Round Two – Exchange

The dawn light spilled over the ground and over Vyu’s figure as she taught herself to run without depending on the balancing weight of her wings to steady her.  It had taken her hours, but she was learning quickly enough for her to imagine the two limbs hadn’t been there to begin with.  She almost preferred things this way; what was the use of having wings if you never flew anywhere?

She stood still and stared at the ground.  How could she have forgotten?  Her wings were the soul reason she had escaped the fortress on that night that seemed so long ago.  Still, she thought she had nothing to worry about.  It was only a temporary loss.  She would trade the life of her next opponent for them.  It seemed easy enough.

Next Vyu practiced with her sword.  Now that she knew how she would run, sword skills were much less complex to master for a second time.  She was ready for whatever the day would bring.

She slipped her hand into a small pouch she had on her person and brought the orb out.  Vyu’s eyes narrowed as she looked through the shell to the core of the sphere in her palm.

“His soul is mine.”

* * *

Vyu stared at a portion of ground a few meters from her feet.  Her nose crinkled and her expression held naught but disappointment.  “You can’t be serious.  There must be a mistake.”  When Lucian made no reply, the demon shook her head.  “These are Ethos and Tyler?  I see a turtle and a slug.”

“Better a slug than a man!” the slug said.

Vyu raised an eyebrow.  “Was that insult directed toward me?”

“Do you see any other G.I. Joe figures standing around?”

The turtle’s eyes flickered upward as if to look at the blue creature on its shell.  “Tyler, shut up.”

“I suppose—”  Vyu looked back at Lucian, but the Deserter had vanished.  When she turned back to her opponents she faced a shirtless angel.

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Vyu’s fingers curled around the hilt of her sword and drew the blade, slicing the metal upward toward Ethos’s chest.  The angel dodged the blow with a single backward step, and Vyu leapt to the side, expecting retaliation.   When none came, she looked toward Ethos, a quizzical look on her face.  He stood where his step had taken him, seeming not to have moved a muscle.  Again the demon swung at Ethos, and again he dodged.  The corner of Vyu’s nose twitched in annoyance.  How did he expect to win if he made no offensive movement?  Splitting her sword into two individual weapons, Vyu lunged and feinted, but each blow somehow found its way around its mark.  Pain throbbed in her left arm where Cimur had impaled her, but the pulsation was easy to ignore.

After a few minutes Vyu stepped back.  Sweat covered nearly every inch of her exposed skin, but she tried to stand as though her strength had not been depleted at all.  She ran the back of her hand across her forehead; this fight was becoming arduous.  If this was only the second battle she would have to endure, who knew what she would be forced through in the future.

A voice came from the pouch at Ethos’s waist.  “Wow.  Nice swinging there, sweet cheeks.  Where’d you learn how to fight, the Academy of the Blind?”

Vyu’s teeth clenched.  “Why must every opponent try my patience?!”  The demon’s gaze rose, matching the upward motion of her swords.  The blades crossed and would have struck the angel’s chest were it not for the sword blocking their path.  Vyu was shoved and stumbled backward, her clawed toes digging into the ground for support.

“Geez, she sounds like the friggin’ queen of the world.  Then again, she might just be the princess, considering how far that stick is shoved up her–gyaaaaah!”  The slug squealed as the pouch at Ethos’s waist was separated from the angel’s belt.  Vyu’s sword sliced off a lock of Ethos’s white hair during the motion that sent the bag flying, and then the blade connected with its other half, giving Vyu enough time to catch the pouch with her freed hand.  Her grip tightened, squeezing the slug until coughs replaced his screams.

Ethos immediately attacked, and it became Vyu’s turn to dodge.  This fight now felt similar to a game of keepaway, but neither the demon nor the angel was having fun.  It wasn’t long before the pouch ended up on the ground, forgotten while the battle raged on.  The pouch squirmed as the slug struggled against the leather.  “Ethos, did you forget about me?  I’m right here, ya know.  Right here, on the ground.  Waiting….WOULD YOU JUST COME AND PICK ME UP ALREADY!”  Tyler’s head finally made its way out the opening.

