Fire Emblem: Children of Light

Chapter 19: Fire Swallowing Light

  Both Angelica's body and the Nymphe float up into the air and are consumed by the thick ooze creeping out from the shattered golden ball that onced contained Mortabe's essence. A wicked, booming laughs echoes out as the acrid sludge begins to take shape and solidify. With thunderous steps a massive figure appears before the group. Mortabe.

  Towering above them, what parts of his thick hide left were falling apart, rotten with age and disease. The rest of his body, devoid of skin and scales, were leaking, spewing out torrents of the black sludge onto the ground below. His long, serpentine tongue lulled about inside his decaying jaw, slathered with copious amounts of thick yellow drool. The remnants of Mortabe's six crimson eyes lazily roll forward, looking down on the group with a cold, unwavering stare.

  "See? What did I tell you?" He laughs. "The blood of one more is tall it took!"

  Callista fires another beam of shining flame, striking Mortabe in the head. He lets out a pained howl but pushes through. His bottom jaw slides down out of place as he laboriously raises his head up and fires a beam of his own. The beams clash for a moment before Mortabe's beam breaks through, striking Callista in the chest. She flies back and crashes against the edge of the Altar, the blow reverting her back into her humanoid form. She clutches her Dragonstone, panting with pain.

  "W-What is this?" Callista moans. "My entire body... aches..."
  Mortabe laughs. "I have become the very thing I was once tasked with governing, I have become demise incarnate! I am a poison that consumes all! I am death!"

  Callista tries to get back onto her feet but sits paralyzed, her entire body wracked with an otherworldly pain. Ian runs over and helps her onto her feet. Mortabe fires another blast and Ian raises his shield high above her. Ian quickly jolts back however as his shield begins to melt, grabbing Callista and moving out of the way of the flames. Aurelio holds his tome closely, letting mana flow through him. He sits quietly, silently meditating as the light wells up within him. Aurelio opens his eyes and with a vigorous yell he flings open the pages of the tome and lets the mana explode out from him, unleashing a storm of flames greater than any he'd ever cast. The azure blaze constricts around Mortabe's body like a flaming serpent, ensnaring him within an ethereal inferno. Mortabe lets out an unholy shriek, trying his hardest to escape the blaze. With each struggling squirm however the flames dig tighter into his viscous body. Clumps of rotting skin and jet black sludge fall off of Mortabe onto the ground, bubbling and boiling. Aurelio looks back to Callista.

  "Can you still fight?" Aurelio asks. "Meru said we can't do this alone yeah? We have to use our lights together."
  "I can try..." Callista clutches her Dragonstone and once again transforms.

  Mortabe's eyes fixate upon Aurelio and Callista as he unfurls his own tattered wings and flails them about, drawing the black clouds in towards him. The Altar quivers violently, shaking dangerously as the clouds begin to form a cocoon around Mortabe. Aurelio and Callista fire off beams in unison but their attacks are merely consumed by the clouds. Mortabe lets out a booming laugh as the cocoon begins to part.

  Standing in the eye of the swirling storm was a dark figure. His sickly pale skin was drawn tautly like a drum over his brittle, lanky body, making it look like his skeleton would burst free at any moment. His greasy hair, disheveled and black, ran all the way down to his feet. Clutched tightly in his hand was the Nymphe and embedded within his chest was a large crystal. The figure raises his hand high and all the clouds part in a violent burst of energy. The surge blows the group back as well and they crash against the edge of the Altar. Suddenly surrounding the sanctuary was a thick, crimson red wall, one that seemed perfectly impenetrable.

  "My my, this isn't a form I've had to take in a very long time." Mortabe laughs, brandishing the Nymphe about. "Granted I haven't had the chance to. Being sealed away on numerous occasions has really thrown me off. My power was weakened, but Angelica did a very good job at what I asked her to do. My blade's drawn in more than enough power now, so I'm going to go all out while I still can..."
  "This ends now!" Anselm steadies his lance. "You've done nothing but bring ruin to my family--all of our families--for years now! No matter what form you take, we're going to kill you! We're going to finish this!"