by A.L. Svartz
Chapter Twelve
The Final Face-Off
The blue sparkly mist that recently consumed Umbra appeared in front of the three slots that the Shadow Necklaces were originally forged in. It quickly morphed into an outline of Umbra before he eventually appeared in a solid form. He laid one hand on the ground, hanging his head down, letting his black hair block his line of sight. The drops of rain that landed on Umbra cleaned off parts of him.
"Where are you?" He mumbled under his breath. Not moving his head, he rolled his eyes around, trying to pinpoint Vog's location.
The area was deathly silent. Umbra was waiting for Vog to make the first move.
"I've been expecting you Shadow Keeper," Vog's voice said inside of Umbra's head. It was very loud and clear. Umbra shut his eyes as Vog continued to talk. "In a few moments, the Two Worlds will finally be free from the Shadows. Stories will be told of this day. And I will go down in history as Vog: The Shadow Slayer! Give up now, and you may still be able to walk away with your life."
"Enough!" Umbra shouted. He opened his eyes back up. Standing back up, Umbra continued to search the skies for Vog.
The sound of what seemed like a cannonball being fired was heard from behind Umbra. Everything happened so fast, but in Umbra's head, seemed like everything was in slow motion. A large, erupting ball of fire came hurdling towards Umbra. With his quick reflexes, Umbra turned around and held up both of his arms, revealing the cuffs that he had obtained before. He formed an "x" with his arms, making sure that the ball of fire would strike the cuffs. As the ball of fire was mere feet from Umbra, he swung his arms out. With the cuffs hitting the ball of fire, it separated it in two, both halves dodging Umbra. The two severed balls of fire continued soaring away from the chamber. He waved around his arms as smoke was all around him.
"Is that all you've got Vog?!" Umbra yelled. He paced back and forth, still trying to find out where Vog was.
"Stee!" Vog yelled in Umbra's head. "That snake!"
"That's right!" Umbra responded out loud. "Stee helped me even out the playing field. I'm just as big as a threat to you as you are to me now."
Another abrupt sound came. Umbra quickly turned to see another ball of fire heading right towards him. Again he formed his arms in an "x" position, and just before the ball of fire made contact with him, he swung his arms out. This time, the ball of fire disappeared completely instead of splitting apart.
"Face me!" Umbra shouted, his voice echoing around him.
"Not a chance!" Vog shouted back, this time not inside Umbra's head. "Why take the chance when The Dark Sun only has a few more moments of shining? I'm going to rid the Two Worlds of the Shadows once and for all! It ends now!"
Umbra turned and looked up at The Dark Sun. He could see it slowly descending over the horizon. Snapping his head back, he continued his search for Vog in the skies. He could see him in the corner of his eye, but he mysteriously vanishes every time he glances over.
"There's no use trying anymore Shadow Keeper! Those cuffs are nothing more than for you to defend yourself with. I'm on the offense."
"Then I guess it's time to switch sides," Umbra mumbled.
Umbra caught Vog from the corner of his eye again. As he spun himself around, he finally faced him. Vog was floating in front of the chamber. With his strange bone staff in his hand, Umbra instantly recognized the necklace he wore.
"Shadow," Umbra whispered under his breath.
"Yes Umbra, I'm wearing your Shadow," Vog said. "And it feels good knowing that the destroyer of my entire kind is hanging around my neck."
Vog then pointed his bone staff directly at Umbra. The screaming mouth of the skull on top lit up with a fiery orange glow. A large ball of fire erupted out of the skull, the force pushing Vog farther away from the chamber.
Umbra stood in shock. The flaming ball of fire could be seen in Umbra's eyes. He quickly fought his way out the shocked stance he was in. After taking a few steps forward, Umbra then began to start running. As the two came closer together, Umbra suddenly leaped off the ground. He stuck his two arms out as he spun around in the air. As his arms came back around, the cuffs struck the ball of fire, sending it in the opposite direction it was originally going, heading straight back to Vog. Umbra landed back down with one hand on the ground. He looked up to see the ball of fire hurdling towards Vog.
Vog was in complete shock as he saw his offensive attack being deflected back to him. It was too late for him to block the attack. The ball of fire struck Vog dead in the chest, the fire erupting all around him.
Umbra was hopeful that his attack put Vog away. Standing back up, he tried to see a body fell down from the cloud of black smoke. But to his surprise, nothing fell. Even when the smoke cleared, nothing was revealed to be inside of it. Umbra knew that once again, Vog had escaped.
