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Tannis felt his heart pumping furiously in his chest. He couldn't seem to come to grips with the reality of standing before the gods. Their appearance was something similar to what he imagined, but their attitude was not even remotely close. Oderion especially surprised him, as he had always pictured him as a loving, caring god with the best intentions and hope for mankind. The haughty god he saw before him did not fit that description at all. Rommus had called him the god of indifference; and that seemed to be a fitting label.
But Rommus had drawn all of the attention away from the mighty gods standing in front of Tannis. His own son, who he had raised from a child, was standing tall and proud against the gods. He had threatened them, and they had deserved it. They offered up no respect towards him, but they clearly feared him. It was a sight that was even harder to believe than seeing the gods themselves.
Tannis feared for Rommus's life. Terinopus and Tachion seemed to side with Rommus, but the remaining four were obviously angry and wanted to harm him. Certainly they wouldn't think twice about harming the rest of them either, but Tannis wasn't as concerned about that. He had come to the point in his life where his influence over the world was waning, and his son's influence was much more important. The world needed Rommus more than it needed him.
The gods finally stopped laughing and Maeris spoke. "You do not even have the blade that you threaten us with. You are a mortal who can do us no harm at all. What could you possibly believe you could accomplish here?"
"At least one god will be killed this day," Rommus said. "If it is me, then so be it, but I am here to kill you, Maeris."
More laughter erupted and Maeris stepped forward. "Then come to me, boy. See what horrors the god of destruction can rain down on you."
Tannis watched in terror as Rommus ran right at the taunting god. His red armor appeared in a flash of red light, and he swung the golden hammer with all his might at Maeris. Surges of power rippled through the air as the hammer fell upon some sort of invisible shield around Maeris. Still, the impact affected him, and the god struggled to stay on his feet. His face showed that he was in pain, but soon that gave way to white hot rage.
——————
Alana winced as Rommus clashed with Maeris. She stood there transfixed, unable to help him at all. Vohl watched with similar awe, not knowing what could be done to assist Rommus. The fight was his alone, and luckily the other gods did not attempt to interfere. The god of time and the god of life stood between her and the other gods, offering at least the appearance of protection from the gods of darkness and Oderion.
Maeris punched only the air, but his swings did not miss. Instead, the air around his fists lit up and crackled with energy. While it appeared that he never touched Rommus at all, he was clearly pummeling him. He drove Rommus to the ground with his attack, and Rommus nearly dropped the golden hammer.
Maeris backed up a step and struck the earth with his mighty fist. An earthquake followed, shaking all of Morendiir and knocking Alana and Vohl to the ground momentarily. When she got to her feet, she saw a crack in the ground stretching from where Maeris stood to well beyond where Rommus was—but Rommus was no longer there. It was several seconds before she realized that he must have been swallowed up inside the earth.
Fortunately, Rommus climbed up out of the fissure, hauling himself up to firmer land. Once he got to his feet, he was blasted by winds that Maeris sent forth from his hands. The dirt at his feet came up in dust and clumps, battering him as he tried to stay upright.
Then the howling winds turned to a twisting inferno as Maeris baked Rommus with flame. The fire tore into Rommus with the same ferocity as the wind, but now the air was so hot that Alana could feel it begin to singe her skin at a distance.
Somehow Rommus emerged from the torrent of flame and it dissipated behind him. He swung the hammer at the ground, and another earthquake shook Morendiir. More cracks opened in the earth, but they were too small and unfocused. Maeris was virtually unaffected by the attempt.
Maeris raised his arms to the sky and the clouds darkened. A mix of heavy rain and large hail began falling almost immediately. Alana covered her head as best as she could until Vohl offered to help her. She leaned into him as he bent over her; protecting her from the large balls of ice falling from the sky. They crashed to the ground and shattered, sounding like a million fine vases falling to the floor.
