I awoke, laying down flat on my back. The armor, weapons, and remainder of my shadow’s gear in it’s entirety was gone, and just my normal cloths and bag were on me, though now slightly damp from the rain. I was staring upwards through a massive hole in a ceiling, of a building I assumed was Jefferson. The building creaked and cracked, likely only a slight nudge away from coming down.
I sat up. What the hell happened? I’d been fighting Kelly, without Evander’s support, and…
I’d failed. Cynthia had gotten me good earlier, with something, and I’d felt it the entire time I was fighting Orion and Artemis. I’d felt clammy, numb, a stinging pain around my neck, something beyond what the hornet stings she’d brought down on me should have been. Juno kept it at bay, but even her healing hadn’t been enough. Kelly had…beaten me.
The only question that remain, was why was I alive?
Granted, I wasn’t complaining. I much preferred it to the alternative. I sat up, slowly, feeling the slight pang of a headache. Rubbing my neck, I noticed a lack of any kind of injury there, no flash of pain, no aggravated bumps. Just my skin, whole and intact.
Looking around, I saw a grisly display behind me and to my right. Which was to say, it was just another display. Grisly wasn’t something I wholly registered anymore. You sort of stopped, after killing over a dozen people in such a short amount of time.
A body that I could notice resembled Kelly. I say resembled, because it wasn’t exactly in pristine condition. From the collarbone upwards, it was a mangled mess, like that particular area had been struck upside the head with a freight train. Blood, bone and brains were scattered across the wall and even into the next room where the impact had struck through the already crumbling wall. All signs of any shadows were gone, though. Leaving just a mangled girl’s body.
I turned up my nose slightly when the first bit of the smell hit, blood mixed with sweat and the precipitation of the rain, along with the musk of the decaying and damp building. At this point…I should probably get out, before the thing came down. Besides, some fresh air could do me some good.
I navigated to the front of the building, and up a thankfully still intact set of stairs in order to reach the first floor and escape what was effectively a basement. Now I’d killed four people in this building. That was more then I’d been expecting, when starting out.
Or…was it three? I didn’t remember killing Kelly, I’d just woken up after the fact. There was also that Evander wasn’t present, he wasn’t following me. I attempted to reach out with our link.
“Evander. Where are you.” I asked, with a measure of caution. I didn’t want to sound that demanding.
“I am outside. If you’re awake and able to move, meet me there.” His voice sounded…distant. Somehow. I couldn’t quite place how it was.
Regardless, I headed up the stairs, and through a pair of hallways, skirting carefully around the edges of holes in the floor caused during the fighting. Rain was pouring in through them, and it wouldn’t shock me if this building ended up partially flooded among many, many, other issues. Probably doomed to be torn down. I didn’t care. I’d be long gone before dawn.
Striding through the last hall and pushing open the front door, I emerged onto a set of steps, under a still intact metal awning, which kept me from getting any further drenched, which I appreciated. I squinted through the storm, scanning the area for signs of my shadow, when I saw him.
Standing about fifty feet away, in a small section of one the grassy fields in between campus buildings, I could see him. Atlas’s armor repaired, helm restored. Both the axe and rifle were gone, no longer visible. The wings were also gone, in favor of a slightly more streamlined appearance. The symbols on his shoulders representing Juno and Iris were still there. He turned to face me, once I sat down atop the dry part of the stairs. I could see the symbol of a huntress joining the fairy, trapping in the armor. Everything else…mostly the same, save for one final thing I noticed as he approached, which was the bronze of Atlas’s armor now cut and molded with a golden trim. The helm specifically now looked especially gilded, fancy, matching Andromeda’s crown resting atop his head.
He looked regal. Appropriate, for the status we now had. All twelve…
“Come over here. I don’t want to get any more drenched” I called, and he sped up just a bit. Moving to stand behind me after ascending the stairs.
“We did it?” I asked, tentatively, even if I was pretty sure I knew the answer.
“Yes. Orion and Artemis have joined me.” Evander said, with finality. I smiled visibly. The elation slowly building inside me only stopped by my need to feel…professional, I supposed. Me and Evander were effectively elaborate business partners. I knew that if he could get away with it, he’d be rid of me and use the power for himself. But, as he’d explained it, he’d been forced into reliance on hosts by the other shadows. Coerced into giving up his freedom under effective threat of violence. That was apart of why I’d chosen to join him in this crusade. I didn’t like people who forced their will on others. But though it wasn’t great for Evander, it was good for me.
“Do you feel any different? Extremely powerful, a surge of…something?” I asked with curiosity. I honestly hadn’t expected him to look so similar. I’d expected…I don’t know, some kind of golden divine ascension, or something. More fanfare then a slightly new look.
Evander tilted his head.
“No. Just the addition of two of the stronger shadows to our arsenal. And the relief of knowing that we hold no further enemies.”
I nodded. Slightly anticlimactic, but hey, it was what it was.
