Outlands
Part 8
By Mieren
---
As suddenly as they had begun, Len's screams ceased.
Lanfear only glanced at him once before leaping away, her attacks on his slender form forgotten as he struggled to straighten. Her eyes traced the harsh lines of the twin sets of wings on his back as she stepped out of existence once more, a look of mingled fear and triumph on her hardened face. Len slumped to the ground, exhausted, oblivious to Terru's nervous approach or Rune's gentle hands as he was pulled to a sitting position.
"Fifteenth child of eternity?" Terru asked shakily. "Are you… okay?"
"Fine," Len grated out past a locked jaw. He lurched upright, slipping unsteadily and tumbling into Rune's outstretched arms. Glancing up at the redhead, he was suddenly thankful that the older man could get around so quickly. Distracted with such unimportant thoughts, it took him a moment to realize that his legs didn't work properly. His blankly searching eyes found that his legs had stretched by almost half their length and sported a second joint that swiveled in almost any direction. "What the hell…"
Shocked at the strange jointing, he turned to Vera angrily. He had been expecting the burst of power that had left him more than slightly delirious, but not a change in shape. He knew without looking that he had a long slender tail and twin sets of completely overlapping wings designed for ferocious aerial combat. He had not intended on assuming this form so early.
"Light save us," Ritsuko breathed, resisting the urge to run. She was too familiar with his form to manage to force herself to relax the muscles across her shoulders and down her back. Glancing at Mouri's ashen complexion, she could safely assume that he knew what he was looking at as well.
Oblivious to the fact that he had just become the center of attention, Len rounded on Vera angrily. "What did you do that for?" he snapped past a short muzzle and jagged teeth. "It wasn't time! Do you know what you've done?"
She stiffened angrily. "I did what I had to," she snarled back at him. "We were losing, in case you didn't notice." Len sniffed angrily and held out an open palm to make his point, a navy blue sphere resting in his taloned hand. Vera gasped softly.
"I can't use it in this form," he spat, one eyebrow arching speculatively as he turned to Mouri, who quickly shook his head.
"I can only use water," he answered stiffly. "Darkness is out of the question."
There is another who can use it, a thought came from the shadows. Following closely behind it came a massive tiger, butting up roughly against Akira before circling to Len's side. The ancient master of darkness is waiting for you.
"Shit," Mouri growled under his breath, exhaling heavily and looking more than slightly furious. "Are they waiting for us at the ledge?"
Yes, Flame rumbled. We have been there for some time, waiting as instructed. He locked his too-intelligent eyes on Len as he wobbled unsteadily on doubly jointed legs with an irate expression on his face. Come, Len. We will go to Zairian's Ledge. The master there has with him the last two armor orbs.
"How did he get those?" Akira groused darkly, glancing protectively towards Ryoko. With three armor orbs to be placed, he was certain that somehow, his little sister was going to end up with one even though she displayed no elemental powers in any of the remaining fields.
He borders both powers, the tiger said, looking at him like he was an idiot. Come, they are waiting and the gateway from the astral plane is already open.
Len didn't hesitate before pulling himself onto Flame's back, knowing that for the moment, he couldn't match the others in speed. Given time to accommodate to his new form, he would be able to surpass them easily, but until that time, he was all but crippled.
"The gate must be opened," he called out loudly as Flame started moving. "Mother cannot hold her end steady for very long."
The tiger swerved slightly to pick up Mia and Mana before starting forward, his lithe body and youthful strength forcing the others to strain to keep up. Several, including Ella, Gau and Akira, were forced to assume their alternate forms to match the young tiger's speed. After throwing one last look of pure dread at Len, Rune simply disappeared into the shadows and flanked them with the tremendously nervous youko. They were surprised by how short of a run they actually had to complete before reaching a cliff sporting four great cats and one dusty and bruised sorcerer.
"I was wondering when you'd get here," he called out, choking on his tongue when Len came into view.
"Do you have the orbs?" Len called out demandingly, slowing Flame to a walk so Mia and Mana could dismount. He guided the tiger towards the visibly shaking sorcerer, who hurriedly fumbled to hand the twin orbs to him.
"Yes, outlander," he murmured submissively, eyes threatening to bulge from his head. He looked as though he was fighting to keep from spinning on his toes and running for his life. Despite himself, Len grinned.
"You don't recognize me?" he asked innocently, holding out the deep blue armor orb of darkness, which Kenji claimed gingerly. "From what I hear, you were there to help Uncle Mouri deliver me. Why are you acting like this, Uncle Kenji?"
Kenji's jaw dropped, twitching weakly as he fought to recall the name he hadn't heard in several years. "Len?" he asked in disbelief. At the answering grin, he scowled at the gathering group behind the boy, trying his best to ignore the unusually somber youko accumulating in the shadows behind them. "And you didn't tell me about this?" he snarled, waving one hand in Len's direction furiously.
"No time," Mouri answered offhandedly, grinning rather nastily. Kenji scowled. Although their combat was no longer deadly, it still existed, mostly in pranks, embarrassing references the occasional jibe.
"Why are you trying to get to the outlands?" he asked angrily, still furious that they had let him act like a fool for no good reason.
"Because some of us can actually use the powers there," Vera said quickly. "Now get ready. Mother is waiting."
Len didn't wait for Kenji to set his armor orb, turning instead to Katari and Ryoko with the last two orbs in hand. He grinned widely, flashing his elongated fangs at them.
"Daughter of illusion," he intoned, tossing the violet orb to Katari.
She only blinked at it before slapping it onto the back of her wrist, face screwing up in concentration as the sphere slowly sank into her arm. A flash of violet light came from the orb, paling into a crystalline lavender, intricate images of wolves running in a pack appearing on her arm. They looked almost as though they were moving.
"Done," she announced formally, holding up her arm for inspection. Len nodded, pleased, and moved over to Ryoko.
"Sister of poison," he started, pausing when Akira snatched the orb out of the air as Len tossed it towards its intended target. "What are you doing?"
"Leave my sister out of this," he snapped. "She can't use that orb any more than Ella can use the one she was given." Ella kicked him vindictively.
"Give me that," Ella ordered, prying the orb out of his hand and tossing it to Ryoko. "We can take them out later."
"How would you even know if that were possible?"
"Because Len doesn't have his," Ella said lightly, nodding happily to herself when she saw that Ryoko, with Len's help, had managed to sink the sphere into her arm while her older brother was distracted. The cinnamon brown orb was flanked by a feathery pattern that encompassed her arm until just past her elbow.
"Circle around where the great cats are standing," a voice called from before them, his form licked by deep shadows despite the fact that he was in the open. "Hurry. Before she comes back."
"Who are…" Mana started, freezing as she recognized the voice, altered with age but one she knew well. Her voice was little more than breath as she called out the name playing on the tip of her tongue. "Cye?"
