Inferno Ascended

"Oh shit." Glax took out his pistol, out of pure instinct. "Kal, you better light it up soon, or get out of there."

"Hm? Why?" Kal raised his head, as he was crouched down protecting the flame he had just made with sticks and peat. The dead centaur raised his head, staring at Glax.

The magic that permeated this bizarre event had a powerful command. The machine had a function, and the reset had resumed its default programming. Meleagor was inaccessible again, it was just a fuel to animate the machine.

The Valosian gasped.

"It's just a question, but you won't like to hear it, anyway. What would you do if chopping Meleagor into a thousand pieces was the only way to send him on the right route? Would you still do it?" Glax unlocked the pistol, while the centaur's fingers groped the surface of branches beneath him.

"But why the hell are you asking me that, Lord…? Ohmy!!!" Kal jumped back when he noticed when the dead cyborg centaur had just killed raised his torso. The Aegeon grabbed the beast that was on the ground, also without taking his eyes off the creature.

"I'm sorry, man. But Meleagor knew this was going to happen."

The fabulous and monstrous being half machine, half people jumped off the pyre towards them. Three bolts hit his chest, fired by Kal's multiple-shot crossbow. Glax was still waiting for the right moment.

He knew where the heart of the machine was, where the soul took shelter. And as expected, it wasn't in the chest of the human torso, but a little below and between the front legs, protected by a metal cage.

He had seen this before. In Sillabot.

And that was where he wanted to shoot. Right in the middle of it.

The metallic hooves hit the ground and sank under their own weight. The muffled, metallic sound came from the creature's throat. Its gears made a continuous sound as mechanical parts crackled and screeched from the friction.

"Hm,..." He was about to be attacked, because he was on the front line, and staring at the creature. And Glax was sure he wouldn't want to be trampled on by hundreds of kilos of metal.

At the last moment before noticing the centaur's sprint towards him, he crouched. Leaning to the side, he positioned himself to facilitate his shot upwards, while the quadruped rose up on his hind legs, to hit it with the front legs.

Kal was also waiting for this maneuver, and he unloaded the crossbow on the centaur's flank. The tiniest moment that Glax had to hit the target and dodge, he pulled the trigger of the steampunk-like pistol.

BANG! BANG!

He rolled over and felt the metal paw graze his chest and hit the ground. Sparks shot from the body of the corrupted cyborg. Glax saw when the antichor leaked from his shots. The centaur turned the body over, about to kick him.

'Oops,' Glax rolled over again, feeling the air shift and the ground shake with the weight of the centaur. He fired again, this time blindly, hoping he didn't have to use the sword.

He heard the other warrior's shout, and saw a shadow pass over him. The next thing he saw was Kalliaris on top of the centaur, grabbing his arms in a lock and wrestling with the most fragile part, the human half.

One-to-one.

The Valosian took the opportunity. Throwing himself against the centaur, he grabbed one of the bolts that were in his flesh, and yanked it off with all his might.

The creature howled in pain, and that was distressing. Even Kal stopped his streak of wild and violent blows, stunned.

The centaur took advantage of this moment of confusion to attack them again with his front legs. Meleagor's face was a bloody mess from Kal's blows, but Glax knew that his flesh was affected by some strange law related to the symbiosis between man, machine, and the antichor.

Glax was hit and knocked to the ground, this time. He fell flat on his face, and spun around in time not to be trampled. Luckily, the impact, despite knocking him to the ground, had not been very strong.

Kal, however, had fallen from the centaur's back, and was on his back, at the mercy of the monster.

He drew his sword, and at the same time Glax used the bolt to hit the centaur again in the cage's area.

The Valosian used all his strength to drill and pierce as deep as possible. He heard the crack and realized that the bolt broke, at the same time that the container with the antichor, already damaged by the shots, burst.

With a shoulder shove, he tried to prevent the centaur from collapsing entirely on Kal, while its destabilized core let the soul orb escape.

Directly to Glax's clock.

The mechanical centaur fell beside Kal, raising dust and shaking the ground. The warrior Aegeon still held his sword, or rather, the crooked mess that was left of it after he had stuck it in the metallic entrails of the fantastic animal.

Both men gasped after the effort. Glax sat on the floor, while at his side Kal still turned to face the face, now totally inanimate, of what was once Meleagor.

"What was that for?"

"I don't know what a strange joke the gods are playing at us, or if this is a harbinger of a new war... But things shouldn't be like that, I suppose." Glax wiped his forehead.

Again he felt as if the entry of a new soul in his clock had changed something about himself.

:::::::::::::::

"You took too long," Alexandre commented when the two men returned to the group.

Glax didn't answer. They didn't need to know how horrible it was. He had dislocated his shoulder, and it was hurting a lot. His chest was also wounded, where he had been kicked. The valosian knew he was lucky he didn't die.

Night had already fallen on the forest. The humans were gathered around a firepit outside the sacred circle, and Pydna roasted rabbits on skewers. The dryad was sitting on a rock, braiding her hair.

