How Gods Bleed

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 20

  As Imbaka slept she resembled a corpse, lifeless and still, where even the breaths she took were silent. Cada Varl could not blame her for the way she must have been feeling, but he had to keep her motivated somehow. Gokkus had been killed because he had lost his will, Cada Varl promised himself that he would not let Imbaka out of his sight for anything. In those moments he cursed the world he had been responsible for and the power he now possessed, for it was not enough to keep the world safe.

  For their remaining time in Kajudo Cada Varl talked excessively, about every little thing he could think of. He hated the silence and wanted to do everything under his power to prevent it. Imbaka however talked very little, it was clear she was listening to the Immortal and may have even been grateful he was talking so much. But she could not ignore the reality of her predicament. Every time they made camp Imbaka would bury her head in the various maps she had carried throughout the journey, focusing on where they had to go and the reasons why they were in the west in the first place. With only Imbaka needing water and food, supplies were easily attained, from water to various fruits, none of which Cada Varl or Imbaka had ever seen before.

  From Kajudo they traveled through the lowlands of Meserk and then onto the plains of a place known as Kulhoth. The entire time they saw no enemies, Imbaka ensured that they only traveled through areas known for their low populations. As they progressed the landscape always seemed to become more and more opened making the two of them feel more isolated than they ever had before in the west, like the very world itself no longer wanted to have anything to do with them. Through these months Cada Varl always followed closely behind Imbaka, he wanted to make sure he kept his promise. Imbaka had proven herself a strong individual so it certainly wasn’t that she needed the Immortal to protect her, but rather the other way round. Cada Varl hadn’t lied when he said he admired the Helluvans and over the course of these violent days of the west he had genuinely grown affection for them. To him Imbaka represented something that he had always missed, the power of the human spirit. Not only did he need her to survive, he wanted her to survive, to be able to tell stories about the other Helluvans and the brave sacrifices they had made to protect the humanity of Noonsva. They were heroes, each and every one of them deserving greater legends than anyone or anything the Immortal had ever heard of.

  When the two of them entered the lands of Balkeg they knew they had entered a place that would be occupied by some kind of enemy and they were right. Thankfully far in the distance they could see a sight they knew was coming in the west but had yet to see it for themselves. A massive bulk of monsters, numbering as high as a million was moving through the landscape. It was an awe inspiring sight to behold even from such a distance, as their armor shone in unison in the light of the sun causing them to glow as if they possessed powers unknown to humans. More impressive than the sheer size of the army was how unified and organized the march was. Divisions of various troops, from heavy infantry to skirmishers all could be seen in this great mass of armor and dark fur. Machines of war, created from designs humans would think too complex to actually be built were common amongst this army. What all the various purposes of the machines were could not be told from such a distance but there was no doubting they were instruments of destruction. The only thing that could be told about this armor was who they fought for; the light green that signified Metamok could be seen amongst the shining armor.

  The possibility that Metamok himself could have been leading them was not overlooked either as Cada Varl and Imbaka watched them like an ocean moving through the landscape.

  “They must be heading to the grand city of Dolovis,” Imbaka said her words weakened by the awe of seeing such a sight.

  “Do we need to go anywhere need there?” Cada Varl whispered even though there was no chance the massive enemy army could hear them from such a distance.

  Imbaka shook her head, “Thankfully no,” with this revelation Cada Varl felt more at ease.

  He looked away from the sight of the werewolf army towards the east, where he could see something flash in the light of the sun. He gasped loudly drawing the attention of Imbaka upon him as his eyes became fixated on something in the distance. The light he could see remained long enough for him to know that it was hadn’t been an illusion of his own mind. He raised his arm and pointed, “We have to head in that direction.” Imbaka was hesitant at first for she had never seen Cada Varl so animated before. She followed the direction of his finger and narrowed her eyes as she looked upon the strange almost golden light somewhere in the distant mountains.

  “What is that?” she said more to herself then to her companion.

  “Hegadakore,” Cada Varl said as if he was looking at something divine. “I remember that glow well.” Cada Varl waited for Imbaka to begin walking before he did but it was clear the golden light had reminded him of his homeland, a place they were now only a few days walk from.

