by Bethan Johns
Year 10,391
I had been hunting down the creator of the creatures that had been haunting both sides of all our battlefields for a decade now. I had seen all diverse kinds, I had become the person that armies called in to destroy the creations by the thousands when they arrived on battlefields, but also when they arrived to attack small towns and villages.
One such incident had been a large city on a Human plane, they were massive metal creations that clanged loudly as they moved slowly, as large as the buildings around them. I could not use my creation magic upon the creatures, they were signatured against it. Signatured in such a way that I could not decipher the writer.
The creatures spewed fire and clawed hands down walls destroying buildings in their wake, pure chaos, pure destruction.
There were many planes and armies destroyed where word did not reach me quickly enough. I would capture creations and they would simply shut down, the life leaked from them like it was never there.
I could not fathom the madness that must be the person on the other end of this. I had once had to destroy a large number of my creations and it had nearly driven me mad for a decade. I had felt as though I had been ripped from my body and I had disconnected from the entire universe, that was only a number in the thousands, not the extent that was happening here. I did not doubt that Sierade had the power to create these beings, but it did astound me that she was still functional enough to do so anymore.
Rifting into Reves drawing room I walked across to him as he stood at his desk with his hands splayed across some papers. “Apparently my warriors were just fighting a battle with enormous spiders with water magic, many of the spiders actually managed to drown themselves.”
I shook my head and sat down, running my hands through my hair. I was tired of this.
“You believe it is Sierade?” Reves asked me carefully.
I watched him, we had not spoken her name to each other since that day long ago when she had destroyed half of his keep and thousands of his soldiers because he had slighted her pride.
“Yes. I think so. Also, it has become more obvious now that the pattern has emerged of the Rustlavayne army largely escaping being hit with the creations.” I said.
“Alone though?” he inquired.
I raised my eyebrow “Didn’t you learn enough about her power fifty years ago? I tell you from events that took place afterwards that what she showed you that day, was only a sliver of her capabilities.”
He shook his head, colour rising to his cheeks. “I suppose I just have a tough time wrapping my head around it, I don’t understand how she can wield such power.”
I shrugged. “She wanted it, so she took it”
She had been right, I had been reassessing and training myself in these past fifty years, I had powers I could tap into that I never believed possible. I could do as I wished with my powers if I willed it so. Every limitation I had set on myself, was purely one of my own making.
Reves looked uncomfortable. I thought back to the day that she had come to Elliot’s estate to speak to me about Reves, the night I had known she was making a wrong choice.
I was overwhelmed with anger towards him suddenly, and spun on him.
“Did you ever consider that the outcome of our fates may have been very different had you not been a complete asshole? Or is your head shoved too far up your ass to even realise what you did wrong? Like mine was.”
His jaw dropped, “You blame me for her behaviour? For the lives lost at her hand?
I took a moment to calm myself. “No, not fully, but you must admit that you and I both have had a hand in the way things are turning out.”
He shook his head. “I will never admit that about myself. What ways are you speaking about for yourself? What did you do to her?”
I thought of the times I had let her go. Every time I had not accepted our connection because I thought she was too different. I thought of the day she had told me she feared she would disappear into her power. I knew there was something terribly wrong. I was living in denial.
Lying to myself was easier than living the truth.
I stood. “I must go.”
He nodded resignedly, sighing and falling back into his chair.
✽✽✽
Sierade
Year 10,390
I watched as Gaelen appeared and threw out arcs of his golden power, destroying all in its path. Tundra could feel my anger, anger that he could so easily destroy my creations.
When I had first merged with Tundra, we had simply rejoiced and played for many years; but eventually, I wanted to see how the war was blooming. I saw the Rustlavayne had remained strong under Faust’s command, I saw that Sylek and Rislin were still lovers and still at Faust’s side.
I saw that Gaelen was growing stronger, I watched as he learned to strip away the dampeners he had self-imposed on his powers, and as he honed those new powers from clumsy to flawless.
Tundra hummed when he was near, when we watched him fight and throw his energy across thousands of my creations.
I had been hesitant to create them initially, but Tundra fed me the power and showed me that when we destroyed the creations we made, their energy could then be recycled. We could use it to make more creations to send into battle, or we could mold them into something beautiful; an idyllic paradise full of hope and laughter, or a plane of storms so large the sea creatures could become like birds in the skies, so the end result of my creations did not really matter.
I had again become part of the Tundra and it part of me. When the first large group of my creations had been killed, it felt as though a sword had been plunged between my shoulder blades and left there.
