The Star, The Demon, and The God - 53. The Fate of Thymestrys

Tobias

“What the fuck do you mean he’s gone,” I snarl. “Where did he go?”

The automaton lets out so much steam, I am almost certain it is the one responsible for the overheating of this realm.

No I know this land is connected to Raiyo now.

His rage is boiling right now if this is any kind of indication of what is happening.

“I do not know,” The giant thing says. “He said he was going to fix the world. I do not know what that means but it scares me.”

Well...that is slightly terrifying to hear.

It's one thing to hear this metal thing is capable of fear, it’s another to learn that the two most powerful beings in the entire universe are trying to do the same thing.

How the fuck are we supposed to beat that?

“What do you mean fix it?” Luno asks. “What is he fixing?”

There is a long stare between us and the automaton before it says, “Everything.”

I think it is safe to say that all my confidence has been tossed out the window now.

Seriously, how the hell are we possibly supposed to stop this now?

Laneer steps forward to the creature.

“You remember me, right?” He asks.

For the first time in my life, I see the Automaton step back in shock.

“No!” It gasps. “It can’t be! You were the mysterious one who had disappeared! What sorcery is this?”

It turns to Luno.

He shakes his head. “It wasn’t me.”

Laneer explains how Drulai saved his soul and made him into the Spirit Sailor.

“You were close all along,” The automaton says. “Right underneath our noses. Why didn’t you reveal yourself to us? To Raiyo?”

“I did try,” Laneer glares. “I spoke to him once and it was enough for me to know he didn’t know who I was. You think he wouldn’t have recognized who I am without reading my memories? He probably thought they were fantasies about someone else because he barely looks like how he did when he was human!”

It was wrong for the automaton to put the blame on Laneer. It obviously wasn’t his fucking fault the god lost his memories.

“What do we do now?” I ask. “Standing around here waiting for the world to end isn’t going to help.”

Everyone looks at each other, waiting for someone to give an answer.

This truly feels impossible.

What do any of us have against two gods? Why couldn’t it have been the weaker ones?

We have Luno, but that risks putting him in danger which I don’t want.

Okay...obviously that is a stupid thought right now. Everyone and everything is in danger. This is no time to act selfishly. Now is the time where we must make sacrifices for the greater good.

“We should do what we came here to do,” Laneer says.

I frown when I hear that.

He closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath.

I swear he looks so much older when he does that.

“We should find Raiyo and try and reason with him. If we are lucky, maybe I can help.”

As sweet as it would be if showing Laneer’s face fixes everything, there is far more damage done to Raiyo than losing a lover.

The man’s life was completely ruined by not just the gods, but everyone!

Luno told me everything in those damn visions of his.

People tried to hurt him. People did hurt him. The gods may have had a part in toying with his life, but so did the humans when they treated him like shit.

His rage was not molded by one thing alone, it was every push, tease, and threat thrown at him.

Forgive me if I find that putting all our faith in Laneer is too much to hope for.

“He went to find Morgoren,” The Automaton says. “If you can find him, you should find Raiyo.”

Well...it is a good thing we know where Morgoren plans to destroy the world.

Right in Laneer’s old home.

~~~
~~~

Morgoren

“What do you mean they are missing?” I snarl.

Two cowering angels are on their knees before me.

They are not the ones who helped the Star escape. Those angels had also sneaked away.

No matter what I do, I can’t control them.

Whatever that Star did to them, it broke my bond to them.

Not sure if Taisla had done something to motivate him, or maybe the Star has his own tricks up his sleeve.

Either way I am glad the star lashed out at my new and improved angels.

Each kill he makes only makes our bond that much stronger. Controlling him will feel as natural as breathing in air soon enough.

Even if he decides to hide back in the little hole Taisla dug for him, he is no longer a necessity.

The star managed to fill my machine up with the perfect amount of power.

Such raw magic is priceless. I wanted to be sure I got as much as I could get to make this world’s transition nice and clean.

Now of course, I needed a spot in Thymestrys to hold this magic without anything being able to taint it.

Magic is in all things. Most of it can tarnish the star’s power so the best place to be would be where time has frozen over.

Avelin.

I am still not entirely sure why the city is the way it is. I imagine Raiyo must have had some part in it like he did to Drulai’s forest.

Either way, I will be using it now.

