The Challenger

by Harlon Banks

  The flames crackled across the darkness, giving off very little light from their silver base. Liariana standing back on her feet and cradling her left arm while quietly looking over the fires. Red eyes growing softer in their glow and her slit pupils reverting back to rounded base form as she shortly afterwards turned to walk away. Her feet dragging across the ground as her insides hurt now, more than she ever remembered before after using those cursed flames.

  "The Yelkath are cursed with a natural affinity for the Dark Arts. It is the last of the three traits that make us so dangerous aside from our combat prowess and visual powers. You though, Liariana..." That voice replayed in her head from a memory, making her sick to her stomach as she now stood before the pedestal holding the glass cube containing the red and black inscribed sphere. Her features expressing no outwards emotions despite the anger at the voice in her head that welled within. Reaching her hand out to pick up the artifact, clipping it in a small bag on her waist and turning to take her leave, casting one last glance at the direction she heard her fires crackling in the dim silver light. Her eyes glowing brightly a moment, scanning the area for his aura signature. No signs of Jonath, she had completed her mission.

  A few more passing moments and she lowered her arm from her left side. Whatever backlash she'd gotten from using those flames seemingly having healed over with her regeneration ability. Lowering her head and not saying another word, she made her way back to the wall to scale it and escape this long forgotten city by her lonesome. Draven would get what he wanted, and she'd promptly kill him once he destroyed all the evidence he said he had.

  "To think the women who despises her bloodline the most possesses one of the most sinister abilities, isn't irony grand? Those black and silver flames, something even more potent than Hellfire belongs to the very woman who wishes she weren't born a Yelkath. Hilarious!" That voice rang in her ears again. Her lips twisting into a frustrated and pained growl.

  "The more you use your powers, the more hypocritical you become. I'll be looking for you soon, so run! Run away like the scared little girl you always were!" That distorted voice giggled in her mind. Liariana simply staying quiet and keeping her head low as red eyes stared at the ground while she walked.

  "I'll be hunting you next." She affirmed to herself.

  Crying Wolf

  The Challenger Chapter Nineteen - Crying Wolf

  A cool night breeze greeted Liariana's face as she stepped out back among the surface world. Inhaling deeply the fresh air into her lungs while red eyes looked around at the nightly forest and the ever luminous moon above. Her gaze turning one last time to look over her shoulder down the stone stairs that brought her underground; features obscured of any visible emotions about what had went down in that abandoned city. Another gentle breeze sways bangs of black across her features, and she turned to take her leave of this place. Hand reaching in her pocket to remove the compacted wire bird and holding it up to the distortion barrier to open it again; she'd step beyond the force field and be free at last. That golden wired creature turning to dust shortly afterwards once it allowed her passage and scattering to the wind.

  She breathed out, and started heading back to the city in silence.

  Ring... Ring... Ring...

  Her footsteps ceased not two minutes into her return to Luminous City upon the all too annoying ring of her phone, already knowing who it was. Bandaged hand sliding into her pocket she'd pull out the black and teal smart phone and press the unlock button on its upper right side while looking at the name stamped across the screen in big white letters with disgust.

  Draven...

  Staring at the device a few moments longer; hoping that if she ignored it he'd give up. Though it was easy to see that wasn't going to happen given once the ringing stopped he called again. Taking a breath to calm the quiet agitation welling in her body, she swiped to answer and pressed it to her right ear.

  "What." She said curtly and cold. The disgust in her voice subtle yet at the same time noticeable all the same.

  Meanwhile...

  The black and silver flames had long ceased to burn, char marks all across the stone walls and ground. No light emanating at all within the darkness anymore, just pure black in every direction. Silence and darkness all around... all around...

  There was a coughing noise amidst the silence... Jonath suddenly gasping for air as he collapsed on the ground unable to see anything at all in this inky blackness. His breathing quiet yet heavy as fatigue settled in his muscles and he felt like he weighed a ton. Glowing crescent hued eyes staring at what he thought was the ceiling; in this darkness he didn't know where left from right was let alone up and down. His appearance having reverted back to its original way much to his ignorance as well.

  "That... was close... too close..." He breathed calming himself while eyes closed to take another brief rest. There was something wet under his left eye that stained his cheek, was it blood? Tears? He didn't know now... All he knew was that he were alive. Rolling over to his front in a prostrated position, he coughed again before pulling himself to his feet. Staggering backwards a few steps almost losing his balance while holding his left arm. Groaning a bit in discomfort, he looked around in the darkness while recalling how he survived something that should've by all means killed him.

  The memory of him staring at those flames, when they exploded from the palm of Liariana's hand in a violent black and silver torrent towards him very vividly replayed in his head. Jonath having thought he were done for and could only bring his arms up to shield his face from the fires that soon washed over him. So many emotions swirling through his mind as death streamed closer and closer to him in the realistic span of a few seconds, but feeling as if it took ages to finally hit him. He remembered his eyes, particularly the left one leaking something wet from it down his face and it hurting extremely... unsure if it were blood...

