by Skyler Grant
“He has the most mobility of any of us. He should be fine.”
I strained against the rocks and felt them shift again. Without my boosted strength this probably would have been impossible.
It took perhaps half an hour before the rubble finally gave way.
Walt was there almost at once reaching out a hand and helping Ashley up. I awkwardly found my own feet. There was a pile of corral fragments that had to be the remains of the second golem.
“You won?” I asked.
“If I’m using my staff I can get an elemental advantage versus anything. Then I can save all my mana and cool-downs to keep moving.”
“That is the most boring way to fight ever,” Ashley said.
I couldn’t argue there. I liked running up and hitting things, and occasionally throwing fire. It might not work in every situation, but at least I had fun.
I led the way through the ruins towards the center of the island. It seemed likely that Atlantia would be found there. She would likely prove to be our greatest threat yet.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When we reached the center of the island we found a lake ringed by statues made of corral. Each was a magnificent work of art depicting a beautiful woman, wielding a variety of different weapons, in various combat poses.
Rain fell lightly, each droplet kissing the surface of the lake. It was heart-achingly beautiful.
‘Do you have anything like this?’ I asked Yvera in my head.
‘I think you’ve done quite enough admiring of things watery today. It was never amusing and repetition is only making it more grating. No, right now the temple in the castle is the strongest holy space I have. Perhaps we’ll claim this one and boil the ocean away when we are done,’ Yvera said.
It was on that cheery thought that it began to rain blood. Not every droplet, most remained water, but enough that streaks of red soon began to adorn our armor and the waters of the lake grew cloudy.
“What the fuck?” Ashley asked.
‘This your doing?’ I thought to Yvera.
‘If only my endless rage could kill the bitch. No. This is something else, she is hurt badly. The essence is leaking out of her.’
“Yvera says she isn’t doing it, but it means Atlantia is hurt badly.”
“We haven’t even gotten started,” Ashley said.
Music began to fill the air, thrumming notes that somehow kept time to the ripples on the lake’s surface. The statues began to glow a faint blue, one after the other, and leave a series of interconnecting lines on the lake. The music wasn’t unfamiliar, it bore many similarities to the song I’d heard earlier on the beach.
“Walt, what is going on?” I asked.
“At a guess, we were soon going to be staring at the lake and wondering what to do next, figuring out a puzzle. Someone else seems to be solving it for us,” Walt said, unhappily.
“Are they invisible?” I asked.
Ashley gave me the look she reserved for when I asked stupid questions. “With Atlantia probably on the other side and bleeding to death, I’m guessing she’s opening the door.”
A final note sounded and the surface of the lake shimmered. The water formed itself into steps leading down into darkness.
“No, this isn’t mother,” Mellaise said, as she approached from the direction of the city, dressed for a fight this time in form-fitting armor of reflective scales.
“Come looking for a fight after all?” Ashley asked with a speculative look at Mellaise’s armor. Loot changed so many equations.
“It’s raining blood. Blood. Of course I’m looking for a fight. Do you know who is in there?”
“Not a clue.”
There came a thud from nearby and there was a Cobalt, who was at least wearing something this time. The Vainglory must be up there on the other side of the clouds.
“Is that you murdering lots of people in the sky?” I asked.
“What? No, I just came because you weren’t fighting a Goddess without me no matter how pissed I am at you. Are we killing the demigoddess?” Cobalt said.
“She’s sort of a friend.”
“She’s really not and he’s mind-controlled,” Walt said.
“Of course he is,” Cobalt said. “So we are killing the demigoddess?”
Ashley had continued to eye that armor and finally said with some reluctance, “I don’t think so. Something just mortally wounded her mom and is about to come out of that lake.”
“Right. We can kill her after,” Cobalt said.
“I’m standing right here. I can hear you,” Mellaise said.
From the stairs came the sound of footsteps and then a man came into view. Powerful-looking in heavy, jet-black armor, with a shock I recognized him and pulled up his information to confirm.
