by Noëlie Frix
*****
Trélig and Juan were standing back to back, causing even more damage than they could have hoped for. Vines shot up from the ground, forming a ring around the two of them. Trélig controlled them, entangling enemy soldiers in their thorny clutches, poisoning them and sending them flying far away. Those who approached the Immortals and managed to miraculously avoid the plants, fell under Drugs’s influence—half were so stoned they couldn’t remember who they were, much less where they were, and simply dropped to the ground; the other half laughed and joked, tripping happily until they overdosed and passed out.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Disease spotted them—the huge green vines weren’t very inconspicuous, neither were the giggling cohorts of soldiers. She headed their way, the men and women around her coughing up blood and shivering from fever, dying in pain.
“I am sick and tired of having to deal with the two of you,” she shrieked, sending a wave of virus their way. Nature’s plants turned brown, began to wilt, but he just pulled new ones out from the ground.
“Are you sure you’re not just sick? Was that an intentional play on words?” Juan asked lightly, but the truth was that he was concentrating hard on Sciana, trying to undo her spells. She was causing an incredible amount of damage, cutting a significant hole in their troops. She snapped her fingers and both Immortals doubled over, coughing up blood.
“Oh, that must be painful. Your lungs don’t look so good; tell me, how do you feel about dying momentarily?”
“How do you feel about it?” Brandy asked and stabbed her in the back. Sciana looked down at her chest, where the blade had pierced her skin.
“Ow!” she seemed more annoyed than anything else. “That hurt!” she said accusingly, “You’re gonna have to try a lot harder than that, sugar.” Disease turned, meaning to curse Alcohol with a fast-acting, combined version of polio and pneumonia. But he did not react, except to look just as annoyed as her.
“My system’s pretty cleansed, alcohol tends to do that to me. Sorry sister. Guess it’s not your day.” For once, his speech wasn’t slurred, nor was his thinking hampered. Behind them, Juan and Trélig had recovered, and both attacked Sciana simultaneously.
“Three on one, that hardly seems fair,” she growled, dodging a poisonous plant, forcing herself to resist the combined and noxious effects of Juan and Brandy.
“How about two on three, then?” Zyla appeared beside Disease. The ground below them froze as did the plants, and more comically, the hair on the three Immortals’ heads.
“Bring it on,” Trélig boldly declared and they all attacked each other.
*****
Someone came at Heka from the side, his sword raised high. She didn’t even glance in his direction; her sword impaled itself deep in his stomach. Her eyes were fixed on her uncle, hatred and anticipation made the air between them thick with tension. They were both aware of everything going on around them, yet only paid attention to each other.
“So is this it?” Marcus asked, smiling mockingly, but his eyes were trained on her, devoid of humor, completely focused. “The ultimate showdown? War versus Warrior, facing off until one yields?”
“Neither will yield,” she retorted, not even bothering to fake a smile, coming to stand six feet in front of him. “But one’s army will fall. And it won’t be mine.”
“Your defeat will be my masterpiece.”
Heka’s lips did curve upward into a wicked grin. “You’re nothing,” she snarled. “And when you lose, I’ll laugh my head off and will never let you forget.”
“Is that so?” he growled and attacked.
*****
The warships drifted into the harbor and the enemy advanced upon them. The two Elementals and Electra stood at the heads of the three lead ships.
“Ma’am, we are almost within boarding distance,” the human captain informed Storm.
“Have your men stand at the ready. As soon as they are within reach, board them. Take out the ships’ helmsmen and captains first. Disable the rudder chains and sails or do whatever you can to sabotage their ships,” she reminded him.
“Yes ma’am.” He didn’t leave right away, and after a moment’s hesitation added, “If I may make a suggestion, I just had an awesome idea to defeat the enemy.”
“Yes?”
“We should send the fish!”
“Pardon? The fish?”
“Yes,” he nodded enthusiastically, “The sea is full of them. We should use that to our advantage and send them to board the adversary’s fleet. I can’t understand why the others haven’t thought of this before!”
