Chapter 13 - Shattered

My mind runs before I feel my own legs set in a panicked motion. I fall back onto the thick vines as the dark knight stands looming in the groove ahead of me. And even though its most likely hideous grin is covered by the vile mask it's dressed in, I can still feel its eyes behind the mask, staring upon me like sharp needles to my skin. Before my eyes, I see that splintered silver blade again, as it lights up in a black ivory flame.

"You two are going nowhere." In a singular instant, walls of ear splitting discordant blackened flames erupt from the Knight's sword. The walls travel with lighting speed to catch behind me and Rito before we could even attempt to escape.

"Not again…" Rito mutters.

"This pathetic excuse for a sorcerer has been crumbled under my power, and now two of my favorite Sigils appear like the valiant heroes they are. I've been waiting for this very day, where I could lay proper claim upon your mind, Onyx." My whole body shivers at the thing's dialogue, every limb and nerve in my body frozen yet forming cracks of surrender as I lay in the thick of the thorned vines. The cold flames behind me scaring me slightly off the thick.

"You even brought your Fischeran companion along, how truly sweet of you to bring your lesser for me to feast upon." An ugly lick sounds from beneath the lunatic's mask. I look back up at Rito, his face in a complete and utter state of shock. 

"My elder may have me disengaged from ending your life Onyx, but this pest you have by your side is one I am allowed to do whichever I want with." The dark tones in the maniacs voice bring my valor to a stop.

"You… you foul piece of shit!" Rito bursts into a rage, his voice drenched in sorrow. The sword laid in his hand erupted in the split of a second, igniting into a fiery storm of fire.

"Oh ho… a fiesty one you are…

Well I can promise you two, one thing." It draws its splintered sword out further, igniting it yet again with the tar-colored flame.

"I'll feed you your own heart." The lunatic lets out a foul roar, piercing my ears with its sound.

Rito charges forward, his sword screaming with the embers of the flame upon it. He leaps into the air, striking down immediately upon the knight. Their steel blades quickly meet, but Rito is quite obviously outmatched by the pure brutality of the lunatic at his front. In a panic, I raise myself shakily from the bed of vines, readying myself with as much vigor as I could muster from my weary soul.

Rito holds the battle against the Wraith, constantly trying to land a single slash upon the already reinforced woven armor of the knight.

I lunge myself forward, propelling my sword towards the monster's side, it being wide for ambushment. Stampeding across the wet grass, it quickly notices my attempt for its life, as I throw myself out in a swinging motion. 

Though I catch a slight glimpse of the lunatic. Its arm is stretched out in a way you would to hold a light child, the force pushing against it being negligible. I summon every muscle in my being and hack straight into its side.

"You Sigils never cease to amaze me in your pathetic generic attempts." I look upon my sword, with great panic erupting within me. My blade, its gotten completely stuck within the reinforced wool of the Wraith, only barely feeling a sheet of chainmail underneath the thick heavy woven suit.

 A thick labored wheeze exits the knight, as it raises its heavy matte boot. Like falling onto the ground with your backside with no preparation, my lungs empty out of air as the Wraith unloads the wrathful kick upon me, setting me awind like a pillow. I land close to the mud wall surrounding us. I reach and hold onto my chest, in an attempt to restart my breathing, grasping for any ounce of air I'm able to intake. My ears quickly peer ahead before my eyes do, as the deafening screech of blades grating against each other, blast straight into my feeble ears.

 I finally dare let my eyes fall upon their crossing blades, Rito stands with every force in his bones, to hold off the Wraith at his feet. Rito's arms shake and nearly crack under the pressure, while the black knight still as before, clashes its pincered sword against its fischeran opponent like handling a child. It seems pathetic for Rito to even try… 

P-pathetic? What am I thinking, he's fighting against a monster our world has yet to rid off, the very idea that he is holding on, is admirable at worst, and heroic at best. What is happening to me?

