***Ignore the fact I totally didn't steal Scott's finale title because I'm so amazingly original.***
TW: Gore
~Scott~
It was practically impossible to fly due to the haze hanging in the air, stifling and unbearably warm. I could hardly see, everything gaining an orange hue as I tried my best to fly below the rising smoke.
I attempted to choke down several coughs from the contaminated air, trying to glide lower than the cloud of pollution without getting too close to the fires raging beneath me within the forests.
Erin was near dead silent from beside me, clearly not as affected as I was. Maybe the Grimlands' pollution made her lungs strong to smoke.
I almost dreaded arriving in Rivendale. Me and my sister had already witnessed several ravines open up from beneath us as the land split, like two large hands were dragging the earth in different directions.
Despite being in the sky, every time the earth shook it gave the illusion that we were getting shook with it. Like ping pong balls getting tossed around through the air.
My anxiety rose the higher I did in the sky, the closer we got to my city. I didn't want to think of the horrors that might be taking place there like everywhere else... But if this were the end of the world, I'd be very surprised by the fact it wasn't Erin who caused it. Or me. Very surprised.
"Eh, Scott?" Erin called, swerving through the sky to get closer to me. "I um, don't mean to alarm you but the smoke is getting darker the closer we get to Rivendale–"
My head snapped up from the ground, where I had been watching the landscape blur beneath us. Sure enough, dark, nearly black clouds of shadow-like smoke was swirling above the mountains, right over where the city lay. "Oh Aeor, please no..." I murmured under my breath, putting on another burst of speed.
With Erin trailing just behind, my heart pounding rapidly against my chest, I swung myself through the air around the mountain, holding my breath as my eyes landed on the city... Oh I wished I could just turn around and pretend I had never seen it, that it wasn't my problem. That I could ignore it like all my other issues. But this here was too big to shove down and never think about again.
Despite being deemed the city of winter and kingdom of frost, even before my magic's dramatic entrance, the place looked as barren as the Grimlands, all the greenery shriveled to dust from the fire that rampaged the cliffsides.
The heat that I thought couldn't get any worse nearly tripled in intensity. The entire city seemed to be one raging ball of flames, the snow melting from the mountain tops and rushing down in violent waterfalls, only to evaporate as soon as it came in contact with the heated haze encasing Rivendale and the valley. Streams of lava flowed alongside, tearing through the city like blades, digging into the land before spilling over the edge of the ravine to clog and pollute the river below.
But what really caught my attention, what really made my heart drop, giving the illusion it had fallen into my stomach, were the red tendrils curling around the destruction. Twisting eerily, like snakes waiting to strike, they seemed to sliver in sharp contrast against the once pure white of the buildings, now dusted with ash and debris.
With one incredibly panicked exchanged look with Erin, I dove towards the ground. The corruption from Xornoth's reign was still branded into my head, old memories from the past years swirling. I prayed I had seen something wrong, and that maybe, just maybe, I couldn't really be seeing it return.
Xornoth couldn't have escaped. Not again.
I hit the ground running, my feet skidding in the dirt for a few seconds and raking up a plume of dust. I nearly fell face first from my momentum, but I managed to steady myself with the quick sprint and halt.
I whipped back around as Erin shot towards the ground behind me, reminiscent of a diving falcon, before unfolding her wings at the last second to slow her rapid descent. In an instant she was standing beside me, straightening and brushing the dust from her cargo pants, folding her wings. She exhaled sharply as she shoved her windswept hair from her face, eyes swirling with the red that resided within her skin.
I watched the smallest flicker of pride at her landing cross her face, before it was instantly replaced by one of alarm as a sound like an explosion echoed throughout the city. The deafening crash of something shook me to the bone, so loud I didn't even hear my own scream. I felt it tear at my throat, but no sound seemed to leave me over the ear-splitting crashes.
Erin had clamped her hands over her ears, eyes screwed shut to try and block out the noise. I saw her face contort right before I did the same, nearly falling to the ground from the shake the thing caused, whatever it was.
It took a few minutes for the noises to subside, for the quake it caused to stop. For me to realize it was over. Slowly I opened my eyes, instantly met by a new cloud of debris wafting over from the wreckage. My eyes landed on the enchantment tower, perched upon the jut-out of the plateau Rivendale was set on. Or what was left of it.
The marble had been cracked and the tower now lay in ruins, the rising grime proving it impossible to make out the whole scene. I watched in horror as a slimy red snake of corruption began to weave itself up the destroyed structure, crushing the little base that remained...
I grabbled for the crystal around my neck, before remembering I had moved it earlier today...I had found the prophecies and I had moved it. I had left it here.
I really was looking to cause my own demise, wasn't I?
But there was still hope. "Come on! We need to check if the crystal's still intact!" I shouted over the screams resonating in the distance from those in the city.
"Scott there's no way!" Erin called back as I broke into a run. Moments later I heard the beating of her feet against the path as she followed.
"We still need to check!" I insisted, stumbling as I eyed the Church of Aeor, burning as everything else was, like a lighthouse, perched above the rest of the city.
Erin groaned from behind me before picking up speed to run right beside me along the path.
I was already dripping with sweat, the heat more intense than almost any I had felt before. I tried to cool down the area, letting frost flow like extensions of my limbs, but it melted before evaporating almost immediately.
With a struggle I staggered up the steep cliffside towards the Church of Aeor. I had hidden the crystal there; I had thought that just maybe there it would be safe. But clearly, I had been wrong.
Even the very ground burnt my hands, leaving angry red marks that would surely fade into blisters. But I kept climbing, ruffling my wings to try and propel myself forward.
Erin was up to the top before I was, over the last ledge of the crumbling path that looked like it could give way any moment.
With a final burst of speed I leapt over the pothole that was slowly growing to swallow the path. "Why are we even over here!?" Erin asked cluelessly as she continued to follow me, sprinting for a moment to catch up with my run as I stared forward again.
"Crystal. I told you." I replied breathlessly, raising my arms as we closed in on the building in flames. Frost yet again exploded from my palms, forming a skewer of ice that lasted just long enough to bust the doors open for us to get through.
Inside the church was probably twenty degrees hotter than it was outside. I instantly felt faint, my vision blurring into a sheet of orange from the fires licking the walls and support beams. This place was coming down.
Ignoring the instability of the room, I sprinted down the aisle, past the pews, towards the alter.
"Scott stop!" Erin shouted after me, and I felt her hand grab to the back of my shirt. I came to a skidding halt, only just realizing the sinkhole before the podium that I had nearly ran straight into.
"Thanks." I said after a moment, chest heaving as I stared down into the hole...right where I had left the crystal. There was a cavern beneath the church...this led straight into it.
Tendrils of corruption and a deep eerie red lurked in all corners, slithering with sickening thuds as they curled along the walls.
"No, no, no, no naomh fucking Aeor chan eil seo math!" I swore, kneeling down before sliding inside. I felt my stomach drop as I fell the ten or so feet, before stumbling as I landed.
"Scott what are you doing!?" Erin called, before leaping after me. With a flap of her wings, she hit the ground directly beside me, her knees buckling as she steadied herself.
"Checking for the crystal." I replied, peering around the small cavern.
"Scott there is no way the crystal survived those earthquakes! And it's obvious because of THIS!" She snapped, gesturing wildly to the surrounding corruption. She kicked off a coil trying to wrap around her ankle with a short hiss, wings flaring.
"Well, what do we have here? Our sister actually being the sensible one for once?"
My head snapped up at the voice that sent chills down my spine that related nothing to the frost. I knew that voice.
At the sound of my brother, my eyes locked with his red ones. And he smirked back. He leaned over the hole, above us, arms folded behind their back...somehow more threatening than if they were balled into fists at his sides.
I caught sight of Erin's expression, moments before it contorted in rage, red peeling from her skin to coil like wires around her forearms. Like halos of destruction.
Before I could register the situation, Erin had flung herself up with a cry of anger, launching herself back up and into the main church.
"Erin!" I shouted after her, propelling myself through the heat with a struggle back out of the cavern. I landed clumsily, the warmth starting to get to me, spreading my wings to keep myself steady.
I was nearly thrown to the ground again as another shake of the earth exploded beneath my feet, causing the already flaming and unstable supports of the church to creak and weaken even more.
