Fate of Yggdrasil Chapter 13

Fate of Yggdrasil Chapter 13

Part 1

With the warm blood trickling down my leg, tightening of my chest, back aching, hip, ankles, arms, and the puncture wounds across my body, it felt like death was inevitable. (Why even fight? I’ll just die tired.) Lauritz, the extravagant magekin approached, riding high on his massive bird familiar, flanked by the moaning and weary slaves to his tattoo magic. The old warlock laughed, as he raised his hand, sending forth those followers to attack me! (…What now?) Even with zero optimism on my future, I dodged away! (Self-preservation? Ah…I still…) It was hard. When my eyes caught the darkness surrounding me, I’d feel a cold void looking back. “*Huff…huff…huff…*” Every step I’d take would force me back, all while Lauritz cackled insistently. Blood soaked my bandages; the seed failing to close the wounds fast enough while also battling against whatever other poison permeated my body. Eventually, I tripped, being met with a black ram horn slamming into my side, into my damaged ribs and sending me further down the tunnel into darkness.

“Truly, I’ve not had entertainment like this in ages! To think, humans have finally become something of interest! They can not only build labyrinth like encampments but traverse them like mice!” His words didn’t mean anything to me, just more ramblings of an elitist magekin. Loch, his bird familiar picked up a tattooed man in its beak. “When I last saw one so inspiring, t ’was nearly…seven…no eight decades ago? Age does one’s mind a disservice. Fear not, Fate, I will create a splendid piece using you! One that will remain etched in history!”

That annoying voice, his constant talking down to me, and the way he was using those people, all infuriated me! As Loch released the man over its back and transformed into that feathery boutique yet again, there was a split second I could see a through line! “Laurtitz, I’d advise touching up these works.” The two arrogantly bantered. “This one in particular, is far below your standard.” Crimson strings bound the man's arms and legs. “Add to this one, here!” Both inspected the series of tattoos along his body, ignoring the situation entirely, to the point they even looked away from me!

“Yes…that is true. Maybe an addition…” With quill in hand, Lauritz pressed the tip against the man’s chest. “Creations of man, fuel to the God, oh in my name, rejoice escape your prison! Dancing inks!” Tattoos across his body coursed with purple energy, writhing, and warping his flesh! Festering blisters were left in the wake of the moving ink, red and bubbling on the skin. Screams of agony as the wicked artist and his bird casually chatted drowned out their conversation, reverberating off the tunnel’s walls. Swishing the quill back and forth over the tattoos rearranged and reformed them! Shapes would move to new sections, form animals, objects, and weapons, as if Lauritz were dragging and dropping pieces in an art program. He grew a massive splotch at one point, which slowly took the form of a roaring lion’s head, which was moved over the man’s face.

The whole while that the old magekin and his familiar remained enraptured with their ‘art’, the space between all the people, directly leading me to Lauritz stayed obvious! (…This…is the only chance I have!) Low to the ground, with my chin only above the gravel by mere inches, I launched myself! I weaved beneath grasping hands, exploding tattoo spikes and right into Lauritz’s face! I reeled back, but…

“…Artist decay!” He’d muttered just before I could reach him!

The splotch of ink on my arm, the one I’d totally forgotten about, sprung forth, slashing me across the face like a blade, nearly severing my nose at the bridge! “Agh!” With that, my only window closed. A series of lighting fast beak thrusts from Loch blasted me to the ground! (…Damnit…that’s it, isn’t it?) Defeated, on the ground, gasping for air as the tattooed people approached, I conceded.

“Back away, you filth!” Lauritz leapt from his perch and walked up to me, grabbing me up by the chin, locking eyes as a smirk drew across his ink laden, wrinkled face. “Fate, do not worry. Once I’ve finished with you, you’ll likely still live. Everything, your skin, hair, eyes, voice, and face are all unique! I wish to use you, again and again if possible! The seed has truly transformed you into a lovely canvas.” Again, rage boiled up within me! I found myself trying to clutch my fist, but with no power left, it became an impotent trembling. “Loch, prepare the stage! I will make this a beautiful showcase!” Light, shown behind Lauritz’s head, an all too familiar shine!

Before anything else could happen; however, Loch quickly acted! He snatched the tiny Erna up within his beak, grabbing the small woman up by the scruff of her jacket! “It would appear the mouse has returned, Lauritz!” He said, jostling her about in the air, with a sadistic look in the eye.

Erna was reduced to screaming as she was flung about, dropping her choice of distraction, her flashlight to the ground! “Ah, bring her here, Loch!”

(No! Why didn’t you leave?!) She was lowered down to eye level with Lauritz.

“Little mouse…scurrying about. Do you know what pains I’ve felt in my lifetime?” From a pocket, he produced Erna’s scalpel. “My people were almost completely annihilated, on multiple occasions by your kind!” The blade still dripped with his blood, caked in flesh and what was left of his eye. “Before…hundreds of years ago, then, once again when were betrayed!” Tracing the crimson edge across Erna’s pale cheek, he continued. “Viggo was defeated by that wretch loving fool, tricked, our own ally. For so many years, we lay, locked away, left to suffer the indignities of age and captivity while our people hid! We were, nay, are superior! And yet you…” With the blade point directly at Erna’s eye, mere centimeters away, he grinned. “Y-”

My fist connected Lauritz’s jaw! No thoughts flowed through my mind, just fury! I was blasting that b*****d warlock, full force with the strongest punch I possibly could muster! The last of the heat radiating in my body shot along my chest, shoulder, and into my arm, straight into his face! Bones cracked, skin tore, teeth shattered, and muscles exploded; I could tell all of that from my knuckle connecting with the old man’s brittle body!

Lauritz rag dolled to the tunnel across from us, flying like a discarded piece of trash in the wind! Erna was dropped from Loch’s beak, as the familiar swiftly moved to meet its master! Remaking that cushion like featherbed adorning its obese body, Loch stopped the magekin’s flight just short of smashing headfirst into the wall! I however, failed at catching Erna, who simply landed on the ground in front of me with a thud.

The odd sensation of two bones in my shoulder rubbing each other when they hadn’t before concerned me. Somehow, I knew right away, I’d dislocated my shoulder. Erna tugged me up to a sitting position, saying something to me, but the sound of my fist contacting Lauritz’s face was like a gunshot, deafening me for a minute. She pleaded something, tears welling up in her eyes, as shadows closed in on her, but I couldn’t make out what words were spoken.

Any assumption that Lauritz had died were quickly quashed however, as he staggered back up! “…asta…da!” Finally getting my hearing back, I could make out a curse leaving his mouth, along with a river of blood, teeth and bone fragments! My strike had not only broken his jaw, but nearly torn it asunder! A limp and crimson piece of bone dangled by a strand from his face. The tongue flopping about from what was formerly a mouth rolled down the red waterfall, caked in viscera! Teeth dropped from the reminisces of his jaw like dried paint off a wall. “…a…h…K-ki…yo! I…igt!” That spell again! I was totally immobilized, and worse Erna shielded me with her body, pulling my head into her breasts, she braced herself! There was no way for me to defend her! We waited…but nothing came. “I…I…Ight!” He struggled to put any words together and thus, he was rendered without his spells!

“You needn’t worry, Lauritz. I shall retrieve the seed myself, rend the flesh from the mouse and once we return to Graewood, have you tended to as best we can.” Extending his long legs, raising up like a crane, Loch extended its head just beneath the ceiling of the tunnel! A bright light blinded all of us suddenly as the familiar began its approach. “Trickery such as this will not work again, little mouse!” Loch ignored the obvious, that we were in no position to do any tricks, not expecting at all what would come next.

With the immense power of modern engineering, a subway cart trampled both Lauritz and Loch the familiar! The two bodies disappeared beneath the gigantic machine’s frame in an explosion of blood and feathers! The train’s wheels screeched trying to slow down, blaring its horn and playing a message that I couldn’t quite make out.

“…e…Fa…Fate!” Before me, kneeling onto blood drenched gravel, staining her black stockings red, was Erna. Her small hands cupped my face as she stared deeply into my eyes, tears streaming down her rosy cheeks; she spoke. “Are you…alright?”

“Yeah…” I winced, knowing that was an obvious lie. The sensation of pins and needles poked at the tips of my fingers and toes. “The people…are they alright? Erna, please check on them, okay?”

