Omnipotent

Chapter 14

Lars was sprawled out on his bed, a bandage wrapped around his head. He looked at the ceiling of the barracks, and blinked a few times before sighing.
"Main Intelligence Unit..." he said to himself, "The way he appointed me was kind of...abrupt, but at least it happened." He closed his eyes and smiled.
"Now I'm more than just a soldier..." he said.
"Whatcha mumblin' about?" A soft and squeaky voice broke out beside him, surprising him and making him fall off his bed.
"Heidi!" Lars exclaimed, "You scared the daylights out of me!"
Sure enough, there stood Heidi, smiling brightly. Her pink eyes and hair shone in the light.
"Whoops!" She said, "Sorry about that!" Heidi was one of those people who had way too much energy packed into a small little body. She talked A LOT.
Lars got up off of the ground, rubbing his back.
"So," She said, "What were you mumblin' about?"
Lars sighed. "It's none of your business, Heidi. I was just talking to myself."
"Oh," She said, then smiled. She sat next to him on his bed.
"Heidi?" Lars said suddenly.
"Yeah?" Heidi said.
"Have you ever wondered what we're really fighting for?" The Black Fist officials had never told them what they were fighting for, they only promised food, water, and shelter to fight for their cause. Lars has wondered what this cause is since day one, and he was determined to find an answer now that he was of a higher rank.
"Hm," Heidi thought to herself for a little bit, "Nope!"
Lars smacked his forehead. "Seriously?"
"Why would I ever wonder about that?" She said, "I'm not starving on the streets because of the Black Fist, and I'll fight for whatever cause to keep that."
Lars nodded. He had thought about that in the beginning, but he was still very skeptical about what he was fighting for. He wished for an answer.
"I just wish there was some way we could find out..." Lars said, "Just to know what I'm getting myself into. Why are we fighting the resistance? Why are we fighting to take over? What's the point?"
Heidi put a hand on Lars's shoulder.
"Lars. You've been asking all these questions since we were kids. Just face the fact that we need to fight in order to survive. That's the only way we'll get food and water and shelter. This is our life now. We just have to face that fact."
Lars looked down at his hands, which were folded in his lap.
"I'm going to the firing range," Heidi said, "You wanna come?"
Lars nodded. "Sure," he said.

Lars opened the doors to the throne room, where Vergil was seated.
"What is it, Lars?" Vergil said coldly.
Lars sighed.
"I just have a question," Lars said, "It's not very complicated, I just thought I'd ask you since you are our leader and most likely have the most extensive knowledge on the subject."
Vergil lifted an eyebrow. "Say that in English?"
"You probably know the most about what I'm going to ask you."
"Oh," Vergil waved a hand at him, "Speak."
"Well," Lars said, scratching the back of his neck, "My question is...What are we fighting for exactly?"
Vergil's expression changed from one of relaxation to one of seriousness.
"I was wondering when somebody would ask that question..." Vergil stood up from his chair.
"Follow me, Lars. There is something that I must show you."
Lars nodded, and started to follow Vergil. How secret could this be for the leader to be worried about somebody hearing him?
Vergil put his hand on one of the panels on the wall. It glowed a bright red, then faded. The panel had disappeared, leaving a lever in its place. Vergil pulled the lever, and the wall next to him suddenly creaked, then swung open.
"Come," Vergil said, beckoning Lars to follow him.
"Yes, sir," he said, following Vergil.
When Lars passed the threshold separating the room they were just in from the hallway behind the wall, the wall swung back closed, leaving the whole room pitch black.
Suddenly, torches started to light, revealing a long hallway.
"Whoa..." Lars said. There were tons of markings and inscriptions engraved onto the walls, almost as if it was showing a story of some kind.
This wasn't just any old hallway.
This was a cave.
Vergil walked further into the cave, with Lars following behind him. He was in absolute awe. What was this place?
"This," Vergil said, almost as if he read his mind, "Isn't any normal cave, Lars."
Lars nodded his head.
"I can see that. But what's so important about it?"
Vergil chuckled.
"You'll see soon enough..."
As they walked further into the cave, Lars slowly started to feel...different. Like there was some kind of weight on his shoulders that he couldn't shake off. Like something, or someone, was watching them.
Someone evil.
They came to an opening at the end of the cave, and when they did, the feeling that Lars had been experiencing had drastically increased.
"My lord," Lars said, "I don't feel very well."
"Don't worry," Vergil said, "You'll get used to the feeling soon enough."
Does that mean he's experiencing that feeling too? Lars thought.
As they passed the opening, Lars began to hear whispers. They were in a language that he couldn't understand, and they grew louder as he walked more.
There was a warm red glow coming from another opening, and as Lars And Vergil drew near, the whispers grew into audible words, and then to yells and screams.
Lars covered his ears and cringed, while Vergil continued to walk as if nothing was happening.
Lars walked behind Vergil, and when they came past the second opening, Lars's eyes grew wide, but not with surprise.
With fear.
They had come to a small domed clearing in the cave. Steps led down from the opening to a large alter, which had a circle of some kind of pictographic or symbolic language craved around it. From the middle of the altar, a plume of blood red fire mixed with black, and the screams that he heard before were centered from them. The flames grew higher as Vergil stepped closer, hitting the ceiling and spreading throughout the whole clearing.
Lars stepped back, clearly afraid. He hid behind the opening, peeking through.
Vergil stepped forward and put his hand on the altar. The flames flared, and the screams dimmed down to whispers again.
Suddenly, a voice broke out.
"Vergil..." The voice said, "Welcome back, my child...."
The voice was deep and masculine, and almost a kind of growl to it, like a wild animal. The voice made Lars even more scared than he already was.
"I am sorry I haven't visited you in a while, Lord Zannos," he said, "I've been held up because of some...important matters I had to attend to."
"I see..." Lars couldn't pinpoint the source of the voice. It just seemed to be coming from everywhere yet nowhere all at once.
"How far along are you in the process of my resurrection..?" The voice said.
"That is what I have come to tell you, actually..."
"What do you mean..."
"Cenn Carter is still alive. I believe that Kaidon has something to do with it."
"Kaidon..." The voice seemed angry, "Always getting in the way of my plans...But it can't be helped...She rules over Restoration after all..."
Lars was extremely confused. Kaidon? Zannos? Those were the names of the Goddess of Restoration and the God of Destruction! Why would they be mentioned here? Unless...
"I brought the person who saw him with me," Vergil said, "Would you like me to bring him out?"
Lars cowered back.
"I have already seen the boy..." The voice said, "He cowers behind the opening to my shrine... You may send him in..."
Vergil looked back to the opening.
"It's okay Lars. You may come out."
Lars slowly came out of his hiding spot, stepping next to Vergil.
"What is going on?" Lars said, clearly afraid.
"Lars," Vergil said, "Say hello to the God of Destruction himself."
Lars looked at the flames bursting out of the altar. This was Zannos? He didn't look like much.
"Hello, child..." Zannos said, "It is always a pleasure to meet my representative's associates..."
"Representative?" Lars said.
Vergil put a hand on Lars's shoulder.
"You know that I have a Stage Five Omnishard, right?"
"Y-Yes! You are probably the only person who does in this world!"
"Thats not true. There are two others who also possess Stage Fives. Cenn Carter is one of them."
"How to you know there are two?"
"Because there always is..." Zannos said, "What you call a 'Stage Five' Omnishard is not an Omnishard at all, but a piece of each of the powers of us gods. My current representative has a piece of my power inside of him."
"So there are two others who have this?" Lars said.
"Yes, But they each have the powers of my...rivals..." Zannos growled while saying the last word.
"According to the intel that you gathered for me," Vergil said, "Cenn has the power of the Goddess of Restoration, Kaidon."
"I see..." Lars said, "Then who has the power of the Goddess of Neutrality?"
"We still don't know," Vergil said, "But I hope we find out soon...hopefully Cenn hasn't found her yet, or we're in big trouble."
"And what was that thing you said before about Zannos's resurrection?"
"It's LORD Zannos," Vergil said, "And that's what my plan is..."
Vergil started laughing, but not normally.
Maniacally.
"I WILL RESURRECT LORD ZANNOS AND RESHAPE THE WORLD IN MY IMAGE!!!"
"In OUR image..." Zannos said.
Lars stared at Vergil. This was the true intention of the Black Fist? To eradicate all competition so that Zannos could be resurrected into a mortal body?
"Is this why we needed to kill Cenn?" Lars said.
"Oh, yes..." Vergil said.
"And why we needed to destroy all of the towns? So that we could just destroy everything so the Neutrality holder could die without us having to individually look for them?"
"Yes, you are so very smart, Lars..."
Lars couldn't believe what he was hearing. If Zannos were to be resurrected, the whole world would surely die!
Lars decided he would act as if he was on board, and then get the hell out of there when the time was right.
Lars nodded.
"I see."
Vergil smiled and grabbed Lars's chin.
"I'm glad to see you're on board with the whole thing...my last Intelligence Unit disappointed me greatly..."
He was talking about the traitor.
"Kai wasn't on board with the whole thing. I think he said something about Lord Zannos being the God of Destruction and that destruction is what is going to happen if he's resurrected, but he was just blind to the situation..."
Vergil laughed again.
"Lord Zannos," Vergil said, "I shall be leaving now. We will meet again soon."
"Yes, my child..." Zannos said, "We will meet again..."
The flames pouring out of the altar died down a bit, just barely rising above Vergil's head.
Vergil walked back to the opening, with Lars close behind.

Lars woke up, then went over to Heidi, who was sleeping in her bed.
"Heidi!" He whispered as loud as he could without waking anyone else up, "Wake up!"
Heidi groaned.
"What is it, Lars..." she said, yawning.
"Come on, we're getting out of here."
Heidi was up now.
"What are you talking about?" She said, "Getting out of where?"
"Here!" He said, "Out of the Black Fist!"
"Lars, are you listening to yourself?"
"Heidi," Lars said, "We need to get out of here. I'll explain once we're out."
Heidi sighed.
"I hope you have a good reason for this..."
She grabbed her things, along with a silenced pistol.
Lars and Heidi snuck around the guards, going completely undetected.
They came to the main room, which was filled with guards. They hid behind a pillar, and Lars peeked around, his pistol ready.
Once he saw that the coast was clear, he took Heidi's hand and bolted towards the door. Once they were outside, they went as far away as they could with the weight of their things.
Heidi plopped down beside an old crumbled building.
"So," She said, "would you care to explain?"

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Thanks for reading guys! I know this took a while to make, but it was mostly because I had MAJOR writer's block. Thanks for waiting guys!