My mind hurt more then my body. The sting of defeat was something I had felt many, many times in my life. I had walked away from a lot of battlefields I shouldn’t have, and that left you with a certain injury to pride that’s hard to fully articulate.
Even if you were never going to win in the first place.
This time, though? Victory was in our grasp. We had all the power we were going to. We were at the apex of strength. And yet…
We had killed so many. But as I stared at the bodies of Gala and Colel, it didn’t feel worth it. When I saw the number of us that were missing body parts, laying bloody and broken on the ground? When blood flowed over one of my eyes, leaving me with only one to survey the carnage?
It was a loss. We’d been attacked, and barely held our ground. Our dreams were dead before we could even consider them. Our vengeance stifled without a second thought. Foreigners, invaders, murderers. As always, they were to blame. As always, they ran away. As always, we were left to bury the bodies. In a horrible twist of fate, that could be considered a blessing.
I stumbled past the likely dead body of Andreas, not even trying to staunch the bleeding. Turning my head around, I saw carnage at every turn. Otto had returned to human form, seemingly on the brink of dropping into unconsciousness, but he was too busy helping his sister to her feet. Her hand looked broken, and she was covered in knife wounds.
Dominic remained flat on his back, but he was at least still breathing. His face was covered in enough blood to drown in, but he seemed to know that, with how he was positioned.
I ran into Julian before him.
Julian was missing an eye, his left, the opposite of mine. He had no other injuries, thankfully, save for a few scratches and bruises. He looked exhausted though, like he’d just put up one hell of a fight.
I stopped in front of him. He looked at me with a muted sort of concern. Seeing the stab wound in my chest, my missing eye, and my missing arm.
“You should…really…get those looked at.”
I shook my head fervently.
“You’re going to die, kid.”
I ignored him, and kept moving on, pushing past him in the process, he didn’t have the energy to chase. After a few more moments, I took to the sky, and soon found him, on the other side of the rocks. Staring out in the direction the enemy had run off to. He was still covered in wounds, and despite his godly stature, they still bled.
He had fought the darkness creature, and used his magic to destroy it utterly, I had seen it, even if I had been in no state to aid him. But there was a more pressing thing on my mind. I cast a familiar spell, as I approached, a bladed obsidian club appearing in my hand, leveled towards him. I floated closer, and in my injured delirium, called out, in the language we both knew.
“I want answers. Now.”
My voice was firm, at least in my mind. It was entirely possible that it sounded like the mewling of a child to this creature out of time.
He turned, to face me. I saw a profound expression of weariness, in his bestial eyes.
“Ask your queries, Champion. Your valor has earned that today.”
He spoke with a level of certainty. It almost reassured me.
“What did you do to Gala? Did you kill her? And if not, what, or who, did.”
I kept the weapon leveled forward. Perhaps out of fear. Perhaps out of instinct. Perhaps both.
“I did not. I would not harm another of my blood. I wanted to restrain her, contain her rampage, but instead, the artifact she was struck with led to her downfall. I am sorry. There was nothing I could do.”
Those words sounded ever so hollow to me. How many times had people told me there was nothing they could do?
“What artifact.” Was all I could let out.
“The fang of a creature like me. He was named Q’uq’umatz. A mighty creature. He offered one of his fangs to me, when I was put to rest, to be a blade of mine to use in the world I would awake in. The statues that darkness destroyed were intended to guard me for that world. It seems much has been lost, that was once ours.”
I clenched my one fist. I could feel myself growing cold, but somehow, I didn’t care.
“Can you fix this? Heal us? Make this right again? We need something if we have the chance of ever recovering. We need to find a different camp, regroup, spend at least half a year-“
He gave me a quizzical look.
“We’ll be attacking the city tomorrow, no?”
Despite my growing delirium, I laughed.
“What? No. We lost so many, and so many more will never fight again. How could we possibly-“
I felt an itching in my skull, my arm, and my chest. I stopped talking. Half out of shock, half out of pain.
Sight restored itself to the right side of my face, after but a few moments. The eye felt heavier in my head, then it should, though I chalked that up to the delirium.
My chest sealed itself. I looked down, seeing the tendrils of black and green seal it shut.
