Dark grimaced as the tenth and final crack of the whip seared his flesh. His back was now a raw and bloody mass of crisscrossing whip marks.
"Do you give up yet?" The shade asked behind him.
"I was going to ask you the same." Dark said with a cold grin. He glanced behind him as far as he could and saw the shadow being's grin widen, displaying more bone white teeth. It reached towards the table, picking up the cat of nine tails. It held the whipping device in it's hand, flipping it about casually.
"Why do you cling? Why do you hold so strongly to the light now? Do you not remember how strong you were with the darkness? Men and demon alike fell to you. Now you are hardly an even match for Alnahim." The shade questioned him.
Dark's breath caught in his throat at the name of the wizard. It was true. When the shadows held him in their power, the wizard had been nothing before him. Now they had proved themselves to be of equal power. Anger flushed through the warrior's body as his hatred flared.
The shade, sensing the weakness, dove in attack, it's body becoming liquid which stuck and clung to Dark's body. It felt like warm tar surrounding his body.
"No!" Dark shouted, gathering the whole of his will. A flash of light filled the shadowy room for a mere second, and the shade was back into it's normal form, on the floor. It was looking at him with those hazy red eyes. The grin still covered it's face.
"Your resolve shall shatter." it cooed. "And then I will own you once more. After all, you are naught but a slave. Already your will weakens and you consider letting me in. In no time at all, I will have my body once more."
"You managed to catch me off guard. Enjoy the small triumph, as it's the only you'll receive in this." Dark said confidently.
The shade reared back and whipped the man with the cat of nine tails. A dozen singes of pain roared into life across Dark's back, and he winced.
"Oh. I must say something." Dark said.
"What is it?" The shade rasped.
"When this is all over, and I stand free of you, I am going to kill you." he boasted.
The shade resumed it whipping, laughing a lilting tittering laugh.
)))))))(((((((
Jareth walked down the dark corridor of the cave of trials, thinking.
"I don't know what sorcerer brought me here, but I'll see to it that he pays. It's good I pinned that demon. It'd be impossible to dodge and stay alive while trying to play and sing."
He exited the corridor, entering a dark circular room. Torches were arranged around the room like the numbers on a clock face. A figure stood in the middle, clad in shadows. The ranger squinted, but even his sharp eyes were unable to make out the figure from this distance. He walked forward and his heart sank.
The slim pale dress. The hair of spun gold. The frail frame.
The woman turned slowly, as if she were underwater, and Jareth saw Karina once more.
Her grey eyes were swimming with tears of profound sadness.
"Jareth..." She whispered fearfully, taking a step back. "It wasn't true..."
"W-What do you mean?" He asked.
"When last we met, it was only a ploy. Magus was never truly killed...Still I lived. This has all been a scheme to get you here. In a domain where it could keep you under it's thumb." She murmured.
"No. N-no!" Jareth exclaimed. It all made sense. Magus was the spirits of all the people of Levid. Surely it's magic was strong enough to cause the events in this cave.
"You hurt me Jareth..." His wife said softly. "Your arrow pierced me."
"I'm sorry karina..." The ranger said, taking a step towards her. His wife quickly retreated another step, and that was, in a way, the worst blow that could have been dealt. The one woman he loved was terrified of him. "I...I thought you weren't there..."
Karina's mouth opened for a second, and then she stopped, frozen in time. Seconds passed like hours and Jareth saw her storm-cloud eyes turn into a rainbow myriad of multicolored irises. An evil smile spread over her kind face.
"Your wife is gone, ranger." Magus said. Then, to Jareth's horror, his wife's body began to rot. Years of decomposition passed in just minutes. Her skin grew gray and sagged from the bones. The eyes dulled and eventually were replaced by a wriggling mass of maggots. Skin withered slowly and tore, revealing dull yellow-white bones. Before his eyes, the clothes grayed and became the no color of dust. It ripped and was draped over the bones like dirty bandages. Within minutes only a skeleton with a few patches of dirty dull yellow hair clumping out from it's head stood before him. In the ribcage, where the beautiful heart had once beat, an evil purple light came into life, illuminating the cave with it's eerie glow. A maggot fell from the eyesocket that had previously housed beautiful eyes, and Jareth bent over and emptied his stomach onto the ground. The terrible aroma of rotting meat pervaded the air. Then the bones began to expand and grow, with a sound like a cloth bag being slowly ripped apart.
