Exile

Standing in his shop, Whisper closed his eyes and would feel the echos of chaos and shadows collide. Far in the realm of Endless Night, Cyrus was facing the creature that brought the shadows to the connected realms. Whisper could feel that their connection has been suppressed by some force beyond their control. He couldn't help in the regard of providing items or even healing. He had to sit by and wait to see if Cyrus would come out on top.

He knew he couldn't play favorites or even stick to one person forever. But Cyrus was a special case, he didn't have any reason to doubt Cyrus. Whisper chose him to hold his weak flame, to grow it into a blazing star in the sky. Though he was distracted as someone had walked into his shop. A person cloaked in white and radiating holy energy. An angel from the Halls of Creation, a messenger sent to Whisper.

He turned to look at the angelic figure, "Why have you come here?" Whisper asked, with no echo or long drag in his voice. His charade as Whisper meant nothing to the beings of Order. "What does Seraphim what now?"

The robed figure looked up and pointed at Whisper, "You are helping the Inheritor from Earth aren't you? You should know that parting your power away to them is forbidden to you." The being looked around the room and sighed, "Whisper, you are an exile from Order. You were one of the curators of the many worlds that exist today. But you looked at the humans with more care than the other worlds and decided to help them personally."

Whisper pulled down his hood and returned to his angelic look. His long golden hair, pure blue eyes, and the entire structure of Whispers face was perfect. However, it seemed like he was just missing the one thing that made him an ancient curator. His pure flaming halo that would encircle his head. He had it stripped from him as he became an exile.

"I decided to help the humans grow, the other denizens and creatures we helped shape grew fast and developed quickly. They didn't need our intervention other than to guide them down a peaceful path. The humans, they were slower, had rage and loss built into them like a disease." He stood and walked around his counter, "They killed one another over simple things. Petty things, I had decided to help guide them in a more personal way. To make sure they would survive and work together to grow."

The messenger frowned, "By passing on your powers to mortals who boasted the claim of power. Without even mentioning who it was from and forgetting you." The angel stared at Whisper, "What makes this mortal so different, that you chose to brake the Oath of Exile? Tell me, and I will deliver it to the Seraphim."

Whisper, looked at the angel having his eyes feel like dug into what remained of his soul. "What I saw in this mortal creature, was the power of the Devourer of Worlds." This made the angel flinch, "However, he had shown that he had more heart to care for the denizens of Chaos. He protects them, made friends with them, and shared his kindness to them that they haven't felt in the ages they've been alive." Whisper conjured some of his tea and pulled up a chair, "This mortal holds my flame for I believe he can free our worlds from the Dark Ones. I believe he can join forces of Oder and Chaos to defeat the Dark Ones once and for all."

The messenger stepped forward, "You said he has the power of the Devourer of Worlds! Which you thought was a grand idea to give that being more power?"

"He already was gifted a Blessing before mine. A being so pure in Castle Galihath, that they had gifted him a Blessing. Whatever happened between the World Eater and the Inheritor, he is currently weak. His power is slightly different from the original Devourer."

The angel looked confused and concerned that someone with the powers to devour worlds and creatures of Order and Chaos is wondering around freely. "Does their origins know of his existence?" Whisper shrugged, but then raised a finger.

"One does actually, even gave him a way to reach their original world." Whisper smiled, for Fafnir was a common customer to his shop. He was greedy and hated to let go of any treasure, but always got more from pour King or wealthy person. He wasn't a good being, but not a bad one either. Just cursed with incredible greed from a ring that he coveted. Which concerned Whisper greatly for Fafnir may be trying to test Cyrus in some way when they would meet.

The angel then stood tall and calmed themselves, "So you are claiming that this Inheritor compared to the others, will be the one to join Order and Chaos to fight the Dark Ones? I doubt it, but I will relay it to the Seraphim and he will decide your fate." Whisper watched as the angel glowed brightly. Then in a flash of gold light they vanished from his shop. Looking down to the floorboards finding them scorched a little. Sighed and snapped his fingers for a broom to come to life and sweep away the dark remains of wood. Then a bucket of soap water and a brush came to clean the boards.

His thoughts then drifted to the other Inheritors that have popped up in various different worlds. Worried that after freeing this castle from the shadows, they will come for Cyrus. He needed to show him how to use his powers of Order. Hoping that he can manifest them soon for he would need it where he may end up taken too. His desire now was to be supportive to Cyrus and give him his knowledge to help him understand the worlds of Order and Chaos. Now he closed his pure blue eyes and felt the presence of Cyrus still fighting the other being. He was weakening and struggling in his combat. He was running out of time...

*****

"Argh!" Cyrus yelled as he was smacked away by Marcus. Rolling to the ground with only 19 HP left and only a few healing uses left. Marcus barely had much damage on him. His body covered in complete dark armor except in some places. Cyrus was panting compared to Marcus who looked calm and collected.

