The Prophet Ascends

The dust was thick in the air, obstructing their noses and stinging their eyes. They held their hands up to their faces as they cautiously approached the ruins. Tight, square-shaped pieces of stone flooring peeked out from beneath the sand in places, forming a precise, unnatural grid across the clearing.

"I could swear I've been here before, but I've never seen this place," Zel said, circling with his sword and marveling at the unseen scenario.

They moved closer to the four black, tar-like figures, which began to transform. The air grew instantly colder around them, heavy and metallic, as the blackness swirling inside them took on faces and forms. Each figure gradually began to resemble them, aside from the color. Black Haku's horns appeared on her head, and a perfect replica of Haku's sword grew from her hand. Black Lily's long, black hair lashed at her waist as she cracked one wrist with the other hand, preparing for magical strikes. Black Zel slammed his black sword into the ground and leaned on it, waiting for the final figure to take its new shape.

Black Ren confidently stepped forward, a mocking smile on his face.

Before anyone could act, Haku took a decisive step onto the grid, her eyes fixed on her clone. But she took a wrong step somehow, because a painful cry broke out of her. The others snapped their heads over. Haku was gritting her teeth and clutching her ankle, which bent at an unnatural angle.

A blue magic projectile whizzed past Ren's head, singeing the ends of his hair. He winced and turned his attention back to the clones.

Clone Ren was not engaging in close combat; he was firing strategically, trying to control Ren's movement and keep him from observing the grid. The uninjured Clone Haku didn't care about the real oni's injury and headed toward her. Meanwhile, Black Lily began moving forward, taking perfectly measured, small steps, her hands raised, and tiny fissures of purple light crackling across the obsidian-like surface of her skin as she charged her power. The charged energy vibrated with such force that grains of sand began to rise and hover around her feet.

Haku slowly got up with a pained expression, putting her weight on one leg and supporting herself with her sword.

Ren watched the events unfold while dodging Clone Ren's shots. Clone Haku didn't charge directly but began circling, taking specific, measured steps around the prone Haku. Lily shoved Zel toward the injured oni. He reluctantly left the blind girl alone to rush to Haku's rescue. He fended off Black Haku, who immediately began circling again.

"Ren!" Zel shouted, his voice tight. He knew he couldn't hold them off for long. Black Lily was steadily, unstoppably approaching the unconscious girl, the ground trembling slightly with every slow, charged step.

Lily blindly sent a wave of magic, which hit with a thud, but Black Lily easily dissolved it and got closer to her. When she reached her, she grabbed the real one's neck and looked up at her with a big grin. A desperate gasp escaped Lily's mouth, not letting air into her lungs.

A dark streak of magic lashed out from Black Lily. There was a sickening thwump as the black tar consumed Lily's body. She didn't cry out; she went rigid, her mouth open in a soundless gasp, before the darkness swallowed her entirely. Lily lay still, unconscious, the blackness trying to consume her.

Zel roared in visceral panic, his muscles coiling as he prepared to abandon his position and sprint toward her. Haku's good foot slammed down, ready to propel her broken body forward despite the pain.

"Don't move!" Ren yelled, startling the others and causing them to freeze in place. "Haku, two steps forward, one to the side. Zel, straight ahead! If you step anywhere else, you'll be penalized!"

Ren began to run straight, moving further away from the others and directly toward Black Ren, who shot at him continuously until the real one passed his side. The clone's inability to deviate from its straight line, even when Ren was directly beside it, confirmed what Ren already suspected: they were playing a game of chess, and both he and Black Ren were restricted to the movements of pawns.

The clone sprinted to the other side of the board with incredible speed, shooting out like a rifle bullet, imitating the real thing.

The real Ren got to the other side first. His shoe touched the final square, and he spun on his axis. He knelt, his arm outstretched to execute a perfect attack that would take out Black Ren with a single blow. He exhaled and, with a determined expression like a machine, he aimed at his opponent.

As soon as Black Ren turned toward him, Ren fired. The shot flew across the field with a loud bang, stopping on the clone for a split second, then exploded like a firework, taking the fake Ren with it.

Haku hopped, balancing on one leg, holding her own against her much healthier self. Zel was so preoccupied with his own and Haku's clone that the black tar completely consumed Lily's body on the ground, leaving a shimmering pool of liquid darkness.

Zel was panting, his throat raw, his knees trembling from the force of blocking two clones at once. A low, furious grunt escaped him as he managed to shove Black Haku away.

Ren spotted his opening. Clone Haku, restricted by her knight's moving pattern, struggled to maneuver efficiently on the grid. Ren easily closed the distance. Black Haku, now furious, pivoted instantly and slashed out at Ren's shoulder. Ren barely managed to cross his arms, but the black blade left a burning gash across his shirt and his flesh beneath. He hissed in pain, tasting the metallic tang of his own blood in the dusty air.

Ignoring the searing pain in his wounded arm, Ren directed his magic with his working arm and exploded her while she was still in the air.

Clone Zel, on the other hand, was a tough nut to crack. He was strong enough to occupy both boys at once.

Haku, leaning heavily on one leg, watched the desperate struggle. Her injured state rendered her close-quarters sword skills useless, but her mind was sharp. Seeing Zel and Ren trapped in a defensive cycle, she knew they would lose the battle of attrition. She grew tired of the impasse. With a grunt of effort, she shifted her weight, ignoring the scream from her ankle. She threw her enormous sword, spinning it end over end. It flew with a loud, whistling arc and embedded itself directly in Fake Zel's head. He slowly crumbled to dust, leaving black powder in the sand.

All three of them rushed to the lying Lily immediately, throwing away everything.

Lily's body was covered in the liquid black goo. No matter how they tried to wipe it off with their hands or their clothes, it didn't seem to lessen.

They thought they had time, but Lily's blood pressure dropped rapidly under the thick tar layer and then stopped. Ren desperately started chest compressions, but the tar absorbed his hands and the pressure, burning his own skin. Gritting his teeth, he tried again and again.

Ren pulled back his hands, realizing her heart had truly stopped. A single, hoarse sound of despair tore from Zel's throat. His own black sword slipped from his numb fingers and hit the sand with a desolate clang. Zel immediately dropped to his knees, ignoring his injuries, and reached out to pull Lily from the tar, but the black goo recoiled, absorbing his hands up to the wrist before repelling him. "No!" Zel screamed, wrenching his hands free, the liquid burning his skin. Ren dropped his head, the full weight of the failure crushing him. Haku stared, numb, at the dark pool that now held her friend. They were utterly powerless. They couldn't save her, and they couldn't even touch her to mourn her properly.

Then, a soft, high-pitched whine cut through the desolate silence. The thick, black goo covering Lily's body began to shimmer.

Lily's body began to levitate horizontally, then stabilized in a vertical position. The liquid darkness hissed as it recoiled, melting and dripping off her rapidly. First, they saw her clean shoes, then her legs, her chest, and finally her face. The dark tar peeled away from her long, waist-length hair, revealing not the familiar vibrant orange but a shocking white.

The white, wavy locks painted a new image of the girl. She gently settled onto the ground and looked at the open-mouthed boys straight in the eye, as if she could actually see them. She walked past them and knelt beside Haku, placing her hand on the oni's broken ankle. The bone snapped back into place with a sickening click, and the pain vanished instantly.

Lily rose, her white hair stark against the golden sand, her eyes gleaming with a quiet, terrifying power as she pulled her lips into a bright smile.