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Story Codes: Fantasy, Magic, Violence

For a list of all The God’s Passionate Love, other World of Erasthay stories, maps, and glossaryclick here

Comments are very welcome. I would like all criticism, positive and negative, so long as it’s
constructive, and feedback is very appreciated.

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Click here for Chapter 10.

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Alloria Valis Korvan – Dire Bay, Dead Isle

The Mermaid’s Tickler sailed past the large cliffs that ringed the entrance into Dire Bay. A pale fog hung over the bay, a layer of mist that clung to the surface of the water, hiding small, teeth-like rocks that projected out of the water. Only the small divots in the mist revealed these deadly obstacles.

The boat used its sweeps, rowing slowly across the waters. Sharp-eyed sailors stood in the bow, calling out commands to the captain to work the ship through the maze towards the distant beach of white sand. When the oars came up, something viscous clung to them. An oily rot that was hidden by the mist.

Skeletal trees grew along the top of the cliff that surrounded the only beach. More grew beyond the gray strand. A forest of trees without leaves. It was early summer, and not a single bit of green life was to be seen. More mist seethed deeper into the dead woods, hiding the dangerous undead that were said to haunt the island. Few ever dared venture here.

Only the most desperate would make landfall here. Foolish souls seeking the Whisper of the Dead, one of the oracles who could predict the future. Others would try to climb the Black Spire itself and intrude upon the home of the norns.

Beyond where they lived lay where Dauthaz, God of Death, hid the most deadly artifacts in the world. That must be one of the reasons the Lawbreaker had come here. For those foul artifacts. They were said to all be capable of inflicting massive casualties, of unleashing death on such a scale.

So Death himself had hidden them away with the norns.

I stared at the Black Spire. It was unlike any mountain I had seen, not even the Lone Mountain outside of Shesax. It was so narrow, almost a needle thrusting up into the air. Near its base, it widened into the flanks of a mountain that vanished into the fog. A shiver ran through me. I could feel a pull on me.

A tug.

My life, my very fate, led towards that mountain. My thread was woven into the tapestry of life like all other threads by the norns. I swallowed. The pattern of my life was found in there. The skein of reality. This wasn’t a place anyone should tread.

Why were we here?

Right, to save Pater.

I glanced at Bryce. He stood resolute nearby, his back straight. He stared at the mountain with such an intensity. He already wore his armor, prepared for the fight to come. I glanced down at the toga I wore, the white cloth contrasting with my bluish skin. Why was I here? What good could I do? Monica had her magic. The powers being pregnant with Pater’s child gave would be useful, but me?

“Bryce,” I croaked, my body trembling. “This… I…”

He turned to me. “You will be needed, Alloria. Even you have a task here.”

“Truly?” I gazed back at the Black Spire. It loomed even larger now that we were halfway across the bay. “What can I do? I don’t know how to fight. I have no magic. There are undead on that island that will seek to rip us apart.”

“They are of no concern,” he said, his tone soft. He smiled. “You are vital. I need you, Alloria.”

A smile spread on my lips. His words were simple but touching. Had anyone ever really needed me in my life? Not for the beauty of my body, but for something of true meaning. The fear faded for a moment beneath this thrill.

“Truly? Me?”

“Truly,” he said and turned back to continue his vigil.

I did, too. The dread returned, but if I could be of help, I had to go. I used to be such a selfish and terrible woman. Everyone else was sacrificing to stop the Lawbreaker from killing Pater. I don’t know when this sense of responsibility had bled into me, but slowly, it had. I had changed.

I had no regrets about throwing my enchanted necklace off the side of the ship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leywife Monica

Excitement bubbled through me as the longboat drove onto the sand of the strand. Bryce stepped off first, his armor clattering. He drew his sword and set his kite shield. He looked so martial and strong as he scanned the skeletal trees and the fog that lurked beyond.

“Do we need to take the Ambrosia yet?” I asked as I joined him on the sand. It crunched beneath my shoes. There was something crusting over it. That same black sludge that covered the waters of the bay?

“No. We won’t need it until we reach the home of the norns itself.” He drew in a deep breath. “We’re here.”

“We’re going to stop him,” I said, grabbing my hands on my belly. I could feel my power gathering.

Alloria joined me. She swallowed, her face paled to a light blue. Her black hair didn’t so much as sway. There was no breeze at all. The air was so still the fog in the trees’ bare limbs didn’t rustle at all. I swallowed. This place was dead. Not an ounce of life lived here.

I extended out my senses. I had practiced this to detect an invisible enemy sneaking up on us. I learned this because of Lady Alloria and the mistakes that she had made. But she had learned, grown, and now was risking her life with us to save Pater and stop this terrible man.

