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Slow and methodical ran the brush through his short black fur. Each stroke was deliberate in an attempt to tame the mess that the humidity had created. Summer in his domain was moist and rainy this year, great for plants, bad time to be a cat. Seeing that a particularly stubborn tuft refused to be tamed, he let out a sigh and put down the brush. Rising from his chair, he practically floated over the floor, so gracious where the steps of his bare paws on the marble tiles.
The black and brown Bishop’s robe was already waiting for him on his dresser. Freshly washed and pressed, the fine fabric looked as fine as the day Shamura had woven it. A small smile tugged on his lips as he ran the fabric between his fingers. His sibling had such talent. “Ah, to create…” A wistful and sombre tone laid thick on his voice as his third eye glanced towards his desk for a moment, before he shook his head. “A time for everything”, he reminded himself, before he slipped out of his cloak and removed the robe from its place.
“Narinder, my Lord, if you delay your departure for any longer, you will be late!” A scratchy voice called through the white oak doors of his chambers, before they opened without delay.
Despite his state of undress, Narinder didn’t bat a single eye at the intrusion of his privacy. The only visible reaction he gave was a twitch of his ear each time the wooden cane connected with the floor. “I am aware Lambert, my thoughts just preoccupied me for a bit too long.” Pushing his head through the top of the robe, he gave himself a few adjusting tugs, then turned towards the other.
Once proudly standing at his side at the same height as him, ignoring the boosted form his crown could bestow him, his most-devout disciple now had to crane his neck to look at him. Well… “look”.
Empty sockets where beautiful black eyes once had shone, met his gaze, one taken by battle, the other by sickness. The once proud warrior ram was barely able to keep himself straight with the help of his cane. Patches of his lush wool were missing and what remained long had lost its softness. He still remembered meeting the other. A ram of Yngya’s flock, master of the flail and holder of the most-popular but also most-cliché name a sheep could have.
He had just finished talking with Yngya about an alliance for the war against the other gods, for nothing beats the combo of Winter and Death, as Lambert together with a few other sheep approached him and asked to move into battle with him. Not content to hide and protect their home with the rest, Narinder happily took on the soldiers for his army. It was hard to believe that was 40 years ago now.
These days sheep made up a big part of his following… and much to his amusement nearly every second male was called Lambert. None of them were his Lambert though.
Narinder could feel bile in the back of his throat as he approached his friend. Each breath Lambert took was accompanied by a faint but present wet death rattle. Time had sunk its claws deep into him, and one didn’t need to be Death to know that his time would be soon.
“My friend”, Narinder started. “Don’t you dare waste more time telling me to rest, you need to get going.” Flailing his cane, the old ram turned and pushed himself forward, back out of the room. “We will be fine for the coming days, so go visit your family.” Knowing a losing battle when he saw one, Narinder just let out a deep breath.
“Of course.”
…
Summer in Silk Cradle were always pleasantly chilly and refreshing compared to his own domain or the domains of his siblings. It had been around a year since he had last been here and things looked to be thriving. Spiders of all kinds were practicing silk-weaving. Some kids were having a history lesson while others practiced fighting with wooden weapons.
The Bishop of Knowledge and War indeed, though it was nice to see the former being at focus these days. This land had seen enough conflict. “You are lucky Shamura”, muttered Narinder to himself as he noticed a few spiderlings hastily get out of his way.
His siblings could spread knowledge to avoid war, study pestilence to bring health, prevent famine by bringing rich harvests and create new plants to deal with anything the chaotic world throws at them. Only he cannot do anything. Death is the end of this life and while his eyes allow him to see the other side, there was nothing he could do in this world, other than bring the end.
It had been useful when he could cleave through gods left and right, but now in this peace… he felt obsolete. “Well… hopefully for not much longer”, he thought as his mind flashed back to his Lambert. If things went well, maybe he could make a change for the better in this world. Yngya’s views on winter and spring really had been an inspiration and he could feel that he was close to a breakthrough.
Lost in thoughts he walked the familiar road to Shamura’s residence without realising it. Being close to her temple, the secluded portion of the cave network wasn’t what one would imagine from the most powerful spider in existence. The entrance was nothing fancy, a hand-woven silk drape acted as door and as he pushed through it, he could already smell the hearty aroma of Heket’s cooking wafting from the kitchen.
Looks like he was running late indeed… he would do better than tell Lambert that he had been right. Knowing that the others had to be in the dining room, Narinder wasted no time checking all the other rooms and headed straight down the hallway for it. Beneath his soft paws, he could feel faint vibrations in the earth. He had been noticed.
