"The Worst Enemy Lies Within"
All was still in the night as the moons rained silver from above, showering the lush sea of green in brilliance. The winds whispered through the grass, it's gentle voice rousing the trees to life, their branches showering leaves of viridian hue upon the skies...
"Enough of this!! Show yourself, you coward!!"
The impatient cry sounded through the silvery night, breaking the silence and shattering the peace.
"You now I am here Aura of Chaos, your fury blinds you..."
Declared a man shrouded in white, his flowing robes studded with steel and adorned with symbols of power and authority. His cold, gray eyes favored the servant of chaos with scorn, his rough hands gripping his staff so tightly his knuckles turned pale. He stood proudly, high atop the peak of an ancient oak, it's bark charred, it's branches bare.
"...and it is that fury that will destroy you! Your boundless hatred will be your undoing, and the undoing of this very realm!!"
He declared to the heavens, thrusting an accusing finger at the loose cannon that once served the Light. A person in whom he once saw great promise, a person who wielded such power that their reckless nature would spell doom for all who knew them, leaving a trail of pain and sorrow wherever she goes.
"Damn you!! Damn you and your Order...!! I serve you no longer, I am free of you and the corrupt influence of your Gods!!"
Cried out a solitary woman, clad in fitted black leather stained with gore, her sapphire eyes gleaming with murderous rage, her silver hair stained with rusty crimson. At her feet lay the charred bodies of soulless beasts, their flesh black, their entrails shriveled in their remains. She spat upon them, wiping their tainted blood from her face and returning her burning gaze to the bane of her existence, A puppet of tyrannical "Gods" seeking to subjugate her to the will of the Light.
"You tricked me with false words of kindness, but in reality you don?t give a damn about me, you only care about having control over this power I wield...to you I'm nothing more than a weapon, an Object...!!"
Two shimmering silhouettes stood in the light of the moons, their eyes glaring with intent, their confrontation of wills reaching its peak.
"I care not for your power, Aura. I am concerned for the salvation of your very soul! I fear for the lives of all the people you put in danger by your own selfish pursuit!"
He spat, thrusting the butt of his staff into the cracked bark, splintering wood debris crackling into the air.
"You...You hypocrite!! I'm sick of you and your maze of moral relativism! I'm going to put a stop to this right now, even if I have to kill you to do it!!"
Her rage swelled within her, manifesting tangibly in the air as a paling of force flowed from her, an invisible wave crashing over the grassy knoll, sending ripples in the viridian sea. Roaring in fury as she thrust her arms at her sides, the radiating waves intensifying, a great radial gust of wind whirling across the field. In her eyes burned supernatural fire, in her palms burned bloody glyphs carved in her flesh, the air becoming thick with heat, swirling flames forming at her fingers, pulsing with malignant intent.
Despite this display of strength, the servant of the light could only regard her with pity.
"You are your own worst enemy, Aura. Your anger will be your undoing, and along that path will lie the bodies of a thousand innocents, all sacrificed for your selfish desires. It has often been said that the worst enemy comes from within, and in your case this could not ring more true!"
"What garbage are you spewing from your mouth this time you old fool? Philosophy won't save you this time, you've tormented me long enough!!"
She hissed as crimson ether gathered in her hands, transforming, gaining strength. Forcing her palms together, she fuses the powers into one, their trailing energies embracing one another, roaring to life in glorious brilliance, the air alight with shining embers, the grass blackened, the air rippling with intense heat.
"The power you wield is as chaotic as the nature of your soul...hear this, this very power will consume you!!"
Laughter pierced the night as the sphere of flames in her hand grew in intensity, shifting color from deep crimson to radiant golden light, shining like a beacon and showering all in it?s brilliance.
"Nonsense! I AM in control...I AM free from predestination!!!"
She pushed her limits, putting all of her spirit into this final strike at the heart of darkness...but what was this creeping pain, this growing sensation of discomfort, as if her blood was on fire? Torrents of pain wracked her body, seeming to come as if from nowhere, intense, unbearable! The golden sphere of chaos at her fingers died, it's fading trails hissing out of existence. Aura clenched her teeth, her breath hissing as she gripped her body, writhing in agony.
"What..what have you done to?what the hell is this?!?"
Azalak of the Divine Light fearlessly approached her, his pace measured, deliberate.
"I have done nothing. It is your own tortured soul that is to blame! It consumes you from within, can you not feel it?! Repent and your sins shall be forgiven! I can save you from yourself!"
From within she could feel her power rising, yet she had not called upon it?!
"I'll Kill You..."
She growls, reaching for him, her arm tense, her hand a rigid claw.
"I'll Kill You..."
Her palm glows with crimson glyphs stained with blood, their energies pulsing through her veins...
"You DARE to aim such vile forces at me?"
"I'll Kill You..."
Her veins are alight with searing flames, the crimson glow tracing down her arm as if it were a conduit, pulsing, growing in intensity, the very muscles in her arm bulging grotesquely, her sleeve shredded by the malignant forces beyond her own control.
"I'll Kill You..."
"...AT ME?!?! HOW DARE YOU!!!"
The skin upon her arm blackens, cracking like fissures in the earth?s crust, the veins in her arms glowing like scorching lava, upon her forehead burned the stigmata of chaos, her eyes glowing embers of ruby, the conduits pulsing through her entire body.
"I'll Kill You...!"
Within her disfigured hand gathers forces of such unspeakable malignance that the earth itself shudders beneath it?s might, all is stained red, all is as if drenched in blood, the resonance of power cracks the ancient oaks, shattering their bark, the waves of sheer brutality like a tidal wave crashing upon a beachhead...!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!!"
The night was ripped asunder, replaced by darkness beyond twilight, brilliance beyond the dawn, deafening sound roaring sickeningly through the land, plowing deep into the earth, ancient trees uprooted and tossed about the brutal wave like confetti, and shredded as such, fragmenting into a thousand splinters as they were scorched into oblivion.
All was silent in the night as the moons rained crimson death from above, showering the barren wastes of scorched earth with gore. The winds howled through the shattered trees, it's horrid voice mourning the death of the giants as embers of gold rained from their branches.
Aura held her arm close to her body, her eyes wide with awe and terror of what she had just wrought. She shivered uncontrollably, in shock. Her sleeve was shredded, her bare arm ripe with mending scars and pulsing runes, the flesh of her arm made whole once more. Before her, there was nothing but death?
"What in God's name have I done...?"
Tears of self-loathing and remorse welled from her eyes and down her cheeks, her woeful scream echoing in the night as she buried her face into her hands. She wept. Cold, and alone. A slave to circumstance, a prisoner of fate.
"You truly are a pathetic creature...you hate and despise the world, you blame it for your misfortune, for the circumstances that made you what you are, yet all that you can blame is yourself. You loathe your own existence, you desire death, yet you cannot attain even that. So you kill, and kill, and kill again. If you cannot die, then you will drag the entire world down with you if it must be!"
"You're wrong!! Who are you to judge me? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!?! I...I'm not like that! I'm not a monster..."
She cries hopelessly,trying to convince herself with lies.
"I'm not a monster..."
Choked with tears of emotional agony, Aura can only gaze upon the tainted hands that wrought such a horrific deed, hands that were her very own.
Beyond the radius of death, Azalak looked upon her, his wrinkled brow heavy, his eyes reflecting her own sorrow.
"I pity you. I pray that you will find this ?peace? you search for, you wretch."
With those words he left her, alone, to the demons screaming within her own mind, To face with the evil within her own soul.
Truly, the worst enemy lies within.
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