Lazzi felt his heart drop as soon as he saw the bright orange cloud of gas swelling in the sky. It almost came as a reflex as he stopped time, freezing the scene like a historical picture. He sprinted at full speed while his mind was still trying to process what he's seeing. Calvin is not there, he told himself. He is safe...he definitely used his Obelisk to save himself.
Instead of sweating, his skin was beginning to freeze now. But he didn't care. Lazzi only needs to see Calvin alive and nothing else matters anymore. Faster, he ordered himself. The tears that fell into his cheeks quickly froze into a thin layer of ice. Faster. The soles of his feet ached. Faster. He's losing his mind. Faster.
He knew he was near when Lazzi met a thick layer of dark smoke. It's almost impossible to see and breathe so he had to let go of time and unfreeze it. "Calvin!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I'm here now! Caly!!" His heart couldn't stay still. He surveyed the area.The flames were slowly subsiding now that it has nothing else to devour and destroy. He never knew destruction came in black and white. Calvin must have hidden for protection, he thought. He placed his hand on his chest, as if trying to calm his heart. His knees were getting weaker by the second. "Calvin!" he shouted again. His eyes were frantic, looking at every space where Calvin took refuge. "Cal..."
His voice trailed off as he saw a glint of soft blue light.
He hurried and raced towards Calvin. Of course he's alive, he thought. How could he think otherwise? He's the Obelisk of Odds. He wouldn't die so easily..
"Calvin? I'm here!" he announced waiting for the smoke to thin out. And when it did, Lazzi felt his heart cave in itself, a feeling much more painful than anything he ever felt before. Calvin was lying on the ground. His legs were burnt to nothing, his skin dark and red. He fell on his knees and looked closer. He shook his head. No, this isn't him. Calvin is safe and whole. This body was missing his left arm, he just noticed. Whoever this man is, he felt pity for, but this isn't Calvin. It shouldn't be. He was about to leave and search once again but the dying man took his hand and even though it's skin-burnt and hot, Lazzi recognized the gentleness of it, the yearning affinity of it to his own hand. It was Calvin, no matter how much he denied it.
"Laz." Cal muttered. His voice strained and frail. Lazzi instantly broke into tears. He couldn't bear to see his love like this but he must. He stared at Calvin's reddened face with one question on his head. Why? Why does it have to be him?
"I'm sorry Caly..." he whispered. "I'm here now. Okay? Use your Obelisk please. I..." he couldn't continue. He was almost breathless from sobbing.
"Laz." Calvin repeated. "I couldn't see. Is that you?"
"Yes! Yes it's me. What is it my love?"
Cal smiled despite half of his face had already melted. "I'm...so glad... I kept you safe."
Laz felt his chest tightened. "Yes, Caly you kept me safe. You did so well, my love. But I'm sorry Caly...sorry I wasn't—"
"Don't be." Calvin raised his remaining hand and used it to wipe Lazzi's tears. "Take my Obelisk. It's the next step."
"No.... no, no. You need your Obelisk to survive. Use it to increase your chance of living."
"You promised to trust me, remember?"
"Yes, I did but—"
"Trust me Laz, it'll be alright."
"No! Please Caly, no." He lowered his head on Calvin's chest, shut his eyes as if it would stop the tears. "Don't do this. Please, I'm sorry. Sorry Caly. Please live. I'll make Ortus heal you back. Just wait for me—"
"Laz, please. This is my last wish."
Lazzi shook his head, crying desperately, like a little child. He used his Obelisk and froze time once again stretching out the thin thread of moment he has with his love. "Just a few more seconds," he thought, "stay with me for a little more longer." He considered freezing time forever and dying in the process instead of letting Calvin slowly pass away like this. Lazzi's fingers flashed in pain as the ruthless cold began to crept up to him. Then the skin of his face was chapping off. It was a suffering he could far more endure than Calvin's slow passing. He wanted to freeze to death. But then, he remembered there's still hope. He could save him if he has Veross and Ortus's Obelisks. That's right. He nodded and returned the flow of time. It's the only way. He kissed Calvin and consumed a part of his DNA, taking his Obelisk, just like what Calvin had wanted. When the transference sets in, he felt every sensation possible but that nothing came to overpower the pain he was feeling—the pain that the other half of his soul had been ripped out of him.
3:00 minutes.
In the grey chaotic street, gunshots and war in the background, Lazzi stood up, with emotions heavier than a tank. Three minutes, he thought. It's the maximum amount of time he has before Cal's brain completely perishes. He has three minutes to take Wren's Obelisks and revive Calvin. As Shijian, three minutes was plenty of time. "Are you watching us Ortus?" he said morosely, his now empty pale blue eyes looking at a distant silhouette.
Ortus stands just a few meters away. Her skin was burnt as well but she's slowly recovering. With that amount of healing, Lazzi knew she doesn't have energy left for another complete regeneration. That was Calvin's plan.
2:57 minutes left.
"I can bring him back if—" before Ortus could finish, Lazzi punched him in the face. His fist was so fast that Ortus cheekbones instantly shattered.
"Enough talking. I'm sure my Veross gave you plenty of time to talk. Now is the time for your demise."
2:49 minutes left.
Ortus's eyes glowed purple and before Lazzi could react, she had disappeared like thin air.
She escaped.
She fled and took Lazzi's hope of healing Calvin.
But Lazzi could not allow that. He shook his head and his eyes glowed like a radiant sun. He twisted his wrist and rewinded back Ortus into place. "You're not going anywhere!" he growled. Lazzi then paused the time once again and gave her a barrage of beatings—his fist turned bloodied from all his punches. When Lazzi's skin was almost covered in ice, he let go of time and let it flow.
