[TW: wrist cutting, blood, character death, general death, out of body experience, gore.]
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". . ."
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The words around me blended together as I stood in front of the pyramid, and that weight on my shoulders became a bit too heavy. When I woke up the next day after retrieving XD I was immediately met with incessant chatter flooding my ears, I tried to tune it out to no avail.
Everyone seemed to be arguing or having a far-too-loud discussion. Believe me, nobody wants to be caught in an altercation between three Gods and a strangely powerful Demi-God.
I didn't acknowledge what I was doing until my communicator was being held to my ear after dialing a familiar name, Eret now speaking from the other end. "Dar-" he corrected himself. "Torva, what's happening?"
I sighed, leaning against the sandstone, barely hearing the words Eret spoke above the chatter. XD was simply standing nearby berating everyone while they did the work for a ceremony I knew next to nothing about. "Yeah, sorry, I shouldn't have called-"
"What do you need? What's your coords, I'll be right there." I could already hear him moving, I couldn't help but laugh under my breath.
"Amare, you're fine. I'm just-" I inhaled deeply, the air was stagnant and hot. "They're going to attempt to make me immortal today, and, it's just so much. It's so much. Everything is so much." I took a moment, hearing silence. "I miss you, not as a partner but as just a person, I love you and I know it isn't romantic but it's still there-"
He hushed me almost immediately, voice quieting. "I love you too, we should hang out soon, okay? Catch up? After all of this is over, whether you become immortal or not, you're coming to this castle and we're having a picnic or something. I'll make you some new outfits and everything." I could hear his smile, and all of the talking faded away, Eret's voice replacing every last word.
"Deal, you're so fucking on." I grinned, and I could hear him laugh. "I'm kind of scared."
"For becoming immortal?" Eret questioned, I shook my head no before remembering he can't see me.
"No, that it won't work, that everyone will be let down. What if, it just doesn't happen? What if you all have to watch me die one day." I looked up, the skies cloudless and full of crows. "I feel like everyone is relying on this ceremony for happiness but me."
"You didn't tell me you all were doing this today." Eret sounded almost hurt, but I couldn't blame him.
"Yeah well, I didn't really know this was going to happen until very recently." I curled in a bit on myself, it seems my confidence had been slowly chipped away recently. It hurt more than I appreciated. Going from this overly confident and powerful woman to whatever this is. "It's like all of the power I had has been taken out of my hands. Everyone is doing this whole-" I waved my hand gesturing to everything around me, knowing Eret couldn't see me. "This whole thing for me, and I have no control right now."
"You'll be in full control after it's over. I can say with almost full certainty that you'll walk out of this whatever you want to be, you're Torva after all." He laughed, a sound that I didn't hear enough of these days. "You're the person so many envy for a reason, you know. Take control of that like you used to."
"I just." I sighed, sliding down the wall behind me so I was sat on the ground, the sandstone far from comfortable under me. "I feel like parts of me are gone, and the rest I have left I don't even know about."
He let out a slow breath, and I could hear clinking on the other end of the communicator. He was making tea presumably, that or getting a glass of wine, I wouldn't call him out on it if he was. I wasn't there anymore so I wouldn't be surprised if he stocked the formerly empty wine cabinet. "You're all there, darling. You just forget parts of yourself, and get rid of the pieces you've outgrown. It's up to you to harness what you have, I can't help with that." There was comfortable silence for only a few seconds. "You're an enigma in the best way possible, utterly fascinating. It's been an honor to know you in this stage of your life, I can brag to hundreds later in life about knowing you now."
That confused me, I furrowed my brows and placed a hand above my eyes to block out the sun. "What do you mean?"
"You've only just started to bloom into what you're becoming it seems, hell, when I met you compared to where you are now? You've become something you mere years ago would fear, and you feared next to nothing then." He let out another laugh, and I heard a creak once again from his communicator. He sat down on the couch by the fireplace, I recognized the noise easily.
What he said made me crack a slight smile, glancing over to the men still working just a bit away.
"You've just begun, dear, you just can't see it yet." I could hear his smile, the way he leaned against the couch and relaxed as he spoke. "That's why you have me."
❧
When the call ended Torva was forced back into reality, the bubble she had created in the sweltering sunlight popping uncomfortably. The metal communicator felt heavy in her hand, the object mocking the woman due to Eret's name still splattering the screen in grey letters. Letting her know the conversation had ended.
Though, it seems it would be replaced by a new one.
A hand reached out to her, a familiar one dappled in gold. "Well," he sighed, a toothy grin widening when the Reaper took his hand. "How are you feelin'?" The Blood God let go of her hand when she fully stood up on steady legs. He seemed to be in ecstasy.
She gulped, staring off at the intricate circle they had created with ash atop the sandstone floor. She doesn't want to know what the ash was from, just that they had a limited source of it. The symbols etched with a dagger into the stone outlining the ceremonial shapes inside the circle made her sweat a bit. "Not the best."
"Anythin' I can do to help?" He stood in front of her, blocking the sun from her eyes. She looked up at Technoblade, feeling her tail wind around her ankle.
"Tell me you'll stay." She sounded desperate, not something he's heard from her often. "Just, even if you're lying."
"What do you mean, nerd?" He cautiously placed his hands on her shoulders, pulling them away for a moment when she flinched, only to hesitantly place them back once more after she realized it was just him. He stopped himself from smiling when she relaxed under his hold.
"That," she broke eye contact, looking at Phil and Foolish. "That if this works and I walk out of this immortal like you." She placed her hands on his wrists, reaching up to do so. "That you'll stay with me, that we can live side by side like you always say we can. You, Phil, and I forever, and this time it will actually be forever when I say it."
His expression softened, and he moved his hands to cup her face, feeling her hands move atop his own. "I'd rather truly die, I'd rather you bury me than leave you. I think I died a little anyway each day we were apart."
She nodded, stepping away from the God and letting his hands fall to his sides. "Then I'm ready."
When she looked up at the sky, she could see the sun was setting. They had been setting this up for hours now, though it didn't seem too complicated. "Hurry UP!" XD yelled, positioned on a large black symbol etched into stone, each God standing on one in each corner outside the large circle.
"Fuckin' wait!" Phil yelled back, wings flared. He didn't seem to like the God much.
It was large, looks to be twenty or so feet in diameter. Techno blade led the Reaper to the edge of it, placing an arm in front of her chest to stop her from taking another step. "You two okay?" Foolish said softly, contrasting the two others.
"It's just a lot for us." Technoblade explained, looking down at the other. "It's a lot." He wasn't letting me enter the circle. "Once you step in there, there's no turning back. You understand?" He said it firmly, and fear crossed her features for a moment before each man saw her shove the emotion down.
"But, it's just a circle, isn't it? Couldn't I just step out-" she was cut off.
Phil cleared his throat. "This is- this is more astronomical than you think. Once you enter there is no leaving, there's only moving forward with this process, you'll be sealing your fate."
XD chuckled, dark and reverberated. It made Torva shiver. "Well, it's quite complex to break things like this to make someone live indefinitely." XD shrugged like it was nothing, Torva didn't so much as glance at the God.
She inhaled deeply, about to take the step forward, Technoblade to her shock grabbed her, pulling her back into his arms. "Sorry- sorry just-" he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, avoiding the horns he hadn't quite adapted to yet. "I love you."
She nodded, feeling him slowly release her. "Love you too."
When she took the step, she didn't feel any different. It was normal, and she winced when entering in preparation anyway, only for nothing to change. "Sorry, crow, we lied." Phil whispered it, barely able for her to hear. "Had to get you in here."
She turned around when she heard steps, panicking when she saw Technoblade holding a dagger she didn't recognize. The symbols on it she couldn't read. "Just- let it happen? Sorry- we couldn't tell ya', I know it seems bad-"
Foolish was looking away, eyes closed harshly.
Technoblade grabbed her arm, feeling her try to tug it away to no avail. He just held her still with one hand, yet she used her whole body weight in an attempt to scramble away. "We needed one last thing to complete it, ya' know? Unwillin' blood spilled of the recipient, was annoyin' to translate cause this instruction was in Latin." The blade sliced across her wrist, dripping onto the ground below in large amounts. It pooled across her arm, and Technoblade backed away out of the circle, eyes full of shame and guilt. "So in this case, Sanguis of the Torva Messor." He smiled weakly, she was gripping her arm in pain.
The cut was upsettingly deep.
She tried to run out of the circle now, but she fell back onto the ground, she reached out, yet some kind of invisible field surrounded her. "Sorry, mate, the circle is in effect now." Phil sighed, looking at her arm.
Technoblade took a stand atop his own symbol, similar to the others.
He made a thin cut on his upper arm with the same dagger, passing it to Foolish.
Torva watched in dismay and fear as each person around her made the same exact cut, only for XD after doing the same as the others to toss the dagger into a golden bowl placed right outside of the circle.
She didn't want to know the rest of its contents.
Technoblade and Philza were surprised to see Torva almost hyperventilating. She frantically looked to Phil, still on the ground as she bled onto the sandstone, red smearing on the floor.
This was the first time they've seen her truly terrified.
"Until the sun burns out, right?" They heard her voice waver, she reached up to wipe at tears before they fell only for her to leave a streak of blood on her cheek.
The four Gods heard her terror, four beings about to make a fifth.
Technoblade and Philza looked at one another from across the circle, smiling. "We'll watch it burn out together, side by side. I promise." Technoblade sounded genuine, but it did little to calm her fear.
"Then we can form a world all our own." Phil finished it, wings closing at his back. Her terror began to grow once more, even as Phil seemed calm.
It grew especially when she saw the symbols surrounding the circle begin to glow red. Followed by the ones under their feet.
Now everyone looked panicked. "This shouldn't be this color-" XD was cut off, the grains of sand within the circle beginning to rise and swirl. As if a small tornado was forming, clouding each man's vision of what was occurring within.
All they knew was that Torva was in the center. "What's happening?!" Foolish screamed across the suddenly loud wind, his words almost being lost in the whirring.
"I don't know!" Technoblade yelled, voice picking up in tone.
They all turned their heads back to the glowing circle, and through the thick sheen of sand and cloud they could barely make out two forms.
One was curled on the floor, hair whipping around wildly with the wind surrounding her. Horns could be seen within her silhouette, and her hand outstretched to another.
A gloved palm reached out to the girl, the large form towering over Torva with a wide brimmed hat to match. The other gloved hand was delicately resting over the larger forms stomach, and it seems that somehow the wind didn't so much as disrupt her form. Her long dress was still perfectly uniform at her sides, barely short enough to show her delicate heels. And her long hair cascading over her shoulders didn't even move, each strand in place and not even flinching at the violent swarming of wind and sand.
Torva's hand made contact with the Goddess of Death, a bright red light momentarily blinding those unfortunate enough to witness.
❧
Tia Anteros.
It was a simple name, a name seen far more often than anybody was aware.
Tia Anteros felt dead.
She felt cold, freezing, and yet she wasn't shaking.
When she went to turn her head, her body refused to move against her own volition.
It was one of the many times she felt as if her own life was far out of her control.
It was as if she could see her life playing out before her eyes, yet she had no ability to change what was around her. Like everything she touched was unaffected by her movement, and every person she interacted with left her a mere shell of what she was before.
Tia's vision went white.
It wasn't painful, just enveloping, and left her strangely calm.
She didn't even know if her eyes were open.
It was a strange state of being, especially as she could feel her limbs begin to tingle, pins and needles spreading across her body until she could feel nothing but the static spreading and enveloping her senses.
She knew her eyes were open when dark cloud like figures began to dot around her. They seemed to be tall and humanoid, and she could almost see their eyes, though they were muddled as if they were far away, yet they were mere feet away from her. Or where she seemed to be. She couldn't feel her body anymore, where was she?
It honestly began to seem like a useless question the longer she stared up at the tens of figures. Maybe there was a hundred or so? Each time she tried to count she seemed to lose track after forty two.
It was so quiet.
Until she heard steady clicks heading her way, though she couldn't turn to look at the source. Shockingly, no fear rose into her brain. "Oh you scoundrels." A calming voice echoed in the white void, and a simple snap sounded in Torva's ears. Suddenly, she could feel her body once more, and a gloved hand reached down. "We end up like this quite often, do we not? Me helping you up from the floor?" The woman laughed, red lips curling into a simple smile. "I find it quite comedic."
Torva was able to lift her hand, accepting the help and almost collapsing to the floor. The woman clicked her tongue. "Sorry you were left there for so long, dear, I had something quick to take care of."
Torva nodded wordlessly, slowly regaining feeling in her legs as the woman kept her upright. When she looked down, she could see that she was in a white dress, her mothers yet again. "Oh dear, let's fix that, okay? You sweet thing." The woman snapped yet again, and now Torva found herself in black dress pants and heels, a black tucked in button up hugging her form. "That's much better." The woman laughed, gloved hands fixing the collar on the shirt. And then she hummed. "Well, do you like black? Or perhaps..." she snapped again, the color changing to a deep red. "A vermillion would do better?"
She then clapped in joy, snapping once more. The shirt and pants were now black yet again, though the heels a striking red. "Let's go with both, yes?"
Torva looked around the white void, staring at the blurred figures still surrounding her and the woman. "Who...?"
"Oh, don't mind them. They're just some souls I have to deal with later, but you're much more important." She waved off Torva, clasping her hands together. "I mean, I couldn't miss this opportunity, could I? You're familiar with souls, aren't you?"
"I'm- I'm not, no." Torva's voice sounded so weak compared to the other's, it made her cringe a bit.
"Well, that just won't do, I suppose you will have to learn." Kristin smiled, placing a hand on Torva's back comfortingly. "You look tired, would you like to rest? Server, or dimension hopping can be tiring for mortals."
Then, Torva remembered. "Kristin, I know you're being kind but- I really need to get back to the ceremo-"
"I know, I know." She smiled, patting Torva's head. "We'll get that over with soon, but I really needed to grab you up."
Torva nodded, hearing another snap from the woman. "What is this place?" Torva asked, seeing a large black and white house materialize in front of her. The woman led her up grand stairs, hearing their heels click as they made their way to the doors.
Kristin snapped, the doors opened.
"Just my home you could say." Kristin snapped again, Torva heard the doors close behind them. "A goddess needs somewhere to wind down, yes?" Kristin sat her down on a clean white couch, snapping, and a fireplace began to burn in front of them. The layout was scarily similar to that at the Arctic Empire. "I thought you would be more comfortable if it looked like home."
Torva nodded silently. "You're a goddess? A goddess of what?" She asked softly, watching Kristin sit down next to her, wiping off her dress even though not a speck of dust graced her presence.
"I'm the Goddess of Death, dear." She giggled, grabbing Torva's hands and turning them so her palms were up.
Kristin snapped.
A cup of tea appeared in Torva's palms. She hesitantly held the cup, Kristin snapped once more, tea appearing in her own hands. Torva felt her tail curl over her lap. "It's Earl Grey, your favorite." Kristin sipped her own tea, sighing contently. "Oh I sure did miss girls days like this."
Torva furrowed her brows.
"What?"
Kristin frowned. "Oh yes, I forgot didn't I? Either way it's great to have your company. You and that piglin of yours are doing well I see, and my Angel sure is working on that new automatic pumpkin farm in the Arctic you all live in now, he's so smart." She gushed, sipping her tea again with a giggle.
She snapped.
A plate of cupcakes materialized on the coffee table in front of the couch.
"Goddess-"
"Call me Kristin, sweet thing."
Torva nodded again, glancing out the window in the living room, outside she could still see the apparent souls. "Kristin, I really should be getting back now." Torva sipped the tea, finding it strange how it was exactly how she liked it.
"Why don't you try a cupcake? They're your favorite." Kristin grabbed the tray, offering it to Torva so she could take one.
Torva hesitantly grabbed a cupcake. "I don't think I've had cupcakes recently." She laughed, shrugging. "I don't know what my own favorite is."
Kristin waved her off easily, grabbing a cupcake for herself. "Nonsense, your favorite has always been red velvet with fresh strawberry frosting."
Torva took a bite, eyes widening at the flavor. She swallowed, putting the cupcake down on the tray to finish later. "I don't think I've ever had that before? It was fantastic though."
"You have it every time you come here." Kristin laughed, finishing off her tea and snapping, the cup disappearing.
"I've never been here before, the last time I saw you Tech said it was hallucinations." Torva shook her head, sighing.
"Well, you know how he can be." Kristin smiled, finishing her cupcake and snapping once more, the wrapper disappearing as the cup did previously. She then slipped off her gloves, nails painted in a deep red to match her lips. Her lipstick somehow un-smudged.
"I don't, I don't know how he can be." Torva stood up, making her way to the window.
She stared out at the souls once more, it seems more and more were appearing by the second.
She didn't even hear Kristin approach, jumping a bit when a hand rested on her shoulder. "He hasn't been very kind lately, has he? It seems my Angel and that Piglin get turned around sometimes." She sighed, "despair does that. Though, it's the Blood God's story to tell, not my own."
"I should get back."
"Why don't you take a nap?"
"But-"
"You should sleep, sweet thing."
Torva blinked a few times, looking down and finding she was in vermillion toned pajamas, the color matching Kristin's nails and lips, her hands currently pressed against Torva's shoulder.
Kristin snapped.
Torva looked behind her and saw a red door had appeared. "Open it, it's your bedroom, exact same as you left it. I missed you, Tia."
Torva just nodded, deciding a nap could do her some good. Her bones felt heavy under her skin, and Kristin opened the door, inside the room seemed so warm and comfortable.
The bed looked so soft, the sheets red matching everything else, Torva's pajamas, Kristin's nails, Kristin's lips. "I suppose I'll sleep."
"A few hours of rest would do you some good, we can talk in the morning."
The second she was fully in the room the door shut behind her, and when she turned around Torva found it had disappeared.
She sat down on the bed, acknowledging her heels were now gone.
The second she laid down the lights in the room dimmed, and the woman passed out almost automatically.
❧
This was strange.
It became more strange when I woke up, finding the lights in my room were already turning on, and a tray of breakfast foods appeared on my lap.
My door appeared.
Four knocks.
"May I come in?" Kristin called out, I went to yell yes only for the door to open before I did so. "Did you sleep well?" She spoke as she entered, heels clicking against the floor.
I nodded, taking the tray of food and placing it on the table next to the bedside lamp. Strange that it existed because it seems the ceiling lights were the only ones that turned on and off. "Well that's good, because we need to sort some technicalities out, yes?" She sat on the edge of my bed, smiling. "You've already been asleep far too long, though it gave me time to catch up on work."
"How long was I asleep?" My voice crackled, riddled with disuse.
"Not long, only a few days or so. You're part human, and they all really get tired after changing servers- or dimensions. You know how it is."
Panic then wracked through my body. "Kristin! You have to send me back-"
"No worries, no worries here." She spoke quietly, I gulped. "Time runs different here, my dear. It's only been a few minutes in that ceremony of yours."
"Okay." I said hesitantly, watching Kristin stand up and snap.
I was dressed again.
I slipped out of the covers, finding my hair was already brushed and ready.
"Now let's talk." Kristin sounded more serious now, it set a sense of dread in my body. "Follow me."
She opened my door with a snap, and I heard my own heels click against the floor similar to the goddess's as we made our way down a large pure white hallway. The floor was white marble it seems, and every couple doors there was a chandelier, black, hanging from the ceilings. Though, there were no candles in the chandeliers, yet they glowed with light.
At the end of the hallway was two large intricate doors.
Kristin snapped.
The doors flew open, and inside was a very long sleek black table.
In the center was a piece of parchment, a quill next to it beside a matching black dagger.
Kristin stood in front of the table, next to a large black chair. She gestured for me to sit.
