by Kyrja
“Tako?” he asked out loud to nobody in particular.
“He’s the only one missing that would... ” Shio started.
“That would look like this,” Savaar finished for her. Tako had always been more comfortable in the water than out of it, and had been more octopus than human. He had only come because Amphedia had compelled him to. And now he was dead, with very little left to show he had ever lived at all.
Savaar looked around, trying to understand what had happened, and why. It was hard, though, to push aside the swirling emotions assaulting him. And then it hit him – the ones who were missing were the youngest among them, while the ones who were dead were not only the oldest, but who also had the most difficulty changing into human form. So what, exactly, did that say about those of them who were left here? There was no doubt in his mind the magical “sound wave” was responsible for what had happened to them. There could simply be no other explanation.
“Is everyone else all right?” Savaar asked, almost afraid to pose the question. He had to know what they were dealing with. He wasn’t at all certain knowing what had happened would help with knowing what to expect, but he had to start somewhere.
Kani raised his hand. His left hand. That was completely whole. He was shaking, near to tears, but there he was, holding up his hand which, in the sea, was a crab claw. A broken claw from having been tossed against a very sharp reef during a particularly strong storm several years ago. When he was in human form, he only had two fingers and a thumb. And yet – he now had all of his fingers.
“Me too,” Umi said, pulling up her shirt to show that her human form bore no scars. Made almost entirely of water while in the sea, she had a hole that went completely through her body near her solar plexus created when Amphedia used two Tears to kill her several years earlier. She had never completely recovered, but now there were no scars to show she had ever suffered that fatal blow at their mother’s hands.
“I have never felt so clear headed,” Ashika put in, smiling for the first time in the hundreds of years Savaar had known him. He was usually depressed and confused, and his feelings were easily hurt. He hated being alive, and had always wished Amphedia would just leave him dead. Which, of course, had only made her keep him alive as much and as long as possible.
“It may not seem like much of anything compared to the others,” Shio added, “but I feel stronger than I ever have. Ready to face whatever comes.” He noted the nods from the others, without exception. And while he wasn’t certain whether their enthusiasm was infectious, or whether he, too, truly felt stronger, Savaar was pleased with what he was seeing in those who remained. Perhaps the others who left weren’t yet ready? Or, maybe they’d had to return to the sea because of the changes in their bodies. He looked forward to solving the mystery, but right now, they had an important task to undertake.
Wait – what about Jarles? As his eyes fell upon his human form, it seemed to Savaar that his friend was lying entirely too still. No! As he began to run towards Jarles, he heard Ceirat scream. He was aware that she and Honsa were Mezhdu, and that she had a male body, but it seemed to him that her voice sounded more feminine than usual. Signaling to Shio to check on Ceirat, he ran to Jarles, falling to his knees beside him.
Chapter Nine – Sakari’s War
Reluctant to use her fingers, as doing so would make her hair stick together because of all of the blood on her hands, Sakari wiped the back of her left hand across her forehead to get the hair out of her eyes, then nodded to the three Fire Tenders with her; she hadn’t even had enough time to find out their names, but hoped to do so soon. The lone Kasais they had ambushed was dead. Feeling the blood she just smeared across her forehead mingle with the sweat, she wondered if she would even remember their names later.
Although, it did seem to her that the noise of all the chaos she’d started was beginning to quiet down. There was less shouting, and fewer screams, too. She hoped she would know whether they had won or lost before long, she was exhausted and really needed to just rest for a while – if there was such a thing as “winning” in this situation. The adrenaline rush and fear had long faded, replaced by determination to eliminate as many Kasais as possible. If she could have kept the people of this place safe without killing the guards, she would have chosen that path, but she knew just how ruthless rulers were who wanted to remain in power for their own glory. And she knew that soldiers in service to such monsters never had any incentive to be merciful, lest their own loved ones suffer for any kindness they might demonstrate. She had lived that reality all of her life, as had all the people who lived here. They wouldn’t even know where to begin to understand how to live their lives without fear once the fighting was over, but at least they were going the chance to find out, if she had anything to do with it.
Not for the first time, she wished she could talk to Sahil. As much as she dreaded what he would say to her, she also longed to hear what he had to say just the same. He wouldn’t approve – she had known that before she had provoked Vray into trying to kill her – but she hoped he had taken advantage of what she had started in order to make sure those who were in power here were taken down.
In Sakari’s mind, the fact that Giya hadn’t stopped the fighting by using whatever powers she possessed, meant the goddess wouldn’t have been able to take control of Nohoyo without bloodshed anyway. She had to admit she was a little surprised Giya hadn’t sent her guards, or whatever they were called – those people with the amazing eyes and ability to shift their shapes – after her to stop her from killing the Kasais. She shrugged to herself, breathing deeply, preparing herself for another attack, trying to get an idea of where she should go next. For all she knew, the Earth Goddess would kill her for what she had done. At this moment in time, she wasn’t at all sure just how much longer she would be able to last anyway. She’d never seen so damned many guards everywhere. There was no way she was going to be able to stop them all, not even with the help of some of the Fire Tenders. She sure wished Aidena was by her side though. It would be nice to be able to just push them to the ground and keep them there, using her powers, instead of having to take so much energy to kill them.
Drawing another Uchawi symbol on the piece of board she’d been using to skewer the guards, she looked up at the faces of the Fire Tenders with her. They were all achingly young; none of them could be more than twenty, she was sure. Once this was all done, she hoped she wouldn’t have to fight any of her own people to keep from killing them. They were amazingly efficient and so very glad to finally be putting their “gift” to use in taking the lives of those who had forced them to murder so many of their own people. She noticed, as she looked up, that the sun had already risen and wondered how long it had been daylight without her having noticed.
“Ready?” she asked, not waiting for their nods. “Let’s see if we can flush some more of them out of that building over there,” she said pointing, then took off running.
* * * * * * * *
Looking at the people sitting on the ground, and wishing he could look at anything else, except them, Eruitt had never felt so disgusted in his whole life as he did right now. He understood perfectly well that these seven people, these seven leaders of the ruling council, were the result of hundreds of years of cultural evolution- how could he not when he, himself, was exactly the same thing? Had Amphedia not done something very similar to what Sov had done here, when she’d made her “pact” with Giya hundreds (or thousands?) of years ago? Hadn’t she created her own race of people, so that she would receive the worship of hundreds, if not thousands, of souls who would otherwise have given praise and glory to Sov and Lumas instead? He, himself, had traveled into the city by the sea, because he had felt driven to do so, even though the “Savior” had already been born. He’d had absolutely no reason to have left the desert in search of... he still wasn’t sure what he had been looking for when he’d done it. He had known he should have stayed in the desert, and yet, he had put one foot in front of the other
until he had arrived – completely lost and bewildered – at the city by the sea. Nobody had had any idea what he should do, nor even whether he should have stayed or should have returned to his home in the desert. So yes, Eruitt understood cultural conditioning, and the need to simply keep doing what had always been done.
He, unlike these men and women, however, had never ordered people to their deaths as a way of serving his gods. There was a part of him that was trying really hard to have compassion, to understand that they simply had never known any other way of living, but it was just too much to ask. How could you not know that killing other people was wrong? And how, he wondered, truly trying to envision it, could you live any kind of life, knowing that any minute of any day, you might be dragged off to be killed for no reason, other than the fact that you were alive? And then there were the Kasis. He shook his head just thinking of them. They had completely free reign to terrorize anyone for any reason – or no reason at all. This was not how anyone should ever live!
He looked around the space where he was holding them – again – wishing Giya would come back and take charge of them. He only felt slightly less at-ease now that it was daylight. At least he would be able to see if any of them moved or tried to talk to each other. He’d already proven himself capable of keeping them detained by stomping on the ground when two of them had tried to flee. Of course, that meant that everyone else, including the two of the leaders, had fallen on their faces, as a result of the small tremor he’d created, but he honestly hadn’t cared one bit. He was just glad it was so easy to keep them subdued. Of course, there were plenty of Fire Tenders helping him, and it was painfully obvious just how terrified these so-called “leaders” were of them! It was ironic that the very people they had created to feed lives – or “life forces” as they seemed to prefer to call them –into those awful shields were now standing guard over them. The Fire Tenders had been treated as slaves, really, all their lives, once their power was manifested. But now, they were the ones in the position of power. Eruitt wondered what kind of disaster was going to come of giving people who had been oppressed all their lives a small taste of power. Especially people who had the ability to kill someone just by touching them. He couldn’t begin to imagine how any of this was going to turn out, but he sure wished Giya would come back and take charge of these people.
She had specifically sought him out, with the leaders following behind her like some kind of child’s game, with Fire Tenders on both sides of the leaders, corralling them into a single file. She had told him she had other matters to attend to, and that he was to watch them. She didn’t want them inside of any of the buildings, although she hadn’t explained why not. Nor were they to be offered any food or drink. They were to sit, not stand, and to stay exactly where they were until she returned. There hadn’t been any chance to ask her any questions, nor even to agree to do as she had asked, before she had turned on her heel and walked away. No, he didn’t like being in this position one little bit.
And Hadia – where was she now? He looked to the skies, wondering what she had thought she was going to do. For just a moment, when she had turned into a hawk and had flown away, he’d thought she was leaving, that she was just going to flee. But it hadn’t taken him long to understand she had something else in mind, entirely. He had no idea what that might be, but he was pretty sure whatever it was, it was something Giya would approve of. But he was really getting tired of people leaving him behind with so many unanswered questions. Hadia had hinted he would grow tired of the burden of knowing too much, but at the moment, he was just about fed up with not knowing enough.
