A bloodcurdling cry finally broke through the gory silence: Doji's.
"PAPA! PAPA, NO! NO!"
He buried his face in Sanshiva's shirt and wept ferociously, repeatedly screaming for his father. Motoki, Tobi, and Dokira roared together, fists raised, hearts pounding, tears flowing as what remained of Porunaga disappeared between the ruby-eyed serpent's teeth. Tobi gracefully dodged and struck at its middle, slowly but surely chipping its stony armor away. Dokira straddled its head, punching it repeatedly in the same spot as it screamed and shook its body. Motoki was busy pelting it with hot energy coils, burning away the scales and gems along its upper neck to expose the skin underneath. The force behind their strikes sent shockwaves rippling through the air around them, and they continued to attack and evade in formation with a steady and deafening rhythm that shook the valley. Punch, blast, kick, over and over again in perfect harmony like an offensive overture of flesh against stone, anguish against fury, and man against monster. The sounds sent shudders down the others' spines as they scrambled and sobbed relentlessly, fleeing further into the valley until finally arriving at Sanshiva's lakeside home.
Moori collapsed atop the stone dais. The sudden and horrifying loss of his older brother was too much to bear, and yet still, he screamed and cursed and struck the ground, his fist leaving several sizeable dents in the dais as he poured his pain into each strike, knuckles bleeding when he had nothing left to give. When Sanshiva landed beside her father, the little one in her arms slowly let go and reached for him, settling against his arm and weeping until he, too, had no tears left to cry.
Sanshiva turned her back to them, watching through tears as Doji's brothers gave the beast everything they had. Even from afar, the grief in their kiai was so very much apparent it almost hurt to hear. Shaking and whimpering, the young woman wiped her face and stared at the faint shadow at her feet, the phantom of her form barely visible against the stone. Sanshiva had no desire whatsoever to wield anything of hers that could consume her or harm anyone else. Yet the longer the beast screamed, snapped, and stretched for its prey, the more she realized it was time for her to step in. There was no one else to save the day, no one with a power like hers, and no one who could easily tip the battle in their favor the way she knew she could.
The female Namekian had always likened her strange power to having control of a semi-sentient, shadowy version of herself. In broad daylight, the darkness she wielded was a passive entity, tangible and safe as it molded into weapons or objects of her choice. But in the dark, it grew wild and needy. It would warp and expand, trying to shade everything around it. Keeping it still required a tremendous amount of energy and conscious effort on her part. If she failed to hold it in place, it would greedily leech the life from nearly anything it touched. Plants, animals, it didn't matter; too close a proximity and too little of her attention, and her shadow would reach for them with dark, ghostly tendrils and force them into the abyss of its form, swallowing them whole.
Though the energy absorbed from those small life forms was inevitably shared with the entity's host, Sanshiva had a love-hate relationship with the strange feeling that would flood her veins; the ki transfer was another monster entirely. Like a forbidden cocktail, the energy would send a rush of power through her that made her heart race and her head swim with desire. A fire would ignite in her veins, and her mouth would water as the hunger for more grew.
In the years since the incident with her first transformation, Sanshiva had found herself craving the additional ki surge to the extent that she had to remain in controlled, dark areas and allow her shadow to absorb the energies of what she felt was appropriate – wilting flowers, wounded animals or fallen fledglings – to keep the dark appetite sated. Without the occasional boost of energy, Sanshiva would become more and more irritable until soon she'd be sick with need, extremely frail, and highly unstable. The young woman hadn't allowed herself to leave the confines of her home in days to engage in the act, and now, as she glanced back at the others, she noticed the shadow upon the ground clawing for the Namekians just out of reach. She stepped off the dais and walked to the lakeside to keep it away from them, sighing heavily while she turned to stare at her shadow, now shaking its fist in frustration at her.
"No. Their energy is off-limits."
It placed its hands on its hips. Sanshiva could see the shade's foot shaking in irritation beneath her own.
"I know, I know, okay? Just… please, not them. I'll find something else, I promise."
"S-Sanshiva...? Who are you… talking to?"
