14.

X.

There was a dull thud as metal crunched and creaked. Then an explosion occurred. A bright white light exploded in the far distance as the shockwave of an explosion rocked our ships. In that flash of the explosion, I saw the colossal figure that loomed above us it was a large shadow, larger than even the demon X summoned. It looked like a shadowy cloak with no legs. All around it debris floated, as if it had its own gravitational field. The rest of Nirvana was in ruins. The floating castles and buildings dilapidated or basically destroyed. But that wasn’t the worst part of this. In that explosion, the flash of light revealed millions of harbingers all around us. Divine harbingers, gods that were corrupted, were too many to count. They stayed there in silence, just floating. Then we were plunged into darkness again.

The entire space around our ships lit up with an orange glow. A single figure was at the centre of the warm glow. Horus. His metallic wings were spread and we watched in horror as the harbingers all swarmed on him. “Retreat!” He yelled, turning to face the swarm, obviously resigned to fate. I was already instructing Ko’vren to meet up with the carrier ship and jump back to Le’uthara when I saw a blue streak, going impossibly fast towards the oncoming swarm. That idiot, I thought still cursing under my breath. I set up a mental link with him immediately. “What the hell?!”, I yelled, banging my fist on the table. “You need to learn to trust me sometimes, man.”, came his smug reply. “Jesus Christ man, this isn’t a game! We need to leave now!” I was hysterical now. If they got him, there was no telling what would happen if he became a harbinger.

“We can’t leave” Eistibus' voice crackled to life in my head. “Something, or someone is blocking our passage into hyperspace. Portals are useless too. We’re trapped”, his voice was grim. We had to slug it out here or do nothing and die anyway. Just perfect, what I need to start this mission. “We fight then”, I said with resignation. “All righty... first, let me create some fighting space.” Tony pulsed with more shard energy now, glowing brighter. Then immediately, it died out. “Fist of the shard, transcendent skill: Quasar” A bright blue explosion erupted from Tony’s fist and travelled past Horus and straight into the swarm. They disintegrated with ease. I was shell shocked. He had just released enough energy to rival a major annihilation spell. And he hadn’t even removed all his limiters. When did he get so strong?

The huge shadow glanced at Tony and before I could say anything to him, he was already tearing back to us. A larger swarm chased him and was gaining steadily. “’There’s something definitely wrong with that one, it just looked at me and I felt this immense pressure. If I didn’t remove all my limiters, I would have died, I’m sure if it. “Get back here now” I said, already activating the index and crafting a circular shield around our ships, which had made a battle formation around the carrier ship. “On it, but they’re gaining, and fast.” Tony zigzagged, trying to put more distance between them, but they kept up with him easily.” A stray harbinger held on to Tony, making me hold my breath, bit he kicked it off and flew towards us. 

“He’s not going to make it.”, Míriel said with panicked eyes. She was shaking and trying to remain calm, but she was failing terribly. Maybe my suspicions about her being like M’gethir were wrong after all. “Don’t worry, he’s not alone. A bright red  glow filled the sky and there was Horus. He held Ra’s spear in his right hand. I figured that the spear chose the next in line to bear the power. The light was harsh, angry.

“Face the judgement of Ra, foul creatures!”

The heat from the blast tore through the darkness and into the larger swarm. From above the clouds, a warm glow appeared, finally illuminating Nirvana again. The Lord of the Stars had been restored. Or at least, that spear said so. The image of Ra’s head was engraved into my memory. 

The screams of the harbingers as they were burnt filled the air and they were vaporised immediately, bit a bigger swarm followed every time Horus wiped out one. Tony made it into Ko’vren with seconds to spare, with Horus, or rather Lord Horus behind him. The shields activated with a loud chime. As they collided with it the shield, they exploded.

“That won’t hold against the sheer number of them. We need a way out, and fast.” I wanted to punch X in the stomach, but there was bigger fish to fry. “You idiot, you need to stop doing things like that!”, I heard Míriel say. I stole a glance at her direction, just in time to see her hug him. “I just wanted to help” I heard him say, stroking her red hair. Yeah, right. Show-off. Trying to impress her will get you killed, man. Tony ignored me and continued what he was doing.

I tuned to Horus. His godly armour was gone and a dark haired male was beside me. His face was filled with anger and hate as he watched the harbingers bombard the shields. I didn’t know him much, but I heard he was a great warrior, a virtuous god, and by far, the most favoured child of Ra. “I’m sorry for your loss. Ra was a good Lord.” I felt him tense at my words, the muscles in his jaw tightening. Maybe that was a bad idea. Ra wasn’t known for being a fine Lord. Fortunately, Horus salvaged the situation. “Thank you, Xassin, but now is not the time for mourning. We need to leave this place with the Mind intact, or all is lost.”  I nodded and looked back out.

“First we need to find out where the swarms were coming from and then cut them off. Then we face the big guy”, I said, motioning to the shadow that just stayed there, lazily grinning at us, as if amused.”

Way ahead of you, Xas”, Eistibus came alive in my head again. It’s a harbinger portal, but this one is bigger...way bigger.” Eistibus worked with speed and efficiency, that’s why I trusted him with reconnaissance work. “Where is it?”, I immediately switched on Ko’vren’s cannons and readied myself. “Above us, but...” I didn’t wait for him to complete it. Shoot first, ask questions later. The cannons fired and I watched in dismay as the massive cannon blasts were made insignificant by the sheer size of the portal. It was massive. A whole town could fit in that thing, and there would still be space left. “Wow”, I muttered. It just keeps getting better and better. (Eist, Tony, M’gethir, I need you three, now.)

“Listen to me traitor, you don’t give the orders around here.” M’gethir’s haughty voice entered my head, I could imagine him snarling at me as he spoke. “You really want us to die here, don’t you?” Eistibus attacked M’gethir. “Father please, just help them” Míriel joined. M’gethir went silent, then spoke. “Fine, what’s the plan?” I eyed the shadow figure. It was motionless,, but I was sure it was watching us. We needed to act fast before it decided to stop playing with us. M’gethir, I need you to collapse the space around the portal, with your gravity spells, can you handle that? I asked as sincerely as possible, but he knew I was mocking him in style. He didn’t answer and just went to work on the portal, collapsing the space around it. The portal started shrinking. “Eist, I need you to summon an Angel, and clear a path for Tony. Almost immediately an apparition that looked like a flaming wheel appeared. It spun furiously, ploughing through the hordes of harbingers. By this time the portal had reduced, and I could hear M’gethir’s strained voice. “I can’t hold on anymore, Xassin. It’s pushing back.” Sure enough, the portal had stopped reducing.

I turned to Tony. “Can your body handle another Quasar?”, I asked. He nodded and jumped out of Ko’vren, going through the space created by the angel. He flew past thousands of harbingers and they all turned their attention to him. The portal was almost in range now as he flew faster and faster. The harbingers were completely bent on getting him now, as they swarmed the angel, finally destroying it, then continued their chase. “Come on man...” from where I stood, I saw Tony get dimmer and was thinking they got him when he suddenly flared up and died out immediately. For a few seconds nothing happened and we waited in anticipation. Then we heard it.

“Fist of the Shard, transcendent skill: Quasar!”

The sky above us exploded in a bright blue light that enveloped the portal, destroying it. A collective cheer went up and I realized I had held my breath for the whole encounter and let out a sigh of relief. I deactivated the shields and immediately reactivated the Index. X fell back towards the harbingers that were swarming towards him , exhausted. I summoned Irunyr just outside the ship and it sliced through the remaining harbingers. Míriel sighed in relief as Tony kept falling. He was safe, but...

“Its not over yet.” I said with gritted teeth and re-summoned Irunyr. The shadow cackled and I cringed. It was my father’s laugh, but more maniacal, more crazed. The shadow raised a hand and the debris that floated around it suddenly came floating towards us. I gasped when I noticed that they were not debris. They were the bodies of the Lords. Ra, Erebus and Zurvan. When they were just a few hundred feet from us, they started changing shape. Erebus' kaleidoscope eyes that were formerly dead sprang to life with greens and oranges. Ra's head flew into place on top of Ra’s body and his eyes now shone with a malicious red. Zurvan simply twisted his neck back in place and screamed. Then in unison, they attacked us, now primordial harbingers.

Tony landed on top of Ko’vren and grimaced at them. “What the hell?” he managed to say, before Zurvan grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the ship, shattering the top of Ko’vren. The system deactivated and it fell to the ground. Shit. “Sorry Ko’vren.”, I muttered, channelling lightning upward to strike Zurvan. The roof of the ship tore open, as the lightning blast hit him upwards, freeing Tony from his grasp.

“Brace for impact!” I yelled, just before Ko’vren smashed into the ground.  I looked up to see Zurvan about to smash into us,  and Tony is nowhere to be found. I raise my hand and a shield covers us. The initial impact shakes me, but I handle it well enough. Zurvan relentlessly bashes the shield angrily as his once mischievous eyes glinted with anger , an anger older than time. Anger welled up as I remembered that it was my father’s fault. Don’t worry my friend, it will be short and painless. In that split second, Tony kicked him mercilessly across the field, into a hill. “I’ll take that one.” He said, flaring up and removing the last of his limiters. I was about to protest when I saw Erebus and Ra land. He looked at me with knowing eyes. “You have to deal with them, remember.” I cursed and jumped out of the ship. Then I looked at Horus. He was out of the ship already, battle ready. But I needed him somewhere else, and I didn’t want him fighting his father.

“You need to be up there, with Zeus.  Protect the Mind. I’ll handle those two.” He looked at the figures of Ra and Erebus rapidly approaching us from the side. The urgency in my voice increased as I shook him. “That thing knew what it did when it sent Zurvan to crash us. It’s separating us from the others. Easier to get us when we’re separate. Go now!” Zeus, M’gethir and Eistibus wouldn’t last against the remaining swarms and  my father. They needed help, and firepower.

“Don’t worry about your father, I’ll deal with him painlessly, now go!” Horus nodded  and took off, his wings glinting in the glow. Soon he was out of my line of sight, and all I could see was the glow of his spear light up, I saw Ra leap up after him and I pulled him down with a gravity spell.

“Sorry boys, but you’ll be facing me. Erebus was already reaching out with his darkness to grab me, but Irunyr flies at the dark tendrils and slashes them to pieces. Ra screams horridly and pours out an orange blast of energy from his mouth. A sigil appears in my hand,  and increases in size until it is bigger than the blast. Erebus flanked me, trying to get past the shield.  A green blast emanated from his eyes and fired at me. Null zone emissions. Those things could effectively erase me from existence. The only way I could take them head on was with a shard or my demonic possession, which I was saving for a dire moment. This wasn’t it.

I put down the shield and jumped away, just barely dodging both beams. “Fortification of the elven god.”  I felt myself get stronger and the armour construct come over me. Irunyr appears in my hand.  Erebus and Ra were already on me. “Dragon’s breath: crimson fury!” Bright crimson red flames erupted from all around me, like an orb of fire, exploding outward, knocking them back. Irunyr appeared in my hand, as I slashed through Ra’s chest.

A sickly yellow glow erupted from his chest, as he screamed and fell back. Erebus gripped my shoulder, flinging me up into the air. Disoriented, the wind whipping in my face, I watch as Ra created a large spear, almost the size of a truck, and hurled it at me. The spear connected with my armour and pain shot through the arm I’m using to block the spear. I feel my fortifications breaking as Ra wills the spear to go through me. Erebus appears behind me and fires another null zone emission. I opened up another shield to block it, but it just erases the shield and continues towards me.

Shit, think, X.

