Post by Darkjak87 on Jul 4, 2013 17:27:33 GMT -5
Hello all, so a while back, my characters Zrion and Zephan faced off against Deco, an extremely powerful dark eco construct used by a member who used to be around here, also named Deco. The fight eventually ended with Deco's retreat, thanks to the combined efforts of Zrion, Zephan, and Kelianna, another character who is no longer here.
The fight gave me some ideas, and as all ideas do, they kept bouncing around in my mind until I finally put it into writing. So, I decided to write a short fic, taking place in Haven City, currently being invaded by Metal Heads, Deco leading the charge. However, this time, Deco finally meets his match...
Lord Deco has been used with permission from his creator. His profile can be found here.
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Zrion and Zephan watched in dismay as the orbs of yellow and green eco crashed against Deco’s barrier, fighting briefly against the forces of darkness, before dissipating without effect. With an evil chuckle, Deco lashed out with his dark eco tendrils, contact with which would surely mean their deaths.
However, the tendrils of dark eco never hit their mark. A glimmering blue-white barrier materialized, enveloping the two of them and deflecting the tendrils mere moments before they would have ended their lives.
The source was soon made clear to them. At the head of the street stood a being of untold beauty, a feminine figure glowing with the blue-white aura of light eco, large feathered wings folded against her back. She wore a silver circlet, holding her long, flowing hair out of her uncanny solid-white eyes, and a simple white robe, reaching all the way to the ground. She looked to be human, but anyone could tell that she wasn’t, at least not completely.
Taking advantage of the lull, the angelic figure focused her attention elsewhere after a moment, although the shield around Zrion and Zephan remained. The corpse of a fallen soldier lay at her feet, and she knelt down next to him.
She brushed her hand across the man’s cheek, and the corpse glowed brightly for a brief moment, before fading without any apparent effect. The woman sighed, obviously saddened by her inability to help those who had fallen. “Needless,” She whispered. Her voice was ethereal, her words seeming to carry a faint echo with them, and although she spoke softly, Zrion oddly had no difficulty hearing her words.
The woman’s shoulders began to shake, as if she were crying. “Why…Why am I always too late?” she whispered. However, composed herself quickly. “Rest, child,” she said soothingly, as if the soldier could still hear her. Zrion was surprised at the level of anguish in her voice, and wondered what could be causing her such pain. “May you find peace in the void…” she finished wistfully, as if envying him.
The figure stood back up, apparently accepting that she was too late to save those that had fallen before her arrival. She surveyed the battlefield, taking in the destruction that had been inflicted by Deco. However, once her eyes had found him, they remained.
“So here you stand.” She spoke quietly, but one could not miss the cold anger in her tone. “Your crimes apparent, even as you stand ready to commit another,” she said, referring to Zrion and Zephan.
“Who are you?” Deco demanded.
She paused, apparently surprised at the question. “Who am I?” she repeated, as if unsure how to answer. “I am…Aurora. Yes, that will do…” she decided.
“Aurora…” Deco mused. “I must know, why are you aiding these…vermin? They are beneath us, weak. They would be dead at my feet had you not intervened.” He spat the last sentence hatefully, seemingly infuriated by her interference.
“Have you no sympathy?” She asked of Deco, disbelief creeping into her tone.
“Sympathy?” Deco asked, amused. “What mercy do these creatures deserve, standing before a God such as I?”
The woman sighed, seemingly saddened by his response. “Your answer does not surprise me…I had hoped, however…” she trailed off, seeming to come to a decision.
She began to look around again, taking in all the death, all the destruction wrought by Deco’s rampage, and her anger seemed to return. However, it was not the cold fury she had felt before. Instead, Zrion and Zephan both shivered as her rage washed over them, her aura intensifying and seeming to envelop her in white flames.
“Arrogance! Filth! A stain upon this earth!” She bellowed, her perpetual sadness replaced with fury. “Slaughter of innocents! Corruption of life! This will not stand!” Her voice was, if possible, even louder now, her words seeming to have a power of their own as her rage grew further. “You believe yourself to be a God?!” She demanded of him. “So be it! But be warned, Demon, for even Gods have enemies!”
Her wings then morphed into a dozen tendrils, similar to Deco’s, but appeared to be solid, rather than fluid. They lashed forward as if having a life of their own, extending rapidly to cover the distance and commencing a fierce duel with Deco’s own tendrils.
“You cannot best me, ‘Aurora’” he said, mockingly. The tendrils continued to clash between the two creatures of eco, cracking and whipping through the air at the speed of thought.
Aurora smiled humorlessly. “Are you so certain, demon? You did not so easily defeat those two mortals.”
Deco’s expression turned furious. “They are nothing! They were no match for me! I stood ready to end their miserable existence!”
“Perhaps…” She murmured. “But they fought well…You are winded, are you not?”
Deco growled. “After I kill you, they will suffer for their defiance!”
Aurora moved in the blink of an eye, bringing her hands together as a sphere of light eco began to form between them. It took only a second for it to fully form, and she thrust her arms forward, releasing a blast of light eco aimed at Deco.
By unspoken agreement, the tendrils of both sides ceased their fight and were raised out of the way of the attack. The torrent of eco closed the distance rapidly, but passed harmlessly by as Deco flowed out of the way. Aurora ended the stream quickly, conserving her power for what she knew would be a difficult battle.
“Too slow,” Deco taunted, as the tendrils resumed their battle, seemingly independent of their masters.
Aurora snarled in frustration. “I will end you, demon!” she promised. “I will not allow you to harm another!”
Deco did not answer. Instead, one of his hands began to crackle with dark power and he swept his arm from left to right, unleashing a massive wave of dark eco, quickly extending to cover the breadth of the street. As the eco accelerated toward Aurora, his tendrils retreated, withdrawing into his back. Aurora quickly followed suit, reeling in her own tendrils which promptly reformed into her wings.
