Heyy I'm back with another chapter of whatever this has turned into. I'll admit this chapter was a bit difficult -mostly because I discovered the wonders of netflix (can u believe we just got it in the middle east? no wonder marik is so moody) and bingewatched the entirety of Red VS Blue -but also because I'm shit at writing fight scenes. They're all 'so he got his ass kicked -the end.' I tried to draw inspiration from my RvB wife, Texas, for the fight scene but... ehh... idk I don't think she had wings or the powers of darkness... sooo I guess you'll see for yourself. I also tried bringing back some of the snark I know everyone loves ;P
Malik can't feel his face for the chill of the wind blasting into him. He's got his feet firmly on the ground, using Zorc's blade, which his monstrous ally had thrust into the ground to keep them steady in the hurricane. The Warden -or perhaps the Queen -is standing in the eye of the storm, looking entirely unreal by the soft, dim beam of light shining down on her.
"How do we get her to stop that?" Malik complains, trying to elevate his voice above the roaring of the wind. His hair is flapping madly behind him as he strives desperately against the forces coercing his eyelids shut.
Zorc's jaw tightens before he mumbles. "I know a way."
Leaving no time for anything to be said, Malik's feet leave the ground and with great impetus, he's launched across the field, his hands compulsively leaving the hilt of Zorc's sword. His heart nearly flings itself out of his body through his gaping mouth as he watches the Warden's face draw closer to him.
"Malik, focus!" Zorc thunders, taking slow deliberate steps towards the center of the tempest and struggling against the ferocity of the wind.
Shaken back to the present, Malik clamps his mouth shut and just as his body approaches the Warden, he knocks her back with a great blow, celebrating internally as his gauntlet makes contact with her face. Using his target as an anchor, he drops just inside the clearing and lands on his feet beside her. Confused, she drops the storm, halting the travelling winds and the flying debris.
At her right, she catches a jagged sword before it embeds itself in her hip, giving Zorc a menacing glower before summoning two lances at either side of her, making them both jut out aggressively into her attackers, tossing the two of them backwards. However, while this causes Malik to be down for a few moments, Zorc is quick to his feet, dashing straight for her and throwing his weight onto the hilt of his blade, which still protrudes from her body, causing it to bury itself deeper into her abdomen.
Malik is shocked back to awareness when a loud eagle-like screech nearly shatters his eardrums. Battling a mild headache and shaky vision, he drags himself to a standing position and marches towards Zorc and the Warden, clutching his thigh where the lance struck him. The armor had prevented it from rooting itself in him, fortunately, but it still stings like a bitch.
Zorc dips his head, parrying the Warden's clawed gauntlet, grabs her shoulders, and rams his helmet into her chest-plate. Still holding on to her, he shoves her face-first into the dirt below, using his heavy boot to keep her down as he tears his sword out of her body. The point digs into the Warden's neck, held steady by Zorc's gargantuan hands. It all seems far too easy, like she's setting him up for a trap, and maybe he's already fallen for it, crawling deeper and deeper into her web with every move he makes. Would she even die if he chopped the viper's head right now? Or would two more heads grow out in its place?
Bracing for the blow that would end it all, a shout steals his attention. "Zorc, wait!"
Zorc's eyes dart to the side, drilling holes into Malik's head. "What?"
"If you kill her… What will happen to Lorna?" he asks, inching forward, wincing as every step sends currents of pain through his leg. He stops walking for a moment to ease the pressure on his wound, and it baffles him to think that he could fall down a flight of stairs and die, but he can't walk two steps with a two inch deep wound in his thigh. He eventually wills himself to continue moving, cramming the sensation of agony somewhere deep in the far recesses of his psyche.
Scoffing haughtily, Zorc turns his gaze back down to the woman under his shoe, digging his heel into her back slightly, baiting for some kind of indication of her being afraid or in pain, but that would be unlike her, wouldn't it? She doesn't say anything at all. "Don't be coy, your Grace," he sneers, "You're getting your just desserts, so if you have any last words…" He catches himself mid-sentence and lets out a low chuckle before pressing down with the handle of his blade. "I don't make mistakes twice, bitch."
"No!" That blade might as well have punctured Malik's own carotid artery; he feels like he's drowning with the taste of blood at the back of his throat. "What did you just do?"
A deafening rumble rocks the earth beneath them, knocking Malik flat on his face and driving the sharp end of a stone into his gash. He cries out, pushing against the ground and moving his torso away from the offending piece of debris.
