The black void blurs and refocuses as a forest. Oh, dear Elvendora, he’s actually serious. I electrify myself but remain planted in the ground.
“Why exactly do you want me to do this?” I eagerly await his answer.
“Speed will be your greatest ally against the all of your enemies if you learn to master your increased speed and reflexes you’ll be unstoppable.”
That’s the only incentive that I need. With a flash, I zoom past trees, around rocks, over ditches, and across the great seas. It doesn’t take long for me to return back to my starting point. I’m overall excited, the electricity flowing off of me and the rush got my adrenaline flowing unlike anything else before.
“How was that?!”
“That was three minutes…try again,” Asvarp face remains neutral.
I instantly object, “are you joking?! I just ran across all of Elvendora and you’re telling me I wasn’t fast enough! I had to duck and dive and dodge all around the plants—and there’s a lot!” Of course, he just nods.
Clearly he feels a tad irritated, nonetheless, he makes a clear pathway for me to run along just so I’ll “shut my trap”.
Great!
This time, I practically glide across the earth moving like a swift current through a ravenous stream. I shine my way back to Asvarp and Crystalline, carrying a heavy wind in my wake. I don’t know about them but I was absolutely outstanding.
“How was that?”
A magical hourglass fades away as he answers, “that was two minutes and thirty seconds, still not fast enough. You aren’t thinking about your surroundings. Utilize your power to its fullest extent.”
It takes a moment for my brain to soak in what he means, then it occurs to me what I have to do.
Taking off, I completely reduce the wind resistance and the friction from the earth; forget gliding, now I am practically flying. My body flares with static, I lose count of the number of times I bypass them before my skin steadily deteriorates into living lightning; bolting around the world begins to set the trees on fire and leaves a black trail on the dirt.
Blurry blue silhouettes solidifying together until they form into Crystalline; throwing her hands out to her sides, a barrier shimmers before her. I cannot stop myself fast enough in anticipation of me smacking straight into its surface, instantaneously, I am reverted back to normal. I just lie there on my back, with the wind knocked out of me.
“Why did you do that? How did you do that?” I ask after gathering my breath.
“When I got Asvarp and myself out of the spirit realm, I figured out that there is more potential with my soul dash ability than I thought,” she heaves me to my feet with little effort, “and I basically learned that I can move through the physical world through the spirit realm at super speeds. Basically, I am faster than you but it's actually harder for me to control.”
“That’s answers the how but not the why.”
“Oh, Asvarp said that if you kept going you would’ve put all of our lives in jeopardy. I stopped listening after that.”
Leaving it at that, I summon a gale to extinguish the flames all across the planet. Asvarp, then, teleports us back to his location. Although he is displeased with me, he did actually applaud my rather quick learning. Of course, he made me keep practicing until I learned to keep a firm handle over how much I decrease the friction and wind resistant, while also maintaining a stable control over my speed. It took about ten more tries until I mastered it but, on the bright side, I did decrease my time to about twenty seconds with obstacles in my way instead of the original three minutes.
Afterwards, we start training on the element of wind. There wasn’t much to it other than learning to suck the air out of Asvarp’s lungs (neither of us was happy about that), compressing the wind until it’s strong enough to cut through steel, finally creating both vortices and hurricanes whilst controlling them. All of this was helpful but the true training didn’t really start until Crystalline started boasting about how she could still kick my ass. As if!
“Let’s face it, I a better fighter and now that I am learning to use my spiritual energy to its fullest capabilities, you’re nothing compared to me,” her voice is full of sassiness and downright overcompensation for her lack of control.
“Want to bet?” I get right up in her face.
He tries to cut in, however, we both give him one deathly glance that shuts him up real quick. She shoves me to the floor before taking off into the sky.
Now it’s on you little brat!
Conjuring a massive storm, I zap myself into the clouds turning myself—and my armor—into a lightning bolt. I spread myself out through the storm, enlarging it to the point where it has shrouded over all of the lands. Crystalline forms two sword constructs waiting for me to pop out at any moment; lucky her, I’m smarting than that.
