The false star At the edge of the world

Tharia leaned back on the edge of the bed. There was a certain irony in Annie’s domain. The queen of hating fluffy things brought about a place that couldn’t be any more comfy if she tried. Buried in long silver hair, the object of her desire had curled up and hidden her face. Tharia had tried talking to her but only gotten silence, so she rested her head on Annabelle’s shoulder and stared at the ceiling, swept up in her own thoughts.

She noticed a subtle motion. Tiny letters moved along the walls and floors. The cursed tongue of creation had stopped running away, no longer afraid to be seen by her. She derived words and meanings from them that each whispered inane nonsense to her. What had once been an element of intrigue to her, really was about as mundane as it could get. They were magic words, so what? Still, Tharia had to satiate her curiosity. Would the cursed tongue word for bread have a sense of taste? When one of her fingers touched a moving letter, it evaporated into thin air and like a pouting toddler, it took part of the domain along with it. One of the cushions vanished into a thin trail of smoke.

Annabelle was still shutting her out and it made her angry. Nothing much she could do about it but give her time though. Her mind drifted towards the path ahead. This was it, wasn’t it? Just a handful of targets left. They had rampaged through the end of all days. Not in a quest of glory for the betterment of mankind, but rather to be selfish cunts that took what they wanted. The only difference between them and brigands was the sheer cheek of daring to go up against even the largest monsters. She opened and closed her hand in front of her. Yet here they were, the last chance of this rotten world. Whether that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

“I’m sorry for shutting you out”, croaked the voice of Annabelle. She looked every bit as drained as she sounded, with dark rings under her eyes and sunken in skin. For a moment, a memory forced itself on the human girl. Annabelle had once been a physically perfect beauty – but the months in the capital had seen her blemished with hundreds of tiny scars. Tharia brushed a hand over some of them and smiled. They didn’t make her any less beautiful to her.

“Shhh. Don’t worry, I’m not angry at you”, Tharia said. It was one of those social mask moments and she bit her tongue in sudden anger. Letting out a grunt, she continued speaking.

“No, I’m pissed. But I also get why you did what you did. Look, Annie. There are two paths in front of me, one sees me stomping down a course of self-righteous anger.”

As if to accent her words, she pressed her head against Annabelle and then kept pushing until the goddess had to lean back a bit.

“My thick skull would really love to take that path, to scream and shout, to throw a tantrum and be a miserable proper cunt about it”, Tharia continued and then relaxed again, “It’s so stupid, isn’t it? The other path has always been there, but I’ve been too angry and self-centered to see it. So often I picked the option to just scream at the world and hate everything.”

“What’s the other path?” asked the broken looking Annabelle with a whisper.

“Eh, don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when I get through it. So far it’s to tell you that I forgive you”, Tharia said with a grin, “Hey, don’t look at me like that, I didn’t say I was done growing up.”

Two eyes stared at her through the fine silver hair and the frown turned into a hint of a smile. Annabelle stretched her shoulders and sat up straight. Now the trails of tears on her cheeks became even more pronounced. Tharia quietly collected them with a handkerchief from Annie’s domain. Of course, it was pink. Naturally, it also was extremely soft.

“You’re silly”, Annabelle said.

“Should have seen me when I found that fake mustache”

Sudden gagging noises sawed straight through the romantic mood. Tharia sighed and fished a small sprite out of her shirt pocket. Sisi looked at them and put a finger in its mouth to simulate the gurgling sounds.

“Gods, I hate you so much”, it said after pulling it back out again.

“It’s okay, we’ve got love for you too”, Tharia said and put a finger on the tiny head. A puff of flame singed her finger, but she kept it in place anyway.

“That’s what makes it worse”, the sprite continued with an indignant tone, “So you’re going to see this through, no matter the cost?”

Tharia shrugged her shoulders and shot a questioning look towards Annabelle, only to earn the very same reaction back.

“Nothing else to do, Sisariliszimna”, she finally said. The sprite sagged its shoulders and drew a deep breath.

“Then do me a favor. Whatever comes, don’t bring me back. My path ends with this world. Allow me to go out in a blaze of glory”, the sprite said and then, without looking at either of them, it moved towards the barrier staff. Tharia opened her mouth but with an angry look from Annabelle, she decided to remain silent.

“Well then, Annie. For perhaps the last time, are we ready to do this?”

“As ready as can be. Should this fail...”

“It won’t. You know us, we’ve beaten everything”

“True, fairy, that’s true. Still, I want you to know I really love you”

Tharia listened to the words and put a hand against Annie’s chest.

“And I love you”

Quietly, she added something else: For you, my dearest, I would do anything and sacrifice everything. There’s nothing greater or more important than you.

Tharia held the staff in hand. A gentle hum from within indicated Sisi was at work and just as ready as they were. With one last look to her, Annabelle dismissed the domain. The sheer shock of the cold made the human girl gasp for air. Her heart physically ached as her body started to work at full capacity, just to keep her upright.

They stood at the bottom of a short staircase that started mid-air. To her left, Tharia saw the truly unfathomable stalk of the false star. Up close it looked like a mountain made out of flesh. The same organic substance that also formed the stairs that led them up. Worse was the look down, one wrong step and she’d have a minute to lament her impact on the ground. The capital of Valarn, that cursed place that had kept them for months, now looked like a toy. A big one, sure – but a toy nonetheless.

“It looks like we’re being invited”, mused Tharia. The stairs conveniently had been exactly where Annie’s domain ended. Someone knew. Soft and musical sounds reached her ears.

“Muse”, Tharia said. Annabelle raised her eyebrows, yet a moment later, the goddess was fully armored and held a summoned scythe in her hand.

In all their journeys, the human girl had to admit, these were the weirdest stairs she had experienced. The moment they had both stepped on them, they suddenly rolled up. Fleshy muscles pulled the entire staircase towards the large main-body of the star above. Every few seconds, a strange shockwave ran through their footing and it took Tharia a while to realize this was supposed to be a pulse.

