by Eve Bradley
Vulzon’s giant hand pierced through the storm, and she watched the dagger-claws reaching for her. With chronos she slowed time, and a halo of purple coursed around her. She had to do it now. Kill him. But how did one kill a god? A slowed, malevolent laugh reached her through the fog of her chronos, and without thinking, she constructed a sword filled with Astra, light beams bathing the blade. She jumped up to stab his hand as it came crashing down over her. Spurts of black blood flew through the air as it sunk through his thick flesh.
“Every moment you stand here, you let my armies into the world,” Vulzon was laughing diabolically, hand dripping and marred. She looked around at the flurrying storm, crackles of lightning sparking in the background. Djinn were laid out on the ground, others taking cover.
“No. It is an illusion,” Aisha screamed. “He cannot create. He can only kill!”
Before anyone could move, Vulzon shot a cruel blade of vulzos through her heart. It was a grisly death, and screams and cries echoed through the underground. The beautiful ancient Djinn melted away, each particle becoming smoldering black, eyes, and hair giving way to flames. Her skin became shriveled and charred, and she resembled every other Djinn that had been touched with vulzos. She was spindly and smoky. Cat heard Sarth bellowing from beyond the maelstrom, and it was as if this implored her to think.
An illusion? If this was an illusion, how could she stop it? If he couldn’t create, then none of what she was seeing was real. But the Djinn who’d been produced had done everything expected. They’d hurt her men, and they’d possessed Majmal. How could it not be real? Unless it was she who’d done it. What if it was her very own magic? Wouldn’t that be the way a god of chaos would manage to ruin her? To get her to destroy herself? She sent out her faerus to stop the storm. Her magic brushed against the storm's tendrils, and she realized.
Fear.
“I am not yours,” she fumed and searched for his eyes. “And neither are they!”
She sought for the peace within herself, and in triumph, she eased the storm to a slow. She could not fear him. She couldn’t doubt herself. She dropped the sword and reached her hands out for the shrinking fears that took the form of dead loved ones. Dead whores. Her beloved men. Girls she’d known for years in the streets. She touched them with light, and it was as if each memory that built her into the woman she was today was being cleansed.
She shut her eyes, basking in the peace in her mind. But then she took a blow and was thrown through the air. Vulzon’s blood slathered her skin, and he bent over her limp body. She watched as chaotic smoking demons began to kill their brethren, and a bloodbath commenced.
“You can’t stop me this time,” he whispered.
When she looked up, she saw the face of her father.
It was an illusion, again. Her father’s face sent shockwaves of disgust and fear through her, and before she could think about the smartest way to approach it, she sent her magic blade hurtling at this wide giant face. To her surprise, the light tore a jag of his celestial flesh. Vulzon growled, viscous black blood spurting from the wound spraying all over her. She whirled to a stand and ran back towards Maru and Sarth.
Vulzon rose into the air above them all. He was a dragon-man, glittering scales and poison oozing from under his skin as if he were rotting; putrid. His face returned to nearly mouthless, and the giant black eyes were smoking as he stared down at them all.
Catryn built up the faerus inside her, from the depths of the new unlimited space in her soul. She’d try to protect them all. Gods if she couldn’t...
“I may not be able to create more Vulzonic Djinn without Aisha, but I have many other ways of building my forces here on this earth. I will destroy every single human alive. This is my promise to you, Catryn Islenes, daughter of Celosia. And when there is no one left, I will kill your Guardians. I will torture you all and banish you to the hells where I will torment you forever. Remember this when you greet me and my armies again. If you live.”
His giant thick talon lifted and the tip settled against the air, and where it touched a shivering tear was made. He dragged it down, and it looked like he were unzipping the clear space to reveal a different dimension. At the seam, she could see the Vulzonic Djinn bumping and scrambling as the door unzipped. The army he’d been building with Aisha...she couldn’t count how many. But it didn’t matter.
He would try to kill them all.
Every last Djinn.
Their entire race could be exterminated from the earth, and perhaps this is what he wanted. He didn’t have any reason to keep any of them alive now.
