Violet never stopped running.
Nova. No longer was he going to get away with everything. Milap’s death had just been a warning to her father. The starter to the main dish that would be his own untimely demise.
Those thoughts, and those thoughts alone, were all that propelled Violet as she dragged herself mile by mile closer. She may have overestimated how close the Right-bearer had been. Nevertheless, Violet promised herself at the end of each mile, of each draining leg of her journey, that this stretch would bear the target she was searching for.
And at the disappointing end of each, she knew herself an idiot.
Soon, even her internal grasp on her father faltered. She reached out in a desperate flurry again and again, but her senses had lost track of the strain of Chaotic energy.
Violet collapsed onto the ground below. She rarely cried, but here, soaking in mud within the middle of Unbounded terrain, with nowhere to go, and no hope to latch onto, she wouldn’t blame herself if she did. She sat and recovered, adopted her Unbounded form, and the little fiends that did pass her knew better than to approach.
Her mind raced. Thoughts sped through her brain in a race of sensations. Feelings, ugly and unpleasant, collided and morphed. On and on the moment dragged out the misery, her mind a downwards slope of dark thoughts and darker inclinations.
She could run. Where, she didn't know. Away from all of Descent. Away from the gods, the Unbounded, even humanity. In some ways, they were just as bad. All of it could be cast to hell, for all she cared.
But that wasn’t entirely true, was it? No, not everything was awful, she supposed. A statement she could only admit after taking out all the spite, the hatred; the exhaustion. Everything the universe wanted her to be, to feel.
She thought of Hadrian, Veida, Koa, Aziel, and Tanguy. Each of them, and too many others to name, had gifted Violet more joy than she could ever express, but more than that, they had brought her warmth in the cold cavern of life. Then there was Remus.
Remus. Something about him was different from the others. Besides being ginger. Of course, she and Remus had spent more time together than she had with any of the others. But it went deeper than that.
You didn’t journey half-way across the world together without building an inseparable bond. Though what kind of bond was it? Friendship? Allies? Something else altogether?
Were any friends as close as she and Remus were? Did friends fight for each other's lives on the daily, keep the other safe when they were sleeping? Did friends share their smallest rations with the other when they were just as, if not more famished? Perhaps a slim few would. But out of that handful, how many of them talked so intimately — so openly — about everything?
Remus knew everything about Violet. Everything. Her deepest, darkest, most shameful secrets. And of him, she was sure, she knew the same. With him, however, it didn’t feel like spilling secrets. They were just talking. The prospect of hiding anything from him seemed silly. What reason was there to keep him in the dark? What reason did Violet need to pull the curtains over whatever was on her mind?
There was none. Remus wanted nothing but the best for Violet. For that, Violet would be eternally grateful.
But . . . was friendship all they could have? Could Violet risk more, risk making things all the more complicated? Could Unbounded, or half-Unbounded beings, or whatever the hell she was, even be with humans?
Would that be right? For her to take this poor girl’s body, to bear her namesake as if it had been hers the entire time, and then enjoy something as simple as intimacy? Intimacy the real Violet, the original, would never be able to experience?
She didn’t know; couldn’t know the answers to any of those questions.
But even if Violet hadn’t a clue on what course of life she was on, the next step was clear: get back to Remus.
She got up, rubbed herself down, and stopped feeling sorry for herself.
Nova.
Her father was all she could allow herself to think of. Everything would be so much simpler if he was out of the picture. She was the only one who could do it. Walking circles in the comfort of her mind was about as productive as playing in dirt. Violet was the only one who could stop him, and a duty like that would be quite the responsibility to fail.
Walking, walking, walking. On and on she traversed, steps becoming metres, metres becoming slogging miles.
And still no sign of her father. But Violet would not relent. Her senses were stretched out like reaching hands, constantly searching for any sign of the Right-bearers.
For the longest time, there had been nothing. Now however, she sensed . . . she sensed . . . what did she sense?
Not a Right-bearer. Nor even an Unbounded. Violet had almost figured on what the oncoming presence was when she appeared.
It came as an arrow at first. One falling far past the crest of its fall. Violet had enough time to spot the golden glint of its arrowhead, before it stabbed into the earth below.
