Demise

We spent the next several days on board the ship, waiting for Marshall to show up.
“Damn it,” I said to myself, while I was sitting above deck. “When the hell is he gonna get here?”
“As soon as he finds her,” ParaDan said from behind me.
“Wha- when the hell did you get here?” I asked.
“Just now,” he said. “I’ve been busy looking for… something.”
“Any luck finding it?” I asked.
“Nope,” he said.
“Great,” I said. “So who’s ghost boy looking for?”
“Someone who owes him a favor,” ParaDan said. “So where’s Kelterry?”
“At the helm,” I said. “Hey! Kelterry! Get over here!”
He took his sweet time, but he came.
“Been a while, paradox,” he said.
“Yes it has, pirate,” ParaDan replied. “How have things been?”
“Been dealing with more dreams,” Kelterry said. “I think we can expect trouble soon.”
“Visions of the future?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Kelterry replied. “Dead for 800 years, but that woman is still driving people crazy.”
“You mean the Vision, right?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Did you know her?” I asked.
“I’ve had a few encounters,” Kelterry said.
“Same here,” I said.
“Hey, I have something for you,” he said, reaching his hand out to me. He dropped Demetri into my hand.
“You’re… giving me this guy?” I asked.
“He still has some recovery to do,” Kelterry said. “But I think you’d make better use of that shoggoth than I could.”
“Shoggoth!?” I exclaimed.
“Yeah,” Kelterry said. “I created him in order to translate languages that are native to the layer of reality we were on earlier.”
“Hey, Kelterry,” ParaDan said. “You know that trouble you were talking about? I think it’s here.”

I turned to the front of the ship, where a strong presence had suddenly appeared. There was a gate opened into the Path Of Black Leaves, and standing inside of it was Ren Takeru. ParaDan immediately drew his rapier, and Hideaki ran over to us, drawing his own sword. Several more gates opened, and people boarded the ship, with sharp red spikes sprouting from their bodies.

“Saplings,” ParaDan muttered.
“Hello there, Time Walker,” Ren said. “And you too, Hiroshi. Or Akihiko, or whatever the hell you’re calling yourself now.”
“It’s Hideaki,” Hideaki said.
“I see,” Ren said, drawing a sword shaped thorn.
“ParaDan and I can handle these guys,” Hideaki said. “Daniel, Dad, make sure everyone else is safe below deck.”
“Sure thing,” I said.

ParaDan began cutting down the Saplings, while Hideaki charged and clashed with Ren. Kelterry and I ran over to the door going bellow deck. It swung open as we approached it. My mom and Tony were standing there.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked. “We heard…”
“Get back below deck!” I said. “We have trouble.”
“Yes, you do,” said another voice.

I turned sharply to see the tip of a long katana sticking out of Kelterry’s chest. Dark Daniel was standing behind him, with a hateful look in his eyes.

“You!” I said.
“Daniel,” Kelterry said weakly. “Get out of here.”
“No way,” I said, drawing my sword. “Let him go!”
“Fine,” he said, pulling his sword from Kelterry, who slumped to the floor.

I charged forward, passing through the Godsway briefly. I clashed swords with him while Tony ran over to try to help Kelterry.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to settle things with you,” Dark Daniel said. “Let’s end this.”
“Yes,” I said, swinging my sword at him. “Let’s!”

He swung his sword, throwing me back some. He swung it again, and I had to duck to avoid the twelve foot long blade. I slipped into the Godsway and reappeared behind him. He vanished before I could attack and reappeared off to the side. I brought my sword up to stop his, but he was stronger than I had expected, and managed to break through my guard to cut my shoulder. I slipped into the Godsway again and reappeared at the helm. I shot a bolt of lightning at him, but he deflected it with the blade of his sword. He slipped out of his coat and disappeared. He suddenly emerged behind me, wrapping his coat around my head, trying to suffocate me. I reached up, grabbing one of his arms. I tried to freeze him, but he broke away from me before I could. I unravelled his coat from my head, and turned to try and find him. His foot caught my chest with a powerful side thrust kick, knocking me off the helm. I landed next to Tony, and Kelterry.

“Hey man, I don’t want to get in the way of your fight, but Garrot’s kind of bleeding out here,” Tony said.
“Use this,” I said, tossing him the coat. “Try to staunch the bloodflow.”

I teleported back onto the helm, but the other me was gone before I got there. I looked up to see him floating with a pait of wasp wings. He raised a hand, and a burst of flames shot from it. I dodged through the Godsway and reappeared on top of one of the sails.

