Song of the Seraphim, Book 3
Bolero
Prologue
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Trent's smile never wavered. "Hear my pleas, and Unleash Twilight!"
Valred's eyes widened as the circle in Trent's hands erupted into a swirling void, some kind of vortex of darkness. "wHAT tHE hELL iS tHAT! My Power! What's Happening To My Power!"
"It's gone," Trent said simply. "It's all here, right now."
Valred gasped in shock and pain as the power began to flow out of him. "B- b-but that's impossible! This power is Mine!" He stared wild-eyed at Trent. "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?!?!"
Trent threw his head back and laughed. "You idiot! I gambled, and I won. You should be flattered, what with your obsession with being first. No one has ever seen this spell before, not even the only other man to know it, Rei Magnus himself!"
Valred dug his feet in, and began hurling energy blasts at the gate, at the caster, anything he thought might slow it down. "What the hell is that thing?!"
Trent's smile turned strained as the gate's energy began fluctuating; it was getting harder to keep open. "It's simple. This spell draws its power from the Lord of Nightmares, using the powers of the other seven spirits of this world to form a seal strong enough to make the energy safely usable."
"BUT I'M THE LORD OF NIGHTMARES!" Valred screamed. "I DIDN'T LET YOU DO THIS!"
Trent shook his head, amusement suddenly gone. "That's just it. You're not the Lord of Nightmares; that's why it worked. Zelgadis told me how she reacted when Phibrizzo tried to toy with her power; she doesn't take kindly to meddling. And while your ceremony might have been enough to keep her contained, she didn't like it. You weren't becoming her vessel, you were trying to rape her powers into yourself. And all it took was another outlet for Her will to flow through, and she could strike back with everything she has. She has Chosen Me as her conduit for a moment, but a moment of choice is a lot stronger than a lifetime of your coercion. Good- bye, Valred."
The man who would be god had struggled, he'd cast every spell he knew and some on the fly. He'd dug his feet in, dragged every barrier he could in between him and the hunger of that void. None of it mattered. By the time Trent had said Good-bye, he was finished. All that remained was for the actual mechanisms of the gate swallowing him whole, and slamming shut.
"You...you did it..."
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Zelgadis gave him a strange look. "You never did answer Zelas's question. What's this spell doing to you?"
Trent smiled. "Twilight is a forbidden spell, a lot like the Giga Slave. It channels the power of the Lord of Nightmares to destroy your opponent. It has one HUGE advantage though; it uses the power of seven other spirits and gods to contain and control the power, so it's impossible to destroy the world with it." His voice was fading quickly. "Still, there's one problem, or I would have used it in the first place.""What problem?" Zelgadis asked.
"It's a...final...strike." Trent's voice was almost gone, fading as though he were falling asleep. "Take...your tar...get...with...you..."
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The current speaker waved her hand, banishing the portal. "As you can see, a perfectly simple case. The hero fights to save the world and wins, then dies. That's it. Certainly, dying for a cause is worthy, but it hardly qualifies the one doing so for anything special." She darted a look at her opponents in this particular duel.
Hermes, Greek god of messengers, commerce, and people who lived (and died) by their wits, rolled his eyes expressively. He'd been chosen as a fairly neutral party to arbitrate this particular argument, and while it was a bit unusual, he still didn't see what all the fuss was about. Still, if he was going to do it, he wouldn't do it halfway. "Thank you for your side of the argument, but I think that everyone here will agree that you're slightly prejudiced in this matter, Kardis." He sighed tiredly as he turned to the other contingent. "We've heard the opening statements of those opposing the ressurection of the dragon elf, Trent Shadowlight. Alright, those for?"
Falaris stood, the obvious choice for this movement. "Trent did NOT just die trying to help a planet, he died trying to protect Our sanctity, trying to prevent a lunatic from making us into nothing more than divine batteries. If THAT doesn't deserve something slightly preferential, nothing does." He sat.
The opposition consisted of currently four deities; Kardis, Ares, Eris (1), and one other. He chose to rise now. "Certainly, the actions of this elf were useful. Still, it is divine protocol not to interfere in the affairs of mortals if possible. A dead man has already gone on to his reward, and I for one see no reason to shift the system for his benefit. The system is sacrosanct; it cannot be changed."
