Chapter 406: A Voice
That female shadow charged forth with several of her brethren, charging into the wiggling mass and began to devour it. Along with the other shadows, the pressure on the witches had eased up, so much so that they were pushing back the shades and strengthening their defenses.
All of this was nice, but it didn’t solve the problem. Tezcatlipoca was still freeing himself and if he got loose, they would have no way to fight him.
Laz looked at the still smiling god rising from the ground and gripped his sword tighter. The stakes were still sticking out from his head and while Laz wasn’t completely sure, he had the feeling that they were still restricting him in some way. While that might have been good news normally, Laz also got the feeling that if they were extracted from him, he would be much more powerful than he was right now.
"I have to go," Laz said, looking at the rising god.
"I know."
"We know," Celes said, correcting Nora.
"You’re not expecting to survive this, are you?" Celes asked, turning to Laz.
"Nope. Not really," Laz admitted out loud.
"But you’ll still go?" Celes questioned.
"I have to."
"Why?" She asked as Nora smile and shook her head.
"What? Do you want him to kill himself or something?" Celes shot back at Nora, annoyed by her carefree attitude.
"No. It’s not that. Of course I don’t want him to die. But sweetie, you fell for him, didn’t you?" Nora said, taking Celes’ hands gently.
"So what?" Celes replied but at a loss.
"You know what kind of man he is. You must have seen it, or felt it. So you should also understand that he would never be the type to run and hide. It’s not in his nature. Sure, heroes die young. There is no denying that. But the charisma of such a man, full of fire, strong and unbreakable... that just so happens to be fatal to girls like us. We may not like it, but when you get with a guy like him, you have to accept that," Nora said, trying to console Celes.
"There is no man like him."
"Exactly the problem. The best thing we can do is to go help the others and get them out of here. We’ve done all we can, we held back the waves. Now, it’s time for use to survive. This way, even if he falls, we will one day take revenge for our man. This is the promise between us girls. It’s better this than dying uselessly by his side, isn’t it?" Nora said. While she felt the thought made sense, Celes’ struggled with it at first before she nodded. Sure, the thought might be bullshit in the world of the past. But this was no longer that world. Celes duty was to protect her sisters and who knew how many died because she refused to run away. Was she going to sentence them all to death just to satisfy her own desires?
The answer was no.
"If you die, I will find a way to drag your soul back to me. You will keep me company for the rest of my days, even if you don’t want to. Understand?" Celes said, turning to Laz.
"I understand. But you have to live to be able to do that," Laz responded with a smile.
"I will. I promise," Celes said before leaning forward and kissing him.
"And as for you..." Laz said, turning to Nora.
"I’ll keep her safe. Besides which. Now that I know it’s possible, I’ve preserved quite a bit of your semen. So it should be possible to perhaps clone you in the future. Or at the very least, give birth to many of your children. I’m not sure which. Maybe both." Nora said, he face as serious as ever. Before Laz could protest, she came in for a long kiss before backing away.
"You’ve been saving my semen?" Laz asked, dumbfounded.
"Me and her both. I told her to since I knew you’d need to leave at some point. This way, you could never escape."
Laz had no idea what to say since he knew that she was being completely honest. Just as Laz wanted to continue the conversation though, the ground started vibrating so much that even Laz, Nora and Celes had trouble standing. Looking over at Tezcatlipoca, he was trying his hardest to shake free his right hand, causing the ground around his waist to splinter and fracture with the strain.
He was moments away from pulling it out.
"Go. And take them with you," Laz said, kissing both girls before charging forward.
For a brief moment, Laz was worried about what other kind of horror Tezcatlipoca would unleash, but seeing the god struggle to free his hand, he knew that he was properly distracted.
Laz was about to summon his projection, turn into his battle form and try his best to hack away at Tezcatlipoca before he could get free when a small whisper in his ear stopped him.
:It won’t work...: It said. It took Laz a moment to understand that the sound wasn’t in his ear, but his head. Looking around though, he say nothing but the shadows eating and engaging with the shades while the girls began retreating. In the distance, he saw several busses that had been pulled up to the gate, waiting for the girls to get on. Apparently not all of the witches of the order had come to battle. Many were sent to gather supplies, get the busses and be ready. Laz could only be happy that at least those girls would live to see tomorrow.
