When their blades clashed, he knew that Hirel was still adjusting to his powers. The only way to beat him was to go all out before the latter reached his full form.

Not taking any chances, Elir pointed his sword towards the shrine. The ground shook as the magical creatures that served as the pillars of the shrine were brought to life.

"Golems?" the king thought as the creatures walked past him.

"So you could summon them? Not bad. But will these slowpokes touch me?"

The dome roof of the shrine hummed as one of the golems threw it toward Hirel. He dodged it with ease.

"See?" he said.

Little did he know, a golem was already by his side. Hirel flew before rolling on the ground as the magical creature clobbered him. Rocks crept and bound his body as he rose.

"Release my wife, brother," Elir said. His blade is by Hirel's throat.

Not able to move, he conceded. After spitting a broken tooth, he ordered the elders to release the queen. But hidden from their sight, he held an iron blade. It was crude and like a hastily forged arrowhead. It floated from his palm and aimed at the Eloi couple.

Elir and his wife dropped to the ground as they met. The arrowhead whizzed past through their chest.

"Looks like my aim is still a bit off"

"An Amun honor his word, even to their enemies!" The king cried as he went to his sons and their queen.

"And when did I disgrace our honor? I did exactly what you told me. I released the woman and I spared the child. Have you asked to spare woman as well?" he laughed in reply.

Without a word, Elir pointed his sword toward Hirel. The golems turned to flaming rocks that piled up towards the latter and exploded.

The smell of a burnt animal filled the air as the explosion revealed a huge lump of leather-like material. It looked like a burning cocoon. After it unwrapped, it revealed a magical creature - a chimera. It has the wings of a bat, the head of a wolf, the body of a panther, and a tail of an eel. Of all the chimeras in the Amun kingdom, it was the most vicious that only an heir to the throne could summon - a bakulaw.

"They're gone!" the elders cried as Hirel jumped out of the magical creature.

☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀

The Elois appeared in a dark cave on the other side of Naga. The ground was wet with water dripping from the rocky ceiling. Each drop brought an eerie echo to what should have been a silent chamber.

"Don't worry, you'll make it," Elir said as he started to heal his wife's wounds.

The queen looked at him and shook her head. She took his hand and placed it on top of her swollen belly. With tears from her eyes, she whispered, "He's about to go out."

"He can wait, let's heal you first."

"No, dear. Please, let me see him before I go."

"I can't...I can't let you die."

The king placed his hands over his son's wife's wounds and stopped the bleeding then nodded at his son.

With tears flowing through his eyes, trembling hands, and blood flowing from his own wound, he helped her wife deliver their child.

A loud cry filled the cave. A boy with golden hair and eyes was born - the next heir to the Eloi throne.

Elir cradled his son and placed him on top of her mother.

"He's just like you." the queen said, caressing her young.

"Yes, only bigger. I was born the size of a palm. Right, dad?"

Before the king could answer, he felt a vicious creature lurking by the mouth of the cave.

"They're here," he whispered.

Elir looked at his wife and she nodded.

With the loose gold cloth he wore, he wrapped their child and gave it to the king.

"We'll all make it alive." the king said.

"Please father, you are our best chance for our child to survive."

The king wanted to argue with his son but he saw in their eyes that they have already decided their fate. With a heavy heart, he left with his grandson and went deeper into the cave.

☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀

"There's no escape for you!" Hirel said. He crouched before Elir who was crying over his dying wife. "You know why this happened? Because you are weak. You could not save yourself or your wife or your child. Even your father abandoned you." he whispered in his ears.

"We may be weaker than you, but we'll be taking you with us!"

Elir and his wife's bodies turned to light before they exploded.

"What a waste," Hirel said as he stood at the back of his bakulaw, unscathed. They floated in the sky amongst the dusty remains of a huge part of Naga that has disintegrated.

"But that is one down," he said. "Now for the Datu and the Eloi child."

Hirel leaped and with a wild swing, he threw his moon scythe down.