To my readers,
My promised surprise character appearance; and we are now nearing the end, perhaps one more chapter to go, two at most. As always pleasant reading,
Kasan
Chapter 7
A final lesson
The room was dark, so dark that even one of the blessed seraphim could not see a hand in front of there face. Being a seraphim Yuan was an expert on the subject of enhanced vision, and so he knew when something was dark. This room was dark, beyond dark. The shadows were a physical entity, a reflection of one man's all consuming grief. Drawing a symbol in the air a thin tongue of fire stroked the wick of the first candle. A lock of rich chestnut wound around the base of the candle, streaked with a hallow of yellow-gold the few red strands were blazing rubies in the candle light. The lock of hair was laced with protection spells it would neither burn, decay, be effected by the wax drippings, or lose it's color with age. There was a faint spicy scent about it, a teasing hint of the woman's smell, a bittersweet torment. The next candle was lit, at it's base, sealed in a droplet of wax were a few bits of green fur and a feather of the same hue. Kratos stroked the feather fondly, then lay the small wax bound bundle at the base of the candle, similar spells of preservation had been laid upon the bundle. At last came the sole unlit candle, the only candle with nothing underneath it. Yggdrasil had in the final hellish hours destroyed everything Kratos wasn't carrying upon him, and that had included any item that had any attachments to his son, Lloyd.
How bare and empty it looked, how lonely the golden light was as if fell on nothing.
"I'm sorry," Kratos muttered, to his son, the candle, who knew? Yuan gently gripped his friend's shoulder, offered what support he could. The auburn haired seraphim did nothing to respond to Yuan's touch, did not stir, only stared into the light till tears came, and slid down his cheeks unchecked. "I failed you, I swore I'd protect you and I failed. Did I lower my guard, was I struck down but not killed, was this out of my hands or did it come due to the lack of action on my part?" Kratos looked up with horrid empty eyes, so lost and alone it wrenched at Yuan's heart. "I don't remember, I want to, but there is this... wall in my mind blocking me. I claw at it until my hands are bloody and still nothing comes..."
The blue haired Seraph shivered at the burning need to remember in his fellow's eyes, to see the pain of not remembering. Yuan had said in the throes of his grief that he would do anything to forget, to embrace his lifeless state in full if it meant the pain would go away. Kratos had struck him for those words, dared to evoke Martel's name, roared at him that it was not what she would have wanted.
"She won't care, she's dead!" Yuan screamed.
"If you do so you will have abandoned her, remembering may burn like Hell fires but it is nothing compared to not knowing! Not knowing is insanity it is the knowing that keeps us sane."
"Kratos." Yuan ran his fingers through the man's hair, as Martel had done so long ago when the facade of cold indifference had finally shattered when they had stumbled upon the remains of a demon's feast. And while he didn't know it, Anna had stroked his hair like that, to sooth away the worries, the doubts. "They wouldn't want this of you, it's been a year Kratos and I can count the times you've left this room on one hand."
Kratos did not stir, seemed to be having a staring contest with the fire.
"The flame will burn down and smother amongst the wax no matter how you will it not too. It's not going to wither or rot or fall over while you stare at it."
"It should, everything beautiful I gaze at dies."
"What did you say to him? He came out of the room as pale as a sheet." Yuan said in an attempt to change subject, knowing to pursue that line of thought would be to have this meeting end in yet another screaming fight between the two of them.
"Nothing is between us..." Kratos' face was tinted a metallic hue in the golden light. "Origin did most of the talking." Kratos' lips curled into an awful smile. "He had a few choice words about the Yggdrasil's actions and made some very stern threats. If Yggdrasil steps over the line, acts against me or those I care for ever again even more power will be stripped from him."
"Even more power?" Yuan sat on one of the benches, his black cloak pooled about him, made him blend more in with the dark. "What did Origin do to Mi-"
"Mithos is dead." Kratos snapped, his voice more animated then it had been in almost a year. "He's been dead for four thousand years."
"Habit, I'm sorry." Yuan flushed, not that Kratos would see the mortal response, his eyes only for the altar. "What happened?"
