On top of his haggard look, a savage gash ran over his left eye, of which there was nothing but red to be seen. And a bruise, almost as dark as his armour, crawled up the side of his neck and across his jaw to a bleeding nose. It was hard to see which injuries could be attributed to his duel with their father and which had come from Athis and Avandriell’s assault on Malliath. Even now, in front of her very eyes, new cuts were slicing through his skin, yet Alijah seemed oblivious to them all.
“I suppose it was always going to come to this,” he announced. “This… clash of fates was foretold. The Crow saw this. He told me you would challenge my reign, that you wouldn’t settle for any peace,” he spat. “And here we are, destiny fulfilled.”
Inara slowly shook her head in the rain. “He told you a version of the truth that he needed you to believe, Alijah. But it was a lie all the same.”
“You still have no idea what you’re talking about!” he retorted angrily.
“He promised you would be king of all Verda,” Inara continued. “That your rule would reshape the realm and bring about a unity that has never existed before. True,” she conceded. “At least, that’s the version of the truth he wanted you to hold to. But the unity he spoke of was the one that rose up to challenge you. In this world, a world you have reshaped, the races have come together under one banner for the first time. And The Crow knew I would oppose you because he knew I would have no choice but to fight the evil he was unleashing on the world.”
She thought of Gideon’s words to her, before the battle on The Moonlit Plains. “I didn’t want to believe it,” she said earnestly, “but, standing here, now, destiny fulfilled… how can I not? Our birth was orchestrated, Alijah. Our birth. Because our fate was always to meet here. To end it all, one way or the other.”
“Those sound like the narcissistic words of Gideon Thorn,” Alijah rasped. “You always were his favourite puppet. He told me the same thing once. Since then, I’ve taken command of everything from the east to the west. I’ve brought peace to future generations. Thousands, millions more will be born into this world and know a full and happy life because of what I’m doing here! With no magic, there can be no threat! Who are you to challenge that?” His Vi’tari blade came up in his hands.
“And those sound like the bitter words of a frightened dragon,” Inara countered. She had more to say, more words to twist her brother into knots, but there was no time - the would-be king lunged at her, proving himself to be as quick as ever.
Firefly came up just in time to block the green blade from taking her head. At the same time, the enchantment set into the Vi’tari blades caused an outburst of multi-coloured sparks. Alijah pressed into his sister, dragging his blade along hers until their faces were inches apart.
“Look at yourself!” Inara hissed. “You’re being torn apart!”
Alijah growled and twisted his body into the next attack. Inara anticipated the move and adjusted her grip to meet the cursed sword. Again, their weapons collided in a spray of colourful sparks that died all too soon in the rain.
Rather than wait for his next attack, Inara fell upon her brother with a flurry of slashes and swipes. Her last strike, an upwards swing of Firefly, scraped along his scale mail and finally cut a line up his chin. As the blood rose into the air, Inara put a swift boot into his chest and sent him across the platform.
In a display of strength Inara hadn’t believed he still possessed, Alijah flipped forwards onto his feet from his back before his legs even hit the floor. His Vi’tari blade cut a fine line through the rain, demonstrating an edge of discipline to his form. They soon came together again in a battle of wills and ringing steel. Alijah’s style reminded Inara of Asher’s fighting form, his attacks precise and always deadly: intended to kill, not maim.
Misinterpreting one of his attacks, Inara received a dragon-scaled elbow to the face and a quick slash of steel across her hip. She screamed and fell face first against the stone, her tongue able to taste her own blood as it mixed with the collecting rain water.
Sensing a kick coming for her ribs, the Guardian rolled to the side. She avoided Alijah’s boot but not the swing of his blade, which she was forced to meet with Firefly before rolling away again.
Instead of continuing their dance of steel, her hand shot up and released a blast of ice. Alijah stopped the freezing spell with a quick shield spell of his own. When he dropped the shield, a small sheet of curved ice fell to his feet and shattered into pieces. Inara used her precious time wisely and returned to her feet, despite the protests of her injured hip. Alijah, however, had no interest in crossing swords with her. Before their battle could begin again, he threw down his Vi’tari blade and raised his hands into the air.
“We’ve done this once before!” he yelled. “Do you remember how that ended?”
There was no time to conjure a destructive spell of her own - bolts of lightning were already sparking between his fingers. Inara dropped Firefly and held out both of her hands. Her shield flared to life with only a fraction of a second to spare before Alijah’s display of lightning crashed into it. Between them, they lit up the night.
Alijah soon added waves of telekinetic energy to his lightning, putting more strain