Rommus's armor protected him from the falling ice, but it was piling up and made it difficult for him to walk. Luckily the ground was still roasting from the fire that Maeris attacked him with, and it was already beginning to melt in that area.
But the rain was coming down harder and harder. In addition to what was coming down from the sky, water was also coming up from all of the cracks in the earth. It wasn't long before all of Morendiir began to flood, and before she knew it, the water was nearly up to her knees.
While the water rose, Maeris attacked with more of his punches to the air. Rommus had a hard time avoiding them, but he was able to stay on his feet and even strike Maeris with the hammer on occasion. But no matter how many times Rommus struck Maeris, some invisible shield of protection always nullified the attack. It did push Maeris backwards and cause him some discomfort, but he was not injured at all.
Maeris stood his ground, with water rising to his knees. He held both arms up above his head, and then crossed them. In the distance, behind Rommus, Alana saw the sky darken further. A new wind buffeted all of them as a tornado began to form. It reached full strength in mere moments, and it began to rip the buildings apart. Heavy columns flew through the air and crashed into more intact buildings, shredding them and splintering stone.
Rocks flew by and grains of sandy dirt assaulted her eyes. She held an arm up to try to shield her eyes, but it did little to help. As much as she feared to do so, she closed her eyes to protect them; only risking opening them on occasion to see what was happening to Rommus. Every time she did so, the world darkened under the threatening sky. The twister fed off of the thick clouds above and the floodwaters below, growing in size and strength as it approached.
Suddenly Vohl's voice pierced the terrible howl of the storm.
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"Tannis! Behind you!"
The hounds of Maeris had descended the stairs and the golden sword Archenarius had nearly cut through Tannis's back. Vohl had already drawn his sword and rushed to block the thrust, parrying the blade and driving its point to the ground. A massive hand backhanded him, blinding him with pain and knocking him into the deepening water. His sword flipped through the air and landed in a patch of grass on slightly higher ground.
Vohl shook his head to clear it and then got to his feet to try to protect Alana and Tannis. Terinopus and Tachion were focused on the battle between Maeris and Rommus, and had not noticed that there was another attack from the rear. The wailing winds kept them from hearing what was happening, so they were no protection at all from the attacking twins.
Tannis hacked away with his sword, trying to avoid the golden blade. Vohl saw Alana draw her sword, but he yelled for her not to attack. He didn't doubt her strength or skill, but the twins were far too strong for her to face. Even Rommus wearing his armor was hardly a match for them. But as loud as he yelled, she either could not hear him over the wind, or she refused to listen.
Alana attacked the injured twin, who fought with only a knife. He clearly had lost his good arm when Vohl cut it off, as he lacked efficient coordination as he attacked with his left hand. But he was still quite formidable, and he was just a little faster than Alana. Luckily, since she fought with a sword, she had a better reach.
Tannis attacked the other twin. It was actually less of an attack and more of a defense against the golden sword, but he did try to slice the skin of the beast when he was able. Even though his sword did manage to slip into the monster's flesh a few times, the wounds did nothing to slow it down. It would just growl in anger, although its roars could n
ot be heard over the powerful winds.
Vohl retrieved his sword and hurried in to assist Tannis and Alana. He fought both of the beasts, trying to keep both Tannis and Alana from being killed. Every time one of them seemed to have the upper hand, the other would need help. It was a dreadful choreography; a dance performed right at the edge of life and death.
——————
Dirt danced and swirled around him on the screaming wind. Rommus held the hammer tightly in his hand, but his feet were beginning to slip out from under him. The winds were becoming too strong and it was hard to keep his footing. He kept finding himself crouching lower and lower to the ground to try to counter the effects of the winds, but that made it difficult to attack Maeris or defend himself.
Still, he found openings to swing the hammer at Maeris. While it did not seem to harm him, it at least caused him to stumble backwards and cause him some pain. Rommus could think of nothing else to do to attack the god, but that really wasn't his major worry. His real concern was being able to protect the others when the twins arrived.
