Forged

by G S Michaelson

  This year’s parade would be cancelled. He had lost all leverage in Karn and would have to request a fresh shipment of lieutenants from Jason. They would crush Karn, and all spirit of rebellion would be stamped out forever.

  First, he would have to deal with the man in front of him.

  He heard the sound before he saw the man himself. Simon came flying in at full speed, holding on to his arms were Rachel and Douglas. The trio quickly took in the sight. Derek may have been incredibly strong, but it had quickly become clear that Timothy had more experience and skill than the younger man.

  They landed on the ground.

  “So, now it’s three on one?” Timothy asked.

  “You’re the scum, who has violated this town for the past 10 years,” Simon yelled. Hephaestus reforming around his arm, “You die today!”

  Flashes of that night passed through his mind as he fired. The pain of being stabbed. Abject terror as the town seemed to explode with fire, and death, and burning and ashes. The pain of betrayal.

  That pain became anger and turned into power as Simon fired beams upon beams of plasma at Timothy.

  “You’re too blinded by your anger,” Timothy moved fast. His unnatural body seemingly predicting where Simon would shoot, and just not being there.

  Javelin! Guillotine!

  Rachel and Douglas attacked at the same time. Timothy dodged the thrown projectile, then blocked Douglas’ kick, catching his leg and spinning him through the air, throwing him like a frisbee.

  Rachel picked up her staff, intending to continue her attack, but she hadn’t noticed Timothy moving. He closed his hands over hers, crushing her bones as she tried to grip the staff. A kick to the head, another to the stomach, and she was clinging to consciousness by a thread.

  Simon charged at Timothy, but the latter only caught his hands before he could fire. Forcing the palms towards the ground instead. Simon’s armour was strong, but Timothy had such raw power it began to crumple like it was made from paper. Releasing his hands, he began to choke Simon. His Godspark dematerialised as he lost consciousness.

  Southern Crane Style: Rising Heavenly Strike

  Douglas’ blow forced Timothy to release the now unconscious Simon, with Rachel catching him and then leaping away. Douglas stepped between the fleeing duo and Timothy. The latter stared down at him. Douglas hadn’t had the chance to look at him fully, but as he stood staring, the man was more monster than man. He towered above him with at least 7 feet, his legs and feet having nearly doubled in thickness with two protruding claws from his hands. A kangaroo Godspark was clearly not as harmless as it had sounded in his head.

  “Douglas ‘Invincible’ West,” Timothy spat.

  “I see my reputation precedes me.” Douglas shifted his weight into a fighting stance, but still staggered a little. Timothy picked up on that.

  “Yes, it does. You were always a pragmatist, yet you’re throwing your life away for a people you don’t know, in a town you could care less about. On some level, you must realise this is foolishness.”

  “Funny, your man said that to me as well. Yeah, it’s foolishness,” Douglas agreed. “My father was one of the greatest fools of his generation. Derek is an even bigger fool. If risking your life to help others keep theirs makes you a fool, then I’ll be as foolish as I need to be.”

  “All of you are terrible disappointments.”

  Timothy’s claw flashed through the air.

  * * *

  Zeke picked himself up from the floor. He grabbed the remnants of his shirt from the floor with trembling hands. He would make a makeshift bandage so he wouldn’t bleed out. The room smelled of death and burned flesh. He had just killed his brother., bile rose up in his throat. He tried not to think about that. He didn’t want to look behind him, where the mass of flesh that had threatened him law crumpled and burned on the ground. He had killed before. He would kill again. He had just killed his brother. He would try not to think about that.

  He stumbled out of the room, keeping an arm on the wall to keep steady. This was their base, so they would have had a communications system installed where they could make announcements. The loudspeakers around town had all lead in one direction. This very tower.

  He had searched at least a dozen rooms when he found it. Was it still working? Had it been damaged by the battles below, or had there been some remote interference to stop it from working? No. They would have no reason to have expected any incursions into the tower.

  It was time to give it a try.

  He had just killed his brother.

  He would try not to think about that.

  * * *

  “Attention. Dammit is this thing on? Got it. Sorry about that.”

  Zeke’s voice came blaring over the speakers as they crackled to life.

  Timothy looked up at the nearest speaker in confusion. Douglas and Rachel both lay crumpled before him. Douglas had been cut up badly, and Rachel had held up better than him, but both had sustained injuries in their previous fights and were slower, and weaker than they would be ordinarily. They were both slightly surprised to hear Zeke’s voice come over the speakers.

  “My name is Zeke Davids. I was once a child of Karn County. I once lived here, like you do now. My parents were a big part of this community until they were killed in that horrendous night that upended our town over 10 years ago.”

  Murmurs began to spread over the town. The Festival of Life had been disrupted with news of Richard and a platoon of soldiers descending on the outskirts. Then massive explosions and collapsing buildings had sent many scurrying for their lives. No one had known what to expect, and now a voice came from the loudspeakers, referencing a lost past that few had dared to even dream of.

  “I left this place a child, and I have returned to Karn. Today, I have defeated and killed my brother, Tyler Davids. He was one of the criminals who invaded the town so many years ago and ruled over you as the Town Taker. With my own two hands, I made sure he has been punished for that.”

