Nuclear Winter (Part III)

Althea’s breath became more and more ragged as she rushed through the snow laden landscape, trying to only focus on putting one foot in front of the other as she sprinted at her maximum speed.  The dark sky let loose a flurry of snow.  She had just delivered Psi and Zelus to Tethys’s cave, but quickly left the scene as naturally as possible.  The blonde grimaced as she remembered how she began to feel the seams around her soul had begun unwinding.  It was the thing preventing her from regressing into the being she had been prior to meeting “him”.  She felt her two opposing magics swirling inside her restlessly, having been doing so to a painful degree ever since she used the spell to break Zelus’s shrine core.  Despite the deathly cold weather, she could feel the sweat rolling down her neck and soaking her hoodie.  At the moment, the best way to explain her condition was that she was halfway between being “Althea” and “that being”, while slowly drifting away from the small ace of Fairy Tail.

But soon she arrived at the place she had been making such a desperate sprint to: the tallest point of the Phoenix Mountains.  Althea made an attempt to catch her breath, but it was no use.  Her entire body was on fire, and it felt like she’d lose the ability to move in an instant.  She’d likely only have one chance to make it to the “true” peak of the mountain range.  The youth laboriously bent her knees before springing into the air, the surface of rocks that had been under her feet breaking into several pieces.  Meanwhile, she flew into the air, and somehow, contrary to all known laws of physics, the higher she went the faster she accelerated into the air.  Now Althea was at the altitude where she couldn’t catch her breath even if she wanted to: the region beyond the clouds where there was nothing but void and aether.  Just about anyone could access the area, but no one really knew about it in the first place.  And even if one stumbled upon it they would likely turn to dust on the way up or suffocate from the lack of oxygen.  Even Althea couldn’t come back up until recently.

And right there, in the empty expanse of the void in the sky, Althea lost consciousness.


“Kuhyaha!  What a delectable nightmare we have here!  What unfathomable despair, it’s been a while since I had a feast of this caliber!”  A horrid voice resounded through Althea’s head, but it didn’t bring her any closer to consciousness.  If anything, it dragged her deeper and deeper into her hazy dream, the voice being more akin to a scratched record than an actual voice.  “Kyahahaha!  Let me feast on your fears, your anxieties, I crave them!”  Their laugh was even more disgusting than their voice, just listening to the unnatural sounds was enough to make the youth’s head feel like it was splitting open.

Slowly, the blonde opened her eyes -- wait, no, she was in a dream so these weren’t technically her eyes.  Either way, in the pitch black yet murky landscape was a being who could easily be called one of the greatest atrocities in the world.  It was absolutely massive, it’s bladelike fingers being longer and thicker than Althea’s entire body.  The attention of its multiple eyes wasn’t on Althea but instead the murky darkness surrounding them.  After seeing such an Eldbitch monstrosity, the young mage began to realize exactly what was happening to her.  She was prey to this malevolent beast, and it would devourer her dreams before moving onto its next victim.  The slayer shouldn’t even really be conscious within this side of her mind at all, but luckily as a being of similar nature just the dream eater showing up allowed for it.  And it was no wonder it did with all the aether around her physical body, acting as a bit of a bait for the horrendous creature of the abyss.

And that was exactly what this dream was, a honeytrap manufactured by Althea herself.

She couldn’t help but to grin to herself as the hunter was becoming the prey.  Her body started to form out of the emptiness, still unbeknownst to the horrific creature.  She was back to looking twelve years old, but her scarlett eyes remained.  Her usual red ribbons were used to tie her hair into twintails, and she was in a dress so black it almost blended in with her surroundings.  Outside of her own dream, or if she had fought this nightmare before she had problems with her magic, there would’ve been no question the battle wouldn’t turn out to be in her favor.  But, in her current state, the fact she was within, and that magic, Prisma Chaotica, could be used with no drawback.  Althea’s eyes, despite the situation, were alight with glee, she couldn’t remember the last time she really went all out.  “Kyaha- hm?  The dream’s owner?”  Finally, the monstrosity turned around slowly, its fingers writing around in response to the new development.  “Fuhuhu, I don’t know why you’re here, but-”

Althea had leapt towards the beast, her fist reared back for a punch.  Before it connected to the creature’s ghastly mask, it flawlessly moved a single bladelike finger to block the blow.  With the other hand, it aimed to slice the youth into salami, but instead she twisted her body midair as to slip between the gaps between fingers.  Keeping the momentum from her precious moment, the blonde spun about and dealt a kick to the bottom of the nightmare’s chin.  With nimbleness that really didn’t fit its size, the monstrosity leapt back at the same time it connected, lessening the impact.

“Kyaha, are you trying to devour me, girl?”  It’s disgusting voice resounded through the space, “I don’t think you can even fathom the expanses of my power.”

“I’ll start getting serious once you do.”  Althea replied plainly, her wild smile widening further.  A single moment passed, and with one instant both sides unleashed the magic power they had previously been holding back.  The air quivered as the magics which both utilized aether clashed through pure aura alone.  Then, the dream eater raised it’s hand towards Althea, the teen lowering herself in apprehension for the first move.

Behind the dream eater, the murky darkness began to bubble as if being boiled, and a huge black wave erupted from the nothingness.  It sought to crash down onto Althea, but she instead made a jump right for it, her hand reared backwards as she layered several enhancements and shields  over just her clenched fist.  Then, with one explosive movement, she punched with such a force that the monstrous wave dispersed, the black liquid falling into the endless void of Althea’s dream.  Suddenly, a bullet surged forth from above, the blonde narrowly moving out of the way at the expense of a few strands of hair.  But that wasn’t the end of it, dark bullet after dark bullet left the finger of the dream eater with no sign of stopping.

However, Althea’s smile never faltered, moving up towards the monster while swerving and dodging the rain of attacks.  Then, once close enough she let loose a flurry of punches, the devourer using the fingers of one hand to block each one.  Then with the final and extra powerful once, it was forced to skid backwards from the force of having to take the blow.  The creature quickly shook the ghost-vibrations felt from the punches, keeping its gaze on Althea as she once again prepared her stance.  Then, volatile movement, she advanced, changing her direction slightly with every step.  The creature once again raised its hand, a plethora of heinous black spears materializing before being launched towards the slayer.  However, with a single leap, the blonde dodged all of them, bringing her leg up for an axe kick to the top of the dream eater’s upturned head.  It managed to whirl away in time, but before Althea’s feet once again met the ground she twisted her body to deal a blow to its side instead.

The devourer was blown back by the eruptive blow, and instead of landing on its “feet” found the ground against its back.  One would assume the battle was over, but that had just been part one of two, this dream eater had another card it had yet to be shown.  The creature's deplorable body began sinking into the abyss of the dream, Althea’s already burning fighting spirit flaring as she felt the spike in magic power.  This “thing” was pretty similar to her in regards to their true race, it was just that the dream eater used the intelligent beings as its feed while Althea made due with discarding the power that needed additional energy.  From the same spot the creature’s body disappeared, a new one emerged.  A womanly figure, golden hair that reached to the waist, scarlet eyes that could prompt suicide in the weak of heart, wings stained black that came from the lower back.  This being was an angel -- a fallen one, but that didn’t decrease the amount of power it had amassed over many millennia of feasting on dreams.  It wore a white and black battle dress and bore ebony black swords in both hands.

“Well well well, I think I’ve cracked the code for you.  I haven’t seen one of my kind for eons.”  The dream eater said, its horrendous voice being replaced by one as sweet as honey.  Despite the fact its current face was rather beautiful, its smile was disgusting.  “I wonder how your life force will taste!  It’s nice you kept me in your dream long enough for me to take in enough aether to return to form, but it’s over for you now.”

“I think you’re mixing up who’s really being hunted right now.”  Althea replied, her smile most likely being quite atrocious as well.  She had lost her wings a long time ago, but there was no chance she’d be losing this fight.

And with that, round two commenced, the two beings rocketing towards each other.  The dream eater led with a slash from the right that Althea ducked under, pulling in towards the monstrocity to deliver a punch to the gut.  However, instead of flesh her fist was met by the left hand sword, the right hand sword being pulled back to stop Althea’s neck.  But with a backflip Althea created distance between her and her opponent, using her hands to push herself off the ground.  The mage’s opponent, however, had conjured a black demonic flame and launched it at her.  She used a similar technique as she had with the black wave, except with her leg instead of fist.  Then, descending upon the dream eater, Althea twisted her body to deal an axe kick.  Fully anticipating it, the fallen angel brought their twin swords up to parry it, which Althea had also anticipated.  Instead of executing her kick, Althea instantaneously moved to the ground next to her opponent, using her magically enhanced leg to deal a blow to their side.

The golden haired monster skidded back a few steps, the gluttony present in its red eyes never having subsided for a moment.  It immediately rushed right back to the youth, both its blades raised at its sides.  Then came a slash, another slash, and another, and another.  The angel was moving both swords at such speed that they were beginning to blue.  The blonde was forced to simply try to not sustain any fatal blows, being forced to take any other gashes.  However, that wasn’t the case for the final and quickest blow that swiftly found its way to Althea’s heart.  “Now,”  The devourer whispered in the youth’s ear.  “Give me everything.”

However, the teen was still grinning.  You see, there was a little aspect about magic.  You could use as much as you want regardless of your physical state, meaning even if you were a breath away from death it was still possible to be fine the next moment.  “Tomb of Heaven.”  Althea murmured.  The fallen angel’s eyes widened, prepared to drive her other sword through the girl’s skull, but too little too late.  The young girl placed her hand against the dream eater’s chest, “Soiree of the Fallen Angels.”  Blood erupted from the monstrosities mouth as several organs were simultaneously ruptured.  “And finally… Eternity's Chapel.”  The dream eater let out a cry of agony as it lost the strength to hold its swords and struggled to stay upright.  Althea pulled the sword still piercing her heart, the saber malting into the shadows of her dream.  Her breath still ragged from all the mana spent from healing her wounds, although now all she had to show for them were the rips in her clothing.

“Kyaha,”  The creature struggled to laugh through the blood still flowing out of its mouth.  “Kyahaha!  Fine, you win!  Devour me, defile me, do whatever you please!”  The being let out a crazed laugh, its smile betraying its madness.  “Kyahahah!  I can feel my ego fading, is this what death feels like?  Kyahahahaha!  Being eaten is far different from eating!”  Slowly, with the fallen angel’s deranged final laugh serving as a backdrop, Althea devoured the eater of dreams.