Chapter II - Nowhere
The next morning OddLuck came out of her bedroom in a stupor. An irksome headache hammered at the back of her noggin, where she couldn’t decide if the nail being driven in was from oversleeping, the bottle of wine she had yesterday, or both. The pain was ever-growing, the throbbing banging against the back of her head like a baseball being struck by a bat that said, “Mondays Are Overkill.”
OddLuck groaned and rummaged the medicine cabinet for something that will ease her suffering, the kind that made special pains such as this go bye-bye. Hey, she would even take the cookie-cutter stuff at this point if it meant less of a nuance. That folktale satisfaction would have to wait a moment though because her brain screamed to life when she heard the sound of the black & white booming.
“More news on the attacks have yet to surface. As it stands, the University of Friendship is canceling its fall semester while repairs are being done…”
“Isn’t this old news?”
OddLuck walked from the kitchen to behind the couch where Loosestrife was laying. “Hmm?” Her roommate said without unhooking her eyes from the screen.
“I could have sworn this story was covered months ago. I mean, well, it did happen months ago. Why would they just now be covering it?”
“Beats me, could be new information.”
“But it’s the same information. The University canceled its fall semester months ago and has already been rebuilt. They’re speaking as if this just happened.”
“Maybe it’s a different university?”
“That can’t be. There’s only one University of Friendship—smackdab in Ponyville. But I suppose they’re making a mistake and mean the School of Friendship in one of the nearby counties. Maybe even the University of Friendship...”
Loosestrife shrugged. “Maybe.”
OddLuck walked back into the kitchen, over to her sole reason for starting each day: the coffee machine. “So, is the Ceremony of Friendship still happening?”
“Yeah. I haven’t watched it. Modern politics don’t interest me.”
OddLuck took out the filter basket and examined the soggy dregs mildewing in their little sack of refined joy. Dumping it out, she layered the basket with a new filter and filled it with a cup of her favorite grain (The good stuff, the kind that’s imported from Zebrica.). The rich aroma tackled her nostrils with lightspeed timing.
“Agree. I’ve never paid attention to any of that stuff. Too much bias to learn anything. I don’t even know about any of the controversies with Zebrica. I think it has something to do with bombs or whatever? I don’t know?” OddLuck continued, feeling the need to converse while in the process of her morning ritual.
“Griffons did something. Zebras did something. Equestria did something in response. It’s nothing but insistent playground bickering.”
“This is an interesting morning conversation.”
OddLuck could hear the eye roll. “You started it.”
“Fair enough.”
She slid the filter basket back in place. All that was left to do was fill up the rest of the joy in her life with water and watch the future caffeinated tummy aches drip, drip, drip until they formed a pool for her to swim in. Lighting up her horn, she focused on the handle of the coffee… the coffee…
“Pot.” she pushed out through clenched teeth. “Loosey, where’s the coffee pot?”
Loosestrife’s head perked up; a hole of a guilty look dug into her face. “O-oh yeah, that? Well, I might have —well, maybe I kind of—you see… I... broke it.”
OddLuck raised a brow so high her horn had its own expression. Inquisitive yet piercing, much like what it was about to do to her roommate’s stomach. “You… you… what?”
“I’m sorry, really! There I was cleaning, and there it was sitting, and there was the broom handle—which by the way you should probably get a new one, not nearly as flexible as I expected it to be—and then there it was laying in a thousand little, helpless pieces.”
“...What were you doing with the broom?”
“The point is the pot for your coffeemajinger is broken, and it was a mistake and please don’t banish me further into the future.”
OddLuck slumped her head down and sighed. “Sometimes I don’t know if you’re being serious.”
“Seriousness is just controlled insanity.”
“That’s just sanity, Loosey,” OddLuck said, walking back to her bedroom. “Now I have to go to some clammy thrift store and find a new pot. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome!”
“Don’t tell me they don’t have sarcasm where you come from…”
Loosestrife looked at OddLuck inquisitively. “Sar chasm… kert sasm… circumcision…”
“That last part doesn’t even match but okay.”
OddLuck went back into her bedroom and dug around for her saddlebag. When she found it, she threw the black leathery material over her hips. What else is missing, what else is missing? she thought. Oh, where are those keys?
She began searching frantically for them, digging through piles of clothes she never wore. She checked in Pile of Clothes A, Pile of Clothes B, her dresser, the shower, the medicine cabinet, and that one unreachable cabinet some houses seem to have, the closet—no, not there or there or anywhere unlikely for keys to end up. She found them while rummaging through her saddlebags for a pack of gum.
She was all out of gum.
“This is mundane.” And I would be one to agree. To witness a mere mortal’s daily life such as OddLuck’s feels so much like a nuance to keep up with. Every moment of every day is filled with pointless moments. Why were the keys suddenly so key on hiding from her when all she had to do was look inside her saddlebags? How come she only found them when she was looking for gum? Why is it so important that she has this gum?
I want some gum. Maybe I can buy a packet from a convenience store on the way or whatever. Hey, maybe they will have some coffee there!
Being immortal, I could never fully comprehend the importance of time. It will never affect me per se, but I can observe it as I watch the planet I have helped build grow and fall. From my understanding, these mortals waste many moments of many days doing needless things such as purchasing gum or coming up with the excuse that they can’t start the day without their morning cup of coffee. They could be serving great conquest, such as building empires, painting the next masterpiece, or even finding cures for diseases. Possibly, even, finding a way to explore the stars beyond our own planet. No, they care about their gum.
It seems that for a mortal, this pointlessness is normality.
This is the moment OddLuck found herself descending from normality.
“Okay, Loosey. I’m leaving.”
“Kay.” Potassium.
OddLuck swung the front door open. I don’t know what I was so stressed about yesterday. I hated working at Frostysplit Cavern. I suppose this is an opportunity to start something new. To see what destiny has in store for me. Hey, maybe I should look for any jobs that need hiring while I’m out. Coffeepot first, though. That’s priority number one.
Taking a deep breath, OddLuck stepped out into the open air—err…
Darkness. This was all she saw surrounding Cherry Oat’s Complex, wherever that was. Where she would normally find the flock of griffons loitering at the front gate, she saw nothing but a black sea stretching out for miles. The harder she looked the more she thought a giant hand would appear and pull her in.
She turned back toward her apartment door.
It was gone.
“Umm… Loosey?” she called.
No response.
“Okay, this has to be some kind of dream.”
She was about to call again when she heard a sound.
Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding
OddLuck turned back toward the black, to be met with a sight almost as peculiar as everything else: a train. It stretched out for miles, its consist shrinking the further down it went as it sank into the darkness.
It was somehow difficult to see yet easy to perceive, if you could say that. Its onyx plates merged with the darkness, but its form was still visible against the blanket. She also noticed a silhouette emerging from the engine car. It was difficult to make out, but it was large with a hunched back and wore a long, veily cloak.
There is a quote from the great philosopher Pliny the Blind that goes, ‘Forget about all anxiety and worries. Let destiny take you. Let it take you like the currents take the sediment from rocks. Let it take you like the wind carries leaves from the tree of life. Let if take you like how a mother carries its child. Where destiny lies, fortune prevails.’
