“War is what happens when language fails.”

― Margaret Atwood

Kalina stepped forward, the might of her centuries of cultivation a weight, not a blessing. She passed through the portal and stood on the empty air, face a mask of hate and reluctance.

She reached behind her and drew pair of punching daggers, the compact blades in line with her fists as she gripped them. Her clothing shifted, the light, flowing dress on her shoulders replaced by a simple pair of pants and a sleeveless shirt.

"Are you ready Turtle?" Kalina ground out as a vast bank of clouds formed up behind her. "This is your stupid plan, and I'm not sure It's even possible."

Ooulin turned his massive head, a joyful smile on his face as he strained against the sphere.

"I am ready Goddess. Perhaps we might dispense with titles and use our true names?" He joked, a singular, explosive laugh quick to follow. "The plan will work, Lady Kalina. The boy's presence provides enough confusion, and even Fate is blind." Ooulin's black eyes glinted, a hit of satisfied amusement that quickly faded. "Today, a True God falls."

Kalina snorted, her eyes still on the menacing orb.

"Not bloody likely, you old liar. Even if we squash this avatar, his true self will be fine beyond the barrier." She narrowed her gaze, locked onto a small crack in the surface of the sphere. "The best we can hope for is to banish this arrogant filth for a few thousand years."

Ooulin nodded at her words and stepped back from the orb, fists charred to the bone by the twisted ropes of lightning that circled it.

"Perhaps, but much can happen in the mortal world during that time." He shook his hands, and the flesh returned, whole and healthy. "This thread must be pulled, chaos must be given a chance."

"Then let's roll the dice, and meet again, my oldest, dearest friend," Kalina said, her voice hushed by the sadness that tightened her chest. "Hunt well, Ooulin."

The cracked surface of the sphere trembled as small flares of light touched its darkened surface. This stain of white spread like fire. It covered the orb and converted it into a small sun.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU FILTHY LIZARD!"

An explosion, heralded by this angry shout, changed the skies into a vision of hell. From the center of the lightning, a beast of a man strode forwards. His long brown hair singed to black, while smoke still lifted from his charred body. His only clothes were the burnt loin-cloth on his waist, and the animal hide boots on his feet. He carried a pole, thicker than Kalina was tall, tipped with a vicious hooked blade.

Stolen novel; please report.

"If you think that Witch can protect you, you're a fool Ooulin" The man smirked, his thick jaw clenched in a feral grin. "After I eat the meat from your shell, I'll wear her like a puppet and crush her children to death with her bloated corpse."

He swung his weapon and the aftershock pressed the ocean downwards. It continued to retreat, the exposed coral dull in the twilight sun.

"Shut up Verander, when I'm finished with you, your master will have to set you aside like the broken plaything you are," Kalina smirked, her katars raised in an easy guard. "You, and the rest of the scum above, need to keep out of our world."

"YOU'RE world!?" Verander scoffed, his focus still locked on Ooulin. "EVERY world belongs to us, each universe in the infinite parallels is our domain."

He gripped his oversized sickle in both hands and gave a mock salute.

"The pair of you should have kept your heads down and ruled your tiny little pond." Lightning flashed between the stars in his eyes. "Keeping the titan spawn from me is impossible."

Oolin drifted forward, his palms together in a meditative pose.

"No Verander, it is not. The price is merely high, and you're stupid to believe we can't pay it."

The space around the turtle-kin's body deformed, an image of a vast bell painted on the air with an invisible golden brush. Waves of luminous force fell heavily on Verander's avatar, and Kalina gritted her teeth.

This had better work, you old fool...

Under the cover of Oolin's attack, she darted forward. Her blades cut space itself as she drove through the restrictive air.

I envy the gods that live outside the barrier.

The atmosphere was too restrictive, it held her down when she desired only speed. Her slight figure flitted behind the suppressed Verander.

The katars in her hands gouged twined lines from the man's flesh. A hollow victory, as damage to the body meant nothing in this battle.

His face twisted in pain, Verander maintained a dismissive grin. He reached out like lightning, hand clasped to her foot as she attempted to retreat.

A crunch, a wave of nausea that she ignored. He ground her bones to powder and tossed her to the earth below.

"I told you, Witch, you're useless here, and even this old man's seals can't hold me forever." He stepped forward, his body edged ever closer to Ooulin as he gloated. "You Earth Deities are all the same, small noisy frogs, lording over your wells."

He raised his foot, and moved closer still, gold light stuck to his body like a layer of restrictive cloth. Kalina rose from the shattered ground, her limb already healed.

I have to keep him focused on me, looks like I've got to stretch my legs...

Ooulin looked strained. For their plan to work, the turtle needed time. Her body faded, vanished into the failing light, and Verander bellowed with laughter that mocked them both.

"The Witch abandons you Ooulin, but she can't run far, not with that oversized body." He gestured to the reef below, the spiral galaxies in his eyes aflame. "A turtle and an immobile whore, and you expect to defeat me?"

He took another step and raised his axe-like pick.

"I am the only god here, and even combined your efforts are meaningless." His aura flared, and the turtle-kin's shell cracked under the wave of lightning that followed. "Run now Ooulin, maybe I'll save you for last."

Light flared across the turtle-kin's body and his wounds faded from sight.

"Justice does not run, beast. It walks steady into the night, ready to charge." Ooulin's voice was measured, his face serene. "No effort is meaningless, struggle has merit of its own."

His black eyes turned white, empty pits that changed their form, but maintained their soulless gaze. His palms were still held together, as if glued by an unbreakable bond. Oolulin lept forward, a mighty kick placed squarely on Verander's neck.

The blow failed to turn the fiend's head, and the turtle-kin rebounded gracefully, palms still tightly clenched. Verander snorted, and stepped once more, his stride longer than before.

"Without the Witch, you can't even scratch my skin," The avatar said as his hand brushed the dust from his face. "You're weaker than you used to be."

Verander raised his foot, about to take the final step and place Ooulin in range of his weapon, when an echoing voice thundered across the skies.

"Stop calling me a Witch!" Kalina's voice blasted out and forced the clouds apart. "I am a God, and you're nothing but clockwork, created by the universe and forever its slave."

The ocean below heaved, and the mighty towers that formed the islands of Fallun tumbled into the water.

"Let's see how well you do against my true body, you disgusting barbarian!"