Runt of the Litter - Tales from Alirast

Arlyss recoiled as a small chunk of his divine soul was torn off of him.

Gritting his teeth as the eldritch lashed out.

Why weren't the primordial class deities helping?

Was it still his father's punishment? Did they want to see the Darktones suffer?

Rubious slammed a hand on his shoulder and yanked him back as another tendril of dark energy tried to pierce his chest.

"Easy lad, pace yourself."

Arlyss grunted and gave a nod as he stood with a staff raised, channeling his energy into an attack.

They had done a significant amount of damage to the thing, but it didn't feel like enough. Despite what other gods had told him, the number of pods and attacks it was launching against Alirast had been significantly higher.

Worse yet, it had slowly snaked tendrils around the realm and had begun attacking from points other than the Eternal Fortress.

Thankfully, those attacks were targetting the [Primordials], which were handling the fight with ease.

The timers in his mind went off, and he used a tiny speck of his divine energy to buff the battlefield on Alirast.

Unity was one of his portfolios, and the massive union of empires and armies was allowing him to grant some small blessings, for that, he was grateful.

An urgent pulse from far off in the Aether caught his attention. It felt...familiar. It caused him to turn his eyes to Alirast as echoes raced past him.

-=====-

Brutus lay at his side, one of his arms missing, and his maximum mana had been cut in half. Even the smallest of the creatures took their toll on the fighting.

Cordaos stood over his old friend and battered the creatures that were swarming to the side, using his mastery of earth mana to throw most of them back or crush them.

His own reserves weren't looking good, and the battle showed no signs of slowing.

He had already seen two of the Eternals explode in a violent burst of mana.

"Stas! Stas, I need you!" He bellowed into the air as he slammed a hoof into the ground, rupturing thousands of spikes all around him and coating the area in even more of the viscous liquid oozing through the eldritch creatures.

The dependable little goblin swooped down without a word, grabbing Brutus' body and flying toward the healers.

Good, he could maneuver again.

-=====-

Alliyah was slumped over on Honos' back as the dragon twisted and turned, blasting the falling pods with a radiant breath attack.

"I know, I know." She grumbled as yet another notification began to warn her about accumulated damage. Fighting in the Aether and the physical world in unison was draining beyond belief.

A tug at her mind startled her.

"This is Hope. Something in the attack has gone wrong. The number of enemies is already six times larger than the last eldritch incursion. We are recommending all non-Eternals fall back to the fortress. Let us handle this fight. We were created to safeguard Alirast, death is our friend."

Alliyah looked down at Honos with worry gnawing at her.

The dragon looked back at her. "I have no intention of letting them die for us, Alliyah. If you wish me to drop you off-"

"Don't kid yourself. If I ran from this fight, I could never face Kain again. I'm going back into the Aether. Keep me safe."

As she threw her soul back into the Aether, she looked around. It was the messiest that she had ever seen it. There were dozens of new echoes from various warriors already wandering about.

The Aether itself seemed angry. Small little wisps of raw mana had begun to appear and were breaking down the husks of the eldritch.

Dozens of tiny motes of light were fleeing the battlefield, souls that were no longer tied to the physical realm.

Then she heard the chant, and her heart dropped.

-=====-

Amara had moved closer to the healer's area. Not only were eldritch trying to swarm the place, but Brutus had fallen and had been dropped off there.

Thankfully, her affinity with fire had let her seal her own wounds easily enough, even if they refused to heal. She had avoided taking many hits but still hadn't escaped completely unscathed.

With a shaky breath, she took a moment to kneel near the healers, who knew the sign and rushed over to pour what meager healing they could muster into her.

She watched as her daughter tumbled out of the Aether again. The poor girl looked ragged, with sunken cheeks and glazed-over eyes. It looked as if she hadn't eaten in a year.

Walking over, she put a hand on her shoulder as Hope's message played through their minds.

"You need rest, Trillia."

The determined little avatar pushed herself up on shaky arms. "I'll be fine...I just need more mana potions to recharge my horns with. Then I can go back in there. Their numbers are slowing. I know it may not seem like it, but they are."

Then why the message? Maybe the Eternals knew the battle was almost over and wanted to preserve as many mortals as they could? Or perhaps they could see the exhaustion and toll the fighting had taken already and were willing to sacrifice more of their own numbers.

A violent tug of energy startled her. Both Trillia and her eyes snapped up to the source.

-=====-

The message from Hope worried him. They couldn't take much more. Cordaos reached out to the Infernal Void.

He had met the dragon a few times over his life.

"I am busy. What do you want?" Came the angry reply in his mind.