I took her hand and squeezed it.

She squeezed back.

“Let’s go,” Bryce said, his voice sounding eager. He marched forward, the beach ending at a small berm of sandy soil with withered roots poking through it. He marched up to it and into the trees.

Monica and I followed.

There was a path. It led straight towards the mountain. An unnatural line of clear soil. Who trod it? No one lived here? Was it the undead? Why would they need it? I could feel them lurking in the fog around us. They watched us. Their unnatural bodies hardly moving as my senses detected them.

I clutched hard to Alloria’s hand as we hurried in Bryce’s wake. Neither one of us wanted to let him get far ahead of us. The fog was thick, choking off sight. The Black Spire faded from view as we entered the thickness of mist. A soup of mist clung to us. It had a weight. A dreadful chill permeated the miasma.

The dead didn’t so much as move to attack us. They knew we were here, but most of them didn’t even move. Like they lacked the energy to care that we were treading upon their domain. The bleakness of this place permeated even them. The miasma had choked out their will, too. It was insidious. It grew thicker and thicker until it swirled about our feet and Bryce, only an arm’s reach before us, became indistinct.

It dragged at us. I wanted to just stop. To take a break from trudging through the thick vapor. It clung to my legs and arms. It wreathed my hair and grabbed my shoulders. Every step grew more difficult than the last. Why was I bothering?

What was the point of being here?

Why try? It was too hard. It was easier to just standstill. I would be safe. Surrounded by the mist. Nothing could ever find me in this thick fog. Nothing could harm me. Just close my eyes and let the world fade away into nothing.

Rest. Peace. No burdens. No cares. No desires. No wants. No pain. No suffering.

“Don’t listen to it,” Alloria whispered, squeezing my hand.

“What?” I asked as I forced myself to take another step.

“That dumb voice. You think it’s safe to stop here?” She laughed. It sounded forced. “I’m not an idiot. I have found something to live for. I’m not going to just stand here and be like these dead trees.”

I shook my head, knocking away these thoughts and remembered what I had. “I have my baby. Bryce. You.”

I glanced to her husband. He still marched forward through the fog. He didn’t slow down. He plowed through the thick mist with a will of iron. I would match him. I walked faster, gripping Alloria’s hand. I felt the warmth of her touch. Felt the life in her. It was the opposite of the fog. What it promised was numbness. Emptiness.

There would be no pain and suffering, but no joy or satisfaction. No pleasure. No delight. You had to risk being hurt to find anything meaningful. You had to open your heart to rejection to find love. Numbness wasn’t an escape from the world, it was giving up everything that made life so sweet and delicious.

The bad stuff made the good stuff all the more precious. All the more worth fighting for.

And I would fight. For my baby. For Pater. I wanted my future with Bryce and Alloria. So I battled through the fog. I marched forward armored in certainty. The depression on my mind lessened. The mist’s weight on me dwindled. It couldn’t touch me any longer. Couldn’t drag me away from my purpose.

And then, looming out of the fog, a wall of black appeared. The Spire.

The path led to a staircase that rose up into the fog. It was carved into the obsidian that made up the spire. The unnatural mountain thrust like a knife into the sky above us. Bryce mounted the stairs. We followed him.

The stairs switched back and forth as it ascended the steep slope. We rose out of the fog, creasing through it. The bay appeared behind us. The Mermaid’s Tickler lay in the harbor. Safe. Sound. It would await our return. The sun shone weakly upon us. It’s light somehow muted. Cold despite the warmth we felt on the deck of the ship.

We climbed higher and higher. Every step grew heavier than the last. My breath quickened. My thighs burned from the exertion, but Bryce didn’t flag in his armor. He was a shining beacon before Alloria and me.

We followed him. Today, we would save the Father of All.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illina

I shivered as the River Whisper entered Dire Bay. Foam and Wave were in the bow. They were peering at the fog that wreathed the water. It rippled, almost spilling over the low hull of the sylph ship as it flowed into the unnatural harbor. The breeze dropped. The sails went still. The boat drifted to a stop.

“They’re already here,” I shouted. Off in the distance, near the beach, a familiar ship rested. The Mermaid’s Tickler. “We need to get there now.” I grabbed Dauthaz’s dagger, eager to enact my revenge on that bastard. “Hurry!”

“No wind,” Captain Azure said. “We have no oars. And there is no current. Ready the launch. We’ll have to row them in from here.”

“There’s no time,” Stefan said. “They could have been here for hours.” He stared out at the Black Spire. The mountain thrust like a tear in reality. So black the blue sky beyond it looked ripped apart. Death itself bled through into our world. I could feel the thread of my life in there. It tugged at me.

A shiver ran through my nervous system.