My arm was different. The tremor quaked, and material simply formed, to supplant the stump. Where my chest wound looked like it was stitched closed by discolored thread, my arm was being reformed much different. When it fully formed together, it was made from obsidian, connected with threads of woven vine, and in the cracks, a faint gold hue could be seen. The hand felt warm to the touch, just like flesh, but off, in some odd way.
I must have looked at him dumbfounded. As he floated up to me, not even having moved.
“You will be the easy one to mend. Those who share my blood, I can fill in the cracks. Physically, and mentally. Your comrades will be restored. This I promise you. But I know we will need more. Come the sun’s zenith, you will have an army like none other in this land. We will take this city, as planned. This much I swear to you, as your god.”
He proceeded to float past of me. Presumably, he or someone else caught me as I fell out of the sky from exhaustion.
When I next awoke, it was to the sounds of idle chatter. I pulled myself to my feet. Based on where the sun was in the sky…it was well past noon. I had been really tired, it seemed, to sleep over fifteen hours. I looked down, at the obsidian segment of my arm. I flexed it once. It still felt strong, so I moved out of my shelter, and into the body of camp.
And it was like I’d seen a ghost.
Gala and Colel stood in a group, with a few of the other soldiers. Some of which, I’d sworn I’d seen killed in the battle yesterday.
Gala seemed as if her crocodilian nature had advanced, her face slightly morphed, and a tail sprouted from her back. Colel’s feathers had spread to most of her body, though partially still suppressed by her uniform.
Circling above us, was the feathered horse from the day prior, along with the winged man with the sword. As if they were watching the skies. And yet, they gave us no harm. Didn’t attack. No one pointed weapons at them.
They weren’t the only things, though. Around the camp, dozens more of those creatures that the arcanite had brought forth were simply…sitting about. Helping in the camp. Preparing for war.
I saw Julian first, and approached him with haste. My worry grew, when he turned around. He had a new eye. It gleamed a faint gold, with a white dot in the center. He gave me a nod, and a crippling curiosity if my eye looked the same way surged through me. I didn’t ask.
“…What…”
“Our savior, it seems, had other plans for our defeat.” He looked above and behind me. I slowly turned, and there I saw him, hands outstretched. Concentrating, just as the sun reached it’s zenith. I flew up to him, kicking off the ground with a strange fervor. I almost smiled, seeing it. I called over, though he didn’t open his eyes.
“You…did it. You brought them back? And…” I looked around. “We have an army.”
“They will not remain forever. But they will persist long enough to fulfill their dreams. And those who died against us, will ensure the same. I once stood warden of the land of the dead, and now their armies are mine to command.”
Was his simple response, as I floated there, and realized my dreams may yet be possible.
I landed, and took off down the street with my group, ignoring the lingering flames in the air above, and the first of the raindrops which began to fall from the grey skies above.
They had known we were coming. Either the angels, or the arcanites were responsible. Still, we held something of an upper hand in terms of timing. Like it had seemingly done for Bianca, Otto, and so many of us over the years, the land worked in our favor, even more so as my god seemed to bend it and coax it to his whim.
We had divided our forces. Two vanguards around the sides, to sweep east and west, clean up lingering defenses for a hopeful flanking move in the center. In the air, the resurrected angel creature would go and kill his comrades for us. Whereas my god would quote unquote “Finish this fight”.
Unless that meant he intended to deal with the arcanite, that presumably left him, and whatever army he still had left to deal with. As we pushed down the center, and punched a hole straight to what we needed.
Their air support would likely scale itself back, given the first results, which meant what we needed to worry about was the things on the ground.
Gala was ahead of us. Her reborn form had even more of a golden sheen to it’s scales, and seemed even bigger then it had been.
We had spoken somewhat. But she seemed slightly off. Not much like the woman I had known. When I asked her of her fate, she had mostly clammed up, saying something along the lines of hoping it would never come.
Colel had refused to speak at all.
The rest of us weren’t so great off either. We’d all been healed, though. Dominic’s Armadillo form was at the rear, protecting us from anyone coming up from behind. His wounds not visible in his transformed state. Andreas’s serpent form, now with obsidian fangs, and a large portion of his scales knit over with armor akin to what my god wore. His normal form had this too, minus the fangs. He did have more scales now, though. And he seemed to be slightly absent in his smile. He had survived, at least. He wouldn’t be leaving us.
