by Ren Ryder
I blinked.
The sounds of shattering glass, splintering wood, and screaming metal filtered into our little hideaway. Screams of sheer, unabashed terror overlapped with the mangled howls of an untold number of monsters.
Bell stirred awake in the tangled mess of my hair. “Mmm, I’m awake, I’m awake, so what’s all that racket about?” Bell asked, groaning.
Fin answered first. “It’s nothing that concerns us.”
I disagreed. “I’m pretty concerned right now.”
Fin shrugged. “If you say so, then let’s take a look and decide for ourselves.”
Bell looked between the two of us, a finger to her lips. “O-kay then, can we get out of this dusty box already?”
We all shared a laugh. Bell’s tinkling laughter bounced around the small space, and Fin’s coarse chuckle filled the storeroom with mirth. My nervous chuckle was at odds with their easy laughter, because my guts were twisting with unease.
Fin took a small step forward towards the storeroom door I was crouched beside. His aura burned crimson, lighting up the room from the inside and shining through the cracks of the door. Then he wound up for a wild haymaker and blasted the storeroom door to smithereens, revealing the chaotic scene taking place on the Grand Library’s main floor.
The Grand Library’s massive double doors had been blown inwards off their hinges, taking part of the surrounding brick and mortar with it. Chalky dust and debris filled the interior of the room. Entire rows of bookshelves had been knocked over, creating a domino effect that swept across the main hall for as far as I could see. Glass enclosures protecting artifacts and treasures had been cracked like eggs to get at the goods inside.
Amid the destruction a battle raged. Imperial soldiers were being eaten alive by an eclectic group of patchwork monsters— chimeras. The host of monsters working together looked like daemons summoned from the abyss itself to attack this place.
Leading the pack was a manticore, a magical beast with a human head, the body of a lion, porcupine spines trailing down its spine, and black bat wings. It crushed an imperial guard like a toy beneath its clawed feet, then slashed open the broken man’s ribcage.
Following in the manticore’s wake was a snallygaster with a reptilian body, octopus tentacles writhing about its body. The snallygaster squawked as its metal beak tore through the armor of one imperial guard to get at his innards.
An echidna, a half-woman, half-snake hybrid dripped venom from her full, wide lips onto the face of a screaming man.
Amongst these recognizable chimeras swarmed near a dozen patchwork monsters, their bodies sewn together by an inexpert hand. They hobbled or limped their way into combat on awkward limbs all out of proportion with their bodies. Their monstrous visage was at odds with the clear torment of their existence, but they commanded only fear in the eyes of the men they devoured.
Bell licked her lips. “You think they’re tasty?”
I grimaced. “How can you think about eating… those?”
Bell sniffed. “What? I’m hungry.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re always hungry.”
“Because you never feed me!”
“Sure,” I scoffed.
As I watched the havoc unfold a figure astride a gigantic three-headed cerebus entered through the broken doorway, its dog-heads chomping at each other in their excitement to join the fray. The slight figure leapt off the cerebus and landed with supernatural grace amid the rubble.
My heart clenched in remembered pain and I bent double, clutching at my chest. Bell flapped her wings and took to the air, buzzing to my side in obvious concern.
“Are you hurt?” Bell asked.
“I’m fine,” I rolled my shoulders back and forced myself back to my full height.
Bell put a hand to my forehead. “You sure? You look pale.”
“It’s nothing,” I insisted.
A feathered serpent the size of a steam-powered cart slithered our way, hissing and spitting acid. Fin was standing ramrod straight, staring at the lone figure appearing in the midst of the battle. Seeing him standing there stock-still as the threat bore down on us, I knew I had to act.
Submersing myself in my source, I was relieved to find not a dry pool, but a deep well of pulsing mana that rose up to meet my call. Sweet power flooded into me, and I fed it into my mana channels, filling my limbs with strength. I expelled a thin veil of vibrant power out my body, sheathing myself in a mana skin. I reached into my source again to funnel power into Bell’s sigil on my chest, casting myself in a silvery glow.
