Grass clothed mountains floated lazily over a gently rolling expanse of imperial purple. The gravel path lay in sharp gray pebbles as it beckoned me forward. The sun watched from behind me as I turned my head this way and that.
“I hope I’m not intruding.” No reply floated back to me.
“Come on, Imposter. I didn’t come here by my will. I was wandering and here I am. Either you’re busy entertaining other company, or you’re up to some shit.”
“How about tea?” Ke was wearing the lace veil over kir head again. Dressed in layers of fine ecru linen and cream lace, ke pranced around me with the air of an aristocratic dandy.
“Tea would be nice. So. What are you up to?”
“Me?” Ke fluttered kir hand in an over enthusiastic display of feigned offense.
“Yes. You. Oh Lord of Three Rows of Teeth. You’re smiling enough to make sharks nervous. So either you just ate, you just got laid, or your master trap is about to be sprung.”
Ke suddenly stepped up to me, pressing kir body against mine, chest to chest. Ke stood over me by at least a foot. I could see ke had no eyes or nose under the veil. The mouth opened from ear-hole to ear-hole, and I could see a row of still forming teeth waiting to replace those that had fallen out. A long muscular tongue extended from kir mouth. Ke took care to dry it on kir neck ruffles before licking my face in a slow and deliberate roving examination.
Kir tongue is raspy.
“You do not flinch.”
“Should I? And do I taste good?”
“You taste like something to fight over. But you would taste better with tea.” Ke spoke with kir tongue still extended. Ke let the tip linger over my closed mouth. I moved to bite it with speed. Ke was marginally faster. We smiled at each other. “I am very glad we are friends. We would make terrible enemies. There would be very little surviving our play.”
“I’ll take that to mean I should not flinch. And everything tastes better with tea.”
Ke backed away from our invasive touching first. Taking my hand, ke turned me around three times. When I stopped, there was a tent with a waiting table and chairs where there was only imperial purple grasses before.
Kir manners has improved since our last meeting, and ke is quite eager to play the doting host. After our first delicate cup, I asked kir once more why I was there.
“I missed my friend. I’ve had others stop by. Some seeking to just sit and talk. Some seeking to capture me. Some seeking to capture you. It has been… interesting. So when I saw you walking the Paths Between… well… I couldn’t just allow the opportunity to pass by, now, could I?”
“You’re still bound to this place.”
Ke said nothing.
“That’s because you are this place.”
Ke smiled.
“I’ve figured out this place a little better since the last time I was here. All the clues were given to me when I first came here. I just haven’t been able to get past my superstitions and suppositions completely. But, I know what you are. And why you first appeared as Snake the first time, and why you appear to me like this now. And that is why I am not afraid of you. I know what you are.”
Ke took my hand and dipped a finger in tea. Ke made a great show of wrapping kir tongue around the wet finger and licking it dry. In a quick motion ke leaned forward and sucked my finger into kir mouth.
I did not flinch.
I was in severe danger, but I did not fear. I shall fear no harm because I’m the most dangerous bitch in this place. Ke had one chance to cause me permanent harm without a fight, and ke let that chance pass away when I first stepped into the realm.
I felt kir teeth rake gently across the unguarded flesh. The action of smiling would sever a knuckle. A chuckle would take the finger. I looked at kir with an almost bored expression.
Ke isn’t the first predator of kir type to test me like this.
I wondered if ke was going to learn the hard way just how much of a trouble I am.
Warm dampness spiraled around the finger. Ke opened kir mouth and gently pushed my hand away from kir face using only kir tongue. When ke withdrew from me completely, my skin was dry and there were no marks, scratches, or welts on me.
“You shouldn’t trust me like that, if you know what I am.” I smiled and served my host another delicate cup of ephemeral tea.
“Tell me, when you tasted of my flesh and my spirit, did you taste anything… else? I know you did. I felt you catch your movement at the moment of realization. I know how you are a danger to me. And now you know how I am a danger to you.” I clasped my hands in a gentle pose. “It is good we are not enemies. But there is a long way to go before I call you, ‘friend’. Should I write of this, I must come up with a better nom de plume for you than ‘Imposter Snake’. You are many things, but you are neither an imposter, nor a snake.”
We sat and talked further of kir nature and my suppositions. Of course, ke wouldn’t confirm nor deny any of my accusations. I want to stay and speak further, but I have other matters to attend to.
