Editing Journal - Conquering Fire (section)

==Final Confrontation==

We used dweomer to instantly arrive in the massive cavern that was the "Heart of Fire", near the throne but above it and flying. There were molten rock fire beasts within the lava below, but they were sluggish and weren't an immediate threat. Fire skeletons stood guard at the far ends of the three paths leading to the central platform, again not an immediate threat. The paths themselves were in a state of disrepair, and completely broken in places. There were two figures stood on the platform: a dark elf and a human dressed in the colours of fire (at least they looked human), and they looked like spellcasters of some kind. Sostrol sat on throne below us, with his feet in the lava. He looked like a creature of death but with streaks of fire within his body. I was aware that it was intensely hot here, but the oil stopped that feeling from becoming painful.

I closed as quickly as I could on Sostrol, but noticed that Falcor was casting, so veered slightly and an ice ball exploded between the throne and platform. The two figures there were hurt, with dark spots appearing on the fire mage, but Sostrol didn't seem to be affected. I tried to ignite Aramat, but I couldn't control the flame, which was orange instead of the normal blue, and when I tried to strike at Sostrol it had no effect! Flame erupted around us all, sheets of it moving around and past us, which did hurt but not as much as it would have done if we hadn't prepared. A column of lava erupted from below Sostrol, lifting him to a height of about a hundred feet, but then started to fall away until he was suspended about fifty feet up. He struck me on the way past, but the dweomer of Falcor's stoneskin protected me from harm. Lightning arced into me from the dark elf, discharging into the lava column, but thankfully it didn't affect me at all. Falcor touched an axe, asking for aid, and summoned a Rock Elemental on the platform to aid us in the fight! Falcor also used dwomer to hasten our movements, allowing us to move and fight twice as quickly.

The newly summoned elemental thumped both the fire mage and the dark elf, which was a welcome distraction. Flames streamed from the ceiling overheard, raining down over us and Sostrol; again the dweomer washed harmlessly over me, and Falcor was saved by his many images, losing half of them to the rain of fire but escaping harm. Falcor responded by pelting icicles at Sostrol, which seemed to anger him. He dropped his column of lava down to Falcor's level and the column glided towards Falcor, taking him into melee range. The dark elf moved instantly across to the edge of room, looking to escape the immediate danger, and a fireball erupted around me. I was burned by the heat, although my dweomer helped to protect me from the worst of it. Sostrol drew a flaming sword and attacked Falcor, but just caused one of his images to wink out.

Another fireball exploded quickly afterwards, but thankfully that one didn't affect me. I had flown towards the mage, unable to wrest control of Aramat back from Sostrol, but just as I arrived the elemental smacked her to the floor, leaving her broken body bleeding out. Fire-headed giants were starting to enter the chamber from its far end, so we needed to act quickly. The dark elf escaped through one of their portals, clearly looking to avoid death, so that was another threat removed. Sostrol spewed fire at Falcor, which was incredibly hot even for him, but the dweomer didn't affect him so he unleashed his unnaturally fast sword attacks in response, doing significant damage. I was finally able to get control of Aramat, its blade turning blue, and moved to help... but by this time Falcor was carving chunks out of Sostrol, trailing flames with each hit as the fire bled out of him. With one last, powerful blow Falcor drained the last of the fire from Sostrol to leave just a shade that immediately disappeared.

In a moment, Igsol appeared on his throne, retaking his rightful place. More worryingly a monstrous horned beast started to emerge from the lake of lava, about twenty feet across and twenty five tall! Igsol spoke to Falcor, saying that he owed him a great debt for forcing Sostrol to flee. He then asked if we wished to follow him, as he could send us, but it would have to be now. Yes! We had to finish him, and go together. At once we appeared in the high temple on the icy mountain again. We were stood by the obelisk inside, and Sostrol was not far away, by the well. We moved forward and Falcor engaged him in melee again, landing blows with incredible speed. I sensed that Sostrol was trying to open a door to a death realm, but was able to forcibly hold it closed. Falcor was a blur, hitting again and again, and it seemed for a moment that we might succeed quickly.

It wasn't to be, though. I was suddenly compelled to attack Falcor from behind, thankfully striking an image instead of his true body. Sostrol struck at him as well, and connected this time. I strike once more, against my will, removing his last protective image. Falcor responded by creating more images, worried about being assailed from both sides. Worse, though, was that Sostrol had now opened the portal he wanted, and skeletons started to climb out of well to aid him, as I was unable to direct my will to stop him. The sight of them made me shake myself out of his control, though, and I quickly slammed the portal shut. He turned and looked at me... and I just dropped dead!

Falcor saw this and screamed both "Milada" and my name as he unleashed his anger on Sostrol, taking him apart with strike after strike until his head rolled off and his helm fell aside, the rest collapsing into a pile of bones. He had no time to react, though, as one of the now familiar two-headed death giants climbed out of the pit... my father had sent it for me! It grabbed my body and slung me over its shoulder as the skeletons attacked Falcor. Falcor sent a bolt of radiant energy at my captor, slamming into it and throwing it backwards to land on the ground, forcing it to drop me. Falcor heard me exhale as I hit the ground, which gave him hope that I wasn't quite as dead as I appeared. He attacked a skeleton, destroying it, and then the other, doing damage, but disengaging and forcing his way towards the giant. When he got there, though, he found that his blade just passed straight through without impact!

Falcor summoned and threw an orb at the giant instead, but with no effect. The giant lunged at Falcor to grab him, but he was able to step aside. The skeleton attacked Falcor from behind, but his armour kept him from harm. The giant was the real threat, and it slammed Falcor to the ground, stunning him. For a moment the giant paused, but then moved away again to pick up my body. It headed towards the well again, but Falcor regained enough of his senses to transform into his Elvradrak form, using his size and strength to grab my body and rip me from the giant's grasp. Falcor then took Sostrol in his mouth, grabbed the sword and helmet from the ground, and took off. He didn't look back, and just kept flying until he reached the coastline to the west. He landed to rest before transforming again to fly the rest of the way to the island with his temple on it.

His first concern, at least so he told me, was to see if I could be saved. The priest had good news: although it would take a day before my body recovered enough to accept healing, from there I was able to make a rapid recovery aided by the priest's prayers and Falcor's powers. In the meantime Falcor had studied Sostrol's sword, which was engraved with "HERAST RES HIGN" (Divine Strength Through Fire), and had fought with the will of the sword to dominate it.