It feels a tad ironic, really...not only did I catch many small mistakes, like a misspelling here or there, but this chapter mimics my life of late. That's unintentional, I assure you...it's ironic because even though I was writing about anger being a catalyst towards your own destruction, I couldn't see my own anger at the real world starting to fester...and I hurt someone dear to me. Though my friend has forgiven me, like Nerise, the hardest part is forgiving myself. And never forgetting. Anyway, enough gloom and doom. Let me introduce you to the Void Dragon.
Chapter
16: Nazon
Nerise's body slumped and her eyes began to roll into the
back of her head as ice wrapped itself around Baran's whip. With one quick movement, Aeon tore the frozen
whip from Nerise's neck and scooped up the little girl into his arms.
As Aeon backed away from Baran, the water holding the
tiny blue scaled apocra that Nerise had pulled out of the nal-vey poacher
dissipated and it flopped onto the muddy ground. At the same time, the pool of quicksand that
Baran was trapped in leveled out and the ground returned to normal. The mummies who had been gnawing at Baran's
legs seemed to disappear with the sand and he fell face first into the mud.
Mina felt her legs begin to move and noticed Daryl,
Celine, and the others following after her.
Aeon put some distance between himself and Baran before pressing his
hand to Nerise's neck. White light,
brighter than the sun at midday, flared to life in his hands, but it didn't
seem to do any good. The little girl
remained limp and lifeless in his arms.
"Nerise!" Mina called out. She and the others skidded to a stop next to
Aeon and she pressed her fingers to Nerise's wrist. A few seconds passed and Mina's eyes
widened. The little girl's hand fell
from her own and she mutely turned to Daryl and Celine. The tan skinned girl's hands were balled into
fists while Daryl held her hands over her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes.
"No...NO!" Daryl cried, pushing past Mina. Her hands flared with white light and she
laid them upon the ugly black bruise on Nerise's neck. "This...this doesn't make sense!"
Daryl panted, her tears intermingling with the rain which beat down on
them. "It's like...my holy magic is
being repulsed! Even if she's...even if
that happens, I should still be able to repair the wound!"
"Neri..." Weiss whispered, reaching down and
touching one of his large black talons to her chest.
"Weiss, don't!" Vincent yelled, grabbing Daryl
and pulling her off of Nerise.
Dark clouds began to billow forth from Nerise's eyes and
mouth, engulfing her body in pitch blackness.
From where she stood, Mina saw the flames in Aeon's eye sockets flare up
right before Vincent and Granny pulled her aside. No sooner had they dragged her away from the
little girl than black light exploded out of Nerise's body from all sides. Weiss and Aeon were thrown backwards. Weiss landed on his feet, but quickly dropped
to one knee. Cracks spread through the
left half of his body, as if it were made of glass. Aeon managed to right himself in midair and
drifted down to the ground, but the front of his skeletal body had melted away,
revealing his blue skinned human form underneath.
Even with no one to support her, Nerise hung in midair,
surrounded by the cloud of darkness which rose from her body.
"Wh-what's going on?!" Daryl stammered, eyes
wide at the sight.
"That light..." Celine whispered, pointing to
dead grass around the area where the black light had touched. "It sapped the life out of whatever it
touched!"
"We need to get you three out of here," Vincent
hissed. "Even if it's not a full
awakening, she's losing control of her power!"
"What do you mean?!" Mina tugged on Vincent's
cloak. "Is Nerise alright?!"
"She'll live...Neri can usually shrug off those
kinds of blows," Granny grunted, putting herself in front of Vincent and
the girls. "But she's been
careless. She's let her anger rouse the
Dragon..."
"Hahahaha!" Weiss tilted his head back and let
out a manic laugh. "She's
alive!" Stumbling to his feet, the
gigantic, spiky, black silhouette ambled over to Nerise. Reaching out his hand, Weiss held it just
above Nerise's head and the darkness that surrounded her began to flow into the
Nihilon's hand. Weiss's eyes narrowed
until they appeared to vanish and the cracks in his body mended themselves. Once Weiss had pulled in the black cloud,
Nerise's body dropped out of the air and landed on the wet, muddy grass with an
audible squelch.
Pulling away from Vincent and Granny, Mina ran over to
Nerise's side and grabbed her hand.
"...no pulse," she mumbled, hanging her head. "Weiss, she...she's not-"
"No," Weiss kept his voice level as he opened
his emerald eyes. "She is alive. I can feel him writhing within her. And so long as he lives, she lives too."
"I...I don't understand," Mina stammered. Her eyes turned to Nerise's face. The little girl's hair was wet from the rain
and now covered with mud. The shocked
expression that had adorned her face when Baran snapped her neck had given way to
something more peaceful, as if she were sleeping. However, her eyes were still open and rolled
into the back of her head.
A hand like a steel vice grabbed Mina's arm and pulled
her up and away from Nerise. Turning her
head, Mina found herself staring straight into Vincent's eyes. "You need to stay away from her!" Vincent
grunted, his face a mask of calm displeasure.
"Stay with me and Granny until we know things are safe," he
added, dragging Mina through the mud and back over to Daryl and Celine.
"What are you doing?!" Celine yelled, running
over to Vincent and prying his hand off Mina's arm. "Nerise is..." she stopped for a
moment and swallowed hard before continuing, "Hurt, but you won't let us
help her! What haven't you told
us?"
Behind them, there was a squelch and all eyes fell on
Nerise, who had sat up without any help.
A feral shriek, like that of a wounded apocra, broke free from her
throat. It was so loud that Mina and the
others had to clap their hands over their ears.
When the scream finally died down, her face twisted into an unsettlingly
large smile and her eyes rolled back into the front of her head. They had grown large and looked almost as if
they might pop out of her skull.
"That was...interesting..." Nerise murmured,
slowly rising to her feet without ever losing her smile. Her voice sounded as if two people were
speaking at once. The first belonged to
Nerise if she were a bit stressed or exhausted but still trying to be chipper,
while the second was lower, more gravelly, and sounded distinctly male.
"Everyone, stay back!" Aeon called.
"Granny, I don't know if Neri's the one in control," the lich
panted, as bone and cloth started to reform around his frostbitten blue
skin. "Until we know what to
expect-"
"I understand!" Granny called. The stitches on Granny's left arm split open
and a monstrous black talon burst free. With
one quick sweep of her arm, she dragged Vincent, Celine, and Mina over to her
side, where Daryl was watching in wide eyed horror. The purple haired girl began to edge away
from Granny and almost broke into a run, but Vincent grabbed her and held her
still as Granny reached her glassy black arm over the five of them.
"Let me go!" Daryl screamed, thrashing about in
Vincent's arms while Mina and Celine stared at Nerise, dumbfounded.
"Stop squirming, dammit!" Vincent snorted,
trying to keep hold of Daryl without hurting her. "It's okay to be scared, but remember
who your friends are! We're not going to
hurt you!"
"But Nerise...and...she..." Daryl stammered,
her eyes darting from Nerise's unearthly smile to the black talon that
protruded from Granny's stitched together skin.
"You'll thank me for this later, dearie,"
Granny murmured. Translucent black light
spilled out of her talon like water and formed a bubble around the five of
them. "When she's like this, Nerise
can't always tell friend from foe."
"She didn't have a pulse..." Mina panted,
putting her hand over her throbbing heart.
"How..."
"Just what is she?" Celine mused aloud.
"And what are you?!" Daryl squeaked, still held
tightly in Vincent's arms.
