Between Light and Darkness

I had come to kill him. That was my only purpose now. After the innocents who suffered, the weak stomped out and countless deaths, this was the only path forward. There was no justice. It was a lie I just kept hearing repeated to me by people unwilling to do what was necessary. This was right. And I was the one meant to do this. It was my responsibility.

Tall dark pillars of black-purple stretched on beyond my view. Oppressive and imposing, he wanted to threaten me. Scare me away. But there was too much blood now. Fear had lost its fangs. Nothing would bar my way.

My heart had calmed since I began this path. It no longer raced and froze up. The cold couldn’t find purchase within my body. It was a foreign vessel for any intrusion. Doubt and uncertainty burned to ash leaving only resolve. Forged in steel, I could walk confidently forward. No trap or sweet words would sway my course.

If justice did not exist. I would become it, in the absence of any. For all those who cried out.

The very light of the sun couldn’t even reach this deep into the stronghold. Large windows lined the hall that I ran through and yet it remained dim. Only the brilliance of my sacred sword reached out to present me with a path. It would always lead me to him.

“Intruder! Halt!” a pair of shadows shouted out at me. Vague forms looking like people, but completely drowned in shadow. It poured from their heads, the source of the corruption. They ceased to even be human anymore. His power burned itself so deeply into the people.

Heat rose in my body as they tried to bar my way. Their purple swords already pointed to threaten. They looked down on me, not attacking on sight. Pathetic. In a sprinting charge, I pulled back my blessed blade. Once in reach, my arm sprung out in an arc completely severing the heads of the shadow consumed soldiers. This was the only means of honor now for those tainted by him.

He would pay for his crimes.

I didn’t even pause. He had to be stopped. I couldn’t wait any longer. Even with the endless columns and windows of the hall, the door finally appeared. I had endured his illusions, he couldn’t hold me back.

A large door stood before, too massive for any human to open. It had to be made of solid metal black as the night. Stars of the abyss sank into the depths of its pores tempting me with lies of a false truth. “There is still time to turn back. All is not lost yet. A shard of hope still remains.” No, it would not sway my righteous heart. The burning flame within me would leave everything he stole as ash.

Placing the sword back in its sheath, I focused all my strength. He was so close. The walls he put up before me wouldn’t be enough. It vibrated at my side as the divine light grew. Part of the Sacred Treasure of the Tengun was the sheath’s capacity to draw on the ambient light energy within the air. The blade itself couldn’t pull it in, only store, it had to charge from the sheath. But it made for a singularly powerful strike. It served me well culling the corrupted and tainted to reach this point.

It was almost rattling at my hip, eager to be unleashed. The sword must have felt him near as well. We were one. Together we would finally bring peace to our spoiled home. He would feel the torment that he unleashed upon everyone.

My hand was like molten metal squeezing the hilt. The pure light was overflowing. With a cry, I unsheath the blade in a straight upwards arc. The very space warped as the compressed light raced forth like a stampede of bulls. Not even the corrupted metal of the door could withstand the might of my justice.

A glowing heated edge through the metal appeared behind the slash for just a moment. In the next instant, it exploded inward, completely shattering to pieces under the weight of the sacred energy. A powerful taint blew out against me from the opening. Disgusting, his presence turned even nature against me.

The final barrier was down.

I marched forward on guard. He twisted everything that lived before him. I couldn’t relax for a moment. My hand squeezed on the hilt. I could feel him from where I stood. It was disgusting how far his reach was. The black void that consumed the air itself blocked my vision. Where was he hiding from me? Too scared to face me now that his shadows were defeated.

I made it ten steps in before a voice from all around called out. “The Bloody Savior arrives.” His voice rang deep like snakes wanting to tie me down. Words to be shackles that would bind me.

“Reveal yourself to me! The Voice of the People demand justice!”

A dark chuckle came through the void like a cruel joke whispered in his ear. My sword turned, feeling the fog grasping at its blade. But kept it free. He would not steal it, like everything else. He could not own this. It was mine.

“So the Savior’s blind. I guess that you would claim justice makes a degree of poetic sense now.”

“I can see the corruption before me. I will cut out the sore upon our home!”

“You certainly are single minded. I shall entertain your fantasies for a time.”

