Black and White Ch. 07

Well hello everyone. It's been a bumpy ride but I've finally finished the story. So this episode, the seventh one, wraps up everything.

And I've thoroughly enjoyed writing this and receiving all those mails and feedbacks. Love my fans and everyone who has mailed me and allowed the story to come so far. This one's totally dedicated to you all. The story ends here but please do keep mailing in or just drop in a line from time to time. Love all you people out there!

Jason chewed on his cheese sandwich quietly. He was fuming inside. He hated getting up early, especially on Mondays. In fact, early mornings had been an overbearing decision in the selection of his courses and lectures. He never took any classes that took place before nine. And today, his 'new' girlfriend had called him at 7 in the morning, ordering to meet up at 7:30 in the canteen before her lecture. In the midst of his deep slumber he had rudely been awakened by Aditi's call, and had grudgingly accepted to come. Now it was 7:45 and the girl was not here. 'So this is the kind of stuff you have o bear with when you go out with a beautiful chick', Jason pondered over his realization.

All the bitterness and resentment on Jason's face vanished as he caught side of a skimpily dressed Aditi in high heels walking hurriedly in towards him. His face immediately assumed a nauseating sweet expression, smiling with all his 32 out.

"Hey Jason." Aditi greeted him as she swung a bag around and swished into a chair. Aditi had green eyes now, Jason realized. She always wore lenses that changed her eye color. First it was blue, then brown and now green. Jason was not even sure of the actual color of her eyes.

"I have a lecture in 10, so I have to make this quick," Aditi continued.

Jason raised his eye-brows wondering what 'this' meant. His mind was hyperventilating with paranoia. Was Aditi going to dump him here? A fine start to the week it would be. The girl was fast and shrewd, and he was barely being able to keep up with her. She always got her way. But still, he was madly besotted with her. They called girls like her 'man-eaters' didn't they?

"You've been shunning Aiden and rebuffing him ever since I told you he's gay, haven't you?"

Jason was thrown off for an instant. What was this new topic of discussion today?

"Err, huh?"

Aditi gritted her teeth; even though Jason was extremely cheerful and friendly, he was bigoted in some matters. And he was slow at understanding things; sometimes too slow. Aditi spoke clearly and slowly this time.

"Ever since I made you aware of the fact that Aiden is not only gay but has a boyfriend, you've been totally snubbing him, not hanging out with him at all. Am I right?"

Jason kept his sandwich down on his plate. He had no clue as to how Aditi knew about such a thing but over the last few days he had realized that the girl's gossip network and reach for new happenings was far more effective than CNN and BBC combined.

Jason made a face. "But he's... you know what."

"He's gay my dear. At least say the word."

Jason inhaled long and deep. This conversation was way too uncomfortable for him.

"Let me ask you this Jason; has Aiden ever made a move on you?"

"What?"

"Had Aiden ever tried to kiss you, grabbed your ass, cupped your crotch - done anything 'gay' with you?"

"What?! No!!"

"So then why are you so paranoid about him being gay? It's not like he wants to marry you or something."

Jason just stared at the girl with eyes that pleaded to change the topic. But since Aditi was on it now, he knew there was no way he was getting off the hook easy.

"Why are you snubbing your roommate, your good friend just on the account of his being gay? C'mon, which planet do you live on? Haven't you met gay people before?"

Jason just swallowed a lump in his throat. He hadn't actually or had simply turned a blond eye towards them before. He did no want to say anything, but he would have to hear Aditi till she felt she was through. There was no stopping her.

"I mean, he's probably been your friend for over two years and you can't even accept this part of him? Why are you being such a hypocrite?"

Jason finally opened his mouth. "Because he's a poof."

Aditi sighed. This was like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube.

"But that poof is still your friend you know. And you're letting him down. And he's probably hurt real bad that you can't accept him."

Jason had no answer to that. The girl was right. Through the past few meetings with him, he knew how that Aiden felt deep hurt because of him. He had felt disgust and discomfort. But Aiden had felt plain raw pain. Aiden's face and the expressions he wore had made it apparent to even him.

"He's your friend Jason, and a good one at that too. How can you lose him on something like this?"

