by Luis Robles
“Straight ahead. They are not taking any precautions; their number will be staggering. Bliss, communicate my voice to all the Gargoyles. I have a message for them,” Pah said to Bliss as he stood up on all fours.
Bliss stood up as well and reached out to Pah, and gently laid her hand on the backside of his furry neck. Pah had always been large, and even as Bliss stood up, her hand stretched above her in order to reach his neck.
“Go ahead, say what you need, they are listening.”
“The enemy comes from straight ahead, and they come in vast numbers, perhaps in numbers that we can’t even imagine. The enemy has terrorized our small, peaceful world for as long as we can remember. The enemy believes that they are immortal, that they will take our lives away. But tonight, we will show these so-called immortals just how wrong they are. We will show them once again mortality, and tonight we will take back what is ours,” Pah said with a vibrant voice in their head.
The Gargoyles cheered at Pah’s speech; their Emoree glowed intensely. They were ready for battle.
Out in the distance, Pah was able to see the Rot approaching the stone village. They approached the village rapidly and surrounded them at the same time. The number of the Rot was outstanding, more than all they had ever seen combined. It was as if Gavril had resurrected everyone he had ever killed throughout his long life. As the swarm of Rot became visible to the Gargoyles, a second event began to happen. The ground quaked every few seconds, each time harder than the last.
“What is that?” Bliss asked as she readied herself.
“It looks like Gavril is not taking any chances, and he brought his biggest monster yet.”
Bliss took a step forward, ready to leap into action, only to be held back by Pah’s tail as it wrapped along her shoulders.
“No, wait! We must hold our ground. Remember that there are no fighting Gargoyles in the garden and we must protect them at all cost.”
Bliss then relaxed her stance.
“What is that?”
“Is that a mountain?”
“How are we supposed to fight a mountain?” The Gargoyles began asking themselves these questions among one another as they saw Gavril’s giant monster approaching.
“Winged Gargoyles, attack! Get as many of them as you can, go! Go! Go!” Nimbus shouted as the stone village became swarmed with Rot.
Without hesitation, the winged Gargoyles flew off to meet the enemy. As the Gargoyles flew high above the small stone village, they saw the vastness of Gavril’s army. In that moment they felt as if anything they did from now on would be in vain. Their spirits plummeted. By accident, a badly-tied glass flask on one of the Gargoyle’s chest belt fell towards the swarm of Rot. Seconds later, there was a violent explosion, incinerating a great number of Rot. After seeing the huge explosion, spirits began to rise again, and the winged Gargoyles began dropping the glass flasks at the swarm of Rot as best as they could.
“Stand your ground, and do not let any of them through,” said one of the Gargoyles with the stone mallets.
Directly facing the enemy, the Gargoyles awaited the clash with the Rot that had been able to make it through the glass flask explosions. The clash between the Gargoyles with the stone mallets and the massive number of the Rot was violent. Pieces of Rot flew everywhere as the powerful mallets swung across the space at any visible Rot. With every swing of their powerful mallets, the Gargoyles felt more and more in control of the battle. They were fighting steady, both in the air and near the wall.
However, Bramma and Nimbus were worried about the colossus monster that approached the stone village. To see the very thing that would take their lives away frightened them to the core.
“You mustn’t let your fear show. If any Gargoyle sees that you two are afraid, they will surely become afraid. Trust that we will do anything in our power to bring them down. Also, you are forgetting about one important thing on our side. Look to your right,” Pah said with a strong, healthy voice.
The Gargoyles looked to their right in that moment only to see Bliss looking towards the horizon, directly at the moving mountain. Her hands were made into fists and her body leaned forward, unafraid and ready to face it all. Bliss longed for the moment that she could face the monsters that terrorized every day of her existence since birth. A force of nature was ready to be unleashed.
“She is ready to put her life on the line for each one of us, and her magic is beyond our comprehension. She will take care of that mountain, and you two will help me take care of Gavril,” Pah said.
