The Undying God (27 page)

The silhouette among the ruins loped
forward with long, spindly limbs. Arxu stared at the creature with
growing concern. The figure was a head above him, taller than most
men. He could not see every detail of the being, so obscured was it
in the dark.

Nonetheless, he felt a change overcome
him as its presence seeped through the ruins. It sent a bitter
feeling through Arxu that made him sick. Anxiety and anger began to
blur his mind. The creature emerged from the shadows, revealing
itself in full splendor. Its face was twisted in a harsh grimace,
pulling the skin tight over its gaunt cheeks. Adding to its overall
decadence, six metallic rings punctured its ears and two adorned
its nostrils.

Arxu’s eyes were drawn to the curved
horns jutting from its scalp. Perhaps most foreboding of all,
crooked fingers protruded from its hands. A gray membrane stretched
between the digits and elongated into vast wings.

“You
...” the Defiler croaked. It
stalked across the courtyard, looking invasively into Arxu’s eyes.
“What abomination are you?”

Arxu’s hand subconsciously drifted
toward his left breast. His fingers jerked against the scars he
felt there. The beast smiled knowingly at the wound it had
inflicted long ago.

Hrioshango muttered something under his
breath and gestured for a spell. Arxu quickly produced a piece of
tree resin and Hrioshango froze, encased in a matrix of amber.
Nishka gawked at her companion. Arxu stared hard at his murderer,
not letting it out of his sight.

“Nishka, run.”

“No.” Her bold reply caught him off
guard and he spun to face her. The Defiler lashed out with its
claws, splitting a gash across Arxu’s chest. “No!” screamed
Nishka.

“Your dead flesh still bleeds,” his
nemesis said, taking joy in this revelation.

Arxu felt burning in his limbs. To his
horror, his skin began to flake and it floated to the forest floor
like dust. Blackened veins spiderwebbed across his arms and pulsed
on his neck. His eyes glazed over with a sickly film and became
engorged.

The Defiler cackled, the very sound
like coarse fire oozing down its throat. Without warning, a
crossbow bolt slammed into its chest. The Defiler toppled to the
courtyard with an anguished screech. Nishka reached for another
bolt to shoot the beast. Her intervention briefly interrupted the
necrophagic attack on Arxu. The Nightwalker recovered from his
seizure and breathed heavily. Rage compensated for his setback,
forcing his mind away from the pain.

His eyes fixed on Nishka, pleading with
her to run. Without waiting for an answer, he fled into the ruins
like a soul already resigned to death. Another screech gushed from
the Defiler’s jaws. Its wings outstretched like a tattered canvas
and caught the screaming wind.

Nishka immediately pursued Arxu. She
feared he was distancing himself to avoid bringing her harm—or so
she did not witness him die. She still wondered why he had
incapacitated Hrioshango.

Perhaps he wanted his murderer all to
himself.

Darting under bony arches, Arxu felt
the monster’s shadow drape across him. Even as he entered the
marble courtyard, he knew the creature was right before him. The
Defiler feinted high and lashed out toward Arxu’s legs. He nimbly
evaded the attack but he did not execute the dodge as skillfully as
his past endeavors. Arxu grimaced and called on the magick stored
in his quartz ring. A pulse of energy swept through the courtyard,
churning dead leaves. A broken pillar slowly hovered above the
ruins, fighting the chains of gravity. Arxu took an arduous step
forward against the distorted space.

The Defiler almost didn’t see the
flying pillar closing in. It clipped the monster’s wing and bruised
a towering structure. A fracture veined through the obelisk,
widening like a black river. With a groan, the obelisk slouched and
collapsed on an arch.

Arxu raced toward the newly constructed
bridge to draw the creature further away. As he stepped foot on the
obelisk, the Defiler swooped down in front of him. It lunged
forward with a cry and tried to hook its jaws around his
neck.

Nishka came to a stop across the ruins
when she spotted the Nightwalker and Defiler. They twisted back and
forth, exchanging one blow for another.