Apprehension took hold of her as the music grew in intensity. The living staircase led them around the side of the star and then placed them down in front of a grey building. This too shuddered with a slow but steady pulse.

The second Tharia took a step forward, thunderous applause reached her ears. She recoiled and brought up her staff in defense.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Don’t you hear it?”

Without warning, the annoying sound increased in intensity. She let go of her staff to press the hands against her ears. Go away, she pleaded but the sound just kept coming. Applause turned to music and when she refocussed her vision, the featureless building had expanded into a grand theatre. Golden light poured down on it. Literally, bathed out of pitch-black darkness, streams of light rained down like waterfalls. Tharia instinctively reached for the one thing that meant safety – but Annabelle was nowhere around.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the return of the prodigal black lamb”, the voice of the Muse echoed from inside the building.

“Let us invite the star of the show. Come here, Miss Verholden, welcome your audience of millions”

The lull of the voice was immense. She was in no mood to follow when she realized her body had already been moving towards the large door. Tharia bit her tongue and channeled the deepest pits of her anger to regain control of her body. Shaking and shuddering, she raised her head in defiance.

“Not a lot of critics alive, Eric Zuresti, but this is your most foul play yet”, she screamed at the building. Laughter followed her exclamation. Her surroundings changed rapidly until she stood on a stage. Rows of seats reached from here to infinity and on each of them, there sat a small flame of life.

“This lady invokes a name as important as the vest you discard after one evening”, the Muse said from right next to her. There he was, the old man dressed in an impeccable suit. He looked every bit the showman but Tharia could no longer believe the gentle smile he showed.

“You’ve made it, Lady Verholden”, the old man said, “So much has happened since last we met. Once, a frail and weak girl stumbled into my realm. She bore the markings that set her up for this play, but to imagine the role she would turn out to play was inconceivable”

Tharia blinked once, then again and flat out punched his ugly mug. The old man sank to the ground and looked at her with pretended shock.

“Her temper is born from the temple of burning mountains”, he said towards a non-existent audience.

“Give me a stick so I can shove it up your arse and plug your mouth in one go”, Tharia growled. She leaned over the old man and glared down at him. At the back of her mind, she realized the crowd was enjoying everything it saw. The Muse didn’t leave them any choice.

“That’s quite enough now, Miss Verholden. Contrary to what you think, I’m not your enemy”, he said and stood up from the ground.

“At every part of this journey, there was one strange man that handed out calamity and misery like candy. I remember you from the days of my childhood. You and Mother Bone both played tricks and games on me. You even tried to mind control me, you sick fuck”, Tharia spat back and jerked her knee into his groin. He took the hit without even flinching. The audience had disappeared. The Muse stretched his back and stared down at her.

“Admittedly, I may have attempted to expedite matters a bit. Lady Verholden, you’re here because of an idiotic bet ten thousand years old. You’ve got a choice to make, my child. Before you do, it is best if you see what is at stake”

Behind him, a curtain lifted up and a white door appeared in its stead. The Muse grabbed her arm and dragged her through behind him. When her feet next touched the ground, she stood in what was without a doubt a temple of the gods. The black floor was covered by golden lines. She felt magic all around her, it permeated through her skin and filled her with an unusual vitality. The Muse led her through well-lit corridors and into a large room. A golden octahedron floated in the center and behind it, she gazed upon pitch black emptiness, divided and conquered by seven suns.

“The place of our birth, we were a curiosity born from improbable coincidence. Seven beings of the cosmos”, the Muse said and in short order, each sun grew in focus and then shrunk into a small human shape. Five of them, she had never seen before, two though, she recognized. One was a small crone that stood in a patch of greenery. The other was a younger looking version of the Muse that exuded elegance and pride.

“For a couple of years far beyond your understanding, we played with the cosmos itself until we came to a simple realization”, now the suns vanished until a barren rock in the shape of a sphere appeared, “We were alone. There was no life but us seven. Estranged from one another, we grew lonely and each coped in their own way.”

The barren rock grew in size until a small part of it looked like a cliff. Tharia swallowed down her angry remarks when she saw Mother Bone walk across the barren rock. Behind the crone, plants sprouted out of the ground. Tiny beings on wings of light followed after her. She recognized the shape of tiny sprites.

“One of us had the right idea. If there was no one else, all we had to do was seed life”, the Muse said and then showed another person. This one joined Mother Bone on the barren rock and soon, water covered parts of the surface. One by one, more beings joined in, until a world had taken shape and with it, came the first humans. To Tharia, this was all just nonsense. So the Muse had a creator complex, thinking himself the capital g God of it all, she would kill him anyways. Her fingers formed into fists. If this uppity god considered himself the father of all, well, she had a proven thing for familicide.

She watched the humans spread out, centuries were condensed to mere glimpses. Empires rose and fell until a strange fire engulfed the world and killed every living thing on it.

“That’s the first time it happened. Our creation killed itself. After this, we all came together to setup the world as you know it”, the Muse continued. His gestures looked grandiose but the man himself seemed miserable. In front of her eyes, she saw a lump of flesh float above the barren rock. It started beating and as if it was the most natural idea, she realized it was the heart of the world itself. Seven beings formed around the heart and their bodies were soon consumed. Once more, an entire world sprouted from the heart and like before, Tharia watched empires rise and fall, until one day, there was no more human left. Only the heart remained – it gathered the living energy of all beings, swallowed it and started anew.

Again and again. Once she had seen it a hundred times, Tharia was bloody sick of it. She looked at the Muse, but the old man kept her in place. He forced her to watch many more cycles. It was the same every time, life grew, life destroyed itself.

“Stop already”, she pleaded after what must have been thousands of cycles. Only now did the Muse relent.

“Precisely to the core of the problem, Miss Verholden. You, all of you, are the attempt to create beings like ourselves. We failed – but we can no longer stop the cycle”, the old man said with a quiet voice. Once more, the image changed in front of her. One of the seven left the heart. She saw an old looking being that limped into the darkness. With each step, it lost shape and cohesion until the body broke down into a strange mess that was all things at once, yet none at all.

