Change Of Command

Tyronis appeared outside the giant gates of Tronabia, a tall wall made of pure white steel, thick as a Cyroplys tree. The gates were shut entirely, not even giving a millimetre of freedom to anyone, this was the strictest and most secure city Tyronis had ever witnessed.

However it had not always been this way, there had once been a time when Tronibia had simply consisted of a small time town like Leando, simple and home to free men and women. Ever since Lord Constatino had been the governor things had gotten strict.

Tyronis knocked hard upon the doors with his staff head, for a moment there was no response, only the silence that surrounded the city. Suddenly a metal plate slid open, the eyes of a patrol guard, " State your name and reason in Tronabia, if it is not a valid you will be denied."

Tyronis answered in a matter of fact voice, " I am Tyronis of the International Council of Wizards and have been summoned forth for an important announcement, you would not want to be the cause of my lateness would you?"

The steel plate slid shut, followed by more nothing. He imagined the guard had probably left to confirm his schedule, walking at a leisure speed only to find out he was indeed needed and would then run back in urgency realising his grave error.

He stood at the gate for an hour, awaiting for the guard to return he looked around to see if anything strange was going on. Looking on the wall itself he noticed a strange black substance on the wall, scratching it he put his finger to his nose, smelling the familiar scent of sulphur.

What was sulphur doing on the most secured city walls in the world, maybe Coronian spies had tried to enter the city. Finally he heard the familiar noise of the large locks being unlatched from the inside the walls.

The doors swung soundlessly open, the moment Tyronis stepped within the city it was already closing up, locks going back in place. According to statistics this city had the largest population on the large continent of Eradonia. But for the city with the largest population the streets were nearly empty.

Every building made of white bricks in the same beautiful designs and dimensions, no extra decorations to add personality, even the perfectly flat cement ground was white, giving the whole city a very uncomfortable feel.

Not only were the streets sparsely populated, but there was no visible market place or stalls on the streets. Market places made it easier to converse between store owners, and with conversations came ideas that might create questions that might create ripples showing the illusion this paradise really was, all stores separated in their designated buildings.

People of great wealth, noblemen and high-ranking military families, despite all the great wealth found within these walls they were a far cry from being a free people, not one person demonstrated an ounce of any emotions on their faces in fear of getting executed.

Lord Constatino ruled these people with an iron fist, giving them no breathing room and no compassion, taking their money at his own convenience. Constatino was of a very royal and powerful lineage of warlords and tyrants.

He finally approached his destination, the wretched black fortress of Constatino, right smack in the middle of everything circled by a wall of its own impressive magnitude. Guards patrolled it 24/7, no metal grating was pulled up as he was allowed to enter.

In contrast to the rest of the city this was a very dark place, this castle had been here far before the city, while the entire city was of modern design the fortress had been built under the cruel whips of Constatino the 1st.

The dark steel that made the fortress had old patterns, evil patterns that screamed death and eternal damnation, as though the very foundation of the fortress was made of the pain and suffering harvested from the builders of the fortress.

And worse of all, the guild of wizard’s was in the deepest place of this hellish palace, a grim place for grim affairs in a grim time. Tyronis worked only for the International Council of Wizards for they worked for the people.

He was stopped at the secret dungeon entrance by an elite guard dressed in black armour. Putting his weapon up to stop him he looked Tyronis straight in the eyes, reminding him of an unchanging statue when a familiar voice came from behind, " Lower your weapon guard, he is of the council."

Constatino stood behind him in his black ornate armour. He smiled coldly and completely ignoring the guard said to Tyronis, " You’ve finally arrived, for a moment I thought you would not come, we are late now."

This was very strange, frowning with confusion he asked as they walked down the steep spiralling stairwell leading to the guild, " Are you engaged with the council now?"

Finally arriving at the guild doors he replied, " I suppose that’s one way of putting it, I’ve simply decided to involve myself to further my people’s protection." Tyronis hit the door, it swung open with a loud creak.

