by Nefarious
He had grown up hearing tales of her strength and cunning, and now finally witnessing them, he bought into why his uncles and dad had praised her so much. At the same time, this brought about heavy pangs in his heart as the old question repeated itself.
Why had she massacred her own family? She used Szu with such pride and skill that there was no chance she was embarrassed of her heritage, so what was it?
Kasib watched the scene below in mourning. He knew the danger of monsters first-hand, and so it dug into his flesh to see men do to men what they should be doing to monsters. Even then, he wondered about the missing pieces from both sides. There were few Metoles around Eira, but still only a fraction of their whole Household. So where were the rest? And where was Yhaoli and his band of monsters if not with the Tribes? Had the rumours been false?
It was as he meditated on these thoughts a deep-throated voice rolled over him, tensing him even to the heart.
“There you are, little one. Who knew you would wait for me, little one?”
It boomed like thunder and chilled flesh like the coldest and strongest gusts of wind, overwhelming all senses at once. They barely had enough time to react as the hollow tree was uprooted and smashed onto them in a matter of seconds. Orion created an ice barrier around them just in time, and as it shattered and the dust settled, the giant looming above them became clear.
It was a monster twenty metres tall with bristly fur covering its body. Its arms and legs were the size of buildings and the width of tree trunks. It was heavily muscled and almost looked like a giant human. Obsidian spikes ranged its spine and arms and it had an oversized head for its body, one as large as its chest. This head was constantly twitching and jerking, its crusted lips stretched to reveal colossal teeth dripping out yellow saliva. Despite the seizure its head was under, its eyes were focused and frighteningly arresting.
Orion felt a hole being bore into his chest under the monster’s gaze.
“YHAOLI!” Kasib roared, a savagery befitting a monster in his voice.
“Little one,” it said, pools of yellow, sticky liquid plummeting out of its mouth.
49. Monsters and… more monsters
* * *
Yhaoli was about to say something when Kasib disappeared out of sight. The surrounding air advanced onto his limbs, blurring and then devouring them from reality. His eyes were the last to meld into his surroundings, their sharp image yearning blood.
In the next moment, he appeared beside Yhaoli, striking down onto the giant’s toe despite being unarmed. As his clenched fists neared, the flesh on the monster’s toe rose and fell like choppy waves. The flesh closest to the fists began to disintegrate, revealing ivory bones below, the ashes from it scattering in the wind.
Yhaoli yelped in shock, smacking Kasib down where he stood. It was too late, however, as Kasib disappeared again. Orion and Kora were pushed back by the gust of wind and smack of dust as the monster’s palm hit parched ground. As they steadied themselves, Kasib came back into reality beside them, coldly glaring up at the monster.
“Little one, what a bite you have,” Yhaoli said, composed despite the chunk of flesh he had lost.
“There’s much more of that,” Kasib replied, disappearing once more.
“I’m sure there is,” Yhaoli yelled, breaking into a massive grin. This was enough of a sign for the two younger Seekers to realise something was wrong.
From the distance sprinted out canines with luminescent coppery-green eyes. Each of their steps dragged up so much dirt they seemed to be leading avalanches. These were Barghests, pack hounds which boasted 7-star ratings. It was also the Barghest’s Elixir Kora had drunk.
But focusing into the dust following their charge, Orion saw not falling dirt but instead other freak-like monsters. Even as powerful as he was, he felt a heart-wrenching shiver run through his body as he figured where they stood. It seemed Yhaoli truly had teamed up with the Tribes, and it seemed the trio had taken vantage in the monster army’s charge.
Turning to Kora, he saw her transform. Her jaw extended to her collarbone and three black talons spouted from this flesh. Two arched horns grew from her forehead and curled to her ears, and her nails extended out. Her skin was now dark red and as she opened her mouth to him, he saw a true vampire’s teeth.
“We fight,” she said, half as a question, half as the answer to the question.
He nodded, and put his hands on the ground, focusing on the spot Yhaoli stood on. The earth exploded out like a fountain and would have toppled the monster had it not just stepped forward, its looming feet crumbling the rising dirt.
