Determination (36 page)

Nexus dived out of the way before Roxie could reassert her hold over him. The light sliced a wedge off the plateau and rock crumbled away. He flew towards the temple and his voice filled the entire realm. “Protect the prophet! If I die, my prophecy dies with me! You far outnumber her. One Aigis can’t possible stand up to so many gods at once.”

Roxie stopped the moment she started giving chase. Dozens of gods manifested in the sky and on the plateau. At the same time, she thought she sensed Nexus standing by the tree, but the leafless thing stood alone and she could sense him far off as well. She used her mind’s eye and sure enough the tree showed up in a white outline, and Nexus’s minuscule frame in grey.

A wave of fear washed over her as she counted thirty gods staring her down. They were scared, too, but their sheer numbers gave them courage. If Aerigo was faced with such daunting numbers, how would he handle this? She was clearly able to overpower Nexus, one god at a time, but that took monumental effort. Could they combine their will to hold her in place, and destroy her like a target practice dummy? Maybe. Only one way to find out. If Aerigo were in her place, he’d probably accept that was near and make a point to take down as many gods as he could in the process.

That gave her an idea.

Gripping her sword in both hands, she held it in front of her face, closed her eyes, and focused on the blade’s glow. She could attack all of them at once with it. They could will her to hold still all they wanted.

Die,
said a chorus of voices.

Or that. Gasping, Roxie went down, clutching her chest. Her heart felt like it was trying to tear up like a piece of paper. Tears blurred her vision as she writhed and willed herself to stay alive. It felt like she had an elephant sitting on her chest. She couldn’t get enough air in. Stars that didn’t belong to outer space filled her vision.

This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be how it all ended. The fight had only begun. Even if Aerigo was here with her right now, alive, both of them would be getting crushed by thirty wills against two. But it couldn’t end like this. She had to find a way to get up and fight, or at least fight back.

Clutching her sword in one hand and chest in the other, Roxie lay on her back and focused on her sword’s glow again, splitting it into thirty parts and aiming for every god willing her to die. Her head spun but her need to get through this kept her conscious. Once the light was divided, she focused on growing. She hadn’t expected to have to resort to this so quickly, but she had to do everything in her power to catch up with Nexus and bring him down.

Her body filled with the sensational upwards rush as she willed herself to grow as fast as possible and stay alive. Her legs stretched over the side, hanging down, and Roxie rolled over the edge, landed on her feet, and grew until she reached her limit. The plateau stood no taller than her waist and she still sensed Nexus in two places at once, but she was in too much agony to care why. She needed to make the pain stop.

She raised her sword and sent thirty beams of sharp light at her attackers. They all either dodged or blocked but she didn’t care. The attack was just a distraction. She trudged towards the temple, clutching her chest and breathing hard, and she was about to send another volley out when she saw more figures join the other gods--no, not join;
attack.

She had allies. There were gods brave enough to help her after all.

The pain in her chest vanished and Roxie took several revitalizing gulps of air, thoroughly relieved to be free of the pain. She recognized Baku, Din, and Nexus’s mother among the new arrivals. Roxie wanted to be furious at them for not having helped sooner, even as far back as when Aerigo had been alive, but such anger had to wait. It’d only distract her from her goal.

A feathery weight settled on one of her shoulders. Nexus’s mother stood there, eye-level with Roxie and wearing a green and black formfitting battle suit, with lengths of cloth hanging from all around her waist. Each piece ended in a triangular metal blade.

“I couldn’t bring myself to stand back and watch you die, Roxie,” the lady said in a beautiful, heartbreaking voice. “I’m Kara, Nexus’s mother. I’ll do everything I can to keep the others off you so you can handle my son. I hope you can understand when I say I won’t help you with him.”

Roxie nodded. “He’s left me no choice but to kill him. I’m sorry.”

Kara frowned. “I know. I’m sorry, too. For both you and him. Do what you need to, Roxie.”

“Thank you. I’m doing everything in my power to end this mess.”

