When The Waves Wreck The Shore
Kaydence stared at Grian; a smile warm on her face. Grian was one of Xelqua’s human forms, and the current king of the Copper Empire. He’d saved her more times than she could count. The King never feared much, but Xelqua was the top of his list. The deity of chaos, eternally changing and always present. He presented a threat but was too important to kill.
He was exactly like her.
All his paladins had been killed by the King. Each one of them as a punishment, for defying odds, refusing to comply. The King would be unhappy to learn he had another Paladin. He’d also be unhappy to learn of her Paladin, so Kaydence kept her mouth shut and eyes closed.
She couldn’t rat if she couldn’t see.
Pip was weary. She was tired, yeah, but something about Grian set her on edge. He was too... something. His eyes a shade too green, his hair a shade too sandy. His wings were just bright enough to seem fake but dull enough to show they were real. He was in-between, like a vivid dream with hints of truth. His traveling companion, Scar, was tall, with a merchant's look. A mischievous smile, a glint of magic, he was likely a wizard.
She moved closer to Kaydence, as though she could protect the priestess through mind alone. Kaydence was blind, and if danger came, she’d be rendered unable to protect herself. But if she claimed to know these people... well, Pip would trust them. For now.
She’d learnt enough from her past, but Kaydence claimed it was fine.
Pip would do anything for Kaydence. Her instincts demanded it.
Grian wasn’t what you’d think of a king. He was small, and definitely looked like a young child. Kaydence knew better though. She’d seen him in his full power.
She remembered his godly form vividly. It terrified her still.
He shifted when the King had sent someone killed his first paladin, Taurtis. His form was large, bigger than the king himself. His wings longer than the mountains of Rivendell, his eyes darker than the forests of Mythland. Xelqua was eternally terrifying.
Kaydence didn’t know how The King could stand to face him. She didn’t know how Grian restrained himself from murdering her brother.
She forcibly turned, noting that Pip had move closer to her. A look of concern on the avian’s face, she looked just about ready to fight.
“Ah! Pip! Meet Grian and Scar. I’ve known Grian since I was a child. We grew up together.” Technically the truth, Kaydence didn’t like to lie to her paladins.
Pip hummed, narrowing her eyes. “We should go find somewhere to sleep. Come on Kaydence.”
Kaydence cocked her head, confused at her paladins behavior. She turned to Grian, spinning around like an excited child. “So! Grian! Would you be able to show us to a place for the night?”
Grian grinned, slightly manically. “Why of course! The palace like last time?”
“You know me so well.”
Pip made a confused noise, head dropping to the side. “Palace?”
Grian’s paladin smiled brightly. “Yeah!”
Grian smiled brightly, though a glint of mischief was hidden in his eyes. “King Grian of the Copper Kingdom, nice to meet you Pip.”
Pip let out a strangled noise. She didn’t trust kings. Before she registered it, one wing came out to protectively rest on Kaydence’s back. The priestess shouldn’t be before the king!
“How do you know each other?”
Kaydence smiled, soft and oh-so-beautiful. “Grian used to pray at Sieglinde’s temple when he was younger. I grew up there because of my blindness.”
Grian smirked, and it infuriated Pip to no end. “Me and her are close friends, I visit whenever I get the chance.”
Scar, being the lovable himbo he always was, smiled at them. “We should go! I hear there are going to be other kings joining us later!”
“Where do you get this knowledge from?”
“I have my sources.”
Grian laughed. “Scar that makes you sound like a serial killer!”
Pip hissed, she wasn’t jealous, Pip couldn’t feel jealousy, instead she was just protective. They’d only met a few days ago, but Pip’s brain had already marked Kaydence as flock.
“I don’t know if Scar is a serial killer, he’s rather kind.” Kaydence grinned, and Grian let out a laugh, his wings fluttering in amusement.
Something burned inside of Pip, and she let out a tiny huff, walking ahead of the group.
Grian smirked, turning his attention to Kaydence. Scar had hurried to go talk to Pip, his himbo nature making it hard to not do so.
“So? An Avian? You normally don’t choose avians. Oh, and Scott’s coming to the palace.”
Kaydence cursed, head hanging as they walked. Scott and his paladin? The last time they’d met it didn’t end well. Scott was absolutely infuriating, especially with a paladin. His superiority complex was NOT fun to deal with, even without her own paladin.
