"Why can't you do that, Kaidia?" Nadia asked.
"Because I haven't spent every single moment of my magical training on one spell," Kai answered. Her own bolts of lightning were nothing short of impressive, but Rykar was basically a lightning cannon when he chose to be. Even if he couldn't cast any other sort of magic, with a mastery of lightning such as his, he rarely needed any other spells.
"You are simply jealous, General," Rykar teased.
"You keep telling yourself that, old friend," Kai chuckled.
"We are still in the middle of a battle here," Nadia said, looking around.
Many of the soldiers looked absolutely astounded at the damage that had resulted from the magical assault. Many more appeared demoralized by the power that had been displayed and by the wholesale slaughter of their comrades. Rykar turned to the remaining soldiers and looked them over appraisingly.
"I think this means we win, boys and girls!" he shouted to them. The men and women that remained looked around at one another, then started to look rather angry.
"Oh sure, Rykar. Just piss them off," Kai muttered, more annoyed than worried.
"They're much better sports that way, dear Kaidia," Rykar replied, nonchalant.
"You are both completely insane," Nadia growled.
"I won't argue, but what does it say about you that you're here with us?" Rykar asked with a smirk.
"...shut up," Nadia grumbled. Rykar simply laughed.
"Heads up, you two. Here they come," Kaidia said. She was right; the remaining soldiers lurched into motion, charging forward as an angry mob instead of a disciplined unit. As a result, the first wave of attacks was easily dodged, blocked, or countered by the companions. Once more, bodies were dropping to the flagstones, blood slickening the smooth surface beneath the companions' feet.
The fury of Adathir's troops was evident in their wild attacks. Kaidia, Rykar, and Nadia remained calm and calculating. Kai and Rykar seemed more at ease, almost indifferent to the fact that all of these soldiers were trying to kill them. Nadia was a bit more concerned with the whole situation. The outcome of the individual battles varied little, however, as paladins and foot soldiers kept falling, their lives taken by sword, axe, and magic. Nadia, while not inexperienced, wasn't as comfortable in battle as her sister or Rykar and thus, moved with more rigid motions. Kai was fluid and graceful, yet powerful. Rykar was much the same. It was likely due to this that one of the few remaining paladin's managed to get a strike in on Nadia. The girl jerked to dodge it, but the tip of the man's blade cut her cheek. The success, however minor, caused anger to swell up within the young woman. She whirled around with her axe and severed the paladin's head from his body in a vicious stroke.
Luckily, that soldier was the last to focus on her. The final few fell to Rykar and Kaidia. As the trio tuned toward the temple, Rykar was chuckling.
"What's amusing you?" Kai asked.
"Your sister has the same white hot rage you do," Rykar answered.
"I saw," Kaidia responded.
"He cut me," Nadia muttered.
"We saw," Rykar replied.
Kaidia stepped over and took a hold of Nadia's chin with her free hand, turning the girl's head to get a good look at the wound.
"It isn't bad. You'll be fine," the older sibling said with a smirk.
"Thanks, I know," Nadia said, pulling her chin loose of her sister's grip.
"Hey... do we know who that guy happens to be?" Rykar asked, pointing toward the temple. The man in the armored robes was walking down the temple steps toward them. The hood of the robes obscured his facial features.
"No. But I'm willing to bet that he is someone like us. Skilled with sword and magic," Kai muttered softly.
"Lovely," Rykar chirped with a cheery sarcasm.
"Well, he's headed this way. We'll find out soon enough," Nadia stated, readying herself.
The robed man walked steadily toward them and then paused a few paces away. He said nothing and simply held his hand out to his side. A scythe appeared in that hand, materializing out of nothing. It was a variant made strictly for combat, the wickedly curved blade mounted on a straight staff instead of a curved one like a farmer would use.
"Oh, that's delightful," Rykar remarked. He seemed to get more sarcastic as this whole situation continued.
"He thinks he's the reaper," Kaidia muttered.
"One good swipe of that thing and he might be right," Nadia commented.
"Well then, remember to duck," Kai replied before moving away from Nadia, farther out to the robed man's right. Nadia moved to the man's left. Rykar was backing away, toward a few dead soldiers.
