Eight Gods on a Windowsill

 The journey back to the surface was very quiet. Abryi had kept his promise, meeting with the Viceroys of Mallya. He alone was in the meeting. So, while I knew nothing about what went on, I could see in his eyes that it was not something he was very happy with. We probably would have to make some kind of detour. Anytime Hina even hinted at the idea, Abryi just grunted and walked away.

 I was half expecting to see Whisper waiting for us when I reached the surface. But, that didn't happen. We disembarked and looked around. There was no sign of him. Just when we were breathing a sigh of relief, I could feel the pressure in the air change. The smell of ozone filled the air.

 Before us stood four Minor Ones, each one I recognized by their busts alone. Sorem. Yrh'danyr. Sethyr. And, of course, Whisper, whom I had the displeasure of meeting before.

 "We meet again, Whisper."

 Whisper smiled. Slowly, carefully. He poised himself with his chest out. His appearance was different than I had seen him before. Darker, more sinister. Somehow, his large dark eyes seemed more full of malice than before. On his large shoulders, he wore pauldrons with spikes and a cape of woven metal. On his remaining arm, he wore a gauntlet that went all the way to his elbow and was covered with more spikes. His missing arm was replaced by a mechanical prosthesis. His clothes were black and metal. He reminded me more of Yog than anything.

 Sethyr looked like she merged with an owl. Large dark eyes, a long nose, and a pointed jaw made up her face. Her long flowing white hair and eyebrows appeared more featherlike than hair. She had a lithe little body with feathers running down the length of her arms. She wore a spring dress very reminiscent of Chinese origins with a long flowing bottom and a large slit up both sides for easy movement. And, while she was very quiet, she looked to be observing everything.

 Yrh'danyr reminded me a little of Lillith. A lamia whose scales and skin transposed so well together that one could not tell the difference between the two. She wore a hood of skin around her neck, which was most likely part of her body. Her body was covered in a very revealing dress much in the same fashion as her father's, full of spikes. Her eyes were very thin with slit-shaped pupils and yellow irises. Her nose was small and flat, thin against her face. Every so often, her forked tongue would escape her thin lips. She really did embody a snake. Perhaps she was the muse for Jörmungandr.

 Sorem was the largest and most burly of the four of them. His muscles had muscles. His red mane was braided into his beard. Even the tip of his tail was braided. He wore a tunic that seemed much too small for him, stretching across his chest, baring a wide berth of his fur. On his legs he wore greaves. "Whisper, my brat of a niece acknowledged you, aren't you going to respond to her? Or, are you going to just going to play hard to get?" He growled.

 "She is just another toy for me to make my servant until our time comes, Sorem." Whisper responded. Then, he turned to me. "Come toy, join us. Serve us as we destroy our forefathers. Kneel before us and serve."

 "I think I'd rather not." I said.

 "Cheeky." Sethyr cooed.

 "She apparently needs to be shown her place." Whisper assured. "Then, she will kneel and watch as we destroy our forefathers and only finish when all the Fractions are gone."

 "Like I said, I would rather not." I said this time more curtly than before.

 "And, I said, kneel!" Whisper waved his arm before me, sending a wave of power at me.

 I wasn't exactly sure how it worked. I wasn't going to hesitate, however. I erected a barrier and once the wave hit it, I could feel the pressure against it bear down on it and then evaporate. "We will not kneel so easily." I nodded as subtly as I could. The others knew exactly what that meant.

 Abryi retrieved Malda from Hina, immediately lighting it ablaze. Campbell threw off his cloak, allowing himself to be as free as possible. Baen shifted into his lupine form, looking much like his father. Each one was ready for a fight. A fight that we knew we had to win, no matter what. Talanys only mentioned Whisper. To think we had to contend with four Minor Ones at once, I wasn't quite sure we were ready for it. We had no choice.

 I carefully lowered the barrier. "I've got your backs." I confirmed. I watched as each one charged forward. Abryi to Sorem. Campbell to Yrh'danyr. Baen to Sethyr. Whisper was mine. I saw Whisper watch as his cohorts clashed with the Fractions. Abryi swung at Sorem only to come flying back this way from Sorem's swing. Yrh'danyr coiled around Campbell trying to sink her teeth into his flesh. Sethyr kept Baen at bay with a gale of wind. And, Whisper just stood there.

 "Black Tornado!" A flurry of black waves passed by me towards Sorem.

 "Restraining Grip!" The three Minor Ones started to struggle against something invisible. I was holding them in place. "Dust Castle." I impaled Whisper with several spears of black ash as Abryi's slashes hit their mark, Campbell broke out of Yrh'danyr's hold and Baen finally sunk his teeth into Sethyr.

 Whisper started to cackle as his body turned to dust. "Last time, you caught me off guard with that transformation of yours, Daughter of the Ram." He reconstituted himself just out of the reach of my spears. "Not this time. How do you expect to fight while protecting powerless mortals?"

 Abryi had finally made his way back to Sorem and was swinging wildly at him, sending slash after slash, just trying to keep him from joining in the fight with Whisper and I. Campbell had gotten the best of Yrh'danyr and was swinging her around like a rope. Baen on the other hand was struggling to overcome Sethyr, who had taken to the sky.

