Wild Letter
Esteban snarled and bore his fangs, then lunged at Cirris to take their duel to a more heated level.
~~~
Dred's four arms stretched, holding his blades out as they flew toward Trista, who teleported out of harm's way. Her irises swirled clockwise like whirlpools, both colored in layers of red and green, an indicator that Trista was using her full power.
The demon retracted his arms and sent them back out, only to miss again. He wanted Trista alive, but knew he would likely have to cut off a limb or two to recapture her. That did not matter to Dred; he only needed her to breed a new, superior race of demons. Trista wouldn't need limbs to give birth.
Trista began teleporting at random, vanishing and reappearing in different locations faster than Dred could keep up with.
"Is it just me, or have you gotten slower?" Trista quipped while teleporting around Dred.
"You've gotten stronger and faster, you smug bitch," Dred grumbled. "This does not displease me, though. The stronger you are, the more powerful our spawn will be!"
"Like I will ever let you lay a hand on me again! I'm free from your control, and I intend to stay that way!"
Trista teleported faster, disorienting her former captor. Thinking he had finally gotten a lock on her, Dred swung one of his blades upward, slicing Trista's left arm off. However, it was an illusion, one that detonated, blasting the demon's right arms to bits. Other illusions of Trista appeared in the spots where she had teleported and latched themselves onto Dred.
Trista stopped teleporting and puckered her lips. This caused the illusions to explode violently, reducing Dred to dust.
"How do you like that?" Trista purred, but knew that Dred would regenerate, even after being reduced to such tiny pieces. The point was to buy enough time for Tiafell to return with Gadrael, the only weapon capable of slaying Dred permanently.
Trista sat on a rock, crossed her smooth, silky legs, and deactivated her enhanced state, causing her irises to return to their normal shape and brown color. "It will take Dred a few minutes to recover, and I'll need to be here when he does." She sighed, having no choice but to stay put and wait. "I really should have brought a book or something."
~~~
"Incredible!" Hinako watched through a crystal ball with Samora back in Janazheim Castle.
"Yes, that's my Trista!" Samora responded with great pride for her young Elven apprentice.
"She is truly extraordinary, like her brother. But didn't you tell her not to kill Dred so Tiafell could use Gadrael to finish him off permanently?"
"As long as Trista doesn't use holy magic, Dred will recover, even from that." Samora clarified.
"Dred is truly a monstrosity, to survive such an explosion and being able to pull himself back together."
"Yes, and that is not even the worst of it. Holy magic can kill Dred, but he is able to escape from Hell and return to our world in a matter of hours. For him, death is only a temporary inconvenience. Dred can only truly be destroyed by the divine energy contained within Gadrael, the sword only Tiafell can wield."
The crystal ball lingered on Trista, who was somewhat patiently waiting for Dred to reform.
"I'm glad we have Trista and Tiafell on our side. I wonder what makes them so powerful." Hinako pondered.
"Actually, before I went to bed last night, I read something in the tome that may shed some light on them."
"Yeah?" Hinako leaned in; her eyes glimmering curiously.
Samora began explaining. "So, Trista, Tiafell, and their father, Cardexx, possess silver energy, which fuels their immense power. I found a chapter in the book dedicated entirely to angels and read that silver energy comes from them. Although I do not know how, those three must have angelic ancestry somewhere in their lineage."
Hinako's eyes widened. "They're part angel? But no angels have ever visited our world, right?"
"We only know of one: the fallen angel, Dexxarc, who was banished to the Underworld and became its king. Angels are strictly forbidden from mating with mortals. However, fallen angels are not bound by Divine Law since they have been banished from the Realm of the Gods, so they can freely mate with mortals. Because of this, the only explanation is that Cardexx, Trista, and Tiafell are descendants of Dexxarc."
"How, though? Dexxarc never left the Underworld or sired any heirs, did he?"
"That is a good question. There weren't any compatible mates for Dexxarc in the Underworld, and he died there. But then again, the book was written long before he was killed, so we don't know any details surrounding his death." Samora thoughtfully held her chin between her thumb and index finger. "Here's a theory: maybe Dexxarc actually survived his battle with Dred, escaped into our world, started a new life, and had a family of his own." The witch speculated.
