Divinitas

048 - Fire\'s Keeper

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He wanted to cry. The child inside of him who had always long for acceptance and love wanted to curl up and bawl out tears full of pain and regret and shame. He had been given a name to replace the one he had forgotten through years of neglect.

Phoenix.

Yet his mind raged. It screamed.

The God of Soul. He had simply smiled knowingly after saying those soul wrenching words. He had relished the pain that flashed across his face, and then the endless torrent of anger directed at him and only at him. Then, with drawn out graceful movements, he had lifted himself from the pool, his naked wet skin glistening in the soft light as if the moon radiated from within.

He had left without another word or act, cruel or kind.

The anger had simpered and died, overwhelmed by despair and exhaustion. Yes, he just wanted to lay down in this pool of glistening water and let his childish tears join them.

A soft breath of air moved over his wet exposed skin, sending a pleasant chill running down the length of his submerged body. His glazed crimson eyes that had been locked on the doorway through which the God of Soul had exited slid sidewards, touching on dull silver feathers. Slowly they took in the length of a right wing, whose tip rested on the cold marble floor, and finally the Tenshi who stood there, dark blue, almost grey, eyes regarding him quietly.

He couldn\'t, just couldn\'t, stroke the spark of anger within him into a blaze again. There wasn\'t any energy left to do that. No, his Dream and Wish which were so closely knitted would never die, but right now, he just could not uphold it. He just… couldn\'t. Maybe, hopefully, what the Tenshi who had brought him here had said was true. Maybe they weren\'t going to kill him. Not yet, not now.

\"You look a total mess.\"

The casual and amused voice of the Tenshi took Phoenix by surprise. The dark blue-grey eyes smiled, taking on kindness that a moment before they had lacked.

\"I\'m Ashura, by the way, your Keeper. I\'ll be yourend end and trusted adviser the next two weeks, if you\'ll allow it,\" the Tenshi introduced himself, squatting and offering the boy his hand in greeting. \"Care to tell me your name?\"

The boy was speechless. He did not expect this. He had all but resigned himself to a quick and violent death. He had not expected such a casual and friendly greeting.

\"No? Well, when you think of it, tell me,\" Ashura offered lightly. \"Meanwhile, I\'m going to go to the other end of the pool to have my bath,\" the Tenshi said, rising and moving away. \"You should take this time to clean yourself. You\'ll feel better once you get all that dirt off your skin.\"

Cautious crimson eyes followed his every movement. What was this? This… kindness and consideration, this lack of spite and hate?

The Tenshi did exactly has he had proclaimed to do, slipping off his white clothing once he had reached the furthest end of the pool, and sliding into the water with a pleasant sigh.

For a long moment, the boy stood motionless, moved only by the swaying currents within the water. His mind had frozen, unable to comprehend the intense loathing he had felt only moments before towards the God of Soul, and now the sudden kindness from this Tenshi. He was at a total loss as to how he should react, or what he should do now even.

\"Just standing there isn\'t going to get that soot off you,\" Ashura called out over the large expanse of water between them. \"You need to at least splash around a little!\"

The boy gave his head a slight shake, as if doing so would unclog his mind. Of course the Tenshi\'s suggestion made sense. Besides, what were you suppose to do in a bath if not wash yourself? Slowly the boy lifted his hand to his arm and started scrubbing the deeply ingrained charcoal and dirt there. His eyes watched distantly as his fingers worked away the soot from his other hand, his eyelids sometimes sliding close for a long moment before snapping open again, as if afraid of being off guard.

The panic in his mind slowly ebbed away as his body settled into the rhythm of doing something familiar, aoon oon the boy found himself leaning back on the wall of the pool, exhausted and relaxed, wanting nothing more than sleep. His eyes kept on closing, and each time it became harder to open then again. Maybe he could nap, just for a little while, whilst the Tenshi was so very far away and could do him no harm…



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I want to kill him.

The boy stirred, fingers moving as if his body was subconsciously running a self- diagnosis to ensure every limb and joint was in working order.

I want to spill his blood.

Crimson eyes slowly opened, absently taking in how the soft light glinted off an engraved ring that adorned a hand\'s middle finger. Such a deep engraving, the one that graced this ring. So dark and deep. Like black wings of a black heart.

Aether\'s.

The boy awoke, the full hateful passion flaring to life.

\"Not one moment awake, and already your eyes are filled with blood lust. You won\'t have a peaceful existence the way you\'re going,\" Ashura observed.

In the blink of an eye, the boy had thrown the sheets back and placed the rumpled bed between them. Every aspect of him emanated a wild animal, set on attacking to defend himself.

\"You\'re one to act on your instincts rather than logic, aren\'t you?\" the Tenshi noted, still seated in his chair beside the bed the boy had only just vacated. \"If I had wanted to kill or hurt you as you are so bent on believing, don\'t you think I would have done so before when I had ample chance? You fell asleep in the bath. I finished bathing you, dried your body and hair, and dressed you. I\'ve been watching you sleep for the last few hours. I have no intention of hurting you,\" Ashura finished firmly.

