Book 3: Chapter 33

Book 3: Chapter 33

As his words echoed in the air, Garrett tossed the mask he held into the air in front of him. The rainbow-colored flower emblazoned on it shimmered, and the mask broke into a thousand pieces, transforming into millions of petals that swirled into a large flower pattern before they flew towards Agma-Yoth. The skeletal smile on Agma-Yoth's face grew disdainful, and power surged around him as thousands of grinning skulls manifested, cackling as they flew out to meet the incoming petals.

The two powers clashed against each other, shaking the dream space as each sought to overpower the other. Garrett could feel that he was outclassed even from the first engagement, but he clenched his teeth and unleashed as much power as he possibly could, filling the air with innumerable brilliant flower petals. Like a sea of glittering color, the petals surged toward Agma-Yoth, but a moment later, Garrett felt them vanishing in droves as the grinning skeletons chomped their way through the petals with surprising speed. Gritting his teeth, Garrett didn't seem to care, and instead poured more power into the flowers.

They seemed to be evenly matched at first but a surge of power spread from the obsidian coffin and the skulls glowed green, increasing their attacking speed until they tore through the flowers faster than Garrett could replenish them. What had been an even fight quickly swung in Agma-Yoths favor and the skulls began to move across the throne room toward Garrett and the replica of the Dreamers Throne he sat on. Closer and closer the skeletons got as they ate their way through the sea of petals that separated Agma-Yoth from Garrett. Agma-Yoth let out a sneering laugh as the skulls crossed the three quarters mark.

"You're strong for a mortal," he said, "but your strength will do you no good here. You are outclassed in every respect."

Silently, Garrett simply ignored his enemy as he continued to pour power into his attack, summoning flowers as fast as he could. This complete disregard set Agma-Yoth on edge, and caused him to look for what could be giving Garrett his confidence. The change was subtle, and at first, Agma-Yoth, assured of his victory, missed it. It wasn't until one of the skeleton skulls hesitated slightly, its eyes glowing with a rainbow of colors, that he noticed something was wrong. Before he could react, however, the skull turned to the side, biting deep into one of the other skulls nearby, causing it to crack apart with a wretched scream.

As the shards of bone scattered they faded, transforming into ether, and more and more of the skulls began to turn on each other, falling under Garrett's control. A faint smile crossed Garretts lips, but his eyes were ice cold and he continued to summon a new wave of petals, sending them surging forward to smother the remaining skulls. Soon, nearly all of the skulls were changed, their white bone gleaming with a shimmer of rainbow color as they joined the petals in flying toward the obsidian coffin.

"A cute trick," Agma-Yoth said, his voice causing the entire space to rumble and shake as he sent out a tremendous amount of mental energy. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

In front of him, the world of the dream tore and twisted as three large monsters began to materialize in front of the coffin. No longer just skulls, each of the undead monsters were complete, with entire bodies, and the sight of them caused a thread of fear to appear in Garrett's mind. He quickly quenched it, sending his flower petals and the newly captured skulls shooting towards Agma-Yoth. The three large undead creatures Agma-Yoth summoned were giant skeletons that looked like the statues that the team had faced outside the entrance to the first tomb, with the heads of jackals and armor on their chests. Each wielded two massive blades that burned with fierce white flame. That same flame coated their bones, granting them incredible resilience as they charged forward, and Garrett winced as each swing of their swords burned away hundreds of petals. The skulls he had seized from Agma-Yoth lurched forward, biting down on the jackal-headed skeletons, but even as they did, the white flames burned them to ash.

"Utter foolishness," Agma-Yoth declared. "There is nothing that you can do to stop me."

