683 The two Apocalypses.
“Cain, this place is weird,” Ellie said with a worried face, staring at the crackling void of the abyss.
“I cannot see anything.” Amaya grabbed Cain’s shoulder with one hand, looking down at the endless darkness.
“Don’t worry. We will be there in a moment.” Cain replied with a smile.
In a gentle flash of light, they appeared on the other side of the teleport spell, standing on a stone overlooking the hordes of mindless demons.
“Hell is where sinners go to suffer under the devil’s oppression. Abyss is for those who broke the law of the world.” Cain explained, and Eilistraee, Lolth, and Gracie appeared behind him.
Lolth smiled, “Like mating with devils, mortals who attempt to achieve godhood, and even the souls of the destroyed liches wander this place.”
“Let’s say I destroyed Morena instead of absorbing her. Her shattered soul will end up wandering here as an empty husk.” Cain looked at the demons on the ground, “And if I died before I could achieve godhood, I would end up here as well.”
“You will crawl back to the mortal world anyway.” Eilistraee stared at him, “You’re right,” Cain smiled. With his knowledge, death is never the end.
“People don’t die when you kill them?” Gracie stared at him with a puzzled face.
“Killing someone means destroying their bodies. The souls get sent to hell. And when you break the soul, the husk ends up here. And if you burned that husk, the remaining ashes will fall into the grey wastes of hades.” He patted her head, “You have to seal my ashes so I won’t come back eventually.”
“Should I send the army down?” Amaya said as Cain ruffled her hair.
“Let Ellie attack first. Your army will mow everything down.” Cain replied, pointing down, “I will protect you. Show me what you can do without biting anything.”
Ellie bowed down, closing her eyes and leaping down. Her body flipped mid-air, and she landed between the demons.
^STOP!^ A voice boomed in her head.
Ellie opened her eyes, glowing red in the dark as they darted toward the demons.
PUFF! Before the demons could react to her, Ellie’s body disappeared in a fine red mist, only leaving a trail of her eyes. CLING! She landed a few hundred feet away with a blood scythe in her hands.
^CAIN!^ She could see Selena scream, carrying Cain’s corpse in her hands. ‘Those are the previous Ellie’s memories.’ She thought.
Ellie stood, staring back at the demons’ corpses she left behind.
GROWL! The demons roared, charging at her like waves of wild beasts.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! With just lifting her palm, spears of blood rose from the ground impaling the demons one after the other like flags.
^The abominable demon died. Finish this one.^ Ellie could see Baltos, the king of humans, point his sword toward Selena, who cried on Cain’s corpse.
VAM! Ellie leaped forward, re-absorbing her blood and throwing the corpses back at the demons to crush them.
^SPLAT!^ Ellie remembered seeing Selena drop Cain’s corpse and bite Baltos’s head off, killing his guards right after him. ‘Why do I get those memories now? Because I’m using her power?’
ROAR! Flying demons in the shape of deformed, semi-bald vultures rose to the sky and breathed a gust of red flames toward the ground.
Ellie clapped her hands together, forming a massive blood shield with speaks poking from it.
As the shield blocked the flames, the spears flew toward the demons killing them.
^ROAR^ Ellie could see a massive black jaguar ravaging the lands, devouring any humans in its path and growing in size after each destroyed city. It didn’t matter if they were heroes, braves, or entire armies, non managed to stop the apocalyptic beast’s rampage. ‘She wasn’t roaring in rage. She was crying.’
As the massive demons fell to the ground, Ellie re-absorbed her blood and created two bat-like wings on her back, flying to the sky.
ZON! CLING! A demon appeared behind her, cleaving her head with a single swipe of his claws.
Ellie’s head spun in the air, glaring at the demon with glowing red eyes before exploding into a storm of bats, ripping him apart like a sward of hungry piranha.
Thud! Ellie’s body reformed mid-air immediately. Tuf! She spat the blood in her mouth, “Didn’t drink anything.” She stared down at the pool of blood.
