The Aspect: Escape From Chernobog, page 1
The Aspect
Escape From Chernobog
Ajax Lygan
Copyright © 2021 by Ajax Lygan
All rights reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
All characters involved in sexual activities are consenting adults age 18 or older.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover design illustration by: Chloe Ince - https://twitter.com/Cince_Arts
Contents
1. Into the Abyss
2. The Blütra
3. Prison Break
4. The Forest of Despair
5. The Curse of Premonition
6. The Blood Mother
7. A Double-Edged Decision
8. Chernobog’s Domains
9. A Battle With Greed
10. The Treasures Within
11. Corruption
12. Divine Discoveries
13. The Traveler, The Fixer, The Betrayer
14. Blood-Soaked Revenge
15. The Final Anchor
16. Plan B
17. A Battle of Giants
18. An Explosive Welcome Home
19. An Unexpected Visitor
20. A Heroic Return
Epilogue
Thank You!
1
Into the Abyss
The blackened, bloodied sand pressed between Kasta’s claws as she circled her foe. Her wounds flared when the wind gusts from the nearby portal pushed across her scales. She took deep, long breaths in an effort to calm her breathing down. She needed to be ready for her next attack.
Kasta caught the look in Vatia’s golden eyes, signaling her readiness for their joint maneuver. Vatia’s golden scales reflected like a shining beacon in the ominous darkness of the battlefield. Even without her divine power, the dragon was still one of the most formidable creatures in all of Iðna. The two dragon sisters were battered and bruised, but they were not beaten. With the signal given by Vatia, who was now at the beast’s flank, the pair lunged.
The attack failed. Nysit’s skull-headed general, composed of overlapping muscle strands, extended its long arms, catching both dragons midair. With a single pull, it slammed the pair hard into the ground, ripping their scales as the coarse sand grated along their bodies. The attack continued, throwing the colossal dragons around by their necks like oversized flails, crushing foe and ally alike.
Kasta clawed at the creature’s arm as she struggled to breathe. Each blow brought her vision closer to darkness. The thick bands of flesh were too thick to allow her to sever her way free. Every swipe with Kasta’s claws created a bloody gash that repaired itself in seconds. Her movements became erratic as each breath grew more difficult. The general’s teeth chattered into a smile as it raised the two dragons into the air. Kasta looked down into the creature’s empty sockets, her mind screaming for her body to comply. They needed to survive.
At the moment before losing consciousness, Kasta felt herself surge with fervor. Her scales became coated in a sizzling acid, burning the beast’s flesh around her. Her neck slid out of the creature’s grasp, giving her precious seconds of freedom. She raised a clawed hand, summoning a piercing volley of serrated shadow from the ground beneath them, pinning the creature to the ground and slicing the monster’s other arm in half. With the arm temporarily hindered, Vatia freed herself.
“The head, Vatia!” Kasta shouted, trying to subdue her cough. “Destroy the head!” The two dragons immediately took the offensive. With the general immobilized, Kasta and Vatia grabbed the creature with their teeth, claws, and feet. Kasta clamped on to the beast’s throat, arms, and legs, while Vatia attached onto the creature’s skull and spine. The two dragons pulled with all of their might, using their massive wings to generate as much thrust as they could. The creature’s ligaments and tendons snapped, like the sound of a whip, as the dragons flew farther apart. It let out a horrifying screech as Vatia ripped its spine and skull from its wiggling flesh. With the nervous system separated from its body, the tentacles, which acted like bands of muscle, fell into the earth like worms escaping a thunderstorm.
Kasta took in a huge breath and unleashed her acid all over the ground. The wormy strands let out their own shrieks of pain while the acid slowly disintegrated them into a pool of green and black ooze. Kasta’s eyes frantically scoured the ground, looking for signs of regeneration, before letting out her held breath as the pool bubbled with no signs of life. The crunch of the creature’s skull brought a smile to her face as the remaining two members of the Hydra let out a victorious roar.
The sounds of electrical discharge grounded her feeling of victory when Kasta looked up at the nearby portal. While Tempest was hovering in front of the giant sphere, purple shards of electricity emitted all around him. A fading, translucent barrier encircled him, causing Kasta to tilt her head.
She watched the Aspect slice his hands and press them toward the portal. His blood poured unnaturally from his wounds, coating the entire surface of the sphere. Kasta jerked her head up into the sky as everything around her became cast in a deep-red hue. The sparks from the portal grew more violent as the sphere shrank, transforming as Tempest struggled to press his hands together.
When his hands finally touched together, there was a moment of solace. Everything turned back to normal. There was no portal unleashing cross-dimensional fiends into their home, no deep-red sky, and no concern for their own safety. He had done it. The Aspect had closed the portal and saved their home. However, with his accomplishment came to Kasta’s sudden realization of his unconsciousness. His body slowly fell from the sky, but only until the following implosion removed the precious seconds of tranquility. Kasta’s heart sank when a rift suddenly appeared, creating a whirlwind of air that sucked anything nearby into the unknown.
