Cole's Haunting Melody (The Gods' Executioner Series)

by A. L. Bridges

  “I’ll do it!” the female voice that I heard before I lost consciousness exclaims.

  “No offense intended, dearest sister, but I think it would be better if I went.” Nagi?

  “Oh? And why is that? Looking solely at our track records, I am clearly better suited to the task.” The other female voice says smugly.

  “Because Chezarei knows me and there is a degree of trust so she will be willing to come with me.” Nagi explains.

  “Nagi has a point, Kanta. Go and fetch Chezarei for me, will you?” the male voice requests.

  “Yes, Lord Murugan.” Nagi replies with an air of satisfaction in her voice. I try to sit up to stop her, but I find that I am unable.

  (You are not actually awake, Master. I am merely showing you the happenings around you to keep any dreams of Adelaide at bay; we don’t need you accidentally channeling the Void in your current state)

  I guess stopping her isn’t necessary anyway… I doubt Cheza will even come…

  “Is all of this really necessary?” the woman that my brother called Kanta asks.

  “Considering that he just wiped an entire pantheon out of existence and that Chezarei is the only one who can stop him using peaceful means? Yes, I do see it as necessary.” Murugan replies.

  What does he mean, I ‘wiped an entire pantheon out of existence’? Were Perun and Veles the only gods in the entire Slavic pantheon? That can’t be right…

  “Yes, I suppose that is true.” Kanta says. I hear doors being thrown open and the clicks of heels against tile flooring.

  “How is he?” Mom?

  “He’ll be fine, mother; I had Nagi go retrieve Chezarei as a precaution.” Murugan says.

  “Good; I suspected something like this might happen, but I always planned on Chezarei being there to stop him before things got this bad.” Parvati says while the clicks approach me.

  “You are definitely our son.” Parvati whispers while brushing my hair out of my face. I feel her lips lightly touch my forehead before I hear clicks on the tile leading away from me.

  “Look after your brother.” Parvati says.

  “Aren’t you going to stay until he wakes up?” Kanta asks.

  “No… he probably doesn’t want to see me…” Parvati solemnly replies, heels clicking against the tile as she walks away and making me feel like utter shit.

  I’m left with that shitty feeling and thoughts that Cheza wants nothing to do with me for another fifteen minutes, at which time I hear the doors being thrown open again.

  “COLE!” Cheza screams as she rushes into the room.

  “What did you do to him!?” Cheza demands, her voice directed away from me.

  “Nagi, didn’t you explain the situation?” Murugan asks.

  “I did not, Lord Murugan. I simply told her that Cole was injured and that she needed to come with me.” Nagi replies.

  “Could you please tell her the situation?” Murugan asks.

  “Chezarei, it seems that Cole killed Veles and Perun, the heads of the Slavic pantheon, resulting in the destruction of the entire pantheon. Lord Murugan, Cole’s brother, sent his nagas priestess, Kanta, to retrieve Cole immediately after. Once she located him at the cabin in Russia, she proceeded to rape him until he vomited blood.” Nagi casually says.

  “I DID NO SUCH THING! He was already like that when I found him!” Kanta proclaims.

  “Riiiiiiiiight. Anyway, she found him like that and brought him back here.” Nagi finishes; her tone makes me think that she might’ve used air quotes while saying that.

  “Why was he fighting the Slavic gods?” Cheza asks.

  “We’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.” Murugan replies.

  “How long has he been unconscious?” Cheza inquires.

  “About an hour.” Kanta replies.

  I hear someone walk over to the bed and sit down on it; the scent of frozen oranges hits my nostrils and I know that it’s Cheza. After a few seconds, she climbs further into the bed and lays into my right side.

  “Can you guys leave and turn off the lights? I’m tired and Cole won’t be waking up anytime soon.” Cheza requests.

  “Uh, sure. Tell my little bro that Ganesha and I have a present for him when he wakes up. Come girls.” Murugan says.

  “Yes, Lord Murugan.” Nagi and Kanta reply, almost in unison.

  I hear them walk towards the door and exit the room as my brother snaps his fingers, presumably to turn off the lights.