"Come on boy," Marcus taunted, "I know you have more power than that. I can feel it, wanting to break free. Show me your true power!" He raised a blade morphed by shadows and brought it down towards Cyrus. Managing to roll away just barely and firing his gun into the side of Marcus' leg. The Holy damage finally bringing him down to his knees.

Cyrus got to his feet and felt tired and exhausted. His CEP was very low as he only had the one potion to give him more CEP and the one more draft of healing waters. Cyrus could see the man in the barrier watch them, concerned and confused why a mortal was fighting one of his kind, among other things. Returning his gaze to Marcus found that he had slowly began to stand. His bullet did serious damage and possibly ruined his leg. But the shadows were making him stand and continue to fight.

"You hurt us, while all we want is for you to join us and make the worlds of Order and Chaos ours, devoid of those powers." Cyrus watched as the shadows were now moving to cover Marcus almost completely. He couldn't believe that the shadows were this strong and he was still weak. Sure he had his Fenrir's Rage to go into when in a desperate state. But it was too big of a crutch and he wanted to fight through it without the need to use it.

Cyrus just wanted to prove that his strength was his own, so that Fenrir would not regret dying to a mere mortal and being transferred to him. Cyrus would raise his sword pointed to Marcus, feeling his hand shake a little.

"I will defeat you with my strength, showing the man I know that humans are much stronger than the shadows. Showing that we have the will to fight impossible battles and still come out on top." Marcus laughed, the demonic voice now covering more of Marcus's voice.

"You think humans are stronger than us? Think they can resist our powers? This human chose our power when we convinced him it was much stronger than the Chaos energies he had." He spread his arms wide, "We are the beings who bring a new power to the table as we are seeping out of our prison little by little. We spread like a disease and offer greater strength to those who are broken."

But Cyrus didn't see Marcus as a broken human being. He could feel see his energy being covered in a purple color while still the white energy within was still hanging on. Cyrus could feel it's cries for help and it's desire to fight back. He tried to recall the moment for when he freed Malinda from the shadows. The feeling of whatever he did to bring out the power.

Marcus then brought his arms back down and looked at Cyrus. Raising the blackened blade, Marcus prepared to lunge forward. "You will die now, Inheritor." He then rushed forward raising his sword about to bring it down on Cyrus. The blade swung fast and strong, attempting to decapitate the human before him.

That is when Cyrus used his Parry skill at the last micro second he could. The blade was deflected into the air leaving Marcus exposed to an attack. He attempted to recover from the action but his momentum was carrying his arm away from his target. Instead of attacking Marcus, Cyrus reached out with his hand and touched Marcus' chest.

Suddenly he felt him drawn into Marcus' body. He could feel the darkness encroaching around him. Touching his chest he felt a bubble expand from him. It was small, but was stable as the shadows tried to claw at it. Cyrus remembered Celeste telling him that he had to know how to do this himself. Not having too much time, he soared through the darkness to the tug of white energy.

The whispers of the shadows all around him telling him he will fail, die, and become one of them. Ignoring them he continued to follow the faint trail of energy to a blackened ball. The shadows shifted and churned around the sphere as spots of white shined through occasionally. Cyrus floated close to the orb and waited for a white spot to open up. He didn't know if it would work, but he had to try something.

That is when a loud echoing voice roared all around him, "YOU WILL REGRET COMING IN INHERITOR!" Black tendrils went to attack Cyrus, causing him to back away and avoid the attacks. The sphere had sprouted the tendrils making it difficult for him to approach it. Cyrus couldn't attack here, only defend himself. He couldn't get hit or his shield would break.

Having nothing to attack back he had to try and get through without getting touched. Which he thought would be impossible for him to do. Cyrus looked at his bubble and felt he could maybe reinforce it somehow. That is when he remembered the Blessings he had received from Celeste and Whisper. He focused on his hand, trying to draw out whatever power that the blessings had. Remembering that his right arm wasn't even shown here. His left arm was the only one he had so that is where he focused on.

His hand began to glow a bright white as a small blue flame manifested in his palm. It was like a candle flame, he was afraid it would blow it if he had moved his hand too quickly. Raising his hand to the bubble the flame kissed it and slowly his protective bubble began to get a flaming aura. A tendril went to reach at him and was burned by the flame. Causing the tendril to dissolve away, giving Cyrus a moment to move forward. He held out his left hand as it still glowed white.

He flew towards the sphere wanting get as close as he could. The tendrils attacking the bubble but getting burned and dissolving in the flame. His goal was to get to the white before the shadows engulfed it entirely. He saw a window of opportunity as he flew forward and reached out his hand. The shadows screamed in anger as they tried to stop Cyrus. The flames could only hold back so many strikes as his protective barrier was breaking. Just like before when trying to free Malinda, but it was all on his own.