  For the first time in a long time Cada Varl remained silent, his mind consumed with memories that had not been thought about for many a year. There was renewed vigor in his walk, moving faster than he ever had in the west, excluding the times he was in the heat of battle. Imbaka even allowed him to walk ahead of her putting the responsibility upon herself to keep up with him. Not once did Cada Varl take his eyes off of the near golden light he saw. Even when the terrain changed levels under his feet he kept his eyes upon the last place he saw it.

  In spite of how quickly Cada Varl’s desire had made them move they still did not reach the mountains by the time the sun had gone down. The Immortal had to focus hard on putting his frustration aside and do what needed to be done. They had been moving mostly through opened fields that offered no protection from a hostile eye and were forced to remain in the open. Because of this Imbaka did not bother to forge a fire believing it would be too easily seen. The blankness of the night sky made it difficult for her to see, for there was no light source that her eyes could draw from. As she eat an evening meal of dried fruit and salted meat her chewing seemed to sound like thunder, at the least to the two of them. Though the near golden light had vanished with all the other light of the world Cada Varl continued staring towards the last place he had seen it. He remained silent, which concerned Imbaka little for she had her own powerful thoughts that could not be ignored.

  Later that night when she fell asleep she reminded Cada Varl to keep a look out in all directions. She had every right to remind him of this for his mind was so consumed by just how close they now were to his homeland that he would easily have abandoned his nightly duty. In a bid to keep his mind away from such thoughts, he stood up and placed his back to the direction of the mountain. He stared out upon a rather quite boring landscape of fields and little else. He had to keep reminding himself that at any time an enemy could come within sight. Lands that were so opened had already proven themselves to be ideal for a large army to move through, an army of far too many enemies for even Cada Varl to defeat.

  This thought reminded him of the strange redness that had covered his hand. He glanced down and through his eyes he was able to see it, he was glad that the redness hadn’t increased in any measurable way but that did not completely put his mind at ease. Whatever power it was that had awakened after he had lost his humanity was something he was not certain that he could control. Because of that power he had survived to this point, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Aneeku and Nara without this unnamed power, yet it was frightening to think about.

  Slowly he lowered his hand and looked back out into the dull night. They were now so close to the underground chamber, a simple matter of several days at the most. He just hoped that in those days he would not come upon a reason to need the unnamed powers.

  When dawn broke the next day Cada Varl was eager to see Imbaka wake up so that they could continue onwards.

  Remembering his manners Cada Varl asked how she slept to which she replied “Coldly,”.

&n
bsp; Her tone was dark but Cada Varl did not pursue it knowing what terrible dreams she surely must have been suffering through.

  After Imbaka had eaten a quick breakfast they were on the move again. They could see the near golden light had now grown in size, meaning there would be only a matter of hours before they reached the lands Cada Varl once called home. Those hours seemed to pass like minutes as both Imbaka and the Immortal stayed silent, consumed by thoughts of a vastly different nature to one another. After ascending a steep slope that rivaled the height of any hill the two of them reached the edge of the mountains, in the valley before them they could finally see the source of the near golden light as rock faces covered the landscape on all sides. Cada Varl was so quiet he made regular silence deafening as he looked upon the gathering of Hegadakore. He had not been here in for thousands of years and the realization of where he was standing now struck him like the most brutal of blows. Memories once thought forgotten resurfaced in his mind clearer and stronger than they had ever been. He could see his old kingdom of Gatavoi in his mind’s eyes, the fields of crop, the houses of his fellow men and women, even the great castle that his once king had called home. He could even smell the flowers of Gatavoi, those rare breeds that only grew in his homeland.

  He did not embrace the memories that played out in his mind but rather felt haunted by them. They were the ghosts of a past that he could never relive, no matter what he did. He could see the Hegadakore, the gold like metal that had been the lifeblood of his kingdom beyond the valley and other mountains glowed exactly the way it had all those thousands of years ago.

