Month: June 2019

I don’t remember what this one is about

Spec across space
Fire upon light
One drop causes the sound
You only smile
What could have gone wrong?
What made this a game?
Answer of answers of questions

Another voice joins yours
A warped version of a safe face
It is too much
Waiting is beyond believe
Dripping mouth
Stained teeth
Drowning

That is not allowed
With drops there
Added to the mix
What could have happened?
A young child’s heart?
Cause such a person
To spawn from these depths

It comes
You waited so long
But now it’s worth it
Leave the others behind
Look for another, someone new
Is this what is fun?
What else could you do?

(you agree with a dulcet tone
why else? they wouldn’t leave you alone)

A Gift for Life and Death (pt26)

“I am not the only creature to both live and die, angel. They have long since been blinded by time, but if they looked a little closer, they would not need a gift from me to see what they have to share. You spend much time with them both?”

Forgiveness nodded.

“Then you would know best, would you not? Perhaps better than I, unless you have died and lived many times as I have?”

“If I have, I don’t remember any of it,” Forgiveness admitted.

For some reason, the phoenix seemed mollified by this, though she continued on as though there had been no doubt. “Without the cacophony of changing forms, you have spent much time with Life and Death. You have seen them occupy the same space?”

Forgiveness nodded again.

“You would know best, would you not? How they do not affect each other at a distance? How destructive they are upon reality when they are close together? Things which are not alive don’t know what to make of near death. Things which are dead do not know what to do with returning life. Yet, at the very crux of it, when touching?”

This time when she extended her wings, it was simply to display her full splendor. The beauty of a phoenix. A gesture she would make at any time in her life. The meeting point of Life and Death.

“Thank you,” said the angel

“Go with this gift, but forget not who gave it to you. Whether in this life or another, I will wish the favour returned, angel. I may lose the occasional detail, but I do not forget what I am owed.”

Not likely to forget such a thing within their own life, Forgiveness climbed back down the volcano. The warmth of the phoenix’s gift gave them the strength where they might not have had it before. Nevertheless, returning to where Life or Death would be might take some time. There were the places that Forgiveness knew well, but the world was vast. While Life and Death might traverse all of it, the angel had yet to do so. Finding either might take longer than finding a phoenix had.

Champion of the Gods (pt10)

That was the price of being the embodiment of a concept such as War. Though while brutality was mixed into it, that certainly wasn’t all what War was about. She was a walking conflict that she expressed through physicality. But that was not evil, not to Shu-fang.

Though she might have been biased, through lives lived where she did that much and worse. War was a part of life. And that was why she was a God.

“Then why look for me?” Shu-fang asked.

“What does that mean!” War shouted it out in a way that it no longer sounded like a question.

Shu-fang wasn’t surprised. War was so one-track minded. Of course she was confused by the message. “It means I am no longer available to do your bidding.”

War’s frown became more intense. “You have decided to serve who now? That is irrelevant.”

“You misunderstand. I do not serve anyone else. No god will get me to fight for them.”

A beat. Then, like the crack of a whip, War threw her head back and laughed.

A Gift for Life and Death (pt25)

She rose up her left wing and placed her head under it, eventually seeming to pull out a feather. However, when the phoenix pulled her head back out, it wasn’t with a feather in beak, but a silent shimmer of flame. Extending her head down, the ball of flame dropped from her beak and landed near the roots of the wizened tree.

“Here, enough fire for two. You may give them both this.”

Forgiveness got back to their feet and approached, stopping before the tree to stoop down and pick up the flame. The warmth was comforting and parted in their hands, splitting into two equal parts that easily combined once more.

“In many languages, fire is described in various ways, the ways that both give credence to Life and to Death. Blossoming flames, consuming flames. To grow, to kill. This is what fire is.”

Holding it close, taking some form of sustenance from the warmth, Forgiveness nodded. “Thank you.”