Bliss turned to Pah, met his gaze, and awaited further instruction.
“Bliss, you are the only one who has a chance against that thing, and you are the only one who would know how to defeat it. Above that, you must not get close to Gavril—who knows what he is planning. Wait until I give the order and then attack. Gavril is on top of the mountain.” Pah then turned to face Bramma and Nimbus as Bliss turned to the horizon. “Gavril is vicious and powerful, quick to summon dark magic, and likes to fight dirty. You two need to assist me in whatever you way can. I cannot go into more detail because I don’t yet know what’s going to happen, but when it happens I trust that you will do all you can to help me defeat this abomination.”
As the mountain got closer, its shape became clearer. The mountain looked much like a volcanic upright bull. Its larger side that most resembled a mountain was its back. It walked on two short but stubby legs, and its arms were long compared to the legs. The arms just dropped lifelessly to its side. The face resembled the skull of a bull filled with fire. As for Gavril, he was standing upright, with his hands crossed across his chest, in the forehead area of the bull’s skull.
Bliss was anxious to attack and not let the mountain get any closer to the stone village. But she knew that Pah was making her wait for a good reason. She just did not bother to think as to why Pah was making her wait. Instead, she focused on accumulating magic, and so she did. The accumulation of Bliss’ magic began to break the wall she was standing on and forced Pah and the others to give her space.
“Give her space, or she might accidentally break one of your bones,” Pah said to Bramma and Nimbus as he took five steps back and away from Bliss.
As the mountain got within sixty meters from the stone village, it lit up the battlefield in a dark red. Turmoil was everywhere among the Rot; their massive number was working to the disadvantage against the pure organization of the Gargoyles.
Using a voice amplification spell, the stone village shook with Gavril’s voice: “This is the end and the beginning of all things. My army of the undead has no countable number; they will keep coming, one after another, until you have no strength left. This Mitheoree—a monster deity—will destroy the village in the blink of an eye. Surrender now and you might save a life or two.” A dark, slow laugh followed the amplified voice.
Gavril’s voice was a powerful poison aimed at all the fighting Gargoyles. The voice was intertwined with powerful spells directed at the Gargoyles’ fighting spirits. As the Gargoyles heard Gavril’s amplified voice, the spells began to work, making the Gargoyles’ fighting spirit plummet.
Pah knew that he had to act fast, that if they had any chance of winning the battle, it would be at the early stages of it. Gavril was pure poison to anyone who was near him. The more time that would pass, the more time he had to crush his opponent’s spirits.
“The mountain only, Bliss!” Pah yelled at Bliss, warning her to not attempt anything against Gavril. He then leapt forward and began to run towards Gavril.
Bliss’ magic continued to accumulate as she waited for Pah’s actions, for as much as she wanted to attack the mountain, she knew that it would not be an easy fight. She knew that Gavril had much more up his sleeves. Within a matter of seconds, Pah was at the top of the moving mountain, facing Gavril.
“Tonight, we finish this. I will not allow you to continue this. You will end tonight,” Pah said, poised with particles of electricity floating around him.
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��That, we will do. However, I don’t think anything will end in your favor,” Gavril said as he walked towards Pah.
Pah shook his head before answering, shaking off Gavril’s intertwine spell. “You underestimate us, bloodsucker. Tonight will be the end of you—I will live to make sure of it. You do not know how powerful Bliss has become. You are no match for her,” Pah said, letting his anger show.
“Perhaps you might be right about me; perhaps I am no match for her. But… it does not matter how powerful she is now. A few years will have to pass before she can take down all the power of her brothers and sisters. This is what this Mitheoree is. The accumulated power of Bliss’ brothers and sisters, all six magical beings, mixed into one big, ugly evil soup,” said Gavril as he continued walking towards Pah.
“I am not going to say this again. You will lose!” Pah yelled as he launched towards Gavril.
