Soul opened up interdimensional pockets, while Widow used his sheer force and magnificently huge scythe to knock clusters of Darklings down and toss them into his brother’s controlled spaces. It was easier and faster than simply cutting and killing them, one by one, and I knew the Reapers took no pleasure in killing living creatures, no matter how terrible said creatures were. Phantom moved like a shadow, slashing left and right between the ghouls, forcing them to reveal their physical forms.
Rose and Caleb then proceeded to cut the creatures’ heads and limbs off with swift yet decisive movements. Derek and Sofia saved their pulverizer pellets for later, switching to smoke bombs and short swords in direct combat against the Darklings. For now, we seemed to have a handle on things, but I knew it could get much worse at any time.
Hunter tore through the few Aeternae who’d managed to open another hole in the protective shield, his white wolf form frightening and majestic at the same time. He kept himself close to Lumi and Kailani’s positions, mainly to make sure they wouldn’t be attacked. The longer they could keep this up, the better.
When the fifth hole was torn, however, Darklings and Aeternae poured into Roano, forcing us all back several yards. We closed ranks and stayed on a strict defense, hitting only those who managed to get past the Reapers. The Time Master kept vanishing and reappearing—at the same time, Darklings fell, their heads separated from their bodies. I’d learned by now that by stopping time for mere seconds here and there, the Reaper could go longer using this particular aspect of his ability.
Dream cast spells against the Knight Ghouls who were circling our cluster. Tiny sparkling balls of white fire shot from her scythe, crackling and bursting and forcing the creatures to reveal themselves. Derek and Sofia worked together to kill them off. Nightmare had his work cut out for him, as he’d been charged with quickly and swiftly reaping each soul of the fallen, to stop any ghoul from munching on them and to keep the battlefield clear for his siblings. I’d never seen him work so fast before.
Something moved past me. It had to have been another enemy ghoul. I wanted to go after it, but a Darkling made his way to my side somehow. By the time I saw him, he rammed into me. I ended up on my back, and Ridan growled as he looked down at me. His jaws opened up, a ball of bright orange fire forming in his throat. It was my cue to roll over as fast as possible.
The Darkling didn’t stand a chance. The flames shot down with such force and pressure that parts of his flesh melted off before he ran away screaming, collapsing a few yards later. The heat reached my face, beads of sweat forming and trickling down my temples, but I’d gotten out clean. I jumped back to my feet, anxiously looking around again, worried the enemy ghoul might’ve gotten close to someone else. That was their favorite attack move—sneaking up and pouncing on their prey.
“Oh no…” I muttered, noticing Kelara on the ground. She grunted as she struggled against an invisible weight. My feet started moving before I even thought of doing something. I bolted in her direction, ready to do whatever it might take. I passed by Nethissis and Rudolph as they took down another Knight Ghoul, and I briefly thought they were a little too close to Kelara. Given the Reaper’s current condition, a soul in her vicinity was a terrible idea.
As I shifted my focus back to Kelara, I froze. Her collar had been torn off. Whatever had pinned her down was no longer there. The air seemed clear and still. But the look on Kelara’s face scared me more than a Knight Ghoul still at large and beyond our defense lines. Her galaxy eyes were practically black—darkness had consumed her from the inside. The ghoulish hunger had taken over.
“Soul!” I shouted, hoping he’d hear me.
It was too late. Kelara spotted Nethissis not far behind me and darted toward her. I tried to fight her, but she backhanded me so fast and so hard I flew to the side, half my face pulsating with sharp pain. I hit the ground hard, hearing Kelara’s growl and Nethissis’s scream before my lights went out.
Nethissis
I didn’t even realize I’d screamed until afterward. Kelara had suddenly appeared in my field of vision, hunger glimmering in her big black eyes, and I hadn’t been able to do anything else. For the first time, I was in danger at the hands of a friend. I couldn’t fault her for it, but it still scared me.
