The previous Sassy Saturday post can be read here: Escape from Mt.Heios
The context for this post: Zettai is a new character. Up until now she has not had any extended "sassy" moments to highlight. She is a young girl (five or so years old) and a native of Ceiha. She fell in with Eric's group and has been learning magic from him. Stuff happened and now she running away from a grim reaper (not the reaper, which would this guy's boss, but the local one).
This is the last excerpt from Looming Shadow. The next book in the Journey to Chaos series, Mana Mutation Menace, will be featured next week.
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A cylinder-alligator-shaped beast
colored in shades of purple from nearly white to nearly black. It had a primate
arm, a bird wing, a lizard leg, and a fish fin. With these, it beat up the god
that crashed into it. After the first five blows, Reno Grade punched its main
body into the distance, but by then, Zettai had escaped again.
“It’s useless to hide from me, girl.”
In a heartbeat, he was directly
overhead. She dove behind a rock.
“You were ‘killed’ by necrocraft and
thus highlighted in my divine vision.”
The rock crumbled into sand under the
force of his punch and she jumped away. Tripping over her own feet, she
sprawled across the ground. She turned to face him and shouted, “G-Go jump in
the Sea of Chaos!”
He grabbed her by the throat with his
right hand and lifted her four feet up from the ground. Coldness filled her
from head to toe and despair filled her mind and soul.
“I just might have to because of you.
Modil knows that I violated my parole. Your selfish actions ruined my
operation!”
“You know, for a divine being, you
think a lot like a mortal.”
“What?”
“You abuse your power, pick on those
weaker than yourself, and blame others for your own problems. A minute ago, I
was scared of you because you looked like this unstoppable force of nature, but
now, all I see is my dad taking out his anger on me because he’s too scared to
confront its true source. You’re not a god; you’re a worm on a power trip.”
Reno Grade ripped her soul out of her
body and held in his left hand. She shuddered but otherwise was unaffected.
“That felt…funky.” She shook her head
and noticed her soul. “So that’s what they look like. Does this count as an
out-of-body experience? Can I talk to myself like this?”
For once in his afterlife, Reno Grade
was at a loss for words.
“Why…How…What?”
She smirked. “The so-called god is
asking a puny human for revelations?”
Reno Grade glared. He would age her
into dust for such an insult, but that other mortal stole his authority over
senescence. If he went back for it, Tasio would no doubt find him and his trump
card could not help him. Then another idea came to him. Although his face
remained skeletal, Zettai got the impression that he was leering at her.
“There are a number of things I did to
little girls when I was mortal. If you’re so sure I think like one, then perhaps
I should do those things to you.”
Zettai kicked his arm, squirmed in his
grip, and shouted, “Creep!” but he only leered more. With his prey in both
hands, he flew up and out of the mountain’s Fog Cloud. He set his sights on the
other mountain because her soul retained a positive impression of it and he
wanted to change that. He flew unhindered and unaware that he was on someone’s
radar.
A divinity such as the resident reaper was
higher in standing than a planetary avatar, thus, someone that tracked avatars
would easily be able to detect him. This was especially the case when he had just
exited a Fog Cloud because it would have obscured his presence. The blip
startled Emily and she asked Kallen what to do. Kallen replied, “Press the
Smite Gods button.”
“Uh, Boss, is that really the smart thing to –”
“Emily, push the button right now.”
“Yes, Boss.”
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To learn more about the heroines of Journey to Chaos, visit the Tvtropes character sheet.
The next Sassy Saturday post is Don't underestimate elf tech!
Brian Wilkerson is a freelance book reviewer, writing advice blogger and independent novelist. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
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