Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven

Lui shook his head and blinked as the dust from the explosion settled. Half the lights in the room no longer worked and the other half flickered. Lui looked up to see DJ on the ground. Oh no. Before Lui even had a chance to fully stand up, an icicle smashed into him, knocking him down again. Lui coughed and groaned in pain, arms hugging his torso. Thankfully, his leather armor prevented the icicle from impaling him, but getting hit with the projectile still hurt considerably. 

“That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out,” Shard commented in an empty tone, walking up to Lui with Frostbite in hand. Whether the tornado pulled the sword loose from the wall or if Shard retrieved it herself amidst the chaos, no one could tell. Lui looked up at Shard with a pained grimace.

“Please, Hanna,” Lui weakly pleaded. “I know you’re still in there...”

Shard crouched to his level. “You just don’t get it, do you?” she asked, expressionless face tilted to the side. “You. Can’t. Bring. Her. Back. Give up. You continue to hope when it is obvious none exists.”

Lui chuckled with a wince. “Of course, I do,” he replied, resiliently peering back at her. “Glass half-full is the best way to look at things. If I didn’t have hope… I’d end up like you.” Lui grinned in amusement. “And who’d want that?” 

Anger immediately flooded Shard’s face. She pulled back her sword to attack only for Lui to jolt out of the way. Lui clambered to his feet. The pain prevented him from standing up fully, but it did nothing to deter his positive attitude. “You caught me off guard earlier,” Lui acknowledged, watching Shard. “But my reaction time is still better than yours. On an even playing field, I’m faster than you too.” He shot her a competitive smile. “Can you even keep up?” 

“Then allow me to slow you down,” Shard responded with a glare. Shard spun the blade backward before holding it in front of her. The weapon began glowing with a deep blue light as she charged it up. Lui’s eyes widened as soon as he realized what she was doing. He turned and took off for the closet cover, the ice wall Shard used during the tornado. As it happened back at the Arctic Circle, a globe of blue light exploded from Hanna’s sword, freezing everything in its path as it expanded. Large, jagged stalagmites of ice erupted from the floor and everything the globe touched was covered in a thick layer of frost, accelerating outward until it dissipated. This explosion was much smaller in comparison to the one at the pole, having a much shorter charge up time and only freezing a third of the room. Lui dove behind the wall, avoiding the frost with seconds to spare. Lui remained behind the wall even after the wave of frost died out, hiding quietly. Waiting. Listening. Having no idea that the other side of the arena was being consumed with flame.

“You don’t belong here,” Shard said loudly, meandering through the jagged pillars of ice, looking for her prey. “This is a battle for the elite only.”

“Then why are you here?” Lui automatically quipped back. The stalagmite next to his hiding position shattered into tiny ice chips. Lui cautiously slipped around the frozen wall and behind an ice spike as quietly as he could manage. The floor now having been transformed into an ice rink did not help his situation any.

“You test my patience, whelp,” Shard said as she approached where she thought Lui was hiding. “And you waste my time.” The wall crumbled into small ice chunks, but there was no one behind it. 

“Any extra minutes I have are worth spending on trying to convince you of the error of your ways, squeaky,” Lui’s voice called out from another direction. 

“Stop calling me that!” Shard spun around and sliced through an ice pillar. Nothing behind that one either. 

Lui ducked between two more stalagmites. The opacity of the crystalline structures was enough to distort the view and keep Lui hidden. Surely, all the unnecessary elemental energy had to be getting to Shard by now. All Lui had to do was wait her out. “It’s funny to watch you get so angry, moody,” Lui called out, continuing to intentionally provoke a response. “I wonder what happens when you get really mad.” 

“I told you to stop!” Shard shouted as another ice spike nearby shattered. 

Lui doubled back, staying low to avoid detection. “I’ll stop when you go back to normal,” he responded. “I don’t know what you are, but until then, you're not Hanna to me.”

“So much faith in your friend,” Shard uttered in hatred and disgust. “Your faith in humanity is your weakness.” 

“My faith isn’t in humanity,” Lui answered, as though the statement should have been obvious. “It’s in God.” Another ice column exploded into tiny pieces. Lui was running out of places to hide.

