Broker

The roar was unlike anything he, or anyone else on this earth, had ever heard before. It was less a sound and more a sensation that thrummed through his entire body. He looked up, wide-eyed, as he took a hesitant step back. A monster? His jaw clenched. He was useless against monsters. He forced his false cheer onto his face and looked down between Companion and Ishtar. The veiled supervillainess stood with both bare fists raised, a white tail snaking down her leg from beneath her gown. He squinted. That’s new. Perhaps the actual source of her ability?

His eyes flicked to Ishtar who stood… very still. Her head tilted up and away. Those luminous eyes narrowed as if in concentration. She was floating again. Already recovered.It’s time to make my- Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

DOOOOOOM

Her presence fell upon him like the word of a god. For a moment, all he could see was her eyes superimposed upon a black void. The moment of weakness he’d stolen from her after his surprise attack was forgotten in the face of her unfettered might. He felt his stomach coil, his heart clench, and his entire body freeze up in a rictus - animal instinct in the face of death. His lizard brain fought between fight and flight until there was nothing but a bone-locking stillness. She rose up into the air over him, and her voice came out like a thunderclap.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

The roar came again and shook through the very foundations of his being, something positively enormous bellowing out a feral cry of rage. It shook him out of the crippling terror enough for him to stagger to the right and cough out a wet laugh. He wiped his nose as he tasted copper on it. Her presence had forced a nose bleed out of him. Those few minutes of paralysis he’d bought felt… humiliating. Incandescent, impotent rage turned into something almost giddy in his chest as he cracked out a laugh. “I have no idea!” he howled and threw his head back as that mighty roar drew close. He looked up at the ceiling as it cracked under something incomprehensible.

Silver-blue claws the size of sedans ripped through the roof and tore it away. The side of a head as big as the ballroom tilted towards them, and a single, round, diamond-clear-slitted eye peered into the space the three of them occupied.

The beast opened its mouth and roared.

The force slammed him to the ground, and Riot lost consciousness for a heartbeat, his head bouncing as his vision went black, then white, then clear again as he rolled onto his side. His ability hadn’t even had enough time to activate? No, t. That wasn’t right. That couldn’t be right. His ability was instantaneous when he was bound to someone. Ishtar should have taken the force of the blast as well as his own hit! He looked over at her as he pulled himself shakily to his feet and saw her with both arms raised, hexagons of pure light floating in front of her.

He snarled and darted towards her, invisible threads dancing around him like serpents. THIS TIME! His mad dash to get into range was cut off as a fist collided with his side again. He gasped, the pain transferring from him to Ishtar in a flash as he was sent horizontally from his course and into another wall. He rolled off the point of impact and scrambled, only to find Companion lunging at him again. He snarled and ripped an arm off with his threads, rolling out of the way and hopping back as she snapped a kick out towards him.

“OUF!” The air was knocked out of him by the sheer force of it, his eye bulging as he was sent careening away again. Another impact, another crater in the damn wall. He slapped his palm on the side and wrenched himself out as the mighty shadow of the beast above them watched, stilled by whatever Ishtar was doing. He caught a violet glow out of the corner of his eye but put it out of his mind. Companion was right there. He spat on the ground and grinned another wobbly grin. “W-well! You don’t seem t-to mind pummeling your boss!”

Companion stood up straight and popped her knuckles. “Unlike the others, Mistress Ishtar can take a hit from me. I don’t need to hold back anymore.” She cracked her neck. “I wonder how far I need to punt you to get you out of her range.” Her head tilted forward. “What’s the next city over from Cairo?”

A thrill went up his spine, and he bared his teeth. He threw his head back in a laugh. “You think you scare me?” he howled even as terror clawed at the back of his mind trying to escape the prison he’d trapped it in. “I was chosen!” He threw out his arms. “I was picked by the KING!”

The beast above them shuddered, and the shadow cast by it drew back a bit. He saw Ishtar flinch out of the corner of his eye and sneered. He shot towards her again, running as fast as he could as Companion charged. He whipped his head towards her with wild eyes. “I’ll have your head!” he shrieked and took the blow, snapping his hands out to grab onto her arm. His threads whipped out to strike at the woman’s face, and her tail snapped up to strike him across the head.

He snapped back and hit the ground, scrambling back. The blow… hurt. He reached up to touch his face in confusion. Warm pain. Blood. He blinked a few times as Companion hopped back. In her place was a… large lizard? A large, white lizard. With fangs. That was growing. Panic grabbed hold of his chest as the creature grew into the shape of a lurker and threw its arms out in a bellow of unmitigated fury. It snapped its jaws and leveled a rainbow-eyed stare at him.

Monster!

He scrambled to his feet and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone as the all-white Lurker charged at him, lumbering across the ground like a gorilla. He rolled to the side and looked down in horror at his damaged device. Shit! He swore and glanced up as the enormous shadow of that thing above them shifted again. Ishtar was still standing, hands raised, violet glow burning around her body like a halo. He looked back at the Monster again.

