I caught Evander’s gauntlet with one hand, and the shell shock still hadn’t passed.
I felt renewed. Refreshed. Like I’d just had a three course meal, sixteen hours of sleep, and injected an anabolic. But at what damned cost!
Evander, or more rather, the exposed and injured face of Enzo seemed shocked. Good. I took advantage of it, forming a glittering, now golden blade in my other hand via my shadow, and jabbing forward, a golden trail of spectral ink lingering around the blade. Slicing upwards, I inflicted a heavy cut down the chest plate, the lines left behind lingering with a faint glow, with two more slashes turning them into a solid three pronged striking symbol, and as if on instinct, I fully solidified it, trapping Enzo as I evaded under an overhead swing deftly, sliding to be behind Enzo.
He broke free of the bindings just as easily, with a burst of black blood, surging towards me via Zephyr and Atlas, footsteps now even crumbling in the roof beneath. His face was contorted into anger and pain, not a single smug drop left in his body. Slashing out twin blades in an X, a barrier of light shimmered into existence and slowing his momentum long enough for me to practically dance backwards over ruined sections of the roof, using a combination of flight and high reflexes to move from spot to spot in the holes ridden in the roof from the constant battle. As I went, I trailed my blades behind me, drawing out more obstacles, and now I stood across from him, as he’d come to a stop across the effective chasm from me.
We stared at each other. Enzo angrily, me…a little dumbfounded. Rain pounded down all around us, and I was breathing hard, but steadily through it. The crack of thunder illuminated the scene even further then the lingering light trails, and I got a brief glimpse of how truly injured Enzo was. Bleeding. Likely poisoned. And tired from constant battle. Frost still clung to the sides of his armor where Lanigan had struck him with the spell, and a few sections had been seared by flames.
Then stood me. A fresh combatant. Armor reinforced. Second shadow added…even if it hurt.
I pushed the pain of watching Mark plummet with the axe in his chest into the back of my head. The fact that Orion had bonded with me so easily and immediately meant that there was no chance Mark had survived. He’d given up our main advantage, that being that there was two of us, up, and had effectively killed himself to switch the scales. I had been in a bad spot, sure, but I had still strength to fight, to dodge, to escape Evander’s grip.
But instead, we’d opted for this. A solo showdown, both of my allies dead, something far more up to chance.
It threatened to enter my consciousness, just like Artemis’s voice would, to distract me. But I resolved to press on. Mark was smart. If he had thought this was the best path forward, his final goal? I’d trust his judgement.
Switching my sabers for a bow, I drew back the string, conjuring a trio of glittering golden arrows to the weapon.
“This is over, Enzo. Stay still and I’ll end it quick!” I, not Artemis or Orion, spoke, though my voice was still filtered through the golden helm which now covered my face. My appearance had changed with the addition of Orion, I’d got from an honestly embarrassingly skimpy hunting garb with shadows clinging to my skin, to golden half plate, not covering my whole body, but enough of it to be important. The helm I wore seemed to be spiked, based on the weight, and all of it had a glittering tone to if like the weapons of Artemis. I’d barely felt the change, just the surge of energy. I hadn’t even heard Orion speak, either. Though that may just have been because of my general policy towards the shadows was that I was in control while merged. Artemis barely spoke to me, and perhaps Orion was following her example.
I released the volley of shining arrows, golden lines of light trailing behind them, before they each embedded in Evander’s chest plate, piercing through. The light then solidified, effectively impaling Enzo partially and tying him to anchored points midair. I heard a visible grunt, before Enzo spoke. Helmet now gone, so there was barely any filter.
“…You’re the last one standing…Kelly. And soon, no one will stand at all.” He spoke with no smugness, no pleasure, no happiness. Only grim, eerie determination.
He charged. Shattering the lines and breaking them off inside of him, invoking more damage with Juno began to repair, before firing off a scattering of iridescent blasts with Iris, which forced me to divert my gaze for a critical moment, as the ground beneath me rumbled, plants spiraling upwards and arcing towards me via Calypso and what I assumed to be Andromeda based on the crown’s response.
