***
The Realm of Shadows is dark.
Funny that.
The void ship slips silently through the night. Our barrier of light bending keeps us hidden from the flying demons tearing through skies of swirling dark clouds.
Slowly but surely, we are making our way to the tower of grafted hands. The place where I deleted that horned bitch of a god from existence. Zero regrets, bitch deserved it.
Everyone is quiet, the ship so thick with tension you could chew on it.
A scattering of demons fly a few hundred meters off our port side. Not close enough that they would notice the odd way the light bends around our ship.
I exhale the breath I was holding.
There is no response, just a longing, uncomfortable silence in my mind. I hate it more than I have hated anything in my life.
[We have lost connection with Sophia.]
'Wait? Why? What do you mean?'
[Someone has removed the slug.]
'How?!'
[Sophia asked us not to tell you.]
'What do you mean! Tell me!'
[It was not pleasant. Tangerine, it would be wise to hurry.]
Bile finds its way to my mouth. My heart is pounding at eight million miles an hour. They are hurting her and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I grip the side of the ship so hard my fingers turn white.
I am too slow.
We cannot rush this either. Taking on a tower full of Demons is suicide for a bunch of baby Rift Walkers. We have to proceed slowly, but I can't stop the panic. I am going out of my mind with worry. My stomach is roiling. It wants to empty itself.
[Would you like us to calm your nerves.]
I feel guilty for even considering it, but 'Yes! Please, I need to be able to think.'
And with that, all of the panic went away.
'Well that's terrifying. I always knew you could do that, but yeah, wow, you can really just control how I feel, can't you?'
[We did say. It does take effort on our part, it's not something we can keep up forever. Especially not for you. Your emotions are… intense when it comes to Sophia.]
I can breathe again.
Please, Sophia, hold on. I am coming.
***
As the Zero Gravitas slowly pulls up near the massive tower made of white stone and grafted hands; Rikky comes and finds me. "This where you think she is?" He asks.
"Our best guess." I reply.
"You got anything of hers? I know a tracking spell that works if we are close enough."
I think for a moment, before fingering the chain that Sophia placed around my neck. "She wore this for years, would it do?"
"Should do the trick, hand it over."
I detach the chain and with a moment of hesitation hand it to Rikky.
Bronson has parked up the ship, hidden under one of the arms of the tower. Out of view as we are, I deactivate the light bending aura. I don't want it getting broken and then not be able to use it to escape.
Rikky spends some time constructing the spell. The rest of us prep for the assault. We are going to try and go in quiet, but I can't imagine it will stay that way for long.
None of us talk while we get ready. It's not quiet up here with the wind, but there are flyers around. Luckily they seem to avoid the giant grafted arms. Still, none of us want to attract unwanted attention.
We wait until Rikky gives us a nod. "I've got a hit." He says quietly, "she's here in the tower. Below us."
With Gestalt controlling my emotional state I have little reaction; but everyone else lets out a breath of tension.
She's here. We can save her.
As long as they don't torture and kill her before we arrive.
Fuck.
"Anyone got any ideas for how we get in?" I ask.
"We could blow a hole through the wall." Suggests Shiv.
"Would that not create a lot of noise?" asks Vincent.
"I'm not sure we really have time to go slow and steady?" I reply. "They have removed the Gestalt slug from her already. Mom knows what else they are doing to her in there."
"Sounds like a plan!" Bronson booms. Which makes Vincent wince. I'm not sure he even has an inside voice, let alone a quiet one. "We blow the wall. The ladies can defend the ship, and us men can go rescue your lovely bit of totty."
"Works, I have some bombs that I have been playing with in the hold." Shiv supplies, before running off to find her toys.
I take a breath to squash the annoyance of Bronson calling Sophia a bit of totty and ask, "Just to clarify, who are the women on this ship?"
"Vincent and Shiv of course." Bronson flexes.
Honestly I understand Vincent, but Shiv? I go to ask but Lillian just shakes her head. Like it's not worth the asking. Instead I say "Sounds like a plan, Bronson."
He flexes his mouth up into a smile. Weird.
