Chapter 15

The Chosen

“Ahahahaha!” Crea’s laughter rang loud, the sound of echoes returning. White flashed with red, reminding Meredith of the wound to her side. It had stopped bleeding, but ached around the inflamed skin. The guards of the goddess summoned their weapons to them, moving in. Crea stepped off her throne, a smug expression directed Marcus’s way. “You plan to take my soul? That’s the best joke I’ve heard! You don’t have the stomach for it!”

“Stomach?” Marcus said. One of the other drones leapt for his path, and he swiped with his blade, bisecting the creature in his undaunted walk. “I have countless souls within me. What is one more if it means saving the world from such selfishness?”

“You’ll break, trust me.”

Crea wasn’t lying. In the deepest part of Meredith’s soul, she knew it. This was a woman who didn’t lie. She had no need for lying to any one of them. Meredith lifted her voice.

“Marcus, don’t do it! She’s-”

“Of course, she’s telling the truth!” Marcus spat. An aura of energy consumed Marcus’s figure while he walked. Crea didn’t make a move to defend herself where she stood, watching him slowly approach. “I cannot read your soul. I cannot read Rico’s soul. I cannot read her soul. Therefore, it stands to reason that the soul of one who uses them is off-limits unless permitted. Yet has anyone broken that taboo?”

“Things that are taboo are taboo for a reason? Are you so willing to throw away your soul?” Rico shouted. He was backed up by a pair of the guards coming near him. More were appearing, creating a line between the Reaper and Crea.

“Throw away my soul? Ha! I came here for the power to control the world’s soul, and I will yet have it!” Marcus drew his blade back, a light blossoming at its tip. That light cast the rest of the space in shadow, creating a luminous blaze that would consume all. He jabbed forward, sending the beam of light through the drones, disintegrating them. More took their place. “My convictions have not changed. I will reform this world. I spent a decade preparing for this very moment. What is my soul worth to the world that will be saved?”

“And what about all the others? Have you thought about the cost on them?!” Meredith screamed. All she could see was Eddie’s face, his shining grin, lost in the blackened pit of Marcus’s soul.

“They are nothing! Nothing compared to the world under a false goddess!”

“Hoo…” Crea cheered, clapping her hands. She looked impressed, but the façade only went so far: it was like praising a child who’d managed to put two sticks together. “You’re so strong. So driven. But there’s no coming back from a fractured soul. I hope you know that.”

“I will…pay my price…whatever the cost! No matter how many lives, so long as the world lives on! My will has chosen to do this!” Meredith whipped her blade out. Marcus’s words sound deranged. They appeared noble, but his willing sacrifice of lives that weren’t his own drove her to run towards him. A guard floated in her path, wielding a broadsword of translucent qualities.

“You do that and there’s no going back, Marcus!” she yelled. Same side. Different sides. Meredith didn’t know what she was in relation to Marcus, but both he and the one pretending to be a goddess were malevolent forces, each that would lead to the ultimate disintegration of their world if given free reign. “You consume those souls, and you’re no hero! Just a monster!”

Marcus turned his head in her direction. His resolve gave her pause, pulling up short and parrying the drone’s sword strike before he could speak. “Then I’ll be a monster. I will see this dream fulfilled, no matter the cost!”

“Ha ha! Humans are so endlessly entertaining!” Crea said, clutching at her sides. As she straightened, she waved her hands. Summoned from nowhere, more of the golems encroached upon the three of them. Like a wave, it pushed Meredith far from Marcus, to the point she found her back against Rico’s, surrounded by the creatures. They were back in their combat mode, and Meredith readied herself for the fight that was about to explode. “But I’m afraid you’ve made quite the miscalculation. You cannot take my soul if you cannot get close.”

“Then I’ll tear through these things!”

“They’re of my soul. They will never waver, and never tire. They are eternal.”

“Eternal or not, they can still be wounded!” Rico shouted. Meredith couldn’t understand why his words sounded like they were helping Marcus. However, with a sword threatening to split her head open, Meredith brought her blade screaming up to block it. The weight was heavy, causing the muscles of her arms to ripple. “If they’re a part of you…then you can be…fractured, too.”

“Try as you might,” Crea said. She was even more dismissive than she was prior to summoning her guards, flopping upon her throne. “You’ve no idea what it takes to fracture a soul, especially not one that is tied to the world, itself.”

