Dancing With Laughter

[Revenant]

Closed to Enigmatic Immortal. All bunnying approved.

“No, no, no, Thayne damn it all,” William Arcus cursed, slamming his study book closed with a sharp clap. The metal locking clasp on the book’s edge slipped closed, in quiet but defiant contrast, with a soft click, eliciting a hiss from the frustrated revenant. Even the intricate circular symbols on the book’s leather bound cover seemed to resolve into a jovial, mocking smile, as if the book were somehow able to take enjoyment from William’s failure. Resisting his desire to hurl the offending tome across the cavernous library, the revenant made do with slamming the book onto the heavy wooden study table and before driving his fist into it.

“Another three days wasted,” he snarled.

William Arcus’ primary reason for joining the Ixian Knights, aside from owing his loyaly to the mute Hero of Radasanth, was the opportunity to take advantage of Sei Orlouge’s vast collection of knowledge. It was William’s hope that one of the mystic’s numerous tomes would hold a key to unlocking the strange arcane symbols that filled the pages of the arcane tome he carried, the same tome that the infernal sorcerer Kal’Necroth had used to perfect the ritual which had destroyed his humanity and transformed him into the living engine of death that he was.

It was with this purpose in mind that he had spent the better part of a month pouring through half a dozen books, promising titled pieces like “An Arcane Historian’s Guide to the Outer Continents” and “Atypical Infernal Symbolism,” but had come up with nothing even remotely close. Not that he was expecting to just grab a book, flip a couple of pages, and voila. No, he understood that finding arcane information dealing with magic from the distant nation of Amra, specifically arcane theories from the thousand year lost mage-kings of ancient Amra, was a fool’s hope at best. But none of that mattered to the impatient, destructive spirit lurking behind William’s eyes.

“I’ve got to get out of here before I lose my fucking mind,” William grumbled, sliding the book he had just finished to the other end of the table with a shove before reaching to take the next book from the waiting stack he had pulled down. Mentally, he was exhausted. After days of pouring through page after page of studious technical writings, most of which made no sense to the magically untrained warrior, everything in the world seemed like it was taunting him. Hell, he even thought he heard the voice of that fucking clown, Jensen Ambrose, echoing down the corridor.

“I must be on my last legs if I’m thinking of that prick,” William chuckled at himself. Jensen Ambrose, Senior Knight of the Apocalypse and world-class asshole, had been William’s opponent in a random Citadel fight several weeks earlier. The fight, set in a slaughterhouse, had been quick and brutal, which was more of a testament to the fighter’s inability to control themselves than it was to their raw fury. And, as if to point out the amateur failings of both men, the fight had ended with both of them taking a head first dive into the chewing metal teeth of a man-sized meat grinder.

Funny enough, it wasn’t the painful death that galled William the most, as if death meant anything in Radasanth’s Citadel, it was the remembrance of Jensen’s choking face as the two men headed for their final reward.

“Pathetic,” he spat, his wad of phlegm falling upon the cover of the new book that he had forgotten about in his moment of remembrance. William cursed as he cleaned the spit from Sei’s book, annoyed at how easily the Knight of the Apocalypse still managed to distract him. And worse, the echo of his voice was getting louder instead of fading away into the haze of memory.

“You’re kidding me,” William groaned, leaving the table and walking to the edge of the library to sneak a peek down the corridor. Sure enough, there was the cocky knight, standing in a heated argument with two others, a man and a woman, dressed in the attire of his order.

“Damn it,” Jensen’s female companion swore at the grinning Knight, “Orlouge told us to just bide our time until the rest of his forces were ready and the leadership told us, very implicitly I might add, that we were to follow the mystic’s orders.”

“I’m not disobeying orders,” Jensen said, his voice the patronizing tone of a father explaining something to his child, “but since we’ve been cooped up here for a week, I’m going to call this my weekend and take a break.”

“Since when did we get weekends off?” Jensen’s male companion snorted.

“New company policy,” Jensen shrugged, “I saw it posted on the notice board back at headquarters.”

His companions exchanged knowing looks with one another.

“Back at headquarters?” the woman asked, cocking an incredulous eyebrow.

“Sure,” Jensen flashed her a grin, “you can check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

“Jensen,” the woman rolled her eyes in exasperation, “headquarters is over a thousand miles away.”

“Well then you’d better get walking, eh,” Jensen spun his back to his companions and thrust his hands in his pockets, “me, I’m going to see if I can find some fun at that crappy Citadel.”

Hearing this, William ducked back into the library.

The Citadel, William thought, a devilish idea forming in his mind, I think it’s time to take a break.

Though he hadn’t explored even a fraction of the massive underground tunnel complex that Sei called home, William had at least gotten lost enough to have figured out several alternate routes to take to get to the entrance without having to cross the Knight’s path. It was child’s play for him to slip behind Jensen a the younger man departed and trail the Knight all the way to the Citadel.

