Deicide the God Eater
The Fifteenth Chapter

I heard a knock at the door today. It was the Monster; he had stopped by previous times to take me up on arain check for tea. I felt awful forturning him down so many times before, and today, I decided to finally let himin. There we sat in my parlor; catchingup on the adventures we had apart. Eventually his toned changed, as he felt we had some business to takecare of, he told me most curtly. Ilooked directly into his eyes, which were not much different than my own,observant, a little sad. My features didnot stray far from his, but he made the room less inviting somehow. The darkness, ever present, urges us to shakehands. Then I am sitting where he wasand there is no one, where I had been. –Excerpt from an old Abstrusian tale.

Deicide wasalone in his war room, the lights were low and the Abyss had stretched herselfout on the forward wall and into the overhead behind Deicide, her oily tendrilshung from the lighting and rafters like a black, creeping web. He was seated at a large oval table while theAbyss spun him around with a black tendril. Behind him, partially obscured by the Abyss was a large chart of theuniverse they were currently venturing through. He waved his hand over the armrest to activate the holographic controlsfor the wall display; he continued to zoom further and further out to view thespace he had covered in his life time, highlighted in blue. He grinned when he thought of the marvel thatwas his Aeolipile; he felt Nott had given him the greatest gift anyone couldever receive, every hour of the day she would take exorbitant amounts of matterinto her holds, using the raw resources to increase her size, stars, planets,asteroids, all crushed like trinkets and scoffed inside her metal works to besmelted and crafted. The Deathlessfought and rounded up any inhabitants they came across, the Aeolipile was likean enormous snowball that increased its size with every rotation.

He let asigh escape from his chest and then allowed himself to be twirled in his chairagain. Deicide turned his thoughts tothe power vacuum created by Nott’s departure, it still hurt him to think abouther being on the ship and yet never being able to see her. Rightfully, the Twins deserved to take onNott’s authority, it was what they had been groomed for, but Deicide did notfavor their tone, they spoke to him as if he were some adorable mascot, a petwhich would rally the troops before a battle. The Aeolipile had been created to serve his aspirations; it had been himalone who had spilled blood to protect Nott and the Aeolipile in their rough beginnings. He recalled the countless times he hadreturned to the ship having had his appendages lopped off, or been blinded byenemy attack. In those early days thereexisted no quick cure for limb rehabilitation; he had to endure the slowknitting process as the spare carcasses had been used for fuel so the Aeolipilecould dive into this dimension. Hestopped turning as the Abyss amplified the sound of someone approaching. The great doors slid open to revealHellmouth; she had her digital organizer tucked under her arm and placed it inher designated chair as she passed. Shesat in Nott’s chair next to Deicide and twisted him until he was facing her.

Hellmouthlooked into his eyes a moment before she spoke. “Nobody’s out to get you,” she said.

“The Twinsare. They want to make me into a handpuppet,” he said.

“They’rejust trying to step up; they wanna be what Nott was to you,” she said. Deicide’s eyes widened, he grew tired ofpeople speaking about Nott as if she was dead.

Deicide blewan icy fog from between his teeth. “Do Ineed yet another mother?” Deicide said. “Few are worthy of talking down to me.”

“We justwanna help. You were always a smart kid,but nobody can do it on their own. EvenNott had an army of thinkers and she was a genius,” she said. Deicide sighed and nodded.

“Now whatyou gonna do to make this right?” she said. Deicide leaned in to kiss her cheek, just as she took hold of hisantennas.

“Don’t youever try to punk me in front of the recruits,” she said.

“Ow.Alright,” Deicide said, before she released him. Then she tapped her dimpled cheek with her indexfinger, Deicide kissed her and relaxed in his chair, groaning at the Abyss’choir of giggles. His antennas were themost sensitive parts of his body, more than his testicles or the fine hairs onhis neck. Squeezing them was theequivalent of punching a bear in the nose, it took restraint not to lash out atthe person that did so. He rubbed hiswatery eyes as Hellmouth returned to her seat. The door slid open again and Great White and Ichor stepped in and gavethe pair questioning looks.

“What’s thematter, Mama slapped you?” White said,showing his fangs as he chuckled. He saton the edge of the table poking Deicide in the chest.

“Leave himalone, we’re fine,” Hellmouth said. Ichor crept into his seat just as the rest of the executives and heavybrass showed up. Everyone piled in andvolleyed greetings, the military filled in the chairs on the left, the suited executiveofficials on the right. Deicide sat atthe front where the table was divided; his eyes crept over to the empty chairnext to him, then upward to the next two. Destra and Sinistra were making their way around from the executiveside, as it was a minor faux pas to stand on a side that you did not belongtoo, the same applied for presentations. Destra paused at Nott’s chair looking down at Deicide. He motioned for her to sit and turned to somenotes he retrieved from his breast pocket. The stenographer program gave a long tone to notify that the Minuteswere being recorded in visual, audio and text media.

“First orderof business?” Deicide said.

An unseenman with a booming voice spoke. “The Court recognizes and promotes ChiefManager of Supply, Weyrianna Hedren, to High Quarterer Weyrianna Hedren,” theSpeaker said. Everyone began to clap asthe woman standing made a small curtsey.

“Alright,so, Caracal you’re her mentor. What’sher title?” Deicide said.

“Weyriannathe Whittler,” she said.

“The Whittler?”Deicide said, looking around the room.

“This is thecivilian sector. We can’t have nameslike ‘The Brave’ or ‘The Edge’. I thinkit fits,” she said.

“Whittler itis,” Deicide said, gesturing for Weyrianna to sit. “So supply is absorbing theArchives?”

Weyriannanodded quickly. “Yes, sir,” she said. “We’re keeping it staffed with the original archivist, though we aretaking on a few new people.”

Deicideshrugged. “You know what’s best,” hesaid.

The meetingcontinued in good spirits until someone mentioned the Nazareth, a ship thatDeicide had declared openly as the Aeolipile’s nemesis. The founding members of Nazareth’s crew werealso plank owners of the Aeolipile, the mutinous schism began in this very room,when Nott had proposed her new plant array system. Many balked at her presentations, saying her schematicsfor the Districts bordered on slavery, but Nott had her way and those thatdisagreed were asked to leave. Somedecades later during a heated battle, portions of a ship emerged through holestorn into their reality. They fired uponDeicide and his troops, causing them to suffer heavy losses. Since then it was only Deicide’s staff thathad held him back from chasing the Nazareth through the stars like Ahab. Since then they only peeked through to throwpot shots at his eaters, for now, the Aeolipile had ways of dealing with her.

“These arejust pop quizzes. What happens when theyuse what we won’t?” Deicide said.

“I’m surethey don’t have Negation technology, yet,” a general said.

“I had anegation shell shot at me in that tunnel, tore off a fourth of my chest. Rebels cobbled that together. The Nazareth has personnel who sat where youall are sitting right now. Some of themwere brilliant and they worked for Nott, they know our secrets,” Deicide said.

“But theamount of resources you need to create it would be exorbitant,” Sinistra said.

“You’d haveto be harvesting planets; nations don’t give away that type of wealth,” Destrasaid. Everyone nodded in agreement,while Deicide stewed in his seat, the Abyss began to ripple slightly abovetheir heads. Everyone was speaking as ifthey would never have to come into actual contact, their lazy hypotheses wouldbe his reality, he refused to let his children become casualties in a war thatwould last all of time. The Abyss’ eyesmet his own as she parsed the voices having separate conversations. His eyes locked on to one of the AssistantAdministration Secretaries sitting off to the side as the Abyss began to coiland Deicide rose from his seat, he could hear jokes being passed that he didnot care for.

“Ant! Hey sign that for me,” Hellmouth said; one ofher enlisted aids was beside him holding a digital document for him tosign. He blew an icy mist from hisnostrils and scribbled his signature on the digi-ready, knowing exactly whatHellmouth was doing. His lips weretight, mouth puckered like the sphincter of a human crash dummy. He sat back in his chair, annoyed that theyoung woman was still crouched near him. But she was a pretty item, violet-headed, brown skin. He leaned over and lifted an eyebrow, sheaped his facial gesture and then he shot another glance at Hellmouth. The military aid scratched the back of hishand and then returned to the sidelines. He knew Hellmouth must be extremely desperate in her psychoanalysis touse a woman, one of the sisterhood, to goad him out of his present mood; hedetested this type of manipulation and continued to brood for the rest of themeeting out of spite, but he made sure to remember the nametag of the aid.

As peoplebegan to file out, Deicide remained in his seat, the Abyss was still attachedto the ceiling, but she allowed herself to pour down and cover Deicide like atopping on an absurd sundae, he was too angry to force her away. The Twins turned to Deicide with pouty lipsand the Abyss withdrew. They rolledtheir chairs over and hugged him.

