CW: Deadnaming
The entire platform jostles as Zee swoops in through the open window of the driver’s seat, a sudden and powerful revving alerting all the aliens and other fighters ahead of the oncoming disaster.
“KICK START OUR HEART, BABY!!” the robot screams, our allies scrambling to get out of the way before we’re thrown into the jowls of destiny like a bomb, ready to blow. I prepare my sword, pulling its trigger and extending it to its full size, meanwhile Violet shakes out her fur, its inky blackness bristling and waving like an ocean of endless murk. Bomba has her wooden blade drawn, joined by Niamh who pulls Mjǫllnir from her wings. Law and Order, however, simply stand there, two arms crossed, a third on their hip.
“Are you okay, Law and Order?” I ask, the former nodding, the latter snickering with a familiar poisonous grin.
“Trust us, we’s ain’t need none prep,” Order sneers, cracking their neck from side to side.
“Our weapons work better once the fight has started,” Law elaborates, to which I nod in return, turning back to the encroaching malefic depths, eyes shut, feeling the last clean breath filling my lungs before we take the plunge and become submerged in hate.
The screaming souls of those damned to this putrid fate ring and screech as they’re run over by the wheels or sent crashing into the walls from the impact and speed of our vehicle. Such sounds are the only possible noise this empty place could hope to muster, each light along the subway’s wall flickering and pulsating, constantly fighting to survive this murky hell. What were once cracks in the wall have found to be lacking in resolve, broken from this hall’s hull, an empty darkness peering through the massive holes that crawl and move about the walls and foundation. Quickly, the last vestiges of life, even a ghastly green glow, are snuffed as we enter a grey world. Our vessel bumps and shakes, at first from the worsening condition of the tunnel, then giving way to much, much fouler beasts, clawing up the steel and bleeding their inky malice over it violently, their hateful hearts pounding and pulsating to a rhythmless chant.
Though not quite of the scale as the serpent that had risen through Monorise, these creatures have amalgamated themselves to their cause and each other, eyes but hollow pits bleeding oily darkness, each pair accompanied by another, sometimes more, bodies writhing and twisting around themselves, like a futile churning of gears unable to turn. Even the unidentifiable steel jutting from their forms undulates with an unsteady heartbeat, and the closer they come, the stronger I feel Yom needing to resist their malignant dreams.
Do not let them stay here for too long…I know not the endurance of our defenses against such vile forces.
Understood.
“Rush them down and obliterate them! Do not allow them the chance to persist!” I screech, everyone nodding and immediately taking action once the creatures have crawled up onto the platform.
To the left, I join Niamh and Bomba, the plant girl dashing in and baiting the rusting giant claw of one creature, only for the serpent to flap her wings and rise, crashing thunder and hammer upon the risen limb and halting its offense. Bomba takes this chance to stab through the other limb, quickly maneuvering around the enemy to cut them in half, at which point Niamh reels her wings back and blasts the two halves away with a massive gale! Each part crashes against the wall, but they persist, bounding back, only slowed by the ice tinting the snake’s winds, that slowness giving Bomba and I time to each take a separate half, crossing paths as her book flies open and she summons her overgrown ax, our larger weapons wailing against the sobbing strength of these malicious monstrosities. With their power split in twain, each of our attacks heave too powerfully for them to resist their demise any longer, metal screeching and corroding from the very hate that fuels them, their very being dissolving.
While we have been dealing with our foes, Violet, Law, and Order tend to their battle with ease. Though she is slow, the wolf brushes off each strike like it were nothing, retaliating with gnashing fangs extending from whichever part of her body she chooses to smash them with, from arms, to tail, to face, her hate serves far greater a purpose than the mindless vitriol could ever hope to. Meanwhile, I get a glimpse at the possums’ power, what were once small rats now having grown into much larger possum minions, following their owner’s orders, each launching massive chunks of steel into their enemy from guns and rockets. This metal of theirs accumulates until one of their claws reaches inside of the monster, a shape forming within before they tear an entire stop sign out from its insides! Even creatures as ravenous as these stagger backwards after such an attack, only for the unrelenting duet to bash its head in, each attack seeming to freeze the monster in place for a moment at a time, completely stiff and unmoving throughout the beatdown!
“Fascinating…!”
Ah, no, do not become distracted. More and more of the ghosts fester, only becoming grander in scale the deeper we go, Violet even needing to devote herself to protecting Zee in the driver’s seat from their overwhelming forces. Thankfully, however, we find ourselves quickly gaining ground even as the space around us grows darker, Niamh empowering Bomba with a radiant sunshine so that the plant girl may move even more swiftly between the snake’s sun beams. With my teacher moving so fast, I focus on slowing the enemies, sheathing my sword and weidling my chain whips from either wrist, binding the pulsating monstrosities with each lash, throwing them towards Bomba’s momentum to increase the power of each impact!
The right side of the vessel fares just as well, Law and Order pulling out yet another weapon, dual wielding a stop sign and u-turn sign, the latter spinning their foes with each strike, or even using it themselves, planting the sign to the ground and using it to launch themselves with even more force at the enemy! Such impressive strength they display, befitting of a duet between two of the most powerful women in Monorise, power that cleaves through even the strongest of ghosts or smashes them into bits!
“Krzt– HOLD ON TIGHT, FOLKS, WE’RE APPROACHING OUR DESTINATION!!”
Ah, at last!
“FORMATION, TEAM!! LET US PUT OUR ALL INTO ONE ATTACK AND BLOW AWAY THE ENEMIES!!”
With my order, we all congregate in the center of the platform, Violet summoning her electric guitar and strumming a violent riff that courses through us all, her song pounding in our hearts as it screams on and on! Niamh’s winds rise and rush all around the team with her wings spread wide and arms held high, the serpent’s sun shining ever brighter upon us all! And our last form of support, Law and Order have their possums stack steel nearby before they grab it with their one free claw and form it into a massive Signal Ahead sign, the traffic light proudly displayed on its front flashing red, stopping every enemy’s movements despite their vibrating and struggling. I look to Bomba, and she looks back to me, the both of us nodding as we draw our blades. With Niamh’s speed, the two of us circle around the arena. With Violet’s power, we fight with enough force to tear them all in two, our momentum only building with our assault, and that momentum makes our attacks even stronger, and yet, with every enemy frozen, our attacks remain stuck before impact on each, building and building in power as we circle further to each foe! My teacher and I, we form a whirlwind of blades fending off the frozen solid foes until that flashing red light blinks, beeps, and goes green!
“BECOME CONSUMED IN LIGHT AND FURY!! BLADESTORM SUPERNOVA!!”
Each and every attack goes off at once, an impossible amount of slashes creating a flurry of light, wind, and darkness, all the ghosts exploding from the massive build up of attacks upon them, becoming obliterated into nothing!!
Of course, as dramatic a spectacle as that is, there is no time to celebrate as we all see our final foe ahead, looming ever yet, hateful sludge oozing from every fleshy and mechanical pore, restless even in its daytime slumber…
“HANG ONTO YOUR SEATBELTS, EVERYBODY!!” the driving robot screams, their truck front beginning to shift over to the back of the platform much like how Elizabeth’s vehicle can, Zee now furiously backing up full speed towards the sleeping abomination while Violet pulls us all together, coating us in shadow to brace for impact.
CRRRRASH!!
“HHHHSSSHHHAAAAAGGGGHHHHH”
The guttural wail of the monolithic monstrosity rumbles through even Violet’s shadow shield, the slumbering machine finally awakening and roaring to life with a deathly scream. Zee doesn’t waste a moment in revving our platform’s engine and speeding ahead while the train stirs and grumbles with its ghastly engines, its splurching and clanking insides burning a putrid scent through the liquid malice. Our chauffeur was right to get a move on because the ghost train starts speeding ahead right behind us the moment it can…at which point, the walls around us begin to lose their meaning and form.
Those holes and cracks peering into nothing start growing in size, tearing through reality as its nightmare takes hold, a murky sea of oil bubbling like a sickly stomach acid and a buzzing sky of whitenoise, the dark static spreading and whirling, only for the light to surge violently, each desperate to consume the other . Soon enough, what is left of Subterfuge is torn asunder by the amalgamated passengers within, squelching together to form massive writhing hands that reach out of the vessel’s windows to physically break apart the path we ride, leaving only the rails which each hand grasps at to pull the pulsating mechanical horror further towards us.
