She gripped him tightly as lament racked her body, they stood together for what seemed like hours, neither spoke as words were redundant. Eventually she pushed herself away and fixed his gaze, those usually dark and piercing eyes, seemed softer now. “What is happening to us?” she murmured.
War who would usually be immediately defensive if she ever asked him anything, spoke slowly and carefully. “I don’t know,” he broke her gaze and strode over to the vast open window. “But is has been happening for a long time, it felt slow at first. I would be on the battle field in the midst of the blood fury and suddenly I would find myself looking down at a fallen enemy, and for just a moment I would feel something. It would usually pass quickly and I thought little of it. Then I was walking past the feeding pits and I saw the dark ones about to throw a young boy in, he stared at me, tears pouring from puffy eyes, he seemed so weak.” War snarled and pounded his fist into the stone wall.
Lust rushed over to him, suddenly filled with concern, she reached for his hand and could see blood flow from his grazed knuckles. She placed her palm over the wound and felt a charge of energy dissipate. When she drew back the laceration was healed.
War took her head in his hands, “I stopped them from throwing him in and simply cut off his head. Why would I care what happens to one of them? They are weak and below us, that is what the Mistress has always taught us.”
She reached up and traced her fingers across his strong features, “They are weak, but they are living beings, you feel the heat leave their bodies when they die and see others cry over those that have been slain. I felt it today, when I was with that monster, I saw two children imprisoned within a cage and for a moment I could barely control my feelings. I wanted to free them.”
War broke away, his familiar fury returning, it used to cause her to flush with desire, yet now, it just made her apprehensive. Even though she could not understand why, firstly War would never hurt her and even if he tried she was far more powerful than him; a secret she had always kept. Now as she considered her actions, she had lied to stop his feelings being hurt. Perhaps whatever was happening to both of them now, was something which they had each possessed, but had never fully realized it until now.
War returned to the window, the light evening breeze and tranquil view, calmed him and she could see his broad shoulders rising and falling with less pace. His voice though still crackled with emotion. “What are these things that we’re feeling now?” he paused, as if lost within his own thoughts. “Are they making us weaker?”
“I do not know my love,” She whispered. As she slowly edged towards him, usually she would use her powers to still him, as she used on the leader to make him think they had been together. That was a simple trick, as the human mind was a humble creation, now though the idea of fooling War troubled her. She stopped in her tracks, abruptly aware, that part of her at least was aware of the concept of right and wrong, and of good and evil.
War shifted to her, ire sparked in his eyes, like lightning, “Is this something you have done to me?” he roared a mixture of rage and guilt. He balled his fists and appeared for a moment like he would try and strike her.
She readied her powers just in case, an invisible kinetic shield quickly encompassed her thin frame, yet almost as soon as it was erected, she could see that she would not need it.
War peered down at his clasped paws and then at Lust, his eyes heavy, “I would never hurt you my love, my Lust.”
“I know you wouldn’t, my love, my War.” She purred, slinking over to him slowly. She stretched out her hands and wrapped them around his. “I think we are both changing.”
“Changing into what?” War queried in frustration.
She glanced at him and suddenly saw this man, in a light she never had before, she saw him as vulnerable, as a mere mortal with all the failings that brings. To Lust, War had always been her rock, since they were created, he had been strong, cunning and brave. A being fashioned for one thing, conquest. He controlled her and she allowed it. Even though she had always been more formidable, always one step ahead of him, always knowing what he was going to do, before he even realized it himself. So perhaps it was her that had ruled over him, yet she had simply permitted him to believe that he was in fact in-charge. She had observed him fight, seen him kill tens of thousands and before it had made her love him even more. Yet now it just made her sad, as she knew that soon, as the changes continued, he would begin to feel each life he had taken and that may weigh down his soul.
She caught herself, the idea of a soul was something so alien to her, it was belief for the lesser beings, how could she have a soul, how could War. She fixed her gaze on him, took his head lovingly in her hands and kissed him softly. She felt the familiar passion and cravings, yet they were tempered now, as if she was able to control them. She broke away and the play was already set in her mind.
“I don’t know what we are changing into my love,” She whispered. “However I know for some reason, that it cannot be stopped, whatever this is, that we’re feeling now, we can never return to what we were.” She halted and ran a finger gingerly over War’s lips, it felt to her like she was sensing his body for the first time. “There are two things that I have to do.”
“What are they?” War enquired, his quiet fortitude back, and to her he seemed even more powerful.
“Well this is the first,” She purred and arched up to caress him. This time with more passion, her tongue exploded into his mouth and she could taste him. He responded and took her body in his arms, she felt her own desire and his, as they merged together, yet she had other plans. She continued the embrace, slyly laying her hands against his temples.
She summoned up the talents she possessed, she froze time and carefully reached into War’s mind, she sought out all the memories of murder and bloodshed. To her his recollections appeared like an endless gallery of pictures, each showed just a snapshot of what it contained. She lost count of the hours it took her to remove the recollections of all those, her love had slain, there were too many to count, so many races, so many souls that he had put to the sword. She took each representation and threw it onto a roaring bonfire.
