The Mother of Monsters

Teyva stood still for a few heartbeats, watching Thrake as he sat himself down on the ground. His chest rose and fell slowly, breathing easy as a smile remained on his face. Still alive, still a chance, still time. You can go fuck yourself, Fate. I made it. Teyva looked up from Thrake to the human who stood over him. She absently reached for Nephral but remembered she had left him outside in his Gnostisphinx form so he could project his regeneration inside without putting himself in danger.

Lowering her hand, she looked the man up and down. His skin was like metallic bronze and his face was covered in various injuries. His jaw was tilted a little askew and he had blood dripping from his right arm. His eyes flicked from her face to something on the ground. She followed his gaze and raised an eyebrow, his attention was fixed on a sword that lay an equal distance between them. A sword with a ruby blade.

Without warning, he dove for the weapon. Teyva’s reflexes were faster, though. Her chain dove into the ground and erupted from the surface beneath the weapon and snatched it off the ground before launching itself back in her direction. She caught the weapon in one hand and looked down at it, frowning.

Teyva turned the weapon over in her hand as a faint glow began to wrap around it. She looked up at the human standing there, eyes wide. “The fallen hero,” He breathed.

“That man’s daughter,” Teyva corrected him, nodding to Thrake.

The human scowled, “You’re not worthy of that blade,” He snarled, taking a step forward.

Teyva raised an eyebrow and looked down at it again.

An impish grin stretched across her face, “I’m sure we’ll come to get to know eachother with time,” She said cooly and selected yes, she followed it up by deleting the [Labyrinthian Hookblade] from her memorized weapons list. She licked her lips as the weapon began to glow and then crumble in her grip, cracks forming along the blade until it dissolved and began to slip into her arm. The human grabbed his head, his eyes frantic.

“What are you doing?” He bellowed.

Teyva looked down at Thrake again, her right arm turning into Zelfben. Her veins turned to icewater. The human fell silent as the grave as she turned her eyes on him, “Killing you with your own toy,” She hissed, “<Many Light Self>” Immediately a half dozen flickers of light burst into existence in the room, moving about. Teyva joined them, moving quickly from spot to spot in the room as the lights changed into illusory doubles of herself. He whipped his head left and right, trying to follow each of them and discern which was the original. Meanwhile, as soon as he turned his gaze toward one of the others she hustled to the spot behind the high-backed throne and urged her darkeye to slip into the room while he was distracted.

“Enough of these gods damned games!” The human bellowed. Teyva ignored him and sent her chain into the ground, using the sight given to her by the darkeye to get a bead on her target. Her chain erupted from the ground at his feet, wrapping around his legs and body. Faint ghostly chains began to form on him. He flexed his arms, pushing against the chains. Teyva frowned, the blades weren’t puncturing his skin as deep as she was expecting. Probably some kind of physical resistance. Easy fix, she thought, and drew on the power of her mask. Her chain began to glow and she heard a shout of pain from the other side of the throne.

“There we go,” She murmured, following up with [Chill Touch]. The moment her ability kicked in she felt him thrash in the chains, pulling them off of his body with a loud grunt. He pulled so hard she nearly was pulled to the ground behind the Throne. She frog-hopped forward, catching herself and retracting her chain in time for something to loudly land next to her. She looked up at the human standing over her, his skin covered in blood and his eyes wild with fury.

“You bitch!” He snarled, throwing himself into a powerful punch. Teyva rolled out of the way and hopped to her feet. She threw her right arm out to the right, launching her chain across the room and grabbing one of the fixtures hanging from the wall. With a quick retraction she pulled herself across the room, her free hand turning into the [Grasp of the Tomb Guardian]. She released a volley of [Pale Bolt]s, augmenting them with the Fire attribute. The bolts peppered the human, splashing and spreading a white fire of death magic that began to climb across his skin. He cursed wildly, a flash of something yellow-gold bursting from his skin that put the fires out. Even so, she saw a few instances of [Hungering Cold] stack up out of the corner of her eye.

