Eight Gods on a Windowsill

I walked a little bit from the crowd of people who had gathered to prepare for our upcoming battle with A'grappa. It was getting noisy and I needed some quiet. Lake Sumiset was getting very crowded and I didn't really do well with crowds. I preferred to keep myself with as little company as possible. That didn't mean I didn't like company, just not with loads of people. That said, I made sure I went as far away from the others while staying in the clearing as possible. There was something I wanted to test.

Show yourselves. I commanded. I had no idea who would appear. Or, how much control I even had over this power to begin with. I had no idea how much control I had with any of these borrowed powers. What did I truly command with Ban'iel's power?

Immediately, shapes took form on the verdant grass before me. More souls than I thought stood before me in rows like a small militia. The complete souls were more than several hundred and the shards of souls were even more than several hundred thousand. Many of the faces I recognized at a mere glance. So many souls. Lillith, Kaddyr, Yog, Whisper, Ban'iel, Grammel, Tiamat, Uth, and Gilgahlad. These were the faces I knew. But there were so many others I had no idea lay dormant in my soul. It was no wonder that Lousfrith called me a one-woman army.

I have called all of you here to ask a few questions. Let me start with what I know. I know who the Great Ones are, the task the Minor Ones were left with, and why the Fractions were created. What I don't understand is the goal of the Great Ones. Why create life if you are only going to destroy it? Why even bother asking for life to be governed if it meant that it was all to be destroyed in the first place?

That's the thing, Kaddyr responded, we were never let in on their will. The Great Ones, with all their wisdom and power, tasked us with maintaining order according to a plan they crafted. Except, we were never worthy enough to know the reason why.

They tasked us with defending life and mending their gardens. Tiamat interjected. Yet, they destroyed all they touched. We had no choice but to remove them from the equation in order to complete the task they left us with. Perhaps, it was all according to their plan.

Gilgahlad started to laugh. This is where I came in. The Minor Ones and my father Galadyn begged me to do something about the Great Ones. So, I sealed them away knowing that my seal couldn't be broken because I made it in a way that it siphoned off their powers. It empowered us instead of them.

And yet, A'grappa has returned to the multiverse. Lillith chided. You created a seal that allowed them to exploit a small hole to crack open the firmament.

What Lillith said definitely sounded like it was the very thing that A'grappa took advantage of to make sure that he would eventually come back onto this plane. The fact that the Minor Ones had to ask for the help of a Fraction confused me. Why couldn't they do it on their own? What made Gilgahlad so special? Or, me for that matter? Is there something I was missing?

Suddenly, a wave of what I could only describe as killing intent washed over me from behind me. Pure unadulterated rage filled with the red fire of hatred and desire to destroy. Whosoever it belonged to didn't make a move. They only released their intent. Perhaps they wanted me to run in fear so that they felt like a predator chasing prey; except, I wasn't about to give into that. I shooed away my inner souls and I turned around quickly, making as little movement as possible. I wanted to get a good look at this interloper.

He wore a hooded cloak over his body and head that obscured most of his features. All I could make out was his hunched back and long fur-laden snout. Smoke rose from his nostrils as if to give the impression he was about to breath fire. He couldn't be more than five feet two inches tall. He stood atop a tree, gripping the trunk and standing on a large branch like it was solid ground. It was almost as if he was used to unsteady footing.

A low growl escaped his lips. "Abryi."

He wasn't after me. Judging from what I could tell from his appearance, he seemed to be the one person that gave Abryi so much trouble in the past. There was no way I was letting him get to Abryi now. Not after he just managed to heal up from battle. I doubted he was ready yet.

"Too bad, you'll have to get through me in order to get to Abryi." I shot back.

"Emperor's lapdog." He barked. "You dare defend the oppressor? The one responsible for war crimes?"

War crimes? I wasn't aware of anything that Abryi would even remotely do to be considered a war crime. He was too focused on justice. It made me think that someone else was framing him for atrocities he knows nothing about. I'll have to talk to Abryi. But first, I need to handle this.

Stamina at ninety-two percent. This was as good as fully rested as I was going to be. I was the one thing standing in his way. It had to be enough.

Before I could even react, he leapt from the tree and lunged at me, ready to strike. I immediately sidestepped his attack. He recovered quickly and began to throw a flurry of punches at me as I carefully dodged each one. Every punch, kick, and thrust was child's play. I wasn't about to let him land a hit on me.

My refusal to return any form of combat must have triggered something in him. He screamed, "Don't you dare look down on me, you impudent lapdog!" He definitely wanted a rise out of me, probably to gauge my strength.

As I continued to dodge his attacks, I countered his insult. "I don't want to hurt you, Hagnr."

"It's too late for that. Your precious emperor looks down on anyone who isn't Amali." That didn't sound like Abryi at all. I was convinced that whoever was telling him this or causing him to lash out like this was pulling the strings. Someone was definitely trying to destroy the image Abryi worked so hard to maintain. "He will pay the price for the evil he has wrought. He is using you and when he is done with you, you will be thrown away, just like all the others."

Hagnr continued to accost me with his attacks. None of them landed. Whisper's ability to manipulate wind allowed me the ease to evade his onslaught. His attempt became tedious. I knew he was capable of much more than what he was showing me; although, his decision to hold back was probably his underestimating my ability.

I caught one of his punches in my hand, clenching my fingers around his fist to prevent him from pulling away and as soon as I let go, I rejected him across the grass. "You'll have to do much better than that, Hagnr."

 Immediately, Hagnr crouched down on all fours. Smoke began to billow more from his nostrils. I recognized this as a similar position that Abryi did. I put up my barrier and got ready to cancel his attack as soon as I saw it. Except, Hagnr moved behind me in the same time that it took me to blink. He was fast.

Before I could turn around to counter, I heard him mutter, "Red Dragon's Breath."

I encased him in a barrier all by himself. Just him, his flames, and branch he was standing on. When the flames subsided, there was nothing but smoke in the barrier. I was tempted to let down the barrier and see if he had cooled off. But, I was worried about what else he had in mind. I decided to not to risk it. I could hear his attempts to break my barrier with brute force. Abryi tried that too. It wasn't that easy to do. Finally, the branch had had enough and gave way under all the stress. Hagnr landed on the ground, still enclosed in the barrier. The smoke was obscuring all that he could be doing inside the barrier.

It suddenly got quiet in the barrier. I still couldn't see anything; but, I didn't dare take my eyes off the barrier. A voice echoed from within, calm, cold, and collected. "Ten Thousand Steps of the Dragon Man."

Nope. Not letting that come out here. I teleported myself and Hagnr, along with the barrier he was enclosed in somewhere else.

His voice came once more, just as before. "First step."