Author's Notes: I'm sorry about the huge delay on this one, it's been madness trying to find time to write without turning it into some kind of chore, an exam yesterday, a presentation today, and so on and such. The last chapter was somewhat rushed as an attempt to stop myself falling behind, some traits of which Sin pointed out. I've tried to reconcile the shortcomings this chapter without dwelling on it for too long and rather integrate it into the story, I hope that works out well. This is another long chapter and also fairly serious like the last, although there's some more humour present. I realise humour is a big part of Original Crisis and all, but it's not the only element to it, and there are some serious underlying themes; the main characters are not gimmicks, no, not even Zone XP. This is far from the deepest, most epic material and it's not intended to be, but I hope people see the part it plays in the story as a whole. In any case, chapter 26 was due yesterday, and I'll try and do that ASAP. Meanwhile, enjoy :D!
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The familiar insanity of the void surrounded them as Arson, Reiko and Zone were returned to the floating platform. New elemental portals burst into life around them, but they hardly even registered it, still weary from their previous battle with the Puppet Master, Zone most of all.
Arson turned his head to look at the rodent, who was lying flat on his underside on the hybrid's shoulder. "Can you walk by yourself alright?" he asked him with innocent concern.
Zone groaned, and tested the theory by sitting up; he winced but nodded anyway, "Ugh, yeah sure, thanks".
Arson nodded in return and gently scooped up the drained hamster and set him down on the floor. Zone hopped off his hand, and stumbled as soon as he hit the floor, going onto all fours. "Are you sure you're OK Zone?" Reiko asked with palpable worry, but the rodent shakily stood and nodded.
"Sure I am" he answered almost automatically, hesitating and then looking at them sheepishly. "Just give me a couple of minutes?" he half-coughed. He was embarrassed to have to ask for it, but he could feel his muscles quivering under his fur even as he stood there. He needed time to recover before they moved on.
"Of course" Reiko replied. "We can use the time to analyse the next missions" he added after a moment, both truthfully and so the rodent wouldn't feel he was slowing them down.
"OK… Thanks" Zone replied with a quick grin, not lingering since he seriously needed a break to recover.
Arson pulled out the guide and opened it, Reiko watching as he flicked through the pages, and then looking over it with him. Meanwhile, Zone wandered towards the edge of the large platform, wanting a little space as well as time to recuperate.
Staring into the twisting void, he exhaled, and gently slumped onto his rear. His tender, fragile body ached from exertion, and he finally allowed the various pains banging at the door of his attention to collect their dues. "Ow! Owy, ow… Ow" muffled complaints slipped out of his clenched muzzle.
After a while the aches slowly started to dull, and the rodent's mind wandered through what had happened before, when he had no had time to think, no time to contemplate, only time to act, or die. He remembered how much his every fibre burned with the strain of constant harsh movement, that burning athletes speak of where each motion sears the senses, but you mustn't let it stall you, you have to ignore it and keep pushing.
Still, that didn't stop it hurting, then or now. He wondered how long he could have kept going, and though he hated giving up, the hamster quietly admitted to himself the answer was probably not much longer at all.
Luckily, oh so fortunately, it had been enough. His small, agile form making him a hard target to catch, his lightsabre being adept at cutting the shadowy strings, and him driving and forcing himself not to flinch or hesitate, even though every time he braced or leapt his muscles burned. All these had helped him succeed.
In the end though, they hadn't been the difference maker.
Rather than resisting the strings, he'd used them, turned them to his advantage, employing them as footing to stand on and their motions to lend momentum to his own movements and attacks. That had both stumped the dark manipulator, leaving it struggling to catch him, and frustrated it. It had seen many victims that ran from its entrapment, and even more that fought against it, but never before one that worked with its strings.
Being made to look inept by a rodent, combined with Zone's taunts, it had become more and more enraged until it lost its temper, and with it its control. Control was the source of its strength, but instead of trying to win through crafty manoeuvring, it attempted to crush him with brute force. Doing so, and blindly throwing all its strings at him had left it vulnerable, nothing remaining to defend itself, and Zone had acted. Without its powers of manipulation, the Puppet Master was defenceless, as frail and weak as a common Marionette.
