The Gods Meddle
Prologue – The Gods Meddle
The beasts danced upon the land, and it was good;
Their prints on the land, impermanent and careless.
The sea grew jealous and swore to destroy the beasts;
Their prints on the land, fleeting and dimming.
As the waves ran over the beasts and devoured them, prints and paws, all.
Heavily pregnant, the moon hung low in the darkening sky, leaching the fall colours from the forest of Kimane until only silvers and greys remained. A breeze danced through tree limbs, rattled leaves in a faint symphony and tugged gently at the fall decor as the wind passed through the branches. Here and there, a leaf dressed in red and orange removed itself from the dance. Set loose by the breeze to sweep through the air until it lightly landed upon the dead corpses of its predecessors on the forest floor.
A shrill cry silenced the scurrying of mice below as a large, winged shadow silently soared over the treetops. Its sharp beak clacked. Gathering its wings close, the owl shot down like a bullet, pulling up at the last second to land gently upon the cliff below.
Feathers noiselessly ruffled as the bird shook and shuddered, and then a small light grew from its belly. Taloned feet thickened even as the toes shortened and the wings lengthened while feathers receded into skin and pale fur cascaded across the flesh. The entire transformation into a bipedal humanoid completed without audible noise. The head altered last, the beak melting away to leave a thin lipped mouth. Below a long thin nose, softly pointed ears grew from a now rounded head, peeking out beneath the black braids that fell to Her waist. When the metamorphosis was complete, a pale woman knelt to the ground, eyelids closed. Flexing Her hands, She stood, face offered to the moon.
Echoes resonated through the astral planes. Suddenly, Her eyelids snapped open and colourless irises scanned the horizon as thoroughly as the owl had searched the fields, Her slim body taut with unseen emotions. Her keen sight differentiated first one dark spaceship, then another, and another, in the starry fields above Her. She knew it was the prophesized end; the destruction of Her Children, the Kimian race, and there was nothing the goddess Sandess could do to stop it.
She watched one extra-terrestrial vessel land and the alien Rok’tal disembark. A tear crawled down Her face at the knowledge of what was to come.
The ease the Rok’tal moved through the forest belied their bulk and width. Her slim Children were no match for beings two-to-three times their mass even if the Kimians had joined the stars long before now.
Except for my beloveds. The khar could stand against the Rok’tal, but the furred shifters of Her Children were rare. She sighed, taking in the sight of Rok’tal heads, bare except for the thick, coarse braid to their shoulders, the heavy, sallow facial features and low-set ears. They will destroy my beautiful children with their callous brutality.
The goddess wanted to warn the guard that dozed in a tree, as the Rok’tal slunk closer, but the Prophesy kept Her warning unuttered. By the time the young Kimian smelled something it was too late, a dart struck her thigh. She slumped and toppled from her position as the drug took effect.
That one died when her neck broke as she hit the ground, and two others from the drugs; a switch to lowest setting stun on the Rok’tal weapons helped the aliens capture live Kimian specimens.
Sandess helplessly watched. Waste, such a waste.
The capture team withdrew to their shuttles with the specimens, both alive and dead, for processing. The Rok’tal ships departed as quietly as they had arrived. It was just a matter of time before they returned.
"Not right," She muttered under Her breath.
A cry went out at the discovery of missing friends and family. Strange footprints, odd odours and other traces, sent fear into the small camp. The few khar within this encampment bolted from their dens in four-legged forms, the seiol shape, their two-legged companions followed in their wake. Slender and lithe when compared to the invaders, the Kimians nervously moved around the camp, kneeling to touch the ground where the strangers had stood. Slim fingers brought the new smells up to sensitive noses as wide eyes stared at the surrounding forest.
Frustrated, Sandess watched in silence at their exploration of the trail left by the Rok’tal. One wolf-like creature pulled up and shifted until a golden-haired female knelt upon the ground. A desolate cry escaped her as she found her lover's blood. The stink of death and fear filled in the air.
Sandess' Children couldn't look more unalike to the Rok’tal: the Kimians were tall, slender, built for grace and speed; while their invaders were built for destruction. Even with foresight, there was no way Her primitive children could withstand the evilness on its way.
An older male yanked the young khar to her feet, pulling her back to the dens. Even from this distance, Sandess sensed their fear.
The Kimians moved camp the following day, rightfully afraid of the strangers. A Kimane corvid followed their trail, fluttering in and out of trees with raucous cries. Sandess found yet another place to observe as they returned to their main living area. Damn you, Vadrkel, She cursed the Rok’tal god who sent His people into Her world.
