Lilith's Blessing 18

18.

“You show yourself now? You let your son die. But you saved that?” Akor pointed his white sword at Memet. Xia’s eyes widened, her mana sufficient for her to perceive Memet’s true form. She glared like she saw right through him. Long, dark dread hung from his cheeks, down to his stomach. Dark black skin, his greying beard covered most of his face. But his cold eyes, visible, stared back at the couple.

Before, like most people, Xia lacked the mana capacity to comprehend the dense nature of his mana. He used his mana to his advantage, distorting the world around him. Preventing unwanted eyes gazing upon a human god. His mana absorbed the surrounding light, making it look like a hole in the world wherever he stood.

Empress Nefer slipped behind Olivia, whisked her away to safety behind Memet.

Thousands of questions came to mind as her eyes drifted to Trevor. The threat they wanted to prevent. Nefer felt exasperated with Olivia. Such a simple task. Destroy the body. She looked down at the shivering Olivia, checked her wounds, but eyed Alexia.

The little girl she raised was no longer. The woman before her stood defiant and confident. Far from the shy little girl they banished to Simone City. They thought Olivia would toughen her up. Nefer looked Xia up and down. Xia’s golden aura strained Nefer’s eyes, trying to perceive Xia’s newfound strength.

“Why? Alexia. I raised you. Why take his side?”

Xia turned her gaze toward Nefer. “Raised me? You forced me to go to Simone City. You know what Olivia did there. But this goes back 22,000 years, Nefer. He destroyed our home.” Nefer’s eyes lowered. What was she talking about? As far as she knew, Memet wanted to protect humanity from the Tall Reds. Thus why they need Olivia to live. Her research and development of clones would have tipped the scales.

Nefer blinked. Xia vanished. Akor slammed his foot into the ground, creating a debris cloud behind him as he charged at Memet. Xia appeared on the left, pulling back on her bow, sending a volley of arrows. Nefer lifted a mana barrier, protected Memet’s flank, deflecting the arrows as Akor raised his sword. Memet prepared himself, raising metal spikes from the ground, blocked Akor. Sparks flew as their powers clashed. Chunks of metal scattered in every direction, forcing Nefer to surround herself and Olivia with a full shield. She struggled to sustain it as a frustrated Akor, chopped at Memet’s defenses. Dodged Memet’s spikes.

Akor backed off, appearing next to Xia. Olivia blinked. It all happened so fast. Her eyes could not keep up with any of it. Where does Alexia get this power from? That shy bitch is now more powerful than me? Olivia needed to get back to Simone. Gather every remaining clone, controllable or not, and set them loose.

“Get me to Simone. I will unleash everything.”

Nefer sighed. “It's gone.”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “What? But my research? Mother?” Nefer shook her head.

Arrows charged with mana exploded around them, creating a dust cloud. Empress Nefer did her best covering them as the battle raged on. Akor forced Memet back, hitting him with an intense attack pattern. But Akor could not bypass Memet’s defense. He backed up, giving a slight nod to Xia.

Memet muttered as he raised his arms parallel to the ground; black lightning struck it as the ground rose and bubbled. Hands appear, pulling twenty tattered bodies to the surface. Their eyes, hollow, bodies pale from absent of blood, lifeless, cracked groaned as they charged forth.

Even with their destroyed bodies, the entities moved with speed. Akor shook his head, stepped forward and, like a flash, shattered everything into pieces.

Memet, warning it was not over, raised his makeshift army again, forming as many tortured bodies together as he could. He raised the total. Akor palmed himself. “Really? Again? Did you know she’s stronger than me?”

Akor stepped aside. Xia raised her bow, drawing it back, charged it with energy. Its light swirled around like water flowing into a point. “Kwenda.” (go) The hypersonic arrow pierced the air, whistling as it scorched through the puppets until it reached Memet. He manifested a barrier.

“Ngao ya mwanga.” (shield of light) Xia’s arrow impacted Memet’s shield, shattering it into pieces in a powerful blast. Empress Nefer just raised her shield in time to protect herself and Olivia from the fallout.

Memet felt the attack, but remained unfazed. He raised his arms again, this time targeting specific people. Their ruined bodies surfaced. Before they move Akor vanquished them.

“I would say I’m disappointed. But I’m not. Their souls are far away from here. Not sure why you thought bringing John, Meredith, and Kira’s bodies here would change anything.”

Memet rebuilt their bodies, adding more to their ranks. They swarmed the area, while giants stood in a circle, roared. Their screams, meant to antagonize, worked. Akor charged at them, while others surrounded Xia.

Xia fell silent, letting the creeping dead get close before she danced through them with her sword. Each movement was like a ballet as she flowed through the hostile crowd with grace.

Akor appeared high above the screaming giants. Their horrifying wails, needing to be silenced, used gravity as his weapon. Broke up their formation, slicing them down before they could regain their footing. Memet smiled, readied a circle under Akor’s feet. It's a gravitational field, locked Akor in place. “Mwanga wa uharibifu. Kufa.” (light of destruction. die)

Hellfire engulfed the circle, vaporizing everything in its radius. Memet, satisfied, looked at Xia. She shrugged, unconcerned. Laughed. “You think my negus is dead?”

Akor sliced at Memet with his sword, taking a chunk from his torso. Memet fell back, grasping his waist, trying to stop the bleeding. He looked at the wound, wondering what Akor did. Memet laughed.

“Nachukia kupigana.” (I hate fighting)

“Is that why you created the clones?”

Memet nodded as the empress healed his wound. “Why are you letting her heal me?”

“I am sorry.”

Memet’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Is that what you wanted to hear? An apology from the son?”

Akor stabbed his white sword into the ground.

