3Author's Note For Sabby, the only reviewer I've ever gotten on my favorite piece of work. Your second review made me go back and reread what I'd written, and pushed me to come back to a project I thought I should give up on.
Gods of Dusk
4
Arleon wiped away angry tears, as he stormed down the hallway. Damn him. Damn him! Why did that…that…arrogant bastard have to do that? Why'd he have to be like that? Well screw him.
Screw him and all the rest of the world could piss off, too.
He pushed open a heavy wooden door, and quickly moved up a set of spiral staircases, before encountering another door, which he pulled open with a bit too much force and slammed it into the stone wall.
The night sky opened up to him again, as he made his escape to his last hope of being alone. He hadn't heard Kahyo follow, so it was alright. It would be nice and quiet up here. The stairs had led him to the room of the dorms, looking away from the gardens. As soon as the stars unfolded to him, he felt himself relax a tiny bit.
Felt the rest of the world slide away for a moment of sanity.
And then he realized he wasn't alone.
Blue eyes turned to regard him. Blonde hair fell across a face that looked shaped by the Goddess herself. Crouching on the edge of the half-wall that surrounded the roof, he looked at Arleon. And then looked away.
So this wasn't only Arleon's place of sanctuary. The other found his way here too. Perhaps even often.
The figure shifted, rose, balancing on the edge, eyes looking down at the courtyard below.
"He's looking for you." The deep voice rode the wind to him. Arleon's eyes suddenly met dark blue again, and he realized he was being addressed.
"Let him look."
Eyebrows rose, "Anger is not looked kindly upon by the Goddess."
"Then She should avert Her eyes."
The man smiled at that comment. He turned fully around and dropped from his position to eye him, the smile shrinking, but remaining at the corners of his lips. "I suppose She must do that some times, with how this world is changing."
Arleon raised an eyebrow. This man sure had weird ideals.
"Arleon." The smile turned to a smirk as the boy's head jerked upwards, "See? I remembered your name." He took a step towards Arleon, eyes glittering like jewels.
"Th…thank you, sir."
The blonde man frowned, suddenly, then retreated again to the wall and leaned over again. The erratic behavior was starting to worry Arleon. He'd never met an Ika shi who behaved in such an arrogant and yet seemingly clueless manner.
"Go fix whatever mess you've made." Blue eyes stayed turned to the courtyard.
"What?"
"Even if the Goddess averts Her eyes, there are those who watch who act on Her behalf." The eyes turned to him again, "Or worse. Who act for the tsishin-kal."
Arleon looked confused and tried to translate in his head. Ancient languages weren't spoken enough for it to be a part of every day life, although most children learned at least the basics of the major ones. But Arleon didn't recognize the words and looked on the other questioningly.
But the blonde man just smiled and said, "You'll know the words. I'll make sure of that." He headed for the door, "I'll see you at sunset tomorrow."
And then, he vanished into the dark interior of the Temple.
Arleon stood still for a long moment, before going in search of Kahyo.
Kahyo was slumped against the Gate wall, arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed and head bowed. Arleon's movement slowed as he distinguished the figure from the shadows. He looked like some kind of supernatural being, maybe a shadow demon, seeming to sprout from the wall. His pale skin burned in the pale light that fell across his top half, making the illusion seem complete.
Arleon was sure that Kahyo hadn't heard his approach, but red eyes opened and the dark head lifted. Red met green in a silent conversation that seemed to resolve nothing. It was too hard to read Kahyo's expression, too complex with hidden emotions that Arleon hadn't seen before, or hadn't bothered noticing. A battle of wills, it seemed, for one side to finally give in. Arleon felt his heart rate pick up and was about to turn his head away and speak.
But Kahyo was the one to break, eyes dragging away from him, to stare at something in the shadows.
"I'm sorry."
Arleon's eyebrow arched. Kahyo was apologizing? This was something new. But, of course he should apologize. After all, he had been the one to start the damn argument. He was the one who had lied.
"It…it wasn't like I was lying." As if Kahyo was reading his mind, "I mean…I never said I'd been graduated. But that's not a lie, is it? It was just…a withholding of the truth." His face returned to face Arleon, "Right?"