* * * * * * * *
All those visions, for all those years! Serat Caeli groaned to himself, remembering the years upon years he had suffered, certain he was insane. And now, here he was, caught right in the middle of them! The Universe, was not, he considered, necessarily such a delightful place to be when you were the one it caught up in its tangled web. He understood exactly what was happening to him, and why he was feeling the pain behind his eyes. Siri had found a way to take his blindness from him, all those years ago, and the visions had ceased to plague him. They had not, after all, gone “away” as they had both surmised. Instead, Siri had found her way to them. Perhaps the unwitting catalyst had been Oculis all along, he considered. Perhaps the owl had been a pawn, much as he and his sister had been, or perhaps some deity, or other such force, had specifically created Oculis in order to bring about this very result. Or, perhaps, the Universe was playing a particularly cruel joke on them. No matter, he decided, he was here now, and the visions were revealing themselves all over again, only this time he could see what was happening with his own two eyes. He thought he might laugh if he wasn’t so terrified.
While he couldn’t possibly remember every single detail of every single vision he’d had all those – hundreds – of years ago, he remembered Oculis in the visions, as well as the crystal. He remembered pondering over and over again – in those moments when he felt sane enough to do so – how it was that the crystal he’d seen in his visions had represented both life and death. How could he have possibly understood the mighty sun god he’d caught glimpses of had been a Firebird? If only he had understood what any of it had meant, he would have been able to... he shook his head, reconsidering. Well, he would have liked to have thought he might have changed any of it, but he wasn’t so sure he could have. But oh – how he wanted to!
And Lumas, the Goddess of Beauty! She had been woven throughout history as both benefactor and villain. She had set herself on fire, he knew, so that Sov’s sister would challenge the sun god to mortal combat. All in order to save a single planet filled with humans. Serat wasn’t sure he would ever be able to understand that kind of thinking. Humans were everywhere, and while they were quite useful in their own way, he had grave doubts they were so very worthy of saving, let alone sacrificing his own life for. But Siri had looked at him as she once had, her eyes filled with love, and he was helpless to do other than that which would make her smile again.
She had a daughter! And a granddaughter! If he happened to live through this ordeal, he hoped she would tell him all about them. He would do what he could to save them for her, so that he might even get the chance to meet them. He would do what he could, because he loved her. He had lived of hundreds of years without the curse and pain the visions brought him because she had sacrificed her own vision to ease his suffering. He would do the same for her. Perhaps not as gladly as he would have liked to be able to say, but he would do it just the same.
There – the hawk who had called out for Siri’s help. It took him less than a heartbeat to reach out his hand to catch her.
* * * * * * * *
Screeching in protest, Hadia felt herself suddenly enveloped in some kind of solid substance, with her wings being involuntarily held against her sides. With her mind and heart racing, she knew it had to be either Sov or Amphedia who was trying to prevent her from getting to Denit. Squirming with all of her might, and pecking mindlessly with her beak at whatever was holding her, she suddenly felt Siri Ventus in her mind again – just like she used to when the Goddess of Air had used her in order to see the world around her. No wait... ! This wasn’t Siri, it was...
::Serat:: the voice told her quietly – so quietly she had to hold still in order to hear it whispered against her mind again. ::Serat Caeli:: she heard, and this time when her heart started beating faster, it was out of joy, instead of fear.
The brother of Siri Ventus! she practically screamed, already understanding how to speak with him, and breathing a sigh of relief. But then a hundred questions poured into her mind, one tumbling after the other, before she could even think to stop herself. But when she heard him softly chuckling, she realized what she had done. Silently chastising herself, she hadn’t realized how quickly she had become accustomed to having her thoughts to herself, and not having the goddess in her mind. Stilling her thoughts, she waited for him to tell her what was important. Surely he mus
t have already been to see his sister... .
::Yes, Hadia, I have been to see Siri. She is distraught, and has asked for my help in defeating Sov. But what are you about? Especially way out here, away from the planet and breathable air?::
Instead of thinking coherent sentences, though, she showed him what his sister had done to her when Siri had changed her into a hawk. She wasn’t altogether surprised to discover that Serat understood the Uchawi symbols and the words she showed him that Siri had used when enchanting her to be used as her eyes in the physical world. When he voiced his understanding, she then showed him what she had seen when Denit had changed into a gigantic bird-like creature, explaining that the crystal had not yet been shattered, but was, instead, still imbedded within Denit’s flesh.
::What then, are you trying to do, Hadia?:: he asked her, opening the palm of his hand in which he had captured her. Even though she had been enveloped in what had felt like a very solid “hand,” Hadia remained uncertain whether she would be able to use it as a perch once he released her, so she flapped her wings, surprised to find that the lack of wind beneath them was unsettling. Reaching out a single finger in what was obviously an invitation for her to use, Serat encouraged her to rest while she explained. Looking at his gigantic-sized body, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was what Siri looked like when she was no longer bound to a planet.
::I knew I had to hurry, so I made myself larger than life to cross the distance faster. I am not usually given to traveling in such a cumbersome manner though, no. Usually I simply think myself in a new place and I am already there.::
