Revolutionary (Part 5/5)
Sylas stared at the man grabbing his arm, tilting his head in confusion. “…Really?” His expression contorted, his mouth quivering as he tried his best to suppress laughter. “THIS is the best they can come up with? Some pauper’s mercenary who can’t even afford a shirt? Are you-“
C finished Sylas’s sentence for him with an open-handed strike to the chest. Sylas went flying out of the barn, wood splintering into the frigid night air. The mages stared at C with mouths open, shocked. “God damn. You didn’t tell me he was a talker.”
Lux covered her mouth in shock, eyes wide. ”You could have killed him! What the hell are you doing!?”
“And?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Seem pretty defensive of a guy who just treated you like a tool.”
Simmering in rage, Lux glared at her companion as her teeth grit. “Are you going to make fun of me now? You were right. There. I said it.”
“Meh, I don’t care. Yeah, I was right. What’s the big friggin’ deal?” C snickered, clenching his hands and cracking his neck. C walked to the hole in the barn he had made with Sylas’s flying body. “Oh, and anyone is free to try and stop me.” He turned, giving them a wicked, toothy smile. The mages in the barn recoiled, knowing just as well as Lux that trying to assist Sylas would get in his way.
Several feet away from the barn, Sylas coughed. The earthy smell of dirt mixed with the cool night air, Sylas kicking up dirt with his descent. He looked behind him, finding that he had stopped inches from an apple tree. The leaves rustled as the wind kicked up, Sylas clenching a handful of dirt as he pushed himself up. “Alright. More than a common mercenary. My mistake.”
Cracking his knuckles, C stood before Sylas. “You know it.”
“It’s a shame that they sent something to use. Now let me take that strength and send YOU flying!”
Leaping forward, C raised his arms in a cross to protect himself. Sylas didn’t strike, opting instead to grasp C’s arm with his outstretched hand. The unshackled mage gave a malicious smirk as he dug his fingers into C’s arm. He gripped hard, drawing upon whatever innate magic C had in his veins. It was like tendrils digging through C’s entire body and soul, searching for any magic in his body…only to find nothing.
Sylas’s grind faded, his eyes going wide. “What!? Nothing!? What the hell is this strength then!?”
Shoving Sylas away, C pulled himself back. “GET….” C leapt and sent both feet into the air as twin metal boots connected with Sylas’s gut. The mage once again went flying. “…OFF.” This time Sylas made contact with the tree, the wood splintering as the mage went sailing further into the orchard.
In the distance Lux watched, the two men fighting in the darkness. Both were easy to follow thanks to the full moon overhead, light reflecting off Sylas’s chains and C’s gauntlets and greaves. The wind picked up again as the mages behind her watched with baited breath, the night air mingling with the inside of the barn. The wind picked up the fresh smell of wood, the copper stench of blood and a tinge of sweat from the two brawling men.
Shaking, Sylas clutched his stomach as he lay on the ground. “…Not magic?”
“Not magic.” C leaned down, one hand on his knee as he grinned. “I’m from Zaun. What we have technically isn’t magic. Just some really screwed up science. Don’t tell me that was your only trump card! Would really suck to come ALL the way out to Demacia just to have you give up.”
Sylas barked out a sarcastic, annoyed laugh. “You might not be magic…but those disgusting, metal armaments…”
One hand flung up as Sylas swung an arm, the chain sailing from the dirt. C, unimpressed grasped the metal chain inches before it struck his face. The force of Sylas’s swing caused his hair to rustle in the wind, the man looking unimpressed. C’s expression gave way to surprise as he felt an odd tingle in his hand, as if he was on pins and needles. “What in the hell?” He might have not been magic. His gauntlets, however, were.
