p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;"strongAN: Probably last chapter for the day. Only another couple to go. Again, I really want to thank the dedicated readers who have made it this far. /strong/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;"LIAM'S POV/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I feel the power jolt from within me, expelling through my palms in the form of fiery, flaming light. There's something so eye opening, so powerful about taking down a villain. That might confuse one, especially with the endless ear-piercing screams all around and the bodies I'm stepping over one by one…. but, something about this is making me feel like I can do anything. Like this is the easiest thing I could be doing. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Esmay was right, when she said we all have something to fight for. It's true. I have all these new friends, and I have Cassidy. When you love something that much, you stop at nothing to protect it. Every ounce of strength I have is being exuded at this very moment, dedicated to this cause. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Nina, Cassidy, and Esmay are all doing as I am - expelling their powers at Set, who is angrily thrashing overhead. He bellows angry cries of defiance, but I've learned enough to know that he is bluffing. He knows he can't win. He will never get his vengeance on our ancestors. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Every time I hear the word ancestors, I get a weird tingly feeling. It's so strange to know that aeons ago, a goddess had been courting a family member of mine. I actually have the blood of a god running through my veins. That thought brings power to my mind. Sometimes I feel like Isis' soul is in me, making my powers even stronger. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Suddenly - "AHH!" A scream sounds from next to me. I see Cassidy fallen on the ground, her shoulder oozing blood onto the grass. She winces, trying not to scream. Her left arm is still shooting the lights towards Set through her pain. She's so strong. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"She can sense I'm about to stop, to bend and help her, so she screams, "LIAM! Don't you dare stop what you're doing. We've come this far, I swear to God you're not choosing me over the world. I'm not dying. Keep fighting."/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"emOkay then… /em/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Reluctantly, I listen to her pleas and continue to face Set. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Then something happens. My powers shut off. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Apparently I'm not the only one, because I see Nina and Esmay share a frightened look as well. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Guys… where's Set?" Nina asks. I hadn't even noticed he was missing. I was too freaked out about not being able to stop him that… I didn't realize I may have actually stopped him./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Life lesson: don't jump to conclusions. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Before I know what happens next, the most wretched sound I've ever heard bellows across the sky. I have to cover my ears. It was the sound you imagine death to sound like, of tortured souls who've had no chance at redemption./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""AHHHHGGGGGGGHHHH!" The painful voice cries. An image of Set is painted in the blackened sky, and thick, red rain pours down atop us. Blood. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"For a moment, I don't know what to think. Have we won? Or is this just beginning. I'll be honest, I'm getting a little tired of not knowing if this is over. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"And then… it happens. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"The bloody rain swirls into a cone-shape, somewhat reminiscent of a tornado. The image of Set is trapped inside, being pulled forcefully to the east. Set roars and thrashes in his bloody cage, until it diminishes, pulled downward into the earth, but not before Set can get one last word in:/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"em"I WILL GET YOU ONE DAY, SON OF OSIRIS!"/em/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"em Osiris? /emI think to myself. That must mean…/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""EDDIE!" I shout. He must be awake. I can't believe it. He's done it. He's defeated Set. A few yards away, Eddie is standing frozen, his chest pulsing furiously from his lack of breath. His clothes and hands are stained with blood. All the blood has drained from his frightened face, leaving him evocative of a ghost. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Cassidy runs to hug her brother. "You're awake!" she cries. "And alive!" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Eddie forces a smile. "Yeah," he says. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""I have to ask… what happened?" I ask, my brow furrowing. I don't understand the events of the past few minutes. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""I…I heard this voice," Eddie said, embarrassed. "It told me to wake up, to fight back. It reminded me of Patricia, and my duty to the world. I felt… stronger, and I leapt up off the ground. I couldn't see you guys anywhere, but I saw Set in the sky, and I summoned every ounce of strength I had and caused that tornado thing that pulled him into the afterlife. Hopefully, he should stay there for a while."/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""That's insane…" is all Cassidy can say. I can see she's still a little distraught by these recent events. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Wait," Esmay interrupts. "Why did our powers just… stop?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Maybe because they're no longer necessary," Cassidy musters shakily. "I've heard of this happening in history. When the descendants' powers are no longer necessary, they disappear."/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""No longer necessary?" I ask. "Does that mean… Set is gone for good?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""At least in our lifetime," she responds. That gives me so much hope. We're done with all of this. My past is erased from my mind. I don't have the dangerous powers I could kill someone with. I'm finally… normal. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""What about all of these people?" Nina interjects, disrupting my fantasies. She's right. They haven't woken up yet. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""They… they should wake up," Cassidy says, but I know her well enough to know she isn't sure. Even Eddie is skeptical. But I know we no longer have to be when Fabian's head shoots upwards, colliding with Esmay's. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""OW!"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 12px;"LIAM'S POV/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I feel the power jolt from within me, expelling through my palms in the form of fiery, flaming light. There's something so eye opening, so powerful about taking down a villain. That might confuse one, especially with the endless ear-piercing screams all around and the bodies I'm stepping over one by one…. but, something about this is making me feel like I can do anything. Like this is the easiest thing I could be doing. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Esmay was right, when she said we all have something to fight for. It's true. I have all these new friends, and I have Cassidy. When you love something that much, you stop at nothing to protect it. Every ounce of strength I have is being exuded at this very moment, dedicated to this cause. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Nina, Cassidy, and Esmay are all doing as I am - expelling their powers at Set, who is angrily thrashing overhead. He bellows angry cries of defiance, but I've learned enough to know that he is bluffing. He knows he can't win. He will never get his vengeance on our ancestors. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Every time I hear the word ancestors, I get a weird tingly feeling. It's so strange to know that aeons ago, a goddess had been courting a family member of mine. I actually have the blood of a god running through my veins. That thought brings power to my mind. Sometimes I feel like Isis' soul is in me, making my powers even stronger. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Suddenly - "AHH!" A scream sounds from next to me. I see Cassidy fallen on the ground, her shoulder oozing blood onto the grass. She winces, trying not to scream. Her left arm is still shooting the lights towards Set through her pain. She's so strong. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"She can sense I'm about to stop, to bend and help her, so she screams, "LIAM! Don't you dare stop what you're doing. We've come this far, I swear to God you're not choosing me over the world. I'm not dying. Keep fighting."/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"emOkay then… /em/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Reluctantly, I listen to her pleas and continue to face Set. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Then something happens. My powers shut off. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Apparently I'm not the only one, because I see Nina and Esmay share a frightened look as well. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Guys… where's Set?" Nina asks. I hadn't even noticed he was missing. I was too freaked out about not being able to stop him that… I didn't realize I may have actually stopped him./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Life lesson: don't jump to conclusions. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Before I know what happens next, the most wretched sound I've ever heard bellows across the sky. I have to cover my ears. It was the sound you imagine death to sound like, of tortured souls who've had no chance at redemption./p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""AHHHHGGGGGGGHHHH!" The painful voice cries. An image of Set is painted in the blackened sky, and thick, red rain pours down atop us. Blood. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"For a moment, I don't know what to think. Have we won? Or is this just beginning. I'll be honest, I'm getting a little tired of not knowing if this is over. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"And then… it happens. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"The bloody rain swirls into a cone-shape, somewhat reminiscent of a tornado. The image of Set is trapped inside, being pulled forcefully to the east. Set roars and thrashes in his bloody cage, until it diminishes, pulled downward into the earth, but not before Set can get one last word in:/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"em"I WILL GET YOU ONE DAY, SON OF OSIRIS!"/em/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"em Osiris? /emI think to myself. That must mean…/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""EDDIE!" I shout. He must be awake. I can't believe it. He's done it. He's defeated Set. A few yards away, Eddie is standing frozen, his chest pulsing furiously from his lack of breath. His clothes and hands are stained with blood. All the blood has drained from his frightened face, leaving him evocative of a ghost. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Cassidy runs to hug her brother. "You're awake!" she cries. "And alive!" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Eddie forces a smile. "Yeah," he says. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""I have to ask… what happened?" I ask, my brow furrowing. I don't understand the events of the past few minutes. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""I…I heard this voice," Eddie said, embarrassed. "It told me to wake up, to fight back. It reminded me of Patricia, and my duty to the world. I felt… stronger, and I leapt up off the ground. I couldn't see you guys anywhere, but I saw Set in the sky, and I summoned every ounce of strength I had and caused that tornado thing that pulled him into the afterlife. Hopefully, he should stay there for a while."/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""That's insane…" is all Cassidy can say. I can see she's still a little distraught by these recent events. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Wait," Esmay interrupts. "Why did our powers just… stop?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""Maybe because they're no longer necessary," Cassidy musters shakily. "I've heard of this happening in history. When the descendants' powers are no longer necessary, they disappear."/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""No longer necessary?" I ask. "Does that mean… Set is gone for good?"/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""At least in our lifetime," she responds. That gives me so much hope. We're done with all of this. My past is erased from my mind. I don't have the dangerous powers I could kill someone with. I'm finally… normal. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""What about all of these people?" Nina interjects, disrupting my fantasies. She's right. They haven't woken up yet. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""They… they should wake up," Cassidy says, but I know her well enough to know she isn't sure. Even Eddie is skeptical. But I know we no longer have to be when Fabian's head shoots upwards, colliding with Esmay's. /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: Georgia; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;""OW!"/p