Pillars of the Angels: Sword of Blood

3: Light

Demstri sat up, looking down at Jace and G’ensi. Somehow, the Shadow was absorbing the essence of the dead ones, and enlarging itself. Okay, she thought, test over. Dislectius! Nothing happened, and Demstri dropped down from the tree, landing softly. She cast the spell again, this time whispering it aloud. The Shadow turned towards her, and spoke.

“Nice try, Dark,” it said in an impossibly deep voice, “but I no longer serve you. I will gladly kill these two to help my master’s rise.” Demstri slinked back, afraid of her own summon. The Shadow laughed, and swung its sword in a deadly arc, heading directly for Jace and G’ensi.

Jace ducked below the sword, and rolled around the giant Shadow’s legs, effectively dodging the swing. G’ensi didn’t duck, but held out his molten metal hands, grabbing the Shadow’s blade. The  blade stopped cold, and the Shadow ripped it out of G’ensi’s hands. Jace utilized the opportunity to use an overhead slash on the Shadow’s sword. Bloodbiter flashed red, and completely sliced through the blade, making the sword essentially useless.

The Shadow roared, an unholy sound, and raised his fist to smash the ground. Jace dodged, and the Shadow’s fist smashed into the ground getting stuck within the half-mud trail. Jace ran up its arm, using the massive thing as a ramp, and for the heck of it, jumped up. At that exact moment, the Shadow ripped its fist out of the ground, launching Jace even higher. He placed Bloodbiter’s hilt under his feet, and as he fell, drove it into the Shadow’s head.

The Shadow screamed, and began to dissolve, the smoke spewing out around Bloodbiter. It fell to the ground, and Jace slid about 10 feet, hitting a tree. G’ensi ran up to the Shadow, and pulled out Bloodbiter. The smoke spewed out at a faster rate, almost a jet of darkness. It seemed to deflate, and just faded into nothing. G’ensi turned back to Jace, seemingly relaxed, holding Bloodbiter more easily.

“Jace,” he yelled, betraying his aura of calm, “what do you think you’re doing?! You could of easily broken Vialis! This is one of the worse things you’ve done!” Jace got up, shaking his head. Despite what it seemed, he didn’t hit the tree hard, and he was only slightly dazed. He looked at where the giant Shadow had been killed and smiled. It wasn’t every day Jace got to fight like that, completely out of style, into what G’ensi calls “haphazard.”

“Thanks for the care, G’ensi,” he replied, “I was just testing out those wards you put onto Bloodbiter. They worked, by the way.” He scratched his head, looking around. The sky had seemed to lighten, as if the Shadow actually somehow absorbed the ambient light. Jace filed that fact away, in case he ever fought one of those things again.

“Hmph,” G’ensi muttered, “as if. You’ve fought with that sword hundreds of times, you know its wards wouldn’t fail. And don’t call it Bloodbiter! It’s name is Vialis, a name worthy of such a weapon. This sword is unlike any other in the world, and fit for an Angel to use! Call it by its right name!” Jace smiled. He half continually called Vialis “Bloodbiter” because it annoyed  G’ensi, and his reactions were often times hilarious.

“Alright, magsmith, no need to get so angry. Vialis is fine, as you can perfectly see. Now, may I have it back?” Jace held out his hand, waiting. G’ensi sighed angrily, and placed the sword in Jace’s palm. Jace nodded, and walked over to where Snowbright had gone during the fight.

Demstri sighed, relaxing. The annoying knight had actually killed the giant Shadow, and with a move most would never be caught dead using. Whoever this Jace was, he must be incredibly experienced, and trained by the best Swordmasters in all of Belizen. That earned him more of Demstri’s respect. And the “magsmith,” G’ensi, now there was a surprise. In all of her study of magic, she had never seen someone use 3 of the magsmith’s abilities (able to find any metal in the ground, begin able to formed that metal at will, and melting it without a fire) together, creating a very viable fighting strategy. There were only a handful of fighters who could stand a facefull of molten copper, gold, and iron.

