Chapter 22
Attack on Eden Part 1
Charlie Takes a deep breath as he readies himself to open the portal to Tamreal, Eden awaits, the last grate battle, today is the decisive battle. It has been almost a weak since Krain found him lost in the eather. His eyes close, the voices of his friends whisper into his mind reflecting on the last few days.
***
Jessica cuts a new tattoo into Charlie's back "You, Charlie will be our final gambit, each of the worldwalker's have agreed to give you their power should the battle not fall in our favor. This magi script I am painting on your back will enhance your Warlock art. Any of us fall in battle you will absorb us."
Charlie resting on his stomach as Jessica works turns his eyes slightly to speak to her "how do you know how to do this?"
"I have encountered the warlock arts before. It would be best if I left it at that."
Lances, who has been sitting by reading form one of the books Jessica has sitting around speech up "Nine took me to see Magdalene St. Frances. The Church of Axe will be wating in the wings for us to call on them."
Jessica adds on "Shada and the Catfolk will do the same."
Suahoon seconds the motion "The Gryphons are ready as well."
Charlie shacks his head "it will make no diffrance. Once Mammon shows his face it needs to be one of us to strike him down or this is all for not."
Jazzman laughs "you might have precognition or whatever it is Belmond, but for the rest of us this is our only chance. We are going to fight as if everything is on the line."
Charlie smiles with a nod "thank you. All of you."
***
The portal starts to pull open as Charlie holds his hand before himself, darkness and lightning fill the room, teeth pure from the gate, the fallopian tunnel leading into eternity stretches out showing the way into the future.
***
Keyor and Cinder lock into magical conflict, Keyor's water pushing against Cinder's fire. Charlie stands by watching having just been bandaged back up. Cinder calm as ever speaks up "Seeker will likely be waiting for us."
Krain mounts herself on the fence nearby to watch with Charlie "Seeker's zombies are by all right the same species as I am. Maybe I can control them."
Keyor calls back "but that in no way helps us defeat Seeker herself. She is not possessed, she willingly is adding the King of Tamreal. Who here is a match for Seeker and her noteworthily odd power?"
Hetatsubatchi laying down at Charlie's feet barks "how about me?"
Keyor looks to the wolf "I think you overestimate your might. Have you seen Seeker fight?"
"she is made of metal, right? I can control metal, it's what I do." Tatsu's voice a light growl.
Chalrie looks around his friends. "Has anyone see Sight?"
***
The parade of warriors step into the vortex that will lead them into destiny. The Chaos Magic tacking them to the bass of the hill at the foot of Eden looking up to the grate Tree of Beginnings, a tree so tall that from no point can one see the tip of the canopy, and the black tower that is the throne of Cravixs a scar on the face of Yggdrasil.
***
In the middle of the night on the eve of this last stand Xia kicks Charlie awake hours before sunrise. "so, Charlie Belmond, Belmond son of Belmond. What make you such a grate messiah? Are you a Buda or what?" Xia is drunk and clearly feeling confrontational.
Charlie sits up looking at the rat women "I'm no messiah, I'm just man trying to do something good with his life."
Xia reaches onto her hip tipping her swords slight forward readying herself to draw. "Keyor seem to think otherwise. The Devil man, the flower wolf, Cinder… why do they all think you are a hero?"
"A friend of mine once told me 'don't try to be grate, just be good. Let history decide who is grate."
***
As the party starts to walk up to the wall that divides Eden from the glass City of Zion Charlie whispers "Quantum Entanglement. There are only a hand full of us so resistances is scaled to match."
Jessica grips her walking stick. "I never thought I would be walking willingly into the arms of the most primal of evils."
The City of Zion is a crumbling mess of shattered glass and melting crystal. At some point in a forgotten time some battle of biblical worth was fought here and no one ever cleaned up the mess. Broken rusted swords and staves are scattered about the street.
Charlie and his friends have nearly reached the gates to the black tower, the door is in sight, only a few more crumbled houses away. Seeker walks out from between two buildings. Her claws grind together as she turns to face the party. Suahoon and Xia push there way to the front of the group ready to charge into battle.
