“Ah! Damn it! Why did you have to act all tough like that? It was killing you this whole time and you didn’t say a thing!” Emil’s voice flared with anger as he watched the life drain from her body.
“I-I wanted to help,” Marona whispered as she lay incased in Emil’s arms, struggling to breathe.
“Calm yourself, Emil,” Omari chimed in. “Because of her, you live.”
Emil looked down at the resting girl in his arms, speechless from the revelation given by his new comrade.
“Give her to me. There is nothing that we can do for her here, but my sister, she can treat her.”
“Right.” Emil gently transferred her body over to Omari, careful not to trigger anything else in her frail condition. “Thank you.”
For what?
A jolt of pain echoed in his head; a warm welcome from the intruder of his thoughts. Silvia. Grasping his head, he fell to his knees as he yelled in agony. “Omari! Go! It’s Silvia!”
“I’ll be back!” A gust of wind washed over Omari, and instantly, Emil was alone.
From the foliage, Silvia emerged, stretching out her hand as she continued to break Emil. “You really didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you, Emil?”
“H-how did you find me?”
Silvia briefly chuckled, amused by the naive nature of his question. “Have you not forgotten? I’m in your head, silly boy. It was a stretch from this range, I admit, but with the crystal planted in your friend’s leg, it was more than enough to track down your position.”
Emil struggled to rise to his feet but Silvia thwarted his efforts.
“Down, boy.” The piercing sound of a constant screech ripped through his mind, rendering him incapable to move as she marched closer. “I’ve been toying with you for too long, but now that I’ve had my fun, it’s time to send you on your way.”
Before she could reach Emil, a black flash spontaneously appeared in front of the crystal queen. From the void, Omari dived through, leading with a punch that carried the weight of his body. A sharp crash echoed through the forest as his fist collided with the crystal shroud that formed to protect her face.
She’s strong...
With Omari’s body still suspended in mid-air, Silvia produced a spire from her chest in an attempt to impale him. Before it could pierce his flesh, Omari warped to her backside and delivered a swift side kick that was painfully nullified by a crystal pillar that materialized in front of him. A dull boom echoed from the impact, causing a tremor to run through the earth as the pillar dented in and gave way.
And quick with her defenses.
From the dented pillar, spikes emerged, but Omari evaded the counter attack, warping directly above her.
“Humph, predictable,” Silvia mocked.
As Omari’s body plunged from above, Silvia jumped back, dodging Omari’s overhead strike, and launched an offensive of her own. With a wave of her hand, a series of spires propelled from her arm towards him. Omari drew his knife before he teleported, appearing behind her a moment later. With his knife drawn, he slashed at the back of her neck with all his might, hoping to end her, but his sovereign blade shattered from the impact.
“Are you done yet?” Silvia exhaled as she turned to the shocked hero with a devilish smile plastered across her face.
In her eyes, there was only darkness.
Seeing that his attack did nothing to her, he distanced himself from her evil gaze, once again serving as the middle ground between her and Emil.
“Give me the boy and I’ll let bygones be bygones. I swear. We can put this all behind us and you can be on your merry way. Let’s be honest here...I’m out of your league. I’m the type of girl mommy told you to stay away from.”
Omari glanced back at Emil, who was a few yards behind him, trying his best to appear more capable than he was.
Come on Emil...I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.
“So, what will it be? Your life or your friend’s?”
“Explain to me why I would willingly give him over to a mob of murderers? Not only that, but a band of people who wouldn’t even blink at killing their own kind. What good could come of that? He’s better off dead than with you.”
“Oh, so you know who we are? Hm. Perhaps,” Silvia chuckled as she tossed her hair and walked closer to Omari. “But that isn’t your choice to make.” As she came closer, Omari dug his heels into the barren soil, readying himself for another round against the female member of Legion. “So just hand him over before it’s too late, kay?”
Omari scowled, partly at her proposal and partly at the wounds he had received in their brief battle. Carefully, he positioned his bodyweight onto his strong leg to alleviate the numbing sensation that ran through his shin where he last struck her defenses. Doing a quick mental check of his body’s condition, he assessed just how bad he was injured and how long he had before the numbness would spread to the rest of his body. His legs, though steady, felt anchored to the ground. Both of his fists suffered the same numbness that slowed his movements. Underneath his frayed black gloves, he could feel the tingling sensation resonating from his knuckles—the aftermath from his first string of attacks.
“What’s wrong? Feeling a little sluggish?” Silvia said with a laugh.
Omari paid her no mind as he stretched his fingers before clenching them into a fist. Physical attacks don’t do anything to her. She’ll just counter with another pillar and do more damage to me.
“Emil, how much more time do you need?” Omari called out to him, still facing the diva as she confidently strutted towards the both of them. Emil rose to his feet and gripped the handle of his sword tightly, sending a stream of crackling blue energy down his blade.
“Doesn’t matter. She has to die or we do.”
The ends of Silvia’s lips turned upwards into a cheeky grin when her eyes locked with Emil’s. “Oh, coming back for more after your little break? As if beating you senseless wasn’t enough.” Silvia stopped her march, amused by the young hero’s tenacity.
“You hit like a bitch. Numb anyone and surround them with scythe-wielding freaks and you’re sure to have the advantage.” Emil scowled.
“Charming...but you don’t look so well. All bark but no bite, my dear.”
“I could say that for you, as well. That last little trick you played on me wasn’t nearly as strong as it was before. You put up a good front, but all that energy you’re expending has to come from somewhere. The mist, the manifestations, all of that came from you. I’ve put it all together.” Emil smirked. I first noticed a dip in your power after I cleared the first wave of minions. It probably didn’t matter because at that point you thought you had me. Even now, I’ve been watching you...only counter attacking and never going for the kill, even though you claim to be superior.” Emil’s sword hung loosely from his hand, the energy that bled into his sword illuminating the ground he covered as he regrouped by Omari’s side. “Compared to Hugo, you’re nothing. You even used numbers and we’re still standing.”
“If that’s what you believe, then try your luck,” Silvia scoffed, her air of confidence seemingly remaining unfazed.
“Omari, you ready?” Emil asked with his opposition still locked in his sight. From his peripherals, he saw Omari nod, signaling that he was ok to go. “Like I said, she’s used a lot of her energy already, but we don’t know how much she had in the first place. She could be stronger, but there are two of us now. If she overextends and leaves herself vulnerable, she’s done for.”
“Right. I’ll try my best to create an opening for you. I lack the ability to manipulate energy like yourself, so the most I can do is distract her. Just be careful. Contact with her crystals releases that same poison you dealt with before. It doesn’t have to cut you to be viable, it seems, even without her fog, it’s crippling.”
“And you’ll be ok?”
“With the both of us, I’ll live. If I distract her, you can finish her.”
“Good. We’ll atta
ck from both sides, and I’ll look for your opening.” The blue energy that circumvented around Emil’s blade washed over his body as his eyes pierced into the soul of the femme fatale. The smirk she wore only grew as Emil’s eye contact intensified, almost as if she was pleased with his seething hate.
In the mutual silence, Omari vanished from beside Emil and materialized in mid-air directly in front of Silvia’s face with his fist drawn, blocking her vision. Immediately, she fired a slew of spires in his direction while simultaneously gliding backwards on a sheet of crystal she manifested underneath her feet. Before the spires were able to make contact, Omari warped away, leaving a shining wave of blue light in his shadow.
“What!?” Out of desperation, Silvia summoned a wall of crystal from the earth to intercept Emil’s ranged attack. The blanket of energy he projected slammed into her barrier, sending a multitude of cracks across the jagged transparent surface. A flash of blinding light emitted from the core of the collision as Silvia’s barrier stubbornly held and ultimately nullified his attack. Where did he go? Her minor victory was short lived at the realization that she had lost sight of the one who sought to kill her. Still dashing backwards, she scanned her surroundings, looking for the light bearer.
“Looking for me?”
