Ch. 2.41 | The Four Fools
PoV: Lania
Lania had Nadiyya pinned down on the floor—and not in a fun way. Lania liked it the other way around, anyway . . .
Ahem.
Uh.
Lania and Nadiyya were still in the guild hall. The world was falling apart around them and yet they were currently occupied with a difference in their desires.
Nadiyya had vocalized this crazy idea to come with Lania, because she wanted to try something.
Specifically, Nadiyya thought she could tame an eldritch entity like she could a wolf, raven, cat, or other.
Like, no, girl, you are not trying that. There was no guarantee eldritch entities were anything like the animals of their world. They could be stronger-willed or something that would make this futile. Nadiyya's only defenses were her time bubbles. Melee Temporal mages were among the highest mage casualties of the day before. Lania did not trust Nadiyya to keep herself alive.
“Girls, you can do that on your bed tonight. You will have to survive to that point, first,” Joia said, clapping her hands twice, not in applause. “Get up and get to it. Sanya entrusted you with this city.”
“I'm not letting her out, it's dangerous!” Lania cried. Her hands were pressed down against Nadiyya's arms. Lania was straddling her.
Nadiyya growled like a cornered dog. She was probably one knee-kick away from escaping Lania's grasp.
“People are perishing as you speak,” Joia said with a flat tone and expression.
Oh. Yeah . . . Joia so right. Lania took all the effort out of her measly attempt at constraint.
Nadiyya's strength overpowered Lania's. She moved her arms and broke Lania's grip with ease. Her knee pushed against Lania, where she toppled to the right, no longer on top of Nadiyya. Instead, she groaned as her head hit the floor.
Nadiyya stood, picking up the stick she had dropped at some point. The stick being her weird Fauna equivalent of a staff . . . or wand, in this case? Lania soon followed, once the aches and throbs dulled after a few moments.
Lania would be able to overpower Nadiyya only at night, when her vampire powers or whatever activated.
Not that she would want to overpower Nadiyya—
“We are going. Together,” Nadiyya demanded. It was an order that left no room for negotiation. Both of them were set in their stubborn ways. So, Lania continued her attempt at making Nadiyya stay, of course.
“I want you to be safe . . .”
Nadiyya looked Lania in the eyes, glaring. “Let me try this. Don't stop me—ow.”
Lania sighed. Yeah . . . this would never go anywhere. She needed to get going, like, that moment. People were dying, out there. She would totally lose it if Nadiyya died. She could not lose her at all.
Lania could not get through Nadiyya's thick skull and would not be able to physically get Nadiyya to stay, restrained or otherwise.
They were also pressed for time.
Lania would have to concede this, regrettably.
“Whatever,” Lania shrugged, pretending like she did not care. “I'm going.”
“I follow.”
Mai bounded over to them. “I'm coming too! I can Fleshweave your limbs back on! I’ll keep you safe.” Her homunculus thing rode on her shoulder. She had made it stay the night before. Either it had been used and Mai made another one, or it has not been needed.
Ugh. Not another person to worry about. There was also potential here to watch the people she cared about die—right in front of her. Why did they have to make this so difficult? If Lania went alone, and these two just stayed here, then—
“Alright. I guess someone has to be the responsible adult,” Joia said, her words a notice that she would join in on their group.
Lania shook her head in disapproval, but said nothing. It seemed this was how things would pan out. Lania only hoped they could all keep themselves alive. A tall order when heading straight for the most dangerous things in a hundred and seventy years.
And so the four headed out into the city, leaving the safety, comfortable, and familiarity of the guild hall behind.
They made their way towards the first of the three entities—the closest.
“This is crazy!” Lania declared. “This is crazy.”
The four of them walked through the streets. People ran, or walked hurriedly. The streets were not as full as Lania had expected they would be.
Her group was unique in that they were heading towards the entity. The composition of her group was also weird. The kind of group people would write jokes about, probably.
A vampire, newly a Twilight Emissary, also. The “mother”, a vampire. Both of them deathly pale with silver hair and red eyes. One was much taller than the other and in a brilliant red dress. The other almost looked like a delinquent in comparison, and was the shortest of the group.
A Fauna and Temporal mage that had a lot of animal features replacing human ones—ears, a tail, an eye, and talons. She wore clothes that showed off an improper amount of skin, and she wore it with style and confidence.
And finally—a normal girl, a Spatial mage and Fleshweaver. Somehow, she was taller than Lania. Not that it was saying much at all.
As they got closed, buildings turned into rubble. Market stands and carts turned into rubble. The people walking on the streets transitioned into rubble—um, into corpses.
There were far too many corpses for Lania's liking. And she had massacred a town when she had been newly transformed into a vampire. She had seen the aftermath of Joia's blood craze too. This was a uniquely grizzly sight that made Lania want to run away and then throw up.
