An angel’s road to hell

107. Of freedom, intervention and a little bit of anger

Cassandra Pendragon

Her eight eyes followed me wearily while I rose ever higher into the air, my wings slithering around the statue like the coils of a hunting serpent. I could feel the enchantments and spells the dark granite had been imbued with give way without offering any resistance and slowly the inner working of the statue became visible to my second sight.

Most of the magic wasn’t actually in the legs, they had been crafted as conductors and to inflict pain but the truly ingenious parts were hidden in the torso and head, both of them ablaze with the energy that flowed through them. The way I saw it, everything Shassa could offer, from her life force to her soul, could be torn from her and channeled through the legs towards the centre of the statue. What I thought to be the seed would then start to fill with power and once it had accumulated enough, a purified pulse of what I suspected would be transcendent energy, was going to be sent towards the head. An intricate array of enchantments would channel most of the energy towards the mana heart while the rest would flow through the tomb, powering the defensive spells I had already encountered. A nifty contraption as Shassa provided the very energy to keep her imprisoned.

Most of my observations were based on speculation, only the statue itself was within my range of vision after all, but if I was right I’d maybe find a way to destroy the seed on my own without involving vengeful gods and evil spiders form a time long gone. The former could rot behind their seals and the latter… oh well, I’d maybe feel bad if I left her here but it wouldn’t cost me many sleepless nights. I was still prepared to talk to her, mind you, but I’d prefer to have a choice in the matter and be able to simply leave her behind if she turned out to be as much of a pain in the ass as she herself had warned she’d be.

I stared at the statue and the spells for a few minutes longer, even though I didn’t have an insane amount of options. I could basically try to cut through or absorb some of the magic and see where that’d leave me or… not. I was convinced that it would be saver to keep my wings off, otherwise Shassa would surely have said something last we had met. But then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Maybe I’d start with a pinprick, the tiniest cut at the outer edge of the formations, if the whole thing started to quiver or crumbled I’d hopefully be able to pull back before anything really bad could happen.

Carefully I insert my wings into the periphery of the tightly interwoven energy channels that made up the centre of the statue and squeezed, ever so lightly. The reaction was immediate. Parts of the construct lit up and I saw a tiny pulse travel through the legs which in turn ripped a large part of Shassa’s life force from her body to counteract the mounting pressure. The spider below me shivered once and her legs even moved slightly before her body fell back down, her eyes rolling up into her head. Sparks of energy surged forth and danced around me like a swarm of fireflies. The next moment they exploded with the same electric shade of blue I had encountered down here before. For a moment I vanished behind a curtain of crackling light and I knew without a doubt that I’d have been fox well done if it hadn’t been for my immunities. As it was, I only felt a tingling sensation all over my body and the rush of heat when my poor clothes finally caught fire and disintegrated around me with a puff of smoke. So far so good.

The problem was, that the enchantments, true to their purpose, pumped the larger part of the stolen energy through the channels that presumably led to the mana heart. A wave of light that rebounded somewhere out of sight and crashed back into the seed, carried with it the distinct form of energy I had come to associate with the temporal dilatations. They weren’t strong enough, yet, to spread past the confinements of the spells that had invoked them but if I continued, the next pulse would probably cause the first cracks in the time stream.

I immediately retracted my wings and eyed the thrumming lines of magic wearily. Luckily, the first wave remained the only one and as the seconds ticked on, I even saw the energy that had already been channeled back into the seed disperse into harmless sparks that vanished into thin air.

I released the breath I hadn’t realised I had been holding and glided back down, naked as the day I had been born. The stale air in the hall felt cold against my skin and I couldn’t suppress a shudder when I imagined what might have happened if I had used more than just the tiniest amount of force. A little frustrated I turned my focus away from the centre of the statue and onto its legs. Those I could break, presumably without triggering the enchantments.

The soon to be revived spider stirred, the shock from the assault slowly subsiding. As it appeared I didn’t have much of a choice in dealing with her, after all. “I’m sorry for that, that can’t have been pleasant,” I told her. “Now, the good news are that I can easily get you out of there, the bad news are, that we have to reach an understanding beforehand. I hope you used the last moments to make up your mind because I’m going to try and revive you now and I’d really hate to spend the next few minutes exchanging threats.”

