Anger faded as we chose to talk about food, instead. We’d all ordered, of course, and we ate together. Emilia once accidentally smacked her elbow against Eric’s arm, spilling some noodles over him, but he was a good sport about it. Liam showed Reya how to hold chopsticks. Marie went with her most familiar option of a burger, while Liam had himself a lentil-rice curry.
Matt ate bibimbap, and I got myself a serving of noodles with a mushroom-cream sauce, already turning on the sense sharing with Cass when I ordered. There was a short period of my vision swimming as it settled in, but it faded after just about a minute and a half. She’d been listening, of course, but didn’t feel like she wanted to be part of the conversation, and that was okay.
The food was all pretty delicious, though I did need to add a bit more salt to mine. Marie also had a side of salad and added more vinegar than I think was healthy for any human to consume over the duration of a week, but then again, her call I guessed.
The anger we had at our previous discussion fizzled away. Instead, we talked about nicer things. Dishes we missed from our home countries. Some of us had moved; I hadn’t, but Emilia did, wanting to get away from it all. Flew across the globe, even. Marie had, too, though the country she was from was super large, so instead of being in another country, she was on the other end of the same one.
Reya and Eric had moved as well. Their family moved a lot, apparently, and eventually they decided to settle down somewhere separate from their… itinerant parents. They called and chatted often, but the two didn’t go on plane trips packing their entire lives into suitcases every couple weeks anymore.
It was more peaceful that way. I could see it, too, honestly. I loved travelling, but actually moving that often seemed miserable. Their parents went all across the world on business trips, and the two of them just had to follow until they were old enough to decide they’d rather not.
So they didn’t anymore, and a couple years later, they got invited to Eden, pretty quickly finding their calling in healing others using Lurelia’s powers. The goddess really was just a means to an end, though they obviously revered her teachings. Most of those were simple kindness, so that was fair.
Lurelia was also the goddess of family and children, but very specifically not of love. She actually stated entirely out of relationships almost all the time. Not her domain, apparently. Seemingly none of the current divines wanted to have anything to do with that, either.
I was a little confused by that, so I asked.
“Are there just things that none of the divines have any authority over, then?” I asked.
Eric shrugged. “Yeah, of course. A few things, even, such as technology or mechanics. Sewers, the ocean. But I guess love is kind of different, there used to be a divine for it, after all.”
That was something I hadn’t known.
Matt asked before I could, head cocked to the side. “Used to be? What does that mean?”
Reya answered this time, signing before her brother got a word in, then leveraging a pointed stare. He started his own sentence, stopped and sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine, okay. Reya says that, and I quote, there used to be seven sky-people, two fucking died. Why she used sky-people, specifically, is beyond me.”
She signed again.
“Oh, fair enough,” he said, deadpan. “She said it because she thought it would be funny.”
At his explanation, Reya wore an immensely smug expression, getting a chuckle from everyone but Eric.
Emilia leaned back in the couch, patting her belly after the food, then turned to Eric. “Hmm, seven divines, though? First time I’ve heard of this.”
Eric nodded. “Seven, yes. It’s… a bit of an open secret? The divines tell anyone who asks, but they don’t really speak of it without asking.”
“How’d they die?” Liam asked, leaning forward.
Reya signed at him, and he seemed to follow for a moment before looking lost. Eric gave a small smile at that, placid, and repeated the motions of her hands as he spoke. “No one has any clue. The divines aren’t saying, either, but they were probably killed by keepers or usurpers. The three way tug-of-war’s the only thing that could really kill divines. Or so Reya says.”
She rolled her eyes at him, probably because of the… three or so signs he left out, and he elaborated. “I left out her swears. She’s annoyed.”
I couldn’t help but feel a weird, sympathetic smile for the twins. Having Cass only able to talk through me felt a little similar. Though I didn’t exactly wanna censor her, I just couldn’t always perfectly convey all of her words, in terms of tone and such.
There was a soft hum in my head, from Cass, that let me know she appreciated my efforts anyway. I smiled, and mentally thanked her.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Hmm. Curious that the divines wouldn’t be spreading this information,” Marie noted. “Seems like it would be vital to the whole fighting back part.”
Her accent was gone again, suddenly replaced with a crisp and clear no-nonsense undertone. It was strange to see her shift so quickly, but I could also see it in her posture, suddenly more upright.
“What even happens to gods when they die?” Emilia asked. “Do they just stop existing? It can’t be that simple, can it?”
Eric shook his head. “No, it’s not. Their divinity needs to go somewhere. Sometimes it’s split among other gods, widening their sphere of influence. It can be taken by the keepers. It may simply reincarnate into a new god if left to itself, and sometimes it forms a mortal body to begin a new journey.
“If none of that happens, it might fizzle out or grow over time, becoming a source of environmental change. A dead divine of storms might cause rainfalls in the area the divinity sticks around in. Stuff like that. There’s lots of paths. The long and short of it is: we don’t really know what, specifically, happened to either.”
