Part Four
"Mama now I'm coming home, I'm not all you wished of me.
A mother's love for her son, unspoken, help me be.
I took your love for granted, and all the things you said to me.
I need your arms to welcome me, but a cold stone's all I see..."
--Metallica, "Mama Said"
Sekhmet sat on the floor in his room, holding the picture of Chadih, his beloved daughter. He held it close to his heart, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Chadih was with Kiyaa and Jinmin. Parz swore that they wouldn't be able to break the spell that she put on Chadih, and if they did, Sekhmet could take Parz's life. That would be the compensation for losing his daughter.
But Sekhmet found it hard to even think of himself killing Parz for some reason. Maybe it was because she knew his father, he wasn't really sure. He knew the moment they met that he could trust Parz. But why did he know?
Damn you, Essah, Sekhmet thought bitterly at his father. Why and how do you know Parz? And why do I have this feeling that I'm connected to her as much as you are? Possibly more than you.
"Sekhmet?"
He looked up and saw Dayus standing by the doorway. Sekhmet looked at Chadih's picture again. "How many times do I have to lose her?"
Dayus walked over to his friend and looked at the picture. "At least she didn't die by your hand," he said.
Sekhmet was ready to kick himself. Chadih was still alive and there was a good chance that he would be able to get his daughter back. But Dayus' daughter was gone forever. "You didn't kill her, Dayus." Sekhmet looked at him. "You've been told that countless times. It wasn't you."
"How come I can't help but feel that it was me?" Dayus left the room.
Sekhmet let out a long sigh, feeling guilty for acting so selfish. He looked at the doorway again this time to see Parz standing there. She walked into the room. "You still have the right to end my life if the spell doesn't work," said Parz.
"I know," Sekhmet said quietly. "There's one favor I have to ask of you. Dayus... he was a prisoner to an oni before Talpa sent me to bring him into the Dynasty."
"What happened?"
"She forced Dayus to kill his newborn daughter. He didn't even know she existed until the day the oni brought her there, and she forced Dayus to slit his own daughter's throat, so that he could become an oni and be her mate."
"There weren't many oni left around the time you were born, I remember," Parz said. "They tried to turn promising humans into oni, to repopulate their species. One tried making me into his next meal." She smiled. "He bit off more than he could chew. They're all gone now."
"How do you know for sure?" Sekhmet asked.
"From the moment you kill an oni," said Parz, "somehow, you know how many are left in the land. And Dayus killed the last one."
"I was there. He told me everything that happened to him. His brother resented him because he was favored among his clan, losing his family, and forced to kill his daughter." Sekhmet drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is where my favor comes in. I don't know why I'm asking you, but for Dayus. I know somehow you can do this for me and for him."
"What do you want me to do?" Parz asked.
"Ease his mind," answered Sekhmet. "Give his heart peace. Let him know that his family forgives him for what he has done in the past." Let him have something I know I can't.
Parz looked at him and nodded. "I'll see what I can do," she said and left.
____
Dayus was lying on his side in bed, but couldn't fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes, Dayus saw his infant daughter with a large gash in her throat and a bloody knife next to her head.
Dayus sat up and rubbed his temples. It was going to be another sleepless night, he could tell already.
He felt the air in the room become cooler, and he tensed. Looking around the room, a small amount of mist gathered together in the center. Dayus reached for the dagger he had hidden under the pillow. A small form appeared in the mist and Dayus pulled the dagger out.
As the mist cleared, Dayus could see that the small form was actually a child, a girl to be precise, maybe around Chadih's age. Her hair was the same dark brown that he once had, her eyes were the same hazel color that his mother had, and the girl resembled his wife with a little bit of his mother in her features.
She timidly stepped forward. "Papa?"
Dayus gasped. The dagger slipped from his fingers and he fell off the bed, landing on his knees. Dayus looked at his hands. He could see his daughter's blood stained on them. Tears welled in his eye and ran down his cheek. "My baby girl..." he managed to choke out.
"Papa, don't cry," she said. "It's not your fault. Mama said she forgives you and she wants you to be happy. Uncle Mori says he's sorry for what he did."
Dayus looked at his daughter's spirit. "Tell them I'm sorry, too. And I love all of you." He reached out to her, the blood fading from his hands as she hugged her father.
She began to feel less tangible and Dayus quickly kissed her cheek, letting her go. They smiled at each other, father and daughter. Then she faded away into the night. Dayus leaned against the bed and cried. He wiped away his tears, climbing back into bed, and falling asleep without seeing the nightmare that had haunted him every night.
____
Parz stood outside Dayus' room. She smiled as she heard his sobs quiet and went downstairs.
