The Clash of Sun & Shadow: Part Two

"I must say, I am impressed."

With the coming of the smooth accented voice, Lugh's heart nigh-on fell out of his chest as a shambling form stepped out from behind him. You strolled out into the Storm King's eyeline, skin torn, bones shattered, twisted like a gnarled oak...

Despite this, the clicks and pops of snapped appendages correcting themselves seemed to deeply unnerve the Mortal warrior.

As your fingers straightened out, you brandished the long haft of Lugh's spear, admiring its craftsmanship "A worthy weapon, I've never had much need for them myself but you're making a good argument for them. Even without it, You are the first man to ever land a blow on me since my ****, it is no small feat."

"I... I... I've levelled entire clans, felled undead lords with blows that hard... no no this can't be real, you can't be this? M-Mother... you said I'd have the strength to bring the gods themselves to heel. I-I don't understand?" Lugh muttered in horror.

You glowered down at him, disgusted with his pouting driving the bottom of the decorated spear into the dirt at your feet as the torn skin on your face drew closed. "Do not weep in the dirt like a worm. You call yourself King but submit so easily when the weight of your people's hopes hangs heavy on your shoulders. None who call themselves my kin may wallow in self-pity, get up and take up your spear, mortal.... or perhaps, testing the flavour of your family members might serve as some motivation?"

Lugh's gleaming eyes clawed up from the mud, sparkling with silent wrath "Leave my family, out of this." digging his fingers into the dirt, his arms shook as they **** his body upright.

"The only way that will happen, is if you defeat me." You whispered pleasurably, as he pulled himself up the shaft of his rooted spear, forcing his broken body into a battle stance.

"Then I vow, that today will be the last day that you walk this earth. I swear it on the blood of my brothers, my sisters, my daughters and my sons. I swear it on the quiet moon, the blazing sun, the staggering storm. I am Lugh of the long arm, and in the name of-"

You waved a dismissive hand "Yes yes, for goodness sake. Cease your tongue wagging and show me this great king you've been boasting of!"

The Storm King finally snapped at your disinterested mockery. The Skies opened, the clouds torn asunder as the astral power of the mighty sun flooded the now desolate grove with light.

...You slipped a hand behind your back, the small slice made on the cold flesh of your thumb dripped with dead blood. You watched King Lugh draw more and more strength, smiling subtly as the smallest whisper escaped your lips...

"Dragon's Breath: Flourish"

An eldritch hum grbgbew in the air, evolving into a roar before soaring into a screaming yowl. Gravity itself seemed to bend as Lugh's aura pushed beyond the reaches of the reaches of space, bathing all around him in a golden glow.

You raised a claw to cover your eyes, offended by the luminance of the sun which seemed to become one with the Descendant Warrior.

"COMMUNION!!!!" his voice filled the space, spanning an echo that strode out from all directions.

The broken figure you'd created had vanished entirely, replaced by a great golden warrior surrounded by the snapping bolts of gold wrought from the perfect communion of all the descendant threads. With his wounds now tightly closed, and his mortal body pushed to new heights, Lugh stared you down.

"...There he is." You spoke lowly, facing what finally could be your match on the battle-scarred field.

So began the clash, worthy of the gods. With the slip of each blow delivered by the haft of the Long arm spear, came the thundering boom of unrelenting momentum, each strike from Lugh was as if a cloud of striking serpents lept from a blur of gold and steel.

Ferocious as he was and ten-fold the speed and strength, each thrust found themselves sliding away harmlessly or caught in an unbreakable grip, allowing you to unleash a fierce counter.

With fists and talons, you struck through the embers, aiming to slice away at the vital organs. But the foreign warrior proved far too cunning in his current state to easily injure.

Easily predicting your movements, he swung and coiled away, dodging with such precision that he seemed almost untouchable.

Realing his spear mid-air, dual palms, hard as rock closed around your ears cracking both of your ears and filling your head with a staggering ring. Lugh reunited with his weapon, the serpent lept out to strike at your throat but with a quick step back it did nothing but kiss away the skin on your cheek.

Dazed, you felt the whirling of wood in the air soaring downward, to sweep your ankles from beneath you. A wrecking ball smashed into your belly, the heel of Lugh's kick sending you streaking off into the air.

