by Tj Dixon
“If you try anything again I’ll punish you.” I warn Chi chan.
“So mean!” Chi chan complains.
“Ouch!” I exclaim. Distracted I seem to have hit a small lump of ice head first. I nurse my head and tread water. Wait… even if it is cold there shouldn’t be ice in this lake. It’s enchanted to never freeze.
“You’re so careless onee sama.” Chi chan tells me with a small grin.
“Why is there ice in this lake?” I ask.
“It is winter.” Chi chan reminds me.
“But this lake is enchanted.” I remind her.
“Is it?” Chi chan asks. She never was good with details.
“Yes. Ice should be impossible.” I tell Chi chan.
“Then it must be magical.” Chi chan tells me.
“I suppose it must be.” I agree and look closely at the lump of ice. “But why create ice in the lake?”
“To train?” Chi chan suggests.
“It would be harder to turn the water here to ice than normal water, but I suppose that would make for good training. Wouldn’t it be polite to melt the ice afterwards though? Leaving it here is rude.” I tell Chi chan.
“I know. Worse they left it right there where you bumped into it. If I find out who left it here, I’ll punish them myself.” Chi chan says.
“Don’t. I don’t want you getting punished by anyone other than me.” I tell Chi chan.
“Onee sama! You do love me!” Chi chan says.
“Of course I love you, a bit like a little sister.” I tell Chi chan.
“Then my calling you onee sama is fine!” Chi chan exclaims happily.
“Thinking about it, you have been calling me that.” I say with a frown. Normally I would have scolded her for calling me that.
“That’s because you’re like a big sister to me.” Chi chan says.
“I suppose that’s true.” I agree.
“You’re not going to get angry?” Chi chan asks.
“For some reason I just feel like it doesn’t matter today.” I say.
“Onee sama, did you eat too much poison?” Chi chan asks sounding extremely worried.
“No. I can’t remember when I last ate poison.” I tell her.
“But don’t you have to eat poison every night, because the bastards don’t trust you?” Chi chan asks.
“They do make me do that, don’t they?” I say.
“You’re head really hasn’t cleared.” Chi chan says.
“You shouldn’t call the village elders bastards. If they ever found out, they’d have your head.” I warn Chi chan.
“That sounds more like the onee sama I know.” Chi chan says happily.
“I don’t want you getting executed, Chi chan.” I tell her seriously.
“Don’t worry. I can tell when there’s someone around.” Chi chan says.
“Let’s continue swimming. It’s cold.” I say and swim back in the direction I just came from.
“This is heaven.” Chi chan says as she swims beside me again.
“There’s no way either of us will end up in heaven.” I tell her sadly.
“I know. Even if I’m like this I do know that our work is wrong, but if we don’t hunt down the traitors we’ll be killed. I doubt heaven even exists. We may as well make the real world a bit like heaven for the two of us.” Chi chan tells me.
“You almost sounded like an adult then.” I tell Chi chan.
“I am an adult! I’m twenty two years old!” Chi chan protests.
“That’s twenty two years young to me.” I tell her.
“Hmmph.” Chi chan says and sticks out her tongue. Then she races away from me back towards the centre of the lake. I turn and take up the challenge.
I’m not as good a swimmer as Chi chan but I can still catch her if I use a little magic. Water magic isn’t my strength so I use fire magic to propel my hands forwards. As soon as I use fire magic though the water around me freezes as though I were using ice magic. I scream in shock as much as anything.
“Onee sama!” Chi chan exclaims and turns back towards me but as she does so the water around her freezes and rises up out of the lake. She’s embedded in an ice crystal with only her head sticking out the top. A moment later the ice around me has covered me in exactly the same way and rises up out of the lake too.
“Ice demons.” I mutter as I come to understand the situation.
“Onee sama, melt them!” Chi chan begs.
I summon almost all the mana in me and try to summon flames around us both. Instead of flames though the ice seems to get colder and squeezes us tightly. We scream in pain.
“This isn’t heaven.” An icy voice cackles. “This is hell and until you two reject each other you’ll be stuck here in eternal suffering.”
“Never!” Chi chan cries.
“Even though she betrayed you?” The icy voice asks and all of a sudden memories flow into my head. From the look of it they flow into Chi chan’s head too. She glares at me in hatred.
“Why?” Chi chan asks me.
“Why did I leave?” I ask.
“Yes.” Chi chan says coldly.
“I’ve already told you that.” I tell Chi chan.
“This isn’t the time for a cosy reunion.” The ice demon tells us and the ice burns my body. I can’t even think. An eternity or perhaps just a few seconds later my mind begins to function again. “Now reject each other or it will be like this forever.”
“I can’t.” Chi chan cries.
“She doesn’t have to.” A warm voice says from above us. We both look up and see a green scaled lizard man with green spiked leathery wings and a shiny green tail which ends with a spike. It has sharp white bone claws on its feet and hands. Its eyes are literally burning blue orbs of fire.
“A devil.” Chi chan gasps and I can only agree with her.
“Angel.” The demon rasps in fear. “If you come any nearer I’ll destroy their souls.”
