An angel’s road to hell

36. Of beginnings, ends and a little bit of change (3)

Cassandra Pendragon

The return trip went decidedly smoother which allowed me to survey the scene from above for the first time. Greta’s weight slowed me down but it wasn’t enough to seriously impair my speed or agility. Harsh winds circled around Boseiju and tore leafs, blossoms and smaller branches away. The air was full of debris and I knew a constant, maddening howl assaulted anyone who wasn’t protected even though I couldn’t hear it at that moment, thanks to Greta’s shield. I saw the dwarfs and my friends slowly climb down the stairs, the kitsune from the different palaces yapping at their heels but a steadfast rearguard held them off efficiently. The large platform, from where I had taken off a couple of seconds ago, was already flooded with zombies and only the smallest patch around the stairs was still held by the dwarfs. I could see a small group of 5 in the middle who shrugged out of their armour and into a strange looking suit with several lengths of material hanging from the shoulders and thighs.

Before I navigated away from the platforms and disappeared into the greenery I could see them move close to the stairs and fearlessly jump into the abyss. The fabric caught the wind and billowed out above them. From somewhere the word parachute came to mind as I watched them soar downwards gently. Somehow their contraptions allowed them to control the direction of their descent and while they were still flung left and right by the raging whirlwind, they continuously glided away from Boseiju and towards the mine. Depending on how much they were pushed off course I thought they’d be back with their ships in less than 10 minutes.

The more I saw of them and their gadgets the more I realised how lucky we were to have them. For a moment I wondered what marvels I would be able to get for the token Mordred had given me but the thought vanished as quickly as it had appeared. I would never be able to cover what I had lost today. The scenery below reminded me of that fact all too clearly.

Boseiju was trembling far less but his colours were changing. The bark was taking on a withered and somewhat mouldy hue and huge cracks started to form all over the trunk with a faint greenish light emanating from within. Dancing shadows clung to the crevices, sometimes coalescing into figures sometimes formless and wafting. I feared they would be the now corrupted spirits who had called Boseiju their home but I couldn’t be sure. I feverishly hoped that none of the gaps would form close to the stairs and my friends would be forced to find out.

Rime was forming on every surface within the whirlwind and it almost looked like death was reaching into the world of the living with his long, spindly and deadly white fingers. The fires in the garden had gone out but I could still see the moving mass where the entrance to Greta’s cavern should have been. It was too far away to discern details but the wave like motions made clear just how many kitsune had gathered there. It would be one hell of a fight to convince anyone that this veritable army of mindless servants was on the verge of collapsing. Ahri and the dwarfs would have to make one hell of a showing to even make the emperor consider activating the second phase prematurely. Our tampering would surely be noticed if he had the time to proceed as he planned and we’d be screwed.

Further away the curse hadn’t had as much potency but I could still perceive changes in the land scape. The plants in the fields looked sickly and I couldn’t see the usually always present swarms of midnight bees. The forest was unnaturally still, no birds fluttered through the canopy and the ground was free of animal life. I also thought the trees looked different, foreboding and somehow dangerous, like an assembly of dark spirits, gathered under the moonlight, but that could also have been my imagination.

The last thing I saw before the rotting greenery of Boseiju swallowed my world was a flickering of red flames, somewhere on the stairs.

The curse had turned the shimmering greens and whites of Boseiju into rotting leaves and withered blossoms. My world was filled with decay and if it hadn’t been for Greta’s protective magic, the stench would have overwhelmed me the second I flew into the canopy. Even though, we had a moment of quiet before I would leave the cover and headed along the main branch towards the second palace. There were a couple of things I still wanted to ask Greta:

“How come no one could resist the curse? I understand that it was much too powerful for most to overcome, but I can’t imagine none of all the kitsune around here had the mettle to at least put up a decent fight.”

