The Star, The Demon, and The God - 11. Taisla's Push

Luno

I have not moved from the bench I created. Who knows how long I have chosen to stay here. It feels like hours, but in reality, it is most likely minutes.

Holding my hand in front of me, I conjure a small ball of fire over my palm.

Frowning, I stare into the magical fire.

For years, I have been afraid of using this one element. It burns everything it touches. All that comes from fire is smoke and ash. Both are able to snuff out the air from any poor soul that is surrounded by the aftermath of fire.

After so long, after believing that I had created the fire that burned Viktor and Monie’s home, after believing that I was the one who killed Viktor; I learn that it is not true at all. Honestly, I almost wish it was true.

Now I am sure that would make some, or maybe most, people confused or concerned, but knowing Morgoren was the one who caused all of those problems...it makes something in my chest tighten up and feel like it is burning. Burning with hate.

The fire in my hand begins to grow with my anger. It gets to a point that my hand trembles to control it.

Clenching it into a fist, I drop my hand and let out a long breath.

I should not be angry about this. It has been forever since I was in Varen. I should know that the only reason all that happened was because a God had decided to meddle with the humans...and me.

Why is it that the Gods must ruin everything? They truly seem to do that. Not just them however, everyone. Humans, Demons, and Angels. Everyone spreads their hate, pain, and torment on everything they touch. Why is the world like this? Do they not see what their actions are doing?

Tears of sorrow begin to fall. Tears for all the innocent lives who have been lost. To all the ones who simply wanted to live in peace. There must be so many who simply wish to get on with their lives but they cannot. Their kind and others will not let them.

Enfi jumps into my lap and looks up at me with curious eyes.

I wipe my own with my wrist before reaching out to scratch a finger along the side of her head.

“Surely there is something we could do,” I say to her. “Something that will make people realize just how awful they are being. They should be putting their differences aside.”

Enfi tilts her head up at me before letting out a high chirp.

I nod and smile. “Yeah you are probably right. We should be focusing on the main problem right now.”

Obviously she did not say anything I would understand. The only one who can share information as a creature was the dragon back in my Sanctuary. He is always fun to talk to. Sure, some things could not translate into english for me, but he was still a great conversationalist.

I miss home.

I might even miss being lost. I would rather have the feeling of confusion than the feelings I have now. Is this what most people feel? I imagine it is. Angry and sad all at once. It is strange; like a squeezing on my chest.

Sometimes, I wonder whatever happened to Viktor and Monie. Obviously I know how they died, but I wonder what happened to their souls.

Did they become Angels? I imagine they did. Just the thought of that makes me even more sad.

Are they still alive? Are they under the control of some vengeful god who is making all these Angels search for the souls of the innocent.

Whoever is out there causing all of this, they are doing something to keep the souls safe from the Angels. Why?

Tobias believes that the souls are trapped in the Middleplains. I feel that if they were trapped there, Mother would have said or done something about it. I think, whatever is causing this, is storing all the souls.

I am not sure how since I have never heard of something like that happening, but I just feel like maybe that is a thing that is happening.

I hear something in the woods. It is running around fast with heavy footsteps.

Standing up, I search for the sound, wanting to find the source of it. It could be an animal in need!

A bush shakes, causing the snow to fall to the ground. Soon after, a giant white tiger with horns bursts out and in front of me.

Wide eyed, I grin when I realize it is Tobias.

“Hi Tobi,” I scratch under his chin.

He lets out a small growl and steps back to shift back into his regular form. Or not so regular as he revealed to me earlier.

After a smooth transition, Tobias glares at me and crosses him arms.

“Where the hell have you been?” He shouts. “You are to stay by my side at all times! Why did you not come into the war room with me? I thought you had been taken away! For all I know, Morgoren himself could have swooped down and nabbed you! Speaking of which, do you even realize what time it is? It is almost sun down!”

Looking up at the sky, I see that the sun really is about to touch the horizon. I did not even realize it was so late.

Not knowing what else to say, I hug myself. “I spoke with Mother. She told me...things. Things I did not know. Sorry if I worried you. I just wanted to get out of the city.”

Tobias sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Please,” He says. “Let’s go back. I don’t like it there as much as you don’t, but we are here to help them; whether you like it or not.”

Frowning, I put my head down in defeat before nodding.

~~~
~~~

Tobias

I was busy speaking with the Queens and Kings about what we should do with our problem with the humans. I was getting to the part where Luno was to tell them what the humans told him. About how they are trapped in the Middleplains.