“And our deal still stands, I hope?” I was slightly fearful, internally. But I kept it out of my mental tone with Evander.
“Absolutely. You have upheld your end of the bargain, broken no promises, and done nearly your upmost. You have earned my power to share. Unlike the rest of the flesh puppets that we’ve finished dealing with.” He mentioned the other shadow holders with something of disdain. He had that disdain for most humans, but the other hosts especially. I knew why, of course. He was resentful. Humans hadn’t done anything specific to him, he just had gotten close once, and after losing that, he didn’t feel like rebuilding anything. Which I could understand, on a level. My parents cut me off from them, and told me to build my own life. I was resentful too. But hey. I’d built something. And earned it, with my own two hands.
“Good. I appreciate it.” I relaxed a bit, with that.
“I appreciate you and your effort, as well.” Evander said, before going silent. We both sat in silence, for a few moments, before I spoke again.
“…What exactly happened, back there. With Kelly.”
“You were but a small push away from dead. Andromeda had poisoned you with a powerful toxin which was attacking your mind. That, and Artemis and Orion had done a huge amount of damage to you, their combined power was almost too much for you. As you were slipping away, I managed to take control. Shunt your body away, and heal it back to full capacity with Juno, and defeat the puppet. She nearly bested me, I am ashamed to say.” He actually sounded guilty. “I don’t intend to make a habit of taking your body, by the by. It was a desperate measure. Nothing more.”
That alleviated most of my worries. It was moderately concerning that he had the capacity to take control like that, but I assumed it was because of my compromised mind and extreme injury. I’d keep it in mind going forward. If it ever came up again.
I waved a hand semi flippantly. “I wouldn’t worry about it. The important part is that we won, and no one is left to contest us. Speaking of, where do you want to g-“
I was cut off by Evander raising an arm, pointing. “There. Be alert.”
I followed his arm, looking and once more squinting through the rain. I saw it, without much issue. Someone, humanoid, stumbling through the field, appearing injured. I stood slowly, not stepping out of the awning as to not get wet, but moving to the edge to get a slightly better look.
I could make out the coat, the older stance, and the greyed but somewhat wild hair.
“Looks like the old bastard survived.” I said aloud, with a measure of amusement. Professor Lanigan. The magician. Or wizard, as he’d wanted to be called.
I hadn’t watched the trials of a few years ago, but I’d heard about them. Incredibly powerful old men in hats who could overthrow the worlds governments at a moments notice. Now, though, I saw just how weak they were. I disarmed him, and he couldn’t do anything. So I wasn’t too worried about his return.
As he reached near the closest sidewalk, I could see he was visibly limping, but pretty much intact. The glasses in his front pocket were crushed, though, however I suspected that for whatever reason, he didn’t need them. In one hand, I could see that he was clutching what seemed to be a faintly glowing red gem.
“Back for more? I figured you wouldn’t be able to do much without your magic wand!” I called out to him from my position atop the stairs, tauntingly, undaunted.
I heard a faint grunt from him, as he reached the sidewalk, raising his hand with the gemstone high.
“A good wizard…carries backups.” He said, gritting his teeth, clearly in pain.
I smirked.
“A good wizard shouldn’t pick a fight he can’t win.” I retorted, inserting as much condescending energy into my words as possible. Even if he threw spells around, I could handle it. I just prepared to merge the moment he began speaking latin to cast a spell or whatever he was doing to generate his powers. I could still feel Evander right behind me, so I was sure I could pull it off.
He chuckled, tiredly.
“Maybe so. But I’ve signed your death warrant already tonight, so it won’t matter if I win or lose.”
That was concerning, but I didn’t let it show, instead doing a little laugh of my own.
“Oh please. What could you have possibly done that could stop me now, old man? Got a rabbit to pull from a hat to fight me?” I jeered at him, confident I could handle whatever he threw.
He didn’t seem phased. “I called for backup, Enzo. You won’t leave this campus alive, or at least, you won’t leave outside of chains. They might just give you a chance to give up first.”
Fuck. That was what I was worried about. But I didn’t let it show, keeping my expression on.
“Then I suppose I’ll just have to kill you, and get as far away from here as possible.”
That was a solid plan, I’d decided. I was strong, but I didn’t want to potentially fight more people who had unknown powers. I assumed he was talking about more wizards, and while I was fairly certain in my ability to deal with one, if more then one showed up…I might have trouble.
“You will try. Invicta-”
He tried to speak his magic words, but I was faster. Merging with Evander, we drew on Zephyr, the still rebellious shadow, and closed with him in an instant, forcing him to reconsider what he was about to say.
“-praesidium!” I could tell he changed intent mid sentence with how he pronounced it, and we struck him, grabbing him around the torso with a massive hand, and kicking off into the sky a good thirty feet, before dropping and promptly punting him again, with incredible strength.
The merged form felt somehow even stronger then it was before. I was aware of all twelve shadows bristling, I could feel all of their powers fueling each other in one massive ocean of sheer power, which I could direct where I saw fit. For now, I only kept up Atlas, for strength to lift mountains, and Orion for my current flight and a bit more strength then what Atlas provided.
