Sol Boxset

by Samuel Small

  A sound hit Jake’s ears, muffled by the water. He could tell based on the vibrations in his feet that Whip was drawing closer. Jake opened his eyes, straining through the liquid that engulfed his head, and he saw Sara’s figure, seeming to flow and move. Dammit, he had managed to get himself captured. Then something splashed into the water dome surrounding Jake’s head and darkness took him.

  ***

  Whip chopped into the back of Jake’s head, prompting the boy to fall limply to the ground. The advisor grabbed him by the belt at the last second and hoisted him up and over his shoulder. He glanced casually at Sara, who dared not move for fear of what would happen to her friend, then he squinted at the canyon floor far below.

  “You sent plenty of my allies down there, didn’t you? Why don’t I do the same?”

  He began to walk in that direction. “You aren’t the only person to have lost someone important to them because of the petty conflict your ancestors started. I, like your father, lost my wife. My son too. He would have been your age.” Whip held Jake, eyes shut, arms dangling, over his shoulder and glanced at the edge. “Once I’m done with the boy, we’ll see how your father likes losing his child.”

  Sara was scrambling to think of any kind of strategy to stop him when her eyes locked on a figure above Aquinas’ castle. It was no more than two dots in the distance, approaching at a rapid pace. Whip caught her eye and his body turned to see what she was looking at. Once it was directly overhead, it slowed for a few seconds then plummeted down at the same speed that allowed it to cross such an insane distance in a matter of seconds.

  Sara took advantage of Whip’s brief moment of confusion to launch an attack at his leg. He grasped his shin as Sara’s projectiles found their mark, leaving splinters of ice sticking out of his injured limb. At that moment Jake fell out of the air and Sara created a makeshift ramp so that he’d slide to her. The figure in the sky barreled toward them now. She had no time for this. Sara raised her hands to either side of her, allowing a dome to encompass and hopefully protect both her and Jake. Before the edges came together to seal them off completely a massive explosion hit the side. It was enough to send Whip spinning away, his figure just barely visible through the unsealed opening, off his feet and into the canyon. Little streams of white smoke came in through the fissure: the ice and snow at her feet obliterated so thoroughly that it was practically a gas. Awestruck, Sara brought her hands down, which melted the dome into a pool of water. Jake moaned, but Sara was too focused on what was going on to give him more than a passing consideration.

  Aquinas was standing in a crater in the ground, only it wasn’t Aquinas. His hair was standing on end and his gritted teeth looked sharp. The resemblance was a passing one but it was enough for Sara to recognize the demon from the abandoned town. He glared down at the figure covered in rubble and dust: Dante. His blood-streaked hair hung in his face, his body limp.

  “Dammit human. You managed to blast your energy in the opposite direction at the last second, didn’t you?” His narrowed eyes stared at Dante, and he seemed to radiate something more, a respect for the boy that Sara doubted the demon even understood. Then his hand, the nails elongated to resemble claws, rose up, energy gathering in his downcast palm. It was pink, but there was no doubt that it was the same type of energy that Dante used: Pure Sol. There were too many revelations bouncing around Sara’s head all at once, but the fact that this thing was going to execute Dante right here and now broke her out of her trance. She shouted while letting out a storm of her Sol at the demonic king.

  He batted each of the icicles away with his hand, which tore into the skin there to reveal blood and ruined flesh. He didn’t appear to notice. His eyes, the irises red, flicked to her and considered her as if she was a fly buzzing around that he would soon squash. Pink electricity flashed around his body as he slowly extended his arm toward Sara. She couldn’t move. Being looked upon by those dead eyes was terrifying, and it left her in such a state of fear that her legs did little more than tremble. The particles of pink light raced to a focal point in front of the demon’s hand, Sara directly in its line of fire. She was vaguely aware of something rising at her side, but she couldn’t even tilt her head to look at it when caught in the sights of such a terrifying presence.

