The gates were preached by the sphinx, which wasn’t hard for a creature of its caliber. The guards couldn’t put a single wound on its solid stone flesh. The guards that were supposed to shoot arrows from the slits in the walls on invaders were suffering the effects of that enchanting voice.
“So many humans,” the sphinx gasped, “I haven’t played with humans in so long!”
The words did not matter, for the sphinx’s power lay in the magic that carried in them. Some guards came running out of the barracks, not to attack, they were just following the creature’s voice and right into their doom. The sphinx grinned and crushed them all under its feline claws, laughing like a little kid would while playing innocently – it wasn’t far from the truth, for this sphinx was an adolescent amongst its kind. That laugh pulled out more of those guards as the sphinx pushed forward through the tunnel.
A master and a large army of ghouls rushed behind to feed on the humans – or the pieces of them – that were crushed into the different sides of the tunnel, producing a sickeningly metal scent mixed with defecation through the enclosed space. The other gate was closing when the other guards realized they were under attack, and it was much bulkier and a lot smaller, than the first one.
“We should go, too,” he said to the smoke that covered him. “Or we will miss all the fun.”
There was no response from the cloak of darkness, not even the emotions that it projected into him before. Those died a long while ago, and it wasn’t because of the distance.
That wound… that darned wound, he hissed as his hand went to his head. The venom nearly made him spiral into madness – striking this sort of deal without a clear mind was not something he would’ve rushed to do – but even with the toxins cleared from his body, he was still feeling that feeling of being ill, the strike of that strange blade was still affecting him. “Now I’ve evened the odds,” Heras said as he flexed his fingers.
He watched the drawings on the tunnel, the one where they slaughtered his tribe and his people was carved amongst them as a trophy of sorts, with the words ‘victory over darkness’ carved beneath them. Perhaps because of the creature sensed his distress, his rage, or just because it was a creature that thrived in chaos, the sphinx swung its tree trunk-sized tail into the wall and removed that entire part from the wall.
The sphinx turned back to focus on the heavy stone gate, scratching playfully on the thing and making claw marks’ grooves into the hard stone.
“Come and play with me, humans,” the mischief was seeping out of the sphinx as it began ramming into the door. “I haven’t played in so, very long!”
The gate was shattered after a few slams, splintering out like it was blown, shards of rocks and pebbles landing all around the city.
“Oh, humans, how much I love you,” the sphinx roared before sprinting into the city, hoards of ghouls and hellhounds following.
The golems' footsteps rumbled from behind, as they finally caught up to the army that he was granted by the knowledge he found. A god of strife that used the Black Dunes as its domain would have some manner of control over the creatures of the Black Dunes.
Heras walked into the city again, eyes on the temple as he did. It was the goal of this entire attack and the reason why he was granted all of these creatures. Corpses littered the gate, leaving no survivors was something the Dunes were good at, and his time at the outpost studying them proved that.
He stood there, watching as the horror crept into the city, and panic engulfed its citizens.
It was a good night to get revenge.
-
The soldiers moved with a practiced manner, those that required solid lines made solid lines, those that needed a loose formation made suitable distance, and the ones that needed to fire on the flying creatures grouped in higher places, guarded by the others.
It was a fine display of the military might of Shinar that they didn’t get to display for ages now. Merely small skirmishes here or there, or some stray packs of beasts here and there, nothing on the scale of the first war. This wasn’t as bad as the first war, though, for that had humans on the side of the fiends, but it was close.
He removed the plates off him and grabbed the great serpent blade of Shar, a man that he could only aspire to be like, a martial force of a person that could only be stopped by betrayal itself. But then the second one got betrayed, then the third…
Apis stared at the blade as he pondered.
It was a cycle of treason and dishonor, he grimaced, but there weren’t many ways to get rid of an astral if not by cloak and dagger means.
