Three Square Meals Ch. 105

"NOW YOU FINALLY UNDERSTAND THE FUTILITY OF YOUR PITIFUL EFFORTS... GROVEL WORM AND I MIGHT ONLY PROLONG YOUR SUFFERING FOR A DOZEN MILLENNIA!"

John felt his heart lurch in terror, then the runes emblazoned on his chest flared to life, fortifying him to face the architect of this horrendous place. John drove his rune blade into the ground and snarled, "This ends now!"

Clenching both gauntleted hands into fists, he brought them together knuckle to knuckle, his eyes closed as he focused his will. He felt another of the runic phrases pulsating against his chest, working in conjunction with him as he channelled his reserves of psychic energy into his body. John's eyes snapped open and he seized his sword by the hilt as he started to grow, his armoured form expanding as he squared off against his ancient foe.

The terrifying dreadlord that ruled this sub-plane far surpassed its ugly minions in the twisted insanity of its burgeoning form. A dozen tentacles swirled around its shoulders, fanged mouths competing with razor-sharp talons and rolling eyes for every inch of space along each writhing appendage. The bulk of the beast's fetid hide was covered in rivers of dripping slime, splashes of the foul ichor sending hissing steam skyward and melting ugly scars in the blackened ground. Its body was held aloft by six sturdy legs, each covered in a forest of wicked barbs.

As John continued to grow, he watched the hulking titan stalk forward, twin tails lashing in furious anticipation as it closed on him. All too soon though, his growth spurt tapered off, leaving him less than a quarter of the size of his grotesque opponent. He set off running to the right, moving perpendicular to the beast, and whirled his blade around in a lightning-fast slash. The arc of force rushed out to clip its leading leg, gouging a huge trench out of the rubbery flesh below the knee joint and sending fountains of viscous black blood spattering on the ground.

Any sense of jubilation at landing the first strike was quickly dispelled, as the thatch of repulsive tentacles whipped around to attack, slamming down around John. He was forced to leap aside from each crushing blow, dodging and spinning to avoid being squashed like a bug. One smashed into the ground missing him by inches, so John turned and drove his blade into the loathsome appendage. He unleashed his will, funnelling it into the rune sword, which amplified the torrent of psychic energy and projected it outwards in a cone of force. The tentacle exploded as it reeled from that eldritch assault, huge chunks of ghastly gristle and gelatinous flesh showering the plain.

The leviathan let loose a distorted howl of agony and indignation, the rest of its tentacles hammering the ground as it tried to flatten the interloper. John sped away, narrowly avoiding lethal rows of hooked talons as they crashed down around him, creating huge trenches in the cracked obsidian. He had just got clear when he heard a whistling noise and felt a searing stab of agony in his left thigh. Stumbling over, he skidded across the ground, looking down at the metre-long black spike that had skewered his leg. Looking up in horror, he saw the vast fiend leering at him, the multitude of crazed eyes in its hideous face gloating in triumph. The creature's tails hovered overhead, new spikes pushing through the scaly skin to replace the salvo it had just fired at him.

John managed to lurch to his feet, fighting off dizzying waves of pain. His eyes widened as he saw another tentacle whipping towards him and reacted by instinct, swinging his sword up in a frantic looping blow. The energy wave he unleashed caught the tentacle mid-length, lopping it in half and sending the tip sailing overhead, the greatly shortened stump flopped impotently on the ground a dozen metres short. He tried to limp away to put more distance between him and the rampaging beast, but the demonic abomination stomped after him, catching up easily.

He had to dive again to avoid the next tentacle attack, but he was slow and weak now, his sadistic opponent just toying with him as it sensed this was the end. The tentacle wrapped around both John's legs, grinding them together and making him cry out in pain. It squeezed like a boa-constrictor, insane eyes rolling in ecstasy as sharp talons pierced his armour and dug into flesh, gouts of blood splashing across each deranged orb. John let out a tortured scream as his bones snapped under that incredible pressure, his lower body a blistering shroud of agony.

The gigantic beast hauled him off his feet and the overwhelming rush of vertigo nearly made him black out. Barely conscious now, John lost his grip on his sword as he was jerked into the air, his rune blade slipping out of his fingers to tumble to the ground. The monster dangled John over one of its fang-filled maws and he watched the endless circles of teeth gnash in glee, wishing for the oblivion of unconsciousness.

"TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SUPPLICANTS HAVE GONE BEFORE YOU! SUCH ARROGANCE THAT YOU BELIEVED YOU COULD DEFY OUR WILL WHEN THEY ALL BENT THE KNEE... NOW YOU WILL PAY THE EXCRUCIATING PRICE FOR YOUR HUBRIS..."

Cackling laughter mocked him as the tentacle uncoiled, dropping him into that obscenely gaping orifice, teeth snapping with indecent hunger as they waited to tear him apart.

"So this is the end?" John wondered, his mind numbed with pain as he dropped to his doom.

His last thought as he fell towards those slavering fangs was relief that the girls hadn't been exposed to this hideous creature and were safely back on the Physical Plane. His mind flashed through the beautiful faces of the remarkable women that had transformed his life over the last six months, lingering lovingly on each one in the split-second before his death.

"JOHN!" Athena screamed, her thoughts searing through the darkness, seeking him out like a lodestone.

In that brief instant of contact, everything became clear. Athena had been desperately searching for him but was unable to penetrate this horrific sub-plane... until John's loving memories of their time together had drawn her to him like a beacon. As their minds touched, he knew that Alyssa and the girls were safely sleeping, exhausted after she had poured every drop of their psychic energy into her herculean task.

Athena appeared like a radiant angel, a shining female figure reaching for him with her slender hand outstretched as he dropped towards the slavering jaws. "Take my hand!" she screamed at him, frantic to pull him clear from this nightmarish realm.

Pushing back the crashing waves of pain, John found his focus again, calming and centring himself. He knew what he had to do. Athena's eyes widened in disbelief as he ignored her hand and dropped past her, her expression twisting in horror as she watched him fall to his death.

"It's time to finish this," John said quietly, closing his eyes as vicious jaws clamped shut around him.

The runes blazed on his chest, the radiance so bright that it shone through his armour. He heard the leviathan's howl of fury as he was snatched from its grasp at the last second, the sound cutting out abruptly as everything flashed white. John was ripped from existence, then hurled backwards through the timestream, reappearing in a flash to stand unsteadily on the obsidian ground. He wobbled for a moment as the timeline reasserted itself, with John facing his gargantuan opponent once again. His armour was pristine as it had been at the start of their fight, his limbs renewed and whole once more, his massive sword steady in his hand... but he felt a dull ache on his chest where his runes had burnt out.

John could sense the girls' presence now, the connection between them there all along, just masked from his perception by the subversive nature of this despicable place. After being rendered unconscious by Alyssa's efforts on the Astral Plane, the girls had all slept for several hours, their nubile forms brimming with psychic potential once more.

"Heed me, Matriarchs," John called out, words echoing with an ancient cadence. "I petition you for aid!"

John was suddenly at the centre of a whirling maelstrom of power, eldritch energy pouring forth from his matriarchs and flooding every fibre of his being. He'd never experienced anything like it... the sum total of their entire psychic might all at his disposal.

"WHAT MANNER OF INSANITY IS THIS?! YOU WOULD WARP TIME ITSELF?!"

He heard the fear in that shocked outburst, his unstoppable foe stunned that he would dare to do such a thing. Taking advantage of that surprise, John set off at a sprint, but not perpendicular to his opponent this time... he charged straight towards it. The behemoth seemed smaller now and far less intimidating, John's armoured legs a blur as he closed the distance between them. It bellowed in fury, the mass of tentacles striking out at him as they had before.

John whirled his sword in a figure-of-eight, launching a whirling storm of telekinetic waves at those undulating limbs. One by one the tentacles exploded, fountains of black blood dousing the beast as he denuded it of those terrible appendages, each flopping limb bouncing off its head or torso before dropping to the ground with a stomach-churning squelch. The monster roared with pain, flinching back as each tentacle was severed, its enormous body quivering under the onslaught.

Twin tails arched up over its head, launching a relentless barrage of spikes in John's direction. However, this time, he was ready for them. A glowing blue hex-shield sprang into existence between them, just in time to protect him from the deadly hail. Scores of spikes pierced through the hexagons, but robbed of their speed, they fell harmlessly to the ground. The instant the first shield was pulverised to oblivion, a replacement instantly appeared to weather the storm, then another, and another, until the hail of spikes petered out.

