The Mother of Monsters

Argus hurtled through the air, soaring over the ranks of the Azar army and hitting the ground in the midst of a small group of men who had positioned themselves along the edge of one of the farms at the furthest reaches of the city’s domain. He slid a few more feet, finally stopping as inertia granted him some small mercy. One of the soldiers hurried to his side and extended a hand which he took, pulling himself to his feet. He rubbed his jaw, what the devil was with that man’s strength? It was unlike anything he’d ever seen, even more than the King’s! Argus, a man of three Aspects, was one of the strongest that the Azar possessed but it felt like he was being battered around. 

The Azar did not know the word ‘Ascendant’ and Aspect Stones were hard to come by in the Wildlands, even compared to how rare they were in the rest of the world. He knew of his King’s mysterious sixth Aspect, that when he’d acquired it his power had increased tenfold. But could this person he was fighting really be the same kind of being? Did the humans know the secret that the King kept so close to his chest?

He snarled, checking his weapon. There was already a crack in his damn sword. He looked back up and searched for his enemy. He had expected his opponent to follow him immediately. Not seeing the warrior he turned his attention to the soldiers who had been standing near him, “Focus! Worry about yourselves, I’ll handle this monst-”

He froze as something invisible struck him in the chest. He gasped, blinking at the sensation. It was like being hit by a carriage. He staggered and looked again for the source only to hear a mournful sound ripple over the field. He followed the sound to the enormous form of the Lord of the Azure sea. The great patron beast was thrashing about, struggling to dislodge something from its body. 

Argus! Come to me! The regal creature bellowed in his mind. The Lord of the Azure Sea thrashed about again, an enormous plume of water bursting out from beneath it and driving every living thing in its area away. Azar and Human alike were swept away by the current. 

“Shit!” Argus cursed, the son of a bitch wasn’t even concerned about him! He broke into a run only for the same feeling to send him reeling, he slid to a stop and gripped his chest as the Lord of the Azure Sea threw his head up into the air and released a gout of water. A moment later something red flashed through its entire body, an eerie glow that precluded another wave of weakness. Argus gasped and staggered only to watch the mighty creature begin to dissolve into millions of particles of light. “Fuck!” 

Fret not, I will return as soon as I can! The patron said, Survive!

Argus swore colorfully, how the hell was he supposed to resonate with his patron if he wasn’t present? How did they know to attack the patron first? “Yaga,” He realized, “She’d resonated during her fight,” He spat and cast his gaze over the sea of soldiers around him. Where was this guy? He gripped his weapon a bit more tightly and turned quickly, casting his gaze over the surrounding area. He had to be somewhere. It was hard to miss a tall, bronze, glowing human.

“Looking for someone?” A metallic voice echoed behind him.

Argus spun and felt something sharp drag against his chest only to be followed up with a heavy blow to his torso. Argus slid back a few paces and stopped, he didn’t need to look down to know he was bleeding. Something exploded in the distance, followed by the sound of thunderclaps, and electricity rippled across the battlefield. He forced himself not to look in Barin’s direction, he had to concentrate. He parted his legs and bent his knees, adjusting his stance. He raised his weapon up and held it parallel to his body. The human standing in front of him raised his head, smiling, “You’ve got some guts, facing an Ascendant as you are, weakling,” he sneered, “I’ve read the stories. This is how it always goes for your kind,” he raised his weapon, “A hero,” another clap of thunder, “And his ascendants crush the pathetic demons every. Single. Time.”

Argus’ blood boiled but he didn’t give him the dignity of a response. This bastard talked too much. Argus drew on his aspects, focusing on the strength of the Azar and the defensive properties of the Warden. He needed to wear this bastard down. He dipped low and drove himself forward, bringing his weapon up at an angle before twisting the sword in his fingers and changing direction, altering his attack into a lateral slash. The human blinked and fumbled his riposte, Argus’ blade sliding across the ruby surface and catching the man in the chest, and digging into his armor. Argus’ efforts were rewarded with a terrible grinding sound instead of the easy tearing of flesh. Metal? 