In the end, it was his ambition that pushed him beyond fear or doubt of failure; that drive to give all he had without worry or hesitation. Thus unfettered, he was granted the focus and clarity to find a path to victory.
"Lucky break" the hamster chuckled, allowing himself a smug smirk for having outwitted the manipulating creature. He knew it seemed cliché, but he didn't care. Ambition was the core of his being, and he truly had fought with all that he could. It was far from the deepest or most powerful of drives, but it was who he was.
Anyway, he reasoned to himself as he stood up to head back to the others, feeling more balanced; he'd won by playing its own game, fighting back with manipulation and control of his own, challenging it on its own turf. That was a decent enough victory, he thought, although at the back of his mind another worry lurked. Their battle was far from over, and that last fight had been too close for comfort…
----
Arson found himself in a tall room he didn't recognise; vaguely square with some stairs tailing around to a door from one corner. Filling up middle of the room was a large flat elevator with four steel pillars, one in each corner. In one corner on a wall was an arcane dial.
Walking to stand before it, Arson drew his swords. Holding them on his head like horns, he scraped his feet against the ground, snorted, and some bullfighting music played. He charged the dial with a loud "Ariba!".
The business, pointy ends of the swords struck the device, and the top spoke illuminated with a faint ruby flame. Seeing red the hybrid slammed forwards again, head-butting the unfortunate switch into submission.
A low rumbling filled the room as the last light flickered on, and Arson turned to see the elevator rise about a foot as the gears around it ground to life. Dropping the bull act he ran over and clambered on before it left without him. Once aboard he looked up to see the long shaft above him, a glimmering blue speck at its top.
He was still looking up when the Hell Prides jumped down from the shadows, the transformed creatures with malevolent purple auras surrounding him. Swords still in his hands from earlier Arson raised them, knowing he had to eliminate them quickly otherwise more would come and quickly overload the elevator.
Rushing at the nearest one as it landed, he cut into it with several rapid slashes. The enhanced demon was neither very damaged or moved by the assault, but it did stagger it long enough for Arson to swing Dragon and Phoenix round in a heavy dual-arc, hurling the demon from the platform. He spun round and caught an incoming blade with both of his own, buckling under the blow. Rolling back under the pressure, he planted his feet on the demon's chest and flipped it over the edge behind him, jumping back up in one fluid motion.
The remaining two demons made Arson dodge several scythe swings before lunging forwards, dropkicking one Pride in its mask hard enough to shove it off the edge. Landing himself, Arson yelped and clutched his foot, hobbling and squeaking "Ouch!" over and over from kicking the reinforced demon so hard. Hopping about, he unorthodoxly evaded scythe slashes from the remaining demon as more descended from above…
----
The Bullseye Bar was the location Reiko was deposited in by the lightning portal. Looking around briefly, he heaved the sigh of a man who was about to do something he had to do, but still objected to on principle.
"So uncivilised" the vampire sighed as he drew his staff out and shattered a table into splinters, kicking the seat besides it into two barrels in front of a door, breaking all three objects. Bulldozing his way through the barstools, he jumped atop the cover of the bar itself and pulverised another three barrels there into splinters.
"Do people actually enjoy the mindless destruction of inanimate objects?" he wondered this out loud while hopping off the side and stomping through another two barrels. He had originally suggested Zone take this mission as he thought he was best suited to uninhibited carnage. Much to his surprise however the hamster had declined, saying that he'd prefer a slower mission if there was one to get his breath back, also pointing out that clearing the bar out against the clock could cost him a fair bit of his precious laser energy reserves.
Reiko had been so stunned to hear both humility and clear-headedness from the rodent he'd just nodded and pointed to the fire portal. It wasn't until Zone had left that Reiko realised that left him with this job.
"Why is it that when he shows some maturity I end up smashing things like an infant throwing a tantrum?" Reiko brooded rhetorically as he smashed a row of bottles against the back of their shelf. Bringing back the staff to destroy the row above, he swung it round with blinding speed and inertia… And suddenly stopped.
