Excerpt: Reincarnate

"I am Aergad." Seth's possessor began simply. "I am the bringer of battle, God of War, partner of the Goddess Most High." Oh, ew. They were screwing each other in their past life -- I caught a glimpse of Lacoza's memories. More than I wanted to see, actually. Keep those to yourself, would you? I thought furiously, hoping that this kind of communication worked both ways.

She chuckled, then said, I'll do my best. But you must admit; he was a very handsome man back then. And now. She very nearly growled at the end, sounding like a lustful lynx, which, she probably was.

Blondie, or Elizabeth's, eyes went wide, then turned from that icy blue to a startling purple color -- a color no normal human's eyes should ever be. "I am Kalpana, bringer of emotion, Goddess of Illusion." She said simply, and then let go control, leaving Miss Bitchy Britches speechless.

Rafe looked resigned as his eyes flashed from the dark, spanish brown to a demonic red. I'll admit -- it actually frightened me. He looked... scary. "I am Javed, bringer of Death, God of Hell." He intoned, almost in a hiss. No wonder his eyes looked demonic -- where else would demons live, but in Hell?

Arif had sat listening on his own rock, farther down in the cavern. He stood now, and returned to our circle, looking awed. "That was easier than what I was planning, I will admit, my lords. Are you planning on giving them the rest of the information, or shall I?"

Tell him I expended too much strength earlier, and that the rest of them are in the same state. Lacoza ordered in my head. The worst part was, though, that I didn't even think of disobeying. "Lacoza says that she can't - she used too much energy earlier."

The rest of the possessed teenagers nodded in accordance, looking shell shocked. All aside from Seth, that is. Surprise surprise. He always took everything in stride, something I found quite annoying.

Arif nodded. "I suspected as much." He seemed rather regretful of the fact. "All right. Then listen closely."
He took a deep, calming breath, and began speaking.

"Long ago, longer than human years can perceive, there existed nothing. All there were was the four Gods that had always been, darkness, and an evil that existed only to counteract the Gods. He called himself Dorjan, and so the naming began. One Goddess roused herself and created a form for herself, then called to some of the nothing with a spell that is now forgotten, to form a world, which she called Earth. She gave it weather, fire, plants, and water, then returned to the rest of them.
Next came her partner. He created a form for himself as well, based on what he knew would please her. He went to the Earth and added his own form of entertainment, war and battle. He gave the inhabitants there weapons to use during battle, and the intelligence to use them. Then, he began wars to keep him and his lady entertained.
Lacoza became enraged, however, when she saw her precious creations killing each other, and ran back to the remaining two Gods in anger. The more sympathetic one gave herself the form of a woman, similar to that of Lacoza's with different color hair and eyes. And, of course, different powers. She came down to Earth, followed closely by her partner, in his spirit, without form. She didn't know that he had followd, and set about looking for the answer to her sister's problem. She gave the humans emotion -- grief, love, happiness, -- all for the purpose to make them think more closely about harming another human being. She cast illusions over all of them, making them think things were different, and gave them peace, for a while."

Arif broke away from the story, looking disheartened. I couldn't help but say, "Well? Keep going!" in an irritable fashion, wanting to know the whole story. Somehow, I knew everything he was saying was true, and I couldn't wait to hear how it ended.

"Well, eventually, the God of War and the Goddess of the Elements reached a truce, and Kalpana was asked to release the illusions, but the humans retaind emotion. They killed less often then, and regreted it afterwards, and all three Gods were happy with this truce. When they reached this agreement, the final God gave himself form, one he knew his partner would relish, and appeared on Earth. He wanted a part in this world, as well, and it was granted to him. He created an underworld, if you will, and ruled over his own creations there. He set loose demons on the world, all manner of evil doers, to keep the balance of power amongst the humans. They would always return to the underworld with new souls -- the souls killed in battle. It was a system that worked well -- for a while."

"While the Gods were hard at work running their world, the evil, existing solely for the purpose of bringing dischord and strife to them who represented good, watched and waited, biding his time. There could not be a happily ever after for these Gods, he wouldn't allow it."

