El Bolero de la Chica Loca de Demonia

Elaine felt the heat against her face. It bore a sweat drip from her brow. "She wasn't alone..." Elaine narrowed her eyes. "She had someone with her." This guy retained his knowledge of how Elaine moved. His knowledge of her and their past gave him unnerving insight into how she moved. "You can't bring her back. People don't come back." Elaine reloaded another round into the chamber. "We can only remember her. And one day we will be reunited; only selfish people want to live forever, and that's not me." If the new Bones predicted Elaine's behavior by her past, her next attack would catch him off guard. Elaine shadow jumped to grapple the skeleton. An explosive round fired into the ground at his feet. Elaine slipped her finger to detonate the round with the two of them entwined.

Clayton found the way the priest king avoided the assault with super natural ease slightly disheartening. His hesitation allowed golden abomination a brief moment to speak. He had no reason to doubt the priest king's offers of riches and eternal life based on what he had seen so far. He also had no reason to doubt that the cost of such gifts would be far greater than they were worth. He did not need any time to consider that offer; there was no way he would accept.

It was what Bones said after dropping to one knee that took Clayton off guard and stung more than the priest's flames could. Ileana was crying out to him from the after life, and the ancient could bring her back? His words dug into Clayton's mind more than they had the right to. Could he really save her? If he could, how could Clayton not allow him to? He had to be bluffing. He had to be just saying it to throw him off guard. Didn't he? The cowgirl's words shattered the silence and returned some of Clayton's determination. She was right. "I'm sure she'd rather stay dead than come back looking like you." Despite his demeanor, there was still a slight tremble and hesitance in his hand as Clayton took aim at the priest's golden skull.

Before he could make up his mind to take the shot, Elaine was already taking selfless, nearly suicidal, action. "Elaine, no!" was all he could manage to spit out.

”She is Alone now.” He said softly, ever so sadly, but carried around the water bubble. He opened his mouth, shaking his head at Clayton as he intended to explain, but the damn girl launched her self forward, grappling him. The Priest King yelped, ”Hands off me, filthy creature!” His bony hands flared with green fire and he launched his wrists at her face as they grappled. And then the bullet exploded. The body of bones was sent back, away from her, skittering along the golden walkway. If he had arms, he would have scrambled at the precious metal, but his limbs were in his grasp still. Instead, he went tumbling off the side and into the clear waters beyond, sinking down into the darkness.

The dome sat silent for a moment, before a line of green lighting shot up from the water into the waterfall, like it was some king of metal lightning rod. The blue water glowed a violently green and exploded out wards, in an umbrella over the temple. It washed through the streets and up the stairs, over the skeletal remains of countless soldiers and animals of ancient origin. They twitched and began to move, as sinew and muscle grew like moss across them, the water restoring them once more.

Somewhere in the world, fires raged, people died, and time stopped. These golden streets did not cushion Elaine's head or welcome her gently to the afterlife. She felt the cool dripping of blood splatter against the golden road. Gold lined with blood; it always was afterall. Her pistols fell around her as she lay on top of her right arm. Wherever that place was that fires raged, she did not know. She only knew the primal feel of wars the encompassed the millennium before. Time moved forward and the fabrics encircled in a spiral of temporal indecision.

Elaine felt the feel of fire upon her face, and could smell the burned hair permeate her senses. All she could think about was getting back to Ileana. They left her alone on the rooftop; they said they would never leave her alone, but words fail us all. Her blood continued to run from her head onto the streets of gold.

A light humming came from Elaine. The gentle noises came together to begin the foundation of a harmony. Note by note they built upon each other to intensify their strength from her lips. A gentle song she remembered as a child. Words began forming in her mouth and expunging their meaning upon the air. "If meat or drink did never givest nane." Her soft words carried through the smoke filled mouth. "The fire will burn thee to bare bane..." It was not the song of a eulogy, but of a dirge.