“But…you’re hurt.” I grabbed her hand, with my only operational hand. A warmth I needed, it helped me calm down and stop shaking.

“Please. I’ll heal up.” The corners of my mouth tried to form a smile. Not sure if I was successful, but Erna seemed to accept that and ran off. Once again, pain set in along my hip, followed by exhaustion; more so than ever. All the tension left my body feeling as if I’d been carrying a massive weight up and down a hill the entire day. The numbness traveled up my arms and legs to the point that I wasn’t even sure which one was dislocated until I looked at them; it was the right. With shallow breaths my lungs stung, straining to fill. Out of nowhere, my arm began to bleed profusely! That ink splotch, like a zit, had burst! It would’ve likely been excruciating, but every part of my consciousness was starting to fade into the secluded darkness surrounding me. Purple lights twinkling on the tracks were my solitary attachment to reality, anchoring me to my nearly unbelievable situation. Those lights were raven feathers, fading away into those purple lights, into nothing, like I was.

“Fate!” With her still working flashlight in hand, Erna came back to the front of me. “I’m sorry…they’re…gone.”

“…” She hoisted me up on her small shoulder as best she could, guiding me toward a nearby platform. In the distance, the train had finally come to a stop. Erna dragged me toward a platform nearby, as we passed the people who no more than a few minutes previously were attacking us! “No! Erna, look! They’re fine!”

“Fate…wait…”

Hope that I’d save them, that my powers had saved some people from a horrible situation…I needed any confirmation that someone survived! “Hey! Are you…?” His face was almost totally gone. Brain matter and skull fragments coated the ground, the lion tattoo having burst took his flesh and bones along. He was dead, without any hint of life left. All the people lay on the tracks, dead. Gigantic lumps of flesh were missing from their bodies, spilling organs onto the ground! Festering rashes layered the destroyed dermis, deep into the flesh, already beginning to rot away.

She hugged me; Erna did. “It’s…not your…fault…it’s not…” Sirens blared in the distance, as my friend gripped me tightly, with a hushed sob. We stood surrounded by those bodies, in a part of the city that would’ve been left alone, but so long as I kept living, innocent lives, my friends, and family could end up the same.

“…It is.” It was my fault. All my fault.

Part 2

The minute the door opened; she froze with horror. Must have been one hell of a sight, her battered son covered in blood, standing alongside an unknown girl; any reaction would’ve been acceptable, but the last thing I wanted…was another passionate hug. “Fate…you damn idiot! What-what are you getting yourself into?!”

“…I’m so sorry, Mom.” Mom did just as I feared, the most passionate hug she could muster.

We decided to stay at my apartment for the night. It took over an hour to walk back to my home and by the time we made it, the sun was rising. Taking every back street and alleyway, we made it without running into a single police officer. My body was so damaged by then, that just walking upright was nearly impossible, but Erna persevered, shouldering my weight without a complaint throughout the journey home.

“…Thanks, Mom.” My clothes, what was left of them, were quickly discarded. Unfortunate, since I’d grown attached to that tracksuit, as my training gear.

“The young lady is in the shower. When she’s done, do you want me to help you with the dye?” It wouldn’t just need a dying, but a trim too; my hair had sprouted so much from transforming, I could barely keep it out of my eyes.

“No. I should learn how to do it myself.” As I rinsed my face in the sink, without warning, my shoulder suddenly relocated itself! Fortunately, Mom had looked away, missing the seed at work. “Gah!” Crusted blood flakes circled the drain and disappeared, but the chunks of flesh that clung to my skin got caught in the sink strainer. “…They were people…f*****g people…” The room spun, like a tilt-a-whirl, everything began going around and around.

Mom returned with a first-aid kit, filled to the brim with supplies. “…Here. You should see yourself.” With her phone camera, Mom showed me how much my appearance had changed. The face staring back was hardly recognizable. A hint of gold permeated my eyes, my black hair was ghastly white, extending from my forehead down my back; and my skin…it was brown enough to resemble my father’s. All that’s without counting the injuries I’d sustained. “You look like some kind of monstrous version of Zahn.”

“…That’s not a nice thing to say to your son.” Even thinking about it made me feel sick. I went about trying to dress my wounds around my waste but wasn’t doing a great job.

