My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth

"So, this is death?" I chuckled to myself.

Sure, I could laugh now, but how long could I truly last in this abyss without losing my mind? The question floated around my mind for a time, only serving to torment me. I tried to focus on my memories of the manor, my friends, my brother, and Katye.

Once again, my thoughts turned to torment me as I thought about all of the "what if". What if I had never pushed her away? What if I had tried? Throwing all of the magic and bloodlines junk to the side, I could tell there had been something between us. Yet I had been an a.s.s and ignored not only my own feelings, but hers as well. Sacrificing myself for her was certainly a good way to apologize, but the drawbacks were killer...

"Yep... I"m slowly going insane," I decided after my cruddy joke.

My mind shifted to my childhood as I remembered growing up with Gustavo. I was two years older than him which gave me a leg up when trying to keep up with him. I had always been a tomboy, so we spent our summers" palling around our grandparents" farm catching bugs to go fishing and exploring the woods. When we got older, we bonded over video games late into the night while screaming at the top of our lungs. In school, I helped him study while he kept away some of the bullies that tried to mess with me. We were inseparable and, even though we fought and cursed each other out, we always had each other"s back.

"How long are you going to wallow in self-pity?" a voice from the darkness asked.

"I knew that voice! It"s One, but aren"t I dead?" I thought.

"Death doesn"t stop Chaos, why should it stop you?" came his reply.

Suddenly, I was falling. I could feel my body once again, even if I couldn"t see it. Below me, I could see a black fire that were only visible thanks to the crimson accents that lined the edges of the flames. Before I knew it, I was standing with the pit of black flames, but they didn"t burn. No, they were bone-chillingly cold. It wasn"t a pleasant feeling as the chill seeped into my body and I felt a "rot" set in.

Pristine white bones began to rain down from above and I watched as the flames engulfed each piece. The bones pooled together in small groups of different sizes and when the final piece joined its group, the black flames would wrap around the bones as it formed the skeleton of a creature. Goblins, Hobgoblins, Taniwhas, Uktenas, and much more formed around me, all their empty eye sockets trained on me.

"Every life you have taken now bars your path of return. Fight them and live, surrender and die."

As soon as One"s voice died away, they all moved in unison. Eight goblins were the first to spring at me, clawing at me with their boney fingers. I punched away one and smacked another away, but the other six latched onto me. I could feel their tiny, skeletal fingers trying to pierce through my scales, but they weren"t strong enough to succeed. I ripped one of them off of me by its skull and used it to beat away some of the next way to launch themselves at me.

I had known that I had killed more than a few creatures in my three years at the manor, but it truly seemed endless as bones continuously poured from above. I was swarmed first by the goblins who couldn"t break through my natural defenses, but the sheer volume of them were restricting my movements as the gnaw and clawed at my body. Hobgoblins joined in as well, but they weren"t much stronger than their short counterparts. It was when the Taniwhas, a four-legged lizard with dragon-blood, that something finally pierced through my scales with it three-inch long fangs clamping down on my calves.

When the lesser creatures were destroyed, humanoids started forming. Naga, Redcaps, Cynocephalus, Harpies, Minotaurs, Orcs, Trolls, and more made up the next wave. The few punctures I received seemed to heal on their own, but more wounds quickly appeared as I fought the new creatures. Until the first ones, these were smarter, using tactics and even boney weapons. I was certainly overwhelmed, but every injure I took was healed seconds later.

At one point, I stole a bone spear from one of the Nagas as I killed it, but it was only useful to me a bludgeoning weapon since bones couldn"t bleed. I swung the spear with all my strength, breaking legs and arms, but only when I crushed the skulls would the creatures stop moving. My energy seemed limitless and, although I still felt the pain of every attack that landed on my body, I would heal almost instantly.

As the monsters were destroyed, larger ones took their place. Gargoyles, Cyclopes, Giants, and Orges... it was endless, but still I fought on. I didn"t understand what was going on, but I had placed all of my hope on One"s words. If I had a chance to live again, nothing would bar my path, especially those who I"ve killed once before.

It felt like months as I fought and crushed the never-ending skeletons, but as two large, familiar creatures formed, I knew I was almost done. Two, skeletal Piasa Birds formed and were my final opponents, one was nearly double the size of the other. My bone spear had long been destroyed, but I had replaced it with the femur of a Cyclopes. I stood between the two of them, breathing heavily, but a fire was still burning in my eyes.