Calling souls from the Spirit Realm was a bit tricky, as long as one did not mind talking to whatever spirit appeared. Searching for a certain spirit was very difficult. Parz had to use most of her power to find Dayus' daughter and allow her to have a few moments with him as parent and child.
Parz sighed as she walked into the living room. Why was it that she was able to find the spirits that someone else loved, but not the ones she loved or were tied to her blood? Why couldn't she find her mother or any other member of her human relatives? Or her husband and her son? Or-
"Every time you enter the Spirit Realm you risk your own soul."
Parz looked over by the fireplace. "I know, Essah," she answered the snake-god.
"Why are you doing this, Parz?" Essah asked. "You're putting your life on a very thin line as you have done many times before. Why?"
"I can't tell you."
"Oh yes, you can."
"Not yet." Parz's voice was beginning to rise. "When this over, Essah. That's what you said. When this is over, then I will tell why."
Essah looked at her. "What exactly do you want, Parz?"
"At this moment," she said, "I want you to act like a father to Sekhmet."
"How dare you!" Essah hissed, trying to keep his voice down so that the rest of the inhabitants wouldn't hear. "I did what I had to do when he was growing up."
"And a fine job you did, Essah," Parz said sarcastically. "You left your own son in a hellhole, if you remember. You didn't mark him as a snake-god until he was twelve. Would you have marked Sekhmet if that seer didn't find him? And don't say that I don't know anything about being a parent. I was a mother for seven years. He wasn't born from me, but that boy was my son. I think I should let you know, Essah, that if it wasn't for me, Sekhmet would never have survived through the winters when he was a child. I was more of a parent to him than you were."
Essah glared at her, the anger in his eyes was clear. He looked away from Parz and sighed. "I know that I wasn't the best father to him. I admit, I didn't know what to do."
"I told you what would happen if you had a child with a human, especially a son," said Parz. "You wouldn't let me take him away. But why didn't you tell Sekhmet the reason Talpa wanted him?"
The snake-god shook his head. "I don't know."
"Essah," Parz said quietly. "He is your son. Be his father."
"How?"
"Like you were to me. Just act on your instincts."
Essah looked at Parz and she smiled at him. He sighed again and headed upstairs. Essah walked into Sekhmet's room. His son didn't bother looking at him.
"She'll be all right, Sekhmet." Essah sat next to him. "Parz is good on her word."
"I know," Sekhmet said quietly. "Somehow I know." He started shaking and the tears that he tried so hard to hold back finally started to fall.
Essah reached out and held Sekhmet, hating to see his son like this. So much pain had been caused in his son's life that could have been avoided. Why hadn't he let Parz take Sekhmet away? Essah still couldn't figure out the reason himself. He wanted to protect both of them from Talpa, and he believed that by keeping quiet about them and separate from each other was good enough.
Essah realized now that he was wrong. He decided that he wouldn't make the path for Sekhmet to travel, only guide him to the point where to make his decision. Essah moved away from his son. Reaching into his pocket, Essah pulled out Rielvia's pendant and placed into Sekhmet's palm, closing his son's fingers over it.
"You've grown up," Essah said. "I can't tell you what to do anymore. All I can say is that you must do this on your own. You know where to go. And I'll support whatever decision you make." He stood up and left, leaving Sekhmet staring at the pendant.
____
Sekhmet arrived at a small park just outside of Edo. He continued on, walking through the picnic area into the woods. The river he used to live by was gone; however, there was a large stone water fountain in its place.
Sekhmet remembered a long time ago that Essah had said that this was close to where he had met Rielvia for the first time. He also remembered hearing rumors about a ghost of a woman dressed in an old-fashioned kimono with bruises on her face wandering the area, singing a lullaby and looking very sad.
It's a shot in the dark, Sekhmet decided, tightening his grip on the pendant in his hand as he walked towards the fountain and stopped as he heard the song Parz had sung to Chadih. The same song that Rielvia had sung to Jynavy. Sekhmet began to walk again slowly around the fountain. He saw a translucent figure of a woman wearing a kimono, with black hair that shielded her face.
Sekhmet walked closer and the woman stopped singing. She turned her head, looking up at Sekhmet with dark eyes. Her face was the same way he remembered when he was almost five. The bruises were in the same place as if they never healed, forever marking her from Viraz's beatings.
They stared into each other's eyes, finding no hate within them. Sekhmet sat next to Rielvia. She reached up, lightly touching his cheek. The only gentle expression she had ever shown him in his life that he could remember. He put his hand over hers and looked at his mother.
