by Eric Vall
Flashes of color caught my eye in the sky, and I stared at them for a minute until I realized what they were. High balconies reached out from the buildings, and people with large kite-like instruments glided through the sky between them. My two women stood beside me and watched them for a moment in wonder. Galencia had changed so much in the time that I had been gone.
“What are those, Haruhi?” I asked as I watched a person high up snap open one of the instruments and jump from one of the balconies.
“Here they are called Shurshi, but they go by different names in other places,” the sage replied as she watched the person on the glider loop quickly through the air to another balcony farther away. “I believe that the Galencian people use them as a sort of delivery system. It’s faster and more efficient through the air than on foot.”
“Would you ever try it?” I asked as I looked down at her and grinned.
“Oh no, I would never,” the librarian laughed as she placed a paw over her heart. “I’m terrified of heights.”
“What about you, Morrigan?” I smirked over my shoulder to the elven woman, and she raised an arched eyebrow at the question.
“It may be effective for the people of this city, but it just seems silly to me, and I could not picture myself doing it,” Morrigan replied in her cold voice. “If I needed to send a message to another tower, I would send my ravens to deliver it.”
“Alright, Haruhi,” I stated as I laid a massive hand on her shoulder, and the sage looked up into my face. “Tell us where we need to go.”
The streets of Galencia were wide and filled with groups of people. Most of them consisted of two or three women clothed in black with markings on their faces and one large man behind them like a guard. The men and my appearance matched perfectly, and I was glad that my memory hadn’t failed me. I moved in front of my women, and I felt the eyes of the people in the street on my hulking back. I didn’t sense any kind of danger near us, and I wondered why they were looking at us so strangely.
“Master,” Haruhi whispered to me in a low voice as she grabbed onto my arm. “You need to walk behind us …it’s customary here.”
I’d already seen it, but hadn’t realized it. All the big brutes walked behind the women in black, and their faces showed their obvious disapproval. I squared my shoulders and stood even taller than ever before. I glanced back down at Haruhi’s worried face, and her hazel eyes pleaded with me.
I nodded once as I moved to the back of our party. I continued on through the crowd to more stares from all directions. We walked a long time through the streets and towering buildings with Haruhi guiding us where to go. It took us half an hour to get to our first turn, and when we did, we came to an even busier street filled with shops. Food venders lined the walkways with bars and shops on the other side. We talked quietly amongst ourselves while we walked, and very few people glanced at us after I’d moved. We strode past them and noticed a massive wall of more hulking men. We sauntered past them until a feminine voice lifted into the air with an obnoxious laugh.
“These women must believe that we’re still in the dark ages with those outfits!” The voice cackled, and the wall of muscular men parted to reveal a single woman sitting at a table alone with a glass of wine in her hand. “And those hairstyles! They look like poor country bumpkins.”
“Excuse me?” Morrigan snapped back, and my eyebrows raised in surprise. “I do not think any of us asked for your opinion.”
The elven woman’s voice was filled with venom, which was something that I rarely heard. The woman who spoke to us wore the same type of outfit that my women did, though much fancier, and her long pleated hair was jet black. She held the glass stem loosely in her fingertips as her nearly black eyes moved over our party with malice. Her thin lips were pulled down into a deep frown as she scrutinized us. She set down the glass and pointed directly at me with a pointed, black fingernail.
“And your Rohling, he is just the same,” the woman snarled open-mouthed at me, and I glared down at her. “He is cheap and dirty; take care of your men.”
“What is a rohling?” Morrigan whispered over to Haruhi.
“It’s the name they use for the Vakgor men.” The sage muttered out of the corner of her mouth, and Morrigan inclined her head.
“We are merely trying to pass through,” I stated in a tight voice. “Let us move along.”
“You need to teach your Rohling some manners,” the black-haired woman glowered at us. “They mustn’t speak unless spoken to.”
