Final Battle 2

Gitera left Liberty’s body and returned to his works. Soon the plans were in place and he would take the city and finally take his throne as rightful leader of these lands and with it, all its slaves. From there he would take land in all directions, beyond the mountains and the seas and take slaves as his own everywhere. Now he had killed their most powerful, he had power like no other. He felt it in his veins and looked upon his own hands and smiled. He felt a rumble come from the ground and a crack of lightning from beyond the mountain in the air but thought nothing of it.

Liberty was way above the lands within the stars themselves a ware she was surrounded by the life force. “With the others I float, as one entity, as one unit, as one army, as one people. They need me. I need them. We are one. Pursuing righteousness we fly on towards our destiny. We will not be taken in vain from here. Our lives mean something to somebody, and that’s why we matter. It’s why we fight. We waited for the right moment, and it has come, just like the prophecies said. We know what must be done. We must return for one last task. We now are complete, and with that completeness we know our role now. It is to end the fighting with one last act before we can enter the life stream for eternity. This is our final hour and it will be glorious.”

Gitera grabbed his things and turned to leave. He jumped back startled on what he faced as he did. In the cavern with him were hundreds of people all standing quietly looking upon him. Children, women, men, and they stood just watching with a ghostly quietness. “What is this cheap conjuring trick?” he exclaimed angrily. He went to walk towards the exit beyond the altar but one of the men stopped him in his tracks and placed his ghostly hand upon Gitera’s chest. Gitera looked down at the man’s hands and laughed, and pushed his hand away to continue walking. The phantoms surrounded him in a circle blocking his path. Gitera suddenly recognised some the faces and felt confusion. He had killed all of these people.

Behind him Liberty’s lifeless body lay for a moment. The ghostly man who stopped Gitera lent down and stroked her hair which seemed to bellow as if blown by a great breeze. She suddenly drew in a powerful gasp of air and her eyes snapped open. She was not sure who she was, or where she was. The blood had disappeared. Her eyes sparkled like blue lanterns, and aware she was on the ground she got her self to her feet. She stood for a second taking in the surroundings as if reborn as a new person. She looked around the room slowly at all the faces smiling at them all. She then looked upon Gitera, and her face changed to disapproval. Gitera felt her piercing blue eyes protrude right into his soul and he began to feel fear. “Gitera. We are not finished”. The cavern glowed from the hundreds of people who stood within it. Their aura created a warm light that lit up the darkness. “I have no time for this nonsense” he exclaimed and sent out a ball of fire towards her. She did not flinch as the fire bounced straight off her and dissipated to nothing. She elegantly took a step forward. He gritted his teeth and let out another, which again just became nothing as it left his hands. He tried again this time shouting, and instead he fell to his knees panting. He felt tired all of a sudden; very tired. He looked upon his hands, and felt no power. He could not create magic. “I have taken away your powers because you use them for evil. The final step in the process was the extinguishing of my physical body. By killing me, you allowed me to enter the life stream and become united with the others, and with that act, we have united to come back to complete our destiny.”

“For that we are grateful” as she raised her hands to address the others. Mothers holding babies, fathers stood by their sons. People from all parts of the empire stood quietly as their spokesperson continued. “Gitera. You have committed great crimes against people in your quest for power, and it is time you face justice. The quest for justice is why we’re here, and why this part of the prophecy has occurred. With great power comes great responsibility, and you abused your power as you became intoxicated by greed and corruption. I have taken everything from you, to humble you, and to make you realise how much pain and suffering you caused these people.” He looked up with anger and frustration. “I feel nothing for them. They are fools, and you are a fool to take away this power from me. Without power, I am nothing, just like them.” “No Gitera. You have loved once. I am not bound by mortal time. I see that you take from others, because something was taken from you”

The memory came back to him more powerful than ever. The billowing smoke rose above the town as he approached with his cart. He had spices and toys for his wife and son. Then he saw his friend laying in the track, dead. Fear took over. He jumped from the cart and ran to his home…. They had mutilated the bodies. They were burned. His wife had been tied to the bed posts and set fire to. To one side lay a dead soldier with a kitchen knife sticking from his chest. She must have killed him to defend their son.

“I WAS WEAK TO LOVE THEM!” He cried out in frustration. She took another step forward and bent to talk to him face to face. He felt her warmth, and the light was pleasant. “They are here too. And now you will be with them. You were strong to love them”.

Gitera felt weak and powerless. He looked around the room and saw his family who just looked upon him. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them he found himself in a new place; a familiar place. He heard the birds tweeting, and smelt the flowers which filled the air with a light fragrance. He knew this place.  He stroked the plants and walked forward. It was a place where he was once happy, and felt no anger to no one. He walked on where he came across a small road leading over a stream. The sun’s rays sparkled in the water, and he continued on over the path towards a ground of buildings he knew. He had lived here once.  He heard laughter. It was a young boy, and at first the sound was like a distant blur, but as the laughter grew closer it became clearer. It was his son. He looked out across the field once more and a familiar frame came into view. She was tending the fields and putting things in a basket. She paused for a second and stood tall looking towards Gitera’s direction. She held her eyes up to shield the sun, and saw who it was. She smiled, and waved. He smiled for the first time for years.

“You are a part of the life stream now. Justice has been done.”

Liberty’s body began to grow with light and the aura filled the entire cavern. She smiled one last time and with that she disappeared. The entire top of the mountain exploded with white light as rock rocketed into the skies leaving a large crater where the altar stood. Rock and molten rubble rained back down on the ground all around the mountain top.

Luschus awoke within the crater itself and found his breath and tried to stand but fell over. He realised he must have got a good beating by Gitera in the cavern. Giving it a second try, he stood, and staggered slightly but managed to keep on his feet. He shook himself rubbed his eyes realising he had a pounding head ache, and looked around the huge crater he was in. It was a perfect hole in the mountain that stretched a few hundred metres in all directions. There was rubble littering the Earth with smouldering rock and smoke billowing upwards. Looking up he could just about make out a twinkling of light of the last stars of the night as they were being drowned out by the dawn light. He saw a flicker come from some way away, and walked over towards it. On the ground was Liberty’s necklace, and lying next to that was his sword. The sword glowed with a new quality he had not noticed before. He put the necklace on, and picked up his sword, inspected it, and put it in the sheath. He didn’t really know what to do, or where to go, but he looked out towards the East and saw that the sun begin to climb into view over horizon. A new day had begun.