Lies Run Deep (solo)

[ANGELxZER0]

((Continued from Going Down))

Fully engulfed by the light in his hand the strange black creatures came closer, fully black the creatures flashed in and out of this dimension thrusting towards the immobile Xzia as the light gathered into his hand before suddenly....a huge explosion of light, jumping screams of pain filled with pauses filled the air as did the pure light. Trusting his hand to the ground Xzia did his best to keep himself up, but he couldn’t see at all, he didn’t know what happened but everything was silent now, he could feel the light burning the darkness inside of him but not forcing it out but that did buy him a bit of time.

Lying on the floor, Xzia opened his eyes, he didn’t remember falling asleep but he must have. He felt refreshed and his vision was blurred, just exactly how long had he been asleep for? Coughing and almost throwing up Xzia forced himself to stand, shakily getting to his feet. The dull blackened buildings towered over him, casting shadows over him as he looked at his arms, the black markings had spread. His own cyan runes looks like normal markings, they no longer shimmered with the magic that usually flows through them. The gem on his left arm was the only thing on him glowing now, that useless spirit that got him into this mess had possessed his body and used every ounce of magic in it, there has only been one other time when that’s.......Teefa?

“Sister?” He cried out, to no response, all three of the beings he came in with were no longer there, what exactly did that spell do, it wasn’t one of his and he had never seen it before. “Teefa?” he yelled again after he waited and got no response. The only person he really knew amongst the damn lesser races and she had vanished. Screaming in pure anger and annoyance Xzia was loosening control, something about this place wasn’t right, it made him strange, and He found it hard to control his emotions, especially those of a darker nature.

Picking up a crescent blade to his hand Xzia unleashed his fury on the closest object to him, slashing at it relentlessly not taking a single pause as he wore away the stone, bit by bit. Puling his arm back then bringing it forward and down in a powerful ark he had hardly damaged the stone but snapped one side of his blade right off, being hit with such force, the broken section of the blade flew past Xzia’s leg as he gasped for air, half crouched still in the same position from the attack. The blade had opened his plain white trousers, they were extremely baggy but before now had never been ripped, Xzia had gems to deal with his appearance, but with no magic to power them everything had changed. They had become a dull white, covered in black dust from the ground, His hair had become un-neat, and was now short after being cut by one of those strange creatures, and he had gone from a respectable, elvish looking creature, to a tattooed savage barbarian.

“Calm down, it’s not your fault.” Xzia said in a loud voice, under the suspicion that the gem on his hand could hear and see him. As he stood glaring at the gem on his hands Xzia felt the rage inside him go down and it may have just been a trick of the light...or darkness but the spreading of the black through his veins had slowed down.

Hearing the crash of rock behind him Xzia quickly turned, he suspected everything down here, because even the corpses can come alive. Rushing towards the sound just in case it was one of his group that caused it, Xzia left his second weapon behind, that was dragged down into the shadows by clawed hands, and kept the broken one. Coming to a sudden stop Xzia almost tripped that would have sent him to his death, the ground crumbled under him, jumping back just in time. His leg buckled falling into a roll that covered him in decade’s worth of black dust. Once again picking up his broken blade, Xzia ran in the same direction, leaping over the gap he just made and continuing to bound across the fragile ground until it became solid once more.

Xzia stopped to take a breath, Why did he do that? Just for the sheer thrill? This place was driving him mad, all that got him was in another sector of a dark abandoned city in a very loud and moster attracting way. “Focus damn it!” Xzia swore at himself, he had to keep talking to himself; it was the only thing that made him remember that he was him and not some wild animal. The light from his gem caught his attention; it seemed to be focusing its light towards something. As he turned so did the light, It was pointing, And he followed, he had no other way of finding the others and no idea how to get out, he knew he would die here but somehow found that a thrill.

Following the short beam of light, Xzia continued to walk the blood stained, body littered streets. His focus was so set on what he was being led too he ignored the noise he was making and the attention he had attracted, His search led him to a building that wasn’t as black as the others, it kept a low glow but still nothing like the ones in his birthplace, How he wanted to get back there, anything that could get him there he wouldn’t mind doing, he didn’t mind abandoning everyone else if he got home.. entering the building through a huge arched door that slip open from the enter as he touched it with his free hand a black mist escaped, trapped in there for years.