Virtually all assembled glared hatefully at him. While not a god of evil (he represented lawful neutral to a mind-numbing degree), he was probably the single most hated deity there. Considering that such gods as Erythrul, God of Slaughter was there, as well as Zuriel, patron saint of pestilience, this is saying something.
He didn't give himself a real name. As such, the people are him had fitted him with the nom de guerre 'Double-Click.' He was the protector of accountants, IRS tax collecters and auditers, and the bean counters of the political machine. His title was technically, 'Patron Saint of bureacrats,' and he generally made the lives of everyone around him miserable in his fervent desire to keep things technically correct. As it was, the only reason he was kept around was to keep the prayers of his people from gumming up the works, and keep the parts of heaven running that could actually use his finicky dedication to the rules.
Elle (She felt that Lord of Nightmares was a bit mouth-filling for normal company) rose. "If you think for a moment that he 'simply died,' then I'm rather tempted to drop you into the Sea of Chaos, just to watch you spend the rest of eternity desperately trying to organize that which defies order on a level you couldn't effect. You recall his analogy to the situation?" A gesture brought a new scene of the last battle back.
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"BUT I'M THE LORD OF NIGHTMARES!" Valred screamed. "I DIDN'T LET YOU DO THIS!"
Trent shook his head, amusement suddenly gone. "That's just it. You're not the Lord of Nightmares; that's why it worked. Zelgadis told me how she reacted when Phibrizzo tried to toy with her power; she doesn't take kindly to meddling. And while your ceremony might have been enough to keep her contained, she didn't like it. You weren't becoming her vessel, you were trying to rape her powers into yourself. And all it took was another outlet for Her will to flow through, and she could strike back with everything she has. She has Chosen Me as her conduit for a moment, but a moment of choice is a lot stronger than a lifetime of your coercion. Good- bye, Valred."
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Elle glared around at the assembly. As the Creator of her own neck of the multi-verse, she had a LOT more power than most of those assembled here; she was considered and Elder Goddess, one of those who came before the Yggdrasil protocols. "This man threw his life away for My sake, and I pay my debts. Inverse was repaid for her protection of My powers; he will be as well."
"Actually, he didn't really give a rat's (censored) about your sanctity," Eris noted casually. "All he really cared about was making sure he could climb into that Beastmaster's panties."
Elee rolled her eyes in disgust at the crude goddess. "First of all, he cast a suicidal spell; how precisely did he think that he would then be able to 'climb into that Beastmaster's panties?' Secondly, please recall that Greater Beast Zelas Metallium is my direct grand-daughter. Why precisely should it offend me that he chose to protect her?"
Ares just smiled darkly. He didn't particularly care what happened with this; all he knew was that if he played it right, he could wring all kinds of pain and suffering out of it.
Kardis glared at them. "You keep carping on about his respect for sanctity; fine, let's play personal then. Why the Hell do you think I'm going to allow you to ressurect the man who tried to kill me? ME?! He had the GALL to think he could stop a goddess's will!"
"That was MY will," Falaris stated coldly. "Now sit down and shut the hell up. Don't," he added menacingly before she could react, "forget that you're a part of MY pantheon. The Pantheon I control." He smiled, turning to regard both Eris and Kardis. "If I may paraphrase, 'Which among you is mightier than I? Let all of you lay hold to a chain of gold, and strive with all your might. You could not pull Me down. But if I so chose, I could drag you down. Yea, drag you all and hang you from that chain, and let all Heaven and Earth swing from the highest peak of My Domain.'" (2)
Kardis glared at him, but subsided. He'd been speaking the truth; Falis could have stood against him, but she couldn't. And worst of all, Falis was on His side right now; apparently the elf had managed to impress even that tight-ass. "My point stands. He managed to banish me from that plane of Lodoss, and for what? Two little sluts who made goo-goo eyes at him once or twice. That is HARDLY something I see as worth rewarding."
"END THIS NOW."
Hermes had been leaning back in his chair, feet carelessly propped up to hear the complaints before he decided whether or not to interfere. At the sound of The Voice, he quite spectacularly fell backwards out of his chair in an attempt to get back up. Scrambling to his feet, he bowed. "My Lord."
