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INSIDE THE BREACH

SECOND FORTIFICATION WALL

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Annabelle calmed her heart with controlled breathing. This six-legged warrior-bug wasn’t Celestine. She would not lose again. Still, the situation looked bad. A veritable flock of tiny hunchback bugs was swarming Tharia while the large one trampled towards Annabelle. She felt the touch of the weightless armor on her skin and the two weapons in her hands: One Scythe, one War-fan. The goddess relaxed her mind as well. Be careful! Examine weaknesses. Be smarter, not stronger.

The smaller bugs Tharia would have to deal with. Her foe had four scythes that covered multiple attack vectors. On top of that, it was absurdly strong. Annabelle paced forward, observing the details. She noticed the thick carapace. Her weapon summoning would pierce through - but it was awkward to use. The goddess felt a bit of salt on her lips and then jumped into action. Three targets for the first assault.

Her feet carried her forward. She ran to a spot just outside the reach of the four scythes and then changed direction. The bug moved around but Annabelle kept her distance steady. She circled the creature faster than it could turn. Once in the blind spot, she went for the attack. Her left hand hurled the War-Fan towards the large eyes of the creature. It would bounce off without effect but perhaps serve as a further distraction.

With both hands now on her Scythe, she pulled left and then struck with a wide arc in the opposite direction. Sparks flew off as it clanged against the chitin. All her assault had achieved was a small scratch. The insect leg kicked out and this was what she had really aimed for. She unhooked the Scythe in one quick motion, spun it around and then cut straight through the unarmored muscle near the joint.

Next target. Not stopping for one second, her fluid motion carried her past the collapsing leg towards a spot on the main body. Her Scythe disappeared in a flash and reappeared when her hands were imitating a hard swing. The particles cut straight through the thick carapace as the weapon manifested inside. She left the Scythe in the wound, turned and hammered her slightly stronger fists against the handle. Like a lever, the weapon cracked the wound open.

The warrior-bug was pissed. It started flailing around and Annabelle had to dance away from him with light feet. Her weapon, however, worked itself deeper into the body with each motion. That left the third target: Another leg. If she could get it broken, the bug was immobile with its weak flank towards her. In short, it would be her win.

She weaved between the wildly flailing legs and headed towards the rear one. The bug had smartened up. As she approached, it pressed its leg tight to protect the weak points.

“Sorry to say, this goddess cheats”, Annabelle taunted – quite to her own surprise as well. She jumped onto the leg and scurried up with momentum. At the top, her armored fists hammered against the joint. If only she still had just her gloves. The bug locked up the leg further and tried to toss her off with motions of the body. Both her hands suddenly held onto either side of the joint. Golden particles spiked out on both sides and cut off the leg entirely.

She jumped off and broke her fall with a quick roll. Behind her, the bug crashed onto its side, cracks appearing in the stone below. Annabelle took another deep breath. Done. She had won. Her eyes locked with Tharia and saw the poor girl stand in a sea of smushed tiny bugs.

“I hate insects”, the small girl screamed as she snatched one from her neck and threw it down, “You don’t get to touch me, you perverted, horned, ugly, insufferable, tiny, uh... ugly... ehm bug. Question mark”

Annabelle smiled when Tharia actually pronounced the end of the sentence directly. This was her fairy. Deranged, foul-mouthed, all perfect. An odd sound drew her attention back towards the warrior-bug. She refocussed her attention, brought out both of her War-Fans and went back for another attack.

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Tharia’s breath was raspy and her heart ached from exertion. Those tiny cursed bugs got everywhere. They did no damage but gods be cursed, they were aggravating. At this point in time, she was just about ready to switch with Annabelle. Unarmed wrestling with an armored monster-bug – sure, she’d sign up if it meant no more tiny, invading - bloody abyss how’d it even get there!

Her eyes locked onto Annabelle, she was well into her second attack and it was a beauty to behold. That silver-hair followed those elegant motions with just a hint of a delay, further accentuating how graceful of a monster-murderer her love was. Annie was so cute, drenched in bug-blood.

