I was back at the ravine where we’d set up our campsite, and the Goddess of Death gazed at the pockmarked holes along the walls of the gorge. I again informed her I knew where we needed to go, and she followed after me with only minimal hesitation. Once she looked around and told me how impressed she was, I directed her toward the opening at the back of the cavern.
Then I squared my shoulders, and Tiff and I faced the tunnel leading into the maze. I knew what lay ahead, but that was only half the battle. We would have to deal with the horde of monster men, but maybe once they were dead, Tiff would see which side was the right one.
The Goddess of Death grabbed one of the torches from the pile, but I pulled her to a halt before she could step into the tunnels.
She flashed me a confused look, but she paused nonetheless.
“Not only are there a couple of boobytraps along the way, but there is a nasty group of monster-looking dudes at the end,” I said with a grim look. “We have to be careful and keep our eyes open.”
“How could you possibly know what’s down there already?” Tiff arched an eyebrow. “First you find the cave without even searching,
and now you say you already know everything we are going to face?
How?”
“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “But you have to trust me. When have I ever been wrong?”
“Touché.” Tiff pressed her lips into a thin white line as she turned back toward the tunnel. “Alright, why don’t you lead the way, then?”
“I can do that.” I grinned and summoned my flame spell to the palm of my hand, and Tiff used the fire to ignite her torch.
Then we stepped into the dark tunnel, but this time, I got to act as tour guide for the goddess. I directed her attention to the brick wall, and we both agreed that ancient magic users had created the space. I predicted every step we took, and soon, we arrived at the swinging blades.
“These are easy,” I said. “You just have to wait until the blade goes into the wall crevice. There’s a pause for a couple of seconds, but it’s long enough to get to the next step.”
“Alright.” Tiff shook out her arms and cracked her neck.
The Goddess of Death flashed me a cocky smile before she darted forward at just the right time, and I chuckled as she hopped
from one safe spot to another. I followed after her, but this time, it was even easier to time my steps. Tiff and I emerged on the other side a moment later, and I gestured to the corridor ahead.
I didn’t need the map this time, and I skipped over the rooms I knew were irrelevant. Tiff didn’t question how I knew where I was going, but I could see the curiosity in her eyes. Once we arrived at the steps leading down into the chamber full of monsters, we paused to discuss how we wanted to proceed.
“Okay, so there’s more than we can fight off at once,” I said.
“But I think we can use the tunnel to our advantage. The entrance is narrow enough that only a couple could get through at a time, so it will be easy for us to eliminate them two at a time.”
“You said they look infected?” Tiff peered down the steps, but she didn’t move toward the monster-filled chamber.
“Yeah, they were covered in boils and oozing pus.” I grimaced.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to let them touch our bare skin.”
“This is Plague’s M.O. exactly,” Tiff said as anger sparked in her emerald eyes. “He gets a sick pleasure out of mutating things with his diseases.”
“What do you think of my plan?” I asked.
“I think it could work.” Tiff nodded. “You know, we could always leave now.”
“You want to give up?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “After we got all the way here?”
“Well, I wanted to know if Plague was trying to get rid of me,”
Tiff pointed out. “And I got that. He’s the only one capable of filling a cavern with monster men. At least, to my knowledge, anyway.”
“If we leave them, then you’ll look like a coward in his eyes,” I said. “Wouldn’t it be better to kill them all and walk away? Who knows, it might intimidate him enough to get him to back off.”
“Plague never gives up,” Tiff said with a shake of her head. “He won’t stop hunting me no matter where I go. I should run far away before this whole thing blows up in my face.”
“Listen, Tiff, I get it.” I gave her a comforting smile. “This whole situation means your alliance is over, and now, you feel like you’re all alone against the world. But I’m right here beside you. You’re not alone, and together, we can win.”
“You really think so?” Tiff bit her bottom lip as she gazed deeply into my eyes.
“Definitely.” I grinned. “Come on, let’s figure out what it’s going to take to kill these bastards. Then we can go back to Bastianville for a celebratory dinner.”