At the sound of the name, the shadows dissolved into nothingness. Standing just off to the side of the ledge they needed was an older, hardened Cye. He appeared to be somewhere in his early to mid-thirties, tips of elfin ears showing from beneath a mane of thick russet hair streaked with black. Mana gasped and jerked slightly, unsure whether she should move away, as her nerves dictated, or rush forward and embrace her oldest son, as she wished. One look at his hard face and lifeless obsidian eyes pushed her towards the former, and she moved slightly back, nearing the youko.
Cye moved fluidly towards them, oblivious to their questions and searching looks as he began pushing them into a rough circle around something that they couldn't see. White Blaze rumbled loudly at him, ducking his head slightly at the unheard response and moving back to stand with the youko, who gave him a surprisingly wide clearance. Vicious glances were exchanged as Cye and Len neared each other, Vera joining the latter's side defensively. Cye only scowled darkly and turned to Kenji.
"Why are you not ready?" he snarled, face hardening when the older man flinched uncertainly and eyed the globe in his hand.
"Are you sure about this, Cye?" he asked softly, eyes flickering to Len and Vera. When he received a sharp nod, he tightened his right fist convulsively, armor orb surfacing on his wrist and flaring into a pattern that resembled nothing more than deep, navy veins. Nodding to himself, he held up his arm for inspection, molten metal flashing outwards from the perfect sphere to cover him in a skintight suit of armor.
"Ready the chain," Cye called out imperiously.
Everyone already standing where he had pushed them into a specific order called their armor, except for Ella, who just stared blankly at the lifeless orb in her arm. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Rune clapped one hand on her shoulder, the thorny pattern on her arm flaring with amber light and flowing outwards into an amber and opal suit of shimmering armor. She flinched slightly at his following grin, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her when she caught a glimpse of slight fangs.
"I will act as the pinnacle," Len announced suddenly, pushing past Cye to enter the circle. Cye looked murderous.
"You will not," he snapped, earning himself several wary looks and identical glares from the twins. "It is not your place to act as the center for the gateway."
"You're not strong enough for that," Len countered.
"I'm stronger than you think, young uncle."
"Is it really that important?" Mouri asked firmly, pulling the two apart before they came to physical blows. He flinched away from their matching gazes of annoyance, both of their auras so twisted that they were almost unrecognizable.
"I guess not," Cye finally conceded darkly. Several sighs of relief could be heard as he backed off, leaving the circle unopposed. Len grinned victoriously as he claimed the point at the absolute center of the rough ring. "You should begin now. I believe that Grandmother is growing tired."
"Done," Len said haughtily.
He had barely reached his place before flashes of magical and elemental energies erupted from the circle. Unwilling to crumple under the fierce energy, Len straightened on his strangely long legs, easily passing six and a half feet for his slight ten years. Lacking heels, he was forced to unfurl his sets of wings to maintain his balance as the whipping energies around him intensified. A gently pulsing light appeared beneath his feet, raising into a simple column of fog that stopped abruptly at the ring or armored youths and sorcerers.
Grinning widely, Len stepped unharmed out of the column of boiling whiteness, waving the others away from the ring where they stood their ground nervously. At the first sign of movement from within the pearly mist, he moved to Vera's side, his knowing smirk matching hers exactly.
---
Mieren sank to her knees, eyes watering in pain as the power coursing through her veins increased sharply. The one-way barrier between the astral plane and any reality it touched was defying her, refusing to allow her to break through in reverse. The weave she held trembled slightly, nearly collapsing as she struggled to accomplish the impossible. The others were not yet at Zairian's Ledge and she couldn't wait for them to make it there. Already looking murderous at her first success, the sphinxes would not allow her to try a second time.
The barrier before her dissolved suddenly, flashes of light and color penetrating her blurred vision. A pillar of fog descended on her, shifting from white to black depending on which angle she viewed it from. Within the whiteness, she saw her youngest son's altered figure for an instant before he disappeared, clearing the path for them to pass.
"Excellent, Len," she breathed, feeling the pressure on her mind ease slightly. She quickly gathered the ends of the weave, the ten elemental bases, and tied them to herself so that they could move freely without the gateway collapsing. "Move through one at a time," she instructed. "Go through in the order you stepped into the ring and be sure to stay at an angle where you can see only whiteness in the pillar."
Ryo moved forward warily, edging slightly to his side without blinking. The oracle scrutinized his every move until he started to move towards the gently boiling column. Without warning, the massive figure burst into red mist and swirled viciously around Ryo, creating a startled yelp and a burst of flames. The raging fires cleared away as suddenly as they had started, leaving him standing trembling beside the ever-changing pillar of mist.
Seeing Mieren's reassuring nod, he moved into the pillar of mist. He had only taken a few steps in the all concealing whiteness before he burst into clear air, a strangled cheer sounding to his side just before he was bowled to the ground by his wife and daughter. A disbelieving grin broke out on his wolfish features for an instant before he could shift back to human form, his tattered remains of clothes hanging limply off of his pale form.
Ryo hadn't been standing there for more than a few seconds before Sehkmet ran out of the fog nervously, still trailing thin strands of forest green mist that disappeared before he could even regain his balance. He blinked confusedly, pausing just outside the pillar of fog with a disbelieving look plaguing his face as his gaze shifted between the column of fog and Rune.
Kento calmly stepped past him as he emerged, Ritsuko and Ryoko latching onto him almost instantly. Akira promptly turned the reunion into a huge pile of tangled arms and legs, nearly crushing his little sister in his enthusiasm.
Cale paused almost immediately after emerging from the mists, jaw dropping at the sight of his ancestor in his armor. Muttering something about 'deja voo' under his breath, he moved away from the whiteness, pulling Sehkmet behind him largely by virtue of force. His eyes flickered over the youko, pausing as they passed over Rune. He looked back to the mist uncertainly as though somehow his friend had managed to pass through in the wrong order. Seeing a silvery youko whispering softly to the smiling redhead, he decided he didn't want to know who the lookalike was. Anubis was terrified of the fox demons after some of the things he had seen them do. He himself remembered Mieren's attack on the Dynasty long ago when they still fought for Talpa, a single youko accompanying her terrifying army. That single black fox had blown away a goodly bit of the Dynasty grounds before seeing Anubis and freezing in his tracks, giving Sehkmet that vital second he needed to slaughter him from behind.
A burst of laughter greeted Dais as she emerged from the opaque pillar of mist. Akira and Gau doubled over almost immediately at her appearance, even blushing themselves from some of the dirtier comments the youko were coming up with. Rune blushed furiously and averted his eyes. Bright red and completely humiliated despite the fact that she had changed back almost the second she had stepped from the portal, she sprinted over to hide behind a nearby tree, quickly relocating herself after being pinched by a rowdy youko.
