Enid picked her way through the forest. Her destination was the scorched landscape that she created in her battle with the legion that had been chasing her. The wound to the forest had not healed, it had festered. She travelled during the day, her prey could not come out during the day and would not sense her coming. She could not believe her younger self had been so careless with her power and to never clean up the mess. Perhaps this was her vision, if she had not been with Hazel and Rolf together would she be gone by now? Would the creature wipe out the village? And what of the pack. She was starting to spiral into a panic, should she be doing this? What is she changing now? Would it be worse for the future or better? Was her presence here pre-determined?
So, Rolf seemed like a fertile husband. He must have been quite the lover. You were never that interested in sex before. How often were you pregnant?
Lucius’s blunt questions ground Enid’s spiral to a halt. She blinked a few times.
“Is this really what you want to talk about? Three days of silence and you start talking about how the sex was with my latest husband?”
Well, I’m curious. Why him?
“I don’t know, he made me feel good. Like I was meant to be there with him on top… Ugg this is weird Lucius.”
You have such a strange way of speaking now. Please go on, I want to know, I have often wondered what a woman felt when they were having sex with a man.
“I don’t know, it feels good. Like pressure, look this is kinda freaking me out, okay?”
It is isn’t it, but you aren’t worried about whether you should be hunting the beast now are you?
“You are…a….pain in the ass!”
Yes, but I’m your pain in the ass. You always did tend to overthink things when you were younger. It seems that hasn’t changed.
“No, it changed, for a long time I just acted, but I realized that…was a poor way of behaving, especially for an Empress. So now I’m back to overthinking a lot of things.”
Father chose you over possessed me and Mariana then?
“Umm, father faked Mariana’s death because you, well possessed you and the council voted to kill her for crimes against our kind and the mortals.”
Did you know he faked it?
“No, I did not.”
I cannot imagine that sat well with you; Thinking she was killed.
“You have no idea. I refused to speak to father for two years afterwards and then when he gave me the chance to go hunt rogue pugmentia I jumped at it. Didn’t speak to him for twelve hundred years.”
You always did hold grudges far too long.
“Yes, and now he’s dead and I can’t apologize to him for doubting him.”
He’s not dead now.
“To me he is, I can’t go saying hey dad, how you doing? Ya I’m Enid from the future, so umm thanks for not killing my sister, sorry I was such a bitch. And oh, forget you saw or heard me, okay?”
Father is wise enough to deal with seeing the future you. You’re just scared of confronting your feelings about him.
“I am not, I don’t hide from my feelings.”
You can’t lie to me anymore my love, we share our souls even more deeply than before.
“You, shut up, we’re almost there.”
Yes dear.
“I swear I should find a lake and throw you in there for a few centuries.”
The only response was a feeling like he was laughing. Enid shook her head and pushed the underbrush aside. Her foot brushed against whited bone. It was unchanged save the mix of white and charred bone covered in rotted armor at the edges of the death zone. The flesh was long gone.
Enid, what did this?
She looked around sadly, her eyes growing moist at the death she had been responsible for. How many mothers lost their sons? How many wives lost their husbands? Children lost their fathers? One act of rage and she snuffed out six thousand lives. How truly lost was she when she had done this?
“I did.”
She could sense his disturbance at the truth she spoke.
“There is no excuse for it. It was a terrible moment of rage that I have never repeated or forgiven myself for.”
I knew you were powerful; I also knew you were full of rage. I did not realize…I could not imagine.
“This is where I learned that I need to control myself, that I am a weapon of mass destruction. That the mortals truly are ants to me. The latter was…a misguided conclusion.”
Enid, you are not this person anymore. I can sense that. You are as disgusted by it as I am.
“Yet it was still my fists that pulled the energy from the sky and slammed them into the ground.”
You saved the world. Tried to sacrifice yourself. Surely that wipes away the stain of this act.
“There is nothing I can do to make reparations for this death. But I can destroy the evil it spawned.”
I do not think less of you, my love. I think more of you. You have created more life than you have destroyed.
“That is true I have.”
What do we face here my love?
“A demon of death and rage. My actions allowed it into this world, I need to either slay it or send it back.”
A demon, I am not familiar with such things.
“They escape Hell. They are Lucifers cohorts and fellow rebels.”
Lucifer?
“I forget you do not have the benefit of two thousand years of Christianity.”
“It turns out the Christians got a lot right. There is one, true, God. He is kind of an asshole and if you don’t agree with him, he tosses you in a pit somewhere.”
Have you fought demons before?
“Yes, and I have won, but I’ve always had help. Silver-Tooth, then Eyre.”
Eyre? Who is Eyre?
“She is the one who taught me once again that mortals were more than cattle. My daughter. My eldest living daughter.”
She is a vampire?
“Yes, she is eight hundred years old.”
You love her so much. It is such a warm feeling.
“I love all my children, but she is the only one who I have turned.”
So, she is your child twice over. Even without meeting her I can tell just from your feelings alone she is special.
Enid wiped away a few tears. She missed Eyre a great deal and as much as she loved all her children Eyre would always be her favorite. The one that made it.
“Shh, I need to think. This one is more dangerous than the others combined.”
What makes this one so much more dangerous?
“It is a fallen angel. They can warp time and space, bend reality to their will. The are all demi-gods. Basically, it is likely my equal in power.”
Which is why you wanted another soul drinker. You are hoping the demon sees that and flees back to its prison, so you don’t destroy it outright.
“A wise old man once taught me, and I told my students, if you cannot come to a peaceful solution everyone has already lost the battle, and you are left with determining who will survive the battle. Because in war there are no victors, just different levels of losing. I’m paraphrasing, he said it better, of course he did he was an old Japanese man.”
She could feel him smiling at her.
I wish I could see what you have seen my love. This wise old man, was he your husband too?
“Goodness no, he was my Sensai, my instructor in a martial art. We were close but it was more like a father and daughter relationship. His family died in a war. Something I am glad you did not have to witness. He would have died alone if I had not been in his life. He had a good death. We sat together and drank Sake…a type of wine by the ocean and I showed him what I truly was. He was a good man, a kind man.”
And he lives on because you remember him and his teachings. I wonder how many lives you have touched and improved and how many more you will touch and how many lives did those people touch?
Enid wiped away a new batch of tears that had started to fall as she remembered her Sensai and his death.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is the here and now, and the fallen angel we are about to do battle with.”
Enid pulled off her dress and pulled out a fresh pair of underwear and a sports bra. She pulled them on. She then removed her Atlantean armor from the pack. The feeling of it pressing against her skin brought her comfort. She pulled on the gloves and put the helmet on. She mentally requested it sink back into the armor and it did. She pulled her pack on and slung Lucius over her shoulder in Bloodseeker’s old sheath. She looked around for a tree. Several had sprung up where others had been torn to splinters outside of the death zone proper. She lithely climbed up and find a solid nexus of branches to sit on.
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That is from Atlantis isn’t it.
“Yes, Lucius it is.”
Is it really going to do anything?
“I am not going to try and explain the how of it, no language you speak has words for it. So, I will simply say, if something hits it, it hits back with an equal and opposite force. In other words, the harder someone hits me the harder it hits them. Also, it is shield against balefire and mind control. Not sure how much it will do against its claws though. Didn’t seem to slow down the golem’s and that wasn’t even divine.”
Maybe you have something heavier? Anything?
“No Lucius I do not, this is what I have. Now shush.”
She pulled an Atlantean tablet out of her bag and tapped a few commands and looked through it at the field. The pile of bones at the center was the body it was using. She could see the energies permeating it, but the entire area was saturated with demonic energy.
