Thinking before acting has never been Zye’s strong suit.
Gut reactions are what he’s lived on for most of his life and he’ll be the first to admit they haven’t always worked out for the best. In fact, sometimes they make them worse.
Stumbling out into an enormous room with no idea what he’s to expect proves this well. He’s not sure what to do as he tries to get his feet steady beneath him. The floors are hard and slick beneath the soles of his sneakers. They glare up at them much like the walls around him. All from the pale, light-blue glow from the tiles in the ceiling.
A glance over his shoulder tells him he’s near the entrance to wherever he is. Rather, there are stairs at least. Before him are four cubes that go from the ceiling to the floor. The thick metal bases of them look like they come up to his knees. They’re completely see-through much like glass is with the two closest to him being empty.
One alone looks large enough to hold an elephant and still have some vertical room.
To Zye, it doesn’t make sense how Soren has pulled all of this off with no one noticing or word getting out. Moving away from the possible way out, Zye heads for the first container. He stands between the containment boxes with his eyes locked on Soren.
The man stands at a skinny, metal desk filled with glowing keys and a screen. It highlights Soren’s features as he looks up to smile at Zye. “Ah… You really don’t know when to give up. Did you think following me was smart?”
“As smart as you thinking you can run away.”
“Cheeky brat,” Soren scoffs as he presses a few of the buttons.
“At least I didn’t leave my friend to die for me.”
“Friend?” Soren pauses, his fingers hovering over the keys. The laugh is raw amusement. It starts off soft and escalates into a loud bass before abruptly ceasing. “No. She was a tool. A means to an end and so easily persuaded since she was a woman who lost everything. She drug herself back up, fought, fell in love, and then died because of it. How…pathetic.”
Zye keeps his hands at his sides, ready to summon his sword should he need it. Part of him knows he can’t get through this man on his own. Not if Soren can see ahead enough to dodge everything.
And even if he can’t, he can leave once he knows that this is the place Ren has knowledge of. In the same breath, he knows Soren will simply move again. Perhaps Soren would run away and they’d spend eons finding him again.
Or maybe, he can. Maybe he can do this on his own.
“You’re an asshole.”
Soren shakes his head and taps the screen. “She was no different than you, I’d say. Always thinking if you could change things or get a little further ahead. Maybe do something different. I have unfortunate news for you.” Soren steps around the console and sheaths his hands into his pockets. “You’re all worthless. Weak and disgusting.”
“How are you any different?”
“Ah… Your empty attempts to stall for time are cute.” Soren moves closer to Zye, nearing the other side of the large glass box. “I want more. I don’t seek the disillusions of making things better. I just need you all out of my way so I can do what I want.”
Summoning his sword into his hand, Zye moves away from the containment unit. He takes that first step forward to initiate the fight. Except his initial swing goes through the air where Soren had stood as the man hops away. Another barely misses Soren before the latter sidesteps, allowing Zye to take as many swipes as he wants.
None of them hit. Even the ones that get close have Zye wondering if Soren does that on purpose as well. Anything to piss him off and make him fumble further.
Zye allows Soren to put some distance between them so that he can step to the left into a rift. Coming out behind Soren, he immediately moves into another to appear to the side of the man.
Soren clicks his tongue as he moves away in time once more. His hands finally lift from his pockets as he concentrates, materializing an elegant dagger into his grip. The hilt is wrapped in a dark red with the tip curling back toward Soren’s hand, as if it’s a makeshift guard. The blade itself is short yet wide with a strange green sheen to the metal-like material.
“How long do you think you can keep this up before I get bored of you?”
“You’re not getting out of this.”
Soren chuckles as he dodges another lunge and strike. Instead of remaining idle, Soren slashes across Zye’s thigh. A thin cut that has Zye hissing through his teeth. Not that it stops him from trying.
He tries to remember what Ilista taught him. Small micro-movements and swings. Don’t be dramatic and give his moves away. Quick slashes over large sweeping arcs.
Taking a rift behind Soren, he summons another that drops a copy of his sword from above where he thinks Soren will move. He pinches an eye shut as another cut goes up his arm from wrist to elbow. Swinging his sword back around to Soren, he huffs when it cuts through the air once more.
A small slash to the back of his calf has him staggering forward, away from Soren, and spinning back around to face him. He’s getting irritated and wishing the others would hurry up. Jace said he could get to him, right? For a moment he wonders if he should send a message to him or Orion. Or even set up a portal for them to get to him if they’re still at that other hideout.