He did not stop even as you were airborne, dashing after you, rising higher and higher so that all that could be seen was the leaping shadow cast against the gleaming globe of gold in the sky.

And as he came down upon you, the bite of his blade stepped into your chest and the crack of the earth filled the aether with dust. As your hearing began to return, the hiss of trees collapsing and bedrock creaking oozed in from above, once again you were stranded in darkness, entombed within the crater.

Tensing the muscles in your back slightly, the **** sent you rocketing up back into the light. You waved a hand about your face, for the air had become dense with the ruble.

Striding forward into the clear, Lugh was there waiting for you, a vexed disappointment unlike no other painted on his sharp features. You raised an eyebrow "What's with that look? do I have something on my face?" You asked before peering down, jolting as you saw a hard long pole emerging from your chest "OH! Hahaha, pardon me, I thought I felt a bit of a tickle."

With one hand you gripped the spear impaled in your chest, pulling it slowly through your chest cavity until it popped out of the frayed hole in your flesh "Blast, these stains are never gonna come out."

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Lugh appeared before you in the blink of an eye, sending several punches into your chest, sternum and face all of which boomed with the **** of a charging rhinoceros. His fingers tried to snatch at this spear in your hand, but you were growing fond of it.

"You know, I've always thought weapons to be barbaric, but I must admit, the thought of one is really growing on me-"

"...FUCKING DIE!!" Lugh snatched at the haft of his weapon while throwing his head into your face simultaneously, He succeded in retrieving his blade although his head cracked against your unbreakable skul making him stumble backwards, a stream of blood flooding down his face.

You bit your lip, the smell of his blood was so divine, finer than any you'd likely tasted in many a century. But you shook your head, there would be time for that later...

The spurt of crimson came from more than just his headwound, Lugh stumbled wheezing again as his own power began to eat away at his flesh. A torrent of red, green and brown lept from his jaws, splattering on the floor as he struggled against the boundaries of his mortality. "No... no not yet, not now!" He gargled with collapsing lungs.

"Oh I agree. Not yet." You reached out, plucking the skin from your thumb once again, drawing the rune you had painstakingly forged all those years ago, and once again whispered "Dragon's Breath: Flourish."

The Golden light bathed Lugh once again, and he looked down in confusion as his wounds began to close, his strength slowly returning as he got up to his feet "What? but why?"

You looked at him coyly, as the mangled flesh in your chest crawled back into itself "Pity mostly. come on, one last chance. It has been so long since I felt the inevitable loom of defeat. forget the constraints of the mortal coil, only then will I allow you the bliss of an honourable ****."

Lugh stared, He seemed... quieter, more focused. It had truly been far to long since anyone had made you feel anything real, these days much of who you really were was long lost. What was the purpose of a Dragon who could do nothing but sit on his hoard for the rest of his days, and dream of a past where his scales could still be broken?

The Mortal King stepped back and poised himself for the grand finale. The flash, like lightning, was nigh on blinding. You watched joyfully in the nanoseconds that crept by, adoring the image of the gleaming king before you, thus came the barrage befitting that of an immortal.

Four thrusts came down upon you, like the hammer of dawn itself, they rent away both of your arms and your legs. Fountains of dark blood slithered through the air, the agony of it was beyond imagining, but relieved of your limbs as you were all you could do was laugh as you watched the sliver of silver steel drawn back.

Lugh's eyes and mouth were wide as he roared in a manic frenzy, embraced fully by the heat of battle his arm bulged with the power of a god and bathed in the light of the heavens... the tip of steel closed in between your eyes.

Your chest thumped, your skin flush with goosebumps as an old friend took hold of you, one you had not had the pleasure to meet since the night of your rebirth...

Fear.

Your thoughts became numb, and all of your senses were ripped out of the back of your head. Plunged into darkness, you pondered on just why Alex would betray his word.

He swore to you that no man would suffer at his hand on his pilgrimage, that he would shed blood only to feed when necessary.

It was difficult to think when the majority of your hippocampus was crushed by steel, but one thing kept circling your mind "He kept his oath in a way... It was the Leech plague that did the damage. My boy, you are cunning indeed, but nonetheless, you will have to answer for what you have done."

