Melora and I finally stumbled upon a Teleporter near the edge of town. Quickly we punched the location in and we were warped to Cleptier.

Cleptier itself wasn't much. There were lots of rundown brimstone buildings and groups of drunken Lizolis stumbling around.

This city couldn't afford a proper barrier so one lookout tower was stationed in the middle of the city as the only method of defense. It was a wonder that this city hadn't been overrun with monsters.

We aimlessly wandered the city, looking around for any signs of Lycitor. Then a random Lizolis stumbled out at a building and pointed at us. "Hey, you! You're a Soulwielder! You ain't welcome in this town!"

I looked at the lizard for a moment before raising an eyebrow. "What's a Soulwielder? I've never even heard of them."

The Lizolis opened his mouth to say something but closed it. "Hey who are you?"

Melora decided to step in on the conversation. "We're just two strangers."

The Lizolis found this satisfactory and stumbled back into his house. My expression turned sour. "They're so drunk that we could bring an entire legion of police here and they wouldn't notice."

"That just plays to our advantage. We just need to locate Lycitor, the fewer people bothering us the better." Melora said.

I agreed with her. Though after searching for a few hours I couldn't help but feel doubtful that he was in the small town.

"Where could he possibly be? I can't imagine Lycitor would drown himself in drinking." I murmured.

Melora scanned the area again. "Let's check inside of the bar. They might have at least heard about him there." I didn't like the idea of going into a room filled with raging drunks but we didn't have any other options.

The inside of the bar was about as chaotic as it got. There seemed to be a seating area sectioned off for the Lizolis who wanted to fight each other as they would just walk up to another lizard and punch them in the face. We silently elected to stay away from that area.

The Bartender looked exhausted and had sunken eyes, he seemed to never get a break from his job. "You two are minors? Man criminals just keep getting younger and younger." He shook his head.

"We aren't criminals. We're looking for someone named Lycitor." I told him.

The Bartender's eyes widened. "You're a Soulwielder, you've finally come to save us haven't you?"

"Uhh... What?"

He continued on, keeping his voice down to a low whisper. "Lycitor has been ruling this place from his palace just down by the ravine. He comes in whenever he wants and just takes supplies. The Great Fire Lord has finally taken pity upon us and blessed our humble town with a Soulwielder!" The man seemed to be close to tears.

Melora crossed her arms. "I'm here too ya know!"

This was all just filling me with more motivation. I would stop Lycitor once and for all and liberate this town and my friend's souls. "Don't worry, we will put a stop to him. I promise you that."

"Thank you, young warrior. You are a blessing." The Bartender said and he went to go serve some drinks.

"I guess you were right Melora. Now we know where Lycitor is." I said with a smile.

Melora nodded. "I'm done being on the run so let's finish this fight." We walked outside where a Soulwielder was waiting for us.

He was a large 30-40-year-old man with dark skin and huge muscles. His head was bald and about as bright as Fiorione's sun. He was dressed in a brown shirt and black pants so he looked like some sort of weird monk. The man's Soulwielding staff was in his hands, ready to fight.

"I've finally tracked you down, Avian! You're the kid who started last week and then tried taking on the world!" He hissed, his voice low and gravelly.

I drew my staff and tried to think of spells. "Yeah yeah, you're here to arrest me for my crimes and all that. Let's just get this over with."

"This is personal, you brat! I've been a Soulwielder for 15 years but I've never tried doing what you've done! You make the rest of us look like idiots with how you try and take on giant monsters and fight with the council. Your arrogance and focus on only helping your own goals has spread throughout the five realms and hurt everyone's reputation! I'm not taking you alive, this is to the death!" The man pointed his staff at me. "I am the warrior Kevin and I will destroy you!"

I was so distracted by what the man had said I didn't even try to attack. I've been hurting everyone? But I've stopped monsters and... and I tried to lead an expedition a week after I joined. And I yelled at the council. And I went awol. What was I thinking? He fired a barrage of earth blasts at me, a few of which licked my arms and legs. Though I still couldn't move.

"Avian get out of the way before he crushes you!" Melora screamed at me, returning my mind to the present.

"Earth Shield!" I tapped my staff on the ground and a giant stone rose and blocked the earth blasts that were being fired at me.

"Hydraulic Whirlpool!" Kevin screamed, I ran to the side as a massive whirlpool obliterated the rock shield I had set up.

"Icicle Shot!" I said as I stopped running. A bow and arrow made of out ice appeared in my hands, the slick ice froze my hands and I fired the arrow. Kevin hit it away with his staff but a large patch of ice glazed over the part where his staff had hit the arrow.

Another arrow made of ice appeared, already nocked, so I fired it at Kevin once more. This time the arrow landed by his feet and the ground beneath him turned to ice.

The third and final arrow appeared and I sent it flying, Kevin tried to move but slipped on the ice and fell. The arrow hit his staff and knocked it out of his hands.

