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Kaius made his way back down the mountain in record time, still full to the brim with the strange well of vitality that the Fate had passed through her lips.
He felt as though he could run a full lap around the planet and still make it home for dinner.
As he traversed through the short stretch of forest, he almost hoped for a stray Demon or wild animal to dare to approach.
A part of Kai knew that it was highly unreasonable to desire this. He had no usable Artifact to enhance him and despite the past few months that he had spent accepting every possible manual labour job to build his body back to its former - later? - glory, he knew that he would be better off using the single escape rune than the short blade tucked away inside his pack.
Created by those with corresponding Artifacts, most of the supplies and utilities sold and used throughout the country, perhaps their world entire, were known as Runes.
And Runes such as the one that he kept hidden in his pack at all times, were expensive and finite.
Kai, Gen and Rami had pooled their silver together for the single, unassuming, brass disc. Once activated it would extend outwards into a thin platform and transport anybody or anything inside of it to the home marker, which was currently the small garden area behind Kai's house.
For a moment he wondered how different his life might have been if he'd been gifted a utility Artifact himself. Something that created light or even good plumbing for example...
He certainly wouldn't have joined the mercenary band of Demon Hunters for a start.
But he couldn't help but thank the stars that he did. If he was tied to the artisan bureau as they were, he would have never had the freedom to run that day. He would have been trapped in Zenin, unable to flee from the ones that had betrayed him so thoroughly.
After waving hello to the sleepy guards, approaching the end of their shift at the gates, he watched the street lights hum to life all around him, illuminating the sprawling city streets.
The city was already beginning to quiet as though the setting sun had signalled for all to depart to their homes for the coming night.
Soft lights and the low hum of music and voices strayed from restaurants and tavern buildings and the skinny Kimarie's darted from stall to stall, snuffling at the ground in search of fallen or discarded food from beneath their covered tarps.
Kaius watched them as he passed, breathing in the scent of herbs and flowers that were already mingling with the cool, night air. He felt as though his every sense had been ramped up to a new level, as though he could tangibly feel a connection between himself and the very earth he trod.
Smiling to himself, he stepped inside of his family home, wrinkling his nose against the now overpowering smell of his father's cooking.
'Ah, crap. This is going to be terrible if I can taste better too. Maybe I should cover it in spice instead...'
He mulled over this idea to numb his senses entirely as a way to avoid tasting his father's latest concoction, calling out to them cheerily.
But instead of calling back, he heard a high, sing-song voice echo his hello.
"What are you doing here?" Kai's eyes narrowed at Genevieve, seated at the table as though she belonged there.
She had planted herself beside his little sister in the chair that he, his father and Rami never took, because they knew that it once belonged to his mother.
Aida, although a small child when she had passed, knew this rule too, and was currently staring straight ahead, ignoring the young woman's existence entirely; glaring so hard at the pot of stew it was as if she were attempting to will it to explode.
She shot Kai a murderous glare that screamed, 'Get this bitch out of here'.
"Well, it's the only way I can see you nowadays! You're always so busy it's like you don't have any time for me anymore." Gen pouted, with a sickly sweet tonality.
"Mmm, that was a hint." He mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.
Kai waved his hand dismissively and gave Aida a wary glance, "Where's dad?"
She turned away, continuing to stare at the bubbling stew with murderous intent, "Garden."
"What's up with you two? Come on, sit down Kai honey, let's catch up! You can tell me about everything you've been up to lately. Oh! By the way, it's almost been a year since we started dating. That's so nice, right? I was thinking we could go somewhere together, just the two of us. You need to make up for ignoring me for so long, you know." She pouted again, placing her hand over her heart and glancing up at him coyly.
Kai wanted to throw up.
"Get up." He remarked, bluntly.
"Huh?" She blinked, dropping her hand away and into her lap with a perplexed expression.
"I said get up. Get up and come with me."
"Kai? What's all this ab -" But before she could finish, Kai simply sighed and grabbed her wrist pulling her up and away from the table without answering.
She gave a startled yelp and Aida set back with a smug smile playing on her lips, "What the - Kai! Babe, what are you doing?"
Reaching the door, Kai swung it open and spun her around to face him, "I wanted to do this differently but you chose to turn up at my house with my family here so if they overhear then it's your own doing."
"What? Kai, what is this?" She frowned delicately, the hurt and confusion clear across her pretty features that made Kaius want to grit his teeth and turn away.