In the world outside the dream, as Garrett had attacked Agma-Yoth, Viper hadn't been still either. With a burst of speed that surpassed anything he had shown so far, he appeared in front of Cynen, blocking the skeletal hand that reached out to touch her. His sword rose to intercept the skeletal finger but as soon as the finger and sword collided, the silver blade he held shattered like glass. With unbelievable strength the finger pressed forward, past his broken defenses and into the center of his chest. A garbled scream burst from his lips and his body shuddered as the finger sank deep into his chest, intending to pass straight through him and into Cynen, who was still trapped in Agma-Yoths mental chains.

As the still-burning Dream Flower took root, power surged through her. Already a Shaper level awakened, the addition of the Guardian Flower was like adding wings to a tiger. The pale green death flame she carried in her soul spark surged to meet Agma-Yoth's white flame that now licked at her body. Death and life burned together, producing the most terrible pain, but her eyes stayed open, and she stood to her feet, charging up the stairs two at a time. The two flames battled wildly for domination as she moved and the more they fought, the harder it was to control her green death flame. The same was true for Agma-Yoth's white life flame, and by the time Cynens foot hit the top stair, they had transformed into an uncontrollable bonfire that surged around her with enough heat to melt the stone under her feet.

The two flames were fiercely attracted to each other, and the more they entangled, the stronger they grew. Her clothing had been completely burned away and her flesh was blackened, but she pressed forward, burning through Agma-Yoth's mental energy as she tore a path straight towards him. At the last moment, his eyes seemed to flicker, a faint sense of horror appearing, but it was too late and a moment later, Cynen reached into the obsidian coffin, wrapping her arms around Agma-Yoth's skeletal body. Her head only came up to the bottom of his bony ribs, but she let out a fierce shout and poured all of her energy into the flame, feeling it eat away at his bones.

In the mental world Garrett had created, he had been fighting fiercely against the skeletons summoned by Agma-Yoth. The skeletal necromancer didn't seem to be in any sort of rush as he sent his skeletons to destroy Garrett and no matter what sorts of tricks Garrett tried to pull, it appeared as if his demise was marching closer. He tried to manipulate the space itself, preventing the skeletons from getting close to his throne, but they simply cut through his mental energy as if it was nothing, forcing their way toward him.

They were only a few dozen feet away when suddenly Garrett shivered, his eyes which had been cold and concentrated seeming to gleam with a golden light. A few seconds later, a small smile appeared on his lips, breaking the look of intense concentration on his face. The skeletons stopped and Agma-Yoth stared at him across the distance. A few seconds passed and suddenly a look of horror appeared on Agma-Yoth's face as smoke began to rise from his body. His pale skin turning black and beginning to char, ashes drifted from his body as he stared at Garrett in horror.

"What have you done?!" Agma-Yoth cried.

His voice, entirely devoid of the calm confidence it had carried before, rose to a shriek as the skeletons surged forward. Before they could bring their blades down, golden light spread around Garrett, filling the air with light that dyed the skeletons' bones with a golden hue.

Kneel.

Garrett's voice was calm, holding the confidence that Agma-Yoth's lacked. Immediately the three skeletons stopped and dropped to one knee, their blades falling down to their sides. Though he looked like he was at ease, it was all Garrett could do to maintain his composure as he stared at Agma-Yoth across the throne room. The skeletal man's body continued to burn, large chunks of his skin sloughing off and vanishing into the ether as fierce white and green flames appeared in the holes burned in his skin. The mental energy that created his body was being incinerated before Garretts eyes, but he didnt dare relax his concentration.

Desperately, Agma-Yoth tried to jerk and twist, almost as if he wished to step out of the coffin he was in, but no matter how he moved, he couldnt break free. At the same time, Garrett poured every ounce of his concentration and mental energy into expressing the power of the Dreamer's Throne. The Dreamer's Throne carried a naturally suppressive aura superior to any mental energy he had ever come across, and now, that power surged through him, filling the space around him and locking down the three skeletons. This served two purposes, first in preventing them from carrying out Agma-Yoth's order to kill him, and second, in trapping a considerable amount of his enemy's mental energy, preventing Agma-Yoth from using it to save himself.

"How?"