A Girl and Her Demons

The Tale of Two

Chapter Twenty: The Tale of Two

                The sounds of battle sounded so far away now as they stood in the middle of the city. Scarlet stood alone in the courtyard in front of the palace. She awaited the arrival of the Netherlord.

                “Should I let you talk for me?” Scarlet suggested to Xaphana.

                “No, the time for deceptiveness is finished. I am unsure even if the Netherlord even fell for our rouse.” Scarlet was worried that the rouse did not work. She needed the element of surprise to end it quickly or at least get some damage done to him. The time to find out was drawing closer.

                The sounds of battle drew closer to them as if the fight was moving toward the palace. They saw the Shenguard moving in the distance getting closer to the palace. It seemed as though the front gate had fallen as well.

                “My men! Inside the gates!” The Militant yelled with an unnaturally loud voice. It seemed that the side walls had fallen as well as the remaining forces filtered through the city streets and made their way into the palace. The Netherlord’s army was approaching the courtyard and Scarlet was still the lone person outside the palace gates. The High Council could see the advance of the enemy from atop the high palace walls.

                “I hope you know what you are doing down there, Scarlet.” The Infernal called down. The sounds of battle had stopped and you could only hear an ominous marching noise coming from all directions. The army came into sight and stopped in a circle around the palace courtyard. The Netherlord walked out of the crowd of enemies across from Scarlet. He was fully adorned as he had been in last night’s dream.

                “Scarlet.” He spoke in a booming voice that would terrify most common folk. At the sound of his voice, his army began to laugh and jeer. “It is interesting to note, Scarlet, that this is the first time we have ever met.” He was right, every other time that she had seen him it was only in her dreams or in the eyes of Xaphana. “Now, I see we have the High Council here to observe this wondrous occasion, the defeat of Scarlet, your only hope.” Scarlet became more nervous by the second to see if he would take the bait. “Oddly enough however, that is not the only occasion we are about to witness. Xaphana, I know you lied to me. She was too strong for you to control her. I did not believe it when you first spoke and knew that my plan was falling into place just fine. You see, as I recall you had a sister. Both of you have a sister. And just as the council had been lying to you about Xaphana, Scarlet, they were also lying about Ruby.”

                “Xaphana was the right hand of the previous Netherlord. Her sister was the left hand. Orthona, I believe?”

                “Don’t speak her name!” Xaphana broke through Scarlet’s mind and spoke aloud. The Netherlord smiled and chuckled at the anger that Xaphana had put forth.

                “The two sisters came to the over world with me and were defeated. They trapped their souls and placed them within two young women. Now, the prophecy stated that it would in fact be Scarlet that would be the one to challenge me. This is why the council left Ruby to die. They wanted me to inadvertently take care of her and not have to worry about the current situation. You saved Ruby but that did not stall me for long. I had no intention on killing Ruby. I wanted to remove the seal on Orthona and have Orthona do what you would not do, Xaphana, and that is to help me end the tyranny of this world.”

                “So, I found Ruby and captured her. I brought her to the Nether and attempted to remove the seals. I removed them quickly and easily and Orthona was now alive again inside of Ruby’s body. Now, Xaphana, you will remember your sister was ruthless. You hated her. She hated you. You fought all the time. Now, you can handle that. Come on out, Orthona.” The army parted again and Ruby walked forward. She was encased in an orange flame like Scarlet had been this morning but hers was a darker shade. Her face looked tired and ragged as if she hadn’t slept in days. Her physical body looked as if it was breaking down around her.

                “Hello, sister.” The voice that came from Ruby’s mouth was a mix of evil demon and weak child. It was both terrifying and pitiful. Scarlet was in tears. Her sister was being controlled by the enemy and she looked terrible.

                “Can Ruby hear me?” Scarlet said softly.

                “She can hear you, but she won’t be able to reply as I control her mind now.” Orthona said in a very nasty tone.

                “Ruby, I know you can hear me. I know you are still in there. I just want to say that it was me who saved you in the house but I couldn’t do anything else for you. I’m sorry you are here right now. I love you, baby sister.” The last line was broken up due to the tears streaming down Scarlet’s face.

                “Aw, how cute. I think the time for words is over. Xaphana, come out and play.” Ruby charged forward with inhuman like speed leaving a line of fire in her path. Xaphana broke through Scarlet’s mind and blocked the fire punch that Orthona was about to land.

                “Master, may I fight my sister?” Scarlet still could not see behind her tear swollen eyes. She would be unable to fight or defend against her sister so she agreed to let Xaphana use her body.

                Orthona jumped back after the failed punch and tried charging in again, this time going for a lower body blow. Xaphana still managed to grab her hand as she went for the punch.

                “You haven’t learned anything new, sister? You have some work to do.” Xaphana mocked her as she charged up the new magma floes ability. Orthona backed away as she had on the first failed punch and Xaphana threw the beam of magma toward her. Orthona’s speed was quick enough to dodge the beam and she scooted in for another attack. This time she charged her fist and instead of punching her she sent the fist flying through the air toward them. Scarlet quickly switched places with Xaphana and threw the same technique toward the projectile and it exploded in mid-air.

                “Ruby and I learned that move together. Nice try.” Scarlet said in her own voice.

                “Wait, I was fighting Xaphana, not you. How did you get out so quickly?” Scarlet immediately allowed Xaphana back into her mind.

                “You are talking nonsense, sister. I thought the time for words was over.” Xaphana attempted to throw one of the fire tornadoes that they had summoned within the ritual chamber at Orthona. Once again, Orthona was too quick and dodged it easily. Orthona tried another flaming fist projectile attack, hoping that Scarlet could not switch in time; however, Xaphana replicated the move perfectly and blocked it herself.     

                Xaphana planned her next attack and shot bullets of fire and she had felt Scarlet doing earlier in the fighting. Orthona was quick but the technique was quicker. The bullets pelted Ruby’s body and she started to bleed.

                “No!” Scarlet cried out watching her sister’s body receive damage. “Is there anything we can do to save her?” Scarlet spoke through tears and Xaphana was too busy pressing her advantage. Xaphana had no response but the fight waged on. Scarlet could not watch her sister get killed.

                After several blows to Ruby’s body, Scarlet thought of a long shot idea. She took her body back over and shouted to the High Council who was watching safely from the walls. “Infernal, did you put the stone in the same place in her?” The Infernal hesitated for a moment to long and Scarlet took a massive blow to her head. Scarlet’s eyesight was blurry as she nearly was knocked out from that punch. Orthona walked over to Scarlet and loomed over the top of her body. Scarlet heard the Infernal cry yes from the walls behind her.

                “Come with me, Xaphana.” She said aloud. Orthona was confused but Xaphana knew exactly what she had in mind. Scarlet’s hand shot out and grabbed Ruby’s leg. Scarlet closed her eyes tight and the scene went dark…