Inside were more bodies, with no signs of wounds, they were just dead...hopefully. The light became exited, flashing and shifting doing everything it could to steal Xzia’s attention from his deep thoughts. It eventually did but didn’t get the reaction it wanted “What?” He snapped hitting the crystal with his hand. Though it didn’t feel anything It could sense the intentions behind it, Diming slightly it changed into a fine line pointing to a female statue with a huge Orb under its chest, placing his hand on it the Gem on his arm went out.

[ANGELxZER0]

Turning away from the statue to inspect the further contents of the room there was nothing really of interest, there were just statues covering the walls, all still looking like a blank canvas. His shoulder suddenly felt a sudden weight but he could swear nothing had touched him; Xzia readied his blade, griping it tightly and narrowing his vision, trying to see his shoulder without turning his head, just beyond his vision was a pale, dim light that seemed warm and inviting.

“It’s so good to talk to you again” came two voices at the same time, one high and one normal, both female. Xzia had the urge to still strike, it would release his anger and it’s not like he needed this, yes nothing bad could happen if he...before giving him a chance to move she had wrapped her arms around him from behind and placed her face right next to his, leaning into it.

“Humph.” Xzia pulled away from the glowing girl, draped in pure white, like him she had runes over her body; hers were a soft pink easily visible on her pale skin. Without turning away Xzia began to leave the building, he was beginning to get to grips with his madness, being alone in the silence, he could deal with that, being trapped alone with the reason he was down here, some that he had hated for a long time...It would drive him mad without whatever is playing with his emotions.

“Hey wait, Xzia.” The girl said, walking across the floor without a sound, reaching out too touch him but taking her hand away... “I’m sorry.” She said, stopping as Xzia did too, turning his head slightly, enough to see a faint glow in the edge of his vision.

“It doesn’t matter now does it?” Xzia replied coldly, giving her a moment too think, the only reason he didn’t move was that if he did it would be a strike across her chest.

“I had to trick you, it needs to be sorted, it’s...all my fault.” The girl continued, looking away from Xzia though he clearly wasn’t looking at her. The silence urged her to fill it. “I was the one that destroyed this city, There was an experiment on a new type of...”

“I don’t care!” Xzia said, being able to calm himself and leave the statue filled room, the empty stone eyes watched him leave and the girl quickly follow out into the dark streets. Xzia had gotten used to the decrepit city but the girl could do nothing but stare at the tall dull white buildings that were falling apart, and cry. Falling to her knees, Xzia couldn’t help but turn around to look at her, she looked no older than 16 and had black hair that that touched the ground when she knelt, she had a slim but curvy body and pink eyes filled with tears. She saw the corpses littering the streets and the rubble covering every road, Seb’raf was the most advanced runealogic city amongst the neon race, but because of her, everything was lost.

“Please Xzia, help me stop those creatures...and I will show you a secret way out.” The girl said after a moment of clearing her tears. Xzia began to walk over to her, stretching out his hand as if to help her up but he quickly twisted his body as he came to a halt in front of her swinging his broken weapon around letting the one remaining blade rest on her neck. “Why the hell should I help you!? I will find my own way out; I don’t need someone useless like you to help me!”

The girl quickly looked down and gripped tightly to her long white flowing dress, she seemed out of place, she was brighter than everything else, as if not real. At first Xzia thought it would be a trick of his mind, but he was beginning to think differently as he could hear the girl crying worse than before. She felt the blade pushed harder into her neck, it couldn’t cut her but it still scared her, she quickly forced herself to stop crying but the tears wouldn’t stop coming, her body went lifeless to avoid aggravating the neon strategist.

“Damn!” Xzia swore as he drew the blade from her neck, even with the madness he couldn’t kill her, his regret was right now, a powerful emotion but he was still able to simply walk away from her. He doubted she would survive down here but he didn’t care, it would not be by his hand that she fell, Xzia turned his back on the girl, only just deciding to look up, and walk off along deeper into the city scanning for the new eyes he felt burn into his very core.

[ANGELxZER0]

After a few minutes of walking down the corpse littered streets of the dull yet pure white curved, tall buildings a small light caught Xzia’s eyes. It was dim and floating in a single place. Xzia stopped and didn’t look directly in its direction, waiting a few moments before quickly turning his full body and almost leaping the full 3 meter gap between the two, opening his hand, reaching out and grasping with full force. Another two appeared.

