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OBSERVATORY INNER DOME

SECOND RING

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Battles are a menagerie of chaos, an absurd celebration of limbs and weapons in a merry round dance of murder. Annabelle wrapped her hands around her Scythe. Now that her love was back, the heart rate calmed down and cold determination took over. She was faced with six targets. They were simulacrums of her loved one. Their movements were clumsy and inexperienced. The first of the copies shambled towards the goddess.

Annabelle put one foot in front and turned her upper body to provide a smaller profile, her armor clanged with each movement. She stepped forward for a horizontal slash. The blade sang as it passed through air and foe uncontested. Part of the simulacrum melted away in black ink but the other half took on increasingly absurd shapes. The sound of a voice momentarily distracted her.

“Yo girl, catch”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something tiny and glittery flying her way. Just in time, Annabelle realized what Tharia had thrown her way. The unconscious sprite landed in the palm of her hand. Annabelle had little time to take care of it because two simulacra had encroached on her position. A human looking arm reached for her but she smacked it aside. However, to her surprise, the arm suddenly entangled around her wrist. With her arm in lockdown, Annabelle had to act fast. She brought about the scythe in another quick swipe, yet her opponent was faster.

A copy of Tharia stepped closer and then simply slapped her face. Both the goddess and her opponent seemed dumbstruck at the complete lack of effect.

“Human body, ineffective”, the simulacrum said with a perfectly imitated voice, “Experimentation: New shape suggested”

Annabelle instinctively leaned back – and just in time! The hand suddenly sprung into a collection of sharp needles that narrowly missed her face. She was still stuck by the grip on her wrist and no matter how much she pulled, it just didn’t give. Her only option was a risky move or help from Tharia.

“I’m going to show you fucked up, you stupid piece of shit”, the frail girl shouted at the sphere. A moment later, Tharia suddenly ran towards the floating ball of void and dove straight into it. Annabelle watched in quiet doubt as she saw her love crawl back inside.

“Yeah, okay. No. Maybe we should have a talk sometime”, she said with a dry tone and caught a direct strike against her abdomen for being distracted. The sharp needles poked into her armor but were caught before they could do any real damage.

“Adaptation ineffective”, the simulacrum said, “Experimentation: Increased length”

Risky move it was then. Annabelle tensed her muscles for a quick motion and then momentarily dispelled her armor. She instantly dodged aside as the gold light dissipated and finally pulled her wrist free. In one quick motion, she whirled around, put the sleeping Sisi from her palm into a pocket on her shirt and then finished the whirl with the prolonged edge of the scythe cutting a swath through her opponent. The second simulacrum split in two with half of it falling away and the rest convulsing in strange mutations.

“Hold partially effective”, a third simulacrum spoke, “Experimentation: Coordinated attack of both”

Annabelle had little qualms with her opponent announcing every move. It made it easier for her to counter. Not giving them the chance to coordinate, the goddess lunged forward. Golden light encapsulated her slim form and manifested into her armor once more. With her full body weight, she slammed a shoulder into the simulacrum that had just spoken. Using the butt-end of her Scythe, she bashed in the head and then moved in on the next target. Three more to go. The goddess ran right past it and let the hooked blade of her weapon along with her momentum decapitate the fourth target.

This was easier than she thought. Ironically, it was that idea that made her fall back. Too easy. She whirled around in time to block a massive several meter long spear of black ink that had root in three convulsing simulacra. As her scythe touched the protrusion, it split apart and wrapped around her weapon, pulling it from her hands.

“Holding effective”, the strange spear said and suddenly looked at her with eyes growing out of the weapon.

“This human form, however, is ineffective. Limited motor function. Adaptation”, her opponent continued. While the thing crunched down on her weapon, Annabelle danced a couple of steps out of range. The black ink of the simulacra combined into a singular shape. It didn’t take long for the goddess to notice that her opponent was now imitating her, down to the smallest of details. Like before, it reset to clumsy motions but quickly learned through imitation.

The goddess used the moment to catch her breath. A single enemy was easier to deal with than a whole selection of them. However, she kept an eye on the strangely idle sphere. Ever since Tharia had crawled back inside, it did nothing but shudder occasionally. Just what was that girl doing?

“Why do you struggle?” asked her copy with a curious tone. It was an odd feeling to circle around herself, ready to strike at what looked like her own body, yet Annabelle held her weapon ready and took careful measure of her opponent. She didn’t grace it with an answer, however. That wasn’t her style.

“We are the solution to your problem”, the copy said, “Your world is poisoned with two kinds of magic. These woes are our food. Surrender, let us eat and save you”

The goddess shook her head, “You are madness incarnate. No word you speak holds merit”

As if her reply were the signal, her copy leaped into action. A long leap took it right in front of Annabelle and before she could react, an armored fist took the wind out of her. Stumbling back in momentary shock, her copy held out one of the arms. It changed into a spear what nigh instantly pierced the same spot the fist had hit. Searing hot pain overwhelmed the goddess. Pain, however, meant she was still alive.

Gritting her teeth, she jabbed one of her hands towards the black spear and manifested a war-fan mid-attack. It easily cut through and the black ink flowed out of her wound. She was rapidly losing blood and her vision started to swim. This was unusual, she had taken far worst punishment than this and came out on top, yet that one attack caused her to stagger. Her copy showed a wide grin.

 “Tasty”, it said in a mock tone that sounded more like something Tharia would say. A blue string of light circled around one of the fingers. Her simulacrum licked it off while keeping that unnerving expression.

“More”

And with that, the opponent once more leaped into action. This time, Annabelle was prepared. She resummoned her main weapon for a block, but the impact easily threw her off her feet. When she landed on the floor, she was winded and her vision had nearly faded. There was nary any essence left in her as two strands protruded from the wound in her abdomen. One string was nearly gone, the other pulsed but lost strength rapidly. Around her, the armor crumbled away as she could no longer maintain it.

Annabelle gasped for breath. She would not be drained again. Scrambling back on her feet, she focussed her vision on her copy. Her opponent was stronger, more adaptable and she was losing her tools one by one. Already, her scythe fell into pieces in her hands. Soon, all that remained of her summoned weapons collection was one tiny and insignificant piece. Frankly, it hadn’t seen a lot of battles at all. She wrapped her hands around it and then took measure.

“Bring it”, she said with a raspy voice and lunged for her mirror foe. The doppelganger tilted the head to the side and then morphed its hand into a copy of Annabelle’s scythe. In a motion that seemed more bored than threatened, the creature tried to slash her. Her defense objectively made no sense, crouching down, Annabelle suddenly held out her hand. Within it rested a tiny ring, yet when the Scythe came into contact with it, the doppelganger screamed out in pain.

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Instead of cutting open Annabelle, the morphed hand split apart like a piece of paper. Grunting, Annabelle got back on her feet and used the moment of confusion to close the distance. While on the approach, she flicked the ring towards her foe and watched it erase a straight line of ink. By the time she was up close and personal, the ring re-appeared on her finger just in time for her jab to connect with the neck of her enemy. The hand did little damage but the ring cut through with tremendous effect.

With a limb cut off and the head dislodged, the doppelganger fell back on the rapid swirling chaos of randomly generating limbs. Annabelle growled a guttural tone and punched her fist directly into the middle of it.

“Go ahead. Work for me”, she pressed through her teeth as the everchanging nature of her foe worked against it. No matter how much it tried to rearrange, it only served to further swirl around the destructive ring until there was nothing left but a small blue and yellow sphere. She had won.

“Hah. Fuck me”, Annabelle said before collapsing on the floor.

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Tharia stood in a barren wasteland with a ground made of metal. Bizarre iron flower-towers reached for the sky with weird flesh clusters growing on them like ivy. This was the domain of the sphere, of this she had no doubt. Around her feet was a small diameter of influence. Her very presence brought change upon this place in a cascade of catastrophic permutations. The metal turned to grass, quickly changed into limbs and formed into tiny creatures that died from lack of proper organs. Her presence here was a perpetual cycle of creation and death at once in a perfect mirror of what the void did in her world.

A humongous sphere lowered from the sky and came to rest in front of her. The presence dwarved her like the mountain towers over a grain of dust and for a moment she considered whether she was witnessing a capital letter g type of god. Its surface rippled and with little more warning, tendrils pierced her forehead. There was no pain, just a sudden onslaught of concepts and ideas that forced their way into her mind. She watched her body convulse and bloat as it began to rearrange according to the will of the sphere. However, Tharia also noticed that the connection went both ways.

Her mind touched upon a place deep within her psyche. It was a memory of a dark night. She remembered little details of it like random parts of furniture that stood out with clarity or the sound of rain against the window. The noise of feet on the ground was clearest, however. He was coming to break her and nothing she could do would stop him. Hers was a despair pure and unfiltered and wielding it like a weapon, she went on the attack. She dredged it up into her mind and then forced that emotion through the connection.

The onslaught of concepts from the sphere became jumbled. Larger ripples went through it as it recoiled from her impressions. Not letting up one moment, she reached for the next emotion. It was from the moment she realized her great love had left her behind. She remembered the look of Annabelle’s back as the goddess visited her younger self for the last time. Tharia waited for that feeling of love turning to petty hate and then pierced it straight through the sphere’s defenses.

With that, the connection ended abruptly, the tendrils withdrew from her mind but Tharia wasn’t having any of it. She followed after the tendrils and then jammed her hand into the body of the large sphere. Hundreds of sensations threatened to overwhelm her, but she wasn’t the queen of repression for nothing. She simply accepted the chaos and change as is and poured more of her memories into her enemy. Soon, Tharia realized it was not just her anger but that of the world itself. The mother bone part of her was having a say as well.

Around her, the strange world came undone. The structures collapsed and the sky split open to make way for brimstone floating above. She saw the sphere shrink until a frail-looking girl collapsed on the ground in front of her. With the short hair and the legs standing off in odd angles, it was obvious the void creature had stuck to a mirror image of Tharia.

“Help me”, her reflection stuttered with a breaking voice. Tharia heard the tears in it. Those had once been hers.

“Shhh, it’s alright. You don’t need to enter this world. I’m sorry to say, but what you’ve seen is but a fraction of the things we do in our world. Imagine what it would do to an existence many times more complex than ours” she said and knelt down in front of herself. She pulled the creature made of black ink into a tight embrace.

“Here, let me heal you,” Tharia said. In all her onslaught, she had kept back one emotion on purpose: Betrayal. She softly touched her mirror reflection and reached for the divine essence inside of her. Healing energy poured into the void creature, causing it to glow from within. Tharia showed a fake smile on her face that was equal parts pity and a shitty personality.

“When my journey started, we met someone just like you”, she explained while brushing a hand over the fake’s gooey hair. While speaking, Tharia kept sending more energy into her enemy. At first, it noticeably enriched her enemy while draining Tharia’s strength in turn. But as the human girl grew weaker, the copy suddenly started shuddering.

“Weird”, it said, the voice cracking.

Ugly growths of flesh suddenly sprouted out of it. The human girl tried to stomach the view of her own body being twisted apart by uncontrolled growths from within. In disgust, she instinctively pushed more of her energy inside the sphere – and then kept going further. Only when her legs gave out underneath her, did she finally stop.

“A bit too much, aye?” she said with a sarcastic tone. The sphere shuddered and then exploded, expelling everything it had soaked up before. Tharia found herself pushed along the floor by a wall of expanding dead flesh.