The moment Ethos glanced over Vyu’s shoulder she knew something was coming from behind.  The subtle and unintentional warning made the sudden sound of approaching water less of a surprise for her.  She had only to spin to the right and a huge sphere of water hit Ethos in the face, temporarily blinding him.

Knowing she had only seconds to get rid of the main source of her irritation, Vyu turned to Tyler and swung her sword through the pouch, spraying flecks of water and slime as she dismembered him.  When she turned back to her opponent, the last of the water had just been cleared from his eyes.  He looked first at Vyu, and then he saw the scraps of leather on the ground at her feet.  His expression showed that he knew what had occurred during his moment of incapacitation, hardening into a look of pure hatred.

Ethos rushed at Vyu, and she prepared to parry the blow she knew was coming.  His blade came in a side swipe at her neck, and Vyu lifted her sword to push it back, but while she was preoccupied, the angel grabbed her arm.  His fingers tightened around her bicep and his wings twitched.  Searing pain made Vyu double over as the perspiration coating her body froze and expanded in her pores.  She used her free hand to claw at her face in a desperate attempt to remove the tiny crystals.

While the demon was preoccupied, Ethos kicked her in the stomach, forcing her to the ground.  As he brought out his orb Vyu struggled to see past the blinding sting that made it so difficult for her to concentrate.  Blood trickled down her face from the gashes she had inflicted upon herself and seeped into her eyes, but she could see the glow of the sphere in Ethos’s hand.  With a feral snarl, Vyu swung her legs at his feet, sending him downward.  Then Vyu kicked the orb, sending it rolling away.  Ethos made a grab for it, but his fingertips were only able to brush the smooth surface of the orb before it travelled out of his reach.

By the time Ethos got to his feet Vyu was already standing.  In her mind the demon contemplated how she could defeat Ethos.  If he pulled a move like he had a moment ago and froze some other part of her....  Vyu imagined her heart freezing over and suppressed a shudder.  If he had the ability to freeze something vital, she was finished.  If she could only find the source of his power, this ordeal would be made much easier.  The image of his wings twitching as he grabbed her wrist flashed through her mind.  The answer was simple.

‘Cut of his wings.’

Again Vyu split her sword in two, and the angel took a step backward, his gaze flickering toward the ground.  Vyu glanced past him, seeing the sphere that lay only a few yards from where he stood.  She looked back at Ethos and her eyes narrowed.  He was going to run for the orb.  For a moment she was confused.  Why would he grab the orb before she was incapacitated?  But before she could continue her thoughts on the subject, the angel turned.

Vyu leapt forward, swinging her right arm across her chest in preparation for a strike.  She reached Ethos just as he was reaching toward the orb, but instead of picking it up, he spun around and parried Vyu’s blow with the sword he held in his other hand.  Vyu’s left arm then struck from below, slicing the angel’s side.  Ethos recoiled before punching Vyu in the jaw.  He threw another punch at her, but she hit his hand away with her sword.

The demon threw her right foot upward and behind Ethos’s neck, forcing him to his knees.  Vyu then kicked him in the stomach, bringing him completely to the ground and placed a foot on his neck, pinning him.  With the blade in her left hand she skewered his wing, then proceeded to hack it off with her other sword.  Vyu threw the detached wing over her shoulder as Ethos cried out in pain.  He struggled against the foot on his neck and nearly tripped Vyu, but she knelt on his back and managed to keep him down.  She made quick work of the other wing and sent it over her shoulder to join the other.

“You’re finished, angel.”  Vyu slid her orb from its pouch and pressed it between her opponent’s shoulder blades.  ‘Take his soul; return my wings to me.’

A sigh of relief escaped Vyu’s lips as a familiar weight set in on her back.  Ethos ceased his struggling and lay as if he were dead.  Vyu looked under her arm and was pleased to find her wings hanging from her shoulders as they always had, as if they had never left her.

She turned toward the cave she had left that morning.  She was one step closer to saving Eblean.