Chapter 12

         After the ninth building, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We walked into the middle of the campsite to find another dorm building when Irvin froze.

         "What is it?" I asked.

         "Run!" Irvin yelled, and he turned around and fled for the outside of the campsite.

         We followed him all the way to the fence on the outside of the camp.

         "Why did we run like that?" Gina asked. "What's going on?"

         "Vadrak's coming. He was going to teleport to the spot we were. We didn't want to be there when he . . . "

         Irvin trailed off and we all knew why. From the center of the campsite, there were screams of many hecapsycheires. Everyone knew what had happened. Vadrak had joined the battle.

         "We've got to go and help," Vesta said.

         "You're right," I agreed.

         The ten of us ran back to the center of the camp. When we got there, Vadrak was furious. We had wiped out almost all of his Heinous Knights. He started using his sword to bat the ring of hecapsycheires out of his way. I charged through the crowd with my brothers at my heels. Irvin ran in front of Vadrak to distract him, while Demetrio, Hearst, Timur, and I snuck around to get behind Vadrak.

         "Vadrak, stop! This is not the answer Vadrak," Irvin said. "You're killing innocent hecapsycheires. This is not who you were meant to be."

         Vadrak snarled and said, "Oh really? Who was I meant to be then?"

         "You were supposed to be a prince. You were supposed to be the future king in your dimension."

         I wasn't sure if Irvin was making this up or if he could really see Vadrak as a king.

         "Your father banished you because your eyes are yellow and red. Your younger twin brother received all the attention and you were raised by someone who was not worthy of raising you. It shouldn't have been this way, Vadrak. You can still become king, but you just can't be king here. Go back to Dimension Z. You've outlived your father and brother. You are immortal. Be a leader of your own people. You would have those who are truly loyal to you, not just mortal men that you use as puppets."

         "You know nothing of my life," Vadrak spat.

         "Yes I do, Vadrak," Irvin said. "You were never good at telepathy. You were never able to keep others from seeing into your mind. I know your past, and I know your present. I know your feelings, and I know your fears. You are weak compared to me and all others who can see through you."

         "What do you think you speak of? I am very skilled at the art of telepathy and divination. Why else would I come here to take over?"

         "You came because you thought you could conquer these lands. You were mistaken. I'll give you one chance. You can go back to your own dimension quietly, or I'll tell every fear and weakness that you have to the Elders and anyone else who will listen so that they can stop you."

         "You wouldn't dare."

         "Yes, I would Mark Navik Giad. You have an odd name, but that doesn't bother me or anyone else. Go back to the dimension that you came from."

          Just then, the Elders appeared in the circle.

         They were about to rush forward when Irvin said, "Wait. Let him decide. He can either go in peace, or we can conquer him."

         As fast as lightning, Vadrak hurled five deadly rays of material at The Elders. The Elders collapsed and moved no more. I didn't know what the material that Vadrak threw at them was, but I learned that it was deadly the hard way.

         Vadrak took a breath and said, "I'll leave with no further destruction. Goodbye."

         With that, he turned and vanished. Most of the crowd swarmed around the bodies of the Elders, but my brothers, Vesta, her friends, and I all ran towards Irvin who looked as if he was going to faint from exhaustion. We caught him just in time. Reading Vadrak's mind had taken a lot of energy out of him; now he had nothing left but us.

         We teleported him to a bed that hadn't been destroyed during the battle.  Irvin fell asleep right away, and we waited by his bedside the entire time.

         "How are you feeling?" I asked when he woke up an hour later.

         "Head hurts a bit, but otherwise I'm okay," he replied.

         "Irvin, how did you know that Vadrak's name was Mark?" Aurelia asked.

         "I read his mind. After I looked back into his childhood and recapped some of it, his name came to me."

         "Why in the world is he called Mark Navik Giad? That must be the weirdest name in the world," Tamara said.

         "Yeah, it kind of is. His father and mother both had unique last names, so his mother, who actually loved him despite his eyes, named him Mark which was not so weird. Navik was his mother's maiden name, and his father's surname was Giad."

         "Why'd he choose the name Vadrak?" I asked.

         "Funny you should mention it, actually. Watch this," Irvin said.

         He shot water from his hands and shaped, out of water, the name:

M A R K   N A V I K   G I A D

         Irvin waved his hand and the water words reformed themselves into the following words:

I   A M   K I N G   V A D R A K

         "And there you have it," Irvin said as we all gasped in surprise.

         "So it was just an anagram?" Gina asked.

         "Yes," Irvin said.

         "Well, I must say, I think that his anagram name Vadrak was a lot better than Navik Giad. I almost felt sorry for the guy because of his name," Vesta said.

         "You feel sorry for the madman who ended the lives of millions of hecapsycheires?" Izumi asked incredulously.

         "No," Vesta replied, and I sighed with relief. "I felt kind of sorry for Mark Navik Giad, not Vadrak."

         Vesta's friends attacked her with more comments about Vadrak, as my brothers and I hung back and watched. A couple minutes later, they noticed that we were watching them argue.

         "I think Vesta's right," Irvin said. "I saw inside Vadrak's head. I saw his life before he went crazy. Mark was a good guy, he had a very difficult life, Mark . . . Mark was not Vadrak. There is such a large distance between the two men, I couldn't even begin to tell you."

         We all thought about it for a few about minutes until Izumi spoke up.

         "Will you tell us the rest of Mark's life?" she asked Irvin.

         "Look, Mark's life was a very sad and depressing story, and with all due respect to you, my best friends, it is his personal life, not mine. I don't think that I would like my head broken into without my permission. It's like breaking down a door with no knock or any other sign of respect."

         "But Vadrak was horrible!" protested Tamara.

         "Vadrak was horrible; Mark was not. Mark was a good guy who was treated horribly by his family."

         "Okay Irvin," I said. "If you don't want to tell us and go behind Vadrak's back, then I understand, but I think that it could help us too. If he went crazy again, it might be helpful for us to know about his past. Not just so that we could find weaknesses, but so that we could protect people."

         "Fine, I'll tell you, but I think I'll leave out some of the unimportant parts that you don't want to hear anyway."

         We all agreed, and Irvin began the tale of Vadrak's life.

         Vadrak was the first twin to emerge from his mother's womb. His mother was the queen of the land he came from which was called Nahrungsmittelland, which is German for "Food Land" or "Land of Food." As you know, the dimension he lived in, is full of horrible things, but Nahrungsmittelland was paradise for that dimension. To us, it is truly horrible, but to them, it was paradise.

         Vadrak's father, King Henry Giad, was not a very pleasant man. He had a bad temper. Whenever he was in his "raging mode," he killed a peasant, or he beat those who were near him at the time such as his servants and even his wife.

         When Vadrak was born, his eyes were, as you know, red and yellow. The nurse shrieked and dropped him on the floor where he lay naked and helpless. Eventually, his brother started to come, so he was moved to a cradle that was too small for him. The queen was expecting only one child, so because of Mark's eyes, they stuffed him in a large shoe where he waited, cramped and frightened.

         King Giad never loved his son because of his eyes. Queen Catherine Navik Giad was saddened because she loved both of her sons. She tried to give Mark extra attention because of the king's dislike of him.

         After Mark's mother died when he was ten, King Giad refused to raise him. Mark was thrown from the palace and landed in the sea. He could barely swim, but he knew enough to swim to the bottom of a cliff where the rocks were jagged and heated from the sun.

         There, he sat on a rock sobbing at his father's cruel treatment. He spent the night on the rock. In the morning, he began the difficult climb to the top of the cliff which is where the palace was located. In the middle of the cliff he found a road that he followed to the village of Nahrungsmittelland.

         There, he met his future wife, whose mother took him in despite his eyes. The woman who took care of him had a daughter whom he fell in love with. She loved him in return even though his eyes were so hideous. After they were married, Mark returned to the palace to declare his right to the throne, but his brother was sitting at his father's death bed.

