Monsterworld, p.127
Monsterworld, page 127
part #1 of Monster Slayer Series
The gorilla released a bellow and leapt high in the air, shedding many of his attackers in the process. He landed atop four other monsters, crushing them flat. He beat his chest so hard I could feel the thump-thump-thump in my own chest. His eyes met mine and I could tell he was suffering from his wounds, his eyes wild and unfocused. He nodded and then took off, bounding through the hordes of monsters in the direction of the Morgoss who, thus far, had been content to hang back and watch the action from a distance.
“No!” I shouted, but the Kong-like gorilla didn’t respond to my voice, battering his enemies as he charged at their leaders, who stood as still as stone, seemingly unconcerned by the massive gorilla charging in their direction. In fact, the one with the stony skin we’d faced in Annakor even cocked his head to the side as if amused.
I ran after the gorilla, but Tattoo-ah-ah was simply too fast out here on the open landscape, and soon he’d cut the distance to the Morgoss in half while I was still trying to wade through the enemies that blocked me and the many bodies piled up on the killing fields.
I stopped when I realized I had no chance of catching the gorilla. Many others, including the monsters, ceased fighting to watch what would happen. The stone-chested demon overlord stepped forward, mouth opening in a smile. Tattoo-ah-ah bellowed again and threw himself at the Morgoss, swinging a mighty punch at his head.
Time seemed to freeze. When it unfroze, the Morgoss had grabbed Tattoo-ah-ah as if he was nothing more than a stuffed gorilla and not a massive killing machine capable of uprooting trees. With a quick jerk, he broke the beast’s neck and tossed him aside like he really was a stuffed gorilla.
All around us, the other gorillas’ eyes rolled back in their heads and they fell. Lifeless.
Dead.
Somehow, by the Syrene’s magic, their life forces were connected to his.
I felt a pang in my chest at the loss, because these wild and sometimes amusing creatures deserved better. They weren’t born killers; they were made into them. And I’d been no better than the Syrene, using them in a war they likely wanted nothing to do with.
It was just another of a plethora of mistakes I’d made since I arrived on this planet. I’m sorry, I thought, vowing to bury each and every one of their bodies on my own once this was all over. But I couldn’t dwell on their deaths or my own mistakes now, not when the battle’s conclusion hung in the balance.
I had hoped we would be able to find a way to defeat all the monsters and still have some of our Warriors left so we could surround the Morgoss and take them down. I now understood the foolishness of that plan. Defeating the Morgoss was the battle. Kill them and the rest would fall as easily as dominoes, just as Tattoo-ah-ah’s minions had been reliant on their leader’s life. With that in mind, I focused my attention on the stony-skinned Morgoss that had stepped back next to his comrade.
I threw a bludgeon aside as easily as if it was a featherweight. I battered three Maluk’ori with a single blow without even looking at them. I kicked a hellhound in the head and kept moving.
And then I was free of the fray, only empty space separating me from the Morgoss.
I walked toward them without fear, anger fueling my every step. No, not anger, I thought. Righteous rage, pure and honed to a killing point. Enough to crumble mountains, to drain oceans, to fell forests.
I forced myself to look at Tattoo-ah-ah’s mighty body as I passed, which only made the rage burn hotter in my chest. I could easily condemn the decisions made by the Three, by Eve, but at the core of everything were these two demons. They were the cause of all the pain and loss I’d suffered in the months I’d spent on Tor, which was only a drop in the bucket of pain that others had endured over the last century.
I wasn’t one to hate, I just didn’t usually have it in me. Well, I had it in me now.
I hated these assholes.
The stony skinned one stepped forward again; apparently, he was the enforcer. Next to me, he was a dark tower, as formidable as if I were to face the moon or the stars themselves. But I was also a God—not to be underestimated.