Kelara missed me by inches as I swerved to the right and raised my loaner scythe. Seeley had taught me a couple more spells since our last combat mission, but I worried they might not be enough. The ghoulish hunger had left Kelara without a single shred of self-control left, though she was still a Reaper. And the fact that the curse hadn’t cleared with Corbin’s death just proved what an absolute bastard the Spirit Bender was—he’d deliberately made it so, his hatred of Reapers blaring through this persistence of inflicting suffering and damning their souls. “Trust me, Kel. You don’t want to do this,” I said as she stopped and turned around to face me, panting.
I gave Amane a brief glance, relieved to see her regaining consciousness quickly after the heavy blow she’d taken from Kelara. Unfortunately, the Faulty couldn’t get anywhere near us, as more Darklings were pouring through, and she was suddenly entangled with several of them at once. Ridan was there to help, but he couldn’t do anything to help me.
“I’m hungry!” Kelara snarled and came in hot, her feet barely touching the ground.
“No!” I moved out of her way, thinking that if she really wanted to eat me, she could easily make herself disappear or jump across portions of space. Maybe there was a part of her that was still fighting the hunger, shutting down parts of her undead brain…
“Your spirit is so bright… so beautiful!” she managed, looking at me like I was the most delicious thing she’d ever seen. The more Kelara tried to take me down, the harder I fought back, slashing at her with my scythe. I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t even want to use a death magic spell against her. Kelara was my friend, and she didn’t deserve to be in this position. But I didn’t deserve to get gobbled up, so it sucked for the both of us.
“Kelara, please, listen to me,” I said, looking around. Rudolph was stuck under a Knight Ghoul’s claw. He was about to get the beating of his life. Once a fierce Reaper and now an even fiercer ghoul, Rudolph wouldn’t be in that position for long. Soul was nowhere close enough to help, either. Darklings had caught up with him and Widow—their pocket and brute force strategy wasn’t working anymore. “You have to fight it. You have to fight the hunger!”
“I can’t!” she screamed, her features contorted. “I can’t take it anymore! I need to eat!”
“You’re a Reaper, damn it! If you consume a soul—any soul—that means Spirit will have won. You can’t give him the satisfaction of surrendering to the hunger, especially since he’s not even around to gloat about it,” I replied. “Damn it, Kelara—you’re stronger than this!”
Her expression was one of torment, but she wasn’t giving up anytime soon. She kept attacking me, and I continued my defense, eventually using an energy pulse to throw her back. It struck Kelara in the head and knocked her down, which only seemed to piss her off. She scrambled back up and intensified her offense, forcing me to launch additional pulses in her general direction, hoping they’d at least act as a deterrent.
“Please, Kelara! We’re almost out of the woods here!” I said. “You just need to hold on…”
I knew I was talking out of my ass at this point. Without the rune collar on, Kelara had zero self-control. The hunger had festered inside her since Corbin had applied the curse. It wasn’t going to simmer down, and chances were good that only Death would be able to reverse the process. We just had to make sure she didn’t eat a soul in the meantime. Once she entered the ghoul phase, Kelara could never return to her former self. Nightmare helped a lot with that by reaping anyone who died, and Phantom occasionally pitched in between sessions of fending off ghouls. Soul and Widow had been even more efficient by not killing the Darklings, stuffing them in his interdimensional pockets, instead.
“Hit her with everythin
g you’ve got!” Soul shouted from about fifty yards away. “She can take it!”
That sounded odd coming from the Reaper who had feelings for Kelara, but I figured he knew her best—or at least understood her limitations. She was feral and determined to eat me. Hitting her with everything I had was all I had left.
Taking a deep breath, I focused my energy into the scythe’s blade, my lips moving as I whispered a more complex attack spell. Remembering the words that Seeley had taught me, I enunciated them clearly as the weapon lit up white. I couldn’t rely on my lover to save me every time—Seeley was busy fighting off Knight Ghouls and Darklings. I had to do this myself. Mayhem had erupted around us, and it would only get worse.
Kelara hissed as she attempted another attack, but I fired off the spell. A shimmering bubble of pure spiritual energy shot through her, and she stilled, her black eyes wide and filled with wonder before the pain set in. “Ow…” she managed, dropping to one knee as she clutched her chest.
