***
In the flaming ruins of Eira city, Nidhogg continued his blitz against Mikael and Sorata, raining blasts of cataclysmic fire across all the capital. The Ancient Hero worked to keep his enemy at bay, engaging in aerial attacks with his spectral blade, forcing Nidhogg in and out of humanoid form and into melee combat while Sorata charged a series of powerful spells. Minions from the dark realm poised to ambush her, but the witch had long felt their coming. She raised her staff to the heavens and a thunderous bolt of Twilight lightning rained upon the hordes of hundreds. As they fell, it gave Sorata a moment to see everything happening around her.
Cyrus was being overwhelmed by the hordes, the resistance was failing. Danzul had his hands full sealing other portals, he could offer no ground aid. Mikael and Nidhogg had reached a standstill, both hero and dragon were at their breaking points. More demons appeared at the corner of Sorata’s eye, poised for another ambush.
“Come on Jaival.” she whispered.
A Twilight aura surrounded her and she leapt back into battle.
***
Bolts of lightning struck from the clouds and the earth trembled as the duel for Star World continued, both Jaival and Baldr, unrelenting. There came a point where they’d forgotten why they were fighting, too possessed by the clashing of Star Blades until their swords locked. They separated from the lock and backed away, exchanging odious glares. Both sides knew they’d reached a standstill. Neither man could get past the other’s defenses. The floor collapsed around Baldr and yet he remained still, his eyes locked on his rival’s while raising his sword to the heavens.
“Now you will see the true power of the Void!” Baldr yelled.
Lightning shot from above, engulfing Baldr in twisted Void magic. Baldr howled with primal fury. His eyes glowed red, his muscles grew bulkier and ethereal spikes shot out of his veins. Dreaded energy surrounded the once exiled prince, distorting space and time around him. He became something greater than before – an Avatar of Darkness. With the transformation complete, Baldr set his sights for Jaival. Jaival braced for the attack.
The King hurled for the Moon Elf with an aerial swipe, the floor beneath him shattering as he leapt. Jaival backflipped over the attack and fired a blast from his sword. Baldr remained still, swatted the blast away, and retaliated with a series of blasts from his own sword. The moon elf was forced to concentrate solely on dodging the endless array of Void missiles. Baldr sought to use this to his favor. He flew at Jaival amidst the elf’s evasion and engaged in an aerial swordfight.
The moon elf was taken aback by how great Baldr’s power had grown. His attacks before were already refined and precise – and now, it combined a demonic strength that rivaled The World Breaker with an ungodly speed. Jaival simply couldn’t keep up. At some point during the sword exchange, the moon elf retreated to the nearby tower to catch his breath. He needed to regroup and adapt, figure out a way to fight the new form Baldr had taken.
Then, when he least expected it, a demonic twitch rippled through his veins.
“No, no, no! Not now!” Jaival dropped to a knee clutching his chest for air.
The pain only worsened. It dimmed his senses.
‘Give in’, an ominous voice whispered.
Suddenly, Baldr appeared, descending on Jaival with a vertical slash. Jaival quickly rolled to the side to avoid the attack that would’ve sliced him in two. The pain still didn’t leave the moon elf, it only dampened. Baldr could care less. He charged the failing Jaival with all his might. Jaival fired a blast using his Starlight Blade. Baldr knocked it away. Jaival fired another. Baldr flipped over it, sword drawn for a stabbing finisher. Twilight energies encased Jaival a split second before Baldr’s attack and the moon elf vanished. Baldr rose to his feet with devious smirk.
“This again.” he remembered their second duel.
Baldr sheathed his sword and waltzed around the platform remains of the tower.
“Haven’t you learned from last time?” The King taunted.
Jaival slithered in the shadows, invisible from the naked eye, waiting for the right moment to pounce. The grievous pain still hadn’t left him. With each second that passed, the demonic energies amplified and it came to the point where Jaival knew he could no longer engage Baldr in open combat in his decaying state.
“There is no escaping it. This world will be mine,” Baldr huffed. “All you’ll have to account for will be your failure to prevent salvation, just like the ones you’ve failed.”
