Once Upon A Miracle

Chapter 34: The last showdown

Evil hid his anger well. "What a long speech. I stopped paying attention halfway through. Here's a piece of advice: if you want to make a point, keep it short. Take my word for it, really."

"Being pithy won't really help your case, Evil," Goodness retorted, her face turning red with rage as well. "Are we going to keep throwing verbal insults? I had assumed you wanted to prove your worth by defeating me in a duel. And, so far, we had only been running around like children."

Abruptly, as both Goodness and Evil readied themselves for another round of combat, the back door of the Jennings household swung open. Rita–who had been tending to Miracle after both her husband and her daughter had disappeared in a whirl of smoke and gold powder–rushed out into the porch when she heard their raised voices puncture the quite of the night.

"Blue!" Rita shouted, looking both frightened and relieved by seeing her daughter.

"Ah," Evil exclaimed, his eyes glinting. "Now the little family is complete. The next thing you know, Goodness, we'll be trying to mend our age old differences over a nice cup of Darjeeling tea."

"Joke time is over, Evil. I'm defeating you once and for all," Goodness said, tired of his wit. Plus, it was she who was supposed to be sassy. Since when had his tongue developed a penchant for retorting back insults? He was the one with a tendency to resort to violence while she riled him with her words.

"And you will have help," another voice added. Evil groaned as Miracle appeared behind Rita, very much alive and moving, although he was clutching his head weakly. He was followed by two more figures this time. Sherry and Warren.

"And we've brought a gift for you too, Evil," Sherry said, sneering. She gave a nod to Miracle, who, with his new powers gifted to him by Goodness, flicked his fingers and, abruptly, a rift tore through the air, splitting apart the sky as if it were a gateway to another dimension altogether. Something tumbled out of the fissure.

A sarcophagus.

Actually, the sarcophagus. You know, the magical one used to trap beings like Evil.

"Why, thank you, Miracle, Bad Luck and Wrath. You just made this ten times easier for me," Goodness said, beaming.

Evil snarled. "You will not defeat me! If I go down, I'm taking you down as well!"

Screaming a war cry from the bygone ages, Evil charged at Goodness. Goodness ran towards him too. Sweeping her hands below her as if giving herself a boost, she filliped through the air, rising above Evil.

The group of four, witnessing the unfolding of the spectacle before them from the safety of the porch, gasped, marveling at the extraordinary and cruel beauty of war.

Miracle watched with an open mouth and wide eyes, his gaze rapt and unwavering, at the way Goodness, despite having a child's body, rose up in the sky, descending towards Evil, her form flickering with untamed power. The heavens seemed to reflect down on her, enraptured by the terrible, incredible splendor of this girl.

Evil, his hands bearing his most destructive of powers–those dark, scorching flames that could tear through your flesh and eat away your soul–looked above at the charging entity whose hands were bare except for that golden glow enveloping her.

The moon formed a mystical halo over Goodness's head and Miracle could almost imagine wings sprouting from her back, carrying her, supporting her. She seemed like a war angel about to dispense divine justice.

And, then, Miracle blinked and several things happened at once.

Goodness bore down on Evil, her hands out, a vengeful scream ripping out of her throat as she barely dodged the relentless volley of Evil's black flames. As soon as her skin made contact with his forehead, something ethereal and otherworldly happened.

Gasps rang out from Miracle and the others as a dark cloud of blackness, like glittering ash, ripped out of Markus, shedding from his body as if it were burning. It eerily felt like watching a soul depart from its mortal body and ready itself for a journey to the beyond.

Miracle would have watched it all silently, captivated and spellbound, if it wasn't for Goodness.

"Miracle, open the sarcophagus! Now!" she screamed urgently, as she landed on the ground on her knees, somersaulting to a stop.

Miracle wasted no time. He didn't bother rushing over to the sarcophagus. He was also aware of the fact that opening the lid of the sarcophagus would require a hellish amount of powers. But they had it all planned. Grasping the hands of Sherry and Warren, Miracle used their combined powers to channel it towards the sarcophagus.

The lid almost exploded. Almost.

As the cover rolled open–the inside of it bizarrely looking like a chunk of the void of chaos–it seemed to suck the black ash towards it, as if it were a blackhole. Goodness gasped when the power of the sarcophagus started to draw at her essence too.

A golden shimmer started to seep out of Blue's body, moving towards the sarcophagus like the swirling rays of the sun.

Warren gasped. "What i-is happening?!"

"Close the lid, you idiots!" Goodness snapped but her voice was weak, her eyes rolling in her head.

"I'm trying!" Miracle said, a vein pulsing on his forehead, his heart catapulting in his chest.

Finally, with a resounding, ultimate clang, the lid rose upwards and snapped into place, shutting off the sarcophagus. Maybe Miracle imagined it but he thought he heard a familiar faint voice scream, "No!"

A silence stretched around them for a long, long while until finally Miracle whispered in disbelief, "We did it. We defeated Evil."