The Forest Nymph Pt. 02

Agamemnon jumped back and again pounced with his sword above his head, but Felix blocked the attack with the Sword of Troy and counterattacked by slamming the dark king in the face with the edge of the Aegis, shattering his jaw. Seemingly unaffected by the attack, Agamemnon let go of his sword and delivered a devastating punch to Felix's stomach, all without the weapon even separating from the Sword of Troy before he retrieved it. Felix was forced back with blood spurting from his mouth, but thanks to his lion cape, he was able to recover fast enough to block a second slash from Agamemnon. Staring his enemy down, Felix spat in Agamemnon's face, blinding him with a splatter of blood. The king staggered back to clear his eyes, granting Felix the chance to slash him from shoulder to hip, tearing open his chest and revealing the decomposing organs within.

With a demonic roar, Agamemnon bolted forward and began pelting Felix with a barrage of repeating erratic stabs, lashing out with inhuman speed and barely giving Felix enough time to block with the Aegis. As he attacked, his torso mended itself with the power of Pandora's Box making the rotting flesh merge back together.

'I've never seen an injury heal with that sort of speed, save for when Serenity healed my own. If I have any chance of killing him, I need to hit him hard and then keep hitting him,' Felix thought as he desperately swung his shield from side to side to block Agamemnon's stabs.

With an idea forming in his mind, he jumped back to give himself some distance and then swung his sword down with all the strength in his body. The Sword of Troy was brought down with a roar equal to a bolt of lightning from Zeus and it launched a wave of glassy flames, transforming Felix's will into a solid attack. The crescent silver aura struck Agamemnon across the chest, knocking him through the air and leaving an arm-sized laceration that sent a foaming cloud of coagulated blood. Had he been a normal human, Agamemnon would have been sliced in half without any chance of stopping or even slowing the blast.

Seemingly skating over the ground like an eagle over water, Felix sprinted towards Agamemnon with an animalistic snarl. Reaching the king before he could stop himself from flying back or recover, Felix gave a loud roar and slashed the floor with devastating power, grinding through the stone and mortar in an uppercut slash. The sword broke free of the floor right beneath Agamemnon and the king was blinded as Felix's insurmountable strength was transferred to the floor in a deafening explosion. With the force of the sword striking it, the floor erupted like a volcano, blasting Agamemnon with hundreds of pounds of stone.

Agamemnon was tossed high into the air, limp as a ragdoll. Shattering the floor with his dismount, Felix leapt up, hoping to deliver the finishing blow. Up in midair, Agamemnon turned around with a maniacal grin and delivered a seismic kick before Felix could attack, sending the hero rocketing through the air and crashing straight through a line of pillars before slamming into the wall. Hung up in a vertical crater high above Agamemnon's throne, Felix coughed up a mouthful of blood from the three broken ribs and agonizing internal pummeling that the impacts had caused him.

He shook aside his pain as Agamemnon disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and reappeared right in front of him with Pandora's Box held out. The Trojan warrior had just enough time to raise the Aegis and shield himself as a torrent of dark energy surged from the box like a geyser. Outside, the people of Mycenae who had come out of hiding stared in horror and amazement as a beam of black flames burst out of the side of the castle, surging out like a horizontal tornado.

Felix fought against the blast with all of his strength as it pushed against him like a flood. The potency was diluted by a much greater diameter than the earlier blasts, but the Aegis wasn't large enough to protect his body, meaning that his biceps, shins, and the edges of his head were exposed to the malevolent energy. He gritted through the agony of the darkness tearing at his flesh and burning his hair like crackling flames, mentally thanking the Nemean Lion Skin for keeping him alive so far. He was standing in a tunnel carved through the wall, and losing his footing would mean getting thrown back like a leaf in a hurricane and likely annihilation. With a roar of determination, he pulled his shield aside out of desperation, exposing his entire body to the blast. Gritting his teeth through the feeling of standing in a river of burning oil, Felix blindly swung his sword. The blast stopped and Felix clicked his tongue with a grin as Agamemnon's severed hand fell down to the floor, still holding Pandora's Box.

