When they reached their destination Lili stopped just inside the treeline.
"I can't go any farther. I'm a bit...conspicuous, wouldn't you say?" She huffed a very wolfy chuckle, but her eyes were serious as she looked out at the wreckage. "If you go around that outbuilding you'll see the worst of the wreckage. It was there that I felt the remaining darkness most strongly. I figure you should trust your own opinions, though, as I was having enough difficulty maintaining mist form to do a whole lot of searching." He brushed an insubstantial hand over her head in agreement and slowly drifted across the grounds until he reached his destination. Before he even reached the demolished remains of the science wing he could feel the pulse of another Hellbound. It wasn't overly strong, he realized, meaning that it wasn't the Hellbound personally that had caused the destruction but rather a minion, and he wondered who in such a small, close-knit community as Forks would be crazy or desperate enough to take up with what was obviously a very high-level demon lord. The effects of such a binding were very apparent, especially in a place where people likely knew you and your mannerisms better than you knew yourself. He gave only a cursory glance to the actual damage, since that wasn't what he had come to find out. Reaching the center of the blast area he paused and opened up all of his senses.
The sizzle hit him, the painful tingle rushing completely through him regardless of his current incorporeal state. It was like getting hit by a large dose of electricity. Had he been solid he would have fallen to his knees with the brief burst of agony. Gathering his wits he pulled himself together and headed as fast as he could drift back to the forest where the white wolf was waiting for him. Her eyes were full of concern – she could tell he was hurt and that was such a rare occurrence that it bothered her. Once in the safety of the concealing trees he phased back to solid form with a gasp and fell to the ground, muscles twitching with aftershocks.
"Luc!" Lili cried out, changing herself into human form as well and dropping down beside him, pulling him into her arms as he shook. "What happened?"
"It's worse...than I thought..." he gasped out, resting in her lap as the tremors began to cease. He took a few deep, slow breaths. There was very little that could cause a Hellbound actual pain. Lili knew it as well as he, and was understandably worried. When he finally regained his senses he sat up, Lili's hand remaining on his arm. He turned to face her and he could see the fear in her eyes.
"Lili...it's my Master. Marchosias has begun to play his hand in the physical realm. I can't go back over there – that small burst of his power was enough to cause pain. Any more exposure would seriously incapacitate me."
"Why didn't it hit me like that as well? I'm hardly on the side of the demon lord." He shook his head slowly.
"You're not his follower and you never were. Not to mention, he is your sire. That may offer you protection from the remnants of his powers that linger there. I, on the other hand, not only served him for aeons but have betrayed him. It makes me extremely susceptible to his rage, whether directed at me or not. I'm just thankful that he didn't act in physical form himself. Remnants of his power over his minion was enough to hurt me. Had he been here himself it would have begun to unmake me." She sobbed once and buried her head against his chest.
"What do we do, Luc?"
"First off," he began slowly, thinking out loud, "we need to find out who his lackey here in town is. Secondly, we need to find out the servant's purpose." He looked down at her, his hand idly toying with her hair. "That will have to fall mostly on you. If I come face-to-face with the follower, especially if he or she is as drawn into Marchiosias' power as I fear, I will likely be put out of commission by the backlash of power."
"Is there anything we can do to lessen the effects it has on you?" He shook his head, hating her look of disappointment.
"Unfortunately, I'd have to have a physical link of my own to the mortal realm. It is unlikely I will take a mate amongst these humans, and even if I did it would be nearly impossible for me to forge a blood bond with her. You know how rarely a true Hellbound of rank can father a child with a human. We're just not compatible enough, even if we manage to not kill them during the mating process." Lili glanced off in the woods, a thoughtful look crossing her features before she shook her head and leaned back against him.
"Okay. I'll search and see what I can find out. But, Luc, I was banished before I learned anything about detecting demonic soul bonds. What am I looking for?"
"Extreme personality changes would likely be the easiest thing to spot. In a town this size, if someone changes their mind and has something different for lunch, everyone knows about it by dinnertime. So if someone has undergone a complete personality shift, everyone will know about it. Just keep your ears open at school. People will talk." She nodded her understanding.
"Should we go home then? You need rest." She stood and helped him to his feet. "Do you have strength to phase right now?"
"No. I'll have to walk. That pretty much wiped me out."
"Hold on a sec." Without warning she blurred forms and stretched her wings a bit before settling them snug to her sides.
"Climb on. I can carry you." A bit of awkward maneuvering later and he was slumped astride Lili's back as they made their way back to their current home.