"Didn't I deserve you?" Sekhmet asked as tears fell.
"No, Sekhmet," said Rielvia. "I didn't deserve you." She hugged him tightly and sobbed. "My son..."
Sekhmet hugged her back. This was all that he wanted from her while growing up, a hug or a smile. Just a little inclination that she knew he was there and not just a shadow that could be easily ignored. Sekhmet kissed her cheek and the bruises disappeared. He held out the pendant. Rielvia took the pendant and slipped it over her son's head, resting it around his neck.
"I shouldn't have said those things to you," she said. "I should have listened to her when I had the chance."
"Who?" Sekhmet asked.
Rielvia smiled. "She'll bring your daughter back, Sekhmet. She will."
"Parz..."
"I'm sorry, Sekhmet." Tears fell from Rielvia's eyes.
"I'm sorry, too, Mother." They hugged again.
"I love you," Rielvia whispered.
Sekhmet released her. "Rest now, Mother," he said. "May what Viraz had done to you never haunt you again."
"Or you, my son." Rielvia smiled at him then slowly vanished into the night.
Sekhmet remained for a while, feeling that a lot of weight had been lifted from him. Now he was at peace with his past. How soon would it be to see if he would have peace in his future? He stood up and began to walk home.
Parz, he thought. I have a lot of questions that you are going to answer.
____
"I talked to him before," said Dayus. "But from the way he was, it didn't look like he was going anywhere."
"Why would he just leave without saying anything?" Cale asked, pacing back and forth in the living room.
"Does anybody know how long he's been gone?" asked Kayura. Dayus had contacted her after discovering that Sekhmet had left, and she arrived at the house giving the others a little hope that she might be able to locate Sekhmet.
Essah said something to him, no doubt, Parz thought. But where did he go?
"I went to go bring him some tea not too long ago," said Mia and shrugged. "Who knows how long?"
"Is it possible that he went after Jinmin and Kiyaa to retrieve Chadih?" Altyno spoke up.
"I don't think so," said Parz. "If he did, he's very foolish. Sekhmet will get himself killed if goes up against those two by himself. Especially now. They're a lot more powerful than you may realize."
They heard the back door open and close. "Sekhmet?" called Dayus.
"Yes?" Sekhmet walked into the living room.
"Where did you go?" Mia asked. "We were worried about you."
"I went to go search my soul," Sekhmet answered. "And I have quite a few questions to ask you, Parz." He walked over to the young woman. "I won't say how I found out, but my mother knew you as well. You were in my village."
Kayura, Dayus, Cale, and Mia looked at each other. It was very rare of them to hear Sekhmet speak of his mother.
"And?" Parz asked, showing no sign that she had been caught.
"That song is the key. How do you know it? You said it was sung to you when you were a child."
"It was sung to me when I was a child." Parz looked straight into Sekhmet's eyes. There's no point hiding it anymore, now, she thought and said, "Your mother knew that song from her mother. The reason why you know it, Sekhmet, is because I was the one who sung it to you when you were sleeping as a child."
"What?" Sekhmet asked.
"I kept watch over you when you were growing up," said Parz. "Until you were thrown out of your village. A debt that I owe your father, and I still have to repay it."
"What debt? What are you talking about? How is it that you and Essah know each other?" Sekhmet's patience was running thin, and everyone could see it.
Parz walked over to the window and leaned against the wall. "What does the name 'Goshiem' mean to you?" she asked.
"Goshiem?" asked Mia.
"He was a demon that lived a very long time ago," Dayus started. "I think he died about two hundred years before we were born."
"He wasn't very popular, either," Cale said. "The way the legend goes, Goshiem raped fifty women and killed them all, except for the last one. It's said that she had twins. Goshiem died about eight years later."
"He was an Ahkrushian," Sekhmet finally spoke. "The Ahkrushians and the snake-gods were created at the same time by the Old Ones." He looked at them. "Or so Essah told me. Ahkrushians are powerful and have crisscross line patterns on them like snake-gods have scales. Before the snake-gods starting fighting against each other, they fought against eleven Ahkrushian males. For some reason, the younger generation and all the female Ahkrushians died, except for the Queen Mother. The remaining eleven males were imprisoned somewhere by her.
"Goshiem was the only one from the younger generation that was alive and free. The Queen Mother died shortly after, but she prophesied that Goshiem would father two children by a human woman - one boy, one girl. They were cut from their mother, making them born at the same time - one not older or younger than the other. Unfortunately, the twins' mother died. And it's said that depending how they're raised, both shall be salvation and destruction."
"Why were they cut from their mother?" Kayura asked.
