[KoJ] Chapter 93: Solvei

Smoke and ash rise in the wake of my destruction. Where there had once been an immense hive, now lay rubble as far as I can see. In some areas where buildings had only crumbled, avoiding the direct consequences of my wrath, a few sapients scuttled like rodents.

They do everything they can to avoid my gaze as I coil over the obliterated remnants of a palace. Some try to dig through the fallen rock in search of survivors. Others flee. But many more hide where they think I can’t see them. All have one thing in common: terror. The stink of fear permeates through the rising clouds of smoke and smothers my tongue with each flick.

Mere minutes ago, I would have found that enticing. It’s the least they deserve for inflicting such agony upon me. But my anger has shifted. I feel so unbalanced with how twisted and wrung my mind has become. The pain of betrayal is far more damaging than any strike at my body, no matter how deeply wounding.

Now, all my fury is directed towards Ceph.

I want to fly back to the pact nations and rip her apart, but I also never wish to see her again. Ceph made my time on the surface enjoyable, and yet she only saw it as a means. They never saw me as a curiosity, as I did them. They only saw me as a tool.

As much as I’ve come to learn how sapients rely on tools to do almost everything in their lives, never did I expect to become one.

This city I’ve destroyed didn’t reach the grand heights of Meja’s capital, but its still considerably tall nests extended many times further. The immense feat of construction and artistry is no longer in existence because of my actions. My rage has not smouldered enough that I regret destroying it all, but I do find it disappointing that I’ll never be able to explore the opulent marble palace and its diverse array of surrounding nests.

Such a loss is shameful, but it is not something I can allow to linger in my thoughts. I need to hunt down Ceph. She must be punished before my seething hatred chills beyond where I can bare to face her.

I shift through the air with my full size on display. Henosis has had to deal with me, now it’s the pact nations turn, but unlike before, I’m in no rush. Thousands scatter beneath me. I pay them no mind. As with all small critters, they scamper even though I have no intent on going anywhere near them. Though, considering the damage I’ve done, these people have a legitimate reason to think I’m a threat.

After a short while of slithering through the air with nothing to stop me, something catches my eye. From the corner of my vision, a small, shifting figure peals across the sky towards me, leaving a long trail of fire erupting from its back. No, the figure itself is fire.

The small falcon beats is wings and comes to a halt before me. In a fraction of a second, the form of a bird twists until it takes on the shape of something similar to an albanic. Her eyes glare up at me with nervousness and resolution, but not fear.

Is this another warrior caste to get in my way? A hiss rolls out from my throat. Elementals are always annoying to deal with, and I can only imagine a sapient one will be equally so.

Not in the mood to waste my time with such a creature, a hole opens up before me and I slither past.

The fire elemental turns in surprise, but follows quickly. “Wait!”

I pick up the pace, but her form breaks down and fire slides over my scales and joins me through the distortion. Immediately, she retakes her form. This isn’t just any elemental; her binding to fire is further progressed than most even in the deepest depths of the warped tunnels.

She stops before me again, this time massively increasing the quantity of flames around her. It is clear she is trying to match my size, but while her flames are hot, they cannot cook my scales. Not as they are.

“What do you know about Armageddon?”

Her words are surprisingly nothing to do with the disaster I’ve unleashed upon this land. She constantly sends glances down on the ruined city, and if there’s anything I’ve learnt of facial expressions, she isn’t pleased with what I’ve done, but she doesn’t condemn me for it. Instead, she asks about Armageddon. What is that?

“Armageddon? I do not know.” I don’t bother to suppress my presence. “Now get out of my way.”

For a moment, she seems surprised. As if, despite being the one to ask the question, she didn’t expect a response. Quickly, she gathers herself and gets in my way again. “No. You have to know something about the end of the world. How to stop it. You’re a Titan.”

“I am no Titan!” Venom poisons my hiss.

The elemental hesitates at my declaration, and I take the moment to actually consider her words. I don’t know it as Armageddon, but I know it all the same. I had assumed the surface would be safe, but considering the damage the semi-collapsed Titan Alps had done, there was likely nothing stopping this land becoming like the Other Side when warped tunnels beneath them all ceased to be.

“There is no stopping the Fracture. When the Beyond enters this realm, all Titan’s will meet their end, as they deserve.”

“The Beyond?” An expression of confusion crosses the face at the core of the swarming flames.

“It is a being beyond us. Rules of our world do not apply to it, and when it finally breaches the worn barrier between realms, it will return to me what matters most.”

A look of dawning horror crosses the elemental’s face, and it quickly disperses through the flames, leaving me without a way to gauge her reactions. Well, none besides her voice.

“You are conspiring with an Anatla.” The inferno is incredulous. “Why? Why could anything that lives in this world want it destroyed?”

“It only wishes for the deaths of the Titans. They are what has destroyed this world.”

Having the prospect brought up does make me consider the possibilities. What if the Beyond will only betray me as Ceph has? The being taught me so much of what I knew before reaching the surface, and has power incomparable to my own, so unlike Ceph, it should have no reason to turn on its word as Ceph did. But… what if?

If the Beyond is truly intending to destroy the world, could I accept that just for Scia being returned to me?

After today, the answer is a resounding yes.

And what of the beyond’s word to revive Scia? How do I know it won’t renege that promise? After all it has taught, I would like to believe it only has the best of intent, but should it share any of the self-serving tendencies of other sapients, then can I really trust it? No. I can’t. Yet it’s offer is simply too attracting to miss the chance.

