Vice and Virtue

Chapter - 7

She spread her wings in an instant and shot towards leviathan, leaving us to deal with the aftershock of her sudden burst through the air. The winds blew away most of the life below her and we barely hung in there ourselves. By the time it was safe enough to stand up again, the thick forest and the foliage around us turned into scorched wasteland. ‘We better get away while we can boss’ Kai stood up and dusted himself. ‘Not an option anymore, Kai. If all the three emperors are together in the same place, it could be a chance for us too. Come on, let’s at least watch what’s happening.’ I ushered him towards them and helped Renae to her feet. ‘Kai is right, Ryan. This is a bit too much for just the three of us. You saw the damage done by her by just flapping her wings right. Maybe we should get away. I am concerned about Nina too.’ I gave it a quick thought but Kai was getting restless. ‘No, we are not going to run away. I am going there and it could be together with you guys or alone’.

I started walking towards the struggle near the coast without another word. ‘RYAN!! RYAN STOP!!!’ she called me for a while. I did not bother to answer and kept steady on my course. Kai slowly walked away in the opposite direction and after a while Renae disappeared into thin air. After that bright encounter, the woods seemed really dark now. With clenched fists and gritted teeth, I walked for a while in silence but soon it was too much for me. ‘AHH!! YOU DUMBSH..!! Since when was Kai such a crybaby?! UHH!! And why did she side with him?! THIS SUCKS FFS!!’ I swung my arms around wildly while trying to make sense of what happened. I was sure I would be jumped by some random animal for being so loud at some point but I guess nothing was insane enough to be near the beasts on top of the food chain.

It soon got a little brighter and a lot noisier in front of me. I slowed down and took cover behind a tree, slowly getting closer but cautious enough to not get caught in the crossfire. As soon as I was close enough, a huge streamlined body, lined with all sorts of projectiles and blood flew from the ocean towards me or so I thought. I could not move but I definitely understood what I was watching. Leviathan just got out of the water and took to the air arching itself in front of me towards the phoenix up in the air. Its whale-like appearance and the crystal scales on its back were just too beautiful to gaze at but it spanned over nearly a thousand meters easily, which was terrifying in itself. Comparatively, the leviathan was nearly 5times the size of the basilisk, which was nearly twice the size of the phoenix in itself. Yet, the phoenix was just waiting for the leviathan to come towards it. I could not find the basilisk anywhere. I frantically searched the whole area for it but I just couldn’t spot it. Most of the Cyan were on the ground, missing a few limbs or a lot more than just limbs. I could see the medical teams carrying them off to their camp in the distance but there were just too many. The Cyan who were still actively engaging the emperors, took to the air using their abilities or their hover-boards. No one bothered to attack the phoenix but mostly horded on the leviathan. The damage did not seem to be much or bother it to any extent but they just did not stop.

 The little firebirds kept attacking the Cyan rather than the leviathan but the phoenix didn’t make a move on them but instead she just waited for leviathan to reach her. It was as though, her way of saying not to mess with whatever that’s going to happen between her and leviathan. Neither of the parties showed signs of retreat but instead they only got more intense with every passing minute. Leviathan finally got into the air completely after a deeper dive in the ocean. It looked calm and divine when it only kept moving around but then it revealed the reason for becoming an emperor. It opened its mouth as it soared through the sky towards the phoenix hovering over the clouds above. Its mouth was wider than the phoenix and inside it was a dark void devoid of anything material, his flukes were huge with a couple sets of dorsal fins above them. Its flippers cut through the air, producing a faint sound. All I thought was that it had the body of a whale and dragon combined but was definitely terrifying than anything I have ever seen. It bellowed with all its might, all the space around it including the air vibrated in resonance, marking the onset of something that would very well be etched in history as one of the destructive battle ever. The moment they struck each other, the whole atmosphere turned erratic and violent. All life in the area was either blown away or was instantly wiped out. Soon their fight turned into a cluster of fire and thunder, the waves turned violent and a brewing thunderstorm above and the aftershock of the impact between those two could be felt from miles away.

I made my way towards the order’s camp, while they gnawed away at each other. It was situated on the beach but it was still touching the woods to not be caught in the crossfire. I was spying on them from the woods but even though the emperors were kilometers away from me, their size and their pure strength was enough for me to get a pretty good view without any aid. I got as close to it as possible and cloaked myself. I walked across the wounded soldiers and the wannabe heroes complaining about losing their place in the spotlight. It was quite an advantage for me that everyone was too distracted to notice waltzing through their camp. I frantically searched every tent and crate for their doping pills and information on their division commanders. Every step of mine felt like my last in this expedition camp. I didn’t exactly find what I was looking for but instead I found something way bigger. In one of the captain’s tents, there was part of a plan to take over the western gale. Of course it was obvious but this was something else altogether. The Order was probably planning this for a long time. They wanted to pit the emperors against each other and form a contract with the surviving one if possible but there were also details about making the smaller beasts berserk too. I wanted more details but there just wasn’t enough information in the letters that I found. The letters were addressed to a captain James of the 26th platoon. I wanted to just bail out of here with these letters but I still had a bit of hope that this captain James could still be alive. I shoved them in my pockets and got out of the tent after surveying the surroundings for a bit. I just had to stop the emperors from killing each other somehow. So, I started to push myself a bit harder. I climbed up the tallest tree in the area and took a breath, losing the cloak of energy around me. I relaxed every part of my body except my hands and feet that were supporting me on top and tried to picture what exactly I want to do. With my eyes closed, I let every part of energy dissipate through every nook and cranny in the area, using it to form the virtual model up to about a couple square kilometers around me. It was too much information to process at once, so I took it slow, trying to get the tiniest details in without any flaws. The camp was halfway covered but the waves were too violent to keep up.

I shut out the ocean from my mind and focused on the camp for now. I was able to complete about two-thirds of the area before disaster struck. Theo was there on the far end, giving out orders to his subordinates and beside him, there was someone that I never expected. I just gasped in horror and I am pretty sure I went pale as if I have seen a ghost. Jason was alive but he was beside Theo, not constrained or acting weird but free and sane enough to support Theo’s decisions. All my efforts backfired and my energy that was scattered everywhere in that camp, just went up and overexcited, alarming every Cyan in that camp. They were unable to pinpoint my location but they definitely suspected an outside interference. I was frantically trying to make sense of the situation I am in but Jason’s presence threw me off. My body felt really heavy and I could hear my heart pounding so hard that it might fall out of my chest. Then, I found myself midair before I could understand what happened. In my mind, I pictured myself falling into a void as the glass floor I was on finally shattered and gave into the pressure. I could see the waves of vibrations coursing through the sky, affecting everything in their path drastically. As I fell headfirst to the ground, I quickly turned myself around towards the emperors. I could hear the leviathan’s bellow, as it dived down from the thunderclouds, going back home and then, I saw the phoenix emerging close behind it but at a distance. Something was off about her though, she was falling straight towards the sea, her magnificent flames reduced to smoldering embers and around her body, I could make out a dark body wound around her, incapacitating her. Before I reached the ground below, the thunderstorm grew more violent and lightning painted the sky white and electric and the basilisk arched back to deliver the final blow that would end her. I braced myself for the impact, for the immense pain to course through my body, probably crippling me for a few months at the very least.