by Shad N Freud
“No, Zeke, I’m busy! As I was saying, I don’t care if you’re the god of Toilets, you’re not getting away with-“
Carl grabbed Cenere, spun him around, and made him look at Jin, who had slowly shifted into draconic form, his scales slowly taking on a glowing sheen.
Bucky laughed as he watched the transformation. “Cenere, right? You’re a ballsy little shit, aren’t you? Well, I have a question for you. What happens when yeh expose silver to a lot of aetheric radiation? Becomes mithril, right?” He patted Cenere on the shoulder. “You’ve got heart, kid, and plenty of reason to think you’re hot shit. That youngin’ there? Cut from the same cloth. But, unlike you, he’s about to become something I’ve hoped would happen for millennia. Yeh see, me and the wife were the last of our kind and we achieved Godhood after the death of our race, the Mithril Dragons. That boy there? About to revive the race that gave way to modern dragon kind. And that boy will be my replacement someday.”
With a final, guttural roar, Jin stood on all fours, a bright flash punctuating the roar. The silver dragon stood taller than before, his scales iridescent in the morning light. “I…I feel different,” Jin rumbled, staring at the difference in his new form. He was larger, shinier. “I…I’m not just a dragon anymore, am I?”
Bucky shook his head. “Nope. See, that stone held within it the spark of the divine. It takes a very long time to power one up and if anything were to ever happen to me, I expected it to get used to bring forth a worthy successor to protect our people. But…well, it just didn’t have the juice for my most trusted servant, Wong.”
As if summoned, a familiar old man appeared, full of vim and vigor despite his apparent age, unlike the withered old man they’d met in the future. “You called, Father?”
Bucky waved his hand at the assembled group. “Be a good man and get some digs set aside for these folks, would ya? They’re to be our guests until they leave to return to their homes.”
Wong smiled broadly. “At once, Father.” The old man turned, and made his way for the temple, grabbing several younger members in golden robes to follow.
“I had hoped I would be able to pass things on to Wong, but…it looks like that’s not going to be the case, according to the letter from Lucy. How is the little rake these days, anyways? Still got Ass-modeus floating in a jar?” Bucky smirked as he drew a clay pipe from his overalls and struck a match to light his pipe, the scent of strong tobacco filling the air. “I’m assuming you folks have an idea as to how to keep me from getting dead, according to this here letter?”
Carl nodded, pulling out his rune stone, the fehu rune glinting slightly as it caught the sunlight. “There’s a, ah, storage room we can put you and the Golds up in. But, and I cannot stress this enough, Wong can’t come with us. We need to time things perfectly, and you’ll need to stay in there for the next sixty-seven years. To you, though, it’ll only feel like a couple of days.”
Bucky stared at the stone, then began chuckling. “Of course, a Jameson. Never met the guy personally, but I hear tell he’d had a bit of a mercantile spirit. Buy up as much perishable stuff as you can, put it in a room that ages its contents really slowly, and never need to buy groceries again. Brilliant guy, if a bit lazy. Shame he never really cared about mass-production. Alright, let’s hear this plan of yours.”
Chapter Nineteen
“A thousand apologies, milord, but the demon you summoned has arrived.”
The orb flashed in recognition. “Send him in then.” The orb turned its light to scan the ugliest pile of muscles it had ever seen. Hideous, misshapen, the head of a boar, with tiny, malformed little vestigial wings on his back, and needle sharp tusks jutting out of a porcine mouth that was stained brown with dried blood. His piggy little eyes flashed malevolently as he directed one of his minions to set down the massive crate he’d brought with him. “Marduk, was it? Is this the new body I had commissioned?”
Marduk bowed. “Indeed, Don Carranza. This new body is made with the finest materials we had available. I apologize that it’s not exactly up to the standard you requested, but it’s the best we could do, under the circumstances. Also, I bring word from Demogorgon. Cthulhu has given you a task to undertake. There is a man from the future you must eliminate. His name is Carl Beaumont.”
The stone vibrated violently. “Beaumont? BEAUMONT?! This man. He would not be the son of my old student Marcel, would he?”