The Almighty smiled slightly at the messenger god's antics. The evolution of gods of mischief and comedy had been quite a stroke of good luck. Though if they hadn't evolved he probably would have made them himself eventually. "THIS CONVERSATION, THIS TRIAL IS MOOT. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DRAGON ELF ARE NO LONGER YOUR CONCER, HERMES. I WILL ADDRESS ANY COMPLAINTS AGAINST MY DECISION, BUT I SINCERELY HOPE THAT NONE ARISE. THAT IS ALL."
THAT stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest. The Almighty had quite simply and calmly informed them that if they didn't shut up and get off this case now, He would be displeased. None of them had forgotten the last time he'd gotten displeased; the last Big Bang.
As the various listeners dispersed to discuss this new bit of gossip fodder, Falaris steeled himself and approached the strongest force in his universe. "My Lord, I am well aware that this is unbearably coarse of me, but I'm afraid that I have to ask you a few questions concerning your plans for Shadowlight."
He raised an eyebrow. No longer in official mode, he chose to speak in a less divine form, simply the voice of a god, as opposed to God. "You make it sound as though you're asking my intentions towards your child."
Falaris didn't sweat-drop, but felt the illusion fit. "Um...not quite what I meant. I just wanted to know what you planned to do with him? Not that I expect to learn Your Will," he added hastily, "but...well, as I told Trent, it's hard to find decent worshipers. I try to keep track of the ones I get."
The Almighty gazed at the God of Night, then decided he deserved an answer. "You are aware of Anubis's involvement?"
Falaris nodded. "If you mean that red-headed monk, then yes, we both watched Trent while he was dealing with Elle's world. If you mean old Jackal-head, this is the first I've heard of it."
He shook his head. "No, the Egyptian god isn't part of this; at least not yet. Regardless, I can only tell you as much as he knows; I'm forbidden from saying more."
Falaris's jaw dropped. The Almighty did NOT use the word forbidden in regards to himself; that was the whole point of being called the Almighty. "Uh...did you take an oath of some kind?" That could explain it; if He chose to limit himself, then it was one thing.
He smiled faintly. "No, I was forbidden. By a power capable of that."
"But..."
He raised his hand. "Don't worry about it too much. All you really need to know is that Trent has already been reincarnated, in a form that was thought to be acceptably linked to his former states and species, though he no longer has elvish blood."
With that, He walked away, calling over his shoulder. "Go to the same part of the scrying realm if you're still curious. Anubis will be watching again, and I think you'll find it amusing if nothing else."
Falaris watched him fade away, then shook his head. It had started out simply enough; a power play among gods, his attempt to try and lessen the goddess he sincerely disliked the most in his world. Then that business with the cross-world teleportation, and he'd decided it could be interesting. Now this; the Almighty himself was working to keep meddling in this to a minimum.
"Which portal was it?"
Falaris turned to regard the amorphous shape before him. "Oh will you stop that already? We both know you still have a normal shape; please take it."
Elle's current form of a shapeless mass of darkness gave the impression of having smirked, then faded into her true form; a pale human woman with hair like spun gold, wearing a tight if not immodest black dress. "This better?"
Falaris rolled his eyes. "Yes, but is the shovel really necessary?"
Ell shrugged. "Keeping up appearances; I'm not completely sure why My mortals think I carry this, but our forms are based on belief, you know." She raised an eyebrow. "Such as your current form?"
Falaris coughed nervously. That he resembled Ashram dressed in black clothing and a trench coat was not lost on her. "Yes, point taken." Extending an arm, he bowed graciously, mostly to regain his composure. "Shall we?"
Elle laughed, resting a hand on his arm. Night and Chaos, they'd gone out for a few eons once. "I would be delighted."
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Anubis looked up in surprise. "All of you?"
Falis shrugged. "He prayed to me and holds the Holy Sword. He's not mine, so I have no intention of interfering, but I DO want to see what happens to him. It might be useful."
Anubis nodded slowly. "The Lord of Nightmares I can understand, after what he did in that last world, but why you?"
Hermes smiled. "I've been getting bored; this might liven things up in between Divine Proclamations." He casually wove some cloud fleece into a quick La-Z-Boy recliner, adding a dish of cheetoh's on a small end table (actually ambrosia, but it can take any possible shape, consistency, and flavor), and sat down calmly. "What universe is this?"