The reaper lunged at Kai, swinging his scythe at her head. She took her own advice from moments before and ducked under the blow. She straightened up just in time to leap backwards and out of the way of a second strike. The man moved unnaturally fast. He wasn't just another soldier for Adathir.
Nadia charged at him, axe and sword drawn, only to be held at bay by a swipe of that razor sharp scythe. Rykar tried a different tactic. While the sisters had the scythe-wielder's attention, Rykar picked up a shield that lay abandoned on the ground near one of the dead soldiers that littered the courtyard. Once both sisters had been pushed back for a moment, Rykar flung the shield at the robed man's head. It cut through the air and slammed into the man's skull, the sharp edge drawing blood that quickly stained the hood of the reaper's robes from the inside out.
"See there! He's flesh and blood!" the lord announced with a smirk.
The scythe-wielder launched himself at Rykar. The long-haired man just grinned and deflected the strike of the scythe. The sisters were quick to attack from behind. The robed man whirled, striking out with his weapon. Kai skidded to a stop, out of range. Nadia skidded to a stop, but not quite quickly enough. The blade of the scythe cut through the leather armor she wore and knocked her to the ground with a shout. She rolled and jumped back to her feet, her armor gashed, revealing a gouged steel plate beneath. The strike had nearly been much worse.
Rykar saw Nadia's damaged armor, but before he could react to it, Kaidia had jumped at the robed man, sword brandished. Despite her face being covered, the lord could tell Kai was pissed off. If nothing else, the vicious attack on Adathir's reaper was enough to give it away to anyone. She slashed and stabbed relentlessly at the robed man with her blade. The black sword started glowing red hot, Kai's magic flowing through it. She struck with a speed that was edging into the unnatural. The reaper was having trouble keeping up with the attacks and finally didn't manage to block or dodge. The heated blade of Kai's sword sliced through the man's shoulder armor and into the shoulder itself. A cry of pain rang out, nerveless fingers dropped the scythe, and the mercenary pulled her sword back, the blade already cooled, returning to its usual black. She sheathed the weapon and picked the scythe up from the ground.
The robed man started backward, only to cry out in agony and fall to a knee, courtesy of Rykar's sword slicing through his calf. Death was moments away and the would-be reaper could think of nothing to save himself. No magic came to mind, no hidden blades were pulled in a last attempt to save his life. He just stared out of his hood, feverish, heart hammering in his chest, eyes locked on the black armored Kaidia as she stepped forward and raised the scythe.
Kaidia swung the scythe downward, slicing into the man's neck and down through his chest, the blade coming out of the man's ribcage, cleaving through skin, muscle, and bone. Blood sprayed in the air, splattered and spilled onto the flagstones as the robed man's body fell into two pieces. The air was suddenly still and calm.
"Is it too soon to mention how ironic that just was?" Rykar asked, gesturing to the body, obviously rather amused.
"Probably," Nadia said without looking up from inspecting the damage to her armor, fingers stroking over the gash in the leather and the gouge in the metal underneath.
Kaidia, scythe in hand, turned and started for the temple.
"Where are you going?" Rykar asked.
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"To the temple," Kai replied.
"Why?" the lord inquired.
"There are still some Adathir faithful to smite," Kaidia responded. Rykar couldn't tell if Kai's choice of words had been intentional or not.
"They're just priests," Nadia pointed out.
"I don't care. They represent a dead evil that I despise," Kai said, turning to face Nadia. The younger sister shivered. She couldn't see her sibling's eyes, but she could feel them. It felt as though Kaidia's gaze was burning right through her already damaged armor.
"Fine. Just... give them a chance to repent first or something of the like," Nadia said, bending down to pick up the axe and sword she'd dropped when she'd been knocked to the ground.
"We will see," Kaidia muttered as she turned back around. Nadia and Rykar followed the mercenary as she stalked toward the temple, stepping over bodies as they went. As the trio moved closer to the stairs of the temple, all three abruptly jerked to a stop, a strange charge going through the air.
"I suppose everyone else felt that too," Nadia muttered. Rykar and Kaidia nodded, eyeing the temple. The ground started to shiver underfoot. That shiver quickly grew to a rumbling shake that lasted for several long moments before simply stopping, leaving everything silent.
"That was... ominous," Rykar said softly, eyes still on the temple.
"Is it ever really anything else? Like an avalanche of kittens?" Nadia quipped.
