Ligivul leapt from her mount as it flew directly over the blasted remains of her home, falling ten feet into the ash and watching the monster fly off into the distance. She didn’t need to draw attention to herself to get the two other Primoi nearby to see her, nor did she need to make any signals to get them to approach.
Gilnevn stopped twenty paces from Ligivul, Hurat close behind. She stared intently at Ligivul, whose eyes glowed like forest-green headlights behind her veil. The two looked each other in the eye for what was either a few moments or several weeks, depending on how the time felt between Primoi. Hurat stood slightly off to the side, waiting for one of the siblings to make the first move.
Ligivul was about to raise her arms and try to communicate wordlessly when Gilnevn got the first word in. “Here I was, thinking you might have some tiny piece of compassion for us. Thinking you might be able to show some tiny scrap of mercy towards the last of your family. So let me get your opinion on this: Was I being stupid, or did those centuries away do more of a number on you than I thought?”
Ligivul attempted to point to her mouth, but Gilnevn held up a hand. “I know you can’t talk. I was there. And I didn’t do anything. So you know what I’m gonna do about that? This: I’m sorry. I was a bad friend, and I should’ve tried to help you when you needed me.”
Ligivul didn’t move. She was beginning to see the advantages of having her face covered.
“And does a single apology fix what I did? No! But at least I’m trying to talk to you instead of attacking you right off the bat. But you? None of that. The moment you got out of that prison of yours, you were out for blood. No trying to single out the one who actually wronged you, no attempts at reconciliation, just what Sardok’s prophecy told you to do.”
Hurat nodded. “I’m not part of all this, but I know families. Gil might have been a bad sister, but you’ve gone a whole lot farther. You’re a bad person. And no amount of apologizing, with words or without, is gonna fix all of this.” He gestured around at the ash-covered wasteland. “Believe me, I wish we could. If you could just come inside and discuss this with us over hot chocolate, I’d be over the moon. But thanks to you and that giant headless monster out there, there is no inside!”
Gilnevn was fed up with having to look at two hazy green lights instead of a face. “Oh, take that thing off! Let us see you for real, if you’re gonna be all sad about this!”
Ligivul ripped off her veil, tears welling at her eyes. It was the first time anyone had seen her face in more than seven hundred years.
Gilnevn grimaced and balled her fists. “Odds are, whoever’s controlling that big Joey is putting you on a timer. So we’re giving you two options: Give up and let us kill you, to get rid of that stupid prophecy entirely. Or, you can keep trying to win, in which case… We’re not gonna make it easy for you. Take your pick, Ligivul.”
Ligivul pulled out one of her daggers and inspected the gold-encrusted blade. She heard a voice in her head telling her to go for it, to fulfill the prophecy and do what had been laid out for her. That it would be easier once she’d started, that she could live out the rest of her life a free Primus. Who cared what happened to humanity anyway? The Council could have the earth, that place sucked.
Ligivul looked away from the knife. Wherever, whoever that voice was coming from, it couldn’t be trusted.
She glanced back at the Warbeast, the swishing of her cloak brushing a crescent of ash off of the ground. There were people out there who were using her as nothing more than a tool, and they were being very open about that. But what other choice did she have? The Council wasn’t discriminate with their killings. At least if Ligivul was careful, she could avoid killing the one she hadn’t seen before. Only her or Gilnevn strictly had to die.
She kicked herself. There she was, doing math with lives. What was she even doing? Even if she did submit herself to them, there wasn’t anything left for them. They’d die either way. There was no way to be optimistic about the situation. Her hand had been forced the moment that glyph-covered monster had walked into her cave.
Gilnevn began to become worried with how long Ligivul had been looking out at the Warbeast. She began to approach the cloaked figure, arms raised in caution. Hurat watched closely. Small flames had already begun to wind between his fingers.
Gilnevn tried to touch Ligivul’s shoulder, only for her hand to pass through Ligivul as if she were made of smoke. A greenish light flashed dimly wherever Gilnevn’s hand made contact.
“No…”
Gilnevn turned just as Ligivul reappeared and swung her knife at Gilnevn’s chest. She caught the blade in one hand, feeling gold trickle down her palm. She moved her hand up in time just to stop Ligivul’s second dagger from plunging into her gut. Her hands were starting to really sting, but she wasn’t dead yet.