         Their father's last words were "Go now, Alexander, become the king I never was." Alexander was Mark's brother, and those words hit Mark hard. Alexander became king and ruled for three years until a falcon came to visit Mark. The falcon told him that he was immortal and he could have his brother's throne. All Mark had to do was beat his brother in a duel where the loser was banished from the palace. Mark heard the falcon's words and trained for five years.

         In Nahrungsmittelland, any relative of the king was allowed to challenge the king for the crown with a duel. When Mark felt confident he could beat his brother, they went to the arena to fight. They both fought furiously, but in the end, Alexander brought his blade down to finish Mark off. Mark was left lying there for days as the people of Nahrungsmittelland came to laugh and throw rocks at him. He was still alive, but that didn't mean he wasn't in pain and suffering. Mark didn't really want the throne and the power, he just wanted attention.

         One day, Mark woke up feeling better than he had in a long time. He remembered he had dreamed he was the king of Nahrungsmittelland and everyone loved him. That dream changed him. He took his name, Mark Navik Giad, and changed it into "I Am King Vadrak." He went crazy until he had conquered all of the dimension that he lived in, but he wasn't done yet. He created a portal to our dimension and travelled through it, strong and immortal.

         As you know, he created an army and killed most of the hecapsycheires until we began to fight back. I left out all of the torture and extra violence. I figured it wouldn't go well with your stomach.

         "Well, that's quite a story," Gina said.

         "Yes, and now I am tired again. Can I go to sleep?" Irvin asked.

         We said that he could, and we stopped talking. We had completely forgotten about the passing of the Elders until we heard a large horn blow. The horn of sorrow. We slowly filed out of the dorm to see the crowd of hecapsycheires. Panton was at the front, and the five main servants of The Elders were carrying the Elders' bodies on stretchers in the traditional five-pointed star. The other hecapsycheires who were strong enough to walk, followed behind.

         We joined the crowd as they walked. I didn't know where they were going; we just followed them. Everyone was full of sorrow, and I understood their grief. I was never close with the Elders, but they were good leaders. They had to handle a million things at once, and they still did it. Not only that, but they did it well because they saw the point of view that the other people or hecapsycheires had.

         We walked to the end of the field where the stage was. Panton and the Elders' servants walked on stage. Everyone bowed respectfully as the Elders were set onto ceremonial catafalques.

         "This loss has been a great tragedy to us all. The Elders had brought life to this world and now they will do so no more," Panton said. "The Elders would not want you to suffer from their loss. They would have wanted the traditional burial and mourning days to pass and let the next elders take their place. Go home now. Rest up and return to this location tomorrow at dusk. The burial will take place at midnight."

         Everyone teleported away from the battlefield. They had seen enough battle for one day. The ten of us stayed put. We hardly even breathed.

         "Did you not hear my orders? Be gone!" shouted Panton.

         "We feel that you are in need of service. Please, allow us to help," Irvin said.

         "Fine," Panton said shortly. "You can wipe the memories of the humans and return them to their homes. Oh, and you could also get rid of the camp. You can have fun, let off energy, burn off anger after the passing of the Elders. Burn it if you want, I really don't care. I have other duties to attend to, and I can't be worried about the simple jobs that I just gave you."

         We turned to go, but we were stopped by Panton.

         "Thank you, by the way," he said, "for helping me with this. It saves me time."

         We nodded and left. We cleared the memories of the mortals who had been placed under Vadrak's curse. We didn't erase their memories completely, just the bad parts of their life as a Heinous Knight. We worked in silence until the job was done. Once we had finished, we walked back to the camps to collect the few items we had brought with us that were still in the cabin.

         We met back at the stage. I didn't really know what to say. The ten of us had been through so much together that I didn't really know what to do. We couldn't just leave, we owed each other our lives, but we weren't exactly best friends either. I think that we were friends, maybe more than friends.

         Knowing that we had to move on, we exchanged housing coordinates. Housing coordinates are similar to your home address, but for us, it's the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of where you live. After that, we shook hands, and teleported away from the battlefield.