Dragon Falls (Indigo Apocalypse Book III)

Chapter Thirty-Six: We Release The Faces Beneath

KITANA:
"We have to strike back." Snapped Audrey. "Now we know how to." "We don't know if that was really the case though now do we?" Briella snapped right back. "Shut it ghetto girl." Said Audrey. Briella's eyes lashed venomously. "It's a theory." I cut in. "A theory that we tested, and, it seems, paid off. The purity of water from the Northern lands, from up north is what can kill a whole army of these things, not just death." "Exactly." Said Audrey. "Which," said Lucy. "We really wouldn't have known if you hadn't decided to pour buckets here." "Fucking right, I," but Audrey stopped, stopped, as if something just clicked in her head. Slowly, she turned to me, "But we did know, didn't we? We already knew that the purity of water from the northern lands, from the northern seas could kill them." "Huh?" Asked Joy and Luna in unison. "Mind sharing with the class girls?" Asked Kupoa. "Huntor." I said. "He kept giving Arachne bottled water." "And?" Asked Joy. "Bottled water," murmured Briella. "From the northern falls. He always said that the northern waters were the purest of the whole worlds." "Yes." Said Kneecora. "This is true." "And if he gave the water to Arachne," Said Seeka excitedly. "He must have tried it as a test, to see if the water could or would nullify the darkness in the girl." "And if it had, he wanted us to notice, to realize it." Said Zavala. "Because," continued Audrey. "As is his usual irritating asshole self, he guided us to it without even telling us, and now we know, we have a better shot at destroying the Ragni Di Morte once and for all." She turned to Decre and Vello. "We need your best, we're going to start this war, and destroy as many spiders and whatever the hell we can, as many as we can." "Wait," I said. "We shouldn't rush into this Dolphin." "Not a dolphin." "We need to attack yes, but we need the gods to attack." I turned, "Kendra, Amala Kamala, Audrey, Leia, Wenzi and," I turned to two people, two who remained quiet, even now. "Vera and Alexandra." They approached, their eyes wide with shock. "Us?" Vera asked. I nodded. "You've both reached your godhood haven't you?" Alexandra closed her eyes, the air in the room vibrated, as if it could shatter at any moment. "I have." Said Alexandra. "Maybe." Said Vera. "Then we have Ragni Di Morte to destroy." Said Audrey excitedly. "And fucking scorpions." Said Briella.

WENZI:
    I dropped, the air screaming in my ears, winds lashing about me. I took a moment, just a moment, to remember. "I am Wenzi, daughter of fire, goddess, of flames." I was a half-blood dracon, a creature of the skies and fire. "I was a goddess of fire, a goddess, of flames." Then, I whipped the small toy into my hands, and flipped it. As I fell, it fell, and, expanded. I landed on the iBoard with a small jolt, and pressed my boots into it's stirrups with ease. A dozen feet up and enclosing fast, Kitana was on her own iBoard. Down below, in shades of yellow because of the glasses, the encampment moved restlessly. I drew the long bladed fans on my torso, the fans that were specially made for me, the fans that were fireproof. I saw the Ragni, and, the webs that were damned near invisible. I swerved, rising several feet before diving again. I silently opened my fans and allowed my body to absorb the winds, to use the fans like wings. Like the wings I could grow. Fire licked my veins, my soul. "I am a god, I am a god, I am a god, I, am, a, god. I'm, a, god." I swooped and allowed the fire to grow, more, more, more, more. Kitana dove swiftly, Audrey, Leia, and Zavala dove after her, swooping swiftly through one of the many holes in the webs. Ragni began shouting, began shrieking, as death, descended upon them, literally.
    Fire lashed out of me, once, twice, thrice. Lashed like a heartbeat, lashed, like it had when we were facing off with the Dark Queen. Lashed, before I exploded. Thunder boiled overhead, a violent lash of power, a concussive sound-wave that was so unlike Leia's own thunder, or Sarah's, or Audrey's, or, Huntor's. "No two symbols are ever alike, ever the same." It seemed even my best friend's thunder, even her sound-waves, are similar, but nowhere near like Leia's thunder, or Audrey's. Fire lashed across the webs as if they were dipped in oils, in gasoline. Ragni screamed in terror now, screamed as my flames wove through their webs, as they clearly showed the Ragni, and all their traps. An orb flashed. Another concussive sound-wave lashed from high high above. Flames ate through the webs, the intricate webbing designed in a weird way. As my fire spread, lighting the whole encampment, as it clearly showed all the spiders, it also showed the webs for what they truly were. Weird designs and symbols were woven through the fabric of the webs. Vera and Alexandra finally appeared, they dove through one of the holes in the web, Vera wobbled slightly on her iBoard before catching her balance. Alexandra clapped her hands. Thunder boiled from her, lashing across the space toward the Ragni currently scrambling down below. Kitana landed on the ground, and death lashed out from her in waves.
