The Quiet Ever After

A Lawn of Grass and Leaves - 1

It wasn't the flash of lightning, the thunderous boom, nor the front door blowing in and careening through the living room that got Axel out of bed. Those just woke him up in a fit of slight annoyance. It was the off-glance out the window, where he spotted the burning patch of grass out front, that had him soaring downstairs.

"What?" Nina, his wife, uttered when he was out the door.

He landed with a thud at the base of the stairs, then cut across the house toward the front door. A ghastly figure waited for him next to the embering fireplace in the family room. The mantel was left alone but there was a notable emptiness between it and the TV, where the mythic Sword of Kureon was meant to be. The light of the small fire outside mixed with the moonlight, casting Axel and the vagabond in thick shadow.

"What have you done?" Axel asked, his voice still low from sleep.

The figure raised the blade, catching the glint of their fiery arrival on the shiny blade. Axel couldn't see its face but a familiar sense washed over him. And when they spoke, it confirmed this vagrant's identity.

Great.

"The impossible," said Sarzo, a Phantom of the Starlit Plane. "I've done what my allies have always been afraid of. I have taken the Sword of Kureon, the blade that slew the Devil and quelled Queen Titania! Now it is mine to at last take our revenge!"

His voice was that of sandpaper slowly churning against a bit of hardened clay. It bore the lunacy of an obsessed creature. Axel had to give him credit for not losing composure—at least he was holding the blade with the respect it deserved. It'd taken quite a bit of time, and considerable amounts of magic, to get that thing forged right.

"No mightier weapon in all creation is there! No foe it cannot slay! And you, little fool, have left it wide open for me!"

Anxiety brewed in Axel. He bounced on the balls of his feet, chancing another look outside. Was the fire spreading? No. No!

"Alright, enough of this," Axel muttered and fell into an old stance. For a split second, his muscles responded in confusion--they hadn't done this in a while. But once that instantaneous moment passed, an unnerving calm overcame Axel. One that he wished he didn't need to have anymore.

"Indeed. You thought the war was over. You rested for too long and allowed peace to weaken you while I sharpened my mind for this one victorious moment!"

The Phantom lunged. Axel did the same, and in a fluid movement, disarmed Sarzo with a flick of his wrist.

"Huh?" Sarzo peeped before Axel blasted him square in the chest with magic, smashing the Phantom into the street outside through the already-open door.

Before he could brace to his elbows, Axel was on him, eyes ablaze with golden light. Sarzo didn't make another sound as Axel swung his arm, another spell catching Sarzo in a net, and flung him away, sending him hurtling into the next great source of magic.

The heat of the moment, lasting no more than a second or two, passed.

"Oh, wait," Axel muttered. The next great source of magic was...yup, that was probably his sister. Something warm nudged his back.

No time to call her! She'd deal with Sarzo probably better than Axel could.

He spun on his heels, and with another swing of his arm, a spell of great wind quenched the flames dancing atop the once-perfect green grass.

His heart dropped as he inspected the lawn. A brown patch stared back at him, with blotches of its presence staining other nearby parts of the turf. Sarzo's unnecessarily cantankerous arrival did minimal damage outside of that area, but it was right there at the front of the house, obvious for anyone to see.