Part Nine
Sekhmet and Cale were in the living room talking, with Chadih sitting on the floor coloring pictures and humming a melody.
"She really makes leaving without saying 'goodbye' a habit," Cale sighed. He had a dreadful feeling in his stomach ever since Chadih said that she had seen Parz leave again.
"Essah's being stubborn." Sekhmet shook his head. "He won't tell me what happened when she went there. None of the snake-gods will." He sighed and looked at Chadih. Sekhmet frowned and he focused harder on the melody she was humming. "Chadih, come here." His daughter stood up and walked over to him. "Where did you learn that?"
"Parz was singing it when she left," Chadih answered her father.
Sekhmet swallowed hard. "Do you remember the words?" he asked, and she nodded. "Don't sing them, just tell me what they were." Cale watched Sekhmet's face pale as Chadih repeated the words. "Do you remember which way Parz went?" Sekhmet asked.
"That way." Chadih pointed north.
Sekhmet let out a nervous sigh. "Chadih, why don't you go see if your mother needs any help with Datai?"
"Okay," Chadih said. As soon as she left the room, Sekhmet grabbed his sneakers and quickly put them on.
"What's wrong?" Cale asked.
"That song is not to be taken lightly," Sekhmet said. "You can hum the melody or say the words, but never sing them unless you're ready to end your life."
Cale's eyes widened with fear. "You mean that song is for…"
"A ritual suicide," Sekhmet finished. "Parz is going to kill herself."
"Oh, gods…" Cale whispered. "Wait, I'm coming with you." He put on his sneakers and both Warlords ran to the north.
_____
Parz knelt on a hill, eyes closed and still singing. The sword that she had used to kill Goshiem, the eleven males, and Jinmin rested in front of her on her cloak. The other one she had accidentally left in the study on the desk when she had been talking to Mia earlier. Parz remembered it halfway during her walk, but didn't go back. It was too late to get it.
She finished singing and opened her eyes. Picking up the sword, Parz removed the sheath and pointed the tip of the blade at her stomach.
"As was prophesied, 'A daughter will kill her father to finish the end of our kind. She will end the lives of the ones that have been imprisoned, and see that no more of our blood will live in this world. Salvation she will be for those she will come to love'." Parz closed her eyes. "I am all that remains. The Ahkrushian race will be nothing more but remembered as a legend."
She pushed the blade through her abdomen. Parz gasped and fell onto her side. Coughing, she looked at the blood that had spilt onto her hands, and then closed her eyes.
"…Cale…"
____
Sekhmet and Cale were running quickly through the trees. They came to a hill and saw Parz lying on the ground with the sword through her stomach.
"NOOOO!" Cale screamed and doubled his speed. They reached Parz and dropped to their knees.
"Parz." Sekhmet shook her, but she didn't respond. "Parz!"
"Why did she do this?" Cale whispered in anguish.
Sekhmet grabbed the sword and started to pull it out. Parz grabbed his wrist. "Don't…" she said hoarsely. "L-let me… die…"
"No." Sekhmet looked at her.
"It has… t-to end," Parz gasped. "…Queen Mother's… proph… ecy…"
"Parz, look at me." Cale held her face in his hands. "Do you really want to die?"
She looked at his grief-stricken face; she couldn't lie to him. "…No…"
"If there's another way, would you do it?" Sekhmet asked.
"…Y-yes…"
"That's all I need to hear." Sekhmet pulled the blade from Parz's stomach, and she cried out from the pain.
"Just hold on, Parz," Cale said, and he carefully wrapped the cloak around her middle. Gently, he lifted her into his arms and stood up.
>>Chadih,<< Sekhmet sent to his daughter. >>Tell your mother I said the three of you are to go to Essah. Don't ask any questions when you get there. I'll be there shortly.<<
>>Okay, Dad,<< Chadih answered, and the link ended.
Sekhmet put the sword back in the sheath. "We'll bring her to Essah," he said, and thought, I hope he can do something. Sekhmet placed his hand on Cale's shoulder and teleported them to the snake-god Realm.
