Deicide the God Eater
The Fourth Chapter

After a movement has devoured the empire that oppressed itsbrothers and sisters, its swords and daggers, now no longer useful, are dulledby the hides of greed and complacency. - Gnomon, Political Power: EverPresent on the Cosmic Lazy Susan.

Fawn wasroused from a perfectly tranquil slumber by what she was certain to be themidnight antics of the roving night watch. The younger girls had become increasingly bold with their pranks toannoy the older women sharing the barracks with them; she supposed it waspayback for unleashing a bit of her angst on the girls, though fairly benign inher opinion. Ribbing and teasing of theyouth and slick-sleeves had always been a tradition in the military, and shedoubted it would end with some late night turnabout on their part, no matterhow severe.

Fawn threwherself out of bed, stumbled across the room and slammed her fist against thedoor’s activation device; ready to strangle any children she found behind it. Her narrowed eyes shifted from left to rightdown each side of the empty hall, though in the late hours of the night howcould one be sure of what they saw or heard? And she had seen things, and heard things, but told no one, especiallyback then; voices that were loud enough to be understandable if one knew thelanguage in which they spoke, of course. The voices, she knew she had heard, but the presence of beings, a breathagainst the soft, colorless, hair on the cheek could never be proven, not evento herself. Sometimes, it was thefaintest embrace by a powerful unseen hand, or a depression on the unicorncomforter, as if something was sitting, watching, guarding perhaps.

With nothingfound from her tepid investigation, she quickly found her way back underneaththe sheets once more and tried to sleep. However, the now quickened pace of her heart kept her eyes open and herthoughts frantic. She rolled over andpalmed a pink dragon clock radio, a ridiculous present her friend Lechwe hadpicked up for her birthday a few weeks back. As she sighed and rolled on her back, she stared up at Lechwe’s rackabove her. What seemed to be hours, werefound to be seconds when Fawn glanced over at the clock, once again. Finally, when she had enough of the snores ofthe other women mocking her, she threw the sheets aside and headed to theweight room.

The indoorweight room at the barracks was modest; a few flat benches with their centerssplit open, a cushion-less leg press machine, and an incomplete set of rustyweights and barbells. Many of theyounger girls here had no time for training on their own, even if they were along way from boot camp. An old dustyfan spun silently from a grimy windowsill, pulling in the dank night air. The naked light above gave everything asickly yellowish color as it fought desperately to stay illuminated. The chilly air being drawn in by the fancould not suppress the stench of sweat soaked that deeply into the tiles; theentire room was crowded with a funky odor that had been squatting in there forsome time. It would take more than abucket of hot soapy water to even begin to clean this place up, and the warwith mildew would never end until they tore the place apart.

Fawn slappeda couple of forty-five pound plates on each side of the rusty bar and lay downon the bench to stretch. Her chestheaved in and out as she breathed in deeply of the air that was now heaviersomehow, swinging her arms in a winding motion. Then she sat up and pulled her gray Army hoodie over her head, revealingsurgery scars and her tattoos, her Heavy Infantry Emblem, several other Armythemes, and a Navy design that had been drawn by a lost friend. Her Navy stamp was always disheartening toher as it reminded her of, what she thought now, more joyous times. She never realized how good she had it as aNaval Officer, until she was humping around with the Army in hells abandoned bythose that had built them. As disjointedand senseless as the Navy seemed to be at times, the Army was much worse;unnecessary maintenance checks, flip-flopping middle management and manningissues were only a few.

As she beganto lift the weight vigorously her mind drifted back to days at the Academy. Back then her younger brother, Alpha, wasprobably still bragging to his friends that his sister would probably be pilot. It made her a little sad when she thought ofwhat he might be telling his friends now; a hot-headed former Ensign that failedto get her Space Warfare Pin on time? An officer that never even knew the meaningof military bearing, everyone probably thought she was a clown, too tall inevery uniform she wore, arms like a distance-runner’s legs, the temper of eightangry drunks, and the medicine only made her indifferent and sick. The act of treading across her wishes andideals was not something she could ignore, even with pills. Fawn was unable to articulate to anyone whyshe felt this way, knowing she would come off as ‘another narcissist bitch’ asshe had heard the receptionist refer to another girl, a girl who had the samecynical look in her eye as she did.