Pah was far quicker than Gavril thought. He managed to grab a hold of Gavril and pull him away from the mountain and towards the ground. In that moment, Bliss attacked the mountain with a pure magic blow, knocking it down on its side. The noise the mountain made as it collided with the ground was loud—the ground trembled as the mountain fell and debris from the collision flew up into the sky like a volcanic eruption. The ruckus caused great panic in the non-fighting Gargoyles inside the garden.
Bliss flew towards the mountain while still maintaining her distance.
12
The Battle of the Deities
Gavril was the first to hit the ground, and with the force of Pah pushing down on him, Gavril was burrowed further into the ground. Pah quickly climbed out of the hole and remained poised for Gavril’s next move. Pah knew he was fighting a battle in which he could not take any chances. At once, Bramma and Nimbus joined Pah’s side. They had their guard up and were paying attention to the newly made aperture in the ground in which Gavril lay. If Pah was to have any chance against Gavril, he would need all the help he could get, even if the help was only distracting the tyrant. As the three of them paid absolute attention to the aperture, a slow taunting laugh was audible.
“Everything that you hear is poison for our fighting spirits. Try not to pay attention to it. If possible, ignore him completely. Nothing that he says will help you in any way,” Pah said with a tone of warning in his voice.
Bramma and Nimbus tensed their bodies at Pah’s words, and before they knew it Gavril began to speak.
“This is all quite entertaining for me. I have not had a real exercise since the day I killed your younger brother—was he your brother? Anyway, you just reassured me that no matter what you do or say, try and try again, I will be victorious. You are no match for me, Watcher. Indeed you are strong, indeed you have courage, but you will never be able to inflict serious harm on me. I have far surpassed the limits of the human body; I have far surpassed the limits of Nulians and Magic itself. I am a new kind of magic,” said Gavril as he made his way out of the aperture.
“Do not listen to him, and move only when I move,” said Pah as particles of electricity began to show all around.
“As far as power is concerned, I have it all. The power of the six magical beings is in my hands, and I intend to show you just how vast that power is,” said Gavril as he extended his arms to the side.
The standoff between the four occurred inside the stone village near the outer wall. When Pah pushed Gavril out of the moving mountain, he had aimed towards the emptiest spot in the village, for he knew that Gavril would cause death and destruction to anything near him.
“Too bad that there is not a huge crowd here to hear me say this. I guess you three will have to do. Mitheoree, rise! Let loose of your binding chains and bring destruction to these feeble lives,” said Gavril with a dark voice.
At once, just outside the stone wall, there was a huge volcanic-like eruption that lit up the sky in a dark red. In the same instant, giant earth-roots and vines emerged from the ground, absorbing most of the force and debris and headed for the stone village. Seeing the Mitheoree having so much power caused great panic in Pah, but only for a few seconds until he saw the giant roots and vines on Bliss’ behalf.
“I have to trust her, I have to let her fight on her own, she is just as powerful as that thing,” Pah thought to himself as he remained focused on Gavril.
“So, shall we?” Gavril taunted with extended arms and an evil smile.
Bliss was not expecting the mountain to have so much power since it fell to the ground with very little effort from her part. When she saw the mountain violently get up and cause an eruption of fire with every movement, she instantly thought to protect the non-fighting Gargoyles by summoning roots and vines to absorb the volcanic fire. Bliss also noticed that the movement of the mountain slaughtered thousands of Rot and dozens of Gargoyles who simply could not get out the way from the sudden attack.
The death of the Gargoyles weighed heavily on Bliss’ heart. In many ways, she blamed herself for not making better decisions. But she also asked herself, how could she make better decisions if she did not know any better? So all the heartfelt pain for the loss of the Gargoyles quickly turned into anger, and the anger quickly turned into power. Her heart began beating stronger and faster with each beat. She began to glow a violet white, illuminating the night around her.
“I have to stop this thing fast, whatever it is. Gavril was careless in giving so much power to something that can barely hold a thought. Any movement from this creature will cause death and destruction. Even if it takes all my magic and all my strength, I need to finish it,” Bliss thought to herself as she floated in midair and stared into the flaming eyes of the mountain.
