Like a space shuttle with launch towers peeling off, a European castle emerged from inside the eroding Toltec structure. As rubble cascaded down all four faces of the pyramid and squashed those who weren’t quick enough, the castle spires thrust upwards and unfurled the kingdom’s banners. At the foot of this dynamic vision, Marm was hanging on to dear zombie life from the hilt of the Blade of Resurrection. Meanwhile, on its summit, Nyxdzzl’s burst bubble glowed azure like the blackened fifth sun of prophecy to the stampeding Toltecs. The witch’s luminous gestation chamber had first exploded, releasing a godlike amount of energy, and then rebounded inward. Right now, it was burning like a mini-supernova. The surviving natives shook from head to foot and threw themselves to the ground in repentance. When the deafening rumble of doomsday at last quieted down, the Toltecs noticed it had begun to rain. They held out their dusty hands and stared at the flickery bits of computer code that c
Brusque hands pushed Nyxdzzl and Orlyx into the flames. Nyxdzzl hugged her pet tight in a futile attempt to shield her from the blaze. In turn, she felt the most profane element of the Prime Evil shift to take them in, to embrace and swallow them in the folds of its raging clothes once and for all. There was an inward whoosh and all the peach-fuzz hair on her arms, including her eyebrows and eyelashes, was instantly gone. Nyxdzzl became as smooth as a newborn. She opened her mouth to scream but her throat felt arid. All her pores were emptying her to the last drop. Soon she herself would turn into vapor. She tried to turn her mind away from the unbearable heat and was soothed by the collective memories of the Elves, from various aeons and planets, through the eyes of strange yet inherently familiar ancestors. Nyxdzzl made a vain wish that she could upload her latest consciousness to the Great Mawrsul tree in the center of the Floating Gardens of Tir-Aleainen. She burst inside the fla
The sword didn’t budge. The impassive extra-terrestrial statue repeated: The sorcerer laughed maniacally and the same depraved sound rippled through the mob. Marm placed one foot on the diamond’s refractive surface and tugged with all his zombie might, which is saying something. He grunted and heaved and heaved but to no avail. His bones creaked and his arms threatened to rip, but the sword remained buried. the statue reminded him. It was finally time for the Toltec warrior to attack. His berserk mount had been trumpeting and curling its trunk inward. Marm fled the platform, again with the determination of a snail. As soon as he reached the ground, he felt the whole square tremble. Then the olifant was upon him, rearing and kicking its long legs in the air. The beast stomped Marm with one perfectly-aimed, log-like foot. There was a juicy squish and then silence. Everyone, from the delirious sorcer
Their hands bound, Marm and Nyxdzzl gaped at the vision that had materialized ahead. Behind them, the brand-new day of the second sun was dawning but in front of them, where a desert junkyard had been just an hour ago, magnificent structures akin to flat-topped pyramids now towered, resplendently bathed in sunset. These structures then slowly coalesced into an enchanting alabaster-white city where all the technology and life of that age appeared to converge. This was Tula, capital city to the Toltecs. Marm and Nyxdzzl felt like lambs being herded to the butcher’s; even the adorable Orlyx had been placed in a cage. Marm and Nyxdzzl were tied to a large cart laden with adobe and volcanic stones and drawn by the olifant with a very long rope tied to its tail. Because of the difference in height, the cart was like a toy cart to a boy and the rope was taut at an angle of almost 60 degrees. When they arrived at the public square where travelers from all walks of life bustled about, people s
A melee was something that Marm thought he would never have the terrible luck to participate in again, after the pre-Apocalypse lootings and water riots. Melees were ugly, barbaric and shameful affairs that not even his highly selective zombie memory could ditch. Since he was already smark dab in the middle of one, he decided to let the weird zombie adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream drag everything down in slo-mo, so he could keep track of all the dangers and extricate himself, Nyxdzzl and Orlyx to safety. First, Col_Eismann pistol-whipped Marm with enough force to knock his head off. In fact, that was what happened. Almost. Marm, undead as he was, took the blow like a sponge and turned the other cheek, which in this case was the Adam’s apple of his snapped throat. His injury emitted a soft bloop and wispy digital numbers popped up in the air before swiftly evaporating: -12. Transfixed by the sight, the succubus accidentally stepped her thigh-high boot on the tail of a coll
