Zephon
Zephon stirred. The priestess was subverting his territory again, possessing as many worshippers, hunters, and vampires as she and her apprentices could control. The insect mind was difficult to focus, but he had managed to order his clan to attack only by sneakily picking off the apprentices, then hide. He could tear any of his clan from her grasp if they got close enough, but he did not want her to escape and inhabit another body, as she had done before. He was tired of this. Though it would be gratifying to have her devoured by raziel, he wished to finish this. It was…irritating. The priestess, not noticing her army was getting smaller and smaller as her apprentices died, zephonim moved out of thralling range and humans realized the idiocy of their task. The dead apprentices were revived as zephonim and sent against their former comrades.
He could feel her every footstep forward with her thirty soldiers, the vibrations echoing up to his chamber. He felt her step up on a zephonim with an enthralled hunter on another. Tempted to regain control of the zephonim halfway up the wall, he resisted. He needed her in here. She released her hold on the rest of the squad, which scuttled away, lay flat, or fled. Except one. A human vampire hunter raised his crossbow. Zephon struck the floor. The tremor made the hunter stagger, and the bolt cut a furrow on the side of her neck. Zephon felt every drop of blood strike the stone and fought down a rising urge to tell his offspring to kill them all. Instead, he sent
stay docile
frantically, as the nearly dislodged priestess focused all her powers on the human. Trusting him, his fledgling resisted the urge to shake her off. Her hunter companion hung on grimly as his mount flailed. And the human below resisted, staggering, his sweat dripping on the stones as he shook off her influence and ran. And now she was sweating, seriously worried. The slight tremble in her grip as the zephonim continued climbing, absent mindedly licking up her blood as it passed the stain, radiated through the zephonim and entered the stones in the wall, where zephon felt it. When she reached the top of the wall, she dismounted and plucked her staff from the sheath on her back. Stiffening her resolve, she entered his chamber, flanked by one fledgeling and one adult vampire, both tired from climbing with creatures twice their weight clinging to their backs. Zephon retreated to the shadows, speaking as a shadowy form.
"Nervous, are we? This is the second time you've come to my chamber, and the fifth time you've attacked the cathedral. I will not die by your hand. But you have died by mine twice now. This time, you will be destroyed. Flee, thrall, and you shall be spared."
The human swallowed nervously, and discharged his weapon. "You fear flame. As you burn, I shall be glorified eternally."
"No. You will be absorbed by the creature beside you, as a powerful soul to augment her strength."
The priestess cut in. "I have more than enough energy in these two thralls, bestial though they are. Your subjects, Zephon, will die by their own hand. As will you." Her voice was as melodious as when he'd first heard, and fallen in love with it.
"Think you so? Your threats have no more substance than your vows of loyalty to kain did. Watch." He broke her hold on the Zephonim, who dropped into their attack position. The hunter saved her life, as both zephonim retreated from the flames and went to their master. But she was frightened now. Zephon stepped out of the shadows. Nervously, the hunter said "I recall you saying if I fled, I should be spared?"
Zephon laughed. "I lied. Even if I had not, you attacked my offspring. Do not worry. You will not know you are dying. But she will." A green projectile struck him. Flinching, he let the insect mind take over. The human was surprisingly formidable, enflaming a number of his eggs, burning away the webs that were flung on him. In comparison, the priestess spent most of her time conjuring a green shield that shattered every time zephon touched it, and firing projectiles that missed on account of her continually diving aside. One of his flaming eggs burst and a fully sentient zephonim burst out, diving for the hunter's throat. He dodged, but was borne to the ground, alive. Using the respite from the flames well, Zephon attached the priestess to the wall with a dab of fibrous glue, knocking the staff from her hand. Turning, he ripped out the throat of the dazed vampire hunter just as he got to his feet with the zephonim in a charred heap. Saluting a brave opponent in spite of himself, he turned again and entwined the priestess in a full cocoon, leaving a tiny space for the mouth. Turning, he noticed the fire was getting out of hand and tried in vain to quench it. Noticing a slight smile emanating from the cocoon, he ripped it off the wall and thrust it into the heart of the flames, waiting for the screams before taking it out, allowing her to take a breath. Mist was curling in from the corners of the room. Mist? Inside, during a fire? Quenching the fire? Impossible.