"Where the hell does your mind go, dear?" Rykar asked, giving the woman a strange look.
Nadia didn't get the chance to answer. The doors of the temple exploded off their hinges and sailed outward. One of them flew right over the companions and crashed to the bloody, body strewn ground behind them.
Out of the temple stepped a large man, clad in crimson armor that covered him from head to toe. He carried a large sword in one hand and stood head and shoulders above Kaidia, who was no small person. If not for her skin being so pale, she'd easily be mistaken for an amazon. This man towered over most. Kai and Nadia recognized him immediately, the blood in their veins running cold. Rykar only knew who he was from the renderings of various artists. The man was Adathir.
Kai's blood had turned to ice and had then, just as quickly, started to boil. She'd killed this man nearly half a decade ago. Severed his head from his body, in fact. This man had fired the ensorcelled arrow that had slain her wife. Images, sounds, smells from that day crashed over Kaidia like a wave, threatening to drown her in sorrow and grief that she'd long buried so deep that she'd thought it all but gone. She remembered holding Ashlin in her arms and she recalled that last kiss she had shared with her beloved. A white hot rage surged through Kai's body and burned away all the sadness, all the sorrow, and left only a seething, blazing anger. Before she even thought about it, Kai flung the scythe in her hands straight at Adathir, just as the massive man was reaching the bottom of the temple steps.
Adathir jerked out of the scythe's path and watched the weapon sail past, only to crash through the front window of a nearby building. Adathir turned his head toward Kai and smirked, though the expression was hidden by his helm.
"Kaidia, dearest. Your temper is as volatile as ever, I see," the man said in a deep, rumbling voice. Kaidia simply growled in return before anger consumed her and the warrior launched herself at Adathir with an explosion of magical energy that tore up the stone upon which she'd been standing. She flew through the air, sword drawn and eager for blood.
Her first strike missed, a downward stroke that would've cleaved the man in two, had he not stepped side. The sword carved through the flag stones before being turned and jerked upward in a diagonal cut that Adathir just managed to dodge. Kai brought the sword back to her side, then gave a wide, sweeping slash sideways that Adathir had to jump backward to dodge or risk being sliced in two.
The mercenary was attacking in a blind rage. Normally, she was emotionally dead during a battle. She kept herself in check, she was highly disciplined and nearly impossible to upset. But the sight of Adathir sent her into a rage that she couldn't control. He had taken the most important person in the world away from her. She had killed him for it. Yet here he was. She wouldn't stand for it.
Adathir dodged and ducked several more savage blows but he could tell, despite the helm hiding her face, that Kaidia was beyond enraged and that it was clouding her mind. She was attacking like a wild beast. Dangerous, but without discipline. The large man took a few steps backward, putting distance between himself and the pissed off, black armored dragon god. The pair stood there for several long moments, catching their breath, eyeing one another intently, neither one moving a muscle.
Then Kai twitched.
Adathir's hand rose and fired off a bolt of pure power in a split second. The shot slammed into the face of Kaidia's helm and exploded with such force that it flung the surprised Kaidia backward, across the edge of the massive courtyard, through a house, and finally into a rather tall building that proceeded to collapse, burying the mercenary under several feet of rock, wood, and other debris.
"Shit!" Nadia shouted, twisting to look upon the damage, worried for her sibling.
"Focus, kid. Your sister will be fine," Rykar said, hoping he was right, eyes on Adathir.
Nadia didn't say anything, but she reluctantly turned her attention back to Adathir. She and Rykar were the only two standing between Adathir and the rest of the world. Eris and her ship notwithstanding.
"Oh my, Kaidia brought her little sister. You've grown, little noble. Proud and beautiful like big sister, I see. I hope you prove to be a worthy adversary. And you, Lord of Scorpions, I know you're a monster in your own right. You will make for an excellent fight," Adathir addressed the remaining two combatants.
"How the hell does he know who I am?" Rykar asked rhetorically.
"Why, I'm the God of Eternal Dark, Lord of the Last Days, that's how. Gods know everything, of course," Adathir replied, causing Rykar to glance up, somewhat alarmed. He hadn't spoken that loudly.
"Gods don't exist, fool," Rykar retorted.
