“What’s this?” the demon boomed at him. “A slave managed to beat me to the throne room. I must’ve spent a little too long playing with this sorry excuse for a spire demon.”
Without a second thought, the demon tossed Cassandra at him. She hit the ground and rolled forward across the broken stones before coming to a rest near his feet. Her once beautiful face was swollen, bruised, and half covered in crimson blood. All over her body, both fur and skin alike were covered in blood and rock dust. Her hips had been twisted slightly and her thighs had been crushed mercilessly. The slave rags that she'd worn were mostly shredded away revealing numerous deep gashed in her soft, caramel-colored skin. Her chest was half crushed and Garen was certain that at least half of her ribs were completely broken.
What happened to her? She was so powerful when she fought those demidemons. I can't believe she was defeated.
“Did I just hear you speak, slave?” the giant demon demanded. “Tell me if you’ve seen a red, thorny plant around here and perhaps you won’t have to suffer as much as she did.”
The demon started to laugh. It was a deep evil sound born not of joy but of malice, and it echoed all around them. Garen knew that he should be afraid of the demon, as he had been moments earlier, but instead he felt a deep, bitter hatred rising up within him. He knew that the demon was Babossa, the cause of all of his suffering for the past six months and the root of all of the pain that he'd witnessed. Looking down at Cassandra’s broken body; he felt a rage growing within him that he could hardly contain.
She's not moving at all; is she... dead? No, this can't be happening.
He hadn’t known her for long or spent much time talking to her, but he considered her a friend and ally. His initial shock at seeing her in her demon form had led him to distrust her, though she'd not only saved his life but had also kept him from descending into the depths of hopelessness. He’d never known any other demon like her, and he doubted that he ever would again. His feelings for her shocked him so much that he didn’t dare admit them even to himself. Seeing her lying broken before him was simply too much to bear.
“Well?” Babossa roared. “Have you seen the plant or not?”
“You monster,” Garen said in a low voice.
“Speak up, slave, or I’ll just crush you and look around myself.”
“You damned demon!” Garen shouted in the most fearsome voice he could muster. “Look what you've done to her, you bastard. What gives you the right?”
“Power,” the demon answered with an amused smirk. “That’s what gives me the right. Power is the only thing that matters in this world and those that possess it get to do with it as they please.”
Despite his own grief and anger, Garen blanched as the bolos's expression instantly devolved into a fearsome scowl. He stared in horror as the massive, horned demon's muscles flexed in anticipation of violence.
“Now for the last time, tell me where the plant is or you’ll find out just how much power I truly have!”
Babossa took a giant step towards him and Garen felt his courage nearly melt away, completely. He wanted desperately to turn and run, but he forced himself to stand his ground. He felt compelled, not only by his anger toward Babossa, but also by a far more subtle force. Gallovine fruit held firmly in hand, Garen stared back at the towering demon knowing that he was staring down his own death.
This is suicide; he’s definitely going to kill me. If I have to die though, I can at least keep him from getting his hands on this fruit. If he manages to become any stronger than he already is, The World of Light will be in grave danger. I just need to figure out how to destroy this thing before he can stop me.
“It can’t be,” Babossa stated in surprise. “A human slave is holding the fruit of a gallovine?”
Garen cursed silently. At some point while he was thinking, he’d inadvertently moved his hand enough to expose the gallovine fruit to Babossa. The demon’s eye shot wide with greed.
“Give me that fruit, slave!”
“You’ve got enough power; you’re not getting anymore!”
Garen squeezed the fruit as hard as he could manage, hoping to crush its somewhat soft interior, but it refused to burst. His arm ached from the effort, but he continued to pour his strength into trying to crush it. Realizing that he wasn’t strong enough to crush the fruit with the strength in his hand alone, he raised it high over his head intending to crush it against the stone floor using the weight of his entire body.
With a roar, Babossa lunged at him. The massive demon only needed to take a few steps in order to reach him. Startled by the demon's rapid advance, Garen stood frozen for a moment with the fruit held over his head. It was enough.