Neither Vincent nor Granny answered. Their eyes were fixed on Nerise, who had
begun to trudge towards Baran. Aeon had
fully healed himself, but he and Weiss kept their distance from the black
haired little girl.
"I gotchu!"
Across the field, Baran stumbled to his feet with the tiny blue scaled
apocra that Nerise had dropped clutched in his right hand. He pressed it to his stomach and absorbed it
into his body. Blue scales shot down
Baran's arms, covering them completely, and the nasty black bruises from where
the mummies had bitten him began to recede.
He dropped to one knee and tried to catch his breath. As he panted, Nerise appeared in front of
him, almost like a ghost.
Slowly and deliberately, Nerise grabbed Baran's graying
hair and plucked out one long strand.
The nal-vey poacher swung at her with his scaled fist but Nerise leapt
backwards, landing on her feet with the same frozen smile. Holding out her left hand, she dropped
Baran's hair into it. However, the hair
froze in midair and a sphere of black light formed around it. The air around Nerise began to twist and
distort and the hair became malleable, like clay. Closing both of her hands around it, Nerise
seemed to bend, twist, and mold the tiny hair.
After a few seconds, the air settled and she pulled her hands apart to
reveal a cloth doll that looked almost exactly like Baran, right down to the
graying hair and blue scales on his arms.
Mina and the others watched with equal parts fascination
and horror as Nerise took the doll and viciously twisted it's left arm
backwards. When she did, Baran let out a
piteous scream as his left arm twisted in its socket, mimicking Nerise's doll
perfectly. For several minutes, Nerise
jerked the arm of the doll in odd directions, eliciting a slew of pained squeals
and yells from Baran, before she finally twisted the arm of the doll so much
that she wrenched it off. Daryl covered
her eyes and Mina put her hands over her mouth as Baran's arm broke off of his
body with an ear splitting crack and blood began to pour out of his mangled
stump.
"What in the Goetian hells..." Celine murmured.
"I-Is it over?" Daryl swallowed hard.
Unable to even speak, Mina struggled to keep herself from
vomiting. She glanced over at Vincent
for support, but found the teythen equally shocked. His crimson eyes were wide and his mouth was
twisted into a manic scowl. "This
is very bad," he mumbled to no one in particular.
Unaware of her spectators, Nerise began to poke and prod
the doll, making Baran's body jerk about as if he were being buffeted from all
sides. When she relented, Baran jumped
to his feet and turned to run away, but Nerise grabbed one of the doll's legs
and bent it forward. Baran's leg copied
her movement exactly, followed by a sickening crack.
"You can't run...I'm not done playing..."
Nerise said in her dual voices, while maintaining her smile. Twisting the leg off her doll, she let out a
tiny giggle as Baran collapsed on the ground, blood pouring out of his newly formed
stump. "What's the matter? Does it hurt?" she jeered him. "Not much fun when you're the one being
toyed with...is it?"
“AGH! GO-GODDESS!!!
N-No…more!” Baran squealed, tears pouring down his purple face. “It hurts…IT HURTS!!!”
"Stop it,
Nerise!" Aeon yelled, still keeping
several feet of distance between them.
"Nazon is using your anger to crack his seal! Right now, your emotions are running wild,
but if you can control them-!"
"I am in
control, Aeon," Nerise's unsettling smile melted into a more natural one
and she wrenched off Baran's remaining limbs, as his screams rent the air. "See?
I know exactly what I'm doing."
"Please..."
Weiss called out, placing his hand on Nerise's shoulder. "I do not like you like this, Nerise." Without even turning to face Weiss, Nerise's
body flashed with black light and the Nihilon was pushed backwards, with
several deep cracks running through his hand.
"Weissy!"
Nerise said, her childlike voice winning out over the lower, more gravelly
voice. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean
t-" she stopped and her body began to contort. Nerise's arms moved as if they were being
manipulated by a puppeteer and grasped the doll's head.
"Oh
goddess, no!" Daryl yelped.
"P-please! I...I don't want to do this anymore!"
Nerise cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as her face twisted into a
horrified wail. "I never meant to
go this far! And the apocra's still
inside! Please, don't make me-"
before she could finish her sentence, her hands moved and the doll's head
twisted off.
Vincent held
out his cloak to either side of him and jumped in front of Mina and the others,
his eyes scrunched shut and his face awash with anguish. Even without being able to see him, the sound
of Baran's flesh squelching and his bones snapping seemed louder than any
amount of thunder or rain.
"I need to
get you three inside," Vincent grunted, lowering his cloak and raising his
hand. The three girls started to float
into the air.
"B-But...Nerise..."
Daryl let out a half hearted protest, her eyes fixed on Nerise's tear streaked
face.
"Leave
her to us!" Vincent snapped, "Trust me, the worst is yet to
come. Take shelter with Ceresa while
we-"
Before he
could finish, a sob, choked with tears, burst out of Nerise's throat, then stopped
abruptly. Glancing past Vincent's
shoulder, Mina saw Nerise standing perfectly still. Though her face was streaked with tears, she
seemed to be completely calm. However,
the air around her seemed to ripple and flash with black light.
"Her eyes
have turned black," Celine whispered.
Squinting her own eyes, Mina managed to make out that Nerise's sclera
had turned completely black and the rest of her eye had clouded over.
Without saying
a word, Nerise crossed her arms over her chest and gritted her teeth. A pair of gigantic wings made entirely of
bone burst out of Nerise's back and flapped about experimentally, flattening
the dying grass of the field. Weiss
tried to get close to Nerise, but with a lazy flick of her wing, she smacked
him backwards, towards Vincent and the girls.
"Dammit!"
Vincent dropped the three girls and raised his hands, but Granny had already
moved in front of him.
The stitches
on her skin burst open and a long, glassy black creature with faceted orange eyes,
countless segmented legs, and two large black talons at the front of it rose
out of Granny's body. The creature shot
out of the black bubble surrounding Vincent and the girls, wrapped itself
around Weiss as he fell, and gingerly laid him down on the ground next to the
translucent dome. "He's
awake," the creature whispered in Granny's voice, it's faceted eyes
focusing squarely on Nerise.
Extending her
wings, Nerise squatted down before leaping several dozen feet into the
air. The skeletal wings sprouted
membranes of black light and began to flap furiously, propelling her away from
Aeon and the others.
"Vincent,
he's trying and escape!" Aeon shouted, clasping his hands together as his
body began to glow with light from every color of the rainbow. "Stop him!"
Vincent
glanced over at Nerise before turning his gaze to Mina, Celine, and Daryl. Next to them, the creature that had burst out
of Granny's body was exhaling a thick black mist from its mouth that seemed to
surround them. "Why do you hesitate?"
it hissed, "This is what we've planned for. Right now, nothing is more important than
saving Nerise. Nothing!"
"Saving
Nerise?" Daryl repeated the creature's words. "Vincent, what's going on here?! What happened to Nerise?! Why does she look like that?!"
Rather than
answering her, Vincent let out a sigh and shot into the air. Though Nerise was moving very fast, despite
how haggard her wings looked, Vincent managed to catch up with her. Her wing whipped out to strike him, but
Vincent burst into a swarm of winged, rodent-like familiars to avoid being hit. The multitude of familiars streamed past
Nerise and partially reformed Vincent's upper torso. The teythen threw his hands out and the air
around him distorted just as Nerise was about to crash into him. The little girl hung in midair for a moment
before being catapulted backwards and slamming into the dirt, leaving a large
crater in her wake.
"Nerise!"
Mina cried, running towards the edge of the black bubble Granny had
formed. Before she could leave, however,
Weiss's cracked hand reached out and blocked her path.