The sentiment began to wander back into your nerves, and a newfound life began to buzz within. There you were hanging like a limbless ragdoll from the tip of your enemy's spear, and yet you felt the phantom power of a colossal stoked within.

Lugh had been laughing, cherishing his victory when the light from above began to slip away. The clouds flooded in, dark and boiling, the rumble of a wrathful storm shook the world.

He shook his head, wordless as the landscape darkened, the sun blotted out as the body of his foe began to slowly twitch.

The black blood dripping from the mangled sockets of your arms and legs began to thicken like tar. Your whole body began to shimmer and resolve, rising like smoke as Lugh yelped with horror.

"Thank you, Lugh.... for thissssss gift." the dripping shadow of your body, twisted and warped, growing larger and thicker, longer and stronger... until your midnight scales, flexible, lethal became tangible.

In the form of the gigantic snake you wound around the body of Lugh's spear with the speed of the undead - *Crack*

Constricting your lean serpentine form, the wood of the long haft splintered as it was broken in two. A long hiss erupted as your maw opened, forked tongue wriggling as in an instant you struck, sinking your venomous fangs into the Mortal Warrior's throat.

He could do nothing but gasp, as you struck once, twice and three more times all about the neck and chest. Lugh reeled back, huffing as you erupted into a dark cloud, its body splitting off into a hundred others.

"AHHHHHHH!" He screamed as the swarm of bats whisked him up into the air, biting and clawing at his flesh before casting him back down to the earth where his body landed with a sickening crunch.

Smashing down into him, you began to reform standing over him. Lugh was barely able to lift his head as you floated above him. He watched as your stray limbs melted into black ooze, slithering up to your torso and re-attaching themselves one by one until your towering body of shadow stood as if brand new.

Even mangled as he was, Lugh **** himself up again shakily... you could hear the broken bones grinding in his ribs and spine, yet he stood drawing back his fist.

He threw it forward with impressive speed, for a dead man. But you were beyond such silly constraints, instead, the wound you'd made in the blink of an eye allowed you to paint a freshly scarlet symbol on your lips.

"Frozen Scales."

The Icy storm of deathly cold filled your chest, which you unleashed in a bellowing gale the whirlwind of channelled breath frosting over, Lugh's tattooed arm making it go pale and rigid in seconds.

A silent cry of pain was branded upon his face, as you grasped his frozen wrist and slammed your elbow into his shoulder.

The broken pieces clattered in the dirt like glass, the thousands of shards blowing in the wind. Lugh was clearly in shock, wordlessly mumbling as you pressed down harder on him, the hunger rising within.

You curled your lips, allowing the cuts in your cheeks to remain unclosed so that you could gather your ichor on your tongue. You spat at him, sending the bloody saliva hurtling through the air like freshly loosed arrows which tore through the muscles of his right leg.

"Eugh!" He grunted, still clearly in shock as you grinned at him, raising your hand to show the symbol painted on your palm.

"Dragon's blood: Exploding blood."

The tiny droplets in the saliva were all you needed, and Lugh ignited, blowing up as if a black powder bomb was lit beneath him.

Lugh, the mighty King of the sun and the storm rained from the sky. The rest of his arms, parts of his femur and feet... until his torso, splatted in a pool against the destroyed trunk of a scotched tree.

Misting over to the leggless, armless mess painted on that blackened stump, You knelt beside him as the black clouds above began to clear.

Lugh wretched, red oozing down his jaw. He opened one of his eyes, peering at you. "...Y-You... Y-You chrafty.... owld bashtard."

You chuckled "You are a tough one, I'll give you that."

"Ayech... Ayech... Kill'd... hchou." He gargled.

"Yes you did kill me, but I did warn you, I am banished from ****." You answered honestly. "still I find myself grateful, it has been far too long since I've been blessed with a worthy foe."

What remained of Lugh, nodded absently... or maybe it was just his head swaying on a broken neck. "Yourch... G-gonna, Tchake M-My Schoul?"

"That's right, you'll have your own chariot into hell with me my boy. But I am not unkind, you have earned the right to make a request of me if that is your wish."

He nodded weakly... struggling to think over the pain "...Mych, B-Bodych... Tchake eit, bach too... Mych, Family... ugh ch... Bach to mu-mych Hchome."

