For tens thousands of years, the world had lingered on the brink of annihilation, from what was an land of gold, now a bleak place where magic and steel are one's closest of companions. With each day passed, demons among other vile creatures poured into the realms and each year the end drew closer.

Another day, another battle for pure survival and the few who thrived on such times, warriors they were, mages they were. For good or for ill they were the only ones that had the power to stem the coming tide. For they had once before, thus only they can do it again.

The four winds were silent in their dancing; in the north the mountains stood proud and tall, yet were still in their watching of the world. In the east the great sea sleeps in the deep places, but none dared ask of it. In the west the flames of passion burned, but none neared its warmth. In the south the gods were dead and great evils rose, but none dared to stay there.

Chapter One: The Spell

The mighty southern deserts alone bore witness to the struggle between two powerful wizards and one time dear allies, one dedicated to the holy light of gods and the other devoted to the vile darkness in souls. Light and shadow danced as they dueled. The two wizards in their struggle played their surroundings no heed nor the crackling of bones of the slain, all they could see was their opponent’s death. The stained desert’s sands at their feet became jagged glass that sparkled with the light of stars and the desert’s deadly sun, colder than the void of death and of ice.

“Hahahah! Is this the best you can do Alkeyore? If so… How in the Seven Hells did you, of all wizards, become a lord of magic?” sneered the wizard in the light, dressed in robes that were once all white. The robes were dirty with both dirt and age, much like the rags that dressed long dead corpses in shallow graves. Blood caked along his sleeves almost dying them with rust, his hair was in a similar state, blond hair muddled with rust yet he seemed to show minuscule weariness. He was somewhere between the dead and the living but just not yet living dead, he still felt pain or so it seemed. The white glow of his magic, burning as it dance among his fingers, revealing his yellowed leathery skin before flying at the other wizard like a serpent.

“Don't play foolish games with me Teigue! I may have fallen for your tricks before, but they’ll won't aid you this time!” snarled the one named Alkeyore, dodging the blast of holy magic and counterattacked with a blast of his own blacken magics. The hellish blast collide with Teigue’s shin, causing the white wizard to give out a blood curdling scream as thorn like protrusions; emanating icy cold air; spouted out from his leg. Slowing down his movement and left him somewhat more vulnerable to Alkeyore's powers. Alkeyore wore black robes as befitting his dark nature, combined with silver and gold trimmings, the cloth itself held decorated flocks of extraordinarily detailed ravens and a hood that kept most of his face hidden. In his hand was a broken sword’s blade yet seeing that the blade severed no further purpose, he threw it to the side.. The blade at one time was a symbol of his friendship with Teigue and it’s broken state mirrored the fate of their one time friendship.

The white wizard paid the blade no attention and only screamed further as the coldness of black magic crept up the rest of his leg like thousands of tiny insects, causing more of the protrusions to appear. “Give me the key now! Otherwise your end shall be indescribable for such insult!!!” he screamed as he released yet another spell, a ring of white light rushed down his arm before releasing from his hand, in a fist-shaped blast of holy light that shot towards the other wizard. It misses by mere inches, striking the glassy ground behind Alkeyore and immediately cracked the jagged glass of the earth even further.

“Never!” shouted the lord of magic as he melted into the darkness of night and reappeared behind Teigue from the white wizard’s very shadow. He then bound the white wizard to the ground with wicked iron chains made from shadow, forcing Teigue down to one knee. The coldness of the chains burned Teigue’s body as if dipped into a pool of molten metal, the chains themselves held many shapes and runes each serving to strengthen their hold on their prey.

Alkeyore seeing that Teigue was now trapped and at his mercy, took a few calming breaths before speaking again. “Teigue Shinedown, Lord of Light,” his voice echoed between them as he looked directly in Teigue’s eyes, “Former lord of magic, I Alkeyore Bloodraven; the shadow devil; last of the lords of magic, find you guilty under the crimes of murdering your former brothers and aiding the race of Demons.” however Alkeyore stayed his hand for the sake of the years of companionship and brotherhood, he against his better judgment decided to give the traitor a chance to speak any last words. “Any last request before the final justice claims you?”

Teigue shot his foe a death glare, one befitting a demon than a man before smiling, “Yes… One request… And one only.”

The dark wizard stepped closer to hear him with the hopes that Teigue had finally admitted defeat; sadly he was only met with a delusion. “Give up, Alke, we both know you can't defeat me.” he says before laughing and Alkeyore gritted his teeth in response. “Oh, now that you are closer be courteous enough and hand over that key while your body is still able to do so.”

Alkeyore shook his head in disappointment, his abnormally amber-colored eyes, darken with contempt. “No, Teigue you shall never get the key... However I do have one question for you before I pass my judgement.”

“And what, pray tell, what knowledge do you seek from me? My old friend, after all I have done?” said Teigue, his confident smile only taunting his foe. Rows of rotted jagged teeth flashed in the light of stars, Teigue though he still lived was in poor condition, his body mirrored so yet he still shown no signs of weakness.

