Chapter 150: Side chapter: From Iterna with love.

"Steady yourself, men of the Resistance! Or were you planning on living forever?" Jeki’s words were met with desperate laughter from the three thousand people. Placing her palms on the blades’ handles, Jeki boldly grinned back to them, "This is it, people. Our darkest hour. There are no grand plans, nor grand schemes left. We hold. Take your places in the trenches, say farewell to your gods and. Hold! The! Line! For the sake of those who can’t fight! For the future’s sake, we hold!"

Jeki wasn’t sure how or why she ended up in command. It was simply that… All others who were willing were dead. The people have started calling her the "Last Soultaker". What a joke. Jeki spent the entire war getting her ass handed to her, and now she was a people’s hero!

She felt anguish upon receiving the update of Tlaltzin’s demise. The man who took them in, who had saved the soultakers’ refugees, Jekaterina’s lover was dead, and she couldn’t do a thing about it. Again! She calmed herself, forcibly banishing the despair. Elder Tlaltzin bought them time with his final struggle to prepare this final line of defense.

The Soultakers and the refugees thought they were safe upon coming to the Bento tribe’s lands. The feeling of safety didn’t last for long, and the Reclamation Army went on the offensive once more, taking city after city with little to no opposition, cornering the fleeing people once more.

She looked around, seeing Redhorn, Zolin, and Yaretzi nearby. The last stand of the Resistance was here, as three thousand soultakers, regulators, and bentos, gathered at the hastily formed defensive lines. The Young and Old Guards were no more, the war had gutted them, leaving only a few behind, and Jeki sent most of the youngest members to safety, ignoring their protests. From tens of thousands of people to this band of brothers and sisters. There were few to no vehicles, and the majority of the cyborgs were still largely human...

Cyborgs. Heh. Jeki smiled through her fear, waving her hand to Redhorn. She, too, had become one with metal, her stomach replaced after she jumped to protect a mutie girl from being skewered.

Jeki’s left eye was replaced by the augment, the skin around the recently installed mechanical socket got swollen and was seeping pus. Four fingers on her right hand were replaced with steel. The injuries that she had suffered during the battle for the capital got worse during their retreat to the lands of their allies. But at the end of it, she actually felt hope! They saved tens of thousands, leading thousands of kids to safety, joined by more and more people from hamlets and villages. The cannibals tried to attack them, raiders and the Cartel sent their forces after them, even the militia tried to chase after them before reclaimers, led by that traitor, Katriana Vincent, struck in the militia’s rear, indirectly saving the refugees. Jeki wondered why the traitor let them go and even gave them food and medicine to endure the travel.

The reclaimers were advancing, she saw eight massive moving mountains of steel, eight crawlers that were advancing on their position. The sound of their moving tracks could be heard even here, from a distance of several kilometers. She heard the howls of their muties, wolfkins as they were called, and wondered if those two bitches were among the advancing horde. First, they tended her wounds, now they will tear her apart.

I… Don’t want to die. Jeki took out one of her swords, looking at her reflection. Her hair was gone, her scalp, along with her face, was covered with sunburns, pus was leaking down her face from her artificial eye. A simple metal helmet with no padding was on her head, armor and weapons were scarce now. I am scared shitless, lady. Jeki forced her tears back. Her thoughts traced back to that mutie girl whom she had helped save and who was now in a van moving back to Sky’s Nest. Heh. Have a good life, shitty brat. Nah. Have a great one. This thought, a memory of what she was fighting for, gave her a bit of bravery. Even if it were for this mutie’s freedom, even if her sacrifice would save someone like that, Jeki would still lay down her life today.

A wave of fear came from the ranks of the enemy, and she saw the giant form of warlord Alpha walking proudly toward them. Jeki saw how even Redhorn swallowed nervously, feeling the gripping fear that was clutching his and everyone else's hearts because of Alpha’s coming. And worse still, above Alpha was the black wyrm, the slayer of Tlaltzin, the silver-tongued beast who convinced so many to drop their weapons and surrender. His scales were damaged, but not a single drop of blood has fallen from him. Death itself was coming for them.

