Chapter 90

The Infernal, the Crepuscular

“To fathom the depths of the First One is impossible; what ilk of a creature would have bestowed the beasts with the civilization? Only the Holy One.”

Historic Archives, Vol. IV – The First One

Asandra turned her head to the side and glanced at him. Noah quivered, unable to process the sight; edges of her chiseled face gleamed in the sparks of fire, her skin consumed in a raging inferno that blended into her hair which streaked upward. She didn't seem human and looked more like the very Kindled they were fighting. The sole thing she was lacking was the height and the overbearing numbness.

Just as he was about to ask her what the hell happened, she spun around and bolted, leaving behind her the streak of flames that shimmered in the ghastly night. Gritting his teeth, Noah ignored the pain pulsating throughout his body and heaved onto his feet, bolting right after her, using lumps of Dark to increase his speed. Even still, he realized he was unable to keep up with her. She made the corner within a few breaths, and by the time he did, she was already in front of the gates.

Increasing his speed further, he reached the gates only to witness yet another mind-numbing sight – she was heaving her sword of fire, one so conspicuous it stood out even amongst the raging flames that have caught every building in the vicinity, facing off the behemoths that burned intensely.

Each slice of her sword stirred the surrounding world and like sparks of a lighter, they kindled into a raging river that swept over and struck both the giants and the path beneath her. Each one of her strikes crushed the world and caused splinters of rubble to explode out, in addition to one of the giants exploding into the shower of sparks.

She soon began dancing as more and more giants came swarming toward her; she nimbly ducked right before heaving a sword in a full arc, forming a tornado-like flare that erupted into an all-consuming ring, wave-like, for dozens of feet before stopping. The night had descended, and the stars hung high, yet their splendor couldn’t even enter the normal eyes, as her flames consumed the darkness whole.

The flames raged, and Noah could only stand by the gates, using one of his arms to prop himself up. He’d already forgotten about the pain within him, his mind working like gears of a machine to figure out what the hell was going on. Yet, no matter how hard he thought, he was none the wiser than the countless dead. She could control the fire… which ought to mean she was Kindled as well. However, not only did she not join in with the rest to attack the people of the Kingdom, she defended them – and, perhaps most importantly, was far, far stronger than those giants of fire.

Each one of her swings stirred the flames and seemingly sent out an intimate calling because, starting with the corners of the raging fire that had consumed the fort's inside, he saw it moving toward her, enriching the flames surrounding her body. Within ten minutes, all the giants of fire that had made their way over the river were gone.

The end result was her standing solitary, yet very differently than before – the flames surging and raging around her had reached nearly forty feet in height, completely hiding her figure within their resplendence. Just as Noah was about to walk over cautiously and inspect whether she was okay, she turned around and jumped – no, to say jump would be an outright lie. She flew.

Her feet blasted off the surface like rockets, leaving behind a deep and wide crater as she arched through the sky, a massive, jet-like trail of beautiful flames following behind her, clearly writing out her route.

Noah was stunned and bewildered, unable to close his gaping lips. He believed himself magical, with his capacity to use the Dark to assist him in numerous ways, but for the first time he realized why that creature had looked at him with such scorn and disdain, and why he called him weak. It was not because Noah was incapable of clipping a mountain with a swing of his sword, but because of the mindset. Not even once did he think that he’d perform the things Asandra was doing, not necessarily because he didn’t believe in the Dark, but because he didn’t want that kind of power.

Yet, standing here now and watching her, his heart felt stuffed, as though there was a cord binding it. She looked so resplendent, so blood-burning, he found it difficult to control the impulse that screamed at him to chase after her. That was magic, he realized – it was not in the charges that the Illuminated had to carefully keep a track of, which indicated the number of times they could use magic. It wasn’t in him tinkering with his base strengths and just slightly enhancing them through magic. It was in the unbridled destruction, it was in the absolute dominance that the magic afforded its user with, it was in the ability to burn the world with a single glance.

She made it over, suddenly crashing onto the opposite bank of the river. It was not a soft landing, but one that swindled the earth from its roots and had it shooting upward like rain. Each rock, however, was blazing, a sight like fireworks, yet many, many times more destructive. Noah heard the calling, the pull of his body that overrode his iron-like will, and soon found himself scalding through the sky, wrapped in a thick membrane of Dark, following her. His body wouldn't listen to his mind, and even the latter felt a strange haze grappling for control.

By the time he reached the other side, there was yet another sight that toppled his understanding of the world; she was already fighting, her figure seeming tiny, like a speck of flame in the raging inferno trying to consume it. However, she endured. Her sword moved at speeds that Noah couldn’t follow, each slice, each swing detonating an explosion that shook the world and rattled the sky. She bore through their ranks and spun forward, her sword enlarging its beaming fire, reaching nearly twenty feet in length. It was more like a long whip, yet with the sturdiness and the destructive power of a blade.

Each time she flickered, dozens, if not hundreds of giants would find their bodies splitting, their flames extinguished into tiny beads that fluttered over and merged with her own fire. She was consuming them and consuming the world.

Suddenly, however, her sword met a match as a massive hand of fire cloaked at her, sending her backward like a cannonball. She left a trail in the earth as she nearly reached the river, crossing almost two miles in an uncontrollable spiral. Quickly recovering, she roared, stirring Noah’s heart further as she shot up to her feet, her fire raging further. The original coral turned slightly darker, tinges of crimson dancing like tendrils. Her expression was hidden beneath the glistening fire, but the pair of red eyes bore through, shaking him.

His inhibitions gave way to the instinct, and the lumps of Dark in him seemed to swallow his reason. He suddenly exploded into a cloud of darkness, one quickly streaking to form a net-like structure billowing out for nearly ten miles. Right then, she strutted forward, gaining speed quickly and shooting like a dying star toward the solitary giant that remained.

The creature suddenly roared as well, its body exploding into the mass of fire that reached a hundred feet in height. Yet, she appeared entirely unhindered, shooting off the ground as a pair of flaming wings sprouted like the blooming of flowers on her back, fluttering once and causing the air itself to catch on fire.

Noah, or at least the apparition that he had turned himself into, followed right behind as the net encapsulated the creature, contorting inwardly until it forced it to stand still and take Asandra’s strike head-on. The creature stumbled yet didn’t fall, roaring once again and smashing its fist against her fire-consumed body; once again, she found herself shot backward, this time even quicker. The net of darkness shuddered all of a sudden and drew back, catching her and preventing her from being blown back into the river.

She recovered quickly and merely glanced back at him for a moment before shooting off once again. Noah regained his human form and shot off right behind her, his right arm extending, a blade of darkness forming in his hand. It was roughly the size of hers, yet lacked that splendor and destructive power. Instead, it was chilly and unstable, looking as though it could devour the world itself if it willed.

As she faced the giant upfront, he shifted sideways and flaked the creature. It and Asandra clashed once again, the collision resonating outward and forming an all-consuming shockwave that was followed up by a sky-shaking explosion. Noah endured through the shockwave and spun, gathering momentum as his body transformed into the clumps of shadows that trailed over his edges, forming an ethereal blanket that fluttered behind him.

The massive blade of darkness cruised easily and splintered against the creature's shoulder; the latter suddenly raged out in pain as the sounds of cracking glass echoed out, the entire arm shattered as it lost its flaming luster, turning completely black and hard. At the same time, Noah was blown backward by the backlash, vomiting several mouthfuls of blood and feeling as though half his organs had crumbled. He crashed into the ground and tumbled uncontrollably for hundreds of feet, kicking up a raging dust storm in his wake. What in the fuck am I doing?!! He wondered, drowned in pain.