“Stay a little while longer.” Kir voice changed to someone I know. “You run around the worlds serving others. Has anyone ever served you?” I hear someone lowering to the ground. “Let me serve you. [REDACTION!]”
I turn around to see a familiar face, in a familiar pose, with a familiar expression. Feelings and emotions long buried, disavowed, and disconnected surged through body and mind. It’s not real. He’s not real. This is illusion. All illusion.
He smiled and my face softened. He took my hand and kissed it. “Whatever you wish of me, it shall be done.”
I sighed and pulled my hand away. “Knock the shit off. You’re not [redacted], this is a scenario that never happened and never will happen because of my weaknesses. The only thing I want to know is what took you so long to attempt this trap.”
He smiled and cocked his head. “Trap?”
“This is how you feed. You show your target an illusionary scene they can become emotionally invested in. You’re not after flesh. You’re after the mind and the emotions produced. You’re a leech of the heart. And everything here, from purple fields to floating mountains to a sun that is always behind me, is structured to appeal to me and get me to lower my mental defenses. Give me something that appeals, something that I didn’t know I wanted. Get me to fully engage with all my senses, even though I know this is completely fake. And while I’m distracted, take little nibbles of my mind.”
The illusion was complete. All the imperfections were there. I was surprised I remembered them this well. His appearance hurts me. I pat him on the head and turn away. “I definitely have to get a better writing name for you now.” As I start to walk away I hear kir change form behind me. Ke grabs my hand and pulls me back into him for a gently firm hug. Or to position me for a strike. The pose was the same for both.
“If I tried, you would hurt me. No, friend, this isn’t about my delights. This is about yours. If ever you need more than tea…” Ke licked the side of my face with kir raspy dry tongue once more. “Okay, yes, I would… but it would be nothing you hadn’t already thrown clear to me. You are like bitter sweets. A little is good. A lot is regretful.”
In the process of releasing me, ke kissed my hand with aristocratic flair and laughed. I flipped kir off in my lazy farewell wave. I’ll come back later. For tea. Not for [that]. If I’m going to have peace of mind, never for [that].
I leave that realm and arrive in the pine trees in the forest around my lair. I’m not surprised to see a shard of me in the tree already. She is patient, and waits for me to get settled before speaking.
“Done fucking around in Illusion-ville?” She’s smiling even as her tone is accusing.
“Yea.”
“Going to take it up on that offer?”
“Never. And you know why.”
“Never say never. You… we… need to get some things settled. It would be a safe place to do so.”
“When my heart stops bleeding, I’ll consider it.”
“Stubborn.”
“Bitch.”
“Are you ready to get started?”
“Yea.” I laugh because I am literally talking to myself. “Were you here the entire time?”
“Yes. There’s another shard with Snake at the fire. For all your talk, very little was learned. There’s still the question of why it’s realm is a path to [Rummer John].”
I looked at my more serious component beside me on the branch and stifled the urge to smack her upside the head. She sensed the chastisement anyway and looked at me in askance.
“That’s another Purgatory, you silly. Like the Boneyard, but with emotional devouring instead of physical flames. It’s a dangerous place because anyone living can enter it. As the person engages with the scenes, our dear aristocrat eats away their attachment to those things weighing down the mind, and the heart. I already have a death-wish the size of a double-wide. Little wonder ke was able to pull me into that realm so easily. Still want me to indulge kir offer? That is a slow death, one passionate kiss at a time. I’ll wager that the first thing to go will be my memory. First I’ll lose the painful memories, then the emotional growth learned from reflecting on painful things, and then the memories I consider unimportant. Then I’ll become dependent on kir for dealing with shit. Then ke eats the memories that makes me… me. Spiritual Alzheimer’s. But where only the dead, or those given leave by the Ravens can enter the Boneyard… anyone that travels can go there. And because it looks different to each person, there’s no way to set up warning signs.”
My stoic double regarded my words in silence. “It said other Travelers have been there. Using your words as a map.”
“And it will be my words that warn. But only if the readers are willing to listen to the warning. There’s been many a person that said they can handle shit and found out the hard way that they can’t. Including me.” I nudged my more serious component. “Come on. We have shit to do. There’s something I want to try and I need to be all myself for it.”
As we descended from the tree, she asked about the component remaining with Snake. “No, I want a failsafe in case shit blows up in my face. I’ll leave enough there with him so if he has to, he can grab me and pull me out.”