“What the...” he asked in general, confused.

More and more started to appear, hundreds… maybe even thousands, it was impossible to count, all of them bobbing up and down now beginning to move, circling him, a feint whistle that shook to sound like I high pitched laugh infuriated Xzia, pulling his arm closer to his chest he opened his hand to see it covered in a glowing cyan goo spread over his palm, it must be what ever these things were made of, grinning, Xzia dropped his blade. His hands shot out at the little creatures, crushing them with full force, soon his hands were coved in the magical liquid that came from them pouring off of his hand as he grabbed for the next unlucky light. His smile widened and widened until it wasn’t possible for him to make it any further, he didn’t even feel them get crushed by the weight of his hand but he could see he was killing them.

Killing, that wonderful feeling, he was the ruler, the master, the most dominant creature, His race had always prided themselves at being the best, but now he felt it.

The girl slowly approached, watching the mad Neon grab at the air and begin to laugh.

“What are you doing?” She asked, unaffected by the madness of this place.

At the sound of her voice he instinctively looked at her, instead of a wall of light, he saw nothing but the out of place girl. Looking back to the air, there was not a light to be seen, in his hands there was not a trace of there magical essence. What had just happened? Once again a feeling had come over him, could it be there doing? As soon as the girl appeared they vanished because there were out numbered? That must be it, it has to be.

“It is no business of yours, leave me alone!” he commanded, picking up his blade and attempting to look superior. Before turning and walking off.

She followed. “I can’t! I need your help; you can fix all of this!”

“I really couldn’t care less, I just want to find my sister and leave this place.” Xzia responded quickly and passionately as thoughts of Teefa rushed through his mind, was she ok? Where did everyone go after that light? Did it kill them too?

The girl had nothing to say, it was all her fault, and in this body she couldn’t do anything, she needed him but there was no way to convince him.

There was a flash in front of his eyes. He hadn’t noticed, but the room had gradually been getting darker, the tall buildings obscured most of his view, that made finding where he was going very difficult, everything looked the same and nothing stood out, the signs had lost there magic and no longer displayed there runes. This was a heavy darkness, one that isn’t natural, one that he had all ready barely survived once. The flash met his vision again, dark creatures that they were, came too and from existence, they were easy to kill, there was no resistance when the blades tore there bodies to shreds, but in his experience they attacked in great numbers, but that wasn’t the only problem, the corpses that littered the streets, last time he came up against these unholy beings, the dead rose to fight for them. They were keeping there distance, an odd move, he had learned enough about them in his last fight that they were not even animals, they cold not come up with any tactics, all they wanted was to feed on his soul and attack head on to do so. His soul was already quickly deteriorating, the purple and black marks were spreading through his body, quickening his madness and shortening his life, the more he moved, the faster it spread, and he had already made so many un-necessary actions.

Another flash of sickening purple, then a second in the corner of his eye, turning to face it, he caught another moving behind him, turning around he was surrounded by a swirling purple energy the huge wave, like a gust of wind wrapped around him creating a tornado. Engulfing his body and ripping it apart, he watched as his arm was ripped open and pulled out of place, the muscles still thumping as he struggled against the vortex, as his arm fell from his side, he could feel his other limbs being opened, cut, thousands of times over, the snap of the bones as they were ripped off. He tried to scream but couldn’t as he raised his head and neck slowly ripped open, his pure white blood flowing out, his cyan veins of magic spilling into the vortex, increasing its Speed. His body was fully black, covered in open wounds and whole sections missing, the neck continued to bleed to reveal its insides but still he breathed, his exposed lung suddenly collapsing to a blade of wind. His eyes glazing over, turning pure purple like the surrounding whirlpool of energy, all he could to was stare up as he was reduced to nothing, being ripped apart atom by atom, claimed by the void.

His eyes closed.

[ANGELxZER0]

His hands came to his face and he fell to his knees Letting out an unholy screech of pain.

“Ah!?” The girl shrieked in response “Xzia, XZIA!? Are you ok?” She said, placing a hand on his shoulder without thinking.

Opening his eyes once more, they were nothing but two small black dots, the black markings had travelled up the runes to his eyes, directly influencing his mind, pretty soon Xzia would be dead… if he was lucky. He grabbed the girls arm and twisted it around as he turned to stand up raising it above her head.

