Into the Darkness

by C T Scribe

  Martin wasn’t having the best day. Today he really missed Deb. Not only did he miss her bedroom behavior, but he missed her company. Today was the proving grounds, and he would have to go alone. It’s not that he couldn’t find a new girl to be with, but he honestly didn’t want to. He knew that would change with time, and time her had. He wasn’t ready for someone new. Admitting that to himself made him feel very human. Before work today he didn’t like his food. Visiting one of the other diners not run by Deb was the worst. She was not only the best cook at HQ, but her ability to distribute mana through food was far better than the other cooks. A meal a day from Deb was more than enough to keep him going, but at the other eateries he would have to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a before bed snack to keep his strength up. Even then he lacked the energy he had become so use to from Deb. It showed in his work as his tardiness grew worse. He struggled to get up in the mornings more than usual. His job detail seemed to be draining him as well. The spot outside he had been mending for the past month would not fully heal. He enjoyed the fresh air and all, but that was a bad sign. He reported as much to the others in the maintenance department, but they told him to keep repairing it as he had been doing. He also had other repairs to make throughout the day. It seemed as if HQ was sick. The repair list grew daily, and the others seemed to do less about it he thought. Lately he wasn’t being paired with the others for jobs. He was frustrated, lonely, and tired, when he arrived at the proving grounds. It hadn’t changed at all since his ceremony. The fighting had already begun when he arrived, but nothing major had happened yet. The new recruits were still readying their weapons it seemed. Conjuring them from your blood was a skill that took time. Well perhaps it didn’t take time for everyone, considering several in the class had fully formed weapons drawn. In the center two large boys faced off. One bare fisted, and the other with twin swords. Martin felt bad for the weaponless recruit as the other began swinging his swords violently. Such a mismatch he thought as he watched the unarmed boy dodge the first swipe at his torso. Turning fast the swordsman again slashed at his opponent, and once again the boy dodged another would be fatal blow.

  In the upper corners of the field two twins fought different opponents. The brother twin fought a large man with a club. The male twin with only a knife gave no sign of fear as he rushed the man straight on. Running top speed he managed to evade the giant’s swing just at the last moment. As he rolled to the side something whizzed past his head. Martin traced the knife projection path to the sister twin on the opposite side of the field. She smirked as she easily avoided her opponents jab. The dark skinned girl she faced had yet to reveal a weapon either. For the club swinging brute the knife throw would most likely cost him the match. The sisters aim was true striking his club hand. The male twin wasted no time recovering as he approach the brute blade drawn. Having fallen to one knee the larger opponent was now at a disadvantage. His club had disappeared from lack of concentration, and he wailed from the pain of the unsuspected knife throw. The high pitched squeal in stark contrast to his hulking size struck Martin as funny. He couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped his lips. A ripple of laughter went through the crowd as well. The male twin in a full sprint finally upon him sent a shock wave of blood lust through the onlookers. In an acrobatic move he jumped off the brute’s bent leg, and snatched his sister’s blade from his hand. Twisting his body he soared over the brute’s head then slashed down with both knives crisscrossing the back of his neck in a fatal stroke. That quickly the first match had ended. The Smith’s in the crowd cheered especially loud. Many of them anxious to design a second knife for the boy who has such a way with twin daggers. With no pause for celebration the brother twin launched both knives across the field towards his sister’s opponent. The dark skinned girl had finally drawn out her weapon. The long golden staff shimmering in her hands. Unaware of the blades flying towards her back she continued beating of the female twin violently. For the past 20 seconds she had been beating the female twin with hard powerful strikes. With no weapon to deflect the twin took shots to her arms and torso. She only dodged head shots in the brief moments without her blade. As the blades closed in on the staff wielder she jumped into the air twisting. The dodging maneuver was truly beautiful, but as if expecting it the dark skinned woman jumped directly at her. Mid air she summoned her blade to her hand. The twisting done to avoid both blades left her exposed to the frontal attack launched at her. The sister twin proved faster in the air. With a single swipe the dark skinned girl was sliced, and forced to the ground. For some reason there was no blood, but the dark scars where the attack landed were deep purple on her skin.

