The Godsfall Chronicles

Book 6, Chapter 94 - Rematch With the Avatar

Ten thousand meters… twenty thousand meters… fifty thousand meters… eighty thousand meters!

Wrapped in the anti-gravity field, Skycloud’s Temple ascended ever faster . As the atmosphere thinned the pull of the earth weakened . Pursuers fell away, unable to continue the chase .

Soon the Temple would escape the atmosphere entirely! Airs.h.i.+ps and airplanes could not reach these heights .

The Green Alliance forces had been taken by surprise when the Temple started rising . No one knew it had this ability . Their air forces were caught unprepared and what’s more, how were they supposed to fight in s.p.a.ce? The wastelands had many flying vehicles, but they were all of rough quality . Most were cobbled together from ancient wreckage, copied from half-understood blueprints .

It was impressive for their crude, motley constructs to fly at all . Faced with the added difficulty of thinning atmosphere, all they could do was watch as the Temple rose out of range .

After rising twenty thousand meters above the surface, there were only a handful of s.h.i.+ps that could keep up . A few wasteland s.h.i.+ps were outfitted for higher alt.i.tude combat, but not nearly enough to be a threat . Eventually they either were blown out of the sky by the Temple’s defenses, or stalled and plummeted from their own faulty design .

Half an hour after it had begun to rise, the Temple finally grew still . With a mighty tremor, it spat a beam of light out into the void . Like a pebble thrown into a still lake, s.p.a.ce rippled around the beam and spread outwards . Preparations were being made . The Boundary Portal was nearly ready to open again .

Time was running out .  

The Khan of Evernight and Ja.n.u.s Umbra were nearing the center chamber of the Temple . It was a dais suspended a hundred meters in the air, made of pure white jade . There were no supports keeping it aloft and beneath it was a multicolored flow of energy . It surged like a mighty river, weaving through the Temple’s halls .

The dais was six thousand meters from end to end . Floating all around were statues of G.o.ds, rising a hundred meters tall . Seraphs were perched on each one like nests of birds, dozens – maybe hundreds of them .  [1] A host of dull eyes watched as the invaders fought their way in . With so many here, there was no question who was waiting for them .

“Don’t mind them, keep going!”

The Khan’s voice was as emotionless as the Seraphs’ gaze . He brandished his sword of light and jumped clear across the corridor onto the dais . Without a moment’s hesitation, Ja.n.u.s followed . The rest of their soldiers used floating statues or mounts to make their way up .

A lone figure draped in white was waiting for them . Standing in the center of the dais, her silver eyes regarded them in silence . Not a word was spoken, but no words were necessary .

The Khan and Ja.n.u.s shared a glance . Without question, the woman before them was not Selene Cloude . She was a deadly foe . But although they knew this, knew what was at stake, it didn’t make what had to happen any easier .

During confrontations at this level, the slightest mistake could spell disaster .

Empowered by the Avatar, Selene was not inferior to the two challengers . In fact, she was stronger . What’s more, there was a host of Seraphs she could call upon at any moment . The advantage was hers .

“I heard you can see the future . ” The Khan’s featureless mask faced Selene . “Can you see how today will end?”

“Knowing is easy . Changing is hard . Insight into the future does not mean control . The future is endless possibility . ” A flash twinkled through the Avatar’s eyes . Speaking to her two rivals, no feeling was present in her voice . “Yet in this world, no matter how we struggle, there is one immutable truth . Maybe I can see through time . Perhaps I can see the scenes of what’s to come . But whether I do or not, the end is written . Such is fate . ”

The silver light in her eyes grew more intense . Obviously her mental powers had improved and the one who used to live in that body was fiercely suppressed . Odds were, the woman Selene once was would never again awaken .

The eyes… The G.o.d King’s powers came from her eyes . Once again Ja.n.u.s and the Khan looked at once another in tacit understanding .

Yet even before they launched into an attack, a frigid grin touched Selene’s lips . She drew forth a glimmering blade from her back and raised it high . Light erupted from the weapon, piercing skyward at least thirty meters . Then with a vicious hack, she cast its power toward her foes in a deadly wave .

Its keen power was felt even at a distance . Selene’s attack ripped across the dais toward Ja.n.u.s and the Khan .

Crackling purple light separated Nox’s Governor from the blow . He swiped at it, striking the wave of power head on . It felt like trying to bat away a mountain, forcing him to stagger back half a dozen steps .

Selene wielded so much power in just one strike? With that mighty strike, the Avatar proclaimed the beginning of their conflict . The Seraphs who before were stagnant suddenly burst into motion . They descended upon the invaders from their statuary perches .

The puppets opened their mouths and fired beams of energy from their gullets . The attack rained upon the dais . Immediately, Ja.n.u.s and the Khan both felt the danger of the circ.u.mstances they were in . No matter what tactics they employed the Avatar saw through it . Nothing they did would force a misjudgment from Selene . There was only flawlessness – executing a perfect, unified a.s.sault could beat her . Yet with the Seraphs all around, such a difficult task was made much harder .

While not notably strong in a fight, Seraphs could stand toe to toe against a veteran demonhunter . Their attacks where simple and straightforward, but expansive . Even a small number could envelope the battlefield .

The Avatar swept her crystalline blade in a wide circle . Several shadowy doppelgangers were cut down mere seconds after they appeared .

She was able to see the changes in matter and energy flows through time . What threat did Ja.n.u.s’ lurking shadows possess? Trying to defeat Selene by sneak attacks was a fool’s errand .

Her sword flashed again . Another bloom of power . The Avatar jumped forward and stabbed with her weapon .

Her target was the great a.s.sa.s.sin, wrapped in shadow . At the same instant Selene’s Eyes of Time were viewing what would come . She witnessed the consequences as if they’d already occurred; a purple blade of light deflecting the blow, saving Ja.n.u.s’ life . Instead Selene made a quick adjustment, feigning an attack on Ja.n.u.s but s.h.i.+fting her sword toward the Khan at the final instant .

It caught him off guard .  

Quicker than he could follow her blow bite into him, cleaving his right arm from his body at the shoulder . As the limb carrying his purple sword tumbled away, a burst of energy tore through his armor .

The Avatar was ready to seal his fate when she was interrupted by four murky shadows . Copies if Ja.n.u.s surrounded her on all sides and launched into a coordinated attack . Meanwhile, the real Ja.n.u.s s.n.a.t.c.hed the Khan and his severed arm from the battlefield .

“Are you alright?” Perhaps for the first time there was a note of concern in the killer’s voice .

As she looked him over, Ja.n.u.s’ pupils contracted to small black points . Selene’s attack had done more than sever his arm . The Khan’s armor was damaged, his breathing apparatus ruined . Half of his body – his real body – was left exposed .

He was human, but only barely . Thoroughly remolded from head to toe .

Tubes dangled from his mouth and nostrils to facilitate breathing . What wrinkled flesh was exposed had a dull, bloodless hue . Patches of necrotic skin were numerous . Only a few spindly hairs remained . Yet in the structure of his face there was a hint of the man he once was .

He was the lost and lauded Master Demonhunter, Baldur Cloude . When Ja.n.u.s saw what he’d become it stole her breath . She could not accept that this was the same person as before . What sort of life had he suffered through these years?

The Avatar looked pa.s.sed the shadows to her two foes . In the deepest recesses of her eyes there was a brief sadness . It bubbled up from a deep and repressed spirit, so strong it was almost too much to control .  

Curious, the Avatar thought . Emotions were not common for her . Why did she feel such sorrow?

1 . That’s a kick a.s.s book cover right there .

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