Rune and Ruin

Seeds of the Gods - 31 - The Harvest

Time Immortal - The Edge of the World, Footpath to the Underworld

Her eyes

"You fooled me, child."

"You fooled yourself." The reply was emotionless. Words without pitch or tone, but with a wealth of meaning. Eyes made of the deepest dark gazed out at the world with unfathomable knowing. More than wisdom shone in that gaze. There was potential, a morass of understanding and hope, and a disconcertingly certainity despite the chaos falling before them.

"You used this plague for your own ends," the older woman huffed. "To force this abomination of soul bonds!"

"You accuse me of creating an abomination, but have no knowledge of my purpose," the younger woman mused, a hint of amusement coloring her tone. "You made the choice, Aunt. For crimes millennia old. You wished infertility upon the families."

"To have the demons die out," she snapped, "to stop the hurt and pain."

"You thought this would slip past my notice until it was too late," the younger woman said, a cold smile curling at the corners of her thin, pale lips. "Foolish. I heard your plans of vengeance before you felt it flicker to life in your heart. I felt your trap come to life before these souls could climb from Ersetu again."

"A trap?" the older woman asked, sounding affronted.

The younger one made a soft sound of agreement, but said nothing, feeling that there was no point. Everything about the circumstances here was planned —a divine plot made to corrupt the powerful. A fall from grace that could be used to justify the following horror. What her Aunt didn't understand was that there would always be souls with more power.

"The demons will be stronger now," the older woman changed tact, pleading now.
These bonds are not what your mother-"

"My mother has enjoyed this story," the younger one cut off the older woman's admonishment in a voice seething with ice-cold disdain.

The older woman sighed, feeling put upon by the younger woman's stubborn nature. "The demons have caused immeasurably harm. They are too powerful."

Dark eyes seemed to smile, though not a single muscle twitched in the younger woman's face. "The greatest strength kneels to the greatest weakness. Vengeance is balance, Aunt."

"Do you think you've solved this, then? You? A child with no more than a mortal lifespan of knowledge?"

"No," the younger woman turned her black gaze back to the culmination of eons of work. "This story will happen, again and again. Balance is not easy, Aunt."

"You have thrown everything into disarray! You have changed their entire society in only one generation!"

"More than one," the younger woman corrected absently, eyes narrowed on the young ones chasing each other through the grey dust.

"You used your uncle's tantrum as well!"

A soft snicker escaped from the younger woman. "Uncle Pir's suffering has only just begun. That is also balance, Aunt. Besides, he brought it on himself," she excused with a shrug.

"And the wolven?" the older woman snapped. "You know your cousins have claimed them as their own."

"There will always be other choices," the young woman mused thoughtfully. "My cousins should remember that."

"So, these..."

"Covens," the younger woman supplied.

"Covens, will be part of your domain?"

"I own no one, Aunt."

"No one and everyone," the older woman groused.

"Yes," said the younger woman after a pause.

"I will have words with your grandfather, child."

"I imagine you will," came the unbothered reply.

The older woman stiffens. "I will forgive you, for the children. So many," she sighs. "At least they won't be full-blooded demons. There is that."

"Yes," the younger woman murmurs. "There is that."

The older woman slid back into the trees, disappearing as easily as the wind blew. A moment, or perhaps a century, later, the air shimmered with heat and light.

The young woman felt her bottom lip curl downward in something ghastly that resembled a pout.

"Not all creatures need multiple bonds," the silky voice was most certainly pouting, no matter how the young man would protest that he would never do such a childish thing. They both knew he would and did. Repeatedly.

The young woman felt the heat ripple down her spine. An arm of golden, super-heated flesh wrapped around her waist. A liberty she was used to. "I suppose not," she replied finally. "After this generation, many will only have one bond. After all, a single lover is difficult enough to manage."

"Right," the young man nodded sagely. Behind her gaze, his shining eyes flickered with something dangerous. "Especially when that lover is particularly needy and vicious."

The young woman slid a wary gaze his way. "Needy and vicious?"

"Yes," the young man agreed. "Greedy, too. Nasty emotions. Those creatures need a single lover, I think. None of these harems and groups, little shadow."

The young woman grew pensive, lost in thought. "No," she replied slowly. "Some of the greediest will share. Vengeance is true."

"Greedy in a good way," the young man protested.

"How is greed ever good?"

"When it is protective... and loving."

"Then it's protection and love, not greed."

"And, that protective, deeply-felt, unchanging love is worthy of a single lover."

Dark eyes blinked. "You are confusing. Or, perhaps, confused?"

"Maybe," he shrugged, unbothered as her nose wrinkled just the slightest bit. He spent countless moments thinking of ways to light his existence with her quiet expressions of... anything. Anything light and happy, even irritation, counted to lift the weight she bore.

He waited. Foolishly, he knew, like she had accused their Aunt of being. Nothing and no one could outdo the patience of the goddess in his arms. As usual, he gave in first, skimming his lips a hairsbreadth away from the top of her head, inhaling the scent of shadows and secrets that belonged exclusively to this female. "What is next?" he asked. "Her sister? Are you staging a battle against the Moon?"

The young man went still as she leaned her head against his shoulder, relaxing in his hold as if she hadn't rebuffed his advances countless times. "Her sister's story isn't one for me," she murmured in contemplation. Then, she sighed, "One day, there will be enough pain for me."

"I will help you," the young man vowed.

She pulled away from him then, much to his dismay, and turned to look him in the eyes, one of the only creatures able to do so. "You light the world," she reminded him gently. "You don't live in the shadows."

He shrugged. "I light the world, and without it, this place wouldn't have shadows, love."

Her nose wrinkled again, making his heart sing in happiness. "You are confused." Turning back around, she let him curl around her again. "And confusing."