Ishar held out his hands before him, the magenta glow of the tips of his fingers faded back to blue before Rehny's eyes and the manic laughter that had spittle landing upon the claw like protrusions that passed for fingers made the hair on the back of Rehny's neck stand on end. Still, nothing was unsettling as those black horns that had forced themselves free of the boy's skull. Horns as black as a moonless night, dark enough to even absorb the light from the amber lightning dancing around Ishar's eyes. The eyes! Yes, he'd seen Ishar channel a God before, he was aware of the boy's eyes during the Nula Anyl. But this time the glow was too bright, the laughter too hideous, the face too distorted. All youthful innocence had disappeared behind a veil and in its place was animosity under the guise of joy. Gods what have I done! Rehny lamented.
All around all were silent witnesses, aware of the birth of something they've never encountered before yet knew to be what pushed one to oblivion. Vayin Vigon tried to maintain his air of calm, hands still clenched behind his back. Ignorant of Meena's screaming in his skull to run. Why would he run? He was a king and the boy was but a madman. What does a King have to fear of madness? No it would not do to humiliate himself before his subjects by retreating. He ignored his Goddess, he ignored the uneasy look on the Legionnaires around him and most of all he ignored the trembling of his hands, a trembling so infuriating that he had to clasp them tighter together lest anyone took notice.
The Talisi were gathering closer to him now. Their eyes on him as they muttered beneath their breaths.
"What is it?" Voiced a soldier who'd been lost in the thralls of bloodlust, eager for more and annoyed to have been called back from the Legionnaires whose entire attention was where that laugh was coming from. "They are still dazed and motionless, we can finish them off!"
"Easy there soldier. The lad channels a God, let's hear what he has to say for he must have a reason for this. Maybe this is all a trick by Vayin so as to spread us thin and nail us down." Sergeant Goki defended Mairek and turned to face him, the gaping hole where his right eye had once been leaked clear fluid.
"You all have to turn around and run for the hills. I'll try to hold him back for as long as I can." Mairek said.
"Hold who back? Vayin?" The same soldier asked.
"No." Mairek turned to face the soldier as the distant laughter grew louder, capturing the attention of even those who hadn't noticed it. "Ishar," Mairek said, "you have to run from Ishar, the Legions are already doomed, save yourselves."
"Gods!" Goki exclaimed and dropped his spear to clutch at his ears as the laughter morphed into a piercing scream. A scream that spoke of a pain so vast and unworthy to be a part of a mortal's life. Yet it was. A tear trickled down Mairek's cheek.
Snap went the purple rope in Rehny's hand, the cut ends had frozen to white and the pink lights gathered at either end, unable to cross each other's path and burn brighter. Ishar's scream had Vayin Vigon taking several steps back. The scream died out in a guttural groan and then there was silence. The boy stooped forward where he sat. He bowed his head and only his horns and an amber glow could be seen beneath his black hair.
Move away from him, slowly, crawl back. Do not draw his attention. Nyawe whispered in his mind, as if afraid to be heard by Ishar.
Rehny obliged, letting go of the dangling cut rope whose cut was a foot away from Ishar's leg, raising himself off his knees to the balls of his feet then backtracking as slowly as he could towards where Edda stood with a raised sword in a trembling hand.
Edda watched Rehny approach, naked with grace, palms brushing gently upon the ground and lifting his weight so as to drag his feet away from Ishar as slowly as possible without catching the Kolotian's attention. That laugh! Edda was certain that the Ishar she'd come to know was no longer the one who sat hunched forward. That scream! She could not stop the shaking of her hands since its aftermath.
Vayin Vigon slowly raised his right hand, circled his index finger in the air so as to put in place an encroaching combat maneuver, curled said hand into a first and brought it down upon the open palm of his left hand. Heavy infantry stepped forward within the clearing with raised shields with medium infantry positioned at intervals of four, Archers trained their bows on Ishar and the light infantry circled behind in a wedge ready to advance with the next order. Run Selarch! Run! Meena's screams in his head were frantic and annoying as they spoke of her lack of faith in him. I will show her, Vayin thought, I will show her that I am capable.
