MATURE CONTENT - LANGUAGE AND GORE

The ground quaked, the floor boards groaned, and a large crack echoed throughout the valley. The hall boomed with the cheering of imps and devils. They bounced with excitement and lifted middle fingers to the sky. 

“Fuck you, Godius!” 

“You will meet your match!” 

“That wench of a goddess can suck it!” They all had something to hiss at the sky.  

Chains jingled as the imps clipped the cadavers from the ceiling. Bodies thudded against the floor and the imps carried them to the mound. The pile grew so high I couldn’t count how many were on the top. I could keep the bodies away from suffocating my face but the mound was too heavy to shove it off. I mustered all my strength to keep pushing even when my face glowed with heat, sweat wetted the inside of my leather gloves and my elbows felt as if they would pop out of the socket. The cold sank into my armor from the frozen corpses and my legs began to go numb. 

I attempted a small cry for help but it came out in a huff.  

A gust of wind blew throughout the hall as Arion thrashed his mighty wings adding to the chilling cold that froze my limbs. He squawked and bellowed and feathers floated within my view, the tips were bloodied and some still held onto skin. 

Large noses poked from the top as devils peered over the bodies. Their blackened eyes shimmered with delight at my struggle. Their weight added to the pile and made it harder and harder to breath. With each exhale the weight pressed against my lungs allowing less room to fill them again.  

 “Get your axe Shi, get it! Get it!” They taunted. 

My double headed axe was pinned between me and the floor. I could reach up and grab it, but my arms kept the bodies from crushing my face. Not to mention the imps could seize the opportunity and sit on my arms, pinning me to the floor until I was flatter than a pancake.  

Another booming crack and light flooded throughout the room. The double doors flew open and a bolt of black jolted into the room. The pounding of boots against the floor was like music to my ears. The hellish creatures stopped their maniacal chuckling and screamed in panic. Blood splayed across the ground, large claws ripped and tore throughout the room. Amy’s muscles were like the ripples of water but deadlier than a cloud of arrows. Blood splayed everywhere and somehow made it into my mouth. 

The weight lessened. I could finally push the mountain of corpses off by myself.  

“Took you long enough!” I jumped to my feet and shook the feeling back into them. Xanthius had a square stance with his broadsword ready in one hand and a shield held high with the other. His sword swung and cut a devil in half lengthwise when it pounced at us. Its guts spilled out onto the floor before his body toppled over. 

“Well if someone didn’t leave an army of imps outside than we would have been here sooner.” He turned his head slightly and smiled. “I’m thankful to Godius you two have all your limbs.” 

“Me too.” I unpinned my axe and held it in both hands ready to fuck up some demonic assholes. I checked on Arion first. “You ok?” 

He was in his bird form, one wing was held by Felicia and she rubbed it, the other crimped behind him unnaturally as a bone stuck out of his joint. Blood stained the tips of his wings and his head was almost bald. His beautiful pelt didn’t look neat and smooth anymore. Every feather on his body stood on end or laid on the ground soaked in blood.  

Felicia caressed the areas that lost feathers. She closed her eyes and mouthed words without sound. Puffy like substances began to replace the spots where Arion lost his feathers. 

“I’m fine… Or, at least until Felicia is done with her spell.” He winced. “My poor, beautiful feathers.” He gazed longingly at a feather on the ground. 

“They’ll grow back in full length when the spell is done.” I reassured him as I picked up my helmet and placed it back on my head.

 “Shi! Something is happening!” Howard ran to the door frame.  Knowing that Arion was in good hands, Xanthius, Amy and I bolted towards the danger. 

The space before the town hall was warped, houses bent inward with impossible physics and glimmered like melting glass. The space bent and twisted until a seam ripped open. Fire burst from the rift melting ice and snow, smoke burled out in large clouds and covered the sky in black. The smell of sulfur filled the air and the imps and devils chanted with glee, “He’s coming! He’s here!” 

Two demons trudged through the billowy smoke. One was a beast demon with muscular shoulders that merged with his neck. A black chain wrapped around its throat and rubbed against the leathery skin until it’s red flesh showed. The arms were taller and thicker than I was and used them to support his body since its legs were puny and the hooves cracked underneath it's weight. 

