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Forgotten Gods

A Commission for little Lyca

Part 2: Risen From The Depths

_ _

"Flesh"? Why in the world had she thought that word? Jess swallowed, and took another step forward, words lining up on her tongue now: to say No, wait, leave it alone, Osc... it's scaring me now, let's go now, let's go, as the avian glanced back at her, his sharp eyes seeming to show the same irrational alarm as hers-

_ _

- and the world exploded.

It was the only way to describe the experience. A sudden roar as thousands upon thousands of gallons of water erupted upwards - to be swiftly followed by a drenching shower as the same gallons came right back down onto the mouse as she uttered a bewildered, stunned gasp, a colossally powerful blow that smashed her hard back against the stone - the shockwaves from the footsteps of the Catalyst itself, she thought madly - and a dark blur that speared up from the sacred pool of the ancient Mordecian's temple, too fast to see...

... yet it was as if the world had slowed to a snail's crawl. Every event unfolded languidly, in a terrible peace, and she watched helpless and horrified from a body which would not move at such a pace: an observer to her coming doom.

Oscar stood in the middle of it. His expression betrayed no fear or alarm, no anger, not even any anticipation. Just a flat, cold expression as his hand came out from beneath his jacket, a large, horribly heavy-looking device held almost lazily within his taloned fingers. His eyes were bright, and alert, and utterly without emotion.

Jess remembered when, aged thirteen, she had timidly asked the quiet falcon about his military years. What had happened? Had he saved lives? And... and did you...

She knew she was skirting around the real one, the real question. And Oscar had known too, and he'd nodded sadly, and murmured words that had stayed with her for all these years since.

"Yes, I have killed people. Several people, often people who were just there at the wrong time. But if I hadn't, they would have killed me. Because I was in the wrong place as well. And that's what soldiery is, Jess. Being willing, and being able, to do what is necessary."

_ _

And this was how he had felt - her thoughts blurring with impossible speed as this blinding second stretched into an eternity - as he'd done it. No feelings, no thoughts, just a gun in his hand as he turned toward the... thing that was impossible and yet so familiar, the weapon swinging up towards it -

-and a streak of bright emerald darted around his upraised arm in a ferocious embrace, slick green wrapping around the dark, dapper brown of his jacket like some blind, wormlike snake that pulled up, and up, and Oscar's killing calm was lost in an avian squawk of pain and shock as his feet left the pale stone -

The explosive second was over, as sound returned in a roaring rush of water spattering onto stone. Jess spluttered, feeling bruised lungs spasm in protest, and tried to get to her feet. She had been thrown back against the stepped platform, her face inches from a strange carving that she might have once given anything to pore over... but she could not so much as glance at it as she felt her eyes stare up instead, feeling strangely slack with pure disbelief as they calmly told her the impossible.

It was vast, shaped like some enormous serpentine lizard, its body long and sinuous with taut muscles rippling and glistening beneath the oil-dark flesh. Water cascaded slickly from its massive flanks and from the tail that grew from behind its powerful hind legs - huge. Even for such a large creature, the long, snake-like thing was almost absurdly large, as thick as its body and much longer, making the creature a total length of more than fifteen metres. Its flesh was dark as oiled night, smooth and slick and taut with streamlined musculature confined below the skin. The bands of bright, neon green that she had seen on the underside of that "plant's" leaves wound over its body in a simplistic, elegant pattern of stripes that ran the length of its form, tracing along the lines of its legs and long body.

She blinked, still shocked and blind to all but the most insignificant, horrendous details, noticing an array of small, pink-fleshed holes that appeared across the monster's entire body, neatly centred in those lines of bright jade. Were they for breathing? No. Jess remembered reading about several species of snake, a few weeks and an infinite lifetime ago, which were equipped with heat-sensing "pits" to see the body warmth of their prey. And these strange gill-like things must be the same. The dragon was able to feel the heat of her terrified heart, the blood pulsing through her skin. She felt sick and faint with fear.

And more... for it was not just a dragon. As if the world was overeager to impress her, as if this mythical impossibility wasn't enough by itself... Jess knew. From the moment she'd looked at it, her eyes wide with astonished horror, she had known. Her consciousness just couldn't hope to take in such impossibility all at once.