“All the more reason to claim your soul!” Marcus called. He twirled around, his blade stabbing through one of the drones before whipping out and slicing straight down the middle of another. His blade tapped to the ground, and the six that had surrounded him froze up before he shattered them. Crea lifted an eyebrow. “Did you think yourself safe? Did you think in this soulless place that we could not act? I will burn your throne to the ground!”

“Rico, what do we do about Marcus?!” Meredith shouted, trying to focus on her own battle. She finally managed to throw off her attacker’s blade to bring hers slashing through its chest. As Marcus had said, there was no soul to connect to in this place, forcing her to rely solely upon her physical prowess. Another was upon her, jumping in the air with a shining bow. They fired, and Meredith switched the hold of her blade to slice through the projectile. It was weaker than anything Vivian could dish out.

Her thoughts on the snippy blonde made Meredith’s eyes settle on the only thing at the throne that wasn’t static white or their own group. Rolling and hissing with the pain on her side, Meredith kept a lock on the orb of souls. They hadn’t been “distilled” yet, whatever that meant. There was still a chance.

“We take that as it comes. I think we have greater issues here.” Rico swiped his spear out, slashing away some of their attackers. Meredith backed up further until she was close enough to Rico that they could have whispered. Her eyes were still on the orb of souls, and on Crea, who couldn’t care less about how close Marcus was making it. “You have an idea, don’t you?”

“It’s something, but not much,” she said to him out of the corner of her mouth. Her sword was twirled in her hand and then jabbed through a staff-using golem. The bow-type from above was firing again. Rico took this time to intercept it. “She said the souls that came with us weren’t finished through whatever little process she uses. What if…at least for them…we can break them free?”

“You’re assuming they would still have bodies to use…” The two cut off their conversation as the bladed chain flew for them. They spun together as a whirlwind to deflect the chain before resuming. “But she did seem to mention something to that effect. And I suppose we did come here by alternate means. How certain are you that this could work?”

“I’m not at all. But it could give us an opening to get the hell out of here…” Rico didn’t like the less-than-positive odds. She didn’t either, but it was likely the only chance they had. “I free the souls. You guide them back to our world. There must still be a connection, or else Crea wouldn’t be so confident, right?”

“We’re playing long odds…” They ducked, avoiding a swooping attack before they simultaneously came up with a punch that distracted their foes long enough to slice through them. Not a single defeated drone diminished that of Crea’s soul or gave her any adverse effects in the slightest. “But I guess it’s the only choice. No matter the effects, we have to go for it before Marcus goes completely crazy. I don’t think he took the whole ‘not a chosen one’ status very well.”

“Can’t say I totally blame him…”

“Nor can I. Our unique qualities would invite any number of interpretations,” Rico agreed. Far from them, Marcus continued to showcase just how he had become to be known and feared as both the chief commander of the Corps and as the Reaper. Every stroke of his sword meant certain death, his magic freezing, disintegrating and crushing all opposition between him and Crea. It continually filled in. It also meant the goddess wasn’t paying nearly as much attention to the pair of them. “Right now, though, my interpretation is to save our comrades. That’s what you brought me out of hiding for, right, Meredith?”

“Just call me Mera,” she insisted, kicking one drone into another before slashing through a third. “Cover my back, partner.”

Silent acquiescence gave Meredith the push she needed. So long as Crea was occupied with amusingly watching Marcus, the teen chose to press her luck. She dove under a swinging sword, rolling forward before another could impale her. Once her feet were balanced, she jetted forward. Her legs and side screamed with a bit of pain as she dashed, as if she was going to tear her body apart in the strain.

Each drone she passed by faced in her direction, turning their magical weapons upon her. Before they could, she made sure she was past, running for the side of the throne with all haste. Rico made up the slack in protecting her by drawing the attention of the constructs while they were distracted with her flight.

Hold on…Keep holding on. I’m coming for you! Meredith found herself screaming inside, all in an effort to stop her legs from falling underneath her. There was no room to falter now, not with Marcus wading through the many bodies. Her Soul Vision gave her the acute position of each and every enemy, and those of her friends. They were calling for her, crying for her, or for Marcus. Their individual torments would have been too much to bear, but Meredith soldiered past, trusting in Rico to hold her path.

With a great gasp, she managed to break through to the other side, behind Crea’s throne, and she ran.