Come to think of it, Pliny the Blind lived during a time where philosophy didn’t rely on logic. He was also the one to deem tomatoes poisonous and considered toilet paper a needless possession. Believing it had healing properties, he chose to wipe his bum with poison ivy leaves. This led to him having a very rash error in judgment.
But whether Pliny the Blind was a philosopher (self-proclaimed as he is) or a madman, this quote truly coincides with this part of OddLuck’s story. The moment she boards that train so much information about her world will be revealed. You could use the expression, ‘It will blow your world away.’ if we’re keeping things literal. Well, it’s something along the lines of that.
“So, umm…. Who are you?” she got closer to the thing, yet still couldn’t see the damn face.
“By the gods,” it said. “About time you spoke. You were staring for so long I considered you for a mute.”
She was caught off guard by the creature’s rude behavior. However, she didn’t let it bother her. “Yes, I can talk. Now, who are you?”
“Assertive one aren’t you? All you need to know is that I’m the conductor.”
“Okay, so… where are we?”
“You are Nowhere. Sorry, I didn’t bring any pudding to welcome you. I forgot to go to the store.”
“I kinda got the gist that we are nowhere, but… what is this place?”
The thing, we’ll call it the Conductor for now, sighed. “I knew Alias bringing a mortal here would be a bad idea. You are Nowhere. The place you are at is Nowhere. Everywhere you look is Nowhere. The place is called Nowhere. Welcome. Now leave your shoes by the door.”
OddLuck frowned at the Conductor but kept her cool. Months of working with P. Gander have taught her patience. “Okay, so… where’s the way out?”
Once again, the Conductor sighed. “Are you Strange Clover?”
“Pardon?”
“Are you Strange Clover? The very Strange Clover of apartment forty-two Cherry Oat’s Complex in Manehatten? Of Equestria? Of that little ball of Earth you spin around on? That one?”
“Well, yes, but I go by—”
“Yap, yap yap—look, I don’t want to deal with you right now. I tried to warn the goddess that bringing a mortal here would be a bad idea, but I’m only a collector of souls. I only do what I’m told. I need to take you somewhere.”
“Where?”
“Nowhere.”
“But I thought we were already there.”
The Conductor sighed for what felt like the millionth time. “Nowhere is never a whole place. It is several places interlaced amongst a sea of universes. Nowhere runs along the canals of the multiverse.”
“So… all I need to do is board this train?”
“Yes. And do it quickly. Eternity is a mighty short time when you’re an immortal conductor of the unconscious spirit.”
She took a step forward but hesitated for a moment. Could boarding this train reveal so much information about herself? Might it ‘blow her world away?’ Or is it all just a dream? That seems like the best explanation. Although, if it really is a dream, it’s a pretty realistic one. What did she have to argue?
OddLuck boarded the train.
The passenger car was empty. There were no seats, no place for her to put her saddlebags, which she was so caught off guard by her surroundings she hadn’t noticed that they mysteriously disappeared. The car was dark, the light of some artificial presence filtered in through the window. She tried to find the source of that light, but all she saw was nothing but pitch black.
There was one item in the passenger car and one item only, and it sent shivers down her spine. There, in the center, stood the rickety-splintery-not-safe-for-work barstool on its four legs, one shorter than the rest. Already she could hear P. Gander screaming.
“You’ll never amount to anything in life if you don’t learn to apply yourself. Life is a three-way road with one direction, and you drove right off the edge and hit a sign!”
OddLuck was suddenly filled with a burst of fury she hadn’t felt since yesterday’s incident. The thought of P. Gander standing in the car with her, squawking in her ear, sent her full of rage.
It’s only a dream, it’s only a dream. He’s not here, nor will you ever have to see him again, she thought, trying to calm herself down. It worked to some extent. She managed to take a few deep breaths by convincing herself no matter what happens, she was ten times better than that cantankerous old bird from the perspective of morality. Such is a mortal’s way of justifying themselves when they feel the need for justification and don’t have the company of anyone else to agree with them.
Before she knew it, she was in front of the stool. Some strange force pulled her toward it. If it were up to her, she would leave this train right now so she wouldn’t have to deal with anything about to transpire. But the force pulling her toward the barstool was… otherworldly. She had so much willpower to consider for a moment yet so little to control herself. It seemed that the longer she didn’t sit on that barstool, the more her curiosity would be piqued, and it would continue to grow unsatisfied thusly.
She had to do it, so she did it.
OddLuck stared straight across the room from where she sat. That mirror image of herself she saw back at the Forgetful Filly stared back at her, nodding her head in approval. A voice echoed through the car. It sounded like the Conductor’s.
I welcome you, Strange Clover, to the sanctuary of your mind, where even then you can’t escape the terror of reality. The very consist you sit in was the same consist used to transport the gods between the multiverse over ten thousand years ago. Now, you’ll use it to learn of the gods and their lives. I hope you packed your lunch because you’re in for quite the field trip. Behold Nowhere, Strange Clover. Where society is based on mere thought.
That’s when the train began to move.
It started slowly at first. But as it gained speed, her insides began to churn. Every pizza, burger, milkshake, malt, malt liquor, brownie, ice cream, candy cane, sugar, honey, iced tea, beer, strangely mutated omelet, cookie (and milk, you can never forget the milk), narcotic, and mom’s cooking she had ever consumed somehow wound back up in her digestive tract and gave her the kind of stomach ache that could only come from moving so fast.
She didn’t have time to see it. She only got a glimpse before she lurched back in her seat and slammed against the wall. How fast is this train going? She thought. Actually, it was something more along the lines of, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa —(regurgitates violently)—aaaaaaaaaaa!
No, she was overthinking this. She was overthinking all of this. This is all really some bizarre dream. Yes, that’s it. A dream. She would wake up the next morning feeling like someone took a bat to the back of her head, and she would take some special stuff to make it feel better than go out in search for a new job.
For a brief moment, she tried to convince herself that this would happen. Heck, she even tried forcing herself to wake up, but something prevented her from doing so. The more she tried to wake up from this feverish dream, the more it felt even less like one. Her stomach began to churn from the sheer momentum. Her back ached from slamming into the wall of the train so hard, and she could feel the acceleration pressing her down like a child refusing to get his shots during allergy season.
There it was, it went by quickly! OddLuck was sure she saw it right. It was a mound of corpses set aflame, white flower petals dancing playfully in the air(?). Some force was allowing her to see this insane imagery by slowing down time a smidge. It was something she could not perceive physically but grasp mentally.
Somewhere deep down, she knew where it was from, but she didn’t get a chance to think—not that she wanted to; something else flew by. It was another fire. Gazed over a building she recognized. The University of Friendship’s gymnasium. A memory she has tried to suppress.
It went away (Bye, bye!), but more dreadful imagery began to emerge. Bodies lined the floor(?), white flower petals strewn over their corpses, blood splashed over their opalescent beauty.
The train came to a halt. The air compressing her against the wall released and she fell onto the floor. OddLuck groaned in misery as her stomach tried to settle from the beating took. Her back still ached, and she was struggling to forget everything she just saw.
My headache is worse now, dammit! And I still don’t have my coffee pot.
