The Dreamer And The Deceiver (Book 1) (7 page)

“Where are we, anyway?” Emil asked
with more vitality than he had moments before.

“I’m not sure
. That woman’s power-”

“Silvia
,” Emil said coldly.

“Yes, Silvia’s mist interfered with my sense of direction, ruling out long distance warping. This area is around where I first found your friend. In addition to inhibiting our powers
, it also seems to amplify the effects of hers…”

“Hm, that sounds about right, I’m already starting to get some feeling back.” Emil released his grip on Marona, standing on his own for the first time in what seemed like ages.

“Just don’t overdo it… you’re still far from fully recovered,” Omari commented. 

“Yeah, I know…
but we’re going to need all the help we can get,” Emil said as he cradled his ribs with his free hand.

“As soon as I get my bearings back, we should be able to make it to a safer spot. Until then, we travel by foot.”

“Come on, Emil,” Marona coughed again and a thin film of red blood sloshed to the ground. “I-I’ll help you move.” She fell forward, collapsing into Emil’s arms, almost causing him to fall.

“Marona!”

“It’s the mist. While it seems it only slows us down, to regular humans the effects… are more devastating.” Omari said as he scanned the area.

“Ah! Damn it! Why did you have to act all tough like that? It was killing you this whole time and you didn’t say a thing!” Emil’s voice flared with anger as he watched whatever gripped her slowly drain the life from her body.

“I-I wanted to help,” Marona whispered as she lay incased in Emil’s arms, struggling to breathe.

“Calm yourself, Emil
,” Omari chimed in. “Because of her, you live.”

Emil looked down at the resting girl in his arms, speechless from the revelation given by his new comrade.

“Give her to me. There is nothing that we can do for her here, but my sister, she can treat her.”

“Right.” Emil gently transferred her body over to Omari, careful not to trigger anything else in her frail condition. “Thank you.”

For what?

A jolt of pain echoed in his head; a warm welcome from the intruder of his thoughts, Silvia. Grasping his head, he fell to his knees as he yelled in agony. “Omari! Go! It’s Silvia!”

“I’ll be back!” A gust of wind washed over him, and he was instantly alone.

From the foliage
, Silvia emerged, stretching out her hand as she continued to break Emil. “You really didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you Emil?”

“H-how
did you find me?”

Silvia briefly chuckled, amused by the naive nature of his question. “Have you not forgotten? I’m in your head, silly boy. It was a stretch from this range
, I admit, but with the crystal planted in your friend’s leg it was more than enough to track down your position.”

Emil struggled to rise to his feet but Silvia thwarted his efforts.

“Down, boy.” The piercing sound of a constant screech ripped through his mind, rendering him unable to move as she marched closer. “I’ve been toying with you for too long, but now that I’ve had my fun it’s time to send you on your way,
reformed
.” 

Before she could reach Emil, a black flash spontaneously appeared in midair in front of the crystal queen. From the void
, Omari dived through, leading with a punch that carried the weight of his body. A sharp crash echoed through the forest as his fist collided with the crystal shroud that formed to protect her face.

Strong!

With Omari’s body still suspended in mid-air, Silvia produced a spire from her chest in an attempt to impale him. Before it could pierce his flesh, Omari warped to her backside and delivered a swift side kick that was painfully nullified by a crystal pillar that materialized in front of him. A dull boom echoed from the impact, causing a tremor to run through the earth as the pillar dented in and gave way.

Her crystal is too strong!

From the dented pillar, spikes emerged but Omari evaded the counter attack, warping directly above her.

“Humph, predictable.”
Silvia mocked.

As Omari’s body plunged from above, Silvia jumped back, dodging Omari’s overhead strike and launched an offensive of her own. With a wave of her hand, a series of spires launched from her arm towards him. Omari drew his knife before he fazed through and appeared behind her at a moment’s notice. With his knife drawn
, he slashed at the back of her neck with all his might, hoping to end her. But his sovereign blade shattered from the impact.

“Are you done yet?” Silvia exhaled as she turned to the shocked hero with a devilish smile plastered across her face.  In her eyes
, there was only darkness. Seeing that his attack did nothing to her, he distanced himself from her evil gaze, once again serving as the middle ground between her and Emil.

“Give me the boy and I’ll let bygones be bygones. I swear. We can put this all behind us and you can be on your merry way. Let’s be honest here…
I’m out of your league. I’m the type of girl mommy told you to stay away from.”

Omari glanced back at Emil who was a few yards behind him, trying his best to appear more capable than he was.

Come on Emil… I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.

“So what will it be? Your life or your friends?”

“Explain to me why I would willingly give him over to a mob of murders? Not only that, but a band of people who wouldn’t even blink at killing their own kind. What good could come of that? He’s better off dead than with you.”

“
Oh so you know who we are? Hm. Perhaps,” Silvia chuckled as she tossed her hair and walked closer to Omari, “but that isn’t your choice to make.”  As she came closer Omari, dug his heels into the barren soil, readying himself for another round against the female member of Legion. “So just hand him over before it’s too late, kay?”

Omari scowled, partly at her proposal and partly at the wounds he re
ceived. Carefully, he positioned his bodyweight onto his strong leg to alleviate the numbing sensation that ran through his shin where he last struck her defenses. Doing a quick mental check of his body’s condition, he accessed just how bad he was injured and how long he had before the numbness would spread to the rest of his body. His legs, though steady, felt anchored to the floor. Both of his fists suffered the same fate. Underneath his frayed black gloves, he could feel the heaviness protruding from his knuckles; the aftermath from his first string of attacks.

