The familiar, gentle hum of the Verge enveloped her as she stepped out of the Rift she had opened. The air hung thick with the comforting smell of metal and decay which flowed into her lungs like ichor. She took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of returning to the place she knew she belonged.
Then she shot upwards, taking flight. Soaring with such speed and intensity that one might assume thought she could outrun the thoughts creeping into her mind.
Elara took a slow breath, the air rasping slightly in her throat. The image of Vanceâs client, the raw, shattered grief in his voice, the horrific desperation of his request, clung to her like cobwebs.
"Ripped apart and eaten." She mumbled to herself, lost in thought.
How many battles had she been forced to fight? How many people had she indirectly killed? How many grieving families did she unknowingly create?
She didn't know.
She never considered such things in the heat of battle, but that didn't absolve her from any of the blame.
Those battles had been necessary, and they were still necessary. This was a war and she knew who the real enemy was. The enemy that had wanted her dead, and still did.
The Celestials.
Eventually when she snapped back to reality she noticed that she had been flying west, toward the endless, chaotic energy of the First Rift.
It still hung over the Pacific ocean, serving as a constant reminder and shadow over Earth. Still as vibrant and uncontained as the day it first opened.
It was the largest and oldest tear in reality, the one that had introduced the world to the Verge. And indirectly, to the Celestials as well. Their saviors against the Verge. Saviors who, even after twenty years of fighting, hadnât seem to have left a dent on their foe.
Wind roared past, whipping at her clothes, stinging her eyes. She closed them, letting the sheer, mindless velocity consume her for a moment.
She flew like that for a time, a violet streak against the bruised sky, lost in the numbing rush and the unwelcome memories it brought. The landscape shifted below, from shattered urban sprawl to fields of crystalline shards that sang in the wind, to forests of petrified, bone-white trees reaching with gnarled branches toward the sky. The oppressive energy of the First Rift grew stronger the longer she flew, a constant, growing, discordant thrum in the air.
Spotting a smooth, snow-white hill dotted with the miniscule forms of dozens, maybe hundreds of Rift-Spawn. She arced her flight path downwards, aiming directly for the crest of the hill.
Elara descended like a meteor, landing with a ground-shaking collision atop the hill's peak, scattering loose dirt in all directions. Instantly, the gathering of monsters shifted. Snarls turned to focused aggression. Hundreds of eyes, glowing with a myriad sickly hues, fixed on the lone figure that had invaded their domain.
Elara stood calmly as the dust settled around her, her voice barely audible above the cacophony of monsters around her.
[The world taught me sorrow. I will teach it fear.]
Red energy shot out from her in an instant. The sheer quantity of it forcing all but the strongest three monsters back. Calamity stood at her full height, her wings unfurled. Glaring at the three monsters remaining with cold, calculating eyes.
"Apologies for the intrusion, but I really needed a chance to relieve some stress."
The closest monster charged her with unbridled fury. Swinging a massive club-like fist, moving with surprising speed given its size and portly appearance. As the strike neared Calamityâs skull she merely stepped aside casually, her long, right arm held out in its path. Her claws glided through the monsterâs flesh as its own momentum carried it to its death.
Stumbling forward in shock, black ichor spraying out from its wounds, the monster fell forwards and down the hill. Rolling down it limply until it crashed into the waiting arms of some of the lesser monsters trying to climb back up the hill.
A high-pitched shriek came from her behind. A sleek, insectoid creature, all chitin and razor-sharp proboscis, had used the window created by its allyâs death to close the distance, aiming to spear the intruder through her back.
Calamity didn't even turn to face it. Letting one of her wings snap outwards in its general direction. The razor sharp tip impaling the insectoid monster before it could react. It shrieked again, but this time in pain, skewered through its chest like a butterfly on a pin.
Calamity glanced over at it dismissively and then casually flicked her wing. The motion caused the feathered appendage lodged in its chest to slice straight through its soft insides and hardened carapace. Discarding the two pieces of its corpse like droplets of water into the hillside below.
A guttural challenge sounded from her side. She turned slowly, her smaller arms still held in prayer, her larger ones hanging loose, the right one still dripping with fresh blood. The massive, six-armed creature, its skin like rough-hewn granite, had wrenched four enormous chunks of reinforced concrete from the ruins embedded in the hillside. It held them like crude, oversized boxing gloves in four of its hands, the remaining two balled into rock-like knuckles.
With a deafening roar it charged her, driving the first concrete chunk directly into her skull. Then followed up with the second chunk, then the third and fourth. Swinging with wild abandon as it pummeled the intruder with blindingly fast blows. The impacts echoed across the hill, Calamity swaying slightly under each blow.
Eventually one of the chunks began to crack, and then shatter. The block of concrete crumbling into dust in the monsterâs now empty hand.