____
"Chadih, why didn't your father tell you why he wanted you to come here?" Essah asked.
"I don't know," his granddaughter shrugged. "He said to go to you and wait for him."
"Don't look at me, Essah," Lyonta said, Datai sleeping in the snuggly attached in front of her. "She can hear his mind, not me."
"Where did he go?" Essah looked at her.
"Cale left with him a little while ago." Lyonta rubbed Datai's back. "Maybe they went to look for Parz."
He wouldn't... Essah's thoughts trailed off.
The hall door flew open and Sekhmet and Cale entered. Lyonta gasped as she saw Parz in Cale's arms.
Sekhmet threw the sword to the floor and it slid to Essah's feet. "All the Ahkrushians are dead." Sekhmet glared at his father. "She's the only one that carries the blood. You knew she was going to kill herself and you didn't even try stopping her!"
"She wants to die, Sekhmet," said Essah.
"Bullshit," Cale hissed. "She wants to live, she told us when we found her."
"Save her," Sekhmet demanded.
Essah shook his head. "I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
"If I could save her I would, but I don't know how to do it."
Lyonta looked around and saw that the commotion had brought the other snake-gods to watch the argument between father and son.
"So there is a way," Cale said quietly.
Sekhmet took Parz from him and walked closer to Essah. "You told me last year that you love both of us and we're your children. If you consider yourself her father, how can you turn your back on her now, when she needs you? She's my cousin, and I'm not going to let her die. If you won't help me, then I will find a way to save her life. I still owe her for all that she has done for me."
Essah walked over to his son and took Parz into his arms. "And so do I," he said. "Zeteiahn, you know what I ask of you."
"I haven't performed it in a centuries." The elder snake-god stepped into view.
"At least try," Essah beseeched.
Zeteiahn walked over to him and lifted Parz's eyelids and checked her wound. "We'll have to do it quickly or she won't survive." He looked at Essah. "You accept her as your daughter?"
"Yes," Essah answered.
"Sekhmet, I'll need you and Chadih to help." Zeteiahn looked around the room. "And I'll need help from one female. A volunteer would be greatly appreciated."
There was no response. Sekhmet was getting worried. The longer they stalled, the less chance Parz had for surviving for whatever Zeteiahn would do to save her.
Finally, someone spoke. "I'll do it."
"Xiyaln!"
All heads turned towards the snake-goddess, and she gave her son to Tarynl. Xiyaln walked over to them. "I'll do it," she repeated.
"Thank you, Xiyaln," Essah said.
"Come," said Zeteiahn, and he led them to a chamber. "Put her over there." He gestured to a mat on the floor and Essah laid Parz on it.
"Will it hurt?" Chadih asked.
"You'll just feel a little sting, that's all." Zeteiahn cut the tip of Chadih's finger and squeezed a little blood into a glass tube. "Xiyaln," he said, and the snake-goddess held out her hand.
"What are you going to do?" Sekhmet asked his father.
"The Ahkrushians wanted to destroy Parz's human blood by using either Goshiem's or Jinmin's," Essah said. "In a way, we'll be doing the same thing, but her Ahkrushian blood will be destroyed and she'll be half-snake-goddess. Parz will be my daughter and your half-sister. We need a little from Xiyaln because she's female. The same with Chadih because she's half-human as well."
"You knew about this process?"
"Knew of it. Zeteiahn is the only one left that knows how to do it."
"Sekhmet," called Zeteiahn.
He walked over to him and Zeteiahn stuck some kind of a needle into his forearm, drawing out a little blood, and placing it into the tube.
"You three may go," Zeteiahn said as he drew Essah's blood. "You have to stay, Essah."
"But I want to stay with Parz," Chadih said.
"No, Chadih." Sekhmet picked her up. "We'll see her when she's better." I hope...
They left, closing the door behind them. Essah knelt beside Parz and stripped her down to her underwear. He looked at the wound in her stomach, blood still flowing from the unsightly mark.
"…Essah…" Parz looked at him. "…I'm sorry… to put you… through… this…"
"Don't talk," he said, "save your strength."