“You can do it. I have faith in you. I had faith in Aerigo, too. I hadn’t expected him to die so quickly, or else I would’ve jumped in sooner. I’m not taking any chances with you, now that other gods have jumped in.”

Roxie hadn’t believed Aerigo would die so quickly either. Kara’s words eased her anger a little.

Kara flew off and joined the fray.
Avoid killing the other gods if you can, Roxie. They’re Creators. Their mortals will become lost to and alienated from the divine realm for wrongs they haven’t committed.

I understand. However, if they leave me with no choice, I have to do what’s necessary to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled.

Godless worlds can be recovered. It’s difficult, but not impossible.

Good.
Roxie searched the realm with her mind for Nexus, but it got pulled towards every other good, ally and enemy. The ones helping her tried to shake her off and the enemies tried to hide, but it was like trying to pull strong magnets apart, until she stopped scanning.

Nexus’s allies wanted at her but Kara and the others were fighting to keep them away so she could go straight to Nexus. She could stop to help overpower enough of them until they got the picture to let her and Nexus settle this themselves, but she should probably save the time and energy--and hopefully lives--by bringing the prophet down. She started flying towards the temple, tensed to defend herself at any moment, and stopped when yet another god appeared in the sky.

A huge, serpentine dragon covered in tattoos glared down at everyone and cast a huge shadow over the realm. He or she looked familiar, even though she’d never seen it before.
Kara, please tell me that one’ss on our side.

Roxie felt and heard Kara’s amusement.
He is. That’s Leviathan. You helped protect his icon.

Roxie recalled the dragon statue lining the wall jutting over the cliff’s edge in Phailon. It’d looked just like Leviathan, but the real dragon had no legs or arms.

Icons!

Kara, do you happen to know where Nexus’s icon is?

I’m sorry, no. Gods don’t share such information. Baku doesn’t know where mine is, nor I his.

Would you be able to sense it if you were close?
Roxie looked over a wing at the gnarled tree. It gave off an aura that Nexus was standing right there, but he wasn’t. Was that his icon she was sensing? She wanted to say yes, but she had a hard time believing Nexus would be stupid enough to hide his icon so out in the open. Then again, he was arrogant enough to do such a thing. On top of that, hiding in plain sight
was
a good way to discourage drawing attention to something. If she’d sensed the tree buried in the middle of the realm, that would’ve given her pause. Maybe she should just go over and stab it with her sword, and remove that niggling possibility.

Leviathan opened his mouth. “ALL OF YOU STOP!”

The whole realm quaked and the thunderstorm began to disperse. Roxie felt the power of Leviathan’s voice make the air ripple like water. Boy was she glad he was on her side. However, she wouldn’t hesitate to fight him if he tried to interfere in a bad way.

“DO NOT FIGHT EACH OTHER. DO YOU WANT A REPEAT OF HISTORY? STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS.”

The fighting lulled as the storm continued to dwindle, and then those aligned with Nexus charged Leviathan, darting for him like angry bees. He opened his maw and let out a deafening roar.

Roxie almost cut herself when clamping her hands over her ears. That roar was powerful enough to crack the ground. The other gods recoiled.

“THINK OF YOUR CREATIONS. LET THE AIGIS DECIDE THE FATE OF NEXUS AND HIS PROPHECY.”

As the echoes of Leviathan’s powerful voice rolled through the air, many gods charged the dragon again, and several flew towards Roxie. Her curiosity surrounding the tree would have to wait. She scored a line in the ground with her giant sword, cutting a fissure along the edge of the mortal battlefield. With a thought she willed the realm to snap in two. Rock rumbled and cracked, and the now two separate parts drifted away form each other. Roxie figured that putting some space between her and the warring would help insure that she wouldn’t inadvertently cause any harm to them.

A handful of gods flew at her face. She held out her shield. “Stop!” To her surprise, her voice carried with the same realm-shaking power as Leviathan’s. The gods stopped midair as if they’d been frozen in time. Roxie swatted them with her sword, dashing them into the ground one by one and sending chucks of rock into the air. Kara and the others flew to Leviathan’s defense. Roxie pressed the tip of her sword to one of the gods sprawled on the ground. “Leave or die! All of you. My fight is with Nexus.”