She sighed and stared at Doji, who was shakily rising from her father's side; Sanshiva pointed toward her feet, and the boy gasped loudly. The shadow on the ground waved at him like an old friend.
"Whoa," he said, rushing forward and kneeling by her.
"Wait! Doji, don't touch it—"
Before the young woman could pull him away, a shadowy tendril reached for him and tickled his face before slinking into the ground. Shocked, he fell back momentarily before laughing and scrambling forward on his hands and knees, staring at it with glee. For a moment, his grief was lost in curiosity, and he poked and prodded at the shadow at her feet, marveling as his hand seemed to disappear within the void of its body. There was no shimmer upon the grass where it stood, no dirt between scarce patches, nothing but endless darkness that he could likely fall into if he leaned forward enough. Yet, it did not pull him in nor attempt to devour him as it did nearly everything else.
Instead, the dark entity's frame supported him softly, pushing against his weight as he sank his hand into what felt like a soft, black cloud. Its middle expanded and contracted like a frenzied heartbeat, and a pleasant sound soon rang in the boy's mind, sweet and spirited: laughter. He moved his hand, waggling his fingers in the blackness, laughing and wiping away stray tears with his free hand. He pulled away, and her shadow reached back for him with a thin wisp of smoky blackness that wrapped warmly around his hand, squeezing softly before receding into the darkness.
Doji gave Sanshiva a questioning look and asked softly, "What is that?"
"It's me. And not me. I don't know. It's… complicated," she replied sheepishly.
"Oh… Is this what you… covered yourself in? To change into—"
"A monster, yeah."
"I was gonna say your 'Shadow Form,'" the little one mumbled. "Sounds way cooler, anyways…"
"Listen, Doji, you can give it whatever name you like, but I'm still not doing it."
"Why not?"
"Because it's… It's… It's just not a good idea. Okay?"
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
"But my brothers need h—"
"And I can help them just fine without doing that."
"But—"
"Doji, whatever this thing is," she paused, motioning to the ground, "I'm not putting it on again."
"Aren't you tired, though," he asked sadly.
"…Tired of what?"
"Being scared?"
Sanshiva's eyes shot open, and she bit her lip. She had no idea how to respond. On the one hand, the young woman was, in fact, very tired of feeling the same wretched mixture of apprehension and terror that stifled the creativity she thought she once had with her dark abilities; on the other, Sanshiva felt that even if she did delve into her darkness once more, there would be no way out this time. The thought of possibly exposing Doji to what could only be described as a compounding nightmare was one she could hardly stomach.
The boy continued to poke and prod at her shadow with a melancholy look. The burgeoning scholar within him desperately wanted to see Sanshiva in her Shadow Form, fighting alongside his brothers to put down the tremendous ruby-eyed serpent; he wanted to see what she could do, document what the only woman of their kind had ever been able to consciously engage, and create a one-of-a-kind entry to his growing collection. Yet, after catching a glimpse of the pained look on the young woman's face, he hung his head low, ashamed that he'd asked her to take on a transformation she was quite clearly afraid of, and for good reason. His thoughts returned to his father's story; Sanshiva had nearly killed Moori five years prior after having let loose that same power. She'd lost control in the middle of a sparring match with no knowledge of how to reverse the dark mutation, and it wasn't until morning that the shadowy entity finally peeled from its host to reveal the frightened and dazed little girl at its core.
He reasoned that Sanshiva had been steeping in her Shadow Form for some sixteen hours – having transformed during the day – before losing all sense of reason the same night he was born. Then it hit him. He stared at the horizon, noticing that there was, in fact, a little over an hour before morning. A thin strip of skyline started to pale, the stars barely visible beyond a band of pastel green light. If wielding her shadowy power was too much after sixteen hours, then doing so for less than that amount of time could prove far more manageable – beneficial, even – for the warrior woman that stood before him.
"I'm tired of being scared," he said, reaching for the shadow's hand and resting his own upon it.
"But Doji—"
"One shot in the dark," he uttered. "Just one."