So what? Jeki stubbornly jumped into the trenches, prepared to give her life for the cause. No one here was fighting for the resistance. King, Soultakers, Bento Tribe… It was all in the past. They were just people now, trying to keep death at bay so that civilians could reach Sky's Nest and... maybe run somewhere else. This last stand of theirs won’t be glorious, no one will sing songs about them. But lives were on the line, and it was time to lay down theirs to save the children.

Jeki’s life wasn’t that great anyway. She hasn’t even turned nineteen yet, and already she had failed to save her brother, her mother hates her, her father turned traitor, and she had to kill him when he went utterly mad during the fight for the capital. The one person Jeki always looked up to died without Jeki being able to help, and now here she was, ugly and ravaged, just like these lands. What was there to be sad about?

I don’t want to die yet. Jeki throttled these thoughts. Thousands of better men and women didn’t get any say, what right does she have to feel sorry for herself?

The former soultaker has wondered briefly why the foes have not unleashed the rage of their cannons yet. The soldiers were well within their range, in fact, the crawlers could have already decimated most of them with their deadly cannons. Not willing to look the luck in the mouth, Jeki simply raised her hand, giving the command.

Four artillery pieces, two missile launchers, and one laser cannon had opened fire. All they had left. This pathetic barrage was fired upon the advancing forces, only to be swallowed by a popped-up shield in front of the attackers.

"Come then, bit…" Jeki’s heart sank, and dread fell on her anew.

He came. The clouds parted and sunlight, brighter than even that of daybreak, came upon the defenders. Wyrm Lord. The creature the size of a mountain, was flying in the air, surrounded by a halo of golden light. Upon looking at him, Jeki wanted to fall on her knees, to worship him, and beg him for forgiveness.

The golden wyrm hovered over his forces, spreading the massive arms welcomingly, as if inviting all to join him and leave their defensive lines. His eyes were stars, somehow locked inside a mortal shell. Light was running across his scales, jumping from one to another via arcs of electricity. His wings, capable of raising hurricanes, now beat weakly, just to hold him steady. He made a single motion, and the laser beam from their cannon veered off course, landing on his scales. Several beams of pure gold have left his scales, melting away the incoming projectile and exploding missiles.

Jeki pissed herself, seeing the unfindable might given form that approached the defensive lines, as if the Sun God was real and now came down from the heavens to judge the heretics. What hope do they have against him? What hope could anyone have to stop this?

The world no longer belongs to humans.

The rocks in front of her exploded, and she saw figures dressed in armor that changed color from stone to sand to match their surroundings, similar to Jeki's old armor. She recognized them, doggies, but these ones moved silently, armored with precision laser rifles rather than with ugly-looking shardguns. And they were almost upon them. One of them darted to her, not firing at the stunned defenders for some reason.

A figure clad in dark power armor stepped in front of Jeki, making a slash that drew the nearest doggie away. The soultaker blinked, not recognizing the newcomer. His black armor looked more like a solid black carapace, the helmet was stylized after a silver human skull with two burning lenses for eyes. In his hand the newcomer held a long sword, gleaming with energy.

"Remove yourself, omegas," The newcomer boomed in an emotionless, robotic voice, "These people are under Iterna’s protection."

What? A thought flashed in her head.

More and more figures were coming to stand in the front, seemingly reappearing from the thin air. Jeki caught herself thinking that these newcomers felt to her like the Seconborns. Their lenses sat way too deep in the skull-looking helmets. The way they moved reminded Jeki more of a well-oiled machine that produced no sound than a human. As one the newcomers, all of the same height, slammed the sheathed swords into the ground before them, putting their hands on the handles of their sheathed weapons.

A new voice boomed through the battlefield, one that Jeki never thought she would hear ever again.

"This is Chicapalli Bento, the ruler of Sky’s Nest! With the demise of my dear friend Tlaltzin, I, as the sole remaining leader of the Resistance, have officially asked Iterna to take us under their protectorate! Soldiers of both sides, cease all hostilities!"

Chicapalli! The elder who went missing months ago, supposedly dying in the Desolation. Jeki heard rumors about his legendary prowess in combat and lamented the loss of such a powerful ally. And now he is back? What is going on?