“Intruder. Perish.” The voice caught her where it shouldn’t have, and she felt the wound on her side torn open again, fresh blood spilling out when she stumbled. One of the guards was there, holding its sword in both hands. It looked far too similar to the Earth-Splitter.

This was one Rico couldn’t fight.

“Come on, then,” she whispered through her teeth. The creature was pitiless, sprouting wings from its back before it zoomed for her. Meredith readied her body, her blade held backwards as she waited for the attack to come. It reached her in seconds, and the swords clashed. Sparks didn’t arise, but the force was evident, causing Meredith to put her foot back to stop herself from being knocked away. She felt her toes bend and her legs ripple with the contortion of her muscles. The sword of the enemy was pushed away from her, and with a change of her stance, she managed to deflect it. Her sword switched around, coming to be held by both of her hands, and she slashed it down, rebounding but not stopping.

With a spin, she put her own weight behind the attack to knock her opponent’s blade upwards. It said nothing to her, but drew back to stab her. She knocked the attack aside, switching over to one hand which resulted in a backhanded swing. The sword slipped through the defenses of the guard to slash at its shoulder. There was no blood, but Meredith took that in stride. She backed off and jabbed forward to find the tip of her sword blocked. An idea came to her.

Meredith pulled back and then thrust with greater strength, just enough to make sure her fellow duelist drew its sword as close to its body as it could. Then she backed off.

Her hand pressed to her hilt, retracting the blade on her sword. The drone realized this, and slashed down at her. She sidestepped, her feet lighter as it carried her to the creature’s side. It turned in that direction, staying in place. Before it had the opportunity to strike her with another slash or jab, Meredith got close to its face. It couldn’t see her coming, and she pressed the open-ended part of her hilt to its chest. Then she pressed the button.

The blade expanded, ripping through the creature’s chest. It didn’t scream or spew any bodily fluids. It just…shut down. Meredith’s facial muscles tensed, creasing into a nasty frown. The thing before her raised its arm, hoping for one last attack. She chose to not give it a chance, and ripped her blade through it with a horizontal slash, rending it in two.

It disappeared before it even hit the floor.

In some way, Meredith felt like she’d dueled just a little bit of Terrill, as impossible as it was. It was a test, at the very least, and feeling she’d passed it, Meredith clenched her side to run for the container of swirling souls. Her feet slipped on their way there, dropping her to her knees in front of that storm. Her friends could be felt inside, whispering to her, begging for freedom.

Just a…moment…She was breathing heavy even inside her head, prompting her to look up. Crea hadn’t seen her yet, still entertained by what looked like Marcus’s fruitless struggle. The more he defeated, the more that were created, while she had nary a problem. Rico, however, was getting overwhelmed, the sweat of exhaustion trickling down his face. Meredith made to stand. She was the only way to turn this tide and free them from the crazy goddess’s realm, regardless of if it helped Marcus along the way.

Meredith’s blade was held high, the edge of its blade aimed at the souls that were there. She positioned it perfectly, slowing her breath to steady her shaking hands. She made no noise, as she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. Instead, she simply put the full brunt of her strength behind her strike, and thrust forth to pierce the container.

It wouldn’t go through.

The blade bounded off, the entire globe shining a deep purple before it radiated a shockwave. That blast flung Meredith on her back, pain rippling up and down before she even recognized what had hit her. Marcus and Rico were overtaken by the defense mechanism, too, while Crea’s creations remained unfettered. Rico flopped on his stomach, and Marcus plunged his blade in, but dropped to his knees, coughing. Finally, Crea peeked her head over the throne with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Did you think souls so easy to pierce? Physical means will not avail you in my realm. There is no escape for you here,” the woman said. The taunt was too much for Meredith to bear. She leveled disgust at her, propping herself up at her elbows. “Are you angry? It’s such an ugly emotion to feel.”

“Emotions…are what drive us…” Marcus proclaimed. He was already standing again, his breath ragged while he tossed off the creatures that Crea threw at him. “Makes us human.”

“Human? Can you call yourself that?” Crea looked away from Meredith once again, far more intrigued by Marcus than the lowly girl on the ground. “Your soul is starting to wear thin. Your own body is rebelling against you. In time, you’ll become nothing more than a wisp of a fragment. What will you do then?”

“I’ll keep fighting. This world is mine to protect! I am a chosen one, and I will defend it.”

