January 20, 2112
Sunfire
Sunfire blasted rings of fire at Kaizerious, with no visible effect. His skin was unburned, uncharred, not even a scratch. He looked at her with a simple gaze - a gaze ready to meet her blow for blow. Sunfire was prepared to fulfill the prophecy given to her long ago, and she knew she had to step up. With Ghost and the others far from harm's way, she could really let loose.
Still in the same room as before, Kaizerious flexed his arm, and the ground below her shot up like a pillar into her chest. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. The pillar took her through the celling at increasing speeds. She felt like she was on the outside of a starship. The pillar stopped, but momentum carried her into the planet's atmosphere. What goes up must come down, and those rules applied to her. She plummeted, falling faster and faster. As she neared the ground, she blasted fire from her feet and hands. This maneuver slowed her down until she landed on the ground, feet first, and softly.
She was alone, far from the structure. The surroundings were full of quite a few topographies. There was a lake only meters in front of her, kilometers long. Past the lake was a forest. Behind her were mountains, sharp and steep. She could see this despite the darkness. No sun in sight. She launched out shires of fire all around the area, over the lake, by the mountains, over the forest. The shires of fire flickered like torches, yet bright enough to simulate dawn.
There was a thunderous blast in the distance, and like a bullet, she watched as something launched from the ground many kilometers away. It originated from the safe house and had a trajectory that led it close to her. As it neared, she realized it wasn't an object at all. It was a being; it was Kaizerious. He landed across the lake and in front of the trees. The ground shook, and a shockwave knocked down trees, created waves meters tall, and sent a gust of wind strong enough to cause rocks to tumble free from the mountains behind her. But she withstood the force and managed to stay on her feet. This was nothing to a god like her.
Kaizerious, previously crouching from the landing, stood tall and looked to her. Sunfire knew he wanted her to make the first move. She obliged. She squeezed her fists behind her and blasted out a stream of blue fire. The sound was as loud as a starship engine, and she flew at unnatural speeds right towards Kaizerious. She cleared the lake in less than a second and thrust her shoulder in the abdomen of Kaizerious. He wasn't fast enough to react. He grunted in pain and was sent tumbling through the trees, crashing through the forest like a meteor, sending destruction and debris up in thick smoke.
Sunfire reversed the position of her hands and used another stream of fire to slow down her momentum before she reached the forest. She halted.
"Nobody could survive that." Sunfire believed her words to be the truth. After all, they were the words of a god.
When the smoke cleared, she saw Kaizerious in the distance, dug into the ground, trees broken around and over him. He then moved.
"No way!" She was aghast.
He pushed himself up, clearing the trees off him, then jumped towards her with a force nearly as powerful as when she had shot out fire earlier. She was quick enough to dodge Kaizerious as he neared. Just as he flew past her, the ground below shook, and out popped a pillar of rock, which was angled toward him. Kaizerious spun himself and landed against the rock feet first. The rock slid backwards with the impact, but it was enough to slow down Kaizerious down. He leaped at her again, with much less force. Sunfire dodged and landed a series of punches to the gut of Kaizerious. Her fist was engulfed in fire.
The force wasn't enough to hurt him. He tried to grab her, but Sunfire sidestepped. Having to jump first, she round-house kicked Kaizerious. He lifted his arms to the side of his head to block. Using the opening, she flipped off the momentum and slammed her hands together midair and sent an explosion to the face of Kaizerious. He grunted and stepped back from the force. She landed meters in front of him.
While he was still taking a moment to recover, she came at him again. This time, she reached behind her and grabbed the handle that was holstered at her lower back. She extended her arm, and from the base of the handle, bits of metal extended into a sword almost a meter long. She then lit the sword on fire, handle and blade. As she neared Kaizerious, he stood up, and Sunfire sliced at his face. Kaizerious blocked with his arm. The blade chipped into his skin. Finally, she had cut him. A moment passed, but no blood had emerged.
"What?" Sunfire yelled in shock.
Kaizerious then nailed Sunfire right in the gut with a full punch. His fist was the size of her entire stomach! She blasted a stream of fire behind her, using her free hand to slow herself down as she was launched away. She halted twenty meters away from Kaizerious, then fell to her knee, clinching her stomach in pain. Worse yet, Kaizerious had barely put any momentum behind that punch, meaning it was far weaker than he was capable of.
Kaizerious stood up. "What's the matter? You were so sure of yourself a moment ago." He teased her.
Sunfire, who was hunched over, stopped gazing into the dirt and stood. She looked back at Kaizerious and laughed. Kaizerious's expression shifted from playful to curious. Sunfire, still laughing, grinned. "This is the kind of fight I've been waiting for. Even holding back, I've never once come across anyone able to withstand my power this long. That is, until you."
