Chapter 22- Inconceivable Despair
Mica stands out of the rubble glaring at the man in the gray hood. Power like that I have never felt radiates from her. Her strength over-flows into me. A warm and happy feeling fills me as I look at her. For some reason nostalgia overcomes me. She stands like a goddess of beauty and strength.
She holds her two silver swords in a reverse grip so the blade crosses over her arm and past her elbow. She is franticly breathing. Sweat stains form around her neck and back. Blood drips from the top of her head down the side of her face. Spitting blood from her mouth as she steps out of the rubble she wipes her mouth. She crouches slightly and crosses the blades in front of her again. “Why are you trying to drag the people of this world into our fight?”
The man in the grey hood, I know this man. He is from the image the sword showed me; the image of him holding the scythe in my mouth before I die. It strongly impacted me, but I was never expecting him to be so intimidating. He wields two large identical scythes. The blades ark nearly five feet from the top of the black handle. Skulls rest where the blade attaches. The long black handles are at least six feet long and have silver carvings on them. A long silver chain attaches the scythes at the bottom of the handles. Wearing a dark grey cloak and hood that covers his entire body he becomes more than a man. The hood has a jagged tip that drapes down over the darkness where his face should reside almost like a mask. Any places the cloak would normally reveal such as his face or hands are magically shrouded in darkness. Black straps are bolted on each shoulder and crisscross around his waist before wrapping around behind him and back to his shoulders. He reminds me of death incarnate.
A chilling and dark aura resonates from him. Catching sight of him causes the blood to drain from my limbs and my body to go numb. I am paralyzed in fear by his presence. It feels as if ice creeps out from him. Emptiness exists in the space where he stands. A void of existence pulling in everything around it and sucking in heat and life exist where he stands. The stench of blood and death pour from his body. I would not be surprised if the very blood in his veins came from the river sticks of hell. Power beyond my belief resides within him like a dark tower looking over the city of death. This presence is suffocating. Weight builds up on top of my body from the sheer existence of his power raining down on me. I feel as if I will die from him merely standing around me for much longer. His existence is a poison on this earth.
Raising one of the scythes to his side he slashes across his body in midair. Mica brings her twin silver swords in front of her face guarding her body. A flash of hot air radiates from the blade. A white streak sores through the air directed towards Mica. All the people standing between Mica and the mysterious man are mowed down and blood splatters from their bodies. A metallic clanking resonates from Mica’s blades as they make contact with the white streak. She is pushed back a few inches and several are killed from a single wave of this mans scythe. Unleashing several more strikes the space between Mica and the mysterious hooded man are filled with flashes of white light and streaks of blood being flung into the air. A cold furry bellows from each of his strikes. He is ruthless in his attacks. Mica is falling back unable to withstand the onslaught.
The slaves scatter running in fear. Rhea and I stand motionlessly next to the wall as Aarushi and Lucarus stand atop of it. None of us say a word or move a finger. I am completely frozen in fear. We simply watch the onslaught no sure what to do. Aarushi breaks the silence on our side.
“Why are you all just standing around? We need to save Rhea’s sister!” She jumps from the wall while mounting her gauntlets.
I hear a familiar voice echo inside of my head. “Don’t go near that man!” it is the same voice that resonated from the sword long ago.
How can this man be so dangerous? It doesn’t matter if I die, as long as I keep my friends alive. If I die I will simply be revived again. My friends on the other hand will die forever. I need to prevent Aarushi and the others from dying. I can’t let them get closed to this man.
Hoping to demotivate Aarushi I say “What can we do against someone like that? We should run away!”
“He is just a person. If we all gang up we can beat him! He is still human.” She charges toward the man in the grey hood while using fire to ignite her muscles into moving faster.
All I want to do is run away. But If I do that Aarushi might die. If she dies then I have no reason left to live. I don't care if it is all just my hormonal emotions flaring up I can't just stand and watch. Dam it Aarushi, I guess there is nothing I can do but help fight also. I charge in after her catching up with my superior speed.