"That thing makes a mon—"
"I'd become a monster, too, if something was trying to kill me…"
Sanshiva gasped and stepped back as if she'd been blown away by a cold gust of air. Strangely enough, he was right. She imagined the beast chasing her father momentarily, and her fingers curled into fists. Not a soul, living and able, would waste a second trying to save him, and yet, here she was, hesitating to assist Porunaga's sons after the Elder had sacrificed himself for all of them. But before she could answer Doji back, a terrible cry sounded through the air, a cacophonous death whistle that shook the ground and made her, Doji, and Moori groan and cover their ears. Blood pooled by their palms, all else now drowned out in a terrible ringing sound. Reeling, they stared into the distance just in time to see Motoki get snatched up again.
He cussed and screamed, grabbing for scales, wrenching and wringing them away like stubborn teeth from gums one at a time with his free hand. His motions became desperate, feral in a sense, as the creature's skin ripped and showered him in blood, and he roared with all his might, freeing another of his arms. Motoki's hands and forearms rippled with fiery red ki, and he screamed, aiming dead center for the beast's face.
"IGNEOUS… ARROW!"
From both his hands, infernal shots flew forth, and the following explosions rattled the earth like a pair of volcanic eruptions. Shards of crystal along the serpent's sides became glass, melting atop each scale, seeping into cracks and hardening against the cold skin underneath, splintering and slicing the abomination with every move. It bellowed and flung Motoki, who skipped across the ground with bone-breaking speed before landing mere feet from the lakeside, completely motionless.
Doji panicked, running to his brother, heart racing as he realized what Motoki had done.
"Come on," he said, rubbing his palms together. "Wake up!"
With a great surge like citrine electricity, he slapped his hands upon Motoki's chest. The man's body convulsed violently before settling back against the ground.
"Motoki," the boy whined, eyes flooded with tears. "Open your eyes!"
He did it again. Still nothing.
"DANG IT, MOTOKI! COME! BACK!"
One pulse, two pulses, three pulses; upon the fourth and brightest, Motoki finally sprang to life under the boy's hands, and Doji let loose a loud cry of relief as he fell to the grass beside his sputtering and coughing older brother.
"You… crazy… kid," the man panted. "Get outta here."
"No! I'm not leaving you behind!"
"Seems… like something… a brave new Elder would do…" Motoki said, slipping back into unconsciousness.
Doji crawled back to him and rested his head against Motoki's chest as gingerly as possible. He gave Sanshiva an urgent look. His brother's arms had withered away, and though somewhat stable, the man's breathing was shallow. Upon Motoki's broad chest, Doji spotted the impressions, the sunken muscles, and slightly loosened skin that indicated a fair number of his ribs had been broken. His left leg had twisted and split during landing, and he winced at the sight of his brother's foot, contorted in the wrong direction. He'd been doubly troubled for all his efforts and still pressed on. Moori scrambled from kneeling atop the dais and ran for them, cradling Motoki's head and gazing at his daughter, who was now shaking as she watched Tobi and Dokira struggle to keep the beast at bay from both ends.
"Sanshiva… please… you have to tr—"
"I have one hour before sunrise," she said suddenly, eyes still affixed to the battle.
Doji stood up and shook the haze from his eyes.
"If this doesn't work—"
"It will work," he encouraged her.
She breathed deeply, focusing her attention on the shadow by her feet. It started to warp and warble before peeling from the ground like paper from a desk. Doji gasped, and his mouth hung open before his lips curled into a smile.
The little figure was barely bigger than he. Slim and dark, it was like staring into a black hole; it did not gleam with any light nor reflect the glow of his sash or the soft aura of the stars above. From within the form, two pinpricks of light danced where its eyes would have been; the left twinkled like an orange sunburst, and the right sparked with a violet flame. It did not speak, for it had no mouth, yet with one gesture, it told Doji everything he needed to know. He looked down at his sash momentarily and chuckled.
'Embrace the duality within, as always you should.'
He pulled Sanshiva down with him, and the two hesitated slightly before reaching back for the entity, holding tight as its cold abyss wrapped around them like a deep shroud. Their bodies surrendered to the specter's grip before it began to distort once again, forming a thick cocoon that soon exploded with two colossal energy rays – one dark and raging, the other golden and gleaming – that rattled the earth and spiraled high into the night sky.
