Renegade Reborn

by J. C. Fiske

  “You’re out of essence . . .” Malik said. Gisbo, with a grunt, tried to force himself back up to his feet, but couldn’t move.

  “So are you.” Gisbo snapped. At this, Malik’s grin grew wider.

  “Am I? I can admit, you have more ferocity, and a thicker skull, but when it comes to our power, our stamina? Oh, dear cousin, we couldn’t be more different . . .” Malik said, as he raised up his hand before his face, staring at it, a hungry gleam in his eye.

  Gisbo’s eyebrow raised. Everything in him screamed for him to move, to rush at Malik, end his life, but he couldn’t move, not until the Drakeness finished healing him.

  “You say I’m out of essence? That’s the difference between our powers, cousin. Yours, is a partnership, mine? It’s a surrender, a sacrifice. Your blood, it has the Drakeness flowing through. It serves its purpose, but, it is not pure. My blood however . . .” Malik started, when suddenly, like an animal biting into a fresh, hot kill, Malik bit straight into his wrist, rending open his veins with his teeth, and began sucking and sucking until his mouth filled, then overflowed with his own black blood, dripping down onto his clothes, and upon the ground.

  Gisbo said nothing, only looked on, shocked and disgusted, as Malik swallowed, wiped his mouth, and watched as his opened wrist began to close back up, and heal.

  “Already the Dragon’s power is replacing my sudden loss of blood, blood that is filled, FILLED, with reserved Dragon essence! Do you understand? Do you get it now?” Malik said, as his wrist finished healing, and the hot, spilled blood on his clothes and the ground began to glow a fierce, turquoise green, and impossibly, Malik’s Dragon essence returned to him and his eyes burst into red fire. “Your power is limited, where mine? Mine is infinite like Time itself! You. Can’t. Win!”

  Gisbo tried standing, but the Drakeness was moving slower in the healing process. The damage he had taken was far too great, and the Drakeness flowing through him, unlike Malik’s, wasn’t as pure. Malik, eyes looking like a wolf who just found a wounded rabbit to feed upon, now stood over him.

  “I’ve waited for this moment for so, so long . . .” Malik said, as he reached out, and lifted Gisbo up by his throat, high into the air. He then took in a deep breath, admiring Gisbo’s beaten, still slowly healing face.

  “I’ve seen this moment in my dreams, the moment where, despite your best effort, I beat and break the man who would rather pour out his life for others, rather than himself . . .” Malik said. Gisbo squinted at this. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. Everyone, but you it seems, knows how sensitive, caring, and big your heart is. Sure, it’s a little misguided sometimes. You pick and choose who you care about, you aren’t the neutral good you should be, you say things you don’t mean, drink like a fish, but, ever wonder why? Sure, I helped, the rupture gave you reason, along with the Drakeness, but the real reason you do what you do, is to get to a state of unfeeling in order to give your big tender heart a break. But it doesn’t last. Does it? Hearts such as yours are so rare, shine so brightly, and that’s the tragedy of it all. People like you, they get in the way of people like me, and become targets . . . targets, that need putting down . . .

  Those things I told you earlier, all I was trying to do was deny you access to your power, and make my revenge easier, more pleasurable, and it worked, to a point, but this, this was better. We met as equals, you threw all you had at me, and still, it wasn’t enough. What started with your mother, now, ends with you. I wonder if you’ll scream, and beg as much as she did . . .” Malik said, licking his dry lips.

  Gisbo thrashed and struggled within Malik’s grip, screaming like a rabid fox with a foot caught in a trap.

  “Stop struggling, stop screaming . . .” Malik said, as he reached down, and pulled up a Tanto. It flashed in the moonlight, and to his horror, Gisbo saw dried blood upon it, the blood, of his mother.

  “That’s right. I bought one of your Tanto’s back, and fixed it, just so I could kill her with your own weapon. How does it feel, cousin, to know that the two women who ever taught you anything worth a damn, died by your own blade?” Malik asked. This caused Gisbo to thrash all the more, trying to escape, trying to do something, anything. At this point the army behind Malik had powered up their weapons and were ready to charge.

  “NO!” Gisbo screamed. “RUN! GET AWAY FROM HERE! LEAVE ME! LEAVE ME!”