Just as he tried to smash the fruit down onto the stone floor, the bolos reached out and grabbed him in one of his gigantic hands. Impossibly strong, steely fingers wrapped about his waist and hoisted him into the air.
“No,” Garen shouted as his feet left the ground.
Unable to move freely enough to generate the strength that would be required, he was forced to abandon his attempt to crush the fruit. Panic and desperation set in. He knew that only a single choice remained open to him.
I don’t have any other options left; I’ll have to use my teeth and tear the damn thing apart!
Garen grimaced for a split-second, repulsed by the thought of what he was about to do, but then he shoved the fruit into his mouth intending to use his teeth to shred it apart. To his surprise, however, the fruit dissolved into a viscous liquid the very moment that it touched the inside of his mouth. A foul, rancid taste filled his mouth and he immediately started to gag, but the substance spread across his tongue completely unaffected by his efforts to expel it. With a mind of its own, it rolled down his throat and forced its way deep into his body.
“What have you done?” the enraged demon demanded. “That’s my fruit; give it back to me.”
Babossa shook him furiously and Garen’s vision blurred even more as his head was viciously snapped back and forth. He knew that he should be feeling pain and fear in the face of Babossa’s rage, but as the substance reached his stomach an odd feeling surged through his body. A sensation began in the pit of his stomach and swiftly rushed up his spine like an army of insects moving just beneath his skin.
What is this thing doing to me? I can... feel it reaching... into my mind-
Garen screamed as a blinding pain shattered his thoughts and seemed to split his head open. Images, feelings, thoughts, experiences; centuries of vivid memories surged into his mind in a raging torrent. He suddenly felt insignificant and small within his own body. There was another presence in his mind; a powerful, oppress darkness that threatened to devour him completely.
He was vaguely aware of his body being shaken back and forth, but it somehow seemed distant and less important than the invading presence within his own mind. Without warning, a flash of purple light surrounded his body and Babossa howled in pain. Surprised and confused, Garen found himself suddenly released from Babossa’s steely grip. He fell back down to the floor and landed next to Cassandra’s battered body without the slightest hint of pain.
How did I manage to land without hurting myself, I must have been over ten feet in the air?
In surprise, Garen looked down at his body and saw that he'd landed perfectly on his feet. Turning his head to the right, he noticed that his shoulder was no longer swollen and the pain of it was entirely gone. Awareness dawned on him and he realized that none of his previous injuries hurt. He quickly looked himself over in disbelief, but he couldn't find any evidence of ever having been injured other than his bloodstained clothes.
His eyes felt odd and he suddenly realized that his vision was better than it had ever been. The room swam with bright light from the sheer number of glowstones causing him to squint slightly, but even with his eyes mostly closed he could see farther and more clearly than he’d ever known was possible. A single glance down at Cassandra’s body allowed him to see what he'd been unable to before;
the slight rise and fall of her chest from her shallow breathing.
She’s alive! I don’t know how this is possible, but I’ve got to get Babossa away from her.
As soon as he thought of Babossa, an odd sensation crept through his body. He could almost make out the thoughts of another person within his own mind and he felt a sudden urge to hurt Babossa; to make him feel true pain. Garen was startled by the bloodlust within his own mind, but at the same time he couldn’t deny that it somehow felt right.
He needs to die, and I can make it happen.
He turned his attention back to Babossa and found that the demon was holding his right arm with his left hand. The inside of his right hand was a mess of burnt, blistered flesh and steam billowed up from it in a wisps. Pain, rage, and astonishment warred for dominance on the demon's face as he stared at his injured hand. Garen glanced down at his own hands in amazement.
That purple flash earlier must have come from me; I did that to his hand. I’m not sure how I did it but-
Glimpses of battles flashed through his mind in a flurry of blood and violence. He could see countless foes rising to challenge him and all but one burning to dust before his awesome power. A single warrior clad in streaming light had somehow defeated him despite his superior power. He recalled the one and only instant of terror that he'd ever experienced just as he was engulfed in a brilliant wave of light.