"When Yggdrasil and Kvar changed Anna into..." Kratos took a deep shuddering breath at those words. It had taken Yuan years to even say the name of the man who had killed Martel and almost a decade before he could even say Martel's name. But then his extended grief might have been due to the extended lifespan. In soul Kratos was still much a human, still as abrupt as all of his specie, and not prone to holding onto something for a long span as an elf or half elf would. Come ten, twenty years and he would probably forget them. I was a disgusting human trait, but humans did disgust Yuan from time to time. "My fury was great, I… I think I went crazy." Clenching his hair Kratos gripped his own mane of auburn hair in a tight grasp. "We fled. She managed to remain herself… Then we were cornered, looking… crest…" A feverish glint came into his eyes, making Yuan wonder if Kratos was still a little crazy. "Yggdrasil and Kvar came, I fought them, the Desian troops, but they managed to catch us on the cliffs. Anna went over, Lloyd in her arms, bloody, so bloody and slashed up… she was trying to kill him. She told me to kill her and I hesitated, to save Lloyd I had to kill… in her death throes she went over and took him with her… Noishe tried to save Lloyd and was dragged over as well."
Yuan shivered, a suspicious burning was behind his eyes. He had not known Anna, but to see his brother like this after her death was heart wrenching. He'd feared as last time when Kratos had lost someone he loved that Yggdrasil would come and try to manipulate the broken man, force Kratos into a tangle of more lies. Yggdrasil had tried, had tried to get his fangs in, first with his offer to bring back Anna then yet again while Kratos had prayed in this strange chapel. Kratos had done the first defiance alone, nearly killed himself in the gesture, but his act of turning down the offer had been a slap in Yggdrasil's face. The second defiance had not come wholly from Kratos it seemed, Origin had been infuriated by Yggdrasil's actions, and had somehow lessoned Yggdrasil's power.
"What did Origin do?"
Kratos turned from the fire, the memories, and came back to the present. He let lose his hair, and a large chunk fell from his fingers and drifted to the ground. Oblivious to the minor self mutilation Kratos stared at Yuan with blood shot eyes.
"You talk as if you want to kill him, as if you want to know of some weakness of his so that you can kill him."
Yuan froze, shocked by Kratos' observation, it was accurate. Had he been that obvious or was Kratos only making a lucky guess? Yuan considered lying, but there were levels he could not sink to.
"If I did, would that be so bad a thing?"
Kratos smiled that horrid empty smile.
"It is not time, but he promised the time would be soon, before half a century runs it course will a chance be offered." Kratos shivered. "As with all things the death of Yggdrasil is not absolute, there is only one truth of this. If we fail there will be no second chance."
Yuan shivered at the dull finality in Kratos' voice.
"No chance?" Yuan chuckled weakly. "My friend there is always a chance, there is always hope."
"There will be no world to fight from of for if we fail." Kratos whispered. "And if we fail and I still have life within me I will rise my blade against Yggdrasil until I am little more then ash, little more then nothing, and that will be my final defiance. It will gnaw upon him for all eternity that he has failed to revert the world to nothing, my ashes will be that final futile defiance."
Kratos smiled that horrid grim smile, turned to the flames.
"Fifty years and then I can go home." Kratos whispered, stroking the lock of brown hair. "Be patient Anna… I will come…"
Kratos did not hear Yuan stand, did not hear Yuan leave. He reached under his tunic, and stroked the stone that throbbed in time with his heart. He closed his eyes, went still, and listened to her voice, her voice that was a soft whisper in the vaults of his mind. It was a pale comfort, a mere echo, but it was better then nothing. He would go home, as soon as his duty was complete.
It was pleasant to know that his duty would consist of trying to kill Yggdrasil when the monster was at his weakest. It was an answering of his bloodiest, darkest prayers. It would be the completion of Anna's quest as well as his own. It would be the keeping of a promise, the keeping of a final oath. And after words he could go home.
Xxx xxx xxx
"Kratos, where are you going?" Yggdrasil stood in his way, not the best place to be considering their rocky relationship. Kratos looked at that pale slip of a man, resisted the urge to draw his blade and try to cut him in half. He'd waited long enough for this, waited for suspicions to cool and anger to be forgotten by the angel over lord. He would wait no longer; ten years had been a long enough wait.
