Thicker Than Water

Everyone stood in awe as Cassandra slowly got up to greet the woman in front of her. This was her mother. She didn't know how she knew, but the connection was just so obvious in her mind. It was like they talked every day. When they were face to face, the woman held onto her face, turning it ever so slowly. And that's when the tears in Cassandra's eyes went into overdrive, as she collapsed into her mother's arms and started bawling.

"I know, Cassandra." She whispered.

"Wait, Aspasia's your mother?" Kwadwo asked.

"Why, is she famous around here?" Julian asked.

"I mean, she runs the hospital."

"I'm sorry, Kwadwo?" Aspasia asked. "I know that a blood transfusion needs to happen, so I trust I can leave you to it?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I'll need the shield you've got there, too." She said as she approached Xander. Xander glared at her, but obliged.

Kwadwo gave a confident thumbs up as he pulled a piece of paper from a fax machine containing the data.

"Oh, you're brothers with the same blood type. That should make things easier."

Kwadwo looked up from his paper to see Julian and Xander's shocked faces look at him, and then to each other.

"I'm guessing you didn't know that?" He asked.

"But…but…you were with the Legion." Julian muttered. He was actually stumped. The man across from him was related. His own brother was sent to attack him. His brother killed the king. But he felt his mind clear. When the Legion attacked and killed his parents, he saw their corpses. But his mind was filling in gaps of a third family member. He was never found. Between the move to Miracle and mourning them, he simply...forgot he existed.

"Do you need a minute?" Kwadwo asked.

"Just do the transfusion." Julian whispered.

Xander sat as Julian's blood was drained from his arm. His mind was probably filling with as many bizarre questions and realizations as him. When what remained of his arm was fully bandaged up, the two went to the rooftop rest area. A few other people were around in bandages and banged up looking wheelchairs, but they didn't pay much notice towards them. A nurse handed each of them a glass of water, which looked clean enough.

"So…how you feeling?" Julian asked, taking a sip of water. Tasted clean, at least.

"About what?" Xander snapped.

"Us being brothers, let's start there."

"Do I look like I care?"

"I mean, it's a pretty big revelation. You sure you don't feel anything?"

"Sorry, let me rephrase. Why should I care? I got kidnapped and made into a Legion slave, you got to live on the grands. We have nothing in common."

"I wouldn't go that far. I mean, we've both dealt with relics, and we both hate the Legion. Both two pretty big commonalities, are they not?"

"So what now, you want to ask a bunch of questions?" He asked.

"Yeah, questions." Julian nodded, taking another sip of water. "You know what Chelic wants with the weapons?"

"I think he just wanted them all in one place. Have the people's faith weakened, then strike at that moment. He had three of them."

"And you had two."

"Actually, yeah. The Gurut hammer. That wasn't there."

Xander looked into his water, seeing his confused face looking back at him. Someone had the weapon, and it wasn't him or Chelic. Someone got away.

"I take it you don't know?" Julian asked.

"Can't say I do."

"Well, we'll try figure that part out later. Next question, where's your posse?"

"Posse?"

"You know, your team? The girls who were with you."

"Tsuki's dead."

Julian tensed up.

"I'm sorry that happened." He sighed.

"And Priyanka's probably fucked as well." Xander tried to hold his head in his hands, but realized halfway through one was missing, so just used one hand.

"How fucked do you think she is?" Julian asked.

"Well, Chelic tried to kill me, so take a damn guess!"

He slammed his hand on the table and spilled the glasses. Julian grabbed a paper towel to sponge up the water while he calmed down. Julian waved a hand to signify the other patients they were free to go back to whatever they were doing.

"So, what are the chances she's being marked for death?" Julian asked when he sat down.

"Our best guess is that she's being tortured." Xander sighed. "They might try to pick her brains to see if she had any role in what Tsuki and I got up to."

"That buy us much time?"

"Chelic can read minds. Getting her chained up might take a while, but the whole operation would probably take a day, tops."

"Shit." Julian mumbled.

"Look, I know we were enemies for a lot of this relic business. But…you gotta help me! We have the same goal of getting back to the skies and beating Chelic. So once we find a way back there, we should have something, right?"

Julian looked across from him, seeming to be deep in thought.