A voice echoed through the car. “Welcome to Nowhere.” It was the Conductors. “This is the section known as ‘The Endless Corridor.’ You’ll want to look for Alias’s Library. Good day. Or night. Whatever time zone we’re in this eternal void.”
The door opened. OddLuck wasted no time scrambling for the outside.
She fell down the steps, onto the marble floor—Oh a lovely detail. Clashes well with the black.
OddLuck felt as if the floor was moving as the blood in her head began to settle. However, as her vision became stable, she realized the floor was moving.
It shot straight into the void, about the width of a very narrow road. Enough room to walk around on but that was it. As the floor continued to drag her along, tall, monolith-like objects began to emerge from the darkness.
Doors side-by-side lined both edges of the floor as it moved. Most of them were labeled with some weird, ancient language that would now be considered untranslatable.
However, as the more the doors passed, the more the language changed. Some were variants of the same language but affected by time. Others were just weird hieroglyphs or symbols.
Even with how slowly they were passing, it was difficult for OddLuck as her brain kept struggling to catch up. But, slowly, the words on the doors began to transform into something translatable. She saw one that said, “The Evolution Museum;” another that said, “Pyrorican’s Armory;” finally, she saw it: “Alias’s Library.”
The floor stopped.
A soft golden glow emanated beneath the doorway. Something was calling for her. Not a voice, but an urge. An urge to see what was behind there. This paranormal force strung her towards it.
OddLuck opened the door just a smidge but was blown back by a forceful gust of wind. Scrambling to her hooves, the door hung wide open.
Poking her head through the doorway, she called, “Hello?”
No response. Nothing but an echo.
The room was, as a stallion would describe when discussing the length of Trottingham’s Sunrise Stadium, ‘Gargantuous.’
Width to length (None ever take girth into consideration, sadly), she couldn’t see the walls of the room. The ceiling itself wasn’t visible either. Rather, it was veiled by a congregated mass of clouds. An endless array of shelves upon shelves lined down the room from all sides. It was almost as if the librarian who had renovated the place looked upon the shelves and said, quote-unquote, ‘Fuck the dewey decimal system.’ then calmly proceed to hang himself.
OddLuck, however, was in awe at the site. The shelves reached high into the clouds. They acted more like walls than platforms used to support books. What piqued her interest most, however, was an object in the distance. It hovered in the air amidst all the whiteness, gleaming with pearlescence.
OddLuck took a step forward, but her stomach lurched again when a sudden force cantered her forward. She stared at the floor for a moment, but when her brain caught up with her surroundings, she realized she had flown across the room. She was now at the object in question.
She was standing on a marble dais, staring at a podium. On top of that podium a book, with the title Book of (Possible) Prophecies etched onto the cover.
Bound in thick leather, the pages crisp and fresh, the book had a superior quality most would consider a rarity. But what was it doing here, she wondered. How did it hold so much relevance to this room that it was given its own special place? What were the pages like on the inside?
Unconsciously, her horn erupted into a flow of green energy and enveloped the book cover. She wanted to feel guilty for snooping, but there were several other facts that acted like catalysts against it. One of these being she was still keen on this being a dream, another that something was telling her to keep going.
She focused her magic on the cover, opened to the first page and...
Blank.
So was the next page and the page after that. The entire book was blank. It was a blank book; a dud made to look impressive; an effigy copy of a baby’s thoughts. A sketchbook. A picture book for the blind (This one is a lily, young Pliny), and other things OddLuck could think of to call it.
She turned away, disappointed. There had to be something in here of relevance. Why else would the Conductor tell her this is where she needed to go? Unless this really was all a dream, which she desperately hoped it both was and wasn’t, there had to be something particularly striking about this place (aside from the entire place).
Clover…
A voice. Calling to her from behind. She turned around, and rather than seeing a pony or something of a sapient nature like she expected, she saw the book. Floating. In the air. Wide open and facing her. Its pages glowing.
Before she could do anything, the light from the book expanded, eating her body whole.
____________________OddLuck opened her eyes. The bright light was still there, but different.
Golden rays from all directions shot through the branches before her. They hit the ground, creating little pools of beautiful hue. Trees obscured a yellow disc in the sky; however, she could easily judge that it was morning.
It was a forested area. A grove of some kind; somewhat of a glade. She was laying on top of a rock overlooking a puddle. Only… she felt different.
She tried looking around but had no control over her body. It felt like she was trapped inside a very lovely prison. Complete with her own flower vase and an I HEART CELESTIA poster. She couldn’t exactly describe it, but it felt… good being trapped this way as if she had become the manifestation of peace in its purest form.
Her thoughts were broken when she heard the snap of a twig. She stood up—Wait, I didn’t try to stand up. For a moment, OddLuck caught sight of her feet. Were her hooves… cloven?
The crunching of leaves got closer. She could make out a figure emerging from a narrow area of trees in front of her. However, just as the thing was about to reveal itself, the crunching stopped. It stood there, watching her between the cracks of the bark. It was clearly trying to hide, but she clearly knew where it was.
Everything fell silent for several seconds. The sun’s rays hitting against the rock suddenly felt like waves of heat. The multi-shaded leaves sounded like a very tame avalanche in the wind. She could feel her mind suddenly drifting away…
Woooosh!
(1) An explosion rocketed through the trees. (2) OddLuck could see the rock she was once laying on now beneath her, growing further away. (3) The world became a spinning diagram of itself. (4) The sunlight pouring through the branches rushed past her quickly. It looked like someone flicking a flashlight on and off in her eyes. (5) Something hard pressed against her stomach, something like a fist. Strangely enough, she didn’t feel it. (6) A thing wrapped around her leg and threw her against the dirt. (7) She unconsciously tried to lift her head, but something came down against the back of her neck.
Darkness. The kind only of semblance to Nowhere.
Silence befell the grove for several long beats.
A light. Shining with purity brighter and more beautiful than the sun, it filled her vision. OddLuck got a look at the area from every angle as if her eyeballs were swimming around to get a better view.
It all came down onto a headless corpse of some cloven-hoofed creature with golden fur. The darkness came back for a moment and an explosion rang.
Then she opened her eyes. Now she realized. She was no longer in her own body. She was in the body of some creature. Her every action being commanded like a puppet on a string.
And she was floating in midair, staring down at the intruder that had disrupted her peace.
If OddLuck were in her own body, she’d be hanging her maw agape. The intruder wasn’t just any creature—it was a minotaur of all things! However, what struck her peculiar, is how different it looked compared to the hundreds of minotaurs she’s already seen. This one was humongous—no, that's an understatement. Gargantuous!(!) Almost the size of a small house.
He was wearing a thick armor, painted blood-red crimson. (Oh, that’s actual blood, OddLuck thought.), And his fur (Oh, that’s not his armor.) was a black hue with a gray tinge. He would appear almost invisible in darkness. Another thing she noticed was the multiple scars on his body.
There were the ones on his face, such as the few pink lines on his muzzle and chin that suggested a blade of some sort had gouged him there. It was the scars on his chest that piqued her interest, though. Three full circles, outgrowing the previous in size and encompassing each other. A horizontal line cut straight through the middle, along with a vertical line, starting at the center of the smallest circle and extending down to his lower abdomen.