Anubis grimaced. "This one is in rather desperate need of intervention; I think you'll recognize it?"
The messenger leaned forward, and winced. "Oh, one of THOSE timelines. Dragons of Heaven and Dragons of Earth, right?"
Anubis nodded. "One week of extremely complicated interaction that leads to the end of all civilization and most of the life on the planet, all because of one individual who decides they've got what it takes to decide the fate of a planet. As such, I'll agree with you; this place NEEDS someone who'll shake it up, shift to a new paradigm. Trent's going to be doing it."
Hermes shook his head; everyone else was watching, and none of them seemed to be too interested in his questions. "I'm curious; there aren't any elves in this world. Obviously, there are dragons, but as near as I can tell the seven harbingers and the seven seals are still there; who's he going to be that will have enough power to change this?"
Anubis shrugged as he settled down to watch for himself. "I checked, and apparently it's a cross-over universe; there's another group of dragons here that make Kamui look like a spoon bender. Trent gets a buy-in to that."
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Night had fallen.
The Tokyo skyline is less memorable than you'd think; there's the Tokyo Tower, but that's about the only thing that you don't see in just about every other major urban cityscape.
That one landmark is our greatest point of interest. Standing at the very top, balancing on the spire of the radio communication tower, was a slight, young man. He was startlingly beautiful; an aristocratic face that was femininely attractive, beautiful, but somehow avoided making him look like an actual girl. He was dressed in a fairly ordinary highschool student's uniform, black with red lining at some of the jacket's seams. The ordinary was destroyed rather thoroughly by the long cloak he wore, fluttering in the high winds.
He smiled archly, showing off quite a stubborn, arrogant streak in that single instant of expression. "Mother...I kept my promise. I've arrived in Tokyo...with the promised day..."
He leapt from the antennae, teleporting and flying both as the mood struck him.
"In 1999."
Farther away, three young men were waiting on a completely different skyscraper. They were quite obviously related; in face and form, they could well be considered to be models of a single man as he grew, though not quite, and with different hair as well. The youngest one looked to be a fairly ordinary highschool student; tousled auburn brown hair in a simple cut, dressed in a black high school uniform. HIS mark of the unordinary was the six-foot staff dangling from his fingers as he sat on the edge of the skyscraper's roof; black and silver, it resembled the staff carried by a wandering buddhist monk. "Hajime...are you sure? We've finally found him?"
Hajime sighed. The oldest, he looked it. A young man rather than a boy, he stood slightly over six feet in height, a leanly muscular young man, his black hair tumbling loosely over his head. He was too old for a highschool uniform, chosing to instead to wear a blue sports jacket over a white shirt and khakis, his claim to the unusual the four foot long blue dragon sword slung across one shoulder. "I don't know...not for sure. I can feel something, but you both know what's happening to the world. The ground shifts and groans, the leylines struggle to bite back their cries...something will happen soon enough."
The last one nodded. He could have out-bishonened the first strange boy, his hair a lighter brown then his brother's, almost blonde. He smiled knowingly as he gazed across the cityscape, the red-leather-bound book in his hands proving an odd contrast to his own choice of violet turtleneck over blue jeans. "He's here, Amaru. Outside powers are interfering with the Tome, but they can't keep anything from it completely. He's in Tokyo, and we'll find him soon."
Amaru sighed. "I hope you're right, Tsuzuku. I really hope you're right."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: Not much, I know, but I didn't really have all that much to put down on short notice. Mainly, I just wanted to reassure that Trent is still alive, Song of the Seraphim continues, and that Book Three will be completed before Books Four or Six. Again, I apologize for the confusion that might have caused.
(1) - While AN Eris was featured in Book Two, this is a different one, one who I hasten to add, she was not named for. In Greek mythology, Eris was the younger sister of Ares, the god of bloody conquest. She was the goddess of Strife, Hatred, and Discord; her job was keeping people from getting along. She was the one who started the Trojan War in the first place; the one that completely wiped out a thriving civilization on the shores of what is now modern day Turkey.
(2) - This refers to a speech made by Zeus in the Iliad. Not only is it appropriate for dealing with Kardis, but a subtle reminder to Eris that she's nowhere NEAR the top of the divine pecking order.
