When the Heavens Clash Ch. 4
Author's Note: Whoo! Finally managed to crank out this chapter. I know it's been a very long time coming (almost as long as The Cobalt Blue and World's Apart, Separate Ways) but I've finally finished it. Finally, Leona and Diana are starting to grow closer and light is being shed on the events that led to their awakening in the jungle. For those of you who don't read Magic of a Young Girl's Heart, I want to mention that I have a new job now: I'm a teacher at a local private school called Focus Academy. As such it's been a huge consumer of time, which is why my updates have been very slow lately (and also why I'm almost never on League). At any rate, I will be continuing all of my stories, I don't intend on quitting writing anytime in the foreseeable future. I want to thank all of you for your patience and your support. For those of you who have read my original novel Trinity Wars Book One: Behemoth (available on Amazon), you'll be happy to know that I've already started work on Book Two: Ziz as well. It should be available sometime later this year (hopefully). Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the chapter. -Kiba
Diana
The world spun around me as I finally began to come to. Just as before, the first thing I noticed was the splitting pain in my head, followed shortly after by my inability to move my limbs. This time, however, I was not bound to a pole as I had been upon my arrival in the jungle, but was now tied up spread eagle.
Not far away, I could see Leona, in an identical predicament as myself. Already the large felines were approaching us with a hungry gleam in their eye, snarling and gnashing their teeth before they froze, parting to allow the same one that had chased us before step forth. My eyes widened as a strange viridian energy flowed around her, causing her to rise to her hind legs before taking the shape of the woman who had brought us here.
She, like Zyra before her, was also scantily clad, though her clothing was made from the hides and teeth of various animals. Stepping forward, she turned my head this way and that as if examining me for any slight imperfections. Tugging away from her touch, I spat angrily. "Don't touch me!" Her lips curled into a frown as she walked towards Leona who still lay limp in her bonds. "Hey! Don't touch her either!" I called frantically, struggling against the ropes.
After inspecting Leona as well she nodded before turning back to me. "I have questions." She stated flatly. "And you will answer them."
"Like hell! I don't have to answer jack shit!" I snapped. There was a searing pain in my joints as I realized something I had not before. Each of my bonds was held by one of the cougars, and upon her signal, they would attempt to pull me apart. Raising her hand, the bonds remained tight, though they had stopped pulling.
"You will." She repeated, her tone indicating that she was in no mood for games. "Firstly, your names."
"That's not a question." I retorted sarcastically before a quick tug of my binds shut me up. "Fine, fine! I'm Diana. That's Leona." I winced as the force that was being exerted on my limbs in some cruel torture device slowly faded away leaving me dangling as before.
"I am Nidalee. Secondly, what are you doing here in my jungle?"
"Your jungle?" I asked, just as another pull came through the lines. "Ow! That wasn't necessary."
"You talk too much." Nidalee commented. "Answer the question."
I bit my tongue to prevent myself from pointing out that she just complained about talking too much, knowing that my dry wit would only cause me more suffering in this situation. "I...don't know." I admitted softly just before another pull sent agonizing pain through my limbs.
"Do not lie to me." She cautioned, pointing the tip of her spear under my chin.
Through the blinding sensation, I barely managed to utter my response. "I'm...not...lying…" My words came out as more of a hiss, when suddenly my bonds came loose and my body sagged forward.
Lifting my head, I saw what had caused them to loosen their hold: Leona had begun to stir. "Perhaps your friend then will have a more fluid tongue." Nidalee mused, waiting until the confused Solari was back to her senses. "Hello, your friend has informed us of your name Leona. Now tell me...what are the two of you doing in my forest. Before you speak, be warned that if I do not like what I hear there will be suffering at your expense."
Leona shook the dizziness from her head before finally realizing that she had been spoken to. "What?"
"Why...are...you...here?" Nidalee repeated slowly, enunciating each word as if she were speaking to a small child.
"We don't know…" Leona slurred groggily. "We just...woke up here."
"No one simply wakes up in Kumungu Jungle." The amazonian argued. "And they certainly don't do so in a large pool of human blood."
