Clearing his imaginary throat, John steeled himself and began his reply. “You know I’ve missed you too. You were my wife. My everything. You made existing bearable. But you also made it terrible. You made me abandon my honor. I told you no more. And you...”
The anger and resentment John felt at what she did took a moment for him to repress. Once he could, he continued. “I followed you through the portal and saw a tentacle wrapped around you, draining you. The great beast it belonged to was up high, and the fog blocked it from my sight, but I still gave battle to save you, as I always did. At first, I couldn’t hurt it, but I ultimately managed to make the monster bleed, and I tried to drain it of vital essence.
“It finally released you, and I carried you back through the portal. I thought you were alive. You had enough vital essence in you.”
John forced himself to continue looking Lilly in the eye. “I knew you would never stop. You said you cared about me more than all else, but you’d constantly twist me up and piss on my honor. I finally took your advice about hardening my heart. And then I took your head. I would have no more. That was the last time. I put an end to it. Or I thought I did.
“So, now you know. I’ve missed you every day, but I thought you were dead by my own hand. Now that you are back, I am happy to see you, but if you get up to your old games, I’ll take your head again. I don’t care about your beliefs and strange thoughts on benevolence. I will not tolerate it. No more of that. No more. Understood?”
Lilly’s face went neutral at that news. John believed that was her most dangerous look, as it meant she was thinking. And thinking, for Lilly, meant plotting. Her plotting lasted a very long while before she finally responded. “So, you decapitated me? You call me your love, but thought you sent me to the cold-dark? I never once hurt you. I would never. The cold-dark! Really!?”
Lilly gave out a half-hearted chuckle. “And they call our master Betrayal, a name that fits you far better. You could never make one of his servants bleed. They’re equivalent to Eternals. If it bled, it’s because Betrayal wanted you to feed on it. You’re lucky you only saw a tentacle. Those things are a nightmare to behold. I was so frightened as it drained me of what…what makes me myself.”
Lowering her eyes, Lilly sat on the pretend ground. She remained silent for a long time, and John just waited, giving her space to think.
Lilly finally looked up and said, “I don’t know if it’s because the young mind I have is still developing, but I forgive your betrayal. It hurts so much you did that to me. I’ve never betrayed you, not once. For whatever reason, I still love you dearly. You are my heart. My dear heart. I’ve missed you so, so much. I fought so hard to get back to you. I will not let even this news hamper my joy at our reunion.
“I’ll just say this. I’ve been gone from this world for thousands of years. You had already been alive for a very long time when you saved me and offered me the dark gift. I had a fraction of the time you’ve had in this world. Despite all of that, I’m still famous. Everyone knows Lilith. I’m nearly as famous as Satan.”
Lilly smiled again and adopted a sweet look. “When I first got back here, I expected it to be easy to find you. When I was old enough, I scoured libraries searching for knowledge of your whereabouts. I found nothing. Lots of very creative information about vampires. No information on you. Just some old gods everyone’s long forgotten.
“You could’ve done so many great things. Important things. You had the power to. You had the time. So much time. So many opportunities. And yet, you did nothing with it. Did you even try to figure anything out? Get your soul back? Find some way to avoid the cold-dark? Something? Anything? Leave some sort of lasting mark you can look back on with pride, and say, ‘I did this! This was me! This is my legacy.’”
Those words hit the mark. John thought Lilly’s uncanny ability to home in on what hurt the most, and weighed heavily on a soul, was as sharp as ever. He didn’t bother telling her he had no desire to rule or be famous, or that he had to stay hidden, largely due to her terrible deeds. If she really was still well-known, it was because of those terrible deeds, and nothing to be proud of.
Regardless of everything else, John still loved the woman, and he knew how much it must’ve hurt hearing he purposefully sent her to the cold-dark.
After they sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, Lilly said, “We must leave my Mind’s Eye soon, so share your capabilities with me, and how you got that [Title]. I’m guessing your fast advancement is the same reason you’ve been marked by the Nether? And why does it seem like you already knew about our master?
“But be quick, I volunteered you for a task. New York City is being decimated by dark ones, and we must clear it of them. We’ll be there soon. I’m around fifty percent dilation with you in here, and it eats up my vigor.”
Surprised, John loudly asked, “You volunteered me?” He had not yet recovered from his last battle. His injuries had mostly healed other than his missing arm, but he still felt very drained and spent.