The mist formed into Kain, of course, sweating furiously from the soles of his feet, the only place on his body capable of sweating still. Ironic, that cloven feet can sweat where on other creatures cloven feet are incapable of sweating. Zephon once had wondered how he kept his balance, but had never dared ask. Inclining his head towards the one place the fire burned strongly, the flamethrower, Kain said almost apologetically "It's magical, much like the fire forge."
"Thank you. It might have been troublesome. Could I have your permission to destroy this rebel?" Indicating, of course the cocoon. Kain nodded, looking amused. The priestess made sobbing noises. Zephon ripped off the web from her head
"Have you anything to say?"
"Kain! How could you? After all I've done for preserving your empire, you leave me to this. Zephon had me kidnapped for his own amusement. You know he did it before!"
"I was here, girl. I saw. You may either submit to zephon or have me personally cast you to the abyss. Since the birth of my empire you abused your position. Die."
Zephon impaled her, ripping all her magic from her dying corpse and bestowing it on a stone in the wall as zephon merged with his cathedral, its stones became semi sentient, and the stone for years afterwards was renowned for possessing rats and having them glue chips of stone to its frame and casting a shield whenever it rained, so it never got eroded. It then became worshipped by a cult and enjoyed immortality, releasing her soul to wander defenseless against any wandering sluagh. "How long were you there?" Zephon asked curiously. "Since 'I will be glorified forever'. Zephon, Raziel is coming to destroy you. He will succeed. I can take you away."
"I can no longer leave this room. I can guarantee Raziel a contest, even if Melchiah is destroyed."
"Farewell."
Kain vanished. Before long, faint screams and movements of stone on stone suggested Raziel was in the building. He was becoming used to the block puzzles and progressed quickly. When he came inside the room, Zephon said to himself, appalled at his brothers form "The prodigal son… There is no returning for you Raziel. Then the insect mind took over, provoking, lamenting. Zephon was unable to reclaim control of his mind in time to save himself from being burned. But he felt some grim satisfaction when he knocked Raziel into spectral and felt the priestess being absorbed to help Raziel recover, Grinning inwardly as he heard the scream.
The world shifted…
He was in his chamber, but it was…different. Somehow. Nervously he laid a couple of eggs, making sure they were zephonim. Six tentacles sprang from the floor, and a voice said "Fire does not exist in this plane, how to deal with you. Ah…yes.' A sound piercing enough to bring zephon to his knees, if he had knees, whistled through the air. Cowering, he retreated, allowing the insect mind to take the brunt of the sound, designed to destroy the mind. Emerging, he found he was wrapped in three tentacles, constricting. He laid a dozen eggs, then hatched them. The zephonim attacked the tentacles, and when they loosened, zephon ripped them to shreds. The other three tentacles dived into the ground, relying on the sound to vanquish him. Desperately trying to escape, he wished he was smaller, and then he was. In a form not unlike an adult of his clan, he fled his chamber, his home, for the first time in over six centuries. One by one his retinue succumbed to the sound. He tore off his ears in pain, but this was a sound that cut the mind. Coming to the grille at the entrance of the cathedral, he morphed himself into a fly and passed through. Instantly a tentacle re-appeared and tried to swat him, but by then he'd transformed back into a zephonim, and was merely seriously injured. Becoming his evolved form again, he struggled as two tentacles entwined around him while another absorbed energy from his wounds. The third tentacle was ripped from the earth suddenly, and the backflow of energy surged into him, allowing him to fight off the tentacles, one of which fled, the other trying still to absorb him, and being flung into the grille so Zephon could impale it. Collapsing into an exhausted heap, Zephon said aloud, somehow hearing himself without ears, still knowing the sound would destroy him, "What god favours me?" He was not expecting a response, but some one said "No god, just me." A grinning Melchiah dragged him away from the lethal sound, knowing that Zephon would never live it down.
So… did you like it? help, I've forgotten rahab and dumah's dialogue. Please read and review. I reread this and thought zephon got away too easy and it was rushed, so i re-wrote the ending