"Stay
where you are!" Weiss grunted, narrowing his green eyes. "Right now, that is not Nerise. And if you three want to live through this, I
suggest you stay where Granny can protect you." The Nihilon nodded to the creature with the
faceted orange eyes before climbing to his feet, the cracks in his body slowly
mending as he did.
Turning her
eyes towards Aeon, Mina saw him flash with rainbow colored light briefly before
something whizzed past her. Whipping her
head around, she saw that an ornately decorated spear, glowing with ethereal
white light, had embedded itself in the muddy ground behind the black bubble
she and her friends were sheltered within.
"Look,"
Daryl murmured, turning her head from left to right. More spears had been embedded in the ground,
forming a large circle around all of them.
Once the
spears were in place, the black mist that the orange eyed creature had been expelling
began to swirl around the inside perimeter of the circle of spears. It twisted about, spiraling into the air and
boring its way into the ground simultaneously.
As the mist
drilled its way into the ground, Mina and her friends, felt it rumble
underneath them. The ground quaked and
the earth rose and fell in great waves, as if it were ocean water. One of these waves lifted the three girls up
and carried them out of the black bubble.
"W-woah!"
Celine grunted, grabbing Mina and Daryl's hands and pulling them close to
her. "Hold on!" she yelled as
they approached the wall of black mist.
Celine crashed into the sable wall, which appeared to be as hard and
solid as stone. Mina and Daryl fell
against Celine as she bounced off the wall.
"Ow!" Celine cried, rubbing her shoulder as the wave of earth
that had carried them away died down, dropping them back to ground level.
"Celi!"
Mina exclaimed, helping her injured friend back to her feet. "Are you alright?!"
"Y-yeah,
but-" Celine glanced behind her.
"The...the
mist is solid," Daryl mumbled, putting her hand against the wall of black smoke. "W-we're trapped!"
As she spoke,
the air all around them grew thick and heavy.
Mina gripped her chest and dropped to her knees, panting for
breath. Her friends did the same and
they all began to cough.
"C-Celi...Daryl..." Mina winced as her vision began to blur.
"The...bubble...!"
Celine snorted, grabbing Mina and Daryl's hands before feebly trying to pull
them towards the translucent black bubble.
After a few steps, she collapsed on the ground.
Mina closed
her eyes and suppressed a whimper. Her
lungs burned and she squeezed Daryl's and Celine's hands for reassurance. She felt her body grow lighter and the air
moved against her skin, as if something had lifted her up. After a few seconds, her breathing grew
easier. The air felt less heavy and
oppressive. Gratefully gulping in air,
Mina blinked her eyes and looked around.
She and her friends were back inside the translucent black bubble Granny
had made. Next to them, the long, glassy
black creature with the segmented legs and large talons had curled around
itself so that it could look down on the three girls.
"You all
right, dearies?" the creature murmured, still expelling black mist from
its mouth which swirled into the walls around them. Unable to speak, Mina mutely nodded, trying
to think with her blood pounding in her ears.
"That's a relief. Sorry, but
I can't move while doin this."
"D-Doing-?"
Mina croaked, only to feel a gust of cold air wash over her. Turning to her side, she saw Aeon floating
next to her, the green flames smoldering in his eye sockets. "A-Aeon?" she coughed, putting her
hand to her throat and breathing deeply.
"You saved us?
Aeon nodded.
"You
know...I'd love it if someone'd tell us just what in Shanadia's name is going
on around here!" Celine snorted, breathing hard and glaring at the lich.
A feral shriek
interrupted their exchange. A set of
bony black talons gripped the earth around the crater where Nerise had crashed
and something crawled out of it.
"N-Nerise?!"
Daryl squeaked from her spot on the ground.
The creature
that had crawled out of the crater had Nerise's body, but it had changed
drastically. A second set of bone wings
now protruded from her back and her hands had become black and decayed, with
long talons erupting out of her finger nails.
Her dark hair had twisted into three hideous curved horns, while two new
eyes had appeared above her regular eyes.
Her mouth opened to reveal a forked tongue and several layers of
serrated teeth.
Glancing
around her, Nerise saw the black mist coalescing into a dome overhead, however
there was one patch of sky that had yet to be covered. Shooting into the air, she headed straight
for the open sky. Vincent put himself
between her and the sky, however a wave of black light erupted from her mouth
and hit Vincent head on. The teythen dropped
out of the air, his body withered and desiccated. Just before she could escape, however, Weiss
grasped Nerise's leg and held her still, while the dome closed above her. With a quick flick of her bone wings, Nerise
managed to throw Weiss off and charged straight into the black dome just as it
finished closing. While Nerise dropped out
of the air, Weiss retrieved Vincent and retreated into the black bubble with
Aeon and the others.
"We've
got him trapped," Weiss murmured, carefully fishing around the inside of
Vincent's tunic before retrieving a large flask. "Now we just need to seal him up
again."
Vincent's
withered arm grasped the flask in Weiss's talons and pressed it to his
lips. Crimson fluid dribbled down his
chin as he drank thirstily of the flask, his body filling out and his muscles
restoring themselves as he did. When the
flask was empty, he let out a small belch and tossed it aside.
"I'm
sorry," Vincent bowed his head at Mina, Celine, and Daryl. "I tried to get you out but...if I'd let
Nerise go, we'd have lost her for good."
"Then...that
really is Nerise?" Celine swallowed hard as the malformed creature
stumbled to its feet.
"No,"
Weiss hissed. "That is not Nerise
any longer. It is Nazon now."
"N-N-Nazon?!"
Daryl exclaimed. "But I...we saw
his skull in Nerise's valley! How can he
be here?!"
"Nazon's
soul was sealed within Nerise, dearie," the orange eyed creature replied,
keeping its gaze fixed on Daryl, "His previous body crumbled when that
happened. What remained of his bones
were divided. Nerise took his skull and
used it to sustain her undead companions."
"Umm...you
are Granny, right?" Mina squinted her eyes at the creature.
The orange
eyed creature with the long segmented body nodded its head. "This is what I really look like, dearie. I'm a Nihilon, like Weiss."
"You are
not like me," Weiss coldly retorted, as Nerise fixed her gaze on the seven
of them within the bubble.
"Void
walkers!" A gravelly baritone voice echoed out of Nerise's mouth. "Do you truly delight in tormenting me
so?" the creature gingerly massaged its temples with its talons. "I am only trying to do my duty. The duty that was stolen from me when
Cheridan bound me to his service so many aeons ago. Why must you obstruct me?!"
"I
apologize, Void Dragon," Aeon bowed his head. "I did not want it to come to this. However please, try and understand. My daughter is precious to me. I cannot simply let you take her."
"I do
understand," the creature growled, "But that matters little to
me. All that concerns me is my duty. I am the steward of the Void. If I am to prevent restless souls and roving
specters from trying to return to this world, as those Nihilons have in my
absence..." Nazon pointed one of his talons at Weiss and Granny, "If
I am to prevent the Void from being abused by such beings as Zeroth or
Cheridan...if I am to ensure that this world's souls can not only die when their
time is come, but be reborn...then I must be free. What is one girl's life to the balance of an
entire world, Aeon?"
"Heh,"
Aeon let out a short, joyless chuckle, "You surprise me, Nazon. Last time we spoke face to face, you merely
tried to claw through me."
"I am not
cruel, Aeon. Nor am I a dull-witted
creature of destruction," the creature called Nazon plopped down on the
ground and crossed his legs. "I
fought you once before, but in the time since then, I have watched you, through
Nerise," he put his hand against his chest, "I know now that you are
not like the other liches who have imprisoned me. So, I am asking you, as one steward of
balance to another, to let me go."