I and Me stepped together and became whole while walking to the fire. Snake looked up from his quiet repose.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all. Not after what happened last time.” He turned back to the handdrum in his lap. He hummed softly while rubbing the wood with oil. I looked at the mute presence before him. Myself sat in peace before the fire, hands resting gently in the lap.
“Yank as you please.”
He grimaced. “I prefer deliberately extricate’.”
“You prefer showing off, especially when it distracts me from being nervous. However you want to word it, be prepared to rescue me, please.”
“I will.” Snake’s voice was properly soothing, his facial expression properly compassionate. He’s the epitome of calm assurance. I’m properly fucked, I’m sure of it.
Entering the lair, I made my way back to the Seal Chamber. I was comfortable with the augmented armor now, and had sussed out what the angels at the terrace had tried to lock down. I wasn’t sure why they wanted to limit the armor’s abilities, but I knew how to find out.
For all my attempts at maturing lately, there was still one trait of adolescence I stubbornly held on to. Tell me not to do something, I’ll do it. Try to keep something from me, I’ll cross heavens and hells to get it. Try to limit what my armor can do, and I’ll find the limits and extend them.
I expected company as a result.
I raised the barriers sealing me inside the seal. It’s only been a few days and already I’ve left the need to summon the three items individually before summoning the items. A stance. A gesture. A thought. The armor encases me leaving the chin and mouth exposed.
Time to play.
One of my worries about the armor was the lack of weapons. Sure, I’m encased in some resilient stuff, but as is, I’m forced to resort to old fashioned fisticuffs should I need to engage a foe in battle. I’ve met too many an opponent where being in arm’s reach meant being destroyed. When my sense of self-preservation is working, I prefer discretion to valor. Since I can’t extend my reach with a sword, how about I hurl a little more than insults from the ridge.
Time to call the bow.
Before the featherblade, before the runeblades, the bow was my weapon of choice. I initially saw it wielded by one of my shards while I was still Christian. She used it to tear away (something like) demons that was sucking on my fears and insecurities. It wasn’t until much later that I understood that was my aspect as Raventouched Weaver.
The bow was something I always had, but had no understanding of why or how. Once I developed the runeblades, the use of the bow waned. After retrieving the feathersword, I almost forgot about the bow entirely.
It came easily to my hand. I whispered apologies and stood in a proper stance. The bow required no arrows, only concentration. The more focus I place into the ‘arrow’, the greater the damage caused on impact. Augmented arrows can be created with the right focus. With the runes Isa and Kenaz inhabiting my hands, ice and fire augmentations come easy to me. It’s all a matter of how much focus I place into the arrow.
A few test fires just to see if it can be done. Then some playing with imbued arrows. The armor allows flight of a sort, so I tried firing arrows from different hovering positions. Even upside down. Because why not? I’m in a bunker proven to withstand the assaults of my rages. What’s the worst I can do?
Strafe, forward assault, free fall, jumping. Turns out I can fire the bow quite easily despite being blinded by the armor. The simple attempts were completed and checked off my “Is it possible” list.
I had not known the three apparently unrelated items would merge to create the armor. Two of them are recent creations, but the third predates this lifetime. I don’t know where the bow came from. It has always been with me, even before I was aware of its existence. So, what if…
What if I could merge the bow with the armor?
It’s not the same material as the other three items. But what if instead of trying to merge the bow with the armor itself, I let the armor absorb it as an augmentation?
I closed my eyes in reflex and gripped the bow tightly. I think, therefore…
My grip collapses as the bow is suddenly absent. My hands tingle as the armor shifts against my skin. I look without sight and see the pattern over the hands have changed slightly. Still the feather motive from the sword, but the stylized feathers are thinner, like the fletching on an arrow.
Shit. There goes my long range weapon. I study the design further. The thinner feathers are now covering the fingers as well. If I could load the bow by focus alone, then could I…
I extend my hand towards one of the dummy targets. Breathe. Relax. See. “Fire.” A blob of light gathers in my hand, takes the shape of a throwing dagger styled as a feather, and streaks from my hand to the target. It embeds itself into the target until expending its payload and dissipating.
I just threw a Light Dagger. By focus of will, I just launched a dagger, made of light, that punches like steel.
Heh.
I have the biggest shit eating grin.