The tip of the dagger rips through the back of the cloak to render a deeper cut than the rest between his shoulder blades. The burning pain that radiates from it has him summoning a rift behind himself, forcing Soren to back away from him.
“Fuck,” he curses beneath his breath as he turns to Soren with a glare. “I bet you think you’re cute. You can dodge but not because you’re actually good at it. It’s just your stupid magic.”
Soren wipes the blood onto his jacket, chuckling softly. “No, no. I’m better than you, so you think you can speak down to me. You’re undeserving of the power you wield. You have so much at your disposal and you can’t catch me?”
“Coming from the guy that uses others to fight and take the hits for him.”
Zye runs forward into a rift that he sets up between them. The purple magic fizzles to life above Soren. The downward slash is simple to dodge for Soren. The arcing swing back up at him even more so. Zye rises to his feet as he does so, letting go of the hilt with his right hand to punch Soren in the stomach.
Staring down at the fist grinding against his abdomen, Soren slowly meets Zye’s eyes. “I suppose even you have tricks.”
He can’t pull away fast enough. Soren grabs his wrist and yanks him forward. Toe-to-toe, Soren swings the dagger from the side and buries it into Zye’s left side. Zye refuses to scream and instead clenches his teeth, leans his head back, and then slams it forward to head-butt Soren.
Soren releases the dagger and staggers back. It lets Zye switch his sword back to his right hand so that he can try to pull the dagger out. The pain is even worse when he rips it out as fast as he can. He can feel the way his side warms from how his magic desperately attempts to heal it— at least stop it from bleeding. No different than the other cuts.
Zye grimaces as he tosses the dagger to the furthest corner of the room that he can manage. A corner where even the lights in the middle of the ceiling can’t reach. He keeps his eyes trained on Soren as he returns both hands to the hilt of his sword.
Shrugging, Soren regards him with an amused glint in his pale orange eyes. His tail swishes behind his legs as he strides toward the console once more. He glances down at it briefly before returning his gaze to Zye.
“Ah, how cruel of me. I didn’t mean to stab you in the same spot. Tell me, how did it feel to be left dying in Daichi’s arms? Were you glad he was there to catch you? Because I was left wishing I had cut you in two. I had felt Hax’s power for the briefest moments and thought I could find him.”
“Maybe if you weren’t a coward you’d have done it.”
A bark of laughter echoes in the room around them. “Coming from the man that fights like a child. Do you enjoy running around aimlessly? Swinging that thing like it’s a stick?”
“Yeah well, you’re a dick.”
“Ah, eloquent. You speak like a child, too.”
Zye shifts his weight to his right foot, knowing full well that the stab is deeper than he cares to think about. “Sorry about that. Didn’t realize you were a prude. Sorry no one loved you enough to keep you from turning into a shithead.”
Soren’s gaze hardens. His smile twitches down into a frown for the briefest of seconds. “It makes you weak. No one cares about each other, not really. It’s a lie. One you’d do well to understand.”
Stepping into another rift, their dance of who can dodge faster begins anew. Soren, without a weapon, gives Zye a bit more freedom. He slashes and maneuvers around Soren again and again. From the left or right makes no difference. Each time he cuts through the air until they’ve moved well away from the console once more.
Zye huffs as he misses another swing that puts Soren behind him. He’s about to dash away when the toe of Soren’s boot slams against the back of one of his legs. Zye staggers and tries to stay up until Soren does it to the other right after. Stumbling and falling, Zye hurries to flip around. Anything to land on his ass instead so that he can hold his sword up at Soren.
“How pathetic.”
Soren steps forward. Zye can’t help it, the chill that runs down his spine has him scooting backward only to find that he can’t go further. His back presses against the base of one of the units. Needing more space, he conjures a rift between them— one, two, three, and four. All that have the tips of his swords stabbing up through them and forcing Soren away.
He dodges them all to return to the console at the center of the room. A single finger drags around the screen while he keeps his eyes on Zye. “Let’s see if the power that was given to you is worth anything in your hands. And when it’s not, I’ll take it and put it to better use.”
Zye pushes himself up to his feet and steps forward, glaring hard at Soren. He doesn’t have time to wait. He’s wasted more energy playing with Soren and trying to learn his tactics than he cares to admit. Shrugging the coat from his shoulders, Zye conjures a rift.
“You can’t dodge me forever.”
“No…that’s true. But can you dodge them?”
The rift he had created dissipates as his concentration shatters. The way the lights dim when Soren presses on the console concerns him. There’s a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that he’s missed his chance. It’s made worse when he finally notices the other two containers across the room.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Loud, penetrating thuds resonate through the room and shake his very body as the boxes begin to open.