“This is ugly Lucius. Its squatted here for a long time, it has control over the entire area, all the bones in it. It is possessing the land. I can’t exactly stab it in the left corner of its radius.”
Then how will you defeat it.
“I will have to force it into its true form.”
Sounds easy enough.
“No Lucius, it is not easy. I will need to use blood magic.”
No, you can’t, it will destroy you.
“I have done it before, I did it to create the blade you’re living in. Used it to end a battle before it began really.”
It is forbidden…father…Uncle Remus…
“Lied. It is not going to end the world. It is just dangerous to the person channeling it.”
But if you weaken yourself with the magic…how will you defeat it?
“I have blood stones full of pugmentia blood, it can repair the damage quickly.”
But won’t that bind you to them?
“It would if they weren’t already dead.”
You hunted pugmentia for their blood? That is against the Covenants.
“You forget my love, that I am the Empress now, I choose how the Covenants are enforced and Pugmentia who are breaking the laws are now free range to all who would hunt them. Along with Imperials I declare…no longer protected.”
You are courting a war, the Covenants exist to keep the peace.
“The council has been trying to kill me for two thousand years behind father’s back. They broke the law first, my first act as Empress when I get back will be to declare them excommunicated and no longer under the protection of the Imperial family. They will be run down and slaughtered.”
I thought you were above petty vengeance.
“I am, they broke our laws, they worked with the Black Son and they tried to kill my sister. Along with myself. Does the covenant not state that their lives are now forfeit?”
She was met by silence.
“I am not going to debate my morality with you Lucius. The lives of a few pugmentia that have gone wild because they refused to feed when they were still sane are a small price to pay for the safety of my children.”
If you can live with that choice…perhaps they could have been helped?
“You know as well as I do even an Imperial that has gone feral needs to be hunted down and stopped for the safety of all and the ones sheltering should be killed as well.”
That is not for you to Judge Enid.
“Actually, even if I were not Empress, it is. You were dead when father made me a Seer and commissioned me to find more. The pugmentia and younger Imperials call us reapers. We can and are expected to punish all breaches of the Covenants as we see fit. We usually choose death.”
Why would he allow individuals to wield such power.
“Because the Pugmentia have spread like a bad mold over the entire world and they have no respect for tradition. He could not police all corners of the Earth. And in the future the mortals have weapons that can incinerate entire cities. Killing one of us is an easy thing. They can target our location and press a button and half an hour later we are obliterated. They don’t even have to send soldiers. We stopped them from knowing we exist so that never happens. Not that it matters anymore…”
I do not understand how a mortal can wield such weapons.
“When we get home, you will see, and you will weep.”
I think I do not want to see such a world my love.
“It is where I am from and where I will return when the last of my children has passed on. I will never abandon another child.”
You have abandoned children?
“Not by choice. Eyre and her brother…they were raised by another woman after I died, or they thought I died. The Black Son sent pugmentia assassins when I was too content and stayed in one place. They had weapons that were enhanced with death magic. They nearly killed me. I was left in a healing sleep for twenty years. By the time I woke Eyre was a grown woman, married and had children and my son had run off and faked his own death so he could party in Rome. I will not let that happen again. And… Mitena thinks I’m dead.”
If you were attacked, it was not your fault.
“If I had not been attacked, I likely would have faked my death and left sooner. That had been the plan, stabilize the region find a mortal to take over the land and find a vampire to rule the domain. I had done both of those.”
I see.
“I felt trapped, like I could not do my job while I was stuck there. I shouldn’t even have been able to have children. But God intervened and stuck them in me. I do not…I am…I was mad, but Eyre made it worth it.”
She glanced at the sun as it began to get lower on the horizon.
“It is almost time. Lucius. I know you know this, but I want to say it out loud. I never stopped loving you. I had a lot of hatred in my heart towards you because I thought you had betrayed me and were trying to kill me for two thousand years. I couldn’t sense you…I could for a few dec…”
She paused and had an epiphany.