I felt myself crumble from the blow, but Tundra held me and stroked me. Tundra built me up and made me strong.
I no longer felt their deaths anymore, their deaths had evolved from death into change, into a simple transfer of energy from them, back to the Tundra, back to me.
I created many different types of creatures, Fire, Earth, Stone, Humanoid, Flying, Insectile. Anything I could think of I would create and then send forth into the world to test. As soon as Gaelen caught on to what was happening he would come forth and destroy my creations.
It was very irritating. I would be studying them to learn of weaknesses to fill, then he would come, and I would have to either kill them myself or have him kill them.
I sighed, it was nearing time to show my hand and to move on to the next part in my plan.
✽✽✽
Sylek
I had seen the reports of the creatures, I knew it was she, I had felt her pain the first time Gaelen had destroyed one of her armies.
I called out to her often, willing her to come to me. I knew she was lost, lost in the power and the magic. Lost to the madness. She had come back to me before when I called her.
I was in my bunk in the tent at the Rustlavayne Base Camp when suddenly I felt a flurry of her energy and we were again on the top of a mountain. I shivered, and she snapped her fingers so I was wrapped in furs. I watched her carefully. She was leaking energy; her body could not contain what was running through her.
“Hello Sylek.” She said softly.
It was eerie to be able to hear her soft words over the deafening whistle of the mountain winds.
“Hello Sierade.” I responded.
“What year is it now?” she inquired.
“10,391” I replied.
She nodded “I have heard you calling to me Sylek. I cannot yet come home to you, but if you have a request or would like to speak to me I once promised I would be here for you when I could be.”
“I missed you Si.” I whispered.
Her eyes sparked. I could see it then, running through her. The Tundra was inside of her right now. Passing through her body and speaking into her mind.
“I know Sylek. Parts of me have missed you. Achingly so.”
“I want you to stop with your armies of creation magics.” I said simply.
She shook her head sadly. “I won’t do that, there is a plan in place. You will find out soon enough.”
I shook my head. “They are calling you Chaos Goddess you know.”
“I like it.” She laughed. The noise drew goosebumps all over my body, it was her laugh, but I heard something underneath it, I heard the Tundra enjoy it as well.
“Sierade.” I moved towards her and took her hands. She looked surprised at the contact, and then rubbed her fingers along mine, I assumed she had likely not touched another being for fifty years. She was again gaunt.
“Please, you are killing so many innocents. Children. If you want to use magic to end this war quickly then fine, but stop sending your creations to innocent villages.”
She shook her head. “They are not dying don’t you see? They are going back into the Tundra, they then go out across oblivion to create new creatures and Sidhe, they become stars and oceans Sylek. I wish you could see.” Her eyes took on a faraway look as though she could truly see those stars and oceans.
I stared at her. “I understand that is what you see Sierade. I want you to try to understand me for just a moment here. I grieve for the lives lost. If you love me you will stop, you will fight for my side, and you will stop killing innocent children!” I spoke with vehemence.
I was not scared of her, nor the Tundra. I knew the power she held, but I also knew her fire, her passion.
I whispered now as she studied me carefully. “I have never asked anything of you. Please, do this for me.”
I took a quick breath before she could respond and spoke directly to the power living inside the female I loved. “Tundra, if you are listening, let Sierade follow her heart, I know that if I asked her, she would grant me this.”
I saw her calculating. I saw the abyss floating by inside her eyes as she did so. She was discussing it with Tundra, discussing the plans they had made and if they could alter them for me.
Finally, she nodded, “I will grant you this Sylek. Because of my love for you.” She leaned forward and kissed me, and I felt the power of the Tundra, I felt it touch me and I yelled in pain as I ended up back in my own bunk. Back at the Rustlavayne Camp, and she was gone.
Chapter 14 – Passion and Blood
Year 10,403AC
Sierade
I had done as I promised to Sylek. I only let my creations attack Nephilim and Fae armies. They were usually bested by Gaelen.
I knew that the creations were taking the wrong form, I knew the changes I had to make.
I was simply biding my time at this point, Tundra whispered to me that I should wait. So, I waited.
Until the right time.
I rifted to a hill above a large plain. There was an enormous army down in front of me, an army of Fae. They had many magics, I could taste it on them as I breathed in the wind that rose up the hill and blew loose strands of my hair around me.
Looking down at them squinting against the blaring sun I saw that though they were mostly in formation, they were not yet ready for battle. They were waiting for a different battalion to show up.
I snaked my eyes across the golden and green grasses as they blew softly in the wind. There were thousands of soldiers down there.