“You can use more than one power at a time?” I asked.
“I’m better than you,” he said, launching a bolt of lightning at me. I teleported out of the way as it hit the sail. I reappeared on the deck, but I couldn’t move again. I looked down to see my feet frozen in place. Fuck. I looked up to see the other me raising a hand, which was glowing with red flames. He shot a large ball of fire at me. I released a blast of cold air, stopping his attack before it reached me. I looked down at my sword.

“Come on,” I whispered to it. “I need flames!”
“As you wish,” said a voice, just as the sword burst into flames.

The ice around my feet melted. I warped through the Godsway, reappearing in the air next to him. I swung my sword repeatedly, but he deflected all of my strikes and swung his sword down. I blocked his attack, but I was knocked down to the deck. My sword slid from my grasp. Dark Daniel landed in front of me, as his wings vanished. His shadow rose from the floor, holding me in place. He raised his sword.

“Say your prayers,” he hissed, preparing to bring his blade down on me. But someone stepped between us.
“Mom?” I asked, surprised to see her between us with her arms outstretched. She was protecting me.
“Stop this!” she ordered.
“Oh, now you want to do something for him?” Dark Daniel chuckled. “Since when do you care?  You ignored us most of our lives! You were never there for me or him, and now you want to protect him?” his face twisted into anger. “I should kill you both.”

I screamed in pain as the tentacles tore from my back, lashing at him. He jumped backwards, trying to dodge. The shadows broke through his shadow, freeing me. I ran through the Godsway, coming out in front of him, lashing out my tentacles, knocking him into the mast, which cracked from the impact.

“She may be a neglectful bitch, but she’s still my mother!” I shouted angrily at him.
“Slender Man’s power?” he said. “Do you have any idea of the risk you’re taking by using that?”
“I don’t care!” I yelled, swinging my tentacles again.

He ducked into the Godsway. I followed him through and grabbed him with a tentacle before he could return to the real world. I swung him with all my strength, flinging him into something nearby. Not sure what it was exactly. This was my first time actually getting a good look at the place. I… can’t describe it. At all. It was too out of this world to make sense of. I charged at him, swing a right hook at him. He tried swinging his sword at me, but my tentacles bound his arms before he could. My knuckles collided with hi9s jaw. Once. Twice. Three times, four, five. My muscles were beginning to burn. I had stayed in that place too long, and it was starting to take its toll. But I ignored it, continuing to beat the crap out of him. He wrestled one of his arms free of my tentacles, and grabbed me by the throat. We were suddenly back on the ship. We both collapsed, having taken a lot of pain from staying in the Godsway that long.

“Damn it,” I said, trying to get to my feet.

My sword was just a few feet away. I inch for it, wrapping my fingers around its familiar handle when I finally reached it. I stood up, with some pained effort, and turned to Dark Daniel. He was still lying on the ground, panting in agony. MY tentacles retracted into my back as I approached him. I had won. He was on the ground, in pain from both the Godsway and the beating I had given him there. I just had to finish it. I raised my sword to his face.

“Go on,” he said. “Do it. Finish things.”

I froze. The memory of Malkator had suddenly returned to me. The sight of him standing on the edge of that building, telling me his last words. I lowered my sword.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Malkator was wrong,” I said. “I’m no hero. But I’m not a murderer either. I can’t kill you.”
“Oh, how sweet!” said a voice from the helm. I turned to see a figure in a gas mask with black wings standing up there. The Archangel.
“Great, now this guy’s here,” I said.
“And I’m sure you know why, don’t you?” he said, decending from the helm to the deck.
“I have a few guesses,” I said.
“I’m here to kill you,” he said. Yeah, figured. “I’ll take back all the souls you’ve taken from me, and yours as well.”
“As if!” I said, raising my sword, which caught fire.
“You can’t fend me off forever,” the Archangel said, summoning a pitch black scythe. “This time, you will die.”
“We’ll see about that!” I snapped, charging at him.

He parried my attack and sliced at me with his scythe. I ducked under the curved blade and stabbed him in the chest. He vanished. I heard him appear behind me and stepped out of the way before his next attack could hit. He raised a hand and I was knocked back by a gust of black mist. I hit the railing on the side of the ship. It cracked under the force, and I had to enter the Godsway again to avoid falling overboard. That was a mistake. I was still in pain from the last time being there, and returning just made it worse. I got out as quick as I could and collapsed on deck.

“What’s wrong?” the Archangel laughed. “Can’t handle our domain?”

Dark Daniel suddenly appeared behind him, sword raised. The Archangel turned and blocked the attack with his scythe.

