Displaced: Crossing Roads
Chapter 13
A True Warrior
"Saving one life, means not being able to save another."
Yeah. Those words are very real to me, ive gone and wrapped myself and my best friend into a world that we thought he understood, something we could bend to our whim, I was wrong. Because at the end of it all, if you peel away our morals, our personalities, what you're left with is two hollow men with nothing to give to a world they were created for. I guess now the universe wants to nail that for me, and it hurts.
"LUMOS!" And at the sound of my name, I knew it was over, well before I could mutter a single word of retort to my attacker, instead, I gaped at the sight of the glass-like blade sticking through my chest, its cold touch radiating through-out my body, as I felt its coils wrap themselves around my soul again, only it felt like my life was being crushed over and over again
All I could do was watch as the blade was pulled from my chest, as I felt the strength lift from my body with it, as I fell to my knees, my face left to stare up at the gold-black-clad monster, his armor both as sleek and pristine as a royal, but twisted with malice and warped by whatever the girl did to them. But those eyes showed nothing to me, but they carried hatred within their orbs as I coughed.
"Like the rest of humanity, you are flawed, you create wars for purposes of greed and immortality." He spoke to me, as I couldn't help but laugh with a pitiful croak
"Well....to....sum humanity....as a whole." I spat, but my face quickly met with his glove, as I felt the same intense heat blast my face, as my body made a begging attempt to crawl away, as I screamed out in pain, gods it hurt, then my face was smashed forcefully into the road, as my mask chipped from the impact
"I am Viribus, commander of the great Cipher army, our goal was to being order and peace for every being in this world, but all I saw was war, destruction, death, creatures like you feed off of that pain, you think you have the power to change the world, but you don't," He monologue to me, as I tried to retort, but his foot had already started to crunch into my back, as I winced from the agony
"When we awoke, we saw her, and her motives were like yours, but she wanted peace and understood what sacrifices a monster must make to be a warrior to the masses." Viribus finished, as I was lifted shamefully with my head, as I felt my brain scream for the pressure to stop, as I tried to grasp his arm with my own
"W-What does....that mean?" I asked, as I felt my vision drift around, my arms were starting to become weaker by the second, and above all of this, he still let me live. Then my eye made contact with his vulture-like stare (Not because of his helmet)
"Your devotion to those will ignite the bravery of others. Bravery will drive those to sacrifice their needs for others....And sacrifice for a cause will lead to Death." He answered as I felt some familiarity in those words, its the same way a 'True' hero is born, through their death, others rise, and for a Warrior, its the same catch
But I wasn't allowed to think of it, as I felt my primal nerves sink in, as I was dropped to the stone ground again, but I kept moving, I kept rising again to face him, I don't know why, I'd know I can't win....So why am I still struggling? As I kept trying to stop my body from moving, I came to look up at Viribus, but something seemed to snap in him at that moment.
"Do not look at me....human!" Viribus snarled, as I was kicked flying towards the group again, my body tumbling from the force behind that leg was enough to shatter one of my ribs, and I was too weak to even cry out in pain, the only indication of agony came from my right eye on my mask, its shattered glass gave weigh to a twitch of pain
But even as I begged for Death just to give me a free pass of death, I still pushed my arms under me, as I used my fists to push me up, if not for a hooves holding me back.
"Come on now, Sugarcube, stop thrown your life away!" Applejack, you know I really don't care, right? But then I saw Gel and Selene doing the same, both now looking really concerned
"Please stop! You don't have to do this!" Selene begged, as I gave a raspy sigh, as I pushed them off of me, but Gel was very persistent
"For all that is holy, stop trying to get up!" Hehehe, Gel really does care. But I was already on my knees again, as I stared up as Viribus, but his fist died out for a moment, before he grabbed my face and pulled me from the crowd, and I even saw Twilight blast him with a pulse of magic. Sadly, that didn't even phase him, oh no....
"You insist of cowering behind that power, behind walls of innocent lives," Then he pulled me to look at him, as he gripped my throat tightly as I gargled for a breath, but that only made his grip grow. "You're not worthy of that power, neither of you are."
And with that, he threw me into a building, as I felt crystals cut me, and shatter before my eyes from the sheer force he put into the attack, then I heard more voices call to me.
"Dude, just stop fighting, let us help!" Dash suggested, but I doubt she wants to feel her soul being torn in two
"P-Please s-stop...." Fluttershy was even more silent than before, but even I could tell she hated this
"For God sakes, have some humility and stay dead!" Erebus, go fuck yourself. But at the faint look I gave him, I saw that he still sat there on the path, he was irritated, but he didn't move, instead, he just watched carefully. Now that can mean 2 things, one, he's enjoying this too much, or two, he can tell that this freak's plans have a few holes in it, or both.
So I did the only logical thing that filled my mind, I brought up every bit of pain, all my anger and grief, all the memories of people who had beaten me and broken my pride, I undid the caps on every bottled emotion I stored. And I laughed, albeit, like a mad man with a torn throat, but it felt so great, and now its time for my plan to go into full swing.
*Selene's POV*
Why was he laughing!? Why won't he just run away!? I felt my head scream for him to stop, I didn't want to see my friends suffer, not like this. But something told me to just watch, and I felt like I should trust it, even if it hurts, I know he'll be fine, he's survived before, I 'know' he'll live. He promised.
"What's so funny?" Viribus asked, as Lumos balanced himself on his legs, both angled to hold his weakened body upright, then he laughed even more and with a twisted, cackling voice, he spoke, and I couldn't help but shiver from the creepy voice he was using
"Well...its just that you think you have us both figured out," Lumos spoke calmly, before in only the space of a second, he surprised all of us by actually running towards Viribus, the fact of him running alone was enough to leave me in a state of shock, as he drew his blade from thin air, and clashed with the crooked scimitar that Viribus held. "But you could never comprehend people like us!"
But before he could mutter another word, we watched as he took a 'third' strike from the soul blade, but before he could cry out, we saw that the ghostly blade never made contact, instead, a bronze, rusted object flew in the way of the strike. When it fell to the earth, we looked at the crooked broadsword before us, but I saw Lumos' left hand. He pointed two fingers up, as if to indicate to look, but why?
"What was that?" Viribus questioned, but then was caught off guard by Lumos grabbing his right arm in a lock, where Lumos had side-stepped around Viribus, grabbing it and twisting the right arm behind his back, with his left hand he used it to lock it with Viribus' scimitar, leaving them to struggle. "How can you still move? That cursed weapon should have left you-"
But his words were cut off by Lumos smashing his vulture-face into the stone, before he roared at Viribus with lethal malice. Something ive never seen from Lumos before, as I noticed at even Erebus was taken back by the sudden aggression that rose from him.
"Want to generalize us!? Then next time, make sure that some of us don't know how to kick your ass!!!" He snapped, before grabbing the cursed blade with his left hand, before he slowly twisted the blade in his arm, wait, what is he doing!?
"Lumos, stop! If you shatter the blade, it could kill you!" I screamed, but he seemed to shrug the whole warning off, but Viribus noticed and used his overwhelming weight to throw Lumos off his back, then he rushed Lumos as he tried to recover, but his left hand moved again
*TING-CLASH*
Viribus was once again hit by another rusted object from the ground, as another weapon flew from the dirt itself, and in a burst of pure ferocity, countless weaponry from ages past flung themselves at the Cipher, as he tried desperately to counter the mass of weapons that bombarded his armor, some even managing to chip at the more brittle joints.
*CLANG-CRACK-SNAP*
And by surprise, one massive scythe uprooted from the stone, as its swooped from under Viribus' chin, shattering the bottom section of his helmet, as the pieces slowly turned to black mist, that's when he turned to face us, and Lumos. It was horrifying, his bottom face was completely black, with a massive jaw filled with pointed, white teeth, all crooked and chipped, and stained with red.
"Courtesy of King Sombra, asshole." Lumos spat, as Viribus growled in anger at the fact that his helmet was now broken, fleeting to the winds of the north, then he looked at Lumos who was coughing up something red of his own. "I can manipulate time itself, so....whose to say I don't control what time is left for the weapons created by a tyrant from the past?"
"You....are no warrior, not a monster.....only a pest." Viribus snarled in disgust, as he held his scimitar towards Lumos, his jaw moving irregularly to mimic speech. "And like all pests, they must be rid of."
"Then lets be rid of just one." Lumos countered, as he vanished from the space he was originally, but as Viribus went to strike the area behind him, he never accounted for Lumos to only appear in front of his own weapon. As he did the unthinkable
"What are you doing!!?" Gel screamed in both shock and disbelief, as I just sat in silence, as I watched him grasp the phantom blade as he twisted its blade in two directions, causing an outlast of wind to occur from the strain
"You'll be hexed if you do that!?" I heard Twilight yell over the wind, and even Viribus' eyes were wide from Lumos' reckless action as he tried to pull back from the crazy human. Please don't die....