She thought of those she was protecting to tap into her power, and a barrier formed around her, all the while maintaining the one that protected Zrion and Zephan from Deco’s wrath. The wave of dark eco crashed into her shield, the edges wrapping around it like a whip. The dark eco almost seemed to shriek as it clashed against her barrier, and Aurora cried out as it attempted to seep through the shield, Deco’s eco reacting painfully with her own as she fought it.
Fortunately, Deco’s attack, while powerful, was unable to breach her defenses, and it dispersed a moment later. They both knew that this duel would not be won by skillful maneuvers or brilliant tactics. Both of them were too powerful for that. No, this was a war of attrition, a fight to see which would tire first.
Aurora did not waste a moment, despite the lingering pain, and allowed her shield to fall. She moved forward, getting closer to Deco as she responded in kind, sending a wave of light eco down the street, washing away the darkness as it went.
However, she followed up the attack immediately, crossing her arms across her chest and slashing them diagonally, unleashing two crossed waves that closely followed the first.
Deco, used to simply shrugging off attacks, felt doubt for the first time in a very long time when he saw the eco speeding toward him. Green eco was painful, yellow was annoying, but light eco could destroy him.
He quickly raised a shield, a solid onyx orb that crackled with sinister energy. The wave of eco slammed into it like a speeding zoomer, and Deco screeched in agony just as Aurora had. The two beings could not clash without suffering extreme pain, as neither was able to bear contact with their opposing element, even indirectly.
The first wave of eco faded against the shield just as Deco’s had, but Aurora’s next attack followed immediately, slashing across Deco’s shield. He screamed again, pumping more eco into his shield as it began to collapse under the strain. As with the wave, Deco was able to overcome it, and it too, faded. The street was quiet once more.
Deco allowed his shield to fall, and he and Aurora glared at each other, neither speaking. Both seemed shaken, the intense agony of their clash fresh in their minds. However, neither would back down. Deco’s pride and anger fueled him, while Aurora was determined to stop his rampage.
Deco struck first, rapidly charging a sphere of dark eco between his hands and launching it toward Aurora, who sidestepped it in a blur of motion. Light eco rippled around her as she began to prepare her next attack.
She held an arm in front of her, palm facing the sky, and a sphere of light eco formed above it, the size of a bowling ball. However, rather than launch it at Deco, she raised her arm and traced an arc above her, the large sphere leaving behind many smaller ones that hovered overhead as it followed the motion. By the time she completed the arc, twenty orbs of light eco hovered in the air above her. She extended her arms to either side, and the spheres spread out, surrounding her.
Aurora then thrust her arms toward Deco, and all the spheres shot down the street at once, approaching Deco from many different angles in hopes of overwhelming his defenses by weight of sheer numbers.
Deco’s tendrils returned, and they immediately began to bat the spheres away as they approached him. Deco hissed in pain as the spheres touched his tendrils, but it was better than allowing them to strike him directly.
The tendrils were very fast, and managed to protect Deco, but Aurora had already pressed her advantage, following up with another torrent of eco aimed directly at Deco, then a wave of light eco, and finally by another crossed pair. Deco successfully sidestepped the beam of eco, although it severed one of his tendrils as he did, eliciting the loudest shout yet. He hastily formed a shield, which managed to block the wave. However, her third attack was too much. It slammed into his shield, and his last defense buckled under the strain and, for the first time, light eco touched him directly.
Deco screamed in utter agony, unable to comprehend the sheer amount of pain as the light eco sank into his body. He collapsed to the ground, losing his shape as he thrashed, his eco fiercely clashing against the foreign matter, desperately attempting to overpower it before it could damage him further. Aurora simply watched him, her expression hard, but her eyes sad. She did not enjoy suffering, even inflicted on a creature as cruel as Deco, but she knew it had to be done.
She believed that the battle had been won when Deco’s screams finally stopped. She bowed her head, feeling the exhaustion from her assault setting in, but when she heard movement her head snapped back up.
Deco had risen back up, returning to his previous form, and although he was still in pain, he was no less furious. “You dare…!” he said, seemingly in disbelief that she had managed to land a blow.
Aurora was exhausted from her expenditure of eco, but she knew that she had to continue to fight. Deco was winded, but not defeated. “Your arrogance will yet be your undoing, demon,” Aurora stated. Her voice was strong, confident, although privately she held doubt. She had expected her last attempt to defeat Deco completely, and the fact that he was still standing worried her greatly.
She cast a fearful glance toward the two innocents that still remained inside her shield. The shield would keep them safe, but it was a constant drain on Aurora. If the fight continued much longer, she would be forced to leave them unguarded to focus on Deco.
“Leave this place, demon!” She said, raising her voice. “You will not be allowed to harm another, but I will spare your life if only you cease your attempts!”
Deco glowered at her. “You, spare my life?” He demanded. “You foolish woman, that was but a minor victory! You, however, will be wiped from existence! Nothing will remain of you, not even a puddle of that vile substance!”
Aurora sighed sadly. “So be it.”
Her wings rapidly transformed into half a dozen tendrils, but rather than lash toward Deco as they had before, they simply pointed themselves toward him, aiming around Aurora’s shoulders and sides. The tips of each one began to glow with light eco, almost appearing to draw strength from the surrounding atmosphere as they grew in brightness. After a brief moment, six thin beams of light eco were released, all aimed at Deco.
Deco knew that this would be a concentrated attack. If he raised a shield, the contact would pain him greatly, and it likely would only hold for a short time. But if he tried to dodge, Aurora would simply adjust her aim; he could not evade them all.
But he knew Aurora’s weakness; she was determined to protect the vermin that had so stupidly attacked him previously. Although they were protected from his attacks, they were still closer to him than Aurora, and he believed that she could not reinforce the shield and continue her attack at the same time.