His Majesty is going to kill me for this! hHe thought and threw his head back in a shout. “RIFT! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

Those words shook everything. The monster lunged, and he darted away from its attack. He was trained enough to avoid the blows of that level of a beast at the very least. Companion was whipping her head around, likely looking for Rift. It was Ishtar, though, that reacted the most intensely. She turned her head back to look at him. “What did you just-” the demand started, her concentration broken.

The titan above them roared, and flashes of power slammed into the side of its enormous head. It pulled away as black needles the size of tree trunks tried to pierce its eye, gold flames pummeled it, and a literal green dragon landed on its skull and breathed fire on it. The titan roared and stumbled back, its shadow leaving the ballroom for a moment as it finally clicked for Riot what he’d done. “...Was that Erebus?” he asked breathlessly, a wet laugh ripping up from his throat as he scrambled back and away from the stalking lurker. He whipped an experimental thread at it and nothing happened. Figures.

Companion was looking at him again. Ishtar had rounded on him and pointed a finger. “What did you do to us?” she demanded.

He looked her way and chuckled. “I severed your Karma with him!” he laughed. “I had no idea the reaction would be so explosive, but man, you had an interesting bond!” He squinted conspiratorially as he kept scrambling back. “Were you two lovers or something?” he asked. “It was like you owned his soul!”

Ishtar’s eyes flashed, and a dozen bolts of white light scattered from her fingertip. Peppering the ground around him. He looked at the smoldering holes and snickered. “I’ll just reflect it onto Companion!” he laughed. “Or back at you!”

“Companion, keep an eye out…” she said with icy deliberateness. “I don’t want to be interrupted while I tear his limbs off until I get answers.”

Riot’s pupils shrank and glanced towards Companion, who merely bowed. “Of course, Mistress.”

The all-white lurker stalked over to stand next to Ishtar, and she raised a hand to stroke its cheek before tilting her chin up. “How much of you am I going to have to rip apart until you tell me how to fix what you’ve done?” she asked, raising her clawed fingers and clenching them into a fist.

Rift! Where the hell are you, you stupid abomination! Save me already!

Something hard slammed into his back, and he was forced upright. Then, pillars of hard light snapped into place around his wrists. He yanked at them and lashed out with his threads to try to get at Ishtar’s throat. She floated a few steps back and tilted her chin up. “Ten meters.”

His pupils were nearly pinpricks as he struggled. He cracked out a laugh. “I knew you weren’t human!” he snarled. “FAKE!” he snapped. “Whatever you are! YOU’RE FAKE!”

Ishtar narrowed her eyes. “And you are lost.”

Her eyes flashed again, and he felt the ground beneath him shudder. He looked down as the floor cracked open, and a vine snaked up his leg. His eyes widened. The same kind of vine she grabbed Erebus with; those flowers that set off my- Flowers bloomed up his leg, and a white glow fell across him. His instincts screamed as the vine snapped tight. He snapped his eyes towards Companion, who staggered once as his ability triggered. He started to giggle as he slowly looked her way again. “E-even your nullification ability can’t…”

If his ears could droop, they would.

She was that indomitable shadow and eyes again. An incandescent fury that made him feel so infuriatingly small. The glow of her eyes grew so intense it was almost blinding. He felt something against the link he had with her - a hand on his chest balling into a fist. It wasn’t as refined as his thread control. It was brutal. Forceful. Enraged. He gasped as he felt something rip as her eyes grew brighter and brighter. Riot coughed, blood pouring out of his mouth as a horrifying sense of loss crashed into him. He looked up at Ishtar. The ribbon. Her threads. Her beautiful threads. They were gone.

“...What?” he croaked.

Ishtar floated towards him, and even the monster backed off as the sounds of battle intensified in the distance, that vibrating roar rattling through Riot’s chest. She snapped her hand out, and her clawed hand wrapped around his throat. His threads rose, flickering as he kept transferring the nullification to Companion. Then he felt her. Her Karma pushed against his, her very soul bearing down on his own. He felt his soul shudder and creak, his skin twisting against the all-encompassing attack on his very self.

SNAP!

Another thread broke and then… silence.

She pulled her hand back, and he felt all strength leave his shoulders and neck. His head fell forward as his instincts were silenced, the flower-covered vine around his leg glowing brilliantly as the building shook.

She held up a hand, and a disk of hard light hovered over it. It started to spin. He felt his gut clench, blood draining from his face.

“I want to kill your hope,” Ishtar growled as she let the spinning blade drift towards him. “Your ‘king’ is going to suffer worse than you are when I’m done with him. But after what you did to Erebus…” hHer voice dropped low. “...I am going to take my time with you.”

The distant fighting grew louder, closer again. Something huge crashed into something else, and the ground shook. Riot barely acknowledged it, his eyes fixed on Ishtar, and he bared his teeth in a shaky, psychotic smile. “...Long live the king.”