Enraged, the Goliath balled the now-empty fist and drove it forward in a colossal punch, aiming straight for Calamity's impassive face. Stopping only because Calamity had caught its fist in her clawed hand, her sharp talons digging into the monster's flesh.
As the dust settled around them Calamity stood without the slightest hint of bruising upon her ash-gray skin. Even after enduring that entire beatdown she had not moved a single inch from where she had stood.
She looked at the monster directly in its eyes and whispered sweetly, "Thanks, I really needed that."
Then, with terrifying ease, she jabbed the talons of her right hand deep into the monsterâs armored chest, producing a sickening sound of rending stone and flesh. Annoyed at the creature's bellow of agony, she drove her second hand through the other side of its chest, silencing the monster for good.
Unsatisfied with merely killing the creature, she flexed her muscles and lifted the multi-ton monster clean off its feet. Holding it high above her head impaled on her claws, Calamity then ripped her claws outwards and downwards, leaving them outstretched as she allowed herself to be showered in its tar-like blood. She stood amidst the downpour, her crimson wings soaking in the raindrops.
Surveying the slope below she saw that the initial charge had faltered. Creatures milled, hissing and snarling, some backing away, others driven into a frenzy by the bloodshed but held back by instinctive terror. Cleaving through lesser monsters was starting to lose its novelty. Her small hands, still held in prayer, twitched slightly.
"Enough," Calamity stated, her voice a dry rasp like stone grinding on stone, yet carrying across the suddenly quiet hillside. "I grow bored of playing with the small-fry."
One of her smaller hands reached forward and snapped its fingers, causing every last drop of blood clinging to her body to shoot out like a hail of bullets. Flying down the hill and shredding every monster in sight. The creatures howled in fear and agony as they were torn apart by the remains of their fallen comrade.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The silence that followed was profound, broken only by the faint whisper of wind over the newly barren sand. Calamityâs smaller arms returned to their original position, held out in front of her chest in prayer.
Then the hill moved.
Not a tremor, but a violent upheaval. The ground beneath Calamity's feet buckled violently. Massive cracks, glowing with sickly green light, spiderwebbed across the snowy surface. With a sound like the world tearing open, the entire central mass of the hill erupted upwards.
Dirt, rock, and sand exploded outwards as something colossal burst forth. It wasnât made of flesh or bone, but a living avalanche of writhing, multicolored vines. Each as thick as a person, knotted and braided in a weave of pulsing organic tubes.
They surged skyward, coiling into a monstrous serpentine form that dwarfed the surrounding ruins. It stared down at Calamity with its giant arrow-shaped head and opened its jaw wide, revealing an endless array of eyes that stared outward in fear. Each pupil was shaking desperately in their sockets, as if searching for someone to save them.
The colossal vine-serpent didn't strike at her immediately, instead it surged forward towards the skeletal remains of a nearby ruined tower. Its leading mass of vines crashed into the building's base with the force of an earthquake. Steel groaned, concrete screamed and turned to dust. The skyscraper, which was already leaning precariously, sheared off at its base with a deafening roar of metal being torn asunder, and slowly began its fall downwards back down onto the ground where it had come from.
But it never hit the ground. Thick, cable-like vines shot out from the serpent's main body, lashing around the falling structure with terrifying speed and strength. They coiled, constricted, and then lifted. The immense weight of the skyscraper was hauled upwards, vines digging deep into its crumbling flanks. The serpentine creature held it at its side like a grotesque, prosthetic limb.
The serpentine creature then repeated the process with a second tower, bringing it down and ensnaring it with another thicket of vines.
And now it turned, the faceless head orienting towards the lone figure on the shattered hilltop. It held the two ruined skyscrapers aloft, each one forming an 'arm' made of twisting vines and broken steel. An earth-shaking screech erupted from its maw, a challenge flung at the insignificant speck of gray and scarlet.
Calamity watched, her eyes glowing with a hint of excitement. "Imagine the destruction you would cause if you ever reached Earth. The amount of death you would create, the countless lives that would be lost. You are a monster with such potential for tragedy."
A small smile spread across her almost permanently unexpressive ash-gray face. A haunting smile like a child pining for a shiny new toy.
"Which is why it is completely justified for me to indulge myself in killing you."
-
The air above Boston crackled with the sickly violet light of a newly formed Rift, casting long, distorted shadows across the ravaged downtown street. Crimson Blaze landed in a skid, crimson energy flaring from her boots, just as a massive, chitinous claw slammed down where she'd been standing moments before. The Alpha-class Rift-Spawn, a nightmarish fusion of scorpion and praying mantis, easily the size of a bus, shrieked, its multi-faceted eyes glowing with malevolent intelligence.
"Hold the line, Aegis!" Crimson shouted, her twin blades igniting with scarlet energy.
