The Awakened Ones

No way was it that easy.

Quint stumbled towards us. His arms bleeding from the light that shot out of Xi.

I caught him and knelt on the ground, “Quint!”

“It’s not over-” he said, breathless, “Dee-”

Another scream was heard like it was on cue. Dee’s cat form ran to us, transforming into the Dee we all know. “No! Who did this?!” she asked, picking up the crystal.

Crap.

“Who!?” she screamed, demanding an answer.

I saw the determination of killing someone in her eyes and that someone was going to be Quint. Quint began to answer that it was him, but I cut him off.

“I did. After all, I do have the power,” I stood up, trying to show off how brave I was. I guess I showed it off okay, that’s if no one noticed my knees shaking.

“Then I will kill you!” she sprinted at me, baring a sword like Quint’s.

Just as her sword swung down at me, it was stopped by Quint. He knelt up in front of me, holding his sword to hers. “It was me, Dee. Your fight is with me. It’s time to end our dispute.”

I stepped back, as Quint stood up.

“Traitor!” she screamed. “You have always been a traitor!”

“Fight me, Dee. Leave the awakened ones out of this. You have half of what Xi has always fought for. Leave it at that.”

“It is their power he has always wanted. Not this stupid crystal.”

“But that’s the crystal that will allow him to take their powers.”

What was Quint doing? Giving her clues on how to kill us?

“Kill me first,” he added, “It’s the only way you’ll get to them.”

“Quint-” I let out.

Dee’s eyes shot to me, then looked back at Quint. “Fine. But don’t think you get to just sit there planning an attack on me,” she said, then snapped her fingers. Shadow creatures appeared around me, Sarah, and Nick, growling and drooling. “You get to deal with my pets.”

Before anyone could answer, it was Sarah who stepped forward, “Fine by me. I just want my life back to normal and your eyes off the back of my head!”

Dee stared at Sarah, then flew backwards, away from us, shouting, “We fight!!”

The shadow creatures pounced and Quint shot towards Dee.

Nick was thrown to the ground which automatically told me and Sarah that he couldn’t see the beast. That made the fight harder because not only did we have to watch our backs, but Nick’s too. The fights went on forever and every now and then I would check on Quint. They both fought strong, but I knew Dee had an advantage on him. The three of us grew tired fast. Quint and Dee had always fought. Sarah and I just always sat back it seemed throughout all of our lives, protecting the power our “father” gave to us. At one point the creatures knocked us off guard and attacked Nick. He fell to the ground hard and claws that resembled the shadow creatures shot out of the ground, chaining him to the dirt, draining his life source.

Sarah went to help him, but was thrown away. A barrier had formed around him, keeping her away. She cried to me, asking how to stop it. I told her I didn’t know, but to not let that stop her fighting. We need to fight and win. Tears were in her eyes, but she stood up and agreed, adding that she wanted this over and done with – as I did. As we continued to fight, Sarah stayed close to Nick, keeping the shadow creatures away. We became even more exhausted. The more creatures we killed off, the more that would appear. We fought till we were both on one knee, one creature had even knocked Sarah down. I got up to run over to her, but as I did, a larger creature stood between us.

“Sarah!” I yelled for her.

“I’m fine,” she yelled back, standing up and smiling, “Keep fighting.”

“Behind you!” I screamed. Another larger creature pounced her from behind. Claws grabbed her wrist and ankles when she hit the ground and right away I could sense her powers being drained. “No!” I screamed again, “Sarah!” I went for her again, but the creature that blocked me swiped the air with its large claws. I fell to the ground.

Quint was pinned down at this point too. He was held down by Dee’s foot and her blade was to his neck. Dee looked over at me and laughed.

“The strongest is the last one standing, but seems to be in the same position as you,” she gnarled, smiling down at Quint. “You’ll die together,” she added, leaning on her foot that was on his chest.

“Don’t you remember?” Quint said, “I can’t die.”

“Yes, I know. The vow, but the pain you must be feeling right now,” she laughed again, “You’ll die from that rather than from the blade of my sword. See that creature right there? One bite of her neck and the awakened ones powers are mine. I will have Xi’s revenge for myself!”

“It’s not going to happen.”

“Oh really? And how are you going to stop me?”

He then grabbed her foot and twisted her off his chest. I struggled against the creature, trying to fight him off. Just as the beast was about to clamp down on my neck, Quint hit it away and helped me up. Creatures circled around us. He told me to stand behind him. They began to jump at us, but Quint hit them each away.

Each of them but one.

As he hit one, another jumped at him, clamping it’s powerful jaws into Quint’s forearm. He screamed out in pain, then gasped for air to settle it. He stabbed the creature away then fell to his knee.

“Quint, let me take over,” I said, hitting a few away with an energy ball.

His shield appeared, protecting half of us. “There’s too many for you to fight alone,” he said.

“No, I’ll be fine. You’re hurt. Go back and finish Dee off. No more her means no more creatures, right?”

He let out a laugh, hitting a creature, “It’s not that easy.”

A few creatures disappeared, as Dee yelled, “Quint. Your fight is with me.”

He stared over at her and I told him to go. I wasn’t going to go down as easily as it seemed before. I had to be strong for him, my friends, and whoever else the awakened powers could harm. Quint stayed close to me as he continued his fight with Dee. I fought off the shadow creatures the best I could. The beast that disappeared before came back. I was backed into a tree at one point and turned to my only option: a tree branch. As I swung at the beast, I stepped backwards, away from them. They weren’t the ones to knock me down at that point though. My foot hit the tree root and tripped me.

“Down again,” Dee said, shaking her head, “You’d think harboring those powers, she’d know how to use them.” Dee held Quint’s sword down with hers as they talked. “She’s back in the same spot she was before. Pathetic really.” She grinned as the largest creature jumped at me again, but it chomped down on the branch I held up. Luckily it was stronger than I expected. “Finally, the end is here.”

As Dee kept her eyes on me, Quint forced his sword up, pushing her sword off his, spinning her away. He then shot his aura out and threw her away from him. With every chomp on my branch, it began to give way. I could’ve sworn with one more bite, the branch would snap and I’d be next. Thank God Quint appeared again. He threw his sword through the creature then knelt down to yank the root up, freeing my foot.

“Are you alright?” he asked, helping me up. I nodded, leaning into him, feeling weaker than before. “Forget Dee, Jillian. Stay by me now, you’re in no shape to fight.”

Dee snapped her fingers and the creatures disappeared. She walked up to us. “This is getting old. We finish this now.” A whip, like Xi’s, appeared in her hand and she snapped it on the ground.

I watched the two fight, I was finally allowed to rest and gain my strength. Their fighting lasted longer than before and surprisingly my strength was not being regained, in fact, I was losing energy. As I sunk deeper into my weakness, Dee resorted to a cheap way out and flipped Quint to the ground with the whip.

“Look at me,” she yelled in his face, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her. He dropped his eyes to the side, pissing her off even more. She put her sword to his neck, repeating herself. “If you don’t, I will kill her right now.” She slapped him across the face, “Look at me!!”

“I won’t let you kill her,” Quint let out.

“Really?” she then stabbed her sword through his arm, pinning him down. He screamed in pain. I felt useless. I couldn’t even stand up to help him. “Then watch and enjoy,” she stepped away from Quint and snapped the whip on the ground again.

“No- Let me,” he said, after crying out in pain.

She stopped and looked back at Quint, smirking, “You’ll do the honors?” She hovered over him again, pulling her sword out of his arm.

Quint cried in pain again, “Yes! Yes- I won’t let you do it…”

His eyes drifted from her lips to her eyes, it was then that I realized why he never looked anyone in the eye. It all had to do with the vow he had taken. She had the power to bring back the darkness in his soul. Quint rose from where he laid on the ground, his arm dripping of blood as he walked to me. I stood up and stepped away from him. He went to grab me but missed. I called out to him, telling him to snap out of it, but he couldn’t hear me. He swung his sword at me but missed. I sent a small amount of power into my aura, pushing him away a little. It wasn’t good enough, my energy was draining and I was getting weaker and weaker. I went to push energy into my aura again, but was too slow, Quint grabbed me by the neck and squeezed. I felt the point of his sword poking my stomach, ready to be sent through my flesh with one smooth movement of his arm.

His grip became tighter and his look became darker.

I began to feel numb and tears swelled in my eyes. I gasped for air, “Quint…” I gasped again to say something more to him. “Snap out- of it…” The poke on my stomach became sharper and my feet left the ground. I brought my hands to his face, touching him lightly, hoping that would do something. “Please…” I silently said.

