Divinitas

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Divinitas

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Written by Caleyndar
Website: http://cruelangel.net

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Hiya all. XD Thanks to the people who entered the Divinitas fanfic comp. It's now closed. If you're interested in reading the entries, please visit my website and go to Events > Competitions. They are currently housed there, but will be moved later to the fanfic section.

jeazard: Yes, we're back for real! I won't be going away for a long while yet (bwahaaha, I have a stockpile of chapters XD) Thank you for remembering us despite our long absence!

MidnightsKeeper: ^_^; Yes, Ae & Ph's relationship is going a bit... skewered again. I think Phoenix is pretty much resigned to a life filled with pain. >_> BUT... were I you, I wouldn't be worrying about this story ending any time soon. >_> Aside from the stock pile of chapters I have already written, and am still writing, I've also started planning the sequel. XDDDD So Divinitas will go on for quite a while yet! I'm more concerned people will get bored of it and quit reading!

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068 - Divine Gestures

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Hands can be offered in one of two ways. With the palm facing downwards: a reach of desperation, of need, one that whispered for unvoiced help, to be clasped in another’s hand and pulled forth, up through the darkness and into the light. Or it could be offered with the palm facing skywards, fingers splayed beautifully and naturally, so you wanted to grasp them, curl your own fingers around them and never let go. A hand offered with the palm facing upwards… it was a offer of help, a promise of support, that which would lift you up from the depths in which you drowned.

It was the latter that Phoenix offered to Aether. Standing a few feet away, his Divine Beast of Fire behind him, hand held out towards his God of Soul. Offering… offering what exactly, Phoenix?

Aether lowered his head, breaking visual contact with the offered hand and side-stepping Draco’s insensitive inquiry. A brief smile touched his lips, something between appreciation and bitterness passing through him.

A step was taken, then another, and another, until no space remained between fire and soul. The hand was still raised, palm upwards, fingers beckoning. Aether lifted his own hand, palm skimming palm, but rather than clasping the offered hand, fastened biting fingers around Phoenix’s thin wrist instead.

Phoenix didn’t even have time to frown before Aether pulled him stumbling forward, free arm snaking around his waist to lock him in a possessive embrace. “Had a change of heart, my Phoenix?” Aether whispered into his ear alone. “Only this morning, you reaffirmed that you hate me, scrubbed your precious skin raw just to be free of the scent and feel of me… Why offer to let me ride with you?”

Why indeed. Because he felt responsible? Because he felt the bite of guilt in the role he had played that led to Aether’s act of shredding his own wings to bloody pieces? No. Not really. Just… didn’t want… to feel pain. Just… close…

“So I can push you off and have you plummet to your death when the moment presents itself?” Phoenix snarled, shoving and squirming to free himself for Aether’s breath squeezing embrace. “Damn it, let go! I can’t breathe!”

Sapphire eyes watched the two flirt with one another, musing for a moment why Phoenix chose to intervene. Dismissing it to be consulted at another time, Draco turned to check on Chimaera’s progress with their belongings before mounting his serpentine dragon, settling himself behind its dark majestic head.

Somehow Phoenix was able to wretch Aether off him, if only long enough to climb up onto his phoenix’s back. The hand was offered again without ill will, and this time, Aether accepted it, settling behind the Fire deity and once again locking arms around Phoenix’s slim waist.

They were an odd pair, there was no denying that. Their relationship made no logical sense, to hurt and to help within the space of a single breath. But who was Draco to judge? He who had slept with the High General of Ten simply because he wanted to know. At least that had not been self destructive? A small smile tugged at Draco’s lips. If it was, then only time would tell. For how, he belonged here, in his realm, serving his rather childish God of Soul.

With a final wave to Genesis, who waved back enthusiastically with a grin plastered on its face, and a nod to the castle’s staff, the God of Water nudged his dragon to take to the sky. The griffin followed, its silvery white wings unfolding and lifting its feline body from the ground. The chimera bounded forward, tailing along the ground with distance eating strides before diving beneath the surface and disappearing into the earth’s crust.

