seven_Gods
Black Star
\\
He didn't even take his sword. You've only just painstakingly saved his life and the first thing the idiot does is walk out of his chambers half undressed and demanding, "What is the meaning of this?"
Grabbing your knives, you lurk near the door, staying out of sight. You have no idea what is going on, but that had certainly been the mercenary who had renounced his service.
You hear Medusa answer, voice nauseatingly demure. "The swordsman has fallen into disfavor with the Empress, my lord. I am sorry we have disturbed your…rest?"
There is a short pause, and you hear the rustling of fabric as Thane straightens his clothes. "Who are these people? Have you just killed a man in my quarters?"
"He is merely unconscious, my lord. This is Arachne's replacement emissary, Giriko. This is Loresinger Kimial, who has come to escort the girl kidnapped by the swordsman."
Thane layers just enough off-handed concern in his voice to sound like the self-important prince you had first judged him to be. "Have him detained and looked over. Is that cage necessary?"
"I am afraid so."
"Hmph. Giriko, then."
You hear a creaking of leather and metal, a drawling voice you do not know replying, "My lord."
"I have decided to take Arachne's offer. Be ready to leave by morning." And then, with no room for objection, Thane says, "Blade."
You curse him to the nine hells and back before you peek your head around the door, trying your best not to look like an assassin. With a quick glance, you take in the state of the room: Mifune is sprawled on the floor, his girl held aloft in some kind of spell by a woman with white eyes; an excessive amount of armed riflemen line the walls and guard the doorway you stand in; and standing behind Thane is Medusa, her furious eyes boring holes into your brain. "Yes, my lord?"
He gives you a playful smile, looking so utterly genuine that it gives you the chills. "I will take you up on your offer. You will track the Nightwalker and lead us to him."
With an awkward bow, you reply, "As you command."
You do your best not to let your eye twitch when he tucks a side of his dark hair behind an ear and says, "Get dressed," with emphasis enough to make Medusa's eyebrows reach for the ceiling, "and fetch my cloak. We have much to discuss. Riflemen, I want all weapons inspected by Jacqueline before the night is out." Thane then casually steps over the mercenary's body and sweeps out the door. Alive.
Lip curled with displeasure, Medusa cocks a hip, resting an elbow in a hand and gesturing for an explanation.
You shrug. "He wasn't thirsty?"
A tall man wearing a Clan-worthy amount of weapons gives you an unimpressed once over. "Are you sure?" he asks, and his voice places him as Giriko, Arachne's replacement dog. He's blonde. Big surprise.
Inspecting your own attire, you notice you're a little disheveled, yourself. You also taste blood lingering on your lips. You don't have to fake your smile at all, dipping your tongue into the corner of your mouth. To Medusa, you say, "You were right- he's quite hardy."
The woman scowls, shaking her head. "It matters not for now. We have a deer to hunt. Best fetch the young lord's cloak, Blade."
\\
"When you said 'serve under you' I did not think you meant this," you growl, tugging the hood of your cloak further down your face while carrying his sword like a damned squire.
Thane turns down a street at a quick pace and you match his stride, trying to reorient yourself- you only know Iron Town from rooftop level. "Oh? How did you think I meant it?" he asks, which you refuse to answer. "You'll have more opportunities to fail at assassinating me if Medusa thinks you are my servant and bedwarmer. Ahh, Blair was right all along- I can't believe she has my riflemen-"
"I did not fail to assassinate you, I chose not to." Even as you say it, you know Ivory would kick you in the kidney for spewing something so ridiculous. "Where in the hells are we going-"
"Ox," Thane says, adjusting his own cloak.
Before you can open your mouth to complain, the chief of guard sticks his head out of a building the moment you and Thane walk past it. It is a miracle you don't stab him on reflex.
"Sir."
"I may have agreed to kill the Nightwalker. No, I definitely agreed to kill him. Walk," orders Thane, and now the three of you are taking some weird jaunt down street as night falls on Iron Town.
"I see you're still alive, 'Blade'," Ox greets, saying your false name like he's biting into a rotten apple. You groan under your hood. To Thane, he says, "Blair has confirmed it- she's seen the healer woman intercepting messages. Two more Imperials were let through the gate without my permission."
Thane growls under his breath, taking his weapon from you and buckling his sword belt. "We've met. One attacked Mifune, and the other trapped the chameleon girl in some type of Loresong spell. Everything has gone completely mad. Medusa controls the riflemen- oh, and she tried to have me poisoned."
