Brothers

by Viktor Zólyomi

  Oh brother... Why can't these two just shut up and silently kill each other? Why must I listen to such bullshit?

  `If you're asking which part of the dream was Mel', I'd say it was the fly, and you should have picked up the stack of paper and swatted her!' replies Zack. I knew they wouldn't shut up...

  `Don't talk about her like that, you asshole!' says Daniel.

  `I call her whatever the fuck I want. She's a bitch, and you know it!'

  `That's it! I'm going to kill you!'

  He runs towards him with his sword raised high, but before he could swing his sword, Zack drops to the ground and rolls towards him with remarkable swiftness. He trips Daniel, and the proud warrior falls face first onto the floor with quite a sound.

  Zack jumps up, and immediately strikes towards Daniel's right hand. The black sword cuts into the back of his hand, and Daniel lets out a painful yell. He drops his sword and rolls aside, grasping the wound with his left hand.

  Zack kicks Daniel's sword even further, and stands there, staring at his insane friend.

  `Give up, buddy! I got you disarmed.' he says. Daniel slowly stands up, and releases his bleeding hand. The wound doesn't seem too deep.

  `Disarmed, huh?' he asks, and then he runs towards Zack.

  The black magician looks at him surprised, and even forgets to raise his sword in defense. Daniel jumps on him and knocks him down. They roll on the floor for a while, until Zack somehow manages to get out of Daniel's grasp. The black magician jumps to his feet, and looks down at Daniel. He, too, jumps to his feet, and then runs after Zack. The wizard swings his black sword towards him, but he ducks away and grabs Zack. He grasps the wrist of Zack's sword wielding hand with his left and forces it to his side, so that the wizard cannot strike him with it. Then, he punches Zack in the nose.

  Zack groans in pain, and tries to get away. But Daniel is holding his wrist tightly. Zack punches him, but Daniel just laughs, and punches back. Clearly, Daniel's punches are much more powerful.

  After another well-placed punch to his nose, Zack shakes his head and tries to grab Daniel's right wrist. Daniel punches him again, but then he somehow grabs his insane friend's wrist. Surprisingly, he manages to force Daniel's hand down. He must be using magic to give himself more strength. I don't think Zack could normally do that...

  `I have this won, Danny Boy! I have a sword, you don't!' says Zack, laughing.

  `I don't need a sword to kick your ass, you weakling!' replies Daniel, and he tries to rip his hand free from Zack's grasp. He doesn't manage to do it, and he seems to be getting frustrated.

  `What's up, Danny Boy? Lost your touch? Has Mel' sucked the very life out of you, or what?'

  `That's it!' screams Daniel. `I'm gonna fucking kill you!'

  He pulls his head back, and then forcefully headbutts Zack.

  `Gonna ... fucking... kill you... Gonna... fucking... kill you... Gonna... fucking... kill... you!' he tells Zack, headbutting him pretty much after every word. After the last one, he lets him go and Zack stumbles backwards. He looks like he barely knows where he is. He takes a few steps, and then drops to the ground.

  Daniel stretches his neck, and takes a deep breath several times. Then he looks around. As he spots his sword, he goes there to retrieve it. Then he turns back to Zack, with his sword ready. Zack in the mean time slowly starts standing up.

  Daniel slowly steps closer and closer, while Zack is getting on his knees. He looks up at Daniel. He seems dazed.

  `You always sucked at brawling, Zack...' says Daniel, as he gets within a few feet of him. Zack nods.

  `Yeah, but look at what I can do with my brain...' he says. Daniel shakes his head.

  `There you go again... See? This is exactly what I was talking about!'

  He slowly raises his sword high, preparing to strike Zack down. Suddenly Zack stands up and moves his clenched left fist towards Daniel's face. He opens his palm, and tosses dust into his insane friend's eyes. Daniel instinctively steps back, and tries to rub the dust from his eyes. Zack stands back, too, and raises his sword. He stands there, waiting. The son of a bitch was feinting...

  Slowly, Daniel rubs the dust from his eyes, and stares at him. Zack just smiles.

  `Wanna call it a draw, Danny Boy?' he asks. Daniel shakes his head.

