by R W Foster
As she finished speaking, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was the first white haired elf, or Gorauch I guess they should be called. He walked past the nymph, who now had her hands on her hips, and walked up to the three of us.
“I live, Keeper Dearbhaile,” he said in his hollow voice.
She stared at him in shock. I took a good gander at the guy since he was so close. He was maybe three centimeters taller than Dearbhaile and maybe five kilos heavier. He had two different colored eyes: one grey, like his brother’s and the other was grey tinged with red. Scars, I guessed were caused by claws, ran on a diagonal across his face from his hairline, across his red tinged eye, and over his jaw. He was dressed like the others in his party, in differing colors of green and brown, like a primitive camouflage. There was something unsettling about his eyes, but I couldn’t figure it out.
“Corath,” she breathed. “How can this be? I witnessed th’ rites!”
“My father, in addition to being the chieftain, was also our clan’s shaman. His grief being great that day, he created a false body and burned that in the rite. This body was placed in a stasis spell until he was able to discover a new resurrection spell.”
That caught my attention. “What do you mean a new one?”
He turned his head to look at me. That unsettling gaze of his locked on me, sending chills down my spine.
“Ye were resurrected before,” Dearbhaile whispered.
“I was. I had been killed by an orc raiding party when I was but a child,” Corath said. “My father did not want to allow that to be my fate, so I was resurrected.”
“How many times can someone be resurrected?” I asked.
“Only once,” Dearbhaile answered.
“Any other time, yes,” Corath said. “My father managed it twice. When our clan discovered me alive again, I was called an abomination, and my parents were killed. My brother and sister would have been as well, but I am a skilled warrior.”
“I’m glad you were able to save your siblings,” I said. “Family is important.”
“Yes it is,” Corath agreed.
“So, what about my brother?” asked Wen. “Will you keep your promise, Keeper?”
“I cannae. Carter be me Rishka.”
“He’s a human!” Wen shouted.
“Why is that so important to you?” I asked him. “Do you have something against humans?”
“They killed my sister! You cannot be trusted!”
“I understand your hurt, but it has nothing to do with me.”
Wen growled and made as if to attack me again, but his brother’s hand on his chest stopped him. “Corath, what are you doing?” He asked.
“Settle yourself. He is not like the others.”
“How can you say that? He’s like the others! Thinking our women are to be taken for their own amusement!”
“I cannot detect his life force,” Corath said.
Wen stopped straining against his brother’s restraining hand and locked his gaze on me again. “Have you Joined?” he demanded.
“None of your business,” I said.
“That’s not for you to say, now is it?” He took pleasure in throwing my words back at me. It was in his eyes.
“We have nae,” Dearbhaile said, taking the air out of my sails.
Wen shot a look of triumph my way. I responded with a curl of my lip.
“There is something wrong with this one, Carter. He seems…unhinged.”
‘I agree, Weijia. It may have to do with his brother. The one that had been promised to Dearbhaile.’
“What are your thoughts on that? Do you feel betrayed?”
I didn’t care for the eagerness I picked up from her. “Corath, what do you mean, you can’t detect my life force?”
“After my second resurrection, the life force of the living became visible. I soon developed the ability to detect the negative force given off by the undead, and the malevolence of demon kind. I can see you with my eyes, but not with my other side. It’s disconcerting to say the least.”
I paused. This sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember why.
“You gained the power of Sympathetic Reflection,” Lady Orwen said.
“Yes.”
“Ye cannae see Carter because he’s not of this world.”
Wen leaped to attack me again. “Unnatural beast!”
“I don’t have time for this.” I thrust my palm against his chest and sent the Gorauch tumbling back. The nymph hissed at me. Weijia and Lady Orwen moved to stand before her. The orcs scrambled to their feet and tried to run. Hundreds of dryad exploded from their trees. The orcs were tore apart in short order, and we appeared to be next.
“Everyone stop!” Dearbhaile’s scream echoed through the forest. All movement ceased - even breathing. I struggled to move, but was unable to. I couldn’t even finish my blink. ‘Holy crap she’s powerful. Even the nymph is frozen.’ She sank to her knees, clutching her head.