Judging by the tavern’s façade, there should be at most two conjoined hall-and-parlor structures. But as Marm and Nyxdzzl stepped in, their mouths hung open because it was much, much bigger inside. Marm couldn’t tell how big exactly. It felt like the interior was the size of a football field, sometimes a hangar. It seemed the place was constantly contracting and expanding based on an unknown factor, so much so that the bar multiplied the infinity mirror effect in its glass side panels. Apart from the jarringly grandiose glass, there was a circular bronze-and-copper polycandelon hanging from the ceiling. It was suspended by four chains and its horizontal design, Marm could discern with preternatural acuity, was a highly ornate mandala. As for the clientele itself, it was the most bizarre, motley crowd ever assembled; not only the animals but also their owners. It was as though Marm and Nyxdzzl had been thrust into a pet show with no consistent rules except the more exotic the pet, t
Marm peered inside his open fridge. Instead of moldy wire shelves keeping undarned socks and slashed ties, there was a disc of superheated gas and dust swirling around a roughly circular, utterly dark shadow. The shadow was ravenously feeding on and sucking in all matter and energy. {Okayyy…} “I believe you have the idiom ‘leap of faith’ here on Terra?” Nyxdzzl said. “The trick is to jump first, think later. Listen to your heart, not your brain. And don’t let your arm reflexively grab the door on your way in. A zombie like you is definitely going to lose it – again. Keep your arms and legs close to your body at all times. Got it?” Without waiting for a question of clarification (which Marm had a lot of), Nyxdzzl tucked Orlyx under her arm and jumped in. Marm was left with a look on his face that was even more torn and tortured than that of the typical zombie. He assumed the posture of a pogo stick and started hopping like one. He closed his eyes and just aimed his little hops forwar
“It’s some kind of holographic tattoo…” Nyzdzzl said thoughtfully as she peered at the hologram above Marm’s forearm. Orlyx had scuttled up her armor and was now sitting on her pauldron. “Had you had it before you turned into a zombie?” {I don’t remember,} Marm said, telling a white lie that he hoped the telepathic elf wouldn’t be able to detect. He was embarrassed. He had always had the hologram, from as far back as his damaged brain could remember. And he was the only zombie in the entire city who had it. In fact, it was the real reason he lost his arm in the first place. As it turned out, the post-Apocalyptic world was full of ironies. First, there was no shortage of fresh meat for the determined and most hard-core zombie. Fresh meat was delivered right at their door step in literal truckloads (military-issue). But only the hungriest of the undead dared go toe-to-toe with the Open Seasoners. “Open Seasoners” was what they called the human survivors of the Apocalypse, the last re
Like a PowerPoint slide that was more distracting than helpful, the rectangle of brilliant yellow light shone behind the space elf in so much lively, electrified beauty it was hypnotic. The visitor shut the fridge and snapped Marm out of his slack-jawed reverie. “Please call me Nyxdzzl,” she cheerily ended her introduction. A small shadow leapt from behind Nyxdzzl and slithered around Marm’s ragged polyester pant legs. A shiver ran up and down his bent spine. “This is my pet Nidhoggr: Orlyx,” she added in her melodic yet booming voice. {Good… d-dragon,} Marm stammered inside his head. {It has these cute little wings and all but why doesn’t it fly? Not that I’m complaining though. I’m perfectly happy if it stays right where it is.} {I’m afraid I’m to blame for that.} The space elf’s voice suddenly rang in Marm’s head, INSIDE his skull. It was so disorientating that Marm’s jaw almost fell to the floor. Literally. “As her surrogate parent, I’m responsible for teaching her ski