Marduk nodded. “The same, Don Carranza. As a matter of fact, he bears your blade.”
Carranza’s stone flashed brightly, directing the light at Marduk who backed away slowly. “I will slay the swine! I will destroy him myself!” The stone’s inner light faded as it calmed down. “Put me in the new body; I shall need to test its abilities. Also, tell me everything you know about this pinche cabron that carries my sword. This hijo de puta will not see another sunrise once we cross blades.”
“Of course, Don Carranza. Demogorgon also wishes to express their great pleasure in gifting you a Gudsbur to keep the Tin Lizard at bay.” Marduk lifted the sphere from the velvet pillow it rested on, the faintest of cracks on the surface of the obsidinite orb.
When darklight congealed into a liquid, it was known as necrid which would then crystalize in the Abyss into the solid material obsidinite. It was the shell in which many souls in the Abyss were stored as currency, sold to McG before the Fall, and used to power various devices sold by McG. Including the massive adamantine golems known as Pacification drones; gigantic mechanized automatons driven by a group of those stones, a weapon of war capable of conquering – or pacifying – an entire world so that McG could plunder their resources.
The orb was seated into the small harness inside the body, an enchanted steel endoframe designed for quick movement. The body was cooled by necrid, fed throughout with a series of vascular channels not unlike a human circulatory system, that submerged the stone in the small cavity surrounding its control harness. The “skin” of the body was made of layer upon layer of woven fibers, mainly succubus hair (as the stuff was as strong as steel at half the weight of silk), reinforced with a thin layer of the very last of the carbon nanoweave in the entire Abyss.
The body came to life, small button-like eyes retracting their woven eyelids. A shaking hand reached outside of the crate and pulled itself up. “My hat, Señor Marduk, if you please.” Marduk grunted as he grabbed the hat off the rack near the pedestal his pillow lay upon and handed it to the Spaniard’s new body. It snatched the hat out of his hand and gently placed it on his head.
A servant brought a sword over for the Father of the Spanish School of Fencing, one he immediately tested the balance of by running the servant through and then cutting the now dead demon to ribbons, a small orb on the wrist drawing in the demon’s essence. “I shall begin training this new body at once. Now then. This hombre muerto, tell me about him, Señor Marduk. I shall know the man before I carve out his heart.”
Marduk smirked malevolently, unrolling a papyrus scroll and began to read it for fallen swordsman as he slew numerous demons to test his new body, as well as to grow comfortable with his blade.
∞∞∞
Several days had passed since and his group had reached the top of Mt. Inasa. After introductions had been made, Bucky directed several of the golden-robed caretakers to make lunch for their guests. Carl grinned as he lit a fresh cigarette, reflecting on the party that took place.
∞∞∞
-four days ago-
Jin glared at Cenere as they laughed at his expense. “How dare you act so irreverently towards the God of Dragons?”
“Uh, because he’s not my god? I mean, you talk shit about Lucifer all the time, but I don’t get butthurt, now do I?” Cenere smirked at Jin’s glare, a boisterous laugh causing the pair to glance over at Bucky who wiped a tear from his eye, having listened in on the entire argument.
“It is so refreshing to have a Satanist visit my temple. After all, I usually only get parishioners coming to the temple, spending most o
f their time on their hands and knees kissing pavement or telling me how unworthy they are to be in my presence or averting their eyes like I’m some sort of God or something.”
He winked at Carl as he continued, “Nothin’ makes me happier than to be left to my own devices, to just be left alone to sweep the temple. Damn fools either get on the Golds that live here for, heh, ‘making’ me do menial labor or try to do it for me. And, bless their hearts, they certainly try to get it up to my standard, but if the act bothered me that much, I’d just wave my hand and make it stay clean. I like sweeping the shrine. It helps keep me grounded, keeps me humble.
“So, don’t get all up in arms about this here ‘devil-man’ poking fun. It’s their way, after all.” He then turned to glare at Cenere for a moment, smirking a bit as he continued, “That said, youngin’, never forget the old saying about poking sleeping dragons and trying to steal their hoard, as originally coined by Merlin. ‘Be wary of drawing a dragon’s ire, for man is but a morsel and dragons hunger when wrothful’.”