In mid-liftFawn was interrupted by the night rover peeking in to see if the space was‘secure’. She wanted to toss the baraside, weights and all, to strangle the preteen, but the look on the girl’sface made her pause. The tips of hergarish smile stretched to the corners of her eyes, or did her long slit-likeeyes stretch to the corners of her mouth? Fawn could hardly believe she was looking at a human; she quickly rackedthe weights and leapt from the bench. Asshe approached the still opened the doorway, she found that the hall wasempty. When she heard the sounds ofvoices she decided to creep into the hall. As Fawn moved towards the direction of the sound, she thought the hushedconversation mention her name.

With hershoulder pressed firmly against the corner she peeked around and saw two girlsconversing with each other; their mouths moved, but no sound came out, thevoices seemed to be coming from her own mind. They had no antlers, yet their ears had been removed, like her own hadmany years ago. It was then that Fawnrealized her own pair of antlers was missing. Fawn called out to the girls, but they ignored her. As she extended her hand, Fawn’s fingersslipped through the girl’s black hair and into her skull.

Inside Fawncould feel mechanisms moving about in regular intervals, oiled gears andsprings working underneath the tips of her fingers. She parted the girl’s hair to replace out exactlywhat she had felt; absurdly oiled clockwork, the lubricant oozed down the backof the girl’s neck. When the girl turnedaround she had the face of an adolescent Flechette, pale and round, the eyes ofa child who had little remorse. Fawnfully emerged from behind the corner to replace the girl this false Flechette wasspeaking to was a much younger version of herself. Her adolescent ectype looked up at her withlarge violet eyes, framed by a beige and freckled face and a closed mouth grinstraddled by a pair of dimples.

For sometime they stood like that, searching each other’s eyes for something, until theyounger Fawn opened her grin to a grim toothy smile. Every one of her teeth was covered in a graysludge. As she took a step closer, sodid Fawn take a step back; slowly the two eased down the hall. She stopped just before Fawn came to herroom. Then the younger version ofherself gave her a friendly wave as she disappeared into the darkness of Fawn’sbarracks room.

Fawnentered, but saw no one there but her sleeping roommates. She crept over to her bed and pulled back thecovers tentatively, replaceing no one, there was no place left for the girl to be,there were no closets and their sea bags were stuffed underneath both bottomracks. As Fawn lay on her rack shecould feel a presence moving in the darkness. Internally, she was arguing with herself, knowing it was foolish to befearful of an odd collection of shadows, but she knew there was someone else withher. She kicked Lechwe’s rack above herand whispered the woman’s name. Sheeased out of her own bed and curled her fists tight as she peered into Lechwe’srack. She poked the woman with aknuckle, causing dust and a vulgar odor to be pushed from underneath theblanket; it was like the rotted intestines of some animal had been dumped intoher rack. She opened her hand slowly anddrew back the covers.

“Lechwe,” Fawnsaid. As she pulled back the blanket sherevealed the atrophied corpse of her friend. Her purple hair looked pale gray, thinned and frayed in themoonlight. She was eternally locked in ahorrified scream, her nails were scratching into the furrowed column that washer throat. Fawn backed away and turnedto her other friends; they too were preserved cadavers screaming silence. Feeling a cold breath on her neck she whirledto replace a tall, hooded silhouette, looming over her.

“The fuck!” Fawnsaid. She prepared to throw a punch towhere she perceived this stranger’s face to be, but Fawn’s fist opened againsther will and interlaced in the same hand of this presence she perceived to beher enemy. She struggled to free herlimb, but was drawn closer to the figure, its strength was unbelievable.

