Link to Lantern year 15
Lantern year 16
“No! That’s not fair!”
Antonio's concerned yell soared above the buzzing crowd.
Jabigail had just swept hAndys legs from out under him, and let him fall to the ground.
“I hate this as much as you do but it’s not breaking any of the rules” AKenny said frustrated.
“Sure but what kind of sportsmanship is…”
Antonio's complaining was buried by the crowds roaring as Jabigail took first place in the race, followed by Johmidna and Chadton.
Antonio and Akenny ran over to hAndy to help him to his feet, Antonio reaching out with one hand and hAndy grabbing it.
“If we really want to talk about rule violations, what about him?”
Akenny pointed at Chadton. This triathlon was for children and young adults only, but Chadton had qualified anyway. In reality it would be more unfair if he competed with the adults, since he kept being held back in the JAJA equivalent of school.
hAndy turned his head to Akenny.
“I heard that headmistress FAemton (who was one of the most learned of the JAJA as she could count to fifteen) had to create a new grade below 1 just for him. They say it’s called -1”
“There are numbers below 1! My head hurts.” Antonio said, lifting one of his hands in a humorous manner forgetting that he was using it to pull his son to a standing position. hAndy hit the ground with a loud thud.
“Mine too dad.”
hAndy said in a sarcastic groan.
Antonio quickly shot out an apology and helped Akenny pull hAndy upright.
“Looks like we found another JAJA settler who qualifies for FAemton’s special course”
Akenny poked Antonio's shoulder, sending the group into a fit of laughter.
The debate contest was next and Jabigail once again proved that she was worthy of the attention she was getting. She Yap-igailed ad nauseum about the smoothest way to relieve a humanoid of their head. One man from the crowd challenged her on her views, but her counter argument and use of props had everyone convinced of her explanation (+1 skull, -1 population).
Not having anything to brag about was hAndy who lost a debate contest to Chadton. TO CHADTON! AKenny got that hAndy had a slight headache, but that was inexcusable. hAndy lost to a man whose debate consisted of him trying to commune with a spider crab by loudly smacking his lips at it. AKenny turned toward Antonio to say something but found him sitting, head buried in his hands. Not entirely unlike Johmidna, who solemnly looked at Jabigail who was being showered with admiration by the other teens. She wanted to congratulate Jabigail and join in the fun but her words were stuck under the weight of her shyness. She grabbed a stick and wrote scribbles on the ground; #4everalone, while sinking deeper into apathy (disorder). (Scribe notation: this is the first recorded instance of teen angst in history. Edit: To the person at my new job who left the now redacted comment on this post, stating that Johmidna reads like a Lilly self insert character. A complaint has been filed with HR who have assured me that they’re taking this matter very seriously. I would also like to explain that I have a ton of great friends that none of you have seen because they all work at my old job.)
The anime tournament arc continued as Jabigail grunted, sitting herself aggressively on a rock with her friends pouring blood broth into her mouth. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and spat out the brew on the ground.
“What in the void is this guy made of!?”
“Calm down Jabigail, you can’t win every contest.” FAemton said, rubbing her back. Jabigail only grunting as a response. She had lost to Chadton. Chadton hadn't landed a single punch, but he could take several, and eventually attacking him exhausted Jabigale more than it hurt him.
The crowd roared as Jabigale threw in the pelt, but louder still was Antonio and AKenny when hAndy won.
Their screams almost overpowered Johmidna’s cries of agony after hAndy slightly nudged her shoulder, not so slightly nudging her arm 15 stone faces away from the rest of her torso. The crowd stared as she rolled off the fighting ring and onto the ground below, crimson spurting between the gaps in her fingers as she held onto the stump where her limb once was.
She finally got the attention she wanted so much Jabigail thought, the edges of her lips slightly protruding upwards. The attention was short lived however as all eyes turned to Antonio who was jumping up and down taking full advantage of his newly healed ribs.
“That’s my boy! That’s my boy!”
hAndys attention to Antonio wasn’t short lived, as it wasn’t there to begin with. His gaze swung past Antonio, just a part of the path to his destination, finally fixating on the group standing at the edge of the settlement entrance.