"The four Gods began bickering amongst themselves. Aergad and Lacoza could not agree on how to rule the humans -- Lacoza still didn't like that her creations were hurting themselves, and Aergad wouldn't stop the wars becuase he enjoyed them too much. Then, Javed -- God of Hell -- and Aergad began bickering as well -- Aergad wanted to be able to use souls for the battles as a solution to his and his partner's disagreement. Javed believed that Aergad was trying to undermine his authority and neither of them were really in any sort of fight. Kalpana was watching the whole thing, and began to argue with both of them -- the emotions she gave people had rubbed off to her and Lacoza, and she didn't want any more people dying, but she didn't want her partner to enslave them, either. But when she got involved, Lacoza grew angry with her because of their previous agreement to stay out of it. By the time everything unraveled, none of the Gods were agreeing on how to rule their world, and Dorjan felt it was his time to act."

Seth looked livid, and I could feel him tensing next to me. He was as into this story as I was -- and the two others were probably into it as well. I didn't spare the attention to look at them... I wanted to know the rest of the story.

"Dorjan chose not to take a form -- it was the easiest way to integrate himself into their lives. He used their arguments to turn them against each other. Eventually, they couldn't take each other anymore. Partnerships that had withstood eternity ended, and all of the Gods left Earth to create their own worlds and govern them as they saw fit."

"Lacoza went first, fed up with them all. Her new world, Amazona, was her proudest accomplishment. It was over run with trees and nature, no civilization at all. The people were wild women, calling themselves Amazona Harpys. As half bird, half woman, they were fierce and proud fighters. Lacoza seemed to have forgotten the reason for her argument with Aergad when she created them -- or maybe, as Dorjan suspected, she was forming an army." Arif looked in askance at me, because I'm the only one who could answer that question at the moment.

"Uh -- hang on. Let me ask." I said, wanting to kick myself. How stupid could I sound? Gee, hang on, I have to ask the voice in my head a question.

I was building an army. She said quietly, her mind voice full of ancient regret. It was to bring down Aergad's -- the one I knew he was building on his world. And Kalpana, and Javed -- they were all building armies as well. I had to be prepared!

"She," my voice was slightly choked with her remorse as I spoke, "was building an army. She says it was because she knew they all were, and she had to be prepared for their attack." I found myself wanting to defend the current occupant of my head, for some unknown reason. Really, she had done what I would have done in her shoes -- if it came down to surviving, I did what I had to, just like life in the gang.

Arif nodded grimly. "Well, then they all were building armies on these worlds, to use against each other. Dorjan's ultimate victory. Anyway, Kalpana created her own world as well, calling it Eutopia, as in, safe haven. Her people lived in their own little worlds of their own creations, with strong emotions and some of the powers she herself had. They also were trained offensively, using their powers."

"What about Aergad?" Seth wanted to know. "What was his world?"

"It was much like the medival times -- actually, Battaglia was where several of the ideals of Knighthood came from. The people were basically knights -- fantastic, powerful knights, trained in the art of killing since the time of birth. They used every weapon imaginable, and were strong, nearly emotionless fighters. However, Lacoza's love had left its mark on the powerful God of War, and all of his men were given women to do with as they pleased, as Lacoza's warrior women were given men to use as slaves, solely for procreational purposes."

"I am nearly afraid to ask -- but Javed? What was his world like?" Rafe wondered, looking slightly green at the prospect. I have to admit, I really didn't want to know, either. Demons and other fantastical creatures were way out of my league. I liked dealing with things that were familiar to me, and they definitely weren't.

"He created Hell, of course. The people were what modern day Earth dwellers would call creatures from Hell; demons, vampires, weres and shifters, witches and warlocks -- evil beings, as you would say now. But that was not the truth -- a God can not be good or evil, and neither can his creatures. The only truly evil ones are Dorjan's followers. But I am off topic -- Javed's Hell was one of the most dangerous ones, with creatures who could not feel mercy. The warriors there fought with their magical enhancements -- vampires with their fangs and bloodlust, and enhanced abilities, weres with their shifting capabilities, demons with their violent behaviors -- You get the picture. The stuff of nightmares."