Then I open a portal, that swallows up the beams,  and then I open another portal, just behind Ra. The beams hit him square in the back and he screeches again, but his screech reduces in pitch as he disappears from gradually, until he is gone. The spear follows suit and fades away into nothingness.

Erebus is stunned for a moment, before turning the entirety of Nirvana dark. I couldn’t see anything, but I could sense him moving around the darkness. I tried creating a star, but it was literally swallowed up. All of a sudden, I felt him coming at me with full force. Before I could even react, I felt myself being pinned down  and I saw two emerald green holes flowing. They shone brighter and brighter until I finally realised that he was charging up his beams again. 

Great. Just great. The beams fire, but never reach me, as Astaroth’s hand blocked the beam. I couldn’t beat a primordial without a shard...dang. As I possessed Astaroth, my senses amplified and the dark was inconsequential. I couldn’t sense every form of life on the ground where we were battling. Tony and Zurvan were clashing furiously, just behind another hill to the right of where I was. They seemed to be equal in power, but Zurvan was slowly overpowering him. I needed to end this quickly, before Tony gets hurt.

I grabbed Erebus by the face, ignoring the continuous blasts of existence erasing beams. I smashed his head into the ground. Flames erupted from my hand and burnt into his face. He screamed  and kicked but I held on. I can’t use any more power than this, have to save energy for him. I stole a glance up, expecting to see him grinning down on us, but I only saw darkness. Erebus tuned into shadows and slipped out if his grasp.

“Scythe of the Seventh, come to your master.” 

From the darkness above, an even darker shape fell to the ground and I reached out to touch it. It felt cold to the touch and the shadow dissipates to reveal a huge scythe, several times taller than I am. I pick it up and swung it around, testing the weight. It feels a little bit heavy, but nothing that I can’t handle.  I twirl it above my head and rush at him, sweeping low and going for his torso. A large hand clamped down on the scythe with incredible speed, jolting me forward into a fist. I block, but I feel my bones crack under the intense force. 

I jump back, recalling the scythe and healing my hands. Erebus didn’t give me that luxury. He grabbed my arm and smashed me into the ground. It shattered and cracks tore through the ground for miles. My whole body erupted in pain, as I gritted my teeth and waited. Erebus' eyes glowed again, this time a fiery red. This is different. Disintegration. Oh dear.  “Come on...” The red glowing eyes grew brighter and brighter like twin red suns. Then I heard the sound of metal tearing and the eyes stopped getting bigger. I looked down to see the tip of the scythe going through his chest. Immediately, he was pulled back into the air, and he started clawing at it, but it just dug deeper into him and slammed into the ground.

“Return to the abyss, from whence you came.”  An inky black pool appears underneath him  and drags him down, down into the abyss, where few return from. Erebus wasn’t one of those few. His screams echoed all around but was cut short when the pool closed. The darkness dissipated and my father was gone. I was about to call out to the others when I saw something in the distance. The hill that was there, just before was now replaced with a giant ship that I recognised to be M’gethir’s. It was up in flames and I could see figures clambering out of the mess. Then a huge shadow came over me. I looked up just in time to see the ark that carried the mind plummet to the ground. I jumped away as it crashed to the ground, making a terrible crunching sound as it skidded to a stop.

Shortly after, a flaming mass fell to the ground. It was Horus. He wasn’t moving anymore, so I assumed he was dead already. His spear was nowhere to be found. His godly armour was broken in different places and one of the wings torn off. In the distance, I could see the familiar light of Zeus’ electric discharge, M’gethir’s spatial distortions, and Eistibus’ holy magic. I looked to where Tony was and saw that the battle was over. Good grief. I wonder who won, I’ll find out soon. But now... I was about to fly up to join them, when all of a sudden, a huge explosion occured in the sky, shaking Nirvana to its core.  I watched in horror as the explosion faded and the three remaining opponents all fall to the ground, towards where Tony is. I start flying to where the fight took place, hoping to get there before he did.

I just hoped I wasn’t too late.