Panic ran cold through his soul when he saw that they had already arrived. Alana, Tannis and Vohl all fought against them together, but even with one of the beasts injured it was beginning to look like they were winning. Rommus yelled between his hammer strikes, trying to get the attention of Terinopus or Tachion, but they just stood there watching him; seemingly oblivious to the skirmish behind them.
But Maeris had noticed that his minions had arrived. He positioned himself in such a way that Rommus could not get around him to help his friends, and began attacking with renewed enthusiasm. He continually punched at the air, somehow hitting him with magic from a distance while doing so. The strikes caused Rommus's muscles to flex hard and lock up. It was painful, and it slowed him down dramatically, but it didn't seem to be doing any permanent damage.
Rommus fought hard to get away from Maeris and save his friends before it was too late. Vohl was safe from Archenarius, but if Alana was cut, her soul would go right to the void. It Tannis was cut, then both he and Rommus would die at the same instant. The gods of darkness would then begin to overthrow the other gods, and the entire structure of all the realms would begin to fall. The very fabric of reality would begin to unravel into unfamiliar threads.
An idea came to him, but he resisted the thought. When he was in the cave fighting Demeos, he had tried to call forth the black lightning that he was able to summon a few times before, but none came. He thought that perhaps since his power as a god could not be fully restored while another Tirinius lived, that he could not access that power. It was also possible that since he was prevented from calling forth the lightning because deep in Demeos's cave, there was no sky for lightning to form above him. Either way he feared to try to summon it, because if he paused for just a moment, Maeris might find a way to defeat him.
But his friends needed help and his plan was going to fail if he didn't do something quickly. He slammed the hammer into Maeris once more, and then immediately brought the hammer down through the floodwater and into the ground. Another earthquake shook the land, and this time, even the other gods nearly toppled over. Maeris was the only one who actually fell into the dark, churning waters, and while he was stumbling to regain his balance, Rommus brought the hammer down upon him one more time.
That was the lull he needed. He reached up to the sky, hoping beyond hope that the black lightning would come. His soul rejoiced when he saw it weaving between the heavy clouds above. He felt the energy surging through his body as the black streaks began to fall around him. But he didn't aim for the faltering god Maeris—he aimed for the twins.
Rommus outstretched an arm towards the beasts and released all of the terrible energy into the one that was missing an arm. Alana, Tannis and Vohl dived out of the way, rolling through the receding water to safety. The injured beast was knocked to the ground, but the one with the sword stomped through the water, coming for Rommus. His roars could just barely be heard over the winds as he ran to stop the god of war from attacking.
Terinopus and Tachion had finally seen what was happening behind them, and Tachion began summoning light from all around him; probably preparing to send the twins to some realm between times in order to save the humans that they were attacking. Rommus screamed as loud as he could for him to stop, and luckily the god of time heard him and paused.
At that instant, the beast with the sword arrived. He swung the sword at Rommus over and over, but it bounced harmlessly off of the armor of Arius. Rommus swung the hammer at the enraged beast, missing several times but constantly keeping up the attack. The beast gave up on using the sword, and instead resorted to punching and clawing at Rommus. The armor protected him from any damage, but the jolts to his head still hurt and were quite disorienting.
Finally, just as Maeris had gotten to his feet and composed himself, the creature was in a vulnerable pose. Rommus swung the hammer as hard as he could at the beast's ribs, and they shattered on impact like breaking glass. A long howl of pain escaped its ugly mouth as it suffered.
Another blow to the ribs brought the mighty beast down. It choked on the dirty water still covering most of the ground as it fought to pull breath into its damaged lungs. Rommus raised the hammer high above his head as he looked the beast in its animal eyes. It made a pathetic attempt to hold up an arm to protect itself, but that did nothing to stop the hammer from crushing the beast's skull. It went limp immediately and dark streams of blood swam out into the filthy water.
