ParaWars Uprising

by Caitlin Greer

  “I would fight for you if I could,” Axel whispers. “To the end of the world and back, if that’s what it took. But I have no power there. You do.”

  “I’m so scared,” I whisper, barely audible even to myself, but he still hears me.

  “So am I. If you die there, you’ll die here. I don’t want to send you into that. But I know you, Kendry. You’d rather go down with a fight than a whimper.”

  And once again, it’s Axel who saves me. His fear and faith give me the courage to take that step. I can’t do this for myself. But for him, I can. And when I turn my eyes back to the seraph, he knows it.

  “Decisions made with another in mind are always stronger than those we make purely for our own selves. Hold onto that strength.”

  My only response is to hold onto Axel’s hand tighter.

  “Are you ready?”

  No, I’m not. I won’t ever be. But I can’t wait much longer. I can feel the pull growing, and if I don’t do something now, I won’t wake up the next time. So I look to Axel one last time, and say the only thing I can. “Ready.”

  Ramiel’s hand reaches out to rest on my head. His piercing eyes close as he hums something I can’t catch, some tune that I feel I should recognize, but don’t. My head starts spinning, and the world slides sideways and inside out.

  Be strong, I hear in my mind.

  And then the world goes black.

  *

  Slow clapping is the first thing I recognize. The pocket world of the soul sword is as dark as night, and full of swirling mists and shadows.

  Grittanus strides out of the darkness.

  “Oh, well done, Kendry. Well done.” His hands clap one more time, and then drop to his sides. “I wasn’t sure you would make it. At least not while conscious. I’ve enjoyed our nightly visits, but it isn’t the same without your fiery temper.”

  The darkness around me seems somehow different from before, more charged. “You’ve been feeding off my pain,” I say, putting the pieces together.

  “Very good.”

  A flash of pain lances through my side where he stabbed me before. It twists and thrusts like it did the first time, and I drop to one knee with a gasp.

  “I told you before, Kendry. I have the advantage here. You didn’t believe me.”

  “In my dreams?”

  He smiles. “And before. When you broke the sword. You suspended time, and pulled us both in here.”

  “No. I’d remember that.”

  Grittanus laughs. “No, you wouldn’t. I sent you back, made you forget. I needed you to make this possible, and for that fool of yours to kill me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because here, I have all the power. And nothing can stop me.”

  The pain returns. The phantom fists come next, pounding into me. Every hit, every kick, every injury I sustained from the time the roc plucked me off the parapet of the castle and deposited me in the militia camp is revisited on me. This time, I can’t block. There’s no physical blow, no arm or hand or foot to sidestep. That doesn’t make them hurt any less.

  I fight the pain, but it’s not enough. My other knee drops, and then my hands. I want nothing more than to curl up in the fetal position and let the pain take me as blow after blow washes over me, reliving the same injuries again and again.

  “I can’t understand what makes you fight so hard.”

  I have no power there, Axel had said. But you do.

  I know why I fight. I fight for my father, who taught me so much, and sacrificed everything to keep me safe. I fight for my mother, who let my father go for my sake, who raised me and comforted me, and watched me grow. I fight for the family I have only just met, for Brigid and Danu and all the others. I fight for Shelly, who was my friend to the last, and for the time she and Caleb will never have again.

  I fight for all the humans and paras who want a better world, who see a vision of a time when we live without fear of each other, where our differences are celebrated the way they should be. I fight for everyone who fought for me, and for everyone who can’t fight for themselves.

  And I fight for Axel. For his love, for his strength, for the time we could have and the discoveries we have yet to make. I fight for us.

  I take each one of those reasons, and hold them to me, hold them against the pain. “You won’t ever understand,” I say through gritted teeth.

  He laughs, not his insane, out of control laugh, but the condescending one. The one that says Oh, you poor, deluded thing. “You can’t win this fight, Kendry.”

  “That might be true,” I force out, against the pain. “But I can make sure you don’t, either.”

  Strong words. But I don’t know how to back them up. I know I have to. I hug my motives tight to me, while Grittanus glowers in the darkness.

  And then I remember. Just a glimpse, from before. He didn’t let me out. I got out on my own.

  I’m not as helpless as he wants me to believe.

  Slowly, one of my hands curls into a fist, and then the other. Slowly, I push up to one foot, and then to the other. Slowly, I armor myself in my reasons for fighting, and the people I fight for.

  Slowly, I take control of the pain.

  “I remember now, Grittanus,” I say, my eyes snapping open to glare at him. “I beat you once before. And I’m gonna do it again.”

  He snarls with rage, and lunges.

  My movements aren’t as smooth as I’d like. Not like my flickering memories of before, when thinking was doing. I’m still battling to keep the pain in check, even as I fight him. The darkness is his ally here, hiding and helping him. I throw him off, and he appears on the opposite side of me. I punch out, and he fades away.

  “I told you before. I have the advantage here.”

  His foot snaps behind my legs, sweeping me down. He follows with a punch that knocks my breath away. But there is no down, no up, so I fall into nothing.

  I grit my teeth, and pull myself to a stop. His fist flies out of the darkness towards me, and something happens.

  I stop it.

  My block connects with his punch, pushing it away, and for the first time since the battle outside the castle, I feel a familiar tingle shiver up my arm.

  The next block sends sparks flying. And with my third, I catch him.

  Lightning crackles up my arm and onto his, holding him. His jaw tightens, and he breaks away, but the damage is done.

  I know I can beat him.

  He comes at me again and we dance together in an increasingly fast whirlwind. Electricity sizzles over me, stronger with each growing second, but there’s some kind of dark fire that grows out of Grittanus as well. White lightning and black flame shoot out into the darkness, arcing and burning around us. The balance of power shifts back and forth between us, until finally, I hit him. White hot plasma discharges, throwing Grittanus back.

  We stand, staring and circling. His wings unfurl behind him, extending out into the dark nothingness, and he laughs. “It really is beautiful how strong you are. Amazing. No one else would have lasted five minutes here.” The darkness wraps around him, hiding him. I stand steady, knowing he’s not done, knowing he’ll reappear.

  “Such misplaced loyalty.”

  His voice echoes in the darkness, everywhere and nowhere.

  “Such unused strength.”

  The darkness begins to billow like smoke, shadows that drift and pull.

  “I’ve been waiting for you, Kendry. I was so close to fulfilling my destiny. I just needed one more soul to make it work.”

  The shadows crawl thicker, shifting in a windless world.

  “Yours is stronger than I ever hoped for. So many souls I’ve gathered, feeding my plans…”

  Smoke and shadow part around me, revealing an endless array of faces, frozen in dark fire. I don’t recognize them. Some look human, some are definitely para. Their clothes range from modern to ancient, and I suddenly wonder how long Grittanus has been planning this. Whatever it is he’s planning. The parade goes on, flash
ing past me in the endless, formless darkness.

  So many souls gone to feed his ambitions. So much pain to feed his delusions.

  I freeze as two faces I know emerge at the end in smoke and shadow. Wreathed in fire and frozen in death, masks of pain and anguish that tear at my heart and fuel my anger.

  “You killed them,” I whisper to the dark.

  “I killed all of them,” it whispers back, smug and satisfied. “Do you like my handiwork, Kendry?” His voice echoes strangely, shifting around to all sides of me and none. “Those last two, I picked for you. Human and werewolf, foolish enough to think that love is reason enough to cross boundaries that should never be crossed.” I can hear the disgust in his voice, and it only fuels my anger.

  “They’re my friends, you bastard,” I growl.

  “They were your friends,” the darkness mocks back. “Now they’re nothing but fuel for the fires of my conquest.”

  Lightning flickers across my skin, and a feral growl begins to grow in my chest as I stare at Shelly and Caleb. This is not the death they deserved. It’s not the eternity they deserve. I don’t know what afterlife awaits us, but this isn’t it.

  I won’t let it be.

