The Creators Ch. 18

Gloria blinked, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. A black tear.

I drove my foot into the ground, and a shell of rock surrounded Astrid. I heard her dulled scream of shock sound through the rock, I heard her fists pound against the stone, but I paid them no heed.

"Gloria," I said slowly, keeping my distance from her, "I need you to stay right where you are."

Gloria smiled. It was a horrific smile. Void of all joy, corrupted by madness, tugging at her lips like an agonized grimace. She donned her hood and transformed back into her normal self, her orc armor falling off to reveal the alabaster beauty beneath, but her eyes stayed the same.

"You don't need to fear me, Willowbud," she said softly. "I am not compelled to hurt you."

"Gloria—"

"I know what has happened to me," she said, looking down at her body as though she didn't recognize it. "I was careless. My hunger took over my better judgement, and I went in for a bite. I got too close." She grinned up at me. "There is no cure for this."

"Please," I said gently, holding up my hand and carefully closing the distance between us, "just stay right there. I know what it's like. I know it can be beaten."

Gloria giggled and shook her head. More black tears streamed from her eyes, dripping from her chin and splashing the obsidian like ink. Astrid pounded against the stone and screamed, but I paid her no heed. She would not get near this thing.

"Willowbud," Gloria giggled, "I told you that I'm not compelled to hurt you, but if you get into my kill-range, I am going to attack. Your neck looks so delicious, and I can't control myself right now. Please do not come closer."

"I can help you."

"You know you can't," Gloria breathed out a gout of black smoke, and I stopped in my tracks. She saw my terror, and her grin stretched across her face with such madness that her dramatic cheeks and bared teeth gave her the appearance of a skull. "There is a sickness in me now," she hissed. "It makes me want to bite and infect and spread my blood-children across the face of the earth. It pulls on me now, and the only thing stopping me is that door." More tears ran down her cheeks, and she turned around toward the iron monolith behind her. "He is there. He is waiting for me."

"He's not there, Gloria. He's dead."

"HE IS NOT!" Gloria roared, and black smoke poured from her nostrils and mouth. I staggered back, and she pivoted on her heel and flung open the door. I dove out of the way and upended a nearby boulder, but nothing came through the threshold. The iron frame of the door was backlit by an eclipsed sun surrounded by a dark sky filled with stars, all blanketing an endless jungle.

"Gloria!" I screamed. "Close that fucking door!"

She ignored me. "Halok?" she called. "Halok?"

No one answered.

"Halok—"

"CLOSE THE GODDAMN DOOR! I shrieked. "Do you know what's on the other side?!"

"Yes," she whispered, her voice choked with euphoric tears, "him!" Gloria clasped her hands in delight, and like a blushing bride, she giddily shimmied her hips and stepped into the astral plane. Her leg went limp beneath her as her astral body left it. She didn't even look back. She reached through the door, and her physical arm swung lifelessly to her side. She took the final step, and her body dropped behind her. Her astral projection stood in perfect clarity. Her hands were still clasped together, her legs were joined excitedly, and her shoulders were hunched in anticipation of her beloved's arrival. She stayed like that, frozen in a moment of perfect happiness, a lifetime of grief washed away in favor of one second of mad hope. She stayed like that even as her astral projection shriveled into the husk of an old woman, then a skeleton, then nothing but ash swept away by the wind, and carried toward the eclipsed center of the astral sun.

DIAMOND

I grew angrier by the second as I battled desperately with the Life Giver. I wasn't angry because I was losing, though that certainly was the catalyst for it. My anger came from my own stupidity. I could've killed Angela right then and there, stripped Brandon of his bound power, and then made short work of him, but I didn't. I wished with all my vanity that such stupidity was because Corruption compelled me to keep Angela alive, but in truth, it ran deeper than that. Angela was the closest thing I had to a friend left after what I'd done to Justina, and Brandon was one of my few peers. Hell, I would've even tried to befriend Willowbud too if I wasn't so certain she'd brain me the first chance she got just to blow Corruption out of my head. Now I was fighting a dragon—no, he was an eagle—a wyrm, a griffin, a phoenix, a thunderbird, a god-dang mosquito!