The guild master Tunobolis came to the door, his skin pale from the lack of sun. He looked astonished to see Tyronis, " Friend, am I ever suprised to see you still among the mortals. News had reached my ears that Ares had killed you, we all mourned your loss greatly."

Although confused he bowed in respect, "The news that reached your ears was accurate, and it comforts me to know that my death was a sad day. Now as Dominic would put it, I am done visiting dead park and have come back to face my prophecy driven life. But if you did not summon me then who did?"

An awkward look filled his face, as though he could not find the right words to use, and his eyes kept going up to Constatino, who finally said, " It was I, do not worry yourself over this, all will be made clear, shall we enter?"

They stepped into the circular chamber; sound of dripping water in the background always gave the guild the grim atmosphere that it deserved to have. The large circular table was placed in the exact middle of the chamber, although Tyronis found that as grim as this place had looked once, it had an even more sinister air to it now, almost like someone had taken the bad ambiance and made it worse.

As it was a habit Tyronis surveyed who was around the table, however they lacked the look of confidence that usually lived on their faces and actions. Why was everything so different? The sulphur on the wall, Constatino summoning him, lack of confidence in the members of the most powerful magical council in the world.

The eldest wizards sat at the table with at least a semblance of confidence, garbed in the blue robes with the signs of Merlin’s apprentices, the yellow crescent moons. The remaining eight members of the council were new wizards, garbed in gray cloaks demonstrating their apprenticeship to Tunobolis.

However, the presence of Constatino in the guild of wizards was very peculiar to him, he was a wizard indeed but he wore black magi armour, consisting of ornate black armour with a black cloak. Another thing that separated him from the rest was his chair, made of pure black steel, as black as his heart.

The room was filled with an awkward silence, everyone looking at Constatino as though waiting for him to begin. Finally, Constatino began, " Here is why you were summoned so urgently. I have taken full control of the council, you will obey my orders from this day on and in this way serve the people."

Tyronis stood defiantly; whipping his chair against the dungeon wall, the clanging noise of the heavy wood against cold steel resonated throughout the chamber, " Your council!? The council belongs to the people! We work to keep them safe, that is our sole driving purpose! We do not work for one man’s personal interests!"

Constatino did not even show a flicker of fear at the tone that would have disarmed even the most arrogant nobleman or general, getting up he imitated Tyronis throwing his steel chair hard against the wall, the noise resonating ten times louder than that of the wooden chair’s as a large dent formed in the wall.

Pointing at him he replied, " You are serving the people! I am the people Tyro! They never knew what they wanted, and they never will because they are all stupid commoners. I am really doing them a great favour here. Maybe you haven’t noticed but unlike other towns we don’t suffer through orc raids and depressions and plagues and famines!"

Power flashed within Tyronis like he had never felt before, summoning the full power of the angel half withing him and mixing it with his already formidable self he said to the council, voice amplified, " Do not let yourselves be fooled by his smooth lies, he is not but a human as are we all. He cannot represent an entire people, he has tortured these people for far too long under the guise of protection, we must end his reign of terror. He is of the Coronian Empire!"

Tyronis extended his hand and fired a golden bolt of divine lightning, it illuminated the entire room with the brightness of a thousand suns, hitting Constatino directly. However the simply caught it within his gauntleted hand, getting sucked into the orb in his palm it glowed for a second and returned to its normal ruby red.

Tyronis understood, he wore the magic armour created by his powerful magical ancestors. " Do you really believe that, do you really think I am but a mortal? People are under the impression my ancestor founded the Empire, one of the originals. Ares the once mortal who died and was brought back to life. Zenger the dwarf who curse his soul is now dead, Cyranos the elf turned whom was turned into a gibbering cat for wishing to liberate the people and Loki the already psychotic, blood thirsty vampire."

" And Constatino the immortal, I am him, I am the immortal born in the first days of the first age, I have more power than you could ever conjure in your wildest dream. Your prophecy is failing for I have Jolene, Ares met her as well, he may be fighting with you but he is not fighting for you."

