Destiny

by Jason A. Cheek

  “OOOFFF!” Unconsciously the sound came from Nessa’s dry lips as she crashed hard into the ground on the other side of the monster. Vaguely she remembered seeing the flashing blow as the creature’s misshapen arms slammed into her from behind. Lurching to her hooves, Nessa froze as she saw the cruel look on the grotesque aberration that wore her brother’s face.

  For a long moment, they sized each other up. Nessa’s withers burned from where the monster’s claws had torn through the armor protecting her flanks, gouging bloody rivulets into her flesh while the creature bled from the arrows piercing its arms and chest.

  Tolnik’s twisted lips formed into a wicked smile as he gathered his long misshapen arms back into his body. “Aren’t family reunions so much fun?” Ignoring the bait, Nessa raised her mace up defensively as she shifted her weight preparing to spring. Mockingly, the voice continued taunting her. “You look much tastier than your brother.”

  Ignoring the creature’s words Nessa pressed her lips together as she waited for the attack. She knew the monster was trying to goad her into making the first move. Out of the corner of her eye, Nessa saw the old Shaman’s hands suddenly clutch at the dirt near the creature’s feet as her heart skipped a beat. Uzila still lived!

  “I shall enjoy making you scream like I did your brother!” With a shriek, the creature’s grotesque arms shot out impossibly fast heading straight at her face. Prepared for the attack, Nessa threw her weight to the side swinging the mace with all of her strength.

  The sounds of crunching bones rang out around her as Nessa felt the mace connect. Faster than eyes could follow the monster whipped its arms back to its chest screaming in wordless rage as the mace was wrenched from her clenched fists.

  Searing fire ran down the side of her face from the hit as Nessa shook the flashing stars away from her eyes. With grim determination, she drew the long daggers from her back sheaths. Laying the blades against her forearms, Nessa wiped away the blood running down her cheek with the back of her hand as the blue runes etched within the blades glowed to life. Facing-off with the monster, she brought her arms up defensively as the creature slowly licked the blood from its claws with a long tongue.

  “Like any dumb beast, you stubbornly refuse to admit the simple truth.” Laughing evilly, the creature clinched its hands into oversized fists. “You’re already dead!”

  This time, the monster’s blows struck quicker than the eye could follow as Nessa fell back slashing wildly. As the blood flowed into her eyes blinding her, Nessa fought to protect herself as best she could. Closing in once again with the insanely strong beast, she gritted her teeth as the creature’s rock hard fists drove into her mercilessly.

  Air whooshed out of her lungs, and Nessa felt her ribs snap as the creature’s powerful blows rained down upon her torso and flanks. Even though her body was racked with pain from the brutal onslaught, she drove herself forward, slashing at the creature with her blades.

  At one point she severed through one of the monster’s stretched limbs, but it didn’t stop the savage beating. Unfazed, the beast continued pummeling her with its bloody stump. With growing horror, Nessa realized the truth. The creature wasn’t trying to kill her. The assault was too purposely targeted for that. The creature wanted to keep her alive!

  Staggering heavily as she took a hit to the back of the head, Nessa felt herself falling. A second later her body slam into the ground as the creature’s fists continued to hammer at her head and face. When the blows finally stopped, Nessa saw the corpse-white monster towering over her through swollen half-closed eyes. A second later she heard the ragged screams of her own voice as the creature’s long claws dug deep trails down her flank. In horror, Nessa watched the monster bring a bloody chunk of flesh to its lips slurping in ecstasy.

  “Your fear is so succulent! I will enjoy feasting on-”

  KKKAAABBBOOOOOOMMM

  Strobing bright light blinded Nessa momentarily as the ground shook from the blast. As if far away she heard the sound of an explosion ripping through the air around her as soothing darkness washed over her consciousness. A couple of seconds later, Nessa awoke with a jerk as she heard the old Shaman’s craggily voice calling out to her.

  “Nessa, can you hear me, my child?” Everything hurt as Nessa pushed her upper torso off the ground. Rolling to her knees, she wiped the blood from her eyes searching for the creature that had stolen Tolnik’s face. Unbelievably he was nowhere to be seen.

