/A/N/ This chapter has no changes from the original series.
That's Malakai in the picture, the only picture of him I could find.
Igneous' p.o.v
I arrive at a long, straight tunnel that extends as far as the eye can see into the distance. A mine track runs down it, which I follow.
I reach the end of the tunnel where the Magnorites are mining. I starts mining as well to blend in.
Suddenly, I spots Borgen off to the side and go over to him. ' Hey, it's you!'
Borgen looks up, confused.
' We met just outside the tavern, my name's Igneous. Did I introduce myself before?'
' I've never met you…' Borgen says uneasily.
' Yeah, yeah, it was you! Borgen, right? You directed me to Maxwell. I've been trying to help K'arthen reunite…'
Borgen grabs me and pins him to a wall.
' What are you trying to do, get me killed?!' Borgen whisper-shouts to me, ' You don't talk like that around here.'
' I'm not from around here, but I came to help,' I say, a little quieter this time.
Borgen releases me slightly. ' Why would you want to help us?'
' Because I'm a Magnorite like yourself, and what happens here affects us all.'
Borgen lets go of me. ' You need to be more careful, Igneous. You’re lucky I’m one of the few Magnorites who wants peace with Cydonia. It’s hard to find others willing to stick their neck out and stand against the majority.'
Borgen stops talking as a Magnorite passes by us.
Borgen lowers his voice. ' Listen, when our shift is over, follow me closely. I’ll show you something.'
I nod.
~*~
After our shift, Magnorites are returning from the tunnels. In the crowd, Borgen tugs me to follow him into a side-room at the end of the mine track.
' This way, quickly.'
We sneak into the room and hide behind some crates. I look around the room, and see piles of TNT.
' Oh my… that’s a lot of TNT. Is this how they’ve been mining the tunnel?'
' This isn't a mining tunnel, Igneous.'
I don't understand. ' So… what is it?'
Borgen looks grim as he points at the tunnel. ' It's heading south…under Cydonia.'
I frown as I pieces everything together. ' They're going to attack Cydonia from below…'
' The people of K’arthen are finally starting to want peace, and that threatens those in power,' Borgen explains, 'If they can re-ignite the war…'
' They'll stay in power,' I finish his sentence.
' Exactly. And judging from the distance of this tunnel, they're almost there.'
' I have to tell Maxwell, he doesn't know about this,' I turn to leave.
' Be more careful this time,' Borgen tells me, ' And do hurry.'
~*~
When I arrive at Maxwell's house, it ransacked and in a mess. I hurry outside, but is surrounded by some Magnorite guards.
~*~
The guards escorts me through the Great Hall of Tarturus.
Suddenly, I see Borgen in the distance. He points to the guards, and I nod, understanding.
He comes towards us and "drops" a pile of pickaxes on the floor in front of us.
' Terribly sorry! Let me just get these out of the way for you!' Borgen leans down.
' Move aside, you clumsy oaf!' one of the guards scold him.
' Not this time.' Borgen kicks the guard, and punches him in the chest, knocking him down.
An archer fires an enchanted arrow at Borgen, but he grabs another guard and uses him as a shield to block the arrow. The arrow hits the guard, and he crumbles to dust.
' Hurry, there’s no time. The tunnel has reached Cydonia and Malakai is personally overseeing the final steps. We have to act now in order to stop them!' Borgen urges me.
' Wait, wait, I gotta get my books! These guys tried to take my weapons but I didn’t have any so they took all my books instead!' I grab a pile of books from the ground next to one of the dead guards.
Borgen helps me grab a few, and we hurry off towards the tunnel.
~*~
A Magnorite is loading TNT into the cart, and Borgen punches the side of his face, knocking him down.
He points to two Magnorites.
' You two, wait here and make sure nobody follows us. Igneous and I will do whatever we can to stop them.'
The two Magnorites nod as Borgen motions to me. ' Come on!'
Borgen hops into a minecart and rides off. I shove myvbooks to one of the two Magnorites. ' Watch my books, please!'
I pull the TNT out of another minecart and hops in.
~*~
At the end of the long tunnel, Borgen and I get out of the minecart. We hide and watch from the edge of the tunnel.
Borgen sighs. ' There's no way we can take them all on. Fortunately most of the TNT has yet to be placed. Our only chance to save the city is to detonate it prematurely.'
He pulls out a redstone torch.
I stop him. ' Now just wait a second, Borgen. Let me talk to them. I can try to dissuade them from this plan.'
' And if they don't listen?'
