Cassandra Pendragon
For me bliss had always been associated with intimacy, maybe a sense of security that had allowed me to forget the rest of the world, but those two usually went hand in hand anyways. What I slowly came to realise, while the good natured ribbing continued to flow over me and my mind went on one of its meandering excursions, was that bliss didn't need something special or unique. Just sitting there, surrounded by people I liked, if not even friends, while the sky was free of crackling rifts, the air devoid of ozone and the most important topic revolved around the surprisingly versatile applications of vampiric saliva, was also a form of bliss I hadn't experienced in months. I… I felt like I actually belonged again, like life would go on, in all its beauty, glory and, as usual, ugliness, even if I couldn't find a solution to our expanding, or rather imploding, problems.
To cut a long story short I felt a, probably -hard to tell from the inside-, creepy smile tug on the corners of my mouth as I stared into Liz's sparkling sapphire eyes and didn't hear a single word she said. Not that it mattered much. The girl was a living waterfall, unable to stop the chatter as long as she wasn't told directly to shut the hell up. A pretty entertaining contrast to the other three, who preferred to keep their mouths closed and their eyes peeled, looking and listening for anything that might turn out to be important later on. In that regard they were similar to Ahri, while I thought I was somewhere in the middle. I actually liked idle chitchat from time to time, but I had hardly found myself in a situation where I had had the time. Maybe that would change quite soon and I'd be able to invite my neighbours over for a good old-fashioned barbecue… provided we weren't going to burn down our world in the next week or so.
"Cassy? Are you listening," the blue eyed human huffed in exaggerated exasperation.
"No… as you very well know. Did you ask a question?" She rolled her eyes and pouted.
"Indeed. We need your permission, otherwise Greta won't allow us access to the portals. Do you mind?"
"Mind… mind what? Where do you want to go?" She shrugged.
"Earth. Two of your pupils came along when Ahri brought you home. We didn't have much time, but it was more than enough to make me curious. Do they actually use machines to travel over there?" I nodded absentmindedly, still puzzling over why I felt so much less burdened than I had twenty minutes ago.
"They do. They can even fly, but you don't speak the language and I don't have the time to show you around. Did the witches invite you?"
"In a way. More like a general you're all welcome, but we," she indicated herself and the two former slaves, "will still take them up on it, if we get the chance."
"Sure. Just… ask Greta which portals are safe before you take one. I might have to open a few in the near future and I can't vouch for what will be waiting on the other side."
"I know I'm going to regret asking, but," Faelan, the wolf hybrid, began in a low, almost raspy voice while she pensively fiddled with her shimmering tresses, "what's actually going on?"
"In a single sentence," I mumbled, accompanied by a heartfelt sigh and a deep stare into my glass of orange juice as if the secrets to the universe had been engraved on the bottom, "past me has probably underestimated the power of an artefact I stole back in the day and now we have to face the music. Add my own mistakes and the entire the realms are collapsing debacle to the mix and it makes for one hell of a recipe." Silence was my only answer and when I looked up I bit my lip at their panicked expressions. Right. That little tidbit probably hadn't been common knowledge. "Judging from your faces you didn't know," I added lamely.
"None of it," Alassara gasped, "and what do you mean by our world is collapsing?"
"Not our world, not really. Only its subrealms. Which makes it only marginally better, come to think of it. You've already heard or seen that Reia has become an angel, haven't you?" The vampire nodded. "Well, that didn't go over quite as smoothly as I had hoped for. I had to fight one of my siblings and as it turned out a world, or even a closed subrealm within said world, can't withstand the pressure of two immortals going at it. The place we fought in broke. Think of it as stacked water barrels. Once the one at the top collapses the rest can't contain the flood. In this case they aren't only overflowing, but breaking. One after the other. On the bright side, the deluge is only partially crashing into our world. Most is attracted by the artefact I mentioned and wreaking havoc on Earth. Now we have to find a way to channel it all somewhere safe."
"But… if an entire world can't contain it, what else is there," the vampire asked and for the first time she seemed nervous, worried. I would have been, too. Hells, I was.
