Gaia's Champion Ch. 25

Amy wasted no time with words and embraced her Gaian magic, just as Felicitae within her reached for her Nymph magic. The Dark Nymph came to long enough to see what was happening. She screamed in defiance of what she saw was about to happen, but her pleas fell upon deaf ears. With her hands engulfed in the combination of Gaian and Nymph magics, Felicitae/Amy drove their hands into the Dark Nymph, piercing her flesh.

The Dark Nymph screamed in pain and horror at what they were doing. She could feel the Nymph/Shaman searching through her being, looking for any fragments of the Nymph she used to be and taking them. While they were not an active part of what she was now, the energy those fragments provided gave her additional power, beyond what Dark Magic could provide.

Felicitae/Amy focused on those uncorrupted pieces of the Nymph, searching for them, drawing them to her. Like flowers in a wasteland, they were found, and brought back to a form that would nurture them and see them grow. Every fragment of Felicitae's soul, that was still as it was before the corruption, came back to her and into Amy's body. There were even physical parts of her that sought refuge, and Amy granted it.

As she did this, the Dark Nymph became lesser than what she was. She shrank, looking like she was literally being drained of all life. Pieces of the dark armor fell away from her form as Felicitae/Amy took back the Nymph's soul. All around here, the creatures that were empowered by Dark Magic started to waver and fall. One by one, they collapsed and died their final death, no longer compelled to serve their dark mistress.

"What is that?" Amy asked aloud as she felt something shiny, smooth, and hard in her hand.

'Hold onto that and pull it out!!' Felicitae implored her, sending her a mental message.

Amy moved both hands onto the hard thing and pulled. There was considerable resistance, as though the darkness would not relinquish it. Planting her feet, Felicitae/Amy tightened her hands around the object and pulled. Slowly, it started to come their way, as Amy's hands became visible through the Dark Nymph's flesh. One final tug and her hands finally came away, clutching the object Felicitae wanted so badly.

Whatever it was, it was magical, as its removal caused a blast of magical feedback, much like what she saw Jason go through. The blast wave sent her flying through the air, tumbling to her ass as she finally slowed down. She scrambled to her feet and saw that the Dark Nymph had received the worst of that exchange. Smiling, Amy called upon her magic to burn the bitch to ash and readied her spells.

A massive roar came from her left and Amy dodged out of the way at the last second, barely missing a humanoid paw swiping for her head. Backpedaling as quickly as she could, the Shaman now faced the behemoth on her own. Bringing up shielding magic, she brought it in front of her and waited for the beast to attack. But it never came, as the creature just stood there, waiting for her to come at it.

Amy was puzzled by the behavior until she saw just how badly wounded the creature was. Much of the skin/fur that covered it was gone, burned away by Gaia's magic. One of its eyes was torn out, and the creature stood on unsteady legs, staring down at her. Taking a brief risk, Amy chanced a glance at her friends and she saw them dealing with the last of the minions the Dark Nymph had sicced on them.

More than half of the attackers now lay dead, as the Dark Magic needed to fuel them was gone. The last remnants of them were being dealt with by Phalmina and Emalia, while Jason, Sheena, and Xaera were running up to aid her. She looked back at where the Dark Nymph had fallen and was greeted by a strange sight.

The children that had been raised in service to their dark mistress, what was left of them, ran to her and picked her up. The Dark Nymph couldn't stand, so they carried her like she was wounded and hurried away with her. The behemoth slowly backed away, no longer on the attack, but on the defensive, trying to protect its creator.

Amy then noted how sluggish the creatures were, seeming like all life and power had been sapped from them. She then grinned, thinking about how her instinct had been right, and she moved forward, thinking she could overcome the behemoth in its weakened state. Then the creature raised its hands and smashed the ground, sending a massive cloud of dust, dirt, and plant matter flying everywhere.

The shockwave of the blast was enough to knock Amy over and stagger her friends that were getting close to where she stood. She grunted and groaned as she got back up, looking for the creature and its mistress, but found they were gone. The Shaman shouted in frustration as their opportunity passed them by and the bitch had gotten away again!

"Fuck!! We were so close!! Gaia dammit!!!" Amy growled as the dust cleared.