“What’s wrong? Feeling a little sluggish?”
Silvia said as she laughed.

Omari paid her no mind as he circulated his fingers before clenching them into a fist.
Physical attacks don’t do anything to her. She’ll just counter with another pillar and do more damage to me.

“Emil, how much more time do you need?” Omari called out to him, still facing the diva as she confidently strutted towards the both of them.  Emil rose to his feet and gripped the handle of his sword tightly, sending a stream of crackling blue energy down his blade.

“Doesn’t matter. She has to die or we do.”

The ends of Silvia’s lips turned upwards into a cheeky grin at the sight of Emil, who
se eyes never broke away from hers. “Oh, come back for more after your little break? As if beating you senseless wasn’t enough.”

“You hit like a bitch. Numb anyone and surround them with scythe wielding freaks and you’re sure to have the advantage.”
Emil scowled.

“Charming…
but you don’t look so well. All bark but no bite, my dear.”

“I could say that for you as well. That last little trick you played on me wasn’t nearly as strong as it was before. You put up a good front, but all that
energy you’re expending has to come from somewhere. The mist, the manifestations, all of that came from you. I first noticed a dip in your power after I cleared the first wave of them. It probably didn’t matter because at that point you thought you had me. Even now I’ve been watching you... only counter attacking and never going for the kill, even though you claimed to be superior.” Emil’s sword hung loosely from his hand, illuminating the ground he covered as he regrouped by Omari’s side. “Compared to Hugo, you’re nothing. You even used numbers and we’re still standing.”

“If that’s what you believe, then try your luck
,” Silvia scoffed. The air of confidence that surrounded her seemingly remained un-phased.

“Omari, you ready?” Emil asked with his opposition still locked in his eyes. From his peripherals, he saw Omari nod
, signaling that he was ok to go. “Like I said, she’s used a lot of her energy already, but we don’t know how much she had in the first place.  She could be stronger, but there are two of us now. If she overextends and leaves herself vulnerable, she’s done for.”

“Right. I’ll try my best to create an opening for you. I lack the ability to manipulate energy like yourself, so the most I can do is distract her. Just be careful
. Contact with her crystals release that same poison you dealt with before. It doesn’t have to cut you to be viable, it seems.”

“And you’ll be ok with that?”

“With the both of us, I’ll live. If I distract her, you can finish her.”

“Good. We’ll attack from both sides
, and I’ll look for your opening.” The blue energy that circumvented around Emil’s blade washed over his body as his eyes pierced into the soul of his family’s killer. The smirk she wore only grew as Emil’s eye contact intensified, almost as if she was pleased with his seething hate.

In the mutual silence
, Omari vanished from beside Emil and materialized in mid-air directly in front of Silvia’s face with his fist drawn, blocking her vision. Immediately, she fired a slew of spires in his direction while simultaneously gliding backwards on a sheet of crystal she manifested from underneath her feet. Before they were able to make contact, Omari phased away, leaving a wave of light in his shadow.

“What!?” Out of desperation Silva summoned a wall of crystal from the earth to intercept Emil’s ranged attack. The blanket of energy he projected slammed into her barrier, sending a multitude of cracks across the jagged transparent surface it clashed against. A flash of blinding light emitted from the core of the collision as Silvia’s barrier stubbornly held and ultimately nullified his attack.
Where did he go?
Her minor victory was short lived at the realization that she lost sight of the one who sought to kill her. Still dashing backwards, she scanned her surroundings looking for the light bearer.

“Looking for me?”

The feeling of death itself coursed through her body as she heard Emil’s voice coldly call out to her. In the corner of her eye, she saw him emerge beside her. The dried blood caked along his face and on his clothes gave no merit to his fighting spirit. The blows he had endured seemed to no longer ale him. Like a demon, his eyes pierced deeply into her soul, feeding off the fear he knew she felt.

This is it
, Emil thought as he closed in on her in her moment of weakness. The blue hue around his blade intensified in tandem with the cloak of energy that surrounded him as he grew closer to his target.
This is for all of them.

“Rahh!!!”  The crackling blade cleaved through a body of crystal, but it wasn’t her own. Mere inches from her body
, Silvia created a barrier at the last second, stopping Emil’s pursuit and nullifying his attack. The crystal wall that he tore into gave way, buckling inward, in an attempt to incase itself over his wrist and sword. Emil struggled to break free, but the crystal quickly formed a mold that locked him to the base of pillar. Once the hold was secure, from the pillar Emil observed a series of tiny nodes beginning to form.
Damn it!
Not like this!
Knowing what came next, Emil fed another stream of energy through his body and kicked off the base of the wall, launching himself into the air, narrowly avoiding the spires that jutted out to get him.  The smile on Silvia’s face resurfaced as she continued to back track from the duo on the blanket of crystal glazed beneath her feet.

As Emil drifted in mid-air, his sights remained focused on the counterattack he had just avoided; completely unaware of the crystal specter that was rapidly approaching him from above.
Why is she smiling?

“Emil, look out!” With a running start
, Omari warped to the side of the beast, intercepting it before driving his hidden blade from his gauntlet into its neck.  Emil landed squarely and met eyes with Silvia who was now a formidable distance away from him. Even from their joint efforts she remained unscathed.

“Even with the both of us, her defenses are solid.” Omari appeared instantly beside Emil, his breaths still slightly forced from his impromptu encounter with the crystal beast.

“She plans to draw this fight out as long as she can. From this point on, the longer we fight, the more of an advantage she’ll gain. Omari, how are your spirits?”

“If anything
, it should be me asking you that question. You’ve been fighting longer than I have and your injuries are obvious.”