Cutlery picked up Tool and laughed. They had done it! The rebellion was over! No golds in sight! The Platinum lay unmoving on the float as well. Cutlery scanned the remaining rebels and saw, what was her name? The black girl with curly hair? Cop! She was giving brief healing to the wounded. Bodies that had been unmoving now1 stirred and groaned in pain after the shock of healing.
The bare minimum was likely all Cop could spare for so many people in need. Luckily from Cutlery's experience, just enough to be conscious often wasn't so bad with a sliver's pain killing.
Cop would go to someone with a hole in their chest and a brief flash of healing would cause the muscle and bone to cover the wound. The person then got up with a discomforted look.
Cutlery dashed through the square with Tool on her back. She saw more of her friends. Holly was healing. Savannah lay near Platinum's laser trench. Tall was walking over to the Platinum with their axe raised and blood-soaked across their body.
Jake was getting up near where the coral beast had been. Then she saw one of the mid-slivers getting the rebel eighth sliver back. Back from wherever they had been sent. A pile of dark sludge slowly reformed into the high slivers body as the mid-sliver shook and retched from the strain of the spell.
The voices of the relieved and joyous grew louder. Pain edged most words, and concern for the missing. Their goal had been accomplished. More than three dozen slivered people were in the square. All of them wanted a better Zurkonia.
A whisper pierced the sound and Cutlery looked around for its source. She saw a white cape, it startled her as it was similar to the Platinum's cape. It hung on an alley wall as if someone had put it there. The cloak lightly stirred in the breeze of the shaded space. Cutlery set Tool down and walked towards it. Tools footsteps retreated in the opposite direction.
The whispering sounded like scraping chalk. On the ground, several pickpocket marks were etched into the cobblestone. They read as simple messages. Some said safe, clear, aware, coin, and forward.
Cutlery found herself already at the alleyway. The cloak stirred and a bright red hand came out of it. A short curved dagger spun from the palm. Cutlery drew back and the dagger was flung past her suddenly. A small knick on her cheek let out a slow drop of blood.
"Fine work pickpocket." The voice said. It was high and feminine but sounded fake. The chalk noise came back and the cloak snapped off the hook as a breeze hit it. It slid around the corner and out of sight. A paragraph of chalk was left on the wall.
It read simple pawn, simple work, and let the memory of this place fade with you. The Platinum sliver lives.
Cutlery glanced towards the stage and narrowed her eyes. Tall was nowhere to be seen anymore. They had been approaching the Platnium.
-
"Where's Tall! Where's the Platinum?" Cutlery yelled. Her words seeped through everyone's clearing minds. The rebel eight sat up now that their literal death was over. They looked towards her.
Too late, a streak of silver shot up from the stage. Cutlery opened her mouth but found it filled with puke. She tumbled over and saw the edge of a bright red foot. A copper coin fell in front of her face.
The world shrunk to just that coin. Flashes of light erupted and blurred out of her focus. The coin rolled slowly on the ground inches from her face. The red foot shifted away and Cutlery saw nearly a dozen other blurry figures in the square approaching her friends. They were large, quick, and confident. Everything had a yellow tinge of sorts.
Cutlery's mind shook from whatever, who was it? Prodito, the Temple god had given her a sliver when she was about to die in an alleyway. Whatever Prodito had done this time had her vomiting once more. For a second her vision focused and she saw the Temple was now floating over the square. Figures straight out of legend and myth walked about the square.
They had won, right? The gods of the Temple had come to pass judgment on their minds, deeds, whatever the fuck. Cutlery's vision blurred and focused over and over on the coin as she retched. It was a battle to keep her eyes open. It was like her lungs were getting ripped out of her. A void-like stomach convulsed inside her guts. What was she to do? Hope?
Figures slumped and fell in her blurred sight. Vomit reached her knees and cheek. More and more of her body slid onto the cobblestone. The convulsions weakened, and her mind cleared. Energy from not feeling like a limp corpse filled her veins. Willpower shoved against her nerves. Slowly her body gave her back control inch by inch. Like the greatest battle she had ever fought, she got back onto her knees. Then raised her head and sat up.
She rubbed her wet hands on her wet face. Eventually less fluid was on her. Tears and stomach acid clouded her vision. An arcane yellow beam was moving on. It looked like a spotlight as it shifted over the city She hadn't even had a chance to react, the gods had come and gone. That had been it, The Temple was done with her for now.
Her heartbeat was quite loud at the moment. She felt it in her neck, temples, and brain. Thumping away with adrenaline, panic, and magic. After a few more seconds she was able to carefully stand. A splatter of blood landed in front of her. Cutlery looked up and saw, others were battling with the Platnium.
Only Cutlery and a few others had fallen and were now standing. Cop the healer was glowing with a firey blue light. Some of the mid-slivers were also showing effects. One of them smiled, then died as the Platinum swooped down and took off their head with a long silver blade.
They were killing people who the Temple had knocked unconscious. No mercy from their holy leader was to be found.
-
Her sliver beat like a second heart within her. Prodito had been an asshole about it, but she had gained another level of power. Her wounds and exhaustion form before remained. With great effort, she balanced herself and drew her blade, then charged in to help the others. The platinum swooped toward her then turned. They saw she was no longer sitting still. As she swung at him they rolled sideways in the air and kicked off her shoulder to sharply turn upward.
His arc brought him high up into the sky where he cackled and looked down upon them. Golden ichor spilled from his every pour. Cutlery felt droplets of it on her from his fast turn.
"It's growing! I feel it! Your doom grows within me! The Temple has found me worthy as an object of fear! as a god! An angry god!" The Platinum said. Three splatters of magic launched at him. He slid past one and threw up an arm at the other two. Both sprays smashed into his cape and dissipated quickly into steam.
"There is no hope! Soon you will witness my strength, then die! The only people left here will be those who fear me, and can do nothing about it!" The Platinum said. His face had contorted from smooth and featureless to a more orange and angular one. A transformation was taking place. A red glow beat through his white shirt like his heart was about to explode.
Several molten spheres of metal slowly sprung into existence around them. The atmosphere warbled as magic gushed through it. Cutlery turned and ran for cover. Everyone did. Thoom Thoom Thoom Thoom Thoom Thoom ThoThoThoThoooom. A dozen overlapping discharges echoed in the sky above. Cutlery jumped behind a large coral. Screeching filled the air. Cutlery peaked and saw the huge metallic cannonballs launching like diving hawks across the square. Holes in their surfaces let the rushing air screech like whistles as they moved in paths around the square.
Several slammed into buildings and exploded into a hundred pieces of heavy shrapnel that tore the wood apart. Roddy was still rushing towards a piece of cover, Cutlery thought she had seen him die earlier. He was smashed into the cobblestone by an orb. Poor fellow.
The sphere didn't break apart and simply sat where it was. No evidence a person was smashed into the street under it.
The impacts sounded all around the square and slowly the sound died down. It was replaced by the Platinum's distant laugh.
"That was but a taste of-." The Platinum cut off. They pivoted in the sky with confusion.
"But I'm not done! I have work to do!" The Platnium said to no one around him. Cutlery watched in curiosity, if only she had another ballista bolt. The Platinum started to glow a brighter red and then Cutlery saw one of the Temples's yellow beams.
It was trailing after the huge structure. The Temple was now on the far side of the city about to leave. The beam fell upon the Platinum and everything again tinged yellow.