It’s not that they’re opening that bothers him. No, it’s what comes out of them that has his hair standing on end. They’re both a very different kind of Nether. They’re not pitch black and seem like solid shadows. They’re a soft white from head to toe. Everything about the way they move screams ghost-like to Zye. Slow, elegant, and floaty.
Even still they’re different from each other. One stands at Soren’s height. The other Zye knows has to be even taller than himself, if not by a few feet. Immediately he’s glancing about to find somewhere to go that isn’t here, but not completely leave. There’s no way he can handle all three of them even in this space. He needs to strategize like Jace does.
There are the stairs behind the unit he’s in front of. The room itself is large except most of the space is taken up by these glass boxes. The only other place to go is a single light at the end of a hallway to his left.
Tightening his grip on his sword, Zye backs up to where he can stand between two of the empty units. “What the fuck do I do…?” he mutters beneath his breath.
On the other side of the room, Soren gestures from these strange Nether to where Zye has moved. “Go. He’s what you want. Plenty of energy for you to drain away.”
The smaller of the two moves first, stepping toward where Soren remains at the console. It doesn’t get very far before the other is behind it. The long tendrils come up from the back and over its shoulders as well as from the sides of its body. All six wrap around the other Nether’s thin body, squeezing into it with a force that has Zye staring at it with wide eyes.
Until he hears it.
A wail comes out of the smaller Nether that pierces through the air. The high pitch forces Zye to drop his sword, allowing it to vanish, as he clasps his hands over his ears. Even that isn’t enough to keep the sound out. It’s a shrill noise that feels like it digs into his very brain and has him doubling over, barely able to keep one eye open to watch what happens.
The last thing he thought they could do is make a noise like that.
Fear wraps itself around Zye’s very being as he watches the taller being lean its head down over the other. His reflex is to look away. One that he fights against to finally return only to realize it’s over.
The smaller Nether has no head.
It’s already turning into sparkling dust that shimmers under the muted lighting. Except it doesn’t dissipate or go away. The taller Nether begins to lift its head and that’s when Zye sees it.
A mouth gradually forms from the white visage of its face. It’s as if someone took their fingers and drug them through wet sand or clay, ripping streaks into the white countenance. Tears into its face that show a void behind it. A void that begins to breathe in the very existence of the smaller Nether.
It devours every speck of the smaller Nether before slowly setting its gaze on Zye. Bright orange eyes that lock onto him. A bone-chilling stare that has him sick to his stomach.
“Fuck, fuck, nope,” Zye spouts as he summons his sword back into his hand.
He drops the blade down and holds onto the ribbons of cloth that come off of the hilt. It takes one solid swing up at the lights to have the blade smashing into two of them. It causes the others to flicker and some to die out altogether.
Regardless, it’s all the distraction he needs to scoop up the cloak. He throws the hood over his head and sprints for the hallway. The way the lights blink out long enough allows him to slip into the middle of the three rooms that line the same wall.
Leaving the door slightly ajar as it was when he slipped through, Zye plasters himself up against the wall behind the door. His fingers tremble as he brings the cloak over his shoulders and finds the jewel. Fumbling, he presses his fingers harder against the edge than intended and cuts into his thumbs.
He swallows past the bite of pain and instead silently begs that this works. All he needs is the element of surprise. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll succeed in getting out of here.
“Please tell me you followed me, Jay.”
A second passes before he hears a noise. It catches him off guard. So much so that he almost misses the familiar tingle that he’s getting used to. The one that tells him that someone’s trying to reach him.
“We’re in the building and coming downstairs. That’s where you are, correct?”
It comes closer. More and more to where he can hear what it is. The slap of large feet that move quicker than he cares for. The loud sounds contrast to the creature’s wispy appearance. They come down the hallway. The noise of its tendrils dragging over the metal floor is a soft squeak now and then. Enough that it tells him it’s moved past the first room.
“God, I hope so. He let out this weird looking Nether. Hurry, please. Need backup.”
Zye calls for his sword into his grip and keeps it at his side. Fingers tightening around the grip, he can feel the Nether’s presence on the other side of the door. It’s standing right there; waiting, sensing, looking. It’s mere inches away, yet he knows he can’t rush this. He has to be patient or he won’t be getting the distance he needs from this thing.
All he has to do is lead back into the main room. Back to Soren and where Jace should appear soon as well. It’ll work out.