“Hey there fatty,” Jensen called out to the portly monk at the Citadel’s front desk.

“Oh,” the monk, who had looked up when the door opened in anticipation of greeting a new combatant, visibly slumped in his chair, “it’s you again.”

“You, chunko, have got to be the worst greeter I’ve ever met,” Jensen chided. “You’re supposed to say, ‘Good to see you again Mr. Ambrose. How can I help you this fine day?’”

Sighing, the monk repeated Jensen’s greeting, “Good to see you again Mr. Ambrose. How can I help you this fine day?”

“What’s so fine about it?” Jensen snapped. “Today sucks almost as much as you do at the chocolate syrup machine.” Watching from the shadows of the door, William took notice of the crass look of annoyance on the monk’s face and smiled. Though the monks of the Citadel were notoriously uptight, perhaps Jensen’s tactic of annoyingly putting off everyone he met could be used to William’s advantage.

“So what bullshit chambers do you have today? Let’s see,” Jensen continued, checking over the list of available battle chambers. “Snowy forest? Crap. Volcanic Wasteland? Been there, done that. Rainbow Bridge? Rainbow Bridge?”

Jensen wheeled on the monk, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “what the fuck is it with you people and rainbow bridges?”

“Well,” the monk replied, still taking deep breaths to steady him temper, “there is a certain element in Radasanth which enjoys the …”

“Yeah, yeah I get it,” Jensen interrupted, “a lot of fruity types here in Corone.”

William ducked behind the door’s silhouette as the Knight began pacing around the entryway.

“I want something unique. Something dangerous,” Jensen snapped his fingers, laughing suddenly, “I’ve got it. I want a real death cage. Circular room with whirling blades around the edges, and trapped tiles that shoot gouts of flame if you step on the wrong one.”

Jensen turned back to the monk’s table, put his hands on the edge, and leaned over so far that his hair hung in the monk’s face, “and the ceiling has to be coming down so we’ll both be crushed if we don’t finish in time. What do you think?”

The monk was scribbling furiously on a scrap of paper, jotting down Jensen’s every word with his enchanted pen so that the Citadel’s magic could replicate the Knight’s insane desire.

“Well?” Jensen asked impatiently.

“Well it’s done,” the monk roughly thrust the scrap of paper into Jensen’s face, “all you need to do is put this in the proper place and enter the chamber. Your room will be prepared shortly.”

“Excellent,” Jensen whooped, “thanks a lot tubbo, this one’s going to be great.”

William waited until Jensen was out of sight before making his entrance.

“I was wondering when you were going to come in,” the monk gave William a weak smile, “but if I were you, I would have waited for him to leave as well.”

“Actually,” William smiled, a cruel feral thing, “he’s the reason I’m here.”

“Oh?” the monk’s eyebrows perked up with interest. William leaned in an whispered his plan to the monk, who’s expression shifted from shocked, to sly, and then giddy.

“That’s not normally the sort of thing we condone,” the monk laughed, then looked in the direction that Jensen had just departed, “but I think we can make an exception this one time.”

William smiled and nodded, waiting for the monk to write out a new set of chamber instructions.

The monk hesitated as he reached the end of the paper, “dancing faeries? You’re sure?”

“Oh yes,” William hiss was sinister and delightful.

“Then here you go,” the monk wrote the last item, a declarative statement of ‘dancing faeries’ before handing the paper to the waiting revenant, “and give him one for me.”

William barked a single short laugh as he brought the paper to his forehead in a mock salute, “I’ll do what I can.”

Having heard Jensen’s room description, it was easy for William to find the chamber he had chosen. Quickly swapping Jensen’s room assignment for his own, William entered the chamber, eager for what lay ahead.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen felt his lungs take in all the stale air of the citadel, and drop it again as he awaited the time for the magic of the building to accept his request. He was enjoying the idea of the death trap very much, proud of himself for his creative use of his desire for carnage. Who said massacres were a lost art?

His boots echoed off the marble floor and when he reached the portal he placed a hand on the smooth aged copper handle and took one last breath. He eyed several monks walking by the door, all with bemused expressions as they talked about interesting battles they had heard of that day. Jensen gave himself a triumphant grin. At the end of this battle he would be one of the most talked about citadel contestants in history. Before long he thrust the door open and walked into the room.

Jensen was for the first time in his entire life, lost for words.

Caged circular arena? No, he was stuck on a square dancing stage. Whirling saws of death? Try a few unicorns grazing in the field to the side feasting on pink grass. Yes, Jensen had to blink multiple times to realize the grass was pink. He could hear something singing behind him and he turned to see a bear dressed as a cowboy playing a white grand piano with…

“Is that a midget?” Jensen blurted out incredulously. A portly midget sat upon the grand piano seductively, wearing a vlince red dress and over abundance of lipstick and eye liner. His eyes widened into horror as he heard the disgusting range of the tiny singer, and every ounce of his being began to shake violently. The immortals blood boiled as his knuckles turned white, clenching them so tightly. When he looked up to scream his breath was cut off by the sight of his worst nightmare. For the grand finally of a spiked ceiling to crush them was instead two men dry humping each other atop a rainbow.

