Generations

Chapter 31: The Brightest Knight

Chapter 31: The Brightest Knight

Fear, worry, terror.

Those are the thoughts that would plague most warriors when they would go to fight a demon.

But for one young man, he felt no such emotions.

He only felt confidence, joy, and love.

Blessed with the power of the Most High, he saw that the power of demons was nothing to fear.

And knowing he’d never be alone, in victory or defeat, he fought, destroying those who would come against him.

…

Jason ran at the demon, the aura of light bounding all around him, and he leapt into the air, driving his sword down, the demon raising his arm to block it, but the blade carved into it, tearing through the creature’s flesh, a streak of black blood pouring out. The demon wasn’t beaten yet though, with a swift kick, he sent Jason flying back, but Jason regained control of himself and landed on his feet as he flew into a rock.

With a second to regain control, he took off again, firing off streak after streak of light, blanketing the land of darkness in a blinding brightness. The demon saw how overwhelmed he was, how Jason wouldn’t be easily bested by his physical strength, but he also saw how venerable Simon was, so went after the Nightwing instead.

In a flash of light, Jason was in front of Simon, blocking the fist with his sword. He then swung his weapon as the creature went back, and then he pounded his blade into the ground, unleashing a terrible shockwave of light towards him. The demon had nowhere to run as the light overtook him, throwing him to the ground and bathing him in holy light. The demon writhed in pain, contorting as the light burned him, his skin erupting in flames at such powerful contact. Though just as Jason thought he had won, the demon threw off the coat of light, and in pure anger, slammed the ground, dark energy flowing out all around. Jason saw that this would be easy to dodge, however as he leapt above the attack, he saw Simon couldn’t get away.

He flew back down, using his pulsing light to deflect the attack, although the power of the darkness still got through to Jason. The demon took this chance and ran at him, picking him up and slamming him into the ground, following it with several punches. Jason’s aura was unable to hold the attacks at bay fully, each one leaving him with more bruises and cuts, not to mention the strain that it put in his muscles.

Once he recovered from the initial shock, he raised his sword to block the attack, stabbing the demon’s fist. The creature’s scream of pain, swinging his hand and flinging the sword away.

Jason took off as quickly as he could after his sword, while the creature still screamed out in pain. With his weapon back in his hand, he charged at the demon, using the light to push his body as fast as he could. Jumping into the air, and then flying at his enemy, he rammed his blade into the demon’s back. The beast thrashed around wildly trying to get the weapon out, but his efforts were futile.

Jason jumped back several feet, and channeled his power into the sword, the weapon pushing as it absorbed more light, burying itself deeper. As it did so, the demon’s screams of pain became more desperate; it’s rock hard skin beginning to break off.

Jason smiled, as he knew victory was at hand. He let loose the last bit of light into the weapon, it finally going all the way in, and then exploding, the light consuming the demon. It was unable to hold its form in the midst of all the power flowing through it.

With that Jason let himself sit down, and he looked out and saw how this very world was coming undone. “You did it,” Simon said weakly, his life already considerably faded as it brought destruction to this place.

“No, we did it,” Jason said, letting the angel’s light fade from inside him, feeling his own power return even in it’s weakened state.

“You know, I was really looking forward to things going back to normal,” Simon said. “I guess this might be kind of better though.”

“How so?”

“Well, this way you’ll never forget what we went through.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Jason said, looking down, kicking a rock as it bounced away, fading into nothing.

“I mean, this type of adventure, it’s not like it just happens to anyone. Even though I’m dying, you’ll always have the memories of it, so it’s like I’ll always live inside of you. As a hero.” Simon smiled and Jason kind of understood.

He knew how Simon was normally just the quiet one, always just going along with whatever, and doing what needed to be done, even though he was rarely the best at anything. But now, he was a hero, and always would be, and Jason couldn’t have been prouder. He wished he could have made more memories, but life had a funny way of not allowing those gentle plans to stay intact.

“You’ll always be my hero, Simon.”

“Thank you. You better go soon though, this world won’t remain stable for long.”

Jason saw that indeed their time was up, but before he left, he leaned down and went to give Simon a hug, however he just passed through Simon’s body. “Huh?” he asked.

“This world is nearly dead,” Simon said. “the boundary between the living and the dead cannot be crossed by a simple touch.”

Instead Jason held out his hand, and Simon did the same, their hands going through each other. “I love you bro, I always will.” He couldn’t help but tearing up, but couldn’t dwell long on what he was losing as the world faded away, the darkness no longer omnipresent. And as he turned from Simon, he saw his brother glowing, the black light growing brighter, eradicating the darkness in every shadow, in a pure blending of light and dark. He had never seen anything quite like it, but through the tears that blurred his vision, he couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty in it.

“Love you too,” was the last thing Jason heard as he stepped back through the portal, to his world, to leave his life of adventures behind him, and to lose his best friend to the greatest sacrifice.

…

He emerged through the portal to see his family standing there, Justin, Brandon, Trey, Ashley, and Heather. They were all wounded to various degrees, some standing, and some sitting. He noticed Trey was lying on the ground; Justin holding his hands over the teen using what Jason could only guess was some type of healing magic. He saw the Nightwing corpses on the ground, at least a hundred.

“It’s over,” Justin said, the burden of war finally gone for good, seeing that the Nightwings were no longer a threat.

And as wounded and broken as their family might be; they would get through this. The war had taken much that could never be replaced, but even so, they were still a family; and after a trial like this, they knew that no matter what the world threw at them, their love would once again see them through.

The End

A/N: It’s over…I really don’t believe it. I first wrote this story back on 2011 for NaNoWriMo, and while there were things that needed fixed, I was proud of writing it. Posting it here I’ve gotten to re-experience the story along with you, some of the plot twists I had forgotten about.  I really hope that you’ve enjoyed this story as much as I have.

I want to thank Wyntirsno for editing this story back when I wrote it, staying up with me as I wrote the final few chapters at 3 in the morning. I also want to thank EHMforJESUS and animefreak017 for reading and commenting as I’ve posted this.

There may be an epilogue posted in a few weeks, showing what happened a few months down the road.