  “What just happened? Uzila, where did Tolnik go?” Nessa turned back to look at the old Shaman as her voice suddenly caught in her throat.

  “Thank the Sky-Father you live!” Hacking blood from her lungs Uzila continued weakly. “There is little time, young one. I drove him off with Luonnotar’s blessing, but he’ll be back soon enough.” Following Nessa’s look of horror, Uzila grimaced shuddering in agony. “You must go now!"

  Bloody guts trailed across the trampled ground to the old Shaman’s barrel chest from where she’d crawled to Nessa’s side. As Nessa begin shaking her head no, Uzila eyes hardened. “Child, you must go to Mount Airy and find your Father!”

  A look of horror crossed Nessa’s face. She tried to yank her arm free, but the old Shaman’s held her fast. “You must heed my words! I am done for child. Only your Father can save us now.”

  Nessa stopped struggling as Uzila was overwhelmed by another fit of racking coughs. By the time Uzila recovered enough to talk, blood was running freely down her chest in rivulets.

  “The beast that wears Tolnik’s skin has sent others like him to kill your Father.” Grabbing Nessa by the shoulders in a death grip, Uzila lifted her torso up to look directly into Nessa’s eyes. “You must not let your Father be taken!” With her last breath, Uzila tried to make Nessa understand. “The Elders must be told of the Tuonellians return!”

  Sudden pain racked the old Shaman as her muscles clenched in agony. Eyes bulging out, Uzila strained to get her last words out. Nessa watched in horror as Uzila’s eyes rolled into her head. Her body went rigid one last time as the life fled her ruined body. Closing her eyes, Nessa bowed her head.

  “Sky-Father, I pray that you watch over Uzila as her soul rises to your embrace. She has been a true Spirit Mother to the People of the Thunder Tribe.”

  For a long moment, Nessa could only stare helplessly at her old friend’s stiff body. Carefully she pried the old Shaman’s stiff fingers away from her shoulders. Laying Uzila gently on the ground, Nessa folded the old Shaman’s arms across her chest as she kissed the wrinkled forehead tenderly.

  Tears slowly streaming down her face, Nessa contemplated Uzila’s words. She remembered the Tribes gruesome stories from the Tuonellian War and of the fearsome Hulks that had slaughtered so many of the People during the invasion. There was no way father could hope to fight these terrible creatures alone. She had to find a way to save him!

  Pulling out the pouch of herbs from Uzila’s back harness, Nessa found the Tuppalnins the old Shaman had gathered earlier in the day. Crushing the delicate yellow blooms in her hands, she worked quickly pressing the crushed pulp onto the worst of her wounds. The pedals and roots of the weeds were used by her people to make poultices that enhance healing. Although it worked better when it was distilled, the quick poultices she’d applied would help to ease the pain of her wounds.

  Finished, Nessa forced her battered body to her hooves. Gathering up her lost weapons, she sheathed them on her back harness before taking one last look at Uzila unmoving form. The old Shaman had been like a mother to her. After her mother’s death, Uzila had raised her as her own foal. Showing her the ways of the spirit walk and how to commune with Mother-Earth, Nessa had become a chosen of Luonnotar.

  The emotional pain of loss felt worse than the physical wounds that covered her body. Wiping her tears away with her knuckles, Nessa spun around heading towards the Southeast. Using all of her willpower she pushed her abused body into a slow trot. Although a trot had nowhere near the speed of a fast gallop, it was a pace she cou
ld keep up for days, and Mount Airy was, at least, three days of hard travel away.

  If the stories of the Hulks were true, it would take every ounce of strength she had to make it to Mount Airy ahead of the creature in time to help her father. Gritting her teeth, Nessa pushed herself hard ignoring her screaming muscles. Slowly the stiffness left her limbs as her hooves began striking the ground in a steady rhythm.

