The Avatars #2
"Yes, please, go ahead." I encourage them. I don't know where to start. "So, do all of you know each other well?"
"Well enough," Rose answers. "I think I have been with Chronomir for longer than anyone else has."
"How long has that been?" I ask, spooning myself some dip onto my plate.
"1972," Rose smirks. "I was 27 when I found this fantastic anklet," She lifts her leg easily showing off the silver and gold braided chain.
"Thought it was amazing, and then he appears in my bedroom all depressed but cute.
" She chuckles. "It's not funny, he really is a melancholy fellow, he prefers that word, not depressed. "
Delilah shrugs. "When all you've seen are the ravages of time, I would suspect that it's very boring, or you just get saddened at the events that seem to happen no matter what time period."
Rose nods, chewing a boneless wing. "True."
Delilah hums as she grabs a carrot stick. "Luciara and I met 10 years ago."
Caspian adds in. "Moireth and I met in 1987. I had gotten ears pierced and the next week went thrifting, found this ear cuff, and bam." He leans back in his chair. "Magic happens."
"And you?" Rose asks. "Great food by the way."
"Thank you," I nod. "I bought this house and decided to do some gardening," Sighing, I shake my head and continue. "I found a box with a ring inside, and I put it on as a joke…then Athanasius."
Rose nods slowly, but it's Caspian who answers. "He's the last piece of the puzzle, I wonder who buried him?"
"No clue," I reply. "I took the ring to a woman who deals in antiques and she was telling me how old it was."
"15th century pieces." Delilah taps her bracelet. "When Luciara says they were betrayed."
"So, everyone found their piece, and put it on, their Primordial appeared and you've just been with them ever since?" I ask. "Is it…well."
"Are we fucking?" Caspian smiles while winking. "No, Moireth and I are more like brother and sister, they disapprove of my choice partners." He attempts to mimic Moireth's voice. "You debase yourself with that one." Caspian sighs. "I love Moireth."
Delilah attempts to cover her blush. "Luciara and I are together. She calls me her consort, apparently that's the title for it."
Rose smiles widely. "It took him some time, but yes, Chronomir is lax to admit anything." She rolls her eyes. "What about you and Athanasius?"
What do I say? "We've kissed." I clear my throat. "He's an ass most of the time."
Delilah laughs. "After we left you, Luciara wondered how much you bickered."
"Quite a bit." I answer.
"Chronomir said that it might be difficult to find Athanasius," Rose sighs, crossing her legs. "He says most are lax to enter into contract with death."
"Well," Caspian shrugs, leaning back in his chair with the charm of a man who knows he gets pussy. "Think about what humans think of death. Usually cults arise from that. Worship, fear, obsession—it’s all very dramatic.”
They trade thoughts like philosophers dissecting a myth, teachers explaining a theme, but they're talking about someone I've touched. Kissed. Who holds me at night like I'm something precious to him. Someone whose presence doesn’t make me tremble, just roll my eyes. I shift uncomfortably in my seat as their words grow heavier. They aren’t insulting him. They aren’t even wrong.
But there’s something strange about how they speak of him—like Athanasius is a shadow in the room they’ve waited to see grow knowing what comes along with that.
To me, he’s… different. "I've never..." My voice comes slow and unsure. "Athanasius has never been like that to me."
"Really?" Caspian lifts a brow, intrigued. "Moireth tells tales of Athanasius like he's… well, death incarnate." He chuckles. “Incinerate folks with a look. Real Wrath-of-God stuff.”
Delilah, lounging near the edge of the counter, pulls one of her curly strands around her finger and nods. “Cuts heads off for fun. Did it once over a hymnal.”
I open my mouth to respond, but the sound of footsteps silences me.
The air shifts.
The siblings are back.
Athanasius enters the room. Luciara, Moireth, and Chronomir follow behind, quiet, as if letting him reclaim the gravity of the room.
“Same stories,” Athanasius says, his tone deceptively casual. “Different versions.” His eyes cut toward his siblings avatars. “All of them true.”
His voice sends a chill down my spine—not because it’s frightening, but because of the weight it carries. Where it stops I'm not going to talk about because that's inappropriate for right now. It's my lady parts. How does he do that?
Athy doesn’t deny the things they’ve said.
“I am death. To some, that’s a horror. To others, a release.
Perspective defines the fear.” He walks around the counter to stand next to me.
“And if those mage cowards think they can meddle in fate—pull strings where they have no fingers—I’ll carve their spines out and weave them into garlands for their altar.
Let’s see what their gods or holy books say then. ”
There's something wrong with me why do I find the morally gray so attractive?
Caspian lets out a low whistle. “And there’s the Death and Darkness we all know and love.”
Moireth sighs, rubbing their temple. “Please don’t actually make garlands. The last time you did that—”
Chronomir slumps slightly in his seat. “It was a dark month.”
Athanasius ignores the commentary and turns toward me, he's smiling, and taps my nose attempting to be cute.
“Now is the time to discuss our approach.
If he's planning what I suspect—he'll expect interference. They just won’t expect you.” His gaze lingers on me longer than necessary.
"Caspian is an accomplished archer and fighter, we have a shifter and a werewolf, and then my unassuming human.
" He's not being possessive, which is odd for him—but like he’s measuring the inevitability of me.
“Let’s begin."