*Lumos' POV*
"W-What are you doing!?" Oh for the uncounted time, shut up! And through my internal conflict, I pulled with all the might I could muster from my dying body, as I felt the blade begin to give weigh from the strain of its brittle form
"'What it means to be a warrior'!? What a load of bullshit!" I snapped at him, holding my own had never felt so painful, the very urge of my bones wanting to snap was so agonizing, but I need to shove this down his throat, whether he cared or not! "All you care about is causing nothing but war between innocent races. You have fuck-all principles, just like every other villain in this show! So if the world you ridicule us from originating from, then we'll drag you to hell with us!"
And with that being said, what came next could have been either a flashlight, or death. As I saw nothing after I broke the blade in two, I felt what could only be described as emptiness, I felt nothing, only pressure around my whole body, like gravity was increased to pin me into a singular point.
"C'est certainement étrange, nous vivons, même dans la prise de la mort." Wait, was that....French? Or Spanish? I can never really tell, but what I could see, was my vision beginning to clear again, as I felt relieved to see the blue sky again, even with all the faces covering it
"Holy fuck ba-I mean, oh my goodness its a miracle!" Ah, good to know Erebus stuck with the organ plan, then I felt my eardrums nearly burst at the collective gasp
"Lumos!" Ow, sorry eardrums, may you rest in pepperoni
"Yes, that's my name." I answered with a cough, as I felt multiple limbs hold me down, even Erebus was holding me down
"Best to lay there for a moment, you got a literal hair of strength left." Ah, good to know Yamcha, at least he's useful now. Then I looked to the rest, all either smiling, sighing, or just generally happy for my well-being, cool, i'm alive
"Are thou the cause of such chaos?" And now Old English, this day has sure been eventful, and it seems my luck has ran short now, as my eyes glanced towards the small group of armoured Thestrals, all clad in purple-black armour, with golden eyes all trained on me and Erebus, even Selene was eyed and she seemed to shrink behind us
"Yes. And I won't lie, I can't really move right now, so don't worry about trying to apprehend me." I answered, feeling my legs resist the urge to move even an inch, but I guess they deserved to rest after all the hell I put them through, then my eyes landed on Luna, as I saw her monotone expression land on my mask
"Why are you concerned for one's capture? We-I did not come for your imprisonment." Luna asked, as I just looked at her with confusion, even some of her guards were slightly surprised by that, then I saw two new figures approach, both covered in scuff marks from whatever had transpired, but still more useful than Sun Butt
"Because you and Erebus don't deserve to be punished for saving us." Shinning spoke up for my curious questions, then I saw Princess Cadence smile at us both
"You risked your lives, complete strangers who could have easily overthrown us, and you saved hundreds of our own, so to imprison you would be a terrible mistake, both for us, and because it would be pointless to try." She shrugged in the end, as I saw Erebus click his fingers, turning back into Cayde-6 as he nodded to her
"See, she gets it." Yep, that she does, then I looked to Luna again, a small smile crossing her face
"So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here, Luna?" Yep, everyone still gets surprised by my lack of respect, sue me. But surprisingly, she wasn't even phased by it
"I wish to thank you two in person, not only for being our ally in our time of need, but to also say that you both have my respect, even if my sister has....other opinions on the subject, but if that time comes, you have our support." Luna bowed, yeah, a god-like being, 'bowed' to us! Now that's a new level of respect right there, then saw Pinkie hop towards me
"Yep! And you got us too!" I swore I heard Erebus mumble something about 'Cupcakes', but I digress, as I looked back to the monarchies, then to my companions and Erebus
"Well, can't say that this means anything in the long run, but for what its worth, I'm glad that this happened." I nodded in content, as Erebus decided to take his filter off for a moment
"Yeah, being stabbed and nearly erased, can't say I don't love it! What next? Hmm, maybe being skinned alive? Or maybe just having the equivalent of crushed grapes would be nice?" Yep, can't beat his insanity, not without a bat anyways
"I prefer being impaled in multiple locations though, get the slow death going." I added, both of us ignoring the horrified looks of the equines' faces, but whist I was happy to be alive, my mind still raced with two questions
"Still....Who was that chick with the Anti-spiral body? And better yet, who are these Ciphers, really?" But before I could contemplate on the multitude of questions I had, I noticed the looks that everyone had given me, even if it was subtle, I could tell that I was in for a long ride back to Po-The Village, screw calling it that
To Be Continued...