Til Death Do Us Part
Late Spring, 510 AV
Rhakash stared up toward Syna as she caressed him with her gaze. He was dreading returning home after an arduous day at the Courtyard of the Jackals, training away with his fellow Foxes. He couldn't bear to see Takaesha in her sickly state. The healers had said there was nothing they could do for her, that the illness that had taken her bones, was now in her lungs. The gossip of her illness was already commonplace, and even beginning to die off in a city run by rumors. He was tired of the pitying glances, the empty apologies. He wished Dira would show her mercy and take her already. Suffering was cruel, no one should have to endure that sort of pain for as long as she. Every single Miza he made went to easing her pain, to making her more comfortable until Dira take her.
He purchased a small bouquet of blue flowers from a little girl, who gave him the only genuine smile he'd seen in a long time. Her smiled reminded him of the child he would never have with Takaesha, and his mood soured even further. He paid the girl, doubling the cost as her tip, and disappeared down the dusty roads to their humble home. He stood and waited outside their door, sighing, knowing that once he crossed that threshold, the rest of the day would be spent by her side until she passed out from pain. That was their routine, and nothing but death would alter it.
He pushed open the door, and stepped inside. The air inside was hot and moist, something the healer's said could help. He found it stifling, and had despised it ever since those useless quacks had suggested it. He made his way into the back bedroom, where a woman in white robes was attending to Takaesha, bedridden for many flights of Syna now. Rhakash moved over to her side, the healer turning to him, "I think today's the day when she turns it around!" Rhakash's eyes sidled over to the optimistic healer, and through gritted teeth, "Get out. You can do nothing for her now."
The healer scurried off, tutting in disapproval, but Rhakash did have a point. There was nothing any of them could do anymore. Rhakash knelt down next to his wife, her face clammy and pale looking over at him. "You didn't have to run her off like that, you know those marked by the Healer can't give up on a lost--" She was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit, "Lost cause like me." He looked at the shell of a most beautiful woman, seeing the places where her beautiful features faded away from the illness. He cheeks had lost all fill in them, sinking in, showing the amount of weight she'd lost. Her skin had gone from a beautiful olive shade to a pale off white, her hair frayed, constantly drenched in sweat.
She started into another fit of coughing, blood this time flying into her hand. He grabbed a rag to clean her up, another part of their routine. He was surprised, even impressed, that anyone could endure the sort of pain that she'd gone through. He got up to make her some broth, and get another rag. The blood had come early today, so he knew it'd be a long duty. He left the room and over to their hearth where broth was always simmering. He put his palms against the wall, over the fire, frustrated that he could do absolutely nothing to help her. He looked into the fire, "Gods, if you could release her from her pain, from her sickness, I would give you my soul. Please, help her, and you will have the most faithful of servants. I... I can't release her myself. I'm not strong enough."
He prepared her a bowl of the broth, and made his way back to his wife's side. He entered the room, and immediately saw that she was no longer alone. There was a young child, wearing a strange, clearly foreign suit, standing over her. Being just a child, Rhakash didn't give into the anger that wanted to throw him out immediately, "Who are you boy? And how did you get in here?"
"I'm here to help her, to release her from her pain, like you asked of me."
Rhakash was in shock, feeling as if his privacy had been invaded. This little kid had overheard his prayers to the gods and was now playing along? Rhakash set the broth down roughly and drew his battleax from his hip, "Get out now boy. This is no joke." The boy turned and looked at Rhakash. The boy was crying tears of blood, and gave the Eypharian man a feeling of the deepest loneliness. "I can feel all of her pain, every moment of it, you prayed, and I'm answering. I can release her."
The realization that he was in the room with a god. Could this young boy truly cure her? Rhakash could feel the power in the room, but was interrupted by a realization. Takaesha had said nothing since the arrival of this stranger. He looked down at his wife and saw that her chest was rising and falling rapidly, like a fish out of water. His eyes grew wide, this was not part of the routine, she'd never done this before. The boy spoke once more, "She's dying, slowly. She will suffer for several more days like this until Dira take her. Do you want my help?"
Rhakash had no choice, he couldn't let her suffer like that. "Please, help her, and I'm yours, whoever you are."