  Timothy’s eyes widened. Tyler! Dead?! Even his most trustworthy soldier?

  “My friends have also taken out each of his acolytes. The powerful godspark users who lorded their might over you are gone.”

  Zeke couldn’t be sure, but he had faith, and that was what was important at this moment.

  “I’m not much of a speech giver, so I won’t do that. I just have a message for you. Stand and fight. You believed you were safe, you thought if you kept your heads down, took part in the Purge, followed whatever orders were barked out at you by power-hungry thugs, you would be safe. But that isn’t true, and you know that in your hearts.

  “No matter how hard you worked, no matter how much you paid into the devil’s coffers, no matter how many sacrifices you made, they were always going to come for each, and every one of you. Karn County’s sole role was to be slowly sacrificed over the years for their amusement.

  “The Nephilim are inevitable? They’re natural disasters? That’s what they want you to think. Your mind is theirs, they track your movements, they punish you at their whim! You dance for their amusement to stay alive. You’re not a person, you’re their plaything! To them, your deaths are preordained.

  “And you know what? That’s fine! If they’re going to kill you anyway, they have no power over you. Their death threats are meaningless. Live as if you’re dead — and fight as if you are dead. I’ll say it once more: you can stand up, fight and —”

  Hos voice cut out dramatically.

  Timothy had ripped the speaker power system out of the ground, ending Zeke’s broadcast. His efforts were for nothing, the damage was already done.

  His message had awakened the fire of freedom, which burned vibrantly that day.

  The people of Karn behaved like cornered rats, each grabbing a weapon and rushing the soldiers that had been conscripted to oppress them. The cruel ones fought back, disbelieving of the broadcast. Those who had been coerced into joining Timothy’s repressive guard ripped of their badges,
stripped off their uniforms and either surrendered to the upcoming mob or attacked their own fellows.

  Timothy was filled with blind rage as his plans fell apart before his eyes. With a powerful lunge, he was halfway up the building, another lunge off the wall’s surface, and he was at the top. The control room, he knew where it was. He began to move, slowing when he saw Tyler’s remains.

  “Come on out, you coward!” He bellowed, “Show yourself!”

  Amadioha: Pentagram Slash!

  The attack slashed Timothy through the chest, carving a pentagram on him as Zeke appeared behind him, and then collapsed. His wounds were too severe to continue fighting.

  Timothy approached Zeke, moving slowly as the other man crawled away, his chest bleeding where Zeke had cut it.

  “Are you satisfied?” Timothy asked. “Knowing that you’ll die here after murdering your own blood.”

  “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see you face to face.”

  “Did

  “Yeah,” Zeke said. “You’re small.”

  Humiliation, pain, anger, fear. All reflected on his face. “First, I’m going to kill you, and then enough people until they remember what fear is. I’ll leave a pile of corpses on every street! I’ll skin you alive and wear you as a jacket. No one will ever defy the power of a Nephilim again.”

  “And none of that will make you anything but a small man whose greatest act was corrupting the mind of a child,” Zeke replied. “You’ll never be able to get them to submit anymore. Your armour’s been chipped.”

  “When you die — no one will remember your words.” Timothy’s face was set in a sinister smile, then he prepared to lunge.

  The wall beside him exploded as Derek burst through it. His fist bruised from where he had punched it open. A web line attached itself to Timothy. Before he could react, he was being pulled towards Derek, while the other man leapt into the air.

  Anansi’s Impact!

  The blow sent him flying through the tower, skidding and sliding across the floor and walls and he did so.

  “I’ll remember his words!” Derek said, “And then we’ll travel the world together and have adventure after adventure — until every memory of you goes away from his mind. You small, pathetic man.”

  Chapter 30 - Break the Chains

  9 Years Ago

  come from nowhere. Derek had almost started, there was no way those had been there when he went to sleep. Stacked neatly just outside the shed that served as their base, they were at least a few hundred.

  “What are those?” Derek gaped at them. “Where did they come from?

  “Wouldn’t that be obvious?” West frostily replied, “The real me took a big risk dropping these off for you this morning while you slept.”

  “I didn’t ask you for anything.”

  “Yes, I noticed,” West said drily. “You refused to look for any relatives, to take any food, or try and find somewhere to live. Which is why I’m stuck babysitting you so you don’t die after I went through all that trouble to save you.”

  “Why don’t you just leave me alone?” Derek said.

  “Well, you’re free to leave at any time. Seeing as you haven’t and I am getting very bored —that’s where these come in. It’s my personal collection. I had been working on finding books from long ago. These are just three hundred of the collection I’ve restored, all of them fairy tales and old mythology.”

  “I never asked you to,” Derek replied. “Don’t waste your time doing pointless things.”

  “Listen here, these stories were what people used back then to teach moral lessons, and pass down ideas of how they thought the world worked. These old stories play with the human spirit, they take you away from where you are now to a different place where the world makes sense and everything turns out to be alright in the end. Wouldn’t it be nice to be swept away over and over in these stories, until you can forget your sadness?”

  When Derek thought about forgetting the sadness that had consumed him then. He just wanted West to leave him alone so he could vanish silently. Later, he would realise that West had figured that out and decided to stay with him just so that wouldn’t happen. At that moment, all he felt was resentment.

  “It doesn’t matter. They aren’t real,” Derek replied.

  “That’s up to you on whether they’re real or not,” West said. “Look at me, it’s not like I went on the adventures of my original. The memories I have may as well be stories I read from a book. Are they real? I think so. Am I real? I think so. Maybe you’re just a fabrication of this place — like me. Even if that was true, you choose your own story and make it real.”

  * * *

  Battle for Karn County.

  Derek and Timothy

  Derek ached everywhere. His chest burned, and his fists were bruised. He had been battered and beaten into unconsciousness. The limited healing his Godspark granted saved him, waking him up just enough to see Timothy barrel upwards in a rage.

  After making sure Douglas, Rachel and Simon were safe. He chased after his opponent.

  Now, he stood, face to face with Timothy once more.

  “Derek, you’re here.” Zeke was on the floor, with his back to the wall. Too weak to stand, he was easy pickings for the now enraged Timothy.

  “Have you settled things with the Town Taker?” Derek asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” He didn’t want to pry. It was Zeke’s choice to share, or not share. “Do you mind then — if I take this one out?”

  “Not in the least.”

  “Good. The story of ‘The Returning Son who got beaten by the Big Bad Wolf’ isn’t a happy one with an ending I’d like,” Derek said. “I’ll take care of him for you.”

  “I thought you would have gone and died by now,” Timothy muttered, “Why do all of you insist on interfering with me?”

  “I couldn’t hear such impassioned speeches and just do nothing,” Derek replied, “You’ve really made a mess of this place haven’t you?”

  Zeke mumbled to himself, “It wasn’t a speech…”

  “So you’re back again. And you’ll fight me, and you’ll win...what? A lifetime of being hunted? The people out there—they won’t thank you. The world won’t thank you. That fool who just killed the Town Taker won’t live much longer with that hole in his torso. At this point, it isn’t like I’m going to let you live either. I just want you to understand just how pointless your resistance is.”

  “You just said, ‘you’ll win’. So you’ve already accepted the possibility of your defeat, haven’t you?” Derek replied.

  “Before I kill you, I just want to understand. Why do you even care?” Timothy asked, “You have no relationship to this town. You really came here because of some sappy sob-story? Are you that weak-minded?”

  “Because I plan on taking down all of you Nephilim one after the other.” Derek’s brown eyes flashed with purpose, “And if I can’t take down some small-town flunky, there would be no point even trying. This is the story of ‘The Birth of the Badass Nephilim Slaying Derek.’ You’re nothing but an appetiser.”

  Timothy lunged forwards, his weight knocking Derek off his feet and slamming him into a wall.

  “I will make an example of you,” Timothy growled. He reared back his arms, unleashing a barrage of punches.

  Northern Lights: Enfilade!

  His fists pounded into Derek with a vengeance, cracking bone and tearing flesh. Derek dropped to the ground, dodging the rest of his attack. Lifting his palm up, he fired a glob of webbing into Timothy’s eyes. As the latter scrambled to tear it off, he followed up with a kick to his face, using his agility to propel himself off the ground with his hands. Timothy growled in pain, Derek fired two more weblines at the walls of the building, flipping backwards, he used the walls of the building as leverage and corkscrewed his feet into Timothy.

  Anansi’s Battering Ram!

  Timothy snarled. He reached out, flailing about trying to grab a hold of Derek. The
latter had learned his lesson. Timothy was bulky and large, Derek was lithe and manoeuvrable in comparison, sliding below, flipping over and under the swings.

  Timothy stomped on the ground, the shockwave breaking Derek’s traction. As he stumbled, Timothy’s tail snaked around his feet, slamming him repeatedly into the walls, then discarding him like a dirty napkin.

  “Not enough to put me down,” Derek struggled to his feet once more.

  Timothy did not respond as he approached him. His eyes full of rage.

  Derek understood why. Timothy had come unhinged. He had staked his reputation and life in his cult-like belief in the Nephilim and was lashing out. One of the consequences of having an animal type Godspark was that it made it easier to fall into those primal rages.

  As Timothy raged and frothed, Derek realised, he had slipped into madness.

  Timothy sprung forward, propelled by his powerful hind legs, his hands reaching out, grabbing Derek by the head.

  Northern Lights: Springer Dasher!

  He drove Derek’s head into the wall with the momentum, but he didn’t stop there. Bouncing off the wall as he did so, he dashed diagonally across the corridor, smashing Derek into all walls they encountered along the way.

  Derek finally managed to break free of his grip, firing another webline at Timothy. This time, he snagged the wall as his leverage and pulled himself forward.

  Anansi’s Jolt!

  He punched Timothy with all the added energy from the momentum of his swing, the other man appeared to falter, then recovered his composure. His tail snaked around again, wrapping around Derek’s neck, lifting him into the air. He reared his arms backwards again.

  Northern Lights: Exploding Storm!

  The barrage of blows was somehow more powerful than the last one. This time, it was a series of jabs, mixed in with powerful uppercuts.