“Okay.” Tiff took a deep breath. “You think we should bottleneck them in the doorway so they can’t overpower us. It’s a good idea, so let’s get started.”
“Alright.” I followed her down the steps into the cavern below.
The monster men all looked up at once, and the sound of their snarls rose to a reverberating level. It didn’t take long for the ones closest to us to rush forward, but that was exactly what I wanted. Tiff and I steeled ourselves in preparation for their advance, but we didn’t have to wait very long.
I summoned my vines around the edge of the doorway to create an even smaller opening for the monsters to squeeze through, and I added a layer of ice to make everything a little slick so there wouldn’t be any handholds. I also added a sheet of frost to the stone in front of us so the monsters would be less likely to gain traction, but the spells took up the remaining time before the horde flowed toward us.
Tiff eyed my handiwork briefly as she withdrew her daggers, and she waited with a confident patience as our enemies rushed at the doorway where we stood. The first few monsters slipped on the icy stones, and they fell to the ground beneath their comrades’ feet, which tripped even more of the mutated creatures.
My panabas were familiar in my grip, and I ran my thumb along the hilt absently as I waited for the monsters to get within striking distance.
I didn’t have to wait very long, though.
The monster men climbed over the other mutated things on the ground, and they surged forward like a hive of insects. They slammed into the wall of vines and pushed toward the doorway, but only two managed to get past the barriers I’d created.
Tiff flung her dagger end over end until it buried itself deep in the eye socket of one of the monster men, and it slammed into the other one as it careened to the floor. While the second monster was distracted by the sudden weight being thrown against it, I took advantage of the distraction, and I swung my panabas sideways into its throat until my blade struck the stone wall on the other side of his neck.
The monster’s eyes blinked at me once before the severed head slid from the neck, but I didn’t have time to celebrate my victory because three more monsters were squeezing into the tunnel. They reached out at us with flailing arms, and I noticed pustules covering their flesh. As they lunged forward, the blisters started to pop and ooze pus, and I grimaced as I retreated a few steps backward.
“Gross,” I muttered as I sliced their limbs off at the elbows.
“You’re telling me,” Tiff agreed while she retrieved her dagger from the dead monster’s eye socket.
The blood gushing from their wounds was milky and sickly looking, and I wondered what would happen if some of it touched our skin. I didn’t want to find out, and I struggled to hold back my disgust as I stabbed and sliced at the enemies squeezing into the corridor.
There was no way of knowing how many were remaining in the cavern beyond our line of defense, but it would take forever to kill them off two at a time. I needed to bring out some stronger firepower, but I knew I had more than enough to deal with this horde, no matter how dense.
“Get back,” I instructed the goddess as I worked on summoning a massive fireball.
It wasn’t something I did very often, but I could enhance my flame spell to incredibly lethal levels if I concentrated on building up the magical energy first. Tiff noticed what I was doing, and she scurried up the steps behind me until she was safely out of the blast zone. Then I released my magical fire directly into the doorway in front of me, and the monsters squeezing through the barrier were forced backward from the impact.
The whoosh of the flames swept through the cavern and burned everything in its path to a crisp. The smell of burning, sickly flesh stung my nostrils, and I coughed as my eyes began to water from the stench alone.
“Fuck, yeah!” Tiff whooped. “You probably killed at least ten!”
“There’s more where they came from,” I reminded her, but I had to take a moment to catch my breath and regain my stamina.
It took a moment for the monster horde to recover from the blast of flames, so I was granted a reprieve from the battle, and it was just long enough for me to regain my composure. It had been a while since I’d used that much magic at once, and I made a mental note to exercise my stamina so this situation wouldn’t happen again.
This fight would be a good workout to push my limits, though, so I got back to work.
Tiff killed two mutated creatures at once, and their bodies leaned against the doorway. Their forms blocked the path to us even more, and it took a moment for the next sickly thing to climb through the opening that still remained.
