Chapter XVIII: Of Dragons and Flames
Absolution Arc
1703 hours, December 19, 2714
The Summoning Pits, Hellmouth, The Moon
It all happened in a blur. Knowing him, he was more focused on survival than what happened around him. It was a tactic Teshin had hammered into his head in the years he trained under his 'stepfather.' If he had a choice between Teshin and what his father taught for survival and combat, it would be the former for survival and the latter for combat.
The monofiliament dagger the Stalker used was pulled away from his face, followed by a blur of something incredibly fast. A spiral like a drill tackled the Stalker from the side, finally giving the Son of Trionus enough time to regain his strength to optimal condition. He rolled away on the ground and reached out for the hilt of Raze-Lighter. As it obeyed and flew back into his hand, he put away what was left of the sword and looked up. A hand rested over his shoulder. He felt his bones being reconstructed and regenerating thanks to both the Darkness and his Animas Crystal, forcing him to reach out for the broken bits of bone that his body discarded for the new ones and yank them out.
Spectre saw blood dripping from the corner of his eye. He ran a finger over the scarred side of his face. A thin cut was there, but not his previous scar exactly. This one had to be above it, a new one. Dammit, one scar was enough! He wiped the back of his armored hand against the cut, a trail of crimson blending in the sea of black and crimson on his armor. Next to his hand was an energy shuriken, seething with Taken energy and had to be just as sharp as Leon's Spira throwing daggers.
Dread shrouded itself over him like a Stormcaller summoning Arc energy and his jaw hung open slightly.
"No!" He cursed under his breath.
The twister stopped the moment when the Stalker finally countered it, revealing itself to be none other than Eroxs who backed away a few feet. Ashes scattered about like snow, and so did some things resembling rose petals. Their scout rifle-scythe was at hand, tip pierced through the ground.
"What are you doing, Eroxs?!" Spectre demanded.
Eroxs turned their head to his direction but kept their eyes fixed on the Stalker. "I'm not letting you kill yourself from your own agenda. Not yet."
"Do you realize what you've done? You put everyone I know at risk by showing up and saving me!"
"So, the Heir shows themselves after all…" The Stalker got back up, planting their sword in the ground. "Poor little hatchling, brought to the world with so much power but you cannot control it."
Eroxs ground their teeth and tightened their grip around the handle of the transforming gun-scythe. "Watch it, this hatchling has a serious bite."
The Stalker cackled manically, and Eroxs tightened their grip further. "So young, so young it's pathetic… What a waste of time to be hatched just to protect someone."
"I won't let you touch him as long as I can fight!" Without warning, the cloak-wearing Titan spiraled towards the Taken Dark Knight and started attacking with their scythe. They began the mystifying dance that Spectre had witnessed when they were fighting off the Infested, the blade moving like the wind.
Stalker was fast but their speed doesn't even come as close to Eroxs's. Whenever Eroxs missed a swing or the Stalker evades it, they quickly recovered from the moment and struck again. Every time they swung the giant sword, Eroxys swung the scythe at the right moment to stop it from contact. The two fell into a stalemate when Eroxs held off a slash using the long handle of the weapon. Sparks flew as the Stalker tried to cleave through the weapon, but the weapon was somehow durable to their blade.
"You have some nerve, hatchling. To stop me from killing Pendragon!"
"You Taken won't have another Dark Knight under Oryx's control!" Eroxs flipped the weapon around, curving blade just close to Stalker's neck and pulled the trigger. The massive recoil from the shot managed to throw the greatsword off, sending the Titan spinning in the air on purpose. Another shot from the weapon reversed the spin and landed on the flat of the sword.
Eroxs pointed the barrel at the Stalker's face. Right before they could pull the trigger, the Stalker sent a burst of Taken energy to get them off the sword. It worked, but not in the way they wanted. The so-called hatchling used the sword as a springboard and leapt high above the Stalker. Letting go of the hidden button on the grip, the scythe reverted into a scout rifle and let loose a torrent of rounds. The Stalker stabbed their sword again and a pseudo-Ward of Dawn was erected, bullets deflecting off the surface of the barrier.