Thunder, true thunder, boiled overhead as lightning lashed, clawing the sky. A bolt lashed out, and crashed into the canyon several hundred yards away, vaporizing several spiders. A wave of death lashed, waves, waves, sound-waves, death waves. Suddenly I remembered a time, a time when I burst into flames, burst and created a wave of fire that destroyed my school, the place I once might have called home. Then remembered seeing Sarah flying across the frozen ocean, the ocean she'd frozen over, frozen, and as she ran, created  beasts out of ice and snow. As if it was instinct, as if she'd done it a thousand times. Polar bears, penguins wolves. I closed my eyes, letting my mind open, to broaden, to grow. Flames lashed in my heart, in my soul, awaiting my command. I soared downward, letting the wind sing my name, letting the fire in me burn burn burn. My fans lashed with fire, lashed, much like Sarah's ice fans, fans she created out of ice. The burning grew and grew, smoke wafted through the air in great coiling serpents, like serpentine dragons taking flight. Dragons, dragons dragons dragons dragons dragons. As I neared the ground, I, screamed. A call that was more of a dracon's roar. Fire exploded out of me, a great wave of pure fire that coalesced into flaming creatures. Dragons took flight, soaring through the air, burning through webs and Ragni Di Morte alike. Phoenixes coalesced into being, phoenixes that shrieked with puissant voices. Serpents swam through the air, undulating languidly as they felled spider after spider. Power roared through me, power like a god, power, of, a god. Ragni marshaled against Audrey and Leia. Deeming them the least powerful threat. "Fools." I hadn't spoken the word, but it felt like the world vibrated as I thought it. Then, the downpour. Pure water from the north fell from the sky in a torrential hurricane.
    Ragni Di Morte screamed as the rain, the pure water melted them, as they scattered in true fear, trying to escape. Audrey spun, water lashing about as she wielded it. Vera dropped from the sky, flying on her iBoard as she wielded her power. Alexandra's sound-wave lashed. Ragni fell in the wake of that blast. Audrey rose on a wave of water, her face immured by her mask. Ragni screamed as the purity of the north lashed against them, as it melted them. Fire and water melded together, as Audrey created beasts out of her hydro power. As dolphins swam through the air, As lobsters, crabs, sharks, and more were created, swimming through the air to attack their prey, my creatures of flames swam along side them, not frying or dying out because of the water. Then, a sudden switch was flipped, some of Audrey's beasts hardened, hardened to that glass-like substance. They chomped into their prey, vicious and hungry to end their existence, to end the war. Lightning lashed above, a great bolt that clawed the sky. Another bolt, as pure as white, came lashing on it's heels. "Die," Kitana's voice again, couldn't be heard over the tumult of sound, was more, felt, than, heard. Ragni fell, bodies still, lives snuffed out entirely. Hydrokinesis melted their bodies along with fire. Sound-waves dropped them, as lightning vaporized them. A spider bellowed, "FORM RANKS, THEY ARE NO MORE THAN CHILDREN, SLAUGHTER THEM ALL." More Ragni Di Morte ran into the canyon from the sides, enclosing us entirely. "Mistake." Came Kitana's voice, though it never rang out above the sound of battle. Fire lashed around me as I took flight, soaring through the burning webs, the webs that would've easily caught us, caught dracons, the dracons that now flew in, the dracons that now attacked with brutal efficiency.