"I'm glad to be of amusement to you. Maybe you can then die with a smile," Kaizerious teased.
He pointed toward Sunfire, and a spike-shaped spear suddenly flew from the mountain at her. She held up her sword in a defensive stance and let a shield of fire extend from its center. It spun rapidly.
The strike was so fast, Sunfire could barely keep track of it. There was a moment of nothing, then blood, dark as night, spurted out from the side of Kaizerious's neck. It streamed down him and covered his right shoulder. Kaizerious covered it with his palm. Dirt from the ground crawled up his body and into his palm. When he removed his hand from the wound, it was sealed by the dirt.
"Surprised you, didn't I?" Sunfire grinned. "I can tell you weren't expecting my shield to completely reverse your attack back at you."
"Surprised? No. But it is interesting. You are formidable, but I can tell you are holding back."
Sunfire burst out laughing. "I suspect the same of you."
"I knew the day would come when I'd meet someone like you."
Sunfire took a small step towards Kaizerious, with her palm extended. "Would you like to hear a story?"
"If your aim is to catch me off-guard, I'd advise against it."
A peaceful glow came over Sunfire's face as she began her story. "A long time ago, I was told that when I'd awaken, the very galaxy would be under a dark shadow of war. That I'd be the light to cast the shadow from existence. You are the body that shadow extends from. And I am the light."
"I'm a man that believes that the future is a chain of innumerable rivers, with no end. It is my many years that have told me that."
"My destiny is what I make it. That prophecy will be fulfilled because I want it to be so."
"Your weakness is your desire for the galaxy you envision. You keep your head too high in the clouds and miss everything going on below you. It's not the shepherd who daydreams of bigger plains that thrives, but the shepherd that tends to the needs of his herd."
"I don't speak in riddles."
"All I'm saying is that you cannot get the future you want without tending to the present you are given. That is why I'm the answer this galaxy needs, and not you."
"Easy to claim with that durability you've got there. However, from that last attack, I can see that you are weaker around your joints."
"Making me bleed isn't enough to kill me."
"Making you bleed lets me know that you can be killed. But you, however, don't have the speed to strike me with any consistency. That is why I will outlast you."
Kaizerious lost his friendly expression, and it dipped towards gloom. He then clapped his hands together. The ground below Sunfire split upward from both her sides. She jumped away and saw the two flat boulders smash into each other. Kaizerious had tried to crush her. He wasn't done. He flexed his bicep, and spikes made from various materials found from the ground came from all directions. There were thousands. Sunfire crossed her arms and extended them just as fast. Rings of fire exploded from her body and cut through the spikes. Sunfire followed this defensive maneuver with some offense. She placed her hand over her mouth in a circle and spat out balls of fire towards Kaizerious. She landed moments later and turned back to see a wall of sand covering Kaizerious. It had protected him.
Sunfire grunted in frustration. Had she known in advance she was going to face such a powerful god like him, she would have brought more tools than just a sword. Even still, she had noticed Kaizerious holding back as she was. But why? The extraordinary power of her ace ability was based on charging up. For all the great power she wielded, it came at a great sacrifice. When all charged up, Sunfire had more power and energy than most normal beings can comprehend. She fed on heat and solar energy, and her body ran on and utilized it. She didn't require other sustenance or sleep, since the energy present in her body was already more than enough. However, once she used all that energy, she entered a cocoon-like state, where it fed on all the heat and solar energy available. That process pulled in the energy far more efficiently than she did on her own until she recharged - a process that takes many years at a time. This was why she was currently holding back during the fight. She didn't want to expend all her energy and be idle for years. Seeing what she has seen so far, it appeared Kaizerious has been holding back all the same. It proved he must have a drawback of his own. If she were to win, discovering that drawback may be required.
One thing was for sure. He had some form of terrakinesis; the ability to control and manipulate geology, such as rocks, dust, sand, and minerals. To what extent, was the real question. The only way to find out was to keep attacking, keep testing.
No more holding back. She could not lose.
Still hovering in the air, Sunfire shot out fire from her legs, blasting herself towards Kaizerious. She holstered her sword. As she neared the shell of sand protecting him, she blasted out an explosion so hot, the fire was white, and some of the sand turned to glass. Kaizerious pulled metal from the ground to protect him. She was faster and hit him directly in the side with another blast like the previous! The blast let loose a force so strong, the ground blasted apart as if a meteor had hit it. Dust covered the vicinity.
Impossible!
He survived! No being could survive a blow that powerful. What was he even made of? His durability was unreal.
Kaizerious shouted in pain as he was blasted partly in the ground. Sunfire came at him again, just as fast. "Enough," Kaizerious shouted. Enraged, he pulled away the ground around him before sending it outward in all directions like a tidal wave of rock, sand, and more.