"Of course they do. I am one. So is the lovely Kaidia," the larger man explained. His tone was patient and slow, like one speaking to a child. It was an insult, of course.
"Neither of you are gods," Nadia intoned, growling at Adathir.
"How do you explain her dragon four years ago? How do you explain the fact that I've resurrected from my tomb?" Adathir challenged.
"She has incredible power; the dragon was just a manifestation of energy. As for you, you're nothing more than a revitalized corpse," Rykar stated matter of factly.
"I am much more than that, Scorpion Lord. Let me show you!" Adathir exclaimed before he charged at Rykar. The nobleman responded in kind and the two met with a clash of swords. Nadia winced at that. She wasn't sure what Adathir's sword was made of, but she was certain it wasn't the usual iron or steel. The two blades clashing like that, no matter their material composition, would damage them.
Rykar dropped back a step, only to lunge forward, driving his sword forward and upward, toward Adathir's chest. The larger man managed to step backward and dodge the attempted impalement. He spun, bringing his sword around with heavy momentum, directly at Rykar's head. The long haired man ducked down. Adathir's sword slashed the air overhead, then went down, digging into the ground. Rykar straightened only to get a backhanded fist to the side of the head. The blow was made worse by the fact that the lord wore no helm and Adathir's fist was covered in a gauntlet.
The man stumbled and shook his head, trying to focus his eyes. He could feel the hot trickle of blood on the side of his head and face. His vision was blurred at the moment, but he could see what was going on. Adathir raised his sword, ready to cleave Rykar in two. Rykar raised his own sword to fend off the impending attack.
Before the dark god could bring his sword down on the wounded Rykar, Nadia slammed bodily into Adathir and sent the massive man sprawling. The feat earned her a dazed, questioning look from Rykar.
"Kai taught
me how to release energy on contact. Works wonders in a fist fight," the young woman explained.
"Ah, right," the lord muttered, shaking his head, pleased to see that his vision was coming back into focus.
"Are you alright?" Nadia questioned.
"Yes. I'm fine. For a dead guy, he hits like a hammer," Rykar grumbled in response.
"He won't be easy to put down," Nadia replied.
"We have to try," Rykar reasoned, looking toward Adathir, who was pulling himself to his feet and muttering curses.
"Right," Nadia agreed before she lunged at Adathir again, axe and sword in hand, attacking with a calculated fury and putting the dark god on the defensive. Adathir dodged and blocked the attacks, Nadia's blades glancing off his armor or his sword. She was, once again, channeling her magic through the weapons, making them colder than ice. Adathir could feel the chill each time one of the blades passed a little too close or nicked his armor. The massive man had to admire the young woman's ferocity. She was certainly Kaidia's sister.
Nadia brought her axe down and, at the same moment, Adathir swung his sword upward. The blade of the sword caught the underside of the axe blade and tore it from Nadia's grip.
As the axe clattered to the flagstones, Nadia jumped backward, well out of Adathir's reach. Despite the loss of a weapon, Nadia was no less dangerous. She still had her short sword and now her left hand was free to work offensive magicks much like her elder sibling. She had her left hand down and out to her side, palm facing toward Adathir. A sphere of fire was slowly taking shape there. Nadia wasn't as comfortable with fire as she was with ice, thus she was more careful when working fire magic and it took longer. She was counting on Adathir's arrogance, expecting that he would take his time, perhaps make a snide remark or two before pressing the fight onward. Her judgment of his character was rewarded.
"Your magic won't harm me, girl." the large man chuckled.
"We will see about that." Nadia retorted.
"Don't whine if you get hurt!" Adathir exclaimed as he charged toward Nadia. She didn't reply to his taunt, simply stood her ground. Each step Adathir took closed the distance between himself and the younger Valengaard. The dark god raised his sword above his head as he took the last step on his way to Nadia, looking to cleave the young woman in two. At the last moment, as the sword started downward toward her skull, Nadia smirked and threw the fireball. She didn't aim for Adathir's chest or head. She aimed for his hands. The fireball exploded as it hit its target. The explosion threw both Adathir and Nadia backward, away from one another. The concussive force jarred the sword from Adathir's hands and sent it skyward while the man was sent crashing into the flagstones.
Realms of Valen - Dragon in the Dark (War of the Gods Book 1) Page 13