"This is what becomes of your love, ranger! You are poison!" The demon said with the voice of thousands. "Had it not been for you, perhaps your beloved Karina would still stand!
Jareth's mind nearly broke in that moment. Hatred and purest rage, emotions often far from the ranger's heart, broke free like water through a cracked dam. He fell to his knees, tears of anguish falling freely from his eyes. Jareth began to slam his fists into the ground, paying no mind to the skin that tore from his knuckles. Howls of sorrow erupted from his lips, echoing through the empty caverns.
A low shadowy chuckle fell from the demon's mouth.
"Yes. Weep. Suffer. Fall." It laughed. "You're just as weak as your path-"
"Shut up." Jareth said hotly. He rose slowly to his feet, a man clearly holding the whole of his emotion in check. His eyes were aflame with hatred. "You could hold the souls of ten million people in your damned self. Every single one of those souls could be a powerful magician. But I know what you truly are, Magus! A collection of fear riddled beings that cannot handle the thought of the afterlife. When I pass, I will welcome death's embrace. You have never loved. You have never lost. You only know hate. You are a disgrace to the whole of existance."
"We shall see of that, worm!" Magus roared, swinging a bony arm at Jareth. The ranger's reflexes were sharp, and he skipped backwards, dodging the hideous animal. The ranger continued moving backwards, and drew his bow, nocking an arrow. Magus followed with an apeish gait, all hunched over.
Three arrows whizzed through the air, embedding their sharp arrowheads into Magus' skull. The only response from was a chuckle as he continued his hideous walk towards the ranger, making the ground shake with every footfall.
"You cannot defeat me. I am all. I am one." Magus boasted. He stopped walking, and hovered his hands over his center light like a witch's kettle. The light flared evilly, and three fat featureless worms of the light left the orb. The slinked through the air groggily, as if just woken, and then one end perked upwards. Jareth recognized the motion as an animal trying to catch a scent from the air. The worms seemed to get the smell, and began to shoot towards Jareth, reminding him of how his own arrows had flown.
In an instant, his sword was drawn. He brought the blade through two of the worms, but was unable to block the first. It struck him in the chest, and he felt the ice cold grip of shadow squeeze him. The air from his lungs rushed up his throat and burst from his mouth. After a few seconds of being nearly crushed by the powerful magic, it faded, and Jareth was free again.
Magus repeated his motion, and more worms appeared from the light. They shot at Jareth, who began to run around the room, rolling and evading the shadow worms. More and more of the strange animals were created, keeping Jareth dodging with all his abilities. It only took a few minutes for his body to become slick with sweat.
"I can't keep dodging forever..." The ranger thought. "I need a plan."
)))))(((((
Dark roared with pain as the sharp pain surged across his back once again. He hung loosely from the chains that held his wrists locked overhead. The enchanted irons dug into and ate his skin raw, but this was only slight discomfort when compared to the lava that had taken permanent residence in his back. Deep tracts of dripping crimson laced themselves over his muscled back. Blood now rushed from all of the deep marks, while it beaded on the lighter ones. Once more the cat of nine tails made itself known, and all the muscles in Dark's back spasmed.
The spasm was so violent that he fell from his feet, grunting as he felt the bones in his wrist pop at suddenly holding the whole of his weight. He regained his footing just in time for the whipping utensil to send him once again into a racking series of muscle spasms. His legs buckled, and his arms rippled rapidly with the intensity of the muscles contracting. He cried out as he felt his right wrist break. When finally the muscles calmed, Dark got his feet under him again, though his muscles ached and creaked at being used after their recent works.