WAYWRIGHT…
“AHHGG?!”
My claws grasp at my head, digging in painfully as I stagger from the immense sound ringing through my senses, a vile, oily scent suffocating my breath, my mouth tainted by a putrid bile, threatening to force my insides out of my throat as my skin chips and cracks violently, gashes which even streak across my vision.
YOU HORRID FAILURE…
NO…!! The voices of my ancestors vibrate under my skin and scales–
YOU FUCKING WRETCH…!!
Ghh–!! I-I can barely form a thought, my head pounding, each wretched wail of thousands of ghosts trying to burst free from my skull…!
YOU WILL NEVER KNOW PEACE WITH THESE BEASTS!!
I-I KNOW!! I KNOW I DON’T BELONG HERE…!! BUT I CAN’T…LET YOU…–
NOTHING!! YOU ARE NOTHING!! YOU…ARE…
Safe.
A light…? A hope…enduring for millenia upon millenia…a glow seeps through the haunted faults in my body, her shield guarding me from these fears of the past…and her sword pierces through the thick sludge of hate…
Take wing, child of snow. The land may ever quake, but you can soar far above its tremors.
HERETIC. QUIET AND LET FATE TAKE COURSE.
Fate is yours to decide, Coyotl…!
Take wing…decide fate…
Churning…deceitful hate.
At last, I open my eyes, everyone fending back the wriggling writing appendages of the train’s passengers, all aside from Violet, who holds me within her powerful arms, keeping all of my broken pieces together…
GAZE UPON THIS MONSTER, WAYWRIGHT. SEE WHAT YOU HAVE ALLIED YOURSELF WITH.
Ghh…! My pained wince does not go unnoticed by the wolf, the shining cracks over my body glowing dark for a moment.
“Listen. Hear the rhythm. Feel it flow through you,” Fox speaks through the wolf, her words coursing through my inky black veins. “This is your song to sing.”
My song…memories of Cat return to me through the vicious specters, singing loud, belting her heart out, piercing the hate of the world with a burning determination. Memories of Sue-Zee standing up to their eternal tormentor despite all odds. Fox and Violet searching deep within and finding truth and love…the patience of my teacher…the courage to change within Elizabeth…and the eternal song Niamh sings to endure eternity with love.
Then there’s me.
TWO-FACED LIAR.
With my song…
A REQUIEM OF FALSE TRUTHS.
My song to sing…
ONE VOICE VERSUS AGES OF WISDOM.
My fate to decide…!
“Thank you, Fox and Violet…everybody…” I mutter, composing myself and stepping forward from the wolf’s claws, brandishing my blade once more and standing proud. “LISTEN TO ME, YOU DUSTY CORPSES!!”
I take a deep breath.
Take wing.
Hold fast to hope.
“The enemy ascended beyond your control–
Or was that all your intention?!”
I feel the fire in my heart blaze.
“They have managed to demolish whatever we have made–
But you’re failing to comprehend!”
I feel the wind in my soul fly.
“If they can, they will easily butcher you whole–
While you’re blinded by your depression!”
I feel the storm at my side boom.
“I have gotten to the point where I’m just too afraid–
That you’re going to meet your end…!”
I feel the tree at my back standing tall.
“My screams echo through the fire…
And your rival dares stand in my way…”
I feel the dark of night and shining steel awaiting me.
“Yes, this is a hardship most dire…!
And one day, you will heed what I say…!”
I feel poison keeping my senses steady and a surge of electric dreams.
And I feel the gentle touch of snow.
“THIS IS A MESSAGE TO MY MASTER–
THIS IS A FIGHT YOU CANNOT WIN!!”
From underneath my cloak, the mighty wings of a dragon erupt and beat, at last soaring!
“I THINK THAT PAST YOUR GREAT DISASTERS–
THEIR VICTORY STIRS BELOW YOUR SKIN!!”
Plunging my blade within the train’s horrid visage, I rejoin the fight, rebounding as it screams and grows in wrath and hate.
