- From the Shadows a Flare Appeared

In the silence of the forest, a man stood alone without another soul in sight, his eyes hand stretched out towards the clouds and the high mountains in the distance. He, like the rest of the world, was colorless, dull and gray like the darkness under your bed. But his eyes, his eyes were the colors of golden gems, a color that seemed to shine in this world of colorlessness.

Suddenly there was a chill in the air, as if the world was shaking from the very arrival of a new presence, a presence he both loathed and loved at that same time.

"Good evening, I'm glad to see that we're all here."

The nine other figures who hid between the trunks of trees, made no gesture to greet him. They seemed annoyed, but at the same time afraid. There was something on their minds they weren't saying.

"Why did you call us here Tygren?"

One of the nine, a purple-eyed lady whose figure drew in many eyes as she entered the clearing, was the first to speak her mind. She seemed more annoyed than the others.

"There's been a disturbance. I don't know what it is, but I'm here to find out."

"You brought us all here for this? To satisfy your curiosity?"

It had been centuries since they all saw one another last, but they didn't necessarily hold one another in high regard. They were threats, even to each other. But when Tygren refused to respond, another one of the nine, a blue-eyed figure whose voice spoke with wisdom and arrogance, stepped forward.

"This isn't about curiosity; this is about the safety of our realm. There's been a rift."

That word echoed across the empty forests, hushing all who heard it. The ten knew what that word meant, and the danger it imposed on their world. This was no longer a joking matter. This was a war meeting.

"Whatever caused this rift needs to be delt with. I don't need to remind you of the last time two worlds collided into one. The catastrophe from that event was even felt here, on the opposite side of the universe."

"So, what do we do?"

"We have to handle this delicately. We've all done things that we wish we could undo, but this time it really matters. We don't have to lie to ourselves and tell each other that there is another way. There isn't. I suggest we recycle."

There was a long pause for a moment, with every eye turned to the blue-eyed man. He was the wisest of them all, he knew an answer even before the question was asked, but his wisdom was logical, not emotional. That made him more machine than man.

And the purple eyed lady didn't hesitate to point that out.

"We are not recycling. We are not geocoding an entire species just to contain one human!"

"But the danger this human has caused and will cause is enough to consider it. He's already influenced too much, what says he won't continue to throw things out of balance?"

The lady wanted to argue with him, but Tygren's voice cut her off. He had been seated on a nearby tree stump, watching as the two of them bickered between one another while the others did nothing. That was just like them, if they didn't have anything to say, they would simply stay quiet.

Let someone else do the talking for them.

"She."

"…what?"

"It's a she, not a he. And she won't be affected by the recycling."

The others just started at him like he was mad. To say a mortal wouldn't be affected by death was a stretch, but to have their very existence wiped form the history of the world, and still not be affected. That was insanity. So much so the others had to speak up.

"Tygren, are you hiding something from us?"

"I don't lie unless I have to. Besides, there's no point in lying to you all anyways, the truth will come out eventually."

The blue-eyed man could see what Tygren was getting at but couldn't see the angle at which he sought to achieve this goal. There was something he was hiding, something he wasn't keen on telling them.

"You've seen this rift, haven't you?"

Tygren only nodded.

"Then why didn't you take care of the situation? Now there's even more potential problems we have to deal with."

"At the time, I was in no position to make a move. The situation was not in my favor."

He didn't lie unless he had to, and something told the others he wasn't lying, like an eerie chill that ran down their spines. What could be so powerful that it would threaten the very man who held the world together in balance?

Who or what could threaten a god?

"Then what stopped you?"

"…me."

It took a moment for the others to realize it, to see past their confusion, but Tygren didn't say anything. But they heard the voice, they heard it echo in their heads like a hallucination. If only it were, the power in the air was enough to suffocate them, to tell them this was real.

There was someone there, someone they knew.

And he came from the darkness like a ghost, his eyes as white as snow.

The Great One had appeared.

***

Lia woke with a start, cool sweat pouring down her neck as the warm sun spilled though the bedside window. She didn't even remember having gone to sleep the night before, she only closed her eyes for a moment, and in a blink she was asleep. She never even remembered having hit the bed.

But the dreams still remained, they still haunted her sleep and brought demons into her mind from the shadows.