" Not only can she not be reunited with her brother, but she cannot be reunited with her demon counterparts, less than a week before everything changes so tell me where Adonis is or I will find out myself." Before Tyronis could utter a word of defence Constatino was within his mind. Even with his angel half he could not stop him.

Within his head the angel stood defiantly, shield in one hand and sword in another. Constatino simply walked by it, Tyronis did the only thing he could do, it was the most drastic thing he could do but unlike Krale he knew Constatino would indeed kill Adonis.

With this in mind he erased all his memory. Constatino scowled at the loss, Tyronis having wiped his memory clean, leaving not but the magic incantations engraved in his mind. He turned to the others having regained his calm composure, " This shall be an example to all of you, if you think you can mess with me and get out of it you will suffer the same fate! In five a week they will meet on the island of Macknola, prepare yourselves. You will all be severely monitored."

Constatino jumped over the table, landing beside Tyronis he grabbed him and teleported into the deadliest desert in the world, no memories of who he was and magical incantations without the knowledge to use them.

Constatino now had other business to attend to, as he had planned he had shown the council of cowardly wizards he meant business and now it was time to meet up with Jolene.

************************************************************************

Jolene ran furiously through the fiery field, sweat coming out of every imaginable part of her body as. Heart pounding within her chest with the ferocity of a thousand thunderstorms and earthquakes vibrating throughout every inch of her body.

The pain was only increased by the demon struggling within her, trying to gain control of her. But she had found a way to tap into its power without losing control over herself. She was approaching the camp; suddenly she stopped mid-step detecting demon patrols nearby and transforming into a young fawn, hid inside a hollowed out log.

Taking a moment to rest she reflected over her entire life, something she hadn’t had time to do for these past three months had been as hectic as savage flames to say the least. All originating with the betrayal of her brother, anger flashed in her red eyes at the very thought of him.

Yet deep down inside of her she harboured doubts of his guilt, that maybe he had been guilty of nothing other than being a coward. He was a changed man however, travelling with a band of orcs and outlaws, led by Kulos the butcher and other hybrid demons.

There was the possibility that Lord Krale and Ares had not been the saviours they had portrayed themselves to be, and she was on the wrong side altogether. The demons would never stop hunting her, so she had been ordered to bring the fight to them.

But she was alone, she had killed Krale and Ares was pursuing his own personal mission along with that Dominic stranger, why had he kissed her? Dismissing that, no one was left for her, her parents dead and even her original saviours, or possibly deceivers, had forsaken her.

She detected footsteps nearby, there was a loud sniffing noise, then the demonic dog barked, having detected her with its sensitive sense of smell, alerting its demon handlers of her presence. She darted out of the log as it was set ablaze within the next second.

Transforming into her human form she pulled her dragon slayer out, five demons stood with their demon dog in the front. They fired a flurry of detonations, with ease she took advantage of the only thing Krale had done right, putting Ares as her trainer.

She jumped high into the air, dodging the deadly attacks, landing behind the demon trackers. She swiftly moved into action, moving her arms in perfect motion she cut the first demon’s head off. She did not hesitate for a second, as they turned she rolled under one of the demon’s legs, standing behind them once more.

Before they could react she cut two of the demons legs off from the knee down, as they fell she grabbed both blades from the two standing demons as they came with the intent of decapitating her. Ignoring the pain of the cold blades digging in her palms with an ironic burning sensation she plunged both swords into the opposite demons.

As the fell she flipped in the air and landed hard on the two remaining demon’s skills, crushing them with a loud crunch. The adrenaline rushed through her body, she thirsted for more but there were no more demons in sight. The little thoughts she’d had of her brother were gone, gone from her mind for an indefinite amount of time, she crept stealthily to the small demon camp, ready to kill more demons.

They were unaware of her presence, one demon stood guard as the others were too occupied eating their prisoners in the main hall. She drew a makeshift dagger made of wood but sharpened to a tee and threw it straight in the demon’s heart. Before he could make a sound she leaped on him from the bushels, cutting its head off. Now all that was left was the demons in the main hall.

It stood in the midst of the camp, constructed of ancient clay bricks cracked and chipped by tough times and rigid weather. Ironically it had once been a church until Krale in his young days had taken it over.