After killing the useless angels for not telling me where the fugitives flew off to, I turn back to the work I have done here in Avelin now.

Since there was so much stone and space, I created a large dome made from the stone of the countless homes of Avelin.

The dome would be around half the size of the actual city, but it is still more than enough space.

Where Avelin once stood, I have cleared out most areas.

Inside the dome, there are random homes or piles of stones, but the ground looks as if a crater had blasted into the land.

The edge of the dome has raised stone platforms for my new angels to guard my machine.

While I brought all of my dead angels, I of course use my bond on the living ones. They are all here as well.

With two large armies, nothing will be able to stop me!

I had created a replica of my bridge that goes from one end to the other. It holds my machine up in the center just like before.

Since I will be drawing power from my moon, I created an opening at the very top of the dome, letting a ray of moonlight pour over my contraption.

Where the machine was once a plain metal, it now glows a white light, courtesy of Lunarico’s magic.

A great shame I probably won’t be able to dissect him.

I suppose in the new Thymestrys, I could bring another star and dissect it to play with its blood.

There must be something interesting I could do with that shining silver.

I was originally going to make the star my champion since I finally retrieved my mark from that damned trick in the desert.

So many things I will finally be able to do in the new world.

All these rules will no longer be placed on me. I will be able to do as I please without anyone or anything trying to stop me.

I will not have any gods place me in shackles when I should be the one who rules them all. I deserve to be respected.

Not even Raiyo will survive, though I wouldn’t mind remaking him in the next life.

Obviously he will be more open to being with me. He will worship me and thrive off of my affections and no one else’s.

I will be the only one who can grant him pleasure. I will be the most important being in his eyes.

I bite my lip as a shiver runs up my spine in excitement.

The new Thymestrys will be quite exciting.

Of course being the one with the most power is all fine and grand, but also having a pleasant companion is more than perfect.

I definitely won’t be bringing that damn werewolf back.

Now...we must begin.

~~~
~~~

Tobias

“What do we do when we get there?” Laneer asks.

We are all back on his boat and waiting for the right spot to teleport.

“I don’t know,” I sigh.

What I do know is that my nerves are really on edge right now.

“Maybe...maybe I can bring the angels to our side!” Luno says.

I look at him as if he is the craziest person on this damn world.

Laneer chuckles behind us.

“I’m serious,” Luno says. “Those angels who helped save me, they said that my magic somehow fixed them. They were free from Morgoren’s control! Maybe I can do the same to all of the angels present there!”

I shake my head. “It could maybe work but that is incredibly risky to do. What if Morgoren grabs you again? We can’t exactly stop him. He is too strong!”

Luno shrugs. “That is what Raiyo is for, right? Our other chance in helping us take down Morgoren?”

“What about stopping Raiyo?” I ask. “Who is going to stop him?”

Luno bites his lip as he tries to think things over.

“I will,” Laneer says behind us.

My eyebrows shoot up in surprise when I hear that.

Laneer brings the boat to a stop as a bubble forms around us.

“If we don’t have any other option, it will come down to me to finish him off.”

Luno shakes his head in horror. “Finish him off? But you love him!”

Laneer raises his hand to silence the star. “I know.”

Luno ignores him. “If you do it you would also die! You can’t do it!”

The Sailor shrugs as we sink into the water.

“I know him,” he says. “What he is about to do is something he would never have done before. I don’t know what happened to him, but if it comes down to it, I will be the one who has to free him.”

Luno turns to me. “Tobias say something!”

I frown. “What am I supposed to say? Raiyo wiped out almost all of the gods and demons. What do you think is going to happen if we were to try and stop him?”

The star crosses his arms and pouts.

“It isn’t right,” he says. “You shouldn’t be the one to kill him, Laneer. It will break you! Can’t you see that?”

Laneer sighs and leans on his oar.

“Leave him alone,” I say to Luno. “I think he already gets the picture.”

He turns to me with a frown before facing forward, not at all happy with the idea of one lover killing the other.

I get it. It doesn’t make me happy either, but with the way things are going, we need some kind of savior to bring the peace.

The bubble turns green before flaking off into pieces.

We quickly rise up to the surface.

The water does not get brighter the higher we go so clearly the sun is still missing.

I reach for Luno’s hand and interlock our fingers.

He looks up at me and I can tell he is just as worried.

This is it.