“Yeah, me neither,” Electra answered confused.
The captain neared the rail and started shouting at the water, “Come here fishy, fishy, fishy! Go attack the meanie evil people who are bothering us.”
Bewildered, Electra turned to talk to Venthae, but another sailor approached her, “Ma’am?”
“No, we are not sending the fish to attack the enemy,” she snapped at him.
“Send the fish to attack our enemy?” he was clearly puzzled. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, sorry. Go ahead. What did you want to tell me?”
“It’s about the costume contest. It will be held in ten minutes, and, if I stay here, I won’t have time to prepare. I noticed I am really lacking in originality and that everyone here wears the same costume. Please, please, please, let me go change into something else. It’s my dream to win the contest. Pleeeeeeaaaaase,” he whined.
“Okay, just go and leave me alone. And if you could change into a fighting costume that would be great.”
“Are you kidding? Have you seen the other contestants? They’re all wearing military uniforms. Way to be creative, General! And, just a tip, I really want to help you out, you should change as well. Dressed like that, you have no chance at winning!”
“Leave me,” she ordered. “Confusion, I will rip you apart!” she declared clenching her teeth.
“General! General!”
“What now?”
“Why are you yelling at me? What have I done?”
“NOTHING!” she screamed.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” he whimpered and began to cry. “You are right. I’m sorry, I’m worthless. Farewell, Milady.” The man jumped overboard. Venthae barely caught him on time and brought him back with a gust of wind.
“Ma’am?”
“Oh no, I can’t take it anymore!” she was practically tearing her hair out. Remembering what had just happened, though, she took it upon herself and asked as nicely as she was able, “What is it?”
“Do you hear that music? It’s time to dance!!! Let the party begin!” he whooped.
“Are you all mad? We are in the middle of a battle. All of you, stand your ground, stay at your posts and listen up!”
“Chill! Try to see the positive side of life.” He started singing, “Don’t worry, be happy!”
Electra had a hard time keeping cool, so unreal was the situation that unfolded before her.
At that moment, a sailor passed in front of Storm, screaming “Party time!!! Everybody meet me at the swimming pool.” As he ran, he tore off his clothes, then jumped into the waves below.
“Argh, Party, go away! You were supposed to be on our side!”
The Immortal she had just invoked appeared next to her. He wore the ugliest, most colorful and shiniest attire she had ever seen; strung with beads, shining with sparkles and gems, with different mismatched patterns, Electra thought absentmindedly that he would win the costume contest in a heartbeat. His long hair was dyed with all the colors of the rainbow, and an insane amount of jewelry adorned his neck, arms, fingers, ears and ankles. To top it all off, he wore a golden crown on which the works “Party King” were spelled out with various precious stones.
“Of course I’m on your side!” he sounded so upbeat and happy it would have been contagious if Electra hadn’t been so pissed off.
“What are you doing here?” Storm watc
hed as her sailors continued to jump into the sea, certain they were headed for the best party ever.
“Heka sent me.”
“You’re supposed to be disrupting the other fleet!”
A man ran up to her, grabbed Electra’s hand and shouted, “Let’s dance, General!”
“Go away,” her throat was starting to feel hoarse. “You see what you’re doing?” she turned back to Party, glaring, “You’re decimating our own forces.”
“Well, sorry, but Warrior could have been more specific.”
Electra was starting to turn red, astounded by his indifference and casual manner.
“No problem, Electra. Chill, just relax, okay? You seriously need it.” And Party vanished, leaving a cloud of billowing sparkly rainbow colored smoke behind.
“Ma’am?”
“No, I can’t take it anymore. This needs to stop!” Electra was so mad, the sky seemed to catch on fire as it lit up with lightning which fell on the enemy’s fleet.
The captain came back.
“What?” Electra frowned.
