36. Leela
LEELA
The walk felt like it lasted for hours before they finally reached an exit.
Leela sat, watching the scene unfold behind the yellow hue of the Viperess’s vision.
She kept wondering what would happen. What did the Viperess plan?
Why here? She thought she understood the Viperess, but how could she?
The Viperess had shown her time and time again that she was an enigma.
Even in their early days together, Leela couldn’t understand whether the Viperess was evil or good. Kind or hurtful?
At times, she cared for Leela. She gave her advice and told her to keep moving. In the end, she’d ruined her entire life.
Keep thinking, and you’ll make me want to fully control you.
Leela peeled her eyes from her twiddling hands. Have you not been doing that?
Oh no, mortal. I could fully consume you and have you not exist at all. Why do you think you have two shadows and not the one? One is my animal. The other is my Flame form.
Leela shuddered. She supposed she should be thankful the Viperess hadn’t decided to do that. The prospect of her body being around but her soul gone…. scared her.
Do not worry. I have what I wanted. I am close. You can have your mortal form back.
How generous of you.
What would Leela go back to? A world ravaged by monsters? A world without Rajesh? Would she go back to the den and become a Gilded Thorn and hope to seek vengeance? No. Revenge never led to anything. She had started this journey wanting to destroy the lustisha, and what had that gotten her?
A broken heart.
An uncontrollable Flame.
A mess of a relationship.
The Viperess froze. Leela snapped her gaze to what the Viperess was staring at.
She sucked in a breath. A giant silhouette stood in the clearing. Fog rolled around its feet.
Fear and adrenaline coursed through Leela. She knew the monster that had ruined her life. How could she not after what it had taken from her?
A lustisha.
Viperess!
Hush, mortal.
We can’t go forward.
We are here for a reason. These mountains are sacred. The rivers that used to flow through here were from the tears of our most beautiful Flame. Why do you think I want to plant the seed here?
Leela’s chest tightened. Her fingers trembled, all the memories of that night flinging back with vengeance. I don’t give a shit. Get us out of here!
I brought fighters for this reason.
Leela shuddered. Oh. They were all going to die. They had all been led into the mountains, and most were going to turn into skeletons to live in the Haunted Sands. It was the attack from the furybeasts all over again.
No… No… D—don’t do this! They won’t survive.
“We move on,” the Viperess said to the group as a collective gasp rose.
Leela wished she could see the Gilded Thorns and the rebels, to tell them to turn around and run. They were not going to survive the lustisha’s fist.
Please…
Leela’s walls shuddered, the darkness consuming her.
Images of the lustisha and the village stifled her, invisible hands clamping around her throat.
She sank to her knees, palms on her ears as she blocked the screams that tore open her memories.
She knew she’d hear the screams first before the crunching of bones or tearing of flesh.
The screams always came first.
No turning back now, mortal.
Leela couldn’t do anything but watch, breath hitched in her throat.
The Viperess neared the lustisha through the clearing as it stood at the end of the passage.
Each step was agonizing. She had never wished more for the Viperess to have control over her as she did now.
It was a sacrifice Leela was willing to make, now that she was facing her nightmare after years.
Pull it together! She thought.
How?
How could she?
At the end of the mountain passage, she would be staring up at the beady eyes of a lustisha. How many heads did this one have? One? Two?
Leela shut her eyes, blocking out the thick trunks for legs.
Steady, mortal.
Don’t tell me to be fucking calm!
Leela peeked and gasped. The Viperess stood at the end of the pass, on a ledge leading down into the pool of fog. Her people were behind her, weapons in hand, staring up at the lustisha.
The fog over the mountain pass lingered in the open air. Despite the legs seeming close, they were still quite some distance away, given their enormous size.
But the fog wasn’t what Leela was staring at.
Gray textured skin leered back at her, and Leela gawked as she noticed this lustisha had two heads.
Panic seized her throat. Her emotions were all too consuming.
Tears she barely registered burst over her hands, her lungs compressing, and suddenly, she couldn’t breathe.
Her vision blurred. Hands shaking beyond control.
Please… Please…
Calm, mortal. I am the Viperess.
And how do you plan to bring down a lustisha?
You forget, I was forced to watch these things linger in the Netherworld. Watching as they played together in the sands, their fists the riversides and backs the mountains. This lustisha was the Scorpion’s making, drawing it from the Netherworld. But it is of my choosing.
Leela stared off into the distance. I don’t understand.
Best to have friends in high places, mortal.
Leela scoffed. You mean this thing is your friend?
How else do you think I was able to get a lustisha to smash through the walls of your village? The Scorpion may push them through the earthen channels, but I am aware of the monsters and their habits.
Leela didn’t understand. Was this another part of her devious plan? A part of her doing…?
Of course it was.
Of course this monster was the Viperess’s making.
Or choosing.
“How do you wish to proceed, my queen?” Ishaan whispered, eyes bulging.
“We walk around,” the Viperess replied. “It will not harm us if we do not give it a reason to.”
“Of course, my queen.”
The Viperess turned and surveyed the ground with a tilted chin. “We proceed around the lustisha and toward the break in the gardens.”
The Gilded Thorns exchanged wary glances.
They walked down the graveled hill onto the grass stretching between the mountains to the other side.
The lustisha stood, as if peaceful. Leela wished the Viperess would look up, so she could see what it looked like as the fog continued to roll, but then again, why would she want to look at her nightmare?
Besides, she had bigger concerns.
What do you plan to do with the wish-fulfilling tree?
The Viperess stayed silent.
Leela scoffed. Typical. You always shut up when I need you the most.
Since when were you desperate?
Not desperate. Annoyed. Frustrated. Angry. Those are the emotions I am feeling, or are you pushing those back too?
The Viperess smirked. Oh, I feel your emotions, Leela. Your soul may be pushed to the back of your mind, but I still feel you.
Good.
A shriek filled the skies, and the Viperess snapped around.
A Hawk shot to the skies. Everyone watched with bated breath as it flew toward the lustisha.
“NO!” the Viperess screamed.
But it was too late.
The Hawk attacked the lustisha, claws digging into the thick leg.
The ground rumbled. A scream louder than anything Leela had ever heard shook the earth. A hand reached out and snatched the Hawk from the sky—a quick snap, and its neck broke. A Gilded Thorn man at the back of the group fell, as did the Hawk in a whirl of feathers.
Leela’s heart thumped. Shit.
“All hands to weapons!” the Viperess called. “Attack! Bring it down!”
The group didn’t need to be told twice.
It was a flurry of people and animals, shadows and mortals.
Elephants thundered forward, adding to the heaving sound of the lustisha’s feet.
More Hawks, Bats, and Ravens ascended, disappearing into the fog with open claws and beaks.
Tigers, Foxes, and Bulls pushed forward, their powerful legs striding across the grass and toward the beast.
Leela watched on in horror as the chaos unfolded. The Viperess didn’t move, merely observing from her position as the animals and mortals either swarmed the lustisha’s legs or ascended into the skies.
The fog lifted, and two sets of heads leered down at Leela with giant tusks and gnashing teeth. Its hands swept the air, trying to swat the animals attacking from every angle.
A slice of hope flitted through her. With this many Flames, they surely had an opportunity to bring it down. Mortals hacked at the legs, jawblades crunching against the flesh.
Why aren’t you moving?
I do not kill friends.
Leela snarled. No. Just supposed enemies.
Friends who betray you are worse.
Before Leela could say anything else, the Viperess turned, the ground shaking with each footstep. But that didn’t deter the Viperess from walking in the other direction.
What are you doing? Turn back! Help them!
No. It is not my fight.
Leela bashed against the glass. Turn the fuck around!
A gust of wind knocked Leela off her feet, and she stared up into the golden eyes of the Viperess. Leela didn’t care. She ran at the glass and glared at her.
I have more important things to do than fight a lustisha. I am surprised you have not realized it yet, mortal. But there are bigger monsters than you and I could ever imagine.
And what? What do you plan to do?
The Viperess shook, as if in laughter. Have you ever wished to have one wish? One thing beyond your wildest dreams?
Leela scoffed. Of course I have.
Then you know you’d stop at nothing to get it. Why would I come this far, destroy everything I loved, to fail now?
Leela frowned. The words sank deep, digging into her bones. She realized the Viperess hadn’t just come here to enact her revenge. Perhaps that was a cover story she told people so they didn’t harass her or see what she really planned to do.
What do you plan to do? Leela asked again, this time, calmer.
One wish. It is all it takes. To bring it all down.
Her eyes widened, fingers loose at her side.
The Viperess didn’t plan to just bring the Scorpion down. No. She planned to also bring down the Awakening.
One wish.
That was all it took.
And all Leela could do was sit and watch.