Those Who Stood
You failed them. You look around and see a graveyard in the eyes of everyone here. They all hold the weight of the loved ones they lost. Your own eyes are dragged down by a tremendous weight too, but you can't let them see that or none would fight with you.
"Does everyone have their weapons? Are the children hidden?" You ask making sure the final preparations are ready. You don't expect much from this battle, but you know you can't run away any more. Lots of these people are sick, many more injured, and the rest are broken.
"Yes, the kids have made it pretty far down the tunnel. They will make it." Marcus tells you. Marcus is your most trusted friend and many consider him 2nd in command. Which is still insane for you to think about since you are considered in charge. It doesn't feel that long ago you were just a lone wanderer. You never imagined that saving those children would lead to you being in charge of a whole rebellion, a dying rebellion.
"Marcus... I just." You take a deep breath as you calm your nerves. You face forward and begin to walk out the tunnel. Hoping he drops the conversation.
" Jace..." he says almost like a whisper. He grabs your wrist stopping you from walking away. You don't turn to face him though. You don't want him to see everything. " you don't have to say it, or even acknowledge this conversation. But I- I lo-"
" I love you too." You say before he can finish. Before he breaks down the walls you built, the false courage, the non existent hope you been carrying. You walk away; out to your position. You came up with a simple trap that probably won't even give you any noticeable advantage other than giving these people a little more hope. You know deep down you aren't winning. You will never get to follow through on your love for Marcus and you will never see him smile, but you won't just lay down and die. You refuse to be quiet even though you know it's useless.
"Death after life!!" Screams the scout. That's the signal. The dreaded king is near. Your final battle begins now.
" Live Free and Die free!" You scream. The two phrases form a sorta call sign. The rebellion live by those words and it's only right to use them in this final battle. You look down at your hand and feel the sparks jump under your skin. You been holding another secret since you joined this rebellion. You didn't want them to fear you so you kept it to yourself.
" I'LL GIVE YOU ONE CHANCE TO BOW NOW AND SUBMIT TO MY RULE!" You hear his voice long before you see him. Like thunder it roars across the plains and you can imagine it echoing down the tunnels below.
"If only it could be that easy, but we both know that's not how this works." Suddenly mist rises from the ground. Rising higher and higher becoming a dense fog limiting your visibility to only a few feet. You realize any plan you had before is useless; your people won't be able to see the king and let alone see the final signal to attack.
"Jace!!!" You hear marcus scream and for the first time since joining. You feel fear grip your heart. You had these feelings for him for a long time, but you only just now found out he had the same for you. The thought of losing him...
"Look within the depths of your soul and face death with which we all fear." The mist clears up to reveal a battle ravaged field. The entirety of your comrades lay dead or dying in the blood soaked ground. You could of sworn it was only a short moment the mist swallowed you yet the entire battle field has morphed before you.
"I don't fear death!" You scream out pulling your sword out.
"You may not fear your death... but I can guarantee you fear his." You finally spot him. The shadow king stands in his full body blackened armor while he holds Marcus by the throat suspended above the ground.
"Put him down and face me!" His helmet covers his face but the way his red glowing eyes squints you can tell he is smiling.
" To easy..." The shadow king let's go of Marcus and your watch him hit the ground hard. He struggles to get on his knees as he catches his breathe. In one fluid motion the Tyrant conjures his sword and slicing through Marcus's neck all while looking and moving directly towards you.
"I-im gonn----"
"Gonna what? Die a miserable death and curse me in the after life?" He says mockingly. "I'm not worried." You can't help but think something is off about him. You have fought him twice before and barely escaped with your life. In both instances he barely said a few words to to you. None of which included this banter.
He raises his hand to conjure a fireball, but before the flame is created you throw your knife and watch him barely move it in time. Within seconds, you are already on him blade aimed for his stomach. He deflects it to your left on the last possible second, but you were prepared for this and use the momentum of the deflection to spin around. Once you feel the kick connect, your suspicions are confirmed. You kick him right across the face causing him to stumble back a few feet. Without a moment wasted, you drive forward blade aimed for the heart. He barely brings manages to bring his sword up in time to stop the blow. With your free hand, you manage to pull out a small explosive and stick it in the plates of his armor. You quickly roll backwards out of the radius just in time for the the detonation to go off; sending the mad tyrant flying onto his back.
"I don't know who you are, but you are nowhere near as good as the true Shadow King. You are no warrior, just a powered up pretender." You feel the hope rise in your soul, but you feel the anger coursing through your veins. The air around you becomes charged and the sky darkens as clouds form over head.
"Have you no sense? I have the power of--" the imposter stops as he sits up and sees the scene unfold. You are enveloped in light as sparks of electricity ripple throughout your body.
"So much energy, so much power!" You scream out as a lightning bolt strikes the sky shooting up from the ground towards the clouds. You can't lose here; you will kill this imposter and find the real king to tear him apart. He will pay for the deaths of all who suffered. The imposter gets on their feet preparing another attack but before they can get serious you move on them with lightning speed. Sending multiple strikes to the chest. You end the combo with a thunderous uppercut sending forth a lighting bolt upwards towards the sky along with the imposter. You watch as the fake king takes flight high above the ground, and before gravity gets the chance to bring them down you command the bolt you just release to crash to the earth.
