Chapter 780: Blood (Patreon)

“So, how much further do you think it’ll be until we reach Olduun?” Titania asked, hands clasped behind her back as she walked with almost comically wide strides.

“Getting tired already?” Stryg asked, the hint of a grin at the corner of his lips.

“No,” she said vehemently. They had set out yesterday evening from Lady Wren’s camp. Though they had taken a few breaks, Stryg had kept a steady pace all night long. The dawn light was already on the horizon.

A break would have been acceptable, if not outright expected. But Titania would be damned before she admitted to needing one. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint Stryg, to make him think she wasn’t capable. If Stryg could keep walking, then so could she.

Still, there was a part of Titania, deep inside her, that had posed her question aloud. For the truth was, she did not wish to go home, not yet. 

Just a little longer, she thought.

Though she did not voice her fear aloud, she worried that things would change when they reached Olduun. Titania hoped her parents would approve of her new magic teacher. Stryg may not have been an Olduun noble, but surely they wouldn’t reject the son of the Pale Owl himself? That was only half the problem. 

What would Stryg think? Would he reject her parents? Her home? Would he stay…? Titania hoped he would. She could learn so much from him. But even more than that, she had found a kindred soul in Stryg. A friend who did not look down on her for her fear of the dark or her strange magic. No matter how much he seemed annoyed at her questions and antics, he always made time for her, even when it was inconvenient. The adults in her home had usually ignored her, save for Naomi.

Naomi… Gods, Titania hoped she was okay. After the Astral Light, Titania had lost contact with her guardian and the rest of the caravan. Maybe Naomi was already back in Olduun waiting for her? The thought brought Titania comfort.

She was so busy in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Stryg had stopped walking, and accidentally bumped into him. It felt like her face had smashed into a brick wall with only the barest of blankets to soften the blow.

“Ow,” Titania reeled back with a grimace and rubbed her nose.

Stryg didn’t seem to notice. His gaze was set on the horizon. “I can feel her presence again. She’s not far.” His expression was confused at first, then it became worried, and finally it darkened into anger.

“Stryg…?” Titania whispered.

“Something’s wrong. Gale, she’s hurt,” he growled and clutched at his chest.

“Who’s Gale?”

Stryg turned his gaze down at her, as if noticing she was there for the first time. “We need to go.”

“Huh? What do you mean— Ah!?”

Without hesitation, Stryg hoisted her up and tossed her on his back. A flash of silver light suffused his body and he began to change. Titania squealed in surprise as the ground fell away and silver fur appeared beneath her. As the light died away, Titania opened her eyes to find herself sitting atop the neck of a massive wolf. Titania’s mouth hung wide open in awe. The wolf was larger than even the elephants that marched in the solstice parades.

“This is amazing!” Titania laughed gleefully.

“Hold on tight,” the wolf rumbled in a deep voice.

