Tamorin and Jeager floated high above Zalliano in the deep black space outside of it.
They were both silent. Jeager had on his armour, his pistols strapped to his thighs and his sword on his back. As always Tam wore light loose fitting clothing and a kimono, her one handed sword hung loosely by her side. In Tamorin's hand she held a boombox cassette tape player that she had borrowed from Winter.
As she stared at the vast Godlands that unfolded before her eyes, she couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful it was, much like a peaceful country or a massive city with citizens content to simply live in their afterlife, and its very center the halls of the Gods jutted out like a grand jewel to her in the distance.
As much as she appreciated the beautiful, the sight of the place reminded her of what it's disappearance during the war with the Cigam cost her and the emptiness that came with it, and the other lives of the Gods that died. As well as Macinios's greatest crime.
Jeager sighed slightly. "What tape did ye put in that box?"
"Nirvana's Nevermind tape, i fast forwarded and stopped it at Nirvinia's favourite song 'Come As You Are'." Replied Tam
"Oh? We gettin' a bit of entrance tunes are we?" He asked with a hearty chuckle.
"You could say that... It's still beautiful, perhaps more than I remember." She said her gaze still fixed on Zalliano.
"Aye, 'tis a thing of beauty our home." Agreed Jeager wity a nod.
Tamorin cast a gaze down to her palm where Winter's brand sat.
"It may not exist for much longer, Jeager. Once we take the Aegilo who knows what will happen." She said
"Ye know how mad it is, what we want te try. Two against the Cien and six Gods." Said Jeager.
Had he been someone else Tam would look to reasure him but she needn't look at him to know a smile was upon his face.
"You must be itching to unleash The Forge on whoever stands in our way." She said
"Of course, I was forced to fight a bloody Jakali as a mortal." He said
The Cien, blessed servants of the Gods, guardian warriors of Zalliano, they'll make an interesting first trial. Thought Tam.
"Shall we?" She asked
"Lassies first." Said Jeager
Tam landed first in front of the gates with Jeager landing with a grunt beside her shortly after just as the gates swung open to reveal a wide path that cut through a small dense forest that stretched from the gates to the start where souls lived. The halls were clearly visible from there.
On the other side stood a single Cien. He was of white skin like all other Cien regardless of gender, the whiteness of his skin made his jet black hair stand out that much more, he wore obsidian armour and his thin golden wings were folded behind him. Semi serpentine eyes glared at them curiously.
The lance he held in his right hand twitched slightly as Tamorin placed the boom box on the ground.
"We were told you would come, I have been instructed to tell you to leave immediately if you value your life," he cast a nervous gaze at Jeager, "however Jeager was not expected to have been with you."
Tara ignored the Cien as she pressed play and runed up the volume as the song Come As You Are began playing.
She smiled slightly as she straightened up and gripped her sword as wind gathered around her, her clothing and hair danced lightly.
The Cien tried to take a step forward but he wasn't fast enough. Tara moved past him in a burst of wind and quick swipe of her sword, in a flash she stood behind him and blood trickled from the tip of her sword, the Cien's weapon fell to the ground as the top of half of his face slid off and fell with a sick thud, blood flowed from the remaining part of his head as his body slumped.
Tamorin gathered the air around her yet again and took a deep breath.
"JUNNIE! KRIEL! QRAV! LASSIFUSS! AILL! I HAVE COME FOR YOU ALL.... AS FOR YOU MACINIOS, I'LL RELISH YOU LAST!" She bellowed angrily.
This was followed by a brief silence then the sounding of a horn being blown, in the distance the souls living in Zalliano began to move quickly toward the other end of the Godlands to the halls of the Gods.
From where Tam stood she could see the gods she had called out gather on the roof the building below the spirals.
Qrav, the goddess of War wore armour made of black ice, her light blue skin was visible beneath the helmet she wore as were jagged bits of her golden hair.
Kriel had his arms folded before him, dressed in simple elegant brown garments reminiscent of the scholar he was as he was the god of wisdom.
Lassifuss sat on the edge of the room in armour made from the threads of time, fate and love, the goddess of love, time and fate believed in being the most current.
Aill, the god of fear and nightmares had a dark aura around him, his armour was black with distorted terrified faces moving within it.
Junnie the Goddess of death floated just above the other gods, a look of disgust upon her translucent face, she wore her usual ghostly dress.
Macinios the true patron god of the winds stood stoic as he always was in brilliant white assassin inspired armour.
Tam's lip quivered angrily as she pointed her sword, Nirvinia at them.
Jeager came to stand next to her, the fired up The Forge within him, as he did so his skin became covered in black veins and his guns turned red as though they though the metal was made of lava, he fired off three shots in quick succession, shots that cracked through the air toward the gathered gods, but just as fast as the bullets moved a Cien woman flew through the air and came to a stop them with a shield to block them.