It stepped out of the water, its movements graceful and reptilian - though she could perceive no scales, just that black skin as smooth as the water it had struck from deep within, and stared coldly at her, a head that was larger than her entire body angled towards the mouse's tiny form. A great, skeletal crest rose from each side of its head, looking like some enormous, dismembered bat's wings plastered to its temples. The skin there was a shade of deep green, stretched between bone-like "fingers", and its eyes were a dark, cold hue of violet.

Eye_s_.

Oh my god, came Jess' mental voice, as she felt her own eyes meet the... dragon's _(yes, say it, it's the truth, not myth but fact: as she met the dragon's ) _gaze... for she was hopelessly outnumbered. Three dark, glimmering orbs lurked on each side of that elongated muzzle, arranged in a streamlined triangle within the huge skull, for a total of six large, malign eyes: blinking not in unison, but with each pair apparently of it's own accord. The effect was terrifying, as the dragon's gleaming eyes winked off and on, staring callously down at her. She remembered an ancient mantra of the Mordecians, sung in prayer to their almighty god upon commencement of worship: The Counting of the Dragon.

Six are his eyes, that see so far...

"-JESS!"

Her ears finally shocked themselves into hearing Oscar's bellowed command. She looked up at him, shocked and terrified, and felt a whimper of raw animal fear escape her throat.

The falcon was suspended above the dragon's head, his beak clenched with pain as he struggled frantically, his feathers slick with water. Oscar's gun arm - his left, of course, his right had always been weaker after the wars - was entwined with a long, worm-like appendage, as thick as his calf, slick and slimy. It seemed to be clinging to the grey feathers, as if adhesive -a stickiness strong enough to stop the avian from freeing his arm, despite his snarling resistance. The gun had clattered to the marble platform at the lip of the pool, glistening with the fluids of the worm-thing... of the dragon's tail.

Many are the length and glories of his divine form...

The mouse felt her gaze dragged unwillingly upwards, feeling strangely numbed, calm in her horror. The massive, black-skinned tail was spread apart like the petals of a flower, it's innards a horrible shade of green that looked like it ran all down into that dark, massive form. A clear, pulsing bioluminescence illuminated the dim tunnel inside the impossible creature's tail, emanating from the grotesque tentacle thing that was curled around her bodyguard's arm. It was the tongue, the tongue of that horrendous parody of a throat.

_ _

For two are his great maws, as unto a sun of jade in their incandescence...

One to speak his followers' cause. Both to devour they he despises...

Jess stumbled back, tripping over a piece of fallen stone, uttering a low keen of pure fear, her eyes locked on the falcon's useless struggles. "O-Oscar!"

He looked down at her, his sharp eyes frenzied with pain and fear. "Jess! I said RUN!"

"No!" she gasped, horror-struck. "I won't leave you! I won't-"

"JUST RUN!" roared the avian, scrabbling desperately at a pocket with his free arm. The beast brought him lower, examining him. Its many eyes seemed to gleam with amusement as he tried to kick at its face, too far away to harm. The "tongue" seemed to flex slightly around Oscar's shoulder, and he screamed out loud, a raw, piercing caw of agony. Jess was almost certain she could hear the creak of his bones as the dragon crushed his arm-

Of a thousand is his holy strength...

• and with a casual flick, it tossed him away. The mouse was forced to duck as her protector's body smacked into the hard, pale stone of the platform she was crouched on, provoking another howl of pain. She ran to him, feeling a sting of her first tears. Not him, oh please don't let him be hurt, not Osc, not Osc the always there for me...

Oscar gasped for a ragged breath, clutching at her as he spat out a glob of blood. He lived. For now.

None is his mercy for they who defy his majesty...

The two held each other, facing the massive beast, which stared back at them with it's six eyes unblinking. Its webbed claws, tipped with a set of dark talons as long as Oscar's fingers, looked strong enough to crack the stone beneath it. The tail swung slowly, scorpion-like, that "tongue" lolling idly out. It's great flanks rippled as it breathed. Jess spoke at last, her voice trembling .