When I looked over for him to pass the information over, I find that Luno is not even in the room!

Of course, I immediately put the blame onto Vlad. The jerk has been too nice to Luno. He constantly berates me and looks at Luno with...with those stupid eyes of his.

The fool tried to protect himself, but none of their guards could pull me off when I had my elbow pushed into his throat on the table.

Eventually he told me that Luno had gone out to feed Enfi and Kulu. I quickly shifted into my tiger form and ran for him.

The moon would be out soon and that was the last thing I wanted to happen.

Finding Luno in the woods with Enfi was such a huge relief, I just about kissed him. Obviously I did not. Relief turned into anger rather quickly.

Grabbing his hand tight, I haul Luno back towards the city.

“You’re hurting me!” Luno whines behind me. I only loosen my grip a little bit.

“Well you should not have fucking ran out of here without me,” I almost growl. “You told me that you would stay by my side and you lied to me.”

Luno pulls on my hand but I keep pulling us onward.

“You’re not the boss of me!” He says. “I can protect myself!”

With a growl, I turn to face him, gripping onto his shoulders.

“Would you kill a man if he were trying to kill you first?” I press. “Could you kill a creature that wanted nothing else but to eat the flesh off your bones? And I mean when you have no other choice but to defend yourself. Could you, Luno? From what I remember, you said you would never kill a living thing dammit. Trust me, if you want to keep that promise, sooner or later you are going to want my protection. I can guarantee it.”

Luno’s bottom lip is shaking now and his eyes are starting to water.

Sighing, I pull him close and wrap my arms around him for a hug. Is this not what people do to make them feel better? I have not done it in awhile, but I hope I am doing the right thing.

As much as I do not want him to be sad, he really needs to know that we are only running on luck. Things always go bad eventually. Who knows when it will happen to us.

“Are you ready to go back?” I ask.

Luno looks up at me, his eyes are letting out silent tears.

“If we go in that room, does that mean we are going to war?” He whispers.

Trying not to laugh, I shake my head.

“No, we will not be going to war anytime soon,” I say. “We are only going to learn about this mysterious necklace that can help us.”

Luno closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them again, he nods to me.

“Okay,” He lets out a small smile. “I’m ready.”

~~~

Luno stands next to me, he pretty much hangs onto my arm as everyone stands around a table with a map of Thymestrys.

I have our map on a smaller table next to it.

At the moment, one of the Queens is marking up where all the black dots are located.

The one marking the map is Queen Amala. The other is Queen Joan, then there is King Twine. Of course, the last king is Vlad. Irritable Vlad who clearly doesn't like me. At least his siblings are nicer.

Well, I guess the only reason that is a thing is because they are not aware that they are in the presence of a Demon. Or a Star for that matter.

“Where did you even get a map like this?” Queen Joan asks in wonder, her fingers lightly tracing over the lines of our map.

I shrug. “A family heirloom of sorts. We pass it along to the eldest son.”

Luno looks up at me in confusion but thankfully does not question my lie. Does he not remember Vlad’s warning to not bring up Raiyo? Something told me that also counted with being a Demon part as well.

“It is quite fascinating,” She says. “Would we be able to write on it? We are going to have to mark out where the necklace is supposedly located.”

I shrug. Honestly I am not too sure. Am I going to have to run back to Enfierna just to get Raiyo to mark something on this map?

“I don’t know,” I say. “Even if we can’t, just give us another of your maps. It is not like we wouldn’t be able to find it.”

King Twine grabs another map and places a giant circle in the middle of the green. I raise an eyebrow at how big the circle is.

“Surely a necklace would not be that size,” I say. “Let me guess, Drulai never said exactly where it could be?”

“Y-yes,” Queen Amala says, looking at me a bit in shock. “The Mother Goddess did not feel it necessary to give its exact location. She had only graced us with what city is could be located.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course. The Gods just love to make it harder for everyone, don’t they?”

Everyone in the room looks at me with wide eyes. Everyone but Luno. I take it he has gotten used to this by now.

“You are rather bold, Adventurer,” Queen Joan says with narrowed eyes. “I do not know a single soul who would speak poorly on the Gods. Human soul that is...just what exactly are you?”

Looking over at Vlad, I raise an eyebrow. He sighs at me before sitting in a chair.

“I am a Demon,” I say. “My master would be the God Raiyo. Luno and I were sent here to bring all of the ones trapped in the Middleplains back.”

“I said that was a maybe!” Luno speaks up.

One look from me makes him close his mouth and bow his head.

Yeah I am still pretty pissed that he ran off on me without letting me know. There are things out there working for Morgoren. Those things would be sent to kill him if they were to know his location, no doubt.

“A Demon, brother?” Queen Joan glares at Vlad. “Gods you are truly the worst person.”

Vlad shrugs. “Hey we heard the rumors. You chose to ignore the fact that a Demon was possibly mentioned. You were only hoping for the best.”

“We only cared about the one bringing people back,” Joan grits out.

Pulling Luno behind me, I keep my eyes on her. I will not let her touch him. That will be the last thing she will ever try to do.

“Relax all of you,” Queen Amala says with a sigh. “What does it matter if he is a Demon? He is helping the one bringing us back, is he not?”

Vlad grins at his sister, but she sends him a look that makes his grin disappear.

“If anything, we should be grateful for this,” She says. “We finally have someone powerful on our side. A God included.”

“But that God is Raiyo!” Queen Joan hisses. “Have you all forgotten the history of this place? We could all be dead tomorrow if we keep talking about this!”

As much as I don’t want to believe her, she could be right. We really should stop saying his name.

“She is right,” I say. “We learned about this place on our way here. We want to help you, even if a certain God told us to bring you all back.”

King Twine, who has been silent this whole time, rolls up the new map and hands it to Luno who takes it very gingerly.

I hand him my bag to put the map in there.

“Let us work together,” he says. “Even if it is for this one occasion.”

With a nod, I look down at my map.

“Well, the map shows it was circled around the old ruins of Avelin,” I say. “We are going to need as many of your people to search the place with us…”

Luno tilts his head at the map.

“Why is the necklace in a place like that?” he asks. “It seems like a random city don’t you think?”

Vlad shrugs. “Violette and Laneer lived there for a time. Perhaps there is a connection?”