“LET’S FUCKING GO!!” Zee cheers from the driver’s seat before the rails manifesting our path ahead becomes turbulent, his risky driving bumping us about. “Shit– ORDER, YOU HAVE A LICENSE, RIGHT?”
The sassy possum head rolls their eyes as their street signs cleave and bash at the ghastly limbs, leaping back before Law whistles and waves Niamh over.
“We’re tagging out, I’ll need protection!”
The serpent perks up and blesses Bomba with a shield of ice before swooping over to Law’s side and winks.
“I’m glad this isn’t the first time you’re asking me about protection~” she teases, Order gagging before they’re shoved out of the duet wearing Yom’s necklace, leaving Cat hissing as the malice creeps in for the moment she’s unshielded, thankfully pulled in quickly by Niamh. The two spin as Elizabeth scampers into the driver’s seat, Cat and Niamh glowing brightly before they’re engulfed in sunlight, spinning their massive mallet as Sol once more.
“O fateful foe of Ragnarok, may you know Valhalla’s might~”
Sol slithers and flies so gracefully they practically dance, using the light generated from each impact of their hammer to manifest Nordic allies, easily handling a multitude of the train’s forces as her power proceeds to grow with each attack. Meanwhile, Violet plucks Zee by the mechanical scruff, out of the truck front and onto the battlefield before the wolf turns and looks to me.
“Sing louder, love. It’s time to get…Foxy…~”
I nod and watch the robot’s eyes shine like neon at the suggestion, being thrown up into the air spinning only to drop down and catch Fox’s hand sticking out of Violet’s chest, pulling Zee in while the wolf loses shape, becoming an orb of shadow that glows in pulses like soundwaves.
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr–
“WOO!!” Fox-Zee’s radio host staticy voice booms as they burst free from the Violet orb, already revved up and supported by a band of Elizabeth’s rat as they blare heavy rock music to accompany my returning vocals.
“IF YOU PROCEED, FATE WILL BLAME YOU–
I WILL MOVE FORTH AND END YOUR WAR!!”
With music at my back, I catch Bomba as she’s blown back by a brutal blow from a shaking ghost fist, watching her becoming quickly invigorated by Fox-Zee’s rat-empowered and booming soul song.
“BUT SHOULD I HAVE DIED BEFORE YOU CONTINUE–
YOU SHALL HEAR MY DYING ROAR!!”
Without a second of hesitation, I toss my teacher back into the fray and flap my wings to join her, hearing the bouncing beat of the robot fox following my pace, seeing their holographic claws buzz and shift into cannon barrels.
Sol makes it easy to approach without needing to worry about its thralls, the soul song empowering melody helping them to even push back against their forces, which allows us to focus solely on the screaming head. A waterfall of inky foul tears flows out and onto our arena, reaching for us before Fox-Zee takes care of them with a rapid assault of sonic wind cannons, bouncing and dancing about far too fast to be caught by any stray attacks, even able to break dance and use both their hands and feet as cannons to attack with. I must keep up…!
Bomba and I reunite as twin knights on the battlefield, going for a full frontal assault, leaping at the train’s face and slashing on one side before taking the place of the other and continuing our attack while avoiding its gnashing teeth. Our consistent attacks seem to increase the train’s frustration, rumbling and shaking before its carriers explode with terrible arms of thick oil imitating flesh, metal and machinery still jutting from it, desperately trying to force itself to work. Now we fight the monster at full force…
Fox-Zee backs us up as I take to the skies, keeping one hand’s attention away for Bomba to deal with the other below, but our full offensive strategy is met by an equally powerful rush of punches and scratches, its oil burning the skin and the steel churning and cutting through with each graze. Our back-up seems to notice the struggle and begins to shift tracks, remixing my song from rock to electronic, and I feel the change within, feeling more vulnerable, but all the faster, and just as strong! My speed even aids in my offense, speeding forward and stabbing right through its palm, coming out the other side and slashing at its back, too fast for it to keep up with!
JUST…DIE ALREADY! YOU HAVE FAILED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING…YOU CANNOT DENY YOUR DESTINY WITHOUT FACING THE CONSEQUENCES!!
Despite all the screeching and babbling, my soul’s song plays louder than any hate!