"My travels are of no concern to you."
"They are, I'm making them." Yggdrasil crossed his arms over his chest, a poor echo of his ex-mentor's motion of stubbornness.
"I am going to check on the Chosen." Kratos lied; he was surprised how easy it was. Don't give a damn about your own welfare and nothing was hard.
"Really? Well then I expect a full report on your return then."
Yggdrasil smirked, expecting the faint note of threat to cow his most rebellious of seraphim. Kratos didn't even blink, showed no signs of pleasure or annoyance that more work had been shoved onto him. Kratos showed little of anything these days, his lack of response was so extreme, so wildly different from the soul-less subservience that Yggdrasil got from his angels, that the Lord of Cruxis was worried. He would show nothing, he had nothing in him to show, he dully went from task to task with indifference that showed in his work and appearance. Yet underneath that there was a hint of fire, a flicker of something some thing under the ice coated eyes, and it was not a comforting sight. He had a feeling that Kratos was waiting, was waiting for something to happen and when it did Yggdrasil would get his answers.
"Move," Kratos said dully, "unless you want to come with me of course."
Even the sarcasm was absent, put in the words but with no real depth of feeling behind it.
"Kratos, I'm worried, are you still sick?" Yggdrasil dropped his arrogant pose since it was only them in the small chamber. His posture more suiting an anxious boy then the adult form he wore.
"A little, it will pass."
A fact, not a reassurance, Yggdrasil frowned.
"You're not mad at me are you?"
"There is nothing between us." Kratos whispered, he flexed his fingers in their royal purple gloves.
"What does that mean? It's all you've been saying to me."
"Exactly what it says Yggdrasil." The lord of Cruxis was firmly shoved aside. So unexpected the attack, so dispassionate was Kratos' expression while he was doing so Yggdrasil allowed himself to fall. He looked up, stared at Kratos and saw his success. He had finally made the stubborn man into a lifeless soulless being. Firmly Mithos told himself that the chill he was feeling was the thrill of accomplishment; he would not allow it to be anything else!
"Come back in a week." Mithos called, picking himself from the ground, he let the small insult go for now, after all Kratos was still sick. "I want that report when you get back!"
Kratos didn't seem to hear; he stepped onto the disk and in a flash of light disappeared.
Xxx xxx xxx
He rolled the rose in his hand, she had always favored red, and perhaps the richest hue of red came from the petals of a rose. He had found a spot in the woods where they had camped, one of the small places they had had one last sliver of pleasure together. Kissing the rose he lay it on the ground, knelt before it. On impulse he buried the very tip of the root.
As an angel of cruxis, he was a master of holy magicks, a power so pure that no mortal souls could grasp it. He had shed his mortality, gained a body that could endure the strain of such power after being all but baptized in the life vein of the scalding hot mana that had shaped the world while the gem on his chest had served as a filter. It kept him from dying but had not kept the power from ripping at him, burning his soul, sculpting him in its image… So long ago, he was the first, and last to be completely immersed in the alien power that Yggdrasil had studied and dubbed angelic mana. His promises had been thus; with this power they could save Martel, save the worlds, transcend the limits of time and access ultimate power and bring an age of peace and light to the worlds. And all promises had turned to lies
Because of that ritual he had undergone he had become a master of holy magicks, of life itself, he put both hands against the cold earth, a coldness he could no longer feel. Words fell from his lips, an archaic prayer of life from his village now lost under the waves under the might of a mana driven typhoon. A typhoon Yggdrasil had summoned to teach him a lesson. The plant shivered, it was a mere clipping, a dead thing, its life was small though and therefore easy to coax from the dark of Death. A plant had a spirit, and it too was easy to coax from the dark of Death, he did not want to make a lifeless plant after all, such a thing would not be beautiful, and would die at the first harsh turn of weather. He called, and for such a small thing death submitted with little contest. The earth around the rose shivered, writhed even as roots dug, spread about his hands like a spider's web and dug down. The plant grasped the earth in wooden fingers, in a tight grip, and even as the roots greedily snatched at the nutrient rich ground the leaves sprung out from their sheaths of wood and spread. Crimson buds spread wide, like red stars they opened, a wild variety of shades of red. He smiled, thinking for the first time in years that she would have loved to see this and not crippled from pain from that thought. But then in a way she was seeing, through him. She lived through him now; he lived only for her memory, only for the oath she extracted from him. When his duty was complete he would free himself from this world, let the dark of death take him, and his last prayer as the great shadow took him was the he would never come back.