“What…” he breathed. “The hell…” he breathed harder as his eyes narrowed. “IS GOING ON?” He shouted building up his words softly from that breath before it came out like a loud crashing cymbal. A few of the unicorns trotted away from the enigmatic immortal and he began to seethe as he paced upon the stage. The concert pianist bear and midget both stopped for a fraction to give him dirty looks before they played on.

His perfect arena was made a mockery of, his ideas were shown as a bad kiddylands porno. He tensed his muscles as he grinded his teeth before he placed one hand over his eye as a headache beat behind his orbs. He clutched his chest tightly in anger as his heart beat furiously. Jensen Ambrose did not like being made a fool of.

In Jensen’s mind he was the joker, the one who played tricks. He was the man with the only right in the universe to piss people off. He had endured torture and the curse immortality for that right, and he was being taunted now for his cursed existence. When he opened his eyes a fraction of an inch he saw a grouping of elves playing crocket. He hated elves, he hated them more than anything else in the world. Just the fact he was in a room with one made him upset as his racial intolerance of them burned him like an iron from the forge.

He shook his head and turned looking for the door out of this hell hole when he found something that made all the throbbing pain in his head click into sense. No more than ten feet away was William Arcus, one of the Ixian Knights major power players. Last time Jensen and him squared off there was blood, but what the Revenant may or may not have remembered was the immortals parting words. The memory surfaced as he saw himself gripping William’s face, fingers locking tightly into his cheek as the passed out warrior looked to him with foggy eyes.

”I want you to remember this face! Remember this shit eating grin every time you close your eyes! Each moment of your peaceful slumber I want my ugly mug smiling at you, laughing hysterically in defiance! I want my face BURNED into your retinas for all eternity. When you sleep I want my laughter to be your lullaby!”

The memory faded away in the haze and it was now the demon host who was grinning wildly as he gestured out to the arena, pointing out everything that was, now painfully obvious, his doing. The immortal looked to him, seeing the hatred in the creatures eyes. Jensen didn’t see just one soul, but two in those eyes and both bore down on him hungrily. The first goal was only to humiliate Jensen. The second was to now beat him to shit.

The senior knight let the side of his lips curl up into a cruel snarling grin as he softly chuckled under his breath. William would pay for his stunt, the immortal would make sure of it. Slowly his fingers dropped to his side, picking up a throwing knife in both hands as he brought them up.

“Well what are you waiting for you retard?” Jensen shouted as he sprinted forward with weapons in hand. “Let’s get this dance started!”

[Revenant]

This is perfect,William thought, letting his eyes take in the entirety of the ridiculous battlefield. His own laughter, cruel and acidic, bubbled up in his chest, breaking the silence left in the wake of Jensen’s rage. He was enjoying turning the tables on that arrogant little twit.

“Amateur at best,” he laughed in response to Jensen’s opening taunt and charging attack. The Knight’s charge was straight and simple, showing no hesitation or subtlety and William snarled in pleasure as he whipped his tattered traveling cloak from his shoulders. He brought the heavy cloth around to envelop Jensen’s daggers and absorb their piercing thrust, snarling in pleasure, “not enjoying yourself? But I set this up especially for you.”

Relying on the thick wraps of his cloak to keep him safe from the Knight’s razor-sharp iron, William side-stepped the charge and kicked his trailing foot at Jensen’s knees, hoping to trip the man up and send him sprawling, face first, into a glistening pile of rainbow colored unicorn droppings. And then, instead following up the attack, William shuffled to the center of the dance floor, bobbing in time with the bear’s music.

Every fiber of his being screamed out in desire for him to break the seal and let his infernal power fill his veins. His head throbbed with the need to bleed this brash young fighter, to feel the flesh and bone parting beneath his clawed touch. But William resisted, mentally gritting his teeth to keep his transformation at bay.

Kill him, the dark whisper of his desire commanded, destroy him!

No, not yet, he pushed back, not until I’ve broken him like he breaks others.

But something in the back of William’s mind was nagging him.

His eyes, the revenant had seen Jensen’s eyes up close when the young knight had charged him. Those dagger-like slits had shown him much more than the mere hatred that could be conjured up by making the knight a laughingstock. No, there was definitely more to it than that. Sure there was the pain of wounded pride, but there was also a maddening rage and a sorrowful pain that nearly defied explanation.

William, who had been forced into his existence as a revenant, who had been forced to become a living engine of death, had been forced to watch his wife die at the order of the man he had no choice but to obey, knew that pain.

Still bobbing in time with the bear’s piano music, William turned back to Jensen.

But what if he’s broken already?

