“You’ll get there,” Xellis whispered. “I have no doubt in my mind… But then again, I’m just an ‘ignorant god’ who ‘doesn’t know mortal emotion,’” he said with a tone that made it seem as if he were quoting what someone had told him before. In reality, he was. Those biting words would never leave him.
He closed his eyes, the events of the day catching up with him. There was no trace of sarcastic glee or charm left on his face, just sort of a tired contentedness and concern for Scipio. He truly wished he knew how to help.
"I'm just so exhausted… mentally, physically, whatever… I've been in the army for two years and I'm only eighteen. Do I age here, by the way?" He asked. "Or am I basically just going to be eighteen forever?" He turned his eyes up to Xellis. He didn't seem to hold the same fire that he had earlier. His smugness and pride had faded for the time being. He couldn't be proud after an episode like that."
“Unfortunately, no. You don’t age here. Or that’s fortunate, but I don’t know how you see it,” he explained, eyes slowly blinking back open. “And, if you’re tired, feel free to go to sleep. It’s relatively late.”
He propped his head back up, eyes drifting over the chandelier only giving off a dim light. Otherwise, the large room was dark, the wooden flooring almost black with shadow.
“You can use my bed, again,” Xellis said, and while he would make a joke under any normal circumstance, he decided not too at the moment.
“Gods don’t need to sleep. We can get mentally exhausted, but we don’t need sleep to replenish it. Take as long as you’d like.”
"Alright…" Scipio sighed and dragged himself to his feet, supporting himself on the wall for a few seconds. "I'll… um… see you in a few hours, then. I'm not really sure how time works here…" He wandered off to Xellis's bedroom and huddled up in the bed again with a quiet sigh of relief. Having a real bed was definitely something he could get used to. He soon drifted off to sleep, finally relaxing.
Xellis watched Scipio walk off, through the door, and out of sight.
Had he done the wrong thing? He could offer the boy eternal piece as a hollow body. It wasn’t as bad as he had said…
Sure, the body was blind and deaf and roaming, but the soul was destroyed. Well— not so much destroyed as it was just “put to rest.”
But, for Xellis’ stupidly selfish reasons, he’d made it sound much worse so Scipio would actually decide to stay, on his own terms.
He was just a bad god. As bad of a god— as bad as a being— as the other gods really believed.
He stood in the dining room for a long while before heading out the front door, his fists clenched together.
Xellis jumped up onto the side of the manor’s terrace, scrambling up to the roof. It was anything but graceful, as he slid up onto the shingles. He lied back, gazing up to the stars covered slightly by shifting clouds.
And it was there he made up his mind. Tomorrow, when the boy woke up, Xellis would offer his soul peace. What it deserved. Where it belonged.
He let out a sigh, as if he had been holding it in his entire life. From here on out, he would try to devote himself from being a better person. It was impulsive, but in this situation, Xellis didn’t find impulsive to be so bad.
Scipio slept soundly through the night and late into the morning, not moving at all while he was asleep. He was completely exhausted, which was fair considering all that he'd been through the previous day. He didn't stir until around ten in the morning, opening his eyes tiredly and looking around. "Mmmm… ciao…?" He called out after he'd sat up. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and how he got here. "Ciao? Hello? Is anyone there?"
A knock sounded from outside the door, and Xellis slowly pushed it open. He looked visibly tired, but more mentally than physically. His eyes were much dimmer and held a pang of sorrow.
“Good morning,” he said, smiling softly while shutting the door behind him. He walked over to the armoire, beginning to sift through it again. Within a moment, he found his pilot’s cap, and slipped it back over the back of his head. He also drew out a small bag, that had buttons for eyes, small teeth protruding from the top flap, and a tongue acting as a belt. It chirped when Xellis took it out and slung it over his back.
“Arci, hush,” the god muttered, then turned back to Scipio.
“You ready to go?” he asked, little by little regaining his now fake joy.
"Buongiorno…" Scipio carded his fingers through his hair, humming softly to himself. He felt much better after resting for a while and seemed far less tense than before. He looked up at Xellis with a confused expression when he asked the question. "Go?" He asked curiously. "Go where, Xellis? You didn't tell me we were going somewhere…"
“So you do remember my name,” Xellis laughed, although it seemed hasty and anxious. “And don’t worry about where— I just have a surprise.”
That surprise being eternity put to rest, buddy, he thought, his brow furrowing for a split second before he smacked on a joyful expression once more.
“You ready?” he asked again, not bothering to hide his impatience. He wanted to get this over with.
Scipio eyed Xellis warily, clearly not trusting him. "I don't like surprises. I feel like you're bullshitting me. I refuse to move until you tell me where we're going." He crossed his arms and locked his eyes on Xellis's. His confidence seemed to have returned after resting, and he obviously wasn't at all afraid of Xellis.
The god gave a long sigh, looking down to the floor. A wave of emotion washed over him and he had to blink away the water in his eyes. When he looked back up, he gave a half-hearted smile.
“I’m letting you go,” he said, his voice stronger than he thought it would be. “You’ll be able to rest, now. I’ll set peace to your soul. Now… are you ready?”
"I thought you wanted me to stay? Why are you suddenly changing your mind?" Scipio asked, confused. He kept his arms crossed and his eyes locked onto Xellis's. "I already said the alternative to staying sounded boring, and I don't feel like changing my mind. I think I'll stick around."
