Disclaimer: I don't own Fate or any other part of the nasuverse that may come up, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this.
Chapter 2: Of A Simple Tool
Ancient Mesopotamia is said to be the cradle of civilization, with its geographical significance and bountiful nature granted by the gods it was not a theory one had trouble accepting. Even at the dawn of human history it teemed with life and opportunity for growth. This potential was what allowed it to flourish and become the center of human progress for centuries to come.
Unfortunately, the attractiveness of this prosperity wasn't limited to just humans.
A great cloud of soil and dust erupted from the earth as a mighty roar filled the banks of the great Euphrates river, reverberating through the nearby trees and primitive structures. A figure garbed in a dark green tunic leapt out of the dust cloud and landed a bit farther away with their weapon held at the ready; a dark greatsword of a strange, archaic design. The figure itself looked somewhat worse for wear, their clothes were coated in dirt and a look of annoyance dominated their otherwise angelic features.
The cause of their current state soon made itself known as a creature lumbered out of the slowly settling dust. The creature was none other than a bull, but it was clearly anything but an ordinary animal. The first of the grotesque signs was its size, which could be compared to that of an elephant's. Then there were the pair of feathered wings sprouting from its back, or the fact that its head looked like a bizarre fusion of an ox, a horse and a lion. It was clear that the figure was facing off against a Phantasmal Beast of considerable power.
As if to demonstrate its destructive potential, the beast exhaled forcefully from their snout and charged straight at the figure, causing them to tense up at the shaking earth. They watched as the creature barreled towards them relentlessly… until a golden projectile struck them from the side and sent the beast careening into a nearby building.
"Ig-Alima," another angelic being appeared by their side with a golden bow at their side. "The others are already finishing up, what's taking you so long?" Although this newcomer seemed similar to the first one at first glance, there were a few key differences in their appearance. That was expected however, as the first of the siblings he was supposed to stand out. Their raven hair was long and reached past their shoulders and their eyes had the shine of molten gold. Unlike his sibling, his tunic was of a deep burgundy color with golden patterns woven in around the edges.
"Enki?" Ig-Alima blinked in surprise at the interruption before clicking their tongue. "This one is different. Its hide is almost as tough as those Mycenaean cats we were told about."
Enki frowned to himself at the news, as in the Nemean lion and its kin? That could prove troublesome.
"I see, let me take care of it then. You should help out Sul-Sagana in the meantime," he proposed. Ig-Alima narrowed their eyes at the ravenette, but relented with a scoff. Their magical energy was dwindling anyway and there was always a next time.
"Fine, be careful." The angelic figure launched itself away, leaving behind a small cloud of dust. The beast then emerged once again and set its sights on the sole figure remaining in the town. Enki's bow evaporated into golden particles before reforming into a spear. With the new weapon in hand, Enki took on a low stance and waited for the bull's first action.
Despite only a few months passing by since his rebirth, he was confident in his combat abilities. That wasn't because of any guidance he received from teachers or having undergone rigorous training. No, those methods were reserved for those made of flesh and blood for he had no use of them.
You don't teach a knife how to kill someone, it simply does so to fulfill its purpose. Likewise, why would he need to train when he was the weapon itself. What would make him any different? He had his powers because he existed and he existed to use these powers.
The beast charged at him with the speed of a freight train, prompting Enki into action. A golden portal burst into existence before him and he thrust his spear into it, a moment later an identical portal appeared at the throat of the bull. The spear emerged from the Divine Gate and struck the animal's throat, though it didn't penetrate it, much to Enki's annoyance. The attack may not have pierced its skin, but the force behind the blow still carried over and had the effect of a powerful uppercut that sent his target sprawling on the ground.
"Resilient, aren't you?" Enki looked on as the bull got back to its feet and shook its head. Once it collected itself it flapped its wings in his direction, releasing a whirlwind. "In that case…" Enki dodged the attack and transformed his weapon back into a bow. Upon relocating onto a rooftop he took aim at the bull's head and flooded his projectile with magical energy. He fired, the abundance of mana stored in the shot discharged and materialized itself in the form of water.
The golden arrow flew faster than most beings could track, leaving behind a stream of magical water. Water burst out in all directions upon impact, however it didn't scatter, rather it stabilized itself into a sphere of water centered around the Phantasmal's head.
"Invincible or not, you still need to breathe," Enki remarked to himself as he watched the bull rampage around in an effort to get rid of the water bubble trapping its head. It was for naught however, the liquid prison was persistent in its mission to drown the creature even as it thrashed around.
Enki was close to writing the creature off as a threat when the creature did something unexpected, with a mighty flap of its wings, the air moved. The water was blasted away along with anything else in the vicinity before the wind coalesced into a tornado large enough to consume most of the settlement. Enki put up a hand to shield his face from the fierce winds and flying debris. The bull was apparently ready to take this fight seriously, now that just wouldn't do-
The roof of the building he stood on gave out and he was swept into another building that collapsed moments after the fact.
The bull snorted victoriously in the middle of the windstorm. Numerous beings tried to best its winds, but they were still unmatched in power. A mere tool of the gods had no hope to overpower it-
A golden chain shot out from the ground at its feet and arched above its back before burrowing itself back underground. A fraction of a second later the chain reemerged and repeated the action again and again until its movements blurred together. The bull tried to take a few tentative steps away from the still forming construct, however it found that despite the lack of divine energy emanating from them, they were still strong enough to keep it in place. The bull could only watch in bemused trepidation as the end of the chain struck the ground before it, apparently having finished its criss-cross pattern.