Jaival squirmed in the shadows, his vigor darkening as he remembered his old village burning to the ground, his mother caressing his face in her last moments, and Eira falling to ruin. A deep nerve was struck in him followed by demonic energies coiling through his blood. Discipline against Malstrife’s influence would no longer prove useful. He just couldn’t take it anymore.
“NEVER!” Jaival drew his sword, the plasma violently sparking in his hands.
The moon elf emerged from the shadows, growling with a flurry of savage attacks. He pushed his own pain aside as he engaged Baldr, remembering everything he fought for, remembering everything everyone had lost, and above all, remembering her. It gave him power – it gave him strength. Baldr did not expect it. It forced the King to rapidly lose ground. Jaival matched him blade for blade, eye for eye.
The moon elf swung with all his might; all his fury. Every clash serving as a curse against Baldr for all the innocent lives he’d taken and for all those he had betrayed – a cry for the loss of a beloved hero. In that moment, Jaival became an aspect much more than that of himself. He became the embodiment of Star World, lashing out against the endless cycles of chaos since time immemorial.
Baldr was outmatched by Jaival’s second wind. Every blow they traded, the betrayer felt the passion behind it. He heard the cries of all the ones he had killed and all the ones he had betrayed. It tormented him, and gave Jaival the upper hand, allowing the moon elf to bypass Baldr’s brick wall of defense and slice the King’s thigh and shoulder wide open. Baldr dropped to a knee as Jaival angled his sword at him, silently warning to stay down.
“How!” Baldr blurted. looking up at Jaival, blood oozing out of his wounds.
Jaival panted, trying to control himself and the demonic rage. Baldr couldn’t stand to take the defeat. He had one last trick up his sleeve. He telekinetically called down Arya’s diamond prison from the clouds. The sudden appearance startled Jaival, giving the King his chance. Baldr vaulted for Jaival with lightning speed and stabbed the Void-Star Blade into the moon elf’s gut.
“Ugh.” Jaival groaned.
“NOOOOOO!” Arya awoke in her prison screaming.
Baldr smirked in Jaival’s face. Victory at last. He pulled the blade from the moon elf’s gut and watched as he dropped to his knees, coughing up blood and fell on the ground, reaching for Arya. Tears streamed down Arya’s face as she reached back for him.
‘Arya.’ Jaival telepathically called to her.
The Queen shook her head in disbelief, sobbing as his words entered her mind.
‘NO! Get up! Please, get up! You can’t leave me. Not again! Please Jaival, please!’
Jaival’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. Arya trembled crazily.
“It’s over.” Baldr said under his breath with equal disbelief, shocked that his victory wasn’t more fulfilling.
“You MONSTER!” Arya broke in her prison. “I hate you! I HATE you!”
Baldr tried to ignore his sister. Jaival’s fall had triggered something in him. He felt a mountain of hurt for everything he’d done. Nevertheless, he was too close to completing his task. He pushed his emotions aside and retrieved the Starlight Blade from Jaival’s cold hands, then, turned away from the fallen moon elf to begin the communion. The Twin Blades of Destiny were now in his palms. The Void-Star Blade in his right, the Starlight Blade in his left. All that remained, was to combine them.
“At last.” Baldr said to himself as the power of light and dark coursed in his hands, consuming hi
s mind and blocking out everything he previously felt. As if holding one Star Blade wasn’t enough, he was tasked with two. Their primal energies began reconnecting to each other, exchanging ancient information. Whispers of promises and power beyond imagination coursed in the King’s mind. Baldr could savor the moment no longer. He raised both blades in the air and combined them into one.
***
A wave of blinding light rippled over all of Eira, painting the darkened sky bright. Even those who were amidst combat in the streets below – Danzul, Cyrus, Mikael and Sorata, the resistance, the Void Order, Nidhogg and their armies of demons, were startled by the sudden blast. Everyone halted to look at the source. A continuous stream of Twilight energy shot for the heavens in the distance where the impact originated.
“It has begun.” Mikael warned.