"Where'd that bastard go!?" Erin snarled, our brother now nowhere in sight among the fire and chunks of the ceiling which had already caved in.
However, she was answered a moment later by a wild cackle which echoed so loudly it seemed to be resonating directly inside my head. I felt my body seize at the short, fleeting memories that followed...the pure red eyes piercing through the smoke, and the wicked laugh of Exor near identical and just as chilling.
My head snapped towards where it came from, although the laugh seemed to be coming from everywhere.
I caught sight of them for a moment, standing in the doorway with that triumphant grin. Like he had won.
I hardly had the time to make eye contact before Erin had thrown herself at him again, a mix of red and wrath as the swirls of power exploded from her skin in coils for the other elf. But with another laugh they were, yet again, gone, their cackle echoing throughout the church as the whirls of red collided with the doorframe, shaking the building even more.
"Oh shit–" Erin said, eyes widening as the little that remained of the roof began to crumble. Still in a daze from the heat, I didn't protest as she grabbed onto my wrist, pulling me, before breaking into a run and dragging me from the collapsing building.
The sound of the falling supports and the bricks and shingles hitting the ground threw me into a daze.
"SCOTT!" Erin snapped, bringing me back to reality after grabbing to my shirt and tugging me down. Several blinks later we managed to lock eyes, hers filled with a kind of panic I had never seen in them before. "What do we do?!"
The question swirled in my head, meaning nothing for a few moments while I struggled to comprehend the words and what was happening around me.
The city was on fire. The world was falling apart. My brother had escaped...
What do we do?
I didn't know the spell to return Xornoth to the crystal, I didn't have what we needed, and he had proven time and time again that I didn't have the power to stop him... and the prophecy, lingering in the back of my mind, that stated what would happen if my brother happened to be killed still haunted me.
I was brought back to reality again as Erin shook me a little more violently. "Scott! Can you hear me!?"
I nodded in response, only now realizing how heavily I was breathing, even more dizzy from before.
However, with the thought of the prophecy, another thought hit me. Something I had literally found the night before...
I still had the Rune Blade, didn't I? But...would the reason I had been given it be for a solution as drastic as what was coming to mind?
"Come on." I said, tugging myself from her grip as I started to make a beeline for the palace. I broke into a run after a few feet, right for the edge of the hill before throwing myself off and beginning to glide down. I could see the flames consuming the inside through the windows, but my mind was now focused on nothing but retrieving the sword.
"Where are we going?" She demanded, though I still heard the sound of her wings ruffling as she followed.
I didn't respond, instead propelling myself towards one of the windows and crashing in feet first. The glass shattered, overwhelming my senses as I tumbled inside, shards flying. I screwed my eyes shut, tucking my wings to my back before feeling small, sharp spikes of pain as the pieces of glass scraped past me and I tumbled across the floor.
I heard my sister shout my name before a thud meaning she had landed next to me. "YOU IDIOT!" She snapped. "I'M supposed to be the reckless one, what are you THINKING?!"
At this point I was no longer processing her words, no longer trying to take in my surroundings, no longer trying to 'think'. Thinking would lead to worrying, worrying to panic and panic to failure.
With the world falling apart, Xornoth would only make it fall faster.
I felt Erin's hand grab to my arm, yanking me from the floor. I staggered back to my feet, head spinning to make it seem like I was on a merry-go-round. Erin was now looking up at me with an expression of fury, ash slathered across her face mixed with a sticky crimson, and the vaguest hint of concern.
I paused for a moment, catching my breath. That was, before the floor creaked horribly beneath us, visibly weakening with the flames from the floor below.
"Oh Aeor..." I muttered, glancing back up before jogging into the hall. It looked normal from here, despite the immense heat gathering and the smoke rising to the ceiling, pooling into the passage from the stairway. It took me a moment to remember my goal, or where my room was. The heat was definitely getting to me now. "This way." I said after a moment, beginning to run down the hall to the right.
"This way to where? For what? XORNOTH'S GODDAMN RIGHT WHY AM I BEING THE SENSIBLE ONE?"
I ignored her.
Quickening my pace I broke into a sprint towards my room, the master bedroom. I had hidden the sword there...why? I don't know, but I had.