Ox turns his helmeted head to you, accusations clear behind his spectacles, and you snap, "He didn't take it, obviously. What exactly are we doing right now?"
"Thinking," Thane says, turning another corner.
"About what? You people don't have contingency plans for usurpers?"
The lord and his right hand both look at you as if you're an entirely different species. "Amateurs," you say.
"Do you think she wants the deer's head for herself?" asks Ox.
Snorting, you reply, "She can want it all she likes, I'm leaving with it."
"I'll kill you before you lay a finger on it. You should have let Harvar shoot this one," the guard complains to the lord.
Abruptly, Thane stops in his tracks, his broken wrist raising mid-thought. "Ah-" Just as suddenly as he had stopped, he moves forward once more, finger to his bottom lip. "Ox. Get the sisters, Liz and Patti, and also Jacqueline. Bring them to me."
"What do you intend to do?"
A cold fury sweeps across Thane's face, the lanterns of Iron Town glowing like a forge in his eyes. "I will bring order to this madness."
\\
It is a longer trek to the lake than it should be - what should have only taken an hour at this pace takes the better part of the day. The shadows of the forest play with your sense of direction, and you think it is Tsubaki buying her brother time.
She had apparently led Thane to you in the forest, and you don't understand what she wants from you. All she's managing to do is shake your convictions, making you rethink the foundations of your life. You don't care about beastlings or their gods, but lately you have wondered if you should. Every kinlover you have been at odds against has defeated you horribly: Maka and her demonic rage, Mifune and his lizard girl, and Medusa, who cowed you into revealing White Star's plan by using her own venom on you.
And then you have Thane, who defeated you with…what? The betrayal on his face when you tried to poison him? The smell of his burning skin, reminiscent of the people your sire eats? His willingness to bear the burden of his father's mistakes and try to right them?
Still, despite all this, you purposefully neglected to mention the orders White Star had given you through your half-sister. You are here for one thing, and you will not come this close to your goal and not touch it. You will stay the course and wait for a signal.
You lead Thane, Ox, Giriko, and a long line of Iron Town's riflemen through Raskogr. Medusa has tagged along as well, Thane having appointed her as his new advisor in Harvar's absence. You think he finds must find enjoyment in putting himself at the forefront of the most perilous situations possible.
Finally the lake comes into view, the sun setting behind tall, blossoming trees. You hear the murmurs of awe as most of the company take in the eternal spring the place seems to keep, the mossy shoreline of the lake a lush green.
You look over your shoulder at Thane. "This is where he walks."
Thane plants a long hand cannon at his feet, hands resting on its barrel. "Riflemen into position," he orders the company.
You glance around the clearing, looking for any sign of Ivory, though you know such a thing is futile. Looking inward, you test the small part of yourself that always seems to flicker with shadows, but Tsubaki is evasive, which only puts you more on edge.
Medusa comes up on your left, her pupils tiny slivers for a moment as she gives you a venomous look. It's clear she expects chaos, and wants you to murder Thane when an opportunity presents itself, but you have your own plans.
As the daylight fails, a wind begins to blow, the trees surrounding the lake groaning from the powerful gusts. Steam rolls off the lake, swirling with the coming of the Nightwalker. Ox stands to Thane's right, large hand cannon hefted to his shoulder and held at the ready.
Giriko rubs his hands together, walking towards the lake's edge. "I've been lookin' forward to this."
"You won't be needed," says Thane, looking upon the man with serene indifference. He raises his right hand, signalling the riflemen around the lake. "Stand aside and watch how we slay gods."
The blond scoffs, bowing somewhat facetiously to the lord before moving out of the way to stand by Medusa. Then, behind him, you see a glow moving through the trees.
When Masamune steps out of the forest, the winds abruptly die, as if he is the eye of a storm. He is a massive stag, spilling bright, shivering light in beams across the earth. His translucent antlers are impossible to count, ever-shifting in number, bright jewels suspended inside them.
He steps on the lake as if it were solid earth. Standing in its center, the Nightwalker stretches his face toward the darkening sky, the gems in his crown feeding tiny threads of light into the night to paint the heavens in stars. The stag slowly transforms, standing on hind legs that change into something vaguely human. His hooves turn to hands and feet, spine lengthening to stand tall like a man.
You don't know why you're so shocked to see that the god of the kindred is kindred. Something in your heart winces, and you think he feels that twinge in you. Though he has no reason to look away from the heavens, the Nightwalker turns his head down to you, the glowing lamps of his eyes boring into your own.
