How Death Lived

by Crimson Wisp

Chapter 22. Devil's Den part 2

Author's Note:

I deadass thought I had published this when I finished it. I didn't 😅

Anywho, I'm almost done with part 3. See you in the comments!

Late into the evening, Azazel had been scouring the Necronomicon while a large part of his undead horde traveled to and from the dragon lands, retrieving as much of their treasure as they could carry.

As the hours flew by for the studying nephilim, the ruins that had laid untouched for centuries were now bustling with activity as undead skeletons of draconic build moved their cargo to the ancient vault in the lower levels of the castle.

Undead dragons of titanic proportions held sentinel around the structure, scanning the surrounding forest with a predator's territorial zeal.

Nearing the midnight hour, Mia and Trephor found themselves sitting across from the tired, but visibly invigorated half-blood; dumbfounded over the nephilim's latest proposition.

"We're turning the castle into a what now?"

Trephor said with genuine confusion in his voice.

"A 'Nekravol', or 'gore nest' in abyssal."

The young necromancer repeated, turning the necronomicon around for Mia to see. Surrounding a sketch of a structure that could only be described as a intuitively grotesque, living castle, was the impeccable hand writing of the former hell queen. Whilst Mia began reading, the nephilim rose to the task of explaining what she was looking at.

"When mother was still the Queen of hell, it was her army of Incubi and Succubi blood mages that constructed the dark spires and fortresses used by the dukes and lords of Mephistopheles' court, along with most of the ninth circle of the dark realm. They used the blood and flesh of those too weak to thrive in hell, dismantling them down to the cellular level and rebuilding them into sentient, self-sustaining fortresses that can defend themselves with a variety of magical and biological weapons. Paired with the dragons we acquired, I think we'll be a lot less exposed and will be at the very least able to stand our ground against a seige by an army no bigger than one or two regiments... by the Solarian Empire's standards anyway... I've yet to gauge the military strength of Equestria, but I intend to change that once the Nekravol is built."

Azazel finished, placing his arms on the table. Intertwining his fingers, he patiently waited for his elven caretaker to finish reading and give him feedback.

"Its a great idea, but I'm struggling with the logistics."

She began, her analytically attuned mind helping her rattle off her laundry list of complications.

"Aside from how complex this ritual looks, I don't think we have enough biomatter to do it. Maybe if we stripped one or two of those elder dragons outside of their flesh we'd have enough to jump-start the ritual, but we still need at least a thousand souls to generate the Argent energy it would use as fuel. And even then we'd still need something to store the souls and a conduit to filter their influence so that the structure won't fall prey to a mass Argent transmutation or, gods forbid, a blood rage."

Mia finished flatly, placing the book down on the ancient oak table. Trephor, on the other hand, would've shat himself if he still could upon hearing the words "blood rage".

"A WHAT!?!?"

He shouted, looking at the nephilim like if he'd just grown a second head. As the beryl coloured undead unceremoniously took the necronomicon and scanned it's pages to confirm what he'd just heard; Azazel let out a long sigh, while letting his head droop down and his gaze to wander aimlessly along with it.

"If I can get the items you need, can I leave the prep work to you?"

The nephilim asked, seeming distracted.

"What the fuck is a Gatling Belcher?..."

Trephor mumbled to himself as he gawked in horror at the very detailed images in the following pages of the gore nest's biological defenses.

"I can do it, but are you sure we have to do this now? It's getting late, and you need to rest. I can ask Avalon to-"

Mia began, only to be cut off by Azazel raising his hand in a silent plea to stop. Once she did, the young necromancer spoke up.

"Avalon is busy managing the recovery effort of the dragon's treasure hoards and the security detail here. And I refuse to have Anvari preserving the flesh mound by herself any longer. She may be undead, but even she can suffer from mana burn... and I'm in no mood to see any of you injure yourselves over me."

The dark sorcerer said, standing to his feet and taking the necronomicon from Trephor's hands. He took one last look at the list of items to ensure he knew what he would be looking for.

