Chapter 37

Part 1

(What now?) Was my only thought. Staring down that dust and asbestos caked warlock; furious, with a monstrously sized familiar spreading out from his mage’s robe, I assessed the situation. Fingertips severed on my right hand, thighs riddled with lacerations, still ailing from the Pukwudgie’s toxins; worst of all, my left forearm held together with some sticks and fabric. (Can the Mack Attack team make a run for it if I charge him? Can I charge him? My legs and hips feel so weak right now.) Mana roared throughout my body, coursing toward those injuries! Healing was its main objective; keeping me alive, that was what the seed of Yggdrasil wanted. (That roar – the mana canon…can I do it? Do I want to do it? Would I survive? Would Bryn survive? Does it matter?! Should I just kill him?!) Weakness in my posture must’ve given away how unnerved I was.

“Beneath the collar. He is protecting something.” In that deep monotone, the familiar spoke. “The seed is in his neck, Bryn.” My already sick stomach dropped when Gossamer called out my neck as their target. With the seed juicing me up, my body felt like armor; I could withstand things other men would die from! But that scar, it was sensitive, maybe more an obvious weak spot than a deer’s head to a hunter.

“Are you prepared to die, Fate?” Snide, weaselly little jerk. Bryn sneered, knowing I was weakened. Regardless, I knew he was too. The man, roughly my age, was hunched over, wheezing between declarations of dominance. Every kick and throw I’d delivered; they’d taken their toll. The warlock before me was also ailing!

“…Last chance for you too, Bryn. Leave. Next kick is going to break you in half.” I couldn’t hold back; I wasn’t afforded the leisure. We were both down to our last legs, maybe one or two more bursts of energy left in the tank. If I could survive long enough for the seed to heal me, I could do more; however, there was no such thing as promised time. “No give, huh? Suit yourself.” I stepped forward, nerves surging with fire and sparking with electricity!

“Waterspout, penetrate!” There it was, the spell…but nothing came. In fact, only the sound of water flooding a hose resounded. Mana poured out from his body, swirling through the outstretched arms of his familiar. Suddenly, the flat orange arms were engorged, sloshing with liquid like over inflated water balloons!

(What the hell?!) It suddenly made more sense to me. Every hit which sounded like smacking a rubbery sack of water, it was because those arms were wrapped around Bryn inside of his mage’s robe! (If I can land a hit while those are outside, even the mage’s robe shouldn’t be able to protect him that much!) An idea! A chance! It was all I needed; I’d found a route to victory!

“Internal squall…” Another spell! I needed to disrupt it! Mana outlined a soccer ball sized translucent orb of purple energy in the warlock’s hand. Moisture in the air grew, as his spell was permeated with condensation. “Usurp the body, raid the skin, surpass the flesh…” My attempted approach was halted immediately. Chrome nozzles on each of Gossamer’s four palms blasted the ground with beams of water! I barely avoided them with a backflip, which saw to my downfall at that crucial moment. “And pierce the soul!” Bryn jammed all ten fingers into the water ball! With only one working arm; I threw up my guard, unsure of what was coming next! Nothing came from ahead, but my skin crawled. Creeping across my body hair, moving atop my jacket sleeves, water gathered and slinked. The liquids corralled into slug sized beads; then all at once, ran me through with piercing blasts! Water spiraled into my chest, arms, shoulders, across my forehead, and legs! I was stunned; a near countless amount of water spikes drilled into my body all at once!

“He was drier than you thought, Bryn.” Bryn’s familiar declared.

“I realize that, Gossamer! Stop telling me things I’ve already realized!” The exasperated warlock yelled into his own hood, angry with Gossamer. “And he stopped bleeding? Could have only been the seed’s doing. It doesn’t matter. Again…” Bryn raised his hand, refilling the orb! Down to one knee, my body shuddered with frayed muscles and shot nerves. If I didn’t get up and attack, I was going to die!

A shot rang out! “BB, what the fuck?!” I looked back; Mack Attack’s cameraman held up a pistol, barrel smoking! Then, I turned back to Bryn, and he was down!