“Defend it! Hah! Your own actions have ruined it!” Crea took immense joy in spreading her arms again. Instead of her army manifesting itself over and over again, images appeared, like small portals into their world. “Did you seriously think that just because I’d excused myself of human affairs, that I couldn’t watch what was going on?”

“Our…world…?” Rico gasped, pulling himself forward along the ground.

Meredith was frozen, watching with horror.

The images she showed, and the portals through which they looked, were images of destruction. The falls at the edge of the world were consuming Lumarina, pieces of continents had begun to fall away. It was a mess down there.

To Meredith, it was also a way down there.

They could still return home.

“You killed so many to search for those weapons, breaking the seal that brought the souls from the Great Soul to me in greater quantities. That same soul is now unstable, wavering into nothingness, and it’s because of you, Marcus Arrant!” Marcus paused for a second, and the creatures piled atop him, holding him down. Meredith didn’t know if he was giving up, or if he was just reevaluating his choices. “You’re not a Chosen One! Just another foolish human that sought my power and failed all the same.”

“And what…the hell…are you?” Meredith said. She decided to stand, every grunting breath continuing her question to the woman. Crea turned to her, a knowing smile there while she watched Meredith struggle. The teen dragged her feet along, right up to the orb that held her friends. Her hands touched to it. “You’re still…human, you know?”

“I am beyond that. My soul is beyond that.”

Meredith closed her eyes. Every soul, their individual strands, could be felt inside her. She could touch them, talk to them, give them a will of their own that overpowered Crea’s. The truth of Soul Magic finally began to instill itself within her as she reasoned how to make this work. All too suddenly, she started to laugh. “No soul is beyond mistakes. And mistakes are what make us human. They’re what make us strive to do better. They’re what gives us the will to fight and protect what we’re given…even if it’s against self-proclaimed goddesses like you!”

“And when your mistakes leave nothing left? How can you possibly save the world’s soul as it fades into nothing?”

Meredith couldn’t answer that question, too desperately searching for the way to free those souls from their confines. Her answer came by the blast from Marcus, blowing away Crea’s minions with a gust of wind. He stood, a feral grin on his face that chilled Meredith to the core.

And yet, she understood him.

“I will save the world’s soul, by becoming the nexus of it!” he declared. Each step was a challenge for him, but still, he made it. “I will take your soul, all that magical energy, and become the center of the Great Soul, guiding it, preserving it.”

“You’re only human.”

“Perhaps I am,” Marcus proclaimed. He stood, inviting the creatures to swarm him. Rico attempted to recover, and Meredith held fast to the orb. “But I want more for this world than what you will. I want more.”

“Humans always want more. They shouldn’t be allowed.”

“You are not one to dictate what will be allowed!” Marcus roared, spit flying from his mouth. The creatures, sensing great danger, leapt at him with a shriek. Crea was running scared; for the first time, she was truly afraid. “It is my soul that will decide the course of the world. Me who will choose its path. I will become more! Greater and greater, until the world is protected from choosing its own demise. Prevented from its selfish acts. If that means it must break down, then so be it. My conscience will be clear when it is renewed!”

“Marcus…” Rico cried in a strained voice. He was suddenly pinned, but could lift his head. “Reaper! Don’t you dare! Do you wish to invite an apocalypse on the world below?”

“See? Even he understands. I am the anchor for this world. Remove my soul, and there’s nothing left but for the soul to sink into the abyss.”

“And I already told you…I don’t care. My will surpasses yours.”

Meredith’s eyes widened. Was that it? Was it truly so simple as all of that? Strength of will. The truth of their magic.

It was the opposite.

“I will take your place, only I won’t let the world wither away and die!” Crea’s hands were making wide flourishes, a stream of those golems that held her soul now converging upon Marcus. He was getting swarmed, but still he moved. His knees gave out, the rebellion within his soul causing him to buckle under their weight. “I will not just watch the tides of fate wash idly by! I will change them! I will protect the better future, no matter if I must destroy myself and the entire world to do it!”

“Get him now!” Crea was apoplectic, showing genuine emotion. The hordes rushed upon Marcus, and Meredith could feel something growing within. It was as if all the air in the room was flowing towards him, sucking it out of their lungs. Meredith began to laugh, and Crea whirled on her with a manic expression.

“See…? You’re still human,” she chuckled out, and she placed both hands on the container. Now, go! I give you my strength. My soul! Take it, and be free!

