Fan Fiction ❯ Advent Of The Goddess: Book 1-The Awakening ❯ Fire And Ice ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"GYAH!"

Pandora let a gasp of alarm escape her eternally blackened lips, eyes wide as saucers as she bolted uprigh from her light slumber. There was no mistaking the intense feeling that shot through her body like white lightning. Taigoshin's power level had taken such a sudden, rapid nosedive that it was no wonder she had been pulled abruptly from the land of nightmares.

"Wh-?! Taigoshin...no!" she quickly heaved herself free of the crimson tendrils binding her to her throne, running at full force towards the large crystal ball set attop a stone pillar in the centre of the great hall, her blue-tinged ebony hair billowing out behind her.
Placing her palms flat against the smooth, transulent red sphere, she called upon the signal of the power crystal she had implanted in the Overfiend's skull so many years ago. Time and time again, she searched for the little beacon, only to be rewarded with white noise, the soft crackle of static reverberating throughout the dark marble archways.

"He...he can't be dead..! NO! I refuse to believe it!" she gasped out loud, brows furrowing darkly beneath the black latex mask worn over her chiselled skull. With a growl of pure agitation, she flung the crystal ball with a fury to one side, smashing it into a million tiny red fragments as it unceromoniously kissed the blackened floor.

"MY LIEGE! The troopssss anxiousssly await your ordersss!" Abunai gasped, running full speed into the dark throne room and almost skidding into the mess of broken crystal shards. Eyes blazing with raw fury, Pandora could only nod as she took the checklist from her henchman, glancing half-heartedly at the data before her as the room around her dissolved into lush blue grass, the sky above streaked with orange and crimson, as though antisipating the blood that was about to be shed.

She was now standing at the height of a steep hilltop, the city of glistening crystal palaces and bejeweled pagodas glinting omniously in the dying light, a ghostly breeze sending up gusts of sakura blossoms, the pale pink petals dancing eerily as the air buzzed with electricity.
A little further down the hillside, a vast army of about ten thousand Kurai warriors lay in wait, hissing and spitting to each other in impatience, itching to wreak havoc, chaos and distruction upon the imperial city.
Among the sea of pitch black, spike-covered armour, several peeved warriors began to bang their energy spears into the hard blue ground, chanting furiously in Kuraian as soon, the entire army followed suite, cackling and heckling each other on, the war cries echoing in the approching night.

"ENOUGH!!" Pandora shrieked.

The dark army immidiatly fell silent.

"Listen you, you pathetic little maggots! Tonight, we rise up to reclaim that which is rightfully ours: Honour, respect, reverence and admiration!!" she continued, raising an onyx-hilted sword high above her head as the dark warriors cheered and wooped.

"Go forth, my minions! Raise hell!"

A devious smirk etched it's way across the Dark Lady's face, fanged teeth glinting in the semi-darkness as she watched with relish her army storm the imperial city of Gai Iri, the sounds of screaming children and thundering explosions music to her pointed ears...




Taigo's ears pricked up, eyes wide with alarm as he felt the unmistakable stab of darkness resonate in his heart. He groaned, moving one spindly hand to grasp his chest, face fixed with a look of mixed fear and pain.
Pandora's powers were drawing close, he knew...she was planning something big..something so aweful it made his very soul quiver in fear.
The barb wire around the silver haired man's heart clenched tighter, almost robbing him of breath...but he knew she could never truely touch him again, not after the cursed jewel had been removed from his aching skull...yet why did he feel what she felt?

Feel her rage as her hold upon him weakened? Feel her sadistic pleasure at the thought of killing the god-child? Feel the intense uphoria of a general commanding a vast army? All these waves of emotion seemed to melt into one, churning like acid in his belly, threatening to creep up his throat and burn him through.
Taigo struggled to supress these feelings, eyes clenching shut as his fist clawed his heart. It felt fit to explode at the rate it was beating, pounding hard against his ribcage, so fast it was that his breath became even raspier..

"Are-are you alright?" her small, meek voice broke through the acid wave, sending him back to the land of consciousness and easing the cutting pull of barbed wire on his heart. Slowly, the silver haired man-beast opened his sapphire eyes, met with a pair of deep emerald, filled with fear and an odd sense of wonder.
He looked at the girl for a moment, not truely regiestering her question as he moved his free hand to run through his hair, forcing a look of dubiousness across his pouting, blue-tinged lips.