"The memories of the damned that were trapped within the "Great Evil" have yielded the locations of the two items we don't currently have. Once we're done here, I'll go to the courtyard and set up a macropreservation loop on the biomatter we have before I leave to get the most... dangerous of the two items we need."

Azazel explained, looking over to Mia with a newfound vigor in his voice.

"Azazel, I really think you should take a break and get some sleep. Can't you just send that big... snake thing to get what we need? Its much safer than having you go off on some wild goblin chase."

She pleaded, waving her hands around dismissively as she realized she didn't know what to call the gorgon-like titan currently buried somewhere beneath the castle.

Unfortunately for Mia, her words fell on deaf ears; unbeknownst to the undead couple, a surge of rage brought on by the tortured souls within the nephilim was approaching fast.

"We're in danger..."

"They'll kill them..."

"Like your parents..."

"The ponies..."

"They scheme against us..."

"They will betray us..."

"They'll kill them again..."

"IT MUST NOT HAPPEN!!!"

"IT WILL NOT HAPPEN!!!"

The damned jeered, snarled, and screamed in Azazel's mind. Their malevolent voices causing an ephemeral migraine to slowly befall the half-blood.

"Can you just... stop... questioning me AND DO AS I ASK!?!?"

The nephilim tried to suppress the urge to shout, but he barely managed to get a few words out before the damned sent a wave of unfocused anger through his being. His fist slammed into the table and his eyes briefly exploded with hellish magic; the malevolent miasma that poured from the half-breed's eyes evaporated into the aether as suddenly as it appeared.

Too stunned to say anything, Mia and Trephor silently watched as their surrogate little brother began to ever so slowly relax his posture. A deafening silence fell upon the decrepit library, as the damned went silent; having gotten the reaction they wanted. A silence, which would be broken by the verdant, human skeleton looking at his master with a genuine concern reserved for moments such as these.

"Boss?.."

Trephor asked, his posture relaxing slightly when he realized he wasn't in any danger.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead. Now get to work."

Azazel ordered, his gaze directed towards Mia with his first statement, then towards Trephor with the second.

With that, the nephilim stormed out of the library; mentally cursing every last soul inside him for the unsolicited outburst and the sour mood he was now in. Mia on the other hand, was still reeling from the outburst.

"You ok?"

Trephor asked, giving Mia's single hand a gentle squeeze to get her attention.

"We've been gone for too long..."

She began after taking a shaky breath, doing her best to keep her composure. Noticing the shift in tone, his gaze drifted down to his beloved. Mia tried to avert her gaze, but a skeletal hand cupping what should be a warm cheek gently nudged the elven undead to look at Trephor. Her eyes had shifted from a bright red to baby blue, and after a few moments of looking at each other, they wrapped one another in a hug. The only sound that could be heard was Mia's occasional sniffle as she did her best to keep her frustration from overwhelming her, resulting in bitter scintillations falling from her eye sockets.

"Is... Is it wrong for me to be mad at him?"

She asked, her voice choked with the strain of repressing the urge to cry, and scream at the top of her non-existent lungs. Trephor rested his head on hers and futilely rubbed her back, then took in a deep breath before answering her with a question of his own.

"Why are you mad at him?"

He asked, his voice gentle but firm. It took a solid minute for Mia to collect her thoughts, her verdant lover never stopping his affectionate caressing.

"I feel like I don't know him anymore... Sure, Azazel could get mad, but he's never yelled at me like that before. I don't know what's gotten into him, we use to be a family! Now he's treating us like we work for hi-"

"Mia?"

The flower-spangled skeleton was jostled from her rant by Trephor taking in a deep breath and asking for her attention. He sounded... distant. She pulled away enough so that she could look her lover in the eye, the beryl undead's eyes were their neutral red; giving Mia nothing to read him with.

"Can I be completely honest with you?"

He asked flatly. Unsure of where he was going with this, Mia nodded to let him speak.

