Sunumi

A familiar sensation swept over Sunumi, as her lucid dream reeled closer and closer to its inevitable end. It began with a tingle, a persistent numbness, both feeling and not, crawling up her toes and fingers until the parts of her that once were, became whole again. Words circled her cloudy mind, trickling droplets of consciousness until their meanings flooded her once more. The light was last to pierce the veil, merging body and mind together with a snap that brought her back to the world she once loved.

Light, pale and pure, radiated from her silky skin and dripped to the floor. She wiggled her fingers, raising her hand up to glare at them with the same curiosity as she had hundreds of times before. It never mattered how many times she had been brought back, pulled from peaceful slumber in the land beyond both and light dark, Sunumi was always curious about how brightly her soul dripped. "Why," she questioned, still drawn to her own glow. "Why am I the light that never goes out?"

She took a moment to breathe, to take in the air that had touched her lungs from the day she was born, and persisted until she was born again. "Damp," she noted, placing them somewhere temperate. Her suspicion was confirmed when her eyes scoured the walls, moss gripping the cracks of the aging stone, with etched words that were far too faded to read. She wanted to investigate further, to see if the words could be salvaged, but it only took one step, one cool dose of spongy moss against her feet to distract her. "Right," she remembered; her vulnerability exposed to the dark of the chamber. "Cloths," she remarked, grasping her necklace, the only thing that ever survived the journey back. "Cloths would be preferable."

She looked around, finding herself atop a stone alter, a slight draft coming from beyond her light's reach. Her slender legs carefully probed down a set of slick steps, bringing Sunumi to the pathway. "Hmmmm, no traps," she deduced. "I can't remember the last time there were no traps. Oblivy must have been in a rush." She moved closer to the wall, resting her hand on the smooth stone, dragging it across as she advanced to the next chamber. "Now now, where did I leave you?"

The path opened up beyond the long hall, the air flowing more freely in the widened chamber. The floor curved in a semi-circle ahead, with steps that lead down to a lower level where others could have looked upon her in greater number. Pillars with the same strange faded markings, held up an aging ceiling, which lacked any distinctive style. "Cultist? Barbarians? Whoever built this place either lacked a sense of culture, or had no need of such things." She stepped closer to the edge of the steps, peering through the open doors for any hint of her belonging. "Hellllllo?"

No one answered, and the loneliness of the world settled in as she inched back against the wall, sliding down until she could feel the floor below her. The silence had become a companion in the years leading up to her sleep, and stuck with her for the entirety of her existence. She had lived thousands of lives, full of the chaos of that comes with being, but the silence always found her in the end, lulling her back to sleep so she could do the whole cycle again. At least she could feel the air, the eternal promise of life that lingered, and took a deep breath, feeling it seep in, when the memory struck her.

"Tiffany!" yelled, recalling the moments leading up to her last sleep. "Tiffany, I'm back."

"Sorry," a voice answered, distorting the light ahead. "It had been so long, I guess. I guess I just took a nap while waiting."

Sunumi smiled, understanding what it meant to wait, and how time could chip away at a person. "That's okay, dear." She rose to her feet, stretching the rust free from her revitalized form. "You lived more than anyone could ever ask." A gentle touch from Sunumi's radiance game the distortion form, outlining a timid child, a crystal shield weighting down her slender arms, and a white sundress and shoes resting on top. "How can I possibly repay you?"

Tiffany looked up to her, long glimmering hair covering a bashful smile. " I. I just. I'm just happy you’re free." The child's light flickered, her smile leaving as she placed the belongings in Sunumi's hands. "I'm sorry."

Something was wrong, something familiar. "Tiff?" she asked, her hand finding her shoulder. "What is it?"

The girl's eye found the ground, as she fumbled over which words to say. "Be careful," she whispered, almost as if they were not alone. "It's so much worse than it's ever been." Her spirit faded in and out, even under Sunumi's touch. "You have to do it. You have to set them free. Please. There won’t be another chance."