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen’s feet moved in a rhythm that deadened his nerves as he moved in time with the bear’s insane piano beat. He watched as the Revenant moved with the grace of a noble, twirling him low and bringing him back. Every attempt to counter his dance was met with yet another dance move from a ballroom floor.

He was getting really annoyed.

“Well if I have to dance can we up the tempo?” Jensen hollered to the bear. In response the fuzzy cowboy tipped his hat and began to play a more upbeat song. The midget stood up on the piano and began to do a small dance in time with the words to a familiar drinking song. Jensen sighed as he thought about what he would have to do, but soon with the new beat he moved in time feeling his limbs begin to grow lucid as he let the music infest his soul.

It didn’t take long before a quarter turn in allowed the immortal a chance to dive in low under the Revenant’s feet while holding his hand and pull up, effectively flipping the man over and onto the ground. Jensen rotated a few twirls back and moved in place to the beat as he waited for the beast to stand up.

“Not to bad,” he joked to the Revenant. Jensen’s body loosened up even more to his favorite fighting stance, Caeiporia as he let the beat echo in his ears. “Could get some place with moves like that. How did you practice them out of curiosity? With your father?” Jensen felt laughter bubble up within his stomach but he kept it down as he moved on William. “Did he teach you how to dance for all the pretty boys?”

The immortal’s foot moved out and behind him before he brought it forward in a vicious kick. His opponent dodged the attack easily but Jensen rolled on his heel bringing it back for a fierce roundhouse. Down the Revenant went landing upon the pink grass near the Unicorns where he grabbed his lower back and swiftly fought to his feet. Jensen glared at the man and gave him a smug look as he moved in place.

“This isn’t all you got to offer,” he muttered building up spit in his mouth and letting it out towards William’s face. He pulled his punch dagger out and shrugged to the beast. “You want to fight or dance, queer bait?”

[Revenant]

So much for that idea, William thought, wondering where the hell Jensen’s rhythmic fighting style had come from. Either the man had picked up some new moves since their earlier fight, or more likely, he hadn’t had the chance to use it amid the slaughterhouse’s swinging meat hooks and flying cutlery. Not that it would have done him much good in that arena, for the slaughterhouse had been far too closed in to allow the movement required for that particular style. But here, on the open dance floor, it was devastatingly effective.

“Seems like you talk about queers a lot,” William said, easily avoided the glob of spit Jensen sent his way by rolling to his side. From their earlier encounter, the revenant figured that Jensen would have been full-on immersed in his idiotic laughter by this point, but instead the young warrior was maintaining a mask of deadly seriousness. It meant that William had gotten to him, and even if it was only a little crack in Jensen’s armor, j forcing the man to maintain an even keel might put him on unfamiliar ground.

But there was clarity of focus that came with that seriousness, a focus exemplified by the complex rhythmic fighting style Jensen now employed. And for William, who, as a living weapon, hadn’t needed to train in the finer elements of hand-to-hand combat, it had already proven more than he could handle.

Not if you change, his urges reminded, coaxing him to let his molten power flow freely. Once you transform you’ll be more than a match for that dancing prick arrogant prick. It was a tempting idea, and while it was what he wanted to do, William maintained a mental hold on his determination to play this out his way.

Not that the choice was entirely up to him.

Surges of power, unconsciously called forth in his excitement, were slipping through the revenant’s mental barriers. He could already feel the familiar sting of his superheated blood roiling through his veins. At this point the only external indication would be the crisscrossing ripples flowing over his skin, like cracks in dry mud. But soon the ripples would turn to streams and then pools, covering his body with demonic char. He would have to act soon if he wanted to break Jensen without letting his demon free.

“Maybe there’s a reason you think about man-love so much,” William taunted as he rolled back to his feet, only to jump back in avoidance of Jensen’s first lazy swing. “Can’t quite get up the courage to come out of the closet, eh?”

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen rolled his eyes as the taunt flowed through his ears and processed in his brain. The Revenant wasn’t playing with him, just William who honestly thought he stood a chance against the immortal in one on one combat. He continued to keep his beat going as he rolled downwards in a diagonal coming up in a sweep that tripped the demon host onto his back.

When he was back on his feet the knight looked to William, watching him quickly get back to a verticle base and prepare for the next few attacks. Jensen sighed moving in with complex cartwheels all designed to keep his speed and momentum. When the immortal was in range he placed his hands behind his head and flipped up flash kicking his opponent in the face. Rolling backwards he was back onto his feet where he danced in place before he slowed himself down, noting that William was taking longer to get up.

“You don’t have a prayer against me,” Jensen said, his voice an even keel. “I can’t find any sport picking on you like this, not after what I know you can do.” He shuffled around William, moving with a spring in his step as he rotated his hand in concentric circles. He dove in and did a few fast punches ending with a twirl and drop kicking William’s shin so he fell face first into the ground.

