by Luis Robles
“I can’t help it. That last cloak looked like an abomination,” Pah said, enjoying himself.
“Just tell me what I’m doing wrong,” Bliss said between smiles.
“Well, you can’t make something appear and fit you perfectly if you don’t know your measurements,” Pah said a bit more seriously.
“Measurements?” Bliss asked with a blank expression.
Realizing that Bliss did not know the first thing about measurements, as in lengths and widths, Pah got up from under the tree and began explaining to her. He took his time and taught her everything he knew about measurements. The conversation lasted for hours, and all the while Bliss listened intently. After Pah finished explaining, he went back to rest under the tree, and Bliss began to try again. With each try, she got closer to making the perfect cloak.
“I did it, I did it! Pah, I did it! It finally has the perfect proportions,” Bliss said, happy and almost jumping up and down.
“I knew you can do it,” Pah said, feeling smug for her.
The cold wind of the day swept through the country, bringing the sweet scent of pine trees and dew and the melodies of birds. Bliss was intently looking at the cloak, clearly deep in her thoughts.
“You okay?” Pah raised his head a little, cocking to one side.
“I was just wondering,” Bliss faltered, “how it would feel like if my parents could see this. I never got the chance to grow up enough to remember what they looked like, so I can’t even imagine.”
“Did it even occur to you that I got feelings, too? Why would you look for them when you already got me?”
“No, it’s not like that, Pah. Come on, don’t say that.” Seeing that Pah was actually smiling at her mischievously, Bliss went over to him, took his head and placed it on her lap, and stroked his great head fondly.
“It’s just that, I miss them…in a sort of way…even if I never really saw them.”
“Bliss, I can not feel your pain, at least not in the way that you are feeling it right now. One thing that I’ve learned throughout my many year is that you can measure just about anything in this world apart from another person's pain.” Pah looked at Bliss with his wolf-like, piercing eyes.
Bliss playfully punched Pah on the neck, laughing and rubbing her eyes to wipe a tear that never made it out.
“And I am proud of you, Bliss, at any given time and day. Remember that. We are family now; you are my only family.” Bliss smiled, already aware of the bond that will keep them together for eternity, the bond that has kept her protected all these years.
The fields of Apalace were vast and open. However, the fields never remained empty; there were traveling families and nomads walking across the fields from time to time. The fields were the crossing of the ancient world, where all roads end and where new ones begin. Yet, even though many souls crossed the fields, Pah and Bliss always felt as if they were alone. Only being able to spot dots of travelers from afar, they had all the space they needed to themselves.
As the day moved along, Bliss continued making clothes for herself. She claimed it was practice. Pah just watched her from time to time as he fell in and out of sleep. The sun was setting and Pah had finally gotten up to make a fire when he smelled something he had not smelled in a very long time. The faint but foul smell of rot and decay was quantifying with every second that passed.
“Rot,” Pah hissed as he looked around, trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from.
Bliss reacted swiftly but calmly, putting her palms together, making all the cloaks and cotton flowers disappear with a gust of wind. She knew that if a fight broke out, the pile of clothes and mound of cotton would simply get in the way.
“Something is different this time; there are two other smells that I do not recognize, and it seems like we are surrounded,” Pah said as he inhaled large amounts of air in through his nose.
“I’ll slow them down,” Bliss said, confident in herself. She closed her eyes, fully extended her arms with her palms facing the sky, and said, “Rise.”
Almost simultaneously, spikes rose from the ground, surrounding Pah and Bliss in a fifteen-meter boundary. The spikes were large, made of the stone in the ground, and pointed outwards from Bliss and Pah. When the stone spikes were fully extended, Bliss made the spikes rotate around them. The spikes acted much like a mill, some rotated clockwise, and some rotated counterclockwise. A strong perimeter was formed.
“Good work,” Pah grinned as he got ready for battle.
“I think I’m going to practice hand-to-hand in case some of them make it in,” Bliss said as she got into a fighting position.
