CHAPTER 130: TAKE TWO

Grace stumbled through the inn door looking like someone had put her through a meat grinder. Twice.

Blood dripped from her shredded wings, leaving a trail of red droplets across the floor. Her ribs screamed with every breath. It was the kind of sharp, stabbing pain that made her want to curl up and die. One eye had swollen shut completely, turning purple-black like a rotten plum.

[I hate all these Pillars. Maybe you all deserved to be abandoned by Eternia, you absolute... UGH!]

Diana and Venus sat at a corner table playing cards. They both looked up as Grace crashed into the nearest chair hard enough to make it creak dangerously.

Grace spat onto the floor.

Diana set down her cards.

"You, uh, sure look like a winner."

"Yeah, I feel like it too." Grace tried to adjust her position. Bad idea. Very bad idea. "Ow. Fuck. Everything hurts."

Venus poured water from a pitcher, sliding the cup across the table. Grace grabbed it with shaking hands and downed the whole thing in three gulps. Water had never tasted so good.

"Is it safe to assume the Tempest has not been dealt with?"

Grace shook her head.

"Complete... psycho!" Grace wiped her mouth, leaving a red smear on her hand. "Can’t decide if she wants to kill me or keep me as a pet. Kept switching between screaming and laughing. How am I supposed to communicate with that?"

"Delightful."

"Oh, it gets better." Grace touched her ribs experimentally and immediately regretted it. "She’s got a friend."

Diana’s eyes narrowed.

Grace continued.

"A Primal," Grace slumped in her chair, trying to find a position that didn’t make her want to scream. "It can shapeshift, too, I think. One second it’s a bear, next it’s a spider, then something with way too many teeth."

"And it kicked your ass."

"Kicked it, stomped on it, then used it as a drum." Grace prodded her swollen eye. "Had to jump off the mountain to escape."

Diana’s eyebrows shot up.

"You jumped off a mountain? With your wings in that condition?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"How is that ever a good idea?"

"Better than getting torn apart and scattered across the peak." Grace accepted another cup of water from Venus. "Those angels the mayor mentioned? The ones in pieces? Yeah, didn’t want to join that club. Especially not with an actual Primal there."

Thunder shook the inn hard enough to rattle dishes. The windows vibrated in their frames. Outside, it started raining intensely.

"Great." Diana watched on with a mildly annoyed expression. "Weather’s getting worse."

"No shit. The Tempest is pissed I showed up." Grace tried to straighten up. Her spine had other ideas. "She knows I’m not Eternia. Called me her replacement."

"Charming," Venus said, dealing herself a new hand of cards like this was all perfectly normal.

"Gets better. She made these wind construct things. Literally just made little minions for herself, like, on the spot!" Grace flexed her fingers, remembering the feel of solid wind. "Had to burn through most of my energy just to kill them. They kept reforming."

"Before the Primal showed up?"

"Yeah. I was already tired when that thing appeared." Grace touched her nose gingerly. Definitely broken. Again. "Didn’t stand a chance. It grabbed my wings and used me as a hammer."

[I’m so tired. I’m almost too tired to heal myself. Crap.]

"We need a plan," Diana said, turning back to Grace.

"Obviously." Grace accepted a towel from Venus and pressed it against a particularly nasty wing cut. "I can’t beat them alone. The Primal’s too strong and the Tempest won’t shut up long enough to listen."

"Do you have any idea what exactly she wants?" Venus asked.

"Who knows? She can’t decide." The towel was already soaked through with blood. "One second she’s screaming about being abandoned. Next she’s laughing about her indecision. Then she’s sending... murder-wind at my face."

Lightning struck right outside the window. The flash lit up the room bright as day. In that instant, Grace caught her reflection in the glass.

Her robes were more holes than fabric. Blood matted her white hair. Her visible eye was bloodshot and wild. She looked less like a holy angel and more like something that crawled out of a nightmare.

"You need healing," Venus said gently.

"Yeah," Grace mildly agreed. "But, we shouldn’t put this off. I feel like we need to figure this out or the wind is going to pick this town up and throw it."

"Figure what out?" Diana leaned back, chair creaking. "You can’t solo them. We knew that going in."

