Gabriela Carreno stared out of the spacious carriage as it bounced its way towards Eterium, her gaze ignoring the hundreds of thousands of soldiers all around and instead focusing in on the wilderness she could see off in the distance. Even though raw nature was a common feature in this world, after all these months she still hadn’t gotten completely used to it. The city had always been the backdrop of her life, and she’d never really found the urge nor the money to go out and explore the less-urban areas of Mexico; there’d always been something far more important to deal with.

A light dusting of snow covered the land. According to Chitra, that meant winter was in full swing, or at least whatever went for winter in this place. From what the Batranala told her, the climate in this world seemed to be much less extreme than Earth’s. The winters were warmer and the summers cooler, something demonstrated rather bluntly by the fact that not a single tree within her sight had shed its leaves even as they entered the coldest part of the year. Instead of a mass of brown empty branches, Gabby’s eyes were treated to a beautiful cornucopia of colors from all corners of the rainbow.

The alien foliage, with its radiant hues ranging from deep reds to bright violets, really drove home to Gabby just how different her life had become. She’d been too swept up in emotion at first to really ponder the realities of her situation, and then her life had turned into a nonstop parade of training, training, and more training. It wasn’t until Redwater Castle had fallen and the subsequent battle had been won that she’d finally gotten the chance to really take a step back and think. Travel in Scyria meant something different than what she was used to; here, it meant days of inactivity, hours upon hours of uninterrupted time to just... reflect. She hated every minute of it.

Quiet time meant time where she had to confront the screaming anxiety in the back of her mind. It meant that she had little to do other than think about her children, their unknown fates, and how little she could do to help them. It also meant that she had little to do other than think about what she had done to help them. She’d willingly become a butcher of men to achieve her goals, embracing sin with open arms just to achieve her own selfish desires. Now, whenever the noise of life died down for a few days, she found that, should she let her thoughts wander, her mind would start to dredge up memories of those she’d killed, their agonized faces flashing in front of her mind’s eye just for a moment when she least expected. It was for these reasons that Gabriela tried to keep herself as busy as possible, even when there was nothing to do but sit in an oversized carriage for days on end.

Chitra proved indispensable for such endeavors, providing a ready source of stories, information, or simple gossip. Gabby couldn’t be any more grateful for the glamorous servant’s constant presence. While she’d gotten to know quite a few people since her arrival in this world, Chitra was the only person she felt truly close to.

A series of horn blasts sounded from up ahead. “Looks like we’re stopping for the night,” Chitra observed.

As if to confirm her statement, the carriage quickly slowed to a halt. Chitra stepped outside, and Gabby grabbed her sword and followed close behind. All around, soldiers were making camp, setting up tents and the like. Gabriela and Chitra didn’t have to bother with putting up their own tent, as a group of servants did it for them. Gabby felt grateful for that; it seemed like a lot of work to do every morning and night.

They’d stopped on a grassy plain sporadically dotted with small clumps of trees. The trees cast long shadows across the rolling hills as the sun crept beneath the horizon. Gabby couldn’t help but inspect the vibrant colors of the nearest copse as the leaves became tinted with red from sun’s fading light.

“Oh, a snowfruit tree? How unusual!” Chitra chirped from beside her.

“Wha?” Gabby replied, confused.

“See that tree over there?” the Ubran asked, pointing at one of the smaller trees in the copse. Gabby’s eyes were drawn to its round leaves that gleamed a beautiful turquoise in the evening light. “That’s a snowfruit tree. They’re pretty rare, or so I’ve heard. How nice to find one right here!”

“That’s a strange name for a tree,” Gabby said.

“How so?”

“Does it make fruit that feel cold or something?”

“Close. Come, I’ll show you,” came the reply as Chitra headed towards the nearby trees, Gabriela right behind. They stopped beneath the tree and Chitra pointed up at several branches a few meters above their heads. Hanging from the branches were several dull yellow fruits. “See? The snowfruit tree is so named because it grows fruit during the winter, far after all the other plants have shed their own.”

“Why?”

The Batranala shrugged. “Nobody really knows. They just do. Life can be strange sometimes.”

“Can you eat them?”

“I’ve heard they can be quite tasty. Would you like to try one?”

“Sure!”

