Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends - Chapter 365: Zach

Chapter 365: Zach

Spite

He was a tempest, wind blowing and blade glinting. He shot through the air, avoiding lances of fire—though not all. The shield of his Warden’s armor flared, flashing as it protected him. Erik was floating backwards, unleashing a barrage of different fire powers at him. But it didn’t stop Zach, he reached Erik and triggered Time Stop. The world paused, fire lancing toward Zach froze, but not the fire around Erik. Blue flames met time, Aspect against Aspect. One guided by Zach, his will pulling from the Plane of Time itself, the other fire born from the heart of his opponent. Blue fire that consumed and combusted everything around Erik, whose only purpose was to devour everything as fuel. He felt his opponent’s tenuous connection to his own plane, nothing like Zach’s own, but the Blue Fire still burned, the Air, the Space, even Time itself.

Erik was frozen, but his fire burned and as Zach slashed with his blade he slowed. He was moving only on his own momentum, Time Stop, froze time for all things but Zach himself. And in front of him, he encountered a buffer of… slow moving… something. Air? It bought Erik just enough time for Time Stop to end, but that shouldn’t have mattered. Wind around Zach returned, a raging stream that accelerated him in a moment. His blade sang through the air and… passed just over Erik’s head. The heat hit Zach, and the wind, a blast of air picked him up, sending him far above the clouds in an instant. Zach tumbled as he tried to get the control of the winds back. He realized what had happened. His opponent had unleashed so much heat, that he had superheated the air, creating an updraft that sent Zach above and away from Erik.

|Perfect Mind Training Analysis|

His mind accelerated; possibilities flashed through his thoughts. He arrived at a solution.

The Wind was powerful, but it followed certain rules, currents.

The barrage of flames continued, and many hit his shield, a never-ending stream of blue bolts was filling the sky. Zach danced through the air, stepping through space to avoid them, and then gathered the wind. He sent himself down, flying straight for Erik. And just as his wind hit the stream of hot air, he banished the winds from around him, and continued unguided, a falling object, too fast to be stopped.

The heat made his Warden’s armor activate again, turning Zach into a glowing falling star. Then, just as Zach got near Erik, the fire around him pulsed, and an aura of Azure filled the air. The heat increased tenfold, and his shield burst into nothing. Zach turned his head to the side as the heat pushed through his Telekinetic Armor, cracking it, then did the same for his armor. Heat washed over him, through his armor. He saw Erik’s form turning into fire—the flash blink ability that he had used during their fight in Hastur’s city—he felt the space shiver through his Ripples of Time and Space. Erik’s power was activating. He was going to escape again, and he was too far for Rewind. Zach reached out through his link to the Plane of Time, he imposed his will on the river, forced his time to accelerate and Erik’s to rewind. The river churned at the violation, and he felt the weight of it on his soul. He used For Every Second, Two and allowed himself even more time to think, to make sure his attack was true. The heat intensified around him; the agony prolonged for him. The right side of his face burned inside his helm, a moment stretched and accelerated all at the same time. Then the metal gave way and melted. Half of his face was hit by molten metal; it got into his eye and burned it out of his socket. Temporal Fighting made his attack swing as the start of Erik’s blink was pulled back through time. Dozens of powers, from each of them were pushing against each other, he could feel the strain on the Aspects around them. The territory itself could not contain so much of it. He tried to reach out with |Of Precision and Sealing| to take his powers away and found his will being opposed. He could probably overcome it, but not in time it would take him to finish his attack or Erik to blink away. The aura of the blue flames was stronger than he remembered.

Zach felt his blade connect, then heard a scream of pain. He smashed into the ground, cratering the earth around him. Zach groaned and dug himself up, then peeled away the now cooled metal on his face along with fused skin, then the rest of his helmet. A piece of cloth on his armor was on fire, but Zach ignored it. He turned his good eye on the sky and saw through the blue haze. Erik held his right shoulder, where his arm used to be, his good hand glowing with blue fire as he cauterized the wound.

Combat, true combat; was still a foreign thing for Zach. He had power, and with it came the knowledge that there were very few things in existence that could threaten him. He was the Sage of Time, he had crafted a Way, imposed his will on the world. Time now flowed according to his will, following a pattern that he had created. His first steps in this world were filled with conflict, with combat and death. He had prevailed over the three fresh taken, and he had landed the final blow on the monster that had imprisoned him. But then… he had been empowered, unrelenting. Every fight he had since then had been… without any true danger. Even the explosion caused by the reaction engine had not been a true threat to him personally. It had been the destruction that it had wrought and the lives it had taken that had spurred him to action, that had fueled his growth. Sage of Time, even with his addled mind, the insanity that still danced at the edges of his soul, he knew that eventually, he would master more Aspects, Sage of them All. That future was at the core of who he was, the only question was whether he would succumb to madness and lose himself in his research, or if he would retain it and hold true to his ideals.