“Brother!” He barely had time to react to the mass of green that shot out of the ground in front of him. Ripping through the silk carpet, the projectile went right for him like a bolt fired from a ballista. Instead of ducking out of the way, Narinder opened his arms wide and caught the mass with ease.
Sliding back a few metres from the impact, his fingers met soft grass-like fur as the two of them twirled around. Strong fingers made for digging clutched his back, keeping a secure hold without hurting him. Despite the energetic greeting, Narinder couldn’t hold back the smile that formed on his face, then leaned down to burry his face in the soft fur. Even the clumps of dirt sticking in it couldn’t keep him away. The earthy smell of the other tickled parts of his brain that had gotten buried under daily stress and brought him back to times before their crusades.
His hold tightened on the other. “Hey little bro. Missed you too.” For a moment they just remained like that, then the mass of green moved and looked up at him. A large red-and-white eye stared up at him, its two pupils blown wide from happiness. Surrounded by lush green fur that was interrupted by twig-like horns, the bagworm looked more like a Bishop of Nature than Chaos.
Sharp teeth turned from a grin to a thrown as heavy footsteps made Narrinder’s ears twitch and before he knew it, the large worm was moving around him to attempt to hide in his shadow. “Heket is mad with me.” Despite the fact that the bushy figure was too large to hide behind Narinder’s bony frame, he still attempted to do so.
Some things really never changed.
Putting on his best big brother face, he only had to wait a moment longer before the double doors were thrust open and an angry frog marched into the hallway. “Whatever the overgrown bush has told you, it’s a lie. He started it.” Heket’s voice was as lovely as always, deeper than one would expect a woman to have, but it had a pleasant ringing to it. Narinder always had loved singing with her. Right now, however, it was not the time to reminisce.
“It is lovely to see you two, little sister.” Brushing her anger aside with trained ease, he stepped up to the buff frog and gave her a hug. He could practically feel her boiling with anger, but she still returned the hug with a croak. She smelled of stew to a level that shouldn’t come from just cooking and judging by the fact that she, unlike Leshy and him, wasn’t wearing the “proper” robes and instead something clearly borrowed from Shamura and he got a good idea what happened.
Turning his head, he gave Leshy a deadpan look with all three eyes. “Did you seriously have to sneak a bit early? Am I that late?” The bagworm’s fur bristled with defensive intent as he licked his lips, revealing sharp teeth just past them. “Brother, I hunger for her stew. None of my followers come close to her cooking. Can you blame me?” No, he really couldn’t, but it would make him look bad if he picked favourites too obviously.
So, ignoring the urge to find the large eye of his brother cute, he let go of Heket and walked over to the bagworm. Flicking his forehead with a claw, as he had done so many times in the past, it made the large worm shrink down to rub his forehead. “Oww, unfair…” “Don’t whine, you aren’t a kid anymore. And apologise properly to Heket, before she decides to not cook anymore.” “That’s right, maybe I will let you do the cooking the next time… or maybe Kallamar.”
The notion of their older brother cooking wasn’t just making Leshy shiver, but all three of them. It was a fate worse than death and Narinder would know what he is talking about there. Bringing of Pestilence he was, Kallamar had no clue about how to use fire to make a meal bearable. Coincidentally he was also the one of them that preferred raw food the most.
“Fine, fine. I am sorry Heket, it just smelled so tasty.” Still rubbing his forehead, Leshy threw her the most-weaponised cute wink that he had in his arsenal. His eye turned unbelievably huge and glistened with tears in the torchlight. Narinder could watch in real time as Heket’s anger melted away.
Few things are as effective as a younger sibling’s cuteness after all.
“Fine, now come you two, we are making the others wait.” Letting out a huff, Heket turned and marched off, completely missing the huge grin that blossomed on Leshy’s face. Sharp digging claws grabbed Narinder’s hand as he got pulled by the energetic youngster deeper into Shamura’s home. “I cannot wait to tell you about my latest experiment Nari. You really need to swing by Darkwood more often, the flowers look lovely at this time of year.”
…
The five god-killer Bishops in one room, at one table. Whatever picture forms in the minds of their followers at that notion probably couldn’t be further from the truth. There was no intimidation, no glares or talks about sacrifices. It really was little more than a family meeting, just that it was on a seasonal schedule.
“So, with this new curriculum, I do hope to work through even the last bits of lingering believes that some of our followers still have for their old gods. I hope it sounds good to you all.” Finishing their little explanation, Shamura cut into the cooling steak on their plate and resumed their meal. From all around the table, humming of agreement and nods between bites and sips followed.
