Renegade Reborn (64 page)

“Oh, whew . . . so, so, let me get this straight. You want me to beg for death? Make me feel your pain? YOUR PAIN!? HAH! Here I am, ok, Gisbo Falcon, the guy you want to feel pain. This is the guy who lived and slept in a shit shack every night for over ten years just over those walls. This is the guy who has been picked on, beaten, and fought everyday against assholes like you just for a shred of dignity because of my stupid ass name, a name that means dog, in Flarian tongue, but wait! There’s silver lining to all of this. Turns out, I’ve been a Renegade, all this time, and was sent away from my beautiful home, Heaven’s Shelter so I would learn the value of pain, and wouldn’t turn into a spoiled, whiney pansy ass like you!

Oh, and it was so worth the wait! I get to return to Heaven’s Shelter, and get everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more! I’m reunited with my family, given a purpose, and, I actually make friends! Amazing friends! My life is beyond amazing! And why? Why do good things suddenly happen to me? Because, apparently, I needed, MORE PAIN!

My Aunt kills herself with my own weapon to save Heaven’s Shelter, my Grandpa dies protecting me, I get infected with the Drakeness, I watch one of my best friend’s father’s get eaten alive from the inside out by worms, then, THEN! One of the only people who ever taught me anything useful in this life, Foxblade Dreadka, my father’s best friend, and my best friend’s father, gets killed, and then, immediately after, I watch my other best friend, Shaved, get killed so his organs, can keep me alive, and keep me talking to you, and, OH!

And then, to top it all off, Drakearon’s son, he tortures my stupid ass, makes me feel the worse pains of my life, and WHY!? TO PREPARE MYSELF FOR MORE PAIN!” Gisbo said, at this he cackled with maddening laughter, louder, and longer than before.

“And then, after all that, all the shit hits the proverbial fan. Ready? Ready? Get this, my ex-girlfriend kills herself right before the biggest asshole in the history of assholes, Drakearon, comes back, puts some puppet strings on me, and forces me to do his dirty work, because, why the fuck not? And while he controls me, I kill one of my friend’s synergy mates, I kill my two bosses who I loved with all my heart, I kill one of my friend’s father’s, I kill my best friend’s boons, and then, just for the hell of it, he makes me slaughter a slew of my Renegade brothers and sisters, some of them I don’t even know, and then, THEN! Just to be the biggest dick alive, he, he cuts the throat of the only woman I’ve ever loved, and will probably, ever, love again, right . . . right in front of me,” Gisbo stammered. He fell to all fours now, his laughter stopped, as tears of sorrow, ran down both sides of his face. He swallowed hard, coughed and continued in a weak, slow, tone.

“And there’s nothing I could do to stop him. Nothing. I couldn’t save her, and he, he took her from me. I see her, every night, in my dreams, and, and it’s not fair, because, she’ll never dream again. Her dreams. They’ll never come true.” Gisbo said, sniffling, wiping his face, he rose up to one knee, and looked up at Malik, right in his eyes.

“And then, then my Dad, the very person who made me who I am today, take it or leave it, he says goodbye to me, and blows himself up, along with the one place I’ve ever been able to call home, to save us all, to give us time, time that I’ve squandered and spent drinking, whoring, and wandering . . . and for what? WHAT!?

You tell me, you’ve seen things, lost things, Malik . . . well so have I. I’ve experienced things that you could never handle on your best day . . .” Gisbo said as he rose up to his feet, and walked forward, his eyes wide and bloodshot, his voice quiet.

“And then there’s you . . . the man who dresses up in a bloody goat suit, who travels to my past to cause me the worst pain of all. To make me watch, as you violate, torture, and kill the woman who brought me into this world, my mother, out of revenge for . . . your girlfriend killing herself. Maybe she did it because of my actions, maybe because of yours, who knows what was going through her mind in her final moments. Nobody does, but rather than grieve her, honor her, you instead, blame me, ME! And for, what was it again? To make me feel . . . your pain . . .” Gisbo said, shaking his head, his face wet with tears.

Malik stood there, his knees shaking, his face perspiring as his Dragon essence little by little, began fading, until his red, burning eyes, in dual puffs of smoke, returned to normal.

