Page Forty: Bittersweet Sympathy

The Magpie sensed a feeling of belonging with this human. From its look-out on the highest satellite dish on the tallest building it has seen the naked woman invoke the powers of nature and was immediately drawn to her. In former times the Magpie had been closely associated with her kind and that link, all be it faint, was still present. The Raven would not have felt that, it was only attracted to darker powers, but the Magpie, like its plumage, was equally attuned with the light and the dark. To the outside world this made the Magpie appear self-centered, however the only true emotion it was capable of was ambivalence. It knew that there were no clear boundaries between Light and Dark, (or good and evil if you will), but a vast fuzzy grey-area, each side had become tainted by the other. Both had become tinged with a malevolent morality that they used to justify their deeds and actions. Even for the forces of Light, there was no action too unspeakable as long as it was directed in the right direction, for the holy cause. It also knew that, like itself, this woman was being used, forces beyond her understanding were directing and controlling her. Distorting and manipulating her beliefs for their own ends. Expendable pawns in a game that contained no rules or codex. And without rules, who was to say that the Magpie could not join this woman and free themselves from this slavery. So, it swooped down to her roof top and waited for the Earth to deliver its gift to her.

     'Ohmygoddesswhothefuckisthat!' Kip screamed at the apparition as it appeared before him. Blue looked up from the soul-less victim she was caring for and saw the Angel, sat cross-legged on the cab of an overturned lorry, watching them.
     He spoke first: 'Hello sister, I thought I'd find you here.'
     'I might have guessed this was your handiwork.' Blue stood up and faced him, defiant, with ephemeral hands on ephemeral hips.
     'Me? This was Apollyon's doing, as well you know. It was you who trapped him here to die.'
     'What! Who is this fucker then?' Spat the cat, thinking it was Apollyon who appeared before them. The Angel raised an eyebrow at the cat.
     'Can't you keep your little gutter-tongued pet quiet?'
     'He is not my pet, or anyone elses.' (Kip winced as an image of the Antique Shop owner opening a tin of cat-food flashed in his mind. The Angel smiled and winked at the cat). 'Kip, this is my brother Meririm. Meririm, this is my friend Kip.' Kip slowly moved back, constantly eyeing the Angel. With the introductions over, Blue continued. 'Now, I assure you that I have no reason to want to trap Apollyon anywhere, least of all here. This Destruction has all your hallmarks. So what is this really about Meririm?' Blue waved an upturned hand towards the lanes of wrecked automobiles. The Angel nodded and sat and thought for a while, then it shrugged.
     'Search me. I felt the shock-wave through the Ether and came to investigate. Earlier I met Polly and he told me that you were trying to kill him. So I expected to find one of you here, if not both, preferably with your hands around each others throats.'
     'Nice family you've got there Blue, anymore like them at home?'.
     'Ssh! Grown-ups talking!' The Angel chided. The cat hissed.
     'Apollyon spoke to you! Oh come on, he has not spoken since the fall and you would be the last person he would talk to.' The Sphinx stepped closer to the truck. 'I can see the newly healed scars on your body Meririm, you did not talk, you fought and lost. Stop playing games and tell the truth for once!' Blue was getting angry. The air crackled with pent up energy waiting for release.
     'Okay, okay.' The Angel held up his hands in mock surrender. 'So the conversation didn't actual flow and it was all a bit one-sided, with me doing most of the talking. However, I did slip into his mind for a brief moment and he, at least, believes that you are destroying the Darqlands and trying to defeat him. These scars,' he gestured to his mending flesh, 'came after we parted, I caught a bus. Sadly, I forgot I wasn't ethereal at the time and the impact shattered most of the feeble bones in this pathetic corporeal body.' Blue shook her head, she felt that Merirm was telling the truth for once..
     'If it were his Destiny to be killed by me, then he would be dead already.' She stated. 'So, if neither you nor I trapped Apollyon here, then who did?' She felt that Kip was about to speak-out again, so quickly she put a mental gag on him, preventing his thoughts from spilling out.
     The Angel shrugged again. 'I think one of the others has woken up, I haven't figured out who. I though it was you, eventhough you rarely venture outside your little kitty-litter realm. It would seem that our Shadowy brother is still fixated with you and blames you for everything. So who knows? It could be one of the Seven, I haven't found the other four as of yet. Or it could be any one of the Host, or any of Hell's little demons. Let's face it, all of them have a grudge against us, and against Polly in particular.'
     'Or it could be human.' She said, remembering the three new spirits in the firmament. The Angel shook his head.
     'Nope. Never gonna happen. I've lived amongst them since forever and haven't met one yet who can hack the power without frying their brains.' Meririm smiled a wicked smile. 'And believe me, I've tried. Had some spectacular failures, spiritual super-nova that have lit up the Ether for weeks.' He chuckled to himself for a moment, but stopped when he saw that Blue was not laughing. 'Well Heccy my sister.'
     'Do not call me Heccy, Merri my dear.' Blue interrupted.
     'Point taken Hecate, or whatever you are called today. Sheesh! you've got more names than the thing with slightly less names than you. You must have a whole page to yourself in the celestial phone book. Hecate, Demeter, Diana, Inanna, Bast, Kali, Isis, Asarte, Raph...'
     'Enough!' Metal rattled and shook at the sound of her raised voice. The Angel gripped onto the side of the truck to steady himself. The fall to the ground would not even have scratched him, but his concern for his safety was genuine, he was fully aware of what the Sphinx could do to him with just her voice.
     'Opps. Sorry.' Meririm gave a cheesy grin. 'Anyway, my vote goes for it being one of us, after all, who else can jerk Shady around like a puppet?'
     'It could even be him.'
     Merirm nodded: 'Sure. He used to be smart enough to be able to pull a stunt like this and carry it off. But now. After all those millennia of isolation in his precious Darqlands…' He pursed his lips while he surveyed the devastation around him. 'He ain't too smart is he?'
     'Maybe he is.' Blue lent back against the tangled wreckage behind her. 'What if he staged this to lure us here?'
     'And then?' Meririm responded, jumping down from the lorry and landing softly on the ground before her. He paced back and forth like a caged panther as he spoke. 'Where is he? If that was his plan, what next. We're here now and,' he gestured his arm in a wide sweeping arc, 'nothing, nada, zip, zilch. The Greatest no-Show on Earth.' Blue had to admit that Meririm was probably correct.
     'So, where are the others?' She asked. 'If they have remembered, then they must have felt this event. That's why you and I came after all. All this emotion release in one go. Absinthium for one would not be able to resist so much Death.'
     'Ah, sweet Abby, such a professional.' the Angel smiled as he remembered times passed. 'Truely, if she were still around then she would be here. She would not miss this for the world, or any other planet.'
     'And neither would the others. There is even enough Delirium loose here that Ishtarah would have been drawn. No, I am afraid it is either you, me or Apollyon.'
     'Or it's the Hell's spawn.' Blue shuddered as Meririm said it.
     'Or the Host.' Merirm looked up to the heavens, almost cowering.
     'Oh shit!'
     'Whatever. Either way, we are in trouble.' While Blue spoke, she could see that the Angel was starting to sublimate, diffusing back into the Ether.
     'No. Either way, we're fucked.' With that, Meririm vanished. Blue quickly raise her head to see what he had been looking at to cause him to leave so abruptly.
     'Oh shit.' And she too was gone, leaving the cat alone and bewildered. Too stunned by the sudden desertions to move, he continued to stare at the space once occupied by Blue and Meririm. Finally he looked up.
     'Oh sh...' He managed to utter just before Blue reappeared, snatched him into her arms and carried him off into the Ether.

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