“That girl, is she the one you mentioned before?” Luckily, Mom did have basic medical training, so she took over and assisted applying the new bandages.

“Yeah.”

“Then…does she know all about this secret you’ve been keeping from me?”

“…Not all of it, no.”

“Then she does know some of it!”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“…I…” I wanted to but wasn’t even sure if Erna was safe knowing what she did! When Anesha found out, if she wanted to kill her, I wouldn’t be able to stop her. “…Maybe…I want to. I really do, Mom. But for now, please don’t make me.”

“…Alright. Here’s your towel. Figure out whatever you need to do about this girl and whatever is happening with you.” Mom finished and stormed off, only stopping for a second in her bedroom doorway. “Fate, I love you. Goodnight.”

“…I love you too, Mom.” Watching my mother close the door behind her, a thought crossed my mind. (Anesha will be showing up again soon. Mom has no way of protecting herself. She doesn’t even own a gun…) My body was beaten, and my mind was at the point of exhaustion, so I chock that next rancid idea up to a lapse in good sense. I left the apartment to sit on the stoop in front of the building, dialing his number - my father’s.

It rang once, twice, a third time and I hung up, angry with myself for even considering that man! Immediately, my phone began buzzing! It was him, calling back. I ignored it. He called again, and I ignored it. A text came through. [You called me! Please do not play games. If there’s something you need then answer the phone!]

I almost smashed the phone! (How dare he take that tone with me?! Thinking now he gets to be firm with me! You…) Another call came through from him and that time, I answered. “…”

“…”

“…”

“…” We both just sat in silence for what felt like minutes, but the call timer read no more than fifteen seconds. “Fate? What’s the matter?”

“…”

“If you’re calling me, it must be important.”

“…”

“…I won’t pretend to know what you need, but if it’s money then…”

“Shut the f**k up! Don’t…” That feeling of my blood pumping, my body heating up, it all instantly kicked in again, and so did those ghost feelings of that…warlock’s bones being shattered by my fist. “I…you…don’t…f**k…” Again, what little composure I managed to accrue crumbled away.

“…I’m sorry. I know you’re doing your best.”

“…”

“I didn’t mean to sound like I was looking down on you.”

“…You never did it before…but can I trust you to do something?”

“…What is it?”

“Can you take care of Mom, if something happens to me?”

“Fate, what is happening to you?”

“Just promise me.”

“First, tell me-”

“Promise me! Promise me you’ll fulfill the job you never did when I was younger! Promise you’ll take care of the first woman you promised to love all those years ago, like you were supposed to!”

“…I promise.”

“…Good. Bye.”

“Fate, wa-” I hung up, and returned upstairs.

As soon as I pushed the front door open, I heard what sounded like a mouse squeak and the door to my room slam shut! Steam radiated from the bathroom and small damp footprints led into the walkway. It didn’t take a genius to realize I missed out on my chance to have a wacky romcom moment with the presumably half-naked, dripping wet girl cowering in my room. “Erna?” I knocked at my own door.

“…Huhuhu…” A particularly frazzled chuckle resounded from beyond the door.

“Sorry. Uh, if it helps, I didn’t see anything.”

“…hu…huhuhu…” Low chuckling again.

“…Don’t do anything in this house that you would regret… Would have to make it into another secret you’d have to keep form you dear ol’ mother…” Sly comments from behind caught me off guard as Mom peered from the crack in her doorway.

“Why is every single woman in my life so damn weird?”

Part 3

I laid on the couch, yielding my bed and room to Erna. The front door closing behind my mother as she left for work, woke me, though I hadn’t fully fallen asleep anyway. The events from mere hours earlier were swirling around endlessly in my mind. Images of people’s ink stained skin, exploding, with revolting and festering zits, bursting would flashback whenever I tried to close my eyes. An assault on my senses each time I started to drift off to sleep reminding me that I’d essentially killed another living being, haunted me. The taste, feeling, smell, sounds, sights…and worst of all…the blankness of my own mind as I watched that b*****d’s life get snuffed out right in front of me.

