We left the monument to war's devastation, it felt like the lands I raised in my own era, lands that the dead now owned and the living weren't welcome. We shuffled out as carefully as we had entered, the sense of foreboding weighing heavy,
When we were outside the limits of the city, we stopped for lunch, ate quietly, then continued on our journey until I felt something strange in the distance. "Do you all feel that?"
"No. What?"
"It feels like we're being welcomed, not graciously though, more like an arena combatant."
"What do you mean?"
"Little One?"
"There is something... It feels like it's looking down on us.... No, like it want's to see what we're made of."
"Tread carefully, but confidently, Caliburn, keep my daughter safe, she can handle what's coming but won't be ready for it."
We kept moving forward, then as we reached the woods at the base of the mountain I was grabbed by something. Whatever it was, was bizarre, tentacle like vines that lashed at me ineffectually as though it didn't know how to fight but was built for it.
"Err, I'm sorry but this is getting awkward... I'd feel terrible fighting something sooo... harmless."
"I'm not harmless, I'm just peaceful ok, I could hurt you if I wanted to." I laughed at the line, exactly the conversation I had with that warmongering Kanelsian, even Eve laughed at it. though our daughters were more confused.
"Ok... I apologise, I am going to show you exactly how outmatched you are. Please don't run, if you do before I can judge your danger level, you die." I then released my full divinity and the delicate frame of a young woman, fell unconscious from the trees, luckily Cosmael was ready to catch her.
"What are you?"
"Oh, I'm a deva, my Mum and Dad are creators of The Black and my little sister is a feathered serpent. Oh right, names, respectively our names are Cosmael, Eve, Adam and Quatal."
"Excuse me Cosmael, but not only did you forget me, could I take a look at this girl?"
"Oh, sorry Cali, I forgot. Her gauntlets are a special weapon, they are called Caliburn they want to examine you so please don't panic."
"They feel warm and familiar somehow." The girl said as Quatal followed Caliburn's instructions on how to examine her.
"Well I should... At least a little, we are related. Everyone, this is a fractured scale from one of the very Origin Wyrms who forged me, the Origin Wyrm of Life, Constavita"
"And you have their sap! How did you get that? Is the creator around?"
"No unfortunately all my parents are retired and reclusive... They each offered a piece of themselves to create a gift for Adam, they were a bit worried after Kuronovus recognised him as her master and became this girls Auntie Kuronovus."
The strange girl fell back, reaching her limit for outlandishness in record time. "Girl, I have no desire to harm you, but I need to know what you're doing. Why were you evaluating us before we entered?"
"The crackling jabber, it killed lots of the Bellerverans who evacuated and thought this place would be safe from the demons. I didn't want you entering if you would just die, I'm sorry for my rudeness creators and their kin."
I picked her up off the ground. "I'm sorry for hitting you with my divinity like that, you're a good girl, I'm sure Constivita would be proud. Are you sure you should be here though? I have a garden that would be much safer for the daughter of an ally and I owe him for his part in my beautiful gift."
"I am not a weed! I can't just grow in someone's garden. Hmpf!" The girls all chuckled so I opened a portal to The Garden and pushed her through.
"This is my garden. I trust you are less offended now. You would be safe, steward over all plants in this world and a part of our family."
"But I can't. What if my creator needs me?"
"Then I will either relinquish you to him, or challenge him to keep you, depending on your wishes, how fond I am of you and how angry he seems. Can't exactly afford to annoy the origin of life too much, the living tend to need it."
The girl chuckled, then asked what would happen to the poor people that faced the crackling jabber without her there to test them. "That's simple, come with us today, when we kill that beast you can leave without worry."
We then returned to the others. "We have a new caretaker for our garden, her only condition is we make this place safe. Let's see it done so we can give Lady... Sorry we didn't get your name."
"I'm no lady and I don't have a name, I only sprouted because of the life energy released by Bellerverans. There was no one left to name me, I hoped the creator was present so that he could."
"In his stead, may I take that honour, everyone should have something to hold onto."
"I guess... He did recognise you with Caliburn... But if he wants to change it he can."
"Then why don't we call you Bell, the last to be born of Bellerver and a budding life to bloom in the wake of its death."
"I like that one. I kind of hope the creator does too."
We all welcomed Bell, who tried very hard to seem detached, then continued on our path.
The woods were brimming with monsters, just as the woods around Kanelsia were. "Why so many damn monsters here as well?"
"It was the war, when death plagues the world in force, my creators will steps forward to oppose it. Life is life, there are no monsters except the undead in its eyes. I wish he would be a bit pickier though, these things may be alive but they bring far more reduction that growth."
"I will have Kuronovus speak to him if you wish." I chuckled, tousling her viney hair as she failed to realise I was joking.
"Adam, this is taking too long, Quatal will wear herself out at this rate."
"Quatal, why don't you work with cousin Bell? She can trap them, you can finish them. You're doing well, but if you get tired just take her into the sky. No injuries allowed ok."
"Ok... Papa... Bell!... Help please."
"I'm not your cousin. Hmpf!" She huffed and puffed, but trapped several monsters in roots and vines, a smile tugging at her lips at.
The monsters were horrific, rampaging and demented, apparently furious at simply being forced to exist at the same time as one another. "This isn't just life pushing back... What is it?"
"It is, the two ladies said so themselves." The mention of two ladies made my divinity unstable, was it Sil and Sinfree? Why? What was there purpose?
"We will talk about these ladies in a second, apologies girls I'm putting an end to this. Quatal, give me Caliburn and get everyone to the sky." I took a deep breath, after she had done as asked, focusing on a new form I had begun work on whilst training Babylon. "Glyph of final judgment: Black Radiance"
My body was consumed by The Black, now more like the me behind the wall, but ready for blood shed. My body grew to three times its normal size and the sky and ground over a large area were covered in black which made even the monsters freeze.
My wings grew out even further, engulfed in the black fire Kuronovus gave me, still only single jointed but they now spanned a ridiculous width with the largest pair measuring twenty-five metres tip-to-tip.
Caliburn, as an extension of my being, evolved with me. He became an embodiment of The Black's will to see certain things gone from the world, not out of hate or blood lust, but because the disrupted the balance of the eight points of the world's origins, which he represented.
"Adam, these creatures are in pain, unimaginable pain. They wish to be free of it. May I help them?" Caliburn whispered, tinged with both sadness and anger at their condition.
"Free them from it."
With that simple answer, I released him, allowed him to fall to the blackened ground which he sank into point first.
He didn't sink immediately, it was a gradual merger, the only unchanged piece of him was the light emitting weight of the pommel, and when that reached the ground it shone brightly and blade rose beneath each monster simultaneously.
Some were decapitated, others cleaved entirely in half, all died instantly.
The blades then receded into The black, which in-turn receded into me, then the light of the pommel glowed brightly to force my form back to normal as it reemerged from the ground.
The display was dramatic, but draining and I fell to one knee before catching myself on Caliburn. "That was a lot, can I take a nap for a while?"
"Of course my friend, thank you for fighting so hard, rest well..."I said as I deposited him back to his casket in my dimension storage space. "I think we're good for a moment! Can someone else make lunch, I am completely knackered!"