“The fish is the real enemy, they lied, they’re not our ally. We should turn our ships around. That way we can aim at the water without trouble—the fish will not stand a chance.”
She sighed heavily.
“But before then, we should have nap time,” he continued and yawned.
The helmsman joined them, looking totally depressed, “Our weapons are fully loaded ma’am. All we need now is to turn them upon ourselves. This battle, this life, is not worth the fight anymore.”
“He’s right,” the captain agreed. “We must sleep or die. Or current position undermines this whole operation—we will die nonetheless if we do not turn around and kill the fish.”
“Argh! I hate those three!” Electra groaned with frustration. “Despair, Sleep and Confusion,” she yelled, “I’ll make you pay for this!”
Storm felt the ship lurch to the side and noticed the helmsman was at the wheel, turning them around. The other ships of their flotilla were all starting to head in different directions, on paths that would bring them crashing into each other.
“We won’t even need the enemy to defeat our fleet.” She called Water and Wind, who also seemed worried.
“Aquae, can you focus on keeping the ships headed in the right direction and slow down the others?”
Water nodded.
“Venthae—” Electra was cut off by the very unattractive sound of someone retching and vomiting. He was soon joined by half of the crew, all bent over the rails, coughing up their meals and entrails.
“This life is not worth it!” she heard one yell and he threw himself overboard before anyone could react. Venthae summoned winds that blew the men away from the rails.
“I hate Disease. Venthae, can you blow the coldest wind possible toward their fleet?”
“Cold?”
“Cold numbs and tires people.”
Wind nodded.
Electra watched as the ships rectified their course and the enemy slowed. But it wasn’t enough, and the adversary’s forces kept advancing, while hers were being depleted by confused, tired, sick and suicidal soldiers. She summoned lightning to strike some of the opponents’ ships, called on rain to beat down on their decks—none of it was enough, though
“Aquae! Venthae! Freeze the water!” she ordered.
“What?” they frowned.
“The entire place. Freeze it. Our men won’t fall to their deaths that way, just to a few broken bones, and it’ll stop the enemy.”
“It’ll also stop us,” Wind remarked.
“Yes,” she had to scream in order to be heard over the roar of the wind, waves, rain and thunder, “all but our three ships. We go to them, and they’ll be forced to fight the three of us. We just need to figure out a way to incapacitate their men. The cold and Party should already be helping with that.”
The Elementals obeyed. The air turned frigid, their navies stopped and it got much quieter—the polar silence broken only by intermittent screams of pain and despair. The three lead ships slowly advanced, the ice reforming easily behind them.
Soon, they could distinguish Sleep, Despair and Confusion at the helm of their warship. The enemy soldiers seemed to be in a frozen stupor, unable to do much but shiver and chatter their teeth.
“So the humans on both sides are taken care of!” Confusion called out to the three women. “I guess that leaves the six of us.” He jumped off and landed on the ice. Water quickly melted that spot and he fell with a short gasp…then reappeared right behind her. “Sorry, hon. I guess you were confused as to where I really was.” Aquae glared at him. “You didn’t think I’d be foolish enough to try anything on your turf, did you?”
Aquae’s sole response was to douse him with ice water she drew from the sea behind her. The pressure was so great it made Confusion collapse to the ground.
“I think you’re mistaken—a ship still consists of my turf,” she punched him in the face. He retaliated with a kick to the knee, making her stumble back. Water was about to stab him with her dagger, but aimed to her right while he moved left. “Focus, dear. Focus is the key!”
Meanwhile, Electra and Wind dealt with their own problems.
Storm faced off with Despair—she couldn’t help but pity him as she had never seen anything or anyone more pitiful. Emaciated, burned and scarred, with sad, sunken, tearful eyes, just looking at him seemed to remind her of every dark thought and moment she’d ever had in her 563 years of life.
