With Sin, Condemn You

The two of us glared each other down like we were in one of those old western movies. Alden’s sword was drawn and I could faintly see my reflection in the shiny surface of the blade. Staring at this made me realize that, compared to Alden, I was virtually weaponless. The air in front of my began to glow and a beautiful sword with a purple hilt appeared in my grip. Upon further inspection, I realized that it was an exact replica of the Master Sword from Zelda. Well, when you have a geek mind and demon powers, you can only guess what you’re going to conjure up.

Alden suddenly began to laugh. “Do you honestly believe you have a chance against me, even with that dinky, weak weapon you call a sword?”

I glared at him, then smirked. “Oh, I have a chance. I had you beat even without the sword. The sword is just insurance.” And here’s a cockiness I never knew I possessed. I guess when you’re about to be killed, might as well try to psych your opponent out.

“Well human,” scoffed Alden, putting emphasis on the human. I flinched slightly, knowing he wanted some sort of reaction from me. “You’ve got guts. Too bad they’ll be useless soon.” Probably not even a second passed after his statement that Alden lunged at me. I clumsily stumbled out of the way of his blade, realizing if I hadn’t moved, I would have been easily beheaded.

Alden laughed at my antic and swung again. This time I was better prepared and used my sword to shield me from his blow. I felt my legs crumble a little under his strength but held my ground. He was so much stronger than me, but if I let go, I’m done for. I’ve got to outwit him.

I stared up into Alden’s face and felt my insides flip and turn inside out. I had never seen anyone look as insane as he did just now. His eyes were wide and his lips were pulled back from his teeth in a hideous grin. Veins were popping out of his neck and temples as he chuckled and continued to push against my sword.

Finally, it hit me. Power surged to my feet and I kicked, fire streaming from my fit and drilling Alden in the chest. He cried out in pain and recoiled from the force, and I quickly regained my stance. Seeing an opening, I charged forward just as Alden put out the flames on his chest.

Unfortunately for me, Alden saw my attack coming and was able to retaliate. His sword clashed with mine, painfully forcing my arm backward. In my moment of defenselessness, the prince sliced at my shoulder. A considerable gash was left in its wake, causing me to his in pain and back away slightly. My hand instinctively went the injured shoulder. When I pulled it away, my hand was almost completely red.

Alden cackled again, his face becoming serious seconds later as he growled, “You think throwing fire balls at me is power? I’ll show you true power!”

I stared at Alden, sword raised and breathing heavily. Just as I was about to attack Alden again, he began to change. His skin turned black and his muscles began to grow, his clothes ripping from his changing body. He yelled out, his voice much deeper and monster like than normal. Finally, the transformation halted. Alden now stood over me like a Titan ready to tear me to shreds. With my head tilted back, I gawked at the new creature standing before me. His eyes opened, revealing red pits instead of regular pupils and irises.

I’ve seen this monster before…In a dream or something.

I had no more time to contemplate where I had seen this beast because his massive hand swept down, sending me flying across the space and into the shimmering barrier. I shrieked pain on impact and fell to the ground hard. It felt like every bone in my body had shattered in just that one move. If this was the case, I was done for.

I raised myself up on one hand, a dull pain shooting through it. When I looked up again, my eyes met with the enormous hand coming straight for me again. I let out a gasp and rolled out of the way before he could squash me like a bug.

A pain in my hip caused me to fling my free hand to it. On the way there, my hand bumped the dagger. Another idea popped into my head. Maybe if I stab him with the dagger, he’ll weaken again. I suppose it’s worth a shot.

I frantically searched for a place to stab that could possibly be relatively safe. After dodging another swipe from Alden, my eyes rested on his gargantuan feet. His ankles. I’ll go for his ankles. Not letting another precious moment slip away I darted toward his feet, running in different directions at an attempt to confuse him. I jumped out of the way as he repositioned his right foot and dashed behind it. I hastily unsheathed my dagger and plunged it into Alden’s ankle with all my might.

My foe let out a wail of pain and desperately tried to swat me away. While I still had time, I pushed the small blade deeper and yanked it down until there wasn’t any more demon flesh to slice through.

The prince’s shrieks grew in volume in pitch as he began to shrink again. I smiled to myself excitedly; I can’t believe that actually worked!

I bolted back out of the way and watched as Alden regressed to his former self. He was now on all fours and breathing heavily.

I’ve got to do it. It’s now or never.

In three quick strides, I was in front of Alden. He raised his head and stared at me, his hair clinging to his sweaty face. I could finally see something besides arrogance in his eyes. Fear.

“Are you really going to take my powers and dispose of me so easily Alex?” Alden growled huskily. I turned the dagger over in my hand, still staring down at him angrily.

The corners of Alden’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “You know what I think? I think that you d-”

I cut Alden off my shoving the dagger into the center of his chest, just as Matt had instructed me. The words Matt had taught me had been swirling through my head this whole time and now I finally got to use them. “Aufero illa ev-”

A sharp pain in the middle of my torso interrupted my incantation. With the last of his strength, Alden a thrust his sword into me in an attempt to kill me as well. “If I’m going down…” the prince sputtered, “you’re going down with me.”

The pain…it was worse than anything I had ever felt in my entire existence. My vision began to blur. I gritted my teeth stubbornly; there’s no fucking way I was going to die now. I’ve gotten this far. I will not fail now. I want to make life better for all the people I’ve come to care about while here; Matt, Johnny, Brian, Zacky, Valora, Jimmy…

The thought of Jimmy seemed to revitalize my strength a bit. I pushed the blade deeper and screamed, “Aufero illa everto vox!”

A bright, white light filled the air along with Prince Alden’s screams of agony.

That was the last thing I saw or heard before falling backward and my vision blackening.