Stefan, his lips stained with Ahlona’s pussy juices, concentrated before him. He’d eaten her out as we approached the island to get himself fresh pussy juices, saving his vials for the island itself. The air bent and warped before him.

It became a lens. Through it, the side of the mountain appeared. The gleaming facets of obsidian that made up the Black Spire coming into sharp focus. My stomach lurched at the magnification. It was disorienting. And then he moved it, the distant land blurring.

A staircase appeared. It was carved into the rock of the Spire. He moved the mirror up. Ahlona pressed in close to his side. I studied it, hating how my stomach writhed. There were times I wished I was all mechanical like my ancestor Krab had built.

But being mostly flesh had its joys, too.

The lens stopped moving. Three figures climbed the Spire. Sir Shitlicker himself with Monica and Alloria in his wake. They were high up. Stefan adjusted the focus, the trio growing smaller and smaller. The top of the staircase appeared at a thick set of black doors set into the mountain itself.

The entrance to the Hall of Doom. Where the fate of all was woven together.

“They’re almost there,” I said in horror. I glanced at the terrain. It would take us hours to get there.

“Ahlona, can you carry Illina?” Stefan asked, banishing his spell. “Carry her and fly.”

Ahlona glanced at me. “Yes.”

“Do it,” he said and then he rose from the ground. His robe fluttered around him as the wind whipped at him. The very air carried him.

My heart’s rhythm burst with excitement as Alloria moved behind me. She hugged me to her body. Stefan rushed over the sails, flying towards the Black Spire. He looked heroic. A man heading to save the world.

He wasn’t after just revenge like me.

Alloria’s wings flapped hard. The air whipped around me. My stomach lurched. The deck fell away. She held me tight to her. The angel had strength. Her wings soared us over the top of the sails. My legs dangled. The mist-covered waters of the bay flowed beneath us. We were traveling fast.

And then a strong wind blew from behind us. I gasped as it propelled us even faster. It gusted around me, flowing up beneath my toga. Ahlona’s halo pulsed with golden light around us. She soared after Stefan, the powerful breeze hurtling us towards the Black Spire.

I clutched my knife in a tight fist. Sir Bryce Cartith would die today. I would gut him open and laugh as the blood spilled out of his body. I would stare into his eyes as the life left them, witnessing the death of his dream to kill Pater.

I would avenge my Barg. That shit-eating, cock-sucking, pustule of a rotten man would not get to live a day longer. Not when my Barg was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alloria Valis Korvan

I clutched to Monica’s hand. The warmth of her kept me going through the fog in the forest and the climb up the mountain. I glanced behind us. Vertigo assaulted me. We were so far up above everything. The Mermaid’s Tickler looked like a toy ship floating in a small pond from up here.

I turned back and swallowed. Bryce stepped off the stairs onto a small ledge cut into the mountain. A massive set of gray doors, carved out of basalt, lay before us. They were unrelieved. Flat and plain. There was no handle to them, just a small crack that marked where they met. I shivered at that. I could feel my doom on the other side.

This wasn’t a place the living were ever supposed to tread. The doors were sealed tight against us. Bryce stopped before them and sheathed his sword. Then he unlimbered his shield and set it upon the ground.

“How do we get in?” I asked, moving closer to him. Monica moved with me. She stared at the doors. Her face looked as white as my toga.

“The Ambrosia?” Monica whispered.

Bryce turned to me. He stared at me with this stony expression. That flat look he always had. “That’s why you are here, Alloria.”

“Me?” I asked. “How can I open the door?”

His left hand seized my arm. I gasped as he hauled me right before the door, his grip crushing. I winced in pain, staring up at him. Confusion wreathed me. His other hand ripped a dagger from his belt, the blade flashing silver.

He slashed it so fast. Before I could even react, a hot tear ripped across my throat. My blood sprayed scarlet before me, splashing the door. I gasped, my crimson life running down the door and then vanishing into pores in the rock like it drank my life.

I swayed.

Monica screamed.

I stared at Bryce in horror. My heart beat faster and faster. Dizziness swept over me. My throat blazed with pain. I struggled to grab at my throat. My blood soaked my hand. I felt the pulse of my life spurting from me. I tried to speak, but only a ragged wheeze escaped my lips.

“I haven’t forgotten that you tried to murder me,” Bryce said, his voice a cold, hard whisper. “You are guilty of breaking the law, Alloria Valis Korvan. You sent Fox to kill Monica and me in our sleep. Your pet warlock rammed a spike of earth through my chest. You used your magic to dominate me, the men of the Mermaid’s Tickler, and so many more. Death is the only fitting punishment for your crimes.”