  “They won’t listen. Seems we’ll be in need of some privacy. This needs to be . . . intimate . . .” Malik said, as he thrust up his free hand, and a wall of Dragon fire circled about them. Malik then turned his attention back to Gisbo.

  “Now, where were we?” Malik asked, his wolf smile returning. “Oh, how I’ve hated you, Gisbo Falcon. I will enjoy every snip, every slice, every cut, as I bleed you dry like the pig you are, and with your death, comes my dream, a world of fairness, a world of chaos!”

  “I don’t care, ugh, what you do to me, just, SPARE THEM! PLEASE” Gisbo pleaded, kicking, trying to call upon his power, but with no avail. He was empty.

  “How ironic that as a Renegade, you’ve spent the better part of your time serving and protecting others, and now, the one time you need help, there’s not a soul upon Thera, able to save you.” Malik started, as he then put his face into Gisbo’s. “I’m going to kill you, and no one, can stop me!”

  Rolce Moordin stood where he was, his forearm over his eyes, his knees knocking as he, and the rest of the Renegades stared down the spiraling Dragon Fire.

  “I don’t care if I come out of there looking like a charred rump roast! I’m going in after Gisbo!” Grandfield said as he moved in next to Rolce.

  “It’s suicide . . . Dragon Fire won’t just burn you, it will eradicate you.” Jackobi said, gritting his teeth.

  “What do we do?” Rolce asked.

  “I . . . I don’t know . . .” Jackobi said.

  “We can’t just leave him in there, Jack! What do we . . .” Rolce started, when suddenly, he felt a rush of air, then, a wet peck on the side of his neck in a sensitive, ticklish area that sent his face blossoming into crimson, and his whole body into a shiver. Only one person, only one, had ever kissed him like that, knew how to kiss him like that . . .

  “No, way,” Rolce muttered aloud, his eyes wide as moons.

  Malik’s senses burst into frenzy, warning him of the bizarre, foreign power source that was fast oncoming, but not quickly enough. The Goat Man had time to turn his head, only to be struck with a blow that rivaled Gisbo’s best. The sheer velocity of the strike forced him to let go of Gisbo, and roll forward out of the Dragon Fire into a bouncing tumble across the ground into the castle tower that held the politicians. A crack flew up the side of it and the people inside shrieked.

  Through the haze of his vision, Malik could not see his attacker, but felt her, all of her. She was seemingly everywhere. He went to spit the blood out of his mouth only to realize he couldn’t. His entire jaw had been dislocated to one side, and was locked up. With much effort and pain, Malik snapped it back into place, and rose to his feet, his eyes darting everywhere, trying to find this mysterious new attacker. It was then he heard a voice, echoey, but familiar, coming from all around him . . .

  “No one’s coming for his rescue? Are you serious? You forgot someone, ASSFACE!” the voice said and before him, from the air itself, the source of the power appeared. Based on the figure’s body, she was undoubtedly female, but not entirely human. Her form was wrapped in vines, vines that glowed in the four colors of the elements, red, yellow, blue, and green, and all of them pulsated like lightning bugs.

  “You speak as if I should remember you,” Malik muttered, trying to stall her, trying to analyze her power, but he didn’t believe what his senses were telling him. Somehow, some way, this woman was channeling all four elements through her body, a body enhanced, a body evolved past normal human capacity . . .

  “No? Maybe this will help!” the vined woman said, as she flew at Malik again in a feigned punch, then, when Malik went to defend, she raised u
p a fierce kick to his groin, causing him to keel over, drop to his knees, and puke. The vined woman now stood over him, and cocked a thumb to her chest.

  “The name’s Kinny Kalloway. Congratulations, assface. All that you see here? You made this happen, and now, we’re gonna pick up right where we left off!” Kinny said, as she did just as promised, grabbing Malik with her left hand, and colliding her right fist straight on into the Goat Man’s face, sending him back first into the tower again, sending up another crack, and causing the politicians inside to wail and fall into each other’s arms. Kinny, it seemed, did even what Vadid the Valiant and Purah could not. She brought, for the first time, Freeists and Purists together.

  Malik’s world was spinning, and it was about to get a whole lot worse. Kinny threw all she had at him, hitting, striking, kicking in a wicked assault that pushed Malik deeper, and deeper into the wall as rocks and rubble pelted them from above, and just when it looked like Malik’s face was about to shatter, Kinny screamed, dropped to her knees, and the pulsating vines around her began to spiral back into her body like snakes retreating back into a hole. She panted now, drenched in sweat, on all fours, looking much more like the girl Rolce had fallen in love with years before.