Enough to send Lanigan flying a quarter of a mile, into another building.
I grinned beneath Evander’s helm.
Channeling Zephyr, despite his internal protest, we surged forward, catching up to the building he’d been sent into via the force of the throw.
He was laying prone in a dormitory hallway, but unharmed, likely having cast something to shield himself. The commotion of someone flying through a wall was causing a few doors to get opened, tired looking students looking out. We channeled Iris, bursting off a massive amount of light, in both an attempt to blind Lanigan, and to potentially deal with any bystanders.
Lanigan simply turned over, facing the ground when it happened. About half a dozen college students weren’t so lucky, retinas fried. Pained screams resonated as we closed into melee once more, laying an Atlas empowered kick which sent him flying back into another wall, damaging it, but without the strength to send him through. I laid another blow which nearly did the same, but with more concentrated force. Lanigan wasn’t unharmed by our hits, but the blows which would be enough to punch through blocks of steel were only giving him injuries as if we’d slapped him. Frustrating, we drew on Artemis, summoning Atlas’s axe to our hand, which now glittered…though with more dark energy then when the original user had utilized the ability. Evander had done me the favor of sending our rifle and Axe to the pocket dimension where Artemis had stored her arsenal, which had also enchanted it with Artemis’s enhancing effect. We swung the axe down, striking Lanigan across the chest, but it only slightly frayed his coat. Growling with a bit of frustration, we moved to grab him again, when he spoke again.
“Invicta Letum!”
We were about to grab him when we felt a disturbing feeling. Like everything inside of us was being cut with a knife. Letting out a yell of pain, we stumbled backwards, allowing Lanigan to point the gem at us again.
“Invicta Laqueus!”
Another shout, as the gem glowed, bindings of red light spreading out and grabbing us, this time though, we weren’t going to get beaten by a trick like that. Using Atlas, we broke through, we threw a blow forward, hoping that his defenses were down and thus we could connect with Atlas’s axe.
“Invicta Mot-“
He said aloud, vanishing, and appearing down the hall. We turned to charge, using Zephyr, and closing into melee in an instant, swinging the axe down with all of Atlas’s might. We also activated Orion, black trails of light moving behind and clinging the axe and the area where we struck Lanigan, across the chest again. The force of the blow combined with his shield’s presence and lack of yielding had the effect of sending him down, through the floor, and down to the lower level of the dormitory. Yells could be heard from within doors, I was preparing to blind another crowd, when Lanigan grabbed my arm, once again speaking a spell with the ruby in his other hand glowing.
“Invicta Mot Duo”
We both vanished this time, reappearing back in the rain, in one of the larger fields, with Lanigan moving to make some distance, but not nearly fast enough, as we slammed him in the chest with the axe, a blunt end, and send him flying across the grass, tumbling hard and splattering mud everywhere. Still, however, his stupid shield held.
As we charged again, he held up the gem again, just narrowly speaking once again.
“Invicta Vocare!”
Lanigan was shunted backwards, landing about fifteen feet away in the mud, and appearing in front of us was a massive creature, an abomination of flesh and metal, like a massive armadillo with a body of scrap metal. It seemed to have dozens of eyes, and loomed over three feet over us. It let out an inhuman roar, and moved to swipe for me. We caught the strike, struggling slightly before allowing more energy to flow into Atlas, whereupon we began to force it back. Lanigan meanwhile, was moving to our side, gem raised, likely trying to flank and hit us with something hard. Unfortunately, we fired off Iris, which accomplished multiple things at once, firstly preventing Lanigan from getting anywhere close, not able to cover his eyes in time and ending up practically blind, and the creature in front us found all of it’s thirty something eyes burned out, letting out a screech.
Now free to focus on the monster, we swung our axe around, one strike cleaving through must of it, the second, with a surge of Atlas and Zephyr, saw us unevenly bisecting it, sending it tumbling. Lanigan was getting up, holding up the gem brazenly.
“Invicta Celeritas!”
He vanished, but this time, he was moving, I could see his footprints in the mud, moving-
Behind us. We turned, ready to throw the axe, and seeing him behind us, we did, the weapon going hurling for him, but he sidestepped with speed which may even surpass Zephyr, before shouting again.
“Invicta Laminae!”
Dozens of spectral daggers and blades appeared and hurled for us, striking into our armor, and even slightly damaging it in places. He was still on the move, keeping on the outskirts.
We needed to stop him. Putting more energy into Zephyr, we began chasing after him, trailing one arm off to the side and activating Orion.
Lanigan stayed ahead of us, turning at one point to shout “Invicta Ignis!” to fire off a gout of flame which hurt, but didn’t do much outside of sting thanks to the pouring down torrents and another “Invicta Laminae!” to throw more daggers, but we pressed on, and eventually managed to spring our trap. He had run back around, towards where we’d passed previously, and we took this chance to act. Solidifying the dark light we’d left behind, barely visible through the dark and rain, into a barrier he couldn’t avoid in time.