My legs collapsed. I fell to the ground. My body to heavy to move. I stared at the puddle of my life, my vision growing darker and darker. He killed me. Betrayed me. But I had changed. I wanted to say that. To tell him I wasn’t that woman.

Monica rolled me over. She stared down in horror at me. She attacked the fastener of her robes, preparing to save my life with her magic. I stared at up her, seeing the pain in her face. The emotion. She cared about me.

One person in my life cared for me.

None of the men I had dominated. Used. Abused. They had lusted for me. Worshiped me. But none of them had cared for me. Not my maids like Yellia would stare down at me with such horror and fear for my death.

They had just feared me.

What had I done with my life? Nothing. I had carved a life of ease. Of pampered existence. I had drifted from pleasure to pleasure not caring about anything but my own. But I had changed. It was so unfair. I wanted to shout out.

Bryce seized Monica’s arm, yanking her from me. The doors creaked open. Fed by my life. The world grew darker. My heartbeat slowed. My eyes fluttered closed. My life came to an end.

My soul rose from my body and left this world behind. It wasn’t fair. I loved him. I truly, truly did. I thought he loved me back. That he had seen how I changed. My soul howled in rage at his treachery. I screeched my anger at what he did to me.

It didn’t matter. A gentle hand led me away. A shadowed figure. Dauthaz. Death himself with eyes gleaming with tears. A great pity for me. Compassion. I didn’t fight as he took me from my life into the next world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leywife Monica

“What did you do?” I screeched at my husband, not caring that the doors into the mountains had creaked open. “You just… She… Why?”

“It’s time to kill the Lawbreaker,” Bryce said, throwing the dagger down onto Alloria’s body.

She looked like she slept save for that ugly, red wound across her throat. Blood soaked the front of her toga. More flowed across the ground. Tears spilled down my eyes. I jerked at Bryce’s grip. I tried to rip myself free.

“You bastard!” I screeched at him. “She changed! You saw it! I saw it.”

“Does her change mitigate the crimes she committed?” Bryce asked as he pulled out the ambrosia and drank it. “No. The law was broken. Punishment had to be given. Death.”

“But… but…” I spluttered. “You brought here her to kill her. To murder her. How long have you plotted this?”

“Since she chained me. I knew I’d have to end someone’s life to get in.” He drew in a breath. “Why not a murderer?”

“You said you loved her.”

“I lied.” His eyes fell on me. They were bleak. Cold. “Now it’s time to kill the Lawbreaker. Pater.” Rage crossed his face. “It’s time for the Father of All to pay for his crimes. His betrayal. For what he did to my wife!”

The madness in Bryce’s eyes struck me. I had never seen this wild rage from him before. All the emotions he kept bottled up inside of him burst out of him in a flood of odious rage. His hand squeezed tighter about my arm as he dragged me towards the door.

“You?” I croaked in horror. “You can’t be the Lawbreaker.”

“Pater is,” he growled. “That bastard needs to learn there are prices to be paid for ruining a good woman. For turning her into a whore!”

“But… You… You’re after the man who murdered your wife.”

“Destroyed her,” Bryce said, darkness falling on us as he dragged me down the corridor carved into the mountain. “I killed her. Executed her for her role in the betrayal.”

“No,” I croaked. The world spun around. Tears poured down my cheeks. “That means… You… You sent the goblins to… to…”

“Attack your temple?” he asked. “How do you think I was there to ‘rescue’ you?”

“NOOOOO!” screeched from my throat.

The power in me, the gift from my unborn demigod, swelled in me. I focused on him, this terrible rage swirling through me. The pain of his lies, his betrayal, struck me. I thought he loved me. That he was my knight who’d cut through dangers to rescue me. I gave him my body. My heart. I loved this man and the entire time.

“I needed you,” he said. “The easiest way to keep you biddable was to make you think you were my companion and not my prisoner.”

The horror shot through me. I had thrown myself into his quest. How he must have been laughing behind that flat expression. I thought pain had choked him up, but he didn’t have emotions. He was a vile thing.

I felt so dirty. So soiled. I had given myself to him. I had opened myself up to him. I thought he loved me. The pain in me became rage. This white-hot ball of fury that had it burst out of me would rip him to shreds.

I wasn’t that weak woman any longer who cowered when the goblins attacked. I could defend myself.

“You call Alloria a murder, but she never killed anyone!” White light glowed before me. The ball of energy that would slam into him. “She changed, but you? You murdered her. You killed your wife. All those priests and their wives. Bishop Tomas! Regina! Maryanne! Kassandra! Yennifer! They were my friends. They were soon to be my family. You stole that all away so you could avenge being cuckolded? That’s it, isn’t it? Pater fucked your wife, and you couldn’t accept the blessing of—”

His hand released my arm and seized my throat, cutting off my words. He squeezed down tight. I thrashed as he choked me.