  All he could think about was how he wanted to disappear and not get hit by those fires...

  Right before those sinister colored flames hit him Jonath felt coldness across his back. This coldness icy and silent like the most gentle touch of death itself were embracing him from behind and pulling him further within its deathly hug. His left arm burning up to the elbow when the flames hit, though this burning sensation wasn't conventional by any means; it felt...

  Aside from that one spot where the flames had managed to latch onto his flesh, the rest of his body felt icy cold, and extremely light for what felt like eons being stuffed into the span of a second or so. His sight succumbing to twisted darkness that sporadic sent sharp pains across the left eye and everything in that general area like pins and needles were being jammed into that eye.

  He suddenly hit the floor some distance behind Liariana; his collision with the ground muffled by the bang of the fire and the crackling noises it made over in the direction the Yelkath were still looking. Gritting his teeth at the dark flames dancing across his left arm; the pain they inflicted across his flesh was something incomprehensible. Even though it didn't burn like regular fire, and didn't even give off heat it felt as if his entire being were being destroyed by a virus. What made this feeling even more peculiar as well as excruciating was that his flesh showed no visible wounds... His eyes staring at the fires while right hand furiously tried to snuff them out and bring relief; something beyond physical happening to his body that made his heart sink.

  Jonath saw his own ghostly energy that flowed beneath the skin through his physical body with his aura vision, being burned away and damaged by the flames. This power from Liariana was literally burning away at his spirit completely ignoring the flesh.

  What the hell were these flames!?

  He wanted to scream, to scream so bad. Yet he knew if he did Liariana would know he escaped and quickly turn to blast him again. He had to be quiet, someway somehow he had to be quiet. The pain was unbearable, unlike anything he'd ever felt before as he felt his arm going numb for a moment and then? The flames extinguished themselves; Jona
th's own pale colored energy flushing in excess through his arm draining the rest of his body to violently repel the flames invasive power like the immune system aggressively fighting off infection. This sudden influx in energy taken from his core to repel the flames and extinguish them causing Jonath to promptly pass out immediately after the flames dissipated. Not waking up until Liariana had already left and thankfully never found out he survived.

  The memory fades, replaced by him now looking down at his left arm even though he couldn't see it in this black. Pale eyes looking upon flesh unscathed yet a tingling numb sensation very much clear in his arm from elbow down. Flexing his fingers into a fist and open position repeatedly to test muscle function, everything seemed normal. He raised his arm and outstretched it before him waving it through the air. Still no signs of any muscular or bone damage... So why did his arm feel numb? This was so annoying...

  His eyes began to glow, having been focusing on his arm so much once again activating that peculiar vision of his. Luminous eyes now seeing clearly the spiritual energy flowing through his arm in a bluish grey tinted coloration, the damage was clear as day now. The network of metaphysical nerves that flowed within his body around the part where those flames were lightly charred and cauterised across the entire surface of his limb below the elbow. A sigh of relief leaving his lips, the damage wasn't too severe. Sure as hell felt like it though all the same.

  "Guess it wasn't burning me long enough to do any permanent damage; I should be alright with time." He thought quietly while watching small almost insignificant streams of energy within the upper part of his arm slowly forcing themselves through burned and torn veins regenerating them. At the rate they were healing he could only guesstimate he'd have about a few days to a week of this numb feeling before it faded away. Regardless of that he focused on a more immediate problem presented before him.

  "I can't see a damn thing in this darkness... No doubt Izuna crushed my light gem I forgot to recover outside the cathedral-like the dumbass I am either." He sighed face palming annoyed and tilting his head back. "God I am such an idiot... Wait." He suddenly began rummaging through his back pocket and silently praised the gods when his hands withdrew his smart phone. Turning it on and grimacing when he saw the very badly damaged screen no doubt a product of all his encounters with the ground but whatever he had light now!

  "Of course it has no signal." He scoffed looking at the obvious lack of bars on the phone given he were underground. No phone calls would be made any time soon down here anyway. Pulling the drop-down menu out he quickly turned on the flashlight and never felt so relieved as he did now when that bright white light illuminated the old and burned cathedral hall. Shining the light all around the place looking at the burn marks spanning the direction of Liariana's blast and then the empty pedestal where the artifact once rested. Staring at the empty stand in silence with solemn eyes as he recalled Liariana saying she didn't have a choice with trying to kill him.

  That only raised the question of how exactly he should go about this upon returning to Luminous City. Shaking his head, not even stressing over trying to figure out all the stuff that's happened since he stepped foot in this wreck of a city Jonath started moving towards that fissure he and Liariana had come through earlier to leave. There was nothing else down here for him and he quite honestly didn't relish the thought of hanging around and getting ambushed by anything else down here either. Especially considering Liariana wasn't here to save him out of 'mercy' anymore.