Moori's heart raced, and he held onto Motoki tight as the subsequent wave of hot, crackling air burst through, nearly throwing them into the lake. With one hand up against the light and one eye open, he reached out with his ki sense, realizing that Sanshiva's and Doji's collective energies had utterly disappeared. So great was their power that he could no longer understand where it began or where it ended, for this was no ordinary energy. This was a metamorphosis spurred by god ki, not the dark transformation he'd witnessed the afternoon of his daughter's tenth hatchday.
The two Namekians screamed while the power surge wound through every muscle and sinew, and their bodies became wrapped in light and dark, respectively. Their senses sharpened, and their bodies began to change. Though the pain it came with was searingly hot and unbearably heavy, Sanshiva and Doji took it all in, bathing in amplified ki until the light finally faded. They blinked and rubbed their eyes, staring at one another in joyous shock. Like mirror images of one another, the two now stood at equal height, wholly unrecognizable in their towering new bodies.
Doji looked like an enlarged version of his brother Dokira, with chiseled features and a square jawline befitting his newly widened frame. His skin was a bright citrine, and the segments along his arms had lightened to a golden champagne hue. With his upturned antennae and rippling form, the boy was now a musclebound wonder and smiled wide as he marveled at how high up he now seemed from the ground. His hands were massive, and his entire body felt like connected masses of hardened, sharpened steel, weighty and near impenetrable. He turned about to stare at his reflection in the lake, chuckling at how loud and heavy his feet sounded with every step. He noted the pinpricks of red at the center of his eyes – like the first of their suns, the hottest and brightest – and turned back, marveling at his new companion.
Sanshiva had turned into a demoness, a dark figure with great wings, sharp, upturned horns, and a long, barbed tail. The segments along her arms were no longer visible, shrouded by an impenetrable blackness as if she had donned the void of night instead of her true skin. Her aura pulsed with a wave of dark energy, her eyes blazed with hot amethyst fire, and her hair had turned into a violet inferno. Sanshiva peered at the reflection in the lake and smiled, noticing the rows of sharp teeth peeking through black lips. She'd never seen herself like this before. Slowly but surely, her body adjusted to the weight on her back, and she stretched and flapped her new wings, grinning wide as she lifted away from the ground.
"Wow," Doji uttered before covering his mouth in shock at the sound of his voice.
Sanshiva laughed heartily before covering her mouth; hers was somewhat shrill, dual-toned, and supernatural as if a specter had made its home in her throat. The two gave each other a determined look and a nod.
"We've got one hour before sunrise," Doji said.
Without further ado, the two took off, and Moori's eyes welled with tears as he eyed the symbol on the backs of their clothes, an ajisa ringed by a thick circle. The symbol of their people's pride and power.
Sanshiva mustered her energy forth to create a black scimitar, playing with it, waving it back and forth to feel its balance and the surfs of hot air created in its wake. Doji smiled and looked momentarily at his hands before thinking of a weapon to wield beside her. He snapped his fingers, and a tiny spark ignited between them while an idea came to his head. He gathered energy into his palms before creating a large circle of ki in the sky. Soon, within the boundaries of the ring of light, a tremendous half-dome emerged – a gigantic, round shield that sparkled like a titanic tiger's eye gemstone – and flew beside him as if to follow his will.
As they soared ever closer, Doji spotted the telltale signs of a serpent strike – the open mouth and reared head – and made his first move. With lightning speed, he darted between Tobi and the beast, spinning with his arms extended, assuming a fluid motion and willing his great shield to move with him in a wide arc, smacking the giant snake aside. A sound like a cathedral bell rang out, and though it hurt to hear, Doji pressed on.
Tobi's jaw dropped, and Dokira's with it. For a moment, they froze and watched as the massive, golden Namekian began to predict the beast's movements, gracefully dodging and countering with all his might with sinuous strikes that resembled their little brother's fighting style; the twisting and winding motions ending in devastating blows, the kiai that resembled a war cry, the precision with which the sparkling entity aimed every strike. Their reaction only intensified as another creature – feminine, yet dark and menacing, like the polar opposite of its companion – soon followed. A great black scimitar danced like a sharp phantom around them the same way while they circled around the creature and matched the gleaming man move for move.