A cold, creeping chill reminiscent of death itself coursed through her body as she heard Emil’s voice grimly call out to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him rapidly approaching her. The dried blood caked along his face and on his clothes gave no evidence to his fighting spirit. The blows he had endured seemed to no longer ail him. Like a demon, his eyes pierced deeply into her soul, feeding off the fear he knew she felt.
This is it, Emil thought as he closed in on her in her moment of weakness. The blue hue around his blade intensified in tandem with the cloak of energy that surrounded him as he grew closer to his target. This is for all of them. For everyone!
“Rahh!!!” The crackling blade cleaved through a mass of crystal, but it wasn’t Silvia’s body. Mere inches from herself, Silvia created a barrier at the last second, stopping Emil’s pursuit and negating his attack. The crystal wall that he tore into gave way, buckling inward in an attempt to incase itself over his wrist and sword. Emil struggled to break free, but the crystal quickly formed a mold that locked him to the base of the pillar. Once the hold was secure, Emil observed a series of tiny nodes beginning to form from the pillar’s surface. Damn it! Not like this! Knowing what came next, Emil fed another stream of energy through his body and kicked off the base of the wall, breaking himself free from the crystal and launching himself into the air, narrowly avoiding the spires that jutted out to get him. The smile on Silvia’s face resurfaced as she continued to back away from the duo on the blanket of crystal glazed beneath her feet.
As Emil drifted in mid-air, his sights remained focused on the counterattack he had just avoided—completely unaware of the crystal specter that was rapidly approaching him from above. Why is she smiling?
“Emil, look out!” With a running start, Omari warped to the side of the beast, intercepting it before driving the hidden blade from his gauntlet into its neck. Emil landed squarely and met eyes with Silvia, who was now a formidable distance away from him.
Even from their joint efforts, she remained unscathed.
“Her defenses are solid, even with both of us on the offensive.” Omari appeared beside Emil, his breaths still slightly forced from his impromptu encounter with the crystal beast.
“She plans to draw this fight out as long as she can. From this point on, the longer we fight, the more of an advantage she’ll gain. Omari, how are your spirits?”
“If anything, it should be me asking you that question. You’ve been fighting longer than I have and your injuries are obvious.”
“If you want the honest truth, my head hurts like hell, at least three of my ribs are broken, and I’ve been cut into so many times that I lost count, but hey, now isn’t the time to get soft.” Emil clenched his jaw as he sunk into his fighting stance, preparing to re-engage Silvia once more. “If we stop her here, we both walk free.”
“Are we going to try the same strategy as before? She won’t fall for the same trick twice.”
“You’re right. The same trick won’t work twice, but the concept will do just fine. We rush her again with you working on an opening for me to finish her off. I don’t have enough in me to launch another ranged attack of that magnitude and still be effective, so I’ll focus on getting in range for a kill-shot. Just do what you can to keep her off me.” Another cloak of energy ignited over Emil’s body before condensing itself into a thin veil of light that radiated from him. “You ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Just follow my lead.” Emil kicked off the ground, ripping through the earth as he powered forward towards his foe. As Emil attempted to gain ground, Silvia began to dash away while simultaneously summoning walls and rooted spires from the ground to counter Emil’s progress. Come on, Omari! I can’t keep this up forever. Make your move! Emil thought as he dodged her array of traps, narrowly avoiding the combination of spikes, pillars, and spires that came his way.
“Rahh!” A hole in the atmosphere ripped open as Omari appeared and preemptively struck Silvia from behind, halting her movement. Fragments of what seemed like jagged flakes of crystal fell to the ground from where his shin met her backside. A pulse of pain ran through Silvia’s body, momentarily stunning her as the air escaped from her lungs.
It did damage? Omari thought as he hovered in air at the point of impact. The combined force from opposite sides must have been just enough to hurt her in her current state...Emil was right. She was bluffing.
“Peasant! I don’t have time to deal with you!” Silvia screamed as she flung her fist at the side of Omari’s face, drawing blood and sending him back several yards, shooting through the air. As he traveled, Silvia shot a crystal past Omari that evolved into a specter ahead of Omari’s projected path. “Now die!”