Garen gasped as the images finally stopped assaulting his mind and he doubled over breathing hard. He tried to make sense of what he'd just witnessed, but very little of it seemed coherent. The images had seemed to be a collection of memories from random battles that all felt alien to him. He knew that something was very wrong and he struggled to make sense of what was happening to him.
That warrior clad in light must have been Orlon Rin and I just watched Gormum die through his own eyes. That means that these are Gormum’s memories inside of me. All of them are so vivid and full of raw emotion that they feel like they just happened to me. Is this the way that all demons remember things?
Purple lightning appeared in the palms of his hands as he looked down at them. It hissed and snapped as it crawled across his skin. A pleasant tingling accompanied the odd, violet lightning as it moved across his skin, but he was otherwise unaffected by it.
I know how to use this power; I can feel it. It feels as though I was born with this power. This is the most amazing-
A shockwave of pain erupted across the right side of his head and his body was forcefully jerked from the ground and sent careening by a massive fist. He flew through the air for a few dozen feet before hitting the ground. After the brutal contact with the floor, he tumbled for several dozen more feet until he finally struck one of the large stone columns that lined the throne room. Part of the heavy, black column shattered as he struck it with his shoulder and tore out a chunk of stone as big as his head.
That was stupid; how could I forget about the giant, raging demon that wants to kill me.
Stunned but uninjured, he opened his eyes to find something hurtling toward him. He quickly scrambled to his feet and dodged aside just as a massive slab of stone plummeted toward him. The slab shattered into chunks as it struck the column right where he had been lying the moment before.
Surprised by his inhuman reflexes and durability, Garen turned his attention back to the furious bolos demon. Both Cassandra’s life and his own depended on him finding a way to defeat Babossa. He knew that he could not afford anymore distractions, so he forced the myriad of questions and concerns from his mind and focused solely on his enemy.
Another stone slab flew at him, but he easily dodged aside and heard it crash into the ground behind him. Babossa bent to pick up another piece of the fallen ceiling that littered the ground around him. The bolos easily hefted a piece of stone as big as Garen with one hand and cocked his arm back to throw it.
This is going nowhere; he should realize that he can’t hit me from there. I need to get him to move away from Cassandra, or he may suddenly decide that she is the easier target. Since he obviously isn’t going to move on his own, I’ll just have to make him.
Garen surged forward with such force that the floor where he'd been standing cracked around his feet. The speed at which he managed to move caught the bolos by surprise, but surprised Garen, himself, even more. Before the mighty demon could throw the rock that he was still holding, Garen had closed the large gap between them.
With a confidence that he couldn’t explain, Garen gazed up at Babossa’s towering form. He stood without the slightest hint of fear or concern as if daring the demon to attack him. After a brief moment of confusion, Babossa noticed him and immediately tried to crush him with the huge rock, but Garen was simply too fast.
A thick, violet-colored bolt of demonic lightning burst from Garen’s outstretched hand and arced up, hitting the bolos in the chest. It struck with unnatural, explosive force and all 8,000 pounds of Babossa's massive body was lifted a dozen feet into the air and thrown backwards.
Babossa’s hand released its hold on the rock that he'd been holding and it plummeted straight down at Garen. In response, lightning flashed out from his skin with a mind of its own and formed a glowing blade in the air directly over his head. As the rock fell, it was sliced perfectly in half by the lightning blade and the two halves fell to the ground on either side of him with a thud.
This power is simply incredible! Babossa couldn't even defend himself from my simplest attack.
A pain-filled sound, barely louder than a whisper, escaped from the fallen demon. Somewhere between a groan and a snarl, the awful noise spoke volumes about the agony that the bolos was in. Smoke rose from Babossa’s body, but Garen suspected that he would be back on his feet again before too long.
Alarmed by the demon's odd behavior but more concerned about Cassandra, he took the opportunity to rush back over to her and make sure that she was alright. Turning away from the smoldering bolos, he ran to where Babossa had tossed her. She lay on her back in exactly the same position as earlier, but something was different. His demon eyes noticed the problem immediately.
She’s not breathing!
A pang of guilt tore through him for not attempting to help her sooner. He swiftly knelt beside her and lightly touched the side of her neck, but there was no heartbeat to be felt. Panic swept over him in a chilling wave and replaced all other emotions.
“No,” Garen pleaded. “You can’t die, not when I finally have the power to protect you!”
Tears began to form in his eyes, but he willed them away and they evaporated with a sizzle in a tiny flash of violet. Memories surged through his mind's eye of enemies being tortured and then revived with a jolt of the demonic energy that flowed within him. Revival wasn't always possible, as his memories showed as well, but he knew that he had to at least try. His brow furrowed with determination and he held out his hand above her chest.
“I’m not going to let you die as long as I have the power to stop it. I will not stand by and watch as another innocent life is snuffed out in front of me; never again!”
As gently as he could, Garen sent a jolt of demonic lightning into Cassandra’s lifeless, broken body. Purple lightning arced between his palm and her chest creating flickering shadows across her face. Her body twitched in response before falling still again.
“No, I will save you!”
Undaunted, Garen sent even more lightning into her chest and watched it rise in response. She gasped, opened her eyes, and stared upward in shock. Her back arched and for a moment she held herself in the air before she fell back to the cold stone. Once her muscles had relaxed, her eyes slowly drifted over to Garen and she stared at him in surprise.
“Don’t move; you’re seriously injured," he said with a faint smile. "I’m not actually sure if there’s anything more I can do to help you, but I just couldn't stand by and let you die.”
“I’ll... heal,” she managed to say between weak, raspy breaths.
“Don’t talk, it’s
alright. You’re safe now, I’ll protect you.”
“Neither of you is safe!”
Garen’s head immediately turn in the direction of Babossa’s booming voice to find the bolos climbing to his feet. His chest was a mess of burnt, blackened flesh that split and cracked as he moved, but the giant demon seemed oblivious to the pain.
Babossa glared at them with his upper lip curling in murderous rage. The hatred in his eyes was directed not only at Garen but at Cassandra as well, and Garen knew that the battle had to be moved away from Cassandra if he was to protect her.
“You steal my power, then you attack me with it,” Babossa roared furiously, “and now you think you’re safe! I’m going to pick you apart piece by piece, slave. Then, I’m going to force feed your corpse to that pathetic spire demon bitch before I kill her again!”
Garen quickly sent out a bolt of lightning and hit the bolos squarely in the chest again, but unlike before, the demon only staggered back slightly. He immediately sent a second and third bolt arcing into the raging bolos, but each attack seemed to have less effect than the last.
Babossa stormed forward, hardly noticing Garen’s attacks, and brought his fist down on top of him like a massive hammer. Lightning raced from Garen’s body and formed a shield in the air above him just in time to meet the vicious attack. Babossa’s fist struck the shield of lightning with thundering force that resounded throughout the cavernous room. Though his impromptu shield protected him from the brunt of the assault, the force of the impact was tremendous and the ground beneath his feet cracked in a web-shaped pattern as it was crushed down to form a small crater.
Garen was momentarily shocked that his body had proved stronger than the solid, black stone of the floor. Months of tunneling through the stone had taught him exactly how hard it was. That knowledge, combined with the memories that he’d gained from Gormum, gave him an idea of how sturdy his body had become.
I never knew that demons were this powerful. My body seems quite amazing, but even so I don’t think that I could take many hits from this monster.
Garen stepped out of the sunken section of the floor and rolled to the side as a second crushing blow came down and blasted a hole in the stone floor. It exploded in a cloud of dust and debris as Babossa’s fist slammed into it with unrestrained fury.
The lightning doesn’t appear to work on him anymore; I was hardly able to stop that first hit. I need to try something else.