The space above Jeki trembled. A dot appeared in the thin air, spreading to become a circle to let a figure step in. Eugenia Mylli stepped through this, dressed in her deep blue, skintight suit, her blonde hair covering her back like a second cape. Jeki once saw another woman dressed in a similar suit, Ratcatcher was her name. And after meeting her, Jeki learned from flesh carvers that this was no simple suit but a combination of nanomachines that formed servo motors, ventilation device, and even terminals on the fly around the user’s body, creating no unpleasant sensations and having a durability far superior to that of a regular armor.

Eugenia Mylli levitated in the air, her helmet opened itself to allow the blue eyes to look at the approaching army. Four more figures jumped from the portal behind her, landing before the omegas. One wore yellow oversized power armor, his large pauldrons making his head covered by a round helm appear tiny. Two more were women, one in a green suit and the other in a white suit that covered them like second skin, leaving no hair on their heads or a mouth to breathe through. Their lenses were stylized after the full eyes, the light of their eyes matched the color of their suits made of nanomachines.

The last one wasn’t human. Jeki felt an urge to grab her swords and bury them in the figure’s back, recognizing the cursed features. He landed, clad in armored plates that somehow meshed together to look like pitch-black power armor, trimmed with crimson at the edges. He was bareheaded, the pale skin missing any traces of eyes. The malformed's head was flattened and elongated behind the back and slightly up, resulting in an unsettling bone crown. In one hand, the fighter clenched six long chains that left scratches across the stone surface, in the other, he carried an oversized spear.

"Skulltaker came to the battlefield! The undefeated of Iterna!" The mutant thundered, raising his weapons to the sky, "Will anyone provide me with a…"

A roar of anger was an answer to his boasting. Alpha charged forth, crossing two kilometers in the blink of an eye. Skulltaker replied in kind, leaping over the omegas and meeting the reclaimer in the open field. A wall made of never-ending thrusts came upon Skulltaker, and the malformed laughed, reveling in the challenge, striking back with his own weapons. The spear and claws met each other, the chains struck forth, moving faster than Jeki could ever hope to see.

The soultaker barely had any idea what was going on, to her eyes, a new tornado, created by two living beings, now rose before the defensive lines, filled with the sound of crashing steel and spilling out sparks in every direction. A line of destruction followed from the reclaimers’ ranks, tracing Alpha’s advance perfectly and slamming into the newborn tornado of sand and violence.

A shockwave. Jeki grasped her chest. Alpha had moved so fast that the shockwave of her movement had only just hit. Like sentient scorpion tails, the chains lunged forth, leaving cuts in the stone. Alpha fought methodically, shielding herself with her own claws, refusing to back down, and counterattacking at any opportunity. In comparison, Skulltaker became rage incarnate, frantically casting his spear forward and swinging his chains like a madman. But there was a method behind his madness. His chains created a dome of blinding cuts around him, serving as a shield, while his weapon looked for an opening.

"Enough." Eugenia and Wyrm Lord shouted together, forcing the violence to come to a halt.

Skulltaker and Alpha were frozen in place, the claws nearly reaching the pale head, and the spear was leveled against Alpha’s eye. Seeing countless scratches across Alpha’s armor, left by his chains, Skulltaker grinned. His grin extended all the way to his ears after his left pauldron exploded, and the white flesh beneath spilled a fountain of blood into the air, coloring his head red.

"One day Alpha," He chuckled, dropping weapons and grasping the warlord into a hug. The horrible wound on his shoulder has closed, the blood coagulated in seconds, "One day I’ll hunt you down."

"Keep at your training, and my head will be yours far sooner than you know." Alpha grinned back, hugging him with a sound of screaming metal.

"So much for the therapy sessions about keeping aggression in check, eh?" A warrior in yellow armor asked, energy jumping from one of his palms onto another.

"Hey! Skulltaker no longer kills anyone!" The woman in the green suit spoke.

"And he joined the hug pile!" The woman in the white suit added.

"Something happened?" Skulltaker ignored their words, letting go of Alpha, "I didn’t sense the usual ferocity during our bout. You didn’t even try to bite my face off like usual."

