Bitter Farewells

     Inside the sealed space, inside Libero’s manifested territory, neither the Demon Gods, nor Caedes were connected to their territories, and therefore, were severely weakened. Though the same was effectively true for Siti and I. My demon abilities came from the territories of those within the suit, and Siti relied on her root network. I don’t know where Andre’s power came from, but he seemed unfazed. We had a numerical advantage and possibly a strength advantage, but with the growing sphere of certain death in the center, anything could happen.

“You’re tough to crack!” Said Andre as he relentlessly punched down on Caedes’s face, “Hmmm, how else can I…? Oh!”

     Andre turned his head and spotted the black orb and wiggled his antennae. If he had lips, I was sure he would’ve been grinning. The ant demon creature picked up the battered and paralyzed Caedes and tossed him towards the black sphere. It truly was pure death and destruction, no flash or messy disintegration. Caedes was tossed in, the parted that touched the black sphere instantly vanished, and the parts outside it got sucked in. In an instant, Caedes was gone.

  “Guh, that useless Caedes couldn’t even kill one half-breed!” Orobas muttered. I could see its gaze, it looked to Bael and Libero on the other side of the black sphere, engaged with one another. It looked to me, the closest and directly in front of it, but its gaze passed on. Orobas turned quickly, swinging its body around and sweeping those enormous claws towards Siti, who was behind and away from Orobas.

     However, Siti lunged forward, past those claws, past the palm, up to Orobas’s chest and slammed her fist into its gut.

     Siti swept her leg across, kicking Orobas’s inner leg with such force that the large creature toppled a bit, bending down on the other leg. She looked down at him and smirked.

  “Territory or not,” Orobas began, “I am still a Demon God. I’ve lived longer than your world and learned more than you could ever know.” Its eyes flashed and floating symbols swirled around Siti that bound her in place. Siti squirmed by was unable to escape the next set of sweeping claws that sliced her to pieces and scattered her away.

“MY QUEEN! HOW DARE YOU!” Andre shouted as he lunged at Orobas.

     The ant demon pounced onto the Demon God’s enormous horse-like head, grabbing on with four arms and his large mandibles as he began stabbing Orobas in the chest over and over with his stinger.

    I also couldn’t stand around and watch, but I had to be careful and efficient. I couldn’t use Durus’s power to create much metal, but I could still use it to shape and reinforce. Using all that I could muster, I created a pair of iron daggers and moved in. While Andre kept the Demon God’s face and front occupied, I moved in, slicing and stabbing at its calves. The thick muscle was hard to cut, but Venia’s blessing allowed my weapons to pierce, stabbing, and ripping away.

  “Grah! You VERMIN!” Orobas roared as it attempted to pry Andre from its face. Even those massive claws couldn’t cut through Andre’s exoskeleton, but they could tear him off from the Demon God’s body and attempt to throw him towards the black sphere at the center.

     Without air in the isolated space, Andre’s wings were useless, but a mass of vines shot out, grabbing Andre mid-air and pulling him back to safety. As Siti reassembled herself, she made a bit of a pouting face. I could feel she was less upset about being sliced apart, and more about how she couldn’t speak without air. I could also feel her anxiety and exhaustion. She could supplement my needs with the demons within the suit, but he herself was mostly organic. She needed air or some other way to supplement herself.

     Her eyes met mine, then she grinned. Siti dashed towards Orobas once again, but this time, she made no attack against it, rather sliding between its legs and mine and getting behind us. She threw her arms around me, then began to merge with the demon suit I wore. When she disappeared, I could feel her thoughts along with mine. Connected, yet separate.

“Whew! It’s like a party in here! A bit crowded, though~” Siti’s words spoke into my mind.

“Ah, great, another tenant. Make yourself at home, I guess,” I mentally replied.

  Andre froze up, just looking at me, antennae flailing as he muttered, “M-my queen?!”

     To answer him, a third arm sprouted from my body, one that looked like Siti’s, and gave him a thumbs-up. It was strange, I could feel it connected to my body, but also had no control over it.