After the entertaining debacle that was a kitchen full of playful teens and mischievous vampires making ice cream sundaes the gathering had reconvened in the large room. By this time the fire had burned to embers, though the warmth remained, and the almost total absence of crackling felt somehow right for the next part of her tale. Caralla chuckled inwardly at the expressions her fellow vampires were trying to hide as they watched her dig into her cold treat. She sighed. ~Young ones are always so amusing,~ she thought fondly. Then again, to her, everyone was a young one. Still, the ice cream was cool and smooth in her mouth, the atmosphere was friendly, and she felt at ease amongst this group, so she let herself have a few moments of simply enjoying the evening. After a while the constant chatter began to fade. One by one they stopped talking. One by one their eyes turned to her. With a final lick of her spoon, she placed the now empty bowl on the end table nearby and settled back in her chair, stretching out her legs and pushing her hair behind her.
"So we've discussed how the former Div and Rov found themselves in quite different situations than they had expected. Rov learned that humans could be far more loving, nurturing, caring, and kind than the Celestial had ever noticed them being. Div, however, was exposed to the vile and vicious natures of the very creatures the Firstborn had spent so many years championing."
"That had to be a hell of a shock," Emmett said with a grin. Caralla just nodded, her expression solemn.
"Indeed it was. So much so, in fact, that of all those who descended to teach mankind, the two lead ambassadors alone began to lose sight of their purpose for having come to the mortal realm to begin with.
"Co'hoi, over time, grew to strength and power. His longevity helped much in that respect. By the time a hundred of our years or so had passed, he had grown to be a man in the prime of his life. He had learned much; patience, creativity, leadership. Ruthlessness. His early years in slavery had taught him many harsh lessons, and like so many in such dire circumstances it made it difficult for him to understand things such as compassion. He'd fought his way to the top of the river clan that had conquered his own so many years previously by simple expedient of killing the clan leader. No one wanted to challenge the strange man that didn't age. As such, once he'd assured his freedom through that one violent act, the clan deferred to him without fail. Co'hoi had gotten a taste of fighting, though, and conquest, and began to make plans to expand his clan's holdings and properties – whether through bargaining or war, it didn't matter to him."
"But wait, wasn't he supposed to be helping humans?" Jess asked curiously. Caralla nodded.
"Yes, he was. That was his original purpose. But living in the mortal realm and dealing with the hardships he had faced had eroded his recollections of his actual reason for being there. Over the course of a century or more, he'd forgotten that he had once been something more than human."
"That's horrible!" the girl breathed. "So he became, what, a warlord?"
"Of sorts. He was never violent for the sake of being so, but he had no problems dealing harshly with anyone he deemed deserving of such treatment. After a while he set his sights on a very fertile, well-sheltered territory at the base of a mountain not far away. It was rich and plentiful and his clan would do well there, so it was with an eager eye to the upcoming takeover that he turned his mind towards procuring the land. And if the people fought back, well, he knew how to deal with that.
"Shahri, on the other hand, had outlived her adoptive sister and her sister's line down through seven generations. She was young-looking and lovely, and her gift of foresight made her a beloved treasure in her tribe's eyes. They had enjoyed an interminably long period of peace and prosperity thanks to her, though she refused to become the tribal leader. She was content to be a helpful and knowledgeable assistant, and led a very fulfilling life, and that very contentment caused her true purpose for having come down to slip from her slowly, leaving behind a girl who was both wise and happy. Happy, that is, until she foresaw the destruction of her tribe by a river clan with a powerful leader."
"Oh my god – that was the land Co'hoi wanted?" Angela gasped. Caralla shrugged.
"Of course. Thanks to the many years of Shahri's coaxing and planning, the small tribe by the foot of the mountains had grown and flourished. Farmland was plentiful, hunting was varied. She'd helped her people make it into quite a peaceful settlement.
"When Shahri first had her vision of death and destruction she wanted to write it off as a bad dream, but it had been so vivid she felt it necessary to gather the leaders of the community and pass on the warning. But though they prepared to their best ability, still her dreams never changed. They were farmers, herders, simple people. They had no chance against a force trained for war. Realizing the future could not significantly be changed, Shahri determined that she would die fighting beside her people.
"The fight was almost laughably quick. Co'hoi's fighters walked over the settlement with ease, not having to work at all to subdue the throngs of people who had never lifted a weapon against another human in their lives. Those that tried to fight back were immediately put to death. The river clan declared themselves the victors. Any people willing to pledge allegiance to them were spared. Most of the men became laborers. The women were either used for work or pleasure. All but one.
"Co'hoi claimed Shahri as his own by right of conquest and enslaved her as his own concubine."
"Wait, let me get this straight," broke in Jake. "So these two almighty immortal people came to earth, picked opposing genders, went through hell and high water, and then the guy made the girl his slave? That is messed up."
