Ash manifested from Darkfall, emerging shirtless and barefoot. His skin shimmered eerily, his slacks becoming one with the inky blackness that surrounded them. Both bone blades were fully extended. The creature’s ebony eyes made his sockets look empty. John peered over his shoulder as the Argonian’s hair lifted above his head and caught aflame.
“Magician, you’re already dead.” Ash hissed.
“How so, boy? From the looks of things, I hold your heart in my hands.” He spun about, snatching Blu around to face Ash. The spasms stopped as he pressed two glowing fingers against her throat, keeping her pinned to him. “You just saved me the trouble of doing some very Nazi-like things to this girl before I got to enjoy her. I haven’t forgotten, you are a twin. That Set is a handful! Now, call your nasty little brother, and we will leave together.”
Ash shook his head. Balls of mystic flame rose up from the palms of both hands, which were itching for something to burn.
“We all leave together, devil, or she dies right here!” John sneered, just as he felt Blu’s taut body slacken against him. “Ah, see? She’s fainted at the sight of you, and you’re not even half your true size yet. Wait till we peel back your flesh. Then she’ll see a sight to...”
Sudden pain stabbed swift and deep into the top of John’s foot. An expensive stiletto heel entered his flesh, driving through the webbing at the opening of his loafers. The bones fractured as Blu put as much force into the thrust as she could. He gasped from the shock of the blow.
Taking advantage of the moment, Ash hacked a wad of phlegm, and with the sound and blast of a shotgun, he hurled the glowing little ball into the Magician’s open mouth. Flames ripped through his skull on contact. Mystic fire hurriedly ate out his eyes and the surrounding flesh.
The spell at Blu’s throat shut down, and she shoved the body away from her as hard as she could. John staggered backward as she dove into the darkness. The Magician blindly swung spells in Ash’s direction, torrents made of thousands of icicles blasting from both his hands.
Ash dodged the streams then pulled himself up between them. He clasped both his flaming hands together, and with a baseball- style pitch, he hurled the ball of death at the man with the raging skull. On impact, his body ignited, lifted and danced in the air.
“From dust and ash you were born...” the prince began, his raspy voice now filling the darkness like a howling wind.
He walked up to the levitating form, which unceremoniously dropped at his feet. As Darkfall receded, the glowing form looked more like burnt timber. It lay at their feet in the shape of a man caught in the ash flow of Vesuvius thousands of years earlier. Ash sing-songed a short spell, then raised his hand. He snapped two fingers above the body and all the flame instantly went dead.
“To dust and ash you now return!” With that, he swiftly launched a kick to the chest of the smoldering figure, which shattered into a shapeless pile.