"We're telling the truth." I called from behind her. "We woke up, tied to a pole, then we fought, then we lost our weapons, then we were attacked by a crazy plant lady, then we fell into a cave, then we got chased by you stupid cats, and now we're being interrogated by the poster woman for bestiality porn."
Nidalee growled, her grip tightening on the shaft of her spear as she turned away from Leona who had begun looking this way and that for her sword. "Oh believe me, I'm well aware of how you lost your strange crescent shaped sword."
"How do you know that?" I demanded.
Snapping her fingers, two large tigers pulled a case forward where both of our weapons were held. "Because it nearly cleaved me in two when it fell out of the sky." Nidalee replied. "Not only that, when I went to investigate I found all of the blood you had left to soak into the earth. If not for the little annoying one…" With that statement she shot a glare at the small creature who had saved us before who now cowered behind one of the lions, "...you'd have paid for your trespassing. You'd have survived, albeit with scratches and bruises; I'd even have escorted you to the forest's edge. But then I found you desecrating the sacred spring, so the punishment must be more severe."
The great beasts roared in agreement, the once timid Yordle even climbing on to one's head and jumping up and down with excitement, though I doubted he knew what he was cheering for.
"Now the only question is...what to do with you?" She mused. I watched as the orange furred Yordle bounded towards Nidalee, scaling her spear before speaking to her, if you could call it that.
"Oonga chanka!"
"Yes?"
"Shagdovala! Hursh, rao!"
An eerie smile crept on to Nidalee's face as she nodded. "A wonderful idea indeed." As she turned back to me I felt a wave of uneasiness run up my spine. "After all, it is mating season."
I looked as one of the tigers near my legs let out a purr and licked it's chops and the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. "Oh no! No, no no! Absolutely not!" I shouted. "I don't care what sort of weird kinky stuff you are into but count me out!"
"You're in no position to make complaints." Nidalee laughed. "It'll probably be the only action you've had in a while, won't it?"
"Try ever." Leona muttered under her breath before I shot her a glare that caused her to raise her hands defensively. "I meant me!"
"Sure you did Princess." I snapped back.
"Look...Nidalee, we didn't mean to intrude upon your jungle, honest. We don't want to be here anymore than you want us here. So just let us go and we can put all of this…" Leona attempted to beg her, but she would have none of it.
"No." She interrupted.
"But I…"
"No." She interrupted again.
I could feel my blood boiling at her annoying interruptions, and I'd already steeled myself to know that I was not going to be losing my virginity to a god damned cat. "What is it with everything in this forest wanting to fuck us?!" I cried to the heavens.
Kiba continued typing on the keys, nodding to himself. He'd made a self-referential joke before, but this time it felt a little odd. In truth, he never really wished harm on Diana, or Leona for that matter, and he most certainly didn't see Nidalee as a villain.
But on the other hand, sexual tension was constantly abound and he saw no reason not to increase it further with the looming threat of good old raw yiffing. After all, he had his fans to look after. If not for many of those horny bastards he'd be just another anonymous face in the crowd of fanfiction writers rather than one of the more accomplished ones.
Reclining in his seat, he paused to look at his shelf where he kept his printed manuscripts, running his fingers along their spines. "A Boy and His Fox", "Smoothest of Criminals", "Sound & Fury", "Magic of a Young Girl's Heart", "Worlds Apart, Separate Ways", "Trinity Wars"...these titles were his legacy, and he knew one day that "When the Heavens Clash" would join them.
In truth, Kiba loved what he did, and while he'd started it just as a casual hobby, he couldn't deny that it had now become an integral part of his life that he could never bear to give up.
A knock came at his door, causing him to look towards it as it opened, revealing his lovely girlfriend Remy. "Hey you, what are you up to?" She asked, coming behind him and placing her chin on his head.
"Contemplating whether or not I want Diana and Leona to be deflowered by tigers." Kiba replied simply. Without a word Remy stood up and went to the door as Kiba snickered behind her.
"Alright then...you have fun with that. I'm going to do...something else."
"Bye! I love you!" He cooed playfully.
"I love you too." She called back. "But don't expect me to be into cats or something. That's really not my thing."
"Oh, I know. I know what your thing is, I was thinking about explaining it in detail to my readers."