“I really don’t want to do this,” I said, already feeling sorry for the hurt I was causing her. She hadn’t left me any other choice. And to my astonishment, she was nowhere near ready to call it quits. Kelara vanished, and I froze on the spot, knowing what that meant.
I felt her breath on the back of my neck before I spun on my heels and found her grinning like a hungry lioness. She gripped me by the throat with incredible strength, squeezing tightly until I lost all sensation in my limbs. I heard the scythe hit the ground.
“No, Kelara, please…” I croaked, feeling my whole spirit crushed in her hand.
“Nethissis!” Seeley called out. I managed to catch a glimpse of him, pale and terrified, as he cut down a Knight Ghoul and started running toward us. I didn’t want the silvery ashes of a dead ghoul to be the last thing I saw, so I looked into Kelara’s eyes.
“We’re friends,” I whispered, fire burning in my throat as her lips parted.
The glimmer of recognition lingered in her gaze for about a second, but it wasn’t enough. Something took Seeley down. I heard him grunt and fall, then a Darkling gloating.
“You’re done for, Reaper!” The statement was quickly followed by an “Argh!” as the Soul Crusher swept through and cut him in half with his scythe. I saw him coming for us, his blade stretched out. Seeley managed to pull himself back up and started in our direction, as well.
Kelara was conflicted. She wanted to eat me, but… something inside her was resisting. I figured a part of her was still in control, at least partially. Enough to hit the emergency brakes. She didn’t let go, but she wasn’t in a hurry to eat me, either. Just as well, I thought, as Soul finally reached us.
“Immobile fervii!” he said, then cut her with his scythe. Kelara cried out, throwing her head back. Whatever that spell was, it had a paralyzing effect. She stiffened, her black eyes wide, while I breathed the heaviest sigh.
Away from her grip, I felt like myself again. The pressure that had been building up inside me had dissolved, leaving only the usual fear to roam freely.
“I’m so sorry, but I had no choice. You know that,” I said, looking at Kelara.
Soul produced another collar from his pocket and fastened it around her neck. The runes lit up red once it was locked on, and Kelara groaned with a mixture of pain and frustration. She still couldn’t move, so he just threw her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. “Trust me, she knows,” he replied. “Come on, let’s get you both away from the front line.”
I shook my head, hoping to regain more of my senses. Seeley had yet to reach us, and I could finally see why. The number of Darklings and Aeternae slipping through the dome cracks had quadrupled over the last few minutes. The ratio was now ten to one against us and getting worse with every second that went by.
“They need our help,” I told Soul. “Seeley needs me!”
“Seeley can handle himself. You’re a soul with a scythe, Nethissis, and my girlfriend just tried to eat you. There is only so much I can put up with, so please—let’s fall back. It’s about to get nasty,” Soul insisted.
Through all the shouting and screaming and roaring, I heard it. The long and sharp crackling sound that traveled across the protective dome. Looking up, the terrible sight made me quiver. The spell had succumbed to the Darklings’ onslaught. An enormous crack opened up from east to west, breaking the dome in half. From it, thousands of smaller cracks spidered outward.
“Holy crap,” I murmured. This was it.
The moment we’d all been dreading. Millions of shards of glass-like magic came down, and everything went silent. Soul and I exchanged horrified glances. I looked at Seeley. He was running toward me again, this time with an amplified sense of urgency.
“Fall back!” Derek shouted. “Everybody, fall back!”
His voice thundered through the entire city. We had a protocol for this. The enemy was forcing us to the center of Roano. Our last defense was there. Now it was only a matter of getting to it before the tens of thousands of Aeternae, led by Darklings and ghouls, took us down. The power of numbers was on their side.
“Don’t look behind you,” Soul said, yanking me away from where I stood frozen in place.
I ran in a daze. Seeley came up next to me. He took my hand in his and gave Soul a thankful nod. Had it not been for the First Tenner’s intervention, I probably would’ve served as the point of no return for a ghoul named Kelara.
