Gunfire.
Kai could hear it. Loud and piercing. Made his ears whine with a sharp buzz. The Redbands didn't have your standard issue rifles. Their kinetic rifles were railguns capable of blasting out solid chunks of metal past the speed of sound.
But none of that mattered.
Kai could see himself generate a barrier of black. All the bullets – each holding enough energy to punch through ten people stacked together – dissolved when they touched that hungry shadow.
"I see you humans have forgotten," said the god. "I am a god of chaos. Of destruction and disassembly. Slinging these inorganic rocks at me does nothing."
One of the soldiers motioned for the others to spread out until they formed a perimeter around Kai.
"Catch him on all sides!" the commander barked. "That barrier's pure element N – he can't possibly have the tech to keep himself defended on all sides!"
The god snickered. "Amusing. You think that I cannot defend all of my personage? A smart assumption. Then how will you react to this?"
A snap of his fingers, and an echo of midnight black energy pulsed out. All the guns hit by it crumbled into dust that the wind caught and carried away.
The soldiers stared at each other in disbelief.
"Shape up!" The commander unholstered his blaster pistol, a small, compact thing with a blood red stripe of energy running down it. "Take out your secondary weapons and fire!"
The god did not react. It shrugged and let them panic and reach for their toys. They fired and fired, streams of white hot energy streaking through the air and exploding when they hit, coughing up plumes of smoke that hid the god from the soldiers' sight.
A gust of wind, and the smoke dissipated.
Wings – webbed like those of a bat – sprouted from the god's back. Great wings, each almost as tall as a man, their bases robed in rippling muscle and their ends tapering off into cruel claws. The wings glinted under the sun, covered as they were with a carapace armor like those the Skritters had.
Heat waves simmered from the wings, and the soldiers knew then that they were tough enough to block and withstand heat rays that turned steel into slag in short order.
"Ahh." The god fluttered its wings, sending coins and gold trinkets jolting in the air about it. "Now THIS is what a true Daemon feels like. Not that weakling runt with broken wings and body"
"Men!" The captain shouted. "Fall back and cover each other. I will stay behind to command the drone!"
"I am a god of carnage, but I am fair." Kai saw himself stand tall with wings outstretched, blotting out the sun. The helicopter drone buzzed over, two racks of missiles unsheathing from its smooth underbelly. "In the past, I let many mortals call upon me for their battles. On the condition that they did not run. That they killed all they saw. That they sowed the seeds for chaos."
Before the missiles could fire, the god clapped his hands together, and the helicopter drone broke apart, crumbling like a brittle sculpture. The dust that had made it up streamed into the god's hands, filling in the mold of an over-sized cleaver that looked capable of butchering an elephant.
The men had ignored their commander, staring in awe at the impossible display that unfolded before them.
The god pointed the cleaver at them.
"I would be a hypocrite if I did not follow my rules. I will not run. And I will kill all of you."
A step forward, the cleaver – black and brutal – gleaming with a bright hunger under the beaming sunlight.
"Whether you fight or not is up to you."
The commander's voice was weaker, shaky even through the synthetic distortion in his helmet that had made his voice so much more intimidating before.
"Engage. It was nice working with you, men."
The commander reached into his pocket and took out a tiny cylinder, about the size of a cigarette, with a green button at the end. He pressed the button and tossed it into the ground, and with his next motion, unholstered his blaster and fired it. The god blocked the streaking shot of heat energy with his cleaver and charged forwards. His wings folded behind him, forming into two makeshift shields that covered his back.
A flash of black, and the commander's two halves split apart and fell on the floor, painting the gold red and pink with innards.
The rest of the men did not run. They fired and they fired, and the god darted around with a bestial agility that reminded Kai of Skritters. The god flipped in the air, swerved and ducked to dodge heat rays, jumped and lunged to slice apart more Redband bodies.
It was not a strength that Kai had seen in any race. No Orc could match this raw strength. No elf could match this graceful agility. No human could plan out so many movements so well.
And at the end of this terrible dance, the god stood triumphant, black butcher's blade dripping with blood warm and slick. Bits and pieces of men lay scattered around the gold, splotches of bloody organs, some still pulsating, still believing they were alive.
The god flicked his blade, sending the blood dirtying it on the ground.
"Not bad," said the god, looking under one of its arms to find a patch of scorched flesh. "I'm surprised they knew to use elemental weapons to get past my deconstruction. But no matter. Mortals are mortals. Weak and pathetic."
The god knelt and its wings spread out once more, two black shadows that tensed with strength. Kai felt that the god was going to fly.
