Realms of Gods

             Elozar stood heavy cloaked and bloodied. The smell of death washed across the battlefield. One dead god and a thousand dead humans. His white hair was now weeping red—a color that it would retain till it reflected another color or his thoughts became pure. Marvae—the only one left on earth he could love and trust—was now dead. Her body lay a few steps away from him with a Sword of Exile through her heart. She took the wielder of the Sword down with her, he thought, Honor Before Death.     YOU LET HER DIE                                                                                                                                                            No                                                                                                                                                                                 YOU ARE WEAK                                                                                                                                                             No, it was not my fault!  A drop of rain rolled down Elozar’s cheek, smearing the blood on his face. There had been no rain on earth for a quarter of his existence, a pretty long time. Did the sky weep his pending demise or rather were these showers of joy? If there was any remorse from the sky gods it would be because Marvae has transcended.  These people don’t give up easily. Humans. Mortals. Always clinging to false hope—fed by those whose only goal is to control every facet of the mortal mind. A thousand bodies lay dead on the battle field yet these mortals sustain their stupidity. A resolve so strong he found almost honorable. Ha! Nothing of honor among the human folk. He envied the human folk for one thing nevertheless; Death. Their death came swiftly with only a slice of his double-bladed scythe—LifeBringer. He had lost count of the obsidian steel arrows he had pulled from his body since the battle began and yet death was but far from him. However, he needed to be careful because if another brave man ran a Sword of Exile through his heart, he would join Marvae in Calsia and drink with the fallen gods. It seemed however that the humans had just one Sword, which he left in Marvae’s body at his feet, careful not to pull it out so her body would not turn to stone.  Another arrow ran through Elozar. Right, he thought, this was still a battle. Marvae died with a smile on her face. She knew he would finish this. She knew he would bring the age of man to an end. So, he would not let the humans kill him.         AVENGE MARVAE                                                                                                                                                                                     For once, he could agree with the thoughts of his ever tormenting Avatari. He closed his eyes gripping his double-bladed scythe with more of pain than power, god aura rising from his skin enveloping him. He knew what was coming. He knew the few left of the ten thousand humans sent were doomed. He could feel his Avatari brimming with excitement. LifeBringer split in two as he took a deep breath. Elozar’s eyes opened. He concentrated his god aura to his legs as he leaped to the skies toward the first unfortunate group of humans running towards him. He came down with a cross s***h from both scythes that was powerful enough to leave an X shaped depression in the earth. The men who survived the s***h found themselves falling deep into the gully. He turned towards his next victims, just in time to catch an obsidian steel arrow intended for his shoulder with his teeth. Avatari gave a troubling smile through Elozar to the archer. Fear overcame the archer as Elozar approached him and his companions. They turned to flee and Elozar decided in that moment to activate Mover. He immediately phased and appeared directly in the new direction his enemies had turned to flee. “All of you, will die”, Elozar said peacefully to them. He sent aura to his left arms and with a swing of LifeBringer, he cut the men down except the archer who he stabbed with the arrow he had carried with his mouth, the force of the stab doing more damage to the archer’s chest than the arrow itself. He moved on to the next group, and the next, and the next, each time sending aura to the part of his body which he needed overwhelming strength. He could feel his Avatari feeding off the screams and the pain. But he needed to do this. He needed to be able to face Marvae in Calsia. To tell her he executed her killers.   Elozar noticed there were only about a hundred left now and among them was the human commander. He could tell from what he thought was an insanely foolish cape they made him wear to stand out. Elozar let the aura flow through every part of his being as anger became his muse. He activated Mover and—as usual—felt a slight disorientation immediately he phased and came face to face with the commander. The commander was put off for a few seconds as he did not expect Elozar to reach him that fast but his reaction time was fast as he immediately swung his huge obsidian steel axe to clash with Elozar’s scythe blades. Elozar was a little surprised that they were almost evenly matched. The human commanders always had blessings from god rejects that made their power extraordinary. This of course, was of little value when facing an actual god and Elozar knew that.  