The Broken Circle

Invictus

Dawn was breaking after a night of battle. Talul's armor of shadow had a new crack along the left side where his skin was burned underneath.  Ukami had been switching between ranged and close combat for hours, hurling lightning bolts and then swooping in to deliver powerful strikes. The god was fast. Faster than anything Talul had fought before. But Talul was not the same man as a night ago, his blood still burned with the fire of his awoken power.  Here he comes. Ukami flashed forward at mach speed at Talul's side. Talul pivoted in time to catch the blow on the haft of his spear. What impact! It was Talul's own divine strength that saved him. Ukami's fists were wreathed in lightning and the next blows thundered after.  Talul whirled his black-pointed spear in a blur, blocking strike after strike along the length of the weapon. Ukami's combination was tireless, and a visible charge built up along his gold beads as they powered his punches. The opening appeared for a fraction of a second, but Talul learned young that hesitation was defeat. He thrust his spear, looking to take the god's eye like he took his brother's. Ukami's head snapped back just in time, and the spear carved a line through his cheekbone.

That moment shifted the tide. It was Talul's turn now. The Infidel wreathed his spear in dark energy and stabbed at Ukami. The god dodged, but Talul chased after him. He was ferocious, snarling as he tried again and again to impale his enemy. Ukami's blood flowed like a golden tear on his cheek. Again he dodged Talul's attack by zipping in the air. When Talul gave chase, the god roared. The sound could have come from an ancient beast of legend. Energy exploded outward from Ukami, it struck Talul mid-flight and swatted him down to earth. Talul's back struck a jagged rock of the broken island and the air was knocked out of him. Spots danced in his eyes. Ukami pressed his advantage by casting a spear of lightning into Talul's chest. The stone beneath Talul was flattened by the impact. He might no longer be mortal, but that meant he could suffer so much more pain. There was no air in his lungs to scream and in his desperation he threw his hands up where he lay. Giant arms of blood-red flame flowed out from  Talul and clasped Ukami before he could escape. Talul turned up the temperature, and steam rose from the ocean as held the god in the superheated trap. He took the moment to stagger to his feet. His armor was proper broken now, with gaps in the shadow showing red blood slick on his skin. The flaming arms glowed deeply, and he could feel Ukami's resistance within. Talul prepared himself. The trap disintegrated in a bright explosion, and Ukami shone like a star above as he freed himself. Talul shot up, refusing to lose the moment. He aimed his spear at the bright heart of the terrible god. And as he flew he felt the years of hate, training and pain contract into that single moment. Die, motherfucker!  But the point of his spear stabbed only empty air.

Ukami had seen him at the last second and flashed away. Disappointment flickered in his heart, distracting Talul even as Ukami appeared behind. Talul turned, too slow, to face him. Ukami caught him with a truly godly right hook, charged with magic, lightning and rage.  Talul's head damn near separated from his body as he was flung like an arrow into the ocean, dropping like dead weight.

There was a ringing in his ears, in his head. The murky water faded and everything became white. Where was he? He felt like he was floating weightless within a cloud. It was quiet, it was calm, and so peaceful...Peace? Something was wrong. He had not earned that yet. He was seven immortal lives away from peace. Talul dragged himself back to reality to find the agony of his lungs filling with water and a skull that throbbed like it had been split. He used the winds he had stolen from Felaal to push the water out of his lungs and thrust himself out of the sea to face his enemy.

The pounding in Talul's head grew louder, blurring his vision. He coughed heavily where he floated in the air, but he was ready. Ukami did not take the bait.

"Those flames were once Vedra's. Compared to her's, your's are cold.", Ukami smiled, even though he was burned, "Talul, you are nothing but an abomination, a desperate and futile act of cowardice by the forge goddess. The Circle was here at the beginning of the world, and the Circle will be here when the sun last sets."

Perhaps it was his broken skull, but Talul found himself in a trancelike state. Or perhaps it was the finality of the god's words that snapped Talul into the moment of extreme clarity. So present in the moment that he could see everything at once. Talul, Last Son of An-Linel, on that fateful day a darkness had opened within him and he had claimed the hatred and curses of the people of his land. Vedra had been the catalyst to hand him the power of the gods. He was the Infidel. An angel of death born from the fires of vengeance.

"If you knew your scripture, Ukami" , Talul said hoarsely, "you would know that 'the great destiny of the world is always true and yet it is ever changing'. You fooled yourselves into thinking you would be what endures forever. When I killed the man meant to be Vedra's high priest, when she saw within my eyes a chance to seize destiny and took it by cutting her own throat. We have made a new future knocked aside the old path of the world . Your time is done"

Talul saw himself as clear as if he looked in the mirror. Yet it was far deeper than that, he saw the nature of his soul. The core of his Aspect. Around him dark energy flowed to form an avatar that sparked a fear in Ukami's eyes.  The pulsing magic wrapped around him in the shape of a hooded robe, and a translucent scythe covered his spear. His wings spanned jagged and wide

Talul felt a deep connection with Death, feeling like he held the sharpest weapon in existence.

"Mouth of the Void", Talul cast. There was a loud scratching as the spell attacked nature. Below them, the islands crumbled to nothing as a tear was ripped into the fabric of reality. The black hole consumed the land and attempted to drink the sea, creating a snarling whirlpool. The Void pulled on Ukami, fiercely trying to drag him to its depths. The god grunted as he remained afloat a few yards from Talul. Their eyes met, and Talul made sure all his hate, all of Vedra's fire for vengeance, and his every dark imagining was reflected in them.

Their standoff lasted several moments before the god made a choice. Ukami flashed brighter than a hot star, but the light failed to burn Talul's eyes. The god shot upward as a streak of lightning, pulling away from the gravity of the ravenous tear in the world. Just like for me, there's no going back home. Talul reached back and hurled the black pointed spear into the sky. The weapon left his hand with a massive shockwave. Another rift opened in the sky above, a passage between realms shining with gold rays. Ukami's bright light hurtled up. The spear trailed blood red fire as it raced Ukami to the gate. The god's light pulsed, surging forward at increasing speed. Just as the lightning bolt touched the clouds, the spear smashed into it with a heavy crash. A colossal sound like two mountains hurled against each other.

Ukami fell, and his light dimmed and dimmed until the silhouette of his impaled body marked him against the cloudy sky.

Talul flew to him. The god's blood spurted in the wind as he fell. When Talul caught him, the immortal was dying.

"Nothing will change ", Ukami laughed as the light left his eyes , "Azarazel sits upon his high throne"

Talul shook him, keeping the god's soul on this side for moments more. "Your power will help me cut him down from it" , Talul snarled as he ripped the gold beads from Ukami's shoulders, then yanked the spear out his chest. He dropped the lightning god's body and watched it be dragged into the roaring mouth of the void. He would be feasted upon by darkness in a realm beyond space and time. An eternal vengeance. Satisfied, the snarling void closed below. The world trembled as Ukami , Keeper of Holy Order, was cut from the stream of magic.

The gods would feel it wherever they sat on their gilded thrones. And so he raised his spear and followed it up with a roar of victory that would carry through the open gate above. His raw throated cry was a message that warned of a long night coming upon the age of the gods, and a new dawn rising for the age of man.

                                                 THREE THOUSAND YEARS LATER