Wait- you don't think you want this anymore.
Thane yells, "Fire!"
All the riflemen around the lake light their firearms in unison, simultaneously shooting the Nightwalker. The noise nearly breaks your eardrums, ricocheting off the lake and cracking through the air.
To your shock, the god remains whole, still slowly growing in height with his transformation. He's past the treetops now, his deer snout morphing into a human face. You look around and find that every rifle misfired, shooting harmless charges.
"It is some kindred sorcery, sir! Our weapons have been claimed by the Nightwalker!" shouts Ox, who is clearly a worse actor than you are.
Medusa hisses at this, grabbing a knife from one of the many strapped to Giriko's chest. "You foolish bastard- They've tampered with the rifles!" she yells. She throws the knife at Thane, which Ox easily deflects with the barrel of his weapon, but she snatches Thane's hand cannon from his hands.
"No!" he cries, and without much thought, your legs are already in motion, running to stop her as she takes aim. You distantly hear, "Stop! Black Star-" and Thane brings you down, falling on top of you.
You hear Medusa fire the cannon, the sound immediately followed by a scream that you know must belong to Masamune-
Atop you, a vicious smile rips across Thane's face. The weapon had done more than misfire- it had exploded entirely, leaving Medusa writhing on the ground with little remaining of her arms, eyes wide with shock.
You look back to Thane, whose virulent grin speaks of his hatred. And then, behind him and just beyond Ox, you see Ivory Star drop down from the trees. There's something horrific about her, deformed and rodent-like, a rope of a tail whipping behind her as magic crawls along her body.
Your half-sister pulls her cloak aside, revealing the mechanical monstrosity she always wears, and she looks at you with a triumphant smile as she triggers the device, a barrage of needles hurtling towards the Nightwalker.
She doesn't miss.
Masamune has a gaping hole in his neck, the wound expanding, revealing a darkness inside of him that fills you with awe and dread. His head comes loose, plummeting from the sky to fall like a stone into the lake, eyes devoid of suns.
"Was that so hard, brother?" Ivory says, and you understand what she's become when you see the stolen blessings in her eyes- your sister has eaten the mouse kindred your shared father had turned to cannibalism.
A terrible wailing is the only reply, the headless body of the Deer God turning itself inside-out as black, oozing blood gurgles up the severed neck, the lights in his body spilling out. The heavens seem to stop in an eternal twilight, the stars refusing to turn. Raskogr itself seems to screech a death rattle.
Ivory dashes for the lake before anyone has the sense to react, though Arachne's subordinate is not far behind, racing her for the Nightwalker's head.
The clearing breaks into chaos, the god reaching out to find his head and destroying everything he touches. Trees wither, the earth scorches to dust, and the riflemen who had turned on Thane instantly breathe their last. The stars in his body fall to the earth, burrowing into the ground only to crawl back out of it, lights stretched along the bones of the dead and bringing them back to life.
"No," Thane says, gone white as winter. "No, this was not supposed to- STOP THEM!" he roars, scrambling off you and running after Ivory and Giriko himself, straight into the heart of madness.
Ox charges after him, and you're back on your feet, not far behind when something black and gold darts by, shooting past the both of you. It's a massive snake, chunks of its body missing and bleeding- and you don't have any time to call out to Thane before Medusa strikes, cleanly taking his left arm off at the shoulder as she rushes by and dives into the lake.
Thane tumbles to the ground on the shore, mouth wide in a soundless scream. You and Ox are at his side, and you fend off the horrific undead corpses of the riflemen who roam the clearing.
"Sir. Thane- gods damn it, this is too much blood," Ox says, using the man's cloak to wrap around the stump of his shoulder. "We have to get him out of here-"
"Well, that's looking impossible," you snarl, narrowly dodging a globule of the black blood seeping across the surface of the lake. Then you hear Ivory's machine fire again, and you look over just in time to see both Giriko and your sister, knee-deep in water and each with a hand on Masamune's antlers, get swallowed whole by Medusa.
You can't comprehend what's happening, now. Kindred eating Star Clan eating- you've lost track. All you know is that this clearing is getting more crowded by the second, the Nightwalker's body at odds with the towering, many-headed serpent Medusa becomes, stars swirling in her dozens of eyes. She takes off through the forest, leaving destruction in her wake.
