"Have faith in me..."
Noah's words echo in Jaden's head...
The soldier hides in the darkest corner of a twisted building several blocks away from where Noah is, his eyes shut tight and his gloved hand clenching the pendant. He has been like this for a while now. The Replicant assured him that if he listened, they'd make it out of here, but why does he feel like something is wrong? These feelings are aggressively scratching at the back of Jaden's psyche like his instincts are screaming something is wrong, and he opens his hand...
He stares at that gleaming, silver, cross-shaped pendant so warmly nestled in his palm...
... ... ...
Jaden extends his arm and lets the necklace drop.
DREAD...
The soldier immediately snatches the pendant off the dark-colored ground and clutches it to his visibly shaking chest; he's terrified. That single second of separation allowed the ocean of unseen aetherial pressure from the Abyss to overload his senses; a negative feedback loop. This environment is toxic to humans; he shouldn't be here. The Corporal slumps against the wall and catches his breath while that familiar and comforting radiance returns; this is unreal. What was he involved in!?
"I thought I was ready for this; I'm fucking not..." Jaden curses, truly aware of the hellscape he's in beyond this temporary comfort, and Noah is out there alone. The corporal eyes the pendant once more, looking scared and bewildered enough before a thunderous shockwave rattles the Abyss itself, and the wind pressure of a distant impact shakes the building he's in. A titanic battle is going on!? Suddenly, all of his fear vanishes, and something overtakes him. An air of intensity and purpose; one emotion's burning awakening purges all horror from him in this brief moment.
"Shit! Noah!" Jaden forgets and scrambles to his feet without thinking because his friend needs his help! But he drops the pendant again while doing so, and the moment it slips from his grasp is the same second Jaden realizes what he's done; it's already too late. He opens his mouth to scream, but the overwhelming surge of sensory input overwhelms him before anything else can happen; it's the combined presence of two beings that shouldn't exist, dancing in the corrupt reality of the Abyss. It's too much; it all hits him at once.
Whispers turn into SCREAMS...
"SiNNeRS!!! AlL oF Us!!!!"
"PlEASe! KILL THEM ALL!"
"SPARE NO ONE!"
"WE SHALL BURN YOU ALL WITH US!!!!"
Visions turn into horrific images of terror and madness...
Jaden crumbles upon himself and clutches his head.
Hysteria.
Her God-Killing weapon.
"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
From a shadow, She finally steps into the fray...
A mortal turned Curse, and one that might've just found a way...
A Savior's pendant slowly brightens by her feet...
She steps from the shadows with gracefully ominous poise; her brooding aesthetic of beautifully unkempt black hair, a maiden's pale skin with sharp features that are as striking as those cursed eyes of Hers. A shapely, tall form shrouded in flowing black clothes that cloak her like living shadows; The Abyss itself is her armor. And as she manifests to quietly watch this human succumb to death, those thick bangs of hair brush over her cold, calculating features. Is she thinking?
Her glancing gaze finally notices the pendant at her feet, and she reaches to pick it u-
It SCORCHES Her hand, and she drops it without a hint of agony.
It all makes sense when she looks at Jaden again, and a smile etches across her lips for the first time in ages...
Jaden writhes on the floor in terror, clutching his face with tightly shut eyes while cowering in fear on the hard, cold floor; this terror is overwhelming. No human can withstand this environment. His pants are soaked; he's pissed himself. His thoughts are incoherent because he's on the verge of having a heart attack from terror. This is where he dies, and he can't do a damn thing to do abo-
The Hysteria stops...
What?
"Make a deal with Me, and I'll get you out of here alive."
The woman offers an accord.
Far away enough already...
A world-shattering battle commences...
Between two men who never should have met...
And never would have fought had He not failed...
They fight many miles high in the limitless sky; the moon never gets closer, no matter how high they ascend. Every colliding impact threatens to shatter the twisted heavens of the Abyss, their recoiling forces sending them MILES apart only for them to close the distance again within moments; a repeating cycle of equally opposing forces. Primordial beings are tearing reality asunder with their godlike warfare.
Their impacts blow them apart again...
Their violent clashing starts anew...
The Abyss Knight never makes a sound when he attacks; his Greatsword carries the force of mountains behind every one-handed swing. Those corrupted, asymmetrical wings of his his keeping him afloat against God's Messenger of Death; His Shadow of Mercy. They smash and clash against one another high in the sky with neither gaining ground; they're dead even in this engagement. They attack and recoil once again, but this time, the Knight recovers faster than before and attacks first. He closes the massive distance in moments, already swinging down upon the cold, emotionless-looking enemy.
His ruined, black-greatsword SLAMS against a flexing, black-feathered wing that defies all logic of flesh and bone consistency when it withstands the blow with a metallic sound; the ULTIMATE defense. The kinetic energy rumbling through the blade and through the expressionless opponent releases behind them both with a SONIC BOOM that tears the sky asunder. There's a momentary rift in reality behind them, and there's nothing inside it.
The Oblivion realm...
Abaddon's guarding wing grates like steel against the Knight's greatsword.
