Chapter 43 Sonam
Chaos.
Demons drag themselves through the Gates of Hell. They come through all at once, the ground shaking beneath our feet so violently it knocks several soldiers off their feet. Our ranks are disorganized, fracturing. A dam about to easily be broken.
The demons look like spiders released from a gaping hole in their silken nest, crawling over one another, a tangle of arms and legs as their jittery bodies spill out into the courtyard. Swords and arrows and lances are all well and good, but not at the rate our enemies arrive. We’re going to drown.
The masks they don may make them appear human, but there’s no denying their monstrous hunger. Fallen soldiers are devoured without mercy. I cringe at the sound of crunching bones and blood-wet flesh.
“Fall back!” someone in the rear ranks screams.
“No!” I bellow. “Hold the line. We can’t let them get into the city.”
Even as I give my orders, I know they’ll go ignored.
I can read the fear in their faces. These men weren’t trained as I was.
They’ve never faced the horrors of the damned.
One of them flees, then another. Before long, the demons push past, a rushing stream cutting through what should have been a wall.
The demons of Hell force their way through the courtyard gates. Screams rip into the air as they slaughter their way to freedom. We’re outnumbered, and those still here with me won’t be able to outlast the onslaught.
A feral demon disguised as a young woman throws herself at me, knocking me to the ground. She digs her nails into the flesh of my collarbone, licking her lips with delight.
“You look tasty,” she says with a cackle. “What a waste of a handsome face.”
I waste no time responding and slap a new mask onto my face. The moment I feel my transformation take hold—
I snap my jaws shut and devour, severing the top half of the demon’s body with my jagged rows of teeth. The remainder of her corpse slumps to the side, black blood pooling beneath it. It’s in this pool that I catch a glimpse of my reflection, my features highlighted by the silver light of the moon.
My bones continue to stretch and bend, but it’s the furthest thing from painful.
In fact, it’s invigorating. I’m born again.
I grow to double, triple, quadruple the size, casting almost half of the courtyard in my towering shadow.
Six slanted eyes of white opal contrasting sharply with pupils of solid obsidian meet me in my reflection.
My coat of fur is darker than the night sky.
My claws are impressively sharp, each one curled like scythes.
And behind me, nine sweeping, majestic tails that flow like war banners.
My sense of smell is heightened. My hearing is so sharp that I can hear the distant gongs signaling for the evacuation of the city. Most noticeable of all is my sight. I no longer have one pair of eyes, but three. I see the world in an array of colors I didn’t even know existed.
This must be how Yue sees the world.
Saw the world.
For a moment, I almost hear her laugh, a distinctive cackle that was always high-pitched and dry, yet was so unabashedly joyful.
I regret the way I treated her when she finally learned to trust me.
I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping my distance.
I mistakenly believed that we were too different, she and I.
Now I know—all too late—that we weren’t sword and shield, but the sharp edges of the same blade; stronger, fiercer, deadlier together than we were apart. Steel, after all, sharpens steel.
Now I will never hear her laugh again. I can never again earn one of her rare, genuine smiles. All the things I should have done and said weigh heavily on my heart.
When I see the Maskmaker rise up out of the Gates of Hell, I head straight for him. Demon, god, man, or monster—it matters not. I will hunt him to the ends of the earth for what he’s done to me. To my people.
To Yue.
I race into battle, tearing my way through the endless onslaught. He sees me and laughs as he retreats, slipping through the turmoil with ease.
“Come back here, you coward!” I growl, slashing through every demon foolish enough to stand in my way.
The Maskmaker pays me no heed, heading toward the city center. I can’t afford to lose sight of him.
Demons have forced their way past even the Jade Palace’s tall walls, laying waste to everything they see.
I’ve never seen such pandemonium. The streets are crowded with citizens trying to flee, some with their things hastily thrown into carts, most with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Distraught mothers call for their lost children.
An elderly man trips over his own cane and is nearly trampled underfoot.
Still-warm bodies litter the narrow roads, blood dripping into the watery canals of Longhao.