~~~
~~~

The Ancient Ones

Taisla looks through the shining white portal that she has created. She lets out a sad smile. A smile for a child she loves.

It is a bit comforting to know that the Goddess could have possibly found something to redeem her actions; something to make her repent for how she has ruined Raiyo’s former life.

Taisla had revealed the location of Raiyo and his lover, that in turn set the events that brought the deaths of both of them. Unfortunately it did not stop there.

She cursed Raiyo by removing his memories and his ability to feel, taste, or die.

Before, we used to be thankful that Master Raiyo was unable to die, but now we are not so sure about that.

Taisla turns to us, her glowing blue eyes become sad once again. A look of defeat.

With a sigh, her body slowly begins to fade. Like wind blowing onto a mist, it moves to the true Taisla. She is bound to a wall. Her arms chained on either side of her. She kneels in defeat. What was once a bright, colorful projection; it is now a dulled down version of herself.

When her spirit has returned to her body, some color returns.

She looks up at us before turning to her captor.

Raiyo slowly claps before standing.

“What a touching performance,” He says. “I would almost think that you had a heart. The keyword there would be ‘almost.’”

Taisla looks up at him with sleepy eyes. Strange colored bruises are all over her body. We can only assume they are bruises. Her skin makes it a bit hard for us to tell.

“You gave me my favor,” She croaks. “You can kill me now. I am ready for it.”

Raiyo looks confused by her words before laughing.

“Did you really think I would kill you now?” He says with a smile. “No you’re not going to be dying today. Not at all.”

He drums a clawed finger on his chin as if he is thinking it over.

“Maybe tomorrow?” He gasps. “Or the day after that! No, maybe three centuries from now!”

Taisla’s eyes becomes more fearful at that. She starts to struggle in her chains once again. It has been a few hours since she last did that.

“Now that I finally have your attention,” Raiyo pulls himself a little closer to the Goddess. “I have some things I have to say. I have quite a few things actually. When you sit still for over a millenia, you really get to think things thoroughly.”

Taisla is about to speak, but with a wave of his finger, a strand of black magic begins to stitch its way around her lips. She screams in pain as her lips are forcibly sewn together.

Raiyo continues talking as if her screams do not exist.

“You see, thanks to you, I can never sleep,” He says, his eyes burning just a tiny bit brighter. “Instead, I lay there thinking of millions of ways to kill you and Morgoren. I lay there thinking of what it would be like to feel your blood dripping onto my skin as I gut your stomachs to make it rain down upon me.”

Taisla’s eyes begin to fill with tears that are ready to fall. She shakes with anger, fear? We are not sure.

“Why did you do this?” Raiyo asks, his voice calm. His voice has been very calm. He never sounds angry. Only calm. It is a bit nerve-racking, even if we are not the ones being tortured.

“What did I ever do to you to deserve this?” He tilts his head. “In my past life, I know I never knew you. I am fairly certain that I never did anything to displease you. So why; why did you curse me to millions of lifetimes? What did I do to deserve this?”

Taisla’s eyes widen in shock. Even we are surprised. Raiyo remembers everything from his past? How? We only told him about how he had died to the human captors!

Taisla tries to speak but of course, she cannot.

“Do not bother trying,” Raiyo smiles. “I imagine that makes it impossible, yes? I am sure you are wondering how I remember some things? You might want to blame your magic. It is weak. Just like you. Every month, I slowly began to remember more and more. It has started recently, but I have eventually managed to remember some of my childhood. Already it has the stain that belongs to your husband.”