Phoenix was the last to leave, feeling too keenly the press of Aether’s body against his own. Too easy, to be lost in the presence of his touch, his warmth. It was only the phoenix’s sharp nip to his leg that brought Phoenix to his senses, and allowed his Divine Beast to soar into the sky.

The God of Fire couldn’t help it. Couldn’t help the tiny smile that tugged on his lips as he felt Aether’s arms tighten around him just a fraction as they lifted up at such a terrific speed, chasing the cloud tails in the blink of an eye.

The castle below grew smaller and smaller, its torrents with their likeness to a clutching, possessive hand reaching, grasping desperately upwards grew insignificant, like a nightmare fading with dawn’s light. Even the glimpse of Casimir’s face, caught between the endless stone walls, with her sorrowful imploring eyes vanished from mind and sight as the phoenix soared higher and higher.

The wind tearing at his hair and scant clothing, the beat of wings and the power of the Divine Beast beneath him… this was freedom. Freedom, and power, and dreams made real. Soaring in the sky, a god, with a beautiful stunning prince riding behind him, holding him tight. It would be so easy to fall into such fantasy, fall hard and believe with mind, heart and soul.

But it was just a fantasy. The jingle of the necklace around his neck was proof of that. Phoenix swallowed, feeling the chains biting ever so lightly into his throat as he did so.

“You’re mine.” The affirmation tumbled into Phoenix’s ear and made him shiver.

Not the way I want to be… The words that whispered in Phoenix’s mind but were never voiced. Instead, the God of Fire just scowled, and elbowed Aether hard in the stomach. “I am not bloody yours. Get that through your thick skull.”

“You are too mine,” was the reply, playful and undeterred by the violent jab. Fingers that had held so tightly around Phoenix’s middle strayed lower, caressing the God of Fire’s naked navel before slipping beneath the waist band.

Phoenix freaked. “Don’t fucking molest me on my own Divine Beast!” the youth screamed, clutching Aether’s offending hand in clawed fingers and looking as if he might very well bite the hand off at any moment.

“I’m sure your pretty phoenix won’t mind if I fuck you here on its back…”

“That is it!” Phoenix exclaimed, eyes blazing with fury. “Oi, you overgrown bird! Eat him!” the God of Fire ordered, jabbing his phoenix none too gently with his weapon.

Whilst many creatures will lay down their lives to protect those they are loyal to, so too are there those who would do that, but would also have no qualms mauling with their own teeth (or beak) the same person if that person insulted or crossed them. The Divine Beast of Fire fell into the latter category, and instead of eating Aether has it had been ordered to do, swung its beautiful fiery head around and bit Phoenix hard, electing a sharp yelp of pain from the fiery youth.

Well, it might also have been that all four Divine Beasts technically belonged to Aether, and wouldn’t harm their ruling deity over such a trivial thing as ruffled pride.

“Why say that all of a sudden anyway…” Phoenix murmured sulkily as he rubbed his sore arm and let Aether enfold him again, near-bare back melding with richly clothed chest. “I know those words. You say them to me every night.”

“To remind myself that you are mine,” Aether replied softly, squeezing the youth tightly for a moment, reaffirming with touch what had been conveyed with words. “You looked stunning then, sunlight through your hair and kissing your skin, riding astride a majestic beast. You seemed almost out of reach, even to me… and I sold half my soul to own you.”

Phoenix didn’t reply. Just swallowed the words and clutched the weapon in his hand tighter until all his fingers ran white.

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The world was a changed place when they finally dipped beneath the clouds again. The landscape passing below them was different from that which surrounded the Castle of Genesis. The trees that grew were of a dissimilar shade, their leaves a unusual shape. Even the air smelt different, felt colder.

Chimaera was no where to be seen below, having burrowed into the earth to cut distance from their journey.

“I hope Chimaera knows where he’s going,” Phoenix murmured, trying to distract himself from unpleasant memories that undesirably surfaced like gruesome ghosts of those he had slain. Memories of a childhood filled with fear and pain and desperate longing, and so, so, so much hate and loathing directed at him, even living like a wraith at the edges of civilization, barely noticed, unseen.

