Chapter 45
This is the last area? I asked as I watched the approaching cluster of islands.
Yes, Damien said, standing beside me at the front of our battleship. Around us flew a cluster of small, fast-moving undead animals Damien had created specifically for this fight. The rest of the regions have been subdued and taken back under our control, but this one has proved challenging. Each time weve tried to assault it, we have been pushed back by an overwhelming force.
From what I can see, I think this is the stronghold of a creature brought into your mindscape. Either by a creation of the time magic or something that entered from the Plains of Eternity, Ilore explained.
If I had to choose, I hope its just a simple creation of magic, I said nervously. I dont want to fight something from a place called the Plains of Eternity.
That seems logical, Damien made a face. None of us even know what the Plains of Eternity are. I didnt even know they existed.
The Plains of Eternity are a place your weak, mortal minds were never meant to see, an ominous voice echoed around the battleship. Though this mindscape of yours has been quite the fascinating distraction, so Im glad you visited.
Well, I guess that answers that, Ilore said.
Unfortunately I said. So, any chance you can just leave? Or do we have to come down there and kill you?
Ha! The voice let out a disdainful laugh. You want me gone? You will have to force me out. Even if you kill this body, its of no concern to me. Its not like its who I really am. I merely slipped a fragment of my consciousness into your mind as you passed by.
I wonder Damien thoughtfully looked at me. I wonder if this creature is the real reason behind Altor closing off your mind. It would make more sense than what he proclaimed.
I think youre right, Ilore agreed. Time magic exists here, so a mind being damaged by it shouldnt have been enough to cause your mindscape to be walled off.
Thats not reassuring, I said in alarm. A creature powerful enough that the creator didnt want it in his universe seems like something beyond our ability to deal with.
Hordes of etheric creatures were starting to form around the islands as we drew nearer.
I am not entirely certain about that, Damien argued. Inside your own mindscape you wield a lot of power. Even a god should be wary of entering. I think we can handle this. If we couldnt, Im not sure Altor wouldve let you live. Youd be perceived as too much of a threat.
That thought both reassured me and made me sick to my stomach. If the creator of the universe thought we could handle this, then we might be able to. But if we proved him wrong, he could just wipe me out of existence.
Do not worry, mortals, the voice mocked. Ill make your deaths quick.
Youre welcome to try, Ilore shouted back with surprising vehemence.
At the sly gleam in her eyes, I thought I understood. Whatever this creature was, it was a creature of time in some aspect. She was probably excited to see what he could do.
Damien, I think its time you summoned the rest of our friends, I said.
Magic started surrounding Damien. Matching Damiens dark magic, a gray magic surrounded Ilore. I couldnt do anything at this moment, my assistants were far more powerful casters than I. Piles of bodies that wed brought with us stirred to life, and a moment later, the gray magic from Ilore surrounded them and suffused the bodies.
As they were casting, I carefully aimed cannons, firing in a wide dispersion. A wall of energy slammed into the horde of creatures, blasting a hole through them. As if it was signaled, a whaling cry emanated, and the creatures began to swarm toward us. Damiens new undead formed up their ranks as an aerial battle surrounded the battleship.
Streams of projectiles shot out as smaller caliber weapons engaged the hostile flyers. Damien directed his undead to jump down, using a levitation spell we built into the battleship. As we passed over different islands, we released our armies.
The battleship was directed at the central, largest island, and thats when my job began.
I enhanced my own time magic, my blade glowing with an eerie, gray light. The spectral foes fell before me, as slashes rended them in half and blasts of time magic froze them in place. The creatures werent physically strong, but they were fast. When they attacked, at first nothing would happen, but a moment later, horrible lacerations would appear where their claws had passed.
There was some sort of time effect to their attacks that delayed the effect from taking place. The advantage this gave them was that it allowed them to land blows without their foes realizing it and reacting. Simple cuts could be widened into debilitating wounds because the defender didnt feel the claws sinking in.
Fortunately for us, the undead under our command werent as affected by the strange ability as living creatures mightve been. The undead wouldnt react any different regardless if they felt anything. They were undead, after all. The only people who had to really worry about it were Ilore, Damien, and myself.
