by Ramy Vance
Grok circled her doppelganger. "Looks like this will be good."
She charged her, ramming her shoulder into the other Grok's face. The other Grok took a step back, dropped to the ground, and swept Grok's feet out from under her.
Grok hit the ground and her doppelganger flipped through the air, bringing her feet down on the orc, who threw up both arms and absorbed the attack.
Abby flew by and grabbed Dark Grok by the hair, then flung her across the battlefield.
Dark Grok landed in the mass of elf mages Rasputina was tearing through with the ferocity of an animal, her blade shearing flesh as she dashed and rolled through the elves. She wasted no time between movements, not even bothering with magic, instead relying on pure animalistic destruction.
Rasputina was nothing more than bones and blades. Still, the masses of elves began working their magic, dozens of them raising their wands and sending projectiles through the air that bombarded the area.
Terra released the balrog she was wrestling to move out of the way of one of the projectiles, which hit the balrog and eviscerated it. "Hey, you want to do something about that?" she shouted. "Someone's going to lose an eye."
Abby burned her thrusters, heading over to the elves. "On it!"
She flew over them as she constructed a small turret in her hands. She dropped the turret into the thick of the elves, and it began firing plasma bolts.
Tesla's hands wrapped around Abby's leg, stopping her in her tracks.
Abby turned around, fists raised. Tesla jabbed at her and she teleported behind him, her hand full of plasma. She slapped it across Tesla's face, where it burned through his skin.
Tesla fell as he unleashed an electric shockwave that knocked Abby out of the sky, temporarily disabling her system.
Dark Grok burst from the cover of the elves and tackled her. As the two hit the ground, Dark Grok punched her in the face, delivering a blow that shook Abby and shattered her jaw.
Anabelle screamed in rage as her body went down the Path of Flames, then rocketed toward Dark Grok and caught the orc memory by the throat. She slammed Dark Grok on the ground and followed her attack with a flaming stomp.
Abby slowly got to her feet as her nanobots healed her jaw. Her hands glowed with a plasma blast, and she unleashed it as Anabelle launched a fire attack. Both attacks consumed Dark Grok, reducing her to ashes.
Anabelle looked at Rasputina, who was still waging war with the elves. "I'm going to give her a hand."
Across the way, a fiery explosion rocked the plane.
Terra was hunched over a balrog, her eyes glowing red with blood lust. She gripped a balrog's jaw and was splitting it down the middle. The balrog was spewing a column of fire from its mouth.
Anabelle rocketed toward the mass of elves, flinging fireballs that crackled with lightning at the mages.
A few of the mages raised their wands, deflecting the attack.
Anabelle slid in between them and spun in a circle, shining the light everything around her as Rasputina leaped toward her, blades cutting down the elves.
A balrog landed amidst the army of elves. Sarah flew after it and dropped on its shoulders, holding the balrog's whip. She wrapped the lash around its neck and pulled back.
The balrog's head popped off.
Sarah threw the decapitated head to an elf who raised his wand too slowly.
The balrog head hit him and exploded.
Anabelle reached out and wrangled the flames, manipulating and growing them into a flaming dragon that soared into the sky.
The DGA made room as Anabelle brought the fire dragon down on the mass of elves, torching them all.
Anabelle returned to normal.
The ground was littered with the enemies of the DGA. Tesla’s body was among them, Terra standing over his smoking corpse.
"Now we close the valve," Anabelle said as she walked toward the Nexus.
The nexus started glowing brightly again.
Terra sighed as she wiped balrog blood off. "Are you serious? How many times are we going to have to do this until it realizes we don't want to hurt it? To be fair, it probably looks like we want to."
A hand reached out of the nexus, followed by a foot, and then a head that congealed into a shape, then a face. Abby's face.
A Dark Melody version of Abby stood before the DGA.
Abby laughed as she looked at the other DGA members. "Okay, real funny. Which of you is afraid of us?"
The rest of the DGA didn't seem to think it was funny.
Terra took a step back. "Dude, this isn't a joke."