"Hnngh!" Dirge speaks in arrogant contempt at his adversary's failed assault, for Abaddon is voiceless. He flexes his back muscles, and the feathered wing that's larger than he is swats the Knight into the sky like a gnat with force. The Knight's vermillion wings of corruption quickly orient it toward the One-Winged Angel for another assault, and the greatsword-wielding warrior swings to CLEAVE his adversary in half.
Dirge, one-handed, swings his weapon in retaliation with such a perfect and precise display of precision, power, and timing that the tip of his scythe brilliantly SPARKS off the Knight's sword and deflects the majority of the force; a divine parry. He does it without even looking at the Knight; He and this Abyss are eyesores to God's reality.
The Knight's body follows his broken poise in the air, but a swift snaking of the scythe's blade around his torso catches him long enough to get flung across the sky like a shooting star with ease; Abaddon's gaze only emanates calm, cold contempt. Then, he vanishes in a vivid flash of black and red: he appears where he wishes and where he's needed. At his discretion.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Dirge appears behind the throttling Knight and is already pivoting and swinging his scythe to cleave the fallen warrior in half when those red-tinged, golden eyes flick with shock for the first time; it's only for a second. The Knight anticipated a Holy technique!? Impossible!
The air catches on fire when blades collide, and the Abyss Knight's OVERPOWERING blow comes with an explosion of energy; Abaddon can't parry this one. The blow SMASHES through the One-Winged Angel's weapon guard and sends him plummeting like a meteor toward the ground; he's flung so fast and forceful he burns the atmosphere on his way dow-
"Unforgivable..."
The Archangel's silence breaks.
God's Executioner has finally awoken.
The whooshing resistance of opposing forces ricochets through the twisted heaves like a roaring train, and Abaddon halts his descent while still far above the ground. The sky is infinite when climbing higher, but that distance isn't lost when falling below. It's still many miles down to the ground when the Angel rights his posture without looking above; only one being warrants his gaze rising to see them. There's a total shift in aura around this Deity, and then it happens:
A flicker of black and gold rights the Knight's SIN and puts Abaddon higher than him in the sky...
The Abyss Warrior spins in a vicious retaliation without a word, his greatsword aiming to cleave this traumatic reminder, only to once again smash against a black-feathered wing.
"Unworthy!"
Abaddon growls through that emotionless visage of contempt, tensing the arm shadowing his raised wing in defense.
The feathers of the feathery appendage flex like porcupine quills, then discharge, shooting armor-shredding plumage with overwhelming force into the ambushed Knight. The feather edges shred and shave the shadows and blackened steel off the plummeting Demigod's form while throttling him with raw force and pressure, but they never take away any mass; the Knight's corrupted flesh defies Death itself. He plummets many miles down toward the twisted cityscape with the falling feathers like black rain, but his assaulter isn't finished. Dirge raises his gleaming silver scythe before flourishing it with one hand behind his back, charging the blade with energy. While this happens, his calm, merciless gaze watches the eyesore of terrascape beneath him.
And blood leaks from the corners of his mouth when he speaks in tandem with his completing charge...
His voice carries an echo...
"Those who witness MY existence, witness reality without God's merciful gaze."
They flourish their scythe with both hands and speak in an icy voice when he swings and tears the Abyss asunder.
"We are your Dirge."
A Reckoning comes with the scything Blade of Oblivion.
The One-Winged Angel cleaves all creation and simultaneously nothing but the space before him.
Reality splits at the same time the Abyss Knight hits the ground amidst a spray of falling feathers, and the world freezes in time. A collapse in the concept of structure; the total dissolution of order down the line of Abaddon's scythe slash that carves into the Abyss itself: severing the shell that caged this reality from the real world. They're back in the Waking World under the moonlight once more. At the same ruins they were before.
Only Abaddon remains.
The Abyss Knight is nowhere to be found...
Is it ov-
"Almost..."
A curse whispers moments after the One-Winged Angel's expression changes with reality again.
"But, you were a literal second too late..."
Casuality reverses in a fleeting lapse of attention, and Abaddon stands in the Abyss again; He hovers over the same bloody spot Noah sacrificed himself with indifference to the well-being of that Replicant. The twisted buildings surrounding the Deity are as disgusting as the corruption constantly trying to gnaw through his Divine Flesh to no avail. Still, this Halo-lacking Executioner shows no fear, only constant and effortless contempt. Irritating.
A flash of warping red and black several meters in front of the idling, eight-foot-tall God draws his red-tinged, golden-eyed attention. He witnesses the form of someone who demands his attention: only three in existence have ever done this. "Your arrogance knows no limits to boldly stand in the sight of His Executioner..." Those words deepen into malice; the growl of a beast preparing to attack.
"Eve, the Traitor. I will have your head."
"My name is Evelyn," the red-eyed woman corrects with a venom to her words that's as toxic as this God's; she has no fear of the Divine in her domain. "You'd do well to remember it while in my reality, slave of Ya-"
"YOU WILL NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!"
