by P. A. Peña
“He did?” Logan replied, shock written on his face as he looked at Virgil lying on the floor.
“I did,” Virgil said smugly. “Speaking of which. Is your ass made of steel or something?”
Logan’s face reddened. “Have, have you been checking out my ass?”
Aurelia and Olivia burst out into laughter. “What?” Virgil replied, “Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“You specifically mentioned my ass. Why would you say it like that?”
“W-why would you take it like that?”
“How else was I supposed to take it? You’re talking about my ass.”
“I obviously didn’t mean it like that. And stop saying ass. You’re making this weird.”
“I’m making this weird?” Logan exclaimed. “You were talking about my ass!”
Virgil turned to the girls, who were still deep in laughter. “You two knew what I meant. Right?”
“I’m not touching this one,” Aurelia said, fighting back the fit of giggles that consumed her.
“Yeah,” Olivia joined in. “You two are on your own.”
“I guess you could say they’re ‘ass out’ then,” Aurelia quipped.
“Look,” Logan began. “I’m willing to forget this whole thing happened. Just promise me you won’t be checking out my ass anymore and—”
“I haven’t been checking out your ass!” Virgil shouted.
Chapter 19
Olivia and Aurelia had yet to stop laughing. Virgil and Logan, on the other hand, were silent. Their faces were red, and they refused to make eye contact. A set of stone doors across the room slid open, revealing three figures, and Virgil’s expression soured. Lucious, Paisley, and Fynn waltzed into the room with grins stretched across their faces.
“Well, what do we have here,” Lucious said.
Olivia moved in front of Logan, forming a blockade. Aurelia continued her work, keeping her attention focused on Virgil. He tried to lift himself up and winced in pain.
“Be still,” Aurelia demanded.
Virgil opened his mouth to speak, but his words were cut short by Logan. “Sit tight,” he said as he walked towards Lucious and his crew. “I’ll handle this.”
Fynn cracked his knuckles as his eyes locked with Logan’s. “Don’t you worry about him. I’m the only one you need to be concerned with.”
Logan stopped just a few feet short from their aggressors. “Listen up, and listen well. There is no need for us to fight, and to be perfectly honest, I’d rather not harm any of you. If you would be so kind, please walk away and leave us be.”
“Not a chance,” Fynn said with a smirk. “I’ve been itching to settle the score between us.”
“Likewise,” Paisley said, looking past Logan to Aurelia. “I’ve been dying to get my hands on her again.”
Logan’s expression twisted to one of bewilderment. “Are you referring to my sister?”
Paisley looked at Logan, the contempt clear in her eyes. “Is your sister that stuck up bitch over there who thinks she’s better than me?”
Logan turned around to find Aurelia nervously tending to Virgil’s injuries. He sighed as he returned his attention to Paisley. “What business do you have with Aurelia?” Logan asked, his eyes glaring.
“Are you deaf?” Paisley continued. “I said I need to get even with her. That bitch had the nerve to knock me right over. Like I was nothing.”
“It was an accident,” Aurelia said.
“Like hell it was!”
“If my sister said it was an accident, then it was an accident.” Logan’s tone was menacing as he looked down at the brunette. “Leave now, or I will break each and every one of you.”
Lucious laughed, drawing in everyone’s attention. “My word, you’re so chilling.” He then raised his hand, calling forth a swarm of ice shards. “Still. You’re not nearly as cold as I can be.”
Lucious fired off his icicles, his aim solely focused on Virgil. With a flick of her wrist, Olivia summoned pillars of wood shielding them.
Once again, Virgil tried to get up but was held down by Aurelia. “Let me up,” he pleaded.
“Not a chance,” she replied. “They can handle this.”
“But I’m the one he wants.”
“And?”
“What do you mean, ‘and?’”
“I mean, what does it matter if he wants to fight you? You have a broken arm and several fractured ribs. There isn’t a chance in hell I’m letting you get up and do anything.”
Virgil fell silent, biting his lip as he turned his attention to the scuffle.
