by Envy Mercury
It’s Victor, but he isn’t really him anymore. Seems he has made a deal with the Dark Lord. He is possessed by a high demon to give him more power. He is now a shade. Be careful as he is more powerful than you are in your current state.
I nodded to Freyja though she already knew I understood. I thought about what to do and figured I would wing it as much as I could. It was bold, daring, stupid, and reckless- a perfect plan.
“Hello Victor, if you had a Hollywood makeover, I don’t think they really did a great job. I mean, you should probably see if you can get that fixed a little bit. You know, a little plastic surgery, get some work on your eyebrows. You could be a starlet for sure. I’m no expert in transforming ugly to beauty, though, so it’s just my opinion.”
“What did you say? You spit out silly words of nonsense.”
I smiled, grinning my shit-eating grin at him. “I don’t know about a rabbit running away. Do rabbits have sensitive noses and eyes? If that’s the case, then maybe I did. But only to escape how hideous you look, and man, let me tell you… that smell? You fucking smell like shit that was pressed out of a corpse that has been bloating for days. Nasty business. If you ask nicely, I can be nice and give you info on a good store to buy wonderful soap, I am sure.”
He fumed with anger at my sarcasm. I knew he was a powerful foe. It was a risk to piss him off, but if he was angry, at least he might not be thinking as straight. “Now, you listen here, you little…”
I waved my hand to him, cutting him off, and then I shook my finger, shaming him. “It seems to me, Victor, that you ran away to cuddle with some Demons. How much did you kiss the demon lord’s ass? Lips are a little chapped now, I bet. How does dark lord ass taste? How did it feel to have them enter inside you, you know… a little bit of that demon pen-e-tra-tion… man, you are a fucking cuck. You fucking loser. You aren’t a shade. You are a simple little tiny insignificant simp lord. You are nothing.”
“Rezner, you are a fool.” He slowly raised his hand into the air, and a ball of dark magic started to form into a swirling mass above him. “You aren’t worth my time, but let me show you what a tiny taste of my power can do.” We all shifted into defensive stances. There was nowhere for us to hide from this attack if it was flung at us. He started to laugh, and then it just dissipated into the ground.
I relaxed my stance. “Uh, that’s it?”
“No.”
The ground started to crack and split open, quaking below our feet. The ground broke in a spider web of cracks that spread out, opening wider. It now was wounded with deep lacerations of crimson flames. I had to hold my breath and take a step back from the heat. Then the rumbling ended, leaving only silence.
Victor had a creepy as fuck inhuman smile that crept up both sides of his face, his shoulders moving up and down from him laughing. His laughter grew louder as he cackled at us like an insane madman. He stopped and composed himself and stared at me with a snarl. “In a conflict, one has to pick aside. I personally prefer to pick the winning side. No one can stop the dark lord and his demon lords.”
He put his hands behind his back as he leaned to the side, tilting his head at us. “This corrupt kingdom has been playing into my hands all this time. Especially after you left. In fact, they were playing into my hand before you showed up. You see, you people will believe anything you are told. You all want to hate someone. It is always another races’ fault.” He raised his hand as he studied his thumbnail as it picked at his other fingertips. “You might be amazed at what a kingdom will do in the name of safety, but I guess you knew that when you left the kingdom behind. Genocide apparently falling below your tastes. If only you had cooperated with them, so much more could have been done in our preparations. I even lured your sad little heart to us, feeding you what you wanted to hear, you still helped us reach our goals some in the end.”
Victor directed our attention to the fortress behind him. “Yes, you made this place. That doesn’t mean that it was yours. Nooooo! You see… you made it for me. You were so stupid, prancing around with your hope for the world! The whole time you unknowingly served the dark lord, preparing and prepping everything that he desired. You, too ignorant to know your true role. You were never in charge.”