“What is wrong with all of ye? We should be on the same side, not trying to kill one another. Yes, I be promised to Corath, and I loved him. That be fifty years ago. I thought him dead. I grieved, but moved on. It’s not fair tae expect me to feel the same now that I know him tae be alive again. Wen, ye idiot, th’ reason yer brother cannae detect Carter’s life force be because Carter be th’ Walker O’ Worlds.”
A creature with a broad, muscular body appeared behind her. Its four arms ended in weapons - two with clawed hands, two with powerful pincers. Its skeletal, doglike head was topped with horns, and its muzzle dripped with sharp fangs. Its eyes had a cold, dark, penetrating quality that suggested cunning and intelligence.
‘Dearbhaile! Dearbhaile, look out!’ Try as I might, I could not warn my love that a demon was behind her. It glared into my eyes as it thrust a pincer at the nape of her neck. ‘Noooo… ’
“Oooo!”
Somehow, I was between Dearbhaile, and the demon, my hands locked on its pincer, my love sprawled on the ground at my feet. I gave a mighty heave, and managed to throw the creature back a couple steps. I drew my sword and fell on the demon, a storm of blows coming hard and fast. As big as the monster was, it managed to keep up with me. Thumps sounded behind me. I feinted a slash at the monster’s belly. When it retreated, I chanced a glance behind me. Thousands of demons beset the army of fey and my other companions.
The one I fought bellowed and thrust all four of its dangerous limbs at my body. I jumped backward and tripped over an errant tree limb. I landed on the ground with a jolt to my spine that knocked the wind from me. I rolled to my feet as the demon’s pincers plowed into the ground where I’d been seconds before. Before the demon could free itself, my blade sliced deep into its neck. A gout of silver fountained skyward. I pulled my sword free, wondering at its new lightness as the fiend collapsed to the earth. The blade melted away. ‘Well, that sucks.’
I turned to the rest of the battle. Corath carved through demons with ruthless efficiency, his brother laughed like a maniac as he fought a huge one. Lady Orwen and Weijia fought back-to-back. Adora swung her flanged mace with ease. The half-dragon hewed fiends like a logger with trees. My Rishka conjured something. A purple mist swirled between her hands.
A pair of orange, skeletal beings in wet looking plate mail moved to bisect her with their swords. I yelled, but knew that wouldn’t be enough. I sprang forward, running all out. My scream ripped open my throat. As I ran, I noticed things getting slower. Combatants moved as if they were in molasses. Ebony blades, poised to slash and kill halted their forward movement. Purple mist swirled to a stop. Dust hung in the air and sound vanished as if someone turned down the volume.
I noticed only at the periphery of my consciousness. I was too worried about trying to stop the impossible. I slammed into the ground, something near my left hip digging into me. “Fuck!” I rolled to the right, and got to my feet, filled with pain. I tried to pull myself into a run, but my leg wouldn’t cooperate.
I looked for the demons
, wanting to make sure I recognized them. I wanted to be certain I killed them. No one else would stop me from doing so. ‘The filthy creature’s will pay for —’
I stumbled to a halt and stared. My mind took several seconds to accept what my eyes told it. Every single thing was frozen around me. Every. Single. Thing. ‘Gawk later, you damned fool. No telling how long this will last.’
“Good point,” I answered myself.
I gimped my way over to Dearbhaile’s side. ‘Okay, now what? Let me try…’ I pushed one of the skeletal demons back, and found the creature tipped over in a nice way. I lifted my love and set her out of range of the other demon’s slash. I looked to make sure I wasn’t in the way, and waited for things to return to normal.
4
And waited.
5
And waited.
6
‘What the hell is going on? Why aren’t they moving again?’ I tapped my fingers on my knee. I sat with my legs crossed for what had to be several hours, yet nothing changed. I hadn’t even gotten tired, or hungry. I was getting bored as hell. ‘Wait a minute. What if I killed the demons while everything is frozen?’
I rose, and my knee gave out. My left leg had fallen asleep. I groaned with the eerie sensation. I shook my limb a couple times, and then stamped my foot on the ground. Soon, it got pins and needles tingling telling me the blood was clearing out the toxins that had built up.