“Run!” She screamed, bearing back, voice nearly glottal. “Get out!”
Sarth and Mela were prepared, arms at the ready. But they weren’t ready. Cat looked them over, and then Maru. Maru’s chest was heaving. Her dark eyes were wide with fright and adrenaline. Her hands were white-knuckled on her bow, and another arrow was knocked.
“We have to get out of here,” she said, but her voice was a faint wisp.
The creatures poured out onto the ground of the cave. It was like a pouring of spiders out of a vase, a mass of them flowing and immediately dashing and slicing towards the helpless Djinn. She looked back to where Vulzon was, suspended in the air, watching in satisfaction as his creatures raged forth, greedy and hungry for any violence. When the last one fell out, he levitated through the open rift and closed it behind him.
No one was prepared for the masses of black flaming demons coursing out towards them.
Catryn had to focus. She was aware of the accessible power in the back of her mind. It was blissful to be able to hear and feel it. It was almost like an entire other entity living inside her. But now, she needed to use it. She needed to kill and defeat the beings ruined with vulzos, and protect the peaceful Djinn. Blood surged in her head, and she nodded to Maru, who gave an affirming little shift of her chin.
She walked forward into the impending army. Her fingers burned with light, and as the snarling creatures encroached, she began to burn them through. She dodged and moved swiftly, hitting them all with vicious beams of astra. She flung some back with blasts of faerus that pumped from her hands. The earth shuddered as if the debacle would be too much for the giant cavern, and the ceiling may cave in. Vulzon’s army leaped and lurched forth, shredding the Djinn with their claws and attaching themselves to the Djinn so that slowly, ever so slowly, they were being transformed, overridden, poisoned, by Vulzon’s chaotic magic.
Catryn watched, utterly stunned, as a child Djinn was attacked, and in a few moments, its pearly pink skin faded to black, it lost the humanness of its eyes, and flames replaced them. It began to snarl, and the shining pink hair turned to smoke. All that was left was hollowness, and a carnal need to destroy and disease the earth.
She cursed Vulzon.
She had to stop them before they took every Djinn and transformed them into the will of the god of destruction. Were they the will of Aisha’s?
They were able to beat them back, and a few Djinn escaped as they moved towards the long tunnel that led out into the desert.
“Lead them!” Cat called to Sarth, who’s fiery blue hair whipped around his head as he moved in lithe steps, every flash of movement he stabbed and slashed through the black creatures. They gnashed like feral dogs, screaming in otherworldly voices when their lives left them.
A hoard of the beasts overcame Mela, and the black eclipsed the redheaded Djinn. Cat sent a shot of faerus towards them, and they were flung back. Some hit trees, knocking the white orbs of light out of the branches, others hit shacks and the pretty gardens on top. Flames erupted. Mela struggled beneath, and she contorted as if she were fighting the magic from taking over her, but it had already taken hold. Cat’s throat constricted.
Sarth stopped and turned back, slaughtering the creatures as he went. Cat continued to hold back the forces, using weapons formed from the apex of her magic. She cut through the Vulzonic Djinn as if they were only formed of smoke. Bubbling black blood, similar
to Vulzon’s, came pouring out them. It splattered everything and everyone. Her hair, skin, and clothes were soaked with it. She saw arrows flying around her, Maru was doing her best to take down these diabolical fiends. Fear for her life was in her eyes.
But there were so many. Probably thousands. Maybe she could stand there forever killing them all. But there was no time. She wanted to Djinn to live on. She wanted to know that she’d at least saved some of them.
She continued to back away towards the pathway, yelling at the Djinn to exit. She screamed for Sarth to turn back, to leave Mela...because she was lost now. Gone. Sarth realized this as he came to stand before a ravenous, raging creature that had replaced her. She reached out for him, and he had to subdue her swiftly. Cat watched as Sarth’s blade sunk through her chest. His mouth quivered in anguish and disgust.
Sarth ran back towards her.
“We bring it down!” Catryn told him and Maru as he drew near. “That’s the only option.”
“Then we should be quick,” he snapped and helped the rest of the trailing Djinn into the tunnel.
