Bloodied Past

Synurix spotted a crying woman among the laughing children of the Crèche near the northern part of the village. Slowly, she flew down and landed softly in front of her.

"Why do you cry, woman?" The Goddess hissed.

"Oh, don't be so mean!" Good protested

"Some of my poor children are lost! They need rescuing!" The woman cried, on her knees.

"Ha! Stupid kids. Let's kill 'em!" Evils snorted.

The woman continued "A stranger has been spotted around here, putting the children into trances! He has them imprisoned in a secret place. It's got to be him! But… If he should die before we find the children, they could be lost forever! Oh…my babies!"

"We must act. Tiny lives are at stake." Good said seriously.

"Tiny lives?" Evil scratched his head then belched "C'mon, who cares?" he then wiped his mouth across his arm "Anyways, let's move out! Y'know, I have always wanted to say that!"

Synurix sighed at the woman's pathetic groveling and was about to swipe at her when a familiar tune flooded into her ears. She stopped in mid-swing and turned to the trees behind the Crèche. She hovered forward and peered through. A man in a hood held a pipe and was dancing. Children started running towards him and danced too. Synruix made a grab for him but she simply went through him.

"Try and get me! I won't believe in you!" the stranger shouted and waved a fist.

Evil growled and clenched his fists "That's it! Kill 'im boss! Forget the kids!"

Angered by his insolence Synurix growled and tried again only missing a second time.

"Ha! You can't get me!" The stranger mocked again.

Synurix sighed and called Bairun. However, when he neared the clearing, the stranger ran back into the trees of the forest, which stretched over a mountain. Bairun couldn't get him while he was there.

"Mistress, how do I catch him?" Bairun asked bending down and peering through the trees trying to spot the tiny human.

Synurix smiled "Try stealth, Bairun, you can strike tonight."

Good sighed "Is it necessary to destroy life in such a way?"

Evil smirked "Yep."

Bairun grinned evilly. He turned and already saw the Sun slowly disappear behind the horizon.

"We can wait an hour before you can strike as he will most likely be in hiding for a long time." Synurix added "In the mean time I'd like a talk with you, Bairun." She murmured sorrowfully.

"Uh-oh." Evil murmured "We'd better go." He grabbed Good's arm and pulled him away.

Bairun frowned "Mistress, is there something wrong?"

Synurix forced a smile "No, nothing's wrong. Come," she gestured toawards the temple "We'll talk in privacy."

In the Creature cave, Bairun had altered it quite a lot. The waterfall still remained only it didn't fall into a lake at the bottom. The ground had been raised so it created a large pool surrounded by large trees and mushrooms grew here and there. However, that was the only place where greenery was sustained. The rest of Bairun's domain was bare, orange walls, no other foliage. This is where he trained for battle. Hoof marks littered the parched walls and dry, dusty ground. Cracks had appeared in the base of some of the walls, only small ones due to Bairun's small size. Then, on the plateau where he slept it was grass. Tall, dark green grass. Soft to the touch and most likely comfortable to sleep on. A single great torch burned brightly on the wall above the plateau.

Bairun lumbered in first heading towards the grassy plateau. Synurix then followed. She gazed around, liking what Bairun had changed it to.

"You've certainly changed things." She said hovering over to sit on the warm grass.

Bairun nodded "It's only temporary until I get more ideas." He fell back comfortably on the grass "What is it you wish to discuss with me, mistress?"

Synurix sighed "It's about… My past. I need someone other than myself to understand. Do you wish me to begin?"

"If you want, mistress."

Synurix looked down for a second before beginning "I killed my family. My father, my mother and sister."

Bairun's eyes widened but he said nothing.

"I do not like revealing my past in Singularity... but I was corrupt before I was even a disturbance in the cosmos. My father, you may have known him, God of... I can't quite remember... Oh well, he was God of something, and he and mother abandoned me upon a world barren of any life." Synurix spoke in a casual tone "Nothing but blood red, cracked ground for miles, Oblivion. I was saved however... by... I... don't wish to say..." She looked up at Bairun and sighed, forcing herself to continue "I was saved by Unykre God of Night... That is where my fascination with the Zodiac arose and, he told me of where my father and mother were. He did not intend for me to leave and search for them... but if did. I thought it unfair for me to remain in his care after I was able to look after myself... I felt enraged with my parents... I screamed at them. And I screamed... Crying as I did. I then lunged at my mother and tore her apart..." She shifted from sitting on her knees and pulled them to her side for comfort "I turned to my father, the true focus of my anger, beating me when I was small, shouting at me... I tied him to a rock in Oblivion... and waited a hundred years before returning to him. His body then crippled. I could snap him like a twig and I did so. The rush of murder was such an enjoyable thing..." She paused and looked through the opening in the top of the cave "I killed my sister, slicing strips of skin from her until she was mostly red, still alive. I then threw her into the vast seas of a world called Rulow where the sodium fused with her and melting her flesh... It gave her a slow death." She looked back down and fiddled with her hands like a child in trouble "Watching her slowly fade to blue to the ocean depths, screaming madly, I left to live in solitude in Singularity. Five hundred years after I was called down by prayer…" she sighed "And that is my past... Laid bare for you to see"

Bairun remained quite and still, rolling over what was told. Riddling out his questions.

Synurix smiled "A picture worthy of putting in a gallery I should think…"

"What did your sister do?" Bairun asked, trying to sound as respectful as possible.

Synurix's smile faded and she looked down again "That I do not know. She has done something though. I believe she is responsible for my brother's disappearance…"

Bairun's ears twitched curiously "And your brother was different?"

"He was the only one who cared... I remember in a blur. Him shouting at her 'You have to stop this. It is not right.' I wish to find him... However, I do not even recall his name..."

"I am sorry for you, mistress."

"Please don't be. I am grateful for your sympathy and unlike most evil deities, I do not see it as an insult... Thank you for listening and hearing me out."

Bairun smiled "As long as it made you feel better."

"It did, thank you." Synurix looked out of the cave roof again "It is time for you to strike, Bairun." She smiled evilly.

People slept in their homes, however, the stranger was up and about, luring children from their beds. Bairun approached cautiously, hidden among trees, crouched low, and silent. Synurix watched from afar with increasing excitement. She had order Bairun to kill the man in any way he saw fit.

The night air, warm on his skin like the soft heat from a flame, he drew closer. A small gust of wind blew past, whistling a mournful tune accompanied by leaves, caught in its wake, mercilessly thrown about in its grief. The crickets chirped quietly, falling silent as Bairun neared. He slowly stepped closer, his tail swishing side-to-side, the stranger unaware of his presence, continued dancing merrily. Bairun readied his back legs to thrust him forwards, he readied his hooves, now sharp and deadly, to grab the human. He prepared to pounce.

In a silent and graceful arc, he lunged forward and onto the stranger. Before he could even scream, Bairun already pulled him apart, one hoof pinning him to the ground, his still-blunt teeth grabbing onto one side and ripping him in half. Bloodied shreds fell onto children's faces as they continued dancing, mindlessly. Bairun stood although he felt more comfortable crouching or on all fours and threw the remains behind him like a discarded piece of paper.

The children screamed at their bloodied faces as they awoke from their trance and fled to their homes in trauma.

"Oh! The children! They will be scarred for life!" Good cried wide-eyed.

Evil slapped his knee and in hysterics "That was great! Bairun sure knows how to have a good time."

Synurix smiled and floated down to the ground. She stroked Bairun "You really are learning quickly."

Bairun mooed happily.