Jason dropped his head low. He could barely hear Aditi anymore. All he could think of was Aiden's pained expression when he left him in the car that time. Aditi was making him confront things he had been averting since days. But now here it was, staring him right in the face.

"You can't go on like this you know. And I won't have a bigot for my boyfriend!"

Jason jerked up at the last statement. This was the first time Aditi had used the connotation boyfriend for him; even though it was in a negative aspect.

"Think it over Jason. But do all your thinking quick. You need to apologize to Aiden, and apologize fast. In fact, I want you done with your apology before I meet you in the lunch recess."

Jason opened his mouth to protest as Aditi shot up from the chair and collected her bags.

"And give Aiden a call soon."

That was it. Her decision was made and Jason was to follow accordingly. He grunted as Aditi strode off, her hips swaying. She was one hot babe. Guys were turning around as she passed by them. Someone even whistled and Jason turned a little blue with jealousy. He was mad after this girl. The olive honey baked complexion. The perfect figure and the great legs. There was no way he was going to lose her.

Jason eased back into the chair as he picked up his cheese sandwich and nibbled on it again. Aditi was right about him and Aiden, though he was having a tough time admitting it. He had been an asshole. He had no clue what the word bigot meant, but had not wanted to interrupt Aditi to ask that. But he was still being an asshole.

He squirmed once more as a thought of a naked Aiden doing things with Will crossed his mind. Yes, this matter surely made his stomach turn. Even to the point where it made him feel absolutely disgusted at times. Was it possible for him to relegate those feelings and let friendship occupy higher priority? It was the right thing to do wasn't it? After all, this was Aiden he was pondering about.

Aiden, who always paid the most attention to him when he was sick and would assure his worried mother over the phone that he would take care of her son. Aiden who always went swimming with him in the evening when no one else would give him company even though Jason knew he was not so fond of it. Aiden who scolded him for not coming to him sooner when he skidded and took a nasty fall with his cycle and nearly broke his arm; he had felt drowsy after he incident and gone to sleep immediately and Aiden on finding out hours later had rushed along with him to the hospital and insisted that the doctor at least put the slightly swollen arm in a sling. Jason felt sick at himself as he though about how he was abandoning that same Aiden.

The confused roommate brought a hand to his head as he felt his head hurt slightly. This was more thinking and contemplation than he had ever done in his life. He fished out his phone as he dialed the number for his now estranged roommate.

Aditi sashayed through the exit door of the canteen, feeling satisfied that she had brushed up Jason good. The sky rumbled and she glanced up at it. The weather was suddenly turning ominous. Thick black clouds were covering the sky fast. She wondered how she'd not noticed the sky before, when she left to meet Jason. She reckoned she had just been inattentive; it's not like this kind of weather could just suddenly materialize. She mumbled about not getting an umbrella if it suddenly started raining. That would ruin her hair.

