Premonition (IV) - The Mountainside

Bell found herself on cobblestone streets in a medieval looking town. The sky was black with smog and the buildings around her were crumbling with bright blue flames. Deep within those bright blue flames were dark spirits, they writhed within the flames like pits of snakes.

Bell took a deep breath, taking in the scent of burning flesh and smoke.

'Haven't I been here before?' She thought.

The streets that Bell found herself in were familiar, but the flames were not. It had been a few days since she last had a nightmare with flames, but Bell recognized a few specific locations.

She had started jogging around, plate and chain mail armor weighed her down, but her mobility was otherwise unimpacted. Bell noticed the familiar feeling of thick gambeson underneath the layers of armor protecting her. 

Bell passed a fountain that had been destroyed, on the ground beside the blood-filled fountain was a stone statue depicting a man with his legs replaced by fins. A shattered stone bow lay near the stone statue, likely once wielded by it.

She didn't notice for a short bit, but she was wearing a knight's helmet. With a quick flip, Bell found her vision slightly impaired, but her head was now well defended.

'Too many nightmares ended by a lucky shot...' Bell lamented.

She took a turn into a large alleyway lit by the flames, in there, a person was fending off a dark wraith with a broomstick. Bell drew the sleek longsword out of a scabbard attached to her hip, it came out with ease.

In the next three rapid heartbeats, Bell raised the sword, ready to strike, then took another step forward as she released the strike. In the final heartbeat, Bell stepped beyond the dark wraith with her longsword cleaving through the creature like a knife through butter.

The soot-covered man revealed two children behind him, and Bell heard him say something in a language she didn't understand. With a sigh, Bell pointed the three down the road that she had come from.

'I hope the exit is that way.' Bell thought after a moment.

She then continued running around, looking for whatever powerful creature was going to be her doom. Bell had an early morning tomorrow and would like to meet it on time. Over the course of the next few minutes, Bell would find herself in many situations similar to the one in the alley.

Quickly appear to fight off a creature, cleave it in half, then continue running around. The incarnation that Bell took control over only had access to Creation and Ruination, so this terrain was likely to appear in Bell's first Domain.

Bell's nightmare allowed her insight on events that were likely to occur in the future, such as nearly every single major event on the rooftops of the bullet train. It was how she knew that imploding the blood fiend behemoths were the only way to take them down outside of whittling away at the blood fiends themselves.

Either way, Bell found the creature responsible for her death in this scenario. A large demon with the legs of a goat, the chest of a man, and the head of a wolf was currently using a great axe to fend off two men.

The great axe itself was something to marvel at for a split-second, the handle was as thick as a tree, and the metal used for the blade was probably enough to arm an entire army if melted down to make swords and spears. The blade's metal sheen reflected the dancing blue lights around it like a mirror.

One of the men was in plate armor similar to Bell's own, with an aquamarine cape billowing behind his back. The other man wasn't much of a man and was almost more similar to the demon they were engaged in combat with.

Six arms decorated the "man's" side, each one wielding a different weapon with proficiency. Six eyes and three mouths dotted his face; one mouth where it should be, and a mouth underneath the two sets of three eyes. Another oddity with the strange man was that he had four legs, moving along the ground like a messed-up spider or crab.

The man wielded blue flames alongside a broadsword, flinging orbs of the blue flame at the demon while evading devastating attacks.

The demon didn't seem to bother with the six-armed man-thing, allowing more and more damage to accumulate across its thick skin and fur. 

Bell was currently barreling towards the three with a conjured broadsword of her own and forming the dancing grey flames around its blade. She felt light as she ran towards what she knew to be certain doom, and gathered enough momentum to launch herself two meters in the air.

With her broadsword raised high, Bell pierced the fur of the demon's hip, and immediately let go of Ruination; she conjured another sword with Creation, then stuck it further up the side of the demon.

A large roar knocked Bell down with its sheer volume. The knight wielding blue flames stopped in his tracks to cover his ears, and the other one simply dropped its top two swords to cover its ears.