"Hrmmph..I don't need you to worry for my sake, woman..I am perfectly fine, if you must know." he said with a sneer, yet his porcelean white cheeks flushed pale pink with the slightest hint of bashfulness for displaying his inner turmoil.

Shasta frowned, getting steadily to her feet from where she had fainted against the tatami mats and resting herself on the end of the futon.
"You don't look like it....looks like you just had a heart attack."

"If I wanted your opinon, I'd have beaten it out of you by now. I am thankful for your hospitality and for easing the wounds on my head, but don't think I'll suddenly turn into Prince Charming, for you are most sadly mistaken." Taigo let an indignent snort escape his flared nostrils, yet inwardly he kicked himself. This girl had virtually save his life and he was acting as though she was a lowly courtisane...still, as friendly as she seemed, he could'nt let his guard down...not yet..not when his powers were so drained..

"I was'nt thinking that. What I WAS thinking is how the heck does a tiger transform into a grown man?" Shasta queried, dismissing his snide comments with a casual wave of the hand. Badero, who was watching this curious exchange from the silent shadows of the doorway, nodded feverishly as he lit up one of his fine Havana cigars, hands pale and shaking as he did so.

"This is some serious Freddy Kruger shit right here!" he said, about two octaves higher than normal, face pale and devoid of colour but for a frightened grey tinge beneath the mess of tangled dreadlocks and curls that framed his stubbly face.
Taigo blinked, not entirely sure what the hairy man ment, but smirked all the same as he leap gracefully from the futon, reverting to his tiger form in midair with a sudden second wave of strenght.

"Well, " the tiger spoke with the same arrogent, regal tones; "..for starts, I am not any ordinary man-"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Badero exclaimed, pale face glinting in the light of his cigar.

"You will not speak unless spoken to!" Taigo hissed through a mouthful of death-spewing, needle-sharp fangs, icy blue eyes fixed upon the trembling Mexican as if he was a rare, succulent piece of steak.
Badero nodded, exhaling a large grey cloud of cigar smoke as he slid down the wall, practically wetting himself with fear.

Shasta, on the other hand, meerly folded her arms over her blood-smeared chest-still trickling crimson from where Taigo had accidently slashed her-and frowned some more, her arched eyebrow perfectly mimicking the warning expression of her mother.
"What gives YOU the right to tell him what he can and can't do, furball?"

Rounding himself on the tender pads of his paws, Taigo reverted back to his human form and sat crouched before the young pink-head, licking his lips provocatively and smirking all the while. It was here Shasta noticed the pointed canines that only just curled over his bottom lips, giving him an almost vampyric air when teamed with his pale skin and elven physique.

She felt a momentary chill rush through her body, but her inner fire quickly countered the fear as she stared with fiery intensity into the man-beast's eyes.
Taigo noticably jumped at this, feeling the electricity pulsate from her emerald pupils. He had seen those eyes before only once...on a woman he thought he once knew..
So this is the god-child... he thought to himself, feeling morbid curiousity wash over him; ...I don't see why Pandora would wish death upon her.. she's as threatening as a limabean! Still, he would not let down his guard. Prehaps if she were provoked, her true powers might bubble to the surface and right now, all Taigo wished was for one night of peaceful sleep..

"What ARE you, anyways?" she queried to him, snapping the silver haired man-beast from his train of thoughts. Blinking, he stood up, his veil of rich silver hair falling poker straight past his ankles and effectively concealing his modesty as he saw the young girl flush pink in the cheeks.

"I am the Overfiend." he said simply, only to facefault at the utter cluelessness etched upon his ward's faces.

Urgh...curse these idiotic mortals! he thought in annoyence; Do they know ANYTHING?!
With a deep sigh, he sat down on the futon and ran a hand once more through his head, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"If you must know, I am the prince of the Man-Beasts, the ruler of all animal life upon Earth. I am the god of whom the animals seek to worship, the savior of those who walk on four legs, of those who see with eight eyes...of those who live in fear of man and his silver bullets." he explained in an impatient tone, sighing once again as Shasta and Badero blinked in confusion, glancing between themselves, uncertain of what to believe.

"My name is Great Overfiend Of The Man-Beasts Prince Taigoshin Rouruni Shigeta, but I choose to denouce my royal title. YOU;" he inclined his head to Shasta, who jumped slightly in alarm; "...are permitted to call me by the name of Taigo."

