By Bryan Peterson AKA Gades
This is actually the third installment of what I have decided to call the Chronicles of the Sinistrals. The first, Biography of Gades, told Gades' story, but it was written by the Sinistral before he turned against Arek in The Lord of Doom. For that reason, I have made Biography of Gades the prelude. The lord of Doom would then follow, with Arek's tale, Biography of a Sinistral being the final installment. Now comes Amon's portion of the tale. It will be in four parts. The first part has the Lufia team and the Hero, (whom I call Wedge), suggests to Amon that he write his tale as Gades did. The next two parts will be Amon's history, and the last will be an epilogue.
Part 1
Alekia
The group of friends sat in one of the sitting rooms of the castle and ate breakfast. The group had grown very large in the past few years, what with the return of Maxim and Selan and the Sinistrals' betrayal of their father Arek. Wedge, Maxim's grandson, (that thought always embarrassed Maxim and Wedge because Maxim was only slightly older than Wedge as was Selan,) was joking around with the Sinistrals. "I still don't get what all that crap with those two Earth people's about." Wedge said, "It was almost like she was obsessed with him." Wedge was referring to the recent vacation the friends had taken to Earth. It was the first time they'd been back since Arek's defeat, and the two people about whom Wedge was talking were called Bryan and Chelsey. Apparently they had been going out at one time and then broken up. In rage, Chelsey had decided to make Bryan's life a living hell. When Chelsey had threatened to ruin any future relationships Bryan might have, Gades had felt an urge to step in. One Destructo Wave had driven her off quickly. "If you have anymore trouble with her," Gades had said, "Send for me with that Cell Phone I gave you. You know the frequency that'll get you in touch with us." He smiled and said, "Do it if you just want to find out how things are in the land of Lufia." Gades had also done another thing for Bryan, who was blind, and restored his sight. ""You'll get used to it." He'd said. "She was." Amon said, "I think Bryan would have done something stupid had we not come when we did. You know how it is when someone's driving you up the wall by hanging off your back everywhere you go. You tend to lose sight of your actions and that can get you in trouble." The king of Alekia entered then, carrying a manuscript and wearing an awed expression. "You've been through a lot, haven't you, Gades." He remarked. "That I have." Gades said, "I actually wrote that before we went to Earth and got lives. I was still a bit angry with humans. That's why it still says I'll have revenge." "Why haven't you written your memoirs yet?" Wedge asked Amon. "I've never been much of a writer." Amon said. "It'll help you put some of what's happened to us behind you." Gades said, "I know showing my manuscript to these humans has helped me." Amon considered. It would be good to shrug off his last shreds of hatred and rage. If writing the story of his life would help as Gades seemed to think it did, then maybe Amon would try it. "I think I'll try it." Amon said, "If nothing else it'll give me something to do."
Part 2
The Tale Begins
As I said earlier I'm not much of a writer. In fact, it was my brother that persuaded me to do this. He seems to think it'll help me move on. Knowing him he's probably right. To begin this tale I must travel back in time as my brother Gades did and tell you of the beginning, for as you can guess there are things of which my brother did not tell you. He could not have of course, for only I witnessed them. As Gades may have mentioned, when our father Arek created us he also created the sword that later brought us to where we are now. In the moment of its creation, Dual Blade became its own master and smote my brother Daos most severely when he touched it. Long after that, this world and the others came into being. We began to move at that time. Arek sent us into this world to conquer it, and as you know, that didn't happen. It all went wrong when we sent Erim to do what perhaps we ourselves, (Gades, myself or Daos) would have been better off doing. For when Erim became Iris, she lost her edge. I only realize this now, when I think back on it.
Now like many immortals, we had lesser immortals that served us. My servant at that time was Idura. Idura was a powerful magic user and very clever. He was also ruthless as I was. At around the time when Maxim and his wife had their son Jeros, I sent Idura to put an end to Maxim. Idura decided to do something even greater. He decided to make sure Maxim's bloodline ceased. He abducted young Jeros and fled with him. This was perhaps the worst mistake anyone could have made. Selan in particular wasn't going to just let this go. She and her husband Maxim came after Idura and beat him down. Though Idura escaped, the cost of his failure was a lessening of my faith in him. I gave him another chance because I still believed him capable of much destruction. I don't know what he was thinking with that business with the young women of Narcysus, but I think he was trying to use their life energy for something. It would have worked had Maxim not interfered again. Idura was defeated again, and that did it. I got fed up with him and told him never to come within my sight again lest he die. In rage, Idura made one last attempt to defeat Maxim, and this time he did not escape. That big guy, (Dekar I think his name was,) made short work of Idura. Meanwhile, Maxim decided to try and find Dual Blade. It really hit home when I destroyed Agurio and killed all those people.