The unnerving silence has him wanting to move. He thinks maybe he should and he intends to until he feels something. It happens again to the point where the hood is knocked off his head. Whatever it is brushes against his hair as it does so.
Tilting his head up, Zye can feel the scream catching in his throat. The ice-cold fear that runs through his body and roots him to the spot is palpable. All he can do is stare up into the gleaming reddish-orange dots that lock onto him.
The Nether’s eyes don’t move and it takes him a moment to realize that this thing is leaning into the room. It’s bent in and over the door that it clutches. One of the long tendrils hangs down over its shoulder, the same one that knocked off his hood.
The same one that dangles down further, brushing across his cheek.
Immediately, he can feel it.
The cold sensation of the energy draining out of him is far more intense than any other time he’s done it. This is the tiniest of touches and yet with what it takes, he knows it should have been a longer one. A type of grip that would have the intent to drain in it.
Not something so simple as a graze.
There’s only one thought that shakes him from the fear that has him wanting to shut down. He’d much rather curl up in the corner of a room and resist crying like he would as a child. And he would if it wasn’t for the fact that he knows he can’t let this abomination get out of here any more than Soren.
Zye shoves away from the wall and spins around. Both hands clasp around the sword’s hilt as he holds it out in front of himself. As he does, the Nether takes that as a sign that Zye won’t be giving up.
The door creaks before it breaks in half. Ripped from the hinges, it clatters to the ground as the Nether ambles forward. The room isn’t like the other and forces the Nether to bend ever-so-slightly, its head hanging forward to not hit the ceiling.
Tendrils slip from its shoulders and slap down against the ground. They’re as long as the being’s body itself. Two slither forward toward Zye’s feet. He’s quick to slash at them. Except it does nothing. They regrow to the length they were and continue for him as the Nether inches closer.
There’s only the length of his sword between them as he looks up at the Nether’s face. He can’t stop the way his fingers tremble around the grip of his sword or his knees from shaking the longer he stands still. And yet he can’t run.
Lucile.
She could speak— she could comprehend and reply once she had their energy.
“God dammit… You don’t want to do this. You can understand me, right?”
It tilts its head as it dips its countenance down away from the ceiling. Doing so has Zye trying not to stare at the void between the rips in its otherwise white face. It’s even harder not to flinch when the Nether seemingly breathes on him.
Ice-cold breath. As if he’s opened one of those large, industrial walk-in freezers that immediately make your cheeks flush from the cold if you go inside. His lips quiver as he tries one last time.
“He did this to you. Not me.”
“A blessing…” comes the deep rumble of a reply. A noise that’s not in his head and yet it feels as though it pierces into his brain. “My reward.”
“He’s just going to kill you when he’s done! You have to know that.”
“Do… Have watched…” It slowly shakes its head and draws its tentacles up, preparing to attack. “He cannot… Or you.”
Zye slashes up through one and then back down through another. Cut in half, the parts that hit the ground by him turn into white smoke. Even so, they’re already growing back out. The other four sway like snakes judging his next move.
Taking a deep breath, Zye cuts through a third and tries to take a step back. He doesn’t get away without a burning sensation racing up across his arm. Zye immediately moves back into a rift to come out on the other side of the Nether. He sprints forward to skid out of the room while pulling the remainder of the door shut.
The fact that he didn’t even see the attack, only felt it, scares him the most. He wasn’t ready for that and he knows he can’t deal with it on his own. Not when he has Soren to worry about.
Stumbling out into the hall as blood drips down from the long cut along the side of his arm, he glares at Soren walking toward him. A wicked smile curls along his lips as he stops halfway between Zye and his exit.
“And where are you going this time?”
“The hell is wrong with you? Are you fucking stupid? That thing can kill us!” Zye shouts as he stomps forward, gesturing wildly with his uninjured arm.
The words barely leave his lips before the door explodes forward. Rather, what was left of it. It slams into the wall with the wood splintering before it slides down to the floor. Flinching from the sound of the impact, Zye makes a split-second decision.
Fight or flight.
Transparent, glowing horns of purple tipped in blue curl up from his forehead and over the top of his head. They flicker like flames as his eyes glow against the dark sclera. He steps into the rift he conjures before himself and appears on the other side of Soren.
The intent is to try and get away while also diverting that thing’s attention to Soren.
Except it’s just as fast as he is.
The pressure of the Nether’s presence has Zye unable to move. He doesn’t know anything other than the fact that one tendril wraps around his waist. It slings him back the way both of them came. As it does, the other tentacles slam up into the ceiling of the threshold.