“Right, priorities. Don’t think I missed you crawling up my belly you blasted pest”, she screamed and pulled another bug from under her blouse. The small creature got crushed between her fingers. Her eyes wandered back to Annabelle again. She absolutely obliterated the warrior bug. It didn’t even have a life-flame anymore.

That was certainly strange because it was still moving effortlessly. Tharia narrowed her eyebrows. Now that she looked closer, none of the things had a life-flame of their own. Not the small ones, nor the big ones. She twirled on the spot. Their surroundings had changed without them noticing it. There were no more exits, just solid walls in all directions.

“Annie”, she began shouting, “this is a prrfggmm”

Just as she was about to scream domain, several bugs used the chance to dive for her mouth. She spat out the disgusting creatures, smacked them out of the air and tried again.

“Do—arghh”

An entire swarm of them dove for her lips. She instantly shut it and pressed against it to make sure. Seemingly all the bugs of the world had decided to appear in a cloud before her. Angrily buzzing, waiting for an opening to choke her to death. With her hand in front of her mouth, she tried to shout as loud as she could.

“Annie, God domain!” she finally got out but half-way through, her surroundings changed. Not by much, just enough to tell her she was back in the real world. An empty breach awaited her. There was no monster-bug and no Annabelle either. A few rotten nests plastered the walls. She saw human skeletons on the ground in places she hadn’t noticed before and a strange pulsing light in the background indicated the hole to the wall interior was back as well.

“Annie?” she asked, her voice echoing in the empty room. There was nothing. The small woman was all alone. Her heart suddenly accelerated and she felt the walls creep in on her. They didn’t, it was all in her head. She knew that much, but she realized her breath got out of control, yet the more she tried to fight it, the worse it got.

“Breath in”, she said, imitating what Sisi had once taught her. This was no moment for mindless panic. Get yourself under control, girl. Repress everything until a more opportune moment, she reminded herself. Sudden lack of oxygen made her instinctively breathe out and then suck in the air. And more. More. Until her vision started spinning.

“Not”, she said in between rapid breathes, “the... time.”

With her breathing completely gone down the drain and the last bit of conscious thought, she held out her hand. Every god had a domain. She knew that much. Mother Bone had done something to her and in her youth, she had somewhat been ascended once. Maybe she could project out her own domain and save Annie.

Her hyper-breathing soon pushed these thoughts aside. It obviously had to happen now of all times. She collapsed onto the ground, her fists pounding the ground before she keeled over and clutched at her throat. No matter how fast she breathed in, it felt like she was suffocating.

“Push... aside”, she whispered.

“Domain. Establish”, her voice added several dozen breaths later. Nothing happened. She held out her and, tried a variety of silly gestures to somehow nudge out the domain but it was all in vain. With that, she allowed the panic to win.

Her mind was a collection of pure self-destruction. She was alone again. All alone. Worthless. You deserve this, Tharia. Your lies brought you here. If only you had any worth at all. She’s out there, fighting, you’re here, breathing yourself to death. Miserable, ugly tomboy. Weak.

It felt like a well had opened up deep inside of her. Years of repressed emotions wouldn’t take no for an answer anymore. Pathetic. Waste of flesh. She wanted it to stop. Her lips begged her own mind to stop the onslaught. Tharia rocked back and forth on the ground until she suddenly felt soft earth underneath her body. It was neither warm nor cold, it just was.

Trees, thousands of years old, reached up into a sky so far beyond her vision, she wasn’t even sure if they ever ended. She was in an ancient primordial forest, a place she had been in before, with Mother Bone. The trees pulsed with abundant life and the scent of fresh grass reached her nostrils. This was the domain of Mother Bone. Her domain. Her hand reached up to the sky and a pitch-black amalgamation of energy appeared out of the bark of the trees.

“I have found the domain”, she said, her heart calm.

“We will have used it’s true meaning soon”, her voice added, her breath relaxed.