Anabelle took a fighting stance. "Was it everybody?"
Rasputina drew two more daggers. "I didn't think I was the only one who could see Abby's potential."
Abby couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was no way her friends feared her this much. "Guys, you can't be serious. It's just me."
The Dark Melody Abby raised her hand as she smiled. Nanobots flowed from her fingertips as she raised her other hand and fired at Abby.
The plasma blast knocked Abby off her feet. "Holy shit, that's what it feels like?"
Dark Melody Abby's hands began tracing sigils as the cloud of nanobots grew behind her.
Anabelle helped Abby to her feet. "We're not afraid of you, only of what you can do. And I guess we're about to find out."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Dark Melody version of Abby stepped forward with a treacherously sweet smile on her lips. She raised her hand, and the swarm of nanobots behind her rushed the DGA.
Anabelle cast a magic barrier, diverting the majority of the nanobots, which flew into the air and constructed a dozen drones while Dark Abby drew a sigil into the ground.
Dark Abby stomped on the sigil, sending a wall of fire at Anabelle’s magical barrier.
The drones flew down from above, firing lasers at the DGA.
Everyone scattered. Grok hid under Rasputina, who threw up a magic shield. Terra and Sarah bunched under Abby’s and Anabelle's shields.
Terra nudged her in the side. "Any idea of how to kill yourself?"
Abby grimaced at Terra. "We would rather not think of it like that."
"You know what I mean. You had to have had a backup plan for when you went evil."
Abby looked incredulously at Terra. "Did everyone believe we were going to go evil or something?"
Terra shrugged. "More like daydreamed about it. Come on, you gotta admit, evil you is pretty sick."
Above, the nanobots were circling Abby as she constructed a plasma cannon on her shoulder. She signed another sigil, opening a portal.
A smaller portal appeared directly in front of Anabelle, on the other side of her shield. "Gods be damned!" Anabelle sighed as she dodged to the side.
Dark Abby fired her cannon into the portal.
The blast came out on the other side, hit the ground, and exploded.
Dark Abby teleported behind Anabelle and cracked her across the head.
Terra tossed her axe at the impostor, who raised her hand, causing her nanobots to fly in front of her and harden. The nanobots swarmed over the axe and broke it down into nothing.
Dark Abby burst through the nanobots and landed in front of Terra.
Before she could attack, Grok came in from the side and slammed the palm of her hand into the side of Dark Abby's head.
Dark Abby went skidding across the ground, launching her thrusters and righting herself, preparing to take to the air.
Black tendrils shot up from the ground and wrapped around Dark Abby, pulling her to the ground.
Rasputina leaped on top of Dark Abby and drove her dagger into the construct's chest.
Dark Abby opened her mouth and fired a plasma blast that tore through the side of Rasputina's face.
The lich fell back, reached into the Dark Melody, and drew some up to heal her face.
Dark Abby traced another sigil, and the Dark Melody Rasputina was pulling from froze as if it were water.
Abby flew past
her doppelganger and fired a plasma blast as Sarah and Anabelle rushed her counterpart.
Sarah slipped into the Path of Pain, as did Anabelle.
Dark Abby squared off against them and her armor thickened, blocking her assailants’ attacks. She managed to keep pace with them.
Terra joined the assault on Abby, and the three of them attempted to overwhelm her.
As Dark Abby stepped back, her drones flew overhead and dropped plasma grenades. One of the grenades hit Terra and exploded, throwing all three women through the air.
Dark Abby teleported above Anabelle and brought her fist down on the elf’s chest.
Anabelle crashed to the ground, then struggled to her feet, coughing blood.
Dark Abby teleported in front of her and converted her hand into a blade.
Abby appeared behind Dark Abby and grabbed her counterpart's shoulder. She pulled her off Anabelle.
Dark Abby turned around and sliced through Abby's nanobot arm.
Abby stumbled back, trying to stay on her feet as she became the focus of her dark counterpart's attention.
