New Beginning
I wrote this from aldersprig's fourth prompt. If you need/would like context Trailer will explain the situation if not the location.
The fight ended with the armoured warrior and the chiton-clad brunette dragging their kelp clad and haired opponent out of the ocean, up the beach and well away from the water. Out of her element and reduced to one against two, she surrendered.
"How dare you try to kill my mother!" The brunette was storming, energy beginning to grow around her. "You sneaking, devious-"
"Her assassin killed my father!" The kelp girl was as angry but more controlled.
"My mother wouldn't-"
"She does." The warrior interrupted. "She did. The Shadow Archer has been busy." He sniffed the deep fug that passed for air on this shore but didn't release his hold on their prisoner. "We're not where we started. This isn't our world and it isn't hers either."
"What do you mean?" The brunette gestured with one hand and an image appeared, about a man's height in length and half that high. "There's our world, hers still in its path, and we're," the image shifted, "over there." She looked at her companion in confusion. "How did we get all the way out here?"
The prisoner was feeling about herself as frantically as she could while restrained, kelp doing things that normally hands would. After a few minutes she held something up in front of her, a broken round bauble made of glass and seashell. "You broke it!" It was a wail. "This was supposed to take me-." She broke off and her expression changed. "Father always said dealing with Xchoriex was risky," her voice was bitter, "she didn't say this one would take me home, she said it would take me where I should be."
"Here?" The warrior wasn't holding the prisoner with both hands any more. "We're the only ones here. Can't you feel it? There are no gods and no life."
"Everyone's dead?" The brunette cocked her head as if listening.
"No," the kelp girl rejected that. "Thanks to your mother I know what it's like to walk in the halls of the dead. This is an emptiness that's never been filled."
"Except now, we're here," the warrior said slowly, "and we can't get back."
"What sort of world could we make," began the kelp girl wonderingly.
"Without Mother's strictures," added the brunette, dropping her hold on the other girl.
"Without Father's requirements." The kelp girl straightened.
"Or a Master's hand?" The warrior finished off. He dropped the prisoner's arm and strode up the beach to where the sand ended and the rock began. "I, Enares, take on the mantle of Earth: cradle of life, source of tools and supplier of wonder." Somehow he seemed solider than he had before.
Kelp girl skipped back into the water and calf deep in the ocean proclaimed, "I, Xorha, claim the mantle of Water: life's structure, source of succour and supplier of destruction." Her hair was still kelp but now she was wearing a robe of water, coloured in ocean, lake, stream and river tones.
The brunette gave the other two, particularly Enares a dirty look, then extended her arms and said, "I, Hephaete, accede to the mantle of Air: the spark without which life dies, source of growth and supplier of inspiration." Her colours of her hair and chiton maintained their intensity but changed to sky blue.
"We're still going to argue," Xorha said conversationally, coming to the water's edge.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," replied Hephaete, her hair extending like a massive halo around her.
"So, do I keep the peace or help you make up?" Enares had walked back down onto the sand.
Both goddesses smiled at him.
"We might let you," allowed Hephaete.
Xorha ended the sentence, "Do both."
The fight ended with the armoured warrior and the chiton-clad brunette dragging their kelp clad and haired opponent out of the ocean, up the beach and well away from the water. Out of her element and reduced to one against two, she surrendered.
"How dare you try to kill my mother!" The brunette was storming, energy beginning to grow around her. "You sneaking, devious-"
"Her assassin killed my father!" The kelp girl was as angry but more controlled.
"My mother wouldn't-"
"She does." The warrior interrupted. "She did. The Shadow Archer has been busy." He sniffed the deep fug that passed for air on this shore but didn't release his hold on their prisoner. "We're not where we started. This isn't our world and it isn't hers either."
"What do you mean?" The brunette gestured with one hand and an image appeared, about a man's height in length and half that high. "There's our world, hers still in its path, and we're," the image shifted, "over there." She looked at her companion in confusion. "How did we get all the way out here?"
The prisoner was feeling about herself as frantically as she could while restrained, kelp doing things that normally hands would. After a few minutes she held something up in front of her, a broken round bauble made of glass and seashell. "You broke it!" It was a wail. "This was supposed to take me-." She broke off and her expression changed. "Father always said dealing with Xchoriex was risky," her voice was bitter, "she didn't say this one would take me home, she said it would take me where I should be."
"Here?" The warrior wasn't holding the prisoner with both hands any more. "We're the only ones here. Can't you feel it? There are no gods and no life."
"Everyone's dead?" The brunette cocked her head as if listening.
"No," the kelp girl rejected that. "Thanks to your mother I know what it's like to walk in the halls of the dead. This is an emptiness that's never been filled."
"Except now, we're here," the warrior said slowly, "and we can't get back."
"What sort of world could we make," began the kelp girl wonderingly.
"Without Mother's strictures," added the brunette, dropping her hold on the other girl.
"Without Father's requirements." The kelp girl straightened.
"Or a Master's hand?" The warrior finished off. He dropped the prisoner's arm and strode up the beach to where the sand ended and the rock began. "I, Enares, take on the mantle of Earth: cradle of life, source of tools and supplier of wonder." Somehow he seemed solider than he had before.
Kelp girl skipped back into the water and calf deep in the ocean proclaimed, "I, Xorha, claim the mantle of Water: life's structure, source of succour and supplier of destruction." Her hair was still kelp but now she was wearing a robe of water, coloured in ocean, lake, stream and river tones.
The brunette gave the other two, particularly Enares a dirty look, then extended her arms and said, "I, Hephaete, accede to the mantle of Air: the spark without which life dies, source of growth and supplier of inspiration." Her colours of her hair and chiton maintained their intensity but changed to sky blue.
"We're still going to argue," Xorha said conversationally, coming to the water's edge.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," replied Hephaete, her hair extending like a massive halo around her.
"So, do I keep the peace or help you make up?" Enares had walked back down onto the sand.
Both goddesses smiled at him.
"We might let you," allowed Hephaete.
Xorha ended the sentence, "Do both."