He raised his hand slowly and pointed towards Princess Valentine. “Sacrificing a god is not an easy thing when they don’t have a body. You need someone like her as a vessel, a high elf of royalty with a pure bloodline. That would have given the dark lord all the power he needed to return to this dimension.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up into a sneer. “You somehow stole the goddess! You stole the princess, and then you vanished without a trace!” Victor shot me an unholy glare. “Do you know how angry the dark lord was with me when I couldn’t find you?” He smiled a sinister grin. “It is no matter. I have found you now, and I have no use for you. I will leave you to the mercy of the knights of hell.” He held his hand above his head and then closed it into a fist. His voice changed to a monotone guttural deep voice that sent shivers through my bones. “Come forth… and destroy them all.”
Sounds emitted from the openings in the ground. Horrifying growls, shrieks, and howls echoed up to us. It was so loud and terrifying, it sounded like countless entities. My hand trembled as I held my sword. I had to focus on my grip to not drop it.
A small hand gripped my arm, leading me to focus on little pleading eyes that were wide. Mew was sobbing as her body trembled. “Rezzy, I’m pretty scared… you know? I… I don’t know if we can fight demons.” I looked to the others. Horror was painted all over their faces. Valentine and Mei were trembling, slowly shuffling away from the sounds. I didn’t blame them. I felt it too. It was more manufactured; it was like an aura of fear washed over us from the bottomless pits.
Big grey clawed hands started to reach out from the depths, large indescribable creatures pulling themselves up. They had small points coming from their shoulders and knees- large emaciated bodies covered with lean muscle. Skulls covered in sick flesh, without lips that exposed sharp jagged teeth that pointed out in every direction, like predator fish from the depths of the ocean. On top of their heads, they had two large horns twisting out towards the sky. It was like living in a nightmare. They slowly lifted themselves out of the ground. Soon we were facing two of these creatures that had to have been at least twenty feet tall.
They are Hell Knights. He shouldn’t be able to summon anymore than these two. Be careful. You will need to use me to defeat them. You need to watch out for…
One opened its mouth, exposing even more thorny sharp teeth. It turned its gaze towards me, and threatening bright white flame started forming in its mouth.
… their hellfire.
It built up to where it was leaking out in twin bursts from the sides of its mouth. Then it blasted towards me. I quickly raised my hand and bearly raised up a mana shield, the hellfire ripping it apart, knocking me back on my ass. The heat was unbearable, but I wasn’t burned. The shield had blocked it bearly. I didn’t come out unscathed, as my body hurt all over. The force of the blast alone kicked the shit out of me. I attempted to stand up, falling once before trying again. I saw Valentine volley a few arrows at it in a quick flurry, but they didn’t penetrate its thin grotesque skin.
“I couldn’t… I couldn’t even hurt it at all.” Valentine’s eyes were large, her lip trembling… she stepped back, moving further away. Mei came forth, willing herself against the overpowering fear. She let out a yell as her sickle flew towards the demon. Only to have it catch the sickle-like a toy in its large hand. It yanked it, ripping the chain from her fingers in a spray of blood as it mangled her hand. She fell to the ground and landed in a breathless heap, unmoving.
I used my sword to pull myself up to my feet. “You should all run. Getaway now! I will do what I can.” They looked at me, unsure. “Run now!” I grabbed Mav from my shoulder and tossed her towards Valentine. She caught her.
The closest Hell Knight swung its fist at me, I raised my swo
rd to block it. It flattened me to the ground. Its power trumping my own. It raised its hand again to finish me off when I heard Mew scream. “Noooooooo! Don’t hurt him!” She threw herself against the hand, stabbing it with her daggers. “No! You can’t touch him!” Her voice strained and was breaking from her screaming shouts in my defense. Before she could get away, it grabbed her with its other hand and threw her to the ground at my feet. She hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
Seeing her broken body, I started to shake, and I dropped my sword, losing my ability to grip it. I charged up a tremendous amount of mana in my hand and screamed as I pointed it towards both Hell Knights. The charge flew towards them, creating a sizeable concussive blast that knocked them back away from us into the castle wall, burying them in some debris. I then fell to my knees, worn from using much of my power in one go.