The boy turned to Takaesha and place a single finger upon her forehead. The breathing slowed, the color returned to her face. She looked healthier than ever! He moved forward to hold her, something he hadn't done for many moons now. But then with a single gasp, her breathing stopped, the coloring disappearing. He knew that she was gone. The boy hadn't healed her. He'd killed her.
Takaesha was surprised to feel herself back in the warmth of their bedroom, the room that had housed her for so long. An instant before she was in a room she had not recognized. It was not particularly ornate, and certainly not up to Eypharian standards. There was a desk, with a single piece of paper, and a plain, empty chair. However, behind the desk was a most curious and unexpected of figures. It was an elderly, pudgy man, with a prominent nose and tumbling beard. He looked quite kind to her, understanding, a sight that soothed her. She moved forward to sit in the chair, when she felt a tug on her wrist. She looked down past her shoulder, and saw the same boy she'd seen moments before, the boy with tears of blood.
"Come with me."
Back in the warmth of her bed, she bolted upright. She turned and saw Rhakash standing there, a mixed look of supreme shock, mixed with a heartbreak she'd never seen on his face before. The boy was there as well, he had a strange presence about him, something that made her wish to rebel at anything he would say. Then the realization struck her. She was sitting up! She hadn't been able to do that for Syna knows how long. The pain that had infested her bones, her very being was gone. Gone! She couldn't even remember what a life before pain felt like.
"Wha- What happened? Am I healed? Rha?"
The boy cleared his throat, "I believe I can better answer your questions. Your illness will no longer affect your living bones, so by definition, you are much better than you were."
The gratitude that welled up within her was massive, her throat constricting. This... boy, this foreign boy had cured her, had heard her plight, answered her prayers. She looked up at her loved one, her husband, and was shocked to not see relief upon his sculpted face. It was disbelief, confusion, rage.
The boy continued, "All I ask in return for this favor is your loyalty, whenever I should call upon it. Will you do this?"
Takaesha looked at her husband, who normally is a man of action, and not one to hesitate. This scared her a bit. The boy smiled at her, a smile that was polite, but something felt off about it. She then felt the pain returning to her bones, flooding back through her, "I can't keep it away without your loyalty, my power isn't strong enough on its own," he stated, lying coolly.
"Yes! Please! Make the pain go away! I swear to you! I will be loy-" And as quickly as it had come, the pain was gone. She relaxed, closing her eyes. It was gone, the pain was gone, for good.
Rhakash watched in surprise as Takaesha swore fealty to the boy that answered his prayers. The boy with the tears of blood. What had she done? In a matter of moments, that felt like centuries, she had died, come back, was cured, and now was pledging herself to some boy... some god that had answered a misguided prayer.
"Wha-- What did you do to her?!?"
"I released her from her pain, from her illness. She's one of mine now. As you will be. Do not fret, her life is not over. It's merely continuing, and will never end."
Rhakash wasn't sure if he understood the boy's words. She was dead, then dead no longer. Dead ones shouldn't be walking, especially not his wife. He could handle her dying, releasing her from pain, her suffering. But this, this was wrong on every level. This man had turned her into some sort of monster. Rhakash pulled his axe back, and swung it down toward the boy-god. The blade struck the boy in the skull, but to no effect. It simply stopped. The boy turned to Rhakash and placed his hand on the tanned chest. "Yes, hate me, hate me for what I've done to her. For you, are mine now too. You belong to Uldr." His chest burned and tingled where the boy's hand rested, and Rhakash knelt in pain.
Takaesha's eyes grew wide. She'd heard whispers, rumors, of Uldr, nothing detailed, but never in a good light. What had she done? What had she caused Rhakash to do? She'd been manipulated, she'd given in, at the hands of this... this boy! She looked at him with fury in her eyes, at being tricked so easily.
"Yes, you too, my dear, you too belong to me."
Then the boy and Takaesha were gone, and Rhakash felt extremely different. He stood up, chest still aching. He didn't know exactly what was different, but he knew that he was no longer the same. He looked down at the bed that was now empty for the first time in a full season. His wife was now a monster, he was a monster, and she was now with the god known as Uldr. Rhakash there in the empty home, vowed to kill the god who did that to his wife, and vowed to release her from the monster she'd become. He would kill them both. Uldr wanted him to hate, then hate he would, more so than any other.
by Rhakash on April 12th, 2012, 1:20 am 
