Of Ice, Death & Monsters-Chapter 49 : For The Start of Ashes

A few minutes ago
Jane, Koschei, Samantha, and Charlie knelt in front of the three-headed dragon. They would have been shaking if the dragon’s sheer aura hadn’t completely paralyzed them. There was something different about its presence. It wasn’t just fear; it was something else, as if every part of her body obeyed the desire to bend the knee and prostrate itself.
The dragon’s three heads moved in the air as if they were serpents, slithering as they growled in a deep yet melodic voice that reverberated through the bridge. They watched carefully, as if this were a show they had waited all night to see.
“Now what do we have here?”
A sneer grew on one of the dragon’s faces, curling into a venomous smirk as it approached Koschei.
“Ah, a child of a witch, masquerading in flames… His mind is broken after he tried to fix the world.”
A haughty grin found its way to the second head as it could be heard laughing, coiling around Samantha's feet.
“A child of rebellion, yet the flames have died down… There is no more fight left in her, no more embers to stroke.’
A sigh came over the third as it tilted its head curiously towards Charlie, as if gaining some sort of nostalgia.
“A child of war, scarred by bloodstained dirt and smoke-filled skies… She who has long since left the battlefield, yet the battlefield has not left her.”
But then, all three heads focused on Jane, and they all shared a look of intrigue, wonder, and most of all, a strange sense of joy.
“A child of chaos. She who has left behind the life of comfort to put the world back together again… She who has accepted the grace of the Elder Spirits… She who desires to consume and rebirth all in never-ending flames.”
The dragon stared at them all, as if judging and looking deep within every facet of their soul until it relented.
“All rise.”
The group stood up on command as the dragon’s head smiled.
“I see you have new allies, oh child of the witch… May their endeavors be ever so useful in the upcoming battles… As long as you do not pass the bridge, I will allow you all to wander.”
Koschei bowed, grinning ear to ear as he laughed in joy. “Thank you, oh dragon of the bridge, mighty Zmey. Thank you for your judgment. We shall be on our way.”
“Child of chaos…”
The dragon heads all turned to Jane, who stood completely still.
“When you meet mine brother… Tell him, I said greetings.”
Zmey laughed before turning his heads to the cliff, narrowing his eyes as if he saw something.
“The battles are here. Go forth, I wish to be entertained immensely.”
Charlie frowned at that ominous statement. “The battles, what do you-"
Her senses tingled as she felt a familiar presence she was ordered to protect come close. "Quick! Professor Rook is here!”
Jane felt a shiver down her back as she quickly turned around. It was there she saw it, the visage of someone who only brought hatred in her heart. There was no hesitation at all when she brought up her hand, flames erupting from her palms as she let out a vicious roar.
It was Marian, claws outstretched as she was lunging straight at Jane, before being completely engulfed in the fire. However, she didn’t feel physical pain; instead, it was something far worse.
She felt her whole body dissolve, or at least, try to be dissolved. It was like she was submerged in acid that broke her mind, melting it down into sludge as she felt her existence turn into a slurry. However, her hand began to glow as she was enveloped in a bright golden green light that repelled the flames away.
Jane stared in surprise before she was tackled to the ground by Maria,n who tried to plunge her claws into Harbinger’s flaming chest, but instead of ripping into it, Jane felt her mind crumble, shattering as Marian’s overwhelming pain and hatred began to pour into her.
Koschei unsheathed his knife to stab Marian, but it was parried away by the sudden appearance of Rook, who used his tail to swat the wrist of Koschei down as the Descendant felt a great urge of self-preservation from him.
“Make sure no one interferes with the battle!" Rook pointed towards the others, a sneer on his face. "That is an order!”
Samantha and Charlie both froze in place, the Contract holding them down as they couldn’t interfere as the other Volunteers dropped down and raised their pistols at Koschei who just smiled and twirled the dagger in his hand.
Henry looked in surprise at Charlie, turning to her as Mollie saw this and did the same, only this time to Samantha. “Charlie? Were you still with her?”
“Samantha?! Is that you?”
Derek and Topher, meanwhile, were more focused on the Smorodina, tip-toeing over to it slowly as they raised their hands out.
However, before they could reach it, Jane let out a mighty roar as bursts of flames combusted from her hands, covering the ground as well as Marian, who was raptured by fire, while both of them were sent flying over to the side of the mountains. Everyone else had to roll away for cover lest they be completely erased by the flames as the two Chosen screamed at each other in full might.
“You bitch! I’ll make you pay!” Jane screamed out as she grabbed Marian by the neck as if to choke her out before punching the Mage right in the face as they slammed into the side of the mountain, both of them tumbling down before getting right up.
“I will ensure your dreams shall fall into smoke, you whore!” Marian got on all fours, growling like a wolf before lunging directly at Jane in full force.
Peter
I ran towards the flames, happening across a very straight sight right in front of me, causing me to give pause and think. There were Professor Rook, Derek, Topher, Henry, Mollie, and Charlie. There was also a new girl I hadn’t seen before, but that didn’t exactly matter right now.