“Stryg? Is that you—? Aaaaah!” Titania screamed as Stryg leaped off with all four paws and ran across the desert. Titania bent low and hugged his fur, grasping it with all the strength she had. His body was cold to the touch and his fur gave off an arctic aura that chilled the air around him, a natural shield against the sun’s baleful gaze. The world blurred past her as he picked up speed, until it was all Titania could do to just hold on.

~~~

Sidus danced across Gale’s sword. His eyes traced her blade’s swings as his feet shifted and his body twisted away from her attacks. The strikes he could not dodge, he parried with his own white-magic-forged blade. With a flick of his wrist, he sent her sword careening to the side and struck with his own blade, leaving a small gash on her thigh. It was the eighth such wound he had left on her. Gale roared in frustration and swung in retaliation, but Sidus had already danced away.

“You’re strong,” Sidus stared pointedly at the bronze sheen of brown magic wrapped around her arms. “But your attacks are too slow. Predictable, even.”

A torrent of fire crashed into Sidus from the back, causing him to stumble. He growled and looked back. Tauri stood several meters away, tongues of fire curling around her wrists. “I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me.”

“How could I forget such a pretty face?” Though his words were sweet, the fire in his eyes was nothing of the sort. “Tell me, what is your name, orc?”

“Sorry, I don’t give my name to gods who want to kill me. Call it a sense of self-preservation,” Tauri said.

“Preservation? You struck a god of death. There will be nothing left of you to preserve but ash and dust,” Sidus said.

“My lord, let us help you!” Victoria pleaded.

“No, these prey are mine.” Sidus ran his tongue across his sharp teeth. Though his clothes had been scorched by Tauri’s flames, his flesh remained unblemished. 

Tauri shared a worried glance with Gale. They were fighting a losing battle and they both knew it.

By now, the blood from Gale’s open wounds had seeped all across her clothes. She could feel her mana seeping away from the blood loss. And for a moment, she was back in Murkton, under Morrigan’s castle, fighting against Lord Corvus. He had fought her in a similar manner. Always on the defensive, blocking her attacks, and only counterattacking when he saw an opening. It had been a battle of attrition and she had lost.

The memory of that defeat had never left her. She had replayed the fight hundreds of times in her head, analyzing what she could have done differently. But where Corvus had let his men whittle her down and only fought her when she was exhausted, Sidus had not. Corvus was just a man. Cunning, but mere flesh and blood. Sidus was a god. He needed no cheap tricks to defeat her. But she was no longer the same woman from that night several years ago.

Gale closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I am the Chosen of the Winged One, Lord of Death, and Prince of the Moon. I fight in his name, so let my blade strike true, in this life and the new.” A cold power filled her veins and flowed into her flesh. Fresh wounds closed until there was nothing but faint blemishes.

Sidus frowned at the sight. “I see now. You have a spark of my brother’s power within you. That won’t do.”

Gale’s eyes snapped open and she leaped forward in a burst of unnatural speed. Her sword arced down faster than Sidus could react and struck his neck. The blade sank into his flesh, then stopped as if it had struck steel. Gale stared in confusion at her blade, not even a centimeter deep into his neck. “H-How?”

A sharp pain stabbed into her stomach. Gale glanced down to find a white dagger protruding from her gut. 

“I always wondered why gods lent their power to mortals when they are so unworthy of it,” Sidus said calmly and twisted the dagger deeper into her.

Gale sucked in a sharp breath and grimaced. Her body couldn’t stop shaking and her hands lost their grip.

“No!” Tauri screamed and hurled a helix of flames at Sidus.

A silver wing erupted from his back and shielded him from the fire. “I’ll taste your flesh later, orc.” He raised his outstretched hand and a beam of light erupted from his fingertips.

Tauri tried to evade, but bright magic was notorious for its speed. The beam crashed into her side and scorched and blackened her flesh. She fell in a tumble and when her body stopped rolling, she lay still in a broken heap.

“You fucking bastard,” Gale spat.

“Now, where were we?” Sidus turned back to her with a smile. “Ah, yes, I was about to eat your heart.”

“Get away from her!” Evander rushed at the god, a plain old steel dagger in his hand.

Sidus chuckled pitifully at the attempt. He didn’t even bother to block as the dagger bounced off his chest. “And who are you?” Sidus snatched Evander with his free hand and held him up off his feet.

“He’s just a sand rat, my lord. A thief,” Victoria explained.

“What is a sand rat doing here?” Sidus mused.

Evander gasped for breath and struggled to escape the god’s grip to no avail.

“N-No…” Gale said weakly. “Let him go.”

“Oh. Oh. Do you care for this rat? Wonderful.” Sidus tossed Gale to the ground and brought a thrashing Evander closer. “Then I’ll kill him first.” Sidus opened his jaw unnaturally wide and bit into Evander’s neck. He clamped down and ripped out his throat.

“No!” Gale cried out.

Evander went limp as blood gushed all over him. Sidus abruptly dropped him and began to cough uncontrollably. “W-What is this?” Sidus doubled over and retched, spitting out blood and bits of flesh. The veins began to darken around his lips and neck, until he began to cough up his own blood, a dark ichor. “What sort of trick is this!?”

Evander turned his neck and looked at Gale as he lay dying. His lips moved slowly, but no sound came out. A single tear slipped down his bloodshot, panicked eyes.

Sidus wiped the blood from his lips and snarled at the two mortals lying on the ground. “I’ll kill you, you wretched vermin. I’ll kill all of you!”

“He’ll kill you first,” Gale smirked.

“What?” Sidus frowned.

A mass of silver fur blurred across the desert’s edge and crashed into Sidus. The two rolled on the ground as the god wolf bit into Sidus’ wing. Stryg shook his head around like a rabid dog until the wing was ripped off in a bloody mess.

Sidus roared in pain and stumbled away. His back was covered in deep claw marks and blood. With a grimace, he channeled a suit of white armour over himself. Healing light flowed through the semi-translucent armour, slowly stitching the wounds from within. “Brother, so nice of you to finally join us,” he said with an angry smile.

Stryg’s eyes were set in a deep glare as he chewed the broken wing and swallowed it whole.

Sidus twitched and pushed down a scowl. “I’ve been looking for you.” His eyes glanced up at Titania, riding atop Stryg’s neck. “And her. We have much to discuss—”

“Tauri…?” Stryg muttered in a low rumble. He stared at his wife’s body and stumbled over to her. He nudged her with his snout, but there was no response. A painful whine escaped his mouth.

“I gave them a chance. They refused to tell me where you were hiding—” Sidus stopped mid-sentence as the wind around him stilled. The air grew heavy and the sand began to rise all around them. 

The god wolf’s fur began to glow with inner light and the air ground vibrated in deep pulses, leaving wide rings in the sand with the wolf at the epicenter. Titania sat up and looked around in confusion. “W-What’s happening? Stryg?”

“Fuck. Calm down, Stryg.” Sidus held his hands out, palms open. “If you do this, everyone here will die.”

The god wolf looked up at him, eyes aglow. There was no semblance of reason behind his lilac gaze, only death.