Mythica 1, Chapter 4.

Chapter 4.

“Hmm, this creation should be functional, if not quite what I was hoping for. What is preventing you from standing, I wonder? Maybe some additional work is needed, though I have scant time and energy to waste upon you, my little dead thing. Perhaps some remnant, an artifact of your prior life remains. No matter, my will is supreme here,” the voice said. It seemed to move closer, though Sabine still couldn’t see who it was.

“Obey, slave, rise as your master commands!” The voice thundered.

Sabine’s new body started to rise but she resisted, forcing every ounce of her being into disobeying that command. Pain flared across her as the power in the command tried to force her to do its will. Instead of forcing her compliance, the pain only strengthened Sabine’s resolve. Pain was real, it was something she could hold onto, a focus for her efforts. Sabine would show whoever was trying to force their will upon her that she was no plaything for some disembodied voice.

“No,” She muttered through numb lips. Her tongue felt thick, and her mouth had trouble forming the simple word.

“No? This is not acceptable. Stand as you are commanded,” the voice demanded. Again, the force of its will hit Sabine, but this time, the pain was muted, and she found it easier to resist. It was losing its hold on her with each rebuttal of the voice’s authority.

“My will is my own, and I am a slave to no man,” Sabine said, still having some difficulty forming the words. The mouth she now used was different in subtle ways from the one on her old body, but speaking was getting easier with each effort.

“You are my creation, and you can rest assured that you are not the slave of some mortal man. No, you are meant for greater things. You are the slave of, and in the presence of a god, and you will obey!” The voice boomed. Sabine could feel the anger in the statement, the force of the command washing over her.

She held firm, resisting even this latest, and most powerful attempt to wrest control away from her. The dark energy that had filled her tore at Sabine, trying to force her to do the will of the one that had infused her with its power. She could feel the body she was in tear itself apart from the struggle, but even with this latest assault, Sabine held firm. She would rather die a second time than become a slave.

“No, I am not your toy, no matter who, or what, you claim to be,” Sabine retorted. The assault on her new body relented, and the pain faded away as she took complete control over her new form. Instead of standing as she had been commanded, Sabine sat up, taking a good look at her surroundings for the first time. Her bones creaked and popped as she moved, the noises and feelings of her new body were disturbing and unnatural.

Everything was wrong, her flesh was grey, and she was dressed only in a filthy gown. Her hands, and in fact, everything she could see of her body were wrong. She was wearing someone else’s body like a hand-me-down shirt, and the feeling made her gag. Nothing came up, thankfully, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. Then it hit her, other than when she had spoken those few words, this was the first time she had breathed.

“So, you continue to resist. What shall we do with you, my little rebellious dead thing? I’ve invested too much in you already to scrap you and start over, even if I would enjoy spending a century to destroy your strong-willed soul,” the voice said.

The anger in the voice was gone, replaced by curiosity and some other emotion. A link connected her to whatever this voice was. The link that had been used to try and command her also gave her some small insight into who her captor was. Through the link, Sabine could gather a small taste of the being’s emotions. She detected a deep despair and weariness in this one who thought itself her master.

She contemplated her response. Her first thought was to give this guy a verbal beating, but where would that get her? She smiled as she thought about how much had changed since she had died. Before, she would have lost her temper and gotten herself into more trouble. Sabine figured that lying in the grey mist, dead, for who knew how many years, had tempered her personality a bit. This voice wanted something from her, but what did Sabine want in return?

“You’ve made this shell I inhabit. I take it that you want something from me after all the effort you’ve invested. Isn’t there some way we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement?” Sabine asked.

“Ha, maybe we can,” the voice said with some amusement. “What is it that you want? I’ve given you a new life, even if it isn’t exactly the kind of life you remember. That should generate at least some goodwill from you, shouldn’t it?” The voice asked.

“No, why would you expect any goodwill from me? I didn’t ask to be pulled from the afterlife and shoved into this whatever it is that I’m in. To be honest, I’m having a hard time understanding it all. The only thing I do know is that I will not be a slave or puppet to anyone. As far as what I want, how about giving me my real body back? If you’re a god as you claim, you should be able to do that, right?” Sabine said with a shrug, which unleased more disgusting pops from her shoulder joints.

