”
And the tall Umbrador disappeared into the open space as if he had split the air in two and stepped into another world. Elba was left to tend to the Gohrgos.
***