The Chosen - 18. Objects in Motion

[Chapter 18]

What does one do knowing that today might be their last day alive?

What does one say to the people they love?

What does one pray for?

This was it. There was no more training, no more fights, it all came down to this. I tiptoed downstairs and the glow of the TV in the living room caught my eye. I looked in and Morgan and my mother both lay sprawled on the couch. Melted ice cream lay in bowls on the coffee table. Fond affection hit me like a tidal wave. I took the quilt that was draped over the couch and covered them, then took a moment to stare. This was what I was fighting for. This was why I was going to end this war. I wanted them to continue living in a world free of darkness. My family would never come to know Hell on Earth. I wouldn't allow it.

"I love you," I whispered. "I'll make you proud."

I left the house and the winter chill slapped me in the face. The moon hung silently in the sky. It was the sole witness of my departure, maybe my final departure. It was near midnight and the neighborhood was deserted so I didn't even bother to look before transforming. I closed my eyes and with barely a thought my clothes shifted into the familiar garb of my Chosen suit. The weight of the cloak was comforting to have right now. Whispering the leap of faith spell I jumped into the air, clearing the neighborhood in three powerful bounds.

I landed in Preston Park six minutes later. My boots made no sound as I walked across the parking lot. There was a movement in the shadows. Fours figures stepped from the darkness and I nodded at the other Chosen and Nathaniel. My hand found Omega's and quickly squeezed it. His smile boosted my confidence more than he knew. If I was walking to my end then I was happy they were beside me to look death in the face. And hopefully, laugh and tell it peace out. We'll see.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

The Executioner nodded. "We've had two days of planning strategy. It's now or never."

I looked at Omega. "You have the Giant's Dagger?"

"Its stored in my subspace pocket."

Solaris sighed, gazing up at the night sky. "I hope that thing works as advertised."

"Trust me," Nathaniel said. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his peacoat. "It does. Warlock, do it."

"Separate!"

Exerting a bit of power in my fingertips I grabbed at the folds of reality. It was easier here in Centennial where the barrier was weakest. I pushed my will and energy into the hidden veil and split the air apart as if it was a curtain. Space ruptured, parting away as if someone had taken scissors to it. I stepped back and studied the sight. A shining line marked the tear between worlds and on the other side shone the Ever After. I observed the familiar landscape with its multicolored stars netted in the pitch black sky.

We gathered around Solaris and joined hands. Nathaniel stood a little apart from us. He gazed at us sadly and I refused to let my last memory of Nathaniel be one of him frowning, concern stark on his face. I pouted at him and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Success. He knew I was up to something.

"Nathaniel," I called, annoyingly chirper. I ignored Killian's groan. "Do me a favor?"

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. He looked like he didn't want to know. "And that may be?"

I grinned so hard he could probably see my back molars. "Please yell Sailor Teleport."

Omega went into a sudden coughing fit and looked at me incredulously. He was the only one who knew what I was talking about. We had been watching episodes of Sailor Moon when we chilled out at my house. Surprisingly his idea. Soulmates I tell you. We were currently on the R season.

The worry was replaced by a confused head tilt. "Why?"

"Call it a last request."

"I can't believe this," Omega murmured.

Nathaniel pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. "Fine," he said begrudgingly. He took a deep breath and bellowed, "Sailor Teleport!"

"This is so lame," Solaris muttered under his breath. "Sun Rise!"

An orange bubble sprung up around us and we soared through the portal, out the other side, and into a whole new world. We flew through the air high above the Ever After. The landscape of forests and ongoing fields stretched on before us that looked just like Earth. It wasn't until we were near five miles away from the portal did we land in an empty clearing. Our bodies fell into defensive stances immediately after touching down. It was several moments before we relaxed and the tension in the air loosened. It still wasn't making me breathe any easier.

Solaris pushed his visor up into his hair. "Are we far enough away from the portal?"

