Time resumed its inevitable march towards oblivion and a single thought played within Mairek's mind as he watched the four blades approach him with the intention of wetting the Centala flowers beneath him with his blood.
Ignore time.
There was no doubt that the God who'd chosen him as his champion was a blistering self obsessed prick. His advice held little sway over fate. Mairek, in order to save a friend had reached out and yanked an arrow out of the air. Such a thing wasn't natural according to what time dictated. Such a thing made him stand out and not a second passed before four shields before him parted and the Light Infantry Legion jutted forward with all their blades heading in his direction, a silent agreement between the souls of the four men and their devotion to the flow of time. A pact formed to ensure his elimination from existence.
But won't my memory remain? A second thought plagued him.
Who would remember him? A father who would rather have sired a donkey than him? Words he'd heard more than several times from the man. A mother who was oblivious to his existence? And siblings who used him as a cushion to ward off their father's wrath? 'Yes I've not made you proud, father, but I'm better off than Mairek, aren't I?' No. Memory would be purged free of him. Besides, who in the Jamou village would even believe he was at the Ganidan Plain, spear in hand, watching death approach?
Jesna.
No... He would not honor her with his last moments. He knew she was somewhere within the walls of Binoria, within the embrace of another and as unmindful of him as the rain was of the desert. He would ignore her as she'd ignored him.
Ignore time. Mairek suddenly understood.
The blades crossed each other in their path towards him, inching ever closer with the promise of death. Yet. Their movement was slow, too slow to warrant a reaction from him. Mairek looked away from the blades and towards Nohj, saw the man's wide eyes and the stain of tears upon his dark cheeks. Mairek smiled and grabbed the haft of his spear tighter. He had all the time in the world to take in a deep breath and release it. Then he moved forward and met the incoming slow blades. What was time anyway but a concept that could be ignored?
Somewhere, above the Ganidan Plain, a God perched upon a cloud looked down at the field of battle, a mere spectator of the brutality that came when mortals mingled with Gods. His glowing blue eyes shifted their gaze from the broken Kolotian and half naked Binorian who were frozen within a domain with one's hand on the other's chest, their eyes glowing amber and red with the Binorians surrounding them wondering at their frozen state, confused as to what to do and choosing instead to stand still and witness. Nielda's gaze shifted to Mairek and a smirk formed upon his lips as he watched his champion lean back so as to have the blades plunge above him. "Well I'll be damned. He has started the dance." Nielda said. Mairek was moving free of time's grasp, his every motion bolstered by speed as he skipped seconds required for movement. His spear whirled in a blur and around him the Legionnaires died as others abandoned their pursuit of the Talisi Army in order to put out the new threat, time taking notice of Mairek as it once did Nielda. "Now he is out of the clutches of time, how long till he slips and earns death's embrace? How long till he longs for it?" He pondered as he watched the Binorian Legions converge upon the singular figure wielding a spear.
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She was suddenly the only one close to Rehny, sprawled on Centala flowers in a circle void of Binorian Legions and Talisi Soldiers alike upon the crowded Ganidan Plain. Well, void save for those who lay lifeless upon the ground. Heat emanated from the lone kneeling figure as a pillar of magenta light shot out of him and pierced the clouds above. The purple-pink glow should have scorched her to the bone, turned all that she was to ash that drifted gently upon the night's breeze. Perhaps it would have been a fitting end to the stagnant chaos that was her life. Instead, where the heat touched so did renewal follow. Edda felt the wound upon her thigh close, blood boiling forth and knitting muscle and skin alike to leave behind a faint scar. Same to the wound upon her cleaved brow.
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She did not care about the healing or the renewed vigor with which the heat brought. All that occupied her mind was the man kneeling before her, a man whose armor melted from his body, poured down his limbs and pooled on the ground, metal imitating liquid. The black sword that had been run through him followed the same course, melting where it touched his body and falling off him where it didn't, leaving behind a faint glowing scar where a gaping hole should have been. Edda knew then that if she did touch Rehny she would indeed turn to ash.