Before Ligivul had the chance to pull herself away, Gilnevn pulled back and headbutted Ligivul. The Primus was sent staggering backwards, her blades freed from her hands. Gilnevn let the daggers fall to the ground, half-burying them in the ash with her foot. “Rude.”
Ligivul barely had the chance to wipe her bloody nose when twin bursts of fire from Hurat sent her running. Hurat watched his target seemingly split away into several identical copies, running circles around him like a swarm of flies.
Great. This was just like the first attack they had been subjected to. Hurat kept his arms at the ready, on the lookout for anything to give Ligivul away… There. One of the forms was leaving footprints in the ash.
Ligivul came pretty close to Hurat before he responded with a lash of flame, sending her tumbling backwards onto the ground. The moment she landed, all of the illusory copies of her vanished.
Gilnevn rushed past Hurat and towards Ligivul, fist raised and glowing. Ligivul just barely managed to roll out of the way as Gilnevn brought her fist down. The attack was absorbed by the carpet of ash, sending a cloud of it into the air. While Gilnevn was left blinded and choking, Ligivul got to her feet and sent her sister to the ground with a punch to the jaw.
Hurat couldn’t see anything inside the cloud, just the sounds of coughing followed by a cry of pain. He sent two spurts of flame past either side of the cloud, the rush of hot air dispersing the cloud to either side. He saw Ligivul standing over Gilnevn, still reeling on the ground from the unseen blow. Hurat growled. “Oh, no you don’t!”
Ligivul heard Hurat and dropped to the ground, looking up at the waves of fire that flew overhead. She glanced down at Hurat, who hadn’t yet seen that she’d ducked. There, by his feet: Her knives, their handles still visible under the ash.
Hurat stopped his attack, then looked around. No sign of Ligivul. He groaned, stepped back and kept his arms raised. “Hey, Gil? Why couldn’t your family prophesize a less annoying sibling’s turn to evil?”
Thankfully, Hurat had Ligivul’s number. He spotted the footprints in the ash and aimed another flame strike in its path. Ligivul, however, had learned a few things too. She dove under the fire’s path, rolled the last six feet to Hurat, grabbed one knife, and leapt away. On her way past, she swiped at Hurat and left a gash in his thigh.
Hurat grunted and dropped to one knee. Gilnevn, meanwhile, had gotten enough time to stand up and was rushing to Hurat’s side with one hand already charging up. Ligivul ducked to the side, sending Gilnevn stumbling past.
Ligivul heard Hurat get to his feet behind her while she watched Gilnevn raise another glowing hand. Great, now she was sandwiched between them. Ligivul ducked right before Gilnevn’s fist connected with her face, sending the blow right into Hurat’s chest.
While Hurat was sent flying away, Ligivul brought her knife back up to Gilnevn’s stomach, only for her hand to be swatted away. Not passing up the chance offered by being so close, Gilnevn’s other hand rammed into Ligivul’s cheek. She heard bone crack from the impact as Ligivul was knocked to the ground. “Yeah, that’s how it feels!”
Hurat moaned as he stood up a good ten feet away. “Yeah, I got the message. Can you be a little more careful with those things?”
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Gilnevn kicked at Ligivul where she was on the ground, only for her sister to roll away and spring to her feet. Ligivul leapt backwards, then charged back at Gilnevn with her dagger at the ready. Gilnevn began to slowly walk backwards, narrowly dodging the flurry of swipes from the gold-encrusted blade. “Hey, Hurat? A little help here?!”
Hurat glanced up at the sight. “Sure, gimme a…” He noticed that Ligivul wasn’t leaving any footprints. “Look out!”
“Huh?”
Ligivul reappeared behind Gilnevn, grabbed the other knife out of the ash, then plunged it into Gilnevn’s calf.
Before Ligivul could bring down her second blade, Hurat charged forward and tackled her to the ground. Ligivul struggled to keep ash out of her nose and eyes while Hurat straddled her, hands sparking and eyes glowing intensely.
“Why—won’t—you—just—die?!” Hurat hammered his fists into Ligivul’s crossed arms, scorching her outfit. “Make things easier for us all!” He knocked one of her arms aside to expose her face and pulled his own arm back, engulfing his hand in fire.