“Perhaps my master or one of the other gods could have done it, but you forget where you are and who it is that created you. This is not some temple of the light calling back its paladin from the afterlife to serve once more. I am one of the gods of death, and the unclaimed remnants of the flesh are the tools I work with,” the voice said.

“Well, that’s disgusting, but you work with what you have, I suppose. How about you tell me what the whole point of creating this thing for me to live in was, and maybe we can figure something out,” Sabine said. It was odd, she should be panicking over the situation that she had found herself in, but something had changed inside her and the shock and horror over becoming something monstrous just wasn’t there.

Sabine couldn’t claim to be that well-versed in the different gods, but she knew that several minor gods claimed dominion over the different aspects of death. One of the greater gods held the concept of death in her hands, but given that Sabine could resist this one, he was likely just one of the lesser powers. Still, one of the minor gods of death was more powerful than anything she could imagine. She was treading a fine line with her flippant responses and lack of deference, but that was the way Sabine had always dealt with authority.

Even though Sabine’s time in the void had tempered her attitude a bit, she still had trouble granting respect to someone that hadn’t earned it in her eyes. Being rich, powerful, or holding a title didn’t earn Sabine’s respect when she was alive, and she wasn’t going to change her beliefs now that she was dead. Whether facing a mortal man or a god, Sabine was going to hold fast to who she was.

“You are quite a little annoyance, aren’t you, my little dead creation? As for what I want, I want your assistance to end a threat that will destroy everything you hold dear back in the realm of the living. Can’t you see the need to assist me in such an endeavor?” The voice asked.

“First off, I’m not ‘dead little creation’, my name is Sabine. What kind of threat are we talking about? I have loved ones that I don’t want to see harmed, but I’ll not let you use them to force me into doing something I’m not comfortable with,” Sabine said.

She thought about her sister and her family. Sabine loved them and didn’t want anything to happen to them if this being decided to punish her for insubordination, nor did she want to see them hurt from whatever threat he seemed to think was looming. Most of all, she didn’t want her family to face some petty vengeance from a god that was angry with her for disobedience.

“My apologies, Sabine Giroux, that, I believe, was the full name of the soul I used to create you. It appears that much more of you survived the experience than I expected. Typically, this type of undead creation has limited memory and almost no self-will, the voice said, pausing as the being gathered it thoughts. Through their link, Sabine could still sense the weariness, but the despair had been replaced with curiosity.

“You are quite the gem in the rough, and if you agree to help, I think we have a chance to accomplish what I desire. As for your loved ones, I don’t know their situation exactly, but you should know that nearly twenty years have passed since you died. Many things, both good and bad could have happened to them. The only thing I can promise is that whatever fate has befallen them, my hand was not involved in it,” the voice said.

“Twenty years? I knew that some time has passed, but not that much. Is there some way I can check on my family?” Sabine asked. Had she really been in the void, contemplating her life and battles for that long?

“I don’t have that power, it’s not in my domain to spy upon the living. Perhaps some of the other gods could do so, but we are all a bit preoccupied at the moment. Wait, I think I can work in a way for you to check in on them, but you must vow to place my mission first. Where did they reside?” the voice asked.

“They lived on a farm in eastern Deira. What is this mission, and, just for my own curiosity, are you really a god? I mean, do you have a name? I thought all the gods had actual names and didn’t just refer to themselves as the god of whatever,” Sabine said.

“Name? You stand before Gnessos, the master of the grave. I am a servant of Death herself. As for the mission, it’s location is a bit out of the way of your family, but not too far that it can’t be managed. You’ll need to grow in power and prove yourself to me. Doing so in the part of the world that your family hails from could work out perfectly. It will surely be a bit easier of a start for you than just dumping you into the middle of the Golgotians,” Gnessos said. Sabine waited for more, but the voice was silent.

