Desreal: they made you come home on time [II]

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD:

"Tell us a story, mother," Shay murmured to Illiana, nestled by her side for the evening. Saga was curled up next to his sister, but there was a distance between him and them that had nothing to do with space. Illiana smiled indulgently, and nudged her daughter playfully.

"What kind of story would you like to hear?" Illiana had whispered back, as if the cover of night was something sacred. Saga breathed in and tasted salt and something tangy, the way his mother always smelled and felt. What he didn't know is that she smelled, tasted, and felt like the ocean.

"A love story!" Shay burst out excitedly, her plum eyes bright with expectation. Illiana laughed, and bowed her head to her children, her beauty exalted in this quiet moment. This was a what Saga would refer to as a Good Week. This week his father, Benediction, was home and his mother was all light and happiness where his father seemed to float on air. The colt couldn't help but think they acted silly around each other, always pressing skin against skin like they couldn't get enough, like they starved for touch the way a dog might starve for meat.

"-And it can't be about you and father!" Shay was saying, fixing her mother with a sharp eye even as Illiana ducked her head sheepishly. The dappled mare paused for a moment, hesitated, and then seemed to decide on something.

"I'm going to tell you the story of a stallion named Nicodemus, and a mare named Lily..."

Saga blinks back the memory and stares at the stallion, wondering if this was the fire-walker his mother had spoken of so fondly. After much pestering about what had happened to Nicodemus and Lily (she had ended the story with their untimely separation) Illiana had relented and admitted that she was the filly that Nicodemus called Lily. For some reason, the description of this fire-stallion that his ocean-mother had loved stuck in Saga's brain, and he felt like he was staring at the reincarnation of the mysterious Nicodemus. His head tilts slightly, and he draws himself up the way that Illiana used to. Saga does resemble his mother. He may be a different color, but he has her blue-gray eyes, her handsome face, and her solid build. There are healthy dapples along his rump, dark circles that mimic the gentle gray swirl on Illiana's own. He doesn't act a thing like his mother, that much is true, but he carries himself in the same way, and occasionally the resemblance is uncanny. Shay, er - Alyss, that is, favored their father in her appearance. She was smaller and darker, her features softer and her eyes more doe-like. Saga realizes with a start that he desperately misses his sister, more than he would ever admit.

The bay colt drags himself back to the present, still staring at the mysterious fire-horse. "Sorry," Saga mumbles, embarrassed that he was so affected by his childhood memories that he would blurt out a name from the past. "You reminded me of someone .. someone my mother knew." He still feels awkward, which is an uncomfortable feeling, one that Saga isn't used to. He's used to be arrogant and bold and confidant. For some reason he's shying from this stallion. Maybe it's because his future Element (the one of Air) is fearful of the flames, but Saga figures it has something more to do with the actual figure himself. Saga rolls his shoulders, fighting to find conversation - he fails. Silence must be better than idiotic small talk, he decides, and so settles down to watch Nico-er, the other quite closely.

Saga and Shay watched the River Phlegethon reach out and snag their mother's body, the black depths enveloping her lifeless body greedily. Impassionate, the twins watched. Saga wondered if the River would take her to the sea where she belonged. Probably not.

For an instance he felt a pang of something like hurt in his chest. It felt strange and otherworldly - it was not his pain. He turned to Shay, noticing that she (like him) hadn't shed a single tear for their mother. He leaned against his sister, his lips brushing against her neck as he mumbled. "Shay," he began.

"No." The reply was cold. "No, I'm not Shay any longer. She named me that and He called me that, and I am not their child any longer." Saga stayed silent, watching his twin with solemn ocean-eyes. When Shay got like this, there was no stopping her, so he listened instead.

"I am not their child," Shay repeated, and laughed coldly. "And I am not staying here." Her voice was filled with hate; it was a sound that Saga was familiar with.

"What do I call you, sister?" He growled against her skin, his teeth reaching out to pinch her dark coat cruelly.

"Alyss," the filly breathed, her eyes dark with power and hate. "My name is Alyss." She turned away from where Illiana's corpse had lain, walking away without a backwards glance.

"Alyss!" Saga snarled, waiting for his sister to halt. "What happens when He comes back?" Alyss laughed, a wicked sound.

"Then I will return to see him realize his precious Illiana is dead," she spat, still giggling slightly, "and I will watch him die." Her neck curved slightly, just enough so that Saga could catch her eye. Purple met gray-blue and Alyss smirked. "I hope they both burn in Hell," she swore, and meant it.

Saga watched her leave and wondered where he would go from there.

SAGA
I am the alpha and the omega