Age of Souls

by Garrett Stevens

  “Why the rush?” Roden pushed himself off the post and stepped closer.

  “Latisha found me, do you have a few with you?” The look on Roden’s face when he heard the name was clear he knew the danger.

  “Sergeant, bring them over.” He called over to a small group standing next to a bookstore. Six younger soldiers trotted over to them, holding their hilts as to not bang their blades against their legs.

  “Captain?” The Sergeant was young but still looked like he had seen a few battles. His uniform was not that different from Roden’s, subtle colouring change in the shirt and hat but mostly the same and fewer metals.

  “There is a group of women in black robes headed this way, be ready for a fight. They will not come easy. Be warned, they have powerful magic and will be focused on these two.”

  The group nodded at his words, drew their swords and started to clear the area of civilians. Luckily this area of the city was more shops and had few people meandering about. A scream of death shot out into the night from the far side of the bridge, they had caught up and someone got in their way.

  “Be ready Chyla, they are quick.” Dominic looked down at her as he spoke. “At a moment’s notice, be ready to run.”

  With a nod, she tucked her baggy shirt into her pants and tightened the strap of her pack.

  “If we need to, we will hold them to allow you to escape. Never a dull moment with you, around is it?” Roden pulled his sword from its scabbard and laughed

  Small groups of people across the bridge could be seen running in panic after the screams, the frustrated Lamia could not be bothered to go around people in their way anymore. From out of the darting crowd came four tall dark robed figures. Their movements were quick and looked as if they were gliding on a cloud. All four had their hoods down, exposing their beautiful female faces.

  Their features were very clean and symmetrical, almost looked like clones of each other. Solid black eyes with pale skin and their lips painted green. Very long dark brown hair braided into a thick single tail flowed behind them as they moved. Their cloaks barely shifted as they slid along, only billowed behind them with the speed they moved. Cresting the bridge, they stopped just before getting to the connecting platform.

  “Stop this futility, your constant running is vexing.” The leading Lamia spoke in her soft calming voice.

  “Give up Latisha, as I told you before; Oor drakvin furhdrae muurs thrinda, duu braakih muurs bi privodik.” Dominic spoke in an authoritative and commanding voice. It startled Chyla to hear him speak this way in another language.

  “The blood does not need to remain here, only the spirit.” Latisha’s voice stayed in her calming gentle tone.

  “It doesn’t work that way. You know this.” Dominic yelled back.

  “We will prove our worth and be granted their boon.” Latisha smirked at him.

  Her face was like all the others, very clean and symmetrical, but had two thin scars from her right temple across her eye and ended just below her other eye. The scar looked like two claws from a beast had ravaged her in a battle. Her hair was a darkened silver colouring and braided in the same fashion as the others but disappeared under her cloak.

  “Where is the last one?” Roden called out. “Keep a watchful!”

  Latisha slipped her hands from out of her sleeves and reached up to unhook her cloak. Pulling on the clasp, the cloak dropped to the ground around her, exposing her true form that made the soldiers step back slightly in astonishment of something new and frightening. Her torso was that of a human female, bare large perky breasts and toned stomach were just as pale as her face that faded into a scaled snake like bottom half. The scales coiled around underneath her, glittering like little black diamonds in the torch light. As the cloak hit the ground, the three other Lamia launched forward in contest, erupting from their own cloaks towards the drawn swords.

  The first two collided with the front line, sending them backwards to the ground, with them on top. A quick bite into their necks, the two tore away their flesh to fill the night with blood filled screams that quickly turned into a gurgling death. The third crashed into another of the front line but stayed upright as the young soldier was sent flying into the wall of the bookstore. A loud knocking of bone on stone sounded with the collision, dropping his lifeless form to the ground in a heap. Latisha stood on the bridge still, with her eyes fixated on Dominic.

  Roden rushed up the bridge toward Latisha with his blade drawn and before he got within five feet of her, he was somehow stopped in his tracks by an invisible hand. Something had taken hold of his legs, keeping them in place. Latisha was muttering something under her breath which caused Roden’s eyes to widen like a pain deep inside.