The headless Deer God stretches his arms after her, one of his hands slamming into the forest well beyond your line of sight. The earth heaves under your feet, trees crashing around the turbulent lake. Masamune makes another slow-motion swipe for Medusa, and though you brace yourself for impact, it never comes. There are only more walking corpses to contend with, and you think out of everyone you've led to the Nightwalker's lake, only you, Ox, and Thane remain alive.
This is your fault, isn't it? You've helped create the tenth hell because you hadn't warned Thane about Ivory and your father's orders. You angrily shout, kicking back a skeleton while Ox lifts Thane to his feet. You attempt to carve out anything close to resembling a safe path for them with your daggers, but you have to watch the guard's back as well. A rifleman's corpse stumbles out of the lake and reaches out for him and Thane, so you double back to knock it into the water.
"Black Star."
You whirl around to find Tsubaki, left behind as Ox carries Thane away. In this eternal grey twilight, she is full like the moon, face peering into yours.
"Help me."
"What!?" You dodge the jaws of some kind of undead animal, kicking its bones away. "What exactly do you think I can do? I can throw a knife at him but I don't think-"
"The wolves and the Demonsbane hunt the snake. Resonate with me."
"What does that even mean?" you ask, but you already think you know, somehow, in that piece of you that's been altered by her, linking your shadows together.
"I have no light of my own. I am not strong enough to stop my brother alone. Become my stars and we shall be the Nightwalker."
"Will that work?"
"I do not know. But I think I was born for this. And so were you, son of a fallen star." She holds out her shadowy hand just as her brother heaves up his, aiming for the two of you. "Together, we will be greater than any god has been or will ever be."
"Black Star!" you hear Thane shout. You look up to see him wild-eyed, he and Ox both watching you as sheets of Masamune's blood block you off from escaping.
You take Tsubaki's hand, the place where you touch turning to light. You give Thane one last glance and step forward, your wavering heart breaking free.
Mifune
\\
You wake inside a prison cell, your nose filled with the acrid smell of smoke. Eyes watering, you sit up from a bench and look over your shoulder at the exact moment that the kindred crow, Harvar, hurries to the wrought-iron door that cages you.
He's covered in blood, but he moves swiftly enough to suggest it doesn't belong to him. "The building's on fire- you need to get out," he says before even looking to see who you are, working a heavy key into the padlock. Once it's unlocked, he finally sees you, freezing in place. "Swordsman."
"What's happened?"
"I have no gods-damned idea!" he snarls, wrenching the door open and leading you out of the smoking prison hallway, pointing you towards the exit. "I'm gone for a few days and my lord goes missing and my home is on fire and-"
He's interrupted by the thundering sound of a war horn. You close your eyes; it has been a long time since you've last heard it, and it is still too soon.
Harvar doesn't bother explaining any further, digging through an open crate filled with prisoners' belongings. He pulls out your sword and tosses it to you. "I have to let the others out," he says, turning back for the hallway, but you grab his shoulder to stop him.
"Please, have you seen the girl?"
The crow winces, shaking his head. "Blair's been barricading everyone in the forge, I'd go there first."
You're running before he's finished speaking. Outside the prison, all you hear are screams and the clashing of weapons. You look for the hulking building of Iron Town's forge and dash towards it, sword in hand. All around you townsfolk are fleeing from the trained assassins of the Star Clan, but you also see several people ferociously fighting back, baring fangs and claws.
Looking around, you realize there are a great number of kindred in Iron Town, birds flying into groups of assassins who hunt down unarmed villagers, bull oxen charging through crowds, bears and panthers and wolves sinking their teeth into those who would eat them. You cut through clansmen as you pass through, doggedly heading for the forge, but then you hear the telltale lilt of Loresong, resonant and forceful from an alleyway.
Backed into a corner, you see Kimial with her hands outstretched, creating solid blasts of air that knock her attackers away. The Songs are a siren call to the Clan, however, and more and more cannibals try to fight their way down the alley for her. Next to her is the familiar green cage that holds Angela. The chameleon sees you, anxious joy on her face as she silently bangs her fists against the spell.
"Kimial!" you yell from the end of the alley, shoving away another assassin and slicing off their head. "Angela can help!"
A Star Clan woman tries to drop down from an adjacent building to avoid a direct attack, and you dash forward, running her through. The Loresinger sings a quick line of Song, blowing a gust of wind from her hands and slamming three other clansmen directly into your path. You dive out of the way.
"We are allies! Set her free!"
"I must protect the chameleon," she says, breathless.