“Oh, stop sounding so indignant. You just admitted to killing me. This will be easy, and it was the only way I could get the peons running this shitshow to agree to all my stipulations. You should be happy, my dear heart. Instead of killing humans, I’m trying to help save them.”
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Outside her Mind’s Eye, as he looked at Lilly’s innocent and sweet child’s face, and the look of seriousness on it, John still found it hard to believe it was his wife. We were together for such a long time. I’m so used to her looking only as she did. She must hate being a child and not having her main source of power, he thinks.
“Five minutes out,” said an unknown voice through the headphones.
John looked through a window and reactivated the function of his NCS, the Nano Control System, that showed information on what he looked at. He looked around until New York City appeared, and the NCS asked if he wanted info for New York City or the greater metropolitan area. That was new. With a strong thought, John answered New York City.
[New York City, Pop. 3.6m, 19 mi]
Lilly said, “Are you all ready? We’re landing on the VA hospital in Manhattan. I’ll make a thump ritual that’ll draw all the dark ones in the widest possible area to it. They should trickle in and be easy to handle. The army pulled out days and days ago, but drones haven’t picked up any dark ones higher than Silver. You three killed a Gold so this should be easy-breezy for all four of us.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
John disliked Lilly taking charge. As his wife, she somewhat had the right to volunteer him and him alone for battle. He said, “It won’t be all four of us. It’ll just be you and me. Amber and Hubaba will want to go to this DC you spoke of. They probably want to get things situated for our arrival.”
John worded what he said strangely to avoid Amber taking what he said as a command. He didn’t yet fully understand the rules and wanted to be careful with what he said around her. He didn’t ask Amber and Hubaba what they wanted, but he knew both disliked fighting.
“It’s fine. I will go,” said Hubaba.
“Yeah. I don’t mind going either. I’d…I’d like it if we, you know, stuck together, and didn’t split up,” said Amber from what appeared to be an empty seat. John wished he could see her, but she had to stay invisible around anyone but Hubaba and John. And Lilly now, too, he thought.
John disliked them talking through the headphones and airing their business for all to hear, but it had to be done due to the loudness of the machine they flew in.
Lilly smiled and John assumed it was because she was getting her way. He said to his companions, “Please, let me and my wife handle this. We haven’t seen each other for a very long time. We need some time together to get reacquainted. And it would be much better for all of us if you two went to DC and handled Team Human. You both have a much better head and temperament for such. I dislike being questioned.”
Hubaba and Amber consented, but Lilly tried to dissuade them by saying the mission was only safe if all four went. A two-minute warning, then a one-minute warning was heard through the headset. The helicopter landed and only John and Lilly exited.
“Well, this really sucks ass, Adon. There’re better ways to assert dominance than screwing us over like this. We needed those two. I’m not dying to save a few peons. And now we’re stuck here until tomorrow’s evac, and who knows if they’ll stick to their end of the bargain now that we aren’t,” said Lilly dejectedly as she watched the helicopter fly away.
John smiled at his wife. “We are sticking to the bargain. You said I’d do something. I will do it. Or die in the attempt. No longer will I be twisted and have my honor pissed on. A man’s only as good as his word, and I no longer need fear the cold-dark. How did you put it before? This will be as easy as a breeze?”
“Nope. I said easy-breezy. And that was with all four of us. The easy-breezy ship sailed, my dear heart. You can’t really break your word to insects anyways. We should relax and enjoy each other’s company until we get picked up tomorrow, but if you want me to, I’ll still create the ritual.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see if you’re as powerful as you say you are. How many times have you and I stood against armies together? Stood against the world?”
John laughed. “Too many times. You enjoy instigating trouble.”
Lilly also laughed. “And you enjoy fighting, my pretty little monkey, and that’s why we fit together so well. I’m kind of glad you and I are alone now. We do need to get reacquainted. Just remember, this body is only seven years old. I have no open cores and I’ve barely been able to strengthen myself with vital essence. Please don’t let any dark ones attack me. I can’t take much damage as I am now. Okay, guess I’ll get started on the ritual.”
Surprised, John asked, “Here? I sense many people in the building below us. You said this was a guest house?”
A look of confusion flashed on Lilly’s face. “It’s a hospital. For the sick and infirmed.”