I blasted the thing in the face, and his flesh melted before my eyes until all that remained was a gooey, gory mess. The smell was atrocious, and I wrinkled my nose as I waited for the next mutant to come through.
“They don’t know when to stop,” Tiff commented as she sliced her dagger across the face of another infected creature, and its head whipped to the side from the force of the blow. “I wonder how many more are left.”
“What? You’re not having fun yet?” I laughed, but another mutated thing managed to squeeze through the barrier toward me, and I paused long enough to meet his movement with the tip of my blade.
Once my panabas was through the thing’s chest, I yanked my weapon upward until the upper half of its body was sliced in two, and
the pieces fell to either side.
“Nice, dude,” Tiff complimented.
“They’re practically made of goo,” I pointed out. “It’s not hard to slaughter them, it’s just the possible exposure that slows me down.”
“If I could touch them without hurting myself, then I would be able to kill them instantly.” Tiff frowned. “Also, my daggers require a closeness I’m not exactly enjoying.”
I thought about what the Goddess of Death said while I sliced a couple more mutated things to ribbons, but I needed to figure out how to give her a better advantage in this fight. I didn’t want her to just stand back and let me handle the whole battle alone, but she was right. She needed to get too close in order to use her daggers, and her powers were basically useless in this situation.
“My bow!” I shouted as I had the sudden realization, but then I remembered leaving the ranged weapon back at our campsite after our hunting excursion. “Shit.”
I’d have to reset to my save point in order to get it into Tiff’s hands during this fight, but then she’d be able to kill off the monster things from a safe distance. I finally made my decision, and I reset with a wave of my will power.
Chime.
We stood at the bottom of the ravine, and I inhaled the sweet, fresh air greedily. It was a welcome relief after the stench of death and decay previously surrounding me, but now I needed to start all over. After I grabbed my obsidian bow and quiver of arrows, I explained to the Goddess of Death where the correct cave was, and she followed me to the cavern entrance to the tunnels.
I described what we were up against as we walked, and Tiff listened closely as I explained each obstacle. By the time we reached the mouth of the tunnel, the goddess had her chin lifted to a determined angle, and a down-to-business expression came over her face.
She was ready.
“We can do this,” I said in a reassuring tone. “Use the bow, and try to stay back so they can’t touch you.”
“I suppose it’s good to get in some practice with this thing.” Tiff flashed me a wry smile. “I’ll be a pro archer by the end of the day.”
“Definitely,” I agreed.
We stepped into the tunnels again, but this time, we moved at a rapid pace until we reached the swinging blades. Tiff listened to my
instructions closely, and then she dashed through the obstacle once more. I followed a step behind her, and we continued to tackle the rest of the obstacles standing between us and the mutated monster horde.
The God of the Plague was in for a rude awakening if he thought a bunch of gross monsters would be able to stop us, but he didn’t know we were working together. It might be in my best interest to keep a low profile until the time comes to reveal my hand, but it would all depend on the Goddess of Death.
She would determine the outcome that affected all of our futures.
We got over the moving tiles and through the maze-like tunnels until we reached the entrance to the cavernous space filled with monsters, and we paused at the top of the steps leading down to the archway. I was prepared to follow the same method this time, and I took a few deep breaths to gather up as much stamina as I could.
I didn’t even descend the steps all the way before I summoned my vines, and I didn’t need to see the monsters to know they were all staring at the archway at the bottom of the stairs. After I coated
the plant barrier in ice and spread a slick layer over the floor, we were ready to draw them toward our bottlenecked entrance.
Tiff fumbled with the bow for a moment, and she flashed me a sheepish smile when I helped her get into the correct stance. I barely tapped her where she needed to adjust, but I could feel the tension between us get stronger. I found myself staring into the emerald depths of her eyes, and it was like time stood still, but the moment broke when a snarl echoed up the stairway.
I needed to stay focused on eradicating the infestation in these tunnels, but maybe Tiff and I could continue where we left off once this was all over. If she wanted to, that is. I wasn’t about to push myself on the Goddess of Death when she could kill me with a single touch, but all my instincts said she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.
