Raef: Deal

The world ended in a flash of lightning and crack of
thunder.

The world ended when there was nothing left but scorch marks
on stone and the whispering sound of water lapping against the shoreline.

There was nothing as his arms fell by his sides and his grip
loosened on his sword.

There was nothing even when Hansel and Mishka rushed over to
envelop him in their warm embrace.

It was only when Goro walked off, walked towards the
direction where the screams had come from, that he tore his gaze from the blackened
stone where Griffin had once stood.  Raef
followed his friends.  It felt like he
was walking through quicksand; each step was dragging and slow.  He knew where they were going: they were
going to find where that woman had been and why she had stopped screaming.

He already knew.  He
had known Griffin’s fears, heard them whispered in the dark.

When he saw the little baby, the little girl, wailing as she
lay on the fluid stained ground, the silence that had welled up shattered.  Gavi fought him as he sought out the child
and he fought her back.  This was
Griffin’s sister, a lone child that bore the mark he had.  This was the next Scion.

And she was screaming, crying at the top of her lungs until
she was wrapped up.  She was small in his
embrace and he smiled softly as he soothed her.
She had that unfocused gaze that all newborns had and soon she began to
quiet.

Gavi asked for her and he had half a mind to tell her to
fuck off, but the anger that had risen up hot and boiling in his chest swiftly
left him and he handed her over.  He
could’ve said it was because she was this little girl’s aunt, but he would’ve
been a damn liar.  When the anger was
gone, a creeping, crawling hollowness had lifted its ugly head.

He couldn’t take care of a child that night, not when he
felt sick and defeated.

Not when he was floundering to take a step.

They left the cave, walked through the waterfall, and took
themselves back to the ship.  It was a
quiet trip.  If someone touched him or
spoke to him he only gave a nod.  Finally
he was in his cabin, the door closing behind him.  He dropped his sword to the floor and himself
onto the bed.

~\*~

One body.  Two.  Five.
He lost count.  The bodies built
up and up in a pile, reaching to the stormy skies above.  Red lightning flashed brilliantly, making him
squint against the harshness, but still he walked.  He walked through the blood-stained water and
across sands that sucked at his boots.  Just
ahead was a shimmering, shaking form that sneered at him with the mouth of his
dead husband.

(*…pain*…)

His foot snagged on a root.

Raef looked down and watched it twine up his calf.  He hacked at it with his sword and he kept
walking, tracking the monster ahead of him.
He had failed Griffin in life, hadn’t kept him safe, but he could do this.  He could kill the god that had tormented his
husband.

(*…his hand hurt…*)

“My, what a delightful dream.”

The lightning froze and the bitter wind stilled.

Raef twisted on a heel, turning towards that sickeningly
sweet voice.  “You’re interrupting.”

“You weren’t going to catch him.” The man chuckled – or Raef
thought it was a man – as he walked (*slithered*) over a withered
body.  Red eyes crinkled at the corners
with his smile. “You don’t have the…uh…*knowledge* to do so.”

“And you’re offering that?” Raef scoffed. “Get the fuck out
of my dream.”

The man smiled again, baring teeth far too sharp and far too
white. “No can do.  You were the one who
asked *me* to come and how could I say ‘no’ to such sweet begging?”  He was close now, too close.  His golden hair floated on the nonexistent
wind and he smelled harsh, of grating sands and biting ocean winds.

Begging?  He didn’t beg
or ask –

(*…please…someone…*)

-- for anyone.  Disquiet ran through him and the man’s smile
widened further.  Before he fell asleep,
when the anger and pain had tore through him, he had…he had…

“Are you going to help me kill a god then?” Raef quirked an
eyebrow. “Or are you gonna keep standin’ there in my fuckin’ way?”

The man laughed and clapped his slender hands together,
stark white against the swirling back of his robes. “Straight to the
point.  I love it.  You will do wonderfully for what I have
planned.”  He lowered his hands.

Raef just watched him, waiting.

“I *suppose* I can answer,” the man sighed out, but not
without a smile – a smile that never truly left his face. “My sweet, I will
help you, but you have to help me.”

“With what?”

The man leaned back, looking like he was sitting on something,
but there was nothing but his (*legs*) and robes.   He
regarded Raef and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “A friend
of mine needs a little help and you, and your little *buddies*, are perfect
for the task.   See…there’s this orc…” he
waved his hand dismissively. “…and my friend really, really wants to meet him
again.  The little issue, you see, is that
this orc is still alive.”

Raef’s eyebrows shot up in skepticism. “Why doesn’t your *friend*
go kill him instead?”

The man waved again. “Promises and such.  Can’t break them.  *But* if you and your *buddies* do
the deed then the promise isn’t broken and, well, then my friend will be
helped.”

“Uh-huh.”  Raef tapped
the tip of his sword against the side of a boot. “And what’re you gonna do to
help me?”

“I will give you all of the *information* you need to kill
this god.”

“All for killing an orc?
Color me a fuckin’ skeptic, but that sounds like bullshit.”

Wind hissed up, growing louder and louder before vanishing
as if it had never occurred.  “Always with
the skepticism.”  He sighed again, dramatically,
and laughed. “Fine, fine.  I will need a
little something from you to seal our deal.”

Again Raef waited.

The man clicked his tongue again. “I need your soul.”

“My soul…” Raef repeated before laughing, cold and bitter. “That’s
fuckin’ melodramatic.”  He tapped his
sword again, thinking.  It seemed easy, too
easy.  He didn’t give a shit about
killing an orc and he didn’t give a shit about his soul – he was never going to
see Azrael or Griffin even when he died – but that seemed easy.  Too fuckin’ easy. “Anythin’ else?”

“Not a thing.” The man leaned down – he was tall, sinewy,
and still he smiled. “Do we have a deal, my sweet?”

“Fine.  Whatever.” Raef
shrugged.

“Beautiful.”

Raef’s breath hitched as the man pressed a clawed finger against
his chest.  Something tugged, something
pulled, something squirmed and fought inside him.  His knees nearly buckled from the force and
he dug Orcslayer into the ground to keep from falling over.

Then it was over a shadowy form was resting in the palm of
the man’s hand.

“My, my.  It is a good
thing I came when I did.” The man sighed, caressing down the form.  Silver light flickered out through the shadows
that threatened to overcome it before the form vanished.

Raef gasped harshly as his stomach churned. “Now…help…” he choked
out around the bile stinging the back of his throat.

Lightning flashed in the sky.

“…now…”

“Oh, no, my sweet.
You need to kill an orc and then I’ll help you kill a god.”