Zorc steps off of the Warden's still body, keeping his gaze on her as he does. "The Warden is dead; her realm is falling apart," he explains, glancing at Malik. "I didn't think that would actually work," he adds, his deep tone lost among the groaning and growling of the Solitude.
He then turns his head to admire his handiwork, but where there had once been a pale corpse, there is only bloodstained mud. His eyes only narrow in response. "Of course she's not really dead..." he breathes out, grinding his teeth together and bracing his body.
Malik blinks wearily, rising on his hands and knees; his eyes are still brimming with unshed tears from his cut, and the mist in the air isn't helping in the least with his vision. He makes out a bleary silhouette which he guesses is Zorc. One blink and the dark master is leisurely moving around the plain; the next blink and he's staggering backwards with what looks to be his own blade penetrating his chest.
"Holy shit!" Malik exclaims, sitting up and pushing himself to his feet in spite of his wound screaming at him. The ground is steadier now and the rumbling has momentarily ceased. "Did you just- Is that a sword?"
Zorc's head snaps towards the boy with a pitying expression on his face as he gestured towards the ten inch hilt protruding from his body. "What this? Oh, no. I'm just so hardcore I have a second dick sticking out of my chest," he deadpans. "The fuck do you think, ass-for-brains?"
Malik shakes his head in disbelief as he stands up. "You know what? I don't even have anything sarcastic to say in response to that. I'm actually impressed you're still capable of insulting me while having a three foot long sword coming out of your body."
With a shrug, Zorc mumbles, "It's a gift really."
The moment is over as quickly as it began and the sword ejects back out of his body of its own accord, moving only incrementally before reinserting itself with speed so immense it sends him flying back. It removes itself again and finds another point to pierce -in and out, again and again, faster than he can anticipate them, scarcely giving Zorc the time to react to the agony; instead, he can only let out sharp exhalations in time with each jab.
Malik stands in stunned silence. He wants to intervene somehow, but he doesn't even know where to start. "A gift you say…" he finds himself muttering while taking a couple of steps away from the morbid sight. Just because Ra seems to be enjoying Zorc's suffering doesn't mean Malik has to.
Something solid comes in contact with Malik's back, leading him to jump nearly five feet into the air and frantically twist around, only to find a dark winged figure towering over him. He cranes his neck, wincing slightly as recognition dawns on him. Saturn. Lorna's favorite monster… but what is it doing here?
Malik doesn't know what to make of the creature's motivation, but seeing as it seems to be content with standing there while Zorc is getting shishkebabbed over and over again with his own sword, he doubts its there to help out. He tries to remember everything he knows about fighting -which isn't much, mind you -and remembers his own wings; at least he and Saturn are on somewhat even ground if they're both flying. He wonders if that strange sense of desperation in his head is Ra regretting all of its life decisions which led it to residing in his head.
"MALIK. YOUR. SIX." comes the strained demonic voice he has come to recognize as Zorc. From the sounds of it, the stabbing hasn't quite let up.
He looks behind him, first noting that Zorc has now keeled over, the sword still buried in him. The second thing he sees is the Warden herself, looking even more celestial than before if that's even possible; not even one speck of blood stains the silver armor -no evidence that she had previously been shanked in the throat and the gut. Her hair fans around her body like a mourning veil and her eyes gently stare into Malik's own. Nonetheless, what should have caught his eye is the visible dark energy swirling around her fingertips like several black serpents.
"Uh… nice Warden?" he tries raising his voice at least two octaves. It should be obvious but this doesn't work. "Right. Well, I'm fucked."
Malik shudders involuntarily when a hand touches his shoulder and pushes him back. It's Saturn, positioning himself in between the Warden and Malik, spreading his wings out like a shield. Malik is taken aback by the revelation that this creature is on his side, but he can't really complain, so he simply takes a step back to figure out what to do. He at least knows he can't just hide and let everyone else fight the Warden off -but it just seems like such a good and safe (especially safe) idea.
A gust of wind brushes against the side of his face as something flies past him and Saturn and straight into the Warden, nearly plowing her into the ground; it looks like a yellow blur with a rainbow trailing behind it at first. Only when the Warden picks it up and tosses it back at Malik does he realize that it's another one of Lorna's monsters -Hoshiningen this time. The star-shaped creature squirms against his chest, wrapping its rainbow extremities around his armor, and looks up at him defeated.
He sighs and pries the thing off of his body. "I get it already," he grumbles, "If I die -again -here, though, one of you is telling Horakhty to go fuck herself." In his mind, Ra chastises him. You can also fuck yourself, he mentally chides the Egyptian god.