"I swear it. I swear it on Lugh god of the Sun and the Storm. All the peoples of your homeland shall know your name, and know that you nearly put the greatest of the undead on the path to hades." You spoke softly.

You were surprised as he reached out, grasping your tattered robe with fractured fingers, pulling you in "Your... Youhll... kchill, us all... yourch power, tche Purestch Schoul...... it will... end tche worldch."

"I know." You muttered, "But when that day finally comes, I'll be ready. All thanks to you."

"W-Whatch?" He grumbled, the life slipping further and further away with each second. You pressed a cold white talon against his lips.

"Shhh sh sh sh shhhh no more talk. Save that strength, you will be ambrosia."

"Ah!-" He tried to make a sound but your skin had drawn tight, and eyes burned red. The Frenzy closed around his neck burying twin ivory fangs directly into his jugular vein. Oh the sweet nectar that flowed, thick and red a flavour unlike any other.

A splash of sunlight, it was pure and untamed. You saw his mother's face: dark-haired and golden-eyed. The fragrant smells in his village, the soft lullabies that would lull him to sleep as a child. It was all in the taste and texture of his blood.

But when you delve deeper, really put the pressure on, there is something deeper than that. The Soul, there it flickers like a flag in the wind, like a falling star anchored in place.

You pluck it out, everything collapses in. No afterlife for you in that instance, an eternity of servitude. What once was the dancing king Lugh was now little more than a husk.

Wrinkled and completely still he lay like an unwrapped mummy in a sarcophagus. His tattoos no longer bulged on his bicep but stained a spindly arm, which would never again be lifted.

You'd never seen a finer sight.

Standing up you gazed at the battle-scarred landscape. On a whim you quickly found the spear lodged in a tree from the blast. You reached out, pulling it from the gnarled wood and inspecting the gleaming spearhead "Still sharp"

Perhaps a weapon was in order... you called "Rosaria."

"Groli? (Granfer?)" there she was, standing casually by your side, great mane of red-orange curls and all. She was like a porcelain doll, cold and white like marble. Her ruby red lips pursed, the every watchful pale blue eyes snagged on Lugh's wretched form. "K'ahris slras y'sul, Groli (I was wrong to doubt you)."

"Onnock (Exactly)." You chuckled.

She shuffled over to him, inspecting the job you'd done. She jolted back as his scent hit her nostrils. "He lives?" She asked, a mild disgust curling her upper lip.

"Just about. You are to take Balneux and Anotinetta, and head west." You had decided, you did keep your word on this one, family deserved that much.

"With this, thing?" She asked callously.

You tried not to frown at her, her father did that plenty... the joy had been chased out of him "He is a Child of Shadow, our kin by blood."

"That is impossible?" Rosaria muttered in quiet disbelief.

"When the Blood God comes for us and have no doubt, Petal, He will. We must expect the impossible. It has allowed the creation of these Descendants to foil us." You pondered out loud.

Rose seemed apprehensive "But I do not understand, Granfer. Why aren't you just destorying them... what purpose could thin-bloods like them possibly serve?"

"Do not be so quick to underestimate your foe, do not even consider them foes. We do not conform to their simple games, our thoughts must be elevated in order to maintain our kingdom and stride unfettered by the web of fate.

We musn't play our life like chess, Petal, it is never so cut and dry."

"Then what do you suggest we do? Father..." She hesitated, a rare thing for her "...He is losing his mind, The Blood-God pursues you and we are set to lock ourselves away, just in a much more polished coffin?"

You knelt down to her level, placing each bloody hand on her shoulders "The world is an egg, little petal, we shouldn't just dance across its surface. the fun is in cracking it open and tasting its delights."

Rose nodded knowingly, luckily she knew better than to roll her eyes at her king "Never suffer fools and live life deliciously, I know. You're so stupid, Granfer." She spoke in her cold tone.

Your life filled the grove "And you're a cold little shit, but we'll make an Inquisitor of you yet."

The girl stared absently, it was slightly disheartening. Slowly, you moved in wrapping your cold arms around her teenage form, drawing her into a loving embrace “I am proud of you, little petal. Your father will come around, I swear it. You will be the best of us, and as long as I stand, I will always love and protect you.”

Her arms raised as if to return your embrace, but her uncertainty seemed to stop her.

You parted from your granddaughter, hiding the sadness in your chest.