–

Ishtar narrowed her eyes as she pushed the disk forward towards him, rage giving way to cold logic as she parsed the feelings out. She needed to. She couldn’t take any chances with this damn brat. Her mind’s eye was traveling everywhere while she concentrated on him. She was searching. He’d said that Rift was here. The man was certainly dead, Blackrazor had confirmed it. What kind of unholy work had Otis done? Resurrection? Not even in the previous timeline. No one comes back from the dead, she snarled inwardly and pushed the blade forward and through his left shoulder.

Riot let out a cackling scream as his limb fell wetly to the ground. “Tell me how to fix him!” sShe demanded.

He whipped his head forward, covered in sweat, his eyes wide with madness. “You can’t!” he laughed. “You can’t do anything! You won’t stop him! Not you! Not the heroes!” He choked out a sobbing laugh. “Not even Miss Chernovna! All of you are FAKE!” he spat.

Her eyes narrowed. Fine. Then it’s time to put you down.

Deus ex Machina roared in her head loud enough to make her flinch. What the-

Riot bared his teeth. “I am his chosen!” he snarled. “His first Herald! His mouthpiece!” he shrieked and jerked at the binding holding his other arm even as his left side streamed enough blood to make him go pallid. The air crackled around him with the physical weight of just how wicked the boy had become. Tears streamed from his eyes even as he held her gaze with a feral defiance.

“I am the Chosen Herald! Riot!” he bellowed.

<A path you have interfered upon has reached its zenith. The First Herald of Otis has risen.>

The notification popped into her field of vision without warning. She blinked at it, taken aback for a moment as the words settled on her. I… made a Herald? She reeled.

“Mistress!” Companion shouted and drew her back to her senses. Companion was already shooting through the air in Riot’s direction, a red rip having formed in the air above Riot. He is alive! Goddamn monsters! She dismissed the hard light restraint on Riot and grabbed him, yanking the insensate boy out of the way. A deformed hand shot down to grab Riot only to be grabbed instead by Companion. Companion yanked… something out of the air and threw it. It looked almost like a man, but it was horrifically deformed. Like a mixture between man and several different monsters.

Companion hurled the freakish thing towards the ground, and another portal opened, sending the thing elsewhere. Riot struggled in her grip, and she looked down at him. He grinned up at her with bloodied teeth, and she sneered back. The wings of her regalia flared out, and his struggling slowed as she cast out her domain. She felt a portal try to form behind her, and she shut it down. A weakling like Rift would never be able to pierce her domain.

“No escape, Herald,” she snarled as a spear of hard light formed over his chest.

Sonya, no! Erina’s voice shot out in her mind. We’re still in Erebus’ territory!

ROOAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

Danger. Light. A single prickle of fear.

She spun as defense became her greater priority. Panels of hard light, flares of her plants - every tool she had at her disposal snapped into place in a matter of seconds as a luminous column blasted through the wall behind her. It struck, and she planted her feet, sliding backwards a few inches as Erebus’ territorial might slammed into her. She clenched her teeth, arms crossed over her chest. She felt Companion staggering back, her body disintegrating and regenerating over and over. Levi had managed to get out of the way, off on one side of the ballroom, outside the cylinder of the attack. Her attention turned to her prey and felt Riot scrambling away behind her.

LITTLE RAT! She snarled and tried to pin him to the ground with the spear she’d made. She heard a wet laugh in the open space within the beam behind her. She was caught. If she dismissed her wings and her domain, Rift would swoop in and retrieve Riot. If she kept it up, though, this wouldn’t end.

How much goddamn mana can Erebus handle? She swore as she slid another inch.Tch! It’s too much! She dismissed her wings, and the beam held for a few seconds before starting to stutter. She turned and snapped her hand out towards Riot, but he was already gone. The ballroom was a cavernous disaster zone - a cylindrical crater in the earth. She whipped her head towards Companion, who was regenerating rapidly, but she was far from whole.

“Levi! Hunt the brat!” she bit out, panting.

Levi snarled and darted in the direction the Herald must have scurried off to.

Ishtar stood there, breathing hard. Companion rose to her feet, and Ishtar whipped her hand in her direction. One of the outfits she’d stored in her storage space appeared around her in a flicker of blue light. Ishtar closed her eyes behind her helmet, and she held up a hand to forestall any words.

Sonya, Erina’s voice rose up. Now isn’t the time for rage.

The building shook around them, utterly ruined, as the earth trembled. She ground her teeth and clenched her fists. I made him, she thought. I let him get away!

Another crime to get away with, Erina said. Levi is hunting him. Focus. You have more important things to do right now than worry about a half-dead brat.

Her eyes snapped open, and she took a shuddering breath. Right. We know a lot about his ability now, especially the things he’s been hiding, she thought and turned her head towards the ruined hole in the wall behind her. In the distance, she saw the vast shape of Erebus, flickers of abilities splashing across him.

All you can do is consider it good intelligence, Erina agreed.

Ishtar clenched her fists and nodded. She felt Companion walk over to stand next to her and exhaled. Her presence was grounding even as her heart felt heavy in her chest. “...Come. It’s time to put down a friend.”