Fierce Of Flames (Wrath Of Gods Precursor 3)

Eight: Say That Again, I'll Punch You IN The Jaw, Then Balls, If You Have Any

QASSIANNE:
I couldn't understand. I didn't want to understand, not really. I didn't wanna feel for the girl who had already done so much for me, yet said she didn't want to. I didn't want to feel that her and I had some connection. Not because she spilled her guts all over the grass for me to taste. Not because she lost someone as close to her as Qass is to me. Not because she seemed to understand everything about me, even though she had no idea. Yet, yet, yet, I did feel for her. I wanted to hate her, I really did. I felt betrayed, I mean, who else would literally wash your back for you, who else would make sure you were clothed and had food. Who else would take care of you like that? Qass, where the fuck are you when I need you. It shouldn't have been you, it shouldn't have been you, it fucking wasn't supposed to be you brother. Where the fuck are you Qassian.
I rolled over, rubbing my eyes before tears could fall. "It was never supposed to be Qass who stays alive, it was always supposed to be you, you have the power." I could almost hear Robbert's voice, and fire burned inside me. I rolled the other way, wishing I still had a phone, that way I could look up what Robbert said. Something about a Japanese creature, a, a, Kitsune? Whatever that was. I rolled and looked around. Sunlight blasted in from above, as if we were in a forest, if a forest could look like it was sprinkled with glitter. Everything sparkled and shined as if it had it's own inner light. I rose, realizing as I did, I was on a soft bed of grass, rather than an actual bed. I frowned and walked around the little, space, glade, something. I saw a little table with things I'd never seen before on it. I looked around more, in search for the girl, Pandora? My heart thumping hard now, I moved down a grassy path almost scared, almost wanting to call out her name. But as soon as I opened my mouth, I caught her scent, and moved toward it, not realizing until then that I was in my, my, my other, form.
I rounded a corner into another, glade, space, whatever. Either way, I saw her, fast asleep on another soft bed of grass. By her side, another table sat, and on it, "A phone." I approached warily, worried on waking her if I wasn't quiet enough. I neared her side, and, I paused, looking down at her. She looked so peaceful, so soft, so vulnerable. Her dark brown hair in a tail, keeping it out of her face. Her olive skin almost looking sun kissed. I knelt, feeling as if I needed to, as if I was drawn to her. My heart raced and I found my breathing deepening, drinking in her scent. She smelled so good, like fruits and flames. I took another deep breath, and found my face hovering over her's. I almost jerked back, disgusted, but I eased back and toward her phone. Silent as I could, I lifted it off the little table and touched the screen. The phone opened up, and I saw a picture of Pandora with a boy with long black hair. At first, I thought it was her boyfriend, but I instead saw just how much they looked alike.
"That's your brother." I whispered. "Unless of course this is Game Of Thrones and he's actually your brother and your boyfriend." Shuttering at the idea, I shoved it away and tried to unlock the phone. Unexpectedly, it did. Sighing with relief, I inched away from her and sat around the bed, opening different icons. I threw my head back in udder confusion. Whatever this phone was, it wasn't anything like the Apple iPhone. Hell, it wasn't even like a shitty ass Android. Frowning, I stared at the home screen. There were app icons just like on an iPhone, but that's where the similarities stopped. There wasn't a handy app named Safari where I could go on the web, or even a Google. Hell, I couldn't see any games or phone or messages apps. Everything was under some language I never seen before, and every time I tried to understand, the letters seemed to shift and turn, dancing under the icons. "You know, Ron did say that I wouldn't need a password for it, now I see why."
I jumped, dropping the phone between my legs. "Huh say what I wasn't doing anything." Pandora smiled. "It's fine, I deserved it." She held out her hand and I pulled the phone out and handed it to her. "I'm sorry, I, I just wanted to know something." "It's ok, in your place, I definitely would have done the same thing." She sat by me and asked, "What were you hoping to find?" "I wanted to search something on Safari, but everything on there is another language." "It's not, it just is symboled that way." "It's what?" "Symboled, it's what they call it when they put a symbol on something." I gave her a blank stare. "Ok, so, you know how everything in Harry Potter has spells right?" "Ok?" "Think of symbols as spells, you put a symbol on something to make it do something. One of those symbols, is to keep all the letters and print in another language if someone tries to use my phone, that way no one can use it but me." "Sounds complicated." I said. "It does doesn't it? But I guess it's not, not really."
"What were you searching for?" "I wanted to know what a Kitsune was." Pandora's eyes widened and she almost dropped her phone. "Oh, Oh, I understand now." "Huh?" Holding out her hand, she said, "Come on, I know where you can find that out. We have a library here and I remember exactly where that was." I frowned but let her pull me up. After brushing my teeth and hair, avoiding my fox ears, I followed her through the forest, asking, "What is this place? Where are we?" "That is a very good question." "Not the answer I was hoping for." Pandora snickered softly. "It was like this when I opened the door, I think my room-slash-apartment, shifted to your needs as well as my own." "You live here?" Skepticism roiled through my words like flames over a log. "It was a normal room until you Cassie—"Qass, just Qass, with a Q, not a C." "Ah, ok, well, before you Qass." I frowned as we walked into a huge open area that was filled with tall flowers, knee high grass, and huge thick trees. Everything seemed to glow and shine, sparkling with that glittery stuff. Pandora moved toward a tree and touched it's trunk. The tree, which was glowing, melted part of it's bark into a doorway, and a stone hall lead from it. "Are you hungry?" My stomach growled in answer. Pandora winced. "Ok, food first, then the library."
When we entered the dinner hall, I could only say, "Wow." I was already impressed by the entrance hall, the long reception desk where indigo sat, the tables with moving pictures and sculptures. And what looked like a waterfall made from glass. But this place, it was huge, even bigger, which I guess was the point? Long tables, round tables, all were in a kind of ordered chaos all through the hall. Pandora watched me and I couldn't stop my gawking. It was like magic was sparkling through the air, everything was so bright and glittery. I stepped forward, quite forgetting my sour mood. "Beautiful isn't it?" Asked Pandora. "I know, I felt the same way when I saw it. It's just one of those things about this place that, even when you're depressed as shit, it still reminds you there is beauty in the world." "Yeah, it does." I murmured. There was a cough to my left and I turned. "Oh look Pandwhora, you finally found your prince, or, is it princess?" I frowned. "Who are you?" I asked.
    "Bellavere," said Pandora. "That's Bellavere." "Ewww." I said. "Bellavere, Bella, like the chick from Twilight?" I asked vaguely remembering the story. I had absolutely hated it. "If you ever make that comparison again, I'll—"You'll do what?" I asked, stepping in front of Pandora. "If you'd waited I'd have told you." I waited, Bellavere said nothing. "Well?" "Well what?" "Is she always this slow?" I asked Pandora. Pandora snorted. "You have no idea." Bellavere snarled, baring her teeth. "You wanna go dog? Because I'll kick your little ass with no problem." She turned fully on Pandora. "Look at you Pandwhora, standing behind your prince charming, or is it princess? You still haven't answered that one." "Leave it alone Bella." Pandora snapped.
    "Who's gonna stop me? YOu, your little prince, your princess?" She sneered. "Please, I could take both of you without trying and we all know it. Your dog couldn't defend you and you could never defend yourself. She's a bitch, though she does have a tail rumor has it, so I mean, that would make sense." She stepped closer, all her attention on Pandora. "Go on Pandwhora, do something, we all know you can't, we all know you won't. You're too much of a pussy to do a God damned—" I wasn't sure how I did it, well, I wasn't really sure what came over me. I guess it was just that word, "Pussy" a truly fowl one. Either way, my fist was flying as white-hot rage burned inside me like fire, and I felt the beautiful pain as my fist connected with Bellavere's jaw.
    I must've been punching with more power than I realized, because Bellavere went flying backward and into a bench, her back slamming against the table. The force of it knocking over a few cups, liquid spilling over the wood and glass. I slowly stalked forward, my teeth bared. "ENOUGH." The voice was harsh and cold, lashing out like a whip, and, effectively stopping me in my tracks. "What is this hmm?" I turned, seeing a woman stepping toward us, command in every, well, step. Her eyes were, strange, deeply sky blue like my own, yet, different. She paused, a few feet away from us. Bellavere rose, a hand on her jaw. When she drew it away, i saw two knuckle shaped burns on her jaw. I smirked. "She punched the fuck out of me. I did nothing to her or the new girl and the new girl just slugged me." She held up a hand. "Is that true?"
    "No Audrey." Said Pandora as Bellavere sneered and waved a hand. A pitcher of water moved toward her and water rose out of it. She wrapped it around her wrist, much like I would with fire, and the burns on her jaw began to fade as she pressed the water against her chin. I realized suddenly why her eyes were, strange, because she was blind. "She called me a, well, a pussy, and I think that was what set Qassie, I mean, Qass, off and she punched her." Audrey, the woman, nodded. "Is this true?" "Yes, she was insulting us both, but mostly Pandora." Audrey turned to Bellavere. "Bellavere Granger, why must you torment everyone hmm? Why must you be such an asshole?" Bellavere cringed at Audrey's words and her tone. She opened her mouth, but said nothing. "Provoking a fight, especially with new people, isn't tolerated, you are well aware of this. You are definitely going to pay, I'm going to tell Leader Jasmin about this." Bellavere damn near fainted at those words. Audrey turned to us next. "You, Qass is it?" "Yes." I said.
