Savanna Of Cloudy Eyes

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Virgil 'Flickering Wraith' Boone

I hit the ground. Hard. The bones in my left arm crackle and break like stalks of grain, but I did it. I fucking did it.

Looking up ahead from my fallen position, chin to the ground, I find that flying serpent grounded just like I am. Our eyes meet as a long growl comes from its throat, reverberating throughout our shared worlds, both the physical and those beyond.

"Child O' Void. You are mine. Why do you resist? Why do you fight against us? Your family is already with us. You come from us, and you shall return."

My heart trembles as I know what this God speaks of. It's not talking about Victor, Aron, or Nora. He's explicitly alluding to Vernon—my dear little brother. And more. It refers to my own Power. Flicker. I could move this thing so far because we are... alike.

The dirt under my unbroken fist is crumpled as I rise to face the God, already exhausted from the dozen battles and transporting this thing with Flicker. At my feet, one arm still hangs while the other retrieves the bomb that Earl bestowed upon me from the pouch under my clothes. I am the only one without a Dominion who possesses a Godsinker. Besides Johnny, of course. But, of course, he'd have one. I'd trust no one else with such a weapon than he.

Still, it is both an honor and a curse.

"None of you are my family. You took him from me. And I had to bury him with my own damned hands."

A smile stretches ominously on the serpent's mouth as I watch its flesh meld and contort before it breaks apart at the seams, the figure turning partially physical and partially ethereal. It is similar to my Flicker, but not entirely phasing through dimensions.

As it does so, a far too familiar form displays itself to me. A man, slightly younger than me, with long wavy hair and a barely visible scar on his eyebrow from when he played with a knife as a kid. Only I even know that the scar is there. Well, Vernon knew, too.

"Damned? Yes. Only the damned kill their own family. But there is redemption. He still lives through the rest of us. We are him, and he is us. Just give us the bomb. And you can speak to him again. You can apologize for killing him, for letting him die."

I tighten my brows, staring directly at this figure that is closely related to my abilities. Void, huh? I guess... I guess that's not too far from what my Power does. But Flicker is only a part of my arsenal. I am no child of Void.

I am a child of Night. Always have been. Always will be. Besides... Vernon wouldn't want an apology.

"We shared all the words we needed to long ago, foul God. My brother knew what he was doing. He knew what he signed up for. There is a reason why he resonated with light so heavily. Because he always knew the right thing to do. And... as do I."

The face of Vernon twists into horror and surprise as my fingers clench the detonation button on the explosive. The Godsinker vibrates beneath my hands as I meet my brother's eyes.

"You wouldn't dare. You shall perish, too, with only a chance at ending me. Your Void is not enough."

I laugh as light cascades from my hands. This thing has no idea.

"Sure. I might die. But... the chance that I didn't will hang in your head. You will constantly be looking over your shoulder. Waiting, expecting. And the minute, the second you drop your guard, I will be there. You won't rejoin the war. You'll be too terrified to. And that's enough for me."

My words are a bluff, mostly. This will probably kill me, but based on Void's words, it will hurt him, too—badly—enough to buy the others time to finish their fights and deal with him.

Still... I haven't counted myself out quite yet. I'm no Wyatt. But I've kept up with him long enough. I can go a bit further yet.

As the light covers my arm, moving at a speed unreachable by any mortal, I fade into the space between realms. Void does the same, following directly after me. We even latch onto the same place, the Otherworld.

White-hot pain laces its way up my ruined arm as I land inside the Otherworld, feeling the dimension I left behind utterly ruined by the blast of the Godsinker. Looking down, I find myself short one arm, the stub at my elbow burnt to a crisp as I was not fast enough to save it.

The pale fog and cloudy ground of the Otherworld welcomes me as usual with all its inhabitants. Eyes stare at me from all over, in horror and curiosity, with numbers incalculable to the human mind. This is something I'm used to, and it took me many months and degrees of power. What I'm not used to, however, is the rolling body of scorched flesh that is only a few feet away from me.

Void was a little bit slower than me, either because of his injuries or because he tried to follow me in my domain. Perhaps its even because these bombs fuck with Concepts, I'm not entirely sure. I'll have to guess it's the foremost, not either of the latter. He is a God, after all, and without Bonfire and Abraham's tag-team wearing him down, I don't think I could handle him. But neither could they. If he ever got too injured, he'd just fuck off into a space between realms.

A long, heavy breath writhes out my lungs as I step forward, remnants of the bomb leaving through my clenched teeth. A long time ago, just being here would hurt me. Now... it's a second home.

Void, or the burnt Vernon, climbs to his feet quickly, showcasing the durability of a God. No matter what we do, they just refuse to die. Kind of like someone else I know.

Vernon raises his fists toward me as two daggers form in his palms, twisting slowly through the air. I see. This God is quite odd, huh?

Reaching into my coat, I draw my own knife. The sharpened Claymore reflects the endless clouds above and below, revealing hints of the eyes within the white. It is a friend's, one who perished seeking his king's heaven.

