"YOUR UNACCEPTANCE OF FAILURE WILL BE YOUR UNDOING, DESMOND TURNER!" his words reverberated inside my chest as I looked up into the wildly scarlet sky. I could not see Aries. Massive red clouds swirled along with the billowing winds, sweeping drops of rain across the land as thunder and lightning decorated the atmosphere.

  Trails of bright red fire flashed across the sky. I tried as best as I could to keep up but his laughter echoed throughout the growing storm while the air heated up, making me disoriented and struggling to focus.

  "Show yourself!" I cried over the storm. My arm lit up, its neon green glow contrasting with the reddening environment.

  Aries's laughter died out. I could now only hear the clouds and surprisingly, my palpitating heartbeat against my chest. Something was creeping up on me. I could feel it in my bones—but I still could not see it. I could not see him. . .until he made his entrance.

  My hair stood on end, my whole body going into full alert mode after the skies split up above me and out he emerged, coming down on me with a cape of roaring flames. I would have been smashed into the ground had I not rolled out of the way, but even then, I still lacked Leo's incredible reflexes and was hit by the impact's shockwave.

  I flew across the land and didn't even touch the ground before Aries caught up to me, grabbing me by the leg and tossing me like a ragdoll. I tried my best to cover my head as I crashed into one of the many stalls at Abinor's marketplace.

  I groaned, feeling my sides. My bones were already breaking even before the battle began. This was not good. I strained to get up and pain shot up my right arm. I looked at my palm. It was bleeding again but Valeria's treatment was holding it together.

  Aries appeared several feet in front of me, his red skin darker, as if he'd absorbed the entire volcano. The winds froze but the rain continued to fall. His flaming eyes regarded me from the distance. "I admired your resilience once, but now, it's only pathetic!" he conjured his great sword of fire and I had to fight with my own mind, to make myself stop seeing Pisces turn to stardust from the flames of that blade.

  Sage's insignia sent more lightning sparks arcing around my arm in response. What Aries had done was holding me down and yet at the same time, fueling my will to stand up to him. There would only be one left standing at the end of this and should it be me, I was not going down without a fight.

  I got back up, planted my feet against the wet ground and clenched my fists, forcing myself to get over the pain as blood trickled down through my right knuckles. I charged.

  I cried, bringing around my fist and a trail of lightning accompanied it. Aries simply stepped aside and I hit nothing but air. I turned and lashed out again. Aries reared effortlessly. I came after him, throwing as many punches at him and ending up with the same result. His speed was unmatchable.

  "Are you done?" he scoffed, brandishing his blade that, as the rest of him, was immune to the rain's waters and continued to burn with profound intensity. "Is this all the great successor of Sage has to offer?"

  I glared at him, trying to catch my breath with my fists still clenched.

  "Oh, that's right," he felt the tip of his blade, "you're not his successor. You're a mistake that happened to be at the wrong place in time."

  His comical mood came to an end, instantly flipping into an enraged stupor. Aries stomped the ground, his hoof creating tremors and the ground split up, snaking its way towards me. I was airborne as the ground exploded beneath me. Aries struck me with the side of his sword. I flailed. He caught up to me and struck again. I flailed even further. He tore right past me, only to meet me on the other side and strike yet again, reverting my course.

  I crashed and sprawled on the ground and my body was burning. Aries's sword had eaten away at the sides of my shirt and charred my skin. My arm had stopped glowing. I lay with my back to a puddle of water as rain fell all over me. I tried to get up. My body was failing me. I wanted to go to sleep so badly and wash off all the exhaustion. Just close my eyes and. . .no! I won't! I cannot!

  I was lifted by my collar and could feel Aries's hand burn my neck. He slammed me back against the ground, splashing water and dirt which evaporated against his body. He slammed me again. My eyes almost rolled over to my head but I bit hard against my teeth, ignoring the taste of blood.

  "You don't know when to quit, do you?" Aries bore down at me, his eyes trying to burn through my own.

  "I'll. . ." I groaned and blood slipped out of my mouth, ". . .never. . .stop. . .fighting!"

  Aries laughed and I clenched my fists, letting myself feel it all. My body burned against his. My heart beat as fast as he could run, but my vision. . .my vision was clear. I could see all that Aries was.

  "You. . .will never. . .win!" I brought around my fist, hardly expecting anything to happen but the moment my knuckles connected with Aries's face, a surge of lightning exploded, the impact throwing both of us away from each other.

  Aries reared several times and almost fell over but managed to stand his ground, his hooves digging into the dirt. Me, on the other hand, was down on my knee. I was looking at my arm. Sage's insignia was swelling with energy as lightning arced not just on my arm but all over me.

  My vision was acting up. I was seeing something. Something cutting through the red atmosphere, or was it in my mind? It was preceded with a bright green light and out of it emerged a figure with four legs. A horse? I could not tell. It was bolting towards me, bathed in that magnificent light and I heard a voice.

  "By the descent of a hunter's enemy. . .rise!"

