An Apocalypse Rising Ch. 09

She didn't even know what for. Bryana wanted her to be ready, so she was ready. "Mmm-hmm."

"Good. You will pull him down and the rest will go to if they haven't yet." she drew closer feeling the air that Neral expelled strike her with full force. The general really was beautiful. "Give yourself to Her."

Neral did not hesitate. "I give myself to you."

The magic flowing through her and around her wavered and she eyed Neral suspiciously before she skimmed through the mind opened by lust. "What?"

Neral's mind felt the quiver around her, but didn't really react. It was just more magic she didn't understand anyway. It didn't matter. Bryana was there. She would make everything all right. "I give myself to you," she said with an almost childlike innocence. "I love you, you love me. I know you'll take care of me."

Bryana's mind muddled further, muddling the spell, too. It was the other that Neral loved. It was the other that those brown eyes looked so trusting for. It was not her. It could not be her.

But what if it was?

That mind was open. The emotions were read as easily as telling summer from fall by the leaves on the trees. It was there and undeniable. Even as those behind her filled the cavern with the sounds of their sex, Bryana looked to those eyes and that face, thoroughly confused.

Neral felt herself.

Admittedly, it was merely a piece of herself that felt like the old her amidst the heat. She was silently grateful to Bryana that she was blocking the sight of the three because the sounds alone were making her want to cum. Those magic, blue eyes weren't exactly protection, but it was something she knew. She pushed, forcing herself to remember and forcing herself to think before it was taken from her, or worse, she gave it up.

"I... give myself to you. I...have before, I do now, And I will again. Because it's you. If I have to give up me. If I have to sacrifice all of us...better to you than her." She forced the gears to turn in her mind though it was like trying to force them to turn in a pool of glue. Maybe the old Bryana is lost to me, but I can reach this one just enough.

"You are better than her. If I have to choose for us, I choose you. If I have to choose for the world...I choose you."

The suspicion returned. "What are you talking about?"

Her footing became more certain even as she had to fight errant thoughts that came with the sounds of three fucking feet from her. "You want power and so does she. You know she'll kill you when she's done with you. Or empty you. You know it's true because it's what you would do. She may love you, I don't know, but she will never love you as much as herself."

"She wants everything. But my Bryana is a pragmatist. You? ...You would be fine with enough. Stand with me against her and stay clear of the kingdoms. Stay clear of me so that you do not become my problem and...you can do as you please."

Bryana looked her up and down, her voice carrying a seductive lilt. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"I love you. For what we were I will help you get her before she gets you. That and you are simply the lesser evil."

"Tsk...now that's hurtful, Neral Jaye. Lesser evil, indeed." But the general was not wrong. She knew the love was real. And, for her, there was such a thing as enough power, enough reach, or enough wealth. It was to be acquired and managed, not hoarded. Enough of the world if she left the kingdoms be?

And...what if Drexa did not care? What if she lied, too? The confusion that never quite left her intensified. But what she felt from Neral's unguarded mind was real and that is what drove Bryana's lips to Neral's.

Their lips met at first simply brushing and Neral had second thoughts. There were hints of who she used to be in those precious moments. No. It has to be done. A simple change of her mind and it so over for us all. I'm so sorry. Not allowing herself to dwell on it she worked the spell slip from her cheek to her tongue, closed her eyes, and waited for her to be the one to slip inside. In that instant, she relished one more moment with one of the anchors of her world. Once she did, she had one last thought:

Break.

Bryana's eyes widened in shock and rage once she felt the magic fill her body, the feeling of broken glass raking her insides bringing a scream from her as she stepped back before dropping to her knees as the pain wracked her body, The room spinning now, wisps of the black and violet magic escaping her mouth in spastic coughs.

The vines holding Neral loosened, Ignoring her own pain, she pulled free of them before scrambling to their weapons, putting one of the daggers in a white-knuckled grip. Bryana, still in numbing pain, went to the ground from the force of Neral's weight alone.

The long blade hovered over her throat as the magic continued to waft from Bryana and into the air. Neral looked into those blue eyes and watched them shift from looking up at her spitting the rage and betrayal that had consumed her as the magic had,

What Neral didn't expect was the sadness and resignation. Goddess, how that golden hair curls so...softly It had to be done. Lives depended upon it. Perhaps every life did and she knew there might not be another chance. Suddenly, all the moments that had comprised their all too brief life together were her enemy. All the laughter and the quips; all the passion and tenderness stood against her making her hand tremble as another series of coughs ripped at Bryana's throat.

Neral could have made up a hundred reasons why and some of them might have even made sense, like having to try to save those with her while she could, but the truth was undeniable. It was more than just Bryana's eyes, but the life in the eyes before her had a glimmer of the familiar and she hesitated.

Those eyes were familiar and tears fell from hers to Bryana's chest and she could not drive drive the blade. "I love you too much."

