Chapter 22: The Light Casted through the Darkness

 

        Skylar continued to run for about another minute after he left the temple, wanting to make sure that not a single thing was going to follow him and try to kill him for taking the Light Blade. Afterwards, he coasted to a halt and collapsed onto his back. His chest quickly rose and fell and sweat poured off of him as his heart pounded.

        The blond remained where he was for about another fifteen minutes. When he felt that he had rested long enough, he began making his way northward. It was getting late, but Skylar didn't want to stay in an unknown forest alone in case there were any nocturnal beasts that roamed the wooded area. By the time he managed to exit the large forest, the sun had finished setting. The boy didn't stop there though, wanting to press on further before resting for the night. However, after another half an hour past, he felt too tired to continue walking and was forced to stop for the night.

        The next couple of days went by slowly. The first was filled with a light rain that washed over the vast plains. This wasn't nearly enough to stop Skylar's tread northward towards the Blacklands where the Dark Blade resided, however. By the time night fell upon the continent, Skylar was completely drenched and the air was chilly, making it hard for the blond to get a good night's sleep. When he awoke the following day, the gray clouds that were once overhead were no longer in sight and the sun shined brightly down on the earth below. Skylar made his way through the plains at a faster pace, wanting to cover enough ground before nightfall.

        Like the previous, the third day was also sunny. Skylar continued to walk northward at a quick pace, his eyes fixed on the northern horizon, waiting for a change in the seemingly never ending grasslands. After a few hours of walking, however, the change of scenery ahead began to change a little. In the horizon Skylar was able to see the end of the lush green grass and the start of the barren wastelands.

        However, there was something else that had caught his eye – long before he even took a notice of the change in terrain. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened a little. In the horizon Skylar was also able to see a person, who was none other than Spike. Skylar nearly broke into a run towards the other male, but recalled the event that took place when they last encountered. He mentally cursed at this, certain of what was sure to come.

        The two boys continued to walk forward, slowly inching towards one another until both of them stopped at the borderline of the plains and wastelands. It was then when Skylar realized that Spike didn't have his twin blades, but instead only had a single sword that sat on the left side of his waist. Spike was able to see that the younger male had also changed his weapon, which caused the black-haired youth to smirk darkly.

        “So you have the Light Blade,” stated Spike as his malevolent red hues now went to rest on the soft blue ones of the other boy. “How nice of you to bring it all the way here to me. Now if you'd just hand it over, you can leave peacefully.”

        “Sorry, but I won't do that,” Skylar said. “I need it to help someone close to me.”

        The smirk widened on the older boy's face.

        “Oh, but surely you're aware of the fact that the person you're looking for is gone.”

        “No, you're wrong. He's still here, and I'm going to help him come back.”

        “We'll just have to see about that.”

        Spike's right hand went down to grip onto the red hilt of his sword. The blade was unsheathed to reveal the black blade that had energy of the same color flowing around it. Skylar's eyes widened a bit when he saw this.

        “You like my new weapon?” Spike asked, the smirk unwavering as he looked towards the younger boy. “It's called the Dark Blade. I'm sure you've already heard of it though.”

        Skylar mentally cursed at this. He needed the Dark Blade so he could take down Blade, but there was no possible way of him doing that if it possibly meant killing the one he loved.

        “Look, we both know that you're not strong enough for the Twin Blades,” said Spike. “Why don't you just do yourself a favor and hand over the Light Blade? You'll be saving yourself if you do.”

        “You already know the answer to that,” replied Skylar.

        “Very well then, it's your life that's on the line.”

        Spike closed in the gap in between him and the blond almost instantly before thrusting the Dark Blade towards his opponent. Skylar moved to the side just in time to avoid getting cut by the black blade before jumping to the side to create a small distance in between them. The dark-haired youth then cut the air with his weapon to allow a dark energy beam to shoot towards the blond. Skylar quickly reacted by unsheathing the Light Blade and emulating Spike, but instead having a beam of light shoot from the blade.

        The two energy waves crashed into each other, canceling each other out, before Spike charged forth and quickly closed in the distance between him and Skylar. Once he was within striking range, the older male starting to swing the Dark Blade at the shorter boy, who moved accordingly to dodge, letting the beams that fired forth to whip past him. After the fifth slash, Spike feinted a thrust before making another slash. Skylar took the bait for the first and moved to dodge it, which put him into place where he was open for the slash. Luckily, the younger boy was able to react in just enough time to block it. The dark energy was released from the Dark Blade though, causing Skylar to fly backwards a few meters before beginning to roll and slide on the ground.

        “Pathetic,” Spike taunted with a small smirk on his face. “But of course I guess I can't really expect any better from a weakling like you.”

        Skylar slowly got to his feet and looked towards the other boy. He wished that they would have never encountered like this. There was no way he could possibly fight Spike. The thought of harming the older male was just unbearable. But at the same time, if he didn't fight, he was as sure as dead. The only thing that seemed feasible to him was to play the defense and hope for the best.

        “What's the matter?” questioned Spike with a smirk. “Too afraid to fight me? I gave you a chance to give me the Light Blade voluntarily a while ago. It's not too late to reconsider it either.”

        Skylar didn't respond, but instead stood where he was with the Light Blade readied. Spike slowly lifted his left hand before shooting black fire towards the blond, who jumped to the side, barely evading it. Right when Skylar's feet met with the ground, Spike already closed in the distance between them and swung the Dark Blade forward. Skylar tried to dodge it, but still got a glancing blow in the left arm.

        Before the younger male would have a chance to do anything else, Spike sent a swift kick to the stomach. Skylar jerked forward as the wind was knocked out of him before receiving a harsh knee to the face. Right afterwards, the dark-haired boy quickly dropped to the ground and sweep kicked the blond. Before Skylar had a chance to fall to the ground though, Spike quickly kicked him in the stomach with enough force to send him flying backwards a couple meters.

        The shorter male slowly got back on his feet, wiping the blood off his face with the back of his hand. Seeing that the blond still wasn't going to attack, Spike charged forth again. When he closed in the gap, he brought the Dark Blade over his head and got ready to swing it down at the other boy. Skylar noticed this, however, and quickly decided to try to disarm the older male. He quickly swung the Light Blade towards the Dark Blade, which was also now being swung. The two blades clashed and the beams were emitted. Unable to hold onto them, the Twin Blades went spinning in the air, landing behind their respective owners.

        Skylar disregarded the Twin Blades for now. All he cared about at the moment was Spike. The blond stepped towards the taller male and threw his arms around him so that the side of his face was pressed against the older boy's chest.

        “Please, Spike, come back to me,” Skylar pleaded a little quietly with his eyes closed. He didn't want to see if Spike was going to try to attack. It didn't really concern him. All he wanted was for the real Spike to return to him.

        The dark-haired youth stood there, staring down at Skylar. Not a word was said and nothing was done. Slowly, his eyes began to change back to their original green hue and the real Spike gradually became conscious of his surroundings. The blond smiled as he soon felt the older male's arms wrap around him. Spike had finally returned to him.

Reviews

[Amund Schofield]

So... all it took was love to break the spelll over Spike? That's a little cheesy. If you were to give Skylar a purifying power (given to him by the blade), which he tapped into cause of the love, it would be more reasonable magic wise, and pretty, cause they would glow. So... who's going to wield the blades now? Also, are the villagers of Green Leaf still going to hate Spike?