From Night On: Magdalene

Chapters 29-30

Chapter 29:

Set in Water and Stone

The battle was over, although the war was still present. Phobos' decision to disengage the fight over Meira and Quaden for the moment was not an act of peace between the two challenging ideologies, but an act of preservation. If what he saw was to come true, the failure of Meira and her full purpose would mean the end of all the gods and the worlds they sought to rule or protect. To allow such an end to occur would be to knowingly commit suicide through passivity. On the other hand, what he felt when he witnessed what was to come to the humans by their own hands left him with a pain, a remorse, an empathetic sorrow of such depth that he acknowledged that he, himself, needed time to reevaluate his own perceptions of humankind, but this was something he could do safely on his own without letting others within know of his shift in thinking.

As Phobos approached his siblings to retrieve their scattering dusts to assist in their later revivals, he stared at Meira. A strange mixture of sadness, anger, and compassion perfectly expressed upon his face gave the others a false sense of security in the small victory.

"Do not give me the opportunity," he grumbled as he leaned down towards his siblings' remains. His eyes lifted from Meira to glance towards Anapel. "I'm fighting many urges to attack Atlas just to keep this one rift open." His eyes then lifted to scan the air as though he could see the rift for himself. "Freedom at my toes and I must turn away. Please, don't confuse my actions here with me joining your ranks. If our existence didn't rest upon your frail, human shoulders," he said, returning his gaze towards Meira, "I would end you without hesitation."

Chuckling softly rumbled from Hanuman, who had a front row seat to the images that the three of them witnessed. He felt both Meira's and Phobos' reactions to the prophecy and knew better than to take Phobos' words as complete truth. "I know that is not entirely the case, anymore," he said with a wink to Phobos. "Something has stirred within you and I would very much like to hear your thoughts on the matter."

Phobos' slight attempt to intimidate Meira quickly faded as his eyes dropped suddenly to the ground. "Maybe, another time," he replied, his voice subdued and sounding almost heartbroken.

"Another time, it is," Hanuman answered with a courteous bow.

"Come, Meiri," Quaden said as he tugged at her robes. "Let's finish this up."

Anapel expanded her barrier to include the entire train as the other gods used their abilities to fix and repair the broken wagons and carts, but two bodies still lied among the caravan that begged the men to make their requests. Quaden was surprisingly silent as his men begged on Khalil's behalf to resurrect their fallen friend. With such an opportunity as to have the irrefutable presence of gods, they believed they shouldn't miss the chance to save at least one of the bodies. The other body was a different conversation.

"Is this goodbye?" Mathew asked Ba'al Hadad through the gentle flow of light from Anapel's spell. "Surely, you've got some godly trickery to get back in line, centurion."

"That is not for me to decide," Ba'al Hadad answered with a bashful smile. "While I would love nothing more than to continue our adventures together, I'm afraid, in this instance, I've already made my bed."

"What do you mean?" Quaden asked as he, Meira, Simon Peter, Andrew, and Justus joined the conversation.

"I've made my decree," he answered. "I cannot argue with the unfairness of punishing gods for misdeeds while not having anything in place for humans. I am to stay behind in the spirit world to act out these punishments. Those men who enslaved you all and ordered us to commit such sins against others in the name of war should not go unpunished."