"We've been gone for gods know how many years, were marooned in a land of multicolored magic mini horses that can talk... Astoshan and Lilith are dead. Like, actually dead. And for the better part of two days, Azazel believed that you and I were gone for good. I've got mixed feelings about how much he's changed too; but the fact remains..."

He began, carefully unwrapping himself from Mia and taking the discarded necronomicon in his hands; wiping off the dust from the table off its cover.

"Yes, we raised him. Yes he's family. But at the end of the day he's our BOSS, and he's not made out of stone. Our job, whether we like it or not, is to help him with whatever he needs. And while it is true that he needs sleep, what he needs more than that is a place to sleep where he can feel safe... Even if he's being a dick about it."

He explained, handing the book to Mia. She took it and looked down at the rather heavy tome over before looking back up at Trephor with her spirits lifted and her worries put somewhat at ease.

"You still haven't answered my question."

She tittered, chuckling softly at the truth in Trephor's words.

"Last I checked, the big party pooper doesn't have a rule against you being mad at him. That's kinda why I mess with him, helps me vent."

His nonchalant tone returned with the admission; causing Mia's mood to improve as she laughed.

"Just give him some time to cool off, he'll come around."

The verdant undead said softly, taking the necronomicon from Mia's hand and putting it into the bottomless bag Azazel had pulled it out from.

The flower-spangled, elven undead would've smiled if she could as she remembered a similar instance from years ago. The image of a tree being hurtled into the air followed by the voice of her young master shouting obscenities into the woods making her chuckle...

"He always does..."

She said, mostly to herself. The two then took a moment to enjoy the light-hearted mood before sharing a gentle kiss and exiting the library.

As Mia and Trephor walked, they passed several skeletal dragons in a somewhat orderly line heading to the lower levels. One of which dropped a horned helmet that had been perched atop of a small mound of gold and jewels carried on the inside of a large, round shield.

The dragon at first groaned in annoyance, but once it's crimson eyes locked onto the undead humanoids, it tensed up and did it's best to not panic; it's crimson eyes flashing to a sharp yellow.

Both Mia and Trephor let out a sigh of pity at the sight. Ever since their master and surrogate little brother had indicted the dragons into his employ, they had become mortally terrified of them.

The skeletal couple was present when the young necromancer explained to the dragons the chain of command, and while no one mocked them openly; a dragon by the name of Hotshot made the fatal mistake of muttering to his comrades how funny he thought the undead "monkeys" looked.

Mia and Trephor were understandably concerned for the structural integrity of the ruins they were in as their onyx brother in arms issued out death threats so loudly that the walls of the ancient stone walls seemed to rattle in fear... Or maybe he was telepathically messing with everyone present with his drill sergeant-like demeanor. Speaking of which...

"Baby Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Baby Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Baby Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Baby Shark!"

The armored undead was marching with six skeletal dragons armed with spears in tow. His voice was loud and in sync to the beat of four pairs of feet marching towards the star-spangled skeleton and her verdant lover.

"Mommy Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Mommy Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Mommy Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"MOMMY SHARK!"

Avalon shouted, and the draconic soldiers replied shortly after. No longer being able to keep still, the mortified dragon began to shake violently; coins and jewels clattering to the floor as the draconic undead shivered in terror.

Quick on his feet and in no mood to hear the ancient soldier admonishing anyone, Mia and Trephor quickly took the helmet off the floor along with the vast majority of the dropped coins and jewels. In a hurried manner, they put everything back onto the dragon's pile and silently ushered it to get lost.

Caught off guard by the sudden assistance, the undead dragon awkwardly walked back into the moving line of dragons and blended in just as Avalon and his small entourage rounded a corner and marched into view.

"Daddy Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Daddy Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

"Daddy Shark!"

"Doodoodoodoodoodoo!"

The onyx undead sang with reckless abandon, paying no mind to his comrades as he continued his patrol through the ruins with his entourage. Their voices grew quieter and quieter as more distance was placed between the undead caretakers.

"Remind me to have Avalon and a squadron of dragons sing that as Azazel's wake-up call."

