Gra

I can feel the moment that Father dies. Like a line being suddenly severed, my connection to him, and subsequently all my Siblings, is suddenly and violently cut. The feeling recoils in my soul and leaves me gasping for breath, tears rolling down my face as something inside of me breaks.

For a spare few moments, my emotions war inside of me. Relief and remorse being the chief contenders among them. Part of me is sad to know that my father had just died, parts of me still holding love for him in some buried corner of my heart. I had loved him once after all, back when we used to walk side by side, and I would look up to him. But the rest of me takes solace in knowing that he is finally dead. That the person who had brought so much death and suffering to our own people is finally gone and cannot hurt me anymore.

But all in all, I feel cold. There is a void now where his presence used to be, and I can feel it in my soul. I had thought that I might be happy or even joyful when he was finally gone but… I just feel a little empty inside. I didn’t even see how he died, hear his final words, or even do the deed myself.

I’m not even sure if I can treat this a victory… I just feel a little bit more empty now that he is gone…

With tears running down my cheeks, I can feel as Vivviv squeezes my hand. Looking down at her, she just looks up at me with care in her eyes, her presence full of support for me. She doesn’t look sad by his death, only slightly bothered by the sudden change in her soul. Something that isn’t surprising considering how little interaction, or even pleasant interaction, that she had had with the man. As far as she is concerned, she never had any reason to care or love him at all. She only obeyed and followed because he was our King.

Was…

Billybilly is a different story.

The shock had apparently hit her like a fist to the gut. Falling to her knees, she looks to where we knew our King to be last, looking wide eyed and shocked as tears fall from her eyes, her body shaking with untold emotions like she is about to break apart at the seams.

“H-how…? How could he? How is this possible? He- he is… How…?” She stammers out as she shakes, her mind clearly falling into shock at the thought of our King being slain. A person who many of my younger Siblings revered as something of a god, an unstoppable presence, the strongest of our people…

I’m the only one left of my generation that knows the truth, however. That father was once just like any of us. Just a little Goblin that stumbled into great power after a chance meeting with the Devil… and that it was only a matter of time until she would come to collect her due.

Our escorts turn and look at us, questioning what is wrong with us. I turn to them and tell them.

“Father has just died. Our King is dead, you have won your war.”

The human blinks like he didn’t hear me right, asking, “Really?”

“Yes, you have your victory. Our King is dead by your Demon’s hands, and my people are now broken. Without him to hold us together, we have no hope of holding together. We are defeated…”

He blinks again, the information apparently taking a moment to set in, before he immediately snaps into motion and runs off to go and report to the old human that everyone else is taking orders from. Ignoring the humans, I turn to Billybilly, the poor girl still crying on her knees as she mutters in disbelief.

“I told you this would happen.” I tell her.

Her mumbling stops as she hears my voice, her eyes snapping towards me as my words register in her mind.

“Are you happy about this? Are you gloating now that he is dead, because you were right!? Is that what you want to hear? That you were right all along! That we couldn’t win! Ahhhhhhhh! Our King is dead! Ahhhhhhh!!!”

She collapses forward as emotions break free as tears and screams, her fists pounding on the hard floor of the building we’re in.

“No, I’m not happy. I don’t know what to think…” I tell her solemnly as she continues to pound the floor.

She hiccups, breathing in with hitched breaths as she looks like her world is falling apart around her.

“My Gov’es died for this… He gave his life for Father. But even he died… What was the point of it all? Why did we even… What do we do now? I don’t even… I…”

Looking desperate, she turns towards me and lunges for my pant leg, grabbing the material tightly in her shaking fists.

“Please, Princess, I don’t- I don’t know what to do! Please, guide us! You’re the oldest, the Big Sister, we can’t, we need someone to… I. I. I… I just! I don’t know what I should do, what to believe in anymore! Please, please, please! I can’t-!”

I try to pull my leg away from her, but that just gets her to try and wrap her arms around my leg, like I might try and run away if she releases me. My skin is writhing at her touch, and it is taking everything I have to not kick her in the face in order free myself.

Thankfully, Vivviv moves before I can do anything that I might regret.

“Release her!”