My voice came out almost in a whisper. “You all need to run away. Please… just run. Please.” Then I realized the only one that could run right now was Valentine, and she just looked at me with the same look of fear in her eyes. “Valentine, please run away.” I dropped my head towards the ground, tears dripping from my face.
The Hell Knights stood back up on their feet, shaking off the dust and debris that covered them. Hellfire began to form in its mouth again as it was ready to unleash another attack towards us. I raised my hand, trying to put up a mana shield, but it only flashed a little before fading out. I was weak and out of gas. A stream of the hellish white-hot fire blasted towards us like a bright beam of light.
I’m going to die. We’re all going to die.
Valentine tossed away Mav and then stepped in front of me and picked up my sword. She swung it above her head and straight down towards our oncoming death. It had the faintest glow of blue hue to it as Freyja answered her call, the blade cut through the fire. She split it as much as she could, and then, she just stood in place, catching her breath. Her fingers loosened from the hilt, and ever so slowly, my sword dropped from Valentine’s hand. She let out a gasp, and she fell down to the ground before me. I crawled as fast as I could over to her, lifting up her head in my lap. I forgot my pain as I looked her over. She was seriously hurt. Blood was leaking out of her body in different areas, soaking her clothing. I cried more, Victor’s laughter and the growls of the Hell Knights fading from my hearing. I only saw her looking up at me. The world faded to only one with her and me.
She smiled up at me. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t let that thing kill you… I did what I could.”
“I know… it’s ok. It’s going to be ok.”
She gave up a light laugh and choked on her own blood a little as she coughed. She raised her hand to my face. “Don’t cry… Rezner… You don’t remember… but you told me you loved me once…”
“I know I did because I loved you as soon as I saw you again.”
She tried to wipe the tears from my eyes, but more replaced them to slowly rain down on her beautiful face. “You would have made a great king, and I wanted… I wanted to be your queen. I love you too.” Her eyes filled with tears, but she kept smiling at me.
“Yeah, we can do that. Right after, I save all of us.”
Princess Valentine’s breathing slowed a bit more, and her voice grew softer. “Can you kiss me? I’ve wanted to kiss you again for a long time.”
My upper lip quivered as I leaned towards her. “Yeah, I would like that, we can do that… I promise.”
I pulled her towards me as I met her face with mine. Her forest tiara covering our heads. I pulled her upper lip into my mouth, and I began to kiss her. My hand gripped her hair, pulling our kiss into a deeper one. We kissed for what seemed an everlasting moment.
I’m going to lose her. I’m going to lose them all.
Her breath did its last, and her body relaxed. Her arms fell away from me- her soft lifeless lips about to release from mine. For a moment, I felt the immense loss that words would never be able to describe. It was as if all the love in my life was a bright candle flame that slowly flickered down, only to end in a puff of light and smoke. The light gone, leaving everything in my world dark. Everything was gone.
She was gone.
Chapter Sixteen
Then I felt something else. A tiny spark of something that felt familiar, that had a radiance of warmth, a blanket of self-assurance, strength, and love.
Knowledge.
It started to draw into me. Glowing from within Valentine, then traveling into me. A white light spread out from us. It pushed away the darkness, pushed back the Demon Knights that were closing in closer to us the whole time we were kissing. They screamed and backed away from the light that was their nemesis.
It was my power.
It was my memories.
It was my requisite records. I realized this as my lost memories slowly started to fill in with everything I didn’t remember. The vital records were my memories and powers.
I surged with my old power. What I use to be, blending with what I was now.
There was some new power as well. Seems the goddess did favor me.
I sat up and took a breath, slowly looking around. I had little time to do what I needed to do. My imagination magic had a boost of creation magic. Freyja had given me some of her power, making me somewhat like a demigod. With divine powers, I also had divine magic.
