<< Fight Like Gods - Chelsea Wolfe >>
"Kai! What are you doing?" Rami called to him, desperately.
He had appeared out of nowhere, sliding between the cloven feet of the Demon, driving a long, onyx spear of sharpened obsidian into the back of its ankle.
He was wearing odd armour of lustreless black steel and even from the distance between them, Kai saw that he was covered in the Demon's blood as well as his own, with trails running from the corners of his bloodshot eyes.
The Demon stumbled for a brief moment but Kai stayed rooted to the spot as his mind whirred in confusion.
If this was his time in Asmarata then Rameses shouldn't be here, did this mean he was seeing a different version of the future? Was he really here now or was he only a passenger in his own mind?
Before he could fully decipher what was happening to him, his own body moved without his input and raced towards Rami just as a giant, clawed hand, swept the earth and threatened to catch him in its grasp.
But then, when he was still several feet away, Kai stopped in his tracks as another figure landed on the battlefield, grabbing Rameses by the arm and pulling him up into the air.
'Wait. What the hell? Is that -'
The figure appeared human, or humanoid he should say, but nothing about his face and physique was close to any human Kai had seen before. It was too perfect, too beautiful. So much so that he was near painful to look upon, as though no mortal should have the right to behold such a sight.
And between its shoulder blades, gigantic wings of pure, pristine white had sprouted, beating against the ground and kicking a minor whirlwind of dust and debris into the air as it launched itself away from the Demon's claws with Rameses in its grip.
'An angel...that's an honest to the Gods, fucking angel.'
It turned its head to Kai with a cheerful grin and from a considerable, albeit safe, height, he unceremoniously dropped Rameses onto the ground at his feet like a cat bringing home a captured mouse and even his future self stumbled back, startled.
And then in a clear, beautiful voice that no human could possess, it spoke to him with warm familiarity, "I changed my mind. I will help you if you ask it of me."
*
His mind was thrown back into the present and Kai once again felt the cool grass under his hands for a moment, before he promptly fell backwards in shock, breathing heavily and scrambling away from the edge of the pool.
The water stilled and Katesch's head broke the surface, smiling widely as if amused by his distress, her jagged teeth flashing coldly.
"What the flying fu - err, sorry, I mean...Katesch, what did I just see? Was that an angel? Why was I with an angel? No, wait, why was there an angel there at all? They don't - they aren't - real." He stumbled, slowly inching closer to her again as she beckoned him back with a pale, taloned finger.
"It was a possibility." She remarked, her eyes sparking with mischief as she promptly ignored his other questions.
Kai grimaced, perhaps questions about the existence of angels were off limits. Or perhaps out of his price range...
"Only a possibility? Aren't you meant to tell me what to do based on what will happen?" He asked, puzzled. This entire situation was bizarre and strayed completely from his past life. The Fate had never shown him or any human visions such as this. He couldn't decipher her angle. Why him and why now?
She slowly swam closer, wrapping her arms around a rock at the edge of the pool, dangerously close to his waiting hand, "That is the way it should work, yes. But for you, there are two outliers, one of which is you yourself, Kaius."
"Because I came back?" Kai asked, his mouth set into a grim line.
Katesch nodded with a wicked grin as if the very concept excited her beyond measure, "No mortal is meant to know the future. Your knowledge of it has unravelled your threads of fate. You are no longer rooted to anything. Instead you are loosely connected to an immeasurable number of endless possibilities."
As she spoke her hand left the rock and rested on the grass, just inches away from his fingertips.
Kai swallowed nervously and slowly retracted his hand, eliciting a disappointed pout from the strange being,
"Do I still kill him? Rameses I mean. That - that didn't look like I was trying to kill him. It seemed like we were fighting together." He asked.
"I can only see the possibilities of your fate, Kaius. But as you saw in your vision, yes, there are some that do not involve his death." She confirmed, seemingly irked by his line of questioning.
"And that was one of those?"
She tilted her head to the side and watched him silently, "..."
'Ok, thanks for that useful response.' Kai thought bitterly, before changing the topic back to the previous thread that she had appeared open to answer.
Although Rami's actions had confused him somewhat of late, Kai was still unwilling to push aside the vow he had made in those last moments on the dying planet. Whether his new future would result in the same betrayal or not, from his perspective it had already happened.
He could still feel the sharp sting of it, no matter how much his heart had raced when his lips had pressed against his own or how his body had responded when his hands had curled into his hair and that dark expression in his eyes had trapped him in place.
"So...everything is possible and you can't guide me to anything because I'm connected to nothing." He prompted, already exhausted by the concept.
He had come here for guidance but he could already foresee that he would be leaving with more uncertainty than before.
Yet, surprisingly, Katesch's answer was not as he expected:
"Not quite. If you tell me the outcome that you wish for then I can give you the first step. After that, it will be up to you."
Kai blinked at her in some bemusement and leaned a little closer, "Why?"
Katesch smiled, leeringly, and placed her hand over his without touching his skin, her fingertips hovering just an inch above, "We cannot meddle with mortal affairs beyond this. I am already overstepping by showing you this much. The Fates and the Witches are neutral parties. It was decided long ago that we would not choose a side."
"Between humans and Demons you mean?" He slid his hand out from under hers. Intentional or not, he wouldn't risk touching her skin or risk becoming another body at the foot of the mountain.
