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Skip to halfway if you're here for a quicky.
(This feels presumptuous, but I'mma do it anyway.)
A note before you begin. When I began this series it was off the cuff and the first time I'd ever written... well anything really. It seems to have been enjoyed (ya bunch of fellow freaks) and I will be resuming with this first installment.
Depending on comments and reviews I will either treat the original as a draft and it will guide my rewrite, or this story as a stand alone incident with a follow up or two for world building.
Regardless, I hope you enjoy.
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The tablet fell from my fingers, forgotten as a numb ache filled my soul and deadened my senses.
The words echoed in my mind and the world grew darker, "I'm sorry we both need other people..."
They were a barbed bolt that tore through my chest as I fell to my knees, gasping for air breathlessly as my heart was ripped from my body and shredded into pieces. Hot, stinging tears burned trails down my face as my shoulders heaved with choking sobs and my soul writhed in agony.
Knowing she was right only made it worse...
I could never be what she needed.
It wasn't in my nature.
I didn't need to read the rest to know what it said. She knew me better than anyone, save myself. And now she knew the truth that I'd always known.
She deserved better.
And I deserved nothing.
No matter how hard I might try, I could never be her perfect love.
My heart screamed as I picked up the pieces, hugging myself as I wept and tied the laces of her armor back into place with practiced hands and slow, deep breaths. Each one shook as I mentally sutured a wound deeper than any I'd ever known, but one that would scar quickly and heal. As it always had before..
So many times...
I promised my heart that I would keep her safe, this time. Even though she knew it was a lie. Passion would find us again one day, and pain would inevitably follow.
But we would never stop.
Could never stop.
Will never stop.
It is not in our nature.
Not now, and never again.
My heart stilled as acceptance came to me, and suddenly I could draw breaths without gasping through sobs. We knew this day would come. We'd readied ourselves for it. It would not break us.
It was not in our nature to break.
The tablet began to vibrate aggressively on the hardwood floor, derailing my spiraling train of thought as the name Analluria replaced the Dear Johan message I quickly deleted before finishing.
With a resigned sigh I answered with a thought and a gesture, placing my pinky to the corner of my lips and my thumb to my ear to activate the enchanted stone's dweomer. An instant later I was greeted by the gloating smile of my godsister, High Mother Analluria, floating in the air.
"Baby Brother! I hear you're single again?!" She didn't bother to feign concern. "Awww... Have you been crying? Is that poor little mortal heart of yours brokey-broke? Again?" She laughed, teasing me with a pouting face as I nearly ended the call right then and there.
But then she would win.
I didn't bother to hide the irritation in my voice, "What do you want Ana?"
Her smile twisted into a crimson scowl, "I want you to be less of a dick, but we both know that shit ain't gonna happen." She spat every word with venom as her eyes flashed with fiery annoyance. "Maybe try being less of a little bitch too, while you're at it? Fucking hells, your crying over a fucking mortal for Mother's sake!"
I ground my teeth and smiled to avoid the unpleasantness my candor would bring if I pointed out her hypocrisy. Instead, I adopted my most obsequious tone and smile, "My apologies Godsister Annaluria. How may I help you?"
Her grin returned with a sinister gleam and I knew that I was about to get fucked, deificly. She was far too pleased with herself... and completely ignored the opportunity to call out my blatant disrespect.
The first thing anyone should know about my godsister is that she's fucking insane. Seriously. Koko for Coocoopuffs. Nuckin'futz.
She has a three track mind. Fight. Fuck. Fight/Fuck. That's it. Nothing else.. When she can help it, at least.
How or why she'd been elected to lead the Union still baffled me.... But so do most of the things the gods do. Mostly because they all fucking suck, in some way shape or form. Nearly exclusively.
Don't believe me? Go crack open the texts or learn the poems of any religion. They rape, kill or curse at the mildest of slights, they hold grudges for generations and don't mind punishing innocents. At all. They're generally far beyond any repercussions most mortals could possibly muster, and they simply do not give a single shit about you.
Simply put, they're a pack of ogres that get their rocks off picking on halfling toddlers.