"And now it is time to teach these mortals to worship once more."
But Kai couldn't leave Leeva behind.
No, he said. You can't leave.
"Oh? My Chosen? You're still conscious in there? And here I thought you were so weak I purged every bit of you."
I don't like how this dynamic is turning out. I know you saved me, but I feel like a prisoner in my own body. Not exactly a 'Chosen'.
"And with enough will to talk back like this." The god laughed. "Amusing. But insolent. You are Chosen enough being graced with my godly presence."
I want my body back to check on my friend.
"The elf? Oh, you're feeling surprised that I know, are you? But don't worry. I know all about you now that I've merged with you. You're the perfect vessel. So much pent-up frustration and anger at this unjust world. But have no fear, I will make things right."
Do that after you check on her.
"Insolence. One mortal life is nothing to me."
It means everything to me.
"You are weak."
Another pair of footsteps in the gold. The god turned to face a lone elf. She stared at the carnage around her, the painting of red and gold, and shuddered.
"What…is this?" said Leeva. She gazed at the god's wings and cleaver. "What happened to you?"
"This is the mortal?" The god raised his cleaver overhead. "Good. I will make you strong through loss, my Chosen."
Leeva sensed the danger, her ears twitching up and down.
"Uhm, Kai?" she stammered, taking steps back. "Put that down. Right now."
The god trudged forwards, and Kai fought back as hard as he could the only way he knew how in this helpless state: by screaming.
GET OUT
GET OUT
GET OUT
GET OUT
GET OUT
He screamed over and over, and the god slowed down.
The cleaver fell to the ground, its massive weight sinking into the gold.
"Such noise," the god said, clutching his head. "Such fierce resistance. Your soul is a respectable one."
The god stood up and folded its wings back. "I will respect the fight you have put up and recede. I have lost much mana, so it will be beneficial for both of us. But know that had I the mana, you would have no say in this."
Like waking up, Kai felt himself in control again in an instant. He looked down at his hands, wriggling his fingers to make sure that yes, they were his.
"Kai, can you hear me?"
Kai looked at Leeva to find that she'd nabbed a blaster from one of the corpses and aimed it at him. He raised his hands in the air.
"Woah, woah, slow down there," he said. "It's me. For sure."
"Okay, that sounds more like you." Leeva sighed, lowering the gun, but her hand still held it tight at her side. "What the hell happened?"
Kai opened his mouth, but a simple explanation would not come out.
As it turned out, he didn't have time for one either. The ground under them trembled. Clicks and clacks rang in the air, rumbling in the distance.
"Oh shit," said Leeva, her ears twitching like mad. "Skritters. Can you use that?"
She pointed at the giant cleaver on the floor. Kai picked it up.
It was way too heavy. Whatever insane strength the god had, he'd lost a lot of it. But surprisingly, the cleaver shifted, accommodating to him and forming into a longsword instead.
Awesome, he thought.
Except he'd never used a sword in his life before. He'd heard about them in his books, but seeing and feeling one in real life was a way different experience. He wished the thing would have turned into a gun instead.
But still, this was a weapon sharp enough to slice through the cutting edge armor that the Redbands had on. Skritter shells wouldn't stand a chance.
One Skritter came into view, scurrying up from below and onto the golden platform. Leeva fired at it but it dodged, its antennae twitching with its own instinctive danger sense as it shifted from side to side. With a lunge, it pushed forwards, its sickle-like mandibles open and its many spiked legs writhing.
Kai swung down and hammered at the Skritter as it leaped mid-air. The thing was used to getting shot at, but taking a hit from a sword? It hadn't had that experience ever before. The blade crushed into the insect's shell and sent it punting down to the ground with a splat, its back split apart, noxious green blood spilling from it.
"Holy hell, you're strong," commented Leeva.
"Not as strong as I used to be," said Kai. He remembered when the god was in control. How he'd used every single part of his body with a trained ease. "Oh shit, right. I have my wings."
More clicks and clacks rumbled in the air. More Skritters.
"To get us out of here, right?"
"No, to fight."
Kai gave a mental command to his wings to open up, and they did. The claws on their ends bore down towards the ground, menacing. But when he tried telling them to swing and stab, they responded slowly – he wasn't used to having these at all.
Then he saw the Skritters. Looked like the whole damn colony had come bursting up. Several dozen of them, more streaming.
"Okay." Kai turned back and clutched Leeva, pressing her close to him. "On second thought, let's get out of here."
They ran together towards the ledge of the platform and jumped off without looking down or back.