"Wh-what about me, uh...your majesty?" Badero crocked through neurotic puffs of cigar smoke, eyes wide and bleary beneath the sea of ebony black tangles.

Taigo snorted, as though the raven haired man was some vile substence found on the bottom of his foot.
"I care not for what you call me, human...so long as you do not refer to me as royalty. My bloodline is not one I am particularly proud of, but I do not wish to speak of the matter tonight-"

"Well, my name is Shastania, queen of the dust bunnies!" Shasta interupted, mocking Taigo's pompous tone of voice as she held her head high, looking down the end of her button nose at the unamused man-beast; "but you may address me as Shasta, oh WISE Overfiend Taigo!"

The silver haired man-beast growled ferally, brows furrowing so darkly they almost threatened to shield his icy blue eyes. Inching slowly towards the young girl, he glared at her with lightning in his eyes and a twisted smirk upon his face.
"My dear, are you mocking me?" he said, calm and collected as though he was discussing the weather. Feeling brave, Shasta nodded, brow arching even more as the arrogent prince stalked towards her.

"What of it? You may be a prince in your own screwy little world, but in this room, in this house, you're in my world now."


The man-beast smirked at the god-child. He could already tell this was to be the start of a beautiful friendship...


Tanaka could hardly believe what he was witnessing. A great mass of shadowed figures had descended from attop the hills surrounding the imperial city, washing over the crystal buildings like a tsunami of carnage, chaos and destruction. The Kurai had appeared from no-where, like some shapeless black mass of mayhem that was currently raping, plundering and pilaging the once peaceful city at every corner.
The Godlike Overmind had been expecting an attack like this, but nothing could've prepared him for the sheer magnitude of the destruction.

Houses were reduced to meer rubble as energy blasts richoetted off the crystal defense barrier, a galaxy of colour balls exploding in clouds of dust and shrapnel that obscured the starry night sky. Women screamed in pure agony as the shapeless masses wound like barbed vines over their writhing, naked bodies, invading every oriface with such fierocity that several, as Tanaka was forced to witness, literally snapped in half at the waist from the sheer power of the Kurai's shadowed tentacles.

Blood flowed as smoothly as water from the drain pipes. It splattered the few remaining walls of the city, congealing and burning with a foul, repungent scent in the heat of the many fires that now scorched the crystal horizon.
In the midst of all the panic stood Pandora, a figure of pure evil attop the highest tower of obsideon stone in her scandalously low-cut PVC leotard and thigh high boots, an onyx hilted sword in one hand, a whip in the other and a look of pure, sadistic pleasure etched upon her face, partically concealed by a spiderweb-style latex mask that covered all but her nose, mouth and chin, eyes blazing through the wide eye-holes as she surveyed the fruits of her army's wrath.

((A/N: Imagine Catwoman's mask in 'Batmain Returns' only with a high ponytail poking out the back and you've got a good idea.. ^^ ;))

"I knew from the off that you would be fit to betray us, you accursed woman!!" Tanaka screamed over the sounds of panic around him, flying up to the tower where his enemie now stood, sword in it's hip halster and whip curled around one gauntlet-covered arm as she folded them over her impressive cleavage, head cocked to one side and eyebrows arched beneath the spiderweb mask.

"Yeah, and your point being?" Pandora retorted in a dubious tone of voice as she uncurled her whip from around one toned arm, a smirk crossing her lips.

"You will pay dearly for your crimes! Even if it takes my last breath, I will see to it!" Tanaka yelled back, conjuring up a sphere of blood-red energy in his right hand, the glow from the fiery ball iluminating his dark features, fixed with the most cutting glare known to man. It did nothing to sway the Dark Lady, however, who meerly chuckled and and brushed a hand casually against the air as though brushing away some invisable bug.

"Now, if I had a penny for every advisery I've killed after being read the ol' 'I will kill you or die trying' lines, I'd have a shitload of pennies. Please, Tanaka. don't insult my superiority by sprouting futile cliches!" she chuckled mirthfully, eyes narrowing as the crimson sphere in the raven haired Overmind's hand began to swell in magnitude, little white sparks of electricity cackling across the surface. Similarly, the glare on his face seemed to deepen even more, jaw jutting out in a way that suggested he was struggling to keep from spitting bile.

