The words sent a chill down my spine, colder than the freezing air around me. As much as I wanted to dismiss his claim as madness, I couldn't deny that there was an unsettling truth lingering behind his words. The darkness within Elara had said that she needed to bring me to the cusp of death but not to kill me.
"Kill me?" I repeated, searching his eyes for any sign of deceit or manipulation. Death seemed like it might be taking things a bit too far. "How could that possibly help me regain my memories and face this darkness?"
My monstrous companion sighed, a sound like the groaning of glaciers colliding in the deep freeze. "The fog within your mind has grown thick, my king. It feeds off your fears and insecurities, hiding your true self beneath layers of anguish and despair. You have become trapped in your own mind."
He paused, seemingly struggling to find the right words to convey the gravity of the situation. "By killing you, we will shatter the prison the fog has built around your mind, setting free the memories and powers that have been locked away for so long. It is only through death that you can be reborn, more powerful than ever before."
As much as I didn't want to accept it, I knew that he spoke the truth. My heart hammered in my chest, both terrified and exhilarated at the prospect of confronting the darkness head-on, even if it meant sacrificing myself in the process.
Summoning all the courage I could muster, I looked him in the eye and nodded gravely. "Very well. If that is what must be done to save Elara and defeat this evil, then I will face my death willingly."
"It is not that easy, my king. For this to work, you must fight me with everything you have. You have to let go of that notion that I can see you holding on so dearly as you shiver there, my king. You are not one of them."
I stared at the behemoth. It had two massive horns that curled to point up and royal purple fur covering its body. I knew that it could use magic, but I also knew that it could use a form of anti-magic. These memories seemed to be able to penetrate the fog, but nothing else but them would come to me.
"You want me to fight you? You are ten times my size!" I said with a nervous chuckle, but then jumped back and started as the behemoth clicked its tongue so hard that some of the ice around me cracked.
"I'm sorry, my king. I can not look at you like this any longer," the behemoth said, and the air around me started to crackle. It looked like I wasn't going to get out of this one without a fight or my life.
The tips of the behemoth horn lit up, and I started to run, pulling up a shield of dirt. Before I could react, a blast of magic erupted from his horns, smashing into my makeshift shield with enough force to send me flying back across the chamber. The impact left me dazed and gasping for breath but aware that this was just the beginning.
Determined not to give in without a fight, I scrambled to my feet and faced the behemoth once more. As it prepared another magical assault, I focused all my energy on creating a wall of fire between us, hoping to buy myself some time to think.
The flames roared to life, fueled by my desperation and resolve. While they raged between us, I racked my brain for any strategy or technique that might help me survive this battle – anything that would bring me closer to regaining my memories and saving Elara.
But the answers remained frustratingly elusive, hidden behind a dense fog that refused to lift even in the face of impending doom. Panic began to set in as I realized that I was woefully unprepared for this confrontation, and yet there was no turning back.
Despair threatened to overtake me until a sudden burst of inspiration hit like a lightning bolt. If the darkness within Elara was indeed linked to my own past, then perhaps the key to unlocking my memories lay in embracing the very thing that had drawn us together in the first place: our shared connection to the elements.
With renewed focus, I drew upon the elemental magic that flowed through my veins, feeling its raw power surge within me like a torrential storm. With every fiber of my being, I channeled that energy into a single, concentrated attack aimed directly at the massive creature before me.
I released the magic like a torrent, and a swirl of elemental energies burst from my in a rainbow. I put everything I had into it, all my love and affection for the girls, and my unending faith in them. But then the magic I had fired at the behemoth was sucked into a purple orb between its horns like it had never existed.
A sinking feeling settled in my chest, and I realized that I had severely underestimated the behemoth's abilities. The creature barely seemed affected by my most powerful attack, leaving me wondering if it was even possible to defeat it under these circumstances.
However, as if sensing my despair, the behemoth regarded me with a hint of sadness in its eyes. "Do not lose hope, my king," it said solemnly. "Your true power still lies dormant within you, waiting to be unleashed."
"But how can I unlock this power?" I cried out, frustration boiling over. "Nothing I have tried seems to work!"
I was starting to feel like nothing that I did was going to work at this point. I was giving everything I had, but it just didn't seem like enough!
"Listen to your heart, Azriel," the behemoth advised, its voice carrying an unexpected gentleness. "The answer lies not in magic or others; they come from your unending resolve to never stop. My life is bound to you, my king. Now fight for yours!"