The Executioner nodded, watching the shadows with a careful eye. "I think so. If the Lords in Shadow didn't feel the portal opening then they surely felt our arrival. Our power stands out like a beacon."

Omega hummed a noise of agreement. He made a motion with his hand, a flick of his wrist, as he folded space to retrieve the dagger. He handed it off to Ryan, hilt first.

"I think you should take it," Omega said to the Executioner's perplexed expression. "You're the best at hand to hand. So it makes sense that you hold it. In case things get nasty you'll be deadly with it."

I nodded. "He's right."

The Executioner took the blade, expertly flipped it once in the air, and banished it into subspace with a simple hand motion. It really wasn't much a discussion on where to go. A dark presence hungered in the north that eclipsed anything else in this realm. Walking on foot was a smarter option than teleporting via Solaris. A big ass orange ball that flies across the sky like Glinda's magical bubble was far from covert. It may as well be like drawing a huge target on ourselves.

Sticking away from open fields made the journey more rigorous. Occasionally we would spot monsters roaming around the hills in the valley but hid quickly before discovery. The less we used our powers the better our chances of staying undiscovered.

We walked for five long hours filled with tense silence, the occasional conversation, but mostly just quiet contemplation. I spent the entire time holding Adam's hand, reveling in his closeness. I shared soft smiles with Ryan and eye rolls with Killian.

It was without warning that we came upon it. We saw it sitting in between a pair of giant mountains. It was an enormous, alien structure that seemed like it been carved from the mountains beside it. It was shaped like a pyramid but carved from the blackest stone I had ever seen with eerily realistic stone gargoyles stationed at the base, close to the corners. Looking at the pyramid head on pained my eyes. It reminded me of staring into the sun, as impossible as that sounded, the pain felt just the same. It started as a pounding between my brow that didn't lessen until I looked away.

The black stone seemed to suck in all surrounding light like a living black hole. It was a darkness so absolute that it held shines of other colors, like an oil slick, or some type of optical illusion that fooled the eye. The valley where the temple of darkness loomed was covered by barren earth. Nothing would ever grow again. It was too much evil gathered here and the land was tainted for it, marking it forever as a place of malic. A numbing coldness rode the wind, drifting through the air. It was a lurking despair and I had the sense that it was searching, waiting.

It took me a moment to realize that it was already all around us. It had found what it was looking for. Us.

"Looks like we found the home base," Omega said. "It's their shadow citadel."

We crouched behind a rock ledge a quarter mile away from the shadow citadel. Near the structure's base was a legion of plated monsters. They looked vaguely amphibian like a combination of fish-frog, only jacked like a heavyweight boxer and their tridents looked razor sharp. Months ago this kind of numbers would have given scared me shitless. I was stronger today. The four of us were stronger together.

"My guess it's a few thousand of them," Solaris frowned.

The Executioner was typing away on his phone, the screen scanning the field ahead. "A little less than 5K. If we hit them hard and fast the algorithm predicts a high percentage of success."

"So what?" Omega asked. His mouth turned up at the corner. "I take the thousand on the left flank?"

I snorted. It wasn't funny but I appreciated the attempt at lightening the atmosphere. "Compared to what's waiting for us. These guys will be cake." I narrowed my eyes at the phone screen. "The scan isn't picking up an entrance. I guess we're making ourselves a hole, boys."

The Executioner nodded. "They must have sealed it up once they felt us enter the Ever After."

Solaris snorted. "They're scared of us."

"More like cautious," I corrected, recalling the powers of our enemies. Millenia ago victory had come at the price of our lives. Was I scared? I would be a fool not to be. "Let's do this according to the plan. Solaris, on my right. We're going in hot."

We leaped over the rock ledge and hit the ground running. The legion of demons guarding the citadel saw us and roared in rage. We skidded to a stop thirty meters away, simultaneously bringing our arms forward.

"Revenge of Lucifer!"

"Spectral Cannon!"

