The Fall of the Society

Chapter 7: Despair in Darkness

     Her power radiated from her, causing those attacking her to back pedal slightly trying desperately to avoid the heat. Feeling her strength return to her as the flames danced around her body, she stood and turned to face those between her and her goal. A barrage of popping sounds broke the night air as the guards had begun to open fire. Her aura swirled in front of her, causing a shielding effect that deflected most of the rounds outward and disintegrated the few that hit directly in the middle. Moving forward, her eyes blazed fiery red. The man with obsidian fist lunged at her, a mistake he would never get to repeat. A large tendril of fire shot out from Rose and smashed into the man in midair, throwing him through the air and into the side of the building, five floors up, debris falling to the ground. She continued moving forward as the guards ceased their firing and retreated for cover inside the building. A socialite that was wearing black pants and shirt, but lacking armor, shot another energy blast at her that dissolved into her blazing aura. Rose focused and pushed forth a great deal of effort as her flames flowed outward like a tidal wave of destruction hitting the building.
      The building ignited in front of her, glass and metal both turning to liquid. Trying to flee, the Socialite burst into flames, unable to scream, he fell flailing to the ground. Wave after wave of fire collided with the building with a crash, flowing over the guards and the cover they tried to hide behind. All that remained was the Socialite that was creating shields, and now he was crouching and cowering inside a sphere prison he had created. Rose held her hand in front of her and focused on the man. His expression turned to panic as his body began to heat up and smoke, before erupting into flame and exploding inside his own shield. The building was quickly ablaze all over, but very soon all the flames had gone. Rose had recalled the energy into herself and walked into the wreckage, bare feet stepping into the smoldering coals of the remains of the building. The normal routes to other sections of the building were now impassable, the elevator collapsed and the stairs crumbling and caving. Rose looked down at the floor and focused inward, her aura turning bright white. The ground beneath her feet began to quiver and shake as the heat she was emitting began to dry and crack the materials, causing them to become brittle and turn to dust. Much to her surprise, though she should have been expecting it, the floor was heavily fortified, and it took her quite a while to torch her way through, even burning at her extreme temperatures.

