Perfect Pet: Battle in the Soul Cairn

 

Stepping down into this particular zone of the Soul Cairn is like stepping into a dark room with walls you can't see and a floor making it appear as though you're floating. Though directly ahead of them lies a giant pyramid where Menace sits atop on a golden throne surrounded by her personal guards, Aldara and Anarista.

“Ancestor!” Meracle shouts stepping ahead of Alleyne and Airi when two others appear from the shadows causing the cat girl to halt along with her compatriots.

Their wrists chained to vertcal poles hovering above their heads, both Sonico and Sharon look ahead with any semblance of life stolen out from their eyes. Menace smirks bringing up a hand where two glowing orbs circle around a thin pillar of light.

“Before you bother asking where they are.” Menace taunts as Meracle takes a step forward slashing her claws in the air before her.

“Let our Mistresses go!” She threatens as the Amaran Queen muses over the notion.

“Here I thought I did the two of you a favor. With the two of them confined by my side you would be free. You would no longer be slaves.”

“We were never their slaves.” Meracle retorts back. “We're their pets.”

She then rushes forward as Alleyne, who had no idea what the two of them were saying, sees the cat power ahead of her and gives chase to keep up circling out her staff. As they begin climbing up the pyramid stairs, Menace gestures quickly down at them springing Anarista and Aldara down at them. Anarista clashes her sword with Alleyne's staff halting the elf in her tracks while Aldara whips out her daggers only for Meracle to hop over her and continue up the pyramid.

“Nothing's stopping me from getting to-” Meracle is cut off as Menace makes a forward motion with her hand pushing a part of the pyramid out sending the cat girl flying from the structure. Witnessing this, Aldara swiftly follows to where she crash lands.

“Sawf tanhani eind 'aqdam alihat ladayna watatawasal 'iilaa maghfirat hadhih altajawuzat.” Anarista states getting into a test of strength as she pushes her sword against Alleyne's staff slowly pushing her anchor foot off the pyramid step.

“Amin uma il- sinta mani lle naa sayien...” Alleyne responds back feeling her foot slipping and knowing she has to do something. “Nan' amin will caela amin mistress n'alaquel!” She says stepping to the side and uses Anarista's own power momentum to send her forward cracking her back with the point of her staff.

“Such determined beasts you both have.” Menace says to her captives keeping her hand out so the floating souls can watch the action play out before them. Though hearing the sudden swish in the air, she pulls her arm back just moments before it's cut off by Airi's scythe.

“You will relinquish your stolen position here, demon.” Airi hisses giving Menace no chance to react as she swings her scythe downward. It stops, however, just shy of Menace's forehead and appears to freeze in place as Airi tries to move it even just a bit.

“Aw,” Menace begins before giggling. “No foreplay?”

Meracle digs her claws into the nothingness beneath her surprised it's even slowing her down. But then if it's something she can stand on... She can't stand up for long though as Aldara dives down at her stabbing both daggers where she once stood.

“Ancestor!” Meracle shouts narrowly vaulting over a slash of Aldara's blade before ducking the next. She rolls backward to avoid a third attempt at her life before finally pouncing Aldara to the ground. “Ancestor, listen!”

Alleyne is about to race up the pyramid to aid Airi when she hears quick footsteps racing up the stone steps toward her and turns in time to bring up her staff halting Anartisa's attempts at cutting through her arm. The elf continues hard on the defensive making certain not to put her back to the void but with so little room to move around it becomes difficult for her to make any sort of counter leverage. Not to mention this world seems to have been designed more for a fighter like Anarista who powers her way through the elf knocking her staff aside and rams her with her shoulder knocking her down.

“How...how are you doing this?” Airi asks feeling not only her scythe freeze up but her body as well. Before her, Menace begins to laugh a little.

“Because, in this little pocket of the Soul Cairn...I'm the Goddess and I can make anyone do whatever I want.” She moves in closer to the maid snapping her fingers devouring the light from her eyes. “Anyone.”

Aldara kicks Meracle off and swiftly gets back to her feet rushing the cat girl with her knife only for Meracle to grab her arm and snap it off to the side making her ancestor grunt in pain before slashing out just barely knicking Meracle's cheek. Only Meracle doesn't let go of her arm.

“Ancestor...I told you before, I'm following the family's lineage. There's nothing to be angry about anymore.”

“Sawf ... takhdim ... alihat.”

“That language.” Meracle says before being propelled forward by Aldara throwing her arm out.

Alleyne finally manages to knock Anarista down and smacks at her shoulder knocking her sword from her hand before pausing for a short breather. This breather doesn't last long as at the last moment she ducks a sudden shot from Airi's scythe. The soul maid lands beside Anarista kicking the sword over to her as Alleyne knows she doesn't have time to question the motives of her former compatriot, especially when she notices the hallowness of Airi's eyes matching those of Anarista's. All she can do is prepare for this assault.

“She's controlling you through some sort of magic. This isn't what our family is supposed to be!” Meracle shouts at Aldara who drops to a knee pressing a hand to the side of her head.

“I...can't...”

“You can. You can because this isn't what you wanted for our family. You wanted us in service, but not like this. Not twisted and pulled apart until you don't even know who you are anymore.” Meracle steps forward. “I have a Mistress now, I'm following the lineage. That woman, that...creature up there is keeping me from her. Keeping me from making you proud.”

Aldara looks back at the pyramid as Meracle approaches closer touching a hand to her ancestor's shoulder.

“Please. Help me keep what you started going.”

“I hope you know,” Menace calls out as Alleyne is flung back against the steps of the pyramid by Anarista. Airi comes up from behind her and slashes down as the elf throws up her staff as a last resort of protection. However, Airi's scythe catches it and she wrenches it from Alleyne's hand letting it fly off the pyramid to the ground below. “I'm enjoying every second of this.”

