Chapter 26: "Defeated"

Once more, I was frozen in place. Another Load, but U clung on tightly to Archiver.
"YOU SHALL RELEASE ME!" he roared in fury. "YOU SHALL!"
Pause, and a new scene appeared. We found ourselves in a valley of some sort, but just before I could even take in the surroundings we paused again. This time the place changed to an eerie stone hall. Pause! A crowded marketplace. Pause! A field full of overgrown weeds. Pause! A beach strewn with blue blocks.
This went on for quite a number of scenes; I was even sure we passed that empty void where I first came to at Blogspot at least twice. Each scene lasted no more than a second, and the ordeal must have gone on for something like two minutes. You do the math.
At last we came back to the same forest where the fight first began. "No," Archiver wheezed, drenched in sweat. "You cannot win with your inferior knowledge."
"Funny how I was just saying those same words a while ago," U smiled. "But now I understand that nobody can ever plan how everything will turn out."
"Shut up," A look of pure malice burned in his eyes. "I haven't lost yet."
He raised a hand, making me look at where he was pointing. Instantly my jaw dropped wide open in horror. It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be. Of all things...
It was the light from afar!
"U!" I screamed. "It's the light! Run, before we get killed!"
He glanced at it for a moment, then fixed his gaze back at the weakened Archiver. "It's a trick, isn't it?"
The light slowly turned lighter shades of grey. "You can't tell. Nobody can. Nobody but me."
"Are you sure? Nobody else knows what you know?"
"NOBODY! Nobody could ever possess the knowledge I've been given! Not you, or you, or anyone else in this wretched place!"
For no reason, the light dimmed and fizzled out. It morphed into dark red words splattered across the landscape.
"Archiver, you have forgotten the source of your powers. How dare you think you know more than I do!"
"No, Master!" he fell on his knees. "Forgive me! I would never....Master! Master! Come back!"
The red words evaporated, drifting away with the wind. Tears trickled down both sides of Archiver's face. "He left me...I've nothing left."
"Don't think that way," I put a hand on his shoulder. "Now you're free from His rule."
"You moron...you utter, pathetic, brainless moron. It's all your fault. "
He Loaded one final scene outside two towering black gates. "This was where I was born...it shall be where we all die."