Light faded from the child as Sunumi tried to grab her, to pulse her light into her, but there wasn't enough, not yet. "What do you mean, there won’t be another chance?" she asked, grasping her light with everything she could muster. She wanted answers, to know the truth in her words, but the more she clung to that idea, the more fear she could feel, in the soul that had aided her for over a millennia. "Listen to me," she told her, the child too weak to respond, "This wasn't for nothing, I promise. I am going to end this all, just like I said I would. I am going to end it all, and we all can finally rest."

Slowly her limbs vanished, fading someplace familiar as Sunumi watched, never breaking her gaze. Sunumi smiled, gentle and brave, until long after the child was gone, hoping she could still see her from beyond. She took a moment to mourn, to let the memory of a friend fill her before she dressed and let the reality set in. This wasn't just another time, another place, another struggle. This was the last time, the last place, the last struggle, and it was up to Sunumi to make sure that every life before was not for nothing. She was going to set the world free, and let it finally get the rest that it deserved.

Kritz

There's not much to be said about consciously floating in a vast sea of blackness. It's Boring. Although, there's a seemingly infinite amount of noise caused by just as many energies the world has to offer. Everything has it's own sound, you know. Over the millenniums, they become easier to identify. Water offers a constant, but peaceful burble, which I became quite accustomed to when this awful, pale wench tossed me into the depths of an ocean. I was trapped there for centuries, just thinking of how I would get my vengeance. I got the opportunity. I squandered it and she locked me in a box and buried me under the heftiest mountain she could find. Which is where I became familiar with the sound of stone. Nothing but a massive, pulsing mind-ache that was. I missed an entire millennia that time. Oh, don't worry, I got another opportunity. Still didn't go my way though. That bitch stuck me on a branch on the tallest tree in the middle of a forest. The wind sounded nice, faintly whooshing around from time to time. But the trees. Damned Gods, the trees were annoying. They were like millions of little children unable to get comfortable in one spot. Found a friend in one tree though. I visit him from time to time, because, well, that's what you do when you spend a few lonely centuries with someone. Time is treating him well. He would tell you otherwise, Old Grump Stump. I haven't had an opportunity for vengeance since then, and to be honest, that feeling has faded. I feel a kind of bond with that pale deceitful little thing. Our paths have crossed too many times for it to be coincidence. And now, in this particular plane of existence, I can hear her annoyingly piercing energy. She's close, and I think it's high time I came out of retirement. After all, I must thank her for introducing me to the greatest friend I ever had, Old Grump Stump. I've spent too much time in here talking to myself anyway.

Mountains towered into the dusky sky, casting a dark shadow across the surrounding lands and over a town just a few hundred yards away. Feint screams could still be heard in the distance, possibly the last of the survivors. Not far off from the edge of a valley where two of the mountains nearly met, a group of bandits searched for an escaped boy. They lost sight of him shortly after he made it out of the town, but they knew he headed in this direction. One of the bandits, an elderly man with long white hair stared blankly into the valley. The others glared in confusion at one another, waiting for the old man to snap out of it. Once he did, he noticed the looks. It was obvious to any outsider that this man was the one in charge. No one did anything without his word. The old man lifted his arm, encased in a full vambrace, and pointed toward the valley. He wasn't sure why he pointed, but it felt like something was directing him. He glanced down the length of his arm, darting his eyes from one symbol to the next. He could suddenly feel some kind of energy building up within the metal arm. He shoved all thoughts aside and followed the rest of his group into the valley.

An hour passed and the sky was quickly growing darker. The moon, hidden behind the colossal mountains, failed to illuminate the narrowing valley. Few of the bandits expressed their concern among each other as the old man continued onward. "Sir!" a large, dark skinned man called out. "I don't think it's wise to go any further. The boy isn't that important." He paused for a moment. "He will die out here on his own."

The elder man snapped out of a daze he didn't realize he had fallen into. "Hm? What boy?" he questioned while the others gaped at him. He quickly recovered and said, "Ah yes. The one who escaped." Looking once again at his metal arm, which he found weeks ago while looting an abandoned village, the old man noticed the energy from it was growing stronger. The large bandit came up from behind and observed, as did the others. "We move on," the leader commanded. There was a disappointed sigh from each of the bandits, but they all continued. The old man just walked and stared at the vambrace.

Moments later, the group approached a small crevasse in the side of the mountain. At the end of the narrow path lied a double stone door, one side slightly open. The female bandit, tying back her scraggly red hair, blurted, "That must be where the boy went."