Once the last memory had been destroyed, she began the preparations to leave his consciousness. It was then she noticed a print on the wall that she did not remember, it must have been many centuries ago, as both seemed young, to a lesser being they would have appeared like children. Yet that was not a concept that truly aligned with how they were forged.
Lust traced her palm slightly, until the air around her rippled and she was able to enter the lost remembrance.
She was young, only a few years after they had been formed by the Mistress. War stood next to her, about the same age, although already he dwarfed her, his body fast transitioning to adulthood. They are playing some sort of game, Lust doesn’t understand it and she doesn’t even recall any of it. She clutches some kind of stuffed animal made of soft material, she is making it talk and act out some kind of scenario. While War grasps some sort of space craft, which he is making fly around the large padded room.
Abruptly the mood seems to alter, as the child she doesn’t seem to notice, to intent on her toy, yet War feels it, he puts his model down and moves to stand in front of her. Lust watches now as a door opens at the far end of the room, the Mistress enters, flanked by her dark ones, they hiss and spit with hunger. The Mistress looks almost the same, wizened and ancient, the thick, ornately carved walking stick bearing her weight.
The Mistress shuffled across the chamber in silence, her face an emotionless mask, her true feelings hidden as they always were, if she even possessed such things. The Mistress stops in front of War and peers down at him, frigid, dangerous and dead eyes, shoot daggers at the boy. When she speaks her tone is harsh and vile. “Stand aside War I need to take Lust.”
War doesn’t reply, he simply stares up at the Mistress, behind him Lust can see herself playing, oblivious to all that is happening. She can sense though that h
er defences have already been activated, the kinetic barrier, shimmers around her miniature frame, unseen by the others in the room, except for the Mistress who must have felt it. It must have been an automatic response, her innate powers unleashing themselves without even her knowledge.
The dark ones, buck and rage. Lust can feel their desires even from here, the base and primal hunger.
“War, did you not hear me, stand aside, I need Lust, she is weak but she will feed some of my dark ones at least.”
War peers at the dark ones and smiles, “No.”
The Mistress snarls. “Don’t disobey me War, I may have some use for you, however don’t think that I would have any problem with feeding you to my pets either.” As she spoke, she stepped to the side and beckoned to her retinue of monsters.
War said nothing, as Lust fixes him with her gaze, she sees the man he would become, her Warrior, her champion. He stands firm, his tiny fists balled.
The Mistress cackles sardonically, “Very well War, it is a waste, but this is how it must be.” Turning to her pets, she said, “Feast!”
The Dark ones six of them in total, let out primeval, animalistic hollers, War, doesn’t respond, he doesn’t even flinch. He steps forward, his eyes fastened on the monsters. The creature’s pause for a moment, they glance to one another, abruptly unsure of what to do. War doesn’t wait, he strikes out, his diminutive frame moves with nimble speed. He reaches the first beast, and in one single fluid motion, tears its massive head from its body. Thick, glutinous and black-tar fluid erupts into the air.
The other Dark ones attempt to attack, tails lash out, yet they find only air. War is too quick, before they can even respond again, three more of them lay dead. The last two try to flank him, yet War is already too clever, he merely waits, his body covered in the beast’s blood, so only his eyes are truly visible.
He pauses, as the creatures begin to circle him, their pincers reach out, talons glint in the air, they are daring him to respond and daring him to react. The appendages wait for this, wait for a single mistake and they will strike. Yet even then War doesn’t make mistakes, he delays, awaiting the perfect instance to assault, that second when the monsters let their guard down and then when they do he bounds forward. He is behind the first one before it has time to register what is happening, he seizes it segmented tail and rips it clear from the body, the creature howls, yet it is quickly silenced, as War uses its own appendage to eviscerate it. The final Dark one charges, its tail shoots towards War, who simply leans out of the way and strikes out with his own stolen tailpiece, decapitating the fiend.
War stands for a moment, seemingly unaffected by the combat, his breathing still regular and he turns to the Mistress, and beams.
The Mistress bares her teeth. “Be careful war,” she spits, staring at the appendage in the child’s hand.
War simply drops his makeshift weapon and edges back over to stand his post in front of Lust.
“Why did you do all this War?” the Mistress asks, her tone less aggressive now and more inquisitive.
War glances at her, with his child’s eyes and grins, “No one will hurt Lust.”
The Mistress shuffles towards him, “Why do you care about Lust?”
“She is my friend,” the reply is so simple.
“What do you know of friends, War?”
War peers around and then shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know.”
“Very interesting,” the Mistress purrs, her sneer returns. “I will see you both soon.” She turns to leave and then stares back at War. “You will quickly forget such things, War, you like me will serve, the dark and the cold. I will see to it. You will become a great champion and lead my armies against the enemy.”
The memory ended sharply and Lust found herself back within the gallery. She observed once more War as a child, her protector and friend. Then she drew back into the real world and allowed time to flow again.
“What happened?” War exclaimed.
“Nothing my Love,” She whispered and gently laid his hulking figure down onto the bed.