"SILENCE, YOU WHORE OF CORRUPTION!" he screamed, loud enough to wake the dead, his rage flaring so brightly that several stars in the sky above went out abruptly, having imploded far off in the galaxy with the god of god's furious wrath.

With one swift flick of the wrist, he fired his crimson energy sphere, throwing it like a bowling ball of sheer red death at the PVC clad goddess of death, who meerly stood smirking before him, paying no mind to the energy sphere hurdling rapidly towards her. Just as the orb was about to make contact with her abdomen, however, instead of exploding on impact, it richoeted off a black energy sheild that Pandora had summoned in the nick of time.

Ducking to one side, Tanaka could only watch as the red sphere flew back at him, overshot the target and crashed into the city centre, exploding with the force of an atomic bomb and leaving a huge, smoking crater where there once stood a neighbourhood of fourty little stone huts.

"Grrr....A momentary lapse....I should've known you'd defend with a dirty trick like that.."Tanaka grunted angerily, glaring daggers at the woman encased in a black shield before him, laughing as though she'd just been tickled pink by a thousand invisable feathers.Unable to stiffle the ensuring giggles, Pandora disintergrated her sheild and pulled her sword from the scabbord on her hip.

It glinted softly in the light of the many towering infernos dotted around the city, something red and congealed visable on the three foot blade.
"I must admit, though..you put on a better show than your little girlfriend...oh, boy, was SHE pathetic...barely threw a punch before my blade married her gut.." the raven haired Dark Lady mused, as casually as though talking about the weather.

Tanaka's left eyebrow twitched in unfathomable rage. He had always suspected the identity of the killer, but now his fears were proven. Pandora had slayed the goddess of the sun as coldly and as brutally as though she were nothing more than a lowly wild boar. And she felt not a shred of remorse for her actions... if anything, she felt glee and mirth, taking delight in the obvious pain etched across the Overmind's face.

Pandora noticed that little twitch of the eyebrow, her face lighting up in sadistic delight.

"Ooooh, did I touch a neeerve?" she cooed in a mocking tone, enjoying the the look of pure venom she recieved; "...That's right, Tanaka. I killed Arailani. And now I'm going to kill you. But unlike Arailani, your death will not be quick and painless...oh-ho! Quite the contrauary! I am going to bleed you like a pig and when I do, I will stand over your pathetic waste of a body and I will laugh...laugh, Tanaka...like you laughed at me behind my back for so many years!"

And with that, Pandora striked, the blade of her sword glowing bluish black as she began to aim a series of furious slashes upon the Overmind, who countered with his hands and wrists, firing sharp beams of red energy from his fingertips as she sliced his face, arms, chest and torso with reckless abandon.
"ARGH!" Tanaka grunted as he felt the sharp stab of cold steel rip through his left eye socket. All at once, an explosion of deep crimson clouded his vision, temporarily blinding him.

"An eye for an eye, eh? Mwahahahaha!" Pandora cackled somewhere above him, a loud crack resonating in his ears as he felt something hot and leathery wind around his neck.

"NRGH! You ...BITCH!" he choked out, hands blindly groping for the whip that wound tightly against his windpipe, strangling him of air and leaving an ugly, red welk upon the olive skin of his neck.

"Sticks and stones may.....provoke a quirk of an eyebrow from me, but words, my dear Overmind, will NEVER hurt me." the raven haired Dark Lady purred with a smirk, leaning in to lap at the blood oozing from the Overmind's wounded eye-socket with one snake-like forked tongue.

Tanaka grimaced at the sensation, but stood his ground. His hands moved to summon another energy ball, but he found to his horror, his wrists were bound by something cold and writhing, covered in a number of razor-sharp barbs that dug deep into his skin with each fruitless struggle.
"Tell me why..! Tell me why you're doing this!!" he screamed, blinking furiously through the steady gush of blood oozing from his left eye socket.

One of Pandora's hands gripped him by the hair, yanking his head up hard enough to give him whiplash and to yank out several large chunks of deep ebony black.

"Do you REALLY think I'd tell you, you pathetic excuse for an Overmind?" she snarled, iy blue eyes blazing with raw fury as she stared hard into the face of the man who had opposed her for so many years, the man who had looked down upon her at every oppertunity, the symbol of all that was wrong and corrupt in her twisted little world.
"Mmm....well, you're going to die anyways, so I suppose there's no harm in devulging my plans, knowing you will take them to the grave.." she continued, yanking the whip hard and causing blood to splash from Tanaka's mouth as he coughed violently.