Spectre finally managed to get up and unsheathed Duskdancer, a new helmet encasing his head after his default was shattered. He didn't want to use Hayden's helmet as a replacement, as he felt that he was dishonoring his deceased best friend. The helmet was only to be put on a shelf like a trophy or memento, not in combat ever again. He charged at the Stalker with Duskdancer at the ready, phasing through the bubble and fighting to the best he could with limited energy. Slash after slash, the Stalker evaded until Spectre kicked at the impaled sword. It flew out easily and brought down the shield, out of the Taken Dark Knight's reach.
An aura of energy eclipsed the Titan and the Nightstalker's bow formed in their hand. Eroxs quickly pulled back the Void string and fired the arrow, landing next to the Stalker and a tether tied them down. Spectre was smart enough to back away before the tether could ensnare him as well. They quickly saw that didn't work to slow Stalker down and fired two more Shadowshots. Now that it ensnared the Stalker in a triangular pattern, one of the Titan's fists sparked uncontrollably with Arc energy and struck the ground once they landed. A tsunami erupted from the crater, waves hitting and electrocuting the Taken Dark Knight.
The runes running up and down Duskdancer ignited once again, transforming the weapon into a more deadlier version with jagged and serrated edges. And by taking his chances, Spectre stabbed the Stalker once more, making sure that the sword did a lot more damage than Raze-Lighter did. He thrust it forward and then pulled it out quickly, runes continuing to glow as it purged the Taken blood off it. And like never before, he swung just as precisely and fast as he did with Path to the Light. Perhaps even faster.
"I thought I told you not to follow me!" Spectre said, kicking the Stalker away as the Titan landed next him.
"A bit too late for that, don't you think?"
Spectre growled frustratedly. "I'll deal with you later. This is my fight; no one else's!" He charged after the Stalker and left Eroxs behind, a blur of crimson energy enveloping him as he dashed forward. Before he knew it, the Stalker imitated Spectre's Slash Dash and the two were at odds again swords clashing.
"You'll regret the day you—"
"Just shut up and fight!" The son of Trionus quickly drew out their combat knife and stabbed the Stalker's shoulder. He was able to dodge a thrown dagger at the same time and kicked them back again.
The two continued their clash, swords swinging and their anger boiling over. It was as though the two knew each other's every move, since when one attacked the other deflected it. Eroxs joined in as well, fighting alongside Spectre with their scythe. Even as they outnumbered the Stalker, they had to deal with the greatsword and possibly thrown daggers. The scythe was used effectively and mystifyingly as well, its wielder pulling the trigger to use the massive recoil to rebound from a miss. Unfortunately, none of the rounds could've ever made their mark, intentional or not.
Unfortunately the Stalker stopped sliding and grasped their shoulder, wound sealing up just as rapidly as Spectre could. Maybe slightly faster. They rolled their shoulder as though nothing happened, then their neck. Once they looked up, both Dark Knight and Titan charged with their bladed weapons at the ready. The moment they saw Spectre conjure his Exalted Blade and the Hatchling the Nightstalker's signature Void bow and arrow. Under the helmet, the Stalker grinned.
"Your powers are useless!" A simple finger pointing at the two was all they needed. A wave of Darkness swept past the Guardian and Dark Knight, forcing them to their knees. Both the Exalted Blade and Nightstalker's bow dissipated from their hands. Eroxs's Golden Bull Mask was sparking with electricity, the waves running across it like an ocean on sand.
Both the energy reserves and Super energy depleted entirely right after their Supers were nullified and felt heavier than normal. Spectre's armor was still on the reserve power supply after the damage he took destroyed the main power conduit. "Damn, whoever thought combining the oxygen feeder and power conduit in one place must die…!" He muttered angrily, hand over the region of his chestplate where said oxygen feeder/main power conduit was damaged.
