NOVEL NEXT Chapter 99: /MONSTER/
Berserkrios clamped his jaws shut, claws raking the glass with a screech as he lunged. In an instant he was on the Cerberus, jaws snapping down with brutal force. The beast swerved, tendrils lashing out, binding around the Coarseblood's snout. With a guttural crack, Berserkrios tore them apart, his maw splitting them like wet fabric. His claws drove in after—
? ? ?
Nothing. His claws passed through the Cerberus, flesh dissolving at his touch. But he didn't relent. His claws swung fast, scratching the glass as he swung upward, but the Cerberus melted into oily ribbons that coiled around his arm. Teeth sprouted from the liquid mass, fusing with claws into a spiraling whip that tore into his armor.
Berserkrios reeled in pain, the mangle of flesh hooking his armor, the muscly flesh peeling the ivory plating clean off his arms.
Hissssss—
Berserkrios's bloodied arm hissed against the storm, bone flowering from his wounds repelling the L. Cerberus. He reeled back, his alien gaze flaring in the red glow. But the Cerberus had already gone—its form sinking into the vortex like a shadow into water.
RUMBLE!
The leviathan slammed into the Vivathecca. Glass quaked, ivory armor clattered, and Berserkrios's Kyyr flaring, as he searched for the beast in the murky water.
"WHERE!" Berserkrios roared, his beastly skull swinging all around, searching for the L. Cerberus amidst the festering presence surging all around.
A bladed tendril whipped out from the vortex. It hissed against the wind, hooking itself into Berserkrios's talon.
Dragged off balance, Berserkrios's skull cracked the glass as he slammed down. The tendril yanked harder, momentum snapping him off his feet, flinging his massive frame through the air. Thunder rolled—then a bolt of abyssal lightning spiraled upward, cleaving through the storm and tearing straight through his armor.
Berserkrios writhed in agony, his roars rumbling against the churning waves. The L. Cerberus emerged from above, its jaws wide open as it plunged into Berserkrios.Black fangs shattered ivory plates, boiling blood erupted in a scalding spray, searing the beast even as it gorged.
Berserkrios roared, thrashing. More tendrils erupted from the waves, hooking into his body at crooked angles. The force of the current wrenched him further, bones splintering, claws contorting in raw torment while the L. Cerberus tore deeper into his fiery flesh.
Below, the S. Cerberus emerged from the water. Its bony claws twitching ritualistically as black tendrils unfurled from its fingers, the black strands coiled through the vortex, dragging writhing Caused out of the depths. Their bodies spasmed, then fell limp under its control. With a flourish, it raised its arms like a composer upon climax—the puppet'd Caused and tendrils weaving together with Berserkrios and the L. Cerberus into a suffocating tangle of flesh and bone.
The mass tightened. Bladed tendrils burrowed deeper into Berserkrios, pulling until his armor cracked, limbs bending in the wrong directions, twisting grotesquely out of shape.
Berserkrios's visage split, rage unfurling. Muscles locked against the tides, Kyyr spiking, heat surging—
The L. Cerberus erupted from the mass of flesh, its jaws twisting violently as cancerous growths bubbled from its throat as white bone split it in half. The bladed tendrils recoiled, their own pull reversed against the storm.
Kyyr poured from the mass of flesh, bathing the S. Cerberus in waves of compounded rage. The S. Cerberus shuddered, tripping on itself as it frantically undid its weave, as it stumbled into the raging waters.
The web of bladed tendrils suddenly twisted inward, the mass of flesh collapsing against the Vivathecca.
RUMBLE!
The Vai'tolant hammered the glass, the Vivathecca shuddering at the impact.
Ivory jaws burst from the mass, fangs blackened as they tore through flesh. Out of the ruin, mangled and shattered yet still alive, Berserkrios rose. His howl ripped the storm apart as bone erupted from his frame, massive blades twisting into the gale while black flesh splattered across the surge.
The L. Cerberus slithered from the gore, barely alive. It dragged itself into the spiraling storm, its mangled remains fusing with a lesser Caused, merging with its body, molding into its twisted form. Lightning split the sky—Berserkrios's cracked visage widened. Shoals of Caused swam all around, hundreds upon hundreds schooling in the Spiraling Sea.
The L. Cerberus shot out from the currents, its body clad in abyssal lightning as it crashed into Berserkrios. Berserkrios barely flinched, jaws snapping down—but they met only liquid flesh.
Berserkrios's scales flared, Kyyr rising as he thrashed in frustration, claws and jaws failing to connect with the liquid flesh.
From behind, the M. Cerberus emerged from behind its bladed tendrils, hooking into his back, dragging him toward the roaring current.
Berserkrios's visage cracked, bone erupting from all around, repulsing the fiends. The L. Cerberus screeched, invoking lightning from the depths. The storm answered in a chaotic deluge, bolts slamming into Berserkrios—armor cracking, flesh searing under the electric onslaught. He grimaced, fangs grinding as the M. Cerberus's tendrils slithered through the ivory spires, hooking cruelly into his ribs.
Gira! Can you hear me? GIRA! Ezzeks's voice rang out from the throne.
But Berserkrios didn't heed the call, his Kyyr ripping violently; his bony defense exploding under the fulgor form of the Abyssal Kyyr as the Vai'tolant crashed into glass below.