Now it was Sylas’s turn to surprise. Violet energy ran up his arms as he pushed himself upwards, clenching his hand into a fist. The Demacian renegade punched C in the face, hard. C was taken aback by the sudden surge in power, surprised by the sudden boost in power. He felt his jawbone crumple as he went sailing back himself, unable to speak. “Those gauntlets!? THOSE are something I can get used to!” Sylas remarked. “Once you’re dead, I’ll tear those gauntlets from your corpse an-“
Just as C had been shocked by Sylas’s sudden thievery of his power, so too was Sylas shocked by the sudden agony running up his arms. Driving his fists into the dirt, Sylas grit his teeth as arcing bolts of arcane energy ran up and down his arms. The energy current struck the dirt and grass, igniting the debris around Sylas from the destroyed tree. The rising stench of soot and flame began to creep across the field, the flames slow to spread as the wind brushed against the rising embers.
“It’s pretty shitty, isn’t it!?” C called, rubbing his jaw as bones mended. “Feels like the damn thing is tugging on your soul, right? These gauntlets aren’t exactly made for everyone!” he taunted, clenching his fists. Flames burned against the metal, veins snaking up C’s arms as he stood tall. The sudden ignition of his gauntlets caused sparks to fly from him, landing in the nearby grass and trees. He dragged his feet into the dirt, taking on something of a brawler’s stance. The rising heat around him didn’t bother C at all, the dry warmth reminding him of home. “Give up, you magical jackass, before the entire place turns into a inferno! I kind of liked these apples!”
Behind the two, the flames began to move towards the barn. Lux could feel the temperature climb, the flames slithering across the grass as they reached the destroyed wood of the barn. It wouldn’t be long before a gate of flame surrounded the building. She turned to the mages in the barn. Some were ready to flee. Others watched the brawl, shuffling where they stood, antsy to aid Sylas. If she kept them here, there was a chance they’d die. Mages or not, Lux couldn’t let that happen.
“Everyone!” She yelled, drawing the attention of those within the barn. “We have to move! We’re going to be trapped if we sit here and watch!” Hesitant as they were, the mages could see truth in what Lux was saying. The gaggle of men and women began to flee out of the barn, Lux beckoning them to run as they fled away from the barn and brawl.
Sylas growled, purging the stolen magic from his system. “So what are they offering you to face me!? Money? Power? Land? Freedom!?”
“Money. Lots of it.” C rushed forward, attempting to tackle Sylas. Sylas was too quick for this, leaping to the left as C crashed through a tree. Wood flew outward as leaves and apples hit the ground, C landing on all fours. Not missing a beat he grabbed part of the destroyed tree trunk, flinging it with all his might at Sylas. “Then again, now I’m just happy to kick your ass!”
Sylas swung his chains, metal colliding with the thrown trunk to splinter it into nothingness. The flames were rising now, illuminating both men from below. “And why is that, you idiotic brute!? Just happy to be a little cog in the machine? Last I heard, Zaun was in just as dire straits as Demacia! You should be on MY side, not THEIRS!” Sylas flung both arms forward, chains snaking towards C’s head.
Despite crashing into C’s face, the merc didn’t so much as buckle. One hand grabbed the chain, using his overwhelming strength to drag Sylas over. Sylas lifted off the ground, flying towards C. “Oh no, no no no you pissant,” C roared. “YOU don’t want to change anything!” Sylas locked eyes with C, C raising his free hand high over Sylas’s head. “You just want Demacia under new management! So quit…your high and mighty…BULLSHIT!”
Raising his arm just in time, Sylas caught the blow on his petricite gauntlet. Stone cracked as Sylas was slammed into the earth, surrounded by flames. The mage spit, a wad of blood landing in the flame as he looked up at his assailant. C reached down, dragging Sylas up by the heavy brace around his neck. “I shouldn’t expect you to understand. To be given power. To never have to sacrifice anything for it,” Sylas muttered. He looked down, gauging C’s expression.
C glared, seething. The orchard was now a full-on inferno, the two men standing in the center. “Shut your god damn mouth.”
He may not win in strength but Sylas could absolutely best this man in a battle of wits. “Tell me, does the chain hurt around your neck? I almost want you to bring me back. To see the look on your face when you realize you’re just another tool. A sword. No, wait, a sword is elegant. You’re more of a hammer. Maybe just a really heavy stick? I guess it’s true what they say about Zaun: Their tools are like the people. Effective and defective.”