Clayton’s ears were constantly ringing due to the sheer amount of gunshots and explosions from that day. The explosion that sent the figures in front of him flying broke through that ringing for a moment. Why would she do that? She would do no credit to Ileana’s memory dead, and Claytn did not want to have to bury both of them. It was both selfless and stupid, just like when he pushed Ileana out of the way earlier that day. The makeshift sling and pain that ached in his useless arm served as a reminder of that. He rushed to Elaine and knelt near her in the same fashion that he had with Ileana. “You’re supposed to be some kind of superhero. Don’t you go dying too...” His worry for her safety was only amplified by her similarities to Ileana. She was making noise… singing? Despite the blood, she would probably be just fine.

The Priest King was not finished with them. He sent a line of what looked like green electricity up through the waterfall. It was followed by an explosion of water that rained down upon the streets and blanketed the city of gold. Almost instantly the skeletons that Clayton found so mysterious on their way to this confrontation began to rise as men and beasts of flesh and blood. If Clayton was in a position to run, he would. He could not, though. There was no way he would be able to drag the cowgirl out with one arm, the quickly rising water spilling throughout the vast landscape, and the less than helpful looking native population. Life was a constant stream of bad situations.

The water rippled as something moved beneath the surface. Crawling up the gold wall, a crocodile the size of a car slithered onto the surface and hissed it's displeasure as it looked out on them. Astride it's back sat a skeleton that seemed to be growing muscle and flesh like a moss, half of his face covered with a rippling muscle that had become skin in some places. However, it looked uncomfortable, especially with the numerous gems that stuck out like odd little bone mountains beneath. His arms, which had laid in pieces, were now growing back out of his ribcage, curling up to touch a face that had long been forgotten as the Crocodile watched with beady eyes. ”Oh, the poor poor Princess, so soon to rush forward, so quick to treat life as if it was but a game.” The Priest King looked over the tow of them as he struggled to his feet, Soldiers wearing ancient cloths and holding ancient weapons now moving behind him to aim their spears at the two.

He had not noticed the faltering in his voice, or the odd word “Princess,” too wrapped up in a bitter hate for what these two represented; parasites who saw not what the shining gods gave them. He took a step forward, limping lightly as muscles that were not nearly done squeezed useless around his ankle and thigh. ”There is nothing you can do, Thief. No way to break the spell that gives me life.” Green eyes glittered with malice. If they had paid attention, they would have noticed a single gloved, bony hand move up to point at those eyes, to tap against them ever so lightly. It was not a conscious movement by the Priest King himself.

The word 'princess' struck in her ears. "Dinosaur man?" Elaine spoke. Against the pain, Elaine pulled herself up off the ground, and faced the re-materializing creature. This creature controlled the ability to make large changes in the structure of dead bodies to bring back life. Sinew grew to form tendons around his ankles. The ever recollecting muscles of the creature took a back seat to the odd hand gesture that did not fit the demeanor of the creature. Powerful rhetoric was flanked by comic gestures that finally made their way to point to the his eyes.

Elaine loaded one last round. Slowly standing to see the skeleton now evolving into a zombie. Elaine looked at the crocodile that looked oddly like an alligator. She stood to her feet and leaped into action. She charged the crocogator and tried to get a hold of it. She would then shadowjump directly in the air to drop the gator ontop of Bones. With the force that she sustained from the jump, she would try and fall back into the water to avoid any problems with the deadly reptile.

Human flesh began materializing on golden bones as they rode atop an ancient lizard. The almost equally ancient men rematerialized in much the same fashion. It was true, the waters return mortals to the realm of the living. They were apparently unflinchingly loyal to the priest without as much as a word being spoken to them. Clayton wondered if the process would do the same to Ileana. There was no time to ponder possibilities. The spears and other weapons the recently resurrected wielded looked capable of inflicting as painful a death as any. A spear was thrown, and it nearly missed Clayton by landing a hand’s width away from him. He could feel the wind of it as it whizzed next to him. There were no questions of morality; they made clear it was kill or be killed in the city of gold. Without a second thought, Clayton’s gun returned several of their number to the afterlife. One fell after another before he tossed the emptied weapon off to the side. They surely overwhelmed him. If the Priest was not stopped, this stand was sure to be his last.

He ripped the spear from the ground next to him and assumed a posture that dared them to come closer. If it could stick effectively into the gilded streets, it would surely be damaging to the enemy.