All but one vanished from the realm, eager to stay alive. They’d hoped to quickly overwhelm her with their numbers. They hadn’t anticipated her Frava being as strong as it was. It intimidated all but the one who remained, some birdlike humanoid with brown, grey, and black plumage. He was desperate to see the prophecy through, craving the change it’d bring. Roxie couldn’t glean what change he wanted but she didn’t care. She tried to stomp on him with a giant foot but he darted out of the way and flew at her face again.

“Die!” he screamed in a high-pitched voice.

Roxie felt only a twinge of pain in her chest as she snatched him out of the air with her shield hand. She squeezed and the pain stopped. However, she sensed what the bird-god intended to do next and chucked him like a baseball. An explosion erupted in front of her hand and a searing pain filled her palm and fingers. She looked at the oozing blood and shredded skin as it scrambled to knit itself back together, and she could think of nothing but how much the injury hurt. She took several deep breaths and forced herself to block out the pain. She couldn’t let it distract her.

The fiery cloud molded back into the humanoid bird and he came at her again.

Roxie sensed it in her gut that she was going to have to kill this one. He was fueled by desperation. He sensed her conviction but didn’t believe Roxie could kill him before he killed her. So be it.

They fought a contest of wills, the god constantly willing Roxie to die and her repeatedly bashing him into the ground, and Leviathan’s deafening roars intermittently filling the air. The bird-god was so intent on willing her to die that he left himself open for a counter every time he flung his murderous will at her. Each mental stab stung but Roxie accepted the pain as she cut deeper into his body with every blow.

He was bleeding green blood all over and Roxie wore a fair bit of it on her sword arm. The pain in her shield hand had steadily lessened as the gaping wounds sealed into raw pink flesh. She swatted the god with her shield, sending him into the ground.
Leave or die.

No,
he said feebly.
This prophecy must be fulfilled.

He raised a shaking, bloody arm and Roxie stabbed him in the chest, the look of shocked disbelief before the life went out behind his eyes imprinting itself on her memory. Her giant sword severed the body in two, and it turned into a sphere of glowing energy. Roxie somberly flicked the energy into outer space with her sword and turned to Leviathan.

So that’s all it took to kill a god. Nothing complicated, but no easy feat. If this kept up, she was going to have quite the mess to help clean up if she survived all this. At least it’d be worth it.

What was this change the prophecy would bring if it came to fruition? It was desirous enough to drive many gods to risk their lives for it, yet frightening enough for others to resort to seeking aid from Aigis to stop it. How had divine society reached this divide? It wasn’t the first time, but still, this scenario left her with many questions that’d have to wait for now.

Roxie glanced at the tree atop the plateau in the distance, then studied the aerial warring between gods. They shouted back and forth, and wills clashed, but each side gave as much ground as an anvil did when struck by a hammer. They wouldn’t stop until they were forced to deal with the results of the prophecy and, judging by the way things were unfolding, that would only ignite another round.

Kara and the others were split between fighting each other and keeping the opposition away from Roxie. She looked between the tree and warring. She’d make a difference if she jumped in, but to what point and purpose? If she ignored them and attacked what she suspected was Nexus’s icon, her opponents would do everything in their power to swarm and kill her. Right now, a healthy fear kept them rational. A direct attack on the icon might propel them into blind desperation. But if she destroyed the icon, thus stopping Nexus, then the prophecy would be annulled.

That was the number one goal, wasn’t it? Destroying the icon might be her final act. She’d already accepted that stopping Nexus might come at the cost of her life, so why was she feeling afraid of death? She’d already been to the Realm of the Dead, already knew everything would be alright if she embraced her soul’s journey, so why this hesitation? Was it instinctive to want to avoid one’s own death at all costs? Maybe. But, like the pain in her now completely healed hand, she was going to have to block out her fear.