Defeat

Delilah stood triumphant over Isa’s corpse, beaming. This girl, a considerably magical being, had been a problem from the start. Without her, Winfry would be hopeless. As for the sisters, they could think they were safe within the woods—but the Ghouls of LusciousLocks would capture them soon. “Bring them to me…” Delilah whispered into the wind. And all around her, moving as one, the Ghouls obeyed.

And then, from the depths of her mind, Delilah heard the voice. Are they in your control…

Delilah froze, her heart in her throat. “Almost. I—I have them surrounded.”

Do not disappoint. It is imperative that we align… tonight.

Delilah nodded, shivering. The Common Mind was always aware… always present in the mind of every AssMachenstani. But it seldom spoke directly to anyone… even among the highest ranking officials. “Yes. Yes,” Delilah stammered. “Tonight.”

The voice left her. Delilah wiped her nose and realized it was bleeding. Her skin had reverted to AssMachenstani red. Her smoke dress had transformed back to plain silk. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to shake the overwhelmingly heavy presence left behind by the voice of the Common Mind. He would not have to speak directly to her again. By tonight, she would have everyone in her grasp. She would see to it… personally.

And with that, she transformed into the Monolith and stormed, trumpeting, into the woods.

---

“We can’t stop,” said Felix, scrambling over the forest brush with the passed-out Winfry over his shoulders. After the quilaire seared itself into Winfry’s chest, Winfry screamed like a little girl for a full minute before blacking out.

Now they had all run for what seemed like miles, hoping against hope that Lithuania and Marco had had the good sense to not wait for them and returned to the Haven. Still, Latvia and Estonia knew better. Lithuania wouldn’t just leave them behind.

“You guys,” said Latvia, stopping short. “We can’t do this. Lithuania and Marco could be out there—”

“We must make it to the Haven first. You two must,” said Felix, sternly. “The beast is after you. Once you’re all safe, I can go out and search for Lithuania, but—” A blood-curdling howl from up above interrupted him. Winfry stirred. A split second later, Felix and Winfry collapsed to the floor as a being of white mist and light crashed upon them.

“FELIX!” Latvia and Estonia cried, dashing towards him. He seemed to be struggling with a powdery white cloud. Winfry had fallen to one side and was regaining consciousness, though the Ghoul showed no interest in him. It was after Felix.

Estonia and Latvia had no idea how to help Felix. The creature had an insubstantial body. It seemed to be suffocating Felix—springing sudden claws and fangs made of smoke—scratching him up, tearing at his flesh—then smothering him again as a cloud of thick white mist.

Estonia closed her eyes, focused on the Ghoul, and with a twirl of her quilaire, dispersed the being in a burst of powdery drops. “Did I kill it?”

“I think you exploded it,” Latvia said, dashing for Felix. “Felix, are you alright?”

Felix grunted. The longer he remained in LusciousLocks, the more apparent it became that his training, his abilities, and his weapons were useless against the supernatural. “I’m good,” he groaned. Latvia checked him over. He didn’t look good. He was pale—feverish, and several deep gashes lined his arms and face.

“Crap Estonia,” said Latvia. “He’s right. We can’t go after Lithuania. We need to get him to the Haven, now.”

“You’re not going out there al—”

“Shut up Felix! You’re hurt,” Latvia snapped. “Estonia, do you think you can…”

“Teleport us?” She was afraid of attempting a group teleport, in case she lost control and left someone stranded somewhere between here and there and God-knows-where. But she seemed to be improving, and the quilaire seemed to heighten both her power and control.

Another Ghoul screeched from above. “Alright, I don’t think we have much of a choice anyway,” said Estonia. “Latvia, take my hand.” They all held hands, Latvia holding the semi-conscious Winfry’s hand. “OK. One… two…three!”

A burst of blue light, cut short by the deafening trumpeting sound of the Monolith—and everyone collapsed right back onto the floor, gasping for breath. Winfry was now wide awake, checking himself frantically amidst gasps for the librem.

“Idiots,” said Delilah, emerging from the darkness of the trees. “Now I have you all.”

“Take this,” muttered Winfry, handing the librem to Estonia. And then, without warning, he dashed at Delilah in a wave of blind fury, the quilaire on his chest glowing bright.