"Damned slippery bitch! Next time, she won't be so lucky!" Sheena groused.

"Next time will be the last time we deal with her! Did you see what happened when Amy had her down like that?" Eva asked as she raced up to her daughter.

"Yeah! What happened there, Amy? It looked like you were just... draining her!" Jason said as he ambled up to the group.

It was then that Jason did a double take and stepped back in shock. Amy was literally glowing with Gaian power, her very being was radiant with the earth mother's essence. She stood there, almost like an avatar of Gaia herself, with all the power and warmth that was evocative of the goddess they served.

"Amelia... what... happened??" Eva questioned, stunned at what she was seeing.

"You weren't wrong, Jason. I did... drain her... but not in the way that you think," Amy replied, her voice sounding both eerie and powerful.

"What did you do?" Sheena asked.

"I just... took back that part of Felicitae that was... uncorrupted. There was more of her in there that was still the Nymph she was. A lot more," Amy replied.

"Her soul? It is intact?" Patrok asked, hope rising in his voice.

"For the most part, yes. There were some snippets that were beyond saving, but her soul was intact. It was just... broken down... scattered within her. Now that those fragments are free of that prison, they are reunifying. I can now hear her directly in my head, clear as day, and she is happy to finally be free!" Amy replied.

"Our kind... may yet be saved!" Patrok breathed as he regarded Amy with the utmost reverence.

"Girl, that was some quick thinking on your part! It also gave us the edge we needed to turn the tide of the fight in our favor! What made you think to go after her as a way of crippling her minions?" Sheena wondered.

"Dark Magic doesn't work like Gaia's magic does. Because there is little in the manner of pure and absolute darkness in this world, all those who are powered by Dark Magic must stay close to its source. Otherwise, they will wither and die without its power, which is likely why the children and other minions of the dark haven't strayed far from the corrupted grove," Amy replied, paraphrasing what Felicitae told her in her mind.

"Well, they are kind of locked in here, with the barrier that went up," Phalmina stated.

"That is part of it. Though much of the land and forest is uncorrupted, it's only because of the barrier that the Darkness hasn't become any stronger," Felicitae replied, taking the reins on Amy's body.

"So, the Dark Nymph was acting like a conduit to the Darkness that emanates from the corrupted grove?" Jason guessed.

"Correct. With the conduit being... fractured, as it was, it has severely hampered their power and strength. There is also the fact they were also drawing upon Gaian magic as well," Felicitae told the group.

"They were using Gaian magic? How is that possible?" Eva queried.

"Much of what keeps the abominations and caricatures of these creatures is derived from Gaia's magic. Dark Magic, while powerful in its own right, cannot do the one thing that Gaian magic can; create life and give it the spark of sentience. It can only corrupt and destroy," Felicitae stated.

"So, you taking away all the Gaian magic out of the Dark Nymph, pulled the plug on the life they had?" Luke asked over the comms bud.

"What little of it they had left, yes. It is also what is responsible for them being so quick and dangerous when we fought them," Felicitae finished.

"Wait a second, back up! How is it these... creatures could still have the spark of life, when it's clear they are dead?" Jason wondered.

"It is because of the very essence of their being, their soul, which is crafted by Gaia as they are conceived. The soul lingers after death, but not for long, and it is that part of these poor creatures that is kept here, via Dark Magic. I know not what is done to them, but I do know that the soul is merely the anchor point which makes them come back after death," Felicitae explained.

"It would make sense. If Dark Magic broke and scattered Felicitae's soul as a way of asserting control over her, then it likely would have done the same to the animals and children she commanded," Luke said over the commlink.

"So, what do we do with the corpses that are lying around here? I mean, we can't just leave them here, can we?" Jason wondered.

"We could burn them down to ash? It would at least deny the Darkness any additional soldiers it could hurl at us," Xaera suggested.

"While that is a good idea in theory, I'm going to say no to that," Sheena told them.

"Why is that, babe?" Jason asked.

"Because, if we burn them here, yes, they will be freed from the influence of the dark. But the big problem would be their souls, which, while free, would be lost. Especially after being bereft of direction and love for so long," Sheena responded.