The plaster from the ceiling, rock, and other rubble collapse before it until no escape is possible. There are only a few pockets of light that seep through from the other room. Zye pushes himself up from where he lies on the ground to watch as the Nether slowly turns, its head tilting back and forth as it looks at them.
Zye glances off to the left to see Soren pushing himself up from the floor. Leaning against the wall, Soren glares at the Nether. Blood drips from his forehead and down his nose as he does. “You will listen to me!” he commands.
“Promised reward.”
Soren gestures wildly over at Zye with his hands. “He’s right there. Now protect me!”
The Nether slowly turns its gaze away from Soren and to where Zye braces himself against the wall. The horns still flicker vibrantly over his hair as he brings his sword back in front of himself.
“Fine. I’ll cleanse you too. What are you waiting for?”
The Nether lunges forward past Soren to get to Zye. The latter ducks under a swing of one tentacle, slices through the one coming for his feet, and drops into a rift before the third can knock him in the head. Coming out of one above and behind the Nether, Zye cuts down along its back.
An attack he thinks is crafty until the Nether steps forward and turns, whipping a tendril at him so quickly that all he can do is brace for the impact. It slams him into the wall and knocks the air out of him.
Dents appear in the wall from where he hit it. More weave out around him like a spider web as the Nether slams another tentacle at him. This time, Zye turns the sword to cut through it instead of blocking it. Zye slashes through the next one that swings at him before shoving away from the wall.
He can feel the way his body aches from the impact. And yet at the same time, he can feel the warmth of the magic thrumming beneath his skin. It mimics the pulse he no longer has. If he can keep it tame, he’ll outlast them both until Jace gets here with backup.
Stepping back into a rift, he comes out on the other side. While three of its tendrils are regenerating, Zye cuts through two of the others. The third he ducks under and slips back into a rift. Back behind it, he slashes at one of its legs.
An attack that doesn’t go unnoticed. The last tendril whips back and catches him in the side. Zye grits his teeth and continues cutting into its thigh until he can feel the tentacle sharpening. It begins to slowly slice into his side where Soren previously stabbed him.
Forced to rift back to the other side of the room, he summons four rifts. One on each side of the Nether for swords to stab out of them and to it. Two of its newly formed tendrils snag the blades and throw them to the floor. The others pierce into its body yet don’t slow it down in the slightest.
“Zye!”
Perking up immediately, Zye peers past the Nether to search for where Jace’s voice is coming from. Except as he does, he sees the way Soren is opening a portal to escape.
“Kinda busy!” he yells back as he runs toward the Nether. A rift appears at the last second and he lunges through it. Just in time to miss an attack and come out beside Soren. Zye grabs him by the shoulder and slams him up against the wall. “No, you don’t you piece of shi— nngh!”
A tendril wraps around his ankle and yanks.
Zye drops his sword on instinct. He wraps his arms around his head as he hits the ground hard. Head spinning as he turns onto his back, Zye dismisses the sword before Soren can grab it. It appears in his grasp in time to slice at the tentacle and then the one that stabs down at him as well.
Rolling over and shoving himself to his feet, Zye’s vision wavers. For a moment, he can see it. His senses draw his attention to the middle of the torso where the small ball of light resides. A tiny core that he knows he can still hit since he knows where it is. Lunging his sword forward, he pierces through the middle of the Nether.
“What the…fuck?” he mumbles to himself.
His eyes train on the light he had aimed for as it dodges his attack. It moves further down the Nether’s body to reside in its right knee instead. The tendril that wraps around his sword even as it slices through it has his vision shifting back to normal.
Zye yanks his sword back and prepares to slash for the knee when another wriggling tentacle comes around the Nether’s side. It’s blunt and hard as a brick as it slams into his chest. It knocks Zye off his feet while also sending him sliding back down the hallway to where Soren stands.
Right at his feet.
Rolling to the side, Zye narrowly misses the heel of Soren’s boot that was aimed at his face. He brings his elbow down onto Soren’s toes, pleased that it makes Soren hop away from him from the sudden pain. Something he apparently didn’t try to dodge or see coming.
Not that Zye cares.
He’s too busy getting back up on his feet and adjusting his grip on his sword. All while keeping enough space between his two foes as he’s trapped between them. Far too distracted with the fight, he doesn’t hear or know that Jace has been rolling and lifting rubble away. What doesn’t move he’s even tried melting down if it could help him get a better hold on it.
Zye glances back at the exasperated gasp Soren lets out. The man glares past Zye. “Where are you going?”