Slowly the words sunk into the boy\'s pounding mind. The events in the overly extravagant bathroom after the meeting with Aether swirled to the surface.

\"Ashura…\" the name slipped like a plead for forgiveness from the boy\'s lips. His limbs relaxed, drawing close to his body. It was disconnecting, to see how the wild animal shrank down into a little lost boy. \"I… Thanks. For… taking care of me.\" It was hard to say them. Those alien words. The concept was almost beyond the ability of the boy to grasp.

\"You\'re welcome. That\'s what friends are for,\" Ashura replied with a warm smile. \"You still haven\'t told me your name, you know. I will have to start calling your \'boy\' if you don\'t give me one.\"

The crimson eyes flinched and darkened. The boy remained silent for a long while, as if swallowing the name mentally and whispering it out loud was impossible for him.

\"I can\'t remember the name my parents gave me. I was very young when they abandoned me. There was never any reason to use or remember my real name, so I forgot it,\" the boy said finally.

Ashura made no reply, waiting for the boy to continue. Words that demanded to be spoken hung heavy in the hair, heavy yet without weight.

The boy\'s blood red eyes closed, his face taking on a painful expression. \"The God of Soul gave me a name,\" he bit out, the bitterness in his voice making the words themselves hurt. \"He named me Phoenix when I told him I did not remember my real name. He named me!\" The voice within is mind screamed. \'After everything he\'s done… he had the nerve to name me. As if a name could eradicate every piece of my painful past!\'

Tears veiled the boy\'s eyes when they reopened, making the blood red appear all that more liquid and hot.

\"You don\'t have to accept it,\" Ashura said quietly, making a conscious effort to not append the name to his words.

\"I already have.\"

\"Why, if you hate him so much?\"

\"I couldn\'t help it,\" the boy revealed in little more than a whisper. \"He gave it to me with words I\'ve been wanting to hear all my life. He said he wanted me. It didn\'t matter twerewere a blatant lie, and like everything else done only to spite me. I just swallowed them without a thought because I was so desperate for them.\"

Ashura rose from his seat and walked around the bed, laying a brotherly hand on the boy\'s head. \"Phoenix. It\'s a good name.\"

A pale thankful smile tugged at the corner of Phoenix\'s lips.



~ * ~
\"Why do you have ashen wings?\"

Hours had passed. Food had been served and eaten. Now just the simple passing of time as Ashura brushed Phoenix\'s longish flaming locks before bed. The boy had adjusted to his environment well, having overcome his initial trauma. He sat comfortably now in his simple yet elegant apartments, cross-legged on the floor beside the full-length window, staring out into the starlit world beyond. Ashura sat upon a carved stool behind him, running a brush soothingly through his hair. The cleaned locks glistened like the flames that burned in his soul, soft tendrils curling about the nap of his neck.

Cool hands gathered up the longer locks of hair at the base of Phoenix\'s neck, tying two ribbons, one of inky black, the other of royal purple, around the mass of hair. Playfully, Ashura twisted some of the longer strands together before tying them off with another violet ribbon.

Ashura smiled, somewhat pleased with his finished work, before resting his hands on either side of the boy\'s shoulder. \"Because of my parentage, Phoenix.\"

The boy twisted around to stare up at Ashura with frowning crimson eyes. \"You\'re…\"

\"Half human,\" Ashura finished for him. \"My sire is Deus, God of Ten. My mother was a pretty human girl who seduced my Father. When I was born, the Deus brought me here to Ten. My ashen wings are a symbol, you could say, of my heritage. As if once pure white, they had been dragged through the ash and dust of Chikyuu\'s soil where I was born.\"

\"I hate Chikyuu,\" Phoenix whispered, voice strained by his tightened throat. The pure anger and resentment lent his voice a deadly power, almost as if it were a prophecy he was about to speak of. \"And most of all, I hate the God of Soul. It is his fault that I\'ve had to suffer as I have. It is his disregard for his people that I\'ve had to take on this cursed name because I can not remember my own!\" His eyes shone with tears that would not fall. That would never fall. \"Ashura, I will win. I will earn my place in Heaven. I will not die and fall back into that dirty earth which has long ago forsaken me.\"

\"I know. I will support you, Phoenix,\" Ashura said reassuringly. \"Come on, you need your sleep. Tomorrow will be the New Moon: your new beginning, and you will need your strength,\" Ashura said, standing up and helping Phoenix to his feet. He lead the young boy to his bed, pulling back the covers for him and tucking him in like a loving older brother.

The dark smoky blue eyes watched as Phoenix settled in, subconsciously snuggling into the soft mattress and welcoming sheets. \"You know, Phoenix… Your name will suit you well once you win. Despite being named by the one you hate. You will command the Phoenix, the Divine Beast of Fire, once you become the God of Fire. It will no longer be your curse, the flames that leap from your hands, but a divine gift… Others will worship you for it.\"

Glistening crimson met Ashura\'s ashen blue-grey, questioning. \"The boy, with the silver hair and white clothing who arrived with me. He spoke of Elemental Children. He said I was a Child of Fire, and implied the flames I have were a Gift.\" Phoenix halted pointedly, expecting the Tenshi to explain.