Three daggers hit Dark Abby in the back, but she didn't bother turning around. Instead, her drones flew back, each targeting one of the DGA members and engaging them.
Abby struggled to keep up with her opponent's moves while repairing her arm, and she eventually tripped.
Dark Abby leaned forward, her hand glowing with plasma, and rammed it into Abby's head.
Abby converted the nanobots on her head to absorb the energy blast, funneled them back through her system, constructed a cannon on her chest, and fired.
The blast tossed Dark Abby into the air. One of her drones flew by and she grabbed it, the drone converting to an oversized cannon which she fired at Abby.
Terra tackled the girl out of the way as Sarah, Anabelle, and Grok flew after her opponent. Dark Abby launched her thrusters and took off, her drones flying in between her and the DGA members to make space for her.
The drones fired lasers, creating a grid that Sarah, Anabelle, and Grok couldn't get past.
Tentacles rose from the ground and wrapped around Dark Abby's legs.
Terra came from the back and rammed into her back, pushing her into the laser grid in front of her.
Dark Abby teleported behind Terra and kicked her in the back, sending Terra toward the lasers instead.
Abby rocketed toward Terra and knocked her out of the way of the laser grid, then released her nanobots to become a huge cannon on her shoulders. She fired at Dark Abby, who traced a sigil that caused the plasma blast to slow to a snail's crawl.
Dark Abby teleported again, this time out of sight.
Rasputina used the Dark Melody tentacles to rip the last of the drones out of the air as everyone scanned the area for Dark Abby.
"There!" Anabelle shouted.
Dark Abby had teleported beside Tesla's corpse. She had unleashed her nanobots on Tesla's body and was absorbing his tech into her own.
Terra threw her axe at Dark Abby. "No power-stealing on my watch!"
The axe hit Dark Abby in the head, and she stepped back.
Abby teleported behind the Dark Melody version of herself, wrapped her forearm around her neck, and put her in a full nelson. "Finish it, Terra!"
Terra ran toward the two of them, grabbing Grok's sword off her shoulder. "Just borrowing it!"
When she was in front of Dark Abby, Terra slashed her neck while Abby held her still, cleaving through half of it.
Dark Abby screamed in pain, and Terra hesitated.
Nanobots started to rebuild the wound in her neck.
Abby struggled to hold onto her doppelganger. "Don't stop! You have to finish it."
Terra nodded, face grim, and hacked at Dark Abby's neck again, cutting through the part that was trying to repair itself.
Nanobots continued to flood the wound as Dark Abby squirmed and sputtered blood. "Please, Terra! I'm your friend. Don't do this to me," she screamed frantically.
"Do it," Abby shouted.
Terra closed her eyes and let out a horrified scream as she swung around, gaining momentum and slashed through Dark Abby's neck, severing her head.
Abby dropped the body as it broke apart into nanobots and called them to her. The nanobots hesitated for a moment before flowing up Abby's arms.
The main nexus began to hum and glow again.
Anabelle sighed. "There’s got to be a way around this. That thing is going to keep summoning crap for us to fight."
Abby shook her head. "No, not if we go about this the right way. Part of the elder one was in there. We heard some of its thoughts. There's a distinction between out here and in there."
Terra gave Abby an exasperated look. "How are we supposed to get in there?"
"It requires a sacrifice."
At those words, the nexus stopped humming and glowing.
Abby walked over to the nexus. "The only way to get in there is to sacrifice ourselves. Then we'll have access to the valve."
Anabelle's face dropped. "How many of us?"
Abby shook her head. "We don't know. We doubt all of us. If the Dark One was able to make it in, we should be able to as well."
The DGA approached the nexus.
Abby watched the light. She hadn't thought it was going to come down to this, but she was ready. Even if she hadn't thought it through beforehand, she was ready to give whatever was needed to save the Nine Realms. She was a Dark Gate Angel, and this was her duty.
Grok cleared her throat. "So, who's it going to be?"
Terra laughed loudly. "The DGA, obviously. We can't leave this up to someone else to mess up. If it works, you can sacrifice yourself along with us. Sound good?"