    "Fighting is not tolerated within the dinner hall, no matter the reasons, whether noble or otherwise. Because you're new, I'll let it slide this once. If you must brawl, take it into the training sector." She spun to Bellavere. "Which is where you will be after breakfast, all, day. In fact, the both of you can go after breakfast, and fight it out." Bellavere scowled as Audrey walked away, gesturing to two other women. One with long black hair and violet eyes, another with hazel eyes. They stepped into a doorway, and it closed behind them. "Come on." Said Pandora, leading me away from Bellavere. "And, thank you, for that." "I hate bullies of all kinds. She needed a good punch in the face. If only she had balls, I'd have followed with a kick there too." Pandora laughed, and my stomach twisted, quite pleasantly, at the sound.
    I dumped syrup on to my waffles and bacon, and began to tear into my food. It was so good, and to be honest, I was starving. I snatched the apple on my plate and, with a mouth full of waffle, sank my teeth into it and tore off a good chunk. The apple was good, just as sweet and just right. I rounded my plate methodically. Circling my food like a predator. I looked up, ready to take a drink, when I saw Pandora staring at me, her lips slightly parted. "What?" I asked. "It's just, I've never seen anyone eat like that. And Asia isn't exactly clean when she eats." "You saying I make a mess?" I asked. "No no no no not at all. I just meant, you're very, predatory with your food. I never saw someone eat quite like that before." I shrugged. "I'm hungry." Pandora laughed again.
"So I can tell." She looked around the hall, and frowned. "Sorry we can't go straight to the library. Bella's an asshole and would do anything to prove she's better than everyone else." I stabbed a fork into a bit of eggs vociferously and brought it to my mouth. "It's fine, I'm use to worse than her." My father arose in my thoughts. Him and his tyrannical behavior. "I'm not afraid of Bellavere." Pandora shook her head. "She really hates that name, never call her that." "As much as you hate Pandwhora?" I asked. Pandora sighed. "If she has the gall to give people nicknames like that, then obviously she can handle it herself if she hears her whole name." I waved my fork as I spoke and smirked. I looked around the hall, and asked, "Who are they, on that big stage thingy?" "Huh?" Pandora looked to where my fork pointed. "Oh, those are the leaders. The twelve who lead the Symbol, task indigo to go searching for others, make sure our defenses are sound, things like that." "Did they give you the task of finding me?" "Actually no, the oracle, Brooklyn, gave me that, said we were a part of some grand prophecy." I laughed.
"Oh if only Qass could hear this, prophecies and tales, stories that—" I paused, the memory of my brother coming back hard. Pandora's hand grasped my own around the knife as it rose. "That's Jasmin." Said Pandora, pointing at a small girl who looked like she was ready to box anyone. "She's about the only one besides Audrey the Symbol, that Bella—" she paused, then said, "Bellavere, fears." I smiled grimly. "That's John, he's the first leader. That is Kitana, she's a goddess of death, and that is—"Wait, isn't there only one God?" Pandora frowned. "It's complicated. There are gods from all over, beings of power, no one truly knows which is which, but the ones from Greece, Rome Egypt, Japan, all of them are real to an extent. There was a Japanese yokai by the name of Daitengu, who fought in the Dark Queen war with us. No one knows what happened to him, but, yeah."
"Japanese culture." I murmured, reminded of what Robbert told me. "That's it, if I found him, maybe he could tell me about this Kitsune shit." "What, find Daitengu? Qass I'm sorry, but no one has seen him since the end of the war, and I don't even know who he really was, all I remember was seeing him off and on in the war." "But one of the leaders saw him right?" "Well no, they were appointed after the war, but, maybe one of the gods did, Kitana or Briella, or Audrey." "Then let's go." I said, rising to my feet. "Wait, we have to get to the training sector, you have to duel Bellavere." Bodies turned to us at those words, and people gasped. "It's her, it's the fox-girl." "Think Bella will kick her ass?" "I hope Bella doesn't severely hurt her." "She looks good, I doubt she'll seriously injure her." Ire boiled in me as the murmurs rose. I bared my teeth and they quieted some. "Come on," I said to Pandora, turning away. "But we have to—"I'm stopping by the room first, there are a few things I need."