Worlds War One

xlix [Quest]

He hadn't known the options extended to entities made of marble.

Queer. When Quest had first heard the word when he was young, it had sounded exotic. Alluring. Like a new suit that was unique and a perfect fit. He liked girls. He liked boys. He didn't want to put labels on things that didn't need to be defined. Queer meant curious, and Quest had been curious. His name suggested adventure and exploration. So queer was just right.

He had met Penina recently, but already he felt strongly for her. Out of everyone in the Wider World, she was a perfect fit for him. Some of his friends fell head over heels every other weekend, but this was the first time for Quest. First and forever. Her body might feature 100% stone, but he had a soft spot for the Golem.

Quest loved her.

He thought he'd lost her.

Now, he wasn't so sure.

Nina sat up, her missing arm regrown and extended down to the ground, a column of Arcadian soil connecting Nina to the world like some lifeline made of dirt. Bah-Thump! The earth quaked beneath them like a planetary palpitation, making Angels and Misfits alike stagger. Arcadia was speaking through Quest's one true love.

"The undead have appropriated my people," came the voice out of Penina's mouth.

Quest glanced at Saanvi, still unconscious or dead thirty feet away. She might have been able to explain what was happening, but the only ones left in command of their faculties were the four folks least adept at the Way Things Really Were. Quest and the others had no idea what was going on here.

"You are Arcadia?" Lieutenant Robinson asked.

"The Golem connected with me in her throes of death," Arcadia acknowledged. "I am looking through her eyes. Mot has compromised so many of my Angels."

"Possessed," Fox said. "Johnny Rotten obliterated their souls and hijacked their bodies."

"Mot," Arcadia said in a rolling baritone, another continental heartbeat shaking the undead Angels.

"The Angels have a more stable form to host his essence and act as his progeny," Lieutenant Robinson briefed. "He'll take as many as he can before he leaves this place."

"No," Arcadia rumbled. "He will not."

And the world itself opened, swallowing the Angels closest to the magic shield that Ji had created. As suddenly as the gaping fissure opened, it closed, either sealing the undead Angels away or extinguishing them forever. Quest spotted Callie's body on Rotten's flank, their former ally urging the originator of the undead to step back.

But Arcadia's reach was extensive. The world itself rebelled against Mot. Marvelous stalagmites erupted up from the ground, piercing Angels with shaped stone spears. The undead seraphim turned instantly to ash, dissolving away and swirling off into the wind. Arcadia dispensed ten more Angels immediately. One thing deadly to Angels was the essence of their world.

Arcadia had eradicated half the possessed Angels in moments.

Johnny Rotten stared at the Misfits, hatred writ across his ancient face. He had only half his Angelic newborns left, and Arcadia was unrelenting. The world was taking revenge for the appropriated Angels. And even Mot, as old as the universe itself, could not defend against an entire world attacking him.

He had to retreat.

The Angels protected his escape. Arcadia extinguished a dozen more before Rotten fled through a doorway to somewhere else, the body once owned by Callie Golden right at his heels. It might be her physical form, but her soul was still in the obol with Drill. Quest vowed to get her spirit back into her hijacked body.

After Arcadia neutralized the threat, the world released Nina from being its puppet. Nina surveyed her surroundings like she wasn't sure where she was, then her eyes found Quest's. He knew. When she looked at him, Quest knew. She loved him as much as he loved her. Nina had said they couldn't ever be together. That there were rules. Borders that couldn't be crossed. But Quest was an explorer, and he had often ignored barriers. "Couldn't" had never worked for Quest.

So, he kissed her.

And she let him.

"I thought I'd lost you," Quest said, his lips close enough so they touched hers as he spoke.

"I told you, you can find meeee again," Nina said with a smile. "It didn't take you veryyyy long."

"Arcadia saved you," Lieutenant Robinson said, indicating Nina's arm, remade with Arcadian soil, silvery sand streaked through with gold that twinkled in the light of the dual suns. The pattern on her biceps seemed to make the shape of a halo, like a tattoo made of silica.

"Arcadiiiia saved itself," Nina clarified.

Ji stood nearby, cradling Saanvi in his arms like a baby. "She's alive. Unconscious."

"Let's get back to Drill," Lieutenant Robinson said. "In case Rotten circles around."

"That was a resounding defeat," Fox said. "He probably scurried back to She'ol to lick his wounds."

"I don't want to be taken by surprise again. We move out at once." Lieutenant Robinson checked with Nina. "Can you walk?"

Quest wasn't sure if she'd asked because otherwise, they would carry her, like the unconscious Saanvi? Made of marble, Quest wasn't sure if even Ji's enhanced strength could handle the Golem. Or would the lieutenant leave her behind? Did she consider Nina part of the Misfits or an expendable asset?

Quest wouldn't have left without her. And Lieutenant Robinson wouldn't leave a soldier behind. One way or another, Nina wasn't going to be abandoned. Then Quest thought of Callie, her body hijacked and appropriated as a foot soldier for the enemy. They'd left her behind, hadn't they?

It didn't matter. Nina stood, wobbled once, then was steady on legs of stone. The lieutenant led the way back across Arcadia to the portal where they'd entered. Fox was right off her eight o'clock, watching her back. Ji followed, carrying Saanvi. Quest brought up the rear, hand in hand with Penina.

"This doesn't seem impossible," Quest said, looking into Nina's sculpted eyes.

"Impossible seeeeems more imaginaryyyy than it used to," Nina conceded. "This is perhaps more like maybeeee."

"I'll take maybe," Quest said with a smile.

Then they came to the portal, stepped through from Arcadia back into the Forsaken Land, and found Drill facing three Cyclopses as tall as two-story buildings and firing laser beams out of the red glowing eye in the center of each of their foreheads.