AO 7 Ch 41

"So, uh, I scratched my cheek. "How does it feel to have been in a race for... how long?" I hazarded.

She squinted at me. "Long enough." 

"Alright, you've been in this race long enough against me. Yet, I wasn't even aware of it until now? Also, I'm guessing 'long enough' is longer than I've even been alive. So, now that I've caught up, how does it feel?" I egged her on. 

"Shut your damn mouth!" She screamed loud enough to shake the palace. "Just because you're about to lose doesn't mean I'll make losing any easier. No, I will extract every ounce of your soul, morsel by morsel, until you are begging me to finish."

"Oh, that sounds nice." I nodded along, doing my best to keep my cool. Even as I bantered with apparently my ultimate foe, my anchors were spreading themselves around the room, and I had no doubt my goddesses were watching raptly from whatever seating they enjoyed in my soul.

I hoped that when I summoned Missy this time, she would be at least marginally prepared and not caught so off guard that she fell on her rear. One could hope, though the goddesses all seemed rather casual about everything. Apparently after living long enough, they were desensitized to most situations.

"You infuriate me, Ard. Just because you were born with more potential than me makes you think you're superior." She spoke the word with no small amount of disgust. 

"Not really. I just think it's kind of pathetic that you are racing someone and you're only declaring the race now that we're at the finish line. And even then, I still don't know if you're going to win." I shrugged.

"Oh no, I will win," she said, holding her arms out, palms up, as the Zenovian royals rose from their kneeling positions at her gesture. 

"Well, that is a little creepy. I'll give you that." I looked over the rising royals, spotting Eva amongst them but not staring lest she take hold of my weakness.

"Oh, Ard, if you had just been a good little puppy and done what I needed of you, none of this would have had to happen." She shook her head sadly. "You were supposed to come here, participate, perhaps fall in love, and spend enough time in the palace that I could seep my way into your dreams and feast upon your very soul."

"I'll take another option, please," I said.

"I hope the rest of you is just as quick as that tongue of yours." She gestured, and one of the Zenov heirs rushed me, a dagger in hand.

Maribelle didn't even hesitate, stepping forward and skewering him like a pig. 

The pseudo-goddess, or whatever the appropriate term was, on the throne gasped, "You'd kill your own blood?"

"Never really liked him anyway," I shrugged. It actually felt pretty shitty, but Maribelle wouldn’t let anyone, not even my own mother come at me with a dagger.

"And you said I was the one with a cold, dead heart." She replied with a huff. With another gesture, Vel'shae came busting into the back of the room, busting through the room behind us. I didn't even so much as look over my shoulder, knowing my anchors could handle them, and knowing that I needed to keep my eyes on the biggest threat, this mad woman before us. 

"They're going to kill your anchors," she said. 

"Not the first time they've died. Don't worry, they just bounce right back. But let’s get back to you. You haven't even introduced yourself, is Jezebel even your real name?" I shot back, waiting for her answer.

The godling scoffed. "Jezebel Kalman Zenov." She said her full name as if it was supposed to mean something. Though, I’d been hoping for a little more, like what kind of aspects she might have access to.

"Cool name. Do you mind if I call you Jez?" I asked.

"That you would reduce my name to a single syllable of disrespect. How uncouth." She replied.

"Yeah, the whole royal demeanor skipped a generation with me," I said. "Now let me take a guess at who you really are. Maybe a thousand, a thousand fifty years ago you came to pass. Your father is a Zenov, but your mother is Freya?" I said all that and waited patiently with a smile as Jezebel frowned at me.

"How did you know?" she asked. "Oh, I know. You were aware of the race this whole time," She laughed. "To think you would try and pretend not to know my magnificence."

"Oh no. I mean, I recognize you're the lady that was with Augustus, but no. Didn't know you before. Really just learning about this whole race a bit now." I replied.

"Then how do you know my story?" She frowned.

"Well, because it was easy enough to guess. I can tell you what happens here, should you win." I smirked and loved that I had her attention as she leaned forward on the throne, only for a spike of earth to shoot up straight for her throat.

She moved unnaturally, the stone nearly touching her neck, but she twisted and flipped out of the throne, only to land beside it easily on two feet. Her dress was a confusing swirl of fabric as Jezebel grabbed at her neck.

"You nearly had me, Arden, but it won't be that easy." She threw her hand forward, and with it came a purple mist.

Whatever was in that mist, I knew I didn't want it anywhere near me. I created a ball of fire between the two of us and compressed it briefly before it exploded with enough pressure to drive the mist away. Unfortunately, I caught more of Zenov's descendants with that strike.

My opponent had a few slight burns on her hands but Jezebel only laughed and grabbed another of the nobles by the chin. As they stared into her eyes, they fell limp to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

"So tasty, Arden," she said, licking her lips. "And we both know that the best competition I could ever ask for is the juicy morsel before me." Her eyes were fixed on mine. "We may not be gods yet, but at the end of this we will be."

With a gesture of her hand, the purple mist swirled out and into the walls. Somehow that changed the landscape around us. The Zenovian heirs were still scattered before us, with the Vel'shae behind me being broken by my anchors.

But the space now reminded me of the times that Missy brought me to fight Freya, a space in between, represented by our aspects. Her half of the throne room had been changed into a shifting, strangely tropical locale filled with colorful trees that bent at odd angles and things that flickered at the edge of my vision, while my own was a twisting maelstrom far too chaotic to clearly define.

"It seems you don't even know what your aspect is," she laughed. "Welcome to my world of dreams." She spun around, and as she did, all of the Zenov heirs did as well, like it was some choreographed dance. She had definitely captured the evil mastermind vibe with her syncratic spinning.

When she stopped spinning, she stared at me once again, waiting for my praise.

"You know I wasn't lying earlier when I said I knew what happened next.”

“Lies!" she snapped and a ghastly figment from her dreamscape peeled itself off the wall and rushed at me. With a flick of my wrist, a bolt of lightning scattered the ghost into sparkling dust.

"Oh no, it's even more important how I knew exactly what was going to happen. You see, Freya is over here trying to create gods, first King Martin, and then you. And I can assure you, no matter which one of you came out on top, it didn't matter."

"What? King Martin was becoming a god?” She paused.

“Sort of. I really hope there are higher standards than that in the future though. Kind of takes some of the luster off my own godling-ness." I stated incredulously. "Do you know she modified his body so that he could directly suck the souls from his victims?” 

She watched me. “No. My mother wasn’t in Garrish except to ignite the spark of war. Martin was just a toy.”

“Yep. Maybe that’s why it was a crude attempt. Not very elegant. I'm not sure he even realized that Freya was simply using him as a pig to fatten for her own feast." I pushed, knowing she would not like that concept.

Sure enough, that very idea set Jezebel off. With two motions of her hands, more specters of the dream world ripped themselves from the walls and rushed at me. This time, I wasn't able to keep talking as lightning and fire danced off my fingertips, blasting into the figures and keeping them at bay.

"You're only this mad because you know it's true. We could find you help for your clear mommy issues and just let this go." I called over the fray.

Jezebel screamed with rage before she gestured upwards with both hands. A massive figure rose from the center of her hall, only to come lumbering towards me. "What you said may have been true of Freya when it comes to King Martin, but I am her daughter. If she was fattening him up, it was for me!"

“The denial is strong with this one.” Emlyn shouted as she punted a Vel’shae mutt out of the room and brushed the hair out of her face.

“I know right?” I managed between throwing around magic.

To match the lumbering figure, I mimed her motions and pulled a large figure of stone from my section of the fight. It was a massive nose with arms and legs, but the nose-golem would do the trick. I sent it charging down the center to meet hers.

The two of them met with a booming collision. Their arms attempted to wrap around one another and gain the advantage. I was directly controlling the figure as Jezebel was hers.

"I’m not sure Freya views family the same way you do. " I told her. "And really, your definition appears a little flawed as well. You even said it yourself. Your last name is Zenov, and look what you've been doing to your family, turning them into mere cattle for you to harvest their souls without realizing you're just someone else's livestock one step higher up the pecking order."

A bird made of rainbows flew down from the ceiling above. Talons stretched out as it raced towards me before an arrow made of light pierced it several feet from my face. A moment later, Aurelia leaped over me, catching it with her axe and batting it aside.

