"I Can't Stop You, Can I?" The frustration and despair in the voice were almost palpable.
The area was a complete mess, strewn with the remnant corpses of over a thousand magical beasts. This fight had been a brute-force, all-in charge and mash-up, of breath weapons and petrifying eyes, lethal roars, and flung spines. There'd been worms coming up out of the earth, beetles the size of tanks, thundering jub-jub birds kicking in all directions and snapping with head-snipping bites… a total dust-up.
Lots of blood and hearts full of magic. Less then a third of my company had survived over the course of time, having to deal with multiple runs of the things today… but the spearmen had racked up a lot of kills, as had the archers, focus firing down the fliers and truly dangerous stuff at range, and leaving the brute battle to be decided on a hedge of glowing steel thorns.
The medusa queen was going into my Mask of Clarity. I grabbed her by her serpentine locks, ignoring the little snakes whose fangs couldn't pierce my skin, slamming her face against mine, and starting to burn it away via Tremble inserted into my nasal cavity by way of medusa skull.
"No, you can't," I said around the burning man-killer, staring her in her red eyes as she died. The few men she'd petrified were already getting rubbed down with the blood from her body, restoring them to flesh, as I was afraid stoning them would mean they wouldn't Renew. Those petrified by the breath of the bovine gorgons got the same treatment. "But you're welcome to keep trying, of course. Fighting all the way is the proper thing to do."
"But I Don't Want To Die!" she almost screamed.
"The Curse was going to kill you regardless; twist you, change you into the thing of nightmares and evil. The only thing keeping you You right now is me talking to you, defying the Curse. I applaud your choice. You can die as you, or you can die as some twisted family-killing bitch. Choosing that is something the Curse would have never given you." I was mildly sympathetic, but not much.
"You Can't Help Me, Can You?"
The greater medusa was falling to ash in my hands, so I withdrew Tremble from her slot in by dose, sneezed, let my nasal ridge mend up, and replied, "No, I'm stuck in here. There's no help out there, either. The closest thing would be the Ritual of the Silver Queen… but at this point, all that will do is burn the Curse away, you with it, and tell your entire family that you're a Hagchild."
"It's Not Fair…"
"No, no it's not. Neither was eating me when I was less then a week old." I took a look off in a certain direction as the mists started to close in. "I think you should make your final plans. It's not going to be long, now."
Renewal came, the mists closed in, and took the battle away.
----------
"Lads, gather around and listen up."
The Marks made sure everyone heard me, and this was just before downtime work, so everyone relaxed and turned their eyes on me, waiting curiously for my next orders or commands.
"You have all fought beside me for days on end. The Book lists the battles we've had, even if you don't remember them… but I do. So I'll not hold back now… I'll believe in you, as you've believed in me.
"We're approaching the End. The Curse trapping us all in this mess is coming to a close. I can feel it in the distance. Light and life and sweet reality is calling me. At some point, it's going to crack open, and when it does, I'm going to be there to cut my way through and out of here!"
I paused and let them think over that, the murmurs of wonder passing over them. They didn't need to ask the question that was first and foremost, I knew it myself.
"I do not know what will happen to you. You are chained in this dream, this nightmare, the same as I am. I know only one thing… without me here, it will collapse, and you will be free!
"Somewhere, out there, a part of you is dreaming. Finally, you will be able to return to you. You may forget me. You may forget those that have fought alongside you on this endless quest to be free. You may forget the great deeds you have done, your triumphs, and your failures.
"But I… WILL NOT FORGET YOU!" I lifted the hefty Book in my hands, which held all their faces and names, and all the enemies they'd fought, battle honors, promotions, nicknames, quirks. "This book is mine, and I have memorized it all. I will remember you all forever, and if you do not live in this nightmare of mine, when it is time to remember you all, you will exist forever in MY dreams!
"IRONBLOODED FOREVER!"
I was crying. They were crying. My hellpoodles were howling in mourning and sad resolve. The end was coming. I would be free, they would be free, and the mists would take all that we'd done into nothingness.
But we had fought together until the end, and it was enough.
I clutched the big thick Book, which I'd cobbled together out of minotaur hide, the pulped shafts of a thousand spears, and the black blood of dozens of different monsters. During my meditation time, I had compiled it, as half my brain slept and I worked in silence and peace on this one little thing that they could go back to and use to remember what they had gone through, what we all had gone through.
My Weapons were the things I most wanted to take out of Dream, for they were extensions of me, Soulbound. But the next most precious was this Book.
And if I could not take it, I promised myself that I would recreate it, just to honor them. My lads meant too much to me.
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"What Can I Do?"
There was misery, and there was resolve. Fear laced every syllable. She did not want this, nor did she want to harm her family. I cut off the paw of a horned wemic, and removed the golden band thereon as the corpse burned down.
"I would recommend that you run," I said softly.
"Run?" she asked in a hushed voice, as Tremble flicked off the head of a female wemic, the easier to remove a golden torc.
"As the time comes, the Curse will infect you and corrupt you, turning all that you love in life into your hated enemies. You will attempt to kill them all.
"If you want to save those you love, you must run from them… or there will be blood."
I felt the shiver, as much as heard it. "I Do Not Want To Hurt My Family…!"
Her family had been intended as mine. I did not want her to hurt them, either.
"The Curse... does. Our Hagmother... does. We were chosen very carefully, as a way to do maximum harm to good people. If you wish to protect them, and take revenge upon our Hagmother, you must get away from them, away from anyone you can hurt, before the Curse takes over you.
"And, if you care to, far enough away that I cannot hurt them, if you do not trust me. After all, I do not know who you are."
I gazed at the gathering mists as I held my spoils, Tremble humming softly.
"But decide quickly. I don't think we will be talking much more…"
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"I Am Running..." she whispered, almost half in disbelief. "I Stole A Horse, And Have Ridden It Hard Into The Forest."
This fight had been undead, dealt with incredibly easily, as if the fight had gone out of them, or they couldn't manage anything other than just trying to brute force us. The Curse had been shocked, and was roiling, knowing it was now doing battle on two fronts.
"Have there been physical changes?" I asked softly, punting a wight's skull fifty yards with quiet venom.
"My Arm Is Turning Blue…" Horror and dread keeping up in her voice.
"The Curse is moving on you. Soon, you will have blackouts, and limited lucidity. Things will happen you have no control over. Focus on the running.
"I am coming. I will not let the Curse and our Hagmother win."
The steely skull of a grave knight was crushed in my hand. I let the bits fall into the vivus that was everywhere, retrieving the rusty Sword that tied it to this realm, and would be burned for power.
"I Will Try..."
"I will be with you until the end. Not even the Curse can change that," I whispered to her.
"I...I Have Been Watching. You Are A Good Soul..."
"Thank you. You sound like the kind of girl I would have liked to be."
"You Will Find Her, And Kill Her, For What She Has Done?" Sudden harshness, a hint of red rage.
"She will never escape me," I promised. I would hound that Hag to the end of the Creation if I had to. "And you know I can't lie to you."
A storm of emotion swirled past, and was gone, as this bleak and blasted moor began to swirl with mist, and me and the lads watched it come.
In the distance now, out there, I could see a white crack for a moment, before Renewal covered everything.
Tremble, oh, tremble, I am coming...