Post by Guardsman Patrick on Oct 12, 2006 23:09:41 GMT -5
Chapter 22: Overwhelming Light
Patrick stood on the limb, standing slowly and carefully, making sure he caught his balance. He had to move now; he would regain his strength on the way. He had to get back and help protect the others.
As he limped through the forest he was lucky a hungry predator didn’t get in his way. He walked as quickly as he could. Every step he took seemed to pull from his energy that he simply didn’t have. There was nothing to do except to take the next step, to move forward. Patrick took each step in turn, grinding his teeth as he forced his unwilling body onward, dragging the glowing blade behind him. Each step made his body scream in agony. He hadn’t felt this weak before in his life, but he had to keep moving.
His energy was slowly returning and he began to walk a little faster. the Orb began to supply his fuel again, and he picked up the pace. This is why, he thought, his dad had never used this attack for himself. Patrick could wield the blade with so much more ease and power. If this toll had been taken on his father, it might have killed him.
Many frightened wilkers ran into the forest, making way for him. He felt his legs regaining strength and his arms were less sore. He knew he would be out of the forest (and out of the woods) in no time at all if his energy regained fast enough, but for now, putting one foot in front of the other was the main priority.
Zanthor looked on the radar of the tank. Four red dots glowed and multiple green dots continued to disappear, one by one. Zanthor didn’t know what had happened. Originally there were three smaller dots and two large ones, but now there were three large ones and only one small one. He knew Alex was fighting Shade, so that explained one of the missing dots, but how did one of the small dots grow?
“What is going on out there, Arcane?” Zanthor asked. Arcane sat at the wheel of the tank, steering slowly around the battlefield, trying not to run over all the bodies that covered the ground. The gunner sat in the Gatlin gun turret, firing at the new dragon that had appeared from what seemed like nowhere.
“The one in yellow has gone somewhere, either dead or just gone, and now there are three dragons. The girl is still in the fight, and the leader is fighting Shade.” Arcane delivered the report, steering through the path that had the least bodies on it. The gunner kept moving the turret, continuing his bombardment on the new dragon. He seemed to be locked on, but every bullet missed, and he cursed as it hit just behind.
“Where have most of our troops gone?” Zanthor asked, hitting the screen of the radar to see if it was just a bad signal.
“Killed. There was some sort of huge energy wave that wiped out nearly two-thirds of our ranks.” Arcane was annoyed that Zanthor wasn’t paying any attention to the battle when they had some chance of winning, but was always curious as to how they were losing when their ranks were nearly gone.
“So now they are up a dragon, down two warriors and they are still managing to stomp us out?” Zanthor rubbed his good eye, hoping that if its vision was cleared up some, maybe more of his allies would show up behind the long green line that continued to sweep across the small green monitor.
“Why is Shade not on the radar?” Zanthor pointed at the screen just as the tank kicked back, firing another missed shot from its short cannon. The blue dot appeared nowhere on the screen, though there were plenty of disappearing green dots.
“He might be off the radar,” Arcane said in a toneless voice. He didn’t seem interested in what Zanthor had to ask.
He might be dead, Zanthor didn’t understand how that was possible. He would normally show up. He knew he couldn’t be off radar, because the signal stretched far beyond the boundaries of the clearing. He wondered how his master would react if he knew Shade was dead.
“We’re taking heavy fire!” The gunner called down from the top of the tank. He was obviously on edge. He continued his steady stream of missed shots on the dragon before him, trying to gun it down. Before long the top of the tank was spattered with blood, and the gunner lay dead in his seat, his body pierced by icicles that began to melt in his warm blood. Zanthor climbed out of the tank, punched the dead gunner out of the seat, and sat down. He loaded the gun again, and began to fire on the dragons himself. He, in the first seconds, hit more than the first gunner hit in the hour he was perched on the tanks turret.
“Are you enjoying yourself out there?” Arcane asked as he looked at the radar himself and noticed that the blue dot was nowhere to be seen. He understood now that Zanthor was really not just asking to have something to talk about.
“More than I have in a long time,” Zanthor answered as the turret groaned as it turned, keeping the barrel constantly locked on the blue scales of the dragon.
“You better enjoy this while you can, because I think we may end up retreating,” Arcane said as he watched dot after dot vanish. If this kept up, they would all be dead in the next two hours, maybe less.
