"Give me your hand!" Laney yelled from above. Kaden, lost in orientation, looked around, not quite getting where she was. "Look up, you idiot! Look up!"
His eyes darted up and found her leaning from a thick branch. Her hand was stuck out, which he grabbed with his good one and got pulled up momentarily. To his bad luck, one of the birds shot out a ray of amber light and cut his leg open just beneath his knee. Kaden screamed as the pain coursed through his body.
Debuff received: Mangled. Speed reduced by eighty percent. Duration: Four hours.
You have sustained 41 damage from Stone Beak.
"Fuck you, Bardos!" Kaden cursed, clenching and shaking his fist at the sky. As if the pain hadn’t been enough, he would be limping for the next four hours. He gritted his teeth as Laney tried to place his leg into a more comfortable position.
"What the hell is it with this world, Laney? Birds shooting laser beams from their mouths?" Kaden asked through gritted teeth, tears rolling down his face.
Laney was in as much shock as he was, just looking at his twisted leg. She whispered something and rocked herself back and forth in mute self-comfort.
An even louder screech came from right beneath them as the birds tried to climb up, but slithered back down. As luck would have it, a renewed beam narrowly missed the branch on which they sat.
"We need to get rid of these things, then I can try to set your leg back in position,’ Laney said, waking from her rocking and peeking down at the creatures.
"Alright, let me try something. Help me get in position will you?" he asked, trying to shift to his side. He looked at the birds who kept on jumping up and down, trying to get at them. Within the span of twenty seconds, Kaden released multiple spells, his hand catching frost for the second time as he was sitting in a real bad position.
[Ice Orb]
[Ice Orb]
[Ice Orb]
You have inflicted 482 damage to Stone Beak.
They cursed as only one spell hit a bird in its head, slamming the thing to the ground. It was hard to target with the distracting pain and the moving target presented by the agile birds. His hand numb, Kaden shook it to restore its warmth. He looked over, catching Laney’s pained expression.
"Wait, let me help you," she said and leaned over him, pressing her body into his. Their eyes met for a moment before Kaden looked away. Laney giggled sweetly as she took his arm and helped steady his aim at the bird that got hit before.
[Ice Orb]
[Ice Orb]
"Damn it, seventeen shots left, and the second bird hasn’t even died yet." Kaden cursed, trying to keep his mind off the fact that Laney was inadvertently rubbing her body all over his while his hand felt like it would fall off at any moment and was already bleeding profusely.
You have sustained 12 damage from Self Inflicted.
You have sustained 13 damage from Self Inflicted.
"Shit! I’m bleeding out and my health bar is sinking!" he cursed and shuddered from the pain.
She looked back at him and gave him a preaching look. "Are you hissing because your health is almost at zero, or because my chest is rubbing all over you?"
Her question took him by surprise, so he blurted out a response without even thinking about it. "Because your body is all over mine. Shit, I didn’t quite want to admit that," he murmured, looking away from her, still in tremendous pain.
"You had no problems being all over me that night in your apartment, if I may say so," Laney teased.
"Right, how about we get on with killing these things first and talk about that stuff later?" he replied. Laney chuckled and shook her head at his innocence.
They aimed for the wounded creature again, but this time with his other hand. Kaden shut everything out of his mind for a moment before he released another [Ice Orb]. It struck the bird on its leg and drained the last of its health.
You have inflicted 187 damage to Stone Beak.
The last Stone Beak looked up and seemed to decide that it could not win the battle, so it turned around and ran off into the direction it had come from.
"We need to kill it!" Laney hissed. "It might get more of those things to come for us. Use that other skill, hurry!" Kaden, who was about to pass out, tried to focus on the last bird and the speed at which it moved. Laney, seeing he had a hard time holding his hand up, took it with her own and steadied it once more.
[Frozen Land]
The spell hit just in front of the target, narrowly missing it. But as it was an AOE spell, so it wouldn't be hard to hit it. Due to the speed the bird had built up, it couldn’t halt in time and slammed legs first into the ring of ice rising from the ground.
Its legs froze up, and part of its underbelly, within a heartbeat. Five seconds of ever-weakening struggles later, the pressure built up, and the air started hissing as if something was about to pop. Suddenly, the creature cried out as it exploded. Shards of ice ripped the creature apart, peppering the nearby trees with frozen meat and bone.
Laney sighed as if blowing things up was the most normal thing to do. It had become their new way of life, but Kaden didn’t like it at all, and never would.
"I think I need to sleep it off—" Kaden’s words got lost as he slumped down and fell like a hot potato, wincing as his head hit the trunk of the tree.
She looked around, trying to find something, anything at all to help him, but there was nothing. No medicine, no magic potion, no healing magic and no bandages or any other form of traditional healing. With each minute that passed, his health was slipping closer to zero. By the five percent mark, she started crying as she could only observe him helplessly.
"Take my life for his! Please! Don’t let me suffer alone for all eternity!" she cried out from her mangled heart. She would rather be dead than alone again.
"I'll do this one thing for you, but it will not be what you are hoping for," Bardos said as he appeared in front of her in mid-air. A chime answered her pleading.