You tell her the same thing you tell yourself: "You can't protect her if you're dead!" Scrambling to your feet, you deflect a flying knife when Kimial is too slow to sing it away. After shooting you a furious look, she finally blinks, considering. With a wave of her hand, Angela falls to the ground, free from her cage.
Before she's even on her feet, she begins singing, and Kimial suddenly shrieks, clutching her hands to her head. Angela continues to sing, and soon the Loresinger takes a gasping breath, eyes wide and vibrant blue. Her brows furrow when she sees you, taking a step back upon seeing your blood-stained clothes and sword, but then she sees the Star Clan group at the end of the alleyway, and she spits out a line of Song that creates a wind stronger than anything you've seen from her before.
"Eibon's spit, where in the hell am I?!" she shouts. "Who are you?"
"It's the stone, Mif!" Angela says, running to you and turning to smoke, climbing to your shoulder. "The white one! I figured it out- she uses it to control her. But I can sing it away!"
"You've done well." To Kimial, you say, "There's no time. We must go to the forge."
"Forge?" the Loresinger asks as she follows you out the alley. "Gods, is this Iron Town?"
Together, the three of you fight your way closer to the forge, Angela singing fire on anyone standing in your way. You cut through a crowd of Star Clan trying to break down the doors of the forge, their bodies blown away by Kimial.
Something collides with you, catching you off-guard and knocking Angela from your shoulder as you skid along the ground. Winded, you climb back to your feet, searching for the girl. Some Clan initiate has her by the tail, mouth opening wide, but she blasts a fireball directly into his face before you can get there.
Then, from behind you, you hear a familiar voice. "I was hoping I'd run into you, old friend."
"Warbringer," you say, turning in place.
"Traitor," White Star returns just as easily, stalking around you like a vulture. His mouth is slick with blood, face lit by the glowing stars in his eyes. "I heard you fought for the Empire, but now it seems you fight for beasts? Are they paying you well?"
Your hands fit neatly on the hilt of your sword. "I fight my own war now, White," you say, listening for the sound of Angela's singing.
As long as you hear her voice, you will fight.
"I have been in want of this for a long time, Mifune!" You meet in a shrieking of blades, each strike a mind game you both must play ten steps ahead- predicting old habits and countering them with new ones. The smell of blood and fire swims around you, and you're on the battlefield once again, White Star tossing tricks and deceit though you've always known him to go for the most direct kill, his strength so unparalleled and limitless that he can do nothing but.
White Star twirls his blade, taunting you. "I want you to know: Iron Town means little to me. I came here for you. Though your beast back there is a fine parting gift, I still won't forgive you."
And then he throws a knife to the side. It can only be headed for one person, and the only way for you to get there in time is to leave yourself openly defenseless.
She's singing so beautifully. You reach out with your long-bladed sword and deflect the knife, already knowing exactly where you will be impaled.
You hear the crack-boom of gunfire, instead. Your stomach is suddenly, alarmingly warm. You crumple to your knees, your fingers digging under your cloak to find the bullet hole.
"You bore me to tears," he says, pulling you up by greedy fistfuls of your hair, holding you for a killing blow. "The famous mercenary, done in by protecting my next snack."
You still hear Angela singing, her voice a silvered bell. She is all you need to be the ruthless beast, leaving behind a trail of death. White Star swings his sword so predictably, you need only push with your legs for a strike meant for your neck to become lodged in your shoulder instead.
With a furious roar, you bowl him over, bringing him to the ground in a pool of your blood; you wrench his sword out of your body so you can shove it down his throat.
\\
You are scattered in the snow. Your blood and White Star's steams on the ground as you watch the sky turn grey. The air is laced with panic, but you can't muster the strength to feel fear.
The world is off-balance, and you are dimly aware that your soul is wandering rather aimlessly outside of your body. Corpses rise and walk among the living. The girl sings that Song- the one about a wyvern- and sets all of Iron Town ablaze in a storm of fire.
You are not a religious man. Or rather, you feel that the gods have no reason to acknowledge you, and so you are separated from them as much as Angela is connected. But you hope, despite everything, that they hear this one plea you have- watch over this girl, who's dragging you into the infirmary in hopes of saving your life. You aren't allowed to see the world where she can live freely, but you hope the gods will protect her so that she may- your beautiful, reckless, violent daughter of your heart, who learned how to live by watching you.
And as you make this singular request, a giant hand, darker than a shadow, reaches across the sky and plucks you from your body. Its fingers glimmer with stars, and you are relieved- the Nightwalker has risen, here to carry your soul away to wherever it is slain warriors go.