“I hate it when Scott comes around. He’s fun, but he’s so infuriating.”
“I know right? He’s so fun though, his parties are amazing.”
“Are we just gossiping now?”
Grian grinned. “Of course.”
She laughed, grinning wildly. “I can’t believe this, us, gossip girls!”
Grian let out a noise as well, as though he’d forgotten something. “Oh! I always forget you have no clue what’s happened the past hundred years!
“Clue me in coward.”
“SO! Martyn finally found a paladin right?”
“Sure?”
“BUT he gave them immortality because he’s gay! The king basically got mad about it and tried to kill his paladin because, you know, he’s the one that’s supposed to grant immortality. And then CLEO came out with her new paladin, Joe or something, and granted Joe immortality and the king lost his shit on them all. It was wild.”
Kaydence made a confused noise, dropping her head to the side as they walked. “So, Martyn, god of loyalty and luck, got a paladin. He made the paladin immortal, king got mad, then Cleo, goddess of time and immortality, decided to make her paladin immortal out of spite, and now the king is loosing his shit and that’s why the weather is so crazy? And I didn’t know this because I was banished to the underworld?”
“Yep.”
“Wild.”
She let out a snort-type noise, “And we’re supposed to be better than humans. We’re basically just a huge stupid dysfunctional family! Oren’s the crazy dad, I’m the fresh out of jail aunt, and we have no mom.”
“You were not in jail!” Grian paused, thinking it over for a moment. “Well, actually you were in jail.”
“Ya think? I got banished over a stupid disagreement. I’m the goddess of DEATH, of course I’m merciless. I need to be! It’s in the JOB DESCRIPTION!”
Grian laughed, then dragged her closer to their paladins. “Did I ever tell you why I chose Scar?”
“No. You haven’t spoken to me in over three hundred years.”
“Fine, sorry. Scar was chosen because he started a business where he ran around in his underwear selling ‘magical crystals’ to anyone who would buy them. He caused such an uproar I just had to have him. The tether kicked in, and when he prayed at my temple, I had to come in person.”
“Pip left a loaf of bread in my temple. She was just so scared I wanted to comfort her. So I tagged along.”
“You have a horrible start for love stories.”
Kaydence let out a noise, glaring at her fellow god. “Please! We all know Scott had a worse start. Do you think Jimmy recovered from his rejection?”
“Nope. Still hasn’t.”
“That sounds like his problem then!”
Pip was on guard. Scar was shifty, and she didn’t trust him at all. His physical appearance, especially the scars, showed he was stronger than he acted. Especially since he acted like what the women of her last village called a himbo.
“So.” Chirp started, unable to think of what type of conversation to start. Star didn’t like silence. “What gods are there in this region? I’m not particularly religious so I don’t know many aside from the basic ones.”
“What ones do you know then?”
“Well, I know King Oren, god of the sky. Saint Pearl, goddess of the harvest, and Lady Sieglinde, goddess of death.”
“Hm. Okay. So the major gods here are basically the same. I’m assuming you’re from the southern boarders because of the accent, so you definitely don’t know most of our gods. We worship Saint Lizzie, goddess of the ocean, Saint Cleo, the goddess of time and immortality, and we mainly worship Saint fWhip, god of the earth and natural disasters. It’s been said throughout history that they govern kingdoms like this one, but not enough is known to prove that true or false, so.”
Pip nodded; her interest piqued. “And who's your patron?”
“Xelqua, the primordial god of chaos and mischief.”
“Hm. I’ve always felt connected to Lady Sieglinde.” She braced herself for the outburst she assumed would come. People hated it when the goddesses name was merely mentioned, only referring to her as Lady Death and nothing else. The goddess of danger, who presided over the personification of misfortune itself.
“She’s the goddess my mother worshipped when she declined in health, so I understand.”
Pip blinked in confusion. “So.. You're not mad I worship her?”
“Why would I be?”
“The south see her as unholy. They destroyed her temples.”
“They what? She’s a goddess! They shouldn’t do that, even if she’s bad luck.”
Kaydence smiled to Grian. The two had heard everything, and they knew exactly how their paladins felt. They’d know for a long time. Even after the world came crashing down, they’d love their paladins more than anything else.
They were gods, and they knew loss more than anyone else.