It had a large set of heavy wooden doors closed tightly leaving her only one entrance, she smirked as she looked up at the large cathedral window over the door depicting some biblical story involving a man in a cave with lions.

The demons were enjoying the meal; the myth that demons could not enter holy ground was completely unfounded as the priests had discovered, they were quite fat giving them plenty of meat. Thirty demons in total in the pews of the former church, the senior priest had been crucified to the cross making a mockery of Christians and their precious Jesus.

Suddenly the large window shattered, a blur was seen in the middle of the two aisles. Before they overcame the shock Jolene grabbed shards of broken glass and threw them into a demon from each side.

They suddenly all moved into action, turning toward her they all growled and fired detonations. She moved her demon sword in one hand and a borrowed demon sword in the other at lighting speed, blocking the attacks from both sides as she approached the front of the church.

Landing behind the pulpit, using it for cover the wood was quickly shredded into splinters. She quickly darted from the now destroyed pulpit and launched herself from the floor with all the force on the left of the church where twenty demons sat.

Landing directly upon a demon she cut off his head, launching off his corpse while evading more detonations she landed on a group of five demons who now had their own weapons drawn. Moving both her arms in a swift and perfect arc they all fell headless, blades covered with blood.

Using the demon’s corpse as a shield she grabbed a new weapon created by her new leader to help with the fight against pure demons. Throwing a sphere made of pure iron in the large crowd of demons now jumping toward them she yelled, " Errupanico!"

The ball exploded with a sudden flash, sending holy water soaring through the air in a dome landing on all the demons on the left pews. Their flesh began to burn away, bubbling from the divine power of the water they fell dead to the ground, still roasting like eggs on a frying pan.

Turning to face the other side she smiled to herself, she would have fun with them. She jumped against the wall, running along it the demons tried to hit her only to miss every time, hitting the wall behind her. She was approaching their side, as she neared she launched herself from the wall with a spinning dive, she had wanted to try this spell for quite a while.

She yelled, " Gustilianos!" She began to spin as quickly as a tornado, the demons tried to escape her power but could not get away as they were getting sucked in. Some tried to hold on to benches but their grasps were too strong and they broke the chunks of wood they had been holding on to.

Inside the tornado they were shredded to bits by her deadly blades, in less than a minute they were all dead, blood splattered all over the church walls and windows. She stopped spinning when twenty elite demons kicked the door in, large iron swords drawn they growled and charged at her without mercy.

She jumped over the group, stabbing two demons through their iron helms deep in their skulls; pulling them out with great strength she landed behind them. As she stabbed one demon in the back, blade penetrating his heart and coming out front, with a quick motion she lifted her legs into the air and kicked the demon’s head off that had stood beside him.

The group now turned on her; closest demon swinging his heavy sword with the intent on finally ending the massacre of their kin. She bended backwards, evading the blade by only a fraction of an inch. Doing a perfect back flip she grabbed his sword with her feet, landing a metre away on her hands she threw it back with her feet into the demon’s head.

The other demons were more than furious now, this half demon was making a mockery of them all. Jolene rolled backwards leaving a distance between herself and her demonic foes. Before they could attack she pulled out perfectly rounded pebbles from her pouch.

They snickered at the sight of the little pebbles, the closest demon saying mockingly, " Death by pebbles, highly unlikely" They all fired detonations, standing in a line to get a better firing range. The detonations came upon impact with a shield they had not detected previously.

Jolene whipped the pebbles in their direction and yelled, " Inprerano" The rocks caught fire, acting as small detonations they all hit the demons, the fell to the ground, armour charred and smoking from the fiery assault. She had done it; she had annihilated an entire camp of demons, she’d killed entire human settlements but this was the first time someone had fought back, and she had won.

Lord Krale had been weak, far too weak to be an actual leader. And Ares, well she thought Ares was correct in doubting his power, he had been a worthy warriors. Suddenly she detected a sudden movement but it was too late to do anything, her victory had distracted her too long.

