Chapter 19

The Lightbringer

“He’s here. We’re saved.” Vivian’s trembling voice brought hope to the teens there. Emil chuckled as Eddie slumped against him, and Meredith could feel the numbness leaving her limbs. Her hand could reach down and retake the Earth-Splitter. Raymond was also emboldened, the ferocity of Tempest Squad’s captain returning.

“So, that’s the leader of the Corps…” Silva breathed, leaning on his axe. His words drew the Reaper’s untimely attention, and the head of the Order stared down the craftsman. Gaius struggled to stand, his shadows pushing him back up.

“Well, what a circumstance this has offered,” the Reaper said with an ominous chuckle. Meredith didn’t let her limbs lock up. She continued to push, hoping to find that extra spark of fight within her. “I’m honored.”

“I wouldn’t be,” Raymond spoke. “You’re now facing some of the Corps’ finest.”

“We’re quaking, boy,” Gaius cackled. He was standing again, and Marcus turned his gaze on him. His eye was twitching while he surveyed the priest. “But you’re up against the Order! Our vision will not be thwarted!”

“Your vision?” Marcus asked. His blade began to draw itself out, glowing in the darkness. It was a beacon that directed itself towards the shadow-user. “I don’t give a damn about your vision. I don’t give a damn about what you thought you’d accomplish here. But I do care for these children’s lives.”

“Ah, how frightening,” Gaius said. He stomped forward. Marcus never wavered. “All talk! That’s what you Guardians are! Make a better world. Make a safer world. You only do that through sacrifice and blood!”

“Gaius…silence. You’re talking too much,” the Reaper snapped. Gaius dropped the cackles, but not the grin. “I gave you a task. Complete it. I shall complete mine.”

“Like hell we’d let you!”

Fire plumed at the combined cry of Raymond and Rico. Limbs sprang to life and movement stirred within the settlement. The marching cultists were intercepted by the swift swordsmanship of Bruce and Trent, while Emily cartwheeled around the area, knocking the enemy out in droves. A shadow shot out, encircling Marcus, who sliced through it with his blade. Still, Gaius sent more, occupying the man as his subordinate engaged the Reaper.

Raymond’s blade melted and swirled, transforming into a metal crossbow that fired. The Reaper held a hand up, forming a nexus of energy that sucked the metal shot inside it, before redirecting it towards Rico. The leader of the Renegades dodged, changing his spear into its usual pair of blades that he swung at the robed individual.

“Sword.” At the Reaper’s command and outstretched hand, a sword from near Silva broke away and snapped into their hand. The Reaper made an immediate move to block, opening themselves up for Raymond’s lunging attack. “Bind.”

Vines fitted with thorns came from the ground, ensnaring Raymond. Meredith’s brother attempted an attack, but the Reaper whirled him around, throwing him into Rico. Marcus and the Tempest Squad members remained occupied. Meredith watched as Raymond stood, engaging the Reaper with swift sword strikes, though he was utterly outclassed. Rico was slower to stand.

“You’re quite skilled. It’s no wonder you’re a captain.” Raymond didn’t fall for the taunt, ducking over the Reaper’s slash and aiming to pierce them with his sword. For a second, Meredith thought it had connected, until the Reaper’s smoky copy faded away and they reappeared behind Raymond. “A little naïve, though. Do you know why you fight? Why you protect?”

“For the good of serving the Guardian Corps!” Raymond said. He blocked the incoming blow, but even Meredith could see the strain on his face. This fight was ending soon, one way or the other. Meredith made to move towards Silva and her fellow travelers. “I will fight to protect the people. To protect their way of life!”

“What an amusing rhetoric!” the Reaper said, their voice booming across the entire cavern. Meredith paused, looking back as smoke began to surround the Reaper, obscuring them from view. Rico struck, his spear aiming for where the Reaper was, only to meet air. They appeared behind Rico, grabbing him by his neck and tossing him aside, only for the leader of the Renegades to send another attack, this one of fire. The cavern grew darker and colder. “You serve the Corps so blindly! You don’t even have an answer beyond what’s fed to you. Beyond the world you live in.”

Rico’s attack ended, his own face twisted with realization. He lowered his weapon and clasped to his side, where a bruise was forming. Raymond, however, hadn’t given up the attack. He sailed through the smoke and punched up, forcing the Reaper to take a step back.

