(Be warned that the upcoming scenes push the rating a bit, and are
extremely gory. Thank you for reading The Later Ages.)
The fog though still thick was beginning to lift. Even before it was clear enough to see through though, I shook with horror at what I knew I was lying upon. I struggled once more to remove myself from the warm heap, but stopped when I slid again, digging my arm further into it. The fog finnally cleared, and my revelation was proven true. Dimitri's eyes, though caked with blood and glazed over, stared up at me. Eyes that no longer held life.
I pulled up my arm and pressed my free one against the corpse's chest. There was a sickening, sucking sound as my arm came out of a hole where Dimitri's heart had once beaten. I felt I would never get the sensation of fresh blood off of my arm. As I rose, I saw that I had only fallen upon part of Dimitri. His head and torso, to be exact. An arm lay off to the side, pointing grotesquely towards a still Magnum. My mind, wrapped in this strange horror, was beyond shock. Times like these had come so often when I had fought NME. Magnum could very well be dead.
I stood and took off my cloak, and wiped my arm, along with my chest and cheek, which had also been covered in blood from being tangled in the mangled corpse. I walked icily calm to Magnum, who, thank goodness, wasn't dead. But I would have to get Samarra. Magnum was going into shock. He shook uncontrollably, his eyes wide and staring. Staring, though seeing nothing. "It was me." he whispered in a voice so filled with dread and guilt, so quiet and horrified, that it pulled me from my stupor.
"He left me. It was me that pushed Dimitri. The wolf wouldn't touch me, no, why would it? It knew who it, he, I, was. The shadows, the one with eyes like me, and the one with the eyes like fire. WHY WON'T THEY LEAVE ME ALONE?!?!?" His scream was so sudden, that I fell back, but I pounced forward again and held him down as he began to convulse and rock, going into a seizure like throws of pain. His eyes flashed black, like holes. holes in a mask.
"NOOOO!" I screamed again. Wolf wrath slammed his jaws shut, and howled with his still unsatisfied hunger. Blood dripped over his jowls. I turned and saw a glint of silver on the ground. Meta Knight's mask.
Dark, ominous laughter ripped from Magnum's throat, blasting me with visions of death, and blood. fallen comrades. I suddenly noticed a confused and terrified student getting up. "GET SAMARRA!" I bellowed. "NOW! GO!" Startled into action, the confused child ran towards the path.
Magnum changed again, and I stared in agony and sorrow at his contorted face as I heard the next voice. "Let him go!" The voice echoed. "NO!" I shouted. "YOUR DEAD!" "You beast!" Meta Knight's voice roared. For a strange and confused moment, I thought that he was speaking to me. "You'll kill him! He can't hold either of us like this much longer!" "THEN LET HIM DIE!" The voice of NME screamed. "ONE LESS STOP IN MY INEVITABLE PATH OF CONQUEST! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Magnum flew from beneath my grip and lifted quickly into the air. I turned away from the sudden blaze of light that suddenly radiated from Magnum's Body. When I jerked, I saw Samarra running down the mountain, followed by a bewildered looking Tuff and Claris. All of them cried in horror at the twisting Figure of Magnum writhing in pain, while a hellish mix of screams and roars tore the air around him. NME and Meta Knight were fighting for his body and soul. There was a final, ethereal scream, but from whom it came, I never knew. I was hit by a sudden shock wave as a bizarre explosion soared over the clearing. I lost consciousness, wondering in a red haze, about what was going on, and the safety of my students.
+ + +
"Kirby, awaken. You've slept in far too long." I refused to open my eyes, and disturbing the dream in which I was in. in the dream, Meta Knight was standing over me, but it wasn't him. Really it was Magnum, but it was Meta Knight non the less. "Kirby, I know you're awake. Rise, before I force you to." I finnally opened my eyes. "NO!" I cried, I shoved back and was rewarded with a sound bash on the head from the wooden headboard over my bed. Meta Knight was indeed standing over me, but he seemed so old, so, so, not real. as if he wasn't truly there. But he was. My master was once again alive.
He gazed down at me, the scars he had worn to his death no longer there. I looked down and saw that he had reclaimed his sword. "Kirby," he said quietly, drawing my gaze back to his face. "Listen to me. Magnum is gone." My mind reeled. "HE'S DEAD?!" I cried. Meta Knight grabbed my hand. "No, sorry. I meant not to shock you. NME has taken him.."