“You stay out of this!” the Archangel hissed.
“Like hell!” Dark Daniel roared.

What happened next was a blur of black and silver as they clashed blades. I got to my feet, ignoring the pain as best as I could. That’s when it hit me. Pain. I could use it to my advantage. Of course, after that red bitch almost took complete control of me before, I didn’t really want to. But then again, what else could I do. I allowed the redness to flow through my body, and the pain mixed with pleasure, strengthening me. I rushed forward, joining the battle. It was two on one with the Archangel outnumber. As if in desperation, the Archangel sprouted a second pair of arms and struck us both, sending us crashing into what was left of the railing.

“I need your help,” I said, turning to Dark Daniel. “I can’t beat him on my own.”

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before nodding. He raised his sword, and I drew the gun from my belt with my free hand. I fired at the Archangel, who vanished again. He appeared in the air above us, with another scythe. He swung down at us, and we deflected his attacks. Dark Daniel stabbed at the Archangel’s mask, breaking a chunk of it off on the right side. A portion of the Archangel’s face was exposed.  His eye was red, with a glowing diamond shaped iris. The skin around it was pale and wrinkled, and what I could see of his hair was a transparent white. He slashed at us quickly, knocking the weapons from our hands. He slashed Dark Daniel across the stomach with his scythe, leaving a deep gash. Dark Daniel collapsed, holding the wound to try to stop the blood flow.

“That’s for interfering,” the Archangel said.

He turned back to me, and swung one of his scythes. I rushed up close and caught the handle. I kicked him in the face, breaking away more of his mask and tearing the scythe from his grip. As soon as he released it, the color scheme changed, becoming more purple than black. The Archangel swung his remaining scythe, and I dodged under it, getting behind him. I swung the scythe I had took from him, and he parried. We clashed again and again. I managed to hook the blade of his scythe using mine, and I pulled hard, yanking it from his grip. He conjured a rifle and aimed at my heart. I tried to dodge, but the bullet grazed my ribs. Another bullet grazed my leg, and I went down. The Archangel aimed his gun at my face.

“It’s over,” he said.

Before he could pull the trigger, Dark Daniel got him from behind, putting all of his arms into a full nelson. He shifted his weight some, cracking the Archangel’s collar bones, causing the rifle to slip from his grip.

“Daniel!” Dark Daniel said. “My sword!”

The twelve foot katana was a few feet behind me. I just had to reach for it.

“Hurry!” he barked.

The Archangel tried to get free, but Dark Daniel sprouted Rake-like claws from his fingers and dug them into the Archangel’s chest. I grabbed the sword and stood up/. The Red Cap’s power had worn off, and I was in pain again, but I fought it and turned to face them. I could feel the Archangel’s power being drained by Dark Daniel. He was becoming vulnerable.

“Hurry!” he shouted. “Stab him! In the heart!”
“I can’t with you behind him like that!” I said.
“Forget about me!” he said. “Kill us both!”
“But-,” I protested.
“You may not be a murderer, but what you are is a Devil Killer!” he said. The Archangel struggled in his grip. “Now kill this devil!”
“I can’t do that to you!” I snapped.
“I can’t hold him much longer!” he said. “I don’t deserve to live! Just finish this now!”

My thoughts returned to when my blade stabbed into Red Daniel. The way that he thanked me for ending his life. I didn’t want to do that again. The Archangel got and arm free, and black mist began swarming around it. He was forming something big. He was gonna destroy the entire ship. I had no time.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, plunging my sword through the Archangel’s heart and through Dark Daniel.

I dropped the sword as I was consumed by unbearable pain. My chest hurt, as if I had also been stabbed through the heart. Dark Daniel took a few steps back, pulling the Archangel of the edge of the ship. Then it was gone. The Archangel’s power suddenly ended, and when it did, I was struck with the mother of all migraines. I fell over, unable to see straight. It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had.

Apparently, I lost consciousness after that. It’s been about 20 hours since all that happened. According to Tony, Ren and ParaDan both disappeared when I killed the Archangel. The ship had taken so much damage during the battle that it fell from the sky. Hideaki and Seraph managed to get everyone off safely before it happened. Everyone except Garrot Kelterry. I wish I could say he made it, but he didn’t. The wound he received from Dark Daniel was too much. He died.

I’m at Tony’s house right now. He had Dark Daniel’s jacket washed repeatedly. Then he gave it to me, seeing as my vest was kind of destroyed. I've also got  a new scar. Right over my heart. The same place I stabbed the Archangel.

I need to go. For a walk or something. I need to clear my head after all that shit that went down…