Thel’s luminous gaze swept across the roof. “I’M SEEING SOME BIG NAMES IN THE CROWD DOWN THERE, IT’S GREAT TO BE HERE. AN HONOR, REALLY. SO, WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK? GOOD ENTRANCE? WAS THE MUSIC TOO MUCH? NOT ENOUGH?”
Orsinus looked around, confused, before calling up. “What music? We don’t hear anything. Who are you?!”
Thel facepalmed. “RIGHT, GIANT STORM. LOUD. UNBELIEVABLE.” The storm fiddled with something at its waist and mimed throwing something down. “WORTHLESS!” A small object hurtled out of the storm’s chest and struck the roof of the tower, shearing off a corner of the building.
Thel straightened himself. “FINE. BOTCHED THE ENTRANCE, BUT THAT’S OKAY. I CAN SALVAGE THIS.” He cleared his throat, which reverberated outward and shook everyone to the core. “IN CASE YOU COULDN’T PICK IT UP YET, THE NAME’S THEL. I’D FOLLOW THAT UP BY DECLARING MYSELF THE IMMORTAL OVERLORD OVER ALL TOUCHED BY LIGHT, BUT THAT’S NOT REALLY TRUE ANYMORE, AND HONEST BRANDING IS IMPORTANT. SEE, THERE’S A CERTAIN SOMEONE DOWN THERE WHO’S MADE MY JOB A WHOLE LOT HARDER THAN IT HAS TO BE.”
The beams of red light covering the roof focused into thin shafts of light and began picking through the crowd of Primoi. After a few seconds, both beams focused on Horan, bathing him in light.
“THERE HE IS! PRIMUS OF THE HOUR! THOUGHT YOU COULD HIDE FROM ME OUT HERE? SAY, KID, WHY DON’T YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO THE CROWD?”
The Primoi around Horan stepped away from him, leaving him alone, save for Mark. He growled. “Horan. And you’d better back off, before we make you regret coming here.”
“OH, I’M SO SCARED! WHAT, WERE YOU REALLY DESPERATE ENOUGH TO HIDE BEHIND THESE HAS-BEENS? THEY CAN’T STOP ME FROM GETTING MY HANDS ON YOU. DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT STUNT YOU PULLED IN ISTANBUL. THANKS TO YOU GETTING IN THE WAY OF MY MINIONS, I’VE LOST MY LAST SHOT AT CONQUERING THE WORLD. THE EASTERN DOMAINS ARE COMING TO RECLAIM MY TERRITORY AS WE SPEAK.”
“Then you’ve got no reason to come after me. Walk away, before this gets ugly. We’ll come for you when we’re good and ready.”
Thel waved a finger. “OH, NO-NO-NO! YOU’VE GOT THIS ALL WRONG, KID. I’M NOT HERE TO TRY AND SUBJUGATE THE GREEKS. I’M ONLY HERE FOR ONE THING: THAT ONE-EYED HEAD OF YOURS.” The dull red glow within the storm began to brighten. “I’M NOT TRYING TO WIN ANYMORE. I LOST THAT CHANCE A LONG TIME AGO. SO NOW, I’M DOING THE ONLY REASONABLE THING SOMEONE IN MY POSITION WOULD DO. I’M KILLING THE ONE WHO SCREWED ME OVER, AND I’M GOING TO MAKE SURE NOBODY FORGETS THE PRIMUS WHO LAID WASTE TO YOU AND THOSE MEAT-SHIELDS YOU’VE FOUND FOR YOURSELF.”
Horan took a step away, still followed by Thel’s spotlight eyes. “Thel, this is completely insane. Please, stop this. You’ve already lost, don’t do more damage than you need to.”
Thel burst out laughing, which sent out a wave of air strong enough to knock several Primoi on the roof off their feet. “WOW, GEE, WHAT AN OFFER! SURE, LET ME GIVE UP ON WHAT I’VE BEEN FANTASIZING OVER FOR MILLENNIA, ALL SO THAT MY UNGRATEFUL, IRRITATING, WORTHLESS NEPHEW CAN FEEL BETTER ABOUT HIMSELF! YEAH, SORRY, I’M GONNA PASS ON THAT OFFER AND STICK TO PLAN A.”
He held his hands out as if holding something. A cloud of dust connected his hands, then extended past to form a staff longer than the tower was tall. The tip ignited into a brilliant scarlet beacon, sizzling with energy.
Thel took a monumental step backwards and pulled the staff back. “SPORTS REFERENCE!” He swung the staff directly into the side of the tower.
The middle of the tower buckled and began to tip over. Mark and Horan felt the roof list to the side and begin to fall over. As the tower fell over, everyone on the roof began to slowly slide off the side. More importantly, so did the loose girders.
A steel I-beam slid along the roof, producing a piercing screech as it scraped against the marble roof. The more the tower leaned over, the quicker the beam approached the crowd on the roof.
The beam struck Orsinus in the chest as he scrambled across the roof, trying to reach the hole. Orsinus scrabbled at the beam frantically as he was pushed over the edge and fell out of sight, the beam shortly in tow.