What did was that there was a Descendant right there, and he seemed to be rather unbothered by the fact that there was a whole team aiming their guns at him. Although that might be because they can’t properly damage him in this world.
Andrei's voice began to pop in my head.
'That bastard is here; we have to kill him.'
While I agreed, I needed to figure out what the situation was first.
“What in the fuck-“
Charlie turned to look at me, confusion growing in her eyes. “Peter?! Is that you?”
The others followed her gaze as they stared in complete shock and disbelief, except, of course, Rook, who looked rather confused.
“Pewter? " Then he frowned and looked away. "Oh, wait, no, you’re the boy that John got in.”
Matthias came by next, and that got more eyebrows raised as the catboy looked so confused that his tail made a question mark sign. “Professor Rook?! What are you doing- what are you all doing here?”
“Professor Rook? Here?” Godwin’s voice shot out of the back as he strode forth, giving the most confusion out of everyone with his appearance.
“Matthias, Godwin, you’re both here. Wonderful, when this is all over, we can finally return to Phorash and both of you can help explain how this mission turned out horribly.”
I narrowed my eyes at that statement. “When this is all over? You sound like you know how to get out.”
”Marian’s god or whatever has decreed that the death of Jane shall be enough to have them help guide us out. And we shall see to it that it is a success.”
Jane’s death? Wait what? What does she have to do with being free? And a god? What was he talking about? I was about to ask further, but then we heard the Descendant laugh.
“So this was the Caretaker’s grand plan? A foolish attempt at assassination? I’m appalled, yet I completely understand the level of desperation you would have for such an action.”
He raised up his arms high into the air. “You are already far too late. This is the land of the deceased and the fallen. This is the domain of destruction and chaos! Your pitiful Caretaker cannot renew anything-“
Yet before he could finish his monologuing, a wooden knife came streaking through the air, nearly slamming into his face if he did not catch it; however, shadow stitches erupted from its handle, pinning itself to his body and mask.
“My my… That was certainly a lot of desire from that. And I know there was only one type of people who would ever be able to pull that off.”
I could feel his grin grow under his mask as Katya, Rodion, Leonid, and Kariya pulled up, dashing towards him wordlessly.
In response, he flicked his wrists, revealing two blackened curved daggers, twirling them in his hands as he giggled with glee while cutting off the blackened spikes.
Katya rushed in first, in her hand was a large wooden spear that Baba Roga gave to her. It was nothing special, but it was sharpened to the point of usefulness, not that it mattered here.
She was fueled by rage, conviction, and a desire for revenge, and in the realm of the spirits, that was the most potent weapon. With it in hand, she thrusted her spear towards the Descendan,t who casually deflected it with the butt of their knife.
Kariya grabbed a few more of her wooden daggers, strafing around the Descendant alongside Katya, throwing half a dozen at him, yet each one he was able to dodge with ease as if he were a cat.
Rodion and Leonid unsheathed their swords once more, engaging in a pincer attack from both sides to try and trap him. However, it was far too late, he raised his right hand, making a crushing motion with it as several spirits appeared around Rodion’s body, holding him in place mid air.
Then, he parried away Leonid’s sword, disarming him quite easily with one twirl, before raising his dagger towards Katya while Rodion fell down to the ground with a thud
But, instead of finishing the job, he turned towards Matthias with a smile. “Ivan… Dearest brother, I knew we would be together again. Haha, but how did you get here? You don’t know of the Name of entering into Nawia… Unless ah!”
He snapped his fingers as he dodged the next slash from Katya’s spear, grabbing at the shaft before shoving it into the ground and kicking her away. The Captain seemed to stagger, groaning as the glow in her hand started to fade.
“Baba Roga… I tried to ask for her help, but she didn’t seem so eager to see me, but you always were the favored one.”
Matthias hid behind me as I shielded him from the sight of the Descenden,t as I realized who it was.
“Koschei… What are you doing here? What’s going on-“
Pillars of flame erupted from the mountainside as I noticed that the river of souls was starting to rumble, broiling over as if there were an earthquake under it.
“The beginning of the time of gatherings! Where we shall fix the world and converge to a new beginnings! Don’t you see it, Ivan? It is just as we have talked about, the world is broken… But we shall put the pieces back together again!”
'We need to stop him. We need to kill him. Now, before he hurts anyone else again! Peter, come one!'
Andrei's voice echoed in my head as I tried to figure out what to do next.
Koschei cackled, clutching his face as Katya disregarded her weapon, lunging at the Descendant as she punched him so hard that his mask went flying into the air, landing in the River Smorodina as it started to churn violently.
Rook gritted his teeth as he stared at the battle in the distance. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I knew that whatever Koschei was planning was bad news.
‘We deal with Koschei. Now.’
Andrei began to take over my body. I didn’t know whether to follow or suppress. I was locked in figuring out whether to help the Keepers or to go see what’s happening with Jane.
“Wait… If we kill Jane, can we go home?” Carey’s voice spoke behind Godwin as she stared at the battle of wolf and flames beyond.
“Yes,” Rook confirmed as he raised his hand and pointed to the rising flames.
“And if that madman is right, then we have to act now. By my command, I order you all to kill Jane Marcellus.”