I use a combination of partial muscle explosion in my legs to speed up my charge and fire enveloping over and around the blade to increase my striking power. Aarushi and I fight head to head attacking the over-powered being set before us. As Mica attacks his front Aarushi and I continue our assault from behind him. He is surrounded by three high level opponents.
I swipe downward with my flame covered blade as hard and fast as I can between the back of his shoulder blade and spine. Aarushi unleashes an explosion into his kidney quickly followed by a second punch to his lower back. With her arms crossed Mica slices outward cutting at both sides of his ribs. The hooded man easily interrupts all of our attacks. Without taking his eyes off of mica he twists one of the giant scythes over his head and down his back into my blade forcing it to fall off track and cut nothing but air near the outside of his shoulder. Quickly weaving to one side he avoids Aarushi’s first punch. Her second punch is forced to a stop by the chain that somehow entangled itself around her wrist. During the process of interrupting both Aarushi and my attacks he was able to back step far enough away from Mica to barely avoid her double sided attack at his ribs. Her blades slice open a small slit in his cloak, but he receives no visible damage.
I am off balance with my sword flying toward the ground next to my opponent from being deflected. Aarushi is fumbling forward from her highly aggressive attacks not making any kind of impact. Mica’s blades swivel in their spots and turn upwards slashing toward the sky while she steps forward. Her blades look like leaves dancing in the wind unfazed by whether or not they make contact with their opponent. The cold and terrifying man continues to launch himself backward further avoiding Mica’s attacks. His back rams into the back of my shoulder. The force from his iron like body hurls me into the ground. Due to the large torque on my shoulder I am spun across the ground like a grinder against metal. Abrasions creep over my body as the dirt tears into me and shreds through my armor. Aarushi flails into the ground like a rag doll but is quickly yanked back into the air by the chain tugging on her wrist. Loud popping noises resonated from her shoulder and elbow as her arm is disfigured.
My face scrapes against the dirt and I am unable to see what is happening for only a brief moment.
Without even looking he completely decimated the two of us even while we used my secret technique to heighten our strength and speed to unimaginable limits. All I could do is slow my perception of the situation and watch the horrors unfold before me when my face was not mashed against the ground from my excessive twirling.
As my line of sight is able to see everything again a tinkle of hope fills me. Mica unleashed floods of water from a container resting on her lower back. Her many water tentacles made her look like an octopus. All the tentacles moved in unison along with the rest of her. One stream of water wrapped around Aarushi glowing blue to show it’s healing properties. Another broke off from her body toward me. The last two struck at the shoulders of the dark man like spears. In the same motion Mica ducked while swiping one blade at his knees and the second blade at the chains binding Aarushi.
My face is once again slammed into the ground blocking my vision from the fighting seen. I am unable to slow the unending spin. Instead I turn my head to be able to see what happens next faster.
The two pillars of water viscously shooting at his shoulders are nowhere to be seen. In their place sits unmoving ice. The water wrapped around Aarushi’s body is exploding off of her like steam, becoming completely useless. The sword Mica slashed at his knees now rests beneath his foot as her grip on it weakens. The chain wrapped around Aarushi’s arm is cut but not before it is too late. The spiked chain sawed through her wrist cutting her hand off completely. Aarushi still flies away from mica at the same speed as the man does from the momentum of earlier movements. The scythe on Aarushi’s side spins about his hand. The blade arcs down behind his back. At the same time the other blade glows white as it slashed down from above toward Mica.
The water Mica sent toward me slows the spin as I am once again rotated always from the fight. I can feel a slight sensation of hot pain pulled away from me and replaced with a cool relaxed sensation. The water stops me before I am returned to looking at the fight. As quickly as I can I push myself up to look toward the others.
The first thing I see is Mica. She has both her blades covering her body. She had been pushed back almost five yards. Blood slides down her face and into her eyes. Her shoulder is gashed open as blood seeps into her clothes. Panting heavily with sorrow in her eyes she takes a single step back. As I continue to turn I follow Mica’s line of sight upward above the man who reminds me of death.
What I see hollows out my mind. A dead Aarushi is being held in place above the man like a living sculpture. Her image forever carved into my mind.