"It would have been had either of them remembered who they were. But by this time Div and Rov had been lost to the human world, and as such it wasn't one immortal bending another to his whim but rather the natural progression of the spoils of war.
"Things get fuzzy for a while. Keep in mind, this was before any written history science is aware of today. Co'hoi and Shahri, long-lived as they were, were locked in the roles of master and slave for many generations. Co'hoi was not a kind master. His temper had become quicker, his anger slower to fade and more destructive when it hit. At some point Shahri displeased him, and he killed her with his own hands. However, there was one thing he didn't know. Shahri was carrying his child. He murdered his offspring as well without knowing it." Caralla paused to let this sink in, the looks of her audience ranging from shock to slight confusion.
"You can imagine the turmoil this had all caused the watchers. Not only were their two chosen ambassadors now unaware of their divine roles, but now the peaceful, kind, and benevolent Div had brutally taken the life of the quiet, sly Rov. All sounds in the eternal realm stopped as they watched the situation play itself out, and then as one they turned to the Creator. Their outcries against the injustice echoed like thunder. The Creator listened to their complaints, their cries for intervention. Cries that increased as they realized that Rov, though the Celestial had led a gentle and blameless life – as humans were supposed to in order for their souls to be permitted to ascend to the immortal realm – was not granted that same kindness. Rov's soul had not been cut adrift – as near as the watchers could tell from their observations, it simply did not exist. And more disturbing yet? His child had not had a soul either.
"They asked for answers, but the Creator gave none. They pleaded for explanations, but still their Maker stayed mute. Eventually, though, their begging and outcries had an effect, but not the one that they were expecting. Instead of explaining why Rov had no soul to rejoin them with, or why the innocent life that had been snuffed out before its birth was not given a soul at all, they watched in horror as the Creator reached down to the man who had once been Div and touched his mind, implanting full knowledge of who he was and what his purpose had been...and what he had just done. Horrified, the immortals could only watch the fallout.
"Co'hoi was awakened to his full history and the atrocities he had committed. More than that, though, it was given to him to know that the woman he had mistreated and so brutally disposed of was none other than his former Celestial partner. And that his heir had died with her, killed by its own father before it had a chance to make itself known. The knowledge drove him mad, completely insane, and he walked from his village, never to return. History does not say what happened to him. He doesn't rejoin the story until much later. But the immortal ones were shaken to the very core of their existence. Their trust in their Maker was irreparably damaged. More than that, their faith in the natural order of how things should be was shaken to its very foundations. The unchanging, never-mortal beings were learning fear. And they didn't like it at all."
Author's note: And thus ends Convergence. Hope you're all enjoying the roller coaster so far...the big loops are coming up, so please leave all appendages inside the car. :) Now, if you want to skip the long note here, feel free. It won't bother me in the least.
I've been asked quite a lot where I get my inspiration and ideas from. Honestly, much of it is compiled from years of reading things pertaining to humanity's beliefs. I wouldn't call myself a theologian, but belief systems and religious concepts fascinate me. I was raised Mormon, but stepped away after my 18th birthday when I had questions no one could answer. I've dabbled in most of the Christian religions that exist, at least the mainstream ones. I've studied eastern religions, ancient religions, cults, whatever I could get my hands on. People, the way the see the world around them, the explanations they construct to explain that which is unexplainable...I find it so fascinating that humans feel the need to place everything in their lives into one box or another...sometimes ignoring whether it fits or not.
What you are reading now is an amalgamation of knowledge I've amassed from a dozen or more separate belief systems, mixed with a healthy dose of fiction and my own love of the dramatic. I can't claim any of this to be accurate, but honestly it makes a lot more sense to me than some things I've heard, LOL. No matter where I go for knowledge, or who I ask, each answer brings more questions. Since no one knows everything, I'll keep searching. I love learning. And since no one knows for sure what fact is - or indeed if such a thing even exists - I'll happily construct my own basis for human life and reality. And if I can work it into a story that people enjoy...well, so much the better.
I've had a ton of people tell me I should write a novel from my concepts of the history of life, the universe, and everything. It's a tempting idea. I have fun playing with other peoples' characters, but sometimes I like writing my own stuff as well. What you're all seeing in this series...well, it doesn't even scratch the tip of the iceberg. I have hundreds of pages written about the beginning of it all. Div and Rov's stories are full stories in themselves. It's enormous, and to tell the truth, rather intimidating, when I look back over all that I've compiled over the years. So maybe someday it'll find its way to publication. But for right now, I'm content to revise, to play, and to pull what I want and place it where I wish within the confines of my other stories. Such as this one. *grins*
If you've read to the end of this - wow. You're awesome. :-D