OddLuck knew very little of what was going on here, but she did know she wouldn’t want to face this guy in a dark alley. Maybe in a brightly lit alley—with a police station… and another minotaur-like him for protection.
“It was foolish of you to assume I could be killed that easily,” said a voice. OddLuck realized it was the owner of the body she was in.
“Consider me impressed. Few gods have survived an attack from Pyrinikós. Perhaps you are worthy enough of becoming its sheath."
Okay, that is the scariest voice I’ve ever heard. I hope I never have to meet this guy in real life. Or a dark alley.
“As will your ego be your downfall.”
The minotaur laughed. It wasn’t a traditional laugh, one full of glee which spreads like a cancerous tumor. It was deep and otherworldly. As if all the evils of the world were put into this one laugh. OddLuck so badly wanted to be back in her own body.
“You think you, of all the gods, you can defeat me? Don’t make me laugh a second time! Within the past week, I have slain countless numbers of your people. At least half of them have thrown themselves down at my feet and begged me to let them live. Can you believe it! No, Mother Nature, it is you who will die—here and now!”
Her supervisor (Mother Nature, was that her name?) set herself back onto the ground. The once still air became disruptive as the wind picked up, and the rays of sunlight filtering through the tree limbs turned a darkish gray. “You misunderstand the power of nature, Ragnor. It’s not only the physical manifestation of a geographical formation, but it is also what makes up the world around us. If all you see in the world are trees, then maybe you should look past the leaves.”
Another explosion rang out, this one far more powerful. It came from above, through the branches, and right on top of this minotaur called Ragnor. Her vision was filled with a bright blue light. If this so-called Mother Nature blinked, she wouldn’t have seen the lightning strike.
Her cloven-hoofed captor didn’t even flinch. She stared right into the point of impact. Even with clogs of dirt flying past her eyes, she didn’t blink.
The dust and smoke cleared slowly. The first noticeable signs of anything tangible were the little residues of ember on the ground. A silhouette formed in the center.
An object hurdled right towards her. Just as OddLuck thought it would strike her, Mother Nature ducked, the object flying off to gods know where. The silhouette lunged at her.
Leaping off the ground with the momentum of a bird taking flight, Ragnor’s attempt to attack was thwarted, however, he did have time to take the object out from a tree just as she took sight of him again, midair.
Not hesitating in the slightest, OddLuck felt a warmth grow from the top of her supervisor’s head. A laser, golden and radiating with pure energy, shot out, right into the chest of the minotaur.
He landed with a loud thud into some shrubbery. The minotaur warrior’s tolerance to the powerful blast proved strong, though. Not only was he quick to get up, but he leaped toward his target with a leap faster than a cheetah could tackle its prey!
He lifted the object up, ready to lunge. OddLuck now realized it was a sword. She thought she was about to feel the searing-hot force having her windpipes cut open, but something of the most miraculous nature happened.
A tree scooped him up. It quite simply came unrooted, walked over to the battle, picked up the minotaur, and threw him.
He landed on the rock she had woken on. The boulder smashed into pieces, the shrapnel of smaller rocks flinging into the air. Okay, this should clearly do him in.
The minotaur got back up without a flinch.
Mother Nature shot another blast of energy at the minotaur. OddLuck thought it connected but was stunned when she realized that not only had he dodged the beam, but he was right in her face!
She felt another blow, this one below her chin, and the beam of light broke. Her body flew into the air, the branches becoming blurs—then another blow to her stomach and she felt the hard impact of her back hitting the ground.
I need you. Now. Came a voice from inside her head. She realized it was Mother Nature’s.
Ragnor walked up in front of her. He wore a smug smirk on his face. “You really are powerful. All the previous gods I’ve defeated were all talk. They spoke of riddling my life with curses and giving me torturous deaths. But they all failed to realize who I am. It is because of that, I will take great pleasure in ripping your beating heart out.”
Mother Nature looked up at Ragnor calmly. Not saying a word.
“What’s wrong? Calf got your tongue? Let me readjust it!”
He raised his arm in the air and was about to strike her, but something stopped him. A hand grabbed his wrist and—
His sword reappeared in his free hand, seemingly from out of nowhere. Flames, the brightest OddLuck had ever seen, enveloped the minotaur. An explosion rocketed the air once more and a gray cloud covered her vision.
OddLuck was sure whatever just happened had finally done this Ragnor in, but as the flames died away and the smoke began to clear, the silhouette of a minotaur took form—no, this was a different minotaur.
Blue fur, bulging biceps, a pearlescent smile, a gleaming axe radiating with awesome power. Just the feel of this being’s presence impressed her. The mere sight of him was something else to behold. Aside from his glimmering twelve-pack and calves like towering trees with buttocks injections, he was even larger than Ragnor. Possibly, the size of a small house—most preferably with a chimney.
“Ha, ha, ha!” he laughed. “He didn’t see it coming!”
Her supervisor stood back up, staring at this newcomer. OddLuck began to wonder whether he was an enemy too, but the friendly smile he gave her proved otherwise.
“Nicely done,” said Mother Nature. “But please refrain from destroying any more of my nature.”
The minotaur looked around the area, still holding his iconic smile. A tree, along with some grass, were still aflame. Sparks of red-orange rose from the churning ember, licking his now guilt-riddled face.
“Sorry,” he said shyly.
“It’s alright, Bobby. However, Ragnor still thrives. There is no way that blow could so easily decimate him. Let’s find him and finish him.”
The minotaur OddLuck now knew as Bobby smirked. “I think my brother will do the finding himself.”
And he was right. Speeding out of the woods, there he came, a blur in the gray. OddLuck felt
a strange sensation in the earth beneath her. Something moving along the ground at a dangerous speed. Everything disappeared for a moment when her cloven-hoofed capture sunk down into the earth.
The trees and grass blew past as she had become some force of nature (Oh, I get it.). There was Ragnor, running at a high speed, ready to strike the blue minotaur from behind. Time slowed to a stand-still as all the trees in the area came to life at once and ran toward him.
Ragnor skidded to a stop and smiled a terrifying smile, one with teeth that resembled the crescent of the moon. His sword appeared in hand, and a dark energy emanated in the air.
The sword tripled in size. Its sharp edge ignited with ebony flames that coated the entirety of his right arm. Pointing it, the flame shot out into a long blast that obliterated every tree in sight.
The world disappeared once again, and Mother Nature rose from the ground behind Ragnor. With a burst of speed unparallelled to any creature OddLuck had ever seen, she barrelled straight towards the minotaur’s blind spot—and was flung to the side as the back of his hand met her face.
Much like the previous blows, OddLuck didn’t feel this one. However, a strange, glowing liquid did spill out of her supervisor’s mouth, the gold residue staining the grass in splotches. Mother Nature stood up, looking down at the splotches of ichor, then looked back at Ragnor—who was now hurling a fist toward her.
She dodged it and headbutted him. The shockwave made them skid away a few feet, but without hesitation, they dashed right back into each other headfirst.
Another powerful shockwave blew across the field, a golden aura expanding across the landscape. As OddLuck was spinning in the air, she could see the trees, the flowers, and the grass hold tightly to the ground, dancing from the sheer force of the blow.