Lanigan tripped and fell, tumbling through the dirt and mud, until he came to a stop. By then, though, he couldn’t hope to chant anything, catching his breath for one second too long, as we’d withdrawn Evander’s rifle, discharging a telekinetic crush shot.
I could see the effect, now. The barrier that he’d put up earlier must have fallen, because this one had clear effect, partially mitigated, certainly, but not fully. He was sent slamming back into the ground, but not far enough to indicate his body hadn’t absorbed it.
I grinned, somewhere in the merged form, and we channeled Zephyr once more, forcing his hand to keep giving us power, to appear right up in front of Lanigan. He was raising the ruby once more, and managed to get out “Invict-” before we grabbed his arm, and swung him around like an action figure. I could hear the bones snap, and his hand dropped the ruby into the mud, as we tossed him, a solid fifty feet, where he once more landed in the mud. He didn’t move for the moment. We took the chance to turn the rifle down, and fire at the ruby. It shattered into dust.
Looking up, Lanigan was now moving, propping himself upwards and trying to stand. We wouldn’t give him another chance. Summoning the axe, and Zephyr being channeled, we moved to deliver one final decapitating blow to the former professor, before he could even think to stand, to withdraw another backup, or do anything else.
Victory was ours, the last obstacle to be remo-
My internal thought was cut off by the force of something searing hot striking our chest plate, and forcing us back more then a few paces, forced back through the mud, stumbling. Looking down, I saw that our armor now had a pair of small one inch or so holes bored into it, still smoldering. Whatever it was, it hadn’t reached skin, but it managed to pierce most of the way with maybe two seconds of contact.
I looked around. Lanigan had rolled over on the ground, but otherwise hadn’t moved. He wouldn’t have been able to do anything in time. I scanned the field, unable to see anything, when I saw movement above me.
I looked up, our head moving with it, towards the source.
Floating midair, was the shape of a taller woman, nearly six feet tall, in a purple near skintight costume. Straight hair was slightly mussed up by the pouring rain, sticking up slightly, but still remarkably well put together. She had a pale complexion which made her face almost visible in the dark. Her build was incredibly muscular, like she could dead lift three hundred pounds, and her eyes faintly flashed with white radiant light. With a flash of thunder, a crescent moon symbol on her chest was illuminated.
I recognized her.
Lunara. The nuke catcher. A real life superhero.
I actually laughed. They seemed to ignore me, the woman lowering herself, looking to Lanigan, who spoke in a low and voice taken tone.
“…took you long enough-” He said, coughing up a storm.
“I intercepted Panacea and Helios on the way here, diverted them to another monster. I didn’t want them trying cleanup. Should I get you to a hospital first, or deal with him first?”
Lanigan, nodded as if agreeing, then shook his head, about to speak, when I interrupted, voice filtered through Evander, but the shadow wasn’t speaking.
“This is your backup? Ha. I was expecting at least a kill squad of wizards, I mean come o-“
“-Deal with him first. I’ll manage. Not the first time I’ve gotten the shit kicked out of me-“
She nodded. “Alright. Stay safe in the meantime”
They were ignoring me. Cunts.
“Now listen here you musclehead. Here’s what’s going to happen, I’m going to kick your ass, an-“ My speech was cut off when she took off at a frightening speed, feet leaving the ground and her body meeting no resistance, as she closed with me in half a second and threw a punch with what had to be all here might.
We were sent flying into the air, catching ourselves and quickly scanning our surroundings.
“You know more about her then I do. Can we take her.” Evander asked, sharp.
“All she does is put out fires, punch terrorists, and catch missiles. She’s strong, but we’re stronger.”
I was determined, not fully confident, but determined, summoning the rifle to our hand and searching. Activating Arthur, we pinged for the bodysuit, the sense stretching out for ten miles. She was less then one.
We turned the rifle around behind us, where she was charging from behind, and squeezed the trigger twice. It stopped her momentum midair, and she countered with causing her eyes to glow, firing pencil thin beams towards us. We moved to channel Zephyr, to dodge, but they were just too quick, catching us in the chest and forcing us downwards. In response, we activated Iris, a burst of iridescence cascading outwards in all directions. The beams turned away, and presuming to have blinded her, we moved to make distance, flying as fast as we could for the nearest building. A more confined battlefield would do some good.
We used Arthur again, and pinged her, she was behind us.
And despite putting as much into Zephyr as possible, she was gaining. Fast
Growling, we turned the rifle around, and fired twice more, catching her in the shoulder and knocking her off course long enough to dive into the nearest building, a girls dormitory. Slamming through the side, I burst through one room and into the hall, leveling our rifle towards the entrance. The occupants were starting to come out, the ones whose rooms we’d come through letting out shrieks. A moment later, we felt her approach via Arthur, for the entrance we’d made, squeezing the trigger twice, which slammed into her as she made her entrance, but didn’t inhibit her as much this time, and she surged forward, grabbing the rifle, and squeezing. The weapon began to crack, then snap. Then it shattered into a dozen, glittering, pieces. We were stunned, a moment, and she replied by decking us in the face, sending us to the floor and cracking it along with it. She moved to lay in another blow.