You have learned a new skill: Sacrifice. Skill description: Cast a healing spell that exchanges the caster's health with the target's health.
"Thank you, my lord," she whispered, casting [Sacrifice] on Kaden without even reading the description. Her health bar dropped by eighty percent, healing Kaden up to his full health and cleansing the debuff. A world of pain was the thanks she got, as what he had felt earlier was multiplied by eighty times and transferred to her.
Laney fell unconscious from the backlash caused by the sacrifice skill only moments later. They would live, but only thanks to the double-edged sword of Bardos’ benevolence.
An unknown time later, an earthquake-like noise woke the two up. Both of them shot up like an arrow, looking around for the source. Kaden grabbed at his leg as if expecting the pain to set in again, but it was gone. What was more, his health had been restored and the debuff removed. He looked at Laney as if to ask what had happened, but then noticed her health bar which wasn’t full anymore as it had been.
"Laney—" She stopped him before he could say anything more, putting her hand over his mouth. With the other one, she pointed in the distance. A massive dinosaur-like creature trotted among the trees as if searching for something. They could only see a silhouette as the sun had set a while ago.
The monster stopped and perked its ears, turning towards them. Cold sweat trickled down Kaden’s back as he looked straight at the creature, envisioning his death many times over.
It sniffed a few times and stepped in their direction, one slow step at a time. As if slammed by a hammer, the creature reared up and turned away as a multitude of beams hit it from multiple directions by a large pack of Stone Beaks. They mostly glanced harmlessly off its hide and struck nearby trees and the soil.
With a deafening roar, the monstrosity snapped at a nearby bird and bit it in half. The rest of the pack shot one more volley of their beams and turned on their heel, scattering in all directions as the creature ran after the largest group.
"Shit, what was that thing?" Kaden asked, his adren
aline still up. Laney squeezed his hand lightly to draw attention.
"I have no idea. And to be honest, I could live all my life without ever seeing it again. Besides, Bardos saved us once again. He gave me a skill that sacrifices part of my life to heal someone else’s life. At least that's how it went with you," she said, biting her cheek.
"Thanks, I guess. I now owe you a life debt. Take me up on it anytime." She looked away as if embarrassed by his words, the color in her cheeks returning. Deciding not to prod any further, he relaxed against the tree shaking his leg a few times, not quite believing the pain was gone.
"A long time ago, as in thousands of years," Laney whispered, "I was part of something that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I had it coming, no doubt about it." Laney stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, breathing in deep.
"You don’t owe me any explanation—"
"Two civilizations got destroyed overnight, disappeared as if they had never been there. Both were destroyed by the lord’s will, with fire and brimstone. Why am I telling you this, you probably ask yourself? Well, I was part of both civilizations."
"You what? Wait, are you talking about Sodom and Gomorrah?" he asked hurriedly, his heart beating faster by the moment. She replied with a weak smile and nodded once.
"The brutality was beyond this world. The raping, killing, slavery, orgies, drinking and whatever one can think of, it was all there. And the worst of it all? I enjoyed every single moment of it." As Laney stopped, her expression turned as tears rolled down her cheeks, her sobs catching each other.
"I… don’t know what to say. What can one say in such a situation anyway?" Kaden murmured.
"That same day after destroying everything, Bardos created a giant mirror. Within it was every soul that I had taken or wronged in any way. The bastard cursed me with all the pain that they had felt through my actions. I have not been the same ever since," she chuckled darkly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"That's… insane!" Kaden exclaimed angrily.
"He gave me two choices that day; banishment or destruction. I chose the former, so I lost everything but my immortality. Now, here we are millennia later and I still don’t feel redeemed."
"I’m at a loss for words," Kaden replied, not quite knowing how to respond. Her behaviour made more sense now, but her whole story looked just like that, a story. How could it even be true what she had been telling him? He thought. "It made you into the person you are now, kind and caring."
Laney laughed, giving him a look that told him she didn’t think he was right in the head."Kind and caring? I wanted to let you die. You think that what I did was being nice or caring?"
Kaden frowned as he propped himself up. "You thought about doing it, but you didn’t. Instead, you could have died trying to save me." He turned around and stared off into the distance.
The cool night was a blessing as it forced both of them to change the topic and instead try to warm themselves up. "Don’t you think that it’s time to let go of the past?" he asked after a while. "I'm sure you have been doing good things since then, so isn’t it time to let go?"
Laney turned away her gaze, embarrassed. "Do you mean it? Or are you trying to make me feel better?" she asked Kaden, not knowing how to take his comment. Kaden flashed her a goofy smile in turn.
"You know, life sucked for me before you came along. There was nothing really anchoring me to that place. I had no family, no real friends. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing we got stuck here after all. You will have enough time to battle your own demons while I can build myself a life from scratch."
"Maybe you’re right," she replied with a sigh.
"Boo!" Bardos exclaimed as he appeared beside the two, startling them. "What are you moping about for? Go and conquer the world!" To their misfortune, they didn’t even have enough time to reply as he pushed them off the tree. The last thing they saw before hitting the ground was the god’s sadistic face, staring down on them.
