a tree trunk. Its body was made of segments, each bloated and furry like the body of a spider. Its curved legs looked sharp as blades. Worst of all, however, was not the body that snaked behind, but the front of the creature.
It had the head, torso, and arms of a human girl, no older than ten. Her flesh was pale, her red eyes rimmed in black, her hair scraggly. Her bloated belly was slashed open, revealing cockroaches that nested and bred inside her. The girl grinned, showing rotting teeth, and raised her arms. Her hands ended with curving, yellow claws that dripped sizzling liquid. Below her belly, her centipede body pulsed black and hairy, coiling into the shadows behind her.
"Stars," Elethor whispered.
"What are you?" Lyana shouted at the beast, baring her teeth. "Why do you dwell in Requiem?"
The creature stared at her, eyes dripping pus, and tilted her head. She opened her mouth wide, and her tongue rolled out, a foot long and covered in ants. She screeched, a deafening sound that made Lyana grimace and scream.
"This is… not… Requiem!" the creature said, voice like shattering glass. Blood dripped from her eyes down her cheeks. "This is the Abyss. I am Nedath, guardian of this realm. Turn back, creatures of sunlight! Leave our… world…"
Her voice turned to wind that howled, blowing back Lyana's hair. The creature thrust herself up, rising ten feet tall upon her bloated segments. Her spider legs stretched out like black blades. Blood spurted between the demon's sharpened teeth, spraying Lyana's face. The droplets stung like acid.
"Turn back, Nedath, guard of the Abyss!" Elethor cried. He waved his lamp, as if light could cow this creature of darkness. "I am King Elethor Aeternum. My forefathers sealed you here. Now obey me."
The creature cackled, hair rustling with maggots. With a screech, she spat a glob of blood and mucus at Elethor. He swung his blade, blocking the discharge. What droplets sprayed him sizzled, and he cried in pain.
"Turn back, creature!" Lyana cried, waving her sword. "I am Lyana Eleison, daughter of Lord Deramon, knight of Requiem! You will kneel before me."
She swung her sword, but Nedath pulled her body back, and the blade whistled through air. The creature cackled and spat a glob of bloody mucus. Lyana had no time to parry, and the glob hit her face.
Her eyes blazed with pain. She could not breathe or see. She screamed; it felt like her face was being ripped off.
"Elethor!" she tried to shout, but the mucus entered her mouth, choking her, running down her throat like a living thing.
"Back, creature!" Elethor cried, voice muffled, a million leagues away. "Turn back into the darkness."
Lyana could not see him. She swung her sword blindly, not knowing if she hit anything. The creature screeched again, but she could barely hear.
She fell. She hit the ground. She dropped her weapons, clawed at her face, tried to tear the slime off her eyes, her nose, her mouth. Her head hit the ground, and she heard only a distant screech, a cry of horror, and then nothing but cruel cackling.
ADIA
She moved between the wounded, her robes soaked with blood. Her fingers stitched wounds, her eyes shed no more tears, and her heart felt no more pain. Around her the wounded shivered, wept, and screamed; she healed them. The dying lay feverish; she comforted them. The dead lay stinking; she prayed for them. She was a healer, a priestess, and a mother grieving.
Come back to me from your wilderness, Bayrin, she prayed silently as she bandaged a burnt, trembling man. Come back from the darkness, Lyana. I love you, my children.
The man groaned, his face melted away, his hands burned to stumps. If he died, Adia thought, it would be a blessing for him, and yet she fought for him, gave him the nectar of silverweed to dull his pain, and she refused to surrender his life. He was somebody's son, and Adia too had a son. What if Bayrin returned to her like this, burned into red, twisted flesh and pain? She moved to a young girl, her legs shattered, her hand severed, and she prayed for her, bandaged her, set her bones as best she could. What if Lyana returned to her broken and bleeding too?
Stars, please. I already lost one of my children. I already lost my sweet Noela. Don't let me lose Bayrin and Lyana too.
Her worry seemed too great for Adia to bear, and yet she bore it. She