Welcome To My Dark Side

Chapter 25 Death Fills The Air

Luckily for Lyria and Fractureverse Kaia they had arrived safely in the Pillager Town after many days of traveling. At first they had received a rather hostile welcome until Fractureverse Kaia had managed to explain to the pillagers who exactly Lyria was. As soon as they had understood the mix up they took the pair to see their nominated mayor of the town. A couple of the  pillagers kindly showed them to the conference room inside the town hall, which just so happened to be the wooden mansion. The pillagers heaved the doors to the room open. They stood on either side of the doorway and motioned for them to go through.

When Lyria stepped into the room she saw a long table with a neat row of chairs on each side. A pillager occupied each chair and at the end of the table sat the mayor himself, Fractureverse Klaus. Upon seeing their guests, everyone stood up from their chairs including the mayor. "Ah Lady Kaia, what a pleasure it is seeing you again. We began to fear the worst since we had not heard from the Nether in a long time. Please tell us what news you bring but first may I offer you something to drink?" Fractureverse Klaus asked warmly. "Well perhaps not for me thank you but I'm sure Captain Lyria would like something." Replied Fractureverse Kaia, glancing back at Lyria. "Oh why yes of course you don't need anything." Fractureverse Klaus corrected himself. "Now um what can I get you Captain Ly..." he began before he caught glimpse of Lyria. An awkward silence fell upon the room. Before anyone jumped to the wrong conclusions Fractureverse Kaia quickly explained to the pillagers the problem and that Lyria was from another reality.

After what felt like forever, Fractureverse Kaia had finished clearing things up. "So that's what that troublesome girl has been up to. Honestly she had to mess around with the Mirror of Reversion! We've caught her meddling around here a number of times the last few months but we never figured out what she was doing. At least now we know. It's just unfortunate that this poor girl we have before us had to suffer as a result." Exclaimed Fractureverse Klaus. The pillagers murmured in agreement. "Captain Lyria..." he said as he turned to address her. "We'll do everything we can to assist you, for even we do not know the full extent of the consequences fiddling with reality could bring." Fractureverse Klaus explained. Suddenly the doors to the conference room flew open! A pillager ran into the room and shouted. "The Frostbourne are here! We're under attack..."

Within seconds the room descended into chaos with people rushing around left, right and center. It was obvious that the pillagers were completely unprepared for an attack. They had not anticipated the Frostbourne to attack for they were only a small and peaceful community with no advantage for the Frostbourne to gain in an attack, however they had clearly guessed wrong. The Fractureverse Frostbourne were not logical and instead chose to attack anything they interpreted as a threat rather than having a proper strategy. "Quickly go to the mirror. I trust you know where it is." Fractureverse Klaus said to Lyria with the upmost urgency. Lyria nodded her response and raced towards the room where it had all begun. "Lady Kaia please could you go with her and make sure she gets through safely." He asked. Fractureverse Kaia was about to argue with him but he held up his hand and stopped her. "Go! We can handle ourselves. Just make sure the girl's ok." He called to Fractureverse Kaia as he sprinted off to assist with the battle.

Lyria tore through the hallways. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She leapt up the staircase, taking two or three steps at a time. Fractureverse Kaia was right behind her, wiping out any Frostbourne soldiers who had managed to enter their way into the building and who were trying to force their way up the stairs. Her scythe was making quick work of the soldiers and thus she was able to catch up to Lyria. More soldiers awaited them as they turned the corner to climb up another set of stairs. The Frostbourne elytra soldiers had clearly forced an entry through the windows that aligned the staircases. At first they had assumed that Lyria was on their side and had foolishly let her dodge past as they had thought that Fractureverse Kaia was pursuing her. "I know you don't want to fight them. I'll take care of them. Just keep going." Called Fractureverse Kaia who was just a few steps below Lyria at this point. Realising their mistake, the elytra soldiers quickly turned on whom they thought was their captain.