The beams of red and gold exploded from our hands at the speed of light. The bursts of energy tore into the front lines, searing holes clean through their bodies. Instead of dissipating we continued pouring power into the beams and they grew stronger, turning into rays of death that tore into whole platoons of plated warriors in one stroke. With a grunt we dragged our beams wide and carved into the ranks like they were tissue paper.

The lead ranks of the charging monsters cease to exist as a wall of intermingling angry yellow and crimson light washed across them and through several more behind them. The high energy rays sliced and seared lines of immolating celestial fire into the mass, incinerating the foot soldiers and lesser warriors outright and while maiming anything mounting less than that fancy durable armor outfitting the bigger ones.

"One of these days we're going to let me come up with the plans," Solaris grumbled as another burst of burning yellow energy flew from his hand, melting into the ranks of the fish-frog things pressing toward him. Their glittery metallic armor withstood the beam's enormous potential momentarily before being outright melted into glowing molten slag.

"And I already can't wait to veto it." I dropped to a knee, unleashing a Soul Reaper Reprise into a platoon of vicious demons encroaching in on our right flank. The limbo storm plowed through several ranks before detonating deep inside their formation.

"I'm second in command," Solaris pointed out. "If we want to be technical about things." A dozen angry yellow spheres of plasma accompanied the question, sending a fiery mushroom clawing into the night sky. "Where's our backup?"

"Inbound in sixty seconds," I reported before returning to engage in active combat, taking out a soldier that had strayed too close to our position with a sphere of lightning. The two meter wide ball of tightly compressed magical lightning slammed into the armored demon and its energy potential lashed out in a great elemental storm of lethal electricity and violent pressures that raged into surrounding attack units.

They looked tough and had the numbers to take us but we had the advantage of power. If this engagement was earlier in our awakening then the demons may have been our end. This was now little more than an exercise in power. They couldn't stand against the powers we were bringing to bear and we had it in tons. This was what we had been training for.

Even still a nagging sense of unease wouldn't go away.

The resistance was expected but this wasn't even a battle. It was a slaughter. They were not even close to our equals. I hated to think about it but this wasn't what I expected. I was beginning to suspect the legion was here to test us. Something was watching and... learning. I counted down the remaining time. The cavalry should be dropping right about...

"Starlight Lance!"

...now. I smiled triumphantly as Omega and the Executioner descended from on high, riding the ambush home in a spectacular display of chaotic destruction. The duo tore into the rear enemy lines with brutal efficiency, and anything that wasn't cut down by the psionic blade of energy was quickly bludgeoned to death by staff and blows with the power to shatter concrete.

Guided beams lashed out from Solaris, eviscerating the squad attempting to form up. He took a break and observed the pair of newcomers taking apart their unprepared enemy from behind. "I can't believe our distraction worked."

"It was my plan after all," I reminded him and stopped in my own workout.

I took a moment to survey the damage that wrought the battlefield. It looked like a war zone. I very carefully didn't let my stare linger on the bodies. Seeing the smoking craters and the scores of dead reminded me why a Chosen was once classified as a person of mass destruction. We were walking calamities and devastation given form, a living and breathing army in one body.

The last demon fell as its head was crushed under the Executioner's boot. "All clear."

Solaris dusted off his hands and placed them on his hips. He overlooked the carnage with a frown. "I figured it would be harder than this,"

It took an effort to not groan. He just had to say it. I looked around waiting for the other shoe to drop. Knowing my luck I would be the one taken by surprise by a falling anvil like a goddamn Looney Tunes character. When nothing jumped out at me and a bomb didn't blow us up I breathed easier, then grabbed Solaris's shoulder.

I tapped him on the nose with my finger. "Please don't say that again."

Solaris batted my hand away and smirked. "Awe, is someone getting paranoid?"