I didn’t have a clue how I could actually use my changed wing but there was no time like the present to learn a new trick and if I screwed up badly, well, if I only killed her off I’d still be able to try something else.

With a thought I slung my wings around each of the statue’s legs and positioned the one with the fiery core just above Shassa’s head. Her black eyes followed each of my movements but I couldn’t interpret her expression, was it fear, hope or something else entirely? I couldn’t say.

“Ready? This is probably going to hurt, a lot.” I couldn’t miss her condescending shrug, small as the movement had been and I had to admit, the warning must have sounded like mockery to her, even though I had meant it. I took a moment to prepare myself for the gruesome sight and probably even worse smells that were going to hit me in a second and then I moved.

I cut the legs of the statue cleanly off and tore them from Shassa’s body with one fluid turn. Pus, yellowish blood and bits of rotting flesh sprayed from each wound like small fountains. The disgusting mixture brought with it the scent of decomposing meat which became even stronger when I was liberally sprayed with the gooey substance. It was a challenge to keep from retching especially since I felt every drop burn on my skin as if I had been hit with acid, which probably wasn’t too far away from the truth, now that I thought about it. I hissed in pain but my concentration didn’t waver as I used a trickle of energy from my core to heal myself and plunged the remaining wing deep inside her.

I felt my vision expand, a new world suddenly lit up in my second sight. I had established a connection with the streams of energy that flowed through her but this time it wasn’t something destructive, another chance for me to mutilate or tear away, no, this time it felt more like an opened gate that allowed me to use my own energy to bolster someone else’s. I could see her veins as channels through which motes of different coloured light streamed, biding together her ethereal aspects with the worldly ones. Her heart appeared to me like a giant furnace, burning brightly with life, ushering forth a constant supply of energy that kept her alive. And I saw the eight wounds that had kept her subdued for aeons, festering things with frayed edges that slowly ate away at her, sucking out her power even though the diabolical conductors had been removed. Her body was fighting, clinging on to dear life long past the point of what should have been possible but I knew from the first glance that she wouldn’t make it on her own.

Shock and blood loss were taking their toll right before my eyes while everything within in her slowly dimmed down, her heartbeat reduced to the fluttering stroke of a panicked bird. Her eyes rolled up into her head and her consciousness fled while I was watching, there wasn’t a second to lose. Without a plan and only the most vague idea of what I was doing, I set to work.

I expected, or rather hoped, that everything worked similarly to how I healed myself, feed energy into the problem until it went away. Based on this assumption I had developed a devilishly complex pattern of what I was going to do: keep her heart beating, flood it with enough power to put a star to shame if necessary, and then supply everything that was left to her failing organs. With a little luck, they’d keep on working and take care of the technicalities for me.

A quiet voice in the back of my head was constantly raging at me in the meantime, pointing out that I had already made my first mistake. When I had ripped the spear like stone spikes from Shassa, I had forced my hand. I couldn’t supply her with barely enough energy to have a conversation, I had to heal her or she’d die, simple as that. And just like that, the first warning of the future…past…alternate version of the spider had gone out the window. A promising start.

I used her own vascular system and filled her veins with silvery sparks. Most of them targeted her heart and swirls of energy danced around the muscle, mimicking its movements and guiding ever more power from my wing into her ravaged body. While my magic was at work I realised that she didn’t have the biological makeup of a mammal. Her insides were filled with ganglia which I had mistaken for veins and most of her organs seemed to be placed arbitrarily throughout her body. With every passing second I watched while my magic slowly infused her body, strengthening the damaged tissue. With every spark of power she became stronger, half rotten tissue suddenly reinvigorated, full of life and strength but the drawbacks were also plenty obvious. Her flesh had begun to smoulder where ever it came into contact with my energy. It wasn’t much, a quick burn that was almost instantly smoothed over by her own regenerative abilities that had been kicked into overdrive but around her heart and in proximity to her wounds it was another matter. A lot was needed to heal her and it might turn out to be just a little too much for her to handle.

Fat and skin tissue started to boil and char while a race was underway within her. Either she would heal before anything important fell apart or she would die, consumed by the very forces that tried to strengthen her hold on the world of the living. Judging from the rate at which she healed and burned, I wouldn’t have given her more than a minuscule chance to survive but just when I thought that her heart would turn into ash, something else stirred in her.