  “ARE YOU ALL JUST HERE TO FOOL AROUND?!?!” Orobas roared again, trampling and kicking to get me away from its legs.

“Even without its territory, it’s still strong and sturdy. I know it doesn’t want to kill me, but I’m sure it could just pin me down with one hand.”

“Then we’ll just have to get ‘em into the big ball of ‘die’ over there. Don’t think we’ve got the strength to toss ‘em though.”

     Orobas focused its attention on Andre, likely seeking to remove the one that doesn’t matter to their plans. This gave me some time to think while Siti combed through my thoughts.

“Lubricant, huh? We don’t have much to work with here, so you’ll have to place it well and make it count.”

     I nodded and rushed towards Orobas again. It might be difficult to get the Demon God into position without being able to verbally communicate with Andre, but we’d have to try all the same.

     I resumed my attacks on the Demon God’s legs as it thrashed and roared while Siti used her third arm to try and gesture Andre to come over to us. He caught on and quickly scuttled over, standing side-by-side as we stood with our back to the black sphere.

     Orobas turned to us and paused as we backed away, “Do you think me an idiot? You think I can’t tell what you’re planning? You have no way of killing me, so you’ll use the Fragment of Destruction. But you forget, there is another enemy here that’s more valuable to kill.”

     The large horse-headed demon raised its hand towards the floating eye of Curson with glowing symbols forming. I panicked. If Curson was destroyed, the isolated space would fall and the Demon Gods would have their full power again and we wouldn’t stand a chance.

     I dashed forward, but was suddenly stopped as those glowing symbols created a powerful force that held me down. It was a trick! Orobas wasn’t aiming at Curson, just luring me in! I was pressed down flat against the floor, barely not being crushed to death, but unable to move.

  Beside me, Andre was also ensnared. Orobas triumphantly stomped forward and picked up Andre with those claws, “Once you’re out of the way, this farce will all be over. I’ll commend your bravery to struggle until the end, but condemn your foolishness in trying. Farew-”

     Orobas froze and I could feel the weight being lifted from me. I turned to see a strand of green stretching from Andre’s body and piercing into Orobas’s hand. What the Demon God didn’t see was Siti moving from my body to hiding within Andre’s, and her plan was to invade his mind, albeit briefly, only enough to nudge it.

  Against its will, Orobas threw itself forward with all its might, as if tackling an invisible enemy, and landing on the ground, yet sliding uncontrollably towards the black sphere. “N-No! NO!!” Orobas cried, trying to wrench control of its body back. It couldn’t dig its claws in, but its hands were placed firmly upon the ground, attempting to slow its slide.

     I scrambled to my feet, as did Andre, and we both lunged in unison to grab and push Orobas’s legs with all that we had, forcing the Demon God to slide further and further towards the sphere.

  “NO! NO!!! STOP IT!! I WON’T! I-” Orobas cried, then suddenly went limp. Siti quickly ejected herself from the back of the Demon God’s head and rejoined into the demon suit while the grand body of Orobas stopped moving, stopped speaking, and was pulled into the black sphere.

     My body relaxed some and I could feel the exhaustion hitting me. Without air, I was reaching my limit. I looked over to Libero and Bael’s fight and could see Bael’s horror as he watched Orobas get pulled in.

“WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?!” Libero shouted as he landed a crushing blow to Bael’s face.

     Bael only barely matched Libero in physical strength, but he made use of his vast knowledge of the Flow and used all kinds of spells: fire and ice, snares, teleportation, mental traps, illusions, none of it seemed to work as Libero tore through them. A Demon God without his territory against Libero manifesting his.

     It wasn’t much longer before Libero got the advantage, just a single moment where he caught Bael’s neck with both hands and squeezed until that head came off. He lifted the severed head and body in each hand and roared triumphantly before tossing them like garbage into the black sphere.