“Are you still there, Gnessos? You still haven’t answered what you need me to do,” Sabine asked.

“I am still here, your creation has taken a lot out of me, and I must slumber soon and recover my power. As for the mission, we are seeking to save the world, and the gods themselves. A necromancer, Szorlok, seeks to usurp my power and that of all the gods. We must stop him, but confronting him directly is for others to accomplish. I need you to cut off support from his living allies, the Golgotians.

“Something the Golgotians are doing weakens not only myself but all the other gods who serve Death. Our power is being siphoned off, and the amount they are leeching off us is increasing. Now that we are bound, part of my power will become yours. Should I fall, your soul will be unraveled, and that makes stopping the Golgotians a necessity for both our continued existence,” Gnessos said.

Much of his earlier vigor seemed drained, and Sabine thought that she detected an even greater weariness in his voice. She didn’t know how much she liked being linked to one of the death gods, but if that was part of what she had become, whining about it wouldn’t change things. Gnessos’ request seemed like an honorable enough one. Sabine knew she had taken less reputable jobs as a mercenary. As long as she got to check on her sister’s family, she would be fine working against the Golgotians. They were known as merciless and brutal oppressors, a people worse than the Vitalion Empire that had invaded Deira.

“I will agree to help you. What is our next step?” Sabine asked.

“You must learn to control your new body and learn to use your abilities to their fullest before you can hope to confront the threat in Golgotia. I will send you to Eastern Deira as you wish but do not dally, your visit must be a brief one. Know that your family will not recognize you, and you should not directly contact them. Doing so might grant the forces arrayed against us a target to strike, a weakness of yours to exploit,” Gnessos said.

“What exactly am I?” Sabine asked.

“You were supposed to be a ghoul, one that would grow in power with each enemy it killed. That is not what you’ve become, my dear Sabine. Your will has changed the form you have taken. You are now a revenant, a soul returned from the dead to complete a task, my task,” Gnessos said.

“What about…” Sabine started to say before being cut off by Gnessos.

“There is no more time for questions, I must send you now while I still have the strength to do so. Soon, I will enter a time of stasis to recover my power. You will not be alone, and while I may slumber, a portion of my will can still guide you, granting you a fraction of my power when your actions benefit my purpose.”

“Wait, I’ll need a bit more help than that. I need things explained, I need to know what it means to be a revenant. Do I eat? Do I sleep? Also, aren’t gods supposed to dole out powerful artifacts when you’re on a quest for them?” Sabine asked.

“I have no power to conjure items for you, find them yourself. As for a guide, that can be accomplished, but he will take a portion of the power allotted to you, and I will grant no further largesse than this. Hamish! You are called. Go and prepare the way for Sabine,” Gnessos growled.

Sabine saw a giant hand of darkness appear in the dim, flickering light of this place. The hand moved about as if it was seeking something before clenching tightly into a fist. Sabine heard the scream of a soul in torment. Gnessos wove a thin thread between her soul and the one that the hand had just plucked from the darkness.

“No, leave me to pass on. Have mercy on me o’ great master, Gnessos!” the soul whined. Gnessos wasn’t listening and Sabine didn’t get the feeling that he was real big on mercy and forgiveness. The hand tossed the soul into the darkness and Hamish’s shrieking voice faded slowly away.

“Hamish knows how things work; he will assist you. Now, it is your turn to leave,” Gnessos said. The hand shot forward and grasped Sabine’s new body. She waited for the appendage to crush her, but it was surprisingly gentle. Instead of hurling her as it had done with the other soul, it carried her toward the darkness. Sabine was surprised as she looked back and saw the body that she had just occupied collapse back to the stone block she had lain upon. It corroded into dust as her soul was carried into the void once more.

You have been touched by the hand of Gnessos. Follow his commands and gain his favor. Prepare to return to the land of the living.

The words appeared before her eyes as she moved through the darkness. She felt Gnessos’ presence diminish, but it wasn’t just the distance between them now, he was weaker, and Sabine worried. They were linked, and if he were to expire, would her soul truly be lost?