“THE DEAD…CANNOT DECIDE OUR FUTURE!!” I shout, stabbing down into its wrist and landing, running across its skin through each painful step, cutting the limb in twain and watching my teacher following in her student’s footsteps, Fox-Zee focusing a concentrated assault of blasts on its face!
It screams and wails, its whole body shuddering once we’ve dismembered it, flying over and catching Bomba to return us to the platform. The sickly pale glow in its eyes fade…and yet…it continues to chug, its thralls still relentless as we drive further into the deeper malice. Wait…no…the glow has not faded…it is retreating…it is speeding up!
“No…we have to go inside, but…!”
A defeated breath escapes me, and I shake my head.
“I could not ask such a thing of any of–”
“Coyotl.”
Violet consumes Fox-Zee, spitting Zee out before leaping onto the train’s face and prying open its jaw with disgusting, excruciating snaps and crunches, stray ghosts spewing free for Bomba to dispose of with ease.
“Go, you stupid hero! Get in there, and get out or else I’ll come in to kick your ass myself!”
…This is it then. I feel Zee grab my hand, and we look at one another, his screen beaming with determination.
“You promised we’d meet at the middle of this road, right? I’m holding you to that.”
Ah…right. I have to do this. We have to do this. For their future and mine. For everyone’s. With everybody else taking on their responsibilities, Zee and I dash in past the errant ghosts and delve into the rotted bowls of hatred together.
Though we’re but steps inside the train itself, it’s quiet. The violence just outside feels miles and miles away…in fact, even though we’re side by side in what quickly manifests into a cramped, monochromatic train cabin, Zee feels incredibly…distant. Fear strikes at my heart, but I steel myself. I won’t allow that to impede us, not when we’re this far, this close.
Just as I’ve prepared my heart, I prepare my body as well, sword still drawn despite the stillness. I can barely hear our own footsteps, or even the chugging of wheels or rattling of carts. This is a completely mundane train cabin in every way aside from the fact that it is one long, uninterrupted hallway, with a dark void at our backs hopefully leading back outside, and windows that…well, there is nothing outside but that murky darkness and straining static, yet it almost looks like the train is moving backwards.
“ , ?”
…What?
I try to speak, but…nothing comes out. I squeeze his metal hand, and he turns to me, seeing my screen trying to speak, and he goes to ask what’s wrong, only to experience silence as well. Suddenly, that fear I’d barely felt moments ago begins to dent at the steel of my heart, and I see it strike Zee as well by the look on his face, shocked and…grimly questioning.
“ …”
Ah, right…I simply hold tightly to their hand, and they nod, the both of us moving on through the shaking corridor. Each step feels less real than the last, its silence and the impossible length of this train making every attempt to push through it seem futile…so Zee starts running. And I run alongside him, even as our attempts to push further into the depths of the locomotive builds a foggy static in our visions, noticing that Zee is trying to squint through it as well. We run, we run, and we run until running does not feel like running anymore, as though we are trying to sprint through sludge, and the increasing intensity of the darkness and white accents through the cabin certainly make it feel as though we are trying to run through a wall. Are we even going anywhere at all…? Though it changes, it only becomes harder to move, harder to see our progress as the setting blends in more with its past and future steps until the entirety of Kill him
Swiftly my knees and palms meet with the floor as I’m struck with a bolt of hatred as quiet as a whisper and as potent as a scream, and it is not soon after that Zee staggers onto one knee, falling with me. N-no, I…I must continue. I pull myself up on the edge of a seat before it seemingly melts as I’m almost up, forcing me back down while the ooze of the seat begins to pool at my feet, and the static in my eyes buzzes all the more furiously. No, we must…rely on each other. Before Zee can meet the same fate as I, I take their hand and place it on my shoulder, the robot hesitating as their hollow gaze remains transfixed on me…eventually finding light once more and pulling themselves up on me. They extend their hand to me, and I take it, pulling He’s the only thing in your way
Zee feels my pained convulsions shudder through our hands meeting, staggering forward, then pulling me upright, at which point I pull him in and hug him for a moment, my trembling expressing all my fears to Zee, and…and he hesitates, but holds me in return. This train in our thoughts is…doing something to us…but we have to endure…!