She sent a shield to stand at the edge of the tunnel, and she ran alongside Maru and Sarth. The tunnel was black, and they ran in a frenzied harmony towards the exit. The Djinn reached the end, and when every last one’s brilliant rainbow of color hit the impossibly bright, dry desert backdrop, Catryn turned back. She lifted her shield.
“Cat!” Maru admonished.
But she didn’t know.
Catryn had yet to use vermora, the element of earth. She couldn’t help the flickering smile that trickled onto her lips as the magic coursed through her. The gods and goddesses voices, which she’d quieted during the melee, were loud. They spoke in tongues that she could understand now. Ethereal tones that warned her of so many things...that told her to do it. To finish the beings that were like a malignant tumor to the earth. Unwelcome. Unwanted. Vulzon’s magic was the imbalance. And perhaps it went further than the obviousness of his armies of evil children. It was the decay of the earth, the wars between men, the ampleness of the underground markets. She was sure that Vulzos lived in them all, but these beasts were such an extreme. The epitome of human's darkest desires.
She would not let him win.
Her connection to the earth was transcendent. She stretched out her hands and imagined the tunnel closing, the cave crumbling, and the crushing of a thousand demonic bodies. She felt the first shiver beneath her boots and stepped back.
“Move back!” she called to them all.
And then the earth bent to her will.
Valryn
Jurdu Palace, Yamar
Valryn stood atop the walkway of one of the top towers, looking out at a pink and gold sunrise. He came here to ponder life in the early hours when sleep evaded him. His entire life he thought he’d be stuck at the Vault Citadel. Now he was here...waiting for the one he was supposed to serve for the rest of his life. And he would wait because everything within him was forged through training to be obedient to her. More than this? He felt a dull ache in his chest where he recognized the feeling of loss.
Gods Catryn, why?
They’d spent weeks researching so many things, reading of magic, of the gods. He was sick of sitting through private dinners with Glend, Darrian, the Sultan, and his disgusting daughters. One more night of monotony, and he might break. Maybe Darrian was right. He hated Darrian’s ability to give up on her. But he was right. The rest of the world still existed, and everything would be ruined if they neglected it all much longer.
“Are you well, Val?” Glend came up the steps to stand beside him, his long light hair loose and straight down his back.
“Well enough,” Val shrugged, swallowing back the irritation.
“You’re clenching your jaw,” Glend observed. “I don’t think you are.”
“Are any of us?” Valryn snapped. “What do you expect? We’re all at risk here. We don’t know when our queen will return. And the world needs her.”
Glend came to stand behind him and traced his fingers along his chest.
“What did you say that anything she chose would be right? Do you remember that?”
Valryn pursed his lips grimly. Of course he remembered. It was what he’d been taught before. That anything she said and chose was undoubtedly correct. Still, this made him wonder. Glend’s fingers made him tense. They’d not been intimate the entire time Catryn had been gone. In fact, he’d decided to move his mat away from them both. He felt that it would be betrayal if he partook while she wasn’t there. Not only this, but Glend’s connection to the Sultan irritated him.
“It doesn’t matter now,” he shook his head. “Maybe this is how the earth is supposed to end. Maybe the gods are finished with us.”
Glend took him by surprise as he took his face and pushed his lips against his own. The softness of his mouth stirred up feelings of desire, but he pulled away from him swiftly before Glend could deepen his hold.
“Stop. We can’t.”
“Why not?” Glend pressed. “I doubt she’ll mind if we offer each other a bit of company.”
“I don’t want company,” Val told him in an icy tone. “I’d rather be alone.”
“You’re more of an ass every day she’s gone,” Glend placed a hand on his hip and stared him down.
Valryn felt the mild itch of guilt. He missed speaking deeply with Glend like they used to at the Citadel. Rather, how he used to listen to Glend go on and on about anything and everything, about how the professors were all snide bastards with sticks up their asses. He talked about the gossip of the university, about who was doing what, and how he was somehow always at the center of it. Val hated that he wanted back the simplicity.
“And you’re not who I thought you were.”
