Day 50

[from The Ember Stone]

"He's coming!"

As the guards within scrambled to their posts, the doors of the Crimson Temple were torn asunder, and the evil sorcerer Vaz'qui stepped over the threshold, his black cape billowing behind him. This was the fourth and final stop on his quest to gain the ultimate power. The Silver Temple, Jade Temple and Aqua Temple had already been plundered by him, their guardians slaughtered and their sacred elemental stones stolen. All he needed now was the Ember Stone that lay inside this temple, and he would be invincible.

One by one, the guards began to draw their swords and charge at Vaz'qui. One by one, they were swiftly cut down. The first guard was thrown effortlessly through the air and into a wall, with enough force to shatter his bones. He was the unlucky one; it would take him several minutes to die from his injuries. The next three were all impaled by sharp spikes that shot up from the earth, piercing straight through their steel armor and skewering their hearts. Their deaths were mercifully swift.

The fallen guards' swords began to levitate off the ground, and a moment later, at Vaz'qui's command, they shot forwards, each one impaling a guard through the neck. Blood sprayed across the temple floor as the four guards collapsed, the weaker of them already dead, the stronger of them slowly drowning in their own crimson blood.

All this time, Vaz'qui did not take his eyes off the door at the end of the chamber, or even break step.  He knew what his goal was, and in his mind, he knew he could not be stopped. The Ember Stone, and immortality, were about to become his, and nobody could do anything about it. Not the puny guards whose corpses lay strewn across the blood-soaked floor. Not the weak guardian who lay in wait on the other side of the door. Not even their pathetic traps.

As he stepped in front of the door to the Ember Shrine, the floor suddenly crumbled away beneath his feet. This, it seemed, was a last-ditch attempt to stop him, or at least slow him down. It was useless. With the Silver Temple's Gust Stone in his control, he was able to halt his descent long before he would have hit the forest of sharp spikes at the bottom. Easily levitating himself back out of the pit, Vaz'qui blasted open the doors to the Ember Shrine.

The shrine itself was a large, tall circular chamber, with a ceiling at least ten metres high. In the centre was an elaborate stone pedestal upon which stood the Ember Stone. The pedestal was surrounded by a ring of flames, but with the power of the other three Stones at his command, this was no obstacle to Vaz'qui. He raised his hand and a powerful stream of water burst forth and dowsed a section of the flames, creating a gap for him to pass through.

Now only one obstacle remained between him and the Ember Stone. Standing atop the pedestal, blocking his way, was Erica, the guardian of the Ember Stone. Her expression as she looked down upon the sorcerer was one of stony determination. She had known he would be coming, and she knew what was at stake: right now, she was the only thing standing between Vaz'qui and invincibility. The fate of the entire world, it seemed, lay heavily on her shoulders.

Vaz'qui landed on the floor of the shrine, glaring up at Erica from beneath the hood of his robe. "Stand aside," he growled. "It's useless to try and resist me."

Erica, to Vaz'qui's surprise, started to grin. "Oh, I know I can't beat you in a straight fight, Vaz'qui," she said. "So I'm not going to try. I have a much better plan instead."

"Anything you try will be futile," sneered Vaz'qui. "Give me the Stone, and I will make your death merciful."

"I don't think so, Vaz'qui," said Erica. She raised a hand dramatically. "Activate the Last Resort!"

At Erica's command, a series of wall panels slid back, revealing a ring of magical beam weapons surrounding the pedestal. Vaz'qui was not concerned by them; their beams would not be strong enough to harm him, even when combined together. However, when the beams fired, they targeted not Vaz'qui, but the Ember Stone itself, much to the sorcerer's surprise. The fiery red jewel began to spin rapidly on the pedestal, shining brightly as its many facets reflected the beams' light all over the shrine.

"What is this?" asked Vaz'qui."

"This is my final plan to ensure you'll never get your hands on the Ember Stone," said Erica. "It was a risk, not activating it until you arrived here, but I wanted you to be here to see it. I wanted to see the look on your face when your twisted goal was ripped from your grasp!"

The jewel continued to spin faster and faster, the light growing more and more intense until Vaz'qui could barely look at it any more. Then, suddenly, there was a blinding flash and an almighty shattering sound, followed by a rumble as the shockwave from the blast rippled through the shrine. When the light faded, the Ember Stone was gone, shattered into several pieces that floated high above the pedestal.

This was the last thing Vaz'qui expected. He took a step back, shocked. "What have you done?!" he exclaimed.

Erica threw back her head and laughed. "What a priceless reaction!" she boasted. "You see? The Ember Stone has shattered into ten pieces, and in a moment I will scatter them across the entire world. Neither you, nor anyone else, will ever be able to lay their hands on the Stone again!" Erica laughed once more.

Vaz'qui fumed silently for a moment, stunned and enraged by this sudden development. Then, he calmed down, and let out a chuckle of his own. "You can scatter the pieces as far as you like," he said, "but as long as they still exist, I will find them. When I do, I will restore it, and your efforts will have been for nought. I admire your creativity, but even such an extreme as this will not prevent me from reaching my goal."

Erica grinned. "We'll see about that," she said. She snapped her fingers, and a section of the temple roof slid back, revealing the dark, cloudy sky above. All at once, the shattered pieces of the Ember Stone soared upwards through the gap in the roof, and then scattered in every direction. The wall panels slid back into place, cutting off the magical beams, and the roof slid back into place.

Erica was now left alone in the shrine with Vaz'qui. She was expecting him to fight her - he had, after all, killed the other three shrine guardians - but instead, he simply turned on his heel. "If the Ember Stone is no longer here," he said, "then I have no further business here. I shall take my leave, and begin searching for the shards of the Stone. I will spare you for now: your pathetic life is hardly worth the effort. But do not cross me again, or I will make you suffer unimaginably."

"I'm so scared," sneered Erica.

Vaz'qui ignored her, striding back through the temple, past the bloodied corpses of the guards he had slain earlier. Neither he nor Erica knew how long it would take for him to collect all the pieces of the Stone, but the longer it took him, the longer Erica and the other heroes of the world would have to try and find a way to defeat him. And if Vaz'qui, the world's greatest evil, could be vanquished, the world, and the elements, would once again be in harmony.