Chapter 16:
T.A./H.A. Paranoia Hero
Thalassio nestled itself within Dinorah’s stomach; the Ruchians were in awe. The girl’s eyes widened as the cold water rushed through her body. Louger then ripped her blade out. All Dinorah could do was look down at her wound. The great Ruchian hero smiled as she gazed upon her swordsmanship, but her joy quickly faded as the incision in Dinorah’s belly began to crystallize. Her blood began to harden like glass and grow until it connected both sides of the cut. Her flesh then covered over the wound as if it had never occurred.
“You really are one of them…” Louger rose to her feet in disgust. “You detestable little-!”
Louger swung Thalassio horizontally at Dinorah’s torso, but she leapt backwards just before the tip could graze her. She flew high into the sky, landing behind the crowd.
“There she is!”
“How did she move so fast?!?”
Louger looked over the crowd. To see someone move so effortlessly against Thalassio was an insult, but for it to be Dinorah of all people, that made it a transgression.
“DIRECT DIVE!” Louger screeched while slashing her sword against the air. A stroke of water flew from the blade’s tip and headed straight for Dinorah, who evaded the attack. She turned around and began to run towards the main gates, but Louger was keen on catching her prey. She took her hand and plunged it right into Thalassio’s center; the rest of her body followed, melting into the blade. Within seconds, Thalassio had vanished into thin air. Louger then sprouted from the puddle of water that flung from her sword, tailing behind the Elbrus girl. Dinorah ran awkwardly in this new form, still trying to fully comprehend it. Her knees would often buckle, which Louger quickly picked up on and decided to take advantage of.
“MAKO TORRENT!” Louger began to twirl Thalassio around her fingers like a baton, alternating between hands. She flung a barrage of water ahead of her and Dinorah, using her Direct Dive ability again to swim through each liquid portal. Dinorah looked all around her to see Louger jumping in and out of puddles with swift accuracy, never losing her stride. Upon her stumbling, she stayed alert for the sounds of water sloshing around. Wherever she heard a ripple, she ducked and barely missed a lunging strike from Louger. They left the town, the Ruchians were all at the threshold of the main gates, clamoring, but not a single soul dared to follow them, not even Dinorah’s own father. The two girls soon found themselves wandering into the Ulrich Woods. Louger’s eyes were glazed with bloodlust as she waved her sword around without a second thought.
“Yes…yes! Here…in this atrocious grove. I can erase everything with my blade!!! I can wash it all away, and let everything be devoured by the righteous tide!”
“Louger, your hatred is consuming you! You must hold yourself accountable and move forward! You are responsible for Ulrich’s death, but you still carry his blood. His Legacy lives on in you!”
“Legacy? There you go again...I will hear no more of your nonsense, Elbrus girl! His death was not my sin to atone for. Do you know how much I’ve suffered because of you? This extends FAR beyond that boy! My mother, the dutiful mayor of Ruchs, believed your word over mine! I spent all my life trying to earn her trust and love back; I will NOT let you rip that away from me again! Oh, what a blessing it is to know that, amongst all of this chaos, she’s still too carried away with her responsibilities to meddle in the petty affairs of that town. I have the freedom to act as I please! My judgment has commanded fear and respect from the Ruchians! When it comes to dealing out justice, I am the only one she relies on now! Don’t you see, Dinorah…? She trusts me!!! She loves me!!! I AM THE FLOOD OF VIRTUE!”
Louger unhinged her jaw as she cackled savagely. Dinorah leapt ahead, trying to put more distance between her and the crazed hero.
“I can’t fight her…I don’t want to fight her…” Dinorah’s thoughts wrestled in her mind. Too much was happening at once for her to process. Louger continued to use her combined abilities to hunt Dinorah through the woods; wherever Dinorah turned, she would spring out from a small pool and try to carve through her body. Dinorah fled every which way until she tripped over her foot and ran into a tree. Her right glass eye slammed against the wood, and a white flash took over her vision.
“I don’t want to fight her. Even if I did, I couldn’t defeat her. I have no understanding of this new form. I felt so assured then, but the feeling of Thalassio being buried in my stomach…I’m afraid. I am my hero’s prey, and all I can do is limp along in this new body. What must I do...What is the right path to take?” Suddenly, a somber yet familiar voice called out to her, overlapping her internal struggle.
“You shall not fall here, Dinorah.” She opened her eyes to find that she was in the same white void as before, standing before the Elbrus she tried to aid.
“Elbrus…”
“Dinorah…the Elbrus have been betrayed by humankind. You’ve witnessed my past, the massacre we had to endure. I was the last of my race, weary and despondent, and you sought to assist me regardless of my story. Now that my history is embedded in your very being, you act so frail and uncertain. Are you no longer willing to aid me, or the entirety of the Elbrus race?”
“I am at odds, Elbrus. My hero, the woman who inspired me to become everything I am today, has gone manic. I don’t want to fight her…I don’t know what I’m to do with this new form.”
If you do not take a stand here, the cycle of hate will end with humans triumphing over the Elbrus. Is this how you intended to help me?”
“But I already failed you! I couldn’t keep your core safe like you requested! My friend had to pick up where I fell short. You should have entrusted your power to Agon. I am not worthy of this power.”
“Are you certain…?” The Elbrus’s eyes flashed, and so did Dinorah’s right eye. As the light faded, she looked to see a projection of her old visage lying unconscious on the ground.