That insolent girl of the high priest was proof enough. Not only did she poison the last Astral – and only the gods know what she used to manage that sense they were immune to most venom and poisons – she also did not wait for the toxin to work before she went in for the kill. The Astral was dragged by his hair – something he couldn’t imagine that stick of a girl doing to a dog, let alone a man three times her size – before she beheaded him in the arena, and stood, raising the decapitated head high in the air.
He shuddered when he remembered the scene, she was covered in enough blood that no one tried to bother her after that day, not even him. He was terrified of her, he realized, and he did not like that feeling. Apis clenched his fist on the handle, his grip doing little to damage it as to prove his weakness.
“The lady approved,” the priest rushed in, panting for breath.
He hated that he had to ask for her permission, that he had to watch her break the rules without the power to stop her, that she brought mutts into this holy and sacred place. His anger must’ve shown on his face for the priest and the two guards that escorted him edged away while looking uncomfortable.
“It is my duty,” he marched forward, pushing the man aside with his shoulder, “and I am a man of honor.”
“Uh, yeah,” the priest grunted.
The monster was large, at least three times his height, and gods knew how large it would be when he got closer. But he wasn’t a helpless little runt pushed into the guards to be made into the semblance of a power figure. Apis was blessed at birth with a constitution that surpassed other people, with strength that was many times the power of others, and even the incident with the intruder proved that. Even as he bled out an ungodly amount of blood on the floors of the healing room to tint the running waters for hours, he merely passed away for less than an hour before he was up on his feet again.
He was sure that it was the doing of that girl, but he could not prove it. Another grievance for him to swallow.
Apis marched confidently, head raised high in defiance against the tide, the tide that decided to send a couple of flying monsters toward him. He swung the blade and cut the first one’s wing off, then pulled the sword to strike the other one in the face with the dull part. The creature's face crunched as it was sent into one of the adobe buildings.
The hounds were wiser, they gathered a few packs to swarm him first, and after he cleaved through a few brave members, dismembering them with ease, they decided to go pick on other, weaker targets.
Apis continued to walk unhindered, using the main street, watching the sphinx breaking buildings and frowning. He did not know how to get about killing such a creature, it looked to be entirely made out of stone, and even the things that looked like hair were rigid. He wondered if the head was-
He felt danger, something that was behind him and moving pretty fast. He wouldn’t be able to block it in time. Apis was moving to a crouch as the cloak flew by him, using the same road and running into an army of ghouls.
Apis’ heartbeats were fast, he could even feel the beading sweat on the back of his neck. He did not feel him approaching, that bastard that Lapis brought into the temple, the coward who refused to fight him. He could’ve stabbed him somewhere dangerous and he wouldn’t be able to react in time.
But he wasn’t after him, Apis breathed out and watched him cut down a ghoul, an amateur blow. He was no danger for him – or the monsters, he noticed as the ghoul stood up with a hanging jaw. So why was he feeling a sense of dread that he could not explain, something he did not feel even as he followed the path toward the real monster in the city?
Apis frowned and pondered as he continued to cut down the monsters. He eventually decided…
That bastard needed to disappear.
-
Lapis watched the city, feeling the power surge through her, and from her to the conduits. Dion was not a goddess of water, she understood early on – unlike the idiots in the temple – she merely used the water as a conduit for her power. It was simpler to extend your power to further places using such conduits, and that was mostly why the water channels of the city were well thought out.
It was not for the people, not for the farming, and not because herself being a water goddess. It was to cover the entire city in case they needed to send power quickly. Lapis smiled, as she sent the power to nullify the wounds on Theos arm. He was doing well against that monster, and it made her feel a strange fondness for her subject. She sent another stream to cover soldiers on the walls, again, the bats were almost gone, and that the soldiers didn’t dwindle in numbers much helped in protecting her temple and-
Lapis blinked, hand frozen in the air.
Why was she referring to things as if she was Dion? The moon was not full, yet, and she was not the Astral, yet. She turned her hand around, looking at her palm. Was she using too much power that the line between her human self and Dion's goddess self began to blur?