  Focused on the dark shadow of the lonely mountain towering above the horizon, the golden rolling hills of the plains flowed by as Nessa’s pondered over Uzila’s warning. Although she had never seen a Tuonellian Hulk before now, the songs of her People were filled with stories of the terrible creatures that had slaughtered so many during the onset of the War. The surviving warriors from that time all carried gruesome battle scars from those earlier days.

  When she was a young foal, Nessa had loved hearing about the deeds of valor from the War, but as she’d grown older that interest had waned. Massive armies of the Alliance fighting desperate battles against endless waves of the Tuonellian Hordes, terrible demons standing over a hundred hands high met head-on by the Paladins of Ukko as the entire world burned, it was simply too much for an experienced warrior such as herself to accept. But now, after facing the incredible strength of a Tuonellian Hulk for the first time, all the old stories she’d heard suddenly came flooding back to her.

  What if they were all real?

  A foreboding dread filled Nessa’s heart as she watched the golden orb of Paiva sink below the horizon. It was almost as if the turn in her thoughts had brought on the growing darkness like some terrible omen. The feeling only intensified as the dry plains around her suddenly turned bloodred.

  Looking behind her, Nessa saw the Demon Moon rising into the night’s sky behind her. Remember her father’s words, Nessa mentally corrected herself. Its true name was Romulus, but nowadays it was called the Demon Moon.

  In the past, Romulus had always risen after its larger brother Remus, but during her grandfather’s time, almost seventeen hundred years ago, that suddenly changed. On the first night, Romulus had risen ahead of its brother, the invasion of the Tuonellian Hordes had begun.

  Initially, the races of Irlendria had been overwhelmed by the terrible onslaught invading their lands. Even the People of the Plains had been slaughtered in the tens of thousands, but the Klavikians had changed all of that. With their Holy Paladins of Ukko, the Klavikians were able to hold back the invasion long enough for the races of Irlendria to band together to form the Alliance of Aurenko. Sharing their eldritch knowledge the Klavikian’s taught the Alliance the way of crafting rune weapons strong enough to fight against the invaders.

  Nessa’s thoughts began to wander as fatigue from the battle settled into her limbs. Around her, the blood red of the plains began to fade as Remus’ blue light grew around her. Reaching into the pouch at her waist, Nessa removed a small piece of Alttash’s Tears. Chewing slowly on the bitter root, she focused on putting one hoof in front of the other.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Location Irlendria / Startüm Ironwolf:

  Jagged bolts of lightning shattered the stormy night as we tumbled into the dark chasm with half the mountain raining down around us. I felt the shock waves through my bones as the thunderstorm roared in fury around us. Finishing my prayer to Ukko, I opened my eyes quickly wiping away the ice plastered to my face. The force of the wind’s passage rippled across my cheeks as I watched the strobing flashes lit up the Otso River far below. There were only seconds left before impact.

  Gathering my strength, I held the unconscious twins protectively to my chest as the falling plateau slammed into the river ahead of us. As a massive plume of water shot into the air, I activated the Rök runes tattooed into my skin and engraved into my armor as we dropped into the center of the churning mess, focusing on the one thing that mattered more than anything else.

  For the first time in my life, I was not alone. The feelings of love and protectiveness welling up inside of me were like nothing I’d ever known before. In that instant, I knew I would do whatever it took to keep my girls safe. Breathing in a lungful of air, I screamed out my prayer to Ukko.

  “Suoja!”

  I felt my protection aura snap into place a second before we plunged into the depths of the Otso River. The impact stole my breath away as the icy cold water ripped through me like a knife. Hitting the water was the most excruciating physical pain I’d ever felt in my entire life. It was as if every bone in my body had ruptured on impact. By Ukko’s grace alone I managed to hold onto consciousness as we plummeted into the depths of the river.

  Massive boulders rained into the water around us as the rest of the avalanche crashed into the river like an unstoppable force of destruction. Using my darkvision, I was able to dodge the largest pieces that would have crushed us instantly to death as they hurling past us into the deep, but that still left the majority of the mountain to batter my broken body.

