Author’s Note: In the beginning there is a quote from The Matrix: Reloaded.
Oh and look at that pic!
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Chapter 19: The Beginning of the End

When you take a life do you know what you get
Odds are you won’t like what it is
When the storm arises would you be seen with me
By the merciless eyes of deceit
I’ve seen angels fall from blinding heights
But you yourself are nothing so divine
Just next in line
~Chris Cornell: You Know My Name

Vanya bolted upright, searching wildly around the room for his Kage, only to find it behind the three Rangers. He looked on in terror as the three advanced towards him until he could smell their musty odor.

“This is him,” the lead Ranger said monotonously.
“The anomaly,” the one to his right continued the first’s sentence.
“Do we proceed?” the last one pushed on.
“Yes,” answered the first.
“He is still,” the second started.
“Only human,” the last finished with a menacing grin.

The Rangers stepped forwards slowly. The leader drew a long heavily decorated blade from within his robes. They formed a triangle around Vanya.

“Wait what? I am not the One!” Vanya stuttered in terror as his eyes followed the knife. “I’m not the one you want! You have the wrong person! The One is a woman!”

The lead Ranger snickered. “There is no doubt in my mind,” he whispered into Vanya’s ears, “That you are the one. It is impossible for a mere girl to be the one. Now, hold still so the world can be ours!”

The very next moment, three things happened at the same time. The lead Ranger brought the knife swiftly down towards Vanya’s throat, the door burst open from a blow with a spear, and the three Rangers were suddenly thrown back against the wall. Reptina stood at the door, a mad fire burning in her eyes, wielding her Holy Spear threateningly.

“Reptina!” Vanya gasped in amazement and horror, “What are you doing here?”
Without a word, she thundered towards Vanya’s bed and brought her spear down on his bounds, releasing him. Vanya hurried across the room as the Rangers were beginning to recover from the sudden intrusion and grabbed his Kage.

“Come, Reptina, let’s get out of here before they come to,” Vanya urged as he pulled Reptina towards the door, but she remained rooted to the spot. Vanya put his hands on Reptina’s shoulders to turn her around, but fell back in pain, his hands red and burned. As Vanya healed himself, he looked up at the back of Reptina’s head. She was burning hot; something was wrong.

Reptina walked slowly towards the three Rangers, casually trailing her spear behind her. One of the Rangers looked up and drew his Hinkle in a flash, but was knocked away by the butt-end of Reptina’s spear. He gazed up in amazement, not knowing what to think as she swiftly put the blade of her spear to his neck.
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Myouzaki gazed up into Reptina’s eyes. “Do it, finish it,” he grunted heavily. Reptina paused in hesitation, for a moment, she almost seemed confused and afraid. “That’s right, I didn’t think you could do it. You have always been weak, and always will be,” Myouzaki added with a sneer. Reptina did not respond. Her eyes were grey, clouded and unclear.

He squinted to see the something masked behind her face. Suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw what was hidden away inside her soul. Myouzaki’s condescending sneer turned into an expression of fear. He saw the face of his enemy one last time right before Reptina thrust her spear straight down through his neck. Blood gurgled through the entrance wound and Myouzaki’s body went limp.
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“Reptina! What the hell are you doing?” Vanya screamed as he witnessed Reptina murder the defenseless Ranger. He ran forwards and tugged at Reptina’s hand, ignoring the burning sensation. Vanya managed to pull her out of the room and slammed the door shut with a loud clank just as an arrow fired by the Lead Ranger reached them.

The two of them ran down a plain, concrete hallway, their footsteps echoing loudly. Vanya ran ahead, pulling Reptina by the hand. He blindly turned down random hallways and soon came across one that was larger than the rest. He saw a double door in front of him and sprinted forwards, with his Reptina’s hand still in his.

Reptina suddenly wrenched her hand free from Vanya’s grasp. Vanya whipped around in confusion. “Come on,” he panted, “We have to get out of here!”

Reptina shook her head slowly and a small wicked grin spread across her face. She drew her Holy Spear and aimed it at Vanya’s throat. Vanya, bewildered, stood rooted to the ground, not knowing what the hell was going on. “Reptina? It’s me, it’s Vanya!”

Suddenly, an image of Reptina, scared and cowering, flashed through his mind. Help me Vanya! Then, he saw a specter form behind her. Vanya watched in horror as Reptina gave one last terrified look at him, and walked away towards the ghost-like figure.

However, when Vanya opened his eyes, Reptina lunged forward to impale him. He quickly teleported away as Reptina’s spear imbedded itself into the concrete wall of the long corridor. She spun around and readied another attack.

“Reptina! What the hell is this!?” Vanya shouted as he teleported away from her thrust yet again. Without a word, Reptina spun around and caught Vanya on his thigh. He screamed out in agony as Reptina dug the spear deeper into him. Grimacing in pain, Vanya grabbed his Kage and hit Reptina with a Holy Arrow. She stumbled backwards in the shock, taking her spear with her.

Vanya healed himself and wiped the blood from his legs with his robes. He drew to his full height and charged at Reptina. However, she suddenly side-stepped and Vanya ended up tripping over her extended foot. He fell to the ground, stunned. Reptina stepped over him and readied her spear for the death blow.

However, Vanya teleported away yet again, and brought the back end of his staff down on Reptina’s shoulder. She stumbled forwards and let go of her spear; it clattered noisily to the floor. Taking this brief moment of her disorder, Vanya dashed forwards and grabbed her spear and aimed it at its original owner.

“Reptina, I don’t want to do this. What the hell is wrong with you?” Vanya demanded furiously. Reptina slowly turned her head around to face him. When she spoke, Vanya was taken aback from the odd distortion in her voice.

“I will kill the one, and you will not stop me,” She suddenly sprang up and with amazing speed, dashed forwards and tackled Vanya down to the ground. The Kage and Holy Spear went careening across the floor. Reptina climbed on top of Vanya and pinned his neck down, cutting off his airway.

“That’s it, it will be all over soon,” the voice within her said maniacally.

Images flew through Vanya’s mind as he slowly began to lose consciousness. He saw his parents waving to him, his friends laughing with him, he saw Will die in his arms, he saw Mark push him over the edge of Orbis Tower, and he saw Reptina’s beautiful, innocent face the night on the ship. Tears flowed to his eyes as she turned and walked away from his thoughts.

“NOOO!” Vanya’s eyes flew open and with sudden strength, he threw Reptina off of him. Her body hurled through the air and smashed into the wall behind her. She collapsed to the ground, coughing up a spurt of blood. Vanya advanced towards her, picking up his Kage and her Holy Spear, and stopped right in front of her lowered head. She looked up at him. Vanya suddenly found himself looking into the very eyes of the woman he loved.

“Reptina,” he whispered with tears flowing down his face, “I love you.” Vanya smashed his Kage against her head, shattering her skull. Reptina went limp, life slowly leaving her body. Vanya collapsed down on his knees and coddled Reptina’s body.

Suddenly, a white apparition flew out of her chest. As Vanya looked on, it formed a menacing face and screeched at him. Then, it flew away, down the corridor, and out of sight, leaving the two alone and helpless.

Vanya looked down at Reptina’s face. A trickle of blood slid down her forehead and down her cold face. Slowly, her skin became pale and white. Vanya cradled Reptina’s head in his arms. He bent down and put his lips to her mouth and closed his eyes. A green fire erupted around the two of them, encircling them in a small tornado of flames. Vanya, his eyes still closed in furious concentration, brushed Reptina’s hair out of her eyes as he continued to kiss her. Slowly, her bones mended and her skull healed. The trickle of blood melted away into thin air and her skin warmed back up. Her paleness escaped from her, making her skin tan and smooth again. Then, as suddenly as the emerald fire came, it dissipated back into nothingness.

Vanya slowly pulled his head back away from hers. His vision became all blurry. Never before had he had to pull someone back when they were that close to death. Vanya felt a hammer pound on his skull. His hearing became all fuzzy; a strange buzz filled his ears and would not go away.