The two half crescent double moons outline her body as they set in the background. Aarushi has her chest puffed out and her head drawn backwards. Both her arms dangle below her. The arm with the missing hand resides closer to me. I can see the cracked bones of her forearms jaggedly cut and protruding from her severed flesh. Her legs swing in the wind. Her crimson hair blends in with the rest of her body as it is draped downward over the handle of the menacing scythe. Piercing through the bottom of her ribcage the thick blade of the scythe is the only thing keeping her from falling. It juts out from her body on both sides. The tip of the blade projecting toward the dark sky is coated in red as liquid drips from it. It slowly deepens itself into her as she slides downward. Blood gushes out from her stomach with every inch it sinks deeper.
The voice resonating inside my head blares louder than ever. “Deadra run now! I barley have the strength left to protect you. This man will kill you without mercy if he finds out you’re a player! He doesn’t know who you are and will still let you escape if you run!”
Aarushi is flung past me into a wall next to Rhea. She makes no motion to absorb the impact, nor any other reaction to being thrown. The wall cracks as her body impacts into it. My mind goes blank as all the thoughts seep out of me. What the hell kind of monster am I facing? We are nothing but ants to this cold hearted killer. No something more important is going on!
Shaking out of my dazed state I realize Aarushi’s situation and run toward her while yelling “Rhea heal Aarushi now!” Rhea is already acting before my command even reaches her. She dumps several gallons of glowing blue water onto Aarushi healing her as fast as she can.
Water rushes in and out of the gaping hole in Aarushi abdomen. The water becomes stained red as it sloshes all over her body aggressively fixated on her injuries. I scoop Aarushi into my arms staring at her motionless face. She isn’t breathing. I place my head on her chest while a mix of water and blood splash my face. Her heart is not beating. I set her down in a panic. Cupping my hands on her chest I pulse up and down trying to force her heart to restart. I count to ten then open her mouth while holding her nose. I breathe two heavy breaths into her before pumping on her chest again. The sound of clashing metal can be heard around us giving the sign that Mica is fighting the grey hooded figure once again.
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After a minute of panicked CPR Rhea grabs my shoulder and looks me in the eyes. She shakes her head and says “It’s too late Deadra, she lost too much blood.”
“No! I can still do this!” I pump harder and harder into Aarushi as hot tears drip from my eyes. “It’s not too late! It can’t be.” Slowly my head droops down as I stop trying to resuscitate Aarushi.
I scoop Aarushi up onto my lap with my blood stained hands. I bring my head close to hers. My tears drip down onto her face. I finally remember where this dress was from. The white dress stained with her blood. The dagger from the cave warned me of this yet there was nothing I could do to stop it. I am pathetic.
Aarushi’s lifeless body rests in my arms. Her fair skin is even whiter than ever. The look of bliss she wears while fighting still resides on her face. The usual light in her green eyes is long since faded. The love of my life is dead. The first person I was ever able to open up to was killed. I failed to protect my most precious person. I kiss her lips one last time as tears fall from my face. The metallic taste of blood comes from her closed smiling lips. Her peaceful smell of honey is blanked by blood and sweat. I clench my fists together as I lift my head.
A rage boils inside me as I set Aarushi back down into the puddle of blood. The mark on my hand glows a brighter red than ever before. The red color matches both Aarushi’s hair and the blood soaked into her dress. I pick up my blade and turn toward the ongoing fight between Mica and the man I am about to kill. I don’t care if I become a murderer I must avenge Aarushi’s death.
I concentrate all of my power within myself. Focusing on both increasing my speed and strength to surpass human capabilities I build pockets of explosive power into my muscles. Time slows to a crawl as I increase my perception. With the raw anger swelling inside of me new power arises as I pour energy into the tip of my blade. The blade ignites ablaze. Due to its innate ability to amplify my power by thirty two times the flame towers six feet and is hotter and more solid than ever before. The vary sword grows and becomes stronger due to the sheer amount of power I put into it. Every ounce of power and strength I hold is going to go into this attack. But that is still not enough. I even pull at my own life force. I feel the seed implanted in my stomach tear me apart as I sacrifice my entire being for power. Both my life and all my power go into increasing my strength and speed. This will be the final attack that will destroy both myself and the murderer of Aarushi.