"Understood!" Aegis boomed, already planting himself firmly between the monster and a damaged storefront where a couple civilians were huddled. His emerald shield flared as it absorbed a spray of acidic venom.
Two smaller Rift-Spawn darted out from underneath the Alpha-class, making a break for one of the connecting alleyways leading out into the city.
"Gearloose, we got more runners!" Crimson yelled out.
"On it!" Gearlooseâs voice replied from one of the nearby rooftops. She was perched on the tallest building overlooking the plaza, her staff humming with power. Unleashing two quick blasts she clipped the two smaller Rift-Spawn, allowing Crimson to close in and finish them off.
Back at the Alpha-class Aqua Intance was a blur of blue and white. She darted in, her ornate spear flashing, scoring deep gashes along the monster's segmented underbelly as it focused on Aegis.
Crimson moved around the fight like liquid fire. One moment she was reinforcing Aegis, her blades deflecting a claw aimed at his head, the next she was flanking the beast with Aqua, landing a searing cross-slash that left smoking lines across its armored flank.
The Alpha shrieked again, enraged, whipping its barbed tail towards Crimson. She met it head-on, her blades crossed, channeling her power into a blazing parry that sent sparks flying. The impact jarred her arms, but she held.
Aqua saw the opening that this exchange had created. Using the momentary distraction, she channeled her power, her spear glowing with intense blue light. With a cry, she launched herself like a missile, the spear aimed true at the Alpha-class's head. It saw Aqua coming and tried to raise an arm to block, but the injuries it had sustained throughout the fight made it move just a little too slow.
With a deafening crunch Aqua buried her spear straight through the Alpha-class's skull. Causing it to shriek and spasm violently until it finally collapsed. Black ichor pooling around it as it finally lay still.
Silence descended, broken only by the fading hum of the Rift overhead. Gearloose scrambled down a fire escape to rejoin her team in the plaza below. All of them gathering around the fallen beast, breathing heavily.
"Good job, everyone," Crimson stated, her voice firm but carrying genuine approval. "Clean execution. Gearloose, your overwatch was spot-on. Aegis, immovable as ever. Aqua, perfect strike."
Aqua gave a tired but pleased grin. "Though... now comes the boring part." She gestured upwards with her spear towards the still-pulsing Rift. "Just... sitting here. Waiting for that to decide to pack up so we can finally go home." She gazed up at the Rift with annoyance. "Why can't we just, y'know, dive in? Blow up whatever nasty nest is spawning these things on the other side to close the Rift properly? Instead of waiting for it to recede only for it to pop back open in a couple months."
Crimson sighed. "Weâve been over this Aqua, itâs against protocol and it's too risky. If the Rift destabilizes or closes while we're inside..."
"We could get stuck in the Verge forever, yeah, yeah," Aqua finished, rolling her eyes dramatically. "But seriously, Crimson? The old-timers used to do it all the time back in the day! Why the sudden change? It's not like Rift-Disasters are growing less frequent." She poked the dead Alpha with her boot. "Shouldnât we be doing something about that instead of just playing whack-a-mole?"
Aegis stepped forward, adjusting his immaculate green suit jacket that also served as his armor. "Luminary Aqua Intance," he began, his tone formal, "your persistent questioning of established protocol, while demonstrating a concerning lack of tactical foresight, has been a concern our leader Crimson Blaze has had to voice on many occasions." He fixed her with a knowing look. "Though I believe your current outburst stems not from a lack of understanding of this fact, but an inability to access your online games whilst in a Rift-Disaster zone. Given how you had previously expressed excitement at the new update for your favorite gacha game."
Aquaâs cheeks flushed bright pink. "Whaâ? No! That's ridiculous! I'm trying to think about the bigger picture here! How we should focus on preventative responses instead of reactive responses!" She stammered, crossing her arms defensively.
Crimson couldn't help a small, weary chuckle escaping her lips. "Alright, enough you two." She straightened up, her gaze sweeping the perimeter. "The immediate threat may have been neutralized, but there will be stragglers. Smaller spawn that fled during the fight or before we arrived. You three stay here and monitor the Rift and the civvies. I'm going to sweep the nearby blocks."
"I can come with you!" Gearloose pipped up, clutching onto her staff with a slightly pale expression.
"No need, I can handle the stragglers myself." Crimson replied with a smile, "You used a lot of magic in that fight, take this time to rest up, okay?"
"Okayâ¦" Gearloose replied, deflating slightly. Her tone an odd mix of disappointment and relief.
"Be careful out there," Aqua added, her earlier protests replaced with genuine concern.
"I will. Remember protocol: if an Alpha-class or higher pops out of that Rift, or it starts to destabilize further, signal me immediately. Don't engage unless absolutely necessary." Crimson received three nods of affirmation. With a final glance at the ominous tear in the sky, she leaped upwards, landing lightly on a nearby rooftop and vanishing into the urban maze.