The commander leaped back and got in a defensive position. Elozar charged in with his scythes knowing no man could successfully block an attack from both of them. That was his first mistake. The commander suddenly changed stances and attacked the blind spot Elozar had left wide open when he swung his scythes. Elozar redirected his aura to protect that spot from the terrible speed and strength at which the commander came at him but the blade still sunk in deep. This commander was very experienced, Elozar thought. Elozar stared into the eyes of the human and saw hate. The hate that has burnt in all mortals for the god kind since the inception of time. The commander made one mistake however, that was getting within range of Elozar’s scythes. Elozar reattached both scythes to make them one again and with swift motion, he rotated them, severing one of the arms of the commander.     The commander leaped back again but Elozar was one step ahead, using Mover to phase after the commander, grabbing his throat whilst in midair. Elozar was about to slam him to the floor when something flashed across his eye. Before he could react, a morning star hit him right on the left side of his face, shattering his eyeball. He flew a few good feet not letting go of LifeBringer before hitting the sand. Elozar stood to his feet and realized he had been fighting an imposter. He had fallen for such a simple trick by going for the soldier—probably an assistant—in the blue cape. Maybe the humans deserve more credit than I give them.  Elozar turned to face his new foe who wielded a morning star with a long chain at its end. The imposter with the blue cape joined up with the real commander. A two on one aye? The commander made the first move as he flung his morning star into the air, rotating it to find its target—Elozar. The imposter—who was too good to be a mere soldier—ran toward Elozar. His Avatari let out a laugh as Elozar ran and skidded across the ground then phased. Elozar appeared, still skidding toward the imposter and with LifeBringer rotating, he cut off both his legs. The imposter screamed with pain as Elozar phased again and this time was on the commander with one of the blades of LifeBringer kissing his neck. Elozar gazed upon the life that was now at his mercy. He showed no mercy. He took the commander’s head off by slowly pressing his scythe down.  The rains stopped but the skies were not clear yet.  The soldiers that had waited honorably began to run toward Elozar with bloodlust in their aura. Elozar raised LifeBringer to the skies. “I do not own the scythe; the scythe owns me. I do not wield your power; your power wields me. I call upon The True Harbingers of Death”, he bellowed with trembling power in his voice.  Darkness enveloped the battlefield as cloaked figures began to appear. Soul Reapers­, each bearing an unbreakable scythe screaming death. Elozar looked away as the screams of men began and intensified. He knew too well how it felt to have your aura reaped from you. A lifeless husk all that remained.  The Soul Reapers disappeared when the screaming stopped and Elozar could finally see the last soldier standing or in this case, crawling. The Soul Reapers always leave one person. One witness? He wondered. “Family” the last human soldier begged.  Elozar smiled with blood stained teeth, “I would kill them too”. He walked up to him and drew blood for what he hoped was the last time on this accursed planet. The cut was clean as always. His head rolling down the gully Elozar had earlier created in the earth. He felt remorse. Plunged into a war between races he wanted no part of. Mortals and gods murdering each other with no hope for peace. There was never contention after any battle he fought except the contention of his Avatari.  He stared at the battlefield with his one eye and wondered how the humans could acquire a Sword of Exile. How they knew it could kill his kind. He could only stand to reason; they were betrayed. It was not possible for a human to travel beyond this realm unguarded by at least one god and live. But why would one of the gods betray The Cause?  These were issues for another time. What was most important to Elozar now was retrieving Marvae’s body and returning home to mourn prop . . . Where was Marvae’s body? He thought. Did he move so far away that he could not see the body anymore or was he gazing upon the wrong place?  The smell of fireberries filled his nostrils. A smell that accompanied Marvae wherever she went. BEHIND YOU, his Avatari said.  He turned around to meet his beloved’s gaze as she ran the Sword of Exile through his heart, discontentment and hate in her eyes, confusion in his. “Why?”