Shadow of a Doubt

by Hunter Blain

  I took in a deep breath, focused on my flaming gladius, and bellowed a battle cry that could be heard for miles. Taylor, the more subtle type, charged forward, unleashing arrows as he ran smoothly. Watching him reminded me of powerful anime characters when they ran, their features blurring with their speed.

  I rushed forward, shifting my focus to the enemy that had began charging as a unified army, while I whispered inward, Hope you’re ready for this, to Baleius.

  In response, I felt my eyes begin to glow a fierce red that mixed with the white plumes billowing up my forehead. My fangs flexed so hard they almost hurt, and for the first time in my existence, I could feel them poking at my lower gums. My ears and nose felt strange as I ran, as did my fingers, but I would have to worry about that later. The wave was upon me.

  I threw my shield like a giant frisbee while willing the edges to sharpen to razors as it flew. I kept my focus on the disc o’ death as it lobbed off a row of heads. It took me a moment to realize that I didn’t have a physical connection to the weapon but could still feel it.

  While the shield was in midair, I willed it back at an arc, taking several more heads with it. As I caught the manifestation, the front of the line made contact.

  I slashed with the flaming gladius, cutting through several enemies, while blocking with the shield. I bashed a few faces in while dodging attacks. A drow leaped into the air and brought his dagger down, slashing at the exposed flesh of my face. I watched in horrified slow motion as the tip of the blade dragged down my forehead just over my eye, narrowly missing the wide, soft orb, before being caught by the skin covering the cheek.

  I reeled back and bent at my waist, willing the shield to form into a length of wound up chain that perfectly fit the shape the shield had just been in. I lashed out with my arm, sending the chain out and in a wide circle around me, before willing impossibly sharp blades down its length.

  Torsos were cut in half as heads toppled to the ground and screams of agony roared louder than the din of battle. Over and over, I swung the chain in a circle, until I felt confident that I had regained enough space to strike with my gladius once again.

  I willed the chain to solidify into a pike that I hefted and twirled in front of me in dramatic movie fashion.

  An enormous ogre with purple eyes and dark skin broke through the line and began charging me. I lashed out with the pike, the tip piercing the ample flesh of the ogre, but had no impact.

  “Huh?” was all I could manage before he plowed into me and then tackled me to the ground, forcing the pike out of his back.

  Keep focus on it. Keep focus. Don’t you drop that weapon, I repeated to myself, knowing that if I lost the energy I had put into the manifestation, the Shadow army on top of me would take full advantage of my stunned state.

  I was all but crushed underneath the monster who was pinning me to the ground with his girth, the celestial armor keeping my insides from squeezing out of my assortment of orifices. Only my head was exposed, and for a horrified second, I realized that was my most vulnerable weakness while in my angelic armor.

  I struggled, trying to free myself, before accepting that the beast of an ogre had done exactly what he had intended: pacify me.

  A handful of drow walked around the ogre to where my head was poking out. One kneeled down with its emotionless face—that was for sure going to give me daymares—and wrapped its fingers under the bottom of my helmet.

  I screamed as his intentions became clear. The drow began to tug while I shook my head from side to side as hard as I could.

  I sucked in a quick breath in a moment of clarity and released the gladius, which winked out of existence at my command. I then focused on the manifested pike that was piercing straight through the ogre, and willed it to transform into my gladius. As the long pike shrunk into my angelic sword, I focused on the blade, sending ravaging flames up its length and toward the sky. Heavenfire erupted straight through the faerie bruiser like an acetylene torch.

  The ogre didn’t scream as he was cut in half by the focused flames, but his Shadow friends who were burned by the sudden light of my flaming sword did shriek. The drow, however, remained fixated on their mission of removing my helmet.

  As the weight of the ogre lifted, I attempted to roll over, only to have the drow rip my helmet off in the process.

  My flaming sword went out as my preternatural strength disappeared, and I became mortal.