  `I'm gonna take that sword of yours, I'm gonna stick it up your ass hilt deep, and then I'm gonna break the hilt off and force the hilt down your throat!' he screams, and then he swings his weapon and charges towards Zack. Too bad for you, Zack... Looks to me like you won't get out of this the easy way, haha!

  *

  What would it take to make these two fall? This is what I asked myself not long ago. Perhaps they themselves are the answer to that question. If I'm just a little bit lucky, these two clowns will simply kill each other! They've been fighting for almost half an hour, pretty much beating the living Hell out of each other. Sword slashes, punches, spells, kicks, they pretty much threw everything they had at each other. With a ferocity that I have never seen either of them fight with before, like they are really trying to kill each other. A while ago they almost knocked down one of the obelisks. Now here they stand, around ten feet from my cage, with their weapons locked together. Daniel is trying to force his sword towards Zack's face, but he doesn't let it. They stand like this for at least a minute, staring viciously at each other over the blades of their crossed swords.

  Suddenly, I hear footsteps. I look in the direction of the noise, and I see a lone figure sneaking towards them. Meliorath...

  Still her face is littered with scars, but her arm is now only slightly bleeding, and she's no longer limping. Much of her injuries have regenerated in the time that passed since she left. She must have heard the commotion these two clowns made, and decided to take a peek. I can imagine what's going through her mind right now. She can pick up the scraps after they finish their duel.

  Instead of waiting for their fight to reach its conclusion, she runs out of her cover and advances on them. She jumps at them and knocks both of them to the ground. Those two clowns have been so busy trying to kill each other, they didn't even notice her...

  Daniel is the first to jump to his feet, but before he could attack her, she jumps forth and gets him in the chest with her shoulder. She pushes him backwards, against a monolith. Then she grabs him.

  `Mel'? What...?' asks Daniel. She simply tosses him to her left, straight towards one of those rune circles on the ground. Daniel lands in the middle of the circle, and a moment later the runes flash brightly and he is encased in a transparent cylinder, just like the one that I am stuck in. Daniel looks around, confused, then he starts pounding on the glassy surface of his cage. But it's useless. I should know...

  Meliorath turns to Zack. He is still on the ground, but he's slowly standing up. She runs towards him, and moves her foot towards his crotch. Zack cries out loud as her running kick gets him in the balls, and he falls on his knees. Only now does he realize who attacked him.

  `Mel'?!' he asks, sounding shocked. Instead of replying, she jumps to him and grabs his right hand. With a forceful move, she twists it and grabs his sword. Zack cries out in pain, and she takes the sword from him.

  `This is it, Zack! I told you I'd be back for you! And now, I'm going to kill you!'

  She grabs the hilt of the sword with both hands and swings the blade towards Zack's head. He quickly ducks and rolls away, then he jumps up.

  `Don't do anything stupid, Mel'!' he says. `If you kill me, you kill yourself!'

  `Bah! Just shut up and die in dignity!' she replies, and she strikes towards him again. He jumps aside, and pulls my stone out of his pocket. He reaches towards her with it.

  `Listen to me... Do you know what this...'

  Before he could finish, she kicks towards his hand, and the stone flies out of it, straight towards the Teleport Gate.

  `Nooooo!' screams Zack, as he witnesses that the stone just flew right through the Teleport Gate. He runs towards it, but Meliorath trips him,
and he falls. Then she raises the sword, and stabs towards him, trying to pin him to the ground. He rolls aside, and...

  Something flashes brightly on the ground around him, and a moment later he is sealed inside a magical cage like my own. He rolled right into the middle of a circle of those runes...

  Ha! Serves him right!

  Zack slowly stands up, and as he sees the cylinder around him, he blinks. Then he blinks again.

  `Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!' he screams. Then he turns towards Meliorath.

  She smiles at him.

  `Now this is what I call poetic justice.' she says.

  `Fuck you! You stupid bitch! Do you have any idea...'

  She suddenly strikes his magical cage with his own black sword, like she wants to break through it so she could kill him. But nothing happens. She frowns.