I burst inside; my sister close behind me. It was a miracle the place wasn't in flames yet, looking all as it should. Just as I had left it. Even Xornoth's binder still laid on the floor.
It had no right to look so perfect with the chaos encasing it. Like a snow-globe within a hearth.
I shook it off quickly, running forwards towards the headboard of the bed. I ran my fingers down the bookcases built into the wood, scattered with volumes that I hardly touched nor bothered to read.
Finally I came across the spot, reaching within the side and groping around the hidden compartment concealed by the books I had shoved aside.
"Scott what are you–" Erin had began, coming to a sharp pause as I wrapped my hand around the hilt of the mysterious blade, pulling it from the headboard. The runes etched into the silver metal glowed a bright shade of cyan, casting light in the dim room that seemed to have shadows hanging like draperies from the ceiling. "What. Is. That?"
I turned, sword in hand, to see a look of astonishment on the girl's face, eyes wide as she stared. "Something that just might be able to help." I replied.
"Where did you even get that!?" She asked after composing herself, expression still vaguely stunned.
"Not important." I said, my heart coming to a near stop as I heard the crackling of fire beneath the floor. "We got to get out of here–"
"Ya think?" Erin snapped, wings flaring again, eyes flashing red.
I hardly heard her, the room still spinning as every detail seemed to pound into my skull. I closed my eyes for a moment to try and shake the feeling of being tossed around. Holding the Rune Blade tightly, I pressed the flat of the blade against my back, between my shoulder blades and using the little energy I had, I managed to freeze it to my back, cushioned by my wing joints so I wouldn't have to hold it. It was heavy.
"Yeah...let's go." I added after opening my eyes, starting back towards the door. Soon enough me and Erin were running again, towards the staircase. "We need to find Xornoth–"
"Hah. He'll be the one to find us." Erin replied from directly beside me, her eyes trained on the path ahead.
"Reassuring, thanks." I deadpanned, my heart pounding faster and faster to the point I swear Erin should have been able to hear it. And it only got louder and faster the more I thought out my plan...there may be no other option...
Don't think about that now.
"Scott STOP!"
Erin's voice snapped me back to reality as I looked down, nearly falling right through a gaping hole in the ground where the start of the staircase was supposed to be. And I would have fallen if Erin hadn't grabbed to my shirt and sleeve, stopping me from careening right over the edge.
I stared down at the fire just below me, a mass of flames I would have flung myself directly into, my thoughts pausing for a moment. That's the second fiery hole I had nearly plunged to my death in today.
"You are going to get yourself killed." Erin said slowly, through deep breaths, her voice low and shaking in...rage was it? No, maybe a little bit of anger, but more prominent was something like...fear.
I backed away from the edge slowly, feeling Erin loosen her grip, as I glanced over at her. Her eyes were narrowed, irises dancing with the airy red that writhed up and down her arms.
"Sorry." I replied rather breathlessly after a moment, absolute silence settling nearly as thick as the smoke.
"I'm very tempted to push you." Erin threatened a minute or so later, before fully letting go of my shirt, arm dropping to her side.
"Well that would be quite counterproductive, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, shut up." Erin scoffed, rolling her eyes as she slapped my arm. "I thought we were in a hurry. To like, I don't know, not die?"
"Yes- correct." I said, turning to look back at the hole along with the rest of the staircase crumbling nearly ten feet away.
I took several steps back this time, before throwing myself forward. With a beat of my wings, I managed to launch myself just far enough to land a bit wobbly on the stairway on the other side of the breach in the hall.
I looked back to see Erin raise an eyebrow, before doing the same and landing beside me, wings fluttering before folding behind her.
I didn't waste another second before making my way quickly back down the staircase to the nearly unrecognizable entrance hall. It was completely on fire, carpet shriveling to ashes. The chandelier had long since fallen, shards of shattered crystal reflecting the violent oranges along the burning walls.
My first thought, before yet another wave of fatigue hit me, was: How the hell were we supposed to get to the exit?
I was nearly drowning in the heat, unable to process words any longer. I heard Erin speak to me, heard her try to get my attention, but none of that seemed to be going through. My vision was flickering, spinning and swaying like I was being thrown.
I could no longer tell if I was sitting or standing, conscious or not, moving or still.
However, I could tell as a wave of cool air (compared to the inside of the palace) hit me in the face.
It took me several moments to realize Erin had managed to drag me outside.
"How–" I started, stumbling and breaking away from her grip.
"You nearly passed out. I parted the flames." She replied simply, showing no sign of elaboration as she kept walking even after I had broken away. I had to jog despite my exhaustion to catch up again.
"How–" I repeated.
"I'll show you later–" Erin was cut off by another wild cackle that sounded throughout the burnt and dry clearing right outside of the palace. Chilling even with the heat.
"Your attempts are actually humorous." My brother snickered, voice echoing in my head as if they were stood right next to me.
Erin seized up immediately, before moving to a defensive stance, power flaring around her wrists.
In response I drew my regular sword from its hilt at my waist, stepping closer to Erin to stand back-to-back with her. I looked around desperately for where Xornoth was, although I caught no sight of him through my bleary vision and the fields of smoke.
Fear pounded in my throat like a second heartbeat as I searched for their figure, but he was nowhere to be found. I felt the boning of Erin's wings press against my own wings, her body rigid behind me.
"He's got the high ground metaphorically with his teleportation. We gotta even it out." I heard her whisper. "Keep an eye out, we should get somewhere physically high. Help us narrow down where they're watching us from."
"We run?" I hissed back, eyes flicking around to take in our surroundings.
"You know it. Ready?"
"Always."
"Alrighty then, on the count of three..."
She had made the countdown faster than I could comprehend, before bolting. However I was hot on her trail, gaining and then running beside her. I didn't recognize the streets of Rivendale anymore, nor did I take the chance to look as everything zipped by us. I only had one thing on my mind...how I'd stop our brother.
One solution seemed obvious, didn't it? Trapping Exor didn't work...banishing them to another realm didn't work so...
But I didn't want to kill Xornoth... did I?
The thought only made the growing pain in my chest stronger, clawing at my throat and through to the pit of my stomach.
I was panting, every breath sending stabbing pain through my ribs. But I couldn't stop now.
I had come too far to quit.
But, what I hadn't expected, was to hear my name within the scream that ripped from Erin's throat, tearing through the air, real and raw. It was so startling, I came to an immediate halt, head snapping up only for my eyes to be met with the coils of black flames that barreled uncontrollably toward me.
I didn't have time to react. I didn't have time to move. I had frozen still.
That was, until a violent force shoved me down, throwing me out of the way. I didn't like the way time seemed to freeze in place.
And it all happened in a matter of seconds.
"SCOTT!" Erin shrieked, as if in warning, before I caught sight of the flames, before she pushed me out of the way, ramming her shoulder into my side. I caught sight of her expression moments before the flames exploded against her instead, eyes filled with panic as they met mine.
The next moment, she had been tossed into the air, doused in the dark flames that wrapped and spiraled around her body, sending her flying.
She was launched in an arc, falling to the ground several dozen feet away. She skidded, rolling and racking up dirt and dust as she went.
But she didn't get up.
"ERIN!" I shouted back just as she had my name, as if screaming it would reverse the blow...would reverse the fact Xornoth stood only a little ways away, arm still extended from the blast.
I scrambled to my feet, elbows pounding from the contact they had made on the street. My sword had clattered to the ground but I forgot about that. I ignored the fact my brother stood so close, all my senses blinded by panic.
I sprinted towards where Erin had fallen, one of her wings twitching, her back facing me.
I hit the ground beside her, hyperventilation creeping up on me as I placed my shaking hands on her arm as gently as I could to roll her over.
No, no, no, no, no.
The first thing I saw, was blood. Dark and red, hot and sticky blood. The pillar of cursed flames had caught Erin in the chest, over her shoulder. All I smelt was burning flesh.
In horror I scanned over the burn, her collarbone so burned I could see the bone, the original pearly white now glazed in red.
Fear choked me, constricting my throat to the point I couldn't breathe. It had a hold on my thoughts, a hold on my lungs, a hold on my heart as it seemed to stop.