“I know that power, little one. You’re a Zakari,” Yhaoli said, just in time too, as Kasib reappeared next to his foot again. Perhaps it was luck or perhaps it was skill, but either way, the monster kicked in anticipation, booting the bald Seeker through the air.
Kasib fell, rolled over, leapt back to his feet, and stumbled back. He didn’t pay any attention to the oncoming wave of monsters, instead his eyes stuck on Yhaoli.
“Your family was good,” Yhaoli said, stepping forward towards Orion. “Don’t fight for these cretins, fight for me, little one. Serve me as your family wished to, little one,”
Orion shot out several ice spears, cutting through the monster’s flesh. Regardless, he could saw the wounds instantly healing up as he fell back, realising only Kasib’s damage had persisted.
“So it be, little one, so it be,” Yhaoli said, shaking its convulsing head from side to side. Without warning, he ran over the Seekers and towards the plateau, seemingly bored with them.
While Kasib immediately followed him through his unique method of transportation, Orion and Kora were left to face the oncoming wave of monsters, especially the Barghests which were metres away. They were large and muscular canines, each of them as tall as humans with matt-black fur coats. Suddenly, they quickened, their steps becoming blurry as they sprinted at frightening speeds, saliva slobbering forward.
Orion had already used Giah, so his eyes were moonlit-white. While this gave him a wealth of energy, what it didn’t give him was unlimited energy. Due to this, he had been using Szu on the simpler and easier side, not overcomplicating any of his spells as he needed to save his energy for Eira.
Luckily Kora didn’t share this issue as Cruorems could burn blood to gain energy. While blood from the other Houses were the most efficient and bountiful, quality meant for little with the sheer quantity of enemies she would soon be draining. And as she had drunk the Barghest’s Elixir, it meant she shared the attribute that made them overpowering: their speed.
She shot from her spot and became a blur, her claws striking down so fast the Barghest simply didn’t know what hit it even as its head rolled off. Blood rushed out of the corpse and spread towards the other monsters, slicing flesh and releasing more blood as ammunition.
Orion created an ice shield around himself and sprouted tens of ice spikes in the surrounding ground. One Barghest was going too fast to stop as one second it was charging at him like a bull, and in the next its lower body was skewered through several spikes and its sliced off upper half was flung into the distance. While these monsters had extraordinary defences, it meant nothing against Orion due to how strong he was.
In the distance, he could hear screams and roars, some from beasts and others from men. From the sheer amount of war cries he heard, he figured out where the majority of the Metoles had been. Eira must have known in advance that Yhaoli would come through the Black forest, or at least gambled so, as she had posted them here.
Even though the various monsters thronging their surroundings posed little threat to them, they did restrict their movement. Sure, Kora could stop her bloodbath and sprint out of the Black forest due to how fast she was, but that would mean leaving Orion behind. What he had gained from the Djinn’s Elixir was pure control. Before, he was forced to be in contact to discharge shockwaves and create ice sculptures one by one, but now he could do both from a distance, though the effectiveness increased if he was
closer.
Still, none of this helped his chances of escaping the Black forest to the plateau due to the remaining Barghests slowly breaking through his defences, and he really needed to get there considering this was the optimal moment. If Yhaoli was against Eira, as he hoped, then the clash of the titans would be his perfect opportunity.
Shouting out to Kora, he created a large ice barrier around her. Immediately after, he focused his mind and felt power surging through his body. Horse-sized icicles formed around him, hurtling out in all directions when they cracked, the smaller shards blasting into monsters and trees alike. He maintained this spell for a few seconds, after which he sprinted towards the plateau, Kora calmly following. The area they had been in was now a no-man’s-land, ice and blood and corpses and felled trees piled over the ground.
They made it to the end of the Black forest without major complications and slid down the precarious cliffs towards the plateau. The battlefield had changed a lot since their last view from the vantage minutes before as there was now a third player.
