CENTURIES AGO - PART IV

THE TIME SPENT WITH Niccolo in his temple was surprisingly fun. His complete lack of rules were such a weird thing in comparison to what she was used to and yet his bored wandering of his temple every day was something she could very much find herself in. It was a weird mix of her old habits and the new she found comfort in, Sunday arriving in no time. She stood in front of the floor to length mirror, stone snakes circling around it, and turned around to look at the back of her gown.

Having the ability to create something out of thin air had always been handy, but this was the first time she used it conscious of the fact that people were going to see her in it. With her mother she hadn't cared and with Helio it had always been easy, so comfortable that she didn't care that much for what she was in, as long as he was there. She wondered why he was so much on her mind nowadays, but then again, she didn't have much to think about.

Her gown had an off the shoulder corset the same color of the opals on her ears, the silk skirt spilling down to the floor. She was putting her hair up and then letting it fall down her shoulders again, wondering what to do with it, when Niccolo interrupted her.

"You've been doing that for a while now," he said," make a decision."

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked, before adding," and what should I choose?"

"Long enough to have seen you do that repeatedly," he said," and haven't you learned by now not to ask me anything? I give terrible advice."

He had exchanged his usual robes for a crimson and black suit, golden symbols lining his cuffs and a snake slithering around his neck. The one they tried to tattoo on his hand still was healing again, but slower now. Niccolo had told her it usually took a thousand tries of cutting it into an immortal's skin before it remained permanent. He was at two hundred now. The sight of the markings made her want to reach out to heal them, but he had told her he had to have them. They were the markings of the Augustine, he had said, and what was he without his cursed title?

"Down it is," she said, following him as they walked towards the exit of the temple.

"So," he said," are you excited about the inauguration?"

"Your tone makes me sense I shouldn't be," Delilah replied, glancing at him amusedly.

"You're correct," he sighed dramatically," you'll wish you were back here when you see all the gods. They really suck."

"Even the new Reaper candidate?" she said," I hear he's quite kind."

Niccolo turned to look at her confusedly. "Who'd you hear that from? The temple's followers usually only praise me and your mother hates him." He then decided he didn't care, shaking his head. "Either way, I suppose he's not that bad. A real buzzkill though. Every time I'm near him I just get a vision of him doing his paperwork diligently in the future."

"He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders," she defended him.

"What does it matter?" Niccolo shrugged as they reached the end of the temple," it's not like you know the guy."

She parted her lips to correct him, but Niccolo didn't leave her much room for it, grabbing her hand and jumping down the platform in the abyss beneath. When she blinked their surroundings had vastly changed, a floor of mosaic beneath her feet and walls resembling butterfly wings around her, opals infused in the fragile structures to let the light reflect down softly. The gods were loud around them, already enjoying the party and the ambrosia which flowed so richly it had colored the floor golden in the many places it had spilled. Delilah looked down at the drink of the gods sticking to the mosaic, but all she saw were mortal souls, each of them running to find purpose in their life in their own fragmented mosaic, some of them lighting up when they connected with each other.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Delilah glanced back up at the person who had spoken to her, surprised to catch the electric gaze of the god in front of her. She had studied the gods while waiting to come here, so she recognized Zeus even without lightning in his hands, but still, it was strange to have him approach her. After all, he had no idea who she was yet, so what use would he have for approaching a stranger?

When she didn't speak, he continued. "The souls, I mean. Despite almost all of them fading away without even tasting a shred of divinity, they still search for it so desperately. It makes for a colorful art piece."

"It's tacky," Niccolo corrected him, before grabbing Delilah's wrist and pointing at Zeus," as are you. Don't talk to her."

"Niccolo, you insolent -" Zeus flamed up, jaw clenching at the same time as his fists.

"Augustine," Niccolo interrupted," that's Holy One to you, Zeus. Now, leave us be before I call out to your wife that you were flirting again, you faithless scumbag."

"You should be thankful you're protected by that empty holiness of yours," Zeus hissed, pricking his finger against Niccolo's chest," or else -"

In response Niccolo smiled widely and before Delilah could step in, he had already tackled Zeus, the snakes tattooed on him coming to life, fangs dripping with venom. Zeus was a fool for even trying to start this fight, Delilah thought, amused as she watched how the god of lightning struggled to even defend himself. After all, what good would it do to begin anything you couldn't finish? This had always been Niccolo's victory, because every time the god tried to lay a hand on him, he immediately pulled away again, as if burned.