"Sister died." The warlord told him, stepping back. The fear that was whipping the ranks of the defenders just a moment ago simply died, letting Jeki and the others breathe in a little.

"Eugenia," Wyrm Lord landed, walking the remaining distance on his two legs, causing people in the trenches and his own soldiers to jump slightly after each thundering step. "Please take your people and withdraw. Sky’s Nest is yours, this much I am forced to concede. But these people and the refugees will come back to their homes."

"I will not," Eugenia gave Wyrm Lord a quick nod, and he returned the courtesy, "These people have officially joined Iterna's protectorate as of a few minutes ago."

"Eugenia," The golden wyrm tried to reason with her, his voice a quiet thunder, "There is an entire army behind me. You are not in a position to stop us."

One of the omegas had to step down when a beam of pure white came from the skies, slicing a line before the defenders. The beam continued to approach, dividing the defenders and attackers with a straight line burned across the ground. Alpha looked up, hesitated to retreat. The beam of light nearly consumed her when Wyrm Lord moved his wing, shielding Alpha with the membrane of his wing and absorbing the coming energy.

In a flash, a figure appeared near Eugenia—a man who easily rivaled the elite’s herculean stature, dressed in a white and crimson suit, his lenses shining with white color.

"Not in a position?" The man laughed, "Wyrm Lord, two Elites are present before you! Pack up and leave."

"Lightbringer," A single iris of the golden wyrm was bigger than both Redeemer and Lightbringer, "Your power won’t work on me."

"Is it really? Ask Alpha what it feels like to be struck at the speed of light!" The elite pointed at the warlord, who looked at him hungrily.

"Do not boast about breaking the rules," Eugenia shook her head, "Warlord Alpha, I am officially apologizing for that blander."

"Why?" Alpha let the helmet slide from her head and scratched her chin to blood. "It was awesome."

"Have you ever endured a collision with something as tough as my scales?" The golden wyrm asked Lightbringer cheekily, "By all means, try if you want to lose a limb."

Another form came from the sky. An advancing-looking jet broke from the clouds, its smooth form soundlessly moving toward the ground. For a moment, Jeki felt a tingle of fear that the plane would crash against the surface when the jet came apart, defying gravity and staying in the air. Jeki never took to the air in her entire life, aside from the times when someone knocked her hard enough, but even she knew that planes weren’t supposed to do that.

Its wings flowed, reshaping before her very eyes, the engine levitated in the air, waiting for a human-like torso to be formed. Four limbs followed suit, creating a bulky image of a human, and finally a head sprouted from the torso. The mechanism folded its hands on the steel chest, allowing the engine to merge with the back. The figure took its place between two elites, its deep blue frame dwarfing even Alpha in size. Flashes of green came to life on the smooth surface of the robot’s head.

When bentos moved, you could hear the inner workings of countless machines inside their bodies. A roaring of engines, the working of pistons, and the simple click and clack of gears. When this robot reforged and moved his body, there was no sound, not even from friction when metal parts joined together.

"Eugenia," A deep male voice spoke, and Jeki understood just who this was. Artificer, the first of the Elites, the sentient AI who had served Iterna ever since the Extinction, was here. The Elites, all three of them, the strongest abnormals of Iterna now, were just above Jeki’s head. "The ship is ready."

Redeemer made no movements or gestures. Jeki felt the air moving, felt strangely cold, so utterly alien in the Ravaged Lands, and looked to her left, nearly having a stroke. She saw… space. During the day, constellations and distant stars shone brightly, surrounded by the all-devouring void! This vision lasted for a brief moment before a truly titanic bow of a spaceship entered her vision.

Jeki fell on her ass, unbothered by how she looked. She heard rumors, of course, who didn’t? Iterna was a nation that had emerged unscathed from the Extinction. They supposedly found a way to mine asteroids in space and even produced some insane engines of war. But hearing rumors was one thing. Seeing this... this... technological marvel was an entirely different experience.

There was no sound, no deafening roar of an engine. The mountain of steel was coming out from the darkest void with unrivaled elegance. Its armored plates were covered with deep sea blue, symbols of Iterna and words of unity were written on its belly. Despite the lack of illuminators or windows, Jeki had a gut feeling that someone had noticed her.