Chitra produced a knife from somewhere within her layers of clothes and lazily flicked it up towards the nearest branch in a high arc. The spinning blade neatly sliced through the closest fruit’s stem, sending the snowfruit plummeting towards the ground. With casual ease, the woman held out her hand let the fruit drop right into her upturned, awaiting palm while she smoothly snagged the knife with her other hand. With a bow, she presented the prize to Gabriela.

“Showoff,” Gabby snorted, taking the fruit. “Why are you so good at that, anyway?”

“What, knife throwing?”

“Yes, knife throwing!” Gabriela laughed. “And riding, and cooking, and manners, and everything! No matter what you do, it’s graceful and flawless and perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make a mistake. I mean, even that time with the hook and the rope, every time you threw it the hook would land right where you wanted on the first try. Is there anything you’re bad at? I swear, just being near you is giving me bad self-esteem.”

Chitra chuckled knowingly. “I’m sorry. I know it drives others crazy, but I just can’t help it. No matter what I do, no matter how big or small, once I start learning something I don’t stop practicing until I am flawless at it. Knife throwing, archery, cleaning, it doesn’t matter. I can’t stop until I’ve mastered it. It’s a compulsion, you might say.”

“That sounds almost... bad? I’ve heard of perfectionists before but that sounds ridiculous. You must have lost so many hours of your life to it.”

“Oh, you have no idea.”

Gabby rolled her eyes. “Great, now I’m somehow feeling jealous and sorry for you at the same time.” She took a bite and moaned as her mouth flooded with sweet juice that reminded her of a cross between a grapefruit and an orange. “This is great! You want a bite?”

“Thank you for offering, but I must decline,” the Batranala replied. “I’m not much a fruit person. Too sweet.”

“Haha, yeah,” Gabby agreed. “You’re a meat lover, aren’t you. It’s almost all I ever see you eat.”

“I know what I like. Speaking of which, supper should be almost ready by now. What say you to a true meal, oh Champion?” She held out her hand, a mocking grin on her face.

Gabriela giggled and placed her hand delicately inside the proffered one. “I would say it sounds wonderful.”

“Then let us tarry no longer.” Grasping Gabby’s hand lightly but firmly, Chitra led her back towards her newly-constructed tent.

*     *     *

Begale’s thick metal gate buckled inward and fell inward from the force of her blow, the power of her fist ripping the large ten-meter-high sliding door from its slot in the stone. Ignoring the eight arrows sticking out through her armor, Gabriela rushed through the gap she’d just created, swinging her massive sword from side to side to clear her way while the cold fire of her regeneration ate away at the arrowheads and shafts buried in her flesh. The Eterian troops before her didn’t matter. They weren’t her responsibility. The Ubran soldiers that were currently storming through the breach behind her would deal with them. Her targets hid elsewhere, deep within the city.

Every city followed the same overall strategy: she’d create an opening or two as she entered the city, allowing the Ubrans to pierce through the city’s defenses as she made a beeline for the defenders’ headquarters and took out the local leadership. Quickly the defense would become uncoordinated and fall to pieces, after which the city would be taken within a few hours. It was a simple strategy, but an effective one that avoided being too complicated. It relied entirely on her, sure, but she didn’t mind. There had yet to be a single opponent that had presented a chance of failure on her end. The only person who had ever presented a challenge in any way had been that man, the other Earthling, but she preferred to avoid thinking about that piece of trash.

As she entered Begale itself, Gabby realized that their opponents had actually tried something different for once. As far as she understood siege warfare in this world, it seemed that the vast majority of the defending forces would be found on the wall, but not all. It was not inconceivable that a particularly strong Feeler, for example, might be able to break through and make it down the other side, where he or she would then be able to incite chaos or hide away. No defending commander liked the idea of enemy soldiers hiding behind their lines and causing trouble. To combat this, normally the defending army would hold a few of its better fighters back, posting them near the wall but in the city to intercept any would-be infiltrators. It was these people that Gabriela usually had to fight her way through on the way to the headquarters.

The commander had not kept a few choice units back this time. Instead, what looked to be an army stood between her and her goal. Literally thousands of people had been held in reserve to try to stop her. They’d finally learned, it seemed, and had finally taken measures to try and thwart her mission. Gabby didn’t care. If they could truly learn, then she would teach them that not even an entire army could keep her from her goals.

Her speed picked up and she waded into the sea of blades, lashing out with the Sword of Eternity over and over with incredible force. Each blow sliced through six people and blew back a dozen more, but regardless of their certain doom, the Eterians kept desperately pushing back. The icy fire of healing flowed throughout her veins nonstop, her powers working without rest to erase the damage left by the countless sword slashes, arrow hits, fireballs, and more.

Fifteen minutes later, Gabby had had enough. She’d made it halfway into the horde of enemies and left naught but destruction and death in her wake, and she knew that if she wanted to she could wipe out every single person who stood in her way. But while this army didn’t post a threat to her life, it was slowing her down. These people didn’t matter, she reminded herself. Her targets were elsewhere, and fighting these people was just slowing her down and wasting her time for no gain.

Changing course, Gabriela fought her way to her right slicing and bulldozing her way through the crowd and into a nearby alleyway. Then she was off, racing through the twisting passages largely unimpeded. She hacked her way past a small group of soldiers here, impaled some more there, split open a woman who tried to sneak attack her from a doorway near the end of the alleyway maze, and then she was through the maze and out into a new, more open and empty street. Perfect.

Civilians ran from her in panic as she sped towards the city center. At first, Gabby had been shocked and appalled at how many non-soldiers remained in each city as the Ubrans conquered them, but she’d come to the conclusion that they must simply have had nowhere else to go. All the non-combatants in every city seemed to be the poorest of the poor, with gaunt bodies and tattered clothes. She surmised that perhaps, in a way, she was assisting these people. The Ubrans seemed to take care of their citizens far better and she could use her position to pressure the Emperor to help them now that they would live under his rule. With that happy thought, she increased her speed towards her goal, her powerful legs propelling her through the streets at inhuman speeds.

*     *     *

Something was off. According to the Ubran spies, the defense of Begale operated from a large building that had served as the local military’s command center for decades. Yet the place seemed completely empty. Where were the commanders? Had they run away? Had they sacrificed thousands of people to buy enough time to save their own lives? The idea sent a shot of anger through Gabriela’s soul.

Bracing her sword over her head, she hurled herself upwards with tremendous force, crashing violently through the second and third floors and up through the roof. So powerful was her leap that she kept ascending meter after meter above the building until she began to slow perhaps a hundred meters above the ground. It was then that she spotted the Eterians nearly at the eastern gate. To her surprise, it wasn’t just the leaders, but a large portion of the city’s defenses as well, thousands of soldiers making a break for freedom before the Ubrans swept over the entire city. Well, not if she had anything to say about it.

A drop of water landed on her head as she began to descend. Then another, and a third. As she crashed down onto the roof below, suddenly a heavy downpour followed. Gabriela didn’t know what to make of the sudden rainstorm. The skies had been clear just moments ago, hadn’t it? She looked up to find a dark rumbling cloud overhead, with flashes of lightning lighting up its inside. It took her a moment, but suddenly she realized just what was bothering her so much: it was the only cloud in the sky, and it hovered right over that particular building.

Right over her.

Gabby had a very bad feeling about this.

With a powerful kick, Gabby leapt for the nearby street just as a bolt of lightning struck where she’d been just a moment before. The world seemed to explode, the blast knocking her to the side and into the walls of a nearby building with a thunderous CRACK! Shaking her head to clear it while her regeneration patched up her ruptured eardrums, Gabby peered through the now pouring rain and noticed that she was no longer alone. Two people, a man and a woman, stood in the street about fifteen meters from her, their golden, glowing eyes shining through the downpour.

Gabby used the Sword of Eternity to push herself to her feet and stared back at the pair. Who were these people, what were they doing here, and why did their eyes literally shine? Something told her that the sudden thunderstorm was somehow their doing. The unnatural glow of their eyes unnerved her, setting her on edge in a way that she’d never felt since the discovery of her abilities.

The woman drew a normal-looking sword from its scabbard, holding it off to her right as if she were about to strike a blow against some invisible target. Then suddenly, she blurred. Gabriela instinctively threw herself to the side as thunder crashed once more. Strong, sharp pain lanced through Gabby’s right shoulder as she dove, and she tumbled off-balance into the middle of the street.

Her right arm was missing, Gabriela realized. It was lying off to the side of the street, the Sword of Eternity still firmly grasped in its hand. How? While her arm turned to smoke and reformed on her shoulder, she looked back at the pair only to find that the woman was gone. She turned about and saw that somehow the woman was behind her now, her sword drawn back like before. Gabby sprinted for her sword as the woman blurred again and another thunderclap sounded in her ears.