  I don’t how many times I was forced back into the depths, but as the mass of falling debris finally let up, we reached the surface. Thick sheets of snow still fell from the storm clouds overhead as thunder rocked the heavens, but the avalanche had run its course. Breathing a sigh of relief, I released my Rök runes laying back in the water when I realized my armor was floating. Lifting the girls higher onto my chest to get them out of the freezing water, I let my head sag back in exhaustion as the current carried us away.

  I was sure that the seething river was the only thing that saved our lives from that height. If the avalanche hadn’t broken the surface tension of the water, we would have died on impact. Not even my Rök runes could have changed that. As it was, it felt like every bone in my body had been broken.

  Gathering the very last of my power reserves, I pushed a trickle of healing energy into Starfire and Frostbrand. As their condition stabilized once more, my eyes rolled back into my head as the Fring began raging through my depleted body once more. Semi-conscious, I felt the water around us gathering speed as we began hitting rough pockets of rapids, but my breastplate supported us like a lifejacket. Mentally I patted myself on the back for using synthetic water-resistant padding for my armor so many years ago. In truth, the side effect had been an unintentional part of the design. I felt my thoughts begin to drift as I held the girls tightly in my arms.

  Loneliness is a powerful emotion. Still, I couldn’t believe how important the girls had become to me in such a short amount of time. Except for my connection to Ukko, for as long as I could remember I’d always been alone. Even though I’d been born a member of the Shadowfang Pack, I had never been truly accepted as part of the Pack, which was just another wonderful aspect of being born a half-breed. Later on, when my parents died defending Irlendria from the Tuonellian invasion, my Grandsire had done his best to raise me. Unfortunately, he’d never truly understood me.

  I had thought the feelings of isolation would have gone away as I grew older, but even after teaching thousands upon thousands of humans the Ukko Method of Self Defense, and starting a movement with over one and a half billion followers, my feelings of loneliness had only intensified. Since the death of my father’s people, I never stopped to have a life. Every second was spent working towards the goal of ending the evil that was Loviatar, never once questioning the path that fate had chosen for me to follow. When, on my twenty-first birthday, I’d had enough.

  I’m sure some people would accuse me of losing faith and abandoning my followers, but that was not the case. By then my students were already well on their path to Ukko and my absence caused them no harm. I would love to say that the change allowed me to explore new options for fighting my people’s ancient enemy, but the simple truth of the matter was that I wanted more from life. I hadn’t given up the fight, but there had to be more to life than just duty and suffering.

  My thoughts came back into focus as a loud roaring sound began getting closer. Water splashed violently over my head as I weakly looked around for the source of the noise. At fi
rst, my fuzzy mind couldn’t figure out what was happening, but when I saw the heavy spray of mist quickly approaching. My heart skipped a beat.

  We had reached Ashima Falls! It was the highest waterfall in all of Irlendria. Also the unspoken dividing line between the realm of the beasts and civilization, it was the beginning of the Great Forest and the realm of the Elves.

  How had we traveled down the Otso River in such a short time? I knew I’d faded out, but … Spinning around in the water I scanned the bank on either of the river searching for an escape, but it was too late. Even if I’d been at full strength and alone, the embankments would have still been too far away me to reach in time. Even half submerged in the icy-cold water my head burned with fever. In my present physical condition, the river banks may as well have been back on Earth.

  My consciousness continued fading in and out as my body fought the ravaging effects of the Fring. Still, I had enough strength left to gather the twins in my protective embrace as we approached the drop-off. Ahead of me, I saw the dark horizon disappeared into a white snowy haze. We were so high up that if it had been a clear day I could have looked out onto the rolling grasslands of the Imperium.

  Raising my eyes to the heavens as the roaring sound filled my ears, I prayed as we fell into darkness once again. “Ukko beskytt oss.” (Ukko protect us.)

  Chapter Eighteen

  Location Earth / Larissa Evans:

  “The next slide is the most up to date map of the Crypt of Britomartis we have so far.” Clicking next Larissa displayed the map of the geode’s main cavern. “If you will take particular note of the unique condition of the biological specimens in the main chamber, you will notice that they are perfectly preserved with no signs of decay. Carbon dating has positively identified the tridymite crystalline shells to be three and a half thousand years old.”