  “Imbaka,” he said very softly after an era of silence. Imbaka could see the trouble in his expression and responded gently.

  “Yes Cada Varl,” Imbaka replied.

  The Immortal did not answer right away as the ghosts now felt like they were trying to destroy him from the inside out. “What is this place now called?”

  Imbaka slowly looked out to what lay before her with eyes that revealed she was hesitant. She looked back to the Immortal and spoke as if she was breaking the truth about a fictional hero a child admired. “This whole area is known as Zermuet, what lays before us doesn’t have a specific name.”

  Upon hearing this the shoulders of the Immortal rose as he could feel something inside of him demanding that he fall down.

  His memory then told him something and so he said, “Are these not the Deupenddous valleys?” to this Imbaka took a long breath as she remembered Cada Varl would have heard her speaking of them back in Helluv.

  “Cada Varl,” she said gently wanting to ensure her words were as peaceful as possible. “Deupenddous…means nameless.”

  He managed to remain standing as the ghosts of the past changed to demons of the present. Nothing was left of his kingdom, not so much as a single ruin anywhere to be seen. The werewolf king Gorgoza hadn’t even bothered to give this place an individual name; werewolves had little use for gold let alone something that only looked like it. This is what his kingdom had become, a faceless terrain of a nameless place. Perhaps for the very first time since he lost his humanity, he cursed his own memory, the one thing that had kept him going for all these years. He could feel the hand of Imbaka being placed gently onto this back, a simply way to let him know that she was there for him. Cada Varl slowly looked upon her and she looked back. He searched her eyes perhaps knowing for the first time just as beautiful they were. They did not remind him of sexual desire but the beauty of humanity, and that was enough to bring him out of his own head and back into reality. He looked back to the landscape doing his best to ignore the ghostly visions of Gatavoi burning to the ground.

  “The underground chamber is somewhere out there.” He looked to Imbaka as he said, “Let us go and find it.”

  To this Imbaka gently nodded and allowed Cada Varl to take the lead as they entered the valley. As he moved through it he could not rid himself of the visions in his mind as his imagination worked with his memory to torment him. He could even hear the screams of child, men and women as they were brutally ripped apart and devoured by the monsters he had created over 4,000 years ago. He could even hear the voices of people asking him why this was happening, why couldn’t he have stopped it when he had a chance? He tried to tell himself that the whole mutation of Noonsva was something that not even the gods would have been able to stop. He had to force all of this out of his head for his eyes were needed to be concentrated on the ground, for somewhere in this place the underground chamber could be found.

  Snow had fallen recently in this place, not heavily but enough to cover the ground in its white purity. It seemed strange that the mountains showed little sign of snow on their heights, like it had only fallen in certain places. Stranger still Cada Varl had no memory of snow ever falling on Gatavoi. But as he was now horribly aware this was no longer Gatavoi but simply a part of a landscape the werewolves barely bothered with.

  Cada Varl and Imbaka searched for the remainder of the day but they could find nothing, leaving the first valley and entering a second. The fall of night forced them to make camp as the stars and the full moon returned to their rightful place in the black sky. Within the nocturnal light a mesmerizing sight befell the terrain and the Hegadakore all around them shone brightly. It was like nothing Imbaka had ever seen, it was beyond beautiful to look upon. Even to a Helluvan the sight left her breathless as it shone like it was the only light in a world of utter black.

  “Beautiful isn’t it?” Cada Varl asked keeping his eyes upon the shining Hegadakore.

  Imbaka nodded, “I would struggle to think of another such sight that possessed so much beauty.”

  Cada Varl slowly looked upon Imbaka and in the light of the Hegadakore her eyes shone so brilliantly. The Immortal admired such a sight for a long moment before he said, “Thank you.” Imbaka bowed her head as a sign of both acknowledgement and respect. Even though the light of the Hegadakore made it easy to see, Imbaka still forged a fire, intending to cook some kind of stew. Her spirit seemed dampened by the fact that she was cooking for only herself and as she filled a clay bowl, she took a moment to look around the outside of the fire. Cada Varl was not the only one being haunted by memories as the ghostly visions of her fallen comrades sitting around the fire consumed her mind. She ate quickly and seemingly as a way just to distract herself she began to study her maps once again. The entire time she had been eating Cada Varl had been standing staring at the glow of the Hegadakore. It was one of the few more pleasant memories that played out in his mind.

