It's me, Amy. Estren's been doing
nothing but meditate since Al and I got here. Eventually, I kind of
got sick of it.
“Damn it!” I snapped. “Are you
two ever gonna do any actual training!? Silvermist and Dawson could
be here any day now!”
“Minute,” Estren said.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“They'll be here soon,” he said.
“What!?” I said. “And you two
haven't prepared at all!?”
“They have,” Al interrupted.
“They've been training this whole time.”
“All they've done is sit there!” I
said.
“We've realized that we can't beat
them with strength alone,” Estren said. “That's why we've been
working on a different tactic. We should be ready by the time they
get here.”
“But-” I started to say.
“Enough,” Al said, interrupting me
yet again.
“So, you have something you wanna ask
me too, right Al?” Estren said.
“Not you,” He said. “But there is
something I'd like to know from HELLFIRE.”
“And what would that be?” HELLFIRE
asked.
“What's the deal between you and
Silvermist,” he asked.
“What?” HELLFIRE asked.
“This is a personal thing isn't it?”
Al asked. “What exactly happened between you two?”
HELLFIRE sighed before speaking again.
“Silvermist is, in a manner of
speaking, my daughter,” He said.
“What?” Al asked.
“A long time ago, the Brute was on
the verge of being revived,” HELLFIRE said. “I stood in its way.
In order to give myself an edge, I broke off a piece of myself to
fight with me. That piece was Silvermist. She helped me to stop the
Brute's revival, but then she betrayed me by trapping me in the Grove
Of Fetters, leaving me there to die.”
“How did you escape?” I asked.
“I had to do something drastic,” he
said. “Something most of the other Fears have always hated me for.”
“And what would that be?” Al asked.
HELLFIRE raised one of Estren's hands,
which burst into flames.
“I stole the Burning Bride's power,”
he said.
“How?” I asked.
“That's not important,” HELLFIRE.
“All that matters is that I've been on her bad side ever since.
Now, you two should probably find cover. They'll be here right
about...”
He turned away from us, throwing a
fireball at one of the burned buildings, blowing it to pieces. Bill
Dawson darted from the rubble at alarming speed, swinging a sword of
ice at Estren.
“...Now,” Estren finished, drawing
his cutlass and shattering Dawson's sword with a single slash, before
kicking him away. Dawson landed a few feet a away and stood up to
face Estren.
“I see you've improved a bit,” he
said. Or maybe it was Silvermist talking. It's not as easy to tell as
it is with Estren and HELLFIRE.
“A bit would be an understatement,”
Estren said, removing his mask, which morphed into an ivory colored
gauntlet on his left forearm.
“That can't be!” Al said, shocked.
“What is it?” I asked.
“That's an upgraded shield form!”
he said. “Only four people have ever been able to use that!”
A large, transparent disk was projected
from the gauntlet, displaying the symbols of the four card suites.
“Ready for this?” he asked. “You
bet,” Dawson said, hungrily
They charged at each other. Dawson
summoned a blade of ice in each hand and slashed wildly at Estren,
who blocked the attacks with his shield before striking back with his
own sword. Dawson was able to block pretty easily. Estren began
teleporting all over the battlefield, trying to get the jump on
Dawson. This seemed to get on his nerves. Eventually, Dawson found an
opening, and turned one of his swords into a giant hammer, which he
swung hard, hitting Estren in the chest and sending him flying into a
burnt house. He then opened his mouth and let out a massive, thick
cone of mist, freezing the entire house in a block of ice.
“Shit!” Al exclaimed.
“Looks like I win,” Dawson said.
“Now...”
He turned and glared at Al.
“You carry a shard as well, right?”
he asked. “Well, I think I'll devour yours first!”
Dawson charged at Al and attacked him.
Al teleported behind him and tried to stab with his tanto, but Dawson
turned quickly and caught him in the ribs with his hammer, knocking
him to the ground.
“Is that the best you've got, Ace?”
Dawson asked. “I was hoping you'd put up more of a fight than your
pathetic brother did.”
Al tried to say something, but he was
too damaged to form the words.
“What was that?” Dawson said. “You
have something you wanna say to me?”
“K... ki...” Al panted.
“Come on, out with it!” Dawson
said, stomping on Al's chest. “Speak!”
“KILL!!!” Al shouted.
He suddenly vanished and reappeared in
front of Dawson, swinging his sword wildly. Dawson deflected all of
his attacks and then engulfed him in a stream of mist which froze
most of his body.
