A maelstrom of violence.
That’s the only way Kaleon could describe the chaos in the ballroom. A scattering of officers, guards, and guests defended the doorway. None of them seemed to notice Kaleon; their eyes focused on the battle ahead.
Black ribbons of smoke trailed up from pools of black ichor on the floor, filling the ballroom with a rancid odor that assaulted Kaleon's nostrils and obscured the ceiling as it hung in the air.
Light burst from sparks trailed from clashing blades or the muzzle flashes of gunfire.
Spells flew wildly across the ballroom. Swirling crescent blades of ice, great apes of scalding steam, glowing spectral locusts, and all manner of magic from all across the Iega flew about the room, but they made little difference. The shadows soaked up their magic like sponges. The spells barely lasted long enough to hit their targets, with the only exception being the Captains, whose magic was strong enough to land with a diminished but potent effect.
The darkness drafted on everyone else’s spells to grow stronger, leaving them with enough power to do a little more harm than a paper cut. The only spells that retained a portion of their original effectiveness were those cast by captains, likely due to their innate magical power behind each incantation.
Most peculiar were the hundreds of still glowing radantum shards scattered about the floor. Kaleon ducked out of the way as an electrified spear arched through the air and struck the wall beside him.
Kaleon slipped. He fell to the floor, hard, crashing onto something at his back.
“You need to get out of here!” One of the guards had noticed Kaleon. He rushed over, trying to drag Kaleon to his feet, but Kaleon slipped, falling back down. Kaleon looked at his hand. It was slick red with blood. He looked back to what he'd hit, and Kaleon thought his heart sank into the floor.
The body belonged to a Navy officer. Black veins had spread from a vicious wound that cut through his neck. Kaleons stomach started to churn at the sight when he felt hands pull him to his feet.
"Sir, you need to leave!" One of the officers shouted.
They ducked as an emerald laser passed overhead, coating them in a thick layer of dust as it scored a line into the masonry. Coughing, Kaleon pushed the hair from his eyes and focused on where the laser came from.
The pirates' attack transformed the ballroom into a gladiatorial arena. Its exits guarded by armed officers, guests, and guards to keep the pirates confined to this room. Kaleon blamed his luck on being at an all-time low, and the laser's source came from the exit farthest from him. If he wanted to get to them, Kaleon would have to cross this no-man’s land or take the time to find a way around to that side.
Kaleon gritted his teeth, "There's no time for that." Steeling his nerve, Kaleon waited for the laser to cut through the smoke. The officers were about to shout at him again, but Kaleon pushed past them.
It was so odd. Rushing wind and crackling electricity flew over Kaleon's head, yet the sound Kaleon could hear loudest was his footsteps splashing in the ocean of crimson and black. He tried not to think about it, but Kaleon had to make an active effort not to trip over the bodies sprawled across the floor.
The only saving grace was that the laser was easy to follow through the chaos. It cut swathes through the smoke with impunity. The pirates ducked and dodged to avoid its path, which didn't make sense to Kaleon. If anything, they should be doing the opposite. The spell looked like it would hurt, but it was a healing spell with barely any concussive force. If anything, Kaleon guessed they were still holding the ballroom because that laser kept everyone in the fight.
Kaleon skidded to a halt as six pirates emerged from the toiling smoke. He backpedaled, narrowly avoiding a pirate slashing at him with his sword. Kaleon slipped, falling to the floor. Before the pirates could step forward, he said, " Wait, please don't hurt me!"
The pirates stared at him. Kaleon stared back.
Okay, not his best moment, but it beat the alternative of getting slived to pieces.
"You're funny," one of the pirates laughed. He raised his sword and aimed to bring it down on Kaleon's head. "What?" He looked at his empty hands and then at Kaleon.
Six arms of cobalt wind had appeared at Kaleons back. One of them hefted a newly acquired sword. "What?" The pirates repeated, and the hand holding the sword flung it so hard that it sunk into the wall to the hilt. The other five pirates were still looking toward where the sword went when the other five arms swiped their weapons from their hands and tossed them in the same fashion.
The pirates glared at Kaleon with mixed expressions of annoyance and hate. Kaleon smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, “I probably should’ve kept one of those, huh?”
An emerald laser cut through the shadow, twisting in the air in an arc to hit each pirate in the head, then alter its course to hit Kaleon in the chest.
A sweet aroma, like a spring shower over a meadow, replaced the toxic fumes that filled the room. The smell accompanied a rejuvenating feeling that washed over Kaleon's body, calming his mind and coating him with a faint green glow. Kaleon always enjoyed the sensation, finding it refreshing, but in the context of this moment, it almost made his stomach heave.
The pirates didn't say anything at first, but one of them looked toward the direction of the laser. Kaleon felt bile threaten to come up from his throat when he saw the charred hole going through the man's head.
“Watch your head!”
Dashard jumped over Kaleons head, kicking the pirate in front of Kaleon. At the same time, Dashard slashed at the remaining five. Cutting through their necks as a wave of wind knocked them back.
“It’s too dangerous for anyone to run around without support." Dashard stomped on the remaining pirate's chest and lopped off his head, too. He kicked it across the ballroom before turning back to face Kaleon. Dashard offered Kaleon a hand, "Where did you come from?! Rynnelle and I have been worried about you all night!”
“The kitchen!” Kaleon took the hand, getting to his feet. He'd tell him the whole story later. Right now, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of his friend. The Navy captain looked haggard. Although he was unhurt, as far as Kaleon could tell, his coat was torn and painted black, like much of the room. “Mr. Gaspar is hurt. We need Rynnelle or Lord Reinard to heal him until we can get help from the Medical Guild!”
“Kal, I'm not sure if you noticed,” Dashard started to say as Kaleon noticed the decapitated pirates sloppily got to his feet behind him. A tendril of smoke connected the body with its head, the missing appendage flying back towards them, with a gun in its mouth of all things.
Dashard saw Kaleons horrified expression and turned as the head started to speak. “Gahtchew now ya spineless-hey!” Before the head reattached, one of Kaleon’s arms snaked out to grab its face and hold it in the air. The pirate wriggled in the grip of Kaleons magic, spitting the gun from his mouth to scream in frustration, “Get your damn hand off me!”
Kaleons stomach started to churn, “I think I'm going to be sick.” The arm responded in turn and threw the now screaming head. It flew at a breakneck speed into the farthest wall, splattering with a squelch that didn't help Kaleon keep from throwing up.
“Help for any of us is a long way away,” Dashard said, finishing his train of thought. Another head came flying towards its body, this one holding a dagger in its mouth. Another one of Kaleon's arms backhanded this head away, sending it spiraling into the dark.
“We’re too exposed.” Dashard pushed Kaleon to the side as a pirate came from behind him. His sword moved in a blur, severing both arms at the elbow and sending him flying away with a savage kick to the chest. “If enough of them notice us standing here, we'll be overwhelmed. We’ll have to fight to an exit with Lord Reinard covering us. Then you can get out of here.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” Kaleon shouted in protest, trying to keep his disappointment at the mention that it was Lord Reinard's spell out of his voice. “Where’s Rynnelle?”
“Bigger concerns at the moment, Kal!” Dashard pushed Kaleon, and he narrowly avoided a stray spell. Crescent blades of ice cleaved through the space where Kaleon just stood.
“Right! Sorry!” Kaleon said as he refocused on surviving and tried to ignore the pained expression that flashed across Dashards face. "Watch out!"
A wind arm grabbed Dashard by the collar and yanked him away from a clash of swords when another pirate came up beside him. Kaleon had a pair of arms slap the sword out of the pirate’s hands, and the pirate pulled out his pistol. An arm moved out to snatch the gun, but the pirate got a shot off. A bullet of roiling darkness obliterated the cobalt arm down to the elbow before disappearing.
Kaleon stumbled back, and with a flourish of his sword, Dashard cut the pistol and the pirate's arm into pieces before moving back to the other pirate.
With a missing hand, the pirate snarled, scrambling to grab the sword from the ground. Kaleon blurted out in a panic, "Sorry!" as he kicked the sword away. He threw a wild haymaker that flattened the pirate's nose and spun him a few feet away.
"Kal, I keep telling you," Dashard said with a harrowed look as he cut the pirate down. Slashing winds sent the pieces flying in different directions. “It’s good that you don’t want to hurt people, but you don’t have to apologize when you stop someone from trying to kill you.”