“Void”, the Muse said. Soon after another of the now six left. It dispersed into blue energy.

“The arcane and now, the divine too”, he said as yet another left. Like this, more gave up until there were only two left. The Muse and Mother Bone.

“That’s the truth of the matter. The last hundred cycles, she and I have prepared this world for a choice. A bet if you will. Would our creation even want to reach our level, or would they seek destruction? It was the ultimate answer. For it, we broke creation, divided the energies, gave you power. Yet the cycle kept going, more fierce and brutal than ever. It was you, that created the monsters and the nightmares, it was you, that invited the insane seventh of us and dubbed it the void. Now we have reached the perhaps last cycle – or the first of the new order”, the Muse spoke with a somber tone. He whirled around and stared Tharia in the eye.

“Yeah I got none of that”, she said and planted a satisfying and crunchy fist straight into his mug. The Muse reeled from the hit and had the graces to play along, Tharia realized. It was just an impulse of violence, a learned reflex to cope with things she did not understand.

“This is the final choice. Mother Bone has given you the keys to ending our influence on this world. The heart would beat one last time and then you’d be on your own. Trust me, your kind would die in misery”, the old man said and held out a hand with the palm facing up.

“My choice is much easier to make. You and me both, we know you’re a selfish little puppy. What I offer is what you wish: Eternal life in peace for you and your beautiful friend.”

Tharia put a finger to her lips, she didn’t spend long to ponder about it, “Option A, you die?”

“Don’t be absurd, Lady Verholden. What’s there to reject? This is how you are, at every point of this journey, you’ve picked the option that most pleased your inner demons. You’re selfish, jealous, nasty, monstrous, petty, filled with envy and greed”

She closed her eyes for a moment. There was no doubt about it. All these descriptions fit her and its true, all throughout her journey she acted on these impulses. Faced with the easy way out, she didn’t quite understand herself why she wasn’t jumping at the chance.

“You know, the funny thing about people making promises”, Tharia finally said, “What’s there really to think about? You’ve shown it to me yourself! Your guidance has seen an infinite number of attempts and never once you’ve managed to succeed. That’s all I need to know. You fucked it up”, she said with an angry snarl, “Who cares if this is the last time, none of us ever expected more than that. Really, no one should have this kind of power. Furthermore, you’re not just inept, you’re bloody stupid too.”

She stopped choking him with a sigh. It was getting nowhere and really was just a release valve for her anger. This man or god or whatever it was, wasn’t worthy of her anger. She didn’t even have pity for him.

“You and I, we can talk, can’t we? Doesn’t that mean you aren’t alone anymore? Worse, when my brother made the world engine, it showed me many alternate worlds like this. Mother Bone knew, so how come you didn’t? I’ll tell you something”

Following her words, she stretched herself as good as she could and raised a finger in front of his face.

“Deep within, you knew as well. But you’re too proud a motherfucker to admit it. You wanted to be special, to be praised. Now there’s no one else but you to claim you’re the actual God of all things. Want to know why I know this so well?” she said and sighed, “Because you and me, we really are alike. We’re so good at faking, that we become what we pretend to be. Look at me, I faked being a hero and now I’m sitting here, talking to a pompous arse about the fate of the world”

Tharia stumbled a few steps back and glanced around the strange room. There was no doubt this was a domain as well. She reached her hand out towards the large octahedron in the center. Something about it was odd to her senses.

“You want a simple answer, here it is!”

She held up her hand in his direction and put up the middle finger.

“No more gods, arsewipe”

With that, she punched the octahedron. Once wasn’t enough. With each of her punches, more cracks started to show in it. The Muse stood with an evergrowing grimace.

“You stupid child. Do you know what you’ve chosen to go up against?”, he growled at her. Another punch cracked shards out of the floating object.

“Are you not aware that only you are needed? You really wish to lose your friend for this childish tantrum of yours?!”

Tharia paused for but a moment. There were tiny words flowing out of the Octahedron, perhaps that’s why she had felt that this was the cornerstone.

“Bring it”, she said and then ran her fingers over each of the words. Bit by bit, the domain of the Muse vanished and left behind a grey looking building with the Muse nowhere to be seen. Annabelle came running towards her.

“Where have you been?”

Tharia remained silent at first. She picked up the barrier staff and then focussed her eyes on Annie.

“I’ve had the chance to give us an eternity of peace and quiet”, she said towards Annabelle, “Instead, I have declared war”

“Uh?”

“Would you enjoy an eternity in servitude to the Muse?” Tharia said with a solemn tone.

“Are you stupid?”

“For you, yes”, the human girl added with a grin. She closed her eyes and send out her senses. It proved one fact to her: the false star really was some type of ark. The sheer amount of life all around her was dizzying and she had to pull back her senses. Annabelle suddenly stiffened and then took up a combat stance.

“Something is coming”, the goddess said with tightly pressed lips, “It’s one of two things with my energy in them”

Tharia had just enough time to turn around when the wall just plain vanished. A human figure came flying through the smoke. Clad in a weird dress that was part leather and part bronze, there was little doubt left this was Marja, the mad tinkerer. Annabelle stormed forward and held up her left hand. Golden particles formed into a massive shield whereas the tinkerer woman held up a strange elongated staff. Sparks of electricity ran along the weapon and then, with a crack of lightning, a black lance shot from the weapon.

Annabelle caught it with the shield. An ugly sound rang out as the black lance pierced straight through, heaved the goddess off her feet and then nailed her against the wall in the back that still remained. Tharia growled. Part of her wanted to storm to her love and the other half wanted to bludgeon and murder the stranger woman. Seeing Annabelle groan and pull herself off the lance, she picked the second option.

Circling around Marja, she closed in with the staff held to the side. Golden dust followed her every step. Marja watched her through thick glasses. That strange woman suddenly showed a smirk. Her other hand reached for a holster and pulled out a pistol. Tharia tried to dodge to the side but soon a bullet hit her chest – then a second, a third and several dozen more. Crumbling to the floor in sheer pain broke her advance.

She sputtered blood – but then all pain vanished from her body. Naturally, a god couldn’t harm another god and for whatever forsaken reason, this applied to all three of them. What even was the point of this then?

“The Master bids you to wait for when the time is right”, Marja said and sat down on the rubble. Without a care in the world, the stranger woman reloaded her weapon and trained it on Tharia again.

“Don’t move”, the tinkerer growled. Behind her, part of the scenery became obvious. Tharia saw weird shapes and otherworldly figures. The surface of the false star was every bit the nightmare she imagined. In the far off distance, there was something big.

“We’ve killed many like you before. You were supposed to be smart, a genius really. So you should be aware that we have the means to kill the gods”, Tharia replied.

“Don’t care. I take it from your stiff lip that you’re the Verholden girl?”, Marja said and looked at Tharia, “Your friend over there is in deep pain. Maybe you want to help her off? I’ll allow it”

The young woman looked between the tinkerer and the goddess. It hurt to see Annabelle suffer. While it was true that no god could kill another one, hurting was a different thing altogether. Feeling a sudden vibration in her hands, she put the barrier staff down to the ground and then walked over towards her love. Under the watchful eyes of the artificer, she helped Annie off the lance and to the ground where the wound finally disappeared.

“Good girl. Well, do you want something to drink? Tea? Turesai coffee?” the tinkerer asked with a bored tone.

“You know, I’ve admired your rampage through the city and the trickery. One foe after another, you’ve beaten by acting as if you’ve lost, lulling them into a fake sense of security and then... poof”, Marja said and suddenly slapped her hand to the side. The elongated barrel of the pistol smacked straight into a tiny sprite and send it flying.

“Maneuvers like putting down the staff, so that your fire elemental can creep up on me. I appreciate these details. Smart thinking, it’s great. Had we met earlier, we might have even become friends and worked together”, Marja said with a faint smile.

“But now, I’m just here to delay. Its poisoned fate, isn’t it? The greatest mind of this century and all I’m good for is to waste your time and then die for my master. Uh uh, down girl, sit!”

Tharia bit her lip. She hadn’t even started to move and the pistol already pointed at her again. The memory of the pain kept her still.

“Why do you stall for time?”

“You’ll know soon enough”, Marja said and looked over her shoulder. A long sigh escaped her lips.

“Alright then. Shall we get to it then?” the stranger woman said and then pointed the pistol at both Tharia and Annabelle. Flames bellowed in quick succession and Tharia once more found herself riddled with dozens of tiny holes. While she flailed around on the ground, trying to bear the pain, the rest of the building vanished. For the first time, she got a good look at their surroundings.

The surface of the false star consisted of hundreds of grey looking muscles. They were in constant motion, forming the shapes of buildings, roads, and even statues before falling away again. A series of grey hells reached up in concentric circles around the entirety of it. When one of the hills blinked, Tharia realized these were actually humongous eyes. It was easy to forget with something this large, that they were standing on a living being.

As the pain subsided, Tharia pressed herself back up. Marja was gone but not for long. Just as she got back on her legs, she felt something pierce her midsection. Grunting in frustration, she was carried along with a large black lance and hammered into the ground. Intense pain numbed her every sense until she only felt anger and agony. It wasn’t until Annabelle lifted her off the weapon, that it normalized. She looked at the lance and followed the trajectory to see the tinkerer stand on a hill in the far off distance. The lance thrower in her hands was already reloaded.

“How do we beat this, firearms are just plain unfair”, groaned Tharia. She glared daggers at the far away enemy. There was something at the back of her mind that kept begging for attention. A tiny little memory of an event many days in the past. The false star was more than just a surface, it had once given birth to a... Tharia cursed. A hand the size of a city district lifted out of the ground. Six fingers, each the length of a road, clawed into the grey flesh of the ground.

A second hand raised up and hammered down. The impact sent shockwaves towards them, even though they were several kilometers away. She stared with her mouth agape, at a humongous humanoid raising above the false star. It was featureless, except for six eyes on the head and a crystal in the chest, yet even from this distance, Tharia knew that this was where the heart of the world rested. The giant let out a howl and reached for something far below. When his massive hand pulled back up, it held the large of a temple. Letting out another howl, it flung the building towards them.

Completely in shock, Tharia could do nothing but stare at the building buried into the fleshy ground not even fifty meters away from them.

“Did it just throw the church at us?” she mused, her voice drenched in emergency sarcasm. It was the last vestige of a mind bordering on the breaking point.

A thick plume of dust washed over them like a storm of snow. She felt a hand grab her arm. Annabelle dragged her deeper into the dust. Of course, it blocked the vision of Marja. Tharia fell into pace and followed after her love. They aimed for the spot the tinkerer had been and stumbling over her barrier staff meant they were on the right way. She picked it up and recognized the tiny sprite within.

“Are you okay Sisi?”

The sprite gave no answer. Damn it all. She gritted her teeth and quickened her pace to the breaking point. Her body had gained a lot of strength and endurance. The disability of her legs made her run look silly, but she wasn’t here to win beauty pageants. She needed speed. A strange humanoid figure suddenly blocked her path, it was too quick to change direction and she bumped shoulder first into the obstacle. Strong hands grabbed her arms and pulled at them. It felt like her limbs were being torn from her body.

With little warning, splats of worms smacked against her chest. She fell to the ground as the observer wailed. Annabelle stood above her and helped her off the ground. Where had that thing come from? When the dust lifted, the answer was obvious. Everywhere. Thousands of observers grew out of the grey flesh. They all stared up at the large humanoid monster in the center of it all. Even Marja was transfixed by the massive presence.

While running forward, she brushed off the last of the worms and cursed when one of them bit her. Smacking her hand harder, the worm suddenly unfolded into a paper-thin creature. A clothes-like sprung from the creature and flew upwards while screaming.

“I love you, honey, come with me”, in an unknown voice.