Damn it! I’m too far way. I won’t make it in time. “Omari!” Emil yelled as he rushed in, taking advantage of the temporary cease fire.
“Emil, Now!” Before the specter’s scythes could tear through his skin, Omari disappeared into a void of his creation.
I see, so you used yourself as bait, even knowing the risk. Thank you, Omari, Emil concluded.
As Omari faded away, Emil dashed at full speed towards Silvia, his charged blade in hand, wielding the pain of the loved ones he’d lost.
The boy! Over her shoulder, a set of widened eyes scanned to find Emil who was now rapidly approaching her. Again their eyes met, only now, she saw her own death.
“Rahh!”
A blue streak of ravaging light trailed Emil as he cut through the side of Silvia, separating her torso from her body. Unable to stop after the impact, his body skidded across the ground, tearing through the earth until he came to a tumbling halt.
Without turning back, he knew that she was dead. The blood-stained blade that lay next to him served as a testament of her demise. Beside him, a small rift appeared in the atmosphere and instantly Omari was by his side.
“It’s over,” Omari said as he towered over the hero who was now on his hands and knees. Omari then reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but upon gazing at Emil, his hand slowly receded to his side.
Between Emil’s palms, a stream of water droplets fell to earth, drenching the soil. Unable to hold back his emotions, Emil wearily stood to his feet and cried out to the heavens as energy began to flow freely through him. He channeled all of his anguish into an audible form that pierced through the heavens and caused the ground beneath him to shake. Unsure of what to do, Omari watched soberly, at a loss to console Emil as his heart openly bled.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Emil fell to his knees and struck the earth with his illuminated fist.
Another empty victory—no matter what he did, he knew the ones who died because of him would never come back.
> Chapter 11: Omari, the Saint of Everrmore
“So will she be ok?” Emil asked as he sat anxiously in the next room, waiting for Marona to come to.
“My sister is doing everything that she can. It’s best that we leave them be, Emil.” In front of Emil, Omari sat in an oversized chair, calm and collected as the crackling embers from the fireplace illuminated the side of his face. “When I brought her to Skye, her vitals were fine, only labored breathing. But that is to be expected. Don’t worry. She’ll be safe here. Though it seems to me that you care for her life more than you do your own. From what she told me, you almost died saving her, running openly into death’s arms. Even now you fail to rest. I know that in time she will be okay, but will you?”
“I-I just wanted to see if the people who had taken me in, survived. They were so kind to me, they were like family.” The words poured out of Emil as his eyes gazed at the wooden floorboards in front of him. “After the initial attack on my village, I knew deep down that they made it out... I just had to find them. So, I searched and that was when I found Marona.”
Omari leaned slightly forward in his seat, looking over the pyramid he formed with his hands. “And what happened then?”
“I was already drained from my battle with Hugo, another member of Legion, when I found her. One of the guards was...trying to have his way with her. I stopped him by taking his life and got stabbed in the process. I had no intention of dying that day. More than anything, I just wanted to make sure that they were safe as well as anyone else who was involved with the fire.”
“I see...”
“After that, I passed out, waking a few days later. I didn’t know where I was, but I knew she had saved me. I asked her to take me back to the village and she agreed.”
“Back to where you fought Hugo? But wouldn’t the search party already be en route by then?”
“Yes. Legion is good with recon, so I took precautions. We took the back roads. After I got my bearings, I told her to turn back. Despite my warning, she stayed. After hearing everything that happened...my story, she wanted to help in any way possible, especially after she found out what happened to Edward Harlan, her uncle. He died by the hands of Hugo, one of the members of Legion. Mr. Harlan, along with a few others from the village, were the reason that I was able to kill him. They gave their lives as a distraction so that I could have an opening.”
The Last Light Series Omnibus One: - The Dreamer and the Deceiver - All Things Eternal - Ode to the King: A Superhero Epic Fantasy Collection (The Last Light Collection Book 1) Page 7
