A Match in Gold and Silver

Sunder…

???…

Middle Myriad Era…

A landscape of ruin, swirling dust and shattered stone, in the distance, broken statues from the smallest bugs to a great titan that cast the shadow of his remains upon everything. The broken statues of man, beast and monster were not only strewn across the ground but hung in the air, all looking to the sky, all shocked at what they saw!

But of what they had seen, nothing remained, only a blank sky behind the broken torso of the titan.

In this place so desolately populated only two beings connected their presence.

One lounged upon a statue of a hawk that had lost its head.

One stood alert upon a dog statue floating in the air, all four limbs lost to who knows where.

The lounging figure was all in red.

The alert figure was in black.

Both were the same save for those colours, a pair of lithe knights in armour.

Their armour was a little too bland, a little two generic. They lacked artistry. Neither had a plume and no evidence of the living could be seen in the darkness behind their visors. Sloping metal upon sloping metal. The only thing that really stood out was how delicate the armours seemed because of the shape and size of their owners. Still, one could at least tell that Black and Red were humanoid.

The hawk turned to dust as Red dived at Black, silvery sword shining bright not taken from any sheathe but manifested from the very air. It sang the song of birds as it neared the slit of Black’s visor. Black walked backwards from the petrified dog he was was on, beginning to fall in the sky, thus avoiding the blade of Red.

With a flourish Black called forth his own blade, golden where Red’s was silvery, but both were long and thin one handed swords, bladed on both sides. Black did not aim for a fatal spot but since he was below Red, aimed at the back of his foe’s legs! Would such a blow win out? Red simply tucked his legs away and from the force of that, turned to point his blade at Black who was beneath him, falling as the rain does!

Yet Black was not disturbed even when his back hit against another statue, this statue had been hidden by his own body so Red did not see it. Black rolled off this statue, grasped it with one hand and flung himself up at Red, his own blade aiming to pierce right into the chest armour! Red, equal to Black could use the statues in the air and with effort pulled a statue before himself as a shield. Golden blade sank deep into the statue, but it did not reach Red.

Red landed and sprung from the shielding statue, and as well he did, for Black gave the statue a mighty punch and broke through, freeing his sword and sending it striking forth once more. Flying back from Black, Red’s sword was not idle and instead it twisted in an obscure fashion and a bare tree of silver light spread its deadly branches from the sword’s blade!

Black danced amid the branches that chased him as if his blood would give leaves to their shame. Statues turns to dust as he jumped to and fro yet now and again his armour would be scoured by the light of the silver tree. Red moved not from where he landed, continuing to grow the tree of silver doom. Would Black remain passive, caged like a beast to await slaughter? Nay! As he danced and was scoured he began to plunge his sword into broken statues, the sword glowing gold and gilding the statues it pierced.

Red twisted his head, confused, but then in shock, he jumped, still pouring out the doomtree. A piece of a statue near Red had begun to glow gold and in a moment it exploded sending out a jagged gold branch. This first branch landed a glancing blow to Red! More statue fragments began to explode around Red who had to do a dance of his own to escape impalement. His dance was no less difficult than Black’s! It could even be said to be a bit harder as Red was married to his silver tree, yet he did not stop growing that mighty tree.

So they both danced, each wanting to outlast the other, each taking minor hits, each hoping for that fatal misstep to happen.

It never came, after several rounds, Red could bear no more and directed the branches of the silver doom tree to destroy all statues around him and Black, as a matter of course this freed Black. But this took merely an instant. Black and Red fell to the ground and rolled away from each other, yet they tumbled up and stood facing each other.

A moment’s pause.

The first bout, a low sweep filled with starlight, gold and silver, both chose the same movements and both repelled each other!

The second bout, a blast of an exploding star, gold and silver, again they mirrored each other!

The third bout, a star that devours the light, but no blade swing, a deceitful move, instead fist clashed against fist!

The fourth bout, Black broke his golden blade in the air before him, the sword vanishing into starlight. Starlight covering his hands and arms forming branches in the shape of mighty arms. Red likewise broke his silvery blade but the silver starlight became a new blade a two handed monster with seven blade branches!

Red swept down this blade and Black who had been expecting something even a little bit more similar to his own ways was sundered in twain. There was no blood, but instead Black broke into silvery starlight which flew up into the sky and then it formed great words!

PLAYER ONE: zZzTripleKingzZz WINS!

Then everything went dark, and a board with various metrics and statistics appeared.

In a dark shadowy hovel, a man pulled off a helmet with glowing blue lumps. The helm had covered his whole head, and having removed it revealed a drained looking humanoid, milky in skin with eyes like stars and long pointed ears pointing out from his head. His hair had the touch of midnight to it.

“Eugh, that was almost a perfect mirror match, my poor heart. Right, that’s enough of that for toda… uh tonight, time to browse the Ghostspheres” the man muttered.

The helmet unfold out into a mirror-like screen complete with a vaguely spongy keypad below it.

“What were the odds of that kind of matchup?” he muttered as he pulled a piece of yesterday’s pizza from its box that laid upon mounds of clothes.

Author: SnowyMystic