Lowering his weapon, Reiko reached out and delicately plucked a certain bottle from the shelf. Examining the label with great scrutiny he hummed thoughtfully, then quickly took the cap off and took a swig from it.
"Exquisite year" the vampire said after swilling and swallowing the liquid. He wasn't heavily into alcohol, but he was cultured enough to appreciate a fine wine. Heaving a sigh mixed with resignation, longing and regret, he hurled the valuable bottle over his shoulder, where it smashed into the bar's jukebox. A haunting symphony that had no right being among the listed tracks began to play as Reiko resumed his demolition…
----
The first thing Zone experienced after the warmth of the portal withered away, was insult. Specifically, his sense of smell was grievously offended.
"It's worse than Hade's laundry basket" the rodent choked out. In his personal range of odour-related condemnations, there was no more cardinal damnation. There is no eloquent rendition of words that truly captured how monstrously it reeked, so we'll just say it really, really stunk.
Blinking back tears, Zone looked around the cavernous insides of the Leviathan. The scenery was hardly picturesque; a mix of mutant flesh and the beast's last lunch. He even spotted their plane in the distance.
"Clock's ticking" he reminded himself, and swallowing the temptation to gag, he looked up. Numerous Red Orbs hung about the place, and he had to collect them all, fast. Heaving an irritated sigh, he realised the only way he'd do this in time would cost a lot of his energy reserves. But he didn't hesitate, as there wasn't any use saving it for something he'd never reach, which he wouldn't if he didn't get past this first.
Aiming his laser at the ground, he deactivated the recoil control and fired, the unsuppressed blast launching his light body upwards. Rising towards some of the Orbs, he maximised the charging port, and as they were want to do, the precious spheres were drawn in.
As his ascent topped out, Zone fired again, shooting himself to the side and collecting a line of more Red Orbs. He was regretting how much energy this was costing him, as without his stored power he was a lot less capable, when his trajectory took him past a White Orb.
"Holy crap!" the exclamation left Zone's lips almost on reflex. The gauge had just increased massively, and considering the total capacity of the weapon was the equivalent of 10,000 Red Orbs, that was no mean feat.
"Hehe, or unholy crap" he corrected himself as he spun and fired again to follow a change of direction in the path of Orbs. Sure enough, the next time he passed and collected a White Orb, the increase in power was monumental, completely recharging his weapon. Devil Trigger energy, apparently vastly more potent than common Red Orbs, that was what had done it. Suddenly a lot more optimistic, the delighted tyrant blasted himself around the creature's insides like a hyper furry pinball bouncing off of invisible bumpers…
----
Zone returned first, shortly followed by Reiko, and a little later Arson. While exchanging small talk they used the Fragments like last time and another energy portal appeared, around which they then gathered.
"Well, are we all prepared?" Reiko asked, wary of rushing ahead, considering what happened the last time.
"Sure am" Zone replied confidently, fondly holding his fully charged laser. "And you just know it won't be for nothing, because there's bound to be another boss to slow us down" the rodent added in a cynical tone.
"The second major boss always gets a rough crowd. Everyone remembers Phantom and Cerberus fondly, but Griffon or Agni and Rudra? Noooo" Arson commented, rather fond of the twin swords of fire and air.
The familiar awkward silence began to settle. However, Zone was damned if it would get any more script time, it was nearly a main character as it was. So he cut it off, "Given this alternative I pick the killer boss".
"Heeey, I'm allowed to have a critical opinion" Arson pouted resentfully. The hybrid had in fact written a highly detailed thesis on the success of the series. It was called the Pizza Popularity Corollary, and it stated that the success of an instalment of the Devil May Cry series could be directly extrapolated from the level of pizza involved in the game. As evidence it cited DMC1, where pizza played a minor role; the game was a smash hit. DMC2 featured no pizza and thus was left to wallow in mediocrity, while DMC3 prominently featured pizza in the opening and was massively successful. Arson was planning to submit his thesis online.