  Her skin felt torn in those purple scarred sections. The cut was down her belly. If she was human her guts would be spilling onto the field, but she wasn’t human. With one hand on her staff and one holding her invisible stomach wound she rose defiantly. Martin scanned the field looking for more interesting fights. That was the downfall to the proving grounds. If you put your attention in the wrong place you may miss the best fighting moments. Many of the students had unimpressive swords. These medieval style duels littered the field. Nothing here was too exciting to him as he moved his gaze around the new recruits. If this had only been his class he thought with a sigh. Bang. One of the swordsman dropped to the ground. Bang. Another swordsman fell. Martin zeroed in on the shot tracing it back to the source. It was much harder than following a knife throw. Bang. Another one down. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. The last four shots fired quickly, but no one fell from those. Martin could see the gun fight now. Behind a rock lurked a sniper picking off whomever she chose. Wisely using the body of a fallen recruit as a shield her opponent with a single pistol fired at the rock whenever she peered out. More bangs sounded as the pistol wielder desperately tried to chip away at the rock she was using as her own shield. The two gunman were in a standstill. To have a sniper in this class was rare. Blood weapons required little aim. Being a part of the wielder you simply guided the bullets with your aura. Gun users were very powerful among the immortals. The widely feared tall man was a double blood weapon gun user. Martin hated himself for thinking about him right now. The asshole that everyone was afraid of. The asshole that took Deb from him. Deciding not to dwell on that for too long he spotted another dual blood weapon user toward the bottom right.

  With two circular blades she fiercely swiped at her dodging enemy. The man’s war hammer lay a few feet from him on the ground. Apparently dropping it as the dual weapon wielding female launched a berserk style frontal assault. She wasn’t overpowering him, but overwhelming him instead. Giving too little time to focus on materializing his weapon her assault left him defenseless. She was good. Martin made a mental note of liking her as he shifted his gaze back to the female twins fight. It was over, and he had missed it. The dark skinned girl still holding her gut stood atop the twin. Her staff slammed into her chest. The winner barely stood as her assortment of purple scars along her arms and legs pulsed. Martin would have to see if anyone watched the entire fight at the bar. He swore the twin would win that battle. Scanning around most of the fighting had finished. The sniper had apparently fired through the rock defeating her opponent with one final trigger squeeze. Before Teach stopped her she all but cleared the field of the lower level swordsmen. In the bottom right the circular blade user finished her opponent. As she went for a left handed slash the blade vanished. Not in the loss of concentration way. No this was light magic. Martin was even more impressed as he realized she was not dual wielding, but cleverly using a single weapon and a trick of the light to make it appear as if she had two weapons. To use light magic barely one month after the turn was unheard of. Perhaps this wasn’t the class he wished to be a part of after all. He saw two warriors remaining on the field. Only then with all other fights finished did he notice the match in the middle of the field was still ongoing. The dual wielders still facing off despite one of the boys having no weapons. He had heard early upon arriving that the boy called Tye’s w
eapons never formed. As he looked to the field he had to disagree. What he saw was one boy with two beautiful swords huffing from fatigue against three others using martial arts. Three against one wasn’t part of the rules. Focusing his eyes in an inhuman manner revealed the truth of the situation. Tye’s unformed eggs were now massive and human in shape. The faceless blobs were muscular and powerful. The blobs had purple scars all over them, but Tye hadn’t received a single mark. He also seemed to be full of energy as he stared down the dual sword user fearlessly. This was the fight to watch. Martin was glad he didn’t miss this.