She paused turning back over her shoulder. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh please, it's not like they know who you are...Remy Rivera."
"You're such a buttmunch!" She laughed grabbing him and wrestling with him to the floor. Kiba indulged her for a moment before she kissed his head and left again. Once his giggling fit had stopped he placed his fingers back to the keys and began writing once more.
Nidalee clicked her tongue, causing one of the cats to bring her a bowl with a bright red goop inside of it. Dipping her fingers in it, she began to chant as she smeared it all over my face, despite my attempts to pull away from her. The sudden urge to groom myself slammed into my skull with the force of a stampede. Already, I could feel my ears becoming pointed and shifting to the top of my head as I tried to resist the change.
She continued chanting as she began to prepare Leona, and I knew I had to come up with something quick. "Please," the Solari begged, "you don't have to do this. I'm the champion of the Solari people, they'll be able to give you anything. Food, water, gold, just please don't do this!" Nidalee ignored her pleas as she continued the ritual.
"Wait! If you don't stop I'll...I'll…" I grasped desperately for something, anything! The thought of the smoldering outlines pasted against the wall of the hot spring and the temple came to my mind, along with the dread I'd felt looking at them. "I'll summon the melachi!" Immediately the chanting stopped as the tigers released my bonds causing me to drop to the ground with a surprised yelp.
"What did you just say?" Nidalee hissed, as the now free Leona crept from her bonds that had become released. All the attention on me, I could see her gesturing for me to keep them distracted so she could get our weapons.
"I said I'll summon the melachi. You heard me bitch, I'll bring all sorts of fiery hell upon your ragged ass." I had no idea what I was doing, one poor choice of words would be all it took for her to see through my bluff.
"Foul monster." Nidalee spat. "You deserve nothing short of death!" That's not good! I began to panic, until I realized that despite her words, she did not budge an inch. I could feel my features returning to their normal shape as Leona held up both of our blades, indicating she'd succeeded. She pointed to the jungle behind her and began to walk that way.
Experimentally, I stepped forward, causing all of the creatures to shuffle back from me. With a grin, I took another step, only to watch them all back away once more. This was going to be a cakewalk. I made my way through the crowd, watching as they parted around me. As I passed Nidalee, I stuck out my tongue at her. "You're lucky I'm feeling merciful today, otherwise I wouldn't have even warned you, just summoned them here and let them have their way with your corpses. That'll teach you to force us into your weird kitty sex."
Just as I took another step, the sharp blade of her spear whirled around, stopping just in front of my throat. I froze, careful to not let her see the concern that had shown up in my eyes. "Listen closely monster. Pray that we do not meet again, for if given the chance I will slay you like the beast you are." She hissed.
"Point taken." I muttered, placing my finger on the sharpened stone and pushing it away from me. Now free, I hurried into the woods after Leona where the two of us let out a delighted laugh. "Wow!" I breathed. "I can't believe that worked."
"Me neither! I thought for a moment we were both gonners."
"Can you believe the look on her face when I mentioned the malachi? She just rolled over almost instantly."
Leona laughed in agreement before catching her breath, her expression becoming serious. "Wait...Diana…"
"Oh come on Princess, we escaped, you should be happy!"
"Diana, listen to me. If Nidalee is that scared of the melachi...maybe we should be too."
I paused for a moment in thought. "Well...let's be real. The only evidence we've seen of them has been those ancient temples right? I mean, they probably all died out a long time ago."
Her expression didn't lighten at all. "If that's the case Di...how did Nidalee know about them?" Dread began to creep into mind at the realization. The only reason we knew their name was because of the ancient Solarian and Lunarian. There was no way Nidalee could have read that script which meant…
I reached for my blade, taking it gently from Leona's hands as my eyes scanned the tree tops. "They can be anywhere around us." I whispered in understanding. The two of us placed our backs to one another as the canopy left a rustling trail and neither of us knew what to expect.
We could hear the creaking of the boughs overhead, sending us further on edge as we continued to back away. "Maybe it's Nidalee trying to follow us." Leona suggested nervously.
