Selfish Gods - Complete!

32

The moment Elira's feet left the wall she regretted having jumped. It was madness, this thing she was doing. She should have tried harder to find another way; she was a human, with human legs and she was going to snap her legs in two.

Fuckkkkk.

She wasn't even wearing shoes.

The best she could do was mitigate the damage she was about to do to herself. What flashed through her mind was the image of a cat, its limbs compressing into a crouch at the moment of impact and she aligned her body accordingly.

And prayed to something, nothing, everything.

The impact reverberated up from her bare feet, through her legs, her pelvis, her spine, her teeth, her skull. It was not painful. It was like standing too close to a speaker at a heavy metal concert. Every atom in her body vibrated.

She wondered, fleetingly, if that was what it felt like when all your bones broke at once - a kind of shock before the pain set in.

But then she stood up.

Delfina squeaked with happiness and Hilda beamed at her. "I'm really glad I was right about that," Hilda said.

"You're really glad?" Elira laughed. She was giddy, her mind full of noise. She shook out her shoulders, torso, and legs. She was fine. Her hands got stuck in her hair and she wasn't even entirely aware that she had put them there. She held onto her head for a moment, fingers entangled in wet strands, and then said, "Oh holy shit."

"What?" Delfina looked behind her as though she expected to see something alarming approaching.

"I don't know what," Elira said. She sat down and Hilda and Delfina sat down with her. For the first time Delfina looked like she was in real pain. She winced as she arranged herself, one leg straight out in front of her.

"Broke my foot," Delfina said the way a regular person would have talked about getting the sniffles.

"Will it just heal?" Elira asked.

"In a half hour. Maybe less," Delfina said. She leaned back on her palms, her face up to the sun,  and closed her eyes, looking blissful.

A moment of silence passed.

Elira pulled up a fistful of grass trying to stay calm.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Elira asked, finally.

"I would if I knew," Hilda said. "But I don't really." She was sitting crossed legged and she balanced an elbow on her knee and her chin on her hand. Her skin was glowing and the sunlight made her long blonde eyelashes look almost transparent. "I only have a guess. A good guess but a guess all the same, and not one that explains everything."

"Okay," Elira said, surprised to hear a tremble in her voice. She took a long breath and steadied herself.

"First, tell me about your parents."

"My parents," Elira repeated, feeling for the first time in her life so immersed in the present she had nearly forgotten for a moment that she had parents, that she had a life beyond the last day and a bit of wonder, confusion and excitement. "My mom lives in Michigan. Nice, normal, tough, old Albanian lady. Likes to make lots of food. Doesn't take shit from the world."

"And your father?"

Elira's heart constricted with pain. An old wound that had never healed but which she had gotten better at disguising and stitching back together quickly, opened. She spoke in a monotone, her fingers busy with a new patch of grass. "I remember he was always drinking. He had a temper but he was a nice guy, big laugh. Shot in the head in Kosovo by some asshole Serbians during the war. Saw it happen. I was thirteen."

"I'm so sorry," Delfina said, her face now turned to Elira's, saltwater welling at the corners of her eyes. "My parents were both killed in front of me too." She paused then added, "By the Demon King. He ate them."

"I had no idea," Hilda said.

"No way for you to know," Delfina said brightly. She wiped away her tears before they had a chance to tumble down her cheeks. "But it's why I started to work for Prince Sevrin. He promised me he would kill his father one day." She smiled, closing her eyes again and basking in the sunshine. "And he didn't. But the King is dead and I am enjoying it."

"You know, this makes sense," Elira said, "I kept wondering how someone like you ended up working for the Prince. You're this sweet... dolphin person and he's a... dick. Not as evil as his dad maybe but definitely evil."

Hilda laughed, "You're very blunt, Elira."

"I'm right, am I not?"

"Well..." Delfina began. She scrunched up her face, moving her lips from side to side as though deeply considering this statement. She scratched at her pink hair, ruffling it. "I'm not sure if he's completely evil. Sometimes he isn't nice. But then again sometimes he is very nice. Like, when I asked him to protect my people from his father he did. He gave us a new place to live and we were very safe there. I was honored to serve him."

"Honored? Past tense?" Hilda said.

Delfina smiled, smoke grey eyes wide, "I like both of you so much more. I was thinking I could work for you instead."

"Both of us?" Elira laughed. "Is that possible?"

"I'm flattered," Hilda said warmly, "I will talk to the Prince on your behalf." She paused. "I suppose he's a King now. The King."

"Oh good," Delfina grinned. "Because you know how I said he was nice but not always?" She blinked at Elira, looking slightly guilty, "Remember when I took you to the pool, the nice one?" She said with a glance back at the castle walls. "I took you there because that's one of the ways out and I wanted you to get away because I liked you right away and I was scared he was going to let Lilith eat you." She swallowed and started talking very quickly. "Actually, I know he told her she could eat you. I can hear them talking telepathically sometimes because they are very loud and over breakfast, when I was outside he said she could eat you. I just didn't know when she was going to eat you."

"Ha," Elira laughed, without bitterness or surprise. "Told you he was a dick."

"And their whole plan with Kwaku was to kill him over and over again forever," Delfina wrinkled her nose. "They were going to burn him, cut him into little pieces, feed him to lava demons..."

"Gross. Definitely evil," Elira said.

"But back to the other thing we were talking about," Delfina said, very excited. She was leaning forward and lightly clapping her hands as though she couldn't really contain her energy. "I want to know who you are."

"I think you know who she is," Hilda said slowly. "It's kind of obvious if you think about it. I just don't know how it's possible. Only explanation is that her parents are pretending to be normal humans but aren't or that one of her parents isn't actually her parent." She tapped her chin with one of her tiny fingers that was in the process of growing back. "Hmm, maybe Elira, maybe your mom was seduced by one of the gods? They do that sometimes. Or maybe you're adopted. Could be that..."

"Who knows, we'll figure it out," Elira interrupted her. "Can you tell me who you think I am?"

Hilda nodded. "Yes. Of course." She paused and sat up, her posture perfect, her shoulders squared, her blue eyes fixed on Elira's gray ones.

She took a deep breath, "You are the Goddess of War we have waited centuries for." She paused again, then went on, taking her time with each word. "The new, and in fact, the only true Goddess of War."

Elira swallowed. She had questions. Like, wasn't that supposed to be Celeste? And what powers do I have? And what do you mean only? But before she could ask them Hilda went on, her expression darkening. "And if that is true, which it probably is, you're in grave danger."