Our last stand with trying to protect this world and all the realms.

Some voice in the back of my mind is telling me that at least one of us won’t be making it to the end.

Whoever it may be, it sure as hell won’t be Luno. I’ll make sure of that.

I flinch slightly when I see the moon when we break the surface.

It is pretty quiet as we sit in the middle of a small pond.

When I look behind us, I frown when I see a giant ball made of stone behind some trees.

The hell is that?

It is in the direction of Avelin.

Laneer rows us closer to the edge of the pond.

“Are you ready?” I ask Luno.

He shakes his head. “Are you?”

Letting out a shaky breath, I say, “no, not at all. It is kind of hard to swallow that I might die in a few hours.”

He frowns. “No you’re not! None of us are going to die! Can you both be quiet about all of that!”

I raise an eyebrow at him but end up smirking.

“It’s not funny,” he glares. “None of this is funny!”

Pulling him closer to me, I kiss him gently on the temple.

“I know,” I say. “It isn’t.”

The star has definitely changed from when I first met him. He used to be all innocent and a bit stupid.

Sure, he still is a bit of both at times but now he is different.

When we get off the boat, we make our way through a small patch of trees that lead to Avelin.

It is a silent walk through the woods.

Everyone’s nerves are on edge.

It is when we reach the end of the forest that it feels a lot louder.

A beam of moonlight shoots up into the air from the stone dome. The entire area looks as if it has frozen in time.

Bits of leaves and stone float in the air.

An entire house creaks by us as if a tornado were slowly moving it.

I frown when I see green angels marching in and out of certain openings at the bottom of the dome.

Even from here, I can hear the air vibrating from whatever Morgoren’s machine is doing.

How strange it is to combine magic and machine. Even stranger that it is what will cause the end of this world.

That or whatever Raiyo does.

Speaking of Raiyo, where is he?

I thought he would have been here by now based on what the Automaton had said.

I imagined two gods clashing in battle when we arrived.

Fuck...are we going to have to face the moon god ourselves?

Now I really hope Luno’s plan works.

An angel army on our side would definitely do us wonders right now.

“Well,” I say. “Let’s do this.”

I change into my tiger form, Luno lifts a few feet off the ground, and Laneer pulls out a sword and shield.

He bashes the sword against his shield and they both become encased in a glowing green fire.

Holy shit...I need to get one of those after this!

If we survive.

I kneel down to let him climb onto me.

“You’re serious?” He asks.

I growl slightly. I am in no mood to be playing games right now. He can get off when we are closer.

Once he is situated, I immediately get to running.

Luno flies closely.

As we draw nearer, arrows all of a sudden are shot our way.

Hundreds of them fly through the air, arcing their way onto us.

With a quick spin in the air, Luno spreads of his arms, creating a giant wall of air that pushes all the arrows backwards and away from us.

Another volley of arrows comes for us but Luno protects us again.

A shining golden light appears in the sky before a portal opens.

Four angels and two Archangels fly down to meet us.

At first I think they are going to attack but instead they fly alongside Luno.

Blinking in surprise at that, I turn back to the situation in front of us.

Suddenly a large stone falls in front of my face!

I barely have enough time to turn to the side, accidentally slamming my side into the boulder.

“Careful!” Laneer shouts down.

Another boulder appears out of the sky and falls in front of me.

This night sky is making it hard to see what the hell is falling on top of me!

Luno is thankfully keeping us safe.

I leap to the side as another boulder falls down on top of me.

Now that we are closer to the dome, I can see that green and white angels are running and flying after us.

Shit!

There are hundreds of them!

I almost trip over my feet as a loud bang goes off above me.

A piercing white light shines above me before it quickly disappears moments after.

Did...Luno do that thing?

I notice all the white winged angels have stopped moving in the skies.

He...he did it?

All of a sudden the angels begin to attack their evil counterparts! They attack them from behind, completely pulling the dead angels by surprise!

Holy shit he did it!

“That is some friend you’ve got there,” Laneer says above me.

I swear I could start laughing like crazy!

We might actually have a chance with an army on our side!

The green angels turn to face their new enemies, but some keep coming for us.

Readying myself, I bare my teeth as we draw nearer.

Laneer pulls out his flaming sword and holds the hilt with both hands.

With a powerful swing in the air in front of him, a flaming ball of green fire spits forth and slices through the undead angels.

