𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 | 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐠

𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦

4000 YR, SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE, NECTIC

    Alekto had her fair share of fights over the past few centuries but nothing compared to this. Her body stiffened from a dull pain that coursed within her veins, where the icy chill of the winter air had her in a chokehold. Warm blood spilled from the inside of her mouth — droplets landing on the ice beneath her feet.

    With another forceful hit from Zuras, her body was sent further back on the open ice. She managed to catch herself with her fingertips digging deep into the chilling ice, gathering a trail of slush.

    "You're not playing fair, Zuras!" Alekto yelled from her place. He appeared like a small, ugly misplaced dot on a beautifully painted canvas. She spat out the metallic taste, watching as the ice intertwined with her blood.

    Damn you, Zuras, she thought as she wiped away the remainder of blood from her mouth.

    "Battles are never fair!" He called back, already in his fighting stance. He produced a cosmic exoskeleton that encircled his upper arm.

    Alekto smiled as she broke into a sprint, charging towards Zuras who's arm was winding up for a powerful blow. Though, the blow never came. Alekto had disappeared into thin air, her tracks nowhere to be seen.

    They were there one second.

    Then the next they were gone.

    Zuras chuckled as his eyes scanned the near-empty plains but she was completely invisible. Gone from the naked eye but not from the planet. He could feel her warmth and was just about to strike when she reappeared, clung to his back and her arms wrapped around his throat.

    With her remaining strength, she adjusted her body's density so that her grip would remain stronger. Alekto was almost able to make him concede when he suddenly bent his body forward, throwing her on the ground.

    He prepared a punch but his fist plummeted through the ice as she once again mutated the atoms in her body for him to go right through her.

    Laughing, Alekto swiped at his feet and he toppled backwards with a thud.

    "Cybele, I think you may want to reconsider your life partner!" She called, winking at the Eternal mother and wife of Zuras, who was busy washing away the dried blood off her skin. Alekto reached down, offering her hand to Zuras who took it with honour.

    Zuras stood to his full height, cracking his neck while Alekto worked on healing her wounds. It was a good battle when one walked out scratched and scathed. She could feel the atoms in her body melding together and smoothing away the discomfort inside her. She wandered towards Cybele, joining the woman by the lake.

    The lake was located beside an old village in Nectic's Southern Hemisphere. The natives were kind to offer shelter in return for protection by the almighty gods, as it were. They feared the great humanoid figure that broke free from the ground beneath as if it were reaching for an escape after being suffocated by blankets of snow and ice for centuries.