"Whatever awaits us can't be avoided, so if we can't prepare for it any further, we might as well proceed" the voice of reason, Reiko, suggested, to the approval of the others.
"Here comes the dramatic and painstakingly described scenery" Zone predicted as they entered the portal…
----
The dark shroud swept back like velvet curtains of richest violet, in its wake revealing large square tiles, alternatively marble white and obsidian black. The receding shadows also exposed the void behind them.
"… That was refreshingly moderate" Arson observed, while Zone irritably flipped off the above paragraph.
They were standing on the edge of, whatever they were standing on, a very blunt nothingness behind them. The chequered surface on the other three sides was being slowly unveiled by the dark, which appeared to move as a tangible thing, rather than a mere absence of light. Then again, they were used to such oddities.
"Hey, what's that?" Arson asked, shapes slowly becoming apparent as the shadows swept back over them.
"I don't know, but I bet you a fiver we're going to be treated to a monologue any moment now. Reiko, up for a friendly wager?" the hamster inquired hopefully.
The vampire eyed him suspiciously. "… No, your tyrannical interests give you an advantage" he declined.
"Damn it, what use is knowing this stuff if I can't con people with it?" Zone quipped with an unashamedly mischievous smirk. "OK, Arson, wanna make an easy fiver?" Zone turned to try and dupe the naive hybrid.
Before Arson could answer him, a loud thumping, slamming sound resonated from in front of them, cutting him off. From out of the shadows emerged large stone statues of abstractly carved soldiers, crossed swords held before their chests. They moved with surreal bounds, lifting up and moving forwards before slamming down again, as though picked up by an unseen hand. Among the learned, they were called Damned Pawns.
"Like mindless sheep, they move as pawns, rushing onwards in a desperate bid to ascend to greatness" a deep voice resonated all around them, like a million echoes.
As it did the Pawns advanced, ranks and files of stony legionaries moving forwards with methodical paces, following the pattern of tiles. They took only moments to reach the trio, who readied themselves for attack.
However as the pieces advanced, they did not draw their heavy blades. Rather they just lumbered on. Reiko and Arson forced to squeeze and dart between them to avoid being carried away. Zone just stood on a line between two tiles and watched them march past. "Told you so" he referred to the mysterious voice's dialog.
"So single-mindedly do they charge on to meet their end, their fate their destiny. They are obsessive over it. Blindly they rush to embrace their conclusion, only to meet with silent oblivion" as the one-sided discourse continued, the Pawns marched onwards, straight off the edge of what was by now obviously a chess board. Crossing the precipice they plummeted without hesitation or complaint into the featureless nothing beyond.
"I don't think they're coming back" Arson remarked as the last of the Chessmen disappeared over the edge, tumbling into a shadowy abyss that offered no promise of escape.
"They're not" the voice answered, and as it did its owner drifted into view. "Nothing ever does, all light is only a temporary flicker before the final extinguishments" the speaker with the disembodied voice seemed to have gotten a matching disembodied body. The floating apparition started at the waist, where an outline suggested a spine under the flowing black cloaks that wrapped its concealed torso. At its sides arms were apparent but similarly shrouded, although one hand with almost claw-like spindly fingers was evident as it was held in front of the creature. Its face was ghostly white and appeared faintly female, traces of the same gender evident in its voice, although both were obscured behind a pervading inhumanness. Contrasting the pale complexion was the black blindfold tied over the being's eyes, matching its other attire and long hair.
"So do you have a name at all, or are you too disposable for one?" Zone asked with a condescending tone.
In answer the creature laughed, a hollowly amused sound. "Disposable?" she repeated, "You know nothing of disposable. If you crave a name, however briefly it will last, then you may know me as, The Blind Seer".
Arson was the next to speak. "How comes you threw away all your toys?" he asked, referring to the Pawns.
"They were disposable" the Blind Seer replied. "They could not stop anyone who came this far, none who defeated the Puppet Master would yield to such a challenge. I just made their march to destruction swifter".
Reiko was regarding the creature warily. Something about someone who would throw away their minions, especially knowing that their opponents had already defeated one of their allies, provoked both intrigue and caution in the vampire. "How do you know about our victory over the Puppet Master?" he asked curiously.