This amount of death was the consequence of entrusting Lania to take care of it. She should have just left it for Sanya.
But then somewhere else might be even worse off . . .
Lania could do this. She could—
A stone crashed into the street mere meters away from their location. Just debris from one of the entities thrashing about, its swings causing pieces of wall and infrastructure to fly everywhere. Pebbles and dust rained down.
“This is crazy,“ Lania repeated. “Did I mention that this was crazy?”
“Did you? I do not think you did,” Joia retorted. “Do you think this is madness?”
Nobody laughed. Why would they? Death hung over them. Perhaps, though, this should have been the best time to laugh? They . . . They might not get a chance to laugh again. So, like, better do it now, right?
“Why do we speak the same language and have the same gods?” Lania asked Calinichia. She might as well distract herself some. This was probably a terrible time to ask.
“No clue. Why would I know?
Lania frowned, feeling awkward. “Oh.”
The walk was quiet as they headed to their doom. There was so much tension in the air it could choke a camel.
Soon, the crashing and screams got louder. The buildings were but ruins. A massive eldritch entity of inexplicable shape and uncountable limbs was destroying the city, reducing it to tumble while sapping its inhabitants of life.
It was far taller than any of the buildings around, at least four stories tall. It could “step” on an entire city block and reduce it to rubble.
“So, what's the plan?” Lania asked.
“You're asking that now?” Mai replied. “Aren't you going to do your magicky magic stuff or Nadiyya tame the beast?”
Lania swallowed, gazing upon the thing from another world. “Right,” she nodded. “Yeah.”
She was shaking. Her whole body swayed.
She could feel the sweat gathering at her forehead and neck. She couldn't keep her hands steady.
She took one step forward. It felt like agony. Her body was frozen—or at the very least wanted to run in the opposite direction. Not to walk towards one of the things that could destroy the world.
Another chunk of wall crashed down on their location. Smaller pieces of debris followed. Dirt and dust sullied Lania's clothes and pelted her. Some rocks ended up breaking her skin.
“Okay . . .” Lania said.
“You have this under control,” Joia reassured.
“Hopefully I have enough favor with Twiulrie or whatever,” she muttered.
Mai tilted her head. “What was that word? Who is that?”
“Yes,” Joia said to Lania, ignoring Mai's questions.
There were still lots of screams. Many that were cut short as appendages found victims. It was only a matter of time before one of its many limbs found Lania and the group.
Lania took a deep breath.
She outstretched her hand and pointed it towards the eldritch entity. “[Judgment of Twiulrie].”
It was like the two suns went behind dark clouds—an entire thunderstorm or two, or a thick layer of ash from an erupted volcano.
The suns’ light dimmed, replaced by an omnipresent field of a dim, purple-pink glow.
And then the world flashed a blinding white.
The screams cut off. The crashing buildings and falling rubble quieted.
The whole world seemed to have paused.
Lania's hand reached towards Nadiyya. She brushed up against her arm. Lania only felt terrified and uncertain. What would happen? What was this power that she wielded?
Nadiyya took Lania's hand. This was evidence that time had not stopped.
Lania said something.
She did not even hear herself, as if sound ceased to exist. There was not anything loud or whatever to drown out noise or make her ears ring.
And then . . . she heard some sort of noise. Like the strongest Aeolian spell cutting through air and ripping its target in half. Or maybe like a roaring fireball smashing into a lake of water and evaporating it with a hiss.
The white receded much slower than it had arrived.
The purple-pink glow with no obvious source replaced the white as it reduced.
Lania's eyes hurt like crazy. They felt like they should be bleeding or something. All the colors came out wrong and weird.
Especially since she was seeing purple where she should have seen an ephemeral gray body of twisted flesh and limb.
There was a sound, like a heavy gate closing—the sound of finality—of judgment given.
The purple-pink glow died down as the two suns’ yellow light came back in full force.
Lania was blinded by the light before her eyes could adjust.
“Woah . . .” Mai breathed.
The entity was gone.
Nadiyya's grasp tightened on Lania's hand. Reassurance. Maybe also anxiety?
It looked like even otherworldly entities who subsisted off of annihilating entire worlds were no match for . . . gods? Is that really what Twiulrie was? Did Lania have the powers of a god to control?
This was . . . weird. Very weird.
Whatever it was, Lania was thankful in this moment that it had given her the strength to destroy the entity.
Something told Lania that it wasn't a god. She didn't exactly believe in them, anyway. It could have been something much lesser, but still powerful. Like an ancient, primal magic that was dangerous to play with. Great power, at great cost.
She had sacrificed a centuries-old vampire for this. An immortal being that survived off of the blood of others. A creature that had made a culture around high nobility. An undisputed ruler of conflict during the night.
Joia clapped slowly. “Great job. One down, two more to go?”
Lania groaned. “Two more to go.”