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 Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:26 pm
Julian collapsed heavily onto the floor, trying very hard to stay conscious. Everything hurt. A lot.
"Jeddeth," he said, pressing a hand to the still-open wound.
"I know," the creature said patiently. "I'm here."
"I can't...did I...is everyone...Rabid..."
"Safe. All safe."
A sigh of profound relief escaped Julian. He rested his head on the floor, blood oozing from under his hand as the wound closed over.
Pushing himself up with tremendous effort, Ethan looked up at Björn in abject horror.
"I'm did what?" he rasped. He suddenly felt violently sick. "Björn, I'm sorry, I didn't...please, I'm sorry..."
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:15 pm
Rabid rushed to Julian, throwing her arms around him and hugging gently, knowing quite well he had to be in a bucketload of pain.
"You scared me. He scared me."
"Eh," Björn shrugged, pressing a hand to his gushing arm and noticing for the first time that he was liable to die of blood loss, "I know it wasn't...you-you. Just thought you should be informed."
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:28 pm
"Mm," Julian said, trying to summon the energy to make actual words. "I thought it would be worse. Every time it happened before, when I wake up everyone is dead."
He rested against Rabid, eyes unfocused in exhaustion.
"It only hurts a little this time," he murmured.
Ethan shook his head, sick with horror.
"Wasn't me?" he asked. "What do you..."
He trailed off, looking around. There was no recollection of leaving the parking lot, or how his hands had gotten so bloody. His mouth went dry and his stomach churned at the realization that Björn probably wasn't the only person he'd hurt.
"I didn't mean to," he said, head ducking down.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:30 pm
Rabid blinked.
"Okay."
"Hey, kid, I know," Björn nodded, "but yer sick 'cos there's summat in yer head."
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:37 pm
Ethan looked up with such an alarmed expression Crow couldn't help but pity him.
"It's fine," she said. "We'll get it out."
Ethan didn't seem to be comforted much. There was a sudden ugly crunching sound, and Crow gave Jeddeth a dirty look as it sat eating a ribcage and slurping its contents. Only after it had gulped down its meal with sickeningly wet sound effects did it look over.
"Er..." it said, picking a splintered rib out of its teeth. Crow wrinkled her nose and stood.
"No. Just....no. I've had enough. Now that this whole ******** thing is done, can we go? Please?"
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:39 pm
"I'd really like to."
"But didn't it say that...yenno. Ethan's sick until...yeah." No need to alarm the poor kid.
"Oh...yeaaaah..."
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:44 pm
Ethan had been staring with his mouth open at Jeddeth, and recoiled as it came forward.
"Hello," it said, crouching down beside him.
"Nngh," Ethan said, eyes wide.
"It's okay," Crow comforted. "Jeddy ain't so bad. Are you?"
"I do not like that nickname. It isn't dignified."
"You just slurped internal organs out of a ribcage. The ******** d'you care about dignity?"
"Excuse me," Ethan said, his tired voice even smaller now due to restrained terror. "But could someone please tell me what's going on."
Jeddeth patted his shoulder kindly.
"You are better off not knowing," it said, standing. "The bird-child is still outside with the machine. She might still be alive, too. We should-"
"WHAT!"
Jeddeth found itself pushed out of the way but a suddenly hysterical Crow.
"YoubroughtherwithyouandyouleftherALONE?!" she shrieked, jumping over a dead Hakin and flying up the stairs.
Out in the parking lot, surrounded by decapitated and mutilated dead, Lenore sat on the hood of the truck. She was spattered with blood, most of it not her own.
"Kept the car goin'," she said, looking up at Crow.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:46 pm
"Good girl," Liam snorted as he ran up after Crow and subsequently gave Len an affectionate pat on the head. Giant arm-blades were clearly useful in this family.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 1:06 pm
Jeddeth, Julian heavily supported on one shoulder and leading a staggering Ethan beside it, nudged at the dead.
"You didn't need to cut them up so much," it said. Lenore shrugged.
"Caught me in a bad mood," she said, glaring at Ethan and touching the side of her head, where it had been gashed by its sudden introduction to the side of the truck.
