The whispers of the wind settled down as the scythe lifted back into the air, retracting the dark aura emanating from the blade. Resting it on its shoulder, the shadow turned once more and continued to descend the mountain slope. Winter was all around, no life; just a cold, snowy mountainside. Snowflakes, falling slowly as the shadow moved, falling through its cloak, falling through the scythe. Again, the creature was transparent.
With a howl from the peak of the mountain, the hidden torches on the mountainside erupted into flame, as if summoned by the sound. The shadow ceased all movement, looking both ways at the light sources.
Here they come.
Telepathy, a cold voice, expecting what was to come. From the abyss below flew a light, growing larger every second as it grew near to the creature. A wolf jumped from the ledge to the right of the shadow, tearing its cloak. Landing on the opposite ledge, the wolf spit out the shredded piece of cloth and bared its teeth at the shadow. Its hand was of shadow, spiked with black flame. There was a flash as the light finally reached the mountainside, leveling itself with the being.
The light creature was also cloaked, but in a golden and red robe. It carried a flaming katana, with feathery wings sprouting from its shoulder blades. Gliding over to the ledge where the wolf stood, it reached a white hand out to stroke the wolf's fur. As if from a silent command, the wolf ceased to bare its teeth, and walked back into the darkness, its eyes no longer filled with hate.
"And so we meet, demon." The angelic being's voice was calm. "And so, death for one of us is inevitable...Auxes."
Saying not a word, Auxes lurched back, and lunged at the angel, scythe poised above its head. The angel dodged and thrust its flaming katana at Auxes. The being knocked it away with its scythe, and slammed its hilt into the angel's chest. Forced into the mountainside by the impact, the angel shook its head, brushing off the damage as if it was nothing.
"Ah...ha, ha." the angel coughed out.
"Lucretius...you are too weak to tear apart the darkness of my scythe. And thus you are too weak to kill me." Auxes stated.
"I bear a blade radiating light; that is all I need to tear you from this world!" Lucretius snarled. The angel again thrusted its blade at Auxes' heart, and again, the shadow dodged.
"Is that so?" Auxes raised its scythe.
"Be excorcised, demon!" A path of flame burned as the katana sliced horizontally at the shadow, burning away part of its stomach. Lucretius smirked as the shadow cried out in pain, swinging its scythe berserkly.
THOU SHALT DIE!
In a fit of rage, Auxes screamed out telepathically. With amazing speed for one carrying a weapon of such mass, the reaper-like being darted to the side, slicing Lucretius in ribs. Crimson blood dripped from the wound, and the angel grimaced. Snarling, Lucretius loosed a barrage of flame into the night, some of which singed the shadow once again. Auxes slammed the hilt of the scythe into the wound he had just dealt the angel, visibly breaking a few of the angel's ribs. Gritting its teeth, the angel slashed vertically near the shadow's arms, slicing the forearm down to the elbow. Ashes glided to the bloodied snow beneath the two combatants.
Resting its scythe on its shoulder, Auxes sighed. "Interesting...but a pity that I will have to kill you in the end."
Lucretius pointed the katana's tip at the shadow. "Is that so? I have been sent as the only hope of the people in the abyss you call a kingdom." With the katana, it motioned toward the vast expanse far below. "I have been created to be your bane, and thus I shall be. Kill, maim, murder...these words mean nothing to you, monster. You do each as you will, without a second thought. This tyranny will not go on, so long as I draw breath!"
"Foolish heroics, spoken over and over by many young and hopeful warriors. If this is all you are here for, then there is no reason for you to continue. Allow me the honor of eliminating your pathetic excuse for a life!" Waving the scythe, Auxes shot a wave of ice at the angel, encasing its right arm in the freezing element. Using its katana, Lucretius jabbed quickly but meticulously at the ice. Eventually, the flames melted the frozen water and freed the angel's arm.
"In the end, someone with those heroics will come and defeat you, whether it is me or not. I will do what I can to deal out your demise, however, until I can no longer do so. Foolish heroics are not always foolish; you could be the one who is foolish." Lucretius sighed and took out a vial from its pocket. Slowly, it raised the vial to its mouth, taking the cork out and drinking its red contents. Throwing the now-empty vial away, the angel pulled back the hood of its cloak, revealing a light face with raven-colored hair trailing down in a ponytail. A small pulse was emitted from its pupils, a wave of gray washing like a wave into the red sea that was the iris of the eye.
"A 'final order mechanism' put into my body for a situation equivalent to this. Here I will die, regardless of whether you do as well, or live. It matters not anymore, for I have a one-way path left." Raising the katana, Lucretius roared the howl of a berserker, and rushed at the shadow, slashing again and again in a suicidal rush. Auxes guarded as quickly as the mass of the weapon allowed it to, using the hilt as a shield more often than not. At last, the shadow knocked Lucretius away. The pulse in the angel's eyes began to slow significantly, apparently a sign of the angel's failing life force. Regaining its stance, Lucretius shook its head and charged once more, raising its katana high over its head, leaving its chest open. Taking advantage, Auxes raised and brought down the scythe.
For a moment lasting an eternity, the angel watched its reflection in the blade of the scythe as it swung downward. A terrified pair of red eyes, a face that seemed already dead. A small tear ran down the face of the angel.
What have I become? I am a monster, not an angel.
The blade of the scythe slammed down into the angel's heart, instantly clouding Lucretius' eyes over in death. Weakly, the dying angel threw the katana; it landed hopelessly beside Auxes. A small stream of blood flowed down the chin of the angel, and it whispered one final sentence.
"And so...I fall...into death..." Lucretius went limp, the angel now dead. Holding the corpse on the now bloody scythe, Auxes laughed a monstrous, maniacal laugh. Victory.
A shockwave slammed into the back of the victorious monster, knocking it forward, and almost throwing the scythe out of its hands. With a curse and a snarl, Auxes turned to see the wolf had returned; with its mediator slain, nothing was holding its rage back now. The wolf picked up the flaming katana from the bloody snow, and lunged at the monster.
The extra weight on the scythe from the corpse of Lucretius stopped Auxes from moving the scythe to guard as quickly as it would have wished. Auxes had barely moved the scythe before the impact hit: the wolf plunged the katana into the deathly cold heart of the monster, incinerating it, and instantly killing Auxes. The wolf landed on the ground with ease.
The newly-slain body of the shadow doubled over, and flipped off of the mountain into the abyss. The scythe and the corpse of Lucretius fell with it, into the darkness beneath the ledge. Both the angel and the demon dead, both falling; Lucretius had not said the words he had in vain. The "foolish heroics" were in actuality now.
Turning back from the edge of the mountainside, the wolf walked back up the mountain. As a final tribute to the fallen angel, who helped to liberate all of the land in sight, the wolf howled when it reached the peak.
A new day was beginning from the darkness. A day free of tyranny. The first day of a new age.
It has begun.