"Oh, we already have a place in mind. The how is much more of an issue. Simply put, my magic, my problem. And this time around I'm not sure, if… wait, do you hear that?" My ears twitched as I focused. A familiar, yet strange melody wafted through the air. I just couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but I was certain I knew the song.
"Don't deflect," Alassara commented, clearly miffed. "You wanted to…" she felt silent when I rose in one fluid movement.
"Jolene," I mumbled, my tails swaying in tact with the music. "Did the Earthlings stay," I asked no one in particular.
"Not that I'm aware," the vampire replied in a clipped voice. Through a defeated sigh she added: "you're going to storm off any second now, aren't you? You really can't drop something like this on people and run away…"
"I'm not going to run away," I said, halfway out the door, "and I won't fly, either. You're very welcome to join me. We can talk while walking, can't we? It can't be far away." Once outside I stilled and tilted my head from side to side. "This way, I think," I explained and sashayed down the branch with my involuntary entourage. At least Alassara and Liz had grabbed two cloaks on the way out. Well, I say cloaks, but in reality those two pieces of cloth could as well have been meant as curtains… or shrouds. They did cover them up, though.
"Not as nonchalant once outside, are you," I teased the human girl.
"If you keep the perverts away, I'll take the stroll butterball naked. Want me to," she immediately shot back with a straight face. "I wouldn't even charge you."
"I probably wouldn't even look." A slight twinge in my core warned me from going down that road. "Fine, that's a lie," I admitted and quickly changed the topic: "Didn't you want to continue our conversation," I asked Alassara, who had caught up to me with a few strides of her long, shapely legs. Her bare feet made barely a sound on the coarse bark while her nimble body naturally wove in and out of the soft shadows along our wooden path like a predator on the hunt. If she had been more than a handful of steps away even I wouldn't have been able to keep her in sight unless I'd have cheated.
"With a tiny bit of distance I actually don't, not anymore. You've already mentioned that there's nothing for me to do and, believe it or not, I don't actually mind. Somewhere between saving my daughter and protecting my home you've gained more than my loyalty, you've gained my trust. Unless you ask for my help I find myself more than content to leave the worries and woes of worlds and realms and planets to immortals. Besides, I've got more important things to occupy my time. Figuring out how to get running water in a tree, for example."
"Magic," I replied without missing a beat. "Wait, does that mean you're retiring?"
"Retiring? That would imply that there's something left to retire from. No, I'm just not in a hurry to rebuild. A large, or rather influential family, that is. Rebuilding a home, though… I never thought I'd work with anything but stone and earth, but the dryad has assured me that I can sleep safely in her arms and the sun out here doesn't bother me, either. Then there are those three… Liz doesn't want to become a vampire, not really. The other two are a different story. They've been hurt, Cassandra, and I think they want to… to start anew. Truly anew. I think I can offer as much."
"Their decision," I said and shrugged. "I know you'll make sure they won't regret it, either way." I cast a surreptitious glance over my shoulder. "There's a reason for my visit other than your pretty face. Layla, Reia… the whole bunch of kids I find running around in my backyard. It's nothing pressing, but you do remember that I offered to take them to the Emerald Island to go to school, don't you?"
"Of course. But I figured with everything going on that particular ship had sailed."
"In a way… let's cut to the chase. Knowledge is power, quite literally when it comes to magic. At first I thought school would be an easy solution to keep my sister out of my way and have her learn enough to understand the world. Not much changed when she became an angel. If anything it'll be years before she can cast a single spell again, maybe decades or even centuries. Luckily she isn't pressed for time. Anyways, what got me thinking again are my other two siblings, Mephisto and Sarai, not the kitsune… even though I probably have to pay them a visit as well. Bluntly, I'm not thrilled with how much the two immortals are involving themselves." I raised my hands and massage my temples only to drop them again immediately while the scene of Mephisto mirroring my gestured played vividly in my mind. Instead I gesticulated helplessly.
"Yes, they're experienced and powerful, but they can't… they won't actually shoulder any responsibility. To them it's still just a game and that won't ever change. So I thought about how I might keep them busy, included and maybe even useful without endangering our home. My other brother… damn, this is starting to get complicated. Arthur mentioned that I might want to open a school of my own. I don't think I will, but those two…"
"And you want to know… what exactly? If I'll let Layla attend?"
