Resurrection {NaNoWriMo}

Chapter 21

Alias watched the earth fracture across the surface in the same hauntingly familiar fashion it had when humanity had ceased to be, because whatever his people had become, they were far from human. He knew it as he felt his magyk swirl inside him, tumble and bunch in preparation as he saw the gaps widen, saw the dark masses rising out of it. The monsters from hell streamed out into the dark, desolate world. Some immediately moved passed them, stretching to other locations where they had another purpose to serve out, but a great number remained, kept building and building as they grew surrounded.

The earth shook and shuddered under their force, yet he did not tremble, nor did Acacia. They held each others' hands as they solemnly watched the foreboding creatures arrive, noted the tentacles and the snake heads and the spears and the fangs the protruded out of a great majority of them. Some were recognizable to him as they shared common characteristics with the Masters he had encountered, held the same evil sneer and famished look in their eyes – the ones that had eyes and mouths.

Dark magyk swarmed around them, threatened to latch on and poison them, but Acacia's light was strong and steady, never wavering as she called on something deep and divine within her that outmatched these creatures' abilities. In the shadows that surrounded them, struggled to engulf them, her light prevailed and kept them in a small but warm bubble, but it would burst at any moment. Her efforts would have to be concentrated on the battle that stood before them.

She turned her head from the beasts to meet his eyes, and their gazes interlocked. They stared at each other for a brief, fleeting moment before she nodded her head to him once and then looked back out at the Masters. Ready?

He met her eyes once more and returned the nod. Ready.

They took a step forward, outside of their bright veil of protection, and into the dark and terrifying world. The monsters rumbled and roared beyond them, came soaring at them, and this time they did not have a chance to fight them two on one, it was each one of them fending for themselves, their efforts having to be spread.

She cried out as she launched herself at one that was triple the size of her with spikes protruding out of its body. She hurtled herself as a tumbling ball of fire at it. He could only note her brilliance for a beat as his first foe was upon him, leaping out at him.

Their power was of the same sinister force. He found himself evenly matched with the creature that terrifyingly resembled Beast, with its snake heads and fangs for limbs that lashed out at him, attempted to poison and murder him once more. But Alias was quick and swift. His body soared through the air as he perched himself on top of the beast, held his rune blade in two bands, and jabbed it straight down into the creature's neck, knowing it was a fatal blow for most. The creature shrieked and flailed, fanged heads lurching out to bite him, but he was fast, slicing them off one by one in a quick succession before launching himself off of the beast.

Two more lurched at him at once, one with the head of a lion but the body of snake, hissing with its long jagged teeth bared. The second was gruesome, horns jutting out of the sides of its black head and pits for eyes yet no mouth, with a grey shroud of mist covering its tentacles. He curled his lips in disgust at their ghastly appearances, and as they both hurtled at him, he was hasty to dodge the tentacles that reached out to grip him, slicing them and reveling in the creatures' shriek as they went to retract, and jumping when the lion head neared him. Black blood burst from the open limbs of the tentacle-monster, splattered down the front of his neck and shirt as he approached it, twisting its head back to stab it in the eye as it continued to wail in pain at its gaping wounds. Its excretes seared his skin, and he hissed through grit teeth as he drove home the final blow; felt satisfaction as it fell to the ground in a burst of dark energy.