The Creators Ch. 12

"You were tethered to the astral plane, and you became its architect," Diamond said.

"I did," I said.

"With the immeasurable power of the spiritual realm at my disposal, I created the gate of Fedar for which the souls could pass through. Joy changed back when the blood corona sliver ended, and created a bridge across the tether from Fedar to my new domain. The tethering cost us our Elemental gifts, but gave us new power. I was given autonomy over the astral plane, and with my mind, I built it anew. I organized emotions and concepts into realms, and those thoughts too basic for such grandeur were given purpose in other ways. What you call 'astral gemstones' are just my way of using my affinity for rock to capture simple thoughts. When the astral plane was safely domesticated, I built this place. You call it 'Chaos,' but that is a poor translation. I called this place 'Freedom,' but those on earth called it, 'Heaven.' We had done it; we had beaten death.

Joy created her own realm in a corner of my kingdom, and acted as shepherd for the souls that traversed her tether from earth. The newly dead would be first greeted by a realm of immeasurable wealth that Joy had made herself, and you know it well. From that opulent nirvana, a doorway was made to Freedom, and mankind would walk into their new world. I would greet them at the gates with open arms and a radiant smile, welcoming all of my creators to their home. Vitanimus would often use the tether to walk between planes, and for a thousand more years, we lived in paradise. Joy never again needed to wear the mask of Hatred, and Vitanimus had long-since stopped wearing masks of his own. He did not need to be Passion for his daughter, for the heavens were filled with suitable bachelors. I dare-say Joy retained her gluttonous nature, for she horded lovers like so many treasures. I made sure to knock before I entered her abode, lest I get swept into one of her infamous orgies. I do admit to losing my footing on occasion, and on such occasion, I might've felt a familiar tongue in my nethers, or tasted a familiar set of open lips. We never spoke of the things we did to each other in her private rooms, for we had learned to keep aspects of our lives separate. I could be her mother for most of our waking moments, and her lover when mischievous desires beckoned us."

I smiled at the memories. So many. "Those one thousand years were filled with more joy and love then all the hundreds of thousands I had lived before," I chuckled to myself, then my mirth slowly dwindled. "I should have known it would not last."

Part Five: Elements

WILLOWBUD

I wasn't sure where I was going. West, I guessed. It was cold now, oddly so. The glassy surface beneath my feet was cool to the touch, and the wind that swept past me was more like the dry bluster of fall than the humid caress of summer. I licked my lips, tasting Justina on their chapped surfaces, and I huddled in my arms, bending against the wind. My encounter with my cousin had been... less than jovial. I remembered who she was, and I remembered what I'd done to her, but she still seemed like a stranger to me. And having a stranger jump on your face and make you eat her insides can be a traumatic experience to say the least. I'd expected her to cut my throat, or at least enslave me. It was only after the ordeal that I remembered what I was, and realized my fears were unfounded, but terror has a funny way of driving off rationality. But I was used to terror, as that was all Willowbud knew, so I shook it off, and added it to the growing list of psychological scars, each successive one less painful than the one before it. I hoped Justina found some semblance of peace, and I also hoped to never see her again. I was off to nowhere, and feeling pretty good about going there. Goddamn, it was cold though.

I looked down, and realized my feet were sticking to the glossy ground, glued to it but the cooled moisture beneath my soles. I pried them free, and felt the faint burn of frost on them. I frowned, and listened to the rock. Nothing. The ash that blanketed the world dulled the subterranean noises like snow dulled sound. I listened closer. Did I hear footsteps? One foot was dragging slightly behind the other, like its bearer was limping. I squinted into the haze. It had cleared somewhat since I'd first emerged, and through it, I could see the faint outline of a woman.

ASTRID

I squinted into the haze, not sure if I was seeing anything. My descent had thrown ash into my eyes, and at terminal velocity, even something as fragile as ash was like needles. My binocular vision was blurred at a distance, and I couldn't make out what was a hundred yards in front of me, much less the faded horizon. I grunted and limped along, one foot dragging slightly behind the other. I'd twisted my ankle when I landed, and now that pain was at the forefront of my mind, reminding me of its existence with each stumbling step. It was colder than it had been. Much colder, actually. I glanced up at the black cloud above, the edges continuously turning-over so that the base could consume itself. No sun could shine though that, I supposed, but this cold seemed... unnatural.