GIRA! STOP! Calm down! We need to think!
But the Coarseblood only struggled harder. Panic swelled. A tendril pierced through his armor, hooking into his spine. His roar shook the sea as bone constructs exploded outward. He spun a spire of ivory, slicing the red-lit storm apart. Steam hissed from his burning blood, muscles scorched, ribs trembling as colossal growths erupted from under his talons, forcing the abyss back even as lightning raked his frame.
The agony tore through him, so raw it forced Ezzeks to sever the link—his body writhing in the throne.
"AAAAGH!" Ezzeks howled, the pain lingering like searing fire in his nerves.
Savagrios rushed to his side. "What in all that's gold are you doing here?! Why have you left him alone?!" he screamed at the writhing Ezzeks.
"Ow—FUCK!" Ezzeks screamed, his face twisting in pain. "He wouldn't listen!"
Savagrios spun toward the throne. Gira convulsed violently, bony growths ripping through his skin. "Oh no… What have you done!" His voice cracked as he turned back on Ezzeks.
Savagrios seized the struggling Ezzeks by the scruff of his clothes. "Connect with him again! Share the pain like we did! Or else…" His voice faltered, pride collapsing into dread. "We—you… Bloodlust will consume us all!"
K grabbed Savagrios, forcing him to let go of Ezzeks. "Compose yourself, friend! Please explain what's occurring!"
Savagrios shook his head, walking over to Gira. "We do not remember much about ourselves, but we do remember the curse of our blood. We thought Berserkrios knew too."
Ezzeks rubbed his neck, grimacing. "Ugh… Sorry to say, but I wasn't a Coarseblood originally. I'm new to this—oh, fuck…" He pressed a hand to his head.
Savagrios's crimson eyes grew wide. "Dear Symbols…You let him fully transform without culling his hunger? Y-you've left him all alone with instincts beyond his control." His shoulders slumped as he sank into the crimson sofa next to Gira.
Ezzeks blinked, confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Savagrios put a hand on the convulsing Gira. "You forget that he's nothing more than a child in mind and spirit. To forsake the siren call of Calamity takes strength, control, experience. Gira knows only raw strength. His mind will go berserk under the desire to consume. We can only hope it ends with the three beasts… if not—everyone will be in danger. Even us, here in this hollow of the soul."
Ezzeks stared at the boy shaking on the throne, blood dripping from his nose, tears streaking his face. "… I-I didn't know. How could I?" He clenched his fists.
K looked between them, overwhelmed. "Is there nothing you can do to help him?"
Savagrios shook his head. "The white beast is Berserkrios's spawn. If even he cannot reach him, there is little hope. All we can do is plead with every god we know to help us survive his rampage."
The three of them fell silent, their gazes fixed on Gira. His fingers dug into the velvet throne, body trembling, tears and blood mingling as he fought against the storm within his mind.
RUMBLE!
The Vai'tolant slammed into the glass, the world shuddering with its weight.
Lightning speared into the Coarseblood, Kyyr blazing white-hot—like blades shrieking across metal. Embers fluttered in the air, the vortex sucking them up and into the crimson shattered sky.
Berserkrios let out a horrid wail as the onslaught of Kyyr and flesh relentlessly pierced him—tendrils reaching into his organs, flaying him from within.
His Kyyr erupted, boiling from within. Heat spiked so violently the tendrils frying inside him shriveled and burst. The M. Cerberus hissed, recoil loosening its hold—enough for Berserkrios to break free.
He crashed forward, full weight slamming into the L. Cerberus—only for its body to liquefy and slip back into the storm.
Ivory burst outward. Bone blades spiked from his body, carving into the sea. The currents shredded them instantly, shards dragged into the surge. Berserkrios roared, jaws splitting, entrails glowing as heat poured out. His cracked visage burned red, Kyyr cascading into the storm, lightning strobing across the shoals of Caused swarming around him.
RRRRRRUMMMMMBLE!!!
The Vai'tolant thrashed again, hammering the glass.
CRACK!
Berserkrios roared, his wail eclipsing the thunderous crash of water. His Kyyr rising!
From the watery walls, a Caused burst free—then convulsed as a twisted branch of bone ripped out from inside it. Berserkrios lunged, jaws clamping down on the helpless thing. More Caused rained around him, their bodies covered in ivory growths.
The large bony blades continued to shatter against the current, splintering into countless shards. Lightning flashed—revealing the shards tearing into Caused, their bodies suddenly twisting in the afterglow before the current spat them out, their bodies studded with the cancerous shards.
From the twisting waters the M. Cerberus emerged, convulsing, one leg half-liquefied as it tore free from a wreath of bone.
Berserkrios stomped a writhing Caused into pulp, his blood-smeared visage snapping toward the M. Cerberus. He charged.
FEAR.
The Cerberus dissolved preemptively, liquid form squirming for the vortex.
"NO." Berserkrios's whisper rumbled like a faultline cracking. Bone suddenly erupted around the Cerberus, encasing it in a bony prison. It clawed at the walls, but the ivory only closed tighter.
The M. Cerberus shrieked, lightning tearing down and blasting the prison apart. Caused rained with it, their bodies bursting as the embedded bone detonated, shards spraying in every direction.