There was an earsplitting explosion and I was thrown away by a force of concussive air as if hit by a Mack truck. My shoulder clipped a boulder before I hit the ground, my head slamming hard on a rock. White spots flashed behind my closed eyes and I shakily climbed to my feet holding a hand to my throbbing head. What in the hell was that? A line of stone statues shaped like mutated gargoyles had come to life, from their post at the citadel's walls. I gulped and eeped loudly dodging the heavy stone ax launched at my freaking head.

"Starlight Lance!"

A blazing spear of light dropped from the sky and sliced three of the five gargoyles in half before I even registered what happened. Omega appeared at my side in a flash with his sword blade ignited. I returned his look of concern with a grateful smile.

The Executioner snuck up behind the last two gargoyles. His staff punched a hole through one's chest. He kicked it in that same spot and it shattered as if hit by a train. The other gargoyle threw a punch that caught the Executioner in the chest. He staggered back and then was suddenly flipping through the air, like a character from one of those Japanese anime shows. His foot reared back and roundhouse kicked the gargoyle's head right off its body. The Executioner let out a shout and punched it in the chest, watching in satisfaction as it exploded in pieces. I blinked. Remind me to never play punch buggy with him. It was over in less than a minute.

"We have to breach the wall." Omega raised his arm and flexed his fingers, throwing a blast of telekinetic energy that lashed out in a nearly invisible wave of force.

There was an abrupt flash followed by a powerful explosion that sent us stumbling slightly off balance. When the cloud of dust cleared there was only a visible dent in the citadel's black stone wall. I stared at the dent in disbelief. I remembered Omega's telekinetic blasts used to have the power to shatter mountains. He wasn't near that strength yet again but still, this should have been a piece of cake.

Omega raised both eyebrows, stunned. "Well, that's never happened before."

"That's what she said," Solaris quipped before letting loose a Spectral Cannon. Blazing yellow light washed against the citadel's walls in the exact spot the dent rested. The explosion was just as strong this time but we were better prepared for the brunt of the blast, buffering the shock with raised arms. When we looked again there was now a scratch near the dent. This wasn't in the plan.

The Executioner shook his head. He looked thoughtful as he studied the wall. "Whatever this stone is it's stronger than steel. We just need a big enough explosion focused across a wider area."

Omega's eyes lit up as he followed that train of thought. "It will buckle some of the internal structure."

"Exactly."

We spread out this time, and on my mark let loose. The black stone glowed white hot as the ethereal powers granted to us superheated its bonds. It held longer than predicted but eventually succumbed to the destructive energy battering into it. There was a detonation of multicolored light that threw us all back over five meters and when the dust settled there was now a man sized hole in the dark stone.

I grinned. "I feel like we should strike a pose or something."

"Let's wait till after we win." Omega shook his head and smiled slightly.

We took turns entering the hole and I was surprised at how open the internal space was. The corridor before us stretched on, lit by lanterns that gave off pale light. Tall statues of twisted creatures from legend lined the walls. I stepped over the rubble just as a pair of lumbering bear-like creatures rushed around the corner directly at us.

"FIREBALL!"

I chunked the gathered flame and it sped downrange like a bullet. The attack washed over the pair in a wave of immolating fire, melting flesh until only blackened husks were left. Ignoring the bodies I swept my arm out to orient my senses and fought a shudder. The energy was stronger now that we were inside. It was almost suffocating. It buzzed along my fingertips and I used that crawling feeling of gnawing despair to divine the source.

"The energy is stronger this way." I pointed to the left in a corridor that split four ways.

We destroyed several more patrols of guards before we came upon the door. It was tall and inlaid with rubies and emeralds that gleamed even in the low light of the corridor. I laid my hand on the door and frowned as it opened at my touch. That bad feeling I had? It was now screaming at me.

Solaris swallowed audibly. "This is starting to kind of freak me out."

