Log; Complete

[wisdom-rcvr.livejournal.com]

When; Decay Day, October 26th. During this post.
Rating; PG-13 for...disturbing plot?
Characters; Henry Townshend (wisdom_rcvr) and Xulchibara (revelations9x6)
Summary; Henry attempts to protect Alessa by doing the only thing he can think of- he pleads with the god.
Log;

The red pain seeped into his eyes early today, even before he opened them. He knew it was going to be bad. But he'd started getting used to curse days. He thought that, whatever it was, it would be done soon. After getting up and checking the day's activity, he knew that was far from the case.

Now he was sitting, waiting for something he hadn't even been sure was real to come and talk to him. He hoped he could help save her. He was horribly scared, but that wasn't terribly new.

The room was bare, except for the bed, desk and laptop. Oh, sure, there were other decorations - every room in the cathedral had them- but there was nothing in it that suggested anything of Henry. He'd left most of it in Room 302.

Shadows moved along the walls of Henry's rooms.

A simple trick of the light?...Perhaps...

But when they stilled once again, a lean, youngish man with hair the color of a raven's wing, and eyes that should not have been human....(could not belong to a human) sat in the desk's chair.

The eyed Henry in consideration; sized him up.
Then broke into a smile that could have been meant to look genial, but only seemed unsettling paired with those wrong eyes.
He sat with one ankle hooked over the knee of the opposite leg, hands calmly folded in his lap.

True it had only been minutes since these two had spoken using digital means, but the strange man had warned he would be calling on Henry soon.....very soon.

" Hello, Henry Townshend."

Henry took in a long, shaking breath as he realized the shadow was not a shadow. After so many weeks of jumping at them, he finally had a reason.

He gulped and stared at the 'man'. His headache suddenly flared up, and he had to close his eyes for a moment to get a handle on it. He had no doubt that what was sitting in front of him was the cause of it.

"...hel- hello." Henry wasn't sure what he should do, if there were protocols he needed to follow and wasn't. He ended up finally just nodding. "You're Xulchibara..." It was less of a question and more of a statement.

The dark man nodded once, that strange smile growing ever so slightly.

He made no secret of his name, nor his initial feelings on the budding romance Alessa was encouraging.
..Yet, now knowing this human was so frightened of him, made the unfathomable consciousness that inhabited this form wonder...

It is a common misconception that the strong are fearless; quite the opposite.
True strength comes from the will to walk into the fire knowing full well it will kill you.

In a silent, and probably never percieved allowance, the dark man looked down toward his folded hands.
This being the only outward sign, but inward...inward the roaring chaos that was his meer presence became muted......The shadows stilled; the beast was silent.

" Is that better?" he asked. The illusion of real concern in his voice was very startling...possibly even convincing enough to pass for the emotion it mimicked.

Yes he had reigned in the ...psychic spillage?...But in no way did this diminish his ability to percieve thought, emotion, or the unknown happenings only a few rooms away.

Henry breathed out, feeling the knot of nerves unwind in his head. The angry buzzing quieted and he felt better than he had in a very long time. It was quiet and Henry finally felt like himself again.

"....yeah, much better," he replied, wonder in his voice. "Thank you..." If anyone could do it, it'd be Him. Or God. But Henry never thought either of them would care enough to want to.

Henry waited for Xulchibara to speak. He knew questions would be coming, and maybe some sort of deal after that. Maybe. That was all he could even guess at.

The placid smile remained, but the penetrating eyes never wavered when the dark man inclined his head graciously.

" You and my daughter have put me into a difficult situation, Henry Townshend."
He said with another approximation of a long-suffering sigh.

" She requires discipline for her behavior.....but you give me a rather interesting alternative."
Eyes that had no color, or rather seemed to shift in color, stared through Henry, right down to his soul.

"What would you do, hmm? How far would you follow this desire to spare this girl of a woman who has done nothing for you. Who has led you to kill, to destroy..."
Oh yes, the dark man knew about this. He knew a great deal, but then that was expected.

"She is a creature of darkness....How far would you go to 'save' her."

At some point while he was speaking, the genial smile had become a twisted thing. A dark look of knowing, mocking, malice.
A look that dared Henry to lie, to stand firm against the red god.

Henry had managed to hold onto his last remaining shreds of confidence, right up until the god mentioned his murders. When reminded of the destruction he caused, Henry couldn't help but turn away. He stared down at the ground, but he could still feel those eyes burning into him. He could still feel Him staring at his mangled soul.

She'd had him kill, yes. But that day- he would've, anyway. She had given him reasons for the ones he did kill. But even thinking of this, he knew he was just looking for excuses. He had done such horrible things...and so had she. Much worse than him, more than likely. And she didn't feel remorse for them.

Even so, there was no way he could give up on her. He trusted her; he cared for her. And she would always deserve a chance.

In some respects, this was the easiest thing he'd had to answer since he arrived in this city. "I don't know much about 'saving'. I'm not very good at it, and I know that...but I have to try. I don't want her to hurt, that's all. If I can help her not to hurt...if I can help her to be happy, I'll do almost anything." Henry bit his lip and looked hesitantly up at the god.

Once looking up, Henry may have been surprised by the outright grin on the dark man's face....a pity the teeth he displayed were oddly sharpened, though if one were to look again, perhaps they were entirely normal at second glance.

"Excellent."

With fluid, inhuman grace the dark man stood, and looked down at Henry.

" Yes, you will do nicely...."
Without warning the red god's hands snapped out and took hold of Henry's face.
One hand under each side of his jaw, and a grip like a steel vice; no matter how the body may struggle, this hold could not be broken.

Eyes that had, up to this point, hinted at a dark madness now penetrated the other man's and seemed to spread outward.

A stygian wave of thought-made-solid invaded, scathed, tore apart and rejoined the mind it found before it.
Raw chaos, horror unleashed; a true taste of the touch of a GOD.

In this madness there lay a tiny speck of stillness, a core of calm...neautral...death.
In blood and darkness we are born, in blood and darkness we die; and here again was Henry reborn, his severed thread of fate remade to fulfill a higher prophecy.

This man, this dead man would be marked. Marked as one of Xulchibara's own, and given all that entails.....



This man would be the snake.

He hadn't even had enough time to scream before it was all over. It happened so quickly, and yet he'd remember it as the longest half second of his life. His body had struggled as merely a matter of course. It had automatically tried to remove itself from those eyes, the ones that ripped him up from the inside.

"...what-" he gasped. But his question died quickly. He felt different, and somehow he knew it couldn't be put into words. He looked at the god- his god now? - and he waited.

As an owner would do to a new pet, Xulchibara smiled, and almost lovingly smoothed Henry's hair away from his face.

" Live again, Henry Townshend." he said, and now...now the discord and manic ferocity of the God's undampened presence would cause Henry no pain...no fear...

In time the manifestation of this mark would make itself known, but as any newly born creature Henry would be weak with the wielding of these gifts.
He would need time, and care to be cultivated properly.

....and Xulchibara had all the time that ever was or could be.

As quickly as he came....he was gone, leaving only a remembered touch, a remembered sound...a shadow in the night.

And Henry smiled.