Soul of the Colossus: Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The One Who Felt Betrayed

Wander's POV:

Wander stood on the open plains just outside the realm of Sirius. Not far away there was a hulking black, vaguely humanoid shape with massive horns sprouting from their head. Dormin's deep blue eyes glared down at Wander. The grand spirit of death thundered, "Thou hast betrayed us, mortal.…"

Wander glared up at Dormin and interjected, "My name is Wander! Also, have I ever told you that your manner of speech is really outdated? The other grand spirits do not sound as ancient as you, you know."

Dormin advanced menacingly towards Wander and bellowed, "That is all irrelevant! Thou hast allowed the traitorous colossi to escape after we fulfilled our part of the deal! We hoped to take our just revenge on those traitors after being banished from the material realm. However, your actions have left us here with no colossi to punish."

Wander glared up at his former benefactor and responded, trying to be brave while literally facing down death. He countered, "I helped them to escape because I realized why they had turned their backs on you and why you could not be allowed to take your revenge on them. What matters now is that I have saved them all from the horrible fate you would have condemned them to."

Dormin laughed at Wander and closed in on him, looming over their former vessel. They threatened, "Thou hast forgotten that you are still trapped in this realm. We shall take our revenge on you by absorbing your soul, which still contains some of our energy."

Dormin reached down towards Wander. As the young hunter dodged Dormin's shadowy arm, he shouted, "Dormin! I challenge you for some of your power! If I win, you will have to revive me! If I lose, I guess that my soul will be yours for the taking."

Dormin responded, "Challenge accepted. Defeat us in single combat and we will grant you your revival."

Dormin brought both of their fists towards the ground and created a wave of dark blue energy that sent Wander flying backwards. Wander got up just fast enough to evade a flaming blast of blue breath sent out by Dormin.

Wander retaliated with a volley of soul bolts from his generated bow, but the bombardment barely injured Dormin. The grand spirit cackled and rapidly struck Wander with a fist. The young hunter was sent flying back again. Dormin lunged forward as Wander fired another series of bolts at them while still on his back. Wander tried to get up, but took a point blank blast of Dormin's breath. He had bled of most of his soul energy from Dormin's attacks.

Dormin grabbed Wander in one of their hands, pinning the young man's arms to his sides. The grand spirit of death declared, "We appear to have won the challenge. Now, your soul belongs to us."

Wander struggled as best as he could, but he could not free himself. He began to a feel horrific pain. Dormin had begun to absorb his soul. Wander could only think, "Mono, I will never be with you again. At least I did the right thing. At least I atoned for my sins.…"

Dormin laughed as Wander began to fade away, the grand spirit enjoying their long-awaited vengeance on the only soul they could justly exact revenge on. Suddenly, Wander's body began to glow with a golden light. Dormin looked deeply confused as Wander felt some of his energy returning.

Pelagia's voice echoed in Wander's head, "Wander, your horse is alive!"

Wander had no idea what was going on as horns akin to Pelagia's appeared on his head. He instinctually focused into them and blasted Dormin with a barrage of energy pulses, stopping the soul transfer.

Shocked, Dormin released Wander who asked, "Pelagia? I don't understand. Why are you helping me? I killed you. I was going to betray you."

Malus's voice echoed in Wander's head, "What matters is that you never did betray us. You learned your lesson and now we are here for you."

Cenobia's voice exclaimed, "Alright colossi, let's kick Dormin's ass and get Wander home!" A series of telepathic cheers called out as Dormin was utterly stunned by what they were hearing.

Dormin bellowed, "Spiritual energy transferal? This must be the work of Supren…. Still, this cannot be. We did not create you colossi to do this! You are interceding to help your slayer! You were never meant to.…"

Wander retorted, "You really only saw them as tools, didn't you? They are so much more than that, and I see that now!"

Wander stretched out his hands and an image of Kuromori's head appeared on one of them and an image of Basaran's head appeared on the other. Dormin was blasted by two more streams of energy and caught in a cloud of toxic gas.

Dormin swept the cloud aside and rushed at Wander. But a barrier shaped like two of Phalanx's wings crossed in an X pattern blocked their incoming fist before it could strike Wander. Dormin swept their other arm at Wander. Yet the young man sprouted wings shaped like Avion's and was launched up into the air and over Dormin.

