The Final Showdown - Part 2

The sounds of reverberating metal could be heard throughout the clearing. Most every time Ivy whipped and lashed out at Alice, the beautiful rose etched shield protected her from harm. The two both fought valiantly, making equal ground in who would potentially come out victorious. If one whip had fallen upon Alice, it was followed by a bash by shield to Ivy. They were truly equals, and both fought with zeal. They each knew they needed to win in order for their creator to come out the victor in their fray.

Ivy paid no attention to the goings on of Erryd and Ryder. It had no need to. Its goal was set. Kill or incapacitate the objective. It was trained from the start to have no feeling, no emotion. Just do whatever Erryd had set it out to do.

Alice, on the other hand, had been keeping a close eye on both situations. Her own and Ryder’s. She deeply cared for her creator and wanted to see him succeed not only for his own well being, but the well being of all his imaginings. Had she focused solely on the battle at hand with Ivy, she may have been victorious, but her worry got the best of her and she felt she needed to concentrate on Ryder as well in case anything did go terribly wrong, regardless of what Ivy was doing.

As the battle between the opposing frei paused for Erryd’s speech, Alice looked at the shadow with anger burning in her eyes. A fire she had built within herself every day since being locked away in that burning tower all those months ago. She noticed Erryd’s hands glowing with the reality magic and a ball being formed within them. Even she could feel the magical energy that was emanating from the mystic orb.

Taking her attention back to her own situation for the moment, Alice saw another vine whipping down at her from above. She threw her shield overhead to block it before lunging forward and punching Ivy in the throat. Then, with quick feet, she turned to bash the creature upside its head with the shield, causing it to fall to the ground unconscious.

It was at this point that Erryd’s orb of magic, which seemed to let off sparks of magical energy in small bursts, was about to blow up. Erryd himself couldn’t even contain his magical energy any longer and shook under the weight and power the magic held. “Die, Ryder!” he screamed with anger, tossing the magical orb up above his head before throwing it down in front of him and blasting it forward, straight towards Ryder.

“Ryder!” Alice cried as she leapt with all her might to Ryder’s aid.

As the magical energy came rushing toward Ryder, Alice had shoved her shield into the ground right in front of him and ducked down, pushing herself into the buckler to brace for the impact just in the nick of time.

As the magical energy collided with the shield, a small explosion of sorts occurred. Magical and physical dust along with the smoke created by the blast began to fill the air.

Erryd collapsed to the ground, completely fatigued from all that had just happened. He used up every ounce of his energy to blow up Ryder. He couldn’t even flap his wings. However, he was still conscious. He laughed in a hushed tone maniacally as the smoke and dust clouded the clearing. He had won. He had finally killed Ryder. There was no way he would have been able to survive such a blast. Now, when he was rested, he would be able to assume his place and truly take over Ryder’s life once and for all.

However, as the dust began to clear, Ryder and Alice both appeared making their way towards Erryd completely unharmed by the magical blast.

“Wh-what!?” Erryd said as he saw them nearing him. “How did you-” he began, cut off by Ryder.

“You lost your strength when you cut everyone out of your life, Erryd. Locking yourself away to practice this magic was not the answer. Look where it landed you; alone, weak, and helpless. I have friends to aid me, Alice to care for me, and myself to rely upon. So now I ask, who has all of the power now?”

“You fool!” Erryd shouted, his voice shaky, weak. He weakly propped himself up the best he could with what little energy he had left, adrenaline beginning to fade. “You’ll never amount to anything. I was your greatest creation and even then I became the superior being.”

Ryder reached into his armor and pulled out the intricate gold dagger once more. He unsheathed the blade to reveal the golden glow in the darkness of the surrounding night. Leaning down to Erryd’s level, he waved the blade about a moment and said, “You have absolutely no power here any longer, Erryd.”

“Go ahead, stab me, cut me, kill me even. I no longer care. Do away with me like I did away with Alice all that time ago. Kill me for her, your little pet. Kill me for what I did to you. What I did to your family. Please, go ahead, I will even revel in the moment,” the shadow replied with yet another maniacal chuckle, his head falling limp to the ground in his weakened state.

Ryder narrowed his eyes, his face cross with anger. Why was he baiting him to do this? Oh how the frei wished to dig this dagger deep into the flesh of his opponent, the one who had done so many horrible things to him and his loved ones. Oh, how he would relish the moment to take the life of the one who had caused him so much pain.

But, through everything, he couldn’t. The frei closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he slowly brought sheath over blade, tucking it away in his armor once more. “I will not do such a thing.”

“Ryder,” Alice stated as she took a few paces closer to the frei, tightening her grip on the shield. “Now is your chance,” she pleaded.

“No, I shall not do as he wishes,” Ryder stated firmly, straightening up over Erryd’s body.

Erryd became enraged by this. He lifted his head and spoke, “You are such a pathetic little worm, you idiotic rainbow! You can’t even bring your blade to finish your greatest foe!? You will regret that decision gravely, I assure you.”

Ryder shook his head. “I will not bring my blade against you or any of my creations,” he began, floating away from Erryd a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Every imagining of mine is a part of who I am. You, Erryd, just so happen to be one of the largest parts. You are my insecurities, my desperation, my fears, anxieties and anger. But,” he took a breath, turning to see Erryd lying on the ground staring at him with fiery anger in his eyes, “you are also my passion, desire, and dedication to my craft. Even though you always brought me down, I knew I needed to get back up and try again harder. Even when you caused me to doubt myself day after day, I learned to believe that, with a lot of hard work and dedication, I can achieve my goals. You also taught me another valuable lesson through all of this.”

Ryder floated back over to Erryd’s side, leaning down to his level again, a genuine smile growing on his face. “You have taught me to love myself for all of who I am. My strengths and flaws, the magical and mundane, the good and the evil. To believe in myself when nobody else will. And finally, to be true to myself and not change for anyone or anything. And for these reasons, I will never forget you.”

Ryder placed one hand on Erryd’s forehead and the other on his chest. “Plus, I would much rather you suffer for eternity than be taken out of this world completely. See you in the tower.”

Erryd, seething with anger, grabbed onto Ryder’s arm quickly with what little energy he had left, fueled by anger. “Why you little-”

“I renege the deal!” Ryder called into the clearing as loud as he could, utilizing what little magic and every ounce of energy he had left to take back the magic that Erryd had stolen from him, the magic that was rightfully his. He focused his attention on drawing out the energy within his shadow self, doing so began draining Erryd of all his color just as he had done to Ryder all those months ago.