The spaceship flew over the battlefield, casting night on all the resistance soldiers below it. It reached kilometers in length, its turrets and bastions were gleaming skyscrapers, and the barrels of its weapons were bottomless pits ready to spew out destruction yet unseen onto the surface. Without turning, the spaceship moved to the west, allowing Jeki to see the words "Przestrzeń" written with gold on its starboard.

The portal to space had been closed. In its place, countless other portals reappeared, opening one after another. Warmachines came from it, each bigger than any member of the heavy assault team. They hovered on the ground, their joints producing next to no sound. Rows upon rows of troops trailed them, all wearing Iterna's colors and forming a square around the stunned defenders.

"Honored Wyrm Lord, heed my words," Artificer spread his arms, "There is no victory to be gained here."

"For you maybe," The golden wyrm bowed, standing in full size, "But I gave my oath to the Reclamation Army. In the face of darkness, in spite of hopelessness, I will never surrender and will never yield," The golden wyrm threw his head to the skies, and his yell filled the plains. "Now, more than ever, I need your help, my comma…"

"Commander! Cease thy call, I beg of you! Urgent news just arrived!" Scorpio cut him off, diving forward and causing the champion to stop his call.

For the briefest of moments, Jeki thought she saw the form of a gigantic wolfkin on the plans, standing on all fours. She blinked and only saw the halted Reclamation Army. The strange wolfkin was no more, but Jeki saw four new footprints in the ground. And Redeemer too was looking at the same spot, the only Elite who had noticed something was amiss. Warlord Alpha shook with her entire body, loudly sniffing the air and looking around in almost divine reverence. None other, abnormal or normal, has seen a thing.

This has to be a dream. No one is fast enough to lunge in the open and disappear before you can even properly see them. No, I must be delirious. Yes, that’s it. No one is this fast.

"Fort Uglo came under attack, my liege," The black wyrm landed before the Elites and his masters. "King is alive, my commander, and has revealed the full extent of his betrayal against all."

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"Explain at once." Wyrm Lord demanded.

"You better see the video feed for yourself, sire. I have already sent Ofelia to aid our allies, but I do believe that it will be in the best interest of our guests." He looked at Eugenia, "To aid us in returning to our home base as swiftly as possible."

"With all due respect, captain, we came to help our allies." Artificer replied to him.

"Mayhap. Yet look at the transmission from the fortress."

"King is alive?" Jeki squeaked, trying to get attention to herself. It was futile, none of the people before and above her paid her even a glance, "What do you mean by betrayal? Answer me!"

Someone grabbed Jeki from behind, and she found herself looking at the broad display mounted atop the robotic body. On the other side of this display was a woman of the palest color, her eyes two deep crimson lakes on her face. The strange lady smiled at Jeki’s attempts to break free, and the teen felt a minor pricking sensation on her back, causing Jeki’s body to loosen up.

"Hi there! Name’s Lada, what’s yours?" The woman beamed with a smile, and wires shot from the robot that held Jeki upright, slithering all the way across her body, sneaking beneath the armor. Lada clicked her tongue, and Jeki felt more injections that caused her heat and pain to take a backseat. "Sunburns, cuts, badly healed bones, temperature, rot and pus, rotten teeth—what a lovely combination! Oh, and your heart rate and the left corner of your mouth… You had suffered a stroke."

"What are you doing to us?!" Jeki demanded to know, trying to break free. She tried to slip into her shadow form and, with a tingle of fear, found out that she could not. All around the battlefield, similar robots were closing in on the bentos, grabbing or pinning them to the ground.

A screen rose above Jeki’s head, shielding the teen from the cruel sun. All around her, the robots were busy creating steel domes, constructing a makeshift refugee camp right in the face of the standing enemy’s army.

"Why, I am simply going to treat your wounds, improve your condition, and replace these crude, body-harming implants with something more elegant, beautiful, and healthy."

"I don’t care about looking beautiful! Tell me what you are doing to my people!?" Jeki thrashed yet again in vain.