“All things shall end”, Tharia finalized the triad of sentences. Her mind was numb and empty. Apathy had taken hold of her. The pitch-black whirl of energy descended from the sky and when it touched her body, she knew the resentment of the world itself. This was a primordial fury tempered in the hearts of many worlds before.

Clarity had taken hold of her mind. All things have to end. She turned around and lifted her right arm. The bare skin looked odd to her, her flesh had melded with her skeleton in a way that made her stomach churn. Her bony finger hooked into what felt like the fabric of reality itself. Calm, collected with no haste, Mother Bone walked through the layers of domains. Like a blooming flower, three realities unfolded before her. There was the physical world, the bug-trap where Annabelle had dismantled the large bug but was faced with several more, and on top, there was a third layer.

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She strolled into it without a care in the world. Her naked feet touched a ground made from the chitin of dead insect husks. In a passing moment, she realized that all she wore was a cloak that hid her meager body well. It mattered naught.

A strange crystal chrysalis sat in the center of the world. Inside was an amalgamation of human bodies melded together. Distorted faces were stuck in their moment of painful death, limbs had grown together, hearts had linked up to beat in unison. As Tharia watched, the creature was in constant change. The chrysalis tried a variety of changes. Three arms then four arms and back to two arms. It all changed in a moment’s notice with bone and flesh breaking apart and reforming again a moment later.

One of the faces seemed more lucid, it swam towards the edge of the crystal and pressed a flat face against it. The silent pleading look would have struck a chord in Tharia. That which she had become however cared not. Her granting the wish of death was incidental.

“All things end”, she said and ran a finger along the crystal.

“All things will have ended”, she added as her hand easily passed into the chrysalis. Mutagenic arcane energies pressed down onto her hands but they found no purchase with her leathery skin.

“As all things have died before”, Tharia concluded. All it took to snuff out a life was a touch of her finger. She brushed it against the singular bright flame inside the chrysalis. The creature faltered and collapsed in sudden death throes. All around her, the world came undone until she was back in the breach. Annabelle was frozen in a moment of motion, her beautiful body twisted as her Scythe was about to cut a bug that was no longer there.

Tharia realized that it was now the domain of Mother Bone that had superimposed itself on the world. Her domain. The domain of that which kills all. The being in front of her had been the lover of her human host, her flame burned so brightly that it hurt to look at. It drew Tharia in until she stood right next to Annabelle. She reached up her finger until her hand passed into the body of the time-frozen Annabelle. The edge of her fingernail reached for the bright flame.

“This world must end with her.”

“It will not be reborn.”

Tharia felt the pure fury of what felt like an infinite universe of resentment and hate boil inside of her. At the side of it, a tiny speck of dust stood between it and the will of the cosmos itself. She realized that tiny speck was her. The figure in front of her wasn’t just a bright flame. It was the one thing worth living for.

She closed her hand and pulled it back when pain flared up in her lithe frame. The smallest creature dared to defy the will of everything.

“This is not me”, she forced out, “This is the one creature I will never allow us to hurt”

With a whisk, everything came to an end. At first, Tharia thought the resentment had struck out, but when she felt soft hands on her body, she suddenly began crying.

“Fairy? What’s going on?” Annabelle asked. Tharia didn’t answer.

“You’re naked. Girl, are you some closet exhibitionist?” the goddess attempted a bit of humor. Tharia tried to put on a smile she wasn’t feeling – and just as she did, she felt the heritage of mother bone gain in strength again.

“We were locked in the domain of a Godbeast”, Tharia said with a cracking voice, “I found us a way out but... so did something else.”

She hid her head in her own arms and curled up. Where before, there had been cold numbness inside, there now was everything. Memories, emotions, each of them as burning hot as a raging inferno. She felt intense jealousy of Annie’s good looks, anger over having been abandoned, frustration over just how much of a mess she had become, sadness at having killed her family – but also righteous fury. Yet when she tried to lock the emotions away, the numbness woke again.

“Annie, how do you deal with bad emotions?” she said with a whimper.