    I felt a sudden chill in the air, and heard thunder, though it was different, it was deeper, darker, more puissant, more, terrifying. Then, there was a scream, a scream of puissant rage and fury. Sarah dropped in, her hair flying behind her like a halo, her masked face showing nothing of humanity as she flew in, her wings extended. She swooped in, diving, and rising, her fans covered in silver-white blood. Out of the flames, ice bears, penguins, foxes, and birds of prey flew about, diving or lashing out with their claws, talons, or fangs. Three penguins attacked two dozen Ragni Di Morte. Beaks lashed about, long blade-like flipperss striking, they tore into the spiders, shredding them to pieces. I knew that, in that face, in Sarah's face, there was nothing human, had to be nothing human, to reach that level, she lost all humanity that might have been in her. "Die." Kitana's voice was never heard, but the command was there. More and more Ragni Di Morte fell, slaughtered without ever being touched. Green lightning lashed from overhead. Thunder so powerful that it shook the air, shook the canyon, right on it's heels. Green lightning lashed, striking the ground and vaporizing over a hundred spiders.
    Alexandra zoomed passed, clapping her hands together. Sound lashed out, warping the air, bending it, as it lashed by. Water glistened on Sarah's beasts as her and Audrey worked together. As Leia provided the thunder and lightning. I breathed out, and let that part of me fall. Let the power in me be released. Fire blasted out of me, a scream of puissant flames, Ragni fled from the light, the purity of fire, from the falls of water, from the fall of Death's blade as she commanded they die. From the fall of the ice as Sarah slaughtered them. Sarah rose, and shock lashed through me for the briefest moment, as she rose on the back of a huge ice dragon, as she commanded her dragon through the Ragni Di Morte. Ragni fled from the sight of that huge dragon, the sight of the goddess of snow and ice, the goddess Khione had unwittingly created. More gigantic dragons of ice exploded into existence, decimating the spiders. Scorpions came in out of nowhere, swinging their stingers, gigantic, scorpions, scorpions as big as the one Kitana had interrogated.
    "Wenzi," came Kitana's command. "Go." I spun on my iBoard, and flew through the air. My flaming beasts on my tail. Serpents lashed through the air ahead, already clashing with the scorpions, their tails entangling the monsters as they dove into their maws and into their eyes, burning them, drilling into their bodies. I landed amongst the monsters and hopped off my board. It shrank into a mini board, and I slid it into a pocket as several scorpions encircled me, their eyes glinting evilly in the light of my fire. I brought my arms up, fire swirling as they charged. A scorpion flew through the flames, claws reaching for my waist. A flaming fox leapt in out of nowhere and slammed into the scorpion's side, claws digging into it's underbelly, body burning straight through it's carapace. It fell, burning, to the shale. A dragon swooped in, a dragon of fire, it crouched in front of me as foxes circled me. Scorpions appeared through the flames, and were met with the steadily growing army of flames. Foxes lashed out, diving to burn the scorpions' underbellies. Dragons lashed out, burning their eyes with their light and flames alike. Ice foxes appeared, glistening as if freshly polished, they leapt, shredding claws slicing off stingers as they attacked again, again, again, again. A gaping maw appeared in the flames, black as death, because it was, death. A death dragon appeared, then another, then another, then, another. More and more death dragons appeared, and, the scorpions, fled. Thunder cracked, a puissant lash of sound. The air warped and another crack of thunder lashed. Green lightning lashed from above. My wings beat the air, when had I shifted fully into my half-blood body? I rose and saw the canyon, filled with flames, filled with flames and ice, darkness swirling like lost spots on a golden beast. Of the thousands of Ragni Di Morte that were in the canyon, none, were, left. Of the Hundreds of scorpions that came to their aid, only a few dozen could be seen escaping.
    Kitana and the others rose above the flames, their masks gone, eyes glowing. There was nothing human, nothing indigo in their gazes. Sarah looked terrifying, her face the most void, the most expressionless. The face beneath the veneer, the real face under the visage she wore. Kitana's eyes, her purple eyes were so dark they were near to black. She raised her arms, watching the scorpions fleeing the destruction, the thing they truly feared. "This war, has, finally, finally, truly, begun." Now she spoke the words, now, her voice echoed over the terrain. A puissant deadly thing. "And, we'll, be, victorious." Kitana smiled, and it was no human thing. It was a smile of death, a smile that only Death could ever wear. Even when she faced off with her mother, even when she faced Hiquanna, this smile, this cruel thing, was nothing like that, this was so much more than that. So much more, than that smile. "Die." She purred the word, and all the scorpions dropped, bodies still. All, but, five, five, that continued to flee.