Chapter 32: The Battle for Hel's Throne

Part 4:

Fate looks up at Arcane and smiles softly. “I made it.” She whispers happily.

Then she collapses forward, blood coming from her mouth as Arcane lunges forward to catch her.

“FATE! No, no, no, no, NO!!” Arcane screams, ripping through the pale dress and pushing her hand against the other girl’s modest breast in an attempt to staunch the flow of crimson blood. “Fate, you…”

“I… told you…” Fate gasps, reaching up to touch Arcane’s face with a reddened smile on her face. “..this… was my… job.”

“Not yet it wasn’t!” Arcane howls, tears streaming down her face. “You were supposed to wait for me, Fate. To wait forever! What happened to that? Why?”

“I’m… sorry.” Fate coughs, another stream of blood coming from her lips. “I… just couldn’t… wait… any longer.”

“No, no, no. Come on, stay with me. We can fix this, it will be better.” Arcane cries, blue magic streaming from her hands in a pitiful flow. Her thoughts are jumbled, her mind confused, and so her magic doesn’t manage to materialize. Fate coughs again, more blood flowing out of her chest despite all Arcane’s attempts to stop it.

“Arcane... You’re safe.” Fate says, her eyes staring blankly upwards. “That’s good… You promised, after all.”

“Of course, of course, just don’t leave me.” Arcane sobs, squeezing Fate’s chest in a rhythmic manner but only managing to make more blood flow. “It’s not so bad, you’re going to be just fine, we can be together from now on. Fate, are you listening to me? Don’t leave me!”

The crimson flower keeps spreading. Arcane takes pieces of cloth and stuffs them in to try and staunch the flow, but nothing happens. Blue-green magic shines, brighter and brighter with each passing second, but Fate’s life seems to flow away just as fast. The girl’s eyes are already glazed, looking at nothing and yet seeing everything.

Most of the black figures are stunned into place, their eyes and minds captivated by the scene before them. One looks around and shrugs, not seeing the meaning of waiting. He levels his gun at the girls, but Arcane looks up for half a second and glares at him. Cyan lightning flashes in an instant and he vanishes, dust settling slowly where he once stood. The rest flinch at that, but feel the terrifying intent from Arcane and are unable to move to oppose her.

“Arcane… you are safe, right? You are happy, right?” Fate mumbles, blood still streaming from her lips as she stares at the ceiling. “I couldn’t forgive myself… if you weren’t.”

“Of course I am, Fate.” Arcane says through countless tears, magic swirling around the wound with power beyond even what she used to split the plasma wall. “You will be, too. Just hold on a bit longer.”

“Hold on? Why should I hold on?” Fate asks, her blank, glazed eyes turning towards Arcane. “It’s okay, Arcane. Why are you crying? You’re so much prettier when you don’t cry.”

“I know, I know.” Arcane quickly flicks a sleeve across her face, but new tears cover it in seconds. “Just stay with me. I’m almost there, just a bit longer.”

“What do you…” Fate starts to ask, then touches her chest. “Oh. I’m… dying.”

“No you’re not. You’re not.” Arcane sobs, trying to convince herself. “You can’t die yet. We made a promise, that you’d always protect me. You can’t leave me.”

“I… am dying. But… I’m dying, so you will live.” Fate says calmly, even as blood pours from her mouth. “I don’t think… I could ask… for a better way… To go.”

“Yes you could.” Arcane sobs while shaking her head. “We can go together, after we’re old and tired. Peacefully, happily, we can move on together. So hold on.”

“Yes… that… would be… nice.” Fate smiles, coughing up another gout of blood. Arcane pulls her hands away from the bloody chest and sees the hole only opening wider, all her magic unable to force it closed for more than a few seconds. “But… I don’t think… it’s going to happen.” She coughs up some more blood, her fingers tracing the gaping wound. “Not even you… can fix this… Arcane. You need… to let… me go.”

“No! No, I can’t, Fate! What will I do without you? Who can I trust, who can I care about, who can I talk to about all my secrets? Fate, you can’t leave me!” Arcane wails, her magic fading as her overtaxed minds starts to fail, the immense pain reasserting itself and damaging her ability to control magic. “Fate, please.” She begs, tears falling endlessly from her eyes.

“I… can see Him… waiting for me.” Fate mutters. “The light… is waiting… for me. I… should go… to it. But… there’s one… more thing… I... need to do.” Fate coughs up some more blood, reaching out to touch Arcane’s face. “Kiss me… one… last… time… my love.”

“Of course, Fate.” Arcane says, bending her face down and looking her sister in her blank and empty eyes. “But it won’t be the last time, you hear me?” She lets her lips rest on her sisters’, tasting the iron of blood and death in her mouth. But she doesn’t spit it out, or even show any trace of disgust as she pulls herself away, smiling gently despite the tears clouding her eyes. “I love you.”

“I’m… sorry… Arcane… but… I can’t… keep… that promise.” Fate coughs, her voice slowly fading as her eyes turn back to nothing. “I’ve… done all… I can. Everything… of me...is yours… now, and… forever. I… will always… love...”

“FATE!!!” Arcane howls, magic exploding around her and banishing the pain completely. “No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!!! I cannot accept this! I will not accept this! How could you leave me! How can you do this to me! FATE! COME BACK TO ME! FAAATE!!!”

Cyan light surges like a storm, the sheer pressure blowing the shadowy figures into the far wall and falling into the lifeless body of a pale haired girl. The crimson flower is no longer blooming, the empty eyes stare motionlessly at the ceiling, the beating heart has stopped. Even the shadows squinting through the storm can tell, Fate is dead.

“I love you, Fate.” Arcane cries as the power fades, the lifeless body still clutched in her arms. “I love you so much. Now and forever, I love you. I always will. So please… please… please…”

Something seems to flow over the battlefield, a presence that stops all the fighting in orbit and even in Finale itself. It’s focus is right in front of Arcane, a tiny light manifesting itself and reaching through the fading halo of energy. Arcane lifts her head and stares blankly at it, her eyes blinking through tears. “Have you come to take her from me?” She asks, no strength in her voice or body.

The light moves side to side, seeming to bow its head in sorrow before the body. It reaches out and closes the staring eyes, then touches her chest and seals the gaping hole. It bows again, rising into the air and dissipating in front of her. She looks at the body, then at the figure.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” Arcane asks in a lifeless voice.

The figure nods just before it vanishes. Arcane closes her eyes, then looks up towards the retreating presence surrounding the system. “Take care of her for me, please.”

An affirmative answer seems to come just before it vanishes, the fighting breaking out again soon after it leaves, though temporarily far more subdued.

“Eli…” One of the shadows says, as if with eyes wide in disbelief. “For a demon such as her…”

The main shadow slashes through the air to cut off the other’s speech, looking towards Arcane and bowing his head. “Well, this is certainly unexpected. Still, to get Death as well…”

“...” Arcane mutters something with her head bowed, causing the shadow to frown and look at her again.

“What was that?” it asks.

“I said,” Arcane repeats, lifting her head to look directly at the shadow as light flickers into being around her again. “Her name... is Fate!”

Black energy surges around her, reaching out to grasp the shadows and drag them into the light. They gasp in shock, exclaiming in disbelief. “That’s impossible!” “What is this power?” “What’s going on?”

The leader stares at her, not struggling like his companions as Arcane rises to her feet, Fate’s body being wrapped by terrible energy of brilliant cyan and ebony black. A crystal starts to form around her; within, her dress is repaired and the blood cleaned out of existence. Her hands are folded over her chest, and she is arranged in a posture of peacefully sleeping.