“This is…” As she looked ahead, she saw a projection of Agon, grabbing the Elbrus core. She instinctively ran towards the image.
“Agon! Dear friend, I knew I could depend on you! You truly are one of the greatest-” She stopped her praise as she watched Agon stagger and place the core upon the eroding stone’s crevice. “What are you…” She then watched him grab the branch she used to stun the Elbrus and bash it against the core. She gasped as Agon beat the branch once more against the core, until it shattered into pieces.
“In your insensible state, your friend took the last living part of me, and destroyed it.” As the pieces slowly flew by her face, Dinorah saw a silhouette travel in between the glass shards.
“I had one last chance to keep my spirit within you.” The silhouette advanced to a small shard of glass that landed right on the projection of Dinorah’s right eyelid. The shard melted and fused into the skin. Dinorah stood in horror as the projection came to an end.
“N-no…Agon…why would he…”
“In your right eye, I set my foundation. Every memory, tangled into your own genetic code.” Dinorah fell to her knees, shaking her head. A tear glimmered in her right eye.
“N-no…no no no...”
“Dinorah…if you truly abide by your words, then you will avenge me. My wicked killer still roams Velicima. I beg you. End the cycle and take a stand for the Elbrus race. End this nonsensical killing. The suffering of my kind. YOUR kind. Arise, and speak my name. Embrace the powers that writhe within you…Poirot.”
Dinorah was silent as the Elbrus vanished before her, leaving her with an unshakeable weight within the white void of her mind. She opened her lips and took a small breath.
“Found you…!” Louger called from within the woods, seeing Dinorah leaning against the tree, completely motionless. Louger sprang into the air and stabbed Dinorah right in her neck, only to find that she did not bleed. “...What…?!?” Dinorah’s body instead cracked like a mirror and crumbled apart into several pieces of glass. Louger now only saw her blade jammed into the tree right where Dinorah’s neck once was. She began to pull at the hilt. “Nngh! That same mirror trick again?!? Where are you, you...you...”
“Disoriented.” Dinorah’s voice echoed through the woods. Louger continued to pull at the hilt and looked around, but could not spot the Elbrus girl. “Where are you, you putrid little-!” She twisted her head around until she looked over her right shoulder to see a fist heading right for her cheek. The impact caused a shower of leaves to fall from the trees. Dinorah retracted her fist and stood tall behind Louger as she tried to collect herself; her face appeared lifeless, but her punch was filled with anger.
“Did you forget how to command your own weapon, Louger?” She spoke calmly.
“Ghh! THALASSIO!” Louger turned around to face Dinorah as she dispelled and re-summoned her blade back into her hand, lunging at Dinorah once more. The Elbus girl ducked and weaved under the blade’s edge to deliver a vicious shot to Louger’s liver. Her body flew across the woods, hitting another tree. She winced as she grabbed her bruised side.
“This strength…this speed…What happened to my frightful quarry?!?” She looked out into the forest, staring in a daze at bushes and stray flowers scattered about. She saw something shine in the distance, a shard of glass, roughly shaped like an arrowhead, shot at her, grazing her cheek and piercing itself upon the bark of the tree.
“Khh!” Louger touched her hand to her cheek and let the blood smudge against her fingers. “Rrrrraaaaaghhh!”
“Dinorah slowly walked towards the girl, her right eye glowing and droning in the afternoon sun. She crafted more shards of glass from thin air.
“SHATTERED VOLLEY,” Dinorah called. The shards of glass multiplied as she held out her open palm to the hero’s face. The glass arrowheads elegantly floated around her body. Louger scoffed as she ran to her right. Dinorah began firing the shards at high speed, one automatically following after the other. Louger hurdled and maneuvered through the onslaught of glass, deflecting several pieces back at Dinorah, which she smoothly evaded. Louger vanished into the deep heart of the woods, and the Elbrus girl did nothing but watch her vanish. Her body then cracked like glass and broke apart, turning into a glass trail that flew in Louger’s direction.
“What happened to my game? My prey?” Louger huffed as she sprinted through the grove, checking her surroundings every few seconds. She was in the clear, but only for a moment. She looked to her left to see a string of glass flying through the air, jingling as they twisted around one another. The trail of glass lunged at Louger like a glittering snake, snapping its sharp fangs at her skin. Louger couldn’t keep up with Dinorah’s speed; all she could do was broaden the distance between them. She held Thalassio’s hilt firmly and charged her swing, preparing to use her ability once more.
“DIRECT-! AGGH!” She couldn’t execute it fast enough. Dinorah, in her glass shard form, flung herself at Louger’s hand, dismissing her blade into nothing but a ball of water that soaked her palm. Louger tripped and rolled across the grass, ending up in a big clearing within the forest, right by the pond. The same pond where Dinorah first met Agon. The same pond that the Elbrus took Ulrich to when he was dying. Dinorah’s body reshaped itself, recovering from her glass form. She slowly walked to the edge of the pond to gaze at her full reflection. She truly did appear just as the Elbrus, Human and creature, intertwined. She turned around to the sound of Louger getting up, bleeding still from her cheek and hand. She stood with her back humped as she caught her breath. Finally, she spoke.
“Hear me, Elbrus girl…I WILL make good on my word, even if I have to relinquish my own life in the midst of our clash…So be it…I’LL WASH YOU AWAY, LIKE THE SINFUL WRETCH YOU ARE!!!”
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