The Goblina peered down the narrow path leading up to the camp. She was the lookout. She looked out. The bosses didn’t want anyone finding the camp. The bosses didn’t want to be here outside of the cave but there was no food. The bosses’ boss said they had to take the girlies and bring back food. That’s what she was, a girlie. You were either a girlie or a boss. This Goblina was always a girlie, but sometimes bosses could be girlies too. If another boss was bigger.
That’s why her bosses were outside of the cave, even if they didn’t want to be. The biggest boss said so. The men and the Elfs had food and the bosses didn’t have food. If the bosses didn’t have food then the girlies definitely didn’t have food. So they were going to find food to take from the men or the Elfs. That’s why the bosses had to come too. Without their fire, the girlies would get smushed by the Elfs.
The bosses didn’t like being outside though, so they weren’t happy and didn’t want anyone finding the camp. The camp was here if they ever had to go outside the cave. It was high up in the mountains and dug into the rocks. It was hard to find no matter what, the Goblina couldn’t find it if they didn’t know where it was. But the holes they dug in the rocks weren’t big enough to be a cave and Goblina fought better in caves than outside. So the bosses made a girlie be lookout. She was a girlie, so she was on lookout.
She saw someone coming up the mountain. It wasn’t an Elf. It was a man-girlie. Men had mans and they also had man-girlies, mans that looked like girlies. She could also be a different girlie, like an Elf. She wasn’t an Elf though. Elfs were shorter than girlies. This man-girlie or other girlie didn’t look very tough. The girlies could take her. She could be for fun, if she was really a man-girlie, or food if she was a not-Elf other girlie.
The Goblina went to one of the bosses, a Hotgoblina huddled inside a crevice in the mountain. “Boss, derz summon commin’.” You had to tell the boss what was happening or the boss would get mad.
The boss got mad. “Don’ tell me summonz commin’! Git da girlies and git’em!”
“Yeh boss,” the Goblina said quickly as she ran away before the boss could hit her. She went and got the other girlies, who were also ducked into smaller nooks and crannies to keep away from the cold. It was warmer if you could be near the bosses but the bosses didn’t want the girlies stealing their warm.
The girlies did their best sneaking, even though it was through the cold snow. The girlies couldn’t get much colder. They jumped out ready to clobber this man-girlie or what, but she gave up as soon as she saw them. That’s what it was when they put their hands up, they gave up and wasn’t going to fight no more. This one didn’t fight at all. An other-girlie would fight so the Goblina thought this one was probably a man-girlie. That meant the bosses would get to have fun and maybe the girlies would too, after the bosses were done. A man or a man-girlie would be taken by the big boss eventually though.
The Goblina brought their captive to the Hotgoblina, who was interested enough to leave the nook. The boss poked the prisoner with a pointy, cracking fingernail “Who you?!”
“My name is Zali, ma’am.” The prisoner spoke very gently and didn’t make eye contact with the Hotgoblina.
“You man-girlie or a girlie who not Goblina?” The Hotgoblina poked her again.
“Pardon me, ma’am?”
“Who ma’am? I Boss Hotrok!”
“I’m sorry, Boss Hotrok ma’am.” Hotrok the Hotgoblina got mad and jabbed the prisoner more, in different places each time hoping to injure her a little. Prisoners acted better if they hurt some. Zali didn’t act as if she was hurt by the molestation, though.
“What you?!” Hotrock shrieked.
The prisoner looked like she understood. “Oh, I am a Damsel pokegirl, Boss Hotrok, ma’am.”
Hotrok looked puzzled. She knew Goblina, Hotgoblina, Whorcs, Trollops, Elfs, Elf Bosses, mans, man-girlies, and everything else was a other girlie. A Damsel wasn’t any of those things. Must be a other girlie. She seemed like a other girlie that would be with mans though. Not tough enough to not have a man. “You here lone? No boss? No other girlies?”
Zali the Damsel suddenly smiled wickedly. “No, Boss Hotrok, ma’am. I am not here alone.”
“Who you with? Show us and we take them too.” Hotrok knew this wasn’t a man-girlie now, so not worth bringing back to the cave. She and the girlies could probably eat her, except you had to hurt things to eat them and Hotrok couldn’t hurt the Damsel. Maybe if she used hot rocks. If she had others though, maybe they were easier to eat.