^GROWL^ She could see Selena’s dying body as she stood above it with her scythe. ^Rest in peace.^
‘I see, in your world, Baltos stood against Cain instead of by his side.’ Ellie thought with a sad smile. ‘He even managed to trick and kill Cain, but what he failed to count for was you. The beast queen, Maharaja.’
Ellie looked toward Cain and Amaya with a smile, ‘I see, they aren’t from the same world. The previous me came from the same as Selena, who is now in hell.’
Ellie waved her hand, signally for Cain to swap with her.
CLICK! Cain flicked his finger, switching her place with Amaya.
As Ellie stood there telling Cain about what she remembered, Amaya found herself falling mid-air.
“Guh!” She gasped, “Stupid Ellie. At least stay on the ground,” she pouted, clapping her hands. [Arise]
The flying demons who Ellie killed rose back to life, catching Amaya before she could hit the ground.
The demons roared, throwing spells and stones at her. [Devour]
Those demons that Ellie killed and the ancient corpses sleeping in the dirt crawled back to the surface, growling. “Leave the heads intact,” Amaya said, and her undead army charged forward.
‘Heads?’ Something flashed in her head.
^Today, Brothers! We behead the abomination standing in our way!^ The dragon king growled, standing before the guillotine with Cain tied.
“What is this?” She mumbled, patting the demon she stood on. “Fly higher. I will wake some giant monsters.” She said with a smile.
^Kill him already!^ The dragons cheered, and the king silenced them by lifting his hand, ^His soul died. This body is but a husk for us to cut.^ The king signaled to the excutiones to swing down. At the last moment, it was as if he saw Cain smile.
Amaya lifted her hands, “Arise, giant demons of the lost age!” She created tens of Zombie titans, running among the demons and crushing them.
DING! DONG! DING! DONG! As the dragons executed Cain, the sky turned black, and they could hear a bell ringing.
^What is it?^ the king cried, looking around, only to feel a massive burst of curses and holy magic seeping from Cain’s body.
A mass of black and white goo rose from Cain’s neck, quickly taking a vaguely humanoid shape while growling. A naked, blond woman stood beside his corpse, staring down with a blank face.
^What are you?^ The king swung his fist toward her, just for his arm to vaporize into dust.
The woman’s skin started to rot and boil as ten black wings emerged from her back. With her hair almost falling with her skin, she glared back at the king. “I don’t care anymore,” She mumbled as her body sucked all the mana around them.
The dragon king flew back, glaring at her with a scared face. “Everyone, run!” He screamed, “It’s a ten-winged fallen angel.” He cried, staring at her, only to see more wings growing in her back.
Amaya scratched her head, “Fly me back to Cain.” she looked at the zombie demon she was riding.
‘Memories from the last Amaya? Where is she in those events?’ Since Amaya is used to reading the undead memories, she managed to read the memories of her past self, seeing where she was.
Just to the side, all the maids and Cain’s other wives got crucified by an alliance between the elves and the humans. ‘I remember, Slyph’s father made an alliance with wood elves and the dragons, and in the end, he conquered the humans and turned the tides of battle. Is this why Sylph killed him this time?’ She thought, seeing herself nailed on a cross.
The demon dropped Amaya beside Cain, where she sat on the ground, grabbing her head. “Are you okay?” Cain looked at her.
“I’m fine. I’m having flashes of my previous self’s memories. Can you send someone else to fight?” Amaya said, looking at Cain with a sweaty face.
Cain looked at Lolth and Eilistraee, “Can I count on you?”
“Of course!” Eilistraee leaped into battle.
KYA! Lolth cried, falling down.
^DONG!^ Amaya could see Alice lifting her hand to the sky and millions of black and white swords emerging. The dragon flew away, running as fast as they could, but they couldn’t escape Alice’s sword.
When one of the black blades touched a dragon, his body would crumble like chewed grass, rotting to the bones with a foul smell.
And those who got touched by the white blades grew large and then exploded in a pool of blood.
With each kill, Alice grew more wings, accumulating more power and eventually being called the devil goddess by the ghosts living in the rotten wasteland she left.
“Is this one of the ends Mary was stopping?” Amaya mumbled, staring at Cain.