Deus Ex Machina: Verdict of a God

Take Me Home/Take Me Anywhere

The house's embers held the white glow of the fire that made them. It was framed against the red clouds of the sunset and the sun's evening light, illuminating the long, unburnt grasses and the boy and girl on the path which cut through those grasses.

Karya had been staring at the smouldering embers since they had come back from the forest. Her crying had died down to a quiet sob, then eventual silence. What was Alex supposed to say? He had tried comforting her--touching her, even--but she just screamed at him until he moved away, then she continued crying. So he just stood there and waited until she was ready. Ready for what? Well, guidance counsellors never get that far.

Suddenly, Karya stood up and walked over to the still smouldering house. Alex tried to stutter out a question but eventually ended up jogging after her. The embers in her path faded to lifelessness as she pulled the fire from them, removing the redness and puffiness from her face and re-energizing herself. She carefully sifted through the embers, searching for...what, exactly?

"Karya?" he said tentatively. "What're you searching for?"

"Bones,"

Her voice was strained and rough, her movements were frantic and shaky, yet her eyes had a resolve in them. Alex was angry. He was angry that he couldn't do a thing to help because he was afraid to find proof that Gunnr was dead. He was angry that she managed to gather the resolve to search for his bones. Most of all, he was angry that he had lost everything again. By now he was so angry at everything that even the sound of the ashes shifting upset him.

"Dammit, Karya, could you stop for just a fucking second?"

She rounded on him instantly, fists clenched. Her hands glowed with a fiery orange, illuminating the now dusk-covered remains of the house.

"What?"

"How the fuck can you even search for him like that? How can you just assume that he's dead?"

"I haven't assumed anyth--"

"Isn't he like your dad? You're fucking sick, you know that?!"

He was about to say something he would regret, even if he didn't know it yet.

"A fucking savage like yo--"

Karya's scream echoed all around as she started the blaze anew, hurling fire at Alex. She drew her sword from her back and wreathed it in flames. Left and right he swung, lighting the charcoal made from the house and the long dry grasses that surrounded them. Her fury was unquenchable now as she attempted to burn Alex alive. He had dived into the grasses, but that was a massive mistake because now the grasses around him were ablaze. His arm was almost completely burnt, all the way up to his shoulder, but adrenaline had kicked in just in time. He sprinted into the forest, backpack and all while Karya slung fire. He would have to come back, though. They may hate each other but there was no way they would survive without each other.

*

The desert road was never kind to strangers. The desert was bare of animals, save for the lone creatures that were super-adapted to the environment. One of these creatures Alex and Karya were not. The sun god brought to bear the full strength of his heat, drawing all of the moisture from Karya, Alex and their guide.

"Solün, spare us." Karya and their guide muttered occasionally. She had long since lost the energy to dissipate the heat and they weren't very close to their next rest stop. Alex would've just gathered some clouds, except there wasn't actually any moisture in the air, not even enough to make one wispy strand. The only blessing was that they weren't walking. Who knew that there were camels in this world? Camel-ish, at least. These had spots on them like giraffes and short snouts.

The sweat and dirt seeped into Alex's bandages as the "camel" rocked back and forth. He was too hot and weak to get angry, so he got bored. When you're bored, you think about things you don't want to, so that wouldn't work either.

"Hey, guide," he called out. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Abal Bärutei el-Akalumal. You may call me Abal." His tone was dripping with sarcasm. Not very friendly, it seemed. Alex was still bored enough to try, though.

"What made you get into the guide business, Abal? Doesn't seem very fun."

"On the contrary young man, I enjoy the company of people who don't know when it is the right time to speak to someone. Especially the ones that choose the height of the desert's heat to travel." He remarked sardonically. That was enough to get him to stop, mostly because he was fucked up and sweating his skin off.

"Solün spare us," Karya mumbled again.

"And why have you two been saying that?"

The instant the last word left his mouth, they rounded on him. Karya yanked her mount to a halt and hopped off of its back, halting their procession. She stumbled to him, defeated. She grabbed his pant leg and slumped against his mount.

"You," she croaked out. "You haven't been paying your blessings."

He looked up at Abal but he wore the same look of defeat, which confused Alex even more.

"I-uh, I was never very religi--," he tried to quip, but the last of Karya's energy lighting a fire in her eyes was all he needed to stop.

"Say it," she growled.

"Wh--"

"Now!" Abal shouted at him.

"S-Solün spare us! Are you fucking happy?!"

Alex huffed and heaved, exhausted from just that ordeal. They really needed to get to that rest stop. Abal and Karya sighed in what seemed like relief and after Karya got back on her mount, they continued. The rest of the trip was devoid of conversation, other than Karya forcing Alex to "pay his blessings". It was surprisingly easy to get to the next rest stop and the one after that, then the one after that. It had to be some kind of placebo, right?

Either way, Alex was glad to be changing his bandages at the first stop. The burn scar wrapped around his arm and stopped at the middle of his bicep, red and angry. He rubbed on the plant mush that the medicine man had given him after he had magicked the burn, then wrapped on the bandages. He stepped out of the room and Karya glanced at him then looked away quickly, her facial expression hard. Fine by him, he wasn't apologizing for anything either.

"Let's go," she grunted, then walked out of the clay-walled inn.

*

I'm really thinking about recasting that savage. How dare that filthy little shit burn my hero! Where does she get off? Now that scar has to be canon!

A/N: Was this boring? I was considering making them get to where they're going faster, but I'm not sure. What do you guys think?