“This way, Boss Hotrok, ma’am.” Zali pointed down the mountain. Hotrok looked unhappy but maybe the others she was with had food and a man. That would mean they could go back to the cave and Boss Hotrok’s boss would be happy. Once the Hotgoblina was a few paces away from the crag she’d been sheltering in a shadow fell over the entire camp. The Goblina and their Hotgoblina leader looked up in time to see the shadow darken.
Hotrok was crushed underneath a draconic talon that could grip her entire torso. Veliboria, Catalina’s four meter tall Drakaina, had dropped on the Hotgoblina with her full weight from where she’d been lurking above. There really wasn’t enough space in the camp for the massive dragon pokegirl to land properly so her hind legs were pushing against the cliff face while most of her weight was supported by her arms. Veliboria swept her massive wings through the rest of the exposed Goblina like a scythe and then launched herself into the air, snagging her harem sister Zali as she did. One last unfortunate of the crafty cavern-dwelling pokegirls was crushed by a slam from the Drakaina’s tail.
The Goblina chased, jumping over their broken Hotgoblina boss and pelting the retreating Drakaina with thrown rocks. The two other Hotgoblina besides Hotrok emerged from their shelters and started to heat up stones for their Magma Throw technique. A bounding figure cloaked in a wavering mirage darted past them as their attention was on the target up in the air.
For a brief moment the active camouflage dropped and the mountain dwelling pokegirls saw a metal rabbit pokegirl with two boxes sprouting from her back and two cylinders hanging from her forearms. Several glowing streaks of energy launched from the back mounted pods and zipped wildly through the air. The energized payloads impacted on the evolved Goblina types and sent them tumbling through the air as the Goblina fled from the incredibly hot internal fluids spilled.
The Goblina were simple, cowardly creatures and kept in check by threat of violence from the bigger Hotgoblina. With the bosses taken down so easily, it was only natural for most of them to flee. The stronger and more aggressive Goblina weren’t strong and aggressive enough to rally their lesser kin. They were brought down by more streaks of brilliant energy, this time constant streams that traveled in a linear path. The Goblina tried to chase after the barely perceptible pokegirl attacking them, but while she could run and leap over the banks of snow they fell through up to their armpits. Another barrage of wild, streaking energetic projectiles hammered what few Goblina still had the will to fight and the lack of awareness to not become stuck.
The Goblina who had been acting as lookout ran downhill and took a living arrow through the thigh, tearing through the muscle and blood vessels and fracturing the humerus bone where the tip embedded. Her ruined leg caused her to trip and tumble through the snow, leaving splashes of red on white. Others of her tribe fell to other shots fired from the Vesna Elves who had been waiting for the greatest threats to them to be neutralized.
A pokeball was thrown and a warm red light blinked while the ball rocked and whirred musically. The feral Goblina was captured.
Fortunately there wasn’t enough snowfall accumulated for the occupied pokeball to become lost within.
Jin glowered at the entire scene. Unlike Andreaa, Sabina, and Chyiome, the Enchantress wasn’t content with playing guard and missing out on the action. Oleksandra had done something incredible again too. A volley of tech-pokegirl generated, guided micro missiles. Jin tried not to think about how she could have developed a version of Mystic Bolt that could have its trajectory change mid-flight if she was a Sorceress. Neasa was somewhere with her new living bow too. Jin tried not to think about how she’d have more firepower and range if she was a Sorceress.
She tried.
A few more minutes passed and Oleksandra approached Isaac, still fully armored up. Her armor was different in its form in a subtle way. Less form fitting and more configured with sloped surfaces to deflect impacts. There was also some thin panels around the faceplate that gave the impression of a mean face in the same sort of manner that the front of automobiles were designed to evoke typically aggressive faces. The biggest change was the armor around her legs. It made her nearly twenty centimeters taller, effectively extending her foot in length and also the width slightly. Like the feet of a snowshoe hare but augmented by the Battle Template’s anti-grav systems. “Commander, may I survey the results of my weapons test?”
Isaac could see that the Elves under Nimlothel were returning from pursuing the routed Goblina. “Yeah, that should be fine. How did you shoot off missiles like that?”
