Death’s Dancer plunged two short spears into both sides of the Eidolon of Sut’s neck.
Superhuman strength got him through enchanted violet robes and about an inch or two into the eidolon’s thickened skin.
The eidolon was ostensibly a human from another world, but the divine power of his God had irrevocably changed him and that was in addition to the constant biological modifications he made to himself.
Case in point.
The steel spear points were stopped cold by the millimeter thin layer of adamantine mesh the eidolon had implanted beneath his dermis.
The solid steel in the lieutenant’s hands crumpled.
He kicked off the strange hump on the eidolon’s back just in time as it erupted through the robes in a whirling blender of piercing spikes, crushing claws, slashing blades and cutting disks.
Thin appendages lashed out in every direction.
Several shot thin red beams that cut into the hard floor.
Fucker has lasers!
Death’s Dancer looked for an opening, finding none, he leapt back.
The noise of his boots scuffing the ground was enough for the eidolon to spin with one hand thrust out.
His gaunt, angular face had it’s own kind of uncanny valley attractiveness.
Although, the speculation was that the energy, divine, or so the eidolons claimed, had something to do with engendering attraction.
Death’s Dancer didn’t think the Eidolon of Sut was anything other than creepy-looking, unlike some of the others. He did find that the Eidolon of Adras was an exceptionally handsome man. He could acknowledge that even though he wasn’t into guys. As for the women eidolons, he was ashamed to admit they’d featured in several of his dreams.
The eidolon’s left eye flashed through a quick succession of different colors.
It reminded Death’s Dancer of the different lenses they used for their flashlights.
“Reveal yourself?” the eidolon snarled. “Do you even understand your power? I’ve read your file. None of you have any idea. Swear allegiance to me and my God and I swear to unlock your full potential.”
He stood still, balanced on his toes, while slowing inching his hand to the stubby automatic shotgun holstered at the small of his back.
The eidolon’s eyes narrowed.
Death’s Dancer lost the quick draw.
A burning ball of angry red the size of an apple burned through the front of his plate carrier. Through the thin layer of steel underneath the kevlar, then through the thicker ceramic plate, before finally expending its magical power on his skin.
Pain wasn’t new to the lieutenant.
Practice and experience meant that getting burned wasn’t enough to shake his concentration into dropping his invisibility.
It didn’t seem to matter though as the eidolon thrust his other hand forward.
Writhing serpents emerged from long, skeletal fingers in a near seamless transition.
Their dark-scaled bodies grew larger as they covered fifteen yards in less than a second.
Mouths filled with jagged teeth clamped down and drew blood, while constricting coils wrapped around his limbs and neck.
The eidolon pulled, but Death’s Dancer managed to dig his heels into the ground for a stalemate.
“Your invisibility is beyond just the physical visual. Impressive, but not beyond my godly intelligence. It was a simple matter to deduce that in order to see, light must’ve had a way to reach your eyes. And thus, I enhanced my vision to see that microscopic dot that your ability left open to the world.”
Death’s Dancer saw movement behind the eidolon.
A faint white glow in the lingering cloud of smoke and debris.
“Krenilborn’s Hydra. No one know what gave the spell its name. Was Krenilborn the magic user that created it? Was he the hydra? Perhaps, the secret lies in the spires? Think of all the secret knowledge you’re giving up by opposing me. For while Krenilborn’s Hydra is aspected for physical damage. That isn’t its greatest attribute. It’s the venom.”
Shit!
The bite spots on the lieutenant’s body were heating up and he felt it spreading.
He dropped invisibility.
“And you’re going to tell me you’re the only one on this world with the antidote?” He managed to choke out despite the crushing coils around his throat.
“Swear to me and to worship Sut with your entire being.”
One of the biomechanical arms coming out of the eidolon’s hump displayed a small vial of glowing purple liquid in its claws.
“Yeah… no… fuck you and your god.”
Captain Patriot, glowing white, grabbed the arm and clubbed the side of the eidolon’s head with her collapsible baton.
The blow echoed like a thunderclap.
His many arms sought to strike back, yet somehow missed completely as they tangled together.
She grasped for his hydra conjuring hand, but he pulled it back and kicked her away.