"The wings of war are out the door, they've left their feathers on the floor. Keep your eyes on the horizon, and you may see Iona soar," I sung softly, very aware of the desolate silence around me. My voice didn't echo as it would across a normal plateau, but died in the deadening piles of ash.

"Hello?" a small, familiar voice answered my song. I spun around, and there she was. The silhouette of her slender body shown through the haze, her horns standing from her head, her familiar girlish features clarifying with each step. A broad grin stretched across my face, and I limped over to her.

WILLOWBUD

She was favoring one leg over the other. Her hair was covered in ash, her body was bloody and haggard, and her face bore a haunted look. I hardly recognized her, but she recognized me immediately. I could see it in the smile that stretched across her cheeks, in the excited gait of her limp, and in the pure hated shining from her emerald eyes.

"Hello, Willowbud," Julia grinned at me, her voice ragged and torn. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, her face was crusted with blood, and she was so pale. The fear started as a prickling along the back of my neck, and grew slowly, stirring in my belly, making my mouth dry. My feet were plastered to the surface, and they squelched when I pulled them free.

"It is 'Willowbud' now, isn't it?" Julia said, approaching slowly. Her eyes were dancing in their sockets; grief, hatred and mania all playing behind her lenses.

"I'm sorry," I managed to say, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth.

"Sorry?" Julia giggled, "That's not what you're supposed to say. You're supposed to say, 'thank you.'" Julia was hustling over to me now, moving as fast as her limping legs would carry her. "I saved you, after all. I did what I promised I would do. You're free, Willowbud!" Julia's smile was a grimace. "And after I sacrificed so much to make it happen, you'd think I could get one, fucking, THANK YOU!" I barely got underground before a sheet of sapphire heat blasted overhead. The earth around me grew hot, and I tunneled beneath it as fast as I could, driving down, compelled by mania. I could feel the fire against my back, and I knew she was pouring it into my hole. I closed it behind me, and had a moment of reprieve, but then I felt it again, ambient, sweltering. The rock around me was sweating, expelling its water. Soon, it was steaming. I raced upward, the heat becoming worse with every second, making the air heavy, singeing the skin that touched the rock's surfaces. I'd never been prone to claustrophobia before, but in that moment, literally cooking alive in the confined darkness of bedrock, I lost it. I needed air. I burst from the ground, my rock shell opening, the cool wind singing euphorically on my flesh. I put up a wall just in time before another sheet of heat hit me. The current of flame blazed all around me, split by the iron shield I raised. I reinforced it rapidly, turning the slab into wave-break, pointing the edge at the direction of the oncoming flame. The fire stopped, the roar of infernal wind dying down, leaving only the soft sound of woman crying about fifty yards away.

"Have you ever come to the realization that you're the worst thing to happen to everyone you love?" Julia wept. I couldn't see her, but I could tell she was approaching me. "Of course you have. In that way, we are still very-much sisters, Willowbud." The ash around us had been blown away by the blast, giving me a clear picture to where she was. I could feel her heartbeat, and it terrified me how steady it was.

"And I would like to meet this spiritual sister of mine!" Julia proclaimed. "I want to know if everyone else was worth one you." She was thirty yards away now. I doubted she had the reflexes to stop my attack, but I wasn't sure if I had the will. I felt the point of my wave-break through the rock, and noted how sharp it was. It would slice through the air like a knife, and slice through the Heat Bringer with equal ease. But what if it didn't work? What if left me exposed? What if she got mad at me? I was stuck in my indecision, perpetually just about to do it, but never taking the plunge. She was ten yards away when she next spoke.

"But you must be worth it, Willowbud," Julia said from the other side of my wind break. When she spoke next, she was talking to me from inside the rock. "The Holy Mother gave me a mission to save you, and she is never wrong." The surface I was pressed to became suddenly hot, and I stumbled back as Julia emerged from it, turning it molten with her aura of sapphire. I tripped, fell on my ass, and vainly scrambled away on my heels and palms as she advanced. The power glowed from her hate-filled eyes, so bright that her pupils and irises were lost in it.