With less that solid determination, Malik flexes his arms and his metallic wings (much lighter than the name implies) and stands evenly beside Saturn. A simple gander to his right shows him that Zorc is still getting his ass kicked (or rather -his chest impaled), which isn't promising for any of the Warden's other adversaries. Of course, it still means that she's not putting all her energy into fighting them.
"Right, Saturn. Got a game plan?"
Malik glances uncertainly at the creature, who in turn raises his arms sidelong. Malik looks around expectantly as several lights appear to encircle the Warden, hovering closer and closer to her; rapidly, within each, more anthropomorphic winged monsters appear. He recognizes two of them: Mars and Venus; the rest must be other Agent monsters that he's never seen Lorna use. Quicker than Malik can blink, all of them, including Saturn, are a blur of feathers and claws.
"Get the gang together and ambush her. Why didn't I think of that?" he remarks in a snide voice.
"Because you still have that dumb crush on Lorna," a gravelly voice grunts from his side. Zorc grits his teeth as he pulls his sword, which seems to have retired from uncontrollably stabbing him, out of his hip. "And you're too much of a pussy to realize she's never coming back. She's not worth getting yourself destroyed."
"Hey, fuck you," Malik scowls. "I'm not the one who just got turned into Swiss cheese here."
Electing to pretend he didn't hear that comment, Zorc rubs his wounds, coercing the healing process to speed up. "The point is you haven't thrown a single punch yet. You're still afraid of hurting her. She's dead for good this time. And this is the woman who did it. Show me why Horakhty chose you. Show me Ra's power!"
"You say she's dead one more time and I'll shove Ra's power straight up your satanic zombie ass."
Ra likes the sound of that, apparently.
Malik growls, a burning and pulsing sensation blooming in his chest, rippling at his fingertips. His head is heavier, like two brains are currently operating inside of it, filling it to the bursting point. Emerging from his mouth against his will is a voice that doesn't belong to him, but to Ra -an earth-shattering roar that halts the strife in front of him.
The Warden stands in the middle with a listless expression, surveying him briefly before making a rapid motion with her fingers. It's not any kind of sign language that Malik has ever seen before, and yet words begin to register in his mind.
"I AM THE ONLY TRUE GOD."
Ra obviously disagrees.
With that, her wings begin to beat and she rises into the air, stirring the dead flora beneath her into a frenzy. Naturally -or whatever Malik's brain deems natural at the moment, he finds himself accepting her challenge, and his own pair of wings swiftly elevates him to her level. He feels high, and not just in the literal sense. His mind is cloudy and clear at the same time; he would never attempt to fight this demon in his right mind, but something tells him he'll be able to so he does.
They don't stare long at each other before someone makes the first move, and that person is Malik. With speed and agility he never knew he possessed, he soars to close the distance and bury his gauntlet into her gut, squeezing tightly and using the bundle of flesh he managed to grab as a handle to propel her into the plain below. It's too easy, almost as though she let him do it.
Lucky hit, Ra voices. Keep your guard up.
Her wings fail her for a moment, but it's insignificant as she's flying back up in a second, extending her limbs until she looks like a pentagram. The unmistakable violet spark of her power appears to be emanating from her body so briefly that Malik nearly misses it spiking and fading. He makes to take advantage of the opening and scarcely manages to parry the spike that drops out of virtually nowhere like a raindrop.
Soon, it's not the only one. Thunder claps from somewhere nearby and the storm in the plain is back, but instead of stinging droplets of rain, hundreds, or perhaps even millions, of silver lances drop from the sky, and it's all Malik can do to keep from being struck by one. Still, he continues trying to close in on her.
An idea dawns on him as he zigzags through the air, causing him to stop abruptly and grab several of the lances descending upon him. With four lances per hand resting between his fingers, he idly avoids the spikes still dropping in ridiculous numbers. He has to wait for the right moment to fling his spears; throwing them haphazardly could cause most of them ricochet against the other spears, and if he's going to have any chance of getting to the Warden, he needs them to hit their mark.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon…" he chants under his breath as he puts as much force as he's able to into his arms and shoots them both forward, one after the other. The first set shoots towards the woman in white, slamming into her and cutting off her concentration long enough to stop the spike storm, but the second set is not so lucky, missing its mark completely due to the sheer haste with which she regains her equilibrium. "Fuck," he hisses, dropping a couple of feet below as she zooms towards him, just barely missing him.
