An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) (31 page)

“Why Cheza… WHY!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?” I shout at her
as she flinches away.

“I’m so sorry, Cole… I thought she was about to kil
l you…” Cheza quietly explains.

(Master, in addition to altering Adelaide’s memories, it seems Loki also altered her body’s chemistry. He purposefully made it so your blood couldn’t interact in Adelaide’s body… he planned for this outcome)

“I really was in love with this plan because there was no way that I could lose!” Loki exclaims from the reflection of a nearby puddle.

“However, when I saw the opportunity to make it better by adding
Chezarei, I just had to take it. Having your precious daughter killed by the woman you love!? That scenario was just too perfect to pass up! So, I disabled her bindings and released her, knowing that she couldn’t contact you and would think that you were about to be killed. I promised you untold levels of anguish, Cole; I deliver on my promises.” Loki says and fades away as Addie’s body does likewise.

“
LOKI!” I scream and something breaks inside me.

I hear myself scre
aming in pain as the Void floods my body. The amount of pain as every bone in my body cracks is unbearable. The mind-numbing quality of it forces my personality, my emotions, my memories, the very things that make me a person, to all slip away from me.

But one thing sticks in my mind.

One thing keeps me from completely losing it.

Loki is going to die for this.

The pain in my body stops and I slowly stand up. My entire body feels numb as I notice the bladed spikes that are swept up out of my joints and the way that my body seems to absorb the moonlight. Wisps of black smoke float upward as a murky black hole opens up below me and I slowly sink in.

“COLE!” a woman
with silver hair screams to my right and reaches out to me as everything fades away.

Chapter 30: Celestial Crossroads

“Cole!” a woman’s voice calls out as I open my eyes.
I find that I’m in a massive black sphere, standing on a clear plane in the center of the sphere. The sphere appears to be made of separate panes that are possibly hexagonal, but it’s difficult to tell from this distance.

“There’s no use in trying,
Chezarei; the Cole you love is gone.” A man’s voice says behind me.

I turn around and
the sight of the man fills me with rage. I want to hurt him. I want to render the flesh from his body. I want to break his bones. I want him to scream out in agony as I destroy him.

“LOKI!” I roar and charge at him.

Loki turns to smoke and fades through me before reforming about fifteen feet away.

“Welcome to the Celestial Crossroads! From this space that I’ve c
reated, I can look into any plane I see fit through any reflective surface! This place makes intelligence gathering a breeze. It took me hundreds of years, but I finally regained enough power to build a section of the Void while having it connected to the other planes.” Loki says while ignoring me so I charge again.

“Now, now, I’m trying to have a conversation!” Loki exclaims as I pass through the black smoke and he reforms behind me
.

“There’s no need to rush, or even fight at this point since I’ve already won.
By now, you’re nothing more than an advanced shade. I’m actually surprised that enough of your mind remained intact to recognize me; you must really hate me!” Loki says.

“Cole?” the silver-haired woman asks beside me. I turn towards her and cock my head to the side.

“See? He doesn’t even recognize you!” Loki exclaims and several tears fall down the woman’s face. The woman’s face suddenly contorts with anger as she screams at Loki. She slams her fist into the ground and looks surprised when nothing happens.

“Sorry, my dear granddaughter, but your powers won’t work here.” Loki explains as I charge at him again.

Loki raises his left hand and a hexagonal pane rises out of the ground in front of me as I smash into it. Hexagonal panes pop up around me and box me in.

“I have big plans for you, Cole.
You see, I learned a few things when I created the shades and infused Adelaide with the Void.” Loki starts.

Something about what Loki said
makes me furious. I roar and throw both of my claws in front of me in an X. The hexagonal pane in front of me is shredded by my claws, melting the pane in tracks where my claws connect before the pane shatters and I rush forward.

“Just as I thought; you’ll be perfect! But first, I’m going to have to beat some of this energy out of you.” Loki says as I approach.