A battered looking Touma stumbled out next, his dragon form not having offered sufficient protection from the sphinx's angry blows. Mana made her way to him quickly, babying him gently as she snarled over her shoulder for Gau to do something for him if he ever intended on having children. Len and Vera grinned from a short distance off, their eyes still fixed on the slightly pulsing pillar. Touma nearly choked on his tongue after getting a good look at his little brother's new form, his aura of unfathomable power almost visible to the naked eye. He looked almost envious that he couldn't manage that form as well.
Seeing Kayura all but sprint out of the fogs, he redirected Gau's worried gaze with one hand, the younger man nearly falling flat on his face as he scrambled in his mother's direction. Ella and Katari were only a step behind him as he crashed into his mother, nearly carrying them both back into the pillar of mist. They were saved from that danger as Rowen staggered out unsteadily, catching them awkwardly just before they hit the boiling whiteness.
He glanced around for his children, eyes rolling towards the heavens when he got a good look at his youngest son. Len and Vera stared back at him as though in shock, conversing quietly and making sharp gestures at each other angrily. Rowen silently wondered if Vera could assume that shape as well, making a note to himself to ask Mieren once she emerged from the astral plane. Shaking his head, he moved over to check on Touma, wondering why the twins were avoiding him like the plague. Another question to ask. He shifted jerkily back to a human form as he walked, too weary to maintain the form of an outlander. Just holding that form for the short time he had needed to have taken nearly all of his strength and he was exhausted. He couldn't imagine actually fighting in that form. The mere thought of how much energy that would take made him sleepy. He wondered if Len had actually been forced to fight like that, feeling instantly sorry for him if he had.
A dark gray wolfish centaur wandered stiffly out of the haze trailing emerald streamers that vanished quickly. It was obvious that the pillar made him extremely nervous, but Sage was not the type to allow his emotions to be read. Seeing Kayura and his children already in a pile nearby, he eagerly shifted into a more manageable form and joined in the tangle.
The din grew louder as the reunions shifted more towards explaining what had happened in each dimension. Soft barks and growls could be heard from the youko as they waited impatiently for Anubis to arrive, Rune even moving a few steps towards the pillar of fog before thinking better of it. Several tense minutes passed in the increasing silence before a tenth ripple appeared in the boiling opal pillar, a very despondent Anubis stepping into the clearing. He choked on his tongue when Rune all but tackled him in a furious hug, lifting him several inches off the ground in his eagerness to see his brother.
"I can't believe it!" Rune laughed, tightening his grip when Anubis squirmed uncomfortably in his efforts to breathe. "I haven't seen you in over five hundred years! I was beginning to think that I'd never find you, brother!"
Anubis blinked, opened his mouth wordlessly and blinked again, utterly at a loss for words. He said the first thing that came to his numb mind.
"Who are you?"
Rune pulled back, looking hurt. "I'm your big brother, Rune," he murmured, shoulders drooping slightly. "I thought that you would at least remember me when you saw me, Anubis. I suppose that the Warrior of the Starlight damaged your memories."
"Quite possibly," Mieren interrupted stiffly, pulling herself free of the fogs with more than a little difficulty. "Talpa always was an idiot. Never could get even the simplest consciousness binding spells to work without obliterating the mind."
Ignoring the startled looks of some of the group gathered around her, she looked to the heavens with clouded eyes, murmuring something under her breath to an unseen listener. The entirety of the dimension rippled as though in pain, the very essence of being groaning in denial. The pillar flared into a surreal light, casting ever-shifting shadows across the dull surroundings. Mieren raised watering eyes to the brilliance of the column of fog before her, mouth twisting into a disbelieving smile as she saw the fully formed gateway in all its glory. Cye stiffened and disappeared abruptly, throwing one final scowl at Len and Vera as he vanished into thin air. Terru and Rune scowled darkly and moved to intercept the twins as they approached their mother.
"We've done it," Mieren breathed, barely aware that the others had abandoned their reunions with their friends and families to watch her worriedly. "The interdimensional gateway to the outlands has been opened. After all of these years, I've succeeded."
"What do you mean 'after all of these years'?" Rowen prompted uncertainly, wary of the soulless look that had entered his wife's luminescent jade eyes. Mieren didn't even hear him, stepping forward as though in a trance to pass through the glowing warmth. Her eyes roved across the trembling group surrounding the opening of the gateway, hoards of youko clustering around them, eyes glinting suspiciously. Len and Vera looked at her demandingly, youthful eyes awaiting whatever she had to tell them. They stiffened slightly when Terru and Rune appeared in front of them, their eyes demanding answers.
"Len. Vera. The new beginning I have told you about for so many years has finally come, my children. It is time," Mieren murmured. Her eyes hardened further, losing any look of humanity they had ever held, face steeling into something far beyond bloodthirsty. Rowen stiffened and took a step away from her, Touma following worriedly. She seemed oblivious to their presence as she continued in the same deadened voice. "Have you spoken with the others?"
"No, Mother," Len mumbled humbly. "But they can be called if you wish it."
"They are standing ready for your command," Vera added, ducking her head ever so slightly.
"Then call them," Mieren hissed.
"What in the hell is going on?" Anubis demanded, momentarily coming out of his shock of learning that he had a brother. He uttered a faint squeak and scrambled away when Lanfear stepped out of the air at Mieren's side. Touma choked on a shout and lashed out blindly, only to have his shot slapped away almost in irritation.
"Greetings, little sister," she breathed. "Were you successful?"
"Yes," Mieren murmured. "The gates to eternity have finally been opened." She glanced at her double with an almost amused expression. "Where are the others?"
"Coming," she laughed. "It's about time you were ready."
"What is going on?" Terru snarled, temporarily forgetting Len and Vera as he advanced on Mieren. The youko general surged into an almost twenty foot fox-like form and adopted a defensive stance, nine silvery tails standing rigid behind him. He opened his mouth to say more, Len silencing him prematurely by slitting the back of his exposed thigh. Vera followed him closely, pearly claws ripping across his face savagely. A flash of silver crossed Len's vision suddenly, depriving him of one of his eyes. Before he had a chance to retaliate, Rune's scythe flashed past him again, coming a hairsbreadth from taking his remaining eye. As it was, he found himself sporting a vicious slash across his cheek.
"What are you two doing?" Touma demanded, sliding fearfully past his mother and Lanfear to push Rune to the ground and tackle his two younger siblings. "I thought they were on our side!"
Before he could utter another word, Vera leapt forward and slammed a fist into his lower ribs, depriving him of both his balance and ability to breathe. Len casually pulled his arms behind him and pushed him to his knees, glancing towards Mieren and Lanfear with an almost bemused expression.
"What should I do with him, Mother?"
"Kill him," Lanfear said offhandedly, casually forming a thick shield around herself, Mieren and the two children who were easily holding their older brother in check before anyone had a chance to interfere. "He is of no use to me." Her eyes narrowed in amusement as the others beat uselessly at the gently rolling wall of fog encircling them. Vera grabbed a fistful of hair and jerked his head back, claws lengthening instantly.
"No, wait," Mieren interrupted just as Vera's claws had punctured the exposed flesh of Touma's throat. "If I had wanted him dead, I'd have aborted him the moment I knew I was pregnant after Rowen raped me." She paused to smirk at the horrified expression on her son's face. They had never told him how he had been conceived in such violence. "He could be useful to us. He is, after all, the only light soul of our immediate bloodline, sister. The fault, I believe, of his human father," she said, twisting the words as though they tasted foul.
"Too true," Lanfear laughed. "But this leaves us with an extra! We only needed fifteen."
"And we'll only have fifteen," Mieren countered, equally amused. "The true focal after the two channels must possess a soul neither of the light nor the dark. Touma is too light to be the focal and all of the rest are far too dark. With the ten elements and two magical branches, it is not important. Nor is it with the channels. But the focal is different."
"And again, as with your toying with that idiot Talpa, you have a point," Lanfear murmured. "But which of them should we use? Menderren and Touline would both be acceptable, as far as strength is concerned. Follouya would be useable as well."
"Follouya and Touline are girls!" Mieren protested. "That can't possibly work! If you haven't noticed, our target is male."
"Too true," Lanfear conceded. "Then it will have to be Menderren." Her eyes flashed to crimson for a moment, an answering flash of lightning cracking into a tree just beyond where she stood. Out of the smoldering remains stepped a tall man appearing to be in his mid to late twenties, long black hair framing a pale face with sharp cheekbones and stunning jade eyes.
"Oh, he's one for originality," Vera scoffed, fingering her dark blue hair happily and throwing her brother's platinum locks a knowing look.
"Is that him?" Menderren asked, businesslike. He nodded almost to himself after studying Touma thoroughly. "Controlling his mind should be a simple matter. The only problem will be ensuring that some of his soul survives once we fuse." Touma jerked at his bonds frantically, throwing a pleading look towards his mother.
"Mother, please," he breathed painfully around his brutally arched neck. His eyes began to water with the effort of rolling them at such an extreme angle to see his mother. "Why are you doing this?" Mieren smiled coldly, lifelessly.
"I'm sure you've heard the story of how I tried to separate myself from the darkness that my creators had instilled in me at my creation, yes?" she asked, barely waiting for him to blink in acknowledgement since he was unable to nod. "I believe I forgot to mention one thing." Again she paused, delighting in the pained look in Touma's eyes as Len twisted his arms just a little higher behind his back. "I failed. We are still very much linked, and I am still very much a creature of the darkness." She glanced over her shoulder, remembering that her husband for over thirty years was standing just behind her. "Yes, love?" she asked sweetly, laughter bubbling out of her when she saw he was in tears.
"I th-thought that... How c-c-could you..." he stammered, nearing a nervous breakdown. "I loved you, Mieren! How could you do this to us? To me?"
Mieren entered again into laughter, almost unable to speak. "You... loved... me?" she gasped. "And you expected what exactly in return? How could I ever love a mortal? I bedded with you because you were the strongest man I could find. It never mattered to me that it had been you. It could have been any of you! It made no difference to me. You were not my first," she scoffed. "You weren't even my thousandth. You were simply the first one to manage to get me pregnant. Pity our first child was so weak. I knew he would be. The only reason I didn't kill him is because I thought he might be useful. And so he shall be." She glanced at Touma again, who still fought desperately against Len, frantic to get away from Menderren, who was still inspecting him in an amused fashion. "It was a pity I had to kill you to make you stronger. The risks involved there were unavoidable, though. I couldn't have you or your friends turning against me until you had fulfilled your usefulness as a sperm donor."
"A pity that you let him live after I tried so hard to kill him, Grandmother," Cye snapped, reappearing suddenly inside Lanfear's barrier and approaching them furiously. "After Zairian's warning so long ago, I was hoping to take him out before you could sire any more of your hell-spawned children. A pity that I didn't remember enough of what I had been told to remember why I was to try again."
Mieren glanced at him scathingly. "So you've known for that long, have you? How long did it take you to remember after your death thirteen years ago?"
"Too long," he snapped. "I'd not have remembered even now had Zairian not jogged my memory. Tell me, Grandmother. Did you not think that I wouldn't realize that you tried to kill me as I laid half-dead in your arms? Did you think that I would ever be so easy to get rid of?" He spun where he stood, throwing a small blast of energy towards Menderren to knock him away from Touma. "Damn you! Leave my father alone!"
"You are interfering with the inevitable, boy," Lanfear scoffed. "How long do you think you can hold out before you're killed again? This time, we'll make sure you're raised into the dark arts."
Cye stiffened, the remark causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. If he died like he had thirteen years ago, they would ensure that he was kept in the blackness for eternity. He glanced towards Vera, Len and Menderren where they were still holding Touma immobile. He would be hard pressed to take on one of them, let alone three. If the other twelve were to arrive, it would be over in seconds.
"You should leave, child," Mieren said lightly when she saw the uncertainty in his eyes. He knew he couldn't win. "This doesn't concern you. You should be thankful that you were spared."
"Cye, run," Touma managed to grate out, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth from the strain of speaking. "Take the others and go."
Cye raised his head slowly to meet his grandmother's gaze. Around him, he could see the youko slowly gathering into an enormous triangle extending into the trees, Rune at the point. Anubis had joined him hesitantly, the staff of the Ancients clenched tightly in his trembling hands. What nearly broke his remaining sanity was the sight of his grandfather and younger brother, both tearing blindly at the barrier of fog, oblivious to their exhaustion and shredded arms.
Steeling himself, he sprung towards Lanfear, no longer unwilling to risk himself no matter what the consequences. She sidestepped him easily, laughing at his efforts when he lobbed another shot at Menderren and changed his advance to target Len. Vera stopped his efforts prematurely, a bolt of lightning coming within inches of hitting his lithe form. He continued blindly, throwing bolts of energy towards everyone in the dome of fog regardless of what they were doing. Menderren dodged easily, even swatting a few back at him in amusement. Len and Vera merely evaded his blasts, more concerned with holding Touma immobile than with what he was doing. Mieren and Lanfear simply ignored him, sidestepping the slashes of energy that came too close to them.