The M. Cerberus erupted from the bony prison. It claws reaching for the water—
GGRRSSSH!
A whip of bone coiled tight around its body. The beast writhed, sneering, trying to liquefy—
Hissss…
Fire.
Flames engulfed the M. Cerberus as the bony whip combusted, its liquid flesh seared dry in the grip. With a violent snap the whip recoiled, dragging the beast close—its alien visage contorted in despair, just as massive jaws closed on its burnt body.
Berserkrios clamped down on the charred form, his fangs grinding into the scorched hide. The M. Cerberus shrieked in agony.
Lightning flashed. In desperation, the M. Cerberus dissolved its neck, its head dropping free, barely slipping past the Coarseblood's maw. Fire erupted from Berserkrios's jaws, consuming the remaining flesh in a ravaging flare. The glow of fire sparked, dark shadows cutting the enraged features of Berserkrios as his jaws snapped shut, destroying the M. Cerberus's remains.
RUMMMMMBLE!!!
The Vai'tolant crashed headfirst into the glass. Its long spinal blades gouged the surface before it recoiled into the depths. In its wake, the bioluminescence faltered, microbes crushed into silence, their glow stuttering out one pulse at a time.
Bone rattled faintly against the storming water. Flesh hissed and gurgled as Caused writhed, dragged toward an amber glow of fire. Screeches tore through the depths as their arms flailed helplessly, skin burned by the encroaching touch of Calamity.
Far above in the surging vortex, the S. Cerberus watched, their lingering senses pleading with them to escape, yet the unseen desire of things far deeper than any sea compelled their horrid form.
Death.
That was their—her fate.
A piercing howl tore through the crashing waves. Violent Kyyr ravaged through the Spiraling Sea and beyond. Rangers everywhere felt it—a chilling gnaw of Calamity, hunger erupting in waves of starved rage.
In the makeshift medical tents along the Vivathecca wounded rangers convulsed.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
Their screams tore the canvas, throats shredding as pain erupted. All wounds, be it slashes, gashes, cuts or scratches, bubbled in the presence of Calamity's end, as the perverse Kyyr activated cells and organs to produce and tear. Bone burst in cancerous waves. Skeletal fingers blossomed like ivory flowers, jaws, teeth, and ribs, and any form of shapeless masses sprouted where they had no place.
Okari froze mid-treatment. The ranger beneath her care seized her arm, shrieking as fingers pushed out of his skull like gnarled branches, curling back into his scalp.
Her heart hammered. She looked around in panic—dozens of rangers lay in agony, but only some writhed under the transformation. Perhaps one in eight fell victim, their bodies bursting open as bone split through in alien blooms.
"Commander Okari!"a ranger cried, voice breaking. He clutched at his bloodied face, new fingers spearing through his brow. "What do we do!"
Okari's throat tightened. She forced Kyyr into her hand, snapped the growths from his face, and he screamed again, blood spraying across her arm.
"Stabilize them!" she barked, voice trembling but sharp. "Cull the growths—keep them from bleeding out!"
"Right away!" the ranger shouted back, hand shaking as he pressed his comms unit, relaying the order to every ranger on the channel.
RUUMMMMBBBBLEEEE!
The Vai'tolant smashed against the glass; the impact causing the crack to spread.
Berserkrios rose to his full height, bony chains clattering against the surface. A molten gleam hissed beneath his ivory armor. He dragged one arm back; the chain dragging with him—then with brutal force he swung the chain into the spiraling water, the chain lighting ablaze with esoteric heat as it cut into the water.
The strike caught. Resistance tore at his arm as he wrenched the chains back, hauling an unfortunate Caused into his jaws.
CRUNCH!
He swallowed it head first, bone erupting around his jaws to push the writhing Caused down his throat.
High in the vortex, the S. Cerberus hesitated. Her split brain torn between fear and the will of the abyss, unsure as to what to do.
Fire.
But she had no time.
Flaming chains infiltrated the water, spinning out endlessly from the raging body of Berserkrios. The vortex glowed, the tawny gold blaze climbing up the storm searching for them—for her.
Panic seized the three. They swam upward, higher and higher, the M. and S. Cerberus fusing with the L., three heads twisting into one body as they devoured every Caused in their path. The chains followed, endless and unrelenting, dragging shrieking victims down into fiery death. Dread climbed with them, her alien heart pounding against the thrashing waters, the call of the abyss choking away her last shred of self.
Then—stillness. The Cerberus froze, its senses flaring. It stared down into the murk, the rising chains nothing more than a fading light in the depths. But this respite was short-lived, as the faded echo of something whispered in its mind.
Dead in the water.
Meat for the maw.
Berserkrios's rib plates burst open, energy gathering in his blazing chest—a dying star on the very verge. The molten core of Calamity seared his insides, a furnace of unfurling frenzy and flame. His throat lit from within, fire streaming through the cracks of his teeth. He aimed high at the Spiraling Sea and opened his jaws.
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FWOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
Immolation. An infernal blast of fire erupted from the Coarseblood's core. The Faux Dragon neared truth as fire and plasma split the Spiraling Sea. The currents exploded, steam rising violently with the sudden firestorm.
