The grassy cocoon trembled as it burned. Wisps and shoots yellowed and cracked and shattered as the flames within consumed what was once vibrant and alive. Oriz would have screamed in frustration at the destruction of her work if oblivion didn’t cradle her mind. She curled up and pulled the last vestiges of grass close around her. Blanketing herself in Skein, she formed a cocoon within a cocoon, as though it might be a place of sanctuary, where her deal couldn’t reach her.
But she could not escape the Witch’s grasp.
Fingers ran over every inch of her flesh. Freezing, burning, her skin sloughed away, her flesh ran like candle wax, and her bones shattered to dust. A lover’s breath touched upon her and scattered her remains in four directions. As she vanished along the infinite crossroads, she curled up ever tighter, no longer a woman, but only a bundle of Skein.
She never knew Skein could think or feel, but now she knew the truth. Skein was nerves sheathed in flesh. What she called her body, mind, and heart were mere shadows of some greater clay. Now the Witch molded her with infinite fingers. Cosmic blood leaked into her. She screamed without a voice and reached out for the grass that was always there, only now, instead of shoots and leaves and stems, she found starlight.
The universe was a garden that bloomed eyes, teeth, and hunger.
###
Zoe stood and rolled her shoulders. She had spent enough time sitting and staring at the hole. They made their plans, but now her friends itched as much as her, she could feel it in their hearts. Black water dripped from holes in the ceiling.
“Let’s go,” Zoe said.
She had enough Skein. She was confident she could finish this. Anton confirmed that the Winter Queen remained below. All she had to do was make it happen.
“Are you ready?” she asked her friends.
They nodded. Bella stood closest. Her runesword glowed like it was freshly pulled from the forge and a scalding heat fought off the cave's cold. Skidmark and Anton stood a little further back. Dozens of silver orbs floated about them. Anton’s job was to monitor everything. He had to look out for Oriz’s potential — inevitable — arrival and ensure the survivors remained safe. Skidmark would provide backup as needed.
Zoe took a deep breath. Mirrored knuckles creaked. Moth held her heart. She could do this.
She could end this.
“Let’s go,” she whispered.
With a slight bend of her knees, she leaped and twisted in the air so that her feet planted on the ceiling. Her momentum compressed her, and she flexed, before launching herself fist first at the hole in the ground. Wintry air rushed toward her and she grinned as Mirror ran up her skin. Her gleaming skin reflected darkness and her knuckles struck the cold rock.
It shattered beneath her Might.
Zoe flew down through a vast carved cavern. No more rough rocky walls, it was as though she were inside a marble box. Smooth black walls surrounded her. The floor beneath was an interlocking pattern of black and white like a compass spiraling outward. One gigantic bug sat hunched in the center of the floor.
It glanced up at Zoe as she fell. Bulging eyes fixed on her, and mandibles peeled back to reveal a smile of human teeth.
“We meet again,” it clicked.
Zoe’s fist sailed like a missile for the creature. This wasn’t the Winter Queen, but the Ambassador. In part, she felt let down. She had been so hyped up for the ultimate battle, that this felt lackluster. But still, she remembered how the Ambassador tore her friends apart. Even if that timeline burned away to ash, the memory remained.
Zoe didn’t have the strength to win back then, but now?
These thoughts flashed through her mind in the blink of an eye as she shot down amidst a shower of dust and rubble. Her fist struck at the gigantic mantis, but it raised a scythelike blade to deflect her attack. Knuckles met chitin. The insect arrested her momentum, before flinging her away.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Zoe sailed through the air and hit the floor of the chamber. She eyed the Mantis as a clicking laugh came from the gigantic bug. The sound echoed in the empty chamber like a manic cicada. The tall chamber housed a ladder leading up into the darkness, and behind Zoe stood massive closed doors. It resembled Anton’s description of the place, though she saw no guardian demon. Lightbulbs along the ladder gave a pale glow as though of moonlight. The Ambassador’s staccato laughter ceased as artificially as it started.
“All your time training and you couldn’t even land one blow.”
Zoe grinned as Bella landed behind her.
“Couldn’t I?” she said.
A cracking of thawing ice rang out, and the mantis shrieked with pain as a chunk of its pale color exoskeleton split from its scythe-like claw and fell to the marble floor. The armor struck the ground and bounced.
The mantis hissed.
“How dare you!”
“Whatever,” Zoe said as she launched herself forward.
