NEW GODS: The Awakening

Euxiris's Oath

Euxiris peered up at him with a pity that disgusted Xiris to his core.

The Old God of Death was a creature as fascinating as he was frightening. The very manifestation of the element that had created him.

Euxiris was smaller than the tales would have him be- certainly no giant.

His figure was almost androgynous with a small waist and smaller hands. He looked even younger, draped in silk, though he was older than the universe itself.

Everything about him shone in a deep shade of red. His red hair tangles fell down his face. It looked like lava was creeping down his cheek. His eyes were a deep red like a beating human heart. His thin pale lips formed a frown. His skin was as white and cold as marble with almost a grey hue to it.

“For what it is worth, I am sorry-,”

“It is worth absolutely nothing,” Xiris snapped, cutting him short.

They were inside a cave. Xiris, however, knew it was nothing but a product of his own mind.

He despised every inch of that cave, every dark, dusty corner, every crystal that hanged from the ceiling.
The cave had once been a mine site but it had not been used by any mortals for the longest time.

It was also the place Xiris had been trapped in for a good part of his life. The cage of his childhood, per say.
His father’s den.

He despised that out of all places, his mind was modelled after this.

“I understand why you are upset but please see things from my point of view-,”

“Your point of view? How about you start? How would you feel if I threw a bunch of demons at your oh so dear children-?”

“Do not dare your luck, mortal!” Euxiris’s thundered, his voice deeper and mightier than any dragon’s “There are some lines even you are not allowed to cross…”

The heat of the room abruptly rose like they were inside a cauldron that was boiling.

Xiris did not answer after that. He got up from where he was sitting down with him and started pacing around the room. He spotted his own childishness in the way he refused to glance at his direction even as the room grew colder. That was not enough to stop him of course.

“Why did you leave? I am sure if you and Havel sat down to talk, you could reconcile,” Euxiris was audibly calmer now- his sugary sweet tone had returned in full force.

“I am not interested in reconciling with him,” Xiris retorted, entirely aware that the words were a lie as soon as they left his mouth.

“He raised you,” Euxiris stressed.

“He chose Malaki. Good for him. I do not see why I need to think about him any longer,” Xiris coldly responded, almost robotically.

He had prepared the answer an hour earlier. It felt stale on his lips, expired meat. His purple eyes blankly stared off into space.

“You do not mean that. You do not mean anything you are saying right now. You are just upset and lost,”

“I am not some child for you to coddle,” Xiris scoffed “And I am fine. I only need you to stop taking over my body whenever you feel like it.”

Euxiris murmured beneath his breath. Xiris did not catch what he said but perhaps that was for the best.

Euxiris was the first being to have ever existed. He saw more or less everyone as babies- and they were in comparison to him. The little comfort his affection had provided Xiris in his childhood was long gone. He already had one person always hovering above his head and that was one more than he wanted.