The Paragons

Chapter 57: Always With You

Everyone ran towards the ring of pink rose petals and searched around frantically for any trace of The Viper or Malcorchus, but the two of them were nowhere to be found.

Dean, Amy, Jaden, Adriana, and Diamond also convinced the FBI agents to release them from the van so they could check around, too. 

"Wh.....what happened? Where'd she go?!" Dean cried. 

Walter frowned gravely. "She took Malcorchus away.....she saved all of us.....I hypothesized that she had gained that power upon being revived with the Control Pylon, but.....I wasn't expecting her to need to use it....." 

"Oh, Viper....." Clara lamented, her voice breaking. 

Duncan plucked one of the falling petals from the air, and with tears in his eyes, he stumbled backward, with The Crawler having to catch him. Soon, he broke down. 

"Did she kill herself just to stop him?!" the reptile exclaimed. 

Powerhouse shrugged. "Technically, she's still alive, she's just not on this plane of existence anymore." 

".....That's called 'dying'." 

Jaden lowered her head, with Adriana and Diamond at her side. "She saved us.....but.....who's going to save her?" 

Come on, Viper.....fight! Amy pleaded. 

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The Viper and Malcorchus soon rematerialized on a large, broken chunk of earth that appeared to be floating in a desolate void splashed with various shades of ethereal, bluish-purple colors, accompanied by currents of concentrated energy which occasionally streaked every which way. 

Although they both started out unresponsive, The Viper was the first to come to, while still positioned on top of the king. 

Whoa..... the heroine thought to herself as she examined her surroundings. It worked! It actually worked! 

Just then, Malcorchus began to stir as well. 

"Get off me, you.....!" he complained, flinging himself to his feet, knocking The Viper off of him, reclaiming his staff, and taking a look around. "Where are we?!" 

The Viper stood up, dusted herself off, then folded her arms. "Don't you recognize this place? Look closer." 

Malcorchus scanned their new environment, and everything suddenly came rushing back to him. Numerous other shattered chunks of land were floating in an open, airy landscape, the only semblances of solid ground for miles around. Among them, the king noticed several decrepit buildings; the remains of his city and the Soothsayer's shack, to name a few. 

No.....it.....it can't be..... he muttered internally, still in denial. 

But what ultimately convinced him was the sight of his now-obliterated palace---which had both been attacked by Duncan and the others and completely destroyed by the portal gateway's collapse---floating past them, its once-glorious stained glass windows shattered, its paint chipped, chunks of its structure having been torn out, and half of the building having been reduced to an unrecognizable pile of debris. 

"The remains of the Shimmering Plane....." Malcorchus answered, his voice trembling. 

The Viper grinned. "Precisely." 

"So.....that was your plan? To bring me back to everything I've lost? To completely shatter me so you could have the advantage?" 

"I took you away so you couldn't hurt anyone else. Here.....we can take care of things without you harming others. And you really can't blame me for this.....I tried to finish this back on Earth."