“Ah, I had almost forgotten,” Shard said as she strolled. “You’re one of them. Figures.” She sounded closer. 

Lui peeked around the ice spike he was taking cover behind, but he did not see Shard anywhere. “One of who?” he asked cautiously. 

The cover Lui was hiding behind crumbled and Shard stood in front of him. “A believer,” she answered with contempt. Shard slashed at Lui, an attack he narrowly avoided before he dove behind another ice pillar. Shard shattered that stalagmite as well as the three around it, but Lui still managed to escape. Shard frowned, red eyes livid. 

The piles of shattered ice on the ground lifted into the air and began swirling around the cryomancer, creating a localized blizzard. Shard had no idea which pillar Lui was hiding behind but there were not that many left to check. 

“Does that make things easier?!” Shard asked in a loud, agitated voice over the storm surrounding her. “Pretending some deity out there actually cares about what happens to this miserable planet while watching it implode?!” 

“It’s not pretend,” Lui answered, still hiding. “He does care. That’s the truth. I know Hanna sees it. Why don’t you?” 

Shard raised a hand and shattered two more ice pillars, adding the ice to her storm. No one was hiding behind them. “I’ve outgrown fairytales,” Shard replied, walking toward the last few remaining icicles. “Stories are lies meant to control people. No different than any other tactic. With the correct lies, people can be persuaded to do anything…” She glanced at the DJs still in conflict across the arena. One of them was yelling, but she could not tell which one. “Including murder,” Shard finished.  

The darkness of hatred and fear in Hanna’s heart was rooted deep and would not let go. Father, help her see. “Hanna, listen to me!” Lui called out over the storm. “Whatever is going on here, we can fix it. We can help you, but only if you let us in! You can live free from the grip of your tormentor!” 

“More LIES!” Shard screamed. Another pillar shattered. “Can your puny brain not comprehend the truth?! Or are you that delusional?!” The storm increased as Shard’s fury rose, snow and hail swirling around her at an incredible velocity. Lui covered his head as he crouched behind the last remaining pillar of ice. “There is no King that can save you from my hand,” Shard continued. “There is no Savior that can rescue the world from itself! No one cares! Horrifying things happen to everyone and there is nothing you can do to stop it!”

Lost. Lui blinked and looked up. Lost, the thought repeatedly pulled at him. Sorry, Hanna. I didn't know what you meant then, but I think I get it now… Please... Don't let the darkness win. Acting quickly, Lui brought his hands together, fingers spread as they tapped against each other at right angles. Tendrils of blue lightning wrapped around his body, branching and zigzagging without discernible beginning or end. The chunks of ice from the storm still pelting him started to harmlessly bounce away. Lui stood up from his position, but remained behind the last ice pillar. The flowing lightning current caged around Lui acted as a shield and barrier in the raging storm. It couldn’t protect against everything, but it would at least keep the hail damage to a minimum. 

“You’re right,” Lui answered Shard in a loud voice. “The worst of the worst can still happen and I can’t do anything to change it. You say the world is a cruel and unforgiving place? I already know that!” 

The storm slowed a little, but did not stop. Neither did Lui. “No one else cares so why should I? Why bother caring at all? Right?” Lui took a breath and released it before continuing. “A lot of bad things aren’t in my control, but I still have a choice. I can still choose good in spite of all the bad. Why? Because it makes the world a better place. Because it leaves people better than I found them. Because it’s the right thing to do.” Lui watched as the electricity snaking around his open hand deflected the ice pellets still raining on him. A stray thought in the back of his head wondered if his fingerprints differed from DJ and Iul’s. “Being selfish is easy. It’s a lot harder to be kind. It takes strength to be gentle and selfless and compassionate.” Lui’s voice grew louder as his attention returned to the situation at hand. “Kindness is the response to cruelty! Empathy is the key to hatred! Light is the answer to darkness! All light only has one source, the One True King!” Lui listened for a response. Hearing none, aside from the blizzard still in motion, Lui took another deep breath to steady his nerves. “Being cruel is easy...” Lui stepped out from behind the pillar to face Shard in the open, ignoring the pain from earlier and standing tall. “You’re not special for choosing it.”