"That means she found out we were bluffing." At this point, I wasn't entirely sure which one would be worse. Suddenly there was a crackling straight above us as an orange blur dropped from the tree tops causing the both of us to shriek and turn swinging wildly. As out blade's clashed, sparks of magical energy exploded outward, leaving a terrified yordle with a very close shave. "You!" I growled, lowering my sword and grabbing him by the scruff of his fur. "I don't appreciate your suggestion back there. I have half a mind to slice you in half."
Leona immediately snatched him from my grip. "Diana!. We don't even know that's what he actually said!" She held up the small yordle and beamed. "Besides, look at him. He's adorable, he wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Thanga nooga!" He chittered, diving further into her bosom like the perverted furball he was.
"Whatever Princess. Just ditch the stupid thing and let's keep moving." I was still kicking myself for jumping at my own shadow the way I did.
"But why?" Leona asked. "I mean, he saved us earlier. Maybe he was trying to save us just now too and Nidalee just tried to use his gibberish as an excuse to do her weird perverted things." She smiled placing the yordle on her head where he attempted to blend into her hair as if it were camoflauge, an act that caused her to giggle.
"Because the damned thing is just going to get us killed. Come on, let's go."
"No."
"Excuse me?" I asked my eyes narrowing.
"I'm sick of you bossing me around! I'm trying to be nice here and you've been nothing but rude and mean. I say he stays, and that's final." She turned away from me with a "hmmph" walking towards the same path we were taking before.
I could feel myself seething with rage as I watched the yordle turn back towards me only to stick out it's tongue to mock my inability to change her mind. "Foul little rat." I muttered under my breath, tightening the grip on my sword. Part of me considered launching an arc of moonlight to sever both he and her skull in half, but immediately that urge was quelled.
As much as I hated to admit it...I'd grown to somewhat enjoy her company.
Leona
After our near...incident...with the tigers, Diana and I had something of a nervous spell as we contemplated the things we'd seen regarding the melachi and their role in our present predicament.
It was so bad, we even began jumping at every twig snap, up until narrowly avoiding murdering an adorable primitive Yordle that had leapt between us, having followed us from Nidalee's camp. In truth, he seemed like such a sweet creature, so I decided to keep him with me. After all, I'd always wanted a pet, even if part of me knew that he wasn't actually one.
Diana however, did not agree. I could almost feel her anger when I turned away from her with the Yordle and kept walking through the jungle. Despite our disagreement, there was a bright side. Now, I knew the name of our prison: Kumungu. It was a foreign land, one I'd never heard before and for obvious reasons. Clearly this place was untouched by either of the two major factions of Valoran. "Dauban Anooga!" The creature chittered, rousing me from my thoughts.
My eyes going upward to where he rested on my head, I saw that he was excitedly pointing to the South. Was he trying to tell us the way out of the forest? "Diana!" I called back with a grin. "Diana, I think he knows the way out of here."
"Oh goody gumdrops." She muttered sarcastically. "The orange rat knows how to get out of the forest. Glad we're trusting that instead of some less credible, like a map."
"You know if you were nicer to him, maybe you'd be able to see he's actually trying to help." I pointed out, causing her to grit her teeth in frustration.
"And maybe if you realized that your ass isn't a hat and pulled your head out of it, you'd realize that he was one of our captors not even five minutes ago." Her words made me frown as she brushed past me. "Fine Princess, we'll go your way. To prove you wrong more than anythiiiiiiing!"
My eyes widened as the ground suddenly opened up under her, causing to fall straight through it. "Diana!" I cried peering into the hole to see her about ten feet below rubbing her butt. "Are you alright?!"
"Do I look alright?!" She shouted back. "I'm stuck in a damned hole in the ground, having to be trapped with a naive bimbo and her perverted pet rodent while the entirety of mother nature tried to have its way with me! I'm the farthest thing from alright that I could possibly be!"
Ignoring her insult for the moment, I paused to consider what to say to her as the sound of her sniffles floated upward. "Diana...are you crying?"
"No! Shut up!" She snapped pulling her legs up to her chest. Carefully, I slowly made my way down the incline to where she sat.
"Di…"
"Go away!" She sobbed. It seemed that the stress of it all was finally starting to get to her. Without a thought, I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her close to me. To my surprise she didn't shove me away this time. "What are you doing?" She asked with a mumble.