The old man glanced at each member of his group, expecting them to answer a question he never asked. "Can you feel that?"

"Sir?" one of them replied, confused.

"Something ancient is in there," he said with a smile. "Something worth a fortune."

"I think he's finally lost his marbles," the female bandit joked. The others followed her lead.

Dark, cold, and pungent, the group traversed the mossy halls with great care until they came across a large room. Light seemed to come from nowhere, revealing the spoils that would make the bandits rich. All along the stone walls were inlet shelves nearly hidden by overgrowth. Within them rested numerous artifacts lost to time. The bandits spread out in excitement as the elder stood at the door way. He seemed to be lost within himself. No one noticed.

She's here.

The old man looked around, frightened at the sudden voice.

Oh, well this is awkward, huh? Don't freak out.

The old man looked around, searching for the source of the intruding voice. Once he looked back at his metal arm, he realized that the power from it had grown. He stared in disbelief.

I know! I know! creepy, but listen. We don't have time. Once you leave here, your lackeys here are going to kill you. I can help you out here, but you gotta trust me.

He stepped back and observed his group, considering the possibility.

That's right. Now, I bet you didn't know this fancy little arm has weapons inside of it. Pretty cool actually. I built it myself. All I need you to do, is twist the pinky slightly to the left, and voila, you get a sword.

Staring at the others while they looted the artifacts and scrolls, the old man began to feel more of the power radiating from the arm. It was calling to him and he felt his mind slipping.

Do it!

In the next moment, he took hold of the metal pinky and twisted it as instructed. A loud screech pierced the room and caught the attention of his crew. When they looked back, their leader was kneeling down and screaming in pain. Blood poured violently from the vambrace. The large bandit ran up to him, but stopped short when he noticed a sword protruding from the hand. "Sir!" the bandit yelped.

"The name's Kritz," the old man said, a sinister smile plastered across his face.

Sunumi

Hours had past since she woke, since she discovered what this story was to be, and the possibilities of what lied ahead seemed tireless. Sunumi had approached the apocalypse in many ways since the first rebirth, but none of them seemed to truly matter until now. “Just training,” she told herself, advancing down the halls and into the other rooms, scowering each for a clue of what or who was to come. Each appeared to be empty, relative to what she was accustomed to, but it didn’t mean that horrible monsters did not spawn from them. In the times that passed, she always appeared with the stone, and the weapons would come next, but this cycle was different; Sunumi was late, and every foul creature that was to inhabit this world had already left, putting her at an even greater disadvantage. It didn’t help that there were so many rooms, leading her to believe that this rising was both rushed, and devious in nature.

“They could be anywhere,” Sunumi groaned, slinking back against the wall. She wasn’t used to being surprised, and had spent so much time wandering that protesting gut was even against her. “What is going on around here?”

“Something special.”

Sunumi sprung up, not needing to turn to know who snuck up on her, but turning nonetheless in defense. “Violet.”

The woman revealed herself from behind an open room, her confident grin eclipsing her battered exterior. Flowing hair encircled her, streaming with browns and reds, cluing Sunumi into what elements she was currently consuming. “I was hoping to get a little more time before this meeting. It would have been fun to kill you off in the beginning of this story, like you’ve done to me ohhh so many times.”

Violet was an abomination, even among the monsters that rose. In her pursuits to prove her greaters wrong, she consumed magic like a drug, eventually breaking the limits of what humans could do, and breaking the world in the process. Sunumi had made it a personal mission to eradicate her corruption from the universe before she could take hold, but the stone had taken a liking to her. “Do you really think you can kill me?” She asked, her crystal shield pouring from her back and onto her arm. “Not even the stone can stop me from rising, no matter how many times he has tried.”

The woman’s hand glanced the wall, dragging the stone that she touched in her, restoring Violet’s body to what she once was. “Not yet,” she grinned, “But then again, I haven’t been allowed to live this long, so who knows what could happen.” She gave Sunumi a wink before vanishing from where she came, both of them knowing that a fight in their current states would yield nothing but exhaustion. Still, Sunumi couldn’t help but stare, to burn a whole into the woman as she walked away, knowing that she was a perversion to everything that magic stood for, a gluttonous wraith that must be destroyed. She stared until long after she was gone, understanding what the stone intended with it’s premature awakening.