The men slowly backed away, still in awe of the two divine beings that twirled about the ruby-eyed serpent as if they'd done this deadly dance before. Well-timed evasive maneuvers and swirling movements, coupled with the cathedral bell toll of the Namekian's shield and the hard, ringing slice of the demoness's scimitar, made for a terrifying and magnificent clamor that they found hard to peel themselves away from. Torn between the burning desire to watch the fight from up close or seek out their injured brother, they gave each other a nervous look until, at last, they opted for the latter, closing in towards Moori and the still-unconscious Motoki to observe from afar.
Sanshiva finally managed to cut through several rock layers before landing near its head and plunging her blade deep into the exposed skin of its upper neck. She spat and retched as a stream of blood shot up, coating her face and chest in a warm, metallic-tasting mess.
"Argh! Oh my gods, yuck!"
Doji chuckled, and Sanshiva shot him an angry look before the serpent tossed her off, hissing and shrieking with agony as the blade bore through its flesh and the scent of igneous matter and blood flooded the air. Sanshiva's weapons were imbued with a fiery power – searingly hot to the touch – and though the scimitar pierced the skin, it simultaneously cauterized and lodged in the wound, becoming nothing more than a literal pain in the neck.
The giant serpent wailed with fury as it pursued her and snapped its jaws. Sanshiva made a great flap with her dragon-like wings and burst upward, evading effortlessly and snapping her fingers to will the stuck scimitar away. This time, the warrior woman recycled the weapon's dark energy to form a massive black bow and, with a bit more of her shadowy ki, willed forth a bundle of ghostly arrows that levitated around her. She reached for one, steadied her aim for the serpent's eye, and bellowed as she fired. Like a pointed comet, it sailed through the air before sticking into its intended target, forcing another ear-piercing scream to hit the air.
Sanshiva winced through the sound and shot several more, aiming for the flesh along its neck and middle, screaming, "Will you shut the hell up?!"
The giant snake bellowed again and moved about frantically, barely avoiding another series of deep, burning punctures before barreling blindly toward the mountain. Doji screamed and gave chase, throwing his shield against the opening it had created and blocking its escape. The serpent grunted roughly as it collided with the giant blockade and turned back, licking the air to locate its pursuers.
Doji sent a gust of hot air from his body, knowingly scattering his scent about to throw the creature off. As it waved its head about, he took the opportunity to motion to Sanshiva, pointing urgently towards its tail. His mouth kept forming two words, over and over: 'Pin it, pin it!'
Sanshiva nodded and changed her weapon again, creating a massive black lance, and brought her wings in close before diving straight down. With a significant surge of power toward the soles of her feet, she propelled as fast as she could, landing hard and sinking her weapon into the naked spot along the tail, driving the weapon as deep as possible within the ground until finally pulling away, smirking at her handiwork. Now tethered to the spot, the creature convulsed and wailed, swinging itself around; Doji barely had any time to react before he was bashed through the sky and sent straight into his shield, head ringing and back aching against the sudden and powerful impact.
"Stupid flippin' snake," he spat, "That hurt!"
Sanshiva laughed; though he looked like a man, he still spoke like a child.
Doji shook the stars from his vision and lunged back at it, angrier than ever, fingers joined together in a tight fist. Just as it opened its mouth to scream at him again, Doji uppercut as hard as he could, forcing the beast's mouth shut and breaking its stony fangs. He punched it again – left, right, left – before volleying its head to the ground.
The impact of its landing spread a deep well across the earth beneath, and the serpent hissed weakly as blood pooled between scales and dripped into the dirt. Sanshiva met with Doji on the ground, and they approached it carefully. With a wave of his hand, Doji summoned his shield away from the side of the mountain, hovering it in line with the snake's head in guillotine fashion. Just before he could focus his attention enough to will it down and decapitate their foe, it leaped up, pulling hard against the lance in the ground and splitting through the flesh of its own tail, slithering desperately toward the mountain with a disheartened cry. Doji tried to chase and block it once more, but the speed it had mustered – the fear in its heart now turned into a desperate tool for survival – had proved too great to counter.