He breathed in the scent of the flowers, gently took one of the full blooms in his hands and breathed in its scent even as his fingers stroked the smooth petals.
A voice humming off tune made him jolt back to awareness. His wings shivered out of his back, he grunted in pain at their completely unplanned emergence. He kicked of the ground and flapped to the solace of a tree, leaving a red rain behind him that caught on the petals of the flower he had been admiring earlier. From his perch he could not see everything below, only slivers, he wanted to shove the branches aside, but only their tangled mass hid the damning light of his wings.
"Wow that wasn't there before!" A boy's voice chirped.
"I bet it was." Came a high pitched voice of a young child, Kratos' heart clenched at the sound. "And you didn't see it."
"Shut up Genis! I know this place inside and out and no roses ever grow here!"
"Well they're here now." Came a girls voice, Kratos squirmed around in his perch and saw a slip of a child in white with gold hair. He stiffened, he knew this child from somewhere… "Oh I know I bet the angels brought it here! It's so pretty, and angels can make things grow real pretty like that."
How ironic that her guess was right, and even as she guessed and showed her devotion he knew her.
Not truly seeking the Chosen it seemed as if he had stumbled upon her by purest accident.
"Let's see… I think from the shape of the blooms and the…"
"He's gunna give it one of those weird looong names now." The boy who had spoken first whispered to the girl, he could see neither of the boys, only the Chosen.
"It's called a scientific name; it's a universal title that all cultures acknowledge."
"It's called a mouthful, a tongue twister, and boring!"
"If you actually showed some curiosity in something intellectual maybe when people say words longer then two syllables your eyes wouldn't glaze!"
"Wha?"
"See you just proved me right!" Genis' voice grew cheerful.
"Well I'm glad you're happy Genis!" Colette chirped, clapping her hands together.
From the sanctuary of his hiding place Kratos rolled his eyes, perhaps he could persuade Yuan to do the journey, if this was any indication of the Chosen's intelligence Kratos was going to firmly shove the job on Yuan's shoulders…
"Umm.. Why do I think that wasn't a compliment?"
"It's so pretty, why don't we name the bush?" The Chosen smiled, obviously liking the idea. "I like cochie!"
"Cochie?" Genis muttered.
"She had a dog by that name." The other boy whispered as way of explanation. "She names everything that."
"Ohh… Umm how about red rose bush?" Genis offered.
"Huh… You know I'm bad with names, forget it!" Came the older boy's protest. Kratos caught a hint of red from between the branches, the boy was clad in red, but he could see little else before the child backed out of his range of vision.
"Come on, name the bush!"
"Err Kra-tarn Ar-nnar?"
"Oh is that dwarvish?"
"Weren't you supposed to be giving me dwarvish lessons?"
"Umm… when'd I promise that?"
"Don't try to weasel out of it, you promised!"
"Scary you sound like Raine."
"I do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"What's it mean!" Colette asked, yelling to be heard over the boys' childish cries.
"Kra is flight, Tarn is holy or special, Ar is great, and Nnar is the word for every type of plant except mushrooms."
"flight holy great plant?" Genis asked, sounding confused.
The red clad boy laughed; obviously the smart child's expression was as humorous as the tone of bafflement was.
"Dwarves don't believe in angels, so they don't have a word for them. So holy flight could kind of mean holy flying person, angels do fly right?"
Kratos' wings twitched as he fought down the sudden urge to yell 'yes, they do fly!'
"Well maybe Ar-sagwai-nnar would be better then Ar-Nnar, sagwai would tell the color."
"So sagwai's red?"