Arleon didn't speak.
"Yeah." Kahyo uncrossed his arms, putting one hand into his hair, and unfolded himself from the wall, "I guess you've got good reason to be mad."
"So that's why I never see you working."
Kahyo looked surprised, "Eh…I work…believe me, I work. Just not the fun jobs, like what you get to do."
Arleon huffed, "Yeah, real fun."
"You should appreciate it! It only gets harder from where you are! They put you to the back-breaking work almost immediately. I barely had time to recover from the shock of the suddenness of the ceremony before they had me working the furnaces!"
"Whatever."
"What? What's wrong with you now?"
"Now? Now? It's still the same bloody thing! Why didn't you tell me? You even took off the ribbons whenever you came to be with me and Xion!" Now Kahyo looked a little guilty, "You took them OFF! What the hell is wrong with you?" Arleon moved, until he was close enough to Kahyo to begin to make the taller boy nervous, "You weren't just lying to us in that action! You were lying to yourself!"
Now Kahyo looked utterly confused, "What?"
"I wouldn't have made a big deal about all of this if you had just told us. If you had just shown us! On one level, I'm happy for you. But on another level, it's completely different! You hid what you've been honored with! It's like you're ashamed of the honors!"
"You would have thought differently of me!"
"Would I have?"
"YES!" Kahyo's eyes widened and he took a careful step backwards before turning on his heel and walking a few, heavy steps, then turned around and came back towards him, beginning a pace of about ten steps each direction, "If I had told you, shown you, whatever, that I was now part of the Ika shi you both would have been different! Just like everyone else. 'Oh, look, now he's better than us, we can't ruin his new image, let's leave him alone.' Or 'Kahyo probably thinks he's better than us now, I can't stand those types of people." Or the worst one...where you try and treat me the same, but it's all nerves and stuttering voices! I didn't want that!"
"You don't know me very well, then."
Kahyo found Arleon's eyes had sharpened into a glare that turned them into emeralds. He froze where he stood, as if caught by some spell, and stared at Arleon.
"I had come to think that we were friends. I guess I had assumed wrong."
"B…"
"Friends support each other, asshole. They don't go around and make assumptions about the others, especially when it comes to honors such as this! May the Goddess spit on you." Arleon turned away, taking a deep breath. It hurt. A lot. And damn it all if he was going to stand here and have to listen to Kahyo try to defend himself again.
He took a step that felt like it was leveled with lead.
Arms went around him, wrapped over his shoulders from behind him, then tucked themselves under his neck. He looked to his right sharply as he was suddenly pulled against a warm source.
"Thank you." Kahyo's set his forehead against Arleon's shoulder, and took a deep breath, "Thank you." He said simply.
Then the arms slid away and Arleon turned sharply, wanting to reprimand Kahyo. But Kahyo was still much closer than Arleon had guessed, and a hand came up to hold Arleon's chin, and tugged him upwards.
Arleon didn't realize the actions Kahyo took next, until Kahyo had pulled away, eyes questioning. And then they seemed to shatter, like broken colored glass. And Kahyo pulled away, became consumed in shadow again.
Returned to being the shadow demon, and left his prey, still under the spell of his sudden poison.
At some point before morning, the storm broke from thunderous to a soft pounding. Bodies untangled from the mass of sheets and one pulled himself out of the bed, pausing a moment to gain his bearings, before he rose and dressed.
He left, with one long look at the figure he left behind.
Red hair pooled out, as Shiyoi rolled over, and sat up as the door slid closed. A pain rushed into his heart. Why couldn't he stay? Damn him and his duty.
Shiyoi reached for his robes, sprawled over a chair nearby, and wrapped them tight around him. Rain was coming in through the still open window, and he wandered over to close it with a resounding noise as the locks snapped into place. The water on the floor was enough to soak the bottom of his robes, and began to climb the fabric, to slap against his bare legs.
He frowned at the cold that accompanied it, but moved to the fire place and stirred the dying flames, before lowering himself into a chair, cool green eyes reflecting the flickering inferno, and seemed to burn into his lonely soul.