Paisley dashed for Aurelia, but Logan took hold of her arm. Without so much as blinking, he threw Paisley backward with tremendous force. It was a miracle he didn’t rip her arm clean off. She clashed against a marble pillar, and gasped as the air was forced from her lungs. Slowly, Paisley got back up, her breathing heavy, but ready to fight nonetheless. Logan walked towards her, but a fiery dragon cut off of his path.
“I told you,” Fynn exclaimed. “I’m your only concern right now!”
Logan scoffed as he summoned his gloves. “You know, you’re really starting to annoy me.”
“Good,” Fynn said. “I hope that means you’ll give me a good fight then. You’ll be happy to know I’ve done my homework. I won’t be caught off guard by your dragon’s treasure again.”
Paisley moved in on Aurelia.
Virgil pointed. “Behind you!”
Aurelia nodded as she took her hands away from Virgil. She then touched the tips of her fingers together and closed her eyes. “Cerulean Effigy.”
Aurelia’s body became enveloped in a glowing blue liquid. The water swirled around her skin before springing off of her body. It began to morph into shape, and in a matter of seconds, it was the spitting image of Aurelia, down to the very dimples in her cheeks.
“You fucking coward,” Paisley sneered.
She threw her hand forward, summoning a massive fist made of stone from the ground. The fist was blindingly fast, but the doppelganger was faster. Aurelia’s clone held its palm to the fist, and a burst of water shot forward, shattering the rock into rubble. Paisley’s eye twitched as she sent out fist after fist, only to have them crumble to pieces.
“We don’t have to do this,” the clone said. “We could—”
“SHUT UP! I don’t want to hear your bullshit. Just shut up and fight me.”
The floor under the clone’s feet began to shake. Six stone spikes erupted from the ground, piercing the clone in various places. Two through the legs. One through the hand. Two through the chest. And one through the eye. The clone didn’t so much as flinch as the stone skewers invaded its watery flesh.
“Do you really hate me that much?” the clone asked. Paisley exhaled in frustration, the gravity of her attack’s ineffectiveness clearly weighing on her nerves. The clone raised its hand, and bursts of water shattered the spikes. “I’m sorry to have made you feel this way. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day.”
Paisley’s eyes widened as she balled her fist. “This is exactly the shit I’m talking about. Don’t you dare act so high and mighty. You’re not better than me!”
“Why don’t you be a dear and move aside?” Lucious said as he stared down Olivia.
“Why don’t you go and fuck yourself!” Olivia replied as she raised her hands towards Lucious. “On second thought. I get the feeling you do enough of that already.”
Lucious laughed. “My, my, I didn’t know elves could be so feisty. We’ll have to do something about that mouth of yours. After I finish up with Virgil—”
Two bulky hands made of wood erupted from out of the ground at Lucious’s feet and took hold of him. A wooden creature like a hulking ogre rose up. Its eyes glowed green, and white flowers sprouted from its wooden flesh. The beast slammed Lucious into the ground, pinning him to the stone floor.
“The only way you’re getting to Virgil is if you go through me, and trust me, you’re bett
er off—”
An icicle formed above Lucious and pierced the creature’s skull. “I know,” Lucious began as the creature faded from existence, and he rose to his feet, “I’m better off fucking myself.”
“Well, I was gonna say taking your flunkies and leaving, but that’s your call.”
“You know it’s unfortunate,” Lucious said, dusting off his shoulder. “Being underground with so many support pillars around, there’s no way I could use my signature sorcery here.”
“That so,” Olivia sneered. “Afraid you can’t win without it?”
“Oh no,” Lucious replied, a devilish grin painted on his face. “This just means your defeat will not come swiftly.”
The battle raged on with everyone giving it their all. That is, everyone except for Virgil. He instead lay on the ground, forced to merely watch as his friends fought for their lives. Every so often, he’d squirm about, desperate to throw himself into the fray.
“If you don’t stop moving, I’m going to chain you to the ground,” Aurelia scolded.