"Kolotian." Started the Binorian King with a slight glance at Rehny who was now dragging himself faster across the clearing to where the Remu woman stood. Vayin returned his eyes to Ishar's bowed head. "I will accept your surrender, your fate mustn't be one of tragedy, I'm sure a life of servitude can be well suited for you." Vayin smiled. "You shall serve my own household."
Ishar abruptly raised his head, amber glare fixed on Vayin Vigon. "Shit yourself." Vayin lost control of his bowels and there, upon the Ganidan Plain before his Legions, he soiled himself. His eyes wide the whole time as his flatulent sounded around the clearing, all heads turned to him, a look of dismay upon all.
Ishar raised his head and laughed a boyish laugh. He got off the ground and raised his hands to the moon. "Aaaaaaah, you have surrounded me with armies and taken from me my beloved. Order? Have you forgotten what worship means to Chaos? Now they shall believe, for they shall witness and their faith will be transformed for they shall know pain." His smile faded, replaced by a serene calm upon his face as he gazed up at the moon. "They shall know pain." Ishar whispered.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Vayin Vigon raised his right hand, curled his index finger into a hook and then opened his palm, a sword was thrown to him and he caught it with one hand but not before taking note of the one second delay it had taken for the sword to hit his palm. His men were losing it, he needed to remind them of who was truly powerful. In soiled armor he charged at the Kolotian, alone, unwilling to give the order for help. No. He needed to serve as an example, a reminder of Binoria's power.
Vayin's movement was like a sword cutting through air, leaving behind a faint whistle that was a testament of his otherworldly speed. His eyes were fixed on the madman who stood with his face turned to the moon. In the distance the lightening of the sky spoke of the coming of dawn. He would raise the Kolotian's severed head while standing upon his Telinete Rhino, the morning sun bathing him in its golden glow and solidifying his claim of power within the hearts of all who witness-
Vayin did not understand why or how he got to be kneeling on the ground with Ishar standing before him, the Kolotian's iron grip on his left shoulder keeping him in place. Wha-? He struggled to understand what was happening and why he suddenly couldn't feel his right arm. Blood spurted out of his right shoulder where a socket remained untethered to the rest of his arm. He gawked at the gaping wound, an almost child like fascination upon his face that slowly gave way to horror. Vayin turned his head to Ishar and saw the Kolotian observing the dismembered arm he held in his left hand, an arm with a sword still clutched to its hand. The attacking line of Legionnaires broke with panic, withdrawing with terror further back as they witnessed their leader's fall.
Ishar threw the dismembered arm aside. Vayin opened his mouth to speak but a slap out of nowhere had him spitting twelve of his teeth onto the ground and swallowing four. "Shut up." Ishar commanded. Blood filled his mouth and a second passed before the pain hit him, he opened his mouth to scream at the fire within his mouth from the broken shards of teeth still jutting out and the gaping wound where his arm used to be but he couldn't recall how to give voice to anguish. Silent screams left him.
"You're screaming? Good. Scream louder, scream until they hear you across the Rankf Sea." Ishar said and suddenly Vayin knew how to voice his pain, his screams rang across the whole Ganidan Plain and the Legions at the outskirts of the Plain started a mad sprint back to Binoria, every man for himself yet fear shared by them all. "Stop bleeding." Ishar commanded and the hole where Vayin's arm was once attached to stopped spurting blood. Ishar reached out with his right hand and grabbed Vayin's other arm, with his left hand on Vayin's left shoulder he pulled the other arm, ripping it free of the shoulder's socket. Vayin Vigon wailed and craved death, hoping to bleed out but with another command from Ishar his wounds sealed, retaining the pain without any of the blood loss.