The Priest King blinked one eye lid over green gem, puzzled as he heard the girl call him a name that caused him to stumble back. Far away, deep in the wet jungle, a creature that could have been recognised as a dinosaur gave a roar, as if replying. Inside of the golden skull, however, something odd was happening. A hand which was steadily growing fleshy fingers clutched at his skull; a cage lock was being picked and kicked by Frankie Brokedell, who didn't want to have someone else's flesh covering his dead bones. He didn't want to watch the Crazy Girl try to fight a man who would simply be brought back to life if he touched the water which surrounded him. Most of all, he wanted to tell Elaine that he wasn't a god damn Dinosaur. If the Priest King could concentrate, he could have formed new iron bars and squeezed Bones down in his cage, but he was suddenly entranced with the girl.

She had leapt at the large monster and grappled with the beast, which kicked and flipped in surprise as it hissed angrily, small mind whirling. It whirled even more as she leaped into the air and flipped the creature over, towards the Priest King. He tried to avoid it, turning and scrambling forward, but muscles that weren't correctly form squeezed and he ended up on his face, scrambling at the gold as the beast landed on his legs and lower body, effectively crushing them. It didn't seem content to lay there stunned, however. It lashed out with a thick tail, knocking some of his soldiers into the water after the girl, who might have been hit by one of the creatures thick scaly flanks or limbs.

”Off! OFF BEAST!” He screamed, already knowing that he would not be standing without the Fountains healing touch. The Crocodile understood, it seemed, turning and slipping into the water that was filled with soldiers and Elaine. It's mouth parted as a mind filled with vengeance sought her out. The Priest King, however, turned onto his side and felt his spine disconnect from his lower body. More soldiers were rushing up the Golden Stairs after Clayton, while the battle that was waged for control of his mind left him gazing blankly at the huge waterfall that the Temple was built around.

Countering the charge of the ancient guard, Elaine readied her final barrage of rounds. She retrieved her final cache of ammunition from Ileana before inside of the bar, and it she did not expect to waste the opportunity bestowed upon her. With the controlled grace of a seasoned gunslinger, Elaine watched for the situation to reveal a flaw within its ever unraveling fold of events. The stairs and all of the stone that filled their arches made a perfect target for her.

With a snap of his mighty neck, the alligator flung his jaws over to snare Elaine. She took a step and disappeared behind the the creature to a more sage destination. Her finger found solace within the pull of the trigger and the sound any good shot makes when it rings out from the behind the long barrel. With a hard impact the bullet lodged itself within the stone structure of the wall. In a moment's notice the wall exploded sending assorted rubble and debris into the phalanx of ancients.

Her strong hand still maintained the control over the off hand pistol, guiding it towards the mouth of the alligator. She discharged five explosive rounds to deter the situation into a more manageable situation. Their trajectory would place them near the connection that the alligator and the skeleton man both shared in conjecture.

Clayton held his own with ease for a one armed man holding a spear and sustained only superficial injuries. He was unsure where he saw the maneuvers he was flawlessly executing despite having never practiced in his life. They were most likely from one of the movies on channel 12’s “Super Sumo Sunday” blocks of martial arts films. Wherever he saw them, Clayton was grateful he had. He neutralized a wave of attackers in a spinning blur of motion, with some meeting the blunt end of the spear and others meeting the more serious end. Every blow was a precise and deadly as possible. Clayton could not afford to allow any of the zombie men a second chance at attack as they pushed him further up the stairs. Even with Clayton’s and the distance it allowed him to keep the enemy at bay with, the spear was still somewhat unwieldy. He would do better with a sword, and something close enough was coming his way. One of the undead wielded an arm’s length wooden paddle with multiple large chips of metal sticking out from each end. It would have to do.

Rather than just dropping the spear, Clayton seized the opportunity to launch an attack at the priest. He lobbed the weapon over the heads of the horde and directly at the golden skull of the cursed skeleton. Clayton then charged the Aztec with the sword, before the man could react, Clayton’s elbow was already driven into his throat. The elbow was followed up by a sweeping kick at the man’s legs while Clayton’s hand provided and extra push to the man’s head which drove his face straight into the golden street. The assault was enough to cause the Aztec’s grip on his weapon to slip and for Clayton to catch it before it hit the ground.
There were more shots fired and shards of gold came down from behind. Clayton’s position was such that the shards rained past him and into the ancients in front of him.