"No," There was an annoyed sigh. "And don't ever say sagwais again, it's a really bad word and your sister and my dad would feed us soap for like a thousand years if they ever heard you use it. Sagu is red, you change "u" to "w" to when adding the plural indicator of "ai" to descriptive words, unless the preceding letter is of the alpha congegati-"
" Wow you're really smart to know all this dwarf stuff!"
"Heh, well I guess being son of a dwarf is pretty nifty sometimes."
"Niffty?"
"Shut it Genis!"
"Well I guess it is kinda cool." Genis chuckled. "I mean it means he knows something at least."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"So then, sagwai is many reds?" The Chosen asked after thinking about it for a long while.
"Yep."
"I like sagwai, it's pretty and fits! How about Derriyas Sagwai and then we can have something in ellafish!"
"So we all name the plant, I like it!"
"It's elvish Colette, hmm what's Derriyas mean?"
"Miracle."
"OK I got it, Deriyas Sagwai Raseiva!"
"Roo seev ah?"
"You roll the "r" and the second e is pronounced like "eh"." The boy named Genis corrected. "It means crimson passion, which is the elvish name for rose."
"It's so pretty, I like or name, but for short let's call it Cochie!"
Both boys sighed as one never knowing that from the branches Kratos joined them in their sighing.
"Whatever you say Colette," the red clad boy sighed as the Chosen skipped out of his range of his sight in the general direction of Iselia. "Uh oh, there are wolves around here, hold it Colette it's not sa- Ah shit, if she's attacked by monsters do you know what Frank's gunna do to me!"
"I'd be more worried about Dirk…" The child named Genis pointed out.
"Dad'll kill me! Colette wait up!" There was the sound of feet tearing across the earth.
"You know, I'd almost say you are new, that you were just plunked here. The soils all churned up. Wow this is fascinating I wonder if I should take a samp…"
Kratos muttered a spell, feeling a protective feeling for Anna's plant. He'd tolerated the naming as it was a harmless past time, but he would not stand having some clumsy child hack at it with a knife to conduct research. A wind stirred, made the branches by the trees seem to reach out, the breeze caught in a hollowed log some distance and made a spectacular howling noise.
With a loud scream of terror as the plant in the clearing seemed to become mallovent evil things with howling voices, the child named Genis ran back to his friends, his voice piping about how he had heard a horrible demon trapped in the trees screaming that it was going to eat him.
"A demon cool, let's go check it…"
"No! I wanna go home, now!"
"Oh fine. Chicken!"
"Am not a ch… chicken!"
"Bawk bawk bawk ba baw bawwwk!"
"Wow Lloyd you're really good at acting like a chicken."
"He..he's had practice."
"Shut it!"
Kratos stopped breathing; his body trembled at the sound of that name. His first impulse was to scramble out of the tree glide ahead of the children and intercept them on the trail. He felt a slight touch in his mind, no in the area, a sweeping search that had Yggdrasil's presence laced through it. Damn it, he'd been gone all of eight days and the brat was looking for him already! Sheathing his wings he used the residue mana to make a mask, to hide his physical appearance with false features. The air about him shivered and a few minuets later a somewhat pudgy man in white robes of a Martel priest shimmied down the tree, the man had sky blue eyes, and slick black hair with a bit of a beard. The beard however was illusion not real, and physical touch would reveal the truth to any with eyes. He had not changed himself, thought he could have with the power of the cruixs crystal, but that would have made him flare with angelic mana and for all intents and purposes set of a beacon for Yggdrasil to follow.
Toying around with the idea of running after them he discarded it, tapping his foot in impatience he realized that he was going to just have to wait. Well if the 'demon' had interested the boy he'd probably come back here before heading home. It wasn't a long wait the boy came back, aknife and sling rattled against his legs as he ran. Kratos shivered, suppressed the first instinct to go to the child and hold him. Caution, fear, held him back. He stared at the child, and the child's dark brown eyes swept over him and stared at his robes with a hint of disgust. Rubbing a hand through his sweaty brown hair the boy, about fourteen, stared and Kratos returned it. He could see Anna in this child and hints of himself. It couldn't be, it was impossible, and yet, here before him…
He suppressed the tears, the hopes, and stared, so over whelmed that he could not speak.
