6 Four

 

6 Four

 

After waking, the spirit inside let me in on the secret of telling time here.

It was a lot like having a friend on a friendless journey. My thoughts were his domain, and I too, seen his books as well. Sadly he had no knowledge of his name before the one given to him by the sixteen, which was number One.

It was a rough three hours, as One kept updating me on, I had been running through. A change of pace of walking; he granted me a vast supply of energy.  He had told me that this was the way to go and hoped that we didn’t run into ‘The Nine Holy’ he called them. A sect that he was part of, which makes eight left. Eight against the ‘two’ of us; the odds for survival grow increasing slim every second.

We were making excellent time. The trees moved in blurs, and the mountains seemed to be walking by us. It was a superhuman speed of course. No man could have caught up. Well, except one that is being controlled by Life.

“Aiden?”

“Yes One, what?”

“I think I may have found the way for you to release me so I can help in battle if necessary. I do not wish to test it now. I have no knowledge of how much energy it will take of you. But I am assured that it will be very demanding on your part.”

“I’ll try it in battlement than. I have a bad feeling coming up”

“Yes, you are becoming aware of your corruption as well as others…”

His voice trailed as if he sensed what was coming too. I thought we were being careful. It actually could be anything that dwells in this land. The power of Light has been sucked away by the Life. But still, I was sure that it was one of them. It smelled the same as One…

Explosions ahead of me questioned if it was truly them. That tactic would be useless. If they wanted to capture me, they would have used a surprise attack. The smoke from the blast lingered in the air. A silhouette stood in the center of the radius, as I skidded to a halt.

“FISSURE!”

A crack of the earth raced towards me, threatening to swallow anything in its path. I released Obtineo and swung it at the split coming this way. It stopped the magic from feeding it any farther. What was left after the smoke cleared there left a huge gnash of the ground, a crater, and another blue armored man.

“Aiden, this is number Four; a Baou. He is indeed part of the Nine, and is one of the guards. A much more powerful being than I. We are to die if we do not figure out to release.”

“I thought you had ideas!”

“And only ideas…nothing concrete. If it fails once, we are sure to fail too.”

I cursed aloud as an ominous wind permeated my soul.

“Ah Mr. Scott, we’ve been…expecting you” said Baou, “you didn’t happen to run into Mr. One on your journey here have you?”

“Say no, say no.”

“No I have not. Who are you Blue one?”

            His hair furled with the wind, being a dingy blonde. His armor also conformed to his body. It was no longer a man. Corruption had run its course it seemed. The cape he wore was pure evil energy, perhaps his in a physical form. He wore steel Gauntlets, sharpened like knives. The only charerestics he had of a man was that of bilateral symmetry. The ears of his being were long and funnel like.

            A monster.

            It carried a massive sword with a beautiful encrusted hilt and a blade covered in rivets and layers.

            “Lies! I smell him on you!” He swept his blade through the air creating a vortex. He did this three times to make a wall. I could still make out his figurine through the swirling tornado.

            “I will find One after killing you!”

            There was a bloodlust set deep in his eyes. They shone through the swirl like red rubies. The wall came at me with his saying that.

            I ran towards the impending barricade with my blade digging into the ground as I went. I was being sucked by the winds. Finally I was airborne; as I slashed each cloud and all disappeared respectively.

            “Trained in Art I see.”

            “More than you know!”

            Immediately and somewhat instinctively, I raised my left hand and clasped it whilst running towards the demonic presence obscuring the land. A good thirty meters away, I pulled my arm back and jabbed the air, opening my hand causing a stream of engulfing fire to erupt from my own. He merely adjusted the holding of his sword to cancel the stream.

            “Flame cannot stop me Blood. I was trained in a higher god; one of the ice, and storm.”

            One began to say something when I shut him up with my next action; jumping high and clawing at my heart.

            “I too was trained in higher gods; all of them! CEAL!”

            An orbed formed at my left bosom. Shining through my armor and the red it pierced what darkness there was, and breathed some life into the desolate area. “The god of opening and joy, the sixteenth!” A golden aura surrounded my entire being, and the white symbol on my back glowed with the strength of god-light. 

            “I will not let you live amongst the living anymore.” I could tell he was astounded at the mere fact that I could command such a god of great power. He shifted his eyes as the golden aura intensified around me.

            I held the sword of Joy. My Obtineo had transformed, along with my bodily characteristics. I felt content and with no rage. Just power…the power of joy. I held my curved and skinny weapon to my center, balancing my distribution of energies. “You are finished Dark one.”

            “A real challenge than? So be it” number Four chuckled.

            One now had the chance to speak, “impressive. I take it that you never had the power reserves before to command such a god of this level?”

            “I did, but only for short bursts; no human can for very long without…dying.”

            “But sir-”

            “But nothing!” I interjected.

            My legs buckled with that thought, and I flew towards Four., leaving a crater in my wake. I twirled my weapon as I went, and slashed, but he clasped it in his hands like it was nothing but a mere butter knife.

            “You must be faster than that, chosen of the Bloods, the son of Scott. No matter what god is aiding you; you will die by my hands, guaranteed.”

            “You stand in my path foul Fallen of the heavens!” I was pushing harder to release his grip from my blade. But my efforts were in vain and it didn’t budge.

“A waste of a human vessel.” He threw me to the side with the sword. My hand was raw, and the aura that circled was now dwindling. I was losing my power; my blessing.

“Aiden!”

“One! Shut up!”

“Release me” he said calmly.

“What?” I asked as I staggered to my feet and stepped back to make some sort of defense distance on my enemy.

“I said release me!”

The monster bellowed with laugher, “Mr. Scott, I can’t tell you how much I love when my prey is shaken; it gives me a sense…of utmost pleasure.” He licked his lips and exposed his mouthful of daggers. Continuing, “you know, I love to just see them squirm and try to fight in their weakened state, that well…I have put them in of course.” He licked his lips again and walked slowly towards me

“But how One?”

The monster droned on in his speech, but my own thoughts blocked his voice.

“There is a word; that upon exiting you vocals will strip any entity attached to your soul. I like to think I know the word after my careful study of my memory and my knowledge of all things intrinsic. It very well will be painful and a shock to your body and mind. But you must act through and tough it out. I am only free as long as the host remains awake.”

“Tell me One”

“You must speak an ancient of a word along with your own birth name. ‘Thryce Aiden.’ I will split from you until you collapse. Any longer, and you will not survive.”

I closed my eyes and took a breath along with steps back as if to say ‘ok, you can do this’. I heard him in a monotone still delivering his bad guy speech. “Thryce Aiden” I said aloud with jarred teeth knowing full well that even if the word was off in magical substance, I could be ripped away from all my energy and soul. Lets just say it needed to be accurate no matter what or else.

I knew not of what happened next anyways. I reopened my eyes, but the saw no color. Everything was with a flare; as if a perpetual wind distorted all. I felt as if a pressure was crushing my ribcage. I tried to breathe but lungs could not undergo respiration.

Faintly, as if in a distant land, I heard “what is this magic?!”

I fought the pressure and turned to see where the call came from.

It was immense and powerful and with every second I lost power and became weaker. I fought collapsing as well as I turned.

One stood behind the demon. The Obtineo, in One’s hands, stabbed through the back of Four.