  The ball shot out on a straight path for Sara, intent on killing her until a sword split it in two. Jake stood in front of her, gripping his weapon tightly while blocking the demon’s path to her. He kicked at the ground and charged for the demonic king.

  The creature was incredibly fast, moving well out of Jake’s way with a single leap. The crackling sound of the energy that now steadily raced up the demon’s body filled the air as it skidded to a stop in the snow. Jake charged for it once again, but the demon slipped inside the sword then blasted energy into his back. The trainee let out a yelp of pain and nearly fell. He managed to plant his sword into the ground to remain upright but his knees, on the verge of buckling, indicated that any moment he might fall. The demon gathered energy in its hand once again, this time intent on executing Jake.

  Sara fired her Sol at the thing’s hand to disrupt its energy-gathering process, however the lightning that now encompassed its body melted it before it made contact. She yelled, then put more of an effort into her attack. It yielded the same result. The demon turned his head to her, his cruel lips twisted into a smile, then returned his attention to Jake to finish the job.

  Neon blue energy tore out from Sara’s peripheral vision and split at the cloak of lightning that encompassed the demon’s body, rushing to either end of it in steady streams. The attack was enough of a shock to lead the demon to stop his assault and the energy in his hand dissipated. His red eyes stared in the direction of the attack, and Sara followed them.

  One arm outstretched, Dante stood hunched over and on the verge of buckling. He attempted to stand upright fully but winced and stumbled back into his original position. Blood ran down his forehead and dripped onto the snow, creating a bowl in the drift.

  The demon’s shocked face lowered, and he glanced uncertainly at his palm. Sara was initially unsure what he was doing until she noticed that the flickering lightning around him was going absolutely berserk. It twisted and flashed all along his body like he harbored all the energy of a thunderstorm in his diminutive frame. He raised his hand to the sky, where the swirling vortex resided. Sara felt her body suddenly jerked back.

  In an instant she was nearly 100 feet away from the demonic king, a blur racing across the space and heading for Jake and Dante. In another instant they were plopped down beside her. The cloaked member she encountered at the ruins stood over her, clenching his gloved hands tightly as he stared at the demonic king’s raised hand. Lightning flashed out of the funnel in the sky as if upon his command and cracked into the ground, seeming to pick up more power by the second. She glanced behind her, where the fearful Purist knelt, then to her side where her people were.

  Suddenly a weight bore down on Sara, so heavy that it drove her body to the ground. It was like the gravity in the area was raised by 100, she couldn’t even lift her head to look at anything. Several more cloaked members exited a swirling portal of darkness and walked over to her prostrate body. By some primitive instinct Sara knew that the one in the front was the source of this strange feeling. Their hood was up. Long, white tufts of hair flowed out of it. Sara could have sworn she saw eyes glowing from within the cowl before they turned their back. This person, who she got the sense was the entity known as Mother, spread her arms out and a dome of dripping wet darkness raced out to shield them from the increasingly violent flashes of lightning. Despite the fact that Sara’s working mind knew this was to protect them, as the dome closed around her all she could feel was profound fear. That lightning had picked up incredibly now, and the heat had created a dull steam of vaporized snow that rolled across the valley. She glanced to the side, where the silhouettes of her people lay within the fog. The lightning flashed and lit up the area with a dim color. Sara w
asn’t sure but in the instant the darkness closed off her vision, she thought she saw one of the bodies of her people morph.

  Then they were left with the terrible sounds from outside. Cracking as the lightning destroyed the ground underneath them, then the roar of thunder. The screams of pain from people – her people – as the storm enveloped them. She wanted to raise herself to her feet, wanted to escape this darkness that shrouded everything, but she was pinned by this intense pressure. The cloaked members mumbled things to one another. Sara couldn’t make it out, her ears too focused on the screams that filled the ravine, as well as the thunder and lightning.

  Then the screams were gone as well as the foul weather. One last roar of thunder bellowed, the last remnant of the sudden storm, and then the darkness of the dome returned into the hand of the woman known as Mother, pink lightning flashing along her arm. Sara saw her people in the distance, but something was wrong. She could only see their hazy silhouettes. They were standing, despite the presence of this Mother entity. And their bodies moved around unnaturally, twitching and jerking as if under some sort of spell.

