Tia walked through the woods with her head on a swivel. She couldn’t sense anything in the area but didn’t want to deal with the situation at hand. Eventually she came to a stop in the forest and realized that she was just avoiding her issues. Everything Allen said the night before had cut her to the core, and she couldn’t deny it. Humans lacking mana don’t remember people like her. Leaving him like she had was normal operating procedure for her kind.

‘Why am I so upset?!’

For someone who has lived as long as she has these feelings were a shock. Longevity usually numbs emotions concerning personal relationships. If not every century would be a mental breakdown.  It is only family and lovers who can persist in the heart of an immortal.

When Tia recalled the cavalier manner in which she left Alan that night she almost slapped herself. She couldn’t imagine what he had been through after that, humans were so barbaric. While thinking that her other self flared up with the desire to lay waste to the local police force. Power pulsed through her before finally calming down.

‘This is not you, this is just Xet.’

Steeling herself she finally decided to face her demons.

.    .    .    .

Alan was still pouring over his book when he was greeted by another puff of smoke. He was continually finding himself breathless by the sight of this woman. She stood there while mildly avoiding his eyes. He brought himself to the ground before addressing her.

“Tia please let me know what’s happening, I’m so sorry for how I treated you.”

Tears fell from Tia’s eyes as she met Alan on the floor.

“Don’t apologize, this is all my fault. I treated you like you were normal and because you weren’t you were left in a bad situation.”

Tia helped Alan back to his feet.

“What do you mean ‘treated me like I was normal’?”

After this day’s events that phrase deeply bothered him.

“Alan I am a being who only exists because of magical energy, mainly mana. Beings as saturated in this energy as I are not remembered by non-magic beings.“

Tia waited for his response as though she was going to be beaten.  What she got was not to her expectations.

“So am I speaking to Tia or Ta’xet?”

This was a question Tia never thought she would be asked. After fretting for a few minutes she looked up and met Alan’s eyes.

“It would be much easier if I could explain it from the beginning.”

.    .    .    .

Long before Europeans came to North America the region was dominated by tribes. These people had simple principles and believed in simple deities. Life, Death, Earth, Sky, Storm, and many more.  Although what brought them the greatest danger was each other. Battles constantly ensued over land or conflicting ideologies. They believed in almost the exact same deities yet the small differences were enough to segregate them. Slavery was a common occurrence in the outcome of these skirmishes. Two particular young girls were not an exception.

Tia and her younger sister were two young tribeswomen when their father went off to protect the village. They were being pushed farther and farther away from their hunting ground and their food was running low. Tia’s sister Wua had grown ill because of malnutrition, which only encouraged her father further. The men rode away and the village was ecstatic. When they came back they were few in number and followed by fire. The enemy tribe had set fire to the prairie and surrounded the village. The girls huddled in their tent and prayed. Unfortunately their prayers were not answered.

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Tia was happy to be tied to her sister. It made the walk across the field a little better. The sun was hot and there was a lot more ground to cover today. The women of the tribe were currently being marched to another location. The men had been completely wiped out in defense of the village. Wua was crying softly while Tia was trying her best to console her. Eventually a guard took notice and smacked Wua to the ground. Tia ran frantically over to help and was blocked by another guard. The commotion brought the leader of the caravan over. He took notice of the small girl and smiled viciously and talked to the guard. He spoke in the same rough language as the others and left.

Night came and a guard came for Wua. Tia cried relentlessly and held her sister’s arm. The last thing she saw was the guard’s axe handle.

Tia awoke with a start. He vision was fuzzy and her head ached terribly. She emerged from the tent and was met with chaos. The camp was in a frenzy and warfare engulfed her vision. She ran out and frantically moved to look for her sister. Walking through the camp was like moving through a stampede as there was soldiers moving to and fro.

‘There must be an attack on the caravan.’ She thought.

Tia looked towards the biggest tent and rushed towards it.

‘That should be where Wua is!’

