by Eric Vall
In one swift movement, I brought the God Slayer down tightly to my chest, and the black power followed quickly after. I gritted my teeth and began to roar the god’s language as I slashed outward with the three blades of the polearm. The black energy flowed after and slammed directly into the middle of the double doors. Before our eyes, the wood cracked, splintered, and then imploded.
The broken fragments of what remained of the door skittered along the stone floors beyond and the mages waiting inside screamed in fear. I stood at the head of my armies and took the very first step forward, my powerful, Underdark power snapping around me like whips. I walked with purpose toward the double doors at the end of the hall, and the Tamarisch men followed after me, their voices loud as they raised their swords and killed every mage within sight.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I only stopped when Carmedy tugged at my hand. I turned and looked down into the petite alchemist’s face. The feline held the chains of the mage’s I took prisoner, and I grinned down at her.
“I think you’ll want these,” Carmedy giggled as she handed them over then went to work filling a much larger bundle with ingredients. “I’ll blow open the door while you give them the surprise of their lives.”
I chuckled deeply in the back of my throat as the feline hummed to herself and poured different colored ingredients into the large pouch. When she finished, the alchemist skipped forward and placed it directly in front of the double doors that led into the sanctum of the Elders. I could hear their panicked voices from here, and it only made me more excited.
“I’m just gonna say this once, Master,” Rana snorted as she ushered the mages forward and into place. “This is really fucked up.”
“Do you disprove?” I asked as Morrigan held out her emerald encased hands to them and guided the mages into position.
“No,” the redhead laughed quietly as she rested the claymore against her shoulder and watched as the elven woman moved the mages’ bodies like pretzels. “I don’t care what you do with them, they’re our enemies, but you gotta admit, it’s pretty fucked up what you’re doing with them.”
“I am merely showing the Elders who is in control here,” I grinned at the fox as I stepped closer to the mages. “What do you all think?”
Morrigan stepped away from the jumbled mages, and each of my women paused to take in what we’d done with them. The Holy Order men were limbless, their arms were torn away from their bodies, their jaws ripped away from the socket. The five mages were jigsawed together to form something like a crude chair. Two of the men stood on their feet with their torso’s leaned back and pressed into the laps of the other three mage’s behind them. They stood together and groaned as I came closer, a wicked smile spreading over my lips.
“I think it’s crazy,” Annalise snorted softly. “But it’ll send the right message to the Elders.”
“I think it’s really great!” Carmedy giggled as she prepared a much smaller bundle and placed it into the cradle of her slingshot.
“It is something I have never seen before,” Morrigan stated as she moved into position with her sisters. “It will strike fear into the hearts of the Elders.”
The elven woman held them in place with her power, and when she retracted it, they stayed this way. All five of them knew that if they moved or shifted out of formation, they’d be dead on the spot.
Heijing didn’t speak, only moved her icy blue eyes over the helpless mages and snorted softly under her breath. A faint smile passed over her lips as she stepped into place with my other women. I chuckled darkly as I sat down on my newly made throne, constructed from the living and breathing mages. I held the God Slayer tightly in my fists as I glared toward the door.
“Here goes nothing!” Carmedy snarled as she brought the cradle back and fired the smaller bundle at the massive one in front of the door.
The packet sailed through the air, leaving a trail of black smoke. It landed with a soft smack as sparks flew from inside of the burlap fabric. The bright orange sparks settled onto the outside of the larger bundle, and the ingredients inside crackled with life.
“Is…that it?” Rana asked as she wrinkled her nose and looked over to the alchemist.
“Three…two…one, boom!” Carmedy giggled to herself as her emerald eyes widened.
The enormous bundle detonated and sent a blast of heat down the long hall toward us. The doors that separated us from the Elders were gone, leaving nothing more than shreds of wood and falling shards of stone. As the dust settled, I could make out the silhouettes of the Elders waiting for us from within. I gripped the mages' consciousness below me and forced their bodies to move.
