“Unlike my twin brother, I don’t wish to fight you,” she sounds sincere but this could all just be an act.
I respond, “then we are at an impasse.”
A slight smirk finds its way on her face. I can already tell that I’m not going to like this.
“I’m sorry but you must have misunderstood me. I don’t wish to fight you but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to.”
Of course.
Ures dives over the pool and punches me so hard in the face I am knocked to the floor; my helmet is thrown off of my head and rolls away with a large dent in its side. Next, she picks me up by the throat, ascends towards the ceiling and relentlessly smashes me against it. The symbol on my right shin heats up while a magnificent flame flares all about me; I force the fire to expand, blasting the archangel to back to the ground. I descend and land right on top of her while unsheathing my glaive. Extending it to the full-length, I stab her right in the shoulder.
She releases a quiet sigh and says, “let’s just assume for a moment that you can kill me. What do you think will happen when you do?”
“I haven’t thought about it,” I twist the glaive, “honestly, I don’t care.”
The next thing that I know, my knee buckles down and a blurry object uppercuts me. I fall backwards, Ures levitates to her feet and yanks the dragon glaive out of my hands. Light shines out of her wound in replacement of blood. Tossing my weapon to the side, she twirls her morning-star in her other hand. I flip onto my feet, not completely prepared for this fight.
“I’ll tell you what will happen, killing my brother and me will plunge Elvendora into a state where there is no order or chaos which will, in turn, fracture the universe. All working in Reaper’s favor.”
I must admit, that’s actually not at all what I expected, “and why are you telling me this?”
“That’s because Reaper underestimates the greatness of its consequences,” the archangel is very straightforward. “My brother’s…characteristics, draw him to evil intentions and overwhelming chaos. Which makes him easier to manipulate with Reaper’s darkness, despite him being the devil. That is why he’s not in a particularly caring mood about what happens to Elvendora or the mortals that live there. I, on the other hand, do. It’s in my nature.”
Wow, I don’t actually know how to respond to that. At this point, I am expecting her to basically fight at my side. Which isn’t going to happen.
Ures dashes forward, shoves her mace into my gut and grabs the back of my head, then knees me straight in the face. She brings her hand back around and smacks that oversized club of hers across my face. Going for another strike, I grab her arm and twist it; pressing my palm against her face, I release a high-frequency vibration wave. The archangel is blown back with almost enough force to level a small village.
I rush towards her, however, prior to me being able to do any real damage, the morning-star head shoots out—connected to a chain made of light—but barely misses my head. Grabbing ahold of her torso, I sling her across the room. She whips her weapon around like a fail, I evade each movement only to be clocked in the back of the leg. I effortlessly gain my balance and blast several thunderbolts her way. Pushing through them, that little shit retracts her morning-star.
“For someone as potentially powerful as you, why do you use that armor?” Despite recent events, her voice is still incredibly calm and gentle.
“Since you like asking questions so much, tell me why you are doing Reaper’s bidding if he doesn’t have control over you?”
“You really don’t listen, do you?” She’s getting on my last nerve, “you know what, why don’t I just take that armor off for you?”
With that, I use diamond swords to try and chop her head off while she unleashes her full celestial power. In the process of trading blow for blow, she rips off my gauntlets, breaks my boots, cracks my breastplate; I get in a few jabs and slashes that don’t make much of a difference. I have to face the facts. Ures is a better fighter than I am but I’m more powerful.
I channel the energies within that mace of hers and force them to surface. This causes the weapon to explode, leaving her in a daze; thus, I blast her back into the wall with a razor-sharp gale. My swords fly forth and impale her against the white surface. Her body glows as she begins to phase through the diamond weapons, however, I make her halo burst. That power alone sends a shockwave through Ures that not only melts her armor but fries her. That definitely got her attention.
A ray of light blows a hole right through me after her wings collided. Water swirls inside of the wound, replacing what was lost.
I sense a sudden increase in my strength, something darker and stronger than anything I have ever felt before. The archangel charges me with invisible speeds; I clap my hands together above my head in order to release my new power in the form of a black pulse of energy. This effortlessly shreds through her flesh dissolves her wings. I am expecting a vision to flush through my mind, yet nothing happens.
Blood gushes from her mouth when she speaks, “I-I must say that I am impressed. Then again, you have yet to learn what you are completely capable of; there’s so much you don’t know about yourself or your heritage.”
“Like what?” I urge her on.
“It’s too late for that now,” she coughs up some sapphire blood, “you must finish me off before I regenerate. Unlike the mortal royalty, your soul fragment is intertwined with mine and my brother’s souls. There is no possibility of saving us like the others.”
If only we knew that we could’ve saved them from the start. Maybe things would’ve turned out differently. I honestly don’t feel comfortable with killing her now. After all, she is the archangel of righteousness and will. Well, she is also in a lot of pain and I do need my soul.
“I’m sorry,” I say it as sincerely as possible.
“Never be sorry for your actions.”
Simply nodding I disintegrate what remains of her with a single thought. A transparent light flows into me. A voice sounds off in the distance before my vision blurs.
