Dark and Light – Chapter 11

By Ultima66

I looked at him: my other form. I knew the two of us couldn't coexist in the same world, and I knew there was no choice left but to fight now. I griped Crystal's hand as tightly as I could as I felt my heart beating like crazy.

I made the first move. Pulling a few steelies out, I held them in my hand for a second and took aim. Silently I swung as hard as I could and flung thenm full force at my opponent. He vanished into the air and I saw a line of energy across me. I braced myself as well as I could when I realized what happened. I felt the cold sting of the dragon tail cut into my arm, and I was dizzy for a moment.

Crystal healed me as quickly as she could, but the dizziness didn't wear off soon enough. When I regained focus, I saw my dark side holding several wads of bills. With a fling he threw them upwards into the air. I saw his shadow take out the signature fuse box and push down on it, setting the money on fire.

The next thing I knew, I was on the ground with an intense burning pain all over my body. As I felt the pain wash away I got up as quickly as I could and located my dark side, then started throwing knives relentlessly at him.I saw one slice through the side of his arm, and he grabbed at the gash.

He ran towards Crystal this time, and I stopped throwing for fear of hitting her. I jumped towards her as fast as I could, but when we both got close an assaulter from him brought her down to the ground with a shriek. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up. She screamed in pain of his arm clamped around her neck, but it was hard for her to make any noise.

It was more than I could bear. "Stop it! I'll take you on alone, but you leave Crystal out of this. I'm the one you want dead, not her," I said.

"Fine, then. She's out of this battle, if you want," I heard him coldly laugh.

He continued grabbing Crystal, but this time he held her down with his hald holding the dragon tail, the spikes threateningly close to her neck. I saw him pick up a stray steely knife on the ground and carry Crystal over to a tree.

Prying her staff out of her hands, he used one hand to force her arm onto the trunk of the tree, and with the other, he jabbed the knife deep into her arm, piercing through to the other side, literally nailing her arm into the tree with a knife. She screamed in pain, and it took all all the willpower I had to not break down right there. He picked up a second knife and nailed her other arm down in the same way.

"Jace! It hurts! Please, save me from this!" she cried. Blood clearly flowed down her arms in a crimson stream, some of it going down the hind part of her arm all the way to her body, staining part of her white dress red.

"Why did you do this to her?" I asked him, fear, rage, and depression hitting me all at once.

"I only did what you asked, didn't I?" he replied.

As I heard another scream from my love, I could take no more. I went berserk on my dark side, throwing everything I had at him.

Several knives stuck into his body, more than would be needed to kill a normal person. But he wasn't normal anyways. I saw him pull out the knives one by one, then simply heal himself of his injuries. I heard Crystal's voice strain, and saw her struggling. He was stealing her life force to heal himself, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I fell down, emotionally destroyed by Crystal's pain, physically worn down by what I had thrown at my dark form. As he walked towards me, I said a last prayer of hope for Crystal's sake. The line of his assaulter appeared around me one more time.

The end didn't come. I suddenly glowed white, as I felt Crystal's presence surrounding me, and the assaulter simply deflected off of me and did nothing.

"STOP THIS!" I heard her yelling, "I'm hurt, I'm really hurt, but I don't want to see you hurt any more, Jace. I can give up my life, if it means I can save you, Jace."

I shuddered at the thought of her being gone. "No, Crystal, I will give up my life for you. At the very least part of me is still alive in my darker side. I've lost you for so long. All I wanted was to see you one last time, and I guess I did," I told her. My attacker had actually backed away, apparently waiting for us to decide who he should kill.

"Jace, if you die, he'll still be around. You're the only one who can stop him. At least there's a hope if I die and leave you two alone. You have a chance to kill him. That's all that really matters, Jace," she told me.

"I have to fight to the end, Crystal," I told her.

"Then do it, Jace. Do it, and make me proud of you. Goodbye, Jace," she said, as she pulled her arm through the knife, widening the hole in her arm. Weakly she pulled the knife out of the tree. She held it up to her neck.

"NO!" I screamed, watching the scene unfold in front of my eyes, completely powerless to change anything.

"Goodbye, Jace, one last time. Remember, no matter what, we'll always be together," she said, as the knife sank into her neck, Crystal thrusting it in deep and then pulling sideways. She gasped one last breath and then her eyes closed for the last time.

"Crystal... I... loved you... and now... you're gone. Gone forever..." I let tears flow down my face, then turned to face my darker side. "I'll kill you," I said menacingly.

"You can't do that. Just give up now, and we can cooperate. You're not a bad fighter, but I'm better," he said to me.

"I swear, I will kill you," I said.

"Wrong," I heard a voice on the side of me. A blade plunged into my side, leaving me gasping for air as my lifeblood flowed out of my body. "I will kill both of you," the voice said. A person stepped out. He had an extremely skinny body, barely able to support it's weight. I looked at the gaunt face and realized who it was.

"A... Alex? Why? I have so many questions for you," I tried to say, as more and more blood spilled out of my body. Pain was everywhere, but I had to fight through it. "Why did you run away so long ago? What is the meaning of this?"

"Goodbye, Jace. I have to stop your evil form, and there's no other way than to kill you. It's been a long time, but I hope you'll understand. So long, I've been driven mad. I have no more purpose than to silence that creature that still tortures me to today, Jace, you're dark form," he told me, "I'm nothing but a cursed body. There's nothing left for me but revenge."

I looked over to my dark form. He lay on the ground, lifeless, as I felt my whole body shut down, still conscious in my eyes but nowhere else. I stared up. I saw the figure of Alex standing above me, suddenly crumbing into dust and falling all over me, and lastly, I saw the last drop of blood spill out of my body, as Crystal and I were finally reunited forever.

Until the end of time, dark and light will always belong together, and together they shall always stay.