I gathered power ready to vaporize anything that so much as blinked at me funny, sensing the others doing the same. The chamber was a huge cavernous room that was built on the scale of ancient Greco cathedrals. An enormously high, arched ceiling stretched up so high above us that top couldn't be seen. It simply vanished into shadow. The floor and the walls were made of polished stone, smooth and gray, shot through with black, like veins inside a body. Thick columns circled the room and from their top posts, lanterns splashed amber and scarlet light onto the walls. The floor rose toward the far end of the chamber into high steps that raised up on a raised slab of stone, featuring a throne made of black stone. The throne had a tall back that raised fifteen feet into the air.

I was fully expecting to see an organ somewhere with Raoul playing the theme to The Phantom of the Opera. We creped into the room and couldn't see anybody but I knew they could see us. Something waited in this room. Something powerful, something old. The power carrying that hideous crawling feeling that I had come to link with the Lords in Shadow.

"I don't see anybody." Omega's voice was soft but carried in the silence all the same.

I shook my head, concentrating. "Well, something is here."

"Something like me."

We spun toward the sound and I raised my arm. There was a blinding flash and I screamed as we were literally picked off our feet and slammed into the wall. My back felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. I fell to the ground moaning in pain and winced when I moved my head to look at the attacker. I tried to move my body but a force pressed down upon me like a great weight on my shoulders. My vision was swimming when I finally saw our attacker step away from the shadows.

It was a boy of about ten years old. He was dressed in a gray business suit. His light hair was white blond. That color that only kids have before it darkens to brown when they grow up. His dark eyes regarded us innocently. It was a planned innocence that wasn't fooling me. I wasn't buying the little boy act.

"You want to try that again when I'm looking, Dennis the Menace," I was trying my best to make the room stop spinning.

The boy cocked his head. "You are not the humans we exterminated from this realm. I can sense agents of the higher powers when I lay eyes upon them. You are Chosen."

"Give the kid a prize," I said.

Solaris groaned next to me. "I want to give him a punch in the throat. Let us up!"

The boy stilled. It was an otherworldly stillness that enforced the fact that he wasn't human. His eyes dark with ice and something alien seared Solaris on the spot. Killian screamed suddenly, falling to the ground, banging his forehead against the stone floor.

"Stop it! Stop it!" The Executioner watched Solaris in horror as blood ran from the self-inflicted wound on his forehead.

Then it was silent.

The boy took his gaze off Solaris and he fell over, wheezing heavily. I checked him over with my eyes. The wound was bloody but didn't look that deep to put him out of the fight. It would, however, keep him down for a minute.

"Look into my eyes," the boy commanded.

I looked into those dark eyes. They say eyes are the window to a person's soul. I looked and looked and saw nothing looking back at me. This kid had no soul. Those eyes became pools of agonizing power that fell over me like an ocean over a seashore. It was like I was trapped in a grip of all my childhood horrors, all wound up and pressing down on me. Hands grabbed at me, choking me, showing the terrors of shadows, and the awfulness of Hell.

I screamed and jerked my eyes from his gaze and fell over, sucking in huge mouthfuls of air into my burning lungs. No fucking way. I looked at the boy and he was smiling. It was a smile that didn't reach those frightening eyes. This boy was a predator in disguise. He beheld us like a lion looking at unsuspecting gazelles.

"A Lord in Shadow," Omega murmured.

The boy crouched in front us, resting hands on his knees. He looked down so he could meet our eyes. "Your people knew me by many names. Aranneaia, the Master of Silent Spins, the Spider King, the Spinner of Torment."

Damn. This was not good. I swallowed my panic and hoped that my unadulterated fear didn't show on my face. I schooled my expression into a picture of defiance.

"Do you want a cookie?" I said. "Where are your homeboys? We need the gang all together so we can kick your asses."

The Spider King laughed. It sent shivers down my spine. "You amuse me, Prince Emrys. I had forgotten that you mortals had such sharp tongues. Too bad that we killed all of them in this realm. I will enjoy returning to our rightful home and playing with the humans. They had such pretty blood. It was bright and red. The sounds they made when they screamed were exquisite."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why are you in this form and what humans are you talking about?"