Alkeyore immediately grabbed Teigue by his collar and pulled the white wizard’s face closer to his own. “Why?” he spat, while his eyes expressed his hatred. “Why did you do all of this, why betray us… Your own brethren, to aid those beasts that which call themselves demons? I fail to see the logic behind your actions.”

Teigue's smile could only grow and he let out an insane laugh, “Why? Why you ask… Well… Why not?” he said, allowing his laugh to wander without restriction. “You are blind like all the others and those who came before, the demons will have their king back. It can’t be stopped. Not by you or me or by anyone! Tis inevitable!!” he continued soon after he calmed himself from his sudden outburst. “Why should we even try to protect Gaea from his wrath if she shall burn in the end anyways? For goodness sakes! Alkeyore take a look at us! We're already dead, we're just corpses that don't know that their dead yet. I figured that by helping him, I'll get to live just a little longer and the satisfaction seeing this ungrateful world burn as she should. But most of all; killing our weak brethren made me feel..” his eyelids slowly closed in pleasure as he licked his lips. “Alive!”

The dark wizard didn't hold back and punched the white wizard’s face with his metal gauntlet several times until Teigue fell to the ground, the jagged glass digging into the side of his face. “You sick bastard! They were our brethren; I hope you burn in the seven hells for all the eternity!!!” The rage in the dark wizard kept expressing itself. Red and blacken magical aura struck the downed holy wizard, digging and slicing into the flaps of leathery skin, nearly skinning him in places. “You forsaken every oath you made! The twelves kingdoms relied on us to protect them and you do this to us?! You betray us to the ones that had slaughtered us for the better part of ten thousand years! Curse you and all the Ernians!”

The mad wizard received the blows and the pain with masochist joy, until he spoke. “I thank you for the painful lessons my old friend, it seems that I should repay you, to say at least. For such acceptable meal.” he sneered as his body glowed with white magic, melting the chains of darkness that were holding him and the thorns in his leg. He then released an orb of pure light, trapping his slower to react one time friend in it’s light. Teigue rose from his prone position and attempted to clean his clothes, which were now furthered stained with blood and dirt, and began to slowly circle the trapped wizard.

Alkeyore rushed to cast a counter-spell, only for the magic to melt away by the purifying light. The mad wizard, savoring his soon to total victory, shoved his palm into the sphere and released his magic, sending thousands of blades made of burning light that ripped into Alkeyore’s flesh. Leaving many open wounds and caused the trapped wizard to cry out in great pain; the cries were the most beautiful musical notes to the ears of Teigue. He was enjoying the moment so much that he stopped his offensive spell only to hear the wails of agony coming from the sphere. “Now I ask again, give me the key and you shall feel no more pain.” offered the mad wizard in a calming tone, despite he enjoyed the pain that he inflicted to his old friend.

“Go fuck yourself, you self-righteous, divine light worshiping-”, “GAHHHH!” the lord of magic yelled in pain as Teigue released another wave of blades, adding more wounds to the thousands which the encased wizard already bore as well destroying Alkeyore’s armaments. Leaving the metal shards to join with the shards of glass.

Teigue sighed in frustration, “You black wizards are all the same, always forsaking the glorious way of light for the vile path of darkness. Once I'm done with your corpse, I will visit your realm and make sure that your kind’s existence is but a faint rumor, before I free Demon king Tydorel and-”

“Do-... Don't make me laugh Teigue… My people are safely locked away in my kingdom, Orthos. Only to those in tune… With the darkness may enter those lands.” The trapped wizard managed to say despite his burning wounds. Tendrils of shadowy energy leaked out from the many wounds before fading away at the touch of the sphere of light.

With a crazed smile, Teigue grabbed Alkeyore by the throat pulling the still trapped wizard closer to him, “I know that I can't enter that despicable black realm, but that doesn't mean that the Tahuians can't in my stead.”

Alkeyore went pale as the remaining blood inside his veins froze. “You're mad…” What Teigue declared was too horrifying to for him believe at first. “You would enlist the Hunters of all magical beings to your monstrous quest?! Your soul’s more tainted than Tydorel’s!” he croaked before attempting to struggle out of Teigue’s grip.

Teigue’s insane grin widened even more, as his grip on the lord of magic loosened. “Why thank you, Alke, but it's too late for flattery. Yet I'll reward you for lasting this long.” The environment around them became stained with the laugh of an insane wizard. “Do you even know what kind of reward I have reserved for you?”

Alkeyore took a deep breath whilst rubbing his throat before coughing, “…No…*cough*... I have no idea Teigue because I was not taught to read minds of monsters, like you.”