"Here’s where you wrong kiddo. All living beings are beautiful, but perceived beauty soothes the soul and helps with mental health. My other selfs and my kids are already busy helping the civilians. "We take health very seriously in Iterna," Lada waved a finger at the terrified Jeki, who saw the rising drills and additional hands that started closing on her eye. "Now, now, don’t get startled, it’s bad for your heart. This won’t hurt one bit, promise. We can have a nice, cold tea afterwards."

****

Running. This was all that was left in Ashbringer’s head. While you run, you can’t hurt the others. While you move, you do not burn everything around yourself. Keep running and preserve the lives of your allies. Stop and…

She felt the stone beneath her feet dissolving and fell into a cavern below. The insectoids all around her were turned to ash by her merest presence, the queen hiding behind the stone wall had her liquids boil over. The warlord landed on two feet, looking madly around herself. The stone walls were going down. Tons upon tons of stone melted, flowing down, unable to handle the heat that she had become.

Why fight? He asked in her head, his voice no longer a whisper but a roaring crescendo of pain, threatening to tear her very brain asunder. I am not the one who is doing this. You are, by denying your true nature, daughter.

Her chest exploded with pain, and Ashbringer smiled weakly, feeling the shockwave reach her heart, feeling the nanomachines being released inside her along with a deadly virus. Her blood will no longer be able to clot, soon enough she’ll bleed to death, unable to heal…

The walls were gone, and Ashbringer found herself standing on a mountain peak, looking down on the road below. Still alive. Down there, she saw a group of traders moving. And everything within her called for their destruction. He demanded it. She herself now wanted this.

Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.

Her blood was set ablaze. The nanomachines dissolved in her body, the flame released by the bomb was nothing compared to the abyssal heat that coursed through her veins, the shockwave failed to even rupture her heart. The virus vanished, burned away by her new immune system. The fur coat was gone from Ashbringer’s body, when she breathed out, a stream of flame left her lips. She was a living flame, with the black skeleton visible through her new crimson skin.

Make the offering. Make your God proud, Hellfire.

The mountain beneath her shook, being boiled by her mere presence. Whole new ravines started falling down from the mountain, causing traders to look up in worry. She could see them: a group of twenty people, and someone coughing from the hot air. Thinking that some explosion had landed on top of the mountain, they quickly hurried along the road.

Ashbringer inhaled the air, wanting to scream a warning to them, wanting to beg them to run… With horror, the warlord realized that no word could leave her mouth, the overheated oxygen entering her lungs was turning into a flame. She became mute who spoke through flame. Her paw rose, the claws became infused with blue flame. Her index finger had started to move to point at the people below, guided by his whispers.

A simple step. And no more pain. He told her, sending a pulse of pain through her brain. Was there really anything in your life worth enduring this pain? No, otherwise you'd have someone by your side right now. Instead, you are abandoned. But not by me! I was always by your side, a guiding light shining in your darkest moments. Come, daughter. Become my Hellfire.

No! Ashbringer grabbed her paw, forcibly pointing away. Worth? A need to have others at her side? Is he thinking that she was a cub? She has a sacred duty, and that is all she needs to sustain herself. She kept to her morals, not out of need for some pathetic reward, but because they were the truth! A proper way to live and remain human! Morals were paramount in building a better future. She. Will. Not. Fail!

The flame left her finger, slamming into a nearby mountain. No. Not the flame. Something far, far hotter. Plasma. It ate its way straight through the mountain, collapsing its top with a roaring sound of thousands upon thousands of stones rolling down on the road below. He laughed, and Ashbringer joined him, happy that her gambit had paid off. Even here, feeling pain beyond all measure, she didn’t make a mistake when it came to treating the flames. The rocks never reached the traders, who ran away at full speed.

Feeling his disappointment, Ashbringer utilized a momentary slip in his hold over her psyche and burrowed her paws into her chest, trying to reach out to her heart. Blood, hotter than any flame, ran down the mountain, creating cracks beneath her legs. Her new muscles, tougher than anything she ever felt before, stopped her claws that were helplessly scratching at her ribcage.

Useless resistance, Hellfire. A moment earlier or a moment later, it matters not to me. The only thing you prolong is your pain.

"Blessed Mother!" Ashbringer spit a torrent of fire that pierced the heavens themselves. "Ravager! Madness is encroaching, and I can hold no more! I, Ashbringer, beg you for the final deliverance!"

"And deliverance you shall have." A new voice spoke.

Ashbringer felt a pain like no other. He, who sounded so smug, so calm all this time, now was terrifying. His psyche speared her mind like a comet, wrestling away control over her body and turning her into the unwilling witness of the new ruler of this flaming body. Her paws rose up, pointing at a man who walked across the air toward her.

This new person looked really ordinary. Dressed in a simple lizard skin jacket and similar cargo pants, he had a cap to protect himself from the sun above. A rebreather hung on his thick neck, barely tanned by the sunlight. He looked at the wolfkin, smiling cheerfully, putting a lute in his hands behind his back.

"She is mine!"

Run! Ashbringer howled to him, locked in her own brain. Twin plasma orbs, far bigger than the one that sliced off the mountain in two, have left her palms, speeding at the man. He only waved his hand, creating an aura of gentle light around himself. The plasma balls crashed against this weird aura, creating a hellish explosion that shook the nearby mountains.

"How!? You weren’t that strong three centuries ago!" Ashbringer heard the parasite speaking through her mouth.

And in the next moment, he was before her, putting one hand on the overheated chest.

"Our entire family relies on others too much, brother," The man cracked his neck, unbothered by the heat, "Failing to understand that strength is individual at the end of a day. I alone rectified this mistake."

"You…" Ashbringer felt her body going stiff as the light coming from this strange man entered her body, stopping the abnormal nerves and muscles, leaving just the bare minimum left for her to live and speak. But no fear came over her. Instead, a sense of calm and assurance, not unlike that of the Wyrm Lord, has come over. "…Think you’ve won anything? You won nothing! Who cares if another of my puppets goes limp and broken? Did I lose anything? No! Did you gain anything? Nothing! There is still only one being standing at the top of all creation, and that is me! I am supreme, the sole sublime being that deserves to chart the course of the new race!"

"So many words to persuade me that you supposedly do not care about this loss," The man beckoned with two fingers of his free hand, "Come, brother of mine. If you are that much greater than me, step up to me now and prove who is the better man." There was no answer, only rage. "No? I thought so."

"Hurry," Ashbringer managed to say, feeling the other's choke slip. The flame spilling from her mouth washed harmlessly over the man’s body. "Kill me! Hurry, before…"

"Kill you? This wasn’t my promise to you," The man smiled, and the light filled Ashbringer’s body, banishing the heat. "What kind of father would harm his children?"

Ashbringer felt the other leaving her body, rushing away in rage. For the first time in months, she felt herself being truly… herself. There was no whisper behind her back, no unexpected breath into her ear. And with that change came another, and another, and another. First, the temperature has started dropping, the stones have cooled off around the strange pair. Ashbringer could breathe again. And the man before her started increasing in size.

No. It was she who was getting smaller. The warlord started looking down at him, but with each passing moment, she was getting smaller and smaller. Her pelvis, ribcage, legs, arms… Everything was getting thinner, the claws and fangs became weaker. She actually felt the rough air of the high altitude on her skin. Her new fur looked pathetic, barely able to keep her warm. Hearing and vision deteriorated. Ashbringer nearly fell, but the man caught her, holding her in his hands.

"What…" Ashbringer wanted to ask, but only yapping left her lips. She became a cub once more. Weak, helpless, and barely able to speak. Her stomach rumbled, and the man smiled to her, finding a milk bottle in the pocket of his jacket.

"Second chances are rare, but I say fuck it when it comes to him," Ashbringer hungrily sucked the teat, hating herself for this childish behavior, but finding herself uncapable of stopping a desire to feed, "Pay my brother no mind, this creep won’t bother you any longer. My feet may not move fast, but one day I will find and end him. Enjoy your new life to the fullest. With that in mind, where should I drop you? Any ideas?"

Ashbringer felt the wind tearing at her body and saw a few pieces of stone flying past the man’s head, who found himself in the shadow of someone gigantic who had landed before him.