Working fast, Deco raised a barrier in front of him, and hurled it forward, toward the approaching rays of light eco. Deco then severed his connection to the barrier, weakening the shield and ensuring it would fail sooner, but preventing Aurora’s eco from causing him pain by spreading to his body.
He knew he didn’t have long, so he quickly turned and faced the two mortals, still hiding behind Aurora’s gleaming barrier. He smiled cruelly as his hands began to crackle with dark lighting, moving both of his arms around his form as the street seemed to darken further. Lightning that escaped his increasingly powerful buildup struck out randomly, blasting small craters in the structures around him as he prepared his attack. It was then that he heard his barrier begin to collapse under the strain of Aurora’s power, so he made his move.
With a roar, Deco threw his immensely powerful attack directly at Aurora’s barrier. It was far too close for Zrion and Zephan to dodge, and even if they could have, they were effectively trapped inside the shield anyway.
Aurora realized too late what Deco was doing. Her attack immediately ceased just as Deco’s barrier finally gave way. “NO!” she shouted, fearful for the only two lives that she could still save. She immediately reached for the link between her eco and the barrier, and poured her power into it as fast as she could. The barrier flared as the eco flowed into it, shining brightly and illuminating the street as Aurora poured all of her considerable strength into holding it.
Deco’s dark lightning slammed into the shield, and Zrion and Zephan screamed in terror at the same time Aurora wailed in agony as Deco’s eco clashed with her. The pain was intense, and it wiped all rational thought from her mind, but she did not cease her efforts. Everything else fell away as she continued to throw everything she had into the shield, determined to save at least two lives, even if it meant the end of her own pitiful imitation of it. Although overwhelmed by pain, she was still dimly aware of Deco’s insane laughter.
But Deco wasn’t about to test his power against Aurora’s own over two mortal lives. His attack had been a mere distraction, a means to break her attack by using her weakness against her. Now that she was distracted, he made use of it. He immediately ceased his attack on the shield, which had begun to weaken under his assault, but had never faltered.
Aurora was instantly aware of when Deco’s attack had stopped, as the pain eased immediately. However, she was greatly weakened, as a considerable portion of her strength had been used to defend the mortals. She realized now that she had done exactly as he hoped, and was now at a disadvantage because of it. Despite that, however, she did not regret it. Even if she had realized what Deco was up to, she still would have protected them. Her attention returned to Deco as she heard his dark chuckling.
“So determined to protect these weaklings,” he commented, amused. “And at such cost…I can tell that you are weakened.”
Aurora simply glared at him, after ensuring that her shield was still firm. “I have power enough to defeat you yet, demon.” She said firmly.
Deco snarled. “You will suffer for this, you fool! The pain you have felt already will be nothing compared to what I will inflict upon you!”
Aurora’s glare softened slightly at his words, dark memories rising to the surface unbidden. “You can do no worse than what has already been done.”
She didn’t give Deco any time to dwell on that. Aurora struck quickly, launching a wave of eco at him as she had done before. However, the wave of exhaustion that followed it nearly overcame her, and she did not follow up like she had before. She watched as Deco shielded himself from the attack with a grimace.
He laughed harshly as he allowed his shield to fade. “Weakened indeed…That wasn’t as painful as your last attempt.” Deco punctuated his taunt with another attack, launching his own wave of dark eco toward her, much stronger than the one she had unleashed.
Aurora knew that she could no longer match the attack head on, so instead she made a desperate gamble. She formed a solid barrier in front of her, shaped like a wedge, pointed toward the attack. The dark eco crashed into her hastily shaped barrier, and she screamed again as the dark eco assaulted her through the barrier’s link to her. However, it worked as intended, and only a small part of the attack was directly blocked, the rest redirected to the sides and away from her. She dropped her shield the moment the attack passed her, knowing she had to save every last ounce of eco that she could.
“Clever…” Deco mused. “But such underhanded tactics only prove how weak you are…You have failed.”
Aurora knew he was right. In her desperation, he had used too much of her power in protecting the mortals. Deco was, at least for the moment, much stronger than her. Any defense or attack she could manage would simply be swatted aside.
Aurora cast a desperate glance towards the mortals she had tried so hard to protect, the anguish clear on her face. She could not save them now, Deco had weakened her too much. He had beaten her.
However, she took notice of one of them, the human clad in black armor, desperately signaling to her through the barrier. He seemed to be pointing to the shield, and then lowering his hands. He wanted her to…drop the shield? But why would he want that? Surely he must know that he would die without her protection?
Then Aurora realized what he had in mind. She could still sense the eco inside the two, green in one, red and yellow in the other. Their strength was miniscule compared to that of her and Deco, but Aurora knew that if she continued this fight alone, they would die anyway. Deco was also not paying attention to them – he would not notice until they began to charge up their attacks, or more likely, when one of them took his head off.
She was reluctant to expose them, but she knew that it was their only hope. If nothing else, they could flee the battle while she held him off. She dropped the shield, quickly aback by the sudden rush of power she felt. It wasn’t much, but maintaining the shield had taken more effort than she had assumed. She briefly wondered if the distance between her and the shield was a factor.
The man and the ottsel leapt into action quickly, one charging yellow eco into an attack while the ottsel prepared green eco. Deco seemed to frown as he felt the power up, and made to turn toward them. Aurora immediately seized the opportunity, thrusting both of her arms forward and channeling her eco into two hastily formed beams.
Deco could not ignore this, and he quickly moved aside, but it didn’t save him from Zrion and Zephan, who attacked him at the same time. Zephan’s sphere of green eco took him in the small of his back, causing him to scream in agony. His pained shouts were abruptly cut off as his head was incinerated by the fireball from Zrion.
The two prepared another attack as Aurora rushed forward, her wings once again becoming the tendrils as they extended ahead of her, directing half a dozen thin beams of light eco at Deco. She continued her attack with a sphere of light eco from her hands, which became the center of the array of eco beams.