The Vampire Leosi
Type: Undead
Stats: Hidden
The Lion of Genea. The third son of King Hami, Leosi was never expected to inherit the kingdom but he distinguished himself greatly during the orc wars and assumed the throne. His reign was marked by a great curse that fell upon the kingdom and ultimately he was killed by Liam Ottani and his allies. Raised by a greater vampire he is now more deadly than ever.
That was unexpected, and terrifying. Last time we faced off against him we dominated largely through the help of Elsora, who weakened him. She wasn’t here, although between Cobalt and Mellaise we weren’t lacking for powerful allies.
“I thought I heard you up here, boy. Came to kill a threat before she could strike at you? Commendable instincts, though you aren’t up for killing a Goddess,” Leosi said.
“You’re alive,” I said. It wasn’t really much of a response, but I was still in a good bit of shock at seeing him.
“Leosi,” Cobalt said.
It was Leosi’s turn to be astonished, his gaze shifting to my companions and his eyes widened.
“Alera,” Leosi said. “So he was your pawn the whole time? I am not surprised.”
“It isn’t what you think Leosi, it never was,” Cobalt said.
I’d heard the name Alera before, back in the castle. Leosi’s wife and Queen, Maria’s mother, who abandoned him and her family in an effort to prevent the curse soon to fall. Leosi hated her, and Maria was no longer with us. My world felt like it was crashing down.
Leosi drew a longsword that was already coated in blood, rivulets shifting on its surface in a faint echo of the waves. “I’d come here to craft a weapon capable of killing Liam and his Goddess, should he ultimately prove uncooperative. I didn’t prepare one for you.”
“You bled my mother dry for a weapon,” Mellaise said furiously. “You shall pay for that.”
Mellaise drew in a deep breath and the song started to swell around her. With blinding speed Leosi pulled a band of metal from his waist and flung it. Magical runes briefly flared to life with a dull red hue and a collar snapped into place around her throat.
The building song was cut off before it could be released and Leosi darted forward to deliver a blow from his gauntleted fist to her face. There was a spray of blood and the sound of crunching bone, and the Demigoddess collapsed to the ground.
Whatever he had done broke her hold over me too, a hold I’d barely even been aware of up until that moment. My world wobbled once again.
“Sirens. You always need to be prepared, boy. Know the foes you are going to fight. Have the right weapons at hand,” Leosi said as he kicked Mellaise’s midsection, snapping ribs.
“You were an unyielding bastard, but never cruel before,” Cobalt said. “This doesn’t suit you.”
“These have been a hard few centuries. You should have seen them,” Leosi said.
“You two seem like you have a lot to work out,” I said.
“I came to deliver a message, boy, and before I get distracted you will hear it. You killed me and took my throne, fairly. But it will belong to my daughter. I have an army and will purge our kingdom of its invaders. When I return triumphant you will take Maria as your Queen
or both you and Yvera will fall to my blade.”
That was a hell of a pronouncement. Today really couldn’t mess with me anymore. I was starting to think Yvera was right. Screw the ocean.
“Maria lives?” Cobalt asked.
“She has your eyes,” Leosi said. “She also rules the spiders and runs around naked, covered in them. It is tremendously foolish.”
“And kind of badass,” Ashley said.
They both turned to stare at her as if they had forgotten the rest of the group existed.
Cobalt said. “Liam, get everyone down those steps. I’m calling in my favor, you are to save Atlantia’s life and form an alliance with her. Take the Demigoddess or he’ll kill her.”
‘What?’ Yvera roared in my head. ‘That entire family needs to die. Every last one of them.’
Leosi frowned. “I can’t allow that to happen. It complicates matters too much.”
Cobalt drew her sword. “You always did like things simple. Think undeath gave you enough of an edge to take me?”
“Let’s find out,” Leosi said.