Nazon's words
hung in the air for several minutes.
Mina and the others turned their eyes towards Aeon, who was staring
straight at Nazon, the green flames in his eye sockets swirling violently.
"I want
to return home, Aeon," Nazon sighed when Aeon refused to answer. "I miss my father, I miss Hanella...I
even miss Rudra. I want to look upon
them with my own eyes and return to the duty I was entrusted with since the
birth of this world."
"No,"
Aeon curtly interjected. "To free
you, I would have to abandon Nerise. And
that is something I shall never do."
"We
understand your feelings, Nazon," Vincent said, twisting his shoulder
around and getting to his feet.
"But she's one of us. She's
family."
"Apologies,
lord Nazon," Weiss bowed, "But we must seal you away again."
"Your ten
layered seal will not work on me this time, Aeon," Nazon's four eyes
narrowed at the lich. "I will not
give you time to form it. And with my
Void energy filling this space, you will not be able to use that power of
yours, like last time. Make no
mistake. I do not wish to kill any of
you or Nerise. But if that is what it
takes to fulfill my duty, I will not hesitate to cut you down."
Turning back
to Mina, Celine, and Daryl, Aeon said, "Stay in the bubble with Granny. Nazon's presence is flooding this place with
Void energy, so if you leave, your bodies will start to break down."
"Wait,
where are we?!" Daryl exclaimed.
"What was that wall of mist?
Why did you seal one of the four great Dragons inside Nerise? Aeon, what is going on here?!"
Without
answering her, Aeon turned to face Nazon, who had clambered back to his
feet. "We shall try and resolve
this battle quickly. So long as you do
not anger Nazon, he will not attack you.
If we fall, Granny and the Gollians will see you safely home. You have my word."
"But what
about you?!" Mina cried as Aeon, Vincent, and Weiss stepped outside the
bubble and threw themselves at Nazon.
Weiss's body
dissolved into a black slime that tried to engulf Nazon, but he raised a hand
and the air flickered with black light.
The Nihilon's body began to bubble and contort before exploding, leaving
Weiss splattered all over the ground.
Vincent threw out his hands and managed to push Nazon back a few steps,
but the creature inside Nerise reared back and spewed a huge cloud of black smoke
at the teythen. Vincent managed to dodge
out of the way, and the smoke washed over Mina and the others. Though it obscured their sight, it was unable
to penetrate the bubble surrounding them.
"Dammit!"
Daryl beat the dirt. "Why...why
does this keep happening to us?! First
Draconia and now..." she sniffled, blinking back tears.
"Face
it...you're jinxed, Mina," Celine managed a tiny grin and nudged her
friend.
"How can
you tell jokes at a time like this?!" Daryl snapped, wiping at her eyes.
"Call it
my defense mechanism," Celine shrugged and sat back on her haunches. "If I can laugh even a little it keeps
me from going crazy."
"Stupid..."
Daryl sniffled. "How can you not be
worried?!"
"Nerise..."
Mina whispered, holding her hand over her heart.
A sigh escaped
Celine's lips and she slumped in place.
"I know...but moping won't help the situation. We just have to wait and hope that she's
okay."
Mina nodded
before turning her eyes towards Granny, who was resting her armored head on her
two black talons, "Granny...will
Nerise be okay?"
"If we're
lucky, Nazon'll be put under seal again and Nerise'll be
alright...eventually," the creature's faceted orange eyes swirled about
for a moment. "It'll hurt her to
know what she almost did though."
"Of
course it will," Daryl said.
"Neri...Neri's not like other people."
"Speaking
of, you said before that Nazon was sealed within her," Celine muttered,
walking over to the edge of the bubble and carefully poked her finger in and
out of it. "What did you mean by
that?"
Granny raised
her segmented talons up and down in one fluid movement, which Mina assumed was
meant to be a shrug. "Just what it
sounds like. She's got him sealed within
her. Neri had a hard life before Aeon
found her. That life came back to haunt
her eventually and she...died."
"She...died?"
Mina raised one eyebrow.
"But-"
"She
passed beyond the Void's black gate, where all souls must one day go. I'd certainly call that death, dearie. But Aeon went and brought her back. Used Nazon's soul as an anchor to keep her
soul connected to Serano. Was stupid and
risky, but...well, she means a lot to all of us."
As she spoke,
the black vapor Nazon had expelled dispersed and Mina saw Weiss and Vincent on
the ground, while Aeon was barely holding back a beam of black light Nazon was
firing at him with one hand. The lich
had a shield of white light in front of him, but it was rapidly
disintegrating. Lowering himself to the
ground, Aeon laid his palm against the dirt and it flashed. His shield cracked all the way through, but
before it could shatter, a pair of spheres made of white light burst out of the
ground behind Nazon and slammed against his left hand and left shoulder,
throwing him off balance and making his attack overshoot Aeon. After being hit by the spheres of light,
Nazon paused for a moment as his legs tore through Nerise's robe, bent
backwards at the knee and covered in rotting black flesh.
Floating away
from Nazon, Aeon held out both hands and a giant sphere of white light began to
form in his palms. Before it was fully
formed, however, Nazon kicked one of his rotting legs in Aeon's direction and
sent a dart of black energy through the front of the sphere, dispelling it
completely and piercing through Aeon.
The blast cracked his bones all the way through, but while Nazon was
distracted, Vincent managed to wrap his arms around Nazon's chest. The creature's bone wings whipped towards the
teythen, but Vincent's eyes flashed bright red and the air around them
distorted. The bone wings strained
against an invisible force as Vincent held Nazon still.
"Do it
now!" he yelled.
In an instant,
Aeon was in front of Nazon. Despite
having his bones cracked all the way through, he pressed a hand to Nazon's
forehead and began to chant under his breath.
"Agh!"
Nazon let out a shriek of pain as white light poured out of Aeon's palm. Nazon's three horns made of Nerise's hair
twisted and stabbed Aeon through his eye sockets and mouth, throwing the lich
off him while a muscular tail, covered in decaying black flesh and spikes shot
out of Nazon's backside. Slamming his
tail against Vincent, Nazon managed to throw him off, sending him careening
into the wall of mist with three holes in his side.
Vincent!"
Mina covered her mouth. "And Aeon too...something's
wrong! I've seen Aeon fight before and-!"
"You
noticed," Granny nodded. "None
of them are using their full power. If
they want to survive, they can't afford to."
"What do
you mean?" Daryl mused, watching alongside Mina and Celine as Aeon dodged
a swipe of Nazon's claws that seemed to disintegrate the ground around him.
"We're
not in Serano anymore, dearie. I had to
separate this part of Gollia from reality as you know it. We're currently existing within a pocket
dimension I've created. So, there's no
Leyline energy here for him to draw upon to replenish his strength. And Nazon is filling the air with his Void
energy."
"And
that's toxic, right?" Celine narrowed her eyes at Nazon.
"In a
sense," Granny murmured, "Void
energy disrupts the natural rules of the universe. And life happens to be one of those
rules. Weiss, Vincent, and Aeon are
strong enough to resist it for a while, but Nazon's presence is slowly leeching
their life away. If they go all out and
use up their power, they'll die. Aeon
and the others need to conserve their power and trap Nazon long enough to seal
him. Before he gets too powerful to
stop."
As Granny
spoke, Nazon's tail grew in length and lashed out at Aeon. The lich managed to dodge it, however in
doing so, he crashed into a pair of giant skeletal hands which had risen out of
the ground to catch him.