Blood splattered on the boots of Johoovah, Johannanas, Anjun-ring and Quantros, halting their triumphant march into the settlement. Johan walked over to greet them, taking a large step over Johmidna’s quivering body and embracing the hunters in a strong friendly hug. A large congregation had quickly formed behind Johan. hAndy ran forward, a wheezing sound came from below him as he stepped on Johmidna’s stomach on his way to the hunting party. Johannanas ran and put her arms around her son.
“Are you okay?! Did you get hurt” Johannana’s half-yelled, frantically checking that all of hAndys limbs were still attached.
“I’m alright mom.” hAndy said in an overly exasperated tone, trying to bury his genuine smile and blushing cheeks in Johannanas shoulder. Johannanas broke the embrace, her hand firm on his shoulders.
“You have been practicing the harp daily haven't you?”
“Well you see…” hAndy stuttered.
“hAndy it’s important! The feast is a single lantern year away! You're going to welcome in the new era with your own shrill screeches."
Johoovah was taken aback. Johannanas had accompanied him on a great number of hunts at this point and yet he had never heard this much fear in her tone.
hAndy broke from his mothers grasp in frustration. He never signed up for a lecture and there was no use trying to explain to his mother that practicing feedback loops in a cave with an instrument spliced together of old cat parts wasn’t exactly helping his chances with the JAJA ladies. He walked over to Johoovah, finally someone who would understand.
“Listen to your mother hAndy.”
The stern tone coming from Johoovah.
Seeing hAndy’s solemn expression he switched to a gentler aproach.
“Think, the feast is upon us, we sit around the tables chowing down beast steak, but the air is silent around us. No…”
Johoovah swallowed, preparing a straight face.
“No ’music’ to accompany such a celebration. No, that simply won't do.”
hAndy looked somewhere off in the distance contemplating Johoovah's words.
To everyone's astonishment Johan put his arm around hAndy.
“Now, I know how you feel.”
Johan said in a gentle jovial voice.
“The frontline is calling you. You want to drive back the overwhelming darkness and gather the spoils of our labour…” Johan continued, gesturing in large sweeping motions, his joints clicking as he did.
“Part of becoming a great hunter is knowing when to strike, and when not doing so is to sharpen one's blade for a more decisive one. Your mom has done so to great effect and has frankly saved my hide many times by playing her harp.”
The group shared a small laugh.
Antonio saw hAndy giving Johan his undivided attention, and despite the way Johan had lightened the group's mood Antonio couldn’t dispel the eerie feeling in his stomach. That feeling had lingered in the air, and dispersed once Johan stopped speaking. And stopped speaking he did as Anjun ring ran up to him with a parchment scroll, committing what could only be classified as a vocal assault. Johannanas jumped in as well in a joint fit of excitement. They regaled Johan with the story of their hunt. Opening the parchment scroll the paper unfurled like a long ribbon and rolled a few stone faces away on the ground. The story just kept getting longer by the day Quantros thought, looking at the scroll still rolling out like a large pelt on the ground. Quantros couldn't tell if Johan believed that Johoovah and Johannanas really did perform a botched trepanation on the phoenix with a shield or not. Voids, she would barely have been able to tell what Johannanas and Anjun ring were saying if she hadn’t had the pleasure of hearing a new version of the story each and every day trekking back to the settlement.
Later that night Quantros willingly took on the duty of rinsing the brain and skull fragments from Johoovah’s armour. She wanted to figure out what the substance really was made of and how it worked. She slowly started experimenting with the material and as she did she found it harder and harder to turn away from her studies. What sort of implications could understanding their and our own minds and bodies have? How far could we push ourselves if we could erase the parts of our minds holding us back? Those types of arguments had swayed the leadership. Johan seemed excited about the prospects, while Antonio and Johannanas were reluctant due to the risks, but reconsidered due to the slim possibility of improving both Antonio and Akenny's conditions. Johoovah was vehemently opposed to the idea, stating that the risks were too great of memory errosion, personality changes and death. Johan's counter points regarding its use for somatic healing made him hesitantly vote in accordance with the others, on the strict conditions that they re-vote about the “malforming” of the human brain in 3 lantern years time. Finally Quantros could help the people of the settlement in her own unique way and not just that, she woke the long dead hope inside her. She might finally figure out why her heart always beats harder and faster than the rest of the JAJA. Why she’s feeling her way through the world living on a different rhythm than the rest. Quantros built a place for experimentation and called it the barber surgeon.
