The Star, The Demon, and The God - 20. The War between Life and Death

Two Days Later

Tobias

“Are you ready?” I ask.

We are in our room at the moment. It is almost time for the sun to come out and we are waiting for us to be called down to leave.

Luno shakes his head and leans back on a pillow.

“My stomach feels like it wants to throw up,” He says. “I haven’t even eaten today!”

I chuckle and sit next to him on the bed.

“You haven’t slept either,” I say. “That is not good. Sleep now while you can. I am sure you have a couple of minutes.”

He shakes his head again.

“I can’t. I am too nervous. How are you so fine with this; knowing that we are going into danger?”

Smirking, I shrug. “I am used to it I guess. I consider myself and everyone in danger all the time. You kind of never settle down because of it.”

He sighs and covers his face with his hands.

Kulu unwinds himself from Luno’s neck and slithers his way to me. He curls up into a little roll and sleeps on my thigh.

Well someone is at least getting some sleep.

Enfi is like us. She has not slept all night. She at least got to eat however.

“We’ll be alright,” I say. “We just have to stick together like we have this whole time.”

Luno nods with his hands still covering his eyes.

When I woke up from Luno’s spell that put me to sleep, I was very confused. I completely forgot what had even happened. Though, the memories quickly came back, not before Luno was babbling about how the spell worked, how he was so proud, and how he has never felt more ready to beat up a God.

Thank goodness the other Gods were not in the room when he said that.

“Tobi?” Luno calls.

I grunt out in response. I was about to read to pass the time but I guess it can wait.

“Can we snuggle in bed?” He asks in a shy voice.

Looking up at him, I see he is peeking through his fingers.

“No,” I say and open up my book.

Luno groans on the bed and rolls himself up to look at me better. “Please? Pretty please? I’ll take Kulu away from you!”

I look down at the serpent before shrugging my shoulders.

“He is fine where he is,” I say, turning the first page.

Luno crawls his way to me and using my shoulders as arm rests, he places his chin on top of my head.

“Tobi please!,” He whines. “We are going to war! At least give me comfort before we do!”

I sigh and throw the book away.

“Fine,” I glare. “Only for a moment.”

He beams down at me and then pulls me down to rest on the pillows. It honestly is not as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, we have done it before, but I thought it would have been more awkward.

“Luno,” I ask. “You remember when you said that um...you’d be fine with seeing the real me? Even if it was the ugliest thing ever?”

He sighs and sits up.

“Yes but I never said the second part,” He smiles.

I nod and bite my lip. “Well, let’s say we do die later today. I kind of don’t want to keep that from you. You are the closest person I have been with in this life; I think you deserve that after all.”

He gives a gentle smile and rests his hand on my cheek. “You do not need to be afraid, Tobi. I won’t be leaving you! I swear it.”

Nodding to myself, I stand up off the bed and walk over to a mirror.

I am wearing my armor of course. I even have my helmet with me this time, though it is sitting on the dresser right now.

Now...just time to remove the enchantment that hides my real self.

I stare at what I once looked like when I was human. Even I can admit that I was handsome in a way. It is a lot easier to think that when you see the aftermath honestly.

Now though…

A hand touches my back and Luno is standing next to me.

“You don’t have to do this if you aren’t comfortable,” He smiles. “I will not judge you for it.”

I shake my head. “No I have to. I am going to.”

Reaching two fingers to my forehead, I make a pinching motion and pull down.

Slowly my skin turns into a dark grey color. All my hair disappears, including my body hair. My body also gets bigger; my muscles stick out more and my body pushes against my armor, threatening to break it.

In order to save it, I remove my chest piece. Can’t go into a war with ruined armor now can I?

The scars all stay however. Those never go away; with or without the spell.

My face of course has the bigger changes.

My jaw juts forward to make room for my two tusks. My nose flattens a bit and my eyes turn completely blue, the whites disappearing.

White fur with black stripes begin to sprout on my skin. It is not a thick layer of hair like in my tiger form. It is thin and sleek, almost like it is barely even there.