"Do you even know what happens when you die in the Inbetween?"
Malik winces when Sun's words pop into his head out of the ashy, monochrome sky. "I won't let that happen to you," he reassures, his line of sight overlapping with the Warden's for a split second on his way down, searching for the chocolate-colored eyes he knows are there.
"YOU CANNOT DENY ME MY POWER."
"What?"
"I SHALL HAVE WHAT IS MINE. THE POWER THAT IS OWED TO ME."
He tears his gaze away for a moment, looking at Zorc and taking off towards him. "Why does this bitch sound like such a broken record?" There's no sign of the Agent monsters; they must have been decimated by the storm.
Zorc, tugging a spike, that had managed to gouge itself into his eye socket, out of his head with alarming nonchalance, he looks at Malik. "That's because she is." He sticks the spear into the ground with great force. "She's only a shadow of her former self." Zorc swivels to the right and hardens his gaze. "Zaleon…"
"Who?" Malik questions, but his question would have to remain unanswered as he catches the Warden speeding down towards him with her wings drawn back. "Shit."
Zorc paces slowly towards his brother, a nondescript mass of flesh on the ground, beaten and cut down to a literal pulp by the Warden's spears. Zorc still knows his older brother, however, so the dimmest hint of life must still exist inside of him. "You were a fool…" he whispers, unsure if his words are even being heard. "to think she wouldn't destroy even you."
Malik yelps when the Warden's gauntlet pounds into his helmet, sending shock-waves into his head. He holds the sides of his helmet, steadying his vision in time to anticipate another attack and duck, removing his hands to aggressively shove her away from him, but she's back on him with even more ferocity than before. Her face as placid as ever, she grabs his arm and throws him down below her, digging her heels into his chest and moving down before he can regain control over his body and sending the both of them crashing into the earth below.
He senses the ground below him shatter as pieces of stone and dirt dig into his armor and his slowly healing wound, reminding him of just how much it hurt before. The Warden puts one foot on the ground and keeps the other on his chest, firmly pressing him into the crevice the two of them created with their fall. He can tell that it's just the divine armor keeping his rib-cage from splintering under her weight and he'd have to retract everything he'd ever said about Ra if he made it out of this without being erased from existence.
He sucks in a painful breath before focusing his attention on Ra's power. There's no way he's even scratched the surface of what Ra can do -this he knows -and if Zorc is right and this Warden is only a small fragment of the person she once was, she must be weak (if this is her at her weakest, Malik doesn't even want to think about what she'd do with all her power restored).
His irises blaze like red hot flames, staring deeply into her. He opens his jaw as wide as he can and let's out a roar like the one from before, drawing out Ra's power. If there is any way to get out of this, Ra would know, but Ra's power is difficult to channel, even more difficult to use. Unfazed, she carries on observing him, summoning one of her lances and slowly positioning it at Malik's throat. All he wants is to use the power he's been given but he feels like there's a drain stopper at the very end of the flow, making it impossible to reach.
"You know you can jump in anytime you want, Zorc!" Malik cries out, trying to raise his voice in spite of his lungs being compressed.
Zorc looks over and frowns. He extends his wings, flapping them in a miserable manner. They're full of punctures from the Warden's previous onslaught and completely incapable of carrying him anywhere. His body is also still healing from the storm; the sight in his left eye is still completely gone and it will be a while before it fully heals. He drags his sword out of its sheath and rests its tip against the ground. He can see the Warden shift her gaze towards him upon hearing his name and a smile is carved into that perfect porcelain face of hers. She knows he can't take a single step without feeling the marks she made all over his body sing in agony.
In wake of Zorc's silence, Malik cranes his neck more. He doesn't know why Zorc isn't being more helpful, but as long as the Warden is paying attention to Zorc, he's able to think of a way to bring out Ra's full potential. "Really? I thought you were all gung-" She makes her step heavier, causing Malik to gasp. "-ho. About. Killing. Her. You're. Just. Going. To. Grk. Sit there. And. Let. Her. Do. This"
Zorc grimaces. Malik only exists as a tribute to the Warden -whether or not Horakhty intercepted that tribute for her own purposes; the fact remained that Zaleon brought the seven departed to this realm as a way to channel power and divert it to the Queen of Atlantis. Having absorbed Lorna's spirit, she's already one seventh of the way there; she now has the freedom to leave her realm and yet she's still here, trying to absorb Malik as well. He can't let that happen. He won't. No matter how weak he is.