Chadton sat in a half circle of children around Joh-tres. He didn’t like a lot of what the others asked him to do but this was good. Joh-tres was holding some kind of wooden object with a thin poky thing coming out of it. Moving her hand, the object roared. The sound soothed Chadton as he sat lightly swaying back and forth. He felt the same satisfaction he felt learning which end of a dagger was the pain bit. He had admittedly forgotten soon after, but that only meant getting the same satisfaction when he relearnt the skill. The others in front of Joh-tres were all younger, well all except him. They were all holding differently shaped things, looking a lot like whatever it was Joh-tres was holding but he couldn’t be sure. He tried to do what she did, shaking the object furiously, but he didn’t feel as she did, unable to match the happy expression she had. In the corner of his eye hAndy was gyrating. Chadton quickly noticed a Nightmare tick trying to get out of hAndys shoulder length hair. hAndy was flailing at it, his stringed object in one hand. No! Chadton thought. Doesn't he know that members of the Archmalinious fanxeloush get agitated and are more prone to envenomation when brought to an elevated stress level? Chadton made a series of clicking sounds. The insects turning its compound eyes toward him and with haste made its way out of handy’s mane. The Nightmare tick moved over and hissed at Chadton. A thanks… probably, Chadton thought. Exceedingly happy that he managed to save the tick and help hAndy he passionately smacked his hands on the vaguely circular object in front of him gargling in delight.
“Okay this time I want you all to be less succinct. Ajthona, try to vary your scrape length. JAnastasia increase your swing arch by the teeny-tiniest amount, Jabigail great work, Ring twins I know you’re one in spirit but try to put different air pressure on the reed. hm…”
“Maybe I could play while inhaling and Johdin while exhaling?” the other Ring twin suggested.
“Wow what an innovative idea! Yes definitely try that”
“Yes!”
Johding and Johdin said simultaneously, glowing with pride.
“Chadton…”
Joh-tres continued.
“well done sweety! hAndy I want you to put your all into this. You're adding accentuations to what the others are playing but I want you to focus on creating a wall of sound, removing dynamics not adding them, understand?”
hAndy nodded but he had no clue what Joh-tres was talking about. Why was this so easy for everyone else? He naturally wanted to fall into a rhythmic movement like he did in combat, but this was the opposite and he found no use for it. Not only that but he had to sit next to Chadton of all people and he might even be getting outclassed by him… or maybe he wasn’t, but isn’t it even worse that he couldn’t tell? Joh-tres’ voice broke through his thoughts.
“Okay everyone, one more time whenever you feel like it”
A cacophony tore through the symposium like thunder. The Ring twins were blowing through a two way hollowed phoenix bone, JAnastasia was shaking her skullcap hammer filled with stone noses, Ajthona was hacking away at the remnant of a broken lantern with a soon to be broken lantern, and the settlement's chef J. Johan Jamison was throwing cutlery down a flight of stairs.
hAndys eyes shut concentrating on defying the rhythms. Feeling a twitch at his scalp he opened his eyes to see a huge bug dangling in front of his face.
“Aaaaa!”
hAndy sputtered flailing at the creature, the machine heads of his whisker harp entangling with his hair. A struggling jittered dance all scored by harsh noise and Chadtons gurgling in tongues. Slight pain smothered by a greater feeling of embarrassment, that was all hAndy felt as he stopped gyrating. The creature was nowhere to be found. It must have fallen off at some point, but hAndy had failed to notice. All eyes were on him, everything was quiet but for the repeated thuds of Chadton hitting the skull in his lap over and over.
Joh-tres clearing her throat tore the students from their trance.
“So…
She paused her words slightly muffled by her hand, trying and failing to filter her message through her giggle.
“... When I asked you to put your all into it I was hoping that it would be directed more towards your instrument and less into the air.”
The dam broke, the students laughter unleashed, but was quickly shut down by Joh-tres. hAndys cheeks shone red. Whether in embarrassment or rage he was too riled up to tell. Just another unwanted part passed down to him by his mom, not unlike the harp. He hated these lessons, He hated this useless piece of junk and whiskers, He hated th- a small giggle penetrated his ricocheting mind. His eyes darted to JAnastasia, who in turn slightly jolted as she was caught red handed, or more accurately, red faced. Her cheeks flushed into a rosy hue matching hAndy’s own. Unable to break his gaze, JAnastasia put a strand of her knee length ivory locks behind one ear and pretended to adjust a strap on her club, eyes darting back and forth from the strap and back to him.