I reset the targets as best as I can. Wood can only be restored so far after all. I start throwing light daggers at everything. Running and jumping and generally being gratuitous with the throwing of light daggers everywhere, I prepare myself for flight trials when I look past a target and see K* watching me with severity.
“Hey! How long have you been peeping on me, [K*]? Did you see what happened when I added the bow?”
“I did. I arrived just in time to see you throwing the daggers in mid-jump.”
“Oh. Well, you missed…”
“Drop the barrier. I have something for you.”
I noted kir face was unusually stern. I attributed this to kir disapproval of my goofing off while effectively carrying a loaded weapon. Range safety and such. Ke has said many times that ke is an angel of balance, and kir appearance expounds on that. Half black as severity and half white as hope, but with mixed up body parts. The left side of kir face is white, but kir left hand is black. Even kir six wings (when ke shows them) have the alternating coloration.
I dropped the barrier and put away the bow and armor. Ke pursed kir lips but waited until I had walked outside the engraved seal to say anything.
“S’up?” The chamber is huge. Enough room to engrave several more seals of the same size as the original. I noted ke had backed away from the seal, forcing me to follow if I wanted to speak without yelling. In my happiness, I failed to consider the possibilities why ke would want me away from the seal.
Ke stopped backing away and I came close to him to speak. Kir voice was strained and cold. “Your presence is requested at the terrace. Now.” Before I could say anything, ke grabbed me with both hands and transported me from the underground Seal Chamber to the bright mountain terrace.
For the record, I really dislike having my paranoia justified. It makes it that much harder to trust the people that have already proven themselves to me. When K* ‘escorted’ me onto the terrace, I had no tears to shed or rage to hurl. I was too busy trying to not panic at the fear these angels would abuse me the way I had been abused by other angelic clans before. Putting up a fight was useless. I knew I would be outclassed by the usual hosts that frequented the terrace. The best course of action was to keep my wits, remain aware, and watch everything.
I was not shoved or brutally manhandled. Once we arrived at the terrace, K* took me to the center of the grounds and remained standing beside me. For to be an angel of balance, kir face kept betraying internal struggles. Something was forcing kir to act this way. Ke wasn’t happy to be comply, but ke was compelled anyway.
Around us were so many assembled hosts, I was blinded by the light of their glory. Some were standing, some were flying, some were hovering, some were sitting. All had their attention on me. The light was deliberate. I wasn’t to see their individual faces.
“Summon your armor. Include your latest addition.” K*’s command was delivered flatly. I remained stoic but my concern deepened. I had undone what they had changed in my armor. Their alterations did not suit me, and restricted my abilities. While they had given as excuse that I was not ready for the full power of the armor, and that I should grow more as a person and as Weaver before trying the more advanced abilities, I found the explanation hollow and unwarranted. Even the crest they wanted me to use was hobbling.
Before I summoned the armor, I summoned the seal. I wasn’t supposed to do that here without permission, but since I’m already in deep shit, I might as well earn the asswhipping to come. When the seal materialized on the grounds of the terrace, most of the assembled hosts scrambled to be outside of the impending barrier without complaint.
K* stood just within the limits. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that ke had moved forward to be caught in the barrier.
“You. Out.”
“Summon your armor. Include your latest addition.” As ke spoke with civic servant delivery, I watched a facial tic mar kir symmetry. Something was wrong here.
“Range safety rules, [K*]. You’re asking me to take a weapon off safety and chamber a round. You. Out.”
“You can not harm me.” Was that a dare or a plea?
I tried to reach out to Snake, to reach the mute shard sitting peaceably with him. I could reach no further than my toes. I didn’t understand why I was able to be isolated. There had to be a lord among the numbers here. Angels of K*’s rank could lay hands on me but were unable to do more. A lord of the realm, however, could seal me in. “No. I may not be able to leave the terrace, but I will not lock and load with you in harm’s way. Bravado be damned. You want to see my new shiny? You get behind the shield with your brethren.”
My concern for range safety was an attempt to raise the same quality of shielding as in the lair. If I couldn’t break the shielding even when raging, then it stands to reason I stood a fair chance against the assembled hosts. At the very least, it would buy me some time to find a way to slide between worlds and escape.