There was a colossal roar, and I glanced up from my fight in time to see the massive living dead dragon that Damien had raised come hurling out of the sky, spewing black flame. The flames incinerated the spectral creatures, leaving nothing behind. The mighty living dead dragon landed on the battleship with a boom and swept its tail out in a wide arc, annihilating dozens of creatures at once. It let out another gout of flame, incinerating more before it leapt back into the sky.
The cannons fired again, set to the widest dispersion. Cones of destruction blasted out, destroying large sections of the enemy swarm. The battle was chaotic in the sky. Creatures clashed and tore each other apart, tumbling down out of sight. Beams of magic cut into the air, slashing at the spectral creatures, while the creatures themselves fired occasional blasts of twisted time magic at the battleship.
I kept my blade enhanced with time magic and a small amount of death energy to cut through the specters. Tendrils of necrotic energy reached out from Damien and wrapped around the specters. Slowly, many of them began to change colors. Before long, they were released and turned against their former allies.
The sky cleared around the battleship, and when I stepped back to the front of the battleship, I leapt away just in time to avoid a massive beam of silver energy shooting up from one of the islands. Before the monster could cut into our battleship, Ilore formed a barrier that deflected the beam off into the distance.
Damien reacted, and a moment later, one of the massive cannons fired down at the island where the attack originated. The cannon struck like a tactical nuclear weapon, the explosion all but destroying the island. As wed cleared more of my mindscape, we devoted many resources into upgrading the battleship. It was our mobile war platform and had allowed us to attack most places of impunity.
We began to shell the main island with mortar shells fired from the back of the battleship. The main cannons continued to take out massive creatures that were twisted amalgamations of things that had once existed in my mindscape.
Impressive, the voice said with disdain, though there was a hint of respect as well. I shall come and join the fun.
Something jumped off the side of the main island. It was smaller than the creatures firing the beams of destruction, and as it fell, it shimmered and then rocketed toward the battleship. I barely had time to register the incoming foe before he was upon us.
He touched down onto the bow of the battleship like a moth landing on a flower. The ground cratered below him as the kinetic energy of his rapid flight hit. This creature was different than anything Id ever seen before. He was covered in blue, leathery skin, with a face that made me think of some amphibious creature. Gleaming white teeth, sharp like animated demons were exposed in his grin. His eyes were violet, and the irises formed six pointed stars. He had two arms and legs, and was completely hairless. The monster wore a robe of purple and gold, and when it moved, its arms seemed to leave mirages behind.
Damien flicked his fingers without a thought, and the hordes of undead still on the battleship rushed the creature. The foe lashed out, revealing that his hands were tipped with long, black nails. The slashes did not appear to do anything, then blades of cutting force ripped through the air, slicing the undead apart.
That was unpleasant. The creature shook his head. You didnt even let me introduce myself. My name is He said something that even now, I dont know what he said. When none of us responded, a frown crossed his face, then he realized his mistake. I see. Your mind cannot comprehend a name that has aspects of time in it. My name, as best as you can understand, is Merck.
Well, Merck, I met his unnerving gaze. I dont suppose youll change your mind and leave?
No, Merck said. It is not often creatures who live on the Plains of Eternity ever get to experience anything new. I will be staying here for as long as I can.
Youre preventing me from healing the damage that was done to my mind and reconnecting with the universe were in, I said.
Ah, that makes a certain amount of sense, Merck said, nodding as if hed never considered that. I cant imagine your creator was thrilled to have me hitch a ride.
No, he really wasnt, I agreed.
I suppose there is no way you would let me stay? Merck asked.
Most definitely not. I took up a defensive stance with my blade-staff. If you wont leave willingly, well just have to kill you.
What followed is probably the most confusing fight Ive ever fought. Even to this day, I struggle to comprehend what happened.
Merck attacked in a blur, moving so fluidly it seemed unnatural. He was upon me before I had a chance to react. He drove a knee into my stomach, and at first, I felt nothing, then as he was dancing away, the impact came all at once. Bolts of magic rocketed out from Ilore and Damien, chasing Merck across the battleship.