Ligivul got to her feet, looking at Gilnevn. Wait, why was she so shocked all of a sudden? And hadn’t Ligivul been holding her knife in her right hand? She looked back at where Gilnevn was staring.
Hurat lay balled up on his side in the ash, face screwed up in pain and one hand clutching his stomach. Ligivul’s missing dagger was buried halfway to the hilt between his ribs, sending gold leaking down into the ash. Ligivul stared down at her empty hand. Had she done that? She’d just blacked out for a…
She didn’t get the chance to finish the thought. Gilnevn’s fist connected with the back of Ligivul’s skull, sending flashes of color swimming through her vision and making her ears ring. She tumbled through the ash and looked up at an approaching Gilnevn.
“I’m sure you want me to check up on Hurat so you can stab me in the back with that other knife of yours.” Gilnevn kicked Ligivul in the chin, which just knocked her back even further. “But neither of us went into this looking to survive. You did a stellar job of getting rid of any reason to do that. So instead, I’m gonna start with making you regret ever thinking of hurting him.”
Ligivul leapt up and punched Gilnevn in the gut, but she simply absorbed the blow and retaliated with a right hook to the ribs. Ligivul was once again sent flying backwards. She could feel gold in her mouth. Things weren’t looking good.
While Gilnevn was still charging up another hit, Ligivul threw out her arms and created a cloud of green smoke. Her illusions couldn’t touch Gilnevn, but they could still blind her.
“Right…” Gilnevn tensed as the illusory smoke washed over her. “You would.” She lowered her arms, already glowing like vapor lamps. She wouldn’t need them. She channeled the collected energy down into her feet, then knelt down.
The moment she heard footfalls approaching, she leapt up. The energy in her legs released and she rose thirty feet in the air, the only sign of her departure being a small cloud of ash which was immediately lost in Ligivul’s smoke.
Ligivul swiped at where she had heard Gilnevn, only to find nothing but empty air. She hurriedly dispelled the smoke, then looked up to see Gilnevn hanging in the air, already coming back down with her fist raised.
Ligivul took five steps away before Gilnevn’s impact with the ground threw her into the ash. While Ligivul lifted herself out of the gray dust, she heard Gilnevn continue speaking.
“...You’re not gonna beat me, Ligi. You managed to get one in on Hurat, but that won’t work twice. All you’ve got is smoke and mirrors, but I’m all too real.”
Ligivul sighed through her nose. Gilnevn wasn’t wrong. Her tricks lost their luster quickly, and she didn’t have much beyond them. But she did have something.
Ligivul spun around on one hand like a breakdancer, hurling her remaining dagger at Gilnevn with her free hand. Gilnevn attempted to swat the dagger out of the air, only for her hand to pass clean through as it sailed through her torso. Before she could redirect her hand, the real dagger appeared in a green flash and planted itself in her thigh.
Gilnevn grunted in pain and brought a hand down to try and pull the blade out, but stopped when she saw a flash of green light from Ligivul. The Primus got to her feet, fists raised and eyes burning intensely.
Gilnevn grimaced. “Oh, so we’re Amping now? Fine, then.” Her own eyes blazed to life. “Let’s do this.”
Ligivul charged, staying low. Gilnevn charged up her fist with terrifying speed and thrust it forward, creating a shockwave that sent up another plume of ash. Ligivul ran to the side, burst through the ash and grabbed the dagger in Gilnevn’s thigh by the handle.
Gilnevn smirked. She’d really given herself away that readily? She raised her hand and prepared to bring it down on Ligivul’s head, only for her target to yank the knife out and spin away from Gilnevn’s reach in less than a second.
Gilnevn grunted. “Oh, you little…” She redirected her aim towards where Ligivul now stood. Ligivul simply grabbed her arm in the blink of an eye and pushed it away, so that the resultant shockwave pointed off into nothing. Gilnevn snarled. “Would you stop that?!”
She sent a battery of blows towards Ligivul, fists bathing her sister in moonish light. Ligivul poured everything she had into her speed, narrowly deflecting all of Gilnevn’s punishing hits into the ground. Ash exploded around both of them, raining on them in a shower of rubble and dust.