  I shielded my face as the figure came at me. I withdrew my arms and the figure was no more, only this time, my entire appearance took on a drastic change. I was bathed in green light and what had once been my tattered, burned and wet attire, was then replaced with magnificent armor. My shirt had transformed into thick plated material with a rich green hue and so were my pants which took on an even darker tone, down to thick large boots that felt surprisingly as light as air. My arms were covered with plated armor that glowed like jade crystals, matching the long flowing cape cascading from my shoulders and to my legs. I caught the crystalline arrow symbol emblazoned on it as the cape flowed to my side.

  I felt glorious—renewed. The pain was gone, even my palm had healed as Valeria's linen straps fell off my hand and to the ground.

  The glowing waned and died out, save for my hands and the insignia on my cape. I had no idea what had happened, but I was glad it had. Someone out there had decided to give me a chance and I was not going to waste it.

  "Impossible," Aries voiced his contempt, his tone revealing surprise. "he is with the stars. How did you do that?"

  "Let me show you!" I burst forth, my cape billowing behind me. My fist connected with Aries's head again. I brought around the other and he reared, registering the impact which was a lot more than it had been before.

  Feeling his jaw, Aries regained his composure, his face contorting into a grin. He charged. Even with my new upgrade, his speed still overwhelmed me. He zoomed towards me, grabbing me by my sides and hurtling through the market. My body became subject to plenty of smashes along the way. I jabbed at his arms, pounding down until he let go and I hit the ground but quickly got to my feet as Aries rounded back at me.

  He let out a jet of flames that snaked towards me, heating up the air around me. I brought my hands together, deflecting the attack. I withdrew only to be met with Aries's flaming fists. I was thrown back and landed on my ass. Aries transformed his flames back into his sword. He pointed it to the sky. Red bolts of lightning struck at it, fueling the sword with fire. He directed its tip towards me and massive flames spiraled at me like chains.

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  The flames struck the ground around me as I struggled to dodge, managing to tilt my head back as a stream of fire cruised past me, narrowly missing my face. I could only evade as fast and got blasted by a lot more fiery projectiles. I was down on my knees again, fighting through the pain as the rain increased.

  "Is that you, Sage? After all these years," Aries boomed, looking up into space, "you now realize death was not enough! And now you think this meat sack will do the job for you?"

  I got back up, regaining my strength.

  "Well then," Aries's sword morphed back into flames, "let me send him over to you so you two can be properly acquainted!" he thrust out his arms, sending firebolts in my direction. I was hit by the first one but rolled and dodged the others, leaping into broken down stalls for cover as wood splintered and exploded behind me.

  I sat against one stall and peered over it. I could not see Aries. I turned back and his form towered over me. He blasted me with a ball of fire and I was thrown back into the open, landing into another puddle.

  "I have to say," I heard Aries's voice as I spat out dirt while pressing my hands against the ground. "I never thought my day of salvation would end up being this entertaining and for that, Desmond Turner, I am grateful."

  I turned around, getting on one knee.

  "You hear that, Sage," Aries reiterated, "I am grateful!"

  Flames danced around his body. He directed them towards his hands then sent them twirling in the air, swirling in one massive red circle. He pointed at me and the flames sailed towards me, blasting me against the ground. He did this repeatedly until the crystalline plates on my left broke apart.

  "Your heir is losing, Sage!" Aries roared over the thunder. "Seems you've run out of ideas. I thought you were the wisest of us all!"

  I clenched my fist, reigniting myself with lightning, only to be blasted again.

  I could feel the rage boiling inside of me, threatening to rip me apart but not as much as I wanted to do the same to him—the reason I was stuck here—entangled in all of this mess. He's the one who'd forced Pisces down this road. He's the one who'd forced her into exile, away from her own people, until she met me. And now it was just me.

  My sight flickered. My vision got distorted. My environment switched from red to green and back. It was that eerie apparition again.

  "Forged from the spirit. . ." a voice said. The same voice from before.

  Something was trying to manifest in my hand. Something I had only caught a glimpse of before.

  Another voice, a different one, whispered in my mind. "Well, get on with it, you dolt! Get a hold of it before we're both dead!"

  I knew this voice. It couldn't be. Perhaps my mind was playing games at me in a desperate attempt to try and keep me fighting. Well, it was working.

  "How is it taking you this long? Come on!"

  "I'm trying!" I shot back at his voice and even after all this time, it was still as petulant and annoying. I wanted to ask how he was still alive but there wouldn't be time, not when I myself was gambling with my own life.

  His words continued to nag at my brain. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted him to shut up. My seething rage continued to ripple down through my chest and to my arms. That was when it finally happened.

  In my right hand, Sage's insignia glowed under the plated armor, unleashing energy which washed down to my hand. The energy, in form of green light, hardened, taking tangible form until it was a foot long structure resting on my palm, perfectly balanced.

  "Undo blood with blood alike. . ." the initial mysterious voice whispered the words as I stared at the instrument—a magnificent crystalline bow with intricately curved golden endings.

  I stood upright, looking ahead at Aries. His face was a mixture of shock and confusion, and what was that in his eyes? The fire in them dwindled, if only for a fleeting moment. But I had seen it.