She shot through the air knee first, and the Ambassador was forced to duck aside. Zoe hit the ground, pivoted, and leaped into the air. Two scythes crossed in defense, but Zoe smashed through them. The bug glared at her, teeth chattering, as Zoe spun in the air to deliver a roundhouse kick to its head.
The impact clapped through the chamber like thunder. The impact staggered the creature back onto its hind feet. The reflective impact of her mirrored foot upon its cheek followed the first, and the mantis flipped over. Zoe alighted on the floor, grinning, and reveling in her power.
But the Ambassador was no ordinary mantis.
Even as it hit the ground, a brilliant light flashed out, and the silhouette melted, contracted, and became human.
“Get it while it’s down!” Zoe shouted.
Bella charged, her sword howled and trailed a reality-splitting cyclone, black sparks of portal wrapped up in a rippling twister of acidic heat, her blank-eyed grin matched Zoe’s scarred snarl. Twin hearts pounded like war drums.
Thunder in the blood. Iron on iron. A mirror reflecting the peal of a bell.
Bella’s sword screamed as it fell toward the indistinct figure of light. Before she could get too close, streamers poured off the Ambassador. They curled in the air, ribbons of light like drills, and Bella hurried to parry.
A ribbon struck her sword and splashed. Bright droplets. With a crack, the ribbon solidified into crystalline ice and Bella had to wrench her blade free as other ribbons spun toward her.
In the center of the spiraling light, a girlish figure stood. She grew distinct. No more than a child — the Ambassador’s human form. She appeared different from how Zoe remembered her. Slender, with blonde hair hanging from her head in large spiral drills that would be almost impossible for a normal human to replicate. She appeared dainty, porcelain made human, and her eyes were large and clear blue like mountain lakes.
She flexed her fingers, but one of them was missing.
“You may have landed a blow, but I’ll never let you reach the queen.”
With a smile of tiny human teeth, she darted forward.
No longer gigantic and ungainly, the Ambassador moved with the speed of a winter gale. She raced toward Zoe, with streamers of light trailing behind her. Her fingers twisted in a gesture, and the ribbons burst forward to wrap a cage around Zoe.
Zoe formed chains of Mirror and thrashed at the cage. The ice shattered as it formed and Zoe launched herself toward the surprised Ambassador. The human features couldn’t hide the expression as Zoe’s knee collided with her nose. Bone crunched and blood sprayed as the Ambassador rolled across the floor.
Bella lunged forward, her blade seeking the rolling humanoid, but the Ambassador sprung up. She backed away, streamers floating, cautious now. Bella tested with her sword, probing, deflecting retaliatory streamers, as Zoe circled.
Ribbons danced out, and Zoe darted between them to strike at exposed ribs. An elbow came down to deflect her attack. Ribbons blocked Bella’s sword, and a palm struck Zoe’s chest. She skidded back a few feet. Ribbons arced for her head, their tips like crystal daggers, but Zoe wove between them as Mirrored chains spilled out from her skin.
The three women descended into a melee of blurring fists and blinding light.
The fight that followed was one of attrition. Despite the growth in Zoe and Bella’s strength, the Ambassador was still a high-level enemy. For every punch, every stab, the Ambassador gave one in return. The ribbons of ice slowed them when they landed, but then the portals balanced the fight in Zoe and Bella’s favor.
For every slice of reality, for every punch of collapsing harmony, a portal opened, and Zoe and Bella used them to their advantage. They stepped between each other's portals, fighting with an instinctual grace as they used each other's powers. The Ambassador was swiftly overwhelmed, and Bella’s sword sang as it sliced through her neck.
Light pulsed as the head sailed through the air and transformed back into a gigantic mantis skull. It hit the ground and rolled toward the sealed obsidian doors. Blood leaked as mandibles peeled back.
“My queen… I failed…”
Zoe raised her foot above the bug.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said as she stomped.
Icy energy rushed through her veins and she gritted her teeth against the familiar feeling. From Bella’s expression, she knew she felt it too.
“It’s safe,” Zoe called to Anton’s waiting eye.
One by one, the survivors started dropping down, as Zoe advanced toward the obsidian door. She wasn’t sure what to do, but a faint voice — not even a voice but a feeling — called to her. Following her instincts, she pressed her palm against the smooth black stone.
A sense of excitement built beneath her skin. Her heartbeat raced. Something familiar lay on the other side of these doors. Something called to her.
The stone was warm to the touch, as though it sat in the sun, as the icy ribbons crinkled and melted, Zoe pushed against the doors. With a rumbling groan, they opened.