The Howling Dark, Part 4

Two down and two left, That was the current state of affairs concerning Aaron's Protectors. As for Aaron, He had been struggling the entire time to get free from his bonds but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get free but at the same time he wasn't willing to leave his fate in the hands of people he didn't even know no matter how familiar they might seem so he continued to fight with the restraints, hoping the blood flowing from his worn wrists would help him slip free.

At least that was Aaron's plan but nothing he tried seemed to work then he noticed movement in front of him that caused him to pause in his struggle and his eyes widened as what was happening in front of him came into focus.

Aaron's Doppelganger who had apparently been burned to ashes was rising like the proverbial phoenix in wisps of black fog rising up from the ground. In just a few short moments he was whole again and without a scratch.

Cracking his knuckles, The Captain spoke to his fellow protector without looking her way., "Since my water only made things worse I'll stick with my fists and steel."

The lone Female of the group held out her hand., "As much as I would love to see two strapping young lads like yourselves pummel each other while I watch all hot and bothered I think this situation requires a Woman's touch."

He watched as she stretched out her hand and from her palm exploded a horizontal shaft of searing light over six feet wide and in less than a second it struck Aaron's Doppelganger with the **** of a moon colliding with the Earth's surface. Now one would have expected The Other Aaron at best to have been completely obliterated by such an attack and at worst to have simply been thrown backward but the truth is that neither of those possibilities became reality. When the tremendous forces summoned by this Unearthly Beauty impacted with her target it was as if they had collided with an impenetrable wall that they just couldn't get past.

"S̷̰̋͜ë̷̘̱l̵̝̯͇̿̐̄́̊ẻ̷̖̜̼͆̕͝n̷͎̻̞̥̟̿̄ȇ̷̡͙͓̈, Did you get him?," The Captain asked in a concerned tone, a worried expression on his pale face.

She said nothing as the enormous beam of **** continued to pour forth from her palm like an unebbing tide, scorching the air as the whole space rippled and shook from the impact.

The sound of laughter rose above the deafening roar caused by the torrent of energy pouring out of The Beauty's dainty hand seemingly without end. It was not the laugh of a Man or that of a Demon... No it was far more sinister and chilling then something either of those beings could make. Both she and the remaining protector shivered visibly when they saw the ghastly smiling face of The Other Aaron peek out from behind the blast that had been stopped cold in its tracks.

"iS tHaT aLl?!," The inhuman voice asked, Its voice echoing through the closed space like the ominous ring of a tolling bell. It made ones very flesh crawl and bones ache.

"Let's See How Much Longer You Can HOLD ONTO THAT SMILE!," The Ebon Goddess roared and more energy than before begun streaming out of her hand, warping the air and distorting the space as it slammed into its intended target with the intensity of a supernova.

After several seconds of withstanding the tremendous energies assaulting him, The Other Aaron was beginning to be pushed back. The hand he had used to halt the blast was beginning to char and smoke but he showed no signs of pain or concern.

"YoU'Ll HaVe To Do BeTtEr ThAn ThAt!," The eerie, ear-splitting whisper ripped through the air like a meat hook through a frozen pork shoulder.

"Too Close! The Voice Is Too Close!," Thought The Goddess as her crimson eyes widened in abject horror. She hadn't felt any give or pushback until the moment she heard the last step. Following the immense stream of energy was a series of small foot-sized craters.

Emerging from the fountain of energy still gushing from her palm was a dark figure with blindingly radiant gold eyes and a hideous smile full of sharp, knife-like teeth., "EnTeRtAiN Me MoRe!"

The figure raised its muscled arms and brought them down with the speed of a falling tree, intent on smashing its prey to dust.

"Not so fast!," Called The Captain as a wall of water sprung up between The Other Aaron and The Ebon Goddess. It wasn't much of an obstacle but it bought her enough time to dodge backwards and avoid being flattened though where she had been standing just a second ago was now utterly destroyed. The depression left being was deeper than the height of a grown Man and large enough to hold a small ocean.

Her compatriot's quick thinking had bought her some time but she had precious few seconds to react aside from the initial instinctual dodge.

"YoU'Re MiNe!," Came the hungry growl of the beast in the shape of a Man as it once again prepared to descend upon her like a Bird of Prey.

"Not Likely Loverboy!," The Ebony Goddess exclaimed with a smirk, snapping her fingers in The Beast's face. A sound like a mountain crumbling exploded all around them and a white hot light brighter than the sun flashed. There was a pained inhuman screech and the creature in the shape of a Man disappeared.

All was quiet for some long seconds then...

"Treacherous BITCH!," A voice exclaimed in a harsh, raspy whisper.

The Goddess whipped around to face her not yet vanquished foe., "That's Queen Bitch To You MONSTER!," She roared, holding out her hands as a volley of softball-sized energy blasts slammed into the rather haggard-looking Doppelganger.

If there had been any daylight one would have had an unobstructed view of it through the more than 10 grapefruit-sized holes all over The Doppelganger's mangled and mutilated body but as bloody and broken as he appeared to be he did not fall even while half a lung continued to try to take breath from the stale air swirling around it and the pitiful remains of its heart beat in a slow, lazy rhythm.

He was healing albeit at a much slower pace than before., "Ungrateful Witch!," The Doppelganger hissed, a mouthful of blood rushing past his pale blue lips., "Have You No Respect For Your BETTERS?!!"

Aaron had been watching everything and as much as he wanted to demand answers now really wasn't the time. Not that he could anyway... Both his mind and senses were having difficulty taking in everything that was happening around him which wasn't surprising really in fact if Aaron had grown up a normal well-adjusted individual he probably would have already lost control of his bowels, had a heart attack, or both but as it stood his somewhat stunted emotional growth was working in his favor.