Transforming myself into a behemoth-sized cloud filled with thunder surely has Miss Conceded taken back; she gawks as I stare back at her with my giant glowing eyes. I swing my right-hand for her, yet she flies above it before I can reach her. Combining her sword constructs together, she forms a colossal sized jagged hammer; as she plummets it through my seemingly ghostly body, I feel absolutely nothing. Reforming, I send several bolts of lighting her way, vaporizing her hammer construct. With a swift backhand, she is sent plunging to the ground below.
I shoot down as a thunderbolt and blend into the earth. Crystalline levitates her way out of the midsize crater she created; arising from beneath her, I take the form of a stone golem and grab ahold of her legs. She tries to pull away, yet I yank her back down and stomp her deeper into the crater. My love explodes through the earth in a fit of rage and flings six daggers into my chest; with a clap, they rupture and blow a hole through my torso. Once again, there isn’t any pain. The hole closes with ease and I punch her so hard she goes flying through a few trees.
Swimming through the earth, I pop up to greet her as she gets to her feet. Shoving my left arm forward, it breaks apart into multiple rugged tentacles; Miss Warrior soul dashes just fast enough to evade all of them prior to her charging for me with two sword constructs at hand. Swinging my right arm at her midsection, she stabs one sword into my rocky skin and climbs on top of it. I have to admit, this is actually exciting. We bond more when we fight.
She jabs her other sword into my face and a fist morphs out of my chest which knocks her ass off of me. The swords break and I just stare at her, reaching out with my hands. Immediately, her adorable killing instincts kick in and she creates a bow and arrow, then blows my face off. After it reforms, I send a wave of earth infused with vibrations that pummel right into her. She’s thrown back and I deliver a series of strikes which consist of me hitting her extremely hard, her being sent flying, then me racing through the ground so that I can meet up with her and smack her again. Finally, I slam her with a large boulder-sized uppercut that launches her back towards the sky.
As Crystalline is currently left in a daze, I transfer my consciousness back into the storm and become a giant cloud monster once again. I reach down and pluck her right out of the air, electrifying her as I crush her body. She lets out a few grunts in agony but I keep my emotions in check.
I must admit, this feels good to be the one who actually holds the upper hand for once.
Almost on cue, my love emits a midnight blue hue that rapidly spreads across my exterior before seeping through my gaseous body. Instantaneously, I am reverted back to my normal form, seemingly powerless. Falling out of the storm, Crystalline releases chains from her hands that drill themselves into my forearms and wrap around my wrist. Okay, that I felt! Like a tornado, she twirls around at beyond dizzying speeds, previous to cutting me loose and watching as my body outrageously spirals through the air.
It takes a minute before I can get a hold over my body and slow myself to a halt.
“Guess, her power shunting was temporary,” I think aloud.
“Guess again!” Peering over my shoulder, there she is wielding a giant a
ss morning star construct.
Hitting me with that thing would be an understatement. She just beat my soul out of my fucking body with a single strike. Luckily, I am better than she thinks and I increase the wind resistance to slow down my fall. I even turn the earth below into a pool of mud; when I plunge into its slimy texture I use vibrations to decrease the pain from the impact.
Crystallines smug face floats down to meet me. She speaks loudly, or rather full of shit, “I told you I am, and always will be, better than you. Even if you thought you had me from the start, I’m coming out on top.”
“Guess again!” I repeat mockingly.
Forming a sphere of mud in my hand, I hurl it at her and it shatters into numerous diamond shards. She dodges them all, however, one of them gazers her shoulder doing just enough damage to divide her attention; taking advantage of this, I swipe my hand through the space in front of me whilst using the mud as a whip to throw her next to me. I synthesize an icicle and attempt to shove it through her face. Crystalline quickly rolls over, however, I freeze the mud and entrap her inside.
