delinquents

II - Mahdyessus

Nocturne swung his scythe through the air, bringing it down with a resounding crunch of broken wood. His inky black eyes glittered with fury as Mahd flicked his hand - just the tiniest flick - and the ground rumbled underneath him, then split. His wings unfolded at the last second, catching the wind, and he spiralled upwards. He flicked his scythe backwards and a moment later was holding twin sickles in his hands.

Swordshifter.

Lunae had barely escaped falling into the earth, only just shoving brilliant golden light out of her hands, stitching the crack in the ground back together. Mahd stepped forward, trying to enhance the damage done to the ground, only to be thrown back into the bushes behind him with a resounding crack of thunder. Pain shot through his body, and he stilled, gasping for breath.

The air around him was foggy with smoke - or was that just his vision? Mahd thought. He tried to move towards the panicked shouts of his allies, but agony lanced through his ribs, and he lay back down, taking shallow breaths. The ferns scratched against his back, and something moved near his ear, but he stayed put, whimpering in pain when he took a deep breath that rattled his broken ribs.

They need you, Mahdyessus, the voices whispered. Voices. Voices of the earth, whispers from the trees. They're falling.

Mahd was still making quiet noises of pain when he reached his hand up to his broken ribs and rubbed them - once, then twice. He almost cried out from the subsequent pain, but it was worth it, because when he rubbed them a third time, they didn't ache as badly. Mahd slowly rose and crept behind the ferns that shrouded him in leafy green darkness, and whispered back to them, "Thank you."

But of course, there was no reply. The voices only answered when he needed them. They wouldn't break their order just to whisper You're welcome. Or anything, really. They never actually spoke to him if he wasn't in the thick of battle.

Mahd slowly traced a symbol in the dirt, just a circle with four runes at each of the edges. He patted the center, and the lines he'd traced glowed with greenish light, illuminating his face and sending a jolt of energy through his body. He raised his hand and pivoted it towards Nocturne, who was hovering in the air, using his sickles to form projectiles of thick black smoke. The projectiles exploded when they hit the ground, sending shards of obsidian dancing through the air, shattering into smaller shards, then into dust, as they bounced along the hollow.

But of course, the anti-delinquents were safe. Lunae had pushed herself amongst them, encasing them in a shield of shifting golden light. As Mahd watched from above, a projectile pierced through the dome and dissolved into a small black heap of dust as it passed through the light.

Your little friends are falling, the voices whispered.

"I know," Mahd whispered back irritably, if only to himself. He wound up the emerald glow in his hands, like string, and began his descent into the clearing.

Myrror and Nishamera were already wounded, Mahdyessus saw - maybe more than he would have expected. Myrror's arm was slit, flinging red blood in an arc whenever she swung her arm back to slip an arrow into her nock. Nishamera was only nicked, a small patch of blood on the spot above her knee. Both of them ignored their wounds and continued to fight, and so Mahd was keen on doing the same.

However Utheus was unharmed. He swung out his twin hunting spears - Unostaes, he called them - and struck out with such ferocity that Mahd was worried the momentum might rip his arms off. Steel glinted in his glowing mulberry eyes, and only a moment later he twisted out of reach of a new projectile, swathing himself in darkness until it had turned to dust. He swung his hunting spears with lethal grace that could have only come from a trained delinquent.

But yet untrained, Mahd leaped into the clearing, slamming his fist into the ground. The green threads of earthcraft slithered from his grasp, sinking into the dusty sand. Boulders spawned in the air and slammed down on Nocturne and the dome Lunae was holding.

The dome, of course, withstood the impact. But Mahd could see Lunae visibly tense as dust began to rain down inside the dome, arms trembling to keep the dome up as it grew noticeably lighter in color. The anti-delinquents inside scurried into their sleeping tents, watching the chaos from afar.

Nocturne's eyes widened as the shadow of the boulder lapsed over him, and Mahd flicked his hand to the left, then down. Gravity snatched the rock out of his control and plummeted it downwards.

Little murderer, little delinquent, his voices screeched, and Mahd could almost see the helpless reflection of Nocturne's face in his own eyes.

Then the boulder collided with him, wings and all, and he was gone.

|| --- ||

But Mahd should've expected the worst.
Just a moment before Nocturne and the boulder hit the ground in front of him, a wave of inky black darkness pulsed over the ground, warping it like Mahd thought a sound wave would.

Utheus's eyes widened and he stretched out his arm, calling out the shadows of the night to his aid.

But he was too late.

His shadows covered Myrror and Nishamera, but Mahd was too far away.

He saw the shadows of Nocturne and Utheus collide, and then he was thrown backwards
straight into the fire.

Tongues of heat wrapped themselves around him, and his senses dulled, but the last thing he saw was

Utheus, his mulberry eyes pained, tears running down his dusty face.

"Mahd! Mahd, come back to me!"

Come home to us, little murderer, little delinquent.