The Cerberus had little time to react—the thermic discharge blasting the fell beast into the sky, the pressure alone sending hundreds of Caused flying in every direction, a pale brand upon their flesh by the will of the Ivory Calamity.
The pillar of flame reached the heavens, a beacon in the dark, a sign of the inevitable dawn. All who could see the spire of fire, felt the world freeze for a heartbeat. Fear, shock, excitement, joy, and dread spread the wildfire far across the Vivathecca.
The fire ebbed, leaving all witnesses to bask in its glorious afterglow.
The Cerberus was hurled skyward, its arms flailing in the air as it caught sight of the far-off glow of tomorrow. Its humanity flickered for a fleeting beat as it crashed down near post 22, its body collapsing into a liquified puddle of black flesh that rolled and reformed itself. The three heads looked around wildly as the encroaching presence of the Calamity filled their senses.
RUUMMMMMBLE!!!
The Vai'tolant crashed into the glass nearby.
The S. Cerberus's head jerked toward the sound, its face contorting in terror as it split from its brethren. The M. and L. Cerberus began to split as well but suddenly froze. Their flesh convulsed, twisting into something grotesque.Their bodies reformed into a new abomination: a Caused unlike any seen before. Its face flattened, concealed beneath a humanoid hand tipped with claws. The creature froze mid-Cerberus and half-way whatever this new thing was. It let out a low hiss—meaningless to all but those bathed in the abyss's gloom. The S. Cerberus began to tremble, unfortunate enough to understand. Whatever message had been exchanged in whatever alien way, drove the S. Cerberus to cower.
The S. Cerberus stared at its other selves, frozen in anguish, powerless before the thing inhabiting them. It spoke again—not in any human language, but it shared a word. A message unknown.
The two other Cerberus trembled, letting out child-like cries as the strange thing receded into their bodies.
Their heads smashed together. Flesh convulsed as spiraling tendrils tore through their combined skull. The upper half ripped away, leaving only a gaping lower jaw bristling with rigid, blade-like tendrils. Their hands spasmed, a seventh finger clawing its way through raw flesh. Their tails twisted around each other, fusing into a second maw lined with spiraling tongues. Muscles streamlined, knitting into a gaunt figure that cradled its own arm as it solidified into shape.
The S. Cerberus didn't linger. Claws clattered against the glass as it fled, abandoning the M. and L.—left behind to face Berserkrios in their unfortunate new form.
RUMMMMBBLEEEE!
The Vai'tolant thrashed nearer, foul Kyyr bleeding into the air. The silent figure twitched in the wind, rising like a limp puppet. Caused swarmed around it, their bodies liquefying into a spiraling mass of flesh and bone that wrapped the Deviant Cerberus.
Its eyeless gaze fixed on the oncoming blaze, the Coarseblood's fire poisoning the blue glow of the Vivathecca. Raising a seven-fingered hand, the D. Cerberus wove the Caused into lesser mirrors of itself—eyeless, houndish husks. The faceless beast roared, and the primitive spawn hurled themselves toward the fire.
The air reeked—salt, lemon-rot, and the savory tang of burning flesh—as Berserkrios cooked himself alive, mind drowning in wrathful bloodlust.
The first wave of Primitive Caused smashed against his bulk, crushed thoughtlessly underfoot. Those that leapt onto his back died instantly, roasted by the heat and rupturing bone mass exploding from his hide.
RUMMMMBLEEE!
CRACK!
The wyrmm glass split wider as Berserkrios tore through the horde. He didn't dodge; he tore right through them. Bony chains swung with his weight, sweeping entire ranks aside, flames cooking them alive. His chest glowed, chains recoiling as though drawn into a furnace. Then, his jaws split wide. Waves of fire roared forth, flames spreading across the Vivathecca, devouring the Caused in hateful fire.
The D. Cerberus lingered in the back, its body charging Kyyr as abyssal condensation coalesced around its form, the watery deluge spiraling around its body creating tendrils of rushing water that contorted all around the beast.
Berserkrios stomped on the last Primitive Caused. His gaze set on the angelic figure of the faceless D. Cerberus hovering above. The Coarseblood hissed and charged headlong, dodging the surging jets. Water slammed into the Vivathecca in crashing walls, rousing the Vai'tolant into another convulsion.
RUMMMMMBLE!
Berserkrios, fueled by rage, ignored the crushing waves. Water pressure stripped armor and flesh, but the Coarseblood plowed through, flaming chains cleaving the sea as he crashed into the D. Cerberus. The chains coiled tight, yet the beast seized them, its grip shocking in strength. With a violent yank, it dragged Berserkrios off his feet and slammed him against the glassy surface. His snout cracked on impact, a grunt rumbling out as the Cerberus's rigid hands followed, caving his chest and shattering ivory plates in one brutal strike.
