by Mario Routi
Leylah raced to the troops defending the main hall, where the Demons were continuously forcing their way through the door. Although the doorway was tall, it was only wide enough for two or three people to come through at a time, which gave the defenders time to pick off their enemies if they could shoot fast enough.
Leylah immediately took control of the area as the archers fired a continuous stream of arrows at the intruders. “The aerial defense on the second floor is having a hard time,” she announced. “Nemesis will send reinforcements and will also lead many archers down here. We need to make sure that the wounded are in before we retreat. Nemesis will guard the upstairs level as long as she can, but there isn’t much time left. Let’s get the wounded moved.”
Everyone began picking up those who had been hit by arrows and sliced by swords during their first retreat. Leylah waited until she saw that there were no more wounded in the hall before she spoke again.
“All right, those firing at the door need to slowly move into position. Then hold the position until you hear me say that it’s time to retreat.”
Leylah watched as the small company of archers moved slowly back to where she was standing before she ran to the staircase. Nemesis was already there with the other archers, all firing as fast as they could at the demonic force a few feet away from them.
“Retreat!” Leylah yelled.
Everyone stopped firing their arrows and surged down the narrow staircase. The archers in the back covered their comrades. Leylah waited until all the archers came out of the staircase and continued to the hall before following closely behind them. As she ran towards the others, her head suddenly exploded with pain and she fell to the ground, unconscious.
53
The Elysian Fields
Rebecca emerged from the doorway to see many of the Gods fighting against a few doomed Titans. She looked around for her husband and their companions and saw a Titan bearing down on them at full speed. She ran behind him and swung the Titan Slayer once. Black blood spewed out from the creature’s arm.
The Titan turned his baleful gaze on her and snarled in anger and pain. Rebecca swung as hard as she could, clipping the Titan again as he ran to reach her. The Titan chose to ignore the pain and concentrated on taking his revenge.
“The sword won’t be very effective on this one,” Doctor Afterland yelled, while he made a roundabout run towards the others. “He is a son of Cronus!”
Rebecca knew that the sons of Cronus were among the most dangerous Titans. She once thought that Zeus was a son of Cronus too, since that was how it had been put in Greek mythology, but she later found out the truth when she read the story of the Creation - the ‘Genesis,’ as it was called - in the original ancient books of the Land of the White Sun Chronicles.
Even though she kept swinging the sword while running, it was having no serious effect against the Titan. With every second, he grew closer. A couple of the Titans that weren’t battling the Gods had noticed them and were now galloping towards them, screaming for blood. Rebecca aimed her blows at the newcomers, drawing their attention away from the others. She saw Turgoth looking at her with pleading eyes but she knew what was about to happen.
“Take care of our daughter,” she mouthed. “I love you!”
A giant hand closed around her body and squeezed hard. It was impossible to breathe and she could taste the blood welling up in her mouth. The Titan lifted Rebecca up to eye level, smiled for a moment and then tightened his grip even more, crushing the life out of her.
She screamed in agony as she felt her body collapse under the pressure. Her mind was not on the pain but on the memories she had of Turgoth and Leylah. Rebecca hoped her daughter would grow to be a strong princess and that Turgoth wouldn’t let her death affect him and make him too cautious in allowing their daughter to become involved in Utopia’s ruling. She smiled as she remembered the first time she met Turgoth. He was going to have three Porth kill her. But now, a Titan was crushing her to death before his very eyes.
The pain became too strong to ignore and she couldn’t hear herself scream anymore, but Zeus had heard the screams and appeared as if from thin air. He struck the Titan on the skull with a mighty boulder. The Titan let go of Rebecca and she began falling towards the ground. Zeus caught her in mid-air and, with one massive heave, he threw her into the heart of the Sacred Flame. All pain vanished as it wrapped her in its warm flames and she watched as Zeus demolished the Titan in a furious rage.
She thought it was odd to see him so angry in her defense when she was only one of his many creations. Rebecca smiled, remembering the times that Leylah, as a small child, would act up and sneak into places she didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to be in. Her last thoughts were of her daughter as she closed her eyes with a smile on her face.
54
In Leylah’s Dream
The world around her had become clouded by fog. Leylah remembered that she was just about to reach the others when she fell into a dream. Pinching herself to try to wake up didn’t work and she realised that she was neither on Earth nor in the Land of the White Sun.
“It has been so long since we had a good chat, my dear Leylah,” a voice growled in the fog.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
The body of a man without a face stepped forward. “I’m surprised you don’t remember me after everything we’ve been through together... Oracle!”
“General Varta...” Leylah murmured hatred and contempt filling every syllable.
“I thought you would remember me,” he chuckled. “Did I change back into Alexander?” He looked down at his hands. “Nope, I guess not.”
He stepped forward and she could see that he was now wearing his original skull face with the red eyes.
“The King has fallen and the Princesses are both but a step away from death. Truly, my greatest masterpiece yet.”
“What do you mean?”
