I watched Sebbit’s lifeblood seep into bone, adding to the carnage that lay beneath him. He met his death with the same quiet dignity and staunch professionalism that he showed in life. I imagine he followed protocol even in the end.

As the captain’s eyes closed a brilliant golden light filled the sky. The intensity continued to increase until everything was awash in brilliant hues of white and gold, as if the sky had been consumed in fire. The air began to shimmer, and scattered bone cracked under the growing heat.

A defiant shriek descended from above. Liv still hovered above me, but her face had contorted in horror. Her wings beat frantically, yet she seemed unable to make headway against whatever force restricted her. The demigoddess’ cries and struggle became more desperate as the light and heat continued to increase.

The world itself seemed to answer her call; the earth and bones that trapped me began to shake, producing a chattering rattle that I felt before I heard. The small fragments of bone vibrated as they began to move around me like a liquid, slowly drawing me beneath their pale white surface. As my face was covered by bony quicksand, a powerful flash became visible even through the growing layer above me.

A thunderous boom split open the sky, soon followed by a powerful shockwave that pulled me into its grasp. The wave of force carried me backward, a cloud of dust billowing around me. The force of the impact had blown through my shields, depleting the last of my mana. I was unable to gain enough orientation or focus to bring to bear the enormous amount of eldritch energy surrounding me. Every attempt I made to create a shield formed too late, protecting an empty pocket of air I had already long passed.

I tried growing a cocoon of eldritch energy around myself to act as a cushion, but it was forming too slowly. I could already see the ground growing large beneath me. In the fraction of a second, before I landed, I did the only thing I could think of, using eldritch mimicry to create a partially-real copy of the arcane shield spell. It would stop a large percentage of the damage, and unlike mana, eldritch energy was an almost unlimited resource.

Hopefully, it would be enough.

As I landed, the shockwave continued outward. The circle of force pushed through mounds of bone, clearing the ground as shards of brittle white dust joined the expanding cloud. My hand shot up to my ribs, I could tell I had cracked at least a few. Multiple status screens appeared to highlight my injuries in more detail — I had fractures and bruises throughout my body and my stamina was under twenty percent and still dropping.

A cloud of dust blotted out the sky, but Liv was still clearly visible. She glowed with golden flame, two long tendrils of yellow energy had constricted her torso, breaking through flesh and bone. A third tendril was racing towards her head, but she turned and batted it away with a golden lance. She lashed out again and again, but each time the tendril grew closer.

She was physically unrecognizable as the girl I had grown up with. There was now little dichotomy between the two halves of her face. Her smooth, porcelain skin was charred and had become of a patchwork divided by jagged rivulets of blood. Her mouth was bent into a defiant scowl, a look I recognized. It was possible, even now, to find traces of the girl I knew.

“Liv!” I shouted.

I still found it difficult to hate her. The revelations were too new, and I couldn’t reconcile what she had become with the girl from my memory. None of that stopped me from trying to end her. She was weakened, I may never have a better chance.

Long pikes glowing with swirling black and red energy burst from the ground. I reached out with the full strength of my eldritch arm and grasped each pike before throwing them into the sky, one by one. At first, Liv ignored my attacks as each throw was pushed wide by an unseen force. I responded by increasing the frequency until she was forced to spin her long, golden spear to deflect my own.

The parry cost her only a fraction of second, but it was enough for the golden lash of energy to break through her defenses. She screamed as flesh sizzled and a long gash appeared that ran down her shoulder and across her chest.

I continued my barrage, forcing her to split her focus between myself and the tendril of energy that danced around her. Its blows continued to increase in speed, but I noticed the tendrils wrapped around Liv’s torso were beginning to grow fainter.

Once more, my throw broke through her defenses and she was forced to parry. As she deflected my blow, she turned to look at me, her eyes narrowing and her cheeks dimpling as she smiled.

“Finn,” she said with a raspy wheeze. “Aid me and we can be together once more! We can unlock your birthright and rule this land together as gods …”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Fuck you.”

My words were quiet and failed to rise above the howl of the wind. I was too tired to banter. Instead, I communicated with action. I continued to throw my conjured javelins but also split my focus to produce a rain of spikes from above. They might not do much damage, but I would whittle away at her focus as much as possible.

Wait … if all I wanted to do was distract her, then I had the perfect tool. It was dangerous. Who knew what fucked up shit I’d see inside Liv’s head, but it had proved effective. I threw a spear while dozens of razor-sharp spikes rained down from above. At the same moment that Liv spun her spear to deflect my attacks, a glowing eye slowly opened in the middle of my forehead.