The feathered serpent coiled up and raised its pointed head. It struck, crossing the intervening distance in a flash.
Cursing, I pivoted on my back foot and leapt sideways, bending backwards to avoid the attack. The serpent’s amber-colored eyes flashed as its jaws and two meter wide trunk of its body blew past me. It snaked around without losing a beat, acid spitting from its fangs straight at my face.
Shrinking away, I sent a pulse of mana into the sigil on my chest, calling up a shockwave of wind that burst out from me in all directions. The powerful wind cleared the Grand Library of dust and sent debris flying, while also tossing the acid back in the feathered serpent’s face. It hissed as its snout and one eye was covered in venom, which started to eat away at its scaled flesh at a horrifying rate. Blinded in one eye and in pain, the serpent reeled in pain and anger as it coiled back in on itself to take up a defensive posture.
I grasped the pommel of my sword with my right hand and took a shaky breath to steady myself. I set my feet and lowered myself into a stance, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.
Bell whistled. “I was going to pitch in and help, but…” my familiar trailed off, shrugging.
“Thanks for your concern, but I’ve got this,” I said, a little out of breath but feeling sudden confidence in my growth from the trials I’d undergone in the Otherworld.
“F-fine, if you don’t need me, that’s totally fine.” Bell waved me off with one hand while she covered her mouth with the other.
“Don’t mind if I do,” I said.
I leapt at the snake with all my reinforced speed and strength, drawing my bastard sword in a flash. As I sailed through the air past the giant feathered serpent, I slashed at the base of the chimera’s neck with the glowing edge of the ancient blade. My wrists creaked and forearms burned as my sword met the scaled monster's flesh, then I was powering through and past the great beast. I cleared the feathered serpent’s main body and slid into a skidding landing on the other side of it, my back to the monster.
Shaking the blood off my blade, I turned around to see the feathered serpent’s huge, angular head crash to the ground. Its main body twisted and roiled around, striking about in an uncoordinated fashion. Its tail struck me in the temple and sent me flying backwards, but I managed to keep on my feet despite the force of the blow.
Shaking my head to clear it, I kept my attention on the dying body until it finished its death throes.
“Hey, you. Turn around so I can get a good look at you,” someone said behind me in a soft, but commanding tone.
I could feel a powerful force pressing against my back. It was pure, unadulterated power, unfurled like a thorny rose in its full glory. Nervous tension filled me and my gut twisted. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I moved to face the threat behind me.
I turned around.
Blood-red mana boiled off the slight figure, and they shook out a long shock of flame-red hair from their face to reveal eyes the color of deep, emerald pools. Motes of black mana sparked and fizzled throughout the woman’s aura. On her inner forearm was a black-and-red tattoo depicting a snake eating its own tail, which pulsed with dark, menacing energy. Hanging from her waist was a golden winged chimera pendant with glowing yellow eyes.
Sammie— Samantha, the beautiful and terrible, full-grown woman with olive skin and a smattering of freckles— my onetime little sister, the same one who had stabbed me in the back and tossed me into th
e abyss.
I always knew I would have to confront her in my fight against Ouroboros, but how could I have expected to run into Sammie so soon? I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth creaked and blood dribbled down my chin from my lips.
“Kal, is that you? I thought I’d killed you dead,” Sammie said in an offhand manner.
My heart clenched. “Alive and well, unfortunately.”
“Hey, I thought we were past that!” Bell said with an angry buzz of her wings as she alighted on my bad shoulder. “You, it’s you! Kal’s life is mine, no take-backs! Beat it meanie-head!”
Bell glowed silver with power, and a vortex of wind whorled around her body. Her face was set in a stony expression, and I could feel the anger radiating off her. Staring daggers at Sammie, she raked her clawed fingers through the air straight at the woman.
Ten dense spears of wind formed over Bell’s head, then shot off like crossbow bolts at Sammie.
The three-headed hound, cerebus, leapt forward and put its massive body between Sammie and the attack. It yelped as the wind spears struck home all along its torso, digging deep into its flesh. Blood spurted from the wounds and it sat down on its haunches, breathing heavy as its tongues lolled out of its three mouths.