Meanwhile, Arcane seems to break something, energy of power unimaginable surging around her and dyeing the world in black and cyan light as limiters long in place are shattered by her merest thought or will. Wreathed in lightning and mist, she holds out her hand and marvels at the intertwining colors, turning it back and forth to examine every side. “Fate… was this what you meant?” She asks quietly, bowing her head in gratitude towards her departed sister. “... Thank you, my love.”

“... How can you use magic?” The lead black figure asks quietly, the rest silenced by black mist so as not to disturb Arcane.

Arcane looks at him and smiles without a trace of kindness or goodwill, lightning flashing around her eyes. “I finally realized something.” She says, turning her eyes back to the multicolored magic around her hand. “It was never the matrix giving me power. Never the concentration of arcane energy from across the universe, never the ease of using spells around Finale. Those were just tricks, lies I used to deceive myself and others, to pretend I was normal, or as normal as I could be. They never meant anything to me. I just fooled myself into thinking they did.”

The lead shadow takes a sharp breath, the implications of what she claims clear to him. “Are you saying you alone possess the power of a star?” he demands.

“A star?” Arcane asks, seeming surprised. “Of course not.” She shakes her head, baring her teeth at him in an expression that is the opposite of a smile. “My power surpasses that of the universe entire.”

The lead shadow snaps his fingers and drops out of the shadow bindings, drawing two guns and pointing them both at her. Arcane merely watches him curiously, not making any move to stop him as the gunshots ring out over and over again.

Her entire chest is gone, her body supported by nothing but air but still standing there calmly. And as they watch, the flesh seems to grow back across the destroyed area and heal, from the bones and organs to the skin and even the dress she was wearing, making it as if nothing had ever happened.

“Impossible!” The lead shadow shouts. “Those are magekillers! Not even nanos can recover what they destroy, and magic is impotent against them.”

“Indeed.” Arcane agrees with a short nod of her head. “You killed my sister with them, after all.”

“Then how are you…” The lead shadow starts before shadows wrap around him again. This time when he snaps his fingers nothing happens, and soon even that is prevented by the coiling darkness.

“You said it yourself.” Arcane smiles at him, shaking her head. “Don’t you remember? I am Arcane of Magia, God of Magic itself. I do not use magic; I am magic. No mortal tool can prevent it, nor any immortal one either. I cannot be killed, not so long as magic exists. I thank you, sincerely, for waking me from my dream and reminding me who I am.”

She bows towards them, then opens her eyes and seems to look straight through them. “In return, I think I’ll show you… exactly what you have brought upon this universe.”

She glances over them, muttering a handful of words. “New Lansing, Balat Seven, Mirinthian Septimus, Trinity Prime, Carolus Major, Victor Elendel. Did I miss any? Oh, and Obscured Elucidna.” The shadows began to struggle even more frantically, as windows of darkness opened to show seven worlds. The lead shadows mouth was unbound, and he gaped at the window into darkness before him.

“A spatial gate… Elucidna is eighty galaxies away. That’s not poss-” He stammers, but Arcane cuts him off.

“Tsk tsk tsk.” She clicks her tongue, wagging her finger back and forth in front of him. “Never use that word. It’s never true.”

“Wha… what do you intend? If you attack Obscured Elucidna, the entire Conglomerate of Purity will go to war with your Dominion.” The shadow says, looking at Arcane with fear for the first time. “You could start a universal war.”

“You know, earlier today, I figured that was the outcome I wanted to avoid.” Arcane says conversationally, but pure rage and madness sparkles in her eyes, unable to be expressed. The lead shadow sees this, and the pale flecks starting to spiral out from the pupils. He stares at them, unable to understand what someone like this could possibly want, or intend. “But as of a few minutes ago, I think it’s exactly what I want. See, you destroyed one of the only things I truly cared about, the thing most precious to me in all the universe.” Arcane turns to look at him, the spatial portals rotating as one to face the golden suns of the seven worlds. “So I think I’ll do the same.”

