Splitting a Soul~Chapter 23

“What the hell is going on?!” Jack yelled. “Last thing I remember, we were trying to decide on a contest and then I think I could smell grapes and then I was on the ground.”

“You picked combat for them,” the Gatekeeper said. “You attacked me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jack told him, but the Gatekeeper wasn’t listening anymore.

“You were driven mad by Dionysus and started firing beams of ice at the sun,” Aisling explained, keeping her ax and shield in her hand while she never took her eyes off the Gatekeeper, ready for battle. “You hit him and stuck him in an ice cube.”

“Man, maybe I shouldn’t have called him a jerk,” Jack laughed as he jumped to his feet and swung his staff around.

“No laughing matter,” I told him. “I don’t know how strong this guy is, but if he is half as good at combat as he is at Go Fish, we could be in trouble.”

“We need to keep him off balance,” Aisling commented. “Keep him confused with a mix of ranged and close combat attacks. Wait for an opening and finish him off. Got that?”

“Yes sir,” Jack said before catching himself. “I mean yes Ma'am…whatever.”

“Don’t worry Aisling, I’ll keep him focused,” Kimi said, pulling out her bow and aiming it straight at the Gatekeeper. “Are you ready Jack?”

“Ya I guess so,” he said as he got into position, pointing his staff forward. I felt the entire area become a few degrees colder and Jack’s hair turned completely white, his eyes even become a lighter blue then they were; like ice.

“Aisling, you and I will take the front. We don’t know how strong this guy is so be on your toes,” I warned her, keeping my sword level. There was a small stream over to my right, so at least I could count on the Water Elemental for help and there was certainly enough earth around. “Everyone ready?”

“Yes sir,” the others said in unison. We all took our positions, Aisling and I in the front, with Kimi and Jack standing behind us with their weapons at the ready.

Aisling slammed the head of her ax against her shield, making a loud banging sound in the process that reminded of things I had seen Vikings do in movies or TV shows. I think it was supposed to be a sign that they were ready for battle. I had my sword in my hand, ready for an attack but also trying to feel the energy of the elements around me in the likely event I needed to use them.

“So you’re going to go all old-school on me? That’s cool, I can do that to,” the Gatekeeper said as he pulled out a large sword of his own from behind his back, seemingly taking it right out of his coat. “Let’s get it on!”

Things didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Aisling and I both went in to perform an attack, but she was faster than me and rushed in a lot faster. I wonder if she even knew that she was moving as fast as she was. She went in for a strike, but it was quickly deflected by the Gatekeeper. Before she could go in for another attack, she was forced onto the defensive as she raised her circular shield and was sent sliding across the floor from a single hit and landed right next to me. He lunged at is and didn’t even stop when Kimi and Jack began firing at him from behind us. He would just swing his sword and deflect the shots away from himself without losing any kind of momentum. This wasn’t working so I raised my sword and a large wall of rock rose up between us.

“Move!” I shouted and Aisling jumped to the side just as the Gatekeeper crashed through the wall. We locked swords and I felt myself being pushed back.

“So you’re the one I’ve heard so much about,” the Gatekeeper said. “The collector of the Elementals, but you’re not doing such a good job. Everything is still out of balance.”

“I’m working on it,” I said as a small pillar of rock shot up out of the ground and hit him in the face. I ducked down just as an arrow flew over my head and hit the Gatekeeper in the chest that didn’t really seem to bother him. He took a step forward and Jack froze his feet in place just as Aisling appeared in a flash of light and landed close to a hundred slashes in about ten seconds.

“Hey that was pretty good, but how about this?” he laughed as he broke out of the ice like it was nothing and I prepared for another sword duel. We locked swords, but I didn’t expect the punch to my gut that followed. Next thing I knew I was flying into the air and landed hard against what I could only assume was a large rock. I was lucky I didn’t bite off my own tongue.

As I slipped to the ground, I struggled to open my eyes and watch the fight. This guy seemed unstoppable as I looked at him fight. He didn’t just use his weapon; he used his entire body as a weapon. He would block an attack with his sword and instantly follow up with a punch or a kick. I’m sure that even without his sword, he would have no problems beating the crap out of us. I wondered if even Ares could defeat this guy. After kicking Aisling half way across the room, he returned his sword to his unseen sheath.

“Let’s change things up a bit,” he said before pulling out a large mace. The thing was made of solid Celestial Bronze and had a large ball at the end with large spikes all over it. He smashed it into the ground, causing the ground to shake and crack in front of him. Kimi and Jack fell to the ground, holding onto their weapons tightly. Aisling on the other hand jumped from one chunk of cracked floor to the next with masterful grace.

“Take this!” she yelled as a piece of floor shifted, which she used as a catapult to launch herself into the air. She came down hard, hitting the staff of his mace and I saw the dust in the air get blown back by the force of their colliding weapons.

“Alright I took it, now take it back!” he yelled as he went to punch Aisling in the gut. She lowered her shield and locked the head of her ax around the mace’s handle. When the Gatekeeper’s punch collided with her shield, instead of flying off she spun around the mace and landed a kick to the Gatekeeper’s head.

“You got him!” Jack cheered. His happy tone then faded when he noticed the Gatekeeper didn’t even seem to care. Aisling jumped back, landing on her feet.

“Was that all you…” he said, but then one of the lenses of his sunglasses popped out and shattered onto the floor. His teeth then became clinched in anger and as he grinded them together, I thought I saw sparks. He then took the glasses off his face and crushed them in his hand. “THOSE WERE MY FAVORITE PAIR OF SUNGLASSES!”

“Um…sorry?” Aisling said as she kept her stance.