“The only fantasy is that you’re leaving alive!” His words would not sway me. I charged forward. His voice came from everywhere giving me no clue. If he wouldn’t come to me, then I would find him. He could not stay his execution any longer. Words were just another means for him to corrupt. I understood his tricks well. I saw how he worked. Nothing he could do would succeed.

Even though he cloaked himself within the darkness to hide, I would find him. His evil was a smell that I could track. There was no escape. My arm pulled to the left. There! I had him now! I unleashed a heavy downward swing. A small smile came over me as I found him, but it didn’t last. My blade was caught, something stopped me from sinking in. “Damn you!”

“You think I would just hand over my life because you stormed my office?” My light finally cut through the veil he cast over the room. It peeled back to the walls pouring up like a waterfall in reverse. And before me he sat.

Unlike his twisted shadow soldiers, he sat in a mockingly white suit completely clean as though nothing he ever did was dirty. A man forever clean and above any sort of filth. We shouted and decried him as a demon, yet it was just a man upon a throne. It would be better if he weren’t, then his actions would make more sense. Instead, I was left with a villain who looked like any man that I might have seen on the street. Almost insignificant in appearance and yet impossibly heavy in value.

And to add insult to me, he didn’t even bother to block me. Some manner of shield protected him. My sword rattled under my strength trying to force through. Sparks of energy flashed as metal collided with invisible force. “Bastard…” I pressed harder on my blade until something reflected back.

I skidded over the floor to grind to a halt. “Am I so beneath you that you won’t even try?” I knew that someone known as the Betrayer won’t be so simply culled. The man stood atop a throne of corpses and laughed. But for the holy sword to not even make him sweat. How deep into sin had he gone to find such power?

“You really are quite troublesome. Already this far gone.” Immediately I went on the defensive seeing him move. Perhaps I had done some damage or provoked enough interest. Whichever it was, I would welcome it. The sooner that this ended the sooner that I could restore the peace that had been lost. Never had I known it, only tales of stories about what it was like before he claimed everything.

“You won’t be able to escape your fate!”

“No, it doesn’t seem that way.” From within his coat, he pulled out a sword that couldn’t have fit. It was a much thinner blade to the divine blade in my hands. There was no way it would lose to an inferior work. My hand shook warming up again. It felt insulted by the display.

We would shatter it immediately and force him to accept the truth. I jumped forward, bringing the sword down over my head. The radiant glow of my blade leaving white trials behind. It would cleave the trifling weapon in half. Mayhaps even land a blow and press him.

He caught the holy sword. To my disgust, it didn’t even budge with my whole weight thrown behind it. I came to land on my feet trying to apply more strength behind my weapon. “Do you think so little of me that you wouldn’t even use your Sacred Treasure to fight me?” How could such a worthless weapon stop my sword?

“Such a self indulgent tool is unnecessary.” He then somehow pushed me back with just one arm. I practiced and trained with my Treasure to reach this point and yet he overpowered me so effortlessly. But this was the inhuman strength of him, the Betrayer. It was never going to be simple. If he could be killed so easily someone else would have done it long before me.

I dashed back in to attack. There could be no stopping anymore. I had to break through his defense. My blade needed blood. Metal scrapped over metal in quaking reverbations through his shadowed hall. Each blow he parried away, but I didn’t let him control me. I stayed foot planted together with him locking my feet in place. The force shook my legs, but I remained. He would not push me away.

A flurry of blows didn’t manage to knock his sword from his hand. Damn. Evil and skilled, a worthy challenge. It would make the kill all the sweeter. Catching my breath, I focused on the sword. I would make him draw his true weapon. He would not mock me with this pathetic blade any longer.

Targeting his hand to disarm, I thrust out for him. And yet it just passed through with a deflection. Damn him. It caused me to over step and force me to pivot on my heel. I struck from his flank, but that still wasn’t enough. How perfect was his defense? How could he keep avoiding me? Where did all this skill come from?

They said he stayed in the tower ever since he usurped control. But I knew nothing of the man before then. He just came from nothing it seemed. Skillfully backstabbing to reach the top. That shouldn’t have granted these skills. It made no sense.

Each strike I made was blocked with ease using the exact placement of the blade to counter. That had to be why he could use a terrible weapon and keep it intact against my perfect sword. Yes, that had to be the answer. His skill as a swordsman was vast, that of a master. A deep mystery void of talents stolen from the innocent. He would plunder everything. Nothing could stop his greed. Until now, my Treasure would see it end finally.