A long sigh leaves Zorc's lips and he grips the handle of his sword, letting it dangle in his hand as he watches the Warden scrutinize the boy beneath her with curiosity. She can't truly intend to kill Malik, especially not if he has the power to channel Ra, but this incomplete Warden is still very unpredictable. Zorc isn't sure whether or not to be flattered that, although she's not herself, she still remembers how much she wants to kill him.
He tosses the blade across the plain like a spear and it pierces straight through the Warden's chest, sending her flying several feet back and allowing Malik to finally take a full, unrestricted breath. He sits up, glances back at his savior, and raises his brow. "You could have done that much earlier."
Zorc smirks through his teeth, cautiously taking a few steps forward, his eyes darting between Malik and the Warden; she's still trying to pull the large sword out of herself. "You seemed like you were handling it."
With a scoff, Malik allows Zorc to help him to his feet. He rolls his shoulders and neck before straightening his back and stiffening his posture, like an animal trying to look as large as possible to assert its dominance. "Y'know, for an almighty personification of darkness who single-handedly destroyed Egypt, you're not as badass as I expected."
With a roll of his eyes, Zorc retorts, "It's been three thousand years since I destroyed an entire civilization; my powers have gotten a bit rusty." He grunts and grasps one of the open wounds on his abdomen; they're still bleeding profusely. "Being bound to the Millennium Ring hasn't been great for my health."
"I'd tell you to get out more, but last time you did… Well, you know." Malik lets out a breathy chuckle. Ra growls in his head, causing him to instantly turn his attention back to the immediate threat, which is stalking towards them slowly, stirring up a cyclone for which she is the axis.
"She's hesitating," Zorc observes. "If she wants us dead then why aren't we?" He searches the queen's dark and stormy glare for an answer. "Could it be that…"
Malik's pupils flash and his head begins to throb.
Do not fight me, mortal. Do not refuse the gift I have offered.
I'm not. I can't use it. It's not working.
You're fighting my influence. You need to let go.
Hey, if you've got a way to beat this bitch, I'm all ears.
He massages his temples wearily; Ra is shifting uncomfortably under his skin. His golden armor burning itself into his skin, infusing it with pure flames, the raw power of the Egyptian gods. He groans, dropping to his knees. "It's. Too. Much."
Frowning, Zorc digs his fingers into Malik's forearm, tugging him back to his feet and forcing the boy to look up. Ra, never one to bide his time patiently, is forcibly taking control of his host and it's overwhelming him. At this rate, Malik will end up just like Lorna and Zorc would rather not have two ancient entities hell bent on killing him running about.
There's really only one thing he can do. It's only a small sacrifice for the greater good -a term Zorc has never been very partial to. He shuts his eyes and stills his mind, letting his remaining strength flow into Malik in order to placate the dragon inside. It's not like what little power he still possesses would have given him any sort of edge in the battle anyway.
"What are you doing?" Malik struggles to say, his hands unconsciously reaching for something to grab on to. His mind is still reeling; his nerves are like race cars speeding through endless laps all throughout his body. Zorc isn't slowing them down, but somehow Malik feels his own consciousness accelerating to match. It's like free falling through an endless tunnel for eons on end, but knowing that you're perfectly in control.
"I'm giving you a fighting chance," comes the weak reply.
With a clearer mind, Malik glances over at Zorc, but finds someone completely different; this person is much leaner and less grotesque than Zorc, but shares his burnt complexion and leathery wings. Though, somehow, Malik's intuition tells him it's still undoubtedly Zorc.
"You clean up nice, Zorc," he remarks, turning back to face the Warden. She is hesitating, he notes. Drawing power from deep in his being, he holds his arms out in front of him and allows it to pool in the gap between them. Everything else looks dim in comparison to the bright otherworldly light emanating from Ra's energy.
With his power sapped, Zorc kneels on the ground and simply watches. He's somehow lighter, weaker… He clutches bits of grass and dirt for balance and doesn't even recognize the slender yet calloused fingers on the ground before him. "Impossible," he mumbles, clenching and unclenching his fists trying to find proof that the hands he sees don't belong to him.
The Warden cocks her head to the side like a curious wolf as she stands in anticipation. She grins and shuts her eyes, opening her arms wide like she's expecting an embrace.
Once the energy is charged to completion, he holds it up like a ball and then launches it forward. As though he had just turned a faucet on, it spills out of his arms towards the unguarded Warden, opening up like a cone at the end and encompassing her completely.
