The Way Things Are
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: I do not own Darksiders.
Death regarded him for a moment before gently placing his hand over the wound. He held it there until the purplish light flared and then faded. The bleeding had stopped and the wound healed but still she didn't move. War looked at his brother when he spoke. "I have healed her body brother, but you must give her a reason to live."
War nuzzled his face close to her hair and breathed in her scent for just a moment. He was unsure of what to say or what to feel. "Come back to me." He held her just a bit tighter and poured all the faith he had in the universe to be honorable into a silent thought.
Katie finally moved then, groaning softly as she came back from the darkness that she had been in. She cracked her eyes open slowly wondering momentarily where she was and if the visions she had been privy to on the other side had been but a sick dream.
She looked up into the worried face hovering above hers, the same face she had seen in the vision and the memories came rushing back that she had been shown. Bile began to rise in the back of her throat and War became worried all the more and looked to his brothers and sister for help for which they had none.
She stood above the battlefield on a ridge directly above it to be more precise. She watched the fierce race of the Nephilim in their encampment enjoying yet another victory. They had enslaved and driven to the abyss yet another planet and race. She watched in fascination as four familiar riders appeared at the edge of the camp. It was the Four Horsemen. Their comrades rose in joyous greeting only for it to turn into a cacophony of screams and battle.
The four tore a bloody path through the encampment, slaughtering each and every Nephilim. She watched War give chase after a group of Nephilim children that fled into the hills as the others continued the massacre in the encampment. The children ran directly to the bushes behind where she stood seeming not to notice her standing there but she figured as much, wasn't she dead anyway?
Suddenly War appeared in front of her and the man that she had known to be so gentle and kind when handling Alyssa was not there anymore; in his place stood a warrior, a beast that she didn't know. His eyes glowed a brilliant yellowish orange as he grinned in glee when he approached the children. Horror flooded through her as she heard him speak to the children, "Come little ones I will make this swift. Every Nephilim must die this night, you all included."
She felt her horror growing as he growled and ripped the bushes away from the face of a sheer bluff when they didn't come from their hiding place. The children had no escape being the bluff was a dead end. Their desperate cries and whimpers drove her to action so in desperation she threw herself in between them and screamed as she held her arms out, "War please don't do this, they are only children!" It was no use, he couldn't see her or hear her and the deadly blade arced downward at the helpless children. She screamed into the darkness as she covered her face with her hands.
"Murderer!" she screamed as she lunged unexpectedly off the ground at War, actually knocking him onto his ass with her momentum. They all stared at her in wonder as she climbed to her feet. What they didn't expect was for her to grab up her sword and level it at War as he rose from the ground. The wavering tip of it the only sign of her loss of control.
Fury snapped her whip out towards Katie's neck only to have War take the blow to his arm while Katie never flinched as the crack echoed in the small clearing. "Do you care to explain yourself?" War asked in a deadly soft voice as he held her gaze. She snarled loudly as she held the sword steady and ground out her next words through clenched teeth. "I could ask you the same question, murderer."
He looked ready to kill the person he would have died to protect just minutes earlier. Death could see the impending disaster and moved to avert it before Strife, Fury, or War could murder the human. They were here to balance this war and nothing more so killing even a stupid human could cause harm. "I see something has transpired in your short trip into the afterlife. Is it possible that you might be willing to explain it further?"
Katie spared a dirty glare out of the corner at her eye at Death before returning her stare at War. "Oh yes let me explain by all means. Death may have been the one to receive the nicknames as he struck your race's leader down but in truth you all four deserve it. Kinslayer, executioner, murderer, it applies to each of you who struck a mortal blow to your own race."
Death narrowed his gaze at the brazen human as her anger was not directed per say towards him but for some reason at his brother. True what they did was unforgivable but something horrible was shown to this human after she passed through the veil, something that had nearly unhinged her mind. He sighed heavily in frustration, humans could be so feeble at times. "Do not even think about it Fury nor you Strife, let the human say her peace. Then we will decide if she lives or dies for her insult."
"I do not fear you Reaper, or them, or you." She gave a pointed look at War. "I can understand killing some of your race but children? Children?! What excuse could you possibly have you murdering son of a bitch." She hissed out from between her teeth at him before pushing the tip of her blade into the tender flesh at the base of War's throat and suddenly it made sense. It stunned the others into immobility momentarily because had anyone else drew blood they would have died on the spot, however War just allowed it with his fists clenched tightly at his side. "We had no choice. They were as corrupt as the rest of our race."
"They could have been raised to know better!" She gave an anguished cry as her exhaustion and emotions caught up with her after the outburst. Her eyes rolled up in her head as she pitched forward, the sword dropping unheeded to the ground. In an instant she was caught in War's great hands gently. "Take her inside and stay by her side brother, we will clean up out here. See if you can make sense of what she is saying."