"Good shot!" I called over my shoulder.

In that moment of distraction, the fight with the two lumbering giants was settled as hers swept the feet from mine. In the stone golem's last seconds, I had it twist its massive nose and take hers down with it.

Once both of them slammed into the ground, a swarm of lizards running on two legs, the size of a cat but with a disproportionately large head, came swarming over, rushing towards me.

Jezebel laughed. "Die, fool, and take your foolish notions with you."

"No thanks," I retorted as Maribelle rolled forward, her bluesteel knife slicing into the little critters.

As Maribelle moved, Emlyn came thundering through, lightning crackling off her sword as she killed the little monsters by the handful with each swing.

I trusted my anchors, and rather than continuing to fend off her creations one by one, I went on the offensive. Chains of Ardenium shot out from the ground, leaping over the monsters, and headed straight for Jezebel.

There was just one massive problem with my plan. Eva threw herself in the way of the chains.

I couldn't stop the chains fast enough. They smacked into her with enough force to bowl her over. I was certain I would be paying for that hit later.

Jezebel laughed as a new flock of dream monsters dropped from the ceiling like a swarm of bats. I had to shift my focus upwards, lightning racing off my fingertips and chaining between the creatures as they exploded into more sparkling dust.

"After that bravado about not caring about them, it seems this one is important to you. How about these?"

Rather than just the physical people present, what came next were specters of possibly my own dreams, the man and woman who raised me, teenage Emlyn, and the many concepts I had of my father. In that moment, I hesitated to destroy them, and the space that we were in quickly shifted as her dream escape swallowed my chaos.

"It's not real," Emlyn shouted, and I let loose enough lightning to fry a wyrm, flooding the entire hall with lightning and scouring the violations of my dreams.

Though while doing so, laughter that was clearly from Cowtits sounded around the area. Freya made herself known, cackling like a madwoman and hovering over Jezebel's shoulders. "That's right, you must be ruthless, daughter. Use their every weakness to your advantage."

"I was wondering when Cowtits would show up," Emlyn said.

I turned to her with a massive scowl. "After how many times you told me that was disrespectful?"

"It would be if it wasn't true," Emlyn gestured. "I mean, good God, woman. How do you even function?" Emlyn made a gesture between swings of her sword, lightning bouncing off the tip and frying more of the little horrific lizards.

"Some of them just really don't understand your beauty, mother." Jezebel stated firmly.

I stared now at Jezebel. "Well, at least you didn't get that from her. Or is it not genetic, Cowtits? You just did it to yourself?"

Missy appeared to my right suddenly. Apparently Freya coming out to play meant my gods would join in as well.

"Oh, there you are. Come to watch as my Jezebel swallows your Ard whole? It was a valiant effort, Missy, but ultimately your intervention with Ard was nothing more than your death throes. A last-ditch effort at your end." Freya laughed and even swung close, like she was daring me and Missy to hit her.

"Don't," Ditzy warned as she appeared at my side. "It's like when you taunted Thor. She's a goddess and you two aren’t there. This isn't a battle that gods can join until you invite her by attacking," Ditzy said, casting me a meaningful look.

"Not that I need the gods to join," I said. "Because for all this bluster about having some big plan, I'm still standing."

"Are you, Ard?" Freya asked with a tilted head. "Or are you dreaming?"

With those words, Freya's body twisted and swirled as the floor shifted disorientingly around me. Jezebel laughed as she showed me where my chaos had lost ground. She now controlled most of the hall and her dreamscape could twist in any such way she wished.

Emlyn tried to rush across the room only for it to turn into a stairway that led her back up behind me like some sort of optical illusion. "Wait, what?" Emlyn came to a halt and looked at me as if it was my fault.

"Don't ask me, you're the one who ran forward and somehow ended up behind me. Though I think we might have a problem." I told Emlyn. Jezebel had enough control of her space that my anchors couldn’t go on the offensive.

"I'm so happy he understands his demise," Freya said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh Jezebel, it's time now. Consume him and become whole. Become more than just my spawn, become a god alongside me."

Despite her mother’s words there was a kernel of doubt in Jezebel’s gaze.

