From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 18.1

Out of breath, Vatra and Enyalius looked at each other with furrowed brows. They were both nearly covered head to toe in mud despite the steady rainfall. With each attack they made, the creature expertly outmaneuvered them. Despite their years of combat experience, the single, alien beast was beating them.

"I don't get it," Vatra said between ragged breaths. She side-stepped, eyeing the beast warily. "This thing is an animal. How can an animal kick our asses?"

"By chance, do you think it's some creature from Earth? A supernatural being we aren't familiar with?" Enyalius suggested. He was crouched down, light on his toes, and ready for the next attack.

Vatra shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, maybe? What use would those guys from Earth have with something like this on their ship, though?"

"It's collecting their lost cargo, that's for sure," Enyalius grumbled. The god dodged a swing from the creature's claws, narrowly missing a slice to his shoulder.

Clutching her godkiller, Vatra rushed the beast. She aimed for its neck, keeping her arm tight to her side until an opening presented itself. Thankfully, the creature's attention was still on Enyalius, and she was able to get in close enough before it realized she was right behind it.

As Vatra pierced the blade of the godkiller into the beast's neck, it spun around, opening its own throat like a pig at slaughter. The cry of a dying beast sprung from its jaw just as a flurry of darkened blood and matter sprayed across Vatra's face. She dropped her weapon in shock and jumped away from the seizing limbs splashing about in the mud.

"Gods," Enyalius muttered at her side. "You didn't have to murder the poor thing."

Vatra snapped her head in his direction. "The creature practically killed itself on my godkiller. It was like the beast knew what my blade was the moment I stabbed it."

"Are you really saying it wanted to die?" Enyalius questioned. Disbelief and mockery laced his words heavily, as did an ever present smirk playing about his lips.

Yanking her godkiller away from the god, Vatra sheathed the weapon before stomping through the mud to retrieve the one she dropped. "You can have the pleasure of helping Nat from the pit. Then we really should be getting out of here."

Unsure fingers grabbed her weapon from the ground. The dead creature was only an arm's length away in a mixture of mud and blood. Open, pale eyes stared up at the sky. It looked peaceful.

Vatra sighed and sheathed her godkiller. Taking one last glance at the beast, she noticed something she hadn't seen before. Warily, she neared the body. A mark of some kind was imprinted on its arm. It was hidden partially by the muck around them, and Vatra wasn't one to dive into the dirt just for the sake of curiosity.

Crouching down beside the body, Vatra stared at the mark. She tried to piece together what it was until she heard the slapping of boots in the mud behind her.

"I thought you said we needed to leave?" Enyalius' voice was hollow.

I've seen that before, Vatra thought, pushing all other noise from her mind. She leaned towards the creature, her knees squelching into the mud.

"We should get out of here," Nat said, her words an echo.

The image of a blonde, curly haired god floated through Vatra's mind. An annoyingly fast-talking, god who never appeared to look much older than a teenager. He'd escaped Earth with Vatra and Spyro, and a few others, and at one point, Vatra made a comment about how young he looked.

Mercury had rolled up his sleeve and flashed a tattoo on his arm; the same one Vatra was looking at on the dead creature in front of her. A tattoo of a rooster.

"This is a god," Vatra said. She looked over the creature more closely, unable to understand how Mercury could have been turned in to such a monstrosity. "This was a god," she corrected.

"What are you on about, love?" Enyalius walked up and squatted down beside Vatra.

"I've met him before. This was Mercury, Enyalius. I don't know how he ended up like this, but this is—was—him. He had this same exact tattoo," Vatra answered. She looked up at Enyalius for some sort of answer, but only received a blank stare in reply.

"I've met the kid before, too, Vatra. Mercury didn't look like this when I saw him," Enyalius said. A softness was in his voice.

He thinks I'm crazy. But, I know this has to be him. How else would a creature know how to fight like one of us? And the beast killed itself on my godkiller?

Nat stepped up on the other side of Vatra. "I don't think now's the time to go over this. We can talk about this when we're back to safety."

"Who invited you back to the Agkistrodon?" Vatra spat, spinning on her knees and standing to her feet all in one motion. "You left us to die, remember?"

"And in turn, you'd save me and then leave me to die?" Nat shot back. Her blank expression was unwavering, even when Vatra towered over her; the phoenix's eyes ablaze with rage.

Enyalius stepped between the two. "As much as I enjoy this tit for tat, I agree with Nat. Let's get to the ship. Now." His tone was demanding, an unusual level of command in his words.

Vatra backed away and turned, pushing her rain-soaked hair out of her eyes. She was pulling a Pocarro all over again. Allowing her emotions to take over logical choices.

They're right, Vatra thought with a frown. Of course, she wouldn't admit it out loud. Instead, Vatra slipped and skated through the mud up the incline and away from the pit. Nat and Enyalius followed behind her quietly.

The rain continued to fall. Vatra had pushed the pelting drops to the back of her mind at that point, and didn't care about anything except getting to her ship. She wasn't going to stop for anyone again. 

Lightning flashed overhead, breaking through the thin branches of the trees like floodlights. Vatra looked up, unsure why exactly as the sky had been performing a light show since they'd crashed. But, she realized what had drawn her attention was that the lights skirting across the sky weren't streaks of lightning.

Ships had broken the atmosphere. The pale lights mimicking fireflies against dreary grey sky were weapons' fire. They were aiming for the crash site. For the gods fighting the mortals.

They're killing their own people? Vatra's heart dropped to her stomach. She looked in the direction of the crash, thinking about all the gods and mortals that were about to die. But, there was nothing she could do.

Enyalius and Nat followed her gaze to the sky.

"We need to hurry. If their attack ignites the ship, we'll be caught in the blast range," Nat warned.

"Everyone behind us will die," Vatra said. Her feet were frozen in place.

"And so will we," Enyalius said. He grabbed her arm and the three of them took off running.

Vatra felt like she was reliving her escape from Earth all over again. The faces of the people she left behind, all fighting just to survive. And she left them behind, too.

"If you don't want to die out here in the forest, come with us!" Vatra yelled at the top of her lungs.

"What the hell are you doing?" Enyalius asked. "Your ship can't hold many more people."

"I know the Agkistrodon, and it can hold enough. There's gods running for their lives out here, too. Those that want out of here can come with us," Vatra hissed. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted her plea again.