Fun Fact: Each class manifests magic in different ways.
Sorcerers draw magic from tomes.
Warlocks use dark magic bolstered by their patron deities, if they have one.
Clerics borrow power from the worshipped deities.
Necromancers harness the residual arcani of the dead.
Mages command the power of elements.
Shamans commune with and command minor deities.
Soothsayers use the magic of the spoken word.
Druids work with natural magic to manipulate the lifeforce of plants and animals.
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Felix watched from the top of a building as a group of people showed up in the distance, waddling in the snow like a family of colourful penguins. It was painfully obvious how much they were sticking out in the sea of white surrounding them, but it did not matter. This was not a stealth mission. It was a diversion.
His ears pricked at the sounds of roaring. The ground trembled as a herd of abominations charged towards his teammates. Felix's mouth hung open in shock. By the gods, did Aglaia do all of this? How many people did she turn into monsters?
Sounds of rifle blasts ensued, and the boy aimed his grappling gun at a chimney. There was no need to ruminate; he could ask her himself later. The flue came into view soon, and he flipped his body gracefully. The grappling hook retracted with a satisfying whirring, and he slid into the rectangular hole.
Felix tumbled clumsily onto the gravel floor. He swept the dust off his suit, cursing silently. He had forgotten how much it hurt to hit the ground without his protective aura. The boy pulled out the map, staring intently at the parchment again.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. It would be really nice to have his telekinetic senses back right about now, but Felix resisted the urge to tear open his suit. Nero had risked his life providing the layout of the building for him so that he could do this quietly, and it would be a waste of his effort if Felix exposed himself prematurely.
His heart was already hammering in his chest by the time the small shadow came into view. The solitary Guardian crept silently behind the circular hall, tranquilliser at the ready.
Stray streams of light were pouring in through the holes peppered in the dome ceiling, and the stench of death filled the air. Felix watched the ground carefully, making sure not to step in the questionable looking fluids staining the floor. The plan was to go nice and easy; to subdue Aglaia before she could even put up a fight. There would be plenty of time to counsel her after she ended this madness.
That plan got shot up all to hell when she broke the silence.
"Here the path ends, sinner."
Felix immediately pulled the trigger at the shadow, but nothing came out. He looked at his tranquiliser in surprise; it had turned into a wooden gun.
"Why not come out into the light so that you can see me?" Aglaia's voice echoed around the empty hall. The boy sighed and removed his suit. No need to mask his presence now.
He walked into the light, watching the little girl as his psychic senses fired erratically. Although her body stood in front of him, her consciousness was elsewhere. All that occupied her mind now were fragments of her alternate selves.
"That you are still willing to show us mercy, despite everything we have done wrong." Aglaia's face was wrought with stains of brown tears. "It defies all reason. What must we do to show you otherwise? What pain must we wreak on the world for you to finally see that I am irredeemable?"
A woman, or corpse, rather, was writhing in agony beside her. Felix pursed his lips at the state of the Meta Liberty Fighter. Isis was neither dead nor alive. She was trapped between both realms; dead in almost all sense of the word, and yet still alive to bear full witness to her eternal torment.
"No one is indomitable. We fall short. We surrender to darkness. We make mistakes in our ignorance," Felix said. "But therein lies our strength. Our naivety to forgive even the worst of sinners; the strength to lift each other up no matter how much darkness has consumed us."
The girl shrieked in anguish, black particles flaring out from her being.
"We died suffering! We died bereft of hope!" she screamed in a distorted voice. "Who are you to cling onto light?! Who are you to live on?"
"I'm sorry for what you have been through, I truly am." Felix's voice softened. "It doesn't have to end like this, Aglaia. There is still-"
"That is not our name!"
The boy stepped back, power coating his body protectively. Reddish black energy was swirling around Aglaia like a fluid cocoon. Murky tears leaked from her eyes once more, and the ground sizzled with each drop splashing onto it.
"We are the messengers borne of death. We are the Harbinger's Children," Aglaia spoke with a multitude of distorted voices. "This world will sup on our suffering. This world will feel our pain!"
Isis clawed at the air futilely as a strangled scream left her. Her body exploded in a mist of blood, and a tear shaped crystal dropped in its place. The girl- No. The monster now- beside her was absorbing all the residual arcani into itself. It was a formless being, although hints of the occasional claw and tentacle peeked through the writhing mass of black.
A telepathic wave hit Felix. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. It was literally suffocating him. The despair, the anguish, the suffering... He felt all of it; all of them crying out in pain. Arcani warped around him, threatening to transmute his body as well. But he held on fast to his power, pushing back against all of them.
"Stubborn fool!" A voice snapped the boy's attention back to the present. Felix leaned back immediately, narrowly dodging a beam of black energy. He took to the air, and the abomination followed closely.
Rubble levitated off the ground and hurled themselves at the monster, though it did little to hurt it. But that did not matter; the true attack was charging up a psionic blast behind it.
Felix grunted with effort, striking the abomination cleanly at its core. Waves of black energy spurted out as it staggered backwards. The boy reached into the swirling mass, swiping his hand around blindly.
The abomination screeched again and blasted him backwards.
He gritted his teeth in frustration, sweeping crushed rubble off his clothes. Aglaia had rendered her form intangible, which meant that there was nothing for him to hold on to form a psychic connection. Shutting her mind down was no longer an option.
Felix ducked, flying along the circular hall as black spikes pierced the wall behind him. The ball of energy flung itself at him instead, but immediately crashed into a psionic barrier. The psychic constructed a circular force field around himself, and the abomination spread itself over the sphere.
You don't have to destroy what you love just to save it...
His friend's words rang in his mind as darkness enveloped the boy. The abomination was trying to crush his shield, although it was far from strong enough to even crack it.
"You're hurt, and you're afraid. No one should have to die for that." Felix breathed heavily, mustering the strength to do what he had to.
But dammit, you're not giving me a choice!
Psychic power glowed fiercely in his irises as he prepared to retaliate, but something shiny on the floor caught his attention. It was a B'javiar tear, or whatever that was left of Isis. If he had recalled the mission briefing correctly, the B'javiar tear is formed due to a huge compressive force.
Which means, with enough force...
Determination returned to the boy's eyes as they exploded with power. A shockwave rippled through the air, striking its surroundings with enough force to rattle the entire bunker. The abomination's form dispersed temporarily, before forming itself again.
"I have you now!" Felix bellowed, squeezing his fist. The abomination roared and struggled in vain as the telekinetic pressure increased, crushing its gaseous form. Pink danced in the psychic's eyes as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. He was so close...
There!
It was minuscule, but he caught it nonetheless. Felix darted forward with his hand outstretched and made contact with the tiny, but solid piece of crystallised arcani. He felt their minds connect, and so did Aglaia. She screamed, almost in anger, and black energy flared out uncontrollably.
Darkness descended upon both of them.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmen3yBynC