“So, what? My experiences are my own! I choose to use them in service of the Corps! I choose to protect the people, whether they believe it necessary or not! I will save them!” Raymond spun, his blade becoming jagged while it soared for the Reaper’s cloaked side. “As long as our Chief Commander remains on the battlefield, we will remain as a part of his body and fight!”

“Most intriguing!” The Reaper’s sword-hand flashed out, stopping Raymond’s blade, while their other moved towards his chest. It made contact, and Raymond froze. Meredith gasped, pulling herself up on Silva’s craft table as she watched. Fear for her brother took over and she wanted to scream. Emily, Bruce and Trent did just that as a beam of darkness coalesced. “You’re very interesting. Your ideals are engaging. I have to admit my admiration, misguided as it is. My compliments.

“But I’m done tarrying here. You’ve delayed our Order long enough. Dark Gasp.”

Meredith opened her mouth in a silent scream. A high-pitched ringing drowned out all other noise in her ears. Every eye turned to the Reaper and the spot of black energy that grew and grew until, finally, it blasted Raymond in the chest. Screams echoed, but Meredith couldn’t make a noise. She just shook her head as her brother hit the ground near Eddie and Emil, rolling to a stop. The only relief he offered was a cough.

“Raymond!” Marcus shouted. Meredith feared the worst, though Raymond’s body began to barely move.

“Oh, you’ve no need to worry of survival,” the Reaper said, yet their voice sounded…odd. Not in one location, but omnipresent. “That spell is little more than a paralysis type of magic. It momentarily affects the body to prevent further resistance.”

“Where…?” Vivian asked. She, too, had tried to stand, clasping as tightly to her bow as she could. Meredith held to her own sword, though she realized it was more from an inability to move than any conscious effort on her part.

“Now, your Weapon. Give it to me.” This time the voice was closer, the Reaper materializing on the other side of the table. Meredith and Vivian gasped, both falling away to the ground, strewn with the cultists that Tempest Squad had finished defeating. Silence was falling on the settlement. “I won’t ask again.”

“Ha…you…you think I’ll give it that easy…” Silva said. His hands, like the girls’, were wound tightly around the axe’s handle. His legs were shaking, backed up against his forge as the Reaper drew nearer. “I’ve pledged my life. I’ll break it and take my own life before I hand it to you. Then you’ll never get your Weapon. Never get your answers.”

“Threats? Can you follow through?” the Reaper asked. They were so close now that panic rose in Meredith’s chest. Vivian was trembling, clutching her bow like a child holding tight to a blanket. Silva nearly collapsed, and even in the darkness, his eyes glistened with tears of fear. “I thought not. You lack will. Like sheep, you need to be led or else you crumble. You need answers or else you are lost without meaning.”

The hand stretched out. Silva acted, swinging the axe and causing the Reaper’s hand to retreat. Once it had, the craftsman held the axe, holding its blade towards himself. “I won’t let you, Reaper.”

The Reaper paused, their body sagging. “So, you have some mettle, after all. Consider me impressed. You’ll make a fine addition to my will and my meaning.”

There was a single moment where the thrill of death increased and Meredith opened her mouth in warning.

It never got out. Silva never moved. Only the Reaper did, their hand glowing white as it plunged into Silva’s chest.

“What…are you…?” Silva’s eyes widened beyond normal limits, his hand dropping the axe to the floor as it reached for the mask it could never reach. Trying to see the identity that none of them could fathom. His body glowed white, as did the Reaper’s, and then, in a puff of smoke, he turned to dust.

A scream followed the disappearance of Silva’s body, carried on the air. The Reaper slackened for a moment, as if feeling reverence for a person that they did not expect. A crash sounded and Gaius was slammed into the swords next to the Reaper. They did not turn, not even as Marcus came charging through, his blade of light aimed for the Reaper, grief across his face.

“Reaper!” he screamed, jumping towards the table. Grief turned to rage and purpose, the bright sword slashing but, within a second, missing. The Reaper had vanished, appearing just a few feet away, bending down to take the Lightbringer Axe into their possession. Marcus whirled around, ready to aim again.

“My apologies, but his soul will be most useful, in time,” the Reaper said, their voice sounding bereaved at their actions. “Gaius, I leave you to attain the others.”

“Your Worship.”

“Get stronger, Chief Commander.” The last taunt delivered, the Reaper vanished in a whiff of smoke and darkness, leaving naught but trickling pebbles behind.