Bolero
Prologue
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Trent's smile never wavered. "Hear my pleas, and Unleash Twilight!"
Valred's eyes widened as the circle in Trent's hands erupted into a swirling void, some kind of vortex of darkness. "wHAT tHE hELL iS tHAT! My Power! What's Happening To My Power!"
"It's gone," Trent said simply. "It's all here, right now."
Valred gasped in shock and pain as the power began to flow out of him. "B- b-but that's impossible! This power is Mine!" He stared wild-eyed at Trent. "HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?!?!"
Trent threw his head back and laughed. "You idiot! I gambled, and I won. You should be flattered, what with your obsession with being first. No one has ever seen this spell before, not even the only other man to know it, Rei Magnus himself!"
Valred dug his feet in, and began hurling energy blasts at the gate, at the caster, anything he thought might slow it down. "What the hell is that thing?!"
Trent's smile turned strained as the gate's energy began fluctuating; it was getting harder to keep open. "It's simple. This spell draws its power from the Lord of Nightmares, using the powers of the other seven spirits of this world to form a seal strong enough to make the energy safely usable."
"BUT I'M THE LORD OF NIGHTMARES!" Valred screamed. "I DIDN'T LET YOU DO THIS!"
Trent shook his head, amusement suddenly gone. "That's just it. You're not the Lord of Nightmares; that's why it worked. Zelgadis told me how she reacted when Phibrizzo tried to toy with her power; she doesn't take kindly to meddling. And while your ceremony might have been enough to keep her contained, she didn't like it. You weren't becoming her vessel, you were trying to rape her powers into yourself. And all it took was another outlet for Her will to flow through, and she could strike back with everything she has. She has Chosen Me as her conduit for a moment, but a moment of choice is a lot stronger than a lifetime of your coercion. Good- bye, Valred."
The man who would be god had struggled, he'd cast every spell he knew and some on the fly. He'd dug his feet in, dragged every barrier he could in between him and the hunger of that void. None of it mattered. By the time Trent had said Good-bye, he was finished. All that remained was for the actual mechanisms of the gate swallowing him whole, and slamming shut.
"You...you did it..."
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Zelgadis gave him a strange look. "You never did answer Zelas's question. What's this spell doing to you?"
Trent smiled. "Twilight is a forbidden spell, a lot like the Giga Slave. It channels the power of the Lord of Nightmares to destroy your opponent. It has one HUGE advantage though; it uses the power of seven other spirits and gods to contain and control the power, so it's impossible to destroy the world with it." His voice was fading quickly. "Still, there's one problem, or I would have used it in the first place.""What problem?" Zelgadis asked.
"It's a...final...strike." Trent's voice was almost gone, fading as though he were falling asleep. "Take...your tar...get...with...you..."
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The current speaker waved her hand, banishing the portal. "As you can see, a perfectly simple case. The hero fights to save the world and wins, then dies. That's it. Certainly, dying for a cause is worthy, but it hardly qualifies the one doing so for anything special." She darted a look at her opponents in this particular duel.
Hermes, Greek god of messengers, commerce, and people who lived (and died) by their wits, rolled his eyes expressively. He'd been chosen as a fairly neutral party to arbitrate this particular argument, and while it was a bit unusual, he still didn't see what all the fuss was about. Still, if he was going to do it, he wouldn't do it halfway. "Thank you for your side of the argument, but I think that everyone here will agree that you're slightly prejudiced in this matter, Kardis." He sighed tiredly as he turned to the other contingent. "We've heard the opening statements of those opposing the ressurection of the dragon elf, Trent Shadowlight. Alright, those for?"
Falaris stood, the obvious choice for this movement. "Trent did NOT just die trying to help a planet, he died trying to protect Our sanctity, trying to prevent a lunatic from making us into nothing more than divine batteries. If THAT doesn't deserve something slightly preferential, nothing does." He sat.
The opposition consisted of currently four deities; Kardis, Ares, Eris (1), and one other. He chose to rise now. "Certainly, the actions of this elf were useful. Still, it is divine protocol not to interfere in the affairs of mortals if possible. A dead man has already gone on to his reward, and I for one see no reason to shift the system for his benefit. The system is sacrosanct; it cannot be changed."
