Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter 9

Title

Author Note: My writings are produced at a rate inverse to the amount of reading material I have on hand. I've been reading, a lot. I also got addicted to DAoC. Oh well. As it is the final's crunch at school and my writer's block just vaporized I should start cranking out chapters of both this and RE. ::shields herself from angry readers:: Sorry I wasn't writing! I'll write I promise, but I'm not going to post crap if I'm not in the mood to write.

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            Darkness. It's not necessarily a state of light. It can be mental as well. Places can be described as having a light or a heavy atmosphere. At this moment, the one just after the completion of the ceremony, there was no atmosphere. The people in the area felt the breath sucked from their lungs. It was as if suddenly the earth existed in a vacuum.

The light from the sun was just a reflection of the real thing shining on the place where it struck the inside lip of the destroyed building. Vlam had passed over the altar; she had snatched the torch too late, and had impacted on the ground on the other side. Most of the Plaesc cultists had frozen, like deer in headlights, gazing in horrified fascination at the altar. The altar hadn't changed. The liquid in that had rested in the glass bowl upon it had. The liquid was now a dark blue-green, almost black, and was swirling in a nasty way that would induce nausea and vertigo if you focused upon it too long. Piccolo was hovering towards the back, regarding the cultists and Vlam with equal suspicion. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but assumed from the terrified expressions and the way Vlam was twitching and gripping the torch that it wasn't good.

Still crouching on her knees and clutching the torch Vlam slowly spun about to be able to see the altar. Her face was stiff, her jaws clenched. Her eyes seemed darkened and hollow, an unnatural state for someone whose face was so round and carried a permanent grin. She gazed at the bowl, solemn, "We have failed. All of us." Her eyes lifted to circle the room, meeting the eyes of the Plaesc, the descendants of her hated Mogoin. "Humanity failed here," she gazed ahead locking eyes with Piccolo standing opposite her, "We guardians failed here. May fortune find it in her mercy to forgive us." She wrenched her eyes downward, watching as the greenish swirl stopped, frozen. "Somehow, I doubt it," she whispered as the liquid began creeping up the sides of the bowl.

The dark liquid reached the lip of the bowl and halted momentarily as nodes searched upwards for another grip, for another surface to grasp and cling to. Tendrils waved freely in the air a moment then descended over the lip slowly seeming to clutch at the thick glass. As the oozing darkness reached the bottom of the bowl it tentatively reached out to the cloth-covered altar upon which it rested. Hesitant at first then with greater confidence the darkness reached out and began expanding onto the cloth, heading towards the ground like some demented darkened volcano. The clean line of the rim of the glass at the top seemed to waver and warp as the silicon beneath was dissolved and consumed. The dark shiny sludge had begun to expand more rapidly as its mass was added to. It quickly reached the ground and there it seemed to halt and draw inward. The outline of the boxes beneath began to blur and twist as the bowl had done before them. The substance contracted into a single squat ebony pillar shot through with vile puss-green fissures. Like an unholy fungus it seemed to sprout and grow large, feeding on no visible thing. The squat thing began to grow upwards and shimmer. Bubbles began to mar the semi-smooth surface, bugles and divots in its upper surface deepened while most of the lower section coiled and roiled about itself. Limbs were drawn from the trunk of the now six foot bubbling column. Long, unnaturally thin tentacles extruded from the sides of the trunk. From the back massive twitching ones emerged like the bones of dragon wings, they ended in curving talons. From the top of the tentacled mass that was now the trunk of the pillar a skull shape grew more defined. Spikes emerged from the back of the neck, they lengthened, first curving upwards over the bone, then downwards, partially shielding the eye sockets of the skull.

The skull grew defined, forming into the aspect of a human face. Close-set beady blue eyes glittered outward as the dark goop sank inwards revealing flesh new-formed beneath it. Lips curled backward exposing a chititonous beak like maw more appropriate to a squid than a humanoid. It appeared to be trying to smile. At Vlam. "Hullo dearest. I thank you. It would have taken me eons to break through the Barrier if you hadn't motivated my summoning." The Demon Lord Mergulho slithered forward slightly leaving a damp trail on the cold grey cement behind him.

Vlam hissed and straightened, holding the flickering torch before her like a sword she snarled, "I am not your dearest foul thing!"

A sneer appeared on Mergulho's face, "Like it or not we were made for each other. You know what they say. Opposites attract.  I will rule the Earth with you at my side. We will be the rulers of all, of gods, demons, and mortals alike."

"You don't want me at your side, you want me under your thumb. They also say absolute power corrupts absolutely. The gods are gone, and the demons all behind the Barrier. You have no interest in mortals. I do, but I have no desire to rule them, or to wed you."

Drawing closer to her until he was only a few meters from her he hissed out softly, "Would you rather be a concubine?"

"I'd rather be stuck in back in that damn stone till the end of the world rather than be forced to even look at you. Drop dead Mergulho, that'd make me happiest."

Mergulho leaned back and laughed. "Well too bad, that's not going to happen any time soon. The stone however can be arranged, dearest. After all, I do have these sheep to command." He wave languidly at the cultists, not even glancing at them as the quivered in huddled lumps on the floor.

"You might have sheep, but you lost your most valuable pawns before you even arrived. I have powerful worshippers, so put your money where your mouth is piss-boy."

"Funny, very funny, dearest," hissed Mergulho. He began to lean forward threateningly, "You're aiming very low dearest, but what you say is false. You haven't managed to have worshippers since you managed to kill off the entire clan that brought you into being out of the foul flames."

"I could always use a change. Really you wouldn't understand. Especially with your obvious preference for sheep you overgrown crawfish." Vlam slid into a fighting crouch, drawing the torch back in readiness to strike.

With a screech Mergulho lost control of his temper and dove at her to attack. The battle began.

            From behind Mergulho Piccolo watched the verbal conflict between the two. He was privately debating between whether to interfere or let them duke it out then kill the winner. On one hand letting them fight would show me the winners fighting style and weaknesses, on the other side I can't remember if such a defeat would provide the winner with the power of the loser. It does seem that Vlam was right about the demon being summoned, but so far I can't see what she thought was so dangerous about him. I can't believe that Dende sat down and had a tea party with her. Fool boy, if she's done anything to him I'll kill her and beat some sense into Dende's skull, Kami or no Kami. Hmmph, he better not be including me in the sheep category. Then again the fool hasn't even looked around himself for enemies other than Vlam, he hasn't even seen me. Powerful worshippers? Vegeta and Bulma I suppose. Looks like the action is about to start, this should be an interesting show. With that final thought Piccolo backed into the rapidly darkening shadows that clung to the walls. Frowning at the growing dimness he craned his neck upwards to observe the sky. Dark thunderclouds had begun to gather overhead, blocking the afternoon sun. With a mental shrug he turned his eyes back to the tense standoff between the two combatants. Vlam sneered and made a last nasty comment. Pushed beyond his limits Mergulho screamed at the insult and lunged at her. The battle began.                  

Another cliffhanger, I'm evil I know. At least I'm updating now. Thoughts will be in italics now, just to make them have better visibility.