Maka
\\
"Are you sure you don't want to come inside?" Marie asks, stifling her yawn with a paw. "There's plenty of supper."
"I am sure," you reply over your shoulder. "Thank you."
The bear doesn't look convinced, but she ambles back into the hut, Stein on her back.
It is quiet in the clearing. Wes and Soul are gone, Harvar and the kindred have left to protect Iron Town, and you remain, too weak to do much else but sit outside with your elk because the cold doesn't bother you anymore.
Crona presses his muzzle into your hands, but you have become a ghost, feeling nothing as the white smoke of his breath curls around your bandaged fingers.
The sun paints the sky in reds, and Raskogr whispers. It speaks through Asura and into your ears, and there are so many voices you are surprised you can still feel loneliness.
You take a deep breath and hope everyone is all right.
Scratching under Crona's chin, you listen to the wind as it sighs through heavy tree boughs.
"Maka."
You look up from from your hands, startled. Eyes searching the clearing, you call out, "Who's there?"
A breeze brushes your cheek. The voices of the forest grow louder in your ears as you strain to hear a particular one; even if ten winters have passed, it seems there is a part of you that can single it out from the din of thousands.
"Maka," says the wind.
You wobble to your feet, breath trembling as you are beckoned forward into Raskogr. Crona trails behind you as you slip between trees, little tricks of light darting around the edges of your vision.
Guided by flashes of bright wings, the longer you travel this unused path, the more sure your steps become. Soon you don't need to see her, only following the whisper of feathers, and it's not long before the road seems as clear as day in the dusk of the forest.
"Maka," says the wind, and suddenly your path crosses with another.
You look up to see the red sunset catching on pale fur, Soul walking out from between tall pines with his nose to the snow-covered ground. He smells you before he sees you, soul catcher still around his neck when he lifts his head in surprise.
For a long moment, neither of you speak, the silence punctuated by Crona blowing loudly through his nose. He is nearly as large as his brother, completely white save for his red eyes and black nose. Seeing him again as a god is to suffer elation and quiet heartache in the same breath.
Soul takes one step forward, ears tilting back. "You've gotten worse," he says, upset.
You listlessly nod. Containing Asura's hatred bottles him up inside you, and you think you will soon run out of space. "I am tainted," you say in weak jest. Soul drops his ears further, wincing at the joke. With a small smile, you say, "I am glad I got to meet you again."
He dips his head, somber. "My place is here. I will not leave it," he quietly says. Padding closer, he comes within arm's reach and shows you his neck. "I have your instrument. Take it."
"Mm." Reaching for the soul catcher, you hook your fingers under the cord around Soul's neck, combing through his soft fur. You pause. "No," you murmur, letting it slip from your hands. "I don't need it anymore. Keep it, please."
"You said it is sacred. Isn't it precious to you?"
You nod again. "Please."
With troubled eyes, he says, "Maka-"
"Brother, where- oh, there you are," says Wes, trotting out of the trees. "Sister?"
Standing side by side, the wolves make you feel even lonelier. You perform the Bloodless Bow. "Hello."
"What are you doing here?"
It feels a little cruel for you to find your mother so soon after the brothers losing theirs. "I was led by the Brightwinged."
The wolves share a look. "As were we," says Soul. "But why here? There is nothing of importance."
"It was at my request," a familiar voice says.
You whip your head to the right to find what you can only describe as emptiness. A dark blotch stands among you and the wolves, its silhouette made visible only by the snow-covered trees around it. As you watch, the shadow takes on a feminine shape, a pale, featureless face appearing between parting streams of pitch.
When the shadow turns that empty face in your direction, Asura's rage fills you fit to bursting. Antlers formed from darkness slowly bleed into view as the Nightwalker's sister says with surprise, "You see me, Demonsbane?"
You clench your throbbing hands at your sides, swallowing the salamander's fire because you choose to protect life. "I do."
Tsubaki tilts her head to the red-streaked sky, and her river of hair then rains upward, pouring into the canopy and blotting out the waning daylight. In the small pocket of night she creates, her face becomes visible. Her indigo eyes glow joyously as she smiles. "I am glad." Then, more gravely, she says, "I haven't much time. My brother is hunted."
The wolves both exclaim in anger and surprise. "What?!"
"Who dares attack Masamune?"