"Aw, come on! Seriously," the boy huffed.
"Less talking, more ass-kicking," Sanshiva said, soaring straight into the darkness.
"LANGUAGE," he screamed out after her.
"OH, COME ON!"
She held her hands out, allowing her fingers to graze the sides of sizeable crystal spikes. They lit at her touch, glowing the way down into the earthen labyrinth like a star-speckled trail. They chased after it and found it at the center chasm, making a strange clicking noise, a call for company. Sanshiva's heart dropped. She recognized that sound, but several years prior, had fortunately escaped whatever came next. Even still, it made her sick to her stomach.
The odd tittering shuddered through the mountain halls and almost immediately, something called back: an army of much smaller, shinier somethings, in fact. Black and eyeless, with gem-lined mouths and fat bodies, they emerged from the caves in droves. They fell away from the walls and ceilings, eked out in groups from the various entrances, gathering together on the floor with a disgustingly loud thwap as the pile of hatchlings grew ever further. They gathered over their elder snake, sinking their teeth into every scale and crevice, stiffening their bodies and knotting amongst one another to form a prodigious living shield across their breeder's body as it released a deafening cry.
Sanshiva and Doji wailed as the sound battered their eardrums again, heads swirling, walls spinning, hearts ready to burst. Angry, the demoness screamed back, and the sound that erupted from her lips frightened and emboldened her. Hers was the sound that could move the mountain; the walls shook, and the million-snaked monstrosity groaned against the vocal fury of an infernal army, vehement and raw as if every hellion within those dark legions had been set free at the warrior woman's command. Doji gasped and trembled slightly, taken aback by the ferocity of Sanshiva's demonic shriek; the creature did the same while it whimpered and slunk hurriedly down a neighboring tunnel. Its new armor helped it burrow ever deeper underground, carving new paths into the depths of the earth in a frantic attempt to escape.
Sanshiva growled and continued the pursuit, forming a similar shield made of her energy to match Doji's; they joined together, encapsulating themselves in a great orb, half shadow and half gleam, winding their way down its new route, barreling through small groups of hatchlings that unsuccessfully gnawed upon their barricade, until they at a dead end with a bottomless hole pierced straight through the ground. They looked warily at one another before peering down, noticing the steady stream of cold, wet air surging up to meet them, tainted by the scent of death. As they floated through the threshold, the sight before them sent a chill down their spines.
An underground lake had formed from a steady stream of water leaking from above, but the chamber was littered with bones and the shredded remains of what may have been oversized rodents. Limbs and tails were floating atop the surface, and the liquid itself seemed a strange and sickly shade of red and orange, with a sludgy, dark layer just barely visible toward the bottom. Doji retched and snapped his fingers, willing forth the ki to form a mask across his face. It barely helped, as the pervading stench seemed to seep into his very skin. Sanshiva fared no better, coughing through the smell of decay and mimicking his move.
"Ugh, it reeks," the demoness uttered, gagging slightly.
"Yeah, no kidding," Doji said, looking about.
The two eyed the water's surface, nervous at its stillness. If the monster had indeed disappeared through here, the ripples of its landing would have still been evident. Yet, as they wandered further into the great pit, peering about the littered corpses of the monstrosity's prey, the strange clicking sound thrummed again. Sanshiva froze and Doji with her. Their breathing grew ragged, and they spun around just in time to avoid the reach of an even larger terror than the one they'd been chasing.
Having located and gathered the remainder of its legion to create a bigger, able body, the great serpent released a terrible cry, failing to capture Sanshiva and Doji within one of the many sets of spindly legs and thick claws formed from the bodies of its strange hatchlings. It hung from the ceiling and pulled back before crawling slowly towards them, mouth hanging open and tongue flicking forth.
"Shit," Sanshiva breathed.
"Language," Doji chided quietly.
"I reserve the right to curse when I'm staring death in the eyes, damn it," she hissed.
"Well… shit," Doji repeated.