"If it's a good idea, for starters. And yes. Will you allow your child to come?" She remained silent for an uncomfortably long time, her eyes glowing like embers half hidden in the shadows.
"Honestly," she finally began, "it depends. As much as I understand the significance of being taught by an immortal, her safety, her wellbeing is my priority. Can you vouch for that?"
"Her safety? Alassara, adolescence… or childhood, how old is she exactly, anyways? Doesn't matter, what I wanted to say is, there's nothing more dangerous than the conviction you've got it all figured out while you don't know your ass from your tails, pardon my french. Trust me, I know. And kids… well, they're the very definition of hubris, aren't they? So no, her growing up in a place like this while being taught by immortals definitely won't be safe and I won't make you a promise I might not be able to keep. What I can promise you, though, is this: she won't regret it. Shouldn't that be enough?"
"It should," she sighed while the dense greenery around us lightened as we neared the tip of the branch. The music had changed as well. What I heard now sounded very much like AC/DC shrilling from a cheap stereo without a decent bass. "And maybe it does, but…" The vamp frowned when the… acquired sounds hit her. "What in the gods' names is that?"
"You'll see in a moment. Can't be far… there." I pointed to an opening in the flood of green. On an adjacent bough the growing wood had formed a large, level platform surrounded by vertical branches. Their canopies provided enough shade to keep the sweltering heat at bay and their leaves danced in a fresh, salty breeze to the chopped accords I heard hammering from a small, portable speaker. Two men were sitting close to the edge, their feet leisurely dangling above an abyss that promised a fall of several very long seconds.
Their built couldn't have been more different, one was tall and lean while the other was a veritable ox of a man, but with their heads nodding synchronously to the beat and their eyes closed it was plenty obvious that they were related. Closely. Which indeed they were. Brothers, to be precise.
"Can you jump that far," I asked while I measured the distance with my gaze. A good 20 metres. Maybe more.
"Sure." She jerked her head towards our companions, whose eyes were darting nervously from us to the frighteningly empty space between the branch we were on and our destination. "I should be able to carry two of them as well, but I'd rather not. One would be fine, though."
"Take Liz. Then those two can at least die together in case I drop them."
"That's not…" Faelan began, but I was never going to find out what exactly it wasn't. Funny? Appropriate? Considerate? Yeah, it probably wasn't. Then again, I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I ferried them across the chasm safely, despite their hollered protest. Maybe it had been a little funny.
With barley a sound I landed and deposited my breathing burdens gently at the centre of the platform. Still smiling I turned to face the two humans, but one was already on his feet, his hands crossed in front of his chest in a gesture meant to ward off evil spirits, while the other shook his head with a hint of a smile playing around the corners of his mouth.
"Oh no," John began, "not you. Not again. Begone, evil demon! Leave me and mine alone! Return to the abyss and never come back!" I blinked and tilted my head to the side while the sounds of Alassara's landing were drowned out by her snickering.
"Is that your usual way of saying thanks for saving my life," I asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Saving my life," he spat and reached for the hilt of a probably rather large sword at his side. "That's what you call it? I met you once and I'm turned into molten slop. Then I meet you again and I become a living kebab. What's it going to be today? Rip my soul from my body and feed my balls to the dogs while my spirit is forced to watch?" I blinked again slowly.
"Sorry. I… I guess you're right, but in my defence, none of it was my fault. It… it just sort of happened?"
"That sounded like a question," Richard, Big Dick, rumbled as he got to his feet and extended his hand. "Glad yah'r out 'n about again. Yah looked like crap, last I saw yah."
"You should have seen the other guy," I replied and ignored his offered handshake. Instead I pulled him in for a hug. I couldn't help it, I liked the big, burly brute. If a brute he even was.
"Really, now," he whispered in my ear. "From what I've heard you ran with your tails between your legs."
"Who's told you that?"
"Your brother. And he has it from your fiancee, so I'd say chances are it's the truth. Is it?"
"Maybe," I grumbled quietly. "It might come as a surprise to you, but fighting is not always the best option. Sometimes it's not even a viable one."
"Really," John interjected exasperatedly, "I'm trying to exorcise her and you act all chummy?"