I decided, before she could, to fight dirty.
Reaching inwards, we channeled Calypso, and used her power to the fullest. The building shook, as we animated it’s foundations, massive vines sprouting forth, and with a charge of Andromeda’s crown, they converged on Lunara, and the entire building shook with their movement, starting to come down.
We made some distance, and pulled, conjuring another intact rifle to our hands, the benefit of having Artemis, and decided to make the situation worse, reaching out to Calypso more, and targeting the roof, which transformed into a massive cascading swarm of what appeared to be bats, and once more, with Andromeda, did two tasks.
For one, the swarm of animals descended on Lunara. We’d made sure to give them all razor sharp teeth and claws, unnatural, but possible with Calypso.
For second, we commanded the environment. More importantly, the people. Multiple of the nearby girls grabbed whatever implement was nearby, textbooks, staplers, hair dryers, and even a few knives, and advanced on Lunara, joining the cacophony of strikes heading towards her.
Meanwhile, she struggled, managing to cut herself free and slam her leg into the ground, punching a hole in the ground which she fell through, diving through the lower floor as well, heading for the basement and foundations where the building was least secure. I smirked, and using Andromeda, directed the swarm and girls down after her, collecting more servants on my way down as well, descending slowly to the lower level.
There, she’d been restrained by the plants at their sources, and I could barely see her through it all.
I was reveling in it. I was on top of the world.
I’d gone from living in a gutter orphanage in Lyon, to attending college in America, to having a telekinetic shadow at my beck and call, to having effectively godlike powers at my fingertips, to having one of the strongest supernatural’s in the world being drowned in my ability.
I’d done it. I’d achieved everything I’d wanted. I swore to have power, and I’d had it, no cheating, no skipping, just my achievement. I’d gone from being hated by everyone I’d met, to having a stalwart ally that was with me every step of the way.
Me and Evander were alike, after all. We’d both had other peoples wills imposed on us, for a supposed greater good. We’d both decided to do something about it. And we were going to change the damn world.
I just had to kill one fake superman first.
We had the swarm clear off slightly, revealing the center of her face, and leveled the rifle. Squeezing the trigger twice, the impact slammed her. In response, she fired a laser from one eye, piercing one bat, and going over me and striking a chair behind me, igniting it into flame.
“You missed. Girls, cover her eyes.” With another use of Andromeda, the girls were now covering her eyes instead of a bat. Based on what I’d seen of her, she wouldn’t dare to fry their hands, so I marked myself pretty safe. With the lower part of her face exposed, we raised the rifle, and fired, again, and again.
I was dimly aware of the flames spreading behind me, and a fire alarm start to go off. But I didn’t care.
Two squeezes. Two squeezes. Two squeezes. Two squeezes. Over and over again, the condensed force of a freight train slammed in face.
Occasionally, over the course of the few minutes we were at it, we weaved with Orion’s ability between strikes, black light threads forming into reality around her, through her, permeating her, spikes closing into her body, snap toothed rings around limbs, joining the swarm, plants, girls and telekinesis bearing down on her. I presumed she was getting injured, but her body was obscured by the swarm.
Two squeezes. Two squeezes. Two squeezes.
“You’re a joke! Just a PR piece to brag about virtue. I was almost afraid of you at first, but honestly, you’re a pushover. Nothing before real pow-“ Evander spoke with me on that, both of us confident in this. Until we were cut off.
By her pulling her arms free. The plants fell away, bats went flying. One of the girls, who was nearby, was grabbed by the throat for a brief moment, before being lightly tossed to the ground. Still breathing. Another within arms reach got the same treatment.
Next were her legs, freed from the ground, then her torso, then the rest of her. The two girls holding her eyes shut got knocked to the ground, and with a burst of speed, ended up tied up with vines, along with the rest of their compatriots. She surged forward, and we moved to block, pulling gauntlets together to block the incoming blast of light from her eyes, which thankfully was mitigated. We slammed into the back wall all the same, as she landed, and began to approach.
“As of ten seconds ago, everyone on the upper floors has evacuated-“
As our vision cleared, I saw more of her. Her costume was ripped in maybe three places, and it was small rips too. She was perfectly intact, just a bit dusty, save for her nose, which was gushing blood.
“-You, though, sure went through a lot of effort for a nosebleed.” She remarked, face stone cold. “Let me return the favor.”
We moved to use Zephyr, dodge out of the way, but she was too fast, grabbing me, and slamming me into the stone wall of the basement, straight through the foundation and into the soft dirt of the side. We moved to stand, only to get slammed into, a full body strike, which took the wind from us.
Again. And again. And again.
