Last Destiny Volume 2 Chapter 16

A group of people land on a beach and leave in a rowboat, except for Whelan and Lydia. They reach an ancient kingdom in ruins and encounter a statue that comes to life and attacks them. Whelan fights and defeats the statue, but is severely injured. Lydia heals him and they are enveloped in a bright light. Whelan becomes a summoning spirit and Lydia gains powers to protect him. Lydia faints and Whelan carries her. Chapter 16 The Gift of Summoning Soon they land on the easternmost portion of the tail region where a beach is. They land on the water. Most of them exclaim how smooth everything is so far. Whelan and James loosen the screws once they reach the rowboat. Others have an unsure expression about all of them leaving, but none say anything. Coffee and Lydia hug. So do she and Helen and Lee. They then depart. As Whelan rows, Lydia realizes she is already leaving Charlotte behind, though not the others. James says, Anybody know where those two are off to? Charlotte sorrowfully says, Home. Lydia awakes to Whelan rowing right before nightfall. She asks, My Whelan, did you get any sleep? He doesn't answer. She looks out to see a land in the distance. Whelan says, It is not Wahee. I am unsure of that landmass. She looks up to him and gasps. When they finally reach it, all they can make out is the ruins of a very ancient kingdom. Whelan says, We will settle at the gates for the night. Lydia says, I don't have a good feeling about this place. Don't seem friendly at all, as she stares at it with worrying eyes. Ruins are entirely surrounded by a huge battered gate. Vines seem to grow all over it, and they are larger than usual vines found elsewhere. The sky is dark over the whole island, perpetually, it appears. A cool breeze blows through, continually. There are reeds growing, which, when the breeze touches, they create a wave-like sound. The ruins appear dead, silent. It isn't until they reach the entrance they notice something very ambiguous. What would appear to be an armored statue of a guard valiantly stands at the gate door. It could not have been seen prior due to the boulders which are around the trail on either side. The armored guard appears to be remade or continually re-renovated. No scratch or mark seems to be on any portion of it, and it wields an immense sword which is driven into the soil beneath it. Where its eyes are is total darkness. As they walk up the path when it comes to their attention, Lydia pauses in place in pure fright. Whelan beats his eyes at it and reaches toward his blade handle, but he does not pull it as he sees it. He is lifeless. Lydia moves closer to Whelan behind him. Whelan walks up to the figurine and inspects it, all of a sudden in its eyes area. A red glow appears in a socket area. It then shifts to eyes. Lydia, who stares from the left side of Whelan, eyes widen with terror. The figurine utters a statement which is all but intelligible besides the word echo. Its voice, for all intents and purposes, I own him. Lydia gasps and pulls at Whelan's cape as though trying to pull him away. He gently scoots her along. The figure then states another intelligible phrase, which only the word seraphon can be made out. Whelan is not startled by the figure, which he is the taller of the two. The figure has not moved from form, holding its blade. Then it moves to stand, fully pulling its blade from the soil, right hand. Then with lightning speed, its left hand swings at Whelan, trying to connect with his face, but Whelan quickly counters, catching his arm with his fist. The sound of some of Whelan's bones can be heard cracking in the process. Lydia, who jumps back loudly, says, My Whelan! Whelan with his right hand pulls his blade. They clasp blade to blade. Seraphon swings every swing with all its might. In this department, it is obviously stronger than Whelan, so Whelan adjusts by not making it a struggle of strength. Instead, when he connects, he quickly swings again. Seraphon then pushes Whelan in the chest. When Whelan knocks back, he quickly rolls with it back onto his seat. Seraphon slides in, punching Whelan to the face, throwing him into a nearby tree. Whelan is bloodied in the face. Whelan removes his hate. As Seraphon comes forward, Whelan crosses swords with him. Lydia thinks, Those words never heard such before. I got to find a way to heal my Whelan. Whelan kicks Seraphon to create space. The kick is similar to a light push, but enough to allow Whelan to charge swing his blade. Whelan uses this to move in and punch Seraphon to the face. Seraphon no more than turns his face and punches Whelan to the chest, shattering some of his ribs. Whelan, as he goes back, jumps forward. He stabs Seraphon in the rib area, yanks out his blade. Seraphon swings his blade, but Whelan moves away and has created the opening he desired. He stabs Seraphon in the rib area multiple times. As Seraphon tries to punch Whelan away, he holds on to his arm. Utilizing this, Whelan pulls into Seraphon, gutting him. Lydia is in tears because she knows Whelan has suffered too much damage. She can feel he is fighting to the death. Seraphon stabs Whelan just as he is gutting him. Whelan yanks his blade up and down in Seraphon's flesh. The armor force falls to his knees as Whelan collapses. Lydia rushes over to heal him. Seraphon snatches out his sword from Whelan's flesh, and Whelan for once shouts in pain. Then Whelan snatches out his blade from Seraphon's flesh. As Seraphon snatches toward Lydia, Whelan moves over, her dropping his sword. She continues healing him. Seraphon, frustrated, punches Whelan. The impact slams him into Lydia, knocking her unconscious. As healed as he knows he will be, Whelan knows he has to end this now. Seraphon is badly damaged, unable to move as before, but still a threat. Whelan quickly dives for his blade, grabbing it, then propels himself forward. He