Canada Has Trees and Other Musings Yofie Learned (Hyperion)

Darkness crept all around Yofie.

This land of Canada hid all of its dark secrets beneath an overgrowth of bushes and shrubs sprouting from giant wooden stems. Why anyone would inhabit this cold part of the world when they could move to Miami bewildered Yofie, but still she continued on. Bringing her wings into her back, Yofie landed in a heavily forested park within the suburban outskirts of a city nestled on the southern border. Even with a fire burning within her soul, it was freezing outside. "You there. Girl with the shoes of a small woodland creature." Two teenagers were walking hand in hand through the wooded paths. The girl stayed tucked in a warm looking vest with fuzzy boots over her jeans. The young man couldn't help but stare at the battle dressed seraphim. "I would like your shoes. I can only compensate your loss with a song or even one of those 'selfies' the citizens of Jay-Pen love."

Startled, but not completely confused, the blond teenager looked to her friend with a troubled look. "Is she going to kill us?"

"Just give her what she wants. I want her picture."

With much warmer footing, Yofie took to the main streets of the town, carrying her metal boots. Walking past a boutique, Yofie looked down at her open legs and took notice of the locals wearing much warmer clothing. Once she stepped into the shop, the keeper immediately looked up and his down the red headed woman looking at the mannequins. "Hello there..."

"Where is your paige to assist me remove my armor. I have been wearing it for many days now and wish to relieve myself of this weight."

"Excuse me, mam, we have a 'no swords' policy here." The dark haired woman pulled a book from under the counter and placed it upon the counter.

"That is an odd rule given none of the locals have swords. However, many rules seem odd to me." Yofie drew her sword and placed it on the counter. "Why is evil not banned in this country of yours?"

"I don't think the economy would rebound."

Canada, if Hyperion could remember was where his father lived before LA and even the Isles, a place where he ran his genetics mega corp from even now. That was no why he was here however, and it was far from the reason, not that his father was absent from his mind. No matter where his thoughts turned, somehow The Archon would pop up within them, even if only as an antagonizing force that drove him onward through his seemingly pointless existence. As he moved, darkness moved with him, sweeping across the small quivering lights that was life within the area. Sadly, even the most vibrant of lights flickered when he moved beyond them, and yet only the weak were snuffed completely.

A bird in resplendent flight , stopped its song, falling to the ground with a dull thud. With it, the very energy of death ran through the air and powered Hyperion even more. Grass grew a black color upon contact, as if a blight had touched it and this blight were only spreading further. Why death walked amongst the living o one knew, but their presence could not be ignore by even the most vile of souls forever, for they could feel his reach.

”You have got to be kidding me.” Hyperion noted with an almost devious chuckle, examining the phone he was holding within his hand. ”That poor me.” Of course he was speaking about his supposed good half, likely now just worrying about where his misplaced crush would go now. Of  course he could sympathize with the poor fool, as his affections had been misplaced for a long while but then again he was over those now. Why waste thoughts on someone that would never return them? Hell, he was even getting out of the whole wearing black phase, slipping from the moody goth phase to something more him.

Without even realizing it, he was walking through a town with so many people looking at him with an almost fearful look. They could feel the danger that he radiated, and they did not like it. Not that he looked dangerous, dressed in a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a polo shirt that had caught his interest. Honestly, he was the least threatening thing anyone could look upon and that was where many underestimated him.

Where he ended up was a boutique, in the hopes he could find something to buy for his finicky daughter. ”Excuse me, i'm looking for something to buy for a special someone but....well i'm not exactly fashion savy.” he fixed the strange green specked silver orbs upon the woman behind the counter.

”Do you mind helping me out with that?”

"You will remember this is my sword, correct?" Yofie impaled her blade through the glass top of the case. "Or, should you find a partition to separate it from your other patrons?"

"It will be a while before I forget your sword." The older woman walked back behind the counter and started to press a silent alarm, before her senses came under attack. "I know that sense..."