Teigue ignored the insult as he continued his speech. "Oh... But it's a simple spell.” he giggled. “You see my old friend, believe it or not I have grown tired of killing people using mere tools or spells or as Tydorel did to the dead eight gods. So in thanks for you long service to the Twelve kingdoms and as a foe of Tydorel, I've had concluded that you deserve another kind of death. One befitting a man such as yourself. ” the mad wizard once again began to walk around the dark wizard’s cage as he savored each detail from Alkeyore’s vulnerable position. “Since Tydorel had opened my eyes to the truth of this world, my mind had wonder about something for a long while; what happens when you combine our magic with demon magic for a spell!”, “Today you're giving me the perfect chance to test it out.

Alkeyore’s breath quickened in horror, “N-no Teigue! Don't you dare combine those two kinds of magics, they were never meant for that!” he knew that his words held no importance to his soon executioner but he never gave up. “Not even Tydorel would dare to combine them!” The worried wizard said, struggling to break free from the light sphere, which then morphed into chains of light, tightening with every move he dared to do.

Teigue continued chuckled at the pleads of his prisoner. “I know.” he sang, “And that's what makes it even more interesting!” his eyes and face hardened, becoming serious before he made a last request. “Now give up the key and I assure you that the result of the combination will be painless as possible.”

“Never! I'd rather die a thousand deaths than give up the key to fiends like you, Teigue now the demon's slave, fallen lord of light.” Alkeyore snared defiantly, barely ignoring the constant pain from his wounds that kept bleeding ceaselessly; and each passing second, his body felt colder and more numb. Signs that were telling him that his end was near; yet he would not die, he wouldn’t allow himself to die just yet.

As confident as Teigue was on his victory, he closed in on the defiant black wizard. “I would be careful of what you say Alkeyore, because you know better than anybody the fate that wait to the ones who dare to at least pronounce those words.. You will give me the key in the end…” At that point his voice darkened. “You will give it to me even if I’ll have to spill your inners and feed them to you retrieve it.” he threaten.

Alkeyore without hesitation spat in Teigue's face, “Fhealltóir!”

Teigue became more and more frustrated of his enemy’s attitude, despite all hope was lost, he wiped the spit off and sighed in fake disappointment. “I hoped that you would have given in so your death would have been as painless as possible. But time is short after all, I have a job to do and a world to destroy.” the chains tighten around the body of the doomed wizard nearly crushing all of his bones meanwhile Teigue forced his magics into the robes of the black wizard. Alkeyore tried to fight but the chains, the uncountable wounds and the purifying light made it impossible to prevent Teigue from retrieving the necklace, which contained the key, from the black wizard’s wrist. “Now, was that so hard my dear friend?”

The white wizard gave a small genuine smile yet filled with pure malevolence. “Now that I have what I craved for, it’s time to begin to turn the theory to experimentation.” Teigue then started to utter in the demon's tongue while his open hand began to glow with a pure aura, and the other, holding the key, lit with a sickly green. A magic circle appeared under Alkeyore as the dark wizard tried to form a spell to interrupt the mad wizard’s sickening hybrid spell.

The lord of magic tried to cast the simplest of empowerment spells, yet good fortune was not with him today. The purifying magic from the chains dispersed what little magic he had before he could form a single spell, Alkeyore refused to surrender himself to the fates and kept discharging what magics he could. As another desperate spell were undone in the light, he began to think unsavory thoughts of defeat and of the failure to revenged the other lords of magic and that of Gaea. Yet when it seem all that was lost, he eyes noticed the still leaking shadowy energy coming from his wounds and a dangerous idea came to him. “Damnation it sounds like he is about to hit the last verse! I must act quickly!” he muttered to himself. Gather all the remaining magics he had at his disposal, he used his own body as a conduit of darkness. The agonizing seconds felt like an eternity to him; yet he still had faith in the darkness to save him. Faith that was not misplaced.

Waves of hellish energy erupted from Alkeyore’s form and into Teigue’s murderous spell, inserting it’s own dark will into the spell. The result was an uncontrollable cocktail of unstable magics that enveloped the newly free wizard with all its power ripping into his whole being. Despite the pain was unbearable and he couldn’t even scream, he flashed one last smile at a furious Teigue and the white wizard’s outrage of underestimating his enemy expressed itself in waves of waves of deadly spells, each directed at the inflamed wizard. But Teigue’s rage was in the vain, every single spell he casted to kill Alkeyore were then absorbed by the wild spell, increasing its size to dangerous levels before Teigue was then thrown several meters away, unhuman like squealing ripped from his throat as he flew before landing hard in the jagged shards of glass. The supernova of unstable magic then transformed in two different skyward pillars. When the pillars faded, Teigue found his prize and his prey replaced by a great burning crater. Outraged at the unfair development of events, he screamed in anger as his hands released pillars of flames of white magic into the sky. “CURSE YOU ALKEYORE!!!!”

Author's Notes:

This story is not an crossover, Alkeyore and the other Gaeaish are my original ideas.

Edited by xluferx; ransom username; PaintedNovel455; and a soft edit from me... and the latest editor SirEcho