Light of Darkness

by Lonnie Davidson

  “It would seem that I have grossly underestimated you.” The Messenger stands tall. Loud cracking noises radiate from him as his side pops back out. “That won’t happen again.” He takes a deep breath. As he exhales, his energy engulfs the whole area. His jeans tear as shards of bone poke through.

  As I ready myself again, he rushes me, unleashing a barrage of kicks, punches, and spear hands. Even after all my training with Valene and Selene and him being injured, keeping up with him is in no way, shape, or form easy. I avoid all the spear hands aimed at my heart, but the kicks to my legs and punches to my body are starting to take a toll.

  Everything starts spinning, and I can feel my movements slow. I glance at my arm above the elbow where my energy doesn’t provide cover. I’m bleeding badly, but the cuts are small like paper cuts. I’ve got to get away from him.

  Out of nowhere, he one-twos me and follows with an uppercut, knocking me back into the barrier. I hit the blood-soaked ground hard. I push myself up, trying to stay awake. “How pitiful. Even in her weakened shape, I can see the difference in your abilities.” He licks the blood from his knuckles. “And I can taste the difference in the potency of your blood. You know what, keep your weak blood. I’ll just finish draining her.” He walks in Valene’s direction.

  What does the potency of our blood have to do with anything? I look down at my claws and realize just how much blood is on the ground. The whole floor is nearly covered. The lines of the pentagram have started to shine. It all clicks. That’s what he meant by “I need a little more.” He was talking about the blood. It’s part of the ritual. He used us to kill the zombies and has been bleeding us out to fuel the summoning the rest of the way. I get my feet under me. “Don’t you touch her!” Rushing up behind him, I grab his shoulder.

  The Messenger spins around faster than I can see, his hand aimed for my neck. The skin around my neck grows hot just before his open hand slams shut around my throat. Blood trickles down my neck, soaking my shirt, but with the energy running through it, I can breathe easily. “Insolent worm,” he grinds out and lifts me off the ground. “That will be the last time you lay a hand on me.”

  I bring my legs up and drive my heels hard into his chest, where Valene’s daggers had struck. He drops me as he reaches for his chest. Landing on my feet, I continue forward, driving a jab into his face. He staggers away from Valene, placing me between them.

  The Messenger catches himself and looks at me, enraged. The muscles of his face pulse and move, covering the wound I just inflicted. “I think it’s time I kill you, then drain you and that bitch dry.” He puts his hand out. Energy gathers in his palm.

  I move right, keeping Valene out of his line of fire. He follows me, unleashing a volley of purple balls of death. I dodge them the best I can, sliding under them, jumping over and between them. He screams in annoyance, then switches his aim toward Valene. “No!” I run toward her. Something hits me in the chest. I can’t breathe. I look down to see a hole in my chest the size of a softball. Delayed pain surges through me; it’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s as if I have been torn apart—mind, body, and soul, all at once. I hit the ground, unable to move or breathe, my mouth filling with blood.

  “Kyle! No! Kyle, get up!” Valene screams.

  Through a haze, I see her trying to crawl to me, then the Messenger steps in her path. “No need for tears, my dear. You’ll be joining him soon.”

  No…Valene. I need to move. I have to…help…her. Everything fades to black and goes cold. Is this dying? Am I dying? No, I can’t, not now. She needs me. The hard ground melts away into what feels like water.

  I’m floating. I open my eyes to a dark abyss. Suddenly, my ability to breathe returns, and I choke. I swim upward. After a frantic moment, I breach the surface, sucking in air. I open my eyes to a sky filled with the colors of the rainbow, shifting and swirling like oil in water. A massive, rushing fall of shining, blue liquid pours from seemingly nothing into this endless sea. I’ve been here before.

  There is a rumble in the distance. The flow of the waterfall starts to diminish, growing smaller with every passing second until it’s nothing but a mist. The colors of the sky still and turn black. The shimmering light radiating from the blue sea dims until it’s completely dark. Everything is dying. I touch my chest and feel the hole in it. I’m dying. My eyes sting with tears.

  “I can’t…I don’t want to die.”