Kir mouth twitched twice before he silently took the two steps backwards necessary to be outside of the seal’s barrier. I turned slowly to check the integrity of the summoned seal and to verify I had no stowaways hidden within. My check satisfied, I summoned the barrier with the greatest intensity I could summon. My ears deadened from the sudden isolation. My cage was complete. I was out of reach of the angels.
“Summon your armor. Include your latest addition.” Kir voice was slightly muted by the barrier but still devoid of emotion. I stared at kir, pulled by the understanding that something is not right and I should flee, and kept fast by the understanding that something is not right with my friend and I should help kir. God damn these conflicting desires.
Without looking away, I called the tripartite armor forward. No one moved at the sight. I called the bow, and added it to the armor. Some mumbles, some shifting of body position among the spectators. K* didn’t move.
“Why do you not don the improvements we gave you?” The voice came from everyone around me. The voice came from inside my head. The voice was soft and gentle. The voice was not pleased and tried to pour guilt on my head for rebelling. The voice could kiss my ass.
I spoke plainly. “They were incompatible with my needs and contrary to my desires. So they were rejected.” I bowed a little half-apology, and spread my hands in a little show of openness. It was a mocking gesture. K* would appreciate the subtle sarcasm and smile before giving me shit. Kir eye twitched in an attempt to smile. The will riding kir had other ideas.
“We work to help you.” I watched K*’s mouth move as the voice spoke through kir as well.
“So you say. Maybe my humanity blinds me, but I’ve been hurt more by those that proclaim those words than those that are outright enemies.”
“You will suffer without our assistance.”
“Suffer how?”
“We shall show you.” The voice spoke these four words through K*’s mouth alone. I faced kir squarely, giving kir my full attention. I almost cried to see K* in this condition.
Loyalty and service are weaknesses of mine. Once I commit (or am committed) to servitude, I am fully committed. I yield my will and my thinking to those placed over me by legitimate processes or by usurping my throne. Such as when serving Loki, or others. The command is given, and I lose all sense of self. I become an extension of my master’s reach. There is a facial expression that comes with this loss of self.
The face blanks. It becomes a mask. A piece of plastic would have more warmth.
K* stood on the other side of the barrier. What inhabited kir body, who kir master is, I do not know. I know I was watching my friend lose the battle for self-control. Ke took a step. The barrier pressed against kir toes.
Ke took another step and walked through the barrier with no impedance. Kir face grimaced. Ke was being compelled to do a thing, and it was clear ke did not want to comply. The fierce battle took less than a second to begin, peak, and be settled.
K*’s face blanked. The sight horrified me.
I suddenly realized the full implication of being sealed in the barrier with someone that not only knows my fighting style on an intimate level, but is under the control of a hostile force.
I dropped to the ground in instinct and avoided the sweep of the blades that was suddenly over me. K* had crossed twenty feet of ground in the blink of an eye. The blades stabbed after me, but I blinked away to the far side of the barrier.
“Dual blades? Since fucking when? I thought yours is a Zweihänder!” Talk to me! Be a sarcastic dick! Show me you’re okay!
Ke said nothing as ke extended six black and white wings and charged towards me.
Shit. Okay. Fine. I can’t do any permanent damage to kir. Target acquired. Fuck you. I braced my stance and brought both hands up. K*’s charge was answered with a series of light daggers from both hands. Almost all of them struck true, battering kir face. Ke stumbled and fell to one knee. I took advantage to shift position. I feared ke would be launching kir own long range attacks now that ke was being used by another power.
Ke roared in anger as the payloads delivered crushing blows. Ke shrugged them off and came after me faster than before. I tried to keep my distance and use the light daggers to slow kir down, but each recovery was faster than the one before. Too soon kir swords were cutting in my wake.
I didn’t know if the armor could take a direct hit from an empowered angel. I didn’t want to find out here. I could not outrun kir. Let’s see if I can out-maneuver.
Six wings of light emerged from the back of the armor as I lept into flight. This is one of the features the angels had tried to tie down earlier. Seeing me in flight caused waves of anger and disappointment to waft from the outside spectators. I continued to try and use the light daggers to keep space between me and K*. Ke closed the gap even faster.
I had originally gone to the lair to try altering the shape of the gauntlets to provide a better weapon than fists. It was only once there that I thought of the bow and tried that first instead. K* had interrupted me before I had a chance to try.
Ke gave me the chance now.