She landed on her feet, facing the black minotaur. He stood in a battle-ready stance, sword in both hands. Black flames covered both of his arms. He looked like the shadow of some crumpled-up object swaying in the wind.
The wind began to pick up. The trees and grass danced to the music of nature’s rhythm. OddLuck felt something wet fall onto her supervisor’s muzzle. The soft howling of the wind filled the silence they shared for several seconds.
They moved at the first lightning strike, fluently and quickly. He ran to the side while she sunk back into the earth. Ragnor stopped in his tracks, frustration evident on his face.
“Choosing to hide, huh!” he screamed. Gripping his sword into both hands, he turned around and shot a mass of dark fire into the forest. An entire row of trees was obliterated, replaced by the smolders of ember. “This forest will be reduced to charcoal by the time I’m done with it!”
Ragnor heard something running up behind him and swiveled around—then brought his blade up to block an attack from an oncoming waraxe. The bottom of the head hooked over the flat side of the sword. They stood, locked together, struggling to overcome the other.
They broke it when Ragnor brought a fist to Bobby’s face. The blue savior unhooked his waraxe and staggered backward. Ragnor pointed his sword at him and shot another blast of ebony.
Gripping the head of his axe with both hands, he brought it up and deflected the attack. OddLuck could tell that there would have been some serious damage because the blast pushed him backward; two parallel lines of unrooted grass followed in his wake.
Ragnor continued to hold the blast, the strain of holding against the line of ebony becoming evident on Bobby’s face. Then, another miraculous thing happened: Bobby’s axe lit on fire.
No, this was not any normal fire. It was as if the weapon ceased to be a solid object; something entirely arcane. A line of white-yellow fire slowly began to push the ebony away.
Darkness and light clashed together as the two focused on overpowering the other. OddLuck’s perspective switched to the ground again as Mother Nature emerged next to Bobby, firing her own blast. The line of pure light trailing beside his flames.
The light above her head caused everything else around her to darken. All that was visible to her was the ball of energy building in the center of the battle. With the first signs of strenuous effort her supervisor has shown since the battle started, the ball shot towards Ragnor and consumed him.
The minotaur shot backward, landing on his back. Smoke rose from his corpse. Would it be appropriate now to breathe a sigh of relief? OddLuck thought.
Lifting the lower half of his body into the air, Ragnor pushed with his back and landed on his feet. His sword, which had flown somewhere off in the distance, reappeared in his hands.
I guess not.
Without taking his attention away from Ragnor, Bobby said, “Nothing we do will hurt him. There has to be some way to beat him.”
“There is one way,” said Mother Nature. “We cannot destroy him, but perhaps we could freeze him in time.”
She could tell a confused look fell over his face. “You can do that?”
“I’ll need to leave the battle for a minute and then I’ll need another minute to charge the attack. But yes.”
Bobby’s smile came back. “So, hold him off for you?”
“Just make sure he doesn’t make it back to the grove.”
“Whatever it takes to stop him.” he turned to look at Mother Nature. “You have gifted me this power, it’s only right that I return the favor and use it to fulfill its purpose.”
Mother Nature nodded. “Here he comes.”
Another explosion. This one generated by Mother Nature herself. It was a flash of light, meant to blind Ragnor for a moment so she could escape. The sound of blades clashing grew faint while she retreated into the trees.
She ran over to the pond she woke up at, the surface breaking into a million ripples per second as the rain drenched harder. When she set a cloven hoof on the black surface, OddLuck thought it would sink down right away. Strangely enough, her supervisor set another hoof on the surface and walked to the center of the pond. Only then did she sink beneath it.
OddLuck could feel the smooth feel of the water around her. Bubbles escaped Mother Nature’s maw as she let out several breaths. All was dark and all was quiet.
For a moment, OddLuck thought she was going to drown herself—take the easy way out and avoid a death by his blade. Then she realized something: she was no longer sinking, but falling!
Droplets of water followed her as she fell into the darkness. It looked like the very same darkness of Nowhere, only she was heading toward a circular platform. If a random bystander saw this display, it would look like something straight out of a mythical painting.
She landed on the platform and searched the area. Encompassing the entire circumference were pedestals supporting weird trinkets. A few weapons, pieces of armor, some even looking like simple household items such as a vase.
Her eyes stopped on an oddly formed battle helm. It was golden with two eccentric cyan colored eyepieces. Two horns protruded from the top, looking more like antennas then something intimidating. There was a plate below it: Helm of Chrónos.
The helm levitated off the pedestal and over her head. It felt odd, probably because she wasn't meant to wear it. OddLuck felt another ɘɔᴎɘꙅɘɿq, as if she had the aid of ˙ɹǝɥ ǝpısǝq ǝuoǝɯos
Chrónos! pɐǝɥ ɹǝɥ uı ǝɔıoʌ ɐ ǝɯɐƆ. Grant me your power! Allow me to avenge your death rightfully!
𝓦eird hieroglyphs and sʎmbols appeared, similar⃣ to the ones on the doors from the Endless Corridor. Many of them spoke of rid⃣ d⃣ l⃣ e⃣ s⃣ and prophecies, others chanted peculiar spells or curses. ₜₕₑ helmet suddenly felt wårm. ∀ꙅ ıᎸ ıƚ ʜɒq pɘɘᴎ |ɘᎸƚ ıᴎ ƚʜɘ ꙅnᴎ oᴎ ɒ ɯı|q|ʏ ʜoƚ qɒʏ˙
ɿ⃣ ɘ⃣ ᵢ⃣ɿɿɒd ɘʜƚ ʜǫᵤₒɿʜƚ bɘʜꙅɒɿɔ ʏbₒd ɿɘₕ .bᴎᵤₒɿǫ ɘʜƚ ᎸᎸₒ bɘƚᎸᵢ| ɘʜꙅ ,ʜɔᵤₒɿɔ ɒ ʜƚᵢw ᎸᎸₒ ǫ⃣ ᴎ⃣ ᵢ⃣ ƚ⃣ ɿ⃣ ɒ⃣ ƚ⃣ Ꙅ⃣ .|ₒₒq ɘʜƚ ƚɒ qᵤ bɘʞₒₒ| ɘɿᵤƚɒͶ ɿɘʜ⃣ ƚ⃣ₒₘ ,|ɒƚꙅɘbɘq ɘʜƚ ₘₒɿᎸ ʏɒwɒ ǫᴎᵢᴎɿᵤₜ, the water trailing beneath |ıkɘƚ⃣ ʜ⃣ ɘ⃣ ɘɿnbƚıoᴎ Ꮈɿoɯ ɒ ʌo|cɒᴎo˙
A canopy of green obscured the forest floor. The rain bombarded her fur, clunking down like stones against the helmet. There was a plume of smoke in the distance. During her short time away from reality, either Bobby or Ragnor must have used a powerful attack and decimated an entire section of the forest. Perhaps it was a combination of the two.
Another explosion rocketed the air and a new plume of smoke rose. OddLuck could feel a small surge of panic began to rise in her supervisor’s chest. It was the first negative emotion she had felt since the battle started.
Bobby, whatever you’re doing, stop. Protect the plants, they are part of this world just as you are!