  He let out a series of laughs, all filled with mockery and devoid of any sense of humanity, matching his eyes which grew back into two red glowing spheres of darkness. He said something. Either I had been turned deaf with rage and a hunger to kill or from the rumbling thunder from above that had the skies flashing red with lightning—I couldn't tell—his words never reached my ears.

  With my weapon at hand, I charged, summoning all the strength I could muster as rain poured down and wet the battle ground. He charged back, coming at me with his towering height, his form ablaze with cosmic flames that had caused so much destruction and pain. But that would end there and then; I vowed to myself. I could not and would not let him take anymore.

  The distance between us began to narrow down as I took great strides before finally leaping into the air and my adversary did the same. I yelled out something that must have sounded like a war cry but the thunder had intensified and the only sound that could now be heard was the whooshing of my weapon and the guttural roaring coming from him.

  A loud blast followed upon contact. The sound of metal clanging against metal. The impact turned out to be far greater than I had anticipated. I was thrown backwards, flipping in the air several times before crashing into a set of empty market stalls where I must have hit my head and almost zoned out, willing myself to stay awake until I could catch that distinct growling sound and heavy steps of something approaching fast in my direction. The ground shook beneath me.

  Before I could react, I felt a firm grip on my arm and was rolled over so I was lying on my back and the drops of rain splattered all over my face, blurring my vision but not enough to make me miss the unmistakable blade coming down on me as he roared, towering over me. . .

  So, this was it huh? From the moment I'd fallen into the river under the Sacramento Tower Bridge— ended up in Abinor, made some unlikely alliances, fought my way through all kinds of hell—to this. Falling at the wrath of Aries. Well, here we are dear reader. All caught up. Are you still with me? I guess this is all it's been leading to. The reason why a seventeen year old high school senior was ages away from home where he'd have been busy racking his brain with Calculus equations but instead. . .ends up being obliterated with cosmic flames and therefore, I ask again—do you believe in fate?

  I tried to give my answer at the start of this story but like I said, I'll let you be the judge of that. So, where were we?

  Right. Aries's sword was coming down on my head. Now, I've heard people say that your life flashes before your eyes right before you die and judging by what happened next, that may not have been far from the truth.

  The sword's flames blinded my eyes. I fought to see through and Sage's vision came to my aid, only I was no longer seeing the sword of fire but instead, I saw her. I saw all the time we'd spent together from the moment we first met at the cave, how she conjured up fruit out of nowhere when I was hungry, how she healed my wounds and how she. . .She looked at me. Her face was calm. She whispered to me.

  "I am sorry. . ." a flaming sword cut through her and she dissolved into stardust. The sword came down on me. I braced myself.

  The tip of its blade came to a stop right between my eyes. I could feel its smoldering heat threatening to burn off my eyebrows. But why did it stop? Why wasn't my brain skewered and shish-kebabbed?

  I looked up to find a sleek white blade lodged into Aries's shoulder and another one found its way into his core. What had happened?

  Turning around, I was met with an enthralling sight as three figures materialized into the scarlet atmosphere, beyond the market. Two blades, similar to those on Aries's body shone in Parthenos's hands as she regarded Aries, ready to throw them at him and add to the pile. She was standing tall next to a mass of shadowy clouds that morphed into Skorpius and to the other end, his spiked tail curving in the air, was Leo.

  I smiled back at Aries. I couldn't help it. I was no longer alone.

  Reaching out for the bow, I struck at Aries with my foot and he reared. I got up, backed away and was joined by the others.

  "You came!" I said to them, disbelief and relief in my voice.

  "You didn't think we were going to let you have all the fun, did you?" Leo grinned.

  "Besides," Parthenos clenched her jaws, her eyes whiter than her hair and skin, "he owes me a wing."

  "Nice outfit," Skorpius remarked.

  "Thanks."

  "Not as fancy as mine but. . ." he added and I only felt happier.

  "Well, I'll be," Leo directed his attention to the weapon in my hand, "is that—"

  "Sage's bow," Parthenos finished. "And now it's yours."

  "But how—"

  "Are you all planning on standing there all day to look pretty or are we going to finish this?" Aries roared, cutting off Leo. He burned off Parthenos's blades and they melted out of his body.

  He was about to charge but seemed to think better of it. He chuckled instead. "I've absorbed enough mortal souls to keep me in this world but I tire of your games. Fighting me now will only be delaying the inevitable, so, why don't I get on with it? Besides, you'll be dead by the time I'm done."

  Aries leapt in the air then came back down, striking the ground so hard with his fists, you could literally see it flowing in waves. The ground shook and split open from Aries's point to all directions and lava burst through. At that point, the ground and the sky had become undiscernible. Everything was turning into a primordial state of chaos.

  The lava spread, spewing out of the sutures and hissing against the rain. Aries looked at us. "My salvation begins." He walked towards the village, causing the ground to rupture with every step he took.

  I looked back at Skorpius, Parthenos and Leo. There was a lot going on with their faces but one thing was clear as we all regarded each other. This was it. This was the final stand.

  I tightened my grip on Sage's bow—my bow. An arrow materialized, crystalline, with a blend of jade and gold. I cast my eyes ahead and the others joined me in one last confrontation against Aries.