I grinned hatefully as the broken mages lumbered through the ruined door and stepped into the massive open space of the inner sanctum. Above us on a raised dais stood five of the Elders. I recognized them from their distinctive red robes and the complicated sigils embroidered across their chests. Their faces were obscured by plain, white masks that held no features at all, but from the way they took hurried steps backward, I knew what they saw disturbed them greatly.
I moved the mages forward until we reached the stairs up to the dais and I glared up at the five Elders. I felt the pulse of a god’s power from each of them, though no gods were here with us. The power was strong and bathed in gilt hues, and I didn’t have to guess who it was from as the middle Elder raised his hands into the air.
“You reek of Chirus,” I snarled as I stood from my throne and gripped the God Slayer in both hands. “You reek of the god that gave me life, treated me as if I was below him, and then cast me from the heavens at the first chance he got. Why are you working with my father?”
“We do not answer questions from heretics such as you,” the lead Elder shouted underneath his mask as he brought his hands up high above his head. “We do not parlay with betrayers to the Holy Order and the heavens.”
“So be it then,” I growled as I lifted the God Slayer above my head and slashed at the air once. “I will get my answers from you one way or another, it doesn’t matter to me if you tell me willingly or if I have to rip them from you.”
“Do you think you have the upper hand, Kazama?” the Elder to the left asked in a chortling voice. “The mages have worshipped the gods for hundreds of years, long after society forgot about them. We’ve been blessed, Chirus has blessed us with powers beyond those of the average sorcerer. We stand alongside the gods as equals, and we shall reign with them for the rest of eternity. We are gods ourselves now, and nothing can stand in our way, not even you.”
“Is that what they’ve told you?” I chuckled softly as I shook my head. “My father does not bless mortals, they are below vermin in his eyes. I can assure you that he sees nothing in you; you are nothing but tools for him to use. Show me what the gods have given you, let’s see if you can stand against the most powerful god on earth and in the heavens.”
The mages didn’t answer me. Instead, I watched as the stained-glass ceiling above their heads began to glow intensely in a pillar of light. The roof warbled and shook from the mighty power of my father, and I felt his presence here. I could almost sense his laughter as he aided the Elders and transferred his abilities to their mortal bodies. The Elders’ forms began to shift and grow as they stepped closer to their leader.
“M-Master?” Carmedy whimpered from behind me as intense heat beat from around the five men.
“Stand behind me,” I commanded all of my women, and they obeyed as they huddled together in a tight cluster.
“Mutatio!” the Elders chanted together in the god’s language as their shapes warped and shifted. “Imperium tuum da nobis! Chirus! Audi nos causa!”
I held my footing as the entire room shook, and the stained-glass above our heads shattered. The golden light filtering down intensified and struck down on the lead Elder. I watched in horror as the other four mages shifted closer, and their bodies liquified into skin-colored pools on the floor. The viscous liquid spread across the floor then collected
into large puddles as each one came together. The gelatinous sludge crawled over the marble dais toward the lead Elder, and he lowered his arms and welcomed it.
The liquified mages crawled up the leader’s body and sucked him into its depths. My women and I watched in disgust as the leader’s body expanded and grew before our very eyes. The liquid solidified over the Elder’s body, and he towered over us like a faceless giant made of skin-colored putty. Two slits opened up where his eyes should’ve been, and another much larger cut open as the beast bellowed down at us.
My father’s power beat from inside and all around the transformed Elders, and I glared up at it. I held the God Slayer tightly in both hands as the monstrous creature slammed its badly formed right foot forward. The Elder’s slit mouth dropped open, and he bellowed down at us as we kept our ground. I gritted my teeth, glanced over my shoulder to my minions once and then turned back toward the beast my father created to beat me. I upturned my eyes to the shattered stained-glass and the darkened sky beyond.