This was followed by thousands more of the Cien that gathered in front of the gods until they could no longer be seen, until they covered the skies they stood facing, all the cien were in armour and armed. They began to advance flying rapidly towards the forest where they stood.
"Ye don't mind if i go fer a stretch do you?" Asked Jeager
"I'm feeling a bit stiff myself, brother." Replied Tam
Jeager placed one of the pistols back in its holster, it stopped burning red and unsheathed Rathgar which began to steam and it too burned red in his hand, he held sword and pistol in each hand as stooped low preparing to jump, the Forge burned within him coursing unimaginable strength, knowledge and techniques of the weapons he held.
"Ye know how te bring her strength out?" Asked Jeager
Tam cast a glance down at her bloodstained sword and nodded.
Jeager jumped leaving a crater on the ground, Tam began walking as she watched the Cien swarm toward Jeager. Gunfire ripped through the air again followed by the falling of Cien from the sky and into the forest, with his sword hand he cut down a few, black lightning spewed from Rathgar as he swung.
As he landed somewhere within the trees far ahead, Tam broke into a run and pushed herself into the air gracefully high above the trees.
She blocked the first Cien that came at her twisting effortlessly beyond a shield smash before she cut the Cien woman down. She continued to moved with grace through the air manipulating the wind with the slightest of motions, creating footholds in the air as she fought with her dance sword fighting inspired style of graceful violence and blood.
Two Cien brandishing lances looked to double team her, so Tam simply allowed herself to drop to the ground where Jeager had cleared a large number of shrubbery and trees to create a clear line of sight, he was bellowed amidst a growing pile of corpses, he no longer held any of his pistols he merely swung his sword in the most brutal manner. The Cien continued to appear out of the treeline the more he cut down the more that came.
When Tam landed she back flipped to avoid a spear thrown from high up in thehe air, she had felt the slightest change in the wind as is flew toward her. She looked up looking for its source but wasn't given the time to find it as the two Cien with lances landed and began a furious exchange with her.
She could only block one and dodge the other, her advance on either Cien limited because of the interference of the other.
She felt the tip of one of the lances slice her face, she felt the warm blood trickle down to her mouth where she tasted it.
Well Nirvinia, let me see those flames. She thought
With two blocks and a burst out wave of wind to push back both the Cien Tamorin's sword burst into blue flames, reminiscent of her old friend Nirvinia the goddess of fire.
Her eyes turned blue as the flames from the sword began to run wild within her, she thrust out her free hand and from it a column of blue flames shot out toward the lance bearing Cien, being fed wind by her making it burn hotter and move quicker, and whenit burned one of the lance bearing Cien all that remained was the lance she had held.
The other chose to attack and Tam cut straight through the lance then drew him close with a gust of wind touched his chest with a flaming hand that burned through with ease.
All around her was the sound of battle, the clashing of weapons and shields, screams, Jeager's enjoyment of battle. But all these sounds were ignored by her as she manipulated the wind to carry the boom box's music to her ears at maximum. Even as the Cien died they screamed but she didn't heard it.
A large group of Cien approached turned their attention to Tam, their mouths open in battle cries as they swooped down towards her, she was all too glad to meet them.
She pulled her body into the air mid spin, her sword still flamming created a flaming circle around her body and she crashed into the Cien slashing through the first line before she pulled herself back to ground around taking a low stance when she landed, she watched them as they landed to take a circle formation with shields up around her.
Tam was nearing the end of how long she could keep Nirvinia's flames coursing through her, her body was not made for that amount of godly power for extend periods of time in addition she did not want to push that limit until it was necessary.
The ground shook suddenly behind her and she turned to see Jeager straightening up covered in uneven splashes of blood, the look of the blood all over him coupled with the black veins crawling all over his skin from The Forge made gave him a dark look.
His lips moved as spoke but it was inaudible to her.
"What was that?" She asked after lowering the wind that carried the music.
"I said, these bastards keep on comin', cuttin' 'em down results in more. We need to get to their source." He said
"The Cien's supply isn't infinite but you're right at this rate they will tire us out eventually." Her sword's flames died down and extinguished.
"Ye limit?" He asked
Tam shook her head, "Not quite, just not pushing it yet. I don't really need Nirvinia's flames for these. I was just showing off." She replied with a smirk
Their attention was taken back by the Cien as they began to approach closing in the circle spears extended forward, those that weren't in the circle began swooping down in random swoop attacks that only served to annoy Tam and Jeager.
"Jeager, make a hole, through those in the sky. We're going into the halls." Said Tam
"Aye."