  I stumbled to my feet, completely aware of how naked I was and pissed off that my extra padding made it difficult to move nimbly. I felt heavy and exposed as my eyes darted around. My flaming attack had provided several yards of room from where the shadow creatures had retreated; well, all except for the drow, who bore down on me.

  I lifted my sword, feeling like a child holding a stick against a grizzly bear, and stood my ground.

  The first drow charged and I slashed at him with the sword. It passed right through him without the aid of light, and he rammed a shoulder into my chest. I flew back at least ten feet before tumbling to the ground as a whoosh of air was forced from my lungs on impact.

  I couldn’t breathe, and I needed to breathe. My heart pounded so hard I could barely hear the battle around me. After what felt like an eternity of panicked heartbeats, I was able to suck in a sharp lungful of air just before I was about to pass out. I coughed, feeling sharp stabs of pain in my ribs, which were no doubt broken.

  “Tay-Tay,” I croaked out barely above a hushed tone. It was like someone had their hands wrapped around my throat, preventing air from entering or leaving effectively.

  I spun in place while on the verge of hysteria, daring to try and find Taylor as the drow circled me.

  There, about thirty yards from where I stood, was my companion. One of his arms was hanging loosely in front of him, with blood cascading from deep gashes in his elven armor. The shadow beasts around him stood still, watching as the darkness slowly flowed up his limb and toward his heart and brain.

  I knew then, he was dead.

  My ragged breaths of hysteria gave way to heaves of rage as my fists clenched inside my gauntlets.

  I dropped the gladius to the ground, which did not fade from existence, and squared off at the drow that approached.

  If I was going to die, it would be with swinging fists and kicking feet.

  “Come on, then!” I roared.

  The drow continued their steady approach with stoic faces.

  A hand rested on my shoulder, and I turned to see nothing behind me.

  You’re still you, John. Even in Faerie, the voice of Da echoed throughout my mind. Now, what time is it?

  “Wha-what time is it?” I asked between hyperventilating breaths.

  A man in parachute pants sidestepping on a dance floor flashed through my mind. My hand reached down and latched around Mjolnir, which had remained by my side even without the celestial powers.

  “It’s hammer time,” I exalted as a smile spread across my face. I felt the power exciting every nerve in my body as I raised Mjolnir skyward and rose into the night.

  “Woooo-hoo-hoo-hoooooooo!” I laughed into the air as I sped above the battlefield.

  I halted in midflight, oriented on the army below, and shoved the hammer toward the sky above my head. Clouds billowed and churned as if in an Oklahoma-sized tornado while lightning cracked in the sky.

  As the power coalesced above me, I spotted Lolth peering up at me with hate-filled eyes; one of which was dimmer than the other from her battle with Magni.

  That’s when an idea came together, and I focused on every set of purple eyes on the battlefield that was staring up at me. I extended my free hand—relieved that I could still feel the molecules of the air—and focused on the eyes of my enemy.

  I willed the power of the clouds to flow through me, utilizing Mjolnir as my focusing wand, and sent merciless forks of lightning to the amethyst targets below.

  The elemental magic struck with a ferocity that only a man trying to save the entire Lilith-
damned universe could muster. Eyes exploded before the blueish-white electricity jumped to another set of peering, exposed orbs. There were no screams as drow, Shadow faeries, and darkness zombies either faded into mist or dropped to the ground, their muscles writhing from the electricity.

  The damaged eye of Lolth exploded, sending out purple shards like a broken prism while she screamed in pain. She had the sense to close her other eye and shield it with her hand before turning away from my storm of power.

  As the last of the lightning fizzled out, I descended to the ground, keeping a death grip on Mjolnir knowing a fall from that height would result in my mortal death.

  I located my helmet and bent to retrieve it while wincing in pain at my chest. I began walking over to where Lolth kneeled on the ground, one hand over her exploded eye that oozed black sludge to the ground, killing the grass beneath it in an instant.

  Returning the helmet to my head, I felt the surge of power rush through me as my vampirism returned in a flood. My chest snapped, crackled, and popped as the bones knitted themselves back together. I could feel the gladius on the ground several yards behind me, and I willed it to fly to my hand, where it ignited on contact.

  “You’ve been beaten, Lolth. Tell me how to reverse the darkness and save Yggdrasil,” I demanded confidently, feeling like a superhero after defeating the villain.

  Wait a sec, this was the moment when the villain pulled out their last—Lolth whirled on me and started growing at an alarming rate while lashing out at me with a hand that was now the size of a car.

  “Shit…” was all I got out before stars swam in my eyes and the feeling of weightlessness took over. I slammed into the ground, plowing a divot for twenty feet before my momentum halted.

  “Ow. Ow, ow. Ow…ow,” I said as bones began to heal in my now broken back. The nasty thought that, if I hadn’t been wearing this armor, she would have probably splattered me across all of Faerie reared its ugly head in my mind. My hand rested on my chest and I was surprised to feel the armor dented. “Hope that’s going to buff out,” I said between my teeth as I struggled to get to my feet.

  “Foolish child,” Lolth spoke with a voice that sounded like a mountain talking. “The world tree fuels my power. I will bathe the nine realms in darkness and rule over all of creation.”

  “Are you still a chick? ’Cause you got, like, a James Earl Jones thing going right now,” I called out in reference to her voice. Heck, she’d give even Luke Daniels a run for his money on most impressive narrator ever.

  Taylor slumped forward, crashing to the ground face-first as the darkness reached his heart and started spreading exponentially throughout his body. Oberon remained on the ground forty feet behind Taylor in a similar pose. Son of a bitch was lucky he had passed out or my attack would have entered through his eyes and fried him. Then again, if I were somehow able to defeat Lolth and free Oberon, someone would have to run Faerie. Maybe it was for the best he didn’t die just yet.

  Lolth continued to grow, making me a tiny bit nervous, until she reached the size of an apartment building. Her arms stretched out a few hundred feet in either direction, ending in three-fingered ham hocks that could use full-blown semitrailers as Hot Wheels toys.

  Her one remaining eye locked onto me as she leaned forward to get a better look at my “Oh, poop” expression. Her grin spread from ear to ear—if she had ears—and each tooth was as large as my entire upper body.

  Tim rummaged around in my bag, anxious to join his master in glorious battle.

  Lolth let loose with a roar that shook the ground I stood on and bent trees like blades of glass in a strong wind.

  Tim stopped rummaging around then. Maybe he was scared. Maybe he smelled fresh shit. And maybe you shouldn’t judge me ’cause you weren’t there.

  Lolth closed her eyes, exuding pleasure at whatever she had just sensed.

  “You’re too late, child. The black hole is upon Midworld, and Yggdrasil is almost entirely taken over by my sweet darkness. You,” she pointed a massive finger in my direction, “have failed.” Her laugh made the ground jump with each cascade of sound as the staccato left her abysslike mouth.

  I knew she was right. I had failed, and the entire Earth and all the billions of lives on it would be lost. Men, women, children, animals, all lost. Just like my parents.

  My…parents.

  “Mom…Dad…” I breathed out just below a whisper as I looked at the ground, ashamed I had failed them. I was just getting the hang of being a good guy, too. But there was no way I could erase a literal tear through space and time—

  Lachesis’ words pierced the veil of my mind, “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

  “I can do this. I can do this,” I started to whisper to myself before my voice grew in confidence and intensity. “I CAN FUCKING DO THIS!”

  My eyes shot up to Lolth, and I smiled back at her as she cackled. While she was distracted, I swiped my flaming gladius in the air next to me, revealing a hole that led precisely in front of where the black hole was about to begin siphoning Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land.

  “Hey, Lolth!” I yelled loud enough to be heard over her hubris. “Do you like baseball?”

  Lolth stopped laughing and regarded me with her remaining eye, turning her head slightly to get a better look at me.

  I stuck my hand through the tear in space I had created and grabbed the baseball-sized black hole with my celestial glove. I knew I could do just that. It hummed and vibrated in my hand, eager to be fed; so, I obliged it.

  Lolth tried to pull back as I winked once at her before lobbing the black hole at her like an MLB pitcher.