Plus, I had help. I smiled as Airiel passed overhead and Minertha burst from the ground. While Persepheus lay dying, I rounded out the new Three, representing air, earth and light. I showed off that light as I slammed my hammer into the ground, causing a crack to form, racing across the expanse and creating a small rift directly between the Morgoss’s legs. He looked down at the chasm, confused for a second, and then looked back up at me. He laughed, deep and throaty, probably at my ignorance for thinking my tiny hammer could hurt him in any way.
“Boom,” I said softly, just as light erupted from the canyon, shooting upward. Each ray of light was a blade, cutting into his flesh, like darts piercing a board. He roared, taking a step back and swatting at the light, which only caused blades to enter his hands and arms.
All this time I’d been underestimating my own power as a God, not truly understanding what I was capable of. No more.
Unfortunately, the Morgoss would only underestimate me once, and I’d now lost the element of surprise. He recovered swiftly, stepping hard to the left and grabbing Tattoo-ah-ah’s corpse, flinging it at me with all the speed of a Nolan Ryan fastball. I reacted as fast as I physically could, diving to the right. Even still, one of the gorilla’s arms flopped to the side and smacked into me, sending me spinning like a torpedo. I hit the unforgiving ground with enough force to shatter a mere mortal’s bones. Only my God status saved me, but the air was punched from my lungs and my head was left ringing like a twelfth-round “Fight!” bell.
Stars circled my head as I tried to lift my cheek from the dirt. “Ur?” I said, feeling confused. Where was I? Who was I? A word echoed through my mind. Beat, Beat, Beat… Yep, that was about right. I’d been beat—badly by the feel of it.
“Ryder?” a voice said, muffled in my cloudy mind. “How many fingers am I holding up?” A face appeared, along with a hand with all its fingers outstretched. I knew this person. Her name was Beatrice but if I called her that she might turn her outstretched hand into a fist and add some more stars to those orbiting my head.
“Beat?” I said.
“How many fingers, Ryder?”
“Five?” I said, like it was a question.
“Four, dumbass,” she said. “A thumb is not a finger. Now get your ass up. You’re a God, not some pathetic mortal like me.” She offered me a hand. I took it and her strength gave me strength as she hauled me to my feet.
“Did you get the license plate number on that truck?” I asked.
“Yeah. B-I-G-A-S-S-A-P-E.”
“I think that’s too many letters…”
A sound like the shriek of an incoming missile drew my attention away from our banter and back to the battle between two very pissed off goddesses and the equally pissed off Morgoss. Airiel struck from the air, looking more like a bolt of lightning as she crashed into the stony head of the bastard that took me down. He raised his arms to protect himself, but it made little difference. A shockwave shook through him, chunks of rock-hard skin breaking away and tumbling to the ground.
He was left smoking as Airiel rebounded, landing hard on the dirt and skidding to a stop not far from where we stood. The attack had been impressive, but it had also taken a lot out of her. “Check on her,” I said. “I’m going back in.”
“Ryder,” Beat said, and I expected a lecture. “Be careful.”
I nodded. “You too. Now go.”
Beat took off at a run toward Airiel, while I sped toward the first of the two Morgoss, who was still reeling from Airiel’s airstrike. One of his arms had fallen off completely, slamming to the ground and embedding itself in the earth. The same earth that now split open as Minertha exploded from underground, lowering her head and leading with her shoulders, crashing into the Morgoss’s leg as if it was the door and she was the battering ram.
Already damaged and weakened by Airiel, the leg shattered on impact. The earth goddess didn’t stop there, her body a blaze of fury, hitting the other leg and knocking it out too. Minertha tripped, or perhaps the strength in her legs gave out. Regardless, she fell, somersaulting several times before coming to rest in the shadow of the broken demon overlord, which was about to topple over like a felled tree.