I raise myself yet again, and I set my sights ahead. The Wraith peers slightly back to me, noticing my reluctance to crumble. In response, it raises its heavy boot yet again and lets out a potent stomp upon Rito's chest, casting him away like a pebble. The Wraith snaps its head back to me, my eyes lock with it, and a long drop of sweat glides along my spine, it's cold, oh so cold.

I send my sword up from the ground, and ready my stance. The beast ahead of me lets a cold dry chuckle out. Even though the face of the Wraith is hidden behind its gnarled dark mask, its ugly grin still shines from beneath the cloth it conceals itself with. Its thick combative boots trample across the innocent wet grass. It throws its sword to the ground to mirror my actions. I try to imagine something, anything. A sheet of ice, a lighting strike… But nothing, my sword sings of void.

I stare ahead as the behemoth approaches me.

"Come now Onyx, there's no need to fight it." It speaks with a glaze of friendliness, as if we're comrades.

"I have no intention to halt my valor in the measly face of a devil." I let my feet slide across the grass in a swift motion, as I completely arm myself with confidence.

"Seems your ego has already started to fade Onyx. You're quite the lucksmith that I'm one for a challenge." It takes a second to ponder whatever vile words it has stored inside its skull.

"Even if said challenge is the equivalent to a gust of wind." A rotten taste enters my mouth as the Wraith approaches.

I set my foot down in a forceful stomp, nearing a slip caused by the grass. Though the dent made in the soft excuse for dirt confine me neatly. I step off the slight pad I had established, lunging myself forward in a bradavic fashion.

I let the wind glide across my face as I skate across the ground towards the lunatic. My sword at my front, sat in a lance position. I catapult myself off the ground, my blade high and slicing through the air down to the Wraith. In an instant response it raises its own pronged sword up to meet my own. A clang rings from our blades crashing into each other, though quickly I fall to the ground with my sword still in hand. I lower myself in a duck, trying to avoid the sharpened silver above me.

The Wraith follows my movement, and in the instant I reach a slight standstill, it swings its sword at the forefront of my face, letting a raze of wind skip across my skin. Though like a clock's pendulum, the heavy sword swings right back along. I fling my steel up to meet the Wraith's own with a massive clash ringing from our blades. 

A tin can, is what I am compared to this behemoth of a… thing. My muscles crack and squirm like a can's walls would from being under heavy pressure. I hold upon the weight of a thousand kindreds.

"Give in Onyx, let your will falter." The Wraith drives his blade further and further into my own, sharpening a rift deep into my steel.

"If only you could peek beyond the curtains of your fragile ego. Oh how I relish in being the one tasked with the demolition of your self." The chilling words exit into the air, as a cool breeze sets in across the battleground. A quiet simmer buzzes from close by, my hairs raise in response.

A dark skies long strip of thunder shoots in a second across my vision. The air shakes in a rumble, as part of the Wraith's helmet now steams with a scar laid across the dark mask. Though even with the mask slightly chipped away, a dark black cloth is still laid over the monster beneath. I feel the Wraith lay the pressure slightly off me, as my eyes peer to where the lightning stemmed from. 

Rito, he stands persisting, with a thundering blade lighting up the terrain. His eyebrows sit in vertical angles, as he stomps ahead holding the blistering sword. This is my purpose, I hold onto the Wraith's attention by pressing up against its sword as Rito approaches.

Rito lunges himself forward in a swing, his sword nearing the Wraith. I feel my toes tip slightly, and my nerves ring with glee. Rito jabs the thundering blade to the Lunatic. In a second the Wraith shifts its right arm off its own weapon, to catch Rito's in a forceful grip. 

"Feeble attempts from feeble knights." The Wraith's hand caught onto the now silent blade, while still pressing down upon me with tons upon tons of force.

"Say Onyx, how about I execute my promise from earlier." The Wraith snaps its head upon Rito, leading my eyes away. Though quickly I try to adjust my eyes back to the standstill ahead, as I'm laid bare to witness the beast's leg raise to its chest. Crack.

What… what happened, it's like my body has gotten heavier yet one part feels lighter. Wh-what is going on, a cold viel of sweat has formed on my skin, and… why can't I feel my leg?

