Response Part II

Leaving the ruins of the Eternal Temple in Celeste's City, I felt lighter as if I had just emerged from a sea I had been drowning in. Gathering my things (which consisted of my sword's sheath and buckler which denoted my rank, bow and empty quiver, and multiple daggers) I remembered why I had come this way in the first place. I needed arrows and the marketplace was this direction. I followed the broken alleyway to a much nicer road.

Humans cluttered the street, going back and forth from vendor to street vendor. Each one yelling out his or her wares and gathering the coin they received under a cloth awning. Each one a different color than the last. All in all, it gave me a headache. Pushing past several bystanders, I located the weapons merchant near the back end of the street. I was disappointed to see that he had no arrows.

"Looking for something, Captain?" The vendor in question was a short bald man with long thick eyebrows and a long braided red beard. Man was not appropriate, this one was a dwarf.

"Are all these from the mountain then?" I gestured to the swords, daggers, battleaxes, and rods.

"Carved from her this very week!" He proudly proclaimed. I looked over at the rods. Only a dwarf would carve magic rods from stone. I laughed lightly to myself. "See something you like?"

"Oh no, I'm not a magic user." I explained. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Oh? Then what's that?" He pointed to my sheath which was emitting a soft orange glow. What the devil? I pulled my sword out. Jasper's blood stained the steel and that is what was glowing.

"In all my life, I have never seen something so exotic!" He reached for the blade but I quickly put it away. "What kind of power does it have and where did you get it?"

"It has no power," that I know of, "and a friend of mine forged it."

"Talented friend." the dwarf's eye twitched. "I'd like to meet this friend someday. Where does he set up shop?"

Unsure if this merchant was going to be okay, I responded. "Wildgate."

"An army outpost. Good meaning civilian merchants can't get in there." A devilish glint highlighted his features and he winked at me.

"I'll remind you, dwarf, that I am a Captain in General Griffin's company and you will stay your post here in Celeste's City, merchant." I spit.

"And besides, good meaning civilian merchants don't come out alive from that place." A deep voice broke through the hum of the crowd. The dwarf and I turned to see a tall man striding towards us. His short brown hair and matching beard was groomed nicely and his clothes reminded me of a wealthy civilian. Something about him seemed off, however. The dwarf seemed unperturbed.

"Eh." He shrugged and returned to selling his wares. The stranger approached me.

"You might want to keep that hidden." He nodded toward my weapon. Hurriedly, I followed his advice. Motioning for me to follow him, he led me towards another merchant selling arrows.

"Thank you." I said as I bought my arrows from a bored human child of thirteen.

"Yeah, yeah." He barely mentioned as he sat back down. Turning towards the stranger I asked, "Who are you?"

"Nikolai, Jacqui and Jasper's brother." He motioned for me to follow him down a deserted alleyway. Another god? I rolled my eyes but followed him anyway. Once we were out of earshot of anybody, he turned to me. "What's your name? I missed it in all the commotion."

"Skye Firebird, Captain in General Griffin's company." I automatically replied. Nikolai smiled. "So, what should I call you, oh great deity of wind and wisdom?"

"No need to be sarcastic, Captain. You can call me Nikolai."

"Alright, what do you want from me Nick?" I leaned against the wall.

"I came to congratulate you on pissing Josie off." Josie? I laughed out loud.

"You call her Josie?!"

"You're missing the point."

"I know, I've made a Goddess angry." I rolled my eyes. "I've never believed in great deities creating the world and everything in it. Now that I know they are real, I'm supposed to be happy and accepting? I'm supposed to blindly follow your every command? You created this world and now you sit back and watch it burn."

"We had--"

"No choice, Nero's command and all that, I get it." I angrily retorted. "No, you had a choice! To obey that rule or to fall and help. You all chose to abandon this world. The way I see it, you have no business here. So run along to heaven or wherever it is you go, and I'll enjoy my time in hell." I began to stalk off when I heard his voice behind me.

"We can't directly help this world, but there is a chance we can help it."

I abruptly turned toward him. "Why now?! You've had fifty years to clean up this mess and you've let us fight for ourselves. What is so different now?!"

"You."

***

Jacqui's POV

"Did you see the way he shouldered her as he left?" I whispered to Jasper. We guffawed together.

"No, shhh, she's coming!" Jasper shushed me and I turned to face Josephine. Her face was red with anger and shock.

"Did you see the way he shouldered me as he left?!" She huffed.

I attempted to keep a concerned face as I replied, "Oh Josephine, that was simply...horrible haha." I failed miserably and laughed with Jasper joining in.

"The last time you were like this is when I took your elven boat!" He wiped tears of mirth from his eye.

"You took her boat?!" I exclaimed. That boat was a treasure. A gift from the nymphs to their creator, the body was made of Silverwood combined with the dust of gems causing it to shine like a star. Josephine loved that thing so much that when the nymphs put it in her temple, she took it and placed it in her room in Nexus. I knew that she had lost it, (she wouldn't shut up about it for decades) but I had no idea that Jasper had anything to do with it. Now that I think about it though, it makes sense.

Jasper nodded an affirmative as Josephine shot him a deadly look.

"You are lucky, brother, that our father forbade us from killing one another."

"Oh?" Jasper's eyebrows shot up. "But sister! Without me your life would be devastatingly boring."

"And positively perfect!" She snapped. She turned to me. "Dearest Jacqueline." She sweetly faked, "if you ever put that man within my sight, I shall tear him apart."

"Oh-"

"Slowly!" She threw her nose in the air and began walking away.