Tia arrived at the tent and what she saw shocked her. He little sister was pinned under the caravan leader and there was blood on the floor. She rushed over and pulled the man off her and saw a blade piercing his chest. She checked Wua and her face went white. The already frail girl had been beaten to within an inch of her life. It was obvious what the man wanted and the tiny girl denied it with the utmost strength of her soul.  Tia cradled her sister and rocked back and forth.

“Please, anybody please listen. Allow my sister to pass without having this stain upon her mind. Give this child a clean passage to the other side” She wept in desperation before she was met with an ethereal voice.

“And what do you offer?”

“I will give anything” Each word was spoken resolutely.

“I accept”

All of a sudden a beam of light shot into Tia’s chest. A moment passed before Tia rose unemotionally and walked to her sister. She reached her hand out to Wua’s chest and it disappeared inside of her. Her other hand followed and they both eventually emerged carrying a transparent visage of Wua. Tia walked outside of the tent carrying her sister’s image and wept. As she reached the center of the camp with warfare all around Tia raised her sister to the sky. Wua’s disembodied form rose from her sister’s hands, a smile seen on her face as she encroached the heavens.

Emotion had still not reached Tia’s face. She turned to the chaos around her and flames erupted from her palms.

Not a soul was spared that night beside Wua’s. Over a hundred souls were taken out of the cycle of rebirth, leaving a nothing but a black scorch mark on the ground as evidence.

.    .    .    .

“That leaves us with our current predicament.” Said Tia while still fidgeting in her seat.

“When I accepted my bargain I had unknowingly allowed a god to merge with myself,  that is Ta’xet. Aside from some mood swings I am one stable personality currently.”

“And the predicament?” Alan was surprised at his resilience to this absurd situation. He knew the monster that just attacked him has most likely lessened the blow.

“The reason Ta’xet was in the situation to merge with me was because she had her body destroyed. She was being hunted. This same person is now hunting me, and by association you?”

Alan’s brow creased so hard he almost got a cramp in his forehead.

“I’m going to ignore the cute little question thing you tried to do and ask who the hell is hunting a god? Also why am I a part of this?!”

“The being who is after us is known as Malsumis. He and his brother came into existance as gods of creation. Although what sets him apart from his brother is his disdain of humans. Malsumis is shackled by his brother which prevents him from directly destroying humanity yet he still causes pain to the extent of his power. The thorns on plants, the stings of bees, even the poison of snakes are all is doing. Because of his shackles Malsumis sought after Ta’xet for her ability to touch and guide souls. She escaped yet lost her body to the monster. He now uses her bones to supply divinity to his pawns. The reason why you are hunted Alan is because you are the first weakness I have ever shown to him.” A blush enveloped her face.

Alan was struggling to process this information in a timely manner. He understood the mythos she spoke of but still couldn’t understand why a god was attracted to him.

“I’m sorry but I am going to need to ask why of all mortals you choose me. You seem to have been around for a while and still haven’t found anyone?” He hated himself for asking but couldn’t help it.

“Alan I need to tell you that you have magic in you which would naturally attract someone like me. I know this because you remembered me after that night whereas normal humans could not.

Alan grew fearful.

‘Could she only like me because of this magic?’

This was immediately deterred.

“However I can’t sense any bit of magic in you. This is highly unusual. Yet this is also proof that the feelings I have for you are real.”

Relief and happiness flooded Alan’s body. He couldn’t help but smile a bit when he looked over to her. This elicited another small blush from Tia.

Then he had a sudden realization “So that’s why you are the Collector, you are gathering pieces of Ta’xet!” Alan said with enthusiasm. “Yes, it is my hope to give her body back some day. However it is a long road.” She looked defeated.

Alan walked up to her and grabbed her hand in his own.

“I honestly can’t imagine how I could help you but I can promise that I will do anything I can for you two. I owe you my life.”

Tia looked straight down while shifting back and forth and muttered something Alan couldn’t hear. Alan moved his head closer.

“What?”

She brought her head up and yet still refused to meet his eyes.

“I would like a kiss” she muttered.

Alan smiled and brought his lips to hers.