“Blessing?” he growled. “He soiled my wife, stole the promise of her womb from me, and turned her into his whore. I heard it in her moans. In the way, she shuddered beneath him. In how she gasped beneath him. I had come home from risking death and danger to find my wife rutting like a bitch in heat beneath Pater. She broke her vows to me. He left, and she thought I would be fine with it. That I didn’t see the burning heat in her eyes. That same heat I see in yours. You all want him. You just settle for us normal men.”

I glared at him and sent my power into him.

The ball of light slammed into his chest and rippled around him. The energy, my grand power, rolled over him like I had thrown a bucketful of water at him. It spilled over him but did nothing to him.

“The original Ambrosia is potent,” he said and dragged me on, his grip loosening to let me breathe.

“You bastard!” I hissed, able to speak, my voice hoarse. “Stefan! His mother was your wife? You murdered her? How can you claim to follow the law, that you’re going to punish the lawbreakers, when you are dripping in crimes. You sent those goblins to butcher dozens of innocents.”

“And I’ll pay for that,” he said. “After Pater’s dead.” He glanced back at me. A cold, dead smile spread on his lips. “And for that, I need the baby in your belly.”

I clutched at my stomach and shrieked in fear and rage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stefan Halian

The wind surged us closer and closer. The skeletal, misty forest flashed beneath us. Desiccated vultures flapped out of the way of the breeze I had conjured, rotten feathers ripped from their decaying bodies. I stared at the mountain. The doorway grew clearer. It was open.

My stomach lurched.

A body lay before the door. Lady Alloria. I slowed our wind. Ahlona flapped, carrying Illina. We descended to the edge. My robe fluttered and then the wind died. I stepped onto the polished obsidian staring at Alloria’s corpse.

She stared sightlessly at the sky, her throat slashed open.

“Dauthaz’s merciful touch,” Illina croaked. She looked stunned as she stared down at the noblewoman. “He murdered her to open the door?”

“Why are you surprised,” I growled and drew out a vial of Ahlona’s pussy juices. I drank it down, topping off my magic.

“I don’t know,” Illina said. “Gods, I don’t know.” She knelt down and closed Alloria’s eyes. The thief then rose. She drew the dagger and marched towards the open door. “That shit-licker’s got a lot to answer for.”

“Yes, he does,” I growled. The anger pulsed through me. My mother’s murderer lay in there. I would stop him from killing my father. From harming Monica.

Flames burst beside me. Ahlona’s sword appeared in her hand. My angel’s features held a fierce rage. She strode after Illina. I gave Alloria a final look. I shook my head at the injustice of her murder and then followed the other two into the tunnel.

The hallway cut into the black stone, leading us towards the norns. I could feel them weaving the lives of all, but especially ours. All our threads were gathering together. Alloria’s had already ended. How much longer would the rest of ours extend.

I didn’t know save for one. Bryce Cartith would not leave this mountain alive. He would reach the end of his thread. My magic surged through me. I had broken the curse on my flesh. He would not be able to harm me.

He would lie dead before me.

I clutched at my mother’s rainbow amulet through my robes. I held it tight as I marched after Ahlona and Illina.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sir Bryce Cartith

The corridor opened onto the Loom.

The fate of all was determined here by the three norns.

It was a simple room cut into the mountain. A circle with the three norns in the center. Light glowed from above them, illuminating their work. The three looked the same. Ageless. Tall and remote as they worked.

Spinner somehow created the threads, drawing them out of the ether and spinning them out from between her fingers. She sent them to Weaver. She worked the loom, sliding the threads through their tangled journey of life. The tapestry she wove extended into the misty past in one direction, the history of all who had lived and died. Other threads extended off in the other, most ending with only some going on and on.

The immortals.

The Gods had thick strands of gold. One was thicker than all. Pater. They all led off into the misty future. They were supposed to be never-ending. Immortal. Today, that would change. Today, the Fate of the Universe would change.

Pater’s Doom had arrived.

Cutter snipped the threads after they were woven into the pattern, marking the end of their lives. More threads were spun, woven, and cut. Over and over worked the daughters of Dauthaz and Slata. The Skein of Life grew ever longer.

I stared at Pater’s thread. It would be snipped today.

Cutter turned as I dragged the thrashing Monica forward. I ignored her fingernails scratching at my vambraces. Her screeches. Her futile attempts to throw magic upon me. I had the very nectar of the Gods, the original Ambrosia, filling me. It pumped such power through me. Power that was slowly killing me.

It didn’t matter. I would live long enough to kill Pater.

My thread wouldn’t extend much past his.