Delilah extended her hand to magically stop him, to no effect. Winfry blasted through her magical influence and slammed her to the ground, knocking her wind out. Then, forgetting all manners and the laws of chivalry, he attacked her. Punched her. Chocked her. Tried to gouge her eyes out.

Because she killed Isa.

And now he would kill her.

Suddenly, a swarm of hundreds, thousands of Ghouls surrounded them. Winfry felt cold, lifeless hands raising him off Delilah and sucking the life out of him. “Let go!” he screamed. “LET GO!” He was being raised into the air by numerous cold, wispy hands, while below him, recuperating from the blows and smiling at his defeat, was Delilah. Bloodied, but undefeated. “You will die!” Winfry yelled. “I WILL KILL YOU!”

He heard screams. From the corner of his eyes he saw Felix collapse under the weight of dozens of Ghouls. Latvia was blown aside by a magical wave from Delilah’s hand, knocked into a tree and dropped unconscious into a pile of dead leaves. Estonia was struggling with Ghouls of her own. Struggling to keep a hold of the librem. The librem.

Winfry squirmed. Kicked. Yelled. To no avail. The cold whispy hands would not let go. They raised him higher and higher, as Delilah cackled. They were all trapped. They were all under her possession. This was defeat. This was the end.

And then, he saw Estonia desperately pull something tiny from within the librem. A pill. A pearl? A Ghoul knocked the librem from Estonia’s hands, pulled her hair back, grabbed her throat—the pearl slipped from Estonia’s grip, landing on the forest ground.

“How does it feel…” began Delilah, looking up at Winfry as he struggled to understand what was happening. “To know you will never avenge Isa’s death? To know you will die… as painfully and slowly as she did?”

Winfry felt his insides burning with hatred.

“I have you,” Delilah said, as Ghouls swarmed all around. “I have you and AssMachenstan will win.”

Then, from the corner of his eye, Winfry saw the yellow bird with the wagging tail. It hopped towards the pearl. Picked it up.

“You haven’t won yet,” Winfry growled.

In a swift movement, as soon as Estonia yelped from the pain of numerous cold Ghoul hands, the bird flew above Estonia’s mouth, dropped the pearl inside, and disappeared.

Estonia choked. Swallowed. Coughed.

The Ghouls dropped her instantly. Delilah howled in blind rage. Winfry didn’t understand what was going on, until he heard Latvia’s pitiful scream. She had seen the way her sister dropped onto the floor, like a ragdoll. She could tell she was no longer conscious.

In a moment, Winfry understood.

Estonia was dead.

He lost all strength, and his world went dark. 

The Shock

elizabeth lay motionless on the pavement as the 400 pound emissary rushed to defile it’s victim. It was feet away when three gunshots punched it to its death. From across the street, jacob martin rushed to elizabeth. He checked her vital signs. Swore. Then picked her up. Her lifeless body swaying as he walked.

Once clear of the emissary that had just begun thrashing like a freshly killed snake, jacob lowered her to the ground and started cpr, hollering his head off for help.

After five cycles, his screams finally brought a young man from one of the nearby shops. He was unpackaging a portable defibrillator. At the sight of the PAED, jacob tore off elizabeth’s shirt and jog bra. Within a minute the pads were strapped to elizabeth’s chest and side. They were ready to

SHOCK!

elizabeth jolted back to life, gasping for breath.

The first breath hadn’t even ended, when jacob handed the young man an envelop.

“Take it. Give it to her. Good bye.”

Before man could react, jacob had slipped into the alley.

Citizens Arise

Delilah smiled as her eyes scanned the Holographic Online Environment System (HOES), a three-dimensional mapping system that showed her every single bit of activity currently underway in the LusciousLockian National Palace. She could see every dungeon. Every corridor. Every tunnel. And she could see that Latvia, Estonia, Felix and Winfry had just broken Isa out.

Delilah smiled, not only from amusement at her opponents’ naivety bordering on idiocy; she smiled because soon, every piece of the puzzle necessary for her to do what she had to do would be in place. She would have all three sisters. And she would have all three quilaires. Space, time and infinity, captured in their entirety. After that, AssMachenstan’s triumph over Foggistan and Coralende would be inevitable.