The arm holding the vial tore at one of the middle joints, spraying golden fluid like a hose.
Freed from the hydra spell, Death’s Dancer fell to one knee.
Yup… the venom was working on even his superhuman constitution.
He knew that shit was bad considering he had shrugged off a bite from a mutated rattlesnake the size of an anaconda once.
Captain Patriot tossed the vial.
He snatched it out of the air and snapped the glass over his mouth.
Relief was nearly instantaneous.
The eidolon shook his head like a boxer trying to stay on his feet.
“How? I— I forgot you were there? Impossible. Why? Greater Mind Shield.” He glared at the captain. “I have improved my mind to provide natural defenses against mental manipulation. Psionic spells and Skills, the origin shouldn’t matter. And yet, I didn’t even notice. Even now, with the aid of my strongest defensive spell, I can feel all my efforts failing. It is not you. What master do you serve? Tell me now!”
“None,” Captain Patriot said. “I do this on my own because you’re evil and must be stopped.”
“I battle more than you,” the Eidolon of Sut said. “I will not be the prize of some Quest like a boss monster.”
“Too late,” Death’s Dancer smirked. “I don’t know about my captain, but I got a huge Quest a few hours back when I went all in on the idea of taking you out.”
The eidolon stiffened for a moment with the glassy-eyed look of a person being intruded upon by the spires.
Death’s Dancer reacted quickly, drawing the stubby automatic shotgun and squeezing the trigger one-handed.
Four barrels.
16 rounds.
Dragon’s breath ammo.
It was a custom job.
Not very many uses on account of the ammo overheating the barrels.
The risk of catastrophic failure crept up on it really quick out in the field.
The eidolon reacted even quicker.
His gaze sharpened back into reality.
He cast a barrier of large, rectangular panes resembling stained glass windows seven layers deep in front of him.
They shattered in quick succession.
The last set of dragon’s breath scorched the eidolon’s enchanted robes.
The eidolon’s thin, angular mouth split wickedly revealing perfectly symmetrical white teeth. He straightened from his slouch like a limp scarecrow suddenly coming to life. He towered over the two of them, who were tall specimens among their kind, looming over them as though they were children.
“You aren’t the only ones with a Quest. Your defeat will be but the first in what may prove to be a long and lucrative chain of Quests to unearth and destroy my God’s enemies.”
Death’s Dancer reloaded his shotgun, ignoring the glowing red barrels.
Captain Patriot leapt into close quarters combat range.
The eidolon’s many arms lashed out.
They burned, cut, and stabbed through armor and flesh.
The white light within her flared with each instance, healing what was inflicted in the blink of an eye.
She grasped, snatching several in her hand and snapped them with a twist of her wrist.
The eidolon’s face twisted.
She stepped in and jabbed her baton into his stomach.
Normally, the collapsible baton was a mostly useless weapon, worst than a stout stick, it’s only advantage was its concealability and ease of carry.
Her power made it indestructible.
The superstrong blow forced him to bend down.
She swept the baton up, cracking him under the chin.
Perfect pearly whites sprayed through the air like snow.
A most satisfying sight.
The eidolon’s tongue shot out of the bloody gap.
She dipped her head to one side to avoid the glinting tip. She reached for the tongue, but it slipped through her grasp as he retracted it.
He reached for her face.
She blocked with her baton.
His arm suddenly bent with more joints that it had appeared to have.
The hand clamped over her face like he was palming a basketball.
He whispered words of power.
It took a moment for the captain to realize that the screaming voice was hers.
If the eidolon’s freaky long arm wasn’t weird enough it turned out to have at least two extra joints. It was hard to tell underneath the voluminous sleeve.
Death’s Dancer aimed for the shoulder.
He didn’t want to risk the eidolon contorting the arm out of the way like a wriggling snake and he didn’t want to risk friendly fire on the captain.
She had enough problems trying to out pace the damage with her healing.
Friendly fire… what a dumb name.
There was nothing friendly about shooting people.
Dragon’s breath rounds sprayed the eidolon.
More of his enchanted robe burned away.
He hissed, averting his face from the fire.
Not quick enough.
His pale cheek blackened.
Blisters popped, weeping gold.
Laser-tipped appendages sent seeking beams after Death’s Dancer, while spines suddenly erupted from the upper half of the eidolon’s arm, shredding what remained of his sleeve.
The lieutenant dived into a forward roll underneath the incoming fire, going invisible.
The eidolon’s left eye flashed.
The lieutenant hurled his automatic shotgun into the eidolon’s face.
The barrels’ glow had intensified to near white and he had left the last four shells.
The eidolon blasted the shotgun with a burst of fire from his free hand.
A genius at multiple disciplines with the exception of personal combat.
The shells had been primed by the rising temperature in the gun. The spell finished the cooking process.
Death’s Dancer dashed in behind the explosion, twirling twin short spears.
He stabbed up into the eidolon’s armpit.
Greater height was a liability when the fight contracts into the phone booth.
Once again he couldn’t penetrate more than a few centimeters.
Thickened skin slowed the thrust and something underneath stopped it cold.
The impact reverberated up his arm as his spear crumpled.
He dropped it and grabbed the arm still holding on the captain and burning her face.
The muscles felt off, more like grabbing a Florida python than a humanoid.
He thrust remaining spear into the eidolon’s groin.
The robes held, but the expression on the eidolon’s face showed that he felt the impact.
Death’s Dancer stomped where he guessed the eidolon’s left knee was beneath the robes.
Impact, but no crack even as it looked like the knee had been bent backward like the joint could bend in more than one direction.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Cat-quick spear thrusts toward the face kept the eidolon busy while he squeezed and twisted the arm with superhuman strength enough to tie iron bars into knots like rope.
A gunshot-like crack echoed in his hand.
Good to know that the eidolon did have breakable bones.
Captain Patriot added her strength to his and together they pried the eidolon’s glowing hand from her face.
The blindfold was gone as was most of her skin, nose and lips.
Blinding white light shined from her empty eye sockets.
Death’s Dancer turned away on instinct, which cost him.
The eidolon’s hand balled into a fist and struck him in the face, breaking his American flag skull mask.
Long skeletal fingers blindly grasped for his face.
He grabbed the wrist, holding it off, but couldn’t create distance as the eidolon’s hump appendages focused on him.
Pincer claws grabbed him in their vise-like grips, while spikes and saws stabbed and cut through his armor and clothing to draw blood.
Lasers lanced out, burning shallow grooves in his superhumanly tough skin.
“Spear!”
He flipped it underhanded toward the sound of the captain’s voice.
Captain Patriot snatched the spear mid-leap, filling it with her power as she thrust it into the eidolon’s robe-covered stomach.
Once again the tip penetrated the skin and stopped when it hit the thin adamantine mesh.
This time, however, the steel didn’t crumple.
The captain pushed.
The eidolon began to slide back.
She reached around to his back with her free hand to hold him in place.
The eidolon had a disproportionately narrow waist compared to his height, making it easy to get her whole arm around him.
The mesh slowly gave way.
Perhaps if it had been a solid plate then the eidolon could’ve let the captain thrust the spear into his stomach until her power ran out.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the lieutenant wrestling with the hump appendages and an arm to keep them from attacking her from behind. He looked like he was trying to hug two dozen angry snakes.
The eidolon’s face was frozen in a rictus of rage as he roared down on her.
The spine-tipped tongue struck, but instead of plunging into the top of her head it suddenly veered to the side and curled back to stab himself in a spot right next to the spear.
The eidolon retracted his tongue, but appeared to be too late.
She saw something dark and ugly spreading inside his body from the injection site. It radiated out like a spiderweb. Not stopping until it reached from chest to thighs.
His free arm bent in four places to reach her face.
Magic flared bright in her vision.
She pushed more of her power into her head and face, doing the only thing she could to prepare.
Fifty-fifty.
Those were the odds she gave herself at surviving based on the strength of the eidolon’s previous spells.
The blast never came.
Oh, he cast it.
She watched the bright light of his magic surge and erupt from his finger tips.
Except it didn’t hit her face.
It appeared to hit something she couldn’t see in the centimeters of empty space separating them.