I spied a sword in the process of falling to the ground near a dryad that had her purple and green intestines spilling out as she fell back. Spots of yellowish fat deposits speckled her guts. Blackish blood sprayed through the air in a rooster tail. I claimed her sword and looked around for the demon that had split her belly open. I rubbed the back of my neck. No demon nearby could have done so. ‘What the hell?’
“Never mind. Cut the others’ throats while you can.”
‘Alright. Jeeze.’
I’ll give this to the dryads: Their blades were sharp as hell. The sword sliced into the demons’ necks like gossamer. I killed those that had threatened Dearbhaile without compunction, or hesitation, but when I moved to the one that Adora fought, I found myself moving a little slower. The sword grew heavier. By the time I moved to Weijia’s side, my blade was carving a furrow in the earth. I only managed to cut through this demon’s neck part way before the weapon fell from nerveless fingers. ‘By all the hells, what am I doing? They’re helpless. Am I no better than they?’
I had no issue with killing them when they were able to fight me back, but this was simple murder. ‘Even if they are demons.’ I dropped to my knees.
7
“Oh. I should have known you were the cause of the time freeze, Carter Blake.” A titanic, muscular, golden skinned bald man appeared before me. I raised my sword, ready to fight. He reached down and plucked the weapon right from my fingers. He raised the blade to his mouth, and used it to pick his enormous teeth. “Why thank you, my good man. You always know when I need something, don’t you? I guess that comes with being the Walker of Worlds.” He made a sucking sound and put the sword in the brown belt of his tan trousers. He looked around. “When is this?” I blinked, dumbfounded. “Oh! No wonder you’re so quiet.” He took a step forward, and was beside me, but only a half-meter taller than me this time. He draped a heavy arm around my shoulders. “I forgot: You’ve not yet met me. Sorry. I’m Kronos, the remaining God of Time.”
I spun away. “What do you mean by all that?”
“Be a little more specific?”
“You’re a god?”
“The technical term is Titan.”
“A Titan. From Greek myth?” I narrowed my eyes. ‘This has to be a trick of some kind.’
“No trick, Carter. I am a Titan. The last one to be exact.”
I shook my head. “No way. Okay, so you pulled off telepathy, but that means nothing.”
“Good point. Try this, then: Thousands of years ago, your kind – the Walkers of Worlds – were created to banish, or slay gods that became too cruel, or made war on other deities. You are different. You have the potential to be the most powerful Walker. Ever.”
“So? You know a bit of history. Why is that supposed to impress me?”
Kronos – if that was his name – grinned. “I forgot how much fun it is conversing with you. Perils of Time Walking. I’m not yet going to convince you because of three things: A, you don’t want to believe yet. B, if I tell you any of what you really want to know, it’ll change your future. We can’t have that. And, last, it’s more fun watching you figure things out on your own.” I scratched my chin. His smile faded and he placed both hands on my shoulders. “You’re about to meet someone that is very important to me and the future. He is to be the father of a new race of Time Gods. Please keep him safe for as long as you can.”
He vanished. I stood blinking, bemused, for several seconds. “How am I supposed to protect someone if I don’t know who they are?”
A shockwave of sounds knocked me to my knees. I coughed breathing in a cloud of dust and smoke. A chorus of screams, and gurgles signaled the deaths of demons and dryads. Things had resumed.
8
I spun in place, checking on my friends, and – most important – my Rishka. All were surprised their opponents dropped, except Dearbhaile. By now, her handful of purple mist had grown to a massive ball. She threw her hands at a swarm of demons tearing through the forest. The spell hit them, swirled around the group, causing them to wave their hands, claws, pincers to clear their air, then they burst apart with a colossal thunderclap. All froze, and turned to see what had happened. I, being focused on her, was the only one to see her draw her hand through the air, as if unzipping a zipper. A yellow light appeared and coiled, snake-like around her.