After that business with Parcelyte, (before Jeros was born,) things really started going wrong. Maxim thwarted many of our plans, and after many adventures he came at last to Narvick. The elder there sent Maxim to find the Divine Armaments. These were in three towers and protected by a seal. Daos sent me and Gades to guard the first two, and under ordinary circumstances that would have been enough. But Maxim defeated Gades, as he had done when Gades tried to sink Parcelyte. He defeated me next, and before I faded I warned him that it was not over. At the third tower, Daos tried to seize the Divine Armaments. That failed, and our fate was sealed when Dual Blade chose Maxim as its owner.
After the Dual Blade chose Maxim as the one who would wield it, Daos escaped back to what you humans named Doom Island. The daughters of the Elder of Narvick then decided to place a Force Field around Doom Island and that prevented us from moving. I managed to do some damage to Maxim's ship, the Excerion, but again, that wasn't enough. Professor Lexis Shaia was able to repair the damn thing and Maxim, Guy, Artea and Selan appeared to challenge us. Though we all fought valiantly we were thrown down, and Daos' last act of terror was thwarted when Maxim expended his energies to destroy the three Mystic Stones which would have allowed Doom Island to crush Parcelyte when it finally fell from the skies.
Part 3:
The Great Reunion
For 100 years after Maxim defeated us we were nothing. Then, at the time when a young descendant of Maxim was about to complete training to become an Alekian knight, Gades revived. He began to use various forms of magic to revive me and the others. This would take time, and Gades used that time wisely. He destroyed the kingdom of Sheran and brought Maxim's descendant forth. This person was a young but honorable man named Wedge. He was enraged by the destruction Gades had wrought, and I honestly believe that he could have destroyed Gades with his anger alone had Gades not gotten in that lucky thrust that nevertheless didn't kill the young man. A girl called Lufia, (whom we later realized was Erim,) came in and saved the boy. Gades thought it prudent at that point to leave. I, meanwhile, was still only a spirit, but I was awake enough to be able to see something of the future. Dual Blade would come again, and it might find even more power in the hands of Wedge than it had in the hands of Maxim. I knew we could not allow this to happen. Then, after my servant, (known only as the Guardian,) was defeated, I revived. I knew right away that Wedge was going to go after Dual Blade. The young man had already thwarted one attempt to revive me by saving that girl Jerin, but now I was back. I and my brother Gades paid the group a little visit, as they were about to get the key to the Tower of Light, which my Guardian had stolen. We scared them a bit but didn't attack. That could come later.
After I revived I watched closely as Maxim's descendant went and gathered up Alumina. This metal is what that ship Falcon was made from, and it was needed in order for the ship to go underwater. Wedge found these 7 pieces with a minimum amount of difficulty and then had to go rescue Raile Shaia and his son Lou from some Pirates. I was bitterly disappointed when the Pirates failed to kill the young descendant of Maxim, and soon after that Wedge had his hands on Dual Blade. By this time Daos had revived, and so Gades, Daos and I paid the companions a little visit and placed some doubt in Wedge's mind by telling him that Lufia was Erim.
After raising Doom Island, Daos sent Nazeby, his last warrior, to make one final attempt to kill Wedge. Though Nazeby was able to put up a huge fight he was no match for Dual Blade. When Nazeby fell however, his energy knocked everyone but Lufia unconscious. Daos was then able to take control of Lufia and revive within her the spirit of the Mistress of Death. Erim took Dual Blade and joined us on Doom Island. We were united again.
Because the Falcon had gained the ability to fly, it was not long before Wedge was at our front door and thirsting for our blood. Once again, we fell, though Erim didn't join us in the fighting. She actually broke free again when Wedge called her Lufia and showed her human love. When Gades, myself and Daos combined our energies and tried to bring Erim into the circle, I noticed that Erim's energy was growing very unstable. I warned Daos about it and he realized that it was the energy of the Dual Blade. Thus, Guard Daos was forced to fight without Erim. Even so, that should have been enough. But you have to consider that Erim was the most powerful after Daos, and when power like that is used against you, you tend not to be quite as able to defend against it as you would normally be. We were again defeated, and Wedge took up the Dual Blade at Lufia's urging and struck her down. This hurt him deeply, but Dual Blade found a way to spare her life. Her powers were gone and her memory also, but Wedge believed that it didn't matter. New memories could be made with time.
