Chapter Text
The Trickster watched as Chaos and War fought in the skies. Gray clouds had long since covered the blue, with War’s white lightning crackling towards the battle.
The Trickster bit her lip with needle-like teeth, the only sign of indecision she had shown so far.
War was right - Chaos was out of line. She had killed Peace, War’s twin, and she deserved to die. That was not what Trickster was debating.
Should she join the fight?
She felt Mercy come up beside her and looked over. Violet eyes met green and stared for a moment. Rivals turned allies. Trickster had found a grudging respect for Mercy over the past few decades, admiring how the other held her ground under the taunts and unfairness she had endured.
“You are going to help,” Mercy said.
A blinding white explosion followed her words. The force nearly sent Trickster back a step, but she leaned into it. Trickster nodded. “I am. She should have been dealt with long ago.”
Mercy nodded solemnly. “How?” Not how would she be neutralized, but how had this happened? How had none of them noticed? There was no answer.
Trickster watched as Mercy turned away, walking heavily towards the steps of the temple. Her tunic was backless, showing the intricate wings tattooed on her silvery skin.
A dark-haired woman was sitting next to a corpse. Healer looked up at their approach, her emerald eyes glimmering with tears.
Mercy went to give her a comforting squeeze, whispering in a very mortal fashion, “There was nothing you could have done. He was dead before even she got here.”
Healer looked up at the sky, at War, at his twin sister, and nodded.
Trickster looked down at Peace’s body. His blond hair was disheveled, his skin pale from blood loss. The cloth covering his body from the neck down dipped on the left side of his chest, giving a hint as to what was missing. Trickster lifted the cloth and stared at the gaping void where his heart should have been.
Chaos had ripped it out and drank his blood.
Rage flowed through her veins. That ritual was even more forbidden than drinking from the Font of Power, or swimming in the Pool of Knowledge.
Fucking bitch.
She whirled to her feet, her shadow cloak disappearing. Her black shirt morphed, the sleeves shrinking, revealing her tattoo-covered arms. The story of her immortal life. The list of her dead and those she had killed. She morphed into a deep purple wyvern, stretching her wings to the sky.
Yun-Harla gave a planet-shuddering roar and took off towards the battle above.
The list was about to get longer.
Abeloth summoned more of her newfound power to her fingertips. Stolen power, a nagging voice reminded her. She laughed and crushed the remnants of her conscience before returning her attention to her opponent.
Leia Skywalker, goddess of war.
Her dark brown hair was tied into a braid, her white armour stained with blood. Her brother’s blood, Abeloth’s blood, and the blood of the countless demons she had slain.
Abeloth gave her a wide, toxic grin and hissed, “Is that all you’ve got?”
Leia’s icy blue eyes blazed with raging golden inferno, and she shot forward like an arrow. Abeloth hadn’t been expecting a physical attack, and gasped for air when Leia’s gauntlet-clad fists closed around her throat.
A roar split the skies, and Abeloth saw Yun-Harla flying towards them.
She would have to die. Even if Leia wasn’t on the ground in a dozen pieces before the end of this, Yun-Harla had to be.
She could already see insanity glazing Leia’s eyes, the tear of losing her twin becoming too much. Still, she held on.
Abeloth let her hands morph into long claws, and tore at Lei’a exposed throat and stomach, searching for a gap in her armour.
The claws forced their way through a small crack, sinking into her belly. Leia screamed and her grip on Abeloth’s throat slipped as she plummeted from the sky.
Yun-Harla abruptly changed directions and dove for Leia, slowing their fall with her giant wings. The speed was too great, though, and both goddesses crashed through the roof of Yun-Harla’s temple.
Abeloth regained her breath and dropped down, savouring the feeling of falling in absolute control. So this was what it was like to be a true god. How wonderful!
She touched the amethyst and black marble floors of the temple, searching the shadows for her former friends. Her ear twitched as she heard so much more than she had been able to as a mortal, from the guardian racing down the hall to Leia’s quiet sobbing behind the altar.