Kasta watched in horror as Tempest’s body became caught in the interdimensional wind and began ascending. She turned her head to Vatia. The blood-soaked Queen of Light stared at her with glassy, sunken eyes that sent a shiver down her spine. Vatia was no longer the sister she had grown up with and admired, but a hollow shell of dragon scales. Her concern for her sister was great, but the fate of Iðna and its people meant the survival of its protector.
Kasta turned toward Tempest, his legs already behind the clouded rift. She took a deep breath and used her last remaining power to translocate herself into his shadow. Her body no longer had the strength to maintain her dragon form, only to wrap her arms and wings around the body of the man who had just saved her home. She felt a growing unease as the current pulled them into the unknown.
Determined not to allow her fear to take hold of her, she spoke words of encouragement to the unconscious man she swore to protect. “Don’t worry, Tempest, I’m with you. No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.”
As they floated deeper into shadow, Kasta looked behind them and watched the tear slowly close, smothering them in complete darkness. Thankfully, this was where the Queen of Shadow felt most comfortable. But there was no time for comfort as their bodies jerked and pulled with the harshness of the torrent. There was only one thing she could think to do. She closed her eyes, holding Tempest tight, and prayed.
“Protect me and your kin as we enter the unknown. I’ve always taken comfort in knowing the path set before me has a purpose in the Plan. My attunement to your will is no coincidence, which is why I made the choice I did just moments ago. Please . . . please give me a sign that I made the right choice.”
Vatia and Orum always laughed when Kasta prayed to Septimus. He was the only deity on Iðna without his own disciples. He never granted favor or recognition. It was why so few people worshiped him for his ways. However, the God of Time and Fate comforted Kasta. She took solace in the fact that the decisions she made in her life were already defined. In her mind, even the wrong decisions she made had a purpose, and in some sense, they were the right decisions she needed to make, even if they meant to teach her not to make them again. Whenever she would make hard decisions, she was able to draw on an unnatural feeling that compelled her to take certain actions. She attributed this gift to her faith in Septimus and the Plan, no matter how much her siblings chastised her for it. This feeling was the same one she felt when she saw Tempest floating into the rift. The reminder brought a smile to her face as she and Tempest continued to float.
Her smile quickly faded as gravity shifted. Kasta opened her eyes to find herself falling among dense maroon and purple clouds. Red shards of electricity danced along the sky, accompanied by roaring thunder that shook her core. Kasta pointed their bodies toward the ground, squinting as they fell through the ocean of red fog. She was prepared to make a quick upward thrust if they were close to the ground. Quickly she found it wasn’t necessary.
As the thick vapor cleared their view, Kasta sprouted her wings and shifted upward. The sight below was reminiscent of Obovna after the Gray Hand had completed their ritual. Large islands of hardened, purple rock floated above an uncanny world. Snaps of wood that looked like hands trying to escape from muddied quicksand peppered bubbling bogs. Green pools of acid drained off of the flat surface into the deep-red abyss that appeared endless underneath. The surface of the la
Kasta’s curiosity got the better of her as she was unaware of the danger she was truly in. With the sound of thousands of cymbals crashing, a red finger of electricity reached from the sky and draped its sharpened nail across Kasta’s wings. The pair let out a unified scream as their muscles seized when the energy took root inside their veins.
Kasta’s panicked breathing conveyed her concern as the she and Tempest fell. The surprise attack left it difficult to move. She gritted her teeth as she attempted to expand her wings. She felt as if an invisible net bound her, unable to stretch her wings to their maximum span. In her attempt to move, she didn’t realize how quickly they were falling.
She curled her back at the quickly approaching shadow.
Her body slammed through one of the floating boulders that speckled the surrounding atmosphere. Followed by another, and another. Pain radiated throughout her shoulder and back as she and Tempest descended to the ground. As Kasta looked down, she could see a stone structure reminiscent of a fortified building fast approaching.
If I don’t do anything soon, we’re dead.
She attempted to pull on her magic one more time, only to be reminded of the hours of combat she had gone through prior. She cursed before doing her best to curl her wings around Tempest. Like a projectile flung from a trebuchet, Kasta’s body crashed through the roof, sending stone shrapnel throughout the surrounding area. She felt the air leave her lungs as her body bounced onto the floor before coming to a skidding halt.
Kasta gasped for air, trying to focus on staying alive. The world spun around her as she opened her eyes. She closed them quickly to subdue the growing sensation of vomiting. Letting out a groan, she rolled to her stomach and prepared to move up to her feet. Her arms shook as she struggled to push herself off of the ground. After managing to move to her knees, she paused at the sound of a soft drip underneath her. With one eye open, she could see the drops of blood that fell from multiple points on her face. She reached up with her clawed hand and winced as she touched her fresh wound.