His armour still smoking from her assault, this demon stood nine feet tall and had incredible strength, unlike most demons rather than having red eyes he had pure black eyes. She tried to resist but he held her by the head, blocking her mouth she could not use magic.

Walking into the church he stood as Constatino stood where the pulpit had once been. He put his arms up in mock praise, " And the lord created light, and said it was good. But then the demon king came and took the light away, saying upon the lord, ( Fuck your light!) And he destroyed the light, and the lord fled away"

Now certain he was done talking the demon spoke, " This one is a good fighter indeed, very formidable demon as well. If not for my thick hide and incredible powers I might have died."

Constatino jumped down in the middle aisle, dressed in his black magi battle armour, blond hair accenting his purely blue eyes. He finished his monologue, " Cronolicas chapter seven, versus six to fifteen. Put her down Kromilius, she has passed her test and you have passed yours."

As Kromilios dropped her he, smiling he clapped hi hands, " Beautiful sermon boss, we will dominate, when this is over I shall be the last remaining pure demon on earth." He yelled out something in his native demonic language, that’s when a monster Jolene never could have imagined landed right in front of him.

Standing the same size as Ares, except it was far more animal like. Its hind legs were those of a grasshopper giving it physical abilities to jump farther than most creatures on earth. Its four long arms reached to the ground, rippling with pure muscle they walked more like gorillas than anything else.

The most monstrous part of these new creatures was its head; it had the head of a lion. Kromilius gave it orders in his demonic language and they both disappeared. Constatino motioned for her to follow him as he walked into his room that had been hidden under the church pulpit.

As they walked down Constatino said comically, " The church had a strong impact in me finding the training for you, it also housed me for many centuries, lesson being that even Christians have their uses."

They finally arrived at his quarters; unlike Krale’s tent he had no trophies on display, no need of a diamond throne. The floor was covered by polar bear fur, seeming odd in contrast with the dark wooden boards of the church basement.

Without a single motion two chairs made of demon hide rose from the floor, covered with polar bear fur. He sat on it, crossing his legs, " You know Jolene, your physical appearance might appeal to many mortals, immortal elves and even one necromonger in particular. But to work for me you need more than that, and you have surpassed my expectations."

She bowed in front of him, "What are your commands master?" Constatino smirked and replied with his mocking voice, " Please, chairs were created for a reason, stop bowing. And do not use such a mundane term such as master, I have a name. But if you insist on using quaint formalities address me as Boss."

As Jolene sat down he continued, " Now I have a real mission for you, once I could not confide even to my general Kromilius. It is a very simple mission, Adonis can wait; they will not be able to complete the sevenfold without you. I order you to assassinate the Queen of the Royal Kingdom."

" I must admit it will be no easy task, but I did not lie when I said it was a simple mission. Assassinations are quite easy in concept, but she will be heavily guarded and will attempt to deceive you. She might even try to convince you that she is your mother, for you bear great resemblance to her, but do not fall for the bitch’s vile deceptions."

Suddenly there was an interruption as a demon ran down the stairs driven by pure rage, arriving in the room the demon spoke, " I returned from the important errand you sent me on, and imagine the surprise when I found out you had my demons killed, for what, training? What is the meaning of this betrayal Constatino?"

He smiled, " Please have a seat and try to calm down, I meant to tell you something of great importance but the time never seemed right, now is the good time. As the good lord says, all demons shall be purged from this planet"

He pulled the demon from afar, until he was in his grasp. Constatino drew his power, sucking it withing the ruby on his palm, glowing red with power it dimmed back to normal.

He turned to Jolene, " Now go and complete your task Jolene, you may kill her dishonourable majesty in any manner you see fit. Just make certain to send the dear old bitch my regards, and make certain to get a lock of her and a vial worth of her blood." Handing the vial over he dismissed her.

As she rested for the night, she could do nothing but anticipate the upcoming mission, the Queen had done nothing to offend her personally but she was an enemy of the Coronian Empire, therefore she was an enemy. Jolene grinned at the thought that she would be the one to kill their leader, she was glad Constatino had giver her such an honour.