Ten: The Illgain
Ethan faces the Illgain, but not all is as it appears.
A towering, yet slender, man; the Illgain used to rely on the powerful combination of persuasion and piercing crystal blue eyes to get people to do his bidding. Now, things have grown relentlessly more complicated. Even still, things were different now. While he had been defeated before, pushed back, and forced into exile; he knew that he would now be able to call on a deeper understanding of dark magic. The Illgain is now the most powerful dark sorcerer in all the land.
Even the legendary stories of King Arthur pail in comparison to his might. He knew that someday the courts will resound with the legends of his own greatness.
He swiped his sword down on his enemies, each blow turning its victim into a cascade of dark black sand. His armor was covered in a thick soot of those who opposed him. Even still, they persisted. They continued fighting with everything that they could, and he could not fathom why. This world had been nothing but difficult to their kind, and it was clear that it needed a strong leader.
His men were doing well, he supposed. They were able to hold off the majority of the disgusting peasants that pushed back against him. He had spent so long in a dark slumber, soaking in the forces of evil to give him power. He could feel it pulsing through him like lightning. He dodged to the right as a man tried to shove a sword through his abdomen. As he stepped past the man, he reached back and grabbed his neck. He held him up, and listened to him scream until the entire body turned to sand and collapsed.
“YOUR IMMANENCE!” A voice rang out behind him. He turned to see Rider standing before him, slumped over with another man standing beside him.
Ethan was hurt, his arm bleeding and aching with a pain that he had never quite felt before. The closest he had come was when he was a child and fractured his clavicle on the school playground. Rider also was not that familiar with this kind of pain. He had never fought against someone who he truly underestimated quite like Ethan. Against his strongest foes, this power was unlike anything he had been matched with.
“What is this?” the Illgain asked.
“This is Ethan… a Traverser,” Rider said, presenting his hand almost as if Ethan were a gift.
“I am here to stop this nonsense,” Ethan said as he held his sword out.
“You are clearly outmatched, and you come before me alone?” the Illgain barked.
“If it is the only way to end you, then I will take you on myself,” Ethan said angrily. Rider shuffled from Ethan’s grasp, shoving him away as he rustled over to stand beside his leader.
“You are a child, and I am the begotten of the gods. I am a storm of righteousness and a squall of vengeance. I am---” the Illgain’s voice stammered.
A blade pierced through the middle of the Illgain, spewing electricity in all directions. It was Ethan’s blade, but in the hands of Rider.
“You were weak,” Rider said with a devilish grin. The Illgain fell to his knees.
“You--- have--- betrayed--- me,” the Illgain said.
Rider grabbed the helmet from the Illgain and kicked him down further, grabbing his hair and pulling him back. He placed the blade of Ethan’s sword across his neck and pulled it in a single sharp motion. The Illgain’s body turned to a thick black sand and collapsed into nothingness. Placing the helmet on his own head, Rider peered down at Ethan as he held the sword up high.
“Now, where were we?” Rider asked.