Berserkrios grit his teeth and hurled himself at the D. Cerberus, bone erupting from his wounds in jagged defiance. But the beast ripped through the spires, its steel-hard body unyielding, and clamped a crushing grip around his throat mid-lunge. His momentum died with a violent jolt. Pressure closed in, vertebrae grinding, his airway collapsing into a guttural wheeze. He clawed at the monster's arm, talons raking sparks against its hide, but the grip only tightened. His body thrashed, armor plates splintering under the strain, Kyyr spilling wildly from every crack. Then—fire burst from his throat. Flames poured over the D. Cerberus's claws, searing its flesh. The beast's grip faltered for an instant. Berserkrios heaved, muscles tearing against bone, and with a final wrench he ripped himself free. He staggered back, hissing as his neck reformed, Kyyr rising with the heat.
The D. Cerberus lunged, claws singing arcs through the storm, each strike trailed by lightning. Abyssal bolts followed its movements, exploding with every slash. One caught Berserkrios full-on, hurling him across the glass.
Berserkrios tumbled, catching himself in a nest of jagged bones. The Coarseblood opened his jaws, bathing the approaching Cerberus in fire. But abyssal condensation quelled the flames around the fell omen. A long stiff arm cut through the fire, but Berserkrios pulled back, swinging its arms in retaliation. He managed to seize one of its arms. The Cerberus remained unfazed, its featureless head tilting as it simply tore its own arm off.
RUMMMMBBLEEEE!!!
The Vai'tolant crashed into the glass; the crack spreading further.
Berserkrios staggered as Primitive Caused leapt onto him, gnawing and clawing like vermin. Above, the D. Cerberus ascended, watery Kyyr spiraling into black tendrils that knitted its missing arm. A horrid screech split the storm as it thrust its hand downward. A pillar of water hammered into Berserkrios, wrapping him in a crushing sphere.
He thrashed in the bubble of water as the Primitive Caused tore into his body like starving piranhas. His muffled roar rattled the sea—bone detonated from his frame, jagged constructs igniting as they speared upward and smashed into the Deviant Cerberus.
The beast writhed, body melting away—only for the ground beneath it to erupt in fiery bony growths. Its flesh sizzled, steam crackling as it summoned abyssal currents to smother the flames.
But amidst the surging water, a Primitive Caused was launched straight at it. On impact, the creature convulsed as cancerous bone jutted out from its body, impaling the Cerberus. The mess of bone burst into flames, consuming the D. Cerberus in a painful ball of hatred. Its Kyyr spiking water rising only for bone constructs to erupt around the beast, sealing it in a fiery shell. The D. Cerberus screeched inside its body, broiling in the inferno, claws smashing into the bone as it was consumed.
Berserkrios tore the remaining Primitive Caused off him, his sights set on the screeching ball of bone. He raised an arm, his claws clumping into a fist that he viciously drove into the blazing shell. Ivory cracked. With a guttural snarl he tore the walls apart and lunged, jaws closing over the blackened remains. He devoured the Cerberus whole, fire and ash spilling between his fangs.
Within his throne, Savagrios, Ezzeks, and K felt queasy there Kyyr leeched by bony growths sprouted from the void.
"What the hell are these things?!" Ezzeks snarled, voice breaking under the weight of the bone pressing into him.
Savagrios—oddly calm in the face of the parasitic growths encasing him—sighed. "We're being consumed. Gira is overclocking our Kyyr reserves, consuming everything blindly. His mind lost in a maze of relentless hunger."
"Ugh!" Ezzeks strained, shoving against the growths, his hand slipping uselessly along the cancerous ivory. "There's got to be something I can do!"
Savagrios shook his head."Lest you manage to claw into his mind through sheer will we're dead." Savagrios snuggled up to a growing rib. "We were ready to die that red night—but dying like this… We're not too proud of."
Crrrrrk!
Ezzeks froze. "Damn it! Just when I got so many of my memories back. There has to be a way." He grimaced.
A pillow smacked against his head. "You bet there is." Vaal scoffed, walking past Ezzeks.
"Vaal?!!!" Ezzeks gawked, snapping toward Savagrios. "How the hell's that piss-eyed bastard walking around?"
Savagrios perked up with a bemused shrug. "Hmmm… we have no idea! Perhaps his Kyyr is undesirable."
"Undesirable my ass." Vaal snapped, striding past him. He planted himself before K, whose body was buried deeper than the others in thick bone. Without hesitation, he smashed at the ivory, splintering it loose.
K's eyes widened as Vaal slammed his foot down beside his head, leaning in with a menacing glare. "You've fucked around long enough, Gira. Drop the act and use your stupid Kyyr ability to re-lobotomize the bony freak."
K's teal eyes narrowed, voice low. "Wretched me… what are you even talking about?"
Vaal sighed, heavy with contempt. "Listen—I hate you almost as much as I hate my father. Don't make me bump you higher on the list. So patch me through. Because I'd rather participate in your sick roleplay over getting my mind devoured by your sunshine half."
K stared into him, his eyes pressing into Vaal's with a predatory resonance. The bony mass slowly repaired the shattered ends.
Vaal leaned closer, whispering something brief, vile, and sharp as a knife.
K's expression softened. "I can only hope you don't traumatize him."
Vaal smirked. "We'll see." Kyyr surged around them, K's aura swallowing the two in a suffocating silence.
Ezzeks twisted his neck, trying to aim his ear towards their conversation, but the unnatural wails of his unraveling memories drowned it all out. He could do nothing—only reap what he'd sown.
