Descent Into Darkness

Descent Into Darkness Chapter 53

Enjoy everyone! I didn't have time really to edit, so it might come off as a bit rough.

"That is not true," said a new voice, and Phoenix's counter-part, the phoenix itself appeared next to him. The man could feel the anger rolling off his godhood in waves, and he smiled.

"Most of the gods will not interfere. I, already have." The voice was deep in tone, vaguely threatening, but strangely melodic and not spoken. It reverberated inside Phoenix's head, but not his ears.

Demetrius glared at the bird, biting his bottom lip so hard Phoenix wondered why it did not bleed. "You gave up your right to be here long ago," Demetrius hissed through clenched teeth.

"Who are you to speak to one of the gods this way? I gave up nothing except a few human years to thwart your plans. We see all, Demetrius, and we knew of you long before you were born. My brothers and sisters felt no need to interfere, saying that man would shape the world we gave them as they saw fit but I, I would not have you destroy what we spent so much time creating. That is why I placed my essence into a human being, that is why Phoenix has thwarted you at every turn, and that is why we will kill you on the field of battle."

The anger disappeared from Demetrius' face, and it was replaced by a smirk. "Defeat me? Kill me? Thwarted me? He has been nothing but an annoyance!" He pointed a finger at Phoenix. "He slowed my plans, yes, but thwarted them? I think not."

"Say what you will," Phoenix interjected. "We will meet in battle, one way or the other, you and I will settle this. Brisiris will not fall to you, and if it kills me, I will see you dead, power ripped away from you, and your armies dismantled. You have terrorized the people of this land long enough."

Demetrius laughed. "Of course it will kill you, boy, but nothing will stop me. My armies will roll over the land like a thick blanket, choking the life from whom I choose. Until then."

Demetrius' form shimmered and faded, leaving both sides of Phoenix floating in the blackness. The god turned to the man and bowed its head. "I am glad to see you here."

"And I thank you for coming."

The sigh was almost audible, and Phoenix could swore he felt a bit of longing in it. "My brothers and sisters call to me incessantly, crying for me to return home, to let the humans sort their own problems, but faced with such an enemy, I had to act."

Phoenix nodded. "And we thank you for it. If not for the power you gave me, Demetrius would have won long ago."

The voice rumbled in his head, a bit of frustration in the tone. "Gave you? I gave you nothing. We are one and the same, hard as that may be to understand. You are the human vessel of a god, one who is benevolent and does not wish to see his children hurt."

Phoenix bowed his head in deference. "Forgive me, I still do not understand this. How am I you, but have none of your memories, or your gifts? I do not even know if you have a name."

The voice in his head took on a humorous tone. "Name? I have many. Some call me Logi, others call me Alaz, even Adranus, and still others call me Ishum. You however, may call me by the one given by my father. You can call me Ignus."

"So many names?"

"Many across the realm of men worship fire, Phoenix. Do not think Demetrius, you, and the Easterners are all we have created."

"You speak plainly, that I know, but I can not help but hear riddles. For every answer you give me I am left with more questions than I started with, each more burning than the last."

"Then ask. Ask what you will and I will answer."

Phoenix's mind raced, and the first question he blurted out was "What are you?"

"I am a god."

"You are not."

"I am, as are you."

"Then explain where gods come from, and why did you create us?"

The bird before him smiled oddly, and Phoenix briefly wondered how that was possible with a beak made of fire. "We are the old gods, my siblings and I. There are four of us, each born of and created by our father, who made everything but humanity. My brother to tower over the earth as mountains, to cover the earth in green. My sister to provide wind for my brother, to speed his pollen and seeds from one end of the earth to other, to create the breeze that caresses your cheek on a spring morning. My other sister to provide moisture, and nutrients for my brother's creations. And me, to destroy it, all of it."

"Your...father?"

"Yes. He created the earth, my siblings formed it, and father populated it with the animals. And then, father was no more."

"He died?"

"No, my father nor we his children, can die. He simply became tired of living and committed himself to nothing."

Phoenix did not understand, but bit back the question and allowed Ignus to continue. "Father was no more, and I was an insolent child, because I only saw the capacity to destroy. And destroy I did, for many, many eons. I became both truly vicious, and truly crafty. The animals my father created were nothing like the ones that populate the earth now, they were large, and monstrous. In a particular fit of rage, I wiped them out with a massive fire that I called from the heavens, coated a stone with it and sent it toward them. They died, almost all of them."

"Your siblings were angry with you?"

"Are you angry when the wind blows? Do you get angry when rain falls from the sky? What I did was what I must have done, it was my nature. But, certain species survived, and thus, humanity in its infancy was born. We pushed and prodded, my siblings and I, helping them along, as we had with the others, until humanity had its first war. We were astonished that something we had created had such a tendency for destruction over such petty matters, and we pulled away from them. We would still do that which we were created for, but humanity would not have our help. Eons passed. My brother took heart upon a man trapped in a cave-in and gave him the power to help himself. Thus the earth-born began. Same for myself and the rest of my siblings. We each interfered once, and thus elementals but with a kiss of our power were born and transferred the power by lineage. See, Phoenix, we are not just representative of the elements, we are the elements, and the elements are us, and humanity is subject to our rules, so yes, we are gods."