' Then I'll be the one to detonate the TNT.' I grab the redstone torch. ' Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm good at talking.'
I wink, pat Borgen on the back, stand up, and walk into the clearing.
I walk up to Malakai. ' Hello there! Good day to you, gentlemen.'
Malakai turns and sees me. ' A little small for a Magnorite?'
' Ah, that's because I'm not from around here. I was born outside K'arthen, and have spent my life as an outcast, being bullied and mocked and…'
' That's because you're a tiny runt,' Malakai says, ' Why didn't you stand up for yourself and fight back?'
' Because… I shouldn't be… We shouldn't be fighting. We need to learn to coexist with whom we share Ardonia with.'
' Coexist?' Malakai scoffs. ' And give others a weakness to exploit?'
' Working together is not a weakness. We shouldn't be blowing up K'arthen, we should be making peace.'
The nearby Magnorites step a bit closer. Malakai holds a hand up to stop them before continuing.
' Peace made us complacent… Peace made us weak… When I took K'arthen by force and rallied the Magnorites to fight, our drive allowed us to destroy Cydonia and save ourselves from a slow doom. And now, again have we grown weak. So, look around you.'
Malakai motions to all the TNT around us. ' In moments we will destroy the city of Phaeton from below. Cydonia will retaliate, and K'arthen will defeat them once again, bringing us back to glory.'
' I can't let you do that,' I tell him.
' You can't stop me either.' Malakai smirks.
' I was actually hoping we could, you know, talk it out, negotiate…'
' I think it's time I show you how a real Magnorite negotiates.' Malakai begins walking towards me.
I begin slowly walking back. ' Okay, I wanted to do this anyway.'
I draw out my redstone torch and place it down at the beginning of the redstone fuse where I had positioned herself during the conversation.
Malakai runs over and hits me in the chest, sending me flying back. He turns around and sees the redstone current hit a repeater and is delayed. I realise what he's going to do next just as he starts running towards the next repeater.
I quickly grab his leg, and he trips.
He kicks me away and gets back up. I gets up too and throw myself onto Malakai.
Malakai punches my face with his elbow, and kicks me away again. I gets up again, and Malakai grabs me and throws me to the ground.
He turns back to the redstone current, but I gets back up again and punches him, which I'm surprised barely did anything.
The other Magnorites begin running away.
Malakai hits me multiple times, and suddenly hits so hard, my hand breaks off, and I fall onto the floor with a thump.
I try to catch my breath as Malakai walks ahead of the redstone current and kicks away a repeater. The current stops.
' For someone who thinks too much, you didn’t really plan this through did you?' Malakai smirks.
I continue panting as I glance sideways, and see that I'm leaning on some TNT.
I know what I have to do.
I sit upright and pull out the redstone torch.
' I have one last idea…'
I close my eyes as I place the torch beside the TNT I was leaning on, causing it to detonate immediately.
Borgen p.o.v
I watch from a distance as the tunnel explodes and all the TNT detonates. Igneous...
~*~
Third person view
Up above in Phaeton, a farmer is tending to his small rugged farm when suddenly the ground shakes beneath him and a large hole explodes near him.
~*~
Borgen walks back to the explosion site, and falls to his knees, mourning Igneous' death.
~*~
At the wall between Cydonia and K'arthen, a small group of each kingdom stand apart from either side.
The Cydonia leader, Hasan, walks out. ' I hope you’ve come to explain the attack on Phaethon.'
Borgen walks out as well. ' The true attack never took place. The previous leader of K’arthen, Malakai, had planned to detonate over a hundred sets of TNT beneath Phaethon to incite further war between our kingdoms. But there are many of us in K’arthen who want this hostility between our two nations to end. It was the actions of one brave Magnorite, Igneous, who sacrificed himself and prevented the attack.'
Hasan crosses his arms. ' So because one of your attacks failed, you want us to make peace?'
' I want us to make peace because the time for civil war has long ended, and many in K’arthen are starving. To ensure our trust, we offer you these ores, so trade may resume as it once did.'
The two Magnorites from earlier place chests beside Borgen, and open them to reveal rare ores.
Hasan waves to his two guards, who takes the chest.
' You burnt our farms, salted our fields, and transformed our kingdom into a desert. If you think this will bring peace, you are mistaken.' Hasan says.
' No… I don’t expect this to bring peace, but it’s the start of something greater. K’arthen and Cydonia must be allies once more if we are to be victorious in the wars to come.'
Hasan thinks about it as the Magnorites leave.