"What do you mean by that?" Athena asked.
Her mouth was crooked, almost bordering on anger in her indignation at hearing what Anemus said.
"You don't have to kill thousands or millions to condemn those who wronged with you." Anemus said almost in a pleading tone. "What do the people have to do with it? What have they done to you?"
"They have the same blood."
"They have? Do the poor wretches who struggle every day to survive have the same blood as those who live in this palace?" Anemus complained pointing to the place where bodies and destruction lay.
"If the ruler makes mistakes, the people pay with him!"
"By the gods, Athena! Listen to what you're talking about!?" Anemus urged, her arms outstretched in sheer bewilderment. "If that logic worked, the world would no longer exist!"
Athena scratched her black hair and squinted as if she wanted to deny something and turned back to look at the palace with burning anger.
Anemus continued her indignant speech and Athena complained about her anger and gestured aggressively while defending the reason for her actions, talking about Serien, Serien's children and Mifa.
At the sound of Mifa's name, Anemus' ears, which were slightly long like an elf's, fluttered and her face turned red.
"So that's what this is about? Are you going to kill thousands or millions of people for her?" Anemus screamed and stomped in the air in a way that would make a dull thud on the ground, if there was one to step on. "And I?"
Suddenly the issue was no longer genocide or revenge, but their relationship.
They argued with aggressive gestures and swear words, shouting, but never touching.
Tears streamed from the eyes of the two women who were screaming in an attempt to make the other listen, but in the end they were just incomprehensible screams until...
"I love you!"
"What did you say?" Anemus asked.
Her startled green eyes were wide, red and filled with incessant tears that ran down her slender, delicate face.
Athena turned her face away, letting a long silence drift.
For her, that subject was already over. Athena didn't want to hurt Anemus further, but her consideration also hurt the nymph.
She didn't want to, but the words came out again as if they forced their way up her throat, tongue, and lips.
"I love you…" Athena repeated softly. "And no, that's not just because they hurt Mifa. My friend, Serien... They stole her children and told her to hand over the kingdom if she wanted them to live."
"..."
Anemus was silent, listening to everything Athena had to say. Well, she wasn't listening to everything. Her mind stopped on Athena's vows of love and kept going around it. She hadn't expected to hear it right there, in that moment of turmoil between them.
"I wouldn't have minded if she did." Athena continued. "But that idiot would sacrifice herself if her life brought disgrace to her people."
Athena rubbed the back of her neck under her hair so dark it didn't reflect light. Then she told Anemus, very briefly, everything Mifa had told her.
Anemus suddenly shook her head, awaking herself from her thoughts and making an effort to remember what Athena had said after the blessed phrase that had stagnated in her mind.
After a brief effort, finally Anemus could understand what Athena was doing.
They were silent for a while and then Anemus took a deep breath and apologized for calling her crazy, wicked and genocidal during the argument.
"You didn't call me crazy…" Athena said with a playful smile. "Anemus..."
The two approached again, calmer and without tears, but between them there was still something that separated them. An invisible wall that kept them from reaching each other, at least sentimentally.
"... We have so much to talk about..." Not knowing what to do with her hands, Athena intertwined her fingers, squeezed them and continued. "And I want everything to be clearer between us, but now..."
"Yes, I know." Anemus said then lowered her eyes. "Athena, look..."
It was almost as if it were fate, two men followed by two women dressed in white veils emerged from inside the palace.
That was just when a strangeness started to grow between them.
They sighed in relief.
Athena and Anemus looked at each other, smiled and descended, flying lower, blocking the way of the group who ran to somewhere that didn't matter to the two women.
"A man in his late thirties, dark brown hair and two babies..." Anemus said. "I think we've found who you should really condemn, Athena."
Athena's eyes traveled from Veron to the children in the women's arms. Two identical babies with differences in their hair, black and silver respectively.
Anemus placed a hand on Athena's shoulder and brought her mouth close to Athena's ear in whispers.
"Don't kill them too quickly." Anemus said and walked away.
When she said that, Anemus' heart sped up and shuddered that she was stoking the evil in Athena, but she thought that only this way Athena would be satisfied.
"Anemus…" Athena landed and retracted her wings. "Get the kids."
Hearing this, Veron's eyes looked to his children and he threw himself on the path between the nymph and the babies with mana flowing in his hands.