"Yes, but maybe we can take them together."

Diana snorted.

"What? You and me?"

"Why not?" Grace forced herself to sit up despite every nerve screaming in protest. "You’re strong enough to match the Primal for a bit. Hell, Venus, you can help too."

Venus arched a brow.

"I can?" She smirked.

"Yeah, just... I don’t know, distract her maybe?"

Venus considered it. Given that Venus hadn’t helped fight the Tide, Grace guessed she wouldn’t help fight here either, but maybe she could still persuade Venus to be useful somehow.

"I suppose I could try that. And you? What are you thinking of doing?"

"What I do best."

"Die?" Diana answered.

"Kill things permanently, you douchebag."

A glob of some flaming frozen syrup-like thing hit their window. It sizzled and froze simultaneously, creating a pattern that looked vaguely obscene.

"Even if we could beat them," Venus said, playing with her cards, shuffling them, "the Tempest won’t listen. You said so yourself. Too much screaming, not enough reasoning."

"Then we make her listen."

"How?"

Grace thought about it. Which hurt, because thinking required her brain, and her brain was currently on fire. The Tempest’s whole thing was indecision. Unable to choose. Unable to commit to anything.

[What if we take that choice away?]

"What if we don’t give her a choice?"

Diana raised an eyebrow.

"Explain."

"She can’t decide anything because she’s made of Eternia’s indecision. Every option splits into more options. But what if we force a decision? Make her pick something?"

"Like what?"

"I don’t know yet." Grace slumped again. "My brain’s not working right. Pretty sure I have a concussion. Or three. I’ll think of something."

They sat in silence for a moment. Outside, the weather continued its nervous breakdown.

"This is getting out of hand," Venus observed mildly.

"You think?" Grace watched a cow fly by the window. It mooed forlornly. "The whole town’s gonna get destroyed at this rate. Maybe the whole mountain."

"Then we move fast." Diana stood, cards forgotten. "But first, you need healing. And we need to train."

"Train?"

"You just got your ass beat, right? You think you can win without any improvement at all?" Diana cracked her knuckles with a series of pops. "Also, we need to practice fighting together. Actual teamwork, not just swinging swords in the same general area."

Grace wanted to argue. Her pride said she could handle it alone with enough preparation. She’d beaten two Primals before. She was the chosen one, the demon-killer, the special little snowflake.

But her throbbing everything said otherwise.

"Fine. But, yeah, I need to heal myself now."

Thunder crashed again, louder than before. The inn’s roof creaked ominously. Dust drifted down from the rafters.

"We should probably train inside," Grace suggested.

"You think? Unless you want to dodge cows while sparring." They both looked up as something heavy landed on the roof. Hoofbeats echoed above them, galloping from one end to the other. "Tomorrow morning," Diana said, heading for the stairs. "Soon as you’re healed. We’ll start with basic combinations."

"I know how to fight."

"You know how to swing a sword and look pretty doing it. That’s different from fighting with a partner." Diana paused at the stairway. "Real teamwork means trusting someone to watch your back. Means knowing where they’ll be without looking."

Grace rolled her eyes, though she didn’t argue.

"That’s why we’re training." Diana’s expression softened slightly as she looked at Grace’s injuries. "Get some rest. You’ll need it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Diana disappeared upstairs. Grace stayed at the table, watching the chaos outside through the blood-smeared window as she finally started healing herself up. That frozen... flaming syrup stuff dripped from the eaves. Flying livestock circled in the sky like confused vultures.

[We’re really gonna try to fight them together.]

She touched her swollen eye again. The Primal had been faster than anything she’d faced. Stronger too. It had tossed her around like a toy.

But maybe with Diana watching her back...

[Or maybe we’ll both get our asses kicked. Probably that one.]

Thunder shook the building again, hard enough to knock a painting off the wall. In the distance, Grace heard someone scream about jellyfish falling from the sky.

[Yeah. Definitely need to fix this soon.]

Grace tried to stand. Her legs laughed at the suggestion. She settled for sliding lower in her chair.

Tomorrow they’d train. Tomorrow they’d figure out how to fight as a team.

Tonight, she just wanted her ribs to stop trying to escape through her skin.