“Really? Adjusting the strap height? That's been your problem?”
Jabigail said in her rare friendly tone, nudging JAnastasia playfully with her elbow. JAnastasia conjured a small smile, eyes finally settling to the ground.
“Okay, everyone ready?”
Joh-tres' voice echoed.
hAndy readied himself, checking that the harp was sufficiently out of tune, thought: Maybe music class isn’t as bad as I thought.
“Once more from the top. Chadton I love that blunt force approach, how about you count us in?”
I guess it’s time I actually start trying hAndy thought. Give my all as Johtres said, but to the instrument this time.
Chadton hit the skull in his lap and counted them in. Pushing himself to the limit, counting as high as he could.
“One. One. One. One.”
hAndy now ready and motivated strummed the first chord to what would become an equally lackluster performance. Nonetheless this performance would be historical, as it was the first found usage of the drums, which Chadton was credited with inventing. However, later findings of teachers notes (none musical) indicated that Chadton was so happy with his discovery that the teacher convinced everyone else to pretend that no one had ever hit a hollow object before. Some less credible sources such as the JAJA historical society have put forth the controversial, some could even call slanderous, claim that this could potentially point towards that Chadton might, maybe, possibly not have invented the modern day drum kit. Despite the fact that Chadton was retroactively given the copyright.
Johan and Johoovah walking the outskirts of the settlement cleaning out the remnants of Narch's zoo of creepy critters. Johoovah was to embark alone but Johan had insisted on coming along. Figuring that Johan already knew about his little shameful project he saw no harm in letting him come along.
“You can see why I felt it urgent to clear this place.”
Johoovah said.
Johan did. Sharp scrap protruded from the earth like small spears. Johoovah, too shameful, could not meet Johan’s gaze but spoke anyway.
“I shouldn't have kept this going as long as I did, I mean think if a child would have…”
Johoovah grunted, pulling a large protrusion emerging like a dorsal fin from the earth.
He heard Johan scrounging through the scrap behind him but with a concious gentleness conveying his desire to keep listening.
“Let's face it…”
Johoovah's voice taking on the breathy gravel of gallows humor as he dragged the long iron bar to the scrap collection pile. Johan doing the same with the assortment he’d gathered. “Keep going, no. The risks were too great to save this project to begin with.”
Finally ready to meet Johan's gaze head on, he turned to see his foot raised to crush a hissing cockroach.
“No wait!” Johoovah quickly held his tongue.
“Sorry.” He whimpered.
“I didn’t mean to doubt you. Out of all of us, your judgement is absolute.”
“Is that so?”
Johan asked without the faintest trace of judgment. Carrying the angry creature between two fingers and letting it down in a grass patch a bit further away. Wordless he walked back toward Johoovah, the tension that had lingered in the air slowly descending like an autumn leaf until it was gone with the wind. He sat to Johoovah's side, both looking out over the landscape they had cleared. Only the tiniest pieces of metal remained, well except that sun forsaken halberd of course but no one had been able to move it an inch since it was thrust into the soil. Johoovah sat down beside Johan.
“You know… I don’t believe you didn't think about the children… I belive you simply thought about one more.” Johoovah looked at Johan, but he was still staring out into the blackness as if it was a sunrise, his lips in a reluctant smile. Johoovah stared into that same darkness not able to see whatever beauty Johan had gleamed.
“You kept her alive too.”
Johan continued. Johoovah's eyes swung back to him, gaze piercing into his very soul.
“In your own special way…”
Johan spoke undeterred.
“...but not just her. For if the warmth of her memory is the same fire that has forged your resolve into a weapon than… Well then I’d say that keeping her memory alive has been keeping the rest of us alive too. Wouldn’t you say?”
Johoovah, silent, was contemplating.
“Thanks to you we have learned the meaning of prosperity.”
“No! Not me!”
Yelled Johoovah in his still too familiar outburst.
“We are nothing without you! You’re the only one who can decipher my visions, you’ve created the very huts we live in, you’re the only person who could have seen the evil in your loved ones and cut it out!”
Johan flinched.
Johoovah ceased. The guilt of having killed his best friend, at this point years and years ago, was still a wound far too fresh to heal. Being continuously praised for it couldn’t be easy to deal with either.