  (Cheza on line 1)

  “Ah, Airi. Did you get our little… situation, taken care of?”

  (Yes, Mr. Treyfair)

  “Really? Or do I need to come in there with a wire hanger during lunch?”

  (That will not be necessary)

  “Once I find a wire hanger that is; all I have are the plastic ones… is that why they made plastic hangars in the first place!? Did using wire hangers for that reason become such a problem that they had to come up with a new device for hanging shirts!?”

  (It was most likely for a more economically viable reason than thwarting at-home abortion services)

  “Yeah, probably. Anyway, please connect me to Cheza.”

  “Cole? Can you hear me?” Cheza thinks.

  “Yeah.” I reply simply, unsure of what to say.

  “Are you okay? I’ve never felt you like this before.” Cheza asks.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine; Airi just has me in a kind of stasis to prevent any dreams while I heal.” I tell her.

  “I’m sorry… if I had known something like this might happen, I never would have asked Airi to block the link.” Cheza quietly replies.

  “That’s alright… to be honest, I wasn’t sure that you would come. The reason I ended up fighting Perun and Veles is because Veles promised me something that I thought would help repair our relationship, but it turned out to be a false promise.” I respond, followed by several moments of silence.

  “I still want us to be together, Cole.” Cheza thinks.

  “Why? After everything that I’ve put you through… Don’t you get it? I’ve ruined your life!” I exclaim.

  “I don’t blame you for any of that, Cole. We can’t change what’s already been done, and I’m happy with my current life.” Cheza responds.

  “But—” I start to think.

  “With some help from Natasha, I realized that even if the gods manipulated me into loving you, the love feels real to me, I’m happy when I’m with you, and that’s all I really need.” Cheza tells me.

  “That’s funny; I came to a similar conclusion when I was convinced that Airi had mind-fucked me into falling in love with you in Hawaii.” I reply.

  “Heh, that’s interesting.” Cheza thinks while yawning.

  “Tired?” I ask.

  “Mm-hmm… it’s harder to sleep when you’re not next to me.” Cheza replies. I feel Cheza’s breathing get slower and steadier as she drifts off to sleep.

  I lie there for the next several hours in my stasis-like state, just listening to Cheza sleeping next to me; I can’t help but think that I don’t deserve her…

  (Repairs complete. In the future, I suggest saving short range porting for emergencies only and to not port again so soon after)

  “Thanks Airi. Can you wake me up now?”

  I feel myself slowly take control of my body, as though I were waking up normally, except that my cognitive functions don’t feel groggy. I lean over and plant a kiss on Cheza’s forehead; her eyes slowly flutter open a few seconds later.

  “Let’s go home.” I think to her.

  “Okay… wait, your brother said he had a present for you.” Cheza replies.

  “I was thinking about just ignoring that…” I tell her.

  “Cole, you shouldn’t alienate the only family you have that hasn’t screwed either of us over in any way.” Cheza lightly scolds.

  “I suppose you’re right.” I reply.

  I stand up and look around at the golden and glass décor of the room. I locate my suit, Obliterator, and boots n
ear the dresser, but I can’t seem to find my holster; I assume that Murugan took it so I wouldn’t leave without seeing him. Cheza puts on her black and white Converses and we walk out the door. Instead of seeing a gold and glass hallway, I see vibrant colored tropical foliage around me, and a tall waterfall to my right.

  “Brother, come; let’s take a walk.” A tall Indian man with wavy black hair and a red dot in the center of his forehead says after appearing next to me. Murugan is wearing white parachute-esque pants that remind me of Aladdin, several gold bracelets around his wrists and ankles, and nothing else.

  Cheza and I follow him towards the waterfall, where he sits down on a large silk pillow in front of a low table; I sit on the pillow across from him and Cheza sits down on the one to the right of me. Ganesha suddenly appears on the empty pillow to the left of me.

  “So brother, why don’t you tell us what caused you to destroy an entire pantheon.” Ganesha suggests.

  “Well, Veles promised me something important in exchange for helping him get his wife back from his brother, but this was actually a ploy to get me to kill Perun and he didn’t have the power to give me what he promised. I was already angry about a dream that I had involving Addie so when I found out that I’d been deceived, I kind of snapped. In reality, they just caught me at a bad time, but I didn’t destroy the entire pantheon; all I did was kill Veles and Perun.” I reply.

  “Yes, but you killed the two heads of the pantheon—the only two heads—and with no successor of power in place, the pantheon and all involved collapsed in on itself. The Nav district of the Underworld is gone, along with all of its inhabitants. Even the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria, named for Perun, have disappeared, causing rampant flooding and a nine hundred meter drop in elevation for a town and all its residents. Some of the humans are freaking out, but thanks to false evidence planted by certain agencies, scientists are accrediting it to a massive shift in tectonic plates; completely asinine, I know, but it has quelled the masses.” Ganesha informs me.

  “Wow… I really fucked up this time.” I quietly respond.

  “Yeah, you did. Anyway, that’s not the actual reason we called you here.” Murugan says.

  “It’s not?” I ask.

  “We actually called you here to give you our ‘welcome to the family’ present.” Ganesha says and claps his hands. Nothing happens so he claps his hands again.

  “I’m going first!” I hear Nagi whisper from the tropical foliage.

  “No, I am! If you go first, it will give away mine!” Kanta whispers back.

  “So what!?” Nagi replies.

  “*Sigh* they are such children sometimes.” Ganesha says.

  “I know, right? Girls! Both come out at the same time!” Murugan yells.

  I hear the foliage yelp in response and then two Nagis emerge. I didn’t realize that Kanta was Nagi’s twin; they are both 5’9” with practically identical facial features and the same brown eyes. The only difference I can see is that Kanta’s hair is shorter and she has an almost unnoticeable beauty mark beneath her left eye. Both of the sisters are carrying boxes as they walk over with slightly flushed cheeks. They each set their package down in front of me and stare at me intently; I freeze up, not wanting to offend either of them by choosing the other’s package first.

  Cheza looks at my indecision, sighs, and tells the girls to “Pick a number between one and ten.” I give Cheza a look of admiration and thanks.

  “Seven!” Kanta shouts as Nagi shouts “Five!”

  “I chose six…” Cheza says and then just looks at me. The girls start staring intently at me again when a solution comes to me.

  “Are either presents flammable?” I ask.

  “No.” my brothers each reply.

  I drip my blood from my left palm onto each box and transmute the blood into Acetylene with a snap of my fingers. The wrapping paper and cardboard burn away, leaving only their contents and ash behind.

  “This has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen you use your powers for.” Cheza thinks.

  “I don’t want to hear a word from the person who doesn’t know that you should always tell people to pick a number between one and a hundred… thanks for trying though.” I reply as I blow the ash away.

  Kanta’s package held a metal tube that is about ten inches long, assorted springs, and a dozen pistol magazines that appear to be made of the same metal as the tube and are wider than any pistol magazine I’ve ever seen. Nagi’s package held a holster made of an unfamiliar, strong-looking, black material with both of my Diamond swords sheathed on it. The holster has a pack with a gun holster and two magazine dispensers on each side. There is a pouch in the center of the pack that holds my silencer and the right gun holster holds my 10mm handgun, with the grip sticking out of the top. After looking closer, I see that there is actually only one magazine dispenser on the right side and that the other protrusion is the hilt of my Sic dagger.

  “Thanks for retrieving my other Diamond sword and thanks for the presents, but I’m a little confused.” I announce.

  “I told you that we should’ve just gone ahead and made a prototype of the gun.” Murugan says.

  “He would have needed to disassemble it to make his own anyway.” Ganesha replies.

  “Are these the parts to make a semi-automatic .460 caliber pistol?” I guess.

  “That they are. The barrel and springs are made of a special metal that father uses in the creation of weapons.” Murugan says

  “It’s essentially unbreakable.” Ganesha adds.

  “Thanks! It will be nice to actually use a gun again! We’re going to head back home so I can make it.” I say.

  “Alright, see you around, little bro!” Murugan replies as Cheza and I stand from the low table.

  “Oh, and here’s your phone back.” Ganesha says while handing me my smartphone that now has an interesting silver case on it.

  “Why did you have my phone?” I curiously ask.

  “I altered it while you were sleeping. Now you can make and receive calls from any plane, including the Underworld; it will also receive service anywhere on earth and will even get 4G. I also made a specialized case for it that is waterproof and shock resistant up to a force of two hundred pounds.” Ganesha says. So now I can carry my phone without having to worry about it breaking if I land on it… not that that has been an issue before, but it’s still useful.

  “Thanks, this will be really helpful!” I say and walk around the table.

  “Nagi, can you do me a favor and tell my mother that just because I may not forgive her for what she did to Cheza, it doesn’t mean that I hate her.” I whisper as I pass by her; Nagi gives me a curt nod in response.

  “It was nice meeting you, Kanta! See you around!” I say, grab Cheza’s hand, and snap my fingers.

  We appear at the gate of Mount Kailash before I touch my triskele, porting us to the front door of the house in Arizona.

  “We’re home!” I announce as we walk through the door.

  “COLE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Natasha shrieks.

  “Wow, news sure does travel quickly!” I nervously reply.

  “That’s what happens when you destroy an entire pantheon and cause a mountain range to disappear!” Natasha shouts.

  “Wait, why did you think I did it?” I ask.

  “The entire Agency thought you did it the second we heard that AN ENTIRE FUCKING MOUNTAIN RANGE DISAPPEARED!” Natasha screams.

  “What!? Why me!? There’s a homicidal god trying to destroy the world yet the second a single, tiny, insignificant mountain range disappears, I’m the one that gets accused!? That’s pretty fucked up…” I mope.

  “Because the lack of subtlety of the aforementioned goddamn mountain range disappearance has your name written all over it!” Natasha exclaims.

  “Anyway, Tia! Look at what my brothers gave me as a present!” I say.

  “COLE! You are not getting out of this that easily!” Natasha screams.

  “Yeah, but can’t it
wait? I mean, that mountain range isn’t getting more disappeared and the Slavic pantheon isn’t getting any deader.” I point out.

  “AUGH!” Natasha replies in a resoundingly high pitched scream as she storms into the kitchen.

  “Alcohol is in the top cabinet to the left of the fridge!” Tia shouts after Natasha as I show her the gun barrel.

  “They said it was made of the same metal that Shiva uses to make weapons and that it’s practically indestructible.” I inform her.

  “Alright, I’ll get started on a blueprint. Just the hand guard and disarm bar this time?” Tia asks.

  “Actually, just the disarm bar.” I say while waving the fingers of my left hand at her.

  “Haha right! I’ll get started on it now; give me about an hour.” Tia says.

  “Okay, I’ll go fill up the cooler.” I reply and stop by the kitchen to fill up some water bottles before retreating to my room. Once there, I drag the cooler out of my closet and over to my bed, which is when I realize that I have no clue how much blood the gun is going to take.

  (Since the barrel is ten inches long, the overall length with be around fourteen inches and use approximately six liters)

  Damn, that’s a big gun; it’s going to be nearly twice the size of my 10mm auto. I strip out of my suit, lie down on my bed, rest my left arm on the rim of the cooler, and proceed to drain my blood into it.

  “Hey Airi? Can you tell me a story so that my mind won’t wander to an unpleasant topic?”

  (Yes, Master. There once was an immortal boy, and an immortal girl. In the beginning, they held nothing but love for one another. However, as the eons passed by and as they watched countless creatures rise up and destroy themselves, the girl wished to watch a single creature for longer than any of the creatures she had seen before. To keep them from destroying themselves, the girl decided to send them some guidance. She tore off pieces of herself, converted them into a form of energy, and sent them to guide the creatures.

  Those forms of energy became her children and guided the creatures. However, after a while, her children started to fight amongst themselves. To stop this, the girl created separate rooms for her children and nudged them into discovering their own spaces so they wouldn’t fight each other. Time passed quickly as she delighted in watching the fruits of her labors; in watching as not only her children grew up and had children of their own, but also as the creatures that intrigued her advanced and thrived under the guidance of her children, even if the guidance of different children sometimes resulted in the creatures fighting each other.