"Before you do that, I just want to make sure that you’ve been given all the fine print. I’m sure Freya told you the part where gods often eat their children to grow even more powerful.” I offered up.

Jezebel scowled at me before shifting her focus marginally towards Freya. "I thought that was only if they shared aspects.”

“Aspects are often similar along familiar lines, but it isn’t required.” I gave a little wiggle of my eyebrows, waiting for her to fill in some of the missing pieces.

“Do not listen to the boy and consume him. The longer we wait this out, the greater chance that some unexpected problem rears its ugly head." Freya coached while looking like she was practically drooling over Jezebel. At the mention of ugly heads, she glared at the two goddesses standing with me.

"Oh, she did not just call me ugly," Ditzy said as Jezebel began to spin up a larger effort.

The dream world around me shifted, and my anchors collapsed around me. My own space only spanned several strides worth of ground, as the dreamscape around me shifted and Jezebel became an almighty wyrm that covered the sky. This one had wings that spanned the sky and a maw ready to swallow my small space whole.

"Do not fret, Ard, your efforts won't be wasted. I'll put them to good use. Perhaps I'll even keep your harem around," Freya laughed. "There's more than a few gods that would pay divine morsels to see Aphrodite dance on a pole."

Ditzy snapped. She threw her spear, though, I quickly realized her spear had changed. It was no longer the glittering, shining gold it had been before, but it was now the mysterious Ardenium that I had made in my soul.

It pierced through Jezebel in her monstrous dream form, ramming through the roof of the soft palate of her mouth and out the other end, only for it to swing back through the air into Ditzy's waiting hand.

Freya looked gobsmacked and Jezebel reared back, her form crumpling back to that of a human as blood poured out of her mouth.

Freya screamed and, with a flick of will, summoned a mass of spectral cats that bore down on Ditzy.

But I trusted myself and everything they'd told me enough to put myself between her and them.

The first spectral cat mauled me, and unlike the fight with Thor where I somehow had been completely protected, this felt like I had been pricked by thorns and bumped into by a cart as I stumbled back, great scratches across my arm.

Freya reeled as if it had done more damage to her than me.

"Ard," Ditzy shouted and grabbed me to make sure I was okay.

"No worries. The worst crime would be scratching your beautiful face. But I’m fine. That barely did anything to me." I told them.

Freya, on the other hand, had large claw marks that gouged deep into her breasts. "How am I hurt, but you were merely scratched?" Freya seethed. "Kill them now, Jezebel. Turn their world into a living hell. Burn them, freeze them, bury them beneath the sea. Get creative.” Freya screamed as a whip appeared in her hands and she lashed her daughter.

There was a small drop of sympathy from me. No one should treat their child that way. But in the same breath, that didn't excuse Jezebel, even if she was the product of something far more horrible. It was every persons own responsibility for what they did.

"Ard. Chaos," Missy urged.

Usually chaos just came and I didn’t have to think about it so much. I froze up for a moment, trying to think what to do next. Fire, lightning, shadows, light, earth, life, and death, and even ice swirled out of my hands, filling the room with as much magic as I could produce. It clashed and exploded in a myriad of elements all over the room.

My anchors joined in on the fun. Maribelle picked up a lump that had been the stone golem from earlier, hurling it into more dream figures that seemed to spawn with each beat of my heart.

They were horrifying things, things of my past, things of my deepest worries. It was as if Jezebel had scooped out all of my anxieties and given them life. The really pissed off Emlyn was particularly terrifying.

As we engaged, I felt it. A shift, a subtle shift but one that I could sense nonetheless. Where my magic swelled, it grew more potent. Each and every breath that I drew filled me with more vigor than before, and I pulled deeper on everything I had in the Ardenium Palace.

The glittering purple chains shot out around me, joining the swirl and grinding back the hall from Jezebel, pushing her dream world away and filling it with my own brand of chaos. Multicolored vines sprang from the walls as they cracked and caved in an uneven cadence.

"Fool, don't lose your advantage." Freya lashed Jezebel again, and it spurred Jezebel into greater action. She reached for the Zenovs, and like little ducklings, they lined up, rushing towards her. The first one she touched only for him to disappear like mist in the wind, blowing away as if they'd never been there, and Jezebel's eyes grew slightly brighter. 