"Pathetic!" In an instant, Spectre was pulled towards Stalker by some invisible force. He looked around his torso and found a mist surrounding him. Undoubtedly a Pull ability from the Mag subclass. Their greatsword was ready to impale him. Try as he could to break free from the ability, the best he could do was to wait…
And counter!
He swung Duskdancer and struck the side of the greatsword, diverting it from impaling him to a fatal degree. Spectre broke free and tackled the Stalker down to the ground. A hand was on their neck, effectively pinning the Taken Dark Knight down. Primus was able to fill his energy reserve and activated his Radial Javelin. Four ethereal Duskdancers appeared behind him, pointed at the Stalker. Once they came down, they impaled their feet and hands like a crucifixion. The Stalker struggled to get the javelins off them but Spectre's tendrils further tied them down. Not even the Taken blood could dissipate the ethereal javelins. They screamed angrily at Spectre.
Now pissed off, Spectre tightened a fist and threw a punch in their helmet's visor. He wasn't having anymore of this. His fist seethed with Arc energy and he punched again. An unsatisfactory feeling burned within him, and his thoughts demanded to unveil who is the Stalker. Another punch, this time of Void energy. Still not enough, even when Arc energy ran across their helmet and the Void disintegrated a chunk off. A Solar-infused fist landed against the helmet, giving the other side of the helmet an equal melted part off. How many punches was it going to take?! His head was clouded with questions. Who did Oryx take? Why turn on him? He fist twitched frustratedly, the Darkness consuming it in a shroud and with all the strength he had left, delivered one last punch.
But he didn't know if unmasking this Taken Dark Knight was a good idea or not.
His eyes widened as soon as his last punch knocked the helmet off the Stalker. Spectre was dumbfounded and he slowly backed away from the Stalker, tendrils and javelins slowly starting to disappear. He shook his head deniably.
"No…! It can't be! It's impossible!"
Staring back at him was his own dead fiancée. But not like when he last saw her in the Afterlife. Instead, it was Vesper when she was corrupted. The Vesper that forced him into killing the woman he loved before Reaper. She was laughing, laughing like she did when he was chasing the corrupted her down. It haunted him still. Her once beautiful emerald eyes had been tainted to the most repulsive gold and the blackened veins still popped out all over her face. The laughter, twisted and almost entirely taunting, echoed in his head.
"You're…You're not real! You can't be!" He kept shaking his head in denial, denying the possibility that Vesper was alive let alone Taken. She wouldn't turn on him, even after everything they did together! The laugh increased in echoes and was almost at the verge of losing it completely.
His world was spiraling further out of control, jumpstarting again after four years. Knots were forming in his heart and stomach, and his mouth kept mouthing one word; no. Guilt hammered against his head as his memories of the day he changed came back. The chasing after her, being yelled at by the Cyphers to terminate her despite his protests, and then the killing blow to Nero Pendragon. Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop! That was what he wanted, not to face this tragedy again after he accepted who he was.
"…er, snap out of it!"
The Summoning Pits began to rumble, some of the lunar cavern falling and turning into dust on impact. What the hell was going on?! Eroxs was able to break free of the Taken restraints from the Stalker's wave of Taken energy and lunged at the disbelief-stricken Spectre right before a stalactite from above killed him. They wrapped their arms around him protectively and looked up towards the light in the distance. Then they looked back at where Spectre had unmasked the Stalker. Gone. They then fled to where their canine companion was knocked out and took it under its wing.
A sphere of Equilibrium enclosed around them, Eroxs's cloak wrapping around the three of them. The rumbling was stronger up here and Eroxs looked up. Some of the cavern wall was cracking. They prayed that their escape plan will work. In a sudden burst of Light and Darkness, they disappeared from the Summoning Pits. And the fragment hit the ground beneath them.
-Destiny: Skyfall-
Numb.
That was the first thing he felt. Spectre tried to open his eyes but they wouldn't listen. He moved his fingers. A rough ground brushed against his armored fingers, the texture and patterns familiar. Was he in the Afterlife again? Or is he in the land of the living? Right now in his cloudy mind, he yearned for the voice of either Vesper or Reaper. To prove he was in either life.
Nothing.
He tried lifting his upper body, but his arms gave way and he crashed down to the ground again. At last he can open his eyes again. A starry sky greeted him, crystal clear and scattered with many diamonds in the sky. Weakly, he reached for the sky and held on to as many stars as he could. Where is he now?
"You're awake."
Spectre turned his head. Sitting next to him with crossed legs was the cloaked Titan. Sparks still ran across the helmet though it was infrequent and rather a split second's worth. Next to Eroxs was the canine that partially helped him, tail slightly wagging and lying down with a hand along its armored head.
"Where are we?" Spectre put a hand over his forehead, the broken horn-like ornament of Hayden's helmet right in the center of his palm. Sorry Hayden, to have your helmet be put through battle again…
"Back on the surface. I transmatted you out before we got crushed by the collapsing of the cave," more sparks jumped across their helmet, increasing in number the more Eroxs spoke. "We're inside an outpost. It's safe to take off your helmet."
The son of Trionus Pendragon regained his strength and sat up, catching the attention of the dog when the helmet loudly retracted back into his neckguard. Its ears perked up immediately when he got up but quickly flattened like it was scolded. A low whine erupted from the dog and the hooded Titan petted it reassuringly.
"Did that Taken Dark Knight…?"
"They fled. But they'll be back."
It was a matter of yelling at them or thanking them in Spectre's head. He was grateful for being saved before the worst happened but there was also the trivial matter of yelling at them for endangering Tohsaka and the others for that same act. Spectre couldn't make up his mind and sighed defeatedly. It hurt him to the point that he gave up. Being thankful it is.
It still haunted him what he saw under the Stalker's helmet. There was no way, it just isn't possible for anyone to survive his fiancée's custom-built guns with a point-blank headshot. Their brains would've been blown to bits with that amount of firepower!
But something else bothered him. Something he heard twice.
"What's wrong?"
Spectre looked at Eroxs, "…You called me 'father.'" He stated. "Why would you call me that when you don't know anything about me?"
Eroxs fell silent, but their hand still petted their companion. Spectre had to deny having a child, mainly because that child wasn't born. The sparks kept going around Eroxs's helmet.
"I…don't know where to start," they said, their voice filter slowly starting to malfunction.
Spectre got up on his feet, leaning against the wall since his body was still numb from the fight. He looked at the Titan and their companion. "We'll start with this: who are you really?" He demanded, sending the Titan into a surprised yelp with the harshness in his voice.
The canine whined again, louder and ears still flat against its head. Eroxs turned and hushed their companion, who then rested its head on its paws. "…Very well. I couldn't keep it from you for a day anyway." Eroxs stood up and loosened the cloak's bond, pulling down the hood as well. "Look closely."
Spectre kept still but his eyes didn't. Eroxs looked at him in the eye but he could sense the suspense they felt. The anticipation that could stop anyone's heart. He examined Eroxs closely. What was so different about this armor that he needed to look closely? Then, he saw it. Where their cloak was tied to around their neckguard was a chain, and with it, a crystal blue as sapphires.
"That's…!" He dug around in his pack around his waist and pulled out a similar necklace, letting the crystal hang from his fist. "But how did you—?"
The Titan said nothing. Instead, they reached for the Golden Bull Mask and disengaged the locks securing it to their neck. The sparks ceased to continue and a hand over where the mouth would be removed a device and dropped it. He figured it was the voice filter. Instead of pulling it apart, Eroxs lifted it from their head nervously. They stopped for a brief moment and Spectre heard them take a deep breath. A tumble of brown hair fell out from under the helmet first, and soon after they fully removed the helmet and held it under an arm.
Spectre was greeted to a woman—no, it had to be a teenager. A Guardian this young? How is that possible? Her face was younger than Reaper's and possibly just as defined as hers for Eroxs's age. Her brown hair was wavy like Blake's, one of the female Guardians his Ancient Vanguard has taught with the basis of survival. A pair of green eyes stared back at him, saddened but youth was in them. She frowned like a child and turned away from Spectre, who has to be at least twice as shocked. Shocked, but it hit him.
"R-Rose?" He stammered, clearly at a loss of words and then looking over her where her transforming scout rifle was slung at her side like a sword. "You deserve better than a weapon and a world of trouble. I'm sorry."
His daughter looked at him. Her eyes were watery and some streamed down her cheeks as she started sobbing. Not of being upset. Spectre put a hand on her face and with his thumb wiped one side of the tears away.
"Father…!" She leapt into his arms and hugged him tight. Her sobbing continued even as they were reunited. Rose missed her father, and being there by his side was all she wanted. "Father…"
Happiness bloomed in his heart. This was real…! From the ashes of his life, a flower bloomed. Hope still remains for this dragon plagued with tragedy. Even when he thought he lost it after killing Vesper. He could care less about how Rose aged from a child to a teenager in two weeks' time. What mattered to him was that he still has something left from his tragedy. Something much more meaningful than the weapons built by his fiancée. His own daughter.
Spectre held onto her and hugged her back as she repeated that one word he only briefly experienced. He let her cry on his shoulder and ran a hand through the back of her hair assuringly. As Rose kept crying, her father hushed her like she was a baby. "Shh… It's okay, Rose. Daddy's here for you."
"I missed you so much, father." Rose said, voice still shaky as she buried her face into his shoulder.
"I missed you too, Rose. My little girl. My precious little Rose." He could care less that it sounded corny what he said.
Rose wiped the tears from her eyes and looked towards the corner of the outpost. A spectral figure in the armor of a Huntress stood there, hands clasped in front and an aura radiating like a Sunsinger. One of Equilibrium. She smiled and so did the figure.
"Mother…thank you."
Vesper approached her daughter and patted her on the head. She smiled warmly. "I love you so much, honey. I know how much you wanted to experience being alive, and thank the Traveler I have that gift to transition you from the Afterlife to the land of the living."
"Even when you could only use it once. I wish you were with father and I."
Vesper frowned. "I can't leave the Afterlife, Rose. The Afterlife is where I stay after I die, to make sure it doesn't collapse," Vesper saw her daughter frown but her eyes understood why. "Rose, promise me something."
"Anything, mother." Rose said.
"Don't antagonize Reaper. I want you to accept her as a mother figure, and if your father decides to marry her, accept her as your stepmother."
Rose hesitated for a moment but soon smiled. "I promise." She was rewarded with another pat on the head and a smile from her mother.
"I love you, Rose. Take care of your father and yourself for me." Vesper kissed her daughter on the forehead. "If you want to talk with me again, you know where to find me."
The Pendragon Heir nodded and without further explanation saw her mother's aura fading. Most likely to rest from expending her energy from communicating with her. Rose couldn't blame her mother for her place in the Afterlife. She hugged her father tighter.
"I promise, mother…"
A/N: Okay, I cannot believe that this chapter took me only four days to start and finish.
Prophet: Even that broke the average of at least two weeks.
Me: So far, I think the plan I proposed last chapter is actually working. And like I said, I have no idea when the future chapters will come around due to me writing a new story at the same time which I put at top priority for chapter-writing. And thus, thank you for your support and I will get the next chapter out when I can. For this moment of reunion, I would suggest using Aerith's Theme from the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children soundtrack. (Which I also happen to use every time Vesper appeared in the first arc.) Until then, I will see you again next chapter, Guardians.