The vile smell of the Rot surrounded them after a few minutes. Some Rot began to charge directly towards Pah and Bliss, but Bliss’ stone mill took care of them in seconds. Parts of the Rots’ bodies flew everywhere as the mill reduced them to nothing. However, being stronger than the Rot, Gavril’s new Disgrace began to jump over the stone mill. Soon, Bliss and Pah found themselves inside a rotating ring filled with a new enemy.
“You look a little tougher, and a little bigger, and perhaps a little scarier. But you are a lot more stupid for jumping inside the wolf's den,” Pah said, poised.
Bliss and Pah began attacking the Disgrace without holding back. Each kick from Bliss sent each Disgrace one or two meters away and, in some cases, broke their body in half; each punch broke their bones or jaws. Pah’s attack on the Disgrace were solid and direct, putting them down with a single blow. Pah was done several seconds before Bliss with his side of the Disgrace. Bliss seemed to be enjoying herself. She seemed happy, as if she was doing something good by destroying a plague.
“That was a fun warm up,” Bliss said as one of her kicks cut the last of the Disgrace in two.
“A little bit of self control goes a long way. Want to let them all in?” Pah asked, grinning.
Pah’s grin quickly erased from his face when the Disgrace began putting themselves back together, faster and faster with each second that passed.
“Tougher you say? We are much more than tougher, we are indestructible,” one of the Disgrace said with a wicked, broken voice.
As the Disgrace put themselves back together, another ten more of the Disgrace jumped over the rotating stone and joined the stone mill match. Some of the Disgrace began grinning when the tides of battle seemed to favor them. Bliss and Pah were surely outnumbered, or so the Disgrace thought.
“Don’t worry, Pah, they won’t touch us. Gavril sure feeds a lot of confidence into them,” Bliss said, still confident in her abilities.
Pah sighed in relief, and his grin returned to his face. He was mainly worried about Bliss’ confidence in herself because if she lost it in battle, it would be hard for her to control her magic once again; at the level that her magic was now, that could easily end her life.
“Just stay focused, keep your eyes on them at all times,” Pah said as he poised once more.
“Let us see what you do against thirty of us,” the thirtieth Disgrace said as he entered the stone mill ring.
“Bliss, can you make the stones spin faster?” Pah asked as he walked towards the Disgrace without a single drop of fear.
Without saying a word to Pah, Bliss made the stone mill rotate faster. The stone mill produced a loud sound as the stones grinded against each other, faster with each turn. The Disgrace stood motionless and with a blank and literally dead expression on their face. They could not believe that Pah and Bliss were not the least bit scared of them. Enraged at their enemies’ defiance, the Disgrace sprang an attack against Bliss and Pah. Having far superior control over the situation, Bliss and Pah grabbed the Disgrace in the middle of their attack, and one by one tossed them to the stone mill. In between the grinding, fast moving stone, they simply disappeared, turning into dust particles. In less than a minute, the ring was cleared of all harm.
“What now? Should we let them in?” Bliss asked, filled with energy.
As Pah turned to answer, his attention was quickly stolen
by a loud, sharp sound coming from the west part of the stone mill. Sparks flew everywhere as the stone rotated quickly without stopping, breaking into hundreds of bits and pieces that continued to spin.
“What is that?” Bliss asked as she got ready for any attack, summoning some vines that began to perk up from the ground.
“It looks like something is trying to get in by force,” Pah said, staring directly at the source of the noise.
The head of a large blade appeared on the inside of the stone mill. Bliss and Pah did not move a centimeter, waiting for whatever was going to come their way. The blade stood still horizontally for a few moments, then worked its way up and down through the rotating stone mill, cutting most of the stone into the size of rocks. Once the stone was cut into a million small pieces, the blade disappeared from view.
“And what is that?” Bliss yelled as she covered up her ears.