“Muu wanted peace. You nuked them. Akaana wanted peace. You nuked us. My father killed yours. It ain’t got shit to do with me. Or Xia. We forgot about you. We just wanted to live our lives. Why? Memet, why do you hate us so much? Do you even know?”

Memet paused. He attempted to speak, but nothing came out. The reason escaped him. All he knew. “Kill any disciple of Lilith.” The heathen goddess that defied Etema.

Memet rose to his feet as Akor picked up his blade. Xia fired a volley of arrows; Nefer blocked with her mana. Memet reanimated as many as he could. Like a puppet master playing a war game, he surrounded the couple, keeping a small group as shields.

“Olivia must die.” Akor pointed his weapon at her.

Memet shook his head. He pointed at Xia. “She helped.”

“She didn’t kill Kira. Olivia did.”

“That’s your reason?”

Akor sighed. “Do I need a better one?”

Nefer held Olivia close, refusing to let her go. “No.”

Xia’s eyes moved from Memet to Nefer. Her intense gaze made Nefer think back to when Alexia was a child. She made that face sometimes; it scared other children away. Now, as an adult, it manifested as death. Akor stepped toward them. “What would you do if I killed someone you loved? Seek revenge or get a new wife?”

Memet’s eyes twitched. “How can you say that?” He pointed toward Xia.

‘Xia is my original wife. She’s been married to others before. As have I. How long have you been with Nefer there? A few hundred years? Try being married to the same woman for 10,000.”

Xia smacked Akor on the back of the head. Thankful, his last mother shaped his head for the occasion. “It's been 22,817.”

Akor’s eyes shifted to Xia. His face scrunched in confusion. “That long?” Xia rolled her eyes. She wanted to hit him again, but Memet readied his attack.

Akor and Xia readied themselves as Nefer stood by her husband's side, drawing mana from the atmosphere. Her mana mixed with Memet’s swirled, striking the ground with purple lightning. Akor moved first as Xia drew her bow. She doubled the volley.

The empress vaporized as many arrows as she could, as Memet reanimated his army of dead; as long as their bodies exist, he could make use of them. But he needed the empress to replenish his mana.

He created an amalgamation of clone bodies. Their giant bodies riddled with concrete and rebar roared, attempting to flesh Akor from the shadows. Black Mist flew into the air as Akor destroyed Memet’s puppets. “Mwanga wa uharibifu.”

The area lit up into flames. Everything within its reach burned even his creations. Olivia watched the destruction. From her view, it looked like a black hole summoned dead warriors and the fight before her filled her with awe. She tried to stand, but she felt her legs give out from underneath her. When she looked down, she saw her feet laying meters away from her. Her legs felt numb. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, only to spew out the decapitated wounds. She screamed in agony as Nefer tried to hold off Xia’s relentless attacks.

Akor flashed before her, grasping her by the neck, lifting her from the ground. Memet tried to stop him, but Akor slammed Olivia’s face into the closest hard surface. With all his might and speed he slammed her into the spire’s base, cracking her skull. Akor left her body stuck in place, glared at Memet. “I told you she had to die. Are you gonna help us with the Reds or not? You know, the squatters in Amenti.”

Memet looked at Akor, surprised. Eballa formed an agreement with them after expelling the dragon folk from Amenti. The two millennia long treatise ended when the last comet hit. All this time, he fought them alone. It's why he wanted the clones. It's why he built the super carriers to hover over the battlefield.

They almost took over the planet. But Memet fought back. Simone, Nefer, Andrea, and Merissa all fought by his side, protecting humanity from becoming cattle again. Memet looked back at Nefer. She looked exhausted, containing Xia’s attacks. But Xia looked calm, ready, her eyes locked on Nefer.

“Akaana killed my father.”

“Nigga!! SO what?! The fuck that got to do with me?”

Memet raised the bodies of the dead again. His ultimate plan for ending the grey threat once and for all. Forced now to use it against an eternal enemy. The warrior's deformed bodies formed a semicircle around him and Nefer. Four figures stood at the forefront.

Their bodies ravaged by battle, but Akor recognized them. “Really? again?”

Akor moved with a flash, severing every attached ligament and incapacitating the bodies. Their movements ceased and the former bodies of his loved ones in Sioux Falls fell apart as if they were Lincoln logs and a child kicked them across the room.

Memet only used them as a distraction to gather mana. He built up a formation of dense cubes with gravitational properties. The ground broke apart as they hovered, picking the debris; crushing it into a fine powder before being consumed. Memet smiled at his ultimate creation. He turned to look for Akor and Xia. They vanished.

Across the battlefield, Akor and Xia noticed the gravity, opting to stay away. Xia looked at Akor, he moved at her orders, disappearing into the shadows.

Xia raised her bow, gathering mana from the atmosphere. Memet locked onto the mana gathering, launching two cubes towards it. They sped across the landscape, dragging fragments of buildings and anything it came across behind them. She released her arrows. They screamed through the air, aimed at the cubes of destruction headed her way.

The cubes absorbed the volley, ignoring any attempt to knock them off course. Xia moved, vanishing as the cubes reached her location. Memet thought the cubes ingested the volley, but his contingent of grotesque warriors lit up into flames.

Memet turned to look at Nefer, her eyes lit up in the light of the flames. She looked just as surprised. She raised a shield to protect them, but it failed.

A dark shadow formed over the battlefield as Akor appeared in the spot Nefer occupied. Memet’s body washed in warm liquid as he looked back. In Nefer’s place, Akor stood in with his sword raised. It glowed blue as Akor swung downward, slicing Memet in half from head to torso. The two halves separated into a splatter of blood.

Akor looked up as Xia appeared next to him. They interlocked their hands together as a massive ship descended from the heavens.

“Mom’s back.”