The Mimic Blade

by Jesse Wilson

  “I'll ask you again, nicely, we can do this the easy way and just tell everyone we had a great fight,” Tinea suggested to him, she thought it was a great plan. Brule, on the other hand, punched Tinea in the face with his right hand, Pen winced and expected the worst but to his surprise neither of them moved an inch.

  “Sholtan,” Brule said as Tinea pushed his hand away, then with her left fist punched Brule with enough force to send him flying through the throne and into the far wall shattering a painting of some older King from the past.

  “The hard way, then,” Tinea said as they turned and faced him. “You said you had a plan, mind letting me know what the plan is now?” Pen asked her. “Yep, I'm going to keep punching him until he gives up, this is my plan,” Tinea replied to him.

  “What, that is the worst plan I've ever heard of,” Pen said to her as they watched Brule stand up.

  “No, what you don't understand is that we've been locked up since forever and the only way we can go back is if someone forces us back, it's obvious no one is going to do this willingly but I had to try,” Tinea replied to him and he knew that she was right. Brule's blade appeared in his hand, it was long and jagged, more like a saw or steak knife than a sword.

  “You want to play that way, I'll break you and cut whoever is inside of you into little pieces from the bottom up,” Brule said as he threw the ruined portrait frame off of him. “I'll make you work for it smoky,” Tinea replied to him and it sounded like she was smiling about it as her hands turned into blades.

  Brule charged her, flying through the air just off the ground as he swung the blade down. Tinea crossed her arms and blocked the blade as it hit. The floor underneath of her cracked and splintered sending chunks of wood in all directions on impact, Pen felt the impact of that attack but it didn't hurt as bad as he thought it would.

  Her left blade pushed Brule's blade to the side and swung the right one across his armored chest, slicing it open with ease. They jumped back as thick, black fog shot out of the wound, the second it touched Tinea's blades they began to sizzle.

  “Damn it I didn't see that coming,” Pen said as he felt his hands burn. “Me either,” Tinea agreed as she jumped back waving the blades, trying to shake off the corrosion. “No one can withstand the true power of the black mist, allow me to share it with you a little more,” Brule said as his chest wound sealed shut. Pen was worried about what was coming next.

  Brule threw his blade into the air held out his hands. The two of them watched as the giant blade severed his hands at the wrists and the blade hit the ground so hard that it dug into the floor. The pitch black mist spewed from his arms as if it were blood.

  Pen jumped straight forward and above Brule between the jets and slashed Brule in the back.

  The gash was made easily but the wound acted as another weapon and more black acidic mist sprayed out them. Brule grunted in what appeared to be pain but neither of them could tell.

  Pen felt like his hands were burning off as it touched the blades. “I think we are going to need a new plan, this one sucks,” Pen said as he jumped back. “He's not infinite, you have to trust me on this one,” Tinea said to him and dived out of the way as Brule spun around.

  “Choke on this,” Brule said as he spun around in their direction. “You're a coward just like the one who forged you, all that power and you only know how to use it one way, typical,” Tinea said to him.

  “Yes, making fun of the supervillain is exactly the thing to do so he wants to kill us even more, great plan,” Pen said to her as they dodged to the right as the acidic mist melted the floor they were standing on just before. “Will you shut up and trust me,” Tinea replied to him.

  Chapter Twenty

  Shane and Melissa were making their way down the building, keeping quiet to see if they could hear anyone who might be around but the building appeared to be empty to them so far. Melissa was easily frustrated with this method of searching.

  “Hello, if you're hiding in here I'd like you look out your nearest window facing the west. There you'll see a spinning tornado of rainbow fire and it's getting closer. If any of that fire touches you, you will be possessed with it. This is your one and only warning to run like hell. Vasaria is safer, if you can get there. Leave now,” Melissa suddenly shouted with a magically enhanced voice.

  Shane nearly jumped out of his skin. “Damn woman, warn me next time,” Shane said almost just as loud because now his ears were ringing. “Oh, sorry, I wanted to search every room on this floor individually instead but thought this would work faster,” she replied, not sure what he was expecting out of her.

  A green skinned troll poked his head out of a door.

  “How are we supposed to get there?” he was wearing a suit, looked to be a manager of some kind. “What part of run didn't you understand, you and whoever is with you needs to leave, now. Call everyone you know and tell them to get to Vasaria, too,” Melissa replied to him.

  “It's so cold and so far away, we'll never make it with those things out there,” the man replied. “We'll help you get there, gather everyone you can and meet us at the front door,” Shane said, still trying to get the ringing out of his ears. “Alright, my name is Tolx, who are you?” Tolx asked them.

  “Uh, I'm Shane, this is Melissa. We're going to try and get you out of here but if we waste any more time we'll all be dead or host to some flame creature, so could we please move this along,” Shane replied to him trying to get past this. “Come on, let's get to the bottom and wait for them,” Melissa said and Shane nodded in agreement. Tolx went running down the hall, it was clear he wasn't used to running anywhere from anything by the way he did it.