Cordaos stood in the midst of dozens of bodies, his mana only at ten percent of its original value, a dozen notifications warning him to just stop.

"I need you to target me with your most powerful attack. Throw everything you have at me."

"You'll die, don't be foolish."

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"I have a skill. Just...please, Lord Exardescere. Do as I ask."

Cordaos thought of Maeve and Amelia. A little smile formed on his face. "I hope they will let me see you, one more time at least."

"Echoes of Eternity, fill me with vigor and the power to move mountains. Heed my call and let my past preserve the future."

Cordaos felt the surge of power filling him as the echoes of his past flooded him.

He watched as dozens of skills that he hadn't used in years popped back into his status, watched as his stats climbed.

"Watcher of the void, keeper of solace, let me shine like the axles eternal and bring suffering to my enemies. [Divine Taunt]!"

Both the physical and the Aether recoiled as he tapped into his mostly dormant link with Lord Darktone. Every eldritch in the area and most of the primordial spawned creatures snapped their eyes to him.

Standing there with a fist raised, maintaining the upkeep of mana, he saw a bright light shine above him.

Good. Exardescere understood.

As the creatures began to fight and attack one another as they swarmed him. The output of the small bits of divinity he had was lessening the attacks, but still, his mana fell.

Then, sound died away.

The ground trembled.

A single clear voice cut through existence.

"Burn the divine, shatter the axles, see all returned to oblivion. [Armageddon]!"

Cordaos was vaguely aware of the light.

He was vaguely aware of the deities rapidly throwing up barriers around the encampments of fighters.

There was no heat. Only...a gentle warmth, ushering him to lay down.

But he didn't. As his status went dim and all began to fade, he turned his attention to the eldritch that was attacking the realm.

It was so very clear to him now.

With a warm smile and a feeling of relief, the words came to him.

"For during eternal night, shall I become a light to guide you. In the dark eternal void shall I become a beacon of hope. In the eternal fields of the hereafter, shall my warmth comfort you. [Providence]."

-=====-

Stas screamed as the beam of utter destruction descended. He yanked away from the healers and took flight, half flying and half scrambling over the ground as his torn wings failed him.

As the beam faded, Stas ignored the devastation.

He ignored the crystal-like structure of the crater.

He ignored the warning notifications of destructive mana still being present.

Cordaos stood in the center of the blast radius with a smile on his face and a fist raised to help channel his taunt.

Stas grabbed onto him.

There was no life in the body.

"No!" More people began to get closer.

He laid his friend's body on the ground, his many limbs and arms pulling out knives and potions.

He felt the presence of the eldritch fading.

Reaching back with all his might, he plunged the dagger down into Cordaos' chest and used his limbs to peel back the bone. Cordaos' still heart rested there.

"No! I won't lose anyone else!" The little abomination screamed at the gods who had to be watching. More of his limbs reached down and punctured holes in his own chest, ripping the bone apart.

Stas reached up and pulled one of his hearts out, quickly severing the connecting arteries and replacing Cordaos' heart. Dumping what little mana he had left into making the new heart beat and pulse.

"You stupid cow! You have to teach your daughter to lead! Don't you run from us, you fucking coward!" Tears began filling his eyes. He briefly thought of removing his tear ducts, what a wasteful thing they were.

His hands gently massaged the heart, and another limb dumped healing potions over the transplant.

"He's gone...Stas"

It was Amara's voice. He ignored it.

"I won't lose anyone! This is why I made myself this way. I have enough spare parts, I can save him!" His limbs began to open up other parts of himself to seek other organs he knew were important.

He saw a hand touch Cordaos' chest. "Get your filthy fucking hands off of him!" A simple blast of well-aimed explosive mana removed the hand.

"Get up, damn you! Get up! We're supposed to go together!" Another hand appeared in his field of vision, and as he was about to blast this person away, he recognized it as Layla.

She sliced open a new wound on her arm, dripping the powerful regenerative blood into the wounds on Cordaos' body. Mumbling prayers to her god for healing.

A hand rested on his shoulder. Alliyah's soft voice filled his ears. "He has no soul, Stas. You can't fix that."

The soul...sniffling a bit, he continued to gently massage the heart. "Take me into the Aether, I can still find it."

"No."

Stas lashed out and slapped her hand away. He had seen people going in and out of the Aether all damn night. As he raised protest, another heavy hand landed on his shoulder, and he found himself in the Aether. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the monumental stature of Geo, even more grand here than in the physical realm.

Stas looked around at all the floating light. He recognized some of the shreds as Cordaos' mana. He reached out to grab them.

Instead, another hand grabbed his wrist. It was Arlyss. "I can't let you. There are rules."