Taking a chance, Zye turns to the side enough to keep Soren in his peripheral. All so he can check on the Nether he had looked away from. Just in time to see it beginning to crawl into the dark void it’s created at the dead end of the corridor.
It’s not like his rifts or even the portals they use for travel. It’s pitch black and drips both up and down the wall. Half of the Nether is already through with only one leg and its tentacles left to pull through.
“No, no, no!”
Zye sprints forward into a rift of his own making. He can’t let it get out, not something they don’t have any idea what it can do. The rift lets him reach the far wall just as the Nether vanishes through it. The darkness slowly begins to drain in on itself like water down a drain.
At first, he reaches out to touch it only to immediately yank his hand away. A cold, numbing sensation spreads out over his fingers that touched it. It’s accompanied by the feeling of pin-pricks that have him staring down at his fingers to make sure they’re okay.
For a moment, he thinks some of the color has drained from his skin. It reminds him of Ayre and how not cleansing affects them. Yet when he blinks, it’s gone and the feeling is as well.
“Ah, the calvary is here I see.”
Zye turns, watching as strings shoot through a small gap that Jace has made in the rubble. They wrap around one of Soren’s arms, tight and unrelenting. Zye glances down at his hand one last time before striding back over to where Soren stands.
Each step tells him how low he’s getting on magic. Callua’s words ring in his mind. He pushes it, forcing the form to remain steady even though he feels like he could drop. It has him realizing that the amount of energy that Nether stole from him was more than he had originally thought.
“You’re done.”
Soren chuckles as he gets closer, holding up his free hand so that Zye stops in his tracks. “You know. It wasn’t hard to track Jace despite how stealthy he tried to be since Ren is quite the bloodhound. I didn’t know why he went to that house and I didn’t care until you were spotted.”
Zye watches as Soren lifts that hand up to his face. Closer and closer until he brings his finger up to his mouth. Lips part and Zye stares at how Soren sucks the ring off his finger— swallowing it.
“What did you… Why?”
The dark-haired man tilts his head in a circle, enjoying the way the joints crack with relief as he closes his eyes. All the while, he tenses his arm and pulls against the strings Orion keeps wrapped around it. Unprepared for what Soren just did, Orion’s strings snap.
Soren opens his eyes as the amount of energy the ring has absorbed begins to take effect. The once pale orange eyes slowly darken until there’s nothing but black— eye, sclera, iris.
It’s all gone. They’re but a black void and from them the inky black begins to drip down and stain his cheeks like tears.
Across his countenance, the tell-tale sign of a Nether begins to show. Glowing blue, crackling veins zigzag through every inch of skin that can be seen. They don’t seem like they’re under the surface where true veins would be. These are scratches into his skin that the black tears drip into and over before landing on his shirt.
Zye holds his sword steady as he takes a cautious step backward.
“I thought you were like me at first. Given a life you’d never love. Fighting and clawing your way up from the gutter. Doing whatever it took even if it killed you.”
A single dark tendril sprouts from Soren’s back as he ambles forward. It extends until he’s close enough to Zye to slap it toward him. An action that Zye easily parries before slicing through it. It’s barely turned to dust before another curls out of Soren’s back to take its place.
“Except you weren’t. You were kind. You worried about your coworkers and buckled under Daichi’s petty demands.”
Every step away has Soren encroaching forward. Each one is accented by a tendril that slings forward over Soren’s shoulder to try and swipe at Zye. Not one stands a chance against Zye’s blade and how it cuts through them.
A fatal mistake to think he has the upper hand with Soren in this form. Something no one knows the extent of.
Soren slips to the left and brings the tendril down. It dips beneath the swipe of Zye’s sword and slams against his stomach. The force sends him slinging into the metal wall. It knocks the sense out of Zye as he tries to right himself.
The attack was far stronger and faster than anything Soren has done. To the point where the metal has dented ever-so-slightly and bent in around where Zye’s back slammed into it. An attack so strong that his shoulders ache while it also feels as though someone has sat on his back.
Trying to pull away from the wall, he looks up as Soren stops before him. There’s no way he can get off a swing. Allowing the sword to dissolve back into the ether, Zye attempts a direct punch. One that he expects to be seen coming.
Except Soren doesn’t dodge.
At the last second, Soren grabs Zye’s fist with a grin that begins to curl up the corners of his mouth. Zye knows he fell into the trap when Soren begins to twist Zye’s fist in his grasp. It’s a grip that has Zye trying to pull away and yet it’s stronger than Ilista when she’d bat him around in training.