Both straps took a little work to get undone, but Yofie placed disrobed a mannequin and attached her breastplate to the faceless creature. She merely tossed her boots on a box display, crushing the display under the sheer weight of the steel. "Are you sending me an attendant?" Yofie pushed through racks of clothing revealing clothing that would do her little good against the elements. After moving from the swimsuits, Yofie recognized clothing made from the fur of creatures that kept her feet warm, but found a rack of jeans most curious. "Smith, what are these blue things? Your commoners all wear them. Are they also fit for those of angelic birth?"

A dread came over Yofie. The steel skirt around her waist began to kindle with flame. "Smith, what evil have you brought to your establishment?" Yofie turned around to view a man dressed like an Abercrombie model. "I sense a great evil in you. But, first, are those small pants you are wearing comfortable? Were I not to kill you with a righteous fury, would you recommend them?" Without her sword and breatplate, Yofie turned her mind over thinking of whether she should fight with or without them. Knowing her blade would be the most adept form of disposing of this fiend, Yofie walked towards the counter to attempt to pull her blade out of the case in a moment reminiscent of King Arthur. "I need you to wait a moment as I prepare myself to send you back to the horrid abyss you climbed out of."

His attention stayed off of the strange woman for a moment, in the hopes that the attendant would be able to help him with buying his daughter some kind of pretty dress, well one of the dresses that she so loved to wear for some reason. However, he had noticed her once she dropped what seemed like heavy steel boots upon a rather flimsy stand that was holding up a pair of heels, as if expecting it to hold up. Sadly it did not, and would give way to the sheer weight of the metal. Truth be told, something about this woman was strange to him and yet he could not quite tell what that something was. Perhaps  it was the fact that she was wearing armor, unlike any other person that he had seen through this world.

What made her even stranger was her asking about her shorts, and seemingly lamenting the fact that she had to kill him, or maybe that was him hamming things up. Regardless, she seemed to be approaching the counter in an attempt to slay him for some strange reason. ”Righteous fury? You have got to be kidding me.” Hyperion muttered with a noncommittal roll of his eyes, ripping the amulet from around his neck and considering the woman trying to remove the sword from the....counter. She seemed to need a moment to remove her blade from its place, as the amulet would shift into a more proper weapon, a jet black scythe with runes etched into the blade that traced along the floor.

”Take your time.”

"I am not a soul known for humor." Yofie strode over to the counter and pulled her blade from the counter. Standing over the shorter adversary, Yofie struggled to find it within herself to size up the enemy. "I have not faced many dark souls of your size before. Are you a dwarf of sorts or a goblin? You cannot be a demon, or at least not a greater one. Maybe an imp?" Flame burst forth from her blade as she gripped the hilt. "You are in fact evil, now you must pay."

Yofie would start with a quick slash to try and slash across his chest. Her accuracy would send many sparks of fire towards racks of clothing and anything else around them with or without a connecting blow. "I will send you back to the abyss you spawned from foul beast." More strikes would follow, stabbing forth towards his chest. Flames would bellow out to try and continue to immolate the foul creature. The surroundings around her would further complicate her fight, but Yofie found a way around that. "Your abyssal home will not save you in a purging fire. This flammable material in the shop will set forth a bonfire you will not escape." Flames continued to burst forth from her blade as she continued to assault.

"I can sense the darkness with you that would take my soul if I were to let it." An arcing flame shot out from Yofie's blade. "If you had any nobility, you would accept this death and leave your evil shell behind so people of good and light can live their lives undisturbed by your evil."

”Obviously.” Hyperion noted with roll of his eyes, wary of the woman that seemed more than ready to smite him with that strange sword of hers. Something within his very being seemed to recoil from the magic that radiated from the blade, even though it seemed to be hidden deep within it. His fingers clenched around his scythe, knuckles growing white from the pressure applied, though the mention of his height. ”No, i'm not an imp. The proper term would be Abyssal One.” He growled, brandishing his scythe in a defensive position just in time for the woman to rush him with an attack.