"Yeah, sorry- I mean, I know." Kaleon wiped the sweat from his brow, moving his hair out of his face, "Beating people up was always your thing, not mine."
“My ‘Thing?’ That’s a little harsh,” Dashard said, somewhat defensively. He flicked his wrist in a quick, well-practiced motion, flinging the gore off his blade. “You make it sound like I enjoy hurting people.”
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“Nah, Dee, I wouldn’t say you enjoy it.” Kaleon watched as a pirate screaming bloody murder charged Dashard.
The Navy Captain sighed in weary annoyance. He side-stepped out of the pirate’s swing. Grabbing a fistful of his attacker’s hair with his free hand, Dashard jerked the pirate's head down as he brought up a knee. The pirate's neck snapped back with a sickening crack as Dashard let go of his hair. Someone’s spell, a miniature green tornado of razor wind passed by them, and Dashard pushed the pirate in. There was a whirring sound, and inky smoke spewed out the top of the tornado as it ran a circuit around the room.
“I would say you’re really good at it, though,” Kaleon said.
Dashard's face was a death mask of grim acceptance. “I wish I didn’t have to be.” Kaleon winced, thinking he’d struck Dashards nerve in an already intense situation. He realized that Dashard wasn’t looking at him, following his gaze as it panned around the room.
To say they were on their last legs was an understatement. As good as the stand against the pirates had been. The three Navy captains who slew the pirates as fast as they could put themselves back together were the only things keeping the fight going. Except it was less so for Dashard, who played Kaleon's sitter. This was a battle of attrition; all the pirates had to do was widdle them down one officer at a time.
The pirates were never-ending waves of destruction trying to sweep through the island. It was a battle of attrition, and the only end in sight was when the last of Teons defenders fell.
Kaleon studied Dashards face. He could see the gears turning in his mind as he assessed the situation and their chances that any of them made it through the night. Kaleon almost wanted to share what was happening outside the Manor, but he held his tongue. From the morose look on Dashards face, Kaleon already knew where his thoughts had ended up.
The storm of guilt inside Kaleons erupted, a crack of lightning so fierce that it shot like a beacon in the vast darkness. Pirates and defenders swiveled their heads toward them, making Kaleon feel worse.
All these lives. Some of them never set foot on Teon before this evening. Fighting to the brink. Fighting amidst all this death. Fighting, all while believing there was no end in sight.
"Dashard. I'm so sorry." Kaleon's voice broke, and it took all of his willpower not to break into a sob.
Dashard put a hand on his friend's shoulder, squeezing it hard. Kaleon looked at him, seeing the black veins wriggling through the whites of his eyes, but he also noticed something else. It was a strange, almost tranquil expression accompanied by a smile filled with a sad warmth, "Kaleon. If anything, I should be apologizing to you." Their gaze held, the two sharing a conversation that words couldn’t express.
Dashard and Kaleon looked around them and saw dozens of smiling faces looking back at them—smiles filled with nothing but the vilest intentions. Still looking at the crowd, Dashard said, "No one I'd rather make a final stand with."
Kaleon felt a lump in his throat, but a sudden resolve made it go down easy. His hands tightened into fists. "Likewise."
The defenders tried to push their way through to them. Lord Reinard's magic cut swathes through the masses, healing the defenders and reaping the pirates like wheat. That tornado roaming the ballroom lifted the female captain into the air, sucking the pirates in like a vacuum. The eldest captain plowed into the mass of pirates with a wedge made of shimmering red energy. Whenever a pirate pressed against it, it shredded them to pieces.
The pirates kept coming.
As strong as the captain's magic was, the darkness drank it all, forcing them to use more and more of their magic to keep the defenders in the fight.
To make matters worse, the pirates were now wholly aware of the opportunity granted by Dashard and Kaleons' poor positioning. When the captains pushed to the center, the pirates pushed them right back. They refused to give any ground, knowing the rest would soon follow once the third captain was gone.
Dashard ran like a raging river of swords. His blade glinted as it severed limb after limb, the translucent wind swirling razor wind around him, scattering them across the room even as the darkness consumed it. As he moved, Dashard spoke an incantation, "Cast light o' eternal flame. Dance with me and ignite the embers of our passion." Heat radiated off Dashards sword, embers materializing the churning air around him. The embers harmlessly floated around Dashard, but if they touched the skin or clothes of a pirate, the embers burst into flames.
Kaleon wasn't even half as deadly as Dashard, but his contribution kept them from getting overwhelmed. Weapons clattered to the floor as six cobalt arms moved as fast as a whirlwind. They snatched swords and backhanded pistols out of the hands of every pirate that came for them. If they wanted to fight, they'd have to do it with their bare hands, just like Kaleon. In his mind, Kaleon felt the barely secured lid sealing his emotions tremble as his fists carried a decade’s worth of rage and frustration behind each blow.
There was no telling how long they'd held their ground. It was only a couple of minutes. To Kaleon, it felt like each second had stretched on for an eternity.
Kaleon noticed something out of the corner of his eye, looking past Dashard to see a new pirate bursting from the doors leading out into the hallway. The pirate was a giant, at least a head taller than Kaleon himself. As soon as he stepped into the room, the pervasive darkness flooding the ballroom rippled. It lasted only a moment, but it made every spell cast shudder, if not fizzle out entirely.
The monstrous pirate looked directly at Kaleon and Dashard while the others pressed on the attack. Dashard barely registered his spell fade, so entranced with the fight in front of him that it only translated to him having to be more ferocious with his blade.
Kaleon was the only one to notice the giant of a pirate pointing a wicked-looking pistol at Dashard. It sounded like cannon fire as six rounds traced black lines through the air behind them.
“No!” Kaleon's legs moved before he’d even processed what was happening. Cobalt hands of wind shot out to block the path of the bullet while Kaleon put his body to shield Dashard, who finally realized something was wrong.
Kaleon felt his already slowed perception of time drags down to a crawl. It was like he was frozen, rendered helpless, and unable to do anything but watch as the bullets tore through Kaleons magic like tissue paper.
This was it. He was powerless to stop the bullets. He couldn’t move, and even if he could, Kaleon wouldn’t if it meant Dashard would get bit instead. Kaleon thought of Rynnelle. Thought of her smile that outshone the sun and her laugh that made his heart flutter in his chest. Kaleon prayed that she was safe and that the Gods would give him a chance to tell her exactly how much she meant to him in their next life.
A flash of rainbow light filled Kaleons vision, and he felt something slammed into his chest, barreling him onto the floor.
An uneasy silence overtook the room as they entered the proverbial eye of this storm of violence. Kaleon scrambled to his knees, hands pawing at his chest for any trace of the bullets that should’ve torn straight through him.
There was a horrid cough beside him, “Oh man, today really isn’t my day.”
Kaleon stiffened at the sound of the voice. He turned to see Silverhand lying on the floor next to him. It looked like he’d been wearing glowing rainbow-colored pants, but whatever magic Silverhand made them with was quickly starting to fizzle out. “Hey Seabreeze, looks like you made it.”
“No, no, no.” Kaleon pulled Silverhand to his lap. Crimson blood flecked his mouth, but the spit from that cough was as black as oil. Dark, budging veins ran up his neck and spread across his face. His golden irises sat in pools of back as he looked toward Kaleon. “Silverhand? Silverhand, stay with me. Lord Reinard can…he can fix you up. Just hang in there.”
Silverhand laughed. This insane stranger who’d threatened and saved Kaleons life laughed as if someone had told him the funniest joke in the world. Silverhand thumped Kaleon in the chest with his right hand, still smiling even if he looked at Kaleon through half-lidded eyes, “Just remember.” His words trailed off as Silverhands hand fell limply to the floor.
There was a slight rumble of thunder as Kaleon's cloud hair released a downpour. Lightning cracked, arcing out from his hair to strike the floor around him.
Kaleon blinked tears from his eyes, and when he looked down in his lap, he didn’t just see Silverhand. He saw Rynnelle, Dashard, his parents, and all the faces of people across the island. At that moment, Kaleon saw every person he’d failed because he was too weak to stop the horrors around them.
Dashard stood in stunned silence behind Kaleon, looking into Silverhands lifeless stare over his friend's shoulder. The pirates had momentarily stopped advancing on them, chuckling as they wallowed in Kaleons sudden despair.
Dashard turned to the shooter, the pirates encircling them, backing up to give the pair a clear look at one another.
“Bout time someone shut him up.” The monstrous pirate said with a smug grin. He looked back to his gun as if considering reloading, then looked back to Dashard. "Shame he came back from the dead and wasted his life on a saval ynklan like you." The pirate tossed the gun aside and drew a wicked cleaver. "Y'know, all you walkers usually look the same to me." He pointed the cleaver at Dashard, his hand opening his coat, revealing hundreds of Navy medals. "But I'm going to enjoy taking that medal off your corpse."
Dashard waited to respond. Walking past Kaleon and towards the pirate at a slow pace. When he spoke, it was an incantation, "Cast light o' eternal flame. Dance with me and ignite the embers of our passion." Glowing embers materialized in the air around Dashard as he continued to stride forward. The embers gathered on the sword, and waves of heat radiated off the blade, which started to glow white hot.
Without warning, Dashard rocketed forward, crashing into the pirate like a meteor. The sudden strike startled the pirate and forced him on the back foot despite his superior strength. He started laughing with a deranged look in his eyes, even as the blazing blade scored his flesh, turning the metal lining his coat into slag. Even as the shadows and smoke healed bought the pirate relief, Dashard didn’t stop moving. The unyielding flourish of his burning sword was only offset by a glare with an intensity so cold it was below zero.
Just like that, the eye of the storm passed, and the room erupted into chaos again.
Another wave of pirates rushed the defenders. They were outnumbered five to one now, and even if it went unsaid, everyone knew this battle of the ballroom was coming to an end. However, something had changed.
The first dozen or so pirates who attacked the defenders only noticed it in the split second before the two sides crashed into one another. Leading up to now, every defender reeked in fear of the knowledge that when they fell, Teon would fall soon after. That fear was gone now. Replaced by an ironclad resolve reserved for those who knew they would die and wanted to take somebody with them.
Lord Reinard's laser burned holes through pirates, moving at impossible angles to heal the defenders who attacked with the wrath of a vengeful God. The tornado that had been harassing the pirates sucked in a few of the remaining guests. Seconds later, crescent blades and spectral locusts flung in all directions at frightening speeds. Steam apes clad in shimmering red armor fought alongside the eldest captain. The man had turned his cane into a long sword of that same shimmering energy and was moving like a man only a quarter of his actual age.
The raging thunderstorm of Kaleon's hair calmed down, but if he had any idea that the fighting had started, he showed no indication.
The pirates prowled toward Kaleon, picking up the weapons from the virtual carpet covering the floor around him. When Kaleon didn't move, they exchanged weary looks. One pointed a pistol at Kaleons head. When Kaleon still didn't move, he cocked his head to the side, perplexed. The pirate gave a disappointed sigh and cocked the pistol.
A cobalt fist of hurricane-force winds slammed into the pirate's face. The serrating wind ripped through skin, bone, and smoke, lifting the pirate off his feet in an uppercut that sent him flying into the smoke-covered ceiling.
Kaleon still showed no reaction as his magic released in a frenzy. Six cobalt arms whipped around him like the tentacles of some leviathan. One pirate became a pincushion as the arms impaled him with swords. Another tried to shoot Kaleon, and the arms ripped tiles out of the floor to block the bullets before pulling it from his hand, jamming under his chin, and taking off the top of his head.
Every pirate that got within a ten-foot radius of Kaleon died. When they got back up, they died again. And again. And again, until they just gave up on attacking him entirely, leaving him to be the only noncombatant in the ballroom.
Tears burned in Kaleon’s eyes as his mind drifted in a hurricane of despair and regret. Forcing him to confront feelings he’d thought long since buried. Ever since Dashard had pulled him out of the water and Rynnelle brought him back from the brink, Kaleon had been living a borrowed life. A life that Kaleon, in his most private of moments, sometimes wished was never saved. That way, at the very least, the only people who he would’ve disappointed were his parents.
“Stay the course, boy.”
The voice was like the last echo of a whisper said nearly a century ago. Kaleon hadn't recognized it and wasn't even sure he'd heard it. It was rough, like dried leather. He looked up and around, wondering if someone come up behind him.
Kaleon blinked. There she was. Rynnelle, standing barely fifteen feet away. She was smiling at him. The moment held for what felt like a lifetime. Just as Kaleon noticed pirate Rynnelle was standing next to, he was enveloped by the black.