Bianca’s claws were now made from the same polished obsidian as Andreas’s fangs, and various points across her body had the same threads I did on my chest. Otto was similar, with his neck, and when he opened his mouth, sound akin to an ambient choir reached all around him-never enough to overpower his speech, but always able to be heard.
Julian was in front of us, directing the dozen or so people with us. We had made it about ten minutes forward, with no resistance, before things changed.
Gala stepped on her first of many mines. Detonating in a quick explosive burst, which did nothing to even scratch her scales. However, gunshots starting to ring out was also the problem, as the various soldiers in defense of the city made themselves visible. Moving out from hidden positions in alleyways, from rooftops, and even a few from sewer grates. We were surrounded in seconds, but we should have seen them-
That was when I saw it. Several flying creatures, about the size of birds, each with wings and vaguely humanoid.
Akin to what I saw my god fry yesterday, to reveal the army of the arcanites.
Damnation. We’d been tricked.
Not that it mattered. We lost but one man.
Gala charged forward, killing men by the dozens with a swing of her mighty tail. On the rooftops, Otto and Colel made short work of them, uses of his scream, seemingly stronger then before, sending people flying, or simply pulverizing, and the sharper talons of Colel mopped up the rest. Those in alleys quickly found themselves confronted by Bianca and Andreas, claw and fang easily piercing through them. Behind us, Dominic charged through their ranks, trampling and sowing confusion.
Those who remained weren’t so lucky either, being shot by Julian and his men, or dealt with myself, as I conjured the obsidian bladed club again. The amount of magic I had used the day prior had drained me, so I had decided to keep to just my strength and skill for now. I was using both to great effect-removing heads and bisecting those who had the misfortune to get in my way.
The contingent, maybe thirty, forty, fifty soldiers, was slaughtered within a few minutes. Those who remained fleeing rapidly.
As we progressed, this would become a similar theme, though they would be in much lesser numbers, and less well hidden to start. Street by street, block by block, we made slow and steady progress. I could only hope our other contingents were having as much luck.
Unfortunately, ours hit another snag. We moved onto another street, starting to move down, when suddenly, a frigid wind like no other blew down the street in a tempest, and appearing when it subsided, a new force of enemies appeared in our way.
But this one wasn’t human.
More of those strange creatures made from limbs, accompanied by monsters which took the form of material and elements. A few other of those humanoid bird sized things, and a few other strewn creatures which were hardly natural. Amongst their numbers, three stood out.
A creature in a suit of armor, with a greatblade.
A creature made from light which cast like a beacon out from it’s form. A pair of spears formed in it’s hands.
And something which looked the most abominable. It was twelve feet tall, with ten legs and arms, five faces, three tails. It was an amalgam of flesh and bone, and let out a low chittering growl when it appeared.
Gala didn’t waste a second to charge, and the rest of us didn’t seem inclined to wait up.
Gala and the abomination quickly clashed against each other, the creature stronger then it looked, it’s arms digging under scales and pulling, while it’s many mouths gnashed closer and closer to her.
The armor and the light construct charged forth, being met with Otto and Bianca. The armor seemed more then capable to withstand Otto’s scream, and the construct using fancy spearwork to keep Bianca at bay. The rest of the army seemed to surge forward, being met with gunfire, and a very large snake.
Colel quickly started swooping down, grabbing anything which could fly in her claws, and promptly ripping it to pieces. Dominic remained in place, cautious of moving out of formation.
I charged forward, towards the light construct, club in hand. I swung hard for it’s upper body, it brought both spears back forward in a fluid motion. A voice was heard, speaking a language I didn’t know, and didn’t recognize.
“Chaos non vincet hodie!”
It shouted with fervor, as we clashed back and forth. Bianca slinked around the side, and managed to inflict a cut, but was sidetracked by the creature made of metal, who she had fought the day prior and broke her wrist (and a lot of other bones) engaging with. This time, however, the obsidian on her hands sliced through the iron and steel like it was butter, and the creature fell within moments. Seeing that myself and the construct were still fighting, and not gaining or losing ground, she dove back into the wider fray.
It’s spearwork was good, and the lack of a secondary weapon had to be remedied. My shortblade reappeared, and I was able to gain footing with it, pushing back against attempted thrusts and swings with ease. Whatever training I had been fastracked through, it had been well accustomed to this sort of weapon being fought.