Cye was prepared for the retaliation before it came, allowing himself to be slammed forcibly into the mists to create a further distraction as the youko finally initiated their attack. A virtual tsunami of fog rebounded across the barrier at Rune's command, causing the steady weave to ripple and partially unravel in the following shock wave. Shin, and surprisingly Ryoko, managed to push through the barrier, attempting to advance before being violently ejected from the dome by a single blast from Menderren.
Before he could regain his feet, Vera pinned Cye to the ground ferociously, baring her teeth at him menacingly.
"Len, do it," she demanded. He nodded, grinning coldly.
"Daughter of the dragon, rise to your fate, the everlasting call of eternity's gate. Fall deaf to the cries of voices long dead. You must not heed your past. Stand tall, move ahead. Child of the vampire raised in the light, turn from what you know and come into the night."
Vera choked on a hoarse cry, the armor orb in her arm falling to the ground, useless. Cye watched in horror as her form slowly shifted to match Len's, matching sets of wings and an eerily long tail appeared behind her almost instantly. She only staggered slightly as her legs rejointed themselves, quickly adjusting to her new balance and compensating to keep him pinned. He looked away from her blunt muzzle, eyes locking onto his struggling father, who was now being held by a relentless Menderren, Len having retreated a few paces to nurse his wounded face. Harsh tears burned in Cye's vision as Menderren seemed to evaporate into nothingness, his disappearance accentuated by Touma's pained cry. Unable to bear the sight, Cye turned his gaze away as Touma convulsed, hair darkening into a fierce black, his once silvery eyes taking on a pale emerald tint.
"Your own brother," Cye spat over his shoulder, eyes still pressed tightly shut. Hot tears escaped his clenched eyelids, burning his chill skin. A flash of anger escaped him and he found the strength to surge to his feet, throwing Vera into Len and charging Lanfear. His fury added to his strength and speed, allowing him to crack one fist through her protruding ribs. He could only watch in shock and dismay as the wound closed before his eyes, the blood covering his forearm vanishing as though it had never been. She threw him a cruel, condescending smile.
"Do you not understand the term 'linked'?" she chuckled. "You cannot kill me."
"So be it," Cye spat, redirecting his fury. His gaze fell on Vera. He had only barely begun to advance before his path was blocked by a muscular figure he had never seen before. His eyes only rested on the sharp cheekbones for a moment before he drew back warily from the crimson-haired, emerald-eyed man.
"Ah, Deterik," Mieren greeted warmly. "I've heard much about you." She laughed loudly when his first blast nearly incinerated Cye, leveling the landscape behind where he had stood to the horizon and beyond. "The psychopath, right?" she asked Lanfear out of the corner of her mouth when she saw that the redhead was completely absorbed in disintegrating Cye. Lanfear nodded ever so slightly.
"Insane or not, that one's powerful," she admitted softly. "If not for the fact that he's completely a creature of the everlasting night, I'd say that he could have served as the pinnacle. He's definitely strong enough."
"Strength isn't everything," Mieren chided, jumping backwards quickly when Cye managed to redirect one of Deterik's blows ever so slightly with his enhanced version of the Exodus spell. "I seem to recall having you pinned in the Mountains of Omnipotence for the better part of three millennia before I decided to set you free."
"You caught me off guard," Lanfear grumped. Her darkened expression lightened immensely when Cye caught one of Deterik's blows fully in an attempt to protect almost a half a dozen of his friends from the deadly blast. Unable to fully withstand the crack of energy, he was thrown through the remnants of the mist shield and into Sage and Kayura, slumping limply across their flattened forms.
"You always were an idiot," Mieren countered. She shook her head ruefully when Cye lurched drunkenly to his feet, wobbling unsteadily as he tried to prepare himself for Deterik's next attack. The next blow, however, did not come from the redhead.
Cye was bounced through the shield of fog yet again, a slender woman of average height standing where he had stood, hands on her hips and silky black hair swirling around her knees. Before he even hit the ground, another blow came from above from a mirror image of the first girl, landing in the small of his back and sending him careening downwards with enough force to cause him to bounce off of the ground. Deterik slid in insolently, cracking his heavy boot into Cye's exposed stomach the moment he bounced from the ground. Mieren shook her head as the second girl punted him out of the air to the first, Cye too injured and delirious to defend himself as they continued thrashing him.
"Thena and Sellene, right?" Mieren asked in an amused tone. "I never could tell them apart. At least my twins are original."
"Very easy to tell which is which," Lanfear objected. "Thena can use the light arts, just as you taught her. Or have you forgotten, my blond sister?" She flipped a lock of Mieren's opal hair into her face.
Conversation was temporarily forgotten as another few figures appeared into the slaughter, Cye's grunts of pain announcing their arrival. The newest arrival sent a burst of flame towards his limp form, which he avoided narrowly. A desperate act allowed him to guide his fall so that he landed on his feet, blood streaming from innumerable lacerations on his pale form. Pushing blood-matted hair out of his face, he shifted wearily into a serpentine form, praying that his added strength would help him survive.
Cye jerked back in shock when a figure topping six and a half feet moved to stand in front of him, the pale face too delicate to resemble any of Lanfear's children. Blood riddled tears crept from his eyes as he moved away from the frosty emerald gaze, flecks of silver accentuating the familiar face. Menderren had not erased the face Cye had known so well since his rebirth. The steely look on what had used to be his father's face was almost too much for him to bear. He drew back, unable to fight. Menderren, however, had no such reservations.
The first punch landed heavily in Cye's ribs, shattering four. Several fragments pierced his lungs. Gasping for air that his lungs were unwilling to accept, he staggered back, too battered to escape the second slash. He could only watch numbly as a blurred fist moved towards his chest again, swerving slightly at the last possible moment to crash through the right side of his chest instead of the left. Even so, the hand through his ribcage missed his heart by inches only. Blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth as he looked up, his gaze focusing on Menderren's other fist just before it landed against is lower jaw. He landed heavily on a patch of cold ground just outside of the rapidly dissipating dome of fog. His vision blurred slightly, his dulled mind barely registering that Rowen was struggling to pull him to his feet. Sage entered his hazy sight, an emerald inferno surrounding him as he struggled to heal wounds that refused to close. Cye only managed to raise his head weakly as Menderren and Deterik advanced on them again. He whimpered in protest when he saw more than a dozen forms behind them, most of them sporting black hair and violently green eyes. Several blasts were readied, spells held in extended palms.
Before the first spell was loosed, a crack of energy crashed into the group from the side in the form of a great serpent of fog. Clusters of twenty-foot tall youko gathered to the side with Rune, and surprisingly Anubis, standing at the point, the latter looking extremely nervous and doubtful. The twins immediately rounded on them, a silvery haired man following their lead more slowly, his pale sea green eyes narrowed in irritation. The irked look was shocking when compared to the expression of blatant loathing the black-haired, black-eyed twins were wearing.