Quint continued to stare at my lips with a cold, blank look. I looked around, hoping something else would happen. It took forever for Dee to get him to look her in the eye. How long was it going to take with me? Before I passed out and was killed that is. I looked back at him and brought my hands to his, just as the piercing on my stomach began to finally hurt. I wrapped my hands around the hand that was on my neck and noticed a change. His eyes dropped down to my hands then slowly raised them to meet mine. His eyes became sad and he dropped his sword from my stomach and let go of my neck. I dropped back to the ground, falling into his arms, coughing for air.

Quint held me close, “Oh God, I’m so sorry.” He pulled me back, cupping my face and staring into my eyes, “I couldn’t stop myself. I tried so hard, are you okay?” He pulled me back to his chest, repeating that he was sorry again.

Dee screamed a few curses at us, then threw her whip at Quint. It snapped him across his back. His body shot forward from the pain, pushing into me. He dropped to the ground, breathing between clenched teeth. I reached for him, seeing the whip coming down harder. It hit his back, slamming him to the ground.

“Quint-!” I tried to exclaim, dropping to my knees. I couldn’t do anything for him. I was weak beyond belief to fight Dee off. She snapped the whip onto Quint’s back again, coming towards us. “Stop it-” I said to her, tears streaming down my face.

She whipped him again, cursing, then looked at me, “And as for you!” she said with disgust.

I struggled to stand then tried for an energy ball to use against her. Dee threw her whip at me, wrapping it around my body and locking my arms together at the wrist. She began to pull me towards her – my energy being drained through the whip. I dug my heels into the ground to try and slow her pull on me. But all that did was get a laugh out of Dee.

“You’re too weak to fight, just face it,” she laughed, “This whip is giving your powers to me right this very second and after the taste of this blade,” she held the sword out to her side, “you’re as good as mine.”

Quint struggled to stand even with the immense pain in his backside. He dropped to his elbows, feeling no strength to stand, but knew he had to get back up. He made a promise to me and he wasn’t about to let Dee be the one to break it. His sword appeared in his hand and he used it to stand up. He felt his strength enter him again. Once he got to his feet, he took one last breath and rushed up to me and Dee. He sent his sword through the whip. Dee stumbled backwards while Quint caught the end of the whip, catching me and pulling me towards him.

“Maybe- its best she did just have my powers,” I quietly said, dropping my head to his shoulder.

“Why do you say that?” he asked, practically carrying me to that tree that was against me during the entire fight with the shadow creatures.

“None of this would be happening… right?” I asked from the ground, looking up at him. My eyelids became heavy, I could feel my energy level slowly dropping.

“No, this is good. If you gave in, something worse could’ve happened,” he cupped my cheek, trying to say the right words to me. Dee began to scream at him, demanding that I be brought back to her. He dipped his head to try and look into my eyes, “It’ll be okay.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Don’t go on me yet,” he whispered, then stood up and went to Dee. She threw her whip at him again, but he caught it and yanked it from her grasp.

“Traitor!” she yelled, wanting to step away from Quint, but didn’t. She swung her sword at him, but found it being caught by his.

“Speak for yourself. Where were you when my sword was through his chest?” he asked, knocking her sword away.

“But look at me – I’m his successor!” she yelled, swinging her sword at him again, “I knew he would fail, just like he always did.” She looked over at me and smiled, “She’s going fast, Quint. If you keep fighting me, she’ll be gone at the end and you’ll follow after. You’ll be killed, not me, remember?” Their swords clanked back and forth as they talked. Dee seemed to become weaker, seeing that she was about to be defeated. She continued to look over at me then back at Quint, telling him what was happening. “And now her hand will slowly drop and she will be gone. And her powers will be mine!”

It was then that Quint looked over at me, then quickly shot his eyes back at Dee to block her sword. His eyes dropped to the black crystal around her neck. As he pushed her back with his sword, he grabbed the crystal and with one last move, kicked her away. My hand dropped from my lap at that moment and lavender, purple, and maroon glowing dust began to drift through everything.

A voice appeared in my head.

It was a familiar voice, but certainly not a voice I had ever heard before. My temple then released my soul song. Our powers and soul song shifted for Dee. She screamed, fear in her tone, as the dust and songs circled around her. The powers entered her body, exploding from within.

After her dust dropped to the ground, Quint fell and each of us disappeared.