She could not hear Dion’s voice or feel her presence as she turned to the pit.
Theos was cut again, she felt, and she quickly turned to direct power to the deadly wound that formed close to his heart. She sighed out in relief when she saw him moving to attack the creature again. This was no time for distractions, she needed to keep this up or else he might-
He might die? He was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. She should’ve listened and kept him away from the temple when she thought he was making her uncomfortable-
Lapis sent a wave of water into the squads fighting the ghouls to tide them off until Theos finished the job. He was doing well, considering his situation. The creature was trying to flee from him, and in doing so was not reviving any of those downed ghouls.
The ebb and flow of the battle began to shift considerably towards the humans. They were fine servants and they were worthy of being kept in the monument of her victory-
Lapis jumped again to heal Theos as the final gambit attack of the monster pierced the upper parts of his back. He was still breathing, he was still okay, she-
She would allow him to join the ranks of the sentries around her monument.
Lapis gritted her teeth in anger, taking control back. “I will not become a puppet,” she hissed as she let go of the power channeling through her, a vessel that redirected it to a conduit, she let the power of the goddess seep out of her body and refused to allow it back.
“We are under threat,” the voice of Dion returned. Dull as the sandstones on sandstones in the desert.
“We agreed,” her voice grew in volume with each part of the sentence, “I will not be a puppet!”
“I cannot give you power if you do not give me form,” the voice said in muted disappointment. “We are in danger.”
“We agreed. It is a pact between us.”
Lapis refused to let this slide by, she was terrified, she nearly lost herself during the entire situation, and she nearly forgot about – she turned around in a panic and looked for Theos. He was walking back to the temple, using the main street. She huffed in relief.
“The evil god is here,” Dion finally said.
“Then let it consume you,” she stood straight, watching the city.
It was breaking free from this world, or breaking it all around her.
“I will not allow this!”
Lapis turned around and saw the pit glowing out, pulling her in, the visage of the angry woman clutching onto her body.
-
The claw came from his side – no, behind. He crouched low to the ground before jumping to avoid the other claw, grabbing it as it flew to the side. He used the momentum and a well aimed jump to try and reach the creature’s back. He saw the tail sweeping towards him and moved the blade to block, edge aiming out. The tail moved like a whip instead, striking him from the side and sending him back into the ground.
Apis rolled backward and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Sphinx caught on to the danger of the blade early on in the fight after he managed to cause a wound on its face, the creature stopped using its foul words after that and he was left to fight an increasingly savage battle, as the blade's venom began to muddle the creature's brain.
But it would not kill it… Apix grimaced as he tried to roll his shoulder only to find it heavy and unresponsive. The sphinx grinned as it saw the weakness, jumping at it like the mane lizards would jump a citar that strayed from its flock.
He straightened his arm and held the blade out which made the creature hesitate, and hesitation was death, he smiled. He bolted towards the monster and swung with all the power he could muster, and the sphinx retaliated by attacking with its claw. The blade bit into the paw, it went deep, halfway into the stone limb before the sweep pushed him away and sent him flying away from the creature again.
That thing did not enjoy him being close at all, he grinned. Then the grin vanished from his face when he realized that the blade was no longer in his hand. The creature laughed maniacally as it held the paw up from the ground and hopped around.
“Vile creature,” Apis stood and patted the dust off his body.
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“Humans are fun, humans are silly,” the creature sang, before barking out in laughter again. “Humans taste good in my belly.”
“Ah,” Apis spread his arms, “finally, the blade has made you insane.”
The creature growled and lowered its body to the ground in preparation for a bounce. He went for a wrestling stance, as ridiculous as it looked for a tiny man trying to wrestle a giant beast made of rocks and insanity. The beast jumped, swiping with its uninjured claw, and Apis reached for the hilt of the blade while using his other arm to push away the other claw. He successfully grabbed the hilt and was nearly smashed by the other claw. He screamed as he tried to push the claw away, for all the good that did. The veins on his arm popped out as he tried to pull the sword out, producing a horrible scratching noise, like whetstone against steel in a workshop that only had whetstones and steel to sharpen. His legs slid on the ground as the claw won against his arm. But the blade was wiggling out of that paw…
“Delicious human,” the creature said before it went for his shoulder and bit with all its jaw strength. It stopped pushing with its paw as soon as it got that bite in.