"Because neither would be born first, and she slit her own throat," said Parz. "That's why she died."
Sekhmet looked at her. "How do you know that?" he asked. "And what does Goshiem have to do with you?"
Parz turned and faced them. She pulled up her left sleeve, showing the crisscross pattern on her arm. Everyone started in shock at Parz. Cale and Dayus jumped back. All Mia and Kayura could do was stand there.
Sekhmet remained calm. "You're Goshiem's daughter," he said. "And Jinmin is his son."
"As I said to the snake-gods, not by choice." Parz pulled her sleeve down. "I hate being what I am, Sekhmet. You're the only one in this room who can understand that."
"I can," he admitted. "But what does Essah have to do with this?"
"Your father is the one who cut Jinmin and me from our mother," said Parz. "We were left with a woman who had a stillborn child a month before we were born. She was able to take care of us. Just after Jinmin and I turned eight, Goshiem came after us. He killed most of the people in the village - including our foster mother - and he was killed in turn. An eye for an eye, I guess you could say. Jinmin ran off and I didn't see him for about thirty years - we haven't aged a day since our twentieth birthday. Essah was there and he took me away, saving me a second time."
"Why does Jinmin hate my father so much?" Sekhmet asked.
"He believes that Essah killed Goshiem."
"Did he?"
"No."
Sekhmet looked at Parz. He had that feeling again that she was telling the truth, and it was getting very annoying. Essah trusts her, despite whose daughter she is, Sekhmet thought. You trust her yourself, and before you knew that Essah knew her, and you still don't know why. Damn it! Sekhmet let out a stressed sigh. "I believe you, and I trust you. I just wish I knew exactly why."
"Sekhmet," said Dayus. "She's the daughter of a psychopathic demon. Her brother is just as crazy as their father was. I think their sanity is a bit off."
"Thank you very much." Parz snapped.
"It's not that, Parz." Cale said. "It's just that after hearing all that Goshiem did..." He didn't finish from the hurt look on Parz's face.
"I won't let your blood get in the way of my judgement and opinion of you, Parz," Sekhmet said. "All that you've done, I'm grateful." He looked at Cale and Dayus, then back to Parz. "When will Jinmin contact you?"
"I don't know," she said. "He likes to draw things out, that's the truth. He believes all of this to be a game." Parz became very serious. "This is our final game. I can promise you this, Sekhmet, I will bring Chadih back to you."
____
At three o'clock in the morning, Cale was still awake. Too many things were running through his head for him to fall asleep. Chadih's kidnapping, Sekhmet's trust in Parz, Essah being so supportive of her, Jinmin and Parz's bloodline...
That one scared him.
She hates being what she is, Cale told himself. But still... oh, come on, it's not her fault who her father was. Parz won't even call Goshiem her father. All she does is say that he's half the reason she exists.
Cale got off his bed and went downstairs. Parz was in the living room, standing guard as always. Altyno wasn't on the couch. She was probably sleeping in the downstairs guest bedroom.
"Parz," said Cale. She turned from the window and looked at him. "I want to apologized for what I said earlier."
She smiled. "It's all right. I've had a lot worse reaction when people found out who I am. You should have seen the expressions on the snake-gods."
"I can imagine." Cale laughed a little. He walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "I couldn't sleep."
"It bothered you that much?" Parz raised her eyebrow.
"Well..." Cale stopped, not wanting to insult her anymore than he already had. "Yes, and I want to talk to you."
"About what?"
Cale looked at her. She was pretty; her gentle human features were beautiful. The dark night eyes - he could be lost in them forever. Just spit it out, Cale thought. You're the Dark Warlord of Corruption. What are you afraid of? He stood up and walked over to her, piecing together in his mind what to say to her. He hadn't done this in four hundred years - he was rusty.
"I don't know how to say this exactly," Cale started. "But I've been worrying about you the last couple weeks."
"Thank you," Parz said quietly.
"In a way more than a friend would care." Cale stopped, suddenly feeling like an idiot. "Parz, I-"
He didn't get a chance to finish. Parz kissed him. Cale was shocked at first, then relaxed, enjoying the sensation. He put his arms around her waist, but she pulled away from him.
"I can't..." Parz whispered. "The one who dared to love me died because of me."
"Sekhmet told us about your son," said Cale. "That doesn't mean-"
"You don't understand, Cale," Parz said. "Before I found the boy I called my son, I was married once to a good man... and Jinmin killed him to provoke me to fight him." She looked at him sadly. "I can't allow someone I care about die because of me again."
Cale watched her leave the room. "I'll dare, Parz," he said quietly. "I dare."