Zeus? Philandering incestual rapist. Seriously, dude marries his sister and then proceeds to cheat on her ad nauseum. Why bother? Not to mention his more bestial activities....
Thor? Murderous macho dickhead. Dumber than a box of rocks. Genocidal maniac when it comes to any giantfolk, or tall humans. Or regular humans, because he thinks may be very short giants. Married to a giant. Go figure.
El? Tried to murder his whole fucking family while attempting to wipe out all mortals but his own personal favorites. Without him, the Godswar never would have started. Killed by his own sons.
Crom? Less of a dick than Thor, but still a dick. He's actually not that bad, so long as he doesn't see you as weak. If he does, he may crush your skull for a laugh.... Or torture you to death to 'build character'.
Woden? Will eat you. Full stop. You are an animal, he is The Hunter. You are meat, and he is hungry. He uses every part, so at least you won't go to waste....
Mab? Fucking psychopath. Will eat and fuck you. Concurrently.
Titania? See Mab. Seriously, don't fuck with fairies. You will die very badly.
I won't belabor the point though. The list of fucked up gods goes on and on and on... But I would be remiss if I didn't give credit to the few decent ones. Hestia and Mitra immediately come to mind, as do Adonai, Asheara, and Artemis. Adonai and Artemis are still around, the rest died in the flighting
The trickster gods are... a mixed bag, but mostly good. Still... best avoided. If only for your sanity.
After that.... Well, plenty of assholes landed on the right side of The Flood. And plenty of assholes aren't really 'evil'. Just dicks.
Crom for instance, while being the original toxic macho meathead, chose to stand beside Mitra and Ishtar against the rest of their pantheon. Though he needn't have bothered as Derketa and Bel murdered them all in one fell swoop, dealing a massive blow to The Flood and putting them back on their heels for the first time in the war.
Strange times made stranger bedfellows, and family drama only gets more insane and chaotic on the cosmic scale.
Whole worlds were wiped out and planes drained of magic entirely just because a few assholes decided to amass 'ultimate power'. Those assholes now known collectively as: The Flood.
Because they washed away everything in their wake, sparing only their own loyal creations.
Several factions opposed them early on, to little effect. Whole worlds and planes were erased as no one group could stand up to its focused. Not until The Divine Union was formed, led first by Hestia, who'd melted her cast iron skillets and given them to Hephaestus to forge into god killing blades. The first of which he gave to his mother, Hera, who had remained dutifully at her husband's side. Marching with The Flood.
She struck him dead on his throne in Olympus, burying the dirk to its pommel and wrenching it free by cleaving an exit through his face. And then shoving his lightning bolt into the ruins of his skull. She cast his corpse from the mountaintop and took his throne for herself, swearing allegiance to the Union as the new Queen of the Hellene.
It's funny how that worked out so well.... For her.
In my opinion she was no better than her brother/husband. Brusband? Perhaps worse. His actions were reckless, irresponsible, reprehensible, and self centered, without a single care for the consequences. Hers were considered, intentional, cruel, and malicious. And her victims were innocents whom she tortured as a proxy for the man who'd truly wronged her.
Fortunately, most of the shitheads, Hera included, died in the Godswar. Unfortunately, so did the best amongst us. In the chaos, with pantheons broken by civil wars or wiped out entirely, new faiths emerged and new gods arose as demigods and mortals ascended and either took up their predecessor's mantle, or forged their own path forward.
Of the old gods, a handful of the Hellene and a few Elohim remained, along with the equally devastated Diaga, Devai, Vanir and Aesir. The Mulhorandi were betrayed and wiped out entirely when their godking Rah-Mut was assassinated, murdered and sacrificed by his brother Apophis. Who was in turn put down by his mother Neith. Who died defending Lemuria from Demogorgon, the new King of Demons. Who was in turn slain by Adonai and my godsister Analuria, with the help of a dozen greater angels and azata.
And that was before Baphomet and the psychopomps decided neutrality was no longer an option.... Alongside the titans Rhea, Atlas, and Oceanus who took up the fight against the Fomor....
Needless to say, it was a fucking mess.
For demigods like me, though, it was simple.
