[Vanquished]
An unfamiliar voice spoke in his mind. It sounded like the voice from the soul space, but the soul space always used his voice.
’What the hell is going on, and what’s Vanquished?’
He turned his head, looking for the other guy, only to find a man lying on the ground to his left, a dagger buried deep in his neck.
’Huh... Did I do th—’
The thought barely had time to form when something small and warm pressed against his right side.
Ash jerked, his breath catching in his throat as he looked down.
A young girl, maybe ten years old, was clinging to him. Her hair was a cascade of white so pale it seemed to shimmer with its own light against the glow of the alien suns. Her face was thin and fragile, and her wide, terrified eyes were locked on the horizon, filled with a fear that seemed far too deep for a child.
"Big brother... I’m scared."
Ash froze. The words made no sense. His mind went blank. He had no idea what was going on. He glanced around sharply, scanning the cliff edge for anyone else, maybe her actual brother. Yet there was nothing. Just him, the terrified girl, the corpse, and the endlessly calm, glittering ocean.
He followed her gaze out to the ocean. Then, without warning, the ocean split.
Something monstrous and unnameable clawed its way up from beneath the waves, and the warm air turned deathly cold.
A creature of pure black tore itself from the deep. It was bird-like in shape, but a grotesque perversion of the form. Its wings were vast, shredded, and stretched too thin. Its face was covered in jagged, roiling black eyes that pulsed like boiling tar, and beneath them, a maw split open in a grin of hundreds of serrated, dripping teeth. From its spine erupted a forest of tails, dozens of whip-like appendages thrashing independently with maddening energy.
And plunged deep into its skull, buried between two of the writhing eyes, was the hilt of a greatsword.
The creature screamed, and the violent vibration shook the cliff and rattled Ash’s bones.
’What the hell is that thing...’
Ash could only stare, his body frozen, as the creature’s massive form heaved itself higher and higher into the sky.
Strangely enough, even the sky itself changed. Dark clouds swarmed in, smothering the multiple suns one by one until the world was plunged into a stormy twilight.
The creature was alive. And it was fighting desperately to stay that way.
Standing atop its head was a man.
Ash narrowed his eyes.
The warrior clung to the monster’s skull, leaning forward as his legs slid with every violent, erratic wingbeat. He slowly made his way toward the greatsword, fingers clawing for purchase on the slick, hideous flesh while the creature bucked and screamed, trying to fling him off.
The girl beside Ash whispered, her voice trembling against his leg.
"Be careful..."
The warrior gritted his teeth and finally wrapped both hands around the sword’s hilt. With a roar of effort that cut through the creature’s shrieks, he heaved. The blade tore free with a radiant, blinding golden glow that seared against the storm-dark sky. In the same motion, he roared again and drove the sword back down with every ounce of his strength.
The creature shrieked, a sound that ripped at the air itself. Its wings snapped open, thrashing wildly as it pitched upward, then twisted in the air like a mortally wounded bird of prey. It angled itself straight toward the cliff. Straight toward Ash and the girl.
The warrior, still balanced precariously on its skull, shouted over the chaos, his voice raw and strained.
"Young lord, get out of the way!"
Ash snapped out of his trance. He didn’t know who the warrior was referring to, but the creature was definitely coming straight for them.
’Shit.’
He tried to move, but he couldn’t. The girl held onto his side with a death grip, her small nails digging into his skin. She was frozen with terror and refused to let go.
’Argh... Perfect timing.’
In one fluid motion, he scooped her up into his arms and bolted. The ground where they had been standing tore apart a second later as the monster slammed into the cliff face.
Stone and earth exploded outward in a deafening roar, sending vibrations surging through the soles of his feet. Ash hit the dirt hard several meters back, twisting his body to shield the girl, his back pressed into the wild grass as dust and debris rained down around them.
The beast twitched violently. Its tails flailed in a final, dying spasm. Its wings convulsed once, twice, and then it went utterly still. Its colossal body crumpled in on itself, the greatsword buried deep in its skull.
On top of its head, the warrior staggered to his feet. His chest rose and fell in harsh, ragged bursts, his shoulders slick with sweat and sea spray. Black hair was matted to his brow, sticking to skin that gleamed faintly under the fractured light of the returning suns. His clothes were battered but held the distinct shape of armor. His eyes, when they found Ash’s, were a startling, clear jade. They weren’t sharp or hostile. They were just warm and tired.
The warrior offered a small smile. It wasn’t the desperate grin of a survivor or the hollow smirk of someone broken by battle. It was quiet and genuine, almost reassuring.
The clouds pulled back, revealing the strange suns once more. Ash expected to feel relieved, but instead, the suns themselves began to dim one after another. He had never seen a sun die like this.
Unlike the suns of this world, Varagos’ sun was a constant, a dull, reliable burn in the sky that set beyond the unknown half of the world. That’s how a normal sky was supposed to be. But this... This felt wrong. Like something that wasn’t supposed to happen.
The creature’s massive body ignited. White fire crawled across its hideous skin like a living, consuming thing, and its agonized screech tore open the air. The man on its head didn’t burn. He simply stood there, frowning down at the sight beneath him.
Then the last sun gave up its light, and the world drowned in an absolute, chilling blackness. The air turned sharp and cold, carrying the scent of ozone and charred flesh.
Above them, the moon, or something doing a very poor impression of one, lit up the dark. It glowed a sickly, bone-white. Its surface wasn’t smooth or serene, but jagged and fractured like a massive scar ripped across the fabric of the sky, with broken pieces drifting beside it.
However, the strange light of the broken moon didn’t seem to affect the creature. The white fire guttered and died, and the monster’s colossal body sagged against the shattered cliff face, its sides still heaving with ragged, wet breaths. Ash could see that it was still barely alive.
The man smiled anyway.
"Good. I thought we were going to lose it to the suns. Good thing we struck it when it was almost the Hour of Night."
The man turned toward Ash with that same smile.
"Young lord, you were right. It actually worked. The Night core was really on its head. We just had to hit it."
The man yanked his greatsword free with a wet, sucking sound. Black blood sprayed across the grass in a wide arc, sizzling where it landed and eating tiny, smoking holes into the earth. Flicking the blade clean with a practiced twist of his wrist, he sent the droplets pattering against the stone and hopped down from the beast’s skull.
He took a few steps closer.
"So, what do you want done? Earung’s not here to butcher it for the hearts, and there’s no way we can drag it back ourselve before the next Hour of the Suns. We could wait for the rest, but time isn’t on our side. Like you said, the Night core are gone. Without it, the beast will die a slow death. And when it does, our quest dies with it."
He shrugged.
"I can try for the hearts myself, but don’t expect Earung’s finesse. What do you think?"
The warrior’s jade-green eyes fixed on Ash.
Ash didn’t have the slightest clue what the man was talking about. The only thing he gathered was that this stranger was also calling him young lord... just like that weird old man.
Ash glanced down at the little girl still clinging to his chest, her face buried tightly against him, refusing to open her eyes. One question burned at the forefront of his mind, louder than any other:
’Who the hell are these people?’