But now, he felt it. The knowledge that he could lose. Not here, not now, he had the measure of his opponent now. It would not be much longer, but the burning on his face let him know that even those who were weaker could win. But this was nothing, Erik’s fire was powerful, but ultimately Zach would prevail—there was no doubt in his mind.

He let his willpower unfurl around him, his skills rose to the surface, ready to be used. Next clash would be the last.

Erik seemed to have noticed, realized somehow what Zach was preparing.

“You fucking waste!” Erik roared, surrounded by flames. “I was so close! And once again, you stand in my way!”

“You are oppressing innocents; you take their choice away. I cannot let that continue,” Zach responded.

Erik tilted his head. “Is that why you are here? Because of the fucking slaves?”

Zach didn’t answer, instead he pushed his will into his blade and prepared his strike.

Erik’s entire demeanor changed, and then he turned toward the city. “I might not be able to defeat you, but I don’t need to in order to win.”

Zach narrowed his eye, but before he could react Erik flashed away. Zach blinked into the sky and saw Erik, above the city that was covered in shadows. The deep dark was suddenly illuminated by the light of Erik’s flames. He blinked closer, but not on top of Erik as he didn’t want to trigger his power. The Wind held Zach floating above the city with deep dark shadows pulsing beneath him—he recognizedNaha’s ideal. He was a short distance away from Erik, who was above one of the slave blocks. By the time he realized what Erik was planning it was too late. He wasn’t fast enough.

Erik’s laughter filled the air as he raised his hand to the sky.

—Burning Azure, Thine World To Cinders—

The world turned monochrome; a canvas painted in the colors of blue, of azure. The fire inside the city, the forest outside of it, anything that was on fire had color, all bright blue and unreal. And everything else was dim, colorless almost. Their world was filled with silence, save for Erik’s laughter echoing like thunder. All that fire touched turned to dust, to ash, it crumbled before the color blue. Zach winced as the pain hit his shoulder and he looked to see the fire on his armor turn it to dust, eat at his skin and turn make it crumble into ash. As if it was skipping the actual burning process and going straight to the end product—ash.

He blinked away, leaving his armor behind. He landed on the ground and pulled another armor around him, his shoulder radiating in pain as a piece of it poured out in dust form. Above him, where Erik used to be was a… beautiful sight. Fire no longer looked real, it was a painting, as if someone had splattered the most glorious colors of blue together, and now they had come alive. Swirling and spreading. They poured down like liquid fire spreading over the entire city. He saw towers touched by it, crumbling to cinders immediately upon contact.

He felt at the River of Time, felt a hole opening in the stream where azure fire was devouring everything. He felt the bank of the river forming, a solidified piece of time, an event marking that deserved a monument. He knew what was going to happen, nothing would stop that fire. The entire city, the entire territory would turn to ash.

Zach blinked directly beneath it, then looked up.

His |I Strike Through Time| was infused in his blade and ready. But something told him that it wouldn’t be enough to kill Erik, that these flames would continue regardless. And then… shadows rose from the ground, hands the size of buildings caught the flames, holding them off. The shadow lifted from every part of the city, from around him, he felt it shroud him make him tougher, protecting him.

Shadow met fire and buckled. The fire poured in between the fingers; it burned buildings. The shields around the slave blocks flared. She couldn’t hold it, only slow it, he felt her through their True Link. Felt her resolve, the need to protect. He had to help her. He let his will out and used |Perfect Field of Frozen Time|.

The Shadows trembled as he helped her, then the shadows pulsed. They deepened, strengthened, and then surged.

More hands, more walls, a dome of shadow rose and kept the fire at bay. Zach’s senses told him that the world outside of the city turned to cinders as flames slipped around Naha’s Shadow. He had to stop this. He marshaled his will and plunged it into the River of Time, he dig deep into the bedrock and focused on And So It Was Once Again. The river churned, it raged against him, it was not time yet. He tried to force it, and found his will thrown back at him with such might that it made his mind go blank for a moment. He was not strong enough for that, he didn’t have the effect of the elixir now. He saw that Time had already solidified the event, there would be no rewriting of this.

Zach pulled as much as he could from his connection to time, marshaled his will on his perks and bought himself time. The world around him froze, and he started to think. He would fail here, he had come to save these people and he would not be the catalyst to the events that brought hastened their deaths.

