The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (short novels in english .TXT) 📕

on top of her unexpected opponent and deliver several heavy punches.

Before she could well and truly beat Nameless’s sister to death though, Jan, Kala and Jez all piled onto her.

Once she was immobilized for long enough, the Gripau set to work with her tongue.

“As tight as you can Jez. We can’t afford to have her break free again.” Jan grunted while her tiny bond-sister wrapped the dark warleader up with every inch of her tongue as she was able.

“Ah’ve gow thisth!” The frog promised with tears of pain standing in her eyes, her whole body tense from the effort; “Bwech, thews mubdth im my moufth!”

Meanwhile Miranda offered the dazed Trog a hand and helped her to her feet.

“Thanks for the assist. But how long have you been hiding?”

Kriss’s tongue shot out nervously.

“Was hoping to find a chance to ambush Evadne.” She admitted unhappily.

Both she and Miranda looked skywards to where the Dragon and the Chimera were tearing into each other.

“How’s that working out for you?”

The Chameleon sniffed and began to fade from view again, this time out of embarrassment.

“I guess I could have listened to the bitchy little red girl.” She admitted finally.

Chapter 50:

Reckoning

Elsewhere the circle of Undines that had gathered around Nameless struggled under the weight of the task that he had set them.

But they were many and soon they were joined by Undines from all over the shattered world, answering their call and bolstering the Sacred Current with their magic.

A massive column of water formed in the center of them, with Nameless’s hands slipping into the bottom of it, as if holding it off the ground above his head.

And then the blue-skinned Undines unleashed their power and the water shot upwards, forming a colossal spout thousands of feet high, much higher even than where Xalanth and Evadne fought.

At the top of the magical waterspout the moisture dispersed, quickly forming an ominous cloud of grey.

Then the elementals cried out together and the rain came, a torrential downpour soaking the field, each droplet of water a piece of the current the Undines held most sacred.

The field was quickly drenched, and the water permeated the soil deep, far more than was necessary to reach the large pile of heartstones that Jonathan had buried, the disturbed earth actually making it easier for them to foil his plot.

Inevitably, the glowing water saturated the hearts of all of the Tenebrae on the field, and through that touch, Nameless gained access to their souls.

Husband, my love, they have done it!

He felt Volka’s presence around him, and he needed it, because with the combination of Empathic and Elemental magic, it was akin to floating in a dark space, surrounded by innumerable stars and tiny black holes.

The stars were the girls fighting tooth and nail to save their sisters, while the black holes were the Tenebrae, their pain calling out and drawing him towards them.

They did, but now what?

Nameless cast his mind around, trying to find a means of saving them.

If he and Volka were to do this piecemeal, it would take hours, maybe even days.

But before he could decide, they both sensed another presence, flittering between the broken minds of all of the monster girls.

And both of them knew him well, having reassembled his mind once upon a time.

The other Empath didn’t notice them, too preoccupied with maintaining his connection with the Tenebrae.

In the next instant Nameless was on him.

The younger of the two men hadn’t been in many fights; he’d never thrown a punch at someone in anger, not even as a child.

But he had no problem kicking Jonathan in the balls so hard that his mental form almost split in half, while his physical form doubled over and threw up from the imagined agony of it.

It was one of the most satisfying things Nameless could ever remember doing, and a great chorus of cheers came from the Sacred Current connecting them all together as every one of the girls that shared his mind heartily approved.

He felt Jonathan try to slip away, somehow making his mind oily, a tactic he had developed to protect himself from the rage and hatred of the Tenebrae he created.

But Nameless was an Empath, not a monster girl, and emotional nuance was his jam.

Shedding the emotions of the present moment to make it harder for me to find purchase with mine? Clever.

Then he imagined Erica’s claws, only several times their normal size, latching onto Jonathan and sinking deep into his psyche, fueled by Nameless’s hate for the man for all that he had done.

But you’re forgetting who it was that risked his life to put your mind back together. You can ignore or throw away all of your shallow feelings, but I know where you really hurt, and I have no problem using that against you.

He mercilessly tore into Jonathan’s deepest memories and brought out the one of him as a child watching Evadne murder his parents, pinning him in place within the shared starry hellscape that he and Volka had created together with the Undines.

Jonathan cried out, both mentally and in the real world where the foul taste of vomit in his mouth only adding to his discomfort.

And it would only get worse for him, because Nameless’s wrath was nothing compared to his angel’s.

Husband, allow me.

A golden light burned with as much ferocity as a sun blooming in the darkness, and very quickly Jonathan was hyperventilating as the weight of the higher-angel’s wrath bore down on him.

Glad I am to see you again, Jonathan Pym.

The condemnation in her tone was impossible to miss.

The dark Empath desperately tried to fight back, throwing a ball of his most bitter and negative emotions at her, drawing on the decades of neglect