Another soulless laugh, "I can see everything; the truth behind each moment as it expires meaninglessly".
"I bet you can't see shit with that blindfold on" Zone retorted cockily. "Just how many of you throwaway villains are there anyway? And why do you never all attack the heroes at once?" he asked contemptuously.
"You're mistaken, Zone" the Blind Seer said, it going unnoticed by none present that she knew his name, despite no one having used it. "What I see is how everything is… Darkness. Tranquil oblivion; everything else is temporary, just an insubstantial illusion before the inevitable finality. But to answer your questions, we do not attack together because we are not truly allied. We merely serve a common goal under Mary Sue, but our own alignments are not entirely compatible. The Puppet Master manipulated, that was its nature, to control the story… My nature is the end of the story, the eternal silence when there are no words remaining, no actions, nothing… As for the third of us, you'll meet him, if you don't die here" came the lengthy reply.
"Why are you telling us all this, why not just attack?" Reiko asked, suspicious of some ploy on her behalf.
"Because it does not matter. What happens is irrelevant, the result unchanging. Dark, silent, nothing… That is what awaits us all. What you know, how we fight, and who is victorious… Changes nothing, you are still descending moment by moment towards the end. That is fate, that… Is destiny" the Blind Seer prophesised.
"So we can attack? Only you're boring me to tears" the hamster asked with a theatrical yawn of impatience.
"Very well, if you so wish to meet your ends" she replied. Raising one pail claw-like hand, she clutched it as if holding an orb. A dizzying sense of distortion rippled outwards, and with mind-bending liquidity, the giant floating chessboard warped itself into a giant floating sphere. Arson, Reiko and Zone wobbled out of instinct to maintain balance, but were perplexed to see each other standing normally, apparently at an angle.
"OK, what the Hell?" Zone asked Reiko, who was leaning 15 degrees away from him, yet totally balanced.
"This is pretty trippy" Arson opined as he experimentally walked in a straight line. He found that although the curve was constant, he completely failed to fall off.
"The gravity must draw towards the centre from all sides, like a tiny planet" Reiko surmised thoughtfully.
"This is the world as it really is. Go wherever; you get nowhere. But I understand you were tired of truth, and wished to resort to violence" the Blind Seer taunted, floating down onto the sphere from above them.
Although she did not touch it per say, as she came to her normal floating height, her shadow spread out over the rounded surface. Like an illness, the shadowy stain swept across the globe, turning it pitch black.
As the infection swept under the trio's feet, they tensed reflexively, but it seemed to have only a cosmetic effect. "If you're done refurbishing, I'm gonna kill you now" he said sarcastically, tired of all the dialogue with nothing to back it up. Twirling his energy sword, he charged at the Seer, who simply waited for him.
Arson and Reiko glanced at each other, the hybrid shrugging, and hefting his swords he followed the rodent in rushing the enemy. "Something is amiss…" Reiko muttered, but he followed too, albeit more cautiously.
As Zone reached the Seer at his rapid, but understandably limited over long distances pace, he leapt up and slashed out violently. The shining blade parted darkness, and met no resistance as he sailed right through her location. Only, he heard that hollow laugh, and twisted to see the Seer twisting away, a faintly glowing tear in her insubstantial robes repairing itself.
He landed dextrously and was going to try again when out of the corner of his vision he spied a movement. Focusing on it, the rodent was bewildered to see what for all the world looked like a shadowy apparition of, himself. The shadow seemed to be reliving the actions he'd just performed, and he turned and swiftly raised his blade as he realised its weapon was coming straight for him. Lightsabre and its dark twin met, but rather than a fierce collision, the latter passed right through the former. "What the-" Zone uttered, as the shadow swept through him, dissipating as a cold spasm wracked him, dropping him onto all fours, gasping for air.
Arson was unaware of this development, too concentrated on his own attack. Roaring down from above wielding twin trailing tails of fire, he plunged towards the Seer. However without even turning to face him, aware of his presence but some altogether more mysterious means than sight, she evaded as if swept away by the wind. The teenager landed nimbly on his hands and knees, and looked up at her, wafting before him.