The hairs standing up on the back of my neck and electricity in the air…she was close by; waiting for me to notice her! (What do I do?) Anesha was waiting! It wasn’t like any other time before. She knew I could sense her. It was an unmistakable aura emanating from the back of my complex. (Anesha is probably out back…what…what do I say to her.) I resigned myself to see her. My heavy steps reverberated as I walked toward the front door, stopping to look toward my room, shut tight. Erna was most likely still asleep, completely unaware of the looming threat that was the sadistic witch awaiting me. If I needed to, I’d beg Anesha…to allow Erna to live at the very least. (Maybe…she doesn’t know. Maybe…I can still hide it from her.) I walked forward, closing the threshold behind.

Every inch closer to the back of the complex was like walking toward my death, toward the electric chair, or at least that’s what I imagined. Anesha was on a different level than me, in her mind, and my own at that point. All she’d need to do would be find out I’d planned on betraying her, or even that I’d let someone in on our secret. Was the secret truly out of the bag? Did Erna see enough to anger Anesha? All those questions would be answered when I spoke with my tormentor.

“My…what a sorry state you appear to be in. Truly, you are a pitiful one.” From atop her broom, like a queen, Anesha crossed her legs and raised her hand to her mouth, laughing in a haughty tone. “You still breathing means at the very least Lauritz hath not had his way with you.”

“You…knew that scum?”

“A tad, speaking to why my barrier did not affect him. I’d assumed he was long dead, which is a mistake I made corrections for at the Graewood barrier as to not have a similar failing in the future.” I couldn’t tell what was going through her head, checking her nails nonchalantly. “Why was it that you faced Lauritz when I instructed you to do otherwise?”

“…” That question, if I told her the answer, surely Anesha would be furious. I’d directly gone against what she wanted me to do. No matter how many responses I pawed over in my head, no excuse seemed right. “A friend of mine…was in danger. The mana coming off of me must have drawn him in their direction.”

“I see…”

“There’s also…” (Wait, what am I doing?) “Something else…” Was I about to make a huge mistake? (Stop, you idiot!) “My friend…they…” (Don’t do it!)

“They know about your powers and magic now, no?”

“What?!” The secret was out! My face became instantly flushed and with mouth agape, I stuttered my way through a question. “H-H-H-How did you know?”

“Hmhmhm…” She giggled, leering with those mahogany eyes. “You know, you cannot hide things from me.” Chills. The smirk crept across her face as fear welled up in the pit of my stomach. That hellish void; nothing was more terrifying than that, not even having to fight that scumbag Lauritz again! “Oh…how shall I deal with this?” Reentering that space because I disobeyed her, I’d sooner have allowed her to break my wrist, no, both!

“Wait, please! She doesn’t know about you!”

“Oh?” Anesha hopped from atop her broomstick and walked over to me. “Really?” She poked her fingernail into my sternum, teasingly. “How can I believe you…when you’ve already disobeyed before?” The wrinkle of her nose and seductiveness of her speech; if I wasn’t so afraid at the time, I may have been enraptured by the cruel witch’s beauty.

“Please, just…”

“Hahaha!” Anesha cackled. “How entertaining! Your feeble attempts to hold your head high, to maintain some form of independence are so very amusing. I’d never had a real dog before, but maybe this is what it would be like.” In my head I was almost happy, she’d upgraded me from dirt to a dog, but that thought made me shiver with how pathetic it was. “…Have you really kept my identity hidden?”

“Yes! Absolutely!”

“…Creating wards is becoming troublesome.”

“What do you mean?”

“…This person who knows of your powers, I assume…they’re a close friend of yours?”

“Yes, they are.”

“…”

“…Uh…” Anesha had a somber look on her face as she framed her chin with thumb and index finger, obviously deep in thought. “…” I remained quiet, just waiting, and watching patiently.

“…It would appear that my thought earlier would truly be for the best.” With that statement, Anesha just casually walked back to her still floating broom and sat across the handle. “For now, go about your business. There are a few things that I need to handle, and we will meet up again very, very soon.” Like a rocket shooting upward, she disappeared into the night sky.

“…” Dumbstruck, confused, traumatized, fearful, beaten, aching and just plain tired, I limped back to my apartment; too exhausted to question anything else, hoping that whatever would come next, would be blessings and no more curses.

End of chapter 13