“Agh! Ow!” Bryn wailed, clutching his chest and writhing on the ground! “You…damned humans! H-How dare you!” Petulantly kicking his hands and feet in the dirt like a child, Bryn threw tantrum while screeching a nasally whine! “I’m tired of this! I never wanted to even interact with these gross humans! Why?! Why was my name erased from the barrier’s calculations?! Everything is her fault! That filthy wretch!” His familiar – Gossamer, pulled its blubbering master up off the ground, and plucked that hot bullet casing from his robe.

“Bryn…” The familiar began. “You are here now. Only a little further. Remember, Master Caelan will be pleased. Proud, even.”

Simpering turned to deep, angry breaths. “Shut up Gossamer, I know!” Through puffy, red, dinner plate shaped eyes, the warlock stared daggers at the Mack Attack crew. “I’ll exsanguinate you all, then use your blood to drown Anesha Kyteler!”

(Gotta’ do something!) The second my muscles twitched, Gossamer’s eyes lasered in on me! His gaze was drawn to me in seemingly automatic fashion, totally unconscious! (Shit!) Throwing up my guard did little aside from reminding me of my own injuries. Every tear, fissure, break, and open wound across my body exploded when Gossamer swatted me! The hit wasn’t damaging really, just rubbery force bouncing me aside! Righting myself, I halted just short of colliding with Jordie’s group!

“Drown them, Gossamer!” Those four marigold colored hands, wider than stop signs, linked together! The thin and wide fingers spread out, resembling a flower head atop bloated stems, all twisted into interweaving fat vines.

All I could muster was standing on shaky legs. (I can feel the seed trying to heal me. How much longer do I have?) Mana roared through my veins, but strength normally associated with the transformation was petering out! No pain was unbearable; except those bones scraping along the inside of my broken forearm, itching to breach skin once more. The seed was working overtime on healing it. “Stay behind me, guys.” Surviving alone, with others getting involved, was unacceptable!

Steadying those shaking legs, feet dug firmly into the ground, I prepared. A deluge of water cascaded forth from Gossamer’s interlocked hands! Heavier than a charging bus, I intercepted that stream of water with my one working hand! It blistered the palm, gushing between my wounded fingers. Every piece of my clothing, skin, and ground below became thoroughly soaked immediately; damper than the marsh a weather snail would sleep in! My shoulder and back were giving way! One hand wouldn’t last long against such great force; I’d failed before, and that was with two! Fighting to stay upright, that eerily familiar pressure built along my right forearm. My mind raced, and despair swallowed up any hope. Unintendedly, my left hand moved to meet the right through excruciating pain, battling to keep it in place!

(Just hold it. Just hold it! Please!) I squeezed my grip, trying desperately to keep my fingers from snapping backwards! The tips bled again, pressurized water scraping flesh away, blasting off the fingernails! The end felt near, then all at once it stopped. Everything froze, and I mean froze!

Part 2

What was I to do? Once more, bound; mouth sealed, hands tied, neck collared. Some would call the situation dire. Undeniable danger stared me down; lo’, I was ever so excited. Chains reeled me in slowly. Killian chuckled with eyes full of lust, and more so, condescending disdain; that was not exciting.

“Allow me to regale you, Anesha.” The self-absorbed warlock spoke. “Within the time I was tasked with your retrieval, I happened upon a woman – a human woman. Oh, how feisty she was! The fires within her eyes took quite some time to subside. Having her back broken, fingers clipped, shoulders dislocated, hips snapped, and face beaten, all did little to defeat her fiery spirit! Not until I had captured her son did that changed.” Detestable. “The boy ran, but did not make it very far. Gossamer, Bryn’s familiar, found the boy, crying and sweating like the little human monkey he was.” Killian approached, running those pristine white gloves along the silvery chains with shameless anticipation building within his pants. Revolting.

Reeled in by the monstrous leather tulip’s pull, my platforms failed to keep traction upon the gravel laden ground. (Hmm? My foot, what did it touch?) An escape route had been revealed! I quickly turned, afforded only miniscule slack, dropping to all fours; my hand grasped that which I needed from the dirt! (This may work. It shall be close, yet I believe in myself when it comes to timing.)