  As the smoke cleared the entity known as Mother turned around and Sara felt her heart stop for a moment. Feeling returned when she realized the woman hadn’t turned to address her. Those glowing eyes were focused on Dante, who attempted with all of his might to squirm along the floor. She bent down to one knee and stared at him, then brought a hand slowly to his throat. Sara thought she was going to kill him right there and then, but her hand didn’t tighten to choke him. Rather, her fingers gently touched his chin and raised it. Dante grunted and glared up at her as her other hand made for his head. She was going to kill him now – her evil presence, even worse than the demon, confirmed it.

  But once again she didn’t attack Dante. She gently parted some of his hair that had become displaced during the battle, then stood back up. The hood turned to one of the other cloaked members, who extended a hand that emitted another portal of darkness. The woman known as Mother stepped toward it then stopped. Most of the other members had followed, but one stayed. The same one who grabbed Sara and rushed her under this woman’s protection.

  “Thanos, are you coming?”

  The man did not reply.

  “Very well,” Mother said, then pointed at one of the shorter cloaked members. He nodded and seemed to understand immediately what she wanted and crossed over to Dante. As he placed his sparkling hands on the boy’s back, Sara realized this was the healing they’d received at the base of the tower. He crossed to Jake, then finally Sara, before returning to Mother. She whipped around and faded into the darkness of the portal, the hem of her coat trailing behind her. Once all of the others had followed except for Thanos, Mother’s distorted voice echoed from beyond the vortex.

  “Do as you like, so long as it does not interfere with our operation.”

  The swirling portal condensed until it was little more than a dot and disappeared. With the woman gone Sara found herself able to move and slowly got to her feet alongside Jake and Dante. The fog was rolling back, revealing more than the simple silhouettes of her people. She saw the bottom of a bloated white foot. Sara knew her brain could register what this meant, but something told her not to think about, to just take it in. The fog continued to roll, revealing more features. The body shifted uncomfortably around, their long arms hanging limp. Their eyes were stretched out and empty. A Void.

  Not a Void, Voids. They were all Voids wearing the clothing of her people. Sara ran her wide but unfeeling eyes around the area. A lone Void that was once King Aquinas shifted in a crater. Magnum Undo’s forces hadn’t been spared either, they scrambled along on the other side of the canyon. At the far end of the pack, a Void that was plumper than the others stood, still wearing its regal crown and cape.

  Sara’s mind snapped.

  ***

  Sara collapsed at Dante’s side, her eyes devoid of all life. He couldn’t worry about her right now, though. His eyes were locked on the spot where that woman faded as well as the Voids that closed in on them from all sides. Jake was shaking Sara and asking her if she was all right, but she didn’t say anything, not that Dante thought it mattered. Her country was everything to her, he knew that much. And now…

  He glanced over at the cloaked guy, Thanos he thought he heard him called, who looked down at him. Dante strode over and grabbed his collar. “What the hell happened!?” he shouted, then gestured to the Purists behind Sara’s limp head, bobbing back and forth as Jake shook her. The Purists he brought with him were all on the ground and unmoving. If they were dead he’d—

  “They’re fine,” Thanos said. “Normal people can’t deal with seeing Mother, that’s all. The only reason you can is—”

  “Because we’ve built up some kind of immunity after dealing with the demon and Voids so many times, right?”

  Thanos only nodded at Dante’s statement then tilted his hood back to the Voids. The pink vortex was gone now, apparently being used to transform all of these people into their new guise. Now a bright sun mocked him overhead, blinding rays that bounced off the pale skin of the Voids that hobbled toward them.

  “Your boss, is she a demon?”

  “No.”

  Wind blew across the area, disrupting the dust in the crater made by Dante’s body. It sent long, looping snakes of particles across the ground.