Before he
could break free of the bonds which held him, Nazon closed the distance between
them and grabbed Aeon by the neck
Instantly, Aeon's skeletal body crumbled away, revealing his blue
skinned human form underneath.
"Granny!" Nazon turned and faced the translucent bubble
holding Granny and the girls. "This
one is as a son to you, is he not? You
know what I can do to his body if I release more Void energy. It will crumble under my talons. Release me from this prison and I will spare
his life."
"Sorry,"
Granny raised and lowered her segmented shoulders. "But I can't."
"I told
you. I have no qualms about killing any of you!" Nazon shouted. Mina saw his hands flicker and Aeon's skin
began to flake away.
"Granny!"
Aeon yelled. "Don't you dare!"
"You...fine!"
Nazon roared. "I may not want to, but
it's been over two aeons...the deaths of a lich, a teythen, and two Nihilons is
nothing to me!"
"He
didn't mention us..." Daryl squeaked, holding her hand over her mouth.
"Nazon!"
Mina yelled from behind the bubble.
"Get away from Aeon! If you
don't, you'll be sorry!"
"Silence,
child!" Nazon snarled, taking his eyes off Aeon and glaring at Mina. "I have no quarrel with you, but-"
Nazon stopped as innumerable black tendrils shot out of the hole he had carved
in the ground.
"You
forgot Nerise in your calculations," Weiss's voice echoed out of the
tendrils. "If you revive, she is as
good as dead. I will not allow that." Wrapping themselves around Nazon's body, the
black tentacles sprouted green eyes, and ripped Nazon off of Aeon. Once he was gone, the skeletal hands holding
Aeon vanished and the lich collapsed on the ground.
Nazon tore
through the tendrils holding him, which quickly reformed into Weiss's normal
body. "You stupid bastard!"
the creature inside Nerise's body screamed as it charged at Weiss. Nazon's hands glowed black and large, curved blades
extended from his decayed flesh. Reeling
back, Nazon tried to slash at Weiss, but the Nihilon cupped his hands together
and formed a field of black energy in the middle, holding back Nazon's attack.
"Void
energy can be used to dispel Void energy..." Weiss narrowed his green eyes
while keeping his voice level the entire time.
"I may not be very old by your standards, but I am still one of the
first children. You should not take me
lightly, Void Dragon. For Nerise, I will
fight until my body is shattered into pieces."
Nazon
tightened his jaw and his four bone wings twisted around behind the Nihilon and
stabbed through Weiss's chest, sending a wave of cracks out from the hole. Holding up Weiss's glassy black body, Nazon
sneered, "Why throw your life away fighting? Even at this power level, you must know that
you cannot beat me."
The ground
underneath Nazon glowed with white light and two immaculate silver arrows shot
out of the dirt, piercing through both of Nazon's feet. "He wasn't trying to beat you,"
Vincent said, darting in front of Nazon and throwing out both of his
hands. The force of his attack
catapulted Nazon backwards, but Vincent held one hand out to the side, lifting
Weiss off his bony wings as he flew.
"Aeon?"
Mina whispered, turning her gaze to Aeon, who had planted his hands on the
ground and was lifting himself up. Still
in human form, Aeon climbed to his feet, revealing a set of holes in the ground
where he had laid his hands, and floated into the air. Bone and cloth formed around his body and
pressed against him, like a suit of armor.
"That's five,"
Aeon muttered, floating in front of Granny's black bubble as his skeletal body
formed over his human skin.
"Aeon,"
Vincent panted, laying Weiss down next to the bubble. His skin was pulled tight against his bones
and his body looked emaciated. "We
need to finish things. I won't last much
longer."
Granny touched
one of her talons to Weiss's cracked chest and the hole closed. "Your holy magic seem to be spurring on
his transformation," Weiss said, closing his eyes and trying to mend the
cracks. "Each attack drastically
increases the amount of Void energy at his disposal."
"Then we
should end this quickly," Aeon murmured.
"Before we are all reduced to dust."
Mina and the
others had to cover their ears as another feral shriek burst out of Nazon. His lower body seemed to split open to reveal
a second set of legs bent back at the knee, all covered in decaying black
flesh. Bony appendages and spikes shot
out of these legs and Nazon was lifted up above everyone else. Much of Nerise's face had crumbled away,
revealing rotted black flesh underneath.
Nazon crawled forward on his new legs, while his smaller upper torso,
which still resembled Nerise, crossed its arms.
"I am
done. I no longer need to play by your
rules," Nazon sneered at Aeon, Vincent, and Weiss. "Before, I was still gathering
power...but now, I can crack the dimensional walls myself! However..." Nazon raised his arms and
innumerable bones of all sizes rose out of the ground. The bones began to swirl around Nazon before
forming together into a legion of skeletal creatures. Several hundred humanoid skeletons were in
the front while a few dozen large apocra, such as manticore or griffon
skeletons filled out the back. Alongside
the skeletal legion, several gigantic spherical masses of bone formed around
Nazon. The bone masses hovered
innocuously around Nazon, as if in waiting.
"When I return home, I will not tell Rudra I left you without a
challenge, at least," Nazon snorted before turning his gaze skywards and
inhaling sharply.
As he did so,
the army of skeletons charged at Aeon, Vincent, and Weiss. Weiss held out both of his hands and black
light cascaded off his fingertips, like lightning. It shot through the undead army, but did not
seem to phase them in the least.
Glancing down
at his hands, Weiss murmured, "He has...insulated them against my
powers."
"Then I
guess we do this the old fashioned way!" Vincent grunted, putting his fist
through one skeleton's head before kicking through another, shattering its rib
cage.
The skeletons
swarmed around them, but Aeon froze great swathes of them with simples waves of
his hands, which Weiss then shattered with his bare fists. Vincent used his telekinesis as well as hand
to hand combat to break through dozens of the unending army.
One of the skeletons
clambered past Aeon, Vincent, and Weiss and tried to pass through the black
bubble Granny had erected, but it crashed against it, as if the bubble were a
solid wall, and broke apart on the ground.
"The
barrier..." Celine murmured, poking her finger in and out of it at the
place the skeleton had tried to break through.
"It
blocks Void energy," Granny said, lifting herself up off her coiled up
body. "But something about this
attack rings false. What is that crafty
old Dragon up to...?"
Looking past Aeon
and the others, Mina saw Nazon's chest swelling out as he sucked in more and
more air. Then, all at once, he exhaled,
shooting a colossal stream of black smoke out of his mouth, straight up into
the air. The ground and air shook as
Nazon's breath collided with the black dome surrounding all of them.
"What was
that?!" Daryl stammered, her eyes following Mina's to Nazon. "Is...is he...attacking the sky?!"
"I-It's
not the sky!" Granny grunted, raising herself up and touching her talons
to the bubble around her and the girls.
For a moment, the rumbling subsided, however cracks began to appear
around the area touched by Nazon's breath and the translucent bubble
surrounding Mina and the others rippled.
"He's gotten stronger...I can't keep him trapped and keep this
barrier in place at the same time!" Granny gritted her curved fangs. Her faceted orange eyes began to glaze over
and cracks appeared in her long, segmented body as the shaking from before returned,
growing stronger with each passing second.
Glowering at
Nazon, Aeon rose higher into the air and six long tendrils made of ice burst
out of his back. Icicles lined the
tendrils, which ended in a sharp spike, giving them an appearance not unlike
that of Nazon's wings. The tendrils
lashed out at Nazon, however the masses of bones surrounding Nazon bunched
together and formed a shield around him, blocking Aeon's attacks.