The thick hair would be around my head and neck area. It almost looks like a smaller lion’s mane.

Two horns materialize on either side of my head. Like always, they are surrounded by a thin sheet of armor.

Looking over at Luno, I see that he is staring at my reflection. It surprises me that it is not a look of disgust or shock even. If anything, he looks as if he is staring in awe. Why would he do that? Why do that to a hideous beast?

“You think you’re ugly?” He breathes out a small chuckle. “If you’re ugly, then I do not know what you would consider pretty because there is not much else that would beat you!”

He starts giggling to himself but hearing his reaction honestly feels like a weight lifting off my shoulders.

“You should know,” he says. “I was right. I would still consider you handsome!”

I can’t help but smile at that. I even feel my cheeks warming up.

A knock on the door makes me scramble to put my enchantment back into work. I even run into the bathroom because it takes some time.

Once I lock myself in, I hear Luno answer to the door.

“Yes?” He asks, sounding nervous.

It is Vlad. He just said it was time to go.

~~~

Luno

We arrive in a place that looks very empty. There is a gigantic field of green grass. Not even any flowers!

There are a few small boulders, but those are somewhat rare.

At the moment, we are on the only hill that goes on for miles. ‘We’ being me, Tobias, the Kings and Queens, and four gods.

The Sun God, The God of War, The Goddess of the Hunt, and the Goddess of Snow.

Everyone but the Huntress are able to control the Angels, so they are here to rally them together against Raiyo.

When Tobias learned that we would be fighting alongside them, I swear he was about to side with Raiyo once again.

He stared at me however when the Gods were explaining how Morgoren had taken control of them almost completely. I was not sure why he did honestly. Their information was pretty important.

Apparently Morgoren has managed to steal power from Taisla throughout their time together. With her power, he was able to gain control of them easier.

They believe that with the three of them together for this, they would have greater control of the Angels.

Somehow staring at me seemed to convince Tobias to be fine with the Angels.

Let us hope we don’t get killed before Raiyo arrives. We do not even know when he is supposed to get here!

Enfi is flying high in the skies right now. She is circling above us; waiting for enemies to show up.

Soldiers are on the ground below us. Some have chosen to sit on the ground as we wait for whatever comes next. Some have even pulled out some food to eat.

I had to make sure Enfi doesn’t dive down to snatch anything.

To my surprise, there are other mages here. They are Serendians. At least I think that is what they call themselves now. One called themselves desert nomads.

They wear loose robes and carry scrolls, staffs, and wands.

When Tobias and I were worried about what I should wear, they said that my clothes that I normally use were fine. Tobias disagreed completely, but he was not going to argue with the ones who solely use magic.

So here I am, in my usual outfit for using large amounts of magic. I learned that wearing a shirt and pants tends to get things on fire.

There is a slight chill, but that is mostly from my nerves. I am pretty scared honestly. Now that I am actually here, it feels even worse than this morning.

I lean on Tobias’ shoulder as we wait for Raiyo. We have only been here for an hour, but just how long are we supposed to wait on him? It is only making me more nervous the longer we stay here.

Just then, a portal opens up across the field. Then another, and then another.

Three giant portals open up. They hold an image of a giant ring of fire.

The middle one is slightly further back than the rest.

Closing my eyes, I mentally call out to Enfi, hoping she would accept my help with trying to get a closer look at these intruders.

When I open my eyes, I find myself instead looking through Enfi’s. I make her fly closer to the portals. Not too close of course.

From the two portals on the side, thousands of black wisps begin to slip through in neat and long lines. They hold about thirty wisps per row and they just keep on coming.

The wisps all of a sudden begin to shape out into strange humanoid beings. Their skin is a slimy black color and their hands begin to morph into weapons. A few even sprout out some wings that look impossible to fly with. They look like wet paint!

The paint appearance soon fades away into something more solid. Like leathery skin. Their faces mold into things that look rather disturbing to say the least. Some have two eyes, some have three more sticking out of the sides of their heads.

