by Jeff Gunzel
Working as a single unit, they tore through straggling skeleton warriors, turning them to dust with feverish combinations. The red soldiers were good, but nothing like this efficient unit. Sword clashes lasted mere seconds as the Watchdogs whirled their steel, often three men running through a single soldier in a blur of premeditated attacks. They attacked in twos and threes, rarely finding themselves caught in one-on-one battles. Morcel had trained them well, taught them to push themselves to new limits of proficiency.
Another red soldier charged Morcel, lashing out with his long sword. The big man easily parried the blow, weapons engaged while keeping the sword up high. A split second later, whirling blades shredded the soldier’s midsection as Watchdogs zipped past. His insides emptied in a gush before he collapsed onto the ground. They may have been known as the “souless” by the more civilized society, but they were proving they had no equal on the battlefield.
One of the Watchdogs looked back to Morcel, his fingers flashing urgently. Just ahead was a strange little creature, hunched and wearing a glass mask strapped around his face. Grey feathered, yet with the head of a monkey, it was one of the strangest creatures they had ever seen. It cooed softly, looking completely out of place standing alone on the battlefield.
“Step away from it,” Morcel ordered, spinning his two axes in circles around his wrists. “We have no idea what that this is capa—”
Hashiki’s cooing quickly became a low growl, soft wet eyes squinted as they took on a sickly orange. His shuddering body began to swell, gray feathers quivering with anger. In a rush, the feathers expelled from his body like a torn pillow, exposing pinkish flesh that bubbled and steamed. He leaned on his front knuckles, howling as if suffering greatly from the odd transformation. “Get back!” Morcel repeated, gripping his weapons and watching intently.
Hashiki’s body crackled and ripped as flesh tore away from muscle, pink wet strips of skin falling to the ground. Green scales became exposed as his body grew further, a new form ripping free from the old one like a cocoon releasing its young. Hashiki rose up, needle-sharp teeth glistening from a long flat mouth. His eyes had turned yellow with slitted pupils like those of a lizard, and his long, spiny tale lashed about wildly. He roared triumphantly, clawed hands shaking in the air.
Like a charging rhino, the newly transformed beast galloped towards Morcel, pushing off on his knuckles as well as his thick hindquarters with powerful strides. Inspired by the tenacious creature who was apparently on their side, even more red soldiers charged at the Watchdogs, hoping to capitalize on the unforeseen advantage.
The souless turned on the first wave, flashing steel making short work of the empress’s highly trained soldiers. But more were coming that needed to be dealt with. It seemed their leader would have to handle this monstrosity on his own.
Braced for impact, Morcel absorbed the charge while losing his grip on both axes. His feet slid back, digging two long trenches in the sand. Hashiki looked surprised when they came to a halt fifteen feet away, astonished by this mortal’s physical strength. No man should have been able to handle that impact head-on. Nose to nose, Hashiki stared into a pair of eerie green eyes that were no less savage than his own.
Morcel grinned, then drove his forehead into the creature’s lower jaw with a sickening crack. Hashiki hobbled back, stunned from the impossibly hard blow. A left hook followed by a right hobbled him further. Morcel ducked as a spiny tail flashed over the top of his head, then rose up with a heavy uppercut that sent a spray of bloodied teeth tumbling through the air. Who was this...mortal?
A second head-butt crushed his snout, a gush of blood spraying down his front. Morcel followed with another right, but Hashiki caught the large fist in his clawed hand. Morcel fired off a left, catching the beast in the side of the head. But being unable to step into it, the damage was only minimal. Blood flowed down Morcel’s wrist as Hashiki’s sharp, thick claws sunk in. He fired off another unbalanced left, then another, each one doing little more than enraging the beast.
White-hot pain exploded through Morcel’s body as that spiny tail lashed across his back. He flailed with his left hand, waving futilely at the sharp weapon. The longest barbs were at the end, but the whole length of the tail was covered in spines. Hashiki crushed Morcel’s wrist further while bringing the tail around again and again, crashing against Morcel’s back and shoulders. Blood ran freely down his back, deep lacerations streaming with red.