“Not yet you aren’t,” he said as he put his mace away and pulled out a fully loaded machine gun with rocket attachments, blades, and who knows what else. He then lowered it to use and we scattered around in a desperate attempt to not be on the other end of that gun. He at first started firing at the closest target, which was Aisling. Thankfully as far as I knew her shield was unbreakable, even if she wasn’t. Jack fired another blast of ice and snow, but the Gatekeeper flipped a switch and apparently turned his gun into a flamethrower, melting the ice.

“How many fancy gadgets doesn’t this thing have?!” Jack called. I managed to finally get my bearings and watched as the flames were only a few inches from the end of Jack’s staff. I stabbed my sword into the ground, opening up a tremor in the ground that cracked the earth all the way up to the Gatekeeper’s feet. One of his massive feet sunk into the ground and he lost his footing for a moment, causing him to point his gun straight up on reflex. The torrent of fire went straight up until it took a drastic turn downward…right at Kimi.

“Kimi, look out!” I tried to warn, but she stood her ground and pulled the string of her bow back and a fiery arrow appeared. The flames seemed to circle around Kimi when they got close to her before flooding into the arrow she had at the ready. By now the Gatekeeper had turned off the fire and looked down at his foot. He was about to pull himself free when I closed the earth around his foot, trapping him. He glared daggers at me and I noted that it was the first time I saw his eyes; those solid black eyes. He began to pull at his leg and I saw the ground crack, but I kept holding tight. It wasn’t until he felt the heat generated by Kimi that he looked over. Her hair was almost on fire as it whipped around in the wind generated by the power she was wielding. The charm that Apollo had placed on her bow to limit its power was shaking around violently and I feared it would shatter. She then released the arrow and it flew straight into the Gatekeeper. There was an eruption of fire and an explosion that almost leveled the land around us.

“Did we get him?” Jack asked, patting himself off as he got off the ground.

“I think we did it!” Aisling congratulated herself as she cheered. She rushed over and gave Kimi a big hug. “That was a great shot!”

“I was just thankful Ash kept him in place,” Kimi commented and we all huddled together.

“HEY YOU KIDS, THAT WAS MY FAVORITE SUIT!” we heard from the bottom of the crater. “You’re going to pay for that!”

I felt the ground shake as a large blue figure jumped all the way from the bottom of the hole and land just at the edge. His long jacket was completely gone and he was left in a pure black, ripped up, full body suit that reminded me of the kind of outfit a yoga instructor would wear as it clung to his blue skin. The parts of him that were exposed from the tears had muscles threatening to rip the rest of it off. I would say he was built like a brick house, but I think a brick house would crumble at the sight of this guy. No wonder our attacks didn’t do anything.

“Don’t worry guys, I got this,” Jack said and he rushed at the big blue guy, who was stomping his way toward us. His exposed feet left footprints in the ground as we walked; which reminded me of a kid having a temper tantrum.

“Oh gods, Dionysus must be messing with his head again!” Aisling yelled in panic. Kimi covered her eyes, not wanting to see Jack get shattered into a million pieces like an icicle. Jack ran up to the Gatekeeper and put his staff away. The two then met halfway between us and the crater, looking each other down.

“Timeout,” Jack said, forming a ‘T’ with his hands. I don’t know what he was expecting, but the Gatekeeper seemed as confused as we were.

“What?” the Gatekeeper said flatly, confusion spreading across his face.

“Timeout,” Jack said again. “We want a break.”

“You’re joking; what makes you think you can just take a break?” the Gatekeeper asked Jack.

“Because I called Timeout,” Jack protested. “That’s what makes me think we can take a break.”

The Gatekeeper’s face was unreadable as he just looked at Jack. If this actually worked, I don’t know if I could call Jack an idiot or a genius. Finally the Gatekeeper’s eyebrows peaked like he had come to a decision and began laughing hysterically, even holding his stomach as he did so.

“Alright my man, I’ll give you some time to regroup. I don’t know if you’re an idiot or a genius, but you’ve definitely got guts. Go on and take your timeout,” the Gatekeeper said. Was he reading my mind now?

“Cool man,” Jack replied and headed back to us, who were all staring blankly with open mouths and wide eyes.

“But just as a warning, I wouldn’t take too much time,” he said before pointing to the sky. The sun and moon that had been moving around the sky seemed to be close to colliding over the top of the gateway’s arch. “The gate only opens for a few moments when the sun and moon align. I’d say you only have about fifteen minutes to defeat me.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” I told him as we got into a huddle.

“Confidence, I like it!” the Gatekeeper said as he crossed his arms and tapped his fingers, waiting for us.

“So does anyone have a plan?” I asked quietly in the huddle. Kimi and Jack just kind of looked at each other unsure, but at least Aisling seemed to be working on something. “Anyone?”

“Sorry, I got nothing,” Aisling admitted. “I’ve been trying to use some of my speed and strength against him, but this guy doesn’t even seem to notice we’re hitting him. Strategy can only take us so far and unfortunately we don’t have the power to beat him. Do you think we can beat him?”

I honestly didn’t know. I had promised everything would turn out alright, but looking around, our team already looked beaten. Kimi looked completely drained after firing that last arrow, Jack’s white hair already seemed to be reverting back to a mix of black and white, and Aisling looked physically ok, but I could tell that she was thinking we were doomed.

‘You are doomed,’ I heard in the back of my mind, but it was louder this time, like a shout. Before I knew it, I was dragged inside myself into a world of crumbling buildings and devoid of color. I stood there looking at a part of me I wished I could just lock away.

“What do you want?” I asked him, trying to force my words to have as much malice in them as I could.

“Who me?” he said in mock pain, before giving it up and he just looked at me with that evil smirk. “I just want to help.”