Bucky then clapped the handsome tiefling on the back good naturedly and made his way to one of the picnic tables to grab some sashimi.
∞∞∞
-today-
Carl took a long drag on his cigarette as he looked down from the top of the mountain from a three-legged stool in front of his easel, taking a break from the landscape he’d been working on for the last three days. Carl chuckled, then dabbed his brush in the palette on the small table that held his brushes, paints, pencils, and other canvasses he’d gessoed himself. It was a little-known fact that Carl was an avid painter when he had the time to indulge his hobby, and the mansion in his time actually did have several of his paintings hanging in the small gallery near the kitchen. He put out his cigarette in the ashtray as a shadow fell across his table. “What’s up, pup?”
“Nothing. Just wanted to see how the painting’s going,” Cenere said as he strolled up to where Carl was working with his back to the sunrise. Mt. Inasa may not be the tallest mountain in Japan, little more than a tall hill, but it had the most spectacular view of the valley below and the ocean nearby. Generally considered the third best view in Japan. That, and the convergence of several leylines were the primary reasons Bahamut had chosen the mountain for his temple rather than Mt. Fuji or one of the other taller mountains in the land of the rising sun.
Carl nodded as he dipped his brush in a bright blue for the sky. Cenere watched him for a moment, then looked around to see if anyone else was within hearing distance. “There was one other thing. Camilla…I want to ask her to marry me.”
Carl nearly dropped his brush, then turned to stare at the young man incredulously. “You can’t be serious.”
Cenere nodded, twiddling his index fingers together as he blushed lightly. “I love her. I just…I don’t know how to ask her is all. And…I mean, you don’t have to or anything, but I was wondering if you’d be my Worst Man.”
Carl looked the young man in the eye and nodded. “Pup, if you get the gumption up to ask, I’ll happily be your Worst Man. I just want to be there when you ask. You got a ring already?”
Cenere sighed and took off his pendant. “I was planning on giving her this when we get married. It’s the last thing I have of my mother’s, and it would help bind us together. To protect her from harm. Besides, I’d be taking her name. Cenere Brown is a bit less of a mouthful than Cenere di Cornua Ferrea. And we tieflings do tend to be matriarchal.”
Carl nodded, then set down his brush. “Well Pup, if you’re going to pop the question, you’ll want to do it at the right moment. And, fetch one of the rings out of the treasure pile. That pendant should be the wedding present, not a token of engagement. Has more meaning that way.”
Cenere nodded thoughtfully and walked back to the temple, pondering just how and when he should ask. Carl chuckled as he reached for his brush, pausing for a moment when a new shadow fell across the small table. He felt the brand on the back of his hand start glowing, a mild burning sensation as the star turned to point behind him. A sword flashed out, neatly cutting the bristles off the tip of his brush.
“Apologies, Señor Beaumont, but we have some little business to handle,” a thick Spanish accent whispered from behind him.
The hairs on the back of Carl’s neck stood on end as he felt a massive, powerful barrier spring up, surrounding the temple grounds and cutting off Carl’s possible avenue of escape. Carl stood up slowly and removed his longcoat, folding it as he placed it on the stool.
“I assume the Abyss sent you?”
“Indeed Señor. Even if they had not, my honor demands I must slay the bearer of my sword.”
Carl turned to see his opponent. He looked like a training dummy, dressed like a minor noble from the sixteenth century with a sword at his hip that glowed malevolently.
“This blade I bear, it is very fine. It is not, however, my sword. You currently bear my blade on your hip, a blade stolen by that pinche cabron father of yours.” The swordsman paused as he felt a draft, the plume of his hat cut cleanly off. The eyelids narrowed as Carl resheathed his blade, accepting the challenge made but a moment previous. “Muy excellente, Beaumont. I hope you don’t mind, but I arranged entertainment for your friends. Your precious God Dragon, however, is taking siesta. Wouldn’t want him to try and involve himself, after all.”