This time Gabby saw her move, but only barely. Despite pushing her body’s speed and reflexes to absurd levels as she raced for her weapon, the other woman still appeared as a blur as she rocketed past Gabriela faster than anything she’d ever seen. The woman’s sword arced out towards Gabby’s neck, slicing through with undodgeable speed. Gabby’s head and body each tumbled up against the street-side wall.

Those hadn’t been thunderclaps, she realized. Those were sonic booms. Just how fast could that woman move? It was insane! Gabby willed her body to reconstruct, pushing her healing faster than she’d ever done before. She realized now that this fight would be no joke and would take everything she had to win. Her powers responded to her urgent plea, and a tendril of smoke reached out and connected the two pieces, pulling her head back onto her body and reconnecting it. She reached out and grabbed her sword, standing back up with the fire of determination raging in her heart.

“Did I get her?” the woman asked the man, panting from the exertion and still facing the other direction. “Is she dead?”

“No, it seems the rumors are true.”

“Fuck!”

“Calm yourself and focus. Remember the mission. As long as she does not pass until our time is up, our sacrifices will not be in vain.”

The woman took a deep breath. “Right.”

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning reached down from the sky and struck the man, but against Gabriela’s expectations, he did not get hurt! A second bolt followed a moment later. The man smiled menacingly at the now upright Gabriela as large bolts of electricity arced across his body. “Now then, let’s see just how unkillable the Revenant of Rul really is.”

Gabby wasted no time, sprinting as fast as her inhuman legs would carry her straight at the woman. She’d judged that, of the two of them, the woman was the larger threat because she could behead Gabby if given the opportunity, and Gabby wanted to avoid that at all costs. It seemed like the speedster couldn’t move supersonically constantly, but instead had to load up and burst forward. As long as Gabby could keep her from loading up-

The man raised his arm and a bolt of lightning shot out from his hand to strike the speeding Gabriela directly in her chest. Pain roared through her torso and legs, her muscles spasming wildly as she tripped and tumbled forward. The cold fire sprouted throughout her body as her powers went to work on her newly-fried organs and she pushed herself up again, only this time for a second bolt to strike her right in the head. The world went white.

Gabriela didn’t know what was happening. She couldn’t see, or hear, or even feel, but somehow she could still think. Still, her thoughts felt sluggish, like they were moving through drying cement. She didn’t know what to do, and so she just willed herself to heal, as hard as she could. She could feel something flow out of her, an incredibly minute amount of whatever it was, but something nonetheless. And then suddenly the world rushed back.

“Incredible,” the man muttered as she stood back up. He raised his hands to the sky and another bolt crashed down, but Gabby was already moving towards him, sword out and ready to slice him in two.

“No!” the woman cried out as she blurred. More pain shot through Gabby as another shock wave knocked her back and both her arms went flying this time, her hands both still grasping the Sword of Eternity as it spun through the air. She sprang back up and shot towards her weapon just as another bolt of lightning leapt out from the man’s hands and struck her in the chest once more.

*     *     *

As Gabby willed her brain to heal, she wondered just how many times she'd had to repair here own brain since the start of the fight. Nine? Ten? She’d lost count, as it was hard to do things like counting when your brain was fried mush inside your skull.

The world flashed back into existence and she spotted her two opponents through the raindrops just ten meters from her. They each looked heavily winded now, but the defiance in their glowing eyes remained. They’d been fighting for a good while now, perhaps thirty minutes or more, and Gabby had made little progress. Were she fighting either of them alone the battle would have been over in just a few minutes, but the two worked too well together. The lightning man kept her at bay with long-range attacks, each one capable of putting her out of commission for at least a moment. The speedy swordswoman, in the meantime, could hang back and load up, waiting for a time when Gabby made a mistake or was about to hurt her partner, and then burst forth to lop off some limbs or her head. Gabby could process the woman’s movement better now. While she wasn’t sure if she was getting faster or the woman was getting slower, it didn’t make much of a difference either way just yet; the speed gap was still too great.

“Curse you!” the woman exclaimed between pants. “Just... stay down!”

“Never!” Gabriela replied. Unyielding, she launched herself forward once more, ready to swerve at the last moment and try to dodge the incoming electricity. While she hadn’t fully dodged one yet, she was getting better at it, to the point where if she timed it right only a single leg would get hit. The man raised his hands... and suddenly went stiff, a look of agony on his face. Confused, Gabriela quickly skidded to a stop.

