The Laenings ran with glee as the explosion swallowed the school whole. Many took women and killed the men or ate the singed flesh that flew through the air and was scattered throughout the area. Jaldabaoth barked orders to leave no male survivors and to kidnap women and students if they could. They hardly listened but were still coherent enough to follow their orders if not sloppily. Jaldi didn't care and just ran in with anticipation on his face. The Laening monstrosities did what they did best. Cause chaos. Hopefully, enough chaos for Jaldi to do his real mission... Jaldi sensed his presence the very moment his spirit returned to the mortal world even when he didn't inhabit a new human he stank like a trash bag of dog shit.
It became even more pungent once he did inhabit a human vessel allowing the Arcane to flow through flesh which only exacerbated his power by tenfold then if he were in his incorporeal form. Every time his human vessel is killed or mortally wounded Telimbyr cannot reform his essence for nearly a millennium.
The annoying tradeoff however is that with each death he's able to increase his power twice. As each revival takes an inordinate amount of Arcanic energy focused on one's own soul and Telimbyr has the essence of hundreds of souls due to his inhabiting a number of flesh vessels. This time around however it only took him 800 odd years to gain back his essence. So he's getting faster now. Annoying yet acceptable as it seems he doesn't grow in power as much as compared to when he was coming back once a millennium so there is a relatively large tradeoff for speed. It won't matter as Telimbyr will never once acquire the true power he was able to wield in life. Indeed he was a warrior without a sword but he hardly ever needed his coronation blade as he instead favored the Arcanic arts. He could roast his enemies in droves bordering on thousands in one spell. In a single thought he could snap the necks of over a dozen men within a three mile distance. Indeed Jaldi never knew a man nor a battle that could ever excite him again. Indeed the wounds he suffered that day are the only wounds that show on Jaldi's body and Jaldi enjoyed them so much. Oh how beautiful it was to fight that man.
Jaldi licked his lips and relished in the thought of killing his vessel this time. Their worthless face and fear excreting from their bodily pores is nothing short but delicious and pure ecstasy for Jaldi. The scent started to fade as he ran past rubble and strewn corpses of human adolescents. There he was half trapped between the rubble and some flames, the flesh puppet of the new emerald king.
__________
Alex's legs were shrieking with searing pain and the heat of the flames didn't make things any better. For the most part he was uninjured from the waist up minus some scratches and cuts here and there and Alex winced while trying to readjust to stop the searing pain of the weight of the rubble that crushed his legs further, his breathing slowed and deepened as he focused on trying to lift the pillar that was trapping him. He couldn't break free before he heard a voice scream his name in terror.
"Alexander!" Mino yelled bloodied and clutching his left arm while staggering towards his half crushed friend. He reached him, "Oh God, here. Let me try and-"
"Don't!" Alex roared.
"If you move the pillar even slightly it'll completely crush my legs!"
Mino bit his lip and winced in pain as he thought of different options to freeing his trapped friend. He couldn't think of anything else but besides trying to find more people to lift the pillar fully away from his torn body. Mino didn't mention it but Alex's face was almost completely red and half his face was badly burned and started to already scab over in a very peculiar and fast manner. Faster and more capable of any human. He shrugged it off and put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I'm glad you're alive, just stay put while I try to find some help." Mino cautiously purveyed the area and ran off hoping to find anybody to help.
Alex shrugged off his friend's hand when he left and let out a sigh looking up towards the sky cursing God for his bad luck either way before he could organize his racing thoughts he heard a terrifying and spine chilling belch of fury and rage.
"Teeellimbyyyrr, I seeeee youuuuu!" Jaldi screeched in an almost chalkboard scraping shriek.
"Your flesh is mine to consume young king!"
Alexander almost puked his brains out from seeing the creature dashing towards him with twin broadswords dangling at the hip and a pitch black cloak and hood pulled over his already bulbous and pale head. He couldn't be more than five feet tall bordering between four feet ten inches and a flat five. His arched back didn't help either, reminding Alex of Notre Dame. His fingers were long and wickedly twisted and scaly with terrible claw-like nails that were sharpened to a point. How this thing could wield swords in the first place Alex couldn't say. His eyes were black with red shot pupils bulging from the flat of his face and his nose was hooked in a crooked yet slimy like way. Almost as if someone had broken his nose permanently.
Alex in a flurry of panic and seeing as this creature unsheathed it's terribly long twin obsidian broadswords dragged them across the burning concrete and became covered in the blood of his classmates the creature seemed to almost heat those blades in some horrible way. The ire of Arcane flowed through this monstrosity, that much Alex could sense, he could feel it in his intrepid mind. Before his eyes could register the movement a flurry of jumps and dashes allowed Jaldi to move in on the boy. Fumbling behind or more rightly accurate slithering, was a horde of snake like creatures that nearly made Alex's heart sink to his crushed feet. Telimbyr was inconsolable and quiet watching this through his wielder's poor eyes.