"Agh!"
Behind her, Mina saw Granny's arms begin to droop as the cracks in her body
deepened.
"Granny!"
Mina cried. "Just...just let down
the bubble. We can survive for a little
bit without it, can't we?!"
"No...I
can't, dearie. You won't...make it..."
Granny grunted.
"She's
right...we wouldn't last more than a minute out there," Daryl said, trying
to keep her body from shaking.
"It'd be like trying to survive under a frozen lake. We wouldn't be able to breathe or see
or-"
"We're
just a burden here," Celine muttered, ambling over to Daryl and Mina. "Princess, can your holy magic keep us
alive out there?"
"M-maybe,
but I-"
"Do
it!" Celine said, grasping the purple haired girl's hand and nodding up at
Granny. The Nihilon nodded back and let
out a roar. The translucent bubble
around them slowly began to dissolve.
"I...I'm
not sure what to-" Daryl stammered, her eyes slowly widening.
"Form a
shield around us! You made a barrier in
Draconia, just...just use your imagination, Daryl!" Mina grasped Daryl and
Celine's hand. "It'll be
okay!"
Swallowing
hard, Daryl held her hands over her head and a thin dome of light surrounded
the three girls. Sweat began to form on
Daryl's forehead when the bubble around them had finally vanished. She grimaced from the strain of keeping her
barrier in place.
"The
pocket dimension will collapse if he is not stopped," Weiss said, edging
towards Granny.
"Go! I can handle the rest of these," Aeon
said, forming a gigantic serpent of ice around his arm.
Leaping back,
Weiss thrust one of his hands against the wall of the black dome surrounding
them, and placed the other one to Granny's side. As he did so, the cracks in Granny's body and
in the dome from where Nazon was attacking stopped spreading and started to
become smaller. "Just a bit longer
now," he murmured.
"Weiss...?"
Granny grimaced.
"This is
for Nerise," Weiss hissed as cracks began to spread through his body. "This is all for Nerise!"
Thrusting his
hand forward, Aeon sent the ice serpent crashing through the skeletons. It slithered up to Nazon, but the masses of
bone dropped onto its neck like a ten ton boulder and stopped it dead in its
tracks. After the attack, ice spread out
from the serpent, freezing the masses of bones in place.
"Vincent,"
Aeon murmured, turning to the gaunt teythen.
With a wave of his hand, the back end of the serpent melted aside,
revealing that it was hollow inside.
"I need you to get close to him and stop his attack. If he breaks free, we will never get Nerise
back!"
From where she
sat, Mina saw Vincent give Aeon a curt nod before disappearing inside the
serpent. Skeletons piled onto the lich,
obscuring him from sight, however every few seconds several of them would
freeze or be blown apart, indicating that he was still fighting inside the
legion of skeletal soldiers.
"Hang on,
princess!" Celine's cry brought Mina back to the present and she saw her
friend's legs wobbling. The barrier
around them began to ripple and Daryl dropped to her knees, forcibly lowering
the dome of light around them and bringing Mina and Celine down with her.
"Daryl...I..."
Mina whispered, closing her own eyes.
"I'm gonna try something."
Mina took a
deep breath, but the familiar feeling of Leyline energy seeping into her body
was absent. There was nothing in the air
to give her strength. Her eyes snapped
open and she saw Celine's face twist into a mask of guilt and desperation.
"Princess..."
"Later...need...to
concentrate!" Daryl grunted.
Biting her
lip, Mina closed her eyes again and focused on her left hand, which still
gripped Daryl's. It tingled from the
Leyline energy Daryl was pushing out of her body. Clenching her stomach muscles, Mina tried summon
up Leyline energy from nothing but herself.
Her belly began to rumble and she felt a tiny spring of energy flowing
into her chest. Rather than dividing it
in two, as she usually did, Mina pushed it all through her left hand, into
Daryl. She opened her eyes and saw both
Daryl and Celine starring at the dome of light, which had stopped rippling and
seemed relatively stable. Mina felt
Daryl's eyes on her, but looked away, even as she pushed what little Leyline
energy she could scrape together into her friend's hand.
An explosion
drew Mina's attention to the masses of bone which had crushed Aeon's ice
serpent. The frozen bones shattered and
were blown aside as Vincent climbed out of the hole they had created in the
serpent. The teythen leapt onto the air
and wrapped his legs around Nerise's human torso, even as Nazon clawed at him
with his two front legs. The air
distorted around Nazon's head as Vincent put his hands on either side of
him. His eyes glowed crimson in the dim
light and slowly, Nazon's black breath subsided as the skin on his head rippled
from the pressure being put on it.
"I...I
can't..." Daryl grunted, collapsing on the ground as the barrier around
them subsided.
Mina scrunched
her eyes shut as an intense pressure slammed down on her lungs. She gasped for air, but no matter how much
she gulped in, it never satisfied her.
Curling into a ball, she hugged herself, even as her limbs began to
seize up. Suddenly, she felt something
scoop her up and the pressure vanished.
Another translucent bubble had formed around her and her friends. Daryl was clutching her sides while Celine
was down on one knee, panting hard. Weiss
was sitting cross legged in the center of the bubble, with his hands
crossed. His entire body seemed to glow
with black light, though the cracks in his skin radiated white. Next to him, Granny was slumped in a pile,
breathing hard, but smiling.
"My boy
saved me...saved all of us..." Granny smirked.
"It was
for Nerise," Weiss grunted.
"Did we
win?" Mina stammered, gasping for air.
"No. We merely delayed him," Weiss nodded in
the direction of Nazon.
The skeletal
army he had created had turned to dust and blown away, leaving Aeon alone on
the field of battle. Nazon raised
himself up on his four legs and held Vincent by his neck, his right fist alight
with black flames that licked at Vincent's face. The teythen grew slimmer and more skeletal
with each second that passed. His hair
began to fall out and his head thinned out so much that the white bandana he
wore slipped off him.
"Bastard!"
Nazon howled at the barely conscious teythen.
"I was trying to spare you!
To show mercy! And you nearly
exploded my skull! If your precious
Nerise had been the one in control, that would have killed he-" Nazon
stopped as two spears of light pierced his front legs. The monster's eyes focused on Aeon as he
cupped his hands together, then pulled them apart, forming an ornate white
spear that radiated with light in between his hands. Heaving back, he threw it at Nazon and hit
him in his right hand.
Nazon dropped
Vincent and a second tail split out of his back. A second jaw unhinged from below the first
and Nazon let out a fearful screech before charging at Aeon, who dodged and led
Nazon away from Mina and the others.
"Vincent..."
Mina whispered, placing her hand over her heart, which was thumping so quickly
it felt as if it might explode. "Is
he-"
"He's
alive. But not for long," Granny
grunted, skittering over to the edge of the bubble. She moved slowly and ponderously, as if her
body was about to break. "The blood
that sustains him has been drained away and the Void energy in the air keeps
taking more...he only has a few minutes at best."
"Can you
get him?" Celine muttered, staggering to her feet.
"No...not
with...the power I have left," Granny grimaced and her body collapsed on
the ground.
"Celi..."
Mina whispered, taking her friend's tanned hand.
"Don't!"
Daryl croaked from her spot on the ground.
"You won't...make it back!"
"Can you
run?" Celine said, nodding at Vincent's prone form.
Mina gave
Celine a curt nod and together, the two sprinted over to where Vincent's body lay. The air was heavy around them and Mina tried
not to focus on the fact that she could barely breathe. Her arms hesitated as she tried to lift one of
Vincent's arms over her shoulder. She
saw Celine also struggling with the effort.