Naked. Rehny opened his eyes and met her own. Edda whimpered and tried to crawl away, to draw her face from his own but she couldn't. Within the depths of his glowing magenta irises she saw Ingah, she could not understand it but every emotion she'd ever felt while looking at the Black Ghost, from the mild annoyance at his self centered nature to the desire that plagued her whenever he gave her a knowing grin, it all painted itself upon the Binorian's features. She wanted to pounce on him, draw him into her arms and press her lips to his own. Yet. She knew Rehny wasn't Ingah. She wondered what his thoughts were as he knelt there naked staring at her as battle raged all around. It was absurd to be considering what his thoughts were provided her own should be centered on what had occurred that resulted in a man coming back from the dead. Still, her large brown eyes stayed glued on him, pondering as to what divine thought plagued the mind of a man returned from the realm of the dead.
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Why in the abyss is she looking at me like that? Rehny wondered as he met Edda's gaze. He turned his eyes from her to his own body, his hands were no longer calloused and he marveled at them as he flexed each finger. The scars that used to rake his entire body with a map of his past battles seemed to fade as the glowing light surrounding him dimmed, leaving behind smooth youthful skin that was free of any blemish. He run a hand upon his chin and was pleased to find the stubble of a beard still present. It would have been indeed weird if he'd found his face that of a teen, wisdom was inherent in a body that had persevered the rigors this cruel word offered. A youthful appearance would have had him feeling silly.
"Your hair." Edda said. Rehny turned his eyes to her and away from his body whose muscles were oddly defined, too defined.
"What of it?" He asked and watched as tears welled in her eyes at the sound of his voice and her hand draw up to her open mouth.
"Your voice, it's like Inga-"
Rehny cleared his throat and spoke once more. The sensuous tinge that laced his words was surprisingly easy to hold back. "What's wrong with my hair?" "It's pink." Edda answered and Rehny groaned.
He turned his head to the side where King Gans's headless body lay, an axe beside him. Rage swam through his limbs and forced him to reach out a hand and grab the axe's wooden shaft. He heard as Binorians enclosed around where he knelt beside Edda but he paid them no mind. "Where is he? Where is Vayin Vigon?" He had to pay the Binorian King, a life for a life as was due.
"Fighting Ishar, but how will we get to him? We are surrounded." Edda said, causing Rehny to smile. He got up and stared at his nakedness, he never really liked wearing armor and the Gods knew he once wished he could fight naked if only to feel what it was like not to be dragged down by the metal's weight during the thralls of battle.
He turned his eyes to Edda and found her on her feet, staring at him - his groin to be specific- with a sword in hand. "Stay close to me." Rehny said before turning and flinging the axe at a nearing Binorian, the axe whirled through the air, puncturing through the Legionnaire's head and four other helms before coming to a stop into a sixth's neck. Shock engulfed all those who'd witnessed what had just occurred including Rehny himself. He cocked an eyebrow at the six bodies lying linear on the ground with shattered heads and throat.
"He channels a God!" A Legionnaire said. The Legions crowded around him and Edda yet their advance was halted as hesitation that spoke of fear glued them in place.
"Well I'll be damned." Rehny said before shrugging and charging at those who had once called him Commander.
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Vayin Vigon's eyes faded back to grey. He stared down at the Kolotian whose eyes still glowed amber, still trapped in that domain of chaos, incapable of returning back to his body in time. He slapped Ishar's hand from his chest as anger seethed within the Binorian King. How dare that puny God challenge my right for Meena's heart? He raised a hand and a sword's pommel struck it, the Legions around him eager to do his bidding. As all should. He stood up, in the distance he could feel a convergence, two who channeled Gods edging towards him. They too shall meet their end. He thought and raised the sword, aiming for Ishar's throat. Nobody ever returns from decapitation.