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Abraham 'Moving Memory' Ulren
I stand beside my best friend, whose body is composed of living flames, no longer human. We've been at each other's throats for years and years. But now, finally, we stand side by side, ready to do whatever it takes. We... finally have a home. And a goal.
While he may no longer be made of flesh and blood, Haashch'eezhini, that changes nothing. He never cared about such bonds. It's the laughs, not the bones, that make the man, he says.
Together, we watch the horizon, and our duty is clear: protect the west front of Onyx Gate no matter what. I have our Godsinker, our position, the only one with a pair of fighters. Elizabeth, Johnny, and Tomas don't trust Emmet on his own. And they shouldn't.
But they should trust him to do what needs to be done. He's grown up that much. As my eyes are locked on the horizon, I feel the earth rumble from behind us, the depths of Onyx Gate under conflict. Still, I do not turn around. I face forward.
The sky is ahead, painted with the trembling, quaking remnants of battles fought over yonder, and the approaching storm is beyond words, so desolate in nature. Most storms possess rain and thunder, but this one only has sand and winds.
My friend chuckles beside me, a low rumble that turns into a full laugh, his fiery form flickering with mirth.
"I've got an idea."
I turn to face Emmet, his voice crackling like a campfire. Before he says a word, I know it'll be something foolish. Nonetheless, I hear him out anyway. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
"Let's head back to the city, help out with the fight there. We don't need to stand around here! Look! There isn't a soul to be seen!?"
I whip my head around to look at him, incredulous. He's gotta be fucking with me.
"What the hell do you mean? We're needed here! They could show up at any time! Who knows if they have a God like Virgil?! Specializing in darkness and stealth? We just walk away, and we're letting anyone in!"
Bonfire laughs again, a sound both comforting and disconcerting in the tense silence. His flaming arm extends, pointing to the horizon where the sky shakes with the ferocity of distant conflicts. Typically, he sets the heat low enough that he doesn't appear to be lit aflame, but not today. Today... he's ablaze.
"Who are you kidding? Desolation is over there. None will get past the Swarming Wastelander. Instead, we'll go back and help our friends!"
I follow his gaze to the horizon, where the clouds roil and the ground trembles. He's right; the Swarming Wastelander, a force of pure chaos and destruction, the strongest man to ever walk the lands, ensures that nothing from the west can make it through.
Damn... he might actually be right. If anything comes through, it would be from the north, south, or inside the city itself. Still, I hesitate, unsure if we should just abandon our post like this.
"Are you sure about this? If we leave, there's no turning back. And Elizabeth's plan depends on us being here!"
He turns to me, his fiery eyes burning with determination as he speaks a brutal truth.
"Our friends are fighting for their lives. Right now. I can feel it. Plus... they weren't expecting me to stay here. That smart lass is depending on me to be awol. How else... would we surprise the spies that might be about? Just 'cause we're united now doesn't mean that all the Two-Faces are rounded up or the Groundswalkers killed."
I take a deep breath, feeling the weight of the decision settling on my shoulders. He's right, and I know it. When did he get so smart? Is he wiser than me now? No. No. I just haven't been thinking clearly.
Vincent Harvey can handle whatever hell he's fighting. Because... if he loses... there is not a drop of a rainstorm that we've got a chance.
"Alright. Let's go and kick some ass, then. Are you ready?
Bonfire grins, his wide smile licking flame into the air from his breath over his teeth as he jaunts into the air, bursts of heat carrying him away. I sigh as I have to keep up with my own Ether, which is bolstering my body in a significantly slower way.
Still, as I run, a worry hangs in my heart. What about the 'Sinker? We can't detonate it in the city. So... will it be useless? I don't think so. I'll just have to think of something.
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We arrive at the vacated city, its onyx brick and steel structures standing eerily silent against the backdrop of chaos. Once home to thousands and thousands, Onyx Gate now bears only monsters, either in human skin or demonic ones.
For that is what we all are at this point: monsters. Some are worse than others, but it's all the same in a way. I learned that a long time ago. A long... long time ago. And it was only bolstered recently. My mind momentarily flashes to the meeting with my true father only a number of hours ago. He just recovered enough to fight again. And yet... he came to me instead of preparing for the battle as he should.
The Motherbound swarm the streets, a tide of destruction and fury, each with its own abilities and terrible light, but my focus falters as I recall my father's words. They were short, not expecting a response, and pointlessly morbid. But still... it showed that he cared. He even used my preferred name, the one my mother called me, not that other one.
"I am sorry. For everything, A-Abraham. Today... Will be a day. It will be a day of death, of ascensions, and of events that will cascade into the whole cosmos. All that I ask is you do your best. You are strong. Stronger than I expected you'd be by this age, and should I fall... the mantle will come to you. Good luck, my son. We have our own battles to fight. And our own deaths to walk to."
