Chapter 140: Chapter 138: A dream of home is comfortable and not to be questioned. Accept it.

Hineni hurtles through whatever gap spans between non-existence and the physical domain, his spirit spinning wildly as it careens through the god-space towards a place he had once come from.

 

His soul, separate from the confines of his physical body, floats — not dead, not alive.

 

There has been a caveat to everything that has happened.

 

And by everything, everything is meant.

 

Over a decade ago, his birth mother had been killed by a woman who was fearful of what his birth means — given that he and his sister, Nekyia, were both born of the seed of the god of death. Kidnapping that child, intent to sacrifice him to the owl-god in order to move on with her own life, the elven woman however came to regret her choice for her own personal reasons and then took him, running off to the far north to live in secret, far away from the elves and the gods of the south.

 

There, in the distant north, where she disguised herself as a human, she met a man, and the two of them raised Hineni, hiding him from the world — at least until a time came when he started growing into his innate affinity towards magic.

 

Realizing that they couldn’t hide him longer, they sent a message to the boy’s real father, the god of death, in order to arrange for his safe-keeping, as the owl-god whom Hineni had been promised to as a baby was still being sought by the entity and, unbeknownst to them, the frog-god, Nekyia.

 

However, the god of Death, setting his work in to motion, had Hineni’s step-parent’s killed by the horse-god, one of his devotees. During this murder, Hineni, in a powerful discharge of his magic, filled the room with ash, killing the horse-god, the fairy Eilig, as well as himself.

 

— There, in death, he slumbered for years and years, until enough years had passed that he could be returned to the world as a man.

 

And returned he was. Hineni was placed back into his old house, thinking that he had been in an orphanage, and there he stayed, waiting for his life to start. He thought it was the start of his own thread of fate, one that would find him one day. However, the owl-god’s and his encounter was not by sheer chance.

 

It was set up.

 

Obscura, having finally found him after his return to the mortal world, used her limited magic to forcefully arrange their encounter in the big-now-small forest, just outside of the northern city.

 

After that, everything else was simple biology. She didn’t mind-control him to do any of those things. That is merely the abrasive effect of a god’s presence on a person when they are near them, and Hineni, desperate for love, purpose, and belonging, was fatefully attached to the owl-god as she was to him.

 

— As was foreseen and planned by the god of death.

 

From there, life went on as ‘normal’. Hineni started making weapons, as desired by the god of death, but also by the owl-god, who was obsessed with regaining her old territory. However, something went awry with the plan.

 

Outside factors begin moving in, things that the god of death didn’t anticipate, to skew the formula of his manipulation of the world.

 

Rhine, the river-wizard. Sockel. Eilig, who the god of death himself, had returned to the world to correct Hineni’s path toward one of war — after the former two began ‘softening’ him. But Eilig too, while trying to pull him away from the love he feels for the owl-god, still added more damage to the tainting of his spiritual whole than a help, as she refound her role in life as his sister.

 

— And finally, the spell began to break.

 

The signs of a god’s magic interfering with the world began to leak through in secret corners and whispers. The word ‘horse’, being the most notable of these hints, but many, many other such quirks of life were scattered along the way. The number five refers not only to such concepts as a horse, a demon, or even a human, it may also spell 'death'.

 

Nekyia, the frog-god, meanwhile, had been trying her hardest from the south to regain her biological brother as her own, despite the warped sickness of her mind caused by years of pain, spiritual poisoning born of too much worship, and a horrific fear of being judged for her appearance.

 

The intended horrific, violent clashing of the owl-god and the frog-god, given Obscura’s lowered war-drive because of her new found desire to share a home and family with Hineni and everyone else, simply never came to be as the god of death had wanted. Every attempt of his to foster horror and war in the world had never achieved the great success that was promised of it.

 

Hineni, who was meant to be an avatar of death simply lived a mostly quiet, uneventful life instead. The plan fell apart.

 

— In the end, everything that had happened and everything that hadn’t happened transpired in a place that doesn’t really exist.

 

Much like the layer of reality that he had existed in when Nekyia had kidnapped him was fake, so too was this world, in which Obscura had stolen his heart in the forest. As both of these illusions were founded on top of the canvas of the god of death.

 

And while the god of Death was indeed able to hinder Hineni from using the magic of his attribute in the final battle, he could not hinder this leaking of the magic of the other gods, all tinging and smearing over his perfect reality with their own essences.

 

Three for Obscura.

 

Four for Nekyia.

 

- and so on.

 

Now the illusion is broken. The canvas isn’t wiped clean — it is cast off, thrown to the ground and stomped on all over.