  The two of them made their way down the nearest stairwell.

  “Knowing our luck the power will shut off as soon as we try an elevator, we'd better stick to the stairs,” Shane said as the climbed down them. “Yeah, but being stuck in an elevator alone with you wouldn't be so bad for a couple of hours,” Melissa replied, something about being in a full suit of armor, even if it was only training armor, boosted her confidence. Shane smiled as he found a doorway to the stairwell. The two of them walked through it and started going down.

  “True, you're not the only one who can do magic, too bad we have a bunch of killer spirits after all of us,” Shane replied and smiled anything was better than thinking about what was outside.

  “Speaking of magic, do you think we should use these weapons anymore?” Melissa asked him, changing the subject.

  “As far as I am concerned death is a part of war, these things would gladly kill us, the blades seem more than eager to take us over or wipe us out, so yes, we are allowed to defend ourselves,” Shane said, glancing at the snake whip coiled around his arm, not so creeped out by it anymore.

  “I suppose you're right, but we're at the ground floor, let's hope Arket and her flaming minions haven't got here yet,” Melissa replied and pushed the door open carefully.

  The ground floor was deserted, a radio was playing.

  “This is it, folks, this is the Blade apocalypse, I've got reports coming in from everywhere. There is a report of a tornado of prismatic flame in the west, Lom castle is surrounded by black fog that takes over anyone who is exposed to it. We've got killer robots walking around, too. This is the end just like the good book says, the blades have been unleashed and all we can do is wait for deliverance from the gods. On the other hand I got a report from Vasaria that a silver knight challenged and defeated Sholtan! Now, I don't know what's true or not but all we can do is endure this wrath. We are running on internal generators and will be with you as long as we can here at station ARGO,” the DJ on the radio said and was talking so fast that it was hard to understand him at all.

  Right now, that noise was going to be attracting attention they didn't need. Shane walked over to the desk the radio was on and shut it off.

  There were pictures of kids on this desk, obviously half elf and troll from just looking at them.

  “Interesti
ng,” Shane said and turned back to the front door of the building, like many places like this the front door was nothing more than a glass entrance.

  “Good thing we don't have to keep anything out,” Shane said to himself as another door in the back opened up. Tolx came out of it, and he was followed by trolls, elves and humans. Thirty people followed him.

  Shane counted them twice just to be sure because he never trusted himself when it came to counting things.

  “I'd like to have a group introduction, but we don't have the time for that. We need to be quiet and as fast as possible. If anyone of those firebugs sees you and we're all in trouble. We will deal with as many as we can, but we need to get out of Pamid,” Shane said and noticed that most of them were not in clothes that were not made for this kind of trip besides having light jackets.

  “It's cold out there. Can't we just drive there?” an Elf in the crowd asked. “You can do whatever you want, we're not your babysitters. Cars are noisy and easy to see. Arket will catch you in a second if you try it. We already tried it. I believe that running is the best way to avoid them,” Melissa said to them trying to get the point across.

  “Well I don't even know you so I'm getting in my car and leaving,” the Elf responded, broke away from the crowd to head towards the garage entrance. “Okay, if anyone else wants to try it, go ahead. But you'll be an easy target,” Shane said and walked towards the glass doors, opened them.

  There was no one in the streets waiting for them but the sun was just beginning to disappear behind the buildings making it even colder.

  “It looks clear, we should go now,” Shane added as he stepped outside still being careful.

  Melissa followed him out the door, “If you're coming, now would be the time to do it, don't just stand there,” she called back to them and they began to shuffle their way forward reluctantly.

  “Move faster than that,” Melissa said into the building and the group started to pick up their pace. “Lead the way home, I'll stick to the back to make sure no one gets lost,” Shane said to her and Melissa started to walk down the street. “Fine, but just make sure you don't get lost, too,” she replied to him and started to walk down the street, keeping close to the buildings.

  “No worries, I'll be fine,” he replied and waited as everyone walked by, keeping an eye out for anything. It didn't take very long until everybody was out of the building, Tolx had the same idea and was the last one out of the building. The two of them walked together.

  “So, Shane, what do you normally do, are you a member of some special operations like Lion unit, something like that?” Tolx asked him trying to make sense of this. Shane sighed the cold bit into him but strangely not as bad as it did when all of this first started, maybe he was getting used to it.

  “I'm a dishwasher, now you should learn to keep quiet, noise attracts the enemy,” Shane replied and Tolx just laughed to himself, not believing a word that Shane said. Right now Shane didn't feel like a dishwasher at all. The strange whip coiled around his arm felt alive, it also gave him hope he might live to see what ever end this situation was going to have.