"..." She stayed silent, her startling blue and silver eyes shining against the reflection of the water as they bore into his.
Kai repressed the urge to shudder, "Ok, I get it, I'm pushing it." He held his hands up in surrender, using the action as an excuse to keep them far from her probing fingers.
He thought about her question. What outcome did he want? Even if he did decide to kill Rameses for what he had done, Kaius wondered if that would be enough. That singular and highly personal goal couldn't encompass his entire life, it wasn't enough.
"I - I don't just want to - survive. I want to be strong enough to protect people this time. I want to be able to fight back...if I have to." He gripped the ground tightly in his hands and stared warily at the calm water of the pool. He wouldn't go back there again, but if it was inevitable, then that damn Demon wasn't going to kill him again.
He wouldn't be weak and useless again.
The eyes of the Fate shined a little brighter and her echoing, haunting voice spoke again, "Then this is my advice for you now..."
'Here we go, it's going to be another cryptic arse message that I won't understand until it's too late for me to -'
"Go to the Northern woods and find the Witches Grove. Ask for Demetra. Once you find her, tell her that you wish to speak with the Angel, Uriel." She explained, clearly and concisely.
'...or not.'
Kai's eyes widened in surprise, "Th-thank you, that was - clear."
Katesch tilted her head to the side in amusement, "Why of course. Why would I not be?"
"Well, last time you just said, 'Go to Asmarata to die. And then you will find what you are looking for.'" Kai replied in a poor imitation of a spooky, mysterious tonality.
"And didn't you? Go to Asmarata, die, and then discover what your Artifact could do?" She retorted with a hint of amusement.
"Well...I - yes?" He stumbled.
"Then I fail to see your point of contention, Kaius." She grinned, inching her hand along the rock far more brazenly than before, her eyes fixed on his skin until he felt it prickle and crawl unpleasantly.
"Alright, fair enough." He swallowed nervously and flinched his hand away. What was she doing?
Why did she seem so curious about touching his skin?
"Oh! I almost forgot. Here." He suddenly remembered the gold coins that he had spent the past three months tirelessly working for and plunged his hand into his pocket, grateful for the excuse to keep them away from the Fate's sharp nails.
She glanced down, and just for a moment, so fleeting it was almost missed, her mesmerising eyes stared greedily at the glint of gold, before flickering back up to his face and smiling lightly; the greedy flash immediately dissipating,
"Keep them." She remarked, casually.
Kai's gaze flicked back and forth from the gold in his hand to the Fate's smile in some confusion,
"What? But, I didn't give you anything in exchange. Won't you…get in trouble if there is no trade?"
"You have given knowledge. Interesting knowledge. Our lives can be a little tiresome, and - long. Your situation is unprecedented and intriguing for us. In fact the trade is highly uneven, I believe we owe you a parting gift."
'We?'
She spoke as if they were a collective, perhaps herself and the other Fates spread throughout their world. He wanted to ask if that was true, how it all worked. Could she hear them, feel what they feel, see everything that they could see?
Perplexed by her strange choice of words and fighting against the desire to simply ask Katesch deeply intrusive questions about her existence, he didn't notice that her fingertips were trailing in the air above his hand again.
"A gift? What kind of gift?" He asked instead.
"Something to trade with the Witch. Demetra will not assist you without an offering." Her pale, slender fingers beckoned once more.
"Come closer, Kaius. I promise you, I won't bite." She smiled widely; a smile full of sharply pointed teeth set into a beautiful, inhuman face.
Kai's body froze with indecision, warily eyeing the mischievous glint in her - their? - inhuman, phosphorescent pupils of unnatural silver.
For a brief moment, he toyed with the idea of running.
He had come here for a reading and she had given it to him. He had no idea of what gift she wanted to pass to him and he certainly didn't wish to move any closer to those sharp, jagged teeth.
If he left now he might leave with his life, a new short term goal and his gold.
And yet, her words had made it clear that she was not hostile towards him, in fact, she appeared to be averse to the idea of his demise, as though it would spoil some newly discovered form of entertainment for her.
Kai swallowed nervously and nodded his head, scooting closer towards her awkwardly and slowly began to lower his head.
And then, without warning, her eyes flashed and her hand shot up.
He gasped in shock when her cold skin grasped the back of his neck.
The moment that his mouth had fallen open, icy lips pressed against his.
Cold.
Unbearable cold invaded every nerve of his body, and Kai's scream of pain was muffled in her mouth that firmly held onto him with a strength that belied her delicate, slender frame.
His heart crashed in his chest and his mind felt as though it had been doused in icy fire.
But then, just as suddenly as the searing shock of cold had pierced his very soul, it subsided.
When she pulled away, in its place was an exhilarating sensation. It was as though his lungs could suddenly take in more air than they could before, as though the exhaustion he had felt after his long climb had been washed away.
But more than that, it had been replaced with a wave of energy that felt both entirely alien and strangely separate from his own being.
"By the angels...what did you just do to me?" He gasped, scrambling away from her hold, his eyes wide and panicked as the new, unnatural feeling coursed through his body.
Yet, Katesch simply drifted back away from the edge of the pool, a wide smile on her inhumanly beautiful face that made her dangerous teeth appear all the more unsettling.
Before she lowered her head back down into the water, the echoing sound of a hundred voices, layered and beautiful, echoed across the clearing, "I gave you time. Use it well, Kai."
**