by Andur
The explosion covers me in blood, gore and pieces of bone; and while I managed to shield my eyes with the axehead, the rest of my black and gold uniform is ruined. At least my opponent dropped back to his knees. Then planted his face in the ground, creating a pitiful, last scene of his corpse with his ass high in the air.
For the first time I get a free second to take in my surroundings. Seria managed to get me right into the middle of a huge battle. I am right in the centre of a huge, rectangle-shaped hall. Our people are fighting their way forward from a big door. At the far end, is another door which is held by the defenders. All of them are clad in black and red uniforms, while our people's uniforms are in black and gold.
Shade is right in the middle of them, single-mindedly advancing on a man who looks very similar to Seria's description of Moonray. I've no idea why he is here, but I guess we will find out once Shade gets his hands on him.
I raise the axe and plant it in the back of an opponent who was fighting one of our men. The soldier nods, and searches for another enemy. Continuing on my way, I advance with the flow until I find Seria right in the middle of things, following her father. It's clear that the battle is going our way, but the enemy commander is still safely behind several rows of his men. Even if Shade manages to break through, all Moonray has to do is to take a step back and close the doors behind him.
The huge blast door behind him looks clumsy, but I have a feeling that it can snap shut in just a moment. “Moonray! Are you too afraid to fight your own battles? Why are you hiding behind your men?” Shade taunts Moonray, blasting apart a soldier who tried to get in his way.
Moonray turns around and I see his mouth moving, as if he is talking with someone who is still hidden out of sight. It looks like he is trying to convince the other person of something. To my astonishment it doesn't look like he is giving orders, but pleading for something. In the end, he turns around and advances on Shade, a furious expression on his face.
Another enemy blocks my path and I trade blows with him so hard that the blade of my battleaxe chips in several places. In the end it's my opponen's sword that breaks and I use the axe to behead him without a second thought.
Looking up again, I find Shade and Moonray trading blows. The other combatants cleared a large circle around them, but I would do that too in this case. Their auras are clashing with each other in a fruitless attempt to overwhelm the other party. Shade's aura is blue and red, while his opponent's is a flaming orange. Moonray wields a much too large, flaming sword while Shade blocks the blows with his staff. Each time sparks and flames rush through the air, singeing everyone who comes too close.
Seria reaches them and carelessly throws one of the enemy soldiers at the two combatants, aiming for Moonray. The unconventional attack doesn't cause any damage, but it causes Moonray to stumble, giving Shade the chance to bury the bladed end of his staff in Moonray's belly.
He screams and for a moment I actually believe that the battle is won, but then Moonray turns to pure flame and starts growing. He changes shape and turns into a phoenix, while Shade takes on his shadow-form. Tentacles of darkness wrap themselves around the firebird and I throw myself to the ground as the bird opens his beak, granting me vision on a boiling hellfire in its throat.
A flaming jet of fire shoots out of it and almost burns away my scalp as it eats through several layers of my protective wards. The last thing I hear and see of Seria is a scream and her falling backwards as the jet of flames rushes over her and incinerates friend and foe alike.
“Seria!” I shout and jump to my feet, all caution forgotten. Seria must be gravely hurt, or worse!
One of the enemies bars my way, swinging a sword and striking my chest. The blow pushes me back, but it barely registers as my vision narrows to a tunnel. My body moves on its own as I step forward, growling. Nobody gets in my way when my woman is hurt!
The man screams as I get a grip on his sword-arm and tear it off. The scream ends as I rake my claws across his throat, delighted by the spraying blood. It shoots out of the artery like out of a spring.
One of our men scrambles on all fours to get out of my way and I tear into the man behind him. I wouldn't have cared less at the moment. All who stand in my way are enemies. I tear off limbs and howl in triumph as the enemies fall before me. My wards protect me from the worst, but each wound I get feels just like an annoying sting. All I see is red.
“... Stop!”
Then Seria's voice reaches me and I find myself hitting an enemy with an improvised club. His head is already dented, so all I am doing is mutilating a corpse.
Seria is in her spirit form. She shakes my shoulder, smiling and talking with a husky voice. “Do you hear me? It's sexy that you switched to berserker mode for me, but the battle is already over.”
“You are fine? I thought-”
“It's okay. I just tripped when that firejet hit me. We've known about Moonray's flames for a long time, so we prepared ways to counter them. Is that a thigh-bone, what you are holding? Oh, how wicked, you are indeed a fitting addition to the family. I find men without remorse sexy!” She squirms and clenches her hands to her chest.
I try to regain my grip on the situation. The battle is indeed over... so I really freaked out when I thought that Seria is hurt? And as a matter of fact I am holding a thigh-bone. When did I rip that out of someone? And how? “Where is the firebird?”
Seria points at her father who is handcuffing the same man who had this awesome transformation. And oh boy, he is really overdoing it. Moonray is bound by two sets of crystal cuffs for hands and feet, which are then pulled together by a crystal chain. The chain in turn is attached to a collar around Moonray's neck, pulling him into an awkward foetal position with no room to move. “Dad subdued him. He even managed to take him alive.”