“Get offme,” Fawn said. The being opened itslong dark coat, revealing the glinting angles and corners of an assortment of gunsand knives. With its free hand it drew agun, Fawn had never seen it, but its design was familiar. As Fawn leapt onto its long arm to perform aflying arm bar, it fired away at the walls of her room; they crumbled like claypigeons peppered with shot, leaving them surrounded by fine brass machinerylike the insides of some extravagant clock. Fawn fell to the ground when the creature snatched its arm away. As she stood she was grabbed by the neck andturned towards ticking mechanisms. Therewere dozens of brilliant dials and alien symbols all over the instruments, ofwhich Fawn knew nothing about, nor what they recorded. There were golden placards beneath certaindevices, with titles engraved there. Antikythera, Helepolis, Irdieden, there were more, but another stoodout, Aeolipile.

Thinking shewas in a dream Fawn shook her head and squeezed her torso. With absurdly long arms the coated beinglifted Fawn off the ground. A frostymist was spewed from where its mouth should have been within the darkness ofits hood, this close Fawn could see the large blue eyes, like topaz,unblinking, but all seeing. It began tospeak with a husky voice that at first Fawn thought she could not understand.

“I come tooffer an even trade,” it said. The beinghad replaced its gun and now held Fawn before it, supporting her underneath herarms as one would hold a child, even with her considerable height she was stillseveral feet off the ground, but the floor seemed to be moving now, rising tomeet her feet, and not evenly. Thingsthat could be called hands at a stretch, were reaching upward, snatching ather. The golden machinery was beingobscured by a darkness heavy with gnashing and chaos.

Fawn glancedback to the thing in the coat. “What thefuck do you want?” Fawn said.

“We will bethe bonds that will tie each other to our respective desires,” It said.

“I stilldon’t understand,” Fawn said.

“An equalexchange,” It said. “We each discard ourseparate lives without agency, for a single life giving us our greatest wish.

“And how thehell could you know my greatest wish?” Fawn said.

And for onceits eyes of topaz sneered. “Because youhave always told me what you desired, those long nights when sleep was slow tocome, we would speak the ways in which no one else could,” It said. “About sports, school, boys, but most of all death. I was there when you wished to die, and Ished grateful tears that you did not, that you could not. I grieved for your family, because you hadrun out of tears.”

“But-“ Fawnsaid.

“It is onlyI that speaks your language, no other,” It said. “But there will be others that come to twistyour power, as those from your world would try and twist mine.”

And he wasright, even now Fawn could hear them grumble, jealous of having not been thefirst chosen so many years ago. Yet theywaited, so that perhaps if she lingered or rejected the words of the one whoheld her now, they would get a chance at her, use her. They had never kept Fawn company on thosefrigid deck watches in the tundra; they had never listened to her cry for daysafter the news of her family’s passing had found her. But it had, he had, yes, she was sure it wasa he now, a brother to replace the one she had lost and the one she had hope wasstill alive.

Fawn shookher head, as if to ward off the others. “What do I have to do?” she said.

His voicewas clearer now. “Our worlds are closenow,” he said. “Closer than they’ll everbe. Name me, so that I may name you.”

The mass ofchaotic darkness was growing; the hordes of individuals were beginning to allythemselves, that they could dethrone this single usurper. Fawn was unsure what to call this coated man,which had been much more to her it seemed. She had called him nothing even as a child, even though she knew he wasthere, and had always been there. Whenshe had fought he was there, a reassuring hand, a rousing cheer, when sherested he was a warm thigh to rest her head against, his own heart, much biggerthan her own, beat just after his.

“I, I don’tknow what to call you,” Fawn said, looking back at the rolling clouds pushingtheir way toward the two.

“Say it; saythe name which you deem fit to give me. And I shall be yours forever,” he said.

“Uh,” Fawnsaid, glancing down at the being gazing up at her. “Long Arms,” Fawn said, finally. And the hordes withdrew instantly, leavingthem only with the loud hum of large engines and machinery.

“And youWolf Maiden, will be Vulpicide the Fox Eater,” Long Arms said as he embracedher tightly. Even though his breathseemed cold, Fawn could feel nothing but warmth from his body. Then she hugged him back, knowing that forceswould come to rip him away from her too, but this time, she would not allow itto happen.