Chapter Two
Lara growled and started back towards the area where the Mianitees and Jace were gathered. She shook her head as she went, trying to ignore Jay's words. She did not want to admit that she had been harsh, though she knew she had been. Her words were cruel; said out of anger and, perhaps, a bit of fear. It was not often that something from the Void came to the Overworld. The knowledge that anything could be from there was frightening to her, as she'd been taught very young that there was no good to be had from the darkness.
When she arrived, she quickly landed and grabbed at Jace's arm, attempting to coax the younger Guardian aside. "We're leaving, Jace," she demanded as she pulled him from his hover, down to the ground.
"What?" Jace whined, "but I was enjoying myself."
"Follow Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes," Jay growled, "my creator is calling. Hopefully with my final mission."
Lara glared in the newly-announced Guardian's direction. She had a horrible feeling, spurred twice as strong by his words. "What would that be?" She asks.
"To destroy you all," Jay answered.
The ground split open and the void-born Guardian hopped into the portal, disappearing just before the Overworld worked quickly to repair itself. Lara warily watched the spot where the hole had been. She was unsure how safe it would be to let the area out of her gaze. Would it open again? Would it swallow up the Mianitees? Surely, they could be permanently killed. What if Jay knew how to do so?
Lara pulled her glance away from the ground only when Declan came rushing out of his house. The priest seemed both surprised and knowing. It was hardly an odd sight. Lara knew Declan had contact with the gods, and that the odds were that nothing was greatly surprising to him anymore. With all of the strange things the Mianitees got wrapped up in, Lara wondered why anyone was surprised.
"What's happened?" Declan asked.
Sonja, previously silent, took the moment to speak up. "I know what he's getting," she said slowly.
"He won't win," Lara insisted, attempting to soothe her own nerves, as well as acknowledge Sonja's words.
She turned to Declan. "Holy Man, perhaps you should discuss this with the gods. I know I will be, and if Jace is intelligent at all, so won't he," she suggested.
While Jace mumbled and darted off towards the Nether portal, Declan nodded and Sonja quickly added, "He's going to get the Ultimate God Slaying Bow... I know this because 'Death' offered it for Marlin."
Tom got then to his feet. "You bitch! You did it. I knew it when I saw that gapple," he accused.
"And you hid that from me?" Lara growled.
Sonja and Tucker were supposed to come to her for assistance and to warn for anything suspicious. Guardians were created to help, and the foresight to warn the gods was a plus, if the Mianitees decided to inform of any odd happenstances. Lara felt horrible. She could've warned Mianite that the Shadows would be up to something – but because Sonja had kept quiet, the matter was now worse and out of her hands.
Lara opened her mouth to scold Sonja for what had been done, but Jordan interrupted her after shushing an inquisitive Polaris. "Sonja didn't do anything, Tom," he said.
As soon as he finished speaking, Jace barreled out of the priest's area, ducking behind Lara. "I didn't do it," he yelped as he pulled one of the older Guardian's wings in front of him to hide him better. Lara offered his behavior a sigh, but didn't scold him. As tired as she was of dealing with the trouble, she couldn't retreat to the peace of Mianite's temple until everything was settled.
Jordan blinked at Jace. "What 'didn't' you do?"
"He believe Dianite will be angry with him for not doing anything," Lara offered, knowing Jace well enough to guess. He never did like it when Dianite's anger was directed at him.
Jace gave Lara a look, a brow raised. "You're not afraid Mianite will be angry?"
"No," she answered, shaking her head.
Two lightning bolts appeared, striking the ground near the gathered group. Lara glanced over as Jace clung to her with a frightened yelp. Despite her instincts screaming at her to protect the younger Guardian, she forced the desire aside in favor of not upsetting Dianite. Dianite never took kindly to Jace being coddled by anyone, especially not by Lara herself.
Polaris offered the Nether god a growl, which he ignored. "Is what Declan has told us true?" He demanded.
"Yes, it is," Lara confirmed.
Her gaze fell to Mianite, who turned towards the other god. "Brother… do you feel it?"