:There is a way, young man. But it’s more likely you’ll die first.: Again, Laz heard the voice. It sounded high pitched, like a female’s voice. But there was also a strange resonance to it, giving the voice a commanding presence even when spoken as a whisper.
:How?:
:Straight and too the point. Excellent. Let him eat you.:
:Are you crazy? Or are you on his side?:
’Let Tezcatlipoca eat him? No. Fuck no. Why would he do that?’
:It’s not as insane as it sounds boy. The strength of my brother is so much greater than you are aware, but just like on any body that has been dead, his insides have decayed far more than his outsides. Your sword is rather unique, I see this. And you have great strength. But there is no way to truly hurt him, except from within.:
:YOUR BROTHER?:
’HER BROTHER??? WTF MAN...’
:Yes. He is my brother and this... this is my penance for my mistakes.:
:Who are you?: Laz asked, wondering if this voice in his head was worth trusting.
:I was once known as Ichpochtli. Because of Tezcatlipoca, my younger brother Quetzalcoatl was made drunk and proceeded to seduce me. After that night, Quetzalcoatl disappeared forever, but Tezcatlipoca let it be known to all in our pantheon what had happened, angering our parents and my husband. Although Tezcatlipoca tried to hide his involvement, his actions were soon found out. Due to the pantheon losing my brother whom everyone loved, there was a lot of anger. As such, my husband and parents imprisoned Tezcatlipoca for all time and cast me out and trapping me as well to be his watcher for all time. This was the penance I serve for the sins of my brother...:
:It sounds like none of this was your fault?: Laz asked, more interested in this story than he thought he should be.
:It was not. But that matters not. They blamed it on how I dressed, how I acted. They blamed it on my chaste nature as though the fault lies with me when a man is unable to control himself.:
:Yeah. That’s a load of bullshit if you ask me.: Laz couldn’t help but agree.
:Yes. Cow excrement. Although useful to nourish fields and perhaps burn in a fire when no wood is available, it is a rather vile smelling thing otherwise,: the voice agreed.
:Compared to Tezcatlipoca, you seem to not be as informed about the modern world as he was?: Laz felt her manner of speech and lack of knowledge about sayings was quite old fashioned. He figured she would be more like Tezcatlipoca in her manner and actions.
:Although I don’t know when Tezcatlipoca awakened, I do know that I have only done so recently. Until the day my younger brother made to lay with me, I had never before enjoyed the company of a man in my bed chamber before. Yet despite this, one of my roles was the goddess of fertility and so when the feelings of passionate love reached me, I was awakened as I was able to sense what was going on.:
Laz felt himself freeze up. As far as he knew, he was the only one around engaging in passionate love making, at least of the male and female variety. Although Laz was sure there was a lot of girl on girl action going on, that wouldn’t exactly tickle a fertility goddesses fancy since there could be no conception between the two.
’So did that mean she’s been watching me every time I got it on?’ Laz thought to himself.
:Well. Yes. And I might say, love making has really gone beyond what happened back in my day. Normally those kinds of acts would only be to the enjoyment of the male if he was forcing the female. It was beyond my understanding that a female could enjoy that type of play as much as the male...:
:Well... there are also males who enjoy being on the receiving end, either from a male or female or both... it’s gotten kind of complicated...:
:Well men loving men is a very old concept as well that also happened back when I still roamed above ground... but I digress. Do you feel as though you can trust me know young man with the massive love making member. Is your name Daddy? Although my mind equates that with a parental figure, I can understand it could also be a person’s name as well:
:Daddy?:
:Yes. Daddy.:
Laz felt funny hearing an ancient female god call him daddy, but he hide those thoughts quickly lest she figure out what it was that she was saying and what it actually meant.
:Um. No. It’s... uh... ho.... it’s a nickname. Yes. Let’s just call it that. My real name is Lazarus Crowe, but I go by Laz.:
:An interesting choice in a nickname. Giving your lover the same title as your father? But I guess that it is nothing more that a change in culture and time. Once again, I am called Ichpochtli. Are you willing to trust me now?:
Laz wanted to tell he he’d agree if she called him ’Daddy’ again, but figure that one ancient god trying to kill him a day was enough. No sense in adding another into the mix.
:I am. So what is your plan?:
