Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

There were leftover axes from the other monster; the half-demon picked two up. 

"Now that I've become this. I have to kill you and rid this world of this memory." Her voice warped and now flowed broken: but her giggles still came out like it was no big deal. She stopped making sense a long time ago. But somehow I could understand her. This curse was rather convenient.

She screeched so hard, that my ears ringed. Then came for me at blinding speeds. It was fast but not as fast as the emperor. Blocking was out of the question, so I dodged the first axe but the second one dug a deep wound on my left shoulder. I was surprised that my arm was still attached. 

"AHH!" With a scream, I fell on the ground a few steps back.

"Daarc!"

Alisa screamed. But now the monster had her eyes on the little girl. My vision was failing. I was about to lose consciousness again. But I didn't want to. I wanted to keep fighting. 

If I lost my sense now then I would regret it forever.

"Arise!" The damn demon commanded and an undead warped to existence. It almost looked humane, and yet, like a demon or perhaps a goblin?

"That's-" The old man stuttered for a second. "That's an abnormal." His voice was awfully stale. 

The half-demon pointed. "Deal with them." The abnormal went straight for Gorgan and the geezer. 

The old man and Gorgan were pretty much pinned with the monster.

I was leaking and yet I couldn't move. I was paralyzed just like the emperor. And so were Jowy and Lianne. This was bad.

The demon grinned and chuckled disgustingly and glared at Alisa.

"Hey! Your beef is with me! Leave her out of it!"

She went for Alisa; Alisa remained frozen stiff in fear.

"I never thought you'd side with the gods… But, who'd have thought you'd bring one here of all places…" The half-demon screeched.

"A god?" My lips moved. My body didn't.

I couldn't move, even when I channeled my magic, nothing happened. She was about to hit her with the axe and I had to watch that. 

Is there nothing I can do? Am I that powerless?

I tried one last time. I channeled mana to my whole body. My body became hot and nothing happened. 

"Damn it!" Jowy screamed and wiggled around. Lianne squirmed too but it was to no avail.

Damn it!

"Daarc." Alisa's eyes glimmered as she looked at me.

It reminded me of my own sister. She looked just like that when I used to snap. I already lost her I couldn't lose this girl too. Besides, Brenda told me to protect Alisa. 

But how am I supposed to? I used all my magic and now I can't even focus. I can't get out! I can't! 

Tears welled but they didn't flow. The demon had gotten quite close to Alisa and now Alisa was on the floor. It chopped off one of Alisa's fingers and Alisa screamed. 

It hurt. "STOP IT" My vocal cords felt like they'd tear.

If I let this happen, then I'll regret it for the rest of my life. If I don't do this now I'll regret it for as long as I'll live. If I don't do this now it would be worse than dying. I won't see another death!

I let loose all my remaining magic on my body. There wasn't much but it was enough. I poured every ounce of mana. My body became so hot that my blood boiled. I coughed up blood and my whole body almost exploded. But it gave me new strength. I didn't know how long it'd last but I had a shot at changing destiny. 

A faint glow of light escaped my skin. It was almost like a tongue of fire: kind of like that night when that liongator attacked us. 

With my newfound strength I severed the strings of fate and escaped the paralysis, but my blood had boiled too much and now I was barely able to move. 

If it came to this then what was the point? Move! Move! If you don't want history to repeat itself, then move!

With willpower alone, I took a step. All this time the monster was savoring its victory over Alisa and didn't kill her yet. It had cut off three of her fingers one by one and she screamed in pain. But I didn't stop.

I took another step and shoved my sword in her back coated with my mana; it went right through. The half-demon was too conceited to think that nobody could break free of her control. Did she already forget about the emperor?

"YAAA!" That bitch screamed, my ears bled and she cut of my left arm completely. The arm fell on the ground and I stood there in shock for a good two seconds. It hurt so much that I thought I'd die. 

I was going to die one day anyway. 

"Arghh!" I screamed but I kept shoving the sword down. It didn't take long but the bitch vaporized and I fell on my knees. The sword fell on the ground with a clang.

I coughed up some more blood. Everything was red; both the world and me. With one hand I covered my now severed arm and tried to get back up to see Alisa but I couldn't move. My body had given up. 