first slashes away Seraphon's welding hand. He then, without hesitation, slices off his head. Whelan, slower than prior, rolls over to Lydia. Even as he goes, something behind him is occurring. Lydia appears to be unweaving, as a gleaming light and electrical energy of furious colors crackle where the body of Seraphon is. Whelan slightly turns before he reaches Lydia, and, unsure of what is about to occur, he leaps over the child covering her. He then shakes her. It is noticeable the strange light and energies are beaming from Seraphon, and they are getting louder. Lydia is awakened. As soon as she comes to, she begins crying as she is scared Whelan has perished. She looks up to him and says, My Whelan, but she notices Whelan is over her, looking away in the bright light in the background. She then looks to see. She gives a peculiar expression, then says, My Whelan, did you have to kill him so? She shakes her head, braces her lips at his remains, then says, What is happening? Whelan says, I have no idea, child, but since you are awakened, we should depart. He helps her up, puts up his sword, and puts it on his cape. Leaves are appearing now, beaming up among the light. An actual lightning bolt strikes his armored body. Whelan throws his hand up in protection toward Lydia, then, all of a sudden, the entire light source envelops him. Suddenly, the voice of Seragon is speaking in its ancient tongue, but none of it can be understood. Then the voice starts to be heard in their minds in the prison Aeolian tongue. It says, Long ago, in Aku, I, Seragon, was the greatest warrior of my time. I was fortunate to be awarded guardship. This was thousands of years ago. At some point, the kingdom went through a depression. People suffered greatly, starvation, plague, etc. The king, my lord, he was wise enough to pull through sometimes. I forgot them and what happened afterward. We were attacked, of which we hadn't been in decades. I was overwhelmed to the brink of death. Our fronts were overran, but somehow they pulled through without me. The king, he, he was greatly saddened when my body was found at the gates. I had a whimper of life left. He, no, now I see. He cast a spell to prevent me from dying and to protect all future generations of our peoples from invasion. He transformed my remaining essence into a summoning spirit. Our kingdom fell not long after. I appeared whenever an intruder watched ashore. Whether they were an intruder or not, I have slain so, so many without question until you came along, great warrior. This was a cruel joke my lord and king played upon me, transforming me into a summoning spirit without allowing me to know. Now I find out in the end, but wait, this does not have to be the end. I can do righteous deeds through you all. I can grant you my power and gift you the ability to become a spirit forevermore. Whelan says, well granted, Serebron, but I do not hail from a line of midges nor magic workers. Lydia stands behind Whelan gripping on to his cape. Serebron's voice says, summoning magic is very unique. It does not require its users to be of a line. Whelan says, that was not my knowledge, yet still I prefer my weapon and my own strength. The child, though, asks it of her. Lydia's eyes widen as she gives a hysterical expression. Serebron's voice says, little one, I see you. You have the resolve of a warrior and do not know it yet, risking limb to protect the protector. Allow me to grant you a way you may protect him and all others who may come in your path, please. Lydia thinks, protect my Whelan? Serebron's voice says, protect him indeed. Lydia realizes it can read her mind and appears speechless. Lydia says, then I accept. Serebron's voice says, well granted, little one. Lightning strikes Serebron's corpse and it vanishes. Coming down of it is enough to cause Whelan to throw up his cape to cover them from the blind light and Lydia to jump back. Then she is enveloped in light and the colorful electrical energy leaves rushing to her. Whelan is startled and steps back from her. He screams as all of the occurrences shift into her. Her eyes glow. Whelan reaches for her. She touches his hand and closes her eyes. After a brief pause, she looks up to Whelan and smiles. Lydia opens her hands and looks down at them. Suddenly, Serebron's voice utters, I will always be with you, child, all on me. Lydia says, my Whelan, I feel astonishing. She faints falling to Whelan's arms. He picks her up but falls himself having not fully healed. He lays out his cape and they rest near the entrance. When Lydia awakens, she realizes Whelan isn't all right and begins healing him. He awakens and thanks her. The sun is about ready to set in. They look to notice the ruins of Baku and the elegant way the sun shines upon it all. Serebron asks to see its ruins one last time and Lydia begins to realize Serebron will always be able to communicate with her. In a way, she is frightened but also comforted. Whelan tries opening the gate doors, which collapse. As they walk in, Lydia, looking all around, says, this place is not even ruins. It is nothing more than plants, grass, and vines covering what would have been ruins. She appears saddened. Lydia points out that these people, buried, they're dead while Sazee, which is near, doesn't. Farther past near hills, which are ruins, they see winged dinosaur-like creatures, once called eons, now sikoin. They are indigenous to the area. They are plant-eaters, non-aggressive unless harmed. The huge-legged creatures lift up and fly away, gliding in the sky. Soon, Serebron has seen enough and asks to leave. They head back toward the rowboat. Lydia looks up to Whelan as they walk and says, are we now going to Sazee? I'm hungry. Whelan gives no response. Lydia thinks, my Whelan, that endless look you have, last night I saw a fade, but that fade was in pain. It shows your look is not one-way. You can smile.