Walt and Ashley were waiting on me for guidance and I edged pass Leosi to grab Mellaise and throw her over my shoulder. I didn’t try to heal her. I’d used a Lay on Hands earlier in the ruins to help Ashley, and Mellaise’s wounds weren’t mortal.
We hurried towards the steps as Leosi and Cobalt went at it. Leosi moved in a blur, his movements supernaturally fast and strong, but somehow Cobalt’s blade always seemed to be at just the right place to meet his.
“Are we actually going to do this?” Ashley asked.
“A deal is a deal,” I said. “Yvera is really pissed, but she isn’t saying no.”
“Just so I can properly understand events in their new context, Liam slept with Maria’s mother and murdered her father,” Walt said.
“Or killed Cobalt’s husband and slept with her daughter,” Ashley said.
“Guys, I’m well aware of just how messed up in the head I am.”
“How do you think Maria will take it?” Walt asked.
The steps seemed to keep going down endlessly, the watery walls shimmering with a faint blue iridescence to light the way.
“Girl was already crazy. This is really going to fuck her up,” Ashley said.
“I think she’ll be happy to have her dad back. Even if he is kind of a dick now,” I said.
“He was kind of a dick before. That’s why we killed him.”
The steps finally gave way to a large chamber. This was clearly a throne room. Passages that might have once led away were blocked by tumultuous pulses of water. Slumped on the throne was a blue-haired woman, the one depicted on the statues circling the lake. Her arms were pierced by stone spikes pinning her in place and she looked to have been recently eviscerated, midsection split open. Despite all of this she was alive, although clearly in considerable pain. She managed a venomous look as we entered.
“We’re here to help,” I said.
“Is that why you had your way with my daughter and decided to let me see her broken body before I perish, Chosen of the Flame,” Atlantia said.
“She really more had her way with me. You know, Siren,” I said, as I lowered Mellaise to the ground.
“It’s true,” Ashley said. “She’s really kind of a slutty bitch.”
“Kind words to ease a mother’s last moments,” Atlantia said, pausing for a moment to gasp in pain before continuing. “You may as well show yourself. I am no threat to you in my current state.”
Flames swirled in a far more subdued display than usual and Yvera manifested. Here in the heart of water she looked amazingly mortal, a beautiful woman without that aura of tremendous power that usually surrounded her.
“We are here to help,” Yvera said. “If against my will. As my chosen says, a deal is a deal.”
“But we have terms,” I said.
“I face certain death without your aid, and likely death even with it. Extort as you choose in the hopes that you might collect,” Atlantia said.
“The man who did this to you forged a weapon with your essence. He plans to wield it against me and Yvera. Can you do anything to stop it?”
Atlantia coughed up some blood and shook her head. “The weapon once forged is forged. I can offer the aid of my daughter, whose song can sap from him the will to use it.”
“Yeah. She didn’t have much luck with it. He kind of put a collar on her and kicked her ass,” Ashley said.
“Then next time you guard her properly,” Atlantia said.
“Her song snared me and held me until that collar released me, how can I be certain it won’t happen again?” I asked.
“You can only be certain it will,” Atlantia said. “While her song is free you are hers and you will always be hers.”
“Unacceptable,” Yvera said.
Atlantia gave a pained chuckle. “I’m not negotiating. I can and will ask that she does not abuse such power, but I can make you no promises.”
“You would need to serve my interests and fight at my side, both in this world and another,” Yvera said.
“Make those bonds chafe too much and be assured I shall find a way to break them,” Atlantia said. “But agreed.”
“Great,” Yvera said in a tone that suggested she very much did not mean it. “Now we just need to figure out how to do it. Liam, you have a heal left. I pump everything into you, we can go full-on nuclear miracle mode.”
“That is so not a thing,” Ashley said.
“I can destroy the stone fragments binding her,” Walt said. “I can set my staff to a wood attunement and blast them.”
“Nice,” Yvera said. “Ashley, time to make a deal.”