Ke gained altitude and dead-dropped onto me. If the blades didn’t impale me, the impact with the ground was sure to stun me. But I saw the approach and anticipated it. Instead of dodging the blades (only to be hit with the dead weight), I extended the finger shields on the last three fingers of each hand.
Harpy hands. Except with reinforced steel bladed guards in lieu of flight feathers.
One sword was deflected, cutting off several of kir own feathers instead. The other sword was caught fast in the guards. I noted how thin and strong the metal was. These swords were made for stabbing and slicing. Strong things can be brittle things, however. All it took was the right force in the wrong direction.
“You have seen enough. End this.” K* was in too deep a rage to hear me, but my words were meant for kir master instead. To punctuate my command, I twisted my hands.
~snap~ ~tink~
I backed away from K* as ke stared at the broken sword in kir hand. The freed tip had bounced off the shielding and landed a few feet away from kir hovering position. The understanding of what happened filtered slowly through K*’s mind.
“You… broke… it. You broke… the sword.” K*’s face contorted with new rage. “You broke it! You can’t do that! You’re just a human! A mortal! You dirty this place with your presence and you will be purged!” Ke threw the broken sword aside and rushed at me with the remaining blade.
I had shifted the design of the harpy hands slightly. My fisticuff skills are greatly lacking. But hand me a blade, any blade, and I shall dance. I now had two hands full of blades. I was prepared.
Ke was prepared for me to drop to dodge the attack. I was two alternate chess moves ahead of his default one. I blinked behind him and brought my hands down in a vicious attack. K* fell to the ground screaming in pain and continued rage while three of kir wings settled away from kir.
“You have seen enough! I have damaged your champion’s pride and body! It’s done! END THIS!”
K* crawled to kir feet. The rage was the only emotion kir master was allowing kir. Having been under that kind of control, my heart broke for K*. But I would not yield in sympathy. That was K*’s body, but that wasn’t K*’s will. K* looked up at me with deadened eyes. “It will end, when you do.” Ke charged at me, but stopped short of contact. The feint was meant to throw me off balance. Instead of throwing a sweeping blow as would have been expected of me, I dropped to a knee and slashed K*’s legs instead. Ke started to fall over me. I whispered a plea of forgiveness and brought my harpy hands up.
K* fell to the ground as the multiple abdominal and chest wounds finally drained kir of the ability to comply with kir master’s will. Ke lay in a crumpled heap on the ground next to me. I wondered about angelic anatomy and how much damage would it take to deliver a fatal wound. I draped an arm over the prone figure and wondered how much damage has our friendship suffered.
“Have you seen fucking enough? Do you think me still a child afraid to defend herself? One of your own is grievously wounded because your pride is chapped! Did it ever occur to you that if you did not test me, I would not have risen to the challenge? You wanted me lesser, you should not have given me opportunity to increase! Now, god dammit, y’all are fucking angels! One of you swallow your damn pride and come minister to [K*]! I don’t have many friends, and I’d rather not lose the ones that have stuck by me despite myself!.”
The barrier dropped, adding to my horror. I had forgotten that I was the one that erected it, so it should only have dropped by my command. Just another reminder that the terrace is not my personal grounds. If the assembled hosts charged me, I was at their mercy. I covered K*’s unmoving body with my own as best as I could, tucking my head next to kir too still face, and hoped ke would survive the day.
“[K*] is being ministered to now. By you. Your concern will heal kir.” I didn’t look up at this new voice speaking to me with three voices in perfect harmony and sync. It wasn’t until I noted that all the other angels on the terrace had dropped to their knees and were bowing their heads to the ground that I finally realized something new had come. It is good the armor obscured my physical eyes. I would have been blinded by what I saw when I lifted my head.
A new source of light was on the terrace. Brighter than the glowing sky, brighter than the assembled hosts, it shone as three suns superimposed on each other. I realize the voice is soothingly familiar.
The angel lord appeared as three human bodies standing with their backs to each other, touching at the shoulders. Three sets of wings were stretched straight up, their feathers intertwined with each other. Three sets of wings extended forward, draping around the waist and hips of the figures. And another three sets of wings extended down and around, covering three sets of unshod feet that hovered several inches off the ground. Streams of light swirled and wrapped around the bodies, hiding any outward signs of gender. The three heads were completely obscured by halos of glory. I knew this angel well and almost cried in relief to see kir. [TA] acted as my Lord of Air during my ceremonial magic days.