She smiled and stalked over, summoning a blast of lightning. “Come on out, Leia,” she sang. “It’s time to die.”
“You wish!” came the snarled reply. But Leia’s voice was cracking on every syllable, and held none of the confidence and coldness that it once did.
Abeloth rounded the corner and raised her hand. Yun-Harla was nowhere to be seen, but Leia was lying on the ground, barely conscious.
Barely sane.
Abeloth cackled and knelt down beside her. “How does it feel to lose for once?”
“You… talk… too much,” she growled back, grabbing Abeloth’s hair and yanking her head closer. A knife appeared in her other hand, arcing toward Abeloth's mouth.
Leia’s grip was too strong to pull out of, the knife moving too fast to avoid. It slashed through her cheeks, black blood spattering across Leia’s armour.
Her hand fell from Abeloth’s hair, and the traitor tumbled away, screaming. Leia gave a small laugh as she watched.
Abeloth summoned her lightning back to hand, preparing to hurl it at the goddess. Black lightning enveloped her instead.
Yun-Harla came stalking out of the shadows, her violet eyes glowing with power. Shadow-wisps curled around her arms, feeding her power.
She took Abeloth by the throat and slammed her down on the altar, hissing curses.
What followed wasn’t a revenge battle, or even a battle at all. It was simply a race to death, because whoever didn’t do the killing would be the one dying. And Abeloth knew Yun-Harla had the advantage. They were in her temple: the stones were soaked with her power.
It would be almost impossible to kill her here.
Abeloth would have gone slack-jawed if it didn’t hurt so gods-damned much. Yun-Harla had planned this. She had guessed what Abeloth was going to do, and had lured them all here in case she was right.
But she hadn’t known about Luke. Not until he was screaming and dying. Not until Leia had started to lose her mind.
Abeloth flicked her wrist and sent a pillar tumbling to Yun-Harla’s head. She morphed into a small wyvern just as it impacted, but she was still sent to the floor, pinned under the marble.
Footsteps made them both look to the door. Yun-Yammka smirked at his twin sister’s helplessness. “I win,” he said.
She spat curses that Abeloth was pretty sure she had just made up on the spot.
“You betrayed Luke,” she hissed. “That’s why he was in your temple.”
Yun-Yammka grinned. “I tricked the Trickster.”
“Motherfucker,” Yun-Harla hissed back, her nails - claws - gouging deep lines in the floor. “Let me out and we’ll see who the stronger one is.”
“Oh, no, no, no, Harla,” Abeloth purred, speaking past the pain in her mouth. It was one of the worst insults imaginable to leave the "Yun" before her name. Only close friends or allies could do that without punishment. But Harla wouldn't be punishing anyone now, would she?“You’re never leaving here again.”
“Stop me. I dare you.”
Yun-Yammka smiled and snapped his fingers. A box, carved from thick black metal and engraved with lightning and symbols for death appeared. It was about as big as Harla, but not large enough to be comfortable.
It was, in all honesty, a work of art.
“I didn’t know you had any taste,” Abeloth said to Yammka.
He snorted and stalked over to his twin, who turned her claws on him. “Sweet dreams, sister.” He immobilized her with one hand and ran his dagger over the back of her neck. A thin line of purple-ish blood sprang from the cut.
As the poison took effect, her thrashing slowled and her curses became unintelligible. When she stopped moving all-together, Yun-Yammka let her raven braid slip from his hands. He stood and let out a huff of laughter.
Abeloth moved the pillar off of her, and lifted her into the coffin. The lid was sealed with magic and Yun-Yammka lifted the box into the hollow altar after Abeloth removed the top.
She sealed it again and blew a kiss to the slumbering goddess before stalking away. She started towards Leia, who was staring at her with blank eyes.
Yun-Yammka stopped her, a wicked grin on his face. “Leave her. An eternity of insanity is worse than a quick death.”
Abeloth laughed. And laughed. The laugh turned into a roar that could be heard throughout the galaxy.
Now the fun began.