Chapter 10
The Sleeper Awakens
Everyone is changing
There's no one left that's real
So make up your own ending
And let me know just how you feel
'Cause I am lost without you
I cannot live at all
My whole world surrounds you
I stumble then I crawl
"Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd
In the vast expanse of darkness surrounding the twin brothers Cody and Zach Martin, something moved. Or rather several something's moved. Cody could feel his brother behind him, both protecting one another and overlapping their light auras. However, even together they were unable to hold back the darkness and their light dimmed even more. There was not a sound to be heard beyond the gentle hum of their aura's and what sounded like distant whispers all around them coinciding with the movements they saw.
With a suddenness, several dark shapes launched themselves at them from both sides, wailing so loudly that their ear drums threatened to pop. Banshee's! Cody had never fought them before, but he'd heard their distant wails as they hunted down lone human survivors in the post apocalyptic future he had lived in. The very noise sent an irrational fear through him. They couldn't possibly be more powerful than the Demon Lord…
Cody swept his arm out, releasing a crescent of light that rapidly expanded and smothered the Banshee's. They vanished in a cloud of dust, their remains sailing through the air to land at the brother's feet. Zach had already disposed of the demons on the other side with barely any effort. He just had concentrated hard and formed orbs of light inside of the Banshee's which rapidly expanded to consume their entire bodies.
"This trash can't stop us!" Zach said confidently, searching the darkness for more enemies or Ashani himself. As if in response, the powerful booming roar of a dragon could be heard very close by them. Just as the brothers turned in the direction they assumed the creature was hiding, it burst out of the shadows and charged at them intent on snatching them up in its powerful jaws. Cody dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding being slashed by the razor sharp claws on its hind legs, and then executed a half roll to jump back up onto his feet.
He intended to unleash everything that he had to stop this dragon quickly, remembering the damage that the last one had caused, and hesitated as it came crashing down onto the pavement sliding to a stop. Zach had done the exact same thing Cody had done to the previous dragon. He withdrew Fortitude from the head of the beast, covered in black ichor, and jumped down off of it onto the pavement grinning at Cody.
"Piece of cake," Zach exclaimed proudly to Cody, then he turned away and called out into the darkness, "Your minions are nothing to us Ashani!"
"A few yes. But let us see how you fare against all of them. Arise my armies, and bring this world to its knees!" The ground quaked as the Demon Lord called out to his minions and a deafening roar from a sudden gust of hurricane force winds drowned out everything else. In the distance, where the gateway to the Chaos Demon's realm had been, incandescent purple and red bolts of lightning reached into the sky striking the clouds overhead. Dark clouds began to rotate in response to the lightning, almost like the forming of a tornado funnel cloud.
"This is your end!" Ashani exclaimed in victory. The gateway yawned open and Cody could feel the presence of an impossible numbers of Demons surging across the gap from their realm into Earth's. This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't!
Zach and Cody raced towards it, not knowing how to stop such an impossible number, but knowing that they had to something. Anything. They were forced to stop after just a few feet by the Demon Lord himself, appearing before them unharmed and healed from the damage dealt to him by Fortitude and Excalibur. He crossed his arms and grinned maniacally at them, almost daring them to try and get past him to the gateway.
Cody felt utterly defeated at that point. They couldn't stop the Demon Lord and now they had no way to prevent the hordes of Demons from pouring into their world. He had no idea what to do now, no options left to consider and now they were out of time. The fight seemed to leave his body as he realized this. He would continue fighting of course, but he was entirely demoralized now.
"I don't think so!" Came the shout of a familiar voice behind Ashani. Just as Cody's mind registered the fact that it was Max's voice he had heard, a brilliant star of blue light appeared in front of the Demon gateway. The light intensified so much that it washed out the color of the incandescent lightning bolts coming from the vortex and lit up the entire block. Everything which had once been shrouded in darkness was now lit by a calming blue light. Ashani spun around in disbelief. Max's power was far beyond anything that the twins had demonstrated thus far.
"Not possible…" Ashani breathed taking in the scene before he seemed to snap out of it and charged at her, sailing at impossible speed through the air. The ground stopped shaking, the lightning bolts ceased and as Ashani drew close to Max, everything seemed to grow still as if in anticipation of what would happen next.
A rounded cone of light energy, much like a type of force field, surrounded Max's right hand which was encased in a sapphire gauntlet. She too was encased in magnificent armor, just like the boys were, and it gleamed brightly in defiance of the darkness around her as she slammed her fist into the air just inches in front of the closing Demon Lord. He flew backwards and slammed into the ground, creating another crater, and then seconds later a sonic boom echoed into the distance.
"Wow…she's incredible…" Zach stated, shocked at how powerful she was for lacking any experience with her powers. Both brothers were spurred into action and they ran to join their friend. The Demon gateway closed abruptly and as the last traces of it vanished, Max's sapphire and gold armor was whisked away like smoke in a high wind and was replaced by her normal clothes. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily and clearly exhausted from the expenditure of her powers.
"Max are you ok? Cody asked, kneeling down in front of her and steadying her as she almost collapsed forward.
"It was him…" She whispered, using her arms to hold onto Cody and resting her forehead against his breastplate.
"Him?" He asked, puzzled.
"Taschen…He told me what to do…I'm so tired Cody…"
"Rest now, we'll take it from here Max." Zach said assuringly, standing up and turning to face the Demon Lord who was just now extricating himself from the impact crater. He was flaming mad, Cody could tell as he glanced over his shoulder at him. He picked up Max in his arms, surprised at how light she felt with his enhanced strength and carried her over to the side of the street where he set her down against the wall.
Zach's words inspired Cody, especially now that the gateway to the Demon Realm had been sealed. It was just them against Ashani now, in one final showdown to save the world. They were both really powerful, and together they might just have what it took to stop him. The brothers stood shoulder to shoulder, their aura's growing in intensity as they filled themselves with power and started down the cause of all their problems. But the surprises weren't over yet…
Ashani smirked at them before he transformed himself. Cody had a hard time describing what he saw. The Demon Lord's human form grew in height and completely changed into a towering monster. He was now several stories tall, his shoulders almost touching the buildings on each side and his limbs were thicker than tree trunks…
"What the hell?" Zach exclaimed, his head and eyes slowly tilting upward, following the growing Demon Lord as he grew taller and taller. Negative energy surrounded Ashani, violently coalescing around him in a swirling field of incandescent red and purple light.
"This is your end!" Ashani's voice, now a deep rumbling tone, roared. He released the negative energy. It raced towards the twins impossibly fast and overcame them before they could react.
Pain exploded across Cody's body, it was like being stabbed by thousands of knives and then being set on fire. He writhed in agony, wishing that he could die if it meant an escape from the horrible pain that he was enduring.
He wanted to die. The pain! The horrible pain!
Darkness.
Author's Note: The story is winding down and yes the chapters are getting shorter (mainly due to the pure action scenes leaving little room for anything else).
Please review and let me know how you like the direction the plot is taking. I think I've lost some of the writing quality that I started with, especially character development, during the action scenes. Let me know what you all think!
Max has sealed the gateway to the Demon Realm, preventing an unfathomable number of creatures from entering our world. Zach and Cody were down, but not out of the fight as they prepared themselves for the final showdown. Just before they can combat Ashani, he transforms into a powerful and massive monster that unleashes a powerful attack upon the twins. Cody is in intense pain from the attack, bringing darkness to his vision. Will he and Zachary survive or will they just become Ashani's next victims.
The war for humanity's right to exist ends in Chapter 11: Sacrifice