~Chapter 2- A sacrifice~

         Purple and red skies casted on the desolate and harsh terrain that was the Lands of Ranuulo. Powerful creatures ran across the lands and flew through the sky, and at night, everything was plunged into a near-complete darkness. High above were many floating land masses, Sky Lands.

         Valr, Gweneva, Iggy, and Nega worked together to drive out what presence the militia still had in their region. General Edi and Coal fought hard to maintain control, but the four youths managed to force them to flee to the east.

         With them gone, Valr and the others sought out all the people from Petri's Woods and Dontown and brought them to a now-abandoned base near the sea. It wasn't the ideal place to live, but they made it into a new home.

         While things went well there, Valr hoped things fared well in the Lands of Ralosia against Zantii. But there was still more work to be done here; he couldn't head back yet.

         The four youths walked along the upper floors of the base. Both Valr and Nega levitated above the ground.

         "How is it that you can fly like me?" Valr asked.

         "I'm not really sure... I just can. How about you?" Nega said, landing on the ground with his short legs.

         "My mom is able to, and I inherited it from her. But she doesn't know how she got that ability either," Valr replied.

         Nega simply shrugged, accepting the mystery of it.

         "What is that?" Iggy exclaimed, rapping his tail against the ground, and pointing at the sky. There was a black feathery mass flying along. It was a crow, a creature foreign to the Lands of Ranuulo.

         Valr looked closer and saw an orange-eyed Ranuulan riding the black-winged bird, "Lunahreim?"

         The crow carried Lunahreim high into the air towards a particular Sky Land. One floating hundreds of meters in the sky. It had an active volcano that slowly dripped magma into the Denomi Sea.

         "I think that's the same guy who saved Aero and me from Zantii," Gweneva commented.

         "What's he doing back here?" Valr furrowed his brow, "We should see what he's up to."

         The others nodded. Valr and Nega levitated off the ground and carried Gweneva and Iggy with them, making haste after Lunahreim.

         They flew until they finally reached the Sky Land Lunahreim headed to. The place appeared like some sort of altar. Three tall stone tablets stood around it with the image of a Raccoon, Penguin, and Moth on them.

         There was an elevated slab of stone at the center of them, with what looked like the upper half of a body laying on it. Lunahreim was kneeling at the altar. He appeared to be praying.

         Valr and the others stepped onto the Sky Land and cautiously approached. Beside Lunahreim was a great jagged sword - Ranuulo's sword.

         How did he get it?

         Lunahreim picked up the sword, raised it into the air, and prepared to plunge it into the body on the stone slab. His crow cawed as it spotted Valr and the others, and he turned to them. Lunahreim took the sword and stabbed it into the ground beside the stone slab. 

         "Hello, Valr. It's been a while," Lunahreim greeted.

         Gweneva spoke up, "Is that Zantii!?"

         Valr looked past Lunahreim at the body on the stone slab. It was Zantii! His body had been cut in half. He turned to them... he was still alive.

         Gweneva and Iggy stepped forward, both ready to enact vengeance on the King, but Lunahreim held up his hand, "Hold on, I still need him."

         "What're you doing?" Valr pointedly asked.

         Lunahreim paused to think for a moment. He said, "I'm going to save our world from the curse that plagues it."

         Valr and the others gave him a perplexed look, "What're you talking about?"

         Lunahreim began to pace, "Did you know that the Goddess Ralosia started the war with Ranuulo a thousand years ago? Her attack was entirely unexpected; we never anticipated such hostility from her. But it was Ralosia that ultimately killed our God Ranuulo. Though, she was wounded as well. Her final act before parting from this world was to curse our lands."

         Lunahreim pointed up to the turbulent red and purple sky above, "She damned us. And no mortal can fix that. Only a God. 'With a powerful soul, and Ranuulo's blade stained with the blood of Ralosia's creations, Ranuulo can rise again'."

         Iggy rapped his tail against the ground, "Is that true? You can revive Ranuulo?"

         Valr realized that this was always Lunahreim's goal. It must've been why he asked for Valr's help. He needed someone to destroy the barrier to pass into the Lands of Ranuulo. All to revive the God Ranuulo.

         "It was you!" Valr uttered, "You're the one who told Zantii about the Lands of Ralosia! You're the one who led him there. Petri and Donato would still be alive if not for you!"

         Lunahreim's expression became cold, "The lands of Ranuulo have suffered enough. Only through his revival can the world be made right again."

         Valr and the others stood together, rage in their eyes. They said, "We wonn't let you."

         Lunahreim sighed, "I didn't come all this way to stop now."

         Gweneva grabbed Valr's wrist and whispered, "This guy is at least as strong as Zantii... even the four of us might have trouble."

         "We don't have to beat him in an outright fight, just knock him off this Sky Land. Web up his crow so he can't fly back up, alright?" Valr whispered back.

Gweneva nodded.

         Without another word, the four attacked. Valr and Iggy charged forward along the ground, Nega flew overhead, and Gweneva swung from a pillar over to the crow and expelled a burst of webbing to trap it.

         Valr and Iggy clashed with Lunahreim directly, Nega bombarded him with Focus spears at a distance, and Gweneva shot spurts of webs to restrain him. Lunahreim effortlessly weaved between each attack.

         Lunahreim kicked Iggy back, knocking the wind out of him with a single blow. When Gweneva swung at Zantii, Lunahreim roared and sent a powerful Focus Burst towards her. It struck her, and she crashed through one of the stone tablets.

         Valr and Nega used that moment to grab Lunahreim from behind and pick him off the ground. They flew him off the edge of the Skyland and let go, watching as he fell to the earth below. Without his crow's help, he wouldn't be able to get back up.

         Or so they thought. Lunahreim kicked beneath him and created an immensely powerful Focus burst, one that propelled him through the air, back onto the Sky Land.

         "Nice try," Lunahreim said.

         A weak voice came from the stone slab, "To Ranuulo!"

         It was Zantii. They all turned and saw that he had picked up Ranuulo's sword and held it over his chest. Before anyone had a chance to react, Zantii plunged the blade into himself, cackling as he did.

         His eyes turned blank, and a black mist spread from the sword. Zantii's body began to liquefy, seeming to drain into the sword itself. The blade glowed an eerie but radiant red light, and mighty gales began to manifest around the sword. Valr could barely keep his eyes open they were so intense.

         Something formed around the blade. Tendons and muscles were sprouting from the sword's hilt, forming into an ebon black hand. They continued to grow into a forearm, and further into a fully-formed limb.

         Nega tapped Valr's side, "We need to get out of here!" He shouted.

         Valr nodded. The two grabbed Gweneva and Iggy and flew from the Sky Land. They took one look back and saw a torso had formed from the sword.