Trephor muttered with a mischievous cadence, returning to Mia's side with his eyes glowing green. The flower spangled architect took her beryl scribe's arm while giggling at his implied prank.

"Sure, along with digging Avalon's grave while we're at it."

Mia quipped, laughing at the mental image of her short-tempered, surrogate brother. The two resumed their stroll towards the ruins' courtyard, passing under a stone archway of questionable integrity. The pair looked around the remains of an overgrown and decrepit garden littered with broken statues and the overgrowth of plants covering the mounds of rubble that were cleared from the inside of the castle.

In the center of it all, a sphere 40ish meters in diameter of blood-soaked viscera that resembled a tumor pulled from the body of some eldritch titan slowly rising into the air. Rings of blood slowly orbiting the central mass glistened in the moonlight like a cruel mockery of a planet. Beneath the orb of gore, a ring of magical light, accompanied by the almost imperceptible sound of a grandfather clock ticking away was being conjured from the aether.

Between the undead and the sphere, two powerful sorcerers, one undead and the other half-demon knelt side by side; muttering in unison their unintelligible incantation.

"...ut nostram voluntatem, et virtutem trahunt ex spatio inter mundos con..."

The pair chanted in a hushed tone, their eyes closed and their minds focused. With their hands outstretched towards the magical ring on the floor, the air around the courtyard began to vibrate and ionize as the temporal flow within the ring began to slow.

The ticking from before had gotten louder as it slowed, and Mia and Trephor watched in silent awe as the rings of blood slowed down mid orbit.

"...Eotere non consistit in hon mundo."

With the final verse spoken, the ethereal ring beneath the sphere hummed as clock hands and corresponding infernal runes formed a clock set exactly to midnight.

The sound of ticking now cut through the sound of crickets and the twilight's gentle breeze; the magically charged area bathing everything in a rosy hue.

The smaller one of the two sorcerers sat down with her legs crossed as she panted quietly, the exertion of the magical conjuration catching up with her. The nephilim however, rose to his feet and rolled his head with his eyes still closed, seemingly unfazed by the mental strain of using powerful abjuration magic.

"Red?.."

The pint sized undead asked, looking up to her comparatively massive friend. Once he felt he'd stretched enough, he turned to look down at her; the pale moonlight being opaqued by the hellish power that hid behind the half-blood's crimson eyes. Their eyes locked, and from the faint tinge of yellow in the little one's eyes, he knew what she would say.

"...Are you sure you can't just send your titan?"

She pleaded, carefully standing up to avoid stumbling from the exhaustion. The nephilim slowly knelt down so that the two would be at eye level. With the utmost care, he took her hands and his expression was of a weary seriousness

"I won't be gone for too long little one. I'll be fine."

He assured, the right corner of his lips curled slightly into a small smile. The dwarf, sighed as she looked down. She wasn't buying it, and the half-breed knew as much from the shift to a pale blue in her eyes.

In a slow and reverent manner, the nephilim ran his thumbs over the dwarf's metacarpals; a silent plea for her attention.

Hesitantly, she obliged him. Their eyes locked once more, and the half-blood's expression of determination let his undead friend know that his mind would not be changed.

"I have to do this. I'm not losing anyone else."

The nephilim said, his voice while calm and none threatening carried terrible finality. Ethereal embers began to detach and fall from Anvari's eye sockets as she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the nephilim's neck. The two held each other for a moment before the little one spoke up.

"...just... promise you'll be careful... I can't lose you either..."

She said, sniffling a bit before speaking. The young necromancer returned the show of affection and caressed the back of her skull.

"I will."

He promised, breaking the hug and standing back up. Turning to leave, his eyes met with the undead couple now standing a few feet away. Not a word was said, the trio only recognized one another before the nephilim silently walked around them and left for his prize.

/////////Azazel/////////

While reading about the Nekravol in my father's Necronomicon, I had taken a moment to pull from the memories of the souls within me.