"It's ready." Zeteiahn knelt on Parz's other side across from Essah. He held the tube to Parz's lips and she drank from it. "You're going to feel a lot of pain," Zeteiahn told her. "That I can't help you with." He poured the rest of the blood into Parz's wound and it closed, leaving no mark. Zeteiahn slid his hand under Parz's back and felt that the twin puncture had closed as well. He removed his hand and started to chant.
Parz could feel the pain start in her chest and sear through her veins to every inch of her body. "Essah," she cried as tears started flowing, "it hurts."
"I know." Essah took her hands. "Just try to bear it, Parz. It'll be over soon."
She didn't know how to describe the agony; it felt as though she was on fire, being frozen, scraped, all from the inside out. Parz screamed and her body convulsed. Essah held her down and looked at the still-chanting Zeteiahn, praying to the Old Ones that Parz would survive and not die from this agony she was experiencing. Essah would hate himself even after the day he'd leave this world and join Aoi in the afterlife.
Suddenly, Parz stopped screaming and moving. Essah looked at her with dread, and then he noticed that she was still breathing. Essah watched in amazement as the crisscross lines slowly retreated from Parz's left cheek, down her left arm, to her wrist and vanished completely. The white streaks in her hair slowly started to turn dark green at the roots, then traveled to the tips.
Zeteiahn finished chanting and lifted Parz's eyelids. Essah could see the dark night sky color had remained.
"She made it," Zeteiahn said. "She's half-snake-goddess now. It'll be a while before she wakes up, though, I can't say exactly when. But she'll be all right." He looked at the other snake-god. "This is why you wouldn't let me die and join the others, was it?"
"Yes," Essah confessed. He gently gathered Parz into his arms. >>Welcome home, Parz,<< Essah sent to her mind. >>Welcome home, my daughter.<<
____
Sekhmet, Chadih, and Xiyaln returned to the main hall. Xiyaln joined Tarynl and took their son from him, and they went back to their room.
"How is she?" Cale asked.
"I don't know," said Sekhmet, "Zeteiahn made us leave. Essah's still with her, so-"
He was cut off by a scream that echoed throughout the hall. Cale swallowed hard as he recognized that it was Parz who had screamed.
"Sekhmet…" Lyonta whispered. He didn't answer, only looked down towards the room from which they came with fear.
She better be all right, Sekhmet thought, because if she is not, Father...
They waited for what seemed like forever, until Essah finally came to the hall.
"Is Parz…" Sekhmet couldn't finish.
"She's half-snake-goddess now," Essah said, "and your half-sister."
Relieved sighs were let out. "Can we see her?" asked Cale anxiously.
"Not right now," said Essah, "Parz is still very weak. She needs time to recover and let her body adjust to the change."
But I want to be there when she wakes up, Cale thought as his eyes fell to the floor, but he nodded.
"You'll let us know when she wakes up?" Sekhmet asked.
"I will," Essah promised.
____
Xiyaln sat in a chair, holding her sleeping son in her arms.
Tarynl watched his Match and child from the doorway, his eyes mostly on Xiyaln. Why did she volunteer to help turn Parz into a half-Snake-goddess? He had to know. Tarynl walked over to her and knelt by her right side. Reaching out a hand, Tarynl lightly touched his son's hair.
"Why did you help them, Xiyaln?" he asked.
She looked at him, and then turned her gaze back to their son. "I feel as though I have repented in some way."
Tarynl frowned at her for a moment and then the realization came to him. "Do you really think…"
"I don't know," Xiyaln said, smiling sadly. "I don't think I'll ever know."
____
Cale sat on the spare bed in Mia's house, bare chested, looking at his shirt stained with Parz's blood. "Why, Parz?" he whispered. "Why didn't you come to me? I'd help you. I… I love you…"
The shirt fell from his hands and he covered his face with them. Cale felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Why didn't she go to him?
Blinking back the threatening tears, Cale stood up, put on another shirt, took the bloodstained one and laid it on his bed, and went to the study. He walked over to the desk and saw Parz's other sword lying on top. Cale picked it up and pulled the blade from the sheath. It had to be at least six hundred years old; he could tell from the way it had been forged. Being an expert on swords and a swordsman proved useful, and the people at the museums were astounded and impressed with his knowledge.