He could feel a deep sense of fear pervading this place, but this time it wasn't the debilitating aura of terror that had assaulted him every time he'd entered this pocket plane. It was the huge behemoth that was cringing away from him, shocked and frightened at the turn this battle had taken. The mists rolled backwards in a rush, tumbling across the plane to swirl around him once again, masking the presence of the ancient leviathan.

"Hiding in the clouds won't save you," John snapped in irritation, as he heard the deep boom of hurried footfalls beating a hasty retreat.

"THIS BATTLE IS FAR FROM OVER... YOU THINK ME DEFEATED SO EASILY?"

John held his gauntleted hand palm-up in the direction he'd last seen his opponent and fired a fan of telekinetic darts in a wide arc. They shot out through the mists leaving glowing blue trails in their wake, until one off to his left made a faint squelching noise as it struck home. John briefly considered that there might be more of its hulking minions lurking within the fog but decided to take the chance and sprinted in that direction.

The crashing echoes of enormous clawed feet striking the ground got louder and John smiled as he realised he was heading in the right direction, firing off another spray of darts to confirm it. Three of them struck stomping limbs this time and he readied his sword in anticipation of catching the retreating monster. Suddenly his vision swam, leaving him disorientated and confused, and he stumbled a step as he ran through the billowing grey clouds.

He heard an agonised cry that chilled him to the bone, the scream all the more dreadful because he recognised that voice. The mists parted and he saw Irillith stagger out of the fog, her naked body covered in a patchwork of horrific wounds.

"John... help me!" she begged him, eyes wide with terror.

He felt his heart lurch in his chest, horrified to see her in such torment. "Oh my God, Irillith!" he gasped, spinning in his tracks and rushing towards her.

A tentacle whipped out of the fog and lashed around her waist, yanking the Maliri girl off her feet in a spray of blood and lifting her into the air. Her shrill screams reverberated around him, before they were quickly choked off in a sickening gurgle, blood raining down around him.

"No!" he screamed into the fog, the utter desolation he felt at her horrific death threatening to overwhelm him.

Mocking laughter boomed out around him, his despicable foe delighting in the agony of his grief.

"ALL YOUR CHERISHED LOVED ONES WILL BE MY PLAYTHINGS... I HAVE ONLY JUST STARTED PUNISHING THEM FOR YOUR TREACHERY!"

To his horror, John heard another terrified scream, this time from Calara. "John! It hurts so much... please make it stop!"

He was about to rush to try to save her when he heard a faint whispering in his mind. "Not... her... safe..."

John staggered and clutched at his head, trying to focus on the familiar voice through the numbing haze that muffled his thoughts. "Girls... not... there..."

Crouching down he took a deep breath and shut everything out of his mind, everything except that gentle melodic voice. Bright light sheared through that murky gloom, bathing him in a brilliant white aura that dismissed the confusion in his thoughts. The behemoths sadistic illusions were laid bare and when a petrified Calara lurched out of the fog, she suddenly dissipated into motes of light. The accompanying roar of disbelief was shot-through with an undercurrent of dread.

"DAMN YOU AND THAT ACCURSED WITCH!"

"You'll pay for that," John snarled, whirling his sword around him, the runes blazing bright.

The fogbanks were hurled backwards, unable to withstand the ferocious glare shining from the blade. Swirling clouds parted around a vast cloven foot, then another as the leviathan was stripped of its concealment. It had not been idle in the precious minutes it had gained with its retreat, a fresh set of tentacles having grown from the mangled stumps of the old. It bellowed a deafening challenge and lurched to the attack, the forest of slithering tentacles attempted to batter him into the ground.

Moving in a blur, John slashed with his blade as he dodged, telekinetic blasts tearing savage holes through those appendages and severing tentacles in gouts of thick black blood. One of the massive limbs swung around in a sweeping arc, moving too quickly for John to avoid. Instead he braced himself and stabbed down with his sword, the colossal blade plunging through rubbery flesh and impaling the wriggling tentacle to the ground. It was like trying to stop a freight train with a knife, but John braced himself, and ignored the screaming protests from his muscles.

His eyes narrowed in concentration and blue fire erupted from that gruesome wound, sizzling and scorching its way back up the stricken limb towards the vast beast's body. It staggered backwards in terror, letting loose a fearful roar shot through with pain. The tentacle stretched and ripped at the base, torn from the creature's body in its desperation to free itself and escape the inferno consuming its flesh.