But even after years of painstakingly learning how to utilize their power and draw knowledge from their fractured minds, the tortured spirits had become more efficient at pissing me off. My short temper and the explosive nature of my demonic fury give me the strength to push past mortal limits, but it is also a curse...

The wave of anger that the damned had stirred within me refused to go away. I let them get the better of me... I had no doubt put a strain on my relationship with my remaining family; a problem I'd have to fix when I returned.

But for as much as I wanted to destroy the damned for doing this to my caretakers, my dearest friends, I couldn't indulge such a desire; not yet.

With the literal godsend of the necronomicon, several problems that I had encountered thus far had ingenious solutions that I would have never considered.

In her entry, my mother spoke of something she discovered when she first met my father; which was by no means a "normal" experience for her. She spoke of something my father used to brave the dark realm and survive fighting her army of blood mages.

Father had managed to construct a scepter powered by the crystallized opposite of Argent energy, the "Distilled Grace" of a celestial being. My mother described it to render even the mightiest arch-demons incapable of using Argent-based spells or, what I had the most interest in, unable to fly into a Blood Rage if they came too close; all whilst allowing him to use his own dark magic without restraint.

With an item like that not only could I ensure my fortress does not suffer the wrath brought on by the damned that would soon fuel it; I would also be able to keep myself from losing control without inflicting lasting damage on my body.

The catch is that the runic sequence needs to be etched into a gem strong enough to house over a thousand souls and the engraver filling must be the blood of a recently killed celestial being. And thanks to the damned within, I knew where the den of such a being lies.

It was in a cave due West, near a place the damned referred to as Ghastly Gorge. As I would later come to learn and begrudgingly accept, the creatures responsible for naming most of this world's landmarks and cities were criminally unoriginal; but I digress.

Armed only with a jet black hellsteel hunting knife pulled from my bottomless satchel of holding, I pushed the massive twin doors of my newly acquired stronghold open and leisurely walked outside; the gentle night air tempting me to lie down on the cool grass and fall asleep under the moonlight.

It didn't take long to find the behemoth that brought me to my new home curled up at the bottom of the abyss near the castle. It sensed me approaching and rose to meet me head-on.

The light of it's hellfire mane bathed the surrounding area in a crimson hue, and six and a half pairs of massive eyes looked down upon me like that of an obedient construct.

"Its the only way..."

"Must not lose them..."

"Only they matter..."

The damned hissed from within my mind. I hesitated for only a moment, but I found my voice shortly after I was reminded of my past transgressions, my eventual crusade, and what I was fighting to protect now.

"Keep them safe until I return."

I ordered. The titan made a sound that I assume was supposed to be a hum of acknowledgement, but it instead came off as a growl that rattled my body to it's core. And just as gracefully as it rose over the crevice's edge. It slithered down the stone wall and burrowed through it; presumably below the fortress itself.

With a running start and a gale of wind anchored to my wings, I leaped over the crevice and walked about half a mile over fallen trees, slowly regenerating sinkholes, and the cadavers of what I could only describe as snake-chickens buried under a displaced boulder; which had apparently careened off of an impossibly thin cliffside before I remembered that I could fly.

After chastising myself for being a dolt and shutting up the damned that laughed at my stupidity, my slow pace soon turned into a mad dash to build up speed. My feet thundered down on the fertile soil before I felt a familiar gale of wind, kiss my wings.

With a sound like thunder, I rocketed past the disheveled treeline and continued to climb. Once I was level with several low-altitude clouds, I flew west; taking in the beauty of the moonlit night.

A galaxy's worth of stars twinkled brighter than a chest filled with diamonds; a fitting masterpiece for the one who so graciously offered me peace upon my arrival to this strange world. It only took a few minutes to reach the massive crevice, and I began to fly laps around it.

"Where is it?..."

I muttered to myself as I scanned the lightly forested edge of Ghastly Gorge. Even with my keen vision, I couldn't see the bottom of the chasm just behind the violent show. It was shrouded in a veil of shimmering white mist that, despite the wind blowing through the forest, it seemed unaffected by it. A steadily growing suspicion told me that said mist was magically charged, probably residual wild magic from the "Great Evil's" millennia of saturating these woods.