BOOM!
You hear the thunderous clap as the bolt hits the fraud spiking them hard against the cold ground.
" YOU ARE FINISHED!" You roar as loud as Zeus himself. You leap into the air landing on the weak imitation of the tyrant and begin a barrage of punches burying their face into the ground. Each time your fist strikes their helmet you can see the sparks of electricity disperse in every direction. This just encourages you to hit faster and faster. Right when you didn't think you could hit any faster the knockoff's helmet breaks in half and one side falls to the floor. You pause your attack to notice who you have been battling this entire time, was the Queen herself. Her eyes glow a fierce purple and even though you can't see her complete face you can tell it is contorted in rage. In fact, you feel the rage rushing out of her. "What is this?" Before you have time to react a ball of energy explodes in your face tossing you off of the queen and in your back yards away.
"I may not be the king and all his glory, but I promise that after today, the world is going to beg for the old king back!" She says in her own voice, as she is already on her feet before you can even sit up. Barely getting on your knees you fire a lightning bolt, but to your surprise, the queen conjured a blackened blade from her own shadow just in time to deflect it feet away from her. All of sudden, your legs start shaking, your chest tightens up, and your muscles scream in agony,yet you can't tell if it’s exhaustion taking its toll or if the fear has wrapped around your soul draining your strength.
"I refuse to fall here!" You scream trying your best to hide the fear. "I'll slay you now and bring the king your heart before I kill him too." Something in the queen's eyes flashes for a brief moment and you aren't sure what it is, it seemed like guilt, but as quick as it came it goes away and rage pours out more than ever.
"You don't get it, do you?" You quickly get on your feet as she makes her way towards you. "Well let me make it clear. YOU DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THIS BATTLE WITH YOUR LIFE INTACT!" Her voice fills every fiber of your body and you can feel the anger as it burns into you. You don't have time to think; you just act. You rush in as fast as you possibly can aiming for her heart. A few feet away from her you run into what feels like a unseen wall. The impact stops you dead in your tracks; you can't move forward; it's like your body refuses to take the step.
"What kind of trick is this?"
"This is no trick rebel scum." She takes a step forward and begrudgingly you are pushed back, feet sliding across the soil. " This is science. I assumed you were discharging negatively charged lighting bolts. So I created a negatively charged field around me. Hmmph, see what I'm getting at now? This is no trick. Hahaha!" Her laugh freezes you in your place. "This is your DOWNFALL!" With in the blink of an eye she brings back the blackened blade and throws it, as if it was a spear, right at you. Frozen in fear all you can do is watch in disbelief as the blade flies thru the air. ZZCTZZ!
Your eyes nearly burst out their sockets when you witness your own body deform into pure electric sparks allowing the sword to pass through you. You can hardly believe what just happen and look up hoping to see the same disbelief on the queens face. Any hope you had left is instantly sapped when you find the most cunning smile on her face. You try to take a step forward only to be stopped again but instead of the wall from the front it's a strong pull backwards.
"Don't forget opposites attract." You look back to witness the end of your life. The blade glows bright as arcs of electricity flows into it. All of which run off you. You even begin to feel the strength zap out of you as a hole appears in you back. Slowly it grows and you realize that you will be completely transformed into energy trapped inside her blade. "You were a formidable warrior and I could see why you escaped him twice before." Slowly the half her face that is shown is swallowed by darkness, and out of the darkness the helmet is made whole again. "But now you will serve in his revival and the fall of all those who stand in my way!" Her voice once again returns to that of the shadow king. The last thing you see is her purple eyes burning into your soul when everything goes black.
....................................
You expected something else in death but so far it's only a black abyss. You can't tell how long you been waiting but it feels like a lifetime of floating in nothingness. You don't feel dead, well you don't know what death should feel like either, but you feel as if you did before the fight ended. You just have no body. You are kind of just floating aimlessly into nothing. All you can do is wait.
"Ahh so it worked." You hear her voice again but this time it seems to echo from all directions and into all directions. You try to speak but nothing comes out. You feel a strain of energy but nothing happens. You just wait what seems like centuries before she continues. "I can't hear you by the way. All your attempts of speaking comes out as sparks rippling down my blade." Each sentence seems to last a eternity before she says the next. "I assume time doesn't work the same for you either. A mere second here may be a lifetime in there for you... just how I wanted it. I'll be using your power from here on out, and I guarantee it’s going to hurt. Haha. Let me show you." Suddenly after you’ve gone mad with the torture of time being morphed, a flash appears all around. So bright you can't seem to see your surroundings. Then its happens, pain ripples through every atom in your body. As if you are being pulled in a infinite amount of directions and being set over a fire to burn alive. If you had a physical body, you would just pass out, but unfortunately, all you can do is endure it. Attempting to scream, but all you feel is the pull of energy. This pain goes on for a millennia before finally subsiding. Fortunately for you, you are driven insane. Unfortunately for you, it only last briefly as you constantly find yourself restored into perfect mental condition shortly after. Your soul will know no rest.
