NOVEL NEXT 14: Troglodyte Mistreatment
Valencia, for once in her very long life, was annoyed a fight was happening.
She was sitting in her bedroom, pissed off and itching to punch someone. Thank the heavens Astrid was harder to wake up than a rock.
First, two deities had begun fighting, alerting Valencia and keeping her from climbing into bed to cuddle up with Astrid. Then, not moments later, some pipsqueak of a deity had sent a deluge of divine aura toward her store. Why was this ant trying to throw their divinity at her to intimidate her?
This grasshopper was making mistake number one in terms of fighting! All they did was announce their stupidity to her. Only an actually powerful deity should’ve been hucking their divinity around. Someone like her.
Leaning over, Valencia pulled out the bottom drawer in her desk, dusting off her white, gold-patterned blindfold. “Why am I using this thing again already...”
Tying her trust blindfold on once more, Valencia felt herself get back into the zone as her body roared in anticipation for a fight once more. Floating out the window as a faint purple glow began to emanate off of her, Valencia flicked her wrist to close the window behind her. Taking a seat on the roof of Leaves of Dawn, Valencia began waiting for the waste of space to make its way over.
Moments later as Valencia zoned out, a bolt of flame washed over the store, bathing it in golden-orange flames.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Valencia smiled as she watched the flames try their best to gnaw away at the walls. Thank heavens she had bought blackout curtains for Astrid’s room.
“It’s no use!” Valencia called out in a helpful tone. “I’ve reinforced it more than your ego!”
Taking a moment to look at the masked black figure in front of her, Valencia squinted as the figure continued to send its fire bolts in her direction.
Tapping her chin as a fire jet whizzed past her head, Valencia could only sigh. It seemed like the youngsters of the new generation needed some fear instilled into them...
Kicking her feet like she was at the beach, Valencia yawned. “Ignatius. God of the Blaze. Newly promoted deity under Aelius’s branch. Rising star. Deified two years ago. Leader of the enforcers. Has a crush on Adelyn and is trying to leverage his new deity status to woo her.”
Silence.
With the flames dying out, Valencia laughed as Ignatius froze up. Fluttering her fingers Valencia floated up with a teasing grin. “What? Didn’t do any research? If those flames were all you had, just turn around and leave. I can tell you cooked your brain cells to try and raise the temperature of your flames anyway.”
Giving Ignatius a couple of breaths to charge up and focus, Valencia spent some time looking around, appreciating the nightscape of Marcen’s Cliffs.
As much as the city sucked, Valencia had to say it was always a sublime view, no matter the time of day. The iridescent electrical glow, from the towering trees to the art-like light installations felt... comforting and welcome instead of the usual tacky style she saw elsewhere.
Moments later though, Valencia’s train of thought was cut off by an aggressive axe-kick from the over-excited toddler picking a fight with her. Still content to sit back, Valencia simply backed up as Ignatius began a flurry of punches and kicks while releasing jets of white-blue flames, casting an icy-blue glow over the street below.
“Ohh, that really does pack some heat with it, how many brain cells did this one cost you?” Valencia mused as she spun, twirled, and dodged the flurry of blows. “So silent though... Are you afraid? Oohhh this old hag might beat you up! Are you scared, you little pig-headed, vacuous waste of space? Did you train in the community sauna to make your flames this hot?”
His eyes bloodshot under his mask, Ignatius tried his best to ignore Valencia’s taunting. He didn’t need to listen. He was better than her. He was the future of the Church of Eternity.
Valencia? She was a relic of the past. She was just a lonely, unsupported god. She was woefully unprepared for the changed times.
But... Why couldn’t he hit her? Why was she so relaxed? Why couldn’t his flames burn anything?
Letting out a coarse roar, Ignatius kept up the pressure as he drew out as much power as he could. With flames coating his body and forming into a pseudo-armor of sorts, Ignatius backed off, focusing on getting his flames to burn hotter than ever.
Valencia, on the other hand, was honestly kind of bored. She was maybe devoting a third of her focus towards the fight.
The other two-thirds? Well, of course, it was reserved for the most important of topics. Like how beautiful Astrid was. Or what breakfast would elicit the best squeal, thank you, and kiss from Astrid tomorrow. Or which position she was going to cuddle in with Astrid once she finished taking out the trash.
Sighing, Valencia leaned back to let another jet of flame go over her head.
Perhaps she had set her expectations a little too high.
She had gotten a small [Get caught up with Marcen’s Cliffs!] pamphlet from Solomon after he had visited—a small gift filled to the brim with the more minor figures in each major faction.
Ignatius had been hyped up so much! Yet, here he was... just flailing around like a child throwing a tantrum while trying to burn her with some candle flames.
Too lazy, too tired, and too bored to wait any longer for Ignatius to prepare whatever he was preparing, Valencia spread her arms out, floating up into the air as a faint purple sun appeared behind her.
Reaching forward, Valencia grinned as Ignatius lost control over his own body. “Watch and learn, you troglodyte of a deity.”
Yanking her arm back, Valencia dragged Ignatius’s now ragdoll-like body forward like a meteor as his body glowed purple. Muttering “I ain’t afraid of some fire” to herself, Valencia punched forward.
Getting a great connection with Ignatius’s face, Valencia punched through the fire and shattered part of the black mask obscuring Ignatius’s face, revealing an already bloodshot eye and a newly bloodied nose.
Ignatius, powerless to resist and now seeing his ancestors from fourteen generations back, tried to blast Valencia with some desperate last bits of fire.
Cocking her head to the side as a jet of fire flew past, Valencia grinned as she warmed up her arm. “I’ve learned that your face and my fist have some great chemistry! We should do this more often!”
Diving in, Valencia pummeled a now bawling, begging, and screaming Ignatius with a barrage of punches and kicks. At the same time, Valencia drew on more and more of her divinity, filling the sky with an earth-shattering pressure as her blows began to hit less like punches and more like vehicular manslaughter.
Reveling in the feeling of power coursing through her body once more, Valencia grinned as she began to tear apart Ignatius’s flames and armor bit by bit, ember by ember, chunk by chunk.
With half of Ignatius’s body exposed and beaten, his eyes teary and bruised, and his nose and lips bloody, Valencia yanked Ignatius forward one last time. Twirling in the air, Valencia planted a kick deep into the side of Ignatius’s ribs, jettisoning him onto the pavement below.
Dropping from the sky and landing on Ignatius’s stomach, Valencia stepped off of Ignatius with a graceful yawn. With her shoes clicking against the pavement as she paced a couple of circles around the beaten deity, Valencia walked back over and kicked Ignatius’s limp body a few times. “Scram kid.”
Giving the blubbering mess on the ground another few kicks for good measure, Valencia turned to scan the area. With some gazes peering at her from afar, Valencia flipped off the hidden observers before walking back to the store and leaping up to, and opening, the window.
As the window clicked closed behind her, Valencia sighed as she kicked off her shoes and meandered over to the shower. Now covered in Ignatius’s blood, she had to take her third shower of the day just to climb into bed with Astrid...
Oh how the heavens always had to stand in her way! Why did the waste of space have to bleed so much anyway? All she did was give him a few love taps...
With so much blood in his body, he should’ve gotten a job at the blood bank instead of the Church...