Erin's chest heaved, her breathing raspy as she gasped air down. Blood splattered her face, having sprayed from the wound that bled so quickly and freely, flowing onto my arms as I slid a hand under her head and neck. Her eyes met mine, eyebrows furrowed in pain I couldn't even imagine.
Yet...she smiled as she did so.
"I– I pai– paid you back." She said, clearly struggling to just speak those few words.
"Wha–" I began, taking a sharp inhale. I hovered my second hand over the burn, blackened and uneven, mutilating her skin, tearing at her shoulder and even peeling at her neck. But my frost wouldn't come. I couldn't do anything, not even soothe it for a moment. As I realized I was absolutely useless, a weight settled in my chest, my hands shaking more violently than ever as I groped for one of hers to squeeze in my sweaty palm.
"I owed you." She answered simply, voice hardly above a whisper. "For everything. You– you didn't think- you didn't think I was about to li– live in debt, did you?"
I gagged down a sense of horror creeping slowly up my throat, starting to become frantic. "No– no Erin you owed me nothing." I said, my breaths nearly as labored as hers. I was unaware of the tears running too fast and hot to freeze down my face as I, with trembling hands, wiped the blood that had begun to trickle down from the corner of her lip.
Erin let out a short, scoff-like laugh. "You're ridiculous." She replied, something I had never heard come from her before, something like affection, lacing her voice.
"I'm not ridiculous! I'm– no– you can't go now!" I cried, desperation seeping through my tone like water through a sieve. "Not like this! Why did you– why would you do that–?"
"Oh re– relax pointy ears. I'll be fine." She stated, and though her voice shook, the confidence that seemed to radiate from her like moonlight shone from it. The confidence that so often grounded me in my worry.
But her words did nothing to end my disbelief. As I began to shake my head, to my astonishment, she laughed. She closed her eyes, and laughed in the face of death.
"Funny..." She stated, looking up at me with that manic look in her eyes that told me a thousand words within a moment.
And in that moment? I realized how grown up Erin was. This was no longer the small, scared and sassy girl I had come across three years ago on the outskirts of Rivendale. I realized how far she had come from the skittish and scrawny elf who had just cheated her way from Eastvale.
She wasn't a child anymore. And the look she gave me told me all too clearly that she wasn't quite done yet.
But her next words were jarring.
"What can hell do to me?" She asked- no, not asked. Demanded. Her words were filled with a power like no other, it was challenging, like she expected death itself to answer. It wasn't rhetorical, it was a statement. A statement filled with pride. Her words rung in my ears, each syllable carefully said to dig deep. To be remembered.
But, I watched hopelessly as my promise shattered into millions of pieces before my eyes. The promise to protect her at all costs...
I watched absolutely hopelessly as the smirk lining her face faded to the ghost of one, the little light left shining behind her eyes burning out to let the pale blue reflect the stormy sky above.
Her hand fell limp in my own, body slumping backwards into my arms, her breathing coming to a complete and sudden halt.
I stared.
And I stared and I stared and I stared but nothing, no part of me wanted to believe it. No part of me would believe it.
She was not gone. She wasn't. She would snap up in just a moment, calling me an idiot for believing she could have fallen so easily. She would be up and ready to fight, like always.
Like always.
But I was sobbing. Something had broken within in me to the point tears streamed like undammed and unstoppable rivers down my face. My body shook with them, like I was being shaken back and forth, being slapped across the face.
And it hurt. It hurt like hell.
I had been stabbed, and thrown, and beaten, and burned, and sliced open, and stitched. I had been left, and I had cried. Loss was something I was familiar with. But this? Oh this hurt more than all of that.
Because, she was gone.
Erin was dead.
And I had let it happen.
I couldn't see anymore from the tears that uncontrollably formed, clouding my vision. I couldn't feel anything but pain.
Someone had screamed. Someone had let out a scream of pure agony. One that tore at my own throat, till it felt scraped and raw. One that pierced the air sharper than any sword could, driven by fury and grief.
I had screamed. I had heard it.
***
Um...I'm just gonna leave this one at no comment...?
Also, for all my peeps who read this directly after I post this (if you're reading this in the future, you can ignore this) I am conveniently going to sleep right after this uploads so good luck trying to get a hold of me for the next few hours!
*Takes deep breath, posts and RUNS*