by N M Thorn
“Don’t hesitate to unleash your full power, Salamander,” he ordered. “My purifying fire can contain your natural state. We need to keep Eve busy just a while longer.”
This momentary distraction gave Eve time to regroup. She reverted to her demonic state, tapping into her full power of the air demon. Rising at least ten feet tall, her look was bloodcurdling. Her vile face resembled a scull with parchment-like skin stretched over it. Deep in the eye sockets of the scull, a venomous yellow fire was burning with abhorrence and malice. Her hair got longer, and its dirty strands were slithering in the air around her head like a bunch of entangled snakes. Her spine twisted, forming a large hump on her back and a bony spike protruded on each of her vertebra. Her hands morphed into giant talons and she struck Uri’s protective wall with her raiser-sharp claws.
Her strike made a tiny opening in the fire shield and she cackled, sending a small wave of her dark magic through the opening. The hole closed up almost immediately, but her magic escaped into the outside world. Gunz heard cries of fear outside the protective circle. He carefully touched the wall of cold flames and found that just like a regular fire, it obeyed his command.
Gunz commanded the fire to let him through, walked outside of Uri’s fire dome and halted, staring at the mayhem and devastation that unfolded before his eyes. The whole Festival was in a state of mass panic. The people were running, screaming and crying, chased by a pack of volkolaks. Enormous vicious animals were attacking people, slashing them with their claws, ripping their flesh with their monstrous fangs. He heard a few gunshots, but he knew that regular bullets would do no damage to the volkolaks.
Dammit, I’m sure someone already called 9-1-1… and probably animal control too. More people for volkolaks to have fun with, Gunz thought, swinging his flaming sword at a nearby monster.
He killed a few volkolaks and stopped, realizing that without reverting into his natural state, he couldn’t get rid of the pack of monsters of this size.
“Hey, Fire Gecko.” Gunz heard a familiar voice and snapped around. Sven was standing next to him, his oversized eyes glowing with a bright phosphoric light. “Go back behind the fire circle, little lizard. Angel should be here in a moment. Aidan and Uri need you there. I’ll take care of these mutts. After all, I am a god of nature.”
“Svyatobor,” said Gunz, “I hope you noticed that these are not wolves. These are demons. There is nothing natural about these monsters.”
“I know,” said Svyatobor, snickering. “If I die, I’ll ask you for help.” He laughed and pushed Gunz through the fire back inside the circle. In the last second, Gunz saw that Svyatobor started to change his appearance, shifting into a large brown bear that was holding an enormous axe in his paws.
Here is something you don’t see every day. And I thought all those Russian legends and myths were nothing but children’s bedtime stories, thought Gunz, switching his attention to what was going on inside the dome.
Aidan was back in action, but both Uri and Aidan seemed to have a problem dealing with Eve’s demonic powers. Eve kept disappearing, morphing into her incorporeal state. Using their confusion, she was popping in and out, attacking them from behind when they couldn’t see her.
“Aidan, why aren’t you using your other sight,” yelled Gunz. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but he thought that Aidan as a god would have the magical sight.
Gunz roared, reverting into his natural state, rising to the same height as Aidan. The energy of fire spread around him, filling every inch within the protective dome. Eve yelped in pain materializing right in front of Aidan. As soon as Aidan saw her, he struck her with his icy sword, but before the blade could reach her, she already shifted into her incorporeal state and his sword did no damage.
Gunz closed his eyes and observed the area using his Salamander’s sense. Eve was playing a game of cat and mouse with them. With her bodiless presence, they had no real weapon against her. Both Uri and Aidan were attacking her with their magic and their swords, wielding the fire and the ice, but nothing was working. Gunz joined their attack striking Eve with the undiluted energy of the elemental fire. She was avoiding all their strikes easily, appearing once in a while, either to assault them from behind or to mock them acidly.