She was hot. Her chest heaved with a fire inside that plumed out smoke and turned her body into a seating mess underneath the sheets of the small wooden bed the church nun had given her. It was a fire she knew well, a fire that mirrored the emotion of her friend, and suddenly she realized he wasn't there.

Where he often hid in her shadow, she felt nothing but darkness and cool air, like a chill that ran down her spine she realized Cain was no longer with her. He was angry, he was upset, but in her heart, he could tell that his presence had left her, disappearing into the daylight like a ghost in the wind.

Perhaps he was searching for answers, or simply just taking a moment to himself. She was glad she had him, all the conversations and talk they had were without end, the gossip he whispered into her ears and in turn all the berating she would give him for sticking his nose in others business.

It brought a smile to her face knowing that he was with her always. She hoped it would never end.

Then a knock came at the door, and just as Lia was about to stand to reach for the handle, the door slowly opened to reveal the nun standing there with a quaint looking face.

"My lady, the church master, wanted to know how you were doing?"

Lia smiled at the lady, thanking her for checking in. She had led her to this small little room in the church spire, a tall stone building that seemed sturdier than the rest of the church. It towered over the rest of the town and the small little stone cottages with their smokestacks blowing out hot coals and steam.

The place would have been a beautiful little spot in the countryside if the smell of rotting flesh and iron did not fill the air in some suffocating cloud of stench and smog. How the beauty of the world often fell to the horrid corruption of nature and man.

"Tell him that I had a wonderful night."

The nun was about to leave but Lia stopped her, standing as she grabbed the closest bit of clothing she could to wear seeing as she couldn't show up to the preaching in her pajamas.

"On second thought, I'll tell him myself. I need to ask him some things."

The nun bowed and disappeared down the hall, leaving Lia alone to her own thoughts as she looked out past the golden sun rays of light that poured into the window through its crystal glass. The world outside was calling her, and she had every intention to answer.

With or without Cain.

The halls were silent without a sound, not even a mouse squeaked down the halls as she felt them scurrying across the wooden floorboards that creaked under her weight.

The main church hall was the same as it had been last night, the only change being the vast colors of the sun as it poured through the stained-glass windows that hung from above. The glass flowers, the green grass, the blue sky and the pale skin of the gods that highlighted the ground from the windows were plastered across the rows of benches and chairs, and the few people that were hidden amongst their many rows.

Their heads were bent and bowed to their prayers that whispered silently through the chamber, the smoke and incense filled the air as it faded though the air between the pillars of tall and tough stone. All the while the preacher stood in the center of this golden light, dyed it the colors of the windows as he bent his head in prayer.

"You said last night that I would find my answers if I slept."

The Preacher didn't mind the interruption, her voice echoing through the halls as a few of the church goers looked up, only to bow their heads once again. He was expecting her, he had been since last night.

"And did you? Did this sleep help you learn of what you hoped to find?"

"All I saw were nightmares. Nothing more than pasts I haven't lived, wars I haven't fought in and deaths that are not on my hands."

The preacher nodded his head, slowly, carefully as if he was afraid, it would fall off as Lia noticed his collar was higher than it used to be, a bit of red peeking out from the corners of the cloth. He turned to her with a burning candle in his hands, a bent back and tired eyes that made Lia believe he had been praying all night long, a gesture that would have been warm if it had not been so cold.

"Perhaps these will be answers to questions later in life. Answers to questions you have not yet asked."

"I didn't ask for answers I haven't yet asked for. I asked for answers for the ones I have."

The preacher nodded again, gesturing to the statues of his gods, a gesture that Lia was getting tired of seeing.

"I understand. All answers can be found in their eyes, so I will tell you of what you seek."

"And why couldn't you tell me this last night?"

The man smiled, the wisps of smoke from the candle's flame fluttering around his face as he stole a look at her, his eyes filled with wonder and awe.

"Because you needed the rest. Now, you are searching for answers. You will find them at the Master's home, his Lordship that presides over these small bunches of farmland in the North. He knows more than what the eye can see."

'Great. Another Lord, whom I bet will be just as kind as the rest.'

Lia thanked the preacher, leaving swiftly through the front door as she passed the many believers who came searching for help, hope and pity. But the only pity they received was the sympathy from Lia as she passed, knowing all their praying was for nothing.

Nothing could reach their hand down to earth and tear the ground from under them. Nothing could part the sky with a single breath, as nothing could eradicate life itself from these hallowed grounds.

There were no such things as gods.

Not to her.