“Good dog,” Sammie appeared from behind her pet monster and patted it on the leg.
From the depths of her clothes, Sammie revealed a scarred dagger, which she waved playfully near her face. “You remember this, Kal?”
It was the dagger she’d used to stab me in the back. The dagger pulsed with dark energy, and it felt… almost like it was alive. Just looking at the object I gagged on bile that rose up in my throat. It was clearly cursed.
“I remember… Sammie—” I felt like I was being strangled as I swallowed back the words trying to escape from my mouth.
“It’s been most of a year you know. What hole did you run off to hide in this time?” Sammie asked, her lip curled in disgust. “It doesn’t matter. The fact that you crawled back here speaks for itself. Ouroboros will grind you beneath its boot-heel, and that’s that. Now that I see you for what you are, you’re as good as dead to me, brother,” Sammie chuckled mirthlessly, “so why don’t we finish what we started, you changeling freak?” Sammie spat.
I reeled back as if struck, feeling for the first time how deep the one-sided schism in our relationship went. Sorrow filled me and tears stung at my eyes. My one-time little sister had well and truly washed her hands of me.
I tried to speak, but words failed me. My tongue felt three sizes too big for my mouth.
Bell rose to my defense. “Kal isn’t a freak! All he’s ever done is try to protect you!”
“Shut your mouth, daemon, the adults are speaking,” Sammie said.
Bell’s face flushed as dark green as the Nightside’s forests. My sylph companion looked at me, begging me with her eyes to speak up for myself.
“Bell, wait. Please,” I said, hoping she would stay her hand.
We were past the point of reconciliation. Sammie’s position was clear in her appearance at the head of this monstrous host, and my words had already failed to reach her in the past. Now? When she was so obviously in her own element, full to the brim and overflowing with power? Since I’d last seen her, she’d come into her own and looked to have fully embraced her alignment with Ouroboros.
There was no turning back, for either of us.
I felt sick. My stomach turned at the thought of hurting Sammie. I would rather saw off my own arm than hurt the people I loved. I thought I’d prepared myself, but it broke my heart to think of Sammie as my enemy.
“Hold. What’s this talk of changelings?” Fin grated out. “Who is this woman, and what is she to you?”
Fin Macool crossed his arms over his chest as he shot expectant looks at Sammie and I, casting an imposing figure over the battlefield. Waves of crimson mana boiled off his shoulders and burned in his eyes, but the berserker stood still amidst the chaos without the tiniest hint of aggression in the lines of his body.
The monstrous force of chimeras had been halved by the concerted effort of the imperial soldiers, but the fight was far from over and the remaining humans were a ragged-looking lot.
In the background, Neil lead the charge against the manticore, poking holes in the chimera with a thin rapier while avoiding its killing blows like a leaf bending in the wind. The snallygaster was forcing the enforcer to fight on two fronts as it struck out with its metal beak from behind. Slithering between the fighters was the snake-woman, avoiding the fighting, making her way towards the exit, towards us. Clutched tight against the echidna’s chest like a swaddled babe was a pilfered relic aglow with unnatural power.
I looked back and forth between Fin Macool and Samantha, and something clicked. “I—” words failed me.
Sammie smirked and walked up to me, then past, to stand by Fin’s side. “What, cat got your tongue, Kal? Don’t want your dear friend to find out the truth about you? How little have you told him about yourself, how long have you been betraying my brother?”
When the two siblings touched, their crimson auras caught fire and swirled together, whirling around each other as one. Shockwaves of power emanated from Fin and Sammie. Their flame-red hair caught fire and flowed upwards in a spectral wind, and the emerald pools that were their eyes sparkled with incandescent light.
And so my worst fear, the possibility that I dare not even think about, let alone say out loud, came true. My life was a lie. Sammie wasn’t my sister, I had been placed in her family as a changeling by my mother, Titania, in order to protect me from Oberon’s wrath. Everything I’d done to protect Sammie had been an act of pure ego, and even then I’d accomplished nothing but epic failures. My connection to her was a petty thing when compared to her true family, and I had no right to call myself her brother.