I slowed down and hovered in place, closing my eyes to concentrate. In my mind, I could hear the damned collectively lower their incoherent rambling and screaming to hushed moans and threatening whispers.

'Seems they've agreed to let one speak for the bunch.'

I thought.

"The celestial being you seek... lies beyond the veil of the Gorge..."

A voice like nails on a chalkboard growled out the answer to my unspoken question in my head.

"How do I draw it out of the veil?"

I asked. There was a moment of silence, and for a moment, I contemplated sending a surge of Argent energy through my body to... incentivize them. Fortunately for them, it was not needed.

"You won't have to..."

Hissed out another voice, this one distinctly feminine, but in no way appealing. I was about to ask for clarification on the vague answer, but it was not needed. Wolves made of dead sticks and timber that reeked of rot and death, quadrupedle lizardfolk made of stone, countless packs of manticores, cockatrices, two titanic hydras, and other creatures I couldn't recognize were coming out of their dens or storming into the area around the gorge.

At first, I was confused. None of the creatures below me seemed to be of celestial descent, some being more akin to beasts of the fey wild. And just like in the wild, multiple apex predators in the same spot always lead to only one thing: violence of savage proportions.

Surely enough, the beasts got into a literal shouting match to see who would chicken out first; none left. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself with an aerial view of the ensuing brawl. Had I not been on the hunt for Celestial Blood, I would have love to have several wine glasses to sample the blood of the Everfree's beasts.

As the carnage unfolded, I hovered in the air and waited. Minutes went by as I passively absorbed the pain of the beasts fighting below; that's when my prized showed itself. I felt it before I heard it, a massive amount of soul energy moving below me and the distant sound of movement. There was no doubt in my mind that it was a celestial being, the almost blinding light of it's soul poked through the fog like the sun's rays through thin clouds on a warm summer day. What caught me off guard was the lack of nuanced emotions; it was primal, like an animal. Shortly after, I heard it; or rather, heard it moving. It was bipedal, that much was obvious from the slow and rhythmic booming of it's impossibly heavy footsteps.

"Is it-?"

*BOOM*

The earth and recently restored trees were rattled by a thunderous earthquake.

*BOOM*

It was getting closer, and louder.

*BOOM*

That's when I first saw it, the mist over the gorge began to glow, and magical bolts of eldritch power crackled and screamed through the air before a monstrously huge claw broke free of the heavy fog and slammed over the edge of the Gorge. It almost seemed as if it had materialized from the mist itself; a manticore and what seemed to be a combination between a wasp and a polar bear were crushed underneath the titanic appendage.

I couldn't hear their bones being crushed, but I did feel a sudden and sharp wave of foreign pain disappearing under the blinding light radiating off of the beast; followed by a spray of gore and blood not too dissimilar from crushing a particularly juicy grape.

A single one of its sharp claws was as big as me, biting into the earth like titanic anchors and finally gaining traction on hardened bedrock. The image of having walked onto an angry Terrasque after being rudely awakened was thrust to the forefront of my mind, but it was quickly dispelled when I noticed that the massive appendage... was blue.

*BOOM*

Another ground shaking earthquake later, and the beast showed its head. At first, I almost didn't believe my eyes; it was a giant bear! A giant bear made literally of the night sky and twinkling stars stared down at the comparatively smaller beasts with a tired, but livid glare; it's yellow eyes and red irises boring into whatever those animals had that passed for souls.

*BOOM*

The Ursidean titan pulled itself upward, the fog covering the chasm was pulled along with the rest of it's body; shrouding it in a cloak of ephemeral magic that hummed with eldritch power. The beast raised its other paw and brought it down with enough force to send a blast of loose dirt flying into the air, the pack of timber wolves and cockatrices that stood on ground zero only barely escaped being squashed like the last two beasts.