Our ghouls must’ve found and destroyed some of the Darklings’ seals around the city in the meantime, as Seeley and Soul quickly discovered that they could teleport themselves across short distances. We agreed it was better than nothing. The two Reapers got us into the city center first. Here, the civilian Orvisians were shaking like leaves in the wind, surrounded by sacks of rubble and sand that the Seniors had preemptively prepared as makeshift trenches. In the distance, I saw fires swelling as Ridan unleashed the whole fury of his dragon nature.
“Guess our ghoul scouts found some of the blockers along the city’s old walls,” Soul said, looking around. “I was wondering why I’d not seen them earlier.”
“Good thing we sent them out early, huh?” I replied, pleased with the Reapers’ foresight. Soul shot me a cool grin.
“It’s the upside of an actual war. The enemy can’t keep track of all our movements. Our ghoul boys managed to slip right through their ranks while the Darklings were busy trying to get to us.”
“Well, like you said, it’s better than nothing.” I sighed.
The rest of our crew appeared all around us, teleported in clusters by the other Reapers. Soul must’ve told them through their telepathic connection. The Darklings and the Aeternae were not far behind. The Knight Ghouls were already ahead, hurtling toward our location. Throughout this entire ordeal, Seeley didn’t let go of my hand.
“We just need to hang tight,” he said, his voice breaking. I knew he wanted to believe his own words, but our odds were shrinking before our very eyes. Even so, I swallowed back the doubt and forced myself back into fight mode. “One seal down… Two more to go.”
“Let’s show these suckers who they’re dealing with,” I replied, raising my scythe and standing up straight.
I wasn’t sure this would end well. The odds were against us. But as long as Unending was out there, and as long as she was still tearing down the seals that Spirit had bound her with, we still had hope. A fickle little thing, hope, but worth holding on to.
Giving Seeley a faintly confident smile, I felt thankful to have made it this far into the game. No matter what Death’s angle was, we all had each other. I wasn’t alone. GASP and its allies would never back down.
And as long as we stood together against the adversity, we had a fighting chance.
Tristan
Unending, whose energy was already depleted, couldn’t do much without her scythe. It was a miracle she’d managed to get us out of Roano. Spirit had the upper hand, but Unending’s scythe was resonating with me. It had a life of its own, and after almost five million years
under the Darklings’ control, it was dying to do something good.
“Parnassius,” Unending whispered, positioning herself in front of Thayen. The kid had to be protected. He was no match against Spirit. “It’s an attack spell. Use it.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Raising her scythe, I uttered the spell, yet something didn’t feel right. The Spirit Bender was grinning, but I figured he was too late, as a powerful violet pulse burst from Unending’s blade. It lacked a consistent form, oscillating between spherical and egg-shaped as it hurtled toward Spirit at an incredible speed. Its flight was so mesmerizing that I didn’t even notice my own spiritual energy leaving me along with it.
Spirit brought his own weapon up in front of him. The pulse smacked into the glossy steel and vanished. For a second, I thought I’d lost this round, and so did the disgraced Reaper, but glancing to my left, I saw Unending’s smirk. I’d missed something, and so had the Spirit Bender. His grin turned into a stiff frown as his weapon began to emit an odd hum.
“What the…” he muttered but failed to finish his sentence, as the whole double blade suddenly burned violet, an incandescence that made him realize this wasn’t going to be as easy a fight as he might have thought. A single breath later, the pulse exploded in his face, infinitely stronger than the spell I’d originally released.
Spirit grunted, pushed back by the sheer force of the deflagration, his face smeared in shades of purple and black. Fury flickered in his galaxy eyes as he tried to regain some sense.
“It’s a parasite spell,” Unending explained. “It latches on to the opponent’s weapon, feeds on it, then comes out stronger and more effective.”
“Nicely done,” I replied, genuinely surprised.
“We can’t rest on our laurels, I’m afraid,” Unending said. “We need more to put him out of commission, even temporarily, and I’m not sure your body can take it.”
A Shade of Vampire 86: A Break of Seals Page 8