Immortal Bonds

Mycaelus' body stood, it's natural golden hue glowing against the setting sun. It was a beautiful backdrop to grace the grisly scene of the dead whose strewn parts rest stop the dusty, desert plateau. Across from him stood a figure with deep red skin, a cruel and mischievous smile on his face. The two were both covered in bruises, blood, cuts, burns, and a litany of other forms of damage. Neither of the two showed it.

'Luciali, let us end this. Your hordes are gone, the mortals have abandoned your cause. You knew this was never your fight to win, just give up." Said Mycaelus, his voice a deep and soothing tone, not a hint of hostility or anger in any word. Luciali simply went on smiling, his hands spreading out next to his face.

"Guess you got me. The jig is up then, Yuewah? Then I'll just have to give in."

Mycaelus' body tensed, and he bent his knees slightly as if to leap out at Luciali. The red creature laughed, it's thin face and angular features looking like a poor animatronic with skin stretched over it's skeleton. Two small horns jutted from just under his hair line, both curving back into his forehead.

"I never figured I'd fool you with that anyway. You and I both know this only ends one way. Well, you've seen it. I know it. I'm done playing with my toys father, I'd like to start the really play now." Luciali said, his hands falling and his face tilting down, what was once a smug grin now looking more like the rictus smile of a murderer.

Mycaelus' body lunged at the demon, a scream ripping from his throat that was more Mycaelus than it was Yuewah. In an instant the two bodies collided on the open plateau, completely unconcerned at the over 300 foot drop to the floor of the desert.

Luciali braced himself the last second before impact and managed to get his arms on Mycaelus' chest and stomach, lifting him into the sky and slamming him back down on the other side, the power transference almost seamless. Luciali laughed and crouched down to get closer to the small crater where Mycaelus' body was now resting.

"Oh no, we do this the hard way." Luciali put both of his hands on Mycaelus' head, and before much more than an eye blink both of his hands glowed a bright white light.

They both screamed, though one was much more exultant than the other, and then Mycaelus watched as a little bit of the color was bled out of the world around him. Not so much as to render him colorblind, and still more vibrant than any mortals vision, but he'd lost some of the range of what he could see.

Then the pain. Omnipresent across his entire body, none of the wounds held the same fire, and yet they all burned so hot that he couldn't tell where one began and another ended. The agony was overwhelming, but his mortal form wasn't capable of incapacitation short of death.

From his disadvantage point inside of the small hole they had made, Mycaelus could see Balshezesh on the ground just a few feet over, writhing quite a bit himself. Watching it was what he had needed, as Mycaelus could feel the adrenaline in his body push him back up and push the pain to the back of his head.

Reaching towards the sun with his left hand, Mycaelus pulled from it a glowing blade wreathed in flame.

Words reached his lips, the first from his own mind in at least two weeks. It was an odd sensation to speak, and in some way Mycaelus wasn’t certain if they really were his, but he couldn’t attribute them to anyone else. “Sorry you won’t get to die as the vessel Balshezesh. I mean, I’m not really sorry, I want you and your kind wiped from existence, but that will be soon enough. In the meantime, I’ll go ahead and get started.” Mycaelus raised the sword before himself, just above the chest of the fallen demon. A hand went up and some differently toned screeched halted Mycaelus hand of justice.

“They’re going to figure… it out themselves anyway… why kill someone… who might end up… redeemed by the end of this?” Balshezeh said, huffing hard, his hand still in the air below Mycaelus’ sword. He’d also propped himself onto one elbow, as though he’d make an attempt at escaping before he died.

Mycaelus’ head swam, and he honestly wasn’t certain he had the energy to take another step let alone chase down this little demon and run him through. Mycaelus thought about leaning into the sword and falling over to try and catch the creature, but he decided that was a good way to get himself killed. Since they’d all been moved to the mortal plane he wasn’t certain he wanted to find out what actually occurred after death, especially with both of the deific powers in the world quarreling instead of keeping an eye on souls.

Mycaelus dropped the sword a couple of feet away from the cowering coward and slumped to the floor in his own exhaustion. The fighting had gone on forever, or so it had felt. He hadn’t needed to eat or sleep, being a physical vessel of the lord and all, but everyone else had, and so he’d stared through his body's eyes as they’d fought, 24/7 for nearly two weeks. Every muscle ached the kind of pain that simply stopped existing after a while as the agony became his new state of normalcy. He couldn’t move, hardly even his lips, but his body would hurt less and heal faster this way. It was a benefit of angel-hood that didn’t require some greater power. Just a lot of extra meals.

It was a few minutes before Balshezeh dropped his hand and went back to breathing hard on the ground. Ten minutes more saw both of the men on their feet, staring out to where the sun had just nearly dipped behind a far out mountain line.

“Won’t be long now. In truth, I knew we would never win. It was obvious when I saw us start the fighting and saw how organized you all were. ‘Course, I was too afraid of the big guy to ever disobey. It’s been an honor fighting with you. I’m surprised I still know how that feels. Balshezeh said, not bothering to turn in Mycaelus’ direction.

“It won’t be long now.” Mycaelus agreed.