A Banshee!
“NO! But I don’t want to sew that old clothing!” yelled Naìra.
“No, father, I did not lose Naìra to the Shadow King that way,” complained Flavius.
“Oh, I did not be unless, King Uragiru,” said Monico and Wonomi.
“Your Greatness, I’d never betray you to the Griffin King. I’m your loyal servant, bound to serve you to death,” said Flarefur.
Vaeludar and Marina watched, in horror, as everyone and the Griffin being hypnotized by the Banshee’s silent, hooded voice.
“I had enough of this, Banshee!”
Vaeludar pointed up the sword up high. A pale glow of light gleamed from the cloud within the sword. “It is time for you to go to your watery grave, Banshee!” Vaeludar rose into the air without flapping his wings first. Great anger beat his heat with rage. “Oh, how I hate creatures of evil,” he said in a great loud dragon voice. “No more telling people and creatures they don’t want to hear.”
Vaeludar charged forward at a fast paste. His muscles tightened. His eyes were fixed on striking the heart of the Banshee, which was blowing glowing sparks from its hooded face.
The glowing sparks turned into knowing figures such as Geraldus, his three daughters, Alaric, and Marina. Relatively, everyone Vaeludar personally loved the most was appearing before his eyes.
“You have failed us all, and I called you my son,” said the voice of Geraldus.
“I’m still alive, am I?” Vaeludar asked the glowing image of his foster father and whipped it away with his glowing blade
Seeing the images he knew as illusions, Vaeludar slowly followed as he heard voices.
“I can’t believe you sold me into slavery,” shouted Eliana’s voice.
“My father trusted you, loved you, raised you and you killed him as your appreciation,” said Alaric’s voice.
“I thought you loved me more than anything in this world, but you have broken my heart too many times!” cried the voice of Marina.
Vaeludar was too smart that the voices were only the Banshee’s voice. He swiped the images away with one swing of his sword. He was drawing closer but the Banshee wasn’t flying anywhere in cowardice.
“You cannot elude me by using these false images. I know what is real and what is not, Banshee. These images before are not real as are their voices. Their voices are yours. You may be a form of fear, but I am fear-proof just like I’m fireproof from a dragon’s fire. You can’t put me in fear. You should be afraid of me, Banshee. And if you knew who I am: I. AM. VAELUDAR!”
Vaeludar wrapped his wings around the Banshee’s arms. Vaeludar waved the sword forward to stab his enemy in the heart, if it even had a heart.
For the Banshee, it had whispered in Vaeludar’s ears: “You cannot kill me; I am immortal. If you strike me down, I will only be reborn again like a phoenix. I cannot be killed, human dragon hybrid.”
“But what happened to the other Banshees when the Crystal Dragon came into the picture?” pointed out Vaeludar, stopping his attack. “What happened to them when he fought against the Shadow King? They turned into beautiful, female Sirens. Shall we test that?”
Vaeludar thrust the glowing blade into the central chest of the Banshee. It howled and cried like the wind in the mountains.
Vaeludar pulled out his sword and removed was wings from the Banshee’s arms.
The Banshee fell below towards the running water. An explosion detonated at the speed of light. Rays of light, sparks of fire, and smoke ignited all at once. The brightness impacted the fog’s images of the evil creatures to fade away.
Instead of being turned into a beautiful Siren, the Banshee was destroyed and the fog disappeared from eye view, giving a clearer surrounding of the terrains. It seemed the legend of Banshees turning into Sirens was wrong, as with the fog obscuring Vaeludar’s eye vision: it was a magical fog.
Vaeludar was rather glad the Banshee will no longer be any threat on the waters the boat was sailing on. He lowered himself onto the boat. Once he got on the boat, Vaeludar had seen everyone shaking their heads, and it meant they were awakening from their trances. As always, Galvin was still fast asleep.
“You have done well,” said a dark ghostly voice. “But this small victory will only be the pathway to many defeats for you.”
Vaeludar recognized the voice. He glimpsed over and saw a red cloud forming where the Banshee fell.
“Lusìvar!” grunted the hybrid.
“Yes, it is I,” he confirmed. “I am everywhere and nowhere. I chose where I want to be and when I can be there. I am not part of nature; I’m a force against nature. In time, you will see we are very much alike.”
“Alike?” laughed Vaeludar. “How are we alike? I am the opposite of darkness as you are the opposite of lightness. Just how are we alike, you and I?”
“You and I kill for reasons. We have purposes far more dangerous than a dying phoenix bursting into flames. We hunt those who are far lesser than us, and we both share a common enemy: us. Shall I go on?”
“I don’t know what scheme you have planned, Lusìvar, but I have nothing in common with you. You are evil, and I am the opposite of evil.”
“Oh, you shall see in the distant future what we both are and what we were born to be: nothing important,” hissed the evil ghost.
“Well, I beg to diff—”
“Vaeludar,” said Flavius, blinking his eyes. “Who are you talking to?”
Vaeludar should know Flavius would know that he was talking to the Shadow King. Or was he? Yes, what was he talking too? Was he talking to the Shadow King?