"You-you're him."

The creature looked at her, its body as still as the ruins of the place where it had once been worshipped. It was silent. Its tail hung over it's head like a scorpion's, the emerald snake of its tongue swaying back and forth slightly. A pendulum, marking out time for a creature which defied history.

"But... no... you can't be..." she whispered, hugging the falcon close. Jess hardly ever cried. She felt ashamed of it, and usually determined herself to instead remove the source of her fear with an extreme prejudice.

But now her voice stumbled thickly through it's words. Sobs were coming soon, and she could feel it, because her mind could not encompass the world now. Too full of impossible ideas for her to even think... except for one nugget of ludicrous truth which shone so brightly through her shock that it burned.

And but one is his name, the highest of deities. The Dragon God...

"...Volscian."

***

_ _

Oh, Jessie girl, Oscar thought numbly, his arm's pain swallowed up by the tide of horror as the mouse hugged him desperately, her tail twining around his ankles in a hopeless attempt at protection. He hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his feathers. You were wrong, by the Catalyst itself, you were wrong and the Mordecians were right. He... he existed. No. He smiled a mirthless, rictus grin. He exists.

_ _

The idea alone was totally, ludicrously, laughably impossible... but now "the idea alone" stood there, right before them, looking at him with cold, alien eyes - Christ, there were six of them, it was a total abomination, a beast of madness - and he felt a primal whimper of fear escape his throat at its gaze. It was a look one of his own distant ancestors - before the Catalyst formed this world of two-legged sentience, of course, when only animals walked the lands... and flew the skies - might have given an unfortunate pigeon in its last second of life, as they speared down from the sky with talons outstretched, avenging angels of a lost god. It spoke of a total lack of concern for the creature doomed enough to bear witness to that pitiless stare. There was no ethics, no right or wrong, no pleading or bargaining. There was just hunter... and hunted.

And they were in the latter category.

Through the terror, his training took hold, suddenly giving him a moment of calm thought. He had lost his gun... there it was on the rim of the vast pool - under the thing's massive hind legs. He reached for the combat knife instead- his old regiment, the Montgomery 13th - and held it out in front of him: a poor sword for slaying the dragon, perhaps... but he would do it. He had to protect the principal. "J-Jess..." Oscar realised was still holding her as tight as his near-broken arm would allow. He hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his feathers. Taking one last look into her beautiful hazel eyes. "Run. Just run now."

And Volscian said coldly, "Run if you want. It will change nothing."

It - he - could speak, he realised, his beak dropping slackly open at the sight. And not just speak.

_ _

It was one of the most horrifically fascinating things the falcon or his charge had ever seen.

For the low, sibilant and slightly hissing tones emanated not from the muzzle which topped that sleek neck, but his tail. The flower-like maw that tipped it twisted and contorted, the worm of a tongue vanishing temporarily behind dark, sleek flesh as the thing became a vast, deformed pair of lips... and a sound spilled out of it like icy water. The dragon's muzzle did not move once. And yet it all paled in comparison to the voice itself... and the words it spoke.

_ _

Oscar Shaw gasped out loud, the blade wavering, and the mouse's whimper was cut short as well. The voice of Volscian was as smooth as black oil on water, reptilian and hissing. And it was wrong. He had never heard the words before in his life. Never heard the language. His ears insisted that the syllables reaching them were totally incomprehensible.

His mind understood them as if they had been his mother tongue all his life.

The dragon-god smirked - at least, the muscles on his muzzle pulled upwards, revealing a maw that was lined with savage, jagged splinters of pale teeth, gleaming and lit from within by another tongue that glowed just as much as the one in his tail. "You do not speak it, then."

_ _

Again the words were unlike anything Oscar had ever heard, and again they resounded clear as day within his skull. Jess shuddered in his arms, huddled against the falcon's chest, and he felt his heart stop with horror as she took a step towards the beast - no, Jess, run, for god's sake.. - and spoke_._ "W... Wait. I think I know that. That's... that's Volscian, isn't it?" She hesitated, and added timidly, "It's the language of... I-I mean... it's your language?"