“Laughable.” Jensen glared down at William before he dropped the beat all at once, disappointment etching his face. Bored with William he looked around the arena some more noticing that once he left the stage a group of fairies had stepped in, dancing around the stage with a grace otherworldly as their wings fluttered in time to the music.

Dancing Fairies.

Jensen turned back to William and shook his head in a sad manner. The human really went all out to piss off the immortal, and he succeeded in that. Now he was face first in the pink grass eating the unicorn droppings through his gritting teeth. That part Jensen didn’t understand. What was his motive for this if he wasn’t going to try and crush Jensen in his demon form? It wracked his brain and at last he found one simple reason for all of it.

Laughter.

Laughter built up within the man‘s mind, laughter Jensen knew tormented William. Laughter that didn’t just annoy the man, but broke him once before. This wasn’t a revenge to say he was superior, the Revenant already knew that meant nothing to the immortal. He was trying to break Jensen, just like he had done to him.

He let it all out at once, all the pent up frustration he felt at this stupid charade to mock him. He suddenly clapped wildly, cheering and whooping William’s name as he pointed to him and gave him a heartfelt look as he clasped his hands over his chest in affection. Then he started laughing like a jackass, each note wild and free as he let it infest his soul and boil his blood.

“Well played,” Jensen cried. “I am in awe of your commitment to madness! So get up, get up and let him play!” Jensen ordered as he began to shuffle in place. His laughter continued on as he looked to William. “You think you can break my spirit with rainbow farts and unicorns and men humping in the horizon? Midgets and bears and dancing fairies?” Jensen slapped his knee as he continued to pick up tempo to match his racing heart.

“Come dance with me, you fool!” Jensen called for him, holding out his hands before bringing them down and returning with two throwing daggers held in the ready position. “I’ll show you my soul is made of sterner stuff than this stunt!” he said in a deep serious tone, venom dripping each word before his lips curled back into a smile and he began laughing again.

[Revenant]

Each shrill pierce of Jensen’s laughter scraped across his brain like fingernails on a chalkboard. This wasn’t the laughter of pure, joyful mirth but the laughter of frenetic madness. It was the type of laughter that drove William half-mad with the desire to silence it..

“Fine, I’ll give you what you want,” the revenant coughed, rising to his feet yet again. He brought his shoulders back in a stretch and rolled his head around slowly, enjoying the release of tension with each popping vertebrae. His back and shoulders pulsed from the numerous falls he had already taken, and his midsection and leg ached from Jensen’s light workout. But such minor aches were nothing compared to what William unleashed upon himself.

“Play him off,” he snarled in a voice that sounded like chunks of coal grating together. The bear/midget duo nodded in response and began a slow, mournful love song for Jensen.

“You even setup code phrases,” Jensen laughed hysterically, turning to watch the husky midget wiggle seductively for him, “you really need to get ou…”

Jensen’s taunt was interrupted by the impact of William’s fist with his jaw. It wasn’t the best William could do, but even without the power of his full transformation it was enough to knock the Knight off-balance. Taken by surprise, Jensen failed to move around the second punch, a cross-hook to the gut, a bit more forceful than the first as William’s demonic power swelled the revenant’s strength. By the third punch Jensen’s fighting instinct kicked in and William’s forward jab only lightly connected with the side of his jaw. But even that tiny, grazing strike was enhanced by the splintered shards of bone worming out of William’s skin, twisting together to cover the revenant’s hands with blackened claws. Jensen stumbled back again, cross-legged, only to fall heavily when his heel connected with one of the spinning faeries littering the dance floor.

The faeries scattered as the giant fell into their midst, but only to preserve themselves from a crushing demise. Within seconds they had clustered around the fallen Knight, pointing and roaring with shrill, high-pitched laughter before returning to their whirling dance. William stood above Jensen as well, though there was no jovial laughter in the burning coals that were his eyes. Every inch of his skin was blistered and cracked, flaking ash surrounding him as his power burned him alive from inside out. His entire body screamed in protest as his body swelled with molten power and burned like a blazing furnace. Now twice as strong as a normal man, William brought the back of his hand up to wipe the filth off him.

“You dance like shit.”

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen swatted away the dancing fairies as he rolled his feet in a circle back to a vertical base. He looked at the Revenant in his newly transformed state and he began to chuckle in a dark inviting way. He clapped a little more while regaining his momentum in his dance step as he moved in place. Subconsciously a hand lifted to wipe the spit built up outside his mouth that flew out when the beast punched him, but pain rang down his nerves. He gingerly touched again, feeling more shooting pains run along his jaw line. He shook it away before grinning wildly, feeling the tension build up in his jaw as he laughed.

“You look like shit,” Jensen replied moving in place. “You smell like shit too.” He whiffed the air and waved his right hand in front of his face showing disgust as he backed away slowly off to the corner. The Revenant matched his moves, not giving him any escape routes as his coal like eyes glared daggers into his chest. He eyed the Unicorns off to the side and he came up with a plan.