Moving swiftly across the rooftops, Crimson scanned the streets below. The usual signs of a Rift-Disaster were present, overturned cars, broken glass, strange, iridescent slime patches, but she barely saw any lesser Rift-Spawn causing havoc. The one lonesome Gloom Moth she came across was quickly dealt with with a precise energy bolt from her blades, but otherwise she didn't really have any fighting to do.
Gearloose really nailed it today. She thought quietly to herself with a hint of pride. They all did really well today. Getting sharper, faster, and most importantly working well as a team.
She dropped silently into a narrow alleyway behind a row of closed shops, drawn by a flicker of movement near a dumpster. A figure, hunched and humanoid, was trying to pry open a service door.
A civilian? Crimson called out, her voice clear and calm, "Hey! Are you alright? Do you need assistance?"
The figure froze. Slowly, it turned. The dim, violet-tinged light in its eyes revealed the truth: its skin was gray like a bloated corpseâs, with streaks of violet running along each limb. Its eyes glowed with a sickly, familiar violet light.
Rift-Touched.
Crimsonâs hands instinctively tightened on her blades, the scarlet energy flaring. But then she recalled the last Rift-Touched she had faced, the odd, marble faced one who hadnât wanted to fight her. Who had seemed almost scared.
The one who had made Crimson question the need for hostility. Could this one be like that one? Are they just scared? Trapped?
Carefully, Crimson sheathed her blades. The energy around them winking out as they hung loosely from her waist. She took a half-step forward, raising her empty hands slightly in what she hoped was a non-threatening gesture. "Easy," she said, her voice softer now. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to help. Are you lost? Confused?" She tried to project calm, remembering the fear she'd sensed in the other one. Maybe they could understand her. Maybe she could bring her back to base and learn more about them.
The Rift-Touched stared at her, its violet eyes watching her carefully. It didn't speak, nor react to her words. It simply watched, its right arm held down at its side.
Are they still scared of me? Too wary to speak? Crimson thought to herself. Maybe this Rift-Touched had come across other Luminaries before, and learned to grow weary of them after being attacked? It would certainly explain the violet gash on its chest.
Taking a deep breath, Crimson let her transformation dissolve. The crimson energy flowed back into her body to reveal civilian clothes: a set of simple, durable fatigues. She stood before the Rift-Touched as just a young girl, hands still raised. "See?" she said, forcing a calm she didn't entirely feel. "No weapons. No magic. It's okay. You're safe now. I can helpâ"
The shriek that tore from the Rift-Touchedâs throat was an inhuman sound of pure, mindless aggression. It launched itself forward with terrifying speed, its right arm raised. It having been replaced with a blade made of bone.
Crimsonâs eyes widened in shock and dawning horror. She tried to twist away, to dodge, but untransformed, her body was too human. Too slow. Far too slow.
The serrated bone blade punched through her abdomen with brutal, wet force, just below the ribs. Agony, white-hot and all-consuming, exploded through her. She felt the blade scrape against her spine, felt the cold intrusion of alien flesh deep inside her. Her breath left her in choked gasps, followed instantly by a violent convulsion. Hot, coppery blood surged up her throat, spraying from her lips and painting itself upon the Rift-Touchedâs impassive face. The creature didn't flinch, its violet eyes devoid of anything resembling thought or remorse, only a predatory void.
Gritting her teeth against the world-shattering pain, Crimson Blaze didn't think. She reacted with the desperate instinct of survival.
[Even if the world ends. My flame will never burn out.]
Scarlet energy erupted around her, her transformation slamming back into place in an instant. One of her manifested blades, fueled by agony and fury, swept upwards in a savage arc. It met the Rift-Touchedâs neck with a sickening thunk, severing its head cleanly from its shoulders. The violet light in its eyes died instantly. The headless body slumped, the bone blade wrenching free from her gut causing a fresh wave of agony.
Crimson staggered back, collapsing hard against the cold brick wall of the alley. Blood, her blood, poured freely from the horrific wound, soaking her transformed costume and pooling rapidly on the grimy pavement. The world swam, the edges of her vision darkening.
Distress signal... Team... With the last dregs of her strength and magic, she raised a trembling, blood-slicked hand. A small, brilliant crimson flare shot from her palm, arcing high into the violet-tainted sky above Boston before sputtering out.
Her hand fell limply to her side. Her head lolled against the brick. The sounds of the city, the distant sirens, the hum of the Rift, faded into a muffled roar, then into silence as darkness rushed in to claim her. Unconsciousness swallowed Crimson Blaze whole, leaving only a spreading pool of blood as her eyes slowly drifted shut.