With vines tearing through the floorboards, Billybilly is tied up and pulled away from me, little vines running over her hands to wrap around her fingers and pry open her grip, all without harming her. The moment I get the chance, I back away and move behind Vivviv’s little body for protection, mostly moving on reflex.

Taking a calming breath, I try to tell her to calm down, but the girl won’t stop panicking. Her life and everything she has ever believed in has just been flipped upside down in a single moment. Not knowing what else to do, and really wanting her to stop screaming because the humans are watching now, I move forward, out from behind Vivviv, and force myself to grab the crying girl by her face, forcing her to look me in eyes.

My hands feel like they are on fire, my mind reeling at the sudden contact, but I force myself to continue.

“Billybilly, shut up and listen to me!” I yell at her.

The sudden order seems to knock some sense into her, her mind latching onto it like a drowning woman reaching for safety.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Breathing heavily, eyes dilated, and body shaking, she stops freaking out and listens, her tears running down her cheeks to wet my gloved hands.

“Listen to me, Billybilly. I will do what I can for our people, I promise you, I will. But I need you to stay calm.”

She sniffs back some tears, hiccupping as a cry tries to escape her throat. “Will you be our new King?” She asks desperately, a little bit of hope shining in her eyes.

“… No.” I tell her. “I won’t be replacing my father…”

“Wh-why? We, we need a King? Who will lead us!? Who will tell us what to do? We- we can’t… I don’t…”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I won’t. I can’t be King, I’m not Father, but I promise you that I will do everything I can for our people. You’re still alive right? Because you listened to me, right? I’ll do what I can for the others, but I need you to keep listening to me and do as I say.”

“Then you are King! Please tell me what to-!”

“No. No, Billybilly. I’m not your King. I can’t be him. I didn’t earn it. I don’t want it. What I want is for all of you to be able to think for yourselves. To not just mindlessly follow the leader. We are here, now, so many of us dead, because that is exactly what we did. We mindlessly follow our King to our deaths, because we couldn’t think for ourselves. We couldn’t ask if what we are doing is right!”

“But… But I want to follow? You are strong, you can lead! I want to follow you!”

“No…” I try, but I can’t think of any way to get her to change her mind. Finally letting go of her face, my mind not being able to take it anymore, I pull away from her and sigh. Vivviv puts a supportive hand against my back, as the other girl continues to look up at me with desperate eyes.

“I will follow you. I’ll do whatever you say! Just please, don’t abandon me!” Billybilly pleads desperately, one hand holding her stomach protectively.

“I won’t abandon you. I won’t abandon any of you… Those who ask for it will have my protection, but I can’t be your new King. I won’t replace him…”

She smiles, her frayed and desperate emotions making her face look broken.

“Yes, not King… But you lead. I follow and listen! You’ll be Queen? Leader?”

“No, no, not Queen. I’m not your… Haaah… Just call me, Big Sister, ok?”

“Yes! Big Sister! We have to do as our older siblings say after all. I’ll listen to my Big Sister!”

Just wanting to get this behind me, I just nod my head and sigh. “Yes… Do as your Big Sister says. Just, be a good girl, ok?”

“Yes, Big Sister!” She happily cheers, something inside of her seeming to click into place as she finally has something to latch onto for stability. Standing up, she tries to move forward and hug me, but Vivviv moves forward and wards her off with a pointed finger and a glare.

Billybilly quickly backs up and laughs. “Hahaha, sorry, I forgot. Big Sister doesn’t like being touched. I won’t do it again. I’ll be good.”

“Right, right… You be good… Good girl…”

Feeling uncomfortable with the attention, I turn away from her to look towards the busy humans. Finding them suddenly panicking and barking out orders into their weird machines.

Telling Vivviv to keep an eye on Billybilly for me, I head over to the humans.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why are you freaking out, I thought you already won?”

The answer comes before they can even respond, the floor shaking as a great tremor shakes the earth.

Off to the side, one of the humans yells out, “We have two more confirmed Kaiju sightings to the east! We’re drawing too much attention!”

The old man who seems to be leading things, start giving out orders that I can’t really follow, people quickly moving around as they all seem to be in a hurry. Another tremor hits the building, and I move to the window after I figure out that the humans probably aren’t going to tell me anything.

Looking out the window, I have to squint to see it, but in the distance, it looks like a mountain is moving, a tremor accompanying its every step. It is clearly heading this way.