Brandon transitioned between species without stopping, changing his flight on a whim, making himself massive, tiny, slow, and fast, moving with such unpredictability that I just had to guess where he'd be, and even if I guessed right, it didn't matter. He became a great eagle, and I sliced one of his wings off. He dove in a spiral, regrew the limb, then surged upward as a Gratoran bat, his wingspan so immense that the propulsion of air sent me spinning head-over-heels through the sky. I reoriented myself just in time to be smashed headlong by an enormous ram with angelic wings. The membrane of water I wore as protection shattered Brandon's horns, but it didn't stop me from being launched half a mile by the force. I steadied myself again and was immediately rammed by an enormous reptilian fist that blasted me downward toward the earth. There wasn't enough water in the air to stop my plummet. I hit the sand like a torpedo and drove through it into the bedrock. Before I even had a chance to get up, a sand wyrm barreled into me, drove me through a hundred feet of granite, then burst out of the sand, and sent me flailing skyward, screaming all the way up. I came to the apex of my ascension, spun around, and was speared right in the belly by the horn of a flighted balrog. The horn burst into a thousand pieces, and I careened through the air, smashed through a dune, and skidded out of the other side.

I stood on shaking legs and looked up. Nothing had followed me. The hole in the dune was vacant, and the pale blue sky was empty. I stepped carefully backward, reaching out to absorb the moisture from the air, scanning every direction for any sign of movement. My foot landed on grass. I whirled around and was jerked back by vines that wrapped my ankles and wrists, spreading me out, pulling at my limbs until the tendons seared with agony. A shape appeared in the dune's hole. It was just a dot in the blue sky, but it grew bigger by the second, shooting toward me with such speeds that a sonic boom sounded in its wake.

I pulled the water from the vines, but they rehydrated in an instant. I slashed at their roots, but they regrew even as I cut them. More green tendrils bound me, snaking up my forearms and shins, holding me like a spread target for the thing shooting toward me. Its head was like a harpoon, its mouth was like a shark's, and its batwings were tucked into its sleek massive body to drive through the air like a missile. I screamed, sucked the water from the vines, and put every ounce of aquatic mass between me and Brandon before he smashed into me. We exploded. Shards of organic gore flew in every direction, water vaporized and boiled, the sand burst from the ground and erupted into the sky. The wind shot from my lungs, my body folded in half, and I was propelled backward, skidding across the sand like a stone until I rolled onto my back. I groaned and raised my head, the sand caked to my face, filling my mouth and nostrils. One of my antlers had been snapped off at the root, and I picked it up with clumsy hands and held it like a weapon.

A great cloud of dust had mushroomed from the earth where we had collided. It settled into the air, blowing with the high desert winds to carry it toward Droktin's Pass. A man emerged from the cloud, his eyes glowing white with power. I dug my heels in, clenched my fists, then launched myself in the opposite direction. Jets of water erupted from my feet, accelerating me across the desert, expending great amounts of my reserves just to get me away. It didn't matter if I spent every last drop I had; I just had to get to Mom. I crested an immense dune, and the battlefield opened up beneath me.

It was utter chaos. The great multitude of orcs surrounded thousands of shapeshifters. The valkyries of Ofan and Iona changed their bodies to adapt to the battle, becoming gargantuan dragons and colossi that towered above the fray to wreak destruction on a massive and sudden scale, then changing to smaller lithe creatures when the Breytans swooped in and disappearing into the fray. There, the battle was intimate and quick, the duelers twirling like spinning blades, hacking away through the bodies of orcs, turning the fray into a meat grinder. The Breytans had no compunctions about killing orcs just to get to their foes, and the Ionans and Ofanians cared even less. The orcish bodies covered the sands for miles, and their blood ran in black rivers between the cascading dunes. I shot across the scene of fire and death until the sands became barren once more, and the red stone of Droktinar's crater began to show in the distance. Miles to the east of the great obsidian bowl, Tera's carriage was nestled beyond the ridgeline. At this speed, it would take me minutes to get there. That was far too long. I summoned as much water as I could from the arid atmosphere, and blasted through the sound barrier. I dared to look back over my shoulder. I shouldn't have.

JUSTINA

I became a dragon and belched my fire at Aiko. She flew above my flame like she knew where it was going, and used the heated updraft to accelerate her flight. I became a great falcon and pursued her, and realized almost too late that I could not outmaneuver a valkyrie in the air. She expertly led me through a fool's chase, then spun around with such startling speed that my only option was to charge headlong into her. She had to dive out of the way, but she scored a clip of my wings that sent me spiraling to earth. I righted myself and crash-landed into a dune, then, healing my shattered bones on the spot, I transformed into a hydra, and snapped at Aiko with my many heads. She decapitated my false necks with ease, weaving between my squirming serpentine throats, disorienting my many perspectives until I was left with only one. Before she could end me, I turned into a great snapping turtle, stuck my head and limbs into my shell, and strategically rotated to keep the valkyrie in front of me. Aiko circled me patiently, hovering like a lethal hummingbird just outside of my range. When she dared to get within ten feet of me, I launched my spring-loaded neck, stopped just before the inevitable decapitating move, then receded into my shell. Aiko eased herself out of range, and continued to hover, watching me with her deadly black eyes.