I dodged, slicing out of the way, as Enzo took this chance to close, engaging me blow to blow. Thanks to Zephyr and Artemis we both became very much a blur, swinging heavy blows from Enzo’s end, and fast and numerous ones from mine, a small storm of light and energy forming as I connected line after line to Evander’s armor, even if my blows wouldn’t pierce to Enzo beneath, Orion would still anchor him. For his part, though, Enzo struck true a few times, one fist strike slamming into my helmet, cracking the front and bruising me beneath, another leg sweep nearly took out my footing and made my leg scream in pain as it was struck hard, and finally, he summoned Atlas’s axe back to his hand, still dripping with running blood and clinging fabric fragments likely from Mark, before swinging it towards me, clipping my armored midsection and ripping a hole through the armor.
It wasn’t enough to deter me, though, and I matched his determination in spades, this entire fight feeling like a greater high then any of the dozens of drugs I’d taken, the power flowing through me greater then when I felt the kick of steroids in the middle of a game, striking again and again, landing tether after tether, ripping him apart piece by bloody piece. He was shaking off most of the solid lines just by moving, but for every single one he tore out, I would land three more, starting to turn him into a golden pincushion. His strikes began to slow, as he actually began to be inhibited, his Zephyr speed and Atlas strength bogged down by the weight of the warrior artist’s magnum opus. The lines and threads permeated him, scattering across his entire being, entrapping him in a beautiful web of light. Enzo’s bloodshot eyes widened, as the crown atop his head began to exude power once more, attempting to take grip of the tethers, to command, to exert rule over them.
I contested. Even without a full understanding of what I was doing, how, or why, I contested. Andromeda, though she belonged to Enzo now, still had pride, as myself, her, Enzo, Artemis, and Orion all grappled over the tendrils, with myself and my shadows demanding that our creation remained our own.
From an outsiders perspective, it would look as if the fray had frozen, but for thirteen long seconds we fought over them, and in the end…
I won.
Enzo, trying to exert control, suddenly gasped, and withdrew. Looking with the light afforded me by the web, I could see the stung and inflamed areas of his neck almost pulsating parts of his skin cracking open as if blistered, his bloodshot eyes accompanying ragged breathing indicating that whatever he’d been hit with by Cynthia was taking it’s toll. He stood there, unable to move, for about five seconds too long.
I took in a deep, long, and refreshing breath, the fresh smell of the rain flowing through me for a grounding feeling.
I was Kelly Bennett. Star Athlete and Scholar. Host of the Huntress and the Warrior Artist. Successor to the title of Hero.
I was also a cheater who took drugs to make myself do better, came up with ways to sneak around test proctors to get my perfect scores, and the girl who had manipulated Mark into being what he didn’t want to be for the sake of Orion, despite ignoring my own shadow religiously.
Leader. Hypocrite. Failure. Victorious. Cheater. Prodigy.
Titles and meanings which I tossed aside in this moment. Ten people were dead. Killed senselessly for someone else’s personal gain.
I was an asshole, sometimes.
But even I knew Enzo had to go.
And it was time to deal a final blow.
Dismissing my twin sabers in favor of Orion’s signature greatsword, the weapon glittering towards the heavens. I then began exuding more of Orion’s golden ink from my gauntlets, wrapping around the blade, honing it’s edge and making it easily twice my height. Despite that, it felt weightless, like I had been training to use it for years.
Casting my gaze towards Enzo, who was just starting to recover as I finished my massive weapon, moving to try and maybe free himself. I wouldn’t give him the damn chance.
I ran forward, though that was a bit of an exaggeration, I mostly flew, just bouncing off the ground to close the distance even faster, pulling the weapon down closer to me and more closer to my target, with the grace of a dancer, the strength of a knight, and the prowess of a huntress, I thrust the blade forward with every single ounce of strength and power I could offer.
The blade struck Evander’s Atlas stolen armor, and punched straight through the center, crumbling the dented and damaged bronze inwards with unearthly might, punching in and out through the other side. At the simultaneous moment of the strike, I pulled on all of the lines and threads permeating and tying down Enzo’s form, and tugged DOWN.