I stared mouth agape. "But I killed him!" I roared. "I finished him years ago!" I stared into my resurrected master's eyes, and saw that it was true. The force that had brought him back to living flesh had done the same to NME. But how?
Meta Knight saw the question in my eyes. "Magnum was a special child." He whispered to me. "His birth was planned. Neither Tuff nor Claris knew the part they played. I could do nothing from the other side, for while I was dead, I could not rest. but I could not interfere with Magnum. At least not until he became aware of my presence." I waited anxiously for him to continue. "Magnum was to carry NME's essence until NME could resurrect himself. NME planted his back up plan inside of Tuff, when he was still fighting in the war. When Magnum was conceived, he bore inside of him NME's soul. NME didn't realize that this would expose Magonumous to other things, powers he shouldn't have, and an awareness of spirits. When Tuff started to see me, he refused to believe I was real. I had to contact him while he slept."
I began to under stand. When NME had brought himself back to living in the giant flash of energy, he had unwittingly brought with him Meta Knight with him who had entered Magnum's body in an attempt to save him.
"Where is NME now?" I asked quietly. I was still shaking. "Where else?" Muttered Meta Knight, with his voice tired, and full of loathing. "Not. no, not the castle? But it was torn down, destroyed when the war ended." Meta Knight patiently explained. "If NME can resurrect himself, along with his hordes of beasts, then do you not think he can rebuild a castle?" I shivered. "I must leave now." He told me. "Rest. Tuff and Claris need to know what is going on." He left silently, and closed the door behind him.
I laid back and began to cry, from the shock, fury, and sorrow that swept through me.
"He left me. It was me that pushed Dimitri. The wolf wouldn't touch me, no, why would it? It knew who it, he, I, was."
I remembered Magnum's words. The wolves. possibly wolf wrath? Brought again to life? But there were so many of them. and they were so much bigger. why wouldn't it approach Magnum? My inner reasoning answered me. Would a faithful dog attack its master? The wolf had sensed NME.
One question remained. What had been that look of hate, of loathing that Magnum had given Dimitri during their first, and final, fight? "No, not Magnum," I yawned. "Meta Knight. but even then, what had it been?" I began to sleep again.
"STOOOOOPPP IIIITTTTT!!!! YOUR HURTING MEEEE!!" I opened my eyes. not my real ones, but ones inside of a dream. No. a vision. This was really happening. Fire surrounded me, and I looked up, and cried out with anger. Magnum was hung pitifully defenseless high above the flames. NME sat on his ebony throne, and laughed monstrously. Beneath Magnum, leaping out of the flames, were a few of the wolves. I realized that they were some strange mixes of both Wolf Wrath, and Cracko. Light as clouds, but deadly, unstoppable.And much, much, bigger. They were hideous creatures. hungry animals that leapt again and again at the suspended Magnum, tearing at his legs: the latter of things were in bloody tatters. Magnum would likely never walk again.
I watched full of anger, and shouted aloud. "STOP THIS!" NME didn't hear me. Come to think of it, neither did I. My voice was silenced. This was simply a vision. I couldn't change what was happening. Or so I thought.
NME looked at me. Not through me, as if to speak to some one else in the vision behind me, but AT me. His eyes widened in surprise. "YOU!" He shouted. He soared at me, hands out stretched. When he moved, I was shocked and horrified. Inlaid like a living jewel in the back of NME's throne, was Meta Knight. He floated in a crystalline liquid, eyes closed as if he was simply sleeping. This Meta Knight was scarred. Suddenly, his eyes opened. From all the way across the chamber, his eyes pierced through the wavering air to mine. His voice echoed in my head. "HES FALSE! WATCH FOR THE IMPOSTER!" He cried. "HES NOT ME!" NME closed in on me, his giant hands closing around me.
