Chapter 34 - The Beginning of the End

I watched as the Goddess kept moving forward at breakneck speed. I parried her first attack and struck, but she dodged. With every attack, she kept dodging, yet none of her attacks were hitting me either.

We stood on equal ground, or so I thought. But it seemed the Goddess had to be holding back, or at the very least, she was trying to tire me out. Whichever came first.

I couldn’t even look back at Elowyn or Grace, but soon, I would be forced to as a large firestorm struck towards the area where I and the Goddess were.

What was she doing? I couldn’t even dodge that. Before I could shout, a bubble formed around me, thanks to Grace, shielding me from the attack.

“Don’t worry, Razan! We have your back against an opponent like this!” Elowyn shouted.

“As long as I have my bubble, you’ll be safe from all harm!” Grace stood by me, alongside Elowyn, as the dust settled and the attack set its course. The Goddess herself looked singed by the wrath of a thousand flames.

Yet she was very much alright. In fact, it hardly looked to have done any damage whatsoever.

“How cute, to think magic, one of my very own tools in these worlds of mine, would even hurt me is laughable.” She smirked, with a wave of her hand, several balls of light shone around us.

“These are all universes, infinite in size, and sit in their own realms. I created them just a second ago. Think of it, like opening a door.” The Goddess explained, then casually snapped her fingers.

Those universes and dimensional planes she created in the blink of an eye exploded, the shockwaves sent us all flying, despite us all being outside of their planes.

I fell to the ground. I saw right before me, the core. The connector between worlds, she screwed up. The Goddess screwed up. I laughed and ran right for it.

“That’s it! That is it!” I swung at it, the Goddess turned as I did so, and the core exploded, sending me flying. It hurt. Every bone in my body hurt, but I was ecstatic; I succeeded.

There would be no more games, or so I thought. When I came to, it stood still, but it felt even further away.

“What happened? It was right there!” I pointed at where it was.

The Goddess simply smirked.

“Is this ability familiar to you, Razan Hamada?” She didn’t even explain what she did, with another snap of her fingers, a cityscape, elaborate as can be rose around me. I was back home? No, it was all an illusion.

“Simon’s ability?!” I gasped. It was really his ability, the illusions, the very ground felt as if I stood there myself. I would have almost mistook it for teleportation had the city not been empty.

“Then that core I destroyed!” I looked up at her.

“Just a decoy.” Her smirk faded, and she took on a more serious stance. A spear appeared in her hands. “Speed to maximum!”

She could even use Maxwell’s ability; in fact, I had a feeling there was no limit to whatever ability she could do.

After all, our weapons, our magic, all of it.

Was sourced from her.

She didn’t even need to do these things, all of this. It was just for the sole purpose of breaking our spirits in half.

We never stood a chance, and it was all for nothing. There was no coming back. With Ryu dead, there was no reason for me to ever be a part of the game any longer.

“You seem discouraged, Razan Hamada. Perhaps you would like a way out of this hole you dug for yourself.” The Goddess seemed to pick up on my feelings. “You could take Ryu’s place, you know. I’m sure you’d make a good killer if you threw those silly ideals of yours away.”

I remembered all those years ago, I saw a flashback of us all losing, Grace dying, and Elowyn barely escaping with her life. The last thing I saw was Ryu making that deal and killing me.

I could even see the looks in Elowyn and Grace’s eyes. I resembled him more and more in demeanor.

“Razan! Don’t do it!” Elowyn shouted.

“Razan, please don’t! Not you as well!” Grace would also take the time to shout. Before, of course, the Goddess herself waved another hand, and a black blob rose around Grace and Elowyn’s feet, pulling them slowly and slowly into the darkness.

I could even hear their voices begin to drown out.

“I can’t run, I can’t escape. As long as I have my friends!”

“I can do anything!”

I turned around and darted towards the two black blobs and cut them both down, freeing both Elowyn and Grace, who promptly fell to the ground and took heavy breaths.

“I’ll fight you still, even knowing the odds are slim, I’ll fight until I have no choice but to stop!”

“Shield mode!” I shouted once more, and my shield took shape. If I could copy the powers of the Goddess herself, perhaps I too could achieve divinity.

The Goddess charged again, and I blocked it with my shield; my body stung. I felt a sharp pain course through me as my arms and legs began to numb. The only thing stopping my shield from breaking from the pressure was me pushing all of that energy into myself.

The energy itself was plentiful; I felt all kinds of sensations as if I was slowly getting closer and closer to divinity.

“So you plan to copy me, do you? I suppose that’s just who you are, someone who relies on others.” The Goddess mocked me, as if she hadn’t given me that power on purpose.

No doubt to Elowyn and Grace, this was a battle they stood no chance of winning. The only hope there was was this newfound sense of divinity.

That I could shed away the confines of humanity and attack her not as man, but god. Yet I still felt incomplete; regardless, I should still stand a chance.

Still, from her look, she knew what I was doing the whole time, and I needed to be careful.