“The sacrifices weren’t only there to power the curse in the first place. The souls were partly used to tailor the curse specifically to the kitsune, their souls, minds and life forces. That’s one of the reasons why the dwarfs got away unscathed. That, their enchanted armours and their second to none stubbornness. Before I could protect myself and your family I changed minuscule parts of our souls so the curse wouldn’t invoke correctly. Only afterwards was I able to extract and destroy it. Do you think someone else has the ability to do so? Your girlfriend might at the moment, but she doesn’t strike me as the scholarly type.” In the middle of everything with our destination looming ahead I turned red like a beet root and stammered:

“That’s not.. she’s not… never mind.” I inhaled deeply and tried again: “do you think we can stop the second stage from invoking instead of altering it?”

“Nah, you were quite right, that ship has sailed. At the moment, the kitsune and most of Boseiju resemble nothing more than a perverted hive mind, controlled by the curse. If they don’t burn, they’ll slowly assimilate the whole island and turn it into a hellish place full of the cursed and undead. They are already utterly changed and won’t be anything other than brainless blood suckers or disposable chunks of energy. To end their existence and burn away their life force is a mercy, really. To change the workings of the curse and raze this whole place to the ground is our best option. I don’t like it any more than you do, heck, I have lived here far longer and probably value the place even higher than you, but this isn’t about defence any more, we have already lost in that regard, probably the moment the first shadow attacked, if I’m honest. You can’t view the kitsune as friends or relatives and Boseiju as your home anymore. Right now we are attacking an enemy’s base and wholesale destruction is a very admirable goal.” I had reached the same conclusion but you don’t try to burn you home to cinders without double checking, at least I wouldn’t.

“Than there is nothing more to say, is there?”

“Not so fast, young one. There is…” her voice trailed off and she focused on the branch below as we left the greenery and passed over the outer wall. I heard her murmur a quick chant. “Huh, there are guards down there. I wonder why they didn’t join the others who attacked the dwarfs… no matter, we should deal with them before we enter the tower. It’s always best to not have enemies behind you when you do something horrendously risky. Be a darling and slow down a little, will you? We can continue our chat once the coast is clear.” The potion my mom had given me had restored me completely and I was itching to take my frustration out on anything stupid enough to volunteer. With a though I altered our trajectory and we approached the guards, who had prevented me from reaching the stairs on foot before, from above. A smile formed on my face, but this time I wouldn’t have liked to be on the receiving end. I wanted blood and my features showed that all too clearly:

“I’ll land, don’t use any flashy spells. We don’t want to attract attention. I’ll keep them off of you while you work out something untraceable. Agreed?” I saw her nod: “I have an idea. I need about 30 seconds and all of them close by. If you touch down on the wall, they’ll have to crawl up first and you can easily throw them back down again. My range should be sufficient, even if they don’t climb up.” I followed her suggestion and aimed for the part of the wall directly above the gate. Perfectly crafted and reinforced the archway provided enough room to land and as an additional advantage the kitsune wouldn’t be able to climb straight up, the wall extended out over the gate and formed a strong overhang. With as much noise as a falling feather I came down and put Greta on the ground. She immediately stepped away from me and I could see her mouth working furiously while she inaudibly formed spell after spell.

The guards reacted instantaneously. Like before they all moved at the same time, sniffed the air and their hungry eyes fixed on the spot where I stood with my blind companion. They threw back their heads and started to howl. While I couldn’t hear them thanks to the protective bubble around us I could still see their tongues lolling out and the spittle that flew through the night. Greta’s litany of spells intensified and I felt the enchantment that kept us safe disappear, the strain on her concentration had proven too much. I could now hear the cadences of bloodlust and insanity woven through their hellish wail, intensified by the whirlwind and the supernatural screams it still carried along. I had to cover my ears and clench my teeth but I still wobbled lightly before I could find my balance again.

As if they had sensed my distraction the kitsune charged. The howl cut off and like one they headed straight for the gate, most dropping down on all fours to reach us even faster. For a moment I was looking forward to the cries of frustration when they would realise that they had to scale the wall to reach us but a sudden end was put to that particular illusion when the first kitsune barked a distorted command and rose into the air. Right, I had forgotten that they were capable of casting spells. How did that even work? I always thought you needed a will of your own to control any from of magic but apparently some remote influence was already enough. Maybe it had something to do with the complexity of the spell. Wow, I was exhausted, it took a serious effort to stop my mind from wandering, my previous excitement for a fight had already evaporated.

