One last stand agains the darkness

Myrena shook her body, looking down at Arthem and Ceres with disdain. “What kind of fools try to put out a fire with wind and more flames?”, she mocked them.

Certainly, when she put it like that, her advantage seemed insurmountable. Especially since all she had to do was prevent Helia from focusing on her task to succeed. After enough time passed, they would be forced to give up, and just go through with the ritual. Or not, and then, all of humanity would be doomed, because of their choices.

Arthem cursed his own powerlessness. The Fire burning inside him that he had been so proud about, it would not be enough to make a difference this time. Even if he had a Spirit with him, nothing would change. He was a Fire Handler, and that was all he would ever be.

Or would he?

A sudden thought jolted through his mind.

The Fire belonged to him, without any Spirit meddling.

Why had he assumed that was all?

He reached into his Soul. Shriveled and battered, it was truly in a sorry state. Arthem knew he did not have long, but that was a useless thought when the entire world was ending. Nonetheless, his Fire burned there, eagerly awaiting his call, as it always did. Instead, for the first time, he looked further away, behind it.

There, hiding away in the shadows, were the others. Smaller, much less bright, yet still his. Instinctively, he understood the price he would have to pay would be much higher. Absurdly so.

As if he would let that stop him.

He reached, and grasped the second biggest power within him. A perverse smile deformed his face. How fitting.

Once again, his existence had been validated.

Arthem got on his feet, still smiling. Myrena was raining Fire on Ceres, who scrambled to keep Helia safe as she prayed. “You are right, Myrena”, conceded Arthem. “There is no way we can stop you with his Wind, or my Fire.”

“You are still alive, boy?”, she belittled him. “If that is the case, then surrender. Only a fool would fight a fight they know they cannot win.”

“For once, we agree”, he got into an offensive stance, doing his best to taunt the Spirit. “If only you had not interrupted us, you would not have made such a fool of yourself.”

Myrena laughed, and a torrent of Fire poured from her wings, aiming for Arthem. He dodged with a forward roll and ran towards her, sidestepping all her fiery projectiles. The phoenix was waiting for him to jump into the air to reach her, like he had done before, so Arthem anticipated a barrage of flames would be awaiting him.

Instead, he kept running, passing behind her from below. She turned around, her attacks following, but he had not been expecting to have to do this, so he was faster, pushed forward by his Fire. By now, all of his skin was red and painful. The soles of his boots had long since withered away, and his clothing was torn apart on many places. Still, he could not afford to think about it too much, so he did not.

With an unnatural cracking sound, the air below his feet solidified into blocks of Ice, which he stepped on, gaining altitude. Myrena, Ceres, Helia, they all gasped in shock. Arthem reached the wall behind the Fire phoenix, and used both of his legs to thrust his body backwards, flying further up in the air, aiming for Myrena right below him. He was still smiling viciously as he fell down on her, surrounded by icy spikes. His weapon, too, was covered in a layer of shining Water.

“Thanks for the tip”, he whispered to the Spirit as he slashed her neck.

It did not go fully through, however. Thick steam rose from the Spirit’s body where his attacks connected, and she cried out in pain.

With every additional hit, Arthem could feel his Soul considerably shrink further and further, but he couldn’t stop, not now. He was so close. He laughed, and laughed, standing on top of Myrena’s wriggling body, who tried desperately to throw him off her.

This was it. This singular point in time was the reason he had been born.

He would use it all, the Soul he had been given, to defeat her. Water, Ice, and steel rained down endlessly on the flaming Spirit.

Eventually, the agony in Arthem's Soul became unbearable, and he was flung off. He fell down several meters, almost rolling into the ocean water, but the pain of the impact was minuscule compared to that of his heart.

Myrena, too, dropped to the ground, covered in cuts and icy spikes that evaporated steadily, thanks to her burning body. Around them, the entire cavern shook with the crash.

Arthem tried to stand up, but his limbs would not obey his orders, no matter how hard he asked. He locked eyes with Helia, who was visibly worried, and yet, her song had been going on for a while by now. Was she glowing, or was his mind playing tricks?

Ceres kept the Shadows at bay using Winds that glowed with Divine power, which probably Helia was supplying him with. Her resolve probably rivaled his own. If she could maintain her focus to end her prayer, while defending them both from the Shadows, she would succeed.

Maybe, this would be enough, he hoped.

Disagreeing with him, Myrena flailed her limbs around, intent of standing back up and resuming her assault. Eventually, she was able to, even through Ceres’ Winds that he kept sending her way any chance he had.

Her head rose to the sky. The terrifying, impossible sound her throat emitted resonated through the room. Helia recoiled, closing her eyes, and yet, she kept on singing.

Again, he tried to stand up, to no avail.

Ceres prepared to intercept another attack, but instead, Myrena dove in the opposite direction, to the darkness behind her. By the time they understood what she was doing, it was too late. An impossibly dark ooze covered her entire body, corrupting her, and yet, she smiled, terribly proud.

Her body grew even bigger, squirming with darkness. The thing that used to be Myrena locked her hateful eyes with Helia’s and howled, before darting in her direction. The Shadow’s huge wings hit the walls, and the ceiling, threatening to cause a collapse.