I looked around, and was honestly glad the restaurant was empty, or people would have surely been looking at us weird. The waiters usually stayed away, only occasionally coming over once they noticed that the table kinda went silent whenever they passed by.
Now, we’d all gone silent after Eric’s explanation, just mulling over our thoughts. I couldn’t see what the others were thinking, but this felt… strange. Firstly, that the divines would hide that kinda news, and secondly, the fact that no one really knew what exactly happened to the two other divines.
Because that’s what Eric essentially’d said. There were a dozen options on what could have happened, none more likely than another. It… didn’t really change anything in particular. Not immediately, at least.
Our group wasn’t even close to the power level of people who meddled in the affairs of the divines more. Rey, my teacher, had been at that level, back in his days. But he didn’t talk about it much, since he didn’t want to, and I was fine with that. Still, our group had a closer link to the divines than many others, what with me having the gateway now.
It was a strange kinda feeling, more an awareness about just how alien they really were. Even if they died, they wouldn’t necessarily “die” at all. They were just… bigger, in scale, than I was used to.
“I want desserts,” Matt said, shrugging, interrupting my train of thought. I smirked at him as everyone turned to look, and a couple giggles broke out.
“Alright, me too,” Liam agreed.
“Same,” I said as well.
Bit by bit, the others agreed as well, and we called the waiter over to get another small bit of food.
- - -
Time went by quickly in good company. We spent another hour and a half in that restaurant, before Marie paid the bill. She did it quickly so none of us had a chance to protest. Granted, everyone had seen it coming; her glances towards the cash register were far from subtle.
But none of us were old enough to play the whole “you pay - I pay” game, so we let it happen.
After leaving the restaurant, we decided to continue our little get together. Liam called up a karaoke bar, booking a room. Of course we went.
Somehow, Matt was also too dang talented at singing. Emilia got a little drunk and rubbed her knuckles through his hair in faux anger. Liam’s voice was beautiful, as he went through a love song. I duetted with Emilia, even though she slurred her words a little.
Eric said he was fine just watching, and Marie first protested, saying she was too old. Of course she sang, in the end, a country song about murdering your husband, as was natural and in good humor.
We stayed in that bar till it was later, and eventually decided to check out something else. There… wasn’t really much to check out, especially this late at night, though, so it took some looking things up to find something that was still open.
It was decided we would head to an escape room. It was a particular one with a light horror theme, that exclusively opened at night, actually, which meant it was pretty perfect for us. It usually only hosted six players, but with a quick call, we asked if seven was fine, and they were cool with it, since it was a slow day.
Also, the employee we got was some kid working part time being paid just above minimum wage, so he didn’t really care that much. We tipped him ten novas, which was more than needed, but he was a good kid, so yeah.
The room was fun. Reya got very scared actually, jumping and making a kind of hissing sound in her mouth. It sounded… a little like a cat, even, and was cute in my opinion, though she seemed terribly embarrassed of it.
We solved the riddles, though we took longer than if Ann had joined us. It was fun, though. My favourite part was the dark room with a spot of light coming above, and needing to use a golden dinner plate to reveal hieroglyphics on the wall we decoded with a little sheet we found. Good times.
After the escape room, which features a mummy reaching out and grasping for us, as well as plenty of unsettling sounds, we all decided that was enough for an evening. By the time we were done it was… 1 or 2 a.m., I didn’t quite check at the time.
We hugged each other goodbye. It was nice. One of the best evenings I’d ever spent. Marie gave a ride to Liam, the twins drove off themselves, and I drove Emilia to her hotel before taking Matt and myself back to the flat.
There were no shankings that night, and for that, I was thankful.
Opening the flat door was strange.
It smelled lived in. Just… in general. No one had been in there while we were gone or anything.
But the smell of food lingered in the air, and I could also smell a hint of Matt's floral perfume. It was so different from the way I usually got into my flat, after coming through the mirror, with everything being sterile or dusty… It felt homely.
I flicked on the light, seeing the decorations. Posters on the wall, a bamboo sword next to a full on spear. I smiled. My decorations.
Matt gave me a small push from behind.
“Come on, Fio, get out the doorway, I wanna head to bed,” he teased, though I could tell he was tired.
“Alright, alright, sleepymatt,” I joked, stepping out of his way.
He mumbled a thanks, kicking off his shoes and quickly shuffling into the living room, where he promptly flopped down onto the couch with a loud sigh. I took longer, taking off my jacket, hanging it up, then slowly heading over.
I leaned against the doorframe of the living room. Matt had his eyes closed, draped over the couch like a rug, but he’d heard my footsteps. He smiled, contentedly. “This was nice,” he said, eyes still closed.
“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding. “You gonna head to bed?”
“Mmmmmh, soon as I manage to get off the couch~” he murmured, flopping onto his side.
There was no way he was getting up. With a small sigh, I walked over, scooped him up in a princess carry, and deposited him in his bed. I pulled a blanket over him and just left him to sleep with his clothes on. I smiled. “Night little rabbit.”
“Night Fio…”
I went to sleep soon after that.