Tychos offered the skin with undiluted wine, a rarity in the north. Glax thanked him and took a good gulp of it. He was feeling like a dirty old rag toy of a specially active pet.

Kal sat in silence with the group, and tried to hammer back his sword with a stone.

"Ahem, it looks like you guys had a problem," Zotikos said. Can I try to help? I mean, it's not like I'm good at this, but ... I can try to help."

"Do to them what you did for us that day. You saved Lord Arsenios' life, anyway. If that is your worst, reserved for those you don't like, I wonder what you can do with your best." Pydna interjected.

"I don't hate you," Rhoas justified himself, blushing.

Glax listened to the conversation absently, thinking about how to prepare them for what they were likely to find in Stimhena. But he remembered that Zotikos mentioned he was the son of an iatromancer.

"Are you an iatromancer too?" he questioned the Rhoas.

"Ah, well… I was training. I was born with talent. But as you know, my family has left court, and it's not easy to train by myself."

"What is there to train when an iatromancer just invokes the gods?" Alexandre snapped.

Zotikos was offended, "Lord Alexandre, now I'm the one who says it, stop talking about what you don't understand."

The young Kroton pursed his lips, making a funny face.

"Don't wait for them to say yes or no," the Damastios lady grunted. "The champion is purple. Do something for him. Iatromancer or apprentice, you are better than bandages and splints."

Zotikos went to the valosian first, and after giving him a sip of a very bitter drink, Glax became sleepy. He noticed things around him, but his body was numb.

His friends continued to talk while Zotikos practiced his healing iatromancy. Glax had the impression that a halo of light enveloped him this time, but maybe it was just a hallucination.

When the effect passed, he felt perfectly good. Alexandre offered him a piece of roast. He didn't know he was starving until he gave it the first bite!

The valosian warrior felt a presence and, looking to the side, he discovered the little dryad sitting at his side and leaning on him, actually.

"What?"

"You are handsome."

"You are not my type. In a few years, MAYBE." He was definitely not attracted to lolis. And his mood was not the best after what happened today.

"I want to show you something. Come with me," she whispered.

"It depends on what you want to show me."

"Are you going to piss me off? Really?!" the dryad narrowed her eyes. "Tychos, your friend Glax is pissing me off! He stinks and still insults me!"

The other warrior cast an imploring look at his lochios: "Please, Lord Glax, the dryad wants your attention! It's not like a mere mortal should snub a demigod!"

Glax stood up, and almost knocked over the nymph while doing this. "Okay, let's talk privately."

He followed the dryad to the sacred tree.

"It is beautiful and leafy, isn't it?" The nymph was very proud of her tree. Glax agreed.

"Uhum."

"Touch it."

"May I?" he worried if he really should do that. The dryad nodded. "Yes."

Cautiously he touched the tree trunk, and reality rippled around him for a moment. Suddenly, he was no longer in the same place, but in a small, secluded and exclusive piece belonging to the dryad.

The tree had bright luminescent, round golden fruits. Was it… ichor?

"WOW!" Even if he was tempted to pick some of those fantastic fruits, he was sure he shouldn't do that. At least, not in front of the dryad.

"These infernal hesperids produce a rare elixir... They are even rarer than hellish pomegranates..." The little dryad bragged, "God Hades himself loved these fruits ... But since Hell has risen, I don't know what happened."

"Oh. You have a problem. I forgot to ask your name, since it seemed like it was okay to call you dryad. What's your real name, Miss dryad?"

The nymph's eyes sparkled, "Aiops. That's my name!"

"Okay, Hellish Dryad Aiops. What's wrong with your fruits?"

"There's no problem with them. The problem is with me. My tree is not aging as it should, after Hell ascended. And neither did I. I didn't want to ascend!"

"Didn't you have a choice?"

She shook her head, "The god forgot me! I want to go back to the other Hell! BWAAAH!"

"I don't know what I can do for you!"

"You are different from the others. Help me. If you can't help me go back to the court of the King of the Dead, then help me… grow old! I don't want to be like this! I want… romance!"

"Hm, I knew that this conversation had something to do with it." He crossed his arms, "I know that as a dryad you know quite well about bees and pollen and all that. But understand ... You are not yet ripe. Do you understand?"

"Yes! YES! I understand. But my tree is not aging and neither am I! While here it has already borne fruit, out of here, as you have seen, it is a tree unable to bear fruit!"

"Hmmmm, that's a fact." He pondered the dryad's dilemma. "But I still don't know what to do for you."

"Find a way to help me, and I will give you all these fruits. I will be loyal to you!" The dryad clung to his leg, emphasizing her intention of loyalty and adoration. "You can be strong and young forever, if you want!"

The offer was tempting. Ichor was many things. The elixir of the youth of the gods, and also a source of magical energy... Glax couldn't help but covet those fruits. But he knew she had plans for him with this offer of eternal youth.

"Hm, I'm going to see what I can do. After solving the problem of Stimhena and the Marbium forest."

"YEA!" She clapped her hands excitedly.

Glax flinched in agony.. He didn't need a yandere loli as a fan.