      Just like everything else she had set her powers against, the floor soon crumbled and allowed her to fall through the hole, into the level below. The area around her was now very dark other than the little bit of light leaking in from above. It was also very heavily fortified from what she could tell. The walls looked very thick, likely as thick as the floor she had just cut through. This area must have been set up as a holding point for anyone that had entered the Society headquarters with ill intentions. Lighting herself ablaze, the darkness receded slightly, allowing her to see the many different paths she might be able to take. As she contemplated which route might be best to take, a dagger flew out of the darkness silently and sliced across her upper right arm. Blood flowing freely, the wound stung greatly. She had no chance of making any kind of defensive movement, but now shot flames back up the corridor that had produced the dagger. Her power faltered for a moment and she looked down at her wounded and bloody arm. The veins running from the wound were now turning black as poison coursed into her body.
      Placing her left hand over the wound, it blazed bright blue as she burned the toxin from her body. A moment later she had effectively removed the poison and the wound was healed when she removed her hand. All that remained was a slight white line where the cut had been. She could not help but think how odd it was that the wound left a mark. Any other time she had ever been forced to heal herself there had never been a mark. The only thing she could figure is that the poison had caused the discrepancy.
       Moving silently along the corridor, she kept her aura up in order to be able to see and hopefully deflect any more flying blades. A dagger once more flew from the darkness to her left. Luckily, she had enough time to quickly roll forward, followed by sending a wave of fire down the pathway that the attack had come from, ending with the flames blistering a wall. She shot more bolts of fire down every pathway around her, each detonating upon contact with a wall. It finally dawned on her, she was in a labyrinth, and someone was hunting her. A maniacal laughter filled the air all around her, reverberating off every surface.
      "Into the maze little mouse!" the sing song voice laughed. "I can't wait to play with you!"
      Rose looked around her surroundings, there were so many paths, any of which could be a trap. The fact she had not seen her attacker yet, also led her to believe that there were many more hidden paths that she could not see which meant the voice could be coming from anywhere. "I refuse to be your puppet!" Rose yelled loudly. "Keep your game to yourself!" Pointing her hands at the floor and started bursting a stream of fire directly at the point in front of her bare feet. A sudden pain shot through her arm as a poisoned dagger buried itself between the bones in her right hand. Her flames faltered and she dodged backward as another dagger flew out of the darkness. Pulling the knife from her hand, it blazed blue, destroying the toxin.
       "No, no, no!" the voice laughed. "I was told we could play, and I want to play! You can't leave already! I refuse to be denied my fun!" The corridor once more filled with ear splitting and horrible laughter. Rose pulsed a flash of energy in every direction that singed every surface, leaving the walls smoldering, but the laugh continued. "You cannot disperse the darkness! All you can do is be consumed!"
      Finally, the laughing stopped, and Rose was left in complete silence. She strained to hear any sound, rolling forward as two more daggers flew out of the darkness. Casting multiple bolts of fire up the many corridors around her, she began moving quickly down the path in front of her. As she ran a shadowy figure crossed the view up ahead, causing her to pause and blaze a stream of fire down the hallway. She stared into the darkness ahead of her, waiting to see if anything moved again. Suddenly, out of the dark behind her, a hand grasped tightly onto her left shoulder and threw her violently into the air backwards. She landed hard and tried to roll as she slammed hard into the wall. Her bearings were thrown off and she was struggling to regain her senses.
       "You are supposed to be this unstoppable monster," the voice sounded disappointed. "Yet there you are, laying on the ground and barely able to stand. I hope you have more than what you are currently showing. All that power and no clue how to use it properly. Or are you just an angry little girl whose feelings got hurt!" The laughter returned as he continued, "It's no wonder Tripp would rather die than be with you!"
      "You lie!" she screamed, power blazing from her as her eyes burned red. "He loved me and you all took him from me!" She spun, casting fire in every direction, as a sudden blow hit her directly in the stomach and knocked her back into the wall once more. Sliding down to the floor, she struggled to catch her breath.
      A tall slender man, with heavy black armor and a smooth black mask that appeared to have no eye holes stepped out of the dark in front of her with his head cocked to the side. The eerie maniacal cackles passing lowly from behind the seamless mask. "The darkness is all consuming, stay down and it will be much easier on you. You need not endure anymore pain little flower." She could not see his eyes, but she could feel them boring into hers, and it made her feel uncomfortable. Summoning all the strength she could, she forced herself into a standing position. In the blink of an eye, the man shot forward and swung a blade to within a hair of her throat. "Thank you for choosing pain!" he shouted gleefully. A second later he disappeared back into the darkness as if he had not been there at all.
      Rose stumbled forward away from the wall she was leaning on. Shaking her head, she forced herself to be in the moment. Why could she not continue to hold onto her strength, why did it keep leaving her, she wondered to herself as she stared into the dark. Was she not strong enough to complete her mission? Had Tripp been wrong in thinking she had awakened a portion of her hidden powers? No! She could not let herself think that way. Standing up tall her aura burst from her and began blistering the walls. "If I destroy the darkness you will have nowhere left to hide!" Forcing herself forward, she walked down a now brightly ablaze corridor.
      As she moved, she felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around. She came face to face with the man as he grabbed her right shoulder with his left hand and plunged a poison coated dagger into the left side of her abdomen. Her aura failed and dissipated, steam coming off the man's undamaged armor. The air from his laughter felt like ice on her face. If not for his grip on her shoulder she would likely fall backward and she grasped both hands onto the wrist of the hand holding the blade. He pushed the blade slightly deeper as blood filled her mouth. Staring up into his faceless mask, he swung his head forward and head-butted her hard in the forehead. She stumbled backward into a wall and sank to the floor as her vision blurred and began to fade. Her head was filled with the maniacal cackling as the room spun to nothingness.