“Fine, “she declared, finished worrying about what was to come. Whatever was out there, was the worst possible reality Sunumi could conceive, and she would destroy it, and the stone, and finally put an end to the drawn-out game.

A clash echoed down the hall, bringing life to the other end of the ruins. Sunumi rushed to its source, her light dripping in anticipation of an even worse adversary. She rounded the corner, her breathing calm and controlled as her crystal shield began to absorb the excess light with a white brilliance as she reeled it back for an attack. The energy oozing from the room was ominous, likely old blood magic that infamously broke the natural order, and had to be dealt with swiftly before it could infect anything else. She slid through the open arch, slinging a crescent crystal toward the energy, when she saw it. It was a sword, seamlessly staring at her as she came through, sprouting a metal thumbs up from the blade as she hurled her attack, causing the energy to swing off course and into the bandit that the sword fended off. The light pierced the bandit’s body, leaving no markings, but causing the large man to go limp, the life ripped from his eyes, and body falling onto the sword.

Sunumi couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it, but the worst had come to pass. She raised her hand, and the crystal shield reformed around her arm, as if it never left, before she lowered it. “What did I tell you the last time,” she yelled, frustratingly, as the blood sprayed the other bandits, both terrified and confused. “I don’t have time for your games, not this time.”

Violet alone was a problem, but Kritz was a different kind of monster. Of all the atrocities she had corrected, he was one of a handful she could not reverse. He was the unknowing mixture of powerful blood magic, and a unique soul, capable of handling his curse without being torn to pieces. He was powerful, dangerous, and completely insane, but Sunumi couldn’t, or maybe wouldn’t ever muster up the energy to destroy him. No matter how many times he interfered, she couldn’t just end it, a flaw that she knew she would regret someday; today was that day. She couldn’t deal with them both, along with the stone, especially with the significant head start. She raised her arm again, shield glowing more brilliantly with its purifying white light.

After the red mist settled and the streak of light faded, Kritz stared wide-eyed at the bandit. He was lifeless, an instantaneous death that robbed the blood painted gauntlet of a new, fresh host. Back when Kritz was new to the whole, bound to an object thing, he once tried possessing a dead body. The effort was found to be quite exhausting, as constant maintenance was required to keep the host alive. Having been in a dormant state for so long, the energy required to maintain this large hunk of a bandit was out of reach. Not that he could have possessed him anyways after what had just happened. The crescent light that Kritz knew was meant for him, had struck the sorry bandit and rendered the vessel useless to him. He tilted his head to gaze beyond the other bandits. Sunumi, looking as pissed as always, stood at the exit, huffing and puffing his way as she lowered her glowing shield. Kritz smiled in all the excitement.

"Now, Sunumi," he joked. "I know you love to hate me and all, but," Kritz let the limp bandit slide off of the protruding sword. There was an unnecessarily loud thunk. "You don't have to go killing potential meat-suits." He looked down to the bandit, sighed, and back to Sunumi. He poked more fun by saying, "You would have loved me in that hunky bod."

The remaining bandits observed in fear and confusion. Silence fell upon the room as Kritz finally noticed them once again. He peered each of them in the eyes and realized he had just taken over the body of their leader. The looks on their faces told him they didn't know what to do or how to react. Kritz grinned while he lifted his green tunic to bare his wrinkly, skinny chest. "Seriously," he jested. "The difference is like night and day." Nobody laughed.

Kritz lifted his metal arm and twisted the pinky finger. The blade retracted in an instant and made a locking sound when the arm closed. He took the deepest breath he could muster and focused his energy. Kritz had spent far too long in his slumber. He could feel blood flowing, but it felt like sand, heavily creeping through his veins. He summoned the energy needed. Without warning, Kritz leaped at the closest bandit and tore through his leather. Blood spat out when the metal claws sliced through the mans chest. He dropped instantly. In the next moment, bandits started dropping one by one. Played in slow motion, streams of blood fell in a trail behind Kritz, a body falling just as fast at each change of direction on the killers path.