“Hey, guys!” Sven’s desperate voice sounded in his head. Gunz flinched, not expecting that the Russian deity could communicate telepathically. “What’s wrong with you? Three young god-like men can’t handle one ancient demonic hag. I need help, guys. People are dying. There are too many of these furry monsters here and I can’t be in every corner of this park at the same time. They seem to multiply faster than I can kill them…”
Police sirens sounded somewhere in the distance. It meant more humans were coming to the park. They would charge the wolf-looking demons with their mundane weapons that would do no damage to them except making them angrier and more vicious. More people to kill, more possible deaths, more spirits for Eve to infect with her demonic energy and throw at the veil.
I wish Mishka was here, thought Gunz with regret. Last time the wyvern got rid of volkolaks like it was nothing for him.
“Yeeha!” Mishka’s joyful battle cry rang through the air, right outside the fire dome. “You called, boss?”
I wish I had a million dollars, thought Gunz, chuckling. “Mishka, I am so happy to hear your voice, buddy!” yelled Gunz, stabbing the air demon as she popped right in front of his face. “Sven is dealing with a little volkolaks infestation in the park. Can you assist him?”
“You want me to help that cruel trickster, boss?” asked Mishka carefully.
“Yes!” yelled Gunz, twirling in place to avoid a stream of Eve’s foul magic.
“Okay, boss, I’ll get rid of these assorted mutts, but can I also dispose of the mean trickster at the same time?” asked Mishka.
“No, Mishka. Sven is on our side.”
“Aw, too bad,” mumbled the wyvern with a sigh, sounding crestfallen. “But after I’m done with the mutts, can I at least fry the mean trickster a little?”
“Ugh, Mishka, no!” roared Gunz, expending his fire energy to draw Eve out of the shadows. “Help Sven! Save humans! Kill volkolaks!”
A moment later, he heard Mishka’s happy battle cry carried through the circle of fire, joined by Sven’s wild laughter. The wind sped up outside the fire dome. Something clapped and knocked loudly, and a wild cacophony of sounds accompanied whatever Svyatobor was doing. But as long as Gunz could hear the howling and yelping of dying volkolaks, he didn’t really care what it was.
In the meantime, the situation inside the fire dome hadn’t changed. Gunz had to keep his fire energy flowing all the time to stop Eve from keeping her incorporeal state for too long and give a fighting chance to Uri and Aidan.
It wasn’t news that neither of them could kill Eve and keeping her inside the dome forever wasn’t an option either. While Uri seemed to be unphased by all the use of his magic and fighting, Aidan was starting to slow down. With dread, Gunz realized that if Angel wasn’t going to show up any time soon, Eve would break through. She managed to damage the protective wall of fire once, she probably could do it again on a bigger scale.
A light wind brushed through the area, penetrating the fire dome. The evening light started to dim down and gradually got replaced by an impenetrable darkness. The ground trembled slightly. The only light that illuminated the area isolated by the dome was the burning fire and white light emitted by Aidan’s body and his sword.
“Finally,” exhaled Aidan, breathing laboriously. “Angel is here.”
The fire dome opened up at its apex and a figure of a man, supported by enormous black wings, started to slowly descent to the ground. Gunz stared at him in awe, hardly recognizing the cheerful young Spaniard he met in Aidan’s school. Angel was dressed in black pants and shirt with a long black trench coat over it. His long dark hair was flowing down his back, falling below his shoulders. His obsidian eyes were sparkling with danger below his thick black eyebrows, as he w
as whispering an enchantment in a language that sounded either like Latin or the Dragon tongue.
“Aidan, I’m ready to open the void,” said Angel. His voice filled all the space, surrounding them with the magical energy Gunz finally recognized. It was the energy of Death itself.
Angel folded his wings behind his back and twirled in place. As he was spinning, absolute darkness surrounded him. Aidan seized Gunz’s arm and pulled him to the opposite side of the fire circle. Uri flew all the way to the top of the dome. In complete silence, Eve’s shrills of horror were deafening. She attempted to disappear, but Gunz hit her with the fire energy, bringing her back to visibility.
Angel stopped spinning and opened his magnificent wings to their full extent. Behind him there was an absolute nothingness, a dark shapeless void. The winds were howling inside the void and only the bright zig-zags of lightnings were splitting the pureness of its blackness.
“It’s ready,” said Angel, approaching Aidan and standing by his side. “We need to do it fast as it takes a lot of my strength to sustain the void open.”
