What a crazy, crazy realm we lived in... I could not even tell what was normal or not anymore!
Was it normal to live in a land deprived of mana? It felt normal, I had known nothing else. But the great voice said it wasn't. Was it normal to carry a stone too big for your entrails? At this point that was my life! Ah! Normal was all upside-down!
Was it normal for a human to be there?! Facing a half-dead minotaur while not having a scratch on himself and somehow losing? Burning mana without restraint where there should have been none!
And above all, was it normal or what?! To only draw your weapon at the end of a fight!
What was wrong with you, lord minotaur!?
"Eh!" The human smirked. "I see now. Hello Kaele, long time no see."
And our opponent was rambling mad, great! Just great!
I was hanging on the minotaur's shoulder for my life because in that storm of insanity that was the only safe thing to do!
"You really never give up, do you?" He mocked. "I get that. I don't feel like letting you win either!"
Lord minotaur let out a satisfied bellow.
"So let's settle this once and for all! My world against yours!"
His dark skin crackled with energy, war paints brimming and pulsing like rage! Both of his spirit swords just grew longer and with their blades tilling the ground he paced toward us.
Ah! Lord minotaur, do something! That foe was so powerful that the ground was cracking before him!
We stepped forward in turn. Mist exhaled from the bit at our mouth. It seemed like the whole realm was standing still around us.
We strode, we ran, we charged and weapons clashed in a deadly shock! Pushed back and crossed to seek the other's heart!
But it was weird? Everything felt... slow? I could not even move, my tiny legs frozen in the minotaur's hide. The air was battering my shell, flowing harder than gravel! Mana suddenly so deprived around us that any motion took all we had!
Yet they still clashed, dodged and the blades swung mad! Clash! The life sparked at the weapons' contact died out just as quickly. Ah! A spirit sword grazed me and left a terrible scar on my chitin shell! Leave me alone, I was just a powerless bug!
The minotaur's chest was pierced! Its heart hit clean! Ah, no!
He broke that mystical blade with just the polearm's handle and hit in turn, licking the human's leg and leaving a deep gash.
That human had a spirit armor! A protection that concentrated wherever the hit came to offer so much resistance that it should have stopped a, a, a lightning strike even!
But no, that had shattered, the wound opened and now the human was cutting into our flesh again!
The both of them were dodging all they could, sidestepping in a crazy dance but they were too close, their weapons too hungry, blood was spilling on both sides!
We were faring way worse!
Lord minotaur was being torn apart, the blades plunging deep and reaching the other side while all we could do was leave gashes! What remained of the chains that had restrained us were breaking down from just the motions.
Another clash! The human pushed all he could and we did not budge! He was clearly stronger, he had more mana and a body in far better condition but could not get us to slip even a millimeter!
He was the one pushed back!
The polearm nearly cut his head, missed by nothing and skimmed his beads necklace instead. Necklace? I had not even noticed it but yeah! The human had a necklace.
I was not even sure how the both of them were still standing. The ground was breaking down under their feet! Each strike, each swing just shattered it a bit more! At this point they were just hopping on debris.
Both spirit words crossed and cut through the minotaur's shoulder, cutting it clean and sending his arm to the ground! Ah! We were doomed!
It had taken seconds for that arm to fall.
And in that time they had already exchanged five full hits, traded a fifth as it bounced. Ah! Great voice, protect me! Protect the stone in me!
They were choking their surroundings so hard that even I was starting to choke!
The minotaur, in his bliss, noticed it and grunted. With just one remaining arm he was keeping the human at bay, swung his weapon and pierced his flank.
In that same instant he let go of the polearm, kicked his opponent's head with his hoof and was in his back. Punch! The human's back almost rippled at the shock.
Missed! The sword only slashed the air. Another punch sent the wild human tumbling, the polearm still in his flank. We ripped the weapon out and slashed up, all the way to his cheekbone where the cut exposed his bone in turn.
So he fall back, the melee ceased and I could breathe again.
I watched the human fall on his knee. Ah! He had suddenly got so weak! We were turning the table, we... eh, lord minotaur? Why did you look dejected?
But his opponent struggled back up, staggered and brushed the wound at his face. He was still smiling, eyes like steel, the black one an ember and the feral one a flame!
His swords reappeared in his hands!
We stumbled forward ourselves, charged and both sides exchanged blows. Neither had enough strength left to dodge, neither really bothered to parry and so both bodies felt the full rage of their metal.
Ah! We were reeling from the pain! Lord minotaur had his skull exposed, his eyes blinded by black blood and just one arm! His torso was in tatters, more skeleton than flesh at this point!
And the human still got only bruises!
Ah... Ah! Ah! The minotaur refused to deliver a killing blow!