  “I’ll take the ones here. You knew them and I’m not going to put you through that. You cross the bridge and take out the enemy,” Thanos said.

  “All right,” Dante said, then looked over his shoulder at Jake. He was on one knee, cradling Sara in his arms. “You keep her safe.” Jake nodded and that was all that Dante needed. He tore at the ground and ran for the bridge where a horde of Voids had begun to cross. As soon as his feet hit the ground, there was a popping sound behind him, followed immediately by the loud report of gunshots. Dante didn’t care about that though and punched straight through a Void in front of him. The bits of skin that adorned it floated through the air before disappearing into a plume of dark smoke.

  If Dante had been more competent he could have stopped this. That demon overpowered him, showed him skills with his Sol that Dante hadn’t even dreamed of. He twisted his energy, amplified his movements, and fucking flew. If Dante had trained smarter, focused on getting his Sol more competent…

  “Dammiiiiiiiiiiiit!” he shouted as his energy tore through the horde of Voids.

  Epilogue

  The needle whizzed past Jake’s head as he ran into one of the buildings for cover. He turned around once safely through the doorway and dropped to his haunches, leaning against a wall. There was a crash, then the light tinkle of glass dancing across the ground. Shaking his head, Jake focused on his blade. Ducking inside here wasn’t a good idea, not at all. How the hell was he supposed to get out? Something behind Jake shook the wall; that thing, shooting its deadly needles into the structure. He forced himself forward, turning around just in time to see a black needle, dripping wet, sticking out of the wall. It faded into a cloud of black mist, not dissimilar to how the Voids evaporated upon their defeat, and Jake was left staring at the splintered hole in the wall.

  A ray of light shone through the tiny opening, little motes of dust floating within. Through the hole Jake could see that the grass was green but somehow matted and flattened by the harsh cold of winter. Then that light was blocked out with one large stomp, and he could see the dripping wet, evil presence once again.

  Jake darted to the rear of the house, able to hear a pounding in the room he’d just been in. Still running, he found the back door and flung it open, then heard a large crash. At first he thought it might have been the front door but then he remembered that he had left it wide open. In all likelihood that was an entire wall that came crashing down.

  He looked down at his hands, just now aware of the weight of the sword in his palm. It was inevitable that he was going to have to fight that thing – that was why he was called here in the first place. I mig
ht as well get it over with. Jake ran around the circumference of the house, aiming to get a jump on the creature from behind via the wall it had just torn down.

  When he rounded the corner, Jake froze. He planned on going in with a big swing, taking it down with a flurry of slashes, but upon seeing the dreadful creature his body tensed. There it stood, a giant humanoid monster, black and seemingly made out of ooze that dripped off of its body and pooled on the ground at its feet. It looked around, its huge muscular arms ready to lash out. The creature had its back to Jake as it searched for the boy. Jake shook his head and gripped his sword until he felt his knuckles go white. Now wasn’t the time to hesitate.

  Just as the creature began to turn around Jake ran forward, brandishing his sword. He swung and chopped off one of the creature’s legs, which detached, wiggled, then dispersed into a cloud of thin mist. Still, that did nothing to deter the monster, who hopped up and down on one leg, turning to face him.

  Jake took a step back and raised his sword again as he was finally face to face with the beast. It let out a roar, its mouth a liquid mess that barely parted, and Jake felt some wetness stain his cheek. It made him feel unclean, and that was the last thing that made him snap.

  He thrust the blade into the creature’s remaining leg then pulled out violently, sending some of the black ooze of the creature’s body flying into the air. The top half of the creature fell to the floor with a loud, wet thud, and Jake jumped back to avoid being crushed by it. It continued to thrash about on the ground, arms reaching and clawing at Jake, but it was a pointless effort. Without any legs, and lacking the intelligence to claw its way toward him, the creature was helpless. Jake, face devoid of emotion, raised his sword and issued the final blow to the foul creature by stabbing downward through its skull, pinning it to the ground briefly before it too turned to mist that was carried away by the breeze.