A loud hailstone sound came from the same area. The sound became louder and louder as the seconds passed. Pah’s eyes were on high alert, looking everywhere around them. With his sense of hearing and smell temporarily gone, thanks to the chaos, they were sitting ducks. The hailstone sound intensified with hundreds of screeches per second as a dark silhouette appeared inside the spinning stone ring. A large metal spike was the first thing to appear before Pah’s eyes. The first spike was soon followed by another, and then another, as they rotated down.
Pah growled as an oversized, revolving shield appeared, making way for two female-like silhouettes. As they got closer, their features became more visible even through the millions of stones spinning around them. Both were females, and both looked dangerous, with evil smiles flashing across their faces. The females were pearl white and wearing thick leather clothes. Their hair was black—one with long hair and the other short. The female with short hair was holding a revolving, oversized shield that was easily twice the size of her. The other female had attached to her back an oversized sword that continued slicing the stone even further as the head of the sword poked out above the shield. The two females, and what seemed to be their weapons, quickly made it across the rotating stone, making the loud noise stop.
When the noise stopped, Bliss let go of her ears and quickly got into a fighting position with one hand stretched with the palm down, and the other made up a fist and bent in. She awaited the females to speak.
“Let us savor the moment,” the female with the sword said calmly with an unexpectedly beautiful voice.
The female with the shield just stood quiet and smiling. Bliss’ vines grew up to her knees, and they began to point at the two females.
“Who are you?” Pah said in between growls.
“I am Gem, and this is Ini,” said the female with the sword as she pointed towards the one holding the shield.
“And we have come to take you to our master,” Ini said in the most innocent of voices.
Without any warning, Gem launched an attack directly at Pah. He moved quickly out the way, only to find that Gem and her sword followed his every move. Within a few seconds, every muscle on Pah’s body was tired as he evaded the much faster Gem. Gemini was created with a single purpose—and that was to defeat the last of the Watchers. Not knowing what else to do, Pah turned to Bliss, and she immediately reacted, knowing that the situation was much dire than she thought. She instantly began to aid Pah, sending hundreds of vines to restrain Gem. However, it did not matter; Gem had in her hand what could possibly be the most powerful weapon in existence. Every vine that Bliss sent towards her was cut, much like a hand cuts through the wind. The sword was simply unstoppable, and Gem was fast, somehow keeping up with the much experienced Watcher’s every move.
Avoiding decapitation by just mere centimeters at a time, Pah managed to yell, “Bliss, open the mill!”
Without giving it a second thought, Bliss dropped the entire revolving mill, only to find themselves utterly surrounded by hundreds of Rot and a few Disgraces. When the stone mill dropped, Gem immediately returned to Ini’s side. The Rot and Disgrace stood still outside the former boundary of the stone mill, as if they were awaiting orders from Gemini.
“They will only do what we say,” Ini said to Bliss in a nice way, with a smile on her face.
“Pah, are you alright?” Bliss asked, worried.
“The bigger the space, the better I can fight against her. Can you take care of the Rot?” Pah asked as he caught his breath.
“Yes, leave them to me. Be careful, Pah,” Bliss said as lightning sparks began to appear everywhere around them.
“Get her! All of you,” Gem said, livid as she looked around at the hundreds of Rot just standing around awaiting orders.
“Sister, they were simply waiting for our orders,” Ini said with a low calm voice.
The Rot and Disgrace ran to attack Bliss, while Pah and Gemini fled simultaneously away from the small army. Using a combination of vines, rocks and hand-to-hand attacks, Bliss was perfectly capable of destroying the Rot. However, Bliss could not help but to fear the well-being of Pah. She knew that in an open field, they would even out since Pah had more freedom with his movements. But the situation was grave; they had never faced an enemy so agile and strong as Gemini. As Bliss engaged in battle with the small army, she kept asking to herself, “What about Gemini? Pah can’t possibly take them out on his own. They are just too strong.” Bliss knew that she had to hurry and destroy the small army as fast as she could.
“Let’s get serious,” Pah sneered as he got into a crouching position once Gemini reappeared in front of him.
“By all means,” Gem said as she pulled out the sword once again.