Anarista approaches Alleyne pointing the tip of her sword at her throat as Airi comes to her side. “Bidawrih walrakue 'iilaa alihat alkhasi bika.” She commands.

“'iilhat ladayna.” Airi adds as Alleyne tries to push herself up.

From nowhere, because of the literal darkness, a dagger finds itself going through Anarista's chest as Airi turns only to get knocked down hard by Meracle as she goes and helps the elf up.

“You okay? What happened? Is Airi the bad guy now?” Then she realizes whom she's talking with. “Right. Let's just get our Mistresses.”

“Aldara!” Menace shouts as Aldara pulls her dagger from Anarista's back kicking her to the side. The guard isn't killed as she can't be in this realm, but for the time being she's as incapacitated as Airi. “How DARE you!”

“How dare YOU stand in the way of my legacy. False Goddess.” Aldara replies approaching up the steps as Menace shifts with her hand pushing a part of it out.

“Not this time!” Meracle shouts hopping up over it and lunges at Menace causing her to swing out her arm in retaliation. “You might be powerful here but if you don't even know how to use that power...”

Meracle bats her hand aside and grips her throat as Alleyne grabs hold of the orbs.

“Y-you can't! Not here! You're just a stupid slave!”

“Told you before,” Meracle says shoving Menace down by her throne. “We're pets.”

Menace growls but it's too late for her to say or do anything as Alleyne presses the orbs to Sharon and then Sonico letting life return back to them.

“You got them in the right ones, right?” Meracle asks as Alleyne doesn't answer. Instead she works on untying Sonico as Meracle slashes the restraints holding Sharon in place.

“...Alleyne.” Sonico weakly whimpers as all five now head down the pyramid steps before hearing a loud explosion from behind them.

“You...DARE steal from ME?” Looking back they immediately see Menace floating above her pyramid surrounding by energy, her eyes white under her furrowed brow as she points down at Aldara. “Give them BACK!”

Aldara comes off the ground and despite Meracle's unheard shouts, the eyes of her ancestor once more lose their luster as she joins with Anarista and Airi with their Goddess.

“I will return to the mortal realm and I will leave you all here to be beaten time and again by my subjects! I will summon you as my slaves in a thousand years so you may see what I have done with the world under my foot!” Menace shoots out a burst of energy above herself...and then nothing. She still floats there glowing. “I...I will go back to the Mortal Realm!” She attempts again and it's the same thing. “Where is my mortal vessel?”

Set up at a camp where she had fought with Alleyne, Branwen takes a bite from the cooked flesh of Menace's leg as the remainder of her body, what little remains there are, cooks on a spit shoved clean through her over a fire.

“Rabbit...rabbit..rabbit...” Branwen keeps muttering as she rips off more of Menace's flesh.

“So be it.” Menace begins as she points down an open palm toward the four heroes ready to fire. “Prepare to b-”

And then she's gone. Shot off into oblivion along with Aldara, Anarista, and even Airi.

“A...Aldara.” Meracle says seeing the darkness in front of her.

“Hoooooooo boy! That was one helluva speech, was'n'it?”

The voice comes from behind as Alleyne and Meracle turn brandishing their staff and claws respectively to find a looming figure with a ghostly form and a skull face quickly throw his hands up.

“Whoa! Whoa, whoa. Whoa. I'm unarmed. I mean...I could do the same to all of you if I wanted here because here I'm kinda like God but...you get what I'm saying.”

“Who...” Sonico begins as she takes a step forward only to stumble as Alleyne reacts quickly catching hold of her.

“She alright? She gonna be alright?” The ghostly figure asks pointing down at Sonico and finds no answer. “Right. Anyway, I'm...what you might call Death.”

“Death?” Sharon asks.

“What you might CALL Death. Not the real guy. I just run the whole soul harvester society.” They all just stare blankly at him. “Look...I just run the place, keep it neat and tidy and do a thorough scan of the place every few hundred millenia to make sure it's all copacetic. Going through a recent scan and what do I find? Four individuals who aren't quite ready for this place yet so...you gotta scoot.”

Right beside him appears a stairway leading up into what looks like the sky from down here. The four look up and then back at the figure who sighs.

“It's one step at a time or two if you're giddy to be alive again.”

“What about the others?” Meracle inquires. “You said you ran the harvesters. Wasn't Airi one of them?”

“Yeah...she was, wasn't she?” The figure agrees rubbing what can best be constituted as his chin. “Thing is though when that...Princess person warped her soul she essentially contaminated her entirely.”

“Wait,” Sharon now steps forward with the help of Meracle keeping with her. “So...you're just gonna leave her with Menace?”

“For the time being. I mean eventually she'll come to her senses but until then she's pretty much just a doll obeying her orders. She'll be happy.”

Sharon shakes her head and looks at the staircase gesturing Meracle to help her up them ready to be done with this place as Sonico follows along with Alleyne. Once they get halfway up, “Death” swirls himself up right alongside them.

“Oh, one more thing.” The four stop and look over at him. “There's...a teensy, tiny, itty, bitty problem in the form of a rogue harvester. Would you mind...? Thanks.”

“Hey!” Sharon shouts before he can leave. “Two things; one, we didn't agree and two we wouldn't even know where this harvester is.”

“Right, the details. Just head north, northeast. In that direction. Trust me, you ain't gonna miss him. Toodles!”

“Wait!” Sharon calls out but there's no response this time. Grumbling under her breath, she lets Meracle help her up the staircase while Alleyne guides Sonico up back into the world of the living.