Roll up, roll up. Welcome to the Circus of Thorns...
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To punish the gods of old, the rising religion known as the Church of the Golden Goddess, imprisons them in the legendary Circus of Thorns. Bound by dark magic they're forced to entertain t...
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Power soared across the bloody field like a wave, the gods and monsters all fell to the ground where they had stood.
They were free.
Some simply dispersed, with contentment on their faces, their bodies turned to dust, travelling on the light of the rising sun till they reached the next life. Others marvelled as curses fell, and they returned to their true selves. Freedom was theirs, in whatever shape and form they had craved it.
The era of gods had passed, as had the time of the Divine church. Now was the age of man.
Odin shed a lonely tear for his kin, watching it sink into the blonde hair, Fenrir whining at the god's ankles. Odin made his peace and turned. He stumbled into his new body, his limp more pronounced. His mortal one was weaker, frailer than the body of a god.
Through the field he walked, passed Tyr and Horus, he nodded to Athena, as she kneeled tearfully beside a still Ares, her face solemn. There was joy at what was to come, but for a short time, they would mourn for what they had lost.
He found him, River, cradling what little remained of his arm, blood seeping to the ground, drawing the colour from his face. His eyes lingering on the fallen sorceress.
"She's dead." River looked up at Odin, anguish marking his handsome features. Odin put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing the flesh warmly. This boy had suffered so, this boy that reminded him so much of his own precious sons.
"The time for magic is over, but there's a little left. For what you've done, Strongman, I grant you the last of my power."
"Odin?"
"You can be with her, the one you dream of, I can make that so." River's lips parted, and he looked down at the Beast, her body cold, that fierce soul, the one that burned bright, gone. The shell, just a painful reminder of what had once been.
"Can you bring her back?"
"This magic is for you. What do you choose, boy?"
River didn't hesitate, and though he had dreamt of the woman in robes of lavender for so long. It was the Beast's absence that left him hollow, that made him feel a wretchedness he had never known.
"Bring her back. Bring her back to me."
Odin chuckled, and with the last remaining power that pulsed in his veins. He made the Beast's heart beat once again. Odin slapped the boy's back and turned away, walking to aid his friends. To celebrate and drink and plan their new lives.
As she came back to life, River saw the curses that bound her fall away, like shadows giving way to the morning sun. Her fur fell off her bones, her wings crumpled, falling off her shoulder blades like cobwebs, her body seemed to shrink before his eyes.
She stirred, but River didn't move. When the Beast looked up, with amber eyes and hair that flowed like milk, River knew her face.
River sunk to his knees before her.
"But..." River cried. And in her laugh, he heard the sharp bite of the Beast. She moved forward, wrapping her arms around his neck, her forehead pressed to his.
"Your dreams were my future. They didn't become mine till after they'd been yours. The woman in those dreams was born of your kindness, like the man in them came from my strength."
"I don't understand." He laughed, relishing his confusion, wanting to drown in this happiness. This woman was home to him. In whatever body she came in, she was alive and she was his. Like he was hers.
"We saved each other, you and I. Without the other, we could not become the people we were needed to be. To save them."
River frowned, sinking deeper onto the grass, bringing her body closer.
"If all magic is gone, then..."
Her fingers weaved through his hair, her touch as soft and vital as his dreams.
"I will die, eventually, I will grow old, and wither. Though if even the smallest ghost of magic remains, I will find it."
River looked down at his arm, ravaged by Fenrir, his hand and wrist devoured by the hound.
"I'm not what I was", he whispered. She smiled, her hand caressing his face.
"And I am not the woman who lived in your dream. I am both her and the Beast."
River met her smile, putting his remaining hand on hers.
"We can be together."
She laughed again, her lips so close to his.
"Yes, my love. We can be together."
They kissed, kissed long and deep till their lips were swollen and they were drunk on the taste of each other. Around them, in the chaos of a crumbling circus tent, with the victors and survivors of war picking themselves up and dusting off clown costumes and acrobat silks, they looked around at the world around them. Together, the gods of old, now men and women of a new world, would build something together.
"You have yet to give me your name", River asked. "Have I not earned the right use it?"
She laughed happily, smiling as she took in what was left of the circus.
"I think, Strongman, you'll find my name is all around if you care to look."
Hand in hand, a woman who had once been an enchantress, and then a beast walked with her lover, a free man who had once been a circus strongman. Together, and because of the other, they had set themselves free.