  “You . . . I can’t believe it . . . you would have killed me . . . these powers of yours, still, still new, still fresh! You haven’t, haven’t mastered them . . . have you?” Malik asked.

  Kinny said nothing. It was only minutes ago that she had awoken, and felt the Phoenix and Dragon’s power sources, and had come to help, but now . . . the adrenaline keeping her weak, tired body moving, was spent, and now, for the second time, she found herself at the mercy of Malik Strife, who once again, bit into his wrist, drinking from the Dragon’s blood. A moment later, his swollen face and bruised body was healed, and his power levels were back to full strength.

  “So close to beating me, again, but unlike the last time, you’ve done far worse than just enter in a contest with me. You’ve come between me and my vengeance, and that is a deadly place to be . . .” Malik said as he reached down, grabbed a tuft of hair, and lifted her head up to meet his eyes. Rather than say anything, she spit into his face, and Malik replied with a fierce head-butt, breaking her nose, shattering it like an ice cube, and that’s when Rolce was on him. The Renegade charged, his staff fully powered, aimed right at Malik’s throat, ready to pierce through it and out the other side, but with one backhand, as if swatting away a buzzing mosquito, Malik whacked him, and his weapon aside, and Rolce tumbled across the grounds, then lay still.

  “ROLCE!” Kinny screamed.

  “Join him,” Malik said, as he tossed her by the hair, sending her into a heap beside her boyfriend. Malik then turned his attention to a downed Gisbo, ready to begin what he had waited so long for, only to realize he was gone. He then felt a sharp pain rise up from his Achilles tendon. He spun about to see Gisbo, lying on the ground, biting him, using the only weapon he could manage.

  “You are unbelievable! I’ve had enough waiting, this ends now!” Malik said, as he moved a ringed finger over him, powered up his essence, and fired, but not before a flash of movement. When the smoke settled, there was only a crater. With wide eyes, Malik spun around to see a man, with above average Elekai’ ability, but with the power of a bug compared to him, standing straight, planting his feet, and holding Gisbo up.

  “My name is Thomson Ricard, and if you want to kill, Gisbo,” Thomson said. “You have to go through me!”

  Gisbo looked up into the determined face of his once, most hated childhood enemy, who now, despite his own life, his own safety, had stepped in, and saved him. Malik looked from Thomson to Gisbo, then, pointed a fist at them both.

  “Fine. You both can die with your heroics!” Malik started, when suddenly, two soldiers, one with a punctured, bleeding eye, and another with a clipped ear, strolled forward and stood before Thomson, their arms folded.

  “He won’t die alone,” The man with the missing eye said.

  “But you will . . . eventually . . .” The man with the clipped ear added.

  “What have you to gain by protecting this man? NOTHING!” Malik screamed. It was then that Warlord Ricard stepped forward and stood before his men.

  “Gisbo Falcon represents everything we, I, fight to protect. Our lives may have begun on opposite sides, but now, if they are to end, it would be an honor to die defending him . . .” Ricard said, standing at ease, ready for death. “Your move, goat . . .”

  Chapter Thirty One: The Unholy Sacrifice

  Malik Strife couldn’t believe what he was hearing, or seeing. One by one the soldiers of Oak County, along with the Renegades, came forward, and together, formed a human shield around Gisbo. Malik felt his arms grow heavy as he lowered them, absolute disbelief on his face as now even some of the citizens of Oak County left the safety of their homes and made their way up the cobblestone street and into the courtyard, joining in the human shield, gripping each other’s hands tightly, ready, and waiting for Malik to make his move.

  The Goat Man stood, not knowing what was keeping him from blowing all of these people away the same way he had done with his alternate self’s men, the men who followed him here all the way from Blackscar, believing in his message of chaos, only, to die by it . . .

  “This is all, very touching, but you don’t understand who you’re dealing with!” Malik said as he found the strength to lift his arm again, and power his essence, but still, the pause he took, was a bit alarming, as if, as if something inside him, something he didn’t understand, beyond the Dragon, took control. But it didn’t matter now. He found his voice again, and all would know, in their final moments, just who they stood in defiance of!