"Leave off, Len," Julian said. "Wasn't his fault."
Lenore nodded, anger shifting seamlessly into concern as Ethan coughed and spit dark sputum onto the asphalt.
"Right...well..."
"Sorry," Ethan managed.
"Let me go, Jeddeth, I'm fine," Julian said, sliding free of the creature's grasp and sitting down on the pavement. He poked at the still-healing knife wound and winced.
"Got you beat, y'know," Crow said.
"How's that?"
"This'll be three times I been shot in the head and lost that damn eye."
Julian snorted. <******** that. Four stab wounds. My mortal injury outdoes yours."
"Nuh uh!"
"Yup. Jealous."
Crow gave a tired grin.
"You're such a ********' loser," she said, sitting beside him and leaning her head on his shoulder.
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 5:30 pm
__Part 35
It was three o'clock in the morning when Crow left the house to go sit on the porch. She had hunted all over for a cigarette but hadn't found one, so contented herself to bite at her fingers until they bled as she sat hunched against the chilly breezes that gusted past.
"You shouldn't do that."
"Make me stop then," Crow said to Jeddeth, not bothering to look up. The creature sat beside her, mimicking her posture. "You're an odd duck, y'know that?"
Jeddeth turned its face to her, head tilting to one side. If it had had a proper face Crow knew it would have been regarding her blankly.
"How is he?" she asked, looking down at her feet.
"Master is asleep," Jeddeth replied. "He will be fine."
"And Ethan?"
The creature made an uncomfortable noise.
"I have given him saltwater to drink," it said. "And I gave him iron to wear beside his heart."
"Is he suffering?"
"The salt and iron cause discomfort, but they keep the Nahenna dormant."
Crow glanced at the creature wryly.
"That doesn't answer my question."
Jeddeth shrugged.
"It isn't my place to answer it," it said. Crow snorted. The two sat in silence for a while, Crow shivering in the occasional wind but enjoying the clean cold. It wasn't cloying, didn't feel like it would suffocate her.
"Tell me a story," she said suddenly. Jeddeth clicked its teeth thoughtfully.
"I know many," it said. "Which one would you like to hear?"
"The one about Nahedathal and why my entire life has been one giant '******** you' from the universe."
Jeddeth clicked its teeth again, tongue slipping out between razor sharp canines, and took a long, deep breath. And it began to tell.
“You are not human. You are descended from something much older, far more terrible, and even more powerful. The ancestral races in Al’alac ya Azuhmn, your motherland, came from somewhere even the oldest of our scholars have no knowledge of. They fled to Azuhmn as refugees, civilized and ancient before the Twin Worlds were anything more than molten slag and smoke. The peoples they found already settled in Azuhmn saw them as gods.”
“Why?”
“Because of what they could do. They could bend the earth to their will and built cities without touching stone. They controlled fire, and water, could put out the sun and drown the stars. They were revered as gods fallen from heaven…. They had cut through the sky and fell to earth, using the key.”
“The knife?”
“A much, much larger version, but yes. The Dhev-Anak is the last shard of the first key.”
Crow made a sound that sounded distinctly like ‘what the ********’. Jeddeth didn’t notice.
“The first peoples gladly accepted the presence of the Fallen Ones. They were built temples and shrines, and pilgrims came from all corners of the world to beg their blessings and miracles. In time they replaced the rude tribal councils and half-democracies, reigning omnipotent. But as their gods aged and died, the first peoples began to forget their reverence and began to resent the rule of mortals whose blood had mixed with the Fallen. The once-united rule splintered into separate Houses, clans claiming bits and pieces of the lands for themselves…”
“Sounds like progression.”
“Chuh, chuh! Doesn’t it, though. The system of clan-rule was deeply flawed. The separate Houses began to spread out hunting for territory, for treasures hoarded by the original Fallen, blinded by the mortal principle of greed. Simple anger and resentment between the Houses festered, brooding hate and distrust, and in the end, fighting was inevitable.”
“That’s how mortal things are.”
“Yes. Skirmishes turned to battle, and battle lead to war.”
“So simple?”
