Janus: Ours Is Not To Question Why (December 2005, Parts Unknown)
Wretched and pure
Tricky and dangerous
Do not question
Or challenge your fate
A promise written in blood
Take life for pay
Yours is not to ask why
Yours is to do and die
Professional killer
KMFDM, Professional Killer
I felt it swimming around me, as real as the skin on my flesh....Fate....
I'm in a well appointed study I have come to via a portal. It's not one of mine and I'm the most uncomfortable I have been since my heart snapped in two. I'm staring at a butler who looks like he stepped right from Queen Victoria's court, but other than his clothing, his features are unremarkable. That's a neat trick, I've seen it before.
The butler looked up with the vellum in his hand as he set down the sports bag.
The bag was what I had just given him. In it were the 4 left hands of the dead Seers team along with a pair from my "back-up" from the errand his employer sent me on.
"My mistress commends you on dispatching these two groups...they both were quite close to the truth of the matter."
Part of me wants to hit him. Part of me knows this is necessary.
The vellum is in my hand. I feel the Awakened world tug as I put my name in the tongue of dead Atlantis on the contract.
"I agree to serve so that others may see what I will not..."
The butler then hands me a long lacquered case from the sitting couch to his left. It is sealed with runes that vanish to my touch.
"In it is a tool that will help. More shall have to fall to pave the way according to the mistress. Given your background...you should know how this works. I know you have a close relationship with several Moros."
I look inside the case...
It is simple in its design, not quite a knife, not quite a sword. The wavy kris curve of the blade and weight on the handle feels like an extension of my own hand as I pick it up. I recall what Isabel taught me about balance with blades, and this one fits like a glove. The practitioners of Silat believe these blades to be an extension of the warriors soul, a tool, an artifact of martial and spiritual centering. The look of the hilt implies a more modern design added to this ancient pattern. The blade was more reflective than quicksilver and full of supernal strength.
I know what this is for. Part of me wants to hear a .45 shell casing hit the floor as a piece of lead makes a sonic boom escaping the barrel of my gun, painting this nice study with Jeeves here's brains.
I just nod and take it out of the box as the Fate magic around me seals mine...
I think this is for them. I think this is for her.
I am building a better world. No matter what it takes...
Tricky and dangerous
Do not question
Or challenge your fate
A promise written in blood
Take life for pay
Yours is not to ask why
Yours is to do and die
Professional killer
KMFDM, Professional Killer
I felt it swimming around me, as real as the skin on my flesh....Fate....
I'm in a well appointed study I have come to via a portal. It's not one of mine and I'm the most uncomfortable I have been since my heart snapped in two. I'm staring at a butler who looks like he stepped right from Queen Victoria's court, but other than his clothing, his features are unremarkable. That's a neat trick, I've seen it before.
The butler looked up with the vellum in his hand as he set down the sports bag.
The bag was what I had just given him. In it were the 4 left hands of the dead Seers team along with a pair from my "back-up" from the errand his employer sent me on.
"My mistress commends you on dispatching these two groups...they both were quite close to the truth of the matter."
Part of me wants to hit him. Part of me knows this is necessary.
The vellum is in my hand. I feel the Awakened world tug as I put my name in the tongue of dead Atlantis on the contract.
"I agree to serve so that others may see what I will not..."
The butler then hands me a long lacquered case from the sitting couch to his left. It is sealed with runes that vanish to my touch.
"In it is a tool that will help. More shall have to fall to pave the way according to the mistress. Given your background...you should know how this works. I know you have a close relationship with several Moros."
I look inside the case...
It is simple in its design, not quite a knife, not quite a sword. The wavy kris curve of the blade and weight on the handle feels like an extension of my own hand as I pick it up. I recall what Isabel taught me about balance with blades, and this one fits like a glove. The practitioners of Silat believe these blades to be an extension of the warriors soul, a tool, an artifact of martial and spiritual centering. The look of the hilt implies a more modern design added to this ancient pattern. The blade was more reflective than quicksilver and full of supernal strength.
I know what this is for. Part of me wants to hear a .45 shell casing hit the floor as a piece of lead makes a sonic boom escaping the barrel of my gun, painting this nice study with Jeeves here's brains.
I just nod and take it out of the box as the Fate magic around me seals mine...
I think this is for them. I think this is for her.
I am building a better world. No matter what it takes...