When the light faded all that was left were the blackened stumps of the eidolon’s fingers.
“Show yourself, dishonorable coward!” the eidolon roared, casting his gaze wildly about, as if the spear slowly inching it’s way into his stomach was the lesser concern.
Truth be told, she’d wager that it was the lesser concern.
The eidolon was a master of biomechanical manipulation and alchemy, not to mention a magic-user. There was no way he didn’t have fast healing and multiple redundancies, like extra organs. And that wasn’t even counting the divine blood.
His fingers were already starting to grow back.
She pushed her power into her arms with a mighty surge, digging deep.
The mesh finally yielded to the spear.
She stopped when she felt the tip poking through the eidolon’s back. She withdrew a bit, before churning the short spear like she was stirring a newly-opened jar of natural peanut butter.
The eidolon reached for her, but his blackened hand bounced off an invisible wall.
She couldn’t see it even with her power.
The hand tried to strike and grab again and again.
A dozen times in less than a second.
Each time blocked, whether he went for her face or the hand holding the spear.
Vomit spewed from the eidolon’s mouth.
A glowing green liquid as thick as crude oil.
It never touched her despite pouring on her head and flowing down her back like a cloak to pool at her feet where it ate through the hard floor.
The noxious fumes made her dizzy, until it didn’t.
The scent vanished as quickly as it had emerged.
The eidolon’s mouth shut like a steel trap. His head jerked back, twisting until he was looking directly behind him.
If there had been a snap of broken bones, she had missed it.
From the way he hadn’t dropped dead instantly led her to think that either his neck couldn’t be broken or a broken neck was merely an inconvenience. She judged the former more likely from the way he continued to struggle.
She angled the spear up inside the eidolon’s body cavity. The gut had been churned up pretty good from the feel of it. So, she went for the heart and lungs, assuming they had similar anatomy.
The lieutenant suddenly roared.
The appendages that had been resisting his superhuman strength gave way.
He tore most of them free, spraying golden blood over everything.
The slick liquid loosened his hold, causing him to stumble back several dozen feet until a large piece of rubble tripped him up.
As the lieutenant went, so too did the eidolon in the opposite direction.
Physics still applied.
With the eidolon no longer exerting force against the captain, she was able to lift him off his feet.
The spear sunk deeper as his heavy weight pushed down until her hand was flush against his robed stomach.
No longer forced to hold him in place with her other arm, she drew the thick, chopping blade from the sheath at her waist and proceeded to hack at his side like he was a pinata.
Gold liquid trickled down the hand and arm holding him aloft of the spear. It gushed out of the quickly growing wound in his side like a waterfall.
It splashed on her face, seeping into her mouth.
She spat.
No telling what drinking possibly divine blood could do to a person.
She was no vampire, but she didn’t take such risks for granted.
The eidolon wriggled like a fish on a spear.
One last mighty chop embedded her blade almost to where his spine should’ve been.
She shifted her grip grabbing between his legs.
He felt Earth human-like judging by the anatomy.
She piledrived him head first into the hard floor.
Still no crack.
With one hand she crushed, while with the other she pushed downward like driving a stake into the earth.
The eidolon reached for her, but a sudden and mighty force slammed both arms to the ground and held them there.
He opened his mouth, shooting his spine-tipped tongue.
Again, it bounced off an invisible wall in front of her face.
This time, it didn’t retract, it continued to reach toward the ceiling. The slimy red worm stretched like taffy until it finally snapped, spraying that golden blood all over the two of them.
He kicked his legs only for them to be pulled to the ground like his arms.
Spines erupted from his entire body, shredding what remained of his bloody, tattered robes.
She sensed his growing panic.
The attack hadn’t been aimed. A last ditch effort to fill as much of the space around him with deadly spines in order to hit foes he couldn’t see.
The eidolon’s eyes widened.
Noises emerged from his mouth.
He was trying to speak, but his thin lips remained sealed.
Clearly, against his will.
A spark of light flashed above his face.
She saw the spell taking shape.
It winked out like a snuffed candle flame a moment later.
She straddled the eidolon and started churning the spear in his body with both hands.
“Die already!”
A black boot stomped on the eidolon’s face with the sound of a gunshot.
“Shit! Does he have metal bones or something?”
The lieutenant raised his boot and stomped over and over again.
The two soldiers worked the eidolon over for several long minutes until the captain raised a hand.
The eidolon’s body was dark in her vision.
“I think he’s dead.”
“What if he’s got a backup plan? Bio magic stuff?”
“Separate the limbs and melt them. That should take care of any possible fail-safe.”
The lieutenant grunted, muscles straining as he struggle to pull the eidolon’s hamburger looking head off the body.
“Jesus Christ! This is way harder than it looks.”
He managed it eventually.
Gold liquid flowed from the severed neck, splashing his black boots.
“Should we, uh, save this stuff? Like, divine blood? Maybe we can get divine powers if we drink it or get a transfusion?”
“No. The rewards are not worth the risk.”
It was tempting, but she considered the possibility that the eidolon’s so-called god could gain influence or control over them through the blood.
In any case the blood was quickly growing as dark in her vision as the body.
The lieutenant, pulled the limbs off and reached into his small bag of holding for the alchemical acid-like liquid.
The eidolon wasn’t the only that could create such things.
He poured it over the eidolon’s parts.
They smoked and sizzled, slowly turning into a goo that gave off a stench of rancid meat.
“How’s my face, lieutenant?”
“Er… a little on the medium-rare side.”
She couldn’t feel anything beyond a vague throbbing pain as her white light continued to work on healing her many wounds. She had expended much in the fight, but being able to use what was left solely for healing was a good thing.
“Hard to see with the light and all, but I think your nose and lips are starting to grow back. I can tell cause I can see your gums and teeth. They’re very white, sir.”
“That’s what flossing and brushing after every meal if possible gets you.”
“For a minimum of two minutes. I remember, sir,” the lieutenant nodded. “What’s the next move?”
“My mother was a dentist.”
“I, uh, wasn’t aware.”
She waved the reminiscence away.
Her head felt a bit light.
There was a dream-like quality to her environment that almost made it seem unreal.
“Our next move? You still remember the map?”
Her lieutenant nodded.
“Good, it’s gotten a bit cloudy for me. Probably a concussion. You’ll have to lead. We need to free them from their suffering first. Then I’ll face the consequences.”
Her lieutenant opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off.
“You were only following orders. I gave you no choice. This,” she gestured to the gooey mess that was once the eidolon’s body and the wide swath of devastation in the middle of his sanctum, “is my doing.”
----------------------------------------
“And that’s the end of that chapter.”
“Then it is done?”
Kerkestis, the Eidolon of Sunor, stood in the middle of an intricate array of magic symbols carved into the floor.
The magic slept, ready to wake up the moment she called on it.
She stood stiffly, as though standing underneath the eyes of a predator.
Which was an odd sight, considering how much she loomed over Cal.
He was short for an Earthian while like all eidolons she possessed great height.
“What’s done?” he said flatly.
“I… nothing.”
“I’m kidding. He’s dead.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
His eyes regarded her evenly.
“You reject my God’s existence, yet I am reminded of them as I stand in your presence. Much more than the last time.”
“It’s not his existence that I reject. I believe you. There’s a powerful being, possibly energy or spirit based, that is named ‘Sunor’. I believe there are many such beings. What I reject is that they’re ‘gods’. No such thing.”
“The specific terms are irrelevant. To argue down this path is pointless semantics.”
“True, but this is something that I’m deciding to be an annoying pedant about. There are no gods.”
“And yet, you do what you do. You exist. Is that not enough proof?”
“Nope. Cause I’m no god. Now, I’ve got to go do… stuff, so let’s go over the most important points of our new agreement.”
“That is unnecessary. Though you’ve refused to codify it into record, my memory is as comprehensive and organized as the finest libraries.”
“Pride. I guess that comes with being the so-called king of the gods. Tell me, do you remember what you were like before you became an eidolon? Is that pride yours or did it bleed over from him?”
“That is not germane to the subject.”
“Something to ponder.” He waved a dismissive hand. “Sorry for the interruption. Please continue.”