A wave of transcendent energy, not mine, pulsed from a hidden sigil embedded in the very fabric of her being. It was a much more sophisticated enchantment than anything I could hope to create and while I watched it unfold, I thought I recognised the style. Intricately formed circles and runes, made of light, were woven together into a tapestry of power, seemingly infinite repetitions becoming visible the closer I looked. A sense of finality radiated off of them and from the depth of my memories a single name rose up: Amazeroth. He obviously had left her with a present when he had come to visit.

While his spell stayed well away from my energy, the constructs shrinking back as if afraid as soon as a silvery spark came near, it changed her, transformed her flesh, her nerves, her body to be able to handle the storm of power that was coursing through her veins. The charred spots disappeared, her wounds closing smoothly now while Amazeroth’s magic made sure she survived whatever I’d send her way.

It was over seconds later, the last tear in her hide had closed and with a shudder she opened her eyes. I retracted my wing and took a couple of steps back while she stretched her chitinous legs and focused eight pitch black orbs on me. I could still see the echos of Amazeroth’s magic sparkle behind her predatory gaze, but the creature that now slowly got onto her multiple claws was healthy, free and, based on the look she gave me, hungry.

Poisonous secretions glistened along her mandibles and caused hisses of smoke to rise wherever they dropped to the ground. Her bloated torso quivered with suppressed rage as she drew in her first unobstructed breath in millennia, an eerie wheezing sound that issued from somewhere close to her spinnerets which were again producing the sticky, purple fluid I had seen her use to hold the time stream together. The rancid odour her wounds had produced was gone, replaced by a sweet smell that slowly permeated the air around her. It reminded me of cherry blossoms and the evening herbs I had smelled on Boseiju and I unconsciously relaxed while the fragrance became stronger, settling over me like a comfortable blanket. I felt my concentration waver and when I blinked, her nightmarish appearance had changed.

The alluring woman I had met before now smiled at me invitingly, her needle like teeth hidden behind her plump lips. She raised her hand and beckoned for me to come closer and in my addled state, I had started to move before I even knew it. As if in trance I placed one foot in front of the other, a peaceful smile on my face while my wings swirled aimlessly behind me and my tails dragged over the floor. She couldn’t be an enemy, could she? I felt save and protected, as if Ahri was gesturing for me to turn in with her for the night, a temptation I couldn’t resist. The simple thought sobered me up instantly.

What was I doing here? That wasn’t her! I blinked again and with more of an effort than it had cost me ever before, I marshalled my will and flushed my lungs and bloodstream with energy. My mind cleared just in time to see her spread her arms wide in invitation, not an arm’s length away. Her teeth were bared, slick with venom and a look of undiluted ecstasy was etched across her face in expectation of the savoury meal she was about to dig into. Not today, not ever!

“You made your choice.” My voice had changed, a supernatural cadence that seemed to come from everywhere at once and carried the wrath of an immortal with it. Tiny sparks appeared in the air, my words alone powerful enough to charge the surroundings while my wings started to burn with an intensity that could cut through space and time. “It has been the wrong one.” Silvery light curled around Shassa, never touching her but close enough to make her feel the power that was running through my wings, ready to rip her apart or burn her to dust on my whim.

“Kneel.” I hadn’t raised my voice but the single word contained more force than an army on the march and I could see her quiver under the pressure. With a thought I tightened my grip around her left leg and her flesh turned into ash, a perfect black line around her thigh. Shock shimmered through her unblinking eyes while she stared at me wordlessly. It wasn’t the pain, she was used to that, but her sheer helplessness. I could feel her magic push against my wings only to be cut to shreds or devoured the moment they came into contact. Like a child attacking a fortress she tried to find a way to break my hold, but there was no escape.

“Kneel!” This time my voice rumbled like thunder, a deafening wave that pushed Shassa back physically as far as I’d allow it. With the smoke from her burning skin in my nostrils I tightened my wings around her other leg and another scar, a perfect mirror image of the first one appeared. With a very human cry she fell, her knees hitting the ground with a soft thud but still she stared at me. Hunger and ecstasy had changed to disbelieve and fear but there was also something else, something new. The tiniest spark of hope shimmered at the bottom of those pitch black eyes.