A shooting star briefly lit the night sky; it didn't burn out, but instead formed into an albino biped. This god silently bounced up onto the tree limb next to Sandess and sat, legs crossed at the ankles; Hir fingers wove together as Ze placed Hir hands in Hir lap. The god didn't smile, but nodded once to Sandess.
"What do you want, Star?" She asked. She sought to remember more of Her peer. It had been years since She had seen any other god and way too long since this one visited.
There were no obvious male or female markers. Star could pass for either. Star's long, mobile ears flicked and lifted; the androgynous God's third eye winked at Sandess. "Now, now, Sandess, markers? Really? Meaningless!" Ze gently rebuked. No breasts, only a pair of nipples, yes, but no fatty mounds beneath those nipples; Her gaze slid down, no lump there that might suggest penis and testes. The albino laughed, "Not right now, no... you know that's never stopped me." Then all three crimson eyes stared at Her, "Ach, you don't remember, do you?" Ze softly tutted and those ears with their gently pointed tips lowered to level and drooped lower.
"It's been millennia, Star." She frowned in frustration. A lifetime ago.
"I see now. Oh, dear Sandess," Her companion compassionately murmured. The albino reached with left hand to Her and cupped Her right cheek with those extra joint fingers.
She leaned into the contact and Her memories rekindled. "I remember now," She whispered, a tear spilling from Her cheek.
Ze... Star was Ze, not he, not she, both and neither, and something more, and at one time, Ze had been Hers. She had once been part of a greater whole, but things disintegrated... She slept and woke alone, but for Her Children. Time, so much time. Star was like the stars; distant, sensed, but too far to mingle with and steady Her until now.
"Yes, I saw you, I watched, but I had my Children to attend to." The albino nodded once and drew Her into Hir arms. The body against Hers was warm and muscular with a little padding.
Hir voice was mid-range, not deep or high; Ze flipped Hir lion-mane with Hir left hand and fluffed up the strands. Elements of masculinity, the mane and the bobble in Hir throat when Ze spoke, yet Ze had feminine elements with slightly rounded hips and delicate wrists and fingers, only three plus a thumb on each hand.
Star didn't smile, couldn't smile like Kimians did, to express a joy, but those long ears lifted and cupped toward Her... She remembered that meant joy and interest and when someone like Star... the Phei... Star's Children... when they smiled, it was a threat gesture... wasn't it?
"Why are you here now?" She demanded when more memories broke free from the fog of time. That time so long ago, She had spent more often than not, curled in Hir arms. Why did Ze leave Her?
"I'd like to propose a... reunion... my Phei and your Kimians, can you imagine it?" Ze asked. An image of the Phei, who didn't have three eyes, but some of them wore a gem where Star's third eye resided, stood beside some of Sandess' Kimians. She saw them in the stream that meandered beneath them.
They were like, but unlike Her Children with their wider eyes and mobile ears, but both had large eyes and pointed ears. Kimian ears weren't as expressive, but their faces had greater mobility than the Phei did. Four fingers and a thumb on each hand; Kimians lacked the extra joint in favour of claws.
"Why?"
"The Phei need me to spark for their fertility, but they love easily and freely, and I bless them for their efforts. Your Children... do they never revel in the feel of another's skin next to theirs? Do they not join together for pleasure's sake?"
"They've lost the fire, Star." Her Children lived day-to-day in the struggle for survival. Only feschen pulled at their latent sexual nature: the animalistic need to breed that stole their sanity and forced them to acknowledge their sexuality.
"Bright and short and typically tragic, no?" Ze drew Her to the ground and they walked. Hir hands roamed over Her pale body, fingertips sometimes paused to trace a whorl in Her silky body fur.
She shivered. "If they didn't suppress their desires, it wouldn't try to rip them apart." Vicious and damaging, it was a surprise when both parties survived feschen unscathed. She lifted Her head to stare at Star. "Didn't they start as one species?" the memory was dim and aeon-faded.
"We broke them apart, they grew too insolent for their own good... but the time spent divided has brought new traits and tendencies." Star paused beside another pool.
"The Kimians may not last long enough to meet your Phei; Vadrkel seeks their destruction, just as the Prophesy stated."
"I have a favourite if you want to select one of yours..."
A black tomcat splashed them as He landed in the water beside the pair. Glitter dusted the feline's fur and He leapt up into Sandess' arms. "AHEM! I say, AHEM!" the tomcat demanded. "That one is ours, Star, you promised me!"
