Untold Tales

The Return

It all happened so fast...

Just as the Mysticons, along with Malvaron and the reformed Proxima, were done talking with Gawayne, the nightmarish tendrils of the Spectral Hand barged right in, absorbing The Royal Guard one by one. To make matters worse, the Vexicons appeared along with the spectromancers with the sole purpose to seize the Royal Palace for their own and eradicate all who dare oppose them.

Yet, just as numbers seemed stacked against them, Proxima had an idea. After telling Em to lower her shield, she mustered a powerful spell. In a flash of gold light, the Astromancers were reverted to their former selves, even Nova himself.

While the Astromancers held off the incoming tendrils, the girls, along with Malveron and Proxima, made a break for the exit.

"How'd you do that?" Zarya asked.

"Any spell can be undone by its original caster." Proxima Said. "Therefore, since I was the one who turned them in the first place, only my mystical energy could..."

Proxima suddenly trailed off. It occurred to her that something was amiss. She counted in her head how many of her fellow astromancers were in the throne room before they reverted back. Sure enough, one was missing.

"Proxima, what's wrong?" Em inquired.

Proxima twiddled her thumbs a bit. "I'm afraid I made a... "slight" miscalculation."

How "slight"? Malveron demanded.

Almost as if on cue, a figure dropped down in front of them. As he stood straight, it turned out to be none other than Zorlon, still corrupted and loyal to whoever wears the mask. Poor Malvaron seemingly froze. Even now, it killed the poor boy to see his foster father in this horrific form.

Lurching toward them like a mindless zombie, he charged his staff, preparing for an attack.

"Everyone, stand back!" Proxima ordered.

With concentrated gold beams of light, she attempted to revert Zorlon to his former self. Unfortunately, the corrupted mage wouldn't make it easy, as he kept deflecting the spells with his staff. Once within proximity, he swung his staff, creating a red energy wave that knocked everyone off balance.

Everyone struggled on her feet, having received quite a bit of damage from the attack, though on the whole no injury was especially mortal. Then, at the worst possible convenience, Eartha charged in and grabbed Arkayna's face, pinning her to a wall.

"Arkayna!" Zarya and Em said in unison.

Without hesitation, Em charged and used her shield to ram Eartha, causing the behemoth to drop Arkayna. The two then locked weapons with each other, with Eartha's strength proving to be more than enough for the young dwarf. Arkayna jumped took Eartha's back, doing what she can to help her best friend.

"Eartha, stop! You know you don't want to do this, so don't!" Arkayna said.

"I've already made it clear, I'm not the good golem Emrald thought I was!" Eartha said as she grabbed Arkayna's hair and threw her at Em.

Zarya attempted aid her her sisters in arms, only to be ambushed and pinned to the ground by Kasha. With her predatory nature taking over, Kasha attempted to sink her fangs in Zarya's windpipe. Thinking quickly, the archer used her bow to block the attack, giving Kasha something to chew on. She then quickly kicked the feline off her, to which both combatants square off.

Panicking, Piper was about to come to Zarya's rescue, when suddenly...

"Surprise!"

The mischievous Willa teleported right in front of Piper and shot a dark magic beam, which Piper narrowly dodged. Piper tried her best to land a hit on Willa, but the annoying little Imp's teleporting abilities made her a hard target to hit.