The air slapped back, a strong breeze knocking back the hood of Violet’s cloak. She had enough time to adopt human form, and human form alone, before the arrow underwent its own transformation. The newcomer sensing her with an Unbounded aura wouldn’t have made for a good introduction, but then again, maybe Violet didn’t have to compensate for her own weirdness.
Because a God-Graced emerging from an arrow’s target was weird enough as it was.
Eshika. Half silver, half blonde locks swept in the air from the storm she herself had created. Yet, as the woman got up to a stand, the area settled. She looked to Violet, hands on her silver bow protectively. She opened her mouth, but Violet was quicker.
“Where were you?” She screamed, more audacity in her tone than she knew good for her. “The squadrons you sent have been clinging onto life for Durations, and what did you do? Nothing!”
Eshika closed her eyes tightly. “I’m sorry. We were busy-”
“Busy. Busy? People are starving. People are dead!”
“We tried to get to you, we did.” Eshika said softly. “But the Right-bearers-”
“Have been attacking us!” Violet inhaled sharply, trying to not lose herself. “We — they may not have much time left. Please. Please send someone.”
They stared at one another. Who knew so much could be said with so little.
“I’m sorry. There should be some support arriving soon. I was on my way there right now, but I noticed them.”
Violet blinked. “Noticed who?”
Eshika looked at Violet like something was very wrong with her. “Don’t you sense it?”
Now Violet felt very anxious indeed. In the heat of her anger, the status of her internal senses had completely left her mind.
And it was screaming at her.
Violet stumbled back. “But I sensed him travelling miles away from here!”
“As did I.” She scowled. “Someone’s transporting them.”
Violet had a very good idea of who that could be, but she wasn’t about to tell Eshika that. Revealing the truth about Nova to just about anyone wouldn’t be any less sudden than setting off a bomb.
As if on cue, there came a monstrous screech from the skies, roaring down with enough force that Violet flinched.
There, diving down for them was no-else but Belindo. Violet had never seen the fiend before in so much detail, but now, closer than ever, she realised the one hundred ton reptile wasn’t going to stop. It was intent on crushing them both, like squashing two birds under the might of one stone.
Eshika acted faster than her. One second Violet was standing like an idiot, looking up at the grim reaper’s lofted scythe, and the very next, her back roared with pain.
The Archery God-Graced held her against the ground, metres away from where mud erupted.
Violet could teleport them out of there. She could abandon her reckless plan, her ace in the hole against Nova, and the two of them would be safe. But where would that get her? Nowhere better, she knew. Ultimately, even if they did get away, the Right-bearers would still have the upper hand. Besides, Eshika wanted to be here as much as Violet had, before swallowing the bitter pill of reality.
She would just have to stick it out. Even if that did mean rising before a Right-bearer powerful enough to destroy a village in minutes. With her Mark at the ready or not.
Eshika was up and running. She aimed an empty bow towards Belindo, a volley of levitating arrows instead appearing in the air above. They pulled back as she did, as if compelled by invisible strings.
There was the noise of a rope being cut, and the arrows flew upwards. They slammed in an earth shield yards away from the bulk of Belindo’s body, dirt shifting down from the natural shielding. More of these islands floated around, appearing out of nothing other than Belindo’s pure power.
His Divine Right was in full force, cocooning his body from all angles. Well, almost all. Eshika gritted her teeth, arrows materialising around her before she could even draw her bow again. They seemed to have a will of their own, flying intricate dances towards their targets. The chinks in Belindo’s absurd armour.
Rivers had sprouted to pour down the intricate landmasses, another factor of Belindo’s seasonal mastery. These froze over, protective walls of ice like an impenetrable skin.
Though how impenetrable was yet to be seen. Eshika’s arrows sped forward at the speed of light. Some stabbed into the floating rime; others were lost in the body of the floating islands. Neither drew blood, reduced to specks in the bulky brown of the space.
