Blade(Part 4): Midnight

Chapter 8: Marcus

Marcus' head rang with pain as his eyes opened. He must have been knocked unconscious by the nightmare's fist. As he pulled himself to his feet, he didn't feel the demon's darkness hanging over the chamber anymore. Once he was fully upright, he looked around, seeing the nightmare's severed head, and Isylinor, Maisa, Anorae, and Cytheris looking at him with horror in their faces.

"Marcus?" Isylinor shuddered. "Are you alright?"

"My head hurts," said Marcus, rubbing his forehead. "What happened?"

"Marcus, you..." Maisa gasped. "You were just..."

"I was just what?" Marcus demanded. He couldn't understand why the looks they had were on their faces, then he took a step forward and heard a splash under his foot. He had stepped in blood. There weren't any cuts on Isylinor, Maisa, Anorae, or Cytheris.

"That isn't..." Marcus gasped.

"It's yours, Marcus," said Anorae. "That monster crushed you." Marcus refused to believe that he was just killed, but wasn't dead. Then again, Ametrasa's curse was real enough to where he could sense the world around him, and exactly where to go in the temple. Marcus' heart began to race with dread. He couldn't die.

"Marcus, Marcus," Maisa gasped, with her hands on his shoulders. "Stay calm." Marcus' heartbeat slowed when he reminded himself that he was alive, and the demon that killed him was dead.

"It's real," Marcus shuddered. "Gods, it's real, isn't it?"

"I guess so," Anorae observed. "But you're alive, and there's something we need to do."

"I know," said Marcus. "I know. Let's just go." The five of them went through the breach in the wall, going through a dark cave tunnel with rocky walls. Marcus led them forward, following the strange, radiant aura that was drawing him further into the temple. He held his spear forward, ready to stab it into anything that came at him from the darkness. There was no light in the tunnel, but Marcus still felt drawn through it. Isylinor, Maisa, Anorae, and Cytheris were still behind him, so they must not have doubted his judgment.

"It shouldn't be much further," he assured. Suddenly, his spearhead touched a wall, and Marcus stopped in his tracks. It was a wall of solid stone at the end of the tunnel.

"Dead end," Maisa sighed.

"Damn it," Marcus cursed. His own anger thrust his spear forward, and its blade sank into the stone wall, with a crack that split it open. It stretched to the ground under Marcus, and he suddenly found himself falling through it.

"Marcus!" Isylinor shouted. Marcus screamed as he fell into darkness. He landed flat on his back, on a metal floor. His armor protected him from sustaining any injury, but he was still very hurt, and could feel it. He eventually felt the pain go away, and pulled himself to his feet. As Marcus stood, be began to feel a strong darkness hanging over the dark chamber he fell into, but he could also feel the temple's drawing aura closer to him.

"Marcus!" Isylinor shouted, through the radio.

"I'm here, Isylinor," Marcus promised.

"Are you alright?" asked Isylinor.

"I'm fine," said Marcus. "Listen, you four keep heading further into the temple. I'm closer to the switch, and I'll meet you there."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Isylinor wondered.

"Yes," Marcus promised. "Just don't fall down here."

"Well, be careful," Isylinor warned, and their transmission cut. Marcus pointed his spear forward, facing the darkness that hung over the chamber that trapped him. Even with the aura of darkness, though, he kept moving towards where the temple's aura was drawing him to. Whatever darkness was in the chamber with him was following him, and his heart began to race as he felt it grow stronger. A whisper then echoed through the darkness.

"Winged One," it said. There was something familiar to the voice. Something horrifyingly familiar. It couldn't possibly be who Marcus thought it was, though.

"Akhtar?" he shuddered. "Alexius killed you."

"Yes," Akhtar's voice echoed. "And then I killed him, and Zoya." Anger rushed through Marcus. He sensed no deceit from the Shadow. She did kill Alexius, and she was right behind him. He swung his spear all around himself, but the head bounced off the dark aura shield of what actually was Akhtar. The Shadow grabbed the shaft of the spear as he tried to swing it again, and Marcus noticed something different about her. Her eyes weren't just red. They were glowing red. Whatever power resurrected Akhtar had changed her. She wasn't human anymore.

"What happened to you?" asked Marcus.

"I am more powerful than I ever was," Akhtar hissed. She then raised a hand and sent Marcus flying into the air with a dark aura blast. As he came down, Marcus formed his plasma wings and hovered until his feet touched the ground. He then held his hand out in front of him, and his spear flew from Akhtar's hands and into his. Marcus blasted bolts of white light at her, and she projected a dark ward out in front of herself to deflect them.

"Something is also different about you, Marcus," Akhtar observed. "Something obvious to someone like me."

"Things have changed since we last met," Marcus growled, and he hurled his spear right at Akhtar's dark ward. The protective barrier shattered as the spear hit it, but the blade of the weapon bounced off of the dark ward. Marcus then launched himself into the air and dove straight at Akhtar. When he touched the ground, he snatched up his spear and thrust at the Shadow's chest. Before the spearhead could touch her, a red light surrounded her before she warped backward and blasted lightning bolts at Marcus from her fingertips. The sparks were absorbed by his armor, and they went through to his body. Marcus fell to his knees from the pain of the lightning, and Akhtar stepped forward to stand over him.

"That should have killed you," she said. "And you have no aura shield."

"I should really get one, shouldn't I?" Marcus jested. His arms and legs ached from the Shadow's lightning bolts, and could hardly stand. He put the pommel of his spear to the ground and pushed himself up from it. Marcus then began to charge the radiant power of the spearhead to the point where it was glowing a bright, white light. It would be an attack that would turn Akhtar to ash if he landed it. The spearhead then blasted a powerful, bright, blinding beam of white light at Akhtar, and Marcus felt her aura of darkness fade. When Marcus looked to where she disappeared from, though, there wasn't a pile of ash, or her body. She must have warped away before Marcus' beam of light could touch her.

"You damn coward," Marcus growled. He began to walk towards where the temple's aura was coming from, but he had his hand below his chest, since the pain from the Akhtar's lightning made every step he took made his entire body sting.

"Come on," he told himself, as he spotted a doorway with a bright light shining through it. The aura he was following came from it, and he reached it as fast as he could. It led into a chamber with shining, silver walls, but wasn't held by pillars of the same color. Instead, a small stream ran through the middle of the floor, and into a tunnel with a walkway on each side. Marcus couldn't help other than to follow it. He couldn't sense Akhtar's aura anywhere, but he had a feeling she was following him. He would kill her when she revealed herself again, for Alexius.