Beyond the throne, far in the distance, the S. Cerberus tumbled on her feet, body convulsing, heart wrenching as the abyssal hold on her heart eased enough for lucid thought to pass through her warped skull. Empty white eyes twisted into existence, emerging from unseen sockets.
Light, warm and distant touched her snout. Red mended with the golden rays of tomorrow; the sky washed in a purple-blue hue. She stared at the rising sun creeping over the distant buildings and the wilted forests. Abyssal condensation shimmered in its glow as she raised a clawed hand to her face. Tears welled, her screams spilling out as warped, alien wails.
What happened to me? Where's mommy? Assyr… Dad… Her mind clawed at fragments, trying to stitch together the how and why. But all she could muster were terrible thoughts. The fire in the sky. Those things, taking everyone. That full, cursed moon. Her alien gaze stared into the fading night-sky, the shattered glow distant but ever present. What happened to the sky? Wh…where is this?
RRRRRUMMMMMMBLLEEE…
Her head followed the rumbling only to be startled by her own body—gaunt limbs trembling as she stumbled face-first toward the synthetic sea. The bioluminescent life was fading, the open blue below split by an enormous crack that was growing by the second.
The S. Cerberus clawed her way upright, eyes darting as wonder and terror tangled in her chest. A sudden clatter echoed from afar—bone striking glass. Her senses flared, snapping toward the Vivathecca. Instinct twisted her skin, scales shuddering as she saw him: the Ivory Demon sprinting at full speed. On all fours, flames licking his frame, jaws gaping wide.
NO!
She whirled and ran, limbs flailing awkwardly at first, a ragged howl tearing from her throat. She ran with all her might, with all the fragile humanity she had left—everything straining against the raging fire at her back.
NO! PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE! Her cries became pleading roars, but they only emboldened the charging Coarseblood. PLEASE, NO! she begged, but the sounds twisted into bestial wails, her humanity stripped into nothing but prey before slaughter.
But to her surprise, her screams did not fall on deaf ears. Caused emerged from the line of buildings that separated the Vivathecca from the ravaged remains of the Gilded Forest. The creatures rushed towards the Coarseblood, whose Kyyr erupted into a wave of fire that consumed anything that dared to cross his path.
Instinct overtook her. Her stride lengthened, her body dropping fully to all fours. Confidence surged for a heartbeat as she fled, a beast again.
But there was no escape.
Roaring fire swept the Caused aside as the Vai'tolant smashed into the glass. The impact sent the S. Cerberus stumbling, rolling across the surface. She skidded on her side before scrambling upright, human instinct flaring—adrenaline forcing her back into a desperate sprint.
A horrid howl cut through the storm. Scales shuddered across her hide, and alien tears streaked her houndish visage.
RUMMMBBLEEE!
Leviathan's fury drove the bloodlust of Berserkrios. Behind her, the thunder of claws hammering glass echoed closer. Terror shrieked from her throat, her fleeting emotions drowned overwhelmed by the song of fire.
Scorching hands caught her tail. The scalding heat cooking her skin raw as she wailed, cries breaking into whimpers while Berserkrios dragged her back. Her claws scraped uselessly at the slick glass. She curled into herself like a child, blistered skin peeling beneath the Coarseblood's grip. Jaws clamped down on her neck; she screeched, her claws uselessly scratching against the unstoppable Berserkrios.
Berserkrios growled low, fangs tightening, Kyyr surging—
He stopped, time slowing.
Frozen in place, the Coarseblood's gaze was elsewhere. Deep inside, Gira stared straight ahead, his eyes wide.
It was raining. Sheets of water poured down, washing over his blood-soaked body. Red streaks mixed into the mud beneath his bare feet.Something gnawed at him—a hollow bumping under his soles. Instinctively, he lifted his foot, eyes darting down.
His pupils shook in place. A gut-wrenching feeling consumed him as he panicked. He stumbled back, slipped, and fell hard, scrambling in panic. Vomit lurched up his throat as tears entwined with rain. Something clung to his foot. With a frantic slap, he kicked it free.
It landed in the mud, its white sheen revealed by the rain. A human tooth.
Gira clawed backward, feet slipping, his body twisting as he fell onto a cold, sickly thing.
His skin crawled, his warmth leaking into a clammy corpse. Its upper torso no more than a red streak across the mud, their feet curled in agony.
He screamed, pushing himself off the body, his eyes darting wildly. Desolation. All around him—ruined structures, bodies mangled and burned, twisted in horrible approximations of hell. Gira's throat stung as he vomited, his body shaking in the rain. His eyes grew wide as vile orange sludge filled with human bones poured from his mouth. Lingering teeth clattering against his own as he gagged.
"NO NO NO!" Gira wailed as he stumbled back in horror. "WHAT IS THIS?" He crawled until his back slammed into a dilapidated wall, the wreck pressing him into the reality of the scene.
A weeping tempest cried in a useless attempt to cleanse the land of the massacre. His massacre.Palm trees bent in the gale, buildings scorched and smoldering, bodies strewn across a gray wasteland where the rain leached all color into ruin.
Gira shook his head, unknowable guilt flooding him in a lancing drive that tore through his very soul as he screamed. His body sliding up against the wall, his bloodied frame free of wounds, free of pain. His body lurched forward, running on an alien instinct guiding him towards a particular scene of red.