Reptina’s eyes flickered and slowly opened. Vanya looked into her eyes and smiled. She was back. Knowing this, he fell backwards and lost consciousness.
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“We’re finally here,” Mark gasped out loud. He stumbled to his knees as he went through the archway marking the city limits of El Nath. To his side, Raeken trudged past him, supported by Annikabelle. Latia stood to Mark’s left, looking on at the city without any words. Behind him, Damien, Guosim, and SolarKatz ran forwards into the city, catching up to Raeken and Annikabelle and trying to find some warmth.

Mark managed to pull himself up and follow the company as they started forwards towards the hospital.

The snow blew ferociously, stinging their faces with white powder as it roared by. “Closed” signs hung in every window of every shop on the main street due to the intensity of the storm. Several feet of snow buried the buildings, hiding the bottom of their doors and windows.

As he walked on, Mark noticed a red stain on the ground, contrasting the white blizzard. He bent down and touched it with his gloved hand: blood. As he walked on, many more stains appeared, some like someone had been murdered and dragged off, and others as if a bag of blood burst and spilled all over the snow. Something was definitely wrong.

The company trudged on, knee-deep in snow. Finally, they arrived at the steps of the El Nath General Hospital. They were welcomed by automatic sliding doors and found themselves in the dark lobby. However, only the emergency lights were on, creating mysterious shadows in every corner. As the doors slid shut behind them, a cold draft rattled their bones.

Mark’s heavy boots echoed down the halls as he went in search for help. He felt an extremely terrible aura as he sauntered down the corridors. No matter where he walked, no one was there. Where the hell is everyone, this is a hospital for Christ’s sake.

Suddenly, something clattered to the ground in the hallway ahead of him. Mark broke into a sprint, drawing his Omega Spear as he ran. He skidded to a stop and found himself face to face with Annikabelle and Raeken, who both wore equal expressions of impending doom.

“This is because of the One,” Raeken grimaced as he straightened himself up. Mark noticed he had gotten some gauze to temporarily stop his bleeding wounds. “Every moment she is not in Serena’s hands is another moment of destructions. The storm outside is because of her too,” Raeken added on as he pointed towards the snow-covered windows. There was a smear of blood on it.

The three of them helplessly rushed back to the lobby with no help. “Vanya can heal that,” Mark said hastily as they sat Raeken down in a lobby chair.
“I don’t doubt it, his healing powers are exceptional for a Priest, no offense honey,” Raeken replied as he looked at Annikabelle.
“None taken,” Annikabelle said absentmindedly as she continued to dab at Raeken’s wounds with fresh gauze.

All of a sudden, all of the lights were extinguished, leaving the company in total pitch black darkness. Mark whirled around in the darkness, feeling for something to hold on to in order to maintain his bearings. Something hard collided with the side of his head and he collapsed to the ground. Blindly, he jabbed his Omega Spear into the air in front of him and heard the impact as the blade went through his attacker.

Mark heard Raeken yell something and a sudden light flooded the lobby. Annikabelle and Raeken had both inserted a Magic Rock at the tip of their Dark Rituals, providing some light. Mark looked back at the victim impaled at the blade of his spear, and dropped it with a yell of disgust.

It’s pale green skin was literally hanging off of it’s bones as it laid on the ground twitching. Mark’s Omega Spear had gone through the body, splattering blood and an unusual green ooze on the floor. Wrenching his spear out, he looked down in horror at the Minor Zombie. On the floor next to it, stained the crimson red of Mark’s blood, laid a miner’s helmet, its head light cracked.

Annikabelle rushed towards Mark, followed by the rest of the company. But even as she healed him, the entire hospital seemed to shriek at them with new life. Bone-chilling moans and screams started to echo down every hallway. No matter which way they faced, the same screams of agony met them. A slow shuffling of feet came nearer and nearer. At first it was only one pair, but soon hundreds more joined on their slow parade towards the company. Slowly, from within the darkness, a zombie wearing a white lab coat lumbered forward, followed by another wearing a nurse’s uniform and another wearing a patient’s gown. Behind them, were countless others, foaming at the mouth, greenish flesh hanging loose, and crimson blood smeared all over.

“Oh sh**….”