Something dramatic had changed in his brother. Shade had avoided taking any damage from Void’s punch - it could only be him - but in doing so had gotten himself trapped. The hall he had found himself in was a long one with no light. His eyes worked just as well in the dark but he had no depth perception, the long stretch before him might have been a mile.
Luckily, it had not been. The claustrophobic darkness faded as the hall opened up into a wider area. It was still dark but Shade quickly realised that was because it was nighttime here. Stars shone down from above, blocked in places by the black on black silhouette of trees. Shade found himself in a pitch black forest, the night sky dark but for the twinkling of stars. Shade suspected that these trees, even down to their leaves, would be black even in bright light.
A theory proved right as an arc of yellow energy ripped across the space, a strike which Shade managed to narrowly avoid. It was a telltale attack, well known to Shade and probably the attack he had avoided the most in his life. “Mania.” Shade spoke his brother’s name as a greeting, warning and insult all at once.
“We must stop meeting like this, brother!” Shrill, Mania’s voice came from a hidden spot amongst the trees. To call the space a room was a disservice, the area was huge. Shade had been led to a veritable forest. “Though, I do plan to make this our last meeting, so that shouldn’t be much of an issue.”
Shade did not have the patience to banter with his brother. Instead he drew the blade Raze from the void within himself and swiped the sword through the air in a flourish. “You have pushed your luck too far this time, Mania.” Shade would not let the past continue to harry him, nor would it shackle him as Mania had let it do to himself. “We can end this theatre here and now.”
“I wish that were true.” Mania’s final word came out as a growl, another arc of yellow lightning blasting towards Shade. Both men needed to project their voices to be heard with the distance between them but Shade was beginning to figure out where his brother was hiding. “I may have oversold the battle. I’m not here to kill you, though I do hope your allies have painful deaths.”
Shade wasn’t worried for Calliope, though there was a chance that more of his family had come to Allusia. If she was facing any of the three that came with Mania, she would be more than enough. Ah Dan’s battle… well, Shade did not know quite how to measure that boy. He suspected that they would need an army to keep him held down properly.
“You should have just stayed in Bastion with our Mother, Mania.” Shade called out his warning. As he did, he sliced open space before him and stepped through, appearing again instantly a fair distance away. Another thunderbolt flew to his now vacated position, killing intent dripping with every attack. Mania may have said he wasn’t here to kill Shade but he would certainly try his best.
“If you are not trying to kill me, why not just leave me alone? I was not in your way until you were in mine!” Mania, and most of his siblings, took no responsibility for their own actions. They simply did things and got upset when others reacted. At least Shade had done the honourable thing and left that nest of vipers.
“These orders are from on high, brother.” Now the call from Mania was goading. He knew that Shade would understand who he meant. Only one person gave Mania orders. “She’s very upset with you. Shade’s in trouble.” His voice had become childish, the taunting of an infant sibling.
Shade had closed enough distance now and Mania was getting lost in his own euphoria. With a swift slash, the void opened for Shade once more and when he stepped out his blade found his brother. He followed through but did not meet enough resistance. Mania had dodged most of the attack, those his hissed intake of breath and the wetness upon the tip of Raze told Shade that he had at least given his brother a greeting.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Their clash was quick and brutal, both coming away with bruises and cuts. Raze found the mark more deeply than the electrified attacks that Mania employed. Mania’s technique was designed to cause as much pain as possible, not kill quickly. Shade’s was the opposite, so while Mania was holding nothing back, Shade was still stopping his blade. He wasn’t trying to go easy on his brother but he could not help seeing the small single horned whelp who had looked up to him so long ago.
It was clear from the moment that Shade closed the distance who would be the victor. As was the case for all of his family, their abilities generally fell into two camps. Close ranged body enhancement or long range assault. Of the group who came to Allusia, Ravage had the former, Bloom, Void and Mania had the latter. Shade was lucky. He had both.
He slipped through space once more, dropping a heavy punch into Mania’s left shoulder blade from behind. Shade fell into another spacial tear and left Mania to attack his shadow. As he slipped through the tear he lashed his sword forward, catching Mania’s ankle bone. Shade made sure to speak loud enough for his brother to hear. “Is she here?” He asked. Mania lashed out but he flailed through an afterimage.
It was setting in to Shade that he could not kill his brother, no matter how much the fratricide might solve. If his mother was here in the labyrinth, it explained the sudden moving of the walls. Not much could affect labyrinthite, but the wielder of three soul relics would have no issue. That also meant she was close enough to influence his surroundings.
Everyone was in awful danger.
With that realisation in mind, Shade dropped his sword. Raze made one final cut through the ether and Shade jumped through. He appeared right where he was planning. Directly above Mania. His plummet was heavy, his knees connected with head and shoulder. Mania dropped the floor beneath Shade’s weight. One more solid punch to his brother’s jaw was enough to end the fight.
Shade a shockingly dense wave of energy pulse through the labyrinth and bile rose in his throat. That wasn’t his mother but it was definitely the unleashing of a soul relic. Had it been a bluff? It seemed too much a coincidence for there to be other soul relics around right now, yet even as Shade wondered, his fears were confirmed true.
With another burst of power, the world turned grey. This power, Shade was sure, was his Mother. A jerking sense of inertia made Shade tumble to the floor, the dark world around him spinning. He tried to look at the stars but that just made the spinning all the more noticeable. The first swell had been a light breeze in comparison. Just as Shade felt that the world had stopped moving, it decided to actually move.
All at once, light returned to the world.
Shade closed his eyes in both pain and nausea. His eardrums felt like they exploded as pressure weighed down on him. Shade was a stone on a string, being whipped around by some gargantuan titan.
With a pop, the feeling of motion stopped, Shade’s senses returned and the pressure disappeared.
“Ah. There we are.” With a voice like honey over a spiderweb, one Shade would know anywhere, his mother started speaking. Shade snapped open his eyes, though they seared in the bright light of their current location. Her blurry form came into view and all of Shade’s hair stood on end. “It had been so long since I saw you in person, my sweet Shade. Come to me.”
Shade knew now that her control was so subtle as to be imperceptible but he could feel it working on him. Helping didn’t change the effect much though, he hadn’t been prepared. He did not struggle against his muscles because it just did not occur to him that it would be an option. When Hestia asked, you simply did it. While he walked towards her, he was able to look around. Wherever she had pulled him to, it couldn’t be far from the dark forest.
Fittingly, though Shade wouldn’t be surprised if she had brought it herself, his mother sat on a throne. Bedecked in an outfit of metallic beauty, she looked like a goddess of war. At her hip was the soul relic she had won her throne with in the first place. The black sword. On her head was her second soul relic. A ring of crystal around her head, the dreamwalker’s diadem. It was with the diadem that she invaded his mind a few weeks before. She had gained a third soul relic the day that Shade had escaped but he did not see it.
“You’ve avoided your duties for too long. It’s time to stop playing with your brothers and sister and come home.” When she said it, there was a moment when Shade wanted to agree. To shake his head and remove the silly, rebellious thoughts. Instead he managed to jerk away, just before her reaching hand could touch his face. His body his own again, Shade instantly summoned Raze.
Which was as far as he got in his plan before a soft “stop that” made his body freeze. Shade had tensed against her influence this time, however, and his muscles unlocked quickly. Focusing, he would be able to shrug off her influence for the most part. The magical portion, at least. The fact that she was his mother was harder to ignore and her look of disappointment, a perfected artform for her, was still a powerful thing.
“Hello, mother.” Shade spoke through gritted teeth. He tried to remain calm, knowing that it would only take a moment of weakness and she would have him under her spell. “I think we should talk.”