Virtually all assembled glared hatefully at him. While not a god of evil (he represented lawful neutral to a mind-numbing degree), he was probably the single most hated deity there. Considering that such gods as Erythrul, God of Slaughter was there, as well as Zuriel, patron saint of pestilience, this is saying something.
He didn't give himself a real name. As such, the people are him had fitted him with the nom de guerre 'Double-Click.' He was the protector of accountants, IRS tax collecters and auditers, and the bean counters of the political machine. His title was technically, 'Patron Saint of bureacrats,' and he generally made the lives of everyone around him miserable in his fervent desire to keep things technically correct. As it was, the only reason he was kept around was to keep the prayers of his people from gumming up the works, and keep the parts of heaven running that could actually use his finicky dedication to the rules.
Elle (She felt that Lord of Nightmares was a bit mouth-filling for normal company) rose. "If you think for a moment that he 'simply died,' then I'm rather tempted to drop you into the Sea of Chaos, just to watch you spend the rest of eternity desperately trying to organize that which defies order on a level you couldn't effect. You recall his analogy to the situation?" A gesture brought a new scene of the last battle back.
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"BUT I'M THE LORD OF NIGHTMARES!" Valred screamed. "I DIDN'T LET YOU DO THIS!"
Trent shook his head, amusement suddenly gone. "That's just it. You're not the Lord of Nightmares; that's why it worked. Zelgadis told me how she reacted when Phibrizzo tried to toy with her power; she doesn't take kindly to meddling. And while your ceremony might have been enough to keep her contained, she didn't like it. You weren't becoming her vessel, you were trying to rape her powers into yourself. And all it took was another outlet for Her will to flow through, and she could strike back with everything she has. She has Chosen Me as her conduit for a moment, but a moment of choice is a lot stronger than a lifetime of your coercion. Good- bye, Valred."
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Elle glared around at the assembly. As the Creator of her own neck of the multi-verse, she had a LOT more power than most of those assembled here; she was considered and Elder Goddess, one of those who came before the Yggdrasil protocols. "This man threw his life away for My sake, and I pay my debts. Inverse was repaid for her protection of My powers; he will be as well."
"Actually, he didn't really give a rat's (censored) about your sanctity," Eris noted casually. "All he really cared about was making sure he could climb into that Beastmaster's panties."
Elee rolled her eyes in disgust at the crude goddess. "First of all, he cast a suicidal spell; how precisely did he think that he would then be able to 'climb into that Beastmaster's panties?' Secondly, please recall that Greater Beast Zelas Metallium is my direct grand-daughter. Why precisely should it offend me that he chose to protect her?"
Ares just smiled darkly. He didn't particularly care what happened with this; all he knew was that if he played it right, he could wring all kinds of pain and suffering out of it.
Kardis glared at them. "You keep carping on about his respect for sanctity; fine, let's play personal then. Why the Hell do you think I'm going to allow you to ressurect the man who tried to kill me? ME?! He had the GALL to think he could stop a goddess's will!"
"That was MY will," Falaris stated coldly. "Now sit down and shut the hell up. Don't," he added menacingly before she could react, "forget that you're a part of MY pantheon. The Pantheon I control." He smiled, turning to regard both Eris and Kardis. "If I may paraphrase, 'Which among you is mightier than I? Let all of you lay hold to a chain of gold, and strive with all your might. You could not pull Me down. But if I so chose, I could drag you down. Yea, drag you all and hang you from that chain, and let all Heaven and Earth swing from the highest peak of My Domain.'" (2)
Kardis glared at him, but subsided. He'd been speaking the truth; Falis could have stood against him, but she couldn't. And worst of all, Falis was on His side right now; apparently the elf had managed to impress even that tight-ass. "My point stands. He managed to banish me from that plane of Lodoss, and for what? Two little sluts who made goo-goo eyes at him once or twice. That is HARDLY something I see as worth rewarding."
"END THIS NOW."
Hermes had been leaning back in his chair, feet carelessly propped up to hear the complaints before he decided whether or not to interfere. At the sound of The Voice, he quite spectacularly fell backwards out of his chair in an attempt to get back up. Scrambling to his feet, he bowed. "My Lord."