Ligivul projected an illusory arm out of her chest, shoving a nonexistent dagger through Gilnevn’s neck. Gilnevn yelped and reflexively tried to bat the arm away, but by the time she realized it was a ruse, it was too late. Ligivul’s knife blitzed across Gilnevn’s chest, slashing a deep cut in her flesh.
Gilnevn screamed in pain, her eyes dimming as she collapsed into the ash. Ligivul flipped her knife in one hand, its steel now almost completely obscured by splatters of gold. She stepped towards Gilnevn with the dagger raised. Her eyes continued to glow just as fiercely. She couldn’t show the tears.
Hurat, eyes blazing orange, charged into Ligivul once again and knocked her away from Gilnevn. While the two scrabbled in the ash a few feet away, Gilnevn tried to get up and help Hurat. She got as far as spotting a gold-covered dagger at the far end of a trail of blood before she collapsed again. Injuries or no, Amping that much had put her out of commission for a while.
Gilnevn’s vision swam as she lay on her side in the ash, senses dulled. All she could see of Hurat and Ligivul’s struggle was the hole in Hurat’s side get joined by many others as Ligivul repeatedly brought her dagger up to meet him, which only stopped when Gilnevn heard a dull sizzling noise.
Hurat got up from the ground while Ligivul remained on the ground, then turned to look down at Gilnevn. His side was covered in yellow, his hands were charred black, and his eyes were rapidly flickering and dimming.
He forced a smile onto his face when he saw Gilnevn weakly reach up for him. “G-” He coughed up a worrying amount of gold. “...Got her.”
He keeled forward and landed in front of Gilnevn.
-
“Come on, you worthless little insect, move!” The third Leviathan peered through a window-mounted telescope at the scene unfolding down in the ruins. “Don’t tell me that you couldn’t even kill two unarmed Primoi!”
The first Leviathan lowered his head. “Perhaps she was able to kill the other one before the male finished her off? He appears to be of another Domain, and the other Norse has certainly been debilitated.”
The second Leviathan vibrated for a long time, then stopped and sighed. “There is only one steadily living thing in those ruins, and it is not the one that entered this room.”
The third Leviathan punched a dent in the wall. “Unbelievable! Weeks of preparation, and she throws it away like it is nothing?! Did she seek to disappoint us all the way to the end?!”
The middle Leviathan rumbled in its throne. “It does not matter. Tell the thaumaturges to ready the planar shift. We will invade the earth, whether the prophecy came to fruition or not. We were never going to lose, regardless.” It looked up at the fourth Leviathan. “We shall not be trapped here.”
The fourth Leviathan rose to carry out the task, but stopped when the second grumbled and began vibrating again.
After a moment, she spoke. “Anger runs through the minds below. Anger and fear. Our soldiers have seen the Lady’s death, and they know of the prophecy. They fear failure.”
The middle Leviathan did not stir, it simply tilted its head to look at the second. “Do they not know of the power beneath their feet? Does the failure of a single Primus put fear into their hearts? These pathetic beings irk me with their cowardice. We could undoubtedly conquer the new realm with nothing but this Warbeast.”
The Fourth Leviathan nodded. “Naturally, the earth has rendered itself frail. But we are makers of war, not magic.” It glanced at the second. “Are our thaumaturges gripped by the same weakness as the rest?”
“I fear so, brother.”
The third wheeled on the second. “I will not accept the failure of our entire campaign thanks to meaningless superstition from our pawns! We are meant to be above such puny grievances!”
The second Leviathan sighed. “If you wish to talk sense into our armies, you are more than welcome to try. But you know how stubborn younger beings are when it comes to their feelings. We would not need to discuss this at all if they could all simply set aside their misgivings.”
The third Leviathan groaned and sat back in his throne. “One day. The prophecy has not been fulfilled, but perhaps one day we shall convince those stupid little peons that it does not matter.”
The middle Leviathan nodded. “We make camp a fair distance from Tragnil. If we are lucky, they may be freed from their delusions within days. If they are anything like their forefathers, it will likely be years. Worst case scenario, we start over with them. But we will have compliant tools eventually.”
“They had better work,” muttered the third, “if they know what is good for them.”