My father was all around us, not that we could see him, but I knew that he was watching closely from wherever he was. I squared my shoulders, rose to my full height, and took the first step up toward the mighty beast.
“If this is how you want to play, Father,” I yelled for him to hear as I lifted the God Slayer high above my head. “Then, so be it!”
Chapter Nine
The temperature rose to such a height that it was almost unbearable, and I felt as if my essence was baking inside of my avatar. Right as the sweltering heat reached a pinnacle, and I felt sweat drip down every inch of my flesh, it suddenly dropped. In a manner of seconds, my breath rose in front of my face as the cold presence of my father surrounded me. Shivers raced down my body, and the hair on the back of my neck rose as Chirus’s power took up every square inch of the room. His presence, just as I remembered it, oppressed and weighed down on me.
I growled deeply from the back of my throat as I threw off his unbearable presence and aimed my gaze toward the transformed Elders. Their discarded robes lay on the floor in a mass of black, small bits and puddles of flesh-colored goo stuck to the fabric, and I looked upon their monstrous face with disdain. I took a second step up the stairs and heard the sound of Annalise pulling Bloodscale from its sheath. The high queen held the unnamed sword in her left hand and held the much larger broadsword in the other as she crossed them over her chest.
“Stand down,” I commanded the six of them and each of my minions looked to me with confused expressions. “This is my fight, and my fight alone.”
“Master, this guy is a lot more powerful than all the others we’ve faced before,” Annalise persuaded, her tone pleading with me to allow them to help. “We’ve trained long and hard for this; it isn’t just your fight anymore. It’s our battle too.”
“Do you think we’re just gonna stand by and watch you have all the fun?” Rana chuckled softly as she gripped the hilt of the Eye of Alipsis in both paws. “We’ve trained long and hard for this, we’re going in too!”
“No way, we’re going in too!” Carmedy grinned as she dropped low to the ground and raised her slingshot menacingly at the waiting Elder.
“If they think that a few melted mages are gonna scare us off, then they’ve got another thing coming,” Haruhi stated as she unclipped both of her pistols from her belt and held them tightly in her paws.
“I’ve waited long enough to face off with the Holy Order,” Morrigan growled as her entire body caught fire with emerald light. “They took my livelihood from me and then my family. You are our Master, and we obey your every command, but if you think I will yield now, you’ll have to drag me from this room yourself.”
“They are your enemy,” Heijing stated calmly as her icy blue eyes began to glow blindingly white. “All those who rise against you, rise us against us too. Your enemy is mine.”
The massive transformed mages standing on the dais roared with life as it took a staggering step forward, and I grinned down at my women. I’d trained them, put in place the rules that I thought best for them and here they were, standing beside me through all of it. I gripped the God Slayer even tighter in my hands as I whipped my head toward the monstrous beast on the raised platform.
Rows and rows of tall doors with arcane symbols lined the wall behind the Elders, and each of them slammed open at the same time. More elders clothed in black robes poured out and took defensive stances behind the monstrous creature my father had created just for me. These men were much more powerful than the mages we’d faced outside, and I knew now that I would appreciate the aid of my skilled minions.
“They’re heeeere,” Carmedy snorted as she loaded her slingshot with a bubbling bundle and drew back the cradle as she closed one eye.
“Look who brought back-up,” Rana grinned evilly as her baby-blue eyes flashed with a fire I’d never seen before. “You’re gonna need it, you dirty spell-chanters!”
I stepped up the last few stairs onto the dais, and my women crowded in behind me. Annalise bent her knees and lowered herself closer to the ground as her thumb hovered over the emerald augmentation stone. In a split second as the mages behind the creature moved to race forward, the high queen slammed her finger down onto the stone. Three things happened at this moment, and I barely knew where to look at first.