Hashiki wound his tail up all the way, confident he would impale the bothersome human on this next strike. With a savage roar Morcel struck with his left, driving his fingers deep into Hashiki’s eye. At the same time he tore his right hand free, losing a large amount of skin in the process. Because of the painful attack, the swinging tail lost some steam, coming around with very little power behind it. Morcel spun and caught it with both hands.
With another roar, he twisted the tail while pulling back on it. Once, twice, he drove his boot down, stomping and twisting at an awkward angle. Slapping away feebly at his bleeding eye, Hashiki howled when his tail snapped away. No, this human was more than bothersome. He wasn’t human at all. He couldn’t be!
Tiny spines digging into his hands, Morcel swung his prize like a club, catching the beast across the face. Long, sharp spikes tore into his face and neck. Roaring like a wild animal, blood running from his back and hands, he connected again and again. The savage impacts went from thunderous cracks to dull wet thumps as Hashiki’s body began to shred. Blood sprayed with each moist hit, further misshaping the scaly body as Morcel pounded away with the spiked tail.
He raised the tail once more, but an unseen hand grabbed his elbow and spun him around. Awakened from the blood rage, he watched as the masked man threw his hands up defensively and stepped back. “He’s dead, sir,” came the hissing whisper from underneath the black mask. “He’s been dead for some time. As for you...” The man turned around and shouted, “Morcel is wounded. I need help over here!”
* * *
The black, leathery creature swooped down with his claws extended, poisonous tail snapping about. The target whirled back at the last second, staff spinning with blazing speed. A dizzying strike snapped off the side of the creature’s head, followed by another to the ribs. The creature crashed, sliding across the sand face down. It rolled and looked up just in time to see Jacob pounce, then felt the end of a staff crush his throat.
Spinning back, Jacob intercepted a long sword thrusting in from behind. After the quick deflection, his staff spun into a blur... Shoulder, knee, knee, uppercut across the jaw. The red helmet spun into the air, blood and teeth spraying upward in a fine mist.
He whirled back, ducking under a streaking blade as he countered with a low strike. The red soldier’s knee crunched. Releasing his sword, he grabbed his knee and toppled over writhing in pain. With the soldier no longer posing a threat, Jacob turned his attention away from the crippled man. Danger was all around, and there was no reason to take the time to finish an already downed opponent. It would only take a second for a stray blade to find his back.
An inner warning screaming, he whirled back in time to see a red soldier upon him, sword raised high. A blade burst through the man’s chest, blood speckling Jacob’s face. Blade still raised, his eyes crossed and he crumpled to the ground. Azek ripped his sword free from the back, then cleaned it on the fallen.
“You should be more careful,” he said. “You never know when—”
Jacob’s staff fired out, zipping just past Azek’s ear. He flinched then turned, seeing the red soldier with wood embedded in his eye socket. He too fell over lifelessly. “As should you,” Jacob taunted, eyebrows twittering up and down. Azek rolled his eyes, disgusted that Jacob had repaid the debt so quickly.
The two stood back-to-back, yellow bolts crashing into the ground all around them, sending charred bodies flying while turning skeletons to dust. There were no clear battle lines any more, just a desert filled with savage clashes. The groans of rock giants before
crumbling into dust, the screams of dying men as their life’s blood trickled into the sand, it all just meshed into an endless song of agony.
Sidestepping in unison, they pivoted about in a slow circle in order to see the whole battlefield. Steel clashed, fires burned, and portals opened in thin air, releasing torrents of arrows directly into the enemy. But through all the chaos, something felt off. Senses heightened by adrenaline, they each felt a dark presence that couldn’t be explained. Something...
“Evade!” Azek shouted. They each rolled forward as a shadowy blade zipped over their heads, leaving behind a trail of spiraling smoke. Springing back to their feet, they turned about, weapons ready. The shapeless oily cloud before them boiled and rolled, now and then displaying a human face frozen with a death scream. The melting faces shifted from one to the next, each displaying a similar expression of agony.
“What is that thing?” Jacob gasped, gripping his staff until his knuckles turned white.
