It was a drizzly, rainy, gray, depressing sort of day. Liam was doing his best not to get depressed by the weather, but it wasn't working very well. After all, he was a street musician, and business in rainy weather was fabulously bad. People had better things to do then listen to his guitar playing when it was wet outside.
Still, he wasn't about to give up, which was why he was leaning against the rough brick wall of a coffee shop, picking out tunes on his guitar while trying to huddle under a rainbow-striped umbrella, and occasionally dump the water out of his pitifully empty collection cup.
This sucked.
And to make matters worse, since he was a werewolf, he now smelled vaguely like a wet dog.
-------
About then the spirits in charge of giving guardians their charges were alerted that it was indeed time for Liam to "Die" and receive his child. Pulling sharply on the bonds of his reality they managed to cause his death by a quick and simple means-the umbrella crashed onto him and cracked open his skull. But that state didn't last long. The werewolf's body and soul were transported elsewhere. While his body was repaired, dried and left on the Samadueanna with a relic round it's neck, the soul was taken to the realm of spirits. There the spirit of the deity of chance would bond with his soul. When they did bond he was returned to his body, the soul connected to it, being put into the relic. Now he woke up, as if he'd been dreaming, with the relic round his neck and Rouge Remika standing at the foot of his bed with a smile on her face.
----
Death by umbrella was probably one of the world's most humiliating ways to go, second only to death by rabid killer shrimp, or maybe death by being bludgeoned by a block of stale cheese. Luckily, Liam didn't have much time to ponder how stupid he looked with an umbrella handle protruding from his skull, because he fell unconscious nearly immediately.
Then he woke up.
There was some kind of necklace around his neck, but that was the least of his worries. Top on the list were: Where am I, who are you, and wasn't I DEAD?
"Where am I! Who are you? And... didn't I just die or something?" Liam shouted, jerking out of bed. He was normally an easygoing guy, but this was just a bit too much.
"And where's my guitar? If you broke my guitar, I will personally disembowel you with a spork," he added in an uncharacteristic bout of aggression.
----
"You are on my ship which is going towards your home now to drop you off. I am Rouge Remika and as I said this is my ship. And yes you just died. It's complicated to explain. And your guitar is by the bed." Rouge really didn't like explaining this stuff, anymore then her mother had. It was annoying. When would it end?
"I'm from a universe you've probably never heard of called Tison. It's gods all got murdered by one of their own who was a really bad dude and wanted to take over. He took over and if he stays in power he'll destroy Tison. Anyway the way to save it is for different people from gaia-a place he can't get to-to care for the reborn gods that got murdered.
The way to do that is random a** spirits who were given power have to kill you, put your body here with a magic relic around your neck. And your soul has to bond with the soul of a dead god. When it does you get sent back to your body which is now on the ship as if it'd never been hurt. The soul of the dead god is bonded with yours so it goes with your soul and enters the relic instead of your body. So be careful with that thing on your neck cause it's gonna turn into a baby and it's got a soul. And I know it sounsd like bullshit. I didn't write how this crap happens or that it had to."
---
"Huh. Tison. Yup, you're right. Never heard of it." Now that he had determined that (a) he was not in any mortal danger, (b) his guitar (his only valuable possession) was safe, and (c) he wasn't caught in a dream, Liam had calmed down quite a bit.
"Well, nice to meet you, Rouge. I'm Liam. And, um... I have a dead god baby now?" Noticing it for the first time, he pulled the necklace away from his chest to study it. The charm on the end was in the shape of a die. "A dead god baby gambler, by the looks of things."
He carefully considered the piece of Rouge's story. He was actually okay with the dying and being reborn bit, because as long as he was in one piece by the end of it, he was happy. And it hadn't been half as painful as some other things he'd gone through.
"So why did it want me?" he finally asked. "And... are we gonna have to save the world or something? From what's-his-evil-face? 'Cause I'm not good at saving the world."
---
"Nice to meet you too. I haven't got a clue why it picked anyone. I have one too and I ended up having the one that's-nevermind. Complicated. Anyway you don't have to save the world but when your child is all grown up it will help too. Yes you have a dead god baby gambler. And I don't know how you get the baby. Probably not by pregnancy which is good." she laughed a bit. That'd be funny as several of the guardians were male.
---
"Oh, there are others?" That was a relief. He didn't want to be going through this kind of weird s**t alone. He was going to have to commiserate, dammit! "Anyway, I hope it's not through pregnancy. That would be... painful. To say the least. " He winced, still looking at the necklace. "Maybe poof, out of thin air?"
"Either way. This kid's not going to like me. I have a horrible poker face and I can't remember half the rules. Maybe yours will be easier... whatever it is." He broke off, seeing Rouge's reluctance to talk about her own dead god baby thing.
---
"I have fire." she said with a smile. He didn't know what the significance of her guarding the fire god was mainly because he didn't know her parentage. Well she hadn't for a while either so it didn't matter. "And the kid may like you. You have to raise it after all. I have a feeling it won't gain it's powers or memories till later. I asked my m-the spirit who gave me mine about it. There was a goddess in control of making sure people got their relics and made sure a spirit informed them of things. But she was killed so now the spirits don't tell people what they'll be guarding or anything like that. I'm supposed to do that I guess." she laughed.
----
"Well, you're doing a good job of explaining so far," Liam said kindly. He could imagine that Rouge would be just as confused as he was feeling- and if she had to deal with other guardians, that would make things twice as difficult.
"Did the... whoever it was that killed the goddess... was it the same one that killed these other gods?" That was a frightening thought. He stroked the necklace protectively. If it was a god, struck down by a traitor... he would do everything he could to protect it. Nobody should have to go through that kind of horror.
Maybe it was a good thing the child wouldn't have its memories.
---
"Yes. Jujike is a rather evil god. They would all have been immortal but the goddess who gave them their immortality was not immortal herself and he struck her down first. He'd been searching for Oracle for some time before he found her. She knew he was coming for her so she used her power to give all of the spirits that worked for her the power to deliver the other god children. That much power being transferred at once let him know exactly where she was and he came and killed her. Luckily a guardian was also chosen to care for her. And luckily all of the guardians live in Gaia. Jujike can't get there. He can't get on this ship for that matter. So it's one of the only other safe havens for the guardians and the children." she said with a smile. It seemed this child too was in a good hands.
---
A goddess who could give the power of immortality to all but herself... how tragically ironic. But this goddess must have been a brave woman, to sacrifice herself for the sake of the others...
"I'm glad she can be reborn too," Liam said with a sad smile. "She deserves another chance, as much of the rest of them."
And what story did his own spirit hold? How many were there? So many questions, not nearly enough time to absorb it all...
Well, he now had a child. And a mission.
That was enough.
---
"We have probably arrived at your home by now." Rouge said kindly. "If you'll follow me I'll take you to the transporter room." and with that another guardian had been given their charge.