The Spider King smiled. It was a smile that should never appear on a young boys face. It was terrifying. My throat suddenly went dry and I wanted to pray for my soul.

"I have waited millennia for this moment." His voice was hard now, all traces of the little boy gone. "I have many forms. This is but one of them. It entertains me to look like the boy whose soul I burned from his body," His voice changed to a young soprano, flecked with pain and confusion. "Mama. It burns. Mama!" I almost vomited at the conjured mental image. "His mother shoved a broomstick through her neck in madness."

The Executioner glared from his trapped position on the ground. "You sick fuck."

"Thank you," The Spider King looked at the Executioner and he suddenly jerked back, crying out in pain. Ryan's head lolled forward with blood dripping down his broken nose. "I will not be interrupted again. Where was I? Ah yes. When you banished us here we were weak and our power diminished. So we slept. We dragged our armies to the deepest caves and pits and slumbered, regaining our power. As with most worlds life had appeared in our absence. In a form that we knew of. The form of the human. They littered this world, killing the lesser of my kind, and forging their empires across our prison. We were awakened by one of their own, who craved our power and hoped to covet it. We slew him and destroyed all of his pathetic species."

I cleared my throat. "Keep talking. You're giving me more reasons to slap that smile off your face."

All the while I struggled against the force holding us down. I contested my power against it and the energy fizzled away like water thrown against a stone. It was of no use. This was beyond me. The Spider King's trap held us down in a well of power that upped the denseness of gravity. I could do something similar but not on this scale. This amount of fine gravitational manipulation he was employing was incredible.

Those dark eyes flashed and it my turn to scream as the gravity pressing down upon me abruptly increased. I fell into the stone floor hard on my chest. I distantly heard Adam calling my name. I fought the sweet urge to blackout as my head was pushed into the floor like someone was grounding down a heel on my skull.

"Leave him alone!"

Omega struggled against the force holding him and with a scream full of rage he broke free and threw his arm forward. A blast of pure telekinetic might ripped through the air in a rippling wave. The Spider King was yanked off his feet and hurtled into a pillar with a bone breaking force. That's my man! I tried to climb to my feet but I was still being held down. Can I ever get a break?

Solaris muttered a curse realizing he was also captive. I looked at the Executioner and he mirrored my frustrated expression. This was a Lord in Shadow we were dealing with here. It would take more than that to break something he had willed into being. But how did Omega...

The Spider King climbed to his feet regarding Omega thoughtfully. "You are the one that is closest to the Tyrfing-redemption. Your previous incarnation always did put up a decent fight."

Omega didn't say anything. He just settled down in a fighting stance and the Spider King laughed lightly. The little boy was back. Omega flicked his hand and Oathkeeper appeared in his grip and with a thought the blade ignited in a surge of white-blue light. They lunged at each other with their feet hardly touching the ground. The Spider King dodged the blade's glowing edge as it sliced at his head. Omega jumped over the leg that swept out, hovering back with his telekinesis to distance himself.

"Starlight Lance!"

The sword blade shot out like a shooting star and stabbed the Spider King in his gut. The boy thing stumbled backward, staring down at the glowing sword impaling his stomach. I swore. The sword should have skewered his ass and liquified his insides. The Spider King walked forward and the glowing blade nailing him grew smaller and smaller as he closed the distance.

He batted the sword away and grabbed Omega who charged at the last moment. The Spider King swung him around by his collar and tossed him. Omega flew through the air like a human comet and I screamed as he hit the wall near the rock throne with a painful collision. He fell in an unmoving heap on the floor. Only his visibly breathing chest, the only sign of life held me back from breaking down here and now.

The Spider King turned his pale, young face toward us and smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "It pleases me I decided not to kill you when I first sensed you enter this realm. I knew this would be entertaining." He stepped forward and said, "Let's play."