“I couldn’t sense your bond…because you were in the sword and you weren’t bonded to younger me, you were bonded to me. Oh…oh wow.”
I understand Enid. I can feel how much you still love me and have always loved me, you just could not see it past the cloud of anger
Enid drew Lucius and ran her gloved fingers along his blade.
“I wish…”
I know.
Enid held Lucius in her lap and watched as the sun set fully. The ground glowed with an eerie purple light and the bones at the center formed into a monstrosity with a giant bone scythe. The bones swirled around. She looked through the tablet. The bones were just a manifestation, a distraction from the true threat, the land itself. Enid pulled out a hip pack and attached it to her armor’s belt she put her last two remaining blood crystals that were full of Pugmentia blood in it. She paused for a moment. She sheathed Lucius.
“Wait, wait, humans have weapons that can destroy a large patch of land… And I have... Stupid Enid, stupid Enid.”
Then she pulled out a grenade and threw it up and down in her hand.
What is that? Some form of magical device? Atlantean?
“No this is a blessed ET-MP hand grenade.”
I do not understand.
She grinned.
“You will soon. I have been thinking about this all wrong. I don’t need to force it out, it will come out itself if I turn its bones to bone chips and it has no other way to stop me.”
You are scaring me, Enid.
“That’s okay sometimes I scare myself.”
She hopped down from the tree and fell at least two stories before landing on her feet. She pulled out two more grenades and a bandolier and hooked them on it.
“I was hoping to save these, I only have one crate in here. But if I’m dead then what use are they. One more…thing.”
She reached into the bag and pulled out a long tube. She expanded it and started typing into its glowing keypad. She loaded a missile into it and pulled another out of the bag. She walked to the edge of the dead zone and placed the second missile gently on the ground. She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. The bone tornado turned towards her and started to approach. She grinned looked through the sites of the rocket launcher.
Enid what are you doing?
“Fighting American style.”
She pressed the trigger and the rocket launched from the tube and exploded as it hit the center of the mass of bones. The bones were shredded, and debris belted Enid and embedded themselves in the trees around her. She calmly bent down and picked up the second rocket and slide it into the tube. She suddenly wished she had some bubble gum.
What madness is this? Not even Sextus has that kind of power.
“Actually, dear he did, I know because I inherited when he died. But this doesn’t use any blood. And the demon’s not gonna have a clue what it is up against this way.”
She whistled again.
“Hey demon. I got another one for you, this is called a Demonfire missile, you’re going to love it, turns stone and dirt to glass!”
She spoke more quietly.
“You’re going to love this one Lucius.”
More bones gathered in the center of the dead zone and started to form another bone tornado. Enid launched the missile upwards the laser targeting kicked in and it started going downwards and scattered into twelve separate warheads. Each of which exploded about ten feet above the ground unleashing a firestorm akin to a torrential downpour of thermite. The ground was saturated with it the chemicals reacted and most of the dead zone turned into a lake of thermite. The remaining bones melted within seconds.
Why would you create such a weapon? It is horrific…
“I didn’t create it hon, the humans did. And they mass produce them on a scale you cannot imagine I have three more of them in my bag, got them at a discount for buying an eight pack.”
The mortals have such power? What are we compared to this? The world has gone mad. How are you so calm about this?
She slid the rocket launcher back into the bag. She watched as the lake of liquid fire ate up the ground underneath it. It would burn for a few feet, and it would slowly die down. Hopefully the cleansing fire would allow new plants to grow. She waited patiently after a few minutes the demon rose out of the lake of thermite and she could see it was already wounded from her missile attack. He leaped towards her trailing thermite behind it.
“You will pay for this insult mortal.”
“I’m your sister moron!”
Enid threw one of her blessed grenades up and down in her hand. She knew it wouldn’t kill it, no mortal weapon could, but it would certainly slow it down. She spoke in the language of angels.
“You know you sure have a big mouth.”
