Chapter 24: Threads Of Fate I

  I'm not going to just let him kill you, I growled at Syr as Poseidon prepared to cut down Shub-Niggurath.

  You don't have a choice, she hissed back. Even if I was alright with you dooming the entire world to save me, you'd be dead right after for trying to stop Poseidon.

  That doesn't mean I can just let you die.

  It's the only way, Felix, she replied, quite gently. Let's make the most of those st moments together. You know, I always hoped I could touch you, really touch you, one day. But...

  Yeah, no. Fuck that. I wasn't going to just kneel here and listen to Syr saying goodbye to me. There was a way, I just knew it. It all revolved around that fat, pulsing tendril coming out of the back of Shub-Niggurath's neck, the one that I just knew connected the Outer God to Syr's body.

  No, normal people couldn't affect the threads of fate. But normal people couldn't see the threads of fate either and yet, here I was. I had to believe that I had been given this power for a reason.

  But before I could even think about using it there was the slight problem that I couldn't even get up. Even now the Divine Presence was keeping me kneeling. I was clearly not as affected as some of the others were, seeing as I had been able to speak and point at things, but still.

  And so I summoned forth my Qi, feeding a steady stream of life force into my limbs, trying to get them moving. It was as if whatever channels Qi ran through, I believe Yume referred to them as 'meridians', were clogged, stopping my Qi from flowing properly. I didn't care. I kept pushing.

  And of course Syr noticed.

  You'll tear your body apart if you try to go against it, she said, again with that same combination of gentleness and resignation that was making me sick to my stomach.

  Whose side are you on, anyway?, I asked as I pushed more and more Qi in.

  The side that would rather not see you kill yourself for a monster like me, Syr said.

  I told you already, I said, sweat starting to run down my forehead, even if you are the child of an Outsider, you are still Syr, still you. You're not a monster unless you choose to be. I understood her horror, of course, learning that she was the spawn of an Outer God had to sting. But I'd already told her that it didn't matter to me, that I hated Outsiders because they wanted to destroy the world, which she, even now, clearly didn't.

  That was when we still thought I might just be the child of some cultist, she said, not the only mortal daughter of Shub-Niggurath herself! She was getting agitated now. Good. Better than this fucking apathy. I just wanted to get this over with, just save her and the world and then talk about these horrifying revetions, but clearly that wasn't happening.

  So that's it, I demanded, turning to face her, 'Death to the Outsiders and all their spawn', even if that includes you?

  What do you want me to do?, she hissed back, looking straight at me.

  Do you actually want to die?, I asked, very clearly.

  Her eyes began to water and her lower lip trembled for a moment. Then she gave me the most venomous expression I had ever seen on her face. Of course I don't want to die you asshole. But what is crying and screaming going to help? I'd rather face death with dignity, if you only let me.

  Yeah, I said and then smmed Qi through my meridians with newfound determination. That's just not the kind of guy I am. Whatever blockage had been keeping my power contained exploded and the power bsted through my limbs. If you actually want to live, I'll save you.

  You'll just doom the world if you do, she hissed.

  I didn't say I'd stop Poseidon, I said, moving my legs, just enough to make sure I could get up when I needed to. I said I'd save you. And I will.

  But how—, she began but I interrupted her.

  Just trust me, I said. I wasn't sure if Shub-Niggurath had access to Syr's thoughts but if she didn't then I didn't want to risk her finding out about this.

  Freed from the Divine Presence I kept kneeling and watched Poseidon raise his trident for an attack.

  Tridents were nothing more than fancy spears, the three prongs making it easier to hit a fish despite the refraction of the water throwing off your aim, but Poseidon's trident was clearly a little different. The outer prongs were rge and rounded, the sides clearly sharpened so that the weapon could be swung like a halberd and not just be thrust like a spear. But even so he hefted the weapon in both hands and prepared for a mighty stab.

  “Mistress, would you—“ Wilhelm began but Shub-Niggurath waved him off.

  “No, it is about time I made an example of one of the gods of this world,” she told him right as Poseidon's weapon rushed forward, a mass of sharpened metal coming right at her heart.

  A moment ter there was a deafening cng and Poseidon's weapon bounced off.

  It took him a moment to get the weapon back under control and by the time he had he turned back to see Shub-Niggurath holding up a hand. Or rather, a cw.

  Her right hand and most of her arm were covered in bck, the same bck as the Dark Young but not glistening. It looked like she had donned the kind of long gloves that noblewomen wore when attending a theater performance, so long as you didn't look at her fingers. Her fingers, every single one of them, was covered in a bone-like structure, looking like savage cws. And, from the way Poseidon's weapon had bounced off, those cws were clearly tougher than steel.

  “The ruler of this pantheon didn't even put up a proper fight,” Shub-Niggurath said as she gestured at the blob covering Zeus. “So you are the strongest god I have faced thus far. And even you stand no chance.”

  Poseidon's eyebrows drew together, looking every bit like the vengeful god of the sea, and came at her again, with his weapon and his magic. He swung his trident at her like a halberd and at the same time he sent three jets of water at her, all of them timed to perfection, so that no matter what she blocked, something would slip through her guard. Or so he'd thought.

  She only moved a moment before impact, moving her hand in a single, precise motion and deflecting his blow. That cw had to be ludicrously tough if it could block a blow like that without breaking her fingers. But just as she blocked the weapon with a cw, her hair tentacles writhed and weaved behind her and produced three almond-sized spheres of Darklight that shot forward and erased each of Poseidon's water jets.

  “Pathetic,” she taunted and in response he came at her again.

  A jet of water shot out from under his foot, catapulting him forward, and he came in swinging. More and more water jets accompanied his swings and just as before Shub-Niggurath blocked him, though each flurry of attacks caused her to back off a step. Even more, not all of the water jets had been aimed at her this time. Some of them shot at Poseidon and soon he wore a cloak of raging waters.

  “You shouldn't have taunted me,” he growled.

  “Not entirely inept,” Shub-Niggurath mused and once again Poseidon charged her.

  The storm cloak shed out at her like a living thing, water jets grasping and tearing, and even though her hair tentacles managed to stop most of it, some actually caught her arms. And while her cws were clearly indestructible, her arms themselves weren't. But it didn't matter. Even if the raging waters shredded her arms down to the bone, it only slowed her down for a moment, the regeneration of the Bck Goat fixing Syr's body up faster than any other of her spawn.

  “What part of 'perfect vessel' did you not understand?” Shub-Niggurath demanded. “Not adequate vessel, not 'vessel that is just barely good enough to get the job done', no. A perfect vessel. However strong you are, my mind in this body can overcome it. And now, finally, this ridiculous py has reached its conclusion.”

  “What you do—“ he began but immediately it became clear what she'd meant.

  A wave of blue energy bsted out from the portal and it cleared completely, turning from a slightly hazy image to an actual gateway. And knights from another world stepped into this one.

  They didn't march like an army. At first, only four of them moved. They rushed through the portal, holding weird weapons that looked somewhat like dwarven muskets, and paused right out of the gate. Two of them knelt down and aimed their weapons at the gods kneeling before the dais while two others spun around and checked behind the portal.

  “Clear,” one of them said, his voice weirdly distorted but still clearly, bizarrely, in the common tongue. Although, given that their helmets seemed to cover their heads completely with no apparent need for air holes, the fact that he could speak at all was an achievement all on its own.

  Their armor looked like carbon steel to me, bck and matte, though much more intricate than any armor I had ever seen in this world. It reminded me in a weird way of the dark armor I was wearing, though much tougher and made of far more metal.

  “Midy Shub-Niggurath,” the one who had first spoken began, “Prince Dexter sent us. If you could step aside we will deal with this rabble for you.”

  “Thank you,” she said, her breathing slightly ragged. So this kind of fighting did tire her out, after all. “But that will not be necessary. And this 'rabble' before me is your god of the ocean, Atntean.”

  Atntean? Wait, that fictional isnd that allegedly sank off the shores of the south-eastern sea? What was going on here? Didn't she say they were from another world?

  “Olympian blood runs through our veins,” the soldier said, “but that doesn't mean we worship them.”

  “Then who do you worship?” Shub-Niggurath demanded.

  “You, my dy,” he said without hesitation. “You and the other Outer Gods.”

  She let out a cackle, long and hard, and Poseidon used the opportunity to charge her once again. Again she blocked but this time it had been a feint, tripping her up just long enough to ram his trident into her heart.

  Everyone present let out a gasp and my heart dropped into my stomach as I saw Syr clutching hers. But then Shub-Niggurath grasped Poseidon's trident and stared down at the blood running out of her chest and down the weapon. “What a... remarkably unpleasant sensation.” She raised her head and stared at him. “Allow me to return the favor.”

  And before he could so much as twitch away she rammed her right cw into his chest. Her cw wrapped around his heart, as evidenced by the way her hand twitched in the same rapid rhythm as the audible thumping of a heartbeat, and then crushed the heart in her grasp.

  Poseidon crumpled instantly, leaving his weapon sticking out of Syr's chest. Shub-Niggurath looked down at the weapon, then ripped it out. Before the weapon had even cttered to the marble floor, her chest was whole again, the nudity of her now one bare breast completely at odds with the bloody spectacle before us.

  “Now then,” she said, turning to the soldiers for the first time as Poseidon's body vanished into motes of light behind her, “shall we bring the rest of My Destiny's army into this world?”

  The knight who had st spoken began to raise his hand in a forward motion to the rest of his troops when I stood up and drew both Eleftheria and Shub-Niggurath's attention.

  “Not so fast.”