I slash at him with my right claw only to have him turn to smoke and reform below me before he delivers a hard uppercut to my chin. The punch sends me flying back in an arc before Loki reforms beside me. He brings his leg up into my back, changing my momentum up into the air. He appears above me and drops a kick into my chest before disappearing, sending me hurtling back towards the ground. I engage my flight before I hit the ground and stop about five feet above it. Loki suddenly lands on my chest, slamming me that extra five feet into the ground.

“
You can’t defeat me, Cole. I’ve had centuries to perfect my control over this power to get my revenge on that bitch; you’re simply outclassed.” Loki tells me with a disinclined tone.

I pick myself up off
of the ground and sprint at him. I expect him to turn to smoke again, but this time my left claw connects with his side, shredding it as he grabs my right arm, puts his foot into my chest, rolls backwards, and sends me flying. Hexagonal panes pop up in my flight path and shatter when I come into contact with them, changing color and projecting a point value above them as I do so. My momentum finally stops upon contact with a particularly large pane as the pain of crashing through all those panes hits me. Before I have time to recover, Loki appears in front of me and lifts me up by my throat as I notice that his side has already healed. Loki gives me a broad smile before he slams me into the ground repeatedly, my vision blurring with every impact.

“COLE!” the silver-haired woman shouts and Loki leaves me on the ground.

Loki straightens up, raises his right leg into the air, and brings it down on my chest, cracking the ground around me as I sink in several inches.

“I think it’s about time to finish this.” Loki says and lifts
me up by my throat once again.

Hexagonal panes shoot
out of the ground and over my body, my feet spearing through them. Two dozen panes later and I can’t move any part of my body. I try to summon the Void tendrils to break the panes, but to no avail.

“It all started when I discovered what Cole really was: a vessel for that bitch to use to drag me back. When I learned that, I realized that
she had inadvertently given me the ability to finally stop her. So, I formulated a plan to push him into the Void, restricting her access to him and making it a simple task for me to take over. Now that Cole has finally slipped entirely into the Void, I can begin the last phase of my plan.” Loki explains with a broad smile before he turns to smoke.

“This is goodbye, Cole.” The smoke says as it hits me.

“COLE!” the silver-haired woman screams as the black smoke is absorbed into my body.

I feel my mind take a backseat as cont
rol to my body is relinquished. The hexagonal panes shatter around me and I fall to the ground on my knees.

“Cole?” Cheza cautiously asks, and everything comes flooding back to me
: my personality, my memories, my emotions.

“Well, isn’t this unexpected? It seems that you’re not gone after all… I do apologize, but you still being here is only going to make things much more painful for you!” Loki’s voice echoes through my mind. “After all, now you have to sit through a first person view as I kill
Chezarei and all of your friends!”

“Loki! You’ve gone too far! You’ve gone too far for petty revenge or jealousy!” I shout.

“Revenge? Jealousy? You think I’m doing all this for something so stupid? That bitch must be stopped! This is worth far more than you or I! I have spent centuries working to get my power back so I can end her! And now that I have your power, I finally can.” Loki informs me.

“Then why harm Cheza or my friends!?” I demand.

“That? I guess that is simply for fun.” Loki replies.

“Cole?” Cheza asks and takes a step towards me.

“I guess it’s show time.” Loki says with a smug tone.

“Cheza?” my voice asks
.

“Cole! You’re back!” Cheza exclaims as her face lights up.

“Yeah, I am! I don’t know how, but it seems that Loki’s plan failed.” My voice replies.

“I’m so happy that you’re okay, even if you look a little different.” Cheza says with tears in her eyes as she steps forward and embraces my body.

“Now, fair warning, this is probably going to sting a bit!” Loki exclaims as he raises my right claw up behind Cheza’s back.

“No. You’ve already taken too much from me, Loki. You’ve already taken too many people that I care about! You are not taking Cheza too!”

“You can no longer do anything to sto—what!? How is this possible!?” Loki screams as I retake control of my body.

“I love you, Cheza; and I’ll always be with you.” I whisper.