I spring myself forward at speeds I never thought possible. I am unable to keep up with my own speed. In less than an instant I am next to both Mica and the mysterious man. I slash toward him from behind as Mica attacks from the front. The man somehow notices my attack and while simultaneously attacking Mica he lunges forward. How can he move so quickly? How can he read my moves? I am moving too fast for the naked eye to even see me yet he can notice my attack without looking.
Even with his unbelievable reflexes and speed I am able to strike him with my tower of flames. The solid flames cut clean through his body and the lengthened silver blade slices through his back. Unable to control the momentum of my swing the blade slams into the ground. On impact with the ground I can feel my arms bend in the wrong direction as the bones in my forearms shatter. The ground explodes as a crater forms around us. The fire around the blade dissipates as the blade evaporates into nothing ness. The only reason I still live is because the blade absorbed most of the recoil, yet I still shattered my arms. I drop to my knees completely sapped of energy and life. The pain from my shattered bones is nothing compared to the pain I feel from all the energy being reaped from my body in less than a second.
Fumbling forward slightly from my attack he continues focusing on Mica. As I fall to the ground drained of energy and twiddled with pain the man gets a clean hit on Mica forcing her to fall back.
I look up from my knees at the man’s back. The cut in his back is shallow. I don’t know how it didn’t cut him in half.
Mica jumps backward several feet. Several more wounds cover her body from the onslaught of attacks that happened while I was trying to save Aarushi. Breathing hard she says “You better run away now that your injured."
Completely ignoring her he turns toward me. He puts one of the scythes around my neck and inserts the other into my mouth. The cold shadows emanating from his hood give me the feeling of staring into death.
I stare back up at him from my knees. Anger and hatred fill my eyes. I can’t die yet, not until I kill this man. I don’t care if I die then since Aarushi is no longer alive in this world. I can just be resurrected once again.
The voice that came from the back of my head echoes once more. “Deadra, if he kills you, then you will never come back to life. Why are you such an idiot? Why didn’t you run away when I told you?”
What does the voice mean I won’t be resurrected? How can he be someone who can kill me permanently? Who is this man? Fuck him; I am the one who is going to kill him! I glare upward into his cloak and see two glowing almost white eyes. They are filled with nothing but detest. What does this man know that I don’t?
A flash of death comes over his eyes. This is the moment when I die. I have no strength to move let alone prevent my own death. In his head he has already pulled the metaphorical trigger to the gun against my head. I can feel the blade begin to slide through my neck breaking open the skin on my neck. The next instant the pain of his blade against my throat vanishes. An explosion of fire and smoke cover the area as I am lifted off the ground.
I am set down next to Mica by the man who saved me.
He wears a torn red skin tight under armor type cloth with white sewing. It has a texture that looks metallic and bumps that make it look like a circuit board. The armor seams to crawl across his skin as the stiches sow themselves. A tattered hood rests over half his face while the other half is gashed open from a fresh wound still dripping blood. Finely crafted mithral plates adorn the high-tech under armor along his entire body. They are light weight and sturdy yet several dents and scratches cover nearly all of them. His messy white hair shoots in every direction. The high quality brown leather boots with metal tipped toes compliment his shiny mithral shin guards. All the mithral plates on him have intricate designs carved into them as well as an array of fine jewels. A sword nearly identical to the one I destroyed but slightly longer is firmly in his grip. White bandages cover his body lining the inside of his outfit. It is delicately wrapped around his hands and knuckles. The bandages around his hands and neck are bloodied to the point of being black. Before my vary eyes his armor slowly repairs itself.
A strong power resides inside of him. The blazing fire that is his strength seems to flow endlessly outward. It feels as though an ocean of fire blazes in front of my eyes. I would flea in a heartbeat from someone with this much power if they had not just saved me. Familiar warmth resonates from him. His very presence brings me reassurance. He radiates with both power and a heroic feeling like that of the sun. The feeling around him completely opposes the feeling of the grey hooded man. They are like two sides of a magnet. Complete opposites that simultaneously push and pull at each other.