  `Save your strength, bitch...' he tells her. `You can't break this down like that...'

  `Hey, don't call her a bitch!' screams Daniel towards him from his cell. `Show some respect!'

  `Screw you, Danny Boy!' replies Zack. `She just got us into a king sized pit full of shit, and I ain't got no fucking idea how the fuck we're gonna climb out of it!'

  `I don't think you're getting out of this magical cage, Zack!' says Meliorath. `I think you're staying here until you starve to death! And I'm staying here to watch!'

  `That's not what I'm talking about, you idiot! We have a much bigger problem... And it's your problem, too...'

  `Is that so?'

  `Do you have any idea what you tossed through that fucking Teleport Gate?'

  `No, but I guess you won't keep your mouth shut until you tell me.' she says, frowning.

  `Just listen. You do know that teleportation and planar travel have become impossible since this twilight fell on the land, right?'

  `My half-dragon mages told me that they couldn't teleport, yes. But I didn't know what to make of it.'

  `Have you seen any ghosts on the way here?'

  `What are you talking about?'

  `Remember the slave soldiers you lead to Keehmor Keep?'

  `What about them?'

  `You know, after they died in the explosion, they kind of came back. As ghosts. Well, a few dozen of them anyway. They tried to kill me.'

  `Excuse me?'

  `You heard me.'

  `That's impossible.'

  `Yeah, normally it would be. However, the walls between the Afterlife and Arghard have thinned. The summoning of ghosts has suddenly become ridiculously easy.'

  `Who would summon the ghosts of my slave soldiers and send them against you?'

  `That's a mystery, but it's beside the point. What matters, is the situation with the Afterlife. You see, the walls haven't just thinned. They are getting thinner as we speak. Need I tell you what will happen when the walls disappear?'

  She shakes her head in disbelief. No wonder. When I heard Zack tell all this to Daniel earlier, I found it hard to believe, too.

  `I perfectly understand what would happen, but what you're saying is impossible.' she tells him. `This is nothing but another one of your lies!'

  `No, it's true, darling...' says Daniel. `He's telling the truth. If we don't stop it, Arghard will die, along with us and everything else in this world.'

  She turns towards Daniel.

  `You can't be serious...'

  `I am. Zack knows how to stop it. So listen to him. Believe me, darling, he's not lying.'

  She nods.

  `I believe that you think this is true. But how do you know that he didn't lie to you?'

  `He's my friend, darling!' he says, like he completely forgot that they tried to kill each other mere minutes ago.

  `Dammit, Mel', just listen!' says Zack. `You have to bring the stone back, fast!'

  She faces him once more.

  `What stone?'

  `The one you knocked out of my hand and through the Teleport Gate. You must get it back. It's a transparent stone, it has the shape of a perfect cube, and one side of it is glowing.'

  `What of it?'

  `Listen! That thing is the reason why the Afterlife is swallowing our world! There is a conduit inside it that is connecting our world with the Afterlife! Through that conduit, the Afterlife is pretty much sucking us in.'

  `It's like a hole on the bottom of a bucket full of water, darling.' says Daniel. `We need to put a cork in the whole.'

  `What?' she asks, sounding doubtful.

  `Just bring it back! Fast!' says Zack impatiently.

  Meliorath shakes her head, and rubs her eyes.

  `Listen, Zack... None of this makes any sense. What you're telling me about the Afterlife swallowing us... It all sounds like a fairytale.'

  `It's the fucking reality, bitch! It's all because of that fucking stone! I know how to stop this, but I need to have the stone in my hand! You have to bring it back! Now!'

  She looks towards the Teleport Gate. I see a smirk in the corner of her mouth. She is thinking on something deceitful...

  `Let's say I believe you, Zack. I don't, but let's say I do.' she says, and she turns back towards him. `What if I bring the stone back? What difference does it make? How could you possibly stop this?'

  `I'm not stupid, Mel'! I'm not gonna tell you that! I need to have a trump card in my hand. Or else you'd leave me in this cage.'

  `Fine. Then I'm not going anywhere...'

  `Fuck you, bitch! I'm telling you...'

