An End of Gods & Dust: Act VII

"Anger and just rebuke, and judgment given,

That brought into this world a world of woe,

Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery,

Death's harbinger."

- John Milton

Tryfon was dead. Tryfon was dead.

Kokuo couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, as Tryfon’s corpse lay still in the sand; blood spurting from where a head was once attached.

Karra’s arms around Kokuo finally loosened, but even with her embrace gone, Kokuo found he still felt caged.

Caged in this moment - this horror.

Caged in this world that demanded such cruel endings.

The creature cackled and lunged from the dust surrounding them, going for Hallas who had kicked it away from Tryfon. Too late.

Karra raised her spear over her head, smooth and confident as she aimed for the creature and threw it.

The spear flew through the air like an arrow loosed from a bow, and with shocking speed. Before Hallas could raise his arm to meet the creature’s claws, the spear pierced through the monster’s multi-eyed raven head, pinning it brutally to the sand. Black blood oozed out of the wound.

Hallas did not hesitate. He closed the distance, bone claws out, golden blood singing through the air. He sliced into the creature’s neck, taking its head off with surprising ease.

Kokuo let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, stumbling backward. His legs were shaking.

But it was not over.

Another horrifying cackling echoed out from the dusty dark, and Hallas wrenched the embedded spear free and tossed it to Karra who caught it with one hand. Karra’s earlier tears had dried into sand-caked trail marks on her cheeks; war paint for the fight ahead.

Karra grabbed Kokuo’s shoulder and shoved him backward towards the dead tree. “Back to the tree. Stay alert.”

How can you be so calm? How can you keep going? He wanted to scream at her as his own heart ricocheted in his chest.

Another monster manifested from the black wind, trailing dust and sand at the same time that Karra gently pressed her forehead to Kokuo’s, her crackling blue eyes swallowing his field of view.

“Stay, Kokuo. Fight with me.”

A fire ripped through Kokuo then, a fire so consuming it rent his paralyzing fear asunder. There was nothing left but the drive to survive, the desire to fight.

“I’m with you, Karra.” His voice did not tremble.

Karra nodded, turning her attention to Hallas. “These are Vulturkin! Aim for their heads, and don’t fall for their illusions.”

Hallas swung a glare at her, but kept his claws extended as the Vulturkin shambled closer from their right flank.

Kokuo had never heard of such a creature, but his questions for Karra would have to wait. He needed to make it through this first.

The Vulturkin lunged, this time using the chains attached to its wrists as a weapon. They swung wide, coming together with a teeth-clenching clamor only inches from Hallas’ face.

A second Vulturkin approached on their other side, eyeing Karra and Kokuo with beady, dead eyes. Karra brandished her spear and raised it just in time to block an attack from its taloned forearms. With the monster stunned, Kokuo took the chance to lunge forward and plunge his bone blade into its skull.

But where one fell, two more manifested from the dust.

Across from them, Hallas was a raging storm of bone and blood, painting the Vulturkin with his golden blood just as he painted himself with their black blood. He took two more down with frenzied ease, his expression a torrent of rage and sorrow.

Kokuo stayed by Karra’s side, capitalizing on openings she created. Once more he marveled at how she held herself in these chaotic situations. Pragmatic, calculating and unfazed. Her spear was a third arm she wielded with brutal efficiency.

Soon all three of them were splattered in the dark ichor that was Vulturkin blood. Still the creatures came, spawning from the wall of sand and dust circling around them like the eye of a storm.

“We need to retreat!” Hallas shouted, beheading another Vulturkin who had tried to bite down on his leg. “We can’t keep this up forever!”

Karra’s blue eyes swiveled across the sand blasted land before them, noting the dozens of Vulturkin bodies and Tryfon’s corpse. A bead of sweat dripped down from her brow into her eye, and she winced. “Fine! But we can’t lead them back to the cave!”

Hallas nodded his agreement, cutting a path to their side as more Vulturkin fell to his claws. “We stick together, and pick them off as they come, but we make for the old base. We can fortify it if we - what in gods name?”

All eyes zeroed in on a section of the storm ahead of them that suddenly froze and coalesced, as if it had been commanded to turn its frayed organic material into a new form. What manifested out of the dark was not Vulturkin, but something much larger, and much more terrifying.