She frantically raised her crossbow to
line up a shot. Her finger stalled on the trigger, afraid of
hitting Arxu. He recklessly plunged ahead and opened up his
defenses to the creature.

Its nails raked across his arm like a
scythe. Arxu recoiled with shock, slipping over the edge in a fatal
plunge. His hand shot out and caught hold of a precipice by sheer
luck. A marble courtyard loomed below him, a gloomy receptacle
awaiting his corpse. His bones would shatter like glass on the
ice-cold surface. Already the strength was draining from his body.
Nishka watched with dismay as the staff slipped from his
fingers.

He managed to catch it between his feet
with acrobatic grace. Even as he dangled from the ledge, his
murderer approached. Arxu’s fingers worked fast as he extracted a
dagger from his belt. He twisted and slammed it into the Defiler’s
foot, eliciting a cry of pain.

Arxu climbed back onto the beam and
clutched his staff, prepared to meet the creature’s
assault.

The Defiler breathed throatily as black
ichor oozed from its wound. It crept forward, not letting Arxu
escape its piercing gaze, wretched eyes that once tormented
countless victims. The Defiler unfolded its wings, a sinewy
tapestry of flesh and cartilage. The morbid sight caught Arxu off
guard. Before he could respond, the Defiler plunged from the
walkway and swooped through several arches below. The sky was its
sacred domain.

Feeling exposed, Arxu scanned his left
and spotted a fairly adjacent pillar. After the dizzy sensation
passed, he leaped forward and hugged the column in his desperate
embrace. This time, his staff escaped his grasp and he did not
catch it. He felt naked without his weapon as he slid down the
pillar.

The second he landed in the courtyard,
he scampered toward his staff. A screech skewered his brain and he
threw himself to the ground. The Defiler narrowly missed him but it
seized the staff in its dive. Arxu watched his weapon cartwheel
through the air, disappearing into the mist.

He ran halfway across the courtyard,
trying to evade the shadow it cast. Much of the forest had withered
at the mercy of blight. To his surprise, a pond remained virtually
untouched by the decay. He did not know why the sight paralyzed him
in his steps. It looked so familiar, but he couldn’t conjure up a
single memory of the waters.

He swerved away from the sight and
looked with awe upon a distant structure. Its elaborate design
indicated a temple or shrine. Thunder reverberated in the distance,
and rain began to pelt the ruins. The ominous sound grew louder,
hissing like a gigantic serpent.

He swallowed the knot in his throat and
skidded across the courtyard. He snatched up the staff, relieved to
have it once again in his hands. Claws sunk into his legs and he
was immediately torn off his feet. The Defiler screeched in delight
as it carried him into the wind-blasted sky.

The world was blurring around him,
caricatures of ruins and obelisks swirling before his eyes. He
reached for his dagger. Pain exploded in Arxu’s head as he bashed
against an archway. The dagger slipped from his fingers, losing
another part of himself.

The Defiler laughed hideously, aware of
Arxu’s less than subtle attempts. They were ascending higher with
every stroke of its gnarled wings. Arxu thrashed in its clutches
and he managed to slam his staff into its throat. He was falling
again, plummeting toward the ruins like a raven clipped of its
wings. He could acutely feel the blood rushing to his head,
suddenly flooding him with delirium. He felt like passing out
within the span of a few breaths. What Arxu witnessed next forced
him wide awake.

Below him, he saw a jutting
obelisk.

He twisted his body to the side and
flung his cloak over the apex of the tower. He cringed at the
ripping sound, wondering what it would sound like if it was his
flesh instead. It slowed his frantic descent as he plummeted toward
an ancient stone dais. He released his cape and kicked off, tucking
his head as he nimbly rolled.

The Defiler gracefully alighted on the
dais. Concentration slipped through Arxu’s fingers with every spell
he attempted. Nishka watched with horror. She had never seen him
fight like this, like he wasn’t in control. Arxu stabbed his hand
into his pocket and pulled out a glistening object. He flailed a
moonstone before him and a blinding flash ensued. Spots swam before
the Defiler’s eyes until his vision was snuffed out like burning
coal.