“Wonderful. A hostile goddess, this massive godbeast titan, the observers are here and angry and the Muse wants to end the world. All that’s missing is... oh come on!”

Tharia stomped in frustration as something golden crawled up the edge of the false star. Fields of plants rapidly spread along the grey surface like an infection. Where they met with the observers, strangle struggles began between masses of rotting muscle, parasites and human worm colonies. She shuddered.

“End of all days?” she asked of Annabelle.

“End of all days!”

They dodged and weaved between observers, carefully making sure to not get too close to them. Somewhere along the way, Tharia noticed that Marja had stopped shooting them. She glanced up at the hill and saw her strung up by an odd flesh-tree, using roots like a gallow.

“Which do we kill first!?”

“Tinkerer”, grunted Annabelle and changed course for the hill. Tharia nodded and followed, she, however, kept an eye on the giant. So far it was relatively passive, but that wouldn’t necessarily stick. A flock of clotheslikes flew back and forth between the titan and the many observers. Tharia allowed herself a moment of special vision to see that they were ferrying living energy into the monster.

The giant suddenly turned its head. It was a slow and cumbersome motion, confirming the sheer mass of the creature. It twisted the Torso and Tharia suddenly gulped. She nudged Annabelle and screamed a single word.

“Domain!”

She was proud when Annabelle reacted with neither doubt nor hesitation. Just in time, their surroundings change to a comfy small house made of wood. Outside and through a window, she saw the massive hand of the giant swat down where they stood. The earthquake was felt even within the domain and the shockwaves threw both of the girls to the ground. They scrambled back on their feet.

“How do we do this?”

“Little by little. No other way. Sisi, are you up for some fire?” Tharia asked and got an answer in the form of a middle finger from the sprite.

“Well then, here’s what we do. The big one wants to play first. Sisi, please put down enough dust to rival the great library. We’re going to lure this thing to hurt itself.”

When the hand lifted up, Annie dismissed her realm and Tharia started whirling her staff. Large amounts of golden dust spread out in a wide area while Annabelle stood still, eyes locked with the hand. Tharia scanned the horizon for Marja, but the tinkerer was nowhere to be seen. Sisi pumped out more and more of the dust until there was barely any vision left. The approach of the hand was more a feeling than certainty, still, she gave Annie the signal and like before, the domain swallowed them up.

“Twinkle goes the star”, said Sisi and clicked the tongue.

Two strong impacts carried through to the domain. One was the hand smacking down onto the ground, the second was the explosion burning away everything in a wide radius, at least several hundred meters far. Insane heat washed over both of the girls, enough to singe her hair. Annabelle grunted and fell to the ground, this time the domain collapsed instead of being dismissed. Tharia held her breath. The world was burning.

The fire had burned away of the grey ground what the explosion hadn’t torn apart. The giant was screaming loud enough to send shivers through the air. It looked at the massive hole in his hand. But that wasn’t the only effect. The ground they stood on had peeled away to reveal an infection of rotten flesh with parasitic plant growths sprouting out of it.

“We killed it, how can it still be here?”

“It’s dying. Something of this size just takes a while”, the sprite said with a weary voice, “I should know, I’m dying too. Listen to me, numbskulls. I’m out. There’s not much to give any more. One more explosion of that size and I’m gone”

“Then we should use it well”, Tharia said and reached a finger towards the barrier staff, “Thank you for everything. I’m not sure we were friends – but in the end, you were something much more valuable than that”

“Gods, you’re making me sick. Shut up already, don’t piss on my heroic sacrifice with your feely stuffy fluffy bullshit.”

“We can do this Annie. It can be hurt, we just have to reach one of its feet and then explode it away. Once this thing is on the ground, we chop it to pieces”, Tharia said and patted Annie on the back. She wasn’t feeling what she said. This was all utter insanity. There was just no way they could beat a creature this large, let alone one working together with a hostile god, a townsized calamity, fields with a vengeance and general nightmares on a stick.

The sky suddenly darkened again. This time, it was the head of the giant that bore down on them. It bared its teeth and spoke in a tongue she had no idea of. Each word felt like a storm in itself. Tharia grinned when she saw Annabelle act. The goddess materialized an oversized bow and kicked one end of it into the fleshy ground. Using the floor for stability, she nocked a large arrow the size of a small tree. With a thud that sounded like a carriage hit a wall, Annie let loose the arrow.

Tharia followed the trajectory with her eyes. However before it could hit, a flock of clothes-likes dove into the way. The arrow pierced several of them but ultimately fell down without doing damage to the big one. That giant, even more pissed than before, focussed all six eyes on them. Around them, the air started to warm up. Tharia began to sweat. She saw the domain unfold but it collapsed immediately.

“Anti-magic”, screamed Annabelle and pointed to the sprouts of the golden field that had reached them. A moment later, she was easily lifted off the ground. With Tharia in her arms, the goddess dashed out of the fields and then some. The human girl could do little but cling close and pump energy into her love. Together, they barely made it out of the fields. All six eyes were glowing in a strange light. The domain unfolded once more, yet it was only half-successful. Annabelle threw her into the corner and then dove on top of her. Just an inch away from them, everything vanished in bright light.

A beam of pure energy cut away the parts of the domain that hadn’t fully established yet. Tharia screamed in pain from the fire but realizing Annie had it worse, she concentrated her healing on her love. They were being cooked alive and only the gift of magic kept them standing – or rather crawling. The domain fell away as plants poked into it. Whereas the explosion from Sisi had left a hole, this beam had cut all the way through. Past everything. Literally. She gazed past the small patch they stood on and saw the city far underneath. Her eyes reached the sewers, the bedrock, deeper still until her vision wasn’t good enough to go further.

The monster had no more intention of holding back. It started walking, each step sending shivers through the remains of the ground. Annabelle grunted and picked her up a second time. She dashed for the edge and then jumped onto the part of the star that was still intact.

“How do we kill this!” Annie shouted.

“Can’t we do it like with the fields? Go straight to the core?” Tharia mused and then tugged on her shirt. Annabelle blinked in response and then put the girl down on the ground.