She flew over the trees, toward the new tower of smoke in the distance. When she got near, OddLuck noticed how her supervisor took great care in avoiding the cloud.
They landed on the forest floor, the sensation of everything around her flowing through her. She could hear the trees, the animals thoughts, the grass muffling, “Gi tha fa ahff ahf me.” Which probably translates to something like, “Get the fuck off of me!”
She found what she was looking for; a commotion in the earth. Four large feet shuffle against the ground. The grass making plans to form a coup.
Mother Nature ran toward the disruption. The top of her head kept getting warmer. Like the annoying headache she had this morning, it was slowly growing; taking time to form and get bigger. A humming sound emanated through the air.
She broke through the trees. The two stood locked together, axe to sword. Bobby brought his axe away from the blade, into the air and brought it back down. Ragnor, foreseeing this attack, deflected it and hurled a punch right into the blue savior’s stomach.
Bobby skidded a few feet backward; the punch seemed to have no physical effect on him. However, Mother Nature could feel an inner-pain emanating from him. Could she feel when someone is hurt? She felt nothing when Ragnor took a few hits, so why is it that this other minotaur could feel pain?
That answer didn’t have time to take form, because Ragnor came for her next. Mother Nature leaped over him as he tried to tackle her to the ground. A burning sensation entered her chest, the first real time OddLuck has felt any pain since being in this body. Her supervisor coughed from being exposed to the ashy atmosphere and nearly collapsed to the ground.
Bobby… the smoke…
Bobby ran between the two, facing Ragnor. Brandishing his axe in hand, he twirled it like a majorette would twirl a baton. A powerful gust shot toward his brother, causing Ragnor to fly far into the forest.
The makeshift fan ceased, Bobby, gripping the handle of his axe tightly.
Wasting no time, he ran over to Mother Nature and picked her up, throwing her over her shoulder. Her head was even hotter now. Not to a boiling point per se, but if OddLuck herself were to wear this helmet, her ears would probably be sweating from the intensity of the heat.
“Don’t worry about the fire, the rain will put it out soon enough. Just get me out of here,” she said between breaths. Whatever this fire was doing, she suddenly felt weak. “Perhaps if we find a closed-off space, I can get a good shot at Ragnor.”
Her lungs burned. Somehow this mythical being could survive getting her head chopped off, but she can’t handle a simple forest fire? There was much about this story that left OddLuck dumbfounded and confused. And she had plenty of reason to complain because she could very well feel her insides melting now.
Bobby ran. Moreso, the two flew through the dense forest. The further they got away from the clearing, the thinner the smokey air became. Soon, her lungs were breathing normally again. It wasn’t long before OddLuck realized they were going uphill—
The ground fell away as the two separated in the air. Mother Nature caught herself and hovered, small clumps of rocks and muddy earth rickashaying against her coat as the dust cleared. OddLuck looked down at a hole the size of a small crater.
Ragnor floated in midair, sword in hand, right arm dancing with dark flames. The entire upper part of his body covered in mud. The rain was quick to wash it away. With the combination of the darkening sky and blackish-grayish fur covered with grains of the earth, he nearly became two white, floating eyeballs. He raised his sword, and—
A blink. Mother Nature dashed up to him, the evil minotaur’s eyes expanded in surprise as she was in kissing distance. He almost recovered from the shock, but his moment of hesitance gave her enough time to set two of her cloven hooves on his shoulders.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
With a calm grace only one could muster with years of meditation and willpower of the mind, the two were engulfed by a surge of light.
If one were to observe it, it would look like a crack in the sky coming down on an overcharged lightbulb. For several seconds, Mother Nature stayed there, interlocked with Ragnor. OddLuck was sure this would finally do him in, but something hard came down against her head.
Her embrace broke and the light disappeared. Mother Nature fell backward and tried to regain her balance in the air. Another blow to her back, this one feeling like the first real pain in over a century, and she fell toward the trees.
Okay, it’s all over! This looks like the end! OddLuck thought. She just took a backbreaking blow and was now falling toward her death. This isn’t how it’s supposed to end. At least do me the courtesy of falling to my death without having to deal with back pain!
The treetop came near. OddLuck thought she was going to be met with a faceful of leaves and the warm pillow of death, but it never came. Her train of thought was lost for a moment, but when it regained, she found herself staring down at the leaf-carpeted floor of the forest.
The tree that saved her, brandishing her aching body in its branches, set her down gently. She barely had time to breathe when Ragnor came down hard right in front of her.
“You seriously think a pathetic contraption such as that could defeat me?” he said as the dust in the air began to settle, obviously referring to the object on her head. “After the taskless effort to pry it from his head, you still think a ridiculous helmet could incapacitate me long enough for you to get an advantage? Have you learned nothing?”
The heat on top of her head was gone now. The helmet glowed and hummed lightly. It felt as if a new power was surging through her body. Yes Chrónos. Came Mother Nature’s voice. Thank you.
She struggled to get up. A sharp pain shot through her back, but she still pushed through it (What a badass, OddLuck couldn’t help but oblige. Also, ouch, I feel that too. I really hope I’m alive and me again soon, and that my back doesn’t hurt. It’s bad enough lumbago runs in my family.). “The barrier…” Mother Nature gasped. Instead of finishing the sentence, Ragnor grabbed the helmet by the antennas with his free hand, held her up in the air, and flung her against the base of the tree that had saved her.
Ouch. Again.
Ragnor appeared as a blur beneath the gray ceiling. He stood there before her, examining the helmet she was just wearing. There was a huge dent in the forehead, and it was missing one of its eyepieces. The antennae he was grabbing onto was also bent.
“So…” he said. “The great Mother Nature, one of the most powerful of the gods, thought she could defeat me using an enchanted piece of armor? Why must you keep putting me in good humor?” His sword disappearing in a wisp of smoke, he grabbed the second antenna and broke the helmet in half effortlessly, tossing the two useless pieces in front of her.
Her supervisor’s eyes didn’t break away from the helmet. “Do you… do you know how enchantments work?”
“Of course! Even if you had managed to charge that time beam into completion, it would have been useless! You’re nothing without the real God of Time here to wear that helmet!”
“You are correct. An enchantment can’t reach its full potential unless the person who had crafted it were present. Chrónos specifically designed the helmet for himself.”
“You’re just repeating facts to a minotaur that already knows the universe.” Ragnor interrupted, but Mother Nature continued.
“But by charging the time beam to be as powerful as can be and combining it with a force of destructive power, that can not only break through the enchantment’s barrier but the force binding it to the object in question, giving it an extra influx of power. Why, it’d almost be as if you had a piece of Chrónos’s power for yourself.” If OddLuck could blink, she wouldn’t have seen it. Mother Nature left her spot in front of the tree and sped behind Ragnor, muzzle to ear. “And I do.”
Time slowed as Ragnor lifted his hand in the air, sword slowly coming into form. Mother Nature jumped backward, a new heat forming from the top of her head. Without having to charge up this newfound power, she shot it out in a beam, and it connected solidly with the evil being.
Time returned to a normal pace as Mother Nature retracted the beam. Ragnor, the once-terrifying minotaur who had betrayed the gods, was now encased in an amber-like crystal. He stared back at her, eyes poised and ready to attack, sword in hand. He would hold that position for years to come.