Anubis swallowed roughly and threw an imploring look towards his brother, who nodded impatiently, pointed ears and a long reddish foxtail appearing as he said something under his breath. Ducking his head at the obvious reprimand, Anubis turned back to the three approaching warriors, his eyes flaring with an unearthly copper light as he concentrated. The silver-haired man paused, his already pale skin lightening further. The twins, however, did not see the danger in time.
A lurid blast of copper light erupted at their feet, answering sparks of coppery power radiating from the massing youko. Anubis's fingers twitched again, the rapidly culminating power of the enormous beasts behind him exploding again from within the ranks of Lanfear's children. His third shot was blocked prematurely by a woman in her mid-thirties, deep forest green hair flaring around her waist as she spun to face him, her fiercely golden eyes boring into his own glowing copper.
Energies whipped higher around each of them as they stared at each other in pure concentration, each straining to gain the upper hand. Though no movement was discernable from either of them, the battle they fought was deadlier than if they held swords at one another's throats. Shock waves began emanating from the pair as the seconds ticked on in utter silence, all other confrontations forgotten as they watched the upcoming explosion. The ground beneath Anubis rippled and sank, pulling away from the sheer power of his mind, small sections of stone rising into the whipping airs around him. The following ripple of energy leveled the ground around him for over two hundred feet in every direction, throwing both friends and trembling youko away from him when they were unable to block the raging power still building. Mouri barely caught Mana before she was thrown into a partially incinerated tree.
"And this is the reason why I don't like youko," he muttered, his voice barely audible over the groaning of the earth. Mana nodded silently.
"Very nice of you, elf, considering that he's protecting you at the moment," Rune snapped, appearing in front of them suddenly to attempt to lessen the blasts of energy that radiated from the warring pair every few seconds. His grin returned suddenly when a second tail appeared behind Anubis, promptly followed by a third. Several youko whooped in support, their howls of delight increasing in volume when fourth and fifth tails materialized out of thin air.
"So how high can he go?" Mouri asked, sounding as though he didn't really want an answer.
"I don't know," Rune admitted. "I can manage seven, but he's a lot stronger than me, even now at five." He stiffened suddenly, eyes wild. "Oh light, brother. No."
Mouri and Mana looked up, though only the former seemed to have any idea of what was worrying the redheaded youko. Anubis still held his ground, though his face was taking on a decidedly inhuman quality, the beginnings of a muzzle stretching across his hollowed cheeks. His skin darkened as telltale signs of fur appeared on his exposed flesh, ripples passing though the thin reddish fur as muscles began building along his normally slender frame. All of the gathered youko had long since gone silent, their eyes fixed firmly on his trembling frame as he continued to shift into another form. Rune shook his head roughly in denial.
"Damn it, Anubis! Don't shift forms," Mouri shouted, ignoring Rune's angry hiss at his side.
"Be quiet," Rune spat. "He mustn't be distracted!"
"You want him to power up?" Mouri asked incredulously.
"Of course not," Rune snapped, his voice lowering before he continued. "He's just not used to this and it's… it's hurting him. In the larger form, youko are all but indestructible, but it takes energy and it weakens us greatly. He's only trying to protect himself. He doesn't know," he said defensively.
Anubis, however, heard them both quite clearly, his unsteady transformation ceasing abruptly. The sudden boost in his power nearly toppled the green-haired woman, her knees buckling. Her loss in dominance of the battle did not cause her to break her eye contact with Anubis. Undaunted, she leaned forward slightly, flashing her ample cleavage in a tantalizing manner. Despite the severity of the situation, Anubis reddened. His slight distraction lowered his defenses to the surrounding warriors. A glint of silver flashed through his peripheral vision followed immediately by his pained cry, a slender dagger embedded to its hilt in his thigh. Choking on a curse, he glanced jerkily towards Len, whose arm was still stretched forward from the viciousness of his throw.
The loss of eye contact resulted in an immediate and unfathomable explosion, throwing Anubis backwards into Mouri and Rune. Ear piercing shrieks rang through the air as Anubis convulsed, every muscle in his body tightening viciously and pulling him into an unnatural position that threatened to break his back.
Trying to protect his brother, Rune leapt to his feet and attempted to form a rough shield around the green-haired woman. His efforts were ended prematurely as he was simultaneously tackled by Menderren and Vera. The silver-haired man moved to stand in the path of the nearly rampaging youko, dropping into the form of a white dragon almost instantly. His silver mane and sea green eyes seemed out of place among his brothers and sisters as they assumed their alternate forms, plaguing the ruined landscape with sinuous black forms. Only the green-haired woman held her form, Len circling her protectively as she continued to use her willpower to control Anubis. A greedy smile appeared on her face suddenly and she called out to Lanfear, never breaking eye contact with her victim.
"Must I kill him, Mother?" she purred. "Or can I keep this one?"
"Just kill him, Follouya," Lanfear growled, glancing at Mieren. "According to my dear sister, he's dangerous."
Mieren averted her gaze, a blank expression held forcefully on her face, broken only by the slightly hardened look to her eyes. Before her was a scene from a nightmare, dying and dead youko littering the charred earth as the silver-maned white dragon wreaked havoc on the advancing forces. No one had ever been able to stand up to Cehir. Divided, their powers were useless, and without Anubis, they were unable to pool their unfathomable energies to any extent. The rough triangles of power they managed to form further mauled the landscape, but they were doing no notable damage to their single opponent. Rune lay motionless on the ground, huge rents covering his bloody form. Mouri fought frantically against Menderren and Vera, his movements growing slower and clumsier as the seconds ticked on. Great spouts of water crashed into the two dragons opposing him, their inability to block that particular element the only reason that the elfin sorcerer was still alive.
Mia and Mana stood all but frozen behind Ryo and Rowen, the latter still trying to revive Cye. An enormous black-maned blood red dragon with hollow black eyes circled them tauntingly, occasional slashes of shadows racing towards them only to be diverted at the last moment by a desperate effort by Ryo or Mana. Rowen only glanced up occasionally to check on Shin before returning his attention to Cye, his devastated mind only registering the wellbeing of his two grandsons, the only family he had left. The only attacks he blocked were the ones aimed directly at himself and Cye, Deterik's powers of darkness dissolving under Rowen's matching energies, grief augmenting his strength.
A ring of the three children had formed to combat the twins, Sellene and Thena, and another female that Mieren instantly identified as Yersenia by her fighting style. Shin raged in and out of the chaotic tangle as he repelled the magical attacks of the twins, occasionally tackling one of them or launching his own elemental and magical attacks to keep them off guard. Katari called blasts of lightening from the clear sky, disappearing into thin air every few seconds as she activated the power of the armor orb in her arm. Her illusions were completely impenetrable to the three she was plaguing, her near lethal attacks quickly drawing the illusionist, Koxanama, to the battle. Barely able to keep up with his illusions, even with the help of her armor and deep innate abilities, Katari quickly found herself being drawn away from the battle with the three dragons already present. She had no experience and didn't doubt that her opponent was fully trained where she was not. Ryoko was unable to cover for her absence, both her and her armor's powers fully absorbed in defending against Yersenia's poisonous attacks. Alone in the battle, Shin found himself rapidly losing ground to the twins.