The shadows are unable to move, unable to comprehend what she intends. So she spells it out for them. “I don’t intend to attack Obscured Elucidna, or any of the others.” She says, turning to the portals and reaching out her hand. “I intend to obliterate them.”

Magic races out, faster than any of them can perceive. The seven suns collapse faster than light itself, falling into the pure darkness from which nothing escapes. Then, they burst.

Light beyond imagination, light beyond that of entire galaxies, flashes outwards and turns the seven planets to dust in a heartbeat. The shadows’ eyes are burned out of their head by a light beyond even a point blank nuclear explosion, their brains addled, the only memory they retain as they die the vision of their homeworlds burned to subatomic dust by the fury of a dying sun. In intense agony, with intense regret, they perish as Arcane uses her newly gained magic to suck their lives away and then tosses their soulless husks through the portals, so that they may die with their worlds.

Then she teleports again. The orbital battlefield spreads out before her, but the massive power of the two fleets is now irrelevant. Even without the support of an Arcanist matrix, she precisely targets every enemy vessel and manifests a tiny black hole inside their drives. The resulting implosions turn the entire sky to utter darkness, the shocked defense forces barely able to react as their enemies are utterly obliterated by forces beyond their comprehension.

But that is not enough. Not enough to slake the burning rage that exceeds the heat of a thousand suns, not enough to mollify the thirst for blood that mere slaughter cannot quench. The condemnation to death of a million million souls around seven supernovas does not even begin to satisfy her wrath. Leaving the newly black void, Arcane rends through space to reappear above the solidifying crystal coffin. Above the peaceful expression of her dead sister, she wallows in the blazing fires of her rage, the frozen ice of her hatred, and the utter chaos of her madness.

This is the legacy of humanity. Of their greed, of their justice, of their pride and compassion and hope and despair. Their good and evil, their light and dark, their everything; all of it combined to end in this. They took everything from her. In their impossible quest for equality, in their mad desire for freedom, in their endless pursuit of happiness and their greed to consume all things, they had done the unforgivable.

They took that which was most precious to her, and destroyed it.

Simply because she was born different, simply because she had power they did not, simply because she seemed to be in their way. Because mankind hated to look up, because mankind could not accept anything in between them and the summit, they had rejected her. And for that rejection, because of her, Fate had died. Because Arcane did not realize, because Arcane did not act, man had killed her.

Burning rage beyond rage, blazing fury beyond fury, frozen hatred beyond hatred. Emotions Arcane was never supposed to feel, emotions she had never known even in the slightest overwhelm her with a magnitude even the most angry, furious, and hateful had never felt. Cruel, vicious, and malevolent, they cry out for blood, for destruction, and for vengeance.

Yet that was not enough. That could never be enough.

So they wish for something more. Crueler than cruelty, more vicious than viciousness, more malevolent than malice. And so, within her heart and soul, they create something that fulfills that desire. Something forbidden to all that is, all that was, and all that will ever be for its terror, for its destructiveness, for its darkness.

Far from the tormented system the mighty presence that halted the battle for a moment pauses, feeling that which it feared above all else. All around Finale, the defenders start to shiver as primal instincts hidden deep within all living things scream out in horror. Throughout the universe, beings with power immense or knowledge deep feel a cold spike of fear, a warning that the deepest and darkest of all secrets that even they never wish to think about stirs. And even beyond, in the countless planes of existence forged by a civilization that surpasses the bounds of reality, countless beings sense a disturbance as if every soul that ever was cried out as one in absolute terror.

As she opens her eyes to reveal a pale spiral in those cyan rings, Arcane releases all her rage, all her fury, and all her hatred in that single moment, imbuing it in to her lips as they speak a single phrase, a pair of words that must never be spoken aloud, or even thought in the deepest depths of one’s mind. As they leave her lips, all of existence shudders in horror. For with their speaking, evil is born.

“----- -----------.”