who we are and all that we're trying to be
The inquiry seemed innocent, but he wondered at the predilections underneath. Very few people had ever forced or coerced Deimos to do something not of his own volition. His weapons had been stained with blood by his choice. His movements had become savage, feral things by his choice. He’d led his armies into battle by his choice. He’d rampaged, stalked, and sworn vengeance by his choice. He’d done the same with Safrin, winding his way towards more strength, more convictions, more power, more defiance, in the act of committing to shifts, to compelled forces, towards a liberation he’d never been able to grasp before. Yes, plunged through – and so he pondered if the meaning hadn’t been placed upon him, but Chulane instead.
Had he come into the beastly form without a rhyme or reason? Not born to it, as some? Not relegated to it, from opposing worlds, like others? Their stories, besides the Naturals, had always been wildly different, dispersed from alternating portals, masses, myths, and legends, bringing forth a collective framework of everything and nothing all at once. Lost in their ignorance of this kingdom, but not of another, assimilating while still bringing forth their sagacity, their knowledge, until everything seemed to intertwine. An acceptance, a tolerance, existing and surviving here that hadn’t been so readily available or valued years ago.
He let the question hang in the air, balancing on its filaments for a moment, his gaze wandering from the leopard, and towards twilight sanctions, the breeze billowing old leaves down the frequently-trod path. Now I have both intertwined instead of the inquiry hanging in his throat – incantations and animal hinges, fringes, measures and means collected in his soul.
Then the Sword’s attention riveted back to the other, the piercing gaze landing, watching, waiting, as if in some great deliberation. Only thereafter did he echo back the same refrain, more emphasis placed on particular syllables. Did you ask to be changed?
It takes dying to know
How to live as ghosts