“Those plant parasites sap away my domain”

Tharia sighed and rubbed her nose, “Then we do like lumberjacks. Cut off the feet like we planned to. Let’s go”

Tharia ran forward as fast as she could and Annabelle quickly fell into the same pace. Together, they headed for the legs of the beast. A large roar from the giant was all the warning they got before its next attack. It lifted a mountain-sized rock into the air and then crushed it between the hands. With one relatively fast motion – which still looked slow, he rained down a shower of boulders.

Behind them, the fields raced closer as if they were in pursuit. Before them, what rained down was nothing less than a mountain divided into boulders. Annabelle knelt down. She brought out a shield that looked more like a barricade wall. It was a strange construction Tharia had never seen before. Metal supports anchored into the ground and Annie shifted it above their heads. Soon, boulders hammered down on them. Every time the shield got hit, it echoed with strange waves of lights.

“What even is that?” asked Tharia, breathlessly.

“My mind tells me it was once used for dragon hunting”, answered Annabelle. Tharia shook her head. The selection of equipment had never made sense to her, even less now that Annabelle seemingly had gotten the whole collection. She kept an eye on the golden fields. Regardless of the rocks hammering down, they kept spreading closer and closer. Soon, she felt the ground soften under her feet and when a plant touched Annie’s armor, it evaporated as if it were made of air.

“We need to go”, grunted Annabelle just as the barricade vanished as well. Most of the stone had come down, but there was enough left to ruin anyone’s day. A hail of smaller ones cut open Tharia’s skin and Annabelle too looked bloodied by the time they had sprinted a couple of meters. While running, the goddess shielded her eyes with her left hand and searched the sky. A sudden shove threw Tharia to the side.

Just a breath later, a massive shadow bore down on where they had been. It tore straight through the flesh of the star. It was the last of them. Whether by sheer luck or idiotic determination, they had finally reached the legs of the giant. Tharia got back on her feet and gasped for air. This was beyond measure. Up close, even a single toe was the size of the fortification walls.

“We can’t do this”, Annabelle exhaled.

“Shut up, we can and we will”, answered Tharia. She didn’t know why there was still strength left inside of her. There was a constant whisper telling her she would fail and that there was no way they could beat this.

“Listen to me Annie, when we started, we were convinced we’d die in a day or two, yet here we are. At no point did we ever think this was going to be easy. It only got worse but we persevered. Believe in me, we can do this!”

Tharia turned around. If Annabelle wouldn’t move, she would. Grabbing the staff, she walked towards the giant and began spreading clouds of golden dust. A moment later, the goddess closed up – she was once more wearing her armor and the summoned weapons were out again. They quietly went to work while the giant above tiptoed in a ridiculous dance and effort to look down on them. It would have been comical if that thing hadn’t been a humongous titan.

“This is it”, squeaked Sisi. The voice was barely audible anymore.

“I hate to say this, but I’ve actually liked you in the end”, said the sprite. It held up a tiny hand and as Tharia gazed at the small elemental, she felt a tear on her cheek.

“Make it count”

“We will, we promise you that. Thank you for everything”, Tharia answered with a raspy voice. Annabelle just nodded quietly. Like many times before, the domain unfolded around them, much slower than it had before – but it only needed to withstand one more blast.

“Ah fuck, I forgot to tell you...” Sisi said with a sadistic grin and then clicked the tongue. Like before, a large flame evaporated everything outside of the domain. This time, however, the elemental burst into flames and then faded away into hundreds of tiny sparks.

“Man, I hate everything”, grunted Tharia. She tried to downplay the loss with sarcasm. It wasn’t working and the world tilting quickly sorted their priorities. A rumble sent everything to the ground. Tharia rolled along soft cushions until her back hit a wooden wall. Then, silence. This time, the domain faded away and the exhaustion on Annie’s face told her it would be the last in a long time.

“We felled the giant”, whispered Annie.

“Sisi did. She was one damn fine elemental”, answered Tharia.

It was true. The giant laid on the floor of the false star. It was unmoving, parts of the large body had broken away and the shape Tharia saw in the distance was actually an arm that had broken off. Something with a scent of cinnamon and ancient bread poured out of a dozen cracks. Tharia smiled towards Annabelle and walked towards her love. They had done it.

The impossible had been achieved. Her hand reached out to touch that cheek she had touched so often. She wanted to part the hair and to just kiss her, if but for a moment. One last respite before mopping up the small fry. Just as she touched Annabelle, the goddess suddenly vanished from her sight. She blinked.

“What?”

A piercing wail echoed out from the left. Annabelle was once more impaled on a black lance. That gods-cursed tinkerer. Tharia whirled around and like before, she stormed for the lone woman clad in brass and bronze. Marja casually raised that rapid fire pistol and mowed her down. Just as Tharia stopped feeling pain, a new barrage once more pinned her to the floor.

“Kindly stay where you are”, Marja said with a crooked voice. There were choke marks on it and she had suffered significant damage. The scorch marks on her leather and bronze armor told a story of how she had gotten away from the fields.

“Let me help her down!” Tharia pleaded. The tinkerer’s answer was to reload the pistol and aim straight for her head.

“Eh, no. Not in the mood anymore. Let her wail, it’s a good sound.”

It was another lockdown. Tharia gritted her teeth in seething anger. She no longer paid any heed to the numb feeling that spread in her stomach. After weeks of carefully tempering her emotions, the hatred she felt for that woman made her ignore all of it.

“Tharia”, Annie gasped in between wails, “Do. Not”

The human girl was shaking and then suddenly stopped. Calm had taken hold of her. She knew that feeling well, just another step and the world would fall to ruin. With an ugly thud, she heard something hit the ground. Annabelle had dislodged herself from the lance and gotten on her feet. Severely weakened from the battle with the giant, that doll-like girl stumbled forward. The scythe in her hand looked strangely frail but the determination in Annie’s eyes was enough to perhaps burn a hole.