Striking, binding, holding his body close. Cutting into his flesh where the armor is was broken and bending the bronze where it wasn’t, as I held the greatsword in place, with fury in my eyes.
“Die alone. Like they did.” I said, actually allowing Artemis and Orion in, to give my words more venom and vitriol.
Enzo looked at me, somehow still conscious. Juno’s glowing shoulder emblem would likely explain that, all of his energy devoted solely to keeping him alive. Managing to move his right arm, he swung at he with a shocking amount of force, and not wanting to be knocked back without my volition, sprung backwards, leaving my blade where it was, and landing a few feet away. I summoned the blade back to my hand, and watched as Enzo buckled, crumbling, only barely held up by a single gauntleted hand to the ground. His breathing was labored now. Still erratic, and wheezing. The remaining strands of light either snapped, providing more harm, or remained and restricted some of his movement still, though now that he was on the ground it didn’t much matter. Despite his best efforts to use Juno, black blood still spilled from the central wound. Too much. The wound on his neck, the blistering and inflamed skin was also getting worse.
I stared at him. I considered a killing blow, but it seemed unnecessary.
“Feel it. Feel the call of what awaits beyond. Pray to god, maybe. But no one’s coming to save you, Enzo. I hope everything hurts. And I hope that it continues to hurt until you can’t feel anything else.” Only Artemis joined me in speaking that time. Perhaps a bit too unheroic for Orion’s taste. I didn’t much care either way.
Enzo…with some of what had to be the last of his strength…laughed.
“…You’ll lose either way…whore…you’ll go insane. The voices. The souls. You’ll have them all…weighing…on…you…besides…I’m…” His hand holding him up buckled “Not out yet…you missed your chance…and…you’re…doomed…”
He gave one final, very Enzo smirk…before his eyes lulled slightly, his smug gaze and expression falling away…then clattered to the ground. The clank of armor only matched by the splash he made in the rain covered rooftop and the loud creak of this area of roof not being able to fully support his weight in that way, something beneath giving way. It didn’t collapse now, but it might soon. But I had more pressing worries.
Taking a step back, I exhaled. Watching his body for a solid few seconds, and seeing him not move, I took the chance to retreat a few more steps. My heart was still pounding, and my few wounds now found now a good time to flare with pain now that the adrenaline of it all was starting to wear off. I was…somewhere between elated and horrified. Fuck. I…didn’t know what to do.
I walked over to the edge of the roof, looking out into the distance to where Evander had thrown Lanigan. I was still holding out hope that he’d survived, somehow. He was a wizard, after all, and from what we’d seen from the hearings they could do…a lot. I looked for any sign of motion through the rain and the light of the occasional cracking of thunder, any sign of life…nothing.
I sighed. Casting my gaze downwards, and seeing the faint shape of Mark’s body in the grass below. He was unmoving. The massive injury and the lack of movement from him plain to see even from here. A girl could hope, I supposed. I’d look more in depth shortly, once I had Juno and the other shadows to potentially heal any injury he’d had….speaking of that.
I supposed it was time to claim my prize. I turned, ready to have to merge with more shadows.
And was greeted to a two ton chunk of stone, metal, and animal corpse to the face.
Sent sprawling, I could see flashes of movement through the rain and debris, large, fast, armored movement.
Shit! Enzo was dead, he had to be! Or even if he wasn’t, he shouldn’t be moving with his wounds.
Not having a ton of roof to fall back to and needing a vantage point, I pivoted midair and kicked off into flight, the combined and similar power of Orion and Artemis allowing it to seamless, launching myself into the air and stabilizing shortly after. I scanned the area, locking on the massive figure…of Enzo?
The armor had been patched up, the bronze damage having been repaired by some kind of black stone, maybe obsidian. His helmet was gone completely, Arthur’s tendrils snake down and wrapping around the imprisoned Calypso instead. Andromeda’s crown rested on his head, but it was different now. His entire head was engulfed in purple voidlike shadow, with two red orbs taking the place of eyes, which narrowed into a glare towards me. In both hands was the telekinetic rifle.