We had just been toying with him. Even now, at death's door, we were still making a mockery of this fight! Was that how the strong viewed the realm? So powerful that they didn't even care to win anymore?
I could not fathom it! Come on, lord minotaur, the fate of the realm was at stake here!
But he was extatic, so excited that he had broken the bit between his teeth. Drooling from a joy that had me almost in a frenzy! Ah! He had longed for this!
Each of their strikes had the weight of a thousand souls.
They were so exhausted that their motions had gone wide and slow. Their bodies could not keep up with them! And now the human was taking the worst of it. There was simply nothing left to shred but our arm! Even the legs were torn and holding by black magic or something!
Another hit! Another one! They could not stop anymore! Driven by destruction!
But in a last clash the human's swords broke and he fell down, caught himself on his arms and struggled to stand up once more.
The minotaur let him.
The human was panting, sweating, his breath short and irregular. He had pushed himself way past anything the realm permitted! And with that his focus lapsed.
His neck began to burn him.
He started to panic, grasped the amber beads at his neck and his hands seared! He was screaming in agony before a silent beast.
What was happening?!
Our opponent was trying to take the necklace away but it hurt him so bad that he was just thrashing at it! It seemed like he was dying before our eyes!
So the minotaur approached, clutched the necklace in turn and I felt it from even his shoulder. Our very essence being drawn away by the second!
But lord minotaur snatched it off the human's head anyway and walked back while his hand turned to chalk. He was groaning, teeth clenched and refused to let go. Before him the human had fallen on the ground, barely relieved.
I watched us put the necklace on our cut shoulder and then the ravaged hand turned to pick me up. Wait! It cracked against me but was still able to easily get me off the hide and before him. Wait! Ah!
I was not ready to!
...
The caparace fell on the ground, panicked a bit and realized she was fine. She turned toward the mass that had been a minotaur.
Its skeleton was crumbling into dust, leaving only a heavy skull and spine behind.
And in that dust stood a clay golem.
That golem was not done rebuilding itself. Plates still grew solid on the exposed soft clay. A head was finishing behind his raised arm hiding it. When I lowered it, my badger mask was in place.
I turned to the insect first.
"Hop on."
She didn't seem to understand me, hesitated and finally, prudently, ran behind me. She rubbed the minotaur's skull a moment, then followed me to jump on my back and hold there like a cape.
I approached my master. He was still trying to get back up no matter how battered his body.
"You think you have won?!" He lashed at me, an undying fire in his eyes. "I won't bow to you! No one will anymore! If you think!"
"You won."
He kept spouting nonsense for a few seconds and then shut up at my words. So I kept going.
"You humans pacified the monsters, then chained them. Your enslavement has changed the balance. That means more mana, Nzinga, which means Earth will appear and open."
"How is it!"
"Shut up. I have run every scenario, in all of them the mana drain kills all humans. It's over. The last shelter will fall. So, you won."
"It is even better than that." A mocking voice chimed in.
Hello, wyvern old friend. He had not bothered to help his puppet.
"With this last fight the link became clear. The key to the humans' haven is mine to enjoy! I could not thank you both enough. I will open the door myself, crack that egg before it appears and a realm will feast on its tormentors!"
That made the teenager laugh. A nervous laugh. He had won. The wyvern had won. All of the monsters had won a war they didn't know had raged this whole time.
Even the humans left behind, the ones that had made this cursed necklace, had got their way in the end.
I put a knee before the human who, still on the ground, had stopped laughing now.
"So, I was helpful! Actually helpful... I thought it would feel better..."
I brought the beads above his forefront.
"You should rest now."
"Yeah..."
A dozen seconds and only the realm stood before me anymore. Just the deprived, unrelenting realm.
Now to find the empress.
That snake had not fled far. The dungeon near Hashal only offered dead temples as cover and her wounds got her to the closest. There, she had not even found a hole in which to hide.
So when I showed up before her, like a ghost, she only backed against the stone and hissed.
"Why are you so strong?!" Her thoughts screamed.
Monsters only used thoughts to talk when boasting strength, or for utter capitulation.
"All this time, all those efforts and all I achieved was one bite! You demon! Do your worst! Your turn will come soon enough and I will laugh from hell!"
And she thrashed as a new wave of pain washed over her body.
I stood before her, then raised a clay hand. She braced for the harm and the magic circle took shape, flared. Heal.
She opened her eyes wide.
"What do you think you are doing!?" Her thoughts ran mad.
My second arm was casting healing as well. Her whole body glowed in a blue haze. She still had that human eye locked on me.
"All the humans are dead, Muasin." Those thoughts were mine. "Not a single one remains. Victory is yours! It is your triumph. You, a simple snake, have survived the gods."
And I fell to my knees, my thoughts in shambles.
"The realm is yours..."