“Even if the God of Earth does not, his Divine Beast will know. After all, every city and town are on its domain,” Aether supplied offhandedly, insensitive of the turmoil Phoenix’s memories stirred up, more concerned with nibbling at the back of Phoenix’s neck and delighting in the way Phoenix’s heartbeat revibrated against his lips.

Forests gave way to worked land. Unpaved roads weaved through the fields, villages dotting them like rough uncut gems amongst the green and wheat. It was too familiar, even seeing it all from such a height. And it didn’t help at all that Draco was now gliding lower, slowing their pace as they neared the city looming on the horizon.

People scattered like ants as their dark shadows passed over them, their screams of “dragon!” and “monsters!” thin and wailing over the distance, yet still shrill and cutting.

They hit Phoenix like blows. Those fearfully released screams. The God of Fire couldn’t help but tense, grinding his teeth together in bitter remembrance of times when he had been called worse names to his face, causing his body to relive the sharp painful kicks and punches that hurt his body when their accompanying words had slaughtered his soul. But the fire deity willed himself to breath, forcefully stilling his body and enduring the phantom pain. It was his legacy, his past. The pain that made him what he was today.

“Regretting it yet? Demanding like an ignorant child to come on this little outing of your’s?” Aether asked quietly as he felt Phoenix stiffen against him, tightening like a shell to keep out those that would do him harm. “Let it go, Phoenix… whatever you were or were not to them in the past, it does not matter. You are my God of Fire now,” the God of Soul breathed in Phoenix’s ear. “Let them hate you or worship you as they will, but you are mine. Do not forget that.”

Aether’s words, naïve, stupid, completely ignorant of how Phoenix actually felt, of all the pain he had suffered, all those years of being ostracised, it stabbed at the youth’s heart. He didn’t understand, didn’t feel how much effort Phoenix poured into himself to keep from breaking. And that irritating, annoying, angering, terrifying “you are mine” was the final straw. Phoenix snapped. He didn’t want Aether sitting behind him anymore, didn’t want him touching him any way, this higher deity that was so removed from humanity. He didn’t want to be sitting astride his Divine Beast either, and most of all, he didn’t want to hear Aether’s voice saying such selfish, bitterly biting words that discredited every shard of pain that had ever pierced his skin ever again!

The animosity from Phoenix caused the fiery bird to buck, thrashing in mid air angrily before taking a sudden steep dive. Out of reflex, Aether’s grip tightened, and Phoenix, wild as an enraged stallion, would have none of it, twisting and heaving even as the Bird of Fire swooped and dove frantically, as if trying to dislodge them both.

With both rider and beast beyond control, the trio plummeted one last time, blinded by the fiery brightness of the phoenix’s plumage and the fire that had leapt to life in the chaos. The ground rushed up to meet them, and the Divine Beast of Fire ploughed into the earth chest first, sending up waves of rock and dirt with a rain of fire.

“Shut up shut up shut up!” were the first words from Phoenix’s mouth as he threw Aether from him, red eyes burning as he watched Aether’s body skid to a stop on the upturned earth, once a courtyard perhaps, with its smooth stone slabs now broken and cracked like an impossible jigsaw puzzle. “Stop saying that I am yours! I don’t want to be just yours! And I don’t fucking want to forget about my bloody past!”

Like a child throwing a tantrum. Only with a deadly weapon gripped in one hand and the aura of fire swirling around him like angry demons. The God of Soul might have been amused, had he not been in a foul mood from being dragged into the mortal world. Having the one who insisted he come scream and shout at him like a wild untrained animal, it made Aether’s contempt for the God of Fire smoulder.

Perhaps that was why, when he glimpsed the robed figures in the settling dust and smoke, that he rose gracefully from the ground, and lifted his right hand, issuing the Divine Gesture for ‘capture.’ And before Phoenix could draw another breath to scream more obscenities at Aether, he found dozens of sharp blades pointed at his throat.