Only time would tell, but I shook off my wandering thoughts and refocused on the battle ahead.
“You ready?” I asked as I cast her a sideways glance, and Tiff nodded.
The first mutated thing began to stumble across the ice on the floor, but there were several more monster men behind him. Every
time the one in the lead staggered backward, he fell against the rest of the horde, and they shoved him forward once more.
“Hold…” I said as I waited for the diseased creatures to reach the bottleneck.
I wanted to kill as many of them in one attack as I could, and I began to prepare my powerful fireball spell. Once they were shoving their bodies through the narrow opening two at a time, I lifted my arms with the palms outstretched and facing forward, and I released a blast of flames so strong it knocked our enemies back into the cavern.
The empty space left by my attack was soon filled with even more of the infected creatures, but Tiff managed to shoot her arrows into a couple of their eyes, and their bodies collapsed in the entryway to the cavern.
We continued this pattern for a while, and we held our ground as the mutated creatures continued to press forward. I couldn’t see the size of the remaining horde, but it felt like we were putting a dent in it. The bodies began to pile up high enough to hinder the mutations still coming, and we had even more time to pick them off.
Soon, the doorway was too crowded to let any more of them
through, but we could still see their snarling faces and reaching hands pushing into the gap at the top of the corpse pile.
“How are we doing?” Tiff asked as she swiped the back of her hand across her sweaty forehead. “Are we even making a dent?”
“I think so,” I said. “But it’s hard to tell from here. I’m going in.”
“Be careful!” Tiff’s emerald eyes filled with a flash of concern, but she quickly schooled her expression and gave me a stoic nod.
“Always.” I smirked over my shoulder as I descended the steps.
When I arrived at the bottom of the steps, I used my panabas to sever the limbs reaching through the opening at the top of the pile of dead mutations, and yellowish, infected-looking blood splashed over the tunnel walls. I stepped back in time to avoid being splattered with the gross fluids, and I didn’t want to find out what happened if I made contact with the diseased creatures.
I visualized what I wanted for a moment as I considered what approach to take, but I really only needed a small opening cleared for the horde to trickle through one by one, so I summoned a wind spell I’d learned during the Summit of Nobility in Vallenwood a while back. It wasn’t one I used often, but I’d grown stronger in many other
ways since I’d acquired the knowledge of air magic, so I was confident it would do the trick.
A whoosh of air swept against my face as the wind pushed against the wall of corpses, and the bodies began to shift beneath the force of the gusts. Once the pile was separated in two on either side of the entrance, a small path opened up to the cavern beyond. I could already see the source of all the snarling sounds echoing in my ears, and I backed up the stairs rapidly to give myself enough ground to attack with full force.
“Good job,” Tiff complimented as I returned to her side.
“Once I shoot my fireball, you should start picking off the ones further inside the cavern.” I watched the mutations approach closely as I summoned the powerful flames once more, and Tiff gripped the bow with white-knuckled fists. “We can do this, we’re almost there.”
“Okay, Bashy, do what you gotta do.” Tiff cast a sideways smirk in my direction before she fixed her gaze on the cavern entrance.
I didn’t need to be told twice, and I released the magic contained in my hands with all my might. The flames were stronger than any I’d summoned before, and the heat was strong enough to nearly knock me back myself. The fireball tore through the mass of
mutated bodies, and the sound of their sizzling flesh almost overwhelmed the snarls and growls the remaining creatures emitted.
As soon as the flames abated, Tiff fired multiple arrows into the dark opening of the cavern, and her shots all landed in vital spots. I cast a curious glance at her as she bit her bottom lip in concentration, and I had to wonder if she had been telling the truth when she said she didn’t know how to use a bow. She seemed more capable of hitting her marks than she’d let on.
If the Goddess of Death could lie about that, what else had she been misrepresenting to me?
