Inverted Deck

Inverted Deck (Chapter 27)

ACT 1: THE GIRL SHROUDED IN RED AND THE BOY BATHED IN BLACK.

Chapter 27

I stare up a the barren gray sky veiled behind clouds, the tangy smell of rain fills my nostrils as I look up at the large, white, four winged Skyfish briskly swipe from one end of the sky to the other, flying freely, untethered by gravity, unbound by all of the travesties and gutters that us, so called, higher beings must crawl through, day to day here on the ground.

"Wouldn't it be great if I could fly as freely and unbound as those Skyfish up there, so close to the clouds they could touch them if they desired to." I think.

I'm suddenly drawn out of my trance looking upwards by oncoming vibrations I feel through the ground approaching closer and closer.

I drop my face back down to see my mother charging at me with a large wooden sword brimming with white Aether.

"You fool!! Never draw your attention away from the fight!!" My mother yells out as she swap her wooden sword to her left hand before back swiping the sword directly towards my neck.

I quickly react, lifting my own wooden sword above my head, holding it downwards to parry in just the nick of time.

"Parry." The voice in my head says.

I begin to attempt to lift her sword upwards with my own, but before I could finish putting all of my strength into the parry, she uses all the strength in her left arm to push me back through the mud with just the sword.

"To have that amount of strength in one arm-!" My thought is immediately interrupted, as my mother hurls a flurry of sword attacks at me.

"What-! What style of Sword is this!?" I ask watching each sword strike precisely with my Nexus.

It's diffrent from when I fought Voncent, the Light Aether radiating from his sword strikes were quick but so brazen and bright I could clearly see them, allowing me to predict his next area of attack, but my mother's... her attacks are not only quick but the Aether coming from her attacks are less bold and bright but more calculated yet unpredictable. I'm barely holding my own.

"It's called Dragon Dance." My mother says, while continuing to hurl attacks at me, noticeably running out of stamina. "A fighting style known to be broken into two parts, the first, sending a rush of overwhelming blows to catch your opponent off guard."

"While she's talking I'll catch her off guard when she runs out of stamina, and earn myself another point to take the win" I think.

"And the other-!" My mother quickly changes the trajectory of her last sword attack, swiping both of our swords upwards, leaving my body completely exposed.

"- utilizing every part of one's body as if it was it were a blade itself." My mother utters, staring into my eyes with her purple single ringed Nexus.

Before I can say a word, let alone react, I feel an impact against my chest, I look down to see her boot planted firmly into my chest. Moments after, a burst of Aether shoots down her leg to her boot, forming a ripple around it, launching me backwards through the air.

After a couple seconds pass, I slide through a large patch of grass behind me, my head a few inches from the roots of a small Sage Tree in our backyard.

I quickly jump up to find myself back on my knees, struggling to catch my breath.

*HUFF* *HUFF* *HUFF* *HUFF* *HUFF*

"Relax before you pass out... Draw: Divided Authority." My mother says to me while a sudden calm comes over me physically, my breathing has hastened, and my chest no longer hurts... but mentally... I'm anything but calm. My head burns with frustration, as my muscles tense up with anger, and that black Aether...the Shroud Scale, begins to slowly inch over my skin, before stopping just a little beyond the elbows of both of my arms.