A small ball of panic forms as the pain sparks up from his wrist to his shoulder the harder Soren turns his wrist. Zye tightens his grip on the sword he summons and brings his other fist up, punching Soren across the face.
Soren, letting go, stumbles back with a tongue sweeping out to lick at the blood dripping from his nose to his lips. A deep, burnt orange color that nearly matches the oozing darkness from his eyes. Soren reaches up, brushing his hand through his hair while he pulls out the dagger he had retrieved.
“Wish you’d shut up and fight.”
“Is that so?” Soren chuckles as he sweeps another tendril that Zye cuts down, all while skipping to the side. “You know. I made sure I tried to kill you before Hax could play with his new toy. It was harder than I thought with Jace breathing down your neck.”
Zye ducks beneath another swing and shifts, putting his back to the strings that slither along the floor toward him. They’re planning, he knows they are. It’s why he takes a deep breath and summons a rift on the other side of it. The hold on his magic wavers as he realizes he’s reaching his limit.
He manifests a second sword and stares hard at Soren. “Sorry your life is so hard.”
“Weak! Pathetic. Nowhere good enough to be a tool.” Soren closes the distance between them, his tendrils slamming down onto Zye’s blades as he blocks each hit. “I won’t kill you, Zye. I’ll make sure you watch as I do so to everyone on the other side of that rubble.”
Zye shoves Soren back and throws one sword at him. A spiraling arc through the air that Soren easily sidesteps. He doesn’t get any further with Jace suddenly beside him. He exits the rift Zye had summoned and catches the blade by the hilt.
A spin of his wrist and he stabs it down into Soren’s foot. The dripping tentacles whip out toward Jace. One he grabs and incinerates while the second he rips in half as he’s shoved away.
“Shame we can get around all that rock, isn’t it Soren?” Jace remarks.
Jace shoves away from the wall, disliking the narrow corridor’s constraints, and grabs for the tendril that’s growing back to full length. As he does, Zye runs forward and brings his sword down on Soren.
Unable to run, the blade cuts into Soren’s shoulder. He takes the hit only to swing his other arm, blindly stabbing the dagger into Zye’s thigh. The second appendage curls up and around Soren. It slams into the side of Zye’s head with all of the force behind it to have Zye’s vision sparkling.
Hard enough that he bites his lip and ambles backward. Doing so has him cutting across Soren’s chest as he does. Except there’s no blood that drips from the wound. Only more of that ooze that stains the man’s clothes until they’re the same color.
Zye reaches down and yanks the dagger out, tossing it away. He calls back the second sword and rushes Soren. The man is spinning around, swinging his tentacles at Jace in a flurry of motion. Zye prays for the distraction as he slides closer, bringing one sword down in a vertical arc and the other from the side.
The first is caught by a tendril that wraps around the blade even as it begins to disintegrate. The other is too focused on Jace and allows Zye to slash into Soren’s waist. Jace catches the third one that flicks toward him in both hands. Fire burns through it with ease as he allows more of his power to come alive. The flames eat through the tendril as well as crawling up it and trying to catch Soren’s back on fire.
Except the pain has Soren throwing his head back with a roar. At least five more tendrils rip through his back with no aim to where they hit or sling. It forces both Zye and Jace to back up while Soren puts out the fire. As he straightens back up, he pauses, struggling to turn himself back toward Zye.
His head turns a bit too far with the tentacles shuddering against the unseen strings wrapping around his body. There, just inside the hallway behind Zye, are Orion and Callua. She has an orb of water conjured in her hands. From the bottom of it, it drips down to the floor and has spread all the way to where Jace stands on the other side.
In that water, the strings glint under the shuddering of the lights. Coated in it, a magic that’s made to cleanse and heal, the strings bite harder into Soren’s body. Orion tightens them until they begin to cut into the skin.
Zye glances back at him, feeling safe enough to take his attention off of Soren. Even from where he stands he can see the once lime-colored eyes have turned a sharp silver. Extending from them and down the shorter man’s neck are scales of the purest white. All the while the white ringlet markings around his fingers have changed to a deep blue that glows against his pale skin.
Jace glares at Soren as he keeps an eye on him. “You’d have been better off fighting us without all of that tainted energy you stole from the Nether. Can’t use your ability now, can you? Should have paid better attention to Kerse’s lessons and you’d have had a chance without your magic.”
“Undeserving flea! You don’t know what to do with that power! You shouldn’t have it!”