  From the depths beneath me, a bright, red light shines. A red blob floats up out of the water and into the air. Others begin appearing all around me, floating up toward the sky. The sight reminds me of a lava lamp. I reach out to the closest blob. At my touch, its surface ripples and then explodes, spilling the liquid it’s made of all over me.

  “This feels like blood.” The other blobs pulse and then explode, raining into the sea. A layer of blood forms on the surface of the water as far out as the light below stretches.

  Out of nowhere, a tingling sensation spreads through me, like a caffeine rush. The blood creeps up my chest and into the hole, filling it. A surge of white-hot energy shoots through my muscles, and my heart pumps hard with renewed energy

  I COME to in a pool of blood. The pain-induced haze clears a bit. The Messenger is just now reaching Valene. He stands over her, looming, trying to elicit fear from her. Slowly, a long, jagged bone about the length of a short sword extends from his hand. He jams it into her leg. She screams at him in what seems like both defiance and pain.

  “Valene,” I barely manage. I need to move. I place my palm down into the pool of blood and feel the same rush of energy that I felt in the sea moments ago. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, I reach out to the energy emanating from within the blood. “Come to me.” All around me, droplets of blood begin to hover above the ground. “Come!” I demand.

  For a split second, the droplets flash blue before turning jet-black. The black blood rushes at me and covers me from head to toe. A surge of wild, unbridled energy courses through me, setting my whole body on fire. I go flying through the cold darkness of limbo, my body mending itself. The rift opens right in front of the Messenger. As I exit, I drive my fist into his unsuspecting face with all the strength I can muster.

  The Messenger goes flying before he hits the ground and slides into the barrier. He looks up at me, his eyes wide with shock. “You? How is this possible? You’re dead.”

  “Valene, are you okay?” I ask, never taking my eyes off the Messenger.

  “Kyle, is that you?” she asks.

  “Who else would I be?”

  “How are you here, Betrayer?” The Messenger asks as he props himself up using the barrier. “You should be dead!” He rushes us, his energy increasing to a point I can barely comprehend, but this time, I’m not afraid of him.

  I meet him halfway, driving my fist into his rotted abdomen. He backs away from me, hunched over as his brown blood to oozes from every orifice and wound on his body. I must have hit him pretty hard.

  “You can’t be here; you shouldn’t be here! You should be long dead,” he shouts.

  “And yet I’m not,” I say, startled by my own voice. It’s deep, and it’s familiar. I look down at myself. My feet to my knees are covered in the same blackened bone as my claws, and my body is covered with shifting darkness. I touch my face and feel something over it—more armor? In the puddle of blood at my feet, I see what the Messenger is seeing, sapphire-blue eyes and all—the Betrayer—Shadow. I should use this to my advantage. “I’ve come back to stop you. To stop this summoning. They will not walk the surface of New Birth ever again.”

  The Messenger’s milky eyes grow wild with anger. “No!” His energy pulses out in waves, pushing me back a bit. His muscles bulge underneath his slime-covered skin, increasing in size, the missing chunks filling in. The blood stops flowing from him as he continues to grow. I just got the upper hand; I’m not letting him take it back. I dash forward and drive my fist deep into his healed stomach as hard as I possibly can. Bo
th the Messenger’s physical and energy growth cease, but he’s huge now. He gasps for air, setting his white eyes on me. He stands tall, now towering over me by two feet, and he’s as wide as a literal truck. Yeah, I’m in trouble.

  The Messenger puts both of his massive hands together over his head. My guard is up, and I form a small energy wall above me. He slams down onto it, shattering the wall and driving me to my knees. My whole world is rocked, but I’m still alive. A hit like that would have killed me if I wasn’t in Shadow’s form. He raises his arms for another slam. I punch him again, multiple times, in his stomach, making him hesitate, giving me enough time to jump out of his range.

  I assess my situation. It’s looking like I’m screwed. The Messenger is in a ‘roid rage, and the best fighter here is down for the count. I also don’t know how long I’m going to stay like this, as Shadow. Meaning, I need to take him out now. But how? If I spill his blood, coagulated or not, I’m sure it still counts toward the sacrifice. How do I kill him without spilling his blood and completing the summoning? I look at Valene, who is struggling to stand. Can’t worry about the ritual now. I gotta keep her alive and get us out of here.

