Generations

Chapter 28: To Pierce the Night

Chapter 28: To Pierce the Night

Brandon recognized this place all too well, the place he last found his daughter, the strange area filled with the scars on the ground, the chains that once bound Ashley, and just a few splotches of blood, some he had to guess were fresh.

But no sign of the kids anywhere.

“Where are they?” he shouted, but only got his own echo back, mocking him.

“You obviously weren’t here for long before,” Justin said as he walked across the seemingly dead end, to a wall and gently placed his hand upon it. “You are forgetting that the one Nightwing is skilled in the art of illusion.” With a gentle blast of light, the wall faded into nothing, the fragments that should have littered the ground from the attack not even there.

Brandon looked down, seeing how short sited he had been. When he came here before, it was simply to break into the place and grab Ashley, not take the grand tour.

Justin took the leading walking down the corridor, the golden walls slowly growing a tint of red, a tremendous magic force in front of them, one that as they grew closer made it hard to even breath, the mere pressure nearly crushing them.

“What is this?” Heather asked through a slight cough.

“The portal to Hades, the realm of the Nightwings,” Justin answered his eyes set forward, several black wings telling him to get ready for battle.

“But wasn’t Hades in Greek mythology?”

“Myths have a habit of pulling pieces from reality,” he explained before stepping forward, waiting for the Nightwings to make their move. Surely they’d strike first, take the chance to wipe out the enemy first, and Justin would be there to take the attack, to show them the power he had, that not even the mightiest of Nightwings could stand against.

Jason stood beside his grandpa, letting the light fully take him, bringing forth every ounce of power he could, his determination boundless, his will unbreakable. There was no running, no one to come out of nowhere to save him, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He saw his sister come up beside him, floating just a few inches off the ground, just enough so that she was taller than him and he knew once again what he was fighting for. His family, both those that still needed him and those he would avenge.

“So, my brother and his kin have decided to join me for this glorious occasion,” Zack said, his sword and axe forming in his hands, sparks of lightning racing out among them as he pointed the blade at Justin.

“Your outnumbered this time Zack; there is no way for you to win.”

“Really bro, and when has that ever stopped me. Outnumbered, outmatched, in over his head, come on, how many times have I proven you wrong before? You should know by now that saying something is impossible only makes me try harder.”

“Then let’s end this, once and for all,” Justin said, thoughts of their companionship brought back to the forefront of his mind, and he wondered if there was anyway to bring back his one time best friend. Though he knew the futility of such a desire, he’d have to fight with everything he had, put an end to the Nightwings, no matter who they once were.

“Aaron, Greg, remember, there is no second chance here, we either win, or die. Now, let’s end this!” Zack burst through the air sparks of lightning racing along this body. Justin ran to meet him, lines of red flames all along body mirroring Zack. Justin unleashed those flames as Zack charged at him. However, the Nightwing swung his weapons forward, his lightning clashing against the fire, sparks shooting out all around them, the others standing back, careful not to get too close.

Justin kept running toward Zack, fire still dancing around him, and he sent a powerful stream at his foe, but Zack was quick to dodge it, moving in an instant, getting behind Justin before knocking him down with a powerful kick. However, as he did so Jason took the opening, and hit Zack with the most powerful concentration of light energy he had ever mustered, all his anger poured out through the beam, sending Zack flying to the ground, his face skidding along the floor. Flames raced along the room from Greg but Brandon stepped in front of the attack, holding his hands out, distorting the space in front of him, causing the fire to pass harmlessly overhead. Trey then charged forward, pushing himself faster and faster, till he become little more than a blur as he slammed his fist into Greg’s stomach, and then jumped into the air, turning, and delivering a mighty kick to Greg’s face slamming him into the nearest wall. Several Xyscons flew at them, but Heather was ready, latching onto them with her mind and slamming them to the ground while Trey saw the source of this, Aaron, who had stayed toward the back, his leg still wounded from the battle with Ashley. However, he couldn’t hide from the teen who ran at him, clobbering him with a punch to the head, which sent the Nightwing to the ground.

Aaron tried rolling to get away, but he didn’t get far before Trey put his foot down on his chest, knocking the air out of Aaron.

The room began shaking, Zack and Greg both getting back up, still plenty of fight left in them despite their injuries. “It’s too late.” Zack said before charging his weapons with lightning and flying at Jason, who tried blocking it with an aura of light, but he felt the weapons slice through it. Though before it could slice his skin, Zack was blown back, and Jason turned to see Justin standing beside him.

“Be careful. You’ve gotten stronger, but he’s had years of experience over you,” Justin said and Jason knew his grandpa was right. There was no way he could go against Zack directly, no matter how much he wanted to be the one to pound the life out of him.

“Let’s take him down together then,” Jason said, not willing to just run though.  He saw Brandon, Trey, and Heather fighting the other two Nightwings, and they seemed to be doing fine.

Zack came at them, sending out a wave of darkness which clouded their vision for a moment, but as he did so, Justin illuminated the area with a light that drove away every shadow. Zack still came though, his weapons glowing with a mix of black and yellow, and he swung them down at Justin who raised a blast of fire to counter it. However, Justin’s attack missed completely, and instead Zack appeared right behind him. With a slash too quick to block, Zack cut across his brother’s back, blood gashing out from the wound as Justin stumbled forward trying to maintain balance amongst the pain. He turned, trying to blast Zack with a stream of fire, but once more Zack vanished. Justin knew Zack’s plan, keep dodging and then in the seconds following when he was left open, strike.

And there was nothing he could do to counter such speed.

However, as he turned to try deflecting the coming attack, he heard the sound of steel clashing against steel, Brandon matching each one of Zack’s strikes.

Justin saw Jason ready to join the attacks too, but knew how much of a disadvantage the teen would be against someone like Zack. He had nearly died from that battle earlier, and he couldn’t risk exposing someone so young to such an opponent. “Jason, stand back, let us handle this,” he said, hating to crush the kid’s desire for revenge, but he’d rather have an annoyed grandson than a dead one.

The room began shaking worse, the very air feeling to break apart. Jason opened his mouth to protest, but Justin wouldn’t give him the chance.

“Go further down, get Simon out of there, before it’s too late.”

With that Jason ran down through the room, dodging Aaron’s Xyscons and even reducing a few of them to dust with well-placed punches. As he reached the end though, Aaron stood there, drawing out a sword of magic that he swung at Jason. He blocked it with a blast of light, finding that this attack wasn’t nearly as powerful as Zack’s. Aaron tried jumping back, to get some distance so he could bring forth more creatures, but didn’t get the chance. Jason ran at him, light flowing out from all around him. Jason then rammed into Aaron with his shoulder, letting his aura keep going, crushing the Nightwing before continuing down through the room heart of this place, the distortion growing stronger. As he entered it, he looked within and saw a combination of blue and black lights shining back and forth, and once his eyes adjusted to the near darkness, he saw his brother and cousin, unconscious and somehow chained to the sides of the portal.