“I’m sorry,” Virgil replied, his eyes restless, “but it’s tough to just lie here while everyone is fighting around me.”
“Trust me. It’s not nearly as difficult as holding her back and healing you at the same time. I’m trying to work as fast as I can, but it’s going to be even more of a pain if I gotta restrain you too.”
“R-right. I promise I won’t move again.”
“Good.”
Virgil’s eyes widened, and he quickly raised his hand in the air.
“Damn it, Virgil!”
A mass of fire formed around Virgil and Aurelia, blanketing them in flames. Chunks of stone rained down upon them like a rockslide, but as they hit the fiery blaze, they dispersed into nothingness. “I’m sorry,” Virgil grimaced. “But—”
“I know. Just, just don’t move again.”
That’s when he noticed the strained look on Aurelia’s face. He returned his attention to the fighters, unable to bear her tired expression. Aurelia’s clone was holding its own, but its form had become sloppy. It was less detailed than before. Its movements slowed, and its reflexes were dulled. Logan was on the defensive, continually weaving between pillars, seeking cover from the fire Fynn rained down upon him. Olivia, on the other hand, had Lucious at a stalemate. A horde of wooden soldiers surrounded him, rushing him down one after another. Despite the onslaught, he kept the ice flowing, shredding Olivia’s minions like paper in a blender.
The room began to glow a bright red, just as the room before it had shone yellow. Mounds of fire shot out from the ground and into the air. There were far too many of them to even bother counting. In a matter of seconds, the room felt as if it were suspended in a bubbling volcano. Even Virgil found the steadily rising temperature unbearable. He winced in pain as he tried to sit up, clutching at his ribs.
“Stay down,” Aurelia said, her breaths heavy.
Virgil grunted as he forced himself up. “There’s no time for that.” The heat burned his throat. “Listen up,” he shouted as well as his simmering vocal cords could manage. “Aiden’s going to cook us alive if we don’t do something about it.”
Lucious fired a shot of ice at Virgil. It hadn’t even made it halfway before Virgil melted it away.
“Really,” Virgil said.
Lucious raised his hand, prepping another attack. “Don’t think for a second our circumstances have changed.”
Fynn approached his comrade. “Virgil’s right, Lucious. You know I’d love to keep the battle going, but we don’t stand a chance in this heat, and that goes double for Paisley. She doesn’t have any resistance to pyromancy like we do.”
Lucious looked at Paisley. Her hair was frizzled, and she struggled to keep her eyes open. He looked back over to Virgil, his brow furrowed. “Fine,” he said. “We’ll settle this another time then.”
The pillars of fire began to move, gathering into a circle. They piled onto one another and grew into a cluster of flames. One after another, the pillars assimilated into the cluster until finally, they combined into one massive blaze. The fire took on a new shape. Four arms sprouted from the base, followed by two legs and a horned head. A long serpentine tail whipped through the air as the creature let out a ferocious roar.
Fynn’s eyes glistened. “Now that’s a beast.”
“Oh, shut up,” Lucious sneered.
“Are we going to have to fight that thing?” Paisley asked.
“It looks like it,” Aurelia joined in.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Logan stepped forward. “I’ll handle this,” he said, flexing his fingers. “If I can manage to get ahold of it, I can nullify it.”
“You really think O’Drakka’s Fists will work?” Fynn asked. “My dragons are one thing, but this creature was conjured by a deity.”
“Deity or no, it was born of magic.” Lucious waved his hand, and an avalanche of water fell upon the creature. The fiery behemoth shrieked in pain, and it quickly turned its attention to Lucious.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Logan said.
Lucious kept his focus on the beast. “I may have held off on exterminating you lowly hunters, but don’t think that changes your status. I’d rather die than take orders from one of you, so just run away and leave this to the professionals.” He sprang into action, launching a full assault on the creature.
Fynn turned to Paisley. “Try to find us a way out of here.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Paisley said, her words barely escaping her lips. “I can—”
“If you stay here, you’re going to die,” Virgil said. “I can feel your aura. You really don’t have much time left.”