A wave of pain and nausea rolled through me as my vision went black. I fell to my knees and clasped at my reeling stomach. I felt as if burning needles were being shoved under my eyelids, and every inch of my skin began to itch.

A soundless scream escaped my throat as an image began to materialize in my mind. Dull, earthy browns floating in a void of white swirled until they revealed a forest. Men and women dressed in fur and linen walked down a cobblestone path. Horses and goats followed, with small children playing underfoot.

I saw a man turn to speak to a woman next to him, both smiled as he took a small child from her arms. As the man raised the child above his head I looked into the babe’s eyes. They were brilliant sapphire-blue gems framed in golden curls.

The image began to fade, but before it went dark, I saw a powerfully built warrior turn to scold the two lovers playing with their child. The face was harsh and weathered. His mouth twisted in anger as he shouted unheard words. Deep lines creased his face, and intense green eyes stood out against a massive beard streaked with grey.

“Dad …”

The pain intensified, and my legs gave out, sending me into the dirt. My hands scraped against the sharp stone and splinters of bone that still littered the ground. The eye in my forehead began to burn and my head craned upward, as the eye focused on Liv.

She no longer fought, she merely stared down at me. Her eyes were narrowed, and her mouth was slightly open, but still turned upward in a wide smile. All three of the golden lashes held her firmly and were beginning to draw her downward as they tightened, cutting into her.

“More, Finn!” she yelled in triumph and glee. “See the truth. See what we truly are!”

As the eye locked onto her I became aware of every molecule of her being. The information was too much to process, and all conscious thought stopped. I gave in completely to the desires of the eye, its mission to show the truth.

As the golden lashes bit into Liv’s flesh I became aware of hidden lines of energy binding her to something else. Thin, wispy streams flowed from her. She was connected to thousands of people from all over the earth. I could see them, their belief in the goddess of myth giving her power.

These connections were insubstantial and flimsy, true belief had long since vanished. Only the faintest whiff of tradition and yearning for times of old remained.

Something larger and more powerful bound her as well.

It flowed into her as a thick, venous tendril of purple and black. It spread throughout her, rhythmically pumping as it filled her with vigor but taking something as well. I cast my vision outward and saw that the writhing vein stretched far into the distance, disappearing beneath the ground. Whatever was connected to Liv was located directly at the center of the pillar of purple light that divided the sky in two.

At the bottom of the dungeon, something waited. Something far older and more powerful than giant spiders or fledgling goddesses. I could sense its hunger as its attention noticed my gaze. For a moment our vision met. It whispered something to me, before breaking the connection with a wave of buzzing metal backlash.

The eye in the middle of my forehead slowly closed and faded. Whatever was feeding Liv was powerful and sinister but didn’t seem to wish me dead. At least not yet.

As the eldritch vision cleared, my physical eyes regained their clarity. I was still looking upwards at Liv. She was bound, but no longer struggled. She merely looked down at me with a wide smile on her face. I could see the streams of energy that flowed through her, but as the Eye of Madness faded the tendrils began to diminish.

At the moment before they disappeared from my sight, the thin, wispy tendrils began to glow. Liv moaned in pleasure as the human half of her face began to mend. She closed her eyes and reached out to one of the golden lashes binding her. She squeezed the lash between her thumb and forefinger, and the binding shattered like glass.

Golden sand fell to the ground, losing its luster as it was cast among the dust and bone that littered the field.

“Oh, Finn,” she said. “You have truly outdone yourself. I had no idea so much of the old religion still existed. Thank you for opening my eyes.”

She pouted, playfully sticking out her bottom lip as she put one hand on her hip.

“Well, they don’t exist anymore — but, oh well.” Her voice was chirp and chipper. She sounded just like the cheerleader I remembered from High School.

"I think a little Old Testament style recruiting will do wonders for my complexion."

I stood alone on a field of bone, beneath a literal goddess of death. My mind was still confused. I tried to speak but my words came out as slurred syllables, lacking any sense. Liv slowly glided to the ground, standing above my prone form.

“Oh, Finn,” she said. “I hope you didn’t believe that whole ‘rule together’ thing. It was all an act, you understand.”

Liv’s face lit up with delight, as she reached down and grasped me by the throat. She easily lifted me above her head, as if I were a toddler.

“Know I could kill you, Finn. I’ve killed those far closer to me. You’d be but an ant beneath my boot, and in the end, that’s all you are.” She sighed dramatically, before throwing me back unto the ground.

“But… he seems to have a plan for you.” She leaned down and pulled me up by the jacket, until her mouth was inches from my ear. “You know where to find us. Don’t keep him waiting.”

The back of my head struck the dirt once more and I saw four massive wings unfold before I drifted out of consciousness.