The sun has passed its zenith hours ago and has begun its slow descent towards the horizon, moving at a slug’s pace as the day continues to drag on. Sunset is still a few hours away and my little game of cat and mouse continues to draw on.
All around, both cities on either side of the Ohio river lay in ruin. Craters litter the landscape like the surface of the moon, skyscrapers lay toppled like dominos, and in several places, large stretches of land are simply missing, deleted from existence as if someone had taken an eraser to paper. All over, black and red flames burn and eat away at the ruins of humanity, reducing this place where so many people used to live into a hellscape of molten rock and hell fire, every remaining surface is covered in layers of grey ash and stone dust, mixed with the black particles that are the only thing remaining once the black flames have done their work. With every passing gust of winter’s wind, the superheated mix of ashes and dusts gets sent flying though the remains of the cities, carried upward on an updraft of air to further dye the sky in a blanketed covering of angry clouds, thunder and lightning slowly brewing in their bellies as acidic water mixes in the dirty vapors and waits to fall upon the earth down below.
Along the river, water now floods into the city in many places, filling craters and flowing into the sewers and basements wherever it can to fill the undergrounds of the city, new lakes being slowly born alongside pits and streams of flowing magma, the two hissing loudly wherever they meet and releasing toxic gasses into the air, every street slowly filling with the colors of blacks and greys as the smoke stains the sides of buildings and fills the air as a choking smog.
Through the discoloration of it all, the smoke and the ash, the overhanging heavy clouds, and light distorting flames of black and red, the light of the suns comes through as a muddled and dirty orange, seen as nothing more than a vague glowing blob through the black and grey sky, its light fighting to reach the desecrated streets down below.
Stranger yet is the effect that our fight is having on the surrounding mana. Where normally, the world would be full of varying colors of mana floating about, the different colors representing different parts of the elements, there is now only red and black as everything else gets shoved aside. The two elements flow through the air in a chaotic mess like the winds of a hurricane, smashing into one another with violent forces as every other element is thrown aside to the wayside. These clashes grow in strength whenever we fight, forcefully altering the environment with our every action, our Fields cutting though the city like a reapers scythe through wheat. Stone losses its strength and falls apart at the slightest touch, the wind feels weak and hollow like the breath of a dying man, water turns brackish and dark like bubbling oil, snow and ice evaporating at the slightest hint of heat, and every remaining plant or living thing that hasn’t yet perished is quick to wither and die. Insects fall to the ground, hiding rats and birds and even cowering monsters fall over and perish just by enduring the mere presence of two clashing monarchs, their corpses not even getting the chance to rot, but simply turning to dust or being burnt away into ash, leaving nothing but a black outline on the floor.
Darting for another strike, my hammer smashes into the side of Father, blowing the air out of him, regardless, he is quick to respond and sends a kick into my gut, sending my light body flying through the air and crashing through the side of a desiccated building. The stone turns to sand as I plow through it, the rest of the structure soon collapsing afterwards like a kicked in sandcastle and filling the dirty air with even more debris as I find myself flying through the streets on the other side. Digging my feet into the earth and leaving trails behind, I quickly dart off to the side and keep moving, not stopping for a moment. The spot where I just landed is immediately turned into a sea of flames by a raging Father, fuming angrily as he pursues me. He has long become tired of this drawn-out fight of ours, and his anger has been steadily growing with each passing hour. It has even been a few hours since he has last talked to me, instead choosing to stay fumingly quiet as he continues to pursue me in my game of cat and mouse.
It isn’t long until the acid rain starts to fall. It starts as a simple drizzle, the pitter patter of the occasional fat raindrop hitting the hood of a wrecked car, only to promptly sizzle and vaporize, or sit and add to slowly growing puddles of pitch-black oily waters like a witch's brew in her pot. And then it really starts to come down. Sheets of acidic rain filling the sky and mixing in disgusting flows of dirty water as they find piles of ash and dust to mix with. Yet, even with the rain falling, the black and red flames that are consuming the city only seem to grow in size, seemingly feeding off of the falling water to fuel their growth as they continue to consume the city and spread in a wildfire of clashing flames.
Lighting strikes, the arc of searing plasma bringing a flash of light to the city as it collides with the top of one of few remaining buildings that still stand tall. Moments later, the sound of thunder crashes with ear shaking noise, far louder than the still falling artillery that now sounds out in the distance as a constant reminder of the fighting that is still going on elsewhere.
Safely wrapped up in my shadows, the rain uselessly falls against my body only to disappear without a trace. Father is still hot on my trail, refusing to give up on this little game of ours as he crashes through the scenery in his mad chase, his naked body billowing in layers of flames and burning away everything around him like a blazing comet.
His heat has only grown with time, glowing brighter and hotter as his anger increases. Now, when I go in to attack him, I can only remain near him for a spare few seconds before his flames start to eat through my shadows and damage my body underneath. Giving a sad look towards my sledgehammer, I can’t help but feel remorseful as I see the damage it has taken. The fiberglass handle is partially melted and warped at an angle now, but most concerning is the steel head. The head of my hammer is growing more and more disformed, having been partially melted and then cooled over and over again all through the day. Even now, after our last clash, the head of my hammer is still glowing red. Despite how much I have tried to keep it safe by coating it with my own flames and filling it with mana, Father's heat is still just too much right now. Without my protection, the hammer would have already been long reduced to a puddle on the floor hours ago…
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Sky will forgive me, but I still don’t want to see her gift getting destroyed. I just need to hold out until the sun sets…
With the smog filling the city and the overcast of dirty thunder clouds and acid rain, the levels of darkness have been steadily increasing by the hour, enabling me to fight harder and keep my core topped off, but even still, Father’s power is just too much. It is almost like he has an endlessly burning furnace in him, continuously fueling him and keeping him going without stop. It’s almost like he has a nuclear reactor in his chest, pumping away and giving him more and more with the more heat he generates, like some kind of self-feeding machine operating under a cycle of endless growth.