The god tilts her head, as if listening to something within her. "Many, though Thane aims to thwart the hunting party. But he does not see what lurks in the shadows like I do. The sparrow has brought you here to one of my Gates- I will take you as close as I can." She she closes her eyes, concentrating. Behind her, a swirling tunnel forms, puncturing the forest with a dark hallway that ends with a different view of Raskogr. Tsubaki wrings her hands together, shifting uneasily. "I am only my brother's shadow- I do not know the hearts of heaven or what they plan- but something big is coming, and the stars have named you necessary."
She looks to you, then, reaching for your aching hands and taking them in hers. "Maka, daughter of Spirit and Suzume, you are strong enough to carry a demon god in your flesh, and you cherish life enough to keep him there. Please help us. We have placed our hopes in you as well."
\\
You go to save the god who had saved you.
The sky is darker than you feel it should be- it had been sunset when you followed the wolves through the Gate, and though walking through that tunnel of shadows had only taken a few moments, the stars are already appearing overhead when you arrive.
From the west, you hear a frightening thunderclap of noise- it's something you've never heard before, though the demon in you knows it intimately. "Gunfire," Soul says, and he and his brother lead you alongside an icy creek, dashing towards the noise. Up ahead are the verdant green trees surrounding the Nightwalker's lake, peeking through Raskogr's winter snows, and over their tops you see massive, luminescent antlers searching for the night. The Deer God grows so tall he becomes mountainous, his face rising above the canopy to kiss the heavens.
Tsubaki joins you and the wolves, reaching from shadow to shadow towards her brother's lake. But suddenly she stops, her feminine form shattering into pieces.
"My brother-" she says, her voice a hundred different darknesses, and as you search for Masamune's face through the trees, you feel something in you stop.
You've become severed, broken away from something which you had never known you were connected until it vanished. Wes and Soul cringe and writhe with a hysteric kind of grief, and Crona trips while running at full tilt, blundering to the ground and throwing you from his back. You tumble away, reeling from the sudden silence in your heart, adrift in a world without a god.
Tsubaki reforms as a dark fawn for a few moments before splitting apart again. "My brother falls."
The air becomes stale. Overhead, the stars are held by a deathlike stillness, leaching away the colors of the forest to muddy, lifeless greys. You stumble to your feet, suffering a deafness of the soul. Rising high above the trees, you watch as the Nightwalker's head falls from his body, his neck weeping stars.
Distantly, you hear screaming. You are too late, says Asura, his deranged glee a putrid wound in your chest. The Deer God's stars filter through the wilting forest, their voices singing a song both ancient and despairing. You watch as the lights float down to the earth, instantly sprouting-
"The scales have been tipped!" Tsubaki cries out.
All manner of forest creatures crawl out of the ground, the souls that had failed to be taken to heaven breathing life into their bones. They rise as one, skeletal animals seeking out the living. You draw your crescent dagger, defending yourself as the bones of a boar try to gore you with its rotting tusks. You call for Crona so you can put some distance between yourself and this army of death, but your elk has been quickly cornered. Though he knocks scores of them aside with his antlers, he is pushed back even further away from you.
Asura's laughter poisons your blood. The living shall be put in their rightful place by those they forsook, he says, voice chewing your bones as you try to get to your elk's side.
The earth suddenly heaves beneath you, and you're thrown to the ground once more, weapon knocked out of your grasp. Crona brays in panic- you must get to him quickly, but now the dead reach for you as well, and you are unarmed. You roll to your feet, knocking away the bones and sinews of a fox with your heel and reaching for your dagger. Something paws at your back and you dance away, whirling around with knife in hand to attack whatever comes for you, but you find Soul there first, his fangs crunching around the creature. He flings it away with a heaving toss of his head. Streaking behind him, you see Wes leaping for Crona, carving through his attackers with his jaws.
"Get on!" Soul roars, snapping at another skeleton while you bury a hand in his fur and jump for his back. The wolf then dashes after his brother and Crona, weaving around the corpses of bears and wolves and deer, but before you can make it to them, something bursts from Masamune's lake with a loud, bone-snapping crack of crashing trees. The ground trembles again, Soul bracing himself to stay upright, and you look up to see a towering nightmare moving through the forest, separating you from Wes and the elk.
Asura's glee suddenly dies, replaced by a dizzying, seething rage that makes you clutch at your chest with a wheezing breath. As tall as Masamune's headless body, a black and gold, many-headed serpent pushes through the trees, each scaled neck ending with a different reptilian face. The centermost has sprouted the antlers of the Nightwalker, and wears a face you and Asura recognize- it is the woman from Iron Town who had shot you with a crossbow. She has stolen Masamune's powers, and she hisses back at the Deer God when he reaches across the sky for her, blindly seeking his head.