Deco’s head reformed just in time to see it coming, and he raised another shield, confident that Aurora, in her weakened state, couldn’t breach it. However, Zephan and Zrion attacked again, their attacks absorbed by the strong barrier but not without weakening it. Aurora’s light eco sphere slammed into his shield a split second later, making Deco scream as light eco attacked him once more. The light eco beams followed immediately afterwards, striking the now greatly weakened barrier and beginning to burn through it. Deco’s screams became louder as the ferocity of the attack increased, but for all her effort, Aurora was still unable to pierce Deco’s defense. However, she did not cease, despite her reserves dwindling at an alarming rate, and Zrion and Zephan launched another combined attack at Deco’s rear. When it struck, Deco’s shield finally gave way.
Aurora’s light eco beams tore through the failing barrier and struck Deco directly. His screams increased in volume even further as the pain intensified, and Zrion and Zephan both had to cover their ears as the sound became too much to bear. Had Aurora been at full strength, a hit like that surely would have killed Deco, but in her current state it was not by any means assured. Deco lost his shape again, collapsing to the ground, his screams ceasing at last. No one spoke as the three of them silently prayed that he was dead.
Aurora warily watched Deco for any movement as the ottsel and soldier slowly backed away from him, making their way toward Aurora and the feeling of safety that was felt from her presence. The two stopped moving once they neared her, and the three silently watched the mass of dark eco.
“Is it dead?” Zrion asked hesitantly, still stunned by the show of power between the two entities. He had realized about halfway through the battle that even though he and Zephan had previously been holding their own against Deco, they had been severely outclassed.
Aurora shook her head. “I do not know, child. But if he is not, our deaths are imminent.”
Zephan looked toward her. “But…You can kill him, right? You were fighting him. You protected us,” he said, somewhat desperately.
Aurora looked at him sadly. “I was greatly weakened when he attempted to kill you…His eco struck me through my connection to the shield, sapping my strength. I was able to stand against him before, but now…” she trailed off. Zrion shuddered, his mind finishing her sentence.
It was then that Deco stirred, and all three of them prepared themselves. Zrion’s arms were enveloped in yellow flames as he tapped into his nearly depleted reserves of eco, while Zephan began gathering a sphere between his hands. Aurora’s tendrils returned, reaching far ahead of the three and glowing faintly with the small amount of power she had left.
Deco slowly pieced himself back together, the shape taking form again as the mass of eco twisted itself back into the semblance of a man. Deco fixated the three with a furious glare as he surveyed them, all of them ready to meet him in battle.
Deco immediately prepared himself to attack, but he found himself coming up short. Momentarily stunned, he tried again, more insistently. Contrary to his initial thought, it was still there, but heavily depleted, more difficult to draw upon. He felt…weak. He grimaced and looked toward those opposing him, suddenly not liking his chances.
“So…” Deco said, his voice making the mortals present shudder in revulsion. “I have been…bested,” he spat. “By trickery and numbers, a God was defeated in battle.”
“You cannot blame trickery for your loss, Demon!” Aurora retorted. “It was you who struck at those outside our fight. Your pain is of your own making.”
Deco furiously drew himself up, his tendrils returning. Aurora’s rose to match, ready to begin the duel again if needed. Deco grimaced, knowing the pain that would bring. His glare returned, having eyes only for Aurora. “You have made a powerful enemy today, Guardian,” he said harshly. “You will pay…And so will the mortals who defied me.”
Deco then retreated, fading into the ground in the blink of an eye. Light seemed to return to the street, as Aurora’s now faint aura illuminated the street, now unchecked by Deco’s own.
Aurora sighed. “It is done.”
Zrion looked at her incredulously. “But…he got away.”
Aurora fixated him with her gaze. It held only compassion, but her empty eyes still made Zrion feel uncomfortable. “Yes,” she agreed. “But he is weakened…He will not be able to cause harm for a while yet. By then my strength will match his, once again. He will no longer be allowed to run amok, preying on those who cannot protect themselves from him. I will always place myself in his way.” She spoke with such passion, such conviction, that Zephan and Zrion believed her without question.
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” Zephan asked.
"My pain is irrelevant," Aurora told him emotionlessly. "I am but an imitation of life, a mere echo of a woman. I may have been alive once...I cannot recall, but whoever I was, I am no longer."
"That's not true!" Zephan protested. "You have emotions, talk, breathe. You are alive," he finished resolutely. Zrion nodded in agreement.
Aurora afforded them a small smile. "Your words are kind, and I thank you for them. But please, do not try to convince me otherwise. This is my burden to bear."
“You should rest a bit, that couldn’t have been easy for you,” Zrion tried.
Aurora sighed. “As I said, Deco is weakened. He will not attack again until he is stronger, but I must not lose track of him. I will follow in his wake, mending wounds suffered at his hand while we gather our strength for the next battle.”
Zrion nodded in response, as did Zephan. “Well…Good luck then,” Zephan said lamely.
“And thank you,” Zrion added. “He would have killed us if you hadn’t shown up. Please, if there’s any way we can help you…”
Aurora smiled at them, but it held no true happiness, only her everlasting grief. “Your gratitude is appreciated, but unneeded…You being alive is enough.” Her expression became pained again. “I only wish that I could say the same for others.”
Zrion could tell that she was referring to more than the bodies lying around them, but he didn’t ask her to clarify. Even if she were willing to share, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know.
“I will depart now,” Aurora said gently. “I feel Deco’s presence fading. I must follow him, lest I lose track of him entirely.”
Aurora’s wings sprang out without warning, and she leapt into the sky, ascending rapidly as she followed Deco, determined to hinder him at every turn. Zephan and Zrion watched her in awe until she had faded from view.
The two didn’t speak at first, but eventually Zephan broke the ice. “Well…That was something,” he said weakly.