Yhaoli dominated the war in terms of size and significance, and in terms of number of kills. The obsidians spikes across its arms gored through several soldiers at once as it continued to rush into their formation. Following Yhaoli was the monster army, various species running down humans like ragdolls. While the Tribes were largely exempt from these deathcharges, clumps of monsters attacked clumps of tribesmen, providing insight the two armies weren’t as close as rumours suggested.
Eira was still the gem, the sweetheart, and the king of the battlefield though, because as Yhaoli broke into her army and attempted to chase her, she had massacred her way to the Tribes’ main unit alongside a team of Metoles. It was obvious while the Tribes had every chance of winning this all-important war, they had a similar chance of losing all their war leaders.
Orion mused on this, feeling no joy or anger at Eira’s actions, after all, the Tribes were an old enemy of the Zakari and Eira was an unforgivable one. Then, he spotted Kasib. Despite being so close to his target when in the Black forest, the bald Seeker was now hundreds of metres away from Yhaoli. It was obvious all monsters had been ordered to hold him down, and this turned out to be effective as the bald Seeker couldn’t teleport tens of metres away without another monster baring their fangs at him.
It was as the two Seekers entered the war and made quick progress towards Eira that Yhaoli’s booming voice momentarily stopped the war.
“KILL THEM! DO NOT ALLOW THEM IN HERE!”
Looking to where the giant pointed, men and monsters alike spotted pale, red-tinted, pure red, winged, wingless, large, small, and all types of figures. The one person who tied the whole group together was an average-sized person with hair the colour of thick smoke. He had crimson skin and three black talons across his extended jaw as long as the horns on his forehead. Despite not being intimidatingly muscular, his aura made his status obvious.
“Father,” Kora murmured under her breath. She knew Caleb had seen her and yet her father didn’t turn towards her, instead his gaze set squarely on Yhaoli.
Yhaoli seemed maddened by this reaction as its head shook vigorously. Anyone with sense, however, knew it wasn’t the reaction that angered Yhaoli as much as the Cruorems’ and their vampire lackeys’ appearance. There wasn’t anywhere better for a vampire to be, particularly one with mastery of Blood arts, than amid war.
While Yhaoli’s roar to his monster army had briefly distracted Orion, he swiftly refocused himself on Eira who was in the midst of fighting the strongest tribesmen. It was at that point, as he glared at her, that she turned to him despite being hundreds of metres away and in the thick of a deadly dance. The spinning and shooting icicles around him made it obvious who he was, and in response, she smiled sweetly.
50. The Fight
* * *
Yhaoli turned its eyes from Caleb to Eira, then back. It was stuck: Eira was its target, and considering the Imperial army was almost destroyed, killing her would end it all, but Caleb was a Cruorem, a high vampire. Given enough time, with the amount of blood at his disposal, the aged vampire could turn the entire war back into the Empire’s interests.
It was a risk, and Yhaoli eventually grinned at its choice. It had only burst up the ranks like a comet due to its risky choices, due to its luck, and there was no way it would lose that now. Roaring while shooting its arms to the side like a slingshot, Yhaoli charged towards Eira. Sure, its path was filled with living obstacles, but in its eyes, they were nothing but meat sponges.
****
A hundred metres away, disintegrating through his enemies, Kasib watched the Yhaoli begin its charge. As much as he was cautious of Eira and her army, she was a far better choice for human stability than the king of monsters. Seeing his chance come as most of the monsters turned towards the newly entered vampires, Kasib disappeared, reappearing tens of metres away. Still, he pushed himself and teleported again and again, until he was following Yhaoli as it hunted Eira.
*****
From his vantage, Caleb looked down derisively. He had long ago spotted his unruly daughter and the Zakari she had matched with, but he had likewise long ago shoved them out of his mind – he could deal with both of them later, when he would punish both for their sins. Even though Eira was here, Caleb doubted the Imperial General would have the power or the forces to stop him at that point.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t like he and she were on different sides. In fact, best case scenario would be her triumphantly destroying all her enemies, maintaining the Empire as her job description called for. But that was unlikely, or at least it was without his help.