“Relying on others is pointless; if you cannot get to a position on your own, how can you be expected to maintain it? Friends come and go after all.”

“What happens if your friends disappear?”

The Goddess taunted me some more, and I charged and slashed at her. She barely dodged, taking a slight cut to the chest.

That move must have caught her off guard.

After all, her face grimaced, she had gotten too cocky, and I had gotten too powerful as a result, to the point that even she may have trouble handling me.

I will make a prediction, since you have my powers, I’m sure you will be able to see the same thing I did.” This was an offer, a small break in the battle to see just what the outcome holds for us.

No doubt it was a trap, but the allure was too much. I closed my eyes and began to focus. It was then, we both said the same thing at the same time.

At the end of this fight, there will be only one individual standing.

If I won, then that meant Grace and Elowyn would have either fled or perished; however, it could also mean the Goddess herself was fated to win.

But as I’ve proven otherwise.

“Is this an attempt to scare me? I’ve already defied your predictions before, Goddess.” It was my turn to get cocky now.

“I’ll give you a second chance, end this fight now, and I shall still give you your wish; I’ll even return you home.” It was a promise, I could tell. She wanted this fight to finish, but why would I heed her warning when I was at the height of my power?

Opportunities don’t last forever, and I planned to capitalize on it.

I charged, however, I felt something. Something terrible, a feeling of unease that perhaps I should have listened to her. It was then, I heard a scream.

I turned around to see two humanoid shadows behind me, and they both were holding Elowyn and Grace. Swords pressed against their necks.

Only one person would be standing.

“I believe you said something about as long as you had your friends, you can do anything. But like I said, friendship is fleeting.”

With those words, I felt a sense of dread.

Shit!

“Don’t do this! Don’t you lay a finger on either of them!” I growled at her. My teeth clenched together as I glared at the Goddess, a warning for her to stop it right then and there.

“Kill the elf girl!”

With that command, Elowyn vanished into thin air. She had teleported out of the way, the magic carpet rematerialized, and she flew off as the shadow gave chase. I decided to run and help, but a mysterious force held me in place.

“You don’t get to lift a finger, but I will allow you to witness the permanent death of your friends.”

Her voice was cold and cruel.

Elowyn fired bolt after bolt; the shadow's limbs fell off after each strike until it eventually fell to the ground in defeat.

“You’ll have to do more than that to kill me, Goddess!” Elowyn shouted. However, the shadow itself reformed behind her, plunging its blade through her chest before even a word could be spoken.

“No! Elowyn!” I shouted, my voice no doubt desperate, my eyes began to sting as she fell to the ground, her body began to be wrapped in darkness, before being swallowed into an endless void.

“How depressing, but you can never escape the wrath of a Goddess.” She sounded almost bored.

Bored?

She was bored?

Elowyn’s death was boring to her?

“She was my friend! Why did you kill her?!” I shouted and struggled. “She could hardly do a thing to you! She wasn’t even a threat! You killed her anyway!” All I could do was shout and struggle as the Goddess turned her blindfolded gaze from me to Grace.

“I suppose you got one last friend left, you know what to do, my beloved shadow!”

The Goddess issued her command. Not only was she able to kill Elowyn, but she was going to kill Grace as well, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Well? There was one thing to do.

End this.

I can’t.

Fight.

Any longer.

“Stop…I give up…” My voice was hollow, yet it was enough for me to be let go. I fell to the ground, unable to move, and a deep-rooted despair sank into me and held me down instead.

The Shadow itself holding Grace also vanished, releasing her.

“Razan!” Grace shouted for me, but it was meaningless. I couldn’t save her, I couldn’t save anyone. Everyone I tried to save would die.

“Don’t look so sad, Razan Hamada. If anything, you should rejoice, for now you will get my forgiveness, and a wish to boot. You could wish for anything you want within reason.”

Anything.

I could have happiness.

Perhaps Simon’s vision of a utopia wasn’t bad after all?

After all, if I couldn’t help anyone? What was I good for?

“I want…” I began.

“I want to live in a new world. I just want all of this to go away. I want to live in a world where I can be happy.”

It was a simple wish.

Happiness.

Such a wish made the Goddess smirk; not only had she won, but she had utterly broken my spirit. I had nothing left to fight her with. Even the newfound divinity I had begun to fade away as I resumed mortality.

I felt the tattoo on my cheek begin to fade away as my sword and shield dissolved.

“Very well, preparing this new world.” The Goddess turned to an empty spot in the blank canvas that the in-between portrayed.

“Razan!” Grace ran over to me, all she could do was hold me, but it wasn’t enough.

“Grace, I just want to be happy with you. I’m sorry we couldn’t kill the Goddess. I’m sorry for being such a failure, but I won’t be a failure anymore. In this new world we’re going to, we can be happy, I can be something.”

I then smiled as a light began to envelop us.

“Maybe Tetsuo and Elowyn will be waiting for us.”

Then there was nothing.

The end?