"You're breaking." The shade said satisfactorily.
"I...Won't...break..." Dark choked out through deep breaths. He didn't bother trying to turn around, knowing his stiff neck would not allow such movement. Somewhere far off, he swore he could hear a scream of endless sorrow.
"Oh but you will. I'm truly surprised at how long you've lasted. But eventually those legs will no longer support you. Not only will your wrists break, but your body will rips it's own arms out. You will feel the slow agonizing pain as the arms pop and tear out from your sockets. You will hear the low ripping sound as the muscle between your arms and shoulders stretches and tears like ground meat. And, even more than now, the metallic scent of your blood will clog your nose." The shade said happily. Immediately after finishing it burst into high pitched tittering laughter. Though Dark could not see it, he could tell it's head was raised to the ceiling as it laughed.
"All of that may happen, but I'll still not give in. If necessary, I'll kill you as an armless, legless, toothless man. Because what you don't understand is this..." Dark began. "I have a whole world that needs me. And I have new friends. My new group. Jareth. Link. Even...even Alnahim."
The shade, which previously had acted in full control of the situation abruptly tried to cut Dark off with another crack of the device. Dark winced, but kept on.
"I hated the wizard deeply. More deeply than I've ever hated anyone. But what I refused to see was that he and I were more alike than I cared to notice. Of our similarities the most important is that we both have sins we are trying to atone for in this group. We've had more blood on our hands than we've had water. I don't love him as I loved Leon when I first saw him in my right mind. Nor do I like him as I like Jareth. But he is a part of our group, and I'll not allow hatred to fester within me."
"N-No! Stop that!" The shade demanded, cracking the whip madly. But he was too late. The enchanted iron bands that had bound Dark now lit up brightly with all the colors of the rainbow, and dispersed into nothing but opal powder.
"W-wha?" Dark mumbled dumbly, looking up at his now free arms.
)))))(((((
Another worm of light grazed Jareth's shoulder, cutting through the tough leather like paper. Jareth cursed, flipping around the three other purple beings like a manic dancer, his limbs flinging about ungracefully.
"Yes! Dance!" Magus laughed in it's deep shady voice. Jareth rolled forward, feeling the worm whiz by his head. He sprung up, shooting several arrows at the demon. One slammed directly into one maggot filled eyesocket, sending a mist of the white grubs out into the air. Another smashed into a rib, deflecting off easily. Magus flinched at that one, and growled, ceasing the wavings of it's hands over it's orb of light. It began to walk slowly towards the ranger.
Magus opened it's mouth, which soon filled with the same purple light that occupied it's rib cage. Jareth, sensing what was about to occur, sprinted form his place in the room. Under a second later, the fire in Magus's mouth erupted in a ferocious beam, singeing the ground where Jareth had stood. The demon of many spirits turned it's head towards the ranger, making the beam chase him.
"Damn you!" Jareth shouted as he ran around the demon in a large circle. After a dreadful half minute passed, the beam faded away. Jareth shot several shard of earth from the palm of his hand, and immediately felt the effects of the spell.
"Damn...I've never been one for spellcasting..." He thought to himself, frustrated at his lack of mana. "I need to defeat Magus. But how! It's magic is powerful, and everything I have tried to do has failed. It is unbeatable."
"NO!" A clear voice rang out within his head. "it is not invincible! You already know it's weakness! You have just refused to see it!"
"What? Who are you?" Jareth thought to the voice. Then, quickly, "No, that may come later, But how do I defeat him!"
The voice never answered him, though Jareth could still feel it's presence in his mind.
"Damn! What was it? I've already seen the demon's weakness? What is it!" Jareth thought angrily. He cursed himself for not seeing what could have saved his life. Magus had opened it's mouth once again, and was shooting another beam of that evil light at the ranger. As Jareth darted around the room, his mind was working at full blast. As Magus's beam faded, the answer came to him.
"Magus flinched when my arrow hit it's ribs...The orb in it's core. It must be the weak point!" Jareth thought, shooting five arrows as quickly as he could. They shot through the air with speed unrivaled, all plummeting into the mysterious purple light at Magus' core. Magus' skeletal form contorted oddly, standing straight up, as if a titan had grabbed it by either end and pulled tightly. Then it whirled about, bending so it's head came back and through it's legs. The spine crackled and popped as it bent and twisted to accommodate the bizarre moment. Finally, the skeleton collapsed, spewing out a random jumble of words and phrases.
Jareth approached the demon, and neared the purple glow. He hesitantly reached his hands towards it, saw their minute trembling, and breathed in. He exhaled deeply and plunged his hands into the light. In the bare center Jareth felt his hand wrap around something cold and hard. He ripped it from the demon, which immediately began to cry out in pain.
"D-Damn you, r-ranger!" Magus roared. "You've taken my hearts. My essence! I'll kill you, rip you apart."
It was still spouting off threats as it's last vestiges of life faded from existance.
Jareth sighed, and plopped onto the ground.
"It's finally over." He muttered to himself.
"But are you so sure of that?" A voice questioned behind him.
)))))(((((
"How!" The shade bellowed in disbelief. "How did you know the magic in the irons was bound to your hatred of the wizard!"
Dark turned, gazing at the shade with righteous resolve in his heart. With his peripheral vision he saw his sword laying on the table, and lunged for it. The shade, thinking Dark was attacking, dove out of the way. As the warrior grabbed his sword, the world stopped. He somehow saw through the thick leather sheathe, and to the sword beneath. The glowing purple runes now seemed ugly and malevolent. But they only scarred the swords beauty for a brief moment. As dark's fingers wrapped fully around the swords hilt, the purple runes burst with divine light, brightening the formerly dark cavern space.
He heard the shade screaming far away but was wholly lost in the light. It's beautiful caress breezed over his skin like the fingers of a lover. Wrapped in it's embrace, he could feel the shadows lift from his mind and soul. Black serpents surged from his chest only to be burnt by the light, fluttering to the ground as ash. He felt the light enter his body, tearing out the darkness that had held him in it's grip for so long. Now, through his resolve and willingness to let go of his hatred, he was purged of shadow. The light faded, as it always seems to do, yet he noticed there was still a warm glow to the room.
He saw the shade in the corner, looking upon him with fear and hatred. As Dark's gaze fell upon it, it looked surprised, and then dove at him with malice. One shadowy arm twisted into a sword-like extremity. Dark raised his hand, noticing his muscles no longer squealed with pain. Light erupted from his palm, bathing the shade in holy light. The shade did not scream, only whipsering one word as it was burned from existance:
"Light..."
Dark looked curiously at his hand, seeing the dull black glove he'd always worn had been replaced by a white one. Looking over himself, he saw that somehow the whole of his armor had been swapped out.
White greaves, lined with Azure, rose up his legs to the middle of his thigh. Two angel wings jutted out from either side of his knees. He was wearing a snow white fauld, a blue cloth hanging from his right side. A dagger hung at his left, and another sword was draped just under his back. A white and blue breastplate covered him, bearing an insignia Dark had never seen before. Blue and white gauntlets protected his hands and forearms, and had ridged spines that looked like they would cut anything they came into contact with. Blue, white, and gold pauldrons were strapped to either shoulder, with spines stabbing out into the air. Lastly, a cape was settled over his shoulder, dropping to just above his ankles.
He drew his sword from it's sheathe eagerly, and looked upon it's holy beauty. He knew at once that this sword was special, and he could not use it against just any foe.
"I do not think the name 'Umbra' suits you now." He whispered. "From now on, you're fullest name shall be denique lux lucis. Lucis blade."
He strapped it lovingly over his back, under the cape. He drew the blade from behind his back and saw that although it was no where close to the newly named Lucis blade, it was still a gorgeously crafted weapon. It's blade was three feet long and curved. The razor edge affirmed it would provide Dark with what he needed. He smiled as he sheathed the blade behind his back. He turned to leave, and was shocked to find a woman standing there.