I drop the 'club' and get to my feet to hug Seria. “I really thought that you were hurt.”
“Aw, that's so nice of you.” She pats my back. “Maybe we should make out later, but now we've to find out who is behind all this.” She separates from me and points at the big blast door which was closed at some point during the battle. “Moonray didn't talk, but I have a feeling that he isn't the puppeteer this time.”
“He will talk! At the very least when I give him to Doreen! That'll surely loosen his tongue. But for now, we've to get through this door.” Shade finishes his work on Moonray who started whimpering when Doreen was mentioned.
“Doreen?” I ask.
Seria crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Doreen is my great grandma, you haven't met her. But I think I mentioned that she is a fury. And she has more than one issue with Moonray.”
I try to ignore the dark expression on Seria's face and inspect the claws which somehow grew from my knuckles. “Ahem, I didn't have these before.”
Seria raises an eyebrow and shrugs. “I already mentioned that you must have two spirit aspects. Your other half must be some form of shapeshifter. I wouldn't be too worried about it. Simply concentrate on shifting back.”
I do as she suggested and with a little bit of concentration it indeed works. When I get a free second I really have to explore the full extent of this ability. It feels like I am playing with fire. What if I can't change back at some point? Can I also grow in size like Shade?
Seria's father doesn't give me the chance to indulge myself in further speculations. He picks up his staff and points it at the blast doors. A fine energy beam shoots out of the red crystal at the staff's top and starts eating into the blast door, carving a circle into it.
“We will be through in no time.”
53. ~Slipped away.~
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
The Journey to the Afterlife
Spirit Realm
Seria
My father finishes cutting through the heavy blast door and the circular piece of iron falls to the ground with a heavy 'thud'! Of course he loses no time and rushes through the hole. Marcus a
nd I follow close behind him, just to end up in another room.
It’s empty, except for a big pedestal with stairs leading up to a throne. A few guards are lining up to block our path to the person who is standing halfway up the stairs. He is clad in a baggy, black cloak with a hood. The clothes shroud his identity completely. What little can be seen of his face is covered by a featureless, red mask. He is giving instructions to a guard who is standing to attention right next to him.
“Great. Now we even found a bad copy of Darth Maul! If that isn't the evil overlord, then I'll forswear sex for a week.” The words simply come out of my mouth. I can't help it. The whole scene is simply too cliché.
Dad points his staff at the figure and raises his voice. “You have to be the one they call the Great One. Care to explain why you are creating all this mess?”
The figure ignores my father and turns back to the guard, whispering some commands.
“Hey! Don't ignore me! And take off that stupid mask! I want to see the one whose aura is supposedly like mine!” My father advances on the row of guards, blasting them with his staff.
I take it upon myself to punch a hole into their line of defence, throwing myself into the fight. The first soldier who decides to confront me gets a pressure point treatment, which leaves him screaming on the floor. There is nothing above hitting a few nerve endings, sending signals of pain through the target’s entire being. Marcus joins me and together we clear a path for Shade.
That finally draws the attention of our nemesis. But the figure in black robes doesn't react as expected. I thought that we would now finally have the big bossfight. Instead, the figure grabs the clothes of the guard at his side and shoves him down the stairs, tripping him. The guard tumbles into my father, halting his advance for just a moment. Using the opportunity, the robed man turns and runs up the stairway, throwing out an arm to create a shimmering portal next to the throne.
My baffled father needs a precious moment to gather his wits until he dashes forward, shoving the man who stumbled into him further down the stairs. “Coward! Where do you think you are running!?”
The robed figure jumps through the portal, just as my father lunges forward and manages to grab a piece of the man's cloak in mid air. With an audible 'clap' of displaced air, the portal snaps shut and Shade lands flat on his belly. He was just a little too slow. Dad immediately gets to his feet, cursing and throwing a tantrum. He throws the piece of cloth to the ground and tears the metal throne out of its socket, hurling it across the room. The heavy throne creates a huge dent in the wall.
I just stand there while our soldiers file through the hole and overwhelm the remaining defenders. There was something wrong about the cloaked man, but I can't put my finger on it. Was it the way he moved? Or the fact that he always whispered to his subordinates? Why is he so focused on hiding his identity? Marcus reaches for my arm and touches me with his warm hand. That breaks my concentration and the thought slips away.
“Is there something wrong?” He asks.
I smile at him. “No. Probably not. I've just the feeling that we are missing something about this ‘Great One’.” I walk up the stairway and slip the piece of cloth into one of my pockets while my father is still raging.
Marcus followed me and watched the scene with interest. “Well, maybe your Moonray can provide some answers?”
Shade snaps his fingers and calls out, “Moonray! That's it!” He turns around and hurries back down the stairway and through the hole in the blast door. One moment later there is a suspicious 'crack' and a scream. The crack sounded familiar, like breaking bones. And the voice simply had to belong to Moonray.
“I didn’t hear him ask a question,” Marcus mutters.