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Tharia crawled through the remains of the observatory. The essence inside was too exhausted to keep her walking, but that couldn’t stop a tenacious little demon like her. There was very little left of the structure. A half-shell of metal still stood up and curiously enough, a thin layer of ice served as a sort of roof. All around her was destruction. Remains of the overgrown sphere lay strewn about, there were even parts of Viktor that had somehow found their way back. A horrible stench lay all over it and somewhere in this mess, there was Annabelle.

In short, just another day in the apocalypse. She called upon her special vision to search for the life-flame of her love but was swarmed by bright light all around here. Reaching down to one of the flames at her feet, she picked up a golden pearl filled with the divine essence. The corpses strewn about were littered with them. Her first impulse was to search for the strongest flame.

Yet when she reached it, this turned out to be the remains of Viktor. Tharia sighed and reached her hand deep into things she would never tell anyone about and pulled out the sphere. With a shrug, she put it into a small bag and went for the next smaller one. Little by little, she started to look like a butcher and had a pouch filled with hundreds of spheres, but still no trace of her love. It wasn’t until she reached the two weakest, that she found Annabelle on the ground, clutching an unconscious sprite in her hands.

“You can’t just go and lose”, Tharia said with a sigh and plopped down next to Annabelle.

“I didn’t lose”, came the faint voice of the goddess.

“Doesn’t look like it”

“Should see the loser”, Annabelle joked with a grin, followed by a cough. Tharia reached her hand over and once more called on her essence even though it had little left to give.

“It’s scary”, she said to her goddess with a faint smile, “This has become normal. We wake up each day and go to bed drenched in viscera and with a bag full of divine energy. Oh, by the way, got some candy for you”

Her hands placed the bloodied pouch on Annabelle.

“There’s a part of me that’s enjoying this, Annie. We go up against ludicrous creatures that should not be and then tear it apart. Stealing what we think is ours. The end of the world isn’t about humanity seeing another day, it’s about us. You and me. Sure, I’ll be happy to help those kids”, Tharia said and let out a loud sigh, “But between you and me, it’s only because I want the attention and praise”

An odd sound caused Tharia to pause. She pushed herself onto her hands and gazed upon Annabelle. The poor goddess was laughing hysterically.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re neither good nor bad, just melodramatic”, Annabelle said during bouts of laughter.

“That was kinda mean”

“True, it’s also something you needed to hear, fairy. Look at us, we’re long past any point of ethical behavior”, the goddess said, carefully laying out her words one by one, “we murder by the hundreds, we steal every day, we destroy wherever we go. None of that matters. There are only two persons in a position to judge anymore – you and me”

Tharia leaned back and gazed up at the sky above. A grin crept onto her face. Annie’s words had something to them. She mulled them over and then added quietly.

“When we rebuild the world, we get to write new history”, Tharia said, “Damn straight we’ll leave out the toilet breaks, the time of the months, we won’t tell anyone we might have accidentally torched an entire district or flooded another.”

It felt good to joke again. While it was true, she did enjoy the battles too much, there was something else she enjoyed even more: The moments of exhausted banter after. The next hours were spent in a steady pace of cleaning up, resting up and gearing up until the two girls finally walked out of the ruins.

“There’s just no way forward without Sisi”, said Annabelle. Tharia nodded and rubbed her nose. The sprite was still unconscious and without the heat, there was no getting past the cold and harsh weather.

“We must go either way”, answered Tharia and momentarily leaned in on Annabelle. Her hand pointed towards the horizon where the world had taken a turn for the worse. In a place not too far away, the sky and the ground had connected with a strange pillar half made out of flesh and half out of plants.

“No way around it”, Annabelle said with a sigh.

“Only two broken girls left”, Tharia added and rubbed her hands together to keep them warm.

“Shall we?”

“Aye, Annie. Let’s kick down the sky and trample the earth” 

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End: Full Circle | Coming Up: Already!?