"That was what I thought," Julia's voice was barely a whisper, her footsteps were melting the rock beneath her, "but I was wrong, Willowbud. You see, at first I thought the devil had deceived me, but now that I think about it, that's just as arrogant as thinking I've been doing God's will." I stumbled on the remnants of a foundation, and fell onto my back. "The most likely truth, when you really think about it," Julia was laughing now, and it was the same sonorous laugh she always sung, but tainted, "is that God and Satan JUST DON'T GIVE A SHIT!"

I put up a shell of shale just as Julia blasted it with a vortex of fire. I could feel the rock melting away by the foot, and I abandoned my protection for subterranean safety. She wasn't far behind. She forced me to the surface once again, and sent waves of flame across the plateau. I dug my heels into the black glass, gritted my teeth, and uprooted a thousand feet of rock. It towered between us, a hundred-feet wide and three hundred feet thick, the surface and sides made of the bedrock, the top frosted with the fire-treated gloss. It was an enormous expense, and it left me feeling weak in the knees, but it bought me time. Julia didn't have an unlimited reservoir anymore; she'd get just as tired. I hoped.

ASTRID

"Justina!" I cried, limping over to her. She sprinted across the plateau and flung herself into my arms. Being Justina, the embrace was immediately complimented with a wet, invasive, tongue-tangling kiss. I didn't mind. How she kept her lips moisturized in this ash-filled dryness was just another mystery of the succubi.

"Oh my god, Astrid!" Justina squealed when she pulled from me. "How did you get out?"

"I grabbed your mom and—"

"Mom's alive?!" Justina exclaimed. I nodded, and savored the most joyful smile I'd ever seen stretch across Justina's face. The moment faded when I remembered that I'd left a suicidal Tera alone on an outcropping. I didn't think she'd do it, but I needed to get Justina to her as fast as possible.

"I need to take you to her," I said, hoisting Justina into my arms, and wincing.

"Astrid," Justina said softly, looking at my partially-closed broken wings, "what did you do?"

"Astrid Skyborne, is that you?" another familiar voice called. I looked up to see the silver-streaked spans and black robes of the Breytans. There were so few of them.

"Jade?" I asked. Jade Tao emerged from the flock, looking worn, but not hurt. She smiled tiredly, and we grasped forearms in greeting. If we'd been in a more private setting, I'm sure we would've done more.

"You were foolish to have taken flight in such conditions," Jade frowned over my shoulder.

"I've been a fool for some time now," I smiled ruefully back. "Any word on your charge?"

"We haven't found her yet," Jade's frown deepened, "but Her Eminence suspects she is alive. Astrid, there's something you need..." Jade trailed off. The horizon exploded with sapphire, illuminating the haze of distance and silhouetting the melted structures before it. The light dimmed, then shone again, brighter than before. A sound like soft thunder followed it, and rolled across the glassy plateau before dying in the muting blanket of ash. The light dimmed, and then ignited a third time, so bright that it seemed to burn the haze away. The light stopped abruptly, as though hitting a wall. Half the horizon was of sapphire flame, the other was a dim haze, and the dividing line seemed to stretch into the black cloud above. I looked at Jade, and she looked at me. Our grips tightened on each other's forearms, and our congenial smiles turned to grimaces.

"Alright, guys..." Justina said cautiously beside us, "...we're better than them. You two are old friends, and we can't—"

My sword was out a second before Jade's was, and she had to duck beneath the decapitating strike. Her katana sung forth, and slashed at my knees, but I'd anticipated the strike. I leapt over the blade, grunting as the pain sung from my ankle, and I landed awkwardly, but steadily. Our steel clashed again, Jade's strike meaning to split my face in two, mine meaning to run through her neck. We stared at each other from between our crossed blades, our faces set, our wills undeniable. It didn't matter that we'd known each other all our lives; this was instinct. Jade spun out of the lock, her blade grinding on mine until the tips sang their departure. She accompanied the spin with a low slash, identifying immediately that my footing was off. I dropped my blade down, caught her slash, and swiped upward with all my might. I was stronger than Jade, and she was flung backward, her arms splaying wide, her sword hand compelled skyward. I tried to run her through, but she flapped back, buffeting me with their air of her wings, forcing me to bring myself in. My broken wings wouldn't close. They caught the wind of Jade's attack, and I was thrown onto my back. I put my sword up just in time to stop from being split in half, and my eyes connected with Jade's once again, our crossed blades between us. She was growling, a string of spit leaving the corner of her mouth as she willed herself downward, slowly pushing the edge of my own weapon against my chest. My knee barreled into her crotch, and my forehead crashed into hers. She cried out, her concentration broken for a moment, and I used that moment to spin us over. Jade was on her back, her defenses were wide open, but I didn't get the chance to finish her. The other Breytans had made their way to me, and surrounded me with steel. On a good day, I could've taken maybe ten of them, but today was not one of those days, and there were hundreds.

