Dressed in Feathers | K.TH FF

11: The Three Fates

"The Castle of the Fates." Taehyung announced.

I glanced over at the edge of the water and there it was in its magnificence. A mighty structure stood tall and strong like a fortress. And like the crumbled watchtower, it's made of bricks of stone. The oaken gates in the middle were grand as they threatened to remain shut forever, and pedestals of blue fire guarded both sides. Its front yard was wide and plain, a wooden dock resting before it, empty and waiting for us to pull in.

"I don't know what's more ominous: this river cave with angry ghosts in it or that fortress sitting on the end of it." I couldn't decide.

"Both present an eerie energy, don't they?" He was agreeing with me.

"Totally." Then I remembered a question I meant to ask earlier. "Can I ask you something? Why do your eyes turn yellow sometimes?"

"Ahhh. You noticed the last two times I used it."

"It's hard to miss when the only person you're traveling with who has black eyes suddenly turn yellow and back."

"It is a common skill shared among deities and celestials. Like you, we cannot perceive in the dark or afar. The yellow eyes known as 'owl's perception' provides a solution for those flaws."

"Because owls are skillful aerial predators and hunt at night?"

"Precisely." He confirmed. Seemed I guessed right.

"And the smoke coming out of you when you're hurt?"

"I presumed you gathered that I do not bleed. The white gas you see protruding from my wounds is... Well... It's my vitality. I am composed of stardust and light. Naturally I wouldn't leak organic matter. Every time I endure an injury, my strength slips away in that smoke. Slowly, I reduce to weakness. It heals by the next dawn, for the sun is life—my eternal thanks to Amaterasu, the sun goddess. She visits now and then."

"What's she like?"

"Like a mother. She is one of the most powerful pantheon leaders, and she bests Zeus in terms of parenting. She nurtured all that prayed to her across the eras of Japanese culture with her sunrays of life. Though, Izanagi, a creator god with Izanami as well as her brother and husband, plays a significant role in that as the god of life and fertility and Amaterasu's father. But that trails off topic."

"He is the father of the sun?"

"After Izanami died giving birth to fire and becoming ruler of the underworld, the sun, Amaterasu, was born from his left eye, and the moon god, Tsukiyomi, was born from the right."

"Why does that sound familiar?"

"Because Zeus birthed his children in body parts that are not meant for delivery."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"Is there anything else you wish to discuss before we dock at our destination?" It seemed the reaper was enjoying our presumably last conversation.

"Actually..." I started to think. "Can you shed some light on something for me please?"

"Certainly."

"What is up with the cryptids?"

"Unfortunately, Miss Gyeowool, supernatural phenomena such as cryptids are limited within my knowledge. They are not native to the spirit realm, nor are they native to the mortal realm. That is not my department. You would have better luck with an archive angel."

"Did I just find something you can't answer for once?"

Taehyung smirked with a silent snicker. "It appears you might have."