Her black eyes swiveled to my two women, and they both glowered back at her with hate. Morrigan stepped in front of the much smaller sage and placed her hands on her ample hips in a defensive stance. I’d never seen the elf react in a way such as this, and it aroused me unexpectedly.
“He has every right to speak as we do, we will not tell him to hold his tongue when he wishes to say something,” The mage snapped, and the woman on the stool nearly knocked over her wine glass right as she reached for it again. “We don’t take orders from powerless wenches like you.”
“Sotie!” the group of hulking men shouted together as they moved to make sure their leader was alright, but she held up a hand to them, and they froze.
“Quiet,” the woman commanded as she stepped forward and glared into Morrigan’s pale face. “I need to teach these outsiders a lesson.”
“Guys…people are watching,” Haruhi whimpered nervously as she whipped her head around and tugged on my arm. “We’re supposed to be inconspicuous, we can’t fight anyone right now…”
What the sage said was true, we were supposed to blend into the crowd around us, and the elf let her emotions get the best of her. I couldn’t let this go on any longer. I grabbed the mage by the arm and attempted to pull her away from the Sotie and her group of men.
“Morrigan, please…this isn’t part of the plan,” the librarian cried as she grabbed onto our arms, but her pleas went ignored.
“No! I will not back down! I won’t allow her to insult not only us but him!” The elven woman snarled as her hands began to glow emerald green.
“Morrigan,” I stated in a low voice as I glanced at the people gathering around us. “Let it go, let’s move on.”
“I came up with disguises and wigs for nothing!” Haruhi muttered as she threw her hands into the air exasperated. “All of that time and effort!”
Haruhi’s voice changed as she spoke, and I heard the tinge of rage beneath the surface as she paced behind us.
“Part of the plan?” the woman asked as a wicked smile spread over her lips, and she tilted her head curiously. “You really aren’t from Galencia, are you? I knew it, you don’t fit in at all. Who are you?”
Haruhi continued to rage on behind us as she quickened her pace. I’d never seen the sage react like this before, she was always calm and collected, but right now, I could tell that anger was burning up in her belly.
“It’s none of your business, we don’t have to answer to the likes of you or your army of overgrown ogres,” Morrigan spat as her lips curled back against her teeth.
“You absolutely have to answer to me,” the woman grinned as she placed her hands on her hips. “I’m the lead Sotie, leader of all the other lower-ranking women in this township.”
“We don’t care who you are,” Morrigan laughed and then swung her delicate hand back.
The elf’s hand connected with the Sotie’s cheek with a loud slap, and the dark-haired woman reeled back. The Vakgor’s didn’t react, but only waited for their master to recover. The woman blinked in surprise then straightened as she held her glass of wine in clenched fingers.
“You will, once my men destroy all three of you,” the Sotie barked as she tossed her half glass of wine at us.
The red liquid flew through the air, and I watched it hit the librarian. The wine dripped down her front, and Haruhi stared at it with wide, horrified eyes. The rage within her had accumulated to a peak and now, the Sotie would feel her wrath.
“--t
he disguises were perfect and you!” the librarian pushed between Morrigan and me, and it took me a moment to realize that Haruhi wasn’t pointing her finger directly at the Sotie’s head but instead, one of her shiny revolvers. “You ruined everything! Couldn’t you just let us pass by? Huh? Couldn’t let one thing slip by you because you’re ‘oh so important.’ Eat lead, bitch.”
The sound of Haruhi pulling the hammer back was deafening, and before any of the Sotie’s men could move, the gun exploded in the sage’s hand. I saw it all in slow-motion as the bullet whizzed from the barrel with a puff of smoke. The silver casing turned and shot through the air toward the Sotie. The woman clothed in black barely had time to blink before the bullet entered the middle of her forehead and exited out the back. Blood sprayed into the air and dribbled from the exit wound as her body teetered on her feet.
One of the Rohling’s rushed forward and grabbed her limp body right as it was about to fall. He cradled it in his arms then whipped his head to me and growled through yellow teeth. The five other men stepped threatening steps toward us, and I grabbed Haruhi by the back of her dress and tossed her away. I gripped Morrigan by the wrist and hurled her toward the sage, and they both looked at me with confused expressions.
