The Disjointed Tales Of Renryre Island

25-2: Two Halves Of A Whole [continued]

A colossal storm burst from nowhere; beach sand, sea water, rain, wind, lightning, and thunder echoing through the chaos. Merilyce could barely stand let alone see or hear. But above the tumult, she could still detect the cackling of The Three and the eerie echo of another voice.

She dropped onto the beach and started clawing at the sand, attempting to pull herself away, though she had no idea which way she was facing, or where to escape to. A hand clenched her arm, and through the darkness of the storm she could just about make out Kyrnrie beckoning her.

The winds felt as if they would rip her from the ground at any moment, she dug her hands into the beach to hold her down and haul herself away at the same time. Kyrnrie was tugging on her arm. He crawled closer and swung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her with him.

Together they fought to get away from the storm. She searched for anyone else, but could see nothing through the debris circling in the wind, nothing but Kyrnrie dragging her along. She had no idea what had happened to Rendyle. They were there for him, to keep him safe, to get him away from The Three, but how could they possibly combat the powers in control there?

Suddenly the storm died down, and the swirling sand rained down on them. Merilyce climbed to her knees tentatively, swung her eyes around and spotted The Three, and immediately began sprinting in the opposite direction.

Kyrnrie was running beside her, and she noted that the city watchmen had the navigator with them. Rendyle was still safe, for the moment. There were others running too, but in the chaos, she barely recognised who they were.

She kept running a short while longer before turning around to see what was happening. The Three still stood there, side by side. Lytette was in front of them, on her knees.

"We should help her," said Merilyce.

"No, she can take care of herself," said Kyrnrie.

"What? Look at her?"

"She's a godsdamned demon-goddess. There's nothing we can do to help her."

Merilyce looked back at the woman, the demon-goddess, who was struggling to get back on her feet. Suddenly, the little girl began running towards The Three, screaming words Merilyce couldn't recognise. In unison, The Three staggered forward, almost unable to stand.

"We have to help!" insisted Merilyce.

She ran forward without waiting for a reply, and felt Kyrnrie was following her. She didn't have a plan. In fact, she had no idea what she could do against three demon-goddesses. As she neared, she could see The Three were still struggling to fight the unseen attack. They looked wounded, though Merilyce couldn't tell how.

Skin began ripping away, flecks blowing off in the wind. Black blood oozed from wounds all over their bodies. In agony they yelled, dying right before her while Merilyce watched in confusion. One of the demon-goddesses appeared to break her invisible bindings and leapt forward with a screech.

The little girl's screaming suddenly ceased, and she fell unconscious to the sand.

"You cannot kill us, Iryssah," wailed the first.

"But we can kill you," shrieked the second.

"You are not dead any more," brayed the third.

The Three began advancing on the girl, and as they did the air grew suddenly dense, suffocating.

"Your father couldn't defeat us," screeched the first.

"Even as our allies were destroyed by Him, we persisted," sneered the second.