He came to a screeching halt when he reached a bandit woman, red hair tied tightly back. He felt something different as he approached. She was much stronger than she appeared to be, Kritz could feel it in his soul. The elderly man, covered in the blood of his former lackeys, began removing the metal arm. The girl stepped back before trying to dash around for her escape. She was successful in putting distance between herself and Kritz, but the attempt was futile. The old man wound up and threw the arm her way, claws piercing shallowly into the back of her arm. She went down screaming and lay on the ground for a brief moment. The red haired bandit slowly rose to face Sunumi, a flamboyant grin and pose greeting her. The metal arm was a bit over-sized for the girl.

"Maybe this," Krits played. "Is more your style?"

Sunumi

She gazed at the wall as the massacre unfolded, finding no comfort in senseless slaughter, yet understanding its inevitability. The blood splashed against the faded stone, dripping slowly as the last body fell, Kritz claiming his own. He was always one to jest, but at least when he was joking her was manageable. “I can see much deeper than that puppet you wear,” she reminded him, “and I’m afraid that no accessory that could pull away from the ugliness that is your soul.”

The words were harsh, she had become harsh, but sweetness worked less and less in a growingly hostile world. There was a time when the man would listen to reason, a time when she would have even considered him amongst the living, but that was eons ago, and she had his wickedness extinguished more times than she could count. Still, Kritz could have been of use.

“You know,” Sunumi said, walking past the arm, inspecting the blood closely as she followed the cool air to the next set of halls that would free her from the temple, “no matter how many times we play this game, we always end up here.” Her fingers traced the doorway, as if she was searching for some something more in the mossy stone. “That can’t be by accident, right?”

Her hand dropped, gripping the other in comfort as she turned to Kritz, allowing the smallest vulnerability as she peered through his vessel. “I don’t just want to win,” she explained, thinking of that that looked like throughout the years, “I want to win for good. I’m tired, Kritz. I’m tired, and I want it to be over,” she peered to arm, acknowledging it for the first time since the swap. “For good this time. Don’t you?”

"Of course it's not by accident," Kritz confirmed. He thought about all the times Sunumi had trapped him in some way or another. Even the times she hadn't, Kritz always found his way back to this very temple. It was always by accident. Strange for someone who has been around the world many, many times. He questioned, "You think I end up here by choice? As much as I've grown to adore that colorless face of yours, I just want to sleep." He followed her through the hall as he spoke. Once they walked through the double stone door, Kritz looked up to find the moon. It was full, bright, and just about to hide itself behind the towering mountain side. It wouldn't be long before the moon's radiance was filtered out by the jagged earth that surrounded the duo.

"It can all end," he said. "But one thing needs to change from all the other times." He smiled big. "I'm coming with you. So no more of your fancy little traps." Kritz continued walking, heading for the exit of the narrow crevasse. As the light quickly began fading, he looked at Sunumi and chuckled under his breath. Failing to ignore it, she grimaced.

"Sorry," he joked. "I was just thinking about how dark it was about to get, until I realized that you're basically a flashlight." He chuckled some more. After a few more steps and inching closer to the exit of the first valley, Kritz glanced back to the temple. Darkness seemed to radiate from the entrance. He pondered for a moment. "Have you ever thought about destroying the place we always come back to?"

Sunumi

"Destroy the temple?" she questioned, glancing back at the rocky gate. Of all the times she had arrived, the option never occurred to her. The cycle never stated with a temple, nor was it the origin of her sin, the place was merely where the veil was the thinnest. If destroyed, there was no doubt in her head that some unsuspecting mortals would build another, the same way all old magics managed to find their way back into the worst hand. Fate was unyielding, and here she was, trying to bend it in her favor. It was stupid, but maybe he was right, even if for purely symbolic reasons. "You know, you just might be onto something, lefty. If this going to work, I'm going to need to be a little more like you, and you're going to need to be a little more like me. Whatever that equates to, I'm sure it is going to scare the hell out of the stone."

The moon's light bathed her every minute she was in it's site. It never took long to find her grace, but nights such as this made Sunumi particularly dangerous. The necklace radiated as she closed her eyes and let the energy in. Her mind opened, searing the past for the memory she needed, a name to call, a name that still might linger in the world today, waiting to find purpose once more. "There it is," she whispered, looking up to Kritz. "But it might sting a bit."