She turned away from the table projecting the HOES, glancing at the plush recliner where Lithuania lay, unconscious. In the corner of the beige marble room stood Marco, his eyes blank, waiting like an automaton for Delilah’s next command.

Delilah walked towards the balcony and out into the open air. Tonight would be a victorious night. She and her other selves had already managed to more or less align numerous universes. And the more universes aligned with similar outcomes, the more likely it was for the remaining universes to slip into alignment as well. As for her universe… it wasn’t aligned yet, though after tonight, it would be. She was one quilaire and two sisters away from achieving that. And those two sisters and one quilaire were already within her grasp, projected on the HOES.

Delilah inhaled the fresh LusciousLockian air. A little too fresh, for her taste. The LusciousLockian National Palace had been erected on the edge of Green City, where the expanse of prairie between the city and the woods was shortest. Her balcony faced the opposite direction, towards the city. A city composed mostly of one to two-story glass buildings, sprinkled with the occasional glass skyscraper and surrounded on all sides by trees. LusciousLocks hadn’t seen sunlight for weeks, and this was beginning to show in the vegetation. Up above, the stormy skies swirled in shades of black and gray. Between Delilah’s balcony and where the city began was Evergreen Plaza, a large, grassy expanse with large, rectangular fountains on either side. This was where LusciousLockians congregated for important public announcements delivered by the Prime Minister.

Delilah chuckled. That wouldn’t be happening any time soon. “Show yourselves,” she whispered softly into the wind. At first, it was as if the wind was picking up, sweeping gently over the grass of Evergreen Plaza. Then, one by one, the specters appeared. Standing, at first, like shivering pillars of mist, then slowly solidifying into elongated beings of trembling light. Their features human, their eyes vacant. Hundreds… thousands… They were unarmed, but the blankness of their expressions indicated they were capable of anything, and the nature of their bodies suggested they might not be easily destroyed.

Had any LusciousLockian survivor been present, he would easily have recognized the faces. The new lifeless, soulless agents of AssMachenstan. These were the citizens of Luscious Locks—in their new form. “Surround the premises,” said Delilah sweetly. “And feed… on any human beings who emerge.”

In an instant, the beings took to the sky and dispersed.

“Guard her,” Delilah said to Marco. He nodded.

Then, shrouded in black smoke, Delilah leapt off the balcony… and became the Monolith.

---

“We’re almost there,” said Estonia, leading the group through the tunnels. “I can sense the city limits up ahead—” she stopped short.

“What is it?” Latvia asked, dreading the answer just by the look on Estonia’s face. “I don’t know. There’s something up there. Everywhere up there. I can’t figure what it is but there are millions of them running around up there and they are all exactly the same. I have no clue what’s going on.”

Then they all heard a series of little puffs, like the expiring flame on a series of very large candles. “What was that?” Winfry whispered.

“Oh shit,” said Estonia, her eyes wide like plates. “Some are coming into the tunnels. They’re in the tunnels!”

Isa whipped out her quilaire. “Estonia, focus,” she said. “We’re not getting out the way we came in. You’re going to have to break us out with a portal.” She took Estonia’s hand, and activated her quilaire. Focusing with all her might, Estonia set her own quilaire magically ablaze, and a second later they were all crawling up through the ground and out the tunnels.

“Shit, we’re in the middle of the city,” Estonia moaned. She couldn’t see the beings, but she could sense them everywhere.

With a wave of her quilaire, Isa created a cloud of mist. “This should hide us long enough. Let’s go!” They began to run, almost blindly within the cloud of mist, guided by Estonia’s spatial sensing abilities. They heard gunfire. Whizzing bullets. It was overkill, on AssMachenstan’s part, to fire so much at such a small group, and yet all the bullets were, apparently, missing.

That’s when they heard the screams. Howls of pain. Of terror. All around. Could it be that the people of Luscious Locks had finally appeared, and were being attacked? Had Foggistan come to their rescue and fallen into an ambush? Whatever it was, it was mayhem, and the bullets weren’t directed at the little running cloud of mist.