“Ah, yes, yes! She also took such a position!” Killian stepped forward, dropping down to eye level. “Like a dog in heat.” He leered. “Allow me to finish my story.” Bile filled the back of my throat hearing such disgusting treatment of a person; truly sickening. Given the chance, I would have plucked his tongue from that swill pit of a mouth. …Somewhere though, I sensed an eye of irony lay upon me. “Her son, her husband, the only things keeping her tethered to this world; I broke them. Broke them in front of her! Witnessing light fade from one’s eyes, what pleasure! When her body could no longer move, and her soul no longer flickered, I ended her, and created that!” The leather tulip. “Behold, Anesha. You shall feel such pains soon enough. And fret not, for those you love shall be joining you, should I have anything to say about it.”

The familiar bucked, dislodging me from the ground and through the air toward its chasmal maw! A second, maybe less, was all I was afforded – all I needed! Flipping about, I righted myself to bring boot soles to the monster’s mouth. Slack came to my wrists, just enough – hardly, but just enough! I plucked a trinket, and without a need to chant, enlarged the weapon by filling it with mana! The gigantic heater shield was surfed into the fiend’s mouth, clogging it whole!

“What?! But, how?!” Killian’s astonishment would soon be doubled!

Further looseness of the chains granted me enough room to slip a finger under my mouth wrapping. I pulled the gag free, and using my other hand stuffed the familiar's throat with what would spell its demise! “Grow, break through the soil which you call home, sprout forth!” From a few simple twigs and dirt, a cluster of branches sprouted larger than even Arnold’s old rickety vehicle! The wood splintered and pierced the inside of the bondage flower, puncturing its leather exterior and revealing a mana crystal within its belly! (Be at ease, and rest with your family.) Fingers clasped; I ended the sad creature. “Ignite!” The explosive spell rocked me, even whilst bracing my shield! Everything from the tulip’s back had been destroyed, obliterated by my spell and freeing the spirit from its encasing!

“You…”

“Yes, I!” Any further filling of the air with his disgusting pomposity; I could not stomach it! “I, Anesha Kyteler, speak this to you, Killian Dufort. Today, you shall meet your end. Your sadistic lusts die with you, left as nothing more than a memory echoed on by those who speak your name with disgust!” Again, the eye of irony lay upon my back. “One should enjoy both sides of such things, and both sides should equally enjoy such activities!” Those eyes need find another, for there was nary an ounce of hypocrisy within me! (Oh! I spoke deeper than I wished, yet easily understood myself better than even I knew.)

“What is it you prattle on about, wretch?” I climbed free of that formerly existing familiar’s maw. The collar and cuffs fashioned to my wrists had yet to vanish, though it mattered not. Soon, Killian would be dead. “Break her! Break her down and bring her before me!” With a crack of the whip, his two remaining manifestations gave chase!

(Enough! This shall end it!) I aimed to conserve as much mana as possible; thus two or maybe three spells. That would be all I needed! “Rebuke!” In tune with the raising of two fingers, my firmament barrier expanded outward, intercepting their attacks! “Bear witness to the reason all those greedy old bastards wished to acquire my barriers!” As if flipping through pages in a book, I spun the whole of my barrier! The globe of mana rotated at a great speed, knocking one familiar’s spiked heel into the other and disrupting it! An opportunity before it recovered, which I seized! “Raze, earth beneath my feet!” The ground was scorched beneath my boot, and whilst sliding it back, readying myself; I thought a small prayer for the familiars! (May you find peace as well.)

Throwing a kick skyward, my fire clad foot shot far past my head, connecting with the familiar’s bulbous chin; a ferocious Rising Fang! There was more to come! From that sublime 90-degree angle, an ax kick, dropping the heel onto the manifestation’s rotund head, praying bite! It bounced off the ground! Like dancing across embers, my feet glided over charred pebbles and soil; burning with a serpent like coil! Finally, to seal the deal, I hopped, chambered my legs, and unleashed a searing back kick right into the spirit’s encasing – the mana crystal!

(Infernal Serpent combination! Master, how proud you would be.) I was proud! Before, I had never hit such a combination of complicated maneuvers in perfect succession! I wondered, would they be proud…those who trained alongside me? Those who learned with me? Those who, at one point, cared for me?