“You have arrived,” Cutter said, her voice calm, even placid. She fixed eyes deeper than the sea upon me. Black as eternity. She held her golden scissors out before her, extending it to me.

“What?” Monica gasped as I marched toward the demigoddess. “Why are you just giving it to him?”

“What will happen must happen,” Cutter said.

“It is the fate that was woven,” Weaver said.

“The destiny in his thread spun out of the ether,” Spinner said.

“Why would you weave this?” Monica demanded. “Why would you allow this man to kill Pater.”

“We do not create the future,” Spinner said.

“We merely know the decisions every mortal and immortal will make,” Weaver stated.

“You are free to choose, but your choices are shaped by who you are and those around you,” Cutter said. “If he can survive holding these scissors, then he can snip short the threads.”

I took the scissors from Cutter. I gripped the handles. I gasped. I staggered beneath the burning weight of the artifact. The very power of Dauthaz rushed through me. The power to end life. With the coming of Death came the end of Immortality.

I squeezed tight as the chilly touch of Dauthaz caressed over my soul. But the Ambrosia armored me. Like it protected me from the power of Life in Monica’s womb, it now drove back Death itself. I threw back my head and laughed my triumph.

I had done it. I had trod this path all these years. I had plotted. Planned. I had figured out the one way to kill Pater. I had waited for him to break the law again. To impregnate another woman. That babe in Monica’s womb was yet to be born. Its thread was still being spun out of the essence of its parents.

Through it, Pater was vulnerable.

I stared down at the Scissors. The two blades gleamed in the light illuminating the three Norns. The tension of this moment pressed down upon me. A smile spread on my lips.

This was it. This was where the world changed. Where the Gods learned that even they had to pay for their crimes. They all had committed them. Even Lagu had when she betrayed her husband, Dauthaz, and slept with Pater.

The first Crime that had birthed Cernere herself. The vilest of all the Gods.

More of Monica’s magic struck me. It was pointless. A futile gesture from one who was impotent to change anything. She would die today, too. A true innocent sacrificed. To my knowledge, she had broken no law.

I would pay for my crimes today. So what was one more murder?

I stared at the skein and understood it. I could see all the lives. I could witness the tapestry of them. I shuddered as I turned to Monica. I had to snip the growing thread inside of her. That new one being woven of her life and Pater’s.

One plunge of the scissors into her womb, and the child’s parents would die. Dauthaz would take them. The first God to ever perish. The others would know. They would shudder and realize their actions would have consequences.

The world would change.

I turned to face Monica. She stared at me with rage. Fury. I advanced on her. She threw up the shield of her magic. The essence of the life inside of her. I punched through it. The Ambrosia in me disrupted such divine magic. It melted from her. My hand grabbed her throat. I seized her tight.

She spat in my face, fury in her brown eyes.

I stared down at her belly. The beginning swell of her pregnancy showed. Memories assaulted me. Monica loving me. Holding me. Surrendering her body to me. She had utterly given herself to me. It had been pleasurable. There had even been moments when I wanted to believe she loved me.

But then her true nature had emerged. The whore. How she had lusted for Barg from the moment we met him. How transparent her desire for him was. All while she claimed to love me, she was wet for that monster.

I thrust the scissors at her belly.

“NO!”

The air solidified about my arm. The tip of the scissors stopped an inch from ramming into the slut’s belly. Shock seized me a moment before I was flung back, thrown by a powerful wind. I hit the ground in a clatter of metal. I rolled and ended up on my belly.

Confusion tossed my mind. I pushed up and froze.

Stefan marched in. Her son stood alive and hale in his blue robes. His angel stood on one side of him, her flaming sword blazing bright. Insolent and infuriating Illina stood on the other side, a dagger clutched in her hand.

“How?” I growled.

“I tricked you,” Illina said with such malice. “Thanks for letting me see my alchemist. I wouldn’t be alive without that mistake, Sir Mushbrain.”

I roared in fury and rose. Nothing would stop me. NOTHING!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ahlona

My wings flapped.

I hurtled forward, surging past Monica. I thrust my fiery sword at the bastard. He rose and blocked my attack on his vambrace. Steel scraped on steel. Flames crackled from the tip of the blade. He snarled, scissors gleaming in his right hand.

I drew back into a guard stance and slashed.

He blocked again on his vambrace, the thick steel guarding his wrist. Metal clanged. He switched the scissor to his left hand and then ripped his longsword from his scabbard. Our blades met in a clash. Flames blazed hot on mine.

His sword hammered into mine. His strength was impressive. Inhuman. I gasped, his blows driving me back. I felt them shivering up my blade with his every strike. Rage crossed his face. A terrible, black fury.