She pulled the pin and threw it as the writhing mass of wings and tentacles opened its massive toothy maw to bite her. It had no definable shape and beyond its mouth its form shifted constantly. Was this the true form of an angel? The grenade arched and landed squarely in its mouth. It laughed at her.
“A stone? You throw a stone at me? Imperiter, the glorious.”
Enid didn’t wait for the ensuring explosion she leaped into the trees and took cover. She heard the explosion and felt the blast wave. Bone, muscle, black rancid blood and other indeterminate debris showered past her.
You needed to create this soul drinker why? What possible use could it serve if you can call down lakes of demon fire and tear things apart from the inside?
Enid shook her head.
“Because my love, it will heal from the damage rapidly, a soul drinker it cannot heal from. I wasn’t trying to kill it, I was trying to force it out of hiding then slow it down. With no blood magic.”
I think the blood magic would have been less disturbing.
Enid laughed.
You are enjoying this orgy of destruction, aren’t you?
“Yes, I am not ashamed if I am, it has been sixty some-odd years since I have been in the heat of battle. It has been too long. It was what I was born for, God made me into a weapon. I’m fulfilling my purpose again.”
You do not have to be defined by that.
“I am not, I also a mother…I’m going to shut up now and go kill him before he heals.”
She leapt over the rock and drew Lucius from his sheath. She landed by the demon which had shrunk in size. It was now a twisted human male with a pair of sickly-looking wings. She stepped on his chest and forced him over. He had no stomach, or spine at this point. They were obliterated by the grenade. He had his eyes closed and was writhing in agony. He spoke through clenched teeth.
“Your mortal weapons cannot kill me, you should run, when I heal, I will drag you back to hell and you will know suffering that no human can imagine.”
She pressed the blade against his neck.
“Impi-whatsit, open your eyes.”
He opened his eyes. They were black as coal she could tell that they were full of a seething hatred for her. She devoured it with glee. To see an enemy with so much hate and to be free to destroy them with no guilt was a thing she could rarely experience these days. She slightly regrated she was enjoying his suffering so much.
“Does this look like a mortal weapon to you?”
His eyes went wide when he looked at Lucius.
“A soul destroyer, impossible there is only one!”
“You’re my brother, so I’m going to give you a chance. I see as we have two choices here. I have elven more of those grenades in my bag here, and a weapon that can actually destroy you and not just your physical manifestation. Choice one, you go home to Hell, and I go home to my children content that you can seek redemption for your betrayal one day. Option two is I devour your essence, and you cease to exist with no chance at forgiveness from our father. I personally would prefer the later. I haven’t devoured a demon in decades, but my sword, and God would prefer the first choice. So, there we have it. What do you choose?”
The fallen angel spit at her.
“I bow to no mortal and my creator can take his forgiveness and choke on it. And who are you to speak of betrayal you have the stench of Lord Lucifer’s wayward wench all over you. Are you her attack dog? Lili-”
Enid’s eyes narrowed and she stabbed him in the face with Lucius. The demon clawed at the blade as its flesh smoldered around it.
“Not a mortal. And no, she was my mother, and you are not worthy of speaking her name.”
He let out an ear-piercing screech as a green and black energy was sucked into the Lucius and Enid felt it surging into her. Cleansed of its taint renewing her reservoir of blood. The fallen angel’s remains disintegrated into a green-black miasma and that dissipated rapidly. She could feel Lucius disapproval.
Since when do we offer quarter to evil?
“Since I realized that everyone deserves a chance at redemption.”
When did Lilith become…our friend?
“When she sacrificed herself to save me.”
Oh.
“Let’s go home. I miss my children.”
Enid was so consumed with the battle she had not noticed a lone figure in the shadows across the crater watching the whole battle transpire. She had been so worried about the upcoming fight, she had forgotten that she had sent her daughter out, now two days ago to find Sextus and warn him about the demon.