Out of necessity not anticipation I crouched down low and prepared to pick the one in front out of the air with my wings. I already knew that I didn’t have much strength in each one of them but when I used them all together, I had much more power then my slender built would suggest. I could only pray that it’d be enough to stop an enraged adult. I lowered my centre of gravity even further and as soon as he was in range I enveloped him in a silvery cocoon of energy. The stress was immense, especially for my back, but I managed. I had to move along with the direction of his flight but I could cancel out his momentum slowly. Additionally I felt the energies coursing through his body but I couldn’t discern the curse. The thing had injected itself into every cell and meridian of the poor bloke, all I could feel was the turmoil it created within his body and the connection to all the other cursed ones. The connection wasn’t something tangible, more like an echo of sorts which proved the dark cavern in front of you was much larger than you had originally believed.

I fought him on three fronts in my struggle to eliminate him as fast as possible. I tried to match him in pure strength and stop his flight, I burrowed my wings into his body and tried to burn what was left of his life force and I tore at his flying spell in an attempt to make him crash down. While I had only moderate success in hindering his flight, physically and magically, my attack on his life force proved highly effective. He couldn’t put up any resistance and I could freely invade his body and turn his energy into consuming flames.

With a thought I pierced his heart, literally and metaphorically with several wings and groped for the strands of energy connected to it. For the tiniest fracture of a moment I could feel another force entering his body and supplying him with additional life force but it fled nearly as soon as it had arrived and I was much too slow to catch it. With a wail that resembled nothing a sentient being should sound like his life force ignited into silvery flames and his body burned behind the veil of my wings. I tore them away immediately to welcome my next assailant.

Even though our fight, if you wanted to call it that, had only lasted for a few seconds the other guards had come much closer. Not everyone was capable of flight, only 5 more came at me through the air but the others had already reached the foundations of the wall and were scrambling upwards with an agility that put most living kitsune to shame. But now I knew how to kill them off for good.

I shot into the air and hovered 5 meters above the wall. First I focused on the airborne kitsune, they would reach me or Greta much faster and posed the bigger threat. All five of them were close enough that I could see the foul light in their eyes and could have counted the number of teeth they were flashing at me, if I had bothered to. I didn’t have enough time to deal with each one separately so I changed my approach. Instead of surrounding them with energy I wanted to use my wings like spears and pierce their hearts directly while they were still flying towards me. I wouldn’t be able to hold my wings in position once the weight of the cursed crashed onto them, but I should be able to hold on long enough to skewer their hearts.

I didn’t need my full range anymore so I drew my wings back a little and allowed the first meter adjacent to my back to cling to the one on the opposite site, forming a drawn together “M” with me at the centre. Only the lowest torrent of energy, directly above my tails, didn’t have another one for support so instead of attacking I used it to keep my balance. Like an upright spider I threw my wings forwards directly into their path.

They were much too fast and focused on drawing blood to even try to doge. Without a sound my wings pierced their skin and went right through their bodies. I could ignite the energy within them easily enough but my appendages didn’t provide much resistance and their momentum carried them forwards. I had maybe half a second to burn them before their bodies would crash into me and drag me to the ground. Once down I would be easy prey for the ones who came crawling along the wall. With a flick of my mind I bore down on the energy I felt slithering along my wings. Silvery blue fire pulsed through the meridians of the cursed and turned their bodies into ash. All except for one. I hadn’t missed him entirely but I didn’t hit dead centre either. My wings were stuck through his arms and one leg, he was gravely injured and his spell collapsed but he still crashed into me. It felt like I had been hit by a truck and with a shower of ashes we tumbled through the air, the one wing I had kept in reserve was far from enough to stabilise me and I was flung through the night like a bowling pin.