I gained the upper hand. Stabbing the blade into it’s chest-and though it seemed unaffected, it was staggered slightly, allowing me to bring the club around, hard, and slam into it’s arm. Parts of it simply dispersed, depriving it of one weapon, the other expertly trying to exploit a hole in my guard, striking my chest…but finding no purchase, the light dispersing as if it had hit an invisible stone wall. In the moment of surprise I had, I swung both weapons with my full strength, and fully dispersed the creature into a cluster of ambient light chunks…which seemed to not want to stick around, zipping off.
I grinned, and turned around. Andreas had helped Gala pin down the abomination, and Gala was stomping on it repeatedly, while Andreas sunk his fangs in again and again, a form of necrosis taking root across it. Yet despite it all, the creature kept trying to pull itself together, strands of flesh attempting to rejoin. Limbs kept clawing, teeth kept gnashing. I shouted towards them, getting the pairs attention, and made a bit step back motion with my weapons, as I strode forward.
When I got close enough, I struck both weapons together, using a bit of my reserves-using the weapons to empower the little spent, via a gesture, and created a spark of flame, that quickly expanded into a roaring wave of fire, which passed over the creature. It began shrieking, deafeningly, as it shriveled and thrashed on the ground. My grin grew wider, as a few more golems strayed close to me, getting cut down in the process. Through the shriek, I still heard the sound of gunshots, though for a moment, they sounded slightly erratic. The truth of this wasn’t revealed until I looked around, back over towards our woefully unprotected center.
Seven of our men were dead, or incapacitated. Head wounds the cause, crumbled to the street. A variety of medium to large stones or pieces of debris in their wake. Thrown projectiles? But from where?
As the shriek died down, with the flesh monsters presumed death, I shouted, and gestured forward, but it was too late. Our true foe had sprung their trap.
Two more large pieces of rubble were tossed from a rooftop, colliding with Julian and sending him to the ground-I heard a crunch, which certainly wasn’t good, along with another one of our people with guns. This left two, who quickly turned their guns to the source, now able to better perceive their target.
Eight feet tall, it leaped from the rooftop with shocking agility, doing a pivot midair to land right between the remaining pair, too slow to move away. A white robe with golden clasps, alongside a platinum mask, and a strange white as bone weapon in their hand.
Said weapon punched cleanly through the head of one of the two they landed between, and as the other fired his gun, they seemed to dodge at point blank range, though it was a jerky, uneven motion. The man was struck through the heart for his trouble.
We stood there in perhaps a moment too long of stunned silence, which this creature didn’t waste, closing with me right away, lunging forward with their weapon. It struck my center of mass, unable to pierce my skin, but sending me back a step. The group was quickly mobilizing, Gala first lunging forward with her maw, at a speed I didn’t know she could do. The creature was faster. Leaping into the air, and atop Gala’s snout, they ran forward down the length of their body, plunging the weapon down with enough strength to pierce scale. It was dragged along Gala’s side with a roar from her, but it was already too late. They ran to the other side, and leaped forth, the crocodile’s organs and blood spilling forth from the massive bloody gash torn in her side. It wasn’t as gory as I would have expected. Most of the guts that came forth dissolved on contact with the air, turning into wispy grey smoke.
I took off into the air all the same, racing towards this creature which had killed my friend for the second time. Gala’s body hadn’t even hit the ground, before Colel was diving to intercept, going with the eyes with her talons. She was grabbed by the leg instead, the creature using her momentum to their advantage, swinging themselves off and onto her back, stabbing the weapon in her neck. Colel went falling from the sky, body already starting to dissolve into the same grey. Another friend taken. They sprung towards me, the other person in the air, and in a naive panic, I dropped from the sky, hoping they’d follow. Instead, they landed in the center of Andreas and Bianca. Striking the former, not to kill, but enough to stagger to the ground, just as the other swung forward, fast, with her claws.
She got a kick to the face for her trouble, sending her back a step, as they leaped off the ground, landing behind Bianca, just as Andreas stood up, eyes wild, and lunged for Bianca with speed he didn’t have before. His fangs only averted from sinking into her flesh by Bianca striking him full force with a palm. I ran forward, and tackled Andreas with all my might, deciding it best to pin him down for now-jabbing my shortblade into his tail, pinning him down so I could spring back towards the fray.
