More Than A God (IV)

VI

"There's ambition flowing through my veins, Eli. If I want to see something happen, I do everything it takes to see it occur..."

"Out of all the things you could be doing, you want to destroy what once was your home? WHAT'S THE POINT OF BEING A GOD THEN!?"

"We can do whatever we want! Matter of fact, you could join me if you wanted to..."

"Not even when I was a child of Darkness I thought of doing something like that..."

"Heh... What a rude little boy."

Mara snapped her fingers, and the fire around Eli suddenly disappeared. He gasped, but before he could react Mara punched him and pushed him off onto the race track. He was able to quickly get his cape ready to fly, but it wasn't going to be that easy. Mara also jumped off, and tried to attack Eli mid-air.

"I won't let you live this time! You better glide quickly if you want to escape!" Mara said along with an evil laughter.

"That's something only a baby would do. COME FIGHT ME!" Eli screamed as he floated in the air.

It was a fight Eli had never seen himself in. The wind slowly made them move towards the end of the track, but they flew backwards and forwards to try and attack each other. It was pretty complicated at first, but they both got the hang of it pretty quickly. Eli tried to throw fireballs at her, but she was able to dodge them. She also tried to throw dark orbs at him, but he either avoided them or bounced them back towards her. In the end, no one got a hit on one another. At last they reached the end of the track, and Mara tried to get there first so that she could infect the shrine. She started running, but Eli punched her midair and made her drop to the ground.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! There's no need for you to do this!" Eli screamed.

"The Balance is boring, Eli! Flockya could be so much more interesting if darkness lurked within this place!" She said as she laughed.

"That's easy to say when you don't live here! What about the poor children!?"

"I'm sure they'll find a way to survive. Now, if I may..."

"NO!"

Eli quickly ran towards the shrine and protected it with fire. Mara snapped her fingers again, but his time he wasn't planning on letting that trick happen again. She threw orbs of tarr towards the barrier of flames, but it didn't seem to do anything. It was almost as if Eli's devotion for Flockya made him stronger when he needed to defend its grounds.

"Interesting... Seems like I'll need more servants for this." Mara said as she chuckled.

She closed her eyes and raised her hand, and she snapped her fingers once again. She had summoned shadows from the dark places of the room, and they would do anything to break Eli's defense. He struggled at first, but he was able to keep the barrier active while getting rid of the shadows. The more he made them vanish away, the more they would appear. The room slowly got darker and darker, to the point where the only thing lighting it up was the fire Eli had created. He kept attacking, but he suddenly felt like there was no one in the room anymore. He looked around, always being aware of his surroundings.

"Where are you, Mara..." Eli whispered.

"RIGHT HERE!" Mara screamed from behind him.

She took the knife from his hand, and she tried to stab him in the back. He was barely able to move away, but he didn't feel too confident now. Mara had his only weapon, so all he had left was his powers to defend himself. Mara jumped in the air, trying to stab him from above. He created a fire barrier from above him, but she tried to break through it.

"YOU CAN'T STOP ME, ELI!" Mara screamed as she saw his barrier slowly crack.

"No... NO!" Eli yelled.

The barrier started cracking even more, and Mara felt like she could kill Eli right here and right now. She saw that he had closed his eyes, making her believe that he was ready for things to end. The barrier felt like it was inches away from shattering apart, but then something extraordinary happened. The barrier started glowing blue, and so did Eli's eyes.

"Over... My... Dead... BODY!" Eli screamed.

Mara got blown away by a great explosion, letting go of Eli's knife. He quickly picked it up, and he was ready to end this. Mara tried to create a dark barrier, but he broke it with a single hit. No attacks that she did could harm him, until he finally started landing punches. Feeling his fists actually hitting Mara was a feeling that made him want to release his rage, and he wanted to keep going. He added fire to his punches, and he could feel the blue heat rasping against his face. He was furious, and he was showing it with every inch of his body.

"YOU ARE DONE FOR!" Eli said as she landed the final blow. She got blown away, and his eyes turned orange again. Mara still had some strength so stand up, and she chuckled.

"Not bad, kid... But do you really thi-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY! I'M TIRED OF HEARING YOU!"

He threw a fireball that landed straight in her chest and knocked her down to her knees. Eli looked at her from afar, knowing that she could kill her right now if he wanted to. However, he didn't feel like ending the fun there.

"I suggest you run away before things get messier..." Eli said as he slowly walked towards her.

"W- Wait! Maybe the Balance is actually worth it! You don't have to do this!" Mara screamed.

"Oh, that trick's not going to work on me, girl. Go away. NOW."

With the little force she had left, she tried to throw a dark orb towards the shrine and teleported away. Eli was able to catch and burn it away. And with that done, the shrine had been protected.

"That was more intense than I thought..." Eli said as he tried to catch his breath back. He took some time to try and comprehend all that had just happened, and with it came a lot of questions and thoughts that he wanted to clear up.

"The Balance... I've heard Iris mention that before. What the hell does it mean?" He asked himself. "But most importantly, that blue fire... Is it part of me now?"

After questioning this, he did a little test to see if he could somehow control it. He created a fireball in his hand and tried to add force to it to see if something would happen. He could feel the heat slowly becoming stronger and stronger, but the color remained the same. He was adding all the force he could, until he eventually gave in and stopped.

"Jeez... I guess I'll eventually have the strength to control that later."

He took a deep breath and decided to head back home to see if Iris or anyone else was in danger. Though he was worried about them, he was also worried about himself. Was this blue fire a good sign or a bad one? That is something only time will let him know.