“Go!” I commanded through a yell as I faced off with the Rohling’s. “Find the tunnel and wait for me there!”
“We want to help! We can help!” Haruhi shouted to me as she held onto Morrigan’s hand, but I shook my head.
“No, take your sister to the tunnel, Haruhi, do it now!” I screamed, and the librarian held onto the elf tighter and took off down the street.
I normally wouldn’t do this, my women were capable and trained with their weapons but now was not the time. These men were huge and strong, and I needed them out of the way if I was going to fight them all. I knew that I could do it, but I couldn’t let my women be in danger while I was distracted. I was grateful that Haruhi obeyed me, though I hadn’t doubted that she would go for a second, but it eased my mind in this situation.
I faced off with the six massive men and looked into each of their eyes. They were simple-minded just as the librarian had told us, and they would be easy to defeat. I wouldn’t need the God Slayer in this situation, I would use my new, massive hands. I wondered for a moment what they would do now if I left them alive, would they find another Sotie to protect, or would they wander alone for the rest of their lives?
I planted my feet and raised my closed fists up in front of me as I smirked at the six of them. They narrowed their eyes on my towering form, even in this body, I was much larger than them.
“Alright, who wants to test their strength against a true god?” I growled through my teeth.
Chapter Twelve
My women disappeared into the crowd as I faced off with the six Rohlings. The behemoths were trained in fighting and battle, but their movements were sloppy, so I assumed that they won most battles merely by their brute force instead of intelligence and strategy. There was six of them and one of me, but they had no idea what they were up against. I was a true god and could strike down powerful gods with a wave of my hand, mere mortals were no sort of challenge for me.
I summoned up the illusion goddess’s and the Liebe’s powers and combined them together as two of the hulking men roared toward me. I invaded their minds like a disease, and their beady black eyes glossed over. The man on my left shook his head in confusion as he saw his brother appear to look like me and vice versa. They both snorted and sniffed like enraged bulls as they faced off with each other, both of them seeing mirror images of me. The two Rohling’s charged with their gummy lips pulled down in loud howls of anger.
The first Rohling tackled his brother to the ground and used his meaty fists to bash in his brains. The second Rohling barely had time to react or even make a sound in protest. Nothing but wet squelches could be heard as his brother grabbed him by the head and bashed it against the cobblestones.
I smiled wickedly to myself as I turned and summoned more of my powers to me. One of the remaining four Rohlings threw a punch at my head, and I instinctively ducked to avoid it. The air above my face whistled from the power behind his closed fist, and I felt time slow as I bundled all of my dark power in all of my limbs. I dropped low as the Rohling brought his arm back and moved to strike down at me, but I was too fast for him. My right arm jabbed out surrounded in an undulating mass of black energy.
I hit him in the middle of his chest, and a shockwave rolled out from the point of impact, cracking all of the bones in his chest cavity. The Rohling was thrown backward into the brick wall of the building behind us. His head rocked back from the impact, and grey matter splattered up the building in a long, wet streak as I turned toward the other three Rohling’s.
Their beady eyes watched me cautiously, the one on the farthest right glanced over to the one straddling their brother and beating his body to a bloody pulp. They hadn’t expected this at all, and it only made me hunger for more violence. They’d thought I would be an easy target to take down, but they were very wrong. I was a god, and they were merely overly muscled mortals. There was no competition between us, and they knew it.
I summoned up Nergal’s power to me and focused in on the middle Rohling. I pushed the energy away from me, and it overcame and consumed him. Before my very eyes, his flesh began to rot and peel away in long grey and green strips. His eyes sunk in, and the fatty tissue of his face withered away to nothing but taut flesh and bone. He reached out for his two brothers, but they took frightened steps away from him.