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Right when more beams began to move, a blurry figure emerged from the hole in the roof, sped across the roof, grabbed the nearest Primus and ran back into the hole. The figure returned almost immediately, repeating the same actions over and over again. In less than a second, Mark, Horan and everyone else on the roof had been rushed down into the non-collapsing part of the tower.
Grigora stood in the middle of the crowd of dazed Primoi, wiping her brow. “Is everyone alright?”
“Thanks, I think so.” Horan looked around. “Where’s Orsinus?”
Grigora’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t know! Was he with you?”
Omet shook their head. “I saw him try to run back down the hole when… that showed up.” They pointed up at the looming figure of Thel, visible through the torn-off ceiling. “He got hit by a piece of metal when the tower fell over. I’m not sure if he made it or not.”
Thel looked at the fallen top half of the tower. “‘Timber’, I could have said ‘timber’, like a lumberjack. Ugh, I should’ve worked on my one-liners beforehand…” He looked down at the crowd gathered in the stump of the bottom half. “OH, HEY! LOOK AT THAT! NEAT TRICK THERE, YOU GOT SOME KIND OF SPEEDSTER WITH YOU? HANG ON, LET ME DO IT AGAIN, I WANNA CATCH THAT!”
He lifted his leg up and brought it down on the bottom half. The instant before the bottom of his foot hit the tower, a hole opened up beneath everyone and they were dropped several miles away from the tower. What remained of the Greek Domain was also outside, just a few feet away.
Thel’s foot came down and instantly crushed the bottom half of the tower, blanketing the landscape in a cloud of dust and debris. Zaratos appeared out of a smaller hole. “Is everyone okay?”
Hurat looked around. “The fast one already used that line twenty seconds ago. But yeah, we’re fine.”
Thel turned to face the crowd. “AW, COME ON! JUST A HOLE? LAME! WELL, IF YOU’RE NOT GONNA LET ME DO THIS WITH MY COOL STORM GIANT MODE, I’LL HAVE TO FINISH YOU OFF THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY. YOU PEOPLE NEVER LET ME HAVE ANY FUN WITH THIS.”
The massive form Thel was controlling dissipated in an instant, showering the ground with the particulate the storm had been composed of. Where the storm’s heart would have been was the tiny, glowing form of Thel himself. After a second of letting himself float in the air dramatically, he began to fly towards the cluster of Primoi on the ground.
Zaratos turned to face the gathered Primoi. “Alright. Orsinus is gone, so… I’m in charge. Greeks, you’re with me. Everyone else, stay here. We’re handling this ourselves.”
Saralai, Atenos, Hadras, Grigora and Gratast stepped forward to join Zaratos. Hurat also attempted to step forward, but was pushed back by Zaratos.
Hurat groaned. “Come on, let us help! We can do something here!”
“Absolutely not.” Zaratos turned back to the rapidly approaching form of Thel. “I’m not letting you kill yourselves because you were bored. Sorry if I’m more responsible than my brother. Hadras, you’re up. Atenos, Grigora, you know what to do.”
As Zaratos opened up a hole beneath the six Primoi, Hadras raised his hands in the air and melted all the snow in a wide circle. As they fell into the hole, Hadras pulled the melted water in with them.
A hole opened up under Thel, and a massive geyser of water sprayed out and struck Thel mid-air. The six Primoi flew up to meet him, floating through the air.
Atenos grabbed Grigora and hurled her at Thel’s staggered form. Grigora flew through the air with impossible speed, kicking him square in the chest and sending him hurtling backwards and into the ground.
The Greeks dropped to the ground, using one of Zaratos’ holes to land directly in front of Thel. Zaratos stepped in front of Thel, who was just now staggering to his feet, and stood defiantly. “Alright, Thel. I don’t really know the details of what you’re doing, but I know you’re putting my family in danger. And I’m not letting you do that.”
Thel got to his feet and looked Zaratos up and down. “That was a mighty impressive display you put up back there. I’m sure that ragtag team of Primoi will make this plenty challenging for me, but I’d rather go up against something more personal. You know?”
Zaratos narrowed his eyes. “What, do you think this is some kind of game? Do you think this is meant to be fun?”
“Well…” Thel shrugged. “Yeah. And this…” He gestured at Zaratos and the Primoi directly behind him. “It’s not really doing it for me. Do you think you could make some big, dramatic speech about the fate of the world for me? That’d make this whole thing way more interesting.”
Zaratos stomped the ground. A small hole appeared in the snow next to him, and a sword flew out of the hole into the air, hilt-up. Zaratos grabbed the hilt, and the hole closed back up. “I’m not going to make some speech just for you, not after you destroyed our home. You’re completely psychotic, and we’re going to take you down. One way or another.”
“Ooh, that’s nice! Brevity is the soul of wit, after all!” Thel summoned a sword of his own into his hand. “Maybe this’ll finally be my big break after all!” He levelled his sword at Zaratos. “Well then? Have at thee!”