 Whisper sent several blades of wind in my direction, only for me to block them with my barrier. He cursed and sent an arrow of dust at Abryi. I just surrounded Abryi with a shield. "Fine. Have it your way. Death it is." Whisper firmly planted both of his feet onto the ground. Dust and wind began to pick up around him. It began to coat his body and swirl creating a shadow beneath all the dust. I couldn't see what was happening; but, it reminded me of Yog's transformation. All I knew was I had to stop it before it was complete.

 "Ashura's Arrow!" I sent an invisible arrow rushing towards Whisper. Because my ability to reject was a part of me, I could feel the impact as it made contact with the dust and wind. It didn't even make it through.

 "Is that what we are doing now?" Sorem said whilst wrestling Abryi for dominance. Sorem grew even larger than he already was, now dwarfing Abryi. He put his newfound weight into his push against his opponent.

 Abryi also took the opportunity to shift his own form, not daring to let himself be outclassed, also gaining girth and size to match Sorem. Once more he was evenly matched with Sorem.

 I continued trying different attacks against Whisper. Lightning. More gravity. Even black flames. Nothing worked. I desperately was trying to figure out his weakness.

 Sethyr was falling out of the sky. Campbell threw Baen at her and he mounted himself upon her back, making it very hard for her to keep herself in the air. As she struggled to stay aloft, Campbell threw Yrh'danyr at her, prompting Baen to bail just before the two collided.

 The brothers then rushed over to assist Abryi with Sorem. As they were running towards Sorem, a beam of purple shot at them only to be deflected by one of my barriers. I only knew they were taking so many chances because they knew what my ability was. None of my opponents had a similar ability. They tackled Sorem.

 "Abryi, perhaps you would be a better suit for the flying one." Baen uttered, breathing quite heavily. "I have no long-range attacks to deal with her."

 "As you wish, Baen. Your brother can play with this lion man." Came his response.

 "Don't I get a say in this?" Sorem objected.

 Campbell took the opportunity to lift Sorem above his head and slam him into the ground. "No." The three of them said in unison.

 "Dust Forest!" I created a wall of dust between the Minor Ones and my group. "Come let us regroup." The others came back over to me. I could see they were breathing very haggard. I began wrapping them in dust to heal their wounds. "This ought to make it a little easier. I just have to get Whisper to decide to leave us alone. We have a job to do."

 A purple beam burst through the dust wall, causing it to crumble. Sorem forced himself through. "Thanks Yrh." His fur was full of caked dirt, dust, and blood. Besides the minor scratches, he was fine.

 Sethyr followed behind, holding her right shoulder, limping with each step. The fall had done more damage to her than I expected. Much of her feathers were ruffled.

 Yrh'danyr, on the other hand, much like her father, was fuming. She slithered forwards, smoke still billowing from her mouth. "You'll pay for this." She was glaring right through me.

 It was at that minute, that the dust circling around Whisper fell flat to the ground. What stood before us was immensely toweringly huge. From the waist down, Whisper reminded me of Yog, a mechanical spider that twitched with each rotation of the gears that made up his joints. Each claw was thicker than normal for a spider, probably to hold up the weight. Each element of the walking legs from the tarsus to the trochanter was formed by a large portion of metal with a series of gears at each joint moving two connecting rods. His opisthosoma hung low behind him, twitching and swaying, bearing his long pointed spinnerets at me.

 Whisper's upper half looked more like a male falcon harpy. A humanoid chest bare except for his obliques and back covered in brown mottled feathers. His arms ended in long slender wings. His entire head was that of a falcon. There was very little humanoid left in his shape.

 "I am complete!" He cried out.

 What happened next exploded my brain like TNT. I thrust my hand forward to make a final attack. As I did, Sorem and Sethyr each grabbed one of Whisper's wings. Yrh'danyr wrapped herself around his legs, preventing him from making any escape. A spear of bone thrust forward out of my hand, growing long and thin like a spear. It pierced straight through Whisper's heart and into his soul crystal.

 "I thought…" Whisper's voice came weak, shallow, and frail. "I thought we had a deal."

 "I'm just trimming the fat." Sethyr hooted coldly.

 "We were going…" Whisper's voice trailed off.

 I absorbed Whisper without a second thought. Letting all the red light bathe over my body as I took him in, I could feel the sadness in his soul. I could feel the anxiousness and wrath. I didn't have any way to understand what I felt at that moment. None. How do you describe feeling every single emotion a person feels as they die?

 "Mara, may you use that power wisely." Sethyr turned to me. "You are still in our way. And whether you finish off the last of the Great Ones or we do, our goals will not change. We desire to reset this plane to a time when there were no gods among men."

 I wanted to laugh. But, I didn't. "I never thought your minds would change. Just understand that we Fractions never asked to be born. Like the rest, we are trying to find our own place in this chaos."

 And then, they were gone.

 We, too, made our way. I teleported us all back to Eh'zanko. I had to check in with Gaian and Harvey. There was very little time left. I could feel it.