I didn’t have time to ponder the issue further since there were three mutations who’d managed to get past all the obstacles heading for the stairs, but I waited until they got stuck in the bottleneck before I let loose another fiery blast. The flames filled the stairwell, and it swept everything before it away like a river flood, which included the corpse barriers and ice walls. Even my vines withered and dried from exposure to the flames, and I had to scramble to resummon my spells.
It wasn’t fast enough to prevent three mutations from reaching the stairs, but an arrow zipped by my ear to land in the eye socket of one of them. They were faster than I anticipated, and it was only a
moment before their pockmarked, blistered faces became visible a few steps down from us.
I would have to get my hands dirty.
“It’s time to end this,” I said in a grim voice. “Stand back.”
“What are you going to do?” Tiff’s voice was full of concern, but she didn’t try to stop me.
“You’ll see.” I flashed her a quick cocky grin before I stomped the heel of my griffon feather dragonscale boots.
I dashed down the stairs while I pulled my panabas free, and I managed to decapitate both mutated creatures as I swept between them toward the cavern entrance. But I didn’t stop there, and I pressed into the horde with swinging blades and rapid footwork.
Every time one of the diseased things lunged at me, I darted out of reach before returning to finish it off.
Rage burned in my chest and fueled my muscles as I pushed into the horde, but it didn’t take me long to clear an opening at the bottom of the stairs. I ran in a circle with my blades swinging faster than the eye could track, and every swing resulted in severed limbs or heads. I was over this game of whack-a-mole, and I was ready to get the cavern clear so Tiff and I could figure out our next step.
The hole I created grew bigger and bigger, and soon, the creatures seemed hesitant to engage with me. I paused to taunt them closer, but as soon as they came within reach, I sliced them to ribbons. I was feeling really confident in my ability to eradicate this infected horde, but then I spotted movement in the corner of my eye.
I turned to see the mutated men clumping together on the other side of the cavern, but it was like they were merging together.
The creatures pressed together until a big blob-like shape rose above their heads in the center of the horde, and as it continued to form into a massive, multi-eyed, four-armed monster straight out of nightmares, I began to retreat to the stairwell.
By the time I reached Tiff’s side at the cavern entrance, the bulbous creature stood roughly fifteen feet tall, and its head scraped against the cave ceiling. Its skin was a putrid orange-yellow, and its flesh was covered in pustules and blisters on the verge of exploding.
“What. The. Fuck.” Tiff stared at the combined mutated creature with wide-eyed shock, and I could see the hint of fear in her emerald eyes.
I guess this wasn’t normally part of Plague’s M.O..
“We got this,” I said in an encouraging tone. “Can’t win the game without defeating the boss, right?”
“If you say so.” Tiff swallowed hard, but then she shook her arms and regained her composure. “What’s the worst that could happen? We both die?”
“That’s not going to happen,” I promised her. “I’ll make sure of it.”
We watched as the rest of the surviving mutations continued to join into the monstrosity before us, and the snarls of the human-sized things combined to create an ear-ringing, high-pitched squeal.
The monster’s back stooped as its gut extended from absorbing more and more infected creatures into itself, and more and more arms and eyes popped out of its flesh all over its body. I could hear a sloshing of liquid coming from the thing’s stomach, and I wrinkled my nose as I imagined having to slice it open.
“What do we do?” Tiff asked in a loud voice over the sound the creature emitted. “That thing is going to be almost impossible to kill.”
“Almost, but not quite,” I said. “You just have to trust me.”
“I trust you, Bash.” Tiff’s voice was confident, and I hoped she meant it.
It was now or never, and we couldn’t formulate a plan with this monstrosity standing in our way, so I made a save point and began to cross the distance to the monster filling the majority of the cavern space. As soon as it spotted me, the creature opened its mouth to spew a stream of something greenish-yellow, and it sizzled like acid when the liquid struck the cave wall.
Well, shit.
Things had certainly leveled up, but that just meant the reward for victory would be even sweeter. The God of Time hadn’t lost a fight, and I wasn’t about to start now.