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He was a god. The God of Fire, the obsession of the God of Soul. A deity with enough power to burn whole cities to the ground. Yet to have the priests thrust their blades at his neck, it froze him in unyielding fear.

Fire pulled back into his body, smothered by panic, and the Divine Beast unravelled with a scream, twisting into ribbons of flame that vanished into the air. And he was left standing, trembling, in the ruins of his once pristine outfit, clutching his sword still, yet resembling a lost and terrified child rather than a powerful god.

“Aether!” Draco’s voice, accompanied by the violent swirl of air as his dragon and the griffin landed in the ruins of the courtyard. “What are you doing? Tell them to withdraw!”

The God of Soul cocked his head, looking inquisitively at Draco. “Why, I’m simply playing God… They are my priests, after all. Shouldn’t they protect their God when another threatens him?” Aether flashed a predator’s smile before turning back to the circle of priests that had surrounded Phoenix and gesturing for them to take him away. “Enchain him. Neck, wrists, ankles. Against bare skin.”

Wide crimson eyes flashed and locked on Aether’s. ‘You wouldn’t…!’ were the unspoken words that screamed through Phoenix’s eyes.

A smirk answered, daring him. Hurt the priests, if you dare, if you want to spill more blood. Free yourself, if you dare, if you don’t mind molten metal crawling over your pretty skin.

“Why are you doing this?” Draco questioned, voice straining to be calm. “You should know better than anyone what your priests think of the Children of Fire. Monsters and devils are common names they’re label with. Can’t you see that Phoenix is terrified, despite what he has become? Have your priests release him. This was not our intended destination in Anglia.”

Cool amethyst passed over the God of Water. “You should not order me around, Draco. I am already displeased with your conscripting Phoenix into this scheme of yours,” Aether said coldly, watching as his robed priests took Phoenix away, snatching the Weapon of Fire from his slack hands before he vanished from view.

“We will stay here tonight. And leave in the morning to your ‘intended destination.’ But tonight, I want Phoenix to learn that I am the only one who will ever accept him and want him. That no one else will accept him no matter how much he wants them to or how hard he tries.” There was venom in his voice. Hatred and spite. The words “do not interfere” were left unsaid, but the warning was there, and made Draco involuntarily take a step back from the God of Soul.

After several tense seconds, Aether turned and followed the awaiting priests into the temple that loomed over the ruined courtyard like a monster, hungering to devour them all.

The God of Water fell back against his dragon, grateful for its cool supporting scales as it slide against his bare skin. “This has become more difficult that I anticipated,” Draco murmured, trying to ignore the priests and disciples that still milled around, torn between wanting to stare and kneeling at their feet.

“It does seem your plans have crashed and burned,” Ari smirked, stroking his griffin’s silvery white beak as the beast stood protectively over him. “But I would like to know… how those priests can so readily accept Aether for their God? When he has shown no… godly powers? Not even his wings.”

“Divine Gestures,” Draco said quietly, hands still at his side, as if moving them would invoke power from the words that left his mouth. “Casimir mentioned them to me. Gestures which only the higher deities can give, that invoke a power which mortals know instinctively as being welded by a god. These gestures do not have the power to force humans against their freewill, but they are a clear sign to them that the one who uses it is a god of the highest order.”

“Something that Deus fashioned perhaps? To… ah, should I say… make it easier for him to… be loved?” Ari commented with a smirk.

“Perhaps. And a gift from Deus to Aether, most likely. Understandable why Aether hasn’t welded it before now.”

“Poor Phoenix, then?” Ari asked, an empty smile behind his words. “By the way… I will be staying out for the duration that we are here. Of all places to crash, our dear Phoenix just had to pick an Aetheist Temple, wouldn’t he… and this one as well.”

The God of Water nodded in silent understanding, and pushing himself from the dragon’s support, called the serpentine beast back into its vessel. The sudden burst of hushed gasps and murmurs caused a swirl of annoyance to surge through Draco, and for a moment, he empathised with his lord. If this was what Aether endured, then yes, it was perfectly understandable why he preferred locking himself up in his castle all by his lonesome self.

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Continued in 069...