Don’t worry about that right now, you’re alive, she told herself. Taking a moment to breathe, Kasta slowly stretched and moved her body, looking for signs of injury. While not ideal, she was thankful only her wings were broken, having absorbed most of the impact.
A foreboding feeling of being watched caused her to spring to her feet. She turned around to see the blurry outlines of yellow eyes blink in the nearby shadowed doorways. Muffled whispers echoed between each set of eyes as they appeared more numerous by the second. As she looked around her, she quickly realized that she was in a central pit surrounded by several floors of open rooms, each containing multiple pairs of eyes.
The shock of loss pierced her mind, and Kasta frantically searched around her for the one person she meant to protect. While sifting through large pieces of rubble, her good eye darted back and forth, shifting between the ground and the growing number of threats around her. Her rising hopelessness made her want to scream as the seconds went by and her vision filled with blood.
As she reached the opposite side of the room, a grinding sound of metal on stone filled the chasm behind her. She froze and looked up, noticing all the yellow eyes that were watching her seconds ago were now gone. Kasta tightened her fist as her pain turned into rage. She slowly turned to find an unfamiliar group of threats.
They had pink-and-white skin as if they had never seen the day’s sun. Each had a feminine figure with supple breasts but a warrior’s stature. Metal bracers and thigh-high boots accompanied form-fitting bras and loincloths. Solid-gold helmets with depictions of horned creatures giving chaotic smiles covered their faces. The metal they wore looked like pure gold, and the fabric shimmered like silk.
Kasta gave a bloodied smile, looking at all the points along their flesh she could pierce with her claws. When her enemies unrolled whips with metallic hooks on the ends, Kasta knew what was about to come, and she welcomed it. With a bloodcurdling shout that shook the foundation of the building, Kasta charged.
* * *
When Tempest opened his eyes, he was floating high above the battlefield near Obovna. He watched the scene play out as he remembered it, the screams of his companions as he pushed them away, the sting of his blade slicing across his hands, and the deep feeling of weakness as the blood poured from his body. The overall scene was an unpleasant reminder of everything he had gone through to save his friends and loved ones. However, it was when the events shifted away from his memory that he panicked.
“No, no, no!” he shouted frantically. After pressing his hands together, he watched himself slowly descend to the earth, caught by Queen Kasta as she flew by. Unlike what he expected, the portal did not disappear into nothingness. The compact sphere imploded, creating a much larger tear than they had ever seen. It cracked along the entire horizon. Hundreds of thousands of creatures began pouring from the slit like a torn canvas bag full of insects.
Their numbers were too many. The monsters rolled through Iðna’s defenses like a wave crashing over the shore. Everything in their path was stripped of flesh, torn asunder, and consumed. Tempest screamed, holding his head as he watched everyone he loved die in an agony that should have been left for him.
Guilt hit him as he watched Queen Kasta and the other flying creatures soar into the horizon’s shadows. He floated for hours, leaving a puddle of tears in the blackened sand below. He was frozen, believing his failures cost the lives of millions. His mind, left alone in the dark, spiraled around the same questions over and over.
It wasn’t until the overcast sky opened, casting a bright light on his face, that he was able to break through his despair. The sun’s light washed over him, coating him in a warm embrace. He recalled the feeling of snuggling in between Ella, Riika, Alyndra, and Saïgra. It brought a smile to his face as he wrapped his arms around himself. After reminiscing on his lovers’ faces, he closed his eyes.
The smell of sulfur stung his nostrils as he faded back into consciousness. Tempest groaned as his sudden awakening brought about copious amounts of pain. His entire body ached, reminding him of when the Cessation’s armored assassin charged him through two stone walls. The pain wasn’t the end of his conundrum. He also experienced the familiar weakness spreading throughout his body that he recollected feeling when he traveled through the infinity mirror.
His beating heart, his breath, even his own body’s attempt to keep him alive caused him pain. He kept his eyes closed as he wished for sleep, hoping for his body to do what it had done dozens of times before and repair itself. It wasn’t until he let out another groan that he heard something else besides his own thumping heart inside his head. There were distant whispers elsewhere in the room with him.
“Hel—” The word ended as a wheeze. Tempest’s throat scraped along its rough surface as he attempted to speak. His call was somewhat fruitful, as the whispered murmurs in the room grew louder.
“Did you hear that?” a soft, feminine voice asked.
“Yeah, it sounded like it asked for help,” a brighter, feminine voice replied.
“Oh, we’re going to be in so much trouble. If the Sisters find out what you did—”
“Shut up, Citra!” the second voice cried in a hushed whisper. “No one needs to find out about this . . . at least not yet. I just need a second to think.”
“What were you thinking, anyway, Yora? That big, black daemon came crashing through the wall holding this thing, and your first thought was that it was a good idea to pull it away? What if it saw you? You saw the claws on that thing.”