Then the chain was pulled taut.
Its legs gave out in an instant as it felt like an entire mountain was weighing it down. No matter how hard it tried to break out, the chains would just become even tighter in response. The beast painfully slumped down against the ground, only to get struck by arrow after arrow carrying even more water onto its body that soon gathered around its orifices, once again blocking its airways.
It realized then, it had lost. It could not breathe and the chains constricted against its wings mercilessly, this fight was over. The tornado soon settled down, revealing a half-destroyed town and a single figure holding the end of a chain in the distance.
Enki walked over to the downed beast and let the water around its head dissipate, causing the bull to gasp for air. Coming to a stop before its head he stared emotionlessly into its eyes., held out his free hand and formed a spear out of golden dust in it. He raised the weapon high, aiming for the Phantasmal's open mouth, and struck down…
Only to stop midway as a confused expression spread over his features.
"Why do you hesitate?" A voice called out from behind Enki and he turned around in surprise to see Ishum staring at him and the bull.
"Lord Ishum? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to collect you and your siblings, my father has called for you." The god came to a stop beside Enki and looked at the downed bull. "But before that, why did you stop? Are you afraid?"
Enki blinked and looked at his outstretched arm, it was shivering like a leaf in the wind.
"No, not at all. I'm more… confused?"
"Oh?"
"It almost feels like my body is eager to kill this creature. Even now, I have to hold myself back." Enki stated wonderingly as he stared at his still shaking arm. Now that he thought about this, he could only sparsely recall how he walked over to the bull to execute it. It's like his body was on auto-pilot, the only reason he snapped out of it was because he realized something.
For a brief moment he truly felt like he wanted to kill it. For an aimless person like himself, such a thought was simply foreign; for all the power it wielded, the bull couldn't kill him even if it tried, so that emotional response was simply not logical.
"And you don't understand why." Enki nodded hesitantly. Again, he and his siblings were only sent here to take care of the herd the bull was part of. There was no need to kill them all, driving them off was a valid option as well, there was no need for unnecessary bloodshed. "I see, that is indeed odd. There appears to be a disconnect between you and your body," the god hummed to himself.
"Was I put under a spell?" Enki frowned in suspicion.
"Nothing of the sort. As I've told you before, willing subservience is worth more in our eyes," Ishum denied immediately. "Perhaps it's a consequence of your unusual circumstances. Something to look into later." He theorized out loud before gesturing towards the bull. "In any case, put an end to its life and let us move on, we have much to do today."
Ishum turned around to leave, expecting Enki to follow after.
"...Must we kill it?" Ishum stopped in his tracks and turned to look questioningly at the still figure.
"What do you mean? This creature isn't from Mesopotamia and still decided to invade our lands. The only punishment fitting for this crime is death," he explained as it was the most self-evident thing in the world.
"Now that I'm closer, I can see things more clearly," Enki stated and pulled on the chains for emphasis. "It's leaner than I would expect a bull of its size to be, I can even see bones through its skin. This bull is clearly malnourished," he stated his observations in a thoughtful, almost distracted, manner. "Wasn't there a drought up north not long ago?"
"Where are you going with this, Enki?" the god openly frowned.
"This creature is starving. The only reason it came here is because it had no other choice. It just wants to survive and we would punish it for that. What sort of justice is that?" He looked the god in the face with a discontent expression. Just because he didn't think the world about himself he still knew it just wasn't right.
"The one he's waiting for." Ishum's calm response caught him off guard.
"What?" At his confusion the god looked once again towards the Phantasmal. Following his gaze, Enki froze in place.
The bull was undoubtedly intelligent; it might not have been capable of speech, but his movements and mannerisms betrayed an intellect. And now, that bull was staring Enki in the eye with a baffling expression.
Impatience, indignation, resentment, subservience…
Was it waiting for him to get it over with and kill it?
"..."
"I'm not sure about the values you previously held, but they do not apply here. Your assessment was faulty; this bull and its herd did not come here only to have a chance at survival, it also came here to die if needed," Ishum sighed.
"...I don't understand."
"You were right about it having no choice but to come here, but not because of what you'd think. You see, it was undoubtedly aware of the consequences of its actions and went ahead with them anyways," he elaborated, then captured Enki's attention with a critical look. "Do you understand what that means? It either wanted to continue on living or die by our hands, any of those outcomes were preferable to withering away or becoming dependent on someone else."
"..."
"This creature doesn't want your pity, it wants your judgement."
Pride? That's what it came down to? It would seriously give up its own life rather than ask for help and now it was offended that he wouldn't give it death?
An errand thought came to Enki's mind at that moment that only served to highlight the irony in this bizarre situation. If his spirits were higher and his body still human, he might have laughed at it.
"I see…" He let out a resigned sigh and his expression settled into a neutral one.
How ironic was it that in this execution, the only one not wanting to do the deed was not the victim, not the executioner, but the weapon itself.
It seemed like this was the way of the world. As an outsider and a mere tool, he had little say in this. The only thing he could do was to fulfill his purpose.
Enki would never hold back his arm ever again.
Some notes to cap this off;
I know this chapter is short; I don't really have time to write more sadly. I'm happy I could write this much down.
No, the chains weren't Enkidu. They were part of Enki's body so they were still much stronger than mundane chains, but not nearly as strong as the famous Chains of Heaven. Enki is an embodiment of another concept that not even he's aware of yet.
As for the gates, they aren't unique to Gilgamesh. Divine Gates were apparently used by all manner of divinity in Mesopotamia.
Until next time!
