Slayer: A Demon Hunter's Tale

by Nick Cranford

  "Thanks." Isaac accepted the compliment as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Your reactions are spot on. They're something else."

  "Indeed." William agreed. He breathed heavier than normal as he stood there resting for a bit. "You may be fast, but if you can't even hit me, why bother?" He asked once he was ready for another go.

  "You know." Isaac thought for a bit. "You're right." He suddenly cast his two blades aside, just as he had done with his combat knife earlier. "I could never hope to beat you with something like these." A look and air of confidence suddenly swelled around him. It was a look that once again caught William's interest.

  "Of course not, but now you've left yourself exposed. How could you possibly hope to beat me without a-" Something small and metallic whizzed right past William's face. It moved faster than he was able to dodge, and the object dug a small but deep cut into his left cheek. He instinctively reached up and cupped the wound with his left hand as blood began to surge forth and trickle down his neck. "Throwing knives."

  “Damn. I missed.” Isaac held back a smile as best he could while keeping up airs. He drew more small knives from the holsters that covered each limb in anticipation for his next move.

  "Do you know how long it has been since last I was cut?" William asked. He pulled his hand away from his face and examined the crimson blood that covered it.

  "No." Isaac answered flatly. “But I have a feeling you're gonna tell me."

  "Eighteen years. That's how long." William stated as he brought his bloody hand back to his sword. "You should feel honored. But I've wasted enough time now." He lifted his blade up beside him into a combat ready stance. "Time to end this."

  Isaac dashed around William like a professional runner. He threw dozens of knives, most of which William had trouble tracking. William moved as fast as he could in response, dodging every knife thrown at him; and what he couldn't dodge, he deflected with his sword. Somehow, through the torrent of blades, Isaac still hadn’t managed a hit.

  "Your speeds increased." William stated as he swung his sword. It arched overhead and collided with two knives that would have otherwise been fatal blows.

  "Oh, so you noticed?" Isaac asked rhetorically as he put some space between William and himself.

  “But it's just like before!" William shouted in annoyance. "You're fast, but you can't even hit me!"

  "Hit you?" Isaac repeated the statement as he threw one final knife into the ground ahead of William. "Is that what you thought I was trying to do?"

  "What...?" William seemed briefly dumbfounded by Isaac's words. Suddenly, though, it clicked in his head. William frantically looked around him. Dozens upon dozens of small knives surrounded him on the snowy ground. They stood hilt up in the snow in a massive ring that circled him completely. Isaac hadn't been trying to hit him; he had been setting up a large cypher from the very beginning.

  "Bam!" Isaac shouted as he brought his hands together in a clap. The knives vibrated in resonation for a moment before a large translucent barrier rose up to envelope William. The whole thing had happened so fast that William hadn't had time to react. "Didn't expect that one now did you?" Isaac asked as he crossed his arms and donned a confident smile.

  "So it's a barrier." William stated as he reached out to touch it. "So what?" He snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. He tried it again, once again nothing. When it didn't work the third time William became puzzled and annoyed.

  "Something wrong?" Isaac asked with his head tilted quizzically to the side. "Your Jump not working for you?" A condescending tone filled his voice. "You'll find pretty much all of your powers to be useless in there. This is my greatest technique, the Absolute Shield. My barrier, my rules."

  "So your goal is to stall me." William said as he sheathed his blade. Seeing as it would serve no purpose inside, he crossed his arms and began to wait.

  "Stall? Oh, no." Isaac turned and took a few steps away from the barrier. "I've got something much better in store for you." He brought the disk shaped communicator up and tapped it with his left hand. It whizzed and popped to life and he brought it to his lips to speak. "Dragons, this is Omen, do you copy?"

  "Omen, Dragons hear you loud and clear. Go ahead." A voice responded, though it was almost shrouded in static.

  "I need heavy fire on my position, give it all you've got. Look for my beacon." Isaac suddenly slapped the device on his wrist and it began to pulsate.

  "Roger that, Omen. We've got you, fire coming down."

  "What are you...?" William started to speak in confusion, though he had a sneaking suspicion of what was to come next.

  "My rules." Isaac said with a smile. He held the pulsing device high into the air for the gunships to see. The Dragons above let loose a powerful roar before Isaac snapped his fingers.

  In the blink of an eye, William found himself outside of the barrier. He looked ahead of him to where he had just been standing; Isaac now stood in his place. By some magic they had changed places. Isaac watched from the safety of the shield as the ground around him was turned to dust. The gunships above released a hail storm of lead that completely decimated the entire area. The ground was minced and reduced to dirt as the houses around were blown into tiny chunks of wood and glass. A certain satisfaction filled Isaac at the sight.

  The gunships ceased their attack after about a minute of constant fire. A dense cloud of dust was all that remained. Isaac took a moment to scan the area. He closed his eyes and focused, searching for any signs of William, but found nothing. All traces of him had been removed. Seeing this, Isaac lowered the shield and took a step outside. He was met with a quick and sharp pain in his stomach that knocked him back several feet. His hands raced upward to the intruder, it was cold and metallic. There was a sword in his stomach, impaled almost all the way to its hilt. It was William's.