“Oh, fuck no,” Ashley said.
“I haven’t even got to it yet.”
“I recognize your tone. That is your I’m really going to fuck you over now tone.”
“Okay, you’re going to hate it a little bit. Well—lots, probably. Okay, you are going to hate it lots. She is too weak. All of this at once will be too much for her mind. The shock will kill her.”
“I’m loving the sound of this plan,” Atlantia said.
“I have a way around it. Just like anesthesia, we need to get your consciousness out of there while we operate. What you need is a Chosen.”
“Did my fuck no not somehow express how completely my answer is fuck no,” Ashley said.
“You are the one person that doesn’t have a job to do with the healing,” Yvera said.
“Did you catch the shit I gave Liam for a letting a crazy-ass fucking bitch of a machine inside his damned head and body. Why would I do that?”
“Why are you here? Why are you doing all of this? Because she can help you kill Veros.”
Ashley took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Explain.”
“Elemental alignments translate a bit strangely into our world, but they are there. I am fire, lust, passion, the heat and desires of humanity. Veros is much the same, I suspect that is part of the reason you dislike me so much. Atlantia can kill me, she can kill him,” Yvera said.
Ashley turned her gaze to Atlantia. “Is she telling the truth?”
“You all started gibbering madness and names I don’t recognize. I am very good at killing, but the rest I cannot confirm,” Atlantia said.
“She may not even be sentient,” Walt said. “Just because Yvera is a Goddess here and an AI back there doesn’t mean some kind of transitive property applies.”
“He’s a jerk, but he’s not wrong,” Yvera said. “I can’t guarantee the whole thing won’t blow up into some kind of fiery ruin. That is kind of my thing.”
“You truly are impressively incompetent,” Atlantia asked.
“I’m not the one bleeding out,” Yvera said. “Ashley?”
“Bribe me more.”
“Deals are what I do, darling. Given your starting position, asking for a higher price now means you’ve already decided to it.”
“How does someone so bad at negotiation alw
ays get us to do such fucking stupid things,” Ashley said.
“Because I know what it is to desire something, and I know what it is to be burned.”
Atlantia gasped in pain. Right. We were wasting a lot of time. “Yvera, we should probably…”
“Get a move on. Right with you. Ashley and Atlantia, you two are up first. I can form the bridge, but this is really going to suck for you both.”
“Nudity may be involved,” I said.
Atlantia gave me a flat look.
“It was an opening and exposing our souls to each other thing,” I said defensively. “Tell her.”
“He has the body and soul of a total pervert,” Ashley said. “I don’t. I think we can skip the flashing of girl parts. There might be a lot of murder and loot though.”
“Then I’ll comfort myself that you are perhaps the least bad of options,” Atlantia said.
“Walt. You’ll know when to go. You are up second. Blast those shards as fast you can. When they are out, you’re up, Liam. Just do your heal, don’t put it through your sword and hold it for a bit, before casting. I’ll give it as much of a boost as I can. Everyone know their places?”
“Clear,” I said, and the others chimed in their agreement.
Yvera reached with both hands into the gaping hole in Atlantia, then pulled one bloodied hand free to grab at Ashley’s arm. Wisps of smoke and the scent of burned flesh mingled with that of blood. All three flickered and Ashley and Atlantia simultaneously screamed out in hideous pain and slumped over.
The head of Walt’s staff glowed green and he tapped at the fragments pinning Atlantia to the throne. The rocks shattered and although some shards buried themselves deeper into Atlantia’s flesh most at least were free. We’d have to hope it was enough.
I let my Lay on Hands build up and settle inside of me. It was like a faint thrum of power waiting to be discharged, then suddenly I was drowning in it. Yvera’s power was like fire in my veins, a taste of a delight that would burn one to the core if held for too long. I let the power swell until I could no longer contain it and then reached out to plunge my hand into Atlantia’s wound, grabbing Yvera’s hand and pulling it free as I discharged the power.