The armor was denting, falling away. We moved to use Iris, a burst of light buying us maybe a second to attempt escape, flying upwards and through the ceiling, only for laser vision to follow us, striking us in the center of mass and sending us tumbling across the ground floor lobby we’d emerged in.
She approached, picking us up, and punching our helmet clean off, caving it and crumbling to the floor, revealing both me and Evander’s face. It was my face, with shadows clinging to it. We threw a blow, putting all the strength we could into it, but it barely staggered her.
“This is nothing, bit-“
She landed another heavy blow to my gut, and grabbed the Iris shoulder pad, wrenching down and getting a grip in the metal.
“Why don’t you and I take a trip.” She said, cold, before flying forward, straight out of the building, and straight upwards. I heard a loud, impossibly loud noise, that might have been a sonic boom, as we shrieked upwards at an unfathomable speed. I attempted to free us, with a few strong blows, a burst from a now weakened Iris, and trying to choke her out via ordering the air nearby to vacate. None of it worked.
“You think you’re some kind of big shot, huh?”
I said nothing, stone cold. Staring at her. Letting her talk. As I did two things.
Firstly, used our power to channel Juno, starting to heal the less obvious wounds while she wasn’t attacking.
Secondly, we activated Delphi. Becoming immersed in the visions of the future as she spoke. In the current timeline, Lunara fried us after she finished talking.
I got to work trying to figure something else out.
“Lanigan told me a little about you. How you killed a pretty good amount of people. For your own person gain.”
I’d run through six futures. No luck. Fried, fried, fried fried, and fried. One where I got my head punched into mush.
“-And you nearly got more people killed, a lot more. You didn’t have an ounce of subtly. Anyone whose anyone on this side of the country probably felt something up here. I diverted two of the most deadly taskforces from the United Nations, but half a dozen more are probably en route to try and burn this place down because of you. You wanted power, and you thought any price was fine, huh?” She questioned, coldly still. I was surprised by it. That, and she didn’t seem like she cared that much about the killings themselves, as much as she did the way I’d done it. Fuck.
Fourteen futures. Nothing. I was starting to panic, and I could feel that Evander was. A firm satisfaction was rising with the other shadows now, though.
“So, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to kill you, and it’s going to hurt, because I don’t have the patience to snap your neck. I’m going to reduce your body to ash, and scour the beings that give you power back to the dimension they come from. I’m going to go down there, and evacuate that campus, and tell them that this was all the result of a gas leak. Then, I’m going to get my friend to the hospital-“
I had a few sentences left. Thirty futures. Nothing.
“-Then, I’m going to scour any trace of you from the record, with help from a friend of mine. Then, I’m going to go home, change out of this fucking scratchy costume, and watch some late night T.V, and gripe about having to go back to work tomorrow, and forget about you, like the rest of the world will, you power hungry, petulant, weak, child.”
She was done, we’d risen above the clouds, and her eyes had begun to glow white. I had maybe a second. I’d fast tracked through fifty seven futures. Not one saved me. So I tried something that could work.
I discharged every shadow’s ability at once. A glittering punch to the chest to free myself courtesy of Artemis and Atlas, the air itself pressing in on her courtesy of Andromeda, a nearby cloud turning into a massive hawk to dive at her via Calypso, a burst of light via Iris, a fast tracked and plotted retreat via Arthur and Zephyr, a traced out black wall via Orion, an evasive stance thanks to Maeve, healing to myself via Juno, and a shot to her chest via Evander.
I, not Evander anymore, fell back, through the air. When the wall burst, and she flew forward. The eyes fired forth, striking the armor, and no matter how fast I moved, she maintained the focused fire. I felt the metal melt, searing my skin. I screamed in true pain, before the strike bored through my chest, moving left, then right, then upwards, then around.
I couldn’t do anything. I was hopeless. Completely hopeless.
The shadows spilled from my body, and I started to fall. I watched her turn her vision to them next, scouring and destroying them all effortlessly, before diving towards me.
She grabbed me by what remained of my singed shirt.
And fired one more maintained beam, which consumed my body in white flame, and soon enough, it consumed my consciousness as well.
For the second time today, I awoke on the ground. But this time, there wasn’t rain bearing down, there wasn’t the musk of a dusty and destroyed building. I smelled…fresh air.
My eyes opened slowly, to see a magnificent night sky. Thousands, millions of glittering stars on display, not a cloud in the sky, not a single bit of light pollution to take away from it.
I sat up, slowly. When it all came back to me.
My victory. My defeat. My death. Failure
I gasped with shock, and felt myself all over, searching for injuries, burns, wounds. I…was intact.
Looking down at myself, though, I was wearing something different. A pristine blue military uniform, decorated with metals and badges. It was…Evander’s uniform. But…feeling my face…it was still my body. My face. My arms. My legs. My hair. Flaws and boons in all.
I looked around. I was sitting in an empty field of wild tall grass. The plants and a few nearby medium sized trees blew in a faint but present breeze which was all around.
