Flames And Blades

Chapter Twenty Nine: Time After Time

"Okay, so I called Jhonny- leader dudes son, he's sending his best to find every possible lead to Ferox. We'll get him back, Domdom." Trevor chimes, shoving his phone in his back pocket. Turning with the rest of the group to watch my actions near the border. Luce disappeared last night and I've been restless with ideas ever since then.

My strongest one; controlling my haze. Figuring that it comes with emotions and focus, I try it on the border.

At the current moment, after four hours of focus and work, I can just barely see the purple-black haze lining the road.

"Maybe you should take a break, Rori did say you needed to save your powers for later- remember?" Warrison moves closer to me, but I step to the side. I need to work this out. I need this fucking cloud to be lifted so I can get to Ferox and help him. I need this cloud to be lifted so that the littles can have an actual home before the first heavy snowfall. I need this shit to work out so that I can help these people get better and not kill everyone off. Can't he just get that? Can't these clouds just go away? Please?

Suddenly, all these questions cause my tattoos to starts pulsating again. They haven't done so since the bombs went off. When I look up, my red haze is up. Blood dripping over purple-black wisps and absorbing it all. This time, I see the little fire that burns the two up before disappearing.

Revealing a war filled the town. Here, the purple haze may have lifted but the black clouds are everywhere. In everyone. Darkening slowly all the way to the center of the town, connecting it to the cemetery outside the hospital. Warriors are everywhere, only the Demetrains are here, too. I only know because I see them transform into lions, and fight for us. To protect us. I wish to find a way to protect them and notice a symbol on their mains. I grab Warrisons arm as he's about to stab the lion protecting us. "No- see that symbol on his main? He's protecting us, they all are. They're Demetrian. I don't know why but they're helping us, so help them when you can too. I'm heading to the middle zone." He nods, putting the knife in hand at his side.

"We all are," Trevor shouts, overhearing the conversation while fighting a very feisty elderly woman.

"Then let's make a run for it already!" Adam yells, fed up with the people around him. I look at the lion in front of me, seeing if he understands. When he nods slightly, I pat his head in thanks. "Let's do this," I whisper to him. "Let's go!" I yell as loud as possible and make a break for it. Pumba roaring at the same time, for his friends to I guess, as his pack follows us the whole run.

The farther we go, the thicker the haze gets. Until it looks as if we're stepping in liquid black. The people get more violent and heavily weaponized, too.

Scanning the cemetery once making it there, I have a feeling that this is the center zone everyone was talking about. I realize that this is the place that I felt that I had to do so much more than just run through it. Looking around, I realize that the gravestones themselves have disappeared. The cemetery itself has been changed into something else entirely.

Something more disturbing than any cemetery ever could be.

The feeling of death is everywhere. From its clouds emerge and army. The Ab Antiquos separated from another species. Connie, and the other man from my kitchen the one that didn't abduct my brother lead the other army. Marching to me, my crew and my ( I assume, for no apparent reason) lions, and stop.

In the middle of us, I notice a bound and beaten Ferox. Caged. Looking at him like this fills me with enough rage that blood drips over every ounce of liquid black and burns it alive, turning into a white blazing flame. One that absorbs Ferox entirely. Without worrying, I know that I've sent him somewhere. Somewhere safe and somewhere where he has been physically healed. This angers Connie, who appears from behind where my brother once was. It angers her very much.

Enough for her to pull out her signature pistol from behind her back. Dragging my horrified parents, too. Only here, she shoots them right in front of me.

I became too shocked to even let out a scream for them, their eyes had the haze filled inside of them entirely.

I start fighting this war before their lifeless bodies even hit the ground.

I fight blades with everything I have. Quite literally burning through some people in the process. But the two armies I'm fighting are never-ending and all too plentiful. The Ab Antiquos have government troopers and hundreds of expertly trained weaponists. The other gang has not only another batch of hundreds of warriors but unharmable warriors too. Every kill I make, they just come back, brand bloody new.

I still keep fighting. My gang does, too, I realize. I don't know what any of this means, I never have. All I know is to fight like hell and not back down. There's no time to do any differently.

It's do or die, and I'm not making my brother a siblingless orphan. I've made myself another family, I realize. One that I can't die in front of either. Or let them die. They won't be able to live through this. I take my last ounces of emotion and devour Warrison, Adam, Trevor and Luce in flames, sending them wherever Ferox went. Making one last effort to make a flame that heels the lions fighting at my side, knowing it will help them, but not enough for them to be safe; I'm too weak for that. Then I fight harder. Some troops finally back off and I think I have a solid chance. Until twice the amount of troopers that left replace them.

I look back at the Demetrians, everyone there had thought I was the hero. This was false. I was the villain of this story. From the harming to the killing to the destroying. To the cowardice. I had sent the people I had come to love away due to the fear I wouldn't be able to protect them. now I won't be able to see them again. I am the villain here. I am the one who started this whole death war. I am the one who has the power of rage inside me. I am the one who stopped fighting.
But maybe, being the villain wasn't that bad. Maybe it felt good to do things of my own accord. Maybe I liked accepting being everything claimed horrible and malicious in life. Maybe it just felt right. Right and perfect.

Then, I suddenly can't help myself. Too much had been drained from me. This battle was enough. Enough everything. Enough harm. Enough hurt. Enough all. It had broken me completely. I dropped to my knees, allowing the force of emptiness to hit me all at once. When I breathed, it literally shook me. I thought about screaming but no words came out, neither would an actual scream. Everyone, even the lions looked at me then at each other, as if I was insane and idiotic for stopping. Yet they had stopped, too. Forget it. Let the emptiness go, I'm dead anyway, might as well feel something before then. I could feel my body heaving in and taking sharp breaths like I was crying. Strangely enough, no tears came out. This angered and confused me all at the same time, to the point where an actual tear took form. And when it dropped- the second it hit the ground, everything changed.