"Brother. How about one last lesson?"

The voice that comes from the body is an identical copy of Vernon's pitch, tone, and cadence. It is unnerving—even more uncanny than when my brother was turned. It sounds just as if he is asking for a simple tutoring session, though I know this is far more devious.

Void is staying as Vernon to make me hesitate and slow me down in the crucial moments. How clever. It is hurt and weakened, and so it has to take every advantage it can.

Maybe I can see our similarities now.

Tossing aside the could-be's, I dash forward, a dagger gripped tightly in my left hand, the vacuum where my right arm once beats painfully, helping me focus in this agonizing moment. The Void before me mimics every move I had ever taught Vernon, from the way he stands to the way he holds those blades. But there is no hesitation. I steel my heart and do what must be done.

I have lost him already. There does not need to be any more heartbreak. I have a job to do. Always have. I always will until the day I finally die.

And that is to kill monsters.

The air crackles with tension as we meet each other. The very Concept of Void leaves behind shattered remains of this secondary reality, altering the space of the Otherworld. Sounds of steel meeting steel echo oddly while the ground twists beneath me and the clouds above contort. Above and below, the clouds disorient me unnaturally as the Void itself somehow rattles my senses. Left is right. Right is left. Down is up. Up is down.

Nonetheless, I do not lose my momentum. Too many battles have been fought to trip from mere space sickness.

I feint to the left, drawing the God's attention, and then pivot sharply, stabbing towards his midsection with a twist to gather the most power, the tip of the blade concentrated darkness. Vernon counters with a precise parry, the first dagger meeting mine in a shower of sparks. Then, he quickly follows up with the second one, eerily emitting a lack of noise.

Using the momentum, I spin around, aiming a low sweep at his legs, and at the same time, I evade his attack. And it's a good thing I didn't meet it, for a crescent moon of nothingness stretches out over my back, erasing countless eyes from the spectators.

The God leaps effortlessly backward to get out of my range, twisting in midair to deliver a downward slash that I barely evade by rolling to the side. The same nothingness splits the ground in half, placing a ravine of emptiness to my left. What!? He wasn't doing this before!?

Ah... Void is weakest in the central realm. That is... unfortunate for me.

I look at the devastation for only a moment before calling for my Nightwhips, already having built them during our clash. Tendrils of darkness snake from the ground to lash out at the God while I get onto my feet. He counters by warping space, creating distortions that twist and bend reality. Spatial explosions erupt around me, and I have little time to react. Still, I get out of the way in time before I'm blown to pieces, narrowly avoiding death with a roll and a flip from my palm.

We meet again in a flurry of steel coated with our techniques, each of us testing the other's defenses. The God's daggers move with terrifying grace and lethality, identical to how my brother would do it. I cannot get hit by even one, or I die.

Thankfully, I'm fast. Fast enough to keep up with a wounded God. As for my strength... Well, in that regard, I am lacking.

To parry one strike, I have to put the entirety of my Nightwhips around my body to have the strength to deflect the Void past me. But I can't stop at one as this is a back-and-forth dance, one beat and then another, feeling the strain in my left arm.

Still... were Lennon not to exist, I would be in contention for the strongest martial artist. Because that is what I am—an artist—an artist of death.

With a lowered stance as the Void scrapes my hair and part of my scalp, I drive my dagger forward, aiming for Vernon's heart, but he sidesteps, countering with a vicious slash that grazes my right side.

Blood doesn't drip, and neither does pain boil. It is simple nothingness that hangs in its place. Sighing, I use my Dzil, knowing I cannot hold anything back for even a second longer. I wanted to save it for an opportune ambush, but...

I call upon the light within the shadows as I press my remaining thumb against my heart. Sanedges explode from my back, striking at Void with every possible angle. The God flinches, momentarily blinded from the radiance and focused on defending himself, so I seize the opportunity to close the distance.

Diving at him beneath a frenzied blade, I tackle him to the ground, wrestling for control of his weapons. With one hand and using my other shoulder, I keep the blade away from me, contorting my body further until my legs are helping, too. Vernon twists beneath me as I feel the Void appear before my eyes, blinding me in the same way as the Darklight within attempts to invade my flesh. But it is the light within that eradicates the false luminance.

We roll across the ground, a chaotic tangle of limbs and weapons. The God manages to free one of his daggers, aiming a slash at my throat. I catch his wrist just in time with my elbow, twisting it sharply and forcing him to drop the blade.

Using that momentum, I flip us over again and pin him down, my dagger poised above his heart. Vernon smiles at me as if expecting me to hesitate, but I don't, pressing down with all my might to end it.

But Void is not done. Space warps around us, and a spatial slash cuts through the air aimed at my back now that we are stable in motion. I barely manage to twist away, the blade cutting across the front of my body but missing organs. I feel flesh, skin, and parts of my nose vanish into the Void.