John shrugged. “The dark ones will kill them on their way to us. Let’s move down the road some ways.”
“Ugh. I guess so. Don’t talk to them, please. Just ignore their pleas and walk by. I can’t stand to hear their whining.”
John picked up Lilly with his one good arm and walked to the edge of the building, then jumped down the many stories onto the road.
As soon as John landed a swarm of giant bee-flies exited the ground. He became nervous for a moment, remembering his last run-in with those insects, before reaching out with his blood power and hardening the blood within each bee-fly. He felt more joy than he should’ve as he watched them all fall to the road and dissipate, followed by the sound of a crystal clanking.
The street was littered with broken glass everywhere, and John looked around and noticed no building had intact windows he could see.
John went to put Lilly down and she yelled, “No! Don’t put me down!” She then said, “Sorry, you scared the shit out of me jumping down like that. That was a long drop. It was fun though. Let me get on your back. I’ll hold the scabbard. I know you need your arm. I weigh a fraction of that sword so you shouldn’t even notice me. One second. I’ll grab the crystal first.”
Lilly grabbed the crystal and then climbed up on John’s back. “Uh, head west towards the intersection. That’s a little away from the hospital. I think those are all residential buildings over there. They look like it. We picked this area because the circumference of the ritual will fit what we need near perfect, so we can’t go too far. More dark ones. See? Flying at us.”
John wanted to try out the new manifestation he purchased with his [Runes] ‘points,’ [Flashburst Pulse], but the fire-birds that flew at him barely felt like Bronze, and since they were smaller creatures he tried hardening their blood instead. In a few seconds all three fire-birds fell to the ground out of sight, dead.
“I haven’t seen these fire-birds before. What other dark ones will we face,” asked John.
“What ones have you seen?”
“The giant bee-flies. The ghost hands that merge into claws and blobs and little men and then into the giant bee-flies. The speared-women. The ones that spit spears and the ones that don’t. They look like those little curse dolls you used to favor. A…”
“Louvre dolls,” interrupted Lilly. “I still use them, but differently. Correctly.”
“Yes. And some flesh-blob with one giant eye. It could spit out and bind me with ropes of flesh that I couldn’t break or cut through. But I was a low Wood then. I could handle it easily now.”
“Ha. You make it sound like Wood was tiers and decades ago. You’re a Copper. You’ve barely started up the bloody climb. What other dark ones do you know?”
John nearly sighed. “I’m mid-high Copper. My capabilities are much different now. Those were the only dark ones we faced in the Tribulation.”
Lilly said, “Let’s see. Dark ones are completely different depending on the dark walker and the world’s population and fears. This dark walker was…crazy looking, but not as crazy looking as some of the shit I’ve seen in movies. The imagination of terrans is second-to-none, probably from being without the Tree of Life and not having anything real to fear. I can’t believe how much this planet advanced with technology while I was gone. Even just during my time back. Pretty amazing, really. Wait till I have some bars on my phone – I’ll show you pictures of what they call kaiju. The dark walker that came through New York looked like…well, there’s no reference you’ll know.
“As for the dark ones it dropped, most of the Wood and Copper will have merged for the most part. Right here’s good for the ritual. Should be shady for a long time too. What’s it say? First and twenty-third? Why do the peons of this hillbilly country so love naming streets as numbers instead of actual words? Beautiful words that invoke a positive feeling and image. It’s like they hate beauty.
“The sad part is New York was one of the few cities in this whole hemisphere with any culture at all. I hesitate to even call it culture. Just uppity swine oinking in this smelly pigsty of a town, really. Let me down, my dear heart. I’ll explain as I set up.”
A large swarm of giant bee-flies came out of the ground near where John set Lilly down, and he dispatched them quickly. Lilly grabbed the three crystals the large swarm dropped. He wondered where she was keeping the crystals as he could see no pack or pouches or pockets she could store them in. When strange headgear with odd lights and two stacked lenses appeared in her hand, along with a very large piece of chalk in the other, he asked, surprised, “You have a spatial storage device?”
Lilly laughed and said, “Oh, my dear heart, of course. Though I can’t use any of them yet. There’s one I can use after I clear my channels. I’m using my soul storage. It’s quite large as soul storage goes. I told you I made the fourth Tree twice. Now, where were we? What dark ones will come. Or what kind. As I said, the lower tiered ones will have mostly merged.”