“Stop it!” She cried out in pain, even though she felt nothing, her mind told her she should feel pain if this is done. He stared at her with the wide grin he wore not too long ago, twisting further and further, suddenly stopping. He knew the body wasn’t real, and didn’t get any pleasure from twisting a doll. Raising his leg and kicking the mannequin as he let go of her wrist, she fell to the ground after leaving it for a second.

His grin quickly reappeared as he saw a flash of purple once more, this one was real and it was running towards him at full speed. Gripping his blade tighter, as the hollow footsteps collided with the ground in front of him he struck, the creature bursting into purple and black flames across the wound until it engulfed its full body and finely, was gone. Like before, it wasn’t long until more followed, they must have been able to sense the fresh essence of a torn soul, like an animal can smell blood.

Pulling his arm back, he waited. He knew how they thought or, to be more precise, how they felt. They would not wait and attack in any order or any skill; they would all try at the same time. With the inverted blade ready in his out stretched arm behind him, another three launched themselves at him and in one fel swoop they ignited into the dark air, giving the walls a momentary purple tint. Ending crouched on the ground Xzia reached into his bag and pulled out 5 small gems, placing one at his feet.

He could see the purple flashes of light all around him, they were fast and didn’t waist any time, It wouldn’t be long until “Ruhruuuuuuuuuu.” Came a moan from one of the slowly rising corpses. Placing the second gem down on the floor a few meters away Xzia watched his surroundings as the possessed husks drew ever closer, they were slow at first but as the souls got used to the bodies they became much more efficient. Placing the third down Xzia could only look into the sea of the dead walking towards him like a well organized army, he couldn’t see through the wall of blackened bodies, he was too slow; they were within meters of him. He could see the evil pouring off of them, the mass insanity that leaked from there body and tried to take control of him, he couldn’t let it, he didn’t come this far for nothing, He would find a way home!

Running towards the armoured creatures he pushed off from the ground, raising both legs and planting them into the closest breastplate, twisting as he did so, pushing the creature back and all that were following but at the same time he fell to the ground face first, using his hand with the 2 crystals in it to break the fall, pushing the crystals into his skin and forcing it apart. He quickly stood back up as what felt like claws dug into his back creating a big scratch as he tried to avoid it. ‘Just one more!’ he told himself, grinning slightly, he wanted to jump into the centre of them and see how many he could take out, but he was staying in control, barely. Bringing the blade back it pierced right through the neck of his attacker, pulling it forward ripping it out, there was no blood, just the decaying body tissue as the neck wrenched open and the body fell back to the ground where it belonged. Running out of a closing wall of the possessed dead he tried the same trick once more, leaving the ground, raising his legs and thrusting them forward to knock back the first and all behind but just before he made contact, his leg was grabbed and pulled down as another clawed hand sliced the air in front of his face. He was able to plant his remaining foot on the ground but the other leg was in the hand of then enemies being grabbed at from every angle tearing the cloth, tearing the skin and tearing some tissue. The madness took hold.

The black pupils widened. Twisting his body back and forward again, he span in the air, planting a solid hit in the head of the one that held his leg, knocking it back and a few behind it down. He dropped the final crystal, he didn’t need it. Landing with one leg, he continued to turn, enchanting his blade with air, and spinning in the same spot sending out a gust that gave him two meters of room, his pupils were nothing but pinholes, he was an animal, just like them. But he kept his intelligence, and all of his powers, that made him a monster. Stopping and getting on all fours the black infection had engulfed all around his eyes and nearly all of his revealed skin, he was bleeding all over but it seemed to have no effect on him, his whole body operated differently to a simple human. Pouncing onto the nearest downed opponent, he raised his blade placing both hand on the handle and forced it down into the closed eye. Pulling it back out horizontally and cutting up the centre of an advancing opponent. Once again removing the blade and thrusting it through the heart of another and letting go, He grabbed the creatures arm and spun him into a wall of more advancing deceased Neon Knights, quickly giving chase and ripping the blade out once more. The creatures will still getting faster, but there bodies were still of those long dead, they were fragile.

Lifting his hand up the blade became wrapped in electricity. Xzia looked around and waited for them to get closer, the energy in the blade growing out of control; finally he thrust it into the ground shattering the first crystal in two.