  “You can’t help them,” he mocks again, as my lightning crashes over their frozen forms. I want to free them from their dark prison. But it does nothing. He’s right, that won’t help. Killing him will.

  So I grab hold of the darkness, searching for any control I might have had before, when the soul world responded to my every thought. And finally, the shadows part to reveal him. Grittanus stands before me, the familiar insanity-laced smile lighting his face.

  “I don’t think you really understand the scope of my plan, Kendry. I saw this day coming centuries ago. When the paras chose to fade from the waking world and let the lesser humans have it, when our lives became all about secrets and hiding.” He sneers, even as my fists clench and unclench, and the lightning’s fury crackles in my heart.

  But I want to know what he’s planning. I have to make sure that when I finish it, I finish it all. No more loose ends, no more back doors.

  “That’s when I knew. We are gods, you and I. We exist to rule this pitiful world. That’s why I started this war, pushed the humans into fighting. Such a stupid, fearful species, man. So easy to manipulate.”

  “You started the war?” I can’t help my incredulous tone. The idea is absurd. Is he really claiming that?

  “Of course I did! I needed the turmoil, the chaos. I needed the souls to remake the world. And remake it I will, with me as its one true God!”

  He really is mad. If I didn’t know it before, I certainly do now.

  “I am endless and eternal!”

  Stark, buggering, raving psychotic.

  “I alone will hold power over life and death, and all will bow down and worship me! And you, Kendry, will make it all possible.”

  The darkness burns darker, coalescing around his hand. A shudder passes over me as I recognize the shape it takes.

  The soul sword.

  Shit.

  My injuries flare with pain at the sword’s appearance. I struggle to stay upright, my teeth clenching so hard I’m worried they’ll crack.

  “Your soul will give me passage back to the waking world. I am sorry to have to kill you to do it, but you should take comfort in knowing that you’ll be a part of me for eternity.”

  Ew. Like I needed more incentive to kill him.

  Grittanus’ soul sword flashes towards me, darker than the roiling darkness. I dodge, and his wings catch me, flinging me into the shadows, and setting my pain alight. But pain won’t stop me this time. It’s not enough. And when he flies out of the drifting dark smoke, it’s my kick that sends him rolling. Lightning crackles as I follow with my fists, blocking his sword hand at the wrist and pounding into his ribs.

  Electricity can shatter even stone.

  And as my fist makes contact, something else happens. The pain in my ribs lessens. I hit him again, a swinging backfist to the face, and the pain of my fractured jaw vanishes.

  It’s suddenly my turn to grin.

  Game on.

  Grittanus growls, sliding into the darkness, and I follow. We trade blows again and again, but I’m getting stronger with every punch and kick I land, until the only pain I feel is the persistent stabbing of the sword wound in my side. And even that won’t stop me. Because with every block and every hit, I get faster, and he gets angrier. Angry means sloppy. Lightning pours over me, crackling and sparking. My elbow slams him in the face, and he stumbles back, reeling.

  He charges at me, screaming. I slide to the side, ducking under his wings as we play at matador and bull. Grittanus’ face is a mask of insane rage, as though he can’t figure out why I won’t go down, how I’m still fighting.

  His loss.

  My gain.

  He swirls around in an out of control attack, sword out and looking for blood. My arm slides up to block, trying to catch his hand, but the distance is wrong.

  And then both of us stop in surprise. Because the distance isn’t wrong, and neither is my block. Blazing along my arm and shedding plasma into the dark is a blade of pure white lightning. My hand tightens around it as I grin. Grittanus flies back as I shove my weight into him. He charges again, and dark fire meets white lightning in a series of crackling, sparking hits that fling bright, hot plasma and burning darkness into the shadows.

  A deep, resounding crack startles me out of our fight, forcing me to notice the turmoil in the shadows around us. It thunders, rumbling through us, echoed by the sounds of a thousand voices. Grittanus screams wordless hatred, slamming his dark fire soul sword down at me again and again. The lightning I hold catches him every time, and the last time, so does my foot, right in his ribs. He tumbles backwards, but I’m right there with him.