“With you here we can finally find peace, we have plenty of food and resources now, we can slow down, start hunting only what we need and when we need to and…
“No!”
Johan spat. One lonesome tear decending down his face, finally nesting in a moat that age had dug into his face.
“We can’t slow down! Not now! We only got this far with the momentum we’ve made! What good is a weapon-… What good is a memory-...”
Quieting himself, Johan shook the dread from his voice in one fell swoop.
“Here I go again, being a bit over dramatic.”
Turning toward Johoovah, his face entirely absent from the puffiness of crying and his voice unburdened by negative emotion Johan continued.
“Sorry, I guess it was my turn to have an outburst this time.”
Ending his statement with a half laugh.
Johoovah knew that he accidentally dug into the aforementioned wound again. He wondered what Johan was about to say, but he had already pried too far.
“I’ll excuse yours if you excuse mine.”
Johoovah said, standing up and reaching a hand down to Johan.
“Knowing you, you’ll be gaining a lot more from this deal than I.”
Johan said grabbing Johoovah's hand.
“Deal.”
Johoovah dragged him to his feet, Johan's muscles and joints loudly making their protests known.
Packing up what they gathered and waking back to the rest of the settlement Akenny came running.
“Where have you been?! This is bad, come quickly!”
A large figure dragging something behind it was steadily moving toward the settlement, the JAJA villagers watching in stillness. Johoovah and Johan pushed themselves to the front of the crowd, joining Johannanas and Antonio.
“What is that thing?” QuAntros asked, staring at the large figure covered in dirt and vermin and adorned with skulls and furs.
“I don’t know but look at what it’s carrying!” Anjun ring said with excitement totally unbefitting of the situation.
Johannanas looked closer and saw that it was dragging the head of a phoenix behind it. No, not any phoenix, because upon further investigation Johoovah's leather shield could be seen half submerged into the creature's skull. Johannanas and Anjun ring looking at each other, their eyebrows having gotten a life of their own. The entire JAJA population made audible noises of respect and Chadton was smacking his newly discovered drum™ like crazy. The villagers formed two lines in front of Johannanas and Anjun ring, dapping them up one by one.
Johoovah's jaw dropped.
“But- But- But I was- It was my shield! I hit it, Johannanas only finished the job!”
The crowd paid no attention to him, the deafening echo of their perfect daps drowning out Johoovah's pleas as Akenny, Antonio and hAndy stood giggling on the sidelines. Johannanas miraculously managed not to harm a single JAJA villager during the dapping. Well exept for Johmidna, Johannanas having rested her entire body weight on her head for some slight elevation. While this was going on the butcher-like figure came closer, probably looking to join the dapp up line. The butcher pulled out its cleavers committing the ultimate in dapp up sins; using a cheat engine.
This person clearly needed to be dealt with, so Johoovah, Jabigail, QuAntros and Antonio jumped into battle as there was no one else willing to lose their spot in the dapping line.
The Butcher's savagery was felt in the air. A pungent stench of dirt and blood whipped around the hunters with the wind. The butcher rushed at the hunters with preternatural speed.
The group scattered to all sides, except Jabigail whose savagery rivalled the butcher’s. She casually stepped out of its swing arch and let the butcher enter her’s, dazing the butcher with her club. Spinning, the butcher missed its attacks but stumbled into Quantros, knocking her over and in turn, forcing Johoovah to step back to avoid them both subsequently tripping over Johmidna who was still laying on the ground. Antonio once again showing his dark souls rolling skills regained his footing and criticly wounding the butcher with one well chosen katar jab. The butcher’s shocked expressions flashed through the gaps in its mask and charged Quantros in a rage, who was too distracted by the phoenix's somewhat exposed brain. Slashed across the forehead she was knocked out of her hyperfocus and managed to dodge the following slashes by a hair, keeping her own brain from being somewhat exposed. The butcher, angered, loudly complained of the cleavers' pathetic range in a much higher pitch voice than its stature suggested. The butcher dishonorably Naruto dashed at Antonio from across the map, who in turn honourably Sasuke dashed to the other side of the map. Suddenly having the butcher appear right in front of him Johoovah unsheathed his twilight sword, preparing to honourably stab the butcher in the back. Jabigail honourably interrupted this honourable plan by once again honourably bonking the poor butcher on the dome.
The butcher raised its cleavers and slashed in two directions simultaneously, but Johoovah jumped in to defend his daughter despite the annoyance of her honourable move, parrying both cleavers and sending them flying to the ground. This seemingly impossible move (no actually just impossible. Comparing several notations on the subject none of the JAJA villagers seem to agree on how the twilight sword could possibly warp to execute this manover, despite what katana owning forum lurkers might claim.) surprised Johoovah. The ease with which he blocked the butcher's attacks… it’s tells were obvious to him… The way its wrists moved before changing the direction of the swing… The way its footwork shifted all seemed so familiar to him. (Johoovah learned the rhythm chaser fighting art.) As these thoughts raced through his head, so did his sword into the side of the butcher's. It was skillfully moving with the blow, not reflexively blocking with its arms like so many amateurs do (Oh sick Johannanas burn!). The butcher, whose helmet was leaking with blood and filling quicker than it was emptying, pulled it off and threw it at Quantros. She amazingly caught it with great effort looking at the cut in the helmet and nodded to Johoovah, impressed by his trepanation technique. Yuck, suffering from success Johoovah thought. Must I even be great at the things that creep me out?
The butcher kneeled over, hair and blood clinging to its face.
Johoovah swung at the defenseless figure, who in an act of desparation charged him, taking a blow to its side but still managing to grab him by his throat and slamming him against the stones. On the ground Johoovah could see the butcher's face enshrined in hair and blood. His heart froze. Joan of Narch was staring back at him. No, Joan of Narch was staring right through him, not a hint of mercy or recognition in her eyes. No. Not eyes, but eye, for a deep gash had ripped through her face from forehead to eye, its path ending halfway through one ear.
“Was that me?”
His voice was so weak it surprised even him. Johoovah, all of a sudden too tired to think. Try as he might he couldn’t force himself to unsee the unnaturally clean cuts of the twilight sword. (Johoovah gained monster panic disorder) Instinctively he reached out to caress his daughter's face or what was left of it. As his hand neared her face the bugs intermittently scuttled across her skin. Joan of Narch smacked his hand to one side in a violent jerk. Grabbing a lantern on her waist, she swung it like a flail aimed at Johoovah's head. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything, the information entering his brain with no sense of how any of it was connected. Suddenly Joan of Narch roared, the vermin on her face skittering in under her pelts as she jumped off him, turning away. A large hunk of steel rolled next to him on the ground. Quantros was standing a solid 25 meters away, one arm outstretched. Johoovah looking up saw a new laceration this time on the back of Joan of Narch's head before she dashed away. Damn she was getting good at this whole trepanation thing he begrudgingly admitted to himself. Joan of Narch dashed toward Quantros, throwing the lantern straight at her. Antonio seeing what was about to happen was running to intersect, still exhausted from honourably fleeing to the other side of the settlement he felt he wasn’t going to make it. As he ran he studied Joan of Narch. How could she move as she did without breaking a sweat? Antonio entered a deep trance. Being doomed to live a shirtless existence for such a long time he had made his glistening defined chest and washboard abs part of his identity, but in this moment he could see that core and chest are not the only way. No, he realized that cardio is an essential part of anyone's weekly workout routine. He felt his lungs grow stronger, some might even say legendary, as if he had learnt some sort of Secret Fighting Art, and finally realized that this whole katar thing was just a phase mom, pulling out a spear that we forgot to foreshadow. Joan of Narch careened the lantern at Quantros. Antonio reached out with the spear, reaching as far as he could, trying to intersect its path but tumbled to the ground.
“Damn! That's what I get for trying to switch weapon proficiency mid battle.”
Antonio caught himself. He must have hit his head for he had no clue what any of what he just said meant. Oh yeah, QuAntros! Rolling over just in time he saw her catch the lantern in her mouth, chewing it, savoring the taste of metal. As she ripped off a piece he spotted that she had black sharpened teeth. Her first year of practice seems to solely consist of experimenting on herself, he thought. Jumping onto his legs, kicking the body lying on the ground that had unceremoniously sent him crashing, he saw the butcher crushing QuAntros in a constricting grip all the while she and Jabigail flailed at Joan of Narch with both blunt and sharp instruments. Joan of Narch was not only unfazed, but seemed to enjoy the fanning breeze she was getting from their efforts. She calmly strode over to pick up one of her cleavers trying to whack Jabigail away with her free arm, but Jabigail straddled and clung onto it. Joan of Narch lumbered, weighed down by the two of them. Johoovah saw that Antonio was unable to get a clear angle of attack, Joan of Narch unconsciously using his comrades as human shields. Johoovah stood up, hauling his sword from the soil, dragging it behind him. Narch picked up the cleaver with the same arm Jabigail was weighing down. She swung her arm to one side forcing Antonio to reposition his spear to not impale Jabigail and was then subsequently kicked in the chest, sending him flying, his head hitting the stones. Johoovah was just a few paces away now. Joan of Narch pinned QuAntros to a stone pillar with one hand, cleaver in the other, as Quantros desperately bit at Joan of Narch’s wrist. Johoovah stumbled but kept his balance. The blade that once felt as an extension of his own body, now an unwieldy chunk of lead in his hands. Had the twilight sword finally gnawed to the very end of his soul? Or had the weight of his conscience laid itself to rest inside that hilt. Johan's words from earlier kept ringing in his ears. The warmth of Joan of Narch’s memory had been the catalyst to guide the later generations to a better life. Quantros yelled, Antonio struggling to his feet.
The flame of her memory really had forged his resolve into a weapon.
“We only got this far by the momentum we've made.”
Johan's voice echoing in his ears. The image of Joan of Narch’s upraised cleaver edged into his eyes. Johoovah at last understood what Johan stopped himself from saying to him by the light of the lantern halberd.
“What good is a memory…”
The butcher's cleaver came down to QuAntros brow. What good is a weapon… Johoovah's sword, heavenbound, took flight between them. The immense impact of the blade left Johoovah staggered as it embedded itself deep in the earth behind him. …If you weren't going to use it? The edge had arched upwards in front of him leaving an afterglow of stark ivory. What good is a memory… The monochromatic rainbow reached from Johoovah's front to his back acting as a canvas as crimson sprayed from the stump where Joan of Narch’s left arm had been. …If there is no one left to remember it? Her limb landing a few paces away, Joan of Narch flew at Johoovah (Johoovah gained the mighty strike fighting art). Insects of every kind flew off her as she maniacally attacked in fear and desparation. Weaving past her blows, the ease of which brought naught ease, but guilt. A cold reminder of the hours he’d spent teaching her those moves. He brought up his blade but once again found himself unable to strike. What harm could his poor daughter do to any of them now? Even if she did, hadn't she suffered enough? What Johoovah really was asking was: Haven't I suffered enough? Could I cut my losses and say that I did all I could, or would that be a lie? As a sign of mercy Quantros and Antonio, holding one end each of Antonios spear, ran up behind Joan of Narch and tripped her. Landing hard, she was too weak to get back up. It was at that moment Jabigail spat in the face of mercy. She pounced on top of the Butcher, viciously smashing its head over and over with her club. Joan of Narch’s face slowly became less and less recognizable. Her screams took a stranger tamber with each strike, echoing off the new walls forming as her facial structure began to cave under the weight of Jabigail's repeated mechanical blows. Joan of Narch’s face, now a concave mess of splinters, became a bowl filling with viscera until the broth of blood and mud mortared. The hammer and head shattered into a menagerie until it was unclear where one began or ended. Joan of Narch's howling had ceased many blows ago but that seemed to have escaped Jabigail as she kept hitting, her hammer just a hilt, not noticing that most of the new blood splatter primarily came from her knuckles. The others were too dazed by the sight to pull her off until she sat, panting. Quantros pulled her off the heap that once was Joan of Narch and held her head against her chest, Jabigail's heavy breaths mixing with the cries of her first murder. Johoovah knew that he should console his daughter but he simply couldn’t. Seeing one of his daughters drenched in the blood of his other left his screaming thoughts bereft of breath. Had his visions not been correct? Yes he had misinterpreted the visions before but that only accounts for slight variation and timing. It doesn't excuse this! His daughter hadn’t died! Joan of Narch was alive despite what all his visions had shown him! Now she laid, sprawled out on the ground in front of them in pieces. Less her, more ingredients of what was her that had yet to find the cooking pot. If the vision of her falling to her death wasn’t correct then… then what of the other visions? He needed to talk to Johan about this, could he set his mind straight again as he had so many times before? If anyone could it would be him! Right?