"Okay… I'm gunna take the long way home now…" The boy backed up a few steps.
"Wait!" Kratos croaked, thankful that he had the foresight to mask his voice as well. It was much deeper then his norm, a low rumbling baritone. "I'm… looking for someone."
"Un huh… Well Iselia's that a way." The brown haired boy pointed to the town. "I'm sure you can find whoever you're looking for there…"
Kratos was cornered, the suggestion was reasonable, and if he pressed he'd scare the child off.
"I'm looking for a child named Lloyden Aurion." Kratos whispered, his eyes neverleaving that child's face.
"Lloyden… look I'm sorry I don't know a Lloyden…" The boy cringed under the intensity of the stare that was following his every move. "My name is Lloyd Irving OK, not Lloyden Aurion. Look I hope you find who you're looking for but my name's Lloyd."
Kratos shivered, his soul shivered at the sound of his child's name being spoken by the child before him. He could feel Yggdrasil's attention focusing on Iselia, he had only a few moments before the angel child would be attracted to this place. He dared not stay, if Yggdrasil spotted him here… But he had questions, hundreds of questions to ask, if he evoked his sight he would be able to see the truth for certain for this could just be a twisted coincidence…
The sun light seemed brighter; a chill wind came from the summer skies. Dread filled him, he could feel Yggdrasil's physical presence. Damn it, he had to get the boy out of here and fast. Lloyd though it seemed was sensitive to the mana coming at them, he shivered and looked to the sky in fear. Smart boy, Kratos smiled grimly, feeling despite himself a thin bit of pride.
"Run boy!" Kratos barked in his altered voice. "Run and in the name of all the true god's don't look back!"
"But…"
"Go!" Kratos roared. "I'll be safe enough, run!"
Nodding Lloyd did as ordered.
Gods oh gods just five more minutes, I would have known for certain why in hell fires couldn't I be granted that much!
Down from the heavens, bathed in the light of his power glided Yggdrasil, Kratos, still wearing the guise of the priest curled his lips and bared his teeth. Eyes mere slits the Master of the Seraphim did not bother to touch the corrupted earth with his bare feet, would not suffer the taint of earth to touch him. Kratos was dusty from kneeling in the earth, a few leaves were tangled in his hair and the bark was still a phantom roughness under his hands. In his cold and impersonal death Yggdrasil stared down at him, and fury his own, from the crystal, and from Origin, pounded against his self control. A shame Yggdrasil didn't touch the earth, it would have bucked heaved, and probably thrown him off his feet.
"Kratos, you are late."
Kratos said nothing, met the gaze, and with all the anger in him could not keep from seething in his eyes.
"Your presence is required in Derris Kharlan."
Kratos bared his teeth, snarled, a physical primal sound that was a pale reflection of his rage.
"My you have sunk low! Do you roll over, do tricks of yet?"
"Shut the hell up Yggdrasil." Kratos whispered, casting aside the illusion and drew his wings.
Now? He begged Origin in the silences of his mind.
Less then five years. Came the response that was more growl then words
"I wonder, just how suitable are you for the Regeneration Journey?"
That was a threat that froze Kratos' blood. He knew Yggdrasil was going to consume every second of his time, he was to train the guardian angel, he was to gather the final reports on the chosen, arrange the oh so convenient demise of the priests.
The only "free" time he would have would be during the journey, Yggdrasil would see to that. The only time he was going to have to go to Iseila would be during the journey, he could wait, would have to wait until then to see this Lloyd again and find out if it was his Lloyd. He dare not lose the rights to this journey, for the sight of the boy had sparked a hope he had feared to hold, but now it had caught, and the journey would be an excellent excuse to search…
"Dare you use anyone else. Admit it Yggdrasil, those pawns of yours don't have the intelligence to serve as guardians, they don't know how to hide what they are, over half can't even draw in their wings."
"Can you hide what you are?"
"Anna did not know what I was for months, I could have kept it up for years had I not confessed for when we spoke of it after she told me she never suspected. And you know what she was to me, how intimate our relationship was, if I can hide what I am from my lover then a child should be no small feat."