Though the teythen weighed practically nothing now and his clothes hung
loose on his flesh, the girls struggled with lifting him. Each breath they had to take became more
haggard and it was only with considerable effort that they managed to start
dragging him towards the translucent bubble.
Mina felt her
legs going numb and glanced over at her arm.
It was slowly thinning and her skin was being pulled taut against her flesh. Ice crashed to her left and Nazon's
Dragon-like roars resounded around them, but even so, Mina struggled to keep
her eyes open. She nearly tripped on
Vincent's bandana, but Celine managed to catch her, though her arm looked gaunt
and emaciated. Scooping up the piece of
white cloth, Mina and Celine continued moving.
Eventually, they staggered up to the black bubble and practically fell
through it.
"You...idiots!"
Daryl sobbed, pulling Mina, Celine, and Vincent further inside. When Daryl had finished moving them, Mina sat
bolt upright, gasping for air. Her limbs
came back to life and looking at her arms, she saw muscle appearing in between
skin and bone. With a laugh of relief
she fell backwards.
"He still
needs blood," Weiss murmured, nodding to Vincent. Mina glanced over at the teythen. Though his body had recovered somewhat from
being pulled out of the Void rich air, he still looked like a skeleton with
skin stretched over it. His breathing
was very shallow and both of his eyes were closed.
The three
girls looked from one to the other.
Daryl held her hands over her mouth and was slowly edging away from
him. However, Celine had already crawled
over to Vincent and tore a little bit of skin from her wrist using her
teeth. Blood started to flow out of the
wound and she held it up to his mouth.
Vincent drank
thirstily, however after a few seconds, his eyes snapped open and he sat
upright, coughing and sputtering. His
bony arms grasped his throat and he choked.
"What's
wrong?!" Celine exclaimed.
"I've
only seen him like that when he gets bad blood, dearie!" Granny yelped,
unable to move from her spot on the ground.
"He needs human blood! You
are human, aren't ya?"
"Of...of
course I-" Celine started.
"No
time!" Mina exclaimed, holding her own wrist up to Vincent. The teythen's eyes had glazed over, but his
nostrils flared as she approached.
Biting down hard, Vincent grabbed Mina in a vice-like hold and began to
drink.
"Ugh...I..."
Mina grunted, feeling light headed and dizzy.
"I...don't think I...have enough..." she found it difficult to
speak and would have fallen backwards if Celine had not caught her.
"Princess! C'mon, we need you!" Celine barked.
"But
I...but he's a-!" Daryl stammered.
"I don't
think he can stop! If this keeps up,
he'll suck Mina dry!" Celine yelled back, pulling on Vincent's hair, which
was slowly growing back in, trying to dislodge him from Mina.
"I...I'm
oka-" Mina grunted, trying to keep from falling unconscious.
Suddenly, she
felt Vincent's hands release her and something was pressed to her wrist. She squirmed in Celine's arms and her friend
lifted her up a little. Celine had the
hem of her dress pressed down hard against Mina's wrist, while Vincent had his
fangs in Daryl's arm. Daryl looked away
and let out muffled sobs every few seconds, but kept still. As he drank, Vincent's body began to restore
itself. Muscle formed in between his
skin and bones and his body began to fill out.
After a few seconds, Vincent pulled free of Daryl's arm and fell
backwards, his eyes glazed over in ecstasy.
His breathing was normal and Mina gingerly dropped his white bandana
over the unconscious teythen's chest.
"Ugh..."
Daryl groaned and fell forward, propping herself up on her hands. "That...was unpleasant."
"Can
it. You're alive, aren't you?"
Celine snorted, crawling over to Daryl's side and pressing down on the bloody
bite marks in her arm. "But...why
couldn't I-"
To the far
right of them, there was a flash of light and everyone's eyes turned to Aeon
and Nazon. Though Nazon was moving with
more speed and agility than should be possible with a lower body nearly the
size of a house, Aeon was faster. He
ducked and weaved through the air to dodge blasts of Void energy, Nazon's
seeking claws, and undead which periodically rose from the ground to try and
grab him. As he moved, Aeon held out his
hands and it seemed like he was scattering marbles of white light through the
air. Nazon managed to avoid getting hit
by these tiny spheres of light, however any undead that touched them immediately
disintegrated.
Crossing his
arms, Aeon tried to flood the dome with white light, however Nazon created a
barrier of darkness equal in size to Aeon's.
His barrier snuffed out the glowing marbles and started to grow,
engulfing Aeon's field of light. Holding
out his right hand, Aeon braced it with his left and light began to gather in
his palm. However, the barrier of
darkness suddenly stopped growing. The
darkness within writhed as if it were alive, but neither Mina, nor Aeon could
see Nazon. Then, the ground underneath
Aeon burst open and Nazon shot out in a wave of blackness. Turning his hand down, Aeon fired a blast of
white light that caught Nazon in his right shoulder just before his black
talons wrapped around Aeon's waist. The
two hung in midair for a moment before Aeon's skeletal body shattered,
revealing his blue skinned, frostbitten human body underneath.
Trudging over
to the bubble Weiss was supporting, Nazon held Aeon up for all to see, even as
what remained of Nerise's skin fell away, giving Nazon a far more feral,
bestial look. His face elongated until
it resembled a Dragon's and his arms and chest grew larger and more
muscular. The only remnant of Nerise to
be seen was the tattered remains of her black robe, which was still hooked on
Nazon's spiky legs.
"How much
longer must this charade go on?" Nazon snarled, tightening his grip on
Aeon.
"Aeon...?" Weiss murmured.
"Nine,
Weiss! I need one more."
"What are
you..." Nazon stopped mid sentence and scowled. "Those attacks! I thought they were only glancing blows, but...what
have you done, Aeon?! What have you got
planned?!"
"I plan
to get my daughter back," Aeon smirked, even as Nazon's hand tightened
further. Mina grimaced as she heard some
of Aeon's bones cracking.
"You are
trapped, your teythen is dying, and the Nihilons are beaten. Do you expect the children to save you?"
Nazon sneered. "I wish I could say
I hold no grudges..." his claws began to glow black and Aeon's body started
to crumble away. "But it is
unbecoming of a Dragon to lie."
Frantically
looking about, Mina saw Weiss unmoved by the spectacle. The cracks in his body had deepened and he
seemed in deep meditation, as if his entire focus was on keeping the bubble and
the dimensional barrier stable. Vincent
was still unconscious and Celine was tending to Daryl's wrist while the light
headed girl groaned on the ground.
Granny tried to move to help Aeon, she was unable to lift even a single
talon.
"I just
need one more!" Aeon grunted,
cupping his hands together. A spark of
white light appeared in his palms, but Nazon squeezed him tighter and it
vanished, along with a few of Aeon's fingers.
Panting hard,
Mina cupped her hands together and closed her eyes. She pictured a squashed whirlwind, so thin
that it was little more than a disc, spinning about as fast as possible. Though her stomach rebelled and she had to
resist the urge to hug herself, Mina managed to guide a little bit of Leyline
energy into her palms. The bite marks on
her wrist burned as she cradled the energy in her hands. Ignoring the pain, Mina felt wind spinning
about in her hands. Squashing the wind
as flat as she could, she increased the speed, turning it faster and faster
until the wind began to hum and Mina could feel its sharpness against her
bandaged fingers.
"Please
work..." she whispered, touching her palms together and facing the disc of
wind at Nazon's face.