Arthem watched as Ceres intercepted her, using his wings and beak to wrestle her away, unable to do anything himself. Still, even with Ceres' Wind aided by Helia's Divine, he was no match for her, and he was on a clock. The more he fought, the more she corrupted him. Steadily, his body was being covered in darkness, just like hers.

Ceres did not give up, but Arthem was painfully aware that was also bad news. Once the last of his feathers turned black, he, too, would turn against Helia, and then, she would have no choice but to act. Not like Arthem thought she would wait that long, anyway.

As he predicted, It did not come down to that. Unyielding, Helia kept singing as light coalesced around her body, leaving her side soon after to hit Myrena’s Shadow. However, even Arthem could tell.

The song continued, but the prayer was over.

Once again, Myrena’s body reacted in pain, emitting copious amounts of steam, this time as she was being purified. Ceres kept her in check under his weight, using all of his strength so that she would not be able to move.

Helia’s song ended, the last note becoming a desperate cry. Still, no sign of the Moon. Impossibly bright torrents of light surged from her hands, mercilessly assaulting the Shadow until it stopped resisting.

“You lose”, declared Helia as Myrena’s real form appeared from beneath the darkness.

The fire phoenix simply laughed in response, and dissipated back into the Mana.

Helia ran to purify Ceres before it was too late. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t… Let’s start again”, she excused herself as her loving light cleaned her partner.

But, Arthem was laying down next to the ocean water, and he understood all too well why Myrena had been laughing.

The small pond reflected the full form of the Eclipse, directly above it.

Around them, from the walls, through the opening to the sky, the world itself was being covered in darkness. One Shadow, consuming all.

“It’s over”, announced Arthem. Helia and Ceres, now fully purified, joined him at the edge. Helia covered her face with both hands, and tears started streaming down her face.

“I… I should have… I could have…”, Helia was unable to utter a coherent sentence, yet they both understood exactly what she was saying.

“It’s not your fault, Helia”, responded Ceres, enveloping her with a gentle wing as she sobbed. “This is most likely how it was going to end, no matter what. Let’s do the ritual, at least.”

Helia nodded and got into position, standing right above the pond. Her reflection on the water was superposed onto that of the Eclipse. Ceres positioned himself on her left, and Arthem was still laying down to her right, fighting to stay conscious.

She looked down at him, troubled. A hesitant hand almost reached out to him, but it stopped before his body felt her touch. “Thank you for trying. I hope we meet again, in the new world”, she managed to say. Their eyes met, and they shared one last smile, full of sadness, of regret, of guilt, of words they would have loved to say, of moments they would now never get to experience.

And just like that, it was over. She faced the Eclipse once more, leaving Arthem alone to deal with his tears.

Helia inhaled, holding both hands together near her chest with both eyes closed. A single tear of sweat appeared on her wrinkled forehead and shortly after joined the trail of her tears, as she focused on something very intensely. Every second that nothing happened, her breathing got faster and faster.

Without a word, or at least, without a word Arthem could hear, Ceres rested his head on hers, delicately. A timid smile appeared on her lips, and she opened her arms wide, as if awaiting a hug.

It was a good thing Arthem couldn’t move, because he wasn’t sure he would have been able to resist that.

A soft glow enveloped her body, fighting against the darkness that kept creeping closer and closer. And then, the shooting stars appeared.

Surrounding Helia from all directions, they rained down on her. She welcomed them into her arms, her smile getting more and more confident with every second.

Arthem felt it, too. Inside of him, the ragged mess that used to be his Soul was tugging. It yearned for whatever it was she was doing; it wanted to leave him and jump into her arms. It was salvation.

He did not deserve it.

He fought it back, stubbornly. He wondered if she could tell, if she would be mad at him.

Even if she was, this was for the best.

Arthem would stay back in this broken world that he was unable to save, and disappear along with it.

Still, he was selfish.

He wished that things had been different. That he had been different.

With the whole saving the world thing, of course. But, mostly, with Helia.

It was cowardly of him to run away like this, instead of facing his mistakes directly. To decide on his own that his death would be enough to atone for what he had done, and what he had not done. 

Even so, he was convinced that the world would be better without him. That she would be better without him in the world.

The only reason the darkness had not yet swallowed the three of them was Helia. She shone bright in silver, as if she was made of pure moonlight. Her arms held the weight of every Soul with immense care. Finally, her eyes opened. She was smiling, even if her expression did not reflect happiness.

“Let’s go, Helia”, said Ceres, and Arthem was surprised to have been included. The Spirit probably mistakenly thought that Arthem was among the Souls Helia held so lovingly, his body but an empty shell. He should have been right, but Arthem was way too stubborn. He felt misplaced pride about it.

Helia nodded. Ceres shrunk and flew to rest on the top of her head. She sighed, and, without a word, stepped forward into the water, dropping directly onto the Eclipse’s reflection.

With the last of his strength, Arthem reached out. He did not know how, or why. No, that was a lie. He knew why. He recognized his own selfishness.

He wanted to touch her, one last time.

As his fingers grazed the exposed skin of her leg through her now destroyed clothing, Arthem’s center of gravity shifted from his precarious position at the edge of the pond.

He fell, splashing into the water as the darkness claimed what little remained of the world.