“Well”, started Kallamar as he put aside his seafood platter for the moment to drink a sip of ambrosia. “I guess I will go next.” Putting down the chalice, he licked his lips. “Not much new on my end honestly. We finished cataloguing another set of 10 diseases and their cures. Still, there are a lot more out there and each passing day something new seems to spring forth from the corpses of the old gods.” His words dampened the air around the table. Even after decades, the rotting flesh still refused to be removed.
“But do not worry, I finally figured out to propagate the crystals native to Anchordeep”, pride was thick in his voice as he impaled another fish on his fork. “We will begin tests on the corpses come next month, with any luck we might be able to isolate and contain them, unless we figure out a way to destroy them for good.” The prospect of containment managed to return at least a little of the lost mood back to their meal.
Seeing they were going by age, Narinder had just opened his mouth to speak, as Leshy finally let the bowl he had hinged in his mouth drop to the table and raised his hand. “Me next!” Slamming his fist down onto the polished stone, he reached for his green crown and stuffed his entire arm into it. Shuffling around the pocket dimension for a moment, he then ripped it back out with a wide smile. “I made these!”
A bouquet of unfamiliar flowers was clutched in Leshy’s hand. Slightly crumpled up from their trip inside the crown, they still were a sight of beauty. Blood-red petals surrounding a darker red pistil. The aroma that wafted from them was sweat and really pleasant to Narinder’s sensitive nose.
Before any comments about his work could come up, Leshy continued, his voice thick with pride and his large eye glistening with determination.
“I call them Camellia, after the ancient goddess of health that Shamura prayed to when we were sick. I stuffed like… all the good stuff into them that I could. It took a bit of help from Kallamar’s doctors that are in Darkwood at the moment. They should be able to replace most herbs that we know, plus I made sure to tweak them in ways that they grow in nearly any soil.” His shoulders sank a little as he continued. “Now… it does not really solve any logistical issues, since I stuffed so much into them that the concentration is rather low… but hey… planting 50 tons of one herb should be easier than a ton of 50.”
After he finished speaking, he glanced around the room with uncertainty. It reminded Narinder of the time a way younger Leshy took some of their limited supplies to make something for his birthday, only to expect to get scolded in return.
“So that’s what Thorjoul was rambling about when he returned from the research trip. I have to say, I am impressed Leshy. If they really work as you said, then you made things quite a bit more manageable.” Kallamar reached out to pluck a single flower from the bucket and started to chew on it. “Mmm… weak concentration but indeed a ton of components. Are you certain they will grow even in waterlogged soil? If they do indeed… it will make my research so much easier.” Just like a flower being given care, Leshy rose back to his full height.
“Heh, happy that you like them. It just feels so much easier to keep control of chaos by having a cure-all growing everywhere. Darkwood still refuses to fully listen to me…” It was amusing, someone as chaotic as his younger brother trying to bring control to something. Narinder was so proud of him.
“Nothing new here. Some new recipes in the works, but so far nothing clear to share.” Heket looked clearly annoyed by that fact as she reached for her chalice to take another drink.
Now Narinder really felt bad for the fact that for once he had also something to report… he didn’t enjoy the thought of singling her out as the useless one like he usually was. Death just doesn’t leave much room for improvement and ingenuity.
“For once”, he started and right away had the full attention of Leshy and Shamura, with Kallamar and Heket being more shocked than anything. “I also got something to show.” With a silent command, his loyal red crown rose from his head and flew to his hand, where it deposited a necklace into his palm. “While mapping out more of the afterlife, an idea came to mind that I just had to follow through. I had a closer look at our divine immortality and managed to create a way weaker version of it to bind it into a talisman.”
Handing the one in his hands to Leshy, he fished three others out of the crown and handed them out. His siblings inspected his craftsmanship for a moment before he continued.
“You can keep those. They should double the natural lifespan of the person you give it to. Once I figure out a way to make them without needing specifically the powers of Death, I will share the method with you too. It would be unfair to keep this to myself.” With nervous eyes, he looked over his siblings as they inspected his work. He knew the topic of death always made people worry and the last thing he wanted to do was make his siblings think the wrong thing.
“You learned to look at things from a different angle. I am glad to see that.” Shamura was the first one to speak as they pocketed the necklace. It was like a rock had fallen from Narinder’s heart. It had been them that gotten the idea to their mind. He would have never thought against rebelling against nature in such a manner, but their comfort had given him the courage he needed.
“That’s pretty handy brother; I can keep my consorts fresh for longer. It is such a pain to teach people the music that I like.” “Hmm, smart move.” “Ohh, fighting against the chaos of death, great call bro.” The rush of praise from all corners was causing a rumbling purr to ignite in his chest as he lowered his gaze and placed with his fork for a moment.
