by J. J. Egosi
Michael groaned.
The three of them approached the stand. Julianna looked down at the merchant. Her blonde pigtails peeked out from under the hood of her mantle.
“I took the posting of the elementals earlier this month. I think you’ll be impressed with what I’ve got here.”
Julianna placed the cores of the five elementals onto the dry rotted table.
The merchant carefully examined each of the cores. “Very impressive, girl. Two more than what was listed.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I prefer gold or jewels if you don’t mind.”
Julianna held out her hand for the payment.
“How did you come across such rare and powerful items?” asked the merchant.
“Let’s just say I’m one hell of a swordswoman.”
The merchant grinned from cheek to cheek. “Then I’m sure you’d have no trouble getting more!”
“What are you talking about? Just give me my payment, or I’ll find another buyer.”
The merchant laughed. In one quick movement, she’d snatched up the cores from the table and stashed them into her bag. Before they had a chance to react, the merchant was racing from the cellar.
Outraged, Julianna ran after her, with Michael and Isabella close behind.
“That bitch just robbed me!” Julianna screamed. “Humans…they’re all scum. Every last one of them.”
“Huh?” Michael was unsure of what she meant by that. There wasn’t time to worry about it. They had a thieving merchant to capture.
They darted back up the stairs and outside; the three of them glimpsed the end of the merchant’s robe disappear around a corner.
“That way!” Isabella pointed towards the center of the town.
Exhausted, the three of them sprinted after her. They shouldered past passersby every step of the way.
They found the merchant. She silently stood in the center of the town’s cobblestone courtyard, as if she was waiting for them.
Julianna stared at her in contempt. She stepped forward, clenching her fists. “You’re not the usual merchant from that brothel. They would never make a stand somewhere so open. Who are you? Why do you want the cores?”
The merchant stood there, silently grinning. Julianna’s blood boiled.
“I’ll give you thirty seconds before I cut you in half.” Julianna summoned her sword.
“Hey, take it easy. People are watching,” Michael said.
“Don’t fucking tell me to take it easy! This woman’s a thief and a fraud.”
“She needs to pay. And this whole town needs to learn a lesson for keeping her around,” Isabella resentfully added.
“Isn’t this going a bit too far? They’re just a few cores.”
“Shut up, Michael!” they both shouted.
“My mistake. Sorry,” Michael timidly replied, taking a step back.
But, seriously. These girls are so tense. It all started at the mention of the word ‘human.’ What the hell is happening?
The merchant grinned without making a sound. Hundreds of villagers had gathered in suspense. Julianna’s expression clearly displayed her hatred for the merchant.
“So you want to give me the silent treatment? Very well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Julianna charged at the merchant. Before her sword could land, the merchant blocked her attack with a raging wall of fire that stood over twenty feet tall.
“What?!” Julianna was stunned by the sudden blazing barrier before her. She stopped in her tracks. She trembled, infuriated.
“Surprised? Did you think you were the only one capable of wielding the power of familiars?” asked the merchant. She spoke in the high-pitched tone of an adolescent that had Julianna and the others even more unnerved.
“Familiars? What the hell are you talking about?” Julianna asked.
“You have so much to learn. Yet we must determine if you’re worthy of any knowledge. Let’s see if you can handle this,” said the merchant.
A great storm gathered above them. The twisting dark clouds coiled in lightning sent terror through Michael. The sound of rolling thunder penetrated his pounding heart. It brought havoc as the crowds ran for cover, like rats in the heat of panic. It felt as though the bolts could strike at any moment.
“What have you done?” Julianna looked at the angered skies and crackling cobblestone streets.
“Nothing you can’t handle, I’m sure.”
She and the others watched in absolute horror as the fire, earth, and water elementals materialized across the city. They pummeled their way through the once impressive architecture as if they were mere pebbles in their path.
“What the fuck are those?!” Isabella shouted.
Michael’s voice trembled, “The most feared creatures in all the Twilight Realm. The elementals.”
Isabella stared at them; panic was written all over her face.
“You’ve gone too far! Stop this now!” Julianna demanded. The city began to fall into nothing but rubble and devastation.
“If you really want to put an end to this, beat these creatures and meet me on the outskirts of the Light Realm. There, you’ll find what you’re looking for,” the merchant replied. She then sprouted black wings like Julianna’s and flew away.
Those wings…is she? Isabella thought. Her heart raced.
“Get back here, you fucking coward!” Julianna yelled.
Julianna returned her attention to the catastrophe before her. She knew what she had to do. Turning around, she saw Michael and Isabella shaking from fear.
“Take cover in that store over there. I’ll take care of things here.”
She pointed to a nearby potions shop. The two of them did as she said. Julianna set off in pursuit of the merchant and the elementals she’d stolen.
“Do you think she can handle the elementals by herself?” Isabella asked as they neared the entrance of the shop.
“Julianna? Absolutely! She’s the toughest girl I’ve ever met. She killed five of those things all by herself.”
“Did she kill three of them at once?”