"That won't work." Sunfire prepared to blast through it, only this time the wave of ground exploded apart as it neared her, with an untold amount of shrapnel. Too late. Sunfire took the hits. Some pierced her skin, and others didn't. She fell to the ground. Before she could do anything else, metal vined out of the ground and shackled her in place. She was trapped! The ground held her in place. "What?" she shouted in surprise.
As Sunfire tried to force her way out, more minerals poured over her. She couldn't break through the weight.
Is this it?
Her question was answered without hesitation. Kaizerious clamped his hand together in a fist. With that motion, the terrain pulled together around her, suffocating her, crushing her. Her head was seconds from going under.
The sun then peeked over the horizon.
Energy. Sunfire could feel the heat over her face, and she was empowered by it. She fed off it.
Sunfire closed her eyes and reopened them. They were engulfed in fire hot enough to be white. Her entire body followed, then she exploded the energy outward and was free!
Intense fire lighting her way, she blasted herself at Kaizerious and pulled together a string of explosive bursts of flames.
"What are you made of?" Sunfire growled. "Each of these moves should be enough to kill you."
Moving so fast she appeared to be blinking from one location to another, Sunfire changed her tactic. She started to attack from a short distance with rays of fire each time she moved.
Kaizerious's eyes intensified, and she saw the focus. She blinked and was shocked when he caught her by the arm. He had predicted her movement. "It takes more than brute force and speed to kill something like me," he said.
Sunfire used her other arm and sent flames into the face of Kaizerious. He turned to protect his eyes, but his fist had time to gain power and momentum and crashed into her gut. He let go of her hand at the same time his fist connected, and Sunfire took a blow so strong, she was sent hurdling past the upper atmosphere.
Into space her body hurled at ridiculous speeds. Into the planet's sun she went, into its solar flames. That only made her stronger. The power flowed through her body, and she stopped herself, dead in the center of the gas giant.
Floating inside a sun brings a certain perspective of things. For Sunfire, it was just the clarity she needed to see this fight was going to take close to everything she had. No more half-steps. If she wanted the vision she saw for the galaxy to be actualized, and for the prophecy to be fulfilled, she couldn't worry about using all her energy.
With more resolve in the heat in her blood than ever, she shot herself back to the planet, back to Kaizerious. Her speed was so fast, she started to see rays of light beside her.
Seconds away, she plunged into the atmosphere. Kaizerious awaited and smashed his hands into the planet, pulling it in half by the seams. Sunfire couldn't stop in time and slipped into the crack in the planet. Kaizerious used his power to pull it all back together.
She refused to be crushed and drove herself to the core of the planet before the crust was thrown back together. The core of the planet was now in a turmoil, and by her best estimation, the planet would soon tear itself apart. Inside the core, Sunfire unleashed a beam of piercing fire to carve a hole towards the surface. She took her newly created path back to the surface.
Up top, she flew back towards her mortal enemy, her opposite in many ways; the rock to her sun.
The surface was shaking itself apart, and volcanic magma had begun to seep through newly formed fissures. The focus on what was below caused her not to see the mountain hurling towards her! It was launched at her by none other than Kaizerious.
She blasted it in half with sharp fire and slammed herself into the gut of Kaizerious only a moment later. He was sent blistering back, and she refused to give him any time. At speeds faster than his, she caught up to him and roared as she spawned a sun flare of bursting energy below him. A tremendous, thunderous ring of fire sent Kaizerious into the sky, scorched. The same ring cut the planet in two.
Sunfire caught herself thinking about Castle and Ghost. In her mind, she hoped for their safety, which surprised even her.
That train of thought shattered as the two pieces of the planet changed trajectory and shape. Almost every bit of the planet followed the direction Kaizerious went and formed around his flying body.
Her eyes couldn't believe the sight before her. Every mountain, volcano, desert, and more, started to change. Down to every mineral, every grain of sand, a shell of armor formed over Kaizerious. Organic life was the one thing left out as the shell of armor turned into legs, then arms, until a titan the size of a planet was created over Kaizerious.
Sunfire couldn't believe he had the power to manipulate the entirety of a planet into a suit of armor. And she refused to be outdone. She extended her arm in the direction of the sun and called the fire to her. Like a black hole, she forced the sun apart and reformed it over herself. She became her own titan in a suit of fire.
Making the first move, she launched everything she had at Kaizerious. He hurled chucks of rock the size of asteroids from his feet so he could gain momentum towards her. Both of them smashed into each other. A fist of fire crushed into the head of rock, and the knee of a mountain caved into the gut of fire. Titans pounded their way through open space, ricocheting around different moons and different planets.
After hours of battling, a moment of weakness presented itself. The glue that held the mass of a planet together began to degrade. It was crumbling apart, and Kaizerious was losing his grip on everything. She could see him, many kilometers deep through a crack. Seizing the moment in her hands, she pulled her sword and gave it one last burst at him.
