Alv DesKor
Hellplane, Arid
Demigod Status: Active

She smelled ash and old iron.

They'd landed somewhere else. Definitively not Earth.

The valley was arid, a desert of deep brown, too deep a brown. The skies above were blackened by roiling clouds. A vibrant red replaced the normal blue that should be there. Dark grey ash was falling slowly.

The air was dry, hot.

There were over a dozen mountains in any direction, most of which would have rivaled those found in the Northlands.

Is he a demon after all?

Nїx didn't recognize this realm. She scanned fast, then looked at him. "Where did you take me, immortal?"

The male had put distance between them. "Someplace to talk," he answered over his shoulder.

"About what?" she shouted.

He turned slowly and crossed his arms over his chest. He seemed to be staring at the dirt, thoughtful.

"I've been sitting on the sidelines awhile now since this shit started going down, and I'm curious." The man pinned his gaze on her. "Are you truly fucking nuts, Phenїx?"

Her eyelids flew wide. He dared even?! She screamed and ran at him. He was there now. Right in front of her. Gonna ki-

A strike rocked her stomach mightily enough to make her cough. The impact against her stomach had been horrendous.

He backed up two steps. "Stay. Down," he grunted.

She struggled upwards, peering up through her eyelashes at his form. "You forget who you're speaking to???"

Her veins trembled with adrenaline. Even with her desire to take his head, he'd almost put her on her knees with that blow.

Then she sucked in a breath and her stomach caught up with the impact. Her diaphragm gave out. She checked herself before she collapsed to one knee.

Godsdammit, what-?! He really struck me that well? How? How strong is he???

"No, I know exactly who I'm speaking to," he answered while walking further away. "I'm speaking to the de facto leader of the Vertas Pact, and some female who thinks she'll attain goddesshood, shortly."

The wind on this hell-plane was very slight, and now he ripped off the remains of his shirt, revealing his back to her. She wanted to move, but that hit had truly shaken her.

Nїx took him in, slowly. Toned shoulders, the male had done a lot of push-ups at some point. Just the definition in those muscles made her claws curl a fraction.

And that skin was just the right tone of warm ivory mixed with cream. Even pressed against her, she'd felt how warm he was.

For a youth, he certainly was... cute.

But also, grrr!!! His tone had so much arrogance, like he had knowledge that she, the Ever-Knowing, didn't.

There was a magnet planted in the center of his back, attached to a leather strap that wound over him, a reinforced harness. She sniffed and inspected it with her own vision.

It was mystickal. A place to store her blades. And that... that scythe.

That was what had hit her? She peered at it. Out of all the weapons she'd seen or foreseen, it was perhaps the strangest.

Scythes for war were typically built reinforced with a straighter blade. This was the more curved sickle type used in her olden days for reaping harvests.

Yet that metal looked, it smelled, even more ancient. And both sides of the blade were sharpened. He could swing with the inner side of the blade and slice, or he could push through with the outer side and cleave.

A heinous, sinister blade. It glinted silver, but clearly there were still remnants of black from not being used over a long period.

Nїx searched through her abilities. She had to go home. Her call went out to the rift overhead. But something blocked her.

"Can't portal?" she muttered aloud.

"Not outside my aura."

Nїx felt another bout of confusion. Her eyes flitted back to him.

"What?" she asked.

"No, you can't portal off this realm. You can try portaling inside of five hundred feet of me, sure," the male clucked his tongue, "Buuut it'll cost you a buttload on energy."

The moment she opened her mouth to shout, he interrupted, "So! I asked you, Phenїx, you never answered. Are you arrogant, or has all that knowledge made you stupid?"

Nїx hissed in response. Never had she heard someone so overbearing in her life!

Arrogant bitch of a male!

"Okay, let's try this!" he shouted. "You're the dumbass who's planning on going into an all-out fight with none other than the Queen of Evil, the Order, and the Bringers of Doom themselves, plus God and a few overdeities alone knows who else."

Her spine straightened angrily. "Did you just call me a dumbass? Me, the Ever-Knowing?"

"In this case, Hell yes, I am!" The immortal roared. His hands clenched to fists. "Do you even know what you're fucking with?!"

"I'm taking the initiative!" she screamed.

The immortal drew his scythe and smashed the hilt of his weapon into the earth underneath, shuddering it like a quake had gone off.

His voice reverberated, "You're not taking the fucking initiative, Phenїx Ever-Knowing!!! You're playing with the whole fucking mortal realm!!!"

Nїx's eyes snapped wide. How was he aware of what was at stake?

"Yeah, Phenїx, you think I don't know?!?" He tossed a hand in a wave over her form, then out to the horizon. "The rest of the planes might survive. Key emphasis, might.

"Regardless, if your dumbass plan doesn't go off perfectly, a good chunk of the universe Earth inhabits - including Earth itself! - goes 'poof, begone thot'!!!"

The male turned, his voice howling. "GOD! DAMMIT!"

He hurled his scythe away. That gave her a lasting look at his muscled back. And thighs encapsulated in black dress slacks that showed a lot the female in Nїx desired.

His weapon flew out a couple miles, and impacted against one of the nearby mountains.

The entire peak was leveled, the rocky outcropping sinking in on itself. A concussive blast washed out like a tactical hydrogen bomb had detonated.

Nїx sucked in a breath at the sight. Two things lit across her mind. Firstly, this male was pissed. Secondly, the weapon he wielded was more powerful than a Vrekener's fire scythe.