In the midst of another coughing fit spewing magic into the air, rage flashed in those eyes and a hand came forward. It never touched her, but the force it brought with it was like getting hit with the forearms of one of the beasts. Neral slammed onto her back, and, somehow retained her blade. She looked up to see Bryana crawl away several steps before forcing herself up as her body now tried heaving the toxicity of the spell from her.

She watched the other stagger away, but the only thing on her mind was the fact that she had to hurry. They had to hurry. The thing was on her way. Thank the Goddess the spell is broken.

Then she turned to look. She turned to help realizing with a tantalizing horror that that wasn't true at all.

The truth of the words Bryana used to craft the spell enticed her. Looking upon the man she loved, rutting away into two women who looked more like paid for street whores than soldiers was a vision that did not just seduce her mind, but pinned it down to enrapture it. Her cunt twitched and a heat blossomed in her belly that threatened to rob her of thought, leaving her with only the thought that she really needed to be a part of that.

***

Anna had run as far as she could down the paths before she stopped, both because she needed to conserve energy as the temperature rose and she had no interest in being somehow blindsided due to her haste. Sweat was pouring from her now and the heat leeched her energy, but she pressed on, knowing she was getting close, not only from the heat, but from the sense of things she now shared with Maylin. The closeness of the magic was like a loved one calling to her in a crowd. She picked the familiar and let it lead her.

It was marvelous. Anna thrilled to it. She could see the world with new eyes, and a world she never knew was possible. Energy flowed. Life flowed from everything and to everything in a mesmerizing ballet of circles within circles that made up the tapestry of existence itself. She no longer doubted that teaching her to shroud herself would have taken years.

Though she would give anything now to be able to do it.

The link between them let Anna know that Maylin and her patient were well enough, not that that assuaged her fear for them entirely as she rounded the corner to her prize. Down the path ahead she could see a cave with the black and orange flow of lava visible and moving slowly wherever it was meant to go, so hot that the waves of heat bent the air.

Guarded by two ape like creatures mid-way between her and the flow and two half-mages just at the entrance itself, she weighed what she saw. No one she owned would have to be guarded against so they were there for whoever came, and their loss would surely bring more, but Anna was pleased at Drexa's arrogance. The defense supposed that the mages wanted the magic for themselves. They would waste time with the wards and eventually be overwhelmed.

She stepped back out of sight, remembering who was where and who the greatest threats were as she slowly retrieved her bow, fearful that any sound would alert them and more. She took it in her hand before retrieving an arrow. After years of practice with the balance, she could shoot nearly as well with the weight of her daggers attached to her wrists as without, and she would probably only be able to use it once anyway. For an instant she was reminded of Hennis, but pushed it away.

Ready to strike, she waited no longer, releasing her arrow to drive cleanly through the heart of one of the women sculpted by even as they were corrupted by magic. Anna rushed forward, eyes looking for the slightest predictors of how they would move. The beasts howled and rushed forward to meet her.

Timing where they would meet, at the last moment she launched herself to her left to climb the wall. By the time the beast's solid forearm swiped, it was squealing in pain as she used her momentum and the anchor of the dagger now firmly in his shoulder to put herself behind him.

From the corner of her eye she saw the hand of the second half-mage begin to glow red as it harnessed energy. The thought Push. came to her unbidden and Anna extended her arm.

Struck by the unseen force, the other woman hit the wall with a shocked cry and the bolt of energy went high as Anna went low to bury both daggers into the chest of the second beast that had turned to her. Using the pain and confusion around her, she closed the distance, finishing the mage with a strike to the heart as well, taking great satisfaction in watching the hollow eyes drain of life.

Turning to see the second creature paw at its wounds before losing itself and joining its counterpart on the ground she looked into the room that held her goal, feeling like she was in the flow itself even from here. Unsure if Maylin could actually hear her, her mind called out. I'm here. Now what?

In her mind flashed symbols in the form of runes, a specific sequence of seven that she had to open her mind to and use the power around her to imprint to her body that would protect her from the toxic gasses around her. The wards protected others from them, but she might be exposed once she breached them herself. Imprinting them exactly as her mind showed her at each step, her lungs tingled as though she had just taken in lungs full of winter's bitter air.

The cavern itself was long and narrow, leaving room on either side for little else and only three or four men high. The lava was like a lattice of black and orange following the path carved by it and for it that went in both directions and as far as she could see. She dropped to her knees and waited.

Then, what had been a sense of Maylin up to now became more the sharing as it was when the link was first forged. Words came into Anna's mind that she had never heard before, but she knew what they meant and the precise inflection with which they had to be said. Her fingers twitched and curled on their own; Anna watching fascinated as they marked the very waves of heat.

After long moments she knew it was time and brought her hands with her still moving fingers closer to the essence of power that built the world. She saw the wards as a blizzard of golden flecks of light swirling around her, fingers, then hands, then wrists trying to stop a spell they were never meant to.

Anna's hands touched the lava, sank inside, and did not burn.

Wonderous.

To Be Continued...