  Lightning arcs through the darkness as my sword drives into him. He gasps in shock and surprise, and I sigh as the pain I’ve carried for too long in my side vanishes.

  And then I realize something. Two things. Up and down exist. And my lightning blade has him pinned in solid darkness that wasn’t there before. He struggles, his soul sword out of reach.

  The darkness around us begins to thin, turning grey and hollow.

  “You fool!” he screams at me, his face contorted. “This world cannot exist without me!”

  Ah. So that’s what’s happening.

  The voices I hear around me must be the trapped souls, now free.

  Shelly.

  Grittanus continues to scream as I turn, looking for my friend. I shouldn’t leave him, but this could be my only chance. Whatever strange power I have over this crumbling world still works though, because out of the shadows-turned-to-mist walk Shelly and Caleb. Confusion is written across their faces, but their eyes light up when they see me.

  Shelly envelops me in one of her trademark crushing hugs. “I didn’t think I’d see you again,” she says softly.

  When I pull back, I’m crying, quiet tears that trail down my face. “I’m so sorry, Shelly. You shouldn’t have died, either of you. It’s my fault, he killed you because of me, to hurt me…”

  “He killed us because he could. It was never your fault.” Caleb’s voice is strong and sure. “The important thing is we can move on now.”

  “I don’t want you to go. Come back with me! There has to be a way!”

  “Kendry.” Shelly’s hand wipes away my tears. “You can’t change what is, only what could be.”

  I look away, knowing she’s right. “Shelly…thank you.”

  “For what?” She smiles.

  “For being my friend. I’ll miss you.”

  Her arms wrap me in another hug, squeezing me tight. “I’ll miss you too.”

  Caleb puts a hand on my arm as we pull apart. “Tell Thom, well… Tell him I said goodbye.”

  I nod. The soul world shakes around us again, and behind me, Grittanus screams. “Go, quickly,” I say. I can feel him pulling loose.

  �
��Goodbye, Kendry.”

  “Bye, Shelly,” I whisper as they fade into the lightening mists.

  Grittanus wrenches the lightning sword free as I turn. His eyes blaze with mad fury. Both of us dive for the soul sword, hands reaching, and both grasp it. The dark fire burns me, but I hold on. He won’t pull off an escape this time.

  We roll together, fighting for possession. Around us, the world cracks and crumbles, fraying at the edges.

  I’m running out of time.

  My determination sparks the lightning in me again. It crackles and sparks and blazes from my fingers and down my arms until I’m buzzing with it. I gather it into me holding it close, letting it build until I it explodes out from me, knocking us apart.

  When I stand, it’s with the soul sword in my hand. My eyes stare hard at Grittanus. He snarls at me, practically foaming at the mouth. I raise the dark blade in both hands, above my head like I did once before.

  “If you shatter it, you and I will both fade with this world!” he growls.

  “Then we do. I can live with that, if it means getting rid of you.”

  “You’re mad!”

  “No. I’m pissed off. There’s a difference.”

  Lightning arcs as I slam the sword down on my knee, shattering it into a million pieces. Grittanus screams as the world around us shatters with it, breaking into infinitesimal bits that fade as they fall, until he’s shattering too.

  I close my eyes, satisfied. The lightning arcs around me, blinding white and tingling. The crackling builds in time with the splintering world, flickering in harmony until there’s nothing else but the lightning, so strong that I realize I’m convulsing with the power.

  The soul world explodes into dripping, fragmenting electricity.

  Reality reforms in a gasping breath that wrenches at my lungs, making them burn with pain. Just breathe. Breathe in, not the hard, shuddering gasps, but slow, the way they should be. Breathe out. My heart pounds in my chest, echoing in my head. Lungs, heart, head… that’s good. The rest of me slowly swims into focus, slowly because those parts aren’t hurting, aren’t screaming at me. Arms. Hands. Legs and feet. The nearby crackle of electricity.