The horns of the beast protruded from the eye sockets and covered its entire forehead in thick, course keratin. The horns didn’t stand tall as it appeared to be broken at the base.  

Holding tightly to the chain was a thin bitch with large tits and had green skin covered in scales. She had mandibles like a praying mantis and a thick tail like a scorpion. She had two sets of arms and held onto the chain with all of them. Her horns were also broken off at the base, how odd. 

 “Patience, pet.” She said to the beast, he anxiously pulled on the chains ready to fight. He snorted out steam and grunted with displeasure. 

What were they waiting for? All the imps and devils stood in their spot with their mouths grinning wide. From the rift another silhouette was emerging from the red flames. His figure was black and splotchy as if his form was one with the smoke instead of the flames. As he emerged his body still discharged thick black clouds that sank to the ground instead of rising to the sky. He was covered in black, thick skin with horns that twisted at the top. He had an evil mouth lined with sharp teeth that traveled from ear to ear. He wasn’t as tall as the green demon nor as muscular as the beast, but the imps and devils bowed in reverence to him.

I’ve never seen a demon with this essence before. I felt frozen at the sight of him. My hands itched to raise my axe and swing instinctually, but I couldn’t move them. All I could do was tighten my frustrated grasp. My other comrades seemed just as stuck, everyone stared at this creature as they shivered in their boots.

I tried to shake out of it, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t until he spoke that I could breathe again.

“Which one of you is Shi?” His eyes grazed from the left to the right, staring at all of us. Excluding my Akira comrades, we all wore our helmets but he looked directly at me. “Would it be the soldier with the little glowing sun in her axe?”

Nobody spoke, all was silent when he was silent. 

“Word around the underworld is that all the gods saints are blonde. I heard that Godius bestows them with steaming hot bodies then fucks them. So are you saint? Or whore?” His worshippers chuckled. “I can see the steam of rage simmering out of your helmet like a tea kettle. You must be the infamous Shi.” His sinister mouth was already contorted to be a wicked smile but something about his eyes made his mouth appear as if it was smiling even wider. My gut turned and my face grew hot with rage. How dare he say Godius’ name with that foul mouth.

“Kill them all.” He said to his small army. “But leave the saint for me. I want her to know how much bigger my cock is compared to a gods.” His hand rested on his groin then began humping nothing as his slithering black tongue licked the air.

“Vile demon, I will cut your fucking tongue out and burn it.” My voice grumbled as I spoke.

The demon laughed, “She has quite the mouth for the gods saint!” He burst into a black flame then distinguished back into smoke. There have been fire demons and demons that exude poisonous smoke-like gas but I’ve never seen a demon that possessed an element of black flame or a black smoke.

I stepped forward freeing myself from the trance that froze me to the ground. The imps took a step back making sure not to touch me. The beast demon jolted forward but was yanked by the green bitch. They made a clear path for me to reach their master. I left the small army behind me with confidence in my demon hunters. My group would take care of them with ease. I continued forward, keeping my gaze locked on the demon that insulted me and my dear Godius. A nagging sense tugged at my heart and grew stronger as I got closer. It kept me from taking another step when my brain told me to charge him. I stopped mid-step and cringed at my own hesitation.

“I sense fear in you.” He said.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“No… Not of me.” He glanced at the flames of hell behind him. I opened my stance and stood strong with my arms flexed and muscles ready to swing my axe. But preparation was the only command my body chose to obey, it refused to move forward even when I wanted so desperately to cut his head off and end this immediately. “You hesitate?” 

“I don’t hesitate.” My voice cracked as I spoke.  

He wasn’t a tall demon that towered over me, he wasn’t physically intimidating, and he was quite small but something about him made me freeze. He exuded a feeling of darkness that I couldn’t overcome, like I was stuck in a miserable night terror. Taking a single step was a battle that my brain was trying to win against my rapidly beating heart. It kept telling me to go forward but I stood still like a buffoon. 

Sound broke out behind me, grunting and groaning, metal clanging together. There were screams of pain, fright, frustration. The people and hellish creatures clashed behind me. They had already begun fighting and this demon stood still. 

I couldn’t let my comrades down. I needed to end this before any of them got hurt.

My body jolted forward and my shoulders twisted. I swung at his neck. He ducked as I interpreted he would. The momentum of my axe pulled me around and it lead my body in full swing. I aimed low when he was still recovering from his last dodge. 