They switched positions and Jeager thrust his sword into the ground then drew his pistols and began firing rapid shots hitting his mark each time despite the moving targets high above, reloading when he was out.
Tam took a knee and focused on gathering silent winds around the Cien weaving it between them, then she broke into a sudden charging run that made the Cien stop and brace, she came to a stop just in front of the tips of the spears and swung her sword, the wind she had been weaving grew dense and exploded blowing away those she swung at. Some crashed through trees as they flew.
She then burst forward and began cutting down those that were now exposed, all the while dodgingstrikes meant for her.
"TAM LET'S GO!" Shouted Jeager.
With that she lifted into the air, flying in an arc over Jeager, she flicked her hand to lift him up as well and the two continued to fly rapidly toward the halls with Jeager shooting down their assailants.
They landed at the front entrance and entered, the Cien immediately came to a halt outside as they were not allowed within the halls of the Gods.
The first of the six gods already stood before them, it was Aill the god of fear and nightmares. In the silence of the large reception area of the halls one could hear the whispered sounds of fear and nightmare creations coming from him and his distorted armour of moving terrified faces. His hair was wild, his eyes those of a madman were large and bloodshot, the rest of face was blank as though he wasn't all the way there.
"Aill," whispered Tam gripping her sword tighter as she took a step forward, immediately Aill raised a hand for her to halt. Which she did.
As he opened his mouth to speak, terrified loud screams from what sounded like hundreds of voices escaped his lips first.
"I request you turn back and return to your lives in the world of men and Cigam." He said, his voice sounded about as gold as refined sandpaper to Tam's ears.
"Tam ye go on, I'll take him." Said Jeager.
Tam turned to protest but immediately closed her mouth when she saw the look of furious determination on his face.
"I'm not gonna wait for you catch up." She said.
Jeager smirked, "I be fast, I'll catch up." He said.
Jeager intensified the Forge, the black veins on his skin grew darker and thicker before he burst across the room, sword in one hand and gun the other, before he reached Aill he fired three rounds.
Aill reacted by summoning a distorted war hammer and swinging it faster than something of that size should have moved knocking each bullet off their path.
Tam took the exhange as an opportunity to run past Aill, he eyed her as she passed him however he knew it would be foolish to take his eyes off Jeager to attempt to stop her.
Jeager replaced the pistol to its holster and gripped Rathgar with both hands just as came into Aill's range then swung with great might and Aill did the same to counter and their weapons came into contant. The clashing of their weapons was loud, emitting a great amount of pressure and leaving the air ringing. The two gods stood with their weapons still locked.
"You had more strength if I remember correctly." Said Aill nonchalantly. His madman eyes grew wider.
"Tis' only the start, Aill." Replied Jeager.
To two broke apart and circled each other briefly before they charged each other again.
Swing after swing, blow after blow, they had an even exchange neither one able to best the other. The air, the walls, the floor, everything around them vibrated including their own limbs.
Jeager could feel numbness begin to creep into his finger tips. He cursed himself quickly for feeling as rusty as he did.
Mid pary he spun pulled out one of his pistols then fired a round which whispered through Aill's wild hair, as Aill move his head to dodge. Aill opened his eyes and spat something black straight into Jeager's eyes, it burned and blinded him, he stumbled backwards as he tried to clear his vision.
As his vision cleared all round him it was red and he was no longer in the halls, creatures he'd never seen crawled all around him, all over him, nightmare creatures of the dark.
And before him stood Nirvinia. Her eyes were holed out and smaller dark creatures melted out of them, her mouth hung open.
Jeager felt fear, he shook his head and tried to slap himself back to reality to no avail, it all felt real, the dark creatures he squashed, slung off and slashed at as they got too close.
He took a step forward touched her and she felt real.
"Jeager... You let me die.... And yet you claimed... To love me..." She said
"I did love ye." He said softly
Suddenly she grabbed Jeager and head butted him breaking his nose with a single blow, in a second motion she swung him over her shoulder and smashed him into ground. As he looked up at her face it changed for an instant to Aill's madman face and his surroundings back to the halls.
Aill brought his hammer down aiming for Jeager's head, Jeager was able to roll out of the way just in time, all around him the illusion and the reality shook and separated as Jeager's mind began to fight Aill's effect.
"Still using that trick, are ye?" Said Jeager as he straightened up and composed himself.
"It still works on you, always has even when we were children." Said Aill. His face still distorting between his own and Nirvinia.
"Ye remember what I did te ye, when you did that when we was kids?" He asked
"You would beat me to a pulp." Replied Aill.
Jeager wiped the blood from his nose before he gripped his sword to stare his brother in the eyes.
"Prepare for that beatin" Said Jeager