About five years after that we revived again, but this time Daos didn't send us to kill anybody. Even if he had ordered us to do so I don't believe we could have done it. For one thing, when I revived I felt sort of like you do the day after you drink too much. Gades told me he felt like someone had been beating him with a large filing cabinet. Daos decided to give mortal living a try. We could not become truly mortal, but we were able to modify our appearances so as not to call attention to ourselves. We settled on a world called Earth, in the city of Salem. This city was in a country called the United States of America, and was the capital city of the kingdom of Oregon, ate least I thought it was a kingdom back then. Life among humans was actually quite entertaining, and we found jobs working at various places. Because I worked at a place called Locomotion Pizza, (pizza is an Earth food for those that don't know,) we were able to get a bit of a discount when we ordered food from there. It was at about that time that we encountered Maxim's descendant and his friends again, and it was also at that time that Arek put in his first appearance in a very long time.
You probably know the rest of the tale from there. We journeyed to Chaos Island, where we learned that Maxim and Selan had survived as spirits. There, Maxim was fully revived with his wife Selan and they joined us in the battle against Arek. It was quite a long battle, but since we're still here you can guess we won.
Epilogue
Amon glanced at his wristwatch, which he'd saved from Earth and modified so it could function in this land, and was surprised to discover how late, (early,) it was. He rose, winced, stretched luxuriantly and took a sip of the soda he'd had on the writing desk all this time and not finished. It was not nearly as cold as it had been earlier but it was still very refreshing. He left the tower room in which he'd spent his time writing and went into the privy. He turned on the light and approached the facilities. As he stood there doing his business he realized that Gades had indeed been right. Writing that story had indeed felt uplifting, and any last traces of anger he had felt for Maxim and his line were gone. He finished up, left the privy and almost collided with a very drunk and very violent Aguro. "Hey!" Amon snapped, "Watch where you're going you monkey spunk!" The term Monkey Spunk was something a guy on Earth had taught Amon. It was not disgusting in spite of the fact that the term Monkey was often used in a slang term for something very nasty. Amon didn't know where Monkey Spunk had come from, but it was apparently annoying to some people. "Outa my way, Dammit!" Aguro retorted, "I gotta take a whiz." "Thanks for sharing." Amon muttered sarcastically, "I really needed to know that." He left Aguro to stagger into the privy. Amon did not normally eavesdrop on people in privies, but he heard Aguro wretching noisily in there and positively bolted from the area.
Several hours later the friends were on their way to the local in. Amon walked with Wedge again, and Wedge began talking about Amon's memoir. "You revived on Earth?" he asked. "Actually we revived in Doom Island." Amon said, "I felt like crap and I wasn't up for anymore fights. Daos took us to that place in America. That was when we got our lives straightened out." "Did Gades and Daos have jobs?" Wedge asked. "I worked at the Oregon School for the Blind." Amon said, "It's quite crazy there on an average day. The food's crappy and the living conditions are even worse. The dorms aren't filthy and nasty, but it's never the right temperature. I know because I had to work graveyard shift a few times. It's either too hot or too cold." "Is that where you met that couple?" Jerin asked. "You mean the one where the girl kept bothering the guy?" Gades asked, "If you mean them then yes." The companions then entered the inn and Roman showed them to tables and brought them drinks. He then left to wait on other customers and to give the group time to decide what they wanted. "You know," Amon said, "I think Gades was right." "Oh?" Lufia asked, "What do you mean by that, brother?" Amon took a moment to gape at her. Now there was something that hadn't happened in years. He pulled himself together and said, "Well, he said that telling my story, or writing it, might help me put the last few eons behind me and help me move on. I haven't felt this free since I was born." "I know how you feel, brother." Gades said, "Even though my story was written before we turned I felt liberated." "When did you even have a chance to take up a pen?" Daos asked, "You were discorporate until we wound up back in the fortress." "I guess I created one." Gades said, "I must have, because after we settled here I found that manuscript in my stuff from Earth." "I guess it's my turn next." Lufia said, "My story is tragic though." "It's just the same as it is when you talk about a lost loved one after not doing so for a long time." Aguro said, "It hurts, but if you hold it in it can make you angry." "Speaking of anger," Amon said, "Aguro, if you ever embarrass me like that again I'll beat you senseless." "Oh?" Jerin asked. "Don't even!" Aguro snapped indignantly, "I was drunk!" "Let's just say he almost walked in on me when I was in the bathroom." Amon said. Aguro would have said something else, or maybe popped Amon a good one across the face, but at that moment Roman appeared and the whole thing was forgotten. "What'll it be today?" Roman asked. "Just bring us a couple pepperoni pizzas and some garlic bread." Daos said, "That'll be just fine!"
The End