Abruptly the force that was holding us down vanished and I could breathe easier. I jumped to my feet and so did Solaris and the Executioner beside me. I secreted a glance where Omega had fallen and saw him hold a hand to his head. Good. He wasn't out of this fight yet. He just needed a few minutes to recover.

"You fucked up now, Spider-Man." Solaris cracked his knuckles.

The Spider King licked his lips and it was disturbing to see the hunger flickering in those dark eyes. He lusted for this fight. His body practically hummed in anticipation for it. How long had he been waiting for this confrontation? Most likely since we had banished him and his ilk here. If it was a fight he wanted then I was happy to oblige him. Bring it.

He moved first. One second he was there and the next he was punching me in the gut. I fell to my knees as all the air exploded from my lungs. He ran past me, slapped Solaris to the ground, and then charged Ryan. The Executioner, however, was just as fast. He dodged the backhand meant for him and retaliated by punching the Spider King in his jaw. The Lord in Shadow fell on his ass and slid into a column. It was the perfect window for me to step in.

"Sit boy!" I commanded, extending my hand, pinkie and index finger pointed toward him.

The Spider King stared at the glowing yellow light that attempted to warp gravity around him. He shrugged off its effects and canceled out my spell just by waving his hand.

He stared at me with a stoic expression. "I decline."

"Hell won't have you, neither will Heaven. To the fog of limbo I banish thee to." I hurriedly raised my arms and gathered the mist from limbo to solidify into lethal energy. "Soul Reaper Reprise!"

Solaris grinned wolfishly, all teeth. "That's what I'm talking about! Spectral Cannon!"

The garnet colored ball was slapped away and it hit a column where it promptly exploded the construction. The yellow torrent of radiant light hit the boy a split second after he deflected the Soul Reaper. The Spider King simply raised his hand and the beam splashed across his palm as if was nothing but a ray of warm sunshine.

The Spider King laughed, breathlessly high and wild, childishly free. "Oh, please."

The Executioner and I traded a nod. He got the hint and surged forward, staff in hand. Please let this work. Solaris and I sprinted a step of head of him and were carelessly sent flying away with only a glare from the Spider King. The Executioner jumped at the boy thing, staff raised to strike. The Spider King caught the spirit staff in two hands, swinging the Executioner around. Ryan let go and flew into a nearby pillar. The Spider King broke the staff in two. I ran forward and he tossed a piece at me that knocked me
in my chest. I fell over winded and out of breath, choking at the force of the impact.

Omega staggered into my line of sight and the Spider King saw him too. He looked at me. "What was that spell you used earlier? Ah yes. Sit Boy!"

Omega cried out as the gravity around him warped and he collapsed to his knees. The Executioner attempted to climb to his feet and I prayed that he could finish this. Solaris came at the Spider King from his blindside and was backhanded away like a fly. The Spider King loomed over the Executioner and grinned.

"Your staff was quaint." His eyes were wide with an unbridled lust for violence. "I think you should have it back!"

The Spider King brought down the broken piece in his grip, hard and fast, hitting Ryan right in his side. He punctured flesh and Ryan screamed as the staff went through clean, emerging on the other side of his back. With a sickening slurp, the Spider King withdrew the broken staff and tossed it at Omega, trapped in the gravity field.

"Ryan!" I screamed.

Solaris screamed too and we ran to his aide, but Ryan wasn't done yet. Coughing up blood he lunged, Giant's Dagger in his hand. The Spider King looked amused at this and didn't put up a defense as the knife neared him. All traces of amusement left his face as the knife entered his chest all the way to the hilt. He staggered back, his pale face staring down at the blade in numb shock.

Without warning the form the Spider King inhabited twisted and grew, changing shape and size until it loomed above like some primordial creature of old. It shed the human flesh and a gigantic, monstrous spider stood in the place of the boy. Its many eyes dripped acidic goo that hit the ground and cracked the stone floor where it landed. It hissed and I backed up readying my power to form a shield. The Spider King swayed on its numerous legs and fell over, shaking the very foundation of the citadel. Dust knocked loose from the ceiling falling like a cloud of dark rain.