“Fuck. You!” he hissed. The blade swung out of the paw, and Apis stabbed the side of the sphinx’s head, somewhere that looked more flesh than stone. The blade went inside the soft spot and out of the sphinx’s eye. The creature howled in pain and let go of him.
Apis dropped to the ground and rolled back to his feet, standing straight, blade back in his hand, a whole side of him bleeding, and three quarters of the way cut off. And yet he did not die, he smiled smugly. The wounds would head, and the goddess was healing everyone. He just needed to finish the creature off.
The Sphinx dropped to the ground, huffing and breathing heavily as it convulsed. Apis stood over its head and watched with disdain as the creature looked back at him with fear. “All that power,” he told the creature. “Good for nothing against a single man.”
The monster bled through its mouth, watching him. “Mother… mother…” it called out weakly.
“Do not call for help,” Apis knelt and pushed the blade between the creature’s eyes. “You insult this honorable victory of mine.”
And just like that, the creature went still, eyes solidifying into rocks.
“How cruel of you,” the mocking voice said. “That poor child was just playing.”
He looked beyond the body of the sphinx towards the man who stood in tattered black clothes, the scarf peeling off his face. “You,” he growled at the man who attacked him in the temple. “The vile intruder.”
“Your death,” the man corrected, pulling out a dark blade as he began the battle.
-
Heras ran over the the corpse and jumped toward his injured foe. Even with his injury, his enemy was still a dangerous one, so he was going to use every trick he needed to use. The cursed serpent tooth in the man’s hand came swinging for him and the shadeblade formed a small tendril that speared out in a shade like attack to strike the blue blade. He prepared two more, keeping them hidden in the darkness of the blade. spear
The man’s eyes widened for a moment as his serpent fang was stopped by the black spearing shade, but to his credit, he recovered quickly to notice the two lances heading for his head and heart. The first spear shattered under the moonlight and his opponent moved his blade swiftly to parry those strikes and counter with a slash. Heras pushed his blade to confront that incoming slash and prepared for the hidden jab behind the strike.
The two blades clashed and pushed against each other, and the punch came from underneath them. Heras pulled on the black cloak and pulled it in front of the incoming fist. The blow was muted, like the man punching on sand.
“What manner of evil sorcery is this?” the man said as he pushed him away.
“I should be the one asking that,” Heras rubbed his ribs. He actually felt that blow even with the protection of this cloak. “How are you, a man so poor at fighting, not dead after all the cuts I gave you before?” he grinned.
“Why would I die from those nicks and scrapes?” he scoffed. “Especially when they come from someone who hits like an infant.”
Hmm, not so worried about his martial prowess then. What about something regarding his looks, or… “Say, did you shave your head like that, or does it come as a side effect of the emasculation you suffer from that priest girl?” He saw the man’s eye twitch, there was something there, and it was probably the latter part. “Ah, so it is the emasculation,” he broke into laughter, deep and provoking. “The gelded commander of the temple’s guards that failed to cut down a single person in his own charge, surrounded by an army of similarly castrated kin.”
The man smiled back at him. It was vicious and the smile did not reach his eyes. “I will heal, any moment now, and you will run away like the little rat that you are. You will go back to the graves of your people and weep, for you are an honorless cur that could not take revenge for them.”
“I already took revenge,” Heras smiled mirthlessly. “Look around you, your safe fortress of a capital in shambles, its people will never know peace ever again,” he raised his arms in the air to point, walking away from the man, he turned around trying to smooth the glare in his eyes. “Every time a pot falls, they will wonder, did the monsters come to attack again? Did the vessel in black come to claim their souls once more?”
