Complications of Mortality | Druig x OC

XXIV | Monster

Do you think, when we find the other eternals out there, they'll accept the truth the way we did?

The truth will set them free.

"I love you."

Akiva's back straightened slightly. Her shoulders rolled backwards as she stared straight ahead, not being able to easily digest the statement. The girl wore her heart on her sleeve like she'd never been loved. And such a claim didn't settle lightly.

Thena stood in front of her, hands folded behind her back as she stood sturdy. One of her perfect eyebrows raised in the air, full lips parting as she watched Akiva from under her thick lashes. "It's important to me that you know that before we begin," she spoke wisely. She spoke into the air like she was a great ruler and advising towards a massive empire. Maybe at some point in time, she was.

"You don't even know who I am," Akiva purred, expression fragile.

"No," Thena hummed, her all-knowing smile reappearing on her lips. "No, I don't."

"But I know what you are going to become," she drawled out, voice fading out with each word that rolled off of her tongue.

The mimic's hand curled around her metal staff. It stretched higher than her head, long pillar pointing up towards the ceiling. Her knuckles were prominent on her hands, thin skin stretching around each of her bones as it found it's place around the neck of the staff. It settled into place naturally, sliding down the base as she lifted it into the air.

The bottom slid a foot out, pressing against the ground again as Akiva took a step to the side. She moved with it like it was a cane. As if it were a crutch that she couldn't maneuver around without.

Her hand changed grip as she paused in place.

Orange trails of fabric draped from her form, spilling towards the ground and just barely beginning to kiss the floor of the Domo. Her boots shifted as she adjusted herself against the ground. Her wrist rotated in place, pointing her fingers towards the earth.

The bo staff lifted from the floor, beginning to twirl around the joint of her wrist as she watched Thena carefully. Sparring was one thing, she had been used to Makkari training her in basic weapon usage ever since she could pick up an iron shield from the ground. But this wasn't the same. The woman before her had thousands of years of experience under her belt. Combat, to her, was as natural as breathing.

Thena ripped her arms up into the air, double handed sword slashing upwards.

Akiva caught the blade with her staff, forcing it back down. The golden tip of it pressed into the ground, Akiva holding it steadily in place with her own dull weapon on top of it. Her strength was pushed to extremes now. It was far beyond anything she could have built herself up to as a human. Tons of pressure flooded through each of her muscle fibers, pulsing as she refused to let Thena lift the blade again.

Their eyes connected, causing Akiva to break into a sly smile.

"And what exactly am I going to become, goddess?" she asked, confidence stirring in her chest.

Thena's sword disappeared within seconds. She turned around herself to build momentum, spinning as another flash of gold emerged between her palms. Akiva pulled her staff up, colliding with Thena's side in an attempt to knock her aside.

But she didn't move even the slightest bit out of her intended attack. Thena's scythe swung at Akiva's staff and cut it clean in half. The end of it fell to the floor, clattering against the ground. Bewildered, Akiva raised the handle up to examine it. It was hissing, the cleaved metal cutting through just above her fingertips.