All the while it continued its relentless assault.

Bell felt as if she were on a team of hunters that were tasked to take down a giant monster that was plaguing the city.

The six-armed person noticed Bell, but didn't say anything, a simple nod in appreciation being all that was sent her way. The Knight, too, seemed to notice Bell, but didn't give any nod or other indication of understanding, only a widened set of eyes as he continued to run circles around the demon.

Bell didn't fail to notice that the knight's blue flames were the exact same type as the ones burning down half of the city. Those same blue flames were also burning the fur on the demon's right leg and arm.

In any case, Bell didn't have the time to speculate, so she simply dragged herself up and started hacking away at the demons' leg.

During its reckless onslaught of wild strikes sent the Knight's way, the demon has inadvertently been simultaneously attacking Bell as well. She had to dance with the large, furry leg of the demon she was so desperately wanting to kill.

Well, desperation wasn't necessarily something that Bell was feeling at the time, it was more... excitement. Bell's blood flowed with adrenaline at the mere thought of fighting something as large as the demon once more.

The only time that Bell could recall her heart beating with such ferocity was during the fight against the dragon on the top of the bullet train. Bell had forgotten the dragon's name, despite the dragon having proclaimed it as well as how it would kill Bell and her friends in the future.

However, that wasn't something that Bell should be thinking about in the heat of battle, so Bell tried to clear her mind of any unnecessary thoughts and resumed delivering a flurry of strikes at every opening.

Soon, the tide of battle would change, and the demon would release a surge of orange flames with one great roar, and several bone-looking spikes protruded from the demon's back. A thick beard of flames started to dance around the demon's wolf-face as it plunged its great axe deep into the ground. After a moment, the demon pulled its axe upward into the air with another roar, and the axe looked more like a crude hammer. 

Just as the demon pulled its new hammer out of the ground, the flames all around the town square erupted and shifted colors from bright blue to deep violet. The flames on the demon's wolf face also shifted to a deep violet.

'It has a second phase?!' Bell thought in utter terror and joy.

She had heard of the concept of a two-phase boss battle before, and nearly had to fight the dragon's "second phase" on the rooftop of the bullet train. 

'Thank you, Teacher Brutus.' Bell sent her heart-felt gratitude to Teacher Brutus as she retreated heroically from the immediate vicinity of the demon.

Upon reaching one of the roads heading away from the town center, Bell turned around and found the six-armed person single-handedly... six-handedly? Holding off the blazing demon.

The Knight rejoined the hunt by leaping off of a nearby building onto the head of the demon, expertly maneuvering around the spikes protruding from the demons' back as he did. Blue flames erupted around the Knight's broadsword as he started to insert it into the demon's head. 

With a great roar, the demon dropped its hammer and grabbed the Knight, immediately throwing him across the town square and into a nearby building. A hole appeared where the Knight hit, and Bell only assumed that several more walls were pierced by the Knight's body.

Bell grimaced under her helmet and joined the fray as well, as she ran, Bell discarded her longsword and Created a greatsword, engulfing it in the gray flames of Ruination. She took a few more rapid steps toward the demon's leg with her sword in a low stance.

Upon reaching the demon, who was currently attempting to punch the six-armed person into the ground, Bell leaped upwards with her greatsword in hand. She delivered the demon's leg a large meal consisting of only uppercut, the gash left in her wake giant and already profusely bleeding. The blood sputtering out of the wound was immediately evaporated by the intense gray flames that had started to fan themselves around the leg of the demon.

Soon, both of the demon's legs were burning with the gray flames, and Bell snapped, activating Ruination once more. The snap wasn't for anything outside of dramatic flair, and Bell felt like a badass as she reactivated Ruination.

The gray flames turned black and the fur immediately burned away into nothingness, and soon, the skin as well, leaving only muscle underneath. The muscles revealed were mighty and most likely extremely powerful, but the black flames didn't care.

They continued to burn, but it looked like they started to dwindle in effect but kept dancing around the demon's now obscured fleshy legs. 

Bell felt slight relief from the fact that she was saved the horrid view, and started to wonder how she could try and get the demon's head.

The demon soon roared in pain and its onslaught continued, only now with much more aggression and speed. Bell almost felt bad for the six-armed person until she risked a glance over to find that he was handling the situation flawlessly.

Each and every attack was answered in some way to outright avoid taking damage, or to mitigate it to nearly nothing. Blood caked the person's body, but Bell didn't think that the blood originated from him. 

Bell then realized that she could probably summon a bow and arrows, coating them in the gray flames of Ruination to spread the gray flames before reactivating it for a devastating effect.

'Bellona Finley, you are a certified genius.' She thought as the teal flames of Creation left a bow and arrows in her expecting hands.

Bell flexed the bows string a few times, slowly releasing the tension in the string before actually knocking an arrow into the bow's ready strings. Bell drew the bow back to its fullest, activating Ruination for a split moment to coat the arrow in the gray flames before deactivating the ability and releasing the arrow.

The arrow flew true, growing closer and closer to the demon's flaming head...

And it missed entirely.

Bell had failed to account for the movement of the demon's head, as it had leaned in forward to try and bite the six-armed person's head. Then, something unexpected happened; the Knight that had been launched into the houses earlier launched forward and latched onto the demon's head.

The Knight was cloaked in the blue flames that he commanded and had wrapped himself around the wolf-like snout that acted as the demon's mouth. It attempted to roar, but the Knight had a grip of iron, or something of the sort, as the demon failed, only releasing a quiet grunt in pain. 

'What?!' Bell exclaimed in her mind, already knocking another arrow and enchanting it with the gray flames.

She had previously thought that the Knight was dead, or completely unconscious, but he had just proved her wrong in one of the most awesome ways that she had ever seen. 

Another arrow flew towards the demon, but instead of the face, Bell aimed for the demon's heart. This time, the arrow only missed the mark by a few inches, the arrow embedded itself in the demon's abdomen.

As the arrow pierced the demon's flesh, gray flames had started to spread from the point of origin. Soon, half of the demon's chest area was now covered in the gray flames, and Bell snapped once more.

The black flames swirled in place of the gray flames, and the demon attempted to roar once more. This time, the Knight's blue flames only burned brighter, and the demon's enraged roars turned into pained groans.

Bell knocked one more arrow and prayed to the Lady of the Blue Moon that her arrow flew true. As the gray flames engulfed the steel arrow tip, Bell let the arrow fly. It reached its apex just as the demon's eye got in the path of the arrow. Gray flames sprouted from the demon's head, and Bell snapped once more. 

Those gray flames turned pitch black, and the demon instantly went limp, it's body no longer receiving signals to do anything. After the demon's carcass started to fall, the Knight leaped off of the demon's head, leaving a trail of blue flames behind him as he landed safely on the ground.

The six-armed person immediately drew his weapons once more and pointed them towards both Bell and the Knight.

"Who are you." He spoke in english.

The Knight replied in that same language that the citizen had spoken in earlier, all the while Bell was confused.

'English?' Bell asked internally.

The six-armed man said to the man, "I don't know what you're saying." The man then emphasized one of the spears that was pointed in Bell's direction, "You. Do you speak English?"

Bell answered fluently, "Yeah. Who are you?"

"Azar Park, I don't know why I'm in this body, and I don't know where we are." The man replied, he then asked, "Do you know anything about where we are?"

"I'm Bellona Finley." Bell answered truthfully, finding the man's situation familiar. "I don't know where we are, I just have nightmares of places that I'm apparently supposed to die in. Seeing as how I'm still alive, this nightmare isn't going to end."

Azar then asked, "You're Bellona Finley? Don't lie."

"What?" Bell asked, now thoroughly confused. "Do you want me to prove it or something?"

The Knight had stayed silent during Azar and Bell's conversation. He turned around at some point and was walking towards the burning demon's carcass.

"Yes, I do want you to prove it," Azar answered. "Show me those black flames of yours."

Bell stared at the man in confusion. "I've been using my ability during the entirety of that fight." Bell then took off her helmet, allowing her scarlet hair to almost immediately get singed by a nearby flame.

Azar then said, "Bellona has red hair, yours is black, and your flames are white."

'Oh...' Bell realized. "You're colorblind." She said.

Azar then looked towards the flames and pointed one of his swords in its direction, "What color is that flame?"

Bell answered truthfully, "They're purple."

Azar's six eyes gradually widened in realization.

"Oh." He said after a moment.

Bell answered with, "Yeah." She then nodded her head solemnly. 

Azar then asked, "How are you here? You're supposed to be... gone."

Bell took a step forward and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"The Bellona Finley I'm aware of is in her fifties, and she's been fighting the gods for a long while." He said.

Bell looked up and wished she could see her moon, or the sky, or anything besides the black smog. 

"I'm sixteen," Bell stated, her mind pulling strings and running machinery. "Does that mean you're from the future?"

Azar looked taken aback slightly as he spoke, "No, that means you're from the past."

Bell's head started to hurt from the mental gymnastics she was failing to do. Just as her head started to hurt, Bell felt the ground rumble.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Azar looked around, failing to see color in any meaningful way, most likely. "I don't know," He soon said.

Bell saw the carcass of the demon twitch, it then moved its arm, and soon a leg, then its other arm. After a few seconds in shock and awe, Bell saw the towering carcass of a demon stand up fully.

The voice of the Knight rang out in that same unfamiliar language.

"Bellona! Run!" Azar yelled.

Bell leaped backwards in time to avoid a deafening crash and giant quake in the earth. The demon had leaped up in the air and attempted to squish both Azar and Bell. Azar had leaped out of the way of the demon's feet just in time, similar to Bell.

The Knight still spoke in his unknowable language, and Bell then realized that she kind of wished that she knew the language that he spoke.

'There's always next month!' Bell exclaimed in her mind as she dove forward, avoiding another crash.

The Knight seemed to be puppeteering the demon's corpse around, seeing as how the demon lacked any fine motor control. Even without that fine motor control, Bell was struggling due to having the full anger of the demon's body focused on her. 

'This is awful.' Bell stated plainly in her mind after gaining a brief moment of respite. 

It was then that she gained an idea.

"Hey! Azar!" She yelled.

His voice rang out from somewhere further away, "Yeah?!"

"I'm gonna lure this thing away!" Bell yelled back, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!"

Apparently, Bell was some sort of supermodel in whatever future Azar was living in, and she didn't want to worry the six-armed, six-eyed, three-mouthed man.

Azar's voice trailed away as Bell ran down one of the streets, "Alright! Thank you!"

Bell continued to run down streets with the demon's still-bleeding corpse close behind. 'I don't think armor's going to be of any help.'

It was as she ran that Bell started to try and unbuckle some of the heavier pieces of armor. She managed to get the gauntlets off without much trouble, but the chest plate was showing to be difficult.

Bell failed to realize that she was running in a dead-end direction as she focused on not tripping over herself while untying her armor. She felt lighter, but she also ran directly into a brick wall, with a yelp, she turned around.

The purple flames had turned blue at some point, and the way out was blocked by the meters tall monster corpse and a whirlwind of blue flames.

It was then that Bell realized that her dream was coming to an end. 

'That sucks...' Bell thought. 'I wanted to talk to that Azar guy a bit longer.'

Instead of burning alive like she did during some of her dreams, Bell Created a dagger and sliced her own throat. Warm blood poured out of her neck, but this pain was a mere drop in the ocean of pain that was burning alive.

As the life pooled out of Bell and onto the cobblestone path, Bell's last thoughts were:

'I hope he makes it out.'