Panting. Tripping. Gasping. Soon the pavement beneath the group’s feet turned to lawn, and from lawn to tall grass. They were approaching the woods. “We’re almost there you guys. We find Lithuania and Marco— then make a run for the Haven.”

Then the trumpeting sound emerged, like a trembling groan from the depths of the earth, shaking everything. “Don’t stop!” Estonia cried, but already the Monolith’s magic-altering abilities were taking effect, and the group’s protective cloud of mist was beginning to disappear.  

It wasn’t until they reached the woods and the cloud of mist had almost entirely disappeared that Winfry noticed. “Where is Isa?” Felix peered out through the thick of the woods, rifle at the ready.

“Winfry, don’t move,” he said.

Winfry, of course, dashed to look out the forest edge, at which point Felix preventively yanked him by the collar and cupped his mouth, for out in the prairie between Green City and the LusciousLockian National Palace stood Isa, staring down the Monolith. A massive black beast wrapped in sheets of smoke and streaks of flame, Winfry would only remember that it more or less resembled a woolly mammoth on fire. Surrounding Isa and the Monolith were hundreds of AssMachenstani soldiers, all of whom seemed more intent on watching their backs and huddling close to the Monolith than on preventing Isa’s escape.

“You’re crazy to face me,” came Delilah’s voice, echoing forth from the Monolith’s head. “You know this, of course.” Isa’s silence was absolute, interrupted only by the occasional yelp from one of the AssMachenstani soldiers getting snatched up by a specter.

“I sense them everywhere,” whispered Estonia in her sister’s ear, as they watched Isa in quiet terror, “But I can’t see them. They’re feeding on the AssMachenstanis…”

“Allies?” Latvia asked.

Estonia shook her head.

“I’m impressed you were able to get this far,” continued the Monolith. “I didn’t think your friends would be so foolish as to come back.” Isa continued standing firm, unaffected. “I will not be so kind to those that ran. Your Winfry in particular. Oh… how he will suffer.”

“Isa…” muttered Winfry desperately under his breath. “What are you doing?”

“So you don’t like the small talk?” said the Monolith threateningly. Isa gripped the quilaire tightly in her hand. “Well neither do—”

Isa instantaneously held the quilaire aloft and shot a blue bolt of magical electricity straight at the Monolith’s face. The creature dematerialized just in time, letting the bolt shoot straight into a cluster of soldiers and blast them to bits. Outside the city limits, Isa had her magic back.

Delilah rematerialized in her human form, her eyes flashing with hatred. She thrust her arms forward, sending a burst of black flame that ignited Isa on the spot.

“NOOOO!!!” Winfry wailed. Felix held Winfry back, stunned, though caught too off guard to remember to cover Winfry’s mouth, while Latvia and Estonia could hardly move from the shock. The devil’s fire engulfed Isa entirely, her frail silhouette hardly showing through the thick black flames. There was an uproar from the soldiers and a victorious trumpeting sound from Delilah’s bosom as Isa’s figure collapsed on its knees, then fell, face first, to the ground.

Dead.

Winfry was, at this point, screaming hysterically, and in seconds both Delilah and the soldiers were aware of his position. Felix silenced him with a swift rifle butt to the head, threw him over his soldier, said, “Come on!” to the sisters and began his mad dash into the depths of the woods, headed for the Haven.

Amidst tears, Estonia screamed, “They’re coming! They’re all around us!”

Felix, beating through the brush, soon concluded she wasn’t talking about the AssMachenstani soldiers pursuing them. From the corners of his eyes he could see white figures, materializing here and there, disappearing just as soon as they appeared. And by the sudden screams of random soldiers behind him, he figured these beings of white smoke attacked indiscriminately. It was only a matter of time before one of them caught someone from his group.

Suddenly, a bright light shot down from above, slamming Winfry and Felix to the ground. Felix quickly recovered. “Winfry! WINFRY!” he slapped him into consciousness. Winfry’s chest was steaming, like something had—

Winfry opened his eyes and felt instantly for his chest.

There, seared into his skin, was Isa’s quilaire.  

The Escape

 “Now all we have to do is get out,” said Latvia. Like everything except ‘eupnoea’ – easier said than done.