Jloose, Sigh, Harm, Dash, and the floating eye that is now Mike move in to protect Seeker. David Jazzmen, Cinder, Keyor and Hetatsubatchi step forward to take a place alongside Xia and Suahoon. Charlie grabs his whip and Lances his book. Jessica holds her arms out to hold Lances and Charlie back. She points at the street behind them at the other automatons' gathering behind them.
Seeker snaps her hand open with a metallic chime. Suahoon drops open her beak with a shrill scream as she pulls back her spear and runs in to initiate combat. The party scoured in-between two advancing forces locks in mass melee.
Xia alongside Suahoon jump at Seeker, Xia's sword and Sahoon's spear meet Seeker's claws, Seeker twist herself about tying the up the weapons and pushing the two worlwalkers at each other. Seeker melts into a semisolid snake like shape whipping her body in a ring to snare the battlemages. Suahoon holds up her shield to stop a dive attack. Xia backflips out of the grapple then lurches in to take a slash at the snakelike Seeker. Xia's blades get locked inside the jelly like body of Seeker.
Sigh runs at David, David pulls out his handguns and starts shooting at the Fox. Sigh poofs into smoke every time a shot would connect till at last he is in arms reach of the man called Devil, light encircles Sigh's arm becoming a spectral staff in his grip. Jazzman draws the Demon Sword and the two of them clash.
Jloose walks forth, he holds one hand out grabbing Keyor with an unseen hand chocking her. Cinder protect Keyor calling down a cascade of lighting to strike Jloose, Jloose holds up is oppisit hand creating his phantom shield to push the lighting aside. Cinder smiles "Try to bind my thoughts."
Dash and Hetatsubatchi collide with one another. Dash becoming a wave of solid light to strike at the wolf, Tatsu reaches out with his magic to assemble the broken weapons lying about into a wall of swords and spears to bounce the alacorn off of. In counter attack Hetatsubatchi calls on the cursed chain he had stolen from Harm.
The catches the attention of mike Murphy. The float eye locks its gaze on the white wolf. Mike tries to overwrite Hetatsubatchi's will just as he had on Neopan, Tatsu feels the Animist invading his thoughts and struggles.
Mili joins in the fight with the clockwork hoard along side; Charlie Belmond, Lances Jacob, and Jessica the Weaver. A truck sized nautilidea brings up a claw to try to step on Mili, Mili's body acts like a spring, as the monster rest its wait on her, Mili's body moves closer to the ground becoming ever more tense storing potential energy in ready for an explosion of kinetic energy. Mili snaps upright throwing the monster shellfish off balance. Mili pulls her chains saw like gun from her back, RONA, and flips on the photon launcher. The Stith gun fires a laser of electromagnetic light overheating the beast that attacked her.
Lances holds his hands up chanting, burning rocks erupt form the ground that Lances starts throwing other half fish half robot monsters that seem to be spilling out of nowhere. Jessica the Weaver points her staff producing holy fire to aid Lances in toppling then destroying monsters.
The vampire demigod that was Harm produces a khopesh from his belt. He becomes a shadow to leap behind Lances without the need to pass through the space between them. the vampire reaches around Lances with the knife hand to assasinat the priest, Lances grips the monsters arm to struggle against him. Charlie tries to move in to intercept. Harm overpowers Lances and the curved knife pierces his chest.
Harm drops the wounded Lances Jacob to turn his gaze to Charlie. Charlie howls in anger running at Harm. Belmond son of Belmond pulls back his whip locking himself min battle with his most hated pray. Harm twist his head slightly, his unholy power coming to the surface. As black red smoke starts to drip form Harms hand the roadmap of scares on Charlies begin pulling open. Charlie pushes past the pain snapping out his magic whip. A burst of light sparks off Souleater braking Harm's spell. Harm grows a par of bat wings and talons the fated foes viciously strike at each-other.