Meredith pushed her soul, just tiny pieces of it, anything she could, and shared it with the souls held within. They strengthened, heeding her call. Meredith began to scream. It wasn’t about using others’ souls for their own ends. It wasn’t about externalizing magic. It was about sharing souls, and giving them the strength of one that was unbreakable. Her guttural cry strained her soul, but it held fast, never rattling.

“How…?” Crea questioned. Rico laughed alongside her. “How is your soul not breaking?”

Meredith looked up, grinning at the woman called goddess. “Because it’s not just my soul. Soul Scream: RELEASE!”

Meredith’s soul pressing itself into that container let out a cry, shattering the glass that sent Meredith sprawling backwards. She hit the ground, and all of the bright lights indicating the souls spewed forth in a cyclone. Rico, still trapped, held his hand out, and that whirlwind of souls changed direction, towards the very ground they stood upon. It passed through, and vanished in the haze of white.

Crea stumbled.

Time felt like it was frozen.

Meredith’s breath was stolen away.

The horde of faceless goons paused, just for a second at the weakening of the soul that tied them together.

Then, the air exploded.

Energy, the likes of which Meredith had never seen before, washed over them. She felt like her body was being melted, the freshly gaping wound searing at her side. She screamed, but found she was otherwise untouched. The drones of Crea’s soul, however, were beginning to disintegrate. Light washed over the area, red flashes peppering all of it, and Meredith looked at its origin: Marcus.

Souls were dwindling inside him, a great number burning up as the air turned to ash. The Heavenly Realm in which they sat rocked with his exuded power. The explosion of energy plumed upwards, dyeing the air as blood.

And there was a crack, as if something had broken inside the man called Reaper.

When it faded on the air, Crea fell, supporting herself by her throne with heavy breathing. She looked up, and all saw Marcus, left in the wake of his devastation. He was panting, white ash coming off his body, like he was smoking. His breathing was becoming a wheeze while he gripped at his chest, forcing the souls inside under his will. His eyes were sunken in, the pupils so small now that Meredith could only see the whites of his eyes. Crea was shaking at the sight.

“Millennia, I have lived, and never have I seen a soul-user so foolish…so reckless…” Crea said with rattled breath. “How many souls did you consume? How far did you fracture?”

Marcus didn’t answer her. He just took one step forward on the ashes of his enemies. His goal and intention of coming here was within sight. The growl on his lips was predatory, and Crea was frozen in place by his sheer presence; that of a caged beast that had been released.

“I will go…as far as it takes…” he declared. Meredith urged her body to move. The realm around them rocked, the pure white now becoming gray and dark. If she listened closely, she could swear to hearing thunder. “I will break the world. I will use all these souls. But I will see it done! I will see it done! I will see it done!”

“No…the more your soul breaks, the less you retain your will,” Crea said. She was now desperate, pleading with him. Meredith got herself to her feet. Marcus had lost it, and wasn’t going to stop. His insane vision, understandable but flawed, would only lead to more ruin. “You do all of that and there will be nothing left for you or the world. My power will be gone, and with no one to guide the souls in any direction…”

Marcus stopped, giving Meredith time to get back on her feet. She ran for Rico, her comrade also standing, ready to stop Marcus from doing the one thing that would destroy everything. Meredith raised her voice. “Marcus, no!”

Marcus ignored her. He just took another step forward, snapping his fingers and binding Crea to the chair. Then, he grinned.

“You don’t understand? Even broken, I will succeed. I will guide them. All will be within me. That is what I came here for, to be capable to do.” Marcus leaned in, his adversaries running for him with blades held high. His hand held itself out, erecting a barrier that they collided with. Crea trembled. “To put it more simply: I am the world.”

The paling dropped, Meredith and Rico making their attacks for the staunch form of the Reaper. Marcus took it, not even batting an eye as he plunged his hand forth into Crea, breaking the crest on her robes apart.

There was a crack, and a snap, and the whole realm turned gray. The burst of energy from one soul-user trying to rip the other apart sent Meredith flying back again, tumbling along with Rico. Light poured out, Crea’s stunned expression fading away to nothingness, flowing into Marcus as he screamed, a tear for humanity sliding down his face. His soul fractured, its power spilling out as he cried, twitching every which way.

Yet at the end of it all, when the light reached its zenith, and Meredith recovered, Marcus the Reaper had taken Crea’s soul into his own.

It was the beginning of the end.