“[TA]… will that be enough? Why did ke attack me like that? I want [K*] to be okay. I want my friend to be okay.”
TA said nothing. Three faces turned to focus on me with glorious sight. The light emanating from kir body increased and I was able to see glimmers crawling up under the blocking helm. The light pierced through me in spears and waves. Even as I was overwhelmed, I wondered if this was what fatal radiation exposure felt like. I felt my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth as my senses were flooded. I tried to turn away, tried to blind myself, tried to do anything else but remain fixed by TA’s increasing glory. My skin burned, even under the armor. I felt hot and cold and frozen and boiling. My muscles jerked in painful spasms as nerves passed on unending impulses. Unable to process the sensations, I seized and fell face first, harshly landing over the prone body of K*.
Weightlessness. I was moving in a gentle rotation that was not possible except in the absence of gravity. The armor was still on me. My sore muscles all agreed that pain would be a shared experience. The helm obscured my eyes, but I do not need them to see. I willed to see around me.
A light source caused pain. I turned my focus away from it. I moved as if underwater and stopped my rotation. A figure appeared upside down to me. Luminescent cloth flowed gently around the figure’s body and outstretched hands. It was facing me, but its face was obscured by encompassing glory. This was one of the triplicate bodies of TA. But where were the other two?
I oriented myself to match TA and moved to ‘swim’ towards kir. A bright flash blinded me when I bounced off an invisible hard surface between myself and TA. A tentative examination revealed I was at a sharp corner of a boundary. My mind made a quick guesstimate of the corner’s interior angle. Sixty degrees.
I looked at TA’s single body with a deadpan face. “Let me guess. I’m inside a triangular barrier, and if I turn around, I’m going to see your other two bodies at the other two corners.” TA didn’t answer. Instead of turning and testing my hypothesis, I ‘swam’ up with speed, holding a hand over my head should my fear be proven.
A three sided barrier bounced me back down. Turning in the rebound, I threw a light dagger below me. It bounced off of another three sided barrier below me a few times before dissipating. I finally turned and saw TA’s other two bodies in the same posture facing the center of the boundary. A few light daggers thrown in key directions confirmed my suspicion. I’m trapped in a triangular prism. I’m trapped in a prison.
I turned to the closest of TA’s bodies. “What the hell, [TA].”
“You are being isolated.” Three voices spoke in perfect harmony.
“Just one sentence? So the whole speaking in triplicies was just another mindfuck, eh?”
“You were addressed according to your understanding.”
“Increase my understanding now. Why am I being isolated.”
“For the good.” I waited for kir to explain further, but ke only said those three words.
“For the good… of what, and who, and for who?”
“You are being isolated, for the good.”, ke repeated. I understood. My face wrinkled at the implications.
“How do I get out of here, [TA]? Not all of me is bound here, but I can’t leave until I can reach that which is isolated without.”
“You get out by leaving.”
I realized TA is not going to be any direct help. Whatever forced K* to attack me is probably waiting for me. TA has isolated me from the others, but is politically prevented from giving me direct assistance.
But TA loves playing mind games and puzzles. Ke usually would answer my questions in seemingly contradictory tripartite answers. Only with thought and reason will the contradictions be solved and the deeper meanings revealed.
I threw light daggers at random to give my hands something to do. I noticed that when a wall was struck, the other two walls resonated from the blow. TA couldn’t help me directly, but ke could give me clues in plain sight.
If TA always spoke to me in threes, then those moment ke spoke to me singularly were moments I should ignore. Right now, kir singular statements were toeing the angelic party line. But not all communication is verbal. What is triplicate around me?
Kir body.
Does ke really need to be at all three vertices to keep me bound here? Another light dagger bounces off one wall. The other two walls reverberate instead. Hmm. I throw two light daggers at the two walls before me and listen closely to the wall behind me. The daggers do not strike simultaneously, and the resulting broken chord hurts my ears.
“You will cause yourself pain if you continue. Be at peace.” TA’s triple voice spoke only once in a patronizing manner. It was hard to maintain a straight face in light of it. I was on to something.
I placed myself in the middle of a wall and threw two light daggers in opposite directions. They struck simultaneously. The two struck walls do not react. The reverberation of the wall behind me pushes me forward with a bass chord shaking my bones.
I made a mental note to explore the correlation between light, sound, and crystal myths when I woke up.
