Chapter 16:
“The weight of a name”
Lichtfall: The Light At The Worlds End
The world had become an arena.
Collapsed buildings and mountains of broken concrete formed a jagged circle around the ruined road, sealing off every escape. Dust drifted through the air like gray snow, illuminated only by the iridescent glow of the setting sun.
Beyond the walls of rubble…
They came.
Revenants.
Abominations.
Hundreds of Nyxfel poured from the shattered streets, their distorted bodies crawling over the debris like insects flooding from a broken nest.
The horde descended.
One revenant broke away from the swarm.
Its empty crimson eyes locked onto Iris.
It sprinted.
“I-I…!”
Panic consumed her.
Iris turned and ran.
Her breaths became ragged.
There was nowhere to go.
No alley.
No doorway.
No wall to hide behind.
Only open ground.
The creature was gaining.
Closer.
Closer.
“No…!”
Her foot caught on a broken slab.
She fell hard against the cracked asphalt.
Pain shot through her palms as she desperately crawled backward, pushing herself away with trembling hands.
The revenant never slowed.
Its twisted mouth stretched open.
Closer…
Closer…
Then…
Iris stopped.
Her hands froze.
The fear drained from her face.
Tears slowly rolled down her crimson eyes.
“…I deserve this.”
Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
She lowered her hands.
Opened her arms.
Accepted it.
“I deserve this.”
The revenant leaped.
A sharp crack split the battlefield.
Its skull exploded.
Blood and bone scattered across the road.
The corpse collapsed only inches from Iris.
She stared in disbelief.
A tiny pebble rolled across the ground beside her.
Licht didn’t even look at her.
“…quiet.”
His voice was colder than the battlefield itself.
Almost immediately…
The surrounding Nyxfel abandoned Iris.
Their crimson eyes shifted.
Toward him.
There was intelligence buried beneath those monstrous faces.
Not much.
Just enough.
Enough to recognize the greater threat.
Enough to understand who had killed one of their own.
Then…
The battle resumed.
Ragged steel flashed.
The boy lunged first.
Licht spoke as he caught the attack.
“What’s your name?”
Cold.
Emotionless.
The boy answered with violence.
His knee slammed into Licht’s abdomen.
The impact lifted Licht clean off the ground.
Before he could recover…
A devastating kick crashed into his side.
BOOM!
Licht was launched backward, his foot carving long trenches through the dirt before he finally stopped.
He planted both feet.
Without hesitation…
Two daggers spun through the air.
There wasn’t even enough time to breathe.
Licht slipped between them.
The blades streaked past him…
…and buried themselves in the chest of a charging abomination.
The creature collapsed instantly.
The boy was already moving.
Their fists collided.
BOOM!
Neither moved.
Another punch.
BOOM!
Then another.
Each collision echoed louder than the last.
Each strike carried enough force to shake the fractured earth beneath them.
To Iris…
They disappeared.
Only flashes remained.
Two silhouettes colliding faster than her eyes could follow.
The surrounding Nyxfel rushed them together.
Dozens at once.
An avalanche of claws and teeth.
Yet somehow…
Both fighters reacted without looking.
Licht ducked beneath an attack and drove his fist towards the boy
He dodges causing it to crash into a revenant behind him.
At the exact same instant…
He pivoted.
Swinging his leg directly at Licht.
Licht raises his arm up blocking the punch.
The shockwave crushed the skull of the nyxfel on the opposite side of Licht.
They weren’t protecting each other.
The nyxfel were just Collatrial damage.
He immediately drove a punch toward Licht’s stomach.
This time…
Licht caught it.
His hand clamped around the boy’s wrist.
His knee exploded upward.
The boy leaned back just enough.
The attack missed by inches.
But the force didn’t.
A violent shockwave erupted into the sky.
Far behind him…
An enormous abomination’s head burst apart.
Its body remained standing for a heartbeat before collapsing with a deafening crash.
The boy drew two fresh daggers.
The assault never stopped.
His blades rained toward Licht from every direction.
Left.
Right.
High.
Low.
Licht met every strike with his bare fists.
Steel rang against hardened knuckles.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Neither gave ground.
Neither hesitated.
The intensity climbed higher with every exchange.
The air itself began to shimmer.
Heat radiated outward.
Cracks spread beneath their feet.
Orange light seeped through them.
The fractured ground slowly softened…
Turning into glowing magma beneath the relentless force of their battle.
But unlike Licht…
He had limits.
They threw one final punch.
Their fists crashed directly into each other’s faces.
BOOM!
Both staggered backward.
Silence.
The battlefield made no sound.
Licht began walking forward.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The boy circled him instead, refusing to lower his guard for even a heartbeat.
Licht’s expression never changed.
“You’ll surely die.”
Another step.
“So tell me…”
His pearlescent eyes met his..
“…your name.”
For the first time…
The boy answered.
“…Rhea.”
Not out of respect.
Not because he accepted Licht as a worthy opponent.
He wanted only one thing.
He wanted the man who killed him…
…to remember exactly whose life he had taken.
End of chapter 16TYSM FOR READING
Please sign in to leave a comment.