Marcus’s strike missed. He had no problem keeping balance, however, and faced Gaius. Meredith backed away, grabbing hold of a struggling Vivian and pulling her along. They scrambled towards her fallen brother, his limbs stirring from the paralysis. Emily was at his side, the army of cultists having fallen behind her. Rico couldn’t be seen in the darkness.

“Lady…Vivian…” Max’s groans sounded. Meredith realized he had awoken, crawling to their side, all of their group gathered together.

With a blast, the table that once belonged to Silva exploded, cut away by the shadows, giving Gaius the room to stalk forward. Marcus was to the side, a lamentable frown on his lips while he looked over the desecrated site. Gaius didn’t stop, his whirling shadows a threat to the teens gathered there. Emily stood, cocking her fists.

“Ah, I’m going to enjoy this after all the damage you’ve caused,” the Devourer said. He was akin a giant toad, ready to swallow the flies that were them. “Perhaps I’ll drag you all to the Reaper afterwards, alongside your Weapons. They’ll be happy to reap your soul and make you just as pathetic as the sinner that just disappea-agh!”

Gaius was smacked to the side, rolling along the ground as grunts issued from his mouth. Standing where he once did was Marcus, blade held high with a look of righteous fury upon his face. Gaius hacked out a cough, bouncing back on his feet.

“You think this is funny? You think life isn’t precious? Souls aren’t precious?” Marcus asked. His armor clanked and his hair rustled in the breeze through the caverns. “This isn’t a game. People’s lives mean something. They aren’t something to laugh so callously over. It would seem even your Reaper sees that.”

“Oh, stop with the holier-than-thou routine,” Gaius said, his breath coming out as a wheeze. “You Guardians and your Corps…always thinking you’re right. Always knowing what’s best. Well, what about we believers? Where do we fit in with your grand design? Are we so utterly useless to you that you stamp us out without cause?

“Or are you scared that the answers we uncover with the Weapons will damn you?”

Gaius’s question was met by a sliver of light blasting just past his ear, drawing blood. From closer inspection, Meredith could see Marcus’s blade glowing, his fury turned cold. “A meaningless search for answers will not offer you salvation. Not from me. And I’ll not have you continue to foul things up. Not a man with such petty ambitions who craves nothing but destruction and death. Fall.”

“You self-righteous bast-”

Marcus offered no reprieve. His blade slashed, glowing in the darkness as he blitzed towards his opponent. His cape fluttered in the wind, and in milliseconds, he was in front of Gaius, slashing across his rotund chest. Gaius screamed, but moved his hands, sending his shadowy tentacles out, more numerous than any he’d used earlier. Some were erratic, out of control, and shot for the convalescing group.

“Defense measures…now…” Raymond groaned.

“Keep your strength, foolish captain,” Emily chastised, but she nodded all the same. Meredith gripped to her new blade, locking eyes with Eddie, and they touched the ground together. As Marcus slashed away the shadowy tendrils with ease, the earth rose up, creating a blockade between them and the titanic fight. Shadow impacted with stone, poking holes that Meredith could watch from. Vivian joined her, alongside Eddie.

“Why don’t you and your Guardians die?!” Gaius screamed, pushing both hands forward. The shadows, gleaming sharp in the firelight, all converged with the intent to impale Marcus.

Instead of blocking, the Chief Commander leapt into the air, landing upon the solid shadow and riding down it. His sword was held by one hand, and that hand made quick thrusts. Projectiles of light were sent out, battering against Gaius’s body as he fell over. Marcus reached the end of the shadows, rearing back his blade for a mighty attack. From what Meredith could see, Gaius widened his eyes and lifted his hands, creating a wall of shadow.

It did little good.

Marcus slashed forward, charging at the same moment. The wall cracked, and the light broke it apart before colliding with Gaius. The Devourer was suspended in the air a moment, and was then flung into one of the remaining houses. The resultant crash shuddered those on the floor, causing pieces of their hastily made wall to crumble. Marcus never let his guard down.

“Get up. I want you to understand your folly.”

“You…” Gaius was looking delirious, unable to quit. His eyes had gone nearly white from rage, his pupils shrinking so far, he had no sense of reason. Like a beast, only there to devour, Gaius struck. His shadows snapped out, grabbing hold of any weapon it could find before whirling forth for Marcus. The Chief Commander hesitated not.

Within his hand, a light poured out, forming the shape of a blade that blocked one of the strikes and did not break. Another blade came at Marcus, but his physical sword met it, slashing it up and away from him. With a feral roar, Gaius stamped his feet on the ground, sending every shadow he could Marcus’s way, but the leader of the Corps took them all, batting them away with inhuman speed.