Finally the middle portal brings out the final part of the army.

Four werewolves come out of the portal. They crawl on four legs even though their arms are far longer. Their claws look especially terrifying.

The werewolves sniff around the air before letting out scary howls.

Hearing something to my side, I look over with Enfi and see Vlad practically fuming from his nostrils.

I take it they are the old circle.

The next thing that follows through are a handful of demons. Based on what I can tell, it appears to be the same group that has been there to watch over Tobias and I.

Behind them are the three Automatons. They carry a large metal throne that has bars sticking out the front and back of the chair. Two hold the front on their shoulders, one carries the other bars in the back.

They move swiftly, barely making a bounce in their step.

In the chair is none other than Raiyo. He has one leg crossed over the other and he leans on an armrest, his fingers playing with a ball of dark magic.

He has a smirk on his lips as he stares up at Enfi. It makes my actual body shiver.

I slip out of Enfi’s mind and return to my body. I find Tobias holding my hand with a look of worry on his face.

“Are you okay?” He frowns. “Your eyes...they looked strange.”

I nod and use his shoulder to stand up.

He keeps glancing at Raiyo and has a strange expression on his face.

“Are you okay?” I frown. “You look a little pale.”

He nods, not even glancing at me. His brows are furrowed as he stares at his King.

“Tobias?” I reach out and touch his hand. “You know we have to stop him right? He is doing more harm than good. I know you know that.”

He shakes his head. “It isn’t that. I feel...I feel like I am remembering something...from my past. He was there. Raiyo was there! In the fort!”

I only look up at him in confusion. I have no idea what he is talking about. Now is really not the time to be reveling in memories.

“I am glad you are remembering something,” I say. “But we need to concentrate on the now! He has an army that means to kill us!”

He frowns and turns to me. “Alright. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

I nod to him and check below the hill.

I see that all the soldiers and Angels below are standing at the ready. No longer are they lazing around. They are ready to lay down their lives.

Just seeing that makes me feel sick.

“When do we go in with them,” I ask, turning to Tobias.

He gives a shake of the head. “We are to wait. We can only move until Raiyo does.”

Biting my lip, I turn back to the soldiers and nod to myself.

Of course. I have to watch them die. Life really isn’t fair at times.

Since I will be useless for now, I step back and sit cross-legged on the ground. I will be watching in the air with Enfi for a short while.

Once she lets me in, I look around on the battlefield.

We are a good few hundred feet from Raiyo’s army. It looks rather small compared to ours thankfully, but his smile suggests that he is not afraid. Why would he be smiling?

The soldiers on our side ready their weapons. Three of the Gods are standing in the front.

The Sun God, The War God, and The Snow Goddess.

The Huntress is standing on the hill with me alongside another row of archers, her bow is at the ready, a glowing orange arrow nocked into her string.

A horn sounds off on our side, followed by war cries from the humans. The Gods raise their weapons to the sky before they scream out their own war cries.

Then everyone begins to run towards each other. The humans run in formation, straight for Raiyo’s wisps.

The Angels lift off into the air and head straight for the enemy.

Not long after, Raiyo’s army begins to make their move as well.

All the wisps begin making their way to our side. Both sides sprint for the other, their weapons at the ready and their warcries can be heard.

The only ones who haven’t moved on Raiyo’s side would be him, his automatons, the circle of wolves, and the demons.

On our side, archers are shooting from the hill, the Goddess somehow firing thirty arrows per second.

The arrows are not for the wisps in the air, but they swoop low enough to strike into the ones running on the ground.

It is rather scary to see their bodies running with arrows in their bodies. Some die with four inside them, others die with one to the head.

They fall to the ground and seem to melt, they look as though they are evaporating like water.

Oh gods. The two armies are about to meet.

My heart feels as if it is slowing down as both frontlines are barely thirty feet from each other.

When they clash together, I practically blink at the harsh impact.

