God-spawn

Lily straightened in her chair.

A rare and horrible thing.

It could happen when kami lay near to death, something she’d seen only twice before. Like when debris choked a river, or a forest grew poisoned by waste from a city… or when death-marks withered any natural or important place.

Under normal circumstances, kami persisted wherever the land was healthy. Sometimes living free, sometimes quarrelling with each other, and sometimes tamed. She’d actually come across Yellow and Emerald locked in a dispute over nectar, years ago now, something which had made both kami easier to capture.

But no-one could tame kami when they became entangled within the bodies of mutants. Not even the great Queen Sienna, the First Tamer. Desperation to remain connected to the world simply forced some dying kami into a feral state, and when that tragedy was combined with the all-devouring hunger of a passing mutant… it created something unholy.

Mutants themselves were hardly common. Enlarged of body and strength but diminished of spirit and intelligence, they tended to roam aimlessly. But the creatures were stubborn once they’d found a scent they wanted, seeking it without pause.

And far more cunning after kami had been consumed.

[This is much worse than we were expecting,] Gabriel said, worry clear on his face.

Mia nodded. “Of course. A rare threat such as this…”

“Only twice since Haven was founded,” Noah added. “But each time, the people here prevailed. Tamers and hunters worked to kill the first and to drive off the second. So it will be again.”

“You’ve seen that?” Lily asked. Sometimes the Twins could peer into the future. Not a great distance, and only as it might relate to the settlement. But infrequent or not, the visions were trustworthy.

“We have,” Noah replied. “But only if you returned in time. Which you did.”

Lily shook her head, a small smile on her lips nevertheless. “So, it’s all up to me, then?”

Mia chuckled. “You will be vital to Haven’s defence, which we must now plan.”

Gabriel raised a hand before continuing. [First, can you tell us anything about the Grave-Robbing Serpent? It’s worrying me almost as much as the mutant.]

Noah rubbed at the back of his neck before signing in response. “Perhaps.”

Lily leant forward. “Only perhaps? You both travelled far and wide before settling here – and what about Topaz?”

He nodded. “True, but there is always a danger in stories.”

“Didn’t you just finish telling us that myths held seeds of truth?”

“So I did,” he replied with a grin, his cat-like eyes gleaming. “And both things are true.”

[Then, you do know something,] Gabriel said.

Mia took over. “We may. What the Elder Kami described as the Grave-Robbing Serpent, we believe could be Virren, the god-spawn. And he may not even exist anymore, since we barely heard his name, even while young.”

God-spawn.

Something left over from a time of gods.

Far, far more powerful than a kami, yet bound to flesh, like humans.

In that sense, a little similar to the mutant that was threatening the settlement…

But perhaps worse for their hopes, Virren supposedly turned his back on humanity. It happened sometime in the distant past, when people of the day refused his offer to save them from the very future Lily now found herself living.

Virren.

If he’s actually real, will he hear us out?

And how had he earned the moniker of grave robber?

Finally, Lily exchanged a glance with Gabriel, since the god-spawn’s name was one they both knew from their own childhood.

Mia raised a feathery eyebrow. “Can I infer that you both recognise the name?”

“We do,” Lily replied as she signed her words. Back when they’d lived on a mostly forgotten coast, where the cries of strange birds filled each night, people there had whispered for Virren to protect them. “Far to the north, there was a town that saw him as some sort of mythical protector. When I look back, it seems like a childish belief, considering Virren’s reputation.”

Gabriel shrugged. [He didn’t swoop down to make life any easier.]

“I see.” Mia spread her hands. “Stories of Virren were not so regular among places to the south and west… but if the god-spawn lives, it is believed that he was last seen beneath the ruined city of Darkmoor.”

[Didn’t we pass that place once?] Gabriel asked.

Lily gave a short nod. “But we never searched it. The bridge was out, I think. Or maybe that was a different ruin? Either way, we couldn’t reach it.”

“You will have to find a way now,” Mia said. “But if the Elder Kami is to be believed, and if Virren exists, and he really can direct you to the Ringwood, then maybe there is a chance.”

“But you would have to convince him to hear you, and then help you,” Noah added. “For that, we can offer no advice.”

Lily sighed. Finding and then convincing a demi-god to help was daunting in a way beyond even the feral kami and its mutant…

There was suddenly so much to doubt, so many obstacles stacked before her. And so much that had to be believed, if she was going to set out on the morrow with any sense of hope. Not least of all, she had to believe in her own ability to overcome the list of impossibilities she’d been given.

Hey! she thought. That doesn’t mean you get to back down.

And did it seem that her kami agreed? Considering the faintest murmur she’d picked up on, it was possible. Perhaps they’d been speaking with Topaz or Onyx and now had some useful information?

Something had obviously given her kami a change of heart, if she’d understood the flicker from her jars.

Before she could ask Yellow, a voice called from above the citadel.

“Mutant sighted!”