My eyes jitter around like the movement of a fly, everything seems slightly blurry and not real. 

I lay my sight upon Rito's contorted face, he's looking down at something…

"Suppose your armor is a craft of tin, Onyx." The force of a cannon fires into my stomach, as the imprint of the Wraith's dark boot caves my gut inwards.

I try to balance as I am hurled across the wet grass beneath me. I base my feet on the ground, though as I do, I feel the winds beneath my falter, as I am thrown to the ground. Ass to the floor, I peer ahead slightly. Rito backs away from the Wraith as I sit idle on the grass, smelling the dirt below me.

The hulking monster ahead of Rito swings its blade with lunacy, not daring to meet its blade with his own force, Rito dodges away, constantly letting the Wraith lay pressure upon him. He scurries away like a rat from the streets of Sentinel. Running from a carnivorous beast. 

"COME NOW SKY-KIN, HAS YOUR EGO BEEN SHATTERED ALREADY?" It roars, chasing the feeble… What am I thinking? And… Why is my left leg… so numb?

My eyes fall to the floor, how didn't I notice? My, my leg. Why is it bent? Like the snap of a finger, my mind clicked with the events transpiring ahead of me, all the fuming pain, scorching my soul emits from my snapped leg. My breath becomes a task, I grasp onto it but cannot hold air for more than a few seconds. 

I stare ahead, the pain raging on in my body only slightly being ignored by my nerves with the scene ahead of me. The Wraith pushes and pushes, methodically over and over forcing Rito to the death-warranted edge. I try to move, I try and try. My shin-bone is snapped, each time I move another shot of teeth-gritting seer enters my leg.

"RITO RUN!" I scream, my voice broken like the useless limb beneath me. He runs, but the Wraith catches him.

"Come now Sigil, your master won't save you from Altum's fates." In a swift motion, the Wraith cleaves its sword upwards, I see the silvering glance, just as it connects with Rito's barely plated right arm. Swish.

Avian, like a bird, his arm flew into the air. His dull sword falling to the ground, as every blood vessel in Rito's sawed arm spewing a light blue grotesque pour of blood. The Wraith quickly catches the cleaved arm in a forceful catch, carrying it as a secondary tool for its battle against… your les-. Who is thinking right now?

Rito lets his back face the edge, as he's pushed farther with each swing the Lunatic lets out. The Wraith lunges out with Rito's own arm, hitting him in the face with a thud. The Wraith throws the arm to the void behind in front of it. Finally, with an unobstructed victory in sight.

"RITO!" I scream louder than my lungs can bear, as the hilt of the beast's sword rests comfortably upon Rito's chest, the blade's remnants cleave cleanly through him. Why is this, please stop. Let your will. Who are you?

Rito stares at the ground, his eyes already summoning the coldness of the afterlife, again I attempt moving, and another eon of torment enters my leg. The Lunatic rips its pincered blade out of Rito's open chest, letting him fall to his knees.

"Remember my promise, Fischeran." It raises its heavily plated wrists, my eyes gliding upwards, to the dark sharpened gauntlet wrapped around the Wraith's hand. It molds its hand into the form of a pierced arrow. One breath, it takes a long deep breath, preparing itself for.

EXECUTION.

The beast… Had plunged its arm inside Rito's chest, standing, searching for something inside. My stomach yearns for an end, as the Wraith rips out the revolting heart Rito bore.

"I feel quite filthy, a warm shower should do." It raises the beating smoldering heart above its masked head, and begins a forceful squeeze upon the life-ripped heart. A beryl torrent of blood spills from the organ, acting as a foul shower for the Lunatic. My watering eyes shift to Rito, as his distraught irises focus upon me.

"Why…is it so cold." A tear exits Rito's eyes as he speaks to me, I leap forward, but barely move. My head falls to the grass, my own cascade of tears forming. The Wraith lowers its hand.

"Open wide." It punches forward, the beating heart in hand, and Rito's mouth gaping. I try to close my eyes, but strings pull upon them to stay open.

The Wraith widens Rito's jaw open, ripping apart the flesh of his cheeks, the spikes dragging along the inside of his mouth, as it forces in the squashed beaten organ deep in the cavity of him.

The Wraith places its hand upon Rito's head, and one on his jaw.

"Swallow." It inflicts Rito to execute chew upon chew, upon chew. My mind, it scrounges in on itself. Why is this happening? Someone, please, I am alone, please. SOMEONE HELP ME.

Do what you must, Onyx.

…

…

…

 I-I'm letting go of my self.

Am I even in control?

I feel rotten strings on my back,

Ones not puppetered by me.

It's better this way, Child

You needn't worry anymore,

For I am the one to save you from the ego,

And it's abstract super.

So what will I be left with?

Will I cease to become a husk,

An empty shell?

Hollow of all meaning.

No, you'll become something Greater,

You will no longer be bound,

By dogmas and pseudo personas you've constructed.

Only thing driving you ahead will be your Desires.

But what will become of the life I've lived? 

What would my actions have been for?

Will everything I've done just have been for Nothing?

It's scary to think-

This is the weakness of the Ego.

You worry as if your perceptions and views won't pass,

Letting the memories of your decisions fade away,

Simply setting a new norm into your thick skull.

I suppose it wouldn't be too bad to cast aside my worrydom.

Only driven by my wants.

But what if I hurt someone?

Wouldn't that be considered selfish?

How can one be selfish, without the Self.

All you are doing, is giving up your flaws,

So come now youngling, cast away your will. 

Become what you desire, a mirror to Perfection.

Let your embers spur like your flailing will, Onyx.

 I feel nothing,

 I am. Nothing…

 It's as if my whole life, 

has been nothing,

but a continuous spiral, 

towards an entropy

of

D̶͊Ẻ̷͠͠A̷̾̓T̸H̴͌̽

"Flailing embers." Judari thought, as he let the anchor of his soul snap. His mind ascending beyond a night sky of stars. His eyes reluctantly drag up to the scene ahead, Rito's corpse laying lifelessly at the feet of the Wraith Knight who'd taken his life. A mast without a ship will be carried out to the ends of the sea, and torn to pieces. Such as, a ship without its mast will steer into destruction.

Judari's qualms and worries disappeared in the second of a clap, as he slowly rose from the ground. He couldn't even be bothered to ponder upon his own leg's condition, as black thin tendrils webbed themselves between and around his muscle tissue, repairing the shattered bone and ripped flesh.

Judari drew upon his wet sword, glaring across the sigils carved along the steel. 

"My whole life has been empty of meaning, years upon years, all I've accomplished is chasing goals which others placed on me, or ones I thought others wanted me to achieve. Aimlessly wandering through the trials of life searching for someone to take my hand and guide me, has led me to a life lived for nothing." Judari's thoughts run rampant, as he glared ahead at the dark knight enjoying the view of the deceased Rito.

"I'm tired of a chase I don't desire to enact in. I long for something else… I long, for Blood." He thought, ripping his stare from his dull blade, to the gleeful Wraith across the terrain.

A low burn simmers from the drawn blade in Judari's shivering hand, each sigil laid along the began a poor man's glow, each slowly tindering upon the steel with a blaze. A moment the flames bore low heat, till Judari laid a step upon the ground. 

He took step after step, the pyre storming along the blade of his sword growing with each passing moment. Illuminating the dark forest ground, Judari approached closer to the Wraith as it cockily equipped its steel again.

"I have no obligations with you anymore Onyx, I'll let you wash in the glory of this despair." It looked to the heavens of canopies above, Judari's flaming sword scorching his own plating a burnt charcoal black. Not a single restraint was placed upon the flame, as it configured into that of a pine tree's shape, blasting away at the melting metal of the sword.

Judari breathed, intaking the air like he never had before. The burnt metal fumes filling his nostrils, along with the gut-wrenching smell of putrid blood. Not a single piece of momentum was caught in the walk towards the Wraith as Judari approached it. 

"Finally able to call upon the gifts you've neglected? Suppose it wouldn't be awful to indulge in more sparring." The Wraith Knight drew upon its splintered ichor covered sword.

Judari marched ahead, his blade glowing a white hue, due to the excessive scoldering heat produced from the sigils laid upon it. The Wraith stepped closer to Judari, without caution throwing up its pronged greatsword. Judari flipped his blade directly to facing edge first, as he lunged out a swing.

Sizzling steel, bubbles of molten iron dripped off the Wraith's sword. Judari's blade swung high in the ablazed air. Like a sledge, he hammered down his weapon in a vertical slash along the Wraith's chest, opening a huge gash of cut dark wool.

Judari lifts his heels, readying himself. Springing out in a lunge and piercing through the Wraith's layers of belts and chainmail with his flaming sword. His blade deep through the Lunatic's body, Judari felt shaking from the hilt.

"Strike… harder, Onyx." The sounds from under the mask slur, each word sounding like a desperate pull for air. Beneath the scourged buckles, a foul smell of charred flesh wafts deep into walls of Judari's bulky nose, setting his face in a grim expression of disgust. The Wraith began drawing back, holding its shaking hand to the still stabbed wound.

"Fall, child." Judari's lips moved, as the Wraith stumbled backwards, crashing at the edge. Its head mere centimeters from the bottomless ink ocean below. The molten ablazed steel grafts itself onto the Wraith's innards, as Judari placed his hand upon the hilt of his smelt blade. Tugging at it, cracks and fractures chime from the distorted metal. Finally its will given in, the steel snaps, allowing Judari to wield the hilt. He lowers himself upon the fallen Wraith.

"Unforgivable sins, unreachable justice. A faceless, teethless judge sits upon a throne of lies." Judari spoke, raising the blunt hilt high above the Wraith's helm.

"Apothic chains wrapped around thy wretched body, the vigor of runes lay waste to the lands, creating forces of desires chasing an endless mockery of life.." Judari's eyes swing upwards, the body under him shivering.

"Whom am I?" A pitiful voice entered the Vinds ears.

"A Lesser." The hilt of the melted blade high above, Judari hammered it down, cracking upon the hard-helm of the Wraith. Flakes of dark plating shatters off the monstrous mask with each lash of the steel hilt. 

Every grunt exiting Judari resulting in another brutality laid upon the Wraith below him, shattering more and more of the sullen knight's mask. Black shards of metal pierce the cloth cover and flesh, slowly peeling away at the masquerade held by the Wraith. 

Over and over, the beaten skin of the Lunatic peeked through the ruined helmet, though not a single moment was let up as the blunt weapon rampaged across the Wraith's face. Judari's eyes came to a standstill, as the dark blood gliding down his hands glew a grim dim crimson hue.

"Hehe." A chuckle struck the air, drawing Judari's trembling eyes down.

"Whom am I, Onyx?" The Wraith moved its bruised bloodied mouth, each tug on upon the purple lips cracking the sound of a dry tear.

A crooked large nose, lavender skin, deep purple eyes sitting deeply into the sockets surrounded by dark eye bags, and the gray curly hair, with a single dark star protruding from the lock. Judari fell back, staring at the mirror. His body twitching from the sight, as the Wraith laid laughing hysterically.

"I AM YOU ONYX, I AM YOU!" The Lunatics laid for a second, though barely a minute could pass, before Judari lunged out with the full force of his legs, casting the dark knight off the cliff and to the ever-torrent black sea below. SWISH 

"Come now Squadron, I saw those sky-bounds run off somewhere." A familiar voice sounds from the entrance of the grove, striking every nerve in Judari's body.

"Smells like something died around here." The rustling of metal plating chimes from the cave, as the voices approach the turning Judari. Finally, their eyes are met with the scene ahead.

"Dear Solan!" Ryude screams, his eyes locking upon Rito's battered corpse. Judari desperately tries to focus his mind and eyes, as he mutters. 

"I… I didn't do it, did I?"