Shiv returns with a number of nasty looking bombs. Which we fasten to the wall.
"We all ready to go?" Shive asks, holding the wired up trigger. The rest of us all nod from a safe distance away. Shiv hits the trigger and the wall is devastated - smoke and rubble fill the air.
The job was done, a hole was made. Lillian and Bronson power through first, the both of them built for close combat. Rikky and I follow. Rikky isn't exactly a combat mage, but we need him for the tracking spell. He knows some healing spells as well.
There are demons inside, stunned from the sudden explosion. Lillian's spear despatches them without fuss.
Behind us flying demons are attacking Shiv and Vincent. A quick glance shows that Vincent is clearing them out with precision. His rapier makes short and bloody work of anything that comes too close.
Shiv on the other hand is going for area denial; firing off flak grenades from a bomb launcher of her own.
We leave the two of them to their carnage.
The Tower is hollow in the middle, the inside lined with rings of walkways and chambers. Eerie blue light illuminates the surroundings. The place reeks of pain and suffering.
"Down." Rikky said, gesturing downward. Bronson and Lillian take point, Rikky in the middle, I'm holding the rear with my shotty. This thing deserves a name… Boomstick? Nah, needs something better than that, I'll workshop it.
We make our way around the rings and down the various staircases. At first demons would rush at us. Bronson and Lillian quickly take care of the ones on the ground. I on the other hand destroy the flying demons that come from the hollow middle. Buckshot wrecks wings. Watching murderous demons fall to their death never gets old.
Eventually the demons stop coming, which is more worrying than being attacked. They are still here, I can hear them scrabbling about, they must be planning something.
"I don't like this." says Lillian.
"They are setting up an ambush." Rikky replies, "It's what I would do."
Bronson tightens his grip on his hammer. Tense and surprisingly serious for once.
Rikky grimaces, "We need to hurry, the spell is flickering."
"What does that mean?" I ask without panic. Because my best friend forever is a legend.
Rikky's eye crystals cloud a dark purple. "Nothing good."
We progress down the tower, slower than we would like, faster than we should.
"We are close." says Rikky. He didn't need to. The muffled screaming gives it away.
With that even Gestalt can't keep my emotions in check. I rush forward between Lillian and Bronson, towards the sound of my angel's cry.
It takes me to a cell door, made out of sturdy wood. I press the shotty up against the lock of the cell door and destroy it with a slug. Bronson hammer comes in overhead and slams the door open with brutal force.
Sophia is strapped to a table in front of me; the back of her neck a mess of blood and gore. A demon squats above her, having a field day with her exposed spine.
I snap the shotty to my shoulder and dump the second slug into the demon's chest. It punches a hole straight through. The force of the round propelling its corpse into the far wall.
Sounds of fighting come from my left and right, there must be other demons in the room. But all my focus is on the suffering of my angel.
I… I was too late.
I rush to her, tugging at the straps pinning her down. It takes a moment for me to get my mind in enough order to undo them properly. I am sobbing through Gestalt's emotional suppression. This too much, I need to get her out of here.
I failed her. I can't even tell if she's still alive.
"Don't move her!" Rikky calls to me as he enters the room. My hands pause above her, unsure what to do. I want to take her and hold her and make her safe.
But I hold.
"Damn, they made a real mess out of her." Rikky says, looking her over. "It's okay, I know a little healing magic, enough to keep her together. All of you keep us guarded."
A soft moan gets my attention. Oh Mom. She's alive!
I slip around to the front of Sophia's table, "Are you okay baby?" I ask.
She puts on a pained smile and gently nods her head. "I knew you would come."
"Of course, baby. I will always come for you!" I touch her cheek, tears pooling on my chin.
Sophia's face slips into a weak smirk. "Phrasing." Before letting out a moan of pain as Rikky's healing spell slowly started to take effect. I take her hand as she suffers through. I hate this. But she's here, she's alive. I didn't fail her totally.
It's weirdly quiet as we wait for the spell to finish. Like all magic, it is not fast. It takes a good thirty minutes, but nothing bothers us in that time. It's uncomfortable, what are they planning?