Breathing in the musky, sickly odour of blood seeping up from the battlefields, Caleb shook his head wildly. While it was all low quality, most likely mixed with murky alcohol and mud, the quantity overpowered him and made his instincts flare up like a fever.
“Go,” he whispered. While his voice sounded seethingly cold to others, it was because he had bit down to take rein of his urges. Unlike other vampires, he rarely let loose with indulging himself, in fact he hadn’t in years now. And suddenly to receive a lavish feast like this, it really tested his self-control.
As his underlings flew and climbed down to the plateau, Caleb paced forward and leapt off the cliffs. He struck the ground so hard his bones shook, and yet in the next second there was blood swirling around him like fairy orbs. He broke through the weaklings as if they were puppets, draining them as he swept past. His eyes were stuck heavy on Eira, or more specifically, Yhaoli.
****
Even as Orion locked eyes with Eira, he knew he had support from Kora as the enemies that charged him in the corner of his eyes fell before making contact. Her smile unsettled him, and even more, it upset him. How dare that bitch smile at him sweetly after what she had done to his family?! Her own family!
As she broke from his stare, he came back to reality. Scouring around, he saw the giant that was Yhaoli pummelling down Tribe lines as if they were playthings. He could see the bald Seeker not far behind, his arresting eyes the very image of focus and conviction. Further on, he could see Caleb, the Cruorems head, moving haphazardly, zigzagging from foe to foe as blood rose and joined the putrid sphere of crimson floating above his head.
Orion realised he was a hand’s breadth away from his revenge, and he knew that meant he could act recklessly now. If anything, he would have to act recklessly to reach his end goal. Crouching to place both his palms onto the sloppy mud, he focused on his waves and his ice, feeling them merge after several seconds. Growling, he released the energy built up in his body.
The surrounding ground iced over, the change happening fast as it passed over man and monster, freezing their bodies over into beautiful and horrific statues. The spread of ice stopped several metres away from him, and here, he slammed his arm to the ground. As he released waves, the entire frozen boundary hopped into the air, most structures shattering under the pressure. Then, with intense control, he willed all the ice forwards
at deadly speeds.
Without surprise, this cleared out much of the space between him and Kora, the alive struck down like ragdolls. Still, he didn’t stop here, instead going further as in front of him grew ice, growing so tall it was viewable from any corner of the battlefield. His structure was half as tall as Yhaoli and looked like an oversized puppet due to its simple legs and arms.
Climbing up to his puppet’s head, Orion waited till Kora joined him to set his machine in motion. It clumsily ran forward, dragging up swathes of dirt as it kicked and crushed its way forward. There were several mages who saw his construction and shot fireballs at it, biting of flesh and even the right arm. Regardless, the machine closed the distance between Orion and Eira, only stopping as it was a few metres from her.
It hadn’t stopped by chance or by Orion’s order, instead it straight up refused any orders. Turning towards his cousin, he watched her as she closed her outstretched hand. Simultaneously, he felt an overpowering force crushing down on his creation.
But before it could crumble down, Yhaoli burst into the circle, booting away the Metoles who had tried to stop it. It slammed its fists down to Eira as she struggled in a mental battle with Orion. In shock, she hopped back, and at that moment Orion regained his machine. He ordered it to move forward and punt her.
Instinctively, she erected an ice barrier but this proved too weak as the foot burst through it and smashed against her body, sending her flying.
In the next second, Yhaoli was roaring from pain. Flicking his head over, Orion saw Kasib tearing through the monster’s heel. But before he could see what happened next, a comet struck against his ice machine, toppling it to the ground. As it crumbled, he and Kora escaped unscathed, only to see a group of ten Metoles between them and Eira.
Orion recognised the one in the centre, a metallic and wizened man who had so many scars across his skin it looked like someone had scraped it too hard. This man was the leader of the Metoles, Lucifer, and likely the comet he had felt. Just as Orion was about to attack, another enemy landed, only this one with smoky hair and blood covering his entire monstrous body.