"What do you want with my kids?" Veron asked in a menacing voice. "You won't touch them!"
Anemus looked at the man and then at Athena who was rummaging the body of a dead soldier.
"A word of advice..." Anemus said as she landed. "Worry about yourself."
Anemus dodged the man and walked over to the children. Then Veron quickly shouted the magic he was ready to use and... nothing.
The magic he used had wind element and the wind refused to harm one of its ladies.
The wind simply swirled around Anemus as he caress her golden hair and so was gone.
"Looks like you still have the guts." Athena said behind Veron's back. "I respect this."
Veron turned, feeling a lump in his dry throat and looked at Athena's bloody face, a slight smile on her rosy lips.
"I killed the other one." Athena continued. "He was the king? Well... He was useless, he was already broken." The smile grew and Athena's eyes grew horrifying. "But you..."
Anemus didn't look and tried not to hear the sound of screams and flesh being cut, ripped from the man's bones and then healed as the man begged to live a little longer.
Anemus didn't want to see this side of Athena. She has seen Athena kill many, but she has never seen her torture anyone.
She didn't want to remember that and with the help of the wind, she tried to drive away the smell of blood, shit and death that came from behind her back.
Anemus would remember that day forever.
Ignoring Veron's plea for mercy, forgiveness, and death, Athena slashed at his flesh with the exotic dagger she'd stolen from the soldier's lifeless body and shattered the exposed bones with her claws.
Kneeling, Veron screamed and cried with agony and pain in his voice, while piss ran down his legs and something more slimy and smelly took place in his pants.
"I thought I'd gouge out your eyes…" Athena said with an almost happy face. "What do you think?"
"N-no... Please... Enough already..." Verom begged as he held a long, reddish pink and fat rope of meat from his belly.
"Ah! I almost forgot!" Athena stepped on the man, ignoring his cry, forcing him to lie down and shoved his gut back into his abdomen and healed him. "You are not going to die now."
Five minutes had already passed and that felt like an eternity to Veron. The pain made it an eternity.
"Did you know Serien still wants to see you? I promised I would take you to her."
Lying on the floor, feeling anemic for a moment as the magic regenerated the amount of blood in his body, Veron was panting fiercely and feeling cold.
However, it wasn't from the cold that he shivered. Veron tried to look into the face of his tormentor, but her thick black hair only allowed him to see the shadow of a wide, happy smile.
That was scary. Not being able to face who was doing him so much harm, drained his courage and with the lack of it, fear took and squeezed his heart. But hearing Serien's name and that she wanted to see him...
"Arh..."
Veron thought that there was the light of hope, the heat that would take him out of that pain. He would just have to wait a little longer, hold on a little longer, and he would be in the arms of his loved woman who had such a great heart that she forgave him and wanted him back.
Athena smiled wider at the relief that washed over Veron's face. She was glad he lasted so long and went back to destroying his bones, tearing out his flesh, piercing his organs and healing him as the man screamed.
"No, no, no! I don't want it anymore! Please... Enough!" Veron screamed again and just as Athens was about to repeat it all again, Anemus shouted her name
Athena looked at Anemus and followed the nymph's eyes and so saw Mifa being chased by hundreds of thousands of angels.
Or would that be millions? It was hard to tell.
Athena dropped Veron on the bloody floor and with wide-eye, glowing in blind fury at seeing wounds beneath Mifa's brown fur, she flew off in a leap, transforming into a menacingly large dragon that roared a shrill distorted roar.
As soon as Athena passed her, Mifa abruptly stopped and looked back to where Athena was flying.
In the split second that Athena flew past her and she didn't look back. In the single second, the city she'd just passed, the people she'd seen pull away and make way for her, it was all now a sea of destruction, fire, smoke and dust in varying shades of red.
Angels fell from the sky like rain under the uncontrolled attack of Athena who spewed fire, ice, red, blue, white, and black rays, and formed tornadoes of wind and darkness.
At that moment, Anemus, Mifa, Faena, Fotiá and all the people of Mizhar kingdom thought the same thing.
The world will end today.
Apocalypse! Apocalypse everywhere!
\(>■< )/
Athena lost the screw of reason. :p
Vote, add to your library and comment if you like it.
Please let me know if you find some error.
See ya!