(Ah, just two more chapters left; this one and the next! Well, I'll probably write the last chapter on the weekend, since it'll take some time that I'm not able to get during the week with school and stuff…)

The Myth of Crystaelius:

Chapter Seventeen: Light and Dark

The sky was a dim gray, covering up the sun as if it were a thick blanket. The only sound present was that of the wind blowing through the wasteland. Jet Enduro flapped his wings; they lost their golden hue as he spoke.

"Refresh my memory; why the hell are you doing this crap?" he asked while slightly cocking his head to the right. The pale teenage Ewl sighed. "The humans are in a panic, Jet, just like my hometown was so many centuries ago. The race that created you is facing chaos; they all must notice the cold, dark blanket beginning to engulf their pathetic planet by now. Besides, look at you, the only defense Filgaia has left."

Jet snorted. "If you meant something by that, sorry, but it didn't work. You still didn't answer my question."

Crystaelius closed his eyes. "Fine then, I'll tell you why I am so lonely, so hurt…"

He cleared his throat and smiled. "I can remember it like it was yesterday; I was only ten at the time. Well, my older sister, Valkryie, was gone from our home at the time of the attack; I'm quite glad she was. Anyway, our town housed Neosapiens and Ewls alike, and I would play with a group of Ewls my age. We did not associate with the human children, even though our parents said it was all right. But there was one child that always picked on by the older Ewl children; I can't remember his name, but his mother was human, and his father was an Ewl. He didn't play with anyone, and his only friend was a female Ewl a little older than me; about eleven. That boy and I were the only survivors of the attack on our town; everyone else was killed by the demons."

Jet yawned. "Okay… is that why you're trying to kill all of us?"

The Ewl ground his teeth. "Silence, you! An abomination, such as yourself, would not understand! My entire life was destroyed because of the demons, and had it not been for the humans, the demons would never have had a reason to attack!"

Jet smirked and lowered himself to the ground. Crystaelius followed slowly; he landed gently on the ground and scowled. "Do you think it funny, or humorous!" he demanded, receiving only a shrug. The Drifter chuckled. "Hey, I was just trying to shake you up; it'd give me an edge in fighting you."

The Ewl grew furious and flapped his gigantic wings out. "Why even try fighting? You cannot defeat me!" he exclaimed before dashing at Jet at a high rate of speed. The Drifter was not expecting this, and the fist collided with his left cheek and sent him sailing towards a small cliff. Jet recuperated quickly and flipped, landing on the ground and attempting a punch at his opponent, who had flown towards him. Crystaelius avoided it and nailed Jet in the stomach with his right fist, causing the Drifter to be erupted into the air.

Jet winced and stopped; he flew out of the way of Crystaelius's next attack and kicked him in the chest.

The Ewl went back a few feet, but fired a series of red energy blasts. Jet formed his sword and deflected each of them before slashing at Crystaelius. His adversary dodged the slashes and warped behind Jet, blasting him in the back. A part of the Drifter's jacket was left scorched by the attack, but he spun around quickly and sliced Crystaelius in the stomach.

The Ewl scowled once more before Jet lunged at him, knocking him into the ground. He then formed an energy sphere and heaved it at the crater, causing an explosion. Crystaelius was slightly weakened by the attack, but he shot his own beam of energy, but his enemy got out of the way and dashed downwards at Crystaelius, grounding his teeth and slashing. The Ewl leaped away and formed his own blade as the ground separated and shifted from the sword.

Crystaelius cried out in anger and bombarded Jet with an assault of sword swipes; Jet blocked the first few but was hit by a majority of them. Crystaelius then slammed the hilt of the sword into the Drifter's chest; the impact sent him crashing into a boulder. Crystaelius wasted no time and unleashed another, much more powerful energy projectile.

Jet spat out some blood and began to stand before the blast collided with him; it exploded, damaging him greatly. He landed a few yards away, trying to regain his composure and get up.

"It's useless, you fool; stubbornness will only get you killed," the boy stated while hovering in the air above his fallen opponent. Jet ignored the pain and got to his feet, spreading his wings and tearing off the remnants of his torn jacket, leaving only the black shirt he wore to cover his upper body. The explosions and attacks had left his jeans slightly torn, but he brushed them off and wiped some blood from his face. Crystaelius showed barely any signs of damage, but his robe had been cut and his face held a few scratches.

Jet grinned. "I'm not done yet; you're going down!" he exclaimed while warping into the air above the Ewl. He held his sword above his head and slashed downward; the boy tried to block, but his sword shattered and the attack knocked him away. Jet fired two bursts of energy and swiftly warped behind Crystaelius. The Ewl swept the blasts away, but the Drifter slashed him in the back, causing him to wince and turn around; Crystaelius attempted a punch, but Jet ducked and slammed his elbow into his abdomen.

Crystaelius gasped for air, but ground his teeth and knocked the sword away from Jet's hand when he attacked again. The Drifter was left stunned for a moment as the boy smashed in the face with his right fist. Jet focused and caught the next punch with his left hand; his own fist collided with Crystaelius's cheek.

The Ewl backed away and formed a sphere of dark energy. He flung it at Jet, but the Drifter twirled around it and created an aura of light around himself; he slammed into Crystaelius and sent him sailing into the cliff. He then flew down towards him, but the boy darted up and grasped Jet by the throat, throwing him through the air.

Jet stopped and attempted to counter with a blast, but Crystaelius shot him down to the ground.

The silver- haired Drifter cursed as he stared up at his adversary; he supported himself on one knee and kept his arms to his sides. The teenage Ewl slowed his breathing and smiled. "Surrender, Jet, please. You cannot stop me, and you will die. That is the only option left for you."

"No, I won't… be weak…"

"But you are, compared to me at least; Filgaia has met the last of its days; deal with it! Besides, when you die, where will you go? You still have no soul, so where will you venture off to?"

"I don't know… but I'm not gonna die now."

Crystaelius held out his right hand and began to create a sphere of pure darkness in his palm. "When I unleash this power, Dawn will consume all life, and death will be silenced…"

"Huh, don't be so damn arrogant; shouldn't you know that without life your power of death wouldn't exist?"

The Ewl sighed with annoyance. "So? What are you talking about?"

Jet smiled and held out his arms to his sides. "Without each other's power, we wouldn't have any, so if you kill me, you're done for, but if I kill us both, we'll be dead."

The sphere of darkness grew as Crystaelius frowned. "You'll go as far as to exert all of your energy just to save some pitiful species? I must say, you never cease to amaze me; you just don't give up, and now you want to risk your life for a mediocre race of animals who gave you this damned existence?"

Jet nodded. "Yeah…"

Crystaelius chuckled. "Fine then; let us see your power of life conquer mine of death."