What an unfortunate mishap this had been, a disaster even, Telimbyr even with his millennium long wisdom was stumped. If he were to fall here it would take him another millennium to reappear within the world and that's if a worthy candidate to bear his soul is born. He was lucky with Alex. He refused to lose such a good match, not again. No more would he let the sorrow wrought through his guilt and grief of the past constrict him to the constraints of the weakness that is his cowardice of the present. No. More.
Alex felt a surge of adrenaline and excitement shoot through his spine like a cool whip. His eyes became focused, enlarged even and his legs felt like ancient oaks of redwood. His face twisted, his burns faded, his crushed legs were now more sturdy than steel. He shot up through the rubble cracking through the concrete with ease and pushing aside the pillar that once seemed to be an impossible object to move. It was then thrown away to squash a few what Alex didn't know were called Laenings yet underneath the impossible object that weighed several tons. His forearms began to glow ever so faintly with a cyan hue of magnificence. Jaldi's eyes widened with pure joy and astonishment.
"Yes! Yes, young king awaken your potential, you can see it can't you? You can see nirvana!" The demon shrieked without constraint.
"Leave this boy to me my soldiers, kill any other children you find crawling around the muck and flames, be merciless and kidnap those with stronger wills, they'll serve us with purpose and ire." He said flatly.
Alex winced, and took a step back, his thoughts going back towards his friends. Mino, Cali. He couldn't leave them to death or enslavement. However his thoughts pulsed with Telimbyr's iron will to end Jaldi before it's too late. Yes, Alex saw what kind of monster was brought forth because of the Moon king's absence, so for now he humbly agreed and stood his ground. Around him Laenings dashed about slaughtering those still barely breathing near the wreckage of Alex's previous tomb.
He turned and screamed in contempt and defiance. He jumped shouldering a Laening high then spinning back with his elbow stretched out on another to its right to hit its slimy fanged face leaving it blackened with bright flames of blue. The other hissed and sprang forth trying to take a bite off the boy. He dodged and slapped its head then took some rubble and slammed those rocks into its jaw before grappling its head and smashing it into a pool of blood and brains on the burnt floor.
Before he could react Jaldi came in swift and low smacking Alexander with the butt of his broadsword leaving blood spewing forth from Alex's nose. He stumbled back clutching his nose and almost too swiftly Jaldi clipped his twin blades to his hip and began to smile wickedly as he let loose a flurry of punches and jabs towards Alex's solar plexus. Finally landing a final right, hard, hook to the cheek sending Alex flying towards more rubble crushing three leanings in the process. "What more could you want, young king?" Jaldi shouted wildly while coming in once again.
Jaldi hadn't finished playing with Alex just yet. He wanted true domination of Telimbyr's champion. True and endless battle was his calling in life and there was no truer champion than that of Telimbyr's chosen few. His chosen few. Those words echoed in Jaldi's mind with blasphemy and contempt in his heart. Oh, how he despised those chosen few. How much hatred could this lofty inconsistent creature hold in his wretched heart. That Jaldi didn't know the answer to.
"Enough of this. Young king you are mine." He spat with disgust.
Jaldi took two more steps towards the boy slumped against the rubble grabbing him by the arm dangling him by the wrist. "By Xanthul how the mighty have fallen." He threw him with as much might as his intrepid body would allow while also summoning the Arcanic into his form.
Blackened light of energy shot through his pale body bursting with hints and inklings of scarlet spreading throughout the playing field. A misty and sticky portal of that same energy appeared and Alex was unknowingly pushed through and he came out the other side roughly 20 meters the opposite direction he was thrown into.
He coughed up more blood as his spine cracked against the bloody pavement and his skin pulsed with excitement but was soon dulled by the pain. He staggered to rise but fell again and tries the same.
"To hell with this." He whispered.
Alex made and tried for a mad dash against the burnt and bloody landscape flying past Jaldi in a concurrent wind of speed and madness hoping to scavenge what dignity he had left. Jaldi had other plans he immediately eyeballed the speed the young king was traversing and caught up to him within seconds.
Now this was a war of attrition.
That they both knew the longer this battle drew on the more likely both would succumb to exhaustion and fatigue no matter how much effort they put into reinforcing their bodies with Arcane.
"Leave me alone!" Alex spouted with fury attempting to blast Jaldi with a bolt of energy cast from his fingertips.
