Pity a Desperate Fool

Fast feet carried Caisey down the hall and away from the two goddesses chasing behind him. He held tight to their always-glowing crystal ball as he fled, not understanding how Rina thought he’d make it safely out of this situation.

“Hold it right there!” Lady Lachesis called after him. She was the one he really didn’t want to be caught by. Her pleasant face did nothing to hide her unpleasant personality. If she caught him, he was definitely becoming her slave, slipping under the servant title due to this little charade.

“Hey, maybe we can all just talk about this!” This one was Lady Clotho, and it wasn’t like he wanted to be caught by her either, despite her being the nicer and safer choice. Her face would certainly do him in if she didn’t do it herself; the shock of seeing her came with great risk.

“I’m sorry Ladies, I really need this crystal ball! I promise not to harm it and to return it safe and sound.” Caisey cried over his shoulder.

How’s that for pathetic? Caisey wondered, thinking of Rina’s answer to this problem.

“Bullshit!” Lady Lachesis yelled, the sound of her feet hitting the floors faster, “You cannot have our crystal ball!”

Apparently, not good enough.

Caisey heard the anger in Lady Lachesis’ voice and was determined not to stop. He’d find his way out of the palace regardless if he just kept at it.

And then, “You know what, this ends now.” Is what he heard behind him and suddenly, Caisey couldn’t feel his feet hitting the tile floor anymore.

Actually, he couldn’t feel a thing any longer.

“What the?” Caisey heard but did not feel himself say. His eyes darted around helplessly for a couple seconds before he was able to make sense of the situation. “IS THAT MY BODY?!” he screamed, his face going a ghastly pale as he saw from a first-person perspective himself leaving his own body.

His arms were ghostly pale and were stretched out as if clinging futilely to his body. His hands up to his elbows were still embedded in his back but were coming out quickly as he moved backward somehow. Looking down, he saw his colorless lower half sticking out of himself as if his being had been broken in half.

My soul is being extracted from my body! Caisey realized and tried to grab onto something, anything, that would slow his momentum even while know it was futile.

“Wait! WAIT” he cried desperately.

“No more waiting!” Lady Lachesis bellowed, “I’ll deliver you to my sister and she’ll have your life’s thread cut right away!”

“NO! Lady Lachesis, I swear I’ll do anything. Anything! Just don’t rip my soul out. Don’t shorten my life span. Let’s not do anything rash.”

“Rash!” She spat. “You stole our crystal ball. You’re one to talk.”

“Because I’m desperate, Lady Lachesis! You understand desperation, don’t you?”

“No.”

Caisey made a series of squealing guttural sounds as he realized this wasn’t going as planned and time was running out.

“Um, I understand desperation?” Lady Clotho offered, as if her desperation held any weight here.

“Shut up, Clotho!” Lady Lachesis snapped. Meanwhile, Caisey made heart eyes at Lady Clotho, the sweet creature, and wished she had been the one he had to win over.

And then he remembered, The plan! It wasn’t over yet.

With great determination, Caisey snapped the rest of his soul from his own body and watched his lifeless body drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes. It was freaky and would have made him sick to his stomach had he been able to feel anything.

As he spun to face Lady Lachesis to drop on his knees and beg for his life, he noticed she already had her right arm curled tight around the crystal ball. He quickly threw the observation out the window—as well as his dignity—and attached himself to Lady Lachesis’ ankles.

He didn’t know if his soul could cry tears, but he felt like bawling anyway, so he tried hard to make them visible. “MY Lady Lachesis! Please have mercy on my soul. I am but a desperate and lost young boy who doesn’t want to lose his friends for the rest of time.

“You’ve seen my past, you’ve watched me be put through test after test. I have suffered!” Caisey paused for dramatic effect, heaving in a breath so deep he hacked a bit and started up again. “Without my favorite people, I am NO ONE. How can I be a proper man to Rina—ImeanLadyTerpsichore—if I can’t be myself?? But you, Lady Lachesis of the glorious Fates, have the power to rewrite my path.

“Or at least, Caisey added hurriedly, “edit it here and there. Just a minor detail.”

When Caisey stopped speaking, Lady Lachesis said nothing. The corridor was silent. So, he figured she must have been listening and went in for the kill.

“Of course, I’ll remember this act of graciousness and will be grateful to you for all…” Caisey trailed off and left the word ‘eternity’ hanging off his desperate lips.

Desperate or not, he was afraid of promising an eternity to these particular goddesses and so got stuck on the word.

Lady Lachesis wouldn’t allow that for long, though. “For all eternity?” She asked, a deep cackle rumbling up from her throat.

Caisey cursed, How many gods am I gonna promise myself to before I get with the program?

Reluctantly, he finished his sentence, “F-For all… eternity.”

“HahaHA! Lady Lachesis laughed loudly in triumph. Her voice sounded terrifyingly happy. “Alright then, young Chosen One. It’s a deal.

“What is it that you want?”

Once back outside, Caisey breathed in the afternoon air like his head had been submerged deep underwater. His eyes felt tired and his limbs were weary. Above all, his brain was fried.

I don’t think I’ll sleep normally for a month. He thought, and was jolted away from the Palace of Eyeballs by another of those earsplitting cracks of thunder.

He hurried down the many steps of the palace and turned the corner to where Rina, Don, and Lisa said they’d be waiting to ‘back him up’ if necessary. Lot of good that did him.

A few minutes into his search, Caisey realized he should have found them by now and felt a twitch beginning in his right eye. Not again, he groaned, and this time sat cross-legged in the alleyway between light and dark palaces. He straightened his back and breathed deeply, calming his heart, focusing his senses.

Rina. He thought, and heard his voice echo back to him in his mind. He repeated her name and this time caught a glimpse of her behind his closed eyes. She seemed to be… relaxing somewhere.

Rina. Where are you? He asked, sending the question far away. Finally, it seemed to latch onto something and Caisey snapped his eyes open. No way. Caisey thought.

He stood abruptly and called forth his wings, darting into the air like a missile with a target. Caisey scanned the grounds from overhead, trying to match up the scenery with what he’d seen in his mind’s eye. Then, he spotted the three of them below and with a brisk tsk, nosedived toward them at an alarming speed.

Snapping his wings outward once near the ground sent dirt and tiny debris flying at them and into the drinks they were each holding. Some of the more common gods around marveled at Caisey’s entrance, the Chosen One looking like a true god as he descended before Lady Terpsichore and his two mortal guests.

When Caisey landed, his eyes spoke the words he didn’t bother to say. He just stared at the trio who stood before him guiltily pouring out the yellow and pink drinks they held in their hands.

“C-C-Caisey…” Lisa stuttered, a wiggly smile on her lips, “Before you say anything—”

“You guys suck.” Caisey said, before wheeling on Rina, her big blue eyes glistening up at him as he stared down at her. He felt his breathing become really deep with emotion. “All of you.” He finished.

Then a fierce flap of his wings propelled Caisey into the sky once more, and he was gone.