The Sailor sends swing after swing of green fire.

As I run through the countless enemies, icy spears are thrown down around me, impaling any green angels who get too close.

Luno keeps up with me, making sure that I am safe.

Thankfully I know there are Archangels surrounding him to keep him from harm. They are at least useful for that.

I jump slightly when a large green glow erupts on my back.

Laneer slams his sword and shield together, creating a force of green energy that pushes all dead angels away.

Nice!

Luno flies ahead of us and lands on the ground, a few feet from the dome.

He pushes his fists forward, causing the stone to be cut into a large oval shape.

He takes a step forward before punching with one fist.

Like wind blowing against a pile of leaves, the dome shatters inwards, creating a large opening for us to get through!

Luno quickly flies backwards to safety.

Green angels rush to guard the new opening but as I get closer, Laneer uses another energy push that clears the area.

Without slowing down, I leap over the stones and enter the giant dome.

The inside of the dome is a lot bigger than I thought it would be.

There is a giant ass bridge inside this dome. It is a few hundred feet in the air. Along the edges of the dome, there is a tall fortress like a never ending building.

Well it was never ending until Luno broke open a part of the dome.

Underneath the bridge, the land has been swept clean.

There are the occasional floating stones or broken pieces of buildings, but aside from that, it is very empty.

Aside from the countless amount of angels under there.

Laneer unleashes another energy blast to push away any angels from attacking us.

Newly allied angels pour in behind us.

It is a blur of white and gold as they all descend on the twisted angels.

A piercing white light goes off behind us and I know Luno is calling more angels to our side.

Seeing them all freeze up in confusion, freeing their minds from Morgoren’s grasp, it is amazing!

They quickly turn their swords to face the dead angels.

That is all fine and good, but something else is grabbing my attention.

Morgoren is standing on the middle of the bridge. Behind him is a strange machine that glows and shoots a beam of light up into a hole at the top of the dome.

Is that what he is using to rewind time?

Is that why everything outside is floating and acting weird?

Leave brush against my face as I stare up at the strange metal slab.

We need to destroy that thing.

Luno flies down to my side, “We need to stop him!”

Laneer answers back, “We need to get around Morgoren.”

I lower myself to the ground to get Laneer off.

Morphing back, I quick duck when a spear flies over my head.

Whoever threw that gets tackles by a group of friendly angels.

Never thought I’d think of angels as friendly.

“I have an idea,” I say. “I’ll sneak up behind him on the other side of the bridge. I’ll need someone to make some kind of distraction.”

Luno nods and goes to fly away.

Quickly, I grab his down to keep him in place.

He looks up at me in confusion and tries to pull away.

Pulling him closer, I kiss him full on the lips.

He freezes over in surprise, but he quickly ends up kissing my back.

Stepping back, I smile at him. “Be careful alright?”

He stares after me for a moment before he smiles as well. “You too!”

Leaping into the air, I morph into my tiger form and jump through a pile of stones to get onto the barrier along the edge of the dome.

Morgoren may be a large issue, but if that machine is out of the picture, it should hopefully buy us some time.

There aren’t as many angels up here. Alive, that is.

Most of our angels have killed off the undead ones simply because these were the closest to the breach.

I run along the side, jumping over any dead bodies and lashing out for any still alive.

The longer I run along, the more undead angels I find still walking.

As tempting as it is, I try not to sink my teeth into their flesh.

I could easily penetrate their armor but whatever their insides are made of, I don’t want it in my mouth.

I headbutt into two undead angels lined up together, piercing them both with my horns.

Shaking my head to get them off, I jump slightly when the ground trembles.

The machine has gotten brighter.

Swirling white lines of moonlight encompass the machine.

Shit! I need to hurry!

“Don’t you dare,” Morgoren’s voice snarls.

When I look over, I see Luno flying a few meters from Morgoren. Tobias has his flaming sword and shield and sends flaming strikes for the Moon God.

Morgoren pushes his hand forward and an invisible force pushes both of them backwards.

My heart freezes up slightly when I see Luno falling to the ground, but he quickly stabilizes in the air.

I leap and push myself off the wall, bringing myself on the other side of the bridge.

With a roar, my stripes flare up to life.

Morgoren turns his gaze to me, his angry expression turns into one of horror as he seems me running for his machine.

Before he can move to stop me, ice forms around his feet, keeping him in place.

“No!” He yells and sends a ball of light after me.

I quickly dodge to the side.

The ice spreads upwards, completely surrounding his legs.

“No, no, no!” He wails. “Stop it!”

I dodge each attack and leap into the air.

Morgoren’s hand pulls back to throw another attack, but the ice surrounds it quickly.

Luno’s hands shake slightly as he tries to hold the god in place.

I roll into a ball and spin quickly, becoming a ball of fire.

Slamming into the machine, I find myself blasted backwards!

I land on my feet and slide backwards slightly.

Looking up at the machine, I see there is a small area that cracked.

Quickly, I run to attack it again.

Laneer sends wave after wave of green fire at the machine.

With one hand, Luno keeps Morgoren frozen in place, with the other, he sends a beam of light at the glowing metal.

The cracks grow bigger with attack.

Rolling into a ball of fire once more, I slam into the magic filled metal, this time I am not blasted backwards.

I find myself landing right next to Laneer.

When I look back, I see we had created a large hole in the middle of the machine.

The light pours out of that hole and drifts up into the hole above the dome.

Suddenly Laneer and I find ourselves being thrown back and off the bridge!

I land hard on my side and groan in pain.

Morphing back from my tiger form, I look up at the bridge.

Ice shatters as Morgoren frees himself.

“How dare you,” The Moon God snarls.

Everyone inside the dome goes silent.

Luno tries to fly away but he freezes over as if something has grabbed him.

His arms are pinned to his side and he drifts closer to the moon god.

“You think I still need that machine,” Morgoren laughs. “That was my backup for when you escaped. No...all I need is you, little creation. Come on now, shine your light.”

Luno struggles from whatever spell Morgoren has placed on him.

When Morgoren reaches out to touch his head, Luno freezes over.

I swear I have forgotten to breathe.

Luno’s eyes have been clenched shut, but when he opens them, they are shining with light.

Morgoren gently lifts his hand up for Luno to fly into the air.

The air around us begins to pick up.

“Now, Lunarico,” Morgoren laughs. “Show them what you can really do!”

Luno stares down at me without any emotion on his face. He crosses his arms in front of him. A small light shines at the core of his body before there is a flash of light followed by a sonicboom!

The force of it all slams Laneer and I back into the ground.

Angels, dead or alive, collapse onto the ground from the force of Luno’s power.

Luno’s light shines down on us, but I know better than to open my eyes!

“Do it!” Morgoren shouts.

As soon as he speaks, the warming light instantly turns into a scorching white hot pain!

I scream in agony as my flesh burns from the light.

The metal of my armor makes it feel so much worse!

My arms struggle to remove my chest armor, but this pain makes it so hard to move!

All around me are screams and wails of torment.

Puffs of dust lands on me from the countless dying angels.

What is this? How is Luno doing this?

I reach for my face to try and cover it from the burning light but it's useless! Everything burns!

All of a sudden there is a loud explosion above us.

The ground shakes as stone falls onto the ground.

When I try to open my eyes, I see that a part of the ceiling of the dome has been blasted open.

A body falls and slams into the ground in front of me.

I know that body of smoke anywhere.

Raiyo spreads his arms out and a wall of darkness completely blocks off Luno’s light!

Instantly the burning pain disappears.

I lurch forward and sit off, reaching out to check at any burns.

To my surprise, there aren’t any marks or burns! It is as if it never happened.

My eyes widen as I see the back of Raiyo.

He stands right in front of me, facing the direction of Luno and Morgoren.

“Raiyo?” I say in surprise.

He side-eye's me over his shoulder.

My eyes widen when I see eyes. They look especially scary right now.

The skin around them is black. Strange orange lines are scattered along the edges of his face and neck.

He turns forward again and removes the wall of darkness.

Morgoren stands on the edge of the bridge and stares down at Raiyo with a smug smile.

“Come to give me that kiss?” He laughs.

Raiyo flicks his wrists, bringing forth strange blades that have black clothes connected to armbands.

When I look up at the sky through the new hole, I find a portal that leads to Morgoren’s realm.

Where it was once filled with silver and moonlight, it is full of fire and ash.

Carefully, I back away from Raiyo, Laneer does the same, though he doesn’t take his eyes off Raiyo.

“I’ve come to kill you, false god,” Raiyo says.