The tendrils flail and squirm against the bindings to the point where Orion moves up to stand beside Zye. A closer distance allows him to strengthen his hold. Until they all see the puddle of black forming around Soren’s feet.
Orion shakes his head and curls his fingers into fists. “I can’t hold him if he goes in!”
Soren is sinking fast even as Jace lunges for him. Orion’s strings slacken their grip as he tries to adjust his hold. Enough for Jace to grab onto the tentacles still held down and yank Soren out of the muck he’s trying to escape through. Dragging him up to his feet, Jace lets go the second the portal that Soren was creating closes. Not unlike the water that sucks down an open drain.
Standing up, Soren’s twitching appendages slip from Orion’s power and whip toward Jace. None of them notice that Soren has scooped up the previously discarded dagger. Jace shoves Soren back regardless, slamming the man up against the wall to give Orion a chance to regain hold.
Zye runs over to them, dismissing one of his blades as he does. Only to skid to a stop as the dagger is slung out toward him. He doesn’t think he can stop in time. Not when his shoes have him sliding through the water on the ground.
Strings wrap around his middle and yank him back. At the same time, they curl up off his body to then grab the dagger. The strings change the angle and slow it enough to where it slices across Zye’s already wounded arm before he moves to the side.
The second he’s safe, Orion reverts his attention back to Soren. His strings flick up and out, wrapping around the dark-haired man anew. This time he puts as much pressure into them as he can manage. To where they saw through the tendrils still trying to sprout from Soren’s back.
Zye lifts his sword and walks over to where Soren is kept against the wall with Jace to the side of him. No matter how badly his body throbs from the pain, the adrenaline keeps him moving. He blinks and he can see it. The soft thrum of Soren’s core glowing faintly in his stomach. It’s barely there and yet, it’s enough.
As he presses the tip of the blade over it, Jace’s hand brushes over his arm. “You don’t have to do it. We can—”
“I’m not a child. And he made it personal.” Zye takes a deep breath and turns his eyes to Soren. “Hope you’re better in your next life.”
Thrashing against his bindings as best he can, Soren glares at them both. Zye doesn’t waste a second. Not when Soren could try to slip away again just like that other Nether. He slowly pushes his sword into Soren, able to see when his blade pierces the core.
Almost immediately, the cuts where Orion’s strings dig into Soren’s body begin to give off the shimmer of dust. Soren’s body is already withering the deeper Zye stabs into him. All the while, he stares into the gaze that glares up at him with unbridled anger.
“I hate you,” comes the whisper of a grumble from Soren.
Jace’s hand finds his lower body, holding steady there even as Zye takes a step back and allows his sword to vanish. His form has returned to normal by the time that Soren is gone. All that’s left is the dust that slowly fades away, a ring, and a small glowing orb. A usually beautiful golden thing that’s tainted with black and gray curling through it like soot.
Zye turns back to Orion and Callua in time for the sound of feet slapping against the ground to reach his ears. He opens his arms and catches her as she throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. With the hand that doesn’t throb as painfully, he rubs her back. Nonetheless, she’s attentive to where she holds onto him.
“See? Fine. Wait no— it’s not fine. Orion, Jace, that thing got away. We need to figure out where it went. And Soren, that portal he was going to use looked just like what it used. And—”
Orion shakes his head as he slowly strides over to them. “We’ll take care of everything as we get to it. One step at a time.”
Jace brings the hood of his cloak up over Zye’s head. Even so, his attention is on Orion. “We need to destroy this place.”
“Agreed. We’ll scour it for any notes or evidence left behind that can corroborate Ren’s story. Once we have, I’ll make sure I let Ilista and a team take care of it.”
Callua gingerly pulls away from Zye to look over at Orion. “Then…may I take them home?”
“Yes. Aster and Celeste are upstairs waiting for me. They’ll assist me in dealing with this.”
“We—” Jace starts before he’s cut off by Orion’s stern tone.
“No. Go. Your wounds need healing. Both of you.”
Callua turns her eyes up at the two of them, waiting patiently for them to agree with her and Orion. With a sigh, Jace nods and summons a portal behind himself. He steps aside, knowing full well that Orion is right. There are plenty of others that can take care of this from here.
“Zye, Cal, are we ready to go?”
They both nod with Callua saddling up beside Zye. She throws one of his arms over her shoulders and wraps an arm around his waist. Jace smiles at them, watching as she attempts to guide the much taller man through the portal. Not that he truly needs the assistance, yet he allows it.
Jace spares a glance back at Orion before turning and following after the two of them.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