“Enough with the high school taunts and insults,” The immortal yawned as he stretched his body out, feeling his back pop in several locations. “Shall we continue where we left off?” Jensen mused as he offered his hand to the beast bowing low like a noble at a dance. The Revenant gave him an offended look before coming with a bulky back hand. Jensen stepped backwards and laughed, infuriating the beast as he moved in with another swipe. Again Jensen dodged the attack by moving backwards, the beasts fist only killing one of the dancing fairies.

“Temper temper!” Jensen clucked his tongue and wagged his finger. The beast was mere inches from Jensen’s face and he fell back tossing a fairy in the way to slow the momentum of his aggressor. William barreled through the sprite trampling it, but the effect the Immortal was looking for paid off.

He took two quick steps back and then charged forward flipping forwards touching the ground with his hands and splitting his legs in the air. With the momentum he had left he rotated his hands on the ground and spun his legs kicking William repeatedly in the face over and over as he moved forward using his hands. Exhaustion built up within his muscles but he kept laughing all the same as his kicks continued to knock the Revenant silly. When he had run out of momentum Jensen rolled his body to one knee and then rolled forwards to the side of William.

With all the speed the knight could muster he sprinted to the edge of dance floor and jumped for all he was worth aiming for one of the unicorns backs. He laughed hysterically through his flight, feeling the rush of adrenaline while his head felt fuzzy from the attack. Then his laughter turned to pain as he landed upon the unicorn, but smashed his immortal lineage on the mythical creatures spine.

“Onwards…” he squeaked rather pathetically as the Unicorn whinnied and stomped its feet before charging towards the elves playing crocket. He let out a tired laugh, building it up in his lungs before he began to laugh wildly.

“PLAY ME OFF, BEAR!” he shouted while laughing, and with a nod from the cowboy bear pianist he began to play a quick chase melody.

[Revenant]

“Grah,” William spat, forcing the world to stop spinning so wildly around him. Jensen’s spinning kick had surprisingly little force behind it, a consequence of being such an unorthodox move. But what it strange kicking attack had done was highly disorient the revenant, and by the time he could see straight Jensen had mounted one of the arena unicorns and was riding towards the edge of the rainbow.

“Get back here and die like a man, you coward,” William roared at the Knight’s fleeing backside, only to be greeted with an upraised middle finger.

“No,” William swore under his breath, “you’re the one who’s fucked little man.”

Looking the other direction, William realized that the other end of the rainbow was far closer to the dance floor. Unfortunately, the death of their companions had riled the faeries up and they now surrounded the revenant, shaking their fists and him indignantly and blocking his exit.

“You’re not even real,” William growled in exasperation, giving the gathered crowd a vicious kick that knocked half a dozen faeries down and scattered the rest. Nothing in this battle was going correctly. Sure, Jensen had been pissed off at the change of venue, but while that was good for a laugh it had failed to serve his purpose in undermining the other warrior’s mental stability.

Not that there’s much stability to there in the first place, he thought, watching Jensen use his unicorn steed to bowl his way through the crowd of elves.

“Alright then,” William screamed, hoping to get Jensen’s attention, “let’s play this your way.”

“But,” he followed up low enough that only he could hear, “we’re playing by my rules.”

It was a short run to get to the edge of the rainbow bridge, and though the ascent looked steep, it was a deceptively easy climb. He could see Jensen, still atop his unicorn, circling the other end of the rainbow, waiting for William to finish.

“Oh, hello there,” one of the copulating men from the top of the bridge greeted William with a happy smile. Snarling, the revenant clamped his iron hard bone gauntlets across the man’s windpipe and squeezed, tossing the body aside once he heard a pop.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the other man cried out, seeing his lover plummeting like a rag doll. The only response he received was a a solid kick to the chest that sent him sailing into the ether as well.

“Come on then,” William roared his challenge, standing alone atop the rainbow. “You’re the one with the rainbow battle fetish, so quit wasting my time.”

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen howled with glee as he pulled upon the mane of his makeshift ride. It whinnied again and reared up, its hooves beating into the air knocking over several elves as they crashed upon the floor screaming as blood sprayed the floor.

“Take that you grubbing bush lickers!” Jensen sang as he reared his mount under his control and trotting it towards the edge of the rainbow bridge. Looking upwards he saw the Revenant toss the two humping lovers to their deaths and he let out a wild howl of joy.

“Losing our edge a wee bit?” Jensen joked as he urged his mount onwards needing no prompting from his foe to do so. Wind passed through his hair as his heart raced in time with the clashing of the hooves upon the multi-colored ethereal bridge. What powers may be and what ever magic one believed in, Jensen felt silly riding a unicorn into battle atop a rainbow. He was silently thankful at least a demon was waiting at the top.