The Kolotian shepherd circled the kneeling King whose dismembered arms lay before him and whose screams pierced the heavens. Ishar laughed. "I loved her and you took her away from me." He placed his hand on Vayin's head and turned him to face his Legions who stood frozen all around, unable to comprehend what was occurring due to the sheer weight of its animosity. The man they'd been raised to regard as holy and untouchable, the man they'd believed was the chosen one of the Gods and the highest level of what power entailed now knelt armless before a Kolotian, weeping and wailing like an infant child. "All shall know pain for I shall take away from the realm as was taken from me."
Ishar went around to Vayin's back and kicked him forward. The King fell on his stomach, his chin landing hard upon his severed arm. Broken shards of teeth dug into his tongue but he voiced a call to his
Goddess regardless of the pain and lack of teeth. "MEEENAAAAAA! MEEEEEENAAAAA! WHY HAAE YOU FORTHAKEN ME? MEEEEENAAAA!" And the Kolotian laughed as he settled himself upon the Binorian King's lower back.
"Call to Ovek, tell him you stink of shit and wish he would bath you with his love." Ishar's tone was so casual yet all who heard it trembled under its power. And as Vayin echoed Ishar's words, much to the Kolotian's joy, Binorians all around who stood as helpless witnesses wept and the few Talisi who'd failed to hear the retreat looked on with wonder and shock, but no satisfaction. There was no feeling of satisfaction for what the Kolotian proceeded to do to the King of Binoria scarred the hearts of all present.
Vayin repeated the same words over and over, screaming them out and begging Ovek to wash away his stink. His mind gave way fully to madness as Ishar tore at his back with his fingernails, tearing skin as easily as one peeled a fruit. Exposing the King's ribcage and spine under the peeled away skin of his back, flesh and blood were exposed, lungs and the air that filled them with each inhale and every exhale that came out as a prayer to Ovek, a prayer to end it all. All the while Ishar laughed as blood coated his arms and stained his face. He worked his fingers like one would an axe, it was as if he'd done this before and once he was done he commanded Vayin's body not to bleed out, to heal just enough to maintain his agony.
"Ishar." Mairek said while bursting into the clearing and taking in all that occurred. Ishar turned an amber glare to Mairek from his position upon the wailing King and gave him a toothy smile, with both hands he reached forward, over the King's back to the man's head. He grabbed it and rose off the King while bringing Vayin to a kneeling position, his naked, wounded back visible to all.
"Do you like it Mairek? You know, I'm somewhat of an artist myself." Ishar said while pointing at the naked muscle, organs and flesh displayed upon Vayin's back, his work of art. Ishar touched at a flap of pale skin that dangled off the side of the King's shoulder blades. Vayin's screams were unending. His prayers to Ovek ceaseless.
"Ishar, this is not you." Mairek said, sorrow laced his voice.
"He took her, Mairek, the realm took her. We shall burn it all down, yes, burn them all down. They don't know the value of what they take, they shall know, yes, they shall know." Ishar cocked his head at Mairek. "Are you with me in this? Friend? His smile broadened as Mairek took longer to answer.
The smile abruptly vanished.
Ishar reached for Vayin's wailing mouth, with his right hand he hooked the lower jaw and with the other he grabbed the King's upper jaw. Still staring at Mairek, Ishar pulled apart Vayin's jaws and all observed as the King's cheeks became lacerated at the pressure of his Jaws being pulled further apart. With a last yank of effort Ishar ripped free the top half of Vayin Vigon's head and his lower jaw. He stepped away from the kneeling corpse that squirted blood from where a head had once been. Ishar placed the top half of Vayin's head on his own head, hooking it upon his horns.
He turned his amber eyes with the amber lightning playing across them towards all who stood staring at him and smiled. "Isn't my crown lovely?" He asked while pointing with Vayin's lower jaw in hand at the half of Vayin's head still perched upon his horns. No reply met him, only looks of horror spoke of what couldn't be voiced. Ishar laughed again before giving his last command. "Die."