Chapter Thirty-Six #2
“You brought the Conduit with you?! Fool. I will kill him while your body is still bleeding out.” Helia draws her blade, a gash of reflected light cutting through the night.
“It’s her, not him.” Helia raises her shield at the ready, resting the flat of her sword on top, deadly tip aimed at Gaius’s heart. “But it doesn’t matter; you’ll be dead in a minute.”
Gaius laughs as he places a hand on his chest. A vibration shudders through his lean body, just like the blessed assassins.
As he steps forward, his steps seem light despite his frame and the weight of his armor.
His Aspect abilities must be different than Helia’s.
Worry furrows my brow as I realize that Helia never really explained what she can do.
With a spiral flourish Gaius readies his spear, tip pointed low, ending any idle thought I have.
Helia kicks off the ground in a burst of Aspect-powered speed, bull-rushing the Archon.
With a blessed blur, Gaius shifts to the side perfectly poised to thrust into her exposed flank.
The tip of his spear flicks upward, surging forth.
Helia pivots impossibly fast, deflecting the spear off to the side.
The sound of metal on metal echoes through the area.
Rolling with the momentum, she thrusts her blade forward missing Gaius as he dances away easily.
Helia chases him down, seeking to close the distance and engage in her deadly range.
Gaius simply moves like a dancer in full control of an audience, sidestepping each attempt and scoring retreating hits with his spear every time.
They continue trading blows, Helia never getting close enough to do more than slice at empty air.
After a particularly furious rush, Helia gets close enough to catch Gaius’s cloak, the razor edge of her sword cutting a swath of cloth free.
Gaius dances away, though not without the expected counter.
This time though, the spearhead slams with a supernatural strength.
The resounding noise rings deep, a bell ringing out the death of a loved one.
Helia staggers back a step before facing Gaius once again.
My eyes widen as I notice her shield arm slowing down.
It’s slight; an extra second spent raising the shield to position.
I know her in and out, but no one else would notice it.
No one fully human. I look over at Gaius, a wicked smile peeking out from under his helm.
Gaius charges quickly, eager to take advantage of the slight edge.
Helia sets her feet, left foot out in front to brace her shield.
Not a moment too soon, as Gaius rains down blow after Aspect-powered blow, finally driving Helia to one knee.
Her strength finally fails as the shield lowers, resting its weight on the ground, exposing her head.
The Spears behind me shuffle restlessly, having never seen their commander fail in battle.
I loosen the stranglehold my hand has on my spear as I try to trust in Helia.
She should be doing much better than this.
She has to be planning something. And if not, we’ll see how well an Aspect can last against my magic.
“Is this it?! You disappoint me, Aspect of Lunos.” Gaius roars in triumph, spear arcing directly for Helia’s face.
Just as the tip crosses her shield, Helia pushes forward with a burst of power, rotating her body out of the way and snapping the shield up.
Gaius screams as both the spear and his forearm snap with the dull crack of a falling tree.
Keeping her momentum, Helia drops her shield and slashes a vicious gash rippling through Gaius’s armor, crimson misting the night air with the metallic tang only blood has.
Gaius falls to the ground, helm knocked loose, blood quickly pooling around him.
I scan the soldiers Gaius brought and see their restlessness, the shifting of weight, the loosening of swords in scabbards.
His groan of pain snaps my attention back as Helia pushes a foot down on his shoulder and lays the tip of her sword at his throat.
His groan turns into a strained and gurgling chuckle.
“Y-you think you’ve won. But you two will still die.
” Each word is a battle, his breath coming in wheezes.
Gaius raises a trembling hand, as though pleading for his life.
I inch forward, not trusting that snake especially as the soldiers ready themselves.
“G-glory to Keppilo!” Helia leans forward in response, putting more pressure on her foot, hellfire in her soul.
“When you die and merge with Keppilo, you can tell him, and all the gods and goddesses, that they can fuck off.” Helia’s blade pierces his neck with the ease of a morning sun cutting through the clouds.
As his dying act, Gaius clenches his raised hand into a fist and a pulse of energy pushes out from him, blasting loose dirt and dust into the air.
I watch as the soldiers start to vibrate.
“Oh, shit.” My mouth hangs open as I watch our doom take form. He blessed them. He blessed all of them. This was the trap; lure us out and overwhelm us.
Helia straightens, pulling her sword from the now-dead Aspect and Archon and making no move to pick up her shield.
In that moment, I see the Helia of Olena’s story, the ender of lives.
Blood drips from the tip of her sword like the slow trickle of rain off a leaf.
The combined light of the moon and faint ethereal blue from the mystical crystals frame her as a lone mountain facing an encroaching storm.
I rush to her side, unwilling to let her stand alone.
“Retreat?” Helia laughs at my question, bitterness crisping the edges. As if she didn’t just kill an Aspect. As if we aren’t facing down a hundred god-blessed warriors determined to kill us.
“Retreat? No my love; we will drive them out. You still haven’t seen the real me.
” Her love? My reply dies on my lips as Helia inhales deeply, blooming the wellspring of untapped power inside of her.
She glances over at me, emotions creating a kaleidoscope across her face.
“I never wanted you to see this part of me. This monster I wish to lay down.” With a sad salute, Helia runs toward the now charging army.
What unfolds will undoubtedly become legend.
Great poems and ballads of godly might pale next the devastation Helia rains down.
She weaves like wind between enemies who, despite their own divine assistance, look frozen in time or fear.
And that sword! That incredible blade whips back and forth, an extension of herself.
No, she’s not like the wind. She is a hurricane of death, fated to protect, fated to kill.
At some point the Spears assemble behind me. Everyone stands transfixed at the sight before us. Someone takes a step forward, about to join, and then stops as awe roots them to the ground.
I don’t know how long it takes, but eventually, inevitably, it ends as the final body falls lifeless to the ground.
Helia slowly marches back to us, to me. Her body is covered with blood and grime, her once tight bun now loose.
The only thing untouched is her eyes. Those deep forests that I get lost in.
No, not untouched. Her soul quavers at the revelation she gave to us all, to me.
I step forward to meet her, my chin raised slightly to meet her gaze as I step into her space.
“You are no monster. You are a woman protecting those she cares for. Those she loves.” I reach out and grab her bloodstained hand.
“I would choose every version of you.” Helia only nods, unwilling or unable to speak.
I give a little tug on her hand, leading her back to the Spears.
Back to the temple and the final battle; my battle. “Now, let’s go rewrite our destiny.”