“I— but I can destroy your consciousness like you asked,” Xellis said, voice breaking slightly. Why was he being so stubborn? Isn’t this what he wanted??
“I can put it so that you won’t feel anything anymore— that you won’t even exist anymore,” he said slightly louder. “It’s— it’s what you asked for, right? You don’t have to deal with my stupidly selfish ideals anymore.”
"Believe me, I'm more selfish than you are. And far more stubborn." Scipio rested his chin on the knuckles of one hand, smirking a bit. "If I'm gonna be dead anyway, I might as well do something with it. If I change my mind, I'll let you know, and you can feel free to throw my soul into the abyss or something. And the other gods will make fun of you even more if I leave, you know."
“Oh, that’s a given fact,” Xellis said, letting out a slight laugh. “If they can even come up with better insults than the ones they have now…”
He said the last line much quieter, eyes averted to around his room. He took another deep breath, slipping his hands into his pockets.
“And again, thank you,” he mumbled, the words unnatural for his voice. “You’re doing something bigger than I could even ask. I mean— even if it’s for personal benefit.”
"Mhmm." Scipio slid out of bed and stretched, yawning a bit. "I haven't gotten more than an hour or two of sleep for ages… I can definitely get used to this." He cracked his back and sighed softly, seeming to be relaxed and comfortable. "The showers are also nice. I can stay in for more than a minute or two at a time."
“Well of course,” Xellis said, as if it were a given. “You deserve a good afterlife, so take it.”
He stopped briefly, watching as one of Arci’s hands reached from one of the side pockets and began to play with Xellis’s hair. He narrowed his eyes but let it pass. He hadn’t seen Arci in a while, so he figured he’d let the bag mimic do what it wanted.
“Oh— but we still have to get you your own room, huh?” the god mumbled, clearly distracted by the bag. “Every associate has one. And.. I mean, I’d assume you’d want your privacy.”
"Alright." Scipio eyed the mimic curiously. "What the hell is that??" He asked, bewildered. He stepped closer to examine it more closely. "Why does your bag have hands??" He took a step back, clearly not trusting the thing. "Is it sentient? Or does it just move randomly?" He asked.
“Nah, it’s sentient,” Xellis murmured, fighting the hand and making it go back into one of the side bags. “And his name is Arci. He’s a bag mimic. So basically a bag, but he can get me anything I want.”
The mimic gave off a small growl, sort of animalistic.
“He doesn’t bite unless you give him a reason,” Xellis continued. “So you can pet him, if you’d like.”
He flipped the bag around so he was holding it against his chest. He turned toward Scipio, giving a smile.
“Go ahead,” he said lightly.
"Pet… the bag??" Scipio asked, confused. He seemed very unsure, but after several seconds of hesitation, he tentatively reached out to touch the bag. "Um… does it like being pet or something?" He asked awkwardly. He clearly wasn't entirely sure what was going on or what he was doing.
Arci gave off a small purr, the hands retracting nicely back into the side pockets and the bag slightly folding in on itself, as if it were relaxing.
“Yeah, shoulda known you’d like Scipio more than me,” Xellis said down to Arci quietly, “I like him more than me.”
He gave a small laugh as he looked back up to Scipio.
“Yeah, he loves pets,” Xellis beamed, clearly happy with his object friend. It was like showing someone a cute pet dog. Although Arci was both not cute (to many eyes, but to Xellis he was), and not a dog.
"Did you like… make him? Or…?" Scipio still seemed bewildered, tentatively petting the sentient bag. "Find him somewhere, maybe??" Scipio was not great with animals, although the bag didn't quite qualify in that category. Typically, Scipio killed animals, but he didn't think that it would even be possible to kill Arci.
“Neither,” Xellis explained, glancing down to the mimic. “He was a gift for me from Zayanzar when I was just a kid. The whole ‘God of Travel’ thing just deserved luggage I guess. Or an adventuring buddy.”
Xellis gave a warm smile to the bag, briefly remembering the days in which he used to go prancing around earth with Arci at his back. Nowadays, Xellis barely had the power to get down to earth, let alone stay there for an extended period of time.
Scipio nodded and pulled away. "Interesting choice of pet… I guess a dog isn't cool enough for you?" He raised one eyebrow questioningly. "And who is Zayanzar?" He asked curiously. "Friend of yours? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?"
Xellis cocked his head slightly, narrowing his eyes. “… Matriarch.”
He gestured to the door and began walking, motioning for Scipio to follow.
Once out in the main room, Xellis pointed to a painting on the adjacent wall. It looked like a young baby Xellis with three other people. He had just been a toddler, but the artist had done his red hair and golden eyes justice, and it looked almost identical. He stood in front of the three others, but one looked older than the rest, and she had her hands intertwined with Xellis’s.
“She’s like my adoptive mother, but I see her more as an older sister figure,” he said, nodding to the painting. “She’s the goddess of culture and worldly socialization.”
Her black hair fell past her shoulders in intervals of short waves, her skin tanner than Xellis’s and her eyes a piercing amber. She was pretty, and certainly a very powerful god.
On either side of the two stood a man and a woman, although the woman looked younger, as did the man. Xellis considered them siblings, although he wasn’t close to the two at all.