Pah knew that Gemini would be the fiercest opponent he had ever faced. He also knew that they would also be his last. Trying not to surrender to his crushing will, Pah gathered all his strength and launched an attack towards Gemini; Pah unleashed a series of powerful attacks on Gemini. The loud thunder of his attacks echoed across the fields, and the sky darkened into night with each lightning strike. However, Pah’s lightning attacks towards Gemini were useless against Ini’s shield. Ini’s shield absorbed and dispersed each one of his attacks towards the ground. This became a grim situation for Pah; nearly all of his real strength came from lightning attacks. Knowing that his lightning attack would get him nowhere, he began trying to attack Gem with physical attacks. But each time that Pah was able to evade Gem’s sword and he was about to land a blow on Gem, he would find himself blocked by Ini’s shield. Gemini was indeed the perfect weapon against the last of the Watchers.
“Sorry but we have to win, Gavril really wants Bliss,” Ini said in a calm voice, feeling sorry for Pah.
“Will you shut up? Why would you apologize to the enemy?” Gem said, flaring at Ini as they continued the fast-paced match.
It was in that instance that Pah discovered an unprecedented flaw in Gavril’s perfect warrior. He just had to keep it together for a few more minutes.
Meanwhile, Bliss was defeating the Rot with ease left and right. They were no match for her magic. Most Rot stopped existing with a single blow, while the Disgrace—who were more agile and doubled in strength—only took two hits. However, the number of the Rot was vast, and Bliss knew that the Rot was a mere distraction and that it was Gavril’s plan to separate her from Pah. Bliss was desperate to be rid of the Rot. She wanted to help Pah in whatever way she could. The more she fought through the enormous crowd of Rot, the more she realized that it was going to take her a long time to get rid of every single one. Even with the use of her magic, the Rot’s number was overwhelming. Bliss wanted help—she needed help. As she continued to fight the Rot, she asked to herself, “Why does it have to be like this? Why is it just Pah and me? Can anyone help us?” Bliss continued with her fight, focusing on each hit with more magic than the last, but it had the same effect on the Rot. She did not know what else to do. She felt lonely in the world.
Suddenly, embers began to rise from the ground, and fire quickly incinerated the Rot in front of her. Rot were b
eing incinerated all around her. As she stopped to figure out what was happening, a voice yelled at her from afar. It was then when she realized that earthly dragons joined the fight, and they were on her side.
“Bliss, is it really you?”
Bliss’ eyes squinted as memories from her childhood flashed in front of her.
“Is it really you, Nameless Horned Boy?” Bliss asked, feeling hopeful once again.
The Nameless Horned Boy that Bliss once knew was no more. This horned boy was fully-grown, almost resembling the body of a man. His horns were also longer than she remembered, and a few more dragon-like features had been added to his body. His body looked strong; around his shoulders and the outer part of his arms were skin-colored scales. His ears were pointed, and he wore pointy golden earrings. But what Bliss noticed the most was that his eyes had become more dragon-like—they were intense, and their pupils were slightly elongated.
“It’s me! Quite a mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” the horned boy said as he easily threw one of the Rots far away, turning it into fire.
“Yeah…It happens,” Bliss said, relieved that help had arrived.
“Snap out of it, you two,” one of the eldest dragons said from afar as one of his hits swept many Rots away.
As quick as lightning, Bliss said hurriedly, “Can you take care of these pests? I must go help Pah.”
Chills swept the horned boy when she mentioned Pah. He remembered being scared of him; he could not possibly imagine that he was in more trouble than Bliss was.
“Go, leave this to us,” the horned boy said as he ran straight towards incoming Rot.
“Thanks,” Bliss said as she closed her eyes and disappeared with a puff of violet smoke.
Seconds later, and with another puff of violet smoke, Bliss appeared near Pah and Gemini’s battle. The distraction allowed Pah to regain some of his breath; he was near his breaking point from the exhausting battle with Gem. Not being able to land a single blow on Gem, thanks to Ini, he had settled for staying alive long enough to put his plan into work.