Eve hooted laughing, the yellow light of her demonic eyes becoming brighter. She flew higher up and folded her bony arms over her deformed chest. Her scornful gaze darted from Angel to Gunz and then stopped on Aidan.
“You never had what it takes to kill me, stepson,” she hissed, venom dripping from her lipless mouth. “What makes you think that you can do it now? Two thousand years later, you’re still the same scared twelve-year-old boy.”
“You’re right, I couldn’t fight you then,” said Aidan calmly. “Almost twenty-five hundred years ago, I was a little child, helpless and scared, begging you for the life of my beloved siblings and you showed us no mercy. But I don’t know if you noticed, I’m not that little boy anymore and I’m not facing you alone.”
“Good luck to you and your flock.” Eve guffawed, throwing her ugly head back and the entangled strands of her hair moved around her head, shaking with her sinister laughter. Eve waved her talons goodbye and melted into thin air.
The ground shook again, and green leafy vines broke the surface. They were growing quick, stretching up into the air, their stems becoming thicker and stronger. The vines wrapped around Eve’s arms and legs, pulling her back down and suspending her in the air, as she struggled fruitlessly.
“Where do you need her, boys?”
Gunz turned to see Sven standing a few steps back, Mishka nestled on his shoulder. Sven swung his arm and the vines obeyed him, moving Eve and positioning her in front of the void. Eve shrieked curses and spells, but nothing was working against Sven’s power over nature.
Realizing that she couldn’t break free, Eve changed her tactics. She stopped threatening Aidan and started pleading with him, calling him her favorite son and promising him all the riches of this world and any other world. At her words, color drained off of Aidan’s face and if he could look any paler, he would probably be green. As he pressed his hand to his stomach, Gunz started to worry that he was about to throw up.
“Let’s get it over with, Aidan,” said Gunz, squeezing his shoulder.
Aidan channeled his full power and his appearance started to change. For a moment his whole body shone with an unbearable white light and when the light subsided, Gunz saw not the Aidan McGrath, but Aodh, a god of the Otherworld, in the way he had never seen him before. He was dressed in clothes of an ancient hunter-warrior – leather pants and jacket, trimmed with furs and feathers. He stood tall with his icy sword in his hand and a bow with a quiver was strapped to his back. A heavy gaze of his blazing white eyes stopped on Eve and his lips curved in a glacial smile.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment forever,” he whispered.
He pointed his sword at Eve and a powerful stream of his power walloped her in her chest. Eve cried out as Aidan’s power surrounded her, immobilizing her. Gunz channeled all his fire and his whole body got engulphed with smoldering flames. He halted next to Aidan, rising to the same height as him and directed the flow of the fire at Eve, joining his attack.
As Sven released his vines, Eve got pushed a few feet closer to the void. A dangerous growl rumbled in her chest as she started to weave her rancorous magic again. The dark mist rose from beneath and she started accumulating it between her arms. Dark tentacles were sprouting from the mist, wrapping around her arms and her body like an indestructible body armor. Seemed like this spell was giving her back some of her strength, as she started to fight their powerful assault, inching her farther away from the void.
“Aidan, I don’t know how much longer I can hold the void opened,” said Angel quietly. “It sucks my power like a vacuum.”
Gunz threw a quick glance at Angel and frowned. His face was tensed, his outstretched arms were shaking, his black wings opened fully, and it was obvious that a few minutes later he would be out of power and out of strength.
“We need help, Aidan,” said Gunz, “do you want me to summon Kal?”
Aidan eyes darted to Gunz for a brief second and he shook his head no. He shouted a spell and a dense bubble of his power shield surrounded Eve, cutting off her connection with the dark mist. Eve swiped her talons across his shield, ripping it to shreds. The mist got thicker and now she looked like she was wearing a long shimmering robe that was wrapping, moving and slithering all over her oversized grotesque body. Its movement was sickening and entrancing at the same time.
Uri extended both his arms forward and sent two rays of his power toward Eve. He wasn’t trying to strike Eve. He was aiming his power at the dark mist of her spell. As soon as the golden flames touched the mist, it hissed, shuddered violently and started to dissipate. Eve howled in rage, but her connection with the darkness she was wielding got severed. Slowly, the joined offence of Aidan and Gunz started to push her back toward the void.