Terrified by the loss of his power, Agamemnon dropped down to the floor to retrieve his hand. As he reattached it to the bloody stump of his arm and bonded himself once again to Pandora's Box, Felix took a moment to catch his breath and recover from the burns that stretched across most of his body. If Agamemnon hadn't lessened the strength of the blast by increasing its diameter, there was no way he would have survived so much exposure.

Just as he finished catching his breath, Agamemnon materialized behind him and delivered a powerful slash of his sword. Felix blocked the attack with the Aegis and was knocked out of the hole in the wall and down to the floor. Getting to his feet, he raised his sword above his head to stop a second attack, delivered by a skyward strike. The ground beneath Felix shattered from the impact, but the warrior showed no weakness and countered by slamming Agamemnon in the side of the face with his shield.

Agamemnon staggered back, pushing his broken jaw back under the flesh from which it had burst out of. "I must admit, I've never had a challenge like this since seizing Pandora's Box. You're pushing me to my limits and letting me truly test this undead body of mine. You really are my equal... But not for long!"

He raised Pandora's Box above his head and slammed it down onto the ground. In a single instant, Felix was thrown across the room by an explosion of black flames, streaming from the point of contact between the box and the floor. He crashed into a support pillar, striking it with enough force to destroy the base and send the marble pillar column down on him.

"Felix!" Serenity cried out.

With a smug grin, Agamemnon stepped out of the black flames, while in the corner of the room, the pile of rubble on top of Felix began to shake. The largest intact section of the column rose and Felix came into view, holding up the pillar. Agamemnon's ghostly face further paled as he realized that Felix had dropped his sword and shield in the crash, yet his weapon, he was wreathed with colorless flames. The Sword of Troy was resonating with Felix, providing him with power without even making contact.

Growling in anger, Felix leaned back and then tossed the ten-ton pillar of marble as if it were a wooden board. Agamemnon just sneered at the stone behemoth flying towards him and was engulfed in a mantle of black flames. The pillar collided with him like a bull slamming into a housecat, but was obliterated by the black flames, never even managing to come into contact. Hiding behind the flying column, Felix pounced on Agamemnon with his sword in hand and lion cape billowing. Agamemnon lost his smile as the warrior came into view behind the last layer or marble and could do nothing to protect himself as he received a dynamic slash straight down the side of his chest, cutting right through ribs and decaying muscle with little effort. Agamemnon cursed and staggered back with tar-like blood oozing from the wound, while Felix was forced to catch his breath. The two enemies faced each other, panting heavily with their swords in hand.

"This is the fight that legends are made of, this is the fight that shall be retold for centuries to come!" Agamemnon laughed with his wound stitching itself up.

Felix scowled and spat out a mouthful of blood. "The only thing that will be told is how the last Trojan overthrew the dark warlord Agamemnon and brought an end to his plans. Your evil ambitions end here, even if we both have to end with them. Let's finish this battle, wretched undead!" he shouted as glassy flames reached out from the Sword of Troy.

"That sounds good to me!" Agamemnon cackled as thick smoke billowed from his.

Lunging, both fighters swung their blades and an earthshaking shockwave clapped from the strike of the two edges, with the powers of the Sword of Troy and Pandora's box grinding together with an ear-splitting scream. The fighters disengaged and swung again, creating a second shockwave that made the entire castle tremble. Again and again, they lashed out and locked blades, moving at inhuman speeds and sending fountains of white and black sparks into the air with each devastating impact. Serenity watched in amazement as the two enemies turned into a cascade of blurs as their speed increased with each clash.

This was a new battle, one where there was no time to catch one's breath between attacks and try to come up with a plan. There wasn't even enough time to orchestrate a block. Both slashed or one would be killed, that was the rule of the game. Every collision was the result of two attacks with the intent to kill canceling each other out. Even with this raw, animalistic trait, the battle was also quite beautiful, displaying two legacies of honed skills, both being wielded with the same lethality as the blades themselves.

