Animus of Gods

Chapter 4: Incendiary

Zavon woke Caysa up with a light kick to his shin. Lurching up, hissing with pain Caysa squinted up at the demon above him. Zavon cocked his head and kicked at Caysa's shin again. Truly a demon.

With slow, quiet movements Caysa sat up, stretching the unsatisfactory sleep from his shoulders and spine. It was barely dawn, the sky only just brightening to that lovely, powdery blue. Following Zavon, he led them to an outcropping with a steep drop-off that had Caysa's stomach roiling.

"Why are we here?" Caysa stood close to Zavon, cold and terrified he might push Caysa off the side.

"Relax, now is the perfect time to close your eyes and hear the song of the world," Zavon said, Caysa closed his eyes and sighed. This, always this 'song' nonsense. "Do not despair, my little friend, this time it is sure to be a success."

Caysa pursed his lips, clenching his teeth. Zavon was stronger than Caysa, he would not be able to push him over the edge. Zavon stepped even closer to which he tried to step back but Zavon put one long, wiry arm around his shoulders so that Caysa's cheek was pressed to Zavon's clavicle. From a wholly neutral perspective, Caysa had probably been physically as close to Aron a hundred times over but somehow, he couldn't help feeling strangely bothered by this.

Zavon held his other hand out, away from them, long sleeve rolled up to show his tanned forearm.

"Now watch and listen," Zavon quietly said, Caysa resolutely stared at Zavon's arm. it was spectacular and impossible, seeing an orange flame spontaneously climb upwards from the centre of Zavon's palm, it shook and shuddered in the wind a until finally it was big enough to stabilise itself. Almost hypnotic as it swayed and flicked at the air.

"You are distracted, listen," Zavon said, startling Caysa from where he'd begun to get lost in the flame. Zavon used his other hand to push Caysa's head to his chest, right above his heart. Caysa closed his eyes and tried to find Zavon's heartbeat under layers of clothes, skin, muscle and bone.

There it was, slow and assured, nothing like Caysa's was right now, each push of blood through his body in perfect rhythm to the flame. Embarrassed, Caysa tried to match his breathing to Zavon, deep, slow intakes. At some point the darkness of Caysa's eyelids felt almost all consuming, there was no one next to him, no heartbeat against his ear, no wind, or stone beneath him. There was just the darkness behind Caysa's eyes. He opened them slowly and saw he truly was alone, standing in a void of light, when Caysa looked down his mind stopped, unable to form a single thought at what he was seeing.

A wide shallow river barely up to his thighs that starlight flecks floated in. It was as if he were standing in the Sognima River, the River of Stars itself as it stretched forwards and backwards in gentle eternity. Caysa leant down, trying to scoop up one of those little stars but every time he tried, it slid between the cracks in his fingers almost like the small fishes that swam around the shallows of the Tisgani river, darting away from curious fingers. Caysa strode forward, looking around at the nothingness above him, he did not think there could ever be such a place in his imagination, unless...

Caysa paused as he saw a flicker of a person appear, maybe around Caysa's height with long, grey or white hair. He squinted, trying to force his eyes to focus on the figure who was looking about and running their hands through the water. Every time Caysa blinked the inside of his eyelids were gradually brightening as if the glare of the sun was behind his eyes, heat and light searing away at the soft darkness, Caysa blinked awake trying to escape the painful light. Standing upright with his head leaning on Zavon's shoulder, Caysa took in a deep breath, the River of Stars, Caysa pulled back from Zavon trying to commit every impossible detail to memory, blinking away pesky sunrays as the sun finally painted the sky in soft yellows and bright blues.