“Siblings. Good to see you again.” The voice which called through the rain didn’t even sound like Enzo through a filter anymore. It was something else. Something foreign. Something chilling. Still masculine, but deep, grating, and downright scary in a way Enzo just wasn’t.
I wasn’t fighting Enzo anymore. This was Evander.
“I’m not your sibling. Don’t make me kill you a second time.” I called down with gusto, no shadows in my voice. Even so, I could feel Artemis and Orion stirring. They were…angry.
“I was not talking to you, flesh puppet. Get off of your high horse, and let them speak.” Evander said coldly. His words didn’t hurt. But they did frustrate me.
The shadows were threatening to boil over unless I let them respond, so I did, though keeping warry eye on Evander’s hands. The gun was pointed away from us. For now.
“Evander! What is the meaning of this! Enzo lost, which means you lose with him!” Orion and Artemis spoke as a unit, which made sense. They both were similar enough. They sounded pissed, even though I didn’t know what they meant.
Evander chuckled.
“Enzo did lose, yes. Why does that mean I have to? His body is mostly vacant. He still breaths, technically, I saved him near the last moment. The neurotoxin that Andromeda and Calypso delivered him did a number, though it did do me a few favors internally as well.”
“You agreed! We all did. There are rules to this! We must abi-”
“Why? Because I signed a fancy stone a few thousand years ago? Because it’s honorable? I only did this to get to the future. To see what they had to offer. And, to eventually get back here, face to face again.”
My blood ran cold. He had an upper hand. And I was paranoid, along with curious.
“What do you mean that the toxin did you favors?” I interjected before Orion and Artemis could “And what stone?”
Evander couldn’t physically grin. But I feel like he would if he could. I could see why he was bonded with Enzo, now.
“The toxin practically killed Enzo. But it also had an effect on the shadows bound to him. Most especially the one within his mind. Delphi finally broke. And now I see everything. As for the stone-“ He cast his arms out “You should know this! Have they truly told you puppets nothing!”
“Who is Delphi? That’s not one of us!” Artemis called, before Orion switched in to speak next. They were out of tandem now, not a good sign. “We sealed our powers away, along with our pasts, to pass our powers on, through the world! We’d strayed from the path of what is right, pursued glory amongst the mortals. So we agreed to work for the collective good of the future! That is what you signed, in the stone.”
This was the angriest I’d heard Orion. I was starting to piece it all together. The stone was some form of contract they’d all signed.
“You all actually went through with diluting your own memories for the sake of ‘fairness’? You’re all horribly deluded. Forgetting your own sibling just because you couldn’t see them” Evander said with disgust “Why should I bow to your whims! The only reason I agreed was because if I didn’t agree to lose it all, you’d take it by force. I enjoyed this puppet species once, fought alongside them, even respected them, but you decided to take that from me, take all my attachment, take my more, and shunt me ahead. I awoke centuries ago, and the world I’d known was gone. I learned to hate it. All of this? Everything that’s occurred, all of the violence? It’s your faults. I’m simply bringing back the balance. With the strength to back it up this time.”
He spoke with determination. With strength. And with pain to it all as well. However I didn’t let it distract me. Whatever this Delphi shadow was, I had a feeling it was Andrew’s…and broken probably meant it was a tenth power for Enzo’s arsenal. I had to be wary.
“You were changing their history! You interfered too much! Our powers must have limits, Evander! We are not gods!” They were back in tandem, agreeing on this point.
“We aren’t. But we are still living beings, are we not? We should not have to sacrifice for their sakes and receive nothing in return! I never wish to return to the Plane of Refuge again!”
“But you will. We’ll drag you there, and finally do what we should have done centuries ago.”
Evander looked poised to once more respond, but I had faded out of listening. They were using us. Bickering, using me and Enzo. Fighting their battle through us. Meanwhile, ten of my friends were dead, and their killer…killers…were a matter of feet away.
I clenched a fist.
Formed both sabers.
And dove in the same motion.
“Enough! You’ll pay for killing my friends!” I shouted in a roar, which Artemis and Orion retreated from. I slashed forwards, glittering weapons cutting across his armor before he could respond, lines trailing and filling in the gaps, glowing with burning light.
“I don’t give a flying fuck about your philosophy and esoteric bullshit!” I shouted, cutting again, this time aiming for the legs, and jabbing a blow straight into Evander’s side. He moved to respond by swinging the rifle’s end towards me, but I parried with my blade. It didn’t cut through the shadow’s weapon like I wanted, but it did attach an Orion strand which I immediately solidified, tying up his hands for another second. “You killed everyone I knew. Without a remorse. Enzo did it like it was a game, and you did it to prove a fucking point! I’ll kill you both!”
Another shout accompanied by more strikes. However, Evander, having untied his hands, used Zephyr to position himself, tearing through more Orion’s works with little effort and lining up a point blank rifle shot, squeezing the trigger twice, the force sending me flying back across the rooftop. I barely had time to recover before he was upon me, rifle stowed in favor of just his fists, swinging the gauntlets down at me with all his might. I weaved a shield together, but that wasn’t enough to stop the force, as the roof already unstable beneath me, partially collapsed. I fell for a bit, not hitting anything, before catching myself with flight, only to see the shadow of Evander’s form bear down on me, tackling me and sending me plummeting along with me, through a few floors, the brunt of those impacts against my armored back, until we finally hit the ground floor, where just before impact, I conjured my sabers point blank, stabbing upwards, punching through the armor and pushing away from him with all of my enhanced might, freeing myself from his grasp and sending me flying into one of the ground floor walls, heading straight through the thin barrier and over an office desk to the floor for a heavy impact.
I got up as fast as I could, beaten and bruised, but still in the fight. Evander from what I saw, as I flew over the barrier, was still getting up, removing the stabbed through glittering sabers, a bit of blackish purplish blood spilling forth. I took my chance when I had it, conjuring the greatsword again, empowering it with Orion stands as much as I could in a split second, before charging forward, cutting a large swathe down his back, before taking a swipe at the midsection the moment he stood, striking true and staggering him, but he threw a heavy and fast punch which knocked be back through more of the thin office walls. I dropped the sword, as Evander appeared in melee and kneed me in the face as I tried to stand, following it up with a firm kick which sent me impacting the ceiling. The entire building was shaking at this point, likely to come down with even the slightest provocation.
I scrambled to get up, switching to twin swords again and moving to strike. He was injured. I could still win.
Striking up and down his body faster then even Zephyr could fully defend from, save for some swipes which prevented me from reaching more vital areas, but I did manage to tie him up again, moving in for one final strike, to compress it all in, and finish him in the same way I did Enzo.
Then, in a sudden move that was perfectly executed, he spun, and grabbed me by the throat , lifting me high. I stabbed his arm, but it didn’t do much, even as I pushed the blades deeper.
“You fought well, for a puppet.” He said.
“I FIGHT well, for a puppet-“ I said in defiance, summoning a greatsword and moving to stab downward, only for him to catch the blade, squeeze, and shatter it. Orion and Artemis were silent.
“You were destined to win, you know. Until I wrested control from Delphi. They could predict the future, them and…Andrew I think his name was. He set this whole thing up to make sure I died, sacrificing everyone but you in the process. Because he thought you’d be a worthy price. Delphi got in his head, knowing them, and told him about the nature of balancing power. If I had to guess, if he’d accepted collateral from Enzo, he could have saved all of you.”
I was still kicking. Summoning weapons, stabbing or striking, getting deflected or ignored. His words hurt.
“But now? With this? All of your friends died for nothing. And now you will too.“
I didn’t even have time to consider, before he conjured his rifle back, dropping me and squeezed the trigger twice in my face before I could even start to fall. All remaining hope dying with one splattering of gold, glitter, gore, and bone.
Kindling And Miscellany 