With the leviathan momentarily distracted, John crouched down then leapt into the air, his gathered will leaving a cracked crater in the ground as he launched skyward. He held his sword in a two-handed grip, pouring as much energy as he could muster into its runic embrace, charging the weapon with vast amounts of psychic might. Lifting it aloft, the shining blade became an incandescent shard of eldritch power, the light shattering the murky gloom that pervaded this plane.

Thousands of demented eyes locked onto that blazing pillar, the creature's hundreds of maws sagging open in a silent scream as John plunged downwards. His colossal sword cleaved through its gigantic head, piercing deep into its body until the blade was fully impaled, with only the hilt protruding from what passed as the beast's forehead. John retreated as light crisscrossed its repulsive form, the demonic beast uttering a discordant wail of terror as white beams shot out of its shaking body. Limbs and tentacle stumps twitched as glowing lines blazed across rubbery hide, the trembling appendages unable to escape the radiant light.

"IT BURNS! I BEG YOU, MAKE IT STOP!"

John watched the death throes of the titanic monster from a safe distance, a grim smile of satisfaction on his face. "You hurt the girls too many times... I had to put you down."

The monstrous ruler of this shadowy realm let out a bestial howl of agony, the violent shaking intensifying. It seemed to collapse in on itself for a second before exploding outwards, glowing chunks of the abomination blasting clear as if trying to escape from the purity of that light. When the blazing light from that radiant detonation had faded, all that remained was John's sword, the massive weapon floating back to his outstretched hand.

Sagging with relief, John was about to reach out to Athena to extricate himself from this desolate place, when the ground tipped over, upending itself and knocking him from his feet. As John toppled backwards, the ground seemed to pull away, leaving him staring up at the sky as he fell. He saw the stars ripple and with a feeling of dread, realised that they were a field of eyes, all of them staring intently at him.

The mind behind those eyes belonged to a being beyond his comprehension, which surveyed him with amusement and mild irritation, like one might study a meddlesome ant. John knew that he'd been the focus of attention from this antediluvian horror before, but he was only just beginning to get a glimpse at its true nature. He suddenly realised that the plateau he'd been fighting on was no more than the palm of this creature's impossibly vast hand. The sub-plane he'd been dragged back to time and again was only a tiny fragment of this unholy demigod's domain... a tempering ground for those of his kind, although for what purpose he couldn't begin to fathom.

Then Athena was back, wrapping herself tightly around him this time, a stern look of disapproval on her face. She kissed him and everything went white, his mind jerking away from that dreadful fall. They landed with a thump on solid ground, the radiant girl's alluring nude body sprawled atop him, with John absorbing the worst of the fall for both of them.

"We've got to work on those landings..." he groaned, his back aching from the impact.

Athena raised herself up from his chest and glared at him furiously. "Have you gone completely mad? What possessed you to attack that thing?! You could have been killed!"

He began to laugh, revelling in the simple joy of being alive, a sensation made all the sweeter after teetering at the brink of death's door.

"It's not funny!" she exclaimed, brow furrowing in anger. "I was worried sick!"

John rolled over, Athena yelping in surprise as he brought her with him. He cupped her indignant face in his hands, then leaned down to give her a tender kiss. She struggled for a moment, then melted into his arms, moaning softly into his mouth as his lips moved against hers.

"Thank you for rescuing me," he said quietly, gazing into her glowing eyes. "I'd be dead right now, if it wasn't for you."

Her face lit up with a gentle smile, her eyes softening with affection. "You're welcome."

John sat up with a wince, both his back and chest feeling sore. He tried to blot out the pain and offered his radiant companion a hand, helping her up.

Athena looked at him with concern. "I'd offer to heal you, but everyone is completely drained of psychic energy."

"That's okay, a bit of pain will remind me not to do anything quite so reckless for a while," he said with a self-effacing grin.

"For a while?" Athena asked him, her eyes narrowing. "How about never again!"

His smile faded and he brushed his fingers down her arm. "You know I can't promise you that, honey."

She sighed and nodded, her face falling. "I know." Her lowered gaze focused on the charred imprint of the Progenitor runes on his chest and she lightly traced them with a fingertip, being careful not to touch the damaged skin. "So... these are new."