The End of an Era

Lexianna v. Alistair

      Alistairs space is unlike the others. Whereas they were waiting in their own personal hell, Alistair is standing amidst star clusters and galaxies. Lexianna stands opposed amidst the cosmos with her scythe in hand. The distance of space and time between them as vast as all the universe.

     "You know, I was god once." Alistair says. His voice is laden with a deep and terrible pain. "It was nice while it lasted. I watched countless souls flow through the cycle of death and rebirth as the universe did the same. It's a calming sort of simplicity." Alistair runs his hand through a galaxy tracing the pattern of swirling stars. As the galaxy is consumed by its black hole Alistair lets his hand drop. "But everything must come to and end."

     Lexianna wants to speak but can't think of anything to say. She wonders if any words she could speak would reach him. His fear and misery cling to him like the gravity of neutron stars. His heartache like a trillion suns burning out of existence.

     "The others call it death. But death you can come back from. Death is simple. Messy, yes. But it's just a part of a larger cycle in the universe." Alistair grits his teeth so fiercely that they crack. Crimson lightening begins to spark and crackle around him as his rage and fury build. His fists are clenched so tightly that they have begun to bleed. "But what you have brought is an end. A finality. Something that there is no coming back from. I thought if anyone were to stand with us against this, it would be you."

     Lexianna attempts to say something. Anything. But nothing comes. She watches tears stream down Alistairs face and realizes that she is not ready for this. That she could never be. How could she? The pain and cruelty of this was almost unbearable. The times they shared rolled through her mind like a roiling sea. The times they laughed, fought side by side, shared their secret fears and their secret hope. The times he'd caress her cheek or hold her close. 

   This was Alastair, the kindest, the kindred spirit. She'd only ever seen love in his eyes when he looked at her. This was the embodiment of Zaak's emotion after all, but now she saw hurt, rage, and betrayal. He really didn't understand. Or he didn't want to and he let himself be angry and hurt instead of listening to the why of all of this. Because if he understood he couldn't stand against her. Lexianna wasn't even sure if she could continue. Just the way he was looking at her now broke her heart. This was the greatest test she would ever face. To fight Alastair was to fight part of her heart. It was the cruelest fate. 

   Agony, pure hot torment like shards of shredding glass ate her from the inside out. The depth of her despair was immeasurable. She felt suffocated by anguish, buried in the blackness of torture. This searing attack on her heart was deafening as the pain bubbled up and threatened to drowned her. It was like an open gaping wound on her soul, gushing nothing but unending misery. The pain was a living thing. A virus ridden affliction that closed off her throat and wanted to chain her to the floor wailing. Her battered heart ached for him. For her. For their love. Nothing could compare to this crippling blow to her soul. It was debilitating. The pain sucking her dry as she gazed at the man she loved. The man she would have to kill. The thought was foreign, an impossibility. Her heart rebelled and screamed.  The pain reverberated from every part of her body. She was sure it would echo through eternity. 

   All the years of watching this kind and gentle young man care for those who needed his love and compassion only to now see him so hurt by her actions.  She had to try even if in vain, one last time to sway him from this. She finds the words she had been searching for.

     "An Eternity of bearing this burden would be the worst punishment. I'm not here as a judge, My Love. I'm here as a mercy."

     Alistair roars her name in such a way that it is little more than an unintelligible snarl and the universe between them is set alight with a pure destructive wave of natures wrath and ability to annihilate. Lexianna defends with a barrier of divinity. Alistair smashes right through it as though it were made of thin glass. He, wielding his rapier, hacks and slashed wildly at her. Lexianna parries the attacks and spins away. "Alistair, my love please!" Her scream is one of pure desperation, "Listen to me!" A broken cry of utter distress.

     With another roar the universe around them is obliterated and blooms into a smattering of super novas and exploding black holes. Alistair continues his blind rage assault and even though she is able to defend successfully he is pushing her further and further back. She needs to do more than simply defend or this will never end. The idea of raising her weapon to him sends a violent shudder through her heart.

     Lexianna prepares to strike but hesitates and is impaled. Alistair grasps her by the throat and digs his blade deeper into her chest. She lets her scythe fall and reaches up with both hands to caress Alistair's face. She searches his gorgeous crimson eyes for the man she loves. He is lost to his own emotions. With his entire being at a fever pitch he is too far gone to reach. Lexianna feels herself grow faint. Her arms drop and she slides off Alistairs blade as she tumbles into the abyss of the universe. 

   The outer pain is nothing compared to the agony within. It's a throbbing hot white severance inside of her. A gnawing, deadly, gaping poison. It pulses and pounds, creating an even deeper crater of her shattered heart. This pain is blinding and all encompassing. It's burning and unending. She wishes for the torturous abyss to just swallow her whole instead of consuming her inside out.

     Saedysms words come to Lexianna. She's the only one who can defeat Alistair. She killed him, Saedysm in cold blood. She can't let his death be in vain. It will forever haunt her. She touches the wound at her heart. Alistair hesitated and missed a fatal blow. With it come to this, she knows she can't afford to let anyone else face him. Her wings unfold. A radiant beacon amidst the ruined universe. Her scythe comes to her and she soars upwards. Back towards the physical embodiment of her one true love's raging emotions.

     As Lexianna comes to level with Alistair she raises her scythe and fills it with her entire being. All her thoughts, memories, and emotions laid bare in an attack that must succeed. Alistair's blind rage is fading. He's coming back from the depths of his emotions. Deep sorrow and guilt fill him like murky black oceans. Yet he raises his sword nonetheless. The two gaze into each others eyes for the rest of time. Before unleashing their attacks.

     The battle is decided in that single moment. Alistairs heart wasn't in the attack and he was easily overpowered by Lexianna who watches him float listlessly among the stars. Yet he doesn't perish. Instead the opposite. In death he flourishes and blossoms like a rose. It is now that Lexianna sees why he is truly the strongest of Zaak's being.

     Alistair's emotions pour out of him like water out of a cracked vase. In this new state all his rage and fear is gone. His heart no longer aches. And his tears have stopped falling. Yet Lexianna weeps. For Alistair has lost all of what he is. Everything that defined him has ebbed away. Leaving only a Void in it's place.

      The End is the true death of Zaak and his five strongest Core Existences. Alistair is the death of all other things in existence. He is their true and final end. The Last Shape that all life will ultimately conform to. Alls End

     The presence of Alls End is nearly too much for even Lexianna to bear witness to. Her own life force is nearly sapped the moment it comes into being. She resists with all her being to stay alive as the world around them is consumed by darkness. Reaching deep Lexianna draws on the core of her being. She can't reach with her scythe but an arrow can pierce this death. She shapes her last attack and stretches a thin tendril of light from the tip of her scythe to the base.

     As she draws the arrow back the universe and all its life bloom into existence once more. With starlight as her guide she pierces the vacuum of death that spills forth from Alistair. 

And as Alls End falls silent once more Alistair crumbles into silver tendrils that vanish like embers of a dying flame.