  The Messenger regains his composure. “I will end you, Betrayer!” he roars as he charges me. He’s already on top of me, and before I can blink, he swings a massive haymaker. I put up my left guard, forming another small wall of energy. Again, his strike shatters my energy and sends me sliding back through the blood. His hands are poised high to slam down on me again.

  I scramble up and catch him by the wrists, managing to stay standing. With a swift kick to the inside of his knee, the Messenger drops. I swing my leg around, aiming a kick at his ribcage. Before it can land, he grabs my leg. With seemingly no effort, he swings me around like a rag doll before slamming me onto the ground. My consciousness flickers as I slide across the ground, stopping just shy of the barrier wall. Damn. In Shadow’s form, I may have more strength and power, but apparently, that doesn’t make me a better fighter.

  “You will not succeed this time, Betrayer. I will kill you again, and surely Lord Beal will reward me greatly.” He walks toward me, his hulking body casting a shadow over me as I try to stand. Taking ahold of my neck with his huge hand, he slams me against the barrier and lifts me until we’re eye to eye. With an ugly, broken smile, he punches me in the ribs. My mouth fills with blood. “But first, I’m going to bleed her slow,” he says, angling his head toward Valene. His noxious breath burns my nose.

  The pain in my body subsides as the words leaving his rotten mouth sink in. My chest tightens. He has killed my parents, Leo, countless others, and is threatening to torture and kill Valene. Not if I can help it. My skin crawls as the energy covering my body begins to change, reacting to my anger. It builds, becoming denser and volatile.

  “Get off me!” I yell. The energy from around my neck explodes. Chunks of the Messenger’s hand and forearm go flying in every direction, hitting the floor and barrier with a splattering sound.

  He backs away from me. Thick, brown, coagulated blood pours from his wound like a faucet, splashing onto the floor. His body shrinks, growing smaller every second. The muscles in his arm bulge and twist, closing the wound tight. The diminishing of his stature halts. He’s still big, but not as big as before. Bits of bone and chunks of flesh float in the tainted, brown puddle. I stare at it in disgust.

  Realization dawns on me. The scene of the Messenger taking over the dealer’s body plays over and over in my head—how the brown sludge forced its way into his eyes, nose, and mouth, before taking control. It’s not just stopping the heart that’s the goal; I have to stop the tainted blood from flowing. His true form is the blood.

  “You can’t stop me. I am a Necros demon. As long as I inhabit a body, I am immortal!”

  A thought strikes me. “Messenger, you’ve had so many chances to leave that human body and upgrade to a demon one. You had Heavy, Magician, this lot, but you’ve remained in that deteriorating husk. Sure, you can control a dead demon, but it seems you cannot inhabit one. So, that must mean the only bodies you can inhabit are human.” He just stares at me, and I watch him sink into himself, into his fear. Right on the head.

  “It changes nothing. You’re still stuck in here with me,” he says, readying himself.

  “No, you parasite.” I focus on the energy making up my claws and leg armors, willing them to become harder and sharper. My muscles become numb and frigid, relieving all my pain. The tables have turned, and now, the Messenger suddenly seems small and insignificant. “You’re stuck in here with me.”

  For the first time, there is hesitation in the Messenger’s movements. I got to him. The problem remains though: he is blood. Kill him, and the ritual will complete, but if we’re getting out of this alive...

  “Level ten, Shadow!” Valene yells from the other side of the circle.

  I take a deep breath and step back into the Lokar stance. “I’m coming for your head, parasite,” I say coldly.

  He’s taken aback by my remark. He raises his left hand up, energy gathering into it. “I don’t think so.” In front of him, hundreds of death balls appear, radiating with his sickening energy, but I’m not affected by it anymore. “Die!” They all come racing toward me.

