The Tower of Hell

Dear Diary,
It’s been a long while! I have been well, and I hope the others are the same. Not long after that Night, we all went our separate ways. I’ve stayed in the Continent, to help people slowly rebuild but i am preparing to leave soon. It’s been very quiet around and I feel I am much needed elsewhere.
 
I never got to write about that Night when the world was saved and Xantinya died. Maybe it was because there are no words I know that can describe what happened. Nixie would be much better at this. Or maybe, I never made peace with the fact that our journey was over. To be fair, I dearly miss every part of it. But now, I am headed to a new journey, one of my own. And just in case I never make it back, I want to leave something behind, something that will make people remember. The worlds may be at peace now, but true evil is never completely gone.
 
I guess, That Night was the happy ending we all hoped for.
 
The memories of what had happened are still confused in my mind to the point i hope i remember them right. It was night when Kamarad took us by the castle in Haj et Laon. We said one last prayer together before we got out of the chest. It was a fool’s hope to believe that all of us will make it out of there but I prayed with all my heart that everyone that followed us till here will get to see the ending.
 
Our presence was of course expected by no less than a whole army of undying elves. Before the fight started, we had only but a moment to breath while the undying elves were taking Haldic’s body away. Then every passing second became a life and death battle for us. We all knew our plan, but the enemy never ceases to surprise us and evil never rests. So while Vas, Bart and Nixie were trying to get us to the tower’s gate, we found ourselves facing the other interdimensionals. In the end, they answered to Lullaby’s call, but not as friends. I do sometimes wonder what Sikorki would have thought if he was still here. I do think it’s sad that people that once fought together, to turn against each other until none of them are left. Bajid and Jevian died at the hands of his long-ago companions, who followed them no long after. In the end, even the interdimensionals that came after us, turned against each other.The worst part is, at the end of the day, there was good in each one of them, just like there was good in Haldic and the woranians. The story of the interdimensionals is not a happy one, it’s full of pain, war and betrayals, but it is still thanks to them that we have made it this far. So no matter what any of the others say, I do hold immense respect and admiration for each one of them and I probably will for the rest of my life. If you ever meet one, dear diary, be aware. They’ll either be your greatest allies or your deadliest enemies.
 
We couldn’t fight all of them, the bad interdimensionals and the undying elves. And just when we thought that it’s the end of our fight, from not far, an old friend came literally blasting to our rescue. After all, no one does an entrance like that better than GhiGhi. One huge fire blast here, one huge fire blast on the other side, and like that GhiGhi made his way through the whole army of undying elves. How I missed this guy! And so, with Ghighi and Lullaby protecting us, we finally managed to get at the entrance of the imposing tower.
 
You thought the undying elves army was a problem? Well, wait and see what was inside of this place. If the 8 undying elves, sons of the worst demons were not that intimidating, and if Xantinya herself was not scary enough, then definitely the huge Xenatine block at the end of the room would make anyone have shivers down their spine. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the incredibly powerful purple lightinings that xenatine was sending all over the room. You may find it funny dear diary but for us, the moment we entered that tower, we got one step closer to hell. What we’ve seen and felt are beyond my power to explain. We all thought we’re prepared for what was to come, but nothing in this world can prepare you for it. Everything you think you know about this world is being questioned. Even what you saw was so distorted that you didn’t know if the pillar in front of you was there or not. If not careful, that place would make anyone despair. And of course, the demons were watching, probably throwing a party while waiting to destroy us. At that point, it was more a fight with yourself than with the enemy. Every rational part of you was saying to get out of there and leave all that misery behind, but then it was the other part saying that we cannot leave the world to become the playground of a demon.
 
But, we didn’t need to talk to know that we’ll choose to fight till the last moment. It wasn’t going to be easy. Getting closer and closer, Alunelu and his friends were getting ready to kill each one of us. Some of them first jumped to attack Lullaby, while the rest of us were trying to gather ourselves and do something. GhiGhi was already gone and fighting another one of the undying elves. On another corner, Marc, driven by a crazy feeling, started running around the room like a lunatic attacking everything he saw and crying in despair. Of course, he was pushed back. It was pure chaos. Seeing Marc like that was a hard hit for everyone. In the back, Tallion was struggling to keep the barricade him and Lullaby created to protect us from the undying elves outside. We had to move on but everyone was losing their minds and we were running out of time.
 