“I thought you were past this?” Glend’s brows furrowed. “I told you my story. I explained why I did what I did, and now I’m here. I’m waiting my ass off sitting on my hands while she’s away. Because I’m loyal to her. Just as you are. I made an oath, Val. I mean, I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into at the time, but I won’t abandon her either.”
“But you’ll fuck the Sultan to get in his good graces? I don’t care what kind of information you can get from him. No information is worth that kind of betrayal,” Valryn seethed, stepping forward so that the two men stood painfully close. He could see the individual lashes on Glend’s eyes, his hazel flecked irises, and his smooth sensual lips.
“Do you not think I might have changed...maybe a little bit?” Glend held up his two fingers, showing a measure of smallness. “There are things you don’t know about him and I. I was here for a long time.”
“I don’t bloody care,” Val sniffed and turned away. “Honestly, I don’t.”
“Ah, very noble of you,” Glend smirked. “Valryn, first Guardian of the Peacequeen. So honorable. So good at being righteous.”
“Better than being disloyal,” Valryn grunted, staring out at the sky.
Glend took Valryn’s chin in his hand, and his eyes narrowed. “You know what? I’ll tell you exactly what’s been going on. I’ll tell you what I’m giving up, actually…to wait around for gods know how long for Catryn and her little parade of self-pity!”
Valryn glanced at Glend, his hand warm on his face. What did he mean?
“The Sultan himself wants me to be his heir. He wants me to be Sultan after him. It’s why he wanted me to marry one of his daughters if you can imagine that.”
Valryn’s stomach turned. Glend as Sultan? He was torn between pride for Glend and hatred for the Sultan Hajj, who’d owned Glend for too many years of his life and yet still wanted to use him.
“Does he not have a hundred bastards?” Val asked.
“Yes, but…as I said before, people love me. You really don’t get it. I clawed my way up from the bottom. Mines a real “rags to riches” story, if you will,” he snickered. “Only, one that involves me fucking my way up the food chain.”
Valryn wanted to kiss him. H
e wanted their bodies to clash. He wanted to release every pent up aggression he had, and pour it all into Glend. But he couldn’t do it to Cat.
“Well. Good for you. So you’ll be leaving Catryn for the throne. Darrian will leave her to go home. Its all coming together.”
“This is inspiring, really. It’s almost like you’re completely and utterly blind. They should write a drama about you- hm, what shall it be called. “Valryn the Eyeless.” Wait, wait. I’ll tell you what it’ll involve. A handsome man is begging for your cock, and you ignore him because you just will not acknowledge that he wants you. You’d rather make love to your hatred. It’ll be a tragic comedy. No romance because it would gag me to say there would be any reconciliation in the end.”
Glend began to clap mockingly, and Valryn’s blood boiled.
“What are we clapping for?” Darrian stood at the end of the walkway.
He wore his full ensemble, and at his back was a leather pack. He’d freshly shorn his head and smooth-shaven face.
“Val and his unparalleled ego,” Glend snickered, slouching against the wall.
Valryn rolled his eyes and contemplated smacking Glend on the ass, but didn’t want him to get the wrong impression.
“Ah, yes. It seems like Val is unmatched there,” Darrian said a bit too seriously.
Val knew what was coming, and he didn’t want to hear it. He’d dare Darrian to say it, to actually leave when he’d vowed to serve Catryn for his entire life. Such an act was more despicable and disrespectful than Valryn could express. It warranted death if they were going by the ancient Guardian rules.
“Well, boys, it’s been three days,” Darrian flexed his arms out as if to say that he tried. “I can’t keep up the waiting game. I have a family that needs me.”
“You have a queen that needs you,” Valryn retorted, the brevity of his voice hateful.
He always knew that he disliked Darrian. He respected nothing about him. He was a selfish, self-serving brute with a handsome face that women fawned over. He’d seen the way the servant girls looked at him. Even Sasha and Setora had tried flirting with him. If Valryn hadn’t been there, would he have acted the same? Would he throw away the romantic relationship he had with Catryn as well? Did nothing matter to him?