Maybe he was not so unlucky after all.

His jaw twitched under zombie flesh as the gems glowed bright; it seemed that white light was now cutting through it, flashing out over the gold around them. But his eyes were on the man on the stairs, holding back his soldiers with a flourish, a spear held in one hand. He pushed them back down with grace as the great Crocodile snapped at Elaine, before she disappeared. There was a crack of thunder as thick gold boulders went tumbling down the stairs, but that wasn't what made the Priest King curse. What made him curse was the point of a spear headed for his skull, as the Crazy Cowgirl moved to aim her gun at him. With a twitch of his fingers the great Crocodile lunged toward the girls muzzle flashes, it's thick hide absorbing the bullets as it mouth snapped at the hand holding the gun.

His other hand pooled fire in the bare golden palm. He would stop it, he would burn it blunt or out of the air. One eye flashed pure white for a moment, as gold dripped off his lower broken bones. Frankie was grappling with memories of the afterlife, with images of gods that appeared like dark stars. Beings who had no face or body, but were simply pure forces and thought. With a weak twitch the Priest King tried to throw the energy and only felt it fall and burn a hole in the gold floor. With a gasp of green magic, he fell still for a moment; long enough for the tip of a sharp flint spear to embed into the gem that was his eye and sink deeper into his skull. ”I did not survive Mictlan to die here and now... Please, no...” The gentle plea, not so sympathetic as the one that Ileana made, fell on death ears.

Gold seemed to evaporate from the bones as the spear still vibrated with energy from the fall. The Crocodile slide to a dead stop at the feet of the Crazy Cowgirl as the Soldiers suddenly paused, and then stopped moving altogether, before collapsing to the gold stairs. A roar from deeper in the forest was cut off, followed by a thud that echoed around the gold village. There was a pause, a beat, where the only sound came from the hissing of the waterfall. And then a small voice asked, looking up as gems were forced out of his skull, ”Where the fuck am I? Princess, Grifter? Ileana?”

Before she could muster up a graceful slew of insults to literally add insult to injury, she became light headed. She swayed back with no bearing or balance. Her weight shifted as her leg kicked out to make her spin in a ballerina type form. She did not know how she accumulated this feeling, or why it choose to come to her now. All she knew was that she needed to either lay down, or throw up, or possibly both.

Under the weight of her light head, she collapsed to the ground. In the distance she could hear the final cries of a dying man. She giggled lightly to herself. "Stupid dinosaur." The world began to spin around as the sky turned to a pale shade of green. Black eyes peered back at her with spiraling eyes. The creature before her seemed to come back to life and pop out towards her. "Wut?" Elaine gazed around her at the piles of bones around her that began to bounce up and down to a banging drum that echoed through the ground. "This is why grandma told me not to take pills that I found in the back alley of Mexico City to trick Joel Mchale. I thought she was just being a bitch."

Elaine fell back. Her head landed against the hard cement and she could feel parts of her consciousness slide through her brain. She could feel a schism come over her and she could feel the experience Ileana partook in. The life she lived. Elaine faded out with her hand over her heart as she felt the spirits come into her head. Forest animals from her ancestral home came to her side. Their words whispered into her ears; a tongue that she could not fully understand pervaded her mind. Finally a voice came through that she could remember, that she could understand.

“Yeah! And this time stay dead, Aztec jerks!” Clayton gloated triumphantly and chuckled as the last one left standing in the city of gold. It was not his best line, so he would tell people he said something else whenever he told the story of how he single-handedly defeated an army of undead Aztecs.

Aside from a mostly destroyed suit, water filled shoes, various scrapes and bruises, and complete exhaustion, Clayton was in good condition and glad to be alive. He spun his maquahuitl idly as he descended down the stairs to where Elaine and Bones were collapsed, nearly silent. “Hope you learned your lesson there, skeleton-man. Keep your bony hands off my things.” It was another less-than-great line that he would alter in his description of the event. “Now get up, you two.” Clayton looked down at Bones and then over to Elaine. The poor girl seemed to have passed right out from exhaustion. At least that’s what Clayton hoped it was. He could barely stand up anymore, and was on the verge of doing the same.