“Vessel,” the bald commander circled. “I see. You think you've already shaken us,” he thought for a moment before he continued. “I am not a learned man-”
“That’s obvious,” he interrupted.
“But even I know that tonight will go in our history, once more, a victory of the righteous goddess against the savages and their monsters. How we once more brought peace. No one will argue against the truth.”
“Do you think the monsters I brought are all there is?” Heras blinked in surprise. “This child’s mother is marching here, towards this tiny gate, right now,” he pointed at the dead sphinx. “His father, a great Androsphynx, is already destroying the outposts that fund this den of sins,” he had to get his friends out of there earlier, and it was hard and ugly. “I am wearing an army of shades on me,” he continued, “a single ghoul master made your city tremble… look,” he gestured at the stairs, where a thousand shadows loomed. Every one of those had a master behind it. “I am accompanied by a god that thrives in this war!”
“I was told you had a friend in the city, a runt of a person called Theos,” the man watched the creatures, looking extremely unimpressed like he could fight the entire thing on his own. “Saw him kill one of these, earlier.”
Heras laughed out. “Theos is still here?” and he was good enough to fight a master on his own. Heras felt a strange sense of pride at that.
“Not for long,” the man smiled. “He was trying to leave, to help his friend, all these days,” he pointed the blade towards him, “you I assume… I made sure the city remained locked and to keep him watched.”
He raised his own blade in anticipation.
“I’m sure they killed him by now,” he grinned.
Heras froze. “What?”
“An entire squad is waiting for him at the temple’s gate,” Apis threw his thumb backwards. “He can fight that thing and win… can he fight a whole squad of the elite guards with that shitty steel dragger?”
Heras felt around the shadeblade, trying to figure out how many of those strikes he had left. He prepared all of them. He pulled on the cloak and released two of the bound shades and broke into a run just as the rest of the creatures broke into the city.
“I have to go and save him then, don’t I?”
-
Theos avoided the spear, dancing around it before cutting the arm of the man that extended it, just under the bracers. He moved, like he was in a trance, breathing out. He kept the man between him and the other two before he kicked him towards them. They tumbled down the stairs and the rest of them came running up.
“I thought we were friends,” he laughed nervously. The hurled spear answered instead of them. They missed, but he was almost hit. He had to be careful about that. The healing stopped sometime in the fighting, and none of the wounds were going away now. The cut on his cheek was proof of that. “Okay, how about this… I’ll give you all ten golden coins each to leave me alone. Good offer, right? Right?”
“Ten gold coins?”
“Don’t believe him you idiots, does he look like a man who can afford a single silver piece?”
They looked at each other in confusion and he took the chance to further climb the stairs. The squad followed behind him – around ten men – but he was faster without bronze weighing him down.
He was blocked by another squad on top and was now cornered on the stairs. “You guys, too?”
“You attacked the guards of the temple,” the captain of the group said. It was the same man who was following him and Lapis the first time he arrived here. “That is a crime worthy of the pit.”
“I am trying to go to the pit,” he shrugged. “But these guys think that I should stay and get stabbed.”
“Stop,” the group he was fighting caught up. “The high commander himself ordered this man killed.”
“For what crime?” the captain frowned.
“Defilement of the temple, naturally.”
“If you hadn’t noticed,” Theos interrupted, “we were allowed to enter the Temple for sanctuary,” he turned towards the captain. “Is this how the great sentinels of Dion treat those they offer sanctuary?”
“He is speaking the truth,” the captain said, looking at the group.
The group did not bother to respond, they prepared their weapons and moved for the kill. Theos backed away, closer to the group on top. “So much for the honor of hospitality,” he grumbled.
“This man is under our protection, pending a fair trial,” the captain moved between them. “He will remain in our custody until it is proven that he broke the law. He will get punished then.”
“You stand against the orders of your high commander?” the other guard barked.
