Of Gods and Ends - 1 of 3

Sondi Looked at the glass-like crystal shard universe cupped in her hands and felt paranoid. She walked over to the vanity by the window near the balcony, and reflected on her modest surroundings. She had always loved this place, real only because she willed it, but still. It was a place that gave her great comfort, despite her tendency to succumb to paranoia. Like now. When you're the God of Truth, you stay paranoid. In her mind, the vision she'd be having once again flashed across her senses.

Vague but growing ever distinct she saw a shape, out past the balcony in the distance. The shape resolved into a form that froze her blood and dried her mouth. Gliding towards her was the God of Domination, and he looked crazed, more than usual. With wobbly shoulders and wide hands, the body the God had chosen for himself had been a warrior in its mortal time. Now it was immortal, and the double-bladed weapon in his eyes glinted dangerously. His dark stare could chill a freshly lit funeral pyre, and that stare was aimed right for Sondi, as baleful as it had ever been. She turned so that he would not see the truth of her eyes, the sadness within them, and the small quiver shaking her bottom lip.

Sondi, swallowing past the lump in her throat and turning towards the mirror, saw her own reflection and held a moment. She was a small-framed, lithe, Cetelian whiskey drinker with soft shoulders and brown hands. She was also called the Queen of Truth, to those who knew who she actually was. She had been there when the shard had been just a part of a whole structure, an emerald glowing palace that stretch a league upwards. Sondi was one of the Six Who Seek, Gods with no memories who had been wandering the ether with no regard to time. When they happened upon the Garnet Palace, it was Khyrs who had charged ahead to lay waste to that monument to creation.

The sundering had tied the Six to the universe they had destroyed, the universe that was now broken and glittering in the ether, a million million mini universes, and Sondi held the only piece that existed in this reality. Here she stood, on a planet in a universe she was trapped in, holding another piece of that universe in her hands. And now the cause of her imprisonment was striding towards her. For the first time in millennia, she was angry, hurt, confused.

Sondi was not afraid of Khyrs, she knew that their power canceled the other out. She could no more harm him than love could conquer lust, or hate conquer envy. That did not mean, however, that they could not bring each other to harm, if only to watch them slip somehow over the slippery edge of deceit and betrayal. This was the pit that Sondi was dancing near now, the gaping maw of dishonesty and betrayal. The edge and fall seemed impossibly close. Her hand shook.

The fogged mist teased the air, sending a chill down the nape of the God of Truth.

Sondi looked back at her open balcony door, still rubbing the smooth surface of the shard universe against her skin. "Khyrs, you do not own anyone."

They looked at each other in silence, their eyes piercing through the mortal costume the other wore. Sondi studied Khyrs's wobbly shoulders and wide hands and watched as he watched her, studied her mortal body. Slowly, she took a deep breath, exhaled. "I'm Sorry," began Sondi in apologetic tones, "but I don't feel the same way, and I never will. I just don't hate you Khyrs."

No sooner had she said that had Khyrs flashed towards her, a streak across the space between them. His face was a miasma of rage, pain, confusion, frustration, and she was his target. She had expected this, expected him, eventually. She had been on this world now for a hundred years, and there weren't too many populated worlds, or ways to get to them, in this universe. Still, there were ways, and she knew that he would eventually track her. They were the Six who Seek, they were inexorably drawn to each other, and would be throughout existence. But she had also suspected something that he did not know.

She waited to embrace Khyrs, the shard universe pointed up to meet Khyrs's charge. As he slammed into the shard, his entire essence spun out around Sondi, slowly draining into the crystalline glass. He was gone, for now. She wasn't sure for how long, or where he was exactly, but she knew that he would be held for now. That had to be enough. She knew his influence would still reach this world, but she hoped it would be contained, if only a little.

They never wonder the things we must do and why, she thought, turning back to the room. It was almost dinner time downstairs in the mainspace of the tavern, and she shouldn't keep the hungry waiting. This was a game she played to be among the mortals, the fierce independent tavern wench. They had no idea what was coming, but she knew exactly who she'd need to find. She worked with him at the tavern and they had become fast friends. For all he knew, his brash little waitress friend was a pretty, if rebellious girl with a sharp mind and an attitude to match. She altered her appearance one last time, to the purple gown she had worn her first night in this city of mortals. She would be a tavern girl once again soon enough, this had felt comfortable, and comfort was in short supply. It would be in short supply forever, if she and the unsuspecting man failed.

He had no idea she was a God, and she had a plan. The glass-like shard universe hummed softly, faintly warm.

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Thank you for reading part 1 of three "Of Gods and Ends".

Stay tuned for part 2 to learn more about Sondi and the Six Who Seek!