"Yes, I did... but our favourite, if combined with Sandess' favourite, we might yet salvage Her children, eh?"
The rainbow-eyed cat's ears flicked back and whiskers trembled as tail-tip twitched. His nose burrowed into Sandess hands and demanded attention or else She would feel His claws.
Star stroked the tomcat's back, and buttocks and tail rose to meet Hir hand.
"Jimi'El," She stated, petting the arriven God, "and why are you here?"
"I heard Star found you again... came to check you out," the tomcat clicked His tongue and eyebrow whiskers wiggled a little in a very human expression. Body shifted and fell from Her arms as He transformed into an inky-black-skinned human man; glitter dusted His rainbow hair, and naked, She saw the human god of chaos, cats, and rainbows was interested in more than one way.
Star pulled him closer and Jimi'El purred louder. "Hmm... oh baby, do me."
"Later, first we need to thwart Vadrkel and help Sandess out of Her situation."
"You know my siblings are going to pile in once they hear you found Her, right?"
"Because you blabber."
"Chaos, baby."
"Indeed..."
It felt good that someone desired Her after millennia of loneliness. She bent and dragged Her hand through the pool, disturbing its stillness until it revealed a teenage Kimian. Skin and fur pale as the moon, silver hair a curly waterfall down her back; the girl was Her Chosen, Her Shaman to be. "My gift to you," She told Star.
Jimi'El growled like a cat in heat as He studied Sandess' Chosen, "She's adorable. Light and dark, Star, this went from interesting to exciting."
"She is khar; she will not be easy for your Phei to tame."
Star regarded the adolescent and then Jimi'El dove into the pool, dragging them with him. They found themselves near the girl and the human god lifted the girl's hair, dropped it, and circled her. "Huh," He smelled her and purred. "Don't worry, our favourite... well, I've done something to Hir," He gave Sandess a huge grin.
"Taming won't be necessary," Star assured Her. "Ze is adaptive."
"She is trouble." Sandess shook Her head, watching the teen move away in obliviousness to their existence. "She's not supposed to be out alone."
"No... she probably shouldn't... here comes asshole," Jimi'El blurted. "Who invited you?"
"Not your concern, meddler!" Vadrkel grunted.
Sandess rumbled, moving away from Star to stand over Her Chosen. She stroked the girl's head.
Jimi'El pulled a face behind the Rok'tal deity's back. The creature stank of rancid seawater; His slab-faced head barely turned as He followed Sandess. "This?" He barked out laughing at the Goddess. "Pathetic," He declared of the thin slip of a girl.
"She is more than she seems," Sandess hissed. The girl squeaked in response to the Goddess' touch, body spun around as her eyes searched the woods. She shivered and continued away from the arguing deities.
Star and Jimi'El moved closer to Sandess and blocked Vadrkel from following the adolescent. Vadrkel snorted. "Your meddlers won't save your children from my whips and collars."
Sandess shivered. "She will survive what you throw at her and more," She told the hulking deity. Double the size of His Children, Vadrekel towered above Her and outweighed Her by three times, but still She stood, head up and defiant. "The Prophesy may say it is your day, but they will survive."
"When they shrivel in bed," Vadrkel remarked before He gestured at Star, "and that one's flimsy airheads die at the thought of violence." He then indicated Jimi'El, "And this one can't make up its mind to have any use," Vadrkel snorted. "Yet you spit and hiss, but tuck your tail, little bitch, and so will your hairy beasts when the time comes."
"We shall see." She turned to Star, ignoring Vadrkel as if He weren't present. "How? My Kimians do not know the stars yet." She sighed as the teen scurried away into the woods. "Your Phei are stars away, the Rok'tal will take my Children before they could ever get here."
Star smiled at Vadrkel and revealed fangs in Hir wedge-shaped skull; ears pinned back flat and nearly disappeared in Hir mane. Ze turned and put Hir left arm around Sandess' waist to draw Her away. Jimi'El turned into a black feline queen and leapt atop Sandess' shoulders. "Oh, we have plans..." the queen purred in the goddess' left ear.
Star scooped up a handful of Kimane's soil and then the three vanished to reappear on Crystal. A bright, hot yellow sun beat down on them and a larger and smaller moon hovered over the horizon as the satellites fled the sun.
Scratching the cat on Her shoulder, Sandess waited.
A quartz crystal pocked out from a hardened muddy riverbank. A black feline oozed from the almost two metre tall grass and a blue-green Water Phei squealed with delight as she plunged into the water.
>;;;Who are these?
