Everything He Will Become

Vanala charged towards him, her feet deftly traversing the gnarled bark. Weaponless, he prepared himself to dodge her attack. But he was expecting her to stab at him. When her heel connected to his sternum, he was almost knocked over the edge. For a brief moment, he had come way too close to ****.

Vanala didn't wait for him to adjust. While he scrambled to his feet, she slashed at him. He stumbled back, the back of his forearm bleeding. Barely avoiding a thrust and a swing, Misha ran past her, forcing her to face him, and turning away from Stephanie.

"Come on Vanala, can't you do better than that?"

She infact could. The blunt end of her spear smacked the side of his head, and she followed that with a blast of red lightning. The shock sent Misha back a few yards, putting him worryingly close to the fire that had spread to the branch they were all standing on.

He tried to stand, but his body just wouldn't move. He was stuck, the easiest possible target. Vanala pointed her spear at him.

"You knew how this would end. Your ****, at my hand- ahh!"

Why Vanala had been gloating, Stephanie grabbed her by her hair, dragging her away from Misha. Stephanie yanked Vanala's hair back, and punched her directly in the throat. The catgirl fell to her knees, wheezing and coughing, clutching her throat.

Stephanie responded with a kick to the face, but she had underestimated her opponent. Vanala caught her leg, and used it to pull Stephanie off balance. Vanala leapt to her feet, Stephanie barely avoided falling off the side of the branch, and Misha pushed himself to his feet.

Vanala charged towards Misha, picking up her spear along the way. She ran towards him, but before she could strike, a crossbow bolt sprouted from her shoulder.

A battle cry rang out and Misha looked up to see Sally swooping towards him, holding her crossbow in her talons.

But Vanala wasn't having her victory stolen again. Using her good arm, she threw her spear straight at the harpy.

Misha watched in horror as the golden spear pierced through Sally's chest. With a sort of gasp, she began to fall to the ground.

Vanala didn't even watch her fall. She turned to Misha, eyes wide with bloodlust.

"This ends now!"

Misha couldn't agree more. He extended his hand, and a flash of green light pulsed around him. Vanala found herself frozen in place, face to face with her brother.

He stared at her, and everything he felt for Sally turned to rage as he looked at her killer. She twitched, trying to resist his magic.

He let the rage he felt grow, filling his mind like smoke from fire. In a moment, it all spilled out from him, a green blast flying from him, crashing into Vanala, aging her so quickly she disintegrated before his very eyes.

His legs gave out from under him, and he fell back onto the branch, grief setting in. "Poor Sally", he thought, "always the third wheel. Never given the credit she deserved. She saved my life."

Through his tears, he saw Stephanie's face above him.

"Misha, we need to get down, the fire's getting closer!"

With her help, he managed to pull himself to his feet. Like she had said, more than half of the branch was now on fire. The entire tree creaked, and they both felt the branch begin to dip down. Below them, there was nothing between them and the long fall to the ground. In short, they were screwed.

***

On the ground, a young girl approached the body of a harpy, apparently made like so by the large wound in her chest.

"I swear, these guys can't do anything with out me."

The goddess of time knelt next to the harpy's body, and began weaving her spell.

***

Misha and Stephanie desperately searched for a solution as the charred wood connecting their branch to the tree slowing failed.

Every creaked reminded them of the distance to the ground.

"Can't you climb down as a cat?"

"Not with you, and there's no way I'm losing you again. "

"Damn it Misha, go! Better one of us survives."

"Stephanie, I'm not go-"

Stephanie didn't hear the rest of that sentence, because at that moment, the massive branch fell, and she found the forest floor rushing towards her. "This is it", she though "this is how I die. What a shame?" She felt Misha grab her hand, the two of them making eye contact. Then a gentle tug, followed by a much stronger tug on her back.

She looked down. She was still descending, but at a more gentle speed. She look back seeing a very not-dead Sally struggling to slow their fall. Only a feet feet from the ground, Sally dropped the both of them to the ground, plopping herself besides them.

"Jeez, you guys are heavy."

"You're alive!"

Tamara appeared next to Misha.

"You're welcome."

"Tammy, you... Healed her?"

"I just reminded her, but sure."

Another being, this one an older man, appear near them.

"Did you now?"

Tamara sighed.

"Oh, hey Bast. Guys, this is Bast, he's my boss."

"I'd think you'd called me a friend after a few hundred eons."

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist. How are things with the mage?"

"Good, actually. If things go according to plan, Vatrus should be dead before the end of the year."

"Cool."

Bast chuckled slightly.

"I'm not here to chat, though. I think you know that."

Tamara gave him a sad kind of smile.

"I know."

Misha stood, looking at the two of them.

"What's going on here?"

Bast sighed, setting his tired eyes onto the cat boy.

"Misha, the prophecy that you've heard so much about, it specified that Sally died. Even gods aren't allowed to interfere in prophecies."

"So what, she gets sent to god jail?"

Now it was Tamara's turn to speak.

"When we break the rules, we lose our our godhood. I'll become a human. A millennia old human."

"But you'll die! There has to be another way."

"Misha, I'm old. More than that, I'm tired. Being in charge of all of time is hard. It's time for someone else to take over."

"But... But..."

"Maybe you'll understand one day. I'm not sure what's on the other side, but I hope to see you there one day. Until then, good luck."

Bast snapped his fingers, and Tamara disintegrated, like smoke in the wind. The old god looked wistfully at where she had been standing.

"So long, old friend."

"She's really gone?"

"As gone as anyone can be. "

Bast looked at the trio, an idea forming in his mind.

"You know, Misha, we do seem to be lacking a god of time now. Seems like you'd be a natural fit. What do you say?"

Misha looked at Stephanie and Sally, a knowing look passing between them. He turned back to address Bast.

"Lord Bast, I am honored, but hell no."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Look, I don't wanna be in charge of all of time. I'm young, I have a life. And Stephanie has a house and a job and a son of the new world, she can't leave that behind. So, no, I will not be the god of time."

Bast smiled warmly at the young cat boy.

"I can see why you fascinated her so much, Sathis."

Bast snapped his fingers, and the world went black.

When Misha could see again, he realized that the three of them were back in Stephanie's living room.

It was, of course, Sally who broke the silence.

"I don't know about you guys, but I could use some sex, you guys down?"

Their response was a unanimous "Yes!"

Well, it's been a long road, but we've reached the end. Don't worry, you'll see these three again, but for now, I think we can all agree that they deserve a break. See you all in January.

-TC.