The sounds of swords striking together can be heard, followed by a few gunshots here and there. It is just sounds of chaos and death.

Screams of pain can be heard, but those are quickly silenced almost instantly. Their spirits leaving their bodies.

Blood splatters into the air at some points and I can feel my actual body getting sick.
Heads are getting cut clean off as well as arms, hands, and legs!

Everyone is getting hurt! Why can’t I go out there and help them? It isn’t fair!

I see a bright blue light followed by a small snowstorm in the middle of a mass of wisps.

The Snow Goddess is swinging a mace around, hitting her foes on their heads, sometimes hitting them clean off.

She slams her mace onto the ground and a wave of ice is sent forth in a cone, trapping wisps by their ankles.

Up in the skies, the Angels are fighting with the flying wisps. Their swords clash together and when someone dies, their bodies disintegrates before it even touches the ground. It is a show of gold and black.

Oh! The Sun God is up here with them!

His wings are keeping him high in the air. He would swing a wing in front of him and a shining line of light would burn through countless wisps, their bodies disappearing instantly.

I must say, this is looking entirely in our favor. Raiyo’s army has already fallen in half! They might not even need me!

Thank the Gods for that.

All they need to do, is get one of the hundreds of necklaces onto Raiyo’s neck and it will all be over!

Unfortunately, Raiyo is still sitting in the back.

Getting a little closer to him, I see that he still has a smile on his face. How? How could be possibly still have that stupid smirk on his face? What could he possibly have planned?

What, would he bring another horde for our army to demolish? They die so easily it almost isn’t even fair!

His demons are still standing next to him. They keep looking to their King in confusion. I can see it on their faces. They are wondering why their King is doing nothing. Not even sending the circle out.

The Gods are proving to be incredibly useful. Whenever the wisps look as though they may be overpowering the humans, they step in to lend a hand. Their abilities taking out wave after wave of evil beings.

The War God is farther along from everyone else. He is taking on his own group of enemies. They all die with each swing of his axes. They leave trails of fire behind them, burning his foes.

Just when I think we might be perfectly fine, a loud sound goes off on the other side of the valley.

The Automatons have set down Raiyo’s throne.

Raiyo stands. As soon as he does, the circle of wolves and group of demons immediately make their way into battle.

The werewolves are incredibly fast. They catch up to the humans in only a mere few seconds!

As soon as they do, they begin to lash out with their claws, cutting into the humans like scissors to silk. They bite into their necks, cutting the scream of humans off instantly.

When they make one kill, they are already making another not long after.

It only gets worse as the demons arrive.

The familiar strings of lightning that bounce between the humans are from the cheetah demon. She is there to do as Raiyo commands, no longer caring that I am on the other side.

Would she kill me if given the chance?

More wisps are being conjured by one of the other demons, making their numbers go up by the second.

The humans screams begin to grow louder as more and more of them die. It leaves my body shaking.

A flash of green goes off near my body. It is the huntress. She is next to me and winding up a giant arrow from her bow.

As soon as she releases the string, the green arrows flies as fast as the speed of light. It pierces through the wisps, going through them all easily. It also goes through a werewolf’s head and through two demons.

That alone helps our side tremendously.

Unfortunately, that also does something I really did not want to happen.

Raiyo is making his way to the battlefield.

He turns into a swirling black mass, it looks like a scary sandstorm making its way to the edge of the battle. Once he solidifies once again, he slowly begins to walk through.

Slipping out of Enfi’s mind, I jump up off the ground and hurry to Tobias.

“Raiyo is moving in!” I say, panic setting in. “What do we do?”

He bites his lip and takes his weapons out.

“We do as we planned,” He says. “Remember, the Gods have to deal with him first, understood?”

I nod, fear setting in. This is actually happening.

The Huntress leaves us, along with Vlad. They are both going to join everyone else on the battlefield.

Again, I get into Enfi’s mind.