“Come on,” Olivia said. “We can look for an exit.”
Paisley clenched her jaw before huffing and leaving with Olivia.
“You might as well join them,” Logan said as he began walking towards the battle. “Your assistance is not needed here.”
“Don’t be foolish,” Aurelia said. “We can help you close the gap.”
“If you don’t want to help them, then get back to healing. Whatever you do, just keep out of my way.”
Virgil and Aurelia stood still, taken aback as Logan entered the battle.
“What should we do?” Aurelia asked.
Virgil paused for a moment. Aurelia had done much to restore him, but his chest still throbbed with a dull ache, and his left arm remained limp.
“There’s no way in hell I’m sitting this out,” Virgil said. “Logan’s just going to have to deal with that.”
Aurelia nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. So, what’s the plan?”
Virgil raised his hand to the creature and steadied himself. “You already said it.”
His aura began to swirl as he summoned a mass of fire around the flaming beast. As the flames merged with one another, it was nearly impossible to distinguish Virgil’s flames from the creature itself. In fact, the fire only seemed to be adding to the creature’s body.
Lucious whipped around towards Virgil. “Are you daft?” he exclaimed.
Virgil continued pumping out his fire, paying no mind to Lucious.
“Virgil!” Logan called out. “What part of ‘keep out of my way’ didn’t you understand?”
Virgil remained focused. The beast hulked around, thrilled to be invigorated with such a tribute.
Logan approached Virgil, his fists clenched. “Stop this at once before—”
“Just be ready for your opening,” Aurelia said.
The beast prepared its massive fist to strike, raising it high in the air above Lucious. He threw another wave of water at the creature, but it didn’t so much as flinch as it punched. Virgil closed his fist, and the beast stopped. Another second later, and Lucious would have been nothing more than a pile of ash and bone. Perhaps I shouldn’t have stopped it, Virgil thought. The creature paused, trembling in place. All eyes fell to Virgil as he stood quivering. His knees were buckling, and his hand was shaking as sw
eat dripped from his brow.
Lucious was pale, his eyes misty with disbelief. Logan was as well. As a matter of fact, the only one not floored by Virgil’s display was Aurelia. Instead, she smiled as if she had already known what the outcome would be before the die was ever cast.
Virgil tightened his fist further, and slowly the beast retracted into itself. It fought hard against Virgil’s will, bucking back and forth. Virgil kept up the pressure. Falling to one knee, he kept his fire roaring, trapping the beast. Aurelia knelt behind him, propping him up to keep him from collapsing. Before long, the creature was confined to a sphere of fire suspended in the air.
Virgil’s breath was shallow, and his arm wavered in the air. His body begged him to release his hold on the beast. He took in a deep, pain-filled breath. He hoped the air, even if scorching, would help him keep his composure, but his grip was still slipping and his eyesight fading.
“What are you waiting for?” Aurelia shouted.
Logan turned his attention to the fiery sphere of death, snapping back into the battle at hand. In one fell swoop, he leaped into the air, his fist aimed at its center. As his glove pierced the sphere, sparks rained down to the floor. The jewels on his gloves glowed bright, and just like that, the beast was gone, leaving the room eerily silent. Logan returned to the ground, recalled his gloves, and made his way over to Aurelia and Virgil.
They were a mess, although Virgil was much worse off. Aurelia held him up, wrapping her arms around his chest as he gasped for air. He was nearly limp, his face was covered in sweat, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.
Logan stopped just short of Aurelia and Virgil. “Is he dead?”
“I’m still kicking,” Virgil said softly.
A shard of ice whizzed by Logan. As it plunged itself deep into Virgil’s broken arm, he flinched in pain and sucked in a breath. Slowly, he looked up and opened his eyes to see Lucious approaching them.
Chapter 20
Virgil held out his hand towards the shard sticking out of his arm. He tried to summon a fire strong enough to melt the ice but failed.