(Again, I must be horribly cruel, and end the chapter just as it was getting juicy. Too bad for you! Now you must wait. AGAIN! But worry not, my faithful readers. I will have the next chapter soon. So stay tuned! More will be explained in the next chapter, and an imposter will be revealed. Hmm. *said sarcastically* I wonder who it could be? Any way read on! AND THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING MY MOST FAITHFUL FANS! You know who you are. )
The fog though still thick was beginning to lift. Even before it was clear enough to see through though, I shook with horror at what I knew I was lying upon. I struggled once more to remove myself from the warm heap, but stopped when I slid again, digging my arm further into it. The fog finnally cleared, and my revelation was proven true. Dimitri's eyes, though caked with blood and glazed over, stared up at me. Eyes that no longer held life.
I pulled up my arm and pressed my free one against the corpse's chest. There was a sickening, sucking sound as my arm came out of a hole where Dimitri's heart had once beaten. I felt I would never get the sensation of fresh blood off of my arm. As I rose, I saw that I had only fallen upon part of Dimitri. His head and torso, to be exact. An arm lay off to the side, pointing grotesquely towards a still Magnum. My mind, wrapped in this strange horror, was beyond shock. Times like these had come so often when I had fought NME. Magnum could very well be dead.
I stood and took off my cloak, and wiped my arm, along with my chest and cheek, which had also been covered in blood from being tangled in the mangled corpse. I walked icily calm to Magnum, who, thank goodness, wasn't dead. But I would have to get Samarra. Magnum was going into shock. He shook uncontrollably, his eyes wide and staring. Staring, though seeing nothing. "It was me." he whispered in a voice so filled with dread and guilt, so quiet and horrified, that it pulled me from my stupor.
"He left me. It was me that pushed Dimitri. The wolf wouldn't touch me, no, why would it? It knew who it, he, I, was. The shadows, the one with eyes like me, and the one with the eyes like fire. WHY WON'T THEY LEAVE ME ALONE?!?!?" His scream was so sudden, that I fell back, but I pounced forward again and held him down as he began to convulse and rock, going into a seizure like throws of pain. His eyes flashed black, like holes. holes in a mask.
"NOOOO!" I screamed again. Wolf wrath slammed his jaws shut, and howled with his still unsatisfied hunger. Blood dripped over his jowls. I turned and saw a glint of silver on the ground. Meta Knight's mask.
Dark, ominous laughter ripped from Magnum's throat, blasting me with visions of death, and blood. fallen comrades. I suddenly noticed a confused and terrified student getting up. "GET SAMARRA!" I bellowed. "NOW! GO!" Startled into action, the confused child ran towards the path.
Magnum changed again, and I stared in agony and sorrow at his contorted face as I heard the next voice. "Let him go!" The voice echoed. "NO!" I shouted. "YOUR DEAD!" "You beast!" Meta Knight's voice roared. For a strange and confused moment, I thought that he was speaking to me. "You'll kill him! He can't hold either of us like this much longer!" "THEN LET HIM DIE!" The voice of NME screamed. "ONE LESS STOP IN MY INEVITABLE PATH OF CONQUEST! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Magnum flew from beneath my grip and lifted quickly into the air. I turned away from the sudden blaze of light that suddenly radiated from Magnum's Body. When I jerked, I saw Samarra running down the mountain, followed by a bewildered looking Tuff and Claris. All of them cried in horror at the twisting Figure of Magnum writhing in pain, while a hellish mix of screams and roars tore the air around him. NME and Meta Knight were fighting for his body and soul. There was a final, ethereal scream, but from whom it came, I never knew. I was hit by a sudden shock wave as a bizarre explosion soared over the clearing. I lost consciousness, wondering in a red haze, about what was going on, and the safety of my students.
+ + +
"Kirby, awaken. You've slept in far too long." I refused to open my eyes, and disturbing the dream in which I was in. in the dream, Meta Knight was standing over me, but it wasn't him. Really it was Magnum, but it was Meta Knight non the less. "Kirby, I know you're awake. Rise, before I force you to." I finnally opened my eyes. "NO!" I cried, I shoved back and was rewarded with a sound bash on the head from the wooden headboard over my bed. Meta Knight was indeed standing over me, but he seemed so old, so, so, not real. as if he wasn't truly there. But he was. My master was once again alive.
He gazed down at me, the scars he had worn to his death no longer there. I looked down and saw that he had reclaimed his sword. "Kirby," he said quietly, drawing my gaze back to his face. "Listen to me. Magnum is gone." My mind reeled. "HE'S DEAD?!" I cried. Meta Knight grabbed my hand. "No, sorry. I meant not to shock you. NME has taken him.."