Should he risk telling them his plans?
Prolonging aging was one thing… but… what he had in mind for Lambert was an entirely different cup of tea. It was getting too close to what the old gods were doing, he was afraid what his siblings would think of him. But… he couldn’t just stand there and only be the bringer of death. Everyone else was fighting against their domain… would him aiming for life be that wrong?
“There is something else I am working on”, he started in a softer tone. He didn’t trust his voice right now to speak louder. All he could see in front of his eyes was the brittle body of his best and closest friend. “But it is not ready yet, so I will not say more in case it does not work. Just, do not get worried should you not hear from me before our next meeting, okay?”
While his words got met with a general air of curiosity, they thankfully didn’t ask for details. Instead, their meal resumed with the usual humming and general none-work small talk. As Narinder dug into the grilled fish, a tiny part in the back of his mind couldn’t help but give him the bad feeling that this would probably be the last peaceful meal they would have together.
…
With a full belly, Narinder was making his way through Silk Cradle roughly two hours later. He was feeling melancholic, so instead of teleporting back to his own domain right away, he was stretching his paws a little. Not even a century ago this place was a bloody nightmare of corpses and fear and now it was a peaceful paradise for arachnids of all types. Shamura really worked wonders.
A small hand tugged on his robe, making him look down. A tiny spiderling was looking up at him with dark eyes. “L-lord Death, sir. I-I made this for you.” Quivering like Narinder was about to reap her soul, the tiny spider held out a crudely woven handkerchief. It was a quite ugly piece of silk, uneven and mismatched.
Crouching down to face the kid, Narinder put on a warm smile and gentle took the offering. “Thank you, young one. What beautiful weaving, you will go far in life.” The small child beamed at him, before rushed away to a pair of older spiders that looked close to fainting at their child’s boldness. He gently folded the silk and placed it into the pocket of his robe; it would find its way to his treasury once he was home.
“Brother!” A heavy weight plopped down on his shoulders, nearly making him lose balance. Instead, he scrambled forward, his arms instinctively catching the furry legs that had wrapped around his waist. Bushy green arms were gently wrapped around his neck and in the top of his vision, he could see Leshy’s big red eye gleaming down at him.
“You know you do weigh a ton now Lehsy, not to mention your tail is probably”, a glance back showed that indeed, the thick trunk of a bush tail that the worm had was dragging over the floor. “Who cares? Come on my steed, to the teleporters.” Chackling loudly, Leshy pushed his legs against his sides.
Around them whatever tension Narinder’s presence had created melted into shock and confusion at the brotherly display. Probably half of them expected the deadly cat to put an end to the chaotic worm, but instead he just sighed and marched onward, not bothered at all by the heavy weight.
Leshy’s head soon found its way between Narinder’s ears and snuggled into the other’s fur with a content sigh. “Being a leader sucks so much, I barely get to see you anymore. I cannot believe that I miss the chaos of war.” Sighing loudly again, the worm tightened his hold of his older brother. “What are you working on that makes you so nervous, Nari? You smelled like you were ready to fight or flee earlier. It is not a good scent on you.”
Narinder twitched. Of course he should have expected Leshy to smell his emotions, he got the sharpest nose besides he himself. “I… am not sure if I should tell you.” Knowing lying to his brother would only backfire, he stuck to the truth as he carried the thick bush of a worm through Shamura’s real.
“Do you not trust me?” The words made his heart ache as his brother’s grip tightened. He didn’t need to see his face to know how sad his eye must look.
“It is not that… just change is scary to many. And what I am working on will be a big change, if it works.” It took a lot to not spill the secret, but he knew putting it on Leshy would be unfair. The hold around his neck relaxed further as his brother resumed the snuggling.
“Well, I trust you, so keep your secret. There is no way you would do something that would be dangerous to us all. You saved my live countless times during the war. You deserve your space to explore new things.” “Hehe”, he couldn’t hold back the chuckle that escaped his lips. Adjusting his grip, he gently ran his fingers through the soft green fur of the legs he was holding.
“Be careful Leshy, that nearly sounded smart.” His answer was a headbutt right between his ears, causing both of them to groan in pain. “I hate you, idiot”, grumbled the worm into his ear as he nursed the growing bump on his forehead.
“Nah, you don’t. For that you flirt too much with me whenever you are drunk.” Again, he ran his fingers melancholically through his brother’s fur as the younger one pouted and grumbled about stupid sexy cats.
It nearly was like he knew that the next time they would touch, it would be his claws that rip out his brother’s beautiful eye.