The pressure was so much it got to some of us. Dillen, who couldn’t bare it anymore rushed charging towards the xenatine, in probably a desperate suicide attempt to end all of this. I managed to stop him in time, and calm him down, but in our foolishness, we didn’t notice we found ourselves right in front of Alunelu. And we would have been both dead if Eve didn’t see what’s happening and got ready to help us. Not that we had a choice but, it was time for phase two of our plan: Get the undying goo in the box.
 
The more I think about that Night, dear diary, the more I get overwhelmed by it. I am happy it finally ended, but I miss it all so much. I miss our journey, our time on the sea, our sunny nights in the chest, and I miss every one of my friends. I should be happy with a peaceful life here in the Continent, away from troubles and finally eating some good snakes, right? But I can’t make peace with it. It was by our ignorance that Xantinya got this far, and it will happen again. We keep pretending that having the undying elves sealed in a damaschinium box is gonna stop them forever. We keep ignoring the XY war that we left behind and we keep acting as if the evil is gone. It’s an Eternal War that we got involved in and by my oath, I have to fight. I don’t want to see it come true… I don’t want people to suffer like with did that night…The way Dillen and Drenizek….
 
So as I was saying dear diary, Dillen and me found ourselves face to face with Alunelu. We had to follow the plan, get the elves out of their armor and seal the goo into the box. But with all the attention on us, good luck surprising an interdimensional elf. Nixie was supposed to do the trick and remind them of what they lost, and for a second it worked, but it was not enough. I didn’t have time to think after that. The things we do to survive, the power we get in a situation like this cannot be explained. It’s the small flame inside that tells you to survive and keep fighting. Dillen, just as he was supposed to brought most of the elves in one place, Eve took them out of the armour and I I found myself doing some plane manipulation to stick the goo together. It’s been long since I used those powers, but I must admit it was fun.
 
We only got to see Damaschini putting the elves into a box before everything went black. I didn’t know what was happening. What was going on? I thought I died for a second. I was awake but everything around was black. I didn’t see anything, I couldn’t move, it’s almost as if I was not even there. But i did hear it.
I heard Dillen ,somewhere alone in there, screaming in pain as if something was torturing him. I wanted to reach him but there was NOTHING there. NOTHING. I tried calling him, tried any way to reach him. But the shouts kept going and I couldn’t do anything
 
And bit by bit, second by second, the sound faded away
 
Then silence covered all.
 
And only then I realized that I will never see Dillen again and I started panicking. I was pulled out of there by Lullaby and found myself in front of the undying elves again. But I couldn’t put myself together. I am happy the others didn’t hear it. I came to hate silence because of it, especially at night when everything is dark. I sometimes remember Dillen’s cheeky smile just before he went to distract that monster of demon son, and I laugh at myself for being scared. The others told me, when Dillen died, the others saw thousands of Dillen’s shadow being killed and the heard the demons laughing.
 
Damn you bloody snake, you should have survived this, not me. Alunelu’s friend should have killed me not you. You knew that you were gonna get hurt as bait, but you did it anyways. That’s why you smiled before, didn’t you? Sneaky Snake. *sobs* But…I’ll miss you. And I’m so sorry Dillen, i’m so sorry i couldn’t be there with you, i’m sorry that in the dearest of time, i couldn’t have your back just like you had mine. And if anyone asks I will never admit it, but we did were the best team in our party.
From here on, everything becomes blurry. Things were moving around me but I was not paying attention to anything. I couldn’t tell you what was going on or who was fighting who. I felt my sanity go away and I was close to just giving up. I tried remembering about everything, I tried to focus on the good things, to remember what I fight for. Nothing. All I hear was Dillen’s screams. And I would have probably died there if it wasn’t for Tallion.
 
He was somewhere in behind, keeping the barricade and fighting with us at the same time. I couldn’t see much but I did hear him say something funny to Xantinya and I felt like laughing for a second. It sounds stupid when I write it, but at that time, that little joke lightened my heart a bit. That’s what we always did. Being close to death all the time and still finding the power to smile.
 
You may wonder what happened with the Undying Box…Well Damaschini has been keeping it safe in Alomir. Do I think it’s a good idea to have it there? Probably not. But then again, the sons of the most evil demons are in there, so it is not safe to keep anywhere.
 