“Fool, where do you think we are?” The terrifying angel asks.
The ice begins to melt but the angel releases black lightning into the water. A moment later the ice is completely gone and the water is warm. We float gently down into the water as if held up by flight magic. I tread water and cover my breasts now that my hands are freed. Looking around I see that there are leaves on the trees and the sun is shining brightly as if it was the middle of summer.
“What happened?” I ask in a daze.
“What will you do with us?” Chi chan asks, looking up at the angel in terror. Is this really an angel?
“There’s no need to be so worried. As long as you don’t seek to harm me or each other I don’t intend to harm you. To think that I would find you here… Even though this is hell it is truly rare to find a mortal’s soul here. The few that drift here end up eaten by demons. The only reason you weren’t both eaten already is that eating a conjoined soul is more trouble than it’s worth. The demons try to tempt conjoined souls like you to split so they are easier to eat. Your connection to each other is strong even for a conjoined soul. If you were reborn naturally you would certainly be born as twins.” The angel says.
“Do we know you?” Chi chan asks.
“I don’t know you, but I do know Kai.” The angel says.
“Who are you?” I ask, absolutely certain I didn’t know anyone who looked like this.
“I am Peter. I looked like a little boy when you last saw me.” The angel says and his voice does sound like him.
“Peter?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yes.” He says with a small nod. His scary appearance seems much gentler now I know who he is.
“Can you save us?” I ask.
“You are already dead so there’s no saving, only rebirth.” Peter tells us.
“Will we forget who we were?” I ask.
“That depends how you are reborn. If you are reborn with magic you’ll still be the same person you were before. Unfortunately that is beyond me at the moment. Besides, you killed each other, so if you
are reborn, what then?” Peter asks.
I look sheepishly at Chi chan who looks back at me with tearful eyes. We nod to each other as we realise we are of the same mind.
“It would be better if we could stay like this. If we return we’ll be forced to kill each other again.” I tell Peter.
“Then let’s just stay here for a while. If I leave here I’ll be killed. There’s an army of demons out there lead by Maou Ferdinand. They seriously want to kill me and this is the only place I can hide whilst I think up a plan.” Peter tells us.
“It would be much easier if we hadn’t remembered our past. Is it possible to make us forget again?” I ask Peter.
“Yes, but I’m not going to tamper with your memories. Your past may be painful, but you should face it and try to reconcile with each other. There is no empire here to force you to fight.” Peter says and vanishes as quickly as he appeared.
“Do you understand where we are?” Chi chan asks.
“We’re in hell, aren’t we?” I ask.
“It doesn’t feel like hell.” Chi chan says.
“It did when that demon tortured us.” I say.
“So what now? There’s no reason to fight, right?” Chi chan asks me nervously.
“Since we’re both already dead it would be pointless to fight.” I agree.
“I haven’t forgiven you though.” Chi chan says with a glare.
“I know.” I say sadly.
“I want to know why you really left and how you convinced your parents to help you.” Chi chan says firmly.
“There’s no point dwelling on the past. I never should have left, but there’s nothing I can do about that now.” I tell Chi chan.
“I still love you Kai sama, but I also hate you.” Chi chan tells me.
“I know. I feel the same way about you.” I tell Chi chan.
“What reason do you have to hate me?” Chi chan asks with a glare.
“You didn’t come with me.” I tell her.
Chapter 21 (Grunti)
“You can’t get through?” I ask Imogen in disbelief.
“There’s something blocking my magic.” Imogen explains.
“Do you know where they are?” I ask.
“Most likely they’re still where they were before. There’s some really weird barrier up around the temple. It extends above the temple and below the temple, covering a huge underground area.” Imogen tells me.
“After all the work we’ve done, they’ve shut themselves inside the temple.” I say shaking my head in annoyance.
“There’s an army outside the temple. They’re most likely under siege.” Imogen tells me.
“How big an army?” I ask.
“Over a thousand humans. Most of them seem to be mages. I sense three very powerful humans and at least three hundred elite.” Imogen tells me.
“If we capture the humans outside the temple they’ll take the shield down, right?” I ask Imogen.
“If they realise I’m sure they would. The barrier is most likely preventing them from sensing anything outside of it though.” Imogen says.
“If we have to we’ll just have to take the barrier down ourselves once we’ve captured the human army.” I say.
“How will we capture the humans?” Imogen asks.
“We’ll let Karina figure that out. Call her here.” I tell Imogen and wait patiently as Imogen contacts Karina.
“She says she’ll be here soon.” Imogen says.
“I’m here.” Karina says entering my private workshop. Her bright blue eyes, pale golden tinted skin and white hair are a little sparkly today as if she’s in a very good mood.
“That was quick.” I say in mild surprise.
“I was on my way here already.” Karina says.
“Perfect. What did you need?” I ask.
“I was hoping for an update on those new inventions of yours.” Karina says.
“They’re ready, but I need your help to get them to the temple.” I tell her.
“Can you get that girl to take us there again?” Karina asks.
“We can’t contact them. It’s fine though, because my invention comes with a built in dimensional portal manipulator. The problem is the army outside the temple. There are a thousand or so human mages and a few powerful ones. I need you to capture them.” I say.