His body reacted without him even needing to think about it, spinning the handle of the weapon to deflect the blade as flames splashed outwards. He could feel the heat of the flame lick at his chin, enough to know that this thing would do some damage. This meant he could not let this woman cut him, as that would only lead to a lot of trouble in the long run. Fires sparked up regardless if she had cut them or not, and within seconds he could tell this woman did not care if she hurt anyone.

”And they call me the careless one.” He muttered, narrowly avoiding her relentless barrage of attacks with well timed deflection, enough that he avoided taking damage and yet he was still being pressed. Taking a few steps back in an attempt to make distance, he could feel the cracks forming within his weapon. They were no apparent, but if he let her strike him like this his weapon would snap in half within less than five minutes. Spinning his scythe, a shield of red lined black energy would meet the holy flames with a conflagration

”Sorry to disappoint angel girl, but you'll need more than that to kill me.” Without a skip in motion, he moved forward with a flurry of jabs from the blunt end of his weapon, to disorient before attempting to spin with the weapon and cleave into her with its poisoned blade. ”Lets see whatcha got angel girl.”

The fight took many twists and turns, but none of them sliced Hyperion. Flames  continued to kindle out with each one of her strikes, but the fight began to turn against her. "I never called you the Careless One'. I called you an evil..." Yofie pushed her blade into the scythe to push the offensive back towards Hyperion. "Well, I called you an evil something or other. But, I will still cut you down to size." Releasing flames from her blade, Yofie would try to throw Hyperion back. "I do not know what size is beneath an imp, perhaps a troll of some sorts. Or a mephit. It matters little for I will..."

Hyperion sliced back towards Yofie. Feeling her ability to fight grow, Yofie sought to parry the initial blow, leaving herself open for the second glance. Cutting in between the pieces of armor, Hyperion found home in her arm. "You monster! Face my vengeance!" Flames burst forth from her blade to incinerate Hyperion. Still under the guise of Yofie's aim, the blast would take out a pillar in the middle of the store. Two more blasts would erupt from her blade to attempt to deliver justice to the creature masquerading as a human.

His blade had hit home in an opening between her armor, enough likely to cut flesh and let the poison take effect.  ”You sure like to poke fun at my height, don't you?” Hyperion noted with a sigh of annoyance, making distance to avoid taking any sort of retribution from the wrathful angel. With luck, he managed to avoid the initial burst of flame that took out one of the pillars of the store, signaling that this whole place would be going down soon enough. Still, with all of the flames burning around him and with this woman pressing her luck, it seemed that he would have little chance of avoiding this.

Spinning his scythe in a windmill motion, he hooped to negate most of the damage that the two flame blasts thrown at him. Most of the flames would wash over the hilt, yet a few managed to slip through, splashing against his shirt and dancing along the fabric as it burned the flesh beneath. The male let out a growl of pain, as the holy magic damage him far more than any fire could ever hope to do. Without even thinking about it, he turned and ran into the streets where things would be less cramped.

Black flames poured from the building as he rapidly turned upon his heels with dark ethereal energy gathering around his scythes blade, a small wave washing over where he was struck to avoid him burning anymore. If there was one thing he had to admit, it was the fact that it hurt like hell. ”Damn angels.” Tearing away a small amount of the burn shirt, the flesh beneath had become red and raw, blistering almost ugly , a third degree burn. ”That was my favorite shirt too.” With a spin of the weapon, he would unleash a burst of his dark energy upon the burning building.

As always, people were screaming.

Now she forced Hyperion to vacate the premise with a blast of dark energy. Yofie held herself, but without her breastplate the dark energy awoken something inside of her. An odd feeling came over her, causing the flames of her sword to die down. Snapping her wings back to full span, Yofie focused her attention towards defeating the evil before her, not within her. "If you wish to hide and cower, so be it. I would not expect anything short of craven hidings from you!" Flames burst forth back from her blade.