It figures that my father's first impulse would be to hurt the prisoner without even asking a question. “Dad thinks that getting answers via torture only works if you show from the beginning that you are perfectly fine with causing pain. First, he hurts them until they ask him why he is doing it. Then he gives them the opportunity to make it stop by spilling their guts.”
Marcus rubs his temples. “Yes, I remember. Though that doesn't sound like an effective method. He is a soulmage who can pick someone's mind apart as if it's made out of Lego-blocks. Why go through all the trouble?”
I tilt my head and inspect my husband. Well, husband to be? Thinking of him as my husband may be a little too early. We didn't even have a proper party. Though we already went through all the other steps. “Do you really think that my Dad is someone who needs a proper reason to inflict pain on his enemies?”
Marcus shudders and shakes his head. “No, you are right. For a moment I forgot who we are talking about. I guess I really need a few silent days to catch up with everything.”
That makes me smile and I step closer, using my finger to draw a circle on his chest. “What makes you think that I'll give you a silent moment?”
“You are forgetting... eight times left,” he grumbles.
I let my shoulders hang and close my eyes. “You had to mention it!”
He curls down the corners of his mouth as if he thought about something. “We could forget about the amulet and settle for twice a week? If you need more time?”
“No way! We've used it for too long, I am addicted to the damn thing! I could never be satisfied by going back to doing it normally!” It's true, doing it with the amulet is just so much better! We can go on and on and...
Marcus sighs. “Then we have to resort to other means of protection.”
“Other means? Like condoms and a coil?” For a moment I consider shoving some metal or plastic into… I shudder. There isn't much to consider in that case. “I would rather get pregnant.”
“I see,” he answers.
I raise an eyebrow and look at him. “You have no objections?”
“I am not the one who will swell up like a balloon and scream my guts out once it’s time. So I figure that I shouldn’t have the last word in the matter.”
Damn! He just had to go and say it!
54. ~Return.~
“I don't think anyone, until their soul leaves their body, is past the point of no return.”
The Journey to the Afterlife
Spirit Realm
Seria
My moment with Marcus is interrupted when the room's lighting suddenly turns red, combined with the noise of an alarm. Additionally a voice is talking in a foreign language and it sounds a lot like it is counting down. “That doesn't sound good. Did they flip the self-destruct switch?” I mumble concernedly. There must be a control station somewhere in the pyramid, but it doesn't seem like we'll get the chance to find it.
“I've a feeling that you are closer to the truth than it is to my liking!” Marcus doesn't waste any time. He bends down and picks me up in a princess carry.
Dad finally stops mutilating Moonray and starts giving commands to evacuate. Most of the soldiers teleport without a word, agreeing that we've overstayed our welcome. Those who can, grab the surviving prisoners who were left helpless on the floor. Our nice, little boarding raid turns all of a sudden into a hasty retreat.
Marcus doesn't wait any longer and teleports us back to the citadel's bridge, where we are joined by Dad just a few moments later.
Shade immediately requests to know what's going on, which is answered by one of the operators. “It seems like their energy source is going critical. We can't get into their system to stop it.”
I frown as Marcus puts me down. “Why would they destroy their own base just like that? They didn't even properly fight for it. It seems a little radical to give up so much military power just like that. What about the spirits who are surrounding the pyramid?”
“We will retreat for the moment. The pyramid and the people who are operating it are obviously considered an expendable resource. Get the citadel out of here as soon as everyone has reported back, bodies and souls included.” Shade commands, taking his place in the command chair. “And once that's done we will have a little di
scussion with Moonray.”
“Souls?” Marcus asks surprised.
But he gets ignored. The big screen which grants us a view on the pyramid's interior flashes white as the citadel transitions from inside the pyramid. And not a second too soon according to the sensor readings. Unfortunately our hasty retreat means that we don't know what happened to the pyramid and the spirits, though I am sure that we'll send another taskforce as soon as possible.
Instead of the pyramid and the spirits, the screen is replaced by the familiar view of the aether between the worlds. And then we are back in Newerth, hovering above the capital city. From our height, the city looks almost peaceful, were it not for the areas which got destroyed during the recent attacks.
“I suppose that the pyramid is gone? We opened a portal while we were stuck inside it.” I ask one of the guys who are manning the sensors.
He shakes his head. “Impossible to say. We opened a portal and forced it to pull us in. The pyramid shouldn't have been damaged any worse than it already was, though we took a piece of it with us. It's coating the citadel and we've to manoeuvre very carefully if we don't want the debris to fall onto the city.”
I wince, imaging how the citadel must look like from the outside. Unfortunately we don't have a convenient camera drone which allows us a better view.
Marcus doesn't allow himself to be ignored any longer. “Then try to get away from the populated areas. Fly over the fields outside the city. And does someone care to answer my question from earlier?”
I bite my lower lip, wondering how to answer the question without making it sound too offending. “One of the first things my father reinvented was his soulcatcher. It's a device which catches souls before they can escape into the aether. It's his greatest gift to his subjects. As long as you die in close proximity to the citadel, or any of our bigger constructions, you've always a chance at rebirth.” I clap my hands together and smile at Marcus. There, I suppose that I've sugar-coated it enough.
