4 Chapter 4

*January 17th, 1957*

"Cyxdia, you must stop meddling in human affairs!" Rivorr criticised. Nuphine was rubbing Rivorr's shoulder, keeping an eye on him in case he made an attempt to do anything out of spite.

Cyxdia swallowed, "You can't blame me for this chain of events. This is all Daosum's fault."

"I'm sick of this!" Rivorr exclaimed, his skin turning from a bright shining white to a neon red. Nuphine whispered something in his ear and his skin returned to its shining shade of white.

"Fine," Nuphine gave in, "we shall take this to the full court."

The dimly lit room they had been standing in was instantly illuminated by a light that originated from Nuphine and Rivorr, when the light faded, they were in a courtroom. Hilohr and Daosum sat in the benches in the back of the room, Cyxdia was in the defendant chair, Rivorr and Nuphine were in the attorney chairs, and Jetzotz was sitting in the judge's spot.

"Why have we been forced here?" Jetzotz demanded, staring down at Rivorr and Nuphine.

"Jetzotz," Rivorr stood up, "as you're well aware, Nuphine and I are to keep a watchful eye on Cyxdia, Hilohr, Daosum, and yourself to ensure that you're not interfering with the timeline of humanity. However, Cyxdia has caused a world war to break out–"

"Objection!" Cyxdia shouted as she rose to her feet.

"Overruled, sit down, Cyxdia." Jetzotz retorted calmly, as if he's gone through this numerous times before. She took a seat and allowed Rivorr to continue.

"As I was saying, a world war has broken out, arguably worse than the first world war. Nuphine and I have traced its causes back to a man named Adolf Hitler and his lover, who was removed from Earth by Cyxdia." Rivorr sat back down and kissed Nuphine on the cheek.

"Cyxdia, rise!" Jetzotz demanded, still not totally enthralled in this new case. Cyxdia rose to her feet. "Plea you case."

"Allow me to begin," Cyxdia cleared her throat, "in 1929, a lady named Roxane, under the influence of both Hilohr and, by extension, Daosum arrived on Earth and was the cause of the Great Depression in the United States of America which ended up triggering depressions in several European countries, including France and the United Kingdom."

"I'd like to defend myself..." Daosum said from the back of the room. He stood up and smirked at Rivorr and Nuphine, they had both turned and looked at him.

"Sit down!" Hilohr quietly urged Daosum, but he waved off his son.

"I'll fully admit to having a slight influence on Roxane," Daosum admitted. Cyxdia was about to continue, but Daosum held up a hand, silencing her, "however; I must inform you that she came to me and she told me a tale of who her parents are," Rivorr and Nuphine nervously looked at each other, "and who are her parents?" Daosum locked eyes on Rivorr and Nuphine. "They're right here in this room. Now, my boy, Hilohr, has predicted that Rivorr and Nuphine will have another child. He won't be inherently evil, of course, and he won't be immortal either. His death will come at the hand of Roxane. I recommend you all keep an eye on Rivorr, Nuphine, and Roxane. You four cannot know what the future holds. We can."

Jetzotz rose from his seat, "I find this to be a waste of my time! This was an issue created by the law-keepers themselves; disgraceful! Next time you feel a need to disturb me, warn me! And ensure there's more to it than just pointing fingers," he waved his hand and the courtroom fell apart, all the gods and goddesses returned to where they were.

* * * * * * * * *

The wolf stared at Lochlann, who hadn't spoken a word since the unusual monologue from a talking wolf. He decided to begin transforming into a human, and appeared within thirty seconds of beginning to transform. His body was almost completely covered in thick silver hair, with the exception his face. He shifted his arm to cover up his manhood and he blushed deeply.

"I must apologise now for my nakedness, but where I come from... clothes aren't exactly common." The beast, now in human form, began, his voice still rumbled deeply.

"Where are you from?" Quipped Lochlann, trying to keep his eyes focused on the stranger's eyes rather than staring at his strange fur coat.

"If you'd not interrupt, I could explain," the man said, "I am Fenrir Soulstar. I am not naturally of this earth. I am from Cyxdia, I am her personal protector. Many of my type, protectors, have existed before. And all of them have died in her world when she no longer requires our services."

Fenrir, Lochlann mulled over the word, thinking of where he knew that name from. "Fenrir, like from Norse mythology? The god that destroys the world in Ragnarök?"

"That's the one," Fenrir confirmed, "now, both of you have powers. The real question is have you realised what they are yet?"

Lochlann and Jozie exchanged a look of confusion, her palms got sweaty, thinking back to the replica of herself in her bedroom the day before. Fenrir locked eyes with Jozie, she wanted to look away but felt locked in place by his gaze.

Fenrir nodded his head as he regained his wolf form. "Jozie, you've realised it before, but refused to acknowledge the possibility that you've been gifted with powers of the supernaturals. You have the ability to instantly replicate yourself or any other object."

Fenrir turned and locked eyes with Lochlann, releasing Jozie from his locking glare. "Lochlann, you have a more... perturbing power. The ability to eat anything and absorb its abilities. A really disgusting power, but very useful." Fenrir looked around the room, searching for another person. "Where is the third and fourth? There were four children of... where have the other two gone?" Lochlann and Jozie again exchanged confused looks, lacking the context and knowledge to be able to comprehend what he meant by saying "children".