Sage and Gau were losing ground rapidly to the oldest and most dangerous of Lanfear's children, Touline. Their combined power of light was nothing compared to her mastery of the element, only their rapid attacks and desperate defenses protecting them.
Kayura, Ritsuko and Ella had clustered together for protection, their combined powers of spirit rivaling that of their single opponent, Nengitis. Mieren watched their increasingly bloodthirsty battle, knowing the boy's powers after having trained him for so many years. She was amazed that the three relatively untrained women were holding their own for so long.
Major earthquakes erupted constantly from where Kento and Akira fought side by side, their twinned powers almost holding Detowin at bay. With their abilities to shift unerringly into elementals, the former being an elemental and the latter using his armor constantly, they looked as if they could almost hold their own. Only a few paces from them, Nasuti and Cognite appeared to have abandoned all pretense of roasting one another and had engaged in a free-for-all wrestling match. Nasuti didn't seem to be averse to head-butting either.
Kenji and the three standing Warlords had formed a loose circle, batting wildly at the single dragon circling them. Picen seemed unconcerned by their efforts, using his abilities with water freely knowing that they would be hard pressed to block the elemental attack out of their categories of power. A flash of energy engulfed Kenji suddenly as he summoned a suit of armor and returned fire with several projectiles of pure shadow, their strength enforced by Cale's presence. Dais joined in promptly, her illusions nearly causing Picen to crash into the ground several times. Blinded by the illusions, he almost took several hits as well. Sehkmet only watched them for a moment before sneaking off and joining Ryoko in her struggle against Yersenia's vicious assault. Lanfear shook her head wearily.
"Would you guys quit screwing around and kill them?" she snapped. "They've driven me insane for way too long and I want them gone. Now."
Instantly, all thirteen of her children swerved suddenly towards their struggling opponents, spells and elemental snares held ready as they went for the final blows as instructed. Vera drew back to stand beside Len, her face hardening in disbelief as she studied the slash across his left eye that had yet to heal. Mieren glanced at them absently, knowing the futility of trying to heal a wound given by a youko-crafted weapon. Their infiltration of both the Starlight Clan and Clan of the Midnight Shadows, not to mention the Tower of the Guardians, had yielded them limitless information from which they had devised a few of their more dangerous aspects. Most, if not all, of their fighting techniques were either difficult or impossible to block and most of the resulting injuries could not be healed by any magical means. The natural recovery of the body could partially compensate for the damages, but not completely. She knew without checking that Len would never regain the use of his eye.
Looking up to the thirteen circling dragons above her, she exhaled sharply, eyes trailing downwards to an impossible scenario. Cye had regained consciousness and had summoned a sinuous shield that wove its way around the battlefield to protect every one of his friends and a good number of the surviving youko. Though many blows were issued from each side, no one could crack through the energy barrier he had constructed. Leaving behind the safety of his silvery turquoise shield, he leapt into the air after thirteen nimble targets, none of which he managed to near before a blast of liquid obsidian struck him from the sky. Rebounding to his feet, he summoned black tinged wings and took to the air once more, nimbly evading blasts and retaliating occasionally. Mieren could only wonder why he refused to assume the complete combative form of a true dragon.
"How can he possibly still be alive?" Lanfear muttered, her eyes trailing across Vera and Len in a calculating fashion. "You two can already assume the outlander form. Tell me, can either of the descendants of Mouri do the same?" Len squinted up at the aerial battle for a moment, absently wiping the steady flow of blood off of his cheek.
"No," he answered softly. "He's too weak to do that."
In response to his comment, a teal bolt of energy crashed into him from above, dissolving one of his four taught wings. When he choked in shock, Vera retaliated for him, her own jet black powers racing towards the heavens. Snarling at Cye's impossible ability to dodge more than a dozen attacks at once, she spread both of her sets of wings and prepared to plow into him physically. She jerked slightly and furled her wings, jaw drooping slightly when she caught a better glimpse of the slaughter above her.
Distracting Cye with a blast of fire, one of the few elements he had trouble blocking, Cognite managed to snag one of his wings and hurl him unceremoniously towards the twins. Sellene and Thena locked spells, allowing white and black magical energies to flow into one as Cye collided with their weave. The explosion resulting from the mixture of the opposite powers nearly threw their siblings from the air as well, though when the aftershocks cleared, only Cye was seen to have toppled from the sky, smoke trailing from his charred form. The silver-maned white dragon, who Mieren finally remembered as Cehir, the second oldest of the group though he had yet to be born, snagged Cye's foot just before he reached the ground and slung him back into the air.
Touline knocked him out of the sky again immediately, Detowin forming a patch of stone spikes on the ground below as Cye once again sped towards the earth. He managed to unfurl his wings at the last moment and pull up, his stomach almost grazing the deadly skewers. Shaking profusely and visibly falling into exhaustion, he was unable to evade Menderren's bone-rattling punch to his sternum. The further destruction of his ribcage left him unbalanced and unguarded for a vital instant.
Having been waiting for the opportunity, Deterik had assumed a position directly behind him, youko-pilfered sword in hand. All of the air left Cye's lungs in a sudden rush along with a faint dribble of blood. His crimson stained tongue flicked across his lips and his throat convulsed as he tried unsuccessfully to swallow. Several thin streamers of blood moved slowly down his chin as his head drooped, eyes glazing over completely. Trembling hands reached upwards to rest weakly on the rune covered sword protruding from his upper chest, well over three feet of the crimsoned steel extending just to the left of his sternum, a jeweled hilt pressed tightly against his back. His mouth worked weakly as he tried to force his lungs to work, his efforts only expelling more blood from his slack jaw. Several moments passed in silence as his knees gave way and he slumped to the ground, the sword through his chest quivering slightly as he landed heavily on his side.
Sneering contemptuously, Deterik called a spear of shadows to his hand to deliver a final blow. Time seemed to stop as the obsidian point neared Cye's exposed temple, the blow forced to the side at the last instant by a blast of silver. Shocked at the interference, Deterik spun to face his new opponent, a barreling projectile crashing into him before he could identify the threat. The world spun around him suddenly as pale wiry hands wrapped around his throat and clamped down with bone-crushing force. Emerald eyes too clouded with pain to make out his attacker, he could only swat blindly at the muscular figure pinning him, scoring a vicious slash across the prominent cheekbone his claws encountered.