A few, however, reached the Unbounded’s body. Violet felt her heart jolt in her chest. They could do this. Maybe everything wasn’t hopeless. Maybe-
The arrows ricocheted off, deflected like they were nothing. The next moment, like the universe itself was mocking her, a strip of sunlight struck down on the spot the arrow had failed to cut. She saw it glimmer.
Supreme Steel. Of course. Its scaled body was of Supreme Steel — a unique kind of skin.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Violet and Eshika shared much the same reaction. They stood dumbly, mouths agape, after arrow after arrow fell to the ground like dying angels.
“Your Mark.” Her head shot to Violet in a hurry. “You’re not using it. Why?”
Violet quickly explained, in as simple terms as she could. Obviously, the world was still ignorant to Nova’s truth. Many details had to be edited, or removed completely. Still, Eshika got the gist, and that was enough. It came as something of a relief that not everyone knew of her Unbounded status yet.
“I have other ways to fight.” Violet said, her voice a soft mutter. “The news was going to reach you all soon, but I guess there’s no point in keeping secrets now. Just don’t panic, okay?”
Belindo let out a guttural roar. Eshika turned to the source with a soft frown. “What? What are you talking about?”
Slowly, so as not to risk an arrowhead reaching her throat, Violet adorned her Unbounded form. It began with the elongated claws of her hands, then the pale white of her skin, like fading snow. Then, finally, the burning embers of her eyes deepened, mirror images to the amber-turned-red of Belindo’s pupils.
Revealing everything about Nova and the Chaos Clan, on top of being half-Unbounded herself, would be too big a bombshell to drop out of nowhere. So, for now, Violet stuck to the latter.
Surprisingly, and in much good news to Violet’s continued ability to breathe, Eshika didn't immediately shoot her in the throat. Instead, she went stiff. Violet stepped forward in case they fainted, and only then did the woman clutch her bow.
“It’s still me!” Violet shouted, reverting to human form. “See?” She reverted back and forth a few times, only stopping when it made her nauseous. “Still me.”
Eshika breathed in very deeply. Something must have clicked in her head that doppelgangers didn’t act like this. Or had transformational abilities at all.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Before Violet could reply, a stream of heat blasted through the air. With one thought, Supreme Steel armour coated her body. Violet jolted in front of the lethal onslaught, absorbing all of Belindo’s fiery wrath.
Once it faded, Violet was no worse for wear. But her charred appeal made one thing very clear: it was time to fight back now.
“Everything will make sense in due time.” Violet extended her Infinity, an invisible sphere of the stuff amassing around her. “We have to kill every last Right-bearer. No matter what means we have to take.”
Eshika stepped up at her side. “A nobler goal I couldn't dream of.”
Violet smiled. “Just be prepared. If anything weird happens, just roll with it.”
“Sure.”
Violet hoped there was more confidence in the God-Graced than that response implied. She would need it dearly.
“Keep Belindo distracted.”
Eshika grinned wryly. “I think I can manage that.”
“Oh, and take these.” Violet flexed her internal power, a quiver of arrows materialising. The strongest Supreme Steel she could craft. “They’ll get through that thick hide of his.”
Eshika grasped them like her birthday had come early. She inspected them for all of three seconds, no doubt having wielded such arrows before. Violet could understand her perplexion, however. Being handed weapons so powerful from a Foot-Soldier must have been a very bizarre experience indeed.
Then she blasted off — literally. Just as Violet had transformed into an Unbounded, she underwent her own transition into an arrow. A singular shot, covering the space between them and Belindo faster than Violet could fathom.
Eshika, almost lost to Violet’s vision in a sea of arrows, returned to human form. Her feet planted onto one of the many islands weaving around the Right-bearer, the entire structure riddled with fissures from where her feet landed.
As all that occurred, Violet spread her Infinity far and wide. It worked hand-in-hand with her inward senses, searching for one thing in particular: other Unbounded.
Where there were Unbounded, Violet saw unwilling servants. Creatures she would normally control with the Chaotic energy of her Mark — weakening their minds so that they were hers for the taking.
But doing the same now, applying the power of her Infinity instead. Would it be possible? Instead of consuming their physical forms, she could consume their consciousness; their free will. Dominate the Infinity they were weaved out of so that she could control them.