Oleksandra’s ears pulled together as she focused. “Using the scientific method I determined that the projectiles fired by my weapon systems all follow the same principle. At the core is a solid metallic pellet with a radius of less than one tenth of a millimeter that is constructed by nanites. This pellet is then infused with the unique energies hypothetically inherent to all tech pokegirls. The configuration of the pellet determines the behaviors of the projectile by influencing how the energy interacts with the environment. By default what is produced is a collection of energized gasses contained by a thin envelope of electromagnetic radiation that I do not sufficiently understand the properties of. However, it acts as a solid barrier without possessing any mass.” She paused to examine Isaac’s facial expression, making sure he seemed to be comprehending.
He was, so she continued. “The default form of this envelope produced by my weapon systems was ovate, with the exception of the long range precision rifle weapon system. That produces a conical envelope.”
Isaac cut her off by raising his hand between them. “Wait, how did you figure this out?”
“I began by attempting to retrieve the rounds I fired while practicing, however since there was so little solid material this proved highly implausible. I then altered my efforts to attempt to examine the round by interrupting the firing process which was met with more success. Once I successfully retrieved a suitable sample of these solid projectile cores to examine I discovered that the envelope and payload could be formed outside of the weapon system by using the pellet as a conduit for the Plasma Strikes technique. There was an initial incident before I established proper safety protocols for this procedure.”
“Wait, that’s how you shot yourself?”
Oleksandra’s ears dropped back slightly and she blushed. “That is not correct. I detonated one of my rounds unintentionally. There was no propulsion involved.” She’d been armored up at the time so the damage to her own person was minimal but the blast had been very alarming. Oleksandra cleared her throat and her ears moved back to their neutral position. “Having identified the general principle behind my munitions I was then able to determine how to alter the core pellet through trial and error and then apply already discovered principles of ballistics to their construction with some practice. It was also necessary to produce new configurations for my weapon systems to efficiently propel the new configurations. This was the first successful field test.”
“So you can shoot seeking missiles now.”
“Incorrect. They followed a preprogrammed flight trajectory designed to minimize chances of evasion. If the targets were to relocate the projectiles would still impact at the originally targeted point. The more complex behavior installed within the projectile requires a greater investment of solid material which I need to replenish through nutritional intake. Given the complexity that would be required for a projectile that actively adjusted its flight behavior to pursue a target, I am doubtful, at present, such a round will be practical to develop and utilize.”
That was a little disappointing to hear, simply because having his mecha-bunny unleash a swarm of seeking micro-munitions would be incredibly cool. Oh well. “Well, let’s go evaluate the damage you did.”
They made their way over to the cleft the Goblina had been camping in. The damage to the Hotgoblina was considerable and messy. Surpassing expectations, according to Oleksandra. Suffice to say, they had an excellent opportunity to examine the phenomenon of the breed’s supposed physiology of molten rock.
Oleksandra seemed more downheartened returning to where Vardan and Catalina waited. Her ears were drooped back and to the sides and her expression was pensive. “Leksya, what’s wrong? You said your reconfiguration performed better than you expected.”
“It did. I am pleased with that result however… I do not appreciate that my abilities are only suited towards warfare. I still do not function well in peaceful situations.”
Isaac made an understanding, “ah” and pulled the Battle Battle Angel closer to him with one arm around her. She leaned into it and her ears came back up.
They had made a few captures and recorded evidence to confirm their kills to report to the league, both for reward and because someone, somewhere thought it’d be useful in analyzing the greater picture regarding the Sapphire League’s efforts to not be overrun by ferals. Then the group started their trek back down the mountain. Neasa had been among the Elven rangers so she stole the extra time to be with Isaac. Nimlothel was also rather excited to have witnessed Oleksandra’s fighting abilities, having never witnessed a tech subtype pokegirl fighting before. Then it was the sleigh ride back to the mountain village. Vardan requested the Frozenare team not indulge Catalina on the return, which his fiance was content with seeing as she had sated her thirst for excitement with the spectacle of the skirmish against the Goblina. The two betrothed were intensely cuddling which Isaac had the impression would lead to more as soon as they had somewhere outsiders could be excluded. He distracted himself with the matter of Oleksandra’s discontentment.
By the time they were back at Elena’s he thought he had a viable suggestion. He released his tech pokegirl and then went and found the scrapped pail from when he was testing the manifestation of his telekinesis. He hadn’t done anything with that since. He wondered how Candi was doing in her efforts to learn what to teach him.
Returning his thoughts to the matter at hand, he motioned for Oleksandra to lower to the ground and dropped to sit cross legged himself. The twisted and rent sheet metal was dropped between them. “Okay, I think I have an idea for how you can use your abilities outside of combat. The first step will be to see if you can make a very small plasma blade. Just a centimeter or two long.” Oleksandra produced a jet of plasma that was about fifteen centimeters initially but with focus reduced it to a small cone off the tip of her finger. “Okay, good. Try using that to cut up this pail into strips of metal.” Isaac said while not looking directly at the Battle Battle Angel. He had to bring his hand up to shield against the harsh light being cast by even the tiny plasma blade. Oleksandra had the benefit of her armor filtering out the harmful rays.
“I have finished,” she said to the accompanying quiet clatter of sheet metal settling against other sheet metal. Isaac examined her work. The wrecked pail wasn’t a flat surface so her cut lines weren’t straight, but the motions had been steady.
So that was a proof of concept but slicing up sheet metal wasn’t all that productive in and of itself. In fact, it was mostly destructive. “I wonder if you could figure out how to weld the same way,” Isaac said out loud.
Oleksandra’s ears quirked and after a second she grabbed the thin, bent rod that had served as the handle for the bucket. She straightened it out with her hands and then hovered one end just above the sheet metal she’d cut.
Isaac squeezed his eyes shut as she activated her plasma blade technique again without warning. When Isaac felt the absence of the heat on his face for an extended period again he opened his eyes. Through the blue splotch of overstimulated photoreceptors he could see that Oleksandra was grinning proudly. “Welding,” she stated simply. Indeed, she had used the rod as filler material to weld together two of the strips into one haphazard piece. She noticed Isaac’s owlish expression and her ears dropped. “I am sorry, Isaac. I should have notified you that I was going to execute the plasma blade technique again.”
Isaac squeezed his eyes and opened them a few times. “It’s okay. I wasn’t looking at it for too long. Good job with that weld though, it’s pretty good for a first try.” It didn’t look like a good weld. Warped and uneven and porous with a lot of ‘keyholes’ melted all the way through. However, it was damned good considering how much finesse was required to weld thin sheet metal without burning through. If there was one thing Oleksandra didn’t struggle with, it was slow, calculated precision. “So, yeah. I thought about what you said about using your skills for peacetime and, well. You can practice being a metal fabricator. We’d have to either hunt ferals for the money for material or hunt for scrap but I just thought this might be something.” Oleksandra nodded vigorously.
-
Nadezhda scowled. She was looking for Yevheniya and couldn’t find the gloomy Cardian groundskeeper anywhere. Astoreth and Honorata were in a meeting with a potential client. A celestial client, oddly enough. There were a few who tolerated her lady but much fewer who were willing to work with the infernal. Yevfrosiniya had taken the day off to spend with her grandchildren. This left the adolescent Succubus in charge of the house but she felt uneasy about something, so she found herself seeking the only mature pokegirl present.
Yevheniya was never as bothered by the weather as seemed sane to Nadezhda, so she was probably outside. In this windy cold. Maybe in the hedge maze. She was obsessed with keeping the faces of every plant flat and orderly, even with as little as they grew during the cold and dry months.
Astoreth’s housekeeper did find the Cardian outside near the entrance to the hedge maze, lying in the snow. She was comfortable in bad weather but enough to take a nap? Nadezhda ran over and dropped down beside the prone form. She was unconscious. Nadezhda started to tremble, not from the cold, as this discovery tipped her sense of foreboding into panic. She had to call Astoreth. Astoreth taught her a spell. She’d get Yevheniya inside first. “Veriko! Outside near the hedge maze, help!”
The Hellcat as well as Nino and Sveta both came running out. Hearing Nadezhda call out in fear was rare and that caught their attention even if not for purely kind or concerned reasons. Nadezhda scowled. “Nino, Sveta, you’re watching Pazuzu. Get back insi-” The Succubus’s vision blacked out and she fell on top of the Cardian she had discovered. Veriko, Nino, and Sveta had time to take one step away from the feminine figure in black robes before they too were overcome.