The orc smiled somberly. "Are you sure?"
Rasputina stepped forward. "Grok and I have hands stained with innocent blood. If there's anyone who isn't worthy of living, it is us. We should do this."
Anabelle shook her head. "That’s not how this works. We were given a mission, and we're going to complete it."
Sarah rested her hand on Anabelle's shoulder. "It's not every day you get to say goodbye. It's been a pleasure serving with you three. I'll never forget you."
Grok held her fist over her heart in the traditional orc salute. "Neither will I. I will continue your legacy in hell. Your sacrifices will never be forgotten."
Rasputina nodded solemnly, avoiding the eyes of the DGA. "There's nothing I can say except thank you for everything you've done."
Terra turned back to face the nexus. "All right, it's time to do this."
Abby held her breath. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. All she knew was once she touched the nexus, it was all going to be over. "I love you guys," Abby murmured. "Couldn't imagine my life without you. I'm glad we're going out together."
She looked at Anabelle and Terra as she fought back her tears. "You two really are the best friends anyone could have."
Anabelle nodded solemnly. "I love you too, Abby. You're one of the smartest, kindest, strongest people I've ever met. There probably won't ever be another Abby. No one could stack up to you."
Terra cleared her throat. When she spoke, her voice was choked with tears. "Belle's right. We can't even begin to tell you how proud we are of you. That's why you're not coming with us."
Abby turned to face Terra and Anabelle. "Wait? What are you talking about?"
"Sarah," Anabelle said.
Sarah pulled a small EMP pistol from her side and fired at Abby.
Abby's joints seized up and she toppled, unable to move. "No! What are you doing?"
Anabelle stepped toward the nexus. "You think Terra and I only talk about who could kick each other's asses, but we talked about this a long time ago. If anything like this ever happened, we weren't letting you go through with it. You have too much potential. Both of us have lived our lives. We’re not letting you throw yours away."
Abby struggled against the EMP, trying her hardest to get up as tears rolled down her face. "No! You can'
t leave me. You can't do this to me! I'm a Dark Gate Angel. We have to do this together."
Terra chuckled, her face tired. "We ride together, we die together. Dark Angels for life."
Anabelle groaned. "Seriously? Those are your last words?"
Terra wiped the tears from her face. "You're going to do great things, kid. Keep it up."
Anabelle and Terra reached toward the nexus.
As Anabelle’s fingers neared it, they became translucent. Her bones and veins were visible beneath her skin. The same happened to Terra.
Abby kept screaming. She begged Anabelle and Terra to stop, to let her join them, not to make her watch them both die. “You can’t do this to us! Please, don’t do this without me!”
The elf and the Hand met each other’s eyes.
“Ready?” Anabelle asked.
Terra took a deep breath and sighed.
The two of them grasped the nexus, and power flooded into their bodies as their skin burned away in a blue burst of ash. Still, their glowing bones forced their way into the nexus.
Somehow there was still life in them.
A shockwave threw Abby and the rest through the air as Anabelle and Terra pushed farther inside.
The universe nodes began to float into the air as strings of blue light connected them. They expanded as they floated outwards.
Another shockwave erupted as the bodies of the elder ones began to vibrate.
Suddenly, Abby was outside the elder ones. She floated through the air of the Netherverse, which she could now bend to her desires. She gently touched down, and Rasputina, Grok, and Sarah landed beside her.
Two pale-blue skeletons as large as the elder ones stood before them. The skeletons held one of the elder ones between them, cradling it as if it were a baby. Then they cracked it open as the rest of the elder ones separated and floated away from each other, spreading to the far corners of the sky.
A beam of light shot from the sky between the two skeletons, making it seem as if a giant spear of light had pierced the Netherverse.
The skeletons grabbed the light and pushed in the same direction, slowly twisting the beam.
The light exploded and shot upward, and the sky burned bright. The planet nodes could be seen floating in the distance.
Abby finally managed to get to her feet. The EMP had worn off.