His eyes narrowed on William, his chuckle echoing in the vastly growing gap between the floor below. The demon host was a nuisance and he embarrassed Jensen at his own game. For this the knight would show him no quarter as his laughter bubbled out to an even higher pitch. His hand reached downwards and pulled out a throwing glaive tossing it forwards.

Easily the talon like claws of the Revenant knocked it aside as he bent low and motioned for the immortal to bring it to him. Only to kind to oblige Jensen stood a little upon his unicorn, digging his heels into the side as he let his laughter out like a twisted song. Heeding it’s riders will to cause mayhem the unicorn obeyed by pounding the rainbow harder, moving faster and swifter than before. He heard a howling in the wind build up in his ears and he screamed for blood in a joyous pitch as his hands reached down and grabbed the horn of the unicorn.

Pushing down with all his might it angled it right at William’s chest where the creatures only weapon would impale him and knock him off into the abyss. The immortal felt the creature’s fear at death, despite it being a fake apparition of the citadel and its fear only made him laugh. He looked to William, and as he saw his face glare at him he felt his mind loosen as he gave into his determination to make William break again.

“Laugh with me, William!” Jensen screamed to him. “Laugh with me! Cave into your commitment to madness! Let it all out in a bountiful cry of mirth! Scream your lungs out for me!” He let his own infectious madness take control of his mind as he hit a nirvana of insanity feeling every nerve in his body tense up as he was within striking distance. His blood pounded behind his ears and eyes as everything happened in stop motion.

“Say goodbye to the world, William,” Jensen sang. “Scream your lungs out for me! Then wait for my laughter!”

[Revenant]

“Come on,” William let out a low growl, slight enough that the idiot’s screaming would drown it out, “come to me you bastard.”

The revenant’s eyes flicked around the battle chamber, sparing three precious seconds from watching his approaching opponent to take stock on what the current state of the room was. Crocket elves lay scattered and wounded by Jensen’s furious charge, the remaining score of fairies no longer swayed in the arms of their twirling dance, the unicorns ran and bucked like they were nothing more than primitive, unbroken stallions, and in the center of the madness a cowboy bear and a finely dressed midget continued their serenade, an offering of discordant music to add the final touches of chaos to the scene.

Thayne damn them all to the pyre, William snarled inside his head. He had come to the Citadel knowing of Jensen’s predilection of riling people up and had intended to use the utter ridiculousness in the chamber to turn the tables on the young knight. He wanted to torment the man to the point that Jensen would scream with the same boiling cauldron of frustration that bubbled in William’s own breast. He had intended to bring the man low.

What he had actually accomplished, however, was nothing but this pathetic charade of a freak show. He had tried to play the mad man’s game and had, he was forced to admit, failed miserably. It just wasn’t who he was. Breaking someone down mentally took a creative streak that he just didn’t possess. He was a creature, a force, for destruction, not creation. He was created to break people down physically, not mentally, and should never have tried to stray from his own path. This misformed abortion of a plan tired him, and he no longer cared to play.

As with the instruction to the piano bear, William had requested several coded commands for the chamber’s environment. He had not clambered to the top of the stupid rainbow bridge to merely taunt Jensen into combat, nor to tickle the Knight’s whimsy. No, he had a very specific purpose for luring Jensen to this spot and as the Knight’s frenzied charge brought his unicorn to within an arm’s length, William enacted that purpose.

“It’s raining men,” he hissed, the words straining to escape from his jagged maw. It was a silly phrase, one that he had thought witty when he coded it, but it served its purpose. As soon as the last of the words left his lips, the rainbow bridge disappeared and it’s occupants, Jensen, the unicorn and himself, began their all too brief trip to the dance floor far below.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Jensen heard the words flow from the demons mouth and the uncharacteristic taunt made his eyes tear up in mirth. Just as the unicorn was about to impale the demon it let out a terrible wail of terror and Jensen’s body flipped end over end as all aboard the rainbow went for a short ride.

The immortal let out a howl of excitement for the free fall, wind blowing through his hair as he turned in the tangled mess to look up at the Revenant. He had short scant seconds to make his point before all life would end for him. His eyes narrowed at this thought. Life would end in this stupid room, and then he would resurrect and start all over again. His life once again would begin, and he would still be broken and battered.

“You wanted so hard to break me,” Jensen shouted to the other man. “What an idiotic concept!”

His back let off a spasm of agony as he fell through the dance floor, shards of splinters flying into the heavens like a tiny parade. He hit the pink grass underneath which offered no cushion and his body felt sore and torn. His right arm had been broken in the fall and his left leg wouldn’t move even as he willed it.

The next to hit the stage was the Unicorn, the beasts huge mass slamming into Jensen and squashing his body squeezing all his air out in one go. It whinnied painfully as it stomped and broke free from the crater it had made and ran to join its other brothers and sisters.

He didn’t know what happened to the Revenant, but pained breaths from both warriors told Jensen he had at least landed. The cowboy bear played a soft sonnet, as the midget stood to attention and sang a soothing ballad to fallen warriors. The music filled the air like a serene scene in a theatre production.