The Almighty smiled slightly at the messenger god's antics. The evolution of gods of mischief and comedy had been quite a stroke of good luck. Though if they hadn't evolved he probably would have made them himself eventually. "THIS CONVERSATION, THIS TRIAL IS MOOT. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DRAGON ELF ARE NO LONGER YOUR CONCER, HERMES. I WILL ADDRESS ANY COMPLAINTS AGAINST MY DECISION, BUT I SINCERELY HOPE THAT NONE ARISE. THAT IS ALL."
THAT stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest. The Almighty had quite simply and calmly informed them that if they didn't shut up and get off this case now, He would be displeased. None of them had forgotten the last time he'd gotten displeased; the last Big Bang.
As the various listeners dispersed to discuss this new bit of gossip fodder, Falaris steeled himself and approached the strongest force in his universe. "My Lord, I am well aware that this is unbearably coarse of me, but I'm afraid that I have to ask you a few questions concerning your plans for Shadowlight."
He raised an eyebrow. No longer in official mode, he chose to speak in a less divine form, simply the voice of a god, as opposed to God. "You make it sound as though you're asking my intentions towards your child."
Falaris didn't sweat-drop, but felt the illusion fit. "Um...not quite what I meant. I just wanted to know what you planned to do with him? Not that I expect to learn Your Will," he added hastily, "but...well, as I told Trent, it's hard to find decent worshipers. I try to keep track of the ones I get."
The Almighty gazed at the God of Night, then decided he deserved an answer. "You are aware of Anubis's involvement?"
Falaris nodded. "If you mean that red-headed monk, then yes, we both watched Trent while he was dealing with Elle's world. If you mean old Jackal-head, this is the first I've heard of it."
He shook his head. "No, the Egyptian god isn't part of this; at least not yet. Regardless, I can only tell you as much as he knows; I'm forbidden from saying more."
Falaris's jaw dropped. The Almighty did NOT use the word forbidden in regards to himself; that was the whole point of being called the Almighty. "Uh...did you take an oath of some kind?" That could explain it; if He chose to limit himself, then it was one thing.
He smiled faintly. "No, I was forbidden. By a power capable of that."
"But..."
He raised his hand. "Don't worry about it too much. All you really need to know is that Trent has already been reincarnated, in a form that was thought to be acceptably linked to his former states and species, though he no longer has elvish blood."
With that, He walked away, calling over his shoulder. "Go to the same part of the scrying realm if you're still curious. Anubis will be watching again, and I think you'll find it amusing if nothing else."
Falaris watched him fade away, then shook his head. It had started out simply enough; a power play among gods, his attempt to try and lessen the goddess he sincerely disliked the most in his world. Then that business with the cross-world teleportation, and he'd decided it could be interesting. Now this; the Almighty himself was working to keep meddling in this to a minimum.
"Which portal was it?"
Falaris turned to regard the amorphous shape before him. "Oh will you stop that already? We both know you still have a normal shape; please take it."
Elle's current form of a shapeless mass of darkness gave the impression of having smirked, then faded into her true form; a pale human woman with hair like spun gold, wearing a tight if not immodest black dress. "This better?"
Falaris rolled his eyes. "Yes, but is the shovel really necessary?"
Ell shrugged. "Keeping up appearances; I'm not completely sure why My mortals think I carry this, but our forms are based on belief, you know." She raised an eyebrow. "Such as your current form?"
Falaris coughed nervously. That he resembled Ashram dressed in black clothing and a trench coat was not lost on her. "Yes, point taken." Extending an arm, he bowed graciously, mostly to regain his composure. "Shall we?"
Elle laughed, resting a hand on his arm. Night and Chaos, they'd gone out for a few eons once. "I would be delighted."
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Anubis looked up in surprise. "All of you?"
Falis shrugged. "He prayed to me and holds the Holy Sword. He's not mine, so I have no intention of interfering, but I DO want to see what happens to him. It might be useful."
Anubis nodded slowly. "The Lord of Nightmares I can understand, after what he did in that last world, but why you?"
Hermes smiled. "I've been getting bored; this might liven things up in between Divine Proclamations." He casually wove some cloud fleece into a quick La-Z-Boy recliner, adding a dish of cheetoh's on a small end table (actually ambrosia, but it can take any possible shape, consistency, and flavor), and sat down calmly. "What universe is this?"