She connected! Her blade dug into the heart of Kaizerious! Momentum took them both crashing to the surface of a moon. Like a meteor, their impact shattered their surroundings, and she was left standing over Kaizerious. Blade clear through his heart, his life's blood as dark as his evil soul poured over him. He was still on a knee, one hand grasping her arm. His eyes stared into hers, and she watched as they lost their last spark. He succumbed to his wound, and Sunfire ripped away the blade.
That fight had taken almost all her power to see through. Weary, Sunfire let herself fall to a knee. She stared into the face of the man she'd just killed and was impressed to see a smile on his face.
It wasn't long before a starship landed close behind her. She could tell by sound alone it was of the Brotherhood of Relics. She waited until Castle and Ghost came to both her sides.
"He died still on a knee!" Castle said in awe.
"He fought true." Sunfire's respect for her opponent found its way through her tone.
"I've gotta say, that was the craziest, wildest, most badass fraken showcase this galaxy has ever seen." Castle was shaking with pumped adrenaline.
Sunfire turned to Ghost. "Tell me you two got Airra."
Ghost was silent for a moment. "The planet under destruction gave her a moment to escape. I promise, it is only temporary. We will finish the job."
Sunfire began to rise. "No, I'll--" She then fell back towards the ground. The extent of her drained energy was even more than she had realized.
Ghost caught her and eased her fall. "We can handle Airra. You've used too much of your power. You'll revert back to your cocoon state soon."
Sunfire wasn't even upset. She held a gleeful smile. "I may've only been awake for a short time, but that was all I needed to correct the course of the galaxy. When I awake again, it shall be in a galaxy in prosperity."
Ghost started to help her up when Castle burst out with, "Hey! Hey! Why is the dead man moving?!"
Their eyes flew back to Kaizerious. The spark of life once again surged in his eyes. His previous wound was seared shut, as if it were under a spell, and he stood tall once more.
Sunfire surged as much power back into her limbs as she could but got little response. Her mind took a jolt of fear. And the knights looked upon this impossibility with frozen feet. "You were dead! I killed you! What black magic is this?!" Her words shot out in rapid succession from her mouth.
Kaizerious started to walk their direction.
She continued. "I was supposed to win. I was prophesized to. I was to be the light to snuff out the shadow - to snuff out you."
Kaizerious stopped. His words and voice were low and filled with gloom. A meter away, he looked down at her. "You did exactly what you said you would. I did die, and your prophecy was fulfilled."
"No, this can't--!" Her eyes darted up and down his body, and her face was jittery.
Kaizerious held his right hand out to the side, and metal pulled from the ground began to build within his palm. "If you run every possibility in your head, then nothing will surprise you. When planning, I find such a talent useful. My last advice to you." A metal spear formed in his hand. "I was prepared for this outcome, prepared in the event of my death. I just happened to know the right entity to bring me back."
Sunfire shouted, "Castle," snapping him out of shock.
"Ghost, use it!" Castle shouted.
"It's our last one!" he retorted.
"Use it!" Castle repeated. He stepped towards Kaizerious. "The things I do for this brotherhood." In that instant, he pushed his aura in front of Kaizerious.
Ghost reached for something in his pouch. Kaizerious was fast, and he bashed the aura with his free hand. It shattered like glass. Castle's eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed on the ground. Ghost noticed and reached for Castle, still clawing with his other hand in the pouch.
"I can't get him. Sunfire, grab us both."
Ghost pulled out a spherical ball of glowing green. He crushed it, and Sunfire felt her body start to dematerialize into atoms. There was something else, something sharp, a new feeling burning in her chest.
Light faded away, but not completely. She then realized she was at the foot of the starportal. Ghost used the one and only graviton sphere the brotherhood had left to teleport them back to the starportal. It was a one-time escape plan used under impossible circumstances.
Sunfire felt the burning in her chest intensify and looked down. Her trembling hand scraped below her breast, and her eyes focused on the red crimson that dyed her pinky and ring finger. She had been pierced. That spear Kaizerious had formed now lingered through her torso, and by the angle, it partially punctured into her heart.
Eyes weakening, she glanced to the comatose Castle, then to Ghost. Ghost's stare matched hers in gloom. The situation was clear, and Sunfire understood her death was unavoidable. She had failed in her vision but was not ready to leave without passing the torch. Her voice was weak. "Hope is not lost as long as our brotherhood is there to guide the galaxy." Her eyes fell towards the ground, and she struggled to hold on. "Falseblood or not, you are a knight, Ghost. You know what you have to do. Save our galaxy."
The injury got the best of her, and she lost her ability to move. Her thoughts flashed over in her head, like flipping pictures of what had been; until it didn't anymore.