The battle to take Eden is as bloody as expected. Seeker shifts one of her arms into a needle and impales Suahoon. Xia backs off well aware that in a one on one she can't win. Xia retreats to offer her aid to David attacking Sigh, Mike calls on the aid of the bronze orbs that once had been his pets to strike down Tatsu, David draws one of his pistols to intercept, this allows Hetatsubatchi to lash out with the cursed chain slaying Dash.
Keyor regains her barring attacking the floating eye with a globe of water that Cinder freezes, trapping the magical eye inside. Seeker Transforms herself into an iron maiden eating Keyor. Jloose goes to attack Jazzmen, Krain sneaks up on the mindbender stabbing him with her tail and filling his body full of seeds eating him from the inside out.
Belmond shutters nearly buckling under his own weight at the point in which Suahoon and Keyor's power are added onto his. Belmond snares Harm with the Souleater and drags the vampire to the ground. Given the opportunity to strike a definitive kill Charlie ties his whip around Harms arms then kneels atop him to punching his hunting knife through the vampire's chest. Harm is reduced to dust.
The remaining wolrdwalkers working hand in hand start to push back the metallic horrors, Seeker noticing she has lost her advantage retreats to the tower to regroup. Seeker throws open the door only to come face to face with Adam Crow, the vessel of Cravixs, fully reformed. The god of hunger, god of the void, king of Tamreal, Fellios-Mammon, lives again.
Seeker freezes in place looking up at her new master, a strange feeling of dreep overcomes her and she starts to walk backwards away from Cravixs. The thick black hair, the glowing ivory skin, velvet crystal eyes. Cravixs walks slowly out into the battlefield. Powers rolls from Cravixs body commanding that everyone stop to address him.
"What is all of this I see before me?" Cravixs eyes roll side to side taking in his surroundings "Charlie, you brought my sister's children with you into battle against me this time? How amusing."
Cinder snaps her fingers out lighting herself on fire, she rushes Cravixs. Crow need not looks at Cinder, her merely waves a hand in her direction and the flames die then Cinder crumbles away. Cravixs continues his talk with Charlie "do you think I need to fight you? I can't even tell how long we have been doing this. But I know how it transpires. What I want to know now is, how does it end? How do we escape this hamster-wheel of a reality that you and I are trapped in?"
Charlie growls after Cinder's power is drawn into him as is Harm. Fire, water, and lighting bellow off Charlie's body, darkness rises out of the earth underfoot, Belmond lashes out with the powers he has gained from the souls he has taken in.
From within the cone of burning darkness Crow speaks "Silly, silly, boy. This is Tamreal, this is Eden, and I am Cravixs." Gravity changes, everyone is forced to kneel by the ever rising pressure of the air around them "you will show reverences."
Seeker calculates the change in gravity and compensates. She leaps up to her feet and forges her arms into a par of succors attacking the god of nothingness. Cravixs suffers a hit, he loses control of the gravity spell allowing everyone to join in on the strangle.
Jazzmen, Xia, Milli and Hetatsubatchi charge at Cravixs. Pillars of stone and spears of tree routs start to shoot out of the ground to slow their advances. Cravixs voices whispers with Jessica "remember, Kari."
Charlie bends down to grab his whip ready to join his friends but freezes something has struck him in the stomach, his eyes turn looking for what hit him, Crow's scythe, Jessica is holding it. Charlie falls over backwards as Jessica pulls out the moon shaped blade.
Charlie watches the battle nearby as he is quickly bleeding out. The earth and forest alike have grown arms have joined in to protect Cravixs, Cravixs has turned his back uninterested in the battle himself. Lances Jacob has mended his own wound and rejoined the struggle.
Lances pulls out the stones to call on Fate. Fate descends from the sky shouting down at Mammon "Gardener of Yggdrasil, you have betrayed your sacred order. Be prepared to be judged."
The world is fading to gray. Charlie starts nodding off blood loss robbing him of conciseness. Cravixs turns to face Fate "Then Smite me oh holy Smitter!" he throw his arms out awaiting Fate's attack "Smite me if you think you can!"