"So, they'd become like... ghosts?" Eva queried.

"Yes, they would be. Normally, there would be rites and the like spoken by Druids, Shaman or any other servant of Gaia, but we don't even know how to send these poor creatures back," Phalmina agreed.

"What's that babe? Hold on... yeah... I think that could work!" Luke replied over the comms.

"Luke? What is it?" Jason wondered.

"Karla just brought up a fantastic idea and I think it could work!" Luke enthused.

"What's the idea?" Felicitae/Amy asked, tapping her comms bud.

"Remember what happened to that little girl that Jason dragged over the barrier?"

"By all that is holy... yes... I think that could work!" Sheena replied as hope could be heard in her voice.

The rest of the group took a moment to bring up the memory Luke was referring to and within moments, they had a collective 'Oh!' moment. Without another word, the group got to work, gathering up the corpses of every animal and child that lay there on the forest floor. Some had been reduced to ashes, but Sheena and Felicitae/Amy used a small wind spell to gather up the ashen remains of the fallen to follow them.

There were a considerable amount of corpses that littered the battlefield, more animal than human. Between the nine of them out there, they were able to call upon Gaia's magic to assist in carrying these corpses to the barrier. Darren and Daelina stepped away from their post to come and lend a hand with this endeavor. In less than an hour, every corpse that had once served the Darkness was now resting by the barrier, ashes and all.

"Let's pray that this works," Sheena breathed. She then picked up the corpse of one of the children. The ragged clothes on him marked him as a boy who'd been dead since the seventies, going by the style of his clothing. Sheena held him as reverently as she could and crossed the barrier.

The moment she stepped over, the body of the boy disintegrated, become nothing more than motes of dust on the wind. The dust then began to glow before it coalesced and took shape, showing what he'd looked like in life. The blue and ethereal form of his soul looked up at Sheena, and he smiled in heartfelt gratitude at being freed.

He ran up to her and hugged the woman, his small arms barely going around her. The impact was surprising, as Sheena didn't expect to feel anything, but there it was. With unshed tears glistening in her eyes, Sheena hugged the little boy back. He cried as he did this, never expecting to have ever been freed from the torment he endured for so long.

"What do I do now?" he asked, his small voice surprising the Shaman.

"I think... it's time for you to go," Sheena replied as her face was wet with her tears.

"But what if no one is there? What if my family is gone? I'll be all alone!" he cried.

"If they're not there, that just means they haven't come to this part of the journey yet. You'll see them again, I promise. And... I don't think you'll be alone," Sheena replied as she opened her eyes and stared at the portal that formed in front of her.

The boy turned and stared at the doorway, awed by what he was seeing, yet almost afraid. He stared at it as a figure came out of the mists and waited by the threshold. It beckoned to the boy, while calling out in a soothing and gentle voice.

"David, it is time to come home," the figure told him.

"Mom?" he asked haltingly.

"No, but I will look after you until your mother comes to join us. Don't be afraid," the feminine voice told him.

"Are you... Gaia?" he asked, his voice full of wonder.

"I am. You know me?" she queried.

"I... feel... you," David responded. He walked towards her, drawing near to her, before he stepped over. He looked up at the woman as she offered her hand, which he took. The smile that graced his face was pure adulation, and he looked back and Sheena, before waving goodbye. Then the portal closed, leaving only Sheena on her side of the barrier.

"That... was..." Eva whispered, awestruck.

"It was!! This is the right thing to do!" Phalmina breathed.

"Let's do this then! One at a time! Each soul deserves as much dignity as it passes on," Jason stated.

Everyone there couldn't agree more and they went to it. One by one, animal and child, was brought across the barrier, be they corpse or ash. There were many tears shed and many more goodbyes said, but in the end, every soul finally was able to pass on to the next life. Once the final soul was seen off, everyone sat down to rest, as it had been a very long and emotional day and they needed a few minutes.

"I... I just can't believe I saw all of that!" Elizabeth breathed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Neither can I! Regardless of what else happens, today was a good day!" Jason replied, taking a deep breath to steady his heart.

"It's not over yet," Daelina said as she got to her feet.