Instead, he simply glared at her bitterly and said:
"I'm done."
"With you." He added, coldly.
"What? No, you aren't. You love me! What the fuck, Kai! What did I do? I haven't done anything wrong!" She pleaded, reaching for his face, her eyes wide and startled.
'Not yet, but you will.'
Kai moved out of the way of her hands and began to nudge her out of the door as he spoke.
"There's no one else and nothing has happened in particular. I just don't like you anymore. I thought you were right for me but you aren't. Frankly, I can do better."
Her mouth fell open in shock but Kai felt his chest lighten and a satisfied smile crept onto his face.
'Gods, this feels good.'
"It's not me, it's you. You just seriously fucking suck." He grinned, briskly closing the door on her stunned, bewildered face.
As soon as the door was slammed shut, a loud whoop was heard from the kitchen and his sister's curtain of dark hair bounded over to him, "She's gone, she's gone, the witch is gone!" She chanted, grasping Kai's hand and pulling him into the kitchen with a distinct skip in her step.
Kaius stared at her back open mouthed. He had never seen his sister so animated.
She was similar to Rameses in that regard who only seemed to show any hint of expression in front of Kai. Likely due to this lack of animation, his sister often found it difficult to connect with children her age, preferring to seek out quiet spaces and only seeming to enjoy the company of her family.
Kai beamed at her when she shoved him down onto his chair and proceeded to jig around in front of him in a happy dance, chanting continuously.
He let out a peal of laughter and wiped at the corners of his eyes with mirth, "Wow, I've never seen you so happy, did you hate her that much?"
She stuck out her tongue before nodding energetically with a bright smile, "Yes! She was the worst, Kai! My brother has awful taste in women." She sighed, despondently as though he were a lost cause that plagued her life.
"Who has awful taste in women?" His father's voice suddenly came from the back door, clutching a handful of various herbs from the garden that Kai eyed with trepidation; he wasn't sure anything could save his latest dish.
His sister continued to chant, 'The witch is gone, the witch is gone...' from the sidelines and Kai snorted in amusement, "I broke up with Genevieve." He replied.
"Oh...well...that, err...sorry to hear that." He mumbled back, awkwardly attempting to gauge Kai's reaction.
He grinned widely, "No, no, it's fine, I'm glad. Celebrate away." He waved his hand in the air at all five feet of his sister's happy dancing.
His father's face broke into a wide smile and he leant back against the counter, exhaling loudly and pretending to wipe nonexistent sweat from his brow, "Oh well, thank the angels, that girl wasn't right for you at all. She never stopped talking and was far too in love with herself." He commented, "Next time, you need to find someone who loves you more than they love their own reflection." He added with a more serious tonality.
Kai rolled his eyes at the parental lecture but hummed in agreement nonetheless.
But then, his father turned away and began to throw random amounts of ingredients into the pot as if he could save it by simply overpowering the taste with various garden herbs.
Kai stood up and reached out to grab his arm as it hovered over the overpoweringly pungent stew, "Dad, just don't. This one's a goner."
His father blinked at him in an endearingly lost and bewildered manner, "But, what if I just -"
"Nope. Not even the Gods themselves can save it." Kai shook his head solemnly.
"But...then what are we going to eat?" His father remarked despondently, staring down at the pot as though he could wish it into an edible state.
Kai scrunched up his face in thought for a moment before promptly lifting the pot from the stove and dumping it down the sink to a gasp of horror from his father, "Let's go out to eat. My treat!" He declared, holding up a shiny gold coin from his pocket.
"Kai...I can't ask you to do that." He shook his head at the coin in his son's hand that he knew he had spent the past three months working tirelessly for.
"Pfft, please. I've been working non stop for months, you think I have no money to treat my favourite people? Besides, you aren't asking, I'm offering." Kai shut him down immediately and threw him a rag to start clearing away the remnants from their failed dinner.
"How about it Aida, want to go to that new place down the street with those pastries you were eyeing up?" Kai threw over his shoulder whilst he helped.
Aida, now back to her quieter, less animated state of being, thought for a moment before answering him in a flat, serious tone:
"Ask Rami too. He's family."
His stomach flipped in discomfort, 'One down, one to go. Would it feel just as good to remove him from my life as well?'
But even as the thought of it crossed his mind, a bitter, empty feeling invaded his every nerve, "...right. Family." He agreed, hiding his face from her and repressing a sigh.
'That's why it hurt more from you...Gen was one thing, but why did you do it?'
**