The God uses the distraction to break free from my grasp. Vernon, just as I taught him to, rolls to his feet and summons another wave of his powerful abilities.

I rise to meet him, the shades around me coiling and striking like serpents while shadowed by the light. We meet again, only far deadlier this time, as I land a cut on Vernon's arm, drawing... nothing.

The God's Void-filled attacks come faster now, each one forcing me to move, to adapt. My shadows lash out, striking with practiced death, but he deflects them with ease. Still, I don't falter. He might kill me with one good strike, but the same can be said for him. I just need one good shot. Then I can rip its fucking head off.

Minutes stretch into what feels like an eternity as we battle longer and longer. At first, it feels like we are both suffering from the prolonged scuffle, but Void is only getting faster and stronger. He is recovering. And me? Well...

My breath comes in ragged gasps. Every inch of my body aches from the strain of bearing Shadowless. I feel something... at the edge of my vision, but I cannot tell if it is death or hope. Nonetheless, this can't keep going on.

I need to make a move. And so I do.

Stepping back, I rally all my Nightwhips, forming them into a massive tide that crashes towards Vernon. He counters with a bubble of slow-moving Void that tears through the darkness, but I am already moving, using the chaos to close the distance.

Agony rips through my mind at the destruction of the Ether I had placed so much in, but I step forward. Vernon faces me again with a slowed response from dealing with the wave of darkness. Still, he slashes at me with his daggers before I can get within striking distance.

Leaping through the air, I dodge one, twisting my ankle in the sky with Ether to create a platform and go under the other. Then, I hit the ground again, lashing out at the God as they return an attack of their own.

Usually, I don't take the guaranteed trade. I'll back off and gauge for a better contest. But not now. All that matters is I win, not how. Gathering all my Ether in the lower half of my body, I dash at the last little bit of distance just as a knife slices past me.

Nothingness becomes my lower half.

And my upper half continues.

My dagger collides with Vernon's heart. Flesh crumples under the sharp blade, and we both smash into the ground. The God looks down at me, that omnipresent grin still there. It is arrogant, utterly sure in its victory. The sight makes my skin crawl, and my muscles twist into motion.

I rip out the dagger, stabbing it again and again as its arms wrap around me. Frantic, I do all the damage I can while Sanedges cut away at its flesh. I only reach the eighth stab before I lose my strength, however. And without my strength, I'm forced to listen to the Void.

"This is always how it would end. You are just a human. Lowly birth, high-born. It doesn't matter. You are still human. Come, Virtuous Virgil. Rest."

A lowly human. Right. I've seen a lowly human do some incredible things. I have seen them topple nations, save whole races, and even end Gods.

"Listen to your heart. And enter the Void. We welcome you."

It has no idea what I'm thinking. Absolutely no idea. It must think that because our abilities are so similar, we must think the same. The Mother Below and her 'loves' have never tried to take me before. They must... they must think me easily converted after my brother. Well... I am not my kind brother.

And.. Flicker isn't even mine. It was forced upon me, a curse that I've turned into a boon.

I can feel the God reaching for it, diving its spindly fingers into my flesh and soul. I allow him to take it as I resist the other aspects of the Darklight.

I let the Void take my Power, and with it comes unbearable pain. Torture worth years of consecutive anguish stretches through my soul. The sensation of losing legs and an arm pale in comparison to the... the hell.

"Yes. See? Isn't that so much better? Now you can join us. Now you can simply rest."

But within that misery, I feel... free. It is almost as if a weight has been lifted from my back. My hand tightens again on that dagger as Vernon's face lights up with confusion.

"What? Why... why aren't you converting? I took your Power!? There should be no more resistance! I'm a God! You're just a—"

With a smile, I feel something rush throughout my whole body, my whole being. Flicker was another being's Power. Not mine. All along, I was using the vestiges of a soul attached to mine. That... that is why I have had such a struggle toward a Dominion. That is why I struggled to advance.

"Wasn't mine. Just borrowed it."

Widened eyes meet a collapsing world of darkness, and I feel my Ether and my true soul meet for the first time in a long time. The first time... ever. A Dominion reaches outwardly, devouring my unused Power and Virtue, all becoming one in the end.

Wraithsun.

The name comes quickly, as if it was always there, hidden in some section of my soul, just waiting to be revealed to the world.

All the radiant vestiges vanish in our realm, as far as the eye can see, and in their absence, I feel... connected to every single bit of it.

A smile dons on my face as I twist the new muscle, and I reappear many feet away from Vernon. I quickly fall toward the ground without legs, but the Wraithsun falls inwardly, creating limbs for me to walk with just as I used to make tendrils. The darkness stabs into my organs, combining while I bite down on my teeth.

My eyes follow the shadows as Void's pupils do, too.

"You..."

I nod, vanishing again to stab a dagger into his back from underneath him. Then, before he can react, I teleport into another shadow, tossing daggers into the abyss as they, too, move as I do.

The fear in Void's purple eyes gives me... no joy. But it does provide me with closure.