She hurried to her lecture hall as streaks of lightning flashed across the sky.

~~~

The 'Hourglass of Retrogression' was a powerful artifact. It was a simple delicate glass flask, emblazoned with golden filigree that was owned neither by the Kingdom of Light nor by the Kingdom of Void - it was owned by both, conjointly. It was a superdominant artifact that could be used to turn back time on the material plane, but one that required both the kingdoms to assent to its use. Its activation required a drop of blood from both the Kingdom's guardians; Black and White.

It seemed to White, that soon that omnipotent artifact would have to be put to use, for tens of thousands of people were witnessing the mega battle that was taking place, a battle between entities with titan wings, as they clashed across the sky, one burning golden, the other immersed in a silver glow. White had even noticed TV camera's aimed towards the dueling duo as people strained to comprehend what was taking place. But he hardly had time to think of it at the time, for the toughest conflict he had ever participated was in progress.

Black charged howling towards his opponent, gaining speed as he nosedived downwards, twisting his wings at an angle that streamlined his motion while White flapped upwards, gaining velocity each time his wings stroked. The two swung there swords out at each other as the dark sky was bathed blinding white by lightning and thunder fulminated.

When the lightning subsided, the two winged beings were on opposite sides - opposite to the ones they had been on before; their backs facing each other after the impact had taken place and their swords had clashed, their wings slowly allowing them to drift apart. Black smiled on one side as White gritted his teeth on the other. He had managed to counter only one of the swords. The other had slashed across his wings; wings that appeared to comprise only of feathers but had muscled veins and tissue underneath it all. The pain was mind numbing.

Black's unharmed wings stretched out as he whirled around and he stretched out both of his hands and chanted; "Internecine Ability 3; Whirling Blackness." A swirling sphere of black and grey shadows materialized in front of his palm.

White immediately held his hand straightforward as he mouthed, "Ability of the Light 21, Flaming Shot", and a red ball of fire materialized before his arm. Black swung out his sword wielding hand, as he flung the destructive ball at White who aimed his own flaming shot at the offensive projectile. The two spheres collided in the space between them, leaving behind burning red embers and black flames.

Immediately the two rushed towards each other again as the sword clashing continued as if in a pre choreographed method. Screeching sounds were heard and lightning flashed each time their swords met.

White was realizing something was different about the Black he was fighting. Why was his enemy using such low spells in the middle of such a high level combat? And there was something wrong in his eyes too. Well, he would take advantage of that. He suddenly increased the pace of his sword movements, pushing back his adversary with quick rapid reckless strokes and swung around mightily till he got an opening. Immediately he raised one hand upright, still levitating in flight.

"Ability of the Light 74; Lightning bolt." Clearly visible waves of white colored energy dissipated from his hand as much higher up in the clouds static charge accumulated sparkling with the same color as on the white angel's hands, but on a much larger scale. White brought down his hand swiftly, guiding lightning from the skies to strike his opponent as a blinding flash obscured his view for a second.

Had he got him? Had he struck down his opponent? It had been a powerful spell. White felt movement behind as he swirled around to find Black inches behind him, with his sword striking out. He jerked backwards with all the momentum his wings could muster, barely missing the blow. So Black had used a teleport ability at the last moment? This 'different' Black was far more furtive and savage than the one he had fought before. White would have to be careful.

The adversaries sparred with a few more swings and separated once more. White breathed heavily. He was using up too much energy but his opponent seemed hardly enervated. He watched as Black brought both his sword wielding palms together and joined them in a finger lock.

"Internecine Ability 98; Million Scattering Brutal Shadows." White's eyes grew wide in surprise; this was a drastically high level spell.

He watched helplessly as the massive dark angel's form became hazy and slowly started disintegrating into tens of thousands of pieces. Pieces that would act as millions of blades and attack the enemy from every possible direction. Black had temporarily broken himself down to these Scattering blades that could cut up an enemy into zillions of tiny shreds in seconds.

White quickly held his hand perpendicular to his body for defense. "Guardian Ability 7, Golden Sphere."

Instantly a golden translucent bubble sphere surrounded White, encasing him in safety. But White knew even this force field would not be able to sustain continuous attacks from the brutal shadowed scattering blades. And playing extreme defense at a time like this was not a very smart thing to do.

White watched from inside the force field as hundreds of tiny black blades - the dissembled form of Black himself; hurled themselves with force and momentum onto the spherical enclave. He gritted his teeth as the particle blades began colliding, each attempting to slice the sphere or at least crack it; and there were a countless number of them. White would not be able to maintain his force field much longer.

He gripped the hilt of his sword tighter as he called upon his inner energies and burst into golden flames. The powers of the flames of the Helos Saber would hardly protect him from these ruthless shadowy blades, but would at least offer some resistance. His body was refulgent in golden flames and not a moment too soon. The golden sphere collapsed as the blades swarmed in and rushed onto him.

White let out a blood curdling scream as the blades tore across every possible millimeter of his body, shredding bits of meat, feather and cloth alike. The innumerable particulate blades formed a spate of destructive projectiles, totally encasing his form as it plummeted downwards from the sky. His body crashed into the rooftop of a building, cracking the roof floor where it landed.

White painfully opened his eyes. Black had reformed himself from the blades and was motionless in his co ordinates in the sky far far above. White understood that he was recuperating himself from the effects of the immensely powerful internecine spell he had just used. But he was still up in the sky? This was definitely not the ordinary Black; the dark angel should have been groveling on the ground with pain after using such a 'mutually destructive' ability.

White tried to budge but his body would not let him. Every modicum of his frame had been sliced, thousands of deep cuts and thousands of superficial ones. The pain was overbearing. His face, his torso, his legs, arms, shoulders, back; all were covered in blood. Blood that was even blurring his vision. His wings were torn and ragged once again. Most of the cloth fabric on him had been reduced to shreds. Would he die here? Would this mark the end of a Perpetual? Would this bloody mess and pain be his death? And then he once again remembered Aiden. That's what he was fighting for here; the Alchemist who was a boy that he had sworn to protect. He did not know where the boy was right now, but it was good if he was away from the battle.

White felt strength surge within his body as thoughts of Aiden overwhelmed him. He would fight for the boy, and he would not die till he had eliminated all possible forces that worked against the boy. He heaved himself up, shuddering, trembling with throbbing and shooting pains and weakness, but he would do this for Aiden. It had started to rain heavily now, and water droplets that fell on his body trickled down after turning red in color, dissolving his blood. But White felt energies flowing back into his body as his resolve got more and more determined. He shrieked Aiden's name out loud and then clasped his palms as he held them above his head. If Black was using his full power in this battle then so would he.

"Ability of the Light 99; Heaven's God; Flaming phoenix."

As those words left his mouth, yellow and orange flames of fire started whirling around his body. A swirling mass of flames that got larger and larger with each passing second; flames that formed a whirling tornado of hot energies that were slowly taking a gigantic form Flames that spread across for hundreds of feet making everything around for miles glow red in color. The flames were getting hotter as more and more energies imploded onto a critical point. The critical point would serve as the eye of the phoenix.

Fire swirled into the sky like the sun's solar prominences as steadily they took on the form a giant bird; a bird of fire that constantly burned itself out; a bird whose entire body was composed of fames that burned at more than a thousand degrees; a bird with a dozen tales of fire that extended to hundreds of feet; a bird more than 500 meters in length and even greater wingspan; this bird was heaven's god - the flaming phoenix; summoned by White to fight his battle.

The phoenix screeched in a high pitched tone, its scream shattering window panes and glasses for miles across as it lurched towards Black. Thousands watched dumbstruck as the gigantic fiery bird sailed through the air towards the dark Seraph.