Dark within the belly of the Assmachistani’s Coralendian foothold, Estonia, assisted by isa, began feeling for a way out. Fortunately for them the tunnels could get them very close to the edge of Green City. Unfortunately for them they weren’t gerbils and the magic supply was still just a trickle. After stumbling around in the dark for several minutes, Estonia realized they had diverted from the correct path. Upon doubling back they all realized the correct path had caved in. They couldn’t fit through and it was too far to magic through too.

The only thing they could do was to resurface and dive down after passing the blockage.

Estonia feeled it out. They would only have to run down a hallway before they could dive down again. They could do it. Only problem: Estonia couldn’t get enough magic to sense the people above. It would be a gamble.

Felix was ready to hoist everyone up before pulling himself up. Everyone else was ready to be hoisted and run like mad. Estonia was ready to divine the portals.

1… 2… 3… Go!

They were prepared to beat down un-expectant passersby; they were prepared to duck back down in case of sentinel fire; they were even prepared to see the Mist Lady grinning down at them; but none of them was prepared for what meet them: an empty hallway.

They ran down the hallway expecting an outburst with every step but nothing happened. There was no one in sight or sound. It was strange. It was the kind of thing that only happened when falling into a trap. Or in stories.

Once back in the tunnels, apart from several stubbed toes, everything went smoothly. Within a half an hour, they were at the city limits. That’s where the real problem was.

Now Estonia could sense them or it. She wasn’t really sure what. At first it seemed like it was the Mist Lady but then she realized that she sensed thousands of identical beings all across the city. They were all scouring around the city like a colony of black ants defending their hill from intruders. They were all indistinguishable. This was unreal

“What is it?” Latvia asked dreading the answer by the look on her sister’s face.

“I don’t know. There’s something up there. Everywhere up there. I can’t figure what it is but there are millions of them running around up there and they are all exactly the same. I have no clue what’s going on.”

Looks of bewilderment were her only reply.

“Oh SHIT! Some are coming into the tunnels!”

“It must be the search party,” Felix shouted finally realizing what was happening, “they found out we broke out. We need to run for it!”

Estonia portaled and Felix chucked them up to the street like barrels of hay. With the little magic she could get, isa created a cloud of mist to hide them from fifteen or so Assmachestani guards searching the street.

They tore off towards the woods to a sound track of gunfire and whining bullets. Within the cloud, they could hardly see three feet ahead. Only labored breathing and the random pumping hand and kicking foot let them know that they were still together. But as the ground changed from paved into lawn into tall grass, they knew they were close to the woods. Once in the woods they could have at least a half chance of concealing themselves long enough to get back to the haven.

The first trees came as a godsend and the mist began to fade. Only then did they realize the gun fire had stopped and isa was missing.  

As the mist thinned, they realized why all gunfire stopped. On the yard just outside of the city limits, the Mist Lady stood with hundreds of Assmachestani soldiers and right at the edge of the yard was isa staring the demon down.

winfry lunged out of the woods only to be yanked back by Felix who then needed the sisters’ help to keep him down and quiet.

The stare down continued.

“You’re crazy to face me. You know this of course.”

…

“I’m impressed you were able to get this far. I didn’t think your friends would be so foolish as to come back.”

…

“I will not be so kind to those that ran. Your winfry in particular. Oh how he will suffer.”

…

A hint of frustration slipped into the Mist Lady’s voice as her mouse refused to run.

“So you don’t like the small talk. Well neither do”

A blue bolt of electricity shot out of the quilaire and nearly struck the Mist Lady who dissolved to let the blast annihilate a score of soldiers behind her.

Outside the city limits, isa’s magic was uncapped.

When the Mist Lady rematerialized she shot towards isa as a of missile black flame. There was no time for isa to react. The devil’s fire devoured her.

It took everything Felix had left and Estonia’s magic to pull winfry into the woods.

The soldiers had begun their charge.

Just before they were diving into the darkness of the woods, they saw bright lights streak out of the effigy of flames that isa had become.

Then a star shot out of the black and rocketed into winfry’s sternum.

 isa's quilaire had seared itself into winfry’s chest.

The Assmachistanis charged the woods and winfry finally turned and tore towards the haven.