He had half-risen when from above him something dark came soaring down. Turning around, Arson only just recognised it as some dark reflection of itself as he braced himself to block the doppelganger, lacking sufficient time to evade. But again, trailing dark flames, the mirror warrior washed right through its parent, as it were, eliciting an almost shrill cry from the hybrid, who staggered as if shot, barely staying on his feet.
"It's a harrowing feeling, isn't it? The sensation of your own actions slowly sapping you of life. No matter how strong your spirit, each choice, each deed you perform siphons a little of you into the vastness of time" these words came from the Blind Seer, who was watching the rodent and teenager suffer with a withered corpse of true amusement. "You can only do so much before all your potential is exhausted, and nothing remains in you to give… Not without repeating yourself and becoming trapped… Or abandoning your own character" she lectured, making no move to capitalise on their vulnerability as they rose, drained but alive.
Suddenly the Seer swept to the side, a blur of metal passing through the space where her head had been a moment before. She gave a contemptuous chuckle, but Reiko, her assailant, had hung back and observed carefully. Thus it was that he ducked and rolled away, a vampiric shadow brushing past him, repeating his own motions and narrowly missing him. He followed his momentum through and quickly rolled to his feet.
"So you're not all completely blind" the Seer remarked, turning to face him, though she had no eyes to see.
"So, you turn the shadows of our actions against us" the vampire replied, facing off with her motionlessly.
"I simply… Reveal the truth. Life… Such a vicious thing. Each breath you draw is another moment stolen from you… Until you drown in your own existence" she replied, the two in a standoff of mental prowess.
"So, it's as simple as that is it?" Zone cut in, having shaken off the effects of his encounter with his darker self. He approached her from behind, though she made no move to acknowledge him. The rodent wasn't phased though, in fact he seemed oddly confident, "If it's as simple as facing the vastness of the world in contention with your own comparative minuteness, hah, I've been doing that since birth" he added boldly.
Arson was now with them too, standing on one of her sides, the three loosely surrounding her, although she only faced the vampire. "Your friend thinks he knows the solution… What do you think Reiko?" she asked.
Reiko regarded her shrewdly, noticing angered noises coming from Zone at being passed over. "I think… It's not the whole answer" he answered back eventually.
"How comes you're not attacking us?" Arson inquired, thrown off by an opponent who didn't well, oppose.
"I told you before, absolute oblivion is inevitable for all, you cannot escape it. In comparison to the endless infinite that will engulf and smother you, why rush over mere moments?" she answered without facing him.
"Ah, so, you still want us dead… I don't know if I should be reassured by that" the hybrid muttered quietly.
"Look, as a tyrant I appreciate a good dialogue, but you really need to earn it" Zone quipped impatiently, and to add injury to insult, he attacked the Seer again.
"Zone, a direct attack will not work" Reiko warned, seeing a smirk cross the Seer's face, her only reaction.
"Neither will a debate class, it's worth a shot" the hamster replied, jumping up and slashing out at the Seer.
She moved like before, evading the lightsabre, which did nothing but tear through her shadowy robes. Zone turned as she did and fired off a laser blast, but again she dodged. Landing, he turned and saw his shadow descending on him, and bracing himself, he slashed up at it, body and mind retaliating against the impostor. The shadow passed through him as before, and he felt its touch chill his very soul, but he gritted his teeth and contested the cold with his burning will. When the apparition had faded he was left, gasping, shivering, but standing. "Haha, told y-you so" he said to Reiko with a slight quiver in his voice, grinning confidently.
He was still smirking a moment later when a beam of pure darkness engulfed him. "So you can endure the death of one moment, minutely impressive… But how will you fare against the eternity of them awaiting you?" the Blind Seer's voice mocked as the beam, a shadow of his own attack on her, faded, leaving in its wake Zone, shaking violently. Even though he'd fought it, it took something deep within him to resist that tormenting dark iciness; he could do it, but not indefinitely. With an anguished cry he sagged onto his front.