Clayton knelt down to check on her the same way he had earlier and placed the maquahuitl under his arm in order to free his hand up to gently shake the cowgirl. “Come on, Vaquera, time to go.”

Frankie was missing an arm, his jaw was cracked, there was a spear wedged into the cavern on the inside of his skull, his ribs were folded in and broken in many places and every below his last vertebrae was gone. Most worrying of all, though, was spongy flesh that had started to grow on him like moss. It was gross. With a gloved hand he began digging his fingers into it and peeling it away, leaving a lovely red mess as it easily pulled and tugged away. It seemed to be a moot point however; with whatever magic the Priest King used to pull himself back from the dead, it was gone, taking with it the magic that sustained muscle and sinew. It turned to dust and fell off his body as his own spirit took rightful possession. He let out a grateful little sight until he head the Princess' voice drift over the gold. ”To have raised you, she'd have to be a bitch. And I like Community.” He mumbled, as he heard her fall down. She was probably okay. Elaine lived, another of her remarkable talents it seemed.

Then the Grifter was stood over him. Grinning and exhilarated and immensely tired all at the same time. Actors got the same thrill when they stepped off stage, as did Firemen and Cops when they saved a life. A criminals got it when they got to cling to a life full of pretty jewellery, fast booze and cool women. No, wait, it was cold booze and fast women. ”Wasn't your skull, Mon Ami.” He mumbled, as he pushed himself up on his good hand. He dragged himself over to the nearest Aztec soldier and began pilfering the ancient bones for some replacements. ”And you can stop griping about it, there's plenty of chunks of gold around here to keep you happy.”

Within a few minutes he had working legs again. His ribcage was still busted up but he could sort that out when they got back to Los Angeles. He found his shirt, full of chips of gold which had been blow out of the temple and seemed to be the main building material for this whole damn place. He slipped it on, retied his shoe laces nice and tight with an arm that was a little bigger than the other, and stood up. For old times sake he placed his hands on the back of his pelvis and stretched back, before walking over to the two of them, shrugging on his suspenders. ”Where's Ileana?”

All she ever knew laid out before her about the spirits she communed with. "Well..." The small dog nudged his nose against her head. "...I guess I should be glad you aren't capable of talking here." Elaine blubbered off something into the oblivion of the world she faded into. "Eloquent." Nothing within the symbiosis the two entities shared could ever tell Elaine what the power she inherited truly contained. Elaine rose up with her legs still on the ground. Around her she noticed a series of animals that she never saw before: a raccoon dog, a badger, and a skunk. "Well you're either probably wondering why you see more animals than normal, or possibly you have just given up on thinking at all and exist in a state of quantum intelligence where your brain both exists and doesn't exist at the same time, minus the former of course..."

"Why don't you shut up Aggro." Elaine said with her hands propping herself up. "I want a new animal that follows me around. You suck."

"Well. Funny you should mention that." Aggro moved back over towards the animals that came with him. "Apparently you actually have some tangible reason within this realm. Normally we just watch you enter and exit from time to time, and occasionally I follow you out since I made a terrible decision I have to oblige. But not anymore. You need to go home and learn how to actually hone your skills."

Elaine moaned.

"Yes. You have to do something that doesn't involve shooting and then asking questions. But now..." Elaine dozed off and gazed at the green ethereal state around her. "...Elaine listen, listen to me." He regained her gaze. "But, I need you to actually learn how to commune with us without near death experiences or overdosing on backwater pills. Can you do that so that you can save that poor girl on the roof from oblivion?"

"Eh." Elaine said, as the world faded into an iris view of the green lit realm. Her eyes opened to the sky above her. The hardness of the cement pavement etched into her back. Lack of comfort brought her back from the ethereal world; maybe she did need to learn how to focus this thing she could do. "Hey I need to go to Montana. Who wants to drive?"