  "You're not the only one with a trick up his sleeve." William spoke from inside the dust cloud. "Masking one's presence, it's a skill I had figured you would be wise to. But I suppose not." He spoke as he stepped out into the light. His long trench coat was tattered and he bled from a few wounds on his arms, but nothing fatal. He took hold of his sword as Isaac collapsed backward. Holding it in place, he pulled the sword free and Isaac dropped to the ground in a pool of his own blood. William inspected the blade over before slinging Isaac’s blood away and returning it to its sheath. “Come now, let’s move you.”

  "W-what?" Isaac muttered through the burning pain in his stomach. William moved behind and took hold of Isaac below his arms and began to drag him back. He pulled Isaac into the rubble of the nearby house. "What are you... ah... what are you doing?" He asked as William propped him up against a pile of broken wood.

  "A long time ago, I had a code." William spoke. "I fought for honor, for those around me." He seemed to stare off into the icy distance as he explained his actions. "We may fight for different reasons, we may follow different ideals, but I still have my code. Today, we fought as equals, and I can't leave someone like that lying in the snow."

  Isaac stared up at the man that had beaten him. Everything he had heard about him, all he had been briefed on before the mission, none of it added up. This man seemed different from what he had been told. This was completely out of character for the murderer William had been made out to be.

  “Damn…” Isaac sighed as best he could. “No wonder they… didn’t want me to fight you.”

  "If your goal was to contain me..." William stood and turned away. "Then I'm afraid you have done just that. You and I have run out of time." William walked a few steps away before stopping and turning back to face Isaac. "Goodbye, Isaac. Were it that we could meet under better circumstances."

  With a snap of his fingers, William was gone. Isaac was left alone with only the howling of the Russian wind and the sound of distant gunfire. He lifted the communicator on his wrist slowly and tapped on its surface twice. The disk glowed and sprung to life once more, and he brought it to his mouth to speak.

  “This is
… Omen. All ground teams fall back… head to your rally points… All Chopper teams… get everyone… get everyone out of here… we’re done.”

  Meredith found herself up against the side of a house. In the midst of battle Irileth had managed to corner her, and now a barrage of icicles was on their way to impale every inch of her body. Quickly, Meredith threw up the best shield she could manage, but it wasn’t enough. The shield had been too small, and though it caught the main brunt of the attack, she wasn’t able to cover her wings in time. Dozens of icy knives dug into her, pushing through her feather covered flesh and pinning her against the wooden house behind her. She let out a pain filled scream as the onslaught continued. Blood ran down the wall behind her as her wings were continuously impaled.

  Meredith grit her teeth through the pain and snarled towards Irileth on the other side of the shield. She could feel her strength draining, it was now or never. The shield began to crack and splinter, only a few more attacks would mean the end of her. Meredith waited for the opportune moment, charging the smallest spell she could in one hand while holding the shield in the other. She waited for the next break between attacks before destroying the shield. It shattered into thousands of magical shards that vaporized into thin air as she raised her left hand towards her sister. The spell let loose and flew directly at Irileth’s chest, an attack that would’ve proved fatal had it ever met its mark. The spell exploded mere inches from Irileth, causing both girls to look at each other stunned.

  "Time's up." William spoke from down below. He stood just down the street. With his left hand, he had just saved Irileth's life. And in his right, he held the badly damaged, and still whimpering, Throne.

  "Already?" Irileth whined as she flew down to greet the man.

  "I'm afraid so." He replied.

  Meredith sighed and let her head fall as she hung suspended from the wall. The icy knives had already begun to melt and it would only be a moment or so before she was free again. She cursed herself for having not been strong enough again and cursed William for having been there just in time. Suddenly she felt a presence reappear on the street as her favorite voice echoed towards her.

  “William!” Samuel shouted as he appeared at the end of the street. His thick jacket was wet with snow that was rapidly melting around him. Flames were licking up at his feet as he clenched his hands into fists. “It’s over!”

  “I’m afraid you’re right, brother!” William called out as a portal opened up behind him. “We’re out of-”

  Before William could finish his sentence Samuel had closed the gap. He moved faster than Meredith had been able to keep up with, Jumping from one end of the village to the other in a hair’s breadth of time. He reappeared before William completely changed. His fur jacket, wet with snow, had vanished, his thick pants, gone. He was covered in silver steel plate mail from head to toe. In his left hand, a kite shield, in his right his broadsword. He swung at William, forcing the other man into combat before he could escape. Samuel’s eyes shone through the slits on his helmet and Meredith could see the rage coming from within.

  William backpedaled quickly, having been forced onto the defensive. Coming from his previous fight, he hadn’t quite recovered and Samuel could sense this. He pressed his attack, forcing William to drop the Throne and focus completely on the fight at hand. William swung his greatsword down towards Samuel, an attack that was quickly blocked with his shield. The greatsword repelled back, forcing William to step back in order to avoid Samuel’s own blade.

  “Fine!” William shouted as he jumped back further, fire roaring up at his feet. “You want a fight?!”

  "Let’s end this now William!" Samuel shouted as he ran at full speed toward his opponent.