I barely have time to take in the scene due to my distraction before a familiar figure crashes through a dozen buildings beside me, rolling and grinding up the street. I dodge the debris just barely, feeling for a mind through the dust as a howl carries through the sky.
It's Lennon Hull, crawling out of the rubble just in time to deflect a watery Gods' slash. His blade continues past their exchange and shaves off the top floors of several factories, the force of the blow reverberating through the air with visible waves. I turn to help him, but the roars and sounds of battle from every corner of the city pull my attention in all directions.
Everywhere I look, soldiers fight desperately, their cries of pain echoing in my mind. The Ether of the brains nearby momentarily overwhelms me from the raw chaos before I rein in all in, the emotions in my mind already scrambled.
Focusing, I glide my eyes over the city, seeing that Barrage has already been broken open, a line of magma leading out toward the edge of the walls. I need to find where I can help the most. Gunshots resound a thousand times a second while blood slides along the ground all over.
Every direction I look, every way I search, there is pure chaos. Then I see it: a great serpent with a dozen sets of wings descending from the north, its flickering form like the ends of the world. The creature's presence is a black hole, drawing all light and hope into its dreadful maw.
I meet my best friend's gaze, and we both set our sights on the God whose name we do not know. For a moment, I think that it manipulates shadow, but I soon realize that is not the case. The serpent opens its mouth, accumulating a mass of shadowy energy, a ball of impending doom.
My friend bursts into the air, a comet of fire and his own wings surging right for the creature. I concentrate, conjuring the Idol of a fallen ally. I've gone back and forth for the name of this Ether, but I've finally settled. Idol. My heart sinks low as I recall Marshall Travis demanding his greatest strength for this moment in time. The Idol materializes above the city, spectral and radiant, poised to strike at the ball of engorging mass.
He hovers in the air as I propel him with my mind, shooting the Idol of just a few seconds into the sky. My chest trembles at the sight of the lightless jaw high in the sky. We cannot let that get down here.
It's our job, the few who can contest the Gods to protect those who are guarding against the weaker Motherbound. I'm hardly within the former category, but I'll do my damndest nonetheless.
The serpent's maw continues to grow darker, and the mass within is swelling with destructive potential. My best friend reaches the creature first, his fiery form colliding with its scaled hide. Flames burst and swirl around them, and the serpent's wings beat furiously, struggling to shake him off as the God veers slightly to the side.
"Good shit, Bonfire!"
I scream into the air, leaping up with my Ether, which carries my body in the same way Aniwye does. My mind and Ether meld, doing the work while Bonfire burns and pushes the serpent away from the sky above.
The Idol of Marshall dives towards the ball of shadowy energy with my help, a closed fist in hand. With a mighty swing, the knuckles impact the God, creating a cone of wind and darkness that parts all the clouds in the skies.
My vision shakes, and I nearly fall out of the sky while the orb disperses into tendrils of darkness that soar into the heavens and stars above, unable to hurt anyone. The God recoils, its momentum thwarted, and it lets out a roar that shakes the very foundations of the city.
Again, everything shudders, from the air to the buildings, as steel and brick topple over beneath me. My mind twinges with pain as Marshall threatens to vanish back into my memories, but I hold deftly onto the connection, refusing his departure. Instead, I push it further, resetting the Idol while he is near the serpentine God.
In the air, I weave through the chaos to rise higher, my eyes never leaving the battle above. The Idol strikes at the God again, this time right upon the chin, as it creates another body of mass within its maw. This time, a line of sweltering gravity bulges out from the serpent's teeth, missing the city by only a few miles before its head is forced into the sky from an uppercut.
Meanwhile, Bonfire latches himself onto the God, burning a hole into the side of its leathery and otherwordly flesh. Racking my mind, I recall that this must not be any God of our planet. This one came from abroad. Meaning... She cannot be far from us. My eyes flicker westward, but I don't have time to worry. So what if she's on the surface now? Hell's already broken loose.
Suddenly, the serpent lashes out with its tail, striking my friend as he attempts to burrow into it and sends him hurtling towards the ground. He crashes into the street, the impact creating a crater to dep to see into from the cloudy debris. For a moment, I fear the worst, but then he rises, flames still flickering around him as his bones are put back into place and his neck adjusted into its socket.
I focus my mind, sending a psychic wave towards the serpent, distracting it long enough for Bonfire to launch himself back into the fray. However, it works far better than I expected. The thing bares down on me, diving instantly and leaving Marshall in the dust.
My heart catches in my chest as I let my mind run at incredible speeds, Ether overwhelming and slowing the world down. The great creature descends slowly while Bonfire rises to meet it, too slow to stop it in time.