Gritting his teeth, C reeled one hand back, ready to put his full strength into striking Sylas. No words. No enjoyment of violence. Just pure, unadulterated malice. From behind C came a spinning orb of light flying past both him and Sylas. The two men were trapped within orbs of refracted light, C’s grasp being broken as he stumbled back. Second came a disc of light, striking first C and then Sylas. The two men glared at each other, now separated by walls of light.
“ENOUGH,” Lux commanded, moving to stand behind C. “You proved your point and you had your “fun” C. We need to take Sylas and get out of here before the villagers see this fire.”
Sylas glared at Lux. “And you left the others to-“
Her furious gaze turned to Sylas. “They fled. My mission was never to capture innocent people. Just you. They ran. If I had to guess it’s because they knew you’d use them just as YOU used ME.” Venom dripped from her voice, Lux not at all bothered by the churning flames around them. Even as the wind blew the flames closer to where she stood in the orchard, her temper burned much hotter.
For a moment, Sylas looked defeated. His eyes wandered to the side as he let out a gentle exhale. “Little light…”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“Fine. Luxanna. I weep for you.”
“Let me guess, because I’m a cog? Some metaphor for me being trapped!?”
“No. I weep because your naiveté has betrayed you again.”
The ground moved beneath the trio as Lux staggered. She turned just in time to see a young man, one of the mages she had helped flee the barn, with his hands on the ground to manipulate the earth beneath them. Sylas snapped his arm to the side, the chain making contact with Lux’s foot as she was forced closer to the duo. “Sylas! Don’t!” She cried out, realizing he was still bound in her prison of light.
Within one palm, Sylas cradled a shimmering orb of light. The orb began to brighten, Sylas shoving one hand forward. “Now let’s see just how durable you are compared to THIS!”
His red eyes grew wide as C crossed his arms in an X-shape in front of him, saying nothing. The orb shimmered bright before dissipating before a titanic beam of light shot from Sylas’s hand, channeling the full force of Lux’s power. The prison of light shattered as C went flying, his back colliding with Lux to shove the two into the hole made in the now burning barn.
The beam dissipated just as the two landed inside the barn, Lux rolling on the ground as hay and dirt filled her hair. Blood seeped from a cut on her forehead as she gripped the straw on the floor, mind reeling from the impact as she looked to the opening in the barn. Sylas stood before her. The most horrifying thing was that there was no hint of hatred in his eyes. Just bitter sadness. “Don’t!” she cried, knowing exactly what Sylas would do.
“Forgive me.”
The ground shook beneath the barn as the supports holding the wooden building up crumpled beneath the shifting earth. Several hundred pounds of wood fell on both her and C. Lux barely able to shield herself before the rubble nearly crushed her. She clawed forward, eyes watering as soot and smoke filled her lungs. The heat and the smell was unbearable, Lux trying to move only to find that one of her legs was crushed beneath a heavy beam. Tears ran down her face as she watched, barely conscious, as Sylas walked away into the flames of the orchard.
Jolting from her bed, Lux howled in terror. Sweat ran down her face as she sat up. The stench of charred wood and burning dirt was gone, replaced with the gentle fragrance of lavender. The temperature was much cooler, Lux now in a royal chamber of sorts. She looked to a window, spying the faint glow of the sun that kept the room warm but not stifling. As she tried to move she clutched her side, seething. Something was still broken but, oddly, she was alive.
The door opened as Garen came in. The worry on his face was replaced with a stern, unmoving gaze. “You frightened me.”
Lux gave a weak chuckle, shaking her head. “Hello brother. Good to see you.”
“You’re lucky to be alive, you know. Had you not shielded yourself, you likely would have been crushed to death.” Garen’s words were not minced, sparring no gruesome detail about Lux’s close brush with death.
Lux’s eyes narrowed, used to Garen’s terse nature. “And how did you know what happened?”
The door was flung open once more, hitting the wall as C walked in with a cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth. Garen glared. “This…cur….told me.”
