Mania and the Executioner (19 page)

“Option two: I name you Executioner and I introduce you to The Faction as a controlled weapon so that it doesn’t start a witch hunt that results in everyone trying to kill you instead of
trying to stop Loki. This plan involves having you sent around to different sections that are under suspicion of treason, or those that are having troubles of a coup-like nature.” Kira finishes.

“Do you mean I’d have to do repeat performances of Hawaii?” I ask.

“Why? What happened in Hawaii?” Kira asks.

“Tia, what did you report for the events in Hawaii?” I blatantly ask.

“Um…that Pele killed Ku and her brother. Your actions were easy to conceal because Pele is the representative within The Faction.” Tia says quietly. Kira raises her hands to rub both of her temples.

“Would someone please just tell me what actually happened?” Kira says exasperated.

I retell of my torturing and threatening of the entire Polynesian pantheon as Kira becomes less sure of me with each passing second.

“If that is what happened, then it sounds like the perfect ‘performance’ to play for other similar situations.” Kira says warily.

“Well, I think Cole will be taking option one!” Tia says.

(Option two)

“I’m not listening to you on this one, Airi.” That was surprisingly easy to resist…

(Consider it for a moment. Option two entitles you to that feeling you have when you torture your enemies. More importantly, it allows you to better protect Cheza by removing inside threats to her safety)

“Kira…I’m going with option two.” I say quietly. I know it’s going to lead to that further descent into madness, but it does protect Cheza more thoroughly. I noticed that Airi’s suggestion was just facts without any compulsion.

“No Cole!” Cheza shouts in my mind. “You can’t!”

“I’m sorry Cheza, but I have to.” I think to her.

“Make me Executioner.” I say to Kira.

“Cole! Are you sure about this?” Tia asks.

“I’m positive.” I reply.

“Alright, I’ll schedule a meeting for tomorrow.” Kira says and then disappears.

“Cole…
are you sure that you haven’t been influenced into doing this?” Tia asks, concern obvious on her face.

“Airi did suggest it, but I didn’t listen until she pointed out that it would enable me to eliminate any inside threats to Cheza.” I explain.

“Cole, up until now you’ve faced lower level deities. Even Illapa wasn’t very high up on the deity scale.” Tia says.

“
How do you mean? Could you explain this more effectively?” I ask.

“The strength of deities relies on belief and recognition; so basically it relies on the media, and Neopaganism. The scale goes in a pyramid shape with obscu
re deities like the Polynesian pantheon, a lot of African deities, most of the Native American deities etc. The mid-range includes, the Incan pantheon, Mesopotamian pantheon, etc. Lower-High range includes Celtic, Aztec, Slavic, Egyptian, etc. Upper-High range is Norse/Germanic, Greek/ Roman, and Shinto. Last, there is the supreme category which is solely comprised of certain Hindu/Buddhist gods, who have the most current followers; understandable if you consider that they are part of the third and fourth largest religions in the word.” Sara explains.

“It also varies by the strengths of each god too, so that is a really broad generalization. For instance, I only categorize as a mid
-range deity, because I don’t have any special skills that are combat applicable, even though the Aztec pantheon is in the lower-high range. On the other hand, Pele categorizes as a lower-high range god despite the Polynesian pantheon ranking in the low range. It has a lot to do with the ranking inside each pantheon.” Tia follows up.

“Okay I think I get it. Who has sided with the Norse?” I ask.

“We don’t really know. We are only certain that the Slavic pantheon and the Shinto pantheon have both sided with the Norse.” Tia says. I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes.

“So the Norse not only
have a giant snake and a giant wolf, but they also have dragons…? What are the chances of there being seven orbs that you can bring to this dragon and he grants you a wish? Are there aliens that can shoot balls of energy out of their hands or turn into giant monkeys during a full moon, too!?
9
Why can’t we just deal with the Candy God!?”
I shout.

“Jeez Cole…you botch everything I taught you about Shintoism but you do remember that they have Tajimamori, the god of sweets?” Sara asks while shaking her head. “You are wrong on all accounts Cole. Most descriptions of gods are of their qualities; so no, the Norse
don’t have a giant snake, a giant wolf, or dragons.”

“That being said, I don’t want you going up against any of those guys. We need to mak
e you faster somehow…” Tia says while I remember the question that I need to ask.

“Airi, focus all efforts to block out Cheza.”

(That won’t be difficult, she is angry at you for your decision)

“W
hat did Kira mean about ‘Fae blood’?” I ask quietly. Tia and Sara both tense up.

“What are you talking about!? Kira didn’t say Fae blood, she said Fa Bleu. It’s a type of magical cheese grown in the frozen tundra of France!” Tia blurts out in a panic,
interrupting Sara’s open mouth.

“Cole, could you wait here for a moment while I fetch the ball-gag from Tia’s room?” Sara asks while glarin
g at Tia with malicious intent.

“I’M SORRY! I PANICKED!”
Tia shouts.

“We need to talk about this.” I say sternly.

“We also need to talk about that helmet and the new swords.” Sara says, transparently trying to change the subject.

“
*Sigh* We can talk about those things later. I want to check on Natasha and the Peri, where are they?” I ask while rubbing my temples, but still glad to have some extra time to figure out how much I should tell them about last night.

“Well Natasha has a serious concussion so she is in her room resting and I think that the Peri is outside; she’s been refusing to talk to anyone though.” Sara replies.

I thank her and head towards the living room. I expand my hearing when I arrive there. Cheza is downstairs in the basement beating the crap out of a bag (that she is probably imagining is me) and I hear someone sigh outside in the backyard.