"Yuan can do much the same." Yggdrasil pointed out coolly.
"Could he? You and I both know the second the child starts praying to Martel he'll lose it."
Yggdrasil glared at him.
"Once I praised you, though you were vulgar you got my attention and things went for the better for Cruxis. I reprimand you one last time for your tongue, next time you exercise it in a way I find offensive it will be removed."
Kratos smirked, looked up at Yggdrasil.
"I am not your servant."
"You labor under my cause."
"I labor under my own, I haven't had anything to do with your cause for years and if you would ever pay attention you'd have seen that Yuan's support of you has tapered off these last few decades."
Yggdrasil looked uncertain, hesitant, and weak, it was a pleasant sight, one Kratos hoped to see much more of.
"You said you forgave me!"
"I never said that." Kratos growled, his wings flapping, in his mind he prayed the child had gotten far away from here. "I never said that." Kratos whispered, his mind aflame. "You've lost everything haven' you Yggdrasil? Your sister, your brothers… How does it feel to sit on that throne amongst the stars surrounded by all that you've destroyed? No wonder you want the world to be as nothing, you are still a child wanting the world to reflect back you and only you, and that's all that's left in you nothing."
Yggdrasil trembled, his expression much like a man who was having an enemy twist a knife in their gut.
"Return to Derris Kharlan," came a stilted reply from pale bloodless lips.
"On my time, not yours." Kratos hissed.
"I gave you an order."
"I do not follow you boy, I follow me, my cause, my plans, you are my tool. It is not the other way around anymore."
"You've become brave, tell me what's in Iselia that has sparked it? Should I perhaps go raze the town?"
Kratos smiled, looked at Yggdrasil with dead eyes.
"Zelos Wilder's body would be a poor habitation for your sister. Can you imagine her trapped in a man's body, much less a man with that kind of appetite? The experience of those memories might even unhinge Martel's mind."
Shrieking a word of power Yggdrasil raised a hand and summoned a fireball, Kratos grimly stepped in front of the bush he had made for Anna and caught the projectile. He damped it, closed his hands over it and the power faded to nothingness.
"Try my patience just one more time and I swear I'll release Origin right now."
Yggdrasil sneared, lifted his gaze to the heavens and he could hear the words that were once denied his hearing.
Origin does he speak the truth? Origin, answer me!
Keeper of the seal and soul of the pact. Kratos stiffened at the title whispered into his mind. What would pain him most?
He must not know that I can' release the seal yet.
Agreed, but what lies to speak that will cause the most pain?
His pain is your pain. Kratos protested weakly.
As is yours mine.
Kratos mentally reeled at the idea of a God sharing his life's pains with him, Origin then knew of… everything!
There are some things I didn't particularly seek 'enlightenment' on, certain aspects of yourrelationship with your wife for example. I only know as much as you would feel comfortable in me knowing. Now answer me before he suspects.
Let him, let him know that you answer my questions, speak to me, let him see his control slid away. The idea that the world will not revolve about him will be like a knife in the back.
Agreed. Origin chuckled, then his voice grew louder, a warning of sorts for Kratos. He may break the seal whenever he wishes where ever he wishes.
Then I don't have to fly to Heimdal? That's good to know Great One.
Yggdrasil sputtered, his eyes so wide when they fell on Kratos that the seraph half expected them to roll from that skull.
"Something wrong Yggdrasil?" Kratos asked innocently, acting for all the world like a third rate gleeman but loving every second of it.
"You hate me, you all hate me don't you?"
"Once, while Anna was alive, I might have felt your pain. I might have sympathized or she might have made me come to realize that my feelings were stemmed from the grief of losing you to your ambitions." Kratos whispered, dropping the act. "I will speak to you one last time as your teacher and give you one final lesson Mithos."
Yggdrasil looked up at him, with tears in his eyes. Tears held behind crystal hued eyes, trapped behind those eyes, for Yggdrails could never shed a single tear. He had destroyed that ability in himself to cry, which made it all the more tragic.