Ortus suddenly felt Lazzi's rageful jabs which made her cough out blood. Her vision was slowly dimming away, her body, shutting down as a response from the trauma. But she couldn't just pass out. She threw scattered debris of concrete at Lazzi but he reversed the motion of it and threw it right back at Ortus. Ortus blocked it with her forcefield.
2:31 minutes left.
"Without me, you wouldn't have existed."
"Ironic, because I'll be the one to erase you from existence. I warned you..."
Ortus growled and teleported behind Lazzi. She was almost able to stab him but Lazzi saw it coming. He turned around and kicked her this time in the knees, breaking it. Ortus fell to the concrete and yelped in pain. Down there, she vibrated the ground so fast it turned to lava and splashed it on Lazzi. She hurled chunks of it left and right, desperate to create distance between her and Lazzi. But just like earlier, Lazzi avoided it easily. He was peering at the future, knowing what Ortus would do before she could even act on it.
1:58 minutes left.
By now, Ortus was acting like a wild animal doing everything it can just not to be captured. She snapped her fingers several times combusting the air around them. The veil of smoke it created was the perfect opportunity for her to obscure hearself.
1:21 minutes left.
Ortus sprinted into the depths of the urban jungle. Her eyes darted left and right but she couldn't find anybody, anybody to eat and restore her energy. Have they been evacuated? Or perhaps killed by the blast that Calvin made? Ortus growled. Her eyes turned purple and her feet suddenly floated above the ground. She would fly away, she thought, as fast as she could. But she hadn't reached a decent altitude yet when she saw a hand reaching for her at her periphery.
1:03 minutes left.
"I told you." Lazzi grabbed Ortus's face "You're not going anywhere." He slammed her back to the ground, resulting in an unbearable thud. But he was far from done. He tightened his grip on her head and pounded it repeatedly on the ground. Thud! Thud! Thud!
57 seconds left.
Ortus squirmed. She morphed her teeth into a viper's and bit Lazzi's hand which made him release her. Her fingertips then glowed and swatted Lazzi in the air.
"Give me your Obelisk Wren!" Lazzi bellowed. He pounced towards her but he was stopped by an invisible wall. Lazzi bared his teeth and continuously punched Wren's shield. "Give it to me! I need it. I need it to help Calvin."
Ortus stood up, her face painted with a tinge of sadness. "His brain should be intact, Lazzi." she reminded him. Her tone was not hostile. Instead, it was solemn, as if bearing bad news.
"I fucking know that! That's why I have less than 40 seconds to save him!"
"No. When you took his Obelisk, you took the tumor inside his brain, remember? His brain...it's not intact anymore."
"You're lying! Give me your Obelisk now!"
"We cannot revive him anymore Lazzi."
"Shut up!" Lazzi's knees fell to the ground. He dug his fingers onto his palm until it hurt. "Liar." he mumbled. He swore something inside him had withered away and was replaced with spite; the ardent flame of his rage swell into something he had never felt before, something ominous. His entire body seemed to surge with so much emotion that he was quivering, barely able to keep his posture up. "If that's the case..." he uttered, his dead cold eyes turned and glared at Ortus before it lit up a bright white light for a second. "I don't see any more future for you, Ortus. Only death." In a blink, he was next to Ortus. She tried to move away but Lazzi was already able to touch her insignia. Lazzi's eyes glowed blue and in a split-second a lightning bolt struck Ortus directly on the chest. Ortus screeched in pain. She convulsed on the dirty concrete as millions of volts of electricity frisked about on her body. Lazzi's eyes then glowed yellow and rewinded back the lightning and hit Ortus again after she regenerated. He repeated it over and over again, right on her chest, waiting for Ortus to regenerate only to electrocute her right after. The thunder was so loud it made Ortus's scream of agony seem like a hush secret. Nobody, not even Lazzi, could hear her beg for his mercy. "Come on, regenerate faster." Lazzi ordered. At this point, the repeated sudden burst of light made his eyes almost blind. "Your heart— I will burn it until it becomes stone. I want you to feel the pain of losing it."
"I... lost... my Veross too." Ortus muttered her skin now burnt like charcoal. She was not regenerating anymore, "I promised him I'll save the Universe." Lazzi stared down at what was left of Ortus and looked at him in the eyes.
"Then we're both a failure to our Veross, huh?"
"Before you kill me," she said, her voice barely a voice at all. "Do you know what Erik's final words for me are? Did Calvin ever tell you?"
Calvin had certainly done so, but Lazzi debated on his head whether he should tell or not. Whether this monster who had killed the love of his life deserves to be happy before he executes her. If anything, he could tell him a lie and break her more deep into her soul as a revenge. It would be most satisfying to deprive her of any love before she dies. But Lazzi remembered how Calvin's eyes glinted hope and compassion when he told him the last words of the old Veross, the same Calvin who had not trusted the kindness of humans since. Calvin told him, because he knew, this moment shall come.
"Erik said he'll wait for those hundred kisses of yours."
Wren, despite every fibre of her muscles were aching, managed to smile. "Thank you."
Lazzi kneeled beside her, his face blank of any emotions, and took a piece of Wren's DNA and consumed it and for the first time in human history, one sole person had control of all the Obelisk of the Universe.
He went back to Calvin's corpse—his head all sunken. He was dragging his feet, feeling exhausted in every aspect. Despite winning the battle, he felt no sense of triumph. He tried bringing him back. But he was reminded that he could not fix everything, even if you're the strongest in the Universe.