He was freed as suddenly as he had been thrown down, Follouya and Cognite barreling into his assailant. Bleary eyes came into focus slowly, opening wider in shock as he made out the writhing form beneath the growing pile of siblings. His face contorted into a snarl as he recognized his treacherous snowy-haired aunt.
Mieren surged to her feet, leaping into the air to gain some distance between herself and the furious figures beneath her. Only Follouya, Cognite and Deterik remained on the ground, all of them too stiff to follow her just yet. In their shock and confusion, she had managed to issue a few vicious hits before they came around enough to block her spells. The gaping wounds down her sides and across her stomach were quickly closing as she leaned heavily on her link with Lanfear, her double staggering slightly as the energy she called for drained them both. Len and Vera ran to her side, speaking so softly that Mieren couldn't make out what they were saying, but she felt that she wouldn't have liked it if she knew. Like their father, their minds were exceptionally sharp and therefore dangerous.
A slight change in the air currents behind her alerted her to the nearing forms of what she believed to be Sellene and Thena, the twins always having been too fast for her liking. Angling her wings sharply, she shifted into a tight loop, crashing down onto an exposed back. She winced when she made out the harsh sapphire mane on the black form, silver eyes glaring back at her furiously. He arched his head back suddenly to catch her with his horns, one succeeding in impaling her left wrist. She blinked, face contorting in confusion when she saw the four horns, a feature she had never thought to see on her kin, decorating his heavily ridged head.
Mieren dropped her hold on his back and returned to the air, ignoring the burning in her arm as her hand was nearly torn off. The pressure she was putting on her link to heal herself had long since caused Lanfear to slump to the ground in exhaustion near the ten-year-old twins. She would have liked to rest as well, but knew that she didn't have that luxury. The ten airborne forms struggling to pin her to the ground prevented even the momentary pause she so desperately needed to gather her thoughts and form a counterattack. She spat a string of curses when she found Follouya and Cognite preparing to take to the air as well. What worried her, though, was that Deterik was nowhere to be seen. With what little she knew about how his mind worked, she didn't like the prospect of him being out of her sight.
Exhaling sharply to rid the air from her lungs, Mieren arched her back at an impossible angle to send her spinning through the air in almost the exact direction she had just come from. Blasts of every element shot past her fully extended form as she barreled through the serpentine forms around her, several punching holes in her wings and many more grazing her with just enough force to leave behind deep lacerations. Curling her clawed hands into fists, she angled again, one fist creating a resounding crack as it landed sharply in Picen's jaw. Disoriented from his broken jaw, he spiraled from the sky to rebound off of Cye's standing barrier and land limply on the ground below.
Her eyes followed him for a moment only, skipping off of his careening form when she suddenly relocated Deterik standing beside Lanfear. His soft chatting with Len and Vera was unnerving enough without his calculating glance at her as she narrowly evaded a burst of flames from her right. Mieren sucked in a sharp breath between clenched teeth as a shock of pain radiated outwards from her bones, her entire body burning from within. Deterik glanced upwards again, a maniacal look covering his tanned face.
Realization of what he was doing hit her along with the next burst of pain, several of the deeper lacerations across her arms and wings beginning to bleed profusely. She dropped from the air and dove towards where the redhead labored beside Len and Vera, her claws extending viciously as she neared her newest targets. She was pulled away as each of the twins grabbed one of her wings from above and stopped her descent suddenly. Agony raced through her veins as Deterik raised a slender black cord of solidified aura connecting her to Lanfear. Flecks of silver and white appeared on the end closest to her. Oblivious to her thrashing, she was unable to free herself from the twins, who seemed content to hold her in place. Len and Vera combined their energies almost leisurely to slice through the gently pulsing aura. A shriek issued unbidden from her throat as a ripping, incinerating agony enveloped her. Blackness swept across her vision, coming close to taking her consciousness. Her muscles went limp and she slumped into the tearing grasp of the sinuous forms above her. She sensed, more than saw or heard, that Lanfear had lost consciousness and collapsed into Deterik's waiting arms.
The world returned to her eyes suddenly as she crashed into the earth, sinking into the shifting soil. Huffing wearily, she surged upwards and lifted into the air, slamming forcefully into the ground once again as a greenish gold serpent sporting a golden mane swatted away her attempts at flight. She could only look blankly up at Follouya, her mind spinning too quickly for her to understand that she needed to defend herself against her kin. Almost unable to keep her footing unopposed, she collapsed again to the ground as Detowin called upon the earth beneath her to launch a barrage of slender barbed projectiles at her swaying form. The force of the blows threw her several paces, the first true pain she had ever felt nearly stealing her consciousness from her once more.
Mortally injured and highly delirious, Mieren could only lurch strangely to the side as Yersenia and Nengitis approached. She waited until the two similar, almost identical, visages were less than a pace from her before launching herself forward in a final attack. Black flames consumed her right arm and white her left, the two opposing powers fading together and meeting in swirling silvery inferno that engulfed her trembling body. Reality trembled and jerked in denial of the powers she unleashed in her first blow, the siblings dropping into defensive crouches as the wave of energy rolled over them and past the other from where they still advanced. Continuing with the vicious maneuvers she had taught the twins, Sellene and Thena, she slipped past the two stunned dragons and deliberately cracked her fists together as they made contact with Koxanama. The illusionist withdrew, collapsing to the ground when he discovered that he was unable to remain on his feet.
Knowing that she only had a few seconds left to continue on her rampage, Mieren swerved unerringly towards where Lanfear remained unconscious beside Vera and Len, the latter snarling viciously at her approach. Fully aware of the consequences of her following actions, she brought her fists together and allowed the explosion to roll across her unprotected form even as it threw her children away from her target. She slammed her fist through her double's chest, lips peeling away from her teeth in a feral snarl.
"If I'm no longer immortal," she hissed, "then neither are you." Wrenching her tearing fingers in a brutal arc, she yelled out to the extent her shredded lungs would allow. "Kill one of the fifteen! It matters not which! If one falls, they cannot continue!"
Her words died in her throat as Deterik reached her from behind. The world rushed up to meet her face, a heavily weighted foot placing itself between her shoulder blades. Burning hands grasped the chill flesh of her wings and pulled mightily, thick blood raining down on her from above. Agony ripped through her as a wet, tearing noise filled the air, followed by an ease in the pressure pulling on her left side. Numerous ripping sensations tore across the fabric of her remaining wing, causing large puddles of blood to accumulate on the ground beside her. Even as blackness rushed to meet her eyes, she moved in a last act of defiance, carefully slitting the edge of the standing shield Cye had summoned to protect his friends. She saw the warriors leap madly from their captivity and then knew no more.
---
To Be Continued…