~~~

The Empress was incensed. Her cute chubby face was absolutely livid with anger. She had been wasting too much time in this virtual world of the darned angel Frigeria. She needed to get back to the real material plane fast; reach there, finish off the Alchemist and then help her guardian Black to eradicate White. She knew for sure that her guardian would not lose to White this time; not while the stone of Subjugation was embedded within him. The stone made him more resistant to damage and made him a fighting machine.

But for now she had to get out of this damn virtual world. A world which was barely a hemispherical dome with a radius of about half a mile. Topographically, the whole area resembled the one where she had initially tried to teleport from when she tried to appear right next to Black and White and the Alchemist boy. But otherwise this world was swarming with humans that were nothing but illusions; young boys playing with dogs in a park as an old couple sat on a park bench watching them. Sharply dressed suited men and women scurrying about to get to work. A hot dog vendor shouting as he advertised his wares; very city picturesque. But the little girl was getting annoyed.

She knew that getting out of such a 'maze' involved solving clues and riddles and conundrums. But she had had enough. Her eyes turned as red as hot charcoal as two figures in front of her caught fire and screamed as they ran amuck. A few moments later everyone had either caught fire or had turned to ashes; the old couple, the hot dog vendor, the boys and suited men and women, even the dogs. And an angry little girl was turning everything into gutted ruins and cinders. She was getting out of this labyrinth one way or another.

~~~

Aiden frantically raced up the steps of the town's clock tower. He had been frantically trying to find a way to get closer to the two winged beasts that were his friends. He knew not what he would do if he got closer to them, but he was determined to get to them somehow. He had raced about for very long in the town trying to follow the two clashing angels as they fought in the town's skies. But their fight path had been highly erratic and they covered astounding distances in a few seconds.