 

Hineni shoots through the void, heading towards a place that is white and bright, a place where he can sense many other souls gathering — souls of powerful gods, familiar and those less so. His vision begins to fill itself with vivid, bright green, as if he were flying towards the largest, greatest crown of any tree in the world.

 

---

 

— Hineni covers his face, landing gracelessly as he crashes into the physical realm from the spiritual, returning to his body as he re-enters and rolls, tumbling over and over a hard surface until he comes to a stop, feeling like he fell down the longest staircase in the whole world.

 

The man lets out a groan and lets his arm flop down to his side, looking up at the man he’s flown against.

 

A tall dark-elf stands there, looking down his way.

 

“Glad you could make it,” says Avarice.

 

Hineni blinks and then shakes his head. “I think that’s my line,” he says. “Thanks for the save.”

 

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Avarice holds down a hand to help him up and Hineni grabs it, getting up to his feet as he looks around in confusion.

 

“HINENI~!” squawks a loud, excited voice and before Hineni knows, he’s back on the floor again, tumbling over a second time now that something has latched onto him, sharp talons cutting through his shirt and into his back. Hineni feels something pressing itself against his chest. It smells like owl.

 

He sighs in relief, despite the blood pouring out of his back, as he holds Obscura and looks up toward the ceiling, not really sure where they are.

 

“You’re alright!” says a relieved voice from the side and turns, looking at Rhine, who jumps in. “Sockel!” calls Rhine.

 

“No,” replies Sockel, rolling her eyes. Rhine shoots back and grabs her wrist, yanking her in with surprising strength.

 

Something laughs nearby and sits down next to them. Hineni takes the effort this time, she’ll just have to forgive him. He grabs Seltsam, who is wearing her heavy robe, and pulls her in. The woman screams in abject terror, but accepts her horrible fate.

 

Hineni splutters as they fall on top of him.

 

He closes his eyes, sighing in relief.

 

There’s only one person missing.

 

…Eilig…

 

The man holds what he has tighter against himself, happy for this rare moment, even if he doesn’t really understand it.

 

— Another weight presses down on them.

 

Hineni opens his eyes.

 

“Ribbit~” says Nekyia, laying over them.

 

“WHO~!” shrieks Obscura, the pile breaking as everybody is thrown off into all directions as the owl springs to her feet, hissing as she readies herself for a new fight with Nekyia.

 

Looking at them from down below, Hineni can see that they’re both beaten up and rough. He assumes from duking it out with each other in the spirit-world.

 

The man gets up, stepping between them.

 

“Hineni!” says Nekyia excitedly. “Did you see? You called for me, and I came for you!” she says, grabbing his arm.

 

“FOOLISH FROG!” screeches Obscura, grabbing his other arm and yanking him back. “You are but a simple tool that has served its simple purpose. Nothing more!”

 

Hineni looks around himself, staring around the room that he’s in, where Avarice, but also dozens of other faces who he sort of or simply doesn’t recognize. Other gods.

 

— His vision moves back and forth as they yank on him, fighting for his attention.

 

“Can this stop?” asks Hineni, looking back at the two of them. Hineni looks at Obscura. “She didn’t kill your parents,” he says, nodding to Nekyia. “She got hurt trying to save me from being eaten by them.” The owl-god clicks, hissing at him.

 

He looks at Nekyia. “I’m your brother. Stop being a freaky creep. We’ll have breakfast sometime, okay?”

 

“Ribbit~”

 

“Quite the family man,” says Avarice, walking over.

 

“You know it,” replies Hineni, still being yanked from left to right between the two of them. “What is this?”

 

Avarice claps a hand on his shoulder and looks back towards the people who are gathering together, entering through doors that he can’t quite wrap his head around. “Business, Weaponsmith Hineni.”

 

“Isn’t it always?” asks Hineni. “Is this what you were after the whole time?” he asks.

 

Avarice looks at him and then nods. The man taps his head. “What good is wealth if the world you’re collecting it in isn’t real?”

 

“So, you all knew?” asks Hineni.

 

Avarice nods. “Some of us did. Some of us didn’t. I had my suspicions for a while.”

 

Hineni thinks and then nods. “Is that why you took our side from the start, when the frogs tried to take our old house?” he asks. “To let the charade go on?”

 

Avarice turns around, waving him off as he walks towards the crowd. “No,” replies the god. He looks over his shoulder. “I gave your parents the loan for that old house myself, personally,” explains the god. “They were good people." He shakes his head. “It isn’t always business,” says Avarice. “Sometimes, it’s personal.” The god walks off, vanishing in the crowd. “Hineni.”

 

Hineni stares after him before looking down around himself, wondering what happens now.

 

This is it, right? This is the end of the illusions.

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