Déjà vu.
The familiarity punished his mind as he came face to face with a particular body.
A woman, her eyes grayed out, her left leg nothing more than a bloody stump, her arms bent in the wrong direction, rain weeping down her cheeks.
Gira fell to his knees, overcome with sorrow so deep, it physically hurt. A despair so full, so real and present.
He whimpered. "Who are you…?" His eyes, unable to look at her, drifted to the side to a shattered pane where he saw his reflection. "Huh…?" In the shard, a skinny kid stared back—much younger than Gira—silver hair matted in red, eyes a cold, piercing gold. "Who am I?" Gira mumbled.
The reflection stood up; staring down at him with pity threaded disgust. Vaal's voice cut the crashing rain—flat, yet clearer than the storm. "A memory."
Gira looked at him confused. "A memory?" He turned to the dead woman. "Then who is she? Do I—do I know her?"
"No." Vaal said, staring at the cold body.
"But why do I feel like this?!" Gira clawed at his own body.
Vaal frowned, "It's none of your business."
"Then why am I here? What's happening? How did I get here?!" Gira's voice cracked.
"I brought you here."Vaal frowned, his eyes filled with contempt. "To snap you out of your ignorant rage."
"What? What are you talking about?" Gira asked, his eyes wide with confusion.
Vaal turned away from the woman, his head low. "Please. Get out." he said solemnly.
Gira, still confused, shouted. "What? How? You're not making any sense—why am I here? What is this? What happened to these people?"
Vaal raised his head, rain crashing into him. He took a deep breath. "GET OUT!" he snapped.
"But—" Gira began, voice breaking.
"PLEASE. JUST GET THE FUCK OUT!" Vaal shouted his words, tearing his throat. "GRAB A PIECE OF GLASS AND CUT YOUR FUCKING THROAT FOR ALL I CARE—JUST GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
Gira's eyes grew wide, his eyes falling to a large jagged shard of glass. The tempest began to wane; the shard reflected the sheen of the sun against his gaze. He grabbed the sharp fragment. His hands shaking violently, his breathing escalating, but a single glance at the corpse of the woman was enough to drive his conviction.For a terrible second the world narrowed to that glint of glass and the corpse of the woman.
Gira screamed, as he struggled to stab at his throat. He let out another scream as Vaal watched his golden gaze detached from the moment.
"Hurry up." Vaal said flatly. "Please."
Gira let out a horrid cry as something inside him snapped. He forced the shard to his throat. The rasp against his throat was horrid, his gag reflexes contracting his neck muscles against the shard. Tears filled his eyes as he fell on his side. Blood flooded out, hot and insistent. The cold reverberated through him as he watched Vaal put a hand to his temple. His skin molted black as night, molten cracks forming as a hissing echo erupted. Gira's final moments imprinted with the image of Vaal somehow blowing his own head clean off.
Berserkrios came back, his jaws loosening their grip on the S. Cerberus's, her limp body collapsing under the ivory beast with a thud. Overwhelmed, Berserkrios let out a longing howl, the resonant wail echoing through the twilight. Berserkrios grabbed at his own neck, Kyyr erupting, the rumble of the Vai'tolant sending shivers up his spine.
The Coarseblood convulsed, his armored plating collapsing to the ground. Bone shattered, dust swelled, as Berserkrios fell silent. Emerging from the cloud of dust, Gira wobbled out, his eyes glazed over, skin still crawling, as he fell forward, his knees and elbows painfully grounding him above the Vai'tolant's gaze. And he screamed, his sense of self ever shattered.
The Cerberus and Coarseblood lay felled. The abyss quelled, if only for a bittersweet moment.
Cool air fluttered through the Vivathecca, the salty tinge of the Ordovis Coast refreshing against the terror of what had come. Gira had wandered away from the body of the S. Cerberus and the charred Caused. He stared down through the shattered glass. There, floating aimlessly a few meters beneath him, was the Vai'tolant, staring deeply into his soul.
He met that gaze with something like pity. "Must suck being all alone," he mumbled. "Hearing the call of false friends, endlessly searching." Gira's eyes felt crusty, his tears had dried up, and the voices in his head had gone quiet. Leaving him alone with the Leviathan and the distant glow of a new day.
Boots and the scrape of metal on glass pulled Gira away from the leviathan. A small group of rangers moved toward him, Hollows close behind. Relief flickered through him when he turned to face them.
The man leading the group was much larger than the rest. He gestured to the rangers following him, and they seemed to stop. Only the Hollows following close behind.
The ranger stomped towards Gira, his towering frame consuming his frail body.
Gira managed a weak smile. "I—sorry about the mess. Things got out of hand, but I managed to kill that thing," he said, nodding toward the S. Cerberus, its remains currently getting picked at by strange white birds.
"You did this?" The ranger asked with an edge of hostility.
Gira tilted his head, confused. "Y-yes?"
The ranger curled his hand into a fist. "I should've dealt with you back in Trant."
"What do y—"
Before Gira could finish, a meaty thud filled the air. He went flying, teeth spilling across the Vivathecca. Blood poured from his mouth. His gray-black eyes wide, piercing into the Vai'tolant below. "Why—?"