"What are you talking about, hon?" Darren asked as he stood next to his fiancée.

"I think she means we need to press the advantage right now. With this latest blow, the Darkness will be weakened and with that, any attacks will be badly delayed. Hell, with their conduit so badly wounded, attacks might not come at all!" Luke replied as he got up and cracked his knuckles.

"He's got a point. I know we're all a bit drained after what we just did, but think you guys can help with finishing this?" Jason asked, as he joined the others.

Without any complaints, everyone there stood up, ready to get to continue the work they started. Jason smiled and nodded, before turning towards the forest and striding across the barrier. Sheena was right by his side, ready to get this done. Phalmina flitted over to sit on his shoulder, back in fairy size, as she kept her eyes peeled for any incoming threats.

"It almost feels... peaceful," Sheena remarked.

"I noticed it too! It almost feels like the Darkness is... receding," Jason commented.

"Don't be fooled by the sense of peace you feel right now. It won't be done and will never be over until we burn out the Dark Heart at the center of this corruption," Phalmina huffed.

"Speaking logically, or from experience?" Sheena wondered.

"It's a little of both, if I'm being honest," Phalmina admitted.

"Don't worry, Mina. We're not going to give this damned thing a chance to regroup. We're getting to that grove and burning out the Dark Heart," Jason said with a level of finality.

Sheena couldn't help but shiver at the ferocity that now blazed in her boyfriend's eyes. It had been a while since she'd seen this level of dedication and certainty in him. Whatever had stoked the sense of need within him, she only hoped she would continue to see it. Not only was it pleasing to see her man come into his own like this, but it was also a massive turn on!

"We are so double teaming his ass when this is over," Phalmina whispered to her as she flitted over to her shoulder.

"Honey, we need to make a night to where we seduce him to the point where death by snu-snu is a given," Sheena replied.

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" the fairy asked her human companion.

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With everyone in the lead, Amy hung back while following the group to where they left off. She had been having a mental conversation with Felicitae, as she explained what it was that was pulled out of the Dark Nymph. Not wanting anyone to see or inquire about it, Felicitae had used her magic to hide it within Amy. Now that everyone's focus was on the forest, she pulled it out and stared at it.

It was a hunk of wood, about the size of two fists, but it was highly polished and beautiful to look at. Felicitae was amazed that it had survived this long without even a mark on it. While it may not have looked like anything significant, it was everything to Nymph. Amy was coming to terms about what it was and what it did, wondering what would happen when it was used.

'Are you sure it is the only way?' Amy wondered.

'It is. Like Patrok said, unless we were to come in possession of the Tablet, this is the only option I have,' the Nymph replied, almost pleadingly.

'How long?'

'I don't know. It has been done, but the stories and legends of it happening are... barren of what transpired. Should you choose to do this, everything will change. You will no longer be as you were,' Felicitae told her.

'Sounds like I have a lot to think about.'

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Konstantin Thermopolous raced across town, as his little gamble had finally paid off. He listened to nearly everything that was recorded by the listening devices he'd implanted in the morgue. Most of it had been traditional lab results and gossip, but after a few days, he finally hit paydirt. He'd gotten the evidence needed to back up Meera's theory that someone outside the precinct was investigating their case.

He was nearly at Meera's place, as today was her day off, which was being spent relaxing at home. She told him to get in contact with her the moment he found something. Konstantin had tried calling several times, but Meera wasn't picking up. She must have been busy or something, but whatever the reason, he hoped she was home. Konstantin understood why Meera had chosen this community, and he smiled.

Konstantin saw people of various ethnicities walking around, enjoying the day. He knew that many of these people had come here, looking for better lives than the ones they had in their home countries. It was one of the main allures of coming to western civilization. With so many people from her part of the world here, it must have given a measure of peace to be around them.

The detective finally pulled up to Meera's home, which was a modest, but new townhouse. Putting the car in park, Konstantin hopped out and dashed to her door, knocking on it fervently. It took about three minutes before Meera finally responded, answering the door in nothing more than a baggy old T-shirt and sweatpants.

"Konstantin, what are you doing here?" she asked him tiredly.

"You weren't answering your phone," the man replied.