“K-ki-kill!” Al stuttered through
the cold.
“Ah, yes, Killer,” Dawson said.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it was Silvermist this time. “Been a
while. I look forward to consuming you. But first, I have one more
person to finish off.”
Dawson turned to me next, and started
walking toward me slowing. I drew a gun from my belt, although I
didn't think it would do much good. However, before Dawson could get
close to me, the house that Estren had crashed into earlier exploded.
Dawson stopped in his tracks and we both turned to look. Estren was
walking toward Dawson. But he had changed. His red jacket now had
black flame markings, as did his sword and gauntlet, and his hair was
now longer and with red highlights. As he got closer, I could see his
eyes. Their pupils were slit-like, with red outlines.
“Well, this is new,”
Dawson/Silvermist said. “So which one are you? Estren or HELLFIRE?”
“Both,” he replied calmly.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
Dawson asked.
“Unity,” he said simply.
“That's impossible!” Silvermist (I
think) snapped. “No Dying Man shard has ever accomplished that!”
“There's a first time for
everything,” he said. “But of course, HELLFIRE's no normal Dying
Man shard, and Estren's no normal human. That's why we were able to
unite like this. Allow us to introduce ourselves properly. We are
Infernal!”
Infernal vanished in an explosion of
both fire and lightning, which threw Dawson backwards. He reappeared
right next to Al and placed a hand upon the ice which shattered
instantly. Al slumped to the ground, and seemed to have regain
control over Killer.
“You okay?” Infernal asked.
“I've been better,” Al said. “But
I'll live.”
“Good,” Infernal said.
“Bastard!” Dawson exclaimed,
getting to his feet and summoning a giant blade of ice.
He charged at Infernal angrily, raising
the blade above his head. Infernal raised his hand and shot a blast
of... something... at Dawson. I don't know if it was fir or lightning
or some weird fusion of the two, but whatever it was sent him flying
backwards, crashing into the sand several yards away. Infernal then
teleported right above him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him
into the air.
“Don't do this!” Dawson begged,
terrified. “I still need her power!”
“Sorry, but no,” Infernal said.
With a single motion, he ripped
Silvermist out of Dawson's soul, allowing him to fall to the ground.
He had dragged her into the real world, and had her by the throat.
She was terrifying. I had read about her on Malkator's blog before.
He described her as a woman made of ice. But she was so much more
horrifying in person. But worse than her appearance was her aura. I
could feel her fear, her anger towards Infernal.
“You'll pay!” she screamed. “You'll
pay dearly for all of this!”
“I doubt it,” Infernal said.
She cried out in horror as she
dissolved, and was absorbed into him. He then turned to Dawson, who
was looking up at him in horror. He crawled back, trying to escape,
but he wasn't nearly fast enough.
“Drown in the river of death!”
Infernal shouted, kicking Dawson into the River, where he was
immediately swept away by the raging current.
Infernal turned back to face me and Al,
and the flame markings vanished from his clothing. His hair became
black again, and his eyes returned to normal.
“Are... are you back to normal now?”
I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “HELLFIRE and I
have separated again.”
“That was incredible!” I said. “So
you two can fuse together to become that powerful Infernal thing
whenever you want?”
“No,” he replied.
“What?” I asked.
“I don't think so, anyway,” he
said. “This is the Dying Man's domain, so being here helps to
improve my bond with HELLFIRE. I don't think union will work anywhere
else.”
“Oh,” I said.
“So about your shield,” Al said.
“How was it upgraded?”
“It happened when my mask was
recalibrated,” Estren said. “I'm not sure why, but whoever did
that modified the task that allows the mask to enter shield form.”
“The only people who could've
modified your mask like that are the Jokers,” Al said
“I think the Red Joker all ready said
that she didn't hack your mask,” I said.
“So that leaves Abdalin,” Al said.
“Whatever,” Estren said, putting
his mask back on and turning away from us. “I don't really care.”
“Where are you going?” Al asked.
“Where do you think?” Estren
replied. “I'm going back to the human world to relax. You two
coming or what?”
“I guess so,” Al said.
“I have no where else to go,” I
said.
So yeah, that's what happened. Estren
said he has no interest in the blog anymore, so I'm having to type
this out. I guess... this is our last post. So... good bye, readers.
Have fun. Peace out.
---Amy