Golden light bathed all of us as Annalise began her transformation. This time seemed different from all the times before, more intense and stronger, mostly likely heightened by the holy child the high queen carried within her. Annalise turned once, Bloodscale and the unnamed sword slashing through the rays of gold that flashed around her entire body. The air surrounding us crackled and snapped with heated electricity as the swordswoman’s long braid came undone. Her chocolate brown hair whipped around her tanned face as her eyes fluttered closed, and she held both swords aloft.
The gale around Annalise heightened to hurricane strength, but the winds didn’t let up nor did the golden radiance around her abate. Her long brown hair formed into intricate braids on the top of her head fit for a true high queen, and when her eyes snapped open, they were glazed over with concentrated power.
The expertly crafted scales of the sword glowed and flashed with arcane sigils I barely recognized and slowly realized were Annalise’s newly given god’s symbols. She was like me now, she’d earned her place as one of the gods. An ominous humming rang up from Bloodscale and Annalise slashed down through the air with it. The sword’s blade extended to twice its normal length and sharp, curled blades sprouted from its hilt. The two wicked blades extended almost to the end of the sword and glinted hatefully in the light. Emerald light pulsed from inside the fog around Annalise and almost obscured the high queen from view as her armor morphed and changed.
The bright green light peaked to such a blinding light that it turned white as she held the swords aloft over her head like a beacon in the shroud. The light around her dimmed to reveal the golden holy armor the augmentation stone gave her. The gilt V-neck chest piece formed perfectly and held her flawlessly, and I gawked at her. The pauldrons that protected her shoulders snaked up into menacing-looking spikes, and I felt sorry for any mage that came close enough to the high queen for her to use those. The swordswoman brought down both swords, and her arms and wrists were encased in golden gauntlets etched with the same emerald of the stone. Her shapely legs stood firm as she shifted her position, and the chainmail, shin-guards, and cuisses were made from the very same beautiful metal as the rest of her armor and stopped about mid-thigh.
The parts of her body that weren’t protected by the blessed armor were clothed in creamy chocolate brown leather that looked soft and smooth to the touch. Across her delicate collarbone, an enchanted necklace rested, and the rune pressed into the metal shone with the same green light as the stone at the hilt of Bloodscale. The unnamed sword had transformed along with the parts of her armor. The standard longsword had extended to match Bloodscale, but the blade widened at the tip, shrank in then widened out ag
ain near the hilt. The guard around her hand warped out to create a complicated network of webs to protect it from any close combat.
That’s when something I’d never expected happened, and my eyes widened in surprise. Large white shapes formed at Annalise’s shoulder blades, they glowed and expanded quickly. Overlapping white feathers collected down her shoulders, and as Annalise stepped out of the swirling golden and emerald light, her godly, snow-white wings revealed themselves to us. The high queen barely glanced at them as if they’d always been there and with a loud crack, the two wings spread out behind her. They beat at the air as she rose off the floor and glared down at the waiting mages.
Heijing transformed next, scarlet and navy smoke swirled around her feet as her eyes glowed and flashed. Three loud roars rose into the air, one from Heijing, one from Anteng and the last from Guoshe as the Qianlong altered into her true form. The dragon seemed even larger than before as her massive maw snapped open and closed with an explosion of black smoke. Her icy blue eyes glared down at the mages as her head reeled back and let loose a blast of blue fire.
The Qianlong’s flanks were dotted with red and blue splotches as she lumbered forward, her enormous claws raking across the marble floor. Her long, thick tail whipped out and took out a whole line of mages without much effort. The powerful Elders slammed into the far wall with explosions of blood that spanned all the way up to the ceiling.
In a manner of seconds, the wall containing all the doors crumbled as even louder roars reached our ears. The two dragons I’d created from the dragnasi crashed through the stones and slammed into the flow, their flesh wings beating at the air as they hissed loudly. The way the two dragons moved were like lizards, slithering and jerky as they struck out at the mages that scampered out of the way. Each dragon’s eyes widened as they tracked down their prey, and I watched with a wide grin as they grabbed up mages and tore them to bits with their pointed teeth.
