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There wasn't a splash, not a single drop. Engulfing him with heat before swallowing him whole. Leaving but a few sparks. Yet he never melted, never showing any sign of vulnerability. Of course he had a plan formulated within seconds. As the glowing sparks turned into golden flakes through the air.
Bite, and bite, the golden apple crumbled in his hand. The architect rose from the flames stained with dark marks, covered by an immense protective layer. Wearing an unsettling frown with dilated irises. He still Won't succumb to the afterlife. Fluixon's philosophy never allowed himself to surrender. Not until he's satisfied with the outcome for his beloved island, Pandora.
There was never any telling whether the wooden boat would crash, nor would he be burnt alive immediately. One thing is for sure, Fluixon will always get away with everything. Escaping with his mind dizzying and sight fogging up, while trying to locate his last accomplice. One more escape through yet another dug up tunnel. He left all 'his'people to fight for a lost cause. Protecting the volcano with their dying breaths, believing in a false prophecy.
Were they really just pawns in his shared game of chess? Did Fluixon ever feel even a hint of remorse for the citizens of Infernus? Or maybe for The Covenant who acted without a ruler?
All he knew was this burning flame that seems to never extinguish until the war is over. This burning rage fueling him to end anything that goes in his way.
Although, there was one.
" I… have something to confess,"
Recalling a pale skinned man, who always presented an angel-like state. Fluixon remembers, the little boy who loved the snow. The little boy who grew up with an interest for flight. The boy who loved building up towers. Multiple towers, always taller than the other. To jump, and grow wings, and be free.
And I've witnessed this countless of times. Always a step away from jumping off.
Fluixon didn't want guilt to eat him up at this moment. No, not yet.
"Saparata was secretly rehearsing his death every night."
The tallest tower at the peak of the snowy mountains in Yggdrasil stood proud. That was the very place that Saparata found refuge in. Isolating himself from a world that hunted him down, wanted him dead. Of course Fluixon had passed by it with an immediate thought of his best friend.
"And I knew, but pretended not to."
Thomas, his ever so loyal right-hand man, looked at him with concern.
Were those tears forming in his eyes? Or just the heat emitting from a single torch by their side.
"If you had to betray one person to save a thousand.."
A repeated quote playing in his head as he questioned his choices.
"Fluixon, did you really have to rip the angel's wings off to save our island? I thought he was your best friend."
"...would you?"
Maybe he just wasn't desperate for him. Maybe it was a golden opportunity that he was lucky to grab. His friend was the perfect scapegoat in his conspiracy. Everything was planned out so smoothly it almost looked flawless. It was as if he pulled the strings and tampered with fate to side with him.
"I do feel a little sorry for him."
"Tell me Fluixon, were the feelings you had for him in the beginning ever bloomed? Were you able to love him right?"
Thomas questioned his 'act of love' to his best friend. That made Fluixon pause for a moment. Then, clenched his fist tight around the grip of his sword.
"I know my love was different,"
He admits, he does love the angel. Isn't that why he spared him from the stalagmites? Putting a bounty on his head yet never putting in the effort to kill Saparata himself?
That's because he still had love left to give him. He had given him mercy. Although if you were to ask him to choose between Saparata and Pandora..
Well..
His island is very dear to him.
"But it was love too!" Fluixon turned back, not wanting Thomas to see the vulnerability painted on his face. He wiped away a single tear, and sheathed his weapon. Moving forward while his subordinate followed behind.
Exiting the tunnel, the sun started to slowly set with its rays shining on them. Agonizing screams and the blood-scented air filled the atmosphere. The two began to sprint away, not wanting to get caught in the occurring battle behind them.
Yet, as he turned back, a small speck of white looked down on him.
Suddenly, a small letter presented itself in front of him.
Thomas only saw a bunch of scribbles written on it, cannot be easily deciphered. Fluixon however can read the hidden message clearly.
"Come to the Colosseum, no more running."
He looked back at the man who stood tall. Who stood as a now innocent man. Glaring at him as he fixed his white silky cape. Oh how dangerously beautiful he looked from Flux's eyes.
Fluixon gazed back, no amount of bandages can fix the wound ripped between them.
"I'll be there." He wrote back.
Saparata turned away, satisfied with his reply. Leading a few of his army with him.
Fluixon felt his chest clenching up. He wasn't aware of the breath caught up in his lungs. Probably just the ashes emitted from the volcano, or the tiny specks of molten rocks, right? No, he cannot show any sign of weakness at this moment.
If you'd seen the look on his face too..
..you wouldn't be able to judge me either.
The Colosseum was oddly quiet as Saparata entered. Nothing but the faint sound of diamonds clicking into a wooden shaft. Saps knew that if he faced up, it would be the beginning of a world that stood still.
"Wow, you actually showed up."
Fluixon heaved a sigh, adjusting his coat and dusting off his sword. Violet irises met blank, empty ones. The so-called angelic man lost everything in him, looking like a cracked porcelain doll that someone tried to glue back together.
"Can't say no to a friend, can I?"
Saparata let out a chuckle, then a mocking cackle.
"Friend?! Flux, look at all this,"
All the soldiers burning into crisps. All the citizens desperate for the justice for their nation. All the children of both Pandora and Yggdrasil crying out to a higher being for peace that never came.
"All these people are dying right now because of you."
The architect had a glint of malice in his eyes. His moral obligations shattered at the moment, what's done is done, he told himself. Nothing left but to continue on with what he had started.
"Believe what you want, Saps. But none of this would have happened if you had died.. like you were supposed to."
Oh.
Keeping the scapegoat alive was the riskiest decision Fluixon had made.
Saparata felt strings tugging at his core. It kept tugging, tightening, wrapping his mind in a way that would mess him up. He shouldn't feel like this. He had no reason to feel shame, he was not the one at fault.
"No, Flux. This is your fault, not mine." He stated, trying to hide the tremble in his voice. Hiding a shaky hand within his flowing mantle.
Tsk. Fluixon summoned one of his last remaining golden apples as he plunged down from the seats, "I am sorry that it had to be this way."
Gold fluid laced his tongue, feeling a surge of power through in his veins. Saparata mirrored this action and unsheathe his sword. He took out his shield that was never tainted by any nation. Keeping a neutral stance during these ten dawns.
As if in sync, both of their swords clashed at each other. Both weapons forged from the same diamond ores they had mined during the beginning of it all. What a time it was for Saparata to be surrounded by Luminarians whom he had trusted. By this same group that planted those dripstone inside his roof. He actually though they'd stay by his side despite his neutrality. Despite wanting none of these politics to get in his head.
Both men jumped back from the collision. Fluixon had let out a cough as he stumbled upon landing. Saparata took advantage of this and lunged straight at him. Fluixon barely dodging the other and sliding to the his side.
"You've been running away from the very beginning." Saparata chuckled.
Fluixon never publicly own up to his crimes. He always had an escape route, a plan B, a back door, a secret tunnel, in which no one could ever track him down on time. He ran away.
With the embarrassment of being the only raised "aye" to his own plan of attacking Yggdrasil, he turned back and ran away. Facing the person that was on one level of authority above him and hated his proposed ideas, almost being demoted from his position, he simply ran away.
Allowing the stalagmites to fall from the roof of a vacation house, leaving Seraphim to their demise, he ran away into the deep ocean.
Cornered by the Coalition soldiers who tried to arrest him, he escaped and ran away. Even finding refuge within the raised walls of Infernus, the battle struck him and pushed him to run away.
Fluixon had been running away from the very beginning.
He was a coward.
Saparata scoffed as he tripped Fluixon by the tip of his sword. Yet he managed to stand back up by a split second and tried to run away.
Saparata found it amusing how this man was never captured and tried. The only exception being this duel as he basically served himself on a silver platter.
"Hah. Not once did you ever face your real feelings!" Saparata mused. He then received a slight scratch across his cheek when his opponent suddenly switched to his bright diamond axe.
"I don't have time to ponder these emotions whilst drafting the blueprints to start and end this war."
"Did you ever stop to think about me? Have you no remorse?"
Saparata was terribly wrong, this man never left his mind no matter how hard he tried.
"You must've hated me, but you could have at least showed up at my trial."
Almost all of the conspiracy members showed up that day. Fluixon had the audacity to send in his second in command to be the prosecutor, and the rest of his subordinates as the witnesses. Like a cherry on top, they bribed the judge in favor of them.
"There is no need. I had foreseen the outcome long before you did." I mean, the engineer is the one to actualize the architect's plans.
No matter how hard he defended himself, no matter the evidence he presented, no matter his strong accusations, the results were always the same. Guilty. It had been written in stone.
What a slap to his face. What a funny joke that must have been.
Of course, his words grabbed Fluixon's chest and squeezed them tight. As if air struggled to exhale from him. He furrowed his brows having to keep these tears from dripping. He buried these emotions long ago, or so he thought.
Saparata saw through him clearly. A hint of hesitation in Fluixon's eye. The mask slipped just for a little bit.
Saparata gritted his teeth and pulled out a bucket of lava from his cloak. Catching the other off guard and set his armor on fire.
"Ack!" Even with a protection spell engulfing his armor it still stings. Even as flames covered his vision, he caught a glimpse of the way that man resembled the pale moonlight. A gentle entity as opposed to his rage against their world. Oh how he yearned for that light to calm him down.
"Did clinging to some noble cause, your sense of justice— ever really fix anything?!"
Saparata is definitely crushed by the betrayal of who he once called a friend. His halo was tilted, his feathers rotted out, his cloak was tattered. He charged forward and met his opponent face to face again.
"What came of it, Flux?!"
Saparata forwarded with anger. How could you?! His dearest friend.. in a different world they could be so much more.
Time stopped for a moment. Fluixon was taken aback. Recalling the gut wrenching words of Yggdrasil leaders who revealed that they never had any intention of invading Pandora. Time is a cruel being.
Fluixon felt dizzy, as if his world turned upside down. Wait, what?
Were they never aggressive?
Were our leaders right? Was I in the wrong?
What happens now?
In that moment he panicked. It wasn't a noble deed at all— this drove him paranoid. It was too late to turn back, no?
Saparata continued as he brushed the trickling blood from his lips, "..meaningless deaths."
Because of this paranoia he turned power hungry. All Fluixon now wanted was to see the world burn. Wanted to control both islands. Such as a Phoenix dies, he wanted this world to turn to dust and build anew.
Fluixon turned silent. Yet his mind dizzied with so much contrasting thought.
Stay alive.
Kill him.
Sacrifice yourself.
It's too late to turn back.
You could still be with him.
Give in.
"Fight back you coward!" Saparata yelled.
And so Fluixon did, with flimsy slashes and unstable strokes. A just reflection of his affection, messy.
Saparata hated the way it was so easy for him to feel like shit. Manipulated into being the one man the entire world despised. He hated how he was used by the only person that truly mattered in his life. All the cold nights he spent in snow were the loneliest he'd been.
"Even if we'd been granted freedom from this, we'd still feel alone." Fluixon muttered under his breath, enough for Saparata to hear.
Even if either of them are free from each other's grasps, they'd still feel alone.
Their attacks painted a tragic performance of fallen friendship and betrayal. Their contrasting moves complimented each other so much. They mirrored each other. This cruel world just had to make them each other's missing pieces, forever missing.
Once more, Fluixon foreseen the outcome of this duel. These wounds, these scars, ready to give in to the same sword he aided in crafting. Karma is catching up to him. These final moments would be worth the pain if he's last person he saw.
All these tragedies weren't from an unknown entity. No, it stemmed from one— and Fluixon knew this. "Because we, humans, are the root of all this pain."
Fluixon regrets nothing.
Blood coughed out of him.
"We're creatures that can't seem to love without exploiting."
Saparata plunged the blade through his tainted heart.