"Fuck you!" Stas growled as something in him welled up, and he sent a blast of energy through the Aether into the god.

"Fuck your rules! Fuck Dawn! Fuck the eldritch! Fuck all of you for abandoning us! I won't lose anyone else!"

With each scream, he grabbed at more of his friend's tattered soul and began trying to piece it together, tears flowing from his eyes. The large troll behind him said nothing, did nothing.

But he kept him in the Aether despite people telling him to stop, despite people threatening to harm him if he didn't remove Stas.

Please...

Please, Lord Darktone. Let me save him.

Please, let this be enough.

He doesn't need to fight anymore, he's fought enough.

Even if he comes back as some old man who can't fight...don't take him from me.

Suddenly, he found himself unable to move. Found that all the voices went quiet.

A new set of hands gently grabbed his. Dawn's face came into view.

No.

Not like this.

Not another one.

"Stas...I'm sorry, you can't save him."

Yes, I can. He tried to will himself to move beyond her.

Tried to will his useless arms to keep working.

If he could just gather enough of the shreds up, maybe it could work.

"I'm sorry...I really am."

No.

Stas reached deep into his mind, to pacts and connections he had formed when he was still an apprentice under Caelum.

A new presence filled him. Washed away what little power he was pulling from those connections.

Any other time he would have wept with joy to feel Lord Darktone's presence.

"You gotta let him go, buddy."

Why?

How could you ask that of me?

He couldn't bring his voice to speak the words, but they knew. They always knew.

Kain put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Stas. I failed you all."

With a gentle pulse of energy, he and the troll were sent from the Aether and back into the physical world.

The heart in his hands was still. Cordaos' body was still.

The sound of Amelia's wailing hit his ears.

His hands began to shake, still trying to massage life into the lifeless.

"No."

Why did they always take so much from them?

-=====-

Dawn stood there in the Aether with tears in her eyes.

For the first time in a long time, Kain seemed grief-stricken.

The universe slowed to a crawl and then stopped.

She reached out and pulled what was left of Cordaos together.

"I'm sorry...I never meant..."

The minotaur offered her a smile. "I know what I did. I saved lives, that's my purpose. Stas is a tough little guy, he'll heal."

Silence grew between them as they looked down at the frozen image of Stas in tears, holding the transplanted heart.

Amelia had collapsed on her father's chest.

"I know I can't go to the hereafter... I know that was the agreement. Do you think I could at least see her again? I don't need to talk...I know there are rules."

Dawn was grateful she wasn't a mortal. "I can try, Cordaos."

"That's all we can ask for. You let them know we did good, we saved lives. Thank you for everything, Lady Dawn. Thank Lord Darktone for me as well."

The minotaur went quiet as his soul began to fade. She trapped what little of it she could. She'd at least find a way to let him see his Maeve one more time.

-=====-

Trillia and Malor had their arms wrapped around Amelia. The poor thing had cried herself to exhaustion.

The two of them weren't much better, but they had to be strong right now for Amelia.

-=====-

"You shouldn't have taken him into the Aether!" Alliyah screamed and poked the troll in his chest. Tears filled her own eyes.

"He was already gone! Why give him hope?!"

"I gave him closure." The normal half-smiles they all wore were gone. The battle had ended, but they had lost nearly thirty of their own dwindling numbers to [Providence]. Geo wasn't sure how many non-Eternals had fallen.

"If you wish to hate me, by all means, do so. Especially if it eases the weight of your loss." The troll bowed his head and walked away. One of her fellow generals, a tall orc woman, grabbed her and pulled her into a hug as the mighty Queen lost her strength and fell into tears.

Geo walked through and peeked his head into the workshop before stepping fully in. Everyone had cleared out to give the abomination space to grieve. Most were also afraid of him.

"I'm sorry, that we failed."

The goblin sniffled and shook his head. "We didn't fail. I did. The last general we lost had been shot through the heart by some attack from a [Primordial]. Ripped his heart clean out of his chest. From that day on, I contracted every entity that was willing to give me the time. I created a new body. I told people it was because of the cursed wounds on my original arms that keeps them stumps."

Geo sat next to him. "But the reality...I wanted to be able to save them. I'm a fucking goblin. I should have died a hundred times over..."

"I find that loss rarely cares about who and what we are, Stas. Sometimes, all we can do is pray that our fallen are at peace."

Geo could feel the anger welling up inside the goblin, could feel that dangerous mana hovering at the edge of an explosion.

"It's why we all paint smiles on our faces. I lost count of how many people I've held in my arms as they gasped their last breath. I know how hard it can be to lose someone without trying everything to help."

The anger faded, and Stas covered his face as his shoulders shook with more sobs.