"Tia, I haven't made it clear to you what I want here." She spoke sweetly, and she snapped, the paper sliding so it was directly in front of me. The words were in Latin. "You are special, you always have been, quite entertaining actually."
I watched as she walked away from me, making her way down the room to the other end of the too long table. Heels clicking against marble. It's almost terrifying that she chooses to make those clicking noises, because just yesterday I didn't hear a single click when she approached me when I was looking out that window. The floors are all marble. "Entertaining?"
"Quite. Your little love story, the panic, your human nature. Mortality is fun to watch, you see." She pulled out the chair across from me, sitting down delicately and once again brushing nonexistent dirt off her perfect black dress. "Though, I grew attached." She sighed, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her palms. "First to Phil, my sweet Angel, I just had to make him mine. He's so adorable- and kind- so smart- when those little redstone creations of his work perfectly his wings do this thing-" she cut herself off, blushing. "Well, I'm rambling."
"What does this have to do with me?" I glanced down at the paper in front of me, struggling to translate the old Latin on the page. I saw no ink to write with, strange that there was a quill.
"You're a living and walking sob story, dear. Though, my Angel is just broken now you see? So is that Piglin he's so attached to, well, I'd argue they're soulmates if Phil wasn't already mine." She giggled, covering her mouth with a once again gloved hand, muffling the laughter. "They're quite close, and Phil adores you. You're fun to talk to, kind with me even when we meet, even if it isn't under the best circumstances."
She sighed, leaning back in her chair. "So, you've also proven yourself to be useful. You fight, well even. Those Gods proved you to be a wonderful tool, you aren't even a tool anymore, you're just a force to be reckoned with. Dangerous." She now gestured to the paper in front of me. "So this is my offer, the timing was impeccable."
I hummed, trying to translate the Latin.
Something on the page was about death, power, and Gods.
"I plucked you out in the middle of that ceremony of yours, right before you became immortal you see, so I'm offering you something better when that hole is punched in your current server- or dimension I suppose, terminology is strange these days." She took off her hat, placing it on the table lightly. "There's a once in not even a lifetime opportunity, this has not occurred before, there is an ability to change who you are as a mortal being in this universe as a whole, and I pulled you out in the exact moment you are as malleable as clay. You mean a lot to me, you mean a lot to us Gods and Goddesses if you couldn't tell. We either want you dead or we want you with us depending which one of us you meet."
"Okay... this is..."
"A lot? I know." Kristin sighed, now taking off her gloves once more. "You're a liability, you're powerful, and I want to claim you as my own before it's too late and this little ceremony ends with you being a mere immortal." She stood up, pushing the chair away and slamming her hands on the table. "Become a Goddess my dear, become my real Grim Reaper, not that flimsy little title the God of Blood gave you. The Goddess of Death's Grim Reaper, has a ring, doesn't it?"
She gestured to the paper, and suddenly the words on it I was able to pick out made sense, I'd be signing away my mortality to the Goddess of Death. In exchange for becoming a minor Goddess. "There isn't any ink." I looked up to her, hesitantly grabbing the quill.
She smiled, gesturing to the dagger. "Ink wouldn't work in an exchange like this."
I gulped, putting down the quill and picking up the small weapon.
I lifted it to my arm, she shook her head. "That won't work either dear," she pointed to my chest. "Your heart will do, but you better sign quick."
"Won't it kill me?" I was shaking, looking up to Kristin.
"If you die here, sweet thing, you'll simply go back to that little ceremony of yours." She didn't seem to have any worries. "But, you better sign with that blood before you get sent back, otherwise the contract won't work."
I nodded, standing up and holding the dagger to my chest, picking up the quill with my other hand.
It was easy to force the dagger into my heart.
It was harder to collect the pooling blood off the sleek table with the quill, and sign my signature with my vision blacking out.
What hurt the most was that I know what name I truly had to sign.
Before I collapsed on the table and felt a delicate hand rub my back up and down, I could see my signature messily etched in blood at the bottom of the document, right on the line.
The last thing I saw was the contract burning in red and black flames.