Carl turned his head and saw Bucky standing motionless, surrounded by darkness. Within the dark purple barrier, Cenere was pounding on the wall until he turned his attention to the small army of demons within the barrier. “Your companions will likely survive, if the rumors about your little familia are correct. But, the pair of us must settle accounts, cabron. I…I do have one request, however.”
Carl’s eyebrow quirked up as he fought the urge to give into his bloodlust. “Not saying yes, but what do you want, mate?”
Carranza closed his eyes and bowed at the hip. “I ask only that you do your best to kill me, senor. The Abyss is a horrible place, and only my skill with the blade has kept me from destruction. I was a respected man in life and a devout Satanist during the Renaissance. I wish to be freed of the torment of the Abyss and I will accept nothing less than an honorable death in battle.”
Carl looked at Carranza for a long moment. “I can respect that. Fine, I’ll do my best to ensure you never go back to the Abyss. You have my word.”
Carranza nodded in respect. “Well then, Señor, I believe we have nothing further to discuss. En guarde!” Carranza called drawing his sword. The blade began to glow with a dark purple light, the runes lining its surface glowing in a series of mandalas concerning the soul. Carl’s eyebrows rose as he drew his own blade.
“A soul burner, hey?” Carl smirked as he ignited his own blade, the blade lined in black flames as the runes glowed red.
Carranza laughed. “The Baneflame! How glorious! A fine opponent you shall make. Come on then, swine. Let us fight.”
∞∞∞
A few minutes previous, Jin looked up at the same time Bucky did and noticed a barrier forming around the temple. Bucky’s eyebrows furrowed in righteous anger as he dropped his push broom. “Who dares? WHO DARES DEFILE MY TEM-” Bucky was cut off mid-rant as he was wreathed in shadowy purple flames, frozen in place.
Jin punched the shroud around his god and was thrown fifty feet by a blast of the eldritch energy that bound Bucky where he stood. Krang helped the gnome to his feet and shook his head. “Don’t bother. That’s a Gudsbur, better known as a Divine Nullifier, and Bucky’s unharmed. It’ll fade eventually. For now, we have bigger problems. Like them,” Krang said, pointing at the various demons that poured out of the holes in reality that lead to the Abyss.
Jin became incensed upon seeing the filth flooding the grounds and shifted in the blink of an eye into his draconic form, his mithril scales shimmering in the early morning light. A great roar bellowed forth, flattening a small army’s worth of minor demons in the gust of angry dragon’s breath. Searing plasma flew from Zeke’s arms, bu
rning holes through demons before splashing against the barrier that surrounded the temple, the spell fed by the energies of the leylines.
Cenere turned away from where he’d been striking the barrier to try and get back to his boss, then growled in fury and began hurling mithril daggers at everything that came out of the portals. He screamed out a death metal hymn that disoriented their foes as the music harmonized with Camilla’s hideous cackling, both amplifying each other’s effects and causing the shades to clutch their heads as the sound destabilized their forms.
Bullets from a light machinegun stitched up demons left and right as Sachi stood back to back with her beau, slaying the vile things with his bare hands until he grabbed a weapon from one and used the borrowed blade until it broke.
Cenere cleared an area around himself then began experimenting with his voice when he noticed his song was causing the barrier to ripple. He tried different pitches and tones, volumes and sound shapes, until he created a pinhole in the barrier. The weakened barrier reformed the moment he took a breath and he was forced to defend himself again as a portal opened near his position.
Hold on Carl, Cenere thought to himself as he parried a blow away with his sword before incinerating the beastie with a gout of Hellfire. I’ll be there as soon as I can.
∞∞∞
“Touche! A hit, Señor, a hit! You have first blood!” Carranza said, backing away after getting pinked in the elbow by Carl’s blade. The dummy twitched for a moment as black flame began burning on the surface. “What is this? The necrid…ah, I see! The necrid burns!” Caranza ripped away the small spot that burned like a candle wick and a short spray of burning necrid carried the flames away from Carranza. The exposed necrid congealed, forming a bandage of sorts. Carranza paused before taking a step forward to continue the duel. “My orb…the outer surface scratch was widened. Huh. This fight may prove more exciting than I believed, Señor.”