War nodded before leaving the area to take her inside. He carefully laid her down on her bed and sat by her side considering the woman beside him and what motivated him towards her. If she had been anyone else to call him such ignoble things then she would have been dead where she stood, much less for having drawn blood. "Why?" she looked up at him with tears glistening in her eyes.
He leaned forward and grasped her hands, "Tell me what it is that I have done to upset you so?" She sobbed softly, "War I saw the battle the night you and them slaughtered your kin. I saw you chase down and kill the group of children. I saw the look of joy on your face when you slaughtered them."
War grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, "Oh Katie, I never wanted you to see the side of me that existed then. I will not lie that I have much to atone for over time but I didn't enjoy killing children but I had the bloodlust and was ordered to destroy every man, woman, and child in order to maintain the balance. When I lose myself like that then no one, me included, can stop it until it burns out." She sobbed into his chest, letting all of her agony out in a rush. She alternated between angered and devastated and would at times beat her fists against his chest.
Eventually her sobs quieted and she lay spent against his chest. "I thought I had lost you." It was a simple statement and yet it held a world of meaning in it. She looked up intently at him, "I apologize for what I said earlier. I was just so horrified. There were other things I was told while I was on the other side and it goes against everything I ever believed in and yet it explains a lot. I am also afraid for my life and those of certain humans everywhere."
He shot an eyebrow up at her, "There are things even we Nephilim are kept in the dark about because in the wrong hands the knowledge could be dangerous. Tell me what it is that you learned?"
She sighed and moved to sit between his legs and lean her back against his chest. "I was told that the Nephilim were not created solely by Lilith as she claims they were. She encouraged the mating of Fallen Angels to human women. Of those born there were two distinct races, those that mated back to the angels and those that continued to mate with the humans, diluting their blood lines somewhat. Then there were the original Nephilim that she created from the dust of angels and demons." She drew a breath and watched him as he seemed shocked.
She was so lost in her recounting of what she learned that she failed to notice the other three Nephilim standing at her doorway. "When the Creator decided to send word to the charred council to destroy the Nephilim it was to destroy the race of Nephilim that devoured other planets and races. These were the Firstborns, the Nephilim that Lilith created. Then the Secondborns that had decided to fall under the rule of the Firstborns and finally the few from the lower tiers that had all combined to become that raging scourge, you all included."
"Continue, girl." She looked up at Death and then to War for confirmation. At his nod she continued. "The third type of Nephilim contained many that stayed among the human race, they were smaller, could control their blood lust, and blended in better. Many became great heroes or rulers in the human world but one thing that can still distinguish the lines of a human with even a drop of Nephilim coincides with a belief concerning what humans call witches."
"You mean people like you?" This coming from Strife and she nodded at him, "Yes, Strife like me. There are many pagan religions that allow humans without inherent powers to perform small acts of magic. However in order to belong to some and indeed to actually perform true rituals and tap into the power in the Earth one must be a true blood witch. This means that you can trace a witch back in each generation of your family as far back as you can go. That is how I received my task of being a Gate Guardian. True blood witches are those that contain Nephilim blood in their veins. So my question is this, does your orders to kill every Nephilim include those humans with the diluted blood of them in their veins? Will you kill me?"
She looked over her shoulder at War and was surprised when his arms wrapped tightly around her, pulling her to him. "They would die before they landed a single blow on you, the balance be damned." She smiled at him before directing a gaze at Death, lifting her chin defiantly, "What say you Executioner?" She received a bland look from him. "No little human, the Nephilim blood in your veins and those of select people still living in this realm do not make you a true Nephilim, only extremely perceptive and powerful humans that are needed to check the magic's that are loose in this world."
She nodded her head toward Death and then settled back against War's chest in comfort. "Is Pam well?" War regarded her solemnly, "She left to the human stronghold while you were resting last night." Katie hung her head for a moment as if grieving and then let it pass. She snuggled closer and let her eyes droop heavily, "I am so tired but I fear my dreams." He rubbed his hand soothingly across the back of her neck and head. "I shall guard your dreams."
Once the girl was fast asleep in his arms he looked up at the only remaining person in the room. Quietly Death spoke, "Much knowledge and good can this human pass on in time. However our time here shall most likely be brief, can you leave her when the time comes?"
"I will do what is required of me brother, however I should like to remain as long as possible." Death regarded him seriously for a moment before turning to leave the room. "Do not wait too long to tell her you love her. I made that mistake and I regret it with all that I am."
War watched his brother leave in silence as he looked down on the human that it seemed had always been there as a thorn in his side. He was touching on a forgotten memory somewhere in the back of his mind as he watched her sleep. He would need to talk to his brother privately. He knew far more about this girl and the strange situation that she had found herself in that nearly cost her life.
He carefully settled the young woman on the bed and went in search of his brother to get the answers he wanted.