Though our steps are slow, we continue on, even as the static outside seems to take the shape of eyes which peer, the seats rotting yet pulsating like organs, and the very floors and walls undulate with a fleshy vigour. The quiet may mask the horrid sounds of this monster’s insides, but their very shape and movements make it all too audible. Perhaps at last, we have He’s taking your place
My grip around Zee’s side tightens like a knot in my stomach, painfully so to the robot, the jolt I feel through their body cuing me in to ease up, but it’s so hard when it feels as though any give may have me falling and sinking through the living and rotted insides of this horrid thing…
I wish Cat were here…
I wish Fox and Violet were here…
Anybody but him
I want to scream. Agony slithers its spiked body through my mind, each prick a tear I wish could be heard, but I’m alone in this hell of hatred…why am I like this…? Why am I like this…?! Why…–?!
I come to and find Zee’s metallic fingers tightening around my neck.
The pressure only stings at first, but it tightens.
Tighter.
Tightening.
Their screen is despondent. Static has replaced their eyes, and the intent to kill burns through their digits.
I’m going to die.
Kill him
I’m going to die here.
Kill him
Digested by a seeping, creeping vitriol.
Kill him
But…if I am to be consumed…I will not…allow these last moments to be marred in hate.
I hug Zee.
Strengthening my grip around him as he does around my neck.
Tighter.
Tightening.
…Breathing.
Electric tears return my consciousness to this fleeting reality, Zee wrapping his arms around me and sobbing.
“ ` ry… `m so …! I`m sorry!”
“…It’s so nice…to hear your voice again…”
His embrace only gets tighter as we finally find ourselves speaking again. Even as we stand up, we don’t let go of each other, keeping each other close as Zee seems to eject something from his mechanical arm. He hands me a small cellphone…
“...J-just…in case…I want to be able to hear you if we grow distant again…”
“...Just in case. I will stay close to you…for as long as I can…”
We each muster as much of a smile as we can before pushing on…and on…and on…
…Eventually finding the heart. A still organ, completely white, somehow looking as though it were drawn in the margins of a notebook, yet just as disgusting as a real heart, being strung to the floor and ceiling by thin, malnourished veins. I try to raise my sword, and Zee reels back to attack, but…we cannot find the energy. The fleshy black walls pulse and pound, but the heart remains as still as we. Exhausted. Enduring, but drained…
I take one more look at Zee in my arm…barely a light left inside of his eyes…no…no, I cannot allow that light to go out.
“...Please…keep walking this road, Zee…” I mutter, letting go and stepping forward. I know he is going to protest, but… “If it takes my blood paving it to allow that, then I shall flow as a river would.”
“C…Coyotl, what are you doing…?!”
It hurts.
Each step hurts so, so much.
The both of us fall from our exhaustion, forcing me to crawl towards the heart despite Zee’s pleas.
“Coyotl…COYO…!!”
Closing in on the heart, I hear screaming from within each vein, anguished and vile utterances just barely contained. With what strength I have left, I tear at these strings, grimacing and shuddering through the pain of every sputter of oily hatred that lashes at me. But it’s fine…I can do this. I have to.
“COYO, YOU PROMISED…!! YOU CAN’T…YOU CAN’T GIVE UP ON THAT!!”
He tries to pull me away, but there are ever more veins to grab and snap, finding myself drenched in inky, putrid hate that burns the very soul. But it’s fine. After all I’ve done, it only makes sense for it to end this way. To have such vile thoughts of my own…for even Zee, a hero by every meaning of the word, to try and kill me…I must…set things right…pulling myself up to the heart, hearing it toil, feeling it glow without its veins binding it to its body, and I pluck it from every last string.
The room ceases to pulse.
With the heart in my claws, its hatred whirling and terrible, I look at Zee once more.
“I…I’m sorry I could not be better faster.”
Before I can hear another protest, before the very being we inhabit can collapse onto itself, before this heart can do anything more…chains burst from my screen, shattering the glass so that they might bind this organ and pull it deep within myself.
I am impressed at the way every fight manages to escalate in intensity, each one a battle of psych as well as physics. And what a cliffhanger...