CRUNCH!

A tree was uprooted and went flying.

Snooze hardly had time to react. The trunk of the tree came spinning her direction, and she dropped to the dirt as it whipped overhead. She breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived. Suddenly, the gigantic form of the Archangel--Perth apparently-- was violently undulating toward her, all six of her limbs pounding the ground as she blazed forward, wrenching a few more trees from their roots in the process.

“DON’T YOU DARE RUN AWAY!” Perth demanded in her terrifying dual voice. One of her long shadow tendrils exploded forward, stretching through the air like a striking viper. Snooze blasted herself to the side and out of harm's way with a bit of Air, and stumbled, wheeling to face the beast.

“Who would agree to that?!” Snooze demanded, “you’re trying to eat me! Has that ever worked for you?!”

“I AM BORED BY YOUR MEWLING, LITTLE GOD. NOURISH MY FORM, WRETCH!”

At that, there was a sickening slurch and several sections of the Archangel’s body jettisoned off of its frame. There were six dark orbs about a foot in circumference. They each grew four legs, and a single eye a piece--however, that wasn’t the most terrifying aspect. Roughly fifty percent of their orbiculate shape was taken up by a crooked gash of a mouth. Instead of teeth, each maw bore writhing smoke tendrils, and as they opened open wide, a gargling hiss escaped.

“Let’s go!” Riff yelled, and grabbed Snooze’s arm again, “Make us fly!”

Snooze nodded and used a column of air to propel them into the sky, sending them back toward the village. She thought briefly about how she needed to get off the world and back into her celestial mezzanine, but she feared that if she left, she’d doom Riff and the other creatures to a horrific fate before she had time to do anything. She also found that she hadn’t the foggiest idea of how to fix this situation.

“Okay, Riff,” Snooze began as they flew, “Pardon my Pebbletongue, but what in the GRIKRIK is going on here?!”

Grikrik was indeed one of the worst possible swear words in the Ngak language, and meant roughly, ‘joy thief.’ However, the true name for their language, in their language, was pe ruk ngi, which coincidentally translated into ‘tongue of small pebbles.’ Isn’t happenstance grand?

“Okay, so…” Riff began, but one of the little orblettes leaped from the ground, and tried to bite her. She kicked out with her shadow leg and punted it right back to the ground, where it landed with a loud thump and released a sorrowful groan.

“As I was saying…” she began again, checking for more of the furious ball monsters, “that’s my Archangel, Perth.”

“She’s feisty,” Snooze said.

“Incredibly so,” Riff agreed, “allow me to gloss over some exposition for you, for a sec. She’s called ‘the Devourer,’ but that’s a title she gave herself, and requires me to call her. She’s a horrible creature, and I’ve been under her thrall for… I don’t know how long. Basically forever.”

Snooze nodded, and directed their bodies to the side as another orblette hurled itself up from the ground at them. It missed, and plummeted, landing in a bush.

“Alright, anyway,” Riff said, “she was sweet at first, but after I refused to sacrifice her Seed of Life, she grew more powerful, absorbing the negative energy from my destroyed world. Then she tricked me into using my Astral form to take her to another world, where she ate all of the inhabitants.”

“That’s horrible!” Snooze exclaimed, steering them toward the ruins of the Village of Dela.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Riff agreed, “what I didn’t know was that consuming the Seed of life from another planet made her even more powerful, and she started to develop powers stronger than mine. Soon, feasting on the ‘watered down’ life, as she put it, wasn’t enough, and she began to hunger for an unadulterated version. Direct from the source.”

“Another Archangel…” Snooze breathed, picking up the flow of her companion’s story.

“...yes,” Riff said.

“Is that why you were banished by the other gods?” Snooze asked.

“No, that wasn’t why at all,” Riff clarified, “I wasn’t lying when I told you they weren’t kind to me. You see, a number of years ago, I was able to escape from Perth, and I went about searching for worlds where gods were stronger, or had more worlds, to try to see if I could find more information on how I could stop Perth. Or to see if anyone could stop her for me.”

Snooze lifted them up high. The globular creatures were now leaping like fleas, trying desperately to overwhelm them. Riff was able to connect a kick to another orblette’s dome, sending it bouncing away in a squeal of pain. However, since they’d begun, Snooze had not seen any sign of Perth, only her little lackeys.

Snooze also noticed that she wasn’t able to keep as high of altitude as before, and in fact, the two skybound fugitives had been slowly sinking from their height almost as soon as they had left the ground.

My powers are getting weaker, she thought, becoming concerned, Book had said this would happen, but I thought it would be a much slower process. This isn’t good at all!

“But why did they turn you away?” Snooze asked, setting her sights on the shoreline ahead, just beyond the village itself.

“Because when I told them about Perth, they wanted nothing to do with me.” Riff admitted. “It was worse when they learned what my God Path was…”

“Vile,” Snooze said somberly.

Riff nodded, dropping her head slightly.

“You knew?”

“There’s not much that slips by me, Riff.” Snooze said.

It is important to note that sometimes in a story, no commentary is needed, because context can speak for itself.

This was one of those times.

Perhaps one would be persuaded to go easy on her, as even those like Snooze, who showed a surprising amount of restraint, were allowed a lack of humility every now and again.