“Wars have been started for less,” Jeddeth chided. Crow was well-versed enough in Earther history not to disagree.
“So then what?”
“The Houses formed alliances. The weaker clans bounded together, vowing to fight and split the spoils of victory fairly. They enlisted, bullied, forced the people that lived in their lands to fight for them. The sheer countless number of the opposing armies would be enough in this world to conquer with little opposition.”
“You’d think that.”
“I know that.”
“Why? Were you there?”
Jeddeth ducked its head.
“No,” it said, voice quiet. “My story comes later.”
“Well, go on. The armies, the war, then what?”
“The war dragged on in the time that generations are sired, live, breed, and die. They were so busy fighting over their claims to Azuhmn they didn’t even realize how steadily they were destroying it.”
“Sucks for them.”
“It gets worse,” Jeddeth said with bitter humor. “By this time, Nahedathal was head of his clan. And he feared for the lives of his court, and his family. His grandsire had stolen a shard of the first key before the rest was lost in the Battle of Three Rivers, and Nahedathal had been taught how to use it. He offered to lead the other clans to safety, but they wished to keep fighting. Some went with him, but so many stayed behind.”
“…what did he do?”
Jeddeth sighed.
“He cut open the sky, and fled with his people.”
Crow’s face contorted.
“He ran away?”
“Yes.”
Crow snorted. Jeddeth glanced at her.
“He was not as he is now,” it said. “He had a family, and he felt his decision to flee to the Twin Worlds was the wisest. He had promised the other clans he would return-”
“Wait. WAIT. Let me get something straight right now. What the hell are these Twin Worlds you keep mentioning?”
“Earth and its hidden twin, Gaia.”
Crow stared blankly for a second. Jeddeth didn’t notice, and plowed on with its story.
“Earth was not safe for his kind, the people there too immersed in superstitions and fears of the unknown to ever be able to live safely. So he took them here. To the place you know as Rijan.”
Crow choked.
“I swear to god Jeddeth if you tell me my family founded that godawful hell-on-earth-”
Jeddeth tutted.
“Rijan was set in its ugly ways far before Nahedathal was sired,” it said tartly. “His arrival there did nothing to change that. He took his family there, leaving Azuhmn behind with promises to return as soon as he was able.”
“I’m guessing it didn’t quite go that way.”
Jeddeth made a bitter chuckling sound.
“He did return. But what Nahedathal did not know….time runs different, outside Azuhmn. What had been months on this side had turned to one year, then another in the homeland. Nahedathal and the few members of his family accompanying him were met with utter devastation in the old clan lands. The war was lost and won, and the survivors of the clans Nahedathal had left behind were very, very angry.”
“What did they do?”
“They caught him, and brought him and his companions to the ruins of his House. They had long since staged executions of the subjects under his clan’s rule, and then they executed the returning refugees. They made him watch. He was brought before the last remaining clan leaders, begging mercy, claiming it had all been a mistake, a terrible, grievous mistake. They heard him out, and then they put an iron nail in his tongue and put out his eyes. They took him into the ruins of his House, and cast him in iron chains. They cursed him, and put seals about him, and surrounded him with salt that burned and blistered his skin with fire he could not control. They told him that this was his reward for his efforts to hide from war. Life. He lives, even now, his body a burned, torment husk. The iron has roasted his skin, the salt mummified his flesh into leather. But the mind, more or less, is intact.”
Crow shuddered.
“How did this thing with the avatars start?”
“One of Nahedathal’s sons escaped the executions with the Dhev-Anak. He found his father blinded, rendered mute and chained, and offered himself as a tool of vengeance. Nahedathal knew how to use the knife, and with it carved out his son’s soul. He…” Jeddeth trailed off. “He used the blade as a key, and supplanted the boy’s spirit with his own. And the cycle of death began.”
Crow shivered.
"So what about We-Who-Watch? They were kind of...absent."
"Nahedathal collected souls. They-That-Watch were the ones he found most useful. They were merely messengers. They had no real standing."
"But the ceremony-"
"Whims of slaves who harbored the illusion they were important. Nothing more."
"Where are they now?"