Mother Nature breathed a sigh of relief. The massive power influx she was exposed to had done a number on her body, leaving her in a weaker state. It also doesn’t help that she breathed in all that smoke. However, all of this could be healed easily.
She was about to turn away when she felt another strange force in the earth. Something arriving at a high speed. Before she could register what it might be, Bobby broke through the trees, axe poised in the air and in a battle-ready stance. “I am here, Mother Nature!”
She stared back at Bobby. He stared at the crystal prison encasing his brother. “Oh…” he said, putting his axe down shyly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said, limping up to the minotaur savior. “You just helped save the gods from meeting a complete demise. Without you, nature still wouldn’t exist.” OddLuck could feel a warm smile spread across her face.
“Ha ha!” screamed Bobby, flexing his mighty pecs. His biceps rippled with godly strength, veins popping out like canyons during an earthquake. OddLuck heard a politely refrained sigh in her supervisor’s head.
“Let us celebrate! We’ll get drunk on mead and sake until the sun rises!”
“I don’t drink, Bobby.” The minotaur halted his excitement and gave her a disappointed look. “But perhaps I could make an exception.”
“Ha ha!” he bellowed and resumed flexing. His nipples gleamed in the serenity of a lightning strike.
The ground shook. Bobby stopped celebrating and looked around in confusion. “Is that you doing that?”
Mother Nature was quiet for a moment. OddLuck could feel a small pang of panic rise in her supervisor’s chest again. She swiveled around quickly and stared back at the crystal prison, a crack forming on its surface.
Before she had time to react, it exploded into shards, small pieces attacking but not cutting her eccentric coat. “No…” she finally said
Ragnor, sword in hand, made a jump for Mother Nature. He brought his sword overhead and was about to bring it down on her, but Bobby jumped between them and deflected the blade with the hilt of his axe.
Sparks blossomed in the air and dissolved as they fell. Bobby, holding his axe at an awkward angle, lowered the head and made a diagonal stroke upward.
It was a weak attack, but one Ragnor didn’t see coming. It was probably the first time OddLuck saw him grimace in pain since the fight started. It was only a laceration running the entire length of his chest. The blood let out quickly, covering the upper half of his abdomen. It wouldn’t kill him, but OddLuck was relieved to see that this thing was at least mortal!
However, she wouldn’t have time to metaphorically kiss the ground, because Ragnor rounded a fist against Bobby’s chin. The minotaur stumbled backward, catching himself with one foot behind the other. This allowed him to carry more momentum in his punch—which connected solidly with the bridge of his brother’s nose.
The black beast was knocked onto his back, but in an impressive display of flexibility, he jumped back up on his feet. Sword in hand, he ran toward his brother. Axe in hand, the head glowed with an awesome white light, the flames crackling and licking the air around it. Even from this spot, OddLuck could feel the energy it was giving off.
The two clashed, light and dark, black and white mixed together. A bright glow filled the area. Another, then another, and soon they became very consistent. The two held their ground, neither letting the other get the better of them.
Hold him still, Bobby. Mother Nature said.
The two brought their weapons together, the blade of the axe meeting the blade of a sword. They held that position for several seconds. She heard a stiff crackling, like wood churning in a fire. A spark flung from the glowing dot between the two blades, but they pulled away before she could register what it was.
Mother Nature ran up to Ragnor and he swiped his sword. She ducked then tried to headbutt his chin. The minotaur deflected this with a headbutt of his own. OddLuck thought this would leave an opening for another one of Bobby’s attacks, but he was quick to deflect that too.
The three battled for what felt like hours. He got a few blows in on Mother Nature. Most she did not feel, some she did. Mother Nature and Bobby proved to make an unstoppable duo. At some point during the fight, Bobby had allowed her to use his back as leverage to take a quick leap into the air and aim a blast of light energy at Ragnor.
Eventually, Ragnor’s impatience began to show.
“Enough of this foolishness!” he said. “I am here for you, not him!”
He pointed his sword at Mother Nature and a dark cloud billowed toward her. It proved easy to dodge, but not so easy to evade. She soon found herself running away from the black mass as it followed her.
OddLuck felt like a blur of light speeding past the trees, the wind whipping her face spasmodically. She was sure the black cloud would dissipate by now, but it continued to chase her. She nearly met a dead end at a tree, but made a quick turn, the cloud flying into its trunk.
She swiveled around. OddLuck could feel a sense of worry arising in her supervisor’s chest. The tree came to life. However, unlike the tree that tossed Ragnor, this one’s bark darkened and it shriveled up. Its leaves crumbled and fell to the ground.
The tree swung at her, but she jumped out of the way. Another tree next to her came to life and tackled the corrupted tree trying to get her. More trees in her area came to life, some of them were hers, but many of them shriveled away and attacked the others.
She took off into the air and was about to fly high over the forest when a branch wrapped around her leg. Not even hesitating, she turned back down and shot a beam of light. The tree fell to the ground in smolders and she took off.
It didn’t take long to find the two, perhaps because they were fighting in midair.
The rain came down like a bag of marbles being emptied out onto a sidewalk. Her coat was remarkably dry, despite the rain coming down so hard. It was almost relaxing, like a crackling fire—no. There was a different crackling sound not so relaxing. As soon as she heard it, she flung herself to the battle at an uncanny speed.
The two locked their weapons together, pulled away, and swung back toward each other—hard. OddLuck saw sparks fly away from the collision. Another crackling sound broke the air.
They pulled away and were about to swing again when a beam of light shot between them. She hovered a yard away, the heat on her head building up for another blast. The two stared back at her.
“Stop this foolishness! Bobby, can’t you see what you’re doing to the axe?”
Bobby looked from Mother Nature to the head of his axe with a confused look on his face. However, he didn’t have time to respond because Ragnor brought down his sword one last time.
Then it happened.
Another explosion rocketed through the air. This one brighter than any lightning strike OddLuck had ever seen (two). The smoke cleared and she could see the two minotaurs hovering. Holding the remaining pieces of their once empowering weapons. Ragnor, clutching a pommel similarly shaped to the symbol on his chest; Bobby, gripping a piece of his axe’s hit.
A look of intense anger plastered onto Ragnor’s face. “You… you…”
Using the hand still clutching the pommel, he swung a fist at Bobby. The minotaur cantered backward and countered with a round kick. Bobby proceeded to swing another fist into Ragnor’s face and—it happened in an instant.
Ragnor dodged the fist and grabbed Bobby by the wrist; unknowingly leaving himself open. Mother Nature, finally seeing a clear shot, fired another time beam. Ragnor spun in the air with Bobby in hand. Just as she fired, he let go of Bobby, his body flying toward the goddess. The beam collided.
The shocked face of the once mobile hero stared back at her as it fell down toward the earth. Her supervisor reared back in stunned silence, not realizing this gave Ragnor an opening. And this she learned the hard way as an untimely force came crashing down on her.
The two tumbled toward the trees. Ragnor threw his hands around her neck. Her windpipes compressed and she gasped for her. Mother Nature struggled in Ragnor’s grasp, but his grip was too strong. He held that grip as they fell to the earth.