“I truly was God Path Measured at one time,” Riff said, “that wasn’t a lie. But, it was before…”

Snooze shook her head.

“That past is the past, Riff,” she said confidently, “and that’s exactly what we’re trying to escape at this very moment, so don’t--”

BOOM!

Something big and heavy crashed into Snooze, striking her in the head and torso and knocking her out of the air. Her world spun while bright flashes sparkled in her vision. More than anything, it really hurt. Snooze flew to the ground, and luckily, they had been close enough to the shore that she landed in the sand. While not exactly soft, she did notice it was surprisingly less stabby than landing on the rough rocks of the terrain very nearby.

Snooze looked up from where she lay in a crumpled ball, and saw the intimidating specter of Perth, large and very much in charge, striding confidently toward her from where she’d just swatted them. A cruel grin ripped across her face while she hissed out a menacing laugh.

“WHERE DOES THE LITTLE GODLING THINK SHE’S GOING? I WANT TO FIND OUT IF CELESTIALS HAVE BONES, AND IF THEY’RE FILLED WITH DELICIOUS MARROW.”

Snooze gulped. As the Archangel advanced, she looked around for any sign of Riff, but the shadow god was nowhere to be seen. She scanned the strip of sand next to the calm sea. It was low tide, and a pale slip of moonlight broke through the evening clouds and highlighted a section of the sandy beach that almost caused Snooze to weaken at the knees.

Dozens of footprints of different sizes dotted the shore, traveling from the direction of the village, and disappearing into the darkness of the night towards a high ridge of cliffs. There was something else, though, Snooze noticed. Some sort of… trace aura, if she had to describe it.

Does that mean that--

Just then, another shadowy appendage rocketed into her, interrupting her internal monologue and sending Snooze sprawling in the sand ten feet away. She tried to top herself with Air, but her magic had seemingly run out.

Not good.

“Oof!” she exclaimed, reeling from the blow. She managed to flip over on to her back as the six-legged freak galloped up to her.

“Why are you messing around with me!?” she demanded, scowling.

The beast slowed her pace, seemingly confused.

“ER… WHAT?”

Snooze angrily--and awkwardly-- got to her feet, brushing the sand off of her grass ensemble.

“I mean,” she began, marching forward and jabbing her index finger through the air in an accusatory way at Perth, “if you’re so hell bent on being some great devourer, why are you batting me around? Shouldn’t you have bitten off my head already, or at the very least nibbled on an arm or a leg? It’s really rude to abuse your food. What? Pleased to MEET you but NO THANKS? Stop wasting my time, you big jerk, and have the decency to take a bite!”

Perth seemed confused, she seemed to be weighing her options.

Snooze seized the opportunity to sow more chaos. She just needed a moment…

“Or maybe you think I’m not good enough?!” she declared, stomping her foot dramatically in the sand for effect, “like I’m some rotten bit of rancid bologna! I got news for you Missy, I am absolutely. Positively. One hundred percent certified, FDA Approved, Grade-A MEAT!”

“I GROW TIRED OF YOUR SOUNDS, GODLING,” Perth said, taking an ominous step forward, “IF YOU WISH TO BE EATEN, I SHALL ACQUIESCE TO YOUR DEMANDS. I WON’T FALL FOR YOUR IDIOTIC DISPLAY OF ATTEMPTED REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY!”

It is important to note that at that moment, several things happened at once.

Perth launched herself forward, her gaping mouth full of razor sharp smoke teeth bared and ready to rend Snooze where she stood. As that happened, Snooze dove backward, needing to get out of the range of the initial attack. At the same time, the Book of Leaf: Travel Edition chirped, and the display opened, revealing a single word:

INCOMING

Snooze felt the wind from Perth’s hastened approach whip her as she landed on her back in the sand and Perth’s fangs closed around nothing. Instantly, Snooze felt warmth, while at the same time she heard what sounded like an angry mechanical whir flying up behind her. Perth looked at Snooze laying just inchest in front of her, all but helpless, and seemed to smile. Then the beast launched at her again, going in for the killing blow.

FWOOM!

With a resounding crash, the mechanical whir had climbed to a crescendo and a large crimson-colored object collided with the shadowy specter of Perth the Devourer, knocking the beast back several feet. Perth struggled to catch her bearings and tried to focus on Snooze after being clobbered by an apparent sucker punch.

Snooze’s breath froze in her throat.

Standing between Perth and herself was a vibrantly glowing shape. It had the shape of an animal, but the aura of something much more otherworldly. Otherworldly… and angry.

Her own Archangel, Meat stood glowering before her, the barrier between her and certain death. His body radiated dark red, a color Snooze had only seen when he’d been frustrated before, but never this deep of a shade. The sound that he emitted was also something she’d never encountered before. The lowest, most guttural buzz she’d ever heard poured out of her companion, sounding very much like the revving of an engine.

Perth screamed in frustration, and her many appendages suddenly snaked out of her body. Eight of them, all raised high in the air and on high alert. That was when the low buzzing stopped, and from the depths of Meat’s very core, he released a long, slow whistle that was so deep in pitch it forced the ground to shake.

Then he launched at the Devourer.