Up and Down

Gods and Men

She should be afraid.

Falling into the reddish skies, into the nothingness. But she is not.

"I have to leave," her voice is a whisper swallowed by the wind, "I have to leave now."

"Then, make it so," Pasashet falls next to her, though much more gracefully, her winged arms letting her control her descent with ease, "command. Rule. Bend the will of the world."

She wouldn't know how so she continues falling into the endless sky.

But what if she could fly? She likes to fly. The sky is where she can leave behind all her worries and just be. Soar on the gentle tradewinds. Be free...

The silver rain knits itself together into strands, and strands weave into a creature of metal. It shrieks, piercing the rush of the wind. With a flap of the mighty wings, it catches up to her, matches her speed and dives under her body, scooping her up onto its back.

A giant eagle. Anna clutches at its ornate metal feathers, holding onto the cold filigree making up its body.

The sky is still below her, the field of reeds above.

There is no end and no beginning in sight. She cannot even remember how she got here in the first place.

"Make your way. You have done it before."

"I don't know how..."

Pasashet closes her eyes, serene and regal as if they are merely strolling through a garden, not hovering over the red abyss.

"The ones you so long to reach... your two sweet, precious snakes."

"What of them?..." Their faces, she must hold onto their faces in her mind. It tugs on her, the chest over her heart aching, twisting, gnawing. She cannot forget.

"They have gone where they should not have."

"What...?"

"For you. They did it for you. Now... they are in mortal danger."

She gasps, the pain in her heart utterly unbearable, a knife blade twisting into her flesh.

"No... No!" She clutches a fist over her aching heart, "I have to... I have to get to them!"

"Then do it. It is in your power. It has always been in your power. All you need do is reach for it... and take it."

She looks around helplessly. There is nothing. There is no one. No one but...

The bird's wings flap hard as she turns it in mid-air, and spurs it with a nudge of her heels. Sharp curved beak opens, letting out a screech, and she screams with it as the world becomes a blur of red below and gold above, streaking towards Pasashet, the howling of wind filling her ears.

The woman opens her arms as if to embrace her, a beatific smile on her face.

"Go now... go and claim your place, goddess."

They collide, and the universe cracks like an egg.

Sebastian's lungs are burning. The thick sludge fills his nostrils, his mouth, stings his eyes. It's nearly impossible to swim, with something pulling him down into the pit like a whirlpool, but he struggles, and he struggles more, breaking the surface for just a second to gulp in another mouthful of air.

They are sinking. What seemed to be a small burial chamber turned out to be a bottomless pit, and the rocks liquefied under their feet to swallow them whole.