The following day was a flurry of action, as banners of a multitude of colors were suddenly produced and ordered into the Temple, hung high upon the rafters with the use of long polls with hooks on the end.
Arleon worked in silence at his station, washing huge bowls the kitchen used, only to hand them back to the staff to be used again. His mind whirled about him, saying nothing and everything at once. What the hell had Kahyo done last night? And what was his intention behind it?
Beside him, Xion was humming under his breath, a cheerful tune he'd heard a thousand times before. Xion said he didn't know the name of the song, but suggested that perhaps is was one of the Goddess's favorites, that She blessed to those who She wanted to be cheerful.
That made Arleon frown as he thought on it now. She was said to whisper into the ears of those she wanted to be happy, but as he thought on it, Arleon wondered why She didn't wish everyone to be happy. Why did She allow conflicts in a world that She created?
He grimly scrubbed hard at some yellow substance that refused to be removed from the pan.
Wasn't the Goddess supposed to love all Her children? Then why allow things such as hate and anger and jealousy into the world? Maybe…maybe the Goddess enjoyed toying with her creations. After all, it must get extremely boring to be the only being higher than humans.
But didn't that make the Goddess…cruel?
The thought scared Arleon with its intentions and insinuations. He shivered and passed the scrubbed pan on to be soaked, dried, and reused.
They gathered all of the students into the Courtyard, when they should have been at a meal. Curious whispers coursed around the group, as they waited for a sign of authority to explain what was going on, since the Ika shi at the doors all refused to speak. Eventually, the wait grew too long for some and they sank down to sit on the cold cement floor.
Arleon had been lucky enough to have gotten a place along a wall, and took full advantage of it, settling against it, hands hanging at his sides. Xion was speaking with some other people from their group, a few feet away, every once and a while vanishing from sight, and reappearing at other points. Arleon felt that Xion must have known that he wanted to be left alone; maybe he had seen him snap at another guy when he had accidentally stepped on his foot.
Or maybe he just radiated waves that repelled people.
The whispering suddenly fell dead, as one of the doors suddenly opened and the High Lord himself came out, hands in the air, wearing a long white robe with many different colors of ribbon hanging loosely from his neck. He smiled at them, and stepped up onto a small platform the Ika shi had at some point produced, raising himself up for those in back to see him.
"My children!" He cried, crushing all of the remaining voices, "My children! You have all done so well, the Goddess is proud! May She bless you ALL!" He paused for a second, "Today is a grand day for you! Today, She accepts you fully into her arms. Today, you become Her guardian as She has always been yours! TODAY, my children, you become true members of the Ika shi!"
Whispers began again, suddenly turning into cheers, even Arleon was startled enough to push himself away from the wall and stand up straight, looking to see if it was some kind of trick. But the High Lord just smiled, holding his arms wide open, as if waiting to hug all of his flock.
He frowned. They were getting desperate. Fools. Look, Mother…look how they rush. His eyes raced across the crowd, finding the one he was actually there to watch, hidden near the back.
No one had taken notice of his presence, perched above the commotion and celebration, feeling like a god starting down at his disciples. Is this what it was like for You, Mother? Watching us all scurry around without understanding?
He smiled at the thought, before deciding it was best if he made his appearance soon.
"To bring you into our circle, fully into Her arms, there is one final task!" The High Lord smiled, continuing to hold his arms open, "One that requires nothing more than your attention and ability to stand straight."
The children didn't seem to believe him, and murmured again.
"To the Temple!"
Then everyone realized that several of the Ika shi were carrying two large containers, with intricate golden designs behind the High Lord, and understood the words the Lord had spoke and in a wave rushed for the door.
Arleon started as well, beginning to fall into the wave, when a hand clamped down onto his shoulder. He looked up, eyes suddenly meeting the still startling, yet now more familiar, face.
"I must go, m'lord." He attempted to step out of the hold, but the hand remained, blue eyes hard on him. "Please, sir."
"You will not."
"But-" He stared after the others who were leaving.
"You will not become one of them."
Fear laced through his veins as he turned wide eyes to the blonde again.
"You will become mine."