Had I missed? I took a deep breath and watched him stumble backwards. Black blood trickled down small slits in his knees. I hit him, but he had dodged before his legs were lopped off. 

He groaned at first and then laughed, “that was close!” 

Every muscle in his body tensed, his hands clamped shut and he grunted. The black flame grew from his body and set fire to the rooftops. My heart jumped into my throat and I struggled to swallow it back down. The scar on my face began to burn again as it had so many years ago. I breathed deeply but I couldn’t push out the irritation that itched inside my skin.  

I crouched low and swung the axe around with the spear end pointed at him. Mud kicked up from the ground as I shuffled forward. I feinted low then struck at his midsection. The head of my axe limited movement but the pole was long enough to pierce through his chest. He sidestepped and I missed again but quickly followed his movement with a swift smack to his ugly face.  

He tumbled sideways and held onto his cheek with shock in his eyes. 

“That was a dirty trick!” He said. 

“Stop toying with me and fight!” 

The demon tensed his muscles unleashing the black flame just as I jounced at him. I mis-stepped and stumbled as the flames blended with the black sky. A lip of fire breached my armor and caught flame to my arming doublet. 

I batted at the flame while dancing around like an idiot. When it extinguished there were no burn marks, no blackened remains or even a hot burning sensation. It was simply annoying. A sharp pain ran from my temple to my jaw. I stopped myself from clenching my jaw and went back into the fray.  I would end this damn demon. 

Ready again, knees bent, axe held low, I waited for him this time. One leap forward he could sidestep and I’d be cast into the rift. I could circle around and attack him from the side but I wanted him to attack me. He hasn’t done anything but dodge. 

 My peripherals blackened as I focused on his movements. The cracking of fire drowned out all noise excluding the grinding of my teeth and the booming of my heart. He circled me, not taking a single step forward. 

What was he waiting for? 

“Honestly, I expected more from you.” He yawned. My eyes rolled into the back of my head. “I’ve only gotten a few scratches.” 

“It’s more than what you’ve done.” I bit back. 

“I’ve done more damage than you think.” He tensed again and the flame burst from his body and caught fire to an invisible source on my left. I sidestepped away from it but kept my eyes glued on him. 

Again, I attacked. But just as I lifted the axe a sharp pain shot from my neck to the fingertips on my right hand. My arm gave out and my blade had not touched him but dropped to the floor.  

“What the fuck!” The right side of my body burned, the skin tightened, and my muscles ached. Unclenching and then clenching my hand did nothing to ease the stiffness. My stupid burn scars were relieving the memory of my torture. 

The demon before me elongated until he stood three feet taller. I couldn’t see him clearly as the black smoke surrounded me and blurred my vision, but his black skin lightened to a currant red. His damned nose grew and was broken at the bridge and the long twisted horns turned into coal. Vir’tish was here? How was that possible? My tormentor was dead! 

My heart pounded against my chest and the ringing in my ears became deafening. I knew this was a trick and I felt shame for believing that Vir’tish was back. My eyelids squeezed shut until a stabbing pain shot through my eyes. When I opened them again Vir’tish was still there. 

“Powerless saint abandoned by Godius.” He mocked.  

I was tired of this game. A giant flame burst from the sun inside my axe, it grew hotter than my rage and shot out towards the demon. His apparition faded as his body was blotched out by the white flame. He danced out of the pillar of fire, smacking himself until the fire dwindled. 

“I was mistaken.” His voice wavered. He stood and shot his own flame at me and I was consumed in the wavering darkness. Other than the fear that embarrassed me it did no damage. I knew it would not harm me but I could not keep my heart from dropping into my gut when it happened.

“Fucking dammit! Stop that!” 

“What? Is it annoying?” His head cocked to the side like a curious dog. 

My mind went blank and I let my actions speak for me. I extracted another flame from the axe, but this one was bigger. I shot it forward in a stream of magma and followed the demon. He jumped like a frog against the walls of buildings, then ran on all fours like a hyena when he landed. He jolted left then right and danced away from my flame. I cared not what path the stream took. Godius protected those that are true to him. He would not allow the fire to harm my companions. But when the demon jumped in front of his own army, the imps and devils screamed in agony as the white flame burned them to a heap of ash.