  Tye knew Marco had been playing with him so far. None of his many slashes were aimed to kill. Well not “kill” as he noticed others around him with purple scars instead of knife wounds and bullet holes. He first saw the marks on A&B, and assumed the blobs couldn’t bleed. It wasn’t until a few of his classmates were shot down by a sniper as they frantically ran towards him that he noticed they too had the purple markings. It seemed Marco wanted their duel to be the last fight. Perhaps he was trying to send a message to the higher ups or something. Tye hadn’t spoken much to Marco or anyone in class for that matter. He remembered feeling his aura from a seat away. Even the first day he had amazing control over this new energy they possessed. When Teach attacked to bring out their blood weapons Marco had reacted just as quickly as Tye to defend themselves. He had seen his share of the supernatural before coming to HQ, and Tye would bet his life he wanted to fight on the battlefield as much as him. He could feel the yearning for retribution in his attacks. Tye was just thankful he was holding his own. If Marco wanted to draw this out he didn’t mind. As far as conditioning goes he was in better shape. Marco breathed heavily as he stood just outside of striking range with his swords up. In contrast Tye hadn’t broken a sweat. He felt light and fast without the training vest on. He still wondered how heavy that thing was. During the fight so far A&B shielded him against every strike they couldn’t dodge. They fought as a group of three thus far. Tye decided to save the disappearing and reappearing combat for when things got serious. He had a feeling that time was rapidly approaching. The crowd had grown since they arrived. The loud wild thing the crowd became was comforting to the boy who grew up under Friday night lights. He hadn’t realized how much he missed the cheering of crowds until now. Seldom thinking of his past life kept him focused, but this small detail was a gift. As always he found strength in the crowd, but now with so many immortals gathered he found something else. A deep connection to the power frequency pulsed through him. He allowed it to fill him completely before he launched the next attack. A, rushed in from the left with a wild haymaker. His too fast movements forcing Marco to step back as he swung his blade defensively at his attacker. Before he could regain his footing B came from the right with a low sweep. Marco planted one of his blades into the ground shielding his legs. B stopped his sweep before adding another purple scar to his extremity, but the joint attack left Marcos torso open for assault. Just as they had practiced Tye charged in landing a combination of power punches. His punches otherworldly in strength and speed. Against the gym equipment he could barely gage the damage his blows would make. As his fist connected against Marcos body the purple scars appeared in each spot. The damage was as real as the other weapons had caused that day. The crowd cheered at the move. Marco was knocked back a few steps, but quickly recovered. Rushing towards them he moved quicker than before. Tye could barely see the first strike to B that sent him flying through the air. In anticipation of the second attack A jumped in front of Tye, and they were both sent flying from the impact. New purple scars appeared on the blobs arms. Tye noticed the wounds appeared deeper purple than before. Things were finally getting serious. Giving them no time to regroup Marco leapt in the air covering the distance between them near instantly. Angling the tips of his blades towards Tye’s chest. The crowd went silent as they watched the kill move. If Tye himself hadn’t been holding back this fight would be over. Pinned beneath A&B he had little room to dodge. With a sudden poof his blob companions vanished allowing space to roll from the attack moments before Marco came crashing down. Staying on the ground he began his attack using a combination of low sweeping kicks and spins. One of the many techniques he picked up in the dojo this past month. It wasn’t just the technique that had Marco unable fight back, but the speed was surreal. Equally as fast as Marco’s burst, but this was done while crouching and kicking. Marco took on the kicks without purple marks appearing. Somehow using his aura to shield himself from the damage. Tye could feel the protection shrouding Marco, but something in him knew it wouldn’t hold. A materialized in his hand as small as the first day they met. With an almost imperceptible flick of the wrist he launched the blob into the sky, and continued pushing Marco back. He never saw it coming as the blob grew midair, and crashed down on him legs out in a powerful stomp. Purple still didn’t appear, but Tye felt the shielding weaken further. A vanished as quickly as he struck. B who Tye had launched moments after A grew in midair was waiting for Marco from behind. As he leaned back the muscular blob wrapped his hands around his waist lifting him high into the air until he slammed him hard into the ground. The reverse suplex was a personal favorite of Tye’s growing up watching wrestling on television. Still no purple marks, but his shielding finally shattered. Tye gave no pause as he kicked Marco across his ribs while laying there on the ground. The kick lifting him into the air was met with a newly materialized A swinging both first down hard into his back. The impact launching him into the ground with a loud crunch. Purple spots all over his body began to form instantly. Turning from his opponent Tye looked to Teach with an innocent shrug. The gesture cost him as a blue gemmed blade sliced into his shoulder. Pain spread through his neck and shoulder like wildfire. A wetness was on him. This was blood. It was his blood. No one had bled that day until now. No one had taken lethal damage. This changed everything. Tye’s world turned a shade of red. Everything slowed down at the site of his own blood. The sound left the field. He didn’t notice B wrap around his neck and shoulder stopping the crimson flow. He didn’t notice A wrap around his opposite arm hardening it. He barely registered the glow of Marcos swords or the blackness in his eyes before punching the ground with all his strength. The ground rippled with him at the epicenter. Chunks of rocks flew in all directions. A large jagged rock landed on Marcos leg. Blood dripping from the puncture. Tye would kill him. The dormant voice in his head wickedly laughing at every step towards his prey. “Kill.” He issued the command in his mind on an infinite loop. With his too fast speed he was upon Marco before he could react. The glow of his blades smoldered against his skin. And then there was nothing. There was blackness.

  Every onlooker at the proving grounds was silent. Moments ago these new recruits had managed a phase 2 power shift. Only a month after the turn. The crowds surprise was evident by the hush. They all stared at the field blankly. Martin looked to the field blankly for another reason. Now standing above the kids, Deb and the tall man decided to end the fight before their powers got even more out of control. He agreed with the decision to stop the fight. A clean blow to the back or their heads was enough to incapacitate them. Martin doubted the kids saw it coming in the rage they were in. It wasn’t the kids that upset him. Deb and that guy acted in unison. He hadn’t seen them here today. They came from the same direction, the same seats. They were here together in front of everyone. Martin knew he should let it go. His best friend had told him as much weeks ago, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He missed her, and for all her talk of how immortals love more freely he knew she missed him too. She refused to see him. Deb and the tall man handed the kids over to Teach and someone else working the event. They turned to leave the proving grounds. Everyone else had already began their evacuation of the area. The event was over. There would be lots of talk about it at the bar where most of the people were headed. Martin knew it was a bad idea before he moved. His body excited from the fighting fought against his mind. Despite his mental commands h
e found himself stalking towards the couple near the back of the exiting crowd.