“I can’t kill them then?” Karina says.
“I’d prefer not to if we don’t have to. It could just be a big misunderstanding.” I tell Karina.
“That doesn’t make it easy for me. Can’t your invention help?” Karina asks.
“It can help us get there. I’m saving all but one for Peter’s harem though, so you need to deal with the human army.” I tell Karina.
“I’ll come up with a plan, but can you give me the details of the enemies’ positions and strengths?” Karina asks.
“Imogen will do that for you.” I tell Karina.
“So boring.” Imogen says with a yawn.
“It’s important. Lives depend on having as much information as possible.” Karina tells Imogen.
“This sounds like it will take a while. Wake me when you’re ready.” I tell Karina and Imogen.
“Why do you get to sleep?” Imogen complains.
“Because I’ve done my job.” I tell her as I climb up into my workshop bed on the wall. I fall asleep as soon as I close my eyes.
“We’re ready.” Imogen tells me and I’m wide awake again. It feels like I was asleep a while.
“This should be fun.” I say with a big grin. I grab the angel stones and follow Imogen through the palace to the throne room. The entire room and the corridor leading to the throne room are filled with dwarven warrior girls wearing thick black armour and each carrying a hammer and a shield. They all respectfully make room for me to pass. I whisper to Imogen. “Isn’t this going to leave the city defenceless?”
“Karina says it won’t be for long and if we can help defeat the Fallen Angels then it’s worth it. Apparently anything less than this would be dangerous against such a large army.” Imogen tells me.
“Well Karina knows best.” I whisper back with a shrug. Then we reach the front of the throne room.
“The king will be making a speech.” Karina tells everyone, so they all look at me expectantly. Damn that Karina! She knows I hate this sort of thing.
“Let’s have a good time everyone!” I tell them and ignoring their shocked faces I grab my black angel stone. I form black armour around my body and then a dimensional bubble forms around that. It looks a bit like a mini dome. I activate a dimensional portal and watch as Karina orders everyone forward. The portal is a shiny black disk hovering in the air just above the ground. It’s wide enough for five dwarves to pass through side by side.
Watching the army march through the gate reminds me how impressive the army really is. They even have some elves near the front. That reminds me that Karina managed to recruit a few dozen elves, though only about a dozen have completed their integration process. I don’t really understand what the process involves but it’s to make sure that they can actually be trusted.
It takes a while but eventually the army has entirely entered the portal except for swimsuit girl, I mean my bodyguard Lupine. Except today she’s wearing thick black armour like everyone else. Even if it isn’t as good as a swimsuit, with her bright blue eyes, short red hair and creamy skin it still looks good on her. Other than Lupine and me, the only other person here is Imogen who is sitting on my right shoulder. I put my left hand on Lupine’s right shoulder and we walk through the portal together. It closes behind us.
It seems that Karina is doing a good job. Most of the humans seem to have been captured already, but three humans are putting up a good fight. There are about a hundred dwarves led by Karina currently fighting those three. In the background is the shimmering orange barrier around the temple. The only thing I am sure of about it is that it is very dangerous indeed, but I’ll analyse it later.
“They must be the three you were
talking about.” I tell Imogen.
“Yes. Those three were always going to be a pain. Why don’t you demonstrate your new suit?” Imogen suggests.
“That would ruin the surprise.” I say.
“That’s true. Forget that.” Imogen says.
“If there’s something you can do to help, surely you should do it.” Lupine tells me.
“There’s no need.” I insist. Lupine looks doubtfully at me.
“Karina has everything under control.” Imogen says.
“Exactly.” I agree and a moment later we are deafened by countless lightning strikes. They all hit Karina, but she shrugs them off as if they are nothing. I grin and when my hearing returns I tell Lupine. “See?”
“I suppose you’re right, but it still feels odd just watching whilst everyone else is working so hard.” Lupine says.
“Don’t worry.” Imogen says. “Karina said staying out of the way was best. It would be a problem if Grunti were captured or killed. We wouldn’t be able to return to Nirvali for one thing.”
“That would be a problem.” Lupine says and then covers her mouth as if in shock. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to suggest that it would be ok for anything to happen to King Grunti if it wasn’t for that.”
“Don’t worry.” I tell her.
“Karina’s asking for permission to kill those three. Apparently capturing them is impossible.” Imogen tells me.
“It’s a shame but I have a vague feeling that they’re not very nice people. Tell Karina to give them one last warning and if they don’t surrender immediately she can kill them.” I tell Imogen.
I see what looks like Karina giving the three mages a warning. They look like they think it’s a joke and continue fighting. A moment later one of them is burned to ash as Karina and most of the dwarves fighting those three use fire magic. The other two fight desperately but the second one is reduced to ash a moment later and a few moments later the last one is reduced to ash too.
“The Contractians aren’t all that strong.” I say observing how quickly even their most powerful mages were defeated.
“We did have the advantage of surprise and numbers.” Lupine reminds me.
“I suppose.” I say but they still seemed weak to me. “If they were this weak though, what hope would they have against the Fallen Angels?”