The Nightwalker's enormous hand misses its mark, slamming into the forest floor and leaving behind a river of thick, bubbling blood that contaminates the earth. Several of the serpent's huge heads strike at the hand, ripping even more blood from it before slithering away in the direction of Iron Town.
"Brother!" Wes barks, flanked by Crona. The two quickly back away from the cursed blood, the both of them unable to cross. "Do not let the demon escape! We will go around!" he calls before running into the forest.
The Deer God stretches once more for the serpent, lifting his massive hand and swinging it back down, and you realize with horror that you and Soul are in the line of fire. The wolf sprints away, trying to outrun Masamune, but you will not make it in time, the shadows of his fingers stretching over you both.
But then those shadows burst out of the ground, wrenching the Nightwalker's fingers away to slap into the earth a few yards away.
"I am not strong enough!" Tsubaki shouts as Soul continues to run after the serpent, and you look back to see the midnight shape of a long-legged deer, the gloaming of her antlers bending under the weight of her brother's power. "You must retrieve his head!"
Soul breathes heavily as he chases the black snake, the world dying around you. The serpent leaves a trail of destruction, its heads spitting steaming venom that burns every inch of Raskogr, and the demon in you howls for control. Where Asura had been pleased to see the Nightwalker fall, his outrage from seeing the one who had shot you both so utterly defiling nature and life now threatens to overtake you.
But you are angry, too, and you will not be wielded by his hatred. You will accept all of him wholly- because once you have identified your own rage and despair, it is easy to manage his. Before the salamander brings your death, you will wield him.
Eating up the earth with his huge paws, Soul catches up with the serpent, jumping for her enormous tail. Digging in his claws, he runs along her scales and coils, making for the the head with the antlers. Several other heads twist their long necks to find you, and they turn their barbed mouths to spray you both in venom. You do not feel it, but the wolf bares his teeth and cries out, the acid burning him.
You watch, horrified, as his moon-white fur slowly becomes black, cursing him. "No! Soul, you'll become like me!" you shout as he continues to scale the demon's body.
"I will also fight a god to protect my home!" he roars, leaping for the twining neck of the antlered snake head. "Now fly!"
You share a moment of weightlessness, and then he digs his fangs into the serpent's neck, her blood spilling over his face. Power crackling along your arms, you push off Soul's shoulders and become a rippling, crimson thing shrouded with black flame. Your dagger melts and morphs in your hand, growing into a monstrous blade.
You resonate with the demon god Asura and choose to protect life.
Thane
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Your dream had been different. The curtain wall had gone down in flames, Iron Town burning as it always burns, and though the salamander's tail had still constricted you to death, you had seen a great hand stretching over the city, fingers freckled with stars, and watched as it snuffed the fire out.
Harvar had always asked to know if your nightmare had changed, and when it finally had, it reminded you of him, which reminded you of the gun he gave you, which then reminded you of your broken wrist when you had fired at Moro. And that's when you hatched your plan to have all the rifles sabotaged.
But it wasn't supposed to be like this. You had planned to leave the Deer God in peace, but you have only helped cause a catastrophe far worse than your father ever had. Medusa wasn't supposed to gobble up the Nightwalker's head and tear after your home.
As Ox tries to drag you to safety, your blood soaking hot and hopeless through clothes, you see Tsubaki. Her long hair blends into the ruined earth as she stands before Black Star, her headless brother slowly reaching for them both. To see them together lances your heart, because even as the world is ending, you know plainly that there is something connecting the two that you can not touch.
You want to call out to him, and maybe you do, because he looks over his bandaged shoulder at you. The expression on his face as he takes Tsubaki's hand doesn't make him look like an assassin at all.
And then he's gone.
Tsubaki grows, her hands reaching up to touch the ceiling of the world as her body shines with twisting ropes of light. The heavens swirl around her fingers, brought back to life, and something in you snaps into place.
The night sky of her hair wraps around both her and her headless brother, binding them together until she absorbs him, too. She then reaches past you and Ox, carefully plucking something fiery from the forest and cupping it with both hands. She brings it to her mouth, swallowing it whole.
Her dark antlers glow with stars, souls unfurling into luminous blossoms. She looks to you then, those indigo eyes shining so brightly that you must close yours, and you wonder in the brief moment before you fall into darkness if you had imagined the scar on her face.
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