"Daarc! Hang in there!" The old man screamed as he pulled out the Mystic blade out of the abnormal's corpse. Ironically Gorgan was piercing the abnormal with his spear too. I guess those two made a good combination. 

Too late old man.

I wanted to chuckle but threw up blood instead.

The amphitheater was free from people. They were either dead or had gotten out. I didn't care either way.

"Damn it Daarc!" Jowy said.

Why are you concerned? 

Was he trying to be funny? If so, then it was not funny. I didn't give a damn about his reasons, but he betrayed me and that really hurt.

"Tell-me… one thing J-Jowy… why didn't you use magic then?" My mind was going blank. I had to keep it focused. My legs shook and I was about to fall at any moment. Even being on my knees wasn't helping.

"If I had then things wouldn't have worked this way. I'm evil you see. I knew everything and yet… and yet…"

"I-If that's the… case then why… are you c-cr-crying?"

He really was crying. The same Jowy whom I thought betrayed me, was crying. 

But In a split second everyone's faces warped. 

There was something behind me.

"Argh!" All of a sudden, I was stabbed from behind through the heart. 

I was too weak to even scream. "It hurts…" 

Who said that? Me?

"You didn't think that would be enough to kill me did you." The half-demon was yet to die. She was missing an arm and a leg and half of her face, yet she was still alive; if that was living. "Wh-what are you doing!" She was surprised when she saw my tenacity.

I used my right arm and had grabbed her: who cared about blood loss at this point, anyway? 

I channeled my magic to my arm and I was probably going to lose it too for doing so but I didn't care. She trembled.

"Old man, if you will. Shove that sword through me," I said.

I was going to die anyway, either from blood loss or from overuse of magic. Probably both. Even my heart didn't beat anymore. 

What a day.

"But Daarc-"

"Hurry! You and I both know…."

He came close to me, pointed his blade, and covered it with magic. The bitch behind me was only supposed to be hurt by holy or water magic; in that case, there was only one option. My blood still contained my magic, and I'm sure the old man knew that.

"Farewell," he mumbled before piercing me through and striking the bitch behind me. She was finally crumbling for good.

"Angh!" I clenched my teeth and contained myself. It was painful. I was going to die.

"Don't think it's over just yet. Our lord is so strong that you can't even imagine!"

"I'm pretty sure I can but that's not a concern for you anymore." My voice didn't shiver anymore. I'd accepted my fate.

"Ha hah ahahah!" She laughed and soon fully turned to ash. Even as she crumbled she whispered. "I'm glad you… made it Daarc. Thank you… never thought this day would come." I couldn't believe my ears. Was this the same demon who just did all of this? Just who were these demons? At the last moment, the voice felt so nostalgic….

Lianne had tears in her eyes but she didn't say anything. Alisa had gotten up and she was crying. Gorgan didn't look at me. He probably couldn't bear to see me that way. I didn't want to see his back before going out though. 

I was barely alive, but not for long. This was it and I could feel it. My heart had stopped beating and my once boiling blood had gone cold. My arm didn't hurt anymore and I couldn't breathe. My sight had almost disappeared and my hearing got distant as well.

This really was a weird curse if nothing.

Alisa glowed. 

"So you were a God, like she said?" It was my voice yet, it didn't feel like mine.

"Yes. The demigod of Ice to be specific. But I can't produce snow let alone ice. What an irony… right?"

"I can see why you apologized now…"

"I told you it was my fault. That monster came to get me but when it saw you, his rage took over and you know the rest."

I tried to chuckle and threw up blood. I coughed. How was it that my body still functioned? 

No wonder this was called a grand curse…

My body finally crumbled and I fell on the ground. It didn't hurt. I wanted to sleep. It would be a long sleep and I might never wake up.

"Can't we do anything?" Someone was crying.

"It's too late." It was probably the geezer's voice, but I couldn't differentiate anymore.

Before my head fell on the ground and my eyes closed, I saw Biteria jumping towards me; a set of footsteps came my way as well. 

You little devil. Where were you?

"Fare-well… everyone.." I fell asleep one last time or so I thought….