As his hand went to reach for the white spot, the sound of broken glass entered his ear sad the tendrils broke through his barrier and grabbed his ankles. "We have your soul now!" He felt as the shadows were crawling up his legs as he could feel it growing cold and draining him. Cyrus continued to try and reach for the Sphere as it was just barely in his reach. The shadows flowed quickly through his body. Causing him to shake and feel empty inside as it advanced up his waist.

"I won't... be taken over... by... the shadows... I will... show you..." Cyrus stumbled a little as the white spot was an inch away. But the shadows mocked him and taunted him.

"You believe your able to fight us? To fight this corruption of your soul? You came to us and are trying to save this mortal! You will fail in this endeavor!" But Cyrus swore and grunted as he felt it reaching his chest.

"I will... show you... the determination... of... HUMANITY!" As his finger touched the white spot, Cyrus felt a surge of energy from Marcus' soul. The shadows began to retreat from Cyrus as the light was being drawn into him. The light from the sphere was flowing into him as he felt Marcus' soul drifting into his own soul.

"Cyrus, thank you." He heard Marcus speaking to him, "I can't fight the creature that now inhabits my body. But I can impart the rest of my soul and power to you. Kill my body, I can't come back so stop it from getting to Earth. That is an order soldier," he then felt his soul ejected from deep inside Marcus' body.

[You have gained a boost in Summon maximum]

[5/15]

[Blessing of the Beast Master: You can impart magical elements into your summons. Disabling the spell tied to the element types.]

Flung back from Marcus they hit the ground and the shadow was twitching on the ground. It had a part of the soul ripped away and the body was having trouble keeping itself in control. While Cyrus slowly got to his feet, stumbling a little. Feeling the power he had just gained from Marcus coursing through him he clutched his hand. Deactivating the elemental effect on Wolf's Fang, he summoned Er'Delrune and enabled the Blessing to empower it with Holy energy. The blade glowed white, then looking to the Chained Blade he attempted to draw out the small blue flame to enchant the sword. Little blue embers began to circle the blade as blue flames licked at the air as they came to life.

Cyrus smiled and used the Sacrifice magic to give a single point to Vexxitiz who had taken damage for blocking shadow attacks for him. This caused Cyrus to enter his Unshackled form. However, his body had an extra addition that wasn't showing before. His left hand also had a single rune on the back of his hand. Cyrus felt all his stats skyrocket as he finally could go all out.

'Take him out soldier, and I have this to say as my final wish. Have Yuri take my place after you kill my body. He and Samantha can take over my position. Tell them that they should stop hiding their partnership and get married finally. They have my blessing,' with that he vanished. The last will of his soul now heard he had permission to destroy the shadow before him.

As the shadow twitched and started to stagger to its feet, it saw Cyrus' true form. "You, have shown me your power. You have torn the body's soul away from me as I almost consumed it. You will pay for this!" It twitched and rushed him with blinding speed. Cyrus exhaled, the sound of everything vanishing from the world. The sound of his own heartbeat disappearing from his hearing. He gripped his swords tightly that his knuckles turned white.

As the shadow leapt into the air, it roared and came down at Cyrus. The moment it was about to hit him, he vanished and appeared behind the shadow. As it hit the ground and missed Cyrus it turned and looked at his back. It was about to take another step when it wobbled, freezing in place. The shadow blinked as it suddenly burst into blue flames and radiant lines began to show themselves. It screamed in agony and held its body as the shadows were jetting out of the body. Spikes of shadows reaching out before dissolving from the flames and holy elements.

The shadow was dying with its final words, "Inheritor, you will not defeat the Dark Ones. They are far stronger than any being in the multiple worlds." As Cyrus was going to retort he saw the shadow smiling as Vexxitiz revealed himself. "You carry one of our kind with you. You are cor-" before it could finish, Vexxitiz stabbed the shadow's head and killed the shadow.

Vexxitiz scoffed, "I ain't like normal shadows, and your power will be ours." The shadow was drawn into Vexxitiz as he returned inside Cyrus' body. They had defeated Marcus and killed him and the shadow occupying his body.

[Congratulations! You have defeated Marcus Dramtur and the Shadow within.]

[Hidden condition met!]

[You now have access to a limited selection of the powers of Order]

He turned to the man in the barrier and slowly walked to him. His arms tired and exhausted as he stumbled up the steps. The man inside looked at Cyrus looking at the blades in his hands and the ooze of shadows disappearing. He had reached Roland Galihath, the lord of the castle.

"I am Cyrus Reinhard, I have come to save you and your castle from the shadows." Cyrus said as Roland stared at Cyrus in shock and awe.