“I’ll . . . I’ll kill you . . .” Malik said, his lips trembling.

“Then do it.” Gisbo said, putting out his arms, leaving himself vulnerable. “DO IT!”

Malik gritted his teeth, and tried re-igniting his Dragon powers, but to no avail.

“What, what did you do to me?” Malik snapped, grasping his fists in the air, over and over again, trying to call upon his powers. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

“Simple. You rely on crazy to strike fear into people. Your true talent, like mine, is being unpredictable, but your power source is linked to the Dragon, and what does its power run on? Fear. It’s the basis for everything! Everything you stand for, all your power, relies on fear. So, tell me, cousin, what is the Man-Dragon when he becomes afraid of something bigger, and crazier than he is?” Gisbo asked, getting his face into Malik’s.

“Just a man in a goofy ass goat suit . . .”

And with that, Gisbo turned his back on a frustrated Malik, and began walking toward Rolce and Kinny.

“Don’t you turn your back on me! I may not be able to access my Dragon essence, but it doesn’t matter! My Flarian essence still remains! Let’s settle this, right here, right now!” Malik said, igniting his Flarian essence in a surge of red fire.

Gisbo stopped himself, sighed, and turned to give his cousin one, final stare, the stare he hated, the stare that said, “I’ve already won.”

“You’re not worth it,” Gisbo said, and with that, he raised two fingers, and snapped them. The ground vibrated, then shook with the sound of hundreds of stampeding wolf paws. Malik did not run, did not move, only closed his eyes and accepted his defeat. Jeshua pounced first, pinning Malik to the ground, then the pack moved in a storm of claws and teeth. Gisbo allowed them to tear into him for a full fifteen seconds before he snapped his fingers once more, and the ghost wolves disappeared in flashes of bright, white light.

Gisbo walked, sloshing through his cousin’s blood, and stood over him. Half the skin on his face was torn off, revealing bone, throbbing muscle, and teeth leading up his jawline in a strange, permanent smile. He wheezed, his chest falling up and down unnaturally. His white cloak, covered in dried, black blood, was now covered in hot, fresh black blood. His arms and legs were covered in holes, as if he had attacked a cactus and lost. Black Dragon blood leaked from the holes like a sieve, and his legs and arms, were shredded, broken in dozens upon dozens of places. No doubt, Malik would never walk again, but what was more curious, was the Drakeness was not healing the small holes from the wolf teeth.

Gisbo dropped to one knee.

“I absorbed some essence back from the remaining wolves. I’ll fix you up, then, you’re going to . . .” Gisbo started when Malik’s hand snapped forward, grabbing him by his wrist.

“No,” Malik said weakly.

“No?” Gisbo asked, surprised by his strength, but more than that, by the look in his eyes. They were . . . clear . . . and that’s when he noticed that the Dragon Blood pouring out of him was no longer black, but red.

“It had, it has to be this way . . . cousin,” Malik said, coughing, as red blood trickled out of his open face, washing over the white, revealed jaw bone.

“But my Phoenix power, I can heal you, put you somewhere where you can’t hurt anyone . . .” Gisbo said. Malik then felt up Gisbo’s wrist, and grasped his hand. Gisbo let him. Never had he heard Malik speak so clearly, look so . . . at peace.

“No. It’s too late anyhow. Too many wounds, too fast and besides, we both know, with my power, there’s no prison that could hold me.” Malik said, coughing up more red blood. He wiped his mouth, staring at the blood as if it were a long lost fried. “It had to be this way . . . I, I wanted it, this way. You’ve beat the Dragon’s influence out of me, literally. Finally, I have peace, and clarity again . . . it’s been so long . . .”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gisbo asked.

“You already know, you just don’t understand.” Malik said.

“Stop with that!” Gisbo said.

“Who do you think, showed Vice Dastard, the future? Why did he take the blame for your mother’s death? Why did your father believe that he did it?” Malik asked. Only confusion was on Gisbo’s face. “Because, I told him to. He, he saw the future, Gisbo, and he agreed to help. As he told you, this, where we are, it is the past. In every timeline, you lose to Drakearon. He, he owns the future. In one timeline, you die, because Shaved did not die to pass along his organs. In another, the Rupture happens and your mind breaks. You weren’t prepared, and of course, in another, you were never infected with the Drakeness, and so, you and Drakearon, could not do battle . . .” Malik said.