Zrion’s mind was so flooded with sarcastic responses to that understatement that he didn’t even bother to voice one of them. He sighed. “Well, we still have a job to do,” Zrion said. Zephan agreed, and Zrion shouldered his rifle, setting off toward the nearest source of gunfire with Zephan trailing along behind him.
The fight gave me some ideas, and as all ideas do, they kept bouncing around in my mind until I finally put it into writing. So, I decided to write a short fic, taking place in Haven City, currently being invaded by Metal Heads, Deco leading the charge. However, this time, Deco finally meets his match...
Lord Deco has been used with permission from his creator. His profile can be found here.
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Zrion and Zephan watched in dismay as the orbs of yellow and green eco crashed against Deco’s barrier, fighting briefly against the forces of darkness, before dissipating without effect. With an evil chuckle, Deco lashed out with his dark eco tendrils, contact with which would surely mean their deaths.
However, the tendrils of dark eco never hit their mark. A glimmering blue-white barrier materialized, enveloping the two of them and deflecting the tendrils mere moments before they would have ended their lives.
The source was soon made clear to them. At the head of the street stood a being of untold beauty, a feminine figure glowing with the blue-white aura of light eco, large feathered wings folded against her back. She wore a silver circlet, holding her long, flowing hair out of her uncanny solid-white eyes, and a simple white robe, reaching all the way to the ground. She looked to be human, but anyone could tell that she wasn’t, at least not completely.
Taking advantage of the lull, the angelic figure focused her attention elsewhere after a moment, although the shield around Zrion and Zephan remained. The corpse of a fallen soldier lay at her feet, and she knelt down next to him.
She brushed her hand across the man’s cheek, and the corpse glowed brightly for a brief moment, before fading without any apparent effect. The woman sighed, obviously saddened by her inability to help those who had fallen. “Needless,” She whispered. Her voice was ethereal, her words seeming to carry a faint echo with them, and although she spoke softly, Zrion oddly had no difficulty hearing her words.
The woman’s shoulders began to shake, as if she were crying. “Why…Why am I always too late?” she whispered. However, composed herself quickly. “Rest, child,” she said soothingly, as if the soldier could still hear her. Zrion was surprised at the level of anguish in her voice, and wondered what could be causing her such pain. “May you find peace in the void…” she finished wistfully, as if envying him.
The figure stood back up, apparently accepting that she was too late to save those that had fallen before her arrival. She surveyed the battlefield, taking in the destruction that had been inflicted by Deco. However, once her eyes had found him, they remained.
“So here you stand.” She spoke quietly, but one could not miss the cold anger in her tone. “Your crimes apparent, even as you stand ready to commit another,” she said, referring to Zrion and Zephan.
“Who are you?” Deco demanded.
She paused, apparently surprised at the question. “Who am I?” she repeated, as if unsure how to answer. “I am…Aurora. Yes, that will do…” she decided.
“Aurora…” Deco mused. “I must know, why are you aiding these…vermin? They are beneath us, weak. They would be dead at my feet had you not intervened.” He spat the last sentence hatefully, seemingly infuriated by her interference.
“Have you no sympathy?” She asked of Deco, disbelief creeping into her tone.
“Sympathy?” Deco asked, amused. “What mercy do these creatures deserve, standing before a God such as I?”
The woman sighed, seemingly saddened by his response. “Your answer does not surprise me…I had hoped, however…” she trailed off, seeming to come to a decision.
She began to look around again, taking in all the death, all the destruction wrought by Deco’s rampage, and her anger seemed to return. However, it was not the cold fury she had felt before. Instead, Zrion and Zephan both shivered as her rage washed over them, her aura intensifying and seeming to envelop her in white flames.
“Arrogance! Filth! A stain upon this earth!” She bellowed, her perpetual sadness replaced with fury. “Slaughter of innocents! Corruption of life! This will not stand!” Her voice was, if possible, even louder now, her words seeming to have a power of their own as her rage grew further. “You believe yourself to be a God?!” She demanded of him. “So be it! But be warned, Demon, for even Gods have enemies!”
Her wings then morphed into a dozen tendrils, similar to Deco’s, but appeared to be solid, rather than fluid. They lashed forward as if having a life of their own, extending rapidly to cover the distance and commencing a fierce duel with Deco’s own tendrils.
“You cannot best me, ‘Aurora’” he said, mockingly. The tendrils continued to clash between the two creatures of eco, cracking and whipping through the air at the speed of thought.
Aurora smiled humorlessly. “Are you so certain, demon? You did not so easily defeat those two mortals.”
Deco’s expression turned furious. “They are nothing! They were no match for me! I stood ready to end their miserable existence!”
“Perhaps…” She murmured. “But they fought well…You are winded, are you not?”
Deco growled. “After I kill you, they will suffer for their defiance!”
Aurora moved in the blink of an eye, bringing her hands together as a sphere of light eco began to form between them. It took only a second for it to fully form, and she thrust her arms forward, releasing a blast of light eco aimed at Deco.
By unspoken agreement, the tendrils of both sides ceased their fight and were raised out of the way of the attack. The torrent of eco closed the distance rapidly, but passed harmlessly by as Deco flowed out of the way. Aurora ended the stream quickly, conserving her power for what she knew would be a difficult battle.
“Too slow,” Deco taunted, as the tendrils resumed their battle, seemingly independent of their masters.
Aurora snarled in frustration. “I will end you, demon!” she promised. “I will not allow you to harm another!”
Deco did not answer. Instead, one of his hands began to crackle with dark power and he swept his arm from left to right, unleashing a massive wave of dark eco, quickly extending to cover the breadth of the street. As the eco accelerated toward Aurora, his tendrils retreated, withdrawing into his back. Aurora quickly followed suit, reeling in her own tendrils which promptly reformed into her wings.