"You uncover more mysteries than answers every time you open that book." Hinako dryly pointed out. "You should leave it alone before our brains explode!"
Samora chortled, slightly amused. "Fair point. I wish Cardexx were still alive. I have this nagging feeling that he alone could have answered many, if not all, of our questions."
~~~
As the battle continued to rage throughout the Dwarven Village, a bright flash, followed by a boom, rocked the cavern, halting all fighting. Tiafell had returned, holding Gadrael, the divine sword named after the goddess inhabiting it.
Tiafell marveled at how light Gadrael was in his hand. "Whoa, it was so heavy before!"
When Tiafell pulled the four-foot-long weapon out of the pedestal, it was almost too heavy for the elf to carry, let alone use. After the "merging ceremony", however, the godly sword became much lighter, having the same weight as other weapons of its size.
"That's because of our union; you can hold me much more easily now," Gadrael answered telepathically inside Tiafell's mind. "By the way, I heard what you said about me being heavy before. I'll get you for that one day!"
"You're mad about that?"
"Of course I am, dumbass!!" Gadrael yelled, startling the elf. "Goddesses are sensitive about their weight, too!!"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I won't say anything else about it!" Tiafell never understood why weight was such a taboo topic for women, but chose not to discuss the issue with an irate goddess.
~~~
Samora reached out to Trista through the crystal ball. "Trista? What's going on? What was that light and noise?"
Tears of joy trickled down Trista's cheeks. "Lady Samora? Tia has come back! I wish you were here to sense this, the power my little brother is putting out is astounding!!"
Samora fell back into her chair, feeling overwhelmed by relief and hope. "Tiafell has done it... Dred is about to die for good!!!" The witch whooped, pulling Hinako into an excited embrace. "Trista, continue to hold Dred off until Tiafell arrives at your location. I'm sure he'll want to help the others first!"
"Will do!!"
Dred, having already reformed most of his floating body, sensed the presence of the only thing in existence that frightened him: divine energy.
"No... it cannot be..." Dred could not conceal his fear. To make matters worse, Tiafell, the person Dred needed to possess so he could reach his goal of becoming powerful enough to kill the gods, was wielding the very instrument of his destruction.
"Oh, Dred, 'sweetie', is that fear I detect? How ironic, a creature that is so hard to kill and can escape from Hell fears death! How comical!" Trista laughed, throwing salt into Dred's wounds.
Dred was too terrified to respond to Trista, choosing to address his army instead. "All forces, converge on Tiafell and eliminate him at once!!!" The demon had become so desperate that he was forced to give up on his goal of possessing Tiafell. The elf had become too much of a threat and needed to die. Dred would need to find another host to fulfill his goal.
Trista pushed herself off the rock she was sitting on and continued to taunt Dred. "You don't have enough people to stop my baby brother now! But don't worry, you'll live a few more minutes, which will be plenty of time..." Trista's expression instantly changed to extreme anger. "... FOR ME TO GET REVENGE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME AND MY FAMILY!!!"
Dred seethed, furious over being forced into a corner. "You won't get the chance... Tiafell won't get the chance... NO ONE WILL GET THE CHANCE!!! ALL WHO STAND IN MY WAY MUST DIE!!!!"
Dred's desperation caused his body to undergo a nightmarish transformation. He doubled in size, and the appendages on his back mutated into distorted arms, with others sprouting from random spots around his torso, turning Dred into a tangled mess of limbs with his head in the center.
"Thanks to all the demons I have devoured throughout my existence, my body can adapt to any threat." Dred declared with multiple warped voices at once. "Not even Tiafell and his cursed sword can stop me now!!"
Trista scoffed. "I beg to differ. All I see is a disgusting freak of nature that refuses to accept his fate. At least fighting you will be more fun now!"
Trista closed her eyes, then reopened them to reactivate her enhanced state. The female elf's irises swirled red and green once again, but this time with thin layers of silver mixed in.