General Varta raised a finger to point somewhere in the air. “Go ahead and see for yourself, dearest Oracle.”
Leylah turned her head to see what he was pointing at but saw nothing. “I don’t have time and I’m not in the mood for games, creature.”
General Varta paused for a moment and then made a motion with his hand to convey that he suddenly understood.
“You don’t even know where we are, do you?” he asked.
“No. What place have you brought me to?”
“I haven’t brought you anywhere. We are inside your mind and I am here because I am outside of creation - the one true masterpiece. So, all you have to do is think about what part of your body you want to use in order to use it. Except, you only have your eyes to look through right now, because I control the rest of your body. So, why don’t you use your eyes?”
Leylah thought about using her eyes and suddenly the fog was replaced with what was happening outside her body. She watched as her body moved around on its own, viewing the fight that was going on in the fortress. Nemesis was talking to her and grabbing her shoulders, but Leylah couldn’t hear her words. She tried to think about her ears but she wasn’t able to use them.
In a sudden motion she saw her body grabbing Nemesis’s knife and plunging it into the Amazon’s gut. Nemesis stared back at her in shock.
“NO!” Leylah screamed.
Nemesis looked down to see the blade protruding from her body and the blood slowly spurting out. The look of hurt, puzzlement and surprise in her eyes made Leylah’s heart feel like it would break. Nemesis slumped to the ground, her eyes still staring into Leylah’s.
“Why?” asked Leylah.
“Oh, it’s your mother’s fault really,” General Varta said with a shrug. “She chose to save Alexander over you. But then again, she didn’t really know what was at risk.”
“What do you mean, you sick bastard?”
“I used two b
lades,” Varta said, holding two fingers up. “Two blades! Each with a different use of the Flame. The Titans know how to wield the Flame better than any mortal, after all. One was given to Alexander and one was given to you. You were the trump card of the Titans.”
Leylah ran at him but he disappeared into the fog.
“I may have made Alexander’s immortality permanent,” he taunted, “but I turned your undying loyalty to family and friends into betrayal. If only your mother had chosen the blade I used on you instead of the blade I used on Alexander, things would be different. But then again, are you really that important to her?”
Leylah was running around in circles in the fog trying to catch him but every time she was within inches of doing so, he would disappear again.
“Your entire life, she’s pitted you against Alexander. She treated him with extra special care and even went down to Earth with him a few times. But did she come with you? No! On your first time visiting Earth she wasn’t even there for you. If Alexander hadn’t found you by mistake, you wouldn’t be here right now but trapped there by the Sartani. Now, she chooses to save Alexander’s life instead of yours. I’m so glad I never had a mother like that.”
“Liar! My mother never goes to Earth. She hasn’t been there since before I was even born. And it wasn’t Alexander who found me, nor did he save me. It was you who came with Larisa, fooling us all with your little tricks.”
“Oops... you got me there little Princess, but that doesn’t mean I’m lying about the rest. Let me show you what I mean,” he said as he turned the fog into a scene that had recently occurred in Tartarus. Leylah could see her mother talking to Varta.
“I have two blades Princess Rebecca. I have the blade with which I stabbed young Alexander and I have the blade that I rammed into your daughter’s gut. Which of the two would you like?”
One blade was covered in Black Flames and the other in Purple Flames.
“You bloody bastard! Turn Alexander back!” Rebecca screamed in rage.
Varta smiled as he dropped the blade covered in Black Flames.
“What a wonderful mother you have!” Varta said to Leylah with a grin like a wolf’s snarl. “She chose Alexander over you. I can’t imagine how bad you must feel.”
Leylah ran after him with tears of rage springing into her eyes. “Liar!”
“Even when she knew I was going to end up here in the Land of the White Sun, she protected Alexander,” Varta said as he waved another hand to take them to a scene in the Elysian Fields.
“Don’t ask questions the answers to which you don’t want to hear, Alexander. You’ll be safe in here, my love,” Leylah heard Rebecca saying in a strangely sensual voice.
“Oh my!” Varta pretended to be shocked by what he was hearing. “A secret affair with the one she’s been trying to get you to love as well. Princess Rebecca certainly is one of a kind.”
Leylah stopped running and crumpled to the ground, sobbing, barely able to keep mumbling the word, “Liar...”
“I know it must be difficult to learn all of this at once. After all, you’ve depended on this woman your entire life,” Varta went on.
She remembered being told that General Varta took kingdoms apart from the inside. That’s when she realised that, because he was inside her head, he was using her fears and emotions in order to attack her. These visions weren’t the truth; they were lies fabricated by a man who wanted to crush both her and her mother, and who was using her own insecurities to do it.
Leylah pulled herself up and forced herself to smile. “You’re inside my head!” she told him.
“That’s stating the obvious.”
In a flash of light, Varta found himself in chains with Leylah standing over him holding a crystal dagger.
“I’m just a figment of your imagination,” Varta said, a hint of anxiety creeping into his voice for the first time.