Wander was now behind his enemy. One of his hands sprouted a pillar sword and the other a stone club. Wander bashed into Dormin's legs with both weapons, weakening the grand spirit. As Dormin tried to turn around to face Wander, they were flanked by a smaller apparition of Phaedra and a smaller apparition of Quadratus. Wander clapped his hands and the two spiritual colossi charged at Dormin and rammed into them.

Dormin was finally able to Whirl around, only to see Wander riding into the air on an apparition of Dirge. Wander turned one of his hands into a massive fist like Barba's. He used the colossus fist to punch Dormin in the face, hard. As Dormin tried to recover, Wander generated a cleaver like Argus's and stabbed Dormin in the throat.

Wander leaped off the Dirge apparition and landed on Dormin's head. Wander's stomach grew a large electric barb akin to Hydrus's which impaled Dormin's head.

Dormin shook Wander off, but was charged by an apparition of Cenobia. Wander's fall was broken by an apparition of Celosia who told him, "I told you we would find a way to come back for you! We will see this through!"

Wander stretched his hands out, aiming at Dormin. He said, "You all came through for me. I do not know what to say, but thank you." Wander sent two Malus-style fireballs right at Dormin.

Dormin took the two heavy hits and was now badly wounded. They staggered about, screaming, "All of you are traitors! We gave you colossi life and brought the mortal's love and horse back from the dead!"

Malus's voice retorted, "Regardless of our past connection, you did not earn our loyalty. We helped our people to escape from you. You can never understand, but Wander listened to and learned from us. Now, everyone, one last heavy blow should finish them! We are all with you, Wander!"

Wander's body was surrounded by mini-apparitions of all the colossi. The miniature Phalanx covered Wander from behind. All of the others were right up front with him. Wander rocketed towards Dormin, who held out their arms, attempting to defend against the incoming attack.

Wander struck Dormin like a meteor. A mammoth burst of energy accompanied the blow. The grand spirit was knocked on to their back as Wander stood triumphantly on their stomach.

Phaedra's voice called out to Wander, "Take their power and return to the Shrine of Worship. You have earned it. We will be waiting for you."

Wander responded, "Yes ma'am! Sorry Dormin, but it looks like I won. It might not have been single combat. But it showed that I am cared for more than you are.…"

Cenobia's voice interrupted, "Quit blabbing! Drain their power and don't let them get back up!"

Wander reached one of his hands into Dormin's body and began to glow with a brilliant light.

Dormin uttered, "You will always be tainted, mortal! You will never be fully forgiven…." The grand spirit of death fainted from exhaustion and injury as Wander yanked the power needed to revive himself from Dormin's black, shadowy body.

Wander vanished in a blast of blinding light. As he felt himself shifting from one world to another, he imagined himself on the altar in the Shrine of Worship. He soon heard a familiar voice calling out to him, "Wander, you stupid, foolish, silly, wonderful man. Come back to me, to us. We are right here for you." Wander smiled as his new body, adorned with two small horns, materialized atop the altar. He heard the telepathic cheering of the colossi and felt Mono taking his hand as he opened his eyes. Wander had not only redeemed himself, he had been revived.

Soul of the Colossus: THE END

Author's Notes: First off, I want to thank anyone who has successfully finished reading this story. I greatly appreciate you all taking the time to read my work. I hope that you enjoyed reading Soul of the Colossus. I hope that you found my "headcanon" ideas appropriate for the setting. I also hope that you liked my characterizations of the sixteen colossi and the overall arc of the story. As of now, Soul of the Colossus is meant to be a standalone story. I have only had vague ideas for a possible prequel or sequel as of the time of writing. So, thank you all for reading this once again.

P.S. I do not know how many of you noticed this…. However, you should know that many of the grand spirits had their appearances, and in most cases names, taken from unused beta colossi from the original Shadow of the Colossus. It was sort of a recurring "Easter egg" that I placed in the story. If you want to figure out which grand spirits were based off of unused beta colossi, you can surely look it up. The Team Ico Wiki has articles on the colossi that did not make it into the final game. End Author's Notes.