--Legend of the Twin Swords--

By: Kratos the Judgment

Chapter 17: Shadowed Destiny

"Lyn!"

My voice echoed throughout the chamber. I rushed to her where she lay on the floor. Blood ran
from the many cuts on her body, but none seemed to be too deep except for a nasty gash on her
left shoulder. Fervently, I held two fingers to her throat, feeling for a pulse. Sure enough, Lyn
was still alive, but how long she'd stay that way would depend on what happened next.

I rose and faced the fiend who had done this. He simply stared at me with his black, menacing
eyes, distain clear upon his face. I took the time to notice that he wasn't in great shape himself.
His armor had been cracked and pierced in many places. Its dark plates gleamed with his blood.
But he was still standing and Lyn was not.

He spoke.

"I remember you, Swordsman. I'm surprised you actually survived the burning of that village.
And you made it all the way here, though I hear you had some help from your Lycian friends." He
seemed to pause for effect. "But even you cannot change what will happen here. This is my
destiny, and I will not be denied."

"Destiny." I spat the word at him. "What do you know of such a thing? You can't fool me. I
know what you did to that sword. It would not give itself to you, so you forced it out with arcane
magic, and now you claim it is your destiny to wield it. The only destiny for you is death."

"You cannot stop me!" His cry boomed from the walls as he lunged at me. I parried his thrust
and tried to force his sword into the ground, but despite his wounds, my adversary was still
formidable.

Nimbly, I jumped back and returned with an attack of my own, but his sword was in the way. With
a primal grunt, he pushed against my blade, sending me spinning backwards a few feet. Luckily I
was able to pull my sword up in time to deflect his next attack, a vicious downward swing. Using
his own momentum against him, I swung at his now exposed side, but again, he was fast enough
to block my attack.

"I must win, I will win!" my enemy called out as our blades clashed again and again. "I will have
my revenge!"

"What are you talking about?" I said, blocking a thrust aimed at my heart.

"When he came to the plains, we were just simple raiders. That man had no reason to be there,
but still he came and killed the best of my men."

"You're insane! What does this have to do with Lyn?" I was yelling now, as I parried his blows.

"That man was her father!"

Again, he put all his strength into a finishing blow that I was barely able to dodge. In the pause
after his move I took the offensive and stepped up the tempo of my attacks, but each blow was
met by his sword. Furiously, I swung at him with all my strength.

He dodged, moving faster than I thought his heavy armor would allow. I couldn't recover from my
momentum and the black armored warrior was poised to strike. Just barely, I was able to
intercept his swing as he bore down on me with everything he had. We pushed against each
other until our swords met at the hilt. Then, without warning, he moved his blade in a quick circle
and sent my sword flying out of my hand.

However, it seemed I was a bit stronger than he had expected, as his own blade left his grasp
and fell with mine to the floor. Simultaneously, we grabbed for our lost weapons. We reached
them at about the same time, but he was the first to his feet. He drew his arm up for one last
blow. Blindly, I spun around and thrust at him. My sword made contact, and I buried the blade to
its hilt in his abdomen. The sword fell from his hand and clattered to the ground.

It wasn't for a few moments afterwards before I pulled my sword from its human scabbard and
realized just what had happened.

I tried to drop the thing in my hand, as if I had been scalded, but some unseen power compelled
me not to.

A chuckle came from the dying man on the ground. "So…" he managed to say between gasps.
"It was… yours… all along. How… ironic. I may not get… revenge for my men… this woman's
father… killed… after all. But now… I can die… happy… knowing it's… it's your destiny… to
kill… the one you… love."

I couldn't stand the wheezing of the dying man's voice and the implications behind his words.
Enraged, I brought up the sword in my hands and drove it into his skull bearing down as the blood
sprayed onto me from the hole in his lifeless body.

I was drawn away from the horror in front of me by the sound of a beautiful voice calling my name.
I looked at Lyn, who had propped herself up on one arm. For an instant, our eyes locked and I
could see the same tears in her eyes that now flowed freely from mine. But it was only for an
instant, as she soon collapsed back onto the hard cavern floor.

It was at this point when Hector and Eliwood finally made it into the chamber along with a few
others. When they saw me standing before them covered in blood they stopped dead in their
tracks.

"Spirit of Roland, preserve me!" Eliwood exclaimed.

As I looked, I could see that their eyes were not on me though, but the burning black blade I held
tightly in my white knuckled hand.

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Kratos