  His eyes rolled back in his head in pain, but he couldn’t make a sound. Blood started to seep from his eyes and ears, dripping down, staining his uniform. Before Dominic could get into action, Roden exploded like bursting bubble of blood, bone, and flesh. His remains littered the whole end of the bridge, covering everything in a two-meter circle, including Latisha.

  Dominic pulled Chyla back towards the bookstore in hopes to find an exit. During the first few steps of their escape, the fifth and final Lamia came out from between the bookstore and a neighbouring building holding a guard in her grasp. Squeezing tightly, his neck breaking and his body going limp was all she needed before letting him drop like a rag doll to the ground.

  The three remaining soldiers sprang into action and ran together towards the still upright Lamia with their swords ready. Before the first blade came into contact, her snake tail whipped up and coiled around the closest wrist, breaking it without effort. Crying out, he dropped his blade and dropping to his knees in pain. The other two took the opportunity and thrust their blades toward her torso. Spinning around to dodge the closest, she sent the guard whirling past her but was not fast enough as, the second drove straight through the side of the breast and into her torso. The motions were fast enough that the cut split both breasts in half as the blade ripped from her body, sending blood spraying into the night.

  Blood curdling screams filled the city as the Lamia collapsed to the ground, holding her chest. The other three perked up in her cries and started toward the victorious soldier. Before he could regain his balance and be ready for the others, they were already upon him.

  Two coiled their tails around his arms and held him up while the third cornered around to get face to face with him. Lifting him off the ground with their tails, the third thrust her fist into his chest sending the more sounds of bones breaking into the battle. Pulling her fist from his chest with his heart the soldiers head dropped with his quick death. The other two holding him up quickly pulled with their tails, ripping his arms from his sockets, dropping his corpse to the blood drenched ground. The Lamia holding the heart licked the blood off the heart and closed her eyes in the satisfaction it carried.

  “Give up child, it is time.” The blood-soaked Latisha slithered down the bridge slowly toward Dominic and Chyla who had backed up into the middle of the fray. The surviving four other Lamia glided into formation behind her, ready to strike.

  “I won’t go easy, Jurcunde.” Chyla stood up tall and spun to face her assailants.

  Latisha laughed a sultry laugh.

  “Like I said Dominic, this futility needs to end.” She spoke directly at Dominic who had both fists clenched.

  “It has been too long, you were always the lost one, full of sorrow, I am tired of this animosity. I thought I could keep things hidden.” Dominic closed his eyes and shook his head. “Your sadness has corrupted those around you. Your loss should not warrant your negative motives.”

  “What are you talking about?” Chyla gave him a glance.

  “Enough.” Latisha shook her head and thrust her hand to the side, tossing blood from her skin. “Take them.”

  The four behind her launched toward them without pause. Dominic closed his eyes with a sigh and whispered under his breath.

  “Stop.”
>
  The world around them froze in time, nothing moved, nothing sounded, nothing stirred. Fire from the torches stopped dancing, the wind no longer pushed on the waters of the lake, blood no longer trickled its way along the cobbles of the streets and bridge. The expressions of all the Lamia were gentle and did not look threatening at all, their bloodied bodies creating a gruesome yet lewd view.

  “What in the name of Freyolin just happened?” Chyla looked up at Dominic again.

  “You can’t keep this up forever.” Latisha’s voice came from her frozen body, surprising Chyla even more.

  “What the?” Chyla walked up to her and poked her in the breast, leaving an indent where her finger was.

  “Time is frozen. I can only hold Latisha for a short while, but not long. We should go.” Dominic opened his eyes finally.

  “How can I move then, and how can she talk?” Chyla wiped the blood on her finger on her shirt.

  “It is a story longer than we have time for right now.”

  “Let’s just kill these bitches, then we won’t have to run.” Chyla picked up one of the soldier’s swords.