The cat had the starry sparkle in its fur that reminded Sandess of Jimi'El; a heavy gold collar circled the feline's neck. Yellow-green irises surrounded convex pupils and the eyelids shuttered as the beast's form seemed to turn inside out and reform into an inky-blue-black Phei. She chuckled and jumped into the water with the petite lass who joyfully splashed the invisible gods. "The shapeshifter is Star Dark and the Water Phei is..."
"That's our favourite," Jimi'El interrupted Star's introduction.
"Yes... Ze is... The Water Phei is Tiana. They're jumi."
"Lovers..." Jimi'El purred as the two Phei started fucking each other on the riverbank. "The nightskin is my doing," Jimi'El added.
"Star Dark and Tiana will help your Chosen."
A sharp sting of jealousy cut Sandess. Too long without intimate contact soured Her toward the two frolicking mortals. She sighed, "They are here, she is there, how?"
Star collected the vaginal fluids both Phei secreted and then waited as the nightskin Phei sex-shifted and fucked Tiana into a happy puddle by sunset. Star added the semen to the mix of Kimane's soil and the vaginal fluids; Ze plucked some of Sandess' body fur near Her pubic mound and then waited as Jimi'El coughed up a hairball. The Goddess watched, confused, using Her interest in the project at hand to block out the sounds of pleasure from the riverbank.
Star rolled the mass together and added the riverside crystal to it. Ze lifted Hir hands overhead and spun the soggy ball into the air. It floated above them and then Star pointed at the nightskin. "Sing to Hir a compelling Song."
The object solidified into a black mass roughly shaped like a crystal and vanished into the fading sun.
"Now it's my turn," Jimi'El crooned and the three gods touched together to vanish and reappear in an opulent room with hard angles softened by silk-satin. A drinking glass shattered against a wall as a human female shrieked, "I WILL NOT BE A BROODMARE FOR THE CASTE!"
The noise of a fist hitting flesh reached them and another bang and crash. "I HATE YOU!" the young female voice defiantly screamed.
"I like her," Sandess stated, wishing Her Kimians had half that sass.
The tone of the screaming changed as fists repeatedly struck a softer body . A young human woman with golden skin and black hair flew into the room the three gods stood in. She slid across the floor, battered and bleeding, she lay there as her tormenter appeared.
The woman picked up a glass fragment and lunged at the older man who bore a family resemblance to the girl. She jammed the shard into his left cheek before he backhanded her and then choked her. She passed out, wheezing and kicking all the way down.
He dropped her onto the bed and servants with brown hair and light brown skin scurried in to clean up both the debris and the young woman.
"She's in for a hard run... but it'll give your two an edge. Her name is irrelevant, she won't be who she is by the time she meets Star Dark and your Chosen," Jimi'El informed the gods as she touched the unconscious young woman.
"Damn, my blowhard sibling's inbound..." the god of chaos grumbled and carried away the other two to another world. A beautiful garden lay neglected as a stout young human man paced up and down a meticulously manicured path. He was a study of brown on brown, non-descript in almost all ways, except his short stature. He stopped and his head shot up as a woman in labour screamed. Another long scream suddenly sputtered out and died. Women screamed for a different reason and then wailing of mourning began.
The young human hurtled inside. The feminine cry stopped. "No!" he bellowed.
The gods followed and saw a midwife cover a young woman's corpse; blood pooled in the birthing chair and the floor beneath it. Someone named the time and another went to the young man, "Mr President, I'm sorry... both... we lost both, Sir."
The male was on his knees, his dead wife's hand in his grasp. "Omori! OMORI!"
"Who is he, Star?" the Goddess questioned, for the male was nowhere near as strong or inspiring as the former human.
"Bruste, son, come, nothing more you can do. I have a few potential new mates, better stock than..."
His head snapped up, eyes hard. "No." He desolately observed as the staff and medics bundled up his deceased wife and stillborn son. Bruste pulled away from the stern and artificially sweet-faced woman dressed in silk and velvet. "I am not one of Father's prized stallions, to be put to mares over and over."
The older woman's scolding started up and continued as she shouted after the young man who gave her a baleful glare before he took the dead woman's ring from her finger and then stormed out. Jimi'El dragged the other two gods to follow Bruste. The young man swiped a bottle of hard liquor before fleeing to a transport. The gods stayed with him all the way to the star port.
"Who is he, Jimi'El?" Sandess demanded as the divinities watched while Bruste boarded a ship labelled the Glokrel.
"He's the one who's going to get one to the other, and save your Children from annihilation," Jimi'El explained.