The Thousand-Eyed Crow (#Wattys2020)

Chapter 10 (The Duality of Man)

Landing on the floor with a thud, Kallias grunted. They sat up, rubbing their knees and looking around the empty living room. As usual, it was quiet. But the normal desert scene outside the window had been replaced by an inferno that raged just outside, somehow narrowly avoiding burning down the flat. The heat radiated inside just a bit, but it was just enough to be bearable.

"Caoimhe, get your ass in here before I fucking murder you," Kallias said aloud to the room, tapping their one hand on the table loudly.

For moment, nothing happened; it was as if Kallias had not said anything at all. But then a small pop sounded directly behind them, and Kallias jumped a bit in their seat before snapping around to look at the the source of the noise. "It took you long enough."

"What are you doing here? What's wrong?" Caoimhe asked, pulling themselves across the floor to sit beside Kallias.

"I should ask you the same thing, since I didn't expect that your body would be out here setting government buildings and shit on fire. It's pretty fucked up that... you know who... is making your body do this..." Kallias sighed, pulling Caoimhe in for a hug. "And those creepy monsters from the astral plane look like they're actually alive and they're fucking eating people. I've seen enough dead bodies to be scarred for the rest of my life..."

Kallias felt Caoimhe's body grow tense under their arm, and they pulled away, looking into Caoimhe's eye. Their sibling frowned, not making eye contact with them. Raising an eyebrow, Kallias hummed. "It's that bad, huh... I can't imagine not having control over my own body anymore."

"No, it's not that," Caoimhe muttered, looking down at their hands and blinking back the metallic red they saw in them. "You've got it all wrong... Thronakkhar has released me from my mind prison and I'm actually... back in control of my body."

"What?" Kallias said in disbelief, their eyes searching Caoimhe's face. "Don't fuck with me."

"I'm not... I made a bargain asking it to free me in exchange for me becoming a believer. I'm... with the Tribe of Thronakkh now."

Frozen, Kallias could only stare at Caoimhe with their eyebrows knit together. For almost a full minute, Kallias simply sat there, and Caoimhe's eye widened as Kallias began to shake as the adrenaline began to course through their veins.

"I can't believe you've done this!" Kallias shrieked, flipping the table next to them so that it went careening into the opposite wall, just narrowly missing Caoimhe. The table banged back against the floor as Kallias launched themselves at their sibling, grabbing them by the neck and pushing them down to the floor so that their legs were pressing down into Caoimhe's windpipe.

Caoimhe did not struggle, simply allowing Kallias to take out their rage on them as Kallias banged their fist repeatedly against Caoimhe's bony chest.

"You complete fucking idiot... We're all gonna die because of you, you fucking bastard..." Kallias shouted, repeating "We're all gonna die... We're all gonna die..." over and over again.

After a few minutes, Kallias's punches slowed until they could not continue, so they let their hand fall to their sides as they dropped their head and sighed. At that moment, Kallias let out a loud cry as they burst into tears, not even bothering to hide their face or wipe their tears. They cried openly, shuddering with each new set of sobs.

Underneath Kallias's twisted legs, Caoimhe slowly shifted, sliding out from their sibling's grasp. Caoimhe sat next to Kallias and patted their back before rubbing it in small circles in an attempt to soothe them. Instead, Kallias cried harder, recoiling at the touch.

"G-get the fuck away from me..." Kallias said weakly as they wiped their tears and hiccuped. They wiped their nose with the back of their hand. "You sold us all out... and for what? Your own freedom? And now we're all gonna die because of your fucking selfishness? Are you fucking serious? Go fuck yourself, I don't have a twin anymore."