Destrasqueezed his shoulder. “Why somean?” Destra said.

Deicide wasshocked at the twins’ feigned innocence. Was he dreaming their usurper positioning earlier? No, he had heard them call him a littleprince. Perhaps he misunderstood them,he thought. The girls, and he did think ofthem as girls, had never been anything but sweet to him. The Abyss began to sing in her and Deicide’sshared language, she seemed to agree, the twins were not a threat.

“Causeeveryone’s forgotten what this is all about!” Deicide said, rising from his chair. The Abyss immediately rushed back to his shoulders and neck, she hadswitched to a rougher exterior texture. A few of his closest advisors stayed while everyone else was hurriedlyushered from the room. Deicide wasleaning on the table as the Abyss was arched over him, her tendrils spillingacross the table and into the oval recess at the table’s center. The Great White, still seated, placed hisfeet on the table to avoid the black lake spreading on the floor. Cold vapor was escaping from Deicide’s jaws,everyone who was not combat ready, or qualified to stand against a Grade oneeater backed to the walls of the War Room. Hellmouth, Ichor and the Great White appeared calm, while every othersoldier was wary, as they had all heard stories of Deicide’s tantrums. Though liked by all of his soldiers, he hadearned their respect by the terror he extracted from those that opposed him.

“Whatchawant? Another hug? Shay, give the boy ahug, will ya?” White said.

“I won’t bedismissed, I’m not a child,” Deicide said.

“You’reacting like one,” Ichor said, coldly. The Abyss bristled and her large eyes flattened to yellow slivers frombehind Deicide’s shoulders.

“It seemsyou all forget why I was even born,” Deicide said.

“The missionis to transport all passengers before the collapse,” Great White said.

“That’s notwhy the Aeolipile was built,” Deicide said. “We must kill the pretender.” Hismentors rolled their eyes, even the patience of his biggest supporters wasvisibly degrading. Most had given up onreplaceing the pretender god, viewing it as nothing more than Abstrusian myth.

“Nott wantedyou to be a champion. She wanted yourname to ring out until the end of time,” Hellmouth said.

“It will,” Deicidesaid.

“Not likethis sweetie,” Hellmouth said.

“It’s risky;I don’t think those girls on the Nazareth care about the mission anymore. I think they’ll kill us all just to get toyou,” Ichor said.

“I know youall don’t want to fight the Nazareth. You won’t have too. I’ll fight myown battles,” Deicide said, striding toward the door, ignoring clumsy attemptsto converse with him. He explainednothing as he walked toward a major Gate station. He signaled to the operator with his fingersfor an Omni Gate and stepped into it, coming out at his estate on the otherside. His personal staff, who had alreadybeen warned of Deicide’s mood, left him to smolder in silence as he stalkedthrough the halls. When he arrived athis wife’s study he found Fawn bound to her chair, she was seated next to ableary eyed Rodela. They were seated inrecliners, surrounded by thousands of Nott’s books and journals.

“Take thosethings off Rody,” Deicide said.

“Oh,” Rodelasaid, as she fumbled to activate her arm band. With a click the mechanism binding Fawn’s hands and ankles came free.

“Leave us,” Deicidesaid.

“But,” Rodelasaid.

“We’ll talksoon I promise,” Deicide said, placing his hands on her cheeks. Rodela nodded.

“I’ll beoutside,” Rodela said, just as she stepped through the doors.

“Let’s keepthis short, eh?” Fawn said.

“And what isthat?” Deicide said.

“You wannasell me on your great cause, right?” she said. The Abyss began to anchor herself throughout the massive library, nowable to increase her size to a great degree without constriction.

Deicide wasunsure of what to say to the woman, he continued to examine the features of herface, knowing he must be making her uncomfortable.

“Yourbrother’s a good soldier. He understandshow it all fits together, even if he can’t say it. But what about you?” Deicide said, movingbehind a great pair of desks.

“I’m donewith this shit. You know what I want,” shesaid.

“I do,” hesaid. He looked down at the ground,thinking of how much his newest pair of daughters resembled her. Yes, they would grow up to be beautiful, aswell as spiteful.

“Then whywaste the air?” she said.

“I’m nottrying to convince you to join me. Ijust want to stop you from becoming my enemy,” he said.