***
Monstrous Twilight energies flowed out of Baldr’s hands, blocking his vision from seeing the Star blades, them being the cause of all the energetic commotion. Baldr’s body began rupturing from the exposure. If it went on much longer, he’d be torn to shreds. Finally, the emissions faded, leaving behind only residual energy. Baldr lowered his hands, stupefied by what he now held – A two-handed, helix-shaped, glowing silver sword, emanating with blue flames. It had no weight to speak of, seemingly defying gravity while space and time bent around it.
The Xenosaber was reborn.
“The power,” Baldr shook. He couldn’t believe he’d done it. “The power!”
Arya looked on, horrified she couldn’t stop him.
The King erupted with maniacal laughter.
“And now, Your Majesty,” he angled the Xenosaber at the Stargate. “Your time has come”
Huge spectral wings flapped behind Baldr from the shadows.
Arya cowered. What is that?!
Malstrife?! Baldr turned around.
A powerful grasp yanked the betrayer by the throat and lifted him into the air.
“Argghhh!!” Baldr writhed, trying to fight it.
But the more he did, the more he realized he was powerless to stop it, even with the Xenosaber in hand. The shadows cleared and the culprit of the attack became known. With 4 spectral wings, 2 horns, and a bulkier figure covered in energy tattoos, Jaival returned – transformed into an Avatar of Twilight. His eyes and long hair glowed with white light while his skin became as dark as space itself. Baldr kicked and wailed, helpless against Jaival’s new form.
“Jaival?” Arya realized his likeliness.
Jaival looked at the Stargate while he squeezed the life from Baldr.
‘Finish the task. Release me.’ Malstrife called to him.
Baldr gave in and the Xenosaber slipped from his hands as he prepared for death. Jaival looked up at Arya. She didn’t know what to think. His new form seemed to emit both light and shadow. She was uncertain what side he’d chosen. Jaival tossed Baldr aside and fired a Twilight blast at Arya’s prison. The Stargate’s power abruptly waned, as she gently hovered to the ground, suspended by Jaival’s new magic.
“Jaival? Is it you?” she called to the reborn Titan.
Jaival did not respond. He retrieved the Xenosaber and moved toward the Stargate while Baldr looked on, subdued by the reborn Titan’s telekinetic power. Arya ran toward Jaival. An unnerving aura emanated from him. It was unlike anything she’d felt before.
“It’s not over yet.” Jaival glared at the Stargate.
Arya looked on with him.
“I know.” she said.
BOOM!
A shockwave rippled through the air. The Stargate came back to life without need of Arya’s power. Void energies circled around it and a tremendous force yanked Arya and Jaival, pulling them into the portal.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The Final Showdown
JAIVAL AWOKE IN HIS NORMAL FORM, Xenosaber in hand, in another realm.
“Arya?” he groggily called as he rose to his feet, studying his new, alien environment. He was standing in the blackness of space itself. Stars twinkled while distant galaxies spiraled and glowed.
Where am I? He wondered.
“Arya!” he called again.
No response.
Suddenly, a great darkness blocked out the light of the stars. Jaival turned to confront it.
“It was destiny that we meet again.” The shadow growled.
Jaival angled the Xenosaber. The towering shade moved closer, its true form slowly coming into vision. An embodiment of evil moved before Jaival, sporting 6 flaming eyes, 6 fiery wings and 6 spiked horns. Fire surged around the shadow, highlighting its almost shapeless form, and a deep, unbridled hatred soaked the atmosphere. Jaival sensed the stupendous power, and it kept rising, the closer the beast came. At last, The One from the Void, The Manipulator of Chaos, The Great Lord of Darkness – Malstrife, had finally revealed himself.
Jaival’s heart sank upon seeing the monstrosity.
“Have you come for your redemption?” Malstrife observed Jaival holding the Xenosaber. “Or your demise?”
“I’ve come to finish what we started.”
Spectral flames surrounded the reborn Titan and the Lord of Darkness like a ring in an arena.
“Then you have chosen death.”