  “The others yes, Latisha no. She must remain alive to keep the balance.” Dominic grabbed another bloodied sword from the ground.

  Slowly pushing his bloodied sword into the chest of one of the Lamia, no screams of death, no blood seeped out. Pulling the cleaned blade from her flesh, he walked over to another and drove the blade into her chest in the same spot, this time leaving it in place. Chyla pushed her sword up through the stomach of the closest torso like she was skewering a sausage on a spit.

  “I will find you once more, even if it takes another thousand years.” Latisha’s voice came from her frozen body again.

  “That’s freaking me out.” Chyla stopped beside Latisha and looked up at her. “Too bad they are not friendly, would be a fun time playing with those breasts.” Reaching up, she pinched one of Latisha’s bloody nipples and wiped off her fingers on her shirt.

  “Let’s get going.” Dominic stepped over to the Lamia on the ground, still clenching her chest, frozen in the pool of her own blood. Grabbing a nearby sword, he plunged it down her spine and into her body like a humanoid sheath, pinning her to the ground. Chyla picked up one last sword and drove it through the chest of the final beauty who was still in midair with her attack. Pushing harder on the hilt, she was having trouble getting the whole sword through the body.

  “Must have hit a bone.” Chyla shrugged.

  Spinning on her heels, Chyla turned away from the massacre and started down towards the next bridge on the other side of the bookstore. Dominic jogged up to her wiping his hand on his pants to clean the blood off and looked down at Chyla.

  “Suppose I have a lot to tell you then?”

  “Would be nice. What about your friend?”

  “Roden was not a friend, only a military acquaintance from a time ago. Strazen might be out of the story for now. We should head to Sky Pedestal, there is someone there I need have questions for.”

  “I have never been to Sky Pedestal, should be fun. Roden was right, it never is a dull moment with you around.”

  Dominic laughed and looked at her with a smirk like frown, shaking his head.

  “What?”

  The two disappeared over the bridge and into the city night.

  • • •

  Latisha let out a lengthy breath, the weight of her body returning to her. Her sisters collapsing to the ground as blood oozed out from their lifeless bodies. Looking at the scene around her, she let out a sigh and then turned to the horizon. The sun was starting to brighten the edges of the earth connection to the sky and cascading its warmth across the lands.

  Slithering back to where she dropped her cloak, she picked it up and wrapped it over her shoulders, clasping the front together. With a little shimmy to get the folds into place, she flipped up her hood and crossed her arms within the sleeves of the cloak again, hiding her blood-soaked self from the world.

  “Do Chronolin yosh brakdu. Duu meidrae muurs bi kook, wik merr frishko ikneare, duu furhdrae wursh bi abk itran thandin.” A tall cloaked figure slipped out of the darker shadows of the bookstore, stopping just before the light of the torches.

  “I know she is close, and you have not been much help anyways; I can handle him.” Latisha annoyingly spoke from behind her hood, never turning to the shadowed figure.

  The figure barely moved and just watched her standing on the bridge. As quickly as it came, it slipped back into the shadow and disappeared. A moment of silence and stillness as the morning sun came across her black cloak and the tickling the city over the lake. Little reflections of light off the small waves shifted as the horizon of light lifted and enveloped her completely. Standing at the top of the bridge over the bloodied scene, she looked back to where Dominic had spoken to her from.

  “You might be right.” With a gentle turn, she glided away from the horrific scene and into the waking city.

  Chapter 9

  Butterflies circled around all the flowers of the clearing, dancing against the sunshine; back and forth in a mesmerizing display of a natural ballet. The grove was warming to watch, making the week prior but a memory, a distant dream meant to be forgotten. Trees lined the outer edges of the glade that expanded into the forest beyond, cradling the small lake within. It was a calming embrace of nature that could make anyone forget their troubles. The Draag Mountains to the north could be seen expanding into the sky from over the trees and the edge of lake pushed itself from the south side.