“Aidan!” growled Angel. “I can’t hold the void any more… do something! And do it quick!”
The help came unexpected. The wall of the fire dome came widely apart in the middle and two women walked inside. One was tall and slim, her body clad in medieval armor, completed with chainmail and a long travel cape. She had dark skin and piercing grey eyes and Gunz recognized Missi. The second woman was none other than Tessa, but she looked strong and self-assured, even a little taller.
Neither Tessa nor Missi asked anything and seemed that they knew exactly what was going on here. Missi quickly assessed the situation and walked to Angel, stopping by his side.
“My lord, may I assist you?” she asked, bowing to him.
“Yes, please,” moaned Angel, “I would deeply appreciate your assistance.”
She placed her hands on Angel’s shoulders and whispered something, channeling her magic through him. He took in a ragged breath, but his tensed face relaxed a little, his hands stopped shaking and he was able to fold his wings behind his back.
Tessa approached Aidan but didn’t say anything to him and looked at Gunz. Her eyes filled with warmth. Gunz smiled at her tentatively but couldn’t talk to her as Eve was starting to break through again.
“Tessa, I know you’re new to all this,” yelled Missi, “but you need to try, girl. Let your power flow!”
Tessa stepped closer to the void. It seemed that the void didn’t affect her in the way it was affecting all of them. She reached up and lightning struck from the clear evening sky connecting with her hand, and the thunder rolled over, rattling the fire dome. Tessa’s eyes twinkled as she enjoyed her own strength and power.
“I can do it,” she said mostly to herself.
She gathered the electricity in her body and redirected its flow toward Eve. After that, she kept reaching for the lightning bolts, propelling them forcefully at Eve one after another. Eve cried out, shouting curses and spells, but nothing could help her against the joined assault. Little by little, she was pushed to the edge of the void. She stood there, swaying, scolding Aidan with her glowing yellow eyes.
Gunz stopped the flow of his fire and approached Tessa. “Tessa, l
et Aidan finish it,” he whispered in her ear. Tessa lowered her arm and gave him a surprised stare but didn’t argue.
“Aidan,” said Gunz, turning to him, “she’s all yours.”
Aidan glanced at him, his face frozen in cold determination. With a last effort, he channeled more power and the whole dome got flooded with the brilliant light of his magic. He cried out, like someone was tearing him apart and slammed Eve with all he had.
She moaned and waved her talons at Aidan. For a moment, her demonic face got replaced with her beautiful human features, her blue eyes filled with tears and she stretched her hand to Aidan. He ignored her silent pleas, increasing the flow of his power. As she got pushed farther back, the shadows of the void swallowed her.
Angel closed the void and let go of his magic. With a sigh, he eased himself down to the ground and rested his arms atop his bent knees. His dark wings disappeared completely, and he morphed back into the normal young man Gunz used to see at Elements Martial Arts.
With agonizing slowness, Aidan walked unsteadily toward the place where the dark nothingness of the void was just a second ago. He moved his hand from left to right, like he wasn’t sure that it was all over – the void was closed, and his evil stepmother was no more.
“She’s gone… she’s truly gone,” he whispered, his voice painfully hoarse. “Oh, God…” He dropped to his knees, hiding his face in his hands, and his whole body shuddered. “After almost twenty-five hundred years, I’m finally free of her curse.”
Gunz let go of his power and looked down at him. Tears of relief was running down Aidan’s face as he raised his eyes and met Gunz’s steady gaze.
~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~
As soon as the void was closed, Mishka moved from Sven’s shoulder to Gunz’s. He embraced him with his golden wings and whispered into his ear that as much as he regrets it, he had to go. The wyvern promised to come back tomorrow and vanished, leaving a warm trail of fire behind. Sven walked up to Missi and they conversed about something in hushed voices. After that, he put his hand on her shoulder and they both disappeared. The situation Eve created in the park needed to be taken care of and between Missi’s magic and Sven’s godly powers, they could take care of it easily.