Humbaba

Within the newly created space, where all of space and time had come to a standstill.

The Mother of Scripture's voice had only just been spoken, leaving everything in a bizarre state as it echoed.

All of reality here seemed to be on the verge of a kind of transformation, just one little step away from becoming something entirely new and different. Cosmic singularities, swollen with energy and power, looked ready to burst at the slightest alteration.

Gilgamesh, Florence and Dorian looked on, their expressions differing, but all uncertain just the same. None of them knew what to expect, and were reduced to watching and waiting.

Then, as the final echo reverberated throughout the space, change came.

And it was decimating.

A large-scale explosion of epic proportions- far greater than you could imagine- shook the Library and brought all of reality under its heel. Everything began to be erased in a wave of impartial destruction, rending existence without care.

White hot splotches of light remained where space, matter and time had once been, indicating the ushering in of an all new scape. Understanding fled from all three of the spectators minds as they watched this event unfold.

They could do nothing.

In the brief instant that it took for them to realize that the entire universe was being erased, it had already been destroyed by that wave of power. Their bodies were deconstructed, and they too vanished in the face of that white hot nothingness.

There was no way to tell what remained or what did not. All there was was an endless sheet of white, like the purest, blankest of pages.

Florence was lost to it.

Gilgamesh was lost to it.

Dorian was lost to it.

Nothing of them remained than anyone could observe, aside from the God of the Library herself.

This was the beginning.

_________________________________

"...amesh..."

Blurred flashes. Images in fragments. Nothing recognizable.

Gilgamesh stirred in his sleep, battling unconsciousness.

"....ilgamesh..."

Once again, a surge of feelings battered his mind, and led him to attempt to wake once again. He saw little of what waited for him outside of his sleep, but there was the feeling of a firm hand on his mind, trying to get him to wake up.

One final pull. It came.

"Gilgamesh! Wake up!"

Snapping from darkness to the brightness of daylight in an instant, Gilgamesh woke up to the image of towering cedar trees above him.

A sense of panicked zeal ran through his body, and he sat up as fast as he could. He just barely noticed his thick armor, glowing with the matchlessness of pure starlight, and a mighty axe in hand.

There was a tingling sensation coming from the back of his head; he could feel that it was wet with warm blood.

All other memory faded from his mind the instant he woke up, and when he looked around and saw what had caused his injury, he growled as rage filled his crimson eyes.

A magnificent monster, larger than any other beast that existed in all the world, stood directly across from him, amidst a number of ruined cedar trees. There was a layer of mystical light on its mighty body, adding an aura of divinity to its beastly form.

Two tails sprouted from its lower back, which morphed into snaked by the end. They hung limply from its body; the snakes had been killed during the fighting.

Its face was a disgusting mass of writing organs like living intestines- a result of a shameless surprise attack from Gilgamesh that had ripped the very skin from its once beautiful face.

It was currently fighting a green haired man, who fought with his bare hands, and tanking heavy blows as though they were nothing.

Enkidu roared as he struck each blow, but the monster was unfazed.

When it saw Gilgamesh stand up, the monster bellowed, enraged by the sight. It slapped Enkidu's attacks away and fired a mighty punch to his gut, knocking him away as he vomited blood and bits of organs.

"GIL! GA! MESH!" The beast shouted his name, and started running toward Gilgamesh, knocking down cedars and shaking the earth.

"HUMBABA!!!" Gilgamesh roared, and got to his feet despite the waves of fatigue and blurred vision.

He readied the axe in his hands and planted his feet as firmly into the forest floor as he could, ducking a wide, sweeping fist.

With a swift pivot, he swung the axe at Humbaba's shoulder, but the beast had already accounted for his maneuver, and had twisted its hip with enough force to send its dead tails out like two terrifying whips.

Gilgamesh was struck on the side, almost losing his footing but managing to stay standing. His armor was indented, but still intact.

He spat up some blood, and powered through. His axe was knocked slightly off course, but it did not matter. The blade cut into Humbaba's giant back, and he quickly pulled it loose before leaping backward.

"RAHHH!!!" Humbaba treated the attack as nothing, and spun around before rushing toward Gilgamesh again. On the way, it picked up the trunk of broken cedar tree, and swung it haphazardly at Gilgamesh.

With no other choice, Gilgamesh evaded as best he could, but there was no immediate way to shorten the distance between them.

"Tch!" As he readied himself to strike Humbaba's cedar club with his axe, Enkidu pounced on the beast with a mighty roar and gripped it by the neck tightly.

At the same time, Gilgamesh's axe struck the cedar trunk. Thanks to Enkidu's interruption, the tree trunk lost most of its power, and Gilgamesh was able to split it all the way down the middle in a single swing, rendering it useless to the monster.

"AHH! YOU BOTH MUST DIE!!!"

Gilgamesh let out a loud laugh, "Unfortunately, beast, it is your blood that shall dye the forest red."

Dashing forward, Gilgamesh raised the axe overhead. Once he was within range of Humbaba, he brought it down with all the strength he could possible muster, wanting to split Humbaba's chest open much like the cedar tree trunk.

Humbaba was still trying to rip Enkidu from its neck when Gilgamesh arrived, and it cried out in anger and frustration.

"GRAHHH!!!"

The axe struck Humbaba's chest, but when it struck bone it stopped.

Gilgamesh's attack had lost some power due to a sudden wave of exhaustion and weakness. He almost stumbled and fell halfway through, but somehow managed to stay upright and finish what he started.

Even so, he had lost too much power.

Humbaba's fleshy eyes widened, and it twisted itself was taking advantage of the moment to tear Enkidu from its body. Gilgamesh was still clinging to the axe, and was pulled by the movement.

As for Enkidu, he was thrown off and struck one of the giant cedar trees, instantly destroying it and sending numerous bits of broken wood flying everywhere.

"Foolish mortals! You seek renown!?"

Humbaba pulled the axe out of its chest and took Gilgamesh by the hand, locking both his arm and the axe in its deathly grip.

"You should be more humble! Seek the Gods! Seek favor in their eyes!"

Humbaba let loose a terrible punch that struck Gilgamesh's armor, and instantly destroyed it. Gilgamesh's underclothes were revealed, but were quickly torn apart by Humbaba's ceaseless attacks.

Bones cracked in Gilgamesh's torso, and because his arm was locked in place, it also suffered extensive damage.

Yet, through it all, Gilgamesh's rage-filled gaze was locked on Humbaba. Despite all the blood he coughed up that covered his lower lip and ran all the way down to his neck, his gaze never wavered.

"No mortal can rule without their favor. Your life is not your own. It belongs to the Gods, and them alone!"

Humbaba's fist struck Gilgamesh's body one last time, and his body fell limp. Then, the beast let go of him.

Gilgamesh fell to the floor, still gripping his axe- though not by choice. The bones in his hand had been so badly damaged that he could not even let go of the axe if he wanted to.

Humbaba heaved as it turned to look for Enkidu, only to see him flying toward it, firing a punch to its face. Although the punch itself did little damage as the force was absorbed by Humbaba's soft flesh, it still pushed the beast back.

Stumbling over some debris, Humbaba fell over on its back and Enkidu hopped onto it, firing punch after punch.

"Who cares about those Gods!? What have they ever done for us!?"

Humbaba was definitely caught off guard, but Enkidu could not do much damage with his bare hands. The beast slowly powered through Enkidu's onslaught and grabbed him by the head, squeezing as hard as it could.

"HNG!!!" Enkidu clawed at the beast's hand as he tried to free himself, but he could do nothing.

As this was happening, Gilgamesh slowly rose to his feet, his breathing slow and ragged. With every movement of his arm, he felt something snapping, cracking or popping, followed by unimaginable pain.

It took over ounce of his willpower to not cry out from the pain as he made his way over to Humbaba.

As the beast was about to crush Enkidu's skull, there was a swift motion and the sound of something cleaving the air.

Then, Humbaba's arm was severed, and its dark blood sprayed all over Enkidu.

"Wha-" Before it could express its shock, Gilgamesh swung his free arm and ruthlessly slapped it against Humbaba's face. Then, at the last second, he gripped onto the fleshy, wormy tissue and pulled, causing the beast to slam face first into the ground.

Then, using that arm to hold up his axe-arm, Gilgamesh prepared to cut the beast's head off.

Enkidu freed himself from Humbaba's severed arm, and watched with a victorious grin. "That's it, Gil! Finish it!"

Humbaba groaned. Gilgamesh prepared to swing the axe downward.

Then, there was a strange warping of reality that caused the very image of what Gilgamesh was seeing to become distorted.

Everything that he thought was real, he suddenly began to question. Now, there was only one thing he was sure of.

Something within him was trying to tell him something.