MATURE CONTENT - LANGUAGE AND GORE
I kept the stream of fire aimed at the smoky demon. He jumped and flipped and slithered like a snake to avoid the magma. He took a step too soon and a bolt of fire nicked his arm. He spun backwards but quickly circled to dodge a pillar of fire that burst from the ground. He continued to dodge while keeping a distance of six-feet. If I took a single step forward he would take a step back.
My arms swung my axe left when he jumped left, they followed him right, I lifted them to summon flames from the ground and dropped the heavy weapon to rain fire on him. My arms grew tired from thrashing the axe around like a child throwing a tantrum and I felt stupid swinging it at air.
“Fucking coward! Stop running away and fight me!” I screamed. It was time to end his damn dance. The pouring of magma ended when my fist clenched.
I stopped the stream and instead shot a large ball of magma at him just as he leapt for the ground. It struck him right in the chest and he flung backwards. He twisted in the air three times until his body bounced off the stone courtyard. He laid on the floor, the only movement was a fierce quivering from the pain. Large black bubbles covered his entire chest and traveled up his shoulders. I stuck my boot on the biggest blister and pressed until it squirted black puss. His groaning brought joy to my heart.
I lifted the spike at the end of my axe and fixed all my weight onto it. Not only had it pierced through his leathery chest but the stone road underneath.
He was stuck in place and I towered over him victorious.
I took a minute to breathe and leaned on my axe for a second to calm the angry flame that burned inside me. Watching the demon struggle filled me with happiness and triumph. I glanced up at my comrades with a large smile thinking they would smile back with pride as the imps and demons laid lifeless on the ground.
But what I saw was horror instead of triumph. Blood pooled between the cracks in the stone courtyard and splattered against the walls.
Leanord was screaming in pain and held onto a large spike that stuck into his rib cage. Felicia held his hand as she fumbled with potion bottles. Xanthius fought for their protection by swinging his sword at the piercing tail of the green demon and keeping his stance wide to prevent the circle of imps and devils from closing in. Elia and Howard stood by his side but Howards neck was spilling out blood. Arion was in the sky, some of his feathers were still missing and he bled profusely but he fought. His thick black talons dug into the beast demons’ skin. He held his arms in the air but struggled to keep the demon from beating the already dead knight to a bloody pulp that laid beneath him.
There were fifteen of them, and now only seven stood.
Amy’s face stretched as she screamed at me. Her eyebrows furrowed in anger and her eyes were bloodshot but I couldn’t hear a word she said. Sound slowly flooded to my ears once again as the ringing died down. Their pleading felt like a thousand knives stabbing me in the chest.
“Shi, what the fuck are you doing!” Her screaming was shrill. The cracking of her voice told me that she had been doing so for a very long time. Guilt froze me to the ground.
I had to do something. I lifted my axe preparing the spell that would easily wipe out the hellish creatures. Both hands wrapped around the shaft to heave it out of the ground but I now took notice to the extinguished sun in my axe. It was too weak from misuse to perform such a complex spell. Through my blinding anger I wasted it on this cursed demon.
The demon that laid impaled on the floor chuckled.
“Those fueled by anger are easily tricked.” His hearty laugh struck a nerve in me. “I noticed that little ball of fire diminishing as you exploited it.”
I stared at his eyes and they revealed that he had not felt pain. He didn’t cough as the spear punctured his lungs, he wasn’t bleeding anymore and his chest was free from blisters.
“The powers of Godius are replenished only in the sun, am I mistaken? By the look of things…” He stared at the dark sky. “You have maybe six hours until the sun rises.”
My heart sank. His body decomposed into a thick cloud of smoke, floated across the courtyard and rose about five feet from the ground. The smoke thickened until his body regained form.
“You think I’d actually fight you?” He bent his head back and laughed. “You must think me a fool.”
“What is this witch craft?” I said with defeat. The beast chuckled.
“Hell has many secrets.” He lifted his chin and looked down on me with squinted eyes. “Now we fight my way.”