Ethereal flame whips manifested from Malstrife’s many arms, and he struck for Jaival. The moon elf leapt over the attacks and hurled a blast from above using his claymore. The Dark Lord absorbed the attack and retaliated with a Void bolt of his own. The burst smashed into Jaival before he had any chance to react, tossing the moon elf away like a ragdoll. Jaival crashed into invisible ground, relentless pain scorching every part of his body.
He struggled to get back to his feet as Malstrife crashed next to him, staring down the reborn Titan with hellish eyes. Jaival clenched the Xenosaber and charged for Malstrife with a horizontal swipe, only to watch the blade cut thin air. Malstrife cackled at the feeble attempt. A pair of demonic shadows with flaming eyes manifested behind Jaival.
“It is the duty of us, gods, to secure evolution across the cosmos.” Malstrife’s voice echoed.
The shadows lunged. Jaival charged the Xenosaber and spun to face the fiends, firing a blast that disintegrated them to ash. Malstrife appeared again, hurling his flamed whips vertically. Jaival rolled to the side to avoid what would’ve been a quick, fiery death.
“…an obligation, the chamber long forgot.” Malstrife continued.
The entire place started shaking, unveiling the true nature of the mirage. Soon, it all shattered like broken glass, and Jaival found himself falling through space and eventually, into Star World. He plummeted like a meteor into the ground. A great explosion erupted from the moon elf’s fall, sending shockwaves across what appeared to be a barren planet. Moments later, smoke cleared from the impact crater and Jaival climbed out. Blood dripped from his injured body.
As his senses slowly came back to him with the Xenosaber fast in hand, Jaival noticed the world he was in wasn’t the same one he knew. In the distance, mutated armies numbering in the thousands materialized and marched in military formations against each other. Hellish swarms of mechanical birds and beasts swooped overhead, laying cataclysms of fire everywhere. Malstrife appeared behind him.
“Do you remember?” The Dark Lord asked.
Out of the crater, someone else walked out. A god. His long, glowing white hair flowed over his back where he carried a gigantic two-handed helix sword. He wore an advanced, white, and black armor, foreign to the world. His eyes were completely illuminated and his skin was as dark as a black hole itself. Jaival observed the god carefully, knowing who it was. The god leapt into the air and flew over the battlefield, his gigantic, ethereal wings disintegrating everything in their way.
“An entire world wiped out by the power of our kind.” Malstrife continued
Jaival turned to Malstrife, battered and weary.
“This is what we do. It is the responsibility of higher evolved beings to supersede primitive civilizations, especially the ones that h
ave gotten out of order. You exercised your authority, as I did mine.”
Jaival shook his head.
“And you still cannot remember. I am the only one who can return you to your former glory. Redeem your memories.”
“And the price?” Jaival seemed interested. It piqued Malstrife’s attention.
“Take your place at my side as we once were. Together, we can take back the Chamber of Titans and ensure a new order for the cosmos.”
Jaival dropped his head.
“Sorry,” a smirk came to his lips. “Some things are better left forgotten.”
Jaival angled the Xenosaber. A heavenly power overcame him. He transformed into the Avatar of Twilight, leapt airborne and swooped for Malstrife with his wings expanded. Malstrife hurled his flame whips at the reborn Titan in panic. Jaival flew through it, unharmed and unscathed. Malstrife charged a Void bolt and fired, rupturing the area with a chaotic explosion.
A second later, Jaival flew through the smoke and tore through Malstrife with a vicious slash, then ascended high into the air, powering the Xenosaber for a final attack. Malstrife recovered from the blow and charged another Void blast. Both gods fired at each other, one from the sky, the other on the ground, engulfing the landscape in an inferno. Their energies clashed, suspended on the breaking point between a tug of war.
This was it.
The final showdown.
Malstrife had waited countless eons for the opportunity. It was the chance to end the cycle for him just as much as for Jaival and the others. And then, she entered the fray, transformed into an Avatar of Light. She fired a continuous stream of light at The Dark Lord.
Malstrife staggered when he realized who the new attack came from.
The reborn Goddess kept her palms steady firing, Jaival airborne as well.
Xenosaber: Fury of the Stars Page 20