The thousand-snaked monstrosity lunged forth, and the two Namekians split away from one another as it lost its handle on the stone ceiling and landed in the water, sending a massive wave of bloody murkiness toward them. They spat and screamed as the teeming liquid crashed around and over them, and through coughs and gags, roared angrily together, watching as it crawled up the wall and back to its lofty position. Doji launched and spun himself around, and like a buzzsaw, barreled through several of its arms with his shield extended before him, slicing through its appendages in sickeningly raw fashion. Blood sprayed and spurted in thick rivulets, coating him as he reversed direction and did it again along the other side. He hadn't realized he'd made a mistake, but Sanshiva recognized the sound created in the wake of his attack, the same threatening sound of millions of tons of water just waiting to burst upon them. As the creature flopped into the muck beneath them, the ceiling began to creak and crack; Doji's move had carved two great lines that swiftly lengthened and webbed outwards until it collapsed with an explosive, watery roar, and the lake above met full force with the cesspool below.
The creature let out a gurgling cry as the underground lake spun around like a soup of decay that coated the walls and frothed amidst the rushing tide. Doji and Sanshiva were instantly consumed by the resulting wave, thrown into the bubbling mixture, gasping for air and retching as they surfaced. Doji grabbed for her and swam through the torrents, willing energy into the soles of his feet to help push against the crushing sensation and break through to the air above.
The Namekians coughed and heaved loudly as they landed sloppily on the shore, relieved at the taste of fresh air and the scents of dirt and grass. Dokira, Tobi, and Moori ran for them, hoisting them further away as the lake drained with a prodigious sloshing sound until it ran dry and its remaining inhabitants were left flopping about and gasping for water.
Sanshiva sat up and shook her head, water sizzling about her fiery mane and splashing onto Moori, who chuckled and hugged her tight. Soon, Tobi and Dokira's attention wandered to her, and their mouths hung agape yet again at the sight of the young woman-turned-demoness, a conqueror of the void, a goddess of darkness. She slowly stood up and flexed her aching wings while the soft expression of shyness soured over before staring into the gaping hole at the center of the lake bed. Glances were exchanged, and the men collectively stopped, almost holding their breath while watching Sanshiva's tail sway back and forth. They noted the slow, deliberate way she folded her fingers to form two shaking fists, a move that spoke of a woman enraged.
Sanshiva growled; she could sense the aberration, wriggling through the depths of the disgusting mixture that slopped around its den, rising steadily to breach the surface. Everything in her body spoke of wanting to be done with the deal, to be rid of the pestilent nightmare and resume some semblance of normalcy. The sky paled through its colors, signaling daybreak was but a short while away. The demoness's eyes began to pulse with heat until the flames jutting out lapped at her ears and the sides of her head. Her heart pounded, and she steeled herself for the monstrosity's emergence. If a head-on assault wasn't working, her last resort would have to do.
It was time.
"Doji," she said curtly, "Get out of here and take them with you."
"Wait," he cried, scrambling to his feet and grabbing her hand. "We're supposed to be doing this together!"
"Not this. This… is all me. Go. Please," Sanshiva urged.
With harrowing timing, yet another deafening call echoed from the depths, and the creature burst from the ground. Half of its living armor was now gone, washed away by the rushing currents that filled its den, body clearly shuddering from pain and exhaustion while it clambered for the shore. Sanshiva screamed in frustration and lunged for it while Moori and Dokira each held onto Motoki and hurriedly flew away, with Doji and Tobi trailing just behind.
Sanshiva mounted its middle and began ripping away hatchlings with unbridled fury. Each one was torn apart, set alight at the touch of her fingers, or crushed in her grip as she chose, hands now coated in a mixture of gore and thick patches of what felt like scalding hot clay. The creature bucked and craned its head, clamping its crumbling fangs upon her wing before throwing her into the giant mud bowl. With a massive, sloppy thwack, the demoness hit the ground and roared in disgust, robes and skin now sopping wet with algae and clay and a gaping hole in her wing. She lunged again for it, digging her nails deep into the skin of its neck and using focused efforts to do the one thing she had hoped to avoid altogether: a vampiric transfer of ki. Tendrils of the monstrosity's life essence wafted about and sank into the depths of the void-like skin along her arms, and she sighed heavily.
