Inevitable Defeat

It was the same dream she dreamed every night. Jenna’s eyes took in the broken bodies of her companions. Some were headless lying in puddles of blood that seeped out from their necks. Others lay in two halves. Still others were run through with various sharp implements.

The sky was stained red with the blood of battle, and the smell of rotting corpses permeated the air. Her attention was drawn by the sound of clashing weapons. She looked up and saw her father and uncle fighting at the height of what seemed like endless stairs. A swirling vortex of energy provided an ominous background. Jenna knew the vortex was the portal that would eventually spread and make earth part of her uncle’s wasteland of a realm. She knew she could not let that happen. She surmounted the steps as her father landed a flurry of blows on her uncle.

Something cracked beneath her foot on the next step and she looked down. Staring up at her was the bruised and battered face of Earth Realm’s champion. His upper body was completely burned to red smoldering flesh. Jenna dropped to her knees and rested her hands on him. His flesh wrinkled and pealed under her hands.

“I’m sorry, Liu,” she whispered through tears. She stood and continued her journey up to join her father’s last ditch effort. Another body drew her attention at the top of the stairs. Her mentor and lover, Kuai, lay with a double sided axe in his back. A creature in shredded yellow and black warrior garb stood over him. Its skeletal face looked at her, and its eyes blazed with fire. This was the creature that had tried to end her life long before she knew of her father and the secret war he fought to keep the Earth safe from other realm invaders. “Bastard!”

Jenna ran at the hellish beast and swung the staff she’d used to bring down so many of his brethren. The staff went through the creature and it disappeared in a blaze of flames. She knelt beside Kuai and checked his pulse. He was already dead. The sinister laugh of her uncle kept her from slipping into despair. She looked up and saw him standing over her.

“It’s over.” He smiled, and reached for her. His eyes glowed red with lust as she flinched away. “You’re the only one left, child.”

“My father?” Jenna looked around him and saw her father’s broken body lying before the portal. “No!”

“Oh yes.”

Jenna discarded her staff, and wrenched the axe out of Kuai’s back. He caught it and tossed it aside. Jenna flinched back as he snatched her in his large hands and lifted her over his shoulder. He stepped over her father’s dead body and carried her through the portal that led to his realm.

Jenna awoke to the sound of her own screaming sobs. She curled into the fetal position, and shook violently. A pair of large arms pulled her back against a warm male chest. She turned and buried her face in her lover’s chest. He stroked her smooth hair, and whispered soft consoling words.

“It was just a dream, my love,” he whispered.

“It is the same dream I’ve had every night,” Jenna whimpered. “Father says my dreams are prophetic.”

“He said they can be,” Kuai reminded her.

“Scorpion killed you,” Jenna whimpered. That was the name of the skeletal warrior they both loathed. “He hit you in the back with his axe.”

“As he does every time you have that dream.” Kuai sat up, and pulled Jenna into his lap. “Was everything else the same?”

“All except one thing,” Jenna admitted. “My uncle defeated my father. I usually wake up after Scorpion kills you.”

“What happened?” Kuai asked.

“I heard my uncle laughing,” Jenna explained. “I looked up and he stood over me smiling. I tried to fight him but he…” she paused as a sob escaped.

“Go on,” Kuai urged. He rocked her gently in his arms.

“He picked me up like a hunting trophy, and carried me through the portal to his realm,” Jenna sobbed. “That’s when I woke up screaming. You were all dead. I was the only one left, and I lost.”

“There now,” Kuai murmured into her hair. “You’ve told me everything. We’ll tell your father about it tomorrow.”

“Will we also tell him about us?” Jenna inquired.

“If you feel that would be best,” Kuai sighed. He knew her father would not approve of her being with someone so much older than her. That was going to be quite a revelation. Her nightmare was over, but if her father forbad him from being with her then Kuai’s nightmare would become a reality. He laid her on her back, and pulled the covers over her. “Sleep for now, my love.”

Word Count: 806