Sunumi knew by the look on his face that Kritz could remember who she was to call, and how she used against him. Even so, he didn't protestest as she called out, "Terra, mother of Earth, grace us with your beauty." Her left hand found get necklace, grasping its reserves as her right channeled a thick white light ahead, flowing a singular entity that slow took form.

A woman rose from the light, skin of bark and long vibrant wines sprouting from her head and wrapping around her like a thin coat of armor. The woman was disoriented at first, but her demenor changed when her sights met Sunumi, then quickly diverting to Kritz. "My lady, mistress of the night, giver of life, protector of the pure, have you summoned me again to rid the world of this.. this metallic abomination?"

"Not at all," she interjected, not unknowing on how the fight would ultimately be settled. Terra was no god, not really, just a person that had pushed the limits of humanity too far, and become something else in the process. She was born of one of the few ages that respected magic for its true form, and had grown an attachment to Sunumi when she arrived at the end, and helped vanquish the rise titans, as they were called, Terra included. "I'm afraid we don't have much time, not yet, but I do have a favor to ask of you." Sunumi glance at Kritz, and then the temple, affirming her decision. "Destroy this place, bury the temple under so much earth that not even Kritz will live to see it again." She walked to the woman, cupping her delicate fingers against Terra's toughened chin, "can you do this for me?

Terra's arm reached up to grasp Sunumi's, her eyes never leaving her. "Of course I can," she acknowledged, retreating her grip and turning to the temple. "You will have no more comfort, stone," Terra yelled, as the vines untangled from her body and pierced the ground. "You have betrayed me, betrayed my people, and you shall have no more shelter now." The grew larger from the base as they dug deeper into the ground.

The earth shifted, forcing Sunumi to find her balance before meeting the ground. A rumble bellowed ahead, as the sides of the crevasse lost their form, threatening to fill from above. "Kritz," Sunumi yelled, coming to a careful dash as soon as the words left her mouth. Step by step she propelled further, until she felt a shock of air blast her from behind. The girl tumbled to the ground, rolling forward and out to a clearing where the mountains opened up. She felt a sting as she inched her leg back into place, her glimmering essence dripping from the wound. 'I'm still too weak,' she thought to herself, giving herself a moment before attempting to lift herself from the ground. The toll was too much, even under a full moon, yet somehow she was able to roll herself over, propping herself up enough to see the leveled land that was behind her. "Subtle," she laughed, almost forgetting that she could. "Subtle," she said one more time, before dropping back and catching the moonlight, while the sky still allowed it to glow.

Deja vu struck Kritz as soon as the mountains began to crumble. It was not at all unlike the time Terra had buried him under the crushing weight of earth so long ago. He waddled backwards while he watched the scene unfold. Sunumi yelled to him, and without thinking he dodged back. He avoided a boulder falling from the sky, but where he landed, another found him. Fortunately for Kritz, the metal arm that was his vessel was the only body struck. The meat suit was safely out from under the rock that pinned Kritz at the forearm. He'd have screamed in pain, but the metal arm felt nothing. A few moments of earth crashing to the earth had passed when he heard the muffled voice of Sunumi. Rubble? Krits thought to himself. Way to state the obvious.

A determined battle roar escaped from somewhere beneath the crumbled mountain. A single boulder struggled to slowly rise above the rest. Underneath, A barely visibly crimson aura surrounded the metal arm that held the hulkish rock. It rocked from side to side before finally taking one last plunge to the ground. Kritz climbed onto the highest peak of all the piles and yelled, "NOT THIS TIME YOU VINEY BITCH." When he scoured the area, he realized that she had disappeared. "Hmph," he mocked. "Not even a 'Your so very welcome, Masters.'" Kritz looked to where the entrance had been and witnessed Sunumi taking a break. He headed over.

Kritz snickered when he approached a lying Sunumi. Blood soaked through the black shirt under Kritz' green leather vest. It had spilled from the shoulder of the metal arm when he was trapped. "She was..." he paused for a brief moment to choose his next words. "Very rude," he finished while shaking his head. Then he smiled a devious grin. "You want some company down there?"