Maeris had somehow been affected by what had happened. He looked ill; as if he would vomit or simply fall over and die. But the god found his balance and tried to stand tall. He stretched forth his arms to call forth magic to attack Rommus, sending fire once more to wreak havoc on Rommus. The fire did not burn him, but it took away all the air, making it impossible for Rommus to breathe.
The remaining twin with the missing arm had gotten to its feet despite the lightning attack and countless sword thrusts from Alana, Tannis and Vohl. Rommus was shocked to see the speed of the creature as it leapt through the air towards Rommus. He braced for impact, ready to kill the lone twin with the hammer of Maeris, but it never got close enough. It rolled through the shallow water and picked up the fallen sword that the other twin had dropped. He wasted no time attacking Rommus, and instead ran at full speed toward Tannis.
Rommus threw the heavy hammer as hard as he could, hoping that his father would have a chance to pick it up before the monster slashed him with the sword. Rommus then set his feet and focused on Maeris. His attack was still strong, but it was far less intense than before. The tornado that he had summoned had dissipated to just a thunderstorm, and the fire that came from his hands was hardly the raging inferno it was before.
But Rommus still needed to engage Maeris. Actually, he was distracting Maeris from the real plan, which was to kill both of the twins with the hammer of Maeris. Rommus never had any intent on killing any of the gods with his own hands or with Archenarius. He had learned their secret when he and Song had spoken with Arius. The twins were indeed a single soul, split into two, but the true secret was that Rommus and the twins were cousins—in a sense. They were similar in the same way that Rommus was similar to Vohl and the other Dirujen. They were all part of the bloodlines connected to the gods. Vohl and Rommus were connected to Inshae and Arius, and the twins were the last remaining in the bloodline connected to Maeris. They were made nearly immortal to protect the god of destruction from assassination-like the Dirujen were—but just as the sword could kill Arius, so too could the hammer kill Maeris. Rommus had already killed one twin, essentially sending half a soul to the void. Now the other half of that single soul needed to be sent to the void in order for Maeris to die. He didn't want to risk calling forth more lightning to kill the beast, since the hammer itself needed to be used if he wanted to successfully kill the god of destruction.
The hammer fell short of where Rommus intended for it to land, but it was closer to Tannis
than it was to the beast. They both raced to grasp the handle, and Tannis slipped on some wet stones in his frenzied attempt to reach the weapon. He dropped his black sword into water that was deep enough for him to lose sight of it, but he ignored it and scrambled to his feet.
Just as the beast touched the handle of the hammer, Tannis slammed his shoulder into the makeshift bandages at the monster's shoulder. It roared and recoiled, stumbling back a step before advancing again. Tannis grabbed the handle and pulled the head free from the muck, swinging it just in time to block at attack from the sword.
Where the gold weapons met, a bright, violent light appeared. For a moment it was bright enough to be mistaken for the sun, and it seemed to silence the entire world with its power. When the light finally went out, Tannis had swung the hammer at his enemy, but he had missed. His grip slipped from the hammer and it tumbled awkwardly through the air. The sword whistled as it came down towards the defenseless Tannis, and Rommus could do nothing but watch his father close his eyes and wait for death.
But Vohl's sword was what Archenarius hit as Vohl raced in to protect Tannis. The blade of Vohl's sword, Tursari, shattered into several pieces; all plopping into the water at their feet. Vohl stood there, holding little more than a hilt, unable to protect Tannis or Alana any longer. Vohl and Tannis both shared the same look of despair, knowing that in another instant Rommus and Tannis would both die.
But the sword fell from the monster's hand. Then it dropped to its knees and fell face first into the mud and grime. Alana stood behind the fallen creature, holding the heavy hammer in both hands. She had hit the remaining twin in the spine with the sharp point of the hammer, killing it and finally sending its soul to the void.
Soul Under the Mountain (Legend of Reason Series) Page 30