Her body
sagged and she released the disc of wind, which shot towards Nazon. It raked across the bridge of Nazon's
nose, unable to even penetrate the Dragon's thick hide. Nonetheless, Nazon fixed his eyes on
Mina. "You! I wished to spare you and your comrades! I wished to spare all of you! But-" he slammed both of his tails
against the black bubble and it shattered in an instant. Mina's eyes were wide as Nazon came face to
face with her. "I have wasted
enough mercy today."
The Void
Dragon opened his mouth and Mina could see a swirling mass of blackness so dark
that she felt as if she might be pulled in if she continued staring. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the
blackness vanished. Nazon's mouth closed
and his eyes widened. Looking around
Nazon's head, Mina saw Aeon's frozen, fingerless hand pressed against the
Dragon's black chest.
"Ten."
Aeon smirked and a surge of white light blasted out of his palm, hitting Nazon
with such force that, despite his great size, he was thrown backwards. Aeon dropped out of his hand and landed on
the ground, his legs shattering as he did.
Nonetheless, Aeon floated into the air.
Cloth and bone formed around him as he turned to Weiss. "Drop the barrier! Return us to Gollia!"
Weiss nodded
at Aeon and his body began to pull the darkness around them into his cracked
body, mending it as he went. Little by
little, the sky began to peak through the darkness as it spiraled into
Weiss. The Nihilon raised a hand in
Granny's direction and it spiraled into her cracked form as well. After a few seconds, rain clouds appeared
above them, though the rain itself had momentarily abated.
When the
darkness had all been absorbed into Weiss and Granny, Aeon slammed his bony
palm against the muddy soil. Lines of
white light arced out of his fingers and sped into the ten spears that formed a
circle around them. The spears rumbled
and shook in the ground, radiating an otherworldly light. As if in response, ten white sigils formed on
Nazon's flesh where Aeon had attacked him.
There was one on each of his four legs, one on each shoulder and hand,
one in the center of his chest, and one on his forehead.
"What is
this?!" Nazon snarled, glancing down at the sigils engraved on his flesh.
"This is
my new ten layered seal," Aeon replied, as a circle of white light,
inscribed with arcane characters formed underneath all of them.
The center of
the circle formed around Nazon and an emblem of a Dragon in chains looming over
a sleeping child appeared underneath him.
White light burst out of the circle, burning Nazon's flesh and his bony
wings while keeping him perfectly still.
As the light washed over him, chains shot out of the spears and flew
over to the Dragon, wrapping themselves around him before linking with each of
the ten white sigils. Save for the white
hot flames that engulfed Nazon's wings, his body was so entangled by the chains
that only his face could be seen.
Folding his
hands behind his back, Aeon floated over to Nazon, who writhed against the
chains to no avail. "I knew you
would be ready if you were ever freed again," the lich murmured, the green
flames in his eye sockets boring into Nazon's own blackened eyes. "So the rest of us prepared in secret
for this day. This seal is imperfect,
just as the last one was...but it should keep you quiet for a while yet."
"You...you
anchored the seal outside the pocket dimenion...and used those glancing attacks
with holy energy to link me to it!"
"Correct,"
Aeon nodded. "Now...Weiss! Granny!"
At Aeon's
order, the two Nihilons stood up and moved to either side of Nazon. Weiss stepped over the girls, while Granny
skittered along on her many segmented legs.
They raised themselves up above Nazon and placed their hands and talons
to her head.
"Aeon...I
just want to go home!" Nazon let out a choked sob.
"I am
sorry," Aeon murmured before nodding to Granny and Weiss.
Black energy
began to swirl out of Nazon and spiral into Weiss and Granny. What remained of their injuries healed almost
instantly and as they drained energy out of Nazon, his body gradually grew
smaller and smaller. As he shrunk, the
chains shrunk with him, rather than falling off.
Stumbling over
to Aeon's side, Mina saw Nazon's body shrivel up and disintegrate through the
chains, revealing Nerise underneath.
When the last of the black energy was absorbed by Weiss and Granny, Aeon
stepped forward and reached into the bundle of chains. He pulled out Nerise, who was naked and
covered in grime. Almost immediately,
the chains and the circle underneath them burst into tiny white fragments of light
that floated down to the ground, like snow on a winter morning.
Frantically,
Mina grabbed the girl's wrist and put her hand over her heart. Though a little weak, she felt a steady
rhythm in Nerise's wrist. "She's
alive," Mina let out a sigh of relief and visibly sagged in place. Nerise leaned into Aeon and the lich stroked
her filthy black hair.
"I told
you to start simple..." Aeon sighed and shook his head at Mina. "Yet somehow you stumbled into using
wind as a blade."
"Ummm...was
I not supposed to do that?" Mina stammered.
"Haha,"
Aeon let out a hollow chuckle and shook his head. "Thank you, Minava. You saved both Vincent and my little
girl."
"Oh..."
Mina blushed and lowered her eyes.
"I-It was nothing."
"Aeon! Granny!" Aeon and Mina turned their gaze
to the mouth of Gollia, where a crowd of Gollians, led by Nail and Ceresa, were
heading their way. A few pale skinned
teythens and humans swarmed around Vincent, Daryl, and Celine, treating the two
girls and dribbling blood into Vincent's mouth, while the rest stopped just a
few paces from Aeon.
Wordlessly,
Ceresa held out a length of black cloth and Aeon wrapped Nerise in it, still
cradling the girl in his arms as he did so.
"Will..." through the crowd, the beholder, Hugo, floated
forward, all of his eye stalks fixed on Nerise.
"Will she be alright, Aeon?"
For a moment,
Aeon was silent. Nerise let out a
whimper and buried her sleeping face in Aeon's black cloak. "She will be alright," Aeon said
with some hesitance, "Eventually."
"But not
if you all just stand there gawkin," Granny muttered. Skittering around the edge of the crowd, she
delicately picked up her suit of skin with one black talon. "Hugo, take a few inside and get some
food, baths, and a room big enough for our guests ready. They need some rest. Nail, see to the dead poachers. Burn them, bury them, I don't care. Just get them off our land." The sel-vey nodded at her and motioned for a
few other Gollians to follow him out into the field.
"We've
got Vincent, Granny!" A few teythens called, lifting up the unconscious
Vincent and carrying him inside.
As everyone
began to disperse, Daryl and Celine joined up with Mina. "So...it's over," Daryl sighed,
holding her uninjured arm up to her head.
"Do you think Neri will remember any of this when she wakes
up?"
"She
will." Above them, Weiss had his
arms crossed and his green eyes fixed on the three girls.
"Shouldn't
you be with her?" Celine muttered.
"I
should," Weiss nodded.
"However..." The
Nihilon's body shrank down until the glassy black silhouette was human
sized. He held out his hand to
Mina. "You saved Nerise. Thank you," Weiss bowed his head as Mina
took his hand. Then, without another
word, he headed inside.
"Hey,
what about us?!" Celine snorted.
"To be
fair...we saved Vincent, not Neri," Daryl grunted, leaning against Celine
for support and moving her hand over to the bite marks on her arm.
"We're
grateful for that too," the three girls turned and saw Ceresa smiling at
them. Her six spindly legs clicked about
on the muddy ground as she turned around and motioned for them to follow
her. "Come on. We'll get you three a bath, then some food,
and clean your clothes so you don't have to go home looking like a mess."
"Oh,
goddess, that would be heavenly..." Daryl mumbled, following after Ceresa
as if in trance. Gripping her wrist,
Mina nearly tripped, but Celine caught her and together, they followed after
Daryl and Ceresa.
