Ancestral Ties

And in the same instance that Kayin’s chest is blasted open…

He finds himself in the same position he was in when he had first entered the town hall.

Kayin desperately searches the contents of his chest, and finds nothing amiss. His gaze then peers all across the hall, until it finds its way back to Reze still seated in the seat he had previously kicked away.

Reze lifts the hat from his head, revealing his soulless eyes to Kayin once again.

“...it seems fate wins once again.”

Kayin’s mind races intensely, unable to come to terms with what had just transpired.

Kayin’s gaze meets with Narada positioned to Reze’s right side, and instinctively, he points towards Narada.

“Before we get started…”

Kayin stops himself from speaking further, as the deja vu of it all hits him in waves.

What is happening?!

Reze walks over towards Narada and crouches down over him. Just as before, Reze waves his hand across Narada’s body, causing Narada to disappear from Kayin’s sight.

Instinctively, Kayin kisses his teeth, but just before he utters a word, he stops himself once again.

“What’s the matter?” Reze says as he stands up properly, “I thought you’d be more talkative,”

Kayin’s eyes shake intensely, as the waves of deja vu inch closer and closer to his inevitable death.

“Something about…a handicap, right?”

Without a moment to spare, and hoping to get the better of his foe, Kayin bursts forward, unleashing a furious vertical strike with Oshé different to his previous horizontal strike.

However,

Just as before, Reze dodges…and as he reaches out his hand…

He blows a large hole through Kayin’s chest.

***

“...how many times does that make it now?”

“I’d say somewhere around twenty times.”

Kayin laughs, as he coughs out blood.

Different to the first strike, the hole in Kayin’s chest is now positioned mostly to his left side, as Kayin lays in the midst of rubble from the town hall walls.

Reze walks over to stand over Kayin.

“What is it that you find so amusing? I’d like to laugh too,”

The light in Kayin’s eyes slowly starts to fade, even while he laughs.

“So your avatar holder…is a creator god…”

Reze appears slightly taken aback.

“...you really are a clever one, aren’t you?”

“...I try.”

Reze crouches down and plants his hand atop Kayin’s shoulder, seemingly pausing the effects of death that surround Kayin’s fate.

“Have you ever heard…of Tezcatlipoca?”

Kayin’s confident expression twists into one of fear.

“...the creator god of destiny…”

Reze smiles softly.

“Right again..”

Reze stands up, and walks back towards the center of the town hall.

“Care to hear a story? I promise not to take much of your time,"

“...not like I have much of it left,”

Reze grabs another of the town hall chairs, and sits comfortably as he faces Kayin.

“Long ago, before the multitudes of kingdoms you know of today…there was a single kingdom that ruled over the entire world.”

“This was during a time when gods had chosen not to intervene in the ways of man, and remained neutral.”

“However…the king of humans had a son that was born without eyes, so he cast him into slavery."

“The boy was raised through a hellish world of immorality. Even if his fated birth was supposed to have kept him away from it.”

“One day, the boy, after finding about his true origin as prince, decided to offer a sacrifice of a hundred women and children, and demanded divine intervention for his own sake,”

“Most of the gods were furious, and many ignored his call. However, there was one god that saw the injustice that the boy had received by the hands of fate, and decided to fight against it himself…”

“...Tezcatlipoca.” Kayin interjects.

“Tezcatlipoca worked alongside the boy to help usurp his father’s throne, and the boy eventually became a man revered by his people.”

“However…not long after, that reverence changed into fear.”

“The boy was never meant to be king. He had too much wickedness in his heart, attributing to how he was raised.”

“As his reign began to result in the destruction of the world, the gods intervened, and banded together with chiefs of minor settlements surrounding the kingdom. One of them…being your great ancestor, Kayin.”

Kayin chuckles, “...right.”

“The king was defeated, and his ravenous subjects along with him. And eventually, those minor settlements became great kingdoms, and avatar wielders became the greatest source of power for the world at large.”

Reze bows while seated.

“The end.”

“...great speech.”

“Why, thank you.”

“So…are you going to tell me what happened to Tezcatlipoca, or what?”

Reze’s eyes peers sharply at Kayin, as he rises to his feet.

“Naturally, as the only god on the side of the king, he was cast out from the heavens…”

“...forced to live as a mortal here in Gondwana.”

Kayin’s eyes slowly expand, as the pieces of the large puzzle he had been trying to figure out finally begin to come together.

Kayin’s eyes become fixated towards the man now standing before him.

Or rather…

The creator god in human form.

“But there is one entity…that is far above what even Kayin is capable of. And unfortunately…you have become his target.”

“But I should let you know…that it was this man that created your battle with fate in the first place.”

Reze walks over and places his hand atop Kayin’s shoulder once more, resuming the process of death that surrounds him.

Kayin’s faded eyes begin to fade even more.

“My husband was the greatest king this empire has ever had. But in that same way, he was also the worst.”

“Slavery ran rampant. Villages, towns, and kingdoms, burned to the ground! All for the sake of glory, and honor under the heavens…”

“But that granddaughter of mine…not only did she inherit my husband’s god, she inherited his spirit as well!”

Kayin stares at Reze’s face once last time, and notices an ominous resemblance to a god he has surely seen before.

A smile is forced out one last time.

I…

I never stood a chance.

The last embers of light fades completely from Kayin’s eyes, as his body becomes completely still. The connection he has bound with Oshé shatters completely, as Oshé begins to fade away from the mortal realm, aiming to return to its original owner.

Reze holds Kayin’s lifeless face in his hands, and moves his lips directly towards Kayin’s ears.

“I’m sorry, child.” he whispers, “I truly am.”

***

Kimiko shakes Narada aggressively, forcing him awake. Narada grumbles loudly as he looks around, completely dazed and confused as can be. As his vision begins to take shape, he looks up to see a woman with an oni mask covering her face.

“She-demon?!”

Kimiko holds out her hand to slap him, but restrains herself just in time.

“Narada! It’s Kayin! Kayin needs your help!”

Narada stares at Kimiko with a shocked expression, surprised to hear her actually call him by his name.

“Narada!”

“Yes!” Narada responds enthusiastically as he jumps into action, “Where is he?! Where is the king?!”

“He’s still inside the town! Search for the town hall!”

Narada slowly glances over at Kimiko.

“...the what?”

“The largest building in the town! It’s got big brown walls, and it shouldn’t have been burned down by n-!”

Suddenly, the two of them become completely silent, both physically and mentally.

Carrying Kayin’s head as a trophy, Reze walks out of the town towards Kimiko and Narada. Blood stains Reze’s body and clothes, but without holding any wounds himself, Kimiko immediately realizes that the fight wasn’t a struggle after all.

It was completely one-sided.

Giving off an intense aura that practically dared either of them to make a move, Reze simply walks between the two of them, and continues walking until neither of them could see him in the distance.

Kimiko slowly turns her head towards where Reze had walked off to, but the rest of her body remains frozen in place. Unbeknownst to her, tears well up from Kimiko's eyes, as she comes to terms with what had just transpired.

Narada, who had initially waited for Reze to leave before making a move, immediately warps into town and searches frantically for Kayin.

Finally, he finds the remainder of Kayin’s lifeless body, and weeps passionately for his fallen friend.