As the building came down around her, Yofie took the skies through a newly made hole in the ceiling. Yofie would begin circling Hyperion from the sky, firing balls of fire towards him. Once she broke out of a few fiery circles, she would move to position herself just above Hyperion, grasping her sword to her chest. Pointing herself directly at the ground, Yofie would spin violently to put all of her momentum into the point of blade. Flames would accompany her as she continued towards Hyperion with enough force to deliver a devastating blow.

Once the blow delivered, Yofie would take serious injuries from her own blow, placing her in a state of momentary defenselessness as the darkness within her would begin to pulsate. All flames from her armor and sword would extinguish. Her fingers would try to pry out some fire, but she felt nothing but a stunned state take her over. Pressing her flameless blade to the ground, Yofie pulled herself up and stood upon two firm legs. Her sword felt much heavier than before. She only hoped her efforts put Hyperion in as bad of shape as it put her in. That was when she looked to the wound in her arm. A poison seeped into her, blurring her thoughts, changing her mind, allowing darkness to come out. "You craven dog from the prairie."

The cool air agitated his burn, drawing a low growl from Hyperion as he watched his counter attack do its thing towards the damned angel. This had gone from a simple incursion for a dress, to a large amount of pain that he had not wanted to deal with. Honestly, if she were not playing around with that strange holy magic, then he would likely not be in such a sorry state but then again she did, so here he was. ”Well dear, I never claimed to be honorable.” Hyperion growled, gathering the dark energies around him in preparation of whatever attack she would unleash upon him.

From what he could tell, this fire would wreck havoc upon him if it made contact and he much liked not being reduced to a burn victim. His enemy began to circle around him from above, unleashing a relentless volley of fireballs upon him. Acting in kind, he unleashed bursts of the black energy upon her, spheres meant to counter act the fire being tossed at him. Great black clouds of smoke resulted from their clashing, and obscured his view from the next attack that the battle maiden would unleash. This came in a form of a great fiery attack aimed down upon him.

He had no time to react with anything decisive, as the world seemed to slow down to a crawl around him. Without even needing to think, the abyssal instinct took control, as he prepared an attack of his, gathering large amounts of his own ethereal energy in the blade of his weapon and spinning to swing it, in the hopes to meet with the maidens weapon. Their clash was great and terrible, flames and black energy rioting against one another, holy energy against an energy most foul. It felt as if the fabric of the very universe would tear itself asunder, and yet there was only a ripple before an explosion rang out.

Hyperion was thrown from the scene of the destruction, rolling along destroyed ground with pain flowing through his torso. A minute was how long it took him to regain his bearings, feeling what felt like blood pouring out from some manner of wound from his chest. Shakily, the abyssal one would move to his feet, looking down to see an ugly slash across his chest, one that was beginning to bleed heavily. He stood, and so did the angel that had started this whole conflict, yet she seemed to be lacking that flame of hers. Quickly, he examined his blade which was chipped along the edge, something he would have to repair later, or have repaired at least.

”What happened to all of that fire you had a minute ago?” Hyperion asked with an almost haughty tone, despite how wrecked his body felt. A strange pule of pain was coursing through his chest, as if something were trying to kick its way out, but he knew for certain that was not the case. ”No more righteous fury to smite me with, or is my poison beginning to do its work?” He raised the scythe once closed enough as if preparing to strike her, only to sink the blade into the ground itself.

”There's another hypothesis of mine however. Maybe you're just as dark and black as I am, except you just don't want to admit it little angel.” The irony there was perhaps too obvious for anyone at this point. Dark purple runic markings bloomed along his left arm, snaking from the elbow downward until they reached the fingertips which glowed with an indigo flame. ”Let me enlighten  you to how dark you really are.” These words seemed to echo through the air for a moment, before he snapped his arm forward in a rapid motion, perhaps too fast for her to react to within her poisoned state.

To the bystander, it looked as if he had shoved his hand into her chest cavity, and yet there was no blood. Pain was likely there, but no blood, the flesh seemed to ripple like an illusion upon contact as he buried his hand to the wrist.