"Alright, where'd you go now?" Umbra wondered. He searched the skies again, trying to find where Vog slipped off to.
Umbra walked over to the ledge, just to make sure that Vog wasn't down there. As he peered over the ledge, Vog flew up in front of him. They both looked into each other's eyes. Neither one was afraid of the other.
With one quick motion, Vog grabbed at Umbra's throat. The feeling of soft human flesh in his hand made Vog seem more in control. He slowly tightened his grasp as Umbra tried to push off his large hand.
"You may not know it, but to the Shadow, you are just an innocent pawn," Vog said. "You're nothing more than a living meat puppet to them. And if you don't realize it now, you will soon."
Umbra struggled to breathe as his face grew red. He kept trying to swallow, but Vog's grasp prevented him from doing so.
"Even though you are innocent in all of this, you are still in my way. I am so close in restoring peace to the Two Worlds. The only thing preventing peace is this necklace. The Shadows."
Dark spots started to clutter Umbra's vision. He hardly kept himself conscious. His necklace kept dangling around Vog's neck every time he spoke. Umbra mostly paid attention to the necklace, barley listening to Vog's words.
"Are you even listening to me boy?!" Vog yelled, tightening his grasp on Umbra's neck even more. He dug his claws into Umbra's flesh. "The world is a lot more kinder to those who listen."
Umbra's response to Vog's question was a squirt of blood that he spat at him. The blood splattered across Vog's face, but it quickly burned off.
"That was your last shot at me," Vog said. He tightened his grasp even more, this time trying to collapse Umbra's throat. "When I'm finished with you, ask your uncle if he remembers me."
As he barley remained conscious, Umbra could not keep his eyes off the dangling necklace. He quickly reached for it, grabbing the pendent, tearing the necklace clean off Vog's neck.
"Nnnooo!" Vog yelled as he threw Umbra on the ground. As he fell to the ground, the necklace slipped out of Umbra's hand, landing on the other edge of the chamber.
Umbra scrambled to get up, holding his throat as it was throbbing in pain. He still had trouble breathing. Crawling on his hands knees, Umbra struggled not to collapse.
Vog levitated up and over Umbra, heading towards the necklace. As he went down to grab at the necklace, Umbra lunged at it, snatching the necklace off the ground, going over the ledge with it. Vog flew down to where the necklace was. He looked over the ledge as he watched Umbra plunge to his death.
The force of the wind pushing up at Umbra's face made it hard for him to see. He looked at the necklace, quickly putting it on, hoping that it would work. As he put it on, he saw that The Dark Sun barley poked out over the horizon. He then looked down, noticing that he wasn't far from the ground below him.
He kept imagining that wings would sprout from his back and he would fly back up. His eyes were tossing back and forth between The Dark Sun and the ground. Any minute now The Dark Sun would vanish. But would it be a minute too late?
"Come on! Come on!" Umbra yelled over the wind as he grabbed the pen
dent of necklace. He kept looking at it, waiting for it to glow. "Come on! Hurry up!" He furiously shook the necklace around, hoping it would work by doing so.
Vog continued to watch Umbra fall from above. He was patiently waiting for Umbra to hit the ground so he could retrieve the necklace with ease.
For once in Umbra's life, something went his way. The necklace suddenly lit up, and so did Umbra's eyes. Color had splashed back on to the surface of the Earth. Not wasting anymore time, Umbra sprouted two wings out the side of his arms. Two more wings ripped through his jeans, sprouting out the back of his legs. He stretched out his arms and legs, now heading face first towards the ground.
Vog saw that the necklace was back in working action. He quickly sent down a ball of fire at Umbra.
Just as Umbra was about to make contact, he pulled his arms and legs back and up, letting him skim across the bottom of the ground. The ball of fire continued to head down, exploding when it hit the bottom surface.
Vog watched in anger as again his plans were foiled. He now had to face the Shadow Keeper with his powers fully regained. "Two can play at this game," Vog announced. He let out a wail before two large boney wings came out of his back again. "Let's catch a Shadow!" Vog jumped off the ledge, darting over to where Umbra was.
As Umbra still skimmed across the bottom of the ground, the front of his body facing up, Vog quickly swooped in. He came down close to Umbra, hovering right above him as the two were skimming across the land. Both were intensely staring at one another.
Vog suddenly swung down his boney staff, the tip striking Umbra in the chest. The swing sent him tumbling down to the ground. Umbra bounced around on the dirt ground, eventually stopping.