The rotting Rohling’s body fell forward to the ground as his poisoned lungs struggled for breath, and he crawled toward me, his eyes pleading with me. I felt a rush of power all around me as my eyes connected with the Rohling to the left. I stepped purposely and slammed the heel of my boot down on the dead Rohling’s skull. The bone cracked under my immense power and exploded outward on the ground. The two remaining men took stumbling steps backward in fear, but I approached with my hands outstretched.
Two twin black flames crackled to life in my hands, and they pressed themselves against the brick of the building behind them. This was what I lived for, the fear in my enemies’ eyes right before I killed them. I wanted these men to suffer, and I wanted the whole of the city of Galencia to see, but I couldn’t do that right now. If I used too much of my power, the Holy Band would be on us within hours, and we had to get far away before that could happen.
The people gathered around us had already seen the powers I’d used so far, and I couldn’t use anymore. Some mortals, like Morrigan, could wield dark magic, but if I showed more of the powers I’d taken from gods, it would be suspicious. More suspicious than a rohling sorcerer, I suppose. I strode toward the last two Rohling’s, and they cowered away from me, one even brought up his huge hands and hid behind them.
In one swift movement, I grabbed them by the sides of their heads and cracked them together. One second, their craniums were perfectly intact, and the next, they were nothing more than bloody messes of gore and alabaster bone. Their headless bodies spewed blood from the remains of their necks and slumped to the side. I turned to the wide eyes of the crowd and the last remaining Rohling. The colossal man continued to beat and pound the lifeless mass of what was left of his brother’s body.
The Rohling’s meaty paws were covered in sticky, scarlet blood and bits of flesh. His beady eyes were wide, and his lips were pulled back in a snarl as he beat the body of his once brother. I stood behind him and watched as he pummeled the unrecognizable face of the other Rohling. It was pathetic, the Rohling’s were so simple-minded that even the smallest of illusions were able to turn them against each other.
I pooled all of my dark power into my avatar’s body, and it vibrated and thrummed with energy waiting to explode. I loomed over him, my enormous shadow covering his back and the ground in front of him as I let the illusion drop from his delirious mind. A deep, rumbling cry rose from his mouth as he took in what he’d done to his bro
ther, and he turned halfway in horror to look up into my face. There was nothing he could do, he’d killed one of the Rohlings, and now he was going to lose his own life.
I slammed my right hand out into his massive back. His skin and bone parted for me like paper, and I ripped my way through to the front of his ribcage. My hand enclosed around his pounding heart, and a soft moan escaped his lips as his eyes rolled back in his head. I gritted my teeth as I gripped my fingers around the slick organ and ripped it free. The Rohling’s body fell forward onto the corpse he’d beaten to death. The heart in my hand beat twice then went cold, and I let it drop to the bloodstained cobblestones.
The surrounding crowd gasped as I breathed in deeply and took a step toward them. The group parted around me and watched as I passed with wide, frightened eyes. I was covered in the Rohling’s blood, and I moved quickly away from the scene. The citizens of Galencia turned and watched me walk down the street away from them as they whispered about the carnage. Their words and thoughts showed no mention of magic or the Holy Order, which gave me a bit of relief.
I left the scene and hurried down the side streets as I searched for the beat of my minion’s hearts. It took longer than expected, but I assumed it was because of the tightly packed buildings all around us. The deeper I went, the dirtier the streets and buildings around me became. This part of the town where the underground tunnels were was old and rundown. It looked as if most of the squat houses hadn’t been lived in for years, and many of them had boarded-up windows as I hustled past.
Smoke permeated the air from large factories in the distance and shrouded the old part of town in soot. It collected on my weathered boots, and I tracked it down the street in shuffling tracks. These were the places I’d seen long ago from the heavens, and it looked as if they hadn’t been touched since then. The city of Galencia had industrialized then left their old city to rot. A strange sense of melancholy wafted over me as I passed the empty homes and buildings I used to watch over for fun. It reminded me of the lost city in the desert that had once worshiped me. Unlike this place, that city was overtaken by the desert and lost to time, but here, it seemed as if time had simply stopped.