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Sweet Crusades / Re: The Quests
« on: March 21, 2014, 03:25:06 PM »
He had never liked the unknown. It was vast and empty and blind to the eye. Anything and everything could exist there or, on the same token, nothing at all. It was a mystery, one that could only be discovered by moving forward. That's what Brenton did, what he always did: moved forward. While he had never liked the unknown, that didn't mean that he had avoided facing it. Time and time again, he and his siblings had been moved from place to place, from country to country, and now, from world to world. But each time he had held a stoic face in the blasting winds of the unknown, one of many pillars of the O'Connor family.
Family. As he stood there, bound to a stake with a giant pyre piled beneath his feet, his thoughts went to his family back in Rhydin. What were they doing? Had they noticed that he was gone? Was Kingsley alright? Which one of them was playing leader this time? Unsaid words rolled around on his tongue and he found that he didn't like the taste of them.
Zeus became the center of his attention somewhere along the tread of his spiteful words. He stared at him, the mortal stabbing invisible daggers into the god's flesh, and his jaw rippled with the pressure of which his teeth were clenched. He made sense, as much as the Irishman didn't want to admit it. His family needed him, and he only had this one mortal life to live. Eris, however, had this life and so many more. She would live forever, was a goddess in her own right who had a part to play and he knew that, deep down, she enjoyed it.
He looked down and bore holes into the ground. He could feel the heavy weight of the other gods' gazes upon him, could feel the mixture of ecstatic glee and begrudging distaste hanging in the air. So many thoughts, endless emotions, swam in the empty pool of his stomach. But then, once the countdown began, a slow grin began to take its place on his face.
"The thing you don't know about me, Zeus," he started, cutting off the god's count just before '10', "is that there's plenty." He looked up, finding the torch-wielding deity. "As much as you know and as vast as your knowledge is, it's still stunted when it comes to the common man. You think we're all the same, that the same spine is in all of us. But you're wrong." He looked to Eris, standing like he was, tied to a stake and awaiting whatever fate was before her. His choice. It was all his choice.
"My family is another thing you don't understand." He spoke to the god even while he stared at Eris, his dark-haired beauty of a woman. How he wished he could touch that hair right then. His fingers closed in aching response. "What we believe in, how we work." There was so, so much he could say, so many things that he could go into, explain. But he didn't. To him, this pitiful excuse for a god wasn't worth it, didn't deserve his time nor breath. But Eris did.
"You, on the other hand," he looked back to Zues. "You'd burn your own daughter, your own creation, just to prove a point. You turn on and backstab anyone who displeases you, whoever goes against your will. What does that make you? What kind of a family do you have?" His arms flexed, instinctively. His ire was his fuel. "If letting her live keeps her away from you, that's what I choose. In a heartbeat."
"There is one thing you should know, though." He lifted his chin, looked directly at the deity so that he could clearly see his grin. "I'd do anything for family, and I plan on making Eris a part of mine." Eris had once told a lie to give them an edge, to stick a barb. So why couldn't he? Because it was certainly a lie... wasn't it? Honestly, with his face looking that way and that set of his eyes, it was extremely hard to tell.
"So burn me, Zeus!" he cried out, taunting the god. The choice had been made, the stones thrown. "And know that no matter what you do, I will always love her. I will always fight for her. And I will gladly die for her."
Family. As he stood there, bound to a stake with a giant pyre piled beneath his feet, his thoughts went to his family back in Rhydin. What were they doing? Had they noticed that he was gone? Was Kingsley alright? Which one of them was playing leader this time? Unsaid words rolled around on his tongue and he found that he didn't like the taste of them.
Zeus became the center of his attention somewhere along the tread of his spiteful words. He stared at him, the mortal stabbing invisible daggers into the god's flesh, and his jaw rippled with the pressure of which his teeth were clenched. He made sense, as much as the Irishman didn't want to admit it. His family needed him, and he only had this one mortal life to live. Eris, however, had this life and so many more. She would live forever, was a goddess in her own right who had a part to play and he knew that, deep down, she enjoyed it.
He looked down and bore holes into the ground. He could feel the heavy weight of the other gods' gazes upon him, could feel the mixture of ecstatic glee and begrudging distaste hanging in the air. So many thoughts, endless emotions, swam in the empty pool of his stomach. But then, once the countdown began, a slow grin began to take its place on his face.
"The thing you don't know about me, Zeus," he started, cutting off the god's count just before '10', "is that there's plenty." He looked up, finding the torch-wielding deity. "As much as you know and as vast as your knowledge is, it's still stunted when it comes to the common man. You think we're all the same, that the same spine is in all of us. But you're wrong." He looked to Eris, standing like he was, tied to a stake and awaiting whatever fate was before her. His choice. It was all his choice.
"My family is another thing you don't understand." He spoke to the god even while he stared at Eris, his dark-haired beauty of a woman. How he wished he could touch that hair right then. His fingers closed in aching response. "What we believe in, how we work." There was so, so much he could say, so many things that he could go into, explain. But he didn't. To him, this pitiful excuse for a god wasn't worth it, didn't deserve his time nor breath. But Eris did.
"You, on the other hand," he looked back to Zues. "You'd burn your own daughter, your own creation, just to prove a point. You turn on and backstab anyone who displeases you, whoever goes against your will. What does that make you? What kind of a family do you have?" His arms flexed, instinctively. His ire was his fuel. "If letting her live keeps her away from you, that's what I choose. In a heartbeat."
"There is one thing you should know, though." He lifted his chin, looked directly at the deity so that he could clearly see his grin. "I'd do anything for family, and I plan on making Eris a part of mine." Eris had once told a lie to give them an edge, to stick a barb. So why couldn't he? Because it was certainly a lie... wasn't it? Honestly, with his face looking that way and that set of his eyes, it was extremely hard to tell.
"So burn me, Zeus!" he cried out, taunting the god. The choice had been made, the stones thrown. "And know that no matter what you do, I will always love her. I will always fight for her. And I will gladly die for her."