  Melissa raised her right hand and the group took it to mean stop, because she did. In the distance they could hear the sound of screaming and the color of prismatic flames coming around the corner. Melissa readied her bow carefully, pulled the string back creating a green shaft of light on the string. She walked around the corner to see a flaming person setting a car on fire with purple fire, there was a screaming Elf on the inside.

  “Hey, sparky, over here,” she said and took aim. The second the thing turned she fired, not giving it a chance to do anything. The green arrow of energy flew and tore right through this thing's chest. It dropped to the ground on its knees and started screaming. A few seconds later it slumped forward and appeared to die as the purple fire did.

  The dead body exploded as slivers of green light poured out in every direction into the air and curved back towards where the rest of the fire possessed people must have been.

  “Why did it do that?” Was all she could say as the Elf climbed out of the passenger side door and ran past her back towards where the group was that he'd abandoned a short time ago without even a thought to saying thanks for the rescue. She ignored him, then the dots connected in her mind. She realized what had just happened. “What have I done?” she asked herself.

  Arket was riding her spinning column of rainbow fire when she looked into the sky only to see countless points of green light coming in her direction. Before she could destroy them or had a chance to react she watched as these dark green arrows homed in on her minions from what appeared to be in all directions.

  “What is this?” Arket asked in confusion as she watched her entire army get impaled by the attack, their flames going out a second after they were struck, then their bodies crumbling to dust. She instantly knew who it had to have come from.

  The flames on her body turned red and black as she took off into the sky, from the direction where the attack came from, seething with rage at what happened.

  “Guys, get to Vasaria, now,” Melissa said to the group in a panicked tone. She forgot just how destructive her weapon was. “Why, I thought you were going to lead us there,” someone in the group replied.

  “Plans changed, run as fast as you can and don't stop for anyone. Arket is going to be coming here. I made a horrible mistake,” she replied and those words sent an unnatural chill down everyone's spine, even Shane's.

  The group started to walk past her. “I said run damn it, get out of here as fast as you can,” Melissa said in a frightened almost angry voice, she didn't even want to think about what she just did and it was enough to get them to start running. Shane didn't know what to think but he did know that without them, they stood no chance.

  Shane walked up beside her and saw the pile of familiar looking ashes in front of the burning car.

  “You did a bad thing, didn't you,” Shane said to her. “Yes, I forgot to focus and I targeted all of Arket's minions instead of just this one,” she replied to him. “Let's hide, she—“Melissa cut him off.

  “After what I did she'll burn down the whole kingdom down just looking for us, it's best for me to just stay here and accept it,” she said to him. “Great, we'll try and hold her off as best as we can, sounds like a plan but I think we're going to die,” Shane said to her and held her free hand without even thinking about it.

  “Well, I guess if we have to die, we'll do it together,” Melissa replied to him. It was then that Arket appeared in the sky above them, descending as if she was a comet of black and red fire given life. “I didn't want to live forever anyway,” Shane said and uncoiled his whip with his free hand.

  Arket landed on the ground, the street melted as she touched it. Any cold was wiped out by being in her presence.

  “You are the one who killed all of my children, why did you do that?” Arket asked them with a voice calmer than they expected and started walking in their direction. “I didn't mean to, it's this weapon, I forgot that it does what it did and made a mistake,” Melissa answered her honestly.

  Arket didn't care what the reason was and raised her right hand in their direction. “I'm going to burn you in such a way that not even the gods will be able to put you back together,” Arket said in a voice filled with quiet rage. Shane took action and swung his whip, Wither extended and wrapped around her wrist, it immediately began drawing her black and red flames away from her.

  She looked at this thing, grabbed and pulled it forward with enough power to rip Shane off his feet and straight towards her. Shane refused to let go of his end and even though he hit the ground like he did, the pain was minimal as Wither was transferring the energy right into him, energizing him at the same time.

  “This thing is a leech, I don't know where you got it but I don't think it's from this world. It's not strong enough to save you from me,” Arket said to him and lit him on fire with a blast with her left hand with blood red flames.

/>   Shane thought he would scream, be in agony, but Wither was draining her energy and giving it right back to him. The fire wasn't even burning his clothes, he stood up slowly.

  “Oh, it's doing pretty good so far,” Shane replied and punched Arket in the face with more strength than he'd ever had before. She reeled back, but Shane followed her.

  “I'm going to strangle you with this whip, I'm going to kill you,” Shane said and Arket's own fire went into his eyes. Melissa watched this and became scared because she could see what was happening.

  “Shane you've got to let go, it's dangerous,” she tried to say but her words were ignored as Shane, with more agility that he ever had before, maneuvered around and got the whip around Arket's neck. He began to squeeze. Surprising Arket she began to lose strength and fell to her knees.

  “I am going to regret this later,” Melissa said, pulled the string back and fired, this time focusing on what she was doing.

  The explosion knocked them away from one another and both of them to the ground. “Why did you do that, I could have killed her and been done with it,” Shane screamed at her as he stood up, he was still on fire while Arket was still having trouble getting up.