Again not surprising. Not many know it but when you spend the majority of your life on the precipice of **** just an inch away from the edge something deep inside of you changes. Something fundamental and integral to the nature of all living creatures. Aaron may be unusual but he was no different in this regard. Being so close to **** for so long and being acutely aware of it had caused something in Aaron's core to shift and change rendering him insensitive or even numb in some aspects of his life and emotional experience. Many would consider that sad but it was something that had saved Aaron on a number of occasions and in others like now it had allowed him to retain a sense of calm and to think clearly even though the situation unfolding around him was utterly alien in just how bizarre it was.

Aaron's Doppelganger lashed out, its arm stretching and distorting like a whip as it cut through the air. The Pirate Captain sensing the **** danger was the first to react, rushing toward his Female Compatriot and shoving her out of the way.

"Forgive Me My Lady!...," Yelled The Captain, shielding The Goddess with his body. The razor-sharp whip sliced through his heavy coat revealing layer upon layer of diamond hard iridescent scales which were the only things keeping him from being cleaved completely in two. The shadowy whip had cut cleanly through several layers of the overlapping fish-like scales while others had been cracked or dented from the sheer level of ****.

With a grunt of pain, The Sea-faring Pirate Captain had been slung into the distance with a loud thud.

The Doppelganger resembled more than anything else a Demon as it closed in on The Goddess who was preparing to attack when The Deformed Entity suddenly froze, a clear and determined voice rang out from the distance., "The Price of Freedom Is ETERNAL VIGILANCE!," and it turned with a toothy sneer to see The Captain picking himself up and drawing his sword, pointing it toward the writhing mass of shadow and malice in front of him, a thin wave of crimson trailing in its path.

The Dashing Pirate stood tall and straight but it was obvious that he was injured, even so his sword arm was steady as a rock. He cut a rather imposing figure but it was his sword that was the real center of attention. There was no more beautiful or meticulously crafted sword in all of history than the one he was currently holding in his hand. It was a Masterwork Mithril Rapier said to have been created by the famous Master Swordsmith Lorenzo De Augustino. It was truly a masterpiece from the lightweight and perfectly balanced 39-inch straight, double-edged blade featuring a thin, diamond profile that tapered down to a point with its 1250 layer twisted gold leaf patterned Damascus steel coated in a one-of-a-kind self-renewing vellum laminate to the intricately detailed spiral-shaped guard, Two sidebars, rear and front Quillon, knuckle bow, and hand-carved 2,000 Year Old twisted ironwood handle with an elaborately ornate squidhead pommel adorned with many valuable jewels.

Spending much of his life raiding and pillaging as a Gentleman of The Seas, The Dashing Captain was a skilled fighter and swordsman not to mention a veteran of many battles and conflicts but even if he weren't, The sword he held was imbued with numerous enchantments and the eye-like orb embedded in the base of the pure white blade would serve to smooth out or eliminate any weaknesses he might have. The only question was would it be enough... After all, The Foe he and his fellow protectors were facing was not by any means a simple one to deal with.

While The Doppelganger's attention was focused on The Pirate Captain, The Priest had gotten to his feet and made his way over to check on The Goddess. He managed to summon enough strength to heal her injures and helped her to her up.

"R̷̯͚̈́̔o̸͔͓͎̓͑̾͛k̸̫͔̾̃e̵̼͖̞̾ģ̸̱̈͂̒̈́̕ͅ are you alright?," Asked The Goddess in a concerned but still enchanting tone., "What about your injures?"

"They are nothing to worry about.," The Priest replied demonstrating his pride.

"Lair!," Quipped The Goddess with a slight smirk.

"You wound me My Lady.," The Priest quipped back without pause before stepping forward., "Possibility Sense... Sense Weakness!"

The Priest's eyes glowed and darted from side to side as if he were reading something at high speed while The Doppelganger turned suddenly and stared angrily at The Priest.

"Anything?," Asked The Goddess tentatively.

The Priest's tone was grave as he gave his answer., "I can't find any path to victory and I'm not sensing any weaknesses. I don't think we can win this fight."

"True...," The Goddess stated in a somewhat dispirited but honest tone.

"But we knew that coming in.," Added The Captain who with a running jump leaped over Aaron's Doppelganger and landed between The Priest and The Dark-skinned Goddess with effortless grace. He threw an arm around his two comrades and motioned with his head over his shoulder to their still **** fourth comrade., "I'm just surprised that the little psychopath over there decided to join us on this suicide mission... Always thought he was smarter than that."

The Goddess straightened up and shrugged off her comrade's arm saying., "It may be suicide and The Gods know he has his share of problems but C̷͍͖̣̫̜͕̰̦͓͂͂͊̕ͅà̶̡̜̊̊͆̄̔̏̒̈́͘l̶̡͙̹̪̙͙̬͉͎̎́͊̋̅̕ is still one of us."

The Captain in a rather brazen and bold move flicked her nose saying., "I know that Princess. No need to get so upset. He may be unstable but he is one of us just as you say. I wish he were awake right now... We sure could use his summons right about now."

She angrily puffed up her cheeks but didn't say anything though it was obvious to anyone that there was **** in her gorgeous red eyes.

"That's not likely. His internal injuries are worse than mine. The Mana Exhaustion alone is bad enough but he was under significant strain when the backlash hit.," The Priest sighed, thick beads of sweat were dripping from his forehead., "He'll be lucky to survive."

"Nonsense!," The Pirate Captain bellowed., "He's on the same boat as the rest of us."

"I hate to say it but the big lunkhead is right.," The Goddess snickered.

"HEY!," The Captain yelped.

"There There... Its alright.," Said The Priest in a comforting if somewhat condescending tone as he patted his friend's shoulder.