“I have come too far!” he spat. “You won’t stop me. I won’t let one of Pater’s spawn prevent his punishment! You can join your father in death!”

His blade slammed hard into me. He broke my guard. I stumbled back, off-balanced. His strength was inhuman. I could feel the power radiating out of him. His eyes almost glowed with a divine fury. His skin steamed.

The Ambrosia!

Wind rushed past me and slammed into Bryce. He stumbled for a moment, but then the golden scissors snipped at the air. The wind fell apart into swirling breezes. He grinned, this look of wild triumph on his face.

“These can cut anything,” he spat.

I swallowed. Stefan wove the elements together to make magic. If the scissors could cut this power…

I had to hack Bryce down.

“For the Divine Spark!” I howled and slashed my sword at him.

At the same time, more winds howled at him. He parried my blow and snipped with the scissors. The golden tool blurred in the air. He moved at inhuman speed, severing the magic reaching for him, disrupting my mage’s power even as the Lawbreaker blocked my attacks. I swung at him, wings flapping. My halo blazed with my holy fury.

He swung at me. I blocked.

The blow threw me back. I gasped, pain jarring up my arms. I hit the ground on my back. The scissors blurred in the air before him. He cut the magic Stefan hurtled at him. The corrupted paladin marched forward, his rage-filled eyes fixed on me.

“I’ll send you into death before your father,” he spat. “You can be his herald, announcing the fall of Pater!”

I roared and gained my feet. I would kill him. I would need every bit of focus I had. I would have only heartbeats. I flapped my wings and threw myself at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illina

As Ahlona rose, I padded around the edge, moving to Sir Asslicker’s flank. I held Dauthaz’s dagger in my hand. One scratch, and he would die. That was all it would take. He rushed at Ahlona, focused entirely upon her. The scissors flashed as he cut the magic before him.

Ahlona attacked fast, a blur of speed while he was distracted.

I rushed in at the same time.

Her burning blade swung. He slashed his weapon to parry hers. In a moment, her sword vanished in a burst of flames. He slashed through the fire, sending them swirling. A heartbeat later, her sword reappeared in her hand and slammed into his inner wrist.

The powerful blow slammed his arm back. His sword burst from his fingers. It hit the ground and skittered almost right at me. I leaped over it as Ahlona raised her blade up for another slash. She hacked down at him.

He caught her attack with the open scissors. The golden tool should have been sheered in half from the angel’s blow, but they held. I didn’t care that she had failed to kill him. I had my opening. I focused on the gap in the armor at the exposed armpit. I thrust forward.

His sword hand blurred. He didn’t even look at me. He grabbed my wrist. With a casual twist, he snapped my ulna and radius.

Pain exploded through my nervous system. My hand spasmed open. Dauthaz’s dagger dropped from my grip. He threw me to the ground and slashed his scissors at Ahlona, using them to knock aside her sword thrusts.

I hit the ground and snarled in pain. My arm throbbed. His foot kicked the dagger. It skittered across the floor from me. He struck the angel’s sword with the scissors, somehow throwing her off-balance.

How strong was he now? He wasn’t this strong in the Vault.

He turned towards me.

“Cernere’s black cunt!” I spat and pulled out a smoke bomb from my pouch. I threw it down. It burst at his feet. A thick cloud of white-green, peppermint-scented vapor engulfed me, obscuring both our vision.

I scrambled from him, my heart’s rhythm screaming, blood hurtling through my circulatory system. The gears of my mind clicked and clattered to the fear pulsing through my nervous system. I scurried away from him, ducked low to avoid any wild swings through the smoke.

Something slashed over my head. I shuddered. Those scissors… They must be the norns’. What would happen if that hit me? My skin crawled. Cradling my broken arm to my side, I ran low. There was no way I was finding out.

I burst from the smoke and looked for the dagger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stefan Halian

Direct magic wasn’t working.

As I thought, Ahlona recovered from her attack. Bryce emerged from the smoke and swung the scissor at her. He’d switched the golden artifact to his sword arms, slashing them before him like he held a deadly dagger.

I downed a vial of Illina’s salty pussy juices. I felt the power surging through me. Good for earth magic. I shoved my magic into the floor. Beyond, the three norns just watched, unconcerned by the events happening.

I ripped up chunks of the floor and then threw them at Bryce. They burst free, debris spilling off and crumbling away from the chunks of stone. I stared at him and then threw the first rock at him. It hurtled through the air at the bastard.

He slammed his left arm into the rock. It burst across his armor. He slammed it to the side like swatting a fly. Obsidian burst around him, spraying his face. Red cuts appeared and then healed almost as fast as they happened.