They did not manage to get another word out before a shade appeared behind them, Theos’ blood froze in his veins, and either by instinct or just a hidden brain that wasn’t just staring at the monster he ran up the stairs. The shade turned three of those soldiers into carcasses before anyone managed to retaliate, the others broke into confused shouts. Theos ignored them and ran to the top, hoping that somehow this madness would stop once he reached that quiet and gentle place.
“Theos!” Heras called as he joined him in climbing the temple, “we better leave this place,” he huffed, grabbing a wound in his stomach.
“Heras, you are fine!” he looked at the wound before he continued, “mostly fine.”
“That fucker got me,” he hissed, taking away his hand and it came away bloody.
“Is Akh-Ba with you?” Theos frowned, looking at the strange shadowy cloak that looked much like the black sand that made Akh-Ba.
Heras nodded, turning his black sword into a black gemstone, the size of his palm.
“Stop them!” Apis shouted from behind, chasing them with extreme speed that was not befitting of his size. “The rest of you, stop the monsters!”
Chaos and mayhem ensued on those small stairs, and it all ended when a bright azure light blew out of the top of the temple.
-
Lapis was suspended above the pit, bright blue light bathing her as she floated gently. It was hard to focus and fight against Dion as she demanded to use her to fend off against the gathering beasts. More sphinxes, more bats, more ghouls… more everything. The people cried for help and she wanted to give it to them, but not like this, not at the expense of her life. She wished to live, just as they did when they flocked to the temple.
There was nothing left, nothing but this futile resistance against a goddess.
“Lapis!”
She looked up and saw Theos running towards her, she couldn’t even call him, to tell him to help her, to tell him to stay away. Nothing. He did not need to be called, he continued running and jumped to grab her.
-
Apis came running after them, he swung the blade to decapitate Heras and he managed to parry it and let out a few shadowy spikes that skewered the man in his side. He ignored him and the shadows as he ran after Theos, who was holding the girl in his arms.
Heras ripped out the rest of the shades and sent them down the stairs to block the guards; he released most of the spikes to spear out around Theos before that man managed to kill him.
Heras rushed after him and hoped it was all enough.
-
Lapis watched Theos, his cheek bleeding profusely from a wound he suffered, and she felt so horrible about not being able to heal him.
“Watch out!” Heras called out just before she saw Apis jumping over the pit and aiming the blade at Theo’s heart. The dark spears did little to stop the maddened man, merely adding to his numerous wounds.
Lapis pushed Theos away and watched the confusion in his eyes turn into fear.
She felt the cold jolt before she collapsed.
-
“No!” Theos shouted as he rushed over and drove Heras’ dagger into Apis’ back. The large man groaned and kneeled, but he did not go down. He swung his arm and hit Theos hard enough to send him reeling, nearly sending him over the edge of the temple.
“You and your friend,” Apis said, and he wasn’t speaking to him. “You have brought ruin to this paradise.”
Sunlight was coming up, and Heras was kneeling on the ground, the shadows around him evaporating and he looked like he was choking. Theos ran to tackle Apis but got clipped by the serpent blade for his effort. He heaved, struggling to breathe, feeling the numbing that followed the wound on his side. His vision began to swirl, but he tried to move towards Lapis, to help Heras, anything.
Theos looked with terror to see Apis grabbing Heras by the neck, raising him off the ground. “I don’t know where you found another god, but this city has no need for another god, wouldn’t you say?”
Heras tried to resist, to break free, but to no avail. Theos tried to shout, but he produced a weak croak as the large man drove the blade through Heras’ heart. The blade went in easily and was pulled out just as easily.
Theos watched in terror as his friend lay on the ground, bleeding, eyes lifeless. “Ka for Ka!” he croaked out.
The dark gemstone rolled out of his hand, making its way to Theos.
“Now,” Apis turned towards him, “to clear the rabble.”
“Akh-Ba!” Theos called as he grabbed the gemstone.