The warrior of the Four snarled and followed through anyway, stepping once before turning his attack into a strike at the waist. The human tried to step back to regain control of the situation only for Argus’ weapon to flash up across his face and down across his arm. Each time the blow came with the grinding of metal on metal. Argus didn’t stop, there had to be a weak point somewhere. Where he seemed to lack in strength compared to the human, he made up in skill. All this idiot did was swing himself around like a log! He whipped his weapon in a sharp arc again at the man’s face, feinting. This time the human managed to block it only for his eyes to go wide as Argus drove a fist empowered with a Warden’s barrier into his gut.

The human finally staggered and Argus pressed his attack. His sword wasn’t working so he’d use his bare hands. He dipped low again, driving his fist up into the human’s nose, then spun and drove his foot into his side. One blow after another he pushed until the human was doubling back with every hit. “Go down! Go down! Go down!” Argus snarled, “I don’t have time for you, human!”

Another crack of thunder roared across the battlefield as Argus drove the final blow of his combination into the human’s chest, sending a wave of force through him and out the other side. The human gasped, stepping backward until he caught himself on his weapon, stabbing it into the ground to stabilize himself. Argus caught his breath and stood up straight, popping his knuckles in one hand. The human took a knee and coughed up a gout of blood before losing his grip on his weapon. He wasn’t getting up anytime soon.  Another thunderclap, Argus whipped his head in that direction this time. He’d never heard Barin have so much trouble before. He glanced back at the winded human, his skin was too tough to finish him off without Barin’s help.

Not wasting time he turned and charged toward the sounds of Barin’s fight. The Lord of the Eternal Flame bellowed, sending a gout of flame into the air and whipping its tail in the direction of some unseen enemy. Argus darted between fighting soldiers, once in a while driving his fist into a human’s head as he passed. He jumped over a small crowd and slid to a stop as he caught sight of Barin. His friend was rising up into the air, his body glowing. He was going to resonate with the Lord of the Eternal Flame! He glanced at the humans he was fighting, two men both of whom seemed worn down by the fight. One of them snarled and reared back with his sword, preparing to throw it at Barin.

“Don’t you dare!” Argus bellowed, kicking off the ground and throwing himself at the enemy. The two men started, looking in Argus’ direction. Argus drew his fist back and gasped. Something felt wrong. He blinked and looked down at his chest where the pain was blossoming. A ruby sword. “What?” Argus gasped, dropping to his knees and reaching for the sword. He watched the weapon slide back through his chest as footfalls echoed behind him. A hand roughly grabbed him by the head and wrenched his face in Barin’s direction.

“Overconfident, I healed from your little barrage immediately,” The human growled into his ear. His fingers felt like a vice on Argus’ skull. Was he really made of metal? He jerked his head and tried to get a look at the bastard’s face. The human wrenched Argus’ line of sight back in Barin’s direction. The Lord of the Eternal Flame was beginning to glow. Everything seemed to slow down as the moment of resonance drew. Argus watched the first few attacks bounce off a barrier that Barin had wrapped around his body, he saw his friend look at him as the barrier began to fail, something red burning in the air, crushing Argus’ mana.

Argus pressed his lips together and tried to move but his body was feeling weaker and weaker. There was a flash of movement and Barin’s glowing form dropped to the ground, face first in the dirt. “No!’ Argus roared, tearing himself free of the grip on his head and charging toward his friend. He flipped Barin over, “No no no, Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare! I was supposed to kill you, remember? Don’t you fucking-” He stopped, Barin wasn’t moving. No cocky smile. No stupid quip. No irritatingly intricate plan. Nearby the Lord of the Eternal Flame shuddered and began to dissolve. The heat blessing leaving the Azar soldiers. He closed his eyes tightly and adjusted Barin’s hands over the wound in his chest. He looked down at the stain on his own chest and warbled out a breath, “See you soon, little buddy.”

He rounded on the three men standing around him, tears in his eyes, “For the fucking king!” He bellowed and charged.