Abaddon's roaring order accentuates his raised scythe blade when he points it at her. Eve stands fearless, but her rising aggression in voice matches his roar.
"I will say whoever's fucking name that I GODDAMNED WANT TO!" She SCREAMS back, unhindered, and a violent whiplashing banshee wail of something else echoes through the Abyss; it draws the One-Winged Angel's attention. What was that? His glare falls back on Eve, and the woman's expression is as calm as a still ocean. The ice in her fire-colored gaze, though...
"Here is what's going to happen, and you'd do well to listen, considering your vessel is going to die the moment this Sacrificial Ascension ends. You're going to get out of my dreamscape, and you will not come back unless I invite you." A disgusted scoff blemishes a pretty face; a monster disguised as a beautiful woman in her prime. She raises her left hand and snaps her fingers, and another flare of red spits out Jaden's unconscious form. Abaddon entirely ignores the body, and Eve keeps talking.
"I do not kill mortals; their sins do."
She kicks the soldier's unconscious form over to Abbadon's feet, where the Deity notices the pendant after it falls out of Jaden's shirt. It lands in the soldier's palm, and Abaddon turns his eyes on Eve. The woman's already walking away, dismissing the deity with an annoyed wave over her shoulder and some parting words before vanishing like a ghost.
"Even the Devil can perform miracles. Replicant."
Abaddon's eyes twitch.
Reality distorts and causality unravels, and the real world snatches them from her Domain.
The silence, darkness, and powdery snow are all so pretty...
Abaddon gazes up at the sky with solemn eyes and a mournful expression; this shift from cold and emotionless is a sign of Descension, a lethal thing for him. The God drops his scythe and lets it dissipate into the wind, then collapses to his knees. His pale flesh warms and returns to a fair complexion along with his size; his snowy white hair turns black again, and the radiance in his golden eyes dies. The last thing he sees before the hole in his chest takes his life, and he dies, is Jaden's body nearby. Alive. Noah smiles.
I saved you just like I promised...
The Demigod collapses as the Human snaps awake.
"AHHHH!" Jaden lurches from the cold snow to his feet; his piss-soaked pants helped. However, he's calm after his initial shock. The Corporal quickly scans his immediate surroundings, a survival trait beaten into him through the military. It's then that he sees Noah's corpse, and he rushes to him without even thinking. "SHIT! NOAH! NOAH!!!"
The man dives into the snow and flips Noah on his back, then grimaces at the lethal wound punched through the man's exposed muscle shirt. What the hell did this do to him!? Jaden quickly checks for vitals or anything he can do to revive and save Noah. However, he's never been one to cling to false hope and quickly succumbs to the hard realization of reality, and clutches his knees to his chest. He sits near the corpse for a few minutes. Just crying in silence while clutching the pendant in his grasp.
"... It wasn't supposed to end like this, man..." Jaden wipes his face with a half-numb hand; he doesn't care anymore. "I don't know what happened. I can't..." he clutches his head in growing frustration; the more he thinks about it, the more angry he gets. He throws the pendant at Noah's corpse before lashing out at the air, not even realizing the relic scorches his palm. He should discard it now before he accidentally flings it into the darkness with his tantrum. The pendant would've found its way to Noah regardless, despite Jaden's ignorance.
"WHY CAN'T I FUCKING REMEMBER ANYTHING AFTER I DROPPED THAT DAMN PENDANT!" he screams into the night, pacing back and forth and crashing out on himself and his failures. "WHY AM I SO FUCKING USELESS! EVERYONE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, JADEN!" Survivor's guilt overwhelms him. Hysteria bursts like a hidden tumour from his soul. He can't take it anymore.
He goes to grab his sidearm from one of the Humvees.
It's all his fault. He should've died before the Abyss took them. Noah could've survived with his pendant.
"It's all your fault, Jaden..." she whispers in his psyche.
She's right...
"I refuse to live with myself after this. I refuse to be the only one that lived when I didn't do a damn thing worth surviving for!" he cries and pops open the door of the last vehicle not destroyed from earlier, and pulls the handgun out. He cocks the gun and puts it in his mouth, then pulls the trigger. And the last thing he hears, the second he'd already sealed his fate with this impulsive decision...
"JADEN NO!!!!!"
Have faith in me, and we'll survive...
BANG!
"I was the wrong person to be a Savior..."
A corpse hits the ground as a Demigod falls to his knees.
The pendant strung around his neck warmly glows to soothe him, but it doesn't work.
I do not kill mortals; their sins do.
Those words echo in his mind. Is that what he just witnessed firsthand?
Noah slams his fists into the ground and finally crumbles. He's broken.
He saved nobody and earned nothing but a scar for his efforts...
Noah screams in despair at his failure.
And from the depths of a Nightmare, a living Curse snaps her fingers and reforges her undying consort.
All while boldly declaring her declaration of return.
"And thus, my Jailer is broken before he can even fulfill his role..."
"My return will be the end of all gods."
Next Chapter: Shattered...
A/N: If you've read this far and have enjoyed, please consider following and favoriting. Thank you, and enjoy your day/night.