“Cole?” Cheza asks with concern as she pulls back to look at me. I feel my grasp slipping as I snap my fingers and port Cheza away.

“This is only going to slightly delay me, Cole; you can’t keep this up forever and I will regain control!” Loki exclaims.

“I’m aware of that… that’s why this is happening.” I reply and hold my arms out at my sides as thousands of tendrils erupt from my body.

“What are you doing!?” Loki demands as the tendrils spear through the hexagonal panes that make up the Crossroads and break them.

“I’m pulling a play out of your book. I’m returning this place to the Void.” I reply as the miasma floods in and surrounds my body.

“You fool!” Loki screams.

My feet turn to smoke and are blown away, the force slowly traveling upward. I feel the urge to see Cheza and a hexagonal pane pops up in front of me: Cheza is crying on the ground near the burnt out warehouse with Natasha standing beside her as The Agency’s people are visible in the background, presumably because of the Void dome. The disintegration encompasses up to my elbows.

“Airi, if you can hear me, watch after Cheza and our child.” I say aloud before the disintegration robs me of the ability.

Well, I did it. I’m dragging Loki back to the Void, even if I’m taking myself in the process. This isn’t the way I imagined that things would end, but at least Cheza is safe and the world wasn’t destroyed. I can at least take solace in that.

The disintegration reaches my head and everything fades away.

…

Chapter 31: Epilogue

I regain a sense of self to find
that I’m floating through the darkness with no real direction; my physical form relegated to a shadow-like shell. One by one, small dots appear in the darkness around me. Multicolored clouds of light brighten the darkness as I float past, reminding me of pictures of the cosmos.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Airi asks
from my right.

“Yeah, it is…” I reply as I turn my attention
towards her. All I can see is the outline of a woman’s figure, shadow-like in nature.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“You succeeded, Cole; you kept Loki from destroying the world.” Airi replies.

“You don’t sound too happy about that.” I comment.

“The reason is because I’m not happy about this… Loki was destroyed.” Airi informs me.

“And that’s a bad thing?” I ask.

“There have to be two Void beings, Cole… there must always be two…” Airi quietly replies and I catch her drift.

“And with Loki gone, I’m number two… how did this happen?” I respond.

“Well, it starts with the day of your birth. Shiva thinks that I never used you as a vessel, but I have been all along.” Airi informs me.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I split myself and inhabited your body with that half. The half that I sent into your body is what allowed you to channel the Void and allowed us to be connected. When you were transported here with Loki, that half engulfed Loki and made you into a complete Void being.” Airi explains.

“Wait, so I’m basically you?” I inquire.

“Technically, yes.” Airi replies.

“And you created all of the old gods, which includes Shiva?” I ask.

“Also yes.” Airi responds.

“Then doesn’t that make me my own grandfather
, like Fry in that episode of
Futurama
?” I conclude.

“Hmm… I suppose that it does, in a way.” Airi replies
and several moments, or days, of silence pass.

“So
I can’t be with Cheza now, can I?” I inquire in a downtrodden fashion.

“No… but with some time, you will be able to see her and possibly even contact her. At the very least, I can relay messages to her and your son, once he’s born!” Airi exclaims.

Something seems off about this whole thing and Airi seems rather happy at the moment…

“
You meant for this to happen, didn’t you? You knew that Loki needed me for his plan and you knew that Loki didn’t know that you had already used me as a vessel… you knew that I would win and destroy Loki, forcing me to stay here, didn’t you?” I ask.

“What? That’s ridiculous…
but accurate… I can’t deny that I want you to stay with me, Cole…” Airi says.

“I can’t stay here, Airi… I need to get back to Cheza and I want to be there to raise my son.
We both know that me needing to be here is a lie because you’ve been the only Void being since you sent Loki to earth.” I reply.

“Fine! If you want to abandon me too, then there’s the door!” Airi exclaims as she turns away and a rip in space appears to my left. I start floating towards it before I turn towards Airi.

“Are you going to be alright?” I softly inquire.