“I am so tired,” War coughed, as his eyes fluttered shut.
She knelt down and kissed his forehead, “Sleep now my champion.”
Suddenly she felt tired herself, the exertion had depleted her energy reserves, even a few days ago she would have simply, shifted to the nearest feeding pit and replenished her vigour with living beings. Yet the thought of that now made her gag. She glanced down at War, his chest rising and falling smoothly, she knew he would sleep for a long time. Gingerly she reached her hand out and held it over his body. She could feel the heat radiate from it, along with its energy, she spread out her fingers.
“Do not worry my love, you will not miss this,” She purred as she began to draw out his life force. She could feel the warmth rising up from War’s body and entering her own, for a moment the sensation was strange and alien to her. Soon though it felt pleasurable, as if she was sharing the most intimate moment with this man, who perhaps she barely knew.
She stopped herself, abruptly aware, that she was close to not being able to control herself and she stepped away from War whose breathing had become rasped. After a few terrifying seconds, his respiration had returned to normal, along with his colour. She turned away, struck by the power she possessed, there was so much more that she wanted to do and yet she had more pressing matters to attend to. She had to return to the leader and to the children. Then she would have to begin the arduous process of saving this universe, she had spent so long trying to tear down.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The Mistress waited till Lust had shifted from the room and then allowed the spell that cloaked her to drop. It was a simple illusion, something that she had learnt years ago, she couldn’t remember from who, not that it mattered much now. She leaned heavily upon the richly carved walking stick. Of course she didn’t need it to help her move, this form that she had chosen to inhabit, was simply a vessel. Yet after all these years it did feel like home, so even as it fell into decrepitude, she had decided to keep it, as one might keep a particular treasured piece of clothing. No the stick was something else entirely, something much more powerful.
She hobbled across the room, to where War lay asleep, she could already tell he had been changed.
A sneer spread across her wrinkled flesh, “Very clever Lust, you are learning aren’t you.” She hissed.
The voice returned, her constant companion, its tone was soft and spirited now. “She has learnt some tricks of her own, that one, the same one that you wanted to destroy all those years ago.”
“I remember.” The Mistress snapped, her anger palpable, “The more important question is.”
The voice answered for her, “Why did she do this?”
“Indeed, she was always different, I saw it the very first day that I brought her into existence. However much I tried to destroy it, that part of her which is human, endured and flourished even.”
The voice cackled, “I always warned you that using Humans for shells, was risky, they are very interesting and also very dangerous.”
The Mistress didn’t laugh, she felt her own primal vehemence building, rising up from deep within her, like water coming close to the boil. “Perhaps it is simply time to remove them from the equation,” As she spoke, she drew closer to War, she could feel the heat and life blistering from his body. She stretched out her gnarled fingers, olden bones creaked and cracked. Flashes of pain shot along the still human nervous system, yet that mattered little to her.
“Are you sure, that is prudent, the one you serve wanted them forged for a reason, do you think it would be wise to challenge him?” The voice was toying with her once again.
“I am sure that he has more important things to worry about.” She laid her hand upon War’s forehead and felt a jolt of electricity. “His body is already weak, she fed on him before she left.”
“Perhaps all hope is not lost then, some of what she is, may still be saved.”
The Mistress removed her hand slowly, feeling the connection fade, she peered down at War. In most cultures, he would be called her son, she may not have carried him and borne him as the base races do. Yet she had created him, merged magic and flesh, to give him life. She scoffed as she thought of these pointless concepts, the Universe was falling back into Darkness and soon nothing would be lost. Except that is for the one she served and his few chosen disciples.
“Perhaps you’re right,” The Mistress hissed.
“I am always right.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” She snapped. “Always remember your place, or I will have to remind you again.”
The voice chuckled derisively, its tone darker now. “Make sure to remember your place as well, Mistress, in the great scheme of things, you are merely a tiny cog on the wheel that is bringing about the end of this pitiful universe, and the beasts that inhabit it.”
The Mistress chose not to respond, the voice was simply trying to get a rise out of her and she was too tired now to bother. She turned from War and shifted out of the chamber. She emerged into the feeding hall, the vast stone room, was filled with bodies, most hung from the walls or were piled on the floor like firewood. Some still squirmed or attempted to move, while others were long dead and the stench of decaying flesh hung heavy within the pallid air. The reek of rooting meat, gave her a lift.
“I hate it here,” The voice snapped, its disgust clear. “The smell is troubling to me, all this beast flesh.”
“Well don’t feel like you need to stay, my old friend” the Mistress laughed, it was hollow and devoid of any discernable sentiment.
The silence was only broken by the occasional, cries or begs from the meat. She glanced around, her vision shifted until she could see the very life force flowing through the figures.
“Yes, it is certainly time for a fest.” She whispered, as she prepared to have her fill. She would certainly need the energy, especially now that her own offspring were beginning to discover their true powers. Perhaps she would simply slay them that decision though would be made later, after dinner.
The First Dawn (The Sci-Corp War Saga Book 1) Page 22