"I find him unique. After all, Josie, he did refuse your gifts." Nyle took her arm and brought her back to us. If I wasn't the Goddess of Life and Death, Nyle would scare me. He was tall with lanky arms and long legs. His white blonde hair flowed to his waist and his mouth was set in a permanently thin line. But what would frighten me the most would be his eyes. Darker than black they showed nothing of the soul. No emotion, no experience. It was quite unnatural. I tended to avoid him when I could. Josephine allowed him to lead her back to us without much fuss.

"That was very unexpected, too." Josephine replied. "Not even Amber refused the gifts I offered. She simply chose the right one." She grew silent as did Jasper.

"Did you see his heart?" I asked. "Did you see what he truly wants?" She nodded.

"And what is it?" Father asked from behind me.

"He wants to save this world." Josephine glanced at me and began to shake a little.

"And what else?" Father asked, also noticing her odd behavior.

"Nothing else, Father." Josephine controlled her body and voice, but I wasn't fooled. There was something else in Skye's heart. Something Josie didn't want us to know about. Nero shrugged it off.

"If we gave him power," Nyle stared at me, "then he'd have the chance to kill us."

"We don't know if a Demigod can kill a god." Jasper eagerly pointed out.

"We know that they become godlike. And if we were allowed, then we would be able to kill each other." I explained.

"So you are saying that they could?" Jasper looked at me incredulously. I nodded.

"How do you feel about your idea now?"

I shrugged, "Most mortals wish they could destroy me." Mostly when I come for their souls.

"But this one could. If given our power and acting upon his wishes." Nyle's piercing eyes stared at me. It made me feel quite uncomfortable. If I were to truly be destroyed, what would happen? An unusual feeling creeped up my spine. What is this?

"He is the one who can change the fate of our world. For better or for worse. We must put our trust in mortals once more." I stood by how I felt. "He has hope for this world and he truly wishes to save it. He knows that killing us will not save his world." I hoped anyway.

"I agree with Little Jacqui. But if we are wrong, and he does come to kill us there's no way I'm going down without a fight. After watching his behavior with Jacqui, I believe he'll do the right thing."Jasper rubbed my head at this last part.

"Perhaps." Father thoughtfully rubbed his chin and then turned away. "If that man comes back, then we shall discuss his responsibilities. The fate of Comwen is in his hands now."

"Truly, Father? You have deemed him worthy to accept the role of Demigod?" Josephine flabbergasted.

"His true desire is to save Comwen. And I believe we can expect great things from this, Skye Firebird."

I couldn't resist the grin from appearing on my face. Finally, there was hope for Comwen. It was slight and there were many obstacles to overcome, but there was hope. There was something we gods could do to help. My thoughts were cleared in an instant as Jasper spoke once more.

"Yeah, but is he coming back? He sure was hellbent on getting out of here."

I glared at Josephine. "It's all your fault if he doesn't come back."

"Excuse me?!" Josephine parried, "Every mortal that wishes for power must come to terms with his inner demons in order for my blessing to flow through. Just because what he saw wasn't pleasing to him he threw a tantrum and left. That wasn't my fault."

"You choose what they see though! To see what truly lies within his heart you choose his darkest nightmares and brightest hopes!" I countered.

"And he wanted neither power to save the ones he lost nor the power to keep peace within the land." Josephine stated. "What kind of mortal refuses either?"

"You said his true desire is to save Comwen." Nyle interjected, "Perhaps, those aren't the ways he wishes to save it."

"Don't be ridiculous, those are the only ways you can save it." Jasper defended.

"Maybe not." Nikolai's voice rang throughout the ruins.

"Guess we'll find out together." A handsome form stepped out from behind him. Skye glared at us all as if he would rather paint the stones with our blood than join forces.

I can respect that. I mean, we did give up on this world about 45 years ago and left the mortal races to face imminent destruction. In fact, its quite an amazing feat that they have not yet all perished. I smiled a small smile. Skye noticed and his frown deepened.

Nero addressed the mortal first. "Have you come to listen?"

"Nik explained that you guys believe that I can unite the mortal races of Comwen and save the world from your unknown enemy after you each give me a part of your power."He responded easily.

"Do you understand the responsibility associated with such a power?" Josephine glared icily at him.

"You have immense power as a Goddess, and what have you done during this Timeless War? Casually playing with your toys and turning your back on the problems that the world now faces. Don't speak to me about responsibility, Goddess." He ground out.

Josephine's face went red.

"As Nikolai has filled you in, you know that you are the one we have chosen to become the demigod. The savior of your world." I cut in before Josephine could take Skye's life.

He met my eyes with his own. Determination ruled above all other emotion within him. The same unfamiliar feeling raced down my spine.

"The details are fuzzy. Explain before I give my answer."

"You would dare to order gods?" Nero locked gazes with the young Captain.

"You abandoned this world. You no longer have any say on Comwens behalf. As I am merely mortal I also have no say in Comwens behalf. We are the same. You shall explain what you will do before I give my answer."

"You will be tried and tested of all gods and all goddesses. Once we establish your worthiness, we will each give you a part of our divine power. You will then have the power to save this world you love." Nikolai explained.

"Will I be able to make my own decisions after the fact?"

"Yes." Jasper answered.

"And who will teach me how to use my powers?"

We turned silent. Josephine had chosen Amber before and so it was logical that she teach her how to use her powers. But with me, being Life and Death, I have no time to teach. Besides, I don't know everything about the others' power. Also, Josephine has made it clear that she will only kill the man if given the chance so she is out too. That leaves Nyle, Nikolai, and Jasper. Nero is above such things.

It will be Nikolai. His Blessed child is being chosen, it is only fitting that the most wise of us teaches anyway!

"Jacqueline and Nikolai will teach you."

"What?!" A chorus of voices from throughout the ruins rang. Mine was lost as I beheld the gleam of motivation darken my now pupil's eyes.

"What are we waiting for?" Skye smirked.

I now knew the name of the feeling I kept experiencing.

Fear.