The smaller one, about five times my height, was the first to move as it whipped its tail for me. I met the attack with a swing of my makeshift club and, despite negating a majority of the momentum, I was still pushed back a number of steps before I could steady myself. With none of my magic available to me, I knew this would be a hard-fought battle, but as the second, larger Piasa Bird turned towards, my confidence faltered. I could barely match up with the smaller one and now the second one was joining in.

It was not longer a fight at this point as both of the dragon birds swooped down on me. A beak bit down on my shoulder while a set of talons pierced through my gut and thigh then they pulled. I was ripped to pieces in a far more painful way than my "true" death. They flung my body parts to side and I felt the black, crimson flames wrap around each piece. Once again, I was a.s.saulted by the bone-chilling cold of the fire as my body slowly rea.s.sembled, much like how the skeletons would. The moment the freezing feeling faded, the Piasa Birds turned their attention back on me.

Again and again, they tore me into pieces only heal so that they could continue. One, two... ten... twenty... fifty times and it just kept going! It was maddening! Without my Chaos Lightning, there was no way I could have defeated these beasts, but no matter how hard I tried to summon it from within, nothing happened. I couldn"t help but despair at the seemingly hopeless situation as I was tore limb from limb repeatedly.

I just wanted to go back! I wanted to protect my friends and brother, stand by their sides as we saved the world! I wanted my chance at love! And the only thing standing between me and that future were two last beasts. I had killed hundreds, thousands, and I was going to let two bags-of-bones stop me?

"NOOOO!!!" I roared as I regained control of my body once again.

At last, I could see the parts of my body and not just feel them. The scales down my arms and legs were now a bone white and seemed sharper than my normal ones. My talons were black with a crimson gleam and my torso was covered in thick, bone-like scale that still allowed me full range of motion. A bone scale ran from each wrist to elbow and ankle to knee with a sharp point on the knees and elbows. The fingers of my wings looked like bone while the webbing was now black and seemed to drip black, crimson flames. Two bands of the black, crimson flames coiled around my forearms, crisscrossing several times.

One of the Piasa Birds charged over at me, whipping its tail to skewer me. I reached out slowly as I felt the strange new energy pulse through my body and blocked the tail with my palm. The black, crimson fire streamed out of my hand, hitting the tip of the tail. The pristine white bone turned black and rotten and when it hit my hand, it turned to ash. It screeched and tried to pull away, but I added my other hand and propelled the flames further. The whole creature was consumed as the flames in the pit were drawn into my body.

The other cried in rage as the dead feared nothing. I understood that now. What loss could ever compare to the loss of your future? What pain could be worse that what I have already gone through? The black, crimson flames turned on the last remaining Piasa Bird and it was reduced to a pile of ash. I was left alone in the void once again, but I did not fear it this time, I welcomed it. A door of solid white light appeared in front of me and I reached out, turning the handle.

I stepped into my mental plane, but now the barren wasteland had bones scattered throughout it, including two familiar dragon birds. A morbid curiosity came over and I walked through the bones of the ma.s.sive creatures, marveling at how small I was compared to them, yet I had still won in the end... twice.

"Impressive kills for such a young fledging. You"ve made a lot of gains in a short period of time..." One said from behind me.

I turned around to find One in a similar appearance as my own, allowing me to see the full extents of my new form. His horns were the same black with a crimson gleam as his talons and they branched out along his skull, up in the air, and now out in front. His normal wild, crimson hair was now black with crimson undertones and laid limply against his body. His golden eyes which always crackled with energy were now solid black, reminiscent of the endless void and he looked back at me with a complicated expression.

"You honestly shouldn"t be alive, but someone refused to give up on you until the last moment."

"Can you tell who it was?" I asked.

"Yes, but surely you can guess," he teased. "I"ve actually been monitoring the events outside of your body while controlling your regeneration now that the fairy had to leave to handle your brother."

"Gustavo? What do you mean?"

"Your death released the suppression on his bloodline, finally allowing him to awaken the Storm Dragon Bloodline, but he entered into a berserk state. He turned to attack your companions, but you started to awaken you Death powers and I was able to take over healing your body, so the fairy left to handle him peacefully."

"Then everyone is safe?"

"Yes," he replied.

I sighed in relief.

"This wasn"t an ability you should have awakened at this time, you are still too weak. You must promise never to use this power until you have unlocked your other runes or you won"t have the control you need and you will be consumed by it, becoming the embodiment of Death itself," One said seriously.

"I understand... This power is Corruption..." I said, looking at my hands.