Body shattered and flaking into nothing but particles of mana, one familiar faded away as the other attacked! “Bind!” Killian also. Ribbons shot from the front, that familiar attacked from the side; I was prepared for both! A cartwheel away, and I dove toward my saber; blade still tangled within ribbons where I left it. I pulled the weapon, knowing that warlock, haughty as he was, would try to ensnare me once more. More reams of light aiming for me! “Bind! Bind! Bind!” Unnerved. From the still standing walls and ground, those bands of light sprung forth! Skipping across the stone wall tops, I pursued Killian! The fear in his eyes showed there was nothing left; he was hopeless. Before I could reach him, blade above my head, that last familiar stepped into the path!

Again, as planned. My blade cleaved into the leather-bound body, exposing the mana crystal within its chest! Spell readied, hand deep inside of the creature’s amethyst-colored innards, I aimed for the encasing! “Ignite!” I snapped, obliterating the whole of its upper body! My hand tingled, blasted back by the explosion. Foolishness again; pain would serve as a reminder to not be so cocksure.

“Bi-no! Ig-ignite!” Once an enemy is unnerved, their will to fight shall fade. Ground crumbling, foresight waning, they retreat into the most primitive of instincts, survival. I was already within centimeters of Killian, yet he launched that spell.

“Rebuke!” Before the flickering spark could burst, it met my barrier. The explosion threw Killian back and into one of his own stone walls! My barrier surrounded me with divine protection; a comfort so inseparable from my life, often I would struggle to remember when I first discovered the ability.

I altered the calculations in my head for one specific reason. As I fell toward Killian, the barrier moved along with me. “Wha-what? Wait, stop!” He screamed as the orb of mana and spatial control compressed him against that wall! The warlock’s face, chest, and legs were sandwiched between my spell and the earth, leaving him to squirm feebly. “A-Anesha! M-Mercy! Mercy!” He begged.

I floated in the barrier’s center; gravity and physics repelled by my magic, then spoke to Killian. “Do you know why those old bastards so coveted me and my firmament barrier? It is because the calculations are considered unparseable by any signal being. No one has ever, alone, accomplished constructing one. Yet I, not only can create one, I can alter its calculations! The size, properties, what may pass through and what does not; I have control that even the barrier over Graewood lacks! Such an incredible ability, lo’ I cannot escape greedy eyes of those who hunger for control and power.”

“P-please…mercy!” A tear was mustered. Despite knowing better, I posed a question.

“…You have shown people mercy in their lives?”

“…” He thought. “Y-yes! Before! Yes!” A lie, so obvious. Killian had never wrung even the tiniest droplet of mercy from his dried, callous heart.

“Those familiars…they were wayward women thrown before you, gifted to you by your father. That woman, you made her suffer, physically, mentally, emotionally, all for only your pleasure – and yours alone. At any point, did they beg you for mercy?”

“…”

“You boasted about it, proud. I saw nary a hint of mercy in your eyes when you aimed to drag me into your twisted and selfish wants.”

“An-Anesha, please!”

“I shall grant you a mercy; that being, sending you off to the afterlife. How your spirit is dealt with in thereafter is of no concern to me, lo’, for those who have suffered under you, recompense must be paid.”

“Anesha!” He wailed, the last words of his life.

I expanded the barrier, compressing him to the earth. Mage’s robes were developed to resist impact and piercing force, the faster, the better our attire functioned. Slow, deliberate and persistent pressures were hard for the enchanted fibers and stitches to defend against. At one point, they were all made to protect the wearers from other magic, then beasts, and finally, the guns of man. Magekin feared one thing more than any beast or illness, humans. Creatures so dangerous they could destroy the world, and were stupid enough to do so.

The slow expansion continued, flattening Killian. His bones cracked, organs ruptured, and screams were hushed. Stitching in his mage’s robes blared purple, but it was far too late! With his pale skin reddening to match the exploding blood vessels in his eyes, one final muffled slur was uttered. Killian’s skull was cracked and crushed like a melon, into a smattering of brain matter, bones, and viscera.

Part 3

At my formerly bloody fingertips, what was once a geyser of water had frozen into a splintering iceberg! I stood, almost happy that my right hand was encased in the wall of ice, as it gave me a crutch. (What…? What happened?) Gossamer’s stream of water had been totally frozen. The iceberg was larger than a train monster’s possessed mangled face, meaning we were hidden from sight! “Jordie.” A raspy whisper. The fluffy haired man snuck following my call.