She thought of those she was protecting to tap into her power, and a barrier formed around her, all the while maintaining the one that protected Zrion and Zephan from Deco’s wrath. The wave of dark eco crashed into her shield, the edges wrapping around it like a whip. The dark eco almost seemed to shriek as it clashed against her barrier, and Aurora cried out as it attempted to seep through the shield, Deco’s eco reacting painfully with her own as she fought it.
Fortunately, Deco’s attack, while powerful, was unable to breach her defenses, and it dispersed a moment later. They both knew that this duel would not be won by skillful maneuvers or brilliant tactics. Both of them were too powerful for that. No, this was a war of attrition, a fight to see which would tire first.
Aurora did not waste a moment, despite the lingering pain, and allowed her shield to fall. She moved forward, getting closer to Deco as she responded in kind, sending a wave of light eco down the street, washing away the darkness as it went.
However, she followed up the attack immediately, crossing her arms across her chest and slashing them diagonally, unleashing two crossed waves that closely followed the first.
Deco, used to simply shrugging off attacks, felt doubt for the first time in a very long time when he saw the eco speeding toward him. Green eco was painful, yellow was annoying, but light eco could destroy him.
He quickly raised a shield, a solid onyx orb that crackled with sinister energy. The wave of eco slammed into it like a speeding zoomer, and Deco screeched in agony just as Aurora had. The two beings could not clash without suffering extreme pain, as neither was able to bear contact with their opposing element, even indirectly.
The first wave of eco faded against the shield just as Deco’s had, but Aurora’s next attack followed immediately, slashing across Deco’s shield. He screamed again, pumping more eco into his shield as it began to collapse under the strain. As with the wave, Deco was able to overcome it, and it too, faded. The street was quiet once more.
Deco allowed his shield to fall, and he and Aurora glared at each other, neither speaking. Both seemed shaken, the intense agony of their clash fresh in their minds. However, neither would back down. Deco’s pride and anger fueled him, while Aurora was determined to stop his rampage.
Deco struck first, rapidly charging a sphere of dark eco between his hands and launching it toward Aurora, who sidestepped it in a blur of motion. Light eco rippled around her as she began to prepare her next attack.
She held an arm in front of her, palm facing the sky, and a sphere of light eco formed above it, the size of a bowling ball. However, rather than launch it at Deco, she raised her arm and traced an arc above her, the large sphere leaving behind many smaller ones that hovered overhead as it followed the motion. By the time she completed the arc, twenty orbs of light eco hovered in the air above her. She extended her arms to either side, and the spheres spread out, surrounding her.
Aurora then thrust her arms toward Deco, and all the spheres shot down the street at once, approaching Deco from many different angles in hopes of overwhelming his defenses by weight of sheer numbers.
Deco’s tendrils returned, and they immediately began to bat the spheres away as they approached him. Deco hissed in pain as the spheres touched his tendrils, but it was better than allowing them to strike him directly.
The tendrils were very fast, and managed to protect Deco, but Aurora had already pressed her advantage, following up with another torrent of eco aimed directly at Deco, then a wave of light eco, and finally by another crossed pair. Deco successfully sidestepped the beam of eco, although it severed one of his tendrils as he did, eliciting the loudest shout yet. He hastily formed a shield, which managed to block the wave. However, her third attack was too much. It slammed into his shield, and his last defense buckled under the strain and, for the first time, light eco touched him directly.
Deco screamed in utter agony, unable to comprehend the sheer amount of pain as the light eco sank into his body. He collapsed to the ground, losing his shape as he thrashed, his eco fiercely clashing against the foreign matter, desperately attempting to overpower it before it could damage him further. Aurora simply watched him, her expression hard, but her eyes sad. She did not enjoy suffering, even inflicted on a creature as cruel as Deco, but she knew it had to be done.
She believed that the battle had been won when Deco’s screams finally stopped. She bowed her head, feeling the exhaustion from her assault setting in, but when she heard movement her head snapped back up.
Deco had risen back up, returning to his previous form, and although he was still in pain, he was no less furious. “You dare…!” he said, seemingly in disbelief that she had managed to land a blow.
Aurora was exhausted from her expenditure of eco, but she knew that she had to continue to fight. Deco was winded, but not defeated. “Your arrogance will yet be your undoing, demon,” Aurora stated. Her voice was strong, confident, although privately she held doubt. She had expected her last attempt to defeat Deco completely, and the fact that he was still standing worried her greatly.
She cast a fearful glance toward the two innocents that still remained inside her shield. The shield would keep them safe, but it was a constant drain on Aurora. If the fight continued much longer, she would be forced to leave them unguarded to focus on Deco.
“Leave this place, demon!” She said, raising her voice. “You will not be allowed to harm another, but I will spare your life if only you cease your attempts!”
Deco glowered at her. “You, spare my life?” He demanded. “You foolish woman, that was but a minor victory! You, however, will be wiped from existence! Nothing will remain of you, not even a puddle of that vile substance!”
Aurora sighed sadly. “So be it.”
Her wings rapidly transformed into half a dozen tendrils, but rather than lash toward Deco as they had before, they simply pointed themselves toward him, aiming around Aurora’s shoulders and sides. The tips of each one began to glow with light eco, almost appearing to draw strength from the surrounding atmosphere as they grew in brightness. After a brief moment, six thin beams of light eco were released, all aimed at Deco.
Deco knew that this would be a concentrated attack. If he raised a shield, the contact would pain him greatly, and it likely would only hold for a short time. But if he tried to dodge, Aurora would simply adjust her aim; he could not evade them all.
But he knew Aurora’s weakness; she was determined to protect the vermin that had so stupidly attacked him previously. Although they were protected from his attacks, they were still closer to him than Aurora, and he believed that she could not reinforce the shield and continue her attack at the same time.
Working fast, Deco raised a barrier in front of him, and hurled it forward, toward the approaching rays of light eco. Deco then severed his connection to the barrier, weakening the shield and ensuring it would fail sooner, but preventing Aurora’s eco from causing him pain by spreading to his body.
