Battle Hymn of the Republic

Miyuki came down, suspended by an icen parachute like many others she had sent the magically created safety devices for, except, as she had taken longer to make her own, she had come hurtling down at a bit faster speed than everyone. Impacting with the stained ground rather hard, the Ice Queen crumpled as her muscles and joints simply couldn't keep her upright with the hard hit, and it knocked a bit of wind out of her. One by one, the others landed around her (and some quite far away, as the spriggans had all diverted themselves to safer pastures), and as each one came down she dispelled their magical parachutes, the multiple magical drains ceasing one by one, and easing the strain on the woman's mana supply. after taking a few moments to catch her breath, Miyuki used the arctic key to push herself up, taking several deep breaths once she stood once more.

It had been a long time, since she had used so much magic at once. A long time since she'd faced foes enough to injure her this gravely. perhaps she had always pitted herself against lesser foes, and perhaps her usual bravado came from an unearned pride, as she now felt like she was struggling against a heavy tide, no longer buoyed by her vast reserves of mana; no smug grin as she easily vanquished foes, or defeated enemies, as it usually was with the jobs she took on. The multiple battles, the constant strain, it was wearing on her, even with the potion she had just drank, her strength was still nowhere near recovered.

Yet, the others continued, and so would she. Miyuki was nothing if not stubborn, having traced Percy to the ends of the earth, having confronted literal gods for him, she was not deterred, even by the exhaustion she felt, as the feeling of strength and hope she felt, not being alone this time, with Percy's help via the potion, with seeing the others taking just as many hits and still soldiering on. Her strength was starting to come back, just as Jane and Ruarc began to walk toward the gap in the dome, so too, did Miyuki, following the others. "We'll get this all sorted, bring the Elementalia back to its former beauty, and save Percy, no matter what," Miyuki told Aulan as she passed by the young goddess, "we'll give everything, to bring back everyone we can."

The screaming wind, the scattered and trampled and torn pennants bright splashes of colour contrasting with copies of the same shade dulled by dust and mud and blood, the dome - cracked like an egg - and leaking oppressive, greedy shadow as it claimed the bodies that had broken and then been broken around it--

It was chaos. Loud and busy. Every inch of the battlefield was a scene unedited and stripped of any facade of respect towards the entangled dead. Each view as far as the eye could see was a freshly revealed tableau with the curtain just raised and the actors frozen by the natural consequence of the last moment they had committed their bodies to. Something like fear - the spike of anxiety, the sharp constantly switching focus on any and every detail, sudden steel-taut tightness to joint and muscle and bone - had hit Riley as her boots had touched the ground and switched she made the switch from ephemeral weightlessness to the sheer disjointed feeling of embodiment. The feeling didn't last long as every ache and pain and worry became distant and the stage magician could feel her thoughts and body and connection to her copy simply thrumming.

Why am I not afraid?

The question was a memory. A voice filled with the frustration and confusion of a child who knew how things are to be, but found themselves experiencing life in opposition to the Law that was the paradigm. Riley's mind chewed ravenously through a bevy of reasons - adrenaline, the fight or flight response, the differences in implicit and explicit memory, depersonalisation - before comfortable resting on the response her father had given to the question when she had asked: The fear comes later. When you are alone. When sleep won't come. But now - with the curtain, and the stage and the other that the actor becomes when our characters supersede our self - there is little room. There is no room.

Besides Riley her clone was now only wearing its black half-mask, the full-faced frown having disappear when its own copy had shattered after delivering Jane from the crashing cat-bomber, and the shadows swirled and coalesced about the other mage in a rapid heartbeat of forming scales, and armour, and talons that all reduced back down to harmless mist before repeating again in a loop. The stage magician felt like she should say something - could feel the same impulse from the connection between her and her other - but when her mouth moved it only crept up into a thin sickle of a smile.

She wanted to laugh - her clone - they both wanted to laugh. Here and now though, with Aulan as she was, with the field around them as it was, she knew she couldn't.

Shouldn't.

When Riley finally moved - stepping forward - her clone solidified into a dark, angular figure of sharp angles and overlapping triangular plates, its wedge helmeted head constantly scanning the carnage all around as it remained in lockstep with the brown haired magician. As they passed the now cloaked goddess, Riley snapped her fingers and grabbed a long stemmed white lily out of nothing stopping only to pin the flower to Aulan's new garment. The half of her expression visible beside her mask still matched the unfeeling smile carved into the inert material.

Then everything was moving, the scenes all around losing clarity as the pair ran to catch up with the advancing party.

Aulan took in the horrible field and the bodies that littered it, her eyes filling with tears, her body shivering. She felt desperately alone, and could not feel the connection to the land she held close, nor the people she loved dearly. Fear had seeped deep into her body. Sorrow had swallowed her heart. Doubt swirled deep within her mind. Shame weighed upon her for her weakness, for being able to do nothing. There was no hope in her heart.

The first to change that was Jane. Wordless. Unrelenting. Determined. Aulan watched her stride without anything but the prize in mind. There was no mind to the bodies, the carnage. The little goddess saw justice mantled upon Jane's shoulders, and it dispelled her shame.

Next was Ruarc, wistful, stoic, and kind. He gave her a layer of protection against the blowing wind. The warmth of the cloak was the first she had felt since she had awoken in this hellish mirror of her homeland. She stared into his eyes, seeing the will and power to restore balance, and it dispelled her doubt.

Miyuki came by next, a being of incredible power and grit. Yet despite an aura of cold, Miyuki's smile was a hearth to the heart. There was a love for not just the Font, but for everyone. There was an assurance of hope that no matter the consequence or the odds, there was a chance, and it dispelled her sorrow.

Last to cross the threshold was Riley and her mysterious double. Thoughtful and quick-witted, Riley was who you needed her to be in any moment. In every blood-soaked scene in this terrible film, when death loomed, Riley was always there to care for others. Aulan found herself smiling at the flower and its color, and it dispelled her fear.

Eryl was laid at Aulan's lap, the unconscious and wounded sorcerer unable to move forward. Her wounds made it impossible for her to carry on at this point, and so it would be up to the others face this challenge alone. As they began their final walk, she opened her eyes.

They marched, past the bodies, with four attendants in tow.

Akanus barreled in from the sky, and halted his descent with a canceling flap of his wings. His miniature form carrying the rifle that had harassed them before, like a squire held a sword for a night. He took to Jane's left.

Tulan bounced at Ruarc's side, keeping close his stride.

Zulan's armor gleamed, striding dutifully at Miyuki's side.

Decanus rode upon Riley's shoulder, having assumed the form of a miniature Riley.

The maw called for them, and they answered. Stepping past the bodies of what could only be Aurus' thralls, overrun and crushed by an overwhelming force that had spilled in ahead. They entered into the darkness to face the final threat that had called for the corruption and destruction of this world. Their senses were overwhelmed for a moment after their entry, but as they opened their eyes, they saw the beating heart of the world.

Upon a land of white dust, under a dark sky filled with stars that looked like watching eyes, stretched a pillar of torrenting light that stretched up into forever above. Wrapped around this pillar at great length was an impossibly large serpent. Frozen in time, its mouth was open wide, poised to sink its fangs into the vein of the world. At the base of the pillar stood a black figure cast inside smoldering armor.

Aurus.

End of Chapter 1.2