Vesik 04 - This Broken World by Eric Asher

I still jumped back as the water boiled without heat. Bubbles of light flowed from the fronds and broke the surface of the water. Dozens at first, and then hundreds spilled out into the air. The bubbling mass expanded and the bubbles merged before they dulled into a red granite body. Two lights kindled in the black pits of the highest granite boulder. A moment later, two glowing eyes rolled down to meet mine. A wiry crack in the surface turned into the Old God’s smile.
    “I heard you knocking,” the earth said as he pulled his boulder-like legs out of the fading pool of light.
    “You just wanted to see if I remembered,” I said.
    “It has been a while since I crushed someone here.”
    “Let’s try to keep that streak alive,” I said.
    “Alive … yes. Zola would likely prefer that.”
    “Uh, I would likely prefer that too.”
    Aeros’s face fractured into a grin as he turned to the Old Man. “It is good to see you again.”
    “And you,” he said.
    “How would you like to proceed?”
    The Old Man ran his fingers over the white beard on his chin. “He’s never faced an Old God directly.”
    “He did defeat Azzazoth and the Destroyer.”
    The Old Man nodded. “Yes, but he had help with Azzazoth. He nearly lost himself killing the Destroyer.”
    I took a deep breath. He was right on both counts.
    “A brief demonstration, perhaps?” Aeros said, his voice rumbling through the stone beneath my feet.
    “Like old times.”
    “Yes,” Aeros said, agreeing with the Old Man. “I am glad to see your realization of what I am has not destroyed our old alliance.”
    The Old Man’s hands began to emit a soft, yellow glow. Streamers of power floated away from his forearms like smoke. “I admit, I thought we’d have to kill you when I learned you were an Old God. You look different than you did in the war with the witches. I didn’t expect a rock to age. How long has it been? A century? Two?”
    “More time has passed us by than a mere century. We met in the Civil War once more, but when last we sparred, you still wore the name Levi.” Aeros took a step away from the pool, leading the Old Man onto the wider plain of granite. Every footfall thundered as granite met granite.
    “I still answer to that name.”
    “How long since you answered to Leviticus?”
    The Old Man slammed his fists together and a waterfall of power poured from his hands. “You will not anger me so easily any more, old friend.”
    Aeros’s smile widened. “I am glad of it.”
    I backed away, closer to the edge of the staircase.
    “Prepare yourself!” It was all the warning Aeros gave.
    He threw a hook like a wrecking ball. The Old Man’s shield flashed up as he took half a step backwards. Aeros’s fist glanced off the shield in a shower of sparks.
    “Pulsatto!”
    The wave of force didn’t even phase Aeros as he lunged at the Old Man. The Old Man’s showed actual surprise as the wall of rock turned at an impossible angle, aiming a strike at his legs.
    “Modus Ignatto!” A pinwheel of fire erupted across the rocks. It wouldn’t hurt Aeros, but the god couldn’t see the Old Man maneuver to the side behind the tower of flame. “Too slow.”
    Aeros’s eyes brightened as he crossed through the fire. The Old Man’s hand blackened as he swung a punch at the Old God’s head.
    My jaw hung open as he connected and drove Aeros’s face into the granite plateau.
    “You haven’t slowed down a bit in your old age.”
    Aeros laughed as he pulled a knee up beneath him. “An artful distraction.”
    The Old Man nodded and leaned back against the nearest boulder. “You could have killed me with any one of those strikes.”
    “I know you better than that, Old Man. We all do.”
    “I must say,” the Old Man said, “you don’t give away your target like you used to. Back in the Civil War, I could dance around every attack you threw.”
    Aeros paused and studied the small man before him. Small to Aeros, at least. “Some of us were not