That was not who he was supposed to be.

I will protect the innocent, always.

Those were old words, as old as he was—no, older. Pieces of who he was before.

I will not fail, but I will never stop trying to do good.

I will never stop trying to be better.

Some were more familiar to him than others. He had used them before as pieces to lean on, but they were not spent, of course. They were part of him, the foundations upon which he was built.

I will always move forward.

Always remember the past, even when it hurt.

He had shaped time itself; his will was—

His will reigned here.

And perhaps he could not protect them, perhaps he had been too arrogant and too weak, he allowed this to happen when he could’ve ended it before Erik even attempted it. He let his will pour out through his skill, all of it with abandon, with no care for himself and his own life. That ideal was a power, that fire was power, and all powers could be stifled, could be sealed.

He let the Wind pick him up send him above the buildings and toward the burning death above. He reached out through his skill, through |Of Precision and Sealing|. His range spread, precise and with purpose, he focused on all fire, on all slaves. He reached into their collar, and reached into the fire.

His will reigned here.

And his will was Life and Freedom.

He poured his will and his desires into the skill, he felt it trembling, it wasn’t enough. He tried to force it to evolve and found unable to. To quench the fire and free the slaves, it was not able to do what he wanted. It was too wide of a desire.

Arsenal Infusion: Soul. Zach switched his infusion, and the efficiency of his soul powers increased. He felt the collars tremble, but again, he was trying too much. He was falling through the sky, the wind no longer holding him up. He glared up at the shadows that peeled away to let the azure fire seep through. Neither of them was enough.

Life was not supposed to be so easy to snuff out. So easy to enslave. People with power should be… greater, better than all others. Worthy. How could Erik do this with such ease? After all that Zach imagined he had lived, as Zach had too. A life where he had seen wonders. Even if he believed in what Hastur showed him, how could he still think so little of others? How could none of them see what a gift life was? How beautiful it was, even when it was short. Even without immortality, it was a part of time, forever etched into the banks of the River that will flow until the end of all things. Every grain of sand and every monument on the banks of the river were made by lives, by their experiences and their actions. Every moment they drew breath, they introduced noise, they introduced impetus, they changed things. How was that not beautiful? How did they not see it?

It came to him, from deep inside. A feeling and a desire, born out of loneliness, out of the need to see others safe. To shield others because he could. Because he didn’t want to be lonely again. Because he remembered the pain of loss, even if he didn’t recall the memories.

He was the Lord of Aspects, it was his will to know them, to understand them. He was a learner, a protector, a teacher.

He reached inside as the pieces assembled.

I will protect the innocent, always — because life was precious.

I will fail, but I will never stop trying to do good — because he made mistakes.

I will never stop trying to be better — because he learned.

I will always move forward — because time flowed only in one direction.

Always remember the past, even when it hurt — because there was beauty in the monuments on the river’s banks.

His will reigned here — because he had earned it.

Life and Freedom — because those were the rights of all.

He found it inside, and he brought it out.

—Arcadia—

A white sphere expanded out of Zach, light and protection, freedom. It grew rapidly, covering the city and the sky, it bolstered the shadow and the defensive arrays. It passed through the buildings where slaves laid asleep, and the powers of their collars were suppressed, the connection to their souls snapped and the collars clicked open, falling from their necks. The light spread across the city, over the ground until it covered it in its entirety. Flames inside the city were stifled and snuffed out. And then the light rose to the sky and met azure fire.

For a moment, its spread stopped, the azure flames pushed down on the sphere, burned at the idea of protection. But the Light and Shadow rose and pushed it back. Zach’s ideal touched the flames and stifled them, it rose and denied their power. It kept growing until a half sphere covered the entire city, and there the ideal stopped.

Zach felt the flames beyond try to push through, for a moment, but Shadow and Light held firm. Then, the flames lessened, and winked out. Color returned to the world, and the azure flames painted on the sky faded to regular fire.

Zach looked up, but knew that Erik was gone, escaped again.

He felt… exhaustion hit him. His will largely drained as it supported both his skills and body. He slumped and fell to the ground, landing in a square in front of a slave block on his feet. He sagged, but smiled. He was triumphant.

He felt his ideal try to slip through his fingers, it drained him to keep it up, and so he let it go. The white light faded, and with it the Shadow retreated as well.

Zach’s Ripples of Time and Space went off, five rips in space surrounded him. He acted on instinct and raised his blade arm. A clawed hand clasped on nothing, and Zach turned his good eye on a drake with glowing red eyes, molten lines flowing down his scales, and large black and red wings.

Their eyes met, and the world stopped.