  `You just tell me how you plan on undoing this. Then, maybe, just maybe, I'll fetch your worthless stone.'

  Zack steps to the border of his magical prison, and starts pounding his forehead into the glassy wall.

  `Please, Zack, do it with a little more force...' she tells him after a while. `I'd so love to see your brains splattered all over that cage.'

  He stops headbutting the wall, and looks at her.

  `Fuck you...' he sneers. She just grins in response.

  `Darling, listen to me...' says Daniel. `He's not lying. That stone will cause the total destruction of Arghard. He can stop this. If you don't help him, all life in Arghard will end. Think of your people, Mel'! Think of them! Do it for them!'

  She sighs.

  `It sounds hard to believe, Daniel...'

  `I know, but what have you got to lose? We're stuck here. Go get the stone, bring it back, and then you can decide for yourself what you'll believe. If you have the stone in your hand, we can show you what it's like. Please...'

  She sighs again. Then she nods.

  `Very well, Daniel. I'll go get that stone. But I still don't believe any of this...'

  `Just go, dammit!' says Zack. `And hurry up! I don't know how much time we have left.'

  She shakes her head, and then looks towards me.

  `What about you?' she asks. `Do you think he's telling the truth?'

  `I heard him explain it to Daniel. I don't think he was lying.' I tell her.

  To be honest, I am still not sure whether I believe it. But I chose to tell her that I do, if only to make her bring my stone back...

  `Well, that settles it, doesn't it?' she says, sarcastically.

  `Just go, Mel'.' says Zack. `And hurry back.'

  `Fine.' she tells him. `Don't go anywhere, I'll be here in a minute.'

  She smirks and steps to the Teleport Gate, but before she could step through, Zack addresses her again.

  `Hey, Mel'! I have no idea where that thing leads. There's no telling what's on the other side. Keep my sword at hand, and be careful! Don't get yourself killed before you get the stone back!'

  `Oh, it is so touching that you're worried about me...' she says, frowning.

  `He's right, darling...' says Daniel. `Be careful...'

  `Don't worry, Daniel. I'm not so easy to kill!' she says, and she steps through the Teleport Gate.

  Epilogues

  Caged

  Ighttur-wor, present day (17 hours after Twilightfall)

  She slowly steps through the Teleport Gate, and all I can do is helplessly watch from this magical cage. I h
ope she will be alright...

  I guess I should be angry at her. After all, she tried to kill me and Zack. But I just can't... I miss her. I miss her a lot... If only one day she would see reason and abandon her foolish quest to...

  `What the Hell...'

  A bright flash interrupts my thoughts. The Teleport Gate is lighting up. But it lasts only a second. Then the brightness vanishes and...

  ...and the Teleport Gate is gone... It has closed up!

  `Zack! Did you see that?!' I exclaim.

  `Yeah, I fucking saw it...' comes his reply.

  `You've got to do something!'

  `Yeah? Like what?'

  `Open the damn Teleport Gate! She won't be able to come back otherwise!'

  `Just how in the fuck am I supposed to do that? The only form of magic that works from within these cages, is telekinesis. I can't open the damn Teleport Gate like that...'

  `Dammit, Zack! You've got to break out of the cage! You must help her! You must! What if something happens to her?'

  Zack sighs deeply, and then he turns towards Beautiful. She's sitting in the middle of her cage, rubbing her face. Like she is completely ignoring us.

  `Hey, Flora!' screams Zack. Beautiful slowly looks up at him.

  `What do you want?' she asks, sounding annoyed.

  `Turn into your mist shape! Try to get out of that motherfucking cage!'

  `I don't think it's gonna work, Zack...'

  `Let me do the thinking here and do what I say! Try it! It might work. If it does, then once you're out, get me outta here!'

  `You know what, Zack? Fuck you! You wanna get out? Do it yourself!'

  Zack suddenly smiles viciously. Oh, I know that smile...

  `You're gonna turn into mist shape, bitch! Even if I have to break your pretty little nose to make you!' he says, and he points towards her with his left hand. A moment later, an invisible force lifts her up from the ground and violently tosses her against the wall of her magical cage.