Standing between The hooded man and Mica he says “Mica, are you ok?”
Barely able to stand Mica says “Yeah I ‘m fine.”
“Do you remember what I said?” Mica shyly nods her head. “Do it before it’s too late. I will hold Lucifer off.”
Not sure if I am going crazy from the being half dead or reality is truly warping but I see the unbelievable. My savior splits into three identical men. A split second later all three figures vanish from my sight and a shock wave blasts me in the face as a magnitude of explosions erupt from where I almost died.
Mica kneels down in front of me and puts one of her hands on my shoulders while blocking the fight scene from view. “I’m sorry, I have no time to explain.” She brings her face closer to mine. Her beautiful blue eyes shine as they moisten with tears being held back. Her speech becomes slower as she emphasizes everything. “Never forget what has happened in this life. Remember your name Deadra. Remember everything!” She leans in further and places her lips against mine. The voice from before echoes in my head and says “Deadra remember me… Mica.” Warm liquid runs onto my nose as a tear drops from her eye. As she pulls away she looks down at her hands and says “I‘m sorry.”
Why did she kiss me? Why does she keep telling me these things? What does she have to apologize to me for? I look down to meet what her eyes are looking at and realize the answer to my questions. Her blade is inserted into my stomach. She kissed me to distract me from the pain. She told me those things so I can bring them with me to the next world. She apologized because she did not want to kill me.
Blood seeps out of my stomach as she wrenches the blade from my gut. My body slowly becomes cold as I lose more and more blood. My vision fades as my head becomes lighter. Falling down to the side the last image I see is Mica joining the fight. My mind goes blank as I am pulled from this world into purgatory.
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First don't hate on me about Aarushi until you read the next chapter.
Secondly That chapter will be out asap(Like five minutes if you some how read the hole thing in a split second right when I posted it.)
Thirdly(I know that's completely wrong but it rhymes!) This is the end of volume one and the next chapter shall start volume two. In volume one there were three arcs. The bird man arc. the Skeleton arc. and the Pyromancy arc. How many arcs will volume 2 have? what will Deadra become? Who is Mica? Who are those two overly powerful beings? What is a "Player"? Why can that grey hooded man named Lucifer able to permanently kill Deadra and end the cycle of rebirth(or so the voice says)? Will Rhea and Lucarus survive? What other races exist in the world of Pyromancy? Find out in... Not volume two... Not volume 3... but eventually(Ok some questions will be answered earlier but some later. Also I do know which Volume everything is explained in, I just don't want to ruin it.). Yes this is a long long ride we are strapped in for.
Fourthly Here is a short story that is NOT real and does NOT pertain to the actual story in any shape or form and should be completely disregarded.
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The golden Eyed monkey watches the desolate scene as Mica finally kills Deadra. He rubs his hands together happily as his plan comes to fruition. He is the destroyer of fates. The master mind who set this all in motion. Did he not bring Deadra and the group to the cave to find that magical Dagger? He knew what images would appear because he put them there. He knew how it would change Aarushi's life. Yes his ultimate goal was Aarushi. that girl who only saw him as a loveable fluff ball. "I will not only kill her but destroy her future and breeak the fate that ties her and her lover Deaadra. Before I brought them to that cave they would have lived a long and happy life. They would have survived past this day and happily gotten married, had children and died of old age. Of course they would have saved the slaves, but at a later time.
Why?
They would not have been driven to become stronger as much. they would have taken much longer to get to the town of Twin Trees without the Dagger, and never have met Rhea. They never would have met Mica. Deadra would still tell his secret, but at a later time. He still would have killed the prince, but would have sustained more injuries. He would not ever have gone to that ball on that night. He would never have gotten that deadly dress.
Thats right. The evil that killed Aarushi and Deadra was truely the Monkey. He set it all into motion with his fate defying abilities. He destroys realities with his minor changes in the world. He is a god of his own world!
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Ignore everything between the "***" it is just a small fan fiction of my own design.
Alright begin the hate mail :(