  The fire swirled up, engulfing William. His body changed, and with that so did his clothing. The long dark trench coat burned away as thick silver armor took its place. A long flowing cape waved behind him in the frigid Russian wind. He brought his greatsword down in front of him as his helmet closed around his head, his eyes showing through the small slit.

  Both men raised their weapons to attack, but were interrupted. A massive wall of ice suddenly burst forth between them, stretching up into the air. Samuel looked to his left quickly, but found the ice spreading out in that direction as well. He turned to rush to the right, but came face to face with the frozen wall again. He was surrounded in all directions.

  “Irileth?!” William shouted as he turned towards his white haired companion. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “You said it yourself, Will.” Irileth stated. “We’re out of time.”

  Meredith watched from above as the small girl picked up the Throne and stepped through the glowing door. William looked to protest for a moment, but yielded instead. He turned and headed for the doorway, stopping just before going through.

  “If you survive, I will see you again. Brother.”

  “Dammit! No!" Samuel slammed his sword into the ice in front of him in rage.

  As soon as the doorway closed, the ice turned to water. It cascaded down to the ground with a heavy thud. The knives inside of Meredith’s wings vanished as well and she fell to the ground hard, landing on her knee.

  "Sammy!" She shouted as she stood quickly and rushed over to him. "What's going on?!"

  "We've walked right into a trap!" Samuel shouted in anger, though mostly directed towards himself. "There is no Bloodstone! There never was!"

  Everything seemed foggy and distant to Aerin. She struggled to move, but her body would not respond to her commands. She felt like she was floating down a river, completely at the mercy of the flow. It was cold, she was cold, and suddenly she remembered the snow. She wasn’t floating down a river, she was being dragged. As her senses slowly returned to her, she could feel hands underneath both of her arms, slowly dragging her somewhere. She could hear voices in the distance, they sounded muddled.

  “…she dead?” One voice spoke.

  “No.” Another responded. It sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. “…the wings. That means she’s still alive.” Suddenly she knew. Richard was right next to her. Her target, the object of her hatred was right beside her within only a few feet. This was her only chance. “Keep her alive.” He spoke. “I need her for my experiments.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Aerin waited patiently. Her senses were still dulled, but there wouldn’t be another chance. She summoned all the strength she could manage for one swift move. Her wings, which had been drug through the snow and dirt, suddenly beat hard. A gust of wind whirled around as the large appendages slammed into the two soldiers that were dragging her, sending them flying back into the ground. She flipped herself around onto her feet as best she could. Everything was still fuzzy, and as her vision returned to her she could see Richard running as hard as he could toward a helicopter at the end of the street.

  "Richard!" Aerin screamed as she tried to chase after him. Her legs were sluggish and she moved slow as she struggled to make her way through the heavy snowfall.

  Richard climbed into the chopper and spun around to face Aerin. This was the first time she had gotten a good look at him in ages. Even though she could barely see through the snow she could tell he was much older than she remembered. Time had not been as kind to him as it had been to her. Aerin quickly expelled that thought as Richard took control of a side mounted machine gun. He held on tightly and let loose a flurry of bullets that forced Aerin into cover.

  "Too slow, Angel!" Richard shouted as the helicopter slowly ascended. "You must've figured it out by now! There never was a Bloodstone! You all played into our hands so well!" He laughed loudly while spraying the machine gun around wildly about. "It's about to get really hot here!"

  The chopper lifted up and over the nearby houses, all the while Richard fired the machine gun nonstop. Aerin thought quickly, and took a chance rather than letting him go. She jumped out from behind the safety of the house, through the hail of bullets, and rolled onto her feet. In an instant
she fired a highly explosive bolt that connected with the tail end of the helicopter. The blast sent the chopper spinning out of control into a nearby house.

  “Everyone, this is Overwatch. There’s something on radar, looks like a bomber. Double time it to those choppers people! Dragons, I need you to cut it-“

  Aerin turned and looked down the valley as a bright light illuminated the sky. She had to close her eyes and shield them with her hands before she risked losing them. It was as if the surface of the sun had come to rest over Novaya Zemlya. As the light slowly faded it suddenly grew extremely dark, a far cry from what it had just been. A huge mushroom shaped cloud rose high into the sky, blotting out the sun ahead of her. In the very center, a massive pillar of fire rose up to scorch the heavens above. It let out a destructive wave of energy that tore apart everything in its path. Later on it would be known as the most powerful weapon ever used by man, but now Aerin knew it as the next obstacle to overcome.

  She had no time to savor her victory over Richard. She scrambled inside the nearest building and began to prepare a shield. Suddenly, though, she felt a sense of extreme weightlessness. She felt a great rush of wind around her, and in the blink of an eye she was standing inside a barrier, one that she had not created. At first she was confused, but when she reached out to touch the translucent wall, it emitted a familiar presence. Aerin knew immediately what was happening.

  "Isaac!" She called out. "What are you doing?!"

  "Saving you." Isaac's voice echoed throughout the shield.

  "No! Not like this!" She screamed. “I need you in here too!”

  “No can do…” Isaac’s voice was resolute. “I’m… I’m not moving the way I am right now… Sorry…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “I couldn’t keep my promise…”