Chapter XLV: The Thirteenth Watcher (Cont. IV)
“All right,” she said, trying to think inside the vacuum of time. “Adelia…..listen….hear me! It’s Laura! I want to tell you something…..I want to tell you that I need you to come out….help me, please. We need you, Adelia…more than anything….we need you to fight your way out…..we need your strength. I know you’ve never trusted me, that you always believed there was some other motive to my journey, some malicious intent. Maybe you knew that Blackheart would fall for me…….but this is not just about you…this isn’t just about me! This is about more than the nine of us who set out to find our way, to prove ourselves, to find our purpose! This is about more than our respective worlds and all the friends, family, and even enemies that we knew! This is about more than nature, more than magic, more than life and death, more than peace and war…..this is about more than everyone who ever existed and who ever will exist. This is about more than love and pride and purpose and fate….this is about everything….this is about existence. The pitfalls and the joys……we can’t live without either! Tragedy and evil has to exist, everything has its purpose and reason and shapes us! You can’t give up on everything! We all hate those who have it better and pity those who have it worse…..we need to know that we aren’t perfect…..we just need to need things……..and now we need you! PLEASE!”
Laura stared down as she felt her legs and the rest of her body suddenly crawling with spiders and she felt time speed up and the lava surge closer and closer.
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Baen let his hands fall to his side, his hair whipping up and around him as he smirked, the black cloud of sand spinning and hissing in and out, trying to catch the heroes. “You lose. Now is your judgement day. For your damnation without sympathy, for your hate without appreciation, for your blind rage, for your castigation of that which you created, you shall all pay….all existence shall. For you have failed in the moment when life needed you most, for your constant pursuit of perfection has rendered you even more weak and helpless and imperfect.” Baen held his hand out, his sword flying straight into his own palm, the hilt glowing orange with the power crackling through his every cell.
“Now’s our last chance, everyone,” Blackheart said, gritting his teeth. “If we don’t try and fight, we’ll die. In the least we may just wound him enough to where he dies after us, but we have to try. Who’s with me?”
“Do we actually get a choice?” Donovan’s voice had a twinge of hope. The others glared, “I figured not.”
“Come.” Baen’s smile parted his face, glinting with anger and rage and victory.
“CHARGE!” West yelled, no weapon of his own but his hands.
The group lunged once more, their entire souls put into fighting. Baen brought his sword around with a crackling sweep and struck out, the boom hurling them all back save Blackheart, who dropped to his knees as the swing came by. He glanced back to see West crash into the ground, his hand catching Thyrus and dragging him to the land, saving him from the dark sand that loomed closer. Samden’s sword struck the ground as he tried to keep himself from being dragged further by the flames that seemed to grab hold of his legs. Donovan helped him land by crashing into him and pinning him to the ground. All watched as Grail, however, could not break free from the pull of the flames.
“Farewell to another of the NINE!”
Grail screamed as the sand bit into her back, Donovan leaping up to pull his friend free, only to be knocked to the ground by a well placed sweep from Samden. “It’s no use!” Grail’s armor tore away as the sand ate through it as if it was nothing more than paper. Her hands struggled to pull herself free, her legs flailing to try and kick away the burning, biting grains that already were drawing blood. There was no escape she knew, and so she reached down to her belt and drew a blade from her belt, unsheathing it and holding the dagger for a moment.
“Don’t do it!” Donovan was hushed by the laughter of Baen.
“Go ahead…..while you still have a few seconds to say goodbye to the world in a merciful way. You have any last words?”
“Terrible cliche,” Blackheart muttered.
Grail’s left eye was now visible as her helmet was almost eaten completely away, her face being cut and shredded by the sand. “Yes.” Her eyes focused on the remaining heroes, “Sorry I couldn’t do more.” And with that, Grail hurled the dagger, which spiralled end over end through the air and buried itself deep into Baen’s chest. The Watcher screamed in agony as he stumbled backwards, the sand biting into the ends of his hair and scraping his armor as he pulled himself free from it.