The Warrior Nun deposited the five unconscious bodies inside the gaudy mansion. Greed. Vanity. She’d been instructed not to kill anyone besides her mark but the Cardian was the only one among these five that she would even consider. The rest were still children. Infernal children but still children. She hadn’t been told there would be children.
She had to find and eliminate the Harbinger. One of crimson skin with black and yellow markings and blue eyes. One whose arrival signaled the end times. An infernal like no other on the face of the world. She’d been taught to feel the Harbinger’s presence, her aura, from the one who had prophesied her coming. She was upstairs, in one of the bed rooms. The Warrior Nun crept to the door with all of her stealth. She could feel the unmistakable, foul presence within. She steeled her nerves and then burst through the door.
“I am Pazuzu! Feel the snuggly grasp of evil on your soul!”
The assassin twisted around when she felt herself grabbed from behind and froze. There was a tiny pokekit hugging the Warrior Nun’s legs, looking up at her with brilliant sapphire colored eyes. She was dressed in an adorable frilly dress cut from the same color fabric as the three older pokekits dressed as maids. Her wings were fluttering with excitement and her tail lashing through the air behind her. Her face was crimson, with black and yellow splotches like birthmarks or freckles.
The infernal aura the Warrior Nun had been taught to identify was unmistakably originating from this ‘Pazuzu.’
There was no way. No way she could kill this child. No way it would be necessary to kill a child. A child was innocent. Perhaps she was the parthenogenetic daughter of the Harbinger? Then where was the Harbinger? Why could she only feel the presence of this child? She knelt to bring her face to the pokekit’s level. “Hello, Pazuzu, my name is Augusta. Is your mother here?”
“No, mama is far away. Nadiya is here. Astoreth say I listen to her.”
Astoreth, the owner of this home. An ancient and powerful infernal. Azraela’s order had been operating under the assumption that she was of low priority in spite of her might. She seemed content wallowing in the filth of mortal legal proceedings and committed no other evils, so far as they were aware. That was why Augusta was only to eliminate the Harbinger and minimize harm to anyone else present. They did not want to motivate Astoreth to act against them. “How far away is your mother?” The mother had to be the Harbinger.
A strange gleam appeared in Pazuzu’s eyes and she spoke with an eerily calm, even voice. “You cannot get to Mama. She is not here. Not yet. Mister Squiggles said she needs to stay home.” The captivating light was gone and she held up a disgusting knot of filthy rags with chipped and scratched buttons sewn all over. “This is Mister Squiggles!” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Not the real Mister Squiggles.” Pazuzu’s voice raised back to that of an excited child. “But you can help me call Mama if you want!”
Augusta was filled with horrible dread. Her intuition, her divine insight, was telling her this child was the Harbinger. There was no way she could kill a child though. There had to be another way, a way to steer the child off of the path of evil. “Pazuzu, why don’t you come with me instead?”
The tiny infernal pokekit dramatically cocked her head, crossed her arms over her chest to hold ‘Mister Squiggles’ close, and opened her stance defiantly. “Whyyyyy?”
“Because this isn’t a good home for such a young child. You need to grow up somewhere safer, with better people who can teach you right from wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because if you don’t learn about good and evil you might hurt someone, or do something worse.”
“Why?”
Why? Why would this child hurt someone? Was it a foregone conclusion? Augusta wished one of the others had been sent. She was a warrior, not a philosopher. “Because… because pokegirls like you are… are predisposed towards acting like that.”
The questions didn’t relent. “Why?”
Why were infernals predisposed to act the way they did? Because they had been made that way. Designed by the evils of the creator of pokegirls. So it wasn’t their fault that they- No! Augusta had to be vigilant. Had to steel her mind against all doubts. She had to redeem this child. “Because…”
-
Astoreth frowned. Something about this meeting didn’t add up. The prospective client had absolutely glowed about Astoreth’s reputation as a legal advocate when she’d been contacted over the phone, the Angel swore she wanted her case to go to the best and that she had no prejudices to put aside. Astoreth was the best. When they had met face to face though the Angel had an entirely different persona. Resentful, disgusted. She had no interest or intention of hiring Astoreth and Honorata onto her case.