“Touchy touchy. You know if your sister wasn’t such a bleeding heart, I could have kicked that guy’s ass. Killed him, maybe, but I’d still kick his ass,” C smirked, placing both hands behind his head.
Garen grabbed C’s coat, dragging C to face him. “If it was up to me, I’d hang you from the gallows for almost killing my sister!”
The grin on C’s face dissipated as he grasped Garen’s scarf, matching his aggressive grapple. “And if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have a sister anymore!”
“Excuse me!?” Lux interrupted, both men looking to her. “You…saved me!?”
Grunting, both men released this grasp. “…Well…” C began:
Just as Lux lost consciousness the wood splintered from below, C emerging from the burning rubble. Breathing heavily, he stared at the retreating Sylas, spikes of wood impaling his entire body. Clutching one in his shoulder he tore it free, aiming to toss the wooden spike like a javelin. His throw was interrupted as he noted something from the corner of his eye.
A pale, bloody hand just beneath the burning wood.
He looked between the fleeing mages, then to the hand. He clenched the wood tighter, ready to throw it before C’s eyes went back to the hand. “God…DAMN IT.” With a furious howl he flung the makeshift spear to the side, turning away from Sylas as he knelt down. Clawed gauntlets dug through the rubble as C flung aside burning wood and roof tiles to get to Lux. “You owe me for this,” he whispered to himself, eyes narrowing as he uncovered the wounded, unconscious Crownguard.
As gentle as the brute could be he leaned down, carrying Lux out of the rubble as he looked to the specks in distance that were Sylas and the geomancer. Gritting his teeth, C turned and ran in the other direction towards Brooksward.
“You…rescued me?”
“The LEAST he could do after almost killing you!” Garen growled.
C turned away from Garen, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth. “Anyways, just wanted to wait until you were alive. Now that you’re not dead, I’m going home. Whole trip was an absolute waste. Not a god damn cent.”
Lux froze up. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. In a choice between her life and his payment, the thug had actually saved her instead of leaving her to die. It went against everything he had spoken about and said he cared about. Her expression stayed like that for several seconds before Lux closed her mouth, shutting her eyes as she took a deep breath. “Before you go, C?”
He paused, turning around to look at her. Lux opened her eyes to look at him. There was something she had mistaken when she thought he was so much like Sylas. The same expression when she had first met the shackled mage. It wasn’t that they were the same person. It was that both of them were putting on a front. Sylas had been hiding his nature to Lux. But C? He was hiding something else. Something that she had missed before. “What the hell do you want?” he asked, glaring at her. He was still a violent, boorish bastard but beneath that, there was a sliver of good in his soul. Maybe even more than that.
Her expression hardened. “Get the hell out of Demacia and never come back.” His eyes went wide, realizing the real meaning too late. She knew. Not even the damned Pilties had seen through him but this “naive” girl knew all too well. His angry expression dissipated into a wide grin.
“Tch. Fine. Good luck with your life, Lux.”
Hiding in a cave, far from Brooksward, Sylas clutched his side. The mages found a frigid but safe cavern to stow away in, a few crates of supplies from those in Brooksward who believed in their cause. Sylas lay against a wall, nursing his bruises and aching body.
An older man, Reginald, pressed a palm to the man’s side. Sylas could feel the healing magic spread outward, numbing the wound as he recovered. Reginald shook his head, his thinning hair shaking as the other mages watched with fear. “We should lay low for now,” Reginald suggested, a fearful look in his eyes. “They’re sending whatever the hell that man was after us.” Fellow mages murmured, agreeing in almost silent voices.
The pained expression on Sylas’s face gave way to one of confidence, the unshackled revolutionary chuckling. “That’s because they fear us.” The mumbling became silent, all eyes on Sylas. “They send monsters to fight us because they know we’re right.”
Sylas reached over, grabbing Reginald’s arm to siphon his power. The regeneration process sped up as Sylas leeched this power, standing before his fellow mages with renewed vigor. He cracked his neck, clenching one fist as his fellow outcasts stared on in both awe and worship.
“Let this be a sign that our revolution has only just started.”
#End