Interlude 1: Fate, Death, Love, and Vengence
Death
Death grumbled angrily at her sister's bumbling attempts to change Kadra’s fate. The girl belted him over and over with happy memories, and thoughts of the sacrifices the King of the North had made for his beloved wives, and they had made for him.
And all it seemed to do was solidify his hatred all the deeper.
Wisdom kept insisting this was the right course of action. That really, it was the only course of action the Gods could take, but Death was not so sure.
“He will become an avatar of Wrath if you keep this up.” Death said, and the two other Gods stopped their work to focus on her.
“But Wrath was part of the exiled. Wasn’t she?” Love asked, having taken on a young, whimsical aspect with far too many flowers in her hair for Death's liking.
“Yes. She was.” Wisdom produced a list from the book that was chained to his waist. “Along with 372 other Divine Aspects that were deemed destructive to the cause of civilization.”
“Wait, wouldn’t that be a good thing?” Love asked, and the other two deity’s just stared at her uncomprehending. “You know, if he becomes an avatar of her, then we could just exile him too. Right?”
“No, I'm afraid.” Wisdom interjected. “Not until he attained Godhood and ascended to the heavens. Then we could send him to the Savage worlds along with the rest.”
“Savage is kind of mean don’t you think?” Death mused as she got a closer look at Kadra’s soul. “I mean, just because they have a different approach to things, that doesn’t mean paths are any less important then our own.”
“They have a different fundamental philosophy then we do sister. You should know this. You were one of the twelve who stood up to banish them after all.” Wisdom’s tone had shifted to one Death didn’t much appreciate.
She glared at the elderly looking half mad man until he flinched. “Yes. I was. And I was also the only one among them who didn’t agree with a full separation. Regardless, I went along with our elder brothers and sisters wishes as it was prudent. Some of their methods were . . . over taxing my abilities. Still, Savage is not how I would describe them and their tactics.”
“No? Then how would you?” Love asked, all sincerity and honesty. Death made the middle flower in her crown wilt slightly, just for fun.
Then Death took the question seriously. “Darwinian. To use a word I learned on my vacation picking up our plans B and C.”
“Oh. How did your vacation go sister? Where did you go?” Love asked.
“Before I answer that, we need . . .” Death’s stomach nearly turned at the thought. “We need to ask for Fates help.”
Thunder rolled overhead as a storm appeared. How a storm randomly appeared in the conceptual realm the Gods lived in, Death didn’t fully understand. But then again, storms were not her domain. Death sent a single thought into that storm, naming her sister and calling for her help.
Then she turned back to Love. “My vacation went well actually. I visited an old friend, one of the ancient Fox spirits back on Earth.” The word Earth carried with it the physical location of the planet, as most planets were named after dirt of one kind or another. Particularly when they were populated by humans. It was a kind of physiological glitch in the species she mused. “The Nine Tailed Fox broke from her prison about a year before I arrived. I found her playing tricks on some whale hunters off the coast of their frozen southern pole. She was delighted to see me. When I told her what I needed, she went and started plucking at their tectonic plates, and caused a series of small earthquakes. I had more then enough souls to choose from.”
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Wisdom nodded, no doubt liking the practicality of the arrangement. Love on the other hand took on a pained expression. “Oh uh, well, i’m glad you found what you needed.” As she turned back twoards Kadra Death heared her whisper to herself, “Just wish so manh people didn’t have to die. Sad.”
That was something Death didn’t understand about some of the Gods. Most of the other Gods in fact. They all saw Death, the concept, the fact of a mortal life ending, as a bad thing. Rather then what it truely was. The sorting of those who had grown based on their actions, and the reincarnation or recreation of those who never were able to rise to a place where they could make such decisions. About what path of the Dao to follow.
It was fair, it was far from finale, and reincarnation usually took care of the pesky moral conundrums that so many mortal religions concerned themselves with. If someone had a terrible life where they never stood a chance of being good or moral? Well, they could always try again.
IT wasn’t until they had a legitimate choice in front of them of which path to follow, that someone was locked into their path. And even then, people could change. That was the essence of mortality.
But all things, change included, eventually had to come to an end.
Lightning flashed over head, and an old woman with a wicked smile, purple dress that was far too revealing, and snake draped over her shoulders like a scarf appeared out of the flash.
“Fate!” Love dove for their elder sister, and wrapped the woman around the neck in a hug that Death did not envy. “Yay! THank you for helping out, I . . . I kind of messed up.”
Fate looked at Love with all the same love and understanding the other Goddess could spare, and touched her face. “Yes dear. I see that. Do not worry however, elder sister Fate has a plan.”
“And what would that be? Snake?” Death couldn’t help herself. She hated this woman, Fate unnerved her true. But more then that, Fate was smug. She always tried to make it seem as if Deaths domain was just a part of her own.
Fate motioned towards her pet, which she was wearing as a fashion accessory. “Oh thank you for noticing! I had her imported from one of the Savage realms. Isn’t she lovely? Anyway, yes. My plan. I and the other ten Elders have been watching you three try and fix this, unfortunate, error Love. And we think we have a solution.”
“Is justice coming? Oh please say justice is coming here, he’s so handsome” love practically swooned and Fate smiled in a way that made Death want to punch her even more.
“No dear, i’m afraid Justice, and his wife Mercy are not coming today. They have other business with the Toad princes on the southern side of the planet. That being said, your little discussion of Wrath made us all think. And in that thinking we realized, what we needed to shift the worlds fate away from total destruction, was a simple nudge. Not a fundamental shifting of this poor mortals perspective, but instead a slight tweaking of it.”
“I can see that. Yes, yes. Very wise.” Wisdom said, as he examined the strings of fate that always seemed to become more visible on mortals whenever Fate was around.
Show off, Death thought bitingly. But she held her tongue.
“You have all been trying to shift his view of events to make him more in line with Justice. That he would seek out Justice in a measured and controlled fashion rather then burning everything and everyone around him. This was the right train of thought, but too ambitious a task. Instead, lets see if we can nudge him just a step closer to justice and away from wrath. Say. . . . towards Vengeance.”
Another peel of lighting, this one red split the sky. And out of it came a tall man, wreathed in fire wearing with red skin, and wearing armor that crackled with red lighting.
“Vengeance.”
“Just the same my dear sister Death.”
“Hes on probation. We have been watching him for nearly two thousand years to see if he is a good fit for this world. How would giving him such a powerful follower be the wise decision?” Death asked, her blood running cold. She knew that even if this worked, and total destruction or even near total destruction was averted, with Vengeance in the mix she would be very busy in the coming years. Very, very busy.
“Yes, and he is near the end of that probation sister. What better final test then to give him this deadly tool, and see what Vengeance can make of it?”
Vengeance didn’t so much as speak to any of them. The God of twisted corrupted justice, moved towards Kadra with an implacable determination. If she were to do something to stop this, it had to be now. She was one of the Elder Gods after all, even if Fate and the others disliked her. Death could stop this. She could.
But should she? Perhaps this was the right move. Nothing they had tried up until now had worked, and the tipping point was fast approaching. She . . . she had no other choice. Death chose to allow this bastardization, this unholy union. And in so doing she hoped to avoid greater devastation.
As she watched the red god place his hands on Kadra’s head, Death's blood ran cold.
What have we done?