Rift Duology #2: Rift of Shadow

Chapter 14: Into the Air

-Jayden's POV-

After the blast, Cassiopeia appeared from the Hellfire.
Keros was nowhere to be seen, and the staff and fragments were also gone.

"This is what the mortal world is now?" a voice spoke.
It was Cassiopeia, and he sounded disappointed.
"All dark and gloomy? Not too different from the depths of the Abyss."

"What are we going to do?! The three of us alone aren't enough to even stop those demigods, let alone Cassiopeia!" Owen said.

"We have to just run away. Right now, it's the only thing we can do without having a 100% chance of dying." Nyctos replied.

"We can't just run! We have to fight back. If we don't stop him- who knows what he'll do." I said and turned back to Cassiopeia. He just seemed curious on everything, but I'm sure it was just a distraction.
He was holding a sword, with black metal and a glowing red solid at the edges of the blade.

The Blade of Bane, one of Cassiopeia's 3 main weapons, much like the Chromarian ones.
Then, he turned to us and stared.
"Demigods. And you 3 are here to stop me?" He asked.

"Yeah, we are! You're in a weakened state, aren't you? That's why you aren't destroying everything you see right now!" I yelled back.

"Even in a weakened state, I could still destroy anything I want in an instant.
I just haven't because there's nothing here worth wasting my energy on." He replied, and lifted his sword.
"But, if you insist."

The sword shot a beam of light at us, and we quickly dodged it. The light beam was actually a transparent laser, and it melted a huge hole on the skyscraper we were on.

"Oh, yeah we're dead." Owen said.

"Don't say that, Owen! We can do this. We can use the Arc, and maybe the Chroma Shards?" Nyctos proposed.

"It's our best bet right now." I said

In the distance, large cracks split in the ground. Lava spewed from them in tall fountains, and collected into a huge glob of glowing heat. The rain around it seemed to immediately evaporate, but some sizzled on the lava.

"Oh great, what now?" Nyctos said.
"We don't even have the Shards on us, let alone the Arc."

Below on the streets, I saw Xavier, holding a large axe.
He was facing the army of demigods and looked like he was waiting for them to attack.
I didn't tell the others he was there.
Their hopes might go too high, and just won't be good.

"We'll be fine, okay? Let's just focus on him." I pointed to Cassiopeia.

"And how to you plan on defeating me, demigods? With what weapons? What power?" He said and the colorless fragments rose.
They were gray and white, which I assumed meant they were powerless now.
Cassiopeia focused and the fragments turned a shade of red and glowed.
Far below us, a battle broke out, but I was too focused on the fragments.

"Did he- did he just reactivate them?!" Owen yelled.

"Yes, I did. For Keros, when he returns." Cassiopeia responded, and the lava ball started taking the form of a humanoid being. A titan.
Memories flooded my head, and I remembered something.
Our defeat was already prophecized..
"Titan's Hand shall Slay the Land"..

The lava giant swung its hand in the direction of the skyscraper we were on, and we were sent flying towards the dark, stormy clouds.

-Xavier's POV-

Above me, a large glob of lava started to accumulate. Instead of focusing on the reborn god, I decided to focus on the army ahead of me.
Their eyes had an eerie red glow, and their irises were purple.

When the fragments high above me started to glow again, the demigods' eyes flickered to all black with red pupils and they charged towards me.
Jayus swung her Elysian Silver sword and I dodged just at the right time.
The swing had a red afterglow, and she snapped her head towards me.

"Jayus, snap out of it- it's me, Xavier! Just, calm down-"

Before I could run away, Albus lunged at me and threw me into a short metal fence.
It was a few feet away from a huge drop down- Arche's Rift, an extremely tall cliff that holds many caves inside.

"Albus! We're friends! C'mon, snap out of it, please!" I didn't care if I sounded desperate. I was, and I needed a distraction to leave.

The rest of the army stood several feet away from Jayus and Albus, and just stared.

A shadow was cast on his face and his eyes glowed a bit brighter.
He lunged again, and swung with scythe. The slice didn't hit me- but unfortunately, the blast of icy wind did.