The monster glared down at her with all six of it's deep, deep purple eyes, it's expression unreadable. "You know me." It's voice was flat and disinterested, almost bored.

"Jess." growled Oscar at last, aware that his trance was now vanished fully, and he was beginning to feel cold fear creeping insidiously into his stomach. "Get behind me now. Do it."

"Why? Do you think, for one instant ," this time, the contempt in Volscian's voice was clear as day, even despite the alien language, as the massive creature turned its head sinuously to look at him. "that your pathetic form will protect her?"

_ _

"I don't need protecti-" Jess started to say instinctively, and then she stopped, swallowing. Behind his steely determination, the falcon felt his insides twist. It had always been their little joke, every time someone - very often Sir Gaunt himself - had commented on his job. I don't need protecting. But now the humour was lost forever. They would never complete their double act, that remark and response as natural as breathing, ever again - even if they survived this. The horror had tainted it. He saw her hesitate, then step back to him, and without his eyes leaving the dragon, Oscar's free arm - the weaker right, of course, with his left clutching the blade - grabbed her; hugged her close as she trembled against his feathers. He clenched his beak as the mouse held on, and they faced the monster as they had faced all of their adversities: together.

Jess took another breath, and he felt a bitter sadness at her courage. Always about understanding, is it Jessie girl? His tongue seemed leaden, unable to move, unable to tell her again: run, run as fast as you can... and leave me here. He blinked back a tear, pressing his compact beak into the fluff of her large ears as a strange ringing sound pulsed through his own. Anything to save you. The avian blinked again, his grip never wavering, and listened to her sweet voice, as it quavered with fear, but spoke nonetheless.

"W-wait... you were... you were a myth! The Mordecians created you! "The Dragon God", they called you! You weren't-"

"God?" interrupted the creature, sneering, his huge tail twitching slightly as he stepped forwards, contorting again as it spoke, a vast pair of lips. "No god. Simply a creature more powerful than they were. It was laughable, really. Does the lamb idolize the wolf?"

_ _

"But- you weren't..." Jess froze. Her hazel eyes narrowed, and Oscar felt a surge of pride for her courage. "You mean... you weren't a god? So those people... the ones you were recorded as devouring, the "unworthy"... you mean they were - "

"And more." Volscian seemed to purr with cruel satisfaction, his voice taking on a low, rumbling tone that hummed in both languages, the flesh of his tail vibrating as he spoke. "Many. Many more that were not seen... when there were no witnesses left." He shrugged, massive muscles rippling sleekly beneath his dark skin. "They were all prey, nothing more."

_ _

"N-Nothing more?" the mouse took a step forward, her eyes wide with fury. "They were people! They'd dedicated their lives to worshipping you! How could you just ta - "

Volscian looked down at her with a ruthless gleam of boredom glinting deep within in his cold eyes, sighed testily... and pounced.

***

_ _

Patience?

_ _

No more.

_ _

Patience was no longer necessary. Now, he could end this as quickly or as slowly as he desired. He had caught them, and now he could dictate the tempo of his hunt. No more stalking, no more traps... just his pleasure for his games.

_ _

So he leapt for the smaller, female rodent. Not for real, of course - that could come later - but just for the joy of the scream she uttered. And then the tall bird lunged for him with a little piece of metal, as if it could harm him. He uttered a short roar of laughter as he batted the pathetic thing away, like a bothersome insect, and used his momentum to plough into" Jess", as she called herself, pinning her beneath his webbed claws. His tail lunged forward like one of the spears his "followers" had used so long ago, plucking the falcon up again and wrapping, crushingly tight, around the avian's arm. He grinned disdainfully as the one named "Oscar" groaned with pain, trying to pull free... but the tongue had his taste now. It would not let go until it - and he- were satisfied. The dragon felt his eyes close with pleasure as he explored the bird's unique flavour for almost a full minute, ignoring the frantic squirms of the avian and the cries of the rodent, pleas, threats, offers which he ignored entirely. He considered for a moment, and then dropped his prey onto the floor casually, pinning him again before he could rise with the claw not currently wrapped around the mouse. He knew that Oscar had other weapons, of course. But he wouldn't get a chance to use them.