“Xam for Xam,” Akh-Ba appeared beside him and it made Apis freeze in terror. Akh-Ba touched him on the shoulder and Theos could feel the wounds going away. “You are worthy of Us.”
Apis could not retaliate quickly enough. Theos pulled out his broken dagger, letting the black sands flow into it to replace its blade. He struck and the dagger clanked against the serpent blade only for him to swing and sweep Apis’ leg and put him off balance. The large man swung the blade aiming for his head and missing because Theos was already moving, the dagger entered the man’s side and came out without sands on it.
Theos coated the dagger again and danced around Apis, filling him with wounds. And he did nothing about it. But every time Theos coated his dagger, the sun took away the gathering sands, and so the wounds were shallow. These would not stop him.
Theos stood in front of the man and did an overhead stab, coating the blade again. Apis moved the sword to block only for his dagger to pass through it as the sands vanished, coating the blade just when he was about to plant it deep into his heart.
Apis gasped, stumbling away as blood flowed out of his heart. Theos helped him reach the pit with a kick that sent him down the deep abyss. He stood over the edge, huffing, not believing that the man was truly dead. Until his eyes wandered.
“No,” he rushed to Lapis’ side, holding her between his arms. “No, no, no. don’t die, don’t go away.”
She coughed out and watched him without talking.
“Akh-Ba!” he called, and the creature appeared beside him again. “Heal her, heal Heras, please!”
“He is with his ancestors,” Akh-Ba said, looking at Heras, “Akh-Ba does not deny the dead their fates.”
“Then heal her!” he shouted.
“Ka for Ka,” Akh-Ba said.
“You want to get rid of the usurper,” Theos quickly thought. “You want to kill Dion, right?” he looked up at Akh-Ba who stared back at him with a blank mask. “I’ll be your vessel, you can kill her, I don’t care if you don’t let me go after that. Just heal Lapis.”
Akh-Ba kept staring at him, unmoving.
“I will offer you Dion,” Theos eventually said before holding Lapis close in his arms. “I know how to kill her.”
-
“We meet again,” a whistle echoed in the large empty cavern. “Fragment of an Usurper.”
“Strife has no place in our order,” Vacancy responded.
The shadow of the god of the Black Dunes appeared before the large crystal, watching the woman that was encased inside. “We do not care about what an usurper daughter of man wishes. We are Akh-Ba.”
“You have tried this before, and you got sealed,” the woman mocked from her crystalline shield. “Your kind cannot hope to kill me.”
Akh-Ba extended its hand and watched it distort and break as it got close to the crystal. It pulled its hand away and watched it with annoyance. “It appears we cannot.”
“Leave, take your beasts and armies,” she hissed, “and I shall be merciful enough to keep you in your current prison.”
Akh-Ba tilted its head. “But we have left our prison,” it replied.
If Akh-Ba knew men’s expressions, it would call the look on her face ‘Panic’, ‘Realization’ perhaps.
The son of man rushed from inside Akh-Ba, his broken blade shattered the crystal before going into the Usurper’s flesh.
“Venom,” the girl huffed from the spot where the underwater river went to his prison. “Made from shades expulsions,” she continued. “The thing I used to kill the last Astral.”
“We are a kind Akh-Ba,” it said as it walked towards her and grabbed the usurper with its sandy hands. “We will offer you the release of death, not imprison you.”
“No, no, no,” she struggled with futility. Akh-Ba turned the Usurper into dust. “Our debt is settled, son of man,” he told the man.
“Are you sure?” he replied. “You don’t want my soul or a kidney or something?”
“Don’t tempt him,” the woman struck him.
“We are Akh-Ba,” it responded, “We are sure.”
Akh-Ba offered what it thought was a smile for the humans and did not wait for them to respond, it did not care for the matter of man, for men had a fleeting life. It appeared at the altar of death, watching the great black sands crater in front of it. The lands of death called for it, and it felt the seat of something greater than it was calling for him.
Akh-Ba turned to sand and let the wind carry it to where it was being called.