I almost jump when I see a wave of black magic sweep across a large crowd of humans. Their bodies disappear along with their bones. All that is left is their weapons and armor.

Raiyo is walking through the battlefield as if he is walking through a garden. Only, he is killing everything that gets to close to him.

Everytime anyone gets too close with a necklace, Raiyo waves his hand as if he is batting a fly away. It causes a large wave of black smoke to sweep over a large area. It kills everything it touches, including the grass, turning it into an ugly, dark yellow color.

The Snow Goddess and War God’s warcries can be heard. They sprint right for Raiyo, their weapons and spells at the ready.

Raiyo, with his usual smirk, flicks his fingers at them forcing them fall to their knees. Black chains slither out of the ground, trapping them.

No matter how hard they struggle. They do not budge.

“I never wanted prisoners,” He says, his voice almost playful. “But a meal from your souls would be quite pleasant.”

He walks on, leaving them there, most likely to come back if he were to win.

Seeing that makes me feel like he might actually win. He took down both of those Gods so easily!

My mind is brought back into my body as Tobias shakes my shoulder.

“Luno we have to go!” He shouts. “Come on!”

I am a bit dizzy from the force of being pulled back to my body, but I quickly stand and hover in the air.

Tobias morphs into a tiger and then he runs straight down the hill. I chase after him.

My heart is pounding the closer and closer we get to the carnage.

Hearing the humans’ screams with my own ears sounds even more terrifying.

Arrows are seen flying above us, the archers sending another wave of arrows. This time they are aimed for Raiyo.

They pierce through him, not even really touching him. They go through as if they were shot into fog.

A Serendian mage creates a large line of fire, trying to block off Raiyo.

He simply walks through it, the fire not even burning him nor his clothes. All the while, he smiles through it all with an evil glint in his eyes.

If that wasn’t a terrifying image, I don’t know what is.

All of a sudden all the wisps disappear. They vanish into thin air.

Either Raiyo called them off, or the demon who was conjuring them had died. Either way, that only leaves him. All the other werewolves had died; their souls freed from Raiyo’s grasp.

The remaining demons stop moving for a moment, interrupting any spells they were in the middle of casting. Then they quickly summon portals and step through them.

Raiyo still continues to make his way to us, killing more and more humans as he passes through.

The Sun God and the Angels in the air can finally turn their attention to Raiyo now that the flying wisps are gone. The Sun God creates a giant ball in his hands, it shines so bright that I have to turn away to not be blinded.

He throws it down to Raiyo and as soon as it hits him, a giant beam of light erupts on top of him.

For a moment, I think that might have actually stopped him. Maybe the Sun God’s powers was enough to rival Raiyo’s.

Unfortunately, when the dust clears, Raiyo is still standing.

He spreads his arms out and hundreds of black orbs materialize behind him. With a flick of his fingers, they turn into sharp needles. They fly straight for the Angels and God above.

Their screeches can be heard as they all begin to turn into golden dust. The God King is safe behind his shield of light.

The next thing that happens is quite shocking.

The Sun God flies away. He turns right around and flies up into the sun.

Did...did he just leave us? How could he?

A lot of the humans around us look conflicted on what to do, but their thoughts are cut short as a voice can be heard in front of us.

“For our brothers and sisters!” A man shouts. It is followed by cheering of the other humans. They lift their swords to the air and immediately start running for Raiyo.

Even the Hunting Goddess shouts with them.

Tobias looks up at me and I can tell exactly what he is thinking. Now is the time to try and use that spell.

Tobias turns forward once again and begins to sprint through the humans, dashing side to side, trying to get to Raiyo as fast as he can.

I fly low, wanting to keep up with Tobias but not be seen by Raiyo just yet, though he knows I am here.

By chance, I look up in time to see Vlad jump up with the necklace in his hands. He is just over Raiyo’s head when he all of a sudden bursts into flames. His body turning into nothing but bones.

I turn away from that, not wanting to see that any longer.

Oh Gods Vlad! He just died and he was a King! He was nice to me! He even let Tobias into his castle!

I let out a shaky breath and blink my eyes to keep myself from crying, careful to keep Tobias in my sights.