He knew he didn’t have long, so he quickly turned and faced the two mortals, still hiding behind Aurora’s gleaming barrier. He smiled cruelly as his hands began to crackle with dark lighting, moving both of his arms around his form as the street seemed to darken further. Lightning that escaped his increasingly powerful buildup struck out randomly, blasting small craters in the structures around him as he prepared his attack. It was then that he heard his barrier begin to collapse under the strain of Aurora’s power, so he made his move.
With a roar, Deco threw his immensely powerful attack directly at Aurora’s barrier. It was far too close for Zrion and Zephan to dodge, and even if they could have, they were effectively trapped inside the shield anyway.
Aurora realized too late what Deco was doing. Her attack immediately ceased just as Deco’s barrier finally gave way. “NO!” she shouted, fearful for the only two lives that she could still save. She immediately reached for the link between her eco and the barrier, and poured her power into it as fast as she could. The barrier flared as the eco flowed into it, shining brightly and illuminating the street as Aurora poured all of her considerable strength into holding it.
Deco’s dark lightning slammed into the shield, and Zrion and Zephan screamed in terror at the same time Aurora wailed in agony as Deco’s eco clashed with her. The pain was intense, and it wiped all rational thought from her mind, but she did not cease her efforts. Everything else fell away as she continued to throw everything she had into the shield, determined to save at least two lives, even if it meant the end of her own pitiful imitation of it. Although overwhelmed by pain, she was still dimly aware of Deco’s insane laughter.
But Deco wasn’t about to test his power against Aurora’s own over two mortal lives. His attack had been a mere distraction, a means to break her attack by using her weakness against her. Now that she was distracted, he made use of it. He immediately ceased his attack on the shield, which had begun to weaken under his assault, but had never faltered.
Aurora was instantly aware of when Deco’s attack had stopped, as the pain eased immediately. However, she was greatly weakened, as a considerable portion of her strength had been used to defend the mortals. She realized now that she had done exactly as he hoped, and was now at a disadvantage because of it. Despite that, however, she did not regret it. Even if she had realized what Deco was up to, she still would have protected them. Her attention returned to Deco as she heard his dark chuckling.
“So determined to protect these weaklings,” he commented, amused. “And at such cost…I can tell that you are weakened.”
Aurora simply glared at him, after ensuring that her shield was still firm. “I have power enough to defeat you yet, demon.” She said firmly.
Deco snarled. “You will suffer for this, you fool! The pain you have felt already will be nothing compared to what I will inflict upon you!”
Aurora’s glare softened slightly at his words, dark memories rising to the surface unbidden. “You can do no worse than what has already been done.”
She didn’t give Deco any time to dwell on that. Aurora struck quickly, launching a wave of eco at him as she had done before. However, the wave of exhaustion that followed it nearly overcame her, and she did not follow up like she had before. She watched as Deco shielded himself from the attack with a grimace.
He laughed harshly as he allowed his shield to fade. “Weakened indeed…That wasn’t as painful as your last attempt.” Deco punctuated his taunt with another attack, launching his own wave of dark eco toward her, much stronger than the one she had unleashed.
Aurora knew that she could no longer match the attack head on, so instead she made a desperate gamble. She formed a solid barrier in front of her, shaped like a wedge, pointed toward the attack. The dark eco crashed into her hastily shaped barrier, and she screamed again as the dark eco assaulted her through the barrier’s link to her. However, it worked as intended, and only a small part of the attack was directly blocked, the rest redirected to the sides and away from her. She dropped her shield the moment the attack passed her, knowing she had to save every last ounce of eco that she could.
“Clever…” Deco mused. “But such underhanded tactics only prove how weak you are…You have failed.”
Aurora knew he was right. In her desperation, he had used too much of her power in protecting the mortals. Deco was, at least for the moment, much stronger than her. Any defense or attack she could manage would simply be swatted aside.
Aurora cast a desperate glance towards the mortals she had tried so hard to protect, the anguish clear on her face. She could not save them now, Deco had weakened her too much. He had beaten her.
However, she took notice of one of them, the human clad in black armor, desperately signaling to her through the barrier. He seemed to be pointing to the shield, and then lowering his hands. He wanted her to…drop the shield? But why would he want that? Surely he must know that he would die without her protection?
Then Aurora realized what he had in mind. She could still sense the eco inside the two, green in one, red and yellow in the other. Their strength was miniscule compared to that of her and Deco, but Aurora knew that if she continued this fight alone, they would die anyway. Deco was also not paying attention to them – he would not notice until they began to charge up their attacks, or more likely, when one of them took his head off.
She was reluctant to expose them, but she knew that it was their only hope. If nothing else, they could flee the battle while she held him off. She dropped the shield, quickly aback by the sudden rush of power she felt. It wasn’t much, but maintaining the shield had taken more effort than she had assumed. She briefly wondered if the distance between her and the shield was a factor.
The man and the ottsel leapt into action quickly, one charging yellow eco into an attack while the ottsel prepared green eco. Deco seemed to frown as he felt the power up, and made to turn toward them. Aurora immediately seized the opportunity, thrusting both of her arms forward and channeling her eco into two hastily formed beams.
Deco could not ignore this, and he quickly moved aside, but it didn’t save him from Zrion and Zephan, who attacked him at the same time. Zephan’s sphere of green eco took him in the small of his back, causing him to scream in agony. His pained shouts were abruptly cut off as his head was incinerated by the fireball from Zrion.
The two prepared another attack as Aurora rushed forward, her wings once again becoming the tendrils as they extended ahead of her, directing half a dozen thin beams of light eco at Deco. She continued her attack with a sphere of light eco from her hands, which became the center of the array of eco beams.