Before Dianite could respond, an arrow ripped a hole through the ground. The attack managed to catch the Nether god off-guard. In Dianite's surprise, he had no time to react before the arrow exploded in mid-air, sending him falling to the ground a few feet away. Mianite peered in the direction that the arrow had come from. Another came flying quickly down the tunnel, lit by fire and aimed directly at him. It would have hit its mark as well, had Lara not shoved her creator out of the way. As the arrow passed, Lara felt her feathers burn just a bit.
Jace glanced between Lara and Dianite, swallowing down his desire to assist the other Guardian in favor of checking on the fallen god. Next to Jace, Jordan pulled Polaris closer, getting to his feet with her. The dragoness ducked her head immediately underneath Jordan's arm in a scramble to remain safe.
"You're alright, Polaris," Jordan mumbled.
A deep laugh echoed from the tunnel as Jay flew out of it. "Witness the end," he said. He pulled back the bow string, aiming for Mianite in hopes that Dianite would already have been dead. The arrow was quickly sent of its path, but Jay stopped it upon noticing the female Guardian move into its way.
Lara sent Jay a cool glare. "What's wrong? Too afraid to hurt a lady?"
Jace was attempting to urge Dianite to awaken, when Tom walked over and had a brief conversation. Lara forced herself to pay no mind to it, hoping that the devil would be convincing the zombie-creature to take his friends and flee. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Jace had plucked Tom from the ground and was hovering with him.
Her attention returned to Jay as he dropped to his knees, tossing aside the quiver he'd brought with him. "No, I was surprised is all," he countered, voice lowered into a mutter. "You know what…? He no longer controls me…"
Upon his distraction, Jace tossed Tom forward. The Mianitee drew back an arrow from his own quiver, letting it free. The arrow imbedded itself in Jay's back and the Guardian quickly collapsed, lying unmoving on the ground.
Lara offered a nod, humming in appreciation as she noticed Guardian fall. The threat was gone. "Good shot," she complimented, adding, "for once."
Jace lowered his feet back onto the ground. "Don't mess with our creators," he snapped down at the other Guardian. "I like you. Let's not ruin that already."
Rising slowly to his feet, Dianite offered a rare, proud smile and congratulated Tom and Jace. "Good job! Now, where will the body go? I suggest a lava pit."
Mianite sighed. "Dianite, for the last time, no burying people in lava pits," he scolded, "the boy will have a proper funeral."
Jace snickered a bit and kicked off of the ground again to circle around Jay. Lara felt odd. She didn't believe that Jay was truly dead – nothing felt right – but she didn't see the interest in calling the gods out for their odd statements. Instead, when Jordan recommended locking Jay up in case he wasn't dead, she shook her head and shifted her attention to correcting him.
"I don't think so. He can just open dimensional holes. He'll escape," she pointed out.
Tom shrugged. "Could get the Wizards to protect the area," he suggested.
Mianite shook his head at their debate. "No. The boy is dead. Tom's sword would have been enough, but I'm afraid Jace landed the killing blow. Only an immortal can kill another immortal."
"And well done. By my followers, might I add," Dianite confirmed with a smirk.
Lara crossed her arms, shooting Dianite a glare. "Only because he was distracted," she conceded, "and who was the one on the ground, Dianite? I do hope you were pretending. Otherwise, I—"
Jace grabbed hold of Lara's shoulder. "Lara, let's just go now." Upon receiving a curious held-tilt in response, he shrugged and continued, "You said there was a pirate-thing. Let's go see the pirate-thing."
Understanding that Jace simply wanted to leave, Lara nodded and let her lead them both away from the scene with just a wave. The Mianitees quickly scattered as well to go about their day.
Mianite tapped his foot. "Stop pretending, child."
Jay sat up, pain searing down his spine. "Yo," he muttered.
Dianite growled at him. "You must be punished," he accused, "Mianite, let me handle this one."
"Keep him hidden, Brother. Make sure Jace can't find him."
When Mianite vanished, Dianite teleported both himself and Jay into a Nether fortress, tossing the Guardian into one of the cells. "This Nether fortress is now your prison," he informed before disappearing and leaving Jay behind.
Guess what's finally back? I finally had the time/energy/computer availability to edit things. I'm going to try to edit everything within the next few days, for this story at least. There might be a mini-break in-between stories getting posted because the next one in the 'series' is longer and might take me some time to figure out a good start/stop point for every chapter. I'd already figured that out for this one, so I didn't have to do that.