  The energy surging over my skin grows more intense. This feels so familiar. I run forward toward the barrage. My perception spikes and time slows. I weave through the wall of orbs until I reach him. Time speeds up, and the Messenger is already moving to hit me with a backhand. There’s a pressure building on my skin, and it’s getting a little unbearable. That’s it. That is why this is so familiar. Everything slows again before the Messenger can strike me. The energy that has built up on my skin blares out, engulfing everything within the circle, and the Messenger stops cold. “So, this is what it’s like. Dance of Shadows.”

  I can feel the strain not only on my body, but my mind as well. I bring my claw down and slice his wrist. With force and speed, I swing my claws across and through his flesh, lopping off his legs and tearing at him wherever possible.

  Suddenly, it becomes hard to breathe and move. The energy, the armor, and the claws covering me melt away, leaving me exhausted.

  Time returns to normal, and the Messenger explodes in a fountain of blood and flying body parts. He falls to the floor face-up, his mind trying to catch up with the damage I’ve inflicted. His eyes widen, as if seeing me for the first time. “Kyle? What…did you…do?” he asks in gurgles.

  “Took you apart.” I stand tall and walk over to him. Through my exhaustion, the burning feeling returns to left arm. My claw reappears, and I prepare to swing it through his neck. “Now your head. For my family.”

  He starts laughing. “No. It will not be that easy. I shall not give you the satisfaction of your revenge, Kyle, nor a complete victory, Betrayer. Even if it means my own death.” His energy expands within him. His body bloats and swells like a balloon. I move away from him, and he explodes in a hail of blood, bits of bone, organs, and other grossness.

  A full blanket of brown and red blood now covers the floor and pentagram entirely. The star glows crimson red, and the barrier lowers, signaling the Messenger’s death. I run to Valene’s side, lift her over my shoulder, and flee the circle. Behind us, the soul catalyst bursts open. Waves of light, heat, and energy radiate from it as over a thousand souls pour out and swirl within the circle. Little arcs of red light shoot up into the air, striking at the whirling souls. Agonized wails fill the room as, one by one, the souls are struck, turn red, and plummet to the ground, where they are absorbed into the crimson pentagram. The statuettes glow white as a pentagram appears on the base of each.

  “What do we do now?” I ask, setting Valene down.

  She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a black marble. I can feel the power radiating from it. “This is plan B. A spell bomb. These things are made to neutralize all forms of magic by creating a singularity.”

  “A black hole?”

  “Yeah.” She tosse
s it into the circle. There’s a loud crack as the marble explodes, and the bright crimson light of the pentagram turns black. “We need to go. This singularity is going to destroy this entire complex.” The black light pulses and expands. It reaches high above, and the catwalk is ripped from the ceiling and drawn to the black hole.

  I put Valene on my back and run down the corridor. The building quakes around us. I try to shadow walk but can’t. Not surprising. I just barely have enough strength to carry her and keep myself vertical. The pipes burst around us, filling the entire passageway with steam. We burst into the room where we were originally summoned. I scan the walls for an exit.

  “What are you doing? Jump us out of here,” Valene says, panic in her voice.

  “I tried. I don’t think I have enough energy or focus to do so.” We need a door. Amongst the smell of mildew and mold, the scent of rain and fresh dirt crosses my nose, and a warm breeze touches the right side of my face. Turning toward it, I notice a bright light coming from behind a bookcase.

  I run up to it and put Valene down, careful not to place her on her injured leg. “Hero, what are you doing?”

  “Trying to find a way out of here.”

  “There’s no way out. We’re trapped.”

  I grip the side of the bookcase, yank it, and watch it fall flat. On the wall behind it is a door. Before I can test to see if will open, the door falls off the hinges, revealing stairs leading up. Thank God. There’s a loud boom, and the walls behind us disintegrate, revealing the expanding wall of the black hole.

  “Hang on,” I tell Valene as I lift her onto my back.

  Four flights up and my legs are on fire. I can’t stop, or we’re dead.

  “I’m sorry, Hero. I wish I could help,” Valene says against my neck.

  Rounding another flight, I see a door that says, “Lower Level.”

  “Just keep rooting me on,” I tell her.

  The whole stairwell shakes, nearly knocking me back. A huge crack shoots up the wall. Pieces of concrete and rebar start to fall all around us.