“What do you care?” Airi asks.

“Come on, don’t be like that. We’ve been through so much, Airi; I care about you… but you know that I can’t stay here.” I reply.

“*Sigh*… I know, Cole. And I’ll be okay… I’ve got several other projects to keep me entertained.” Airi replies.

“Well, feel free to drop in and say hello sometime.” I tell her.

“Of course. Come here.” Airi says and beckons to me with her arms outstretched.

I approach Airi and embrace her since this is the only time I’ll ever see her in person.

“Goodbye, for now.” I tell her.

“Goodbye, Cole… and I’m sorry.” Airi says before I feel her shadowy arm pierce my chest.

“Airi?” I ask as I feel my presence fading.

“I changed my mind; being selfish is part of my nature after all and I couldn’t let you keep the power to create worlds and alter reality at will!” Airi exclaims.

“Oh… you bitch.”
I gasp out.

“Sorry Cole, but I couldn’t let you end up like the last
one. The mistake I made last time was allowing him to live. It wasn’t long before he realized that he didn’t agree with the way I use entire worlds for my entertainment and tried to stop me.” Airi replies.

“So Loki was right? You’ve just been using me like a puppet?” I
strain to ask.

“Don’t sell yourself short! You weren’t just any puppet; you were the most entertaining puppet thus far! I still find it rather amusing that in his quest to stop me, he gave me the best story to date.” Airi informs me as I realize that I’ve made a huge mistake.

“Don’t worry about Cheza and your son; I’ll watch out for them. Goodbye, Cole.” Airi says.

So while I thought that Loki was the one causing all of my misfortune, Airi was
allowing it to happen for her entertainment, just like he said.

(I tried to warn you, but she wouldn’t allow you to understand. We have one last chance to stop her
)
Loki’s voice echoes in my mind.

“How?”

(By doing to her what she is doing to you now: rejoining the two halves)

With the last of my strength, I reach up and stab my arm into Airi’s shadowy chest.
I feel myself get stronger as Airi’s form becomes less distinguished.

“So this is how you want things to end, Cole? I suppose it is like you to go down fighting.” Airi says as I feel my form fade.

(Since we probably won’t get another chance, I just want to say that I’m sorry for all the terrible things I did to you, but it was necessary to get us to this point)

“You made me watch my daughter die… twice.” I reply.

(Yeah, that was a real dick move…)

“And my sister…” I respond.

(Hey, I admit it; I was being a grade A asshole. You know how the Void can fuck with you; now stretch that over several hundred years and you’ll know what I went through)

“Yeah, I get it.
I have to ask, what was your game plan? It seems like it was all over the place.”

(When she sent me to
your world over a couple hundred years ago, she stripped me of my power so my plan was to get it back so I could take her out. Well, I was able to recover enough power to channel the Void, but I knew it wasn’t going to be enough to stop her. So I started working a few other angles like raising up an army to take her on. The Void started affecting me and I lost sight of my main goal along the way, somehow deciding that destroying your world would help. When I discovered the truth about you, I realized that you were the answer so all I had to do was get you closer to the Void, which was most easily done through emotional turmoil, as I knew from personal experience)

“
Alright, let’s keep Airi from doing this to anyone else.”

Airi’s form
starts to fade as I feel my strength grow before my arm become less distinguished and I feel my power getting sapped from me. Airi and I shift back and forth for several minutes, neither of us able to get an edge on the other.

“Looks like now that it
has come to this, I have no choice but to take you two with me.” Airi informs me as both of us start to fade.

(No… this started with us, and it’s going to end with us. Unlike me, you still have people waiting on you, Cole)

I feel a surge of pain split me from head to toe as I feel myself get pulled backwards. I pass through the rip in space that Airi opened as I see two shadowy figures start to glow. A stream of images rapidly flashes through my mind as I realize that they’re coming from Loki. As I watch the memories, I realize that I guess it’s true what they say; you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. The two figures explode as the rip closes and everything goes white.

****