Anubis grimaced. "This one is in rather desperate need of intervention; I think you'll recognize it?"
The messenger leaned forward, and winced. "Oh, one of THOSE timelines. Dragons of Heaven and Dragons of Earth, right?"
Anubis nodded. "One week of extremely complicated interaction that leads to the end of all civilization and most of the life on the planet, all because of one individual who decides they've got what it takes to decide the fate of a planet. As such, I'll agree with you; this place NEEDS someone who'll shake it up, shift to a new paradigm. Trent's going to be doing it."
Hermes shook his head; everyone else was watching, and none of them seemed to be too interested in his questions. "I'm curious; there aren't any elves in this world. Obviously, there are dragons, but as near as I can tell the seven harbingers and the seven seals are still there; who's he going to be that will have enough power to change this?"
Anubis shrugged as he settled down to watch for himself. "I checked, and apparently it's a cross-over universe; there's another group of dragons here that make Kamui look like a spoon bender. Trent gets a buy-in to that."
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Night had fallen.
The Tokyo skyline is less memorable than you'd think; there's the Tokyo Tower, but that's about the only thing that you don't see in just about every other major urban cityscape.
That one landmark is our greatest point of interest. Standing at the very top, balancing on the spire of the radio communication tower, was a slight, young man. He was startlingly beautiful; an aristocratic face that was femininely attractive, beautiful, but somehow avoided making him look like an actual girl. He was dressed in a fairly ordinary highschool student's uniform, black with red lining at some of the jacket's seams. The ordinary was destroyed rather thoroughly by the long cloak he wore, fluttering in the high winds.
He smiled archly, showing off quite a stubborn, arrogant streak in that single instant of expression. "Mother...I kept my promise. I've arrived in Tokyo...with the promised day..."
He leapt from the antennae, teleporting and flying both as the mood struck him.
"In 1999."
Farther away, three young men were waiting on a completely different skyscraper. They were quite obviously related; in face and form, they could well be considered to be models of a single man as he grew, though not quite, and with different hair as well. The youngest one looked to be a fairly ordinary highschool student; tousled auburn brown hair in a simple cut, dressed in a black high school uniform. HIS mark of the unordinary was the six-foot staff dangling from his fingers as he sat on the edge of the skyscraper's roof; black and silver, it resembled the staff carried by a wandering buddhist monk. "Hajime...are you sure? We've finally found him?"
Hajime sighed. The oldest, he looked it. A young man rather than a boy, he stood slightly over six feet in height, a leanly muscular young man, his black hair tumbling loosely over his head. He was too old for a highschool uniform, chosing to instead to wear a blue sports jacket over a white shirt and khakis, his claim to the unusual the four foot long blue dragon sword slung across one shoulder. "I don't know...not for sure. I can feel something, but you both know what's happening to the world. The ground shifts and groans, the leylines struggle to bite back their cries...something will happen soon enough."
The last one nodded. He could have out-bishonened the first strange boy, his hair a lighter brown then his brother's, almost blonde. He smiled knowingly as he gazed across the cityscape, the red-leather-bound book in his hands proving an odd contrast to his own choice of violet turtleneck over blue jeans. "He's here, Amaru. Outside powers are interfering with the Tome, but they can't keep anything from it completely. He's in Tokyo, and we'll find him soon."
Amaru sighed. "I hope you're right, Tsuzuku. I really hope you're right."
To be continued...
Author's Notes: Not much, I know, but I didn't really have all that much to put down on short notice. Mainly, I just wanted to reassure that Trent is still alive, Song of the Seraphim continues, and that Book Three will be completed before Books Four or Six. Again, I apologize for the confusion that might have caused.
(1) - While AN Eris was featured in Book Two, this is a different one, one who I hasten to add, she was not named for. In Greek mythology, Eris was the younger sister of Ares, the god of bloody conquest. She was the goddess of Strife, Hatred, and Discord; her job was keeping people from getting along. She was the one who started the Trojan War in the first place; the one that completely wiped out a thriving civilization on the shores of what is now modern day Turkey.
(2) - This refers to a speech made by Zeus in the Iliad. Not only is it appropriate for dealing with Kardis, but a subtle reminder to Eris that she's nowhere NEAR the top of the divine pecking order.