“You learn to accept them”, Annabelle answered.

“Good times”, Tharia raised a thumb while her voice dripped with sarcasm. Annie looked irritated by the reaction. Off to a good start then, Tharia thought.

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Sometimes, a bit of luck comes at the worst of times. One of the order Zeughaus buildings waited for them just beyond the gate of the Second Ring. On the outside, it looked like any other storeroom but Tharia recognized the symbol Ravid had been so proud about.

The inside felt like a different world. Annabelle had disappeared into the armory section while Tharia took care of supplies. A lot of food had gone stale. The potatoes had grown into a thicket and any bread left had formed colonies. There were some stores of smoked meat that had been kept cool. To her nose, they smelled horrible but Annie might be in luck. The sound of steps announced Annabelle’s arrival. The goddess held a selection of armor, clothes, and weaponry.

“Clothes first. You’re distracting me”, Annie said and smiled. Yeah right, hide my ugly horror, her chaotic mind dashed forward with a rational thought in close proximity – no, Tharia had to tell herself. That was absolutely not what Annabelle meant. Like this, it was a constant back and forth. Annabelle looked amazing – Tharia was proud she was hers and envious she didn’t look as good. She loved Annie and at the same time doubted she could be loved back.

“Fairy? You’re different since the breach”, Annabelle said and placed down a pair of simple pants and a men’s shirt. Of course, it had to be for men, Tharia’s mind snarked and like before, she immediately reined her thoughts in. This was an order Zeughaus. They were kinda big on male-only participants so of course there were no fancy girl clothes.

“Thank you”, she said. Suddenly, she felt the numbness inside grow and it took her a moment to realize why. Her patterns had been so well-trained, she didn’t even notice that she dodged the question entirely.

“Sorry. You’re right. Back then, I despaired. You know I’m great at repressing emotions”, Tharia said and slipped into the shirt. Truth be told, it did kinda look sexy on her, she had to admit with a weird self-satisfied grin. Was this something she had to rein in or was it okay to appreciate oneself? There was no numbness coming, so she took it as a small victory.

“It came all out at once. This... broke me. For a moment I became Mother Bone and was ready to kill everything”, Tharia put special emphasis on the last word and showed Annie an apologetic smile. The goddess listened and suddenly frowned.

“See, that’s why I swallow it all up, now you’re angry!” the human girl shouted and then immediately slapped herself.

“Gods be cursed. I’m sorry. Of course, you’d be angry. Look, this is all on me. I’m a bad girl, broken, jealous, envious, prideful, lustful and an occasional glutton. For years I’ve acted the nice and kind girl but if I keep doing that...”

Tharia left the rest of the sentence hanging. It took her considerable effort to slip into her pants. Her legs just plain didn’t move well enough for this.

“I’m so bloody petty that I’m now simultaneously pissed because you didn’t help me right now since I obviously struggled – but if you had helped me, I’d be pissed because obviously, I couldn’t do it alone. I don’t blame you if you hate me.”

That’s the moment Annabelle stepped forward. She placed a finger on Tharia’s lips, sealing her mouth.

“You know I don’t hate you”, the goddess said and added, “If you’re in a storm, I’ll be your bedrock. Like you say, let’s talk before it becomes a problem.”

“Before is kinda several years too late”, Tharia mused and finally leaned over the weapons Annabelle had dragged in. Most of them were ranged. A few different types of rifles, a pistol, and a crossbow. Tharia ran her fingers along them and finally picked up the crossbow.

“I expected you to pick the guns, to be honest”, Annie said.

“Yeah and then we get the powder wet, lose it, use it to blow up a city section, the usual. I’m a slow girl, but at some point even I have to accept I’m a walking safety hazard”, Tharia replied with a smirk and weighed the crossbow in her hands. It was much heavier than anything she had used before. Her fingers traced along the wood and found a second mechanism strapped to the crossbow.

