Bracing myself for the impact I saw as Marlex whipped his Gwan-do out at me, and the wind he held back was thrown with such a force that the trees around us snapped and broke. The other man held his hands out and a wave of sharp plants came out and vines wrapped themselves around the barrier. Some of the vines were burned off from the intense light, but they just kept on coming. Then when the wind hit I could feel myself slide back, not in inches, but in feet. When the next wave of wind came I could feel my feet fly out from under me. I remembered hitting the ground with a thud, after that I couldn’t say.
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Opening my eyes once more I saw that I was in some kind of field. My head hurt as flashes of some battle entered my head. Holding my head I fell own to my knees crying out, there was so much blood and so much death. Suddenly a flash back of my childhood came back and boy came to mind he had dark brown hair and when he turned to look at me I realized his name….
“Xeros! It was Xeros, Marlex, and… and someone else did this!” I cried out on the ground.
I heard a scream in the distance, and standing to my feet I pushed the pain away and ran to the voice. At the top of the hill I saw the battle, closing my eyes and opening them I realized that it was real. All of the apprentices were there and they all were fighting. Screaming for them to stop, they wouldn’t listen to me at all. That was when I saw Xemmsur get hit hard and thrown across the field. Lexian was bleeding all over and looked so pale, and Triskix was stuck to a tree and there where so many knives sticking out of him.
“N… NNNNOOOOO! Triskix, Xemmsur, Lexian!!!!” Falling to the ground crying I wanted it to go away.
Sobbing I held my head and curled up in a ball muttering to myself that this is all not real. I kept on saying that over and over again, trying to get this out of my head. Then I hear a voice and felt a hand, jumping up I saw RaXi standing there, but I looked like she could fade away from me at any minute.
“RaXi… thi… this is all… all a—”
“Where were you Nyx! We needed you, you wouldn’t fight. Now Look At Us!!! Your Letting us Fade, Nyx! All because you will not fight! We tried infiltrating Zero’s castle look where it got us!”
“RaXi, I’m… This… IT CAN’T BE REAL!” I screamed out falling down again.
“Look around Nyx, does this look fake to you? You didn’t stop Marlex and Xeros. Now we die for Your MISTAKE!” Triskix emerged behind Raxi as he started to fade.
“You just wouldn’t finish the job would you Nyx? Now look at me… I’m fading Nyx! Why wouldn’t you save me?” Xemmsur said walking up closer to me to witness her fading.
“I… I… didn’t mean. Xemmsur everything will be okay. I… I…”
“And How will you do that Nyx! You couldn’t even stop Marlex and Xeros. Admit it you Wanted Us DEAD!” Lexian nearly yelled out at me, hate danced in his dull eyes.
“No Lex! NEVER! How could you say that!” Reaching out to his weak form he slapped my hand away.
“It is your entire fault Nyx! It is your entire fault we are dead!YOU LET US DIE!” They all said in unison and it kept on repeating in my head and wouldn’t stop.
‘After the fight with Marlex and Xeros… they attacked them. They killed them all and it is all… my fault. I didn’t fight they are all dead. All DEAD.’ I said to myself curling into a tight ball. “Lexain, Triskix, Raxi, Xemmsur. Gone… all gone. My fault.” I repeated out loud to myself, as everything went dark and I thought that I was dead too, until I heard a voice deep in my head.
‘Wake Nyx. That is an order.’ The cold voice spoke growing louder, ‘Listen to what is around you. Don’t let your eyes do everything for you, use all of your senses. You have to fight, but only you can choose to fight to win or to kill.’ With that the voice ended his speech with three simple warm words, ‘Make me proud’. That was when I realized who it was.
Opening my eyes I saw the battle all over again, but this time it was different. Lexian, Triskix, RaXi and Xemmsur were all there and they were all fighting Marlex, Xeros and the other man. The rain was now pouring down on us and the sky was so dark. Marlex was in the air swinging his Gwan-do down at Xemmsur and it hit her with a force that sent her flying backwards. With a laugh Marlex went straight at her again, jumping in his way I threw up my hands and made a barrier that dispatched his attack.
To my left Xeros was attacking RaXi. She merely dodged most of them, but a vine found it’s way out of the ground and wrapped around her leg dragging her down. She tried cutting her way threw but they just kept coming. Using the barrier to push Marlex back I quickly ran over to RaXi helping her cut the plants before they swallowed her whole. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Xeros make those spike things again, and Marlex start to get up. On the top of the hill I saw Lexian get hit hard by a Pink ring blade throwing him aside like a rag-doll. “Lexian!” I yelled out.
I wanted to run up there to help, but with Xeros coming at me and Marlex up and going again, I had my hands full here. Saix’s words came back and suddenly my sword appeared in my hand, and I wasn’t about to ask why. Swinging it backwards I cut the vines that were on RaXi. A mess of green spikes flew at me and running at him, I cut threw most of them. Few that where small enough reflected off of the small shield of light I cast around myself. Ducking down I brought the hilt of my sword up fast and it hit him right under his chin, sending him fly up. Kicking him swiftly in the side of his stomach I used the small vortex of wind, Marlex was trying to use to draw me to him, to send Xeros at the whirlwind. Xeros hit Marlex hard knocking him down in the wet slippery terran.
Rushing up the hill I saw the Ring blade come at Triskix’s head. “I will not let anyone DIE!” I screamed out. Raising one hand up I called out light to repel the object away. Lexian was kneeling on the ground holding his arm that had a nastily cut on it. “Don’t worry Lex! We will get back to the castle and everything—.” The man with the Ring blade pulled down his hood and cut me off mid sentence.
“You will not get to the castle from here, dear Nyx. Everything is not what it seems.” With that the grass faded away leaving a cold hard stone floor in its place. The hill began to vanish and I found that I stood on a flight of stairs. The musty smell was even stronger, and the fake rain that fell from the false sky was due to pipes that leaked constantly from the stone ceiling. I watched as the image of my friends slowly faded away one by one. I realized that everything that happened was a test, a mere illusion.
“Our castle has its own protection, as you have found out. I wonder… what was your deepest fear Nyx? Fighting for ‘freedom and peace’ the rest of your life? Or never seeing everyone you care for again? Or maybe it is trifling then that, maybe it is seeing yourself weak. That you can not save the ones you hold dear to you, that you are alone… maybe?” Each word that came from his mouth burned, and in a second I found that I was not on the stairs anymore but that I was next to him, even though I never moved an inch.
"Our last conversation was cut short I'm afraid...but I never expected YOU to come back to ME."
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Sorry it is so long... and sorry that these parts are so late.
"If there’s no one beside you,
When your soul embarks,
Then I will follow you into the dark."
~Nyx