I pale at the thought of having something like that attack us, the only one who could deal with monsters anywhere near that big was Father, but he is dead now… Can the humans kill something like that. Or maybe Lain will deal with it? Will she be able to, after fighting with Father? What should I do?

The humans are moving quickly, grabbing their equipment and running out of the building. Some soldiers move over to us, and I just then realize that Billybilly and Vivviv had walked over to join me at the window.

“We need to move, now.” One of the soldiers tells us.

“What is happening out there? Will Lain take care of it?” I ask him, but he just shakes his head.

“We lost contact with her, but she is believed to still be alive. We need to move before the Kaiju come stomping through here with an army of monsters. Follow us, we’re heading to central to take shelter.”

Lost contact? Did she get injured fighting with Father? This isn’t good…Not good at all. What about the others that are still out there, what should I do?

Looking towards the two little Sisters with me, I quickly decide on my priorities. I need to keep these two safe above all else. I can help the survivors after we are safe. And, even if I wanted to, our contract is still in place. We are still prisoners until everything is officially over, I can’t just up and leave whenever I want, not yet.

“Ok, please lead us.”

“Mm, follow us.” He says before heading for the stairs.

Following him out of the building, I keep looking towards the horizon, where the top of the approaching monster can still be seen despite how far away it is, explosions blossoming on its back as the humans fire upon it with their mighty weapons. I lose sight of it as we are all ushered into more of the humans weird moving boxes on wheels. With the landscape moving past us in a blur, I try to watch out the windows for what is going on, but I can’t see anything for a long while.

Eventually, we are brought to a large grey building, the tremors growing stronger and stronger by the moment as we are ushered out and then towards the building. Before we enter, I see it, the giant monster tower over everything in the distance. With a roar of its massive beaked head, the world shakes and vibrates. Like a living mountain, the thing fills the horizon with its body that only continues to grow larger and larger as the towering thing continues to approach.

“Quickly, move!” Someone shouts. “Get underground, now, now, move people, let’s go!”

Ripping my eyes away from the monster, I let myself be led towards the door, only stopping as a Field ripples out over the world and threatens to bring everyone to their knees.

Everyone’s attention is drawn towards the north, people gawking as a pillar of black and red fire grows towards the heavens. As people watch, unable to look away, the pillar fades away to nothing but a single glowing dot floating up high in the sky. Radiating black and red, the thing also seems to carry a golden light that shines behind it.

Looking upon that light, everyone who sees it receives the same words through their souls.

//I will protect what is mine.

In a blinding flash of light, a beam of red cuts the sky in half and hits the head of the giant monster, stopping it in its place.

When the light disappears, there is now a massive hole burned through the skull of the living mountain, its head listing to the side as its body slowly collapses. A shockwave of dust and earth is seen from its body impacting the earth before an earthquake arrives to knock everyone off their feet.

Someone off to the side asks if they are safe now, but they are quickly shut up as the sky starts to bleed black.

The thunderclouds have stopped raining now, their bodies instead becoming oily things that make the sky look like a dark see of black blood. It is all pooling towards a central point above the shining dot, condensing down until it is nothing but a black hole in the sky where all the light of the stary night sky is being sucked in. The light of the stars behind it are warped and dragged, like they are being pulled in by some inescapable force.

Behind us, we hear the noise of something heavy being dragged, the box on wheels slowly being dragged across the ground until its wheels suddenly loose contact with the earth, lifting into the air to fly away towards that black dot.

“Holy shit, she made a blackhole! Everyone, inside, now! Move!”

People stop watching now, instead choosing to run away as fast as they can to get inside. I don’t hesitate to follow them, though I don’t know how safe we would be inside. Before we can even get in, I can already see as many things are flying up into the air like little dots in the distance, the heavy corpse of the felled monster even being dragged forward under the pull of a heavenly force.

The last thing I see before heading inside is even large sections of the very earth rising to meet and disappear within that hole. Entire sections of forest simply disappearing as they are greedily devoured by the void.

Inside and led deep underground, the earth shaking all around us, we can only hope that there will still be something left outside if we even manage to survive this.

Huddled up in a corner, I can only hold Vivviv as I wish for us to make it through this alive…