I just needed to breach his defenses. The normal tactics wouldn’t work against him. Whatever the means of his acquired strength, he was simply too skilled. As much as I would like to question it further, it served no purpose. I would have to start making real use of my Treasure. If he would keep rejecting me I would force him to acknowledge me before I killed him.

Turning the blade flat with the ground, I thrust the sword into the tiled floor. Cracking under the force, light jumped from the impact out to points surrounding us. Light elemental clones of the Sacred Treasure rained over the room. Duplicates saturated my vision, this was something only used against hordes of his turned soldiers. It felt like excess for one person, covering the field in my attack. But if he was just going to deflect everything, I needed to make my opening.

And like I expected, he brushed away with no effort my rain of swords. But it forced him out of position. His guard was down and I charged in with my sword pointed at him. If I killed him in the moment I would be a little disappointed, but an end was an end. This was the only way it had to go. No other pathways allowed.

His weapon arm remained up still, covering his position. I would make it. This would be the necessary blow. Lethal or not, he would have to take me seriously. He would use his Treasure finally.

But there was no satisfying plunge of flesh or blood. Nothing of the sort. I ground my teeth in frustration with him catching my arm. Pulling at my right arm, it was stuck. He was strong and talented. Damn him. He really was a devil in all but appearance. “You really are quite transparent. Such simple tactics.”

It felt like he might have been able to crush my arm, but didn’t. Still underestimating me. He mocked me. He would regret that. I would kill him. That was a promise!

He then had enough strength to throw me back. Damn him. I stabbed my sword down to bring myself to a stop before disappearing. The rain of swords wasn’t just an attack. It was a setup for my next move. With the properties of light from my weapon, I transferred to a clone sword behind him.

Quickly, I made swift strikes in his blind spot trying to open him up. And yet it was like he had eyes behind him. He saw through all my strategies. He really was at the peak. This was the proof that he had crossed a line no one ever should have. He had become something other than human. It was the only explanation.

After just a few strikes, it was clear that I was not breaking his guard this way. I was teleporting at the speed of light and yet he could still keep up with me. I still had plenty of room to go. This wasn’t the end. No matter what he thought. I could keep going.

In the last failed attack, I stabbed my blade in the ground and dragged it through the floor into the air. The edge cut through tile like a knife through bread. Leftover light drew in from the surrounding air. Not nearly the same as my sheath, but enough.

An arc of light drew across the air and wrapped around. Running up the trail I created, my feet glided along the path of light moving faster than I could have normally. The force strained on my body, but it would hold. I just needed the one opening to break through. I would cut him and bring him to heel.

Slash, swing, thrust, I connected with him from angles impossible for me to reach normally while guided by my light. I hung upside down and sideways wrapping around the air to pry him open. And still his sword found a way to meet me. Nothing I did could cut him. How much would I need to draw up my Treasure to finally end him? I would spend my life if it was necessary. He took everyone from me! I went unburdened into this fight. There was nothing he could do to stop me.

If nothing would break through, I would have to stop holding back. I teleported to the ceiling staring down at him as I sheathed my sword once more. The heat of it grew quickly in response to my call. We were one. We felt the insult, the need for this to change. The death that would come. Fighting his Treasure was no longer on my mind. I would just end it. He would not be able to withstand the full power of the divine sword. No one had before. It slayed everyone before without question. And he would be no different. Whatever his tricks and strengths were, it was nothing before the light.

The ceiling rattled and quaked under pressure. Parts of it crumbled as dust around me fell towards my target. Light started to glow around my sheath with an intensity that it never had before as I charged it more than even when I destroyed his door. This was the man that sent thousands to their deaths and stole thousands more of lives. He tossed everything about humanity away for power. I would leave nothing left to even be buried! He would pay for his crimes!

At full strength, I leapt from the ceiling in a blinding streak. The sword pulled from the sheath with a weight like that I hadn’t known before. It was heavy with judgment behind it. I could feel the hope of all the lives that I took in. This was the end. He would not stand against the combined power of humanity!

Light exploded from the blade completely blinding the whole room. For a brief moment, when I saw nothing there was peace. A small smile came to me as I thought of them. I missed them. He stole them from me. I couldn’t see them anymore. It was lost. The coldness of that loss stabbed at me. And then I snapped back to reality.

Light bleached everything, but I could feel the pressure. The man was there still, holding it all back. A human become demon, he stood against me. Damn him! I would not, could not stop anymore. The divine light of my Treasure would shatter all, even his mocking reality!