“You’re not better than me,” I walk in front of her, “matter, in fact, you never will be.”
With that, I conjure a pulse of lightning that blasts her out of the ice and a few yards back. She retaliates by tackling me to the floor. We roll around before I end up on top and we just stare into one another’s eyes for a moment.
“This is kind of sexy,” she says, “too bad I’m going to have to kill you.”
A barrier radiates from her body and blows me up into the air; this is where Crystalline creates a huge greatsword and uses it to make a kabob out of me. My blood slides down the spiritual blade and onto her face just before she tosses me to the floor.
Approaching me was her first mistake, becoming the wind, I whirl behind her and elbow the intersections of her shoulder blades. She falls to her knees and I deliver a kick thriving with vibrations across her face. Jumping to her feet, a bow energizes in her palm and she speedily releases an arrow that’s a spiraling vortex of death; thus, I put my training to good use and—at the speed of lightning, of course—I sprint behind her. Time seems to have slowed down as I’m running; it’s actually amusing to me. Forming my arms into two diamond blades I shove them through her back and out through her chest speeds everything back up; her arrow pierces a tree and explodes a part of its trunk. For an extra precautionary measure, I release an abundance of spikes all over her body.
Withdrawing my arms drops Crystalline’s limp body to the floor.
“I killed her.”
“As if it was that easy,” she whispers in my ear.
With one swift movement, her hand enters my back and pulls out my soul: only my chest remains a constant transparent image while the rest of my body constantly flickers in and out of view. She grabs my neck and throws me across the mud, where she then shoots a chain into my abdomen; enclosing her fist calls upon an agonizing pain surging through my essence as her energy continuously shocks me. Utilizing the little spiritual power that I have, I grab the chain and siphon out some of the power until my entire soul remains at a constant visibility.
Now it’s on!
Draining the physical properties from her construct, I break it apart and dive into my body. Crystalline meets me there beforehand, nevertheless, I emit a flash of light from the collected energy I’ve gathered (that actually distracted her?!) and jump back inside myself. She tries to take out my soul again, yet I lunge away from her and fire off a few diamond shards. At first, they phase right through her but once she forms another construct the shards momentarily stick into her until her weapon dissolves. Both of us are shocked by this; good information to know I guess.
My love fades back into her body and we break out into a total hand-to-hand combat brawl. She kicks at my face, I catch it and punch her in the gut. We break away from each other and advance again I throw a punch, she blocks or evades and counters or vice versa. This goes on for a few minutes before she brings daggers into the equation and I vibrations. Crystalline cuts my arm, I hit her with a vibration wave that knocks her into the nearest tree.
I charge her, punching her so hard across the face the earth shakes; she then stabs my thigh and uppercuts me off of my feet. The adrenalin pumping through my veins is starting to boil, something is happening to me. I-I actually want to kill Crystalline…I need to kill her. When I look back at her I don’t see her flesh, I see a network of nerves flowing with electricity. My visions have darkened somehow, this isn’t right. As she raises a now pulsating sword above me, I grab ahold of that electricity in her body and she stops moving.
“Zarick, what are you doing?” There’s fear behind her voice.
“I’m controlling your nervous system,” with that I toss her body about ten feet from me.
It’s not like I don’t have control over my actions, it’s almost as if the meaning behind them has changed. I can now smell the sweet aroma of terror flowing off of her as a soft breeze blows through the now burning forest. Levitating to my feet I stare at her, no, into her.
I’m possessed by dark intentions, “you are nothing more than scum to me, you worthless bitch.”
Crystalline tries to get up, yet I force her body to bend to my new way of superior thinking; raising my hand in the most menacing manner, her arms rise up to her face. Despite her objections, I gradually ball my hand into a fist from the pinkie on until her hands are firmly clenched around her throat. All while stripping the air from her lungs. Nothing in me fights back—I want her to suffer a slow and painful death by my own power. I am after all the more powerful out of us two zouvxes. There’s even a clear spiritual dome radiating over her body—that I subconsciously created—preventing her from using any form of astral projection. I don’t even know how in the hell I created that in the first place.