“No, Varta. I think you really are here right now!” Leylah said, leaning closer with the dagger.
“Why would I knowingly put myself in your head? I’ve already won,” Varta said, his voice growing tenser as the situation slipped out of his control.
“You think my mother would put another person above me? You think that the Princess of Utopia would truly choose to forgo asking for my blade? Alexander has been turned to diamond and that means we know what’s wrong with him, and even how to fix him. My blade would be the deadlier choice to forgo because my mother doesn’t know what it did to me. So I think you came here because your dagger for me failed and I am already healed.”
Varta couldn’t find words fast enough to answer her before Leylah plunged her crystal dagger into him. His blood poured into the air, forming patterns like the roots of a vine spreading across an invisible wall.
“Oh, look at that, General Varta! It seems I was right, wasn’t I?”
“What the...?” Varta choked out.
“Be gone!” Leylah said as she slit his throat and shattered everything around her.
***
“Leylah! Leylah, wake up!” Nemesis screamed above the noise of the invading Demons.
Leylah’s eyes snapped open. She grabbed Nemesis’s arms and hugged her. “Thank the Gods. Oh thank the Gods!”
“What happened?” Nemesis asked.
“I thought I had killed you in my vision. Varta tried to take a control of me. How have we held out?”
“The Demons just keep coming and we’re running out of arrows,” Nemesis said.
“Several spaceships from Earth have just landed,” General Hunter announced.
“They have returned? But they don’t know where the Demons are,” Leylah said. “They’ll have a hard time just getting through that mess alive. We have to get to them somehow.”
Leylah leapt to her feet and looked at the force that was battering at the door.
“I don’t see an end to the Demons,” Nemesis said. “We’re trapped in here for now, Princess.”
“Not true!” Leylah said.
“What do you mean?”
“Nemesis, would you agree that the rulers of any castle would be bound to hide secrets from everyone else?”
“Well, yes. It’s a common fact in history that castles hold the secrets of kings, but I don’t see how that helps us.”
“My father loves to tinker and, while guns simply don’t work here, arrows do,” Leylah said, walking to a column of books. “There was a mad inventor in the early industrial age of the British Empire who created a device that uses air instead of compressed explosions. It is the only automated weapon that has ever worked in the Land of the White Sun and it has never been used before due to the rules handed down to us by the Gods. But Demons follow no rules, so we shouldn’t follow them either. And honestly, in this case, I think that the Gods won’t mind too much.”
She pulled a book that was no bigger than a pamphlet from off the shelf and the other books fell apart, unveiling the automatic arrow gun with a box next to it.
“My father developed this gun last year and chose to hide it in here to prevent anyone from using it for dishonorable purposes.”
Leylah set the device down on a library cart and placed the box behind it, attaching it to the back of the contraption.
“My father stopped tinkering with it so it only works from a table top. Your archers will have to handle any Demons that attack from the air.”
Leylah began turning the cog on the machine while they all ran to the door. As they pushed their way out of the room, everything fell silent and they realised that they wouldn’t be needing the weapon after all. The Demons that were at the door were the final stage of the attack.
Leylah abandoned the special weapon and picked up her own, then ran with the rest of them towards the wall. Once outside, they saw Orizons picking up their weapons and leftover arrows from the gro
und.
“It appears we came a little too late to be of any help,” Leylah said.
“So did we,” said one of the Orizons who had arrived from Earth in the spaceships.
“It seems the battle here was already decided,” Nemesis laughed. “You know, Princess Leylah, you and I aren’t that different.”
Suddenly exhausted, they lay down on the ground, soaking up the sun with its warm rays and savouring the peace of a silent battlefield.
55
The Elysian Fields
Turgoth’s eyes were full of tears as he watched Rebecca’s limp body being hurled through the air and into the Flame. A small glint flashed on the battlefield and his heart jumped. It was the Titan Slayer!
He started to run towards the magic sword.
“Turgoth don’t go,” Leiko shouted. “Going out there while the Gods and Titans are still fighting is practically suicide.”
“I know, Lord Leiko. Please watch over my daughter if anything should happen to me,” Turgoth called back over his shoulder.
The distance was long and, as Turgoth got nearer to the sword, he could see that close to where the blade lay, the battle was turning against Zeus. The other Gods were faring well but their leader was cornered by two particularly powerful Titans determined to take down the King of the Gods before it was all over. Turgoth slid underneath one of the Titan’s feet and snatched the Slayer from the ground.
He turned immediately and sliced off the Titan’s foot. The giant screamed out in surprise and pain, distracting his comrade for a brief moment, affording Zeus the opportunity to slice his head off.
The two of them scanned the battlefield for a moment and exchanged a knowing look before Zeus finished off the Titan howling in pain on the ground. They then walked back together through the middle of the battlefield to the Palace of the Gods in silence. The Titans were defeated, putting up only a few token struggles before collapsing completely. Turgoth had so many questions he wanted to ask but he knew that getting the magic blade out of the Titans’ reach was the first priority.