“We still have hope, soldier.” Zanthor said over the rattling fire of the gun, “And I don’t plan on letting it go.”
Sweat dripped down Alex’s hair, dripping off each spike in turn. It was getting hot, and this battle wasn’t helping him stay cool. Shade continued his onslaught, and the lava crept ever closer. It had already consumed a third of the tower’s remains. Alex only had twenty feet, if that, between him and the melting rock and iron, and now smoke burned his eyes and nose, making his throat sting.
Shade struck from out of the smoke, pinning Alex’s sword to the ground. Before he could even strike, Alex was already counteracting. Their speeds were matched, and their strength was the same. Nobody had the advantage here.
Shade’s black blade began to glow brighter and more intense. The blades seemed to attract each other then repel when they touched. It seemed the Orbs were the ones fighting, not Shade and Alex. Alex watched his blade grow brighter as Shades had. He felt more power flowing through it. It seemed to be out of control.
Alex struck Shade on the side of the leg, but only wounded him. He barely bled, and didn’t seem to feel it at all.
“You seem to be doing better than me now,” Shade said as he looked at the minor wound, one of the only cuts he had received from Alex throughout the entire fight. “That won’t last, because I haven’t used the full power of the blast yet.”
Shade lifted his blade and began to charge it for its most powerful attack, the Dark Beam. This attack alone could turn the tables and end the fight. Alex looked on, not knowing what to do. He didn’t even know the Orbs could use such an attack. That’s when the Light Blade's flames turned white. Alex looked down at it, not knowing what he had done. He felt the blade begin to circulate with power, too much power. He felt the Light Orb gaining control and himself losing control of that power. He felt it coming.
Shade looked on in horror, not knowing what was going on. He stumbled back a step, then another. Alex let go of the blade, and the Light Orb pulsated.
Alex didn’t see anything after that. He felt the ripple pass through him, and it seemed to ripple out slowly, seeming as if it was an expanding bubble. He felt it expand over the clearing, and out into the forest, and everything stopped. Alex felt Rachel and the three dragon’s fury and pain. He felt their strength. He felt each and every soldier as they fought. He felt their fear and their love for whomever they fought for, whether it was family, or selfishness. He felt Patrick as he regained his strength in the woods, frozen as he took another step to get back to the tower. Then he felt Shade.
He felt all the pain and suffering. He felt the darkness as it slowly took him over, taking control of everything. He felt all the hate and all the cold heartedness, and he felt the want for revenge.
Time seemed to slowly kick back into gear, bringing Alex back. He watched Shade fly back and hit one of the brick walls that stuck up from the ruins.
Alex saw the green aura around him, seeping out into the open. The darkness was trying to run, but was trapped with nowhere to go. Shade’s eyes were bloodshot and tapered. His arm was bleeding horribly and his nose bled profusely.
Alex stood there, feeling like he had never begun this fight. He didn’t feel fatigued in the slightest. He looked down and saw that his wounds were all sealed, and the scar along his arm was all that remained from his horrible gash. It was almost like his mark, the only thing that bound him to Shade.
Shade tried to stand, but his legs crumpled under him. He looked to his left shoulder and saw his own blade stabbed through. He was bloody, not even able to see straight. He grabbed the handle of the blade and tried to pull it out, but it remained unmoved from its prison inside the bloodstained wall. He was helpless, but he was determined to live.
Alex picked up his blade and walked over to Shade. He wasn’t about to stop this fight simply because Shade was helpless against him. He was not one to let him get away with all the torture he had inflicted on every innocent person he came across. He wasn’t about to let him get away with all the torture he had inflicted on him. He was going to pay for it all.
Patrick was running at top speed now. He had felt the pulsation, but it hadn’t hurt him. He didn’t understand what it was exactly, but he knew it must have been important. He had regained nearly all his energy right after the pulse passed, and he was wasting no time finding the source.
He got back into the clearing and was in awe at the sight. Men lay dead everywhere, and many others were screaming in agony as they joined the ranks. The blood covered dragons were ripping into tanks and bodies as fast as they could, but there was a new dragon, and on its shoulders was Rachel. He looked past them and saw the top of the tower, or what was left of it, sinking into the lava of the open fault. Alex was up there.
He didn’t know where to go first. Should he go to the battlefield to help the others, or to the tower to help Alex? He was considering the tower to be his choice, but felt a strong pulsing. It was good, and warm. It must have been Alex. He was going to beat Shade.
Patrick stood on the limb, standing slowly and carefully, making sure he caught his balance. He had to move now; he would regain his strength on the way. He had to get back and help protect the others.
As he limped through the forest he was lucky a hungry predator didn’t get in his way. He walked as quickly as he could. Every step he took seemed to pull from his energy that he simply didn’t have. There was nothing to do except to take the next step, to move forward. Patrick took each step in turn, grinding his teeth as he forced his unwilling body onward, dragging the glowing blade behind him. Each step made his body scream in agony. He hadn’t felt this weak before in his life, but he had to keep moving.
His energy was slowly returning and he began to walk a little faster. the Orb began to supply his fuel again, and he picked up the pace. This is why, he thought, his dad had never used this attack for himself. Patrick could wield the blade with so much more ease and power. If this toll had been taken on his father, it might have killed him.
Many frightened wilkers ran into the forest, making way for him. He felt his legs regaining strength and his arms were less sore. He knew he would be out of the forest (and out of the woods) in no time at all if his energy regained fast enough, but for now, putting one foot in front of the other was the main priority.
* * *
Zanthor looked on the radar of the tank. Four red dots glowed and multiple green dots continued to disappear, one by one. Zanthor didn’t know what had happened. Originally there were three smaller dots and two large ones, but now there were three large ones and only one small one. He knew Alex was fighting Shade, so that explained one of the missing dots, but how did one of the small dots grow?
“What is going on out there, Arcane?” Zanthor asked. Arcane sat at the wheel of the tank, steering slowly around the battlefield, trying not to run over all the bodies that covered the ground. The gunner sat in the Gatlin gun turret, firing at the new dragon that had appeared from what seemed like nowhere.
“The one in yellow has gone somewhere, either dead or just gone, and now there are three dragons. The girl is still in the fight, and the leader is fighting Shade.” Arcane delivered the report, steering through the path that had the least bodies on it. The gunner kept moving the turret, continuing his bombardment on the new dragon. He seemed to be locked on, but every bullet missed, and he cursed as it hit just behind.
“Where have most of our troops gone?” Zanthor asked, hitting the screen of the radar to see if it was just a bad signal.
“Killed. There was some sort of huge energy wave that wiped out nearly two-thirds of our ranks.” Arcane was annoyed that Zanthor wasn’t paying any attention to the battle when they had some chance of winning, but was always curious as to how they were losing when their ranks were nearly gone.
“So now they are up a dragon, down two warriors and they are still managing to stomp us out?” Zanthor rubbed his good eye, hoping that if its vision was cleared up some, maybe more of his allies would show up behind the long green line that continued to sweep across the small green monitor.
“Why is Shade not on the radar?” Zanthor pointed at the screen just as the tank kicked back, firing another missed shot from its short cannon. The blue dot appeared nowhere on the screen, though there were plenty of disappearing green dots.
“He might be off the radar,” Arcane said in a toneless voice. He didn’t seem interested in what Zanthor had to ask.
He might be dead, Zanthor didn’t understand how that was possible. He would normally show up. He knew he couldn’t be off radar, because the signal stretched far beyond the boundaries of the clearing. He wondered how his master would react if he knew Shade was dead.
“We’re taking heavy fire!” The gunner called down from the top of the tank. He was obviously on edge. He continued his steady stream of missed shots on the dragon before him, trying to gun it down. Before long the top of the tank was spattered with blood, and the gunner lay dead in his seat, his body pierced by icicles that began to melt in his warm blood. Zanthor climbed out of the tank, punched the dead gunner out of the seat, and sat down. He loaded the gun again, and began to fire on the dragons himself. He, in the first seconds, hit more than the first gunner hit in the hour he was perched on the tanks turret.
“Are you enjoying yourself out there?” Arcane asked as he looked at the radar himself and noticed that the blue dot was nowhere to be seen. He understood now that Zanthor was really not just asking to have something to talk about.
“More than I have in a long time,” Zanthor answered as the turret groaned as it turned, keeping the barrel constantly locked on the blue scales of the dragon.
“You better enjoy this while you can, because I think we may end up retreating,” Arcane said as he watched dot after dot vanish. If this kept up, they would all be dead in the next two hours, maybe less.
“We still have hope, soldier.” Zanthor said over the rattling fire of the gun, “And I don’t plan on letting it go.”