  It soared through the air, sucking in the broken trees that had fallen and all the bodies that littered the battlefield. Oberon was fine where he was, but I could see Taylor’s limp arms beginning to lift toward the insatiable cosmic phenomenon.

  “Sorry about this, buddy,” I said as I willed a javelin into my free hand before throwing it toward where Taylor was now skittering across the grass. It pierced his thigh and lodged deep into the ground, pinning my friend in place.

  Lolth cried out in terror that had never before been known to her as the black hole began ripping her body apart like sheet metal from a roof in a hurricane. Layer after layer of flesh was torn from her body and sucked into the blackness until one of her entire arms broke loose. It was beyond fascinating to watch something the size of a crane being compressed into a hole the size of a baseball.

  Next, her other arm ripped off and followed the first before her legs and torso were sucked into the nothing. As the bulk of her chest was crushed and compacted, it blocked the hole like your wife’s hair down the drain. The wind stopped, and leaves, grass, and tree limbs fell to the ground from the sudden release.

  I was waiting for Lolth to say one last nefarious thing before dying—you know, something like, “You haven’t won yet!” or, “I’ll be back!”—but none came. She only screamed in pure fright at being eaten alive by the very thing she had created. I was disappointed by this because I already had my last words ready. Eh, fuck it.

  “Don’t worry, Lolth! I bet you’ll enjoy the darkness on the other side!” Ah, damn it, I’m funny!

  The hungry, hungry hole finished chewing up her torso and made its way to her neck. A single wide purple eye searched around in unbelieving terror while a mouth flapped wordlessly. Then her skull collapsed in on itself while her eye exploded from the pressure, and she was sucked into the void of eternity where her atoms would be torn asunder down to their quarks.

  The wind picked up again, almost hungrier than before, and I knew what I had to do.

  I sprouted wings and allowed myself to be picked up by the torrent of wind. I couldn’t actually see the black hole, but I could sense where it was. As I approached, I could see Taylor stirring where I had pinned him. The darkness drained, starting with his flesh—returning his skin color—and ending with his eyes, which had begu
n to glow purple before reversing.

  “Neat,” I said as I neared my destiny.

  “John! No!” Taylor screamed when I came within a few yards of the hole. My wings wanted to rip out of their sockets and fly into the void rather than support me any longer.

  The Archangel Gabriel’s words resonated in my head, “…erase your mistakes.”

  Still holding my gladius, I lifted it into position and swung for the fences with the flat side of my blade. Just like back at Valenta’s when I had first escaped the void, there was a pop as my celestial sword erased the hole through space and time, leaving me to fall toward the ground.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as I fell headfirst only to extend my wings, catch the wind, and soar to where I had cut my own hole in space. I landed, admiring the hole that wasn’t sucking or blowing the atmosphere, when blinding sunlight bathed my entire body. I jerked my arm up to my face, fully anticipating the familiar agony of Earth’s sunlight on vampire flesh. But all I felt was warmth. Hesitantly, I lowered my hand and looked out at the universe. I could stare directly at the sun and feel the life-giving light explore the exposed skin on my face.

  Taking a chance, I willed the celestial armor out of existence and felt the sun spread over my entire body, from beanie-covered head to steel-toed boots. I moaned in wonder and delight, turning my hands over and over again to spread the warmth evenly. A tear streamed down my cheek to disappear into my thick beard as I realized how much I had missed the sun. Such a simple thing that mortals took for granted every day of their short lives. My clothes felt warm to the touch, and I wished I could lay in a field under the welcoming rays and just fall asleep. It was different than Faerie’s sun in a way I couldn’t put into words; but I felt it. Over five centuries had passed since I’d last bathed in the light of our star; I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it until that moment. It was beautiful.

  I was snapped out of my trance when Oberon began to stir and cough violently to the point of vomiting. Taylor followed suit. I looked over my shoulder and saw the javelin still in Taylor’s leg and decided I needed to focus. The forgotten warmth of the sun would have to wait for another time.