“So… all along, with all our time spent together in the Otherworld, you knew?” Fin asked. There was rage in his eyes.
I couldn’t meet Fin’s eyes, so I looked down at my boots. “You have to believe me, I didn’t know, I couldn’t have known for sure. I saw the resemblance, but how could I have guessed? Please Fin, you have to believe me. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Fin snarled. “Friends? How could I be friends with the same faery scum that tore me from my family and enslaved me? And how about the line you fed the enforcer about your indentured servitude, was that just another lie?!”
“That… was a lie. I’m sorry, Fin. But I swear, our friendship is real,” I said, staring a hole in the ground at my feet.
“When were you going to tell him? Well? Never, isn’t that right, Kal? You would have rather he never found his family, or what’s left of it,” Sammie said, her voice full of sweet, acid bitterness.
Fin’s boots stepped into my line of sight; the big man loomed over me. “I should kill you now. I should strike you dead where you stand, Kal.”
“Yessss,” Sammie hissed.
“But I won’t. Yet,” Fin said.
The unmistakable hissing of a snake marked the echidna’s arrival, glowing artifact in tow. Sammie took the object from the chimera and stuffed it under one of her armpits.
“We have what we came for, but I still think we should kill him now,” Sammie said.
Fin leaned in close so he could speak straight into my ear. “You’re dead to me, Kal. Don’t you ever think about showing your face in front of me again. If I see you, I won’t hold back. If you hadn’t saved my life and made it possible for me to return to the human realm, I would have killed you here and now. Remember that. And if you— if you dare lay a finger on my family, I’ll show you just what I think of your kind,” Fin said, rising back up to his full height and moving back to Sammie’s side. “Let’s go, sister. Show me your world, I want to hear everything I’ve missed, down to the smallest detail.”
Chapter Three
I stared at the spot where Sammie and Fin had been prior to retreating, pilfered relic and a small army of chimeras in tow. The Grand Li
brary was in shambles. The first rays of dawn peeked over the horizon, casting the destruction in a surreal light. Whatever Ouroboros planned to do with that relic, I didn’t doubt it would wreak havoc on New London.
Given an opportunity to stop Sammie, I had done nothing.
I couldn’t believe how far Sammie had fallen. Seeing her at the forefront of a monstrous host, actively participating in the death and destruction sewn by Ouroboros, it shocked me. Had Duke Maddox ordered her to head up the attack, or had she been acting under her own authority?
Some of the chimeras were recognizable monsters, like the manticore and snallygaster, even the echidna— but the patchwork humanoids used as cannon fodder in their fight against the imperial guard looked like failed experiments to me. It all but confirmed that Ouroboros had some mad scientist in their employ working to create monsters out of myth and legend.
The depraved mind behind their creation cared nothing for the suffering they caused on their path to create the perfect monster. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that vampires were roaming the streets in front of the Grand Library the same night it was attacked by Sammie and her host of chimeras. Supposing the vamps attempt was botched by Fin and I earlier in the night, the chimeras appeared after to finish the job.
Ouroboros had graduated from capturing and enslaving the supernatural to making monsters.
Bell slapped me on the forehead from her perch atop my head. “Kal, you couldn’t have dreamt that up that wretched reunion in your wildest nightmares. Stop blaming yourself. You came back to take the fight to Ouroboros, didn’t you?”
I brought my shaking hands up to my face. “I ruined their family, Bell. If Queen Titania hadn’t spirited Fin away and put me in his place, none of this would have ever happened. My life is a curse on theirs. If I’d never been born—”
Bell cut me off with a karate chop to my skull. “No matter what happens, their choices are their own, Kal. You can’t blame yourself for what other people do, you can only take responsibility for what you do. You saved Fin’s life and reunited him with his long-lost sister, you did that. Even if they set themselves in your path, it doesn’t change the basic situation. Are you going to let Ouroboros spread and grow like a malignant tumor, unchallenged?”