The rainbow was gone, the unicorns were stampeding towards the bloodied and broken elves as the dancing fairies fluttered in the sky thinking up curses for the demon host who killed their members. Some of the fairies stayed on the stage, cradling the fallen sprites in their hands, screaming to uncaring gods as they sobbed into the chest of their dead comrades. A few screams of alarm erupted from the crochet arena as the Unicorns smashed through the elves to escape, impaling some on their horns dragging their limp bodies away. On the pink grass near the stage the two manly lovers flexed their fingers towards the other in a last desperate attempt to be together before they died, whispering words of false promises about how everything would be okay.

The chaos was a symphony to the immortal. He had taken this nightmare and made it into his own twisted dream. He broke those things around him for he himself was broken long ago. He didn’t care about making friends for friends would die. He didn’t care about victories because victories would come and go as sure as the passing time. The only thing that lasted in this stupid world was a broken spirit. A broken spirit would never fade, not even to the crucibles of time.

Painfully Jensen filled his lungs with air one more time. He let his body heave in and out as blood gurgled in his throat. The knight turned his head and spat the blood all over the ground, his mucus adding to the texture of the liquid as he painfully looked back at the sky above. He didn’t know where William was, and he didn’t really care to either.

The only thing that mattered now to Jensen was if the Revenant was close enough to hear him. He took a few more pained breaths into his lungs, filling them with air as he struggled to prop himself up just a fraction forwards. He coughed up a bit more blood and let fresh wind insert his body again.

“Hey…” Jensen said weakly as he called out to the sky. His brain felt woozy as the immortal’s vision turned fuzzy. “Hey listen, demon!” He felt a rush of vertigo and suppressed the urge to vomit. “There is an old saying in the world,” He began to chuckle as he thought to it. “He who laughs last, lasts loudest! You didn’t break me, you stupid demon! You’ll never break me! You here me? You cannot break what‘s already broken!”

Then Jensen let out all his air as he collapsed back to the grass, his laughter echoing loudly into the air as he let out all his energy in his body. His laughter rattled the midget’s singing, throwing it off key causing the bear to play off key. His laughter drowned out the screams of the elves and broke through the sobbing of the fairies.

He laughed and laughed, spiteful laughter that was more forced than anything else. He laughed so it would burn into the Revenant’s mind and sift through his soul until it stuck within him forever. Then the Revenant would know deep inside what it meant to be broken, just like Jensen was.

He laughed loudly until it softly faded into a deep giggle, growing into a soft chuckle before Jensen died with a smile on his bloodied lips.

[Revenant]

The fall lasted only three seconds and yet, at the same time, lasted an eternity. Soul bound to the very essence of destruction, William realized that he should have savored the final plunging moments. But there was no joy, so savoring, no enjoyment in this. This was nothing more than a pitiful ending to a pitiful fight between two pitiful combatants.

And frankly, he was tired of it all.

The revenant made no sound as his body impacted with the battle chamber’s studiously polished dance floor. There was no defiant last words, no snarling admissions of hatred, failure, or regret. There wasn’t even a scream of pain to accompany the spine shattering crack of his body breaking through the wood to bounce off the hard-packed earth below. The only thing to escape from William’s cracked lips as he lay in his splintered crater was a single mute sigh of resignation.

He tried to comfort the screaming, twisted pain of his broken body with the knowledge that this ridiculous farce was finally at an end. There was no part of him that didn’t holler in protest at even the slightest thought of moving. Nerve impulses fired like lightning throughout his body, brining torrents of pain washing over him with every dwindling beat of his molten core.

Finished, even his thoughts could only convey weak, broken messages through the tidal wash of pain that flowed through him. It’s over.

And then, impossibly, the twittering fool managed to find the strength to draw one last breath. Body shattered by the fall and crushed by the weighty bulk of his unicorn steed, the young Knight of the Apocalypse still managed to let out one … final … taunting … laugh.

It was a horrible, discordant thing, tortured and scarred by emotional pain. It was the laughter of a man who had not merely been broken, but whose very soul had been cracked and ground to dust under the grindstone of his despair. It was a sound that should have been maddening to hear.

But William didn’t care. He didn’t hear the laughter, didn’t understand the heart-tearing pain that rode with the sound.

William was already gone.

[Duffy]

Revenant

Story - 18/30

Character - 17/30

Writing - 18/30

Wild Card - 7

Total: 60/100

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Enigmatic Immortal

Story - 17/30

Character - 18/30

Writing - 16/30

Wild Card - 5/10

Total: 57/100

Revenants wins, gaining 1313xp and 150 gold.

Enigmatic Immortal gains 375xp and 25 gold.


knaveofspades as the best (and only) contributor receives 50 xp and 75 gold.

[Taskmienster]

Exp and GP is adddddeeedddd!!!!

Rev, you're level 2 now! Congrats!