"The world is not lost, hope is not lost, you are still not committed to this path in full so there is still hope. Have you thought of the pain you cause, the agony you've wrecked upon the innocent? Your enemies have died, all of them have died millennia ago. What s the essence of vengeance Pupil?"
"Chaos, death, destruction." Mithos whispered, the old lessons the old forms their blood bond coming back to them both as it still had a place to fit in them both.
"What is the place of vengeance, Pupil?"
"In the hands of those whom perceive that justice has failed."
"Why do you hold the blade of vengeance in your hands?"
"Justice has failed." Yggdrasil hissed, his eyes burning with rage. "Where was justice when Martel died, where was salvation when she died, what use does love serve when it's dead?"
"Love is not dead." Kratos whispered. "One love, we have both lost that now. In that we could become closer then ever for now I understand the pain of your loss." Kratos reached out grabbed Mithos' arm. "This is all we ever had, everything else was as nothing. As your brother I call out one last time for I see the waters closing over you. Not solely do I call to you in my name, but in Martel's, Anna's, and my sons name, I would save you for them and for you."
Yggdrasil looked at him, the tears that would never fall, that could never fall.
He took a step back, and Kratos stood, watched and waited.
"You cling to me, covered in mortal filth, groveling at my feet! You have a lot of nerve teacher."
"I stand on my own two legs Yggdrasil." Kratos sighed. "Farewell Mithos."
"What, where do you think you are going!"
"I have no need to explain myself to you." Kratos whispered.
"You are my servant!"
Kratos turned on his heel, looked to the sun and kicked off the earth, his wings fanning about him, breaking him from thegrasp of the earth. Power crackled between Yggdrasil's fingers, he sent a bolt of light after him, but it dissipated, thinned out, and weakened to nothing before his target could even be aware of the attack. His power was draining out of him, he was still strong, stronger then them all, but the power of the Gods faded from him.
"Origin, do not forsake me!" He screamed. "You have sworn an oath to me!"
I made my oath to Mithos, not to Yggdrasil. While I am constrained to keep it in part, for you are one in the same, that which I freely offered I am now free to take back.
"Origin!" Yggdrasil shrieked, his wings stilled and he clawed at the earth, pounded upon it like the youngest of child in the throes of a tantrum. "Answer me! Damn you, damn you all!"
Panting and cursing he found his feet, stared at the plant and lifted a hand.
"This is your fault all your fault you bitch! You made him betray me, even in death you make him betray me!"
A wind stirred the entangled branches of the rosebush; it seemed to shiver in fear of him, as it should, as all things should!
"Die, burn, burn in Hell as all you mortal sins take you there by the judgment of my hands!"
A bolt of light smashed into the plant, it quietly sat, absorbed the light, and glowed with a golden radiance when the angelic mana faded. There was a 'crack', the earth stirred under the plant, as the roots strove down the leaves seemed to spiral up like a great tower, the roses opened like brilliant suns. The light, the star's light, he cringed away from it, shrieking mad profanities he scrambled across the dusty road fouling his white tunic and pants. The great Lord of Cruxis, King of Heaven, Creator of Angels and the Order of Light fled the sun light, the star light, he fled the light and even as the shadows cringed away from him, even as the earth spurned him and the winds smote him. He ran through the Iselian words coming upon no one, screaming mad oaths that carried on his own foul winds and echoed on the trees sounding like an unholy choir. Never knowing that in this fit of acute madness, the time when Mithos died in full, would spring the most horrid tales of demons running through the woods. The echoes of his cries distorted by time and space reached the walls of Iselia, lapped upon the peace of the Chosen's home like a black omen, and made Iselia woods a forsaken place. It would serve only as a home to two daring heathens who feared neither dark not light. And even the evil Desian's, gluttons feeding on the suffering of their human foes would refuse to take one step out of their ranch at night. Even Forcystus himself, ancient warrior, proudly sporting a Desian crown coated in the blood of his foes, would dare not take step outside his ranch after sun set.
If there is one to have said to benefit it was a child and his protozoan companion, who could walk the quiet woods at night and fear no attack by Desian and enjoy the stars that graced the night sky.