11 Battle's End

Worlds, especially the world of Ghala where Maya arrived at, were chock full of mysteries. And the beings that resided in each one were given little understanding of the complexities of how each world worked. They would certainly try through their faculties in fields of science, religion, philosophy, or even the fates but their knowledge and understanding would never be enough, like water sifting on the palm of their hands. People would only grasp the crudest of meanings while the world kept its truths to itself.

But there was one unfathomable mystery that the world of Ghala couldn't perceive no matter its countless revolutions around the sun: Athalos.

"Pleasepleaseplease don't hit me." Maya fervently prayed as she was whisked away by the bat. She even prayed for the bat to notice the arrow and dodge. She had flashbacks of how close Athalos' arrow landed to her face when she was sprawled on the tree's trunk. She tightly embraced the beast's talons with the hope of steering it to safety but it was no use.

The tip of the arrow enlarged as it neared. But then shot past both Maya and the bat.

While Maya wasn't saved from the clutches of the monster in flight, she sighed a lifetime of relief. On the cavern floor below her, Graff and Frina did so as well.

But the mystery of Athalos wouldn't end there.

The arrow hit the ceiling, bounced off a slate of rock, and with needle accuracy, went into the bat's nostril. The beast screeched at the unexpected pain that dived deeper than the cavern's depths.

"Really?!" The question entered both Maya and the bat's minds.

The bat wailed, blood and snot spurted from its nose like a whale spouting as it broke through an ocean's surface. It twisted and flailed erratically like a bird against a storm.

Maya had already recited all the prayers she knew. She thanked her parents, who were still alive and well back on Earth but a little apprehensive to tell their neighbors of their daughter's dreams. She even thanked Miho, the long lost ungrateful cat. She held onto the bat's talons for dear life as her mouth warbled in every sudden shift in the bat's direction.

Did the gods have a playful part? Was it the wind and the angle of the rock's surface? Was it Maya's fate long mapped out by the stars? The answer would never be found by anyone, not by the people and monsters in that cave, and not by the man whose survivability and skill was always held in question.

Athalos heard the screams but was unsure whether it was Maya or the bat; the screams were too alike. His arm reached for his quiver, asked with a cunningness found in the world's most renowned marksmen, "Should I fire another one?"

"NO!" The living pleaded, even the nostril-clogged bat in its own language.

Graff shouted over his shoulder. "Stay yer bow, Athalos! I beg thee! We all do! Ye have done more than should've been allowed as it is!"

Graff had to end his fight as fast as possible. He hammered both of the second bat's feet. As it timbered to the floor, he uppercutted his shield to its unguarded neck. Blood spewed from the bat's mouth. It's trachea was crushed and it crawled on the ground as it desperately gasped for air. With no time to relish his victory, he held his shield high and slammed the shield's blunt surface on the beast head.

"Best ye hang on, Lady Maya!" Graff saw that the flying bat neared its crashing descent. He turned towards Frina."Fri—"

Frina had her hands full and the music stopped. She had tossed her lute aside, one of the reasons it was banged up so bad was she dropped it everywhere. Like a python, she was coiled around the bat's arm and had it locked in an armbar on the ground. The bat's taps on the cavern soil went ignored. A dull crack of bone and the bat squealed.

"A-Aye… She seems pretty busy from the looks of it." Graff conceded. He looked at the length of arms. Catching Maya by himself seemed like a foolish idea but he had no choice, asking Athalos for help was worse. His short legs blurred as followed the screams.

"Jump, Lady Maya! Ye have to jump!" shouted Graff.

"I-I can't! I'm stuck!" Maya tried to pry the bat's talons off. But another problem appeared; her stomach bubbled from within. The bat's wild maneuvers took a toll on her. She covered her mouth to prevent an unsanitary rain. Muffled, she advised in a weak groan, "G-Graff… I don't think I can hold it…"

His smooth face was sweaty and seemed lathered in oil. The smoothness of his skin proved a boon for battle. The droplets of sweat had no ridges to follow on his face. He felt the sting of his pore's secretions on his bourbon eyes. He brushed his hands over them but those too were silky and slathered in sweat. His vision worsened and he felt his eyes pierced by a thousand bees.

"M-Me eyes! They burn like a dragon's arse!" Graff shouted as he begged his eyes for clarity. His eyes simmered when he peeked but it was enough to guess where the beast was. "I think I got ye, Lady Maya! I believe I've got a good estimate! It's tough to see but—"

"Heh. Novice." Athalos scoffed. He arrived by Graff's side. He ran while rapidly prodding his staff like a woodpecker going ham at a tree. "But try to keep up, dear apprentice of the dark. We have to save the lady."

Massively annoyed and in pain, Graff gave up. "Aye! She's about to go down!"

The bat spiraled down. Maya held onto the talons and also her mouth. She had said her prayers long ago and that was left was to see if those prayers were heard. Then the bat crashed onto the ground and spun like tumbleweed. Every spin included a spray of vomit like an airplane's propeller and the nastiest of geysers continued until the crash finally came to a halt.

Graff arrived at the crash site. He waved off the clouds of dust and basked in it for a second to absorb his sweat. "Lady Maya?!"

"Are you okay, my lady?!" Athalos arrived as well, almost on time for once.

"B… Breathing…" Maya crawled out from under the bat's wing. On the floor, she checked the vile stains on her new clothing. She groaned. She preferred if it was blood and guts instead. "Oh god… I thought I was gonna die…"

Graff approached Maya to help on her feet then withheld. He stepped back twice once he saw the gross mess she was. "W-Well. Glad ye seem fine, Lady Maya! Stand on yer own and ye'll find the satisfaction of battle hard fought! Ain't that the truth, me dear friend Athalos?"

Athalos sniffed the air and winced. He nodded as he stepped back. "Why, yes. What the dwarf said."

On all fours, Maya rolled her eyes. "Will you guys just get-"

The bat screeched then lunged at Maya who had her back turned, jaw wide open and ready to pierce its long-chased prey.

But Maya had enough. Like a mule, she kicked behind and the sole of her boot met the arrow's feathered tip. The bat's nostril consumed the arrow shaft's entire length and the iron tip emerged from the back of its skull. Finally, it was dead.

Maya flared her eyes at two who stood in shock. She spat on the ground and at their sudden ill-forged alliance. She rolled her head and groaned, "Just get me water. Please. That's all I ask."

"All the water ye need!" Graff's voice squeaked at its peak.

"Right to it!" Athalos prodded his stick as he went away. He called back, the skip in his voice returned, "I hope you can wait! I might take some time finding my bag. It's rather dark."

While Graff and Athalos scrambled to find their bags and flasks, Frina arrived and stood in front of Maya. Expressionless, she poured her water from her flask onto Maya's head. She also brought out a bouquet of flowers.

Maya tilted her head. "Where did you—"

Petals burst in the air. Frina slapped her with the bouquet and repeatedly. It was a flagellation by flowers with the transfer of better scents in Frina's mind. No one in the party knew how she procured a bouquet in the barren cavern or even why.

Maya wholeheartedly accepted the botanic beating. With a blank face of resignation, another piece of her soul died. "Have you guys invented perfume yet?"

"We have," answered Frina. She thought nothing of the question and continued the barrage of pollen.

"Ah." Maya didn't feel victorious at all.

"What should we do with this one?" Graff gathered everyone's attention except for Athalos who felt the wide cavern floor for his bag. The dwarf pointed to the peaceful sleeping bat curled on the ground that Athalos didn't vanquish.

"I could make him my familiar- Ow!" Athalos almost wrapped his hand on a torch's lit flame. He shook his hand as he shot up his head from the ground. "Gregory will be tamed and prove more useful than other certain party members. I do not wish to shame by mentioning names."

"Don't give it a name!" yelled Graff. He knew all too well the attachment that grew when one did. How the first Rocko eroded as the first stubbles of his ginger beard sprouted. How the first Daisy wilted the very next morning after he plucked her from a field. "And tame?! What do ye know about taming?! Yer still a novice just like Lady Maya! Ye have to procure a license to even learn skills from a mentor!"

Athalos scoffed. "A ranger's blood flows in me. A piece of paper cannot dictate the bonds between man and beast."

Graff stretched his open hands and pointed at the slumbering bat. "Aye! If it was a horse or a cute dog, I'd have no quarrel with ye! Hell! I might even steal 'em from ye! But look! This one will bite ye on the neck once ye sleep!"

"Gregory will do no such thing!" Athalos banged his staff on the ground. "As comrades of the dark, it is our instinct to shake our hands to the silent agreement of partnership and-"

"Athalos." Frina took a break from purifying Maya's stench. "You know bats can see, right?"

Maya, kneeling on the floor and seeing if she now smelled like potpourri, added, "Frina's right. I watched this nature program before where— Ehem. I've known this for some time. They aren't blind. They just don't have great eyesight."

"Oh Gregory…" Athalos slowly shook his head in contempt. He raised his staff horizontally and slammed his knee in the shaft's center. It didn't break. Back on the cavern floor, he held his knee. With the tortured face of one who ate a lemon whole, he shouted at the bat, "To begin our partnership with treason?!"

While everyone gathered themselves from a miraculous victory and argued whether the bat should be killed, they didn't notice the shadowy figure that watched them from the darkest depths of the cave.

It clenched the gem on its palm. The gem emitted a faint amber glow and the figure melded with the dark.