I head out there and
see the Peri lying on the grass, which has grown to surround her body. It looks like a grass-angel, except that the Peri’s arms are by her sides; I see bruises of various sizes on her arms that I couldn’t notice last night. Rather than being white, her wings are pearlescent in color and very noticeable out in the sun. Her black, shoulder-length hair, which is parted from the right and tucked behind her left ear, has kind of a purple sheen.

“
I figured you would be out here; if I had been locked in a cage in a windowless room, I would probably want to spend some time outside too.” I say, noticing her flinch at the sound of my voice. As I get closer, I notice that she is wearing nothing but one of my white t-shirts, most likely with the back cut out for her wings; thank gods Hanes t-shirts come in packs. Maybe that should be a new sales pitch:

Hanes: For when the naked fairy that you rescued needs clothes.

“Oh, hello! How do you feel? You look quite well for a dead person!” The Peri says in a high-pitched, singsong fashion that I am now realizing is just her voice. She stands to her feet…and I realize why she isn’t wearing some of Cheza’s clothes; this girl is only about three and a half feet tall so she can wear my shirt like a long dress. I think I’m starting to understand how Tinkerbell ended up being four inches tall.

“You know, I get that all the time!” I
exclaim as I notice her shaking slightly just from speaking to me.

“Really?” the Peri asks wh
ile raising an eyebrow at me; her pretty purple eyes look slightly frightened.

“No, not really.”
I say with a smile. “Anyway, I’m Cole.”

“My name is Lila. Thank you for rescuing me.” Lila says and rushes forward to hug me, her head only coming up to my navel. “And I’m sorry that you became injured because of me.”

“Oh it isn’t your fault,” I say while moving my arms to try and hug her back or something, but when there is a tiny girl with wings hugging you, your brain tends to just say ‘…what?’ So I end up just patting her on the head. She flinches at first before giggling at my reaction as she pulls away. She seems to be warming up to me; good, this girl has been through enough to deserve to relax around the person who rescued her.

“So
…can you fly?” I ask as if it’s some kind of secret that she has wings on her back. Lila smiles and unfurls her wings. She flaps them thrice and goes about a foot off of the ground before landing.

“How did you make the grass grow?” I inquire.

“All fairies have some control over nature.” Lila answers.

“Okay, next question: how old are you?” I ask.

“Thirteen.” Lila replies.

(No touching)

“I am shocked by that suggestion Airi! I’m suddenly a whole lot angrier at the Daeva that I left in pieces on the ground to die slowly and painfully… Actually, I probably couldn’t have done much worse to them so I guess it about equals out.”

“Alright…should we…call your parents or something?” I ask. I’m sure that’s the standard protocol for rescuing a small naked girl from kidnappers…probably…but is it the standard protocol for fairy girls?

“Call?” Lila asks while cocking her head to the side.

“I guess they don’t have phones in the fairy world…Are you hungry? What do you eat?” I ask, slightly flustered.

“The blood of virgins.” Lila says with a blank expression.

“…I’ll ask Cheza.” I say, a lot more fl
ustered than before. I think I might be in way over my head.

“That was a joke.” Lila says with a smile.

“Hey, take it easy on me! I’ve never met a fairy before!” I say with a light chuckle.

“And I’ve never met someone that could talk to me after getting stabbed in the chest with three swords!” Lila says
while replicating my demeanor.

“…are you human?” Lila asks carefully
, like she is afraid that I’ll beat her for asking.

“Yes, I’
m human.” probably. I don’t want to freak her out so I leave out that last part.

Suddenly, a wooden and silver spear lands by my
right foot. I quickly snatch it up and cut my left arm with it as I deflect a second spear before throwing the first spear at the two flying white men with black wings, white outlines, and sparkly white centers. I score a hit, just not the one I was aiming for; the spear sticks into one of their thighs instead of a torso or head.

I turn around
and pick up Lila before getting tackled from my left side. I hold Lila close to me as I feel us start to fall.

Chapter
16: I’m screwed…or am I?

“Airi, helmet.”
I tell her as I punch the face of the guy that is currently lying on top of me. I reach forward and grab the guy’s left arm, utilizing the extra space I made with my punch. I get him into an arm bar, snap his forearm, and stand to my feet while he is writhing in pain.

“Just stay down Lila!” I say while the helmet
wraps to the front of my face. I kick the screaming guy in the face, rendering him unconscious.

I look around and take stock of my situation. We are currently in the middle of a white marble gazebo
that seems to be on top of a grassy hill; more importantly, there a dozen of the black-winged guys with spears advancing towards me less than twenty feet away.

I stick my right finger tips on my left arm and continuously fling out four needles as I
quickly spin in a circle several times. Now, I’d like to say that each of the four needles from each throw were perfectly placed and they all flew straight into each of the twelve jugulars surrounding me, but that isn’t the case. Instead, it’s more like I’m just flinging them wildly at their faces. I am really glad that these things only take 20 milliliters of blood to make because I must throw around a hundred of these things in four rotations. By the time I stop spinning, all of the winged guys are on the ground screaming with needles stick out of their faces.

I take a knee to dispel my dizziness. I look over at Lila and see the same stunne
d expression as last night. Man, I am seriously fucking up this kid with the amount of violence I’m subjecting her to…Then again, I did rescue her from being naked in a cage. Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turn my head and see two figures with golden auras…just my luck.

“Sorry Lila, it looks like I misinterpreted the situation. Instead of protecting you, I just dragged you into my fight.”
My creepy sounding voice says as I start the draw for a Mu-cutter in my left hand, which should be interesting because my left-handed swordplay is not very skillful.

(You will be rendered unconscious before you complete the Mu-cutter)