Smoke burst from his body, his figure blurred until all in sight was nothing but smog. The desire to scream, stomp, and swing my axe violently was suppressed by the fear that paralyzed my limbs. Confronting demons never scared me to be immobilized. Even my first fight with Vir’tish I fought even when I was physically crippled.
I tried to repress the darkness that rushed inside me, tried to push out the memories that came flooding back but I was powerless.
Orange lips of fire covered me. Heat overwhelmed me. A burning sensation ran throughout my body in a painful remembrance. Every nerve shot to my brain as my charred flesh was exposed to the air, it stung like a thousand hornets. Every vivid memory rushed through my mind as the blood from my sisters bodies flooded at my feet. I was hopeless. Paralyzed back then as I was now.
The only memory of my sister was panicked eyes that melted down her cheeks as magma hollowed out her skull. Her blood bubbled and her skin blistered until it all turned black and her body shrank around her skeletal frame. I don’t remember what she looked like in her church dress or her eyes before they became blistered by heat. I’ve blocked out the memory of them but now that I need to remember her beautiful smile I can only remember red. Red, everywhere covered in fire! The world cast in scarlet as it burned.
“Sainthood at the expense of your sister’s lives. Crippled, ugly. The Godius allowed this to happen. Why follow such a hateful god?” The hellish beast interrupted my flashing memories attempting to plant doubt into my mind.
“Dear Godius, save me from this terrible spell.” I closed my eyes, focused on my comrades. Focused on now, and not then. If I couldn’t remember my little sisters, I could remember the people I traveled with. The friends I’ve made and the lives we saved. The Godius’ light outshined the darkness of my memories. A tingling sensation slowly returned feeling into my limbs. The leather squealed as I tightened my hands around my axes rod. I was saved from my paralyzing fear but my comrades were not.
I had three demons and several imps to defeat and not enough fire in my sun to fight them off. We were going to be defeated.
Suddenly the sky trembled and lighting cracked against the clouds. But the lightning wasn’t its usual color. It almost looked like black glass shattering into a million pieces. Darkness returned with a vengeance. It exploded from the sky but that also quickly died out.
“Lightning?” I said to myself, but the demon responded with a growl.
“No.”
The world shook but we did not lose our balance. Anguish rang in discord around us. A cry from thousands pulsed fear into my soul. It sounded near, it sounded far. Roars of creatures, wailing of women, and shrieking of thousands of beings. We were drowned out in the sound of despair.
I didn’t know what to do. I could only stand hopelessly and listen. It stopped as suddenly as it came.
The imps looked to the blackened demon for guidance and trembled.
“Master… What was that?” A blue imp asked.
“We need to get out of here.” The demon lowered his head and stared at me with an angry growl. “Remember my name, gods whore. You have not beaten Mnakaraneh.”
The demons body dissipated into smoke again. But instead of surrounding us it hid his entire army. I pulled my axe from the ground and charged him. I swung at the smoke and it nothingness. The black fog cleared and revealed nothing but the broken town and the flames that engulfed it. Not even the rift remained. Had they gone back to hell? Or were they still in our world?
I didn’t want to turn around, I didn’t want to see the aftermath of my negligence. But I had to face them regardless of how loudly Amy scolded.
Leonard laid against the wall, his spear penetrating his own chest. He held onto it with the remaining strength that seemed to dwindle rapidly. Elia sat by Leonards side, soothing him as he groaned with pain. Howard was in bad shape also, he sat on a stair that lead to town hall. His hand had stopped the blood from gushing out of his neck but his eyes drooped and his face was pale. Xanthius shook Felicia, her eyes were wide and her face pale with fear. Her chin quivered as she murmured something, she seemed to be the only one still lost in the horrific trance. Xanthius was injured on his right arm but paid no mind to it. He always gave Felicia his attention. Arion was a hot mess, he seemed to have lost more feathers than regained from a spell that was supposed to help them grow faster. Amy was torn up on her back, her arms and her chest. She had large patches of pink that stood out amongst her black fur. Her chest welled with anger, she breathed so hard that her nostrils flared.
