ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter 56: Hubris, Slayer of Gods

I watched Sebbit's lifeblood seep into bone, adding to the carnage that lay beneath him. He met his death with the same quiet dignity and staunch professionalism that he showed in life. I imagine he followed protocol even in the end.

As the captain's eyes closed a brilliant golden light filled the sky. The intensity continued to increase until everything was awash in brilliant hues of white and gold, as if the sky had been consumed in fire. The air began to shimmer, and scattered bone cracked under the growing heat.

A defiant shriek descended from above. Liv still hovered above me, but her face had contorted in horror. Her wings beat frantically, yet she seemed unable to make headway against whatever force restricted her. The demigoddess' cries and struggle became more desperate as the light and heat continued to increase.

The world itself seemed to answer her call; the earth and bones that trapped me began to shake, producing a chattering rattle that I felt before I heard. The small fragments of bone vibrated as they began to move around me like a liquid, slowly drawing me beneath their pale white surface. As my face was covered by bony quicksand, a powerful flash became visible even through the growing layer above me.

A thunderous boom split open the sky, soon followed by a powerful shockwave that pulled me into its grasp. The wave of force carried me backwards, a cloud of dust billowing around me. The force of the impact had blown through my shields, depleting the last of my mana. I was unable to gain enough orientation or focus to bring to bear the enormous amount of eldritch energy surrounding me. Every attempt I made to create a shield formed too late, protecting an empty pocket of air I had already long passed.

I tried growing a cocoon of eldritch energy around myself to act as a cushion, but it was forming too slowly. I could already see the ground growing large beneath me. In the fraction of a second before I landed I did the only thing I could think of, using eldritch mimicry to create a partially-real copy of the arcane shield spell. It would stop a large percentage of the damage, and unlike mana, eldritch energy was an almost unlimited resource.

Hopefully it would be enough.

As I landed, the shockwave continued outward. The circle of force pushed through mounds of bone, clearing the ground as shards of brittle white dust joined the expanding cloud. My hand shot up to my ribs, I could tell I had cracked at least one. Multiple status screens appeared to highlight my injuries in more detail – I had fractures and bruises throughout my body, but my health had stabilized at just below fifty percent.

A cloud of dust blotted out the sky, but Liv was still clearly visible. She glowed with golden flame, two long tendrils of yellow energy had constricted her torso, breaking through flesh and bone. A third tendril was racing towards her head, but she turned and batted it away with a golden lance. She lashed out again and again, but each time the tendril grew closer.

She was physically unrecognizable as the girl I had grown up with. There was now little dichotomy between the two halves of her face. Her smooth, porcelain skin was charred and had become of a patchwork divided by jagged rivulets of blood. Her mouth was bent into a defiant scowl, a look I recognized. It was possible, even now, to find traces of the girl I knew.

"Liv!" I shouted.

I still found it difficult to hate her. The revelations were too new, and I couldn't reconcile what she had become with the girl from my memory. None of that stopped me from trying to end her. She was weakened, I may never have a better chance.

Long pikes glowing with swirling black and red energy burst from the ground. I reached out with the full strength of my eldritch arm and grasped each pike before throwing them into the sky, one by one. At first, Liv ignored my attacks as each throw was pushed wide by an unseen force. I responded by increasing the frequency, until she was forced to spin her long, golden spear to deflect my own.