  When he was a child they were a beautiful sight to behold but as he became an adult and the magic of childhood left him he had grown use to their glow. Back then he had the chance to look upon it almost every night and had eventually found them no more interesting than the night sky. But now as he looked upon them he remembered how he felt about them when he was a child, they were magical back then, just like they seemed now. The memories however became like a burden on his mind and he soon had to look away from them.

  As he took a seat around the fire he looked upon Imbaka who seemed not to notice his presence. “In only a matter of days you will be heading back to Helluv,” Cada Varl said doubting why he had said such words in the first place. Imbaka raised her head, her eyes as somber as those of the Immortal’s.

  “We haven’t found the underground chamber yet Cada Varl,” she responded calmly yet firmly. “But we will,” The Immortal replied looking away from her and towards the Hegadakore.

  “Yes,” Imbaka replied firmly.

  It was like both of them knew where the conversation was heading but both wanted to delay such a direction for as long as possible. Cada Varl looked back to his companion saying nothing. Imbaka then knew she would have to be the one to say, “The journey is almost over….”

  “What will you do when it is complete?” Cada Varl asked with unnamed emotion.

  “As you said Cada Varl return to Helluv,” Imbaka replied. The Immortal now stood up
and moved around the fire so that he was sitting right next to her. The look in Imbaka’s eyes revealed that she had no objection to this.

  “Which path will you take? For the werewolves will be nothing more than a bad memory.”

  Imbaka studied his powerful red eyes remembering everything she had seen in them since she first met the Immortal.

  “The most direct one of course,” she said. But she knew that if nothing else Cada Varl wanted to rid himself and her of the silence that had fallen over the camp. If they were successful then silence would be something Imbaka would have to grow use to as she made her way back to Helluv, all alone. This revelation made her want to talk and she explained in great detail the number of paths that she could take. She even talked about seeing certain buildings and monuments she heard of in legend, places she never would have been able to see while the werewolves still existed. To a Helluvan it was a very weird feeling, speaking almost positively about things their hated enemy had built. Cada Varl listened intently, he was genuinely interested in every word she had to say. She spoke for perhaps an hour or so before she fell silent.

  Cada Varl however could not bear the silence, it allowed his memories and imagination to torment him too much.

  He said gently, “What will you do after you have reached Helluv?”

  “Whatever my king needs me to do.” Imbaka answered quickly as if she was somehow unnerved by the question. She looked away from Cada Varl and into the fire, “Werewolves are not the only enemy of Helluv and with their presence no longer a reality I am certain Granzool will have to deal with eastern problems.”

  Cada Varl stared into the fire becoming strongly silent. When Imbaka looked towards him she could see that he was troubled by her answer, as if he was expecting an entirely different answer. Imbaka thought for a moment about what the end of this journey truly meant, whether they succeeded or failed Noonsva would be forever changed.

  Imbaka watched the flames for a moment before looking back into the eyes of the Immortal. “When I am not needed to serve my country, I will write….”

  Her gentle words drew Cada Varl to look upon her as he asked, “What will you write?”

  “About this journey,” Imbaka answered slowly knowing the magnitude of the conversation. “I will make sure that this story is known for future generations, not just of Helluv, but the entire east. I will write about Leannol, about Tanagy, about Hazum Ka-te, about Zova and Gokkus and the sacrifices they made to protect all men, women and children of this continent.”

  Cada Varl nodded as he looked into the fire, her words touched him greatly and he needed a moment longer to absorb them.

  “I will also write about the great sacrifice you will make,” Imbaka said with firm words. Cada Varl looked back to her, his eyes consumed by heaviness. He could not look her in the eye when he said, “I am only solving all the problems that have been caused because of what I had become.”

