Chosen by the Sky

Prologue - His Greatest Enemy

My footsteps pounded on the stone floor of the base, growing faster and faster.  The cuts along my arms and torso should have ached, but something, probably adrenaline, was numbing out the pain.  I couldn't even feel the searing heat of the lava all around me.  My only thought, my only goal was to find Void Steve.

Finally, I spotted him, a glimpse of shimmering color amidst the black.  My grip tightened on the hilt of the shadow sword, and a flurry of dark particles danced along its blade.  I wouldn't let him escape.  Not this time.  I would kill him, or die trying.

Hovering nearby, Shadow chuckled at my murderous expression.  I ignored him.  No matter what he liked to pretend, we were not friends.  We were nothing alike.  I would use the darkness for this fight, sure, but this sword wouldn't last for much longer beyond that.  One last battle, and this would all be over.

Void Steve turned, and we locked eyes.  Around me, the world seemed to turn still.  I lowered into a fighting stance, my eyes never leaving his.

"Aww, Sabre, you really want to fight me?" he mocked.  From within his inventory, he withdrew a weapon of his own: a wicked-looking scythe.

"I could say the same thing."  I snarl back.  "Especially since I just killed one of your followers."  Void's expression flickered, his eyes darting down to my hands.  Traces of Soul's dark blue blood glinted in the lava light.  The cloaked steve's face went a few shades paler, even as he forced a confident smile.

"No matter.  It'll only make it that much easier to destroy you."

"We'll see about that."  Without wasting another moment, I sprang into action, shadow sword whirling in an arc of dark metal.  I swung toward his torso, but the scythe intercepted, making a horrible scraping noise that echoed around the room.

"Is that the best you can do?"  He sneered, twisting his weapon in an attempt to disarm me.  I was too fast.  In another moment, I ducked, narrowly avoiding decapitation, and struck to the side, leaving a long bloody cut on Void's shoulder.  His blue blood was iridescent in the light, reflecting back rainbows.

As we spun to face each other again, I saw the pain and fury in his eyes.  Good.

Our blades clanged together again, the din increasing as I swung faster and faster.

Slowly, Void began to falter.  I was almost there.  Almost-

I shrieked in pain as a bolt of lightning knocked me off my feet.  Blinding light blared in my vision, and the shadow sword clattered to the ground.  Still overcome with the burning sensation, I grasped for the handle of the sword.  I had to keep fighting.

Just as I gripped the hilt, however, a heavy boot came down on my wrist, pinning it to the floor.  Moments later, something cold and sharp pressed against my throat.

My eyes darted up to the shadowed face of Void Steve, whose smile was visible even beneath the hood.  The expression on my face hardened into defiance.  I refused to let him see my fear.  Not now, not ever.

"Nice try, Sabre."  His head tilted to the side, still mocking me.  "Did you forget that I have more power than you could imagine?  At the end of the day-"  his foot moved off my wrist, kicking the shadow sword out of my reach. "-you're powerless without my help."

I gritted my teeth, wondering if I could kick him in the gut before he killed me.  I couldn't see a way out of this.  Light was still fighting off the darkness with his Elites, and nobody else knew where I was.  The shadow sword was gone, and Shadow himself wasn't very helpful.

I had nothing- no one- to help me.

A force ripped through the room like a hurricane.  A powerful gust of wind tore at everything in the room, flinging it around.  Things started to smash into debris as they hit the walls.  Void's eyes darted around, wide with fear.  The clasp of his cloak gave out in seconds, and the dark fabric was gone.  Without the shadows to block his face he looked... oddly small.