When the atmosphere's lighting returns to the unnaturally monochrome dimness, the Warden's body is on the ground, seemingly lifeless; yet if this battle taught him anything, it is that nothing is as it seems with this woman. Malik casts a quick look to check on Zorc before approaching the body tentatively.
"God, Lorna…" he chokes, taking his first real look at the Warden's face. There's something about her that infuriates him to the point where he'd just love to tear skin off -or maybe that's just Ra.
Her eyes open, light brown and always shining, like they're laughing at something nobody else can see. With bated breath, Malik simply looms over her, softening his own gaze. He doesn't know when her face stopped looking like the Warden's and started looking like Lorna's, but whoever he's looking at right now, it has to be her.
"What's happening to me?"
Her voice is just a whisper, but to him, a whisper is enough. Her expression is afraid and her hair is spread across the dirt like a mop, but it's her hair. She fidgets slightly, pushing off of the ground weakly and into a sitting position.
"Shh, Lor'... Steady…" He gingerly places one hand at the small of her back and the other on her forearm, allowing her to use him for support. "I've got you and I won't let anything else bad happen to you, okay?"
She nods languidly, gazing up at him with a mix of admiration and curiosity. "Okay, but… who… are you?"
"What?"
"What's your name?" she asks again, articulating her words very carefully.
It's okay; he heard her the first time.
It's a trick. Be wary, mortal. Destroy her now before she realizes you're on to her.
No, it has to be her.
Do not be fooled.
He decides to shut Ra out.
"Are you okay?" she asks, her hand reaching for his jaw, wiping off a flaky trail of blood with her thumb.
He nods and inhales slowly in an attempt to calm his heart. Everything is so serene in the Solitude that it's almost like they're in another place. A soft breeze ruffles the back of his hair, accompanied by the sound of rustling leaves.
She reaches forward reluctantly and grabs the sides of his battered helmet, raising it over his head and revealing his face. His irises are like a forest, reflecting shades of green and the shadows the sun casts through the canopy of trees above them.
Leaves? He examines Lorna's face thoroughly once more. It's like staring into one of his idealized daydreams; she's so perfect.
"The Warden is dead," he states, ignoring the lost look on her face. "This realm should be self-destructing." According to Zorc, that is. "Why is it still standing? And what are these-"
He blinks and he's back to reality. The forest was never really there and Lorna's eyes are pools of black, pure and untouched darkness. He reaches out to her, sending every ounce of energy in his body to his hands.
Like ink in water, the sky, once grey, is introduced to a new shade; dark clouds swirl around like smoke and lightning strikes a nearby cluster of branches. His newly uncovered hair whips at his face as the wind picks up around them.
The face in front of him is sallow with high cheekbones and full lips, stretched thin in a smile. She raises her hands between them so he can see them and calmly moves her fingers.
"THE LIGHT IS NOT DEAD. IT YET LIVES ON IN THE WIND. BUT WIND ALWAYS DIES AFTER A STORM, AND WHEN I LEAVE THIS REALM, IT IS NOT I THAT WILL ERASE IT, BUT THE MONSTER WHO LOVES IT THE MOST."
"What?" he gasps, noting the power growing between his palms. He can't stop it, and he's not sure whether that's because he doesn't know how to or because Ra refuses to stop it. "Oh, no…" he whimpers, realization dripping down his body and freezing his blood.
Her smile quivers and fades; her body slumps against him limply. That's when the earth starts shaking. Rocks clatter against each other and bound effortlessly into the air as though they were pebbles. The lightning strikes again from someplace distant and the flames from the first strike grow closer and closer, dashing across the dry weeds and branching out in several directions. Its growing speed makes it harder and harder to evade with each moment that passes.
Her head is on his shoulder and he can't even feel her breath against his neck. He tilts his head to the side and rests it against her ear. He can't stop it. He can't stop it.
Terrifying booms echo from all directions as gargantuan grey stones drop from the sky. The sky is as black as the void in their wake. It's as if the sky itself is dropping on their heads as the realm tears itself apart. One stone drops perilously close to their heads; Malik holds his breath.
I'm so sorry, Lor'... I'm so sorry.
Like all the worst endings, this one is accompanied by a blinding white light, the sensation of falling, and a high-pitched scream.
This chapter had so many different endings, all various degrees of shippy.
Sooo... that's that... I guess. One more chapter and an epilogue and finally your suffering will be over :) Who's excited?
BTW have any of you heard "Forgive Me" from the Season 5 soundtrack for Game of Thrones? Great track, amirite?