"Give my kin back." Ravager spoke.

"Blessed Mother!" Ashbringer yapped happily, trying to break free.

Dammit, I am acting like a cub in front of her!

Two claws carefully picked her up from the man’s arms, lifting her up to be examined by the orb of amber light. The oversized nostrils, each big enough to swallow her whole, sniffed her all over, surprisingly gently. Finally, Ravager raised herself on two legs, nestling Ashbringer at her elbow.

"Healthy. Not a monster." The Blessed Mother breathed out, retracting her claws and playing with Ashbringer’s nose with one finger. Her brows furrowed, seeing Ashbringer’s embarrassed expression. "How droll. Adult."

"Healthy, huh…" The man laughed, clapping his hands, "I wouldn’t recommend you hurt unhealthy ones, Ravager. Or I may just give you a spanking."

"The choice is no longer mine. I am not of the tribe," Ravager’s gaze shifted to the man, "You have me at disadvantage, iternian. Who are you?"

"Iternian? Nothing of sorts, I am the man of the world, free like a bird. I existed long before Iterna, and luck willing, I see all of you reaching another planet one day. As for who I am, call me dad."

"Bad joke," Ashbringer felt anger in Ravager’s voice, "I have no family. And no dad of mine would have left his daughter to be tortured for years."

"I may be your father, but I never claimed to be a perfect parent. Maybe we can catch up now? Play a ball, I’ll tell you a bedtime story," The man dodged a thrust of Ravager’s claws and stepped back, still smiling, "Maybe not now. The offer still stands, girl."

Ashbringer bit her tongue, looking at the scene with increased curiosity. She wasn't a fool, she knew that the Blessed Mother had been defeated before. But Ravager rarely held back. It was unsettling to see someone dodge her strike when she had intended to draw blood. Ashbringer believed that the state had a complete catalog of all significant new breeds in the world.

"What to do…" Ravager mused, looking into the distance, "I smelled Geni here, came rushing in and now has to leave without having a proper brawl. This sucks."

"Still angry about what Eugenia did to you? Ravager, you must learn to for…" The man closed in on the Blessed Mother, levitating in the air. The smile was gone from his face, for the first time, he looked serious. "No, that’s not what you want, isn’t it? Snap out of it, girl, no daughter of mine will…"

"Fuck off." Ravager turned her back to him.

"Hey, Ravager?" The man called her, "It won’t end the way you think it must. It will end way better. Sort yourself out, girl, and get ready. Cause life is for everyone. Even broken souls heal. I’ll see you happy yet!"

"Who are you? Your scent is… annoying, ancient man." Ashbringer felt another shift in Ravager’s mood. Curiosity has replaced anger and rage. She too sniffed the air, catching a familiar scent from a man. A faint, familiar scent of a family member who… Never existed. She frowned, deciding that her young body was playing tricks on her.

"I am simply a traveler. I visit places high and wide, sleep with beautiful women, and leave offspring and songs everywhere I go. Speaking of…"

"Not interested. I have a cub to deal with." Ashbringer felt Ravager’s muscles bulging.

"Ehm… Not to curb your enthusiasm, but you do understand that she is too fragile to endure the friction of a high-speed movement…"

"Ancient man. Tell me, have you ever helped normies give birth on a dark road? Cause I had and all ended well, despite my size," Ravager laughed, "I have all the experience in the world about how to keep kids and cubs safe. It’s one thing I am good at!"

The Blessed Mother lifted Ashbringer before her massive snout. The jaws opened wide, showing the bottomless darkness that was her throat. Ashbringer kept her cool, not begging or whining. If the Blessed Mother had decided that her crimes were grievous enough, so be it. She had seen before how Ravager feasted on the dead members of the tribe and fallen foes and knew full well what to expect. Ravager’s justice was swift and often merciless.

Ravager put her under her tongue, placing the suddenly dry tongue gently over the cub’s body and allowing it to cover her like a blanket. The jaws closed, and Ashbringer felt the world shifting. The Blessed Mother jumped with enough force to gouge the unstable mountain deep into the ground, lifting the ground nearby and causing whole new mountains to appear.

Where will she take me? Ashbringer wondered.

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