Elegy for a Star

CHAPTER SUMMARY - SPOILERS

The cityscape faded behind them, overcome by fog and shadow as the band pressed on toward the beam of light ahead. Tess could see, now, that the light seemed to sprout from a great, white tower in the distance. It was difficult to look at for long, however. Between here and there was a marsh of oddly shaped trees, spherical and fat around the trunk, with a few short branches sticking out the top. The canopy was minimal but the water was fetid and stagnant. Tess, especially in her minimal clothing, was not looking forward to it.

The soil grew soft, leaking swamp water as it was pressed under their feet.

“Tess,” Joyona spoke up, her voice carrying that metallic tone with it, “Come here.”

Tess obeyed the instruction and as she approached the giant, Joyona lifted her with cold, strong gauntlets and settled her onto her pauldron. The pauldron included two fans that were situated in a way that it wasn’t very uncomfortable to between them like a chair. Tess held on as the giant moved beneath her, carrying her through the mess.

“Why don’t I get a ride?” Mairaela joked, “You have a second shoulder.”

Joyona didn’t respond, but she did stop walking. Everyone followed her helmet’s direction, looking off to the right.

There, at the edge of the swamp, standing just to the side of one of these fat trees, was an emaciated man. His skin was painted blue and decorated in red lines. His eyes were dark and beady. He was bleeding heavily from the chest and in his hand, he held something.

“What is that?” Tess asked, squinting to try and see what was in the man’s hand. It was moving, whatever it was.

Mairaela summoned her bow and readied it, responding, “It’s his heart.”

The man didn’t move. He simply watched and waited, his pumping heart sitting in his palm the entire time. “Disturbing,” Tess remarked.

“That’s the Void for you,” Mairaela responded, “Should I send him a warning shot?”

“Why pick a fight?” Tess asked.

“We should kill him,” Gwendolyn replied, “Nothing in the Void is friendly, least of all something so disturbing.”

Joyona nodded her head. Even Tess could see the reason in that.

“Got it,” Mairaela lifted her bow and drew back on the string. When she released it, a beam of light instantaneously burst through the man’s skull, popping it like a melon. He dropped into the swamp water behind him, his heart falling into the water. “That’s that,” Mairaela concluded.

“Tess, keep an eye out behind us while you’re up there, okay?” Gwendolyn said, not sharing in the same victorious joy as she once did with the Huvudorm.

Tess replied with a question, “Why did he just stand there? He knew we were going to shoot. He didn’t even flinch. He didn’t budge.”

Gwendolyn spoke softly, “Can’t say. Let’s just get the fuck out of here.”

“As you say, Dame,” Joyona replied, trudging onward.

The next thirty minutes went by relatively silently. The group was too busy looking in all directions around them to hold a conversation with one another. Every now and then someone would call for a halt, trying to squint at a distant object that turned out to be a fallen branch or a bloated, floating corpse of one of those blue people.

They were deep into the swamp now, close enough to the light ahead that it was casting shadows upon the water and creating a disorienting view. This was especially true due to the slightly dulled, monochrome nature of the place.

As they approached the edge of the swamp, one of those blue-painted creatures reappeared, its extracted heart pumping quickly in its hand.

“Mairaela,” Gwendolyn relayed, “Take care of this one.”

“Is that the same guy?” Tess asked.

“Don’t know,” Gwendolyn replied, “Let’s hope not. But he’s got to go either way.”

Mairaela raised her bow, taking aim. Tess was watching ahead, looking at the man whose fate was already decided by four visitors to his world; waiting for that yellow beam of light.

But then she heard a crunch. Tess spun to see Mairaela, face gushing blood, crash into the water. The creature that struck her was something large, with arms the size of pillars, but Tess couldn’t get a great look as she fell off of Joyona’s shoulder when the giant was tackled from behind by something. Tess fell beneath the disgusting water, keeping her eyes closed. Things were splashing all around her. The water was moving in chaotic ways. Eventually, Tess got her feet underneath her and brought herself back up. She was waist deep in the disgusting swamp.

Joyona was under the water, collapsed under the weight of a dozen of those spider-people from before. She must be drowning in her own armor. Gauntlets rose from the surface of the swamp water, striking spiders and throwing them off to the side, only for more to replace them. She was thoroughly outnumbered, and even if they couldn’t penetrate her armor, the water could.

Mairaela was face down, floating in the water behind them, a thin line of blood drifting in the water beside her head. Gwendolyn was fighting… something. It was a behemoth, blue skinned and covered in patchy fur. It was top heavy with shoulders broader than Joyona’s armor and a gorilla-like head. On its front, its organs were connected to a limp man upon his stomach. The beast seemed to have burst out of the man’s back and now carried the corpse like some vestigial appendage, flailing and flapping with each jerky movement. The sight made Tess ill. Must everything here be so horrifying?

Gwendolyn was parrying strike after strike, narrowly missing fatal blows from the gigantic creature. She was too busy slashing incoming spiders to retaliate thoroughly. She had moments—striking the water to create a large wave that washed enemies away—but she was overwhelmed, Joyona was dying and Mairaela may very well already be dead.

The Devil. The Keepers. The Red Poppy.

Nothing. Tess felt something bite her on the shoulder, digging into her flesh, but she dare not look. Whatever it was, the pain burnt its way through her veins.

The Crown. The All-Father. The Maiden.

She felt like her insides were on fire. There was another bite, this time on her flank. She felt a weight pulling her down into the water. Her last sight of the surface was Gwendolyn getting slammed into a tree by the gorilla creature. We’re dying, she thought, we’re going to die. One last spell. It must work, or else it was all over.

The Branch. The Horse. The… The…

Some creature grabbed her wrist before she could finish the sign, ripping through her veins with what felt like a knife, and Tess blacked out.