"Damn it, Zone" Reiko cursed, not for his rashness but out of concern for the rodent. His sharp eyes could see he was still breathing though, and he stayed Arson with a gesture as the hybrid moved to try and help. "Treat the disease not the symptoms" he advised, and reluctant but understanding, Arson kept his guard up.
"So what now… Reiko? How will you try to prevent the inevitable from occurring, next?" the Seer goaded.
"Arson, a direct attack won't work, maybe we can avoid the shadows" Reiko suggested. Arson nodded, and together they charged at the Seer, Zone still out of commission. Their weapons slashed and swung, and she swept and dodged, eluding their grasp, their own shadows chasing them. The vampire and hybrid reacted to this, though; avoiding their copies and fighting so they didn't trap themselves, chasing her back effectively.
For a moment hope of victory alighted upon their souls. But it was swiftly dashed as the Blind Seer swept back and raised her hands, "You fools… When will you realise? You can no more run from the inevitable than you can fight it… Even if you can survive in the moment, that is nothing to all of eternity, accept it!".
As she cried this, a billowing blackness sprang forth form her hands and swallowed both of them. They felt nothing, but from the indistinct mist, numerous shapes began to emerge, familiar shapes. Their own shapes.
Arson, who had been closer at the time, found himself besieged on all sides by, himself, countless shadow Arsons closing in on the hybrid. As they drew in it became apparent to him that they were each carrying out some action he himself had at a point in his life, recognising a few memorable ones. He backed away a bit, but there was nowhere to back away too, he was surrounded, "Uh Reiko sir, what now?" he asked unsurely.
Before Reiko could answer though, Arson was beset on all sides by attackers. The vampire's first instinct was to rush to his aid, but reasoning stayed him; if he did they would both might have to contend with each other's shadows as well as their own. Backing away warily from the advancing smog, he looked over to see Zone fighting his own demons, the hamster lunging straight through one doppelganger with a cry mixed of pain and determination. He staggered and gasped raggedly, but still lifted his weary body to throw it against the next spectral assault. Reiko admired his resolve, but it was not yielding a solution, only delaying defeat.
Turning back, he saw Arson battling with countless dark reflections of himself. The hybrid was excellent in combat. But he was also massively outnumbered, and every action he took only fed his enemy, the teenager being whipped and torn around, stumbling and struggling to stay upright each time a shadow to caught him.
Looking back at the Blind Seer he retreated further away as the deadly smoke-like darkness spread out. But there was nowhere to run, they were fighting on a globe, it would catch him eventually. It was inevitable…
The icy chill of despair began to claw through Reiko's mind, trying to render his composure brittle, that it would shatter under the pressure. He looked to the others, and what filled him was more than the regret of failure, but a corroding sense that he was letting them down. He was the voice of reason, the guiding hand, the one that took responsibility for almost all of their decisions, even if mutually reached. It was a quiet and unappreciated role, he knew, not glorious and often overlooked, but if one were to look closely, they would see the vital, near-silent part he played. If it wasn't for him, this venture would never have begun, and while they had each done their part in getting this far, it was so often his insights or decisions which set their path.
It was a quiet role, not glorious and often unappreciated, and Reiko asked for no more. But even if it was silent, the others relied on him, trusted him, with that responsibility; a trust he was betraying now, as they struggled to survive. They counted on him; even if they wouldn't admit or didn't even realise it, they were.
Accept it, the Seer's last words rung in his mind as it searched for light in the darkness; the guide could not become lost, or they all were. "Accept it.." he whispered in thought… And then he knew what he had to do.
Walking forwards, the darkness enveloped him, and he made no move to escape it, entering willingly. Soon enough he was beset on all sides by clones of himself, but his stride did not falter as they closed in. Lashing out, the shadows Reikos wracked his body with punch, kick and staff, inflicting on him every violent action he had perpetrated in his long existence. But still he walked on, the creatures having no physical presence, though each touch would rend his soul with an agonising emptiness. But still, the vampire would not yield.