Sanshiva's body began to feel as if she'd been set aflame in the most glorious of ways; the fear and frustration the monster harbored seemed to mix into the ki she drank in, creating a heady drug that only fueled her desire for it further. The power dissipated her fears and washed away her doubts, and the anguished beast's cry began to feel like music to her ears. She dug in deeper, blood streaming and spilling upon her face and body, but she didn't seem to care. Every part of her began to change further; her wings lengthened, her nails and fangs sharpened, and the young woman's body morphed until she became a demonic titan, her hands now large enough to wrap firmly around her foe's shuddering form. Her wings blocked out gigantic portions of the night sky, and her fiery mane lit the valley like a raging inferno.
The others watched from a distance as the demoness became a draconic nightmare and yelped as they watched the devilish entity sink its barbed tail straight through the serpent's middle, pinning it firmly to the ground. Blood spurted forth and rained down all around as the demon's claws bore through flesh in a primal rhythm, gore flung about haphazardly as it raged about and tore into its foe. Tears coalesced in Moori's eyes; he recognized the animalistic movements, the hunger in her massive eyes, and the wicked grin now spread across her lips.
As the first of New Namek's suns peeked over the horizon and bathed the valley in a wave of warm light, Sanshiva let out a war cry like none other before unleashing the full strength of her colossal new form. She sank her claws into its upper neck and ripped back, and what followed was an explosion of gore that washed over her home and sullied the lakeshore. She screamed and spat fire at its head before aiming the violet blaze at its body, singeing the remaining hatchlings until all that remained was ashen earth and bones by her taloned feet. With wings outstretched and gigantic fingers wound into tight fists, she screamed at the sunrise until her form gave way. Shadow faded into the sunlight, dissipating like a sparkling violet and black mist until finally revealing the terrified young woman underneath.
Doji's body began to shimmer and twinkle from a distance until his orange form disappeared altogether, uncovering the little one at its core. He gave himself a once-over before racing away to find Sanshiva, and his heart sank at the sight of her weeping weakly among the remains of the lake bed.
"San—"
"Stay away from me," she uttered shakily, eyes affixed to the gore stuck between her fingers and under her nails.
Doji blinked in confusion and repeated her name. "Sanshiva…?"
"I said stay away, Doji…"
"But… it's over now, Sanshiva! You did it! You beat that thing—"
"I'm a monster," she breathed. "A monster…"
She hurriedly turned about, two cosmic, tear-laden eyes set within a frightened and blood-caked face staring straight at him. Her breathing became ragged, and her lip quivered as she repeated it.
"A m-monster…"
Every time the boy got closer, she scrambled back until finally, he ran towards her, squeezing as hard as he could. She wailed in his arms and tried to push him away, but the more she fought him, the tighter he held on, fistfuls of her soiled gi gripped between his little fingers and face buried in the crook of her neck.
"Stop that," he said softly.
"Yes, I am," Sanshiva sobbed, "That whole time… As soon as I started to… I just…"
The young woman couldn't finish. She didn't have the heart to tell him exactly how it felt. The rush of adrenaline, the devilish urge to bite into its flesh, to taste its anguish on her tongue; all of it was like a bad dream that left a foul taste in her mouth and a horrible feeling in her gut. But somehow, Doji didn't seem to care about any of that. He didn't seem to care what she had become for that brief time before sunrise. All that mattered was that she'd won and had done so in a manner befitting her name, the Dragon of the Void.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," he said softly. "You were awesome."
"I was terrifying!"
"Well, yeah," he agreed, nodding. "You were, but… Just like every genius comes with a touch of madness, every fighter has a little monster in them – a demon like yours – waiting for the right time to come on out and show the bad guys they mean business."
"Bad guys? What do you think I am, some kind of hero?!"
Doji pulled away and cupped her face momentarily, staring deep into her eyes before pressing their foreheads together.
"Yes, Sanshiva. Yes, I do."
Dear Readers:
Feel free to visit the AO3 version of this fic - same username and same story title - as I have shared the links to the music that inspired these chapters and will be adding the accompanying artwork for the story. Leave a kudos/comment on either version and let me know what you think of this story story far!
Stay tuned for Chapter 4: Uncharted Territory!