We fought and fought and kept fighting. Each one of us had their own enemies to face. We sealed some of the undying elves, but we still had to fight the others. Each clash between Xantinya and Lullaby felt as if it was about to destroy the whole room. In the meantime Nixie,Eve and Vas were having a tea party in hell with Balan. To be fair, I could explain the whole fight and make it sound as a joke. At the end of the day Marc, who had managed to calm himself down, kissed an undying elf to distract it while the rest of us were trying to get close to the xenatine. It does not help you, dear diary, to understand what really happened, but it does make it easier for me to write it.
 
But this was just the beginning…
 
Perhaps one day, dear diary, I will tell you the whole story on how Kelly and Gilders helped us destroy the xentaine, how Vas with his powers made light in that chaos and helped us stay sane or how Lullaby defeated Xantinya while carrying poor Rafil in that battle. I could fill a whole diary just with stories about this fight. But, today is not that day. I need more strength to bring myself to talk about the rest.
 
Just know, in the end Xantinya unleashed her whole powers and tried to destroy us in an impressive blast but in the last seconds our common efforts to resist saved our lives. She did die by the hands of Damaschini and I felt…indifferent about it. I didn’t hate her, but I did not wish for her to exist either. She did so much harm to everyone, she killed and hurt so many by using others. I should have been happy she finally died, I should have hated her for what she did. But, I felt none of those. I was just indifferent. I think Lullaby, out of everyone, understood Xantinya the best. I for one, didn’t. She was gone, and now we had to focus on what is yet to come. Lullaby wanted to sacrifice herself, to put an end to all this misery, but we convinced her not to. We fought all of this so that Rafil and all the others to not have to. Leaving him with no mother would have already caused more harm.
 
After all was said and done, we started gathering together. Gilders, Vas, Marc, Kelly, GhiGhi, Lullaby, Bart, Tallion, Eve, Damaschini, Miyun and Nixie. Out of all the people that I have written about in this diary, only us were alive. We lost Drenizek that night too. Out of all the moments, he decided NOW was the time to prove that I was right. Out of all the times, Now he finally understood that his selfish desire has always been his greatest strength. Could you have not waited with that? Could you have not just stayed alive one more day? Of course not! You HAD to fight that undying elf alone! You’ve always been stubborn, always sacrificing so the others can be happy! Well guess what, it’s no fun to be right if I can’t tell you “I told you so” *Sobs* But…no one had a stronger heart and harder punches than you. It’s been tough around without your voice, there is no one left to motivate us like you used to. Don’t worry Drenizek, the others are in good hands. And just in case….I told you so!
And now it’s time to talk about our AMAZING NON EXISTENT plan to get out of that tower, cause an army of undying elves doesn’t just disappear in thin air. We had just seen the worst of everything, so we decided that the front door and another fight would not be as bad. Our of all the of undying elves, not one moved or even looked at us. They seemed stunned. Thousands of years of their work gone in one night. All their plans, all they sacrificed and lost, just for nothing. We didn’t exactly wanted to stay and find out if they would be friendly with us, so we just left as soon as possible.
 
It was past midnight when this happened. I would say we went to sleep but none of us was able to. We did it. At the time, I thought it’s over. I thought that the pressure was gone, the fight has ended, and the world will just rebuilt itself. But here I am, after almost one year, still thinking about it. It seems dear diary that it is not yet time for me to stop. I changed so much every since we started that I cannot go back to the happy days on the sea. I am not responsible for this world anymore, but I am responsible to help it with all that I was given. And I don’t mean the interdimensional powers, but the power to love and hope.
 
A lot of people don’t understand the miracle that happened the night after and probably many never will. Those stars, there were ships, thousands of them, full of undying elves that were ready to destroy our dimension. How and when they became shootings stars, will only the Almighty know. I don’t know what will happen to you, dear diary, or who will find you. But, if they are fighting as we did, tell them to keep making noise. No matter how hopeless a situation is, how alone you feel, there is always a way. Just have faith, hope and love. It may sound simple, but the evil will challenge you times and times again. We ended up being broken, hurt and some of us even blind. We lost people, we lost parts of ourselves. And i do fear that, just like the interdimensionals, one day we will be a threat for this world.
 
So do tell them this is the legacy we left behind, our story. Do let them learn from it for the evil will return and it will be their time to fight.
 
So dear diary, this is my last call at arms. You must make sure someone will answer it!
“Eternal war upon the strong,
For there lies home to which we long
In the hall of Gods an empty blade
Is empty Heart and Will not made”
 
It’s been a pleasure, dear diary, and wish me good luck.
 
Goodbye,
The fire elemental Verfys