* * * * *
"Dead again?" came a familiar voice. King Raikou stood in front of them as they fumed. Only someone who was really demented would enjoy such a stupid joke.
"Talk about acting like an asshole," Kaden replied, as he stretched out after his recent death. Raikou laughed, shaking his head. His look wasn’t one of amusement though, rather one of commiseration.
"That bastard will get what is coming for him, don’t worry," Raikou commented. "Anyway, as I have only a little time left, let me show you the rest. If you don't already see him as a sadistic prick, you probably will see him like that after watching how everything ended."
"How is it possible for you to meet us like this?" Laney asked, interrupting the king. Raikou faced her and replied with a weak smile.
"My child, I happen to have found a very special gem, ancient and very strong. He would have killed us all off a long time ago without the power it had bestowed. Though I cannot fight him, I can protect my people and do more harm to him than he can imagine. As to how we can meet here, that's a rather hard question, better left alone for now. If we ever meet in person, I'll tell you everything you want to know. Now, are you ready?"
Both nodded in unison, anticipating more violence and pain to come their way from the brutal battle that had played out a long time ago.
Chapter 7
They appeared at the same spot where the last scene had ended. Nothing had changed and seemed to be frozen in place. Their bodies were translucent again like the first time, like ghosts. Before they could speak, the world continued again.
* * * * *
"You want the only thing that can stand up to your minions and dare give me a halfhearted offer?" Graldin said through clenched teeth, his face flushing with rage. The hatred he felt radiated out towards Bardos, who didn’t seem to care at all and grinned in amusement. He glared at the divine for a long moment, wishing with all his heart to strangle him with his bare hands.
"Fine, fine. In that case, I'll offer you something else. Let it be known that I’m a benevolent ruler, not a tyrant," Bardos laughed at his own little speech. "Fight my champion. If you win, I'll save her. If you lose, I'll get your armour and weapon. As an added incentive, you can even heal up first!" Bardos laughed, stroking his beard.
Graldin closed his eyes and turned away from the Divinity. There was nothing he could do except agree to this charade. There was nothing in this world that could make him believe that Bardos would go through with a promise, especially one like that, but he could buy time.
"The fighting will stop. Our troops will withdraw from where the battle will take place and the Dark Lord’s troops will do the same.’
"How excellent! Finally, something that might amuse me for a short while!" Bardos exclaimed.
"Pull back your army and announce this circus act for tonight. Until then, I want Milena to be in good enough shape to spend time with her." Graldin added, his expression frigid.
Momentarily, the enemy army withdrew towards the outer wall and made camp for the time being, while the allied army had pulled back towards the inner wall. A good hour passed by before he sat down in the officers tent, together with Milena. She hadn’t left his side for a moment even though she was still quite weak from the blood loss.
The mood was heavy as so much death had left none unaffected, be it the ordinary soldiers or higher ranking officers, envoys from the different races and even the enemy. No one here wanted to continue to kill anyone, except for Bardos willing them to continue.
King Raikou entered the tent together with his high priestess through a small portal. It was a two-way spell that could only be cast from within the throne room and lasted for an hour. Everyone stopped eating and drinking, standing up to greet their king. Moments later, they proceeded with what they were doing as Raikou sat beside Graldin, putting a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t have to say anything as the look in his eyes said everything for him.
"I'm proud of you. There is always another way, but you chose the most difficult one. Pr
otect our sister and the children of our kingdom. You are a king yourself, so the burden must be twofold for you."
Graldin nodded and smiled, afraid to open his mouth and speak. He never wasted words, or was someone who was comfortable enough around people to show emotion. He was a man of extremes in all ways, and just now he felt that tears weren’t too far away.
Some minutes later, the king and the high priestess returned to the castle, afraid Bardos might try something. With dinner finished, the general exchanged a few words with all of his closest friends and withdrew to a more private area with Milena. They talked for what seemed like hours until a booming voice yelled from outside, cutting their time short.
"Graldin! It's time!" the voice called. With a deep sigh, he stood up, offering Milena his hand. Together they walked out of the tent, taking their place within what would be the battle ring.
Milena was taken to Bardos’ side as it had been him that granted the extra time they had gotten and she would serve as an insurance. A knot formed in the pit of Graldin’s stomach threatening to rip everything apart from the inside. This was something he couldn’t get over as it was his fault that her life was in Bardos’ hands.
Around them, tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides were arrayed against each other. The distance was about a hundred metres, enough to be out of range from any projectiles that might get thrown.
All the people present looked on in hope and fear for their champion, except for Milena. Her gaze was one of a drug addict as she just hung there between two minor gods. Hatred, and the need to avenge their fallen calmed Graldin down as he took his place in the ring.
Asuman, the brawling god, floated toward him with arms wide open as if greeting an old friend. He landed gracefully like a bird going after prey. A brown armour fit around his body with a long, coiled whip in his hand. Long blond hair flowed down his back, giving him a divine yet wicked look, ready to dish out punishment in Bardos’ name.
"Greetings, human," Asuman said, approaching. "I'm honored to fight you," he added with a mocking tone, yet his eyes betrayed nervousness. Graldin had beaten Zariko after all, even if Asuman thought he was a pushover.
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