"Giving you a hug." I answered. "I imagine you haven't had one in a long time."
"Shut up." She blubbered. "What do you know?"
"I know you've had a bad past couple of days."
"Try a bad lifetime." She whimpered. "Everyone wants me dead, my skin is so pale that I can't be out in the sun for long, I'm ugly and frumpy, and no one has cared if I live or die for the past five years. I'm sick of living on my own, I'm sick of being stuck in this forest, I wish I would just disappear!"
I wasn't sure what to say, so instead I just hugged her tighter. "I don't want you to disappear." I assured her. "I don't want you dead."
"Yes, you do." She argued.
"No, I don't." I answered. "You and I have worked hard to survive for this long, and I couldn't have done it without you. Besides, for the first time in a long time I feel free out here."
Diana looked up at me confused, her eyes red and blotchy. "You do?"
I nodded, pulling her even closer as the Yordle just sat at the rim of the hole quietly watching. "Yeah. I do. Back home, I have so many responsibilities. I'm their protector, I'm their representation in the league, I'm their arbiter for the Rakkor. Everyday is a weight that pushes down on my chest, so to not have that, even in a place like this, it's nice. I can honestly say Diana, that despite the things we've faced, I've actually enjoyed our time together."
Suddenly, the Lunari wrapped her arms tightly around me, hugging me back. It was the first time she'd ever shown even a hint of affection towards me, and the value of the gesture was not lost. "Me too." She confessed in a hushed whisper. "I'm so sorry for how I've been. You've been so nice to me, and I've just been nothing but mean."
"No." I lied. "You haven't been mean to me."
"Yes huh." She sniffled. "And once...while you were sleeping...I thought about killing you...but then I didn't…and then you were going to roll into the water...so I stopped you...but then I tried to make you leave the Yordle...and called you names…"
"Wait what?" I asked in surprise.
"I called you names?" She repeated meekly.
"What was that first one?"
"Nothing." She fibbed, hugging me tighter than she had before. "I'm just so sorry for being so mean."
"Don't be sorry Di. I've been mean to you too. Water under the bridge, okay? Now how about we get out of this hole, huh?"
"Not yet." She replied, nuzzling into my shoulder as I looked around the dark pit. That was when I noticed that something about the darkness of the cave seemed off; the way its walls swirled around was weird.
"Leona, are you okay?" A voice called from above me as I began to hack and cough. Looking upward, I saw Diana standing at the rim of the hole with the Yordle.
"Diana...how did you get up there?" I asked as her face seemed to shift in a strange way.
"The Yordle led you over a large hole...you fell into a pit of weird mushrooms, and now you're hugging a large snake." Looking back at the first Diana, I felt her hug me tighter, constricting me as my senses came flooding back to me.
"Holy crap!" I screamed, forcefully ripping the snake from my body and tossing it away from me before attempting to scramble up the side of the hole, despite the fact that my movements couldn't possibly be less co-ordinated.
Diana stifled a laugh as she reached down to extend her hand. "Don't worry Princess, I'll pull you out." I could hear the snake still slithering above at the bottom and I quickly accepted her aid, working to get out of the hole.
"I can't believe that just happened." I gasped, rolling on my back in the grass. "So then…"
"Yep. You were talking to yourself. Honestly, as if I'd break down like that to you of all people."
"So...you didn't…"
"Did you really mean what you said about enjoying our time in the jungle?" She asked. My cheeks turned a bright red as I tried to deny it. "Aww, careful Princess, people are going to think you have some sort of crush on me or something."
"As if!" I snapped embarrassed. "Those were the mushrooms talking and you know it."
"Sure...whatever you say." She teased, brushing past me and visibly going out of her way to step around the hole as if teaching an idiot to avoid it. "Remember Solari, less staring at the sun, more looking at the ground. You'll see the holes better that way."
I stood from where I sat, brushing the dirt off of me and picking up the small Yordle again who chattered with delight. "Oh hush you." I chided, causing him to fall silent as I fell into step behind Diana.
I was kicking myself for being so stupid as to believe that Diana of all people would be the one to apologize first. I don't think the woman had apologized for anything in her life. A shame, considering she had so much to apologize for.