It would be far less effective than using her Mark alone, or utilising a combination of both methods. But for the time being, until she crushed her Unbounded father for every pitiful thing he had ever done, for taking the role of a kind, real man, it would suffice.
She wasn’t asking for much. All she needed was an Unbounded that could fly. Violet furrowed her eyebrows.
Sure, Unbounded that could traverse across clouds weren’t as common as the land-dwelling variety. Nevertheless, Violet knew this deep into the front lines, locating one would only be a matter of time. She didn’t have much, but with a couple second’s exertion . . .
The creature flew down before her, and what a startling sight it was. Like someone had skinned a bull and strapped wings to it while the blood was still dripping down. Dragging an Unbounded to you was as easy as screaming at a serial killer convention, and waiting for someone to come find you. This was where the true challenge came into play.
As Eshika and the Right-bearer fought tooth and claw, Violet summoned a whirlpool of Infinity to twirl around her. Then, before the fiend quite knew what was happening, she hijacked its brain.
Like a bird of prey, it swooped away at first. But the inevitable can only be delayed. With inexorable precision, she bonded her Infinity to that of the Unbounded, like creating a Projection out of a being that already existed. Though Violet supposed the creature was more in a momentary trance, than being a completely docile minion.
She jolted onto its crimson back, one leg after the other, and set her sights on the sky. One final blast of Infinity, like Violet was tugging the lead on a camel, and they were off.
Higher and higher they ascended. Shaky at first, and Violet had to stop a few times to make sure she wouldn’t come crashing to the ground. But with time and patience, they hit a crescendo. The air became a sea she could wade, though perhaps not looking as glamorous as Remus as she did so.
That made her smile to herself. Look Remus, I can do it too!
Up above, Eshika was a blurring torrent. The isles surrounding Belindo, as if the God-Graced were recreating the city of Eclipse, were slowly being shot down one by one. The Right-bearer didn’t take to this kindly. Violet was just a second slow enough to avoid barging head-first into a river of flame. It had appeared so fast, though, criss-crossing with the splashes of nautical moisture, and helping to paint an intricate pattern across the sky.
It was beautiful. In a lethal, very much dangerous sort of way.
If we didn’t receive back up when trapped in a ravine for Durations, surely somebody has got to come to this.
Eshika was a very capable woman — Violet would never in her wildest dreams deny that. But Belindo, a Right-bearer so terrible, and matching her easily in Rank, should have been a threat dealt with by numerous God-Graced. Not one, and not assisted only by whatever Rank equivalence Violet would be at this point, for she really had no idea.
Someone was bound to notice the explosive amount of power emanating from the battleground. If Violet and Eshika could just stall, maybe land a serious hit or two on the fiend, then everything would be perfect. All they had to do was scramble for time until an entire squadron of vexed God-Graced and godlings came to their rescue.
Right?
Violet spun, twirled, and looped through the many natural defences of Belindo, her body in absolute focus if not her mind. Shards of earth and rock, sent hurling by Eshika’s deadly arrows, and summoned from the destructive creation of Belindo’s Right, came together like a complex puzzle piece. Slotting together, until, far too late for Violet to backtrack out of there, they were sealed in.
Sunlight gave one last desperate, piercing reach before being fully shunned out. Violet could only see in the forced dim of the artificial cavern by the flickering fires. They reflected off the dancing curves of the water flow, with enough light to blind Violet the other way — bursting the eyes of your sockets.
Her hold on the Infinity fumbled, and several times, all in quick succession, she had to scramble to reassert it. Her Unbounded vehicle was threatening to escape her grasp. Though that was one failure she could absolutely not allow.
Falling down here would be falling into her grave.
Golden arrows flew by her harmlessly, angelic torches of Eshika’s creation. They were guiding her, Violet realised, and the Archery God-Graced had picked up on exactly where she wanted to go. To the main man himself: Belindo.
When Violet was in range, the sheer scale of the reptilian mass struck her with full severity. It took up a third of the created shell like a chick in an egg. Only a chick intent on the annihilation of all mankind.
“Controlling one of mine?” There was a great snapping open, like a sun breaking outwards to sever entire galaxies. Violet winced at both the words, and the stunning light; the former felt so heavy, so ponderous.