“Yeah, bro. You okay? Also, what is that smell?” Mana was pouring out of me. He probably didn’t catch a whiff before, but I didn’t have time to explain.

“Worry about it later. You guys aren’t wet from his water blasts, right?” I looked them up and down, seeing that Bobbie Mack, was, in fact, soaked. I sighed, seeing an easy out to the situation disappear. (If Bryn uses that ‘Internal squall’ spell again, he could use it to kill Bobbie.) Then it hit, Bryn hadn’t attacked again, or made a move.

“Dammit! Dammit, Gossamer, this is all your fault!” A frantic and worried whisper yell reached my powerful ears. “I can’t move! It’s your fault! Fix it!”

“I cannot. I am not ambulatory.” Something was happening between Bryn and his familiar. I wanted to sneak a peek, but the wall of ice combined with my hand being firmly rooted in place, left me little room to move.

“…Jordie…pull me free.” I didn’t want to let another chance slip between my frozen fingers! The surprisingly eager blond man wrapped his arms around my waist, and with a big tug, freed me!

“Bryn. They’ve moved.” Gossamer called! Again, we were completely obscured, yet the bizarre familiar could read our movements!

“A-Are they still moving?! Wh-where are they?!”

“Ahead. They’re down. Unmoving. They’ve dried. Less wet. Wet them.”

“Wet…oh. Oh!” Everything was finally making sense! My clothes and body were totally soaked, and the second I made a move, Gossamer’s eyes snapped to me! (He’s wired to follow wet things! Weird…and a bit telling.)

“F-Fate…bro…can you move?” Jordie successfully tugged me free of the icy wall. We unintentionally were thrown back onto the ground together and I landed on him back first!

“Sorry! Are you okay?!” I quickly got up and offered a hand to him, the working one.

“N-nah dude…ge-get that thing away…” All the luster had left his face instantly, replaced with a sickly green hue.

It was unlike any time people had gotten intoxicated on the seed’s mana. “Are you…” Those talons, petrified white tree bark were once again sprouting from my fingers. “Right…these. Why do they feel so cold?” In the summer humidity, cold vapor wafted down from my right hand and down across the ground. Waving the hand in front of my face, an otherworldly, frigid aura permeated it.

“Guh…bro…p-put your hand down…” Glimpsing Jordie through my fingers, the man was growing weaker with every wave of those talons!

“Sorry! Shit!”

“Gossamer! How much longer?! Hurry up!” The enemy! I was tempted to peer around the side of the ice wall, but another plan had popped into my head.

(I have no visual. No idea of my enemies’ conditions. Zero grasp of if I’ve seen all their tricks, and worse, still am pretty fucked up.) Last chance. “Last chance.” It was my last chance! With a deep breath, I went for it! I drew out as much mana as I could, heated my whole body up, and ripped off my coat and shirt!

“Uh…?” No time to explain to Jordie or the crew my plan!

I balled up my clothes, tossed them to the left, and I bolted right! Giving my discarded apparel the lead, I allowed them to pass the ice wall before me! “Right. Now, Bryn!” Bait taken!

“Waterspout, penetrate!” Spell noted! Seeing my coat, the one I’d spent time reinforcing, ran through with a blast of water was disheartening, but it was just that; a single blast of water! It blew a single hole through the back! When I finally laid eyes on Bryn and Gossamer, I understood exactly what all that yammering was about. Those thick, rubbery, orange arms, engorged with tons of water had been frozen solid! Along with everything touched by those accursed talons, Bryn’s familiar had been frost-bitten. Four massive icebergs were trapping the Magekin. My chance! It was my only chance! My last chance! I dashed, reeling back… “What?! N-No! Wait!” With every ounce of strength left… “C-Cloa—” Blasted them with my strongest inside crescent kick!

My leg connected with the solid, ice filled, orange arms and shattered them! Pain surged up my shin, but it didn’t matter. The strike traveled through Gossamer’s big, frozen stalks, through Bryn’s mage’s robe, into his body, and out into the world! Tree leaves across the forest blew back as if a bomb had detonated, and music emanating from whispering hills was eclipsed by the boom! At last, I watched Bryn’s whole body, his familiar, and my fears launch away! That warlock’s body was rag-dolled into the moonlit night sky, disappearing into blackness like a shooting star. “…Heh…” Yeah. That really was the last of my energy. I dropped to my knees, then collapsed flat back onto the ground. Exhausted couldn’t possibly describe that feeling; and neither could relieved.

Part 4

“Agh…” Pained gasps for air, which I followed. “F-Fuck…it…all!” Such a whiny tone, only Bryn could wail in such a manner without the slightest ounce of self-respect. “G-Gossamer! Don’t you…dare…disintegrate! Reform…reform now!” It seemed applause were in order for Fate. The state I found that pompous bootlicker in would have made aristocrats of Graewood hang their heads in shame. Crawling through mud, hobbled from the legs down; familiar nothing more than a barely existing few fragments of mana, encasing obliterated; Bryn was ended.

“…” A thought occupied my mind as I silently pondered and observed. My boots squishing though the soft dirt, altering Bryn. “Bryn Wooton.”

“A…” The warlock could not manage a simple glance. Even from behind, furious trembles along Bryn’s weak shoulders spoke volumes about the man’s distress!

“You have surmised why I stand here before…well, behind you, yes?” After claiming victory, I wasted nary a second of time in removing any bindings from my neck nor wrists, not even cleaning away the dirt. He would miss the opportunity to witness my tattered appearance; lo’, Bryn, however deplorable, would not derive pleasure in such a thing. He followed Killian, yet was unlike him.

“Killian is…?”

“Yes. Killian is dead. By my hands.”

“Mercy! I beg you for mercy! Spare me! Please! I beg! Please!” Begging incessantly, over and over! I had almost used my saber to sever his head there simply to spare my own ears!

“Enough!” He fell silent. The last pieces of his familiar faded, and with it, the encasement freed its spirit. “…In my name, I ask thee, oh lord in heaven; accept this wandering soul. Take them into your kingdom; weak, feeble, blind, and yet; I pray for their safe passage.” As the familiar’s spirit faded, a smile was cast. Like that, Bryn’s familiar left the mortal plain one last time.

“Do…you plan to kill me too?”

He asked…and something compelled me to try another method. “…Bryn, if I were to show you mercy here, then what would you make of it? You cannot return home. Your family would likely be exiled for such a failure. You may even be killed by other aristocrats.” The realization struck him; I was not one to lie. “Lo’, should you stay here, that will not be the case. Simply live amongst the humans, draw no eyes of the Graewood aristocracy, and relinquish any hopes of joining Caelan’s coven. Live as a human.”

“You…you intend to take everything thing from me?! Everything?!” Slamming his fist into the dirt and throwing a strop, a man of no decorum nor self-control. Yet, when one’s whole world comes crumbling down around them, why must they conduct themselves with any level of respect? “All for what? What is it that you want?! Why?! Why do this to your own people?!”

“It is because I will exist…” As a goddess. That would not have been a lie. Lo’ was it something I wanted? It was something I was tasked with. Revenge and resentment given form; that was who I was. “I will exist to complete my mission.”

“You…it is because of your human blood. You are a wretch! A filthy wretch!” That slur again. “The minute I laid eyes on you, I-I understood.” Without the use of his legs, the crippled Magekin pushed his back against a nearby tree, and sat looking more defeated than imaginable. Mud, mold, and a hip bone piercing the side of his white pants, stained with blood running down the leg; Bryn was no threat. His mage’s robe could draw no more mana, and his broom was nowhere in sight. There was nothing left for Bryn Wooton. “Your blood is not all that is poisoned; it is your mind!” He spat. “Your father, a disgusting and weak man! Your mother…a filthy and despicable traitor!” I could feel it across my body, rage. The leather of my saber bit back against my tightening grip. “But no…worse were those filthy friends. One cripple, and the other, inferior! All led by a challenged, incompetent witch! One who ruined everything! The cause of endless bloodshed! Ruined my life! Ruined master’s—” I had long since tired of Bryn’s sniveling and crying.

He would never finish that sentence, nor speak a word again. From left to right, jaw to jaw, my blade cleaved through flesh and bone; the impertinent warlock’s beloved mouth had brought about his undoing. His cranium slid and plopped off of the mandible, leaving substantial cleanup for another time. Bryn’s spirit would stew in those words which had lost him a chance at mercy, as I turned and continued of my trip towards Fate.

End of chapter 37