As Annabelle gained speed, Tharia started to cheer. There was no reason to despair, her beloved goddess had always been there to save her. She watched the beauty bellow in rage and fall into a quick pace. Marja raised up her pistol to unload a hail of shots at the approaching goddess, but Annie was too fast for the eye to behold. When Tharia next saw her love, she was mid-swing. The scythe cut a path straight through the tinkerer. Not missing a beat, the scythe switched into a hooked axe for the return trip. It got stuck on the ribcage and the goddess kept it precisely there while staring into the eyes of Marja.

“Return to sender”, the goddess growled and Tharia cheered with pride. Sure it was still a deadlock, but this was their deadlock now. She got onto her feet and stumbled towards the two. The tinkerer woman was sputtering blood and no matter how often the wound healed, the presence of the hook in the chest made it hard to close down.

“Fairy, can you give me a kiss?” said Annie with a faint grin. Beaming with joy, the human girl quickened her pace while the tinkerer struggled, impaled on a nasty looking hooked axe. But as Tharia ran, something else was faster. Plants sprouted to either side of her. The last remnants of the golden field raced towards Annabelle.

“No, no, no!” shouted Tharia but it helped naught. Soon, she stared at rows of plants. Those closest to her were already dead but that thing just kept moving. With one last effort of the ginormous plant monster, trees made of flesh sprouted around Annabelle and Marja. Annie’s weapon dissolved, the wound closed immediately and Marja used the chance to punch the goddess to the ground. The two embroiled in a flurry of blows as the flesh-trees died around them.

With an especially gnarly kick into the abdomen, Annabelle gained the upper hand and pinned Marja to the ground. Both of them were breathing heavily while Tharia got closer. Was it her imagination or had the distance not gotten smaller? She took a breath and suddenly realized she moved away from the two with ridiculous speed. Her eyes opened wide.

Marja started laughing and in between the laughing, she just kept shouting, “You were worthless too!”

The tinkerer woman suddenly wrapped her arms around Annabelle and locked her down. All around, the ground started moving on its own as the false star ferried Tharia away from the combatants. She screamed and cursed but was helpless to do anything about it. For a brief moment of clarity, it all stopped. As if time had slowed down, the giant raised a single hand and pulled back one of the fingers with the thumb.

“No, please no!” begged Tharia. She stomped the ground and let out wails that were barely human anymore. Even from several hundred meters away, she heard the impact. A single finger the size of a tower flicked away Annabelle and Marja both. Their bodies shot into the sky in impossible angles.

Tharia crashed down onto the ground. She dug her fingers into the grey flash and then closed her eyes. Intense brightness from the life all around her blinded her, but she cared naught for it. She needed to know. Her mind reached out to the direction the two had been thrown. It was far beyond the confines of the false star. Even if she had somehow survived the impact, she’d die from the fall.

“Can’t think like that. Annie survives everything”, she whimpered and forced her vision further out. There was a tiny spark, up in the air. It flickered and puffed out. Tharia fell back on the ground. No. Just. No.

In some corner of her mind, she realized the state she was in was called catatonic. Something dragged Tharia’s limp body across a surreal nightmare landscape. A male voice was talking down to her, she heard the words and understood the meaning but they had no impact on her.

“It’s been your folly from day one. Hubris, I mean”, said the Muse as he dragged her through a rough corridor made of stone. Somehow, they had entered what looked like a building, even though the perspective was tilted.

“Time and time again you played dead to fool your enemies. It worked – but never once did you imagine someone could play the trick on you, didn’t you?”

He sounded so smug about the death of the one thing that had meaning to Tharia. Pain ran through her bruised body. She realized the spark was no longer healing her – she didn’t care. Step by step, the old man dragged her up a flight of stairs. They had wanted to go to so many places and now she was dead. Now ain’t that funny? There was still no feeling in her heart. It had been brutal and quick, just a flick of a finger and the one thing keeping her alive was just gone.

The next time she realized her surroundings, she was in a strange chamber. In front of her was the heart of the world. It was neatly covered by a crystal wall. Seven thrones stood in the room but only one of them was taken and on it sat the Muse. The old man clapped his hands while showing the broadest of grins.

“What a fitting end for this charade, Lady Verholden. You struggled most valiantly and lost it all. The choice was never yours to make. Your bet has not paid off, neither has the bet of Mother Bone”, the old man said and leaned back in his throne again.

“I’m a god of mercy. Let me extend my help to you”, the Muse said as he stood up from the ground and walked over towards Tharia, “Open the heart of the world. Unlock it and I shall end you. Never again will you be reminded of what you have lost. There will be no more suffering. Refuse and I drag your soul into the next work, to let you simmer for eternity.”

Tharia felt a boot press down on her head. She suddenly laughed and laughed, her small body rocking from uncontrolled gasps for air. The pressure on her head increased and the Muse leaned down to stare into her mad eyes.

“What’s so funny?!” he grunted.

“Nothing”, answered Tharia, “Just realized something, someone told me a long time ago”

The Muse kicked her in the groin to roll her onto her back. She couldn’t do anything about it. Without the spark, there was no way to get up anymore. Yet still, she laughed into his face. It was just hilarious.

“What is that?”

“A friend told me I would be the one to end all things. Ludicrous, right? Why and how would I kill the world?” she said and grew quiet.

The old man knelt down next to her and put a hand on her forehead.

“You’re delirious. Tell me your answer, let’s get this over with”

Tharia reached up to touch his chin with a soft smile forming on her tearstained face.

“Right you are”, she said with a faint voice.

“He will have assumed correctly”, she said in a different tone.

“All things shall end”, the third tone added. With sudden realization, she old man shot up and jumped away from Tharia but her hand had locked onto his ankle. She held on for dear life as the mad grin on her face widened.

“Fuck you, says I”, Tharia said with her own voice and let go of everything. Darkness enveloped her very core and color drained from her surroundings. The look of sheer terror on his face would have amused her if she still had feelings to care for anything at all. With simple ease, Tharia got off the ground. Her body was without any weight and lacked all substance. Black roots oozed away from her feet. They sprouted into trees that pierced through the roof of the room and pierced the skies themselves.

