The Price Of Protection

All around Alex, the whole scene exploded into frenzy. The guardians came at them in waves from every side, a primal horde whose quarry they could have scarcely comprehended in the resort of October 2023, the slightest suggestion of figures everywhere impossible to track in the void of dark. He could feel their eyes on him, the lust for the power of the gate pulling at him like a gut string, but he wrestled with every fiber of his being to keep them from tearing asunder the world he was trying to save.

The blade sang in the dark as it cut through one of the shadow things, and the steel sizzled as it found its mark, but all the guardian did was stagger, then reconstitute its form, its body writhing and warping in ways that made no sense. No, the Abyss had perverted them into something greater than just demons. They were the avatars of destruction, bound to the gate itself.

"Mara! " Alex shouted, his voice booming over the cacophony of war. He battled with her, their movements synchronized, but her eyes betrayed strain. The guardians were a weighty, unstoppable mass. And yet, she didn't falter. She kept rushing, twin daggers torn through the air, and a pair of the shadowy figures fell.

"I'm fine! " She did return the call, but the weariness was there in her voice. "We can't wrestle like this forever! "

Alex's heart clenched. She was right. They needed to end this now. His powers, too, were running out. Hellfire blasted from his fingertips, lighting up the night, but even that couldn't stem the wave of bodies. It had sealed in his chest, and it burned. It was as if the Abyss was testing him, testing how far it could go with him. But he couldn't break. When Mara and the others were counting on him like this, the forge was cloudy in his vision.

"We have to get to the guardian! " Alex shouted, his breath ragged as he struggled with a pack of the smaller shadow monsters. His eyes wandered across the battlefield, resting on the massive creature in the far distance, the one Astra had warned him about. It was massive, a vortex of shadow and fire, a denizen of the very Abyss. The final sentinel, or rather, the one assigned to guard the gate.

"Cover me! " Alex commanded. "I'm going in! "

Not waiting for an answer, he plowed through the mass of guardians, blue blade slicing through everything in his way. He moved as a blur, the devil's fire crackling and fizzing with every step, and still for all that speed and strength the foes were unending. He barely noticed the stinging scratch of claws on his flank as he continued on. His rush had caught it on the up, drawing him closer to the larger-than-life monstrosity, but by no means did it assure that this was where the fun ended.

Mara and the others fought bravely against the final guardians behind him. Gideon's staff crackled with energy, his spells arcing against otherworldly creatures of shadow. A warrior always at the front was Lila, whose sword flashed to and fro like a beam of silver as she dispatched another of the guardians. Ella's magic unfurled, twisting the air in her hands into complex symbols, which released bolts of destructive energy that wiped the guardians' shade clear as smoke with each hit.

But all the while, with every step that Alex took towards the great guardian, he felt the weight of its being, an omnipresent presence that loomed in the air like a well-placed pressure on his breast. The air grew thicker, colder. The creature turned, twisted limbs emerging from a distended mass of flesh, and pinioned him with its glowing eyes, forwarding comprehension in the span of a heartbeat.

"You are the one," the guardian announced, sounding like its voice was a viscous growl, shaking the earthen ground. It took form, dark tendrils stretching, swirling about him in a storm. "I'm the one who is going to kill you." TEXT: The Abyss's vessel.

Alex gripped his sword tighter. He wasn't afraid. No place for fear, not when everything he loved was at stake. It was like even the world around him just gave way to his desires for a few moments, as hellfire thrummed through his veins. A wall of fire bloomed, swirling around him like some kind of armor as he sprinted toward the guardian.

Shouting a battle cry, Alex leapt forward, his sword cutting a shining arc through the air. The guardian retaliated with a blast of dark energy, sending Alex hurtling backward and his body spiraling through the air before smashing into the ground in a life-altering impact. A powerful wave of pain coursed through him, but he pushed on. He couldn't.

Wobbling back to his feet, Alex summoned every ounce of his strength. Hellfire curled from his fingers, twisting through the dark threads of the guardian, igniting them along their burnished seams like satin. The guardian screamed in rage, its gigantic form thrashed in agony as the searing flame ate away at its very essence.

"You cannot win," the guardian hissed, its voice a twisted parody of death. "You are already marked."

Not only did the seal on Alex's chest burn, but his heart pounded as it felt as if a bolt of warm energy pulsed through the seals, the runes illuminated bright and scorching like the fiercest sun. The Abyss himself was waking in his own marrow, the same essence that had shackled him to this fate. They were back, but not before the loud-throated voices who whispered and begged to give up.

But Alex pushed it all away. The Abyss wasn't going to have him. Not yet.

He leaped forward again, avoiding the guardian's dark tendrils as they snapped at him. With one final blast of hellfire, he plunged his sword into the guardian's heart, the flames exploding and immolating it in a bolt of white-hot fury.

There was a pause for just a moment.

With one final scream, the guardian crumbled into nothingness, its body shredding and was devoured by the wind. He was breathing hard as he stood there, beads of sweat running down his face. He had done it. The path to the gate was clear. But the cost … the cost was dear.

"Mara! " Alex shouted, glancing back at the others. They had held their ground. They had survived. But there was no time to waste.

The shadows surrounding them were even moving now, roused by the dying traces of the guardian's essence that still polluted the air. The Abyss had only begun with them.

Mara dashed toward him, breathless but unbroken, fire in her gaze as she met his. "We've got to go," she said urgently. "Now!"

Alex nodded, but his mind was spinning. They were still not out of the woods. They had won this battle but had a long way to go in the war. And there was the matter of the gate, too.

"I'm going to protect you," Alex said, and it was a statement that burst forth from his mouth without thought or reservation but with every fragment of conviction in his heart. He understood what love was worth, and he knew the cost of their mission. But he would get Mara and them all through this alive or die trying."

They stuffed their belongings into cars, faces somber but resolute. They had dared the impossible and triumphed. Then, staring into the ever-consuming blackness, Alex knew the true battle lay ahead.

The Abyss was awakening. And they were the only ones who could stop it.