No words were spoken as he rippled his arm back, still no physical damage done but what he had pulled from her, even Hyperion knew not the damage he had caused.

With her flames parted and her armor standing firm upon a mannequin thirty yards away, Yofie could not respond to Hyperion before he threw his hand towards her. In one last spark of hope, Yofie assumed the smaller man would try to grab her to throw her, hopefully allowing her some time to incinerate him or fly away should she need it. But, that did not come. The hand passed through her chest with purple flames and runes illuminating. "You are not a victim of any darkness. You are..."

Before Yofie could finish her observation, an essence pulled out from her. It looked as though a shadow cast itself in spite of the light of the bonfire, casting Yofie to the ground. Two dark wings spread out from the nude body still covered in absolute darkness. "Poor thing must be tired." The dark essence looked down to the unconscious Yofie, stepping over her as she moved towards the burning boutique. Fighting against the brightness of the fire, each shadow cast came to life and snuffed out the inferno Yofie turned the store into.

Coming back from the smoldering store with a breastplate and a roughly strewn together outfit consisting of a blue blouse and white pants, the dark creature began to take more of a familiar form. "I hate to take away your prey just before you dream of your malice, but I need her to stay alive." The darkened angel's voice slowly changed from a low roar to a more feminine tone matching Yofie's own. Drops of shadow ran down the course strands of hair along her black hair, turning it to a shade of red. The only visual difference anyone could make between Yofie and her dark clone was the clone's black wings opposed to Yofie's own white. "Now, for me and this one to..."

A sudden burst of fire shot Dark Yofie flying several feet away from the original Yofie. "That is my breastplate you vile duplicate." Yofie pulled herself back to her feet with her blade clutched in hand. Flames burst forth from her blade and gauntlets as she prepared her fighting stance to swing at Hyperion. "You need to resist the urge of angering angels. A potential partner will find you less attractive if you are any shorter."

What Hyperion pulled from the females very core was an essence almost as dark as his own, if not as dark as it. Soon the essence would take a physical form, female in shape with black wings that rippled outwards from its back in a mockery of an angelic fashion. It was a shadow that existed despite the light that was cast by the bonfire that was once a boutique. The removal of the darkness had been enough to tire out the poor angel, leaving them unconscious upon the concrete and with two dark entities still standing. Sure, he was feeling weak from the holy flames that had damaged his body, but not weak enough to drop down just yet.

”Well now, what is this?” Despite the mild fatigue that was flowing through his voice, interest was still apparent within his tone, twirling the scythe deftly within his hand. This unknown shadow had braved the bonfire, only to return garbed within clothing that had been pulled from the flames, as well as the woman's breastplate. With each second the being molded from one of pure shadows to a humanoid, one that resembled the very angel that he had been trying to slay. Granted, she had started the whole slaying bit, but he was not one to let it end.

All that separated them in the end was the color of their wings, black in stark contrast to the sheer whiteness of the supposed holy being. ”If you insist.” Hyperion muttered with a shrug, feeling over the burnt flesh with a tentative touch, wincing from the pain that lanced through it. If he were human, this would have floored him but then again being inhuman had its perks.

Still, despite how the poison seemed to be damaging her, the angel rose with a burst of flames that sent the dark angel flying. Add the quip with that, and you have a whole new mess.  ”You know, if I were looking for a partner I would take your advice to heart girlie but I think you have bigger problems to worry about.” Now he remembered why he disliked this female. Despite the fact that she likely was now dealing with another foe, she would turn her blade upon him once again.

”If you so want to dance with death however, I will be more than inclined to grant your wish.” A shift into a fighting stance happened with him as well, waiting for the female angel to make her first move.

"I am not a seraph who was birthed through the act of dance, but was in fact created through song. I do not see how any of that is related to this battle, nor do I recall any instances of extraplanar forces granting me a wish. Also, judging by your height, I do not believe you to be a djinn of any kind." A confused brow rose from Yofie as her sword raised over her head to deliver a strike to crack Hyperion's skull. Before Yofie could bring her weapon to strike, a shadowed blade pierced through Yofie's chest.

"Don't worry." The shadowy angel slid a blade under Yofie's neck. "Angels are a little tougher. And you don't have anything other than an empty hole where I stabbed you." The blade came out and Yofie fell forward. The dark angel told no lies about Yofie's toughness or her lack of chest based organs. "I'll take this." Pulling the blade from Yofie's hand, the darkened doppleganger from Yofie spread her wings and began to ascend away from the fight. "Have fun, Yofie. I'll see you very soon."

Fire still sparked in Yofie's hands and gauntlets. Even without her sword and with a serious chest wound, the angel stood back up and took her stance. She let out a battle cry and took one step in the same form of a shot putter, throwing her breastplate into Hyperion's guard. Yofie would lunge forward, placing her hands against the breastplate and igniting it with righteous fire.

Her next move would defy her previous standards. Yofie would place herself below Hyperion and launch a savage blast of fire to try and launch Hyperion towards the fleeing dark angel. If Yofie could land her aimed perfect shot, she could manage to save her sword from being carried off. "This moment feels like it needs to be spoken about, but everything I see looks purple."

”Oh god, you are serious.” he said exasperated, either by the angels inability to understand sarcasm or perhaps just what he could call sheer stupidity. It felt like he were fighting an angelic female Jordan, well minus the obvious things but then again in a fight to the death that was unimportant. Another comment about his height though. ”If I hear one more comment about my height, I swear i'm going to gut you like a fish.” One could tell that now Hyperion was pissed, but then again he had enough of a reason due to the painful burns.

His angelic foe would move to crack his skull open, only to be stopped by a dark blade sliding through her chest. At least he could know that this shadow woman was on his side, or atleast she felt like screwing over the overly righteous angel. Weakened by the strike, her sword was taken by the dark entity before it would attempt to fly away. Normally, he would have gone for the decapitation but it seemed that this strange being did not want the angel to die quite yet. Regardless, Hyperion had a reason to kill her and so he would attempt to do just that.

Well, that was his plan until she forced him to guard against a rather savagely thrown breastplate against his scythe, throwing him off guard enough that she could lead on with a burst of fire against the metal. Abyssal metal could be heard cracking as he was thrown into the air, propelled by the powerful current of fire into the ascending angel, likely to knock her out of her flight. Attempting to correct his fall, Hyperion flailed around until he collided with the hood of a rather small car.

Lass shattered upon contact, sending shards out while the metal bent harshly under Hyperion. A low groan followed this, the Abyssal Incarnate attempting to pull himself from the metal wreckage, face twisted into an annoyed grimace. ”Seriously! Enough with the damn fire, it's really getting on my nerves.” Hyperion snapped the blight beginning to slowly spread along the concrete, and to taint the very air.

"Your very breath is an affront to everything not bathed in light. Even genies would look down upon you, which accordingly would not be difficult, because as far as height goes, you do not stand very tall." While confusion tore through her enemies, Yofie would lunge forward to grab her sword. "Now stand firm and at least die with some honor you oddly colored creature of darkness." Yofie would strike forward with diligence, but her blade did not seek Hyperion, but instead the dark angel still on the ground. Two full slices of Yofie's blade tore through the blouse and several pieces of angel skin. Fire continued to pull more darkness from the evil husk of a doppleganger. "Die in the shadow of my glory. Just as you lived you despicable abomination."

"I demand you release this corruption from the air and cure me of the sickness you have bestowed within me." Yofie held her sword grudgingly towards Hyperion. "If you can meet these standards, I will relinquish you from my judgment right now."

While Yofie held her sword as a bargaining chip, the shadows of the dark angel began to crawl away from this encounter. One day she would return, but for now she would leave Yofie thinking she destroyed her. She only hoped Hyperion didn't kill the angel she was still tethered to.