The only thing of his that moved were his eyes. Pure terror was in them as Tharia walked towards him with a seductive sway of her hips. She whirled around with simple ease and brushed a finger over his chin.

“Let me hear what you have to say”, Tharia said and snapped a finger.

“Mother Bone you lying cunt”, he grunted.

Tharia smiled and opened her arms wide, “That’s not my name”

“Who are you then?”

She reached one of her fingers into his chest. His body convulsed, even though it was locked in place. His face turned into a pained grimace as she leaned in close and let her lips whisper into his ear.

“Death.”

An hour or an eternity had passed, these things held no more meaning to Tharia. She walked a lonesome place all on her own. The ground her feet touched withered away, people she saw fell to the ground and breathed their last. All things considered, it was a beautiful world. The capital was dressed in white snow and now that nothing moved anymore, it was a beautiful still-life.

Another eternity passed when she found her way back to the heart. It was held in suspension, waiting for an answer from gods that could no longer reply. She walked with an elegant dance to her steps and swung down on top of it, where she sat while crossing her legs.

“It has all been for naught, hasn’t it?” she asked the dead world around her. This had always been her path. Death comes to all, even the gods. With a faint smile, she reached one hand into the heart and the other one into her own chest. Just one flick and this would be the end of all. Simple enough, really. Click and be done.

“...”

She tightened the grip around her heart and squeezed down on it. Really, it was for the best. This world had brought only misery to those around it. Cycle after cycle, it had been a place of nightmares dancing to the tune of mad gods and even more insane humans. Just let it vanish.

Her hand opened up and she pulled it out. An odd expression on her face, she glanced at her own hands. What was it Mother Bone had said? It was mandatory that Annabelle reached the end? Well, she had failed. Had she? Her eyes beheld a swarm of uncounted flames all around her. This was a sea of memories many centuries long, a manuscript of all those that had lived.

A sudden grim expression on her face, she reached her left hand up into the sky and the first of the light touched her body. She saw brief glimpse of someone’s life. A farmer. It was gone the second it moved past her fingers. The second life touched her hand, some soldier. Gone. A librarian. Gone. A couple dozen mothers and fathers. Gone. Hundreds of small villages vanished. Soon, the flames streamed through her hands, each and everyone she touched disappeared the moment it passed her. All that remained was simple energy.

Kings, erased. Thousands of animals, no longer part of it all. Hours passed and untold lives stopped existing while she sifted through memories, beholding each and every single one of them, yet discarding them like broken toys. Until she felt a familiar touch. She immediately clamped down and caught the very soul of Annabelle in her hands. Her fingers clutched tight in an effort to not let a single memory of hers go.

Now holding up her right hand, she once more resumed the stream of life. She guided it in circular whirls and forced it towards her left hand. More and more energy pulsed into it until Annabelle’s soul beamed with the strength of a tiny sun. The sheer energy shone through Tharia’s bony skin.

“2.018.098. That’s how many lives you’re worth to me. There would be more but I found you first”, she whispered to the ball of light in her hand. Carefully holding the essence of Annabelle, she placed it inside of the heart. The heart pulsed in response.

“As for everyone else. Do what you want”, she said and dismissed them with a wave of her hand. Tharia laid down on the heart and watched the lights stream into the heart of the world as well until there was nothing left but her.

“Of course I’m going to cheat, anyone that thought differently, hasn’t been paying attention”, she said with a grin and allowed herself to sink into the heart as well.

Beautiful plains, as named by the goddess Tharia - a smaller note with much better handwriting notes due protest.

Soft grass under her feet, the touch of sun on her skin, there was little else she could ask for - except for the woman at her side. Tharia glanced at the beautiful Annabelle and leaned in for a gentle kiss. She led the beautiful girl with the silver hair to the edge of the cliff. Below them, the land spread out in all directions. Tiny settlements were sprinkled like dots in the landscape. Some had taken to the beautiful vistas she had made for them.

There was a small town next to a waterfall and their artistry in blending in with her landscape had filled her with pride and joy. In a moment where her Annabelle wasn’t looking, she had placed a few ore deposits in the mountains nearby. Soft lips touched her neck and she shivered in response.

“You shouldn’t play favorites, my little fairy”

“How’d you know? Don’t tell me, it’s on my face again, isn’t it?” Tharia sighed. There was just no hiding away from Annie’s eyes.

“After the puppy incident, I’m prone to double check what you do”, said Annabelle and put her head on Tharia’s shoulder.

“Are you ever going to let that one go?”

Soft laughter reached her ears and it filled her with a feeling of joy. Her stomach was aflutter with the sensation of a thousand butterflies until her memories brought back scenes from the observers. She shuddered.

“Look Annie, I did my best”

“He asked for a puppy!”

“Yeah and I gave him one”, said Tharia while waving her right hand in dismissal. Annabelle grunted and hid her face in the palm of her hand. The voice that came out of it was muffled.

“You gave him a fucking Whiskerhush!”

“Well they’re cute”, protested Tharia.

“And murderous!”

“Which makes them doubly cute. Like me!”

Instead of an answer, Annabelle let out a guttural grunt. Tharia felt a touch on her back and suddenly found herself in free fall. Her body zoomed to the ground and cratered in an explosion of dust that could be seen for miles. The bones cracked as she climbed out of the newly made hole. An elder woman holding a basket stood there with a rather aghast expression on her face.

“Heya”, said Tharia while casually brushing off crumbs of earth.

“Uh, greetings? How... how are you alive?” said the old woman, visibly shaken.

“Can we agree I fell on a pile of leaves or hay?”

“That would not break a fall of that magnitude”, the elderly woman stated matter of factly.

“It probably wouldn’t, would it?” said Tharia with a sigh. Well, as long as this didn’t start another suicidal death cult, this would be fine. She still felt the spanking Annie had given her for that one.

End of the world, end of the story.