“Would you like me to look into her,” Honorata asked from where they were still seated at the private table in the upscale restaurant. Astoreth started to nod but the communication spell she taught all of her house staff to contact her in emergencies touched her mind.
‘Lady Astoreth! An intruder, in Pazuzu’s room!’ The towering blue infernal upset the table when she sprinted for the door. Any restaurant in Svyatylyshche this upscale had teleportation blockers for the ease of mind of its less savory clientele.
“Honorata, emergency at home! Get the check!” As soon as Astoreth was out of the door, which involved knocking the host who tried to open it for her sprawling, she teleported while activating phase and invisibility. Dark energy coalesced around her wrists, palms, and fingers to solidify into onyx black gauntlets that resembled high grade steel in appearance and strength. She took in the scene from the far corner of Pazuzu’s room instantly.
Pazuzu was unharmed but clearly distressed, Mr. Squiggles dangling limply from one hand while the other tiny arm was touching the shoulder of an inconsolable Fallen Angel dressed in a nun’s robes. The no-longer-celestial was weeping on her knees in the middle of the floor. “Astoreth,” Pazuzu whined when the Hild revealed herself. “What wrong with uh-Gustuh? I just asking her questions and she turn all black grow wings and start crying.”
-
Junda ran down the hall of the compound as quickly as she could without risking exhausting herself if she came upon the attacker. They were not a large coalition of celestials, but they were doing noble work. It must have been recognized because a Megami gifted with incredible foresight had come to them with a dreadful prophecy and a mission to see that it did not come to pass. Junda’s part was to deceive and draw away the infernal known as Astoreth and her Fiendish OfficerJenny subordinate. This was done easily enough, feign interest in hiring their legal services.
Drawing them in was easy, anyway, but she hadn’t needed to sit face to face with them and feel their unholy presence. She had struggled mightily once they had met in person. Every bone in her body had trembled with the urge to strike the godless pair but her fear had held her in place. The one named Astoreth, Junda didn’t believe she could triumph over a foe such as her. The deception was done, though, and Junda had been granted a glamour and a ring that made her mind impenetrable. She’d never see either of them again.
She rounded the corner and saw Honorata, the infernal touched police pokegirl, standing over the fallen body of one of her sisters. How far the once avatar of lawfulness had fallen. Her wickedness showed as dark rings under her eyes, eyes that held no light of the joy of life. She was dressed in the same dark business suit as Junda had seen during the meeting, but with the jacket clenched in her left fist rather than worn on her torso.
Junda didn’t need to gather much more information than that. She leveled her spear at the Fiendish pokegirl and thrust with all of her might, unleashing a warcry as she did. Honorata directed the attack away from her body with metallic infused ki energy enveloping her hands. Then she grabbed the shaft of the spear and set it alight with Hellfire, which raced like a starved beast to consume as much of the Angel’s weapon as it could. Junda released the doomed weapon, she could summon another, but Honorata blurred forward to seize the opening and grabbed both sides of the Angel’s head. She drove Junda’s face into her rising knee, expressionless as she felt the satisfying crunch of cartilage as the strike ruined her opponent’s nose. Throughout the fight the most noise the OfficerJenny made were low grunts and sharp exhalations.
Honorata looked down at her now bloodsoaked pant leg impassively. She jerked the unconscious Angel up by the pure white robes she was wearing and used the garment to wipe most of the blood up. She’d need to have her work clothes magically cleaned in order to get the stains out.
Honorata loitered, expecting to draw more celestial defenders if there were any. It’d only taken a few days of investigation to uncover that this band of zealots were responsible for the attempt on Pazuzu. The strength of their convictions far outstripped their capabilities, both in combat and subterfuge.
Honorata was able to discover their compound through her contacts she maintained from before being let go for being too proactive in her pursuit of justice. After serving years investigating the most monstrous crimes in the city. After the images of their victims were burned into the part of her mind that produced her nightmares. She targeted the lowest of the low, the absolute slime that oozed its way to freedom through cracks and loopholes and bribes and blackmail. The worms that survived couldn’t prove incitement, making it all legal. So what else mattered?
Honorata had concluded that there must be the same vile parasites in the city administration.
Astoreth gave her a second chance to do anything to help tear out this rot, and for that she earned Honorata’s loyalty. The Fiendish OfficerJenny heard the running footfalls of the next deluded fanatic and the corner of her mouth twitched. The last one she had to worry about, if her information was good. Astoreth would take care of the rest.
-
Aspelenie waited in uneasy trepidation within her chambers. She was the eldest of this small band of the righteous. She was the one who shared in the prophetess’ vision concerning the Harbinger and the doom her continued presence would mean for the world. She was the one who pledged their order to prevent that doom. She was not a fighter though. The Cherub pokegirl depended on her sisters for that.
They were fighting right now, dealing with the attacker or attackers assaulting their home. Junda and the rest would be victorious. They had righteousness on their side.
Aspelenie felt cold metal claws around her throat, a sharp point driven into the flesh right below her jaw. The attacker had gotten behind her. There was nothing but a wall behind her, and solid dirt behind that. Their compound was underground. She froze in terror as the low and dark whisper entered her ears. “You’re the leader, correct?”
“How did you get past the others? Did you kill them?”
Her captor chuckled low in her throat, eliciting the feelings of needles all along the Cherub’s spine. “Your base here has no protections against teleportation or phasing. Even if I had to fight my way through though, your agent didn’t kill mine so my agent will spare yours. Now, you are the leader of this pathetic cult, correct?” Aspelenie’s tiny body descended into uncontrolled shivering as the Dark and Ghost techniques woven into her assailant's words took deeper hold.
She tried to sound forceful. “I am their shepherd.” She failed.
The infernal behind her snorted in derision. “A blind shepherd leading her flock to slaughter. You are lucky your sheep fell into my jaws. I’m a picky eater. Now,” a number of printed photographs arrayed like a hand of cards were held out in front of Aspelenie’s face. “I understand you do not want your activities captured in these photographs to be widely known. Honestly, if I could accommodate so many men I think I might be boastful of the feat. Especially at your age, though your kind does age with incredible grace.” Aspelenie didn’t process the hand releasing her neck, she was now frozen by the humiliating shame.
“So, this is the deal. I will give these prints to you, for your fond memories. I have the negatives and I intend to keep them locked away in my safe, so long as you cooperate. First, never send your blind fools into my home again. I am above your petty tribal squabbles and you should have known better. Second, Augusta was kind enough to let me know that the idea for your attack didn’t originate with you. You will allow me to enter your mind so I can evaluate this prophetess for myself. Augusta’s memories of her were not useful. To be honest, I can feel that you wouldn’t be able to resist me but I would prefer to remain polite.”
Aspelenie squeezed her eyes shut, causing the tears pooling at the corners to fall down her cheeks. “Take what you want, I won’t resist.”
“Good girl.” Aspelenie felt the foreign presence in her mind come and go. It was much less than what she was expecting. “Your prophetess wasn’t what she appeared, shepherd. Take more time so you do not fall for the deception of serpents like her again.” For the first time the intruder made herself seen. Towering, powerful, blue skinned, the golden eyes of a predator. Dressed in a business suit. Anyone, celestial or infernal, invested in the conflicts and dealings of Sapphire’s Easternmost city knew her by reputation.
Aspelenie couldn’t process Astoreth’s words. She was stuck on one concern, one born out of duty of safeguarding and guiding the younger celestial pokegirls who she had gathered to her. “Augusta,” the Cherub flinched when Astoreth’s attention turned back to her and those shining eyes locked onto hers. “She hasn’t returned to us. Is she alive? Is she well?”
Astoreth examined the small, eternally youthful celestial pokewoman dispassionately. Then she smiled and vanished into a puff of dark blue smoke without a word. She moved swiftly, invisibly, and in a phased state through the compound until she came upon Honorata and the OfficerJenny’s handiwork. Astoreth revealed herself and with an appreciative nod at the handful of unconscious bodies strewn through the hall offered a hand to teleport herself and her legal partner home.
“Astoreth! Honorata!” Pazuzu flung herself over the railing to be caught in Astoreth’s arms rather than walk all the way to the stairs.
“Pazuzu,” Astoreth said in a low, warning voice. “That was naughty and you scared me. Don’t jump down.”
“Ooh-kaaay.” The pokekit said with a disappointed voice.
Astoreth looked up to the descending pokegirl hurriedly following her charge. “Augusta,” she addressed the Fallen Angel who had recently been brought on to serve as Pazuzu’s live-in nanny, “how did Pazuzu’s lessons go today?”
-
Sheriff Denys Kohut kept his scowl suppressed until the newcomer was outside with the door latched behind him. Another from the League’s resettlement program. Rough young men with sketchy pasts. The only people willing to move out to a tiny, insecure and recently ravaged settlement like Slov’yanka. His children’s home.
Spring was almost here and the town needed new bodies to survive, new hands to rebuild, but did the hands have to be so filthy? Denys couldn’t help but make the assumption given their apparent instilled animus towards the badge he wore. They clearly didn’t trust him and they didn’t do anything to hide it.
He sighed and shook his head. They were here trying to make a new life for themselves, move past some mistake they had made. A God fearing man would do what he could to help them. Show these unfortunate sons forgiveness and compassion. It was Denys’ duty to extend a loving hand to the newcomers, but it was also his duty to ensure these newcomers didn’t abuse those who were already here.
“Another to see you about rebuilding, Sheriff,” Tanya called in from the reception desk. It was Marta’s day to handle the desk but… Marta was still recovering. Marta might not ever feel up to working again, but that was okay. The OfficerJenny was still doing what was most important and Denys was lucky he had Tanya as his alpha to pick up the slack.
The sheriff pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed away the apprehension. He was a pillar of the community, he had to demonstrate the best it had to offer. “Send him in.” The door opened and Denys Kohut saw that it was not a him. It was a her. Very much a her. He’d met this incredibly feminine individual before. Very tall for how human she appeared, very endowed as well. Dressed in richly dyed and embroidered exotic wraps and radiating a beneficent smile with her eyes hidden behind mesmerizingly long lashes. Denys tried to retrieve his thoughts from where they’d slipped down between her mildly exposed, substantial cleavage.
“Greetings, good sheriff, it has been some time.” Chandrakanta bowed her head. Denys’ futile struggles still produced no name. The Megami seemed to sense this and the crease of her smile deepened, “I am Chandrakanta Mehami Paza, a friend to Elena Hrandelf Vrach.”
“Right, yes, thank you.” Denys scratched his chin through the beard he’d grown for the winter. “You want to help rebuild? I’m not sure we’ve got much work suitable for a Megami.”
“I will do any work that needs done, good sheriff.”
Denys looked at the shimmering silk sari, the flawless and smooth hair, and totally unblemished skin on her face and hands. He tried to keep his incredulity from his voice as he asked, “You ever use a sledgehammer before?”
“I have, both in smithing and demolition.”
Denys had a hard time believing that, but she seemed confident and honestly, the sheriff was assuming that even if she didn’t contribute at all her presence could inspire good behavior in the other newcomers. “Alright, we need what’s left of the post office brought down to the foundation. If you’re good with a hammer you can help with that.”
“Very well, good sheriff. Thank you.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it. Talk to Rahela, my Clydesdame, about how to get started.” Chandrakanta bowed her head again and left Denys’ office. The sheriff felt puzzled yet uplifted.
Then he felt panicked as, within the same minute, the floor shook as a series of earthshaking thuds reverberated through the entire station. He sprinted outside to see the last of the northern corner of the ruins that had once been the center for collecting, sorting, and distributing mail crumble to the ground. Chandrakanta stood, now wearing heavy canvas overalls and a thick long sleeved blouse; a massive sledgehammer daintily hefted over one shoulder. “I could not find your Rahela, good sheriff, but demolition is rather easy. Where should I move the rubble?”
(-[|]-) End 13.3 (-[|]-)
The Elfqueen Samodiva sat on her throne in her empty court and listened to the birds begin their morning songs. The little flying creatures could see the light of the sun begin to climb over the horizon but she could not. She’d sat through the entire duration of the night without any sleep, but she didn’t feel exhausted. She didn’t feel much of anything.
She’d given up on preventing the Elves of her court from fleeing; if they were so craven. She’d given up on expanding her power; abstract, political power that would do her no good in what was to come. She’d given up on everything but preparation for the day the Deaf One had proclaimed would come. This day, the day that was just beginning in twilight. The first day of spring.
The day Queen Vershnyk’s princess was to return and challenge Samodiva for her throne and her vengeance.