I darted across the cavern away from the acid-covered wall, and I shot out multiple fireballs at the monster’s swinging gut as I crossed the cave floor. The balls of flame struck true, but the fire seemed to wash harmlessly over the creature’s flesh. When I ceased my spellcasting to gauge the damage I’d done, all I could see was some charred spots on the creature’s stomach.
It moved slowly, but each step it took shook the floor beneath me. I darted around the edge of its reach, and I used my griffon feather boots whenever it began to spit more acid at me. Soon, the walls were all sizzling as the greenish-yellow fluids seeped to the
floor, and deep indentations were carved in the stone from the acidic substance.
I could only imagine what it would do to human flesh.
Then I spotted Tiff running across the cavern floor in my peripheral vision, but when I turned to stop her, it was too late. She was a mere few feet away from the creature, and she withdrew her daggers mid-stride before she launched herself at the thing’s massive leg.
The goddess was met with a kick that sent her flying across the cave against the far wall, and I heard a loud grunt escape her as her back smacked into the stone. She slid to the ground without moving, and my heart pounded as I waited for any signs of life. I didn’t have time to check on her, though, since the monster seemed even more angered by her attack and stomped toward me.
I kept my balance on the shaking ground, and I fired my entire arsenal of spells at the creature. If it was resistant to fire, it made sense for it to be weak to something else. Everything had a weakness, I just had to figure it out on my own.
“Come at me, big guy,” I taunted as I summoned earthen bullets, and the clumps of hard dirt hovered in the air around me until
I gave the command to attack.
I waited until the creature was halfway across the cavern from me, and then I released the bullets with a gust of wind behind them to add even more power. The dirt clumps struck true, and the giant monster’s flesh was quickly peppered with small wounds oozing a yellowish fluid, but it wasn’t enough to put it down for good.
Nameless’ lightning breath would really come in handy right about now, but the dragon had seemed happy to explore the ravine on his own, and he’d left us to ourselves that morning. Besides, I couldn’t always count on my flying lizard friend to finish off the big baddies, so I’d have to handle this fight alone.
I shot ice at its feet until the monster began to slip and slide, and while it stayed upright, it wasn’t able to advance toward me anymore. I followed up by summoning vines to wrap around its ankles, and I could feel it strain against my plants as they struggled to maintain their grip on the slimy mutated monstrosity’s flesh.
Between the ice and vines, however, the monster was somewhat restrained.
Rage filled its multiple eyes, and the thousands of pupils fixated on me as one. The roar it emitted made my ears ring, but I
had to jump out of the way of its acid puke breath.
Now that it was good and pissed off, I’d have to work fast.
I summoned giant blades of ice, and I aimed them at the creature’s massive multi-eyed head. The ice shards rocketed across the distance between us, and they embedded themselves almost completely into the monster’s flesh. It snarled and twisted around in search of the source of the attack, but every time it moved, I sent even more blades of ice into its limbs and stomach.
“Time for you to chill out, dude,” I said as I made a massive ten-foot-long ice harpoon, and I aimed it at the center of the monster’s chest.
If it had a heart, this could possibly kill it for good, but I wasn’t going to count on it until I saw it firsthand. I pulled back and tensed in preparation for my attack, and I watched the monster’s twitching movements for a long moment before I released my icy weapon.
The ice harpoon struck true, but it shattered like glass as soon as it made contact with the creature’s flesh. As I looked closer at the spot I’d hit, I could see scales or calluses covering the thing’s chest, and I sighed as I realized this was going to be a little bit harder than I thought it would be. Not only was the massive mutation capable of
spewing acid that could burn through stone walls, but it seemed impervious to elemental attacks, and it was armored over the most vulnerable part of its body.
I’d have to get my hands dirty.
I took a deep breath and shook out my arms before I took the handle of my panabas in hand, and I steeled myself for what I must do. There was a chance this could kill me, but if that happened, I would just reset to my save point and try something else.
The monster turned away from me and headed in Tiff’s direction, and my heart thudded against my chest as I thought about her unconscious form being trampled beneath the creature’s massive feet. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’d made the goddess a promise, and I intended to keep it.