“Just give up,” his voice was full of melancholy, slow and quiet, yet convincing, for his words seemed to ring with truth. “It’s not worth it. Nothing’s worth it. Even if you win this battle or this war, it’s only a tiny incident in the grand scheme of things. You’ll never be done with war and conflict. You will always be surrounded by despair. Humans find ways to create this without my help, and you live around them. You look sad and defeated, because you know. You know even if you emerge ‘victorious’ today, tomorrow, or in a few years, you’ll find yourself here again. It is the plight of Immortals. We can’t escape our own misery, so perhaps we are the unluckiest of all.”
“Shut up!” Electra felt like crying. She summoned thunder which boomed loudly overhead and drowned out Despair’s voice. Then she heard it faintly in her head.
“I’m inside you; misery and despair reside within your mind, inescapable.”
But Electra had already managed to regain some grip on reality, the thunder revitalizing her. She made a lightning bolt strike her, to Despair’s surprise. Her jet black hair stood on edge and a slightly crazed expression filled her eyes, but she was more focused. Storm directed the electricity from herself to Despair, who was knocked off his feet.
Water’s icy wave hit Confusion and froze him to the floor so that only his head and arms were free of the ice. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.
“Missed me!”
She smiled, “Oh, did I now?”
Her second wave caught him in the back and sent him sprawling to the deck where the water solidified.
“When you play with water, you’re bound to get wet.”
*****
Where Shadow and Death went, carnage reigned. Around Atos, soldiers simply dropped to the ground without breath or heartbeat, poisoned or stabbed. Jason moved quietly, as discreet and impregnable as shadows, stabbing his victims without even giving them time to acknowledge his presence. Both their victims died eerily quietly, especially compared to the cacophony surrounding them.
Death pressed towards Shadow, his desire for revenge burning in his eyes. Behind him, a number of bloody corpses rose and followed close behind, their eyes devoid of light. Jason saw him advancing, turned, and ran towards the fortress.
“What’s wrong?” Atos called after him, following easily. “Are you afraid, boy? I did not think you a coward.” A wry smile stretched his lips. “Maybe I was wrong.”
He followed him up the stairs leading up to the battlements where th
e dead archers lay. He was surprised to see Jason standing with five of the dead men surrounding him, their bows in hand.
“This will make things more interesting.”
The archers released their arrows which he easily avoided, though four of his own undead fell. Which only leaves me with about thirty others…plus Death himself, Jason thought apprehensively.
“Do you really believe you stand a chance?” Atos asked and three soldiers lunged at Jason whose blades cut off two heads while his sword struck the last’s heart. Shadow noticed very little blood flowed from the wounds, probably due to the fact that it no longer flowed through their veins and arteries. He barely had time to glance back in Death’s direction before being met with more of the latter’s forces. Jason walked behind the five archers and focused on controlling them. Although they were more skilled than Atos’s, Shadow couldn’t control more than that effectively and was therefore vastly outnumbered. One by one, he saw the archers fall. Had he had a moment’s respite, he would have been able to use other souls, but Death would not give him the opportunity and Jason fought against the morbid onslaught.
Suddenly, Atos sent his minions away and faced Jason. “You are skilled. But no match for me. And you know it,” he declared calmly. “You can’t win.”
“Maybe I can’t, but we’ll take you down.”
“That remains to be seen.”
Atos swiftly moved forward, his own daggers drawn. Jason turned to smoke and appeared behind his back. He aimed for the spot in Death’s back where his heart would be. His knife found nothing but air. Shadow felt cold metal slide across his arm and poison enter his system. He forced himself to remain upright and kept his eyes on his adversary.
“Not to worry, eh. It’s non-lethal to you. But then again, poison can be so incredibly painful,” he brought both of his daggers forward. Jason managed to avoid one, even grazing Death’s shoulder with his own, but the other embedded itself between his ribs. He felt warm blood run down his side, but more than anything, white-hot pain flared deep inside him and made him fall to his knees. “You know, if you were of a similar mindset, I would gladly teach you a trick or two. You’d learn a lot. But, alas, you chose your camp,” and he punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.