"Or else what?" Niccolo laughed," come on now, show me!"

Delilah had no intention of stopping him. All she had known her whole life was her mother holding her back, so who was she to do it to someone else? As her eyes wandered across the floor, she couldn't help but feel like an intruder in these people's lives. Beautiful, Zeus had said, but she had never seen any beauty in cages, no matter how golden. She hadn't from the inside and she still didn't now, even with the key in her hands.

"Tacky indeed," she muttered.

Meanwhile the place around her had erupted into total chaos. Everyone surrounded the fight, most of them cheering, others looking worried. They had left their front row seats to the ceremony behind for this very strange brawl, Delilah glancing over their shoulders at the two thrones in the distance, standing on a platform and almost glimmering in the light. One was jet black, skulls decorating it like lace as mist whirled around, the other ethereally silver, spilling with light and blooming with diamond flowers. Was she supposed to sit down there?

"Isn't the ceremony supposed to begin?"

"By all that is holy, can't someone stop this?"

"Where's he? Wasn't he supposed to come now?"

Delilah didn't need to ask who they meant, because she saw him then. He had stepped right through the transparent wings, his oversized robes changed to an all-black suit, which seemed so simple until he moved and she noticed the way the whole galaxy had spilled into the fabric. It wasn't glittering, but she could see the occasional star sign forming and dissolving, supernovas exploding with every step he took, the same silver-blue nebulae which colored his eyes whirling around his collar to his heart. It was a strange, dynamic sight, which made her unable to look away, but then again, she always had found it hard to look away from him.

The man beside him was clearly older and more fatigued, frowning as he caught the gods surrounding the fight. He didn't move, but Helio did, striding towards them with no hesitation. The gods jumped away at once when he neared, even though there was no anger or hostility in his gaze, simply that serious look there always was, dark as the shadows underneath his eyes. These days he had been busy preparing to take it all over, so Delilah knew he didn't sleep much, but still, it did worry her.

His jet black hair had fallen into his eyes, but Helio pushed it back with one hand, grabbing Niccolo's collar with the other as he pulled him off. Zeus tried to grab Niccolo's ankle, but as soon as he caught Helio's cold gaze his hand froze in the air. Niccolo however didn't seem to have any regrets at all, golden blood staining his knuckles and grin exhilarated, his snakes curling back into his skin again.

"Let me go, you bore," he complained to Helio," I had seen in the future that the time had come to break his nose, so don't let this precious vision go to waste."

"No," Helio replied matter-of-factly, his scythe appearing in his other hand as he opened it," fight when you're out of my line of sight. While you're at the ceremony, you behave. Now, let's go back."

"But he started it!" Zeus exclaimed, pointing at the oracle like he was merely a strange man on the streets, which Delilah supposed he did act like.

"Yeah, I did," Niccolo said," so what? You want me to do it again to demonstrate?"

In response Helio whacked him on the head with the staff of his scythe, silencing everyone at once. He didn't seem to be too bothered to have hit the holy oracle, but everyone around him simply stared in absolute shock. Niccolo was the first to break the quiet, surprising them all again as he parted his lips, only to laugh loudly and slap Helio on the back.

"Perhaps not such a bore after all," he said," I didn't know you had heard you could hurt me with a holy weapon."

"You should be thankful there are only two," Helio sighed," or else you would be getting beaten up every  day. Now let's get star -"

He froze at once as he locked eyes with Delilah in the crowd. She hadn't been visible between all the gods, but when most of them had immediately stepped back out of fear of being hit too, she had stayed. And here they were, eye to eye again, just like they had been when they had first met.

"Helio," she smiled.

"Delilah," he breathed, letting Niccolo go at once as he stepped towards her," I'm so glad you came. How are you? Did everything with your mother go well?"

She scraped her throat, reaching out to him but stopping herself before she touched his hand.

"I'm not speaking with her anymore," she said," Helio, I'm the Soulweaver's daughter."