Ashura smiled, rearranging his ashen wings as he down on the edge of Phoenix\'s bed. \"I will explain it to you, but then you must sleep. Deal?\"

\"Deal.\"

The Tenshi smirked slightly to himself. \"You know of the deity in Chikyuu. You know of Aether, the God of Soul who rules over Chikyuu, sometimes referred to as Earth by the common people. Humans on Chikyuu pray to Aether, their God. They worship him, and they believe him to be real. You worshipped him and prayed to him once upon a time in your life.

\"What you do not know, and what many have long forgotten, is that the God of Chikyuu has four Divine Beasts, each for one of the elements in Chikyuu: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. They are both the manifestations of those elements, and their guardians. These four Elements make up Chikyuu. Without them, Chikyuu would not be as it is. They balance each other and make life possible.

\"The Divine Beasts are meant to reside within the God of Soul, within his divine vessel, within his very heart. But Aether\'s heart is now ice and stone. He can\'t nourish his Divine Beasts. He has all but forgotten their very existence, just has he has forgotten and disregarded all his subjects. The Divine Beasts have had no choice but to find others to rest in.

\"A Divine Beast is immense in power. It can not hope to reside simply within one person, unless that being is of divine nature. Each of the Divine Beasts thus had to spread their essence out over many. In return for residing in a child\'s heart and soul, the Divine Beasts lent their power to those children. And so, the Elemental Children came into existence.

\"The Divine Beast of Fire, the Phoenix, resides within you,\" Ashura said quietly, looking directly into Phoenix\'s scarlet eyes that reflected so brightly the dim light. \"It did so from the moment you are conceived, and shaped your physical attributes, thus your flaming hair and scarlet eyes. You are what we call a Child of Fire.\"

The Tenshi fell silent, still gazing calmly at Phoenix who returned it without reserve. There were things to consider here. How much he could tell the boy without compromising his burning desire to become part of Ten, to grasp divinity.

Ashura closed his eyes slowly before opening them again. The best lies were always those that incorporated some truth.

\"My Father, when he was in Chikyuu on my account, saw the suffering and discrimination inflicted upon the Elemental Children. He did not wish for it to go on, for the deaths of these Children when caught by hateful mobs are usually prolonged and painful, and any life they have are never truly free.

\"That is why he ordered that all the Elemental Children to be rounded up and be put to a quick and merciful death. He told the priests that worshipped Aether that they were to sacrificed. And so they were, by the hand of the Tenshi, to make it appear a truly divine act.

\"The priests were all to happy to dress up and present these Elemental Children to us, believing they were serving their God of Soul. Such men need divine purpose in their life. It\'s pathetic, always relying on someone or something else to live.\"

Ashura gave an apologetic smile. \"I sidetracked.\" Another pause, as if trying to remember the place he had left off.

\"Why have some of the Elemental Children been spared then.\" It wasn\'t a question. More like a demand. Despite how late it was, and how exhausted, there was still the edge of danger and suspicion in Phoenix\'s voice.

\"Ah. Because the Divine Beasts still need a place to reside in. They are necessary to Chikyuu, and without a divine vessel for them to anchor to, and all the Elemental Child eradicated, they will simply find others, and nothing would have been solved. Surely you see the logic in that?\"

The boy made no reply, and his face became expressionless. It was impossible to tell what thoughts formed and argued with one another behind the imposing red orbs.

\"That is why Deus ordered that the most gifted Elemental Children were to be brought here to Ten, where it will be decided which one of them will become the sole vessel for each of the Divine Beasts. Each elected will then be granted Divinity, and be allowed to reside within Ten for the rest of eternity.\"

The scarlet eyes closed. This was what Phoenix wanted. He believed that completely. It was his Dream and his Wish, all, of course, fuelled by his loathing for the God of Soul who ruled over Chikyuu.

\"But Phoenix…\" Ashura cautioned softly, gently brushing back stray strands of flaming hair away from the boy\'s closed eyes. \"You must decide you truly want this. It is not a passing fancy. It is for the rest of eternity. You will have to kill ever other Child of Fire if you wish to become the God of Fire. You will have to kill them by your hand and spill their blood. The same human blood that runs through your veins.\"

Phoenix\'s eye lids opened, ruby fire burning underneath. A hand reached up and snatched Ashura\'s wrist, jerking it back away from his forehead with a bone squeezing grip. \"I know. Deus said I would have to fight. I will fight. And I will mercifully kill every last Child of Fire and put them out of their misery. Don\'t even try to convince me otherwise, Ashura.\"

A wide smile bloomed across Ashura\'s lips. \"Then under the light of the Full Moon, we will have a new born God of Fire by the name of Phoenix.\"

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