People scream when they see me. Most freeze, too terrified to move, while others run as fast as they can in the opposite direction—right into the jaws of a waiting demon.
Ten. Fifty. A hundred. No matter how many demons I tear apart with my teeth, with my claws, there’s no end in sight.
Even with my borrowed strength and size, I know I can’t keep this up forever.
Fatigue sets in. My muscles tire and my lungs burn.
Though my heart isn’t ready to surrender, my head knows this is a losing battle.
But if I don’t keep fighting—if I don’t give every last drop of my sweat and blood—then all is lost.
A terrible rumbling shakes the ground beneath me. For a moment, I fear what it could mean. Is it another wave of demons escaping from Hell? No, it sounds much closer than that. Like the stomping of large, hefty feet.
I see the threat all too late. A massive ox demon, his mask discarded.
It seems he’s given up on the pretense. With alarming speed, he charges at me, throwing his full weight into the tackle.
I’m slammed into the building beside me, the walls crumbling with the force.
The woman and little girl who were hiding inside let out a helpless cry.
The mother has a kitchen knife in her trembling hand.
“S-stay back!” she stutters. “Please, don’t hurt us!”
With a groan, I stand up on all fours, using my front paw to knock my mask askew slightly. The magic pulls away from where the paper has left my skin, exposing my true face. The woman stares at me, wide-eyed, when she realizes I’m not the threat she thought I was.
“It’s okay,” I wheeze. I think one of my ribs is cracked. “I’ll draw it away. When it’s safe to do so, take the little one and run. Stop for no one. Understand?”
She nods slightly, still in disbelief, but I don’t have the time to explain further. I replace my mask and step out through the ruined wall of the house. The ox demon snorts, nostrils flaring. He’s waiting for me.
“I could smell you a mile away, human,” he says with a vicious smile. “You’re fooling no one.”
“Good thing that was never my intention.”
“I’m going to eat you, and then the two lovely morsels I can smell behind you.”
I bare my fangs. “I dare you to try.”
He charges and swings at me with hefty fists, pounding at my skull like he expects it to shatter.
The demon tears at my fur, yanking out tufts.
When he grabs one of my tails, sending electricity crackling up my spine, I snap at him with my teeth, sinking my canines into the bitter flesh of his arm.
We’re equally matched, neither of us giving the other an inch.
What in the nine suns am I supposed to do?
A thought occurs to me.
When the ox demon rears back to take another swing, I quickly tear off my fox mask.
I shrink down to my normal height—well out of his reach.
Unable to stop mid-strike, the boar demon loses his balance.
He stumbles forward and falls flat on his face.
Without hesitation, I reach for the Maskmaker’s paintbrush and rush the boar, climbing over him like a hill.
I knee him in the back of the neck, pinning him in place as I paint several quick strokes against the back of his bare head in lieu of a proper canvas.
The magic takes effect, the boar’s massive form suddenly squeezing down into the body of a helpless little mouse.
Before my opponent even has a chance to blink, I replace my fox mask, open my jaw wide, and snap him up in a single bite.
He tastes particularly foul—like dirt and week-old milk—but the triumph that fills my chest is nothing short of exquisite.
A howl rips itself from my lungs—a fox’s cry. Loud and sharp enough for all of Longhao to hear it. I want the Maskmaker to know. I’m still here, still alive—and he should be afraid.
Behind me, timid footsteps padding over rubble. The mother and daughter carefully emerge from their ruined home, giving me a wary nod before running off toward the outer walls of the city. With any luck, they’ll be able to escape with their lives.
I sniff the air, trying to pick up the Maskmaker’s scent, but something shatters my concentration.
A scream, much like the one I just unleashed. My hair stands on end, a shiver slithering through my veins. It wasn’t an echo, of that much I’m sure. This call belongs to someone else. Another fox.
My heart stutters.
I know of only one other fox demon in existence, but… it can’t be.
The howl comes again, and I know. I know. I can feel it in my blood and in my bones. As sure as the sun rises and the moon waxes and wanes. I turn in the direction of her voice and set off in a mad run to find her.