Slowly, I stood upright from where I’d laid in the soft grass, not wanting to, but knowing I should get moving, looking up at the brilliant sky once more, and that’s when I noticed something odd.
There were three moons in the sky. Each brilliant, vibrant, and visible. One full, one at half, one at a crescent. All clustered together, forming an almost triangular shape in the sky, an ominous, looming reminder that…wherever this was, it wasn’t anywhere I knew. I took a step back, slightly staggered as I tried to formulate anything, failing, and just affixing my gaze forward, starting to move that way as well, step by step.
“…Where the hell am I.” I said aloud, starting to take steps forward through the grass, which swayed along as I moved forward, nothing to be heard but the rustling which came with it, and the faint thrum of…something I couldn’t place, but it was rhythmic…and soothing, almost.
I felt something stir at the back of my mind. And I heard a voice. Evanders. Speaking to me.
“Where…are-No. No. No. No!” He awoke with a bang, shouting in my mind. I winced.
“What do you mean. Do you know where this is?” I responded, as I crested a hill, looking out at a larger fielded landscape with less trees. In the distance, I could see smoke rising, and see the orange light of a fire in a small grove of four or five trees. I elected to start moving towards it.
“Yes. This is my home.” He said, tone grave and…melancholic. Like this was the last place he’d wanted to end up.
That was concerning. He’d told me a bit about it. The Plane of Refuge. The Homeland. The Heart.
Where the shadows had been born, and where they went whenever they died. But I hadn’t thought the hosts would.
“It beats hell, or wherever the fuck humans normally go, I think. Besides, you’ve escaped before, we can do it again. Make a comeback.” I said, shrugging. A bit of confidence in me again. This was good. This was…escapable.
I kept approaching the fire, figuring that it was my best shot for finding my way. It was my only landmark anyways.
“You shall see how wrong you are, soon. I doubt we will get the second chance you describe” Was all Evander said, before going silent.
He was just in a bit of shock. No one liked going home, I suspected, after they’d made success elsewhere. Tucking my hands in the uniforms pockets, I look a leisurely stroll under the starry sky, through the field of grass, descending the hill, and heading straight for the fire.
Eventually, as I got closer, I spotted various shapes around the fire. Humanoid ones. I realized that they could maybe be the other hosts.
“Do we still have your powers here?” I interjected into the mindscape to ask Evander that.
“You should. Just without the implement.” He responded, before going silent again.
I flexed one hand. A section of grass nearby flattered. I smirked, and moved to creep through the grass, keeping below sight, eventually pressing up against one of the trees, and attempting to listen in to what the people around the fire were saying, if anything. Sure enough, they were.
I could make out several voices I recognized, just not quite what they were saying, from this distance. I heard five voices, but I’d seen more people.
After a moment or two, though, all of the voices went silent. For an eerie moment, I sat there, before the tree I was leaning against moved about four feet to the side, revealing my position to the entire camp. I turned, and moved to use Evander’s crush against the nearest person, a girl in a white dress. She ducked out of the way of the most of it, but the strike broke her arm and sent her tumbling through the clearing. I turned to fire again, only to find myself blinded by a sudden flash, and when my eyes cleared, I was tied up by golden hardlight ropes and coils.
I looked around the camp, and saw faces I recognized.
A man in a cape and fancy costume, a theater mask turned to the side of his head so that his face was visible, David, I knew, had crossed the camp to the injured girl in the white, and put a hand on her, arm starting to set back into place, the girl now upon closer examination, porcelain dress… As she looked up at me with spite in her eyes, I recognized her as Maeve.
Hurrying to her side was a large guy in bronze armor, and an axe over his shoulder. Chiseled features visible anywhere, Paul kneeled down next to his girlfriend while also glaring at me.
Standing nearby me, leaning up against a tree and looking at me with disdain, was a blonde haired boy in golden…I hesitated to call it armor, more then a reinforced fancy getup. His hands were adorned in golden inkwells, and his gaze was…not hurtful, but still angry. Mark. He’d be the one that tied me up.
Sitting in a tree nearby, looking amused, was a girl in a simple but regal white outfit, a jeweled crown on her head, and a pair of eagle wings wrapped around someone next to her. Cynthia. She gave me a mocking wave of hello. Her wings were wrapped around Dawn, who was wearing an equally simple outfit, a pair of fairy wings jutting out of her back, her eyes glowing a variety of colors, her body giving off a faint sparkling dust.
Sitting directly under the tree, arms crossed and eyes closed, was a slender boy with fancy eyeglasses, a third eye open on his head, and a faint green mist emanating. He was dressed in elegant robes. Andrew. He wasn’t reacting to me at all.
Sitting on a bench, still staring at the fire, was another pair of people. The first, a reasonably built guy with a pair of knives at his back, and tattoos depicting winding limbs and tendrils up and down his body. He wore a breastplate and some chain mail pants. Edward, I recognized him because of the knives Sitting next to him, whispering in his ear as he looked down, was a girl in a ceremonial looking robe, with a pair of animal masks resting on her shoulder, and a golden wreath in her hair. She didn’t look at me, but I could feel the animosity. Diane, likely.
Standing in a dark corner, pacing back and forth, but staring at me, was a boy in an athletes garb and fancy looking gilded shoes, pacing back and forth rapidly, parts of his body always seemingly moving in a blur. I’d recognize the pacing anywhere, as Larry.
Finally, sitting directly across from me, over the fire, was a well built woman with brown hair, a pair of swords at her side and a bow over her back, dressed in a furred outfit which barely covered her body, to her seeming increased frustration. Kelly.
I struggled against my bonds, and all of them slowly looked over to me.
“Enzo.” Kelly said, voice full of venom.
I grimaced.
“If it isn’t the convention of losers.” I said, doing my best to look confident.
“You’re here too.” Edward retorted, looking up.
“Yeah. Because I lost. We all did. Now there’s no point in this, so untie me, and let’s tal-“
“We may have all lost, but you lost the hardest!” Cynthia called from her tree, smug. Dawn seemed happy, with that.
I scowled.
“And I’d say there is a point in this.” Mark said, next to me. “You just tried to kill Maeve.”
“Yeah, what, you didn’t get to do it the first time, so you decided you had to get the feel?” Maeve turned herself around to address me, arm hooked around Paul otherwise. He looked ready to lunge.
“Right, didn’t realize there was that many of you, though, s-“
Diane turned to me. Looking hateful. “Oh, so if there wasn’t as many, you’d have no complaints killing more people? No fucking remorse from you?”
“…It wouldn’t have mattered anyways. None of us can die permanently here.”
Andrew said this from his meditation, before returning to it undisturbed and unbothered.
I gestured around us the best I could.
“What’s it matter what happened, we’re all alive, and as the oracle kid said, unkillable. So, no harm, no foul, let me out.” I said, cold, and determined, not letting my rising panic get to me.
“Not a chance. Not a chance. You’ve still fucked us over.” It was hard to hear due to distance and his movement, but Larry’s words carried. I rolled my eyes.
“Come on, this place isn’t that bad, we all can adapt, make up, an-“
“Not everyone’s a friendless prick like you, Enzo.” Kelly interrupted me. “We talked with the shadows. They think they can get out of this place and back to earth. If, they have two hundred years to gather energy. Which means, by the time we escape, we’ll have gone insane in here, or, we’ll get out, return, and just end up in a world where no one remembers us, and everyone we know is dead and gone. That won’t mean shit to you, you’re already insane, and I doubt you had friends or family, but that means a lot to us.”
The clearing went silent, save for the rustling of the grass and the crackle of the flame. David broke the silence, however, and walked up to me, a smile on his face despite it all.
“There is bright side, though-” He said, before punching me in the gut. A shocking amount of strength, too, I doubled over the best I could in my restraints. “We get to beat the shit out of you, without risk of you dying, for one-” He said, punching me again in the upper torso “-and we get to find the darkest crevice of this world, and toss you in it to rot.” He grinned manically.
The others, looking around, seemed in agreement or indifferent. Diane, Cynthia, and Paul even seemed enthusiastic.
Cold, clammy panic seized me, as I tried one more desperate trick. Holding out my hand, I blasted my restraints, forcing David to back off. It crushed apart of my stomach, which hurt like hell, likely damaging something internal, but it broke the bindings.
I turned, and ran for my life.
My panic and fear was plain on my face as I made a mad sprint out of the clearing, back up the hill. I could hear the faint sound of footsteps running after me.
“Evander. What do we do!” I called frantically into my mind.
“We cannot win. We have failed. Do not waste your energy fleeing needlessly.” He sounded resigned to defeat.
I was truly alone.
“No! We can’t give up! We’ve come so far!” I shouted out rather then telepathically communicating as I sprinted, up the hill, across it’s top, and through the grassy landscape.
I ran, and ran, and ran, fear overtaking me, cognitive plans falling apart into blind panic, and eventually exhaustion, as my breath ran ragged, my body lacked the strength to go on, and I hit the ground. I’d ran for maybe twelve minutes. That was the furthest my injured adrenaline could do, in mortal danger.
I crawled forward, moving to take some cover behind a nearby rock, just as the footsteps approached me. Body pressed against the bolder, I could see the shadows of the people approaching me, made long by the light of the three massive moons overhead. Four, five, six of them. The amount didn’t matter.
I was alone.
I was a failure.
I was nothing.
They stepped close and closer, as I looked desperately for escape, and found none. Slowly, but surely, it happened, I resigned myself.
All of my hope died, seconds before they even reached me. Without a trace, it all vanished into the void of my empty mind, and this time, no amount of my own will would hold up the façade. Empty, I stood, head hung, and barely even felt the blows as they began to rain down on me with furious and stalwart determination
Kindling And Miscellany 