More steam rose from his face. His eyes glowed with a fiery rage. He marched at my angel. She slashed. Hacked. The golden scissors met her blade, knocking it back every time. I couldn’t let him hit her. I had to stop him.

I ripped up more rocks and fired them at the hand holding the scissors. They hurtled in at blurring speed. They struck his hand, knocking him out of his guard, but he didn’t drop the scissors. I hurtled more and more shards of obsidian, tearing them free of the floor and flinging them at him with my magic as fast as I could.

He stumbled, his attacking hand holding the scissors battered back, unable to parry.

Ahlona thrust her sword hard at Bryce. She rammed it right into his breastplate, her wings flapping. The flames at the tip blazed hot. She punched through his steel armor and rammed her blade deep into his chest. Hope surged in me. That was in his heart.

Bryce’s left hand balled into a fist and struck my angel in the head. The blow threw her twenty feet. She landed in a crumpled heap, wings splayed out around her. White feathers drifted through the air. Her sword burst into flames and vanished, leaving a rent in Bryce’s armor.

He didn’t even falter. What should have been lethal hadn’t done anything to him. He turned to Monica who was backing away. He smiled and marched for her. The golden scissors gleamed. He needed to just stab her.

“No! Run!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leywife Monica

The horror that was my husband marched at me.

What could kill him? Nothing worked. Ahlona’s sword had rammed right through his chest and done nothing to him. The poor angel lay on the ground. Illina stumbled away, her arm broken. Bryce marched at me.

My powers were useless.

The air solidified around me. I gasped as it yanked me to the side, hurtling me out of Bryce’s reach. He growled and burst into a run after me. My white robes fluttered around me. I gasped as I landed behind Stefan.

He stood strong in his blue robes, downing a vial of pussy juices. He threw the glass down to shatter on the floor and faced Bryce rushing at us. Armored death hurtling straight at us. My stomach clenched. What could we do against him?

A spear of rock thrust out of the ground before Bryce, lancing right for his guts. In a blur of motion, his hand battered into it. He hurled the fragment right at Stefan. I acted out of instinct. I threw up a shield around him.

The rock fragmented exploded around my defensive magic.

Then Bryce slammed his fist into the protection around Stefan. My bubble of magic burst, but it slowed the blow. Stefan hit the ground and tumbled out of the way. He rolled and groaned. His eyes were closed. A large bruise rose on his temple.

Then Bryce loomed over me.

Rage surged through me. “You bastard!” I hissed “I loved you, and you were just using me!”

“You’re a whore,” he spat. “I thought you’d be used to it.”

Incensed rage and grief flowed through me. Alloria’s bloody throat filled my mind. My power surged out in a blast of white energy that crashed into Bryce. The light spilled over his face, for an instance, covering his damned features.

Covered his eyes.

I backed away and threw another blast into his face. It burst across his features. I did it again and again. I blinded him because Illina padded up behind him. She held her weapon low. I snarled my rage and spilled my energy into his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Illina

The light burst around Bryce. He snarled, holding up his left hand in warding. I smiled.

Clever.

I padded up to Bryce and then attacked. I swung for his right hand. To knock away the scissors he used. We had to get that away from him first. Then Stefan could use his magic. It was a better plan than trying to hit a small gap in his armor.

I slammed the dagger into the scissors. They struck them. He wasn’t clutching to them tightly, not ready for my attack. They burst free from his grasp. They fell on the ground in a clatter at his feet. I hissed in triumph.

“Pater’s damned cock!” he snarled and scrambled to get the artifact.

Magic slammed into him. A blast of wind that struck Bryce. I gasped, the flurries spilling off him hit me and threw me onto my back. My broken arm twisted, agony screaming up my arm. But Bryce only staggered.

I had to get to the scissors first. Knock them away. I scrambled for them as Bryce weathered that blast of wind. His hand reached for them. He snagged it up before I could get to them. He slashed at the next blast of wind, cutting the magic.

I hissed and then lunged my dagger for his back, extending out into a full thrust. I would kill him then. I would end—

He whirled around and grabbed me by the throat. He lifted me from the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sir Bryce Cartith

I stared into Illina’s eyes. She held the dagger from Cernere’s Black Vault.

Fear rippled through me. Could that kill me with the Ambrosia in my system?

She drew back, her face twisting in fury. “For Barg!”

I snapped her neck.

The crack of bone resounded in the air. I threw Illina’s corpse to the ground and turned on Stefan. The mage stood woozy, half-dazed from my blow. I would finish him off and then end this. I smiled as I saw the threads of magic rushing at me.

I cut them. Nothing could stop me.

To be continued…

Click here for Chapter 12.

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I have released a part 41 of the revamped Devil’s Pact on Smashwords. Read this post for more information if you’re interested!