I didn’t think—just reacted—exploding from my haunches and sprinting toward her fallen form, mentally pushing power to my legs, which began to move so fast they were a blur. Rocks tumbled around my shoulders, the demon’s shadow looming over me. I was still gripping my hammer, so I reached down with my other hand and scooped the unconscious goddess up while still running. A sizeable chunk of the Morgoss’s body hit me between the shoulder blades and almost knocked me flat but I managed to maintain my balance and stumble away. The rest of his body crumpled, kicking up dust and debris as it landed like a wave crashing on a shore, spraying me with pebbles and stones rather than sea mist.
I stopped, panting, looking down to find my body glowing. Glowing with power.
I glanced back. The stone-skinned Morgoss was down, his body broken in pieces.
He was dead.
Two down.
That left one, the one with the dark armor and massive sword. But first I needed to get Min to safety. She stirred in my arms, her eyes fluttering open. “Sam…” she said, awe in her tone.
“I’m here. You did it. You destroyed one of the Morgoss.”
She nodded, licking her lips, which were dusted with dirt. “So tired. Should’ve paced myself better.”
Above her head a number floated: 79.
Shit. She’d expended more than ninety percent of her energy. She needed to rest. I suspected Airiel was in a similar position. I looked around for a safe place for her to rest. To my surprise, the battlefield was largely empty. Few monsters were left. Unfortunately, even fewer Warriors were left, including the tribesmen and women. Where was Bu’ploog? I spotted a large form on the edge of my peripheral vision. The giant smashed a bludgeon in the face but was swiftly attacked from behind by a trio of hellhounds.
Several forms raced in from behind as well, but they were allies not enemies. Misha, Chastity and a few of the tribeswomen. They fell on the hellhounds mercilessly, dragging them off and killing them. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. Bu’ploog was down, bleeding from his neck. We had emergency supplies of primordial ooze, but there was almost no one left to administer it. Plus, everyone needed it.
For a second, I felt lost and empty. So much death. So much loss.
“Sam!” Vrill said, running up. She was with Eve, the two women bounding across the terrain to come to me in my time of greatest need. Eve took Minertha from me and Vrill said, “We will protect her and Airiel. But there’s something you need to see.”
I frowned. “What?”
“Look.” I followed Vrill’s gaze to the ward shields, where a form had just passed from inside their circle of protection. Her blue-green skin changed colors continuously, sparkling slightly as if wet and catching rays of sunlight. Which was impossible, given we were well into the throes of the Black.
It was Persepheus, a single-digit number shining above her head.
One.
She looked ready to collapse at any second, limping along, head hunched over, eyes staring through the tendrils of seaweed-like hair that fell across her face.
I hadn’t forgotten about her, but I’d forgotten about her heart, which was locked away inside the Morgoss that Airiel, Minertha and I had just teamed up to kill.
I turned back, about to take off, to clamber over the broken pieces of the demon’s body in search of the one thing that could save the dying goddess stumbling toward us.
I was too late.
The other Morgoss was standing on the rubble of his fallen brother, reaching down, plucking a pulsating object from the ground with his gauntleted fist. Persepheus’s heart beat for all the world to see.
All this time, the Morgoss had been channeling the Three’s power via their stolen hearts. But now, I knew, the game had changed. They’d already lost two of the stolen hearts and two of their own had been struck down. The remaining Morgoss had no use for the heart of a goddess who was on the verge of dying herself. The risk of her recovering her heart was simply too great.
Thus, it raised its sword, preparing to pierce the heart and end Persepheus’s life.
“Wait!” I shouted, trying to buy time. Instead of charging toward the Morgoss, I ran away, hoping my unexpected move would give it pause as it wondered what I was up to.
I didn’t look back to see if my ruse worked, my entire focus on Persepheus and that number above her head, which was flickering now as the last of her life force drained out of her. She stopped, mouth opening to say something, eyes closing, legs giving out…
I caught her just before she fell, picking her up and turning back to the Morgoss, who was staring at me curiously. The distance between us was great, and his blade was so close to Persepheus’s heart that Vegas oddsmakers would likely peg my chances of victory at somewhere between No-Chance-in-Hell and Negative-Three-Percent.