* * * * *
I find myself back in the Rift, standing before a woman made from nature. The All-Mother smiles at me. I know she means well and that she is the mother to all of life but something about her just creeps me out. Maybe it’s because I can just sense her begin as if it was my own. Now I am starting to wish that I had Crystalline’s powers instead; Elvendora knows I could easily be more creative with them.
“Hello Zarvick, it’s nice to see you again. But I must keep this brief,” her voice is as gentle and as forest-like as ever.
“Why?”
“That’s because the end of this puzzle is coming. This last vision has been bestowed upon you for a singular purpose.”
“Which is?” Starting to realize that I do ask a lot of questions.
“To give you the necessary information to find the Hwevoxa.”
Oh, Elvendora! I forgot about that stupid cube. At least this time, one of my vision will give me a straight answer.
I quickly ask her, “so, where is it?”
“This thing is what you use to see
That which has been hidden
From the naked eye.
Obtained through a collection of powers.
It’s a costly item
That was an anomaly from the start.”
I have absolutely nothing to say. To think that this was going to be any different was a fool's mistake. I have literally no emotions to express towards these visions anymore.
“Is that a riddle?”
“Indeed it is—now, I’d love to stay in chat but the Overworld is currently falling apart all around you. Goodbye!”
Just another point in my life where nothing is just straightforward. Can’t wait for there to be a series of visions trying to test my reasoning skills for those times in my life!
* * * * *
A bloody Asvarp breaks down the doors and scrapes me off of the ground prior to teleporting us back to the Ruins
of Cross-Roads. We are greeted with a frantic Crystalline and an exhausted Genu. In a roundabout way, this reminds me of the first time I met them all, only the roles have all been switched. Usually, I’m the frantic one, Crystalline is the exhausted one, Genu’s the bloody one, and Asvarp is the all knowing one (although he still is).
Good times…
Chapter 38
We all sit around the room of the ruins, resting and contemplating what we are going to do. If you ask me, I think we should just head straight for Reaper seeing as how Crystalline and I have our full strength at last. Asvarp says we should focus our attention on strategy. Crystalline is too busy helping Genu heal his psyche to pay any attention. Even though we have been sitting here for a few hours, I still haven’t brought up my vision nor has she explained why she is basically naked under her lavender cloak.
“Hey, old man. A thought just occurred to me,” I interrupt his rant about why we need to come up with a plan. This slightly angers him.
“Stop calling me old man and I wasn’t sure that you were still capable of thinking.”
He gets a good laugh out of that but I, like a proper gentleman, let it graze over me.
I’ll get him back later, I smile at the thought of him being hit by a boulder.
“I was thinking that we could really use some new armor.”
“I second that,” Crystalline quickly stands up.
The old man strokes his beard. I personally believe that he should’ve kept his armor on; I mean, after my darling healed him he changed back into his robes but he was so much more badass in the armor.
With a snap of his fingers, our old leather armor replaces our present garments. It wouldn’t hurt Asvarp to teach us a few tricks like that, seeing as how we are perhaps the most magical beings on Elvendora right now.
“Aw, I missed my studded leather,” Crystalline is suddenly nostalgic. “Anyways, I agree with Asvarp about having a plan; nonetheless, I would like to hear any information that Zarvick may have for us.”
All of their attention turns to me and I blush. After a deep breath, I tell them the riddle and it’s followed by another hour of them trying to figure out all the possibilities. So far it’s between the brain of a dragon and a scroll with an all-seeing eye spell. I don’t bother engaging them because I’ve had enough conversation where the two of them have gone on long rants about this and that. She’s practically the best disciple that he never had. Oddly enough, Crystalline was trained by Asvarp’s most reckless student. Oh, the irony.
Looking over, my gaze falls onto the mage’s staff. The image of his old staff is foggy in my mind but the ruvtag will always be a memory that is clear as day. I can’t believe we almost died trying to retrieve it, all because Asvarp didn’t tell us that it required all thr—
“Oh my Elvendora, that’s IT!” I shout.
I jolt myself over to his staff and grab the ruvtag; it coruscates whilst its form alters into the Hwevoxa. Perhaps the greatest and most powerful item in all existence hovers above my palm. I see why Reaper wanted such an object, the energy radiating off of it is immensely intoxicating. I distract myself from the cube’s aura by watching Asvarp’s staff of wizardry revert to its original form: a twisted wooden staff with a jagged top showcasing a stone of endless colors entwined between twig-like spikes.
“Good job,” Genu claps.
“What do we do now?” Crystalline asks.
“We find Reaper,” Asvarp responds.
He tells us to all to gather around. We three stand in a triangle formation and place our hands on either side of the cube while the old man prepares a spell. The wait for him to say something feels like an eternity. Eventually, his runes glow and he gives us an eerie grin. I can’t tell if I am going to like where we have to go.
Chapter 39
Not a battlefield but the battlefield of the Great War that occurred many millennia ago. It stretches out for a couple of miles, not a single plant has grown on this land since that fateful day when all seven kingdoms (including the Fey Kingdom) fought one another. About a mile ahead of us stands Reaper and next to it, is none other than Queen Levouay in her true form. We all stare each other down for a few minutes. I just want to crush them both beneath a rock but that won’t be enough to satisfy my urge to torture them.
