brief battle against chaos

I didn't have time to go for the tagalong, she was right in the epicenter of the blast, the energy first bringing her to full and peak health only to completely disintegrate every fiber of her being milliseconds later.

not even I escaped unharmed, as my new cape like cloak now laid at my feet in burning and freezing tatters along the ground, the skin of my entire right side, sunburned, literally burned, frostbitten, and bruised, barely healing.

"I did not expect you to survive that."(soul of chaos) spoke, its voice semi-frequently changing between beautiful and grotesque.

"expectations lead to disappointment."(Granularr) I answered as I forced my body to heal, my response being nothing more than stalling for time.

"quite true dark one, it seems your shadows are more loyal to you than I thought, I had specifically commanded them not to aid in your defense, but they disappointed me, leaving only your cloak littering the ground as they helped move you out of the way."(soul of chaos) rambled as I had hoped, buying me exactly enough time to finish bringing myself to full health.

"you may hold power over everything, but that's the thing, it's better to be the master of one over a user of many."(Granularr) I replied, hoping to give me more time, I needed a plan here, I needed time to think.

"but I AM the master of all, light and dark, hot and cold, kindness and cruelty, love and hate, beauty and horror."(soul of chaos)->(aspect of chaos) as hoped it continued on, the more it spoke, the more I learned, this wasn't just some human soul, this was the literal aspect of chaos.

oh fuck me sideways with an un-lubed cactus!

shit!

....

well, this just got a whole fuck ton worse.

"are you now?"(Granularr) I asked, in full hopes of distracting it further, I needed an escape, not a combat plan, but for now I'd think on both.

I had to.

"I am, yes, yet somehow your mastery of darkness surpasses my own, how perplexing, I am the darkest shadow and the brightest light, there should be none darker nor lighter."(aspect of chaos) answered, its guard lowering as we now fully entered a conversation.

"I heard the call of the void and I answered, the abyss greeted me as a mother would a child, I am darkness given form, I serve only one, the void, the ultimate dark, and it serves me."(Granularr) something within me spoke in my voice, my eyes taking their usual dark, their narrowness staring danger into the soul, no, the aspect of chaos before me.

"you are the pillar of darkness, the child of the element of dark, I had heard word that you were trapped in hell, never to be seen in the land of the living again, mere hearsay from mortals, us beings of power know true how hard it is to contain a pillar."(aspect of chaos) muttered more to itself than to me as it began circling, my guard raised higher than it ever had been before, the air thick with uneasy tension.

"then you haven't met light, the newest of us, born to be my opposite, she lacks the strength and the power of a pillar, even for a newborn."(Granularr) I added, hoping to keep him off the topic of fighting.

"an unworthy adversary she would be, no, you are much, much more worthy to be battled, your aura that you had been fighting to hard to suppress for that mortal, it radiates beautifully powerful."(aspect of chaos) spoke, his own aura escaping, its intent nothing but battle.

I had but mere moments to prepare, my arms bathed in darkness taking form, our bodies soaring at one another, his solidifying as we neared to clash, my own arms taking shape of metal gauntlets, while his were wrapped respectively in flame and frost.

our fists, my right, his left, connected fast and hard, the force of the collision sending a shockwave rippling through the forest all around, trees and earth being torn from underfoot and launched airborne, debris landing like rain within a mile radius as we were each blown back about the same distance, none having any difficulty landing whatsoever, each of us once more ready to meet head on.

if anything, now was the time for escape, for retreat, but something in me refused to do so, insisting on using this opportunity to use everything I had and then some, forcing myself to the limit and then soaring past it, in hopes of creating a new one to shatter.

there would be no running, no backing down, I would face the soul, and I would win.

with newfound determination my aura flared explosively outwards, claiming ground like conquered territory, each new addition bringing power to me as the shadows of the battered landscape clung tightly to me.

"good to see that you ARE taking this seriously."(aspect of chaos) spoke from where he stood unmoving, his own aura now exploding out at full force, the immediate air around us overwhelmed by the energies as the sky above flashed and flared in different colors.

I took no time to speak, instead using that time to charge forwards, my speed blinding as it carried me to him quickly, quicker than even he was ready for, my fist already covered in shadows dancing like flames, the sheer impact landing directly into his stomach, the downward angle of the attack, since I towered over him by like two and a half feet, forcing his body down, the ground now nothing more than a massive crater as a loud booming and rumbling shook the ears of any living thing around for miles while a shockwave did the same to the landscape.

and in that crater, I stood, panting, sweating, sore, my right arm twisted at an unnatural angle, the aspect of chaos nowhere in sight.

I had given my all and then some physically in that one attack, if that didn't work and I was more fucked than he was, escape might actually be my only answer.