The ranger walked over to him and kicked Gira in the stomach, blood spilling out of his mouth. Gira let out a pained cry, tears spilling out. "Wha—" another kick sent him rolling across the Vivathecca. Gira gurgled, his arms wrapping around his stomach. "Wh-what did I do…?" he mumbled. Another kick came. "What did—?"
The ranger continued to kick his stomach, his Kyyr flaring enough to rouse the Vai'tolant, its massive body slamming against the glass causing the ranger to stumble back.
"Are you fucking stupid?" The ranger shouted. He grabbed Gira by the throat, raising him up in the air. "Look around you! You burned and consumed them all! ONE OF THEM COULD'VE BEEN HER!" he frantically shouted, the rising sun revealing his enraged face behind the visor.
Gira's eyes shuddered. "M-mister Siegwick?" he managed
Siegwick slammed him against the glass. "Don't you dare say my name!"
Gira's ribs shattered from the impact, his lungs collapsing, the air leaving his body as he painfully struggled to breathe. "Agh—" he gasped for air painfully.
"I GAVE ORDERS TO CONTAIN YOU! BUT NO! THAT BASTARD MORRAY LET YOU ROAM FREE! YOU…" he kicked Gira again causing him to gargle in pain. "YOU FILTHY FUCKING MONSTER!"
Gira looked around. The rangers who had come with Siegwick were looking anywhere but at him, unmoved by his screams. Confusion coiled in his heart, burning ablaze into an unfamiliar emotion. A desperate flurry of feelings rose within his heart. Siegwick kicked him extra hard, sending him rolling across the glassy surface. Gira's eyes met with the Vai'tolant's.
Siegwick stormed forward, raised his boot, and swung—
But his foot never reached Gira's gut. A bony claw snagged his boot, a jag of ivory ripping into his flesh. "AGH! What the—!" he screamed in pain.
Gira's Kyyr exploded. Bone spiraled from his body, smashing into the Hollows, tearing them to shreds. Time seemed to slow as the rangers turned to help their commander, but they fell as the Vai'tolant smashed into the glass, the cracks deepening, water leaking through to the surface.
In an adrenaline-filled instant, Gira dragged Siegwick down, letting him drive his bony fist across Siegwick's face. The old ranger's visor shattered, blood pooling as bone jutted out from the ground, impaling his hands and feet.
"AAAAAAAGH! YOU FUCKING—" Siegwick howled, choking as bone pinned him.
"FUCKING WHAT!" Gira screamed, tears pouring down his face, his mouth replaced with the horrid grimace of a Coarseblood. "MONSTER? WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME THAT! I SPENT ALL NIGHT FIGHTING FOR YOU PEOPLE! I FELT MY BONES BREAK, MY BODY GET TORN APART OVER AND OVER AND OVER! I'VE DONE NOTHING BUT SUFFER. I HAD TO FIGHT IN SOME STUPID DUEL AND WAS RIPPED APART FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT! YOU RANGERS CONFUSE ME! I CONFUSE ME! I DON'T LIKE HOW PEOPLE LOOK AT ME! WITH FEAR—LIKE, LIKE I'M AN ANIMAL! DOES ANYONE EVEN SEE ME AS A PERSON? HAVE I EVER BEEN TREATED LIKE ONE? MY MEMORIES SUCK! THEY'RE CONFUSING AND TERRIBLE. THEY'RE A MESS! I'M A MESS! I NEVER KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING! NO ONE TELLS ME ANYTHING! WHO THE HELL AM I? AM I MONSTER? WHO IS GIRA?" Gira raised a bony arm, and aimed it straight at Siegwick's bloodied face. He began to hyperventilate. Muscles tensing.
Siegwick spat blood straight at Gira, tears rolling down the old ranger. "Kill me, you animal."
Gira stared into his eyes, his blood-smeared face sparking horrid memories. Tears poured down his face, arm shaking as he lowered it.
"I might not know where I begin—but I know where I will end."
Gira closed his eyes, his Kyyr erupting as all the bony growths collapsed near and far. The Vai'tolant coiled its massive body as it burst upward. Its bladed back spines erupted through the glass, as its massive head emerged from the depths. A geyser of water followed the leviathan's breach, its scales glistening in the morning glow.
The ranger screamed below as massive waves washed them away. The Vai'tolant let out a majestic bellow so loud it caused everyone high and low to turn in its direction.
Gira sank into the warmth of the Synthetic Sea, its currents curling around him like a pleasant hug. His eyes open enough to catch the Vai'tolant breaking free from its lonely prison.
The massive creature looked around, its instincts guiding it to the crashing waves of the Ordovis Coast. With no hesitation its great body slid across the glass like a living tide, ripples chasing after its endless length.
Gira smiled, his consciousness fading as something crashed through the water above. A shadow plunged down—houndish in form—it gently grabbed Gira. Air slapped cold against skin, followed by the screams of rangers as they unloaded their rifles.
He turned his head just enough to glimpse it: scales shimmering with shifting color, empty white eyes staring blankly ahead. He felt the surge of motion as he was carried away. Gira recognized the creature but his mind and body had reached their limit. With no way to fight back, his eyes slowly closed shut, and he fell asleep in the embrace of the unknown.