I stared mouth agape. "But I killed him!" I roared. "I finished him years ago!" I stared into my resurrected master's eyes, and saw that it was true. The force that had brought him back to living flesh had done the same to NME. But how?
Meta Knight saw the question in my eyes. "Magnum was a special child." He whispered to me. "His birth was planned. Neither Tuff nor Claris knew the part they played. I could do nothing from the other side, for while I was dead, I could not rest. but I could not interfere with Magnum. At least not until he became aware of my presence." I waited anxiously for him to continue. "Magnum was to carry NME's essence until NME could resurrect himself. NME planted his back up plan inside of Tuff, when he was still fighting in the war. When Magnum was conceived, he bore inside of him NME's soul. NME didn't realize that this would expose Magonumous to other things, powers he shouldn't have, and an awareness of spirits. When Tuff started to see me, he refused to believe I was real. I had to contact him while he slept."
I began to under stand. When NME had brought himself back to living in the giant flash of energy, he had unwittingly brought with him Meta Knight with him who had entered Magnum's body in an attempt to save him.
"Where is NME now?" I asked quietly. I was still shaking. "Where else?" Muttered Meta Knight, with his voice tired, and full of loathing. "Not. no, not the castle? But it was torn down, destroyed when the war ended." Meta Knight patiently explained. "If NME can resurrect himself, along with his hordes of beasts, then do you not think he can rebuild a castle?" I shivered. "I must leave now." He told me. "Rest. Tuff and Claris need to know what is going on." He left silently, and closed the door behind him.
I laid back and began to cry, from the shock, fury, and sorrow that swept through me.
"He left me. It was me that pushed Dimitri. The wolf wouldn't touch me, no, why would it? It knew who it, he, I, was."
I remembered Magnum's words. The wolves. possibly wolf wrath? Brought again to life? But there were so many of them. and they were so much bigger. why wouldn't it approach Magnum? My inner reasoning answered me. Would a faithful dog attack its master? The wolf had sensed NME.
One question remained. What had been that look of hate, of loathing that Magnum had given Dimitri during their first, and final, fight? "No, not Magnum," I yawned. "Meta Knight. but even then, what had it been?" I began to sleep again.
"STOOOOOPPP IIIITTTTT!!!! YOUR HURTING MEEEE!!" I opened my eyes. not my real ones, but ones inside of a dream. No. a vision. This was really happening. Fire surrounded me, and I looked up, and cried out with anger. Magnum was hung pitifully defenseless high above the flames. NME sat on his ebony throne, and laughed monstrously. Beneath Magnum, leaping out of the flames, were a few of the wolves. I realized that they were some strange mixes of both Wolf Wrath, and Cracko. Light as clouds, but deadly, unstoppable.And much, much, bigger. They were hideous creatures. hungry animals that leapt again and again at the suspended Magnum, tearing at his legs: the latter of things were in bloody tatters. Magnum would likely never walk again.
I watched full of anger, and shouted aloud. "STOP THIS!" NME didn't hear me. Come to think of it, neither did I. My voice was silenced. This was simply a vision. I couldn't change what was happening. Or so I thought.
NME looked at me. Not through me, as if to speak to some one else in the vision behind me, but AT me. His eyes widened in surprise. "YOU!" He shouted. He soared at me, hands out stretched. When he moved, I was shocked and horrified. Inlaid like a living jewel in the back of NME's throne, was Meta Knight. He floated in a crystalline liquid, eyes closed as if he was simply sleeping. This Meta Knight was scarred. Suddenly, his eyes opened. From all the way across the chamber, his eyes pierced through the wavering air to mine. His voice echoed in my head. "HES FALSE! WATCH FOR THE IMPOSTER!" He cried. "HES NOT ME!" NME closed in on me, his giant hands closing around me.
(Again, I must be horribly cruel, and end the chapter just as it was getting juicy. Too bad for you! Now you must wait. AGAIN! But worry not, my faithful readers. I will have the next chapter soon. So stay tuned! More will be explained in the next chapter, and an imposter will be revealed. Hmm. *said sarcastically* I wonder who it could be? Any way read on! AND THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING MY MOST FAITHFUL FANS! You know who you are. )