“WAIT FOR ME BAEL! AFTER I DEVOUR OROBAS’S TERRITORY, I’M COMING FOR YOURS NEXT! THEN ALL OF THE DEMON REALM!!”

     Suddenly, the isolated space was opened and air began to rush inward toward the black sphere from all directions. Despite the turbulent current, I gasped, finally able to catch my breath while Siti reformed her body.

     My eyes fixed on Libero who, despite the suction, the chaos, merely spread his arms and his territory. Quickly, the temple, that starry sky and golden clouds, it was all being washed away as Libero devoured the unprotected territory, completely ignoring the ever-growing black sphere.

“Curson!” I called out, “What do we do now?!”

“Now,” Its voice reverberated, “Now your journey comes to its end. Libero and the fragment of Destruction shall become the new threats to the Demon Realm, but that is none of your concern. Sitiens Meretrix-”

“Siti!”

“...Siti. You shall uphold your end of our deal and escort me to Catinas. James Cassidy, it is time for you to return from whence you came.”

“Euh, and what about me?” Andre said, tilting his head.

“You’re coming home with me, of course! Well, one of me. I know you’ll love it there!”

“As you command, my queen!”

“Curson! Take Andre and meet me at Sero’s territory. This body is going with James!”

“As you wish.”

  A bubble of golden light formed around Andre, shielding him from the raging winds. He looked to me and simply waved, “See ya later, buddy! I’ll take good care of our queen!”

  I waved back to him, “Bye Andre, enjoy all the meat and fruit you could ever want, and keep...our...queen safe!”

     With that, Andre disappeared. Then a vast array of glowing symbols formed around me, hovering in concentric circles, forming vast lines that spanned above and below me. Siti moved close, hugging against me and smiling brightly and I could feel her excitement.

“Farewell, human. I pray to the Creator that we need not meet again.”

“Yeah. Good-bye Curson, and thank you!”

     The world around me slowly disappeared, washed away in blinding light, then darkness.

     I remembered this sight. It was so long ago, but I remember seeing darkness around me, specks of light rushing past, and the vast red glow beneath my feet. I could feel my body rushing upward, like an elevator moving too quickly. I didn’t know what to say, or if I even could speak, I was just overcome with relief to finally be going home and to be bringing Siti with me. I squeezed her warmly and she squeezed me back.

     The demon suit finally began to peel away. For so long, it had been a part of me, so much so that I’d almost forgotten that it was there keeping me alive. Now, like a lizard shedding its skin, it loosened from me and began to fall away from me bit by bit. That burning, foul air of the Demon Realm was gone and I felt like I could truly breathe again. I smiled brightly and looked to Siti, now able to hold her with my REAL arms, not in the hands of that suit, but my smile faded.

     Just as the demon suit fell away, so too was Siti. Bits and pieces of her seemed to fall away as if her body was made of sand. I squeezed her tighter.

“No, no! Why...you were supposed to come along! It was your goal, wasn’t it!?”

  Siti’s smile didn’t fade, but her hold on me gradually grew weaker and weaker, “You know why. Your world doesn’t allow the Flow, and as amazing and plant-y as I am, I’m also part demon. I...I had hoped that’d be enough, but it was just hope, in the end.”

     She leaned her head against me and I trembled at how light it felt, as if a gust of wind could just blow her away. “But you’re right. It was my goal, and I’m not going to give up. I’ve got two reasons to go there, so I’m going to try twice as hard.”

  She looked up at me with her usual confident grin despite so much of her body already gone, “So, I’ll say it again: stay alive, James! I’ll find you again!”

     My lips quivered and I had to use every bit of my will to hold back tears. My throat clenched and trembled, all I could do was nod and hold her tighter. Yet, as my hold tightened, she vanished.

     I clenched my fists and hugged my arms to my body, curling up. I was going home, but somehow, I just couldn’t bring myself to be happy about it. As I sniffled and sobbed, I gazed upward, as if she might be there, standing over me, but all I saw was that familiar bubble covered in stars quickly approaching me and swallowing my field of view.

Then, darkness again.