“No, but I believe in her,” Michael said without hesitation.
Isabella was taken aback by his confidence. She wondered how Julianna had won over his heart. She hoped that she may be able to do the same one day. I’ll really have to work hard to make him mine, she thought.
Everywhere Michael turned, there was mayhem and panic. People ran for safety amidst flames, floods, and colossal boulders that hurtled down in every direction. Michael struggled to find a place for them to take cover.
“Damn it. We need to take shelter. Follow me!” He grabbed her arm, and they rushed through the city.
Just how is this possible? First Julianna. Now this merchant. Both can summon the elementals. What’s going on here? Michael thought.
Wait just a minute… His eyes widened. The story of the lonely witch and the elementals. Could it be?
“Hey, over there!”
Michael’s train of thought was interrupted. Isabella pointed towards a nearby bookshop. All the surrounding structures were facing ruin, pummeled by the elementals. The bodies of townspeople who’d failed to escape were splattered and mangled all around them. The bookshop was one of the few buildings yet to fall to the force of its ruthless invaders.
“Let’s go!” Michael rushed towards the shop, still holding Isabella’s hand.
If she’s who I think she is, I think we’ve finally found those missing pages of that fairy tale.
Just as they were about to enter the shop, it was smashed to bits by the earth elemental. All it had taken was a quaking stomp of its terra firma foot and a roar that echoed through the city. Michael and Isabella fell back from the might of the mountainous creature. Isabella let out a scream.
Michael watched, almost mesmerized, as the humungous fist of the beast slowly crashed towards her. He gritted his teeth and pulled her to safety, barely a breath before the creature could bludgeon her.
Isabella struggl
ed to catch her breath. “You saved me…”
Speed’s still their greatest weakness, aside from their conflicting elements. Damn, am I glad for that.
“Hurry up!” Michael yelled as he sought another place to shelter. “I think I see a potions shop. Come on!”
The floods only grew worse, as did the flames. The elementals were taking over the city street by street. People were being crushed beyond recognition.
They made it within just ten feet of the potions shop, but they were too late. They could feel the heat from the fire elemental’s blazing strike as it trampled the shop with oozing magma that burned everything nearby.
Michael was desperate. Still, he refused to give in. He took her to another shop in the hope of finding safety. However, they were met by the same bad luck; floodwaters flowed freely from the wine shop.
You’ve got to be joking. These damn things don’t know when to quit.
The two of them frantically scoured their surroundings. They were cornered by pandemonium on all sides. There was nowhere left to go. Every building, every street, and every corner was destroyed.
The city was lost.
“Where the hell is Julianna? You said she could handle this!”
“I don’t know. She must be nearby.”
He searched frantically until his gaze landed upon a set of tattered black wings protruding from the debris. “There!” Michael shouted.
He grabbed Isabella’s arm and ran towards Julianna.
She must have fought her heart out but still lost. His lip quivered in anger, and his footsteps fell faster. I’m sure she’d already caught on. This merchant and that witch from the fairy tale-
“Michael, watch out!”
Before he could finish his thought, Michael was tugged away from the burning force of the fire elemental by Isabella.
Enveloped with fear, Michael and Isabella stood in a petrified trance. The beast reached its hand for Isabella and lifted her into the air by her waist. Its burning touch had her flailing and feeling like she’d been pulled into a volcano.
“Let go of her!” Michael shouted, gripping her hand tightly.
He was overcome with fury at the merchant for everything she’d caused. All this elemental catastrophe had to have been her doing from the very beginning.
Michael was lifted into the air by his grip on Isabella. He pushed his boots against the knuckles of the beast, hoping to haul her from its grip. The sensation was blistering on his feet. He could feel the soles of his boots melting.
“Julianna’s already defeated. There’s no way I’m letting the elementals take you too!”
In that desperate moment, he remembered something - one of the things Julianna had given him that he’d been wearing all along.
My sword.
He let go of Isabella with one had for only a few seconds and reached for his blade. But the rocking sensation of the beast’s moving hand, tied with Isabella’s screams, had him latching back on with both hands.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” he shouted as he bit back his pain. He wished he’d had the courage to grab his sword in time.
She looked into his eyes, sobbing, as the beast’s hand burned her skin. “Just let go. Forget about me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Michael continued to pull on her as tightly as he could.
“Just leave me to be with her,” Isabella pleaded.
Michael was engulfed with memories of her from their childhood. He recalled their days on the playground and the following years as she grew crueler and crueler towards him. All the while, not knowing she’d been in love with him the entire time.
He could remember now, her gloomy looks after he had been hurt, the smiles she’d wipe away the moment she felt she’d stared at him for too long. He hadn’t understood what any of it had meant before, but now he did, and he wouldn’t allow himself to forget.
“I’m not letting you die here. Not when you still have things you need to answer for!” Michael screamed. His eyes watered in the heat that radiated from the fire elemental.
Isabella turned her head as she released her grip on Michael.
He looked up at her, stunned, as he fell from the sky towards a mass of debris.