“They come. Be at peace or greater force will be used.” TA’s non-warning reminded me how serious was my playing. I knew I had one chance to shatter the prism. But how to strike three walls with only two hands?
By not using the hands at all.
I move to the center of the prism and turn so I am horizontal. I extend my six wings of light and orient them so two wings are pointing at a wall. I call my focus to the nexus of the wings. With my encompassing vision, I see TA lowering kir arms slightly. Reinforcing the prism, or preparing for the shockwave to come?
My focus gathered to my limit, I use the wings to guide three large bolts of light towards the walls of the prism. I close my eyes in reflex, curl into a fetal position, and wrap my wings around my body in preparation.
I was not disappointed. The bolts slammed into the prism walls simultaneously. The prism walls bowed out slightly before rebounding and compressing the bound space. My ears popped as the pressure squeezed me. As the walls expanded again, I threw three more bolts towards them, trying to sync the bolts’ arrival with the outward movement. Like kicking to make a playground swing rise higher, I wanted to push the prism past the breaking point.
The walls did expand further, pulling the air from my lungs. I knew the compression was going to be worse and prepared for it. Instead of just allowing the compression to squeeze my body, I absorbed the force and focused it at the nexus of my wings, adding it to my own force of will. The prism was going to help power the third and greatest strike. If the walls don’t break after this, I had no further tricks to try.
The compression movement completed, and the walls began swinging outward again. I flicked the wings and threw the last set of bolts. The walls ballooned distorting what light passed through them.
crack The sound of crystallized light failing jarred me. I cried out in sudden pain from the change in pressure. As the walls failed, they released a blinding force of light and became visible. Something like shattered glass began to fall around me, and with me, as gravity asserted itself.
TA’s tripartite voice cried out in triple harmonies. “STOP!” “CEASE!” “GO!”
I did as I was told.
I reached out to the portion of me still at the fire with Snake, and felt Snake’s hands gripping mine. His voice was a distant echo. “I have you! Come here!” Snake pulled on my hands, ripping me away from the remnants of the triangular prison. Two of TA’s faces were stern and severe. A third held a hint of a smile.
I fell into Snake’s arms, disoriented and laughing. He turned me face up and gripped me with a four-armed naga embrace. The more I laughed, the more angry he became. I understood the anger and did not react to it.
I wasn’t in the armor. I was dressed in a simple white shift. Somehow I had grown long hair and it lay in messy disarray over his arms. Bracelets of chunky brown wood beads massaged my wrists and arms. I was tired. Very tired. And strangely full of cheer.
Escaping prisons are always occasions of cheer for the one escaping.
“Am I all here?”
“You are. And I’m not letting go.”
“Thank you. The Seal Chamber is compromised, you know.”
“I understood that when ke pulled you to the terrace and I couldn’t pull you immediately back. Esse would like to have a word with you about that.”
“Esse and one other, once he hears news of this. Close off the chamber and reinforce it.” I snuggled down into Snake’s arms and sighed in relief and comfort.
“You were betrayed.”
“Kinda. I dunno. There’s some high level politicking going on. I’m trying not to let my paranoia run free with this. The two personal players were unwilling and forced to cooperate. I think someone played a high game like Esse did. But instead of gaining my loyalty in the end like Esse did, they found that I’m not a yielding servant anymore.”
Snake said nothing. I burst into laughter. He raised an eyebrow in silent questioning.
“The bastard made the same fundamental mistake I did! He, assuming it’s a ‘he’, assumed that I would react to commands like the angels do! It’s the same as assuming otherworldly entities that appear human would have human morals. I have angelus armor, therefore I must obey like an angel. NOT!” I laughed harder.
I tried to sit up and found myself utterly exhausted. Snake pulled me back into his embrace without complaint. He pulled himself up and forward. Carrying me into the lair with ease, he laid me gently on the pallet of furs. “Stay. Right here. Do not leave this main chamber until I’m done securing the Seal Chamber. Get some rest while you can. You’re going to feel it when you wake up.”
“Yes, Warden.” My response irritated him. I only smiled warmly. He’s my warden, my jailer, and my handler in this life. I accept that now. I understand I need that this time around. He’s also a good friend, and I am glad we are at peace with each other. Finally.
He flicked his serpent tongue as a final word. I openly laughed at the serpentine version of the bird. He smiled and left to secure the Seal Chamber. I snuggled down under the furs and fell into deeper uneventful sleep.