Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I had seen it all. My lady Darcy turning into a beast of the backwoods, and her Orry man chasing after her into the fray. I had to run to her, to tame her like a wild mustang in my pastures.

I ran forth as the giant beastly creature that my dear Darcy had turned into feasted on our people. She resembled a large black bear with shadows that danced along the edges of her fur like a creature from the deep chasms of Bagamagooth.

“I am coming, hold on my lady!” I cried.

I spun through the air with the name Vega on my lips as I swung my flail, the spiked ball whacking into the goonish face of a Nymph and turning the brute to soot. It was a small victory among a field of desolation and as Darcy rampaged among our people, I could see our doom rising like the moon over a stormy sea, marking us for passage beyond the Veil.

Orion cast air shields over the rebels to keep Darcy away from as many of them as he could, but she tore through them time and again.

I took down another Nymph with a shriek and a swing of my loyal weapon, the Flail of Unending Celestial Karma delivering death to our enemies like it was born to protect us.

“Take that you rapscallion of the underlings!” I cried, wiping my brow as I pressed on, my sweet Darcy now coated in blood as pieces of the rebels went flying overhead and the wailing intensified.

I had an inkling of what had brought upon this change in her. Lavinia was clearly to blame. I had seen their interaction, though I hadn’t heard even a whisper of a word over the tumult of the battle.

Orion was fighting to push her back, his arm already bleeding from a swipe of Darcy’s claws, and I screamed like a Grebe of the Garbles as I fought to reach them. I would not see her Elysian Mate fall beneath her claws or watch her tear his head from his fine body, but alas! I could not seem to move any faster, pushed back by the rebels who turned and ran from their queen as she slashed them to pieces.

But I would not cower like a gnat before the jaws of a dragonfly, nay! I would come to my lady’s aid. I would yodel her name to the sky and beg the stars to free her from this terrifying form which had gripped her body.

Orion managed to cover another line of the rebels with air magic, giving them a chance to escape, then he cast ice to try and bind Darcy’s legs, holding her down.

I yelled in encouragement, but Darcy broke through the ice and slammed into a row of rebels, taking them down beneath her paws.

“Oh golly guacamole on a gecko.”

I made it closer and blood splattered my face as Darcy shook a man between her jaws. My dear lady’s eyes swirled with the darkness of the heinous shadow witch who had done this to her and I vowed to save her.

Orion leapt onto Darcy’s back, his hands knotting in her fur as he wrenched her head sideways, forcing her jaws away from the rebels and allowing them a chance to run. But run I did not.

I dug my heels in, my shoulders ramming against the rebels as I fought the tide of bodies which pushed past me, not allowing them to sweep me away with them like a lost coconut to sea.

Darcy shook her head so hard that Orion was thrown off of her, hitting the ground on his back with a crack that told me some vital bone had broken. And as he growled through the pain of it, I saw he was unable to move, his sword lost to the dirt of the battlefield as his Elysian Mate stepped forward to deliver the killing blow.

A gasp lodged in my throat and I jammed my elbows into the rebels around me, forcing them aside, breaking through their ranks like a pea bursting from its pod and at once I was running again, my flail held a aloft as I waved it and screamed loud enough for the sun to hear me where it slept beyond the horizon.

Darcy lifted her head, turning her eyes on me instead of Orion and I kept running towards them, my flail still waving but with no intention of hurting my lady. I was caught within confliction as she bared her fangs at me, and I saw my death shining at me like two pebbled diamonds in her eyes.

“You shall not harm your Orry man!” I wailed, diving forward, my feet leaving the ground as I spun in a somersault, head over heel before landing on Orion and healing him with all I had to give.

He grunted as the snapped discs of his spine fused back together and our eyes met a moment before sharp claws pierced my armour like a hot knife cutting through butter, digging deep into my shoulder and throwing me off of him.

I sailed through the air, losing my grip on my flail, time seeming to slow as the hot gush of blood rolled down my back and the sky and the earth merged together as one.

I scented a river of death upon my flesh and wondered if my time was near as I hit the ground, rolling down a muddy bank, a sea of blood and mud flying up around me as the wind was forced from my lungs.

Perhaps Mama was close, waiting to offer me her hand and guide me into the stars. But I would not go quietly, I would fight until there was no more fight in my bones. I would battle on like the brave warriors of old and stand as unwaveringly as a mountain before the moon this very night.

I lifted my head, trying to get up and the most tremendous boom sounded as Angelica hit the ground before me in her giant red Dragon form. She roared as Mildred’s huge brown Dragon landed atop her, the ugly beast ripping into her throat with sharpened tooth and bloody claw, and my dear Angelica’s roars extinguished in her throat, her final breath rolling over my cheeks as she died and that foul Mildred tore her head from her shoulders, bellowing her victory before taking off into the sky.

Anguish, grief and utter devastation tangled inside me as I forced myself to my feet, and healed myself, spotting Orion taking chase after Darcy on the battlefield, his shirt half torn off and soaked in blood.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I stared at my dear friend Angelica with a sob in my throat like a frog on a lily pad.

“Sweet, darling Angelica!” I wailed, my tears coming hot and fast as I looked to the sky, my gaze narrowing on Mildred as I branded her with a curse of my own making. “You shall die by my hand, and you shall suffer before I send you into the nether world screaming and burning from the inside out! Hear me this day! I shall avenge my ally who was stout of heart and held more worth in her toenail than you shall ever possess!”