“What the fuck, Shi!” She screamed. “We were getting destroyed! Why didn’t you do something!”
I was absolutely shocked. I had no idea what happened. I became blind to my rage when I fought the demon and even sound was blocked out.
“lay off her. It was that demon.” Arion said to Amy.
“Shut up, pidgeon!” She squealed. It wasn’t like her to act in this manner. We had experienced many hardships together all of which Amy was calm and collected. And although her and Arion never had the best relationship she never spewed racial slurs even as a joke. She turned to me, “Do we mean nothing to you! You wasted your damn powers on that demon and left us to die. If it wasn’t for…” She pointed to the sky, “Whatever the fuck that was that scared him off we’d all be dead!”
Words wanted to rush out of my mouth but I was circumspect to speak. If a single sound escaped my lips they would come out as fists instead of words. My anger only welled up inside of me, dark thoughts lingered from my fight and my adrenaline pumped throughout my veins but my mind was straight. I would not speak, I would not hurt my own friend. I looked to the bright moon and prayed. Goddessa, bestow me your gift of patience, help me calm my rage.
My prayers were interrupted by a flash of light and a crash. Dirt ricocheted against my helmet and rocks dinged against my armor. Amy’s eyes widened then dropped to her knee, Arion had bowed, Howard and Leonard seemed to be in too much agony to act. Xanthius clung to his wife but he had bowed his head to the angel behind me. I turned to face my angel and genuflected in the mud.
“Rise.” Ezekiels eyes scanned the destruction that we left. Houses were torn to shreds from the rift, whatever materials were left were on fire or soaked with blood.
“What happened?” He said. Angels spoke as two separate voices; a woman’s soprano and a man’s baritone. Crowds of people couldn’t hear his angelic voice although he spoke loudly to me. Ezekiel could choose who saw him and who could hear him. “Why didn’t you pray for my help?”
“It’s complicated.” I said.
“Complicated! Abandoning us to fight off a whole horde isn’t complicated.” Amy sneered.
I had a strong desire to swing around and deck her in the face. My heart continued to pound so loudly it was almost deafening.
“It is complicated.” The angel said to her. “The air in this area is disturbing.”
He circled around and met the area where the rift opened. He held his hand out, then retracted it. “This was no ordinary demon.”
My neck had an itch to crank around and give Amy the ‘what now, bitch?’ face but I believed she got the point. Hiding a smirk behind my helmet brought enough satisfaction.
“What was it then?” Arion asked. “A demon lord!”
“No, if it was a demon lord Godius would know. This is something that doesn’t have a name. Something elusive, like a shadow of sorts. A darkness that hides in the light.”
“It must have been a sort of doppleganger. He said that he would be a fool if he actually fought me.” I said.
“A very powerful doppleganger if that was the case. For a copy of something to leave this strong of a presence is concerning. The god and goddess must hear of this.” He turned back to us.
“Is this why you came?” Amy crossed her arms and loosened her shoulders.
“No, but knowing that you are all alive I can only assume the demon sensed my presence. I would have smitten him where he stood. Back to the matter at hand - I have come here with grave news. The world is in danger, Shi. Godius and Goddessa lost control to the underworld. They fear for the souls of their people.” This unfortunate news made my stomach leap, sending bile into my throat. The knot tore at my vocal chords as I spoke.
“What can I do for my god and goddess?” My voice wavered slightly, grunting helped clear my voice of the knot and I could speak clearly again.
“Report to the Marnettie Cathedral. Research the underworld and how to regain control. We shall give further instructions as you further this goal.” He said as he handed me an angel scroll. The scroll glowed with golden script with an orangish shadow lining the words encrypted inside. The instructions written in magic repeated verbatim what the angel asked. The only thing different was the explanation of why a human had to perform this quest.
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