“Light-Speed Magic,” Emily said, her voice filled with pride. “The Chief Commander’s own magic, and the greatest alive. He can create light. Become light. Faster than anything, he strikes. He is, indisputably, our leader.”

“A great man,” Raymond croaked out. “Better than his opponent.”

“SWALLOW HIM!” Gaius’s screech was breaking down, the panic over being outclassed for the first time making him sloppy. His face popped with apoplectic rage.

Marcus remained unfettered. With his blade, he spun, cutting off each of the tentacles assailing him. The blades clattered to the ground as the shadow appeared underneath his feet. Firm in his stance, Marcus threw his blade of light into the air, while his form began to sink. Gaius laughed. His crazed guffawing filled the cavern, making him blind to Marcus’s plan.

The light struck the shadows beneath and Marcus emerged. He zipped within range of the fat man, slashing his real blade up before whipping around with a roundhouse kick. Gaius flew away, blasting into a piece of the wall they had created. His back hit the wall, and Marcus ran at him, like a warrior angel, determined to smite the demon before him. Meredith was transfixed, watching like it was an obsession, even while debris got in her hair, obscuring her eyes. As he stood, Gaius was shaking, his shadows faltering from the damage he had taken.

Still, they whirled, becoming razor sharp. Becoming a chainsaw, the Devourer sent the shadows out, homing in upon Marcus. The commander didn’t stop. He zipped from side to side, avoiding each saw as it cut into the ground, before he reached Gaius once more and sent his sword into an upward slash.

“Gaaaah! You…no…” Blood poured out, and Marcus made his next strike. Sensing the danger, Gaius dropped into the shadows, attempting to flee, but Marcus tracked the racing form. He thrust his weapon, the projectile of light blasting into the shadow. “Guhack!”

Gaius tumbled out to the road, ripping it up while he did so. Marcus’s blade was held back, ready for one final strike. Pure panic had set in, and Gaius clapped his hands. Every shadow around him swirled together, twisting and tying into a helix that became nothing but a pulsing blob of shadows. With a pained grunt, he pushed it towards his incoming opponent.

“Is that all you can offer?” Marcus called. He zoomed in and stabbed the tip of the shadow with his blade. Meredith’s body shook, watching as cracks of light appeared along the shadows, spreading off towards Gaius. “All your beliefs. Your clinging to a dying goddess. This is all you have to show for it? Suffer for your sins, Devourer!”

“No! Don’t come closer! Don’t-!” The attack shattered, the shadows splitting away with a death moan, matched only by Gaius, himself. Marcus sped within range, a fist soaring out. Faster than light, the one-handed punches flew with indignation and righteousness, pummeling every inch of Gaius’s body. When they ended, he hung there, hand reaching out. His beady eyes were looking towards Meredith and Vivian, hoping he could reach out and touch them. “The Weapons…they’re right…there…”

“And you will never hold them. I’m putting you right where you belong. Farewell, Devourer Gaius,” Marcus said. One last time, his sword traveled forth in a blinding flash. There was a brief second before the commander was on the other side, and then the slash of light exploded. Gaius flew forward, the explosion coming from his back. He sailed over their heads, slamming into their earthen wall before colliding with his own subordinates and flopping upon the ground.

Stone rained with light, the brightness momentarily illuminating the ruined nature of the settlement following the battle. Marcus raised his blade, twirling it around and sheathing it. His figure and silhouette were outlined in the fire of the forges, and his stance was immense. Gaius no longer moved, his shadows dispersing entirely, but all anyone there could do was stare at the leader of the Guardian Corps in all his glory.

“Our commander,” Raymond said, lifting his own hand and clasping it in a fist.

“Wow…” came the other breaths of Emil and Eddie.

Meredith and Vivian couldn’t look away, themselves. Marcus was more than a man. He was a monolith. The mountain they aspired to reach the peak of. The one that inspired them. Until now, it had all been but rumors, but standing in his presence, seeing him fight, it was unlike anything Meredith had experienced before.

She was in absolute awe.

This was Marcus, leader of the Guardian Corps, and he had single-handedly put an end to the fight in the alchemic settlement.

Meredith and Vivian met gazes, each holding to their Legendary Weapons until, at long last, the adrenaline left them. Their battles caught up and exhaustion consumed them. With nothing else left to do and no one else to fight, Meredith succumbed to the overexertion of her body, and fell into oblivion.