International Relations

Now once again we are falling far
Though you remind me of the past incentive
Again we would say, we would stay, once on par
We are repetition, oh repetitive, repetitive

We have done this so many times
And we will continue for so many more
To precipitate under these starry climes
While on the ground agree in this gore

Again you return to your house to pray
Leaving me here, not bothered, heart skip
Trying to ignore, but then you say
You love me, and as I hear so I trip

So far away is the rose in your eye
I fall still, goodbye ground, farewell sky

A Gift for Life and Death (pt24)

For a moment, it seemed as though the phoenix had lost interest. She turned away from Forgiveness and extended her wings once more, though not as much as before, hopping back up to her roost. Her feet turned her around, back to the position she had taken before Forgiveness arrived. Her eyes remained open, still fixed upon them.

“I have always known that the last thing I will ever see will be Death. I remember seeing Life when I came to in this current existence. Old friends, the both of them, that I remember and forget simultaneously. They are both a comfort to me and my continual cycle, full of the same mistakes, full of the same joys.” She peered even more closely at them. “Not that you would know, with your own mortal existence. Though I did mistaken you, you are certainly not human.”

Forgiveness frowned. “I guess.”

“Oh?”

“I used to think I was.” Now they didn’t know. They were sure what had changed, when it had changed, why they had thought they were human in the first place. Their life made much more sense since they had become Life’s angel.

“You are certainly an interesting being.” It sounded as though there was laughter behind her voice.

Champion of the Gods (pt9)

“Shu-fang!”

How War’s presence called for battle! And that was even before Shu-fang turned to look at her. She stood at seven feet, with blazing red hair falling down from her open faced helmet, contrasted against pale skin littered with scars. Mementos of her labours. Shu-fang knew that most of them War had seen coming and had allowed them anyway.

Shu-fang remained calm and let War advance upon her. War stopped many lengths in front of her, looking down upon the much shorter woman. “What is going on?”

Shu-fang sighed. “What do you mean? That is a very open question.”

War scowled. “With you! I might not have gone searching for you just yet except for your message.”

Of course War would not understand the concept of retirement. War was constant. There was no pause in her eyes. Even when one confrontation ended for mortals, she was already in another one. Even now, standing in front of Shu-fang without any show of violence toward the immortal, she was a part of something greater.

A Gift for Life and Death (pt23)

If the discussion hadn’t gotten the phoenix’s attention and the subject hadn’t garnered her curiosity, the mention of Life and Death settled the phoenix’s temper where nothing else had. The feathers which had ruffled and made the creature look so much larger had settled to give her the sleek profile that she had previously shown while sleeping upon the wizened tree.

“You wish to gift something to Death? And Life? Whatever for? Life has everything she would ever want in creation. Death receives the truth of everything at their end of this form of their existence. Why would you want to gift either with a mere object?”

Forgiveness shook their head. “It’s not just an object. It’s a symbol.”

Those eyes shone. “A symbol of what, little creature?”

The angel leaned back on their hands, a better angle to look up at the bird. “I wanted to give them something to show how close they are to each other. After all, someone like you exists. They aren’t as far away from each other as they think.”

A Gift for Life and Death (pt22)

Her wings extended and it was like flames shot out from the motion. But it was simply warm air, perhaps a circulation from the very volcano. Forgiveness thought otherwise. It wasn’t the same sort of heat from exertion or from the vents of the volcano. It caught Forgiveness’ breath and would have knocked them to the ground if they hadn’t already been sitting. It did make them close their eyes against the pressure and when they opened them again, the phoenix was there in front of them, beak opened and talons flashing.

The angel opened their mouth. “Can I have a symbol of your reincarnation?”

The phoenix stopped, neck bending down to drop her head down to Forgiveness’ level. “You wish for something of mine?”

Forgiveness nodded. “I need something. For a gift.”

Those blue eyes peered into Forgiveness, then around at the rest of their mortal body. “You have come a long way for a gift.”

“It can’t just be anything. It’s for Life and Death.”