Experience, training, and mastery of swordplay were all being laid out like cards at speeds so great that they seemed more like mere instinctual flares, but every movement contained a lifetime of knowledge, all subconsciously played out without any time to notice it. The fight was a complete stalemate, with neither warrior refusing to give up or use even the slightest inferior move. Every action was master-crafted and they were all canceling each other out with a parallelism not seen in the natural world. This was a fight that would either end in moments in a draw, or continue onwards until the fighters themselves aged to dust.

Gripping the handle with both hands, Felix raised the Sword of Troy above his head and brought it down with all of the strength in his body. To counter, Agamemnon swung from the side at eye-level. The two blades struck as they had over a hundred times before, but this time, in a deafening crash, Agamemnon's sword of unholy iron shattered like glass. With black shards flying past his face, Felix grinned in the realization that victory was his. But before he could recover from the inertia of his cleave, Agamemnon made a desperate move and slammed him in the chest with Pandora's Box.

Time seemingly stopped for Felix as hung there, suspended with the vessel pressed against his ribcage and his sword landing on the floor with a loud clatter. His whole body was ice-cold and he couldn't breath. He was completely paralyzed and more terrified than ever before in his life. He felt like a young child facing a pack of rabid wolves. After what to him felt like an entire year, the icy chill that filled his body like poison was replaced with burning anguish. The pain Felix was feeling went beyond his wildest nightmares, with the sensation of molten ore running through his veins and thorny vines strangling his body and then being ripped away like bandages caked in dried blood.

In his mind, Felix could not hear his own thoughts over the chorus of bloodcurdling screams that echoed through his consciousness and could not look away from the horrifying images that seemed to be playing behind his eyelids. In a gruesome montage, every dark memory from his life and the lives of millions of others were being played in his mind. He was watching the scene of his family being slaughtered, watching soldiers butcher each other in ancient battles long since past, women and young girls sobbing as they were brutally raped by criminals, animals and slaves being tortured for the amusement of their masters, and the worst acts imaginable all being committed right before his tear-filled eyes.

Finally, after the feeling of years of agony, he was thrown off of Pandora's Box by the force of Agamemnon's attack. Flying across the room, he hit the ground like a ragdoll and skidded to a halt, unable to get up. He was gasping for air and trembling from the horrors he just witnessed and was struggling to maintain his sanity. Lying on the floor, his ravaged mind was flooded with fear and doubt. 'That... that's the evil of Pandora's Box? How can so much malevolence and malice be contained in such a small vessel? How can Agamemnon possibly wield and endure an object as cursed and wretched as that one?! How can I possibly stand up against someone and something so twisted and¬—'

His thoughts were all silenced as a drop of water fell and landed on his forehead. Finally realizing where he was, he looked up and saw Serenity hanging directly above him with fresh tears running down her face. A second tear landed on his forehead, brushing aside the fear and agony like cobwebs under a broom. The nymph's healing tears continued to pelt his face, clearing his mind of the influence of Pandora's Box. The dripping of her tears reminded Felix of the feeling of rain, and that in turn reminded him of the words she had said on the day they first made love.

"When it's raining is my absolute favorite time to dance. The rain is one of my favorite aspects of nature. No matter how bad things may be, when the rain begins to pour, all the sadness and grief in the world is washed away. It's just so pure and soothing, and when I dance, I feel like I can release my soul and let the rain wash it the way it washes the land," he whispered, quoting her. With each tear that landed on his face, his mind became more calm and relaxed and a smile even began to form on his face from the rejuvenating euphoria that each drop carried.

"Thank you, Serenity. Thank you for saving me yet again."

With his resolve restored, Felix slowly sat up and got to his feet.

"Why do you bother getting up? You've lost your sword and shield, there is no way you can win. A mere mortal cannot defeat someone like me!" Agamemnon scoffed as Felix stood up and took a deep breath.

"It is because I am mortal that you should fear me, Agamemnon. Even if I can't win, I can still die, and that is my greatest strength."

"What are you talking about?!"

"I have no fear or hesitation in dying for Serenity, and the fact that I cast aside my life to protect hers should tell you how hard I will fight! No one, not you or the gods can stop me from fighting and giving my life for her! You, who fears death, can never understand that strength, because you do not know the truth about power. It is not until you are truly willing to die for something that you can never be defeated! Only when you will give your life for the one you love will you truly become immortal! Even if death awaits me, I will fight and I will win!"

Above him, one last tear rolled down Serenity's cheek. "No Felix, you don't have to die for me. You gave your life to protect me from harm, so now it is my turn to do the same for you. If it means sacrificing myself, then I will gladly end my life and end this fight."

As she spoke, her Nymph's Shade shattered like a vase. She was choosing the sacrifice her life to Pandora's Box so that Felix would stop fighting. The second her Shade broke, Pandora's Box began to rumble.

"Ha! The vessel is finally reacting and ready for a sacrifice! Once your soul is taken, the box will open and I will become the king of the gods!" Agamemnon laughed before breaking the chain holding her up with a snap of his fingers.

Before Felix could catch her, Agamemnon appeared behind him and knocked him across the room with a monstrously powerful punch. He then grabbed Serenity by the throat, holding her up in front of the box. Serenity began to glow with a pale aura as her soul was pulled out of her body and flowed into Pandora's Box.

"I won't let you take her from me!" Felix howled as he got to his feet and ran over.

In desperation, he got between Agamemnon and Serenity, taking her place halfway through the sacrifice. Felix gagged as Pandora's Box stopped feeding on Serenity's soul and began feeding on his, pulling his spirit out from within his chest. But while the pain he felt was akin to getting ripped open like a fish and having all of his muscles and organs ripped out of his stomach, it was nothing compared to the pain that Pandora's Box had put him through already.

"The soul of the most powerful nymph, or half of her soul and half of her lover's! No matter what the sacrifice is, Pandora's Box wants to be opened!" Agamemnon laughed.

Up in the sky, jet-black storm clouds blocked out the sun and began to spin above Mycenae, and every plant around the city turned gray with death. Finally, the lid flung open and everyone was tossed in opposite directions by the unholy force it set loose. Felix was thrown against one wall with Serenity in his arms and Agamemnon was thrown against the other. Pandora's box hovered in the air with black and crimson flames streaming out of the small vessel with a pressurized scream. The storm above Mycenae spread out, crossing hundreds of miles every minute. Up on Mt. Olympus, all the gods combined their strength to try and stop the evil tempest from enveloping their sanctuary, but the malevolence of the box could not be denied.

"The power of darkness is now in my control! Come to me, vessel! Come to your master!" Agamemnon boomed, holding out his clawed hands.

Regardless of the command, the box stayed in position, continuing to let evil stream out. His smile disappeared as he realized that the box was no longer following his orders. Unless he got to it and reasserted his control before the lid became permanently lifted, he would become a victim to its power as well. Completely unaware of what was going on outside their embrace, Felix sat against the wall with Serenity in his arms, the two lovers holding each other as tightly as possible, having before thought they would never see or touch each other again. Both wanted to cry in the joy of finally being able to feel each other as they murmured the love they felt, but no tears would fall.

"Felix, I'm so sorry. I just didn't want you to die for me again. I wasn't thinking straight and I thought that everything would be ok if I just gave Agamemnon what he wanted. After what happened in the forest, I didn't want you to fight, I could not bear it if you were killed before my eyes again. I would have rather sacrificed my own life so that you have a chance to live than let Agamemnon hurt you any more."

Felix just held her in his arms, savoring her warm touch. He had a small smile on his face at her words and lifted her chin so that he was looking into her eyes. "You pretty little fool, did you really think I was going to stand by while you gave your life to save mine? We both live or we both die, I will not allow anything else. Do not worry about me, or any pain that I must endure to protect and rescue you. I just fought through the armies of Mycenae singlehandedly, but that is only a small task compared to what I would do to keep you from getting so much as a scratch.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you."

"At least now we can die together."

"No, I am not going to let us die. We still have a life to live together. We have to get back to the orchard; there are still so many beautiful days to enjoy, so many sweet fruits to savor, and so many times we still need to make love."

"No Felix, I am not long for this world. My Nymph's Shade has been broken, and even now, I can feel what is left of my soul being extinguished," she said with her voice getting softer and softer.