Deco’s head reformed just in time to see it coming, and he raised another shield, confident that Aurora, in her weakened state, couldn’t breach it. However, Zephan and Zrion attacked again, their attacks absorbed by the strong barrier but not without weakening it. Aurora’s light eco sphere slammed into his shield a split second later, making Deco scream as light eco attacked him once more. The light eco beams followed immediately afterwards, striking the now greatly weakened barrier and beginning to burn through it. Deco’s screams became louder as the ferocity of the attack increased, but for all her effort, Aurora was still unable to pierce Deco’s defense. However, she did not cease, despite her reserves dwindling at an alarming rate, and Zrion and Zephan launched another combined attack at Deco’s rear. When it struck, Deco’s shield finally gave way.
Aurora’s light eco beams tore through the failing barrier and struck Deco directly. His screams increased in volume even further as the pain intensified, and Zrion and Zephan both had to cover their ears as the sound became too much to bear. Had Aurora been at full strength, a hit like that surely would have killed Deco, but in her current state it was not by any means assured. Deco lost his shape again, collapsing to the ground, his screams ceasing at last. No one spoke as the three of them silently prayed that he was dead.
Aurora warily watched Deco for any movement as the ottsel and soldier slowly backed away from him, making their way toward Aurora and the feeling of safety that was felt from her presence. The two stopped moving once they neared her, and the three silently watched the mass of dark eco.
“Is it dead?” Zrion asked hesitantly, still stunned by the show of power between the two entities. He had realized about halfway through the battle that even though he and Zephan had previously been holding their own against Deco, they had been severely outclassed.
Aurora shook her head. “I do not know, child. But if he is not, our deaths are imminent.”
Zephan looked toward her. “But…You can kill him, right? You were fighting him. You protected us,” he said, somewhat desperately.
Aurora looked at him sadly. “I was greatly weakened when he attempted to kill you…His eco struck me through my connection to the shield, sapping my strength. I was able to stand against him before, but now…” she trailed off. Zrion shuddered, his mind finishing her sentence.
It was then that Deco stirred, and all three of them prepared themselves. Zrion’s arms were enveloped in yellow flames as he tapped into his nearly depleted reserves of eco, while Zephan began gathering a sphere between his hands. Aurora’s tendrils returned, reaching far ahead of the three and glowing faintly with the small amount of power she had left.
Deco slowly pieced himself back together, the shape taking form again as the mass of eco twisted itself back into the semblance of a man. Deco fixated the three with a furious glare as he surveyed them, all of them ready to meet him in battle.
Deco immediately prepared himself to attack, but he found himself coming up short. Momentarily stunned, he tried again, more insistently. Contrary to his initial thought, it was still there, but heavily depleted, more difficult to draw upon. He felt…weak. He grimaced and looked toward those opposing him, suddenly not liking his chances.
“So…” Deco said, his voice making the mortals present shudder in revulsion. “I have been…bested,” he spat. “By trickery and numbers, a God was defeated in battle.”
“You cannot blame trickery for your loss, Demon!” Aurora retorted. “It was you who struck at those outside our fight. Your pain is of your own making.”
Deco furiously drew himself up, his tendrils returning. Aurora’s rose to match, ready to begin the duel again if needed. Deco grimaced, knowing the pain that would bring. His glare returned, having eyes only for Aurora. “You have made a powerful enemy today, Guardian,” he said harshly. “You will pay…And so will the mortals who defied me.”
Deco then retreated, fading into the ground in the blink of an eye. Light seemed to return to the street, as Aurora’s now faint aura illuminated the street, now unchecked by Deco’s own.
Aurora sighed. “It is done.”
Zrion looked at her incredulously. “But…he got away.”
Aurora fixated him with her gaze. It held only compassion, but her empty eyes still made Zrion feel uncomfortable. “Yes,” she agreed. “But he is weakened…He will not be able to cause harm for a while yet. By then my strength will match his, once again. He will no longer be allowed to run amok, preying on those who cannot protect themselves from him. I will always place myself in his way.” She spoke with such passion, such conviction, that Zephan and Zrion believed her without question.
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” Zephan asked.
"My pain is irrelevant," Aurora told him emotionlessly. "I am but an imitation of life, a mere echo of a woman. I may have been alive once...I cannot recall, but whoever I was, I am no longer."
"That's not true!" Zephan protested. "You have emotions, talk, breathe. You are alive," he finished resolutely. Zrion nodded in agreement.
Aurora afforded them a small smile. "Your words are kind, and I thank you for them. But please, do not try to convince me otherwise. This is my burden to bear."
“You should rest a bit, that couldn’t have been easy for you,” Zrion tried.
Aurora sighed. “As I said, Deco is weakened. He will not attack again until he is stronger, but I must not lose track of him. I will follow in his wake, mending wounds suffered at his hand while we gather our strength for the next battle.”
Zrion nodded in response, as did Zephan. “Well…Good luck then,” Zephan said lamely.
“And thank you,” Zrion added. “He would have killed us if you hadn’t shown up. Please, if there’s any way we can help you…”
Aurora smiled at them, but it held no true happiness, only her everlasting grief. “Your gratitude is appreciated, but unneeded…You being alive is enough.” Her expression became pained again. “I only wish that I could say the same for others.”
Zrion could tell that she was referring to more than the bodies lying around them, but he didn’t ask her to clarify. Even if she were willing to share, he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know.
“I will depart now,” Aurora said gently. “I feel Deco’s presence fading. I must follow him, lest I lose track of him entirely.”
Aurora’s wings sprang out without warning, and she leapt into the sky, ascending rapidly as she followed Deco, determined to hinder him at every turn. Zephan and Zrion watched her in awe until she had faded from view.
The two didn’t speak at first, but eventually Zephan broke the ice. “Well…That was something,” he said weakly.
Zrion’s mind was so flooded with sarcastic responses to that understatement that he didn’t even bother to voice one of them. He sighed. “Well, we still have a job to do,” Zrion said. Zephan agreed, and Zrion shouldered his rifle, setting off toward the nearest source of gunfire with Zephan trailing along behind him.