“Oh my sweet petal, I can never repent for what I’ve taken from you” you thought.

“do as I ask, take him, take him to the Moores of the West and your training within the Inquisitorial core shall begin.”

Rose nodded resolutely and bowed in respect “Yes, your majesty.”

After there was only emptiness where Rosaria once stood and the shrivelled form of Lugh was taken from beneath the crushed oak, you called out again. Although this time, you prepared yourself for resistance “Valerica”

The dust was swept up from the craters you’d made in the skirmish before you felt a tall, powerful presence step out from behind you.

Valerica folded her arms, peering around at the rampant destruction you had caused “You should have let me help.”

“Perhaps…” you agreed “but it was not your fight.”

“We are no longer mere children, Granfer, our power is unrivalled. Only you stand above our might” she said in passionate resentment.

“Pft you are still only tadpoles in comparison to myself and Alucard.”

She shifted uncomfortably “I will not know him by that pathetic moniker, he should stand on his own merit”

You laughed then shortly, putting an arm around her shoulder… luckily, Valerica shifted inward resting her head on you. Good to know that not all the girls were entirely spoiled yet “I am entrusting you with an important task.”

The crimson-haired girl stepped back, clearly excited “A Mission, to the outside?”

“None of the rest of the court can know, and you must be discreet. Swear it to me.” You couldn’t have the others privy to this newfound threat, not yet, not before you learned its deepest secrets.

“Of course, I swear. Who am I eliminating, or… don’t tell me it’s simple fetch work, Granfer you know how I hunger for a real challenge, please don’t send me out looking for a bunch of magic rods again!” She complained but you guessed her with a gesture.

“This mission will require much subterfuge, no going on a needless warpath this time.”

She seemed slightly vexed by this, Valerica was a born warrior, she wanted nothing but the chance to prove herself, luckily her obedience overshadowed her recklessness “Who am I hunting?”

“The Stranger had a brother…. His name…” you flicked your tongue around the inside of your mouth reminding yourself of the flavour's hidden secrets “his name is Draco, you are to find him and lure him here, he is to remain unspoiled, understand?”

Valerica huffed “yes I suppose. After all that theatre with this… Lugh person, why draw more vermin here?”

I’m reality you weren’t entirely sure yet, but if Cain wanted to craft your ultimate adversary then perhaps such a tool meant to destroy you could be just what you needed to push back?

“Curiosity. Just, please, treat the mortals gently. The Grande Charade must be upheld,” You eventually said.

“There is no need to doubt me, Granfer, I will see it done.” She swore loyally.

“I do not doubt, Rica..." You muttered.

She nodded, excited to finally venture out into the world after a lifetime of solitude and rushed away to complete her task.

Your steps carried you up the mountain at an entirely human pace, you filled your memory with this battlefield, memorizing every crack, every battered crevice and wounded tree. However as you reached the foot of the mountain, a pause came over you.

Standing there, looking very confused and pale.... was a young man, one that eeked out a strange feeling of nostalgia. You continued walking on, seeing the shock and horror in his eyes as you drew closer.

His clothes were awfully strange, and he was white as ash, and couldn't have been feeding properly for a long while. You marvelled at how he rippled like the ghost of an oasis in the desert.

"Don't say anything. I'd like my fate to remain a surprise," you called as He swivelled, looking around frantically despite his eyes always magnetically returning to you.

Stepping beside him, you couldn't help but lightly grin "Good to know I don't lose the looks. I'd forgotten what wet behind the ears looked like, you aren't ready to step between the schism if you cannot even look upon me. Either way, you had better be paying attention."

He tried to speak, but you moved past him before he could, nothing that black-haired, golden-eyed reflection of Futures past would hear from you would help his case, he needed to discover it on his own, just as you did.

Although You had a strong suspicion, that in a way, you'd see plenty of his world someday too.

Before the minute had passed, you were back in your chambers where only Elizabeta remained, reading one of the books from your vast library "Elizabeta, get your head out of my books, and get the forge ready!"

She jolted, standing promptly "G-Granfer? the forge you say? but it's been cold for hundreds of years, what could we possibly use it for now?"

Your smile grew wider than ever "I've found myself becoming green with envy, it was about time that we forged a Blade, worthy of the Sun and the Storm."