Kevin stood up slowly and went to go grab his staff, but I wasn't going to let him get his weapon back to easily.

"Fire Storm!" I slammed my staff onto the ground in front of me and a giant wall of fire shot up from the ground and blocked Kevin off from reaching his staff.

"You little brat! I'll beat you even without my Soulwielding!" Kevin drew a small dagger and charged at me.

"Well, that's not going to go very well for you. Pinpoint Geyser!" I said and a giant geyser shot up from beneath him and launched Kevin into the air, he landed right next to his staff.

Kevin stood slowly, his staff clutches tightly in his hands. "You will perish! Molten Obliterator!" He raised his staff high in the sky. The ground in between us split open and molten lava spewed out, pooling around Kevin's feet. The lava rose in a pool around his body until he was consumed by the lava. Then the giant lava sphere jumped into the air.

"Melora I'll need a bit of help with this one. Pressurized Hydro-Strike!" I pointed my staff at the giant ball of lava and Melora took out her orb. Water spewed from the top of my staff into the sphere, and then more water appeared strengthening the power of the blast enough to pushed the sphere out far off into the outskirts of Fiorione.

"That was exhausting," I said, sitting down to catch my breath. Kevin had brought something to my attention I didn't know about before, and I wasn't sure of how to receive it. Not only had I outright disobeyed the council and became a criminal but I had also hurt the reputation of Soulwielders around the world because of how I rushed into things.

Melora sat down next to me. "What Kevin said got to you, didn't it?"

"That's because he's not wrong. I have been rushing into things and I did only start a week ago." I sighed.

"That doesn't change the fact that you've done some great things. You've stopped monsters and you've helped me grow as a person. Before I could barely stand my mother but now I honestly miss her. And throughout all of this, you've had honest intentions. That's what's important, you've always had good intentions even if you've messed up." Melora told me.

I couldn't help but feel at least a little better. "You're right. I need to find a way to still do what I need to get done without hurting others. But I know I'll find that perfect method. Even if I have to do things slower it'll be worth it. Now let's go finish off Lycitor. I still need to pay him back for all the trouble he's caused me." We stood and started off to the ravine.

The ravine itself was almost like a bottomless pit. The walls were made of slick obsidian and rivers of lava flowed down the walls making it hard to traverse. Not only that but monsters were everywhere and it was a struggle to even get through the man-made path.

Once that path stopped we had to hold on for dear life as we walked across small ledges and ducked under giant lava waterfalls.

Finally, we stumbled upon the giant palace in the depths of the ravine. The palace was built into both sides of the ravine. Connected to each other by giant obsidian bridges spanning the gap. We jumped down onto one of these bridges and went inside of the palace.

The palace was beautifully crafted, there were giant ceilings and grand lights that gave the whole area a sense of wonder. The hallways just seemed to go on forever and stairways lead further and further down into the fire world.

The only problem was that it all belonged to Lycitor. My mortal enemy. So all I could think about was defeating him and blowing this entire palace to smithereens.

Melora shared the same amount of sentiment. "This place is creepy. It's like the torches barely even provide any light. Ugh! I can't see anything!"

We passed through a hallway where a giant suit of armor was on display. As we walked by I swear I saw something inside of it. Then the armor jumped to life, swinging around a gigantic lance trying to impale us.

The suit was far faster than we were and all of my spells simply bounced off of the armor. Melora's water attacks were having no effect and the armor was simply getting faster.

Just as it was about to stab me the entire suit was encased in ice. Oritz stood in front of me and swung his swords, chopping off its legs and slicing up its back. "This thing has some sort of dark orb powering it. That's what made it so strong." He said, ripping out a black orb. Shadow Magic.

But I couldn't even focus on that. "Oritz! You came back!"

Oritz grinned. "Yeah, I couldn't leave you guys. I told my father about it because he was on his way out of this life and he told me I had to help you two. That's when I realized that your lives were in danger because of orders and I couldn't get behind those kinds of orders. After that, I ran into Dustin and he told me you two went to Cleptier. I saw you fighting another Soulwielder and I was going to talk to you but you guys walked off so quickly. And then the ravine was a nightmare, I don't understand how you two are so agile."

I couldn't believe that Oritz the soldier had abandoned his post for us and had decided to help us over being there for his father's death. I ran up and hugged him, taking him by surprise.

"I really am sorry Avian. I messed up but I'll never make that mistake again." Oritz told me.

Melora rolled her eyes. "Darn right you won't. But you aren't that bad. At least you corrected yourself eventually." She said, which was the nicest thing Melora had ever said about him.

I kicked the Shadow Orb away and looked down the hall. "Let's do this team, let's finish off Lycitor like we're meant to."

Then Lycitor materialized from the darkness laughing. "Hello, Avian. Have you come to give me your life?"

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And so begins the 3 part finale. I won't say anything else because there's two other chapters coming right after this one.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! Bye!