"Beg."

"Excuse me?" Xander said, looking across from him to repeat that.

"Get on your knees and beg. After all you put us through, I think I'm owed that. God's sake, you broke my best friends leg."

"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense." Xander whispered, slowly getting off his chair.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you." Julian said when he put a knee on the ground. "I was with you the whole time."

"Why would you-"

"Because it seemed funny." Julian shrugged. "Now, any idea how to get back?"

"All I know is propaganda that Chelic climbed a mountain and got to the skies somehow."

"So we can start there." Julian said as he got up. "Well, no time to stay here. Let's ask about a mountain."

Cassandra sat down with Roxanne in an otherwise empty room. Inside was a series of leather couches and some slightly battered bookcases holding all varieties of tomes. Mostly things like medical books. The walls clearly started white, but time yellowed them a fair bit. After a few minutes of silence, Aspasia walked in with a tray of three cups of tea. Cassandra took a cup and followed it up with a sip. It was the worst tea she had ever had. It was stirred well, but each individual ingredient still felt like a different layer on her tongue, somehow. She didn't think it was important to mention.

"So…mom." She said, trying to contain all the emotions stirring up inside her. But paradoxically, she didn't feel she actually had anything relevant to say. Besides Chelic, what was there to talk about?

"Where do you want to start?" Aspasia asked. "How about what we're supposed to be?"

"What we're supposed to be?" Cassandra asked.

"Now, this might sound strange to start with, but I'm essentially a demigod."

"I'm sorry, repeat that?" Cassandra asked.

"To put it simply, where we are is just one of millions of different worlds. Each one a variation that evolved differently. Think of a way society could be run, and there's a world that follows it. And there's probably hundreds run in ways you couldn't imagine. But these worlds will often need more divine beings to assure people don't go astray. And that's where I alongside another came in."

"So am I a goddess too?"

"Only in lineage. Becoming a demigod requires undergoing a test, and the results aren't passed on to our children."

"So I'm guessing the other person is Chelic?" Roxanne asked.

"He isn't, actually."

"Wait, he isn't? But he said he was my uncle."

"From a certain point of view, I guess so." Aspasia said, taking another sip of tea. "You see, two people representing two different gods are supposed to descend to the same timeline, and gradually drive the other out, claiming the territory for the god of their choice."

"And you won?"

"I lost." She sighed. "I wanted to make a world that was devoid of conflict. Everyone would live for each other and the world at large would work to make each day better than the last. My opponent was a man named Marcus, who represented the Olympian god Zeus, who pushed to industrialize the world as rapidly as he could. The issue is, this sparked the flames within humanity. The sparks of industry gave way to the fires of greed. Of conflict, which led to war. War led to those who profited from it spreading it further, until all that remained was a destroyed world and a few on top exchanging dirty looks. And it got too much to handle, those who caused it all escaped, along with Marcus."

"So where does Chelic come in?"

"Chelic lived here, in a neutral territory. He was a brilliant mind. Set to be the second in command at the hospital, and use his powers to run the psycology wing. But after hearing the origin of the Skyships, something snapped within him. He gathered a group to climb the highest peak in the continent without anyone knowing, about fifteen. Fourteen were found dead."

"So did he kill them?"

"Most seemed to be attacked by animals or died of starvation or poisoning. Seemed like terrible management as opposed to malice on his end."

"Also, you said this was always neutral, so was this place involved in any wars?" Roxanne asked.

"This place might as well be the middle of the world." Aspasia replied. "This place was always a hotspot, seeing as it's right between the old superpowers. Nobody outright conquered it, and the land was always important enough as a means to other places that nobody touched it. As the wars got worse, people sought refuge here. But whether by accident or malice, it was eventually bombed. Very few people survived the attack. But when everything died down, a few more people came in, followed my even more. We saw ships in the sky that housed those causing all this, and ruining the rest of the world. So we carried on when everyone assumed we died, eventually letting the world regrow as a natural shield. And I stayed to protect the ones I couldn't protect. But it was all thanks to a few great leaders that I was able to get the world running once again."

"So you're not in charge?" Cassandra asked.

"Nope. It's the family who helped me. And miss Roxanne, It's a family you just might be aware of."