"Stop them now," I gestured for someone, anyone, to help.

Missy clasped her hands and suddenly looked like she was pulling an invisible string, only for the rushing group of Zenovs to stop dead in their tracks. 

"You," Freya screamed and threw herself across the space, rippling with so much power that Jezebel's dreamscape crackled dangerously. Freya landed before Missy and swung a staff to send her flying.

Ditzy moved in to help protect the other goddess with a shield of Ardenium and took the blow readily, skidding back only a single step before surging forward, her spear at the ready.

She wasn't alone in her counter-attack. "Bad kitty," she muttered, a phrase that must have come from deep within my soul.

Bad Kitty appeared like a yowling mad cat, slashing with her hands that left traces in the air and scored deep cuts along Freya's face. The goddess staggered backward to protect herself. 

"There's the trio," Freya laughed while wiping blood from her face. “Now it’s time for mine to join the fight.” Several more gods appeared on Freya’s side. 

The Hades that we had met before cracked his neck in introduction. Most of his form was hidden under a huge cloak.

A large purple woman appeared behind Jezebel. "And not too late by the looks of it," she said. 

"You are all disgusting," Bad Kitty hissed. 

"Killing competition before it thrives is an age-old practice. Don't pretend it's anything bothersome or new," Hades said. "If you'd like, I'd happily show you plenty of examples where it occurred back when you were in your prime. After all, it's not as if your pantheon doesn't have its own dark secrets. I assume you've all shared those with Ard. The times you've betrayed those that you love." 

I frowned, wondering exactly what he was referring to, but he was looking dead at Bad Kitty. 

"Later," she said urgently, "I will tell you everything. For now, do you trust me?" 

"Of course," I replied. "Besides, you're already a bad kitty. That is nothing new. Even if at times you're my good kitty, I'm certain you've been up to no good." 

"You're a fool to trust any of them," Hades warned me. "But, fool or not, the dead is dead. And the dead seldom need good judgment." Hades' power gathered around him, pooling into Jezebel's and sweeping the dream world from her grasp. 

"Hey," she shouted, concern lacing her tone, "what are you doing?" 

"Finishing what you could not," Hades said, his voice rich with authority. 

"They are mine," Jezebel screamed, her world of dreams warping and trying to crash down upon me and the rest of my group with the last of its strength.

I didn't know what to do. Danger seemed to be encroaching from every direction. It was chaos.
God against God, my anchors fighting savagely on my side to help me push back. Jezebel and her fledgling powers. Meanwhile, this same woman was trying to surreptitiously consume the royal family's souls right in front of me. Amidst this chaos, what bloomed brightest in my mind was not any of the particular elements, not the magic, but the connections between the people present. 

I could feel just how much Jezebel loved Freya, how much she would throw herself at her mother's feet for the simplest of requests. I could feel the emotion of my women, each and every one of them radiating devotion and love back towards me. Though the devotion took many different forms and colors, at the end of the day, it was all rich and pure. 

Unlike that of my enemies. Jezebel's love was sickly. It was one-sided towards Freya. A similar devotion radiated out of Hades. Not just for Freya, but to my surprise, for Ditzy as well. And even a small bit tried to stretch out and strangle Missy. To call it devotion was a misnomer. Hades wanted control. What he wanted was not something that cared for the other's opinion. 

The other two gods that had joined Freya had their own strands stretching out in every direction. I looked at myself as it felt like the world slowed. My own heart was reaching out in every direction. Some right here to the ladies in the room with powerful entrenching bonds. While others stretched often to the distance. Some tenuous at best. Others like an iron band that could drag me down with them. 

I let out a sigh as something just clicked in the chaos before me. I reached deep into my soul. I had one of the last connections that lied within me. I wasn't just connected to people. I was connected to the Ardenium. And in particular, what lay inside the core of me. 

I pulled out a broken crown from my chest. The thing was old, worn. Perhaps it had once been gold or silver. At this point, it was more tarnished metal than anything else, like I was some long-forgotten king. Or perhaps this was a discarded crown. Either way, it didn't matter. 

As I reached up and put it on my head, an overwhelming power wrapped itself around my mind, suffocating it and filling me with untold power.