Lightning sizzled and popped as it burst from the palm of his hand and formed into the shape of a sword six feet long. Garen swept the lightning blade down across Babossa’s exposed arm the moment that it formed in his hand. The bolos’s arm jerked downward slightly under the force of the attack, but was otherwise unaffected.
Babossa drew his hand up out of the ground, swept the lightning blade aside as if it were a blade of grass, and reached out for Garen. A swift step backward kept him out of Babossa’s reach, but he knew that he was running out of options. He continued to move backward, drawing the raging bolos with him as he tried to come up with a new strategy.
This is ridiculous; nothing that I throw at him seems to slow him down. I have yet to do any real damage to him, and that is both frustrating and oddly familiar at the same time. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen this somewhere before. If only I could make sense of all of these memories, I might figure out a way to beat him...
“Don’t you get it, slave?” Babossa roared while trying desperately to catch hold of him. “Your power is useless against me; my skin has already become immune to it. Once I catch you this little game is over. You’re going to die just like those three lightwielders I killed and your skull will join theirs.”
So his skin is somehow able to render my attacks unable to cut or burn him, but he’s still feeling the impact of each hit. His arm definitely felt the impact of my lightning blade even if it wasn't cut by it. Maybe I just need to hit him a little harder.
Garen stopped moving just as he passed one of the stone columns. With Babossa only a few steps behind him, Garen leapt into the air. As he rose through the air, he formed a new lightning blade in each hand similar to the first one but much longer.
As he leveled off in the air near the top of the pillar, he spun to the left and slashed through the column with both of his new blades. The blade in his left hand slashed an almost flat line through the column near the top. His other, longer sword angled downward and slashed across the middle of the column at a steep angle. The stone along both cuts was instantly vaporized, and a 25-foot tall chunk of rock from the middle of the column was suddenly free to slide down the sharp incline that had been cut beneath it.
The moment that his feet touched the ground, Garen dashed back around the base of the column toward Babossa. He was all too aware of the rock that was sliding down, accompanied by the sound of heavy grinding, toward the far side of the column that he was running toward. There was no time for him to second guess himself. He knew that he had to keep Babossa in the falling column’s path. There wouldn't be a second chance.
As he rounded the column, he saw that the bolos had stopped to look up at the source of the grinding noise and had noticed the massive chunk of stone sliding down toward him. Babossa’s remaining eye narrowed and he stepped sideways, out of the stone's path, but he failed to notice Garen running toward him. Gathering as much power as he could and focusing it into his arm, Garen leapt into the air and punched Babossa in the side of his head. His fist collided with the demon's head in an intense explosion of violet energy.
Staggering from the blow, but still on his feet, Babossa side-stepped back into the path of the falling stone just as it scraped free of the bottom of the column. Babossa looked up in time to see the rock falling through the air toward him before it struck him squarely in the face. With a tremor that shook the entire room, the stone column crushed the stunned bolos into the floor.
“My power may not affect you, but I’m guessing that getting crushed by countless tons of solid rock might.”
Garen smiled smugly at the fallen stone and felt almost like laughing. Dust shot out from under the sides of the column as it hit the ground, but Garen let the dust wash over him without blinking.
As he stood watching the column come to a rest a top on the floor, Garen realized that he was enjoying the spectacle. He wanted Babossa to be hurt; he needed to see him suffer. Dark thoughts crept into his mind unbidden, urging him to torture Babossa further.
What’s wrong with me? Why do I suddenly crave violence so much and when did I start thinking of this as my power? What exactly did that gallovine fruit do to me; I don’t even feel like myself anymore?
Garen stood before the fallen column and watched as the dust settled. After a minute had passed, he decided that Babossa had been dealt with and he exhaled deeply in relief. Turning away from the fallen chunk of stone, he started to make his way back to Cassandra.
From somewhere deep in his mind came a warning and he had to resist the urge to glance back at the fallen column.
This isn’t over; not yet.