*BOOM*

Its other claw digged into the earth and pulled itself up. The two hydras battling a massive falcon that lay on its back seemed tiny compared to the galactic bear; the hulking beast standing almost six hundred feet tall. I was so stunned by its sheer size, that the damned within me panicked and filled me with fear.

"URSA MAJOR!!!"

The damned howled, their revenant fear of the titan before them distracting them from their torment; if only briefly. The beast scanned the area below it, and in slow motion, opened its mouth. I wasnt given a chance to properly register the sound... It didn't hit me until maybe a second passed, but once it did I found it very difficult to fly; seeing as the sound made my eardrums burst.

With the sides of my head feeling as if I'd had holy water poured directly into my ear canal, I began to fall out of the air. In a vain attempt to lessen the sound, I curled myself up as tightly as I could while falling. With my wings being used as a meat shield, I dropped like a rock to the ground, slamming into the excessively fertile grass face first; a torrent of leaves and dirt shooting up in a gale of wind before half burying me in debris.

Somehow, the beasts of the Everfree found it in their hearts to not trample me underfoot as the few that had been left unaffected by the massive bear's roar ran for their lives. I don't know how long I laid there, deafened and in pain; but once i was certain the earth had stopped shaking, I reflexively casted a simple healing spell on myself. After the cool wave of relief took away the throbbing pain, I slowly unfurled my wings and looked around me.

The ground I laid prone on was marred with footprints of various shapes and sizes, all of which seemed to be heading away from the towering Ursa Major. As my gaze wandered up it's massive body, I could see the titanic bear was looking down; though not directly at me. I won't lie, in the moment, I understood the terror Princess Twilight and her friends felt back at the dragon lands. If it saw me, the Ursa Major didn't seem to care.

It huffed, it's breath ripping the few leaves on the trees that had managed to survive the celestial giant's roar. Then, the giant surprised me by yawning and rubbing its eyes. Right, it had been woken up from its sleep... That explained the gesture, but I had no time to dwell on it; as the giant slowly turned heel and began making it's way towards the abyss from whence it came. My time was running out, but luckily for me, all i had to do was lure the beast back to my fortress. I hurriedly clambered to my feet and with a slight limp, jogged towards the beast.

*BOOM*

"Shit..."

I muttered under my breath, my jog turning into a mad dash. The titan had only taken one step and it was already halfway back to the edge of Ghastly Gorge.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit..."

I cursed repeatedly, almost losing balance as another earthquake shook the ground; my window was about to close itself. When I was about 20 or so meters away from its right hind leg, it began rising off the ground. I hurriedly flapped my wings and conjured a gale to propel me the rest of the way. Latching onto the bear's massive right calve, I had to stave off the urge to whoop in celebration over the small victory. It's surprisingly soft fur was long and numerous enough to latch on and hold my weight.

'Made it! Now for my insurance...'

I thought, a victorious smirk stretching across my face. I was planning to use a remotely controlled incendiary spell to blow up it's ankle should running from it prove too difficult unaided; but being so close to the primal soul of the titan, I could sense it's drowsiness, and... confusion? Looking up, I could see the Ursa Major begin to look down; almost in slow motion.

'FUCK! It feels me on it's leg!'

I thought, hurriedly casting an invisibility spell on myself. I shut my eyes and held my breath; if this thing found me... not being able to make the gore nest would be the least of my concerns. I felt gravity shift, I was moving up fast, and something brushed the fur near me. I didn't move, I couldn't. The sound of something bristling dangerously close past my face came and went before I heard the Ursa Major grunt in an almost dismissive manner. Gravity shifted again, but this time, it was down.

*BOOM*

As the titan's leg hit the ground, I let put the breath i was holding and got to work. I focused on the spell I wanted; the aptly nicknamed "Booming Touch" spell.

"Ubi manu tetigerit exitium mox sequitur..."

I muttered, weaving the spell unto the Ursa Major's calve. When the red glow of my magic stopped seeping through the azure, star-ladden fur, I let go and fell the ground; landing in a low crouch.

*BOOM*

The earth was shaken by the Ursidean celestial being taking another step and positioning itself to climb down into the chasm.

'I have to act now!'

I thought, staggering before rising to my feet. I took in a deep breath and channeled the voices of every damned soul inside me to ensure the titan would not drown me out over the sound of it's own movement.

In the brief seconds before I issued my challenge to the Ursa Major, I couldn't help but think of my mother. Only once did I hear her roar, I'll never forget it. I was fifteen when it happened. I made the fatal mistake of challenging her authority, even though I was right on... Anyways, from the almost seering heat of anger roiling off of her was enough to quell any desire to rebel. I was shorter then, so when she got in my face and told me to watch my tongue, she loomed over me like an angry giant; capable of turning me into a red stain on the ground with nothing more than their pinkie finger.

That same feeling was making my stomach tie itself into knots as the Ursa Major stopped where it was, turned ever so slowly in my direction, and locked eyes with me. The roar I was stretching out died in my throat; the damned forcing the Ursa Major to seem shrouded in a malevolent darkness.

Those twin stars of crimson light staring into my eyes. The titan pivoted right where it stood with a speed it didn't have two minutes ago.

My fight or flight instinct took full control as I conjured the strongest gale of wind I could to jettison backwards. I was fortunate enough to avoid being stepped on like a gnat, but not enough to avoid being thrown off balance. The explosion of dust and wind sent me off course and tumbling into a cover of trees. I was able to brake my fall and land on my feet, though the leaf covered floor made finding traction a chore.

Once I stopped, I looked up to see the titan slowly lifting its foot off the ground.

'It didn't notice me escape! Good."

I thought to myself as the beast looked under it's raised heel, waiting for the dust to settle and see it's challenger squashed. I took the opportunity to catch it off it's guard and turned face. I fumbled at first, but was able to get enough speed as to lift off in a torrent of wind. I climbed ever higher, doing my best to keep the titanic bear in my line of sight. I circled around while ascending, I would only get one shot at this.

I accelerated towards the Ursidean giant's and took in a deep breath; the malicious red glow of hellfire poured from my mouth out like a bright beacon. The glint of red caught the titan's attention, and I fired.

"DIRECT IMPACT!!!"

I shouted triumphantly as I tilted myself and narrowly avoided colliding with the Ursa Major's head. The pulse of hellfire struck it's left eye and exploded violently; causing the giant to recoil and roar in pain. The beast's wail of agony caused a sadistic grin to spread across my face.

Circling back around, I noticed the Ursa Major had already recovered and was looking for me with one of it's massive paws covering the injured eye. It didn't take long for it to see me, hovering in the air with a cocky smile plastered on my face.

I won't lie, I loved every minute of this. The rush was incredible! The Celestial Titan, on the other hand, was not so amused.

Letting go of it's abused and bleeding eye, the beast opened it's maw and released another earth-shattering scream. This time, however, I knew what was coming.

Conjuring a spherical barrier of Argent Energy, I braced myself for the incoming assault on my ears. I definitely heard the gigantic bear roar, though now it was much more manageable; my ears only ringing slightly as a result of this.

Seeing it was only fair to respond to the Ursa Major's challenge, I roared again in defiance as I lunged forward with an awkward yet powerful flap of my wings. I soared towards the beast which readied itself by crouching slightly and widening it's stance. Quickly leaning and flying around it, ready to lure the gargantuan beast southwest of this place. The celestial titan tried to swat me out of the air.

Having missed, the titanic bear snarled as it got on all fours and began galloping after me.

"That's it! Follow me to your doom!"

I said to myself just before realizing the Ursa Major was gaining on me. With a bit of alarm, I began pouring more power and magic into each wing flap and burst of wind I could muster.

"Avalon... if you can hear me... be ready..."

I muttered to myself, half hoping the onyx undead was hearing my thoughts.

Comments

[Crimson Wisp]

10971048
You had me rolling with this🤣🤣🤣

But thank you, really. Its nice to see that my late night writing has aged well.