With Divine magic, I could heal.
You are once again whole- time to end this.
No one I cared about was going to die today. Not on my watch.
I laid my hand on Valentine’s chest and pushed my power into her. Her wounds started to close up and heal as I recreated her body's ruined parts with the creation and divine healing magic. Her breathing returned to normal, and I laid her softly back down. I stood up and reached out with my mana creating force fields under my friends and drew them closer to me. I placed both my hands on both Mew and Mei and repeated what I did to Valentine. Then I picked up Queen Mav and healed her while I gently held her tiny form in my hands. I set Mav down by the others.
They started to wake up.
Mew looked at me, confused. “Rezzy, what happened?”
“I’m just a hero that the people I care about deserve.”
“You healed us?” Valentine looked down at her body, her clothing restored to its original form. A bonus of this was they weren’t covered in guts and blood.
Queen Mav flew up to me and kissed my cheek. “Look at all the power you have now. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I hid my requisite records in Princess Valentine before I left. I had to. I will tell you more after I finish this. I remember everything.” I smiled at them all. “I would like it if all of you would go rescue our friends while I busy myself with them. Don’t worry, this won’t take that long, promise.”
I held out my hand, and I summoned my sword. It swiftly lifted off the ground to my hand as if magnetized, snapping into my firm grip. Mew couldn’t help but give a gape of astonishment at my sweet little trick.
“That’s pretty cool, Rezzy.”
I nodded and responded with a flick of a wink. “Go get Mecci and Yumi. They have been waiting.”
I gave my sword a few test swings through the air to loosen my muscles as the girls ran to the open fortress. The Hell Knights started to turn towards my friends' direction as they had recovered from the bright light of my blessing of the goddess. I couldn’t have that, now could I? I raised my hand, charging a white divine light of strength, just a smaller one. I didn’t want to hurt the rescuers before they got into the castle.
I flicked my wrist, sending it towards the Hell Knight that was charging up its hellfire. My charge of power zipped towards it, the knight oblivious to what was coming for it. Right before it was going to release its hellfire, it was struck in the arm. The devastated arm tore from its body, his maw raging to the sky. Hellfire exhaled towards the clouds, harmless.
Victor was not laughing anymore. “You are nothing! You hear me. You are nothing. You are no hero; you are a cow
ard! The little rabbit that runs!”
“I was nothing.” The girls were inside, safe from the conflict I was about to engage in. I charged huge mana filled divine light above me, it swirling and growing ever larger. The demons had no self-preservation, and they didn’t run like Victor ran. Fleeing and tripping over his cloak. In a simple flick, I released it. It tore towards them with epic speed and power. Shredding the ground below as it coasted towards the two Hell Knights.
It appeared that I had missed them as it went above their heads. But it stopped directly above them. Couldn’t destroy everything around me. That would be reckless. I snapped my fingers, a concussive blast firing straight down on them in a perfect circle. It tore through them, burning them at such a pace, they didn’t have time to burn. They just slowly flaked apart and simply vaporized into nothing as my attack shrunk down and blinked out.
Victor was rapidly scooting away from me. Instead of his arrogance, there was fear in his eyes. He could hide everything he wanted to hide, but eyes had a hard time concealing a lie.
He rambled at me, his voice a tone of a kiss ass. “Why be on the losing side? You can join us. You would be even more powerful. Why settle on being just another hero? When you can have everything. I was only testing you, seeing your worth, you understand? You do have great power.”
“I don’t.”
Victor's red eyes almost disappeared in a squint. “What do you mean, you don’t?”
“You don’t either. You see, the dark lord does not care for you. That is where you lack.”
He stood up, fixing his robe and collecting himself. “I don’t understand.”
“A person like you would never understand. I fail as a person, but I can be a powerful hero because people care about me. I can do better because of them. They are the only reason I am who I am right at this moment.” I smiled.
“Everything you just told me only explains that you are a fool.” He started to charge a ball of dark power in his hand.