“But, that’s . . . that’s . . .” Gisbo started.

“Insane? Of course it is. You’re starting to understand now. It was I who put that vile right where it needed to be, right at your most desperate moment. Why? To give you the chance Vadid never had . . . to have a no holds bar, honest fight, with Drakearon. Everything I’ve done, I did it all, to give you a chance . . . all those timelines I spoke of? We may be in the past now, but upon my death, this, where we are now, will become, the present. The alternate timelines will break. They are linked to me now because of my actions, and rather than a branching tree, Time will become a straight line that will only begin to branch out again at the end of it, and how it will branch out, comes down to the result of one thing . . . a duel to the death, between you, and Drakearon . . .”

Gisbo’s eyes narrowed at this, then he shook his head.

“No, NO! This, this makes no sense! My mother! My mother you asshole! You say you did this to help me, yet, you killed her! Why did you kill her? Why did you make me watch!?” Gisbo asked, as he reached down and picked up his cousin with both hands by the front of his robe.

“When Nina . . . passed . . . at that moment, I wanted revenge, and to get it, I fully, and utterly, handed myself, and my soul, to Appoloyon, to the Dragon. The Dragon, he doesn’t control you, not fully. He controls the worst parts of you and brings it to the surface, shoving down who you really are, to become the dark side of the same coin.

I know you’re no stranger to the loss of someone you love, Gisbo, but for me, I only ever loved one person. When she, did what she did, I was so full of misplaced fury. Rather than blame myself, I blamed you, and I used my Dragon powers, past their extent, and through trial, and error, much error, I traveled everywhere, at the cost, of my own sanity. The things I’ve seen, no mortal man should have. And why? All, to save a woman, and, in every timeline, no matter what, I couldn’t save her, and the ones that she did survive . . . well . . . she ended up with you.

Watching your love die is one thing, but watching her live, with someone else, knowing, you could never measure up, never hold her, never kiss her? That is a whole other kind of pain . . .

It may make me weak, it may make me a pussy, as you so eloquently called me, but I was willing to re-write the universe for her, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t do it, and, and, all I saw, was you, taking her for granted, putting her off, and still, she clung to you, where I, I was ready to give her everything . . .

I don’t understand women. Women don’t understand me, but all I know, is that through it all, you were there. So, unable to save her, and myself, I instead, decided to take from you your mother right from the very start, the very beginning, at a time, where you couldn’t process it. I knew it would crush your world, change your fate forever. I knew it would bring you down to my level, but when it was all over, when I had spilled my rage, cut her, beat her and slaughtered her in front of your virgin eyes, I expected peace, absolution, and instead, felt worse than ever before.

It was then, the guilt of my actions, it was heavier, more powerful than the Dragon’s control, and my true self came back, and saw what I had done, saw your mother’s dead, bleeding remains in my arms . . . and saw you, forever changed, looking at me with eyes, eyes, that I looked into with my own, and that, that’s when everything changed . . .” Malik said, as he let out a viscous cough, then continued.

“I saw your life, as well as my own, flash before me. I saw your future, your death, my death, and with it, the death of thousands, at the hands of Drakearon. I saw mountains of skulls, and bones, all spent in order to build his soulless, will-less world . . . all possible, because of the Dragon’s power radiating inside me, and that’s when I came to a revelation. The Goat, the symbol of the unholy sacrifice, the mantle the Dragon had willed me to take, and embody, it would change. I wouldn’t become some unholy sacrifice for the Dragon. Instead, I would become a sacrifice, for you, Gisbo . . .

I knew I would never be able to atone for the sins I committed against you, but, I could do something else, for both you, and the rest of Thera. In my vision of you, Gisbo, in the one timeline where you did grow up, and fight Drakearon, the one where you lose to him, and give the Man-Dragon his desired world, you lost, simply, because the time you should have spent training, and building up yourself, you instead spent, helping me, your loser of a cousin . . .” Malik started, as then, he sniffled and tears rolled down his cheeks.