Eros

Champions of Corpses - 85

Alora ran out of the woods, and found the Veramorian backline demolished. Catapults were chopped into ruins, their operators slaughtered around them. She dashed fast on four clawed legs, skipping over the corpses of elves, and Mageguards, and magi.

The soldiers had all drained into the city, but there was a huddle of elven warriors at the broken gate. A growl purred from her throat as she approached. They made way as the huge, silver-furred and verdant-eyed panther wove between them with grace and speed. But none moved forward down the tunnel.

The screams coming from the other side explained their fear.

"Flank him!" An elf shouted. "Attack from all direc-"

Alora burst out of the tunnel to see the back of the man that cut through the party-leader's head. She caught a glimpse of Veramorian soldiers and elven warriors that surrounded him, corpses of their comrades and magi littered on the snow. He whirled around as she leapt in the air.

She smacked him down under her paws, claws sinking in his biceps as his back thunked in the snow. Alora sunk for the bite, and for an instant their gazes locked. Face spattered with blood, dark green eyes crazed with fury. Kaido.

He slammed his head forth, his forehead connecting hard with her snout. The impact tossed her back and blurred her vision. Kaido wrenched from underneath her, and kicked her off with a boot to the chest.

An involuntary meowl came from her lips as she stumbled. Green glow engulfed her, fur melding back into skin, bones cracking and shifting, muscles shrinking to fit. She stood up before him, naked with a bloodied nose. No Vermorians nor elves dared approach.

Kaido stepped towards her, with his wild glare and crimson blade.

"Kaido it's me!" She called at him. He did not reply, and did not stop.

Alora sensed him then, and reached out for him, mixing his maddened mind with her own. He was consumed in a feral fury. Even more powerful than the wyvern's it was, but was more human than beast. Only humans could feel such sorrow and rage.

His eyes raked her over, and she felt his lust, both for killing and for fucking.

She knew she couldn't enforce her will upon him like she did with the wyvern. He was too powerful, and too determined. One more step and she was within reach of his sword. The grip of his clawed, bloodstained fingers around it tensed, blade lifting for the strike.

"Kaido..." She said his name in a soft plea. A part of him struggled, buried beneath the seeth of his wrath. A part of him that wanted to stop. She reached deeper, and his emotion became her own.

She saw a shirtless man, muscular and covered in blood, slouched on the floor against the kitchen counter, clutching onto a lethal gut-wound. His hair was long and black, his eyes bright green, looking into hers with warmth. A smoking cigarette between his smiling lips.

The kitchen turned into a desert, and her comrades fell to volleys that hailed from the dunes. Lying crippled on the ground, she saw four-horsed, luxuriant carriage riding forward, and heard the screams of the men it trampled.

William's arms slacked around her, his body limp in her embraced, chest falling still. She clutched him tighter, unwilling to let go.

Siera stood naked before her, her icy blue eyes scathing in her soul. She smiled at her, just like she used to. Then she raised the bloodstained dagger in her hand, and stabbed it in her own heart.

Alora felt how terrible his sorrow was. How helpless he felt as they all died. How afraid he was of losing his last loved ones. Of losing her. The deeper she understood him, the closer she got.

Her fingers touched his cheek, and she pulled him out. He sunk to his knees before her. The fury cleared from his eyes, and he gazed up at her. She caressed the side of his face. He looked so tired, it broke her heart.

"I am sorry, my love." Alora said softly. "We cannot stop yet."

Kaido held her eyes as he rose, and without a word, turned his gaze to the Veramorians.

He was too fast for them to flee.

"What are you staring at?" Alora glared to the elves behind her, eyes burning in verdant flames. She swiped a hand to gesture towards the fighting that breached up to the second plateau.

"They have come to destroy your home, slaughter your families!" Alora yelled at them, fists clenching. They all stared at her, awed and ashamed. Her voice echoed over the screams of the Veramorians in Kaido's path.

"Punish them!"

"Punish them!" The Skytalons roared after her, a charge starting forward.

"Punish them! Punish them! Punish them!"

Alora turned and dashed at the head of them, letting her power engulf and change her body.

They fought until the sun fell, the last of the Vermorians with it.

-

Gasper was on the Black Tower's door-duty when he thought he heard gentle knocking. He squinted his eyes at the big iron door.

There was again, half rapping, half scratching. Gasper lurched from his chair, and slammed aside a steel bar, opening a slit just wide enough for a pair of eyes.

A man in a black cloak stood outside. His hood was lowered, goatee and black hair streaked with white, eyes piercing blue.

"Who the fuck are you?" Gasper barked.

"Cease wasting my time, imbecile." The man twisted his handsome features in a sneer. "The Black Prince awaits."

Gasper narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't told of anyone important arriving."

"Why would anyone bother to inform a goon like you? A soon to be dead goon, when the prince hears you withheld me from meeting him."

When Gasper understood his doubt might cost him his life, he didn't doubt anymore. "I'm not withholding you sir, not for another moment I'm not!"

He rushed unbar the door, and opened it. The blue-eyed man lurched forward, pushing with one hand against the iron door.

Gasper glimpsed two black-cloaked crouched by the door's hinges, and the gleam of the man's dagger, slicing into his eye, killing him before he could scream.