Cale studied the katana, feeling that there was something very familiar about it. He looked at the dark oak-colored sheath and noticed that there was something engraved near the hole. Getting closer, Cale saw that it was a picture of a wolf. He smiled nervously, since wolves were his choice of animals to have as pets. Turning his attention back to the blade, Cale ran his fingers along the dull edge, touching the hilt--
And felt his blood freeze as he recognized the blade. It was the same sword, from the weight to the sheath that carried it. The sword had belonged to him once before, many years ago.
Before he was Cale, the Warlord of Corruption...
Before he was Sasaki Kujuurou...
Kibogami Shino.
"Here," said Senshiro, and he handed the sword to his older brother. "Take it."
Shino looked at the katana. "I can't take this, Senshiro," he said. "Father gave it to you."
"And now I'm giving it to you, brother."
"Shino, you've given me and Senshiro an opportunity to be together," said Kotenei.
"She's right," Senshiro grinned at him. "I'll never be able to repay you for this."
"You don't have to," said Shino. "You two are in love with each other. It wouldn't have worked out if Kotenei and I were married."
"And you're in love with Parz," Kotenei said
Shino attached the sword at his left hip. "Yes, I am," he answered. "She means so much to me."
"I believe you." Senshiro smiled and hugged his brother. "When my son is born, I'm naming him after you."
Shino nodded. "I'd be honored."
"The honor is ours." Kotenei wiped at tears. "Good luck, Shino, to you and Parz."
Shino nodded as he felt tears come to his own eyes. He hugged Senshiro and Kotenei once more, then he opened the window, climbing out onto the roof. Carefully, he jumped onto the thick wall surrounding the village, slowly walked over to the large hana tree that grew outside, and started to climb down.
When he was only a short distance from the ground, Shino released the branch and landed on the grass. He started to the forest, stopped and turned around, looking at his brother and betrothed still at the second floor window. Shino raised his hand and waved goodbye. They returned his farewell gesture. Shino smiled, then turned and ran into the darkening forest.
____
"Parz..." Cale whispered, closing his eyes as the tears ran down his cheeks. He fell to his knees, still holding the katana in his hands.
Cale and Parz had been married over six hundred years ago, when he was living as Kibogami Shino. Cale had to laugh a little at the irony. Born as Kibogami Shino in his last lifetime, born as Sasaki Kujuurou in this life. The initials of both names were the same, only switched places.
Memories came back to him at such an incredible rate; Cale had to lie down on the floor and let his mind adjust to the mental onslaught. Remembering his life as Kibogami Shino, how he had met Parz, eloping with her, living for eight years as husband and wife happily in a village that showed respect for Parz and the half-breed snake-god and goddess children at that time. He even met Essah a few times. The memory made Cale laugh, knowing Sekhmet's father more than a century before his friend was born.
Unfortunately, Cale also remembered Jinmin attacking him to make Parz fight. She had won, but he had died in her arms, telling her not to grieve over him forever and learn to love again.
Cale smiled as he realized why Parz was nervous around him. Eyes were windows to the soul of every person that lived. Parz must have seen his; did she see the life he had once lived as her husband?
He jumped to his feet and put the sword back in the sheath. Cale place it in his room next to the bloody shirt on the bed and left the house.
____
The door to Parz's room opened quietly and Cale slipped in without the snake-gods noticing. Essah would no doubt kick his immortal backside for being in her room.
He shut the door quietly and walked over to Parz. Kneeling down next to the mat, Cale studied the changes on her, the crisscross lines were gone and the white streaks in her hair were now replaced with the same dark green as Essah's and Sekhmet's.
Cale didn't care what had changed on Parz. He loved just the same, but he knew he had to wait for her to adjust to being half-snake-goddess. Maybe after she recovered, he would tell her.
Cale leaned over and lightly kissed Parz's cheek. "I remember, Parz," he whispered. "I remember."