Once Sophia is healed enough to stand, she slowly makes her way to her feet. I go to put myself under her arm but Rikky shoos me away. "We need your gun, I'll take her, you keep us alive."
I don't like it, but I nod my head anyway. He's not wrong.
Progress back up the tower is slower, Sophia is barely stitched together and can't move fast.
It doesn't take long for us to realize what the Demons are planning, there's a choke point packed with demons on the floor above, and from the floors below; one of those armored monstrosities was climbing towards us.
We are trapped in a pincer move of demons teeth and claws.
"We have to go through!" I scream, "that armored fucker will eat us alive."
Both Lillian and Bronson flare mana through their aura enchantments and rocket up the stairs to ambush above.
I fall back and grab the other side of Sophia. "We have to move!" I yell as Rikky and I half carry half drag Sophia forward.
Lillian's spear is a blur of blood and gore. Bronson's hammer on the other hand pulverizes any bigger demon in its way. Between the two of them, they carve a path for us to follow.
Looking back, the armored beast is hot on our tail. I drop my side of Sophia, "Keep going!" I yell to Rikky, he doesn't need telling twice.
Pulling the Bomb launcher from my Domain I quickly load in the Aether Spellbomb and train my sights at the creature rushing towards us.
The trigger pulls easily. The spellbomb, true to its mark. On its impact with the armored monster, the creature crumples from the inside out. Pulled through space and time to Mom knows where. Fuck these spell bombs are so fucking cool.
Lillian and Bronson are making good work of the ambush, but more demons are coming by the wave. I crack open the breach of the bomb launcher and load in the Panic Spellbomb. Taking aim ahead of my friends I fire the bomb into the mass of enemies.
The spell triggers and with a deafening crack the horde of enemies become stunned, panicked and confused. Lillian and Bronson are quick to capitalize. Smashing into the horde with abandon.
Slinging the bomb launcher around the opposite shoulder of my shotty; I quickly pull Sophia's free arm around me as I help Rikky guide her through the wake of Lillian and Bronson's violence.
We arrive back at the opening at the wall, all of us covered in the blood and gore of Demons.
Vincent and Shiv are still alive but are beginning to become overrun. There are more flying demons than I can count. What I wouldn't give for a spell of mass destruction like what Maria used.
We manage to get ourselves aboard the Zero Gravitas, and I help Rikky drag Sophia down into the hold, as the others cover us.
I drop the heavy bomb launcher off my shoulder and pull a pistol from my domain. I stand by the entrance of the hold, gun in hand, laying waste to any Demon that tries to get close to my angel.
Bronson is pulling at ropes for the sails and yanking on the controls, Lillian has joined Vicent in mimicking a lacerating whirlwind of savagery.
Shiv helps me defend the skies with ranged weapons of her own. She is bleeding heavily, a wide gash ripped across her side.
Slowly, painfully, the ship pulls away from the tower and the numbers of flying demons begin to thin. Had the armies of this realm not been in the middle of an assault against the Academy; we would have never survived this excursion.
I breathe for a moment before channeling the mana from my Sol ring into the light bending barrier, and with that we were able to slip away into the permanently night skies of the realm of shadows.
***
I am more wounded than I thought, having taken a few claws and scratchies in the tower. None of the others fare much better. Well except for Rikky, somehow he got away scotch free, the lucky barstard.
Dragging my sorry ass down into the hold I find Rikky continuing to work on Sophia. Her back is a criss-cross of magically grown scarring. It makes me want to vomit.
"Best I can do for now." He says, "Amber will be to fix you up good and proper back at the Academy, but you'll live to then." He grins, showing off all his black teeth.
Sophia nods her head, "Thank you Rikky." She smiles, "I would have died without you."
That causes me to choke up, the sobs fall from my lips. I… I almost lost her. Oh fuck.
Sophia's head snaps around, realizing that I'm in the room. She stands up on shaky legs and wraps her arms around me. Resting her head on mine. "It's okay. You saved me." She says, "I knew you would. I never doubted you for a moment, Tangerine."
My hands form fists in her clothes and I sob and sob and sob some more. The tears appear to be endless.
She will never be out of my sight again.
***
***