Asvarp pops into view with his hands raised, a vibrant flow of magic swarms about his fingers. A beam is cast forth, burning a hole through my armor and knocking me on my ass. Rapidly, those dark thoughts vanish.
“Simulation over!” The mage shouts worriedly and the white room blurs into view.
“W-what…happened?” Crystalline tries to catch her breath as her face returns to its normal color.
“You must never forget that you are half-demon; that part of you wants nothing more than death and destruction and it’ll consume you without hesitation. Should a moment of heightened stress or weakness ever arise.
Needless to say, your training is over for now. If I leave Genu in that enchantment any longer it might cause permanent damage. After all, his body and psyche can only heal so fast.”
Crystalline desperately grabs his arm, “but he couldn’t have killed me, right?”
“I…” he tries to find his words, “there are some things that not even a false reality can stop.”
Looking down at my hand, I still can feel her neck crushing beneath my grasp. Asvarp walks over to his staff, dispelling the enchantment and he teleports away with Genu. Leaving just the two of us. The two zouvxes. I can’t even look her in the eye. How can I? I didn’t even fight the urge…I-I couldn’t.
Chapter 32
(Crystalline)
We headed out the next morning, leaving Genu behind to recover. Other than the situation that happened, I felt that the training was a riveting experience. Zarvick still won’t look or talk to me. He just continues to clench his hand like he’s waiting to grab ahold of something. I don’t blame him for his actions, I just want him to talk to me. I need to know why…why he let the darkness in. I didn’t even notice any signs that he was changing because there wasn’t any.
To distract myself from all of this, I focus on the task at hand. We are heading to the Magma Kingdom, hidden deep inside Elvendora’s only volcano. This will probably be one of our hardest fights yet. Asvarp can’t help us without risking the heat melting his skin off, Genu is out for who knows how long and we will be fighting in an extremely dangerous environment. The worst part yet is that
the probable future love of my life won’t come near me.
The old man located another warp stone for us to use but told us that it’ll put us on the outskirts of the kingdom, where the temperature is cool enough so that it doesn’t kill a non-fire elf; we’ll be safe but we have to stealthily sneak our way in from there. Honestly, with our shiny ass armor, they’ll see us coming before we even warp into the place.
“Are we ready to go?” I ask as I kick the outer ring of the stone.
He stops what he’s doing and faces me, “yes and no.”
I give him a “what are you doing?” look and he just shakes his head. I already know where this is going.
“If you’re going to go into one of Elvendora’s most dangerous and unforgiving environments, then the two of you must be in synch. I’m old but not blind; don’t act like there is nothing going on between the two of you. So, suck it up and let’s get this over with because Reaper’s corruption isn’t going to just halt every time the two of you have a problem.”
Neither of us says or does anything. Our jaws have drilled themselves into the earth. I don’t know what I should be doing; I mean, I know I am basically the Queen of Bitchery, but Asvarp has just stolen the crown off my head.
“I’m sorry, are you possessed?” I’m seriously asking.
Zarvick hesitantly touches my shoulder, “he’s right. We should make up.”
He wants to make up? Alright then. I wrap my arms around his waist and press my lips firmly against his; at first, he doesn’t respond but then his body arches against mine. I can feel us becoming one.
Well, we were until Asvarp ruined the moment and forces us onto the warp stone.
If any one thing on this planet is hotter than our love, it’s this damn volcano. I know that we are safe from dying in here with us being half-demons (which provides us with a resistance to heat and fire) but still.
“Okay, before we do anything else. Are we good?” I look him dead in the eye.
“We can talk later,” he shifts his gaze over his shoulder, “right now we have guards to deal with.”
Dark Form_Book 1 of the Shadow War Trilogy Page 27