Taisla moans and grumbles, trying to speak words but she cannot.

“Magic in the mind is harder to manage, you think?” He says. “From when you cleared my memories? Let me guess. The absence of feeling and death is linked to the soul making it harder toa break? Wonderful.”

Raiyo reaches out with a claw and cuts the strings off of Taisla’s mouth.

“It appears Gods really have been tormenting me since my birth,” Raiyo says. “I guess I should have known. You are all so stupid and full of yourselves; I can only imagine just how much worse you all were back then.”

Taisla coughs and looks up at Raiyo with a bleeding grin. “You speak as if you are not a God yourself. We have all heard about your touches with the Humans. You think you are any better than us? Just look at you now, a whore who is keeping me captive because he is scared.”

Raiyo smirks at her words and presses his hand over her chest.

“You really think I am scared?” He asks. “Would someone who is scared kill you? Do you really think you are getting out of here alive? Your soul will be mine and your skull shall be under my hand on my throne.”

Taisla freezes as his hand is pressed to her chest.

“You wouldn’t dare,” She says. “You would risk the wrath of all the Gods against you? If you were to kill me, it would be considered the worst of any actions. You would be at war with all of them!"

Raiyo chuckles. “Do you really think I am scared of animals holding crowns in the sky? I fear no Gods. You are all nothing but bugs who need to be squashed.”

Taisla narrows her eyes. “You...you are bluffing!”

Raiyo smiles. “Are you certain? Here, I want to show you something.”

He begins to press his hand on her chest. It does not really show much, but we can see that is has gotten a bit harder to breathe for her.

“With your gifts,” Raiyo says. “I can no longer feel my own strength. I can only guess how much I am using. Of course, It is not like I use it often. I can do whatever comes to mind with the flick on my hand."

Taisla grits her teeth before she starts grunting in pain as Raiyo’s hand pushes hard. It looks as if her chest is beginning to cave in.

Raiyo chuckles. “Oh you Gods. You act all high and mighty, as if you have done the most amazing of deeds, but in reality, you all do nothing. You are little lambs with powers that should not have been given to you.”

Taisla begins to scream in agony as her chest begins to rip under Raiyo’s hand.

“Based off the pitch of your screams, I can only guess that this is the first time you have felt true pain,” he smiles. “Something so many of your pathetic followers go through daily. They follow false Gods. In time, I will make them see that.”

With the sound of bones cracking open, Raiyo’s hand sinks past the flesh and bones of Taisla’s chest.

She screams and screams, her pain unable to go away. How? She could be dead right now!

“Oh,” Raiyo says in surprise, then he grins. “She has a heart after all! Isn’t that quite surprising.”

Taisla looks down at the hand in her chest that is holding her heart. She only begins to scream even louder at the sight.

“Yes, I imagine you are confused as to why you are not a floating soul for me to absorb,” Raiyo says. “You forget, I am the one who rules over the dead when they pass through here. I control when they are truly allowed to die.”

Raiyo pulls his hand out, his hand is covered in her blood.

Taisla’s chest magically begins to heal. The hole on her chest disappears and it soon appears as if nothing happened.

With a smirk, Raiyo sighs.

“Yes. We are going to have so much fun, aren’t we Gatekeeper?”

I think writing Raiyo's parts are so much more fun and easier  Maybe it is because I have been working on that character for much longer than the others.