“It’s a windup-cocker”, Annabelle explained, “It’ll allow uh... less strong people to...ehem”

It was perfect for weaklings like Tharia. She ran her fingers along the cranks on either side of the cocker. With a sudden grin, she spoke.

“Men and their toys, eh?”

“What?”

“Cocker”, Tharia said with special enunciation of the first four letters. Annabelle stared at her and suddenly groaned as if she were in pain.

“Goddamnit Fairy!”

“That look of yours was worth it”, the human woman explained and then reached for the bolts. They were heavy too, obviously made of metal.

“These won’t fly as far”, Tharia said, “but they don’t bend easily, so we might be able to recover them. Good choice. I’ll take the crossbow and as many bolts as I can realistically carry. Next, a melee weapon.”

This time, she noticed they were mostly bladed weapons. Knives, daggers, short swords, long swords, a rapier and for some very odd reason a Zweihander that was as large as Tharia herself.

“What’s this for?”

“Something long and hefty”, Annie replied.

“Oh, you’re trying innuendo too?”

The way Annabelle blushed, made it obvious she hadn’t quite thought that way. Tharia smirked and then reached for a short sword. It was simple but sturdy. Once things got close, it was too late for the crippled girl anyway.

“I’m sorry”, Tharia finally said, “I’ve always been a terrible tease. When I look at people, my mind sees tiny weaknesses and can’t help but strike at them. It’s something else I’ve hidden away. Your weakness, Annie, is that you’re terribly shy and a bit prude. Especially for a goddess of lust.”

Once Tharia was done with the short-sword, she finally grabbed the first set of armor Annabelle had brought. On this, she trusted the other girl.

“Let’s get me dressed and then we’re back on the road, that alright with you? Or would you like to get those dirty thoughts out of your mind first?” Tharia asked with an innocent expression.

“You’re bloody intense this way”, the goddess replied and turned around. She didn’t seem hurt to Tharia, just overwhelmed. Yet when the young woman slipped into the light leather armor, she realized something else. The contradictions in her mind had stopped once she had started interacting with her better half. She moved up and softly patted the other woman on the back.

“Let’s get going. There’s something I want to do in the observatory. We kill the beast and then, we spend a night watching the stars”, Tharia said and then grunted, “Alright, we might need to punch the false star so we can see them but let’s try anyway, shall we?”

Without waiting for her reply, she walked towards the Zeughaus door and stepped outside. First! Gods, she really was a petty creature. She looked back over her shoulder and saw the goddess exit after her, carrying a crossbow, bolts, packs of supply and sporting a particularly grumpy look on her face.

“Right, sorry about that”, Tharia said and quickly snatched up her new stuff. She then took a look at their new surroundings.

“These buildings look old. Like, ancient old. What’s that technique even called where you pile up different stones and then plaster them together?” Tharia said and ran towards one of the large buildings. The windows looked decidedly modern but the walls were at least a few hundred years old.

“Building, fairy. That’s what it’s called”

“Uh, you can snark too. No, I meant this particular style where you leave the gaps visible so that the walls look like cobblestone. Obviously, the roofs aren’t original but the walls just might be”, Tharia said and knocked a finger against it. To her confusion, it sounded hollow.

“Oi, it’s all fake!”

“Get away from that house”, Annabelle suddenly snapped. Tharia reacted by instinct, jumped away while glaring at the building – but nothing happened.

“Uhm, Annie?”

“It’s just that I remembered an old story”, the goddess said with her lower lip sucked into her mouth.

“That story? Don’t tell me you believed the fairytale about King Raselbart and the living house? You did? No, come on, surely you jest? How could a house just get up and walk away? Why this particular house? Oh right, because of the hollow wall thing”, Tharia said while the two girls walked down the road towards the observatory in the distance.

“Don’t worry Annie, it’s just fake walls to look different. No buried brother inside. It’s like makeup, but for houses. Oh gods, did that house just move? I’m kidding, it didn’t. Did it? Ouch, stop hitting me!”

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End: Inside the Breach | Coming up: Per Aspera Ad Astra