“A dead thing,” Azek roared, rushing forward, his blade flashing with the speed of a viper. The skilled combination tore through the smoky body with multiple strikes, each catching nothing but air. And like air, its shadowy body provided no resistance at all.
The smoke dissipated, drifting apart like a fading cloud. A final misty face flashed a grayish grin before disappearing completely.
“On your guard,” said Azek, twisting this way and that, searching the battlefield for some clue as to where that thing might have gone. “It could strike from anywhere.”
The rolling smoke suddenly reformed, lashing out at Jacob. Barely getting his staff up in time, he intercepted a solidified arm transformed into a blade. Pushing off and reversing direction, his staff tore through the smoky body, drifting straight through like silk, a funnel of twisting smoke trailing behind it.
Slog slashed with his other arm, weightless smoke solidifying in mid-strike. The blade bit into Jacob’s shoulder, but reverted back into harmless air just as Azek struck from behind. His blade passed right through the creature, the disruption changing his whole body back into air. The timing just might have saved Jacob’s life.
Jacob gripped his bleeding shoulder and fell back. “It seems to be both a solid and gas, depending on whether it’s attacking or defending!” he yelled, before resetting his stance with a whirl of his staff. “I think we can hurt it when it turns solid.”
“Sure,” Azek replied, slashing his sword through the smoky body once more. “But that’s when it can hurt us!” He slashed again, surprised when his blade clanged against a solid blade. Slog thrust forward, Azek pulling back as the smoky blade just missed the tip of his nose.
Right before his eyes, the blade changed back into sifting smoke as Jacob whipped his staff right through the back of Slog’s head, hitting nothing but air. The two stepped away and began circling the creature, wary of how to solve this odd puzzle. Azek spoke with eyes, staring hard at Jacob as he sidestepped. One finger tapped his pommel, a second, then three at once, eyes going wide.
They lunged as one, each sending their weapons zipping harmlessly through smoky air, but on their backswings, it was as if they collided with stone. Slog had intercepted both weapons with arms turned blade, and his strength was shocking. The blades shifted into hands, now gripping both weapons like a steel vise.
A second pair of arms fired out from the smoky mass, each locking onto their necks. He easily lifted them up off the ground. Abandoning their weapons, feet kicking the air, they pulled and clawed at fingers that might as well have been stone.
“Die,” Slog said with a rolling gurgle, his whole body solidifying as he began to squeeze. Azek reached for the dagger at his side, but his arm went limp before he got there. Blackness began to cloud their vision.
Suddenly, a fist burst through Slog’s chest, smoke funneling into the air in a twisting spiral. He roared in pain, releasing them from his grip. A second fist burst through, spraying rock like bits of his body as more smoke spiraled outward. The hands broke out his sides, solid chips scattering all over the ground like gravel.
Each chip melted like ice, slowly steaming its way into the ground. Slog’s shapeless body followed, melting into a black puddle of thick liquid. Human faces boiled up from the puddle, shifting about until the steaming puddle stopped moving.
“Wait,” gasped Jacob, his voice hoarse as he clung to his neck. “Please don’t leave.”
Athel stood still, tilting her head and staring at the human like a curious dog. She was covered in blood. Who knew how many red soldiers she must have killed by now. She took a step back as Jacob crawled towards her, upper lip quivering in a rumbling growl.
“Get back, boy,” rasped Azek, clutching his own throat as he inched towards them. “She doesn’t remember you. Can’t you see that? Just let her go!”
“Please,” Jacob wheezed, coughing a spatter of blood into his palm. She took another step back but ceased her growling. For a fleeting moment she flashed him a familiar look, a human emotion that couldn’t have been faked by some mere animal. Sadness. She blinked it away, her lip rising in another rolling growl. She didn’t necessarily view them as the enemy this day, but humans were never to be trusted. She galloped off without ever looking back.
Jacob collapsed, face buried in his hands as he cried. All this time he thought he had been able to let her go, allowed her memory to be forgotten. He was a fool. Seeing her in the flesh brought all those memories flooding back. It was more than he could take.
Wracked with coughing, Azek crawled to his side. He put his arm on the lad’s shoulder without saying a word. He understood Jacob’s pain all too well.
* * *
Suspended in mid-air, the soldier’s own armor began to crush him. With no air in his lungs to make a sound, his tongue hung to the side, eyes wide from the searing pain. Never taking her eyes from Jade, Morita closed her fist. Mercifully, the man’s armor imploded, innards hanging down from a head-sized ball of metal like wet vines. With a wave of her hand the metal ball streaked towards Jade.
Never flinching, Jade’s dy-chita flared brightly. The surging ball veered off to the side, diverted by some unseen force.
At least mildly impressed, Morita raised an eyebrow in surprise. “It appears your powers have grown since we met last,” she hissed, marching towards her. Too brave for his own good, another soldier rushed at her, steel flashing. She caught the blade with her bare hand and pulled him in close. He struggled futilely against the supernatural woman’s strength. Her eyes still locked with Jade’s, she gripped his lower jaw. With a twist and crack, his eyes glazed over.
“You would fight for these insects?” she said, dropping the corpse and continuing her slow advance. “They are nothing. Less than nothing!” She stopped only a few feet away. Yellow bolts landed all around them, kicking up sand and raining it down on their heads. Neither one flinched as the battle raged on around them. “Why sacrifice yourself for these worms? I don’t want to fight you. Join me now and the great lord may yet show you mercy.”
“The great lord may show me mercy?” Jade hissed, mocking Morita’s tone. “Tell me, does your great lord lead by example? Because all I see is a coward hiding behind a wall of lies. He prays on the weak, promising them riches and immortality in exchange for killing women and children. He prays on greed, seeks out the shameless because he knows you aren’t strong enough to resist his temptation.”
One of the Soul Walkers came charging towards Jade, several arrows protruding from its armor. Covered in sword slashes and drying blood, it was clear the unstoppable entity had taken many lives this day. Jade lifted her hand, energy strands fluttering down from her fingertips. As if suddenly caught in hurricane-like winds, they extended, quivering violently as they whipped around in chaotic patterns.
The Soul Walker was shredded as the shrill sound of metal being torn rang out. Its red cape drifted away from its metal body, frayed into ribbons. The small pieces were cut into even smaller pieces as the energy strands seared though it at t
he speed of light. With nothing left but a steaming pile of scraps, Jade retracted the strands and returned her glare to Morita as if the deadly entity were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Jade’s dy-chita flared, her eyes shining as she raised her hands. Streams of sparks leapt from one palm to the other. “I’ll tell you a secret,” she grinned, shadows dancing across her face from the light show. “Your great lord is powerless here. He sends his blind followers like lambs to slaughter, knowing you never even had a chance. Your wasted lives were nothing but a sacrifice to draw attention away from him.”
“Liar!” Morita shrieked, her eyes blazing as strands of energy trickled down from her own fingertips. Her red hair waved about as if wind were blowing up from the ground.
“Your kind are the insects, not humans...not crytons. You!” Jade roared, her hair also beginning to rise up and blow around. “The Gate Keeper will crush your demon, but not before I crush you!”
Sparks flared from Jade’s palms, engulfing Morita in a shower of white. Morita spun, energy strands whipping around her in a multicolored tornado. The white sparks were instantly absorbed, vanishing harmlessly into the funnel.
Morita slowed her spin and struck back, the colorful strands lashing out like white-hot snakes. With a flick of Jade’s wrists, they were cast aside before ever reaching her. Palms up, flaming wheels appeared over Jade’s head. She lowered her hands, sending the spinning projectiles streaking ahead.
With lightning speed, Morita snapped her energy strands upward, severing the wheels in mid-air. The flaming halves tumbled in place, spinning right in front of her face. With a sideways slash, the whips cut them a second time crossways, sending fire and red powder drifting to the side.
A flood of energy surged from both of them at once, strands of energy colliding with each other faster than the human eye could see. The result was a blinding light show of color and smoke. Thunderous crackling and booms filled the air, forcing fighters from both sides to flee from the spectacle. It seemed as if gods had taken the battlefield, and no mortal had any business nearing this contest.