Umbra slowly stood up, dusting off his knees as he watched Vog continue to fly ahead, do a flip, then head back towards him. As he landed, he stomped his two feet on the ground. "That's it!" Vog yelled. "I'm tired of chasing you! I've been hunting you Shadows for decades! This is where it all ends! Boy, if you're smart enough, you'd hand that necklace over to me right now, and end all this for good."
"From your point of view, you think you are doing a justice, but from mine, you're doing a crime," Umbra said. "If you want this necklace, you'll come get it yourself. I am neither your pawn, nor the Shadows. I follow my own path." Umbra then swung his arm down, a dark sword appearing in his hand.
Vog pointed his staff at Umbra, firing off another ball of fire at him. Umbra quickly brought his wrists together, the ball of firing striking the cuffs, evaporating away. He swung his wrists away, mixing around the smoke the ball of fire created. Once the smoke cleared, Vog had again disappeared from Umbra's sight.
Umbra jumped up into the air, slightly flapping his arms and legs to keep him afloat. He then flew back up to the top of the chamber. As he landed, the wings he had sprouted vanished into a dark smoke.
"You can't win," Vog's voice said in Umbra's head. Umbra spun around circles as he heard Vog's voice speaking to him in all different directions. He kept shouting things like "the Shadows are done" and "a boy like you can't kill a warrior like me".
Umbra covered his ears as he continued to spin around, yelling "shut up".
"Umbra, do not let him get to you," Shadow said. "We have the advantage now, and he is trying to take it away from us."
Umbra stopped spinning and closed his eyes. He took in a few heavy, deep breaths. As he opened his eyes, the voices in his head ceased.
Vog suddenly swooped down, landing firmly in front of Umbra. Umbra swung his sword up at Vog, who swung down his staff. The two weapons clashed together and they were both at an even standoff.
They both glared into each other's eyes. "Just release boy," Vog said as he struggled to keep his stance. "It will be a lot less painful than you think if you just release."
Umbra's lips trembled. He kept his eyes locked with Vog's. "I'm not that easy to get rid of," Umbra said. He then pushed with all his might, knocking Vog off balance, sending him to the ground.
Vog landing hard on the ground. His staff came out of hand, landing longways beside him. Umbra hung over his, waving his sword around. He then aimed the sword at Vog's throat, getting ready to break through the boney armor.
As Umbra was just about to end the Shadow Hunter's right then and there, a sudden sense overcame him. He fell on one knee, dropping the sword, letting it disappear. As he struggling to breath, the shadow that hung under him suddenly attached itself onto Umbra. The dark mass slithered up his body, covering Umbra in all black. Two small cuts of yellow eyes were visible on his face. The new being that stood over Vog was no longer Umbra.
"Pity that you, the great Shadow Hunter, has fallen," the dark being said in a hissy voice. When it spoke, the inside of its mouth was all white, letting the jagged black teeth be shown.
Vog instantly recognized who had taken over Umbra. "Shadow, I thought I would never speak with you again."
"The last time we spoke, we were in a similar position, except for the sound of your people burning in the background."
"You monster!" Vog yelled. He reached for his staff, but Shadow instantly stomped in the middle of it, snapping it in half. A faint puff of smoke came out the mouth of the skull that was at the tip of the staff.
"I don't think you'd be needing that any longer," Shadow said as he wagged his finger in Vog's face. "With you out of the way, everything will fall into place."
"So I guess you haven't told the boy about your true intentions," Vog said.
"There are a few parts I might of left out when I explained myself to him in the beginning. But none the less, everything is falling into my favor." Shadow stood up nice and tall.
"He will eventually find out. You can't keep this secret away from the boy for much longer!"
"Oh I know. And when he does find out, I won't be needing his assistance any longer. But for now, it's best that I only know what's going on."
"He's just your personal puppet now," Vog said.
"That's exactly right," Shadow hissed. He then let out a disturbing yell before raising a claw, pouncing down on Vog's face. As his claw lodged into Vog's skin, he quickly yanked it off, pulling out a faint smoke that died out with the wind. Vog's body jolted up for a second before laying back down.
Shadow stood back up nice and tall. He was very proud that he took care of one less problem.
"We're almost there," Shadow said as he looked up at the sky, noticing that The Dark Sun was no longer out. "Now, nothing stands in our way."
Shadow released himself from Umbra. The dark mass that was on Umbra slithered off. Once Shadow had fully formed back into his two-dimensional self, Umbra passed out, falling to the ground beside the dead Shadow Hunter.