Ducking and diving Lyria continued to scramble upstairs. Soldiers were falling at her feet thanks to Fractureverse Kaia. One of the soldiers had dropped his pistol and Lyria decided to scope it up as she tried to escape the chaos. Eventually she reached the top of the stairs along with Fractureverse Kaia. Together they ran to the room where the Mirror of Reversion was stored with Lyria leading the way. Lyria opened the door to the room and they both rushed in before barricading the door with a dusty old chest of drawers which happened to have been kept near the door. Lyria let out a sigh of relief as her eyes began scanning the room for the mirror when all of a sudden she heard a loud shattering of glass behind her. She spun round just in time to see a sword pierce through the front of Fractureverse Kaia's chest before she collapsed to the ground.

Instinctively, Lyria lifted up the pistol she was holding and fired the second she witnessed the sword stab Fractureverse Kaia. The gun went off with a bang and was followed by a scream! Lyria opened her eyes, which she was not aware she had shut until she heard the cry of pain. The blood drained from her face when she saw the now lifeless body of Fractureverse Azura. She let the gun drop out of her hand and clatter to the floor. A tear ran down her face and her throat felt dry. "I..I've killed her..." Lyria stuttered quietly in a state of shock. She tried telling herself that this was a different person to the Azura she knew however she could not help but feel as though she had shot her own mentor. Someone placed a hand on her shoulder. She froze. "You've done it! You've actually done it! I've been trying to kill her for years and yet you've done it just like that. Allow me to congratulate you for killing the Blue Angel and I must thank..." Fractureverse Kaia exclaimed in delight before she cut herself short seeing Lyria's distress.

Slowly Fractureverse Kaia lowered herself to Lyria's level and faced her. "I'm so sorry. It was a careless thing to say. I know you never wanted to kill your own even if they are not the same people." She said apologetically. "I know that she's not the same person but it's still hard." Lyria replied as she wiped away her tears. "Listen to me. Remember that these aren't your friends. They're waiting for you on the other side, so why don't you go through now." Fractureverse Kaia reminded her softly. Lyria brushed away her tears and looked up. "B..b...but what about you?" She asked as she saw Fractureverse Kaia gripping her chest with her right hand with her left arm still on Lyria's shoulder. "Hey don't worry about me. The pillagers seem to be winning and soon they'll call for reinforcements from the Nether. Then I'll be brought back by one of our necromancers." She explained. "This isn't the first time I've died, you know." She chuckled seeing that Lyria was rather doubtful.

Lyria laughed a little before she started worrying again. "But are you sure you guys will be alright? What if you lose..." Lyria began before Fractureverse Kaia hushed her. "Listen, we'll be alright. Thanks to you the Blue Angel is dead, their commander is in prison, your counterpart will be arrested by the pillagers once you send her through and many of their soldiers lay dead. The Frostbourne's tyrannical reign is over and soon victory is to come for us. Peace will soon fall upon our reality once more." The dying skeleton announced as she guided Lyria over to where the mirror was. "I have one last thing to give you before you go." She said. "I want you to have this." She explained handing Lyria her nether star. "I...I can't take this!" Lyria protested. "Please, I want you to have it." Fractureverse Kaia replied, holding out the star. "But it's yours!" Lyria pointed out. "It's not much use to me dead." She laughed causing Lyria to giggle.

"Well I suppose so." Lyria sighed eventually. "Listen it's much more useful to you than it is to me and besides it's probably the most valuable thing in this town. I don't want it to fall into the hands of the Frostbourne should they make it into this room. Hopefully they won't but still it's best if they don't see the star, you or that mirror. It'll be best if all they find is the dead bodies of the Blue and Red Angels lying dead on the floor. Let them think that we just killed each other. That'll be an exciting enough find for them. Two archenemies lying side by side dead." Fractureverse Kaia said before winking at Lyria. It saddened Lyria to leave her new friend like this but she did take the nether star and stored it in one of the the inside pockets of her jacket. "Thank you for everything." Lyria said quietly as she faced the mirror. Before she stepped through she looked behind and saw Fractureverse Kaia standing there still clutching her chest with her right hand, clearly in too much pain to speak, however she did manage to wave goodbye as Lyria waved back as she walked through the mirror. This would be the last thing she ever saw of the Fractureverse.