Violet tried to blink away the image seared onto her eyes, but the lingering light persisted. Nothing else was visible, but at that moment, crashing into the nearest wall seemed to be of only secondary concern. The symbol was that of all the elements Belindo had thrown at them, hands reaching out of fire, water, earth, and wind respectively to clasp hands at the centre.
The Right-bearer’s Right. Glowing on Belindo’s eye, wider than buildings.
“Fifth Divine Right: Elements.” Violet recalled, her breath catching in her throat, now that her eyes were cleared, and looking ahead, she could see with perfect clarity.
Belindo’s open eye focused on hers. But it was so big. Bigger than it had been mere seconds ago, and that was a fact. The power of his Right was syphoning into him, embodying what all elements did and were at their core: change.
Changing through growth. Belindo’s body bulged against the sides of the airborne cavern, shattering cave walls like they were pastry. Glorious sun sifted through, but Violet couldn’t take her eyes off the behemoth before her.
It had tripled in size, easily.
“What child?” A hoarse voice, too old to be natural, croaked a laugh. “Scared?”
“Not scared.” Violet put on a brave face. “I’m just wondering . . . if you could be this big all of the time, why settle for less?”
Striking up a conversation could very easily be a mistake. Violet didn’t know if Belindo was sadistically cruel like the Pet-Keeper, relentless in his goals like Nova, or a mindless wanderer like the Supreme Fiend. Hell, even Milap had been open to talk, though only when he was chasing, or otherwise tormenting you. Would he be as talkative as some of the others, or more akin to the stoic source of Rot? Only uttering a word at most before letting the bestial instincts kick in.
Could he even be described as a reptile, or having a sex at all? Both of those were human attributes, and if there was anything Belindo was not, it was human.
Belindo was slow to respond, like each phrase of the mortal tongue had to be fished out of the depths of his memory. How long had it been since the Unbounded had bothered to talk to anyone? Belindo was known for killing as quick as a flash, and that was it. There was no room for conversing in a predator’s life.
“You give off a strange aura.” Belindo sounded like an old man rubbing his chin. There was no vast beard, but that wasn’t required for Violet to see the dark intelligence behind. Hidden beneath a mien of blood-thirsty rampage. And Violet knew the coldest killers were always the smartest. “Mortal, I know, but what mortal weaves Infinity like puppet strings to control Unbounded?”
“This one.”
“Yes . . . I can see that.”
Violet had to get closer. She would have to lower the Unbounded’s guard first though.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Ah yes. Why don’t I wear this form constantly? My Right is a tad different to the others. It sustains me.”
She considered that. Like a beating heart pumping blood around the body. No wonder Belindo was so monstrous. No Unbounded could normally be this large; this fearsome, even when only a third of the size. But it was like a lifeline now to Belindo, a clutch he had been grasping for decades a little too tightly.
“Would you die without it?” She leaned ever closer forward, playing it off as a show of intrigue. “Is that why you rest for Rebirths upon Rebirths, so as not to overexert yourself?”
“You know more than what meets the eye. Aye, there are varying degrees to my power.”
There was an air of scepticism to the Unbounded. The only thing stopping Belindo from killing her right this second was a sense of intrigue. Violet confused him, even after, what, centuries of life? It was exactly what she intended to play off of.
“So this is your strongest form?” The cavern had completely broken apart at this point. Eshika was distracted by firing at Belindo’s body. In several places, she finally drew blood. But it was in such low quantities that Belindo clearly wasn’t fazed.
“You ask a lot of questions.” He huffed, with growing impatience.
“You want to know about me, though, don’t you? Why I appear so strange to your every sense.”
No reply. But no sudden scrape of the claws either.
Violet got as close as she could comfortably get. The body heat of Belindo was akin to staying overnight in a Flame Sect training camp. Then waking up at noon the next day, the sweltering sun bearing down on you.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
Violet adopted her Unbounded form in the fastest transformation of her life, a pillar of Supreme Steel flying out of her taloned palm and stabbing into Belindo’s eye.
“I’m not mortal.”