Jaldi easily dodged the mediocre bolt and jumped to the side, casting his own bolt back towards Alexander, tripping him and causing him to barrel roll over. Causing a laugh to rise from his belly and coincidentally amongst the rush and confusion they reached the singular area of the school that was untouched from the hell that was wrought before. The Cloven of Trees. An area sacred to the region and a mystery to both the school and every student, resident, and staff at the high school. A place that could not compare to any other within a hundred miles. The white hue of the bark only doubled its beauty and awe. The oak was silver and glistened in the evening light and both Jaldi and Alexander paused if not for a brief moment to glance and admire the beauty of the thing. The leaves or more accurately described; vines were hanging low and would blow easily within the soft and violent wind that sprouted every now and then as the flames of the school around it wisped the air into a murky, foggy and almost suffocating mess. In the midst of the tree distracting the young king Jaldi took this as the opportunity to strike him with a deadly right cross to the face, sending him flying towards the Cloven. Alex smacked sideways hard across the tree leaving the tree a bloody mess splattered across the glistening trunk. Alex coughed up more blood.
Alex came up to one knee on the ground and took in his surroundings for once before Jaldi would come for another round of punishment. The area surrounding the Cloven was on fire, the smoke Alex was inhaling was nothing short of catching lung cancer and he was surprised he wasn't in a coughing fit yet but that didn't matter as suddenly the entire grove of grass and brush that surrounded the tree sprouted into flowers of all kinds of colors that seemed to shine with the backdrop of the crimson hue of the flames.
Young Achilles you must listen to me this place is sacred to my kind. I can't explain it but this tree is the key. I just know it.
Alex couldn't explain it either but he instinctively knew the Wraith was right. That this place was fueled by the same Arcanic energy that ran its course through his very own veins. That feeling of power, of unyielding strength was spreading like a virus from the base of the trunk of the tree towards the grass and flowers and also is harbored deep within the vines growing from the top down of the tree.
"Don't get lost in thought yet Alexander Cole!"
Jaldi came in this time quick and merciless this time unclipping his wicked broadswords coming in high from an angle and slashing down at the boy from a diagonal angle in order to catch Alex off guard. Luck was on Young Achilles side as Jaldi hadn't accounted for the low hanging vines that flew rapidly into Jaldi's face for only but a moment, putting him off his guard long enough for Alex to close the five pace gap between them and extend his legs out in front of him causing Jaldi to trip. Jaldi expected as much and when he fell, he fell into a roll coming up even faster and deadlier aiming for the young man's carotid artery slashing wickedly and with all his strength. However, He came in too wide and Alex, through pure instinct and a little help with the Arcane to boost his perception, ducked. Turning around and sliding past Jaldi dashing around the tree in order to put some distance between the two of them.
Alex gained only but a momentary rest as Jaldi came back and stabbed, poked, and attempted to prod Alex with the tip of his blades only nicking his shoulder and elbow. Alex knew the longer this fight drove on that exhaustion and fatigue would soon set in even with the basic reinforcement he can control with the Arcane for his muscles he felt his supply of that mystic force depleting within him. The Wraith was silent watching it all stoically. Hating every second of this battle as he knew his champion was too inexperienced to face an opponent of this magnitude so soon, so early of him becoming the Conduit.
Young Achilles you have to listen to me very closely..
The wraith paused as Alexander was being chased around the tree playing a very dangerous game of tag with his bulbous opponent and Telimbyr continued:
You must run. This enemy is far too powerful and has perfected his craft of murder for hundreds of years. For you to survive you must flee lest we both die.
Alex thought why would he run? Why should he run sure he's been in plenty of fights before with Oslo and his motley crew? How hard could this thing be? He was clearly holding his own against the dangerous creature. Why should he flee? His answer came from Jaldi becoming tired of this game and taking one of his broadswords lining it up a little bit diagonally as he intended to bounce the blade off the tree and slice Alex across the neck from where he would appear on the other side of the tree trunk. His prediction was correct.
Alex came to the other side of the trunk and immediately without warning felt a searing hot pain fly across his cheek. Alex replied mentally to the wraith saying,
yeah you're right let's get the fuck out of here
He felt the cold trickle of blood flow down past his neck and the taste of iron perused about his lips he felt the cut with his fingertips now bloody and dark red. He winced in frustration and all too late the Wraith was right in his initial assessment that Alex couldn't handle Jaldi yet. Indeed Jaldi's pure skill overmatched young Alex nearly tenfold and the only reason the young king was still breathing was due to Telimbyr's reinforcements with Arcane.
Alex finally mustered the courage to flee and on his final revolution of the tree trunk he darted into the flames jumping across rubble, blood and the murky depths of the smoky abyss.
"Run young king, hide and beware of your undoing, let the flames that engulf you now burn their searing heat into your mind and accept the pain that is Jaldabaoth." He screeched with all his might laughing hysterically all the while watching Alex flee.
Huffing and puffing bruised, and sweaty through every pore of his body. His legs were on fire, his hips were from what he could tell bruised and the crimson streak of fluids and blood wouldn't stop gushing from the wound on his cheek. Jaldi was more than just those snake grunts.
He was different.
He is more dangerous, trained, and skilled then any of the monsters Alex slipped past. Wherever he could he would save his fellow classmates and kill what Telimbyr called Laenings wherever he found them pillaging and kidnapping. His thoughts had refocused towards Mino and Cali however, He needed to find them and the pangs of anxiety and hopelessness hit his chest hard. He started to panic. Alexander is running through nothing but ruins. The fire and smoke consuming the Cloven Trees could most likely be seen for miles on end. Alex continues around the buildings that house the classrooms and turns a corner before he encounters a Laening with hard violet bloodshot eyes. His lower half being that of a snake tail and his torso being covered with scales but his arms are that of a human's. His slithering tongue and angular viridescent face didn't help to mask that these creatures were no more monstrous than the next.
"Haktul ssshatii no lamentsssssissss." it hissed with cruelty.
Alexander couldn't understand the thing but the wraith informed him that it wanted to eat Alex and his classmates for a hearty dinner.
"That won't be happening today buddy."
He readied himself and crouched low, calling upon the arcane within his body fueling his blood and the muscles in his legs tightening, building up energy. Alex's understanding of the power stems from the fact that he only needs to focus to bring about the power to affect his body. But, what happens if he concentrates that energy to a certain part of his body? What happens then? This so-called Laening was about to find out.
He does so only focusing the intense energy he's felt that last day or two into his forearms and hands, holding still until he can sense the vibrations, the inner turmoil, and suddenly he feels tingles of pain welling up from within his arms. Alex took this as a sign of this strange magickal energy wanting to be released so he obliged.
Quickly with a wave of his hand that energy repulsed through his entire hand shooting out waves of iridescent blue light that engulfed the now horrified Laening who with a somewhat sorry expression exploded into a viscera of organs and purple colored blood that sploshed in several directions.
The blood spattered over Alex leaving his clothes damp and even more repulsive then before.
"Disgusting."
And yet you're still alive. You've sloppily scratched the surface of the power that you've been granted.
Alex considered that statement for a second considering the fact he quite literally blew up a human lizard with nothing but his fingertips so he wondered how that was barely scratching the surface but he brushed the statement off anyways. Glancing around, the fires were only getting worse; his head pulsed due to lack of oxygen and his vision blurred from the excess inhalation of the smoke. He knew he had to leave and search for Mino and Cali. He was hoping somehow they were still alive.
He ran and ran scouring the ruins of his old high school now desolate in flames, blood, and ash for what felt like hours for Alex was a mere few minutes in actuality. By the time he realized it the setting sun had darkened into a sensational pink but gloomy sky. Police sirens and first responders could be heard in the far distance barking orders to save those that could be and to tend to the wounded. Alex didn't care as his only priorities were making sure his friends were safe and unharmed. From his own observations roughly half the school was completely gone with a crater taking its place.
However a few times during Alex's search for Mino and Cali he had to dispatch half a dozen laenings with his bare hands. His ragged breaths became more apparent by the third fight and by the sixth he was in bad shape and exhausted. Whatever power this wraith had blessed him with was finite. Alex fell after bashing in the brains of the final Laening with his bare hands now completely covered in that purplish red blood and brain matter Alex began to wonder. It was strange some of these creatures' blood was red but others was a very deeply colored magenta. He couldn't wrap his mind around it, maybe it was due to some having more human apparatuses than others?
Suddenly Alex was broken from his train of thought. He had been so engulfed in the pursuit of finding Cali and Mino that he failed to notice the small army of firefighters and first responders scouring the wreckage and ruins of the school.
A firefighter approached Alex slowly but tentatively with fear in his eyes. He was a man who looked to be in his mid forties with a patchwork beard and lightless eyes surrounded by a sharp yet angular face. Alex saw a range of emotions flash through the man's eyes before being buried in a stoic expression, built probably from years of hardship and rescue.
He took off his helmet and slowly placed it on some rubble beside him. Alex didn't realize it until he glimpsed the reflection of himself through the man's visor. Alex was engulfed in blood. His eyes were shot and red, his hair disheveled beyond relief, his beanie? Tattered to pieces and barely hanging onto his head by the skin of its teeth. He hadn't even realized it but the linen button down shirt his mom prepared for him was ripped in half and drenched in violet blood creating an amalgamation that in the pale sunset looked a lusterless black that covered him from head to toe.
"Son. . ." The man said in a tentative but almost frightened tone, "What the hell happened?"
Before Alex could even mouth off a word in response he collapsed to the ground and was engulfed in darkness. . .