“The first agreement. All failed subjects of Sut’s Will’s procedure shall be euthanized quickly and painlessly. All successful subjects shall be given the freedom to choose if they shall remain in service. There will be no coercion as outlined nowhere except in our memories of the verbal agreement.”
“Hey, I didn’t say you couldn’t write that all down when you have the time. I’d actually suggest it just so the government types can’t feign ignorance later.”
“I shall do that. The subjects shall not be retaliated against if they refuse to continue service. This protection extends to their families, friends and other important persons. Failure to abide by the regulations will result in punishment for the perpetrators all the way up the chain of command. This applies to the civilian and military.”
“I’m very serious about that. I swear I’ll climb that ladder all the way to the top. I won’t miss a rung. I don’t care if you’re a power-tripping jackboot on the ground, a colonel, a president or an eidolon.”
“Yes. You’ve demonstrated such. To continue… all subjects shall be afforded the freedom to emigrate as they see fit. There shall be no barriers placed in front of them. This extends to their families, friends and other important persons.”
“Next agreement?”
“I, Sunor’s Will, shall work with all haste to dismantle Rightful Destiny and all its constituent parts. Including, but not limited to, conscription, reunion and any and all laws codifying the exploitation of all Earthians regardless of citizenship.”
“No forced citizenship.”
“Yes.”
“Sorry, that’s a sore point.”
“I, Sunor’s Will, shall guide America to peaceful coexistence with all independent settlements.”
“Yeah, listen, I get it. It’s going to be hard. I’ll be satisfied as long as you try your best. I won’t hold it against you if rogue elements go off and say, sack a small town to conscript the inhabitants. I will, however, hold it against you if that sort of thing happens too much and if you don’t do everything in your power to pursue retribution on the perpetrators and reparation for the victims.”
“You have the very generosity of the Gods.”
“Yeah, I’m going to guess that some, not all. And it’s probably a minority that are truly generous. I don’t know how it is on other worlds, but on this one people don’t gain power by being generous. They get it by being greedy shits willing to step on anyone and everyone to climb that hill.”
“Is that how you gained yours?”
“Nope. Absolutely not. Pure luck thanks to the spires. It’s so unfair, isn’t it?”
“In my experience the spires are the fairest things in existence. For they do not care about anything other than creating conflict. Thus, it grants people like you great power without any conscious thought. Like an inveterate gambler flipping a coin.”
“Oh,” he snapped his fingers, “was that how your gods got their start? Sort of like me? Spires showed up on their world, probably tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of years ago. They got lucky and long story short, they’re calling themselves ‘gods’ and ruining lives and cultures across a thousand worlds.”
“You blaspheme.”
“Am I though? They’re not striking me down.”
“You would have cause to regret your impudence when Sunor graces this world with his presence.”
“When? Not if? Maybe I should include the date in our agreement.”
“Only one without respect and honor would alter their word in the midst of enshrinement.”
“Pray that I don’t decide to alter it fur—” he chuckled. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Please, let’s get back on track.”
The Eidolon of Sunor continued to list the key points of their agreement.
It was surprisingly short in her estimation.
He could’ve seized complete control, subverting her and the other eidolons or simply slew them like he had the others.
In truth, the agreement was generous to her.
It would buy her time and perhaps with said time she could subvert him to Sunor’s will.
“Listen, peace is good. I don’t know what sort of prognostication capabilities you have at your disposal, but a spires surprise is creeping up on everyone. Could be any day now or years.”
She inclined her head a fraction unwilling to reveal that many an oracle and seer had been sleeping and dreaming uneasily.
The Americans were already preparing under her subtle guidance.
It was part of the reason for the increase to the number of volunteers given to Sut’s Will to undergo the process.
There were no other words left to say.
The Earthian vanished.
She hadn’t seen nor felt him move.
It was as though one moment he was standing in front of her and gone the next.
All told, she was certain that things couldn’t have gone better for her.
She no longer had to watch out for a knife in the back from Sut’s Will.
A detestable eidolon. Just like his God.
Sunor would be pleased at the turn of events. For he craved an ordered society. The only true civilization.
From what she knew of the Earthian’s nation, they fit the mold better than the Americans.
She wondered if he would he be displeased to learn that he already served Sunor?