I stop as he comes crashing into the alleyway behind me, digging my claws into the cracked concrete to turn on the spot and dash straight at him while his vision is still obscured. The head of my hammer smashes into his temple, knocking his head violently to the side. He moves to strike me with a punch, but I quickly pull back. Turning on the spot and spinning, I bring my hammer back up and strike him in the face again, sending him reeling. Father roars and raises his fist, but in less than a heartbeat, I am already gone, having jumped onto the walls of the alley and disappearing like a ninja.
From on high, I watch Father, still standing there with his blazing body, fist raised high. Slowly, he lowers it to his side and lets out a long breath. Hanging from the wall, I can only blink in surprise as I look down at him in curiosity.
What’s he up to? It doesn’t look like he is getting tired yet…
“Gre’dem, why won’t fight me?” He asks himself quietly, his voice just barely perceptible over the sound of falling rain and thunder crashing in the distance.
Slowly, with hate filling his eyes, he looks up at me as I cling to the wall, hiding within the shadows. When he speaks next, his voice cuts through the din of noise.
“Gre’dem, if you will not fight me by your own will, then I will force you to face me.”
“… What do you mean by that?” I ask nervously.
But he doesn’t answer, instead, he turns and walks away, exiting the alley to turn and walk down the street.
Did… Did he actually just walk away!?
“Hey wait…” I say as I jump back down and move to follow him.
Running out of the alley, I find him walking down the street, not even turning back to look at me as he walks away.
“Hey, hold up. Wait! Where are you going?”
Running up beside him, he doesn’t stop walking away, his fist clenched tight and his flames still burning bright. With the heat radiating off of his body, I can only remain by him for a bit before I have to make some distance, fanning my hand to try and blow away some of the heat from my face.
“Hey, answer me. Come on, I thought you wanted to fight me, right? Come on. I’m sorry I kept running off, you’re just too hot. Get it? Because your literally on fire. Hahaha. Come on. Tell me Mr. Gobo King, where ya heading? Tell me? Come on, please? Hey, hey, hey, come on, wat’ you doing, were you going, what’s your favorite color, do you like cookies? Hey, hey, wait a second, will you-“
He turns and snaps at me when I just won’t stop asking questions. “Will you shut up!”
“Only if you tell me where you’re going… Also, do you mind putting some pants on, that thing is a bit distrac-“
He interrupts me again. “I’m going to make you fight me.”
“How you gonna do that?” I ask curiously with a smile, though he can’t see it past my shadow ninja outfit.
He raises his left hand for me to see, his eyes looking towards my own hand. Looking down at my hand, I find my contract. My promise to protect humanity... Even with my body covered head to toe in shadows, my marks still partially show through, being almost impossible to entirely hide.
Nervously, I ask, “Whaaat are you planning?”
He gives me a blood hungry smile. “Simple. If you won’t fight me, then I just have to force you to fight me. If I kill those you protect, then you will have to face me. No more running away from me. I’ll be the one doing the running, and you will have to try and stop me.” He says as his smile grows more wicked. My own smile quickly drops off my face, accompanied by a cold sweat.
As his words hit me, I can feel my soul tightening, my contract burning on the back of my hand like a fresh brand from an iron. It hurts and I can just barely keep myself from trying to itch it as I stare at him.
“Now… there’s no need for that… Let’s just keep fighting here, ok? I promise I won’t keep running off… No need to do anything crazy, ok?” I try.
But he just keeps walking as he smiles at me with a cruel look.
Leaning down, he says, “Try and stop me.”
And then he is running. The floor explodes beneath him as he leaves a trail of fire in his wake, leaving me gawking as he speeds off south, back towards the river.
With my contract burning in my soul, I quickly chase after him yelling for him to stop.
“Ahhh! Wait, wait, wait! Come back, I’ll fight, I will! Come on, any direction other than that, come on, let’s stay here in Indiana! I’ve never been here before, we can explore, let’s see the sights. For like… a few more hours! Come on!”
But he doesn’t stop running, instead he just laughs as he runs away, plowing through the river as the dirtied waters burn away around him in billowing columns of steam.
“I have chased you long enough Gre’dem! Now it is your turn, hahahaha!”
Even as I attack him, he doesn’t slow down, simply shrugging off my attacks or throwing one back at me as moves. Within moments the two of us are across the river and tearing back through Louisville, red and black flames tearing apart and ravaging the place as we throw deadly spells at each other, exploding, imploding, burning, and deleting buildings and sections of roads as we go.
“Stop running! Fight me Goblin King! You hate it when I call you that, right!? Goblin King, Goblin King, Goblin King! So, fight me!”
He just laughs as he plows through a building. “Hahahaha! No!!! You will have to stop me, Gre’dem!”