The visions of his time with her as children, growing into adults, learning to resent her, and hoping to one day make peace vanished from his mind. His sword flew out from its sheath, moving further away from him with each moment.
Isabella…she’s gone. I’ll never get closure.
Every second felt like an eternity as he fell towards the rubble. He couldn’t bring himself to care in the slightest. The fates of the only friends he’d ever made were all he could think about.
He was covered in blood, barely biting back pain as shards of wood, glass, and rock pierced his body. Michael couldn’t lift his neck; he could only watch as the fire elemental lifted Isabella high into the air. His hands sprawled across the tattered and dusty floor in search of his sword among all the debris with what little strength he had left. It couldn’t be found.
Michael’s vision blurred; he felt his life slipping away. He knew Isabella was crying and full of regret, just as he was.
“Isabella and I…the promise-” he struggled to say.
Michael’s mind went numb. He watched helplessly as the beast dropped Isabella into its mouth. All he could hear was her screaming. It was a shrieking terror that sent his blood running cold as she was devoured.
“I have to know why… She promised… She promised… She promised…” he murmured with the last of his strength before closing his eyes.
It can’t end like this. My whole entire life has been spent as a servant. I never knew where I came from. Tears rolled from his eyes. He recalled memories of first moving into his master’s estate. I hoped one day I could make something of myself, become more than just this. In the end, it was all for nothing.
His heart broke, and his spirit grew weaker. An end to his struggles was coming.
Isabella…Julianna too. I’ve failed them both. Most of all, I’ve failed myself for never living the life I wanted. I never found out just what sort of person I could have become had I been given a chance.
He felt a surge of anger. A sharp jolt of pain. A rage that told him not to give in, not when there was finally something to fight for.
“No! It’s not over,” he said as he struggled to stand. Michael’s elbow buckled beneath him, but he tried again and managed to prop himself up. “I didn’t go through twenty years of shit for nothing. This life, the people that surround me, it all means something. I know it.”
With every breath, Michael gathered strength, his body slowly lifted from the earth. When he eventually stood, he pulled the debris out of his chest, piece by piece through his cracked and bloodied armor. Every inch of the iron plank that tore at his gut strings had him screaming. He knew his body was going to shut down any moment from the blood and intestinal loss, but he didn’t care. He kept pulling.
His past flashed by like an overflowing scrapbook. Everything that he’d struggled to piece together, the unending questions, they all vanished in an instant.
None of it mattered anymore.
In a burst of clarity, Michael saw his world with new eyes. “I don’t know where I came from or who I was destined to become, but I know who I want to be.”
He dusted himself off. Michael coughed up blood as he stared at the raging elementals in the distance. He looked around at the once prosperous city that had been brought to ruin.
I want to be someone others can depend on. Someone others can believe in and trust.
The ground around him shook.
I’m tired of living a life of mediocrity, where my only salvation is more pain.
He now saw that drinking, gambling, street fighting, and pickpocketing had given him nothing and gotten him nowhere. It was time he finally took the pain he’d been carrying and used it in service for something new.
Something worth believing in.
Mich
ael screamed.
As though triggered by the sound, a powerful aura enveloped his being. It wasn’t formed by cruelty like that which had taken over him that fateful night at the Asmodai estate. This aura strived for something more, something he was only just beginning to discover.
I know why I am here. It’s not to be someone’s punching bag, not to live in failure. I’m capable of becoming so much more. Julianna and Isabella both believe in me. It’s time I quit bitching and prove to them that I’m someone worth believing in!
The incandescent aura around him exploded in a burst of energy. It was like the heavens were shining down their vengeance for him.
He was frightened by the way he felt, but he was ready and willing to experience it.
Michael screamed in pain as his wounds stitched themselves back together. His eyes glowed, and his body blazed with them. He hunched over as a sharp pain attacked his back; a set of white-feathered wings pushed their way through his skin. They shone as they drove him into the sky to face the elementals.
His resolve was unbreakable. A smile was fixed on his face.
“I know who I am now,” he said. “I am Michael, the archangel. I’m the one who will free this world from all evil.” He spoke with an unfamiliar cadence. A white cloud of sparkling mist formed before him. From within the ivory smog, he summoned a golden scepter to his side.
“And with this scepter, evil will be slain!” he declared. Michael pointed his scepter at the three elementals that now congregated around Julianna’s cold and unconscious body as if they were ready to feed. The sight brought disgust to Michael’s icy blue eyes. “With the touch of my light, the scourge you monsters have brought upon this land will be no more!”
Michael swung his scepter through the air. It released an insurmountable force of lightning strong enough to tear an entire realm asunder. And asunder, he brought. Bolts of electrical might carved straight from the heavens obliterated everything they touched. The power he forged was so great, so powerful, each elemental simply disintegrated and crumbled to ruin. It was like mountains corroding into thunderous oblivion. Their existence was removed entirely from this world, never to return.
As the light vanished from his scepter, Michael became aware of what he’d done. He saw the destruction he’d caused in such a short time.