Who are these two travelers, she thought, looking at them. Although, I can now see why Master was so interested in them. They are some of the most able fighters in all of Belizen. Jace and G’ensi had some conversation, and G’ensi returned Jace’s sword. As he walked over to his horse, Demstri noticed something forming behind Jace. G’ensi didn’t see it, as he was returning the molten metal to the earth.

It was another Shadow...no, not another one, it was the first one. Somehow, it was reforming, which should be impossible for summons. The Shadow summoned its bow, with an arrow already knocked, and ready to be drawn back. It aimed at Jace, and demstri ran at it. The test is over! STOP! The Shadow acted as if it hadn’t heard her. Just as she was about to tackle the Shadow, a horrible pain hit her.

It felt like her abdomen was being ripped opened, and all the insides being replaced with melted rocks. She collapsed to the ground, tears coming out of her eyes, but the pain didn’t stop. Demstri let out an involuntary moan, and the Shadow turned, right as it shot. It went off somewhere, but Demstri didn’t care. She began to crawl away, and as she did so, the pain lessened.

Damn curse! Why must you constantly get in my way? Now...I can’t even save a single life. Curse you, Master. May you walk the rest of your days with the Unholy One! She began to sob in a ball, all confidence lost. Once again, Master had taken control over her life, forcing her to stand by and watch as two people were killed.

Jace jumped as the black arrow slammed into the tree right next to him, fully plunged into the wood. He spun around, looking for the assailant. He was shocked to see another shadow standing there, bow in hand. He squinted at it with anger.

“Not one of you again,” he said, running at the Shadow. “When will you learn you can’t triumph over Jace?!” As he ran, he saw in his peripheral vision two more shadows appear, armed with shields and swords. The one in front him had drawn another arrow, and just by the feeling of Bloodbiter, he could tell the end was near. Good bye, G’ensi. I wish you luck on your quest.

Demstri sat up, an idea forming in her mind. Shadows need light to form, but light can also dispel shadow. She couldn’t fight one of the shadows...but she could still summon light! Let’s hope this loophole works, she thought, and I can save these two. She didn’t take any risks this time, and stood up. She summoned magical energy, and prepared to cast a saving spell, hopefully.

“Illumatiu,” she shouted aloud, pointing at the trail, funneling not only magic, but her emotions into the spell.

“Illumatiu,” a voice shouted. Jace stopped running, and all the Shadows stopped advancing, searching for the source of the voice. Then, with a blinding flash, the trail became brighter than midday, causing Jace to instinctively cover his eyes. He heard the screams of Shadows, and when he opened his eyes, the light was fading, and all the Shadows were gone. He looked at G’ensi, who seemed just as dazed as he did.

“Nice job, G’ensi,” Jace said, walking over and helping G’ensi up. “how did you know that light would dissipate all the shadows beyond reforming?” G’ensi shook his head, and looked around. For the slightest second, he thought he saw a dark figure walking away from the trail, but he blinked, and it was gone.

“I didn’t,” he replied, the afterimage of the light still in his vision.

“Come on, no reason to be modest. It’s only me.”

“I’m not being modest. I didn’t cast that spell. I suck at light magic. The closest thing I could pull off to that would be nothing more than a giant inferno.”

“Sure.” G’ensi shook his head at Jace’s defiance, but didn’t protest any further. If Jace honestly believed something, there was almost no way to change his mind. Jace walked over to Snowbright, and patted him on his nose. He stored Bloodbiter in one of the saddle pouches, and mounted, talking to him.

“Thanks for staying calm, boy. It will pay off in the end. I feel we’ll be facing more of these things in the future.” With that, Snowbright began to walk, G’ensi down at his side. Jace refrained from making another joke, as this whole ordeal seemed to happen because of it. He was content with sitting, and thinking of the past, what just happened, and how this will change the future. Little did he know, a chain of events have been set in motion, and it cannot be stopped, and it included him as a central role.