It wasn’t good. While Bianca’s back had been turned, the creature had lunged, only to be intercepted by Otto, who swung a furious set of swipes towards them-they ducked under. Otto turned his head down, and screamed, slamming the creature into the street. The creature was injured, certainly, I even saw blood seep from behind the mask. But it didn’t stop them from striking thrice in a quick flurry, avoiding Bianca’s counterattack and putting three round holes through Otto’s chest.
I watched my friend hit the ground, and ran forward, weapon in hand. Dominic was charging up from behind. I saw Julian getting up.
Bianca attacked quickly, in a furious rage, swiping rapidly, but none connected. As the creature got up from the ground, they gripped a segment of the pavement, tearing off a massive piece, and swinging it towards Bianca, upside the head. With a mighty crack, the jaguar fell. However, just as the white bone tooth swung around for the finishing blow, I heard a gunshot. Julian, sitting up, fired a bullet. And it struck true, striking the creature in the shoulder. It bled a sparkly gold. Almost like my god. Almost.
They turned around, about to deal with Julian, or finish off Bianca, when I ran forward, weapon flourished, attempting to strike. I was parried, and quickly staggered with a kick, which was followed up with a charge under my guard. They struck me at the center of mass, again and again, forcing me back, and back, and back. I could hardly move to swing without one of theirs breaking it up. One final massive kick, and I went flying. I could feel my defenses waning, especially when I collided with Dominic at the perfect point to tip the Armadillo over and to the ground. They close on me, weapon in hand, for a final lethal blow.
Another gunshot. Not from Julian, he had collapsed back on the ground.
Not from any of us.
The bullet passed through it’s chest, passing fully through, and pinging off of Dominic’s armor. The creature stumbled, moving to strike me again all the same, when another shot rang out. They dodged this one, narrowly, managing to land a solid punch that pushed me further against Dominic’s armor.
The third one connected with the shoulder. They didn’t recover before the fourth struck their lower abdomen, the fifth hit shoulder, nearly ripping an arm free. I took this as my chance, reaching around with my weapon, using it to pin the creature to me. Again and again, I pulled it closer with my club, cutting into their chest again and again, which turned to a slick, sparkly golden mess.
The sixth shot, once they were restrained, passed through the eye hole in their mask, and through their head. Dominic got up, as I released, and stomped forward, kicking them forward to the street. They could barely move, still gripping the tooth, as I approached, ready to deal the finishing blow. They mustered the strength to throw the tooth, one last time, fully on target.
Towards my sister.
Gloria had lowered her rifle a moment, to see if the creature was dead. Her eyes widened as the weapon soared towards her.
The creature was getting up. I could finish them.
I didn’t. A bolt of black lightning struck the weapon from the air, just as our enemy escaped into a sewer grate.
I stood there, for a moment, as Dominic righted himself, Bianca crawled over to the body of her brother, and Andreas stopped thrashing, black bule pouring from his mouth and between his scales, as his human form began to return with his death.
Julian laid motionless on the ground.
Me and Gloria stared at each other. I took a step forward. So did she.
Eventually, we were in front of each other. And she jammed a pistol under my chin. I didn’t even resist. My club was on the ground. I could easily take the bullet, and punch her to a splatter against the pavement. A throbbing sensation in my head told me I should. But I didn’t.
She spoke in Chʼorti.
“Prove to me you aren’t a monster Kinil.” She said, sharply.
“I saved you, and this is the thanks I get?” I said. Only being greeted with a push of the gun instead.
I released a long sigh.
“I’m fighting for us, Gloria. I’m trying to win our home back! Is that enough for you? Otto, Andreas, and so many other people died for this! Their blood, shed, to try and win our freedom back. Freedom from being slaughtered like objects, like animals. Isn’t that human enough?” I spoke with passion and fervor, to contrast the stone cold silence of Gloria.
She finally spoke.
“And how many children will remember this the day, as the day they saw their entire world fall apart? How many children will become us? How many people will resist us, just as we resist them? You’re going to scare them, Kinil! Look who your allies are! Animal creatures, people who don’t die, and an army of the damned! You made a woman kill her own beloved, after your god friend killed him. Is that not cruelty?”
I glared down at her.
“I don’t care about scaring people. You wouldn’t understand. You haven’t seen the same things I have. I saw them all, in the pit. Our neighbors. Friends. Parents. I haven’t done anything like that. All I’m doing is taking what I, what we deserve. I don’t care if I scare a few kids, or a few adults for that matter. Nor do I care how much pain my enemies feel. That woman, the angel pretender. She’s our enemy. And you’re working with her! She’s with the arcanites.”
“Maisy didn’t want any of this. Neither did her family. All they wanted to do was protect people. They aren’t perfect. But they didn’t deserve the heartbreak you’ve brought them. That your god has brought them”
“Maisy? You know her name? You’re pathetic, Gloria. She’s an invader! She wants us gone, so people a world away can keep their boots on our necks!” I was starting to shout now, getting angry. How dare she! How dare she try to talk like this to me, while working with them!
“…” She lowered the gun. “I thought I could get through to you. I thought you’d understand, more then anyone. Maybe I haven’t seen what you’ve seen. Maybe that’s why I’m different. Maybe that’s why, when I take life, I still feel profoundly terrible. Maybe that’s why I can’t stand the fight like you. Or maybe, that’s why I’m not a monster like you’ve become.”
She raised the gun to my chest, and pulled the trigger.
The shield held, for one last blow. I felt the armor which protected me shatter. I grabbed the barrel of the gun, and squeezed, indenting it. My eyes must’ve been angry, because she dropped the gun.
“Just like that, you kill your own brother? For someone who hates killing, you’ve become plenty accustomed to killing!” I shouted again stepping forward.
She…slumped.
“Sixteen.” She said aloud. I stopped.
“What?”
“Sixteen times, I know for sure, I’ve killed someone. I see their faces when I sleep. I replay things over and over. I remember each sensation. How many, Kinil?”
I thought on it. Long and hard.
“Forty seven.”
We stayed in silence for another few moments.
“Maybe…” Gloria started, shaking her head. “Your exterior matches your interior now. I’m almost envious, that mine doesn’t do the same.”
“I could get you the same power as me. You share my strength, my blo-“
She held up a hand. A gesture to stop.
“No. But Kinil…I want to help you. I want us to be free as much as you do. But I need you to promise me something.”
I crossed my arms. Still not having forgiven her. But…a part of me would do anything to be reunited with her again. To share this with her.
“What?” I asked, after a moment.
“…We need to find your god, and make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else. We can win this without him. Victory will be ours either way…I know it. And we can do it without someone centuries old telling us what to do.”
I looked at her long and hard. I didn’t…understand. Why she was asking this of me. But…I thought back. She had always stuck by me, before this. She had always been scared, trying to adapt, but she’d stuck with me, even when she could have been sent away to safety. If this was enough to give her pause?
I should have considered it sooner. Guilt swept over me. As I nodded.
“Fine. I know where he’s going, we can talk to him, and tell him to call off whatever his plan is.”
She smiled, and lunged forward in a hug. Squeezing me tightly. Slowly, and awkwardly, I returned the gesture.
When we released, I looked back over. Julian was still on the ground. He looked stable, thankfully, not bleeding nearly as badly as the others. Bianca had reverted to human form, kneeling silently next to Otto’s also returned to human body.
I made a choice. I turned over to Dominic, calling out.
“Turn back, please!”
He complied, after a moment. His leathery segments of his arms had spread to his shoulders. As he looked to me with a mournful expression, as he surveyed the chaos.
“…I’m sorry Kinil.” He said, after a moment.
“What for?” I asked, with a serious tone.
“I failed. I haven’t helped you. All of this armor, and I’ve protected no one.”
I…shook my head. “No. It hasn’t been your fault. And I need you to do something for me now, something I know you can do well.”
He looked at me, expectingly.
“Keep Julian and Bianca safe. Neither of them are in fighting condition. Me and Gloria will go check on the god. If someone comes by, your form should be able to scare them off before they can hurt those two.”
Plus, I could only carry one person while flying. And I could tell by Dominic’s eyes. He wasn’t in a state to continue the fight, even if he was physically. He gave a nod, moving over towards Julian to check on him. I looked to Gloria.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
She began to reload her rifle, as we walked down the street. Dominic called after me.
“Good luck, Kinil”
I gave him a salute, he returned it, and the two us broke out into a run, towards the center of the city.
One more thing stopped us. I could even see the distant shape of my god, flying with purpose towards something in the distance. Along the way, the entire city seemed to bend and warp. Formations of clocks, strange monoliths, and other time telling devices I did and didn’t recognize began to make themselves prevalent in the street, buildings, and cars. Like etchings that had a third dimension to them, they rose and fell. The sky above looked as if it was moving much faster then it should, rain pounding harder and harder. Until it suddenly stopped.
I ignored it. Gloria looked disconcerted by it. Eventually, the entire area began to darken. Nightfall, in minutes instead of hours. Stars shining overhead.
When whatever it was came to a stop, we could see a few things.
In the distant sky, the god had been engaged with someone. Someone with wings, and weapons which glowed. A different figure, with similar wings, was firing some kind of ranged weapon at him. I was poised to take off with Gloria, when a bright flash of light consumed the street in front of me. A familiar bright flash of light.
Eight figures were now across from them. Six wore black, bulky body armor, and carried a variety of weapons-all of which were bigger then my entire body.
One of them was a man in a suit. An eye patch over his left eye, and his right arm in a cling. He had black hair, and a bit of stubble, and seemed to be scowling right away. In his left hand, he held a wooden spear, with an obsidian head. It didn’t look like much, but for some reason or another, it put me on edge.
The other one was familiar. The woman in the wheelchair, who I’d seen at the camp before. She looked grave, but not angry. She held out a hand, as she began to speak in perfect Chʼorti.
“Kinil, Gloria. It’s good to see you’re both alive. Things have gotten…quite bad, haven’t they?” I felt soothed for only a moment this time, before snapping myself back to alertness.
Gloria spoke next, before I could. “They have, but we’re going to fix it. Please, Ruby, let us through.”
The man in the suit said something, that sounded angry.
“I can’t do that, I’m afraid. Our mutual enemy, the spellslinger, he’s set things ahead. An artifact that was protecting you all, and this country, from something far stronger then any of us, has been deactivated. If this isn’t resolved soon, and with certainty, I’m afraid a lot more people will die. I have assurances from Director Kraus here, that if you and your allies lay down your arms, he won’t harm any of you. In addition, he’s willing to speak to his government and give an earnest recommendation for the restoration of your democracy. But the risk of you calling down far greater forces is not worth it, trust me.”
Any reassurance her voice gave me snapped away. Anger flared within me, as I cast a spell, a deathly bolt of lightning springing from my hand, flying towards this ‘Director Kraus’. Bianca had told me about him.
It didn’t get close to connecting. He held the spear out, and my spell curved towards it, then shattered on impact. All six armored ones raised their weapons.
“I don’t trust the promises of a man like him. And I won’t have my freedom be curtailed by kneeling to anyone like him either.” My voice was a snarl. Angry, biting.
To my surprise, though, Gloria stepped forward.
“Agreed. Like you said earlier Ruby, you said you foresaw our freedom.”
“It’s no certain thi-“ She started
“-And he’s any more certain? Apprehending us, or killing us is more certain?”
The man in the suit scowled, and barked something out, the men seemingly poised to fire.
Gloria shouted this time, with vigor.
“Are you going to let this happen! Are you going to bow? Are you going to be just like he says you are!” She gestured to me. “Prove I wasn’t wrong! Please! That I was right to trust yo-”
The weapons clicked, ready to fire, when Ruby spoke.
“Director Kraus, wait!”
He and each of his men stopped.
“You mentioned wanting to speak to my superiors, as apart of our deal, yes?”
He gave a confused look, but nodded.
“Lovely! I’m updating our schedule, that will be now. Gloria, Kinil, for our sakes, I hope we never meet again.” She smiled, in a way that I didn’t feel was artificial. And in another blinding flash, with a final shout of protest from Kraus, the group vanished.
Gloria looked to me. “I told you.”
I rolled my eyes. Looking to the sky again. The winged ones still clashing. I held out an arm. Gloria took it, as I started to ascend in the sky.
One final step. Just one more step.
There was always one more step.
Kindling And Miscellany 