“Are we going for their knees first or their eyes?” Crystalline seriously jokes.
“Neither,” Asvarp snaps, “they have a barrier around them.”
Genu laughs, “fuck their barrier! We’ll tear them apart.”
I smile and place on the Hwevoxa inside my waist belt. “Let’s kill us some bad guys!”
On that note, Levouay steps forward and inhales; when she exhales, her screech plummets through the earth, tearing apart the battlefield halfway towards us. The flame around her wrist brightens before she cast out her black magic into the cracks. Reaper eventually expels a wave of shadows that whirl themselves into the banshee’s magic. It only takes moments for their powers to collide and raise an undead army of countless elves imbued with darkness.
“They just raised an army,” I gasp.
Crystalline steps forward, yelling, “is that all you got, you tramp!”
Reality contorts for a few seconds until translucent souls of animals, creatures, and soldiers flicker into view. My love is now capable of summoning spirits at their full strength, yet our numbers are still at odds with our rivals.
“Impressive,” the old men say simultaneously.
Rallying up our armies have come to an end but nobody moves a muscle, spiritual or otherwise. That is till Levouay shrieks again and their forces break into a stampede. I hover a few feet in the air, then conjure a massive storm that darkens the sky. As the armies clash, I bring down the lightning and hail. Asvarp begins dispelling their magical shielding, however, Crystalline doesn’t wish to wait any longer; she dashes forth, zipping across the war zone. In a blink of an eye, she disappears and reappears right in front of Levouay, tackling her out of the barrier. The mage laughs before teleporting his way to Reaper, breaking into a heated magic duel. This is will become our enemies graveyard soon enough.
Genu is the only one who doesn’t move matter, in fact, he appears to be watching over me. Slicing through any stray shadows that tread too close.
Out of nowhere, a mass of shadows spirals next to the zouvx, taking the form of a large black elven silhouette made entirely of darkness with no face except for ghostly eyes. He calls the beast a nightshade. Not a particularly threatening name.
The two fight quickly. The vampiric-kaine slashes through the being, each gash releases chilling air instead of blood; this forces Genu to push the monstrosity back with his telekinesis or else he’d freeze to death. The nightshade doesn’t just back down, instead, it absorbs whatever life is deep within the earth, sealing its wounds. A mouth full of black fangs opens up as the being attempts to bite him. I zap the shade with multiple lightning bolts that leave it smoking; the vampiric-kaine then slides his blade through the nightshade’s head ever so ruthlessly. With a golden flash, the enhanced shadow disperses.
I now heighten my storm to new levels of deadliness. First, tornadoes touch down with extreme velocities, whipping through the battlefield. Second, I summon a raging blizzard to sweep through the dark army. Third, I synthesize an abundance of meteors made from both stone and lava. Finally, I send down the flaming rocks on Reaper’s forces—careful to not hit our own—along with calling down thunderbolts by the dozens.
Crystalline, on the other hand, deals with a lot more resistance from the queen than expected. Their spiritual powers clash as they aim to purify/corrupt one another. Levouay uses her other two hands to raise a couple skeletons from the ground, which my love swiftly dispatches with a single swing from an axe construct. The spirit of a young dragon overshadows her body, gradually sinking into her. A smile spreads across her face from ear-to-ear.
Lightning spews out from the ghostly mouth of the dragon. Queen Levouay blocks the breath attack with a w
ard spell, then counters with a deathly bolt. Crystalline dodges it with blinding speed. The banshee then screeches and my lovely zouvx places concentrated shields over her ears and pushes through the sonic force; she knocks the absolute shit out of the banshee queen with a ghostly dragon tail. As her majesty falls face first into the ground, my love jumps on top of her back while grabbing ahold of her wrist. She then rips off her hind arms. The queen wails in agony before unleashing a burst of magic and death that shreds through Crystalline’s armor and flesh. Rapidly healing, she lets the dragon spirit explode from within her and it pins Levouay to the ground.
A single shriek disrupts the spirit, only to be met with a ferocious attack by my darling. She rips her majesty’s soul from her body and overpowers it with her own spiritual energy; it doesn’t take long for Crystalline to shatter the queen’s soul. That’s when she falls to her knees, taking a deep breath. She finally redeemed herself. I’m proud of her.
Both armies waver after the energy struggle. Ours fades away which allows me to finish off what’s left of the shadows. This is going to be a clear-cut victory for us.
Asvarp struggles against Reaper’s might. Spell after spell is cast at each but they seem to be at a stalemate. That is until they both fire radiant beams at one another; the old man pushes his staff forward, increasing his magic. Reaper’s eyes shine as its power strengthens beyond our mage’s. The collision of these two spells ripple around Asvarp, creating a sphere about him. The old man is forced to his knees after the power struggle obliterates his staff. Looking back into Genu’s eyes he hesitates. The vampiric-kaine reaches his hand out with a sorrowful demeanor. Then, no longer able to hold back Reaper’s might, Asvarp is disintegrated.
Dark Form_Book 1 of the Shadow War Trilogy Page 32
