Novels2Search

Chapter 20

Reaching his grandfather, Hearne witnessed an impressive sight. The demon commander was pierced in several vital areas with arrows and it stood on one knee exhausted, but it smiled with masochistic glee as it enjoyed the pain that it was enduring, and, it spoke to Herne who knelt before his broken bow while they were recovering from their exhausting fight.

"Your movements have grown slower, Rider of the Red Stag," The demon remarked.

"I have honored your delusions of defeating me because they were entertaining, but now, I grow bored," The demon said, standing up and removing the arrows that Herne had placed into its flesh with its hands and dropping them on the ground.

"Perhaps it is time for the young god to face me." The demon said after noticing Hearne.

"No, your fight is with me, and it can only end in two ways," Herne said, picking himself up despite his exhaustion. He picked up a rock from the ground and put it in a sling, a weapon that he had not used since his younger days. He spun it with confidence, determined to defeat the creature before him. His grandson chose to stay back, knowing that he would only be a hindrance as he was not in his main body and he was only in the skin of a raven had twisted beyond what it was meant to be and thus it would not be stronger than his actual body.

"Then fight well."

After the demon had said those words, it burst forth with impressive speed. Still, from the perspective of both gods, it was slow and easy to dodge as Herne did. As he dodged the demon's swing from its mighty mace, he unleashed the stone in his sling right in the demon's jaw, causing it to stagger. In that brief moment, Herne picked up another rock, and he placed it in his sling and released the rock from the sling and right into the demon's chest, and with a loud snap, one could hear the breaking of a few bones. Still, the demon fought on, ignoring its pain, and it swung a blow at Herne's leg knowing that Herne's speed would cause him trouble and he decided to get rid of that problem early, and it struck true breaking his leg and causing the wounded god to scream in pain and Hearne confident that his grandfather could somehow grasp victory from the jaws of defeat prayed to him.

With renewed strength from his grandson's prayer, he did not scream for long as he quickly grits his teeth and despite his broken leg he managed to evade another of the demon's mighty swings and with a sadistic smile on its red face; the demon once more swung down at Herne's other leg, breaking it, causing the god to scream again and seeing that his options were truly limited, he picked up a nearby stone and hurled it right at the demon's head causing it a great amount of pain and the vanquished god smiled one last time knowing that he gained at least a small victory over the triumphant demon.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thoroughly infuriated, the demon discarded his mace and bore down on the defeated god with its bare fists, leaving the defeated god a pulverized corpse, after its rage-induced outburst, it calmly lifted its mace with its bloody hands, and forcibly sprouted its skeletal wings. He then turned to Hearne and said.

"My work here is done, but I feel that I have yet to leave a lasting impression." After hearing the demon's words, Hearne, in a rare emotional outburst, charged the demon and he was promptly defeated and laid flat on his back, but that was not all as the demon plucked out Hearne's eyes and crushing them, leaving the raven whose body Hearne was puppeteering blind.

"Now my work is finished," the demon said, leaving in a burst of flapped wings, and Hearne heard the war drums that heralded the arrival of the demonic army once more before it became silent once.

"How are you going to find your way out of this forest? You are blind after all," Another familiar voice in Hearne's mind asked making itself known after a long silence.

"Do not forget, Father, my main body was never here and I must return to it quickly but first, I have to deal with something" Hearne said, whistling and calling for birds to come to his aid and many birds did come to his aid and he asked all of them for help.

"Birds, My sleeping mother is being guarded by a bear and I need you all to wake her up to lead her and any other survivors of this tragedy to where my main body is." The birds from what he could hear, all flew away to complete their mission except for the vultures who quietly supped on the flesh of Herne.

"Now I can go back to my main body," Hearne said, finally letting the raven whose body he had twisted beyond repair die in peace but as soon as Hearne returned to his original body he realized that he was blind in this body as well.

"These are consequences of ignoring my orders, Son of Setanta. " A familiar sinister voice said, making itself known once more.

"I will never become your servant, Balor."

"What else will you be? My Killer? Ha, you better go back to that moon goddess of yours because the only place that is happening is in your dreams."

"You know what, Balor? I will kill you. I will go to wherever prison you are in and kill you myself."

"I quake in my boots at your thunderous words," Balor said, not taking anything that Hearne said seriously and leaving his mind with a burst of echoing laughter.

"Now that I have come to recognize the frailty within me, I shall embark on my transformation into a new kind of god," he proclaimed with unwavering conviction. As these words left his lips, a constellation suddenly burst forth in the heavens, its brilliance illuminating the night sky. Mortals, skilled in the ancient art of star reading, and gods well-versed in the mystical energies of the cosmos, gazed in awe at this celestial formation. They named it the Blind Archer, a symbol of strength born from vulnerability, destined to inspire legends and worship among mortals.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter