The Tragedy of Yinx - 18. Playing the Game

Laneer

Thankfully, I managed to go back to sleep. There weren’t any of those scary dreams thankfully. However, picturing Beatrix’s head on the body of a cat was pretty damn disturbing.

Waking up was wonderful.

Yinx is sitting next to me and is playing a slow song on his lyre. He is even humming along with it. I just love hearing his voice.

“If you are trying to wake me,” I say, “playing like that is not at all going to work.”

Yinx smiles and leans down to kiss me.

“Well you are awake aren’t you?” He says.

I just close my eyes and pretend to go back to sleep.

Yinx laughs and continues to play.

He actually begins to sing. It sounds like a pretty song, but sadly it is in some Serendian language that I do not know. His voice just makes me feel more relaxed.

It is a nice moment with him. It makes me think that maybe this would become a regular thing between us, but then memories of last night begin to haunt my mind.

The music comes to a slow stop and then Yinx sinks into the blankets to curl up against me.

“Is something wrong?” He asks, “you seem awfully quiet this morning.” He bites his lip, “You aren’t having second thoughts because of last night, are you?”

I shake my head, “No, no of course not. Last night was wonderful. I would never want to make you think that I did not enjoy it. I loved it! I just...I had strange dreams last night.”

Yinx frowns and cups my cheek, then rubs his thumb over my freckles. “Care to share?”

Flashes of Yinx being bruised all over and turning into ash fill my head and I just pull hold him closer.

“I...I think Morgoren spoke to me last night.” I say slowly.

Yinx immediately narrows his eyes. “And what did he say?”

I shrug. “He showed me what it would be like if you chose him or the God of Darkness.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Did he make one seem better than the other?”

I nod. “If you were to choose the God of Darkness, there would be so many dead people. The destruction that I saw...Yinx it was scary. I do not ever want that to happen.”

Yinx frowns and nods. He is silent so I am sure he is thinking things over.

“What did he show if I chose him?” He asks.

I blush but smile. “He showed me that we would be happy together. We would still be together and your sight would be back. We would live in a nice home somewhere. He even showed me that we’d have a daughter!”

Yinx does not smile or seem at all excited about that. “He must have been lying, Laneer.”

That thought did cross my mind, but it just seemed so real!

“How do you know for sure? Can’t gods look into the future? Maybe it was actually a possibility if you chose him.”

Yinx shakes his head, “He wants me to become his champion, Laneer. That usually means something along the lines of killing others. I do not want to get involved in that.”

I frown. “I kind of do that. I like to think I am fine with my life.”

“Yes but that's the big difference. Morgoren says that I am to give up my mortal life if I were to join him. I do not want to do that. Especially now.” Yinx places his hand on my chest, “If I were to choose him, that means losing you.”

“But...he showed me that we would be together in the future. It even showed that we would be married.” I sigh. I want that. Why would a god just play around with me? I thought they were great immortal beings who cared for us.

Yinx gives me a soft smile and kisses me. “If we were to get married, it would only be able to happen if I were to decline both their offers.”

“How do you know if you can decline both of them? They might not even give you a choice.” I say.

He shrugs. “I have a plan. It might not work...but if I am lucky, they will allow me to accept them later on in life. Surely they would allow me that small promise. I am not going anywhere. I just want to live my life while I am still this age.”

I sigh and nod. That seems very risky, but it is Yinx. I believe he could do it. How he will do it, I do not know, but I am sure he can managed something.

“So…” Yinx smiles, “A nice home with a daughter?”

I grin.

~~~
~~~

The God of Darkness

I must say, I have never been summoned by anyone before. It feels rather nice. Almost as if I am wanted. Surely that is a good sign?

I just knew taking away Yinx’s sight would make him realize that he needed me. Morgoren will soon realize that Yinx is mine, and then all will be good again once Yinx joins me.

Yinx is in the tallest tower in the Dunbrali Palace.

He has created a circle of black paint that has special offerings inside.

The head of a goat, its heart, a circlet of thorns, and a bowl of cactus needles.

I am not entirely sure why that stuff was necessary. He only needed to call for my name and I would have shown up.

Humans are so strange.

Once he has finished his little chant, I bring myself out of the shadows.

Yinx looks through me and I see a hint of a frown on his face.

“Have you decided to join me?” I ask, a bit excited. Will I finally have my first champion?

I have always wanted one. I am not entirely sure what to do with him, but I want him to be my champion. The power he holds is strong and I would like it at my side.

“No.” He says. Dammit. This waiting is getting awfully annoying. I would love it if he were to just realize how much a fraud Morgoren is and just join me.

Once he joins me, Yinx will realize how stupid he was for waiting all this time to join me. On that day, we shall laugh and drink at the dumb memories.

Yes, I like to think we’d become great friends as time passes.

“I wanted to offer a proposal.” He says.

I raise an eyebrow, “Go on.”

“Well, you know that I do not want to give up my mortal life as of right now, so I was hoping...that it would be best to wait on my decision.”

“Wait how long?” I grit out.

Yinx crosses his arms, “Just long enough for me to enjoy my life. I only get it once, so I would very much like to enjoy it while I can.”

I roll my eyes. “You realize that if you were to join me, you would live forever? That is, unless you happen to be killed.”

He frowns. “I would still be able to die? Wait...can you kill a god?”

“How about we don’t get into that and let us get back to the main reason you brought me here.” I say, “You want me to wait even longer for you to make a decision? How do I know if you will just choose Morgoren thirty years from now? That will be an absolute waste of my time.”

Yinx bites his lip and lets out a shaky sigh, “I...I am not sure I will ever choose him. You seem the most appealing between the two of you, so all I ask if that you will let me live my life for as long as I want. I will join you, just not now. I want to live my life while I still can. Without the struggles of being a champion.”

I narrow my eyes. Was it really that easy? He has already chosen me? I am not sure I want to boast about this is all honesty. Morgoren may try to force Yinx to join him.

For a moment, I think he is trying to play me, but Yinx is a human. No human has the courage to do such a thing.

“I...will agree to this.” I say slowly, “I will give you thirty years, Yinx. However, I will be keeping watch over you. To protect you from any harm. I do not want Morgoren to possibly try and force anything on you.”

Yinx nods and smiles. “Thank you, Sir. Thank you so much!”

I nod and vanish back into the shadows.

I can’t really help the smug look on my face. I won. I beat Morgoren.

Yinx is mine. If I have to wait thirty years, so be it.

~~~
~~~

Laneer

It is a very strange feeling when you send your lover off to speak to some god that might possibly take him away from me at any moment.

Maybe almost as strange at what I am seeing now.

Beatrix and the twins are in a bar that looks as if there is...baby lizard racing?

Four, orange, spiky lizards are running around in circles on a table that is set up as a track. People all around us are shouting and cheering as the lizards run side by side.

Beatrix happens to be one of those yelling.

I make my way to her side and she slams her fist on the table as a lizard seems to have won the race.

“Gods dammit! I was so close to winning.” Beatrix yells. She glances at me. “Oh, hello Laneer! Finally come down from bedding your prince?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes that is exactly it.”

“Is he alright?” She asks, her voice a bit softer. “He was pretty angry when we got here.”

“Yeah he seems fine.” I shrug, “I guess we will know when he sees his mother again.”

She shakes her head and pulls me away from the lizard game.

“I knew there was something about him that was not normal.” Beatrix says, “Sure there was the blind thing, but the fact he could fight with that weird chained weapon? He must have learned that somewhere. I guess that was here.”

“I don’t think so honestly. He left here around when he was twelve, I doubt he had much training.”

She nods and narrows her eyes. “There is something else about him however. Something that is not normal.”

“After everything that I have seen,” I say and sit in a chair, “I don’t really consider Yinx normal.”

She laughs. “Yeah no shit! He is most likely mentally insane.”

I frown. “Now that is not true at all. He is smart. Possibly smarter than all of us.”

She raises an eyebrow at me. “Really now? Why do you say that?”

“Well, he grew up here. He learned and uses magic. No doubt he had to learn and read more things than we have.”

She shrugs. “I guess you’re not wrong there. I wonder how much time it takes to just learn one spell.”

I would imagine it would take months. I have only seen Yinx use about two or three spells. Summoning random things, putting out candles. Well, I would assume the candle thing is fire magic. Does the entrance thing count? Surely it would. I know I could never do that.

“You seem different.” Beatrix side-eyes me. “You are standing taller and more proudly. Carrying yourself as if you are a king. There is only one thing I can think of that would make you do that…” She gives a smug grin and wiggles her eyebrows.

My face burns into a deep red and I try to avoid eye contact.

Beatrix starts cackling loudly like a witch. “Ha! You finally did it! After all these years, the great Prince Laneer finally got to bone someone!”

“Keep it down,” I whisper, and give apologetic looks to all the random people eyeing us.

“Oh don’t you try and shush me. I have been wanting this for you for so long!” She grins and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “How did you do it? How did you convince him to be with you?”

“Beatrix.” I frown, “That is private and personal.”

She chuckles, “I am your best friend, Laneer. Therefore, all that is private to you is also private to me.”

I sigh and give her a look that says ‘please stop’. She just smiles wide.

“Just know, I am very proud of you.” She says.

I smile and roll my eyes. “Thank you. I honestly just did it to get your approval.”

“Damn right you did!”

I bite my lip but decide to tell her the big news. Well...it probably isn’t big news to everyone else, but it sure as hell is for me!

“We confessed our love for each other.” I whisper.

Beatrix at first wrinkles her nose but then ends up nodding herself. “You know what? I am happy for you. I guess this is technically how we can get the middle ground between us.You love confession gets your laid! In all seriousness, if he makes you happy, then I am happy.”

“He does. He makes me very happy!” I grin.

She smirks and shakes her head. “You poor soul. Yinx has you wrapped around his little finger, doesn’t he?”

I laugh and nod. “Honestly, you are probably right.”

The twins arrive with drinks in their arms. It seems a bit too early to drink in all honesty, but I guess I never did get to celebrate about last night with Yinx. Obviously they aren’t drinking to that, but in my mind, I am.

I am happy to be with Yinx, and I am even happier that he loves me back. The fact he confessed first is a very much unexpected, but that just makes it even better.

~~~
~~~

Everyone was told to come together before dinner. We are all back in the room with the table/well.

This time however, a elderly woman in an outfit made of many furs and animal bones is standing next to the Queen. She wears a cow skull on her head.

“Everyone, this is our Timeseeker.” King Jeriko says, “She came to us with the information about the angel.”

“May I ask what that title means?” I say.

The King is about to speak but the Timeseeker simply nods to him before speaking for herself.

“I am someone born with the gift of seeing the future. A few in our great city are gifted with such a thing. It is quite rare but we believe it is possible because so many magic users are grouped together into one place. The magic must bundle together the air and somehow it randomly forms inside a child’s brain.”

I frown. That sounds a bit scary. Random magic filling a child’s brain. “How does it work? Do you choose whenever you wish to see?”

She softly laughs and shakes her head. “I am afraid not. It comes in small snippets. Only lasting about five seconds. However, the images can be rather blurry.”

“How do you know an angel or whatever is coming to bring danger?” I say, “I thought angels were good. They are supposed to bring us to the heavens when we die.”

The Timeseeker look at me in confusion before looking at Yinx and then the King and Queen.

“Uh, I assume you not from here, yes?” She asks.

I nod.

Yinx speaks next to me, “Angels are not at all good. They like to kill random humans to add numbers to their ranks. Some say it is to prepare for a war against the Demons, but others just think they are hungry for our souls.”

Honestly, I can only laugh at that. “You can’t be serious? They are Angels. They run the heavens and watch over us. Why would that possibly be thought as evil?”

Yinx shakes his head, “Those are all lies. Those stories were written long ago by them, back when they did not mind speaking with humans. Now they just want to kill us to add to their ranks. They brand the dead with a symbol of a sun with a halo on top. Have you ever seen such a thing?”

I...I have seen that symbol. The strange murders in Avelin. They all had that same symbol.

“H-how do you know all of this?” I ask.

“Demons,” The Queen says. She watches me like an animal watching its prey.

“Demons? So...it is true that your worship them.” I say slowly.

Yinx just laughs. “No, we do not worship them. We just understand them.”

“How do you know that they aren’t lying?” I say to Yinx, “They could be the ones killing us instead.”

The Queen speaks again, “Oh believe me. We know what they have said is true.

For generations, our people have been working with demons. Not once have they ever hurt us. Yes, they will give us contracts that may enslave our name to them, but those are contracts you take willingly. They never do anything without consent.

If you were to ask one of them to kill you, they would do so. Otherwise, they will do nothing to bring you harm. Demons are strange spirits. They are not entirely bad, but obviously they are not entirely good..”

A shiver runs down my spine.

This is...an interesting thing to learn. Part of me doesn’t believe a word of this. There are so many things I have read that only speak good about the angels. I can’t just throw all that knowledge away in an instant.

“Are you sure it is just an Angel?” Yinx asks the Timeseeker. “An Angel seems quite a small thing to call me down here for.”

The Timeseeker only shrugs, “I am sadly not entirely sure. I just saw great damage done to our city. I have a feeling it may be worse.”

Yinx purses his lips and glances out the door.

Queen Natzalia watches her son when he isn’t looking. She looks conflicted, as if she wants to say something. I can tell she is too scared to speak her mind.

After learning how she treated Yinx when he was younger, I have a bit of resentment towards her.

“I’ll be back.” Yinx says before moving to walk out the room. He squeezes my hand as he walks past me.

“Be careful...Yinx.” The Queen blurts out.

Yinx only glances at her for a second before leaving.

A few moments later, Yinx’s voice can be heard singing. His voices echoes throughout the castle. Singing a strange tune that I can’t quite grasp in my mind.

~~~
~~~

Morgoren

I grin as I stand before Yinx. We are standing on one of the towers.

“Oh my! I did not expect to be summoned so soon!” I say, “Did you miss me that much, my pet?”

Yinx wrinkles his nose in disgust, “Unfortunately, I need your help.”

“Oh?” I smirk, “I am all yours.”

He rolls his eyes, “Not like that. I believe that an Archangel is coming here. I know it will bring all kinds of havoc to my home. I need your help to kill it.”

“Is there a reason I would do this for you? You aren’t my champion yet after all.”

Yinx sighs and crosses his arms. “I would like to think you would want me to live to choose you. However, because of how selfish you are, I am starting to lean more towards the God of Darkness.”

I see the damn werewolf hasn’t convinced Yinx at all. I should have known. All dogs are stupid.

“Unfortunately, am not allowed to help you in any way. I have been placed under some...rules.” I roll my eyes. I know I put the damned rule myself, but I didn’t really think Yinx would actually get into trouble.

“Really? Well, that is a shame. I guess I will have to ask the God of Darkness for help instead. Maybe he will help me.” Yinx says.

“Sadly, he is under the same rules as well.” I mumble. This is starting to get on my nerves. He sounds as if he has actually chosen the God of Darkness. How could that possibly have happened? The damn fool blinded Yinx and apparently that is what it took to win this game?

“May I ask who set these rules?” Yinx asks.

“No.”

Yinx sighs. “Fine. If you happen to help me, I will join your side.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Just like that? You would become my champion. Oh, I cannot wait! Wait, I feel there is a ‘but’ coming along.”

Yinx smiles, “You would be correct. I ask for your help and for you to give me another week to at least say my goodbyes to everyone. Unlike you, I happen to have people that like me.”

I narrow my eyes. “What exactly do you gain from this?”

Yinx just smirks and shrugs his shoulders. “Closure.”

A spark goes off in the sky in the distance behind him. It looks as if a cut has be opened in this sky. It bleeds a bright golden light. Almost instantly, tiny little dots begin to flood through it and they fly towards the city.

Angels.

Well he is not wrong that an Archangel was coming. Only they can create such portals between the realms.

Yinx extends his hand to me. “Do we have a deal?”

I look at his hand before smirking.

“Sealed and Done.” I say.