That alone was an incomprehensible thought. Tack on the third point... the male was gloriously hawt when he was pissed.

When he reached out his hand, the scythe rushed into his grip at supersonic speed. A scythe with magick that powerful? The blade slapped his palm so it rang like a bell chiming in her ears. Then he gazed at her, nostrils flared.

"You are playing with the lives of tens of billions for your goddesshood, Phenїx. And I won't fucking allow it."

Nїx snapped. Of all the nerve in all the realms...!!! She was to be a goddess, gods damn it, what she allowed was what she saw was best! And here this cocksure male was telling her off?

First thing to do. Put him in his place. On his knees.

She screeched at him with her warcry.

He roared back.

A primal blast shockwave came at her own.

The blasts collided midair. The concussive burst nearly threw her off her feet. When the wave passed, she steadied herself. Barely.

She gaped, trying to comprehend. For the first time, her own Valkyrie shriek had been canceled.

Whoever he was, he stood unfazed, his green-eyed gleam deepening. That reverberating baritone quivered through her ears.

"You think you're the only one with that trick, swan maiden?"

Nїx's limbs trembled. No other species should've been able to match her own with that, other than some primordials.

"You can't stop what I've begun, there's too much at stake! And no one else has the lungs for that trick." Her eyes narrowed and she bellowed, "What in all the fucking hells are you?!"

The male looked her over like she was nothing but a target to him. She realized now he'd been gauging her all along.

"I'm the Last. The Omega. The final End. Et trux messor."

That Latin phrase sent a quiver through her heart that she hadn't recognized in centuries. Her voice came out in a wondering murmur, "Falcifer?"

Impossible. They were a true myth. But the male nodded, a smile growing on his lips.

"That's right, Phenїx. I'm a godsdamned reaper." He propped his scythe over his shoulder. "And I'm here for your head."

* * * * *

A lightning strike came down. The electricity struck the Valkyrie full-force. Her eyes flashed from gold to silver in an instant, her midnight hair flying out wildly.

Byron's mouth opened slightly to breathe. Phenomenal. Jesus, she is gorgeous when she's that pissed.

Then the Valkyrie's voice lilted, "You want my head, how about I'll take yours!"

She was poising, incensed.

Ah. Damn it. He growled internally. He recognized that pose now. Not this time.

Byron backed up two steps, then hoisted his scythe to the side and behind. The low guard sweep position. She would expect his swing. Nїx's powers were shifting into place.

She charged.

His eyes narrowed. Almost there.

Lightning crackled overhead, the ozone hit the back of his throat.

Now!!!

Tension snapped in his legs. He leapt forward, putting velocity behind him beyond what she could contrive. Thrusting the blunt haft end of his scythe into her stomach.

Contact.

Her diaphragm gave out, air leaving her lungs in a "hoof!". Precisely when the lightning struck.

For an instant, she started to dematerialize. Another lightning strike burst the ground behind him. Typical Valkyrie ploy, blinding him from the front and going for his unprotected six. Those sexy little pink claws weren't just for show.

The first-among-Valkyries probably would've gone for a kidney, lung, or maybe his heart if she could work the angle right. Could have retrieved her blades, too.

"No riding the lightning tonight, Phenїx."

His aura strengthened, focused. Her lightning coiled up the haft, ignited it with bluish-white energy. In the next instant, the bolts blew outwards in electric static, crackling and sizzling the oxygen around them.

She sunk to the barren brown earth underfoot. Golden eyes stared up at him, fangs bared.

"Wh... huh... unh... what did you just... huhhh... do?!"

"Depolarized you," he answered succinctly.

Her eyes split open. For a distinct, ethereal moment, they flashed clear. Byron caught an image of the pupils underneath the amber and gold.

Her real eye color was blue. A pristine glacier's blue. Damn, she really was that exquisite under the mania.

"You what?!" Phenїx scrambled to her feet.

She screamed to the heavens. Lightning flashed overhead, spider-webbing through blackened clouds. None of it struck the ground. Nїx's mouth yawned open in shock.

He tasted the static in the air. Yep. The realization was dawning in her addled mind.

Byron uttered matter-of-factly, "Your species were evolved and created from two eggs and one seed source. Valkyries like you were granted the ability to polarize yourselves so you could take nourishment from lightning. Also, you're not hurt by it when you're struck. In fact, you juice up majorly with a near- or full strike."

Then he pointed at her, "But you, Phenїx? You gained the ability to ride the lightning. You use it to tear a portal for yourself, anywhere you wish." His eyes narrowed, "Or I should say, you learned about that ability long before your sisters figured it possible."

"Quit. Calling me. Phenїx!" She shrieked.

"Cease. Shrieking!" Byron roared back.

He shook out his head and poked his pinky finger in to work out some wax stuck in his left ear. That and the ringing, too.

He rolled his neck a bit. "You're giving me a Goddamned headache."

She howled again.

He winced.

Of course, she would! She was always going to push on the button that was marked 'do not press'!

Now, she was getting on his damned nerves. He looked at her, his face blank. "You need another timeout, Valkyrie? Act a bitch again. I dare you."

Her face screwed up for a moment, contemplating it. He made the tension in his carry arm clear. He would do it.

Knock the wind out of her again. Just to shut her up.

One thing he'd learned swiftly, you never showed weakness to a Lorean female when they were in a fighting and killing mood. Not if you wanted to keep your balls and life intact.