Seizing her oppertunity, Pandora grabbed him hard around the throat and produced a vial of honey-coloured translucent goo, flicking the cork out with her thumb and pouring the entire contents down his protesting neck. As soon as the Duybya Elixer touched his lips, she felt it again.
That same surge of power she'd felt when she touched the stone containing the god-child. A wave of intense uphoria washed over her body, Tanaka's raw power pulsating through her body like white lightning, sending shivers of pure ecstasy rocketing up her spine.

"Y-y-yesss...give me your succulent energy.." she growled throatily, biting her bottom lip as the sensations became almost too much to bare. It was as though her very skin was on fire, her organs turned to ice and her soul caught somewhere inbetween. It was like the most intense orgasm she'd ever experienced in her life multiplyed by a thousand, a film of cold sweat breaking beneath the scraps of PVC that only just concealed what little modesty she posessed.

With a shudder, Tanaka slumped against his restraints, feeling weak and drained, glaring up feebly at his enemy with his one remaining eye.
"You....you...evil.." he gurgled through mouthfuls of blood, nose crinkled in disgust. Opening her eyes from where she'd clenched them shut against the sheer pleasure ricocheting through her body, Pandora smirked meniacally, her once icy blue eyes glowing a pupil-less crimson, her aura turning blood red with the new power jolting up and down her spine.

"Ahh.. yes...my plans.... what to tell you, dearest Tanaka, that you do not already suspect? Yes, I intend to steal the essence of every immortal soul on this godforsaken planet. Yes, I intend on enslaving those wretched souls as my Kurai warriors...and yes...yes, Tanaka..." she moved to lick away the last of the blood around his eye socket; "..I plan to do the same to those pathetic little Earthlings you hold so dear. So, now that you are about to send my plans to the grave, do you have any last words before I obliverate you? Hmm?"

"Pandora..." Tanaka's voice was small and feeble, but it still held the fierce determination of old, his eyes still blazing with the inmistakable fury that made him both loved and feared among the Counsill; ".....Take a CHILL PILL!" he screamed the end of his sentence, the last of his strenght channeling into a bright blue glow that radiated from his dying being, catching the Dark Lady off guard as the light encased her, wrapping around her like a transparent blue net.

"Whu-what?! WHAAAAT?!" she screamed in alarm, only to be silenced as a golden tentacle snaked around her neck, effectively gagging her, the same going for her arms and legs. At once, the blue light crystalized to form what appeared to be a gigantic, jagged blue ice-cube, it's prisoner wide-eyed and screaming against her restraints as the crystal began to rise upwards, aimed towards the starry sky above.

"An icy tomb...fitting for an icy queen.." Tanaka crocked faintly before, with his last drop of strenght, he send the crystal rocketting off into the dark abyss of space, slumping against the domed rooftop as all around, Gaia Iri burned bright in the night...



Cerberus grimaced at the sound of a shrill scream reverberating through his three skulls. He knew very well what it ment- Pandora's siege had back fired and now she was paying dearly for her critical error. With a low growl, he lept from his post near the imperial palace walls, three sets of amber eyes blazing with raw fury as he ran swiftly through the burning city, following the fading trail of his mistress's scent.

"Mistress, you have failed.." he thought outloud with a low growl, coming to a rest at the edge of the dense forest surrounding the once rich and prospering city.

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!" the Dark Lady shrilled back, her raw fury enough to send the fierce devil dog cowering in fear. He mumbled an appology and sat down against the blood-soaked grass, eyes fixed on the sky above, black as osideon stone and sparkling with distent stars.

"What is there left to do? Tanaka has already seen to it that pay for your crimes...but there is still so much left-"

"Enough, Cerberus! We resort to plan B!"

A/N : ^ ^; Ya, I know..I suck Donkey Kong's big hairy balls when it comes to writing about battles, but I tried-oh Lard, how I tried- so please be gentle!
And don't worry, folks! Pandora's part has'nt been played out just yet! Things are about to hot up..in more ways than one! ^_~
In the meantime, keep reading and remember: Don't eat yellow snow!!
Untill next chapter, adios! ^_~ -m/

~*Shasta*~
25/08/05






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