"Where are they!" Fenrir demanded. He bolted out the door and into the hallway, sniffing for any sign of the two that had previously been there. He ran into the room that Emma had slept in, and stared at the girl staring into the closet.

She was grabbing her clothes, taking them out, preparing to leave for her new life, away from Lochlann, Jozie, and what was Cem. Fenrir waited patiently until she turned around, and then they locked eyes. Emma tried to teleport, but was stuck, rooted by his gaze. Hilohr stepped out from around the corner and locked eyes with Fenrir, redirecting his energy to Hilohr, planting him firmly on the ground, the ground shook upon his impact with the floor.

Emma took advantage of the moment and disappeared, leaving Hilohr and Fenrir in the room, Fenrir's gaze locked on Hilohr and Hilohr's twisted grimace, frustrated with his inability to escape. Rivorr and Nuphine arrived in a blinding flash. When the light died down, it revealed another scenery change.

Rivorr, Nuphine, Fenrir, and Hilohr stood on a purple ground, above them floated a steady stream of golden coins moving slowly away from the other horizon. Past the coins laid a dull blue sky full of stars winking down at them. Fenrir looked around, his tail going between his legs, scared at what was possibly following.

"Hilohr," Rivorr spoke, staring at Hilohr, "this is a world you're allowed to roam, full of nothing but broken hopes and lost dreams."

Nuphine crouched down and offered her hand towards Fenrir, allowing him to sniff it, relaxing him. He sat down and allowed her to pet his head and scratch his ears, something he found very enjoyable.

Nuphine took his paw and Rivorr stepped beside her, setting a hand on her shoulder, emitting another extremely bright light, and appearing back in the room they had been in before they had disappeared. Nuphine let Fenrir go and then she and Rivorr disappeared in another bright spurt of light.

Lochlann and Jozie pushed their way into the room, looking around for Emma. They were still holding each other tightly and almost looked scared of Fenrir, especially considering his immense power.

"She's not here, Fenrir, I thought you had her scent." Lochlann complained.

"She was here, then a demon named Hilohr stepped in my way which caused that tremor you undoubtedly felt. He was followed by Rivorr and Nuphine, a god and goddess pair, they stepped in my way again, but took care of Hilohr." Fenrir explained.

"Who are Rivorr and Nuphine?" Lochlann asked, staring at Fenrir skeptically.

"As I said, they're a god and goddess that are the embodiment of true love, they work together in unison, they're never more than a few feet apart," Fenrir explained, "nothing really bad happens when they are apart, they're just not as powerful apart as they are together."

"All right, so how do we play into this whole thing?" Lochlann asked him, still trying to figure out exactly how all this came to be.

Fenrir chuckled, which sounded almost like a defensive growl. "Jetzotz, the most powerful of the four gods, wanted to place superhumans on this earth. He wanted a group of them, a group of people tight enough that would stick together and keep each other in check. He wanted two males and two females, a group of friends that would stick together through everything! Unfortunately, even the plans of the gods don't always work out perfectly. He picked the four of you and gave you your powers without informing you. The only one of you to find your powers without direct help was Cem, and that was through his summer vacation in the Himalayan mountains, irrelevant! You two know now and your group of four has been divided... unfortunate indeed."

"Does that mean more superhumans will follow?" Lochlann asked.

Fenrir shook his head. "I cannot say, that answer isn't mine to give or know."

"How does your–" Lochlann was interrupted by a weak portal that opened up and the scientist that had implanted chips into them stumbled through, falling to the ground in a fit of coughing. Jozie rushed to her side, instantly concerned with the scientist's health, hoping she wasn't beyond help. Lochlann took a step back, slightly repulsed by the possibility of contamination.

"I... wanted knowledge..." she gasped for air, seemingly struggling to breath against an invisible force, "take!" she held out her fist and dropped a piece of crumpled paper, which fell to the ground after she went completely limp. A trail of saliva led from her mouth to the ground, slightly red from her violent coughing.

Jozie let go of the scientist's hand and took her note, reading it aloud to Fenrir and Lochlann,

"I'm writing this now to explain my part in all this. I wanted to research more superhumans, become one myself. I would've been the best in the world. I would have liberated anyone struggling from the chains of oppression, I wanted a new world order. But if you're reading this, I'm dead. I've probably died doing what I love so don't mourn for my loss of life. I have no living family to continue my legacy, I have no friends, no loves of my life except the work I pursue. With me dead, my work will probably grind to a halt. I'm sending this letter to you because you're my closest friend.

Moving on! I'm sorry... that's the point of this letter. I did too much to pursue becoming what I could never reach, and it ruined my life. It consumed me. Knowledge was my downfall."

Jozie dropped the letter and hastily wiped away a tear and turned away from the body. A clawing sound came from the corpse and Lochlann stared down at it, even more concerned. From the back of the corpse's neck crawled a small beetle, about the size of a golf ball. It began scuttling away from the body as Lochlann stomped down on it, crushing it under his foot.

"Lochlann, do you think this means another one is coming?" Silence followed Jozie's comment. Fenrir nodded and Lochlann just stared at his foot, afraid to lift it and find the beetle still there.