"...We... Rule...This... Realm... In... Cycles..." The Spider King's fallen body hissed and it was like seven voices speaking as one. Its deep, chorus vibrato echoed in the chamber, "When... One... Is... Gone... Or... Asleep... Another... Rises..."

Then its eyes went white and it finally died. I sighed and something in my chest finally pulled loose and relaxed. One down. I helped Omega up and we joined Solaris kneeling at Ryan's side. Blood coated his chin and his face was paling by the second. This wasn't some bruise or a cut. He wasn't going to make it, I realized with a dawning realization of sorrow. It hit me like a punch in the gut.

"I figured I would die here," Ryan admitted softly. He started coughing and blood speckled his lips. "At least I took that bastard out with me."

My eyes burned with tears and I didn't fight them as they trailed down my cheeks. I grabbed his hand and cried harder as he weakly squeezed my back.

"Stop talking like that!" My voice sounded tiny and wet. "Adam, don't you have the power to heal? I remember you said!"

Omega shook his head and his eyes were shiny with unshed tears. "I can't," He wiped his eyes. "My healing hasn't gotten strong enough like Admerion's. This wound is beyond my power. I would just make things worse."

"Dammit!" Solaris punched the ground with his fist. He chocked back a sob. "Don't die, Ry'."

Ryan smiled, his lips turning blue like frozen raspberries. He looked at Killian with a tender expression that I have never before seen on his face. It was warm and carried with it so much emotion that it just made me weep harder.

"Shhh. Please stop crying, Killer." Ryan ran a shaky hand against Killian's tear stained cheek. "There's still two more to go. Go get `em, guys."

He stilled and the light went out of his eyes.

I couldn't stifle the sob that erupted from my throat. Solaris ran a hand down Ryan's face, closing his unseeing eyes. I fell on Adam's shoulder and he cradled me to his chest. I could feel his body shake with sobs. Ryan was dead. Never again would he smile urging me to take something seriously or roll his eyes when I went into a random tirade. They had taken his life away from him... again. They would pay.

I pulled my emotions together. Ryan told us to be strong. It would do him a disservice if I just stood over his body and cried. His sacrifice and death meant something. I could be bitter later. Now it was time to fight.

"Guys," I said quietly. "Remember what it said before it died. They rule in cycles. One rules while the others sleep and then they switch. Well, we just killed one." I swallowed. "Another one is awakening now."

"Two to go," Solaris whispered, running a hand through Ryan's hair.

Omega sniffled and rose to his feet. "I'll go get the dagger from that thing's body."

The ground rumbled and there was a deafening explosion like the sound of a thousand bombs going off at once. Omega stumbled over one of the spider's enormous legs and fell to his knees and hands as the citadel rocked once more. The shadows in the room seemed to shift of their own accord.

Something felt wrong. It was a tightening in my chest and a skip in my heart. The shadows shifted again bending in strange angles. Then I felt it more clearly. Something was coming. Something terrible. A lurking fear. A Presence spread to fill the air and I clawed at my throat as my breath came in labored pants.

With a terrible heave, the entire top of the chamber was ripped open and flung away. I screamed as a giant of a creature loomed above us. Its flickering body was ghostly white and seemed to be made of the howling wind given tangible form. Those dead eyes looked down at us and an awful terror plunged into my soul from that look alone. It started to speak and its voice was like a great pressure on our minds, and within the sound of it crawled other sounds, screaming children, dying stars, and the singing of nightmares.

THE EARTH WAS MINE BEFORE THE LIGHT OF DAWN AND IT WILL BE SO AGAIN, LITTLE CHOSEN ONES.

The Sleeper of Nightmares had awakened.

I staggered to my feet and glared at the being. "You'll have to get through us first to get to Earth. So if you want a battle then let's go. I'll show what a Chosen really is."

SO BE IT.