She thrust her hand like she was conducting music. The yellow light followed her movements with elegant grace. Each demon it came in contact with was sliced to ribbons. ‘Senbonzakura Kageyoshi - Vibrant Display of a Thousand Cherry Blossoms. She’s got Byakuya Kuchiki’s Bankai from the anime Bleach.’ I laughed. ‘She has things under control.’ I still watched her. Dearbhaile moved like a ballerina, or a rhythmic gymnast. A L’Arc attempted to launch an aerial attack at her. I drew a breath to bellow a warning, and released it without a sound: The ribbon of light intercepted the winged demon and shredded it.
A familiar roar ripped through the forest, sounding as if someone was blowing bubbles into a thick stew, followed by amplifying the noise twenty times. ‘Shit. This did not need…’ The ground shook in a steady rhythm. Trees swayed. I spun in place, and detected more than one Lyxo coming in a hurry. Demons scattered. Dearbhaile’s yellow light vanished. I ran to her side, gripped her wrist and pulled her over to Adora. Weijia, Wen and Corath joined us.
“Form a circle around Dearbhaile!” I shouted.
“She’s more powerful than us, Carter!” Wen yelled back.
“She’s squidgy!” Weijia replied.
The splinter and crash of tree trunks announced the presence of six Lyxo demons. The five of us were surrounded. “Wen, Corath, keep them away from Dearbhaile.” Wen snarled at me. “She needs time to cast her spells.” I turned long enough to cast a glare at the Gorauch. “If anything happens to her because you have a grudge against humans, I will peel the flesh from your bones.” My tone caused my Rishka to blanch, and Wen to ready himself for an attack on me.
Corath placed his hand on his brother’s chest. “Focus, brother. Demons are more important than he.”
I didn’t catch what he grumbled. I glanced at Adora. “A suggestion, Your Highness: Call on Azerith.” I didn’t know if the angel would come when his master was dark, but it was worth a shot.
She nodded, but we didn’t get any further time for strategy. The large demons attacked. I charged the Lyxo before me. This one was like a chimera: The demon had the left head of a goat, the right of a dragon, and the middle one of a lion with six legs. The two in the front were like that of an ape, the middle two like a dog, and the rearmost one
s were like a bear.
The monster thrust its left head at me, and struck with the right. I sidestepped the first bite, and ducked under the second by bending my knees and back in a crouch. The lion head bellowed at me, sending a fume of decayed carrion breath into my face. As my stomach rebelled, I punched the lion head in the snout. The demon recoiled and sneezed, covering me in a yellowish-green mucus. “Ugh!” I cried. I stumbled back a couple steps. A hit from behind sent me teetering into the demon’s reach. Its slap slammed into my left shoulder and knocked me flying into a tree. Pine needles rained around me as I slumped to the ground. Four Lyxo demons leaped at me. I stared through watery eyes, and waited to die.
9
I blinked and a man dressed in green and dark brown leather armor stood before me. He had a lean and muscular build. Sable hair hung to his shoulders. A sword with a blue crystalline blade was held in his right hand. He glanced over his shoulder at me. Coffee colored eyes sparkled with mischievous humor. The Lyxo that was about to kill me drew up in surprise. Three heads sniffed the air, and then swung a massive paw at the newcomer. Without taking his eyes from me, he cut off the incoming limb. The demon bellowed in pain, and swiped at the mystery man again.
He turned to the attack, leaped on to the arm, raced up and stabbed the demon’s dragon throat. He flipped through the air sliced the lion muzzle off, and then stabbed the goat between the eyes. As the Lyxo collapsed, he pulled the blade free, ran along it’s chest, and flung himself through the air at the Lyxo that had Adora on the defensive.
Her flanged mace glowed with an eldritch violet light. Each time the weapon collided with the tiger paw of her demon, black sparks leaped into the air. The three headed demon Lady Orwen battled had heads like a bull, the torso of a tiger, and the lower body of a goat. The beast threw its paws at her just as the man in leather arrived. As she blocked the strikes, he grabbed the outer horn of the right bull head, twisted downward, flipped under and snapped the neck. Continuing his motion, the man stabbed the center bull head between the horns, pulled the blade free, and flipped over to the last one, stabbing it between the horns as well. The man hit the ground in a graceful tuck and roll.