  “Willingly destroying one’s own existence is a sacrifice, regardless of the reasons behind it,” Imbaka countered. Her words had not been said out of any kind of malice or condescension. Cada Varl slowly looked back into her eyes before looking towards the Hegadakore. He said nothing at first but then raised his finger towards it as he said, “ The light of the Hegadakore remind me of many things, but most importantly its light reminds me that I am a relic of a forgotten time. I have one thing left to do, before my time is over, and it is long since overdue.”

  Upon hearing these words Imbaka placed her hand within his, easily drawing his gaze back to hers. “I am sure that you will never be forgotton Cada Varl and while I cannot talk for anybody but myself, I will remember your sacrifice and do everything in my power to let others know of it.”

  Cada Varl searched her eyes, he became burdened by many feelings, some of which he did not even know the name of.

  “Thank you,” was all he could get himself to say; Imbaka then smiled knowing she had comforted the Immortal.

  Gently she removed her hand from his and said simply. “Good night, Cada Varl.”

  the Immortal did not answer right away he merely watched as she placed the maps back into her pack and laid onto the ground next to the fire.

  “Good night,” he said eventually. He watched her sleep for some time before he stood up and turned to face the Hegadakore. He knew he had to keep an eye out for enemies even though chances were slim of such an encounter.

  The night before he had almost been like a child waiting for the night before their birthday to come to an end. Now Cada Varl felt more like a condemned man as he waited for the final hour to unfold. He could do nothing against the thoughts they played over and over again in his mind, so he let them be as he stood staring at the Hegadakore.

  When Imbaka awoke that morning her eyes were glazed over, carrying within them a mixture of both weariness and fear.

  Cada Varl noticed this immediately. “What troubles you?” he asked greatly concerned, it was the first time he had seen Imbaka looking tired.

  Imbaka rubbed her eyes before she said, “My dreams were dark and constant as I slept.”

  “What did you dream of?” Cada Varl asked, concerned by her words.

  Imbaka looked him in the eye as she said, “I only remember that they were dark and fearful, like my waking mind cannot comprehend what they showed me.”

  Cada Varl became silent, unsure of what he should say.

  Not long after Imbaka was about to have a simple breakfast when Cada Varl suddenly insisted that she have a cook meal. Though unsure of why he wanted her to do so Imbaka forged a fire and cooked a hot meal. As she sat their waiting for it to be cooked she sensed that Cada Varl merely wanted to sit and stare at the fire alongside her. They had done this before many, many times but maybe Cada Varl believed the darkness of her dreams was some kind of Omen, that this was the last chance the two of them had to merely sit and stare at the flames of a roaring fire. In that time almost nothing was said and Imbaka ate her breakfast in silence before the two of them resumed their search for the underground chamber.

  They passed through another valley, they were certain it did not hold what they were looking for. When they came to the next valley they could see that the snow had not fallen as heavily and pieces of Hegadakore could be seen within the ground. They had only taken a handful of steps into the valley when Cada Varl suddenly stopped, prompting Imbaka to do the same. She followed his gaze and looked upon a fairly large area of Hegadakore within the ground. What made it different than all the other pieces was the shadow of it that formed in the light of the sun was pointing towards the light, not away from it as it should have been doing. The shadow was an unnatural one, meaning only one thing that they were now insight of the underground chamber.

  Cada Varl and Imbaka walked quickly over to it making sure that they did not step within the shadow. They looked down and in the eyes of Imbaka she could see nothing more than random edges and indents formed by nature. But to Cada Varl they were something else entirely. Carefully he ran his fingers over the indentations several times and soon Imbaka could envision a series of symbols in her mind.

  “What does it mean?” she asked.

  Cada Varl stopped tracing the symbols with his fingers as he said, “Only the gods know.”

  He then looked away from it into the eyes of Imbaka and his said bluntly, “This is the entrance to the underground chamber.” Imbaka did not know what to say as a thousand thoughts rushed through her head. The end of this journey was now so near that even the air tasted different. Suddenly they both looked away from each other and towards the direction in which they had come, their eyes widened by concern and bewilderment.