“Shit! This is all the time we get?” the woman swore. She pulled her sword back and blurred, while Gabby raised her own up to block the incoming attack. For once, Gabby managed to protect herself and the woman came to a halt several meters behind Gabby. Her body was reacting now the same way as her partner’s.

Gabby took a step back, watching with horror as their eyes changed, the glowing gold suddenly shifting to a dark black that seemed to suck in all the light around it. They screamed as the blackness grew, expanding out from their eyes through their veins until it looked like their bodies were covered with pitch black ivy growing beneath their skin.

Then they exploded.

Gabriela let out a yelp of surprise as gore flew all across the area, splattering across the ground and nearby walls and everything in between. Pieces of blackened flesh and blood showered her body, covering her face, her hair, and what remained of her clothes and armor. Almost immediately, the remains scattered across the ground began to melt and bubble away, a noxious mist wafting off into the air as the flesh began to evaporate into nothingness. Gabby bent over and began to hurl.

What in the world had just happened?

Gabriela spat out the leftover vomit from her mouth and fought back a curse. While her opponents were dead, their mission had to be considered a success. They’d kept Gabby from chasing down the rest of the Eterian leadership long enough that the remaining Eterians were likely long gone by now. Either way, she needed to head back. Her job was done and she needed to think about some things.

The biggest item on her list was just what had happened with her body during the fight. During previous battles, she’d taken plenty of arrows to the head but even with an arrow lodged through her skull, she’d been able to heal immediately. During the fight with her fellow Earthling, she’d had part of her brain mashed in and had been able to heal relatively immediately as well. She’d figured that since most of her brain had been intact, she’d still retained the ability to activate her regenerative powers. This time, however, multiple lightning bolts had hit her in the head, each one strong enough to cook her brain completely. With her entire brain literally fried, how had she been able to think? How had she remained conscious and aware, even without any senses or a working brain? It didn’t make any sense. Maybe Chitra would have some idea. She always seemed to know everything.

Ugh, she needed a bath in the worst way. She increased her speed as she ran back towards the western side of the city. Along the way she passed by multiple squads of Ubran soldiers, all of whom saluted as she passed. She could hear scattered fighting was still going down throughout the city, but in control of Begale seemed to already be largely in the Ubrans’ hands.

As she continued down the street towards the western wall, Gabby’s ears picked up a sound, one with which she had ample familiarity. It was the cries of a young child in distress, something she hadn’t heard in a long time. Dormant maternal instincts kicked in and her steps quickened and she followed the sound to a nearby alley. Rounding the corner, her head filled with worry, Gabriela froze as she took in the scene.

A young girl, perhaps four years old, sat beside the body of a woman in the middle of the alley. The woman’s corpse was splayed out, chest down, on the ground beside a doorway, her torso nearly cut in half vertically by a massive gash that began in the torso’s center and heading upwards through her right shoulder. A long kitchen knife laid beside the woman’s right hand. A boy, perhaps twelve, sat against the nearby wall, his face stained with tears and his eyes lifeless.

The size of the wound, the alley, the doorway... this scene was Gabriela’s creation. The woman who’d tried to attack her from the doorway... that had been this woman. A mother, by the looks of it, trying to protect her children with little more than a kitchen knife. And Gabriela had just slaughtered her without thinking and moved on.

The bawling little girl looked up and locked eyes with Gabby for the first time, and Gabby fell into that tortured gaze. The rest of the world fell away as, for the first time, Gabriela Carreno came face to face with the consequences of her actions. All this time, Gabriela had been running from the truth, a painful truth that she knew deep down inside. But she couldn’t run from those eyes, nor from the truth she saw in them.

She was a killer. A butcher. A monster. A demon. She’d thrown away her soul to chase after her own selfish desires, and in doing so she’d forfeited her right to be a mother. She didn’t deserve to return to her children after all the agony she’d delivered, after all the orphans she’d created and families she’d destroyed. Her babies wouldn’t even recognize her beneath all the blood and death. The truth was too much for her spirit to bear and Gabriela’s spirit crumbled into dust.

The young man looked up and a spark of recognition quickly became an inferno of fury. Tears streaming down his face, he picked up the knife and charged at Gabby, but she didn’t react. She barely noticed the knife stabbing into her torso again and again, nor the boy’s screams, nor the panicked shouts of soldiers nearby as she fell. All she could see was that young girl’s anguish. All she could hear was the sorrow of her wails. All she could feel was her own damnation. Her soul gave out and the world went black.