Tundra whispered to me that it could merely destroy them and use their energies for new planes or laughing children. I shook my head. Tundra could not understand.
Tundra was as drunk on my power as I sometimes became with it’s power.
I created a few thousand arrows to shoot through the sky towards their army. I wanted them prepared.
I heard shouts and saw their flame shields and wooden shields rise to protect themselves. I heard commanders of units calling orders and across the battlefield at the far end, I saw Gaelen’s large black wings appear. I smiled and started running.
✽✽✽
Gaelen
“Gaelen, Gaelen!” Bryln was standing breathless in the doorway of the dining room.
I raised my eyebrows.
“Your forces stationed on the Tripusaway Plains are under attack from an unknown source.”
I stood and rifted into the sky above my forces in time to see them readying their defenses and slamming their formation into place.
I looked up and far across the plain was a single figure. I knew it was her as surely as she knew I had just appeared.
I watched her silver magic tendril around her and for the first time in many millennia I felt at a loss. She was a single Fae. She did not have a creation army with her. Did she want to prove that she could best me and my legion of thousands?
There was a reason for this attack.
So, I stumbled. I faltered, looking deep inside myself I saw no forks or prophecies telling me which way to go.
I let myself drop to the ground beside Bryln. “Begin evacuation. Get every one of these soldiers out of here.” He nodded, his eyes wide and started shouting orders.
I flew myself back into the sky as I saw some of my numbers start to disappear, I knew it wouldn’t be fast enough, so I would distract her.
I blasted out my golden energy towards her and it did indeed make her falter; I let my colours shine brightly to try and grasp her attention. As I was about to rift directly in front of her, she raised her hand in one motion and from the earth beneath my soldiers very feet blasted up thousands of creations.
Just enough to cause the evacuation to come to a near halt. They sprang from the earth, some of them just appeared landing atop of units of men. The tree like creations were soon burning and there were creations of stone that crumbled, but more were springing up in place of the ones that fell.
I spoke to Bryln. Figure out how to evacuate without sacrificing too many lives. Do it now.
I rifted in front of her where she had now entered the battlefield and was fighting hand-to-hand with my men. She was quickly cutting a swathe of bloody remains through them.
I reached behind me and grabbed my sword from its scabbard running towards her, I rifted and gripped her arm trying to rift her with me. She smiled and hit me upside the jaw. I growled and blasted out a pulse of golden energy strong enough to send her back from me a foot. She drew her curved scepter, but left it silver. I narrowed my eyes on it and changed my short sword to ash with a thought. She smirked and ran at me.
Tundra she was fast, I had seen her fight, but I had not realized how strong her small form would be. When she landed a hit, it hurt.
She ducked in and out of my defenses and I put on a burst of speed to land a deep slice along her arm that she was holding her scepter with, she bared her teeth at me and her scepter appeared in her other arm. She spun quickly away from me and rifted behind me. Practically running up my back in her bare feet, she sliced a long cut up my left wing before I managed to hide it away as she rifted.
I narrowed my eyes and saw the silver gleam, the silver gleam that was her very being and I pulled her from her rift slamming her to the ground in front of me.
I pushed her down laying on top of her setting my blade to her throat. She laughed joyfully.
“I’m glad to see you’ve been taking my lessons to heart Gaelen.” She said.
I roared at her while pushing the blade into her throat, causing a stream of blood to drip into the dirt beneath us. She frowned, and the blade turned back to silver.
I sputtered for a moment and she pushed me forward and was suddenly sitting atop me, I was pinned to the ground and her blade was at my throat. It was now ash.
“I had that blade signatured.” I gasped.
She nodded. Eyeing her own blade.
I reached out with my creation magic now to touch it. I could feel her signature upon it. I looked for a way around it and could find no way to change the blade, just as there had been no way for her to change mine.
Yet she had done it.
I reached inside and looked to my raw power, rather than my creation magic and I simply pictured the golden energy wiping her blade clean. It struggled, it was not a soft cloth like I had expected, but
the power scratched along the blade like sandpaper and when I opened my eyes she was beaming down at the golden blade now in her hand.
She stood quickly in front of me, waiting. I sat up shaking my head. “How am I to fight you? What is the point of this?” I yelled at her.
She pouted at me. “Don’t you see Gaelen? You could still beat me. You just haven’t figured out my weakness yet.”
I stood up then. She paced around me, and I turned with her. I launched myself at her then and we re-entered the dance that was our battle and let my blade again change to ash as she let hers remain gold.