* * *
Sweat dripped down Alex’s hair, dripping off each spike in turn. It was getting hot, and this battle wasn’t helping him stay cool. Shade continued his onslaught, and the lava crept ever closer. It had already consumed a third of the tower’s remains. Alex only had twenty feet, if that, between him and the melting rock and iron, and now smoke burned his eyes and nose, making his throat sting.
Shade struck from out of the smoke, pinning Alex’s sword to the ground. Before he could even strike, Alex was already counteracting. Their speeds were matched, and their strength was the same. Nobody had the advantage here.
Shade’s black blade began to glow brighter and more intense. The blades seemed to attract each other then repel when they touched. It seemed the Orbs were the ones fighting, not Shade and Alex. Alex watched his blade grow brighter as Shades had. He felt more power flowing through it. It seemed to be out of control.
Alex struck Shade on the side of the leg, but only wounded him. He barely bled, and didn’t seem to feel it at all.
“You seem to be doing better than me now,” Shade said as he looked at the minor wound, one of the only cuts he had received from Alex throughout the entire fight. “That won’t last, because I haven’t used the full power of the blast yet.”
Shade lifted his blade and began to charge it for its most powerful attack, the Dark Beam. This attack alone could turn the tables and end the fight. Alex looked on, not knowing what to do. He didn’t even know the Orbs could use such an attack. That’s when the Light Blade's flames turned white. Alex looked down at it, not knowing what he had done. He felt the blade begin to circulate with power, too much power. He felt the Light Orb gaining control and himself losing control of that power. He felt it coming.
Shade looked on in horror, not knowing what was going on. He stumbled back a step, then another. Alex let go of the blade, and the Light Orb pulsated.
Alex didn’t see anything after that. He felt the ripple pass through him, and it seemed to ripple out slowly, seeming as if it was an expanding bubble. He felt it expand over the clearing, and out into the forest, and everything stopped. Alex felt Rachel and the three dragon’s fury and pain. He felt their strength. He felt each and every soldier as they fought. He felt their fear and their love for whomever they fought for, whether it was family, or selfishness. He felt Patrick as he regained his strength in the woods, frozen as he took another step to get back to the tower. Then he felt Shade.
He felt all the pain and suffering. He felt the darkness as it slowly took him over, taking control of everything. He felt all the hate and all the cold heartedness, and he felt the want for revenge.
Time seemed to slowly kick back into gear, bringing Alex back. He watched Shade fly back and hit one of the brick walls that stuck up from the ruins.
Alex saw the green aura around him, seeping out into the open. The darkness was trying to run, but was trapped with nowhere to go. Shade’s eyes were bloodshot and tapered. His arm was bleeding horribly and his nose bled profusely.
Alex stood there, feeling like he had never begun this fight. He didn’t feel fatigued in the slightest. He looked down and saw that his wounds were all sealed, and the scar along his arm was all that remained from his horrible gash. It was almost like his mark, the only thing that bound him to Shade.
Shade tried to stand, but his legs crumpled under him. He looked to his left shoulder and saw his own blade stabbed through. He was bloody, not even able to see straight. He grabbed the handle of the blade and tried to pull it out, but it remained unmoved from its prison inside the bloodstained wall. He was helpless, but he was determined to live.
Alex picked up his blade and walked over to Shade. He wasn’t about to stop this fight simply because Shade was helpless against him. He was not one to let him get away with all the torture he had inflicted on every innocent person he came across. He wasn’t about to let him get away with all the torture he had inflicted on him. He was going to pay for it all.
* * *
Patrick was running at top speed now. He had felt the pulsation, but it hadn’t hurt him. He didn’t understand what it was exactly, but he knew it must have been important. He had regained nearly all his energy right after the pulse passed, and he was wasting no time finding the source.
He got back into the clearing and was in awe at the sight. Men lay dead everywhere, and many others were screaming in agony as they joined the ranks. The blood covered dragons were ripping into tanks and bodies as fast as they could, but there was a new dragon, and on its shoulders was Rachel. He looked past them and saw the top of the tower, or what was left of it, sinking into the lava of the open fault. Alex was up there.
He didn’t know where to go first. Should he go to the battlefield to help the others, or to the tower to help Alex? He was considering the tower to be his choice, but felt a strong pulsing. It was good, and warm. It must have been Alex. He was going to beat Shade.