Step by step, he came to see the Seer through the crowd torturing him. She too saw him, and looked at him curiously. "Why prolong your suffering, why not simply give in?" she asked, perplexed by his behaviour.
"Because" his ragged response came, voice haggard with the torment inflicted upon him, "I have people, who are, depending, on me… I refuse to abandon them".
She seemed amused by this, but was forced nonetheless to reckon with him as he continued to stride toward her. "What a persistent delusion… Fighting for something that will crumble to dust sooner or later anyway" she intoned, "I'll show you the dying of the world, then, maybe then you will realise your ultimate futility".
As she said this, the Blind Seer sunk towards the obsidian surface of the giant orb they stood upon. With a watery ripple, she submerged right through it, the last thing visible, her face, wearing a dryly-amused smile.
Gritting his teeth, Reiko followed her, forcing himself to the still-fluctuating point and stepping into it. In an instant, he was consumed by complete darkness, a constant void that clawed through him, trying to suck everything he was out into it and disperse him into oblivion. The anguish was indescribable, and Reiko was clenching his jaw so hard blood was dripping from between his lips.
Convulsions wracked his body as he sank deeper, his muscles rigid with agony to the point where his bones ached under the strain. Madness feasted upon his mind, trying to tear it into the shreds of insanity with the overwhelming pain he was experiencing, and yet he held out with everything he had, everything he was. It didn't matter, he told himself, didn't matter, how much he suffered, or whether he died. All he knew, was that there were causes, and people, worth fighting for to him, and so his last shred of will, he would fight…
Eventually, after what could have been seconds or millennium, pain robbing the mind of senses, she came into view. The Blind Seer seemed to be expecting him, but not for him to be expecting her. Rather, she had anticipated a broken spirit, but while his mind was flayed and in tatters, he still clung to the reason he had followed her. The reason he had suffered so much. "Your self-delusion knows no bounds" she said as the vampire hung above her. If she could escape she made no move to, just staring at him with unseeing eyes.
Reiko responded by raising his staff, each inch his own body moved violating him with wracking pain. He lifted it though, fraction by murderous fraction, poising it above her. The Blind Seer remained motionless, and continued to do so as with a primal cry from something deep inside the vampire, he thrust it forwards.
"This changes nothing" the Seer said as the pole stabbed through her blindfold, sinking past it into her body without any resistance. "My death is inconsequential… All, that you fight for… Shall perish" her voice was strained as incandescent light began to pour out around the edges of the wound, but at the same time, calm, free of rage or fear, as though she were resigned to her demise.
"I accept that" was the vampire's reply, strained through clenched teeth. Slowly the light spread, fractures crawling from her face and starting to spread to the darkness around them. Eventually her entire body was consumed by light, which expanded outwards in a silent explosion, turning the sphere into a blazing star…
----
They awoke, all of them, on the familiar platform, suspended in the void, surrounded by four stone talons.
Arson was the first to rise, albeit shakily. Looking about, he spotted Zone nearby, and moving over to him, ever so carefully prodded the downed rodent. "Hey Zone, you alright?" he whispered with audible concern.
Eventually, the hamster groaned, "I feel I am owed a lot of alcohol, cus this is the mother of all hangovers".
Arson grinned, wincing empathically as his own body registered its complaints. He didn't know what had happened; one minute they were fighting the implacable hordes of shadows, and the next moment light, and then, here they were. He could still feel the chilling touch lingering in him, but it was not a physical pain, rather, one of the spirit, so he was able to move. Hauling himself to his feet he looked around for Reiko. He saw him some distance away, and hurried over to find that, while physically fine, his expression spoke of immeasurable pain. "Reiko, are you OK?" he asked with a worried whimper, dropping down besides him.
Slowly the vampire's eyes opened. "Arson… Are you OK?" he asked, to which he got a hesitant nod, the hybrid drained, but nothing he couldn't recover from given time. "What… About Zone?" Reiko asked, the effort of talking tangibly testing him. Arson looked over to see the rodent unsteadily rising, and nodded to Reiko. "Then, I'm, fine" the vampire replied, and for a while he just, lay there, unusually glad to be alive…