Her feet hit the wall and she pointed her palm down, summoning a [Behemoth] to join the party. The creature sprung out of the magic circle, roaring at the top of his lungs, and charged in the direction of the human.

“What the fuck are you?” The human barked, startled, as Teyva moved on to her next maneuver. All she needed now was to get within range while he was under the effects of [Chilling Weakness] and she could silence him. She hopped down from her perch just in time for her Behemoth to come hurtling towards her, crashing into the wall behind her. She blinked, looked up, and looked back at her monster companion. She looked over from it to the human who was standing there, a powerful glow radiating off of his body. “I am going to rip you limb from limb you little shit!” He snarled, lunging in her direction.

Teyva glanced at the countdown timer for [Hungering Cold] and took the chance, running toward him instead of away. She’d have maybe a second to do something, anything, to get some damage in. She glanced to the right out the hole that lead outside and set her jaw firmly. A heartbeat later he passed into the glow of her aura and his Aspect Powers failed, the silencing effect catching him off guard. Not wasting any time she threw her arm out and wrapped her chain around his body, pivoting and pulling with all of her might. With one terrible swing she threw him out of the throne room and through the air towards the battlefield. She drew a deep breath before releasing the chain, an itch rising up behind her eyes that preculded two rays of light lancing from her skull and into his body. The blast pushed him even further away.

"I'll be back soon, Father!" Teyva shouted, running to the edge and stopping.

“Time for round two,” Teyva breathed, charging towards the opening. “Nephral!” She shouted and leaped from the opening. The sphinx darted from his perch and caught her beneath the arms, soaring in the direction of the raging battle below. Her monsters had joined the fray against the humans and things had all but ended. She glanced toward the glowing form of the human that had almost hit the ground and with a thought directed her Monsters to disengage and attack. Behind her she heard the bellow of the Behemoth she had summoned and was surprised to see it throw itself out the opening towards the roof of the city below.

Nephral angled his wings and took her down faster than [Glasswalker] could, aiming her straight for the glowing spot on the ground. The man was standing now, looking up at her. Teyva drew both of her main hands back and shouted, “<Big Flame Lance!>” She was rewarded with a jet of flame that fired like a rocket from her palms as Nephral released her and soared back into the sky. She landed and slid before breaking into a run in the direction of her target, changing her right arm into the Hero's Sword. Off to her right, her larger monsters had come running. Three Death Elementals and her Cyclops. As the smoke cleared from her flame lance she slid to a stop, he was gone. She spun once and was immediately blinded by a flash of light in her eyes followed by a blow to her chest, knocking the air out of her.

Nearby, a roar of rage seemed to draw the human’s attention away from her. The pounding of heavy feet drew closer and she felt the tell-tale chill of death magic wash over her followed by the unique hum of the Cyclops’ eye beam. She stepped back a few paces, catching her breath and conjuring up a few more darkeyes. She needed to see. The first one to appear gave her a good sense of the situation. The human had moved away from her to engage the monsters while she was ‘blinded’. The death elementals were slow but their bodies were difficult to touch without getting hurt. He danced among them, trying to keep his distance while looking for a weapon on the ground to hit them with.

As she regained her senses, a group of human soldiers broke away from the action, charging in her direction. Without the monsters corralling them, Teyva figured this would happen. She sighed as they drew within striking range and cast [Subliminal Strike]. In a single motion they turned on one another in a bloody spray of confusion. Teyva rolled her neck and exhaled. Ahead of her the human ascendant was fighting the cyclops ferociously, they traded blows, one of his fists doing enough damage to injure the creature’s massive hand. The creature toppled backward and the man leaped onto the Cyclops’ chest.

“Oh no you don’t!” Teyva snarled, whipping her arm out with her chain. The chain soared across the gap between them, wrapping around the man’s torso. She pulled him back as he was drawing his fists up to deliver a merciless blow to the Cyclops. He turned, laughing, and drew a glowing fist back to strike at her. She cast [Labyrinthine Shield] and on impact he was sent hurtling into the sky, spinning through the air. Teyva looked up at him and cast [Primary Gaze], choosing Death again. White light burst from her eyes in a steady beam that struck his side, searing his skin with black patches. She followed his return to the ground, maintaining the beam as long as she could. He hit the ground and rolled away, his skin changing colors. It turned silver abruptly and the light of her [Primary Gaze] reflected back on her, doing nothing.