"Why not transform into a behemoth armadillo, or perhaps a porcupine?" she mused. "There are many animals where defense is their best offense, and this is not one of them. Please, Your Eminence, you're boring me."

I just glared at her from my shell.

She smiled politely back. "It's good to lean into your rage when fighting to the death; it makes you more ferocious. However, it doesn't work against Breytans." She cocked her head, and let her grin turn into a little sneer. "It's obvious that you've been training with Ofanians. They are such a passionate breed of warriors. It is why they always lose. Your friend didn't die at my hand; she died the moment she decided to fight on the same field as a Breytan."

"It's strange to hear a Breytan grandstanding," Bianca said as she flapped down from the sky, and stood beside me.

"It's strange to see you in the flesh," Aiko replied. "Why aren't you a water buffalo? Or perhaps a very large hen?"

Bianca drew her blade. "There is nothing deadlier than a valkyrie with a sword in her hand."

Aiko scoffed. "You're an Ofanian."

"And you used to be a Breytan. Aiko Satori, your mother would be very disappointed in you."

"My mother is dead," Aiko said simply.

Arya landed on my other side. "I'm sorry to hear of your loss. Alita was a noble woman."

Aiko shrugged. "I beheaded her before her nobility was all spent, though I fear she died a debtor. I'd say you should follow my example, but your race has never even tasted nobility. It's no wonder that you have to change your shape before you dare cross blades with a Breytan."

"And what of me, Aiko?" Nona asked, landing atop my shell.

Aiko's smile faded. "I wondered how the Ofanians had become so numerous after suffering so greatly in Drastin. I thought they'd simply recruited their elders and younglings. I never would've thought Iona would bow to them."

Nona stepped off my shell and drew her sword before Aiko. "I bow to the one who chases your goddess across the sky."

Aiko dragged her sword through the sand. "The Water Dancer is not my god."

"The divine battle rages, and yet, I see no black fire upon the battlefield. I only see the countless corpses of your brethren, and you have the audacity to mock me for my allies."

Aiko raised her black sword in a flash and bowed at the waist to us. "I give you this respect now, Nona Cloudwhisper, but know that when this is done, I will piss on your corpse."

Nona charged, and the Ofanians followed. Bianca and Arya flanked Aiko, but she paid them no heed. She unfurled her wings and launched toward Nona. Nona ducked the swing that would've decapitated her, then sliced at Aiko's feet. Aiko flipped in the air and delivered a backhand, and Nona fell to her back to avoid it. Before the Breytan could deliver the deathblow, Arya charged in and swung her scimitar overhead. Aiko parried the attack with a slash, and Arya's blade was cloven right from the pommel. She somersaulted backward as Aiko sliced at her belly, then drew two daggers from her belt, and rushed in just as Bianca closed from the other side with her sword poised to gut Aiko from behind. Aiko sidestepped Bianca's thrust, pirouetted, and slashed. Bianca stepped back, flew overhead, and drove down just as Nona came from the side, and Arya closed the flank. Aiko stepped a hair's breadth from Bianca's impaling dive, kicked away Nona's sword strike, then spun, and punched Arya right in the jaw. Arya's wings caught the air before she fell, and she shook the concussive shock from her head before charging in once more.

It was obvious by the way they moved that the Ofanians were no match for Aiko. If it weren't for Nona constantly harassing the Breytan at every turn, Bianca and her daughter would've been in pieces. But as great a fighter as Nona was, she was old. Though she deftly maneuvered blow-for-blow with Aiko, she was starting to slow. Bianca and Arya's attacks became riskier, driving in as Aiko went on the offensive, attempting to relieve Nona. Nona successfully parried a strike that would've gutted her, but her sword was shorn right above the pommel by Aiko's obsidian blade. She rolled beneath the next swipe, drew her battle-axe, and rushed forward before Aiko could set her feet for the defense. Aiko backed off, and Bianca came driving in from the side. As Aiko chopped at Bianca's impaling surge, Arya swept in from behind. She slashed at Aiko's back, Aiko pirouetted, ducked beneath Nona's decapitating swing, stepped behind Bianca's thrust, then spun, and cut Arya's left arm clean off at the shoulder. Arya shrieked and stumbled back. Bianca faltered at the sound. Aiko went in for the kill, and Nona smashed into her side, barreling them both end-over-end into the dirt.