"Gone. When Nahedathal's host was killed, the shock caused a...how would you say? A reaction. A chain reaction. He lost hold of his armies, and they turned upon themselves before returning to the fortress and leading a revolt against him. He lost everything."
"Oh."
"Mm."
A brief, rather uncomfortable silence fell.
“You were an avatar too, weren’t you," Crow said, hastily changing the subject.
“The proper name is Ehlkagir. And….I don’t know. Maybe I was. I don’t remember now.”
“Sorry.”
“I don’t mind it, so much. Not remembering. There is enough blood staining my shadow for the things I’ve done as a monster, I do not wish to know the things I did as a man.”
Crow looked up at the malformed, scarred creature, and pitied it.
“Some story.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:37 am
{Interlude III - Dead Dream}
It wasn't hell. It just was. A long, slogging existence before existence was just snuffed out. There was envy for the ones that were put out. They no longer had to be here. The prisoners were shades and shadows, used as a buffer against their captor's pain. Used to reach out into the living world he so envied and despised.
It wasn't hell. But it was close.
He'd had a name, once. He remembered it well enough. Memories came and went but names stayed. That was how the master caught you, after he'd forced his servants to kill you. He took you as you left your flesh, grabbed hold of your name and cut his own into your soul. And all you'd see as you left your life behind was the one that killed you as the master let them go, saw them snap out of that strange empty-mindedness and recoil in horror at what they'd done.
He didn't blame the girl for killing him. He'd wanted it. Just not what came after. Benjamin Wheeler wasn't a coward and knew for certain he'd go to hell, but having Lethe send him there was pretty bearable. But he'd been screwed over something fierce- this wasn't hell. This was something else altogther.
He wandered the silent halls of the spiralling ruins, invisible, alone, and unacountably annoyed. Master was pissed, moreso than usual after his little jaunt in the Twin World. He felt dry disgust for wishing it had been successful, that Master had brought Lethe with him.
Not that she loves me, he said to himself in that featureless, flat voice all the shades shared. Not that she even remembers me by now.
He just wanted to see her. He wasn't even angry with her, not at all. He just wanted to see her alive, as much of a heartless b***h as always. His friend, his only friend in the world, this one or the last. The shade of Ben Wheeler passed through the walls of the fortress and climbed blindly, just wanting to go up. He emerged in a crumbling tower and kept climbing until he reached the top. Looking out into the gray rocky land, salted and desecrated, the shade looked at the gathering people and wondered what Master would say.
Get off my lawn, he said dryly, laughing at his own joke. There was no one else around to laugh any way, and besides. Not like they could even hear him.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:04 pm
__Part 36
Crow had thought she wouldn't be able to sleep, but she'd proved herself wrong. Her head lolled against Jeddeth's sharp-boned shoulder as the creature brought her inside and laid her very carefully on the couch. There were no blankets available, so it unfastened its own ragged cloak without a second thought. It was almost a sweet scene, once one got past the fact that a monster was tucking her into bed. It left her, yawning wide enough to split its skull in two, and wandered into the kitchen.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:09 pm
Liam had, however, done the exact opposite. Sure, he figured, I'll be able to sleep. The images that plagued his head proved otherwise. He'd tried counting sheep, staring at the ceiling, and even suffocating himself into unconsciousness. None had worked.
So he was going for tea.
Instead, he found himself a gaping maw of horror.
"Hi," he said simply, rubbing at an eye with his fist.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:13 pm
"Hello," Jeddeth said, creeping past Liam on all fours and rearing up. Its head was only a few inches from the ceiling. "Not tired?"
It spotted the sink and played with the taps as it spoke, making that strange 'chuh, chuh' sound as water gushed out.
"Interesting."
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:16 pm
Liam wasn't even phased.
"Nah. Exhausted," Liam yawned, "Can't sleep, though." He watched the creature for a while before attempting to sate its curiosity.
"It's just a tap. Hot water on one side, cold on the other. Pipes under the house lead to a water source and, shazam, indoor plumbing." He said this all while rummaging for teabags and a mug, and then moved to the little water-maker in the fridge to fill the cup.
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