Which was exactly why I smiled.
The Morgoss cocked his head curiously, probably wondering why I could possibly be smiling at a moment like this. The answer was simple: because I was probably insane.
That’s when, without warning, I threw my hammer.
The Morgoss reacted as I expected him to: He raised the blade quickly and began to slam it down. His hand fell in the exact motion I expected, down to the angle of his arc. My hammer, spinning end over end, collided with his knuckles, a burst of light erupting. The demon overlord dropped his sword, which landed point-first in the ground, sticking straight up.
He also dropped the heart, clawing at his eyes, which had been blinded by the pulse of light from my hammer’s impact on his hand.
I was already running, surprised that my plan had actually worked but not so much that I wasn’t ready to spring into action. The glistening heart continued to beat as it fell, although each pulse seemed to get slower and weaker, just like the woman I carried in my arms. Somehow I knew if the heart reached the ground it would mean the end of Persepheus and the rest of us.
Which is why I dove at the last second, holding Persepheus out like a football player trying to stretch the ball in order to break the plane of the endzone.
The heart landed on her chest, vanishing inside her skin, along with its pulsing green.
Her body landed hard on the ground, bouncing once limply. The flickering “one” over her head faded away to nothing. Not even a zero. Just nothing.
I landed at the same time, rocks and hardened dirt scraping against my armor.
Everything went still and silent for a second and then the silence was shattered by the Morgoss’s roar as he continued to claw at his eyes.
I looked up, exhausted. I’d used what was left of my power to imbue my hammer with light just as it had left my fingertips and then race across the terrain carrying the sea goddess.
And, after all that effort, I’d been too late. Her heart was restored to her chest just as it had released its last beat, leaving her dead all the same. I stared up at the black sky, wondering whether, had I changed anything, whether the outcome would’ve been different.
No, I knew. This was a fight we simply could not have won.
The Morgoss stopped clawing at his eyes, the stars fading before his vision. His stare locked on me, and I could see the hungriness in his expression. He knew he’d won. He knew our lives were forfeit and he could envision what would come next: Tor turning to ash and darkness, his demons and monsters pouring over this planet, devouring it until there was nothing left.
Fuck that.
I reached out toward where my hammer lay on the ground a stone’s throw away. I pretended I was Luke Skywalker trying to use the force to make my lightsaber fly through the air and into my outstretched hand in the nick of time.
Nothing happened. This wasn’t Star Wars and any power I had was gone.
Casually, the Morgoss reached down to retrieve his sword, gripping it with two hands as he lifted it over his head. I considered closing my eyes, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of striking fear into my heart. Instead, I watched every preamble to the killing strike.
That’s when movement caught my attention nearby.
Well, not movement exactly. The number above Persepheus’s head reappeared, flickering at first but then solidifying around the edges. A number one. The number changed, becoming two, then three, then four.
Five, six, seven, eight, nine…
Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…
Unlike her sisters, who’d taken days to recover, Persepheus was somehow filling her strength with a waterfall of energy rather than a trickle. That’s when I noticed she’d outstretched her fingertips, reaching for mine. Our fingers were touching.
She drew on the minimal energy I had left, using it to bring her own body back to life. Once, I might’ve been affronted at her audacity, thinking she could take my strength for her own. Not anymore. I knew this version of the sea goddess was different, changed. Anything she did, she did for the greater good, to save us all, rather than just herself.
The Morgoss slammed his blade down just as Persepheus’s life meter reached 100. She gasped, sitting up and spitting. A powerful stream of water burst from her mouth, hitting the broadside of the sword and changing its trajectory just enough that it thunked into the ground not two inches from my chest.
Water splashed down on my face and I closed my eyes. I felt more water, all around me, which was impossible. This was a barren wasteland, and the amount of water that had jetted from Persepheus’s mouth had been minimal compared to the pond I now felt sloshing against my sides.