Arxu rapidly proceeded to reach for a
vial on his belt. He applied powdered amber to his left hand as the
Defiler rushed forward. He darted around its claws and seized his
opponent. Lightning leaped from his hand to coil around its slender
throat. The Defiler convulsed, and its jaws snapped together to
sever its tongue.

A torrent of lightning screamed in the
distance, its ghostly shriek making Arxu’s skin crawl. Rain
shattered against the ruins, glistening on the dais where he faced
the creature. The Defiler could tell the man was weakening.
However, it knew better than to assume Arxu was through. A dying
animal would fight to its last breath, reaching a new level of
intensity and desperation.

Arxu lunged at the grotesque demon and
thrust his staff at its throat. The next feeling he experienced was
the Defiler’s fingers slicing through his abdomen.

His painful outcry was barely above a
whisper. With the last of his strength and fury, he buried the tip
of his staff in the Defiler’s chest.

The parasite tried to grip the staff
speared through its heart, but even that simple task demanded all
of its strength. Arxu looked into the Defiler’s eyes as it slowly
succumbed. It managed another resentful scream even without its
tongue. At last, it wrenched out its claw. Arxu convulsed and sank
to his knees, shielding his wound with a broken hand.

The Defiler gazed at him and retreated
a step backward. It crumpled and plunged into the courtyard
below.

Arxu keeled over, blood streaming down
his chest, feeling dazed and lost. He saw Nishka running toward
him, his vision blurred and every motion slowed. The world seemed
to be stretching miles away. She reached out for him and her lips
formed a single word that he couldn’t decipher.

He could hear nothing.

Nishka rushed to his aid. Arxu tried to
lift his face and reach for her, but the weakness of death overcame
him. He held out his hand for Nishka. He needed to know that she
had not been harmed.

“Arxu…” said Nishka with perhaps the
most vivid expression of sorrow he had ever seen. His will to die
was unparalleled. Death had never felt more fulfilling, every
second divorcing him from reality. The light and darkness cascaded
away, leaving only a void of sensation. Nishka’s hands grappled
him, covered in his blood. She breathed heavily, shouting for him
to stay.

The delirium of death intoxicated
Arxu’s mind and he trembled ecstatically. Light dwindled on the
brink of defeat. His world cascaded into black, and in that moment,
he no longer knew if he had truly existed at all.

Part III:
Metamorphosis

Chapter 29

Arxu jerked and his eyes fluttered
open. Night hovered above the glen wherein he lay. His shirt had
been removed and he reclined on the soft, dew-bejeweled grass. The
silence was only punctured by the rhythm of his deep breaths. He
moaned and relaxed against the cold forest floor.

Confusion shrouded his normally sharp
memory. Arxu felt as though he was hallucinating or looking through
someone else’s eyes. Every sense seemed detached from his body,
barely retaining their function.

A woman with blue eyes leaned above
him, examining his body. A crossbow was slung across her back in a
leather holster. Nishka’s eyes lit up when she saw he had
woken.

Even despite the pain, Arxu was struck
by the ironic reversal in roles. Not long ago, he treated Nishka
for a life-threatening injury. He looked down and saw the red flesh
glaring on his pale skin.

Nishka dipped an herbal poultice in a
wooden bowl of water, rose petals floating placidly on its surface.
A waning moon reflected in the waters like an untarnished silver
coin. She applied the cloth over Arxu’s wound, relieving the
inflamed site.

“Nishka?”

“Don’t move, Arxu.”

“How long... have I...?” His voice
dwindled.

“You’ve been asleep for three days. You
wouldn’t respond.” Her blue eyes entreated sorrow. “I thought you
were dead.” She clasped the poultice tightly.

She looked at his arms, where he bore
strange markings, not wounds inflicted by the Defiler. There she
could see vivid runes tracing his skin in blue dye. His hair bore
the same indigo tinge. She remembered their conversation about
Nightwalkers in exile.