I recovered and chased after him as well. We managed to corner him briefly, and I stabbed, but when my blade hit, it just passed through him as if he wasnt there. His eyes grew wide and he dodged to the side. Id cut his shoulder. I knew I had, but the wound wasnt there.
He again landed one of his delayed blows. This one created a slashing cut across my chest that only appeared after Merck slipped away. It took me a while to piece together what was going on. As I watched him attack Damien, then Ilore, I figured it out.
When he attacks, hes attacking into the future, I called out. And when we land a blow, he dodges in the future, which somehow prevents him from taking damage in the past.
Future, past, its all the same to me, Merck mocked. You three-dimensional beings are so unimaginative.
How do we fight him? Damien asked.
I have an idea, Ilore called out. And if anyone could think of a way to get around it, she could. For now, focus on always having your defense up, regardless if it seems like he is near you or not.
I fell into a purely defensive posture, always trying to position myself in front of Merck to prevent him from getting to Ilore or Damien. Ilores advice mostly worked. Merck would slash at me with one of his wicked claws, I would block both the blow that wouldve landed in that moment and the one that would land in the future. The first time I did this, his hand passed through my staff and still struck me, but it left no damage. When he moved away, the real attack hit and my shaft rang with the impact.
Keeping in mind that he might switch up when the attack landed, I continued to attempt to block all of his blows, regardless if I thought they were delayed or not. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ilore building a powerful spell. Runic circles made of gray magic surrounded her as she wove together time magic.
One glance at Merck, and it was unmistakable that he recognized the magic and the threat it posed to him. He tried to get to her, but between myself and Damien, we always managed to keep ourselves between him and Ilore. I used my limited understanding of time magic to give myself the speed to match Merck, while Damien poured debuffs on him as quickly as he could.
The magic grew around Ilore, and she pointed a hand at Merck. A massive, hollow orb made of runic circles and patterns left her hand. The orb moved slowly at first, but picked up speed as it honed in on Merck. Merck ran from it, yelling something back at us a moment before the orb sped up and caught him.
Merck passed through the surface of the orb, the runic patterns opening to let him through.
What have you don!?! Merck screamed as he was suspended in the middle of the orb by unseen lines of power.
Just wait, I think youll understand. Ilore smiled.
The orb constricted and conformed to Mercks body. He thrashed, trying to escape, but it proved fruitless. As the ruins of the collapsing orb met his skin, they burned patterns into it. Those patterns filled with all sorts of gray light, and Merck collapsed, wheezing for breath.
Ilore dropped to the ground as well, the magic of the spell having drained her completely. But still, she smiled. Do you understand?
I didnt know this universe had magic like this! Merck hissed. How do I undo it? How dare you lowly, three-dimensional creatures do this to me!
What have you done? I asked.
I locked him in time, Ilore explained. His attacks were out of sync with time because he could move through time. Locking him in place fixed that issue, she said in a smug tone shed fully earned.
Deciding not to waste the opportunity, I reformed Mercys blade into a heavy, one-sided ax, and walked toward Merck, raising the blade-staff in one hand. Merck looked up at me, rage in his eyes.
I just simply smiled.
You shouldve left. I brought the blade down on Mercks head, splitting it in half like a watermelon.
With the death of Merck, the remaining spectral creatures dissipated, and the fighting ceased. We wrapped up the remaining region and took control of it. The restoration process began immediately, as buildings and plants practically grew out of the ground.
I guess all thats left is for you to face your cores, Damien said.
Im not sure Im ready for that
I think youre more ready for it than most, Damien said. I stopped you from doing it before because I wanted us to finish securing your mindscape before you delved into something so dangerous.
It will also likely be good for you, Ilore said. Im sure Damien told you doing that will allow me to repair the emotions faster. It should also help you to come to grips with what you are.
I looked back toward the central island and mentally commanded the battleship to change directions and head home. We could fly there much faster, but I wanted time to think and prepare myself for the battle to come.
One thing I knew for sure, is that my current lack of most of my emotions would likely serve me very well in dealing with whatever faced me inside the core.
Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience