Asher's Futa Chronicles

***

Asher arrives just in time to be mistaken for someone else. But will it matter as she steps into the ring?

Meanwhile, Remmi needs a new alarm clock, because Shae sucks! (heh, get it...she sucks? Because she's a vampire? Well, I thought it was funny)

Enjoy!

***

Chapter 36

ASHER

"There you are!" a voice bellowed, waking me from the dreamlike state I'd been in since Celeste grabbed me. I wasn't sure how long I'd been like that, but it had been longer than a few moments.

"Huh?" I said intelligently, looking around. I was standing just outside the main gate of The Roadhouse with Cr'eon bearing down on me.

Several guards looked down at me from the walls above, their expressions unreadable.

Celeste stepped back from hugging me and looked around to see Cr'eon emerging from the main gate. When she saw the Daemon, her eyes went wide in surprise.

"We must hurry, you're late," Cr'eon said and nudged me rather forcefully away from The Roadhouse.

I instinctively fell into step with the Daemon as she made her way West.

"Where are we going?" I asked, glancing behind me and seeing Celeste following along with an excited expression.

"The dueling grounds," Cr'eon said and glanced at me. "Curious apparel choice," she said as we rounded the corner of The Roadhouse's wall.

My mouth fell open, robbing the words on my lips.

The forest was gone. Well, not gone, but burnt up. Instead of a lush green forest, I could see all the way to the Western plain where the airship had parked. The path of destruction was also as wide, effectively burning down all the forest to the West of The Roadhouse.

"Great mother," Celeste gasped from behind me when she saw the burn scar.

"Who's that?" Cr'eon asked, glancing back at Celeste.

"A new friend," I said, shaking myself from the shock of seeing the destroyed forest.

Cr'eon didn't reply as we made our way through the burnt landscape.

Where the airship had once sat on the ground, there was now a small army all decked out in yellow. I couldn't make out too many details as they were still a ways off.

I was just happy I'd made it home in time.

"Who did this?" Celeste asked.

"King Putner decided burning down the forest would make it easier for his army to capture The Roadhouse," Cr'eon said. "But he was wrong."

"Who is this 'King,'" Celeste asked, her voice turning dark when she said the word king.

I glanced back at Celeste, worried about what she was thinking. I saw her scoop up a handful of the forest's remnants and put a determined expression on her face.

"There," Cr'eon said and pointed to the clearing just beyond the burn scar.

When I looked, I saw two groups of people. They looked ridiculous sitting in chairs out in the middle of the field. The scene was made worse when I saw they had laid down carpet over the grass! I mean, what was the point of that?

"Don't interfere until after the duel," Cr'eon ordered.

"Of course, Daemon," Celeste said through clenched teeth. Apparently, she was taking the burning of the forest personally.

"Yeah," I started as we neared the clearing. "What's this about a duel now?"

"Did you hit your head or drink too much after I left last night?" Cr'eon asked, keeping her eyes on the people we were approaching. "You duel the prince to decide the outcome of this conflict."

"Oh," I said simply.

It looked like the fighting between the army and The Roadhouse had been going on for a while now. Now, someone had the bright idea of a winner-take-all grudge match for The Roadhouse. It was a good idea. Too bad they hadn't started with that.

As long as I beat the guy, I'd be saving a lot of lives...including Remmi's. Especially Remmi's.

"I was beginning to believe The Roadhouse would forfeit," a man off to my left said. He wore red robes over plate armor and a serious expression. He had to be a bigwig, as he was surrounded by several more armored knights.

"I came as quickly as I could," I said honestly and scanned the other party.

I instantly recognized Prince Putzner as he was glaring at me. Next to him sat an older man in a raised chair. I could only guess he was the king. When I compared the two, I saw little resemblance and wondered whether the prince was a bastard or not.

The king was also backed by armored knights, only instead of red like the other guy, these guys were all in yellow.

*Horrible color choice for an army,* I thought to myself.

"Excellent," the man continued and stood from his chair. "As per ancient writ, Prince Putner will enter the designated arena." He pointed to a roped-off area to my right.

The prince rose from his chair and made his way towards the "arena." Along the way, he ripped down the small half-wall that had segregated the carpeted area from the rest of the field.

*Kinda a jerk move,* I thought and made to follow the prince, but Cr'eon held me back.

"Remember, he wears old Guardian armor, so be careful," Cr'eon warned me.

Things were moving fast now, but her comment sobered me. Until I remembered that our new gear couldn't be touched by the old stuff.

I nodded to her to let her know I understood.

The guy in red waited until the prince was inside the arena before continuing.

"The Guardian Asher will enter the arena," he said.

Cr'eon let go of my arm, and I moved to take my place across the arena from the prince. I swear, the guy looked like he was ready to bite my face off. I don't even remember what I did to piss him off.

"Both combatants will draw swords," the guy said.

Putner's sword flashed into his hand with relative ease as I slowly drew my own.

"At my word, you shall both lay arms until only one remains," the guy said.

"Wait, what now?" I started, but the man's next word shifted my attention.

"Begin!" the man barked.

"Die!" Putner bellowed as he came flying at me with a wild swing that I thought had to be a joke.

I easily stepped aside and struck out with my own blade.

I connected across his back but didn't even scratch his armor. I mean, it wasn't that strong of a hit, but even still, it should have done something!

Putner span, his sword spinning with him, but I stepped back out of reach.

As I watched Putner's movements, I could tell he'd been trained by someone with skill. If he were a little cooler-headed, he could probably give me a bit of a challenge. But as he was now, he was swinging like he was hacking at a tree.

Putner's sword came whistling in, this time with purpose, but I easily raised my sword and parried his attack--

His sword sliced through mine like a hot knife through butter. Or, better still, a new-style Guardian sword to an old style. I barely managed to duck under the rest of the swing and scramble backwards.

It was then that I caught a glimpse of my sword. It was a sturdy, well-maintained blade that had seen a lot of use. The problem was, it wasn't my sword!

Then I remembered, my sword had been lost when the Tempest B had exploded. Brooke and Alistair had looked for it but never found it. The sword I now wielded, correction, the half of a sword I now wielded was from the village armory!

"How does it feel?" Putner began. "Knowing that you'll be killed by one of your own weapons!" The man was practically foaming at the mouth.

Thus began my strategic retreat as I gathered my wits. Luckily, the crystal on my back didn't hinder my movement in the slightest. This allowed me to dance in and out of Putner's reach, looking for an opening to exploit. But the longer this went on, the more solid his attacks came.

My failure to trade blows with him gave him the confidence he needed to settle down and get serious. Only, while he did settle down, he grew overconfident and began to monologue like a bad Bond villain.

Ignoring him, I came to the realization that not only was my weapon useless, but I also wasn't wearing armor! Who the fuck lets someone go into a life and death battle without armor, Cr'eon! Of course, if we'd shown up any later, we'd have forfeited. So, there was that.

To surmise, I had an ineffective weapon, and I couldn't let the guy touch me, or I was dead. Great.

While I was trying to figure all this out, Putner surprised me by lunging in my direction.

Instinctively, I threw what was left of my blade up for protection. I really should have gotten rid of the thing. All it did was give me a false sense of security.

Putner's blade cut through it once again, knocking what was left from my hand as I dropped to a knee for support. He surprised me again by reversing his attack and coming up through my guard, hoping to slice my arm off.

My arm reverberated as it absorbed the blow, stopping Putner's blade in its tracks and probably rattling his teeth.

When I recovered enough to open my eyes, I became dizzy as vertigo filled me. Had I not already been on one knee, I'd easily have fallen over. What was overloading my senses was the fact that I was now seeing in a 360-degree field around me! I was seeing in every direction at once, both up, down, and around. And now, I was about to vomit because of it.

My muscle memory saved me as my brain remembered I was still in a fight. My focus sharpened to only my arm, where Putner's sword was still resting and not moving. Things seemed to have gone into movie slow-mo as I dealt with my new situation.

Putner's blade had hit my arm; only my arm was now completely covered in the same blue crystal as my back!

Time seemed to resume as Putner quickly backpedaled, having to adjust to what he perceived as a new foe.

I slowly stood, my eyes still on Putner in case he tried something. At the same time, I saw that my entire body was now covered in the blue faceted crystal. But I quickly refocused on him to keep from falling over.

Flexing my arms, they moved just as freely as if I were only wearing my warskin. I briefly wondered if this was some sort of emergency backup defense from the remnants of my warskin. But I didn't have time to consider this as Putner came at me once more.

I spun away from him faster than I expected, ending up totally out of position and nearly colliding with the man. Only an ugly, last-minute dodge kept me from colliding with Putner and putting us both on the ground in a heap.

Putner was just as surprised by my move as I was.

"Hold still, damn you!" he bellowed, his words laced with frustration.

"Yeah, right," I said, my words sounding like musical notes.

*If only I had a sword,* I thought. *This would already be over!*

The sudden weight in my hand caused me to start to glance down, and nearly got me killed.

I felt something grow from my hand just as Putner came at me with a wide swing designed to cut me in half. I instinctively counter his move, bringing up the blue sword that had suddenly appeared in my hand as if by magic.

"Asher?"

***Ω***

REMMI

It was rare for me to wake up gently. It reminded me of those long ago Sundays where, as a kid, you didn't have to get up early cause there weren't any cartoons to get up for. I was warm and cozy, and just wanted to go back to sleep.

Then I felt the body behind me. As I snuggled into her, I could tell it was Shae. Her body and mine meshed in a distinctive way.

My digging deeper into her embrace stirred her, and she grumbled sleepily.

"Not yet," Shae mumbled, wrapping her arms around me tighter.

Not that I was complaining. The woman had a way of hugging you that made you never want to leave.

"Morning," I said, my voice still full of sleep.

Shae kissed my ear gently but didn't say anything.

"Come on, we gotta get up," I said as a grin crossed my face. I wasn't used to Shae being the lazy one. She was usually the one making sure we were up and about.

I briefly wondered if her putting me to sleep last night had somehow tired her out as well.

Reaching back, I ran my hand from her hip to the thigh she had draped over me. I briefly thought about tickling her awake, but thought better of it. I was a better person than that. Really.

Shae burst out laughing.

"I'm up, I'm up!" she cried. "No tickle!"

I relented in her tickle torture and brought my hand back to rub the sleep from my eyes.

"Geez, Shae," I started. "I just wanted a nice sleep, not a coma!" I grinned and looked back at her.

Shae's eyes were wide open and staring in shock.

"We're late!" Shae yelped. "Get up," *Get up!* she said aloud, followed by mentally.

I felt James jerk awake.

*What? I'm up,* came James's groggy mental reply, along with a yawn.

It was almost comical how Shae and I tangled ourselves up amongst the sheets in our haste to get out of bed. It would have been funny if it weren't for the fact that I was supposed to be on the dueling grounds right now!

"We forfeit if we're late!" Shae said, quickly pulling on her clothes.

"I'm here," James said as he opened the door to my room before I was halfway into my warskin.

"James!" I shouted, "Close the door!"

"Oh, sorry," James said, and shut the door, leaving himself outside.

I finished sealing my warskin and called for the armor pieces as they arranged themselves on my body.

I was impressed when the four of us, including Beth, who'd apparently also been asleep in James's bed, made our way downstairs fully dressed and armed within two minutes of waking.

"Should we run?" I asked Shae. She was the expert on all these things.

"No, it'll give a bad impression," Shae said.

"On top of being late?" James asked.

"Yes," Shae said as we hurried out of the building and past the main gate.

"This could be bad, this could be so bad," I said in a worried tone as we hurried without appearing to hurry.

As we cleared the wall to The Roadhouse, though, the sounds of combat drifted to us over the ruins of the forest.

"Someone's already fighting," James said.

I tried to focus on the pair in question, but they were moving too much for me to get a look at them.

"Maybe it's a warm-up?" Beth suggested.

"Not with the way those two are going at it," James said.

"There's Cr'eon, let's ask her what's going on," Shae said.

Several things happened at once.

We reached the clearing as Cr'eon looked at me with a confused expression. "Remmi?" she asked, before glancing back at the combat.

In our haste to get here, I'd forgotten to change my appearance into Asher. So, I was here in all my Remminess.

"What?" James gasped.

"Is that--" Shae started.

I glanced toward where they were staring and found a blue crystal person, slicing her blue crystal sword through Prince Putner. But I recognized the stance.

"Asher?" I asked, and the figure turned to face me just as the prince fell to the ground in two pieces, most definitely dead.

"Remmi?" the crystal thing called out. The voice was different, almost ringing like wind chimes, but it was Asher's voice beneath it all.

"It is done!" the Cardinal said, holding up a hand as he stood beside his chair. "The Guardian Asher has slain Prince Putner."

"I did?" Asher said, turning back to what remained of the prince. She then slowly looked down at the sword in her hand. The way she seemed to stare, it was as if she were seeing it for the first time.

"The Kingdom of Yolig has been defeated," the Cardinal continued. "Guardian Asher, you are recognized as the victor."

"Yeah, sure," Ashe's voice, as musical as it was, still sounded haunted.

"King Putner, you will stand down from hostilities pending arbitration," the Cardinal said, turning to the king.

"Like hell I will!" The king said, standing up from his oversized chair. "If you think I'll let this stand, you are gravely mistaken!"

"King Putner," the Cardinal started slowly. "Are you refusing to abide by the Church's decision?"

"The murder of the crown prince on top of the other atrocities committed here?" King Putner was yelling now. "You think I'd let someone else make a decision for me when it comes to my own son? I'm the king, as such--"

"Excuse me," a small voice interrupted.

I glanced over to see a small naked woman standing next to the Cardinal. She appeared to be made from wood. Either that or she was filthy. Or both.

"Y-yes, miss..." the Cardinal said, taken aback at the appearance of the woman now beside him.

The cardinal's guards were also surprised and took a step back as she seemed to appear among them, right next to the man they were supposed to be protecting.

"I'm Celeste," the woman said. "Is the duel over?"

The Cardinal took a moment to look Celeste over before answering.

"Yes," the Cardinal said and was about to say more when she cut him off.

"OK," Celeste said and threw a handful of dirt at the king.

"Wh-what?!?" King Putner sputtered. "How dare you? Guard, Take--" his sentence was interrupted by a strangled gurgle from his throat.

Whatever else the King was going to say, he never got the chance. The moment the dirt touched the ground, a root shot straight up and through the king's body, impaling him and killing him instantly.

The root continued to shoot into the sky as it enveloped the king's corpse, the trunk growing thicker and more pronounced. Its rapid growth tore up the ground around it, sending the carpet and chairs flying in all directions. The root continued skyward until it became a massive tree, towering over all the others in the surrounding forest.

"You do not deserve such an honor," Celeste spat. "But your body will feed a new forest in memory of the one you destroyed!" Her words were fierce, and even though she didn't yell them, everyone heard her.

By this point, everyone was staring at Celeste as she walked over to Asher and took her hands.

"I must return now," Celeste said. "Our children will be waking soon. Goodbye." And with that, Celeste sank into the ground and disappeared, leaving so many questions behind.

"Form ranks!" a voice from the King's guard commanded as he drew his sword.

I heard the command echo back to the army standing in the distance. A ripple of movement washed through the army as one unit after another came to attention.

I recognized the man. He'd been the one who'd convinced Prince Putner to stand down back on that day they first arrived. He was some sort of commander-something. I couldn't remember what he was called.

"Knight Commander Koda," the Cardinal snapped, addressing the army man now giving orders. "You will stand down."

"The King said--" Koda started.

"The King was out of order," the Cardinal said. "This fight was lost when Prince Putner fell. Just because the king couldn't recognize this, doesn't mean you can't have more sense."

"But the King, they murdered the king--" Koda countered and made as if to lunge at us.

A roaring boom made everyone flinch. A moment later, the ground shook as a massive shadow fell across everyone here.

I thought I'd seen enough for one day, but apparently not.

Fifty feet behind us, a massive robot machine-thing had just landed and now towered over all of us. I'd seen one of these before, but only once: when we were rescued from our dying Bio Hab.

Once more, it looked like a giant robot was trying to save us.

"I suggest," Beth said as she stepped forward in front of the rest of us. "That you follow what the good Cardinal says."

Beth was still wearing the baggy travelling clothes she'd arrived in. But now, under her jacket, I could see what looked like a blood red warskin peeking out.

Koda looked from Beth to the robot and then to the Cardinal.

"What does the Church say to this?" Koda asked as he eyed the robot from the corner of his eye.

"The Church," the Cardinal started. "Has declared Prince Putner, representing the Kingdom of Yolig, was defeated by Guardian Asher, representing the Guardians. As such, Yolig will renounce all claims to the territory claimed by the Guardians, and its army will return to the capital at once."