The two most powerful beings on earth were about to face off. After this fight, only one of them would continue to exist.
Compared to the mountain, Bliss was a mere pebble in size. There they were, unmoving, each waiting for the other to move first. The mountain oozed lava from its back that dripped to the ground. Bliss glowed intensely, lighting up part of the battlefield with a violet white. Each was waiting for the other to begin the battle.
“Here is a little magic—please use it to harden your body as much as you can. I will sterilize the battlefield and get rid of all of this, and Pah… Please get away, run as fast as you can,” Bliss said in the minds of each Gargoyle, including the non-fighting ones in the garden and in Pah’s.
As the Gargoyles received the message, they also received her magic. The magic was powerful, more powerful than anything they had experienced before. Bliss also triggered the stone-skin ability in the Gargoyles’ body, leaving nothing to chance. She knew that the Gargoyles were brave and would not want to hide from anything, but she did not want to have any more death in her conscious. She did not want to let Gavril win anything anymore. At once, the Gargoyles’ skins hardened into solid stone. One by one, the battlefield soon turned to stone, leaving only the Rot and Disgrace trying to break the skin of the Gargoyles but without any avail. Bliss’ magic made their skin as tough as diamonds. When Pah saw that Bramma and Nimbus had also turned into stone, he turned and ran; he ran as fast as he could away from the battle. It pained Pah to leave Bliss behind, but he had to trust her. He knew that whatever she was planning, she would consider him and all that he could do.
“What? You are leaving me? But we haven’t even started!” yelled Gavril with a grin on his face.
Gavril immediately turned towards Bliss and began walking her way.
“Whatever you are planning, Bliss, you better make it quick. Gavril is on his way towards you,” Pah said in his head, hoping that Bliss would hear, but there was no response from her.
When Bliss was sure that Pah had run a safe distance away, enough to be able to outrun what she was planning to do, she began the obliteration. She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and extended her arms with open hands to her side.
“Cleanse,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Immediately, an aggressive white light, the purest of violets, descen
ded on her and passed her until it hit the ground. The white light was humming a sharp noise—it was a threatening noise that made the mountain step back in fear. Bliss’ body was overwhelmed with the amount of magic it was dealing with. She yelled in pain as each muscle in her body seemed as if it was being pulled from all directions. Tears of pain ran down her cheeks, and her eyes turned into a silver violet color. Her body was destroying itself, tearing itself apart from the high concentration of magic that Bliss was not able to handle yet.
“Well, well, looks like this is going to hurt. The magical beings are stronger than they look. I might have underestimated her. Too bad she will never be able to kill me,” said Gavril shamelessly as he continued walking towards Bliss.
The beam of magic began to spin in a circular motion. At first, the magic began slowly, but with each passing moment it doubled in speed, quickly picking up rocks from the ground and expanding its radius at the same rate of its speed. Each piece of rock or piece of debris that the spinning magic picked up became a projectile to anything that was in its way. The magic twister was violent and loud, causing the ground to tremble in a continuous motion. As moments passed, hundreds of Rot and Disgrace began to get wiped out by the powerful twister. The more Rot and Disgrace it managed to collect, the more dense and powerful it became. The twister grew in size quickly, swallowing the stone village and destroying all that the Gargoyles had worked for their entire lives. However, no matter how hard the debris from the twister hit the magic-toughened skin of the Gargoyles, the skin would not break. The same was true for the mountain, as it was the last thing standing beside the Gargoyles.
Gavril welcomed the magic twister with open hands and got swept away, laughing as his body attained deep gashes from the debris. He yelled, “Is this all that this pathetic world can do to save itself? Is this the magic of the magical being?” But he quickly disappeared into the dense twister.
Pah was barely able to outrun the growing size of the twister that expanded far outside of the limits of the village of stone.