Can I do a second? That's always been the question, huh? If I can do another one. Whether it was Nightmares or Idols, it's always been an individual limit.
And screw limits.
Tightening my eyes, I press my mind down into a point in space, focusing upon that final day of Marshall Travis' death. The day when he was at his strongest. That last moment. It resonated so strongly with me.
I wanted nothing more than to be like him. A noble warrior. A proud father. A worthy soul. The scars inlaid into his figure flash like pieces of lightning in the night as blood spurts from my nose. The moment after, time returns to normal in my sight.
The God of... Void doesn't make it to me, halted in place by another fist, an Unyielding Wall. I nearly fall out of the sky, holding two Idols in place, but it's enough to bring the God back into the sky. A second pair of hands grabs onto its mountain-sized body and hauls it back into the sky, forcing the air beneath him to have form.
Marshall fucking Travis.
The two Unyielding Walls force the God upward as I continuously restart the Idols, delivering them to that final moment where they leap beyond their peaks. Furthermore, Bonfire joins in, already searing a hole into the God.
I watch with a smile as Emmet Knox crawls within the gigantic figure, an invisible flame burning from within. Deafening yawps of agony fill the sky, bulges of heat appearing all over its flesh. But this is a God. I've heard enough about them. They won't die so easily.
So, I push for a third, not waiting for the need to arise as before.
Crackling purplish blasts of Ether punt one Marshall away while another simply removes a section of the city from existence. No ash. No nothing. Just gone. Into the void.
That same purple emerges from its wounds, likely what Bonfire is enduring within its flesh, but the once-human doesn't back away. Sensing his mind, I can tell, that while in pain, he's having a fucking ball.
Of course, he is.
More blood dribbles from my nose as crescent crimson runs down my eyes, falling to the battles beneath. Second by second, I force my Ether further and further, reaching that ephemeral limit, and I push past it. Agony spikes in my mind, but it's all the same.
I've done this many times before.
Many times.
A third Idol forms and joins the battle above, distracting Void itself while Bonfire kills the damned thing from the inside out. Levitating myself to one of the few remaining tall buildings, I land on it, breathing heavily and grasping tightly onto its bricks while looking upward.
We're in this for the long haul. This thing won't die quickly or quietly. All three Memories punch, kick, headbutt, and pull the mountainous serpent, keeping it from attacking anything remotely critical to the people below. It's impossible to control the Idols as closely as I did to my Nightmares, but that's the point.
I traded that control for more power and for trusting the Idols to do the right thing, to believe in Marshall or whomever I conjure, and their decision-making and strength.
Minutes pass in this way, the bricks beneath me wobbling and straining from the war as chaos and battles are everywhere I can possibly look. However, my gaze doesn't leave the sky for long.
Blood covers my entire face while the God becomes charred all over, burnt by Bonfire, and beaten by the Memories. Thankfully, this one is weaker than Flint. Or at least, it's a better match-up for me. I couldn't even get close to Winter to help a smidge.
I don't even have to order my Idols for them to dive in the way of Void's destructive attacks, being rendered to nothingness in place of whatever might be below them. How very Marshall-like, eh?
Gradually, slowly, the serpent, whose only strength seems to be unlimited Ether and dangerous beams of concentrated mass, grows weak. Its tail swipes are less impactful, not killing an Idol in one strike or leveling a city block. The wings beat with more effort as they struggle to stay in the air.
With an explosion of heat from the insides, I watch Bonfire emerge, darting right for me. While he escapes, the God's wings seize, unable to regenerate the missing and charred flesh.
I smile at this, the great beast crashing to the ground with an agonized roar. Leaping off my tower just as it crumbles, I pass Bonfire. I can tell just how exhausted he is. It's easy due to the aggravated breaths and furrowed brow as his flames are visible once more.
While I hover through the air, I close my eyes, shutting out one Idol to ask for another. I don't need strength here. I need speed.
Virgil Boone appears beside me as I haul the real thing here. He glances at me, blood covering every inch of his dark clothing, but I can tell none of it is his. His eyes then instantly flow over to the serpent now lying down on the outer sector of the city. An opened palm falls to me.
The clever bastard knows what I want without asking.
"Take it. Kill it and get out of there."
The eldest and wisest of his family nods slowly, answering shortly before vanishing into the cracks between realms and reappearing feet from the God of Void.
"Will do. But it has to be further away. A 'Sinker will level the city from here."
I don't know how he will do what he says, but I quickly see his plan as Virgil evades right and left like a willow tree, impossible to hit. The fallen God roars in pain, detonating with more of his terrible Void, but the shadowed man vanishes once more.
Reaching for my Idols, I bring back two Marshalls as fast as possible while Virgil gets closer to the God. The two protect him enough for him to place a hand on Void. Then...
They both vanish with an eruption of Ether, destined for the flickering beyond.