He tore himself to his feet, stumbling a little and spitting on the ground. He was about to say something when an angry Cyclops grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him into the air before starting to apply crushing force with its grip. Teyva didn’t so much as blink, holding out her hands to cast one more summoning spell. She was going to destroy him with every ounce of strength she had. She cast [Summon Giant] for the first time and selected her specialty, Death Magic. The magic circle grew bigger and bigger as the mana continued to pour out of her. She hadn’t realized how far she’d dipped into her mana. She called Nephral back to her side and willed her death elementals back to the battlefield to assist in her regeneration.

Neprhal landed on her shoulders while she glanced up at the Cyclops and the human. The human was fighting back, punching the Cyclops’ hand while the creature held on for dear life, slamming him into the ground over and over. Teyva turned her focus back on the summoning, “Hurry up!” She growled, “Why is this taking so long?”

As if to answer her question, a shape began to form out of gathering particles of mana, motes of light that coalesced at first into a vaguely humanoid shape similar to the death elementals. That was where the similarities ended, though, the creature was at least three times taller than the elementals, perhaps just a bit shorter than the Lydan itself! Where there was once light, skin and flesh began to take shape. Soon a body reminiscent of a man stood towering over the battlefield, armor forming over his pale skin in large dark plates. He had the rough underbite of an orc, with faint tusk-like teeth poking out above his upper lip. His face was decorated with black paint that struck a contrast with his pale skin, making him look like he was from a certain band back home. His eyes were milky white but he seemed to take in everything around him in an instant. Unlike all the other creatures she had created before it, it remained stoically silent as it loomed over the battlefield.

What was in his hand, though, was what gave Teyva pause. All of her summons came into this world unarmed, except the Giant. He held in his enormous hands an executioner’s axe of monumental proportions. The roar of the battlefield fell silent in the wake of the creature’s arrival. Not a soul moved or even breathed. Teyva ordered the Cyclops to let the human go. He hurled him to Teyva’s feet. The man scrambled, covered in mud and snow, and looked up. He stepped back a few paces, a few paces more, and fell to his knees. He looked at Teyva while she pulled herself together enough to approach him, stopping within striking distance.

“I was supposed to be a King,” He breathed, his face pale.

Teyva’s eye twitched and she drew up Zelfben, pointing at his face.

"Get up."

"I was supposed to be a King," he babbled.

"Fight me!" Teyva roared, her eyes wild with fury. "Get on your feet, Human Ascendant! Fight! Struggle! Make my trip here worth it! Make all of this worth it for me! Put up some kind of fight you weakling!" Tears boiled in her eyes, the cold on her skin causing them to freeze and crack. The human just babbled, his eyes not even fixed on her, but on the titanic shape that loomed behind her and waited for her to give her first order. She let her arms fall to her side and tilted her head, "Damn you," She muttered hoarsely, "Damn you."

She lifted the Hero's Sword and brought it back down, delivering one swift strike across the throat. It cut through the man's metallic skin like butter, blood spraying across her feet and dress. The human ascendant, whose name she never cared to learn, died then and there. Without a moment of hesitation she kicked the falling corpse in the knee, calling up a loot prompt.

She selected yes and flicked the blade clean, ignoring the loot, it wasn’t important right now. Instead, she took a few heartbeats to appreciate the bastard crumbling into a pile of dust at her feet. She gestured for the Giant to begin moving towards the battlefield. “<Amplify Voice>.” She whispered and cleared her throat.

“Humans of Katal! Your ascendants are dead! Throw down your weapons this instant and you will be shown mercy far greater than that you would have shown the innocent people of this city! Far more than you deserve! If you continue fighting…” She paused. “I will feed you to the rilks.”

She didn’t wait for a response, there wasn’t time. She cast [Glasswalker] and raced for the Pinnacle.