Genesis [malexmale]

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

The next battle was the worst.

The injuries were numerous, the losses catastrophic, and we were dwindling down to our last few fighters. Thankfully, it hadn't been the camp that was attacked this time, but a battle that was launched in the field just near our former home, which was nothing but a pile of rubble overgrown with flora and now home to stray animals, all of whom fled as the battle had begun.

The day was cold, bitterly so. In the air hung a thick fog that weaved through the tall grasses, became a blanket for the death as they lay cold and motionless upon the ground, the blood so thick it sloshed about my boots as I walked toward Satanika, who was also streaked with blood, sweat, and filth. She cradled an injured arm, blood oozing from a gash in her brow. She looked to me, eyes as dead as the ones staring up at us from the ground, yet her body moved to face me.

"Geara took the remaining back to the camp," she said hollowly, and her eyes swept the foggy battlefield. Overhead, lightning flashed at the edges of thick black storm clouds. Thunder growled, then abruptly clapped with a roar that rang in my ears before it faded. The stench of smoke and blood riddled the air that smelled like coming rain, and the faintest hint of pinewood from the forest beyond.

"How are the others?" I asked, though, Satanika's face said everything. She stared at me.

"Death is injured severely. Geara is struggling to heal the damage. Alexion and Uranus managed to keep the final wave at bay while the rest could escape, but both are injured. Ra, too, is harmed, but not much. He grabbed the last of the soldiers and fled. We are the only ones left here," she explained, her words bitter logic spoken on a numb tongue. I inclined my head to her, and reached out to lay a hand upon her shoulder and she twitched, as if the touch frightened her, so I retracted my palm.

"Go forth unto the camp. I will fetch our dead and return them to the camp for proper ceremony," I told her. She nodded numbly, then vanished without a word. I watched her go, the place where she had been standing splattered with blood. I lifted my eyes to scan the battlefield until I spotted something in the fog, a massive dark shadow and a prickling on the back of my neck confirmed who it was.

I came forth, emerging from the fog and watching the creature come into focus. Xiphrus stood in the battlefield, dressed in his leather uniform and about his neck hung a strangely out of place delicate red ruby necklace that glinted as a bolt of lightning cut the sky apart and gave way to a massive roar of thunder that rang in my ears. Xiphrus's icy blue eyes locked upon me, his expression rigid with anger, body tense and prepared for murder.

"You could've stopped this," Xiphrus seethed. His words hung thick in the air, suffocating. I swallowed briefly.

"Yes," I said after a moment. There was a hum in the air, power erupting so harshly from the ether that it vibrated the fog, distorted our images. Another clap of thunder shook the ground.

"You can still save yourself, still save everything you've ruined," Xiphrus snarled, clenching his fists and baring his fangs at me, "Just kneel to him, Joxeia. He will forgive you, even though I never will." His words were finished by a roar of thunder that broke the sky and gave way to a wash of rain that spilled down, as if the skies were sobbing heavily. I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling Xiphrus's words echo back to him inside me before I looked once more upon his face, now distorted by rage and evil.

"I kneel to no one. I ask not for your forgiveness, brother. I am done begging. The solution to this war is not kneeling at the feet of a monster. I am not weak. I am not like you," I answered. Though my voice was calm, void of emotion, it showed well in the resounding booms of thunder, the downpour of rain.