***
*He came down from his chariot in a red armor which was quite easy to make out from the other low ranking warriors wearing white armor and plod towards where I stood bleeding out pale-ish blue blood all over my armor. It was clear that the arrows were fatal but I was still conscious enough to see him making his way to meet me through the midst of dead corpses with his curved sword out of his scabbard.
His sword was also forged by the sorcerers who made all the weapons we used in our warfare against the Dominos but it appeared to be twice the length and size of mine when he held it with his right hand.
Soon he had already reached where I was but he stopped halfway and didn't go any further when his right foot struck an Elvanian shield on the heap of dead bodies which was stained with the blood of its owner. He smirked maliciously when his eyes met mine.
"How....could you have done....this? I trusted you"
I tried to speak out but my voice was too croaked for him to hear me clearly
"Elian Hoxino, we are at war and the masters will be pleased if only one victor were to return back safely"
"And you believe that would be you?"
"Yes, of course. You already have pleased everyone back with triumphant wins against the Dominos but now, it's my turn"
"We grew up and trained together under one master but yet—"
"But you'll die by my sword today and I'll return to tell the masters that there were no survivors"
Zenyou intruded and marched on further with all magnanimity.
"Zenyou...I can't believe you of all people would want me dead"
"Still gullible as you have always been. You thought everyone would rally around you because of your victorious over the Dominos in the past but know this.....not everyone liked you for being too selfish and self-centered"
"After all we've been through together and the things that I had done for you, I find it hard to think that you would raise your sword against me"
"Believe it or not, I have always hated you for having living in your shadow"
"Is that how you really feel?"
I questioned thinking Zenyou would rethink his words but he pointed his sword at me. Then he drew a lot closer to the point that I could feel the tip of his sword intimidating me. It was only when he had come closer that I realized that my helmet had fallen off from the ground and it was clear that he was already fixed on his objective to slay me with the rest of the other dead Elvanians.
"Yes, Elian...I have only been nursing the feeling in while waiting for the perfect chance to deal with you once and for all"
"But we swore to be friends...What will Xianin say if she finds out what you have done?"
"Let her find out about it.......I don't care what she thinks anymore because all I want is you out of the picture. Elvania as well as those you love will become mine eventually once they find out you died heroically in battle"
Zenyou moved closer taking his sword back and placed himself into a striking position. I could see in the apparition, that I was too weak to raise my sword let alone defend myself against Zenyou when it was clear to both of us of his intentions to finish me off with his sword since I had sustained too many injuries to move my fingers.
"You'll die here...Elian and the Dominos will destroy your soul for all what you have done to them in times past.....then you'll cease to exist in the realm...Isn't this what you and master wanted? To die an Elvanian hero in the battlefield in the fight against the Dominos whom I am sending you off to and I believe they would happily torment your soul and leave you to perish in that toxic fog of theirs.."
Zenyou said but I said nothing as I watched swung his sword and the next moment, I was decapitated by the sharp blade of his sword. My face turned horrid as I saw my head rolled off my body into the pile of dead bodies that lay on the floor and soon afterwards, my headless body fell down lifelessly on the ground. Zenyou sheathed his sword and started walking back to join his army who were watching the execution from afar.*
Then at that moment, the misty apparition vanished before my very eyes into thin air. Arguis had stopped the apparition with his powers and looked at my expression which read total displeasure.
"It can't be.....true. Zenyou...of all the Elvanian I thought would be least to betray me turned out to be one responsible for sending me to the Dominos...No, I can't believe Arguis...it must be Arguis ability to create illusions just like Fourth level Domino of the special class does and not what really happened in reality..."
I thought to myself once again as I tried fervently to get up but Arguis's right clawed-foot of deformed rough sinews, remained glued to my chest with unwavering tenacity. I couldn't move neither could I summon enough strength to push his hefty foot away. Every passing minute, my feeble soul was dying slowly and I didn't have much energy left inside of me to contend with the fearsome Domino.
He seemed to care less that I had little time left to question about the credibility of the apparition.
Eventually, I gave up trying to set myself free from him and surrendered myself to his hands. Arguis seemed quite engrossed in watching me in painful reflection to about the apparition and reading the expression on his repugnant face, I could tell he already knew I perplexed about the apparition he showed me. He already knew I was going to doubt what he showed me since one of the powers of Fourth-grade Dominos have been known by us, Elvanians to create powerful ostensibly mirage mostly believed by Elvanian Sages and cultivators to be unreal and most times, deceiving.
"I can sense that you already doubting the vision....."
Arguis said and grinned broadly.
"The whole of Elvania.....knows such apparitions are merely tricks"
"It is not. Believe it, it's what actually happened and you seem to have forgotten about it or....."
He removed his foot from my chest and squatted before me. Then he looked at me straight in the eye. I could see the repulsive devoid iris of his red eyeballs peering at me with disdain.
"Or you're just pretending"
"I refuse to be.....fooled"
He stood up on his feet again beside and looked up at the other colossal Dominos looking down at us from a massive height.
"I have no reason to deceive you, Elvanian scum. You already are on your way to final damnation. Any moment from now, your soul will cease to exist along with that hatred you have for our kind."
Then he returned his head to look at me listening to his words in dismay.
"After your final death, nobody will remember you...Not even family will come find you here anyway because they all wanted you dead and gone particularly Zenyou, whom you trusted with own life"
After saying this, He took two steps away from me and I watched him but all I could see was his back as well as his two wings.
"Think carefully about it and make the right choice. No one will remember your heroic deeds once they find out that you died in the battle at Diani plains and it will only be matter of time before they replace you with another warrior to fight their warfare"
I listened to his persuasive words which had some elements of truth in them.
"Look over there"
He said and pointed eastward towards a farther distant. I followed his pointer with my eyes to catch a glimpse at what he wanted me to see. At first, I could see nothing but the empty red fog hovering in a thick mass over what he was indicating with his left hand. A minute later, the fog slowly paved way for a more wretched agonizing sight of a hundred Elvanians being surrounded in farther distance by Trollans Dominos on one of the enormous cliffs. They were about a thousand of them and the captured Elvanians were prevented from escaping for their lives.
I needn't use a telescope like mortals do in their realm, to see what was happening because Elvanians like me had the unique gift to see far distances clearly without the use of any optical apparatus.
"As you can see, those souls in captive are warriors that fought the battle with you and the number you see are what is left of those who are yet to fade away"
Arguis said as I looked on, beguiled by the anguishing pains of watching the warriors that had fought alongside with me on the battlefield; perish one after the other before my eyes. They were struggling to break free but it was pointless. Each of their immortal souls was fading into dust without being attacked by the Trollans and it was only a matter of time before they vanish without a trace.
"....Those lost souls had been wandering the underworld a few hours before you were cast down to the under realm and they will never be remembered by their families who will only bereaved their death for a short time. Just like those poor souls and other Elvanian warriors yet to be killed on the battlefield, you will be forgotten by those you once loved"
His words sounded reasonable in my ears. Then I thought of Xianin who had made me promise to return safely before we embarked to fight the war at the deserted plains of Diani which marked the Domino's territory.
The thought of the promise I vowed to her hurt me deeply much more than watching my beloved warriors disappear into tiny particles of fiery dust.
It occurred to me that Xianin was still at the inn in Migodi province where I had left her to fight the war and Zenyou would probably cover everything that happened at the battlefield with a lie if he meets her there.
"If only for Xianin's love and Zenyou's betrayal, I have to return"
***