Then the world returned to me. I was staring down at him. His pathetic sword finally shattered at his side. But still protected. The light had fallen upon him like a tsunami, but he just cast it aside. And hovering above him a scale of pure gold. It tipped to the right with a ring knocking me backwards.

I spun end over end across the floor and crashed into the wall. Everything hurt and screamed. It was the first time pain screamed through my body. Long I had thought I had abandoned it. Only to live in hell spread by one man.

“It really is a troublesome Treasure. But I hope that was enough cold water for you.”

Grinding my teeth, I tried to move my body, but it was stuck. Damn him, I couldn’t let it end here. Not this way. I was the hope of everyone! I need to kill him!

Another ring of the scales brought it back to balance. The weight on me fell away. I coughed throwing up a bit of blood. But staring at the golden Treasure I knew I had won, even if it was just a moment. I smirked through the pain. “I forced you to use it.”

“The Sword truly is a bothersome Treasure. But I trust, I cleared your head enough for you to actually be looking with eyes unclouded.”

I groaned fighting back the stinging jabbed into my body. He wasn’t making much sense. I glared across the chamber at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I should have disrupted the connection enough. I haven’t a clue where you think you are, but take a look around. And maybe we can think about how to settle this.”

“What? I’m in your shadow–” I stopped myself as I could see behind him all the shadows were gone. My attack swept them away. It should have destroyed the very peak of the tower. There was nothing of the darkness that hung from every fixture and wall like an old mold. It was a plain gray wall. And a darkened row of full windows to my left. It looked out into a dense urban city. Lights and electricity filled my vision as flying drones whipped by the view. Mageuro City, my home, but no this was wrong. It didn’t look like this. It was wood and brick, not white metal and glass. “Why am I in an office?”

“You barged into my office. The President of Treant Software Solutions.”

I shook my head. “Lies! Lies, this is the Emperor’s Shadow Tower, home of your army of turned shadowmen.”

“That’s quite the active imagination you have. But if you trust your eyes and not that Treasure, you can see which is the truth.”

“No, you’re a master of illusions. You’re trying to sow doubt.”

“It really has completely entrapped you.” The Emperor walked away going towards his desk. A stack of tablets and a computer terminal rested on the simple and plain table. For a man that ruled everything with an iron first, it was strangely mundane. It didn’t fit. Nothing fit.

He tapped on the desk surface at the computer. A holographic display appeared in the air between us. The Divine Sword rendered before me. “You know why these are called Cursed Treasures? Tengun was crushed by them. The smart stayed away from them and listened to the fears and stories told. But the truly foolish think that they can control them.”

“My Sacred Treasure gives me the strength to fight! To kill those that oppress us!”

“They seek out the weak and feed on the despair of the lost, finding pliant hosts. Have you even looked at your sword hand lately?”

It was a strange question. The sword still held firmly in my hand. But I humored him as I regathered my strength to be able to end this injustice once and for all.

Lifting up my right hand, the hilt of the sword completely covered my hand. The metal merged with my skin. We had become one. When did that happen? I remember releasing my sword. It wasn’t like this before. More lies. His illusions again!

The Emperor leaned against the edge of his desk looking at me. “Never noticed? Your silence says enough. The more you trust and rely on the Treasure, it takes over becoming inseparable with its host. Nothing I can do will separate you anymore without losing the arm. And far worse I fear, you may be so far gone it would take your life. A troubling reality.”

“What would you know about reality? You killed and twisted everything!”

“Please tell me. What crimes do you believe I’ve committed?”

“Thousands have died and starved because you have forced all of the resources into the construction of this tower to feed your armies of conquest. Anyone that stands up to you is killed and you steal the strong and twist them before their families! You murdered my wife!”

He sighed and tapped on the desk again. The display before me changed. “We have never met, I’m sorry to say. My responsibilities make it such that I’m never given much pause or time to see the employees.”

“You’re overworked, I’m crushed.”

“I never wanted to be the President, but do you know why you call me the Betrayer? Why that is what everyone has labeled me?”

I tried to move my body, but even with the pressure released the damage still made my legs freeze. How was my body failing me? It had grown past these fears and weaknesses. I was strong. My Treasure strengthened me. I had to get them moving again. Thankfully, he was ranting and giving speeches, so I could bide my time. I was grateful for his self indulgent nature. “You killed the last Emperor, a good man, in cold blood and took the seat because you wanted power.”

