The War Without Fate

Chapter 12- Forces Personified

When Castor had awoken the next morning he was filled with a new determination. The option of drinking was gone for him. All he saw was the goal ahead; getting his son back. He had said a quick good morning to the two of us and headed down into the basement. Swaying with his hangover a little bit.

I made breakfast for all of us and when we sat down Castor emerged from the basement with the that same book in his hand. His eyes sharp and cold again yet full of pride as his colorless lips pulled up slightly at the corners. 

"I believe I found it," He stated, excitement behind his voice. 

"Why would you bring that up here Castor?" I asked, scolding him as I set a place for him and poured some food onto his plate. "Its too old for that."

"Its not as if it will turn to dust from slight exposure." He shrugged slamming it down next to his plate.

"At least let me adjust the light," I sighed, drawing the curtains closed and submerging us in darkness.    

Castor lit a candle and brought it over to sit it next to the book. He turned to the page with the gargoyles on it and passed his finger down it.

"We already read that." I said nodding my head

"Yet you wouldnt be able to find the sub text behind it. Or the great symbolism that applies to our problems today." He smiled at the book fondly. " Now see here, there are 4 gargoyles total. 3 of them stand for the 3 fates. Clotho the spinner, thats the one thats lost.  Lachesis the alloter and Atropos the unturnable. Those two were never lost and later in the passage here it suggests that they were at some point personified. Which means that they can either be on our side or on the other side. It also means that they would have taken on attributes from their previous life or lives.  I believe they could easily be found with that palm recognition software you were working on. Atropos would be the one we would really have to worry about.  Now this fourth gargoyle stands for Zeus. As you know many religions around the world had eerily similar charecters and would associate different things with them. This civilization was obviously different from the others and saw these controlling forces as foe instead of friend. In other words they recognized the absence of their free will and sw themselves as what they truly are in this life; pawns on a chess board that is so big they cant even see the edges of it. This representation of Zeus was depicted as the guider of the fates. A less popular assumption of this being. He was also personified and he is one that we would really have to worry about."

"And the 3 forces?" I asked pointing to where they were mentioned. 

"Ah yes!" His lips stretched wider into a grin " The force by the name of Tekmoor which stood for proof and ordinance has been personified in our eyes. He is known today as the Libra I believe. I suspect that he at one point got ahold of the truth and found a way to get things back to when he was ruling. He has the upper hand. He might have found out who the majority of these people are by now. He has already found out one. That is why he has Pheonix. Im not sure which one he is, but he is extremely important."

"I imagine it would be one that could only be recognized as a male." I sighed "Pheonix was Dior in his past life."

"How do you know?" Castor asked seriously 

"The palm program I created found the match." I explained

"I'm not sure which one that could be as this does not explain this." He said shaking his head and running his hand over the page "Most of these are unknown he could be any of them. However Ananke is known I believe. It is Cordellia, she answers to the name. She is aware of what she was and it explains her great power as an agent of fate. I called her in my time of need and she told me what she was doing. What she had realized. I asked about Claude and she stayed silent. Instead asking me to join them. I denied them. I vowed revenge and hung up. My sadness then chose to overwhelm me and I took a comfort in drink at that point."

He put his head in his hands and scratched at his scalp.

"What else is there?" Tony asked 

"One more force." Castor said " Dike who performs divine retribution. I think it is a metaphor for death itself. Unlikely to be personified yet still a possibility."

"So how do we find these people?" Tony asked sitting back in his chair and taking a drink from his orange juice. 

"Like this," Castor turned the page to reveal several palm prints. "I dont suppose you could scan these into your program to find a match?"

"It'll damage the page but I'm not sure we have a choice." I took out my phone and took a picture of each of the palms and transferred them onto the program. It began its scan yet I had little hope it would find the results in time. It took 4 years to find a match to Pheonix's palm. 

I heard a phone ring and looked around at Castor and Tony. Tony looked down at his lit up shirt pocket and answered his phone. His eyes looked ahead and he went over to turn on the tv in the living room. We followed him and it displayed another broadcast from the Libra. 

The Libra's voice came on as pictures flashed by of American monuments. "This is my way of finishing up this part of the job. You see people have tried to take down this "Great" civilization before. They bombed your Pearl Harbor, your World Trade Center. Even the famous Stark Tower. I think I'll finish what they started."

There were flashing clips of what was clearly a live feed of Pearl Harbor being nuked. 3 planes flying into the re-built world trade center. Then Stark Tower being blown to bits. I felt Tony tense up beside me. I laced my fingers into his and his fist wrapped around them. each footage ended with the camera lens being blinded by the mass amount of smoke. 

"Next I thought of the way you kill a snake. You cut off its head." The Libra said quietly 

Footage of an army going across the white house lawn and kicking down the door taking it over flashed across the screen. 

"After that I thought of how great civilizations in the past had fallen. From lack of political officials." The Libra purred. pronouncing each word with some hidden joy behind it. 

Footage of our political officials lined up against a white wall and standing still pushed itself onto the screen. Gun shots were fired and the men fell to their knees. I recognized one as the president another was the head of house. 

"I then thought of more symbolic things you foolish americans put your faith behind that stand for your country. Such as the hoover damn, the hollywood sign, your empire state building, Mount rushmore,  and the golden gate bridge."

As he named the things the screen flashed with fire as those things were blown to shreds. My mouth was hanging open slightly in horror. I realized my facial expression and changed it. A look of determination and anger mangled my features now. I would not show weakness. Even if no one was looking. 

"Next I realized I hadnt finished my work on your national mall before. Now I did." More videos of the monuments from the national mall being demolished by wrecking balls and all sorts of things. 

"You know, you capitalist basterds do have good taste. I must hand that to you. So I took advantage of that. Look at the white house now."

It flashed pictures of the outsides of it destroyed. The side of it was painted with a large set of purple scales and when it flashed pictures of the rooms inside you could see large purple scales painted on every wall. 

"Thank you for your consideration." The Libra laughed "I really think you will all like the new America. Its fair and balanced now. The rich can no longer trample the poor. Instead they are all on an even playing field. Enjoy the regime."

The screen went black for a moment then flashed to a news reporter sitting behind the desk dumb struck. Tony picked up the remote and flashed it off.  He brought his phone back up to his ear. 

"We are headed there right now." he said and hung up. 

He turned to look at me and I nodded. He lifted his arm into the air and flexed. The two suits few through thw window and opened up. Tony lifted his arm and flexed again. Calling another one I would imagine. We waited for a few minutes until another flew threw the window and sprayed glass all over the floor. I walked over and grabbed a cooler from under the cupbaord and put the book inside it sealing it with duct tape. 

We all climbed into a suit and I hooked the cooler onto a hook on Castor's suit. Together we took off through the window and headed back toward the hellicarrier that was a sitting duck somewhere off the coast of South America.