OddLuck felt more heat on top of her head and Ragnor was pushed away by another beam of light. Rather than hurt him, however, he faced himself downward in a vertical position and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. The momentum he was building from this angle caused them to plummet much faster toward the peak of a mountain.
Another crack of lightning came down on Ragnor and he loosened his grip. She felt weaker, as if this move took much more power than usual. That might be the case, because he looked hurt by it. Without breaking her concentration, she flew above the minotaur and fired another light beam.
The line carried him downward, the rain coming down against it evaporating. This was a move of sheer power, as OddLuck could tell from the amount of strenuous effort her supervisor was putting into holding it.
It was a few seconds before the beam broke. OddLuck suddenly felt so much weaker. Her body felt limp and she barely had enough energy to keep flying. Her supervisor let herself fall. The rain cascaded down on her as she plummeted to the earth.
She fell through a hole her bream had created. It took the force of pushing a five-ton minotaur toward the earth to break through the rocky ground. Her feet set down in a dark cave, the minotaur’s body nowhere to be found.
The sound of footsteps echoed around her, and she turned in all directions to find out where they were coming from. A figure emerged into her vision, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her against the cave wall.
Air stopped flowing through her windpipes as the vice holding her throat tightened its grip. It was an ever-growing pain unlike OddLuck’s migraine from this morning. The more his fingers pressed into her neck, the more it felt as if her head would pop!
“That sword was the sole reason why I’ve come this far. To think, I would feel the satisfaction of seeing it pierce through your stomach. But that doesn’t matter. I can make a new one.”
The top of her head heat up again. At first, OddLuck felt excitement course through her body mentally, but then she felt a searing pain tear into her shoulder—Ragnor stuck her with the sharp end of his sword’s pommel!
White-gold trickled down her leg and splotched the cave floor. A strange force tranced through her—something unholy. However, there was another, stronger force fighting it off.
Ragnor threw her against the ground, her supervisor taking a deep, guttural breath. “Impressive. Not only have you managed to hold off for this long, but you’re able to suppress the sword’s curse.”
She could feel Mother Nature trying to stand up. Her legs wobbled and shook as if she were holding a really heavy backpack. Her breathing had fallen out of rhythm, every breath she let out trailed into a loud wheeze. Her left leg had gone completely numb as the unholy force completely took control of it. Its once golden fur darkened into black ebony similar to the fire of the sword’s. Sharp talons protruded from her foot where her cloven hoof once was. The strange force inside of her tried pushing her into an unconscious state, but Mother Nature fought against it.
OddLuck felt another blow against her ribs where Ragnor’s foot connected. “Why do you still fight? I have defeated you! I have conquered nature itself! So why do try and stand? Why do you fight off the curse? Hasn’t the fact that I let you turn revealed that I take pity on you? Don’t you want to live long enough to see the demise of the High Gods?
Mother Nature struggled back up to her feet. “Y-you…” the words came out between wheezes. “Are pure evil, Rah-Ragnor—”
A blow to her cheekbone and she flew across the floor. OddLuck was amazed by her efforts—she kept struggling back up! “Even if you kill me… even if you find the Creator… even if you destroy this planet… you’ll never defeat the High Gods… their powers are limitless.”
“You speak of tall tales! You can barely stand. Do you think I would listen to you, when you are about to meet your end?”
“When one… when one is about to die, they speak of a million truths, only the foolish a million lies. But don’t underestimate the power of nature Ragnor… I still stand. Only on my knees, I can, but I can fight.”
“Impossible!” Ragnor grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes, muzzle to snout. “Look at you! What can you possibly do against the likes of me? Give it up already, you are beaten! Are you really the Goddess of Nature? I thought you were wiser, but you’ve proven the stupidest of gods! How do you still have the courage to fight when you’ve fallen to your knees? Where does that courage come from when your soul is in the process of being corrupted by the pommel of my sword? Why do you still persist on winning? How—”
It happened instantaneously.
A bright light illuminated the entire cavern. Mother Nature’s coat glowed as bright as the sun itself, warmth coursing through her body. The dark skin her leg peeled and Ragnor backed away, blinded by the light.
It didn’t stop there. The light grew, consuming the entire cavern. It looked like something completely ceasing from existence. Ragnor stood in place with his eyes closed, trying to find where she might be. Leaving himself open for attack.
New energy hummed in the air above her head. It was similar to the time beam’s, but this one felt added. As if she were gathering the very life forces of the earth around her and putting it all into this one blast.
It let loose; this beam the strongest OddLuck had seen yet. It enveloped the entire cavern, attacking Ragnor from all sides. The monstrosity of a minotaur screamed in frustration, before becoming muffled. Mother Nature continued to hold that blast for several long seconds.
She finally let go when she had no more energy to continue. The blast broke and the light around her disappeared, the cavern reforming into its dark state.
Her cloven-hoofed capture dropped to the floor and took several deep breaths. Her wheezing was gone, and her leg was back to normal, but she felt dizzy. Very dizzy. Like she could pass out at any moment.
In front of her was the same amber-like crystal that had entrapped Ragnor earlier. However, she could barely make out the silhouette of the minotaur. Mother Nature walked up to the wall, her coat emanating a soft light.
All that could be made out from the crystal’s surface was the reflection of a doe.
____________________The bright glow of the book dimmed as OddLuck regained consciousness. Slowly, she could make out the interior of the library once again. For the first time, she was glad to finally see the endless array of bookshelves. Whatever she saw just now, she didn’t want to know. Not a lick of any of it made sense; neither did she want to be inside of that body and get stabbed in the arm again.
The golden glow died to a small glob and the book shut on its own. The metallic pedestal hummed from the massive power influx just given off then died away quickly. For the first time since this bizarre nightmare had begun, OddLuck breathed a sigh of relief.
“I see you found a book to your liking.”
She perked up. Swiving around to the voice behind her, OddLuck reared back in shock by what she saw: not a pony, not a zebra, not a griffon nor a hippogriff, not even a giraffe. No, definitely not a giraffe.
The creature was humongous, almost the size of the minotaur brothers. It had a long, crimson mane that extended all across its back, flowing with pure ethereal energy; its tale the same. It had long, spiny legs that ended with claws, like four enormous (and well moisturized) palm trees turned upside down. The torso was thin and narrow; not in a way one would describe another’s beauty through their body weight, but in a way that looks as if one has been starving themselves for quite some time. Her face was a representation of this. Pale against her gray coat, eyes sunken in and dim, cheeks caving in, OddLuck managed to see some beauty in this creature despite its clearly insane features.
“Perhaps I could be of some assistance,” it said with a presence that was calm and beautiful and everything elegant.
This is the moment OddLuck met Alias.
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Difficult to process at times—a number of words don't mean what you think they do—but still some incredible scenes, both in the sheer scale of Nowhere and the clash of gods. Looking forward to getting some context.
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During the time I took away from the story I got rusty. What errors caught your attention most, by the way? I can go ahead and fix them so it's easier for consumption.
Thanks! Yeah, it's been difficult getting the chapter out.
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/213901/my-little-reviews-feedback/thread/413523/the-divine-epidemic-review
Here have a review.
Okay, shit's getting pretty mythical. I can dig that.
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penis