Chapter 17: A Glimmer Amidst the Grey

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“Please!! Please, stop! I’m not worth this!” He screams, his voice torn and broken as he reaches helplessly for Nyx, for his sister.

His whole body tenses as he’s flung through the air, but he keeps his eye on Nyx. The spot where she first hit Vocivus has already healed, or at least scabbed over with some sort of purple ooze. The beast’s attacks are fast, and even with her new energy boost, she is barely able to dodge them, let alone attack. No, that’s not it… While it’s hard to see around him with how much he’s being swept around, Ozzy’s still seen her line up shot after shot. But she rarely fires. It’s him; she’s holding back because he’s here. She won’t risk hitting him.

It’s hard to keep conscious from the mix of pain and nausea, but Ozzy fights back the spots in his vision as he desperately tries to look around for something, anything to help. He instinctively thinks of using the Acrimonious Brush, but even if he still had it on him, he knows it isn’t the right choice. It was one of her tools, just like he had been… Yet, he’d had the brush for what felt like ages, and without it now he feels powerless… back to just the lonely, grey Yurble he was before.

He almost passes out once more as Vocivus swings him toward the ground. Ozzy wants to scream as the earth quickly closes in on him, but nothing comes out before he’s yanked back as Vocivus’s claw comes to a sudden stop right before impact. Ozzy strains his neck to see Nyx as tendrils of her own spread from her arms. They’re wrapped around the claw he’s imprisoned in, and Nyx seems to be pulling with all her strength. It’s astounding to him that she’s able to match Vocivus’s strength even a little, but his awe is cut short as another of the Void Beast’s acidic attacks comes right for the both of them.

“Nyx!” Ozzy begins to yell out for her to get out of the way, to run, to save herself, but a shining beam of purple and pink evaporates the acid midair, and Vocivus yanks him away, tearing off Nyx’s grasp. Ozzy catches a glimpse of who nullified the acid attack while the beast flails him about as it roars in pain from the continued barrage of magenta attacks.

It’s Queen Fyora, he’d heard a lot about her from his patr–from Drakara, as well as Vira. Drakara brought her up a lot, even though they never seemed to have nice things to say about her. They never seemed to have nice things to say about anything, now that he thinks about it. Guilt mixes with the nausea in his gut as he sees the grey growing around her. She has to know that using her magic is only weakening her, giving it the opportunity to fully overtake her, and yet her attacks emanate energy he’s never felt before. She’s not holding back, even a little; she’s risking everything to save those around her… To maybe even save him.

He’s sure Nyx's friends are fighting too. He can’t see much now to truly confirm it, but before this, he’d seen how they were together, seen how they’d cared for his sister. So, he knows they are here, risking themselves alongside her. The spots in his vision grow as more tears well up. He doesn’t want this; he never wanted any of this to happen. He’d just wanted to stop feeling so angry, so sad, so alone…

He wants to yell for Nyx again, yell that she doesn’t have to do this for him. Yell that he’s sorry for everything he’s done, everything he’s said. Yell that he just wants her to save herself. But even if she could hear him, he knows she wouldn’t leave him… that she never really left him.

Looking at her now, it’s so strange that she truly is the same age as when she left. So strange that she’s younger than he is now. She was right before. He may have been just a kid back then, but so was she–even more so when they lost their parents. He’d never realised how much she had to grow up for him… How much she must have missed out on to care for him. And yet even now she fights for him, even though all he had done was push her away. He'd pushed everyone away. Even Styx.

His heart aches as he thinks about Styx. Besides Nyx and Vi– Styx was the only other friend he’d ever had. In all the commotion, Styx had run off… ran away after what Ozzy had done to him. He’ll never forgive himself for condemning his best friend to the same fate he’s endured. Ozzy can’t blame him for leaving… Styx will be better off without him. He just hopes he’s safe, and that maybe one day Styx will forgive him.