Besides, the Titans are a scourge upon the land. The Other Side is proof enough of that. I still struggle to conceptualise any future where I’ll be able to stand against any of them, but a world without them can only be beneficial to all life.

“The Titans…” the girl’s hollow voice rings through the flames. “They are mighty beings that often destroy the lives of those beneath them without notice — I can never forgive Cipactlteteo — but I have seen myself how they defend our world from the aggressive advances of the Anatla. They do not intend to destroy us.”

“Then you have not seen beyond your nest.”

The flames ignite at that. They burst outward, reaching for the edges of my sight with an impressive ferocity. A colossal firestorm. Its slow churn just waiting for a trigger to send it into a raging nightmare.

“And how are you any different?” Her voice no longer seems an audible echo. Rather, the roar of the flames themselves formed the words and intent in much the same way my presence laden hiss gets the message across. Her pressure is young and weak, unmatching the power she wields, as if it hasn’t yet the time to manifest.

“You refuse being labelled a Titan, but from my view, you are one and the same. Large enough to engulf a town. Enough power that none can stand in your way. The only difference I can see is that you have slaughtered with intent. Why?” I almost pause at the bubbling fury rising through her words. A mirror of my own state only moments ago. “What is your intent?”

“I was attacked,” I hiss. Annoyance leaks into my tone, wondering why I’ve wasted my time on an elemental of all things. “They deserved to be punished for those horrific weapons… and now I must return the favour to those who led me into those bombs. I will not stand betrayal.”

“The pact nations,” she murmurs, seeing the direction I cast my gaze. “I’m sorry someone tried such a thing, but I can’t let you return across the border. Leave.”

Why would I let some elemental tell me what I can or can’t do? She may be strong for a sapient, but her flames are barely as hot as the densest magma. I move through her. Towards Ceph and her beloved nations.

The slow moving blaze suddenly explodes into a fiery tempest. Where before she had given me some space, I’m immediately consumed by the immense inferno. Tongues of fire flick all over my scales, their heat first melting, then incinerating any lingering speck of dust. They reach where they are not welcome. Diving in through my nostrils and down my throat any time I open my jaw.

Unwilling to sit through this assault, I crash my tail against myself with enough force to rip all flames off my tail and with the help of my distortions, slither through the air faster than any other creature on the surface should be able to keep up with. And yet, she does. Consuming so much space with her flames, it doesn’t matter how far I push my holes, she’s already there.

Elementals.

They are always so difficult to deal with. I strike out with a swing of the tail and a bite with my fangs, yet it does nothing besides momentarily extinguish a section of fire that burns back to life in only a second. Even the ones with less binding than this were always an annoyance, and this one has greater connection to the element than any I’ve seen.

I give off a deep hiss, but her reaction is minimal. I can feel the instinctual terror that gives the flames a deep, momentary tremble, but she is strong enough to push against it. 

As I consider how exactly I’m going to remove this creature from existence, I feel a small section of flames near my eyes burning far hotter than the rest. The ripple of light coming off them is surprisingly minimal, compared to the rest of her fire, and I can feel it warming my scales, even if minimally.

A claw on a stick — a spear — barrels through the flames. From the tip of the blade, I can feel flames many times hotter than any other flowing out like a geyser. These flames are clearly less controlled, but inside the inferno completely under the elemental’s control, all she has to do is guide the flames around it to inflict her will.

But, even if these flames will have some effect on my scales, her use of a weapon gives me something to target. I can work with something physical.

With a snap of the head, I dart through a bend and catch the pole in the back of my jaw. It scrapes along my smaller teeth, before sliding though the gap. For the first time since I’ve been able to use bends at my full size, my massive size is an actual detriment. If I’d been just a little smaller, that metal stick would have snapped.

I rush towards the pact nations. The fiery elemental is unable to significantly burn my scales, yet none of my own attacks have any way to hurt her. She no longer brings that spear near, so I cannot try to damage it.

Knowing this will be an endless battle if I don’t do something, I take a drastic measure. My body shrinks. While this does make my scales somewhat more susceptible to her flames, it also allows me to pass the rends and rifts to the Other Side. If I cannot tear her off with my own power, I will swim through the abrasive flowing gravel until she gives up, or dies.

“What are you doing?” she asks, panicked when the first distortion crashes behind us, severing her from the rest of her inferno.

Is separating her from her mass of flames enough to put her down? Then I better keep going.

Dozens of rifts later, I finally crash through the rend to the Other Side. I have to force the distortion wider, as it is a balance of keeping myself large enough to avoid my wounds becoming a path for the elemental’s attacks, and remaining small enough to slither through bends, but I succeed.

I enclose the rend back to the warped tunnels in a bend that prevents the elemental from leaving without me unclasping it, and dive into the gravel. Well, I intend to, but her inferno suddenly loses its intensity. It unravels around me, and takes the solid form she spoke to me with.

“What… what is this place?” She has completely forgotten about the fight. Unable to take her eyes from something far in the distance of the Other Side.

While she’s distracted, I nearly take the opportunity to leave her here. But I don’t miss the small layer of low-burning flame she’s left over my scales, likely accounting for my thought.

“This, is the Other Side. This is why the Titans need to die.”

As if on queue, I hear the enraged roars of two Titans brawling far in the distance. Their immense force sending rolling waves of gravel crashing around us. The elemental’s eyes are wide and staring. She can see them, then.

“I felt it momentarily,” she says. “My flames were infinitely beneath us, before the connection broke. This is the other side of the world. This is what is beyond the oceans.”

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Well, this was a long time coming, huh?

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