  An arrangement of boulders surrounding a small fire pit rest near the edge of the waters, a small trail of smoke rose from its ashes from the coals never fading. Bed rolls and bags were strewn about in the empty spaces between, the camp for the night had been set up. Mya, Gemini, and Faer all sat against their own boulders, taking a moment to relax.

  “Let me see it again, I didn’t get a good look.” Gemini reached across from her boulder she rest against, trying to grab at Mya’s journal.

  Mya quickly recoiled with a smile on her face.

  “Come on, it’s not like you have any personal stuff in there.”

  “There might be.” Mya gave her another smile and a sly look.

  “It’s a good thing we are past the point of too personal then.” Gemini stood from her boulder with her outstretched hand and lunged towards Mya.

  Colliding with her sister, she grabbed her in a hug, pulling her off the rock in the tackle and both toppled to the ground. Mya laughed with an outstretched hand, holding the book away from Gemini’s reach, Mya reached around Gemini and started to tickle her side.

  “Stop, stop, stop.” Squirming to break free from the tickling and backed away with a smile.

  Mya rolled away, getting to her feet quickly. “I win.”

  “That was cheating.” Gemini rolled to a sitting position and frowned.

  “All is fair Gemini.” Mya put her hands on her hips and smiled down at her. “But fine, take a look.”

  Extending the book down to her, Gemini grabbed the book and flipped through to a page near the back; to the symbol Mya had drawn in it. The illustration seemed to jump from the page slightly, trying to break free and come alive like the original she found.

  “How big was it?” Gemini circled one of the outer stars with her forefinger.

  “Maybe this big.” Mya held her hands a part slightly larger than her face.

  “And it was by Mirror Lake?”

  “Yea, there was a huge burst of light from it.” Mya stepped closer and sat down beside Gemini and looked down at the book.

  “I’ve never seen this before, it’s almost like a seal spell or containment rune.”

  “Really wish I had a chance to ask Turi about it before we left.” Mya slouched her shoulders a bit, adding to the disappointment in her voice.

  “If it wasn’t for your different coloured hair, I don’t think I would be able to tell you two a part.” Faer’s voice filled the camp from behind the two girls, cau
sing them to perk up and look in his direction like they forgot he was there.

  “That’s because we are twins, dummy.” Gemini laughed as she spoke.

  “You’re dressed the same and everything.” Faer dropped a small bundle of wood beside the smoking ash pile. “Thanks for the help with the wood, by the way.”

  Mya and Gemini looked down at themselves and then over to each other before they laughed. Gemini stood up and pulled down on her shirt, trying to fix a discomfort. Mya reached forward and slapped her backside, knocking her forward half a step.

  “He’s right, we are wearing the same thing.” Mya stood up and stepped over to her bedroll, prodding at it with her foot.

  “We only have a couple more hours before nightfall, we should do a quick scout of the area around the lake before we start a fire.” Gemini spoke in an authoritative voice.

  “Nothing but critters out there that I saw when collecting the kindling. Went down to the edge of the forest before I came back this way.” Faer sat down beside his pile of sticks and started to build a little structure out of them around the smoking coals.

  “That will cut my time down a bit then. I will head to the north side of the lake and be back in an hour.” Mya grabbed her cloak from a nearby boulder and wrapped it over her shoulders.

  Spinning on her heels, she headed off into the forest and disappeared beyond the foliage next to the small lake. Sounds of breaking sticks and twigs filled the grove as Gemini watched Faer build his pyre in silence; snapping twigs in half and gently placing them neatly.

  “Need a flint?” Gemini broke the silence.

  “Nope, just a little magic can do the trick.” Faer kept his eyes on his sacrificial structure.

  “Right. That.” There was a brief pause before Gemini broke the awkward silence. “I’m going swimming then.”

  Stepping over to Mya’s pack that rest against one of the rocks, Gemini knelt and stuffed in the journal into one of the front pockets before turning back around. She quickly made her way to the nearby edge of the lake and scanned the waters.