Suddenly the silver-haired woman stopped causing me to bump into her. She turned, frowning at me before nodding with her head off to the distance. "Take a look Princess. Looks like we'll be getting to your castle after all."
My heart leapt for joy as I looked out to see the peaks of mountains jutting out of the top of the trees far in the distance. It was home! We'd finally found our way back to the mountains and now we'd get out of this forest and back to civilization. "I can't believe it. We finally made it out."
"Not yet we haven't. We've still got quite a trek Princess, but don't worry, you'll be back in time for the ball." I shot Diana a glare, but on her face was a soft smile that I didn't often see. Was she...happy for me? No. No that was just the effects of the mushrooms playing tricks on me.
"You know as well as I do that the Solari don't have balls."
"I don't even really know what to say to that." Diana chuckled. "At any rate, let's keep moving. We've got about four hours until nightfall when we'll need to stop to make camp and we're about half-way down in our water. It'd be nice to find more before we continue."
I nodded in agreement as we continued marching through the jungle. Despite that, a few questions still plagued my mind. "Hey Diana."
"Yes?"
"What are you going to do once we get back home?"
She pondered it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Probably live on the mountain again. I don't plan on crawling back to the Solari, not even if you were to vouch for me. Sorry to disappoint Princess."
"I figured that, but…"
"Aw shit...are you really going to keep going on about this? Look Leona, just because we're friendly now doesn't mean I'm going to be all cuddly now. I don't have sleepovers, I don't do my nails or gossip. Besides, you've got your own stuff to handle. What are you going to do, drop your responsibilities to the Solari to visit me for Solstice? Don't make me laugh."
Part of me was thrilled to hear her say we were friends now...but the other part of me realized that perhaps she was right. Maybe it was too late for me to help her. After I failed to be there for her when she was being tried, how could I ever expect her to actually want to connect with the Solari again?
Just as we started moving again, a searing pain went through my head, causing me to fall to my knees and grip my head. "Leona?" Diana asked concerned as images began to race past my mind.
I stood there, holding my shield tightly as Diana pressed her back against mine. The two of us breathing heavily, from the exhaustion. "Diana, are you alright?"
"Worry about yourself princess. It'll take more than this pathetic lot to stop me." With a quick movement, I caught an unknown assailant's axe on my shield before spinning and slicing his head clean from his shoulders.
Behind me I could hear the sounds of Diana fighting off enemies of her own as a large mob of people began to swarm around both of us. Despite my use of the sun's power, and Diana with her own source of the moon's the large horde overwhelmed us. "Diana!" I cried out to her as they managed to force her blade from her hands and were now working to strip her of her armor while she struggled desperately.
I prepared to fire a blast of radiant energy to free her, but already I had been disarmed as well, the enemy pulling me to the earth and relieving me of my own armor as I tried to force them off and reach for her, where the men on top of her forced a strange plant down her throat. "What should we do?" One of the people asked another.
"The answer's obvious. Tie them both to the pole. Use their swords to mark which one is which, but keep it out of reach. The herb should make sure they don't wake up until after they've been taken by them." The other voice instructed as the hands of a strong male grabbed my chin roughly, another hand pinching my nose to force me to open my mouth.
When at last I gasped for air, the bitter plant was stuffed into my mouth, the taste causing me to cough it back up. Immediately, despite my attempts to protest, it was placed back in my mouth, a hand covering it to prevent me from trying to spit it out again.
I could feel a numbness rising from my body where the herb had found its way into my stomach my struggles becoming weaker as the world began to fade. "Are you sure this will work? She's the champion of the Solari, not to mention a Rakkor too. And the other one...she's...you know…"
"It doesn't matter. Even if they manage to wake up before they're claimed, they won't remember what happened. They'll be too busy arguing to try an escape. Stay fast brother, this is necessary." The older man replied.
"Twilight fades." The questioning man whispered, almost in reverence.
"Twilight fades." The older man repeated.
My eyes opened as the memories began to clear. "Diana…" I whispered, my entire body shaking uncontrollably.
"What is it Leona? Are you alright?" She asked, a look of concern in her eyes.
"I know what happened to us."
To be continued...