“It’s going to be okay, Tiff,” I said under my breath. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Then I stomped my heel to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather dragonscale boots, and I darted across the cavern floor faster than the eye could see. I didn’t slow down as I approached the monster, but it had its back to me and didn’t notice me gaining ground. At the last possible moment, I launched myself
at the creature’s back, and I jabbed both my panabas into its flesh like a rock climbing piton.
The monster howled in pain and twisted itself around in search of its attacker, but I held on tightly to the panabas lodged in its flesh, and every time it swung around, I remained out of sight on its back.
Then I carefully pulled one blade free so I could lodge it a little higher up, and I repeated the process until I managed to climb onto the beast’s shoulder.
The cavern ceiling was directly above me, and I had to squat to avoid brushing my head against the stone overhead, but then I dug my panabas into the monster’s flesh and used my blades to climb down its chest.
When it thrashed its arms and tried to grab me, I summoned a magic shield to guard my back while I slid lower and lower. I finally reached the armored spot on the thing’s chest, and I clenched my jaw tightly as I pulled back my panabas in preparation for the attack.
Then I stabbed my blade deep into the monster’s flesh, and I had to use all my strength to get the steel past the armored skin of its chest. Once I had one weapon lodged, I jabbed the other panabas beside it, and I dropped to the floor beneath the mutated thing’s swinging arms.
My weapons were both protruding from the beast’s armored chest, but they weren’t deep enough to stab its heart, so I used my earth magic to pull a giant chunk of the stone wall free. Sweat beaded down my forehead as I used magic to lift the boulder into the air, but then I launched it directly into the protruding handles of my panabas.
The stone crashed into the blades, and the impact knocked the thing backward into the wall. It squealed and shrieked like a thousand dying insects, and it thrashed like it was having a seizure.
I’d finally injured it, but I wasn’t sure if it would be enough, so I continued my onslaught of magic.
I shot more dirt bullets, fired blasts of water so powerful it ripped through the thing’s flesh, and held it down with a gust of wind so it couldn’t regain its footing. My vines emerged from the stone floor to wrap around its thrashing limbs, and the plants pulled the monster’s arms so hard they separated from its body. I even threw in some more fireballs, but I aimed these at its eyes, and the soft tissue sizzled beneath the flames.
Blinded, injured, and armless, the thing screamed so loud I thought the walls would crack, and I held my hands over my ears in an effort to block out the painful screech. My eyes watered from the
intensity of the noise, and I wondered if the sound alone would be enough to melt my brain.
A moment later, the screams of the dying mutation were suddenly cut short, and the silence echoed around me.
It was dead.
I took a deep breath as I stared at the lifeless blob oozing yellowish blood from its many wounds, and once I made sure it wasn’t going to rise up again, I quickly crossed the cavern to where Tiff lay against the wall.
The Goddess of Death laid with her eyes closed and her arm flung limply to the side, but I could see the rise and fall of her chest, so I knew she was still alive. I gently shook her until she blinked her emerald eyes open, and she gazed up at me in confusion.
“Is this heaven?” the goddess asked.
“Maybe,” I chuckled. “Either way, we won. The monster is dead.”
Tiff sat up in a hurry, and she stared at the lifeless blob against the other side of the cavern. Her eyebrows rose in surprise, and her emerald eyes sparkled when they returned to my face.
“You did it!” Tiff launched herself at me, and she wrapped her arms around my neck in a tight hug. “I can’t believe you really did it!”
“All in a day’s work.” I grinned as she pulled back to look at me.
Tiff’s eyes filled with a mixture of emotions, but I recognized the tinge of desire immediately, and my body instantly responded.
Her lips parted ever so slightly, and she tilted her head to the side as she leaned forward.
Our lips met softly at first, but then her fingers curled as she clung to me, and her mouth opened to give me full access. I lost myself in the kiss, and I claimed her lips and tongue with a ravenous hunger brought on by weeks of teasing flirtations.
The God of Time had won over the Goddess of Death.
All was as it should be.