“That’s quite the twisting of facts. But given that you're living in a fantasy, let me correct your delusions and bring you back to reality. The company was being run by the previous President, Mr. Hillson. He over extended our company taking on projects and debt that far exceeded the market cap of the company. He over hired with no ability to pay for the salaries in the long term banking on a gamble. And when that failed he took on more loans from questionable sources until I exposed all of his failings.”

The President walked over to the window looking out into the vast city of technology. He held his hands at his back. “He was a kind man, but easily influenced and taken advantage of. He wasn’t suited for the cutthroat life of the business world. But I don’t fault him. He was forced to resign and being the Vice President, I was forced to take over. Most of the employees don’t know all of the terrible deals he accepted and the mountain of debt the company was forced to take on. They saw me as the cold calculating man removing the father figure from everyone’s lives. That’s why they call me the Betrayer.”

Mr. Hillson looked after everyone. When there were no job opportunities for me, he listened to me. He gave all of us jobs and treated us like family. Everyone looked up to him. It was the way a company should be run. The way someone valued their employees. No, he was the Emperor. He was trying to corrupt me like everyone else with his darkness. “This is wrong. You killed the old man!”

“He’s resting with a reasonable retirement somewhere not ruining the company.” The President turned back and walked to the desk. He changed the image again away from the old man. It was charts and numbers now completely disconnected from any reality. “Real truth though, what started the whole moniker was the layoff. When you overextend and can’t pay everyone, cuts have to be made. No one likes it. I don’t like it, but either everyone is unemployed or only some are. Many lost their jobs and the blame was pointed at me. And they aren’t wrong, I made the call, but the company is still alive today.”

I shook my head trying to keep the illusion out, but it was digging into every part of me. It was making it all seem clear and reasonable. This wasn’t how it was. I was supposed to be the arm of justice! I was here to kill this man for everything he destroyed! “You ruined my life!”

Then suddenly, I appeared on his screen. “Michael Burnhem, programmer for four years with the company before being laid off. While you searched for new work, your savings completely dried up and your wife left you with your daughter. Everything fell apart from your perspective the moment I let you go. You made me the target of your anger and became a ripe target for the Cursed Treasure.”

“No, you killed them!”

“Those are delusions the Treasure has fed you to make you submit to it. This is reality. You’re not a hero from a fairy tale killing the devil. It’s just business. You had a psychic break and lost touch with reality. Despite all of the crimes you committed, I’m sure the government will find you help and treat your sickness.”

“No. No! NO!” Shadows started to fall around me again. I was breaking his trick. His deception. The light within me was true. I wouldn’t believe his lies. This was the truth. My right arm rose pointing at him even before my body could finally start to respond. I staggered to my feet. “They are dead because of you! They can no longer be with me because of you! I will make you pay for all the innocents that suffered!”

“Still caught in the lies. If you want me to answer for the lives I broke. Perhaps you would then too answer for those that you stole.”

My hand shook a little, but I braced myself. The strength hadn’t left me. “I have stolen nothing! You only speak lies!”

“Those shadowmen you claim to see as you charged up here to find me. Who do you think they were?”

The light of my blade flashed. I held fast, taking a step towards him, still too far away. “They were twisted beyond saving. I freed them from your corruption!”

“You murdered innocent men and women that were protecting or working in this company. The Treasure has completely corrupted you. I had hoped breaking its hold on you would be enough to make you accept reality. But it seems you may be too far gone.”

I took another step and then another. Shadows crawled everywhere. The Emperor's form shifted into a monstrous giant of purple and black flames with only eyes and a voice that rang from all sides. It roared in anger at me as I could see through its lies. I would not be swayed anymore. “I freed them! You are the evil here! I am justice! I am the hero!”

“A weak mind. Unable to control your Treasure.” The shadows grew larger, filling my whole vision. There was only the Emperor before me. My target, he would be killed. My sword glowed with divine light, the justice that would cleave away the darkness.

“There is no weakness! Only strength.”

“The police have long been called. They’ll be arriving soon. Make your choice. Reality or fiction, Michael.”

“I am not Michael! I am the Savior!” I charged at the Emperor, the President. The end of all things. This was correct. He would be made to pay for everything! No lies would stop me!

I knew the truth. This was real.

I was real.