Trent lowers his staff, raising his eyes to see three figures walking into the courtyard. A dwarf holding his axe at the ready, an elf with a sword drawn, and his old friend with a crude-looking staff in one hand and a dagger in the other.
Trent raises his eyebrows and cocks his head to the side, “Kyle? I never thought you would return here after I took over and beat you with my magic while stripping you of yours.”
“Well, here I am, Trent, with two brave men who will fight by my side to stop you!” Kyle growls, pointing his dagger at Trent’s chest. “Eric and Adam are not pleased with you taking things from them as well.”
“Ah, so this is the Elf who wanted to marry my beautiful Sarah,” Trent chuckles as he sizes up Eric. “And you must be one of the dwarves who I stole the gems from for my spells.” He points his staff towards Eric and then Adam.
Adam growls at the warlock, “I have come for the gems, to stop you from marrying his woman, and to stop you from harming anyone else you have placed under your spells.” He swings his axe threateningly at Trent.
“Kyle told us that this used to be his castle and that your servants used to be his servants. He told us how he used to be the most feared Warlock of the City of Dragons, but since you stripped him of his magic, he has changed becoming a thief for hire of sorts to steal from other thieves.” Eric looks at Kyle, “He has seen the error of his ways and is here to reclaim his magic and to become a warlock that helps people instead of harming them.”
Trent’s laughter rings out loudly, echoing across the castle grounds and courtyard. “Kyle has become good? Oh, you poor thing.” Trent doubles over, laughing harder. “Helping… others…” he chokes out, wheezing.
Sarah gasps when she recognizes the man with her beloved, “I saw your picture hanging up in the castle in the upstairs hallway.”
“Yes, that is me, though I am not proud to be there on the wall of Evil Warlocks,” Kyle says to her, looking down sadly.
While Trent is distracted, Sapphire breaks from Sarah’s grasp and flies up to the warlock, knocking the staff free and sending it flying back inside the castle in between servants who have come to aide their master. Trent cries out and turns, snapping his fingers to call the staff back to him, but the staff slams into a few of the servants who are blocking the door. His servants slowly move to look behind them to see what is hitting them, and Kyle takes this opportunity to leap forward and swing his staff at Trent.
Trent turns around just in time as Kyle takes a swing for him, having heard someone rushing towards him. Trent lifts his arm in front of him to stop the staff, pushing his other hand outwards to push Kyle backwards away from him with a quick spell.
“Oh, did Kyle get some of his magic back?” Trent looks surprised at Kyle being able to deflect his spell.
“I found a man who took pity on me, and he too was a warlock. He woke my inner magic, a magic that not even you could steal from me unless you took my life.” Kyle pushes forward again, but the servants have untangled themselves with the front door and Trent’s staff, throwing themselves at him. Kyle cries out as the mindless servants grab a hold of him, dragging him backwards away from their master.
Eric and Adam charge forward, weapons swinging forward to force the servants to let Kyle go, not wanting to hurt them but wanting them to let go. Trent, with his staff in hand, laughs and points the dragon’s mouth towards Kyle, hissing and whispering, a spell smoothly passing over his tongue. A ball of light and electricity forms in the dragon’s mouth, growing in size until it is the size of a boulder, then shoots forward with Kyle as its target.
Adam and Eric cry out, trying to get through the servants to pull Kyle to safety, but the servants in a mass are too strong and they are not afraid of either Eric or Adam’s weapons. Sarah turns and sprints towards Kyle, her hand forward so she can push him out of the way, but even she realizes that she will not be fast enough to save the man.
Kyle closes his eyes as the ball of electricity flies towards him, knowing that he would not survive getting hit by the ball of energy. He smiles a bit as he readies himself for the hit, hoping that the afterlife will be gentle with him since he has changed from evil to good over the years.
The ball of energy hits, causing a blinding light once it hits its mark. There is the deafening sound of sizzling from the energy ball until it finally disappears after an agonizing minute. Trent lets out a joyous cry while Sarah, Eric, and Adam scream out in agonizing despair, knowing that they have lost a comrade. Sarah turns away, not wanting to see poor Kyle sprawled out onto the ground without a single life force in him, tears already filling her eyes even though she hadn’t known him personally.
Adam and Eric stop swinging their weapons, allowing for the servants to overtake them, two of the servants pulling the axe and sword free from Adam and Eric’s hands. They can still hear the sounds of dragons fighting, one dragon crying out in pain as it is bit or slashed by teeth and claws. Sarah covers her ears, not wanting to hear anymore from the dragons fighting or Trent’s gleeful evil laughter.