I transformed into a cheetah, dashed over to Arya, and scooped her up into my arms as I became a gorilla. Bianca started running after me, but then Nona was tossed by Aiko, and she had to rush to the Ionan's aid before she was impaled. Bianca barreled into Aiko's side, sending the Breytan sprawling, but before she could deliver the deathblow, Aiko spun from the sand and swiped, and clashed her metal with the Sword of Ofan. The loud clang rang out, and the battle came to a sudden stop. Aiko gawked at the joined blades, and the realization dawned in her eyes. She sheared away from the parry, planted her feet into the sand, and before she could flee, Nona smashed into her back. Aiko barreled forward, front flipped and made to take flight again before Bianca came around the edge and forced her onto the defensive. Heat Bringer obsidian clashed with Earth Former steel, and the three valkyries spun on each other in a whirlwind. No longer was Aiko interested in continuing the engagement, but desperately trying to break from it. Every strike she delivered was meant to harry her attackers back so that she could spread the news that would end us, and the attackers had to press suicidally forward to stop her. I dropped the screeching Arya in the sand and rushed in to help, but as I made my first step, Bianca screamed, "GET HER OUT OF HERE!"

I stumbled backward, snatched Arya up, and ran up the side of a dune.

"Why won't it grow back?!" she screamed. "It's supposed to grow back!"

"Brandon will fix you!" I said, sprouting wings from my back. "We'll get you to him, and—"

"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE MY MOTHER DOWN THERE!"

"I'll just get in the way. Your mother said—"

"THEN GET IN THE WAY, YOU COWARD!" Arya bellowed, and I whirled around without thinking, dropped her off at the top of the dune, turned into a peregrine falcon, and dove into the fray of blades.

Aiko kicked Nona in the stomach, then spun toward Bianca. Bianca ducked the decapitating swipe, tumbled out of the way, then struck at Aiko's midsection. Aiko was too fast. She dodged the swipe, flew over the following slash, then broke free and launched herself to the north, too fast to be pursued. It was at that moment that I smashed into the top of her head. My titanium-tipped beak drove through her skull, made a tunnel of her brains, and burst through the other side. Bianca drove her sword into Aiko's crotch, and Nona came a nanosecond later to remove the Breytan's head from her shoulders, sending me toppling with it. I wiggled my way out of the head, sprawled out onto the sands, and transformed back into my normal self. Above me, Aiko's headless body swayed, blood flowing out from beneath her robes, running down her thighs and splashing Bianca's face. The body toppled backward, and the black katana rested in the sand. Bianca scrambled to her feet and launched herself to the top of the dune where her daughter was. Nona shouldered her axe, then plucked the black katana from the sand, and studied it.

"Obsidian, tempered by the Heat Bringer herself," she muttered and grazed the edge along her finger. A thin cut was made, and no matter how hard she furrowed her brow, the cut would not heal. She glanced up at the top of the dune and shook her head sorrowfully when Bianca wrapped her arms around her doomed daughter.

BRANDON

I turned myself into a behemoth octopus with enormous batwings, snatched Diamond with a massive tentacle, and rolled her in my appendage until I was squeezing her from all sides. It felt like I was trying to crush steel. The ball of pink flesh I'd trapped her in exploded, sending purple blood and gore spraying in every direction. Before the pain could reach my mind, I regrew the limb, but she was already rocketing toward me, a spearhead of water leading the way. I transformed into a fly right before she impaled me, then as she passed over me, I turned myself into a woolly mammoth, snatched her ankle with my trunk, and dropped like a stone to earth. She flailed desperately, trying to grab hold of the scant moisture in the air, but there was no tonnage of humidity beneath us to stop the great weight I'd added to her. We fell freely to the sands, and I transformed into an eagle just before I became a red splatter on the dune. Diamond wasn't so lucky. She smashed into the earth, blasting a cloud of dust in the air and leaving a wide impact crater. The shockwave blew me backward, and I tumbled back to earth, transformed into a giant centipede, then scurried to the hole I hoped was a grave.