Chapter Four
Crimson fire streaked from his fingers in violent bursts, igniting all in its path. He swayed, trance-like from left to right, and unleashed red ribbons of death indiscriminately in all directions. As if in response, the parched soil erupted near and far, spewing viscous streams of seething fluid which clung to every object that they touched, disintegrating the lot almost instantaneously. Not a living thing lingered upon the plains of desolation surrounding his former home. What little still remained standing of Castle Sedahar was glowing a deep crimson in the twilight hours, silhouetted vividly against the setting sun. Afire from within and without, he watched with a wicked satisfaction as it slowly crumbled upon itself, reduced to nothing more than a great pile of molten sand, sanguine and without form.
Colton dar Agonthea stood upon a small precipice and lashed out with demonic purpose. He was determined to continue until nothing lingered that would be remotely recognizable in his former home. He wished the memories to be extinguished forever and he would not cease until his evil soul was sated. The skies were heavy with death and the stench of it assaulted the very fiber of life that yet abided deep within the soil of this forsaken place. His arms flew from side to side, his long fingers were outstretched and pulsating as he hurled his red and raging fire at whatever entered his field of vision. The heavens churned in response, the earth trembled and what little water still ran or gathered in tepid pools upon this plain of quietus, turned to steam and dissipated into the air, already thick with the debris of his fury.
He would continue his tirade unabated well into the early morning hours of that terrible day. His furor was unbridled and it would not be satiated by the mere destruction of Sedahar. Never before had he been so humiliated. His armies watched him fail and they ran away, surely with the memories of his defeat etched upon their minds’ eyes. They were all cowards. And their understanding of his desires, of his advocacy, was minimal. Dissolution was his goal, his craving and need, and they were merely pawns in his plan. He required them nevertheless, and now he would need to recruit once more and to train and arm and create, and worst of all, again suffer the associations that would be demanded of him if he hoped to find the boy and kill him.
His power was enormous, surely far greater than that of any other man or woman. Yet still, he could not defeat his opponents by himself and the frustration that this knowledge caused him was almost unbearable. The trees still wielded their might and the earth responded to them in spite of everything. The heir was yet alive somewhere, waiting to be trained and brought to his full power. And worst of all, the First surely perceived his approach. Colton always sensed the presence of this, the greatest of the trees, upon the planet, shielded by a darkening he could not pierce. He felt its power and he could almost see the purity of the Gem, pulsating and emanating from within its heart. There was an unexplainable tie binding the two of them together. They felt one another from within and he would locate it yet. He was destined to destroy the wellspring of power that dominated all that he opposed, the First, the protector of the Gem, the fount of all the energy that caused him so much enduring and excruciating pain. He would once and for all put out the light that illuminated this accursed planet, that kept it alive
Even when he was young, the First was a source of conflicted joy. Colton felt its power at all times and he yearned to be near it. Yet, the light that nourished and rejuvenated the other Six, hurt him in a way he could not explain. His yearning matured into a self-absorbed covetousness that excluded all others. He did not wish to share the light, even though his exposure to it became more and more difficult to withstand. Nevertheless, he could neither relax in its warmth and revel in its beauty, nor attain the heights of satisfaction and elation that the others did when its brilliance graced them. He suffered instead, and that misery grew with time until it was unbearable for him to be exposed to the purity and whiteness of the Gem. This wretchedness matured into hatred, until he could think of nothing but destroying the First entirely, and with its demise, hopefully he would extinguish the Gem’s light forever.
Initially, he kept this animosity and loathing secret from his companions, fearing that there was something terribly wrong with him to cause him to respond in that manner. The others experienced no such reaction to the light of the Gem and they avidly absorbed its radiance. He on the other hand, soon cringed at the prospect of being exposed to its power. It eventually caused him only pain and mental anguish, and he grew bitter and resentful of everyone around him for this situation. The Six gloried in their proximity to the potency, while he reviled it.
At one time he confided in Calista, but he regretted his admission immediately and never spoke of it again. She was sympathetic, but she could not begin to understand the depths of his misery. She encouraged him to open his heart to the power, but when he did, it seared him to the bone resulting in an unimaginable amount of agony, the extent of which none could comprehend. He felt his memories being stolen, and though he longed for the peace only dissolution could bring, he couldn’’t bear being the victim of this theft. Pain without memory! Without reason. Without cause. And from that moment on, Calista pitied him. He saw it in her eyes every time she gazed upon his face and he felt it in her soul. That was almost as difficult to endure as the suffering itself.
A tremendous burst of blue fire shot from his outstretched hand, shearing off the top of a large, promontory boulder in the near distance. As it came crashing to the ground, Colton focused his concentration upon the remaining piece and obliterated it with one delicate gesture. He trampled the very soul of the land beneath his malignant feet until it was unrecognizable, reduced to a mass of blackened rubble that would never again accommodate life of any kind. When he was done, when there was nothing left to destroy upon the ground, he raised his arms to the sky and let loose a volley of terrible fire upon the heavens the likes of which the world had not seen since its creation. The noise was deafening, as the skies exploded in billows of emanating death that engulfed the air itself and annihilated even that, leaving a lifeless vacuum in its wake.
Colton dar Agonthea dropped to his knees and lay his blackened palms upon the ruined soil. He searched deep within the earth for any sign of lingering life and as expected, he found none. His eyes scanned the horizon in a slow and sweeping arc and they witnessed no movement, no life whatsoever. He had accomplished his task.
He gazed across the valley, behind him to the site that once was castle Sedahar and before him into the barren gorge. He observed nothing but a tablet void of all markings, a barren canvas erased thoroughly and completely by his power, sterile and without features. He would write new words upon the wall of today, his wall.
As he contemplated the future, he lay his head down and closed his weary eyes upon the new day. But, a yearning crept into his cold heart and would not dissipate regardless of his efforts to curtail it. It took hold of his spirit and he writhed in anguish from the pain, unable to rest even for a moment. He fought with the feelings until he could fight no longer.
“I will find you and destroy you,” he screamed into the desolate heavens while propping himself up upon his two arms. “My time has come and yours is almost at an end. The fabric unravels faster than you can mend it. Soon, I will be free of you forever and you will no longer cause me any pain.”
He rose to his knees with an agonizing effort once more and opened his hideous mouth wide. From that gaping hole, a sound issued forth that was so frightening, so horrible, so totally inhuman that it could have sundered the spirit of the greatest of warriors instantly if he or she had been near enough to hear it. Only the First would have recognized the sorrowful lament for what it truly was. The ghastly wail hung thickly upon the dead air, and then finally faded with the slowly emerging morning sun that seemed to be rising so tentatively in the eastern sky.