"I still beat you, Jade," I grinned down at her, my sword against her throat. "Even with broken wings and a bad ankle, I'm still better."

"So you are," Jade smiled back, "but I have the numbers, Astrid. Put your sword down."

"We're at war," I kept my smile glued to my face. "Breytans don't take prisoners of war; they cut their heads off."

"Surrender is cowardice, but I know you are no coward. I can make an exception for you," Jade's smile was equally stiff. I narrowed my eyes at her, my friend and competitor of a lifetime, and I saw the truth.

"You can make an exception for me," I said slowly, "but will you?"

Jade's smile peeled back. "Iona is untouched. Your horde is at full strength, and mine is but a tenth. You must understand that I cannot let Iona's greatest daughter go; she is my greatest threat."

"I understand," I muttered.

"An honorable death for us both, old friend," Jade dropped her head in resignation, and tilted her chin to expose her neck.

"For one of us, old friend." Then I spun upward, struck Jade's face with a booted foot, and decapitated two Breytans with the backhanded follow-through. A third woman's face was slashed in half by the final arc of the motion, and the forth had the top of her head sliced clean off. The rest were on me in a second. I ducked a swipe, cut off a leg, and spun with all my speed, bringing my sword around in a low, wide arc. My great sword was longer than their katanas by almost two feet, and my reach was better by several inches. I gave myself some breathing room, and disemboweled one girl who'd been too ambitious for her own good. Her guts plopped from her belly as she stood, and she gawked at them for a moment, standing in stasis before the realization came. Then she dropped to her knees, the horror and pain corrupting her face, and the manic primal terror took her mind, washing away any semblance of who she was. But her shrill screams fell on deaf ears, for her sisters stared back at me with faces set in stone. The dying were livelier than the living when valkyries went to war. The Breytans inched forward in unison. I slowly rotated, holding my blade outward, letting them know where my reach was. They took another tentative step forward, not one woman breaking out of stance. They were at the edge of my reach now, but I didn't dare risk a swing. I needed them to get closer, where the pressing of their shoulders would limit mobility. It would leave me exposed, but I didn't have any illusions that I'd be getting out of this. I just wanted the surviving Breytans to sing songs about me. Pursuing your glory to the very end, Astrid? Your mother scowls down upon you. I smiled.

JULIA

Willowbud would not fight me. Every move she made was a defensive one, every counter she offered was simply an attempt to get away. I could see the terror in her eyes, a look that seemed wholly out of place in that face. Night Eyes would've fought me tooth and nail, never going on the defensive, always attacking. Night Eyes didn't know she had limits, but Willowbud didn't dare test them. I sent a spiraling gout of flame at her, and she created a cube around herself. I heated its surface until it was glowing red, and she quickly jettisoned the form in favor of a sphere. She rolled away like a hamster in its ball, gliding along the glossy plane with surprising speed. I created jets of my hands and feet, and rocketed after her. I was slower than before; much slower. I could barely keep up with Willowbud, and when I got to her, I didn't have any reserves to spare. I dropped to the ground, panting heavily, grinded my teeth as I recovered, and I watched the Earth Former's ball grow smaller and smaller. I pulled the heat from the ground, replenishing myself as quickly as possible, then I directed what I'd stolen from Willowbud's precious rock, and threw it back at her. A sapphire lightning bolt erupted from my fingertips, created fractals in the air, snaked tendrils to the ground, then struck the ball with a deafening crack. A shockwave pulsed across the glassed plateau, and when the dust cleared, I was greeted with the sight of a little nymph shakenly getting to her feet. That shot would've vaporized her if I still had Lucilla. I didn't have the strength left for another one; I barely had the strength to stand. I limped across the plateau, and Willowbud limped the other way. We hobbled like old women as we regained our strength.