  He just hoped this phone would last long enough for the flashlight to guide him back out of here. The small device was pretty banged and roughed up from all the hard impacts he'd suffered, it was a miracle it even managed to turn on.

  A while later...

  Dashing up the stairs and taking a deep breath of the cool fresh air of the surface world, Jonath slowed to a standstill and looked up at the sky relieved. Silver bangs swaying in the breeze and soft pale eyes closing as he embraced the calming winds of the infinite night around him. Never had he been so happy to be out in the wide open spaces of this forest before.

  "Ok... Now to call Jeremy." He muttered turning on his phone again. Before he did anything else, whether it go to the police or Wren or not even say anything about what happened and make something up on the fly he needed a second opinion. Especially considering Jeremy said that if Jonath attracted any trouble to himself he'd be thrown out on the street. Not even worth trying to hide it from the old geezer. The bars were showing in the upper right corner indicating cell phone service, good! Scrolling down the speed dial menu he tapped Jeremy's number and raised the phone to his ear as it started ringing.

  Ring... Ring... Bzzt!

  The young man lowered the phone, staring at the damaged device incredulously.

  "The hell!?" Jonath squinted at the static noise his phone made that sounded like someone just poured water on a circuit board. The cracked and damaged screen spazzing out as the flashlight turned off and the back of his phone felt really hot causing him to toss it away before it conveniently burst into flames mid-air and snuffed out before it hit the ground. The amnesic standing there in disbelief... His eyes just staring at the singed electronic on the ground half hidden in the tall grass as he just went speechless.

  "... Are you fucking kidding me!? Seriously!? You couldn't hold on for five more fucking minutes!?" He cursed grabbing his silver-haired and groaning loudly as he pulled on it now pacing back and forth more than just irritated. Owls and crickets hooting across gentle breezes that swayed grass and trees all around; Jonath just so done with tonight he couldn't even help but laugh at his bad luck.

  "Whatever... Just whatever." He shook his head not even about to waste what little energy he had on stressing over a damaged phone. It was a miracle it even operated as long as it did getting him up here anyway. Disregarding the bad luck he were having Jonath walked up to the ward around the temple ruins and was about to reach his hand out to pierce its veil when he stopped suddenly. Remembering Wren saying that the wire bird were needed to enter and exit the wards safely. Now breaking down into a despairing laugh as he just shook his head and started pacing.

  "Of course I can't get out..." He scoffed to himself with a shake of his head. Trapped inside an energy barrier that'd slowly peel the flesh from his bones if he tried to force his way through and not having any way out or to call anyone for help. Jonath truly was in a bind he couldn't fathom how to escape from; as he were about to just start quietly sitting crissed crossed in the tall grass however... a small gleam caught his attention out the corner of his right eye a few meters away. Humming briefly to himself as the moonlight managed to gleam just right on whatever he were looking at that it sparkled again.

  He picked himself back up and slowly started walking towards the shimmering object. Eyes narrowed and wary and body moving just enough to barely make a sound as he inched closer and closer to the item through waist-high tall grass. Spiky silver bangs reflecting the moonlight with pale skin and colorless eyes giving his visage an eery appearance of its own. Like a Spectre moving across the quiet of the night...

  Jonath's eyes widened when he saw a small mass of bodies flesh picked clean and blackened bones; piled on top of one another nothing but skeletons dressed in college robes. The gleaming coming off one of the embroidery patterns across the fabrics. Immediately realizing the corpses belonged to the students Wren had talked about; that only made Jonath tense up even more...

  These bodies looked as if they were placed right here as a message to someone... There were no slash marks either so it wasn't those serpents he'd encountered down below that killed them. Slowly looking over his shoulder, Jonath stared back down at the stairs leading underground with ominous silence.

  Something else was down there... He really didn't want to stay trapped in this force field now. Eyes widening again when he realized something else that made him perk up with relief again and begin kneeling over the bodies searching them. They had to have something that got them in
the barrier when they died, hopefully they had something that could get him out. Not like they needed it anymore anyway.

  "... Ah!" His eyes lit up in their glow from the flux of emotion momentarily when he pulled off one of the corpses from within their pocket a small necklace housing a faintly glowing golden gem. The coloration reminding him of the wire birds glowing composition and quickly raising his hopes as he stood up and walked towards the magic barrier once again.

  "Please let this work... Please." He muttered holding the small irregular shaped crystal up to the distorted air before him, necklace raised over his head and offered out to the magical energy. At first nothing seemed to happen, Jonath simply staring at the barrier with silent frustration and almost simply dropped the necklace in defeat. However the humming of the crystal that graced his ears made his pupils contract with anticipation; the distorted air visibly churning and writhing more so than usual as he stared intensely. Come on... Come on...

  The force field collapsed in a small area in front of him, Jonath dashing through right as it closed a second after he were free and the glowing gem lost its light. He was free!