  “I’ve been to the beginning and end of Time! I’ve seen Thera’s creation, and Thera’s destruction! I’ve given everything, EVERYTHING! SACRIFICED MY LIFE, MY SANITY, ALL FOR THIS MOMENT IN TIME! THIS ONE MOMENT TO TAKE REVENGE UPON THE ONE SOUL IN THIS UNIVERSE TO CAUSE ME A PAIN I CANNOT RECOVER FROM! ALL OF YOU WANT TO STAND IN MY WAY!? FINE! I WILL NOT STOP, I WILL NOT HOLD BACK, NOT UNTIL I BRING THIS WORLD FAIRNESS THROUGH CHAOS! NOT UNTIL I MAKE HIM FEEL MY PAIN! NOT UNTIL I . . . “

  “WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?” Suddenly, Gisbo’s voice rose from above the crowd. Upon hearing the voice, so full of spite, so full of venom, Malik felt his power slip, and his eyes flicker out, but only for a second, as Gisbo made his way through the crowd, his face and features the epitome of rage, looking ready to fight again even though he had not a drop of essence left.

  What pushes him? What causes him to continue? With such eyes, eyes that makes it seem as if I’ve already lost? Malik thought to himself.

  “You just want to die, that’s the only reason for . . .” Malik started, but Gisbo cut him off.

  “NO! Stop talking and answer me! What the hell did you just say?” Gisbo asked, thrusting a finger out. Malik was taken aback. Never had he seen Gisbo look so volatile, so offended.

  “Are you . . . did you not just hear what I just said? You’re a fish attacking an ocean! My power is back to full while you, you’re empty!” Malik said.

  Gisbo said nothing. He only walked forward and took a messy swing at Malik who countered it easily, and elbow dropped him behind his neck, sending Gisbo’s face crashing into the ground.

  “I could have killed you with that last strike,” Malik said. As if he didn’t even feel the hit, Gisbo got back onto his feet and wiped the dirt from his eyes.

  “So why didn’t you? That’s what you’re here for, isn’t it? To get your revenge? Bring this world chaos? To make me feel your . . . your . . .” Gisbo started, stammering toward the end to get the last part out, but couldn’t as a giggle escaped his lips, before turning into all out gut wrenching laughter. While laughing, his eyes closed, and he took another wild swing at Malik, missed, fell to the ground, and began laughing even harder.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you, are you crazy!?” Malik asked. To this Gisbo burst out into all out hysterics,
literally rolling upon the ground, clutching his stomach as he pointed up at Malik’s face.

  “If, whew, if that line came from anyone else . . .” Gisbo started, as he paused, trying to catch his breath, then erupted back into deep, debilitating laughter.

  “Stop, LAUGHING!” Malik said as he kicked him in the side, rolling him forward upon the ground a few feet, but Gisbo just kept right on going. Furious now, Malik charged for him and dropped his heel atop Gisbo’s throat, silencing him.

  “This, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be! STOP, LAUGHING!” Malik shouted as he lifted him up, and struck Gisbo right between the eyes with a finger knuckle, sending him back to the ground in a new fit of strained giggles. “STOP IT! STOP LAUGHING! THIS IS MY MOMENT! MINE! YOU NEED TO FEAR ME! I NEED TO SEE THE FEAR IN YOUR EYES! I NEED YOU TO BEG FOR DEATH! I NEED TO BREAK YOU! SHATTER YOU! MAKE YOU FEEL MY PAIN!”

  Upon hearing that final line, all laughter left Gisbo as he thrust a finger up into Malik’s face, and shot up to his feet so he was face to face with his cousin.

  “THAT’S IT! THAT’S WHAT YOU SAID! I’m so sick of listening to you Man-Dragon’s prattle on, spouting off your damn monologues, repeating yourself, over and over again, going on and on like we’re supposed to give two shits about your plans and who you are! Reality check, assface! No one cares who you are, or what you stand for! You and Drakearon, you’re nothing but sick, crazed freaks threatening the lives of innocent people and you know what? I think it’s about time for you to stand there and listen to something. You like monologues so much? Oh, get ready assface. I’ll give you a fuckin’ monologue!” Gisbo roared, staring at him maniacally, and then, just like that, his rage broke, and he was back to giggling. Malik stared on wide eyed, mouth open, as Gisbo bent down, hands on his knees, then, rose back up, walking back and forth, waving his hands wildly about, and speaking in a sporadic, not quite sane tone of voice.