It stood twice the height of any man, its form a writhing mass of black, glittering dust and smooth, charcoal skin. Despite its clawed hands and feet, it had a much more distinguishable human appearance, but what grew out of the sides of its head identified it as something from the pits of the void itself.

“Is that…a daemon?” Kokuo whispered, horror crawling over his skin. Even the Vulturkin around them had ceased their attack to herald the arrival of the twelve foot, horned humanoid who now prowled towards them.

Daemons were harbingers of the void, said to be the foot soldiers of Chaos herself. They’d only manifested at the very start of the dust phenomena, and Kokuo had managed to avoid running into one, until now.

“Screw this,” Hallas growled. He turned to Karra, his face set in a determined frown. “You and me Karra. We can distract this thing, maybe even take it down. Give Kokuo a chance to run back and warn the others.”

Kokuo’s blood boiled. “What? No! I -”

“I cannot leave him defenseless, Hallas.” Karra said, her expression unreadable.

“He’s not a child, Karra!” Hallas shouted, his eyes swerving between her and the approaching daemon. The creature’s jaws opened, and a sickly grey saliva drooped to the ground, sizzling as it made contact with the sand.

Karra is human too, so if anyone is running, it’s her…but Hallas’ gifts are too essential to our survival to lose, Kokuo thought, looking between the two.

“We all run,” Kokuo snapped, sheathing his sword on his hip and grabbing Karra’s free hand. He didn’t wait for a response as he began pulling her behind him and away from the battlefield.

Hallas growled, his frustration palpable, but fear won out as he began following them and into the storm.

The black wind obscured them from their enemies, providing cover as they set a quick pace through the sand blasted rock and dunes. Using old landmarks, they made headway toward their previous home, keeping an eye on the sand behind them.

But after what felt like mere minutes, their flight was cut short as the Daemon manifested in front of them, forming from the dust like a curtain drawn closed.

“Shit!” Hallas leaped in front of Kokuo and Karra, raising his bone claws in a defensive stance.

Then, the Daemon’s mouth opened, and a familiar voice echoed out from its maw. “Is this…the end?”

All four of them froze, the Daemon and the survivors facing each other down as that haunting voice rang out into the world. The gravelly voice that had once belonged to Tryfon.

“Shall we…dance?” Slowly, the Daemon lifted a scorched, clawed hand, and held it out to them.

Hallas’ expression crumbled, and his brows and mouth twisted into a writing painting of rage. He flicked his wrists, turning his two bone claws to dust, and then he sunk his palms into his chest. From where blood welled, Hallas formed a long, wicked bone scimitar.

His golden blood splashed onto the sand, and he panted heavily, but the fire in his brown eyes was bright.

“Now, you die,” Hallas hissed. He then rushed forward with blinding speed, the scimitar the point to his deadly assault.

Karra gasped, wrenching Kokuo back and behind her so hard that he landed on his back in the sand.

And then day turned to night.

Sound, sight, taste and smell was all snuffed like a candle. The only sensation was the grains of cool sand clumping on Kokuo’s blood-caked hands and sliding against his calves.

He scrambled to his feet, reaching out to where Karra had been standing. His hands grasped at empty air.

“Karra! Hallas!” He couldn’t even hear himself shout.

Then, like a mighty exhale, the darkness was blown away, the blackness replaced with the churning glittering sand of the storm.

So much black sand, so much more than there had been. Kokuo finally spotted Karra, who had fallen to her knees, her hands held at her waist, palms up. The dust swirled around her, dissipating further to reveal the Daemon and Hallas before her.

Both apostle and beast were frozen, their positions stuck where they had been before the blackout. Around them, that otherworldly exhale blew again, and both their forms began to crack.

Kokuo watched silently - as that’s all he could do - as both void-born and god-born began to sunder, flake, and then fade into dark particles on the wind.

Moments later, all that was left was two piles of black dust.

Silence followed their departure, and it took several painful heartbeats until either of them moved.

Karra slowly stood first, dust and sand sliding from her clothes.

Kokuo stumbled forward, reaching for her, but stopped short as she turned to face him.

Her sky blue eyes were gone. What replaced them was the darkness at the end of all things.

_____ . . . _____

Apologies for the long wait! Life continues its relentless pace and it's been taking all my energy just to remain on my own two feet. Thankfully I can always come back to writing when I need a proper escape. c:

There's only 3 more acts to go, and it's very exciting for me to see the end approaching...or is it just the beginning?

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