_ _

Volscian draped his true maw over the struggling avian like a burial shroud, his tongue probing eagerly now: without restraint. Oh, treats like these were so rare... he had never appreciated them when they were in abundance. Now, though, he was lucky to get one a decade, so he was going to savour every moment they could last. He licked the avian again, his sensitive tongue slathering the bird's feathers and drenching him all over, and at the same time turned his head to look at the other, considering. He very rarely had such a luxury of choice.

_ _

Little Jess was starting to cry now, pinned beneath his other claw, straining to reach the bird. He pushed his head up to her, the pits of his body sensing the terrified pulsing heat of her body as she cringed away, whimpering desperate pleas that he did not even bother registering the words to. Volscian breathed in, his nostrils taking in the rodent's exquisite scent. His eyes closed, one by one, with pure pleasure. Clean, warm - the warmth of hot blood thrumming terrified, closely beneath that short, grey pelt - and so soft. The wriggling beneath his claws was just the catalyst for another shiver of delight: pure, bloodthirsty lust. Overcome with his cruel desires, the dragon dipped his head, nuzzling roughly at the mouse's minute body. She snarled at the contact with blind animal fury, lashing out at his large muzzle with a frantic cry to the bird, who was still playing horrified victim to the brutal affections of the tongue of his tail, covered by the rippling, draping, flower-like maw as he struggled, clawing furiously at the Dragon God's emerald tongue. "O-Oscar! Don't you dare, you monster, don't you bloody dare k-kill him, y-you evil, evil brute!" She broke off and began to cry once more, the fury spent under the torrent of panicked tears, and lashed out again, wildly, blinded by terror and tears. Volscian's many eyes blinked with imperious contempt. Trying to protect her companion? How noble.

_ _

He barely noticed the feeble punches, glancing across at the bird and back, his true maw lifting from it's eager affections of the spluttering Oscar - dripping and choking with thick saliva as he clenched his beak, tugging furiously at the massive, webbed, reptilian paw that crushed him. Volscian smirked, increasing the pressure over the slight scar he could sense pulsing warmly on the hawk's shoulder - and then he kept increasing it. A wound of long ago, he could tell... perhaps inflicted by another infernal contraption like the one he had knocked from the falcon's hands? Regardless, it was still a tender, vulnerable spot, and his prey screamed, clawing frantically and futilely at him, tears of excruciated fury leaking pitifully from his eyes. The dragon watched him with mild amusement for a moment, then released the pressure, leaving the bird gasping and cradling his wound as he fought back a sob of pain. Volscian looked dispassionately at him, then across to the mouse pinned beneath his other paw, and considered. What was it they said? Eeenie, meenie, minie, mo...

_ _

The Dragon God chose. He looked at the whimpering rodent, still trying to squirm out from beneath his strong, slick paws; over to the avian, whose fists were clenched with the agony of his wounded shoulder as he snarled another plea - but not to his captor, he was telling the mouse to run, Jess, first chance you get, as your bodyguard - as your friend I'm begging you now, just leave me, just run, for god's sake Jess! - and he released his steely grip... and let them go.

_ _

But not for long.

***

Jess was sobbing freely now. Oscar ran for her, ignoring the grotesque liquid clinging to his feathers, the slow-burning agony that was his torn shoulder - that half-severed tendon was hanging by a thread, he was certain of it now, the old injury had been crushed into solid pain by that bastard monster's claws - and held her close to him, knowing it would be the last time. But she had to escape. He hugged her close, crying himself now as the young mouse mumbled a feeble "I won't let you, Osc, I won't - " and whispered back into her large, rounded ear, the fleshy pink interior shaking with despair and fear.

"No time, Jess. Just run. And I'll love you forever."

She looked up at him, liquid hazel meeting sharp yellow through the mist of their shared tears, and mouthed words he could not hear. "No... please, Osc, no..."

Suddenly, Oscar felt a cold slickness land on his feathered back , sticking to it like the strongest of glues. He closed his eyes and kissed her one last time on the forehead. "B... be brave."

And then he was flying.