Everytime I look up at Raiyo, I see another wave of humans and Angels die.

How could he do such a thing? So many are dying! It isn’t even fair! He’s a god!

Tobias roars loud before picking up speed. I can barely keep up with him! He sprints off ahead of me, straight for Raiyo.

The Demon King turns his sights to Tobias and grins.

Tobias pounces for him, his claws swiping for his head.

Raiyo swipes his own hand upwards, sending a blast of dark energy that sends Tobias flying behind him.

Tobias morphs back into his normal form, pulling his weapons out and pulling the trigger.

Raiyo laughs as the magical bullets hit him. He absorbs the shots as they sink into his skin.

“My, my,” He purrs. “I never thought you would betray me, handsome. Apparently all the things I did for you were for nothing.”

Tobias grits his teeth and runs for Raiyo, a sword in one hand and a necklace in the other.

He does not get far. The same black chains that hold the Gods before reach out and grab onto Tobias.

He struggles against them, but he soon falls to his knees.

“Perfect,” Raiyo chuckles, sending out a circle of magic that kills all the soldiers that were coming up around him. “Just how I like the ones who betray me. Kneeling one again.”

Taking this as my chance to catch him, I pull out the necklace with both hands, spreading it so his head should fit perfectly.

Then I fly forward as fast as I can. Aiming my hands for the top of his head.

As soon as I am about to touch him, Raiyo turns at unremarkable speeds, one hand grabbing onto my throat, keeping me a few inches off the ground.

He smirks up at me, his eyes burning into mine.

I use this chance to drop the necklace on top of him.

He does not even blink, he only raises an eyebrow. Nothing is happening! Why is nothing happening? Drulai said this was supposed to stop him!

The claws on his fingers slowly begin to press into my neck, stopping my ability to breathe.

“Raiyo stop!” Tobias calls behind Raiyo. “Don’t kill him! Please!”

I grab onto his wrist, trying to pull his hand off, that only makes him squeeze my throat even harder.

My vision starts to become blurry along the edges. My head feels like it would float off at any moment. It almost doesn’t feel scary.

I feel my neck straining against his strength, any moment now and he could crush it.

Gapping for air, I reach out and grab onto his face, trying to push him off.

“Raiyo!” Tobias is screaming over Raiyo’s shoulder. “I’ll fucking kill you if you hurt him!”

The spell! Oh Gods the spell!

I try and reach into his soul, trying to find the hiccups, but my head, oh gods my head.

Almost blacking out, I try again.

Sleep! Sleep! Please Sleep!

My vision goes black again for a moment.

My mind is flooded with all kinds of emotions from Raiyo. Sadness, hatred, disgust and something else; something passive. Something mind numbing. That one is possibly the strongest of them all. It even leaves me feeling dead inside. Not at all caring for what were to happen to me.

It is quite alarming to say the least.

Underneath all of that, hidden beneath the depression, there is something else. A broken heart. It is so small and buried beneath everything, I barely even notice it.

Now is the time to unravel the bigger hiccups. Those are the ones that are making it difficult to make him sleep.

Holding his face in my hands I force as much magic as I can into my fingers.

Sleep!

Raiyo gasps loudly, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open. Even his posture changes, not at all as relaxed as he usually is.

What I see next is not what I expected.

His eyes, the black turns white, and the orange turns into a bright green. His eyes look like a regular person’s for a few moments. They quickly change back to their original form though; the orange then rolls into the back of his head.

His grip on me drops away, as does his body and mine.

When I fall onto the dead grass, I clutch at my throat, gasping for air. I cough when too much air comes in at once.

I turn onto my